Friday, May 20, 2016

Swiss currency showdowns, Liam Gallagher wants to be relevant and Scottish golf misogyny


- Augusta National’s European branch remains committed to its bass-ackwards social stances and now, the British Open is acting accordingly. Muirfield, one of golf’s most iconic venues and entrenched firmly in the birthplace of the sport, has been removed from the host venue rotation for The Open because its socially stunted, misogynist members have voted against allowing women to join. The stuffily-named, thoroughly pompous Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, which owns Muirfield, will remain a men-only club after failing to reach the two-thirds majority required to change the club's membership policy. When that happened, it took about two seconds for the Royal & Ancient, which runs golf's oldest major championship, to announce Muirfield will no longer be considered to host the tournament. "We have consistently said that it is a matter for the Honourable Company to conduct a review of its membership policy and that we would await their decision, the organization said in a statement. “The Open is one of the world's great sporting events and going forward we will not stage the Championship at a venue that does not admit women as members. LPGA commissioner Michael Whan, who makes a lot of money governing a sport no one pays any attention to, applauded the R&A's decision on Twitter, which is probably the one publicity the LPGA will receive this week or this month. As for Muirfield, way to lag behind even Augusta National, which was slow to admit women and minorities, but finally came around a few years ago. Your turn, Scots…….


- Internal combustion muscles are the worst. Much like trolls sitting behind a keyboard or on their phone suddenly feel empowered to mock, ridicule or berate total strangers on social media because they don’t have to face any consequences for their words, a-holes behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle have a definite air of superiority when it comes to pedestrians and cyclists on the road. If a person isn't driving, then they’re lesser than to most motorists and for idiots like the one who stars in a YouTube video posted by a bicycle shop owner in Tempe, Arizona, seeing someone pedaling on two wheels is an affront to all that is good, holy and right. This unidentified gas bag clearly did not want to share the road with a cyclist and decided to unleash a profanity-laced exchange that he may regret if he finds out that the incident was captured on the bicyclist's camera. The scene begins with cyclist Jim Anderson, the manager of Landis Cyclery in Tempe, being blasted by the horn of a driver who then begins berating him. "Use the (expletive) sidewalk," the driver can be heard saying in the video. The two-minute confrontation reaches its apex when the driver opens his door and angrily asks the cyclist, "You got something to (expletive) say to me, bro?" Anderson posted the video on YouTube, calling attention to what went down as he rode into the left turn lane at the intersection of Curry Road and Mill Avenue. "It gets pretty crazy out there sometimes," Anderson said. You basically follow the same rules you would in a car. Usually, people who react negatively to cyclists kind of always react negatively to cyclists and don't feel like they should be on the road.” The bad news is that there was no criminal activity in this mess because if there had been, this video would have been exhibit A in a winning case for the prosecution……..


- Has anyone missed the pompous former co-frontman of British rockers Oasis? Anyone? At all? Didn’t think so. But that doesn’t mean that Liam Gallagher isn't still desperate to matter and therefore, he dropped a very cryptic, obviously attention-seeking tweet in which he hinted that he may return to music soon. There were rumors not long ago that he had retired from music following the end of his most recent band, Beady Eye, which he formed after Oasis broke up in 2009 along with every other member of Oasis - sans his estranged brother Noel. Having dropped off the map after two uninspired Beady Eye albums, Gallagher is trying to grab a share of the spotlight with a series of tweets that began with, “Lots of exciting things happening time to get back in ring give us a call ROVER," before chasing that gem with one that says, “Groove is in the art.” What any of that means is unclear, but one thing it apparently does not mean under any circumstances is that Gallagher will put out a solo album. He was recently asked about that possibility, seeing as he doesn’t currently have a band, but he was having none of it. "Solo record, are you f*cking tripping dickhead?" Gallagher wrote on Twitter in response to that query.” He added that he would not release solo material as he is "not a c*nt." How a solo album makes one a derogatory term for a piece of the ol’ anatomy is unclear, but maybe Gallagher feels like he simply doesn’t have the musical chops to carry an album all on his own. That means he needs to find himself a new band and quickly if he hopes to make a comeback from wherever the hell he’s been………


- Switzerland may be militarily neutral, but that doesn’t mean it can’t stick its Alpine-chilled middle finger in the air to the entire European Union over the topic of currency. While the eurozone is scrapping its 500-euro ($564) note in the name of security, Switzerland sees no need to kill off its own 1,000-franc bill — currently worth $1,018. The EU is making the move because its 500-euro bill is exceedingly popular with money launderers, but that decision doesn’t affect the Swiss because they, like Denmark, Sweden and Norway, never adopted the euro and wisely elected to keep their own currency. When center-left lawmaker Margret Kiener Nellen referenced the EU move and wondered if Switzerland would do the same with its big bill, the government said authorities know of no money laundering cases in which the huge bill was a relevant factor. Swiss authorities said they have already taken measures to limit the risk of cash being used for criminal purposes including terror financing, and argued the franc doesn't have anywhere near the euro's global significance. Despite Switzerland’s popularity as one of the top banking options for the world’s financial elites due to its privacy and secrecy, the government is accurate on that point and when it writes in a statement that, "Switzerland is a country with a high wage and price level and also has a marked culture of cash use, which justifies a higher denomination." It’s a fair point for a country that claims pricey places such as Geneva and Zurich as its own and further evidence why staying fiscally clear of the EU mess is typically a wise choice……….

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