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Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Carrie Fisher Likes To Openly Discuss Her Role In 'Star Wars: Episode VII'
In the months since the announcement of "Star Wars: Episode VII," Carrie Fisher has seemingly made a habit out of trolling fans eager for updates about the J.J. Abrams film. The return of Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford is, by this point, an assumption many are making, but without an official announcement from Disney, [...]
Will pre-election violence impact Pakistan's elections?
At least eight people were killed and 40 more injured in a suicide bombing on a busy road in the Pakistani city of Peshawar Monday morning. The attack capped off a weekend of election-related violence as the country prepares to go to the polls May 11.
The bomber missed his ostensible target, a local commissioner, instead crashing his motorcycle into a passenger bus, Pakistan?s News International reports. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the Pakistani Taliban have carried out a range of similar attacks against secular political parties over the past several weeks.
Indeed, the explosion came just a day after two Taliban attacks targeting political candidates in northwestern Pakistan killed at least eight and injured dozens more. The Taliban and other groups have been responsible for at least 77 deaths in 44 election-related attacks since the beginning of April, Human Rights Watch told The New York Times.
RECOMMENDED: Pakistan elections: Who's running?
"We are not in favor of democracy. Democracy is for Jews and Christians," Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud said in a recent propaganda video, according to CNN. He implored Pakistanis not to participate in the upcoming elections.
"We want the implementation of Sharia [law], and for that jihad is necessary,? he said.
The May elections will be the first in the country?s checkered political history when one democratically elected government will make way for another, and the uptick in militant violence leading to the historic vote has rattled both domestic and international observers.
But they remain divided on whether or not the spate of attacks will have a significant affect on the election?s outcome at the national level, particularly since neither of the two parties leading in polling over the past three months are among those targeted by the attacks.
As one analyst writing in the Pakistani daily Dawn argues, the violence, though significant, is too sporadic and narrowly targeted to create the kind of chaos necessarily to significantly sway the election?s results.
As for violence making elections impossible, the quantum would have to jump multifold and that too in key urban towns to spread the kind of fear that would result in elections being postponed. The ?threshold rule? applies here: the state has virtually no capacity to prevent targeted violence up to a certain threshold; beyond this, the militants have little chance of carrying out a coordinated campaign of major attacks in city centres in a short time. There is little reason to believe this will be upended over the coming fortnight.
Two of the frontrunners in the national campaign are the center-right Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and the centrist party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Taliban attacks, on the other hand, have largely targeted left-leaning parties, including the ruling Pakistan People?s Party (PPP), the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), and the Awami National Party (ANP).
Local candidates for these parties complain that the violence has forced them to dramatically scale back their campaigning activities, leaving the field open for Islamist candidates to win over voters.
"If you tie my hands, and you want me to fight, I can?t,? Mian Iftikhar Hussain, a local candidate for the ANP in the city of Peshawar, told Dawn.
Overall, however, there is halting optimism in many quarters for Pakistan?s fragile democratic institutions. As the Monitor reported in March, the Pakistani National Assembly recently completed a five-year term for the first time in the country?s history, a signal that the country is finding new and non-militaristic ways to respond to its political grievances.
?These five years we saw many instances of corruption, confrontations with the judiciary, and absence of law and order,? says Rasul Bakhsh Raees, a professor of political science in Lahore, pointing to Karachi and Balochistan. ?But the military decided not to intervene, which shows even their attitude is changing.? ?
?Every phase of democracy in Pakistan has been a battle, but the trend shows it?s [heading] toward improving the overall institutional balance,? [he says].
Violence also cast a shadow over Pakistan?s last election, in 2008. On Dec. 27, 2007, Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and the head of the PPP ? then the leading opposition party ? was assassinated after a campaign rally. Two months later, however, her party and the PLM-N emerged victorious from the campaign and formed a coalition government. That August, former military leader Pervez Musharraf stepped down as president and went into exile, formally ending his nine-year military rule.
RECOMMENDED: Pakistan elections: Who's running?
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pre-election-violence-impact-pakistans-elections-163008551.html
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Small Business Owners Say Mobile Devices Are Vital to Their ...
Small business owners are like moms, they have to be all things to all people and like moms, they depend on mobile devices to get it all done. AT&T says that 63% of the small business owners? could not survive or it would be a major challenge to go on without wireless technology.
Tablet usage, in particular, is on the rise. 69% of businesses with under 50 employees use them. When you move up to the larger companies (51 to 99 employees) usage pops up to 90%.
The survey also found that tablets were extremely popular with new business owners. 80% of companies under two years old use them, compared to 69% of companies that have been around more than two years.
Smartphone usage has doubled in the past five years, rising to 85%.
If you?re in the business to business business, take note of the chart on the right. 75% of small business owners use a tablet to check email and 61% use it to surf the web.
When was the last time you looked at one of your own marketing emails on a tablet? How about your website? If a busy owner opens your email and it?s a jumbled mess, they?re going to delete it without looking back. Don?t guess. Make sure your messages come across properly in all kinds of mobile formats.
Tip: Need access to a variety of mobile phones and tablets? Put an ad on Craigslist or on Fivver with a list of the devices you need tested. Pay $5 per unit and ask the tester to send you a screengrab as proof of how your emails and websites look.
App Usage
30% of small businesses surveyed use mobile apps for business, with key reasons being to save time, increase productivity and reduce costs. 50% said working without apps would be devastating or extremely difficult. 80% of business folks use GPS and navigation apps, they also use location-based service apps and social media apps.
Again, if you?re in the B2B biz, give some serious consideration to building an app to go with your product or service. If you can help small business owners do something faster or easier, they?ll gladly buy your app and whatever goes with it. You don?t have to reinvent the wheel, just make it run smoother.
For example, today I learned about the Rev.com voice recorder for the iPhone. There are dozens of voice recorders out there, but this one was developed by a company that?s in the transcription business. When I use their app, I can send my digital file directly to the company and have it transcribed without any additional steps. That?s brilliant. You place the order right on your phone and you get updates on the progress of your job.
Note: this isn?t a personal recommendation of the company. I?ve never used their services. But I have worked with a transcription service and there were numerous steps involved in getting from point A to point T. Rev?s app cuts out the 18 steps in the middle and that?s one less hurdle I have to jump in a day.
Is mobile a priority in your business? If you?re working with small business owners, it should be.
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The rise of 'redneck TV'
'Duck Dynasty' and other similarly themed TV shows are breaking viewing records and beating popular shows like 'American Idol' in the ratings.
?Duck Dynasty?
A&E Networks
EnlargeHow entertaining is it really to watch Southerners tackle alligators, catch critters with their bare hands, hunt ducks, and ride four-wheelers around in the mud? According to the Nielsen TV ratings, very entertaining.
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As the popular ?Duck Dynasty? (A&E) wrapped up its third season it boasted an average of 8.5 million viewers an episode. A quick review of program lineups reveals the appetite for self-described reality ?redneck? shows is only growing: ?Buckwild? (MTV), ?American Hoggers? (A&E), ?Moonshiners? (Discovery), and ?Hillbilly Handfishin? ? and ?Call of the Wildman? (Animal Planet) are just a sampling of programs reveling in the adventures to be had in rural, southern America.
Why are these shows captivating TV audiences? It could have something to do with the Southern tradition of good storytelling, or the invitation to gawk at a culture vastly different from one?s own.
Eric Deggans, television and media critic for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, says there are two types of audiences drawn to these kinds of shows: one group that ?feels like they?re from that world, and another that likes to mock them.?
Despite their long shaggy beards and bandanna-tied foreheads, the ?Duck Dynasty? fellas are endearingly eccentric and funny, and bow their heads in prayer over a meal at the end of each episode while one of the cast members narrates a life-lesson takeaway. But it is still hard to tell if those 8.5 million viewers are laughing at or with this family who has made their fortune with a duck call fabrication business.
On the other hand, ?Buckwild,? the reality show that follows a crowd of fast-living young adults, has drawn criticism for its portrayal of West Virginians. Sen. Joe Manchin called for the show?s cancellation in January. The recent death of ?Buckwild? star Shain Gandee and the arrest of another cast member have cast a pall over the show.
So far, ?Duck Dynasty? has been able to poke fun at itself while avoiding real-time pitfalls.
?Duck Dynasty ? has chemistry. It?s part of a trend, it?s well-produced, [and] it?s got an interesting cast,? says Mr. Deggans. However, ?if you look at shows like ?Dirty Jobs? or ?Deadliest Catch?? they are edited differently [from the Southern shows] to explain what [their casts] do in a positive light,? adds Deggans. In Southern reality shows, banjo music plays during the transitions and ?anyone with a thick Southern accent gets subtitles,? he says.
All judgment aside, it seems ?redneck hip? is here to stay for a while. So the real question remains: What?s the best way to accessorize camo?
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/VPgxezjgFDk/The-rise-of-redneck-TV
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