| Special Samoa Deals for Boxing Fans and Supporters
Overseas interest in the upcoming Samoa International Pro-Am Boxing event in Apia on Saturday 2nd February 2008 will see up to 200 boxing fans and supporters arriving in Samoa next week. Many more are expected to book a ticket to Samoa with the announcement over the week end of special accommodation and rental car deals for boxing fans and supporters. Hotel Kitano Samoa is offering an accommodation special $200 SAT per room per day for up to three people with ELAVA at Vaitele is offering $120 SAT per room per day up to two people with continental breakfast included. Apia Rental is offering a 15% discount to all their vehicles with DAT Car Rentals is offering a special $165 per day for their Hyundai Tucson fleet. This was confirmed by Mr. Teleiai Su’atapulolo’o Edwin Puni, Managing Director of Event Polynesia, “For the next two weeks, Hotel Kitano Samoa and ELAVA Resort will be the home of international boxing with Apia Rental and DAT Car Rentals as the preferred rental car service.” The inaugural Samoa International Pro-Am Boxing is an initiative of Event Polynesia Boxing in association with SPBI and SABA to provide our Samoan boxers both amateur and professional a pathway to boxing world titles by setting up the needed top international competitions right here in Samoa.
Guantánamo and back: an interview with Moazzam Begg
Today, Begg is releasing a book, Enemy Combatant: A British Muslim's Journey To Guantánamo And Back, about his experiences. This happens by chance, he says to coincide with the release of Michael Winterbottom's new film, The Road to Guantánamo, about the three other British detainees, the "Tipton Three". The timing seems good: criticism of the Guantánamo detention centre is intensifying within the US, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for it to be closed, and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair called it an "anomaly" that would have to be "dealt with sooner or later", after one of his ministers backed Merkel's call. So, might the detention centre be closed? "I don't think so. Closing it would be a huge embarrassment to the US, after almost five years of telling the whole world that these dangerous people need to be kept there," said Begg, speaking in London last night.
Dukes and Money
Now old but persistent questions about her own financial record-keeping and credibility – both for her campaign and for her business – and about her apparent inability or unwillingness to correct errors and misfilings, have become a central aspect of the campaign to remove her from House District 46. The latest questions about Dukes' record-keeping concern her business dealings outside the Lege and her consulting company, D.M. Dukes & Associates (focusing on "business resource development," especially for women- and minority-owned businesses). The company failed to file state franchise-tax returns for 2005, 2006, and 2007 and is currently classified as "not in good standing" by the state comptroller's office – meaning the firm cannot do business with any state agency.
Last call
None of the bars I've mentioned are still in business, and most of the city's seven remaining gay-every-night bars have sparse customers for most of the week. (Lesbian bars were never numerous to begin with.) The gay population may have political clout and the right to marry in Massachusetts, but it has fewer and fewer public spaces to call its own. The disappearance of places like Buddies and Chaps may sound like a problem limited to gay men, but it is part of a much larger trend reshaping American cities. As gay bars vanish, so go bookstores, diners, and all kinds of spaces that once allowed "blissful public congregation," as sociologist Ray Oldenburg described their function in his 1989 book "The Great Good Place." In New York, the Jewish deli - a staple of the city's identity - has all but vanished.
Cash opens up literary treasures
British literary treasures, including the earliest complete book written in English, are to go on display thanks to a 5m donation. The artefacts at the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library are currently accessible only to a few scholars. The gift, from Oxford publisher Julian Blackwell, will go towards the creation of an exhibition hall at one of the library's sites. Other treasures include an embroidered handwritten book by Queen Elizabeth I. The Bodleian Library has a copy of almost every book printed and an extra 5,000 books are added to its catalogue each week. It is the main research library for the University of Oxford and occupies several sites across the city. The new centre will be named the Blackwell Hall in recognition of the donation and will form part of a 70m redevelopment of the New Bodleian Library.
K.J. gets overlooked, but shouldn't
And since Don's a big baseball fan and all, he's even offering a 20-percent spring-training/Braves-MIB discount on used CDs for one week starting today. Just mention the code DOB to the person behind the register. No kidding. See ya at the record store. Or in Orlando. Or on the blog. All good. Oh, and if you haven't heard the new North Mississippi All-Stars CD, it's quite greasy and rockin' — and very good. Some mighty fine releases the past few weeks, including albums by Bob Mould, Drive-By Truckers, Whigs, Selmanaires, Anna Kramer and the Lost Cause, and Sheryl Crow (yes, I'll admit I like it, and not just because she's, well, mighty fine). "OUT HERE IN THE MIDDLE" by James McMurtry They broke into your car last night, took the stereo Now you say you don't know why you even live there anymore The garage man didn't see a thing, so you guess it was an inside job You made a reservation, a table for three They said you'd have to wait, somebody must have bribed the maitre'd Boss got mad and he blamed it all on you Food was bad and the deal fell through Well out here in the middle you can park it on the street Step up to the counter, you nearly always get a seat Nobody steals.
Fancier fabrics making a comeback in cars
The trend toward accessible luxury has been well-documented in recent years. Brands like Coach and Louis Vuitton have become household names, and mainstream stores like Target have recruited famous designers to provide signature products at affordable prices. So it's not surprising that coddled consumers have also sought luxury in their cars — even those from plain-jane mainstream brands. Maybe we are running low on cowhide or maybe people are just looking for something different, but fabric is making a comeback inside cars, and their designers are returning to high-quality materials that are so nice some customers may actually prefer them. These fabrics are appearing in adventuresome color combinations that spice up previously predictably dull cabins, and there is an emerging array of synthetic materials that look and feel convincingly like leather and suede that can be combined with the new fabrics for an exciting multi-material appearance.
Film fest ready for take one and ... action
It's for people who are in the industry like actors and directors and for people who like movies to come and just have fun." This year the festival, held from March 16 to March 22, will feature movies and a festival tent with coffee, food and jewelery, Schupack said. There will be parties every evening and educational panels. Panels include information on auditioning, screenwriting, pitching a film to an investor and more. Professionals in the film business will lead panels and talk about the work they do. One such presentor is Carmen Martinez, who has done casting form more than 25 studio and independent features like Disney's "Squanto," Mark Rydel's "Cowboys," Sergio Leone's "My Name is Nobody" and .
Why Cisco Is a Buy
Back in November, 2007, the company warned that spending on its networking gear was slowing down and could hurt growth for this market. On Feb. 6, Cisco indicated the situation hadn't improved (BusinessWeek.com, 2/7/08), and lowered its sales outlook for the current quarter ending in April. In turn, the stock has dropped 14% this year, to $23.20. Despite the news, which caused a deep sell-off in many technology stocks, Ari Bensinger at Standard & Poor's Equity Research kept a buy recommendation on Cisco shares. "We believe investors need to look at the larger picture—the long-term growth drivers for the company," he says. Plus, the recent drop makes Cisco's stock attractive, Bensinger says. It's trading at 16 times estimated 2008 earnings—the low end of its historical valuation range.
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