The protesters who toppled Tunisia's dictator weren't advocating sharia or Islamic law. They were calling for freedom, democracy, and multiparty elections. Across the Arab Middle East, the generation that is leading the protest against dictatorship does not have an Islamist character.
Jumat, 21 Januari 2011
The Tunisian revolt: Where have all the Islamists gone?
The protesters who toppled Tunisia's dictator weren't advocating sharia or Islamic law. They were calling for freedom, democracy, and multiparty elections. Across the Arab Middle East, the generation that is leading the protest against dictatorship does not have an Islamist character.
Appeals court denies former Texas Tech Red Raiders coach Mike Leach's breach of contract claim
DIY Headphone Cable Wrapper from a Gift Card [DIY]
We've featured what seems like a billion ways to wrap your headphone cables, but if the freehand method isn't working for you, you can make your own cable wrapper out of an old gift card. More »
The Tudors: who said history's dull?
The sublimely stupid but entertaining period romp is back for a fourth and final series. So will you be enjoying this historical liberty-taking drama?
Hark! 'Tis the peal of grateful remote-controls, for that most glorious of period romps has return'd to our screens. Sixteen months after it thundered off on a horse called Rampant Historical Misrepresentation, The Tudors is back for a fourth and final series. Let joy be unconfined.
Any fears that the Irish/Canadian production might sully its copybook with gravitas, restraint or historical integrity are dispelled within seconds of tomorrow's opening credits. It's 'August 1540', and Henry VIII (49), having had his unconsummated marriage to the tedious Anne of Cleves (25) annulled, is shacked up with Katherine Howard (17). By this point in history, of course, Henry would've been hobbling around Hampton Court Palace in his XXXL Cozy Sovereign™ doublet, scratching his codpiece as he bemoaned the state of his ulcer. But this is The Tudors, so he doesn't. Instead, here's Henry in a state of miraculously preserved hotness, sculptured muscles throbbing and sizzling monarchal cheekbones glistening with sweat as he paws ceaselessly at his giggling bride.
Ah, Katherine. Poor Katherine. In an effort to demonstrate her extreme youth and fanciability, the nymphette (played by Tamzin Merchant) spends episode one sploshing around in mud, writhing gormlessly on petal-strewn sheets and tee-hee-hee-ing with her moronic coterie. At one point she dances in the rain in a transparent nightie while Henry looks on, squashing his beard lustfully against the bedroom window and going 'Hehehmmnnyeaaaah.' She's an idiot.
Plot-wise, it's all go. Henry orders the execution of everyone in the Tower. Courtier Thomas Culpepper develops a bewildering preoccupation with Katherine ('Picture her naked. Those breasts. Those THIGHS …') There are rumbles of discontent in France. The air is thick with exposition ('That's the Earl of Surrey. It is said he writes poetry ...')
It's sublimely stupid and ridiculously entertaining. 'Prithee', you think, as you watch Henry and Katherine having shouting sitting-down sex behind a gossamer curtain. 'Don't ever let this degenerate into some sort of proper drama with facts and issues and stuff.'
Elsewhere, Jonathan Rhys Meyers' can't act/won't act routine continues apace, his 'tormented hunk' shtick locked in mortal combat with a script that requires little more than scowling, snarling and the occasional quip about the virility of the French, for the purpose of period lulz. Interestingly, Meyers appears to have given up pretending to be English. Once, when the Irishman barked orders from somewhere within his vast royal jerkin, his jaw muscles would twitch manically with the effort of keeping his vowels tied to their moorings. But now he is Henry O'Tudor – his accent spreading across the script like hot Cork butter on a stale scone. It adds an additional note of intrigue to lines like 'I feel like a new man. Sex? GREAT MEDICINE.'
All is, then, as it should be. Welcome back, ye buffoons.
So where do you stand on The Tudors? Does the blatant historical liberty-taking yank your ruff? Or are you looking forward to another 10 episodes of stupefying dialogue, hammer-blow exposition, transparent nighties and shouting sitting-down sex behind gossamer curtains? Your thoughts below, kind lieges.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Crocodile swallows mobile phone
Crocodile gobbles up ringing mobile phone after device falls into reptile enclosure in Ukraine
The crocodile in Peter Pan happily went tick-tock after swallowing an alarm clock – but a crocodile in Ukraine has been a little less fortunate.
Gena, a 14-year-old crocodile at the Dnipropetrovsk Oceanarium, has been refusing food and acting listlessly after eating a mobile phone dropped by a woman trying to photograph her last month. The phone kept ringing inside the crocodile for some time.
Rimma Golovko, the phone's owner, says she wants her SIM card back because it contains her photographs and contacts.
The crocodile will be taken to a clinic for an X-ray next week to see if the phone is still there. Vets are considering surgery as a last resort.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Third of Zimbabwe voters 'are dead'
Electoral roll includes people up to 120 years old, report finds
Nearly a third of Zimbabwe's 5.5m registered voters are dead, research has found. Others appear to be up to 120 years old, improbably outstripping the country's average life expectancy of 43.
The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said the country's electoral roll was a 'shambles' and should be overhauled before fresh elections, which could be held this year.
A new electoral register is a key demand of the Movement for Democratic Change , which has accused President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party of counting 'ghost voters' in its own favour.
After conducting an audit of the roll, the ZESN reported that 27% of people registered to vote were dead.
'The computer test revealed that 2,344 people born between 1901 and 1909, therefore aged between 101 and 110 years, were on the voters' roll,' it said. 'Nine people born between 1890 and 1900, aged between 111 and 120 years, are registered voters.'
Life expectancy in Zimbabwe is 43 years, according to the World Health Organisation. Mugabe will soon turn 87.
The ZESN report found that 41% of voters had moved without updating their details.
About 52% of men were registered, compared with 48% of women. 'This is unusual considering there are more women in the country than men,' said the ZESN chair, Tino Bere. Young people were underrepresented, with only 18% registered. 'There ought to be a lot more than that,' Bere said.
The Zanu-PF government has been criticised for maintaining only paper editions of the register, which are harder to search and cross-check than electronic versions. 'The voters' roll needs to be available to the public and it needs to be available freely and easily,' Bere said.
The ZESN said the problems opened the way for 'double voting and other rigging intentions'.
Last year Tongai Matutu, an MP for the Movement for Democratic Change, claimed the roll contained 503 dead people – all of whom had supposedly been born on 1 January 1901.
He said the anomaly showed 'the extent to which the voters' roll represents the graveyard'.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
iPad 2 appears set for April with iPod Touch cameras
Expect to see Apple’s iPad 2 in April — a year after the original iPad hit store shelves — according to a report by Digitimes, who point out that Apple has also added five new printed circuit board (PCB) suppliers for the tablet.Additionally, there’s a chance that the iPad 2 will sport the same cameras being used in the most recent iPod Touch, 9to5 Mac reports.
Digitimes says that the new PCB suppliers will begin shipping “any-layer HDI” PCBs — a technique that leads to finer circuit patterns, which are ideal for phones and tablets — in small amounts between late February and early March, with mass shipments set to begin in April. The news fits in with a previous Digitimes report, that said Apple would begin shipping iPad 2s in February and have the device available for sale in April.
As for the camera news, all signs are definitely pointing to the iPad 2 having front and rear cameras, the real question now is what their resolution will be. If 9to5Mac’s information — which was dug up from an Apple developer kit — is to be believed, the iPad 2 will sport a VGA quality front-facing camera and a 1 megapixel rear camera. Those specs are about the same as what the current iPod Touch supports, which means that Apple may end up using the same camera components in the iPad 2.
News of a front-facing VGA camera isn’t all that unusual, though it is disappointing. The iPhone 4 features a similar VGA-quality front camera, but other tablets like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab feature higher quality 1 megapixel shooter. A rear 1 megapixel camera definitely seems too low — the Galaxy Tab offers a 3 megapixel rear camera.
I wouldn’t get too upset yet, as there’s a very good chance that the information 9to5Mac pulled hasn’t yet been updated with correct specifications for the iPad 2.
Tags: cameras, iOS, iPad, iPad 2, tablets
Companies: Apple
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