Barack Obama forced to apologize after calling California Attorney General ‘good looking’

President Barack Obama apologized to California Attorney General Kamala Harris “for the distraction created” when he remarked on her appearance at a San Francisco- area fundraiser. Obama called Harris following his return to Washington and after his remarks generated criticism on social media and from political opponents. “He did not want in any way to diminish the attorney general’s professional accomplishments and her capabilities,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said yesterday. At the last stop of a fundraising swing in California on April 4, Obama singled out Harris at the home of Levi Strauss heir John Goldman, praising her brilliance and dedication. “She also happens to be by far the best-looking attorney general in the country,” the president said, prompting laughter from the crowd. “It’s true, come on.” In his call to Harris, Obama “apologized for creating this distraction,” Carney said, adding that the president “believes very strongly that Attorney General Harris is an excellent attorney general and that she’s done great work, and she’s dedicated and tough and brilliant.”

Groundhog charged with delaying spring

Here's an item relevant to our snowy April: a prosecutor in the US has charged Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who "officially" predicts the coming of spring (or not) every 2 February, "Groundhog Day," with getting it wrong this year. Apparently Phil came out, did not see his shadow, and therefore led everyone to think that spring would arrive soon. (Here is an explanation of this tradition.) The joke is that the prosecutor in question went to the trouble of drawing up a bill of indictment in formal legal language, just like you would in charging a criminal. There's also a bit of friendly interstate rivalry here, since "Phil" is a famous attraction in his town in Pennsylvania -- in fact, that's all this town with the unpronounceable name is known for -- while the prosecutor is across the state line in Ohio. (And apparently in a county where there's little enough real crime that he has time to indict groundhogs!)

A movie that came out 20 years ago, Groundhog Day, turned this odd tradition into a romantic comedy. The story is set in Punxsutawney, where an arrogant TV weatherman who is sent there to report on the groundhog's appearance finds that he is repeating the day over and over. The movie then tells the story of his various ways of dealing with this and trying to get himself out of his peculiar time warp. It's a clever film, a pretty good comedy and, I would say, a "minor classic" in that it's still well-remembered and well-regarded two decades later. There are sites where it can be watched online, for instance here.

Living on British-made goods

The Bradshaw family are on a mission to see whether they can survive for a year buying only British-made goods. Initially they struggled to find everyday items, like nappies, batteries and even British-made clothes. But after extensive research online and help from thousands of followers on social media James and Emily Bradshaw have been genuinely surprised by how much is still made in Britain. The one thing that has really disappointed them concerns their son Lucan. There just isn't much of a British toy industry.

British manufacturing has been in long-term decline for decades. Even though the cost of producing goods in developing countries is on the rise, it is still, in most cases, far cheaper to make things abroad.

"If we can come back to manufacturing things here and we put more value on to what it is that has been manufactured, then there is a message there - that it's not just how much it costs to make but what it's actually worth." It may sound idealistic, but this is the start of the Bradshaws' plan to get more people to follow their lead and buy British.

It's not just about Britain, is it? I'd say it's a global or at least european problem. What do you think?

Can Google intervene in the language use?

According to the latest news, objections from Google have forced the removal of the word "ungoogleable" from a list of new Swedish words. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21944834)

More precisely, the objections were aimed against its definition - the language watchdog defines "ungoogleable" (or "ogooglebar" in Swedish) as something that cannot be found with any search engine.
But Google wanted the meaning to relate only to Google searches.

A statement on the Language Council of Sweden's website, asks: "Who decides language? We do, language users. We decide together which words should be and how they are defined, used and spelled."
In response, a Google spokesperson told the BBC: "While Google, like many businesses, takes routine steps to protect our trademark, we are pleased that users connect the Google name with great search results."

So be carefull when using the word "ungoogleable" or to "google" something (espccially those who use different search engine).

New revolution in airline business?

It seems that a new revolution is starting in the field of flying. Small airline company Samoa Air has started to charge passangers by weight (http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2013/04/02/small-island-airline-starts-charging-fliers-by-weight/2045571/). It means that they will no longer pay for a seat, but they will be charged a fixed price per kilogram, which will vary according to the length of the route.
The company says that this way of charging is especially advantageous for families who travel with small children because they will no longer have to pay the same price as the adult.
Some people claim that it will also draw attention to obesity problem (by the way Samoa has quite large obesity level).
What do you think? Would you prefer this way of charging for your flight? Or do you think that it is a discrimination towards overweight people? Maybe America will also proceed to this system soon as there are also some problems with obesity...

Happy April Fool's Day !!

Do you like playing tricks on friends or relatives? Do it today! Surely, you know the feeling of being surprised or shocked by an unbelievable story. Personally, I love playing tricks on people especially on Fool's Day and watching the reactions and the expressions on people's faces. Here you can see the best April Fool's Day jokes from the press and the web. Some of them are interesting at least :)http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2013/apr/01/april-fools-jokes-2013-the-best-on-the-web