Scuttlebutt Pipeline

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KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Officials at Nepal’s state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday.

Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks due the problem.

The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft Sunday at Nepal’s only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said.

“The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights,” said Raju K.C., a senior airline official, without explaining what the problem had been.

Local media last week blamed the company’s woes on an electrical fault. The carrier runs international flights to five cities in Asia.

It is common in Nepal to sacrifice animals like goats and buffaloes to appease different Hindu deities.

(source)

It seems really odd to even consider an animal sacrifice of being of any use when it comes to repairing technical and mechanical glitches, let alone two. But it is their belief that if a god becomes angered a sacrifice is necessary to appease him or her so it’s not that odd.

Although in our [Western] culture it does seem horribly odd and funny at the same time.

I’m sure PETA members are having epileptic fits over this though. But come on, if you were a god wouldn’t you be a bit pissed off at how the human creatures that inhabit your planet are screwing it up? If I were a Goddess, and not just of my blogs, I’d probably smite the human race.

Guess what, you can get out of it. No seriously, I kid you not. You can get out of the contract before the set time and without having to pay their ridiculous early termination fees either. How? By swapping out with Cellswapper, that’s how. Cellswapper allows you to “get out” of your wireless contract by having someone else take over it for you. This allows you to get a short term plan for your cell that has no activation fee (and should you wish) a free phone. How cool is that? I swear if I had known about this before my contract expired I would have done this!

I don’t know about you, but personally I’m a lazy person. Whenever it comes to traveling out of the country and making calls home or calling folks in Mexico I tend to just prefer suffering the indignity of the extra charges my cellphone will charge me. Calling cards, for the most part, are hassle as they require so many different pin numbers and unless you put a large amount of money on them, you don’t get much bang for your buck.

That may not necessarily be true with Pingo. Pingo.com prides itself in offering it’s users cheap international calling cards and has been ranked in the top 10 best international call carries for over three years now with more than 90% of their customers returning satisfied again and again.

Do you do quite a bit of international calling? If yes, then here is what you might be interested in hearing:

• RateWatcher - Free tool Pingo provides that will allow you to see if you really are getting the best international rates possible.
• Pingo Mobile - Users save up to 90% on international calls made on your cell phone
• Affiliate Program - Pingo offers a calling card affiliate program that pays $15 for each new customer that you refer.
• $5 Sign-up bonus - When you sign up Pingo will give you an automatic $5 free which is the equivalent of four free international call hours.
• PINpass - Eliminates one of the biggest hassles of calling cards and allows users pin-less dialing.

Despite my general dislike of calling cards I’ve found them to be necessary, especially when traveling abroad. In France I found them to be invaluable but I was always disconcerted with how fast the money ran out. Pingo’s rates are lower than what I remember my calling cards to be, which is a big plus. The added bonus of no extra charges and fees make this service worth checking out.

It’s never ceased to amaze me whenever I walk into a gaming store just how few females I see in the store let alone running it. Most of the time I have this small sense “you don’t belong” but I tend to ignore it and do my own thing regardless. That’s my nature.

“Women are playing games now, in part because computers are much more part of our lives,” says Bradshaw. “Games are redefining themselves.”

So what difference does it make if the people who make those games are overwhelmingly white, male and young?

“Because everyone out there experiences games differently,” says Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom, senior producer at Harmonix Music Systems, the company that created the “Guitar Hero” franchise. “If you have a diverse team, you can create a game that satisfies a much wider audience than if you have a homogeneous team.”

Ten years ago, reaching a wide audience wouldn’t have even made the radar at most game companies. Back then, the industry was content to target the same crowd it always had — males aged 18 to 35. With few exceptions, developers churned out titles that were heavy on gunplay, blood sport and hyper-sexualized female characters. Even Lara Croft, star of the hugely successful “Tomb Raider” franchise, was as well-known for her outsize assets as her ability to kick ass.

(full article)

Do you think the changing game scene is for the better or the worse?

Security measures sometimes necessitate the use of camera systems in order to make certain people are not where they’re supposed to be, doing what they should or or shouldn’t be doing, and for just general C.Y.A purposes. Of course not all camera are large and bulky and scream “security camera” and certainly you’re not limited to using these cool toys for just commercial purposes either. What about leisure? You’d be surprised the things that happen when you have a hidden camera rolling and you’re not in the room. I can’t tell you how many times someone in our family has left a video camera on and lying around in plain sight; the things we’ll see are always hysterical.

But perhaps you need something a little more covert. Any secret/shadow shoppers reading this? If so and you are serious about working as a secret shopper you might be interested in checking out this PAK-724, which is a wireless and tiny spy camera. The PAK-724 allows you to capture colour video and audio from up to 75m away. To top it off you can output it to a tv, vcr, or dvr for viewing and recording ease.

The PAK-724 also has a built in 2.4GHz transmitter to send the video and or audio signal back to the receiver. The PAK-724 spy camera can be powered by either an 8v adapter or from a 9v PP3 battery, which will last approximately 3-4hrs.

There is a good selection to choose from of other suitable cameras that would fill this need as well. So if you feel the PAK-724 doesn’t quite fit the bill for what you need you’re more than likely to find something else that will. For more great finds you should shop and compare at Pakatak.co.uk. The site’s layout is easy to use and navigate though some of the product descriptions can be heavily loaded with technical jargon. So if you’re new to the scene you may need to find a translator.