news bits

Being a certified couch potato, i've picked up a few interesting reports from tv over the last couple of days. Let me share them with you.

The Digital Fight
(Euronews)

HD DVD will soon be out of the market coz it’s developer, Toshiba, has thrown in the towel in it’s fight with Sony's Blu Ray. Which means, we will no longer have a choice and instead have to contend with just one media storage format available in the future.

It also gives Sony monopoly of the market which, of course, is bad for the consumers. No competition means stranglehold on the buying public.

The report didn’t mention what will be the immediate effect of this on HD DVD units currently attached to our computers and other video machines. I also wonder what happens to our HD-ready plasma Tv?

Toshiba said they will maintain after sales support to units already purchased. But I wonder for how long? Eventually you’ll have to change formats and this means you have to spend, once again, some thousands of dollars just to update your media format.

This is bad news for people who are very much into digital technology. Like most of my friends are. Good thing i'm not!

Stealing Thunder
(Al-Jazeera news)

So the Philippine government is currently embroiled in corruption charges. But some African countries are actually stealing the thunder from us.

Heads of five African countries including Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Gabon and Congo Brazzaville, are reported to have purchased prime real estate properties in Paris worth millions of euros along with numerous luxury cars including Ferraris. These purchases are charged directly to their nation’s coffers according to documents dug up by the NGOs and anti-corruption agents that initiated the investigation.

For countries with economies worse than the Philippines, this is something very, very appalling. I can’t help but think of the famine that has consistently plagued these countries while their leaders obviously live their lives in excess. Something we, Filipinos, can truly empathize with.

I hope UN will come up with some measure to prevent corruption especially in poor countries. It should be considered a crime to humanity and perpetrators of this crime should be hanged. No bail, pardon or clemency recommended.

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A Different Pre-Nup
(News at Dubai One Tv)

UAE recently announced a directive that men and women who are getting married are required to go through a pre-wedding medical examination. Yup, you heard it right. Pre-nuptial medical examination!

The report was delivered immediately after a story about the deformities of children in UAE. I just didn’t catch the transition of the reports so I’m not sure if the requirement for medical examination is directly linked to the deformities.

But come to think of it, what happens if one of the couple fails the exam? What if the guy has signs of heart disease? Or the girl is showing signs of breast cancer? Can this be grounds to call the wedding off?

If it is so, then only healthy and fit people can get a husband/wife. Well, we’d better hit the gym. Right away! Hahaha!