Archive for the ‘Business class’ Category
Romance
Katy Perry Down on Rihanna for Dating Chris Brown.
Katy Perry and Rihanna were once BFFs, but now, a man reportedly has come between them: Chris Brown.
Us Weekly reported that because of Rihanna’s rekindled romance with Chris, their friendship isn’t what it used to be.“They aren’t tight anymore because Katy doesn’t approve of Rihanna dating Chris,” an insider told the magazine.
At the Grammy Awards last Sunday, Perry, 28, and boyfriend John Mayer, 35, were sitting in the front row, while Rihanna and Brown were sitting in another part of the audience. At past Grammys, the two girls had sat right next to one another.It was also recently reported that Rihanna had fallen out with Perry because she didn’t approve of Perry dating known womanizer Mayer. When asked about this by Rolling Stone magazine, Rihanna dismissed the report, and laughed, “Katy Perry can date anyone she wants. Besides, who the f*** am I to say anything? I could never given relationship advice to anybody!”
One of the most talked about moments of this year’s Grammys was when Brown, 23, and Rihanna, 24, were spotted smiling and cuddling. The two walked the red carpet separately but once inside the Staples Center, they got cozy, when Rihanna, decked out in a red dress, photographed leaning her head on Brown’s shoulder with a huge smile. The two lovebirds have come a long way in just four years.
On the eve of the 2009 Grammys, Brown assaulted Rihanna, whose bruised face became a tabloid fixture. Brown showed up to a court appearance Feb. 6 in Los Angeles on issues related to his probation with Rihanna by his side.In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Rihanna said public opinion doesn’t matter.
“I wasn’t going to let anybody’s opinion get in the way of that. Even if it’s a mistake, it’s my mistake,” Rihanna told the magazine, out Friday. “After being tormented for so many years, being angry and dark, I’d rather just live my truth and take the backlash. I can handle it.“When you add up the pieces from the outside, it’s not the cutest puzzle in the world,” she says. “But it’s different now.”
Refreshing
Brad Pitt gave Angelina Jolie breath mints for Valentine’s Day.
How refreshing?
The stunning Angelina Jolie received breath mints for Valentine’s Day from Brad Pitt, her man of eight years, according to Us Weekly.
It wasn’t just an Altoid or a Tic-Tac, though. Jolie was allegedly presented with an Eatwhatever – a breath-freshening product that includes a swallowable gel cap and a mint to suck on. It’s also vegan, gluten-free and sugar-free.
The gift was intended as a loving joke because “he always teases her that she has bad breath,” a source told the magazine.
“It’s a joke gift,” the source insisted. “He’ll also get her something more serious.”Hopefully he came up with something good for lovers’ holiday — Jolie has a pretty impressive track record of presents to her beau.
In 2011, she reportedly showered her fiancé/father of their six children with gifts like a diamond pendant worth six-figures engraved with a microscopic love note. For Pitt’s birthday/Christmas gift last year, he was reportedly surprised with an actual California waterfall where they plan to build a house above. For Valentine’s 2010, the “Fight Club” star reportedly received helicopter and flying lessons that totaled $1.6 million.
Financial markets
Why online dating services are like financial markets (and not just because you might get lucky).
It is Valentine’s Day, an occasion for romance, for the celebration of the magical connection two people share when Cupid’s arrow strikes and true love blossoms.
But this is Wonkblog, and we won’t have any of that. Instead, we will explain a little bit about the economics of love—and specifically, what dating has in common with financial transactions.Think of it this way. In a dating marketplace, everyone is trying to get the best match they can find. Somehow, as millions of people each pursue their own best interest, mutually beneficial arrangements result. It is not unlike when buyers and sellers, each pursuing their best interest, come together in a marketplace.
Online dating is for relationships what modern, electronic financial markets are for people trading stocks or bonds. Those looking to buy and sell financial assets once crowded onto the streets of Lower Manhattan or the City of London, all coming to one place to engage in trade. Those are the equivalent of the bars that singles traditionally go to meet other singles.
Business class
Japan, Australia in hot water over gender discrimination.
Japan and Australia are under fire after complaints that male Olympic athletes flew business class to London, while the women sat in the cheap seats. Japan’s world champion women’s football team took exception to flying economy while their male counterparts sat in business class on a flight to Europe for the Olympics. The Japan Football Association said the men flew in business because they are professionals.
The women’s team was assigned seats in premium economy for the 13-hour flight to Paris while the nation’s under-23 men’s team was up front on the same flight.
“It should have been the other way around,” 2011 Fifa women’s world player of the year Homare Sawa told Japanese media after arriving in the French capital. “Even just in terms of age we are senior.”
Basketball Australia says it will review its travel policy for national teams after complaints that the men flew business class to the Olympics while most of the women sat in premium economy.
The women’s team is by far the most successful of the two, having won silver medals at the last three Olympics. The men, who will be led in London by San Antonio Spurs point guard Patty Mills, have never won an Olympic medal.
On Friday, the sport’s national governing body said it would “review our Olympic travel policy with the goal of ensuring there is equity between travel arrangements for the men’s and women’s teams attending future Olympics.”
First class.
The Opals’ most-famous player, though, was not in economy: Seattle WNBA star Lauren Jackson was in first class because she is an “ambassador” with the airline involved. And another WNBA player, Liz Cambage, paid to upgrade herself to business class.
In a statement on Friday, Basketball Australia acting chief executive Scott Derwin said the “policy around budgets for each national team gives the leadership group of those teams some discretion over how their funds are spent – and that includes travel arrangements.
“We should bear in mind that in fact, historically, more funding has been directed towards the Opals. But the simple fact is when a policy results in gender inequality, it’s very clearly not the right policy.”
Incoming BA chief executive Kristina Keneally, a former state political leader of New South Wales, will start in her new role on Aug. 4. She said Friday she welcomed the travel policy review.
“In this day and age, there’s just no excuse for men’s and women’s sporting teams to be treated differently when they both compete at the same world-class level,” Keneally said. “The disparity is even more glaring when you consider that our women’s basketball team is one of the best in the world.”
Travel subsidy.
In London, Australian chef de mission Nick Green said the Australian Olympic Committee provides return economy airfares for all team members with the official airline sponsor.
“We’re comfortable for the sports to look after their athletes,” Green said. “We give them the travel subsidy to travel … and the sports themselves determine how they use that.”
Other Australian Olympic teams also fly economy, but some organisations, like Swimming Australia, give its athletes the option to upgrade to business class at their own expense.
Former Australian women’s basketball captain Robyn Maher said the Australian women’s team had repeatedly asked Basketball Australia to justify the inequity.
“Over the years it’s been a multitude of [reasons given] – the men get better funding, so they’ve been able to do it; the men are bigger so they need more space,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s been a bit of a sore spot, especially since the women are much more successful.”
Olympics
2012 Olympics: Australia, Japan Criticized For Olympian Gender Discrimination
Australia — Men up front, women in the back.
Not so fast, Olympians.Sports governing bodies from Japan and Australia are being skewered following complaints that male Olympic athletes flew business class to the London Games, while the women sat in the cheap seats.
Japan’s world champion women’s football team took exception to flying economy while their male counterparts sat in business en route to the games.
“It should have been the other way around,” Japanese soccer star Homare Sawa, the 2011 FIFA women’s world player of the year, said after arriving in Paris after the 13-hour flight, with just the short hop to London left. “Even just in terms of age we are senior.”
The Japan Football Association said the men’s under-23 Olympic team members flew in business class because they are professionals. The women, however, are likely be the bigger draw at the games. Only months after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan last year, they brought a sliver of joy to their country by winning their first World Cup title.
The Australian women’s basketball team has also been more successful than the men, earning the silver medal at each of the last three Olympics.
On Friday, Basketball Australia said it would make sure the flight flap doesn’t happen again.”(We will) review our Olympic travel policy with the goal of ensuring there is equity between travel arrangements for the men’s and women’s teams attending future Olympics,” the basketball governing body said in a statement.