Yearly Archives: 2014

Business, International, Technology

FORGET ‘THROWBACK THURSDAYS,’ AT&T ANNOUNCES ‘FREE FRIDAYS’

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ATTDallas, Texas (The Adobo Chronicles) – America-based AT&T is the world’s second largest telecommunications company with a market value in excess of $200 Billion. With over 105 million subscribers around the world and nearly a quarter million employees, AT&T has subsidiaries like AT&T Corp, AT&T Mobility, BellSouth, Southwestern Bell and AT&T Teleholdings.

The Board of Directors, meeting in the AT&T headquarters in Dallas, Texas, had a ‘coming to Jesus’ moment and unanimously approved to roll out an ambitious plan that would greatly benefit its current and future subscribers.  AT&T is calling it ‘Free Fridays.’

Effective Friday, May 2, 2014, subscribers can call anyone anywhere in the world for free any time from 12:00 am till 11:59 pm every Friday.  The Board of Directors declined to disclose what this new program will cost the company and its stockholders, but it said that it is part of its commitment to give back to its customers.

In order to avail of the no-charge calls, customers will need a unique code that will be included with their next monthly statement.

AT&T subscribers immediately hailed the announcement while thousands of Verizon, Sprint and other telecom subscribers have flooded the toll-free lines of these companies to cancel their service in order to switch to AT&T.

 

 

International, Law Enforcement, Politics, The Media

LACK OF QUORUM IN PHILIPPINE SENATE MAY LEAD TO CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

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Philippine Senator Nancy Binay
Philippine Senator Nancy Binay

Manila, Philippines  (The Adobo Chronicles) – Article VI, Section 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that the Senate shall be composed of 24 senators who shall be elected at-large by the qualified voters of the Philippines. This makes junior Senator Nancy Binay extremely worried in light of the ongoing investigation of the pork barrel scam that siphoned 10 Billion pesos in taxpayer money into bogus nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)  and ghost pet projects of elected officials.

Disclosures by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Presidential Assistant Panfilo Lacson indicate that Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel scam, has written affidavits implicating more than a dozen senators.

“So what happens if more than half of the senators are charged and indicted as a result of the investigation? The Senate will not have a quorum and not be able to function according to its constitutional mandate,” Binay said in fluent Tagalog.

In order to avert this potential constitutional crisis, Binay proposed that all 24 senators – implicated in the scam or not –  execute a power of attorney designating either their spouse, partner , sibling or child as their proxy. “This way, Binay said, the Senate can continue to function and take care of the many problems facing our country.”

From all indications, Binay is not among the senators implicated in the pork barrel scam.

Constitutuonal crisis averted!

Business, Human Interest, International, Politics, Technology, The Media, Travel

OBAMA FACES DIPLOMATIC STANDOFF IN JAPAN

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bow_apTokyo, Japan –  Barack Obama faced the most embarrassing diplomatic standoff to date in his years as U.S. President. It happened during his visit to Japan, the first leg of his multi-nation tour of Asia.

Obama’s advisers sure did a good job in briefing him about Japanese culture and etiquette, so the president knew that a “bow” was the appropriate greeting when meeting with dignitaries and the Japanese people.  So when he was introduced to Asimo, the robot at Miraikan, Japan’s major science center located in Daiba, Tokyo, he did what he was supposed to do: bow his head.  To his surprise, Asimo didn’t return his bow, but instead offered its robotic arm looking for a handshake, the American way of greeting.  Obama froze and didn’t know what to do. And neither did Asimo.

The rest is history.  The meeting has now been dubbed as the worst diplomatic standoff ever encountered by a sitting U.S. president.

To diffuse the awkward situation, officials at Miraikan asked Asimo to demonstrate to the distinguished visitor its running and soccer skills, and Obama was quite impressed although he admitted he was a little “scared.”

Want an oxygen mask? That would be $50 extra!