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Artifacts that once belonged to Mohandas K. Gandhi, the Indian independence leader who took a vow of poverty, could fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction.

A pair of sandals, a shawl, a drinking cup, Gandhi's will and various other documents associated with the leader are all up for auction. Guide prices range from 200 for "a rare British Parliament paper declaring Gandhi a terrorist" dating from 1932, to 40,000 for his will. A sample of Gandhi's blood is also on the auction block at Britain's Ludlow Racecourse in Shropshire.

This is not the first time that objects belonging to Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1948 less than a year after India gained independence from British rule, have gone up for auction. It's at least the sixth such auction since 1998, according to the BBC.

The BBC says:

"At numerous Gandhi auctions around the world over the past decade, the Indian government has insisted it should have the right of first refusal because the artifacts are a national treasure."

Arrested Development returning via Netflix? Just another old-media brand reviving itself on new media.

The TV show, which originally ran on Fox from 2003 to 2006 and unveils new episodes on Netflix next weekend, finds itself in splendid company. Radiohead, Louis C.K., Veronica Mars — all found their audiences with promotion and distribution from big studios and networks. Radiohead was signed to a major music label. Louis C.K. enjoyed HBO specials and TV shows. And Veronica Mars ran on two TV networks for three years.

But Radiohead defied industry norms in 2006 by selling its album In Rainbows directly to fans for whatever price they chose — and the band made millions. Louis C.K. took a similarly successful route with a comedy special in 2011, charging viewers five dollars to download the special online. And Veronica Mars fans contributed more than $5.7 million on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter — almost three times the stated goal — to pay for a movie adaptation.

Author Grady Hendrix says these models aren't exactly replicable. These are mid-list, old-media artists, not blockbuster celebrities. But their fan bases and name recognition furnishes them with a new-media edge that won't be shared, he says, "[by] some band from Cleveland that has a small following looking for Kickstarter funds for their album."

Inevitably, some old-media brands still manage to do it wrong. The blandly impersonal Kickstarter page of actress Melissa Joan Hart might as well have been written by a publicist's intern. The former star of Sabrina The Teenage Witch is soliciting funds for a new romantic comedy, but as Hendrix points out, with the slightest of smirks, "It's raised $50,000, and it's doing really badly."

On the other hand, a Kickstarter campaign from actor Zach Braff simply oozes kinship with fans. And they've rallied, giving more than $2.7 million to support a follow-up to his 2004 movie Garden State and surpassing his goal by hundreds of thousands of dollars. "There are shots of him and his brother and all these behind-the-scenes things," Hendrix notes," And you feel like, 'Hey, Zach Braff is going to answer my emails!'"

A sense of ownership and connection leads people to donate money to movies ultimately benefiting the major studios that make them. But it's important to recognize that Warner Brothers will still invest many millions in producing, distributing and promoting a Veronica Mars movie, even with Kickstarter's help.

And there could be more to come. Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities points out that rumors have swirled that late show Heroes might be resurrected by Microsoft as an Xbox exclusive. "And the only way you'll be able to watch," he says, "is on Xbox."

Giving still-grieving fans hope for new Xbox or Netflix episodes of their canceled darlings such as Caprica, Chuck or Firefly.

Pakistanis have coped with — even rioted — over the country's frequent power cuts. Now, the government is feeling the impact, too. The country's caretaker prime minister has banned air conditioners in government offices and instituted a dress code for civil servants. Among his recommendations: no socks.

"There shall be no more use of air conditioners in public offices till such time that substantial improvement in the energy situation takes place," according to a Cabinet directive, cited by Reuters.

The News newspaper reports:

"The dress code includes white or light coloured (beige, light grey, sky blue, off-white, cream) shirt/bush shirt (full-sleeved or half sleeved) with light coloured (as prescribed for shirt) trouser or shalwar kameez with waist coat, moccasins (shoes without laces) or sandals (shoes with straps) without socks."

The people of Portsmouth, England, on Monday turned out to bid farewell to the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, destined for a Turkish scrap yard after its decommissioning two years ago.

The Invincible class carrier was a victim of a 2010 defense review that recommended scrapping the vessel and selling its Harrier jump jets (they were subsequently sold to the U.S.). Ark Royal's sister ship, HMS Illustrious, is due to be decommissioned next year, and a new class of British carrier, designed to launch and recover the F-35 joint strike aircraft, won't come into service for nearly a decade.

The Daily Mail offers a bit of history on the vessel:

"HMS Ark Royal led UK naval forces during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and saw active service in Bosnia. The Invincible-class aircraft carrier was built by Swan Hunters in 1981 on the River Tyne and was named by Queen Elizabeth.

"Nearly 30 years later, the government then axed the famous warship in the 2010 Strategic Defense and Security Review. It is the most expensive warship built in the United Kingdom, costing a staggering 320million.

"There had been hopes HMS Ark Royal could be preserved as a museum ship, but the Ministry of Defense said she was in too poor a condition.

"Other proposals to reuse the ship included turning her into a commercial heliport, nightclub, school, or a casino."