Losers road trip with a goat, needle-free medicine and tennis history

- Needles suck. Well, unless you’re a hopelessly addicted junkie in search of his or her next fix, in which case needles as supposedly your friend. But for everyone else, needles are to be avoided at all costs. The wicked-smaht folks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology know this and they are working to offer a viable alternative. A research team at MIT has engineered a new device that can deliver medications without using a needle by creating a high-pressure jet of medicine. Their jet injection device can squirt the medication directly through the skin into the body without needing to puncture with a needle. That may seem suspiciously like a needle and possibly just as painful, but let’s give the MIT scientists a chance before dismissing their idea. This device can be programmed to deliver a range of medication doses at various depths, representing a significant improvement over jet injection systems that are available right now. Why is its range of depths for medicine delivery so important? Because different medications have to be delivered at different depths within the body to function, of course. Some medications must be injected directly into the muscle to work, while others need to be deposited in the fatty tissue rather than muscle. Not only would removing needles from the equation lead to fewer people putting off doctor’s appointments for fear of sharp, pointy metal objects, but this device would also make medical workers much less likely to accidentally poke themselves with a dirty needle. Extrapolating further, the needle-free system would also be useful for patients for have to routinely deliver medications to themselves in the home, such as diabetics. The MIT jet injector is built around a mechanism called a Lorentz-force actuator. It is a small, powerful magnet surrounded by a coil of wire with a piston attached inside the drug ampoule. The device delivers the medication at a high level of pressure and very near the speed of sound in air. That in no way sounds painful…….

- There is nothing neutral about this one. Swiss tennis star Roger Federer, who was the best player in men’s tennis from 2003-10, is still one of the best in the sport and he made history Monday at Roland Garros, winning his first-round matchup with Tobias Kamke of Germany at the French Open. With the win, Federer tied Jimmy Connors' Open era record of 233 Grand Slam match wins. Federer owns a record 16 major championships, even though he has gone more than two years without a major title -- his longest drought since winning his first at Wimbledon in 2003. He is 233-35 at tennis' top four tournaments, a .869 winning percentage, besting Connors’ record of 233-49. The Open era began in 1968, so Federer’s feat is an impressive one and he knows it. That's a big one, because that was longevity," Federer said. "Jimmy is obviously one of the greats of all time and was around for 20 years." Setting the mark wasn’t exactly a Herculean effort against Kamke, who fell to 6-10 at Grand Slams, never advancing past the third round. Federer left no doubt, thumping him 6-2, 7-5, 6-3. Many experts and analysts have all but put Federer out to pasture after he turned 30 last August. He is now attempting to become the first man that old to win a Grand Slam tournament since Andre Agassi was 32 at the 2003 Australian Open. Doing so will mean besting younger, quicker rivals and clay court superiors Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic…………

- No one gave Bruce Willis the memo. Either that or Willis is a veteran actor and a bonafide A-lister who knows how to promote the umpteenth sequel of a movie franhcise that has stayed alive for two decades, but either way, he’s selling the fifth installment in the “Die Hard” series like a pro. Willis will reprise his role as renegade police officer/all-around badass John McClane for a fifth time in the forthcoming film “A Good Day To Die Hard.” The movie, which is scheduled for release on February 14, 2013, focused on McClane traveling to Russia to come to the aid of his son, John McClane, Jr. Willis insists he’s not making the movie just to make it or because of the huge payday, but rather because he still wants to make a “Die Hard” film as good as the original, which came out in 1988. Since McClane took down a German terrorist group led by the immortal Hans Gruber at Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles, Fox has cranked out three more installments in the series and yet, Willis insists his standards for the role are as high as ever. "I'm still trying to do as good a film as the first one. I like playing that character. There will come a time where I won’t be able to do it anymore, but it's still fun to do. I still get a kick out of it, I have a fun job," he said. In between now and Feb. 14, Willis will also star in Wes Anderson's comedy “Moonrise Kingdom,” which received its premiere at Cannes. After that, it’s time to hit the gym and get in shape to play one of the best action heroes of modern cinema……..

- On this Memorial Day, it’s worth noting that as f’ed up as the U.S. Constitution may seem at times as Americans attempt to interpret and understand it, the salient point to remember is that we at least have a constitution. The good people of Nepal cannot say that at the moment, not after the country’s leaders dissolved its four-year-old Constituent Assembly at midnight Sunday and set new elections after political parties failed to agree on the model of federalism the country should adopt in a new constitution. The news came down in a televised midnight address to the nation by Baburam Bhattarai, prime minister of Nepal's Maoist-led national government. Bhattarai announced that the government has set Nov. 22 as the date for fresh elections to a new Constituent Assembly. "We tried our best to save the Constituent Assembly but we failed,” Bhattarai said. "There was no alternative to fresh elections to collect the people's mandate.” Oh good, another political crisis for the tiny Himalayan nation. How the a 601-member Constituent Assembly, which also worked as its parliament, could not come up with a new constitution in four years is beyond comprehension. Worse still, the assembly was elected in April 2008 following a popular revolution against the monarchy in the spring of 2006. It was part of the United Nations-backed peace process that brought former Maoist rebels into the government after a decade-long civil war in which more than 13,000 people died. Four years later, the economy is tanking and the country is torn by war. The assembly failed on its mandate to write a new constitution to establish a federal democratic republic despite having its original deadline of May 28, 2010, extended four times. The key issues continue to be how many federal states the country should have and whether they should be based on the ethnicity of people in that state or geographical features. Nepal's Supreme Court ruled in November that the parties could not extend the term of the Constituent Assembly any further and so here we are. Protestors marked the deadline outside the Constituent Assembly complex in Katmandu, the capital, by clashing with police. Whoever comes up with the new constitution will have to unite a multiethnic and multilingual nation deeply rooted in feudalism, inequity and the caste system. Volunteers can hop a flight to Kathmandu and get to work…….

- Superstitious losers: America has them in spades. A group of them recently spent three months walking halfway across the country with a billy goat in an attempt to break a supposed cursed hanging over the heads of Major League Baseball’s most snakebitten franchise. The five hikers and their four-legged companion left Mesa, Ariz., on Feb. 25 - the birth date of Chicago Cubs legend Ron Santo. Since departing the Cubs’ spring training home, they have walked 20 to 25 miles a day to reach Wrigley Field on Memorial Day. The "Crack the Curse" walk has covered some 1,300 miles and its only saving grace from total loser-dom is a charitable component of the journey. Kyle Townsend, Blake Ferrell, Matt Gregory, P.J. Fisher and Philip Aldrich are also raising funds for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, which provided care to one of Gregory’s mother. Were it not for that noble aspect of the trip, these five tools would merely have trudged 1,300 miles with an ill-tempered, IQ-deprived quadruped in a futile attempt to lift a non-existent curse. They insist the responses they have received along the way have been positive. "Great responses from everybody. I mean, we were in St. Louis, and we got a great response there, people in St. Louis were great - even though they're Cardinals fans, everybody's been really great to us," Ferrell said. If the first third of the season is any indication, their effort have failed. The Cubs are riding a 12-game losing streak, holding down last place in the National League Central and tied for the worst record in baseball. Financially, the goal of the walk is to raise $100,000, but the group is presently well short of the mark. The goat has been the laziest participant in the trek, walking just five to 10 miles a day while being pushed the rest of the way in an animal carriage. It’s only fair, though, as the goat is also the only one who didn’t verbally commit to the trip. Its name is Wrigley, fittingly, and it was purchased off Craigslist. So where did this kooky idea originate? All five men worked last year at a resort in Denali National Park in Alaska and with all but Fisher being huge Cubs fans, they decided to overturn the supposed "Curse of the Billy Goat" that went into effect during the Cubs' last appearance in the World Series in 1945, when Billy Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, was asked to take his goat and leave a game against the Detroit Tigers because the animal's odor was troubling fans. Sianis allegedly responded  "Them Cubs, they aren't gonna win no more.” Since then, the Cubs haven’t won a World Series. Of course, they also didn’t win one from 1908 to 1945, before all of the goat drama. Now, some 67 years later, a group of idiots are trying to lift the curse with their loads of free time to use………

The butler really did it, movie news and bickering MLB managers

- Those who wanted to see someone topple the box office juggernaut that has been “The Avengers” through its first three weeks of release and don’t care which contender defeats it, you all can celebrate. Those who would prefer than a bloated, wretchedly excessive and completely indefensible third installment of a movie franchise that wasn’t very good to begin with not be the conquering hero…….sucks for you. “MIB 3” was the movie that defeat the superhero six-pack, debuting with $55 million to best “Avengers.” Don’t feel too bad for “Avengers,” though; it was second with $37 million and has made $513.7 million in cumulative domestic earnings thus far. The sinking disaster that is “Battleship” fell 58 percent and finished third in its second weekend, making a mere $10.8 million to put its two-week tally at $44.3 million against a $209 million budget. Sacha Baron Cohen’s “The Dictator” landed in fourth with $9.6 million and has raked in $42 million in domestic earnings so far. The holiday weekend was not a good launch point for the horror film “Chernobyl Diaries,” which opened with a lackluster $8 million effort. “Dark Shadows” wasn’t far behind in sixth place, making $7.5 million to elevate its three-week haul to $63 million. Continuing on the topic of underperforming movies, “What to Expect When You're Expecting” was seventh with $7.2 million and has earned just $22.1 million so far. “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” had more success in limited release, adding 879 theaters and using that added exposure to make $6.4 million for an eighth-place finish. In four weeks of limited release, the movie has earned $16.5 million. “The Hunger Games” slid to ninth, its lowest finish yet, with $2.7 million and has made $395.2 million in 10 weeks of release. The insufferably bad “Think Like a Man” rounded out the top 10 with a meager take of $1.4 million, while “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” (No. 11) and “The Lucky One” (No. 13) dropped out from last week’s top 10………

- Humans need lights to see where they’re going, especially in places like the road they drive down to get home or work. Without lights, visibility becomes a bit of an issue. But do any of us stop to think about the impact streetlights have on the ecology of ground-dwelling invertebrates and insects? The topic usually falls somewhere in between women’s soccer and the socioeconomic hierarchy of villagers in rural Africa on the ol’ thought scale, but a research team led by Dr. Thomas Davies of the University of Exeter chose to stop ignoring the issue and dug in to see what they could learn. Davies and his colleagues set 28 traps in Helston in Cornwall, England and trapped nearly 1,200 of the animals in areas under and between streetlights. Not surprisingly, they found that invertebrate predators and scavengers were more common near the lights, even during the day. While recent studies have focused on the effects that streetlights can have on local, transient populations of bugs, no research had been done on the lights’ impact on invertebrates on the ground. Davies and his team placed some of their traps under streetlights and others in dark regions midway between them, over a three-night period. When they compared their catches, they generally found a higher number of animals were trapped near the lights. However, the relative proportions of predators and scavengers such as beetles and harvestmen were significantly different, with a higher proportion being found near the lights - even during the day. "This study now seems to be indicating that those transient, nocturnal effects on the behavior of the animals are actually being translated into the habitat preferences of the animals in the daytime as well," Davies said. "It's amazing how long we've been using street lighting and artificial lighting, and how little research has been done on the impact of those lights on the environment." Why does any of this matter? According to Davies, his team and their finds that were published in the journal Biology Letters, the impact of street lights on invertebrate communities could be important because such species are vital for a number of ecosystem services such as pollination and the breakdown of organic matter. As usual, more research is necessary………

- Bobby Valentine has brought plenty of fight to the Boston Red Sox since taking over as manager this past offseason. Unfortunately for Valentine and his team, that fight hasn’t translated into wins and the mighty Red Sox are mired in last place in the American League East, behind perennial doormats Baltimore and also-ran Toronto. Valentine has been as advertised, ripping the archrival Yankees at every turn and even turning his bile on his own team at times. Saturday, his rage was directed at Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon, who criticized Valentine’s coaching staff for its role in a bench-clearing scrum Friday night in the opener of a three-game series between the teams. The altercation started in the top of the ninth inning after Red Sox reliever Franklin Morales drilled Rays batter Luke Scott. No players were ejected, but the two coaching staffs went at each other during a typical “all bluster, no actual fighting” baseball fight. A livid Maddon said after the game he believed there was a "hit" put out on Scott and called the Red Sox coaching staff "cowardly" and "weak" for the way it acted. Having his team accused of such chicanery pissed off Valentine, who returned fire on Saturday. In return, he blasted Rays coaches for allegedly aggravating the situation and acting unprofessional, immature and out of control. "I thought their coaches were really aggressive," Valentine said. "As a matter of fact, I took offense to the aggressiveness of their coaches. I thought it was very unprofessional and I really was proud of the way my coaches were trying to do what they were supposed to do in those situations. [Tampa's coaches] seemed very immature and out of control." Red Sox coaches noted some inappropriate things Rays coaches said to Valentine during the no-fighting brawl. Both coaches amped up their rhetoric when given the chance and Maddon threw some verbal haymakers of his own. “Quite frankly, I think it was ridiculous, and I think it's absurd, idiotic. I'll use all those different words," Maddon fumed. Of course, he backed down when given a chance to pile on further the next day, attempting to focus on how much respect he has for the Red Sox…..players, that is. In return, Valentine made a fuss over how much he actually likes Maddon. The niceness was nausea inducing, so hopefully the two skippers will get back to fighting soon……….

- Am I missing the problem here? Even if charges that Marylou's Coffee, a chain based in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, operates under the policy of hiring only hot, young female employees, why is that a problem? Yes, one could argue that the policy would be discriminatory toward men, ugly women and older women, but there is an opposing school of thought and it doesn’t have to be a sexist, lecherous one. Just think of the baristas at most large chain coffee shops, no names mentioned Starbucks. Piercings abound, spiky ‘dos are common and the superior attitude is common. Oh, and all of this is predicated around overpriced coffee and coffee-like products for trendy tools who love to boast about their affinity for said coffee chain, again, no names mentioned. Shouldn’t there be an alternative and assuming one agrees with that premise, why shouldn’t that alternative be staffed by hot chicks in snugly fitting pink t-shirts and black shorts? Are men, overweight individuals of both ages and all genders and older people really that fired up about the chance to dress in the aforementioned outfit and serve coffee and cappuccino to customers? Apparently so, because the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is looking into claims about Marylou's Coffee’s hiring practices. In Marylou’s Coffees defense, it doesn’t exactly hide what it is all about. The company is known for its hiring of younger women and features them singing and dancing in its television commercials. When questioned about the controversy, a spokesperson denied the allegations. Qualifications begin and end with a winning personality and a passion for customer service,” the spokesperson insisted. Sounds good enough and in no way a lie, so let’s just keep moving…………

- Have at it, headline writers. Break out your best variations on, “The butler did it.” In a scandal custom-made for those who like cheeky headlines and easy quips, the growing drama over leaked Vatican documents swerved in a decidedly theatrical direction Saturday with confirmation that the pope's own butler had been arrested after documents he had no business having were found in his Vatican City apartment. Paolo Gabriele, one of the few members of the papal household, was arrested to put a capper on one of the most controversial weeks in recent Vatican history. The Holy See is under fire for its alleged non-compliance with international norms on financial transparency. A book containing leaked documents threw the issue into the spotlight and renewed scrutiny on alleged corruption n in the highest levels of Catholic Church governance. The president of the Vatican bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was fired Thursday and Garbiele’s arrested ended the week with a boom. "If you wrote this in fiction you wouldn't believe it," said Carl Anderson, a member of the board of the Vatican bank. "No editor would let you put it in a novel." That sort of hyperbole is typically overused, but in this case it fits. The bank explained its firing of Gotti Tedeschi by saying he routinely missed board meetings, failed to do his job, failed to defend the bank, polarized its personnel and displayed "progressively erratic personal behavior." He was initially accused of leaking documents, although proof of those allegations is shaky at best right now. Gotti Tedeschi has not commented publicly on any of this, hiding behind the excuse that he has too much admiration for the pope to do so. Gabriele, a 46-year-old father of three, has not been so fortunate. He had been in Vatican detention since Wednesday after Vatican investigators discovered Holy See documents in his apartment and was formally arrested Saturday. He has served as the pope's personal butler since 2006 and was often seen riding in the Popemobile alongside the Catholic Church’s highest-ranking official. Now he’ll be rocking some bitchin’ prison attire and his only ride will be to the prison he will call home in the immediate future………..

Musical mysteries solved, 80-inch tablets and prodigious procreators

- Size does matter in the tablet world. Of course, smaller tends to be more desirable when it comes to the junior version of a laptop computer, but Microsoft is heading the other direction and CEO Steve Ballmer is leading the way. Not long after Samsung introduced its 11.6-inch Windows 8 preview tablet, the maker of the world’s worst operating system revealed that Ballmer uses an 80-inch touchscreen with Windows 8 for communications and productivity. “He's got rid of his phone, he's got rid of his note paper,” spokesman Frank Shaw said. “It's touch-enabled and it's hung on his wall.” The über-tablet sounds like wretched excess for the wealthy top executive of a major corporation and who the hell needs a tablet larger than any computer screen or most any flat-panel TV on the market, but Shaw said the company eventually plans to sell the device. He refused to name the manufacturer, the price or a release date, but like all Microsoft releases, this one is certain to disappoint sooner or much sooner. Right now, Microsoft lists 27 inches as the largest common screen size it expects for Windows 8 PCs, billing these large touchscreens as “family hub” devices. “Families might opt for an all-in-one desktop with a huge touch screen to view and organize all of the family photos,” Microsoft senior program manager David Washington wrote in a March blog post. An 80-inch tablet would obviously be more business-oriented and Shaw knows the average consumer would not need or be able to afford such a device at present. "It's not a consumer thing now, but we know historically that that's how all things start," he explained. "The idea that there should be a screen that's not a computer, we'll laugh at that in two years. Integrating some of its other product, such as the Xbox, could be one way of making the 80-inch tablet idea more appealing to the masses…………

- Everyone has their talent, that one skill which sets them apart from the pack. For Knoxville, Tenn. resident Desmond Hatchett, his skill set is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, Hatchett has clearly had a lot of sex in his 33 years on this planet. He’s good at picking up women and getting them to sleep with him. However, lots of sex can lead to lots of children if one doesn’t take the proper precautions and Hatchett definitely doesn’t specialize in protection or planning ahead. See, he is on a record-setting fathering binge and there is no end in sight. Hatchett has 30 children with 11 women, putting every other procreator in Knox County to shame. The past three years, he has cranked out nine children and become something of a local celebrity in the Knoxville area. His procreating proficiency has continued even after he vowed "I'm done!" in a 2009 TV interview. So why is he back in the news? Because Knox County’s judicial system has been given the difficult task of trying to figure out how to get a man working a minimum-wage job to adequately support all 30 of his kids, none of whom are even in high school yet. Predictably, Hatchett is struggling to make child support payments on such a meager salary and thus he finds himself making regular court appearances. "Yes, we've got several cases with Mr. Hatchett," confirmed Melissa Gibson, an assistant supervisor with the Knox County child support clerk's office. Sadly, there are no legal means to keep Hatchett from sexing it up. Relying on the intelligence of women he meets to keep their pants on doesn’t work, so there is little to do but sit back and enjoy the most prodigious child-producing career of our era. Hatchett’s children range in age from newborn to 14 years old and child support payments are based in part on the ages and needs of the children. Some of his baby mamas receive a mere $1.49 a month. When asked in a recent TV interview how he had accrued so many children in such a short time, Hatchett bluntly replied, "I had four kids in the same year. Twice." That about sums it up………….

- Does any college or NBA franchise want or need a hall of fame player who has run an entire league into the ground, run an NBA team financially aground and been fired from a low-level Div. I program for compiling a 26-65 record in three seasons? If so, former Continental Basketball Association owner/New York Knicks executive and coach/Florida International coach Isaiah Thomas is available…really available. Really, really available. Thomas was fired by FIU in April for three lackluster seasons in which he tried to take a job as a consultant for an NBA team (the Knicks) and keep coaching, failed to crack the .500 barrier and generally was as incompetent as he’s been in any stop during his post-playing career. He previously coached in the NBA with Indiana Pacers as well and served as the general manager for the Toronto Raptors and has been terrible at every stop. His career lowlight just might be the massive sexual harassment suit he incurred while running the Knicks, but that doesn’t mean he isn't hankering for a return to the Association….or any place else that might hire him. "I definitely want to be in basketball again whether it be coaching or as a general manager," Thomas said in an interview this week. "My gift is basketball. I would love working with the kids. If it's the right college program, I would consider it. If it's the right GM job or coaching job in the NBA, I would consider it. I love the game. I just want to be in the game." He’s actually half-right when speaking about what his gift is. Basketball is his gift, but not as a coach or executive. Like many former greats when their playing days are done, he has struggled mightily out of uniform. The perfect storm of disaster would be Michael Jordan, a former peer and also one of the best ever to play the game, hiring Thomas to coach the team Jordan now owns, the Charlotte Bobcats. The Bobcats are 7-55 this past season, posting the highest losing percentage in NBA history. By hiring Thomas for their now-vacant coaching position, the Bobcats could easily bomb out and lose 95 percent of their games next season. Knicks owner James Dolan, the one who tried to re-hire him for a consulting position while Thomas was at FIU despite having fired him from the Knicks a few years prior, has a disturbing fondness for Thomas despite his consistent failings and just might hire him back. Certainly no one is going to hire him for his success as a coach or executive, so Thomas’ best hope is that another small-time program enamored by the chance to make a big splash with a big-name hire will bring him in. He is of the opinion the he simply didn’t get enough time at FIU and would have turned the team around given another season or two. Instead, turning around his sinking career is his next big project…………

- There are few situations in life more terrifying than a 1-year-old Humboldt penguin on the loose. Penguins, the noted badasses of the flightless bird world, terrify most everyone and the idea of that 1-year-old penguin terrorizing Tokyo like a modern-day Penguin-zilla was frightening. The penguin escaped from a Tokyo aquarium three months ago and had remained on the loose since then. It was finally captured by hand when it set foot on land in Ichikawa on Thursday night. An observant aquarium employee was walking alongside the Edogawa River in Chiba Prefecture at 5:30 p.m. and spotted the renegade penguin, which was seen swimming in the river near the Kanamachi water purification plant in Katsushika Ward earlier in the week. Other spotting put the bird hanging out and snacking on small fish in Tokyo Bay. The common thesis was that it was resting some place along the shore at night. Un-creatively named Penguin 337, this avian escape artist scaled a 13-foot wall and got through a barbed-wire fence to get into the bay to find freedom. Aquarium officials now believe the bird escaped through small gaps that cats and frogs can pass through. Tokyo Sea Life Park personnel worried the penguin would not survive in the waters of the bay, which sees heavy marine traffic bound for densely populated Tokyo. Somehow, three months on the run don’t appear to have taken a major toll on Penguin 337. "It didn't look like it has gotten thinner over the past two months, or been without food. It doesn't seem to be any weaker. So it looks as if it's been living quite happily in the middle of Tokyo Bay," said Kazuhiro Sakamoto, deputy director of the park. Now that Penguin 337 is back, maybe the zoo can answer the pressing question of why it is named Penguin 337 when there are only 135 penguins at Tokyo Sea Life Park……….

- At long last, the mystery has been solved. The bridge that inspired the classic 1992 Red Hot Chili Peppers song, “Under The Bridge” has been identified. While it has been widely known for years that the bridge was somewhere in Los Angeles, no one was quite sure which bridge it was. The song itself centers on frontman Anthony Kiedis' battle with drug addiction and his own autobiography, “Scar Tissue,” provided the clues needed for inquiring minds to track down the bridge . In the book, Kiedis tales the story of how he spent "downtown with f**king gangsters shooting speedballs under a bridge." Kiedis has steadfastly refused to name the location, but music fan and researcher Mark Haskell Smith has figured out the puzzle. Smith has pinpointed the bridge as , a pedestrian bridge that is fairly nondescript. “Inside, it looked like a school art project had been painted over decades of tagging, layers of violent history under a family friendly mural… but not that long ago it was the stomping ground of gangbangers and dope slingers,” Smith theorized. "It must be the bridge in the song. It links Sixth and Union — the intersection Kiedis claims he was walking toward [in Scar Tissue]— with the drug dealers at Seventh and Hoover. And, unlike the other bridges, it provides a discreet location for private time with personal demons." Whether that revelation adds meaning to the song for RHCP fans is unclear, but a few are sure to make pilgrimages there to see the inspiration for one of the band’s best-known tracks……….

Cuba's friends, being Jay-Z and smacking down smoking in New Zealand

- Nothing is more appetizing for NFL fans than billionaire owners being sued for billions of dollars by players who are paid hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to play a game. Fans love their favorite sport’s newly-established labor peace, less than one year old, being upset because the NFL Players Association is suing the league’s 32 teams for allegedly having a secret salary cap in place during the uncapped 2010 season, thus colluding against the players and costing them at least $1 billion in wages. NFL players union chief DeMaurice Smith is busting out the heavy artillery early in the fight, arguing that his group's claim of collusion will stand up in court and hitting the NFL with a label typically reserved for the most brutal drug gangs of Mexico and Colombia. "Cartels do what cartels will do when left unchecked," Smith said Thursday outside union headquarters. "The facts justify the complaint." The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota on Wednesday and within hours, the NFL issued a statement saying, "The union's claims have absolutely no merit and we fully expect them to be dismissed." NFL spokesman Greg Aiello further attempted to bury the allegations, saying, "There was no collusion. There was no agreement. These claims are totally unfounded." The drama centers around financial penalties imposed on the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys for overspending during the uncapped season. The Redskins are losing $36 million and the Cowboys $10 million. Both teams filed grievances against the league, but those grievances were denied and within a few hours, the NFLPA was readying its lawsuit. There are other lawsuits against the league and commissioner Roger Goodell for various reasons, but this one is the largest financially. The union’s allegations of a "conspiracy" that the league set a $123 million salary cap for the 2010 season when owners did not have the authority to do so should make for an interesting legal fight, but of course fans generally don’t give a damn…………

- New Zealand, anti-smoking champions? Amazing as it may be, the laid-back Kiwis have smoke-free bars, parks and even college campuses. However, the dream for any nation has to be smoke-free status from border to border, north to south and east to west. Smoking is a menace, a hazard and a filthy habit that wrecks the health and well-being of everyone around it. New Zealand’s leaders know this and they stepped up large Thursday by announcing a whopping 40 percent increase in tobacco taxes over the next four years. While tobacco prices in New Zealand are already among the highest in the world, ramping up the price can never hurt. With the additional taxes, the price of a pack of cancer sticks will be $15 a pack on average by 2016. One great angle of the tax hike is the transparency by government officials in admitting that they hope higher taxes and new restrictions will bring the nation of 4.4 million closer to a recent pledge to snuff out their smoking ways entirely by 2025. How serious are New Zealand’s health officials? They recently considered hiking the cost of a pack of cigarettes to $75 and had they followed through, it would have been an awesome display of anti-smoking force. Another new law forcing retailers to hide cigarettes below the counter will come into effect in July and on the strength of these and other efforts, smoking rates among New Zealand adults have fallen from about 30 percent in 1986 to 20 percent today. Kiwi smokers are b*tching about the rate hike, especially since the country already charges more than 70 percent in taxes on cigarettes, compared to 41 percent in China, 45 percent in the U.S. and 64 percent for Australia. Simply put, too freaking bad, Kiwi cancer stick addicts…………

- Persistence pays off. Monroe, Ohio resident Ken Mercurio knows this truism well and just five years after nearly biking his way to an early grave, he is part of a group preparing t to make a 4,200-mile, seven-week journey from Butte, Mont., to Alaska and back. Mercurio nearly died in November 2007 when he was riding with a group in California and crashed his bike. "I was riding along, and the front fork on the bike snapped and broke and it went into the spokes," Mercurio said. "It broke half the spokes immediately and flipped me right over on my head." He doesn’t remember much else about the incident because he was knocked unconscious when he hit the road. When he awoke, he had gone through hours of surgery to implant two rods and an assortment of screws into his neck and fuse five of his vertebrae together. He also had three broken ribs, but doctors assured him the crash could have been far worse. "The neurosurgeon would say it to me every time I'd see him, 'You are lucky to be alive,'" Mercurio said. Lucky or not, Mercurio fought his way back to health and now rides a custom bike that allows him to sit more upright. At age 60, he is a few weeks from making the daunting trip from Montana to Alaska and back and four other riders he will meet in Montana. The trip begins June 15 and it has a charitable angle as well, to raise money in the fight against diabetes. Mercurio has labeled the ride the Tour de Cure…….

- When you’re Jay-freaking-Z, you do pretty much whatever you want and don’t worry about haters because after all, you’re Jay-Z. You are richer, more successful, more famous and more talented than just about anyone who might crack you. As a result, you can take on seemingly un-hip-hop projects like writing new songs for an updated movie version of the musical “Annie.” The film will star Will Smith’s daughter Willow and Jay-Z will be in charge of the soundtrack for the film. Believe it or not, Jay-Z does have ties to “Annie,” as in 1998 he released 'Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)', which sampled the song 'It's the Hard Knock Life', from the original 1970s “Annie” musical. The musical was first turned into a film in 1982, starring Aileen Quinn in the title role. Now, the man best known as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air will be producing the remake for Sony Pictures, with British actress Emma Thompson writing a new script for the musical. Willow Smith, 11, released her debut single, “Whip My Hair,” in 2010. Along with her title role in “Annie,” she is to Jay-Z's label, Roc Nation and her debut album, 'Knees and Elbows', is due for release later this year. No word on whether Jay-Z will also be working on fresh versions of songs from “Hair,” “Newsies” or “Rent” any time soon…………

- Not many countries are down with helping Cuba. The whole U.S. embargo issue, combined with the reign of terror by Fidel Castro, the island nation’s Communist system and a generally unsavory international reputation have left Cuba with few friends. Count Venezuela among them and score a win for the friendship after Venezuela's science and technology minister confirmed that an undersea fiber-optic cable that was laid last year between Venezuela and Cuba is working. That Venezuelan despot Hugo Chavez would help out Fidel and Raul Castro is no surprise and the laying of the cable was completed last year by Alcatel-Lucent SA of France for the state telecommunication companies of Venezuela and Cuba. Jorge Arreaza confirmed that the cable is "absolutely operational" and said it will be up to Cuba how it uses the cable on the island. Alcatel-Lucent SA workers laid the cable beginning in Venezuela and reached eastern Cuba in February 2011. The system was supposed to go online within a few months, but Cuba’s always-secretive government has made no mention of the cable. Its Internet remains the slowest in the hemisphere and a project designed to improve online speed would theoretically be a big deal and an accomplishment to trumpet. Instead, secrecy has reigned and the confirmation from Venezuela is as close as the world has come to any knowledge of the system and whether it is functional or not. Any time Cuba wants to speak up about its end of the project, that would be swell………..

Tomato wars, World Goth Day and IBM paranoia

- The tech world is not a friendly place. Just ask IBM employees at the company’s Armonk, N.Y. headquarters. Secrets in this realm are guarded closely and for that reason, IBM employees are forbidden from having conversations with their digital friend Siri at work. The digital assistant on Apple’s iPhone is verboten at IBM headquarters because every query and verbal prompt users send Siri’s way is sent to a large data processing center in Maiden, N.C. Apple's iPhone Software License Agreement makes the process clear: "When you use Siri or Dictation, the things you say will be recorded and sent to Apple in order to convert what you say into text." Siri also compiles names of people from your address book and other unspecified user data, supposedly to help the service do a better job providing answers in the future. The question becomes how long Apple stores the data and who sees it. "By using Siri or Dictation, you agree and consent to Apple's and its subsidiaries' and agents' transmission, collection, maintenance, processing, and use of this information, including your voice input and User Data, to provide and improve Siri, Dictation, and other Apple products and services," the software agreement states. That doesn’t sit well with IBM and CIO Jeanette Horan explained that Siri isn't welcome on Big Blue's networks. "The company worries that the spoken queries might be stored somewhere," Horan said. IBM isn't the only entity concerned about Siri, as the American Civil Liberties Union put out a warning about Siri just a couple of months ago. Edward Wrenbeck, the lead developer of the original Siri iPhone app, knew well before Siri was sold to Apple that privacy would be a major concern. "Just having it known that you're at a certain customer's location might be in violation of a non-disclosure agreement," Wrenbeck said. Another concern is that Siri can be used to write e-mails or text messages, so theoretically Apple could be storing confidential IBM messages. It’s one more reminder that the tech world is not a kind place to operate………

- Oh, to be a movie fan in France. Aside from actually living in France, there are benefits like not having to be subjected to the latest identical Tyler Perry movie at your local multiplex. See, Perry’s movies are never scheduled in any French movie theaters or are only released in DVDs and even if the reasons behind those decisions are shady and slightly racist (allegedly), avoiding a terrible movie is still avoiding a terrible movie. Perry’s movies aren’t bad for any racially based reason; they’re just bad movies. But it’s the new (and terrible) comedy “Think Like a Man” that is currently being ignored in France. The movie hasn’t been released in French movie theaters despite its success in the United States. Conspiracy theorists have suggested that the film doesn’t have enough diversity, but no official reason or explanation has been given. Maybe the perception that French film community doesn’t believe that films with all-black casts can do well at the box office is true and maybe France’s cinematic racial profiling is a terrible instance of discrimination. The fact is, there are plenty of great movies with all-black or predominantly black casts; “Think Like a Man” simply isn't one of them, nor are any of Perry’s films. “Think Like a Man” actually has a multi-racial cast and has grossed nearly $100 million at the box office, but monetary success is never an ironclad indicator of how good a movie is. France, you’re dodging a bad movie bullet on this one……….

- Did you miss your chance to rock out to Black Veil Brides, dress head to toe in black and wear the palest, more haunting makeup you own? Unless you celebrated World Goth Day, the answer to that question is yes. May 22 is World Goth day and while those who embrace the culture treat every day like it’s Halloween with their embracing of Gothic music, art, fashion and lifestyle, the rest of the world tends to tune them out. The unofficial holiday is a chance to shine a light on an often-misunderstood subculture. Even Goths don’t agree on what the term means, much in the same way 100 different indie rock fans will give 100 different definitions about what the genre is. Goth boils down to some variation on darkness, but the culture isn't necessarily as morbid or death-obsessed as it's often made out to be. Sure, there are a few freaks who sleep in coffins, are obsessed with blood and listen only to music that sounds like pure death, but not all Goths live that way. Some even blend into everyday culture and society and aside from their slightly different attire, they fit in just fine. They rock out to the Cure or Siouxsie and the Banshees and wear a healthy dose of black when able. World Goth Day had its share of awards, events, music and general revelry, but its organizers also made a concerted effort to educate the general public about acceptance and compassion for cultures outside the mainstream. The history of the event is a poignant one. Its roots are in the 2007 assault of Sophie Lancaster and her boyfriend, Robert Maltby, as they were walking through a park in Lancashire, England, when they were attacked by a group of five teenagers. Lancaster died from her injuries and Maltby suffered lasting brain damage; both were attacked because they were wearing Goth clothing. The incident gave rise to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation and also inspired the founders of World Goth Day. On their website, the group proclaims, "There are quite a few Goths who have fought damn hard to retain their identity despite peer pressure, family pressure and indeed, any pressure to conform. "And if you've gone to all that trouble to preserve what you believe is the 'real you', don't you think you owe it to yourself to shine for a day?" Hopefully everyone took the chance to let their inner Goth out or at least hug a Goth………

- How many times has it been said, “You can’t fight city hall….over upside-down tomato plants.” Too many times, that’s how many. For Newton, Mass. resident Eli Katzoff, the battle over tomato plants in his yard has become a bigger fight than he ever expected. Katzoff hung 34 upside-down tomato plants in his yard, planning to give most of the produce away to local food pantries. The idea seemed flawless in that growing things is good for the environment, giving food away is kind and no one would get hurt in the process. But no good idea goes unchecked in a democracy and the city has come down hard on Katzoff for his (apparent) stupidity. In a gesture of sheer audacity, he built a large wooden structure to hold the plants. The structure measures 13 feet high by 32 feet long and 16 feet wide and the trouble is has caused thus far is immeasurable. “The city’s not happy about it,” Katzoff explained. Why are a bunch of small-town bureaucrats angry? Because the structure he built is in the front yard, that’s why. Newton laws say such structures must be built in the back yard. Why didn’t Katzoff set up his mega-tomato planter out back? “You can do it in the back yard, but the problem with us is there’s no sunlight in the backyard,” Katzoff explained. In a typical display of bureaucratic ineptitude, Katzoff said he called the zoning office at Newton City Hall before he built the structure and was told his project was fine. That’s no longer the tale the city is telling. “They need to be safe, and they need to be within the zoning ordinances,” explained Bob Rooney, the city’s chief operating officer. Katzoff’s hanging garden is still in place and the city worries that could be a safety concern for people walking by, not to mention there’s the law that says no structures on front yards. In a possible attempt to extend an alive branch, Katzoff has been offered the chance to apply for a zoning variance that would allow the structure to remain. Let the great tomato battle of 2012 commence………

- After having to spend part of his offseason in fear that Peyton Manning would ride into town and rip his starting job, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith has to feel damn good right about now. Manning ended up in Denver, Smith kept his starting job and the team added to his cache of weapons by adding free agents Randy Moss and Mario Manningham and first-round pick A.J. Jenkins. Those new weapons were on display during Wednesday's pad-free practice as the team launched its first round of offseason team activities. Smith, who has been embattled throughout his seven seasons in the NFL and will never be considered elite, could not hide his excitement. "It's like waking up on Christmas," Smith said. "You have a lot of new toys out there, new presents." For a team coming off a 13-3 regular season and an overtime loss in the NFC championship game, that sort of added excitement is a very positive sign. Coach Jim Harbaugh is optimistic as well. "Alex has really been, in the two days out here, has been spreading the ball very well," coach Jim Harbaugh said. "He's got a lot of options. That's been evident, too, for two days. " The 49ers need an improved offense after their defense largely carried them last season. Smith ranked 19th in the NFL with a career-high 3,144 yards passing and was badly outplayed by Eli Manning in a 20-17 overtime loss in the NFC title game to the eventual champion New York Giants. As a result, the 49ers flirted with free agent Peyton Manning before eventually giving Smith a three-year deal that has some $16.5 million guaranteed. Manningham was signed, leaving the Giants ironically enough, Moss was inked as well after not playing last season due to a lack of interest, and Jenkins was drafted in April. Moss is the highest-profile acquisition, as the once-great, perpetually troubled physical freak who once roasted any defensive back unfortunate enough to have to cover him received no interest last year. Still, Smith is fired up to have him back in the NFL. "The first day, it was surreal out there throwing balls to him. The physical skills everybody knows. The thing you appreciate a lot is the guy's a true pro. He's played a lot of football. He's incredibly smart out there,” Smith declared.  That enthusiasm may fade if and when Moss starts to cause trouble as he always seems to do, but for now everyone is holding hands and skipping through a field of wildflowers…………

Basket-brawl sites, Rhode Island robot lifeguards and malice in Mali

- Follow the example of the news teams in “Anchorman.” Take your street fight to a neutral location. That’s is the philosophy being followed by officials at Cincinnati and Xavier for future editions of their basketball rivalry after a massive basket-brawl during this past season’s revival of the intra-city rivalry. Following a massive brawl incited largely by the taunting and antics of Xavier guard Tu Holloway that led to tough talk from both coaches, Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin and Xavier’s Chris Mack, about ending players’ seasons based on their thuggery. Of course, both coaches whiffed completely and let their players off the hooked with short suspensions, but that’s another argument for another day. For now, the focus is on the location of this street fight going forward and starting next season, the contest. Instead of keeping the festivities in one of the schools’ arenas, both sides agreed to move the game to U.S. Bank Arena. Sources close to the decision said it was a direct result of the highly publicized Dec. 10 brawl between the two schools that threatened to end the series all together. Instead, school officials from both universities decided to move the game away from its alternating home-and-home fixtures for the next two seasons. Following the two-year trial, they will revisit the subject and evaluate the behavior of players and fans before renewing the series or scheduling venues. The series was actually played U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati from 1976 to 1983, when it was known as Riverfront Coliseum, but has alternated between Cincinnati's and Xavier's home courts since 1989. The date for next season’s brawl, er, game is expected to be Dec. 18, 19 or 20………..

- Just because Rhode Island is small doesn’t mean it doesn’t have big ideas and officials there are seeking to be at the forefront of beach safety by making their shores the first on the East Coast to feature state of the art technology: a robotic lifeguard called EMILY, an acronym for Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard. "This is a project we are behind," says Lisa Konicki, executive director of the Westerly-Pawcatuck Area Chamber of Commerce, which led the effort to purchase two EMILYS from Arizona-based business Hyrdonalix. EMILY is a 4-foot-long buoy that can travel 24 miles per hour and can be deployed when a swimmer is in distress. It still requires a lifeguard to operate it with a remote control from the beach while his partner follows behind. Upon reaching the distressed swimmer, EMILY acts as a flotation device until the lifeguard catches up. "All of our first responders will be trained," Konicki promised. These robotic aquatic heroes are not cheap, as purchasing two EMILYS plus training in California for lifeguards will cost $23,000, to be paid by the Chamber Foundation, the Rotary Club and a few private donors. The town of Westerly is also chipping in  $10,000, which includes some taxpayer money. Citizens have expressed concerns about the untested nature and high cost of the device and wondered if purchasing a jet ski or two for lifeguards wouldn’t be cheaper and just as effective. Konicki contends that crowded beaches and water settings make the small, agile life buoy a better option. "I think it's a relatively small investment when you consider the potential impact it has on public safety," she said. If Emily works well, Westerley could become a model for other towns along the East Coast………

- He’s been a symbol of rock and roll excess as a member of British rock bands the Libertines and Babyshambles (and made some decent music along the way), but Pete Doherty isn't a two-sport athlete, so to speak, if critics who have seen his acting debut in “Confession of a Child of the Century” are to be believed.

The film, which also stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lily Cole, was screened for the press at the Cannes film festival over the weekend both Doherty and the movie received extremely negative reviews across the board. Doherty’s acting in partciular was given scathing reviews, with his efforts being labeled "shambling amateurisim,” and critics saying he delivers "a wooden performance" in "a turgid adaptation.” Some critics were kinder in that they directed their rage toward director Sylvie Verheyde rather than Doherty. Several noted how uncomfortable Doherty seemed on screen and suggested that Vergeyde may have given a little bit too big of a role to a first-timer. In the film, Doherty plays Octave, a young romantic who falls into depression and debauchery after learning the shocking news about his lady love’s (Cole) infidelity. A few critics seemed to have an agenda in their criticism of Doherty, so severe and harsh were their reviews. Calling him "a sixth former who hasn't learnt his lines for drama class" and suggesting he now "joins a long line of successful musicians and pop stars who have become truly awful actors” comes across as a bit mean-spirited. It might even be enough to drive Doherty back to drugs……again……..

- While slightly creepy at first glance, news that scientists have discovered a way to turn patients' own skin cells into healthy heart muscle is still encouraging. Israeli researchers led by professor Lior Gepstein believe their success in a lab setting could ultimately lead to this type of stem cell therapy being used to treat heart failure patients. Because the transplanted cells are from the individual patient, the possible issue of tissue rejection could be avoided. Obviously, the concept is still fairly new and despite successful testing on animals, the process is still years from being used in humans. Stem cells have proven extremely effective in treating other conditions like diabetes, Parkinsons disease or Alzheimer's, so heart problems were a logical next step. They are vital because they have the ability to become different cell types and scientists have begun using them in their efforts to develop new means of repairing or regenerating damaged organs or tissues. Heart failure simply means the heart is not pumping blood around the body as well as it used to due to damaged heart muscle. In this study, a research team took skin cells from two men with heart failure and mixed the cells up with a cocktail of genes and chemicals in the lab to create the stem cell treatment. The resulting cells were identical to healthy heart muscle cells and when they were transplanted into a rat, they started to make connections with the surrounding heart tissue. "What is new and exciting about our research is that we have shown that it's possible to take skin cells from an elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up with his own beating cells in a laboratory dish that are healthy and young - the equivalent to the stage of his heart cells when just born," Gepstein said. With more work, Gepstein and his team hope to be ready for human trials soon…………

- No surrender……and NO MERCY! Tim Robbins uttered that line in his cameo in “Anchorman” and it could just as well have been shouted by demonstrators forced their way into the office of Mali's interim president on Monday and attacked the elderly leader, leaving him battered and unconscious. Dioncounda Traore was taken to the Point G Hospital unconscious and was treated for an injury to the head, said Sekou Yattara, a medical student there. Traore later regained consciousness and sources said his life is not believe to be in danger even though protestors were apparently looking to end him. The scene at the presidential palace in Bamako on Monday morning was jaw-dropping, as thousands of rioters descended on the property, angry over a deal brokered by regional powers that extended the time Traore would stay in power. Armed with sticks and branches from trees with which they hit portraits of Traore, rioters also carried a dummy wrapped in cloth lying on two long sticks, meant to represent Dioncounda's dead body. They kicked the doors down and looked to turn their crude art into reality. Mali has been in a perpetual state of chaos since March 21, when soldiers staged a coup, driving the country's democratically elected leader into exile and reversing two decades of democratic rule in one of the only stable countries in a tumultuous corner of Africa. Neighboring countries reactly swifty and the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, imposed strict sanctions until the junta agreed to restore the country's constitution in early April. Under the constitution, Traore was to become interim president for a 40-day period, before new elections could be held. That window expired Tuesday, but ECOWAS wanted Traore's term extended for another year so elections could be properly planned. When the junta agreed to allow Traore's term to be extended in return for receiving a lifetime salary and the status of a former head of state, riots ensued. Demonstrators marched up the steep hill, known as Koulouba, where the presidential palace sits. They broke into the palace with apparent help from soldiers and the beating was on. Now, an already jacked-up government in which the military junta remained the de facto leader and an interim president attempted to rule has been plunged into further chaos and the black cloud won't be lifting any time soon……….

Russian crackdowns, treating 'shroom poisoning and the demise of Dog

- Reality television law enforcement efforts have taken a big hit with news that A&E has canceled the long-running reality series "Dog the Bounty Hunter." The series, which followed Duane "Dog" Chapman and his family and friends as they formed a team of bounty hunters that crossed the United States to track down fugitives, debuted in 2004. The show took a break in 2007 when Chapman unleashed his inner racist and was caught on tape spewing hate speech, leading to a massive public controversy. A&E decided backing off for a while and allowing the fervor to die down was wise and production resumed in 2008. However, no reality show can keep its cast together for long if it has any modicum of success, as more attention leads to a craving for even more exposure (and money) and bit players start breaking off in the search for their 15 minutes. Chapman’s sons Duane Lee and Leland left the series in 2011 and recent episodes have shown the family attempting to work through its issues. Ironing out family troubles on reality TV always works well, but the reconciliation will have to take place off the air after the network announced that the show has been canceled after negotiations for the next season broke down. While returning to relative anonymity might be tough for Chapman, maybe it’s for the best. After all, he and his wife Beth appeared on the "Today" show this week to discuss the death threats they have been receiving via e-mail for the past few weeks. With the FBI involved, maybe stepping out of the public eye will be best for Chapman, his wife, their sons and three daughters……….

- ‘Shrooms had a good run last fall, especially during a deluge of rain near Washington, D.C. The sudden surge of ‘shrooms led to a run on mushroom poisonings and four people in two weeks showed up at area hospitals with life-threatening liver damage after picking and eating fungi that turned out to be toxic. Some of these morons picked and cooked the feared death cap toadstool responsible for most mushroom fatalities worldwide and suffered life-threatening liver failure. However, researchers want the world to know that mushrooms need not be lethal and that there are treatment options exist even if they aren’t well known. A drug known as Legalon is an intravenous form of silibinin, milk-thistle extract, which may turn out to be an antidote to mushroom poisonings. Dr. Todd Mitchell, a California doctor who developed the "Santa Cruz Protocol" for treating mushroom poisoning, is working on Legalon, which sounds like a bad online legal service, in a trial sponsored by German drugmaker Madaus Inc., which already sells the product approved in Europe. With nearly 6,000 people reporting contact with suspicious mushrooms in 2010 and 1,300 illnesses caused by ‘shrooms, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, such a drug would be useful. Clueless, careless folks who find themselves sickened by the Amanita phalloides -- death cap -- varieties that produce amatoxins, which shut down liver function need an antidote. Stores of Legalon were found in Pittsburgh and delivered by plane and courier. However, the first patient was treated under an exemption of Food and Drug Administration rules that allow a one-patient, one-time use of an unapproved drug. Mitchell, an expert in amatoxin poisoning, began researching silibinin in 2007, when he was an emergency room doctor who treated six members of a Mexican family who became critically ill after consuming tacos made with toxic mushrooms. At the time, silibinin was not available in the U.S., so Mitchell had to request that the FDA allow emergency import of enough of the drug to treat the family. It worked to save five of the six family members and Mitchell now believes that the mortality rate for amatoxin poisoning can be 50 percent with use of silibinin. The antidote counteracts the toxins from mushrooms, which shut down the protein-making apparatus of cells in the liver, causing the organ to fail. “The antidote blocks the entry of amatoxin into the liver cell,” he explained. In his clinical trial, he has treated 44 patients, only five of which have died, and Mitchell said the procedure wasn't followed thoroughly in those cases. He believes he is close to beginning the process to gain FDA approval………..

- It seemed impossible, but life just became more miserable and hazardous for dissidents in Russia. With despot “Bad Vlad” Putin back in power, life was already bad for those who oppose the Kremlin. Putin made it worse Tuesday, introducing draconian new fines for protesters. The despot also engaged in good old-fashioned nepotism, handing out Kremlin jobs to publicly despised lieutenants despite the general outrage they have generated. The new law introducing a 200-fold increase in fines for taking part in unsanctioned protests will obviously draw the most ire and rightfully so. A certain harbinger of the growing crackdown on dissent in Russia, the law portends nothing but bad things for Russians with the capacity for free thoughts. Opposition lawmakers swiftly denounced the new fines as an attempt to stifle criticism and warned of angry backlash sure to follow. These bright minds also argued that removing a justifiable means of expressing dissent could have the side effect of destabilizing Russia. Cutting off protests ahead of a series of planned reforms that would hike energy prices and cut social benefits is textbook Putin-led Communism, but what the hell does an iron-fisted dictator care? Putin also could not care less that Sergei Mironov, the leader of the opposition Just Russia party, said his faction was boycotting the hearings of the "odious" bill intended to "shut the people's mouth." In celebration of what the new law represents, police quickly rounded up several members of the liberal Yabloko party who attempted to protest the new bill outside parliament on Tuesday. Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin derided the bill as being designed to intimidate the opposition. "A direct signal is being made by those in power: Sit down and keep quiet!" Mitrokhin said. In spite of the warnings, the lower house, dominated by Putin's United Russia party, voted 236-207 with one abstention to approve the bill in the first of three required readings. Putin tightened his grip on Monday by removing cabinet members who might cause trouble for him. On some level, Putin’s desire to crush opposition makes sense, even if it’s totally wrong. Hundreds of thousnads have taken to the streets of Moscow and other cities across Russia to protest before, during and after the rigged elections that officially returned him to power. Now that he’s back, the dictator wants to raise fines for joining unsanctioned rallies from a maximum of 5,000 rubles ($160) now to 1,000,000 rubles ($32,250). Dissidence just became that much more expensive (and necessary) in Russia………..

- Rhein Gibson had a day every other hacker who has ever picked up a golf club has dreamed about. Gibson, a former collegiate golfer and NAIA All-American at Oklahoma Christian University, set a provisional world-record score last Saturday by shooting a 16-under 55 at the River Oaks Golf Club in Edmond, Okla. The Australian knocked in 12 birdies and two eagles on the 6,698-yard par-71 course on May 12 and for a player who is currently 12th on the Golfweek National Pro Tour money list, the feat was breathtaking. "I am trying to think myself what happened ... I just kind of got hot I guess and every putt I hit went in," Gibson said. He knows he will receive plenty of questions about his low round and a lot of media attention as well and he’s fine with that, even if he insists he won't be doing any bragging. "I'm a pretty humble guy," Gibson declared. "If people want to talk about [the 55], I'm happy to talk about it. But it's not like I'm going to bring it up or get a tattoo on my arm." That is definitely a shame because if there was ever an accomplishment to head to the nearest tattoo shop and have a reminder inked on your arm, shooting a 55 for a round of golf would be high on the list. Gibson’s score ties a 55 by Homero Blancas on a par-70 Texas course in 1962. His playing partners on his record-setting day, Ryan Munson and Eric Fox did their best to help Gibson chase history. "I was starting to get superstitious," Munson said. "How do I keep from doing something different?" To make sure his feat was properly documented, Munson texted his wife, friends and old friends of Gibson's. "He hit it on the right spots on every hole to put [the ball] in good position," Fox said. "It was almost a perfect round of golf.” What’s the best way to top off that sort of day? A tattoo to mark the occasion is a solid idea……….

- Duuuuuuuude, that is a mondo huge stash, bro. Some dude or chick somewhere is missing a hell of a party after Harbor Patrol officers found more than 7,200 pounds worth of marijuana floating off the coast of Orange County, Calif., on Sunday. More than 160 bales of ganja were found floating south of Los Angeles, with an estimated street value of $3.6 million, border patrol agents confirmed. "Shortly before noon on Sunday, May 20, maritime law enforcement authorities received a tip about suspicious bales floating in the water off the coast of Orange County, near Dana Point," border patrol agent supervisor Michael Jimenez said in a statement. The haul of 7,263 pounds of the hippie lettuce was first reported by an uptight square of a boater who clearly doesn’t like to have a good time because if he or she did, that person would have piloted their craft over, found a match or lighter and started a party…..either that or pick off a few pounds and save it for later. Instead, this loser phoned in a tip about the curiously-placed chron and three Harbor Patrol ships and a Coast Guard cutter were sent to recover the marijuana from the water. Jimenez stated the blatantly obvious by saying that the incident was out of the ordinary. "At other events, they've dumped the bales to get rid of weight if they're being chased," he said. "Generally in these cases we're aware they're being dumped. What's more unusual is that the bales were floating with no boat in sight." So far, no suspects or vessel have been identified in connection to an ongoing investigation, but devastated stoners everywhere are feeling a little more bummed today………..

Angry All-Stars, raging rock bands and Microsoft tries social networking

- Colombia is famous for, in no particular order, Colombian nose candy, Colombian neck ties and decades of civil conflict and drug violence. Colombians have grown accustomed to treachery and deceit and it takes a lot to stun them. Sunday’s arrest of a one-time provincial lawmaker for allegedly helping plan the mass kidnapping of 11 colleagues later slain by leftist rebels had that capacity to shock. The entire saga is several years old, but details are just now coming to life after last week's arrest of Sigifredo Lopez. Lopez rigged his scam to ensure that he was among the kidnapped, thus diverting suspicion. He "miraculously" survived an re-emerged seven years later when the others were killed in still-unclear circumstances. "I can't get it in my head that this could actually have been possible," Interior Minister Federico Renjifo said of Lopez. "I can only hold out the hope, as a human being, that this doesn't turn out to be true." Unfortunately for Renjifo, Lopez was arrested on suspicion of murder, hostage-taking, perfidy and rebellion. The saga began on April 11, 2002, when guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia disguised as soldiers snuck into the state Assembly building in Cali and rounded up the deputies, killing a police officer. Lopez was released by the FARC in 2009 and the current conspiracy theory is that he has somehow been double-crossed by the rebels years after the fact. Prosecutors have predicated their case on a 40-minute video discovered in the digital archives of Alfonso Cano, the FARC commander in chief slain by the military in November. According to an anonymous source, the video shows a man to the guerrillas in detail the layout of the Valle (del Cauca) Legislature. The man’s face is not visible, but an unidentified government officials said that investigators spent months analyzing the silhouette and matching the voice print to confirm their suspicion it was Lopez. He ran unsuccessfully for congress and for Cali mayor last year and has called his survival in the confusing deaths of the other 11 deputies "a miracle of God." In retrospect, maybe God wasn’t involved all that much……….

- Black Sabbath’s members do not seem to be mellowing with age. If longtime bassist Geezer Butler is claiming that estranged drummer Bill Ward's contract demands to go on a reunion tour with the band were "a joke," then the bad blood between them is still a major factor. Ward issued a statement last week in which he explained that he will not be taking part in any of the Black Sabbath shows set for this summer. The announcement piggybacked previous claims he'd made that he had been unhappy with the contract he'd been offered to work on the band's new album and tour. Butler confirmed that Ward will be replaced by drummer Tommy Clufetos, who will drum for frontman Ozzy Osbourne on this summer's Ozzy and Friends tour. Butler lamented that it was "sad to see the Sabbath reunion tour becoming a bit of a soap opera on the Internet." In the statement, he wrote: "It has been a very tough year for us as a band, having announced our reunion plans, only for Tony [Iommi, guitarist] to be diagnosed with lymphoma, leaving us no choice to postpone the proposed Sabbath tour, and then for Bill to go public on his site about an unsignable contract." Elsewhere in the statement, Butler explained that he, Osbourne and Tommy Iommi started working on ideas for an album in the hope that they could work on the material with Ward at a later date. He professed initial ignorance to any contractual issues and suggested that none of the other members of the band expected to make much money off an appearance at the Download Festival that was apparently one of the sticking points for Ward’s negotiations. Butler praised Clufetos as a "brilliant drummer and good bloke" and ended his statement by saying he still hopes to play with Ward again some day. Black Sabbath will headline this summer's Download Festival alongside Metallica over the weekend of June 8-10………….

- Los Angeles, this has to be a very proud day for you. Both of your NBA teams made the second round of the playoffs, your hockey team is one win from the Stanley Cup Finals, the Dodgers are in first place and Norman the scooter dog has learned how to ride a bike. After mastering motorized transportation, Norman can now ride a bike. The Briad -- a breed of herding dog originally from France known for its intelligence - is training to compete in Agility, Herding and Obedience Competitions. The 3-year-old pooch, who received his Companion Dog Title in Obedience when he was only 15 months old., is described as "naturally curious" by his owners and apparently when he saw children riding scooters, he wanted his turn. His feats earned him air time with a local TV station, a place where novelty acts and freak shows are always welcome to help fill the morning show hours. Norman’s fame spread so widely that he was featured on the Natural Balance Pet Foods float for the 2012 Rose Parade. From there, he vaulted into a TV career, including a weekly show on the Animal Planet. Now that he has learned how to ride a bike, Norman just might be unstoppable and finding roles on the big screen could be his next stop. Obviously he lives in the right place to take advantage of his considerable skill set and seeing where Norman heads next – on two wheels or four feet – should be interesting…………..

- Oh good, another sure-to-fail challenger for the social networking throne. Microsoft has entered the fray and given the total lack of success for would-be Facebook challenger Google+, one has to wonder what Bill Gates’ brainchild is thinking. The social network, called So.cl, is supposedly built on the idea of helping students connect with one another, which (although it’s tough to remember) is the principle upon which Facebook was founded. However, Microsoft has made it clear that competing with Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking champion is not its intent for So.cl (pronounced “social”). Instead, the network “is an experimental research project, developed by Microsoft’s FUSE Labs, focused on exploring the possibilities of social search for the purpose of learning” with the purpose of helping “people find and share interesting web pages in the way students do when they work together” by combining social networking and search. While trading haymakers with Facebook may not be the plan, Microsoft clear does want to contend with Google+, which is also designed to combine social and search. In this pursuit, So.cl focuses on a niche of users and encourages them to share data a little differently by creating “montages of visual web content.” To temper expectations, Microsoft readily admits it expects students to use other social networks such as Facebook in addition to So.cl. Despite the learning-oriented focus, anyone can sign up to use So.cl. Microsoft has partnerships set up with a number of schools, including University of Washington, Syracuse University, and New York University, but made it clear  “anyone can participate in the FUSE Labs research community,” which includes the So.cl project. That all-inclusive approach probably won't help So.cl any more than it has helped Google+ and both seemed doomed to fail sooner than later. Of course, failure is a concept Microsoft is infinitely familiar with…………

- Why so angry, Cleveland Indians closer Chris Perez, why so angry? Your team is vastly outperforming expectations, is alone in first place in the American League Central and showing few signs of slowing down any time soon. Yet there is Perez, raging at Cleveland fans for any number of alleged offenses. Perez made several enraged comments Saturday questioning why fans are not turning out to see the first-place Indians and why some in the sparse crowds boo the team. "The fans are going to come, I know that," Perez said. "It's just a slap in the face when you're in first place and last in attendance. Last. Not 25th or 26th. Last." He admitted that he has been frustrated by small crowds for a long time and his breaking point came Thursday when he was booed because two men reached base while he eventually saved a win over Seattle. "That was the last straw," he explained before alluding to Twitter interactions with fans based on his remarks. "I got a lot of messages and some of it was funny." The team didn’t exactly rally to Perez’s defense, with team president Mark Shapiro saying the organization differs with the way Perez spoke and insisting the Indians do get fan support. He tried to spin Perez’s words as the frustrated outburst of a player with a burning desire to win and get more fans to come to the ballpark. "We clearly disagree with him about our fans," Shapiro said. "We appreciate our fans. We respect our fans." On the field, Perez earned his 13th save Saturday by striking out the side on 10 pitches to clinch a 2-0 win over the Miami Marlins. His controversial comments followed after what ironically was the season's second-largest crowd, 29,799. Despite that crowd and a sellout of 43,190 for the April 5 opener, the Indians have averaged 15,188 through 22 home dates. For a team that posted a record 455 consecutive sellouts in the late 1990s, the change is jarring. "Nobody wants to play in front of 5,000 fans," said Perez on Saturday. "We know the weather stinks, but people see that (low attendance). Other players know that.” He suggested that free agents don’t want to sign with the Indians in part because of the poor fan support. Fans may counter that the Indians have been 65-97 in 2009, 69-93 the next year and 80-82 last season. They haven’t been serious contenders for several years and in a tough economy, fans apparently have better things to do with their small amount of disposable income than go see a slightly above average baseball team…………