Help for losers/smokers, a revolting cougar-related story from California and behold the power of NFL fans

- You know how I feel about smoking: Smokers are losers. I say that without qualification or equivocation because smoking is bad for smokers, people around smokers and the world at large – basicallt everyone except tobacco companies and their shareholders. Bearing that in mind, how can I not be pumped at the news of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a division of the National Institutes of Health, giving out a $10 million grant to a company that is moving ever closer to an anti-nicotine vaccine? The grant went to Nabi BioPharmaceuticals to take its anti-nicotine vaccine, NicVAX, to Phase III clinical trials. The NIH explained that in Phase III trials, the treatment is "given to large groups of people to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely." It's also the last step before the drug can go before the FDA for approval, so that’s exciting. The way NicVAX works is by stimulating the immune system to generate antibodies that latch on to nicotine in a smoker's body and actually prevent nicotine from ever entering the brain. No nicotine entering the brain would thus (theoretically) remove the addictive properties of cancer sticks/cigarettes from the equation and help users quit once and for all. The Phase III trials began last week, so I’m anxiously awaiting word on how they’re going. “Nicotine addiction causes nearly a half-million deaths annually in the United States alone. Finding effective treatments that can help people stay off cigarettes has been a real challenge," NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins said. "This Phase III trial of a nicotine vaccine offers tremendous hope towards solving this immense public health problem.” I’ll say it’s immense, what with nicotine generally considered more addictive than heroin. And for you losers/smokers out there who have a problem with what I’m saying, just know that the American Cancer Society reports that of the 44 million smokers in the United States, 70 percent say they want to quit. With that many people wanting to quit a disgusting and deadly habit, we should not have as many smokers in this country as we do. Actually, we shouldn’t have any, but that’s a whole different story. Of the 40 percent of smokers who do quit in a given year, only 4 to 7 percent manage to do so on a permanent basis. Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and one of the leaders of the study, says that what makes NicVAX different from existing anti-smoking therapies is that it helps smokers quit permanently. I’m hoping she’s right and everyone who smokes or has ever smoked even once should be hoping the exact same thing…….

- This is not a good story. It is not pleasant, it is not uplifting, it is not encouraging and it is not going to make anyone feel good about themselves. On Friday, a truly sad event took place in (where else?) Beverly Hills, Calif., where at the first Miss Cougar California Convention took place. No, this was not a zoological event, although those who attended the convention should probably be locked up behind the bars of a cage, fed be a zookeeper and gawked at by visitors through Plexiglas. The idea of the convention was to help older women and younger men, so-called cubs, find their next piece of ass or sugar mama. More than 300 of these pathetic souls forked over $30 to attend the event, which was sponsored by the Society of Single Professionals, the world's largest nonprofit singles organization. It had to be a big ego boost for the cougars, who were outnumbered two to one and probably had a lot of horny younger guys fighting for their attention. These cougs crammed into their best slutty outfits, showed off their surgically enhanced physiques with collagen-injected faces and paraded around like the truly deplorable spectacle they are. There was also some intra-cougar club drama after the crowning of Miss Cougar California, which isn't at all demeaning or debasing. The winner was Tyana Alvarado, who was wearing a low-cut dress designed to show off her surgically enhanced rack while she also sported a name tag she oh, so subtly plastered to her ass. Her selection infuriated the first runner-up, who repeatedly shouted that Alvarado looked too good to be older than 40 and demanded to see her identification. Wow, that’s not at all pitiful or deplorable, being ready to brawl because you think some other cougar cheated to be crowned Miss Cougar California. Only in your state, Californians. The kicker is that these cougs actually believe that there are the shiz-nitz and are far more attractive and desirable than any other women out there. "I've got it going on," one cougar at the convention said. "Younger men love that I know who I am and know what I want." Sorry cougars, but you’re not all that and just because a bunch of you jam into some fancy ballroom in Beverly Hills where a bunch of delusional younger guys fawn over you doesn’t make it so………..

- Behold the power of the fans. Twice in the past week, the influence of NFL fans has been seen in the actions of two of the league’s worst teams. First, the threat of Cleveland fans staging a mass protest at the team’s upcoming Monday night game against Baltimore and not going to their seats until after the game starts, thus displaying a near-empty stadium to a national television audience, was enough to inspire Browns owner Randy Lerner to sit down for a two-hour meeting in his office with the two fans leading the protest. Lerner listened to their concerns and although it’s unclear what impact the talk had, general manager George Kokinis was fired just a few days afterward in what many observers viewed as a move to appease the team’s outraged fan base. In Kansas City, the anger of the fans was against one player – running back Larry Johnson – instead of the whole team. After Johnson was suspended for a game following his latest off-field incident, in which he twice used a gay slur, a group of fans started an online position to lobby the team to bench or release Johnson following his suspension so that he would not break the team’s all-time rushing record, which he was within 100 yards of reaching. Now I’m not saying that petition was the sole factor in what happened Monday, but the bottom line is that the instant his suspension was over, the Chiefs dropped Johnson like a sack of bricks. He’s been released and is now free to sign with any team. The former Pro Bowler who had back-to-back 1,700-yard seasons for Kansas City has been suspended twice in the past 12 months, so teams must ask themselves if he’s worth the trouble. “Any player that's available, we look at," said Bears coach Lovie Smith. "That's been our standard policy throughout. That'll be the case with Larry." Houston coach Gary Kubiak agreed. "When a name like that comes on the free agent market like today, we'll obviously go back and take a look at him just like any other player," Kubiak said. "Obviously, he's been a good player in this league and I'm sure he'll get a lot of interest from a lot of people." That’s one aspect of the story, but I’m more interested in how much the fans are able to influence teams. In the end, it is their dollars that buy tickets and merchandise, which in turn pay player salaries and finance the team’s operations (along with the sizeable chunk of money from the league TV deal). I’m not misguided enough to believe that teams are going to run their operations based on what their fans want entirely, but it is nice to think that for the first time in a long time, the feelings of the average fan are at least part of the equation……….

- Aerosmith has long been one of the most perpetually dysfunctional bands on the music scene. Dating back to their drug-addled early years, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Co. have alternated between writing great songs and being at each other’s throats. You might think that as their careers near the end of the line and they are pushing Social Security age, the members of one of rock’s truly iconic bands would be able to find a collective happy place and enjoy a few more great years before calling it quits. Of course, you would be very, very wrong. Not only are the band’s members not getting along, things have deteriorated to the point that Perry said that he and his bandmates are "positively looking for a new singer to work with." A rift with Tyler prompted Perry, Aerosmith’s longtime guitarist, to make the announcement on his Twitter page. I have to admit, the tweet is a nice addition to the Tyler-Perry dynamic, because when you’ve been fighting with someone on and off for nearly 40 years, things can get stale. But there’s a reason these two are often called the "Toxic Twins," and this would be it. They’ve drugged up together, they’ve written legendary songs together and they’ve fought like bitter rivals more often than not. Maybe they’re just trying to follow in the shoes of their role models, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Tyler probably isn't all that upset by Perry’s announcement, given the fact that he precipitated it by recently declaring his intentions to concentrate on solo endeavors. It’s not the first time he’s made such comments, but combined with the fact that he also stopped communicating with the rest of the band several months ago and hired his own manager, there seems to be some substance to those vows now. The division between Perry and Tyler is so substantial that Perry claimed in a recent interview that Tyler has refused to write a song with him for a decade and that recently, Tyler hung up on him when Perry called him. In spite of all of that, Aerosmith pulled off a few summer concerts and set off on a North American tour in August that ended prematurely when Tyler fell off the stage and broke his shoulder. Now I’m wondering if Perry greased the stage or somehow contributed to the fall, because neither he nor any other members of the band accompanied Tyler to the hospital. Tyler recovered enough for the band to play a pair of recent shows in Hawaii and a set at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Nov. 1. The back and forth continued after an interview in which Tyler declared his plans to focus on his own projects, "Brand Tyler," as he called it. Guitarist Brad Whitford and Perry have both talked openly about finding a new vocalist since that interview, maintaining that the band has no plans to break up and is as hot as ever. Of course, it is a bit hypocritical of Perry to rip Tyler for doing the solo thing given that fact that Perry himself just released his fifth solo album and plans an extensive world tour early next year. Heck, Perry is the one who quit the band in 1979 at the height of its drug excess and abuse and launched the Joe Perry project. It took Aerosmith five years to regroup with its original lineup after that, but I have my doubts about their ability to pull it off again. 
I also hate the idea of anyone but Steve Tyler as the lead singer of the band, not after 40 years. It wouldn’t feel right, look right or sound right and here’s hoping it doesn’t happen……..

- I’d like to give Google credit for agreeing to pay for WiFi at 47 of the nation's airports for the rest of the year, beginning Tuesday, and giving travelers the ability to get online for free, but I can’t. The offer is part of an effort that includes running a charity campaign to raise money for three nonprofit groups: Engineers without Borders, One Economy Corporation and Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Upon logging onto the WiFi service, users will be directed to a page wherein they are offered the option of donating to the organizations, with Google matching donations of up to $250,000 per airport. This is one of our holiday gifts to our users, and when you connect, we also hope you'll take the opportunity to try some of the latest Google products," the company said in a statement. Whatever, Google. The real holiday gift would be if the airports themselves made WiFi free, because there is no way in hell that’s ever happening. In this case, someone is still making money off of the service; only the source of the money is changing. And personally, I take great offense to anyone paying $4.50 for an hour of Internet usage, period. As for the specifics of the offer, the list of airports with free WiFi includes the international airports in Miami and Orlando, but it also includes smaller airports such as those in Billings and Bozeman, Mont. One possibly interesting feature of the deal will be Google offering users the chance to try its new Google Chrome browser, although that’s extremely self-promotional and not at all altruistic. This isn't Google’s first stab at free WiFi, as the company already offers free wireless Internet to its hometown of Mountain View, Calif., and last month it partnered with Virgin America to give the airline's customers free access to Gogo's Inflight Internet. Both the free airport WiFi and the Gogo promotion will end, so take advantage now if you plan to do so…………