- Finally….someone found those 19 tons of explosive devices I misplaced. I was beginning to think those darned things would never turn up or worse, yet that some radical, extremist group had stolen them and…..wait, that’s where they went? Oh. Either way, authorities in southwestern Afghanistan have seized those misplaced explosives after they were transferred across the border from Iran. Nimruz Police Chief Abdul Jabar Purdel detailed the seizure and said that a suspect was detained. Nimruz province, of course, is located in Afghanistan's southwestern corner and borders both Iran and Pakistan. That makes it an ideal region for smuggling 19 tons of stolen explosives, needless to say. These particular explosives were stored inside 337 boxes within a 40-foot shipping container transferred from Iran over a bridge linking Afghanistan and Iran. This would seem to support claims earlier this year from a senior U.S. Defense Department official that new U.S. military intelligence suggests Iran planned to smuggle new shipments of weapons into Afghanistan as part of an growing effort to disrupt coalition operations. At the time, all this anonymous official would say was that the intel came from an "Iranian source" whose tips on past shipments have been verified by the United States. The cooperation between Iran and anyone from Afghanistan is curious one because the heavily Shiite nation of Iran and the Sunni Taliban in Afghanistan almost went to war with one another in the late 1990s. But I suppose that a mutual hatred of the United States and of the West in general is enough to bind these two kooky groups together……….
- Oh goodie, more people for LeBron James to take mental notes about for slighting him and disrespecting his new team of mercenaries. After the man formerly known as the King jettisoned Cleveland in heinous fashion in a one-hour, televised back-stabbing, he vowed to take notes of anyone who ripped him and make them pay……somehow. See, James wasn’t specific on how he would get his revenge, but he can now add the general managers of the entire NBA to his hit list because the annual NBA.com GM Survey, released Wednesday, found that the top personnel men for the league’s 30 teams believe the Lakers are the team to beat, according to 63 percent of the 28 general managers who responded. James’ Heat received just 33 percent of the votes, while the Boston Celtics garnered the other 4 percent of the votes. The defending champions, the Lakers, didn’t do nearly as much in free agency as the Heat, but the league’s GM’s clearly believe that they have done enough to be the best team at the outset of the season. They also don’t seem to have much respect for James’ chances to repeat as MVP, because Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder was the overwhelming pick in that category, getting 67 percent of the votes while Kobe Bryant of the Lakers was second with 26 percent and James picked up just a single vote, as did Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic. The GM’s also voted on the league's rookie of the year, best point guard, top power forward, top center, shooting guard and best small forward - the one honor for which James was selected. Bryant boat-raced James and everyone else in the league when it came to the player the GM’s would rely on to take a shot with the game on the line, receiving a whopping 79 percent of the votes. We’ll have to wait and see if this gives James any added motivation, but clearly, not everyone is on board with he and his new team as the unbeatable juggernaut they believe themselves to be………
- To paraphrase John McClane in the original Die Hard, welcome to the party, NBC. Two other networks have already yanked a new series from the air after only a few episodes, so it’s only fitting that the Peacock join the festivities. To be fair, NBC hasn’t technically canceled Outlaw, the network’s new legal drama starring Jimmy Smits, but it’s only a matter of time. For now, the network has halted production on the show after three episodes and won't resume production until it sees how the show performs in the coming weeks. The first three episodes would not seem to provide much hope for a turnaround, not after the show averaged 4.7 million viewers on Oct. 1, down from its premiere week average of 4.98 million. NBC still has five original episodes it can air in order to determine whether Outlaw is worth salvaging in its 10 p.m. Friday time slot. The show’s likely failure is yet another low point for former NBC late-night talking head Conan O’Brien, who developed the series for NBC under his Conaco production operation. Although he is not a part of the day-to-day operation of the show, seeing the series become the first one pulled from NBC’s lineup in the fall would undoubtedly be another blow to O’Brien’s pride and also another not-so-pleasant memory of his once-positive relationship with NBC. Because Outlaw is technically still alive, it hasn’t officially joined the group of new shows already canceled by their respective networks, but it’s only a matter of time before Fox’s Lone Star and ABC’s My Generation welcome Jimmy Smits to their club and anxiously await the first cancellation from the CW and from CBS to officially round out the group………
- Memo to one and all baseball card collectors out there: If you have recently lost a collection of 500 valuable cards, each carefully placed in a plastic protective sleeve, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. would like to speak to you. A good Samaritan visiting the city’s East Potomac Park found the card collection, sporting vintage Johnny Bench, Tony LaRussa and Steve Carlton cards, in a grassy area of the park. Rather than claim the find as his or her own, this kind person called police and they began sifting through crime reports in an attempt to determine if the cards were stolen and linked to any cases in their files. Thus far, they have found no link and have no idea who the cards’ rightful owner might be. "We don't know if it fell off the back of a car," Lt. Nicholas Breul said. Lt. Breul did say that police believe the cards were stolen, but have no hard evidence to back up those beliefs. Police publicized the find Wednesday, releasing photos of some of the collection. They withheld some important details about the collection as a whole so they can quiz anyone stepping forward to claim it and determine if they are legit. Among the cards in the collection are Topps and Fleer cards of Major League Baseball players from the 1980s and 1990s. The exact value of the collection isn’t known, but the mere fact that it survived this long without the owner’s mother getting tired of having it around the attic and throwing it in the trash to get rid of it has to be worth something. Anyone with information or believes the set is theirs is asked to contact the department's Public Information Office between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. ET Monday through Friday and claim their missing property………
- Google has introduced its new Internet television system to the world and now the world has begun to respond. Logitech became the first company to take advantage of Google’s newest invention by debuting its forthcoming Revue set-top box on Wednesday. Tech dorks had been anxiously awaiting for introduction of the Revue, but few details were made known between Google's I/O conference in May and Wednesday. As of now, the Revue is available for pre-order on Logitech's website for $300. The Revue will also be enhanced by advanced integration with Dish Network and Dish subscribers will get a reduced rate of $179 for the box. For losers who feel the need to pre-order things like the Revue (or digital copies of new albums that obviously aren’t going to sell out because it’s mathematically impossible), the Revue will ship by the end of October. That’s also when the device will be available in Best Buy stores. To refresh your memory on Google TV, it was introduced in May and is Android-based software that gives televisions access to videos, apps and sites from the Web. Users can shift quickly between regular television channels and Internet content, using Google's Chrome browser to navigate. Google partnered with tech giants Logitech, Intel, Sony and Adobe for the project and Logitech becomes the first of those partners to deliver its own component to compliment the system. The Revue will launch with pre-installed apps from Netflix, the NBA, Twitter, CNBC, Napster and Pandora. Logitech predicts big things for the Revue going with. "With a huge community of developers creating apps for the upcoming Android Market, there's no telling what your TV will be able to do," the company boasts on its Web site. One omission from the Revue’s repertoire is Hulu, the online video service with whom Google is still negotiating. Customers purchasing the Revue can also buy accessories for it that include the 6-inch Mini Controller, for $130 and the $150 TV Cam which uses free software to make HD video calls. For those who aren’t quite sure about the Internet TV concept quite yet, feel free to view this as your opportunity to embrace the concept because like it or not, this train is a-rollin’ down the tracks and it won't be stopping………
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