- Not that I’m concerned about angry SoCal terrorists launching mysterious rockets into the sky as a precursor to their attempts to take over the country, but it is a little worrisome that the Pentagon is unable to explain images of what appears to be a high-altitude rocket launched off the coast of southern California at sunset Monday, right? Whether the various theories about the image - that it’s airplane contrail and merely an optical illusion that looks like it's going up, whereas in reality it's going towards the camera - are true or not, shouldn’t the government be able to issue a semi-plausible explanation? Even if they know what it is and the truth is too vital to national security to explain, the government should at least be able to come up with a good lie, right? After all, that’s what the government specializes in, right? Coming up with elaborate fibs when they can’t share the truth with the public, cooking up passable cover stories that will fool at least most of the nation. With all the money the country are spending, all these technically proficient people the government employs……they can do better than this, or so you would think. But right now, the feds are giving us nothing when it comes to explaining the ascending orange-colored contrail high shooting high into the SoCal sky late Monday. The Pentagon and the North American Aerospace Defense Command say that they are investigating, but can’t yet pinpoint what caused the image. The photograph initially surfaced from video shot by a news helicopter operated by CNN affiliate KCBS/KCAL. No one is disputing that a contrail is visible - a contrail being the visible vapor trail behind airplanes or rockets traveling at high altitudes. The Federal Aviation Administration, the Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force are among those working to pinpoint just what went on in the skies over southern California Monday evening. "The FAA ran radar replays of a large area west of Los Angeles based on media reports of the possible missile launch at approximately 5 p.m. (PT) on Monday. The radar replays did not reveal any fast moving, unidentified targets in that area," said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. "The FAA did not receive reports ... of unusual sightings from pilots who were flying in the area on Monday afternoon. The FAA did not approve any commercial space launches around the area Monday.” He was backed up by Col. Dave Lapan, a spokesman for the Pentagon, who conceded, “We are trying to do everything we can to figure out if anybody has any knowledge of what this event may have been. So far we have come up empty.” Thanks for the reassurance, U.S. government and military………
- For as long as I’ve known what karma is, I have not believed that it truly exists. Still, every now and then something pops up to make me - at least temporarily - re-examine my position on the issue. One of those things occurred Monday night, when the Pittsburgh Steelers - the same Steelers who have been THE whiniest, most complaining team about the NFL’s heightened focus on dangerous and “devastating” hits - saw not one, not two, but three of their players suffer concussions during a Monday Night Football matchup with Cincinnati. Steelers safety Will Allen and running backs Mewelde Moore and Isaac Redman sustained concussions during Monday night's game in Cincinnati, meaning that all three of them must pass post-concussion tests before being cleared to play. The tests measure a player’s cognitive skills and functions after a concussion and compare them to his normal brain functions prior to the concussion. A player is allowed to return only after his tests return to normal and he exhibits no symptoms of a concussion. Steelers James Harrison and Troy Polamalu have been a bunch of whiny babies ever since Roger Goodell and Co. announced that hits they deemed to be outside the rules would be met with higher fines and possible suspensions for repeat offenders. Harrison went so far as threatening to retire before realizing that he would lose $6 million by doing so and suddenly had a change of heart. Seeing three Steelers go down with concussions is certainly nothing to cheer about, but it is a fun coincidence if nothing else. Moore and Redman are backups and losing them prior to Sunday big matchup with New England (6-2) isn’t going to kill Pittsburgh’s chances to win, but it could thin their backfield in a game where running the ball and controlling the clock could be key. Toss in injuries to left guard Chris Kemoeatu (sprained right knee), center Maurkice Pouncey (bruised right leg) and left tackle Max Starks (neck, shoulder) and you see that the Steelers could be at much less than full strength when Sunday rolls around………
- You’re not helping FAT people, you’re hurting them, Kansas State professor of human nutrition Mark Haub, and you shouldn’t be doing stupid sh*t like eating a diet consisting of Twinkies, nutty bars, powdered doughnuts and other crap for 10 week, eating one of these junk food items every three hours in place of actual meals and mixing in snacks that included Doritos, sugary cereals and Oreos and telling people that this diet helped you lose weight. I don’t care if your theory is that in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most and not the nutritional value of the food, the bottom line is that you’re telling obese people that eating fatty, sugary and unhealthy foods is cool. Yes, Haub lost 27 pounds in two months on the “diet,” a result he attributed to limiting himself to less than 1,800 calories a day. During the experiment, his body mass index went from 28.8, considered overweight, to 24.9, which is normal and he now weighs 174 pounds. He also measured other health indicators during the study and found that his "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. Additionally, he reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent. "That's where the head scratching comes," Haub said. "What does that mean? Does that mean I'm healthier? Or does it mean how we define health from a biology standpoint, that we're missing something?" I’d love to take solace in the fact Haub also made sure to urge people not to take his success as inspiration to undertake a similar diet…….but I can’t. FAT people will hear what they want to hear and in this case, they’re going to hear that eating the same garbage they’ve always eaten is the road to success. "I'm not geared to say this is a good thing to do," Haub said. "I'm stuck in the middle. I guess that's the frustrating part. I can't give a concrete answer. There's not enough information to do that." Worth noting is that in addition to all of the junk food he ate, Haub also took a multivitamin pill and drank a protein shake daily, along with eating vegetables, typically a can of green beans or three to four celery stalks. In other words, your Funjun-Cheetos-Ding Dong-doughnut diet plan isn’t going to get you to better health, FAT people, so stop trying. Don’t listen when Haub says that there is a “disconnect between eating healthy and being healthy.” Cut out the fast food, processed food, desserts and other unhealthy grub, then get off the couch and do some freaking exercise………
- Oh, if only our nation’s pundits and media hypocrites had a sense of humor and a little bit of self-deprecating wit in them. If they did, then perhaps these ass clowns wouldn’t have been lurking, waiting and watching for their very first chance to rip Daily Show host Jon Stewart and Colbert Report host Stephen Colbert over perceived failing and inadequacies of their “Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear,” which took place on the National Mall on Oct. 30. Self-righteous talking heads like Keith Olbermann (prior to being suspended for campaign contributions to Republicans that would seem to call into question his objectivity and impartiality), Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher couldn’t wait to lambaste Stewart and Colbert for their rally in which Stewart advocated on the side of rationality and sanity when it comes to dealing with our nation’s problems and Colbert played his sarcastic, über-right-wing conservative character who wants to incite fear and paranoia of all things different and non-conservative. The rally featured multiple montages of talking heads from Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, etc., all ranting and sounding like total loons decrying issues ranging from immigration to the economy and everything in between. Yet all the pundits could say was that the rally was a waste of time, much ado about nothing and did nothing more than lump them in with people on the other side of the political spectrum with whom they have NOTHING in common. The chief side of the debate from which everyone wanted to be distanced was Fox News’ side, with parties from every part of the spectrum quick to point out that their brand of biased journalism is nothing like the conserva-Nazis at Fox News. So after Stewart began Monday night’s by congratulating Conan O’Brien on his new show, he went straight to the past week’s criticisms of leveled by Olbermann, Maddow and Maher. In mock response to those criticisms, Stewart announced a new project: “The Rally To Determine Precisely The Percentage Of Blame To Be Doled Out To The Left And The Right For Our Problems Because We All Know The Only Thing That Matters Is that The Other Guys Are Worse Than We Are And/Or Fear.” Yet all that the tongue-in-cheek targets of small portions of the rally heard was the small shots directed at them in the name of a more important issue………
- Is this prison riot week in Brazil and I somehow missed it? That’s what it looks like as news of 18 prisoners during a long prison riot at the Pedrinhas Penitentiary in Sao Luis, capital of Maranhao state Monday morning and lasted through noon Tuesday and three more prisoners were killed in a second riot that took place in a different building of the prison later in the day. The first riot was clearly the superior uprising of the two, with at least 15 inmates killed during the 27-hour riot, according to prison officials. Five prison officials were taken hostage during the riot, although all five were later released without being harmed after prisoners negotiated with police. Perhaps on guard after the first riot, police were able to contain the second one before it grew. So why were the prisoners rioting? Were they unhappy with the always touchy issue of prison food, which is notoriously bad no matter where in the world you’re incarcerated? Nope. Were they angry about a lack of useable fitness equipment in the exercise yard? Umm, no. Perhaps there were ridiculous restrictions dropped on visiting hours for inmates’ families…..no again. Prisoners were angry at the prison's director, Luis Henrique Pena de Freitas, whom they want replaced. Additionally, they are pissed about the water supply system at the prison and want the speed with which lawsuits from inmates are analyzed to be increased. Prison officials insist that although the water supply is not working properly, it is something that officials were already fixing. As for the lawsuits, prisoners want their legal work to be processed faster because they can remain in prison for years while their lawsuits to make their way through the judicial system. However, the bottom line here is the same as with every prison riot anywhere in the world, namely that there are no losers in a prison riot. Those not involved get to enjoy the specter of a riot from afar without much danger of anyone being hurt other than angry inmates looking to shank one another and prisoners get to voice their anger and discontent over issues that have been bothering them. Or as we call it in the world of social dissidence, a win-win-riot proposition………
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