- When in locker rooms, dudes tend to do a few things: play video games (if they’re a professional and have a gaming system in their plush locker room), shower, sit at their locker and play music, play cards…..or act like overgrown 10-year-olds arguing about who can beat up who. The last entry on that list goes on more frequently than you might imagine and you can be sure it’s a regular topic of conversation in the Baltimore Ravens locker room, as Ravens safety Tom Zbikowski had an extremely successful career as an amateur boxer and has taken the sport back up in earnest now that the NFL is mired in a lockout with no end in sight. Zbikowski is 3-0 as a professional boxer, beating two heavyweights this year, and his next scheduled fight is April 23 against cruiserweight Blake Warner. His teammates are supportive of his boxing career, but just don’t think any of them are in awe of what he can do in the ring, especially not Pro Bowl linebacker, all-around terrifying dude and former accessory to murder suspect Ray Lewis. Lewis, who is using some of his free time during the lockout to dabble in the media world, was quoted in a blog on the NFL Network saying of Zbikowski’s boxing career and what would happen if the two of them stepped into the ring against one another, "Zbikowski would lose. We’ve already talked about that. Zbikowski is a realist when it comes to the sport. The locker room talk is always that about who can beat who. He’ll be the first to tell you he’s not going to get in the ring with a 250-pound person. That’s crazy!" For the record, if Zbikowski is afraid of Lewis or nervous about stepping in the ring with Ray-Ray, he should feel secure in knowing that he’s not alone. Pretty much everyone on the face of the planet - outside of Chuck Norris, of course - would be petrified at the prospect of an enraged Ray Lewis charging at them with bad intentions and looking to cave their face in………
- Had you only arrived at this oppressive conclusion a few years ago, China, you could have saved yourselves from the oft-incomprehensible and frequently ridiculous final few seasons of Lost. That final season was intolerable because it liberally mixed in the idea of time travel and left viewers wondering what (and when) they were watching. That would not be an issue in today’s China, where the government has banned any depiction of time travel in TV shows and films because the plot element "disrespects history." The phrase “disrespects history” made be code for “gives our people the idea that there is a world view other than the narrow, restricted one we provide for them” in this case, but rest assured that the government has a ready rationale locked and loaded. In a prepared statement, China's State Administration for Radio, Film & Television said that fictional time-traveling in programs "casually make up myths, have monstrous and weird plots, use absurd tactics, and even promote feudalism, superstition, fatalism and reincarnation." Wow…..feudalism? Seriously? As in the dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord's land and give him homage, labor, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection? Interesting. Tell me more. "Producers and writers are treating serious history in a frivolous way, which should by no means be encouraged anymore," SARFT said. Glad you stamped that out before it really spread and became a major issue. You certainly don’t want common people thinking for themselves, using their imaginations and……oh yeah, watching science fiction shows that are obviously fictitious through and through. The issued guidelines restrict producers and writers from using time travel, along with any elements that contain "fantasy ... random compilations of mythical stories, bizarre plots, absurd techniques," if they want their programs to stay on the air. Because SARFT has the power to pull the plug on any show whenever it wants, the guidelines are more of a threat than a suggestion. Not so coincidentally, the ruling comes as the Communist party celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. "Follow the central spirit of the CPC to celebrate its 90th anniversary on television," SARFT said. "All levels should actively prepare to launch vivid reproductions of the Chinese revolution, the nation's construction and its reform and opening up." Once again, the omnipresent message of, “Do exactly as we say and there will be no problems.” Reassuring…………
- Albany, N.Y., are you still fighting over chickens? Sadly, the answer is yes. A battle that has dragged on for months refuses to die. Homeowners in Albany are still fighting for the right to keep their chickens on their property and the battle took another absurd step forward Thursday as the town’s common Council weighed in on the issue at a public meeting attended by dozens of people on both sides of the issues. As it has for months, the council remained divided on the issue. Most of the concerned citizens in attendance argued once again that raising chickens is a matter of sustainability and have proposed amendments to the ordinance so that it fully addresses the concerns over chickens on residential properties. That wasn’t enough to sway the full council, which ended 90 minutes of debate without rendering its decision. "The facts just back up the fact that chicken is something that's great for cities," said Michael Guidice, of the Albany Chicken Coalition. "It's happened in cities across the country and its time for Albany to change its laws." In response, council members voiced concerns regarding health, property values and more, but several members supported the chicken enthusiasts. "There hasn't been one person yet that hasn't spoken against this ordinance, other than a couple of the council members that have issues," said Dominick Calsolaro, a member of the council. If adopted, the proposed amendment would create a system similar to the one that currently exists in Buffalo, where a permit system exists. It would regulate how chickens are kept and require homeowners who want them to have their neighbors’ consent. "I want the common council to say they're putting a step forward on issues of sustainability that are brought from the grassroots," said Calsolaro. The process did take a step forward Thursday night when the council’s law committee voted to bring this Albany Chicken Ordinance to the full council for a vote, which is expected to happen at a meeting in the near future. In the interim, feel free to hit up the Albany Chicken Coalition's Facebook page for more information on these misfits…………
- Beware the bacteria in the meat you buy from the shelves of the deli at your local supermarket. That meat may well contain not just high levels of bacteria, but bacteria that has a better than even money chance of being resistant to multiple types of antibiotics. Researchers at the Arizona-based Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGRI) examined 136 meat samples from 26 grocery stores in Illinois, Florida, California, Arizona and Washington D.C. and found dangerous bacteria in many of the meats. More than half of the bacteria wad found to be resistant to multiple types of antibiotics. Researchers cautioned that while the meat commonly found in grocery stores is still safe to eat, consumers should take precautions especially in handling and cooking. Chief researcher Dr. Lance Price said high levels of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria were found in the meat. "Staph causes hundreds of thousands of infections in the United States every year," Price said. "It causes a whole slew of infections ranging from skin infections to really bad respiratory infections like pneumonia." A spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration confirmed the agency was aware of the TGRI findings, and similar studies of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in meats. This agency mouthpiece claimed the FDA is working with the U.S. Agriculture Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the causes and effects. "FDA has been monitoring the situation. The TGRI study points out that the public health relevance of the findings is unclear. FDA continues to work with CDC and USDA to better understand this issue," the FDA spokeswoman said. Primary focus among the numerous points of concern the study raises should go to how resistant the bacteria in the meat is becoming to antibiotics farmers use to treat the animals they slaughter. In the study, 96 percent of the meats with staph bacteria the bacteria were resistant to at least one type of antibiotic, and 52 percent were resistant to three or more types. "The bacteria is always going to be there. But the reason why they're resistant is directly related to antibiotic use in food animal production," Price said. "Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to public health we face today. This is one more reason to be very careful when you're handling raw meat and poultry in the kitchen. You can cook away these bacteria. But the problem is when you bring in that raw product, you almost inevitably contaminate your kitchen with these bacteria." The typical standbys of washing hands and counters before and after handling meat and keeping other foods away from uncooked meat remain the best ways to combat the bacteria problem, but Price believes it is incumbent upon regulatory agencies to address the problem from their end. "To put it all on the consumer is really directing blame at the wrong end of the food chain," Price said. Sounds good, but I think I’m gonna go make me a sammich……….
- Unintentional truth in tongue-in-cheek advertising is typically good for a laugh. Actor Paul Reiser should know, since he spent the past two weeks in sarcastic commericials designed to promote his new NBC sitcom The Paul Reiser Show, commercials in which he postulated that the only thing viewers would remember from the commercials was him mentioning that Will Ferrell would be appearing on this week’s new episode of NBC’s hit comedy The Office. The commercials were designed to promote both shows and to use self-efficacy to pimp Reiser’s new series. As it turned out, the commercials worked well……for The Office. Thanks to Ferrell’s presence for an extended guest spot, the show was up 15 percent week-to-week and helped the Peacock score the second-best overall ratings for the night even though Reiser’s show bombed abysmally. The supposed comedy was taking a beating from critics before a single episode aired, but viewers did nothing to contradict those views and overwhelmingly rejected Paul Reiser’s return to series comedy, making it NBC’s lowest-rated in-season comedy premiere ever. The show averaged a meager 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic with just 3.3 million viewers overall, putting it at the literal bottom of the ratings race, behind reruns CBS’ Rules of Engagement and the CW’s The Vampire Diaries. The obvious conclusions to draw from those numbers are a) the concept of having a star playing a thinly veiled version of himself – as in Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm with Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, respectively - doesn’t work for everyone and b) one needs to be both funny and better than a D-list star to pull the concept off. By comparion, the ratings for The Paul Reiser Show were down almost 50 percent compared to the January premiere of NBC’s Perfect Couples. The only silver lining for the network was the overall strength of its performance for the night, boosted by The Office and strong showings from Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock and Outsourced. For the night, NBC averaged a 2.1 rating with 4.6 million viewers followed by CBS (1.6, 8.5 million), and ABC (1.3, 4.4 million), with all three finishing behind Fox…………
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