- Finally, the NFL and its players have agreed on something in their ongoing labor battle. No, they haven’t decided an acceptable split for revenues, nor have they compromised on HGH testing or a possible lengthening of the regular season. But an agreement is an agreement and the two sides have agreed they should return to mediation to resolve their dispute. Yet even in agreeing, they aren’t completely on the same page. The sides differ on where those discussions should take place and who should mediate them. Both sides informed Judge Susan Richard Nelson on Thursday that they're willing to talk, but the NFL wants mediation to continue in Washington with federal mediator George Cohen, who led three weeks of talks between the two sides, and the NFLPA wants a court-supervised settlement discussion in Minnesota in which Judge Nelson would appoint the mediator. The key difference between the two is Cohen’s mediation was non-binding and he didn’t have authority to impose any resolution, whereas a mediator appointed by Nelson could be more binding than any in Washington. Thus far, the league has balked at the idea of federal oversight on the next collective bargaining agreement. Nevertheless, Nelson will be in the middle of this battle for some time no matter where a possible return to mediation occurs. She will decide a suit by the player seeking preliminary injunction that would lift the lockout on the grounds that their careers are being "irreparably harmed" by the work stoppage. The owners contend the court doesn't have the jurisdiction to impose the injunction while the National Labor Relations Board is considering an unfair labor charge filed by the league that players didn't negotiate in good faith. After informing both sides that her decision would take some time, Nelson offered to help facilitate a return to the mediation table. "This is really a matter that should be resolved because a lot of people are impacted by this dispute," she said. "I hope both sides take advantage of [mediation]." The situation has an additional element to it in the form of a lawsuit by former players who have filed an antitrust suit against the league, although there is a pending motion to consolidate the antitrust cases of the current and former players, which means eventually Kenneth Feinberg, the U.S. government's special master for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, as the mediator for the former players’ case against the NFL, could be the mediator for the current players’ case against the league. Oh, and there’s also the league’s contention that when the players voted to decertify the NFL Players Association, they didn’t actually do so and for all intents and purposes are still acting as a union. To the cynic, it might even appear that the two sides are no closer to an agreement today than they have been at any point in the past few months, but let’s not lose focus of the miraculous happening of them actually agreeing on something…………
- Porcupines, be advised that your reign of terror in Pennsylvania may soon be over. For too long now, you’re run roughshod over the good people of the Keystone State, but no more. Your lazy, heavy-bodied, short-legged, half-deaf, nearly blind, bark-eating selves have been put on notice. The Pennsylvania Game Commission is prepared to declare "open season" on porcupines as soon as Tuesday, meaning they can be hunted anytime, anywhere. "We want to make it clear that people can control them where they are causing damage," said commission member Dave Putnam. The commission’s decision comes after a slew of complaints about property damage by porcupines in remote areas of the state. "My main objective is to make it clear that you are allowed to harvest them," Putnam continued. If open season is declared on porcupines, it would end nearly three decades of "protected" status for the state's second-largest rodent. However, even though the animals could not be hunted legally, property owners have always been allowed to kill porcupines that are damaging their property. Property damage is something that porcupines, much like drunk rock stars in hotel rooms, are very good at inflicting. Porcupines have been known to gnaw on cabin siding, telephone wires and brake lines. One major advantage of declaring open season would be eliminating confusion over the boundaries of where a porcupine can be legally shot, as the current law does not define those boundaries well enough. The chief objectors to the law change are, not shockingly, critter lovers who say it is irresponsible to allow indiscriminate hunting without first gathering porcupine population data. Biologists have argued that time-consuming and expensive studies are needed first. John Hadidian, director of urban wildlife for the Humane Society of the United States, called the state commission's action hasty and "verging on unethical" and echoed the call for additional research before any decision is made. "It's ridiculous," Hadidian said. "When you do wildlife-damage management, you have to have justification - and they have done none of the necessary research to determine the extent of the problem or ways to address the problem. Oddly enough, some hunters have also raised doubts about the plan because hunting a slow-moving critter you can walk right up to and poke with a stick in most instances isn't exactly sporting. For those who don’t know, porcupines are native to Pennsylvania, and their range extends largely across the northern tier of the state. The tree-hugging, critter-loving sect of the state’s populace maintains they play a vital role in the state's ecosystem - by clearing treetops in dense forests, thus allowing in sunlight that promotes growth and nurtures habitats on the forest floor. Others say their low birthrate as well as susceptibility to parasites and propensity to end up as roadkill on highways are reasons not to hunt them. Sarah Speed, the Humane Society's Pennsylvania state director, testified before the commission in January and expressed "deep concern" about the proposal. Clearly, Sarah Speed has never been careening down a steep mountain road and been unable to stop her speeding vehicle because some onerous porcupine gnawed through the brake line………
- Every now and then, the world needs inspiration in the form of an 85-year-old British sailor fulfilling his childhood dream of crossing the Atlantic on a raft. Thankfully, men like Anthony Smith of London provide that inspiration by completing the 2,800-mile crossing to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, covering the distance over 66 days with three friends. Smith’s odyssey was relatively peaceful, with the small exception of minor damage to two rudders on the large, sail-powered raft. "Some people say it was mad,” Smith proclaimed when he arrived in St. Maarten Wednesday. "But it wasn't mad. What else do you do when you get on in years?" Damn right it wasn’t mad, Anthony. People who spew that sort of nonsense are too lazy or uninspired to chase any dreams that really matter and instead spend their time crapping on others’ great dreams. Smith and his motley crew said they wanted to raise awareness about the environment and to prove the elderly are capable of embarking on adventures that are widely considered too dangerous. Their trek was partially to raise money for the British nonprofit group WaterAid, which provides potable water to impoverished communities. "I got some compensation money," Smith said. "So what do you blow the compensation money on? You blow it on a raft." The crew departed from the Canary Islands after waiting out a weather delay that pushed the trip back nearly a month. They set sail on their raft, named "An-Tiki" after Thor Heyerdahl's famous Kon-Tiki raft, loaded down with food including oranges, avocados, potatoes, cabbages and a pumpkin. Equipped with a small oven, the crew began making fresh bread from scratch after their store-bought supply was exhausted. Sailing master David Hildred, a civil engineer who lives in the British Virgin Islands, had to help fix the rudders that broke three days into the trip, the only major drama of the voyage. The raft itself was built with four water supply pipes nearly 40 feet long, and 14 cross pipes, including seven pipes to hold the crew's fresh water supply. "Water strikes at the very heart of need," Smith told. "To voyage almost 3,000 miles upon the salty kind makes us intensely aware of places in the world that are without adequate supplies." If it hasn’t sunk in by now, Smith’s raft wasn’t the inflatable dinghy most of us imagine when people are stranded at sea following a plane crash or boat capsizing. It also boasted a nearly 40-foot long mast and a 400-square-foot sail, along with twin rudders for steering, centerboards and two oars. While an average speed of 4 knots isn't exactly brisk, the crew passed the time by trading off piloting duties and read or played cards during down time. "I think all of us enjoyed our night watches when it was just oneself for company," Smith said. "Not an awful lot to see, but it was great." The original plan called for the trip to conclude in the Bahamas, but strong winds and currents forced them to the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Maarten. "Yes, of course it's a success," Smith said with a smile. "How many people do you know who have rafted across the Atlantic? ... The word mutiny was only spoken about two or three times a day." Well said, Anthony, well said……….
- You roll with the world’s worst operating system on your computer, these are the sorts of days you are guaranteed to have. Tuesday, April 12 has officially become Patch Tuesday for Microsoft, which is issuing 17 software fixes, nine of them considered "critical" to its Windows operating system, as well as to Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office. The patches are designed to fix a whopping 64 security holes and vulnerabilities in a wide range of Microsoft's software, including Visual Studio, and .NET Framework. But hey, maybe we should cut Microsoft a break. After all, it has been all of four months since Bill Gates’ company released 17 patches to address 40 different security problems. The two rounds of patch releases are currently tied for the most patches in a single bulletin, but with Microsoft the possibility of that record being broken is extremely high, sooner rather than later. Not surprisingly, Microsoft's Security Bulletin doesn't have any specific details about the patches. The company said only that some of the fixes will address the Windows MHTML vulnerability and the Server Message Block Browser bug in Windows XP. The the MHTML flaw, first reported last January, allows attackers to run scripts in the wrong security context on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and all supported Windows Server releases. For the non-tech dorks among us, that means a hacker could exploit this vulnerability to inject a client-side script in a Website the user is viewing in Internet Explorer and once executed, the script could collect user information and spoof content. Thus far, hackers have exploited the vulnerability in "limited, targeted attacks" using the public proof-of-concept code, but without a patch the attacks would likely have worsened. As for the Server Message Block Browser bug in Windows XP, users affected by it have likely experienced the dreaded blue screen of doom that Microsoft users over the years have grown very accustomed to. This flaw was publicly disclosed on Feb. 15 and viewed as a major threat by most online security firms, possibly leading to a denial-of-service attack or completely taking over the compromised system. All Windows users are advised to download the patches, as affected operating systems include Windows XP, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition, Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7. There are also updates for Internet Explorer 6 through 8 and the company will have a webcast "to address customer questions" at 11 a.m. PT Wednesday. Ah, the joys of being a Windows user…………
- Two weeks of work, two top finishes for Hop, which continues its strong start even though Easter is still two weeks away. A movie about the Easter bunny’s son would figure to do good business through Easter Sunday, but has already achieved a fair amount of success to this point thanks to a $21.7 million weekend to finish in first place once again. Through its first two weeks, Hop has earned an impressive $68.2 million. Second place went to Arthur, apparently intended as a comedy and earning an unimpressive $12.6 million in its debut weekend as it fell well short in producing laughs and yet gave Russell Brand the two highest-grossing movies for the weekend. Action flick Hanna came in third place, just behind Arthur with $12.3 in its first weekend of release. Fellow newcomer Soul Surfer was next, landing in fourth place with $11.1 million in a decent, if not overwhelming debut. Insidious snared the final spot among the top five with $9.7 million to bring its two-week total to $27.1 million. The remainder of the top 10 was a mix of newcomers and returning films including: Your Highness (No. 6 in an über-disappointing debut with a mere $9.5 despite a) the presence of Natalie Portman and b) a ubiquitous marketing campaign that has bludgeoned TV viewers with nonstop commercials over the past week), Source Code (No. 7 and plummeting after a second-place finish last week, earning $9 million this time around for a cumulative total of $28.6 million), Limitless (No. 8 and remaining in the top 10 a full month into its run with a $5.7 million take and a four-week tally of $64.4 million and counting), Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (No. 9 with $4.9 million following a precipitous 51-percent drop from last weekend and having made $45.4 million through three weeks in theaters) and The Lincoln Lawyer (No. 10 with $4.6 million and $46.5 million through four weeks). The last four movies from last weekend’s top 10 all dropped out this time around, with Rango (No. 11), Sucker Punch (No. 12), Paul (No. 13) and Battle: Los Angeles (No. 14) not doing enough to hold their top 10 spots for one more week………
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