- The world of mixed martial arts is a rising star in the sports world, but whether MMA fans like it or not, their sport is still on the fringe and not close to touching the stratosphere occupied by the major American professional sports. Depending on your point of view, Brazilian mixed martial artist Thiago Silva admitting that he attempted to alter the results of a urinalysis administered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission is either a major step toward legitimacy or proof that MMA is exactly what we always believed it to be. The NSAC alleged that Silva's urine specimen, taken before a Jan. 1 UFC bout versus Brandon Vera in Las Vegas, reflected a "complete-invalid result" indicating it was "inconsistent with human urine" and rather than fight a losing battle when he knew he was guilty as charged, Silva issued a statement Wednesday in which he admitted his guilt. "I used a urine adulterant when giving a sample following my fight with Brandon Vera," Silva is quoted as saying in a release issued by his manager, Dan Lambert. "I did so in an attempt to alter the results of the test and knowingly broke the rules of the Nevada Athletic Commission. This was a terrible decision on my part for which I will be punished. I am prepared to accept this punishment, learn from it and move on. I apologize to the Commission, the UFC, Brandon Vera and the MMA fans." NSAC executive director Keith Kizer stated that NSAC paperwork actually shows the test was administered before the bout. Working in Silva’s favor is his clean record prior to this incident. It’s the first time he has a tested positive for a banned substance and he has tested clean on five other occasions, including one that required blood work in New Jersey. Silva claimed he re-injured his back 45 days before his fight against Vera, re-aggravating an ailment that had kept him out of action for a year following a loss to Rashad Evans on Jan. 2, 2010. "I made the decision to not pull out of the fight," Silva said. "I also decided that the only way I could continue with the fight was to take injections in my back and spine that contained substances prohibited by the Nevada Athletic Commission. I also made the decision to use a product to hide the presence of these substances in a urine test." He did not identify the illegal substances he allegedly took, but accepted full responsibility for taking them and attempting to cover up their presence in his system. He went out and earned a unanimous decision victory against Vera, who suffered a badly broken nose during the fight that required surgery. The NSAC is expected to strip Silva’s win and change it to a no-contest, with that decision likely to come in the next few weeks. So does a doping scandal and cover-up make MMA more like the NFL or Major League Baseball or does it prove that MMA fighters are just a bunch of Neanderthal thugs looking to beat one another into oblivion and shoot whatever it takes to make it happen into their body? Probably neither, in truth…………
- Bostonians, B.Y.O.E.D. For the uninformed, that stands for “Bring your own energy drinks.” You’ll need to do so from here on out now that Mayor Thomas M. Menino has announced plans to expand his ban on sugar-sweetened drinks in schools to include all city properties and functions. The far-reaching measure means that calorie-laden soft drinks, juices with added sugar, and sports drinks like Gatorade will no longer be offered in vending machines, concession stands, and city-run meetings, programs and events. “I want to make this a healthier choice, the easier choice in people’s daily lives, whether it’s the schools, the work sites or other places in the community,” Menino said. Menino, in tandem with the Boston Public Health Commission, say they are expanding the ban because of the link between sugary drinks and rising obesity rates and health care costs. “There are high costs associated with these high rates of unhealthy weight, both at the personal level in terms of poor health outcomes, and at the societal level in terms of decreases in worker productivity and the rising health care costs,” said Barbara Ferrer of the Boston Public Health Commission. Those involved are definitely riding on their health-and-wellness high horse, citing “ science-based standards for what’s considered a healthy beverage and what can be sold or served on City property,” according to their press release. The new policy will apply to cafeterias, vending machines, concession stands, and beverages served at meetings, City-run programs, and events where food is purchased with city dollars. Menino has been down this path before, banning soda and junk food from being sold in public school vending machines in 2004. “Now is the time to expand our efforts that began in our public schools and set an example for the city as a whole,” Mayor Menino said in an homage the 2004 ban. The new rules will be phased in over the next six months, after which city buildings will be required to phase out the sale of so-called “red” beverages, like: non-diet sodas, pre-sweetened ice teas, refrigerated coffee drinks, energy drinks, juice drinks with added sugar and sports drinks. Other beverages will be classified as “yellow” and may still be sold in city buildings, although the mayor’s order cautions consumers to drink them only occasionally: diet sodas, diet iced teas, 100 percent juices, low-calorie sports drinks, low-sugar sweetened beverages, sweetened soymilk and flavored, sweetened milk. That leaves “green” beverages as the only drinks that be sold without any warnings: bottled water, flavored and unflavored seltzer water, low-fat milk and unsweetened soymilk. Oh, and there’s a bitchin’ catchphrase that will accompany the campaign: “Stop. Rethink Your Drink. Go on Green.” That slogan, it’s……umm, yeah……….
- America, have you recovered yet? We were all dealt a heavy, heavy blow earlier this week with news that über-right wing cable network Fox News and its most pompous, least sane and relevant talking head would soon be parting ways. That, of course, is an allusion to legendary blowhard Glenn Beck, who confirmed Thursday on his radio show that he and the cable broadcaster had come to an agreement to end his daily talk show on Fox News. Beck offered details of what his Fox News-less future might look like on his radio show, although he and the network have both said little about exactly how they arrived at their supposedly mutual decision. “It is a new era...if you are a fan and you have come to rely on one of my many branches of my business that being Fox, we announced yesterday that I will be transitioning at Fox,” Beck said. “I’m going to remain with Fox producing some specials. I don’t want to get into any more detail than that. We are still going to be working together. We signed a new deal with Fox. Beyond that, I am not going to be doing the five o’clock TV show for very much longer. That will be transitioned out of at their convenience. I have told them that I will work and I will honor my contract and do everything that they would ever need all the way.” In truth, the decision should surprise no one. Beck has become increasingly out of touch and prone to pitching bizarre anti-Democrat conspiracy theories on his TV show, spending most of his air time expounding on those asinine conspiracy theories in front of his chalkboard. His often-extremist views were becoming too far right even for Fox News, which has made overtures recently to appeal more to mainstream conservatives. Beck showed little interest in either reality or that effort and as such, he had to go. But fear not, because he can still push his particular brand of nonsense on the world via his radio show and ego-stroking rallies on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. His delusional minions and sycophants can still march to the beat of his ass-hatted drum and the rest of us will have that much easier of a time ignoring him………
- So……social activists can actually make a difference and help put an end to rampant corruption in their nation’s government? Who knew? Indian activist Anna Hazare, for one. Hazare’s long-running fight against corruption ended victoriously on Friday with the government capitulating to his demands and allowing him to end his fast at 10 a.m. on Saturday after four days with no food. In meeting Hazare’s demands, Pranab Mukherjee is likely to be the chairman and Shanti Bhushan to be the co-chairman of the proposed joint committee to draft an effective Jan Lokpal Bill and that draft of the bill will reportedly be formally notified. Hazare had demanded the appointment of a chairman and a co-chairman for the proposed joint committee to draft the Lokpal Bill and wanted no part of the government's offer of setting up of the committee by a letter of the law ministry. When a person believes that their government is almost entirely corrupt, appointing committee officials from that government isn't really going to work. Hazare responded to that offer by saying there should be no "tainted" ministers in the joint committee comprising civil society members and ministers. The government responded with its own draft of the bill early Friday and Hazare responded with his own draft shortly thereafter, following two of his emissaries, Arvind Kejriwal and Swami Agnivesh, meeting with Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal, law minister Veerappa Moily and minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid. "We replied to it and spoke to the three ministers about it," Agnivesh said. Assuming that nothing extreme happens to derail the bill at this point, Hazare will have accomplished something significant on behalf of his people and has urged Indians to view the victory as their own and not his. For the rest of the world, that victory is proof of one man’s ability to bring about change where change is desperately needed…………
- Pandora may be increasingly popular among those looking to digital music to fill their workday instead of FM radio, but users of Pandora's Android app may not be quite as enthused about the service now they know it transmits a wealth of personal information to third parties. Online security firm Veracode researched the app after news broke that Pandora - among other mobile app makers - was being investigated by a federal grand jury. Veracode quickly discovered that data about the user's birth date, gender, Android ID, and GPS information were all being sent to various advertising companies by the Pandora Android app. Not the best week for Pandora, which revealed earlier this week that it had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury to produce documents about its user data collection practices on Android and iOS devices. Pandora tried to mitigate the damage from the revelation by suggesting the subpoena is part of an industry-wide investigation into popular applications on both platforms. The Wall Street Journal then piled on by reporting that the purpose of the investigation is to find out whether app makers fully disclose to users the kinds of information they obtain and why they need it. Analysis of Pandora’s app showed that its collected data is integrated with five separate ad libraries: AdMarvel, AdMob, comScore (SecureStudies), Google.Ads, and Medialets. The AdMob library accesses the user's GPS information and various data about the application itself, such as package name and version info, which seems fairly benign - until you learn that there are other references that appear to transmit a user's birthday, gender, and postal code along with sending the user's Android ID, and continually accessing the user's GPS location for updates. As for the SecureStudies library, it accesses the users Android ID and directly sends a cache of the data to http://b.scorecardresearch.com. Oh, and the Medialets library accesses the device’s GPS location, bearing, altitude, Android ID, connection status, network information, device brand, model, release revision and current IP address. What is Pandora’s explanation for collecting that personal data? How about needing it in order to continue delivering personalized music streams? That sounds like a lie and in fact, numerous online security firms have suggested that Pandora is also using the information for advertising purposes. Now it’s up to a grand jury to determine if those allegations are true and if they are, Pandora could be in deep legal sh*t…………
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