- Like abandoned puppies, abandoned space shuttles need a good home. Now that NASA is shutting down its “let’s launch humans into outer space” efforts due to the government yanking its funding for doing so, its shuttles need a place to go, a family to adopt them if you will. Thankfully, four caring groups have stepped up to fill that need. NASA announced Tuesday the new retirement homes for the four remaining space shuttles -- three historic orbiters and the program's test vehicle - and all four will have soft landings, so to speak. The space shuttle Atlantis will be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, where the public can enjoy it. The Endeavour will travel to the west coast and take up residence at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. As for the Discovery, it will soon settle in at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. The last of the quarter, the test shuttle, Enterprise, will touch down at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York. NASA made its big announcement during a ceremony at the Kennedy Center, with Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. breaking the news on the 30th anniversary of the space shuttle program's first flight, made by the ill-fated Columbia orbiter, and the 50th anniversary of Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first human in space. The battle to adopt the orphaned shuttles had been fierce, with more than 20 locations around the country vying for one of the orbiters because of the potential tourist draw. Much like bidding for the Olympics (except without quite as much outright bribery), those who lost out were crushed. Even U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas was heartbroken that the Johnson Space Center in Houston wasn’t selected as one of the retirement homes for an orbiter, "but it is clear political favors trumped common sense and fairness in the selection of the final locations for the orbiter fleet," he said in a statement. Allegations of corrupting bidding and under-the-table plots? Nice. Conversely, there was a freaking party at the California Science Center after NASA's announcement, with President Jeffrey Rudolph claiming the Endeavour would boost the center's annual 1.4 million visitors to about 2 million people a year. "Obviously, we were thrilled. We got the word this morning, shortly before the announcement," Rudolph said of his reaction to winning one of the shuttles. U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer said she and Sen. Dianne Feinstein -- both California Democrats -- lobbied Bolden last year asking that California become home to one of the shuttles and their pleas were clearly heard. NASA did save the best for itself, as the Atlantis will have the honor of flying the last planned shuttle mission in June before going on display. Offers also came in from facilities in Chicago, New York, Dayton, Ohio, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, but they were all turned down……….
- Being an a**hole sells. If it didn’t, Bill O’Reilly would have been out of a job a long time ago and Fox News would have gone off the air within a week of debuting on cable and satellite providers’ channel offerings. But perhaps nothing proves that truism more than news that LeBron James had the top-selling jersey in the NBA this season, moving past Kobe Bryant to claim the No. 1 spot for the first time since his rookie season in Cleveland in 2004. James, who switched both teams (screwing over Cleveland in as public and spiteful a fashion as possible) and numbers (from No. 23 in Cleveland to 6 in Miami), topped the list, which is based on sales on NBAStore.com since the start of the 2010-11 season. His villainous departure from Cleveland landed him at the top of most fans’ sh*t list, but there are clearly enough James admirers (or a select group of loyalists with a whole lot of cash, buying up jerseys to give the impression that people still like him) out there to make his the most popular jersey to rock. Bryant dropped to No. 2 on the list announced Wednesday, with a mild surprise at No. 3 with Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo nabbing the slot ahead of more accomplished, better-known names. Rondo was one of five Boston Celtics among the top 15, easily outdistancing any other team for the number of players at or near the top of the list. Bryant’s No. 24 Lakers jersey had been the top seller since the start of the 2008-09 season, but perhaps America is simply more into embracing its inner villain these days and decided that repping the single most self-centered, pompous and out-of-touch NBA star around was the best way to express that sentiment. Another player who changed teams over the summer via free agency, the Knicks’ Amare Stoudemire, was fourth on the list and new teammate Carmelo Anthony was eighth despite spending more than half the season trying behind the scenes to force his way out of Denver while insisting publicly that he was doing no such thing. Anthony ultimately got the trade he wanted and his jersey sales stayed strong despite splitting the season in Denver and New York. Another obvious takeaway from the list is that playing most of your team’s games is not a necessity to sell jerseys, as Boston’s Shaquille O’Neal ranked 12th on the list despite playing in just 37 games. Right behind him in the rankings were fellow Celtics Ray Allen (13th), Paul Pierce (14th) and Kevin Garnett. The lesson, as always America, is to embrace that jackass deep inside, the one that doesn’t give a rat’s ass about anyone else and thinks so highly of itself that it believes that world will love it no matter how horribly it behaves. Chances are good that notion just might be true…………
- Supposedly new Russia, same old cryptic, clandestine bullsh*t, eh Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin? Even with the commies heading into a season of deepening political uncertainty, Putin is trying to spin his decision for keeping the public, and the government, in the dark about who will be the country’s next president. He attempted an explanation Wednesday, issuing a statement to usher in a lame-duck period that would presumably extend until next March’s election. At this point, no one is sure if President Dmitri A. Medvedev, who has laid out a tentative reform agenda, will run for another term, or he may will aside to make way for Putin to return to a position he really has never left. With no real competition to account for, either man would win handily in the election. “If we give any wrong signals today, half of the administration and more than half of the government will stop working in the expectation of change,” Putin said in televised remarks. “All this fuss around elections does not promote normal organizational work.” When asked directly about his plans to run, Putin said neither he nor Medvedev has ruled out running in next spring’s elections. Rumors have circulated that the official plan will be announced in September or October, but nothing definite has been set forth. Medvedev has claimed the decision will hinge on public opinion, which is hilarious because nothing in Russia hinges on public opinion and it never has. “One has to weigh the possibilities, avoid acting mechanically and, instead, act with a clear understanding of the situation,” he said. “I expect such an understanding to form within a relatively short time.” In Medvedev’s time in office, he has at times appeared to be nothing more than a puppet carrying out orders for the man really in power, Putin. Of late, the two have differed on major international matters, including the ongoing international war against Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi. But would these two allow such a conflict to get in the way of maintaining their iron grip on power in Russia? Not a snowball’s chance in……….
- In case anyone is still paying attention, People magazine is still putting together its annual "Most Beautiful" list, ranking the world’s best-looking people as it sees them. With nearly every publication that can afford glossy pages and publishing on a monthly basis creating its own variation of this list and People not exactly a “must read” for the majority of Americans, the list has become largely irrelevant. However, the latest version of the list drops on Friday - tax day - and People has tossed out a few morsels about the list in a feeble attempt to generate some buzz for the “Most Beautiful” issue. For starters, new American Karaoke judge Jennifer Lopez tops the list and will star on the cover. She will be joined by the likes of Sandra Bullock, Eva Longoria, and Reese Witherspoon inside the issue as some of Hollywood’s more, um, age-rich female stars elbow out their younger competition. Lopez credited her “victory” to a relentless fitness regime that keeps her in top karaoke-judging shape: "I don't want anybody thinking it's easy. It does take time and it's hard work. HDTV wide-screen is nobody's friend! Just being able to touch my face and rub my eyes and put my fingers in my hair and not having to worry about messing it up. It's so much better." On the men’s side, hunky young stars Zac Efron or Kellan Lutz lead the way, as does acting-talent-deprived Ryan Reynolds. The fact that Lopez made the list establishes the fact that singing and acting talents are not needed and Reynolds’ inclusion shows that really, no discernable skills other than looking dreamy to the ladies are needed to land a spot on the list. For anyone still interest in this dinosaur of a list, the "Most Beautiful" issue hits newsstands on April 15……………
- Could Twitter soon have a legit rival, for reals? Probably not, but it never hurts to postulate. The challenge could come from UberMedia, whose Twitter clients were suspended earlier this year for allegedly violating Twitter's policies. UberMedia may be developing a competitor to Twitter, according to three unidentified sources which claimed that the company is "outlining plans" to compete with the popular micro-blogging service. These anonymous sources say this new Twitter rival would seek to attract users by addressing common complaints about Twitter, especially its restriction on the length of a message and how it can be confusing to newcomers. Anyone who has ever had the perfect zinger to deliver online and been snipered by the 140-character limit knows that feeling. So far, representatives for UberMedia have refused comment on the rumors and the company has not addressed the matter on its Web site or its Twitter account. Twitter escalated the battle in February by suspending the Twidroyd and UberTwitter apps for, among other things, using the name "Twitter" in its name. In response, UberTwitter was renamed UberSocial and the company adopted the name as well. "Today we suspended several applications, including UberTwitter, twidroyd and UberCurrent, which have violated Twitter policies and trademarks in a variety of ways," Matt Graves, a spokesman for Twitter, said at the time. "These violations include, but aren't limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users' Tweets in order to make money." Still, all issues were apparently resolved and by the end of the month, UberSocial appeared to be back in Twitter's good graces. Yet appearances are too often deceptive and as Twitter became increasingly intolerant of third-party apps that add features and new interfaces, but also occasionally competing directly with Twitter itself, the drama with UberSocial was revived. On April 6, UberSocial launched UberChannels on April 6, a site featuring "channels" with Mashable, USA Today, Bleacher Report, and Duke University's basketball team to access tweets on those subjects. Those channels are then sponsored, making them permanent hash tags outside of Twitter's control. "Users will be able to read the latest posts from leading reporters and other contributors without having to seek out and follow them directly," UberMedia said in a statement. In response, Twitter stepped up its attacks on third-party apps and that crusade is still raging. To overcome Twitter’s sizeable head start, UberSocial would need to convince the millions and millions of users who rely on the service to make the switch and learn an entirely new system. Then again, being able to add a few characters to your message could be helpful every now and then……….
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