- President Herbert Hoover once promised a chicken in every pot and decades later, Connecticut state lawmaker Matt Lesser is giving that promise a modern (and ridiculous) slant. Lesser, who represents Durham, Middlefield, and Middletown, realizes what Americans want and need and in his mind, the American dream is not a white picket fence, a big yard and 2.5 kids, but rather having a freaking gas station in their town. Huh? Lesser wants a state law that would ensure one working as gas station in every town in the event of a power outage. He insists the idea has nothing to do with the convenience of being able to get grossly overpriced gas for one’s car without having to drive five extra miles to the next town, but rather about safety. "This is about public safety," Lesser said in a prepared statement. He plans to introduce a bill requiring a gas station in every town in the General Assembly and will likely try to use the same argument with his colleagues that he has used in promoting the idea thus far. His clinching piece of evidence for the need to place a gas station in every town is the long gas station lines (and general chaos) seen immediately after Winter Storm Alfred and Hurricane Irene. His proposal would set up something of cage match mentality in which gas stations in each town could bid against each other for an emergency generator in an auction format. An actual cage match would be much more compelling and might generate enough interest from ticket sales and pay-per-view buys, perhaps helping to finance Lesser’s plan. Come to thinking of it, maybe this lowly state representative is on to something…………….
- Your run is over, Microsoft. No, not your run as the proprietor of the world’s worst operating system. Windows still sucks more than any other OS on the market and that’s not changing any time soon - or ever. But for years, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has been able to boast an outright majority of Internet traffic and hold off competitors like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple’s Safari browser. As of October, that reign is over. After more than a decade on top despite being a ginormous heap of crap, Internet Explorer no longer accounts for more than 50 percent of online traffic. Thanks in large part to Safari’s 62.1 percent share of mobile traffic, IE now records just 49.6 percent of all Internet browsing despite still claiming 52.6 percent of desktop traffic. Whereas Safari is huge in the smartphone and tablet markets, Internet Explorer is virtually nonexistent in those worlds. Most people who are even remotely tech-savvy gave up on Internet Explorer right around the time floppy drives went out of style because it doesn’t have the features or ease of use of its competitors. While IE still has the largest share of the market, that number is dropping like a stone and Firefox is steadily creeping up in the rearview mirror. Firefox ranked as the second most popular web browser as of October, with 21.2 percent of traffic, followed by Google Chrome and Safari, which account for 16.60% and 8.72% respectively. Chrome recently marked its third anniversary and had the most expansion in October, increasing its share of the desktop market by 1.4 percent. Safari has the advantage of being the default browser in Apple's iPhone and iPad and added 6.58 percent of the mobile market last month, driven largely by the rapidly expanding popularity of iPads…………
- Band dorks are the worst part of any sporting event. Sure, they add a little bit to the atmosphere of a big-time college football game, but no one other than the band dorks themselves and their families would be disappointed if these oddly attired freaks with their trombones and trumpets just didn’t show up any more. Thus, no one was too broken up after Northern Illinois linebacker Jamaal Bass tracked a member of Toledo's marching band while entering the field before Tuesday night's game against the Rockets, right? An actual athlete, a player jacked up for the biggest game of the season, charges onto the field and some clueless band geek wanders into his path and……BAM! It’s actually pretty funny, it’s entertaining and according to Northern Illinois coach Dave Doeren, it’s also….a reason for a one-game suspension? Seriously? It is sad but true. Doeren has suspended Bass for Tuesday's upcoming game at Bowling Green because he leveled the band dork in the funny hat at the Toledo game. “After reviewing the tape of last night’s pregame encounter between our team and the University of Toledo’s marching band, and discussing the situation with [NIU Director of Athletics] Jeff Compher, we have decided to suspend Jamaal for our next game,” Doeren said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon. “His actions were not representative of the Huskie football program. I met with Jamaal early this morning and he understands that and is extremely remorseful.” Apologize? For what? For doing something awesome and hilarious? For doing something the rest of us would probably pay for the right to do? Stop apologizing to the band dorks and keep them away from the action if you don’t want this to happen. Don’t ruin a thrilling game and a big 63-60 win for your team by suspending a player because he flattened some nerdy freshman meandering around where he shouldn’t be and trying to adjust the spit valve on his tuba…………
- Climbing Mount Everest is a dream for anyone who has even a shred of adventurer’s spirit in them and even for those who don’t necessarily aspire to summit the massive peak, the mountainous region in Nepal where Everest is located remains a powerful draw. Right now that powerful draw has placed nearly 2,000 foreign hikers in serious danger as bad weather has trapped them on the slopes of a mountain near Mount Everest in a remote corner of Nepal for the past four days. As they attempt to wait out the storm, the hikers have been forced to hole up in the small hill resort of Lukla, the gateway to Mount Everest, which has been covered by thick clouds all week long. The cloud cover has forced airlines to cancel the few flights to and from the remote region. Lukla sits at a height of more than 9,800 feet and is located nearly 80 miles northeast of the Nepali capital. Each year, tens of thousands of adventurous trekkers and climbers visit the Solukhumbu region in northeast Nepal, home to Mount Everest. Most of them make a loop from Lukla out to their destination and return there to fly back out of the country. The town’s Tenzing Hillary Airport has one of the most breathtaking and dangerous airport runways in the world and its chief, said none of the tourists have been in any real danger during the past four days as they wait for their flights back to Kathmandu for the past four days. "Visibility is almost nil. Fog and clouds have covered the entire area making flights by fixed-wing small aircraft impossible," Kharel stated. Forecasters predict the clouds could continue to cover the region for a couple of days and that could eventually lead to a food shortage among those stranded in Lukla. "Though a few small private helicopters had picked some tourists from nearby Sirke village, they are inadequate to clear the rush," Kharel said. Himalayan Rescue Association Nepal officials are trying to make arrangements to rescue the trapped hikers in big helicopters once the weather conditions allow them to reach the area. All of this isn't good news for the local tourism industry, as fall, which runs from September to November, is the peak of tourist season in the area…………
- Who are the most overpaid stars in Hollywood? In other words, who is paid the most and delivers the least when it comes to how much their films bring in. The list could be a long one, but unlike other top 10 lists this one isn't based on surveys or polls. The money lovers at Forbes magazine sat down and crunched the numbers to come up with their list of the 10 stars who give studios the least return on their investments. Many of the names on the list are among the most respected names in Hollywood and widely considered some of the nicest people in the business…..but their films don’t get the job done. To qualify for the list, actors had to earn a large salary and have at least three films released in at least 500 theaters in the past five years. Forbes also calculated each star's earnings and then looked at film budgets and returns to figure out the income for the movies. Drew Barrymore, whose steady stream of predictable romantic comedies and epic fail of a TV show (the Charlie’s Angels reboot that failed after just four episodes on ABC this fall) make it very clear why she’s so high up on the list, was first. Eddie Murphy secured the second spot on the list, ironically enough on the same weekend that his new film "Tower Heist" opens. The film looks thoroughly terrible and ridiculous with an implausible plot and it serves as a perfect example of why Murphy should be at the top of the list. According to Forbes, Murphy’s films returned $2.70 for every $1 he was paid. Will Ferrell ranked third after topping the list for the past two years. Some of his films are über-funny hits, but too many are swings and misses. Reese Witherspoon’s sweetness and likeability were not enough to keep her from dinging the list in fourth place, followed by the respected and accomplished Denzel Washington, who hasn’t exactly found any Remember the Titans-like scripts landing on his desk of late. The next three entries on the list were the most obvious and predictable entries: Nicolas Cage in sixth, Adam Sandler in seventh and Vince Vaughn in eighth. Combined, the three of them have made about two watchable movies in the past two decades and Sandler hasn’t had a single one of them despite being known as one of the best guys in Hollywood. Moviegoers don’t pay $10 to see someone on screen just because they’re a nice guy. Granted, they will pay to see someone just because that person is really hot, but not because they’re a sweet person. Ninth place went to the Insane One, Tom Cruise, and the last spot in the top 10 went to his former flame Nicole Kidman, one of just two women to make the list……………
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