- Either Barbara Walters simply has excellent news sense from her many years in the business or she has reached the point all old people hit at some point where she just said incredibly direct and offensive sh*t because hell, she’s going to be shuffling off this mortal coil soon and why hold back? Either way, she managed to make at least one interview in her annual special on the most fascinating people in the world (in her opinion) remotely interesting. That interview came with the ever-vapid, camera-whorish Kim Kardashian, who remains famous for……umm….being famous? Walters’ interview with Kardashian as part of her “Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People of 2011” aired Wednesday night and Babs was extremely blunt with the backside-centric reality personality. "You don't really act, you don't sing, you don't dance," Walters proclaimed. "You don't have any -- forgive me -- any talent!" No forgiveness needed, B-Dubs. That statement to Kardashian, flanked by mom Kris and sisters Khloe and Kourtney, was 100 percent accurate. What was K-squared’s response, given that she got married simply for publicity, has posed for Playboy for publicity and done everything else in her life for since she became famous in order to get attention? “I think it’s more of a challenge to go on a reality show and get people to fall in love with you for being you. So, there’s definitely a lot more pressure, I think, to be famous for being ourselves,” Kardashian offered. Umm…no mention of actual talent anywhere in that reply. Oh, and people aren't “in love with you.” They like watching you and laughing at you because your life is way more effed up than their even though you’re rich and famous. Walters was locked in at that point and kept challenging Kardashian. “You became famous. So, was it a good thing to have done?” she asked in regards to Kardashian’s infamous 2007 sex tape with R&B singer Ray J. “I’ve made mistakes in my life, for sure,” was the response. Yes, and a two-month marriage to marginal NBAer Kris Humphries-Kardashian for publicity’s sake would qualify as such for most people - just not this family. Mom Kris came to her daughter’s defense on the issue of the sex tape by adding, “And you’ve learned a lot from it.” Yes, like how to rack up a series of reality shows and a combined family annual income of more than $65 million……………
- Britain tends not to play nice with the rest of the European Union. As one of 12 European countries that do not use the euro, Britain does feel a compelling need to be part of the EU party. That showed through last week when the Brits blocked an EU treaty change to enshrine euro zone fiscal controls. But in spite of that block, Britain has been invited to participate in talks on a pact with the other 26 members of the European Union, the government said on Thursday. During a summit in Brussels last week, Prime Minister David Cameron chose not to join the other countries in backing changes to the EU's fundamental law. The decision left the other 26 member nations to pursue an intergovernmental agreement instead. Yet for some reason, the other diplomats involved in the talks want to keep a good rapport with Britain because the new fiscal agreement may need to make use of institutions created for the entire 27-country bloc such as the European Commission for things like monitoring the euro zone. "The Council has now proposed an ad hoc grouping of representatives from member states and the EU institutions to take forward this work and we will participate in those discussions," said a British government spokesman. "This means that we will be at the table when the use of the EU institutions are discussed, giving us the opportunity to raise any concerns and to support the role of the institutions in safeguarding the single market." Left out of the offer was an explanation of what status Britain would enjoy in the talks. A senior EU diplomat insisted no decision had been made in this regard and indicated that Britain is asking for an observer status only. The British government said recently it had not received adequate safeguards for its financial services industry at last week’s summit. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte partially explained the plan for Britain’s involvement in the talks, telling his parliament: "My goal is to keep Britain involved. They are participating as an observer, that is what we are working on now. They will be an observer when drawing up the agreements between the 26 (EU countries), the 17-plus (countries)." That didn’t resonate well with a British government spokesman, who said of observer status, "We wouldn't put it like that. This is not some new organization - it's an ad hoc grouping of officials that will meet to prepare an international agreement on fiscal stability amongst the euro zone and other countries who choose to join." A spokesman for Cameron detachedly remarked that the British are only attending the talks because they are “one of the 27.” Sounds like a great working relationship…………
- Being a marginal NFL player just doesn’t pay like it used to. If it did, Chicago Bears receiver Sam Hurd would probably not have been arrested in Chicago on federal drug charges Wednesday night for allegedly attempting to purchase cocaine and marijuana from a supplier in North Texas. Hurd’s ties to North Texas likely stem from his time as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. The criminal complaint against him describes Hurd as regularly dealing large amounts of drugs in Chicago, where he was arrested by undercover agents at a steakhouse Wednesday night. His initial court appearance in the case came in federal court Thursday as he faced a charge that he did "possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more" of cocaine. Given his current legal status, suiting up for the Bears Sunday against Seattle seems unlikely. "We are aware of Sam's arrest and are continuing to gather details surrounding it," the Bears said in a statement. "We are disappointed whenever these circumstances arise. We will deal with them appropriately once we have all the information." The NFL also acknowledged the arrest but is not taking any action yet. Federal agents began investigating Hurd in July, when he was still a member of the Dallas Cowboys and allegedly attempted to buy large amounts of cocaine and marijuana. The investigation concluded when he personally met with an undercover agent Wednesday at Morton's The Steakhouse in Rosemont. Hurd told the informant that he wanted to buy "five to 10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week for distribution in the Chicago area," according to the complaint. He negotiated a fairly solid price of $25,000 per kilogram for the cocaine and $450 per pound for the marijuana and the complaint says that Hurd "further stated that he and another co-conspirator currently distribute four kilograms of cocaine per week in the Chicago area, but that the supplier could not supply him with enough quantity." Once the price was agreed upon, the undercover agent gave Hurd a kilogram of cocaine, according to the complaint. Hurd even told the agent he plays for the Bears and would make arrangements to pay for the drugs once he got out of practice. He never made it to practice or even to his car, as agents arrested him as he tried to leave. His downfall began when an informant in Texas ratted him out to the feds and he was soon linked to a drug ring through phone records. Ties to four individuals who were detained in California with currency, narcotics and weapon didn’t help and from there, his demise in the drug game was only a matter of time and leg work by federal agents…………..
- Google’s quest for world domination is expanding beyond computers and smartphones and now there is concrete proof. The tech titan wants to add the power to control your ride to its list of abilities and earlier this week was granted a patent for a method of controlling an autonomous vehicle. That’s right, Google wants to use wireless communication to tell a car where to drive. Aside from being a substantial improvement over the driving skills of many humans when they are physically behind the wheel, the patent is interesting because it details how a vehicle can transition from being human-driven to autonomous mode. One example, according to the patent, would be a car driving itself to a specific location and based on a visual indicator on a "landing strip," such as a bar code or radio tag. The vehicle would then transition to autonomous operation. Of course, integrating such a vehicle into the flow of human-driven traffic could be complicated and a better idea might be directing the car to a roadway dedicated to autonomous vehicles where the transition would take place. Google laid out generalities of its plan in a corporate blog post last year in which it announced it had has hired some of the top autonomous-vehicle engineers to enhance the state of driverless cars. Left unsaid at the time was how such an endeavor would enhance its overall business. According to respected software engineer Sebastian Thrun, who is working on the project, the company's goal is to "help prevent traffic accidents, free up people's time, and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use." Early research has equipped Toyota Priuses with sensors and communications that send large amounts of data back to Google's data centers to analyze and make driving decisions. Last year, Thrun said these vehicles had logged over 140,000 autonomous miles. In the patent application, Google’s engineers also expound on the method for how sensors would find a marker to switch to autonomous mode and receive instructions from an Internet address over a wireless network. It also describes the design of an onboard computing device capable of handling the information needed for autonomous operation, although to the cynic this might seem like a gadget that would add an extra dollar or two to the sticker price of a new whip…………
- In the battle against illegal immigration, Connecticut would typically not be viewed as a battleground state. Most immigrants are not looking to sneak into the country from the north by boat and enter a cold-weather climate, so the Nutmeg State typically doesn’t factor into discussions about tougher immigration laws and how to deal with issues surrounding illegals. However, that doesn’t mean grandstanding local politicians like New Haven, Conn. Mayor John DeStefano doesn’t have a thought or two on the rights of border crashers in order to gain some attention for himself. Apparently there is an actual debate over illegal immigration in New Haven and with the commoners up a mini-uproar, DeStafano elected to fan the flames by saying he wants voting rights for illegal residents in the city. He explained the reasoning behind his belief by detailing the 26th amendment, which states that U.S. citizens have the right to vote applies only to federal elections, not local. "I think we also should remember that the same document, for a long period of time, precluded women, and African Americans from voting," DeStefano said. "And Americans had a more expansive view of what it meant to belong to a community. So for those that cite it, that applies to federal elections, and federal government is fine to make its own decisions. I'm just talking about our corner of the world. There are people who belong, in large numbers, to this community, who are members of the community, and I don't see an issue, as other communities around the United States have done, giving them a say about what happens in the place in which they live and pay their taxes, and have been good neighbors." His idea actually correlates somewhat to a dismissed proposal by the French parliament to allow foreigners living legally in the country and paying taxes to vote in local elections, although there is the whole legality part of the equation. The French measure was quickly dismissed, but DeStefano plans to propose his idea o the state legislature in their next legislative session.
Gov. Daniel Malloy said Wednesday that he's not comfortable with the idea, so a battle might be a-brewin’…………
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