A terse Tiger, Memphis sewage dumps and Playboy on the moon

- Usually, it’s a reckless company or law-flouting citizen dumping garbage into a river or other body of water. Manufacturing plants or IQ-deprived ass hats who fail to realize or recognzie the degree to which their actions affect the environment is one thing, but now you’re getting in on the action, city officials in Memphis? Sure enough, city officials are in the process of explaining to the public exactly why they were “forced” to send sewage into the Mississippi River. The official explanation is that a broken piece of equipment forced them to make the sewage dump. Just how much crap are they pumping into the mighty Mississippi? About 694 gallons per second, that’s how much. Yes, 3 million gallons of water flow past Memphis every second and 694 gallons seems like a small drop, but it’s a small drop of sewage. "It's very unusual and it's very unfortunate, but at this point there is little we can do," said Dan Gilliom, the city's public works director. "There's no pumps operating." It’s not as if this sewage is somehow treated and therefore harmless because health officials have already posted signs in the immediate area warning people to avoid contact with the water because it is contaminated and may pose a health risk. The problem originated Saturday during routine, scheduled maintenance at the Maynard C. Stiles wastewater treatment facility. A careless worker broke a shut-off valve broke and flooded all three pump motors, short-circuiting the system and shutting down the plant. Faced with a non-functioning plant, city officials claimed they had no other choice but to activate the bypass system and send untreated wastewater into the river. "In order to reduce the damage to Memphis residents and businesses by wastewater backing up into structures and premises," Gilliom said. Crews are working around the clock to fix the issue and officials expect it to be resolved soon. Thankfully, the city’s drinking water does not come from the river and is safe from this bout with contamination…………


- Brace yourself for some shocking entertainment news, world Lindsay Lohan is done partying. Really. She promises. Her promises may not mean much, but Lohan sat down with Matt Lauer that will air on the “Today” show Thursday and tried desperately to convince Lauer and all who would watch the piece that she really has changed. "That's not my thing anymore," she said about partying and clubbing. "I went out, actually, a few months ago with a friend. And I was so uncomfortable. Not because I felt tempted, just because it was just the same thing that it always was before. And it just wasn't fun for me. I've become more of a homebody, and I like that." Her point is a fair one because a person doesn’t need to go to a club and be a part of the scene in order to score some quality blow and do a few rails off the bathroom mirror. Ecstasy, pot and the Colombian nose candy aren’t exclusively found in clubs, so many Lohan can give up the party scene. Her words about settling down are tougher to take after her Playboy spread was a smash hit to the point that Hugh Hefner is speculating about a second appearance in the skin mag. To her credit, Lohan is at least saying the right things about having to prove that she’s cleaned up her life. "I still need to go through the process of proving myself," she said. "You know, with SNL, being on time, being, you know, keeping my – can't say the word – but stuff together." The SNL reference was an allusion to her gig hosting “Saturday Night Live” this weekend. Regardless of the reviews of her performance there, nothing will carry as much weight as her positive evaluation from L.A. Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner, who told Lohan last week, "You seem to be getting your life back on track." So there’s further proof of how easy it is to fool the American judicial system……….


- New leader, new regime and new approach in North Korea? Probably not, but there are positive signs coming from Pyongyang pertaining to the North’s much-criticized nuclear program. North Korea agreed on Wednesday to stop nuclear tests, uranium enrichment and long-range missile launches and even allow checks by nuclear inspectors. The stance is a direct about-face in policy and will open a path for resuming long-stalled disarmament talks. Amazingly, the breakthrough was even announced simultaneously by the U.S. State Department and North Korea's official news agency. Maybe the North is simply Jedi mind-tricking the rest of the world into backing off sanctions against it, but the concession is still enough to resume six-nation nuclear negotiations about Pyongyang’s nuclear program. Critics were quick to point out that North Korea has backtracked repeatedly on past deals, but those were under the heavy-handed leadership of dictator Kim Jong-Il. His son, Kim Jong-Un, is now in power and the political optimist might contend that the new guy will be more amenable and less hostile than his old man. If the announcement is merely a ploy to curry international favor, it’s working. In conjunction with Wednesday’s announcement, the U.S. State Department said it would move ahead with a proposed 240,000 metric-ton food aid package requested by North Korea and that more aid could be agreed to based on continued need. Saying it was changing its stance was merely the first step in the process and some doubt still exists as to whether nuclear inspectors from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency will be welcomed and allowed to do their job when they visit the Yongbyon nuclear complex to verify the moratorium on uranium enrichment has been enforced. "The DPRK, upon request by the U.S. and with a view to maintaining positive atmosphere for the DPRK-U.S. high-level talks, agreed to a moratorium on nuclear tests, long-range missile launches, and uranium enrichment activity at Yongbyon and allow the IAEA to monitor the moratorium on uranium enrichment while productive dialogues continue," North Korea's official KCNA news agency said in its announcement. "Today's announcement represents a modest first step in the right direction," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explained to a Congressional panel. IAEA inspectors were pulled out of North Korea in 2009, but the agency insisted it was ready to return. Food aid to the North was also halted in 2009 amid a dispute over transparency and monitoring, compounding food shortages in the country. Talks or no talks, the odds of North Korea dropping its nuclear program entirely are miniscule. Miracles do happen, but abandoning one’s nuclear programs for good in exchange for economic and diplomatic incentives just seems to be an über-long shot. This is the same North that held two nuclear test blasts -- in 2006 and 2009 -- and later disclosed a uranium enrichment program. If this new North Korea is for real, it vaults Iran well ahead of the pack in the ongoing race to spark World War III………….


- Barack Obama is cutting funding to NASA, fading Republican presidential candidate New Gingrich dreams openly of establishing a 13,000-person moon colony and now Playboy wants in on the outer space race. If Gingrich ever succeeds in creating his moon colony, Hugh Hefner wants to be ready to capitalize by taking his special brand of skank-ery to outer space. In the magazine’s March issue, Hefer urges his pervy readers, er, subscribers to imagine a Playboy Club in space. With entrepreneurs like Sir Richard Branson blazing the trail for private flights to space, Playboy feels like those lonely space travelers will need some eye candy to enjoy while traveling beyond Earth’s orbit. To formulate its plan, Playboy has teamed up with artist Thomas Tenery, Branson’s Virgin Galactic and several scientists to craft a vision of a Playboy Club in outer space. The space skank club would include a zero-gravity, trampoline-lined dance club, fine dining, bungee jumping, space “farms” for food, and a casino with “human roulette.” “The Playboy Club in space will be on a station in orbit, like a cruise ship,” Playboy writers A.J. Baime and Jason Harper wrote in the piece. “Orbiting Earth is one idea, but it could also travel around other celestial bodies.” Yes, I’m sure everyone reading the piece (because that’s why they subsrcibe, after all) will be thinking about celestial bodies. Complete with drawings by artist Thomas Tenery, the issue is now on news stands………….


- Tiger Woods remains a shell of his former self on the golf course. Off the course? He may or may not be plowing through a nonstop parade of skanks, club promoters, porn stars and Perkins hostesses the way he once did now that he’s single. However, there is no disputing that his golf game is still fatally flawed and he hasn’t won a sanctioned PGA Tour event since that fateful Thanksgiving night in 2009 when he bounced his SUV off a tree and fire hydrant while fleeing his (allegedly) 9-iron-wielding then-wife Elin. Injuries and multiple surgeries have also set him back and those closest to him have found themselves pushed out of his inner circle. Some of those people have looked to cash in on their time with Woods and perhaps no one more so than his former swing coach, Hank Haney. Haney has written a book, The Big Miss," about his time coaching Woods. The book will be released March 27, a week before the Masters. In it, Haney argued that Woods' quest to break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major championships weighed heavily on the former best player the world to the point that it took away from Woods’ career and happiness. He also wrote extensively about Woods' extreme workouts and his fascination with the military. "Tiger did two tandem parachute jumps, engaged in hand-to-hand combat exercises, went on four-mile runs wearing combat boots, and did drills in a wind tunnel," Haney wrote of a four-day stint doing special ops training at Fort Bragg, N.C. Haney shared another story of being in Woods’ home when the golfer returned from a four-mile run wearing Army combat boots. The most surprising claim from the book, at least from the excerpts released so far, is that Woods seriously considered leaving golf to become a Navy SEAL at the height of his career. "I didn't know how he'd go about it, but when he talked about it, it was clear he had a plan," wrote Haney. "I thought, wow, here is Tiger Woods, greatest athlete on the planet, maybe the greatest athlete ever, right in the middle of his prime, basically ready to leave it all behind for a military life." Woods’ father, Earl, was a Green Beret. When media members ignored an attempted ban on questions about the book during Woods’ press conference for this weekend’s Honda Classic, he became extremely confrontation and refused to answer the queries. Instead, he attempted to bully reporters and dismissed their questions. He definitely does not look or sound like a guy on the verge of regaining his former glory………

Anti-smoking sprays, a new "Dancing With the (D-List) Stars" cast and persecuting the rich in France

- Congrats to ABC for finding its next collection of has-beens, never-weres and hacks for its reality ballroom dancing show, “Dancing With the (D-List) Stars.” As usual, the network has wrangled a thoroughly uninspiring group of losers who are either not as famous as they were during their 15 minutes of fame or are desperately seeking those 15 minutes. Starting March 19, the 14th season of the show will feature the likes of has-been actors Melissa Gilbert, Jaleel White and Jack Wagner, Latin-American actor William Levy and Disney channel actor Roshon Fegan. Someone named Katherine Jenkins (a Welsh singer, apparently) and washed-up ‘70s recording artist Gladys Knight will join them and compete alongside the requisite past-their-prime athletes in retired tennis champion Martina Navratilova and Green Bay Packers receiver Donald Driver. Toss in TV talking heads Sherri Shepherd of “The View” and Maria Menounos of “Extra” and the formula is complete. "This season, we particularly wanted to go for a likable cast, people that you feel affectionate toward," executive producer Conrad Green says. "The core of our show is about finding people you can root for and wanting them to triumph." Umm, not really, C. These losers aren’t people the rest of us can “root” for because for that, we’d have to care about them. Take White as an example. No one has cared about him in nearly two decades, when “Family Matters” was on the air and he was playing dork icon Steve Urkel. White sounds fired up to be involved and considering the relative anonymity in which he’s lived for the past few years, it makes sense. "I'm a performer, first and foremost. That's what I was raised to do," he says. "If you put a crowd in front of me, I don't want to see that crowd disappointed. I'm there to give them a good time." So there you go, women 18 to 49 and the men who will be dragged kicking and screaming to watch the show with those women, those are the losers you’ll be spending the next few months watching samba and salsa………….


- Ugly things deserve protection too. No, this isn't some slam job on Rosie O’Donnell cloaked in some clever wordplay. It’s the tale of the wild geoduck, the largest, oldest and one of the most bizarre-looking wild clam species in the state of Washington. The geoduck is a massive clam with a long, cylindrical body sticking out from its massive shell. In a way, it resembles a rocky-looking banjo only one million times uglier. Despite that gnarly appearance, the geoduck is a delicacy that is also the largest burrow clam species in the world and has been recorded as living as long as 146 years. Creatures that live past 100 can reach 10 pounds and fetch $160 per pound on the retail market. Unfortunately, large-scale harvesting has diminished their population in the Puget Sound and post-harvest surveys of the species around the sound by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) found that recovery rates are far below sustainable levels. WDFW director Phil Anderson blamed poaching for the decline. “This situation represents a significant threat to a highly valuable shellfish resource,” Anderson said. “Geoduck poaching is particularly damaging because the species grows slowly over a long period.” To combat poaching, the WDFW and the Department of Natural Resources will undertake new efforts aimed at “preventing poaching, evaluating environmental factors that may be contributing to the decline, seeking legislative budget support for additional field enforcement and reviewing harvest regulations,” the organizations announced in a joint statement. Together, the two have crafted a budget proposal to the state legislature that includes $500,000 for increased enforcement to protect the estimated 109 million geoducks in the Puget Sound, proving once more that beauty isn't everything…………


- One of the worst-kept secrets in the NBA has been yanked out of the shadows. While it is common knowledge in NBA circles that All-Star point guard Deron Williams is extremely likely to leave the New Jersey Nets and sign with his hometown Dallas Mavericks when he becomes a free agent after the season, little has been said about it. The bigger focus has been on the Nets’ attempts to land fellow All-Star Dwight Howard from Orlando to convince Williams to stay. New Jersey Nets coach Avery Johnson finally said out loud what many had been whispering about, proclaiming that the Mavericks are a major threat to sign Williams. Dallas will have enough financial flexibility to sign Williams and maybe even Howard thanks to the salary cap wizardry of owner Mark Cuban and president basketball of operations Donnie Nelson and will undoubtedly make runs at both. "He's a threat, OK?" Johnson said of Cuban. "I know the guy. I think because of the success he's had -- and I know he got criticized a lot for quote-unquote having all those years where he didn't win a championship -- but he's had some great success here that rivals any situation. So that's a threat." Williams have been reluctant to talk about his future and went so far as to pretend to not be aware that the Mavericks would have enough salary-cap space to be major players in free agency this offseason. "I'm just going to play out this season and look at my options after this season," Williams said. Right, because a guy who grew up in the Dallas suburb The Colony and attended several Mavs playoff games during last year's championship run has never considered the possibility of playing in his hometown. He went so far as to praise the Mavs’ arena, the American Airlines Center. "It's always good when an arena has a lot of energy," Williams said. "Ours doesn't have too much energy." The Nets hope to change that dynamic when they move into the Barclays Center in Brooklyn next season, but have virtually no chance of Williams making the move with them unless they acquire Howard before next month’s trading deadline. The clock is ticking, Mikhail Prokhorov…………


- Those discouraged by the tax proposals and ideas of presidential candidates gearing up for November’s American presidential race should cast an eye across the Atlantic Ocean and take relief from what they see in France’s own presidential battle. Socialist candidate Francois Hollande has a massive tax bracket in mind for France's top earners and isn't shy about demanding that the wealthy pay more than their fair share. Hollande has promised to impose a 75 percent tax bracket on the country’s wealthiest individuals, a plan quickly denounced by President Nicolas Sarkozy as "worrying amateurism.” Hollande said his tax was simply a case of "patriotism to accept to pay extra tax to get the country back on its feet again" and reverse the policies of Sarkozy that he said favored the rich. "It is sending out a signal, a message of social cohesion," Hollande proclaimed during a tour of France's annual agricultural fair in Paris. With an economic crisis on its hands, France has seen the issue of taxing the rich become a focal point. Sarkozy isn't sold on the higher tax rate and mocked it as an example of why Hollande is not fit to lead. "This all gives the impression of improvisation, of precipitation, in short of amateurism that is quite worrying," he said during a campaign stop in the southern city of Montpellier. Unfortunately for Sarkozy, Hollande is favored to defeat him in the vote in April and May. Should that happen, Hollande’s plan for a 75 percent tax rate on all annual earnings above a threshold of a million euros ($1.3 million) could become reality. "I have seen the considerable progression of the pay of the CAC 40 (benchmark French stock market index) bosses. Two million euros (a year) on average. How can we accept that?" Hollande asked during a TV interview. His plan also drew sharp criticism from Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front who is currently ranked third in opinion polls. "And why not a 100 percent rate?" Le Pen asked sarcastically. If it went into effect, the tax rate would dwarf the current highest personal tax rate in the European Union, Sweden’s 56.4 percent rate. Oh, and that sounds you hear is rich people in France frantically searching for the best place in Switzerland to relocate to………


- Anything that helps smokers quit their filthy habit is a positive development. Whether it’s a patch, hypnotism or outright ostracism by society, convincing smokers to put down their cancer sticks is vital for us all. Thanks to Scandinavian and German researchers who examined a new method of smoking cessation and weighed its merits, there could soon be a new weapon in the anti-smoking arsenal. The product is a mouth spray that delivers a dose of nicotine faster than patches and gums. According to this study, it may be more effective than other methods in helping smokers quit long-term. In a controlled trial lasting a year, researchers compared with a non-medicated "placebo" spray with the nicotine mouth spray and found that the nicotine spray helped more than twice as many smokers quit. The research team theorized that one reason for the improved effectiveness could be rapid delivery of nicotine to the bloodstream to relieve cravings when they strike. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is just one option for helping smokers quit and there are plenty of options on the market in the form of patches, gums, lozenges and nasal sprays, but a mouth spray is a relatively new concept. Right now, such sprays are available in only a few countries and not on the market in the United States. These mint-flavored sprays are designed to give people a more quickly-absorbed dose of nicotine compared with gums and other forms of NRT and irritate the respiratory tract less than nasal sprays. They also have an edge over patches, which deliver a steady dose of nicotine to the blood over the course of the day, because their use can be at will to alleviate withdrawal symptoms. In the study, 14 percent of smokers who used the spray for three months were abstinent at the one-year mark, versus about six percent of those given the placebo spray. Lead researcher Dr. Philip Tonnesen, of Gentofte Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, believes that the spray in combination with counseling could produce significant results. "There is an increase in quit rates with the intensity of support (counseling)," Tonnesen said. He and his team studied 479 smokers who were randomly assigned to use the NRT mouth spray or a placebo spray (containing capsaicin to mimic nicotine's burn) for 12 weeks, all of whom also received some brief advice on quitting when they made trips to the study clinics. They were instructed to use the spray whenever they would normally have a cigarette, or when they felt a craving for one, but not to exceed four sprays per hour or 64 sprays a day. Smoking abstinence was monitored closely by multiple methods. The American Lung Association (ALA) estimates that it takes the average smoker five or six serious attempts to finally quit and that 36 percent of the nation's smokers try to kick the habit each year. Maybe this spray will increase the number among that 36 percent who are successful……….

Legos in space, recruiting violations and East Haven racism

- Is there any real surprise in the fact that Adam Sandler has set a new record for Razzie nominations, receiving 11 nods at the Bizarro Oscars? Yes, he’s universally known as one of the best guys in Hollywood, but treating people well and not being an a-hole don’t necessarily equate to making good movies and Sandler makes his share of duds. Mostly this is because he makes the same damn movie over and over again with a few minor variations from film to film. His cross-dressing comedy “Jack & Jill” is the latest target for razzing and the 32nd Annual Razzie Awards took aim on the eve of Sunday’s Oscar ceremony. While Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” cleaned up at the Oscars by winning five awards in the first half of the show, Sandler’s latest flick led the Razzie pack with 12 nominations, including the prestigious honor of worst film of the year. In a true Razzie moment, Sandler was also nominated for both worst actor and worst actress awards for his role portraying both title roles in the movie. To further the film’s dubious success, co-stars Katie Holmes and Al Pacino, who has a cameo in the comedy, are also nominated in the worst supporting categories. Tom Cruise may have to fight someone over his wife’s nomination, while Pacino has to wonder what the hell happened to his career. Some other big-name, big-budget films made the list for worst film of the year, including “New Year's Eve,” “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1” and “Transformers: Dark Of The Moon.” Sandler will have some manly company on the worst actress list from Martin Lawrence, who also scored a gender-bending nomination by playing the title role in yet another “Big Mommas” film, “Big
Mommas: Like Father, Like Son.” This year’s Razzie Awards have been moved from their traditional spot the night before the Oscars to, fittingly enough, April Fool’s Day on April 1…………


- Very disappointing, alleged participants in an alleged plot to kill Russian Prime Minister/dictator Vladimir Putin. The story is incredibly disappointing, but not for the reasons one might expect. Plotting to overkill an oppressive despot who pretended to leave power for a few years so one of his underlings could pretend to take over is admirable, but what isn't admirable is carrying out your plot in such a way that Russian and Ukrainian intelligence officials were able to snuff it out. The announcement came Monday as security services in Russia and Ukraine claimed they had foiled a plot to kill Putin. Putin’s opponents were quick to denounce the allegations as a publicity stunt six days ahead of a rigged presidential election he is assured of winning. Why someone who has fixed the election in his favor needs to curry voters’ favor, by the way, is a very good questions. Russia's pro-government Channel One television carried the announcement of the foiled plot, which was attributed to a group seeking an Islamist state in Russia's North Caucasus. Intelligence officials confirmed the seizure of a computer containing numerous video files showing Putin's motorcade, usually heavily guarded, moving about Moscow, following the arrest of two men. "Our final goal was to go to Moscow and attempt to assassinate Putin," a battered man alleged to be one member of the conspiracy said in a police interview. "Our deadline was after the election of the president of Russia." Putin’s opponents would argue the entire video was staged and given Putin’s desperation to remain in power, such an allegation doesn’t seem unrealistic. Perhaps he fears that he won't win by a wide enough margin to avoid a runoff election that could dent his iron grip on the country. Where were these two alleged schemers arrested? A spokeswoman for Ukraine's security agency SBU said a man was detained in the Black Sea port of Odessa on Jan. 4 after an explosion at an apartment that killed an accomplice and a third man fled the scene. "We found him in an apartment and detained him without a single shot being fired on February 4," SBU spokeswoman Marina Ostapenko said. "I can officially confirm that they were preparing an (assassination) attempt on Putin." Whatever you say, M………….


- East Haven, Conn. continues to be the very odd site of a running battle over racial tensions between police and minority groups. The masses are angry at The Man and on Saturday, hundreds of residents and civil rights activists rallied in East Haven to march in unity against perceived racism by the city’s police department in its treatment of the Latino community. The tension stems from a series of incidents, but mainly from an incident at My Country Store, on Main Street, in which police allegedly discriminated against minorities. But while it was the police at the forefront of the drama on that day, Mayor Joe Maturo interjected himself into the line of fire by commenting that in order to soothe tensions with the Latino community, he might “go have a taco with them.” For some peculiar reason, that didn’t sit well with the supposed taco-eaters, many of whom aren’t actually from Mexico, where tacos are a common menu item. "What time is it? Time for Joe to go," the marchers chanted during Saturday’s demonstration. The four East Haven police officers involved in alleged racial discrimination against Latinos were arrested by the FBI the same day as Maturo’s remarks. Not everyone in East Haven supported the cause for the march and a small group of people lined Main Street and chanted, "Go home. Go home. Go home," as protestors passed by. Maturo chose the smart path in responding to the march: keeping his mouth shut and issuing a written statement about it that could be proofread and filtered by people much smarter than he is. "I am extremely proud of the manner in which both the participants and our residents came together to welcome this demonstration of our country's most precious precepts of freedom of speech and the right of assembly," Maturo said in the statement. "The themes of peace, unity and justice are ones that our community will continue to embrace and all our citizens certainly have a right to expect. The March for Unity in East Haven today highlighted our commitment to continue the open dialogue we have initiated amongst all segments of our Town. We must all be willing to hold out our hands in cooperation so that we may move forward as one, unified community." Oddly enough, staging the march meant cooperating with the East Haven Police Department, so maybe the spirit of cooperation does exist even if a few racist idiots were trying to bury it…………


- Astronauts don’t have a reputation for being the coolest cats around. Going into space is awesome, but being the sort of science-loving nerd willing to spend months in space doesn’t exactly have rock star cachet with the ladies. Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency flight engineer Satoshi Furukawa probably knows that lesson better than anyone and it would explain his willingness to embrace his inner dork for all the world to see by constructing a Lego replica of the International Space Station while working aboard the ISS. Furukawa did his work wearing heavy rubber gloves that the glove box enclosure used for construction of the model required. His small feat took about two hours, which thankfully he did not spend doing actual scientific experiments to benefit mankind in order to make the most of his valuable time in space. His Lego model is 2 feet long and was constructed as part of an educational collaboration between Lego and NASA. After finishing the model, Furukawa used it as a demonstration tool for a series of videos recorded to help educate children about living and working in space. ISS crew member and NASA astronaut Michael Fossum spoke about his crewmate’s dork-tacular accomplishment. “A lot of the work dealing with the small pieces had to be done in an enclosure, like a simple payload glovebox,” he said. “A simple structural one with plastic sides so you could see inside, but a glovebox so you don’t have all of these little pieces getting loose and becoming either lost or potentially getting jammed in equipment or even becoming a flammability hazard.” In words, working with Legos in outer space could be an actual hazard? How great would it have been for the ISS to suffer significant damage and need expensive repairs over a nerd playing with his Lego toys? Hope that was worth it…………


- It may have taken more than a year and a half, but the NCAA finally got to deciding whether or not the Oregon football program violated the organization's regulations in the way it used recruiting services over the past four years. To provide a brief overview, Oregon paid $25,000 to Willie Lyles and his Houston-based recruiting service in 2010. The Ducks claimed they had received standard recruiting services and materials from Lyles, but were never able to produce the video footage they supposedly procured as part of the transcation. What they did receive was a commitment from prized recruit Lache Seastrunk, who conveniently had a relationship with Lyles. Seastrunk ultimately left Oregon to transfer to Baylor, but the drama surrounding his brief association with Oregon lingered. The NCAA investigated and Oregon stumbled and fumbled all over itself in responding, providing outdated materials and information, or data that did not pertain to what the NCAA was seeking. On Friday, the organization released draft documents which suggest Oregon's use of three scouting services "did not conform" with NCAA rules, and the Ducks exceeded the number of coaches allowed to recruit. The two documents were contained Friday in a public records request by several media outlets and were labeled "Proposed Findings of Violations." The documents state that the scope and nature of the violations "demonstrate that the athletics department failed to adequately monitor the football program's use of recruiting or scouting services" while also conceding that the NCAA and university agree on a few points. However, Oregon quickly responded by saying it does not acknowledge any of the violations. Thanks to the heavily redacted nature of the documents, getting an accurate read on how severe sanctions on the program might be is virtually impossible. All Oregon can do is watch and wait. "While we have no specific timetable on the inquiry, we remain in close communication with the NCAA as the process advances cooperatively through each stage. Currently, pursuant to the NCAA's process, we are in constructive discussions with the NCAA on the draft of their proposed findings," Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens said in a written statement. In other words, the drawn-out process and bureaucratic red tape continue………..

Happy world news involving beauty pageants, movie news and baseball beer bans

- Who can’t use some happy news on the world scene for a change? Riots will always be there, dictators will always trample the human rights of their people and militaries will always be in the process of plotting coups against leaders with whom they’ve become disenchanted. However, it’s not a given that an Eastern European nation will do something infinitely cool like hold the continent’s first-ever event to recognize beautiful women in wheelchairs. Hungary's Miss Colours beauty pageant took place Saturday, with Katalin Eszter Varga crowned as its winner by a jury from among the eight finalists who rolled on stage in choreographed moves set to music by Maroon 5 and Rihanna and wearing dresses from leading Hungarian designer Katti Zoob. Pageant organizer Tibor Kazany said Miss Colours is the first such event in Europe and will be repeated annually, which makes the story even better. Ms. Wheelchair America pageants have been held since 1973, but the idea had not caught on in Europe until now. Varga, a perfume saleswoman who has been using a wheelchair for four years, promised to use her newfound notoriety to serve as an advocate for improving access conditions for the disabled. She said there is much work to be done in Hungary to improve wheelchair access and that she wants to be a driving force in making sure that work happens. Beauty pageants in general may still do a pathetically poor job of recognizing what truly matters in the world, but at least there is one more event on the right side of the ledger now…………


- Time to sew that special, hidden compartment into the bottom of your gear bag or install a false bottom in your locker, Boston Red Sox players. Gone are the days when certain players (no names named, Jon Lester, Josh Beckett and John Lackey allegedly) can sneak off to the clubhouse during games to drink beer, eat fried chicken and play video games during games their team is, you know, on the field trying to win. Tales of the trio’s slacker, borderline alcoholic ways surfaced after last season’s epic late-season collapse in which the Red Sox gave back a 9 1/2 game lead in the season’s final month to miss the playoffs and lose their wild car spot to the Tampa Bay Rays. Following the season, general manager Theo Epstein left for a new job with the Chicago Cubs, manager Terry Francona left to become a full-time broadcaster and new GM Ben Cherrington and manager Bobby Valentine replaced them. Valentine promised significant changes within the clubhouse and on the field and the most obvious question was what his stance on alcohol in the locker room would be. At the start of spring training, Valentine held off on announcing his alcohol policy until he shared it with the team as a whole. He made the policy public Saturday, saying beer would be banned in the clubhouse and also on the last leg of road trips. The team was informed of the change in a meeting Saturday morning, with the Red Sox owners and the baseball operations staff in attendance. "It's just what I've always done, except in Texas, I guess," Valentine said of the decision. "I'm comfortable with it that way." The ban includes all alcoholic beverages, the Red Sox confirmed. Valentine was asked about the team’s reaction to the new policy and replied, "You mean standing ovation or booing? I didn't get either of those. Probably fell somewhere in between a standing O and a standing boo." He pointed out that the majority of teams in Major League Baseball have similar policies in place and said he didn’t expect much pushback from players. If veteran Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz’s response is any indicator, Valentine is right. "We're not here to drink," Ortiz said. "We're here to play baseball. It ain't a bar." Former Yankees manager Joe Torre said during the World Series last fall -- when he was still working in the commissioner's office – that baseball may consider a blanket ban on alcohol in all clubhouses, although that has not happened yet. Clearly, no one agrees with Jackie Moon’s (Will Ferrell’s “Semi Pro” character) that there’s nothing in the rulebook that says you can’t play drunk……….


- So…..they New York Police Department isn't quite as popular these days as it was in the months immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Yes, 10-plus years have passed and that has something to do with it, but the fact that the NYPD has been monitoring Muslims on a dozen college campuses in the Northeast is probably a factor as well. The surveillance is part of the NYPD's efforts to keep tabs on Muslims throughout the region as part of the department's anti-terrorism efforts. With its findings, the NYPD built databases of where Muslims lived and worked, where they prayed and where they watched socialized. Oddly enough, that offended some Muslims. Some fretted that undercover officers might attempt to infiltrate groups and organizations to gather information, something documents obtained by the Associated Press show has already happened. The idea that cops might be lurking on websites and blogs and scrutinizing everything they write unnerved many Muslims. Concerned Muslims and non-Muslims held a town hall meeting this week on the Upper West Side campus of Columbia University to discuss the police surveillance. Another gathering took place on Manhattan’s south side Friday as students at New York University raged against the NYPD. While the gatherings won't force the NYPD to abandon its surveillance efforts, they did seem to instill a sense of unity among Muslims on both campuses. Students at the two events expressed sympathy for those throughout the city who are being subjected to the NYPD's "stop-and-frisk" policy targeting anyone who seems suspicious, mainly blacks and Hispanics. Police have explained that the reason they have targeted Muslim student groups is because they attract young men, a demographic that terrorist groups have also targeted. University President Lee Bollinger will hold a “fireside chat” on Monday evening to discuss the secret monitoring and released a very politically correct statement about the situation on Friday. "We should all be able to appreciate the deeply personal concerns of the Muslim members of our community in learning that their activities were being monitored — and the chilling effect such governmental efforts have on any of us in a university devoted to the foundational values of free speech and association," the statement read. What do the city and its police department have to say about the blowback they’ve received? "We're going to continue to do what we have to do to protect the city," declared NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his police department's monitoring of Muslims — even outside the city - was "legal," ''appropriate" and "constitutional." All right then………..


- Maybe more studios should find a way to work real-life Navy SEALs into their movies and given the copycat nature of Hollywood, most of them are probably working on doing so after “Act of Valor” debuted in first place over the weekend. The film, which features several active duty SEALs who filmed their scenes in between missions, won with a $24.7 million debut. That was more than enough to best fellow newcomer “Tyler Perry's Good Deeds,” which refreshingly featured Perry in a non-Madea role for a change and garnered $16 million in its first weekend to place second. Led by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, family flick “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” moved up one spot in its third weekend to finish third on the strength of $13.4 million in earnings to boost its cumulative total to $76.7 million. Denzel Washington’s spy thriller “Safe House” ranked fourth with $11.4 million after finishing first last weekend. It has grossed $98.1 million domestically through three weeks. Chick flick “The Vow” was fifth in its third weekend with $10 million to cross the $100 million barrier in domestic earnings ($103.1 million). “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” continued its underwhelming start with a sixth-place finish and $8.8 million for a two-week domestic tally of $37.8 million. Reese Witherspoon’s hotness was not enough to lift “This Means War” past seventh place, where it landed with a dull thud in its second week. The movie earned $8.5 million for the weekend and has made $33.6 million overall. Two disappointing newcomers held down the eighth and ninth spots, with “Wanderlust” ($6.6 million) failing to produce the laughs and “Gone” ($5 million) failing to conjure up the drama. “The Secret World of Arrietty” rounded out the top 10 with $4.5 million in its second weekend. “Chronicle” (No. 11), “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (in 3D)” (No. 12), “The Woman in Black” (No. 14) and “The Grey” (No. 17) all dropped out from last weekend’s top 10………..


- Samsung is still hammering away at the iPad, trying to gain ground in the tablet market, and has added a new weapon to its arsenal with the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1). The second tablet in the new Galaxy Tab 2 family of low-cost tablets, the device will use Android 4.0 just like the recently announced Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0). It will also have a 10-inch screen, the company said on Sunday. Both Galaxy 2 tablets have similar hardware specifications, including a 1 GHz dual-core processor, two cameras, storage of 32 GB and a MicroSD card slot for added capacity. However, the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) 10-inch model has improved resolution at 1280-by-800 pixels and weighs more, up from 345 grams to 588 grams. Compared to the original Galaxy Tab 10.1, which weighed 565 grams, the difference is minimal. To support the bigger screen, Samsung has added a more powerful battery (up from 4,000 mAh to 7,000 mAh). To differentiate the 7-inch model from the 10-inch version Samsung is billing the smaller tablet as an "on-the-go device," while the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) is supposedly better suited for home use. That doesn’t make a ton of sense because if someone is going to use a device primarily at home, why not go with a laptop that has a 15-inch screen? Similar to the iPad and iPad 2, users will be able to choose between a 3G version and a Wi-Fi version. The Galaxy Tab 2 product line will launch globally in March beginning in the UK. No price points were provided for the devices in the UK, but Samsung did reveal that when the tablet reaches Sweden the Wi-Fi version will cost 3,120 Swedish kronor (U.S. $470), excluding taxes. This price is, in Samsung’s mind anyhow, low enough to allow more people to buy a tablet. After sales of Android-based tablets more than tripled during the fourth quarter of 2011, maybe they’re right. Still, Apple dominates the market with a 57.6 percent market share compared to 39.1 percent for Android tablets. Perhaps the mood is about to change……….

Lawmakers who care, Gronk defends his dancing and the bath salt black market

- New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski on Friday finally got around to addressing the criticism of his work ethic and dedication to his team that arose in the wake of his post-Super Bowl dance party at an Indianapolis club hours after the Pats’ 21-17 loss. The man known simply as Gronk showed up at the club and got his dance on despite an ankle injury that eventually required surgery and has him in a cast and on crutches. He suffered the injury in the AFC Championship game two weeks prior to the Super Bowl but suited up and played against the Giants, registering just two catches for 26 yards. When the video of him getting his dance on to LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” went viral, Gronk took heat from media members and former players, including former Patriot Rodney Harrison. However, these critics focused on the wrong aspect of the drama. Instead of apologizing for being at the club and dancing, what Gronk should really apologize for is his dancing. Anyone who has seen the video will understand that, as dude looks like a marlin hooked on the end of some fisherman’s line off the coast in Key West, jerking around and spazzing like he’s trying to wriggle off the line. But rather than apologize for his horrible dancing, Gronk explained why he went to the club. "Hard work and dedication, I always put my job first before anything, no matter what it is. I'm always just dedicating myself. Unfortunately, it just happened like that. I mean, it is what it is," he said in his first public comments on the incident. "I have a lot of fun with my family. It was the first time I got to see them in a while. We were just having fun with my brothers and stuff, friends I hadn't seen in a while. The chance to hang out with [the band] LMFAO, that was pretty cool, too. Unfortunately we didn't win and that was the number one goal. That's all we did, was work, for the two weeks from the Baltimore game to the Giants game, just to keep on grinding. I was in the training room 24/7 getting healthy. Same with everybody else. Fortunately we just came up short." Still waiting for that apology on your eye-assaultingly bad dance moves, Gronk………..


- Who knew the black market for bath salts in Arizona existed or would have believed it to be such a sinister world? In September, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued a one-year ban on possessing and selling three chemicals commonly used to produce bath salts and announced plans to study whether the chemicals should be permanently banned. Arizona followed suit and made bath salts, a synthetic drug that has been known to cause symptoms like hallucinations and medical distress, illegal. Why folks can't just use their bath salts, take a soak and enjoy some quality hallucinations is a mystery, especially since it’s cheaper and easier than trying to track down some quality LSD or PCP. Regardless, bath salts were once legal in Arizona and now they’re not. That became a problem for stores that sold them when they were legal because a) they had stockpiles of bath salts they could not sell any longer and b) they lost a significant chunk of their business from tweakers, er, bath salt users. Thus, a few stores continued to sell them even though hey were illegal. The squares who work in the law enforcement field in Prescott, Ariz. Didn’t like that and as a result, two Prescott Valley businesses and three Prescott businesses were raided Thursday for selling bath salts. Police confirmed all five businesses sold bath salts while they were still legal under state law but continued to sell them after the product was deemed illegal and in some cases, sold the salts literally out of their back door. An investigation ensued, search warrants were issued and served and on Thursday, X-Hale Smoke Shop, Mario's Mexican Market, Quick Stop, C-Stop and Mike's Mini Mart were raided. Several individuals were arrested, two handguns were seized and these good people will now face criminal charges as possession of a bath salt is a class 4 felony and its sale is a class 2 felony………….


- For centuries, the mystery of the Mayan civilization’s collapse has riddled the world. What was powerful enough to wipe out one of history’s greatest civilizations? Plague? Disease? Not according to a group of Mexican and British researchers. They believe relatively mild drought conditions may have been enough to cause the collapse of the Mayan civilization, which flourished until about 950 AD in what is now southern Mexico and Guatemala. Some anthropologists have theorized that severe drought played a heavy role in the collapse, but scientists from the Yucatan Centre for Scientific Research in southern Mexico and the University of Southampton believe a sustained drop in rainfall of only 25-40 percent was enough to drain seasonal water supplies in the region and kill off the Mayans. The joint research team used advanced modeling techniques to estimate rainfall and evaporation rates between 800 and 950 AD, when the Mayan civilization went into a fatal decline. Their projections demonstrated that a small decline in rainfall was enough to deplete freshwater storage systems in the Yucatan lowlands, where there are no rivers. Reducing rainfall by 25 to 40 percent was enough for evaporation to become dominant over rainfall and “open water was rapidly reduced," said professor Eelco Rohling of Southampton University. "Societal disruptions and abandonment of cities are likely consequences of critical water shortages, especially because there seems to have been a rapid repetition of multi-year droughts.” The projections have relevance in modern times because some climate experts predict a similar rainfall pattern for the region in the near future. "There are differences too, but the warning is clear - what seems like a minor reduction in water availability may lead to important, long-lasting problems," professor Martin Medina-Elizalde said. "The problem is not unique to the Yucatan Peninsula, but applies to all regions in similar settings where evaporation is high.” This time, there is no civilization renowned for its sophisticated architecture, mathematics and culture that would be wiped out, but it’s always best to be prepared for drought regardless……….


- They have been accused of being two of the most arrogant men in all of rock and roll, so maybe it’s fitting that Noel Gallagher could "easily be playing" on the next Coldplay album, according to a roadie for Coldplay who posted recently on the band’s website. A blog post that appeared this week revealed that Gallagher, now fronting Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, gave Martin a recording of a guitar loop he had been playing during the pair's rehearsal for their Brit Awards duet earlier this week. Regarding the jam session, the roadie wrote: “Noel stamps on a pedal and starts off a loop of glorious noise. Immediately Chris is on his feet and shouting 'What the hell is that?'. Chris has his iPhone out to record it, excitedly proclaiming it the most amazing thing he's ever heard. Noel is laughing as the pedal loops away through the stack.” The day of the show, Martin gave the pedal to the roadie and related a conversation in which Gallagher called Martin to his dressing room and passed along the loop. The roadie, whose name is not revealed by the post, claimed that Martin had asked him to record what was in the pedal so it could be used in the studio. It could well be Martin or another member of the band playing a bit of a joke, but the collaboration sounds realistic and the odds of Gallagher feeding his immense ego by doing a guest spot on the next Coldplay album makes perfect sense. At the Brit Awards, the two seemed very comfortable doing a duet of Gallagher’s track “AKA… What A Life.” And yes, Gallagher still hates his brother and former Oasis bandmate Liam………


- Now THIS is how politics should work. Filibusters and pork-barrel legislation are the sort of garbage the average constituent neither wants nor needs. They vote for a person they want to go and fight for their interests in their state or national legislature and are forced to look on as that elected representative does very little fighting and plenty of slacking. Don’t count British lawmaker Eric Joyce in that group. Joyce, a member representing Falkirk, near Edinburgh in Scotland, in the House of Commons, is willing to fight for what he believes in – literally. Seems Joyce was hanging out at a House of Commons bar Wednesday around 11 p.m. with some of his peers when the evening became chaotic. The reason for the fight, according to news reports, was one of Joyce's companions (presumably drunk, as they were a Brit in a bar at 11 p.m.) singing loudly and becoming aggressive toward Conservatives in the bar. Another account had Joyce stealing a Conservative lawmaker's seat when the man went to the bar and swearing at the man when asked to move. Or it could be that Joyce was fighting on behalf of those who elected him over a very important social issue, which sounds much better and more noble. A witness characterized the scene as less of a bar brawl and more of Joyce “just flipping out and lashing out.” In other words, it was a one-sided fight in which he did a lot of ass-kicking, right? Strangers Bar was the scene of Joyce punching several Conservative lawmakers and their staffers, end of story. Well, that and Joyce allegedly heat-butting Conservative lawmaker Stuart Andrew as police officers called to the scene looked on. Police eventually restrained Joyce and interviewed staff and lawmakers who were present during the incident. Joyce has already been suspended by the opposition Labour Party until the investigation is completed, which is sad because if more legislators showed the passion and fight he displayed in that bar, politics would be a better (and bloodier) place. Heck, Joyce even added some property damage to his list of (alleged) crimes by smashing a window as he was led away into custody. To understand how awesome his night was, just know that officers had to wait 13 hours for him to sober up for questioning. Oh, and no credit to Commons Speaker John Bercow for calling on lawmakers not to discuss the "serious incident" in Parliament. Wrong move, Bercow. Play this up, maybe set up a cage match for Joyce to settle the score with his foes, get some mileage out of this one…………

Angry men with white suits, Google Music slogs along and rock-throwing Muslims

- Small steps America, small steps. Driving the musical menace that is “American Karaoke” from the air and from our lives is not a one-step, quick-fix project. It will take prolonged, concerted efforts from each and every one of us to make it happen. Some are already doing their part, like those who tuned in to CBS’ dork-centric sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” Thursday night and in the process made it the first series in five years to defeat “AK” outright in the Nielsen ratings. For those five long years, “AK” has capitalized on the horrid musical tastes of the American public and gone about systematically ruining the music world in the process. On Thursday night, “Big Bang Theory” overtook “AK” by a large, inspiring margin. “Big Bang” brought in 16.1 million viewers and a 5.2 rating in the adult demographic, while “AK” managed 15.4 million and a 4.4 rating. Those numbers represented a 14-percent decline for the reality karaoke show and a new low in one-night ratings for the franchise. This week’s numbers make official what those looking to engage in some creative math have been teasing for several weeks now: “Big Bang” finally running down its Thursday night nemesis. The last show to accomplish the feat was “Grey’s Anatomy” and its good-looking doctors fake-healing fake sick people in 2007, although it is easily more “real” than anything “AK” has ever done. Not only did “AK” lose its nightly ratings battle, but isn't even the highest-rated karaoke show any longer. That dishonor will go to NBC’s “The Voice,” which topped Wednesday’s edition of “AK” by a ratings margin of 6.0 to 5.1. Fox’s alternative president Mike Darnell is on the record as saying “AK” would still hold great value for the network even if it were no longer No. 1 “it accounts for so many more hours.” Ah yes, the old quantity over quality argument. Spin it any way you want, Fox, but CBS moving its top-rated show from Monday to Thursday night to compete with “AK” worked out well and swung the night in favor of the Eye instead of the Peacock…………


- The sh*t stops here, residents of The Lakes at West Chester Village in West Chester, Ohio. Literally, it’s going to stop or else you all are going to pay. The complex has had enough of its residents walking their dogs so Fido can take a dump and then not clean up the mess. In fact, the problem has become so big that the complex’s management sent letters to all of its residents informing them that residents who own dogs would need to submit a mouth swab of their pet so that the apartment complex can collect DNA. Property manager Jill Moorman stated in the letter that any future feces found on the property would be sent to a lab so that management can match the feces to the DNA samples provided. Once the owner of the offending canine is identified, he or she will be charged $200 per violation. But as Moorman’s letter points out, this doesn’t need to become a major, expensive issue. "There is a simple solution in order to avert the expense," the letter read. "PICK UP AFTER YOUR PET AS YOU AGREED TO DO UPON SIGNING YOUR PET ADDENDUM." As a goodwill gesture to current residents, they will be grandfathered into the program and will not have to pay for the initial process. Future residents or residents who decided to get a dog would have to pay an extra $50 fee per dog to cover the cost of the program. "While we frankly feel this is more work for us as a staff, the ultimate goal is to have a cleaner, safer and more attractive environment for all," the letter explained. All of this because lazy d-bags want to walk their pets, let them relieve themselves wherever and can’t be bothered to carry a plastic bag and scoop to pick up the poop…………


- No offense to the hundreds of Palestinians who clashed with Israeli police after Muslim prayers at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Friday, but these folks really need to step their game up. Rising up against The Man in any of his forms is fine, but throwing rocks as your means of rebellion? That’s so Mesozoic era, y’all. Join the rest of us in the 21st century, or at least update your riot game to 1950. No one was quite sure what sparked the confrontation at the shrine sacred to both Jews and Muslims, but tensions in the city have been running high for days amidst rumors that far right Israelis are trying to gain entry to Muslim-controlled areas at the site. Israeli police denied those rumors, but something had to spark the clash and that seems to be the most likely explanation. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound has been the site of major violence in the past and will continue to be for as long as both groups exist based on its location atop the remains of the two biblical Jewish temples and status as the most sacred site in Judaism and Islam’s third-holiest site. Both groups claim it as a key spot in their rival narratives and even a discussion of altering the delicate division of control there brings out protestors in droves. Friday’s police v. protestors skirmish broke out after Muslim noon prayers when hundreds of worshippers emerging from the two mosques in the walled compound and staged a demonstration protesting rumored plans by far right activists to enter the shrine. A mob of hundreds threw rocks at police, who responded with stun guns to disperse the crowd, according to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Najeh Bkeirat, a Muslim official at the scene, claimed demonstrators began throwing stones after police tried to stop their march. Eleven officers suffered minor injuries in the showdown, while Bkeirat said about 30 Palestinians were treated at the scene for light injuries from tear gas inhalation and general hayhem. No tear gas was fired and just four Palestinians were arrested, so the day was relatively uneventful. Next time, Muslim protestors, bring a Molotov cocktail or two and make the day more interesting…………


- Google Music has been an epic failure so far. Both the search giant and its label partners have been disappointed by the public’s tepid response to the music service in its first three months. The service has only been operational for around three months and while it’s not time to hit the panic button with a sledgehammer, Google is reportedly looking to increase demand by debuting an “array of consumer devices.” In other words, provide the hardware and hope it lures people into using the software because almost everyone loves shiny new gadgets. While no major leaks about the new devices have gotten out, they are believed to be linked with Google’s Android@Home system. In its ongoing quest for world domination, Google showed off a range of media streaming hardware at Google I/O 2011 and is reportedly planning to make these devices the cornerstone of a hub of cloud kit that beam Google Music into your living room, bedroom and anywhere else. Sources claim Google managers have informed executives with their label partners that the service will roar to life once it implements its hardware strategy. A large base of Android users provides a massive target audience, but that hasn’t allayed the concerns of many labels about the Google Music’s chances of success. Google has to hope that the multiple wireless device testing requests it submitted in the U.S. earlier this year for field-trials of WiFi- and Bluetooth-based streaming hardware are approved and produce good results. Otherwise, world domination is going to have to adapt without a musical component to serve as its soundtrack…………


- It would be easy to say that a man who owns and occasionally wears an eye-scorchingly bright white suit should never complain about anything else in the world on account of the retinal damage his attire does to others. Telling Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino to pipe down and take his team’s loss at Cincinnati Thursday night like a man would be convenient, but why not hear him out when he accuses the three men tasked with officiating the game as supremely arrogant? “I have a problem with the officials. They thought they were the three guys going into the Referee Hall of Fame the way they talked to me,” he said. “I don’t know what they’re looking at sometimes, but they’re so positive, they should really go into the Referee Hall of Fame.” For those scoring at home, that’s two “Referee Hall of Fame” blasts in one response. The targets of Pitino’s rage were Jamie Luckie, Bryan Kersey and Sean Corbin. The three officials called 32 fouls in the game, not an extreme number. However, Pitino seemed to believe they were unfairly harsh toward Louisville center Gorgui Dieng, who had a double-double and was a solid presence inside, but picked up his fourth foul with 10:54 left in the game. With Dieng on the bench, the Bearcats made a 14-point run and seized control of the game. While the loss won't affect Louisville’s NCAA Tournament chances – at 21-7 the Cardinals will be in – it did hurt their shot at a double-bye in the upcoming Big East tournament. From the sound of Pitino’s remarks, though, he would have wanted to fight Luckie, Kersey and Corbin regardless of the game’s overall importance. “[The officials] are really starting to get under my nerves. I don’t know who the hell they think they are,” he said. “The level of arrogance, I just cannot believe it.” The comments are likely to draw him a reprimand and/or fine from the Big East, not to mention a less-than-favorable reaction from officiating crews the remainder of the season………….

PBS kicks ratings ass, bogus Russian rallies and overactive minds

- Can a person’s brain work too much? For fans of “Jersey Shore” or “Teen Mom,” that’s a pointless question, but it should be relevant for everyone else. According to researchers at UCLA, the answer to that question just might be yes. Lead study author Andrew Leuchter, a psychiatry professor at UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, people with depression appear to have hyperactive brains, led a team that studied the functional connections of the brain in 121 individuals, ages 21-80, who had been diagnosed with depression. Using quantitative electroencephalography to measure the synchronization of brain waves (electrical signals from the brain), researchers studies neurological networks among the different brain regions. "All the depressed patients showed increased connectivity," Leuchter said. "We know from brain science studying normal individuals that the connections are turning off and on all the time. If you take a snapshot of a depressed person's brain, you're going to find the connections turned on at any given time." The results of a similar study were published in 2010 in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, with psychiatrist Yvette Sheline, director of the Center for Depression, Stress and Neuroimaging at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, determining that depressed subjects had increased connectivity to one specific brain region she studied. Her work used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain connectivity in 24 people. By contrast, the UCLA research studied a range of brain regions and its 121 participants make it one of the largest known studies of its kind. "What our research shows is that the depressed brain appears to be less versatile. It's connecting all the regions all the time and is not able to shut down those connections in a normal way," Leuchter said. Great, so now depressed people have a dysfunctional brain as another failure in life to discourage them. Read more about Leuchter’s work in the international online journal PLoS ONE…………


- Something was lacking as tens of thousands of Russians packed into a downtown Moscow soccer stadium Thursday to show their support for Vladimir Putin for president and voice their disapproval of other Muscovites who have packed the capital city’s streets of late to demand democratic reforms. What was it? Genuine passion and enthusiasm would be one apt description. While more than 100,000 people showed up for the midday rally, the scene lacked the feistiness and energy of recent opposition rallies. Its timing on Defenders of the Fatherland Day, an official holiday in Russia, equivalent to Veterans' Day in the United States, was no coincidence. The paid/coered/threatened masses displayed pre-printed signs and banners that were probably forced into their hands as they entered the stadium, sporting messages such as "We won’t let them ruin the country," "Who, if not Putin?" and "Vote stability – Vote Putin." Authentic World War II marching music played to give the day a truly throwback vibe. Putin took to the stage and delivered a bombastic speech that alluded to supposed threats to Russia's sovereignty from abroad and referenced mysterious solutions to the country’s many problems. With the election already rigged in his favor, Putin has little to worry about leading up to the March 4 vote. Once the (bogus) vote is held, he will “earn” a six-year term as president/dictator. Still, the rise of massive anti-Putin protests from middle class Russians over the Kremlin-orchestrated political process that pushes serious contenders from the ballot in advance do raise important questions – even if they won’t actually be answered. The heart-warming scenes of Putin sycophants responding to his prompt "Do you love Russia?" were epic as well. "Yes!" "We won’t allow anybody to interfere into our internal affairs and impose their will on us because we have our own will… We are a nation of victors. It’s in our genes… The battle for Russia is raging on. We’ll be victorious," the crowd chanted back in song-like fashion. Putin refused to dignify his opponents with a direct mention, but did vaguely allude to them at one point. "We ask everyone not to look abroad, not to run to the other side and not to deceive your motherland, but to join us," he said. And of course, crowd of employees of state companies, teachers, municipal workers, and members of pro-state trade unions lapped all of the propaganda up and didn’t bother to ask questions or dare attempt to think for themselves at any point during the rally…………


- The Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim in Orange County near the Pacific Ocean) went to a lot of trouble to sign slugger Albert Pujols this past offseason. They pursued him and gave him a 10-year, $250 million contract in December. The deal came with a 10-year personal services contract once his playing career ends and should tie him to the organization for the next 20 years. After all of that, it seems curious the organization could so quickly run afoul of its new star. That’s exactly what happened when Pujols showed up for spring training in Arizona eight days early and addressed the advertising campaign the team recently launched in Southern California using his likeness in an Angels uniform alongside the Spanish words "El Hombre." That slogan is emblazoned on billboards around SoCal and Pujols is none too happy about it. Why? Is it because the message is in Spanish and he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as a Hispanic star as opposed to just a star? Nope. His beef is with the meaning of the “El Hombre” moniker, which translates to “The Man.” Pujols has asked not to be called that in deference to St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial, who was glossed as Stan "The Man" during most of his 22-year career that included 11 seasons with St. Louis. "Like I say, I haven't talked to them, but I prefer not to use (El Hombre)," Pujols said Wednesday. Pujols also played 11 seasons in St. Louis before signing with the Angels. "I still have the same respect for him as I had, not just for what he's done in baseball but for what he did for his country," Pujols said. "That's something you have to appreciate." Musial served in the Navy during World War II and has worked extensively with the United Service Organizations. Last year, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Even though he’s no longer with the Cardinals, his respect for Musial abides. The Angels admitted they did not consult Pujols or his agent before launching the campaign. Angels vice president for communications Tim Mead explained that the team does not plan to take the billboards down but has explained to Pujols that they are just one component of a larger campaign……….


- No longer are silencers only for stereotypical, tattooed badasses in Hollywood blockbusters. If Texas (who else) has its way, Texas hunters will soon be able to use them as well when they’re out hunting for game. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission is proposing a rule change that would allow silencers, or supressors, for hunters pursuing alligators, game animals and game birds. Such devices are banned because of fears their use could fuel poaching or an unnecessary increase in harvest numbers. “We don’t have any evidence to support either of those arguments,” said Scott Vaca, the assistant chief of wildlife enforcement with the TPWC. Silencers are not cheap (nor is there a handy merchant of death to fashion one for you on demand like in the movies when the bad guy is preparing for the climactic final shootout) and can cost between several hundred and several thousand dollars. There’s also the bureaucratic hassle, as payment is merely the first step and must be followed by the completion of several pages of paperwork sent to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Along with the paperwork, new silencer owners must also submit picture of themselves, a fingerprint and a signature from the local police chief or sheriff and pay a $200 tax. Critics of the ban claim law enforcement officials in some counties refuse to sign the paperwork. The process can take six to nine months and a person cannot pick up their silencer until approval is granted. Worse still, a gun owner must complete the process for each separate silencer he or she purchases. At present, the only legal use for them is to hunt nuisance animals, like reality show cast members. The TWPC is taking public comment on the proposed change through March 28 and will proceed from there. It’s good to know that the notoriously gun-unfriendly state of Texas could soon change its anti-Second Amendment ways………….


- Look at PBS, kicking some legitimate ratings ass. The network known for boring, bland public television fare, children’s shows like “Sesame Street” and “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and for “This Old House” episodes has struck it rich with its British period drama "Downton Abbey." Ironically, the series’ second season was also its last one and PBS will have to find another ratings race horse to hitch its fortunes to. Maybe there’s still time to revive “Abbey,” which ended its second season on a high note Sunday with the network’s highest ratings since the September 2009 premiere of Ken Burns' "National Parks." The second season drew an average 5.4 million viewers, excluding station replays, DVR viewings and online streaming. Additionally, the season finale improved on the first-season average by 25 percent, based on metered-market averages. It has enjoyed even more success online, as PBS data shows that episodes of season two have been viewed 4.8 million times on PBS' digital portal, which represents a 400-percent increase over the first season. Across all platforms, “Abbey” has drawn in more than 9 million streams across all platforms, with 1.5 million unique visitors, since season 2's January 8 premiere. Toss in the second season’s premiere episode and its average of 4.2 million viewers - doubling PBS' primetime average – and the argument for giving the series a second life has come life of its own. Besides, everyone knows those public television nerds are just hording money to throw at Burns when he pitches his next mega-documentary…………

How to deal with prison riots, Demi Lovato resurfaces and drive-thru blessings

- Anyone who has been asking themselves what the next step on Demi Lovato’s road to recovery from eating disorders and other personal issues will be won't have to wonder much longer. Like anyone dealing with serious personal issues and crises, Lovato is going to share her struggles with the world in an hour-long special on MTV. “Demi Lovato: Stay Strong” is set to air March 6 at 10 p.m. and it will pack all of Lovato’s issues in coping with bulimia and self-injury into a nice, tight one-hour package. “I wanted to share my story but knew it had to be honest, it had to be real,” Lovato said in a statement. Who ever could have imagined that a child star who was on Disney Channel and seemed well on her way to superstardom would come off the rails later in life? Lovato attracted attention for the wrong reasons in October 2010 after dropping out of a world tour with the Jonas Brothers to enter rehab for her many issues. She said in a magazine earlier this year that during that period she was “self-medicating” to battle her issues “like drinking and using [drugs], like a lot of teens do to numb their pain.”
The difference is most teens don’t have the pressures and demands of a recording artist/actress’ career on top of everything else. The MTV special will center on Lovato’s life after rehab and how she’s preparing to go back on the road to face her fears. It will include scenes from her Thanksgiving back home in Texas and preparation for her tour, along with shots from her revisiting her in a treatment center and talking to recovering peers about her experiences. Will she ever regain the true glory of starring in Disney Channel movies and singing bad pop music? Maybe, maybe not, but here’s hoping she is able to put her life back together all the same…………..


- Have a moment for a consultation on the side, Indonesian police? You may believe you did the right thing by storming a prison on the resort island of Bali on Wednesday to regain control after inmates burned offices and seized weapons in a riot, but what did you really accomplish? Prison riots are great for one very simple reason: If guards and prison officials can get out of the way, the situation boils down to convicted criminals maiming, burning and killing one another and destroying the place they will have to live in for the next 10 years to life. Bearing that in mind, why bother to put officers’ lives on the line by bum-rushing the prison just because some convicted felons go riotous with it and shot two of their fellow prisoners? That’s exactly what happened at Kerobokan jail, where two prisoners were shot and wounded before police intervened. The prison holds 1,200 inmates and is about six miles north of Kuta beach, one of the biggest holiday destinations on an island that attracts tourists from around the world. With 60 foreign prisoners at the jail, one might assume they would be targets in the riot, but Indonesian police insist none of the foreigners were among the casualties. Among those outsiders are 12 Australian prisoners, including convicted drug traffickers Schapelle Corby and the so-called Bali Nine. The riot broke out late on Tuesday when inmates attacked a guard post near the entrance, forcing officers to flee. Police responded to the scene and shot two inmates in the legs when an angry mob wielding sticks and throwing bricks charged at them. Fifteen minutes of gunfire echoed from inside the prison at around 7 a.m. Saturday, although police insisted those sounds were merely warning shots. Even after police claimed to have regained control, several inmates could still be seen at a guard tower in a different part of the prison, shouting to anyone who would listen. Long live Kerobokan's inmates," the prisoners shouted. The response from national police spokesman Saud Usman Nasution wasn’t exactly impressive. "We are trying to make the inmates go back into their blocks," Nasution said. To quell the riot, authorities shut down electricity to reduce movement inside the prison and sealed off surrounding streets Water cannons, police trucks and Red Cross vehicles rolled onto the scene as the riot dragged on. Of course, police would have been much smarter just to get out of the way and allow the prisoners to burn themselves out…………


- To the cynic, T-Mobile might come across as a tad bitter. Following its failed merger with AT&T, T-Mobile is actively seeking to ruin another tech titan’s day by filing a request urging the federal government to block Verizon from its planned purchase of spectrum from cable companies. The request seeks to stop a proposed spectrum deal with Verizon involving Comcast, Time Warner, Bright House Networks and Cox Communications. T-Mobile argued in its filing that Verizon’s acquisition with cable companies would place an “excessive concentration” of wireless spectrum in Verizon’s hands. Whether the Federal Communications Commission agrees with the nation’s No. 4 cellphone carrier remains to be seen, but the situation underscores just how a) bent T-Mobile is over the FCC shutting down its planned merger and b) intense the battle for spectrum is. Wireless carriers want to build and expand their networks and there is only so much bandwidth to go around. Back in December Verizon reached an agreement to buy wireless spectrum from the cable companies for $3.6 billion and also struck a separate agreement that would allow the cable companies to market Verizon services, and vice versa. Several federal legislators raised concerns about the deal and noted that Verizon and Comcast, in particular, were working as though they were partners. “These joint-marketing agreements will turn these rival companies into partners, rather than competitors,” Sen. Al Franken, (D-Minn.) wrote in a letter to the F.C.C. earlier this month. “I fear this will ultimately mean less competition, less choice, and higher prices for consumers.” Verizon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on T-Mobile’s attempted techno-c*ck block………


- Want your holy blessing but don’t have the time to actually attend church? The Mount Healthy United Methodist Church in Mount Healthy, Ohio has the solution for your quandary. The church is offering ashes on the go for Ash Wednesday, inviting Methodists who need a blessing on the go to come on down to the 7600 block of Perry Street to be blessed and have their forehead marked with ashes without having to exit their car. "A couple of churches in the United States have tried it before and there was some pushback because people said, 'You need to come to a sanctuary and do this,' but I'm not really sure that's what Jesus would have said," said Rev. Patricia Cook. The idea may be fresh in Mount Holy, but Cook said she hadn't received any complaints or negative comments yet. While it is a new idea, one can’t help but think that maybe Mount Healthy United Methodist Church is a step behind the times, along with every other church that has not made the next logical step in the quick blessing business. How about an “Ash App” that allows a person to be blessed digitally and not have to go to church at all? Sure, you could drive through the church parking lot between 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday or the old-fashioned way by attending service at 7 p.m. You could also download an app if one existed, get blessed in between tweets and be on with your day. Done and done…………


- Life after basketball hasn’t been über-successful for future Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq retired from the NBA last offseason and moved on to the logical next step in his career as a co-host for TNT’s NBA studio show. He hasn’t exactly raised the level of quality on the show and most who comment on such things point to Shaq’s oft-indecipherable, low-pitched remarks as a drag on the show as opposed to a positive addition. Attempting to bounce off a mini-trampoline in the studio and dunk on a 10-foot basket during a recent broadcast didn’t help matters as Shaq got no elevation from the trampoline and ended up flat on the ground. But could redemption be on the horizon for the big fella? Not unless arguing through the media about whether you’re going to compete at WrestleMania 28 qualifies as redemption, it’s not. Depending on whom you believe, O’Neal will or won’t be competing at the signature event for World Wrestling Entertainment on April 1. O’Neal claimed during an appearance at the Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards, that he would be competing at WrestleMania 28 on April 1 in Miami. “Yes I’ll be there!” he exclaimed when asked on if he would be wrestling at the event. In a world where Twitter carries the news to every corner of the globe instantaneously without time for pesky details like confirming facts, speculation immediately began as to what ‘roided-up wrassler WWE would pit against Shaq. The logical choice was the ‘World’s Biggest Athlete,’ Big Show. With alleged measurements of 7’0 and 441 pounds, Big Show would be a sizeable foe for O’Neal…..if the match is actually going to happen. When asked about O’Neal’s claim, WWE officials insisted he is currently not scheduled to wrestle or appear at WrestleMania 28. That could merely be posturing and building hype for the match and using semantics to WWE’s advantage if a deal is imminent but not official, but it could also be O’Neal opening his mouth without thinking….again……….

Bitter former athletes, Riot Watch! in Turkey and pointless gluten-free diets

- Bitter former athletes who can’t let go are one of sports’ most-loathed, yet plentiful commodities. Whether it’s the high school baller who is now in his 40s but can still recount every crucial moment of that big game when the coach benched him and cost the entire team a championship or the curmudgeon-y former pro who rants against today’s athletes and how they’re not like athletes in his day, no one likes this guy. Unfortunately for former North Carolina State basketball players Tom Gugliotta and Chris Corchiani, that is the guy both of them seem to be. They attended Saturday’s matchup in Raleigh between the Wolfpack and No. 20 Florida State, a game the Wolfpack lost 76-62 and saw current N.C. State player C.J. Leslie admit after the game that his team wasn't mentally there against the Seminoles. But the story everyone wanted to talk about after the game was not a third straight win for Florida State to stay atop the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. No, what everyone wanted to talk about was the bizarre mid-game ejections of two of the school's best players from the 1980s and `90 by referee Karl Hess. Hess evicted Gugliotta and Corchianai with just over six minutes left in the game, stopping the game to kick them out of their seating area behind the scorer's table. Making the moment that much better, both former players’ jerseys hang in the RBC Center's rafters. Hess wanted no part of explaining the ejections when approached by a reporter after the game, but through the magic of Twitter the world was able to hear Corchiani’s point of view not long after the contest ended. Corchiani tweeted that Hess "didn't like fact Googs (and) I told him he was having a bad day, inconsistent, (and) telling the truth." N.C. State head coach Mark Gottfried said he didn’t know what went on and didn’t seem especially concerned that two obnoxious former players were getting all of the attention instead of his underachieving team. "I don't have any idea what happened there," Gottfried said. Telling Gugliotta and Corchiani to dial it down a notch probably wouldn’t help, as cantankerous former athletes who can't accept the fact that they’re no longer an active part of the game rarely listen to sound advice………….


- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Way to step it up, China's Muslim Uighur minority. With China's leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping in Ankara on Tuesday to begin talks with Turkish officials on regional issues, the Uighurs seized upon the occasion to protest outside the hotel where Xi was staying in the Turkish capital and burn Chinese flags in an inspiring display. The uprising was small, but 60 Turkic-speaking Uighurs from China's northwestern Xinjiang province still made their voice heard as Xi completed the last leg of a trip that also took him to the United States and Ireland. Xi, a near-lock to succeed Hu Jintao as Chinese president in just over a year, actually entered the scene saying nice things about Turkey's growing role in trying to resolve issues such as the Iranian nuclear dispute and Middle East conflicts. Coming off a warm reception in the United States, he landed in Turkey to the sight of angry demonstrations by Uighur activists. Feverishly waving the pale blue flag of East Turkestan, adorned by a white star and crescent, the protesters torched a Chinese flag and a poster of Xi before police overreacted and descended on the scene to stop the demonstrations. Why are the Uighurs so angry? They maintain that China committed a litany of human rights abuses during a crackdown after Uighur riots in 2009. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan described the events as a "genocide" at the time but doesn’t seem quite as upset these days. As to the question of why a Chinese minority was protesting in Turkey, the country is home to thousands of Uighurs who have fled Xinjiang since the Chinese Communists took over the region in 1949. Some of those Uighurs were bold enough to speak out as Xi came to town blowing political and economic sunshine up Turkey’s backside. "A member of the G20 with a growing economy and an important country in the Middle East, Turkey has for a long time tried to bring stability and development to the region and played an active role in trying to solve 'hot' issues," Xi said of the country. He met President Abdullah Gul on Tuesday and signed seven bilateral economic agreements before traveling to Istanbul to meet Erdogan, who is recovering from surgery at home there. Sadly, he did not receive the same warm reception there…………


- Gluten-free foods are one of the current dietary crazes for those looking to eat healthier and live longer, but a new study from Italy suggests that not everyone who rips gluten from their diet reaps great benefits. Gluten-free foods are more expensive and study co-author Dr. Roberto Corazza of the University of Pavia believes that money is wasted by many would-be healthy eaters. With the worldwide market for gluten-free products nearing $2.5 billion annually, gluten-free is big business. For those who don’t know much about the need for gluten-free products, gluten is a component of the protein mixture in wheat, rye and barley flour. People with the autoimmune condition celiac disease cannot consume gluten because it triggers the immune system to attack the lining of the small intestine. The lone treatment is a lifetime of gluten-free eating. Left untreated, celiac disease raises the risk of life-threatening conditions such as digestive tract cancers. Only 1 in 133 Americans has celiac disease, according to the Celiac Disease Foundation. The authors of this study believe that many people simply believe they have what has come to be called “nonceliac gluten sensitivity.” Even when celiac disease has been ruled out, these whiners complain of a variety of symptoms after consuming gluten, including bloating, abdominal discomfort, flatulence and headaches. Corazza and Dr. Antonio Di Sabatino wrote in a summation of their research that at this point, “Considerable debate about nonceliac gluten sensitivity has recently surfaced on the Internet, with a sharp increase in forums, patients or patient groups, manufacturers, and physicians advocating a gluten-free diet,” the two write in the Annals of Internal Medicine. “Claims seem to increase daily, with no adequate scientific support to back them up.” As a result, gluten-free diets have become trendy and fashionable even though they offer no substantial benefits to non-celiac sufferers. Maybe stopping these whiners from all their lamenting and complaining because they believe their altered diet is helping should be benefit enough………….


- Cash 4 Gold may have some competition in a state whose lone professional basketball team has gold miner’s tools in its logo. If some Colorado lawmakers have their way, citizens will soon be able to use gold and silver coins as currency. A bill currently before the state senate would legalize gold and silver as currency, mirroring a measure already in place in neighboring Utah. Twelve other states are considering such plans and supporters of the bill point to the relative weakness of the U.S. dollar as a reason to embrace gold and silver. They worry about the growing debt crisis and inflation and believe using gold and silver can relieve some of the economic stress. “Over history just about every country in the world that has had a serious debt crisis has intentionally inflated their currency,” said Sen. Kent Lambert, R-El Paso County. Lambert and other proponents of the bill cite places like Zimbabwe as an example of what the U.S. needs to avoid. Zimbabwe has a $100 trillion bill that is currently worth about 40 cents in the U.S. “Coins that are minted by the U.S. government should be something that we can use in trade,” Lambert said of the bill he’s sponsoring. Following World War I, such coins were banned in currency in the U.S. As the ubiquitous commercials begging people to drop their broken, unwanted jewelry in a FedEx pouch and ship it off to some bogus processing operation that will give them 20 cents on the dollar for their gold remind us all, gold is as valuable as it has been in a long time. However, the only way to use gold and silver coins at present is to convert them into paper money. With gold trading at $1,700 an ounce as of Friday, the idea seems to have some merit. And if it eases the troubled minds of financially struggling Coloradans, so be it. The bill has already cleared the Senate Finance Committee and needs a vote from the full chamber to pass………….


- Now that MTV isn't in the business of airing music videos or anything else music-related and is focused entirely on meathead-centric reality programming, someone may as well step up and fill that void. Ironically, former MTV favorite Diddy, the man of many monikers, wants to be that someone. He plans to launch his own music television channel, which is to be called Revolt. Diddy unveiled plans for the channel Thursday and expressed optimism that the channel will begin broadcasting before the end of the year. He has reportedly pitched Revolt as a music and news television channel "influenced by the nonstop chatter of social networking.” In other words, it’s going to lean heavily on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and all of the nonsense constantly found there. The man whose real name is Sean Combs will partner with Comcast, which is the largest cable television provider in the United States. Diddy’s new channel comes in part due to an agreement with the federal government hat allowed Comcast to take a shareholding stake in NBC Universal in exchange for a pledge to carry several new channels owned by people from ethnic minorities. Aside from a recent handful of interviews and promotional events, Diddy has remained relatively low-key about the project. "We're coming with a new energy, we’re coming with something that people are going to want to tune in to see," he said. Left unsaid was whether Revolt will feature significant air time for its biggest commodity - its owner……………

Keep track of your gun, North Korea and South Korea's latest pissing match and Lindsay Lohan's life calling

- Wireless Internet connections have had more of an effect that most people realize. Just thinking about how few people access the Internet with their laptop or desktop hooked up to a string of CAT-6 cable underscores that point. Intel is among the companies with the most to gain by continuing to improve WiFi and the company’s researchers believe they have found a way to do that by making it both faster and more energy efficient. The increased speed and efficiency come from a new chip called Rosepoint, which is still in the development stage but could be ready for use in smartphones and laptops in the next few years. Rosepoint represents a significant step forward in a process Intel engineers have been working on for years. In the past they have been able to digitize small blocks of radio components, but researchers have finally found a way to place a digital 2.4 GHz WiFi radio on a chip, right next to one of their low-power Atom central processing units (CPUs). Building WiFi chips is extremely challenging because engineers must construct complex, customized circuits that operate on a continuum of voltages. Reducing the size of analog designs to fit the tiny scale that’s possible with today’s cutting-edge chipmaking processes is all but impossible. Digital RF chips change the equation because they are simpler, with just two voltage levels. That allows engineers to more easily shrink them down to fit whatever size is needed. Smaller size and increased simplicity will mean “state of the art power efficiency” and superior signal quality, according to Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner. “With a digital approach to radio, you can bring the benefits of Moore’s law to RF and radio circuits,” Rattner said. Development plans also call for a digital cellular radio chip too, in the “not too distant future,” Rattner vowed. Doing so would place Intel in more direct competition with RF chip companies such as Texas Instruments and Broadcom. Increased competition should mean better products for all, although not necessarily cheaper products………..


- If someone is so in love with their Second Amendment rights that they feel the need to exercise those rights by toting their sidearm around with them, that person tacitly agrees to a few things. One, they concur that they will not whip out their piece as a means of settling disputes in cases of road rage, showdowns over mall parking lot spaces or quarrels over the last pair of size 4 stone-washed skinny jeans at Abercrombie. Secondly, they agree to keep their weapon out of reach for children, wherever they may be. And thirdly…..the gun owner agrees to FREAKING KEEP TRACK OF WHERE THEIR DAMN GUN IS. Of those three points, the third one just might be the most crucial. After all, it’s difficult to ensure that everyone is safe from deliberate or accidental gun violence if you aren’t aware of where you left your 9mm or Glock. That message goes out to an unidentified Tallahassee, Fla. woman who went shopping at the Governor's Square Mall and took her concealed weapon with her. The best part of her story is that while she shopped, she kept it on top of her child's stroller. That’s right, mom is packing heat with a child young enough to still need a stroller. She explained that some time during her shopping trip, she lost her gun. Her theory is that is may have fallen out when she was moving a diaper bag. Diaper bags….gun cases…..whiny kids….who can keep track of it all? Once she realized the gun was missing, this pistol-toting mother contacted mall security. A search for the gun, which was inside a black zippered case, turned up nothing. The woman is offering a reward for the gun’s return, no questions asked. Anyone with information on its whereabouts is asked to call the Tallahassee Police Department…………


- Lindsay Lohan is not good at many things. She can’t act, she can’t sing and she can’t stay sober for more than a few hours at a time. She’s not even that good at activities she seems to do a lot of these days, serving time in prison, appearing in court or completing community service efforts. But she may have finally stumbled across something she can make a career of: taking her clothes off for money. She stripped for the pages of Playboy in December, putting her one step away from her true calling of being a porn star, and the issue was a huge seller for Hugh Hefner’s skin rag. Images from her photo spread leaked online, forcing the issue’s early release. Despite its expedited appearance on the top shelf of gas station magazine racks around the United States, the issue sold exceptionally well and retailers across the country were forced to re-order the issue several times over. Furthermore, subscriptions increased in the aftermath of Lohan’s appearance on the pages of Playboy and sales were so impressive that Hefner tweeted that the “The Lindsay Lohan January-February Double Issue is breaking sales records.” He celebrated the issue’s success again last week at the pre-Grammy Music Cares dinner honoring Paul McCartney and suggested Lohan may “quite possibly” do another shoot. That’s right, another chance to take her clothes off for millions of strangers. Lohan said through a spokesperson that nothing is planned at the moment, but it’s not as if she has a ton of great options open to her. She has to find something to bide her time until Vivid comes calling for her to begin her adult film career…………


- Again, North and South Korea? You two are duking it out on the Korean peninsula again and threatening to use destructive force on each other? Do we even want to ask why? Just for the heck of it, let’s play this one out. South Korea planned an artillery drill Monday near a disputed maritime border and because of the region’s contentious status, the North warned that it would retaliate by shelling inhabited islands in the Yellow Sea if the South went ahead with its plan. The South did exactly that, with officials in Seoul explaining that the morning exercise was routine and included the firing of self-propelled howitzers and mortars. A small number of attack helicopters also joined the exercise on the western frontier islands, but a spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff says no shots were fired towards the Northern Limit Line, which is the disputed maritime border. Now it remains to be seen whether Pyongyang follows through on its threat to shell the aforementioned island. On Sunday, the North warned inhabitants of the five islands to evacuate to avoid its possible retaliatory shelling.
In fact, a message carried by state radio and the official news agency just hours before the South Korean exercise commenced termed the drill “a clear declaration of war” against the North. Unless the North is a nonexistent, fictional target in the middle of the sea and looks a lot like a massive body of water, that doesn’t seem accurate. In the message, the North Korean announcer cautioned that if South Korea fired recklessly, then it “will not escape punishment thousands-fold more severe than the shelling of Yeonpyeong island.”
Pyongyang made good on a similar threat on Nov. 23, 2010, when it responded to a South Korean military exercise by bombarding one of the same islands it is now threatening, killing four people.
To further agitate the North, South Korea and the United States this week are also holding an anti-submarine drill in the Yellow Sea and beginning next Monday, they are to commence the first of two annual large-scale war games involving thousands of soldiers from both of their militaries.
Will any of this be enough to provoke the North to action and officially kick off World War III? Probably not, but when newly minted dictator Kim Jong-Un is involved, there’s always a chance……….


- U.S.A.! U.S.A.! All together now! At long last, America has achieved dominance in a sport that has long left us looking more like Doug E. Doug and his crew in the iconic John Candy movie “Cool Runnings” than the home of the world’s best and brightest athletes. The two-man bobsled race has defeated one hopeful American sledding team after another, but no more. Steven Holcomb, the top driver on the U.S. bobsled team, broke a 50-year gold-medal drought for America in four-man competition at the Bobsled World Championships on Sunday. Two years ago, he won the first four-man Olympic gold for his country since 1948, on Sunday he brought back the title in an event the U.S. had never won at the world championships. "That's going to take a little while to sink in," Holcomb said. "My world championship medal it had been 50 years. My (Olympic) gold medal was 62 years. And now this -- never, ever. This is no years. It's going to take a little bit to sink in." Holcomb won by blowing right by first-day leader Lyndon Rush of Canada with a near-flawless third run. He and brakeman Steve Langton had a four-run time over two days of 3 minutes, 42.88 seconds, putting them 0.46 seconds ahead of Rush and brakeman Jesse Lumsden. Lumsden was fired up as well after the amazing feat to revive American pride in a sport no one cares about outside a two-day span every four years ago when the Winter Olympics roll around. "This is fantastic," Langton said. "This is my fifth year in the sport and I've had some good results, but to come out here and win my first big championship is pretty amazing. It's really indescribable." The triumph came over traditional bobsledding powers like Germany (third) and Switzerland (fourth). "I'm at a loss for words," said Darrin Steele, chief executive officer of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. "It's been a long time for us. Holcomb's becoming a legend in his own right, and all these teams. It's just been an amazing race." Prior to Sunday, the U.S. had never placed higher than second in the two-man race at the world championships. Best of all, Holcomb knew he was about to do something great on the first day of the event. : "Got it figured out. Time to make my move," he tweeted between runs on the first day. With a final run of 55.63, he proved his premonition true. Now if only the Winter Games weren’t two years away. Back to the shallow end of the American sports pool, bobsledding…………