- The last supposed sighting of the Almighty in a random public place is much too far in the rearview mirror, so props go out to an unidentified trailer park dweller in Clermont, Fla. for stepping up to fill the void. Unlike kooks who have seen Jesus in a slice of toast or the Virgin Mary in a pile of grass clippings, this woman claims she spotted Jesus in something with a bit more voltage – literally. The woman, who lives in a mobile home at the Torchlite RV Park at 10201 U.S. Highway 27, told a local television station she first spotted the likeness on Sunday. She attributed it to an early Easter miracle with the holy holiday just a couple weeks away. "I came out on the patio and I was praying and I just looked over back towards the woods and I seen this here," the woman said. "And it was like a comfort to me." Her idiocy quickly spread to her fellow trailer park dwellers, who began snapping cell phone pictures of the supposed supernatural sighting. "I have heard that he does appear in many places at many times," the woman said. "Maybe it's a sign of his soon-coming, or maybe it will help lift other people up." Or maybe it will serve at the latest example that folks dwelling in trailer parks a) have too much time on their hands or b) do too much meth. Either way, it is reassuring to know that there are still people at various socioeconomic levels are delusional and mentally suggestible enough to believe they see a religious figure in a completely random public location……….
- UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships for the non-combat sport-savvy) is growing bigger by leaps and bounds. It is quickly ripping market share from boxing on account of the one fight in boxing that anyone wants to see (Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao) is never going to happen (and other factors), but perhaps nothing illustrates UFC’s (and mixed-martial arts’) growth quite like the hype building around the highly anticipated rematch between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen. On Wednesday, UFC president Dana White revealed the promotion's plans to host a June meeting between the two inside a soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The bout will pit Sonnen against the man he verbally degraded and nearly beat in August 2010 before Silva locked in a choke hold in the final two minutes of the fight to retain his belt. Since then, Sonnen has served a suspension for a positive drug test and continued running his mouth. He’s also fought well enough to earn another title shot and while UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta said a deal hasn't been finalized for the event, it could be pending. "It's not locked down 100 percent," Fertitta said. "But close." Estadio Olimpico Joao Havelange, also known as Engenhao, has been mentioned as a possible site for the bout, which White believes could draw as many as 80,000 based on Silva’s Brazilian heritage and the skyrocketing popularity of the sport in the country. "This thing's going to be in a soccer stadium in Rio," White said. "Over 80,000 people are going to be at this event." That number would break the company's attendance records last set at UFC 129 in April 2011, when a crowd of 55,724 packed the Rogers Centre in Toronto and pulled a live gate of $12.075 million. It just might be time for UFC haters to hop on board the bandwagon…………
- The Peacock actually does find shows that work every now and then. Sure, NBC green lights shows that bomb out after only three episodes (“Playboy Club,” anyone?) and axes its best shows after shuffling them to various nights of the week and making them all but impossible to follow by refusing to air episodes online after they show on TV (“Chuck”), but every now and then the network’s suits stumble across an idea that works and they get to feel smart for a while. Today is one of those days, as the network announced it has picked up its musical drama series “Smash” for a second season. Marketed as the grown-up version of “Glee,” the show stars Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston and Katharine McPhee as players in the unforgiving world of Broadway theater. The hourlong drama blends backstage procedural goings-on and song-and-dance numbers and debuted on NBC last month after the Super Bowl. While it hasn’t been a ratings darling so far, it has earned a fair amount of critical praise and has built a loyal fan base, averaging 7.7 million viewers. As one of NBC’s returning shows next season, it will have to contend with the network’s sure-to-suck slate of new shows being its supporting cast and find a way to convince viewers to stay up on the show while not watching any of its other shows because they are complete and total garbage. But hey, “Smash” should be just fine because McPhee is beautiful and people love singing and dancing shows……….
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Mali is the place and this particular uprising is unusual because the dissident shoe is on the other hell-raising foot. Instead of the oppressed masses rising up against their overbearing government or rights-trampling military, it is the country’s military that is rising up. First, angry troops started a mutiny at a military base near the presidential palace. Soon after, soldiers stormed state TV and radio stations and forced those stations off the air. A few hours later, soldiers reported that young recruits had started rioting at a military base located outside the strategic northern town of Gao. Gunshots echoed in the capital, Bamako, and fearful citizens mostly stayed off the streets. Gao saw much of the day’s violence, as a military student on the base reported the mutiny beginning around sundown when recruits began shouting and shooting into the air. They captured a half-dozen officers and kept them sequestered while other members of the uprising went house to house looking for the commander of the camp, who was MIA at the time of the uprising. While the specific aims of the revolt have not yet been spelled out, the day was nonetheless full of inspiration and rage that will hopefully spark a new wave of dissidence across Africa and beyond, everywhere disenfranchised people aren’t happy with how the sh*t is going down in their life…………
- Waaaaaaait a second. Science wants us to believe that noise from traffic, oil drilling, Navy sonar and other technology can make nearby animals scatter or change their behavior? No freaking way. The smart people in lab coats point to new research into the question of how noise affects natural communities and results indicating that noise has the potential to trigger cascading effects that could alter the structure of these communities, known as ecosystems. As the theory goes, a change in one animal’s behavior tends to affect an entire group and that ripple effect can spread on a large scale. For this study, researchers looked at pollination and seedling establishment of plants growing near natural gas wells in Rattlesnake Canyon Habitat Management Area in northwestern New Mexico (a notorious party haven). Because of compressors running nonstop at the wells creating a droning sound, scientists wondered how the noise affected species in the area, specifically hummingbirds. At study sites, they compared the noise with the sound of a lower-pitched vacuum cleaner several feet away, said lead researcher Clinton Francis, postdoctoral fellow at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina. When compared with other sites farther away, where there were no compressors and noise was much more infrequent, the researchers found noticeable effects. While man-made noise does not negatively impact all animals, creatures that play important ecosystem roles, such as pollinating plants, dispersing seeds or preying on other species showed significant effects from the noise. First, the research team put out artificial flowers resembling a common flower, the scarlet gilia, which by black-chinned hummingbirds pollinate at noisy and noise-free sites. They discovered that hummingbird visits were five times more common at the noisy sites, and more pollen was also transferred among fake flowers at the noisy sites. The findings confirmed results of previous studies showing that hummingbirds actually prefer noisy sites. Ornithologists believe this is because some of their main predators actually flee human noise. The news was not so positive for one of the dominant trees in the ecosystem, piñon pines. In the study, seedlings at quiet sites were four times more abundant than at noisy ones, a difference researchers attributed to differences in the animals picking up the seeds. Because environmental changes tend to take place gradually, Francis worries they may be overlooked. "The problem is that the full effects of noise exposure may not be felt by the ecosystem for many decades, perhaps even long after gas wells are gone," he said. To form your own opinion, peruse the copy of the March 21 issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B in your magazine rack and decide for yourself………
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