Saturday, April 21, 2012

Everest experiments, Jets lies and rap conspiracy theories

- New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is either really dumb or just a bad liar, but expecting anyone to believe that he really likes having cult favorite backup quarterback Tim Tebow as a teammate is patently absurd. The Jets acquired Tebow earlier this offseason theoretically to back up Sanchez, play in a “Wildcat” role and get about 20 snaps a game. Every one of Tebow’s former teammates who has spoken about his move to New York has said otherwise and multiple reports have indicated that Tebow wanted to be traded to the Jets because he believes he can beat out Sanchez for the starting job. Still, Sanchez is trying to pretend that all is copasetic and during a paid appearance Thursday night at Westchester Mall in White Plains, he praised Tebow’s effort in the team's offseason conditioning sessions. "He's been as advertised, as good of a guy, if not better, than anybody said," Sanchez said of Tebow. "So, he's been a great addition so far. I'm thrilled to work with him." Of course, “working” together so far has meant working out in the weight room, where the insanely ripped Tebow is undoubtedly putting up massive amounts of weight and making Sanchez look bad. There is nothing more insulting or annoying than lifting with a guy who’s so much stronger than you that you have to take 100 pounds off the bar every time it’s your turn to do a set. In other words, not only is Sanchez lying, but he’s disingenuous as well. Oh, and he knows how to dish out a backhanded compliment as well. "From a competitor standpoint, he's great," Sanchez said. "He's what you want in an offseason program -- working hard, competing with the guy in the weight room. This is a big, strong guy, so it's good for me. Wow. Complimenting a guy by saying he’s “what you want in an offseason program” is in essence saying, “He works out hard, he tries hard, but he’s not that good of a player once you get on the field.” Should be an interesting year ahead for Gang Green………


- Cairo's Tahrir Square had a throwback feel Friday. A massive protest gripped the square much like last Arab Spring, when crowds came en masse to demand the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. This time, the protests were ahead of parliamentary elections and tens of thousands of Egyptians from across the political spectrum turned out at the iconic plaza in unified opposition to remnants of Hosni Mubarak's regime. Various rival factions put their differences aside to come together against military rule and the sight of the Muslim Brotherhood join hands o voice discontent with an electoral process that has disqualified several candidates, including the leader of the Islamist group. Their anger was directed at the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission, which said this week that it endorsed a previous decision to exclude 10 of 23 candidates from voting scheduled for May 23 and 24 due to "legal irregularities." Alaa Ayad, a campaign spokesman for barred Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat el-Shater, called the disqualification a "political decision" and said the party's lawyer will appeal it. "This decision may cause tension on the streets," Ayad said. Some of the bans were truly absurd, like ultra-conservative Hazem Abu Ismael being prohibited from running due to information that his mother holds a U.S. passport, which is against the rules of candidacy. Those barred from the election were part of a diverse group that also included Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's former spy chief, who entered the race at the last minute and failed to gather enough signatures required to be on the ballot. Suleiman's candidacy had been singled out as a move that could galvanize rival political parties to unite against the remaining vestiges of Mubarak’s regime. Either way, next month’s polling will be the nation's first presidential election since Mubarak's ouster in February 2011. The Muslim Brotherhood got the election season off to a strong start by winning nearly half the seats in the first parliamentary elections in November. The elections, regardless of their outcome, will hopefully mark the end of the military control that has existed since Mubarak fell. If the military makes good on its promise to yield power to a civilian government, that is……….


- Was that bad? West Virginia U.S. Senate candidate John Raese does not seem to be asking that question after video of his speech during an April 12 campaign appearance was posted on YouTube and allowed the world to hear him liken his home county’s indoor smoking ban to the tactics of the worst human being in history, Adolf Hitler. In Raese’s mind, requiring stickers on buildings declaring them smoke-free is like how “Hitler used to put a Star of David on everybody’s lapel.” That’s right, this numb nuts likened a genocidal madman wiping out 6 million people and forcing those targeted people to wear a mark essentially condemning them to death to a county marking its buildings as places where addicts to a product that kills millions of people worldwide each year cannot choke down their cancer sticks. Well played, moron. It’s difficult to imagine why the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a n international Jewish human rights group, condemned the remarks. How are anti-smoking laws not exactly like the yellow star that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust? For some reason, the Wisenthal Center believes the remark shows ignorance of the horrors inflicted by the Nazis and demonstrates callousness to the millions of Jews they murdered. However, don’t expect Raese to back down – not until he’s publicly excoriated and ridiculed for a few days, then sees his poll numbers plummet like the interest level any time Mitt Romney speaks to a group for more than one minute. Raese defended his statement as “reciting history,” clearly ignoring factors like accuracy, context and appropriate use of historical facts………..


- Where was the volunteer sign-up sheet for this mission?  A team of U.S. scientists embarked Friday on a mission to conduct research on Mount Everest climbers in an attempt to widen their knowledge of the cardiovascular system at extreme altitudes. They hope to use their findings to improve treatment for heart and lung patients and Mayo Clinic cardiovascular diseases consultant Bruce Johnson and his team plan to study a U.S. team that plans to replicate the first 1963 ascent of the mountain by an American group. The 1963 mission featured five Americans summiting the peak, two trekking along the difficult, unknown West Ridge route and the rest traversing the traditional Southeast Ridge route used by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in their pioneering 1953 ascent. In the past six decades, nearly 3,700 people have climbed Mount Everest, the world's highest peak at 29,035 feet, including 15-year-old Jordan Romero, the youngest person ever to summit the tallest peak on all seven continents. "We are interested in lung physiology in high altitude, which is similar to the lung physiology in heart failure patients," Johnson explained. The climbing team arrived at the mountain ahead of the researchers to adjust to the climate and atmosphere. Once Johnson and his crew arrive, each of the nine climbers will be fitted with equipment including a special wrist watch and an arm band that will allow their body to be monitored at a base camp laboratory. With the watch, the researchers will be able to measure the blood oxygen level and with the special armband, they will be able to record energy expenditure and how many calories climbers burn. Adding to their cache of gear, climbers will also be wearing the "Mayo platform," an instrument devised by the clinic that fits in a tiny pocket and measures their cardiovascular activity. Oh, and there are video games too – seriously. Climbers will play specially developed video games to test their cognitive performance, specifically their ability to think at high altitude, where oxygen levels are low. Back at the base camp, Johnson’s team will work out of a dome-shaped tent. Many medical studies have been done at Everest in the past, but Johnson hopes this effort will specifically benefit the work done at the Mayo Clinic. "The study is also very closely associated with the work we do back home with heart patients and patients with lung diseases," he said. Onward and upward, science…………


- The whole Tupac hologram at the Coachella festival may have been unnecessary. According to rap mogul, Tupac friend and conspiracy theory lover Suge Knight, perhaps. During a radio appearance Friday in Los Angeles, Knight espoused a theory that Tupac really faked his death and that the reason why no murderer has ever been caught is because there never was a murder. "Maybe the question is ... Pac's not really dead ... Pac's somewhere else," Knight postulated, adding that no one ever saw the body. He was asked about the topic because he was supposedly with Tupac that night in Las Vegas. Further compounding the mystery in his mind, Knight said that he paid the man who supposedly cremated the body $3 million. “...And next thing I know I never heard from the guy or seen him again ... he retired and left.” For those completely ignorant of hip-hop history, Tupac was killed in a drive-by shooting and Knight was in the car at the time. He was subsequently suspected of having something to do with the shooting, but has denied any connection. Knight is far from the only kook still buying into a Tupac conspiracy theory and there will continue to be plenty of like-minded kooks as long as the mystery of Tupac’s killer continues. If Tupac is alive, then a lot of money was wasted on the hologram of Tupac that debuted at Coachella Sunday. Staged by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, the hologram “performed” at the festival and could be headed out on tour as well. How great would it be if the real Tupac, still alive, showed up to perform with his holographic twin…………

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