- While it is sad that so many people bought into the hoax of the delivery of tacos via unmanned drone helicopters that accepted orders from a smartphone app, there is also a sad truth to the matter. After a story broke late last week about Tacocopter, a supposed Silicon Valley start-up, the world took notice. Media outlets around the world began running with the idea of remote-controlled, unmanned drones delivering hard- or soft-shell, meat-filled deliciousness to smartphone users at their whim. Tacocopter's Facebook page accumulated 45,000 likes and the concept took off on Twitter and with a few famous faces. "I hope THESE are the robots that take over the earth," said comedian Aziz Ansari. Granted, the entire story was a hoax, but it was fun while it lasted – and a little discourgaging. After all, what other country in the world is going to get that fired up about the potential for having a second-rate knockoff of authentic Mexican food delivered via smartphone app and unmanned drone? The United States is the world’s FAT-test nation for a reason and the enthusiasm for Tacocopter is an excellent example of why, even if the entire story was a publicity stunt by the company’s founder to supposedly shine a spotlight on federal regulations that are keeping the Tacocopter from being a reality. According to Tacocopter founder and MIT graduate Star Simpson, sparking a debate over the Federal Aviation Administration regulations that currently prevent the use of unmanned aircraft for commercial services is the real issue. "Honestly I think it's not totally unreasonable to regulate something as potentially dangerous as having flying robots slinging tacos over people's heads," Simpson said. Sadly for America, this dream looks like it will have to wait a while longer…………
- News flash: members of Guns N' Roses hate each other. That’s right, a band so dysfunctional that it took them 10 years to release “Chinese Democracy” and saw the project end up as Axl Rose and whoever he could convince to work with him at the time has internal issues. Normally the topic wouldn’t come up because who gives a damn about a broken-up band with personal problems? However, when that band is set to be inducted into one of the biggest punchlines in all of music, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, suddenly there is news to report. Thus far, most of the drama has centered on whether or not the original GNR lineup would all be at the induction ceremony and if they would perform together at the event. The answer to the first question, at least so far, is yes. All of the original GNR members have said they will attend, although that is obviously subject to change. However, there is no chance in hell of a live performance with Axl, Slash, Duff McKagan and the fellas. That hasn’t stopped media members and fans from asking the same question over and over and at least one member of the band is tired of hearing it. Slash, GNR’s former guitarist, has finally spoken about his relationship with Rose and didn’t exactly break new ground by speculating that the egotistical frontman "hates his guts.” Slash said he would personally "love to f**king play" at the induction ceremony in Cleveland on April 14, but knows it will never happen. "This is a subject I'm dead sick of talking about. Everyone has been asking me what's going to happen, and they know as much as I do. I feel you're totally obligated to be present and I would love to f**king play, but it's just something that's not going to happen for whatever reason," he said. Speaking about Rose, Slash conceded that even he doesn’t know all of the reasons they hate each other and said he does speak with McKagan, the group’s former bassist, and drummer Steven Adler. Now a solo artist, Slash will his second solo album 'Apocalyptic Love' on May 21…………
- Russia is thinking big these days. Communism is entrenched, Vladimir Putin has rigged another election in his favor and will return to power soon enough. With those entries on their to-do list checked off, the focus is now on the construction of a tower that is to be Europe's tallest skyscraper. The ongoing work on he Federation Tower is representative of an explosive construction boom in Moscow in the past decade and the structure is part of the sprawling City Center complex, which is to eventually include 12 towers where at least 250,000 people would live, work, shop and enjoy entertainment options. Critics have decried the safety of the project as well as a lack of infrastructure, public transport connections and parking space in the area around the project. Those critics had their argument bolstered Monday night when a massive fire broke out among construction materials on the 65th floor of the tower, lighting up the Moscow skyline for the entire city to see. While the fire doesn’t spell doom for the vast complex of glass-and-steel towers at the core of the Kremlin’s plans to transform Moscow into a world class financial center, it does revive questions about the project and about its cost weighed against the benefits it will provide. Shifting the world’s view of the city from Soviet-era relic to modern municipality is obviously important, but at what cost? If and when it is completed, the Federation Tower will be Europe's tallest building at 93 floors and 1,180 feet. The project is scheduled for completion in 2013 and project officials characterized the fire as simply an unfortunate accident even though tens of thousands of Muscovites watched the drama unfold from virtually all over the city. Another frequent criticism of the project independent of the fire is Russia's culture of corruption and lax regulation that skeptics believe leads to bizarre, avoidable disasters like plane crashes, boat sinkings coal mine disasters. "Look, we have this human factor in Russia, and we have slovenliness," says Mikhail Delyagin, director of the independent Institute for Globalization Studies in Moscow. "In the past few days we've had several high-profile accidents, and not just the tower fire." There may be merit to that line of thinking, as the tower fire was followed by a fire that swept through a crowded Moscow market on Tuesday, killing at least 17 people, mostly migrant workers living in illegal conditions. Needless to say, Moscow is on fire right now…………
- The news is worse than expected, America. You’re already part of the FAT-test nation in the world and yet, reality could be even scarier than previously believed. For years, doctors and health officials have relied for decades on body mass index (BMI), a ratio of height to weight, to determine who is overweight and who is obese. Now, a new study has thrown those numbers into question. According to lead author Eric Braverman, M.D., president of the New York City-based Path Foundation, the use of BMI may be leading us to underestimate the already disturbingly high obesity rate. Braverman went so far as to paint BMI as an overly simplistic measure that often misrepresents physical fitness and overall health. In fact, nearly 4 in 10 adults whose BMI places them in the overweight category would be considered obese if their body fat percentage were taken into account, according to the study. "Some people call it the baloney mass index,” Braverman said. A 55-year-old woman who looks great in a dress could have very little muscle and mostly body fat, and a whole lot of health risks because of that -- but still have a normal BMI." The study has some official muscle behind it as New York State Commissioner of Health Nirav Shah, M.D., was Braverman’s co-author and together they argued in their findings that the BMI threshold for obesity, which now stands at 30, should be lowered to 24 for women and 28 for men. With those revised standards, a 5-foot 6-inch woman and a 5-foot 11-inch man would be considered obese at about 150 and 200 pounds, respectively. Study participants were patients at a specialized private health clinic in Manhattan and although they are a small sample that does not perfectly reflect the population as a whole, the results were enough to convince the study’s authors to advocate major revisions to BMI guidelines. Roughly 1,400 men and women took part and of that number, 39 percent of patients who were merely overweight by BMI standards fell into the obese category. "People aren't being diagnosed [as obese], so they're not being told about their risk of disease or being given instruction on how to improve their health," Braverman said. Based on the study, the results of which are in the latest issue of the journal PLoS One, some experts are already admitting that the time to rethink BMI and how it is evaluated may have arrived………….
- Despite Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck being the presumed No. 1 pick in this month’s NFL Draft, rumors have begun to swirl that the Indianapolis Colts might consider flip-flopping and taking Baylor signal caller Robert Griffin III with the top choice. Odds are that those rumors are nothing more than the usual misdirection teams like to run in the weeks leading up to the draft in order to throw everyone off the scent and see if there is a way to bilk potential trade value from the pick. But if the Colts are serious about drafting Griffin with the No. 1, he is equally serious about not wanting to be the one to follow Peyton Manning as the quarterback in Indianapolis. With Luck in Indianapolis for a private workout, Griffin apparently made it clear to the Colts that he had no interest in his own private workout for them. Colts owner Jim Irsay, who never stops tweeting about anything that pops into his mind, announced on his Twitter feed that Griffin has declined an invitation to work out for the team. Irsay went on the place the blame for the decision entirely on Griffin’s agent, Ben Dogra. Like any agent, Dogra does have some influence in the decision, but the reality is that if Griffin wanted to work out for the Colts, Griffin would be working out for the Colts. Instead, it seems he prefers to play for the Washington Redskins, who traded up for the second pick in the draft. There is also the possibility that Griffin is convinced that Luck will be the Colts’ pick regardless of what Griffin would do at a personal workout and doesn’t want to waste Griffin’s time flying to Indianapolis for nothing. Of course, the rookie wage scale implemented as part of the league’s new labor agreement prior to last season mitigates the financial edge the top pick would have over everyone else, so Griffin isn’t surrendering a lot of cash with his mini-power play. Still, it’s an odd choice on his part……….
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