- Those who wanted to see someone topple the box office
juggernaut that has been “The Avengers” through its first three weeks of
release and don’t care which contender defeats it, you all can celebrate. Those
who would prefer than a bloated, wretchedly excessive and completely
indefensible third installment of a movie franchise that wasn’t very good to
begin with not be the conquering hero…….sucks for you. “MIB 3” was the movie
that defeat the superhero six-pack, debuting with $55 million to best “Avengers.”
Don’t feel too bad for “Avengers,” though; it was second with $37 million and
has made $513.7 million in cumulative domestic earnings thus far. The sinking
disaster that is “Battleship” fell 58 percent and finished third in its second
weekend, making a mere $10.8 million to put its two-week tally at $44.3 million
against a $209 million budget. Sacha Baron Cohen’s “The Dictator” landed in fourth
with $9.6 million and has raked in $42 million in domestic earnings so far. The
holiday weekend was not a good launch point for the horror film “Chernobyl
Diaries,” which opened with a lackluster $8 million effort. “Dark Shadows”
wasn’t far behind in sixth place, making $7.5 million to elevate its three-week
haul to $63 million. Continuing on the topic of underperforming movies, “What
to Expect When You're Expecting” was seventh with $7.2 million and has earned
just $22.1 million so far. “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” had more success in
limited release, adding 879 theaters and using that added exposure to make $6.4
million for an eighth-place finish. In four weeks of limited release, the movie
has earned $16.5 million. “The Hunger Games” slid to ninth, its lowest finish
yet, with $2.7 million and has made $395.2 million in 10 weeks of release. The
insufferably bad “Think Like a Man” rounded out the top 10 with a meager take
of $1.4 million, while “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” (No. 11) and “The Lucky
One” (No. 13) dropped out from last week’s top 10………
- Humans need lights to see where they’re going, especially
in places like the road they drive down to get home or work. Without lights,
visibility becomes a bit of an issue. But do any of us stop to think about the
impact streetlights have on the ecology of ground-dwelling invertebrates
and insects? The topic usually falls somewhere in between women’s soccer and
the socioeconomic hierarchy of villagers in rural Africa on the ol’ thought
scale, but a research team led by Dr. Thomas Davies of the University of Exeter
chose to stop ignoring the issue and dug in to see what they could learn.
Davies and his colleagues set 28 traps in Helston in Cornwall, England and
trapped nearly 1,200 of the animals in areas under and between streetlights.
Not surprisingly, they found that invertebrate predators and scavengers were
more common near the lights, even during the day. While recent studies have
focused on the effects that streetlights can have on local, transient
populations of bugs, no research had been done on the lights’ impact on
invertebrates on the ground. Davies and his team placed some of their traps
under streetlights and others in dark regions midway between them, over a
three-night period. When they compared their catches, they generally found a
higher number of animals were trapped near the lights. However, the relative
proportions of predators and scavengers such as beetles and harvestmen were
significantly different, with a higher proportion being found near the lights -
even during the day. "This study now seems to be indicating that those
transient, nocturnal effects on the behavior of the animals are actually being
translated into the habitat preferences of the animals in the daytime as
well," Davies said. "It's amazing how long we've been using street
lighting and artificial lighting, and how little research has been done on the
impact of those lights on the environment." Why does any of this matter?
According to Davies, his team and their finds that were published in the
journal Biology Letters, the
impact of street lights on invertebrate communities could be important because
such species are vital for a number of ecosystem services such as pollination
and the breakdown of organic matter. As usual, more research is necessary………
- Bobby Valentine has brought plenty of fight to the Boston
Red Sox since taking over as manager this past offseason. Unfortunately for
Valentine and his team, that fight hasn’t translated into wins and the mighty
Red Sox are mired in last place in the American League East, behind perennial
doormats Baltimore and also-ran Toronto. Valentine has been as advertised,
ripping the archrival Yankees at every turn and even turning his bile on his
own team at times. Saturday, his rage was directed at Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon, who criticized Valentine’s coaching
staff for its role in a bench-clearing scrum Friday night in the opener of a
three-game series between the teams. The altercation started in the top of the
ninth inning after Red Sox reliever Franklin Morales drilled Rays batter Luke
Scott. No players were ejected, but the two coaching staffs went at each other
during a typical “all bluster, no actual fighting” baseball fight. A livid
Maddon said after the game he believed there was a "hit" put out on
Scott and called the Red Sox coaching staff "cowardly" and
"weak" for the way it acted. Having his team accused of such
chicanery pissed off Valentine, who returned fire on Saturday. In return, he
blasted Rays coaches for allegedly aggravating the situation and acting
unprofessional, immature and out of control. "I thought their coaches were
really aggressive," Valentine said. "As a matter of fact, I took
offense to the aggressiveness of their coaches. I thought it was very
unprofessional and I really was proud of the way my coaches were trying to do
what they were supposed to do in those situations. [Tampa's coaches] seemed
very immature and out of control." Red Sox coaches noted some
inappropriate things Rays coaches said to Valentine during the no-fighting
brawl. Both coaches amped up their rhetoric when given the chance and Maddon
threw some verbal haymakers of his own. “Quite frankly, I think it was
ridiculous, and I think it's absurd, idiotic. I'll use all those different
words," Maddon fumed. Of course, he backed down when given a chance to
pile on further the next day, attempting to focus on how much respect he has
for the Red Sox…..players, that is. In return, Valentine made a fuss over how
much he actually likes Maddon. The niceness was nausea inducing, so hopefully
the two skippers will get back to fighting soon……….
- Am I missing the problem here? Even if charges that Marylou's
Coffee, a chain based in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, operates under the
policy of hiring only hot, young female employees, why is that a problem? Yes,
one could argue that the policy would be discriminatory toward men, ugly women
and older women, but there is an opposing school of thought and it doesn’t have
to be a sexist, lecherous one. Just think of the baristas at most large chain
coffee shops, no names mentioned Starbucks. Piercings abound, spiky ‘dos are
common and the superior attitude is common. Oh, and all of this is predicated
around overpriced coffee and coffee-like products for trendy tools who love to
boast about their affinity for said coffee chain, again, no names mentioned.
Shouldn’t there be an alternative and assuming one agrees with that premise,
why shouldn’t that alternative be staffed by hot chicks in snugly fitting pink
t-shirts and black shorts? Are men, overweight individuals of both ages and all
genders and older people really that fired up about the chance to dress in the
aforementioned outfit and serve coffee and cappuccino to customers? Apparently
so, because the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is looking into claims
about Marylou's Coffee’s hiring practices. In Marylou’s Coffees defense, it
doesn’t exactly hide what it is all about. The company is known for its hiring
of younger women and features them singing and dancing in its television
commercials. When questioned about the controversy, a spokesperson denied the
allegations. Qualifications begin and end with a winning personality and a
passion for customer service,” the spokesperson insisted. Sounds good enough
and in no way a lie, so let’s just keep moving…………
- Have at it, headline writers. Break out your best
variations on, “The butler did it.” In a scandal custom-made for those who like
cheeky headlines and easy quips, the growing drama over leaked Vatican documents swerved in a
decidedly theatrical direction Saturday with confirmation that the pope's own
butler had been arrested after documents he had no business having were found
in his Vatican City apartment. Paolo Gabriele, one of the few members of the
papal household, was arrested to put a capper on one of the most controversial
weeks in recent Vatican history. The Holy See is under fire for its alleged
non-compliance with international norms on financial transparency. A book containing
leaked documents threw the issue into the spotlight and renewed scrutiny on
alleged corruption n in the highest levels of Catholic Church governance. The
president of the Vatican bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was fired Thursday and
Garbiele’s arrested ended the week with a boom. "If you wrote this in
fiction you wouldn't believe it," said Carl Anderson, a member of the
board of the Vatican bank. "No editor would let you put it in a
novel." That sort of hyperbole is typically overused, but in this case it
fits. The bank explained its firing of Gotti Tedeschi by saying he routinely
missed board meetings, failed to do his job, failed to defend the bank,
polarized its personnel and displayed "progressively erratic personal
behavior." He was initially accused of leaking documents, although proof
of those allegations is shaky at best right now. Gotti Tedeschi has not
commented publicly on any of this, hiding behind the excuse that he has too
much admiration for the pope to do so. Gabriele, a 46-year-old father of three,
has not been so fortunate. He had been in Vatican detention since Wednesday
after Vatican investigators discovered Holy See documents in his apartment and
was formally arrested Saturday. He has served as the pope's personal butler
since 2006 and was often seen riding in the Popemobile alongside the Catholic
Church’s highest-ranking official. Now he’ll be rocking some bitchin’ prison
attire and his only ride will be to the prison he will call home in the
immediate future………..
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