- The idea is not new. For the five self-described
anarchists who were arrested Monday evening by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force after they
allegedly conspired to blow up a bridge near Cleveland, the goal isn't exactly
original. Anyone who has spent any amount of time in or around Cleveland has
undoubtedly contemplated finding a massive quantity of explosives and
detonating the very definition of a Rust Belt city rife with urban decay. However,
Douglas L. Wright, Brandon L. Baxter, and Anthony Hayne,, who were arrested and
been charged with conspiracy and attempted use of explosive materials to damage
physical property affecting interstate commerce, and co-conspirators Connor C.
Stevens and Joshua S. Stafford went beyond dreaming. According to a statement
by the FBI, these five would-be Mensas were snagged by a sting operation in
which three of them conspired to acquire C-4 explosives and build two
improvised explosive devices to be remotely detonated. Authorities confirmed
that these three are self-proclaimed anarchists who had considered "a
series of evolving plots over several months." Their ever-evolving plan
began with a scheme to use smoke grenades to distract local law enforcement in
an effort to "topple financial institution signs atop high rise buildings."
Clearly, they released how amateurish this would look and escalated to
discussing several plots to satiate their appetite for destruction. After as
much careful consideration as five men with a combined IQ of 47 can muster,
they settled on the Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge, which spans the
Cuyahoga Valley National Park and carries a four-lane highway. However, the FBI
made it clear that the public was never in any real danger. "The public
was never in danger from the explosive devices" because an undercover FBI
agent was involved and the explosives were inert, the bureau explained in a
news release. "The defendants were closely monitored by law enforcement.”
Sadly, someone else is going to have to take up the challenge to remove the national
eyesore that is Cleveland from the American sightline………….
- Although sports purists may not want to admit it, the X
Games are legit. Whether it’s the summer or winter version of the extreme
sports competition, X Games has become a sort of alt-Olympics for the skateboarding/snowboarding
sect. Those who doubt its legitimacy may want to duck and cover before this
next bit of news. Not only are the X Games not going away, they are expanding.
It was announced Wednesday that three new cities will be added to the annual X
Games calendar for the next three years. Barcelona, Spain, Munich, Germany and Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, have been
chosen as X Games venues for 2013-15. They were selected from a group of nine
finalists and will join current hosts Aspen, Colo.; Tignes, France; and Los
Angeles, creating a six-event (four summer, two winter) X Games schedule that
will run from January to August. "Action sports is a collection of
activities that we think travels really well around the world," said Scott
Guglielmino, senior vice president of programming and X Games with ESPN. With
the addition of Brazil to the hosting lineup, X Games will finally have a
direct presence in Latin and South America, which already offer one of the
strongest action-sports cultures in the world. Additionally, having three
events in Europe will be another boon for X Games. All three new host cities
made convincing pitches for how X Games could succeed there and officials
confirmed that each new host city will introduce additional sports and cultural
elements unique to their regions. Both Munich and Barcelona have experience
staging major international sporting events (Munich with the Summer Olympic
Games in 1972 and Barcelona with the Summer Games in 1992) and Foz do Iguaçu is
renowned as one of the most beautiful metropolitan areas in South America.
Organizers in Munich plan to use the city’s Olympic park to stage many of the
individual events. Foz do Iguaçu beat out Brazilian rivals Rio and São Paulo to
nab its hosting spot. Here is how the X Games schedule will break down
beginning next year: Jan. 24-27: Aspen, Colo., March 20-22:
Tignes, France, April 18-21: Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, May 9-12: Barcelona, Spain,
June 27-30: Munich, Germany and Aug. 1-4: Los Angeles………..
- There are blankets with arms for the perpetually lazy,
there are self-operating vacuums for those who are too sluggish to clean and
now, there is a giant, person-shaped
pillow that also doubles as a cell phone and vibrates based on the frequency of
the voice of the person you're talking to. Yes, technology is a wonderful asset
for the lazy, lonely and just plain pathetic. The pillow phone comes courtesy
of a Japanese roboticist who claims his new invention seeks to bring the
largely missing sense of touch into the world of digital communications. Japanese
roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro is known for
making a robotic version of himself, so maybe he deserves credit for turning
his focus outward to create the "Hugvie" robot phone. In a
video promoting the Hugvie, Ishiguro explains that the overall goal for the
product is to help people who are talking on the phone feel as if they're
actually with the person they're speaking with: "The two vibrators produce
a throbbing sound like a heartbeat. That pulse can get faster or stronger
depending on the volume and tone of the caller's voice. We've used several
rules like that to create the pulsing sound. When we give Telenoids to seniors,
most people hugged them ... when they talked to the other person," he
said. Vibrators, oddly-shaped pillows……creepy. The situation becomes even
creepier when the roboticist describes the Hugvie as a "soft cuddly object
shaped like a person." The Hugvie functions by a user placing their phone
inside a pocket in the pillow-bot and making a call. Maybe the entire project
is a hoax or practical joke, but it looks disturbingly real………….
- Thank you, Iran. Those words are rarely uttered, but they
seem appropriate after the legal advisor for Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Cairo
revealed that Egyptian
security services foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in
Cairo several months ago. Sami Jamal claimed that Egyptian law enforcement "arrested
three Iranians planning to assassinate the ambassador, Ahmed Qattan." So
why the thank you? Because when was the last time any country did something so
ballsy and arrogant as to attempt to assassinate another country’s ambassador
on a third country’s soil? That sort of plot is so over the top, so brazen that
it’s almost amusing. Had the plot succeeded, the story obviously would have
been different, but the fact that it was foiled means everyone can sit back and
laugh at Iran having even more international egg on its face. But if all of
this happened three months ago, why is the story just coming to light. "Egyptian
authorities informed concerned parties at the Saudi foreign ministry of the
details of the plot, but the Saudi side opted to keep silent on the
matter," Jamal said. "Everybody was concerned that foreign parties
would exploit demonstrations by some (Egyptians) outside the embassy (in Cairo)
to attack members of the mission." Believe it or not, Iran is denying the
allegations. Queried about the reports, a spokesman for Iran's foreign
ministry, Ramin Mehmanparast, told reporters in Tehran that the allegation was
"absolutely incorrect." Mehmanparast did not seem happy about the
claims and called them straight-up fabrications. "Manufacturing such
issues can only help divisions among Muslim countries and benefit the Zionist
regime (Israel)," he said. Ah, and once again it comes back to Israel. Get
off the Israeli obsession, Iran. This drama only contributes to the chaos in
Egypt, which resulted in a decision by Saudi Arabia to recall its ambassador
from Cairo Saturday after angry protests outside the Saudi embassy in Cairo
over the arrest of an Egyptian human rights lawyer in the Gulf kingdom. As for
Iran’s denials…..they would be more believable had the United States not
accused despot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his sycophants of plotting to kill the
Saudi ambassador to the U.S. back in October. Someone is especially
assassination-happy these days…………
- Are they or aren’t they? Furthermore, who gives a damn
either way? Those and other pressing questions are hanging in the air as rumors
swirl that vapid, worthless reality TV tool Khloe Kardashian and
husband/mentally unstable soon-to-be NBA free agent Lamar Odom have "pulled the plug" on their E!
reality show, “Khloe & Lamar.” The rumors broke Monday and for the first
few hours, the rumor was that they were merely going on hiatus and would consider
reviving the series sometime in the future. "Our show is not
cancelled," Kardashian said. "Lamar and I have chosen to take a break
this summer. We've been on a whirlwind doing back-to-back shows, and we just
want to take a little time off for Lamar to be with family time, kids,
basketball, Olympics -- you never know. So, we have a lot on our plate right
now." To translate: Our lives are a train wreck, having cameras film your
every move is annoying and my husband is a basket case who quit on and was
effectively fired by his NBA team. We need some time to sort this out.” Odom,
the aforementioned quitter, added, "The issue at hand is we just want to
be happy. We'll take our time and we'll get back to it when it's time."
Great, but where will the world go to see a 6-foot-10 dude and his, um, not
thin wife improperly install and break a sex swing in the meantime? Oh, and
what will two clearly self-absorbed people do without TV cameras around all the
time? Considering they have been married for nearly three years and never taken
a honeymoon, that would be a good place to start. Oh, and Odom could pretend he
actually cares about his basketball career too………..
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