- What a proud day this has to be for the people of Peru. Any
time your country can say it is the best in the world at something, it’s a
reason to celebrate. So on this day, Peru should take a bow and accept its
accolades as the
top producer of pure cocaine in the world, knocking Colombia from the top spot
after the country that spurred the creation of the term Colombian nose candy
saw its output fall by an estimated 25 percent in a year. While Colombia’s
decline is disappointing, the fall has been in progress for some time and isn't
stunning. According to a report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
cocaine production in Colombia was down by 72 percent since 2001. In fact, that
was enough to rank Colombia third, behind Peru and the originators of the
Bolivian marching powder, Bolivia. "Potential production of pure cocaine
in Colombia is down to 195 metric tons (in 2011) from 700 metric tons in 2001,
the lowest production potential level since 1994 and the first time since 1995
that Colombia is producing less cocaine than either Peru or Bolivia," drug
czar Gil Kerlikowske said in a speech
at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Peru
reclaims the spot it held throughout he 1980s and 1990s, while Colombia produced
a mere 345 metric tons of cocaine in 2011. Much of the focus in the battle
against blow is on Mexico and its
deadly cartels, but Kerlikowske credited the downfall of cocaine in Colombia
with Plan Colombia, a $7.5 billion U.S.-backed effort launched in 1999 to help
the South American government crack down on a left-wing insurgency and drug
organizations. "The results are historic and have tremendous
implications, not just for the United States and the Western Hemisphere, really
globally," Kerlikowske said. "We don't just have a far safer
Colombia, we have a vibrant Colombia that is an active partner in helping with
the drug and criminal issue in the region.” Colombia President Juan Manuel
Santos praised the report, probably without taking a long, hard look into the
eyes of all the friendly cokeheads his efforts are hurting by driving up the
price of their drug of choice……….
- We’ve all been there. A few Facebook friends have a
special new addition to their respective families and for the years to come,
they besiege your news feed with corny, annoying and redundant images of their
little one doing everything from sleeping to drooling to wearing a ridiculous
butterfly costume for Halloween. And sure, you could simply hide all of their
news stories from your feed, but what happens is something important and
non-baby happens and you miss it? Thankfully, there is a new app call Unbaby.me that
performs the useful task of removing baby pictures that parents post on your
news feed. To underscore just how tired users are of having excessive baby
pictures rammed into their retinas, in four days the app accrued 44,000 “likes”
on its Facebook page. The quick popularity suggests that clueless parents who
Instagram 15 pictures of their 6-month-old brat in his or her car seat making
funny faces need to take a step back and reassess their use of social media. Unbaby.me is
not a complicated product. It is a plug-in with its sole purpose being its
ability to not only delete baby pictures from your Facebook news feed but also
to replace them with something less annoying, like pictures of your favorite
car, wrestler, or action figure. Unbaby.me is the creation of three ad agency
employees who saw a need and filled that void. Users can download it from the
Chrome Web Store and watch the app function by scanning their feed for keywords
and phrases -- such as "cute, "first birthday," and "look
at my lovely, adorable baby,” or other words as chosen by the user. One of the
app’s creators, Yvonne Cheng, insisted Unbaby.me does not stem from any
simmering hatred of little ones. “Personally, I don't hate babies. I love
babies. But I do get tired of looking at babies,” she explained. This would be
one of those times when technology is a beautiful thing………
- Think of it as the calm before the Bourne storm. One weekend
before “The Bourne Legacy” hits theaters, “The Dark Knight Rises” held the top
spot for the third straight time, earning $36.4 million to fend off the
recycled, watered-down version of “Total Recall” that dropped this weekend. “Total
Recall” made a mere $26 million domestically against a $125 million budget,
good enough for second place. The third spot went to “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days”
which debuted with $14.7 million, a number that looks much better against the
backdrop of a $22 million budget than it would if it cost as much as “Recall.”
Fourth place went to “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” which added $8.4 million to
its coffers for a cumulative total of $131.9 million. It was another
uninspiring weekend for “The Watch,” a comedy with a deficit of humor that
limped to $6.4 million for a two-week tally of $25.4 million. Hanging in at
sixth on the list was Mark Wahlberg’s “Ted,” which made $5.5 million in its
sixth weekend of release and crossed over the $200 million barrier in domestic
earnings with $203.4 million and counting. “Step Up Revolution” claimed seventh
place despite dropping off 55 percent from its opening weekend, making $5.4
million for a paltry running total of $23 million and counting. “The Amazing
Spider-Man” was not so amazing, finishing eighth in its fifth weekend of
release with $4.4 million for a cumulative domestic haul of $250.7 million. “Brave”
was slotted in ninth place with its $2.9 million weekend and has grossed $223.3
million through it first seven weeks. “Magic Mike” pole-danced its way to tenth
place, adding $1.4 million to its bank roll and raising its six-week cumulative
total to $110.8 million. “Moonrise Kingdom” (No. 11) and “Savages” (No. 13)
both dropped out from last week’s top 10…………
- Motha-f*cking bees on the motha-f*cking plane? At Pittsburgh
International Airport, Samuel L. Jackson was not on hand, but a swarm of bees
was Wednesday night. A Delta flight headed for New York was delayed not by the
usual flight-besetting problems like mechanical issues, a backup of planes
waiting for takeoff or even weather. No, the flight was delayed when a massive
swarm of bees descended on one of the plane’s wings. They were getting ready to
fuel and they came around the corner of the plane and right there on the wing
is a cluster of honeybees,” beekeeper Stephen Repasky said. “It was a shocker
to a lot of people.” It was merely a matter of waiting for the bees to disperse
before the plane could take off and if any airport should be familiar with how
to handle bee swarms on the runway, it’s Pittsburgh International. Last May,
25,000 to 30,000 bees showed up on the Taxiway-C light and Repasky scooped them
into boxes for later release. He was called to the scene of the Delta swarm and
did his best to corral the bugs and get them under control. “At the airport,
this would be the fourth swarm that we’ve caught this year out there,” he said.
He took the bees from the Delta flight home and set them up in their temporary
new home in his backyard. Bee swarms form when colonies become too large and
the queen leaves with half of the bees to find a new home. “So it could be a
tree 40-feet up, it could be the wing of a jet liner,” Repasky explained. He
theorized that there is probably a wild honeybee colony somewhere on airport
property and because they are inexplicably a protected species, they can't be
killed. And cue some Hollywood studio executive dialing up a screenwriter to
start working on the script for this movie……….
- Watching the
reaction from various members of the Boston Celtics organization to Ray Allen
leaving to sign with the Miami Heat has been interesting. Team president Danny
Ainge expressed hurt and a touch of resentment, while coach Doc Rivers
explained that Allen left because of a dwindling role that saw point guard
Rajon Rondo assume more control of the team. Celtics captain Paul Pierce, the longest-tenured player on the roster,
went a bit further than either of his two bosses by admitting he's "a
little bitter" about Allen's decision to go to Miami and said it will be
"weird" going up against him on opening night next season. Pierce did
express appreciation for Allen’s contributions during his five seasons in
Boston, including helping the Celtics win a world title. "Ray made the
best decision for him," Pierce said. "That's what it's all about: You
get in these situations, you become a free agent and you make a decision based
on what's best for you and your family. Ray will always be a brother for me.
I'm a little bitter that he went to Miami, but he's still a brother of
mine." In spite of Allen leaving, Pierce said he likes what Ainge and his
staff have been able to do this offseason rebuilding the team. He cited the
addition of Jason Terry and Courtney Lee and the drafting of young big men Fab
Melo and Jared Sullinger as reasons for hope. Celtics fans are probably still
concerned about Pierce’s health after he limped through the playoffs with a
sprained MCL, suffered during a walkthrough in the first round of the
postseason. He estimated that he is about 90 percent right now and should be
back to full health by the start of the season this fall……….
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