- Damn Gypsies.
Anyone who has traveled for even a brief amount of time in Europe has likely
uttered those words at one point or another because a Gypsy clad in worn, colorful attire and carrying some sort of
sign or handwritten note has hassled them for money at they were attempting to
visit a popular site or attraction. They are all but impossible to avoid and
the best tactic, especially because these begging gypsies are generally
targeting people who speak English, is to pretend you don’t understand them. They pay no taxes and in return, the state
offers them no medical care, education or basic services. Those who have
been hassled by Gypsies have to
be thrilled to hear that France is once again cracking down on these
undesirables. The last big sweep came
in 2010, when France expelled Gypsies to Romania and Bulgaria, and the French
are at it again as they tear down basic, rudimentary gypsy camps with no
electricity or running water. Tearing down the camps has displaced thousands of
Gypsies and forced them into hiding, putting the French government in an
awkward position as he European Commission imposed sanctions and thousands of
French came out to protest in sympathy for the Gypsies, also known as the Roma.
Protesting a crackdown on Gypsies is ridiculous on so many levels, not the
least of which is migrating illegally to a country where you don’t speak the
language and burdening that country with your unemployable ass while begging and
accosting unsuspecting people is contemptible. The sight of Gypsies fleeing as
bulldozers moved in to tear down a camp in Gennevilliers, on the outskirts of
Paris, was uplifting. If these squatters would merely return to Romania, where
their citizenship would at least allow them to educate their children and treat
their illnesses, the problem could be solved. If France wants to say the most
recent demolitions are necessary for public health and safety, then why argue?
Five Roma camps were torn down around Paris, others came down in Lille and Lyon,
and thousands were displaced. France's Interior Ministry insisted the camps
were demolished in accordance with legal guidelines agreed upon with the
European Union. "Respect for human dignity is a constant imperative of all
public action, but the difficulties and local health risks posed by the
unsanitary camps needed to be addressed," the Interior Ministry said.
Whatever excuse you want to use………
- The NFL doesn’t appear to be winning many battles these
days. Its regular officials are locked out and replacement officials have
botched nearly every possible aspect of the one week of preseason games they
have worked so far. A federal judge suggested she was inclined to rule in favor
of suspended New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma in his fight against
the league for suspending him for one year for his alleged role in his team’s
bounty scandal. Oh, and there is also the issue of former players suing the
league for the lasting effects of concussions and head injuries they suffered
during their playing careers. That issue became more muddled Tuesday when a company
that the NFL was hoping it could count on to help in its defense against
concussion lawsuits decided it wanted to cut ties with the league. Alterra
America Insurance, which provided the NFL with an excess casualty insurance policy
last season, asked a New York State Supreme Court judge to issue a declaratory
judgment in its favor that would free it from having to defend the league and
pay for the damages associated with litigation that now involves more than
3,000 former players. In other words, Alterra’s attorneys are fighting for
their right to quit. Most of the lawsuits by former players have been
consolidated into a single case in a district court in Pennsylvania and Alterra
wants no part of it because it claims the league expects the insurer to be
involved in both defending and covering the league should they lose in court.
In response to Alterra’s motion, the league issue a B.S. statement about the
emphasis it places on player safety without making reference to the problem at
hand. It’s easy to see where Alterra might be wary of such a fight, as it only
covered the league for one year. It is one of many insurance companies with
which the league has a policy, so the NFL won't be all alone as it presses
forward in this case……….
- Fallout from a nuclear disaster or plot fodder for Tim
Burton or Michael Bay’s next blockbuster? The answer may be yes on both counts
as a study of butterflies in Japan has
identified mutant butterflies believed to be the result of Japan’s Fukushima
nuclear disaster last year. The butterflies’ rate of genetic mutations and
deformities has increased with succeeding generations and the study’s authors
pointed directly to Fukushima as the root cause. "Nature in the Fukushima
area has been damaged," said lead study author Joji Otaki, a professor at
the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa. Otaki’s team traced the
abnormalities, including infertility, deformed wings, dented eyes, aberrant
spot patterns, malformed antennas and legs, and butterflies’ inability to fight
their way out of their cocoons, to the radiation released from the nuclear
power plant. Butterflies closest to the plant experienced the most radiation in
their environment and according to the study, have the most physical
abnormalities" Insects have been considered to be highly resistant to
radiation, but this butterfly was not," Otaki said. The Fukushima plant
suffered meltdowns after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011,
cut off power to the facility, leading to meltdowns that released radionuclides
including iodine-131 and cesium-134/137. Otaki’s research team collected
butterflies six months after the disaster and found they had more than twice as
many abnormalities as insects plucked two months following the release. They collected
adult butterflies from 10 locations and observed changes in the butterflies'
eyes, wing shapes and color patterns. The study was combined with an ongoing
project to observe the pale grass blue butterfly, which had been going on for
more than 10 years. Because the insects live in the same places as people –
gardens and public parks – they are seen as good environmental indicators. In
the Fukushima study, the butterfly population showed more than twice as many
members with abnormalities as in the previous group researches collected, 28.1
percent versus 12.4 percent. Those figures show the mutations are being passed
down through generations. The findings were published Aug. 9 in the journal
Scientific Reports…………
- Uh-oh. Of all the American sports and gaming entities that
exist in the 21st century, very few have maintained their integrity and
remained trustworthy in the eyes of the masses? Gambling scandals, steroids,
corrupt referees and any number of other issues have beset every league from
the NFL to the PGA Tour, from UFC to the WTA. Among all those fallen sports and
corrupted heroes, one organization has stood tall as a virtual bastion of
integrity: Scrabble. That all changed Tuesday when one of the top young Scrabble players in
the country was kicked out of the game's national championship tournament in
Florida after he was caught hiding blank letter tiles. Organizers did not
identify the player but John D. Williams, Jr., executive director of the
National Scrabble Association, said that a male player was ejected from the
350-player event in Round 24 of the 28-round event. The cheater was ratted out
by a player at a nearby table who noticed the ejected player conceal a pair of
blank tiles by dropping them on the floor. Blank tiles are valuable in Scrabble
because they can be used as wild card letters. To the cheater’s credit, he
admitted his misdeed when confronted by the tournament director. Williams said
this was the first incident of cheating at a national tournament, although such
tactics have been known to occur at smaller, regional events. "It does
happen no matter what. People will try to do this," he said. "It's
the first time it's happened in a venue this big though. It's unfortunate. The
Scrabble world is abuzz. The Internet is abuzz." Yes, nothing buzzes quite
like the Scrabble world, assuming that such a thing exists. That the Internet
is buzzing…..is probably a stretch. The reason the NSA refused to identify the
cheater by name or age because he's a minor. He was competing in Division 3,
the second-highest level of the NSA’s rankings. Williams explained that Division
3 is equal to "any great living-room player out there." If only the
cheating were better, maybe this Scrabble scumbag would have gotten away with
his attempt. In a game where players pull random letter tiles from a bag of 100
and trying to create words and only two blank tiles are in each bag, pulling
off such an attempt would give a player a significant edge. With the cheater
ejected, the five-day event moved on and the battles are as heated as a bunch
of board game dorks sitting inside some cavernous convention center hall can
make them………
- Mimbos of the world, your chance has arrived. Mimbo, a
term nicely describing male bimbos with no brains or intellect but nice, toothy
grins, good cheekbones and great hair, would be a good descriptive word for
those likely to be at the forefront of a certain CBS game show’s search for its
first male model. “The Price is Right,” which has spent years parading hot
women around stage to be ogled as they fawn over new cars, boats and household
appliances to be bid on by contestants before the show ends and they are ogled
and groped (allegedly) by former host Bob Barker, is searching for its first male
model and the winner will be chosen by the show's audience. The iconic game
show has undergone changes in the past five years, with former FAT guy Drew
Carey taking over hosting duties in 2007 and models using their real names
instead of stage names and having microphones to interact with the audience.
Its next change will be finding the right bleached-blonde male model with great
abs and a square jaw to show off the new kitchen and dinette set contestants
could win. That change will be chronicled in a five-part web series next month,
to be streamed on YouTube and the show's website. Being a “Price is Right”
model hasn’t always been a fun gig, but a male model should theoretically be
safe from any (alleged) harassment by the host, at least. Oh, and there is also
the lawsuit filed in 2010 by a model who claimed producer harassment and the
resulting stress caused her to miscarry her child, chased by a harassment and
discrimination suit filed later that same year by model Shane Stirling. The
mimbos who want to be the first male model on the show can attend an open
casting call in Los Angeles on Aug. 30 to show off their prize showcasing
talents and be interviewed by current show models and producers. The casting
call will select the finalists, who will be revealed on the Sept. 28 episode.
Fans will be able to vote for their favorites until Oct. 3 and the new male
model will start his new gig on Oct. 15……….
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