- The world’s population is skyrocketing and it’s not as if
scientists can just conjure up new land masses in the lab and drop them into
the middle of the Indian Ocean for people to live on. But maybe, just maybe,
there is a massive, uninhabited
chunk of land out there that someone can make use of…….say, an
"island" of floating pumice rocks bigger in area than Israel recently
spotted in the South Pacific. Thanks to New Zealand's Royal Navy, that’s
exactly what the world now knows it has on its hands. Officers on a Royal New
Zealand Air Force ship spotted the massive rock island southwest of Raoul
Island yesterday Thursday. It measures an amazing 300 miles in length and more
than 30 miles in width and Lieutenant Tim Oscar of the Royal Australian Navy
described it as "the weirdest thing I've seen in 18 years at sea.” Weird,
maybe. But don’t act like it wouldn’t be a perfect place to, say, imprison a
despicable scumbag like Jerry Sandusky. "The rock looked to be sitting two
feet above the surface of the waves, and lit up a brilliant white color in the
spotlight," Oscar said. "It looked exactly like the edge of an ice
shelf." Those wondering where the rock island came from need not wonder
further. Pumice forms when lava from a volcano cools rapidly and trapped gas in
the hardening lava creates pores in the rocks, making them buoyant. Royal Navy
scientists believe these chunks off New Zealand's coast were likely created by
eruptions from an underwater volcano, possibly the Monowai seamount, which has
been active along the Kermadec arc. At the time the rock island was discovered,
researchers from GNS Science, a government-owned firm, were traveling nearby on
another military ship and they changed course to collect samples of the pumice,
which will be analyzed to determine where the rocks came from. Even if the rock
island can't be transformed into a trendy place to live, studies have shown
that pumice floats have long played an important role in the development of
life on Earth because they can float across long stretches of ocean, ferrying
animals and plants across water barriers…………
- Usain Bolt ripped
the gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters for the second straight Olympics and
it seemed there was no doubt as to who the world’s fastest man was. Bolt
torched the fastest field in the history of the 100 at the Olympics and became
the first man ever to win both the 100 and 200 meters in consecutive Games. The
win in the 100 officially secured him the title as the "Fastest Man on
Earth" – just as long as you don’t ask Tennessee Titans running back Chris
Johnson. Johnson, widely accepted as the fastest man in the NFL, ran a 4.24 at
his NFL Scouting Combine 40-yard dash back in 2008 - the fastest ever since the
league implemented electronic timing. He has gone on the record before as
questioning Bolt’s legitimacy as being quicker than any other human being
alive, raising the issue after Bolt's 2008 showing in Beijing. Johnson wanted a
race at that time, but Bolt's agent, Ricky Sims, would have none of it and
dismissed Johnson out of hand. "Usain doesn't follow the NFL too closely
and is not really familiar with all of the players. He likes [international]
football and cricket. But more importantly, he has a schedule and a coach to
follow and there is no chance that we would set up this type of event,"
Sims said. Clearly, Bolt’s dominance in London has done nothing to dissuade
Johnson from believing he could beat the lanky Jamaican in a race. "He is
a great athlete. I think he'll be the best track athlete to ever compete in the
Olympics," Johnson said. "I feel like if I would have kept training
for track I'd have a chance (to beat Bolt), but I play football and he runs
track, so it's totally different. I think I could still probably beat him in
the 40. If I actually trained for the distance he trained for, I think I'd have
a chance." If Johnson is being honest, and athletes NEVER exaggerate their
past achievements - his fastest time in the 100 meters as a high school track
star was 10.3. That’s .72 seconds behind Bolt’s current world record in the
100. That doesn’t exactly scream world’s fastest man………
- New Jersey, welcome to the party. Colorado, California and
America’s other stoner states raise their bong and salute you as you join the
stoner club. Technically, New Jersey is merely allowing doctors operating
within its borders to begin signing their patients up for medical marijuana, but anyone naïve or
stupid enough to believe that the ganja is only going to end up in the hands of
those using it for medicinal purposes may have eaten too many paint chips as a
child. The state expects that its medical marijuana dispensary will open in
September and the New Jersey Medical Marijuana Program has started registering
patients. However, finding someone to prescribe you hippie lettuce for that
nagging back pain you have suddenly developed since pot became legal in the
Garden State won't be a simple task. So far, only 150 doctors have signed up to
prescribe marijuana. Also, naïve state lawmakers have structured the program so
that marijuana is (legally) only available to patients with a handful of
conditions. That is going to make finding a way to fake those conditions a
valuable skill in New Jersey and with only six dispensaries anywhere near ready
to open, there will also be plenty of standing in line for stoners, er, chronic
pain sufferers who need relief. "Very few patients are going to qualify
and there are hoops that patients have to jump through that are really
unfortunate," said Ken Wolski of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana, which
predictably opposes the restrictions on the program. However, the uptight
squares who opposed New Jersey allowing medicinal marijuana in the first place
are happy with the strict laws and hope they will keep the hippie lettuce out
of the hands of recreational users. There is no way that will happen, of
course, but it’s a nice dream to have. Now pass the Pop Tarts, rip open that
bag of Funjuns and press play on the “Planet Earth” DVD because it is time to
embrace to stoner lifestyle in Jersey………..
- Some artists and bands drink in adulation from fans like
it’s an ice cold, delicious beer. They can't get enough of being told how great
they are, how immense their talent is and how much their music means to people
they have never met and never will. Others are the consummate eccentric,
crafting their songs while attempting to maintain a very private life and not
worrying about their public persona or following. The Gaslight
Anthem's
Brian Fallon sounds like he falls more into the latter category after observing
that being worshipped by fans is “creepy.” The lead singer of the fast-rising
band, which recently released “Handwritten,” their fourth studio album,
admitted that the band’s growing popularity has made him uneasy. It has also
apparently spurred him to delusions of grandeur, as he also likened himself and
his band to no less influential figures than Jesus Christ and John Lennon.
Fallon pointed to the Son of God and the Beatles frontman as figures who had
met an untimely end as they became increasingly revered when the became objects
of adoration by the masses. "You were born with that talent. The best
thing you could ever say to your credit is you refined it a little. Fans look
up to us and that's creepy,” Fallon said. “It's kind of this huge thing of idolizing
and hero worship and – people say – religious experience. But they crucified
Jesus. They shot John Lennon. I'm not looking for that kind of thing, I'm not
into this.” So just for the record, please do not assume Fallon and his band
are here to bring salvation to a fallen mankind or to change the world of rock
and roll. Even if they have outstripped their original five-year plan to get to
500-seat venues and tour as a headlining act, that doesn’t mean they want to be
cult figures for all of humanity………
- Haven’t Spanish police ever heard of Robin Hood, seen the
scores of bad movies made in Hollywood to tell his tale of stealing from the
rich to give to the poor or surveyed their nation’s awful economic landscape? If
they had, perhaps they would not have arrested five left-wing union activists for
their alleged role in a "Robin Hood"-style looting of a supermarket
carried out to highlight the plight of people suffering through the country's
recession. Law enforcement authorities announced the arrests Friday,
attributing the looting to the southern Andalusian Workers' Union (AWU). The
AWU made headlines Tuesday when a handful of its activists hijacked nine
trolleys full of food from a supermarket in the southern town of Ecija and fled
the scene without paying for their grub. They did not eat the food themselves
or throw it into a lake or river to make a political statement, but instead
handed the food out to poor and unemployed people. Police arrested one
suspected participant in the supermarket raid during an eviction Friday of
members of the union who were squatting on Defense Ministry land to protest its
abandonment and demanding it be handed over to struggling farmers. Two other
alleged Hispanic Robin Hoods were arrested on Thursday and two more were
apprehended elsewhere in the country Friday. Arrests or not, there is no
denying that Spain is in the midst of its worst financial crisis in recent
memory and many are suffering. Conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's
government has antagonized the public by pushing severe austerity measures,
including deep spending cuts and tax hikes. Citizens from a wide range of
groups, including public workers, students and trade unions, have responded
with massive street protests. The battle has now escalated to include mythical
figures from the big screen and as everyone knows, that’s when an economic
crisis has truly hit rock bottom………..
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