- There were enough problems and embarrassments for the
NFL’s replacement officials Sunday without the league very nearly stumbling
into another one because of the crew assigned to the New Orleans-Carolina
game. No, the league didn’t attempt to assign a blind man or a guy with severe
narcolepsy to the contest, although those individuals likely wouldn’t have been
much worse than the crew who actually worked the game. What the NFL nearly did
was allow a replacement official who is a diehard Saints fan to work his
favorite team’s game. Side judge Brian Stropolo is a fan of the Saints,
according to his Facebook page, but the NFL and its infinite resources could
not find time or money to do a simple social media check to make sure that a
total homer for one of its teams had the potential to steer the outcome of one
of that team’s games. When media outlets found out about that interesting
detail and asked the league about it, the NFL admittied it did not know. When
league officials found out, Stropolo was pulled from the assignment Sunday
morning and replaced with an alternate, Tim Keese, who travels with the crew.
Maybe Stropolo being from New Orleans and listing himself on Facebook as an NFL
side judge, the league definitely could have found out. His Facebook page also
features several photos of him in Saints gear and for some odd reason, having a
guy like that working a Saints game could be seen as a conflict of interest by
fans, players, the media and the league. Worse still, one of the Saints games
Stropolo attended all geared up as an Aug. 25 preseason game. He averted drama
in Week 1 when he was assigned to work the opener between the Cowboys and
Giants. When he posted a Facebook status update on Sept. 5 sharing the news
about being assigned to the Saints game, he received 73 "likes" and
comments such as "Hey, now be nice with those yellow flags for our Saints!!" and "That's awesome you get to be an
official for a Saints game! I didn't think they would let you since your (sic)
from Louisiana." And yet the legaue had no clue and didn’t check. Look for
that sort of background scan to be done now, especially with no progress in
negotiations between the NFL and its regular referees…….
- Adele is walking away from music for a while. No, she’s
not leaving the music business for an indefinite hiatus. It would be great if
she could make up her mind, but the talented British songstress is keeping
herself busy for the time being by voicing the theme song for the new James Bond
film “Skyfall,” which was on life support two years ago because MGM did not
have the money to pull such a mammoth project off, or so it thought. Somehow,
the financing came together, the movie will be made and Adele will anchor its
soundtrack. Rumors of her involvement in the project starter earlier this month
when she was spotted visiting London's famed
Abbey Road Studios, where the soundtrack is being recorded. Her role has
been officially comfirmed and she willl join an exclusive club that includes
the likes of Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Duran Duran and Paul McCartney, all of
whom have done themes songs for 007 movies. The latest Bond film,
“Quantum of Solace,” had arguably the best talent authoring its theme as Jack
White and Alicia Keys collaborated for a track titled “Another Way to Die.” Adele
is somewhat shifting her focus to her personal life instead of her career as
she and boyfriend Simon Konecki are currently expecting their first child.
Sources have said her next album will be lighter than her relationship
woes-centric “21,” which won piles of awards and accolades, with the change
attributable to the joy of being a new mother. As for “Skyfall,” the film opens
on Oct. 26, marking the 50th anniversary of the Bond series that began with
Sean Connery in 1962 and with its title role now held by Daniel Craig………
- Visitors over the age of 21 have long needed a drink when
they paid the exorbitant and indefensible entry prices at Disney's Magic
Kingdom in Orlando, Fla. Starting this fall, those thirsty souls will be able
to acquire the alcohol they need without having to smuggle in their own flask
full of the good stuff to the park. The Magic Kingdom will open s the new Be
Our Guest restaurant and transports customers paying bloatedly ridiculous
prices for items they could get for half the price anywhere outside the park to
a magical world filled by servers dressed in Renaissance fashions. There will
be French ratatouille, steak and pommes frites and wines from some of France's
famous regions, like Champagne and Bordeaux. Disney dropped the A-bomb
(alcohol) Thursday on its parks blog as part of another revelation about the
much-hyped restaurant coming to the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland expansion.
Alcohol has long been served at Disney's other parks and resorts in Orlando,
but its magical presence has never been allowed at the Magic Kingdom. Disneyland
in California is even more uptight, with only alcohol allowed in the very exclusive
Club 33. Some short-sighted fool named Walt Disney came up with the idea years
ago to keep up the availability of good, clean family fun. Of course, that much
time with family while spending that much money is typically enough to drive
people to drink and it could be a vicious circle. Not only will Be Our Guest serve
wine, but it will offer French and Belgian beers as well. Park visitors wanting
to get drunk, er, take the edge off of their family time will have a limited
window, as alcohol will only be served at dinner, which is a sit-down service.
Patrons will not be allowed to take their booze with them outside the
restaurant, further restricting the fun. Still, some squares have voiced
dissent with the decision online, decrying it as "trampling Walt's
dream." Had Walt seen
what a bloated monstrosity and corporate cash grab his dream has become, he
might need a drink as well……….
- It’s a miracle cure! It’s a miracle cure! It’s actually
not, but there is nothing like raising the hopes of the desperate masses only
to dash them the next minute. In that spirit, enjoy news that a single antibody has been found to prevent
the influenza virus from taking hold of host cells, as well as cure animals
that are already infected. Researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in
La Jolla, Calif., did plenty of work examining proteins in order to identify
the antibody and after poring over thousands and analyzing the influenza virus
in its 3-D crystalline form, they discovered the antibody attacks a structure
of the virus that is used to take hold of healthy cells. Study author Ian
Wilson, a professor of structural biology at Scripps, was sufficiently fired up
by the find, saying this discovery of focused binding has “never been seen
before.” “It gives us some good idea about designs for vaccines and therapies,”
Wilson said. For the study, he and his team collected bone marrow from patients
exposed to different strains of the influenza virus. Because bone marrow
essentially acts as a storage facility for all the antibodies a person’s body
has ever produced, examining the marrow allowed researchers to know the
antibody they were looking for would be there. From there, they compiled a
catalogue of billions of flu antibodies, allowing them to pinpoint Co5 – an
antibody able to bind to influenza A viruses. They finished the process by
adding Co5 to petri dishes of healthy cells and influenza A and found that the
Co5 stopped the cells from becoming infected. Research with mice produced the
same results and Wilson believes the findings are a big step toward THE big
find in fighting the flu. "Clearly, the holy grail is a universal flu
vaccine, and this is another important step toward that,” Wilson said………
- When thinking of nations likely to rise up and riot for
their rights, Portugal doesn’t always vault to the top of the list. The Iberian
Peninsula has France and Spain to carry its revolution flag and the tiny,
almost-forgotten third country at the western end of Europe isn't known as a
hotbed for social uprisings. That perception just may change this week with
nationwide protests expected to draw
tens of thousands to speak out against new austerity measures. Police across
the country are readying for the uprising and the prime minister's Facebook
page has been deluged with angry messages such as "Get lost, thief."
Members of the current governing coalition have joined the angry mob and the
most recent austerity measures are what is bringing everyone together. Initially the austerity measures were
met with grudging acceptance, but the tide has slowly turned to the point where
an explosion of anger like that seen in Greece over the past two years seems
possible, if not likely. If Portugal descends into chaos, it would further
undermine the stability of the euro zone. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho
struck the offending blow against the opposition last week when he announced an
increase in workers' social security contributions to 18 percent of their
monthly salary from 11 percent. The increase is equivalent to a net monthly
wage and Coelho chased that announcement by letting everyone know that income
taxes will increase next year. On top of those strokes of bad news, public
employees will lose either their Christmas or vacation bonus, each roughly
equivalent to a month's income, and many pensioners will lose both. Last year,
public employees’ salaries were cut by up to 10 percent as they lost their two
bonuses and at the same time, property and sales taxes went up, and tax
deductions and welfare entitlements went down for everyone. With the entire
country locked in a recession, patience from the masses is even lower than the
government’s credit rating at this point. Workers, business leaders, opposition
parties and government leaders have unanimously told Coelho the message that
Portugal can no longer stand the pain. Strikes, protests and social media
campaigns are all on the way and Coelho trying to chum up his bad news by posting
on his Facebook page last weekend that the latest austerity announcement was
one of the hardest speeches he had ever made and calling his constituents “amigos”
didn’t placate anyone. Ironically, Portugal has won praise from the other 16
countries using the shared euro currency for complying with the terms of the
€78 billion bailout agreement it signed in May 2011, which set out a list of
targets Portugal must meet, including spending cuts and economic reforms, by
2014. Even food is more expensive as the government increased sales tax on
meals to 23 percent from 13 percent last year. Facing more financial
constraints literally everywhere they turn, the Portuguese are now starting to
swing back……..
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