- The national nightmare is over, Canada. A sad saga that
began last month when the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers reported large
quantities of syrup missing last month during a routine inventory has been
wrapped up after police executed a search warrant in Kedjwick, New Brunswick –
probably. At this point, the entire situation is shrouded in secrecy. What is
known at this point is that police have recovered more than 600 barrels of
maple syrup as part of an investigation into a multi-million dollar heist.
After it was recovered, the seized syrup was transported under police
protection from New Brunswick to Quebec, officials said. However, the powers
that be refuse to provide more investigation on who stole the syrup, how police
learned its whereabouts or where the investigation stands. Kedjwick-based
exporter S.K. Export Inc. is at the epicenter of the syrupy emergency and the
company confirmed that police visited last week and told company officials that
the visit was related to the missing syrup. Owner Etienne St.-Pierre said his
usual suppliers, small producers based in Quebec, sold it to him. Because of
his company’s ties to whatever the hell is going on, St.-Pierre has been locked
out of his own office and the building remains under Royal Canadian Mounted
Police watch. "They came in and said, 'We're taking everything.' There
wasn't much I could do," St.-Pierre said. Police reviewed all paperwork in
the office in an attempt to get to the bottom of the Great Pancake Topper Heist
of 2012. Regardless of how it ends, the image of a heavily guarded convoy of 16
trailer-loads of confiscated syrup traveling along the highway to Quebec is a
sight that could only happen in Canada. With a value of more than $20 million,
the recovered loot should be quite a boost to the world’s maple syrup
kingpins………
- Major college football’s longest winning streak came to
an emphatic end Saturday. TCU, previously unbeaten and ranked 15th in the
country, fell 37-23 to an Iowa State team it probably would have beaten as recently
as one week ago. What changed? That would be the indefinite suspension of
heavily tattooed starting quarterback Casey Pachall. TCU coach Gary Patterson announced Thursday that
Pachall would not be playing for the Horned Frogs any time soon. “Casey Pachall
has been suspended indefinitely from competition. My job as a head coach is
to win games, educate our kids and help them with their lives,” Patterson
said in a statement. Patterson refused
to comment further on what earned Pachall his suspension, but local media
outlets in Fort Worth reported that Pachall was arrested overnight Wednesday
near TCU’s campus on a DWI charge. According to the police report, Pachall
was playing bumper cars with a curb and ran a stop sign before being stopped.
After he was pulled over, Pachall reportedly registered an impressive
blood-alcohol content of .15, nearly twice the legal limit. Neither Patterson
nor anyone else associated with TCU should be stunned by the incident, as
Pachall has had substance abuse issues before. Two months ago, he admitted that
he failed a university-administered drug test because of marijuana use and
also that he previously used cocaine. Because those were past incidents, he did
not miss any games as a result. He was definitely missed against Iowa State,
with his nearly 1,000 yards passing and 10 touchdowns of no benefit as the
Cyclones hassled replacement starter Trevone Boykin into three interceptions.
Obviously, those are the risks a team takes when it has a booze hound, cokehead
stoner of a quarterback leading its team……..
- Now is not the time to panic, world. Sure, there is a
growing meningitis outbreak linked to
spiral injections for back pain, but there is actually good news to emerge from
a time of suffering for many. Everyone not affected by the outbreak can be
thankful that the situation has shed light on improper regulation of a certain
kind of drug production. The medicine used for the injections was not developed
a major drug company, but instead was created by a compounding pharmacy in
Framingham, Mass. Such pharmacies do not receive approval from the Food and
Drug Administration when creating their drugs, giving them free reign to crank
out substandard products. Federal inspectors finally received a chance to
examine a sealed vial of the drug at the New England pharmacy after the
outbreak started and shockingly, foreign particles could be seen floating in
the drug by the naked eye. Even more stunning further analysis revealed that
the particles were a fungus. A total of 17,676 vials of this tainted drug have
been shipped to 75 clinics in 23 states, so it’s not like this is a big problem
or anything. A mere five people have died and a few others have fallen ill, but
let’s not panic. We can all have a calm, rational discussion about the moronic
practice of clinics using unapproved drugs for something as sensitive as an
epidural injection. Some physicians have argued that these pharmacies allow
them to acquire specialty drugs that they wouldn’t be able to find otherwise.
That isn’t the case with the steroid used for this particular injection, but
let’s not lose focus by worrying about the details. Compounding is the practice
of tailoring a specific pharmaceutical to fit the unique needs of a single
patient instead of a larger group and because it falls between state and
federal regulations, no legal status has yet to been assigned to compounded
drugs. A similar outbreak in 2002 led to five illnesses and one death and contaminated
vials were traced back to a South Carolina compounding pharmacy. The
Massachusetts Department of Public Health has received complaints on other
compounding medicines, but maybe this will be the case to finally push the
issue to the forefront. National health scares tend to have that sort of
effect………
- Treasure time is here on the Mississippi River. Declining
water levels across the globe have revealed everything from lost World War II
bombs to stolen Polish treasure and now, a World War II ship long submerged
beneath the waters of the Mississippi near St. Louis. Credit St. Louis resident
Norman James with the find on this one as he spotted the USS Inaugural minesweeper, which broke
free from its mooring under the St. Louis Arch during the flood of 1993 and crashed
into the Poplar Street bridge. The historical ship sank south of the MacArther
Bridge, making it one of about 700 ships that have been recorded as shipwrecked
on the stretch of the Mississippi River between Cairo and Hannibal.
“Actually
I was driving across and I seen this big boat come across. We was trying to
hurry up and get across the bridge. It was just like once we came across we saw
it on the news that it had crashed and ended up here. This is where it’s been
ever since,” James recalled in grammatically stunted fashion. There is a good
chance more ships will surface as the water level drops into the winter from
this summer’s drought. “Most of what’s going to be coming up is river
training structures, bank strengthenings, dikes, things like that. Which
to the uneducated eye will sometimes look like posts of wood standing up out of
the water. But most of the time you’re going to see more of those than
you are going to see ships themselves.” said Army Corp of Engineers archeologist
Mark Smith. Of course, with this sort of discovery, there is always the chance
that kooks will be inspired to venture out onto the dry riverbed in search of
treasure. Unfortunately, state law mandates that the ships and their contents
belong to the government, so anything discovered on a found ship would have to
be taken before anyone realized they were there, er, they belong to the
state………
- Never, ever underestimate the draw of Liam Neeson kicking
ass on the movie screen. “Taken 2” may have been panned by a large number of
critics, but movie goers showed up in big numbers to see the sequel to the film
that featured Neeson and his very particular set of skills punching a hell of a
lot of people in the throat. “Taken 2” opened with $50 million in domestic
earnings to almost double up last weekend’s top film, “Hotel Transylvania,” which ranked
second with $26.3 million for a two-week tally of $76 million. “Pitch Perfect,”
a.k.a. “Glee” goes to college and adds and über-FAT chick, did extremely well
as it expanded into wider release, ranking third and turning in a second-weekend
total of $14.7 million. That marks a 185-percent increase from its opening
weekend and gives the project $21.6 million in two weeks of work. Sci-fi
thriller “Looper” landed in fourth place with $12.2 million and after its first
two weeks, has $40.4 million in domestic earnings. Newcomer “Frankenweenie”
could not capitalize on the immense promotional hype leading up to its release
and was fifth. Its $11.5 million effort was underwhelming, especially given its
numerous promotional tie-ins. “End of Watch” locked down sixth place with $4
million and although it is falling fast, the law enforcement drama has brought
in $32.8 domestically thus far. Clint Eastwood’s mega-unwatchable “Trouble with
the Curve” could manage only $3.9 million in its third weekend and has a mere
$29.7 million overall bank roll. “House at the End of The Street” scared its
way to $3.7 million, good enough for eighth place, and through three weeks, it
has managed a modest $27.5 million. “The Master” chugged along in limited
release and with Phillip Seymour Hoffman telling the story of Scientology, the
drama earned $1.9 million for a four-week tally of $12.3 million. Disney’s
shameless cash grab of re-releasing “Finding Nemo” in 3D rounded out the top 10
with $1.5 million and has made $39 million after one month back in theaters. “Resident
Evil: Retribution” (No. 12) and “Won't Back Down” (No. 13) both dropped out
from last week’s top 10……….
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