- Since when is being confused with a prestigious Ivy League
university NOT a compliment? When you’re a South American nation best known for
giving cocaine one of its best nicknames (Colombian nose candy), that’s when.
Yes, the people of Colombia are sick and tired of people misspelling their name
with a “u”
and thereby disrespecting them in an incredibly offensive way. Being lumped in
with Columbia University, Hollywood’s Columbia Pictures, Columbia sportswear,
Columbia, South Carolina and other notable Columbias is somehow a major slight
for Colombians and they have launched an international campaign to remedy the
problem. “We saw this common error and realized it was a platform to start
updating the world’s vision of what is happening in our country,” says Emilio
Pombo, one of four founders of the “It’s Colombia, NOT Columbia” social media
campaign. Since its launch on Feb. 8, “It’s Colombia, NOT Columbia” has reached
people in more than 50 countries and received nearly 7,000 likes on Facebook. “We
currently have great things happening. Colombia is becoming a destination and
getting on the world stage. We want to spotlight that and it all starts with
people spelling our country’s name right.” Never mind the fact that others
spelling your nation’s name correctly is most definitely not the starting point
for anything other than certifying your status as the tool who corrects other
people for their grammar, spelling and punctuation, because what really matters
here is that Pombo, Rodrigo Salazar, Tatiana González and Carlos Pardo have
created the “It’s Colombia, NOT Columbia” campaign and they’re kicking it up a
notch. They have been invited to participate in this month’s New York Social
Media Week after also taking part in last September’s Bogotá Social Media Week.
“Colombia today is attracting international investment to our infrastructure,”
Pombo added. “We’ve had big acts like Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney and Madonna
come to our country recently… something that ten, even five years ago, no one
would have ever thought of.” If having a pop hack such as Lady Gaga visit one’s
nation is truly progress, then maybe backwards is the way the world should go
and perhaps a reputation as the base for the international drug trade and the
scene of an ongoing battle between the Colombian government and that country’s
largest terrorist organization, the FARC, isn’t such a bad thing……….
- Goldfish: Cute, short-living pet you win for the ring toss
at the county fair or menace of the open seas? Before answering that question,
listen to the tale of the whopper of a goldfish recently found in the depths of Lake Tahoe. Researchers
were trawling the lake, searching for invasive fish species when they stumbled
across a goldfish that was nearly 1.5 feet long and 4.2 pounds. "During
these surveys, we've found a nice corner where there's about 15 other
goldfish,” said environmental scientist Sudeep Chandra of the University of
Nevada, Reno. "It's an indication that they were schooling and
spawning." Chandra and his team believe the fish were dumped there by
aquarium owners and they’re concerned the goldfish could interfere with Lake
Tahoe's ecosystem. Goldfish are just one of several species of invasive
warm-water fishes in Lake Tahoe and they are making life very difficult for native
species. Goldfish and their lake-crashing friends also cause problems because
they excrete nutrients that cause algal blooms, which threaten to muddy Tahoe's
clear waters. The story seems bizarre because typically, goldfish die within
days and end up getting flushed down so many toilets in so many homes across
America. Why would anyone feel the need to drive to a massive lake and dump
them in order to get ride of them? The exact number of people dumping their
aquarium contents into outdoor bodies of water isn’t known, but scientists are
sure the practice is occurring because these species could not have ended up in
these waters naturally. Studies have shown that at least 102 species arrive at
ports in San Francisco and Los Angeles alone, and that’s just two ecosystems.
All of this is something to consider before toting that goldfish home from the
Paducah County Fair and allowing little Timmy to get too attached to it………
- Oscar weekend did not bring any sort of Oscar bump for box
office earnings. Last weekend’s top film tumbled to fifth place in its second
week of release, no movie made more than $14 million and the race to the top of
the earnings list was more of a crawl. The uninspiring “Identity Thief”
reclaimed the top spot after dropping to second last weekend, making $14
million to up its three-week domestic total to $94 million. Newcomer “Snitch”
snagged second place with $13 million for a so-so debut, followed by the
animated children’s movie “Escape From Planet Earth” in third with $11 million
for a two-week tally of $35.1 million. The overly cheesy chick flick known as
“Safe Haven” was fourth for the weekend and added $10.6 million to its
cumulative domestic bank roll for a running total of $48.1 million. The
nostalgic power of John McClane returning to theaters lasted for all of one
weekend as “A Good Day to Die Hard” tumbled to fifth and saw its earnings dip
60 percent en route to a $10 million effort that left it with a two-week
earnings total of $51.8 million. “Dark Skies” scored sixth place in its debut
and made $8.9 million in a mediocre start to its run in theaters. “Silver
Linings Playbook” remarkably remained in the top 10 in its 15th week, banking
$6 million to up its total take to $107.5 million and counting. “Warm Bodies”
ranked eighth with $4.8 million and has made $58.2 million thus far, while
“Side Effects” fell to ninth in its third weekend and brought in $3.6 million
for an overall tally of $25.2 million. “Beautiful Creatures” rounded out the
top 10 with $3.4 million, while “Zero Dark Thirty” (No. 11) and “Hansel and
Gretel: Witch Hunters” (No. 13) both dropped off the list from last weekend………
- And that is reason No. 4,766 you rarely store your unused
ammunition in the same place you bake your double-fudge chocolate chip
brownies. St. Petersburg, Fla. resident Aalaya Walker learned that lesson in a painful
way when she was visiting a friend and the two of them decided they wanted some
late-night waffles. Apparently sans a waffle maker or a box of waffles and a
toaster, they began preheating the oven. That shouldn’t have been an issue, but
Walker’s friend J.J. Sandy had decided to store a magazine from his .45-caliber
Glock 21 in the oven. Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of chemistry
and physics knows exactly what happened next: Once the oven reached a suitable
temperature, the bullets began flying and Walker was shot by the appliance. The
magazine exploded about 9 p.m., sending casing fragments flying in all
directions, striking Walker in the leg and chest. She was able to remove some
of the fragments from her leg and abdomen, then had to take a bus to the
hospital to receive treatment for her wounds. She was treated and released and
because all shootings – even ones carried out by home appliances – must be
reported to police once the victims seek treatment at a hospital, police
questioned Sandy and he informed them that he had stored the gun in a drawer
but had stored the magazine in the oven. At the time of the attempted
waffle-making, there were four rounds in the 13-capacity magazine, he said. If
Sandy knew much about the gun he apparently owns legally and has a proper
concealed weapons permit for, he would probably know that the .45-caliber
bullets commonly used in Glocks can explode at temperatures as low as 280
degrees or lower, if they are exposed to heat for a long time. Not having a
working temperature gauge on the oven would theoretically be another reason not
to store live rounds there, but the good news is that everyone is more
knowledgeable about a very important subject and a few flesh wounds are the
only suffering involved in learning that vital lesson……..
- Do NOT panic, New York Mets fans. Just because your
favorite team hasn’t finished fewer than 18 games out of first place since
2008, once again overhauled its roster this offseason and the former ace of its
starting staff just had his first
Grapefruit League appearance of the spring pushed back by as much as two weeks
as he attempts to return from his season-ending stint on the disabled list last
season with lower-back inflammation is no reason to overreact. Oh, and while
Johan Santana underwent shoulder surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule at
the end of the 2010 season and missed the following year, his not having
finished a season healthy and on the active roster is likewise no reason to be
worried – just ask general manager Sandy Alderson. Alderson made it clear that
although Santana's first spring training start has been pushed back by as much
as two weeks, that doesn’t mean he is injured. The 33-year-old left-hander was
originally scheduled to make his first spring training appearance March 2, but
that has been revised to the March 10-15 range. "There's no structural
issue," Alderson said. "It's just a matter of building up strength.
So he'll be long-tossing before he gets back on the mound. We expect that his
schedule will have been delayed somewhat.” Oh, sure thing. A pitcher whose
shoulder, arm and back appear to be breaking down on an annual basis reducing
his throwing before the season even starts and then having his spring debut
pushed back by two weeks is never an indicator of something more serious.
"I haven't gotten on the mound for a while, so it takes time to get
everything adjusted again and to get in that pitching mode again," Santana
said. "It takes time. That's what we're doing. It's not a setback at
all." Manager Terry Collins has designated Santana as his Opening Day
starter, assuming he’s healthy and able to pitch by then. The Mets’ new plan
calls for Santana to gradually build his arm strength and get back on the mound
only when ready. After letting everyone know that Santana is definitely NOT
injured, Alderson admitted he could not rule out the possibility of the man
scheduled to make $25.5 million in
the final guaranteed season of a six-year deal opening the season on the
disabled list. "Right now, we don't think so, but it's obviously a possibility,"
Alderson said. Glad we were able to clear that up……..
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