- The 140-year-old
Holy Angels Catholic Church in Darboy, Wisc. is “batting” 1.000 and while that
might be a perfect batting mark in baseball, it’s a problem for the place of
worship. A church maintenance worker discovered the bat infestation when he
went to check out a leak in the roof and when he opened the door to the attic,
he received an unwelcome surprise. "And lo and behold, when he opened up
the attic roof, he found that he had seen some bat droppings,” said Patty Vande
Voort, Holy Spirit Parish business administrator. “We didn't anticipate a bat
colony in the church at all.” Sadly, spraying something toxic and waiting for
the bats to die isn’t a feasible solution for such a problem and the
infestation, along with the resulting roof damage, have morphed into a
$100,000-plus project. In order to get rid of the bats, prevent them from
coming back and repair insulation damage, extensive repairs are needed and on
top of that (pun intended), the roof still has to be replaced. While the
project is ongoing, parishioners will have to shift their worshipping to the
parish's sister church in Kimberly, where services will be held beginning March
4 and continuing until the renovation is complete. Removing bats is a
complicated process in Wisconsin, where bats (ridiculously) enjoy protected
status. On top of that hassle, the area’s miserable winter weather complicates
the issue because forcing bats out into the über-cold conditions could be
construed as violating the state’s policy of protecting them from environmental
threats. Church officials hope to use a diocese endowment to cover some of the
costs for the repairs and raise the rest in order to complete the project by
April 1. Outagamie County Health Department officials have approved the plan to
get rid of the bats……..
- There may have been a slew of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
movies and television shows in recent years, but maybe it’s time for another
one. After all, any time dudes around the world can stare at Megan Fox poorly delivering
bad dialogue in a movie with a bloated budget and ridiculous premise, a studio
somewhere has to green-light that project…right? Fox will indeed be a part of
the next TMNT film, and if there’s a big-budget movie sure to be choked to
death by excessive, computer-generated effects, you know Michael Bay has to be
helming it. Sure enough, Bay is producing the film and he broke the news on
his blog that will take part in the reboot of the series, based on radioactive
material being spilled into a sewer and turning four turtles into human-like,
walking, talking crime fighters with martial arts expertise courtesy of a
Yoda-like rat named Splinter. Fox will play April O'Neil, a television reporter
and friend of the turtles who has had her life saved by the group multiple
times. While Bay will produce the movie, Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath of the
Titans) will direct a truly odd mix in which the pizza-loving turtles will be
computer-generated, with real actors appearing alongside them. In place of the
ridiculous costumes that were used in three TMNT movies released between 1990
and 1993, motion capture will be used. Outside of guys who like checking Fox
out for two hours on the big screen, anyone who grew up in the late ‘80s or
early ‘90s, when the series was first created, should enjoy the movie. Filming
is set to begin in New York in the spring and the film is set for a May 16,
2014 release…….
- No one around Washington Redskins quarterback Robert
Griffin III is doing anything to slow the roll on the hope that the star signal
caller will recover from a torn ACL and LCL in time to start in Week 1 next
season. An Adidas commercial featuring a voiceover from Griffin talking about
“blowing up” everything in his path and pushing toward a Week 1 return this
fall because nothing he’s done in the past matters created such a buzz among
Redskins fans that Griffin felt the need to take to Twitter and let everyone
know he wasn’t going to rush back too soon. Now, the man who performed the
surgery to repair his torn ACL and LCL is joining in the hype. Dr. James
Andrews, the Redskins team doctor who is on the sideline for their games, said
Friday that Griffin is "way
ahead of schedule" in his recovery from the procedure. "We have him
well on his way. His recovery is way ahead of schedule so far,” Andrews said.
We don't have to do much but try to hold him back, if you want to know the
truth. Our whole mode for him though is to do what is best for his career, not
necessarily what is best for the first game next season. So all of that has to
be put on hold and let him get well." Griffin suffered a sprained LCL in
Washington's Week 14 win against the Baltimore Ravens, returned two weeks later
and reinjured the knee early in a first-round playoff loss to the Seattle
Seahawks when he was somehow allowed to return to the game by head coach Mike
Shanahan even though he had clearly injured himself severely and was hobbling
around at much less than full strength. Since tearing two ligaments, he has won
The Associated Press 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award and impressed
team officials enough with his recovery to convince them that he has a
legitimate chance to start in the 2013 opener…….
- Google is back at it. Its quest for world domination rages
on and the next battleground is touch-screen laptops. The company unveiled the
first such laptops powered by its Chrome operating system and thw new high-end
Chrome device, called the Chromebook Pixel, was designed and built by Google
with help from a hardware partner in Taiwan. It definitely isn't cheap and if
Google were seeking to undercut Apple or other competitors, it would not be
selling a Wi-Fi-only version for $1,299 and a $1,449 version that also includes
built-in LTE wireless technology so people can use it on the go. The LTE
version will hit the market in April and Verizon will offer special wireless
plans for Pixel owners. Previous Chrome devices have sold for as little as
$199, but none of them have offered touch screens. Google will sell the new
computers through the Google Play online store and BestBuy.com in the United
States and at Dixons PLC's PCWorld stores in the United Kingdom. A big part of
Google’s push to expand its hardware repertoire has been its newly acquired
Motorola Mobility unit, which designs and builds smartphones and tablets.
Intel, a leading chip maker, has also been aggressive in pushing computer
makers to get on board with the trend of thin portables called Ultrabooks,
which include models that can be operated in a tablet or clamshell model. Google
Chrome executive Sundar Pichai spoke at an event in San Francisco about the
challenges of convincing users to embrace touch-screen laptops and admitted it
will take some time. "It's clear [that] touch is here to stay and it's the
future," he said, adding that a touch screen would improve the way users
navigate online photo albums or view sites such as Google Street View. Another
selling point for the Chromebook Pixel is that it boots up in a matter of
seconds while sporting 32 GB of hard-drive space (64 GB for the LTE model)……..
- So….this probably isn't what Spain needs right about now. A
country in a perpetual state of unrest as the angry masses battle back against
European Union-imposed austerity measures definitely could do without news that
its king's
son-in-law appeared before a judge on the island of Mallorca on Saturday to
respond to charges of tax fraud in a $7.9 million embezzlement case. Even
though the king doesn’t appear to have been involved in the fraud, the case has
diminished public support for the once-popular royal family and combined with other
corruption cases in which politicians are accused of taking millions of euros
in bribes, Spaniards are enraged. The country’s unemployment rate having soared
to 26 percent in a deep recession may have something to do with their anger as
well. Inaki Urdangarin, a former Olympics handball player who is married to the
king's daughter, the Infanta Cristina, is at the heart of the scandal. He is
accused of using his powerful connections to win public contracts to put on
events on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca and across Spain. Urdangarin’s Noos
Foundation is accused of overcharging for organizing conferences about the
business of sports and stashing its illegal proceeds abroad. He was questioned
by Examining Magistrate Jose Castro in a closed-door hearing and was greeted
outside the courthouse by hundreds of protesters chanting and holding up signs
reading, "Down with the monarchy" and "They call this a
democracy but it isn't." Urdangarin faces charges of fraud, forgery,
embezzlement and corruption and if convicted, he could face a prison sentence
and fines. The case has dragged on since 2011, when Urdangarin was first
charged and called in for questioning. Even better, it could stretch on for months
or even years as the judge continues his probe and adds or dismisses charges. Urdangarin
is doing his part to slow the process down by fighting an order that he and a
former business partner in the Noos Foundation post bail of about $10.8
million. All of this creates a fun atmosphere in a nation where more companies
announce lay-offs each week, tens of thousands of homeowners have defaulted on
their mortgages and been evicted from their homes and the government
has cut public salaries and spending on health and education. King Juan Carlos,
who took the throne in 1975, has taken a hit in the scandal and politicians
have openly called for him to abdicate and hand the throne to his son, Prince
Felipe. Good times all around………
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