- Get off Hungary’s back, world. With European Union
leaders gathering this week in Brussels for important economic meetings,
Hungary is facing heat from other EU nations and the world community over recent
constitutional changes that critics allege threaten democracy and the rule of
law in the Eastern European nation. Prime Minister Viktor Orban was having none
of those allegations and summarily rejected criticism from the EU and human
rights groups by letting the haters know that they are wrong and that the
amendments to Hungary's constitution were in line with European Union treaties.
"As far
as I can see, we are talking about political opinions here," Orban said
through a translator. "They cannot replace facts. Hungary's democratic
institutions are strong enough to defend themselves.” Orban spoke ahead of a
summit in Brussels of the EU's 27 national leaders, but his words seem unlikely
to do much to quell fears that an amendment approved by Hungarian lawmakers on
Monday weakens the country's constitutional court and undermines its democratic
checks and balances. Orban's conservative government maintains a choke hold on
the nation with a two-thirds majority in parliament and used its legislative
muscle to push through a sweeping overhaul of the country's institutions and
its constitution. "We got a two-thirds majority because people trusted us
with the job," Orban added. The prime minister has been fighting a running
battle with the EU since 2010 as he works to increase his executive control.
Whether it’s his moves to limit the central bank's independence or censoring
the media, Orban has been relentless in his quest to oppress. Critics have
dismissed a few pro-EU changes as superficial and meaningless and the rights
group Human Rights Watch blasted the regime’s changes as moves that “have
undermined media freedom, limited judicial independence and weakened the power
of the constitutional court.” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and German
Chancellor Angela Merkel have been critical of the changes and European
Parliament President Martin Schulz urged the union’s bloc's 27 leaders not to
allow a member state to slide back on the EU's core principles. "The
European Union is a community of values," he said. "We cannot remain
silent if a member state rides roughshod over them." Sounds like a major
showdown is brewing………..
- This is one of those crimes that everyone could have seen
coming. In fact, what would have been a real shock is a cast member of a
reality show called “Moonshiners” taking any longer to get arrested for public
intoxication. Credit Steven Ray Tickle, known simply as Tickle on the Discovery
Channel series, for stepping up and earning what has to be a crap load of
moonshiner street cred by getting busted for being fall-down drunk Thursday in
a convenience store parking lot. Better still, his arrest came at a place
Charley’s Stop and Shop, located beside the yellow brick road of nomads, the
turnpike. Police were called to the convenience store on Franklin Turnpike in
Danville, Va. at 2:40 p.m. after a complaint about a man drinking in a vehicle.
Why anyone is calling the police to b*tch about someone enjoying a mid-day
drink in their own parked vehicle in the middle of the day is unclear, but the
officer who responded to the call smelled alcohol while approaching the car. By
drinking while parked and with his vehicle turned off, Tickle did avoid a drunk
driving charge. He was unable to find anyone to come pick him up and after
being spotted Tickle drinking from an open container, he was arrested for being
drunk in public and was taken to the Danville City Jail. The Pittsylvania
County resident was released later in the day and odds are, he was back home
and working on acquiring supplies for and setting up plans to brew his next
batch of ‘shine. The Discovery Channel's website describes Tickle as "a hard
working still hand who loves moonshine,” and never has his love of the ol’
drinky-drinky been more apparent. His arrest puts the impetus on his fellow
“Moonshiners” cast members to step their games up and get arrested for an
alcohol-related offense because there is no way a self-respecting moonshiner
can get away with not having a booze-related arrest on his or her record……..
- A game of Darrelle Revis chicken has broken out along the
East Coast. In the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, the New York Jets are
hell-bent on trading their All-Pro defensive back who happens to be coming back
from a torn ACL. In Tampa, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are interested in acquiring
said All-Pro defensive back – but not for the price the Jets are demanding.
According to multiple reports, the Bucs are balking at the demand that they surrender their 2013 first-round draft
pick (13th overall) to acquire Revis. The Jets have already cut or lost
significant members of their defense, but Revis – when healthy – is their best
player on that side of the ball. However, he is also seeking a long-term
extension that would pay him about $16 million per year and the Jets have shown
no inclination to pay him that much. They’re committed to dealing Revis, but
general manager John Idzik is willing to wait until next month's draft and
beyond to find the right deal. While Revis is due a roster bonus if he remains
on the Jets' roster on Saturday, the bonus is relatively small at $1 million.
Taking that hit and earning a first-round pick for their best defensive player
is a trade the Jets appear happy to make and accepting a substandard deal for a
player still regarded as the best cornerback in the league would be bad for
their look. None of that changes the fact that owner Woody Johnson privately
admitted that he doesn't want to give Revis another huge contract, nor does it
alter the reality that Revis is set to make $6 million in the final season of a
four-year, $46 million deal and has held out both times he came to the end of
his deal with the Jets, in 2007 and 2010. There is no way the team will go into
another season with Revis’ contract drama hanging over their heads and teams
such as the Bucs know this, which is why they’ll hold out as long as possible
and perhaps deal their first round pick in a future draft at some point rather
than surrender their top pick in this year’s draft………
- N.I.O. Nap It Out. That philosophy works for successful
sports figures like North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams and Los
Angeles Lakers star Steve Nash and a financial services firm in New Jersey is taking the
idea to hear in an effort to make employees more productive by ensuring they
are well-rested. Nationwide Planning Associates in Paramus, N.J. had some spare
room on its hands. Like many businesses, it had a storage closet that was used
to stash unneeded items and could easily be converted into a more productive
space. The powers that be at the firm decided that the time had come to take
action…by remaking the closet into a nap room where employees could schedule
20-minute sessions twice a week to get away during peak nap time — 1 p.m. to 3
p.m. With the makeover complete and a $1,000 investment made to purchase an
easy chair, dim lighting, cool green paint for the walls and a water fountain,
the “Rejuvenation Center” was complete and the idea for relaxation to increase
productivity was implemented. “It’s hard to relay how beneficial it really is
unless you try it,” Chief Compliance Officer James Colleary said. “You have a
cup of coffee in the afternoon, you might get a little bit of a boost from
that, but only after you have a true power nap, do you really know what it’s
like to be alert and energized in the middle of the day.” Napping for 20
minutes might seem like a waste of time, but lazy employees have embraced the
concept and having a sleepy worker napping it out in the Rejuvenation Center
instead of drowsily slumbering through the day at their desk definitely
improves the company’s image. Many doctors tout the health benefits of napping,
including reduced fatigue, increased alertness and improved performance, but
company officials say the nap room has also helped reduce employee turnover by
improving morale. The room is small, so it can be used by only one person at a
time, leaving everyone else to nap it out somewhere else……….
- Rethinking Pluto’s status as a non-planet, science? Downgrading
Pluto from the galaxy’s ninth planet to a dwarf planet in 2006 was insulting,
so maybe it’s time to rethink the move after NASA New Horizons mission leaders discovered a flotilla of 10 or more
tiny undiscovered moons lurking n Pluto's orbit. The moons could complicate a
spacecraft's planned flyby of the distant dwarf planet in 2015, a mission that
would take the first-ever up-close look at the Pluto system in July 2015. Pluto's
fifth known moon, a small satellite known as P5, was discovered last year,
leading NASA officials to suggest that they may need to redraw the spacecraft's
path to avoid such obstacles. Having 10 more tiny moons to contend with
complicated the situation even further, according to New Horizons principal
investigator Alan Stern. "It
has our attention," Stern said, adding that he hasn't thoroughly analyzed
the work yet. The collection of new moons all measure just 0.6 miles to 1.8
miles across and were identified during a simulation looking at how Pluto's
known small satellites came to be. The former planet was once surrounded by a
cloud of dust whose origins have never been definitively pinpointed, explaining
why NASA plans a fly-by in 2015. Scientists theorize that Pluto's largest moon
Charon, may ht have slammed into the dwarf planet, producing debris. Its four
known smaller moons — P4, Nix, P5 and Hydra — are believed to have formed as
the dust collided and clumped together, forming bigger and bigger objects. The
New Horizons team staged the simulation to examine that theory and used calculations
they previously used to look at planet formation and identify the origins of
objects in the Kuiper Belt, a gigantic collection of icy bodies beyond
Neptune's orbit. Spotting the mini-moons from Earth is nearly impossible, as
they are most likely beyond the reach of even the most sensitive ground-based
telescopes, such as the Keck Observatory in Hawaii……..
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