- Hockey players are still badass, in case anyone forgot. Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby
proved the point once more on Saturday during 2-0 victory against the New York
Islanders. Crosby, whose team notched its 15th consecutive win and is within two
wins of the NHL record by Mario Lemieux and the 1992-93 Penguins, wasn’t on the
ice when the game ended because he lost several teeth and needed oral surgery
after he was hit in the mouth with a puck. He exited the ice with a towel
covering his mouth after Brooks Orpik's slap shot from the point deflected off
a stick and blasted him in the mouth just 1:28 into the game. Pittsburgh coach
Dan Bylsma wasn't sure if the injury affected Crosby's jaw and didn't know if
he would miss any additional games. "I just know he had some issues with
his teeth," Bylsma said. "Just from the replay I know that."
With a well-documented history of concussion problems, the Penguins aren’t
likely to take any chances with their biggest star. Crosby missed the final 41
games in 2011 and the Stanley Cup playoffs due to concussion-related symptoms
and also missed most of the 2012 regular season as symptoms lingered. "I think every time that type of
thing happens to a player you think about it," Bylsma admitted. Crosby’s
production has soared this season as his health has improved and he currently
leads the league with 41 assists and 56 points. He also holds a 10-point lead
in the NHL scoring race, but his latest injury could harm his chances of
snagging the scoring title. The Penguins wre at least fortuitous in the timing
of the injury, as they acquired star forward Jarome Iginla in a trade with
Calgary two days prior to Crosby getting blasted in the head with a puck. He
immediately fell to the ice and tossed his stick in the air after impact, then
was rushed to the hospital for surgery…….
- Feeding the homeless has finally been decriminalized for
one Dallas man. Don Hart has spent the past three decades feeding the down and out in
Big D, but the past eight years have been a bit of a battle. That’s because
in 2005, the city of Dallas passed
an ordinance, requiring organizations feeding the homeless to get the city’s
approval, provide bathrooms and meet a list of public safety requirements. That
made life difficult for a small-time outfit such as Hart’s BIGHEART Ministries.
By the time the ordinance passed, he had a steady crowd of homeless men and
women coming to him for a meal, clothing and counseling. “I feel like it’s
God’s appointment,” he said. “It grew, grew, grew… until we were feeding
thousands of people.” Once the new regulations went into place, Hart found
himself spending thousands and thousands of dollars to comply and it reached
the point where trying to help was simply too expensive. He and his daughter,
Dana Hart-Ball, had to sit the Christmas season out because they couldn’t
afford to assist in a way that would be city-approved. . “It kept getting
worse, until finally police were coming out,” Hart-Ball said. One day, officers
arrived on the scene and nearly a dozen cars ringed the scene of an event.
Officers began questioning volunteers and threatening to haul them off to jail
unless they ceased and desisted immediately. “They’re ready to take us to jail
– for what? Praying for people? Scrambling eggs?” Hart-Ball asked. With all
of the drama surrounding Hart’s charitable efforts the past few years, he’s
also been waging a legal war against the city. His lawsuit dragged on for more
than seven years, but it came to an end. Thursday morning when a judge ruled
the city’s ordinance violated Texas law protecting Hart’s religious freedom.
“I’m totally blessed. It’s been a great, great, great victory,” he said.
Sounds like a real Easter miracle…….
- Firefighters being able to see is typically a positive
development. British researchers believe that they can help in that pursuit and
they have
devised the prototype of a tactile helmet which uses vibrations to help
firefighters find their way through dark or smoke-filled conditions. A team at
the University of Sheffield Centre for Robotics created the helmet, which was
inspired by the study of touch-related sensing of rodents who use their
whiskers as an early-warning system against potential hazards. It contains a
large number of ultrasound sensors used to detect the distance between the
person wearing the headgear and nearby obstacles, including walls. These
sensors then emit signals to vibration pads attached to the inside of the
helmet. The pads rest against the forehead of the person wearing the helmet and
as a firefighter gets closer to an obstacle, the pads against their forehead
will vibrate to alert them to the presence of the object. "When a
firefighter is responding to an emergency situation he will be using his eyes
and ears to make sense of his environment, trying to make out objects in a
smoke filled room, for example, or straining to hear sounds from people who
might need rescuing,” said project leader Tony Prescott, professor and director
of the Sheffield Centre for Robotics. “We found that in these circumstances it
was difficult to process additional information through these senses. Using the
sense of touch, however, we were able to deliver additional information
effectively.” He and his team used a donated Rosenbauer-brand firefighting
helmet to develop the prototype and they spent two years chewing through
research dollars from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
(EPSRC)………
- Progress is being made in Peru. A country that wouldn’t be
classified as a world or military power by much of anyone is starting to reach
a place the United States was at decades ago, back in the Vietnam War era. Yes,
the proud tradition of rich people using their ways and means to get out of having
to go to war lives on and it has arrived in South America. All of this has come
about after Peru’s
government announced new rules for a possible military draft. The Peruvian
military is struggling to fill thousands of vacant positions and authorities
say if they cannot find enough volunteers, they will start a draft this May.
Both men and women 18 and older will be eligible…..but there’s a caveat. If a
person is draft-eligible but doesn’t want to be put in a position where someone
might end up shooting at them, they can merely pay a fine of 1,850 soles
($715). For some odd reason, critics claim the measure will allow the wealthy
to avoid military service and leave the poor with no other option but to
enlist. Right…and the problem is? Rich people and the affluent did just that
with great success back when the U.S. was conscripting unwilling souls into
going off to die for their country in unjust wars and it’s nice to see this
proud tradition revived. Military leaders are adamant that the new measure isn't
discriminatory and that the draft is a necessary step to rebuild their ranks.
Opposition lawmakers plan to summon Peru's defense minister to testify over the
matter, but various media outlets have already slammed the potential new rule
as "discrimination against those who have the least." In a country
where nearly a third of the population lives below the poverty line and a
minimum wage salary is 750 soles ($290) per month, coming up with $715 could be
tough….but it will teach the poor the value of saving their money and not
spending it on frivolous things such as food, housing and clothing because some
day, they may need it to avoid being drafted. The new policy would be the same
as neighboring Colombia, which also fines those who refuse to serve after they're
called up………
- A win is a win, but the ass-kicking machine that “G.I.
Joe: Retaliation” was supposed to be at the box office in its debut weekend
never really materialized. After its release was delayed for several months due
to alleged issues surrounding the 3-D version of the film, the action
heavyweight dropped to a $41.2 million result to seize the top spot for the
weekend. That allowed it to wrangle the top spot away from last weekend’s top
film, “The Croods,” which fell to second with $26.5 million and has banked
$88.6 million in domestic earnings through two weeks. The latest identical and
unwatchable Tyler Perry movie, “Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a
Marriage Counselor,” opened in third place with $22.3 million, which was enough
to bump “Olympus Has Fallen” to fourth place. A $14 million second weekend
placed the action not-so-epic two spots lower than last weekend and raised its
cumulative domestic total to $54.7 million and counting. “Oz The Great and
Powerful” ranked fifth for the frame with $11.6 million and has banked $198.2
million so far. Newcomer “The Host” failed to impress much of anyone and made a
mere $11 million in its opening weekend, good for only sixth place. “The Call”
secured seventh place with $4.8 million in its third weekend and the
WWE-produced drama has earned $39.4 million thus far. Tina Fey’s new comedy
“Admission” turned in another uninspired result, with $3.3 million for a
two-week total of just $11.7 million. “Spring Breakers” raged its way to ninth
place and made $2.7 million in its process. While its overall earnings are
modest at $10.1 million, a modest $5 million budget means it has more than
doubled itself up already. The final spot in the top 10 belonged to “The
Incredible Burt Wonderstone” with $1.3 million in its third weekend for a
flop-tastic three-week tally of $20.5 million. “Identity Thief,” (No. 11),
“Jack the Giant Slayer” (No. 12) and “Snitch” (No. 14) all dropped out from
last weekend’s top 10………
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