- The scene was ugly this week in France and the fact that
botched breast implants were involved isn't surprising. The drama was high as five French
executives who mercilessly heckled by victims as they went on trial on
accusations of supplying women with hundreds of thousands of substandard breast
implants and triggering a global health scare. More than 300,000 women
worldwide received the defective implants from the French company Poly Implant
Prothese (PIP)over the course of a decade and while it’s easy to argue that
these women wouldn’t have had this troubled if they weren’t so superficial and
vapid and hadn't sought to artificially enhance their racks, those responsible
still must face justice. This trial includes 5,000 civil plaintiffs and 300
lawyers and they’re all gunning for PIP's founder and chief executive,
73-year-old Jean-Claude Mas, and his four co-defendants. Mas has admitted
filling the implants with an unapproved homemade recipe made of
industrial-grade silicone gel. Even for the non-rack-enhancing expert, that
seems like it could cause some problems and so it is that Mas and four PIP
executives, including the chief financial officer, are charged with aggravated
fraud and risk maximum prison terms of five years each, plus fines. The
jerry-rigged fake racks were sold around the world from 2001 to 2010 before
they were ordered off the market. Crowds for the trial are expected to be so
massive that a large exhibition building close to PIP's former premises in the
southern city of Marseille has been set up as a makeshift courtroom to
accommodate. The trial is due to last until May 14 and it got off to a rousing
start this week when Mas arrived at court under police escort and someone in
the audience of some 300 victims shouted "Bastard!" It is an inglorious
ending for what was once the world's third-largest supplier of breast implants
and should get uglier from here. There are expected to be many stories told
like that of a French woman who was among those outside the court and who
alleges that one of her PIP implants began to leak four years after their
insertion. "We had foreign bodies put inside us that were flawed ... we
could have maybe died from it. The anger is because we were tricked,"
Tomassine Catalano said. "It's frightening." What’s disturbing about
all of this is that the reason PIP’s scam was shut down is someone gave
authorities an anonymous tip an inspectors discovered vats of industrial-grade
silicone outside the PIP factory in 2010………
- Are the creators of “Jurassic Park” paying attention to
this? When they’re cranking out the ninth horrible installment of the
dino-centric movie franchise, they will have another beast to add to their
collection. This small, meat-loving dinosaur has claimed a place in
Madagascar's dinosaur records and it sports the scientific name Dahalokely tokana.
Dubbed Lonely Small Bandit," it is the first new dinosaur species
identified on the island country in nearly a decade. Prior to its discovery,
scientists had evidence of dinosaurs that that lived 165 million years ago and
also 70 million years ago, but the time in between those two eras was a large
void. Project leader Andrew Farke and his team believe that the Lonely Small
Bandit measured between 9 and 14 feet long, walked upright on two legs and had
small, Tyrannosaurus rex-like arms. Its “Bandit” moniker stems from the fact
that the Dahalokely tokana likely hunted and scavenged for any meat it could
find. "We had always suspected that abelisaurids [carnivorous theropods]
were in Madagascar 90 million years ago, because they were also found in
younger rocks on the island,” Farke said. "Dahalokely nicely confirms this
hypothesis. But, the fossils of Dahalokely are tantalizingly incomplete - there
is so much more we want to know. Was Dahalokely closely related to later
abelisaurids on Madagascar, or did it die out without descendants?" Lonely
Small Bandit remains were found near the city of Antsiranana, in northernmost
Madagascar. Cavities located on the side of its vertebrae were shaped unlike
those of any other known dinosaur and some of its other characteristics mirror
those found in species from both India and Madagascar. "This dinosaur was
closely related to other famous dinosaurs from the southern continents, like
the horned Carnotaurus from Argentina and Majungasaurus, also from
Madagascar," said Joe Sertich, another member of the team that discovered
the new dinosaur. "This just reinforces the importance of exploring new
areas around the world where undiscovered dinosaur species are still waiting.” Let’s
have a big ROAR for science on this great find…….
- Aspiring NFL draftees head to the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis for the biggest job interview
of their lives. Every year, at least one or two would-be NFLers don’t get the
memo and show up badly out of shape or having smoked pot in the past few weeks
and therefore unable to pass a drug test they knew was coming. This year’s
combine disappointments may have taken a different route and these two
(alleged) knuckleheads are Clemson wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and Rutgers
wide receiver Mark Harrison. Hopkins and Harrison were the not-so-proud
occupants of an Indianapolis hotel room that sounds as if were occupied by an
all-hours after party thrown by members of Guns ‘N Roses and Black Sabbath in
their prime. Reports from Indianapolis have painted a picture of a room with urine
and feces all over the place, toothpaste left on the mirror and partially eaten
food on one of the beds. Witnesses claim that neither player made any attempt
to clean up the mess and so far, neither player has taken responsibility for
the condition of the room. Harrison has steadfastly denied that he is responsible
for what happened to the room and his agent, Ed Wasielewski, also said Harrison
was not involved. "My client completely denies having anything to do with
the hotel incident," he said. In an amazing coincidence, Hopkins' agent,
Hadley Engelhard was similarly adamant that his client was not responsible for
the demolished hotel room. "He had as much to do with anything in that room
as you did,” Engelhard said to reporters. Hopkins’ story is that the room was
fine when he checked out. "Luckily, thank God, my agent got my flight
booked early or it really would've been questionable if I did [it] or
not," he said. "My agent got my flight booked early. He told me hurry
up. I got done before Mark Harrison, so I was already packed. I already took a
shower and packed and everything. Mark came in and we spoke for at least 20
minutes about the combine. Then the bellman came in and helped me get my bags
out. And I left. That's, honestly, all I can say.” Hopkins suggested that the
hotel check the security cameras to find out what happened and that would be
fine….if hotels had security cameras inside rooms. Just to recap, a posh room
Hopkins and Harrison shared on the first floor of the Crowne Plaza somehow
became a larger equivalent of an exploded portable toilet with a few globs of
toothpaste mixed in and yet, neither one of them had anything to do with it……..
- City council meetings tend to be extremely boring. They’re
tedious, filled with roll calls and procedural nonsense and sparsely attended.
Laws about issues such as composting and parking fines are discussed and five
people with nothing better to do than spend an hour and a half of their life
listening to such tedium are the only ones who attend. Wednesday night’s
meeting of the Grand Junction City Council was a welcome exception to this rule and
that’s due almost entirely to one man and the criminal charges he is currently
facing. That man is council member to-be Richard Brainard, who was released
from jail last week after he was arrested for allegedly assaulting his
girlfriend. Brainard has been voted to a position on the council, but has yet
to take his seat. If the council’s current members have their way, he never
will. At the meeting, the voted to send Brainard a letter asking for his
resignation. Citizens handled the situation in an extremely classy manner,
mocking Brainard with fake black eyes and bandages and duct tape over their
mouths. Nothing says respect for an alleged instance of domestic violence quite
like fake abuse marks. Those clowning members of the public expressed the same
sentiment as the council: Step down now. Brainard insists he has no plans to
resign even though many supporters who voted for him in the election have pulled
their support. During the meeting, one member of the council opposed seeking Brainard’s
resignation he hasn’t been convicted of the charges because, but perhaps the
group should consider keeping him around because their meetings haven’t been
this lively in a long time…….
- That certainly was unexpected. Fox’s song-and-dance
drama “Glee” was believed to be on the ropes and on the verge of being canceled
as its fourth season winds down. Speculation that the series had run its course
and told all the stories it had to tell was strong, but Fox seems to have been
thinking the exact opposite. The network announced Friday that “Glee” has been
renewed for not just one season, but two seasons. That sort of commitment is
not common among networks, but perhaps Fox wanted to use the announcement as a
way to bolster its support and make it clear that the show would not be going
anywhere any time soon. Announcing a two-season extension could also be an
attempt to bolster ratings, which have hovered at 8.7 million viewers this season, including DVR viewing delayed up to
seven days. Fans are more likely to commit to a show if they know it will be
around for a while, so announcing two more seasons of “Glee” are ahead could be
just that kind of ploy. "'Glee' debuted as the first and only successful
musical comedy series on television, and more than four years later, it
continues to defy genres, break new ground and have a significant impact on
popular culture," said Fox entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly in a
statement. "Week in and week out, (producers) Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk,
Ian Brennan, Dante DiLoreto and the entire 'Glee' team deliver a series that
not only delights and surprises fans, but also inspires them to talk about,
share, debate and engage with the show -- and I'm absolutely thrilled to have
them on board for another two seasons." In the statement, Murphy thanked the
network and studio along with "our loyal audience, whose passion and
enthusiasm continue to amaze and inspire us." Smiles all around……..
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