- Times are tough everywhere and odds are that any place
these words are read, people can be found standing on street corners and near
expressway exit ramps holding signs asking drivers to help them out with some
spare change. However, it’s unlikely that any of those panhandlers are going
about generating income the way one Portland (Ore.) woman is at Southwest 7th Avenue and Clay Street
between Portland's university and downtown districts. In a city where it is not illegal for women to go topless in
public, this unidentified woman has taken to flashing drivers in the hopes that
they’ll chip her off a few dollars. The woman appeared to be working with a man
who stood nearby and held a sign saying they needed food. A local television
station learned of the odd sight and went to the scene, filming at least one
motorist giving the woman money for her, um, entertainment services.
Unfortunately, the woman did appear to be wearing pasties and according
to Portland police, what she’s doing is perfectly legal -- as long as she's not
intending to arouse anyone. Portland passed its law as a sort of move toward
gender equality on the grounds that it is a double standard to only allow men
to remove their shirts in public. Portland Police spokesman Mike Marshman said
the woman’s use of pasties
leaves "no question to the legality." "She is covering the part
up that would arouse people [according to the law]," Marshman said. The
state of Oregon’s public indecency law
merely prohibits the exposure of "genitals" with "the intent of
arousing the sexual desire of the person or another person,” something this
bizarre display seems to avoid. Of course, there is a precedent for this sort
of exchange happening and it’s called Mardi Gras, a week of flashing in exchange
for “currency” (beads). Maybe an upcoming episode of “Portlandia” can make use
of this potential plot line………
- Paris is a city of life, culture, fashion and energy….and
idiots who break into museums and assault historical artifacts with power
tools. Alongside the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees, the City
of Lights now has a kook who has been arrested for allegedly breaking into Paris' Museum
of Natural History and hacking off a tusk from a centuries-old elephant
skeleton with a chainsaw. This fool was apprehended early Saturday when a
neighbor of the Left Bank museum alerted authorities after hearing the sawing
sound at around 3 a.m. The suspect, described as being in his early 20s, didn’t
exactly have much of a defense to mount after police discovered the tusk in his
possession when they arrested him soon afterward outside the museum. There
aren’t many centuries-old elephant tusks floating around Paris or elsewhere and
having one in your backpack right after one was stolen from a Paris museum is
awfully difficult to explain. Paris prosecutors' office spokeswoman Agnes
Thibault-Lecuivre said police did not know the suspect’s motive, but museum
official Jacques Cuisin believes the skeleton can be repaired. Cuisin explained
that the skeleton, which was draped under a plastic covering Saturday, belonged
to an elephant that Portugal's king gave to French King Louis XIV in the late
17th century. One would have to imagine that when donating the skeleton, the
Portuguese king would not have been thrilled to know that a couple of centuries
and change later, an idiot would sneak into a museum in the middle of the night
and attempt to thieve one of its tusks like he was a poacher in some Third
World African nation taking down a live elephant and slicing off its tusks for
sale on the black market……..
- Washington
Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III has already been called “superhuman” by
his orthopedic surgeon, the acclaimed Dr. James Andrews, and now he’s rushing
to the aid of his alma mater like a superhero after it’s top-ranked women’s
basketball team suffered a shocking NCAA Tournament loss to end its season.
Griffin, who played collegiately at Baylor, was quick to jump on Twitter Sunday
night and defend Lady Bears center Brittney Griner after her top-seeded team
was upset by No. 5 Louisville. The second-year NFLer, who is recovering from
two torn knee ligaments sustained in a playoff game against Seattle, has been a
vocal supporter of the women's basketball team since his playing days at Baylor.
His tweets came in response to what he perceived as unfair criticism of Griner
and Louisville's style of play. Griner, the consensus player of the year in
women’s college basketball, o was 4-of-10 from the field and scored 14 points
-- far below her average of 33 in the first two games of the tournament. With
her struggling, Baylor lost 82-81 after a furious rally merely to get back into
the game. Griffin tweeted after the game that "them girls were LITERALLY
throwing elbows, slaps &" and that "for every (3-pointer) they
made, they threw 6 elbows, 5 straight lefts, 4 right hooks & 3 roundhouse
kicks, 2 jumping knees, & 1 superman punch at B. Griner's abdominals.
Aiming for her face but couldn't reach &…there's a difference in being
physical.” When some of his followers and the rest of the Twitterverse took
exception to his words, Griffin had something for them as well. "To those
who are mad and lose respect for me because I support my school and support my
friends & I would rather have the guts to stand up for them, then to have that
respect for sitting down & saying nothing,” he added. Baylor coach Kim
Mulkey also blasted the officials after the game, saying in her postgame press
conference that “if they go past this round of officiating, it will be sad for
the game.” Going down in defeat when your team was considered a virtual lock to
reach the Final Four is bitter, but at least the Bears know they have an
unfailing friend in RG III……….
- Orlando Bloom is diversifying. There are only so many “Pirates
of the Caribbean” films an actor can star in before he needs to find something
else to do with his career and Bloom has found the next step in his thespian
evolution. He will make his Broadway debut as Romeo in an interracial
production of Romeo
& Juliet, starting Sept. 19. Bloom will star opposite Tony-nominated
actress Condola Rashad (Juliet)
in the classic Shakespeare play, which will begin previews at the Richard
Rodgers Theatre on Aug. 24. “They could have been any number of different
ethnicities,” director David Leveaux
told. “The two actors I wanted to be together producing sparks just happened to
be those two and I followed my nose in casting the families.” The play will
feature an all-black Capulet family and an all-white Montague clan and thus
instill the added dimension of racial prejudice and social norms to the famed
tale of doomed romance. “There was nothing simple about that choice but I’m not
about to turn a contemporary version of Shakespeare into a sociological or
political point,” Leveaux said. “We
know there are families from one background or another who would reject their
children getting together with someone from another group. Romeo and Juliet
reject that notion. It is still the case that children try to oppose the
cultural expectations thrust upon them, the rigidity of tribes, the rigidity of
fundamentalism.” Bloom is one of a long line of famous Hollywood faces who
ventured to the Great White Way in search of theatrical success, although he
has a ways to go to match the success of someone such as Hugh Jackman……….
- Digital censorship: The next frontier? In Saudi Arabia,
it just might be. Saudi officials are considering tech-blocking popular
Internet messaging applications such as Skype, Viber and WhatsApp if telecommunication
providers there don't comply with rules and regulatory conditions. A statement
from Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission broke
the news and issued a thinly veiled threat toward such apps. "The
Commission emphasizes that it will take appropriate action regarding these applications
and services in the event of failure to meet those conditions,” the statement
said. No specifics were given as to how the applications in question violate
ant laws, but the statement did emphasize the need for service providers in the
country to quickly "work with the developers of these applications to meet
regulatory requirements." The announcement came after reports last week
that the country's telecommunications regulator, had asked Saudi telecom
companies to allow the government to monitor those applications and had set a Saturday
deadline for them to respond. While details are scarce and rumors plentiful,
Saudi social media users have not waited around for more information before
they respond. Bloggers, Twitter users and Facebook users have decried the
alleged regulations and many have expressed fatigue over what they view as the
latest in a series of such moves and policies by the government. Many believe
the announcement is in part a response to recent demonstrations that were
organized in Saudi Arabia were done through the use of WhatsApp. Saudi Arabia’s
population is trending younger and younger by the year and technology use is
skyrocketing as a result. With more freedom and more avenues for self-expression,
a restrictive regime obviously must find a way to keep its citizens in line. In
2010, the government faced off with BlackBerry and threatened similar
restrictions and the showdown proved to be much about next to nothing………
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