- Sea lions can dance. Why that’s important is a question
that researchers
at the University of California at Santa Cruz's marine laboratory may want to
answer next. These fine research-dollar wasters have been studying what appears
to be the first sea lion that can move its body to the beat of a wide range of
music and they have published their findings in the American Psychological
Association's academic journal. UC Santa Cruz psychology graduate student Peter
Cook made the riveting discovery that a non-human mammal can bob its head to
the rhythm of a song and the world will never be the same – in some way,
probably. The dancing animal in question is Ronan, a female sea lion born in
the wild in 2008 who was rescued from the San Luis Obispo area in 2009. Ronan
arrived at UC Santa Cruz's Long Marine Laboratory in January 2010. Working with
Cook in the Pinniped Cognition and Sensory Systems Laboratory, Ronan was trained
her to bob her head to a beat with simple tracks for about three months. After
the three-month training period, she was able to maintain the beat on her own
and keep time to new music. Previous studies had shown that synching movements
to a beat was limited to birds that can also mimic vocal noises. "This is
kind of a new frontier," Cook said. After extensive testing in multiple
settings, Cook determined that Ronan's head movements were not mimicry or a
trained behavior. Ronan’s musical tastes can use some work, as her favorite
track appears to be Earth, Wind & Fire's "Boogie Wonderland."
What’s next for Cook, aside from earning his PhD and becoming an even bigger
squanderer of research money? "We're thinking about other animals you
could do this with," he said. He also believes that his study proves that the
brain mechanisms to keep the beat may be more widespread than humans and birds…….
- World, it’s time to feel bad for David Beckham. Yes, the
same David Beckham who is making more than $46 million a year, playing at the
highest level of international soccer, is one of the most famous athletes in
the world and is married to a smoking hot former pop singer. Beckham, now
playing for Paris
Saint-Germain, may have just played in a Champions League quarterfinal clash
with Barcelona on Tuesday, but he has it rough. He may reside in one of Paris'
finest hotels, occupying a suite at Le Bristol that features marble bathrooms
and one of the world's best chefs and costs thousands of dollars per night, but
life is not easy. In fact, Beckham is painting himself as a sort of martyr for
as long as he remains in the City of Lights. "That's the sacrifice I have
to make as a father and as a husband, being away from my family," he
explained. "It is only for a short time, but it's difficult being away
from the children every single day. But they understand it. They understand
that daddy works hard." Yes, his wife Victoria and their four children all
live in London, which is a quick flight or train ride from Paris, but they
could be in Paris in a second if Beckham were committed to being there long
term and wanted to have them around. He could also take less money to play for
a team somewhere in England, but he doesn’t seem to have an interest in that
either. He joined PSG in January on a five-month deal, but PSG President Nasser
Al-Khelafi has expressed an interest in having the former Manchester United and
Real Madrid star back next season. The club's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti has
also spoken about bringing back the veteran midfielder, who should be happy to
be playing soccer for a team cares about again after spending X seasons playing
for the L.A. Galaxy of Major League Soccer. "To be asked to come and play
here was obviously an honor and something that I was excited about. They have big
plans at the club, and rightly so," Backham added. He has appeared in six
games for his new team so far, but only two as a starter………
- Now it comes out. North Korea has been scrappy and
combative of late, threatening to nuke South Korea and the United States using
the nuclear weapons it doesn’t have, delivered by the long-range missiles it doesn’t
possess. Young dictator Kim Jong Un has issued all sorts of extreme threats and
hoisted a giant middle finger to the world as it continues to demand the
immediate cessation of North Korea’s nuclear program. However, the most
sinister part of the plan is sliding under the radar and might have gone
unnoticed entirely if not for reports from South Korean media outlets. In news
that should shake the world to its core, it is being reported that North Korea has
ordered its diplomats in some number of foreign embassies, including at least
one in Eastern Europe, to sell illegal drugs on the streets. A defector who
spoke to South Korean intelligence is the source of these claims and this
person alleges that each diplomat was sent about 44 pounds of various illegal
drugs and instructed to raise $300,000 from the sales. Even more curiously, the
diplomats were allegedly told to forgo their ambassadorial responsibilities in
favor of pushing illicit drugs in order “to prove their loyalty and mark the
birthday of nation founder Kim Il Sung on April 15.” Unloading that many drugs
in a short amount of time and raising money for what is surely an even more
sinister plot is a lot to ask, as is replicating the plot from a 15-year-old,
bomb-tastic Dave Chappelle movie (“Half Baked”). The idea of embassies around
the world turning diplomats into instant drug dealers and expecting them to
move large quantities of meth or coke in short order is hilarious on some
level, but North Korea is already active selling state-manufactured drugs,
typically high-quality meth, in China. The country needs cash in light of the
economic sanctions imposed on it by the United States and United Nations, so
cooking up meth in a Pyongyang trailer park (or its equivalent) is a plausible
alternative. A secretive government office called “Room 39” is believed to be
responsible for income from such endeavors and that office appears to be in an
increasingly desperate position………
- What’s worse than agreeing to be on a reality TV show with
a bunch of other C-listers and has-beens, with all of you trying to master an
irrelevant sport that people only care about for three days every four years
when the Summer Olympics roll around? Going on that show and quitting in the
third episode, that’s what. Enter reality TV personality and former Playboy
skank Kendra
Wilkinson, who walked away from ABC’s new reality diving show “Splash” during
Tuesday night's broadcast rather than participate in her team dive with
assigned partner Rory Bushfield, an extreme skier. The pair were to dive from
the 23-foot board, but that height was too much for a woman who makes her money
taking her clothes off in front of the camera or allowing a basic cable network
to film the goings-on of her daily life. “I wish I could do it for everybody,
but I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry everybody. This just won't be a happy ending for
me,” Wilkinson said when she walked off the platform. "It's very
bittersweet. One thing I don't do is quit and this is the first time in my life
I quit something. So I'm not happy that I quit. Trust me, this will haunt me
for the rest of my life.” Haunt you for the rest of your life? It’s a reality
diving show that might last two or three seasons and will be immediately
forgotten once it’s off the air, if not before. There is plenty of her life
that Wilkinson should be haunted by, but quitting a reality diving show should
not be at the top of the list. The rest of the distinguished cast, including comedian
Louie Anderson, retired NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, actress Nicole Eggert, soccer
player Brandi Chastain Nickelodeon star Drake Bell reigning Miss Alabama USA Katherine
Webb, went on with the show and judges David Boudia, a London Olympic U.S. Gold
medalist, and Steve Foley, an Australian Olympic athlete and USA Dive Team
director, didn’t appear devastated by Wilkinson’s exit. Now, a woman who admits
she doesn’t even know why she’s famous can devote more time to solving that
mystery……….
- State legislators in Florida are really wasting their
time on this one. In a misguided quest to shut down Sunshine State stoners,
members of the Florida legislature have introduced a bill prohibiting the sale
of bongs in their many forms. This bill, HR49, sailed through the House
Business and Professional Regulation subcommittee on Wednesday. Its sponsor is Darryl
Rouson, a self-described former drug addict who says the accessibility of the
pipes at hundreds of stores across Florida helps perpetuate drug addictions.
Rouson argues that the pipes can be used to inhale crack cocaine, hash and meth
as well as marijuana and he wants them banned. Following the hearing, the Democrat
said he wants to “take away the convenience of addicts being able to go to the
local corner store and buy utensils that can be used for illegal ingestion of
drugs.” The bill would ban the sale of: metal, wooden, acrylic, glass,
stone, plastic, or ceramic smoking pipes, with or without screens, permanent screens,
or punctured metal bowls, water pipes, carburetion tubes and devices, chamber
pipes, carburetor pipes, electric pipes, air-driven pipes, chillums, bongs, ice
pipes and chillers. The idea of ridding a state of drugs is a nice one, but
this bill has no hope of accomplishing that. While the state currently allows retailers
to sell the pipes if at least 75 percent of their sales come from tobacco
products or they have no more than 25 percent of “certain drug paraphernalia”
sales, the bill would remove that exception and make any sale a first-degree
misdemeanor, with second and subsequent violations would jump to a third-degree
felony. Without a doubt, the single biggest fallacy of this bill is its gross
underestimation of those on the business end of bongs after they are purchased.
So what if devices manufactured for smoking chron are made illegal to sell?
Stoners are the MacGyvers of the drug world. Buying a bong is merely one of
many ways stoners can get their bake on. If a glass bong or water pipe isn't available,
they will improvise. Give them an empty paper towel roll, apple core, empty
soda can, empty bottle or any one of hundreds of household items and they will
turn it into a way to get their mellow on. There is nothing that will stop
potheads from baking and they really don’t care what they use to deliver the
product to their lungs. So legislators can waste time and effort on this bill,
but there simply isn't any point to it……….
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