Friday, May 24, 2013

Disappearing frogs, Malaysia cracks down and warring Washington Nationals

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- HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones” is famous for a few things, but no two more so than its blood and gore and the number of times its stars take their clothes off. One might assume that the stars of the show know what they have signed up for and embrace their duties, but it would seem that not everyone on set is a big fan of disrobing and getting naked for the camera. According to star Oona Chaplin, who plays Talisa Maegyr, one of her co-stars has refused to do any more nude scenes. That this is news at all is a testament to how much “Game of Thrones” has established itself as the go-to show for nudity and how notorious it has become for its graphic sex scenes and glimpses of naked flesh. That may stop for at least one member of the cast, according to Chaplin.One of the girls in the show who got her kit off the most in the first couple of seasons now doesn't at all because she said, 'I want to be known for my acting not for my breasts,'" Chaplin explained. Like any good co-star who wants to leak information but doesn’t want to shame anyone, Chaplin declined to name her buttoned-up colleague. Fans have already begun lighting up message boards with their own theories and many have taken to speculating that Emilia Clarke - who has starred as Daenerys Targaryen since the pilot episode - could be the actress with the "no nudity" demands. Chaplin made sure the world knows she’s not the one who has a beef with the show's use of nudity, saying, “If it’s done in a beautiful way, in a way that honors the female form, then I’m always happy to see it." The third season of the show ends in June, but it has already been renewed for a fourth season that is slated to start next year with a to-be-determined amount of nudity……..




- New Jersey drivers found themselves wishing that someone had gotten their goat on Thursday. Instead, the owner of a goat that has been dubbed “Sky” lost track of the farm animal and the result was a bold goat escape that led to Sky roaming free on the busy Pulaski Skyway and disrupting hundreds of drivers’ morning commute after causing several collisions and evading police for nearly two hours. The latter of those two facts does not speak well to the intelligence or physical fitness of Jersey City police officers, but when they finally did capture the goat, they discovered that it had a U.S. Department of Agriculture tag and likely escaped from a truck en route to a slaughter house. In that sense, maybe Sky has earned a reprieve from execution. Jumping from a moving truck and running around like an idiot on the expressway for more than two hours is an impressive feat and if that’s not enough to keep a goat alive until natural causes claim its life, then nothing is. By the time Sky had finished wreaking havoc on the Pulaski Skyway, it had caused four traffic accidents with its amazing feats of goat athleticism, which consisted of jumping back and forth over the concrete divider. In the end, Sky was captured without injury and taken to the Liberty Humane Society in Jersey City. Shelter officials say they plan to keep the goat in custody for a few days and take it to a farm by the end of the week……..




- Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper is a rising star; one of Major League Baseball’s best young players. Nationals closer Rafael Soriano is not. Those facts are the primary reasons it was a bad idea for Soriano to publicly call Harper out for his defensive positioning on Tuesday in the ninth inning of a game against the San Francisco Giants. Soriano was on the mound an in possession of a  2-1 lead with two outs in the ninth inning Tuesday when he surrendered a game-tying RBI triple to Gregor Blanco, who hit a deep line drive over the head of a leaping Harper. According to Soriano, his young teammate should have been in a better position to make a game-saving catch. The matter is a bit more complicated because Harper is just over one week removed from a scary collision with the outfield wall. Perhaps with those thoughts lurking in his mind Harper appeared to flinch as Blanco’s hit sailed over his head and bounced off the warning track. While Soriano did not fault Harper's effort on the play, he was harsh in criticizing his positioning in the outfield. "With two outs and the tying run at first, you have to play the outfield so the ball doesn't go over your head," Soriano said. "It may not have been a catchable ball. But if we're positioned the right way, there might have been a different outcome. With two outs, I could tell my 4-year-old son, 'You know where you need to play,' and he would have positioned himself better. It's not an excuse, and I'm not speaking badly about anybody, but I think that's how you play the game." Nothing like a “My 4-year-old son could do it better” blast to share the love with a teammate. Perhaps Soriano should be looking in the mirror rather than at Harper, given that the closer has blown three saves in his first season with the Nationals. Soriano seemed to realize how bad the comments made him look because one day later, he backtracked from them. "I tried to do my job, and I didn't do it," Soriano said the next day. "[The play] wasn't an error. He was in the position and I threw the pitch I shouldn't have, and that's what happened. He stupidly added that he believed his comments were off the record, which is a lame excuse for an MLB veteran who knows better if a tape recorder or microphone is in his face. Harper did admit that he was thinking about the play last week, when he ran face-first into the wall against the Los Angeles Dodgers and needed 11 stitches in his chin, but having a teammate narc him out publicly isn't going to help matters……..




- If frogs and toads are fast disappearing across the United States and no one who isn't wearing a lab coat cares, does it still make a difference. That’s the question the U.S. Geological Survey is trying to investigate with its new study suggesting that at their current rate of extinction, most amphibians will vanish from half of their habitats in about two decades. These findings suggest that even relatively stable species of some amphibians are now vanishing. This (allegedly) holds true everywhere from Louisiana and Florida to Sierras and the Rockies. "Amphibians have been a constant presence in our planet's ponds, streams, lakes and rivers for 350 million years or so, surviving countless changes that caused many other groups of animals to go extinct. This is why the findings of this study are so noteworthy; they demonstrate that the pressures amphibians now face exceed the ability of many of these survivors to cope," said Suzette Kimball, the survey’s director. She claims amphibians are disappearing at a rate of 3.7 percent every year and that if his rate continues, most of the amphibian species will vanish from their current habitat in another 20 years. The most-threatened species are on the so-called  "Red-List" and will supposedly disappear from half of their habitats in the next six years. Michael Adams, ecologist with the USGS and lead author of the study, expressed surprise at the rate of decline in the amphibian population. "We knew there was a big problem with amphibians, but these numbers are both surprising and of significant concern," Adams said. For the study, Adams and his team observed the amphibian population in lakes and ponds for about nine years. Somehow, that didn’t allow them to identify the reasons behind this decline, only that it is happening…….




- The mercury is rising in Malaysia and The Man is feeling the heat. The Malaysian government, in a fit of oversensitivity, have charged a student activist with sedition and have detained two others, including an opposition politician, on similar charges after their involvement in a campaign to challenge what they say are fraudulent election results. On Thursday, prosecutors charged Adam Adli under the country's controversial Sedition Act for allegedly telling a political forum that Malaysians should take to the streets and "seize back power" following the vote. He later pleaded guilty and released on bail, but faces up to three years in prison, if convicted. His arrest coincided nicely with that of senior opposition politician Tian Chua and rights activist Haris Ibrahim under the Sedition Act. Chua, who was held at a police station in Kuala Lumpur said his detention is an attempt by the government to stifle dissent and discourage criticism of the May 5 election results. "[The purpose is] I think to crack down on civil liberties and to cover up questioning of the irregularities in the elections," he said. "[But] I will continue to challenge this illegitimate government." It’s a bold statement and one that will probably land him right back in jail once the government finds time to get around to call of the sedition charges it has been making of late. Earlier this month, authorities threatened to pursue sedition charges against dozens of speakers at a large, awesome and wholly unauthorized opposition protest against the election results. Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling coalition may have extended its 56-year hold on power in the May 5 election, but it has earned plenty of haters in the process, his Chua and People's Justice Party chief among them……..

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