Border-crashing simulations, Floyd Mayweather sells and Google's video games

- Snoop Lion, aka Snoop Dogg, has long resided in “I can collaborate with whoever the hell I want because I’f F’ing Snoop” territory, but even that doesn’t fully explain his collaboration with Eddie Murphy on a new reggae song. Snoop has swerved into the world of reggae for a while, leaving hip-hop behind and channeling his new Snoop Lion persona. Murphy doesn’t exactly scream either musical credibility or reggae, but he and Snoop have teamed up for a track titled “Redlight.” Not only does Murphy appear on the track, but it is officially designated as a song by "Eddie Murphy Feat. Snoop Lion aka Snoop Dogg" on YouTube, where it debuted this week. Snoop’s first album under his new reggae persona dropped in April and featured collaborations with an eclectic and head-scratching list of characters including Drake, Chris Brown, Busta Rhymes, Akon, Rita Ora and Miley Cyrus. It’s already been an interesting year for Snoop, who claimed last month that he actually operated as an actual pimp in 2003. "It was my program. City to city, titty to titty, hotel room to hotel room, athlete to athlete, entertainer to entertainer," he said. "If I'm in a city where the Denver Broncos or the Nuggets play, I get a couple of their players to come hang out, pick and choose, and whichever one you like comes with a number. A lot of athletes bought p*ssy from me." A past as a pimp and a present as a reggae star who hits the studio with a slew of hack pop singers and A-list actors who haven’t made a good movie in more than a decade proves once again that Snoop is a man of many sides and interests, one who thought it was a good idea to help Murphy revive a subpar singing career he tried to get going in the '80s and '90s, when he released three albums and actually made a brief appearance on the charts with 1985’s “Party All the Time,” produced by the crack pipe-wielding Rick James…….

- Google is at it again. The Web search titan is indeed hell-bent on world domination and now it’s after the minds of gamers. Word on the street is that Google is looking to get into the video game hardware market with a new console running its Android mobile operating system. The plan is to extend the reach of Android beyond smartphones and tablets to compete better with its tech rivals. To that end, it is also reportedly developing an Android smartwatch, as well as a second version of its Android-powered Nexus Q streaming device. Rather than team up with a partner with experience in the gaming or watch fields, Google will design and market the devices itself with the intention of releasing at least one of the new devices this fall. The Android-based Ouya console went on sale this week and received a largely tepid response, so Google could either view that as a negative sign for its own efforts or a learning experience so it doesn’t fall short where Ouya has. Then again, Ouya raised $8.6 million on Kickstarter last year for its sub-$100 console and there were few indications that it would have such a so-so launch. Google’s push to develop a gaming system is believed to be motivated by its desire to compete with Apple, which is reportedly working on its own video game console that would be integrated with its next Apple TV product. If and when Google’s gaming system does launch, it is likely to use the next version of Android, widely referred to as Key Lime Pie. Both Apple and Google are expected to develop low-cost smartphones to further their reach into emerging markets, continuing their duel for tech superiority……..

- This is not going to help whittle down Floyd Mayweather’s ginormous ego. As Mayweather and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez prepare to face off on Sept. 14 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the bout is already breaking records. Two months before the fight, it has already broken the all-time live gate record for a boxing event after selling out on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after tickets went on sale. Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer confirmed that the fight will generate a minimum of $18,647,000 in ticket sales and "it could go up to a little shy of $19 million depending on the number of comps that are given out. It's going to be the record. Mayweather also broke the record back in 2007, when he outpointed Oscar De La Hoya to win a junior middleweight title at the MGM Grand. That fight broke every boxing revenue record, including the all-time pay-per-view mark with nearly 2.5 million units sold and the all-time gate record of $18,419,200. The only factor that could mitigate the final gate number is that the exact figure from the number of complimentary tickets handed out to famous folks. "Everything is gigantic with this fight," Schaefer said. "Two months out and you can say within 2 percent what the gate is. The more comps, the less the gross will be but the casino gets a certain number of comps, the fighters get a certain number of comps, Showtime and Showtime Pay-Per-View get some, the sponsors get some. I have to go through the list. I don't want to have too many comps." Mayweather himself was in top braggadocious form, insisting that he expected the sellout all along on account of how awesome he is. "This sellout doesn't surprise me because this is what happens when the best fights the best,” Mayweather said. “They're going to see a hell of a show on Sept. 14." In addition to the gate record, Schaefer said the fight also has set the record for a guarantee on national closed circuit revenue, which is derived from people who pay to watch the fight at bars and restaurants. Part of the engine driving that dollar train is the cost Televisa paid for the Mexicanelevision rights for Mayweather-Alvarez, which reportedly went for four times as much as they did for De La Hoya-Mayweather. The promotional blitz for the fight is ongoing to drive up the profits even more and if the pay-per-view numbers match what has already happened, Mayweather will be able to buy himself another private jet or two after the bout………

- Mexican theme parks do NOT receive enough credit. They, like so many other parks in other countries, do attempt to attract visitors with extreme roller-coasters and spooky haunted houses, but some step their game up and go beyond the expected. Parque EcoAlberto in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo is one such park and while it has traditionally been successfully frightening park visitors for $20 a ticket, park officials have come up with a new concept to help people experience what it means to be Mexican. The three to four hour “Night Walk” simulates an illegal border crossing from Mexico into the United States. As part of their border-crashing experience, visitors are led by fake smugglers on a seven mile hike that includes climbing over fences and trying to evade barking dogs, flashlight beams and other obstructions in an effort to elude fake border patrol officers. The park is actually located about 800 miles from the actual Mexico-U.S. border, but that doesn’t mean it cannot trivialize an illegal experience that creates headaches on both sides of the border. It’s a brilliant idea because scaring people with jokers in skeleton masks and blood clothes at a haunted house is so tired and played out. Park officials say the goal of their new attraction is to generate income for the local community and discouraging young people from leaving town by showing them how dangerous and difficult an illegal crossing can be – seriously. "Our objective is to stop the immigration that exists amongst our citizens, principally from the state of Mexico to the U.S.," said Maribel Garcia, a park administrator. Wait….you think paying $20 to get into a second-rate amusement park for a fake border crossing with a fake coyote to ferry they to a fake new country that exists in reality some 800 miles north is going to dissuade folks from trying it for real? If the plan to double the number of border patrol agents and add 700 miles of fencing along the U.S. border makes it through Congress, that could be the next big upgrade to the Night Walk………

- Attention oranged-up, wealthy south Florida businessmen who will head to the bar this weekend and order one too many gin martinis: Be on the lookout for a group of what authorities are describing as four "foxy thieves" they say are drugging men they pick up at high-end bars and stealing tens of thousands of dollars in cash, jewelry, guns and other valuables. The public is being asked for help in finding the four suspects, all in their 20s, who have arrest warrants issued for them. The Broward County Sheriff's Office released photos of the four suspects, but believe there may be more women involved in the ring. "They're attractive women that go into a bar and they have a scam and they work it again and again," said Dani Moschella, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. Their scam is simple: Go to a posh bar, flirt with some desperate, pathetic middle-age or older man wearing expensive jewelry, get invited back to his home and slip a drug into his drink to render him unconscious and allow the foxy thief in question to rob him and leave before he wakes up. That’s the reported M.O. for Subhanna Beyah, 25, Johnnina Miller, 25, Keshia Clark, 27 and Ryan Elkins, 23, who have allegedly been carrying out this same plan for the past few months in upscale bars in South Florida. So far, detectives have identified four of the women's victims, Moschella said, while they believe other "haven't come forward because they're embarrassed." "This investigation is by no means over," Moschella added. "We anticipate identifying other suspects and other victims." One of the victims, Scott Rosen, claims he was scammed by two of the suspects after meeting them at YOLO, a popular bar in Fort Lauderdale's business district. He took them back to his home, where he says one of the women distracted him while the other made him a drink. When he woke up, more than $250,000 worth of his personal items were gone, including guns, diamonds and a Rolex watch. Police say the women use fake names for the scam and each of them is charged with one count of grand theft. Broward County authorities are offering a $1,000 reward for anonymous tips that lead to an arrest, so maybe a wealthy dude or two is willing to serve as bait in order to help bring this ring of hotties down………

Lakers desperation, Nazi flags to protest Obama and ancient gold in Peru

- When so many generations of Americans went to battle and fought to keep their country free and their fellow citizens safe, this is unquestionably what they had in mind. People like Stratford, Conn. resident Joseph Sincavage understand what freedom of speech and freedom of expression are all about: flying their Nazi flag. That’s not even a metaphor; Sincavage literally flies a flag representing the tyrannical regime responsible for the attempted extermination of an entire race of people and the systematic murder of 6 million Jewish people during World War II. He began flying two new flags on the side of his home this week and alongside the familiar red, white and blue of the American flag, he reps the Third Reich with the red Nazi flag with a white circle in the middle containing a swastika. "Yes, I want my country's flag obviously, yeah," Sincavage said before turning his focus to the Nazi flag. "That I'm flying as a form of protest against President Obama's policies and administration.” That’s right, he opposes the policies and practices of the current president of these here United States, which is fine, and he’s choosing to do so by finding the most hideously and offensively inhumane gesture possible, which is not fine. Oddly enough, one of his neighbors has a little bit of a beef with Sincavage’s gesture. John O'Grady lives across the street and says the Nazi flag does not belong in a neighborhood where the stars and stripes are everywhere. "Well, I really don't feel like the flag should be flown. It's kind of anti-everybody," O'Grady said. "Well, my first assumption would not be that he's against Obama. It would be that he's against America and everybody else.” Making Sincavage’s genocidal gesture all the more peculiar, he served four years in the Marine Corps. His neighbors called police about the flag, but the town’s attorney informed they that there is nothing illegal about it. Sincavage has vowed to keep the flag flying until Obama changes his ways. In other words, it’ll be around until he dies or Obama leaves office in 2016…………

- The Los Angeles Lakers are officially the desperate boyfriend getting all emotionally needy and begging his unhappy girlfriend not to leave him. Soon-to-be free-agent center Dwight Howard is reportedly all but out the door after just one season in L.A. and the team is throwing its body in the proverbial doorway to keep him from walking out. At the center of their efforts is a massive banner on the side of Staples Center on Wednesday with a photo of Howard and one message: "Stay." It is the first of "six or seven" billboards the Lakers plan on putting up in "various key locations" in order to try to convince Howard that he doesn’t hate playing for them. A second billboard above Hollywood Boulevard with the same message was also unveiled, according to team spokesman John Black. Both signs are adorned by the hashtag "STAYD12," hoping the message catches on through social media. Plans for a full-page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times are in the works as what Black described as a "company-wide initiative" agreed upon by both the basketball operations and business side of the Lakers. Unfortunately for the team, their ability to pay Howard more than any other team is possibly their only bargaining chip left. He reportedly hates playing for current coach Mike D’Antoni, who just completed his first year of a three-year deal and has been backed by the front office to return next season. The team pointed to its efforts to woo players such as Shaquille O'Neal as a sign that their overtures to Howard aren’t unprecedented, but taking out billboards to beg just comes across as pathetic. At least it’s not THIS GEM that the city of Cleveland put together to convince LeBron James to stay when he became a free agent in 2010, but it’s still desperate. Should Howard elect to leave, the top contenders for his services are expected to be the Houston Rockets , Dallas Mavericks , Atlanta Hawks , Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, all of whom can offer Howard a four-year, $87.6 million contract………

- I love gooooooooooold. Those words definitely rang true for South America's Wari civilization and archaeologists at a dig in Peru found evidence of that fact Thursday. In a project supported by National Geographic, archaeologist Milosz Giersz of the University of Warsaw in Poland and his team discovered gold and silver riches from more than a millennium ago. The riches were found in what is believed to be the first unlooted tomb of the Wari civilization. All of these sparkly wonders were unveiled at a news conference at the El Castillo de Huarmey archaeological site, 75 miles north of Lima. The tomb itself dates back to an era between the year 700 and 1000 and could illuminate the history of the mysterious Wari, a culture that predated the Incas. "We are talking about the first unearthed royal imperial tomb," Giersz said. Along with the silver and gold, the mummies of three Wari queens were discovered along with the remains of 60 other individuals, some of whom may have been human sacrifices. Giersz and Peruvian archaeologist Roberto Pimentel Nita led the project, which was carried out in secret to prevent looters from crashing the site. Grave robbers have thieved plenty of valuable items from the 110-acre site over the past few decades, but the Wari mausoleum is tucked so deep underground that it went un-pilfered. About three years ago, the archaeologists involved with the project studied aerial photography of the region and spotted traces of a subterranean structure, sitting on a ridge between two large adobe-brick pyramids. Giersz and his team dug through a pile of rubble in September and unearthed an ancient ceremonial room with a stone throne. They pried up piles of loose stone and found rows of human remains, buried in a seated position. The three queens were found in three side chambers, accompanied by their treasures: more than 1,000 artifacts were recovered, including gold and silver jewelry, silver bowls, bronze ritual axes, an alabaster drinking cup, knives and weaving tools made of gold. Even with the find, little is known about the Wari, other than the fact that they ruled a wide region of the Peruvian coast in the eighth and ninth centuries and loved beer……..

- Even Mick Jagger can learn a little something about rock and roll. As the iconic Rolling Stones frontman and his bandmates prepare to headline the Glastonbury Festival on Saturday night, Jagger admitted that he has been watching videos of the past four years' Glastonbury headliners to get ready for the gig. “Festivals are great to be at, but not always the easiest things to play,” Jagger said. “You've got to really work at that bit, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun.” He went on to say that the band have been putting a lot of thought into their set list and have been grinding away in rehearsals because festivals are such a challenge. We're looking forward to it and I'm thinking about the set list for the day and how we're going to deal with it. You've got to try and make sure the first number really cooks... gets everyone confident,” Jagger added. “If it doesn't, you've got to put it behind you. So that first number's got to be something you're super confident with. It's no good doing a slightly unknown number that the audience isn't going to deal with." Because of the gravity of the Stones headlining the festival’s biggest night, the BBC will broadcast and hour of their set. After the first hour is shown on television, the remainder of the performance – which will run for a total of two hours and 15 minutes – will be seen by festival attendees only, followed by a large fireworks display. According to festival organizer Michael Eavis, the event’s Pyramid Stage area has been extended to make sure the site doesn't become overcrowded during the band’s set………

- The mysteries never cease in outer space. Sometimes, those mysteries don’t even involve whether Axl Rose is so fat that he could break the concept of zero gravity in the great beyond. The NASA probe Voyager added a dose of mystery to the space world recently when it r passed into a bizarre and unanticipated cosmic hallway between the bubble of space under the sun’s influence and whatever lies beyond. Voyager has been rumbling along the same celestial highway since September 1977 and moved past Jupiter and Saturn in 1979 and 1980, respectively. It eventually ended up an a path that led toward interstellar space and is still on its way toward that space. NASA and those working with it on the project have been surprised at the data the probe has sent back of late. “The results of the measurements from Voyager have been surprising us not just since last August, but for about the last 2.5 years,” said astronomer Stamatios Krimigis of Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory. Late last year, scientists thought Voyager 1 had finally passed beyond the heliosheath, the outermost region of space touched by the solar wind, a stream of charged particles continuously flowing the sun. Then on Aug. 25, Voyager wandered into an uncharted region of space marked by the sudden disappearance of particles from the sun and the sudden rise of particles emanating from interstellar space. “As far as we could tell there was absolutely no solar material in the vicinity of the spacecraft and there hasn’t been since then. At the same time, the cosmic rays coming from outside the system started to increase. We all thought at the time that, by God, we were probably out of the solar system,” Krimigis added. There was also the mystery of the magnetic field Voyager measured, which was still aligned like the sun’s, and an abrupt rise in the strength of the magnetic field. Factor in confusion over why the cosmic ray particles were not evenly distributed and some of the brightest minds in astronomy were confounded. The best theory so far is that Voyager is in some sort of foyer where particles from inside and outside the solar system can easily flow, but which is not quite yet in interstellar space. The phenomenon has been dubbed he “heliosheath depletion region.” Scientists also have no idea how much longer it will take Voyager to reach the next and presumably last leg of its journey into interstellar space…….

Men's Wearhouse excuses, the next Dr. Who and the Poppy debuts

- Regrets are a-flyin’ in Manhattan. The New York Yankees are having more success than expected on the field, but two of the members of their organization who have spent much of the season recovering from injury are creating plenty of drama away from the field. Injured third baseman Alex Rodriguez has been working to get back on the field after a hip injury and general manager Brian Cashman, who ripped his ankle to pieces skydiving prior to the season, recently told the media that the injured former All-Star still wasn’t ready for game action. One day later, Rodriguez used his newly created Twitter account to tell the world that he has been cleared to play in rehab games. "Visit from Dr. [Bryan] Kelly over the weekend, who gave me the best news - the green light to play games again!" Rodriguez tweeted. His words directly contradicted those of his GM and Cashman minced no words in responding when asked about the offending tweet. "Alex should just shut the f*ck up," Cashman said with more than a hint of disdain. His contempt for a player who is making $25 million a season and contributing nothing to his team while bringing along the baggage of being one of the central figures in Major League Baseball’s latest steroid scandal was evident, but one day after making his remarks Cashman was backpedaling and trying to make nice. Cashman said the team wants a healthy A-Rod back at third base as soon as possible and added that owner Hal Steinbrenner told him he spoke with Rodriguez on Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., and reiterated that injury information should be announced by the team, not individual players on social media. The fact that the team (and every franchise in professional sports) feels it owns a player’s health and medical information is humorous on some level, so maybe that explains why Cashman said Rodriguez did not get back to him after he tried to contact the slugger Tuesday night. Regardless of how this one ends, the Yankees continue to deliver the drama…….

- It’s Japan…..it’s Australia….it’s international intrigue on the high seas! Two nations that wouldn’t seem to have any natural conflict between them are about to do battle after Australia took Japan to the International Court of Justice on Wednesday over the hunting of whales in waters off the Antarctic. Australian attorney general Mark Dreyfus says his nation is hoping for a ruling that would prevent the Japanese fleet from harpooning the creatures in the area. Australia declared the area a whale sanctuary in 1999, but Japan doesn’t seem to give two rat’s sh*ts about that declaration. "We want commercial whaling to stop and that includes the so-called scientific whaling program that Japan has been carrying on for many years," he said. “We're hopeful of a decision from the International Court of Justice before the end of the year and certainly before the start of the next whale hunting season.” Dreyfuss pointed out that Japan had killed more than 10,000 whales since 1986, the year when commercial hunting of the creatures was coincidentally banned around the world under an International Whaling Commission moratorium. The Japanese government has exploited the hell out of a loophole in the law and is allowed catch up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales every winter for “scientific research.” This is (allegedly) necessary to provide data on whale populations so that the international ban on the commercial hunt can be re-examined or possibly lifted. However, the whales can be killed and their meat sold once the (fake) research is completed. "Japan seeks to cloak its ongoing commercial whaling in the lab coat of science," Bill Campbell, an Australian government lawyer, told judges of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Environmental groups continue to lambaste Japan’s stance on the matter and many have voiced support for Australia in the case. Along with their pals from New Zealand, the Australians are pushing to withdraw all whaling permits from the Japanese fleet. On the opposing side is Japanese deputy foreign minister Koji Tsuruoka, leading the charge to keep killing whales in the name of phony science. Let’s get it on……..

- Poppy: It’s not just the first name of a B-list actress with roles in a few major movies and a flower grown in the fields of Afghanistan to help meet the world’s opiate needs. It’s also a new device at that turns any iPhone into a 3D camera and it’s at the heart of a Kickstarter campaign launched by a pair of Seattle entrepreneurs. By plugging the device into their iPhone and opening its two-way mirrors, users can capture their random and largely pointless videos of them and their friends eating dinner or making fart noises in three dimensions. Poppy aligns its front mirrors with the optics of the iPhone's camera, thereby combining the right-eye and left-eye streams into a single 3D video, viewable via the matching iOS app, on YouTube, or on a 3D-enabled television set. "It's beautiful," co-creators Ethan Lowry and Joe Heitzeberg said. "And really hard to describe or show in two dimensions." Poppy works with the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and 5th-generation iPod touch, but comes with the downside of having to remove the phone from its case in order to achieve 3-D filming capabilities. Lowry and Heitzeberg done test runs with their creation at weddings, from the sidelines of sporting events and while playing with their children. They believe Poppy could also be used from walk-throughs by architects and real estate agents. It can also be used to “convert” thousands of existing 3D videos on YouTube into full-color, high-quality 3D. Much of its inspiration comes from the old-timey tech tool known as the stereoscope and the now-vintage View-Master. "We love the feeling those simple devices give of stepping into another world," the device’s Kickstarter page explains. "But they were all about seeing someone else's photographs." Poppy can work hand in hand with camera or video apps such as Camera Plus, Vine, Snapseed and Instagram, but Heitzeberg and Lowry have also created a dedicated iOS app for Poppy. Their app captures 3D videos and still images, saves photos and videos to the iPhone's camera roll and uploads videos onto YouTube. So far, the Kickstarter campaign has accrued  340 backers and more than $23,255, putting it more than halfway to its fundraising goal of $40,000. Four weeks of campaigning remain and those who pledge $49 or more will receive a Poppy from the first full production run and have their name included in the totally-made-up Poppy Hall of Fame. Big-time donors ($229 or more) can snag a pre-production Poppy used for early test runs and anyone with deep enough pockets to plunk down $1,200 or more get a functional 3D-printed Poppy prototype……..

- Explanation rejected, Men's Wearhouse. The men’s clothier explained this week why it fired executive chairman George Zimmer, beard icon and commercial icon to the masses, and the explanation is absolute garbage. The company sought to depict its own co-founder as power-hungry in his desire to sell the company to private investors. "Mr. Zimmer reversed his long-standing position against taking the company private by arguing for a sale of the Men's Wearhouse to an investment group," the company's board of directors wrote Tuesday in a statement it made public. That plan was one the board opposed on the ground that it would force the company "to take on a huge amount of debt." "The board believes such a transaction would not be in the best interests of our shareholders, and it would be a risky path on many levels," the directors wrote. Because Zimmer's 3.6 percent stake in the company did not give him a controlling role, he could do little as the board callously cast him aside. "Mr. Zimmer had difficulty accepting the fact that Men's Wearhouse is a public company with an independent board of directors and that he has not been the chief executive officer for two years," the board added in its statement. Making ugly allegations that Zimmer did heinous things like “refuse to support" Chief Executive Doug Ewert and other executives "unless they acquiesced to his demands” is dirty pool as well and it completely overlooks the contributions Zimmer and his world-class facial hair made to the company’s bottom line with his wholly predictable TV spots that always ended with his trademark line, “You’re gonna like the way you look….I guarantee it.” Seeing Zimmer pitch 2-for-1 suit deals with his studly beard had value for Men’s Wearhouse that cannot be measured in mere dollars, yet the board had the gall to insist that "our actions were not taken to hurt George Zimmer." The board terminated Zimmer, who co-founded the company in 1973, as executive chairman on June 19 and he then quit the board on Monday. The moves have led to online outrage, but there is no indication that the board will realize the error of its ways and welcome the Zim-man back………

- Who will be the next Dr. Who? Ben Whishaw best known for playing James Bond's gadget guru Q in “Skyfall,” says it will not be him. Rumors that he would follow in the footsteps of current “Dr. Who” star Matt Smith reached Whishaw’s ears and he moved quickly to shoot those tales down. "It's not going to be me. But I don't mind - I don't think you can be Q and Doctor Who. It would be a bit wrong," Whishaw said. Smith announced earlier this month that he will be leaving the show at the end of this year, ending his run as the 11th Timelord. His character will regenerate during the show’s upcoming Christmas special, but no one is confirmed to take his place on a full-time basis. The current favorite among fans is Rory Kinner, who has played MI6 officer Bill Tanner in the last two Bond movies. Other names linked to the gig have included Dominic Cooper (“The History Boys”), David Harewood (“Homeland”), Julian Rhind-Tutt (“The West Wing’) and Richard Coyle (“Coupling”). Regardless of who is ultimately named to fill the role, most entertainment pundits don’t expect the new Dr. Who to be named until the fall. Most have pegged the window of time before filming begins on the show's Christmas special in August or September as the likely time for the news. Smith’s character’s appearance in the show's 50th anniversary special airing on November 23 will feature both his current companion Jenna-Louise Coleman and his Dr. Who predecessor David Tennant and popular former companion Billie Piper. The franchise ability to swap out its leading man and remain popular with fans is remarkable and the next main character will have the challenge of keeping that streak alive……..

Qatar gets weird, Brittney Griner gets drafted again and World War Z gets a sequel

- It is the Hollywood way. Movies that have been out for decades get the treatment, mediocre films from recent years are handled the same way and releases that achieve even a modicum of success at the box office damn sure get a sequel or five to maximize their earning potential. That means a strong start for Brad Pitt’s zombie drama “World War Z” was bound to generate interest in and the eventual approval of a second film in the franchise. Indeed, Paramount is already churning on the follow-up to the movie based on the acclaimed 2006 novel of the same name by Max Brooks. Paramount vice president Rob Moore confirmed the plan. Pitt both starred in and served as a producer on World War Z and Moore praised his efforts in guiding the project through its teething difficulties. "The great thing about this process was that it showed what a great partner and producer Brad is. He made a true commitment," Moore said. The first movie in the franchise, still cranking out big dollars in theaters worldwide, stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a UN employee combing the globe for information to stop a zombie epidemic wiping out entire countries around the world. It was directed by “Quantum of Solace” director Marc Foster and was made for a truly meager $190 million budget that left it with a large mountain to climb in order to avoid being a colossal cinematic flop. Yet its early returns have been strong and in its opening weekend, “Z” brought in $112 million globally and should have what passes these days for a long run of success in theaters. Maybe the second film can also succeed where the first one failed: reaching theaters in time. “World War Z” was released six month later than originally planned. It remains to be seen how a story of the world overcoming a hostile global takeover by the zombies can be recycled and repackaged, but if there is money to be made doing it then someone is certainly going to try……..

- Let this be a lesson to one and all: Make asininely offensive, insensitive and insulting clothing and try to sell it to the masses and you will reap the whirlwind. Solid Gold Bomb, the small clothing company in Worcester, Mass. that made headlines for posting offensive T-shirts for sale online, is now officially out of business. Solid Gold Bomb made headlines for all of the wrong reasons in March when it offered shirts that said "Keep Calm and Rape a Lot." It was an un-clever play on a different phrase and the negative public relations from the offending shirt led to a downward spiral that ended last week when the company closed its doors and let its remaining three employees go. Company founder Michael Fowler is now neck-deep in debt and says he's still getting death threats, including one particularly angry stalker who hounded him for months and insisted on meeting him in person. "It's my fault, and I paid dearly," Fowler said. "My life's work. Twenty years I've been building this up." The company’s shirts became an online sensation for all of the wrong reasons in March when someone browsing Amazon's marketplace discovered shirts with messages of misogyny and murder. All of the designs were parodies of the old British slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On." Amazon quickly yanked down all of Fowler's products and with them went all of his company’s best avenues for sales. An apology from Fowler and a promise that the shirts never really existed and were nothing more than the result of a computer program that automatically generated random phrases and images did little to calm the sh*t storm. The program that designed the shirts, Fowler added, was the same one his company had used to boost its catalog from 1,000 designs to more than 10 million. However, shirts with slogans like, "I mustache you a question” are significantly different than one suggesting to keep one’s cool and sexually assault multiple women. After the controversy broke, order declined from 400 a day to around 100. Amazon eventually allowed Fowler’s products back on its site, but the damage was done. He fired half of his employees and invested $35,000 of his own money to keep the company going. The decline was complete last week when he axed his operations manager and two remaining employees by phone…….

- Tracking cheetahs living in the Okavango River delta of Botswana seems like the reason an aspiring young mind would want to pursue a career in science. Using what you learn from such studies to build better robots sounds even cooler and thanks to the scientists responsible for a new study published in the journal Nature, that just may happen. For the project, the researchers tracked several cheetahs using solar-powered collars that recorded GPS data along with information from accelerometers and gyroscopes. Once collected, the data was averaged and analyzed in order to work through any possible shortcomings, such as GPS inaccuracy during fast movement, battery life and errors associated with each individual measurement. Even though cheetahs have a deserved reputation for tracking down prey such as antelope, impalas or gazelles, by cutting corners during the chase and tripping them up with a paw swipe, no one had an accurate picture of the role a cheetah’s agility and acceleration play in its hunting prowess. The nimble cats can run at around 60 miles per hour, but the researchers for this particular study found that many successful hunts occurred at relatively low speeds, with a top speed of only 30 mph. The cheetahs’ acceleration and ability to quickly change direction did play a large role in their hunting, so speed does still kill in a sense. Using what was learned from the research, other scientists will have a better understanding of the locomotion of cheetahs and it is that knowledge that could aid them in developing and building faster, quicker and more agile robots that probably won't be used to hunt gazelles on the African plains………

- She’s been something of a curiosity for virtually her entire basketball career, so it comes as no surprise that Brittney Griner isn't interested in furthering that perception. The 6-foot-8 former Baylor star who now toils in virtual anonymity for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, has passed on a chance to suit up for the nomadic band of basketball pranksters that is the Harlem Globetrotters. Griner, who also has a contract with a Chinese team to keep her career rolling when the WNBA is out of season, was selected Tuesday by the Globetrotters as one of five selections in their annual player draft. She is in the middle of her rookie season with the Phoenix Mercury and is already committed to playing in China this winter. "While it's an honor to be considered, I am under contract with the Phoenix Mercury and the Zhejiang Golden Bulls," Griner said. "And I am 100 percent committed to doing all I can to bring championships to our fans." In spite of her reluctance to play for them, the Globetrotters chose Griner first, followed Doug Anderson of the University of Detroit Mercy, Tyrone Davis of Northwood University and high-flier Corey Law of High Point University. They wrapped up their charade of a draft by picking New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. Law makes sense because he has a 44-inch vertical leap, but Rivera is 43 years old and about to retire from baseball. It’s the second time Griner has been selected first in a draft this year. In April, the Mercury made her the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft. "Brittney Griner is a great ambassador for the game of basketball and a terrific player," Harlem Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider said. "Our North American tour runs from the end of December to the end of April, which would not conflict with the WNBA season. The Globetrotters already have two outstanding female stars, so the transition to our roster would be seamless." As it turns out, Griner will not join Tammy Brawner and Fatima Maddox in Globetrotter red, white and blue………

- What the eff is going on in Qatar? While the rest of the Middle East is swamped in a sea of revolution and seeing leaders overthrown or under attack left and right, the oil-rich nation that bought its way to a World Cup hosting gigs and promises of man-made clouds to cool fans has undergone a quiet, seamless transition from its old ruler to its new one. Qatar's now-former emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, took control in 1995 from his father and on Tuesday, he handed the reins of his nation to his 33-year-old son. Sheik Hamad made a brief statement and that was it. The new emir, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, takes over in a move that critics warn could be perceived as a direct shot at traditions among the Gulf's other ruling dynasties, traditions that hold the belief that power can only be surrendered through death or palace coup. Instead, Sheik Hamad addressed the nation in a televised speech in which he highlighted the importance of shifting leadership to more youthful hands. Prior to stepping down, he did extend the term of the country's advisory panel, known as the Shura Council, a move that could delay elections for a more powerful legislative body proposed for later this year. "The future lies ahead of you, the children of this homeland, as you usher into a new era where young leadership hoists the banner," Sheik Hamad said in his speech. His British-educated crown prince of a son takes over amidst rumors of health problems for his father, but Qatari officials have not confirmed those reports. As he exits, Sheik Hamad can rest confident in the fact that he and his regime have thrust their country to the front of regional affairs on many important issues. Qatar has become a political broker and a center for global investment with a sovereign fund estimated to be worth more than $100 billion. It owns landmark real estate, luxury brands the popular French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain. The new emir is a member of the International Olympic Committee and it was he who helped the nation buy its way into hosing the 2022 football World Cup despite having virtually no soccer tradition to speak of. If only all that money could buy a decent reason for a revolution……..

Escaped pandas, Berlusconi goes down and Jim Carey sounds off

- It turns out that plants can do math. Unlike the average American third grader – just kidding, third graders – plants have a built-in capacity to do math, which helps them regulate food reserves at night, according to British researchers at the John Innes Centre. Researchers said they were "amazed" to find an example of such a sophisticated arithmetic calculation in biology. Using mathematical models, they were able to show that the amount of starch consumed overnight is calculated by division in a process involving leaf chemicals. For their research, the JIC team studied the plant Arabidopsis, widely regarded as a model plant for experiments. During night hours, the plant cannot use energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into sugars and starch and therefore must regulate its starch reserves to ensure they last until dawn. In experiments at the JIC, located in Norwich, the plant adjusted its starch consumption so precisely that it had to be performing a mathematical calculation - arithmetic division. "They're actually doing maths in a simple, chemical way - that's amazing, it astonished us as scientists to see that," study leader Alison Smith said. "This is pre-GCSE maths they're doing, but they're doing maths." Smith and her crew used mathematical modeling to investigate how a division calculation can be carried out inside a plant. What they found was that during the night, certain mechanisms inside the leaf measure the size of the starch store and an internal clock, similar to the human body clock, provides information about time. The researchers postulated that this process is mediated by the concentrations of two kinds of molecules called "S" for starch and "T" for time. In their theory, S molecules stimulate starch breakdown and T molecules prevent this from happening. Therefore, the rate of starch consumption is set by the ratio of S molecules to T molecules, or S divided by T. In addition to plants, the resarch team believes similar mechanisms may operate in animals such as birds to control fat reserves during migration………

- Do they have bunga-bunga parties in prison-prison? Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi should find out the answer to that question because eventually, he may be headed to the big house after a lower court in Milan sentenced him to seven years in jail for paying for sex with a minor and covering it up. That doesn’t mean Berlusconi will be going to prison soon, but the 76-year old billionaire was found guilty by a panel of three female judges. Those three (possibly vindictive) ladies also banned him from holding public office. However, Italy’s three-tiered court system means that a trial that lasted for two years is merely the first step in a process that yielded a verdict that will only come into effect if it is upheld by two other courts after a lengthy appeals process. As the verdict was read, a small group of protesters started celebrating in front of Milan’s tribunal while politicians from Berlusconi’s center-right People of Freedom party quickly set aside the sentence as the latest miscarriage of justice in Berlusconi’s “persecution” at the hands of Italy’s leftist judiciary. For the man who has spent 20 years in the thick of Italian politics and served as prime minister four times, being convicted is nothing new. Just last May, Berlusconi had a four-year sentence for tax fraud confirmed by an appeals court. That sentence is still awaiting review by Italy’s highest court. His new conviction centers on notorious hooker “Ruby the Heartstealer,” a Moroccan nightclub dancer who attended “bunga bunga” sex parties in Berlusconi’s luxurious villa outside Milan. According to his conviction, Berlusconoi paid her for sex while she was a minor, a fact both involved parties have denied. Prosecutors used witnesses and wiretaps – including more than 30 women who claim they were paid thousand dollars each to perform strip teases, “burlesque dances” and allegedly the former prime minister’s junk during these parties – to prove their case. The conviction also includes claims that Berlusconi abused his power by having his favorite hooker released from a Milan jail after she was arrested for theft. He has long expressed a distrust of the legal system and has remained oddly popular despite sex-related scandals, a sort of Italian Bill Clinton in a sense. His country remains in a governmental clusterf*ck with or without him, but more drama is always entertaining for the rest of the world…….

- Does Jim Carey have any real voice when it comes to what should or should not be on a movie screen these days? When was the last time Carey actually made a movie worth watching? Maybe the upcoming “Dumb and Dumber” sequel will reverse that trend, but for now Carey continues to be known as the dude who makes terrible movie after terrible movie, with no end in sight. Yet there’s Carey, whining about the level of violence in his next film, “Kick-Ass 2.” In the humorous superhero sequel, Carrey plays a "badass" called Colonel Stars And Stripes who joins forces with Aaron Johnson's Kick-Ass. The movie hits theaters on Aug. 14 when it arrives at the local multiplex, it will do so tagged with critical remarks by one of its stars. Carey took to Twitter to share his doubts about the film's content. “I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to e,” Carey tweeted in his first message about the movie, He later added, “I meant to say my apologies to others involve with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.” It didn’t take long for Mark Millar, creator of the original Kick-Ass comic books and an executive producer on the movies, to respond to Carey’s complaints and to do so in a long-form diatribe that bordered on a mini-manifesto. "Ultimately, this is his decision, but I've never quite bought the notion that violence in fiction leads to violence in real-life any more than Harry Potter casting a spell creates more Boy Wizards in real-life," Millar wrote in part of a lengthy post on his website. “Jim, I love ya and I hope you reconsider... You're amazing in this insanely fun picture." Both films are based on Millar's comic book and the first “Kick Ass” told the story of an ordinary teenager who reinvents himself as a real-life superhero. It attained only modest box office success but has done well on DVD and Blu-ray. Director Jeff Wadlow shot the sequel in Toronto for three months beginning in September of last year and along with Carrey and Johnson, it stars Chloë Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, John Leguizamo and Donald Faison………

- The (not really a) national nightmare ended less than 24 hours after it began. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo has found the red panda named Rusty and aside from the embarrassment of losing a rare and valuable piece of wildlife cuteness, the zoo is no worse for the drama. According to zoo officials, Rusty escaped his enclosure and went on the lam around 6 p.m. Sunday. They refused to rule out the possibility that someone could have taken him, but initial speculation was that Rusty was likely hiding in a tree somewhere nearby. "Red pandas typically spend the warm daytime hours resting, so it's likely Rusty is somewhere in or near the Zoo hiding in a tree," the National Zoo's Twitter account said. That theory proved to be false as a woman with the Twitter handle @AshleyFoughty tweeted Monday afternoon: "Red panda in our neighborhood! 20th NW and Biltmore. Please come save him! @nationalzoo1 pic.twitter.com/llQF7P9QH5" The attached picture showed what appeared to be a red panda in the Adams Morgan neighborhood not far from the zoo and indeed, it was Rusty. Zoo employees made the short journey to retrieve the AWOL panda and were able to take the fugitive mammal into custody without further incident. Shortly after 2:20 p.m., the Zoo tweeted "the red panda has been recovered, crated & is headed safely back to the National Zoo!" The zoo needs to say its prayers and thank the Almighty for housewives and stay-at-home moms who have little else to do during the day than hang out at home and look out their windows for escaped wildlife from the local zoo……..

- Hopefully, Rafael Nadal didn’t pay for an extended stay in his London hotel room. The ailing Spanish tennis star was on the wrong end of Wimbledon's greatest upsets ever Monday when he was toppled by Steve Darcis of Belgium. Darcis, ranked 135th in the world, downed the two-time champion 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-4. It was Nadal’s first loss in the opening round of a Grand Slam event and came after losing in the second round of Wimbledon last year. by 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol.  Nadal was also sidelined for seven months with a left knee injury and seemed to be laboring throughout the match, proving unable to turn on the speed or use his legs to spring into his groundstrokes. Darcis admitted that he was as surprised as everyone else with the result. "Rafa Nadal didn't play his best tennis today," the Belgian said. "The first match on grass is always difficult. It's his first one. Of course, it's a big win. I tried to come to the net as soon as I could, not play too far from the baseline. I think it worked pretty good today.” The humbling defeat came one month after Nadal won his eighth championship at the French Open, but he bore little resemblance to the player who has won 12 Grand Slam titles and established himself as one of the greatest players of his generation. Following his defeat at Wimbledon last year, Nadal took the rest of the year off to recover from the knee problem. He had just begun to resemble his old self of late and made it to the finals of all nine tournaments he entered since returning, winning seven. However, he pulled out of a grass-court tune-up in Halle, Germany arrived at Wimbledon without any serious grass-court preparation. Still, he refused to blame any injury and gave full credit to Darcis, who had never beaten a top-5 player or advanced beyond the third round of any Grand Slam. "I don't ... talk about my knee this afternoon," Nadal said. "Only thing that can say today is congratulate Steve Darcis. He played a fantastic match. Everything that I will say today about my knee is an excuse, and I don't like to put any excuse when I'm losing a match like I lost today.” Losing with class is always the right play…….

Movie news, Russian Olympic art drama and the Burrito Bomber drone

- When does Mariano Rivera pitch in his final All-Star Game? Trick question. The answer is whenever the hell he wants. If the greatest closer in Major League Baseball history wants to pitch only odd-numbered innings, change the rules so he’s allowed to. If he wants to pitch the first and last innings, so be it. One thing is clear as MLB’s midsummer classic approaches: with 26 saves to lead baseball, a 1.61 ERA and just one blown save this season, the 43-year-old Rivera is as effective as ever and will be on the American League team for the July 16 All-Star Game at Citi Field. There is already pressure on American League All-Star manager Jim Leyland to start Rivera with the game based in New York. Fan groups are campaigning to have Rivera start for the AL, but he and his MLB-record 634 saves have a different idea. Rivera would prefer to close the game, not start it. The New York Yankees closer has made it clear that despite his impressive success coming back from a torn ACL, he will retire at the end of the season. He wants his final All-Star Game memory to be a chance to notch his fifth career All-Star save rather than make his first start. "I've been told about it, but I don't like it," Rivera said of the push for him to start. "And the reason why I say that is it's not what I do. What I do is close the games, I don't start the games. It's a privilege and honor, but I'm not contemplating it." There are a few viable candidates to start the game, including Detroit's Max Scherzer, the first pitcher since Roger Clemens in 1997 to get off to an 11-0 start. "I think the right thing is to do it the way it (normally) is," Rivera said. "I don't want to start the game and give up 10 runs in the first inning. I'd rather pitch in the ninth than the first." The sight of No. 42 in Yankee pinstripes busting his cutter in on a batter’s hands to force a weak ground out to end the All-Star Game sounds just about right……..

- Granny’s got ink. Johnnie Foshee, an 84-year-old great grandmother from Dunedin, Fla., does not hold the traditional, stodgy old-person view of tattoos, namely that they are unsightly blemishes on the skin of young punks who have no respect for their bodies. Instead of hating on the kids who are getting ink, Foshee decided to join them and cross an entry off her bucket list in the process. She recently had a Tampa Bay Rays tattoo inked on her arm and admitted she had considered it for some time. "I've been wanting one ever since I got in love with the Rays," Foshee said. "So, I got me their tattoo." She had the Rays’ sunburst emblem on her upper left arm a few weeks ago and the kind folks at Mom's Tattoos in Dunedin gave her a discount on her new body art so she could afford it on her fixed income. "That was my bucket list," she said. The good news for Foshee is that she isn't ripping through bucket list entries because she is terminally ill and knows how little time she has left; she simply knows she is old and doesn’t have an eternity to accomplish those things she most wants to do. "When you're 84, you have a limited time," she said. Foshee resides at the Emeritus Assisted Living Facility, where she moves about in a motorized wheelchair with a Rays flag hung from it. She says she has watched every single Rays game since the inaugural home opener back in 1998 and when poor attendance led to some of the games not being shown on local television, she listened on the radio. When news reached the team about Foshee’s fandom and her tattoo, a team spokesman extended a standing invitation for the 84 year old to be the team’s guest for any home game she wants to attend. She admitted that she wouldn’t want to see a game against the Red Sox or Yankees because so many fans who go to those games in Tampa are cheering for the visiting teams. “I don't want to watch a Boston or New York game," Foshee said. "Because all the fans are from Boston and New York and it makes me very irritated to have too many people screaming for the opposite team." The next entry on Foshee’s bucket list? Fly an airplane……..

- Now THIS is what makes technology worthwhile in spite of all the frustrations and headaches it causes. When the great minds of science stop attempting to cure diseases plaguing the world, cease with their plans to create devices that will provide clean drinking water to impoverished people and focus their energies on what matters, inventions like the one that recently flew over the open fields of Baylands Park in Sunnyvale, Calif. happen. Known simply as the Burrito Bomber, it is a drone that isn't being used to spy on anyone and instead is designed with the idea of bringing unhealthy Mexican food to the masses. The BB is the brainchild of two engineers at popular reviews and recommendations website Yelp and their bean-filled goal is to send the Burrito Bomber into the wild and wait for a customer to place an order through a mobile app. Then, the plane will do a fly-by delivery based on GPS coordinates. "You have a little parachute that kind of hides up here [under the plane]," said Yoni De Beule. “When the burrito releases, the parachute gets pulled out and allows for the burrito to drop to the ground a little more safely." De Beuele and former Yelp engineer John Boiles manufactured custom-made parts to allow for burrito storage and deployment by using a 3-D printer. They also added a remote-controlled camera and transmitter to stream live video back down to the ground during flight. "The plane can totally fly itself," Boiles said. "But these are nice to have as a backup." The burrito drone must be launched by hand, but once it hits altitude and a flight plan is in place, it operates on its own. The two men have a control center located in San Francisco’s Mission District. Prior to launch, Boiles checks wind direction and fired up the propeller before De Beule tosses the drone into the air. Seeing a food-centric drone is a nice development for a world that has previously been teased by the Tacocopter and taunted by the YouTube footage of Domino's "DomiCopter." The Burrito Bomber arose from a Yelp hackathon – a two-day event held every quarter where engineers have a giant brainstorming session of oddities. For now, the Burrito Bomber must remain a prototype because Federal Aviation Administration regulations prohibit commercial use of unmanned aircraft………

- A pair of new films teamed up to oust Superman from his perch at the top of the box office earnings list this weekend. “Monsters University” rode the family-friendly vibe to the top spot and $82 million in its debut, doing more than enough to beat back the zombies of “World War Z” for the top spot. “Z” finished second with $66 million and yet, it still has a long way to go to earn back its $190 million production budget. “Man of Steel” tumbled to third with $41.2 million, a 65-percent drop from its opening frame, and has brought in $210 million domestically in two weeks. “This is the End” ranked fourth in its second weekend with $13 million and upped its overall take to $57.8 million. It was another productive frame for “Now You See Me,” with a fifth-place finish and $7.9 million in earnings to pad its total haul to $94.5 million. “Fast & Furious 6” zipped to $4.7 million on the weekend for sixth place and has amassed $228.4 million in total domestic earnings through its first six weeks in theaters. The wholly underwhelming run of “The Internship” continued with a seventh-place result, adding $3.5 million to the movie’s overall earnings to raise it to an underwhelming $38.3 million in three weeks of release. “The Purge” purged its way to $3.4 million and eighth place, good enough to add to its profitable time on the big screen with a $59.4 million domestic bank roll and a meager $3 million budget. “Star Trek Into Darkness” dropped down one spot and finished ninth after making $3 million. The sci-fi blockbuster has notched $216.6 million through its first six weeks. “Iron Man 3” clung to the last spot in the top 10 with $2.2 million to put its eight-week haul at $403.1 million and counting. “Epic” (No. 12) and “After Earth” fell out from last weekend’s top 10……..

- Russia had itself quite a weekend. Aside from the most-wanted man in the world, NSA leaker Edward Snowden, passing through en route to Ecuador in search of political asylum, the communist nation finds itself embroiled in an Olympics-related art controversy that arose after one of its most prominent modern art figures was fired after refusing to allow an exhibit examining the darker side of the Sochi Olympics to be axed by censors. Marat Guelman, a gallery curator, was fired as director of the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art because he backed the controversial "Welcome! Sochi 2014" exhibit by Vasily Slonov. The exhibition includes images of the Olympic rings in barbed wire and as nooses. Russian authorities closed it last week during a cultural festival organized by Guelman and he responded by moving the pictures to the museum. He tweeted the news about his firing by Igor Gladnev, the minister of culture for the Perm region. "Gladnev just called me and confirmed the fact of my dismissal. The Ministry of Culture, it seems, has confused its role with that of the FSB [the former KGB]," Guelman wrote. In addition to pink-slipping him, Russian authorities allegedly raided Guelman’s former offices at the museum and have reportedly launched a legal case into Slonov's works, alleging he had used Sochi 2014 symbols without permission. "I had hoped that censorship was impossible and illegal," Guelman lamented. "The new trend of Russian politics is to divide everyone into groups of 'us' and 'them,' and the small liberal islands are getting even smaller." Ironically, "Welcome! Sochi 2014" works of Slonov remained on display at the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday and the Ministry of Culture has remained silent on the issue. Sochi continues to be under the microscope, projected to be the most expensive of all Olympic Games to date at an estimated cost of $50 billion amidst allegations of corruption and exploitation of migrant workers in the region leading up to the event……

Instagram videos, free snakes at Walmart and Japan's big day

- Sometimes, Walmart shoppers get more than they pay for when they buy discounted clothing, motor oil, cereal and a camera bag all in the same place. For example, North Huntingdon, Pa. resident Bonnie Raygor

made a trip to her local bulk retailer of consumer goods to buy a plastic bag of potatoes to use in making dinner for her family. She picked the bag up, tossed it in her cart and took it home, where she opened it to start making dinner. Inside, she found a nice, slithery surprise: a 3 1/2-foot snake. Raygor reached into the bag and found the orange and white snake and initially wasn’t sure what she had found. "First I saw its underbelly, which is white. I thought I had a bad potato. Instead I had a snake," Raygor said. "The bag was sealed. The only thing that's in it are the little holes. So I'm assuming it was in there when I bought it. I screamed." Like any distressed soul faced with a vexing situation in the digital age, Raygor hurried to her computer and tried to figure out what was happening. "I think it is a corn snake. That's what it looks like on the Internet," she added. "I'm hoping it's a corn snake, because I just stuck my hand in it and grabbed it." After the initial shock of finding a snake in her taters wore off, she dumped the rest of the potatoes out of the bag to make sure there weren’t any more reptiles inside. She, her daughter and daughter-in-law put the snake into a reptile enclosure that she has from previous pets and Raygor then called Walmart. "First, they told me I should bring it to the lawn and garden department and they'd take care of it," Raygor said. "And then I was dissatisfied, so I called and asked to speak to a manager, and he said if I had a receipt, I could get a refund. And that was the extent." No one is exactly stepping up to accept responsibility for the snake ending up in the bag, including Harvest Gold, which sells the potatoes, and Irving Farms Marketing in Maine, which distributes them……..

- Facebook and its new purchase Instagram have broken their big news…and the world has yawned in response. Early last week, the tech world was buzzing about a Facebook press event to debut some sort of new addition to the social networking sites offerings. Speculation centered on an RSS reader t to replace the outgoing Google reader, but when the picture clarified it was all about Instagram, Facebook’s photo-sharing application. The big news was that Instagram was adding its own video service to combat Twitter’s popular Vine service. Vine keep messages to six seconds, while Instagram will give users 15 seconds to share whatever important message they can communicate to their friends in that short span of time. There will be other differences between the two services, the foremost being Instagram users being able to use the same colorful and creative filters on their videos that they have taken to applying to every damn mundane image they snap with their smartphones. Vine will have a decided edge over Instagram in that it allows users to loop videos, a feature Instagram’s take on short-form video service lacks. Vine has drawn in a growing number of users since debuting earlier this year and has become popular largely because it allows for the creation of videos that run in continuous motion, and the creation of a perfectly looped video. That means videos are well-executed enough that those watching them often can’t tell where they begin or end. At least initially, Instagram users can only stop and start their recordings until the allotted 15 second time limit is filled, sans looping capability. In some sense, the differences between Vine and Instagram underscore the overall differences between Facebook and Twitter: an open-ended, free-wheeling arrangement (Facebook) versus one built on limits and concision. Which service a person prefers depends on their endgame………

- The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have always been a little on the quirky side even among the eccentric lot that is rock bands, so it’s fitting that they have become the first band to ever shoot a music video on top of the Empire State Building. The group, led by frontwoman Karen O, scaled the New York City landmark to film the video for their new single “Despair.” A small crew of two dozen helped set up the set on the viewing deck of the building, all of 86 floors up in the air. The shoot took place from 2 a.m. until sunrise and will provide most of the footage for the “Despair” video, the second single taken from the group’s “Mosquito” album. "It’s definitely not just another cool day in the life of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs,” Karen O said after the shoot. “It was definitely an iconic moment. It’s hard to do something like that and not to feel like it’s symbolic – it’s like the American dream for us, singing your song on top of the Empire State Building, feeling like: man, where were we 10 years ago, when we were sitting around in some punk rock dive bar, thinking about what to name our band, and New York City, and now here we are at the top. It really felt dreamlike.” The project was possible only after getting approval from Malkin Holdings (operator of the Empire State Building) and company president Antony E. Malkin also sounded excited about the effort. “The way I look at it is, why hadn’t this been done before?” he said. “Credit to them for having the gumption to ask.” After their top-of-the-world success, Yeah Yeah Yeahs will play a one-off gig at London's Islington Academy on July 15, their first live gig in several weeks…….

- At long last, Japan has done it – and by it, don’t take that to mean containing the fallout and environmental ramipercussions from the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. No, the Japanese have finally succeeded in finding a way to further monetize the value of their most famous mountain. Iconic Mount Fuji was officially recognized as a World Heritage Site at the annual UNESCO conference being held in Cambodia, certifying a decade of continual efforts by Japan to earn the recognition for its most cherished/valuable natural wonder. There was a plan to register the nation's highest mountain back in 2003, but issues with garbage dumping led the government to give up on a nomination as a natural heritage site. Instead, they sought to have the mountain considered a cultural heritage site in a proposal submitted last year. The news came as a huge bundle of joy for residents of Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures, both of which share the mountain. Both groups held celebrations at their respective city halls, but the real celebrations likely took place in the minds and offices of tourism officials, who know that the additional influx of tourists to the mountain will bring in a lot of money. The mountain already hosts up to 300,000 visitors a year and as inconsequential as an artificial designation from a global non-profit might seem, the UNESCO honor will certainly bring more folks to the mountain. In order to offset that expected surge, a $10 dollar entry fee will be charged to those climbers aiming for the summit starting this summer during peak season. As the government, tells it, that money will be used for various environmental protection measures. Before the tourists start rolling in, locals will celebrate their newfound (and meaningless) honor with fireworks and cleaning efforts to get the mountain ready for its summer opening on July 1……….

- Now THIS is what women’s tennis needs. A sport that is largely irrelevant on the athletic radar has but one, and only one consistent draw: hotties in revealing tennis outfits. If those hotties happen to be the two best players in women’s tennis and they just happen to have some simmering bad blood between them, so much the better. The ladies in question would be Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, who faced off in the 2004 Wimbledon final and have met on various courts 13 times since then. Sharapova won that 2004 match, but Williams has won their past 13 matches, including the French Open final two weeks ago. Maybe Sharapova is still a bit irked over losing to her rival again in a major, but whatever the cause, she lit Williams up at her pre-Wimbledon news conference Saturday. Sharapova was asked about a recent Rolling Stone article in which the writer suggested that critical comments directed at an unnamed player by Williams were referring to Sharapova. Given that Williams has consistently kicked her ass over the past decade, Sharapova could elect to keep quiet and try to win the next time they meet, but she wasn’t about to let a potential slight go. "If she wants to talk about something personal, maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and is getting a divorce and has kids,” Sharapova said. Among the quotes that sparked Sharapova’s ire was this gem: “"If she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it.” With the most prestigious tournament on the WTA tour set to start, maybe Wimbledon wants to take advantage of this catty drama by pitting Williams and Sharapova against each other….in a mud wrestling match or Jello-O-related combat. Even with the extra eyeballs on tennis for the next couple of week’s because of the tournament’s hallowed status in the tennis world, that sort of attention could go a long way toward boosting women’s tennis on the average sports fan’s radar…….

NBC's fall schedule, skateboarding goes Smithsonian and border fencing prices

- The Peacock will have its big week near the end of September and hold some of its biggest shows for the early part of October. NBC has announced that it will launch most of its fall lineup during the traditional premiere week beginning Sept. 23 and during that time, it will roll out many of its new shows, such as “The Blacklist,” a new drama starring James Spader as a criminal who helps the FBI catch other criminals. It will premiere in the Monday time slot after the two-hour, fifth-season premiere of “The Voice (Karaoke),” which will see the return of coaches Christina Aguilera and CeeLo Green. The second season of successful new drama “Chicago Fire” will launch the following night at 10 p.m. after the Tuesday installment (good God, there are two of them?) of “The Voice (Karaoke).” The network’s most successful new drama for last season will, in an incredibly logical move, change nights. “Revolution” will jump from Mondays at 10 p.m. to Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. for its second season followed by the 15th-season premiere of “Law & Order: SVU” at 9 p.m.. Thursday nights will be a mix of the old and new as veteran sitcom “Parks and Recreation” will hold onto its Thursday night primetime leadoff spot and debut with an hour-long episode that has the show traveling to London. That will serve as a lead-in for the new “The Michael J. Fox Show,” with Fox returning to network television starring as a New York news reporter returning to work after getting his Parkinson's under control. Several of NBC’s new shows will be held back and be introduced to the world the first week of October, including “Ironside,” which stars Blair Underwood in a remake of the classic Raymond Burr drama. It will premiere on Oct. 2, one night before new comedies “Welcome to the Family” and “Sean Saves the World,” the latter of which stars former “Will & Grace” cast member Sean Hayes as a single father with a teen daughter and opinionated mother. Oh, and FAT people in need of losing 300 pounds will get their chance for help when “The Biggest Loser” returns with an hour-long episode on Oct. 8……..

- Action sports are slowly, but surely growing on the world. X-Games is adding more global events and expanding into new locals like Brazil, Germany, France and Spain and here in the good ol’ U.S. of A, the man who drove the skateboarding revolution has found a place in pop culture and the mainstream. Skateboarding icon Tony Hawk has donated personal equipment to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and along with fellow legend '70s pro Cindy Whitehead, he’ll have a collection of skateboard-related items on display at the museum's Division of Culture and the Arts. The display will be part if Innoskate, an event exploring innovation and invention in skateboarding and its influence on endemic and mainstream culture. There will be a special ceremony honoring Hawk's and Whitehead's permanent donations to kick off the two-day public festival, presented by the Lemelson Center for the Study of Innovation & Invention. There will also be a screening of "Bones Brigade: An Autobiography," a 90-minute documentary that covers Hawk's history with the seminal Powell Peralta skate team throughout the '80s. At the center of the display will be Hawk's first skateboard, a fiberglass Bahne model from 1975, complete with Chicago roller skate trucks and Stoker loose-ball-bearing urethane wheels, a hand-me-down from his older brother. "I remember trying it for the first time in our driveway [in 1977]," Hawk said. "My brother [Steve] had gotten a newer skateboard, so his old one was near the garage. I picked it up and started riding, having no idea how to turn. I went to the end of the alley, ran into the fence, and then picked it up and turned it around. My brother was laughing that I couldn't figure out how to turn. ... Somehow I managed to hold on to it through all the years, though.” Alongside Hawk’s items, Whitehead will display her Molly padded shorts, Puma sneakers, Sims team jersey, a bib from the 1980 Gold Cup series and a handful of skatepark membership cards. She admitted that it will be “bittersweet” to give up the items and know she will never get them back, but is glad they will be displayed for all the world to enjoy………

- Can anyone put a price tag on making sure undesirables don’t slink across the U.S.-Mexico border and steal our American dream? Of course they can. It’s why original legislation crafted by Congress’ bipartisan Gang of Eight set aside $1.5 billion for 700 more miles of fencing along the southwest U.S. border. Unfortunately, that funding has become tangled up as part of an immigration bill winding its way through the Senate. In fact, it was part of a immigration-bill deal forged in the Senate this week. In order to get Republicans on board with the deal, Democrats threw them a bone with a deal to add more to the massive border security and fencing proposal. Past fencing projects would suggest that this revival of the concept won't be cheap. Customs and Border Protection spent $2.4 billion between 2006 and 2009 to complete 670 miles of border fence and that was the chintzy, single-layer line of fencing designed to keep either pedestrians or vehicles from crossing into the United States. This time around, the plan is for a double-layer fence — two parallel barriers on either side of a corridor manned by Border Patrol — that would require more land acquisition, more supplies and more labor to build. Best of all, there are absolutely no firm cost for the fence. A 2009 report by the Government Accountability Office pegged the cost of pedestrian fencing between $400,000 and $15 million per mile with an average of $3.9 million a mile. Even less expensive vehicle was projected to cost anywhere from $200,000 to $1.8 million a mile, for an average of $1 million a mile. Environmental groups are among those against additional fencing, with their predictable complaints about negative effects on wildlife in the areas where new fences would be built. Oh, and there would also be the need to seize some land via imminent domain, so that should be fun as well. That doesn’t even take into account difficult terrain in remote areas that would further escalate the cost of putting up a new boundary. Sprinkle in the requisite amount of government waste and this one seems bound to come off the rails…….

- Germany and Canada….the dynamic duo, back together again. Two nations with a long (and virtually non-existent) history of teaming up to accomplish great things have yielded more great results with researchers from their respective countries producing a new map of the human brain. This is not the bland, boring type of map that shows every brain cell and its every connection or the kind that shows broad patterns of activity in brain regions. No, it’s a work of classic anatomy, done with high technology. In all of its wonderful simplicity, this map shows a three-dimensional reconstruction of a human brain in unprecedented detail. Dubbed BigBrain, it s 50 times as detailed as previous efforts and will be available to researchers everywhere. Lead author Katrin Amunts of the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in Jülich, Germany, spilled the details of this exciting development, which depicts a specific human brain, that of a 65-year-old woman. The brain was preserved in paraffin after the woman’s death, sliced into 7,400 sections and photographed at a microscopic level just above that of viewing individual cells. The resulting picture will serve as a sort of anatomical framework that other researchers can use as a reference to investigate both large patterns of brain function and its finer details. Don’t confuse this useful anatomical map with the project neuroscientists are pursuing in the new brain initiative from the Obama administration. Other researchers have already expressed excitement over the chance to work with what Amunts and her crew have created…….

- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Things got real really fast in Lebanon this week as a small-yet-rabid mob of 100 people clashed with police as they protested against a decision to postpone parliamentary elections in Lebanon until the end of next year. The violence sparked up when the protestors boldly attempted to break through a security cordon outside parliament and were beaten back by baton-wielding police. This balls-out crew responded to the use of excessive force with some rather crude weaponry, namely throwing sticks and bottles of water. There wasn’t a high rate of violence, as only two demonstrators were lightly injured in the scuffles. The festivities wound down by early evening, although demonstrators threatened to hold a sit-in. Their quasi-uprising came nearly three weeks after the government voted to postpone parliamentary elections, which had been due this spring, until November of next year. Their motion to extend the normal four-year term between elections was allegedly necessary because of "the security situation in several Lebanese regions that gives rise to political escalation and division which often take on confessional forms.” "Security and political tensions prevent the holding of an election campaign," the legislation stated. When it was passed, the bill was billed as the solution to a months-long deadlock over a new electoral law and with Prime Minister Tamman Salam, who was named on April 6. Salam remains unable to form a new government because of divisions over Syria and he also happens to praise over a nation that fought its own bitter civil war from 1975-1990. Lebanon’s Sunni Muslim opposition widely supports the Sunni-led uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, while the Shiite movement Hezbollah, a long-time Assad ally, is actively aiding his forces inside Syria. Conflict or not, the brave protestors who rose up to demand justice are having none of the plot to push back elections to address the tension……..