Facebook wants more games, African sex scandals and Johnny Depp nearly fired

- Chip Kelly has big plans to ramp up the tempo for the Philadelphia Eagles this season. The men in stripes may not be down with those plans. NFL referees may stand in the way of the first-year NFL coach’s high-octane offense that attempts to force the pace of games and light up the scoreboard. Since Kelly’s hiring, analysts and fans have wondered whether Kelly's fast-paced attack would work as well at the professional level as it did in college. The powers that be have their own concerns. "We have to make sure teams understand that they don't control the tempo, our officials do," NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said. "We're going through our normal ball mechanics, we aren't going to rush [unless] it's in the two minute drill." Kelly’s Oregon team ran 1,077 plays in just 13 games last season (82.8 per game), a tota that would have ranked seventh (just two total plays behind the Eagles' 1,079) in the NFL's 16-game schedule last season. The fastest offense in the NFL last season was the New England Patriots, who led the league with 1,191 plays (74.4 per game). Kelly’s stated goal is to run a play every 12 seconds, a goal he reinforces in practice by having assistants calling in plays via elaborate hand signals from the sidelines. His playbook is immense and players are constantly moving. That’s fine in practice, but Blandino said he has informed each team's coaching staff that teams will not be able to snap the ball until a referee gives the signal. He added that the NFL's competition committee made it a point to "re-emphasize" that NFL rules differ from college after several NFL teams used up-tempo attacks last season. League rules also mandate that a defense must be allowed to make substitutions if the offense substitutes its own players, no matter how quickly the offense makes its changes. Referees stand over the ball to make sure the offense doesn’t snap it before the defense it set………

- Score one for gluttony. New York City restaurants can continue massive, sugary beverages thanks to the judicial heroes on the bench at the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division. The court on Tuesday affirmed a lower court ruling that found the city's restrictions on such beverages to be "arbitrary and capricious." The judges found that the city's Board of Health "failed to act within the bounds of its lawfully delegated authority" when officials took steps to ban sugary drinks of more than 16 ounces in New York City restaurants, movie theaters and other food service establishments. In official legal terms, the court declared the regulation to be a violation of the principle of separation of powers doctrine. The doctrine establishes boundaries between the legislature and an administrative agency, such as a health board that tries to go nanny state and rip Big Gulps from citizens’ hands. It is the legislature that wields legislative power, according to the appellate decision, meaning board members cannot engage in broad-based public policy determinations and "cannot exercise sweeping power to create whatever rule they deem necessary." The board’s 11 members should remember going forward that, according to the court, they are empowered to modify the health code only with "respect to all matters to which the power and authority of New York City Department of Mental Health and Hygiene extend.” That includes Article 81 of the health code, which sets forth rules regulating "food service establishments." Predictably, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was pissed off about the decision and vowed to enforce his sovereign will on the people of his city regardless. "Today's decision is a temporary setback, and we plan to appeal this decision as we continue the fight against the obesity epidemic," he said. Whatever you say, Emperor Bloomberg………

- Try to imagine the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise without Johnny Depp. At this point, the concept is virtually impossible. Depp IS the franchise and even if the movies continue to decrease in quality as the series moves forward, he’s the biggest star and the only major star who has appeared in all four of the films. That makes his revelation that he came extremely close to being fired from the first movie in the franchise, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” Depp explained that Disney executives were perplexed by his eccentric performance as Captain Jack Sparrow, which he based on the persona of legendary Rolling Stones guitarist "They couldn't understand what I was doing. You know? To the point where Disney wanted to – wanted to fire me. They didn't understand the character. They were actually contemplating subtitling the film," Depp said. Richards appeared in the third movie in the series, but acting like him nearly cost Depp what has become one of the most lucrative roles in cinema. "I was probably as close to getting fired as anyone could be. I spoke to one of the execs at the time and said, 'You're right, you should fire me – but you'll have to pay me for my time,’” Depp recalled. Keeping him around turned out to be a very fiscally wise move, as “Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl” became one of the biggest box office hits of 2003 and Depp earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as Sparrow. Three sequels have followed and two of them have banked in excess of $1 billion worldwide. The fourth sequel (and most unnecessary yet) is scheduled to make its blatant cash grab/hit a theater near you in July 2015……..

- Facebook’s stock offering and bottom line since that offering haven't been impressive. Its stock has gone down in value, all the cool kids are using Twitter, Instagram and Vine more these days and Facebook needs to find ways to stay relevant (and make money). To that end, the social networking site is branching out into the mobile games business. Facebook announced a new pilot program Tuesday that it hopes will expand its services beyond the position of games platform to that of promoter and publisher. Dubbed Mobile Games Publishing, the program will allow it to promote small- and medium-sized games and take a cut of the sales in return. "We are invested in the success of these games, and in exchange for a revenue share, we will be collaborating deeply with developers in our program by helping them attract high-quality, long-term players for their games," Facebook said in a blog post. After the announcement, shares of Facebook stock rose 5.6 percent to $37.43, which still isn’t equal to the company's IPO price of $38. Facebook remains the world's largest social network and will use its massive 800-plus million monthly users of its mobile apps as a captive audience to promote these games. Games were integral in the company posting solid second-quarter results last week and its payments revenue increased 11 percent, with games accounting for 7 percent of that revenue. The first 10 developer participants in the gaming program are: 5th Planet, Brainbow, Certain Affinity, Dragonplay, Gameloft, Gamevil, KiwiGames, Outplay Entertainment, Space Ape and WeMade Entertainment………

- Being a douche bag comes naturally for Africa’s oldest head of state. Zimbabwean dictator Bob Mugabe was re-elected five years ago after unleashing a series of violent attacks against opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai survived at least three assassination attempts, including one in which unidentified assailants tried to throw him from a 10th floor office window, and was also savagely beaten by police. With another election approaching that he needs to rig, the 89-year-old Mugabe is deploying a different tactic to extend his 33-year reign of terror: a sex scandal. This time around, Tsvangirai’s alleged affair with a South African woman is the subject of a series of ads on the country’s state-controlled and only television station. An ad by Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party features footage of Tsvangirai’s Nosipho Shilubane, Tsvangirai’s reported lover. Shilubane denounced Tsvangirai in an interview last year, saying he told her to be patient, only to dump her via a text message. “I received a message from an unknown number that said the relationship was terminated,” Shilubane said. “At an age of 60, you dump women with SMSes? Then what do the young ones do?” It’s a good point because a dumping via text is a scumbag move at any age. A second ad features two female actors saying they couldn’t vote for Tsvangirai “in good conscience” because he is “busy impregnating 20-year-old girls and then refusing to take care of those kids.” A spokesman for Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change mocked the ads as “desperate” and said Tsvangirai has asked the electorate to “make a choice between despair and hope.” “If you want hope, a better life and freedom then vote for the MDC, but if you want the status quo of suffering then vote for Zanu-PF,” Tsvangirai said at a recent rally. The opposition leader became a widower when his wife Susan died in a 2009 car crash and he married the much younger  Elizabeth Macheka, 35, in 2011. He won the first round of the 2008 presidential election, but Mugabe’s crusade of violence only worsened. At least this time around, his scum-baggery has evolved a bit………

Roller coaster dangers, European train hazards and bitter Jonathan Papelbon

- Train travel in Europe is not having a good few weeks. Last week’s deadly crash in northwest Spain that killed 78 remains a major story and although it was less damaging, a crash Monday evening in western Switzerland was the latest scary incident. Two commuter trains collided head-on in the village of Granges-près-Marnand, about five miles south of Payerne, at about 6:50 p.m. local time. Swiss rail officials confirmed that at least 40 people were injured, including five seriously. Swiss Federal Railways spokesman Reto Schaerli did not have an explanation for what happened and said investigators were still working to determine who was at fault. "At the moment, we don't have any ... information how this collision happened," Schaerli said. At the time of the crash, the trains were on a route between Payerne and Lausanne, a city on the shores of Lake Geneva, Schaerli said. In a country where mountains are the norm and often one set of tracks winding through an elevated pass is shared by trains going in both directions, the odds are a crash occurring would seem to be much higher than the rate at which they actually happen. Emergency personnel from Payerne and several surrounding communities responded to the scene to treat the injured. The crash interrupted train service between Payerne and Moudon -- a city near the line's halfway point – for the remainder of the day, but it returned to normal early Tuesday. In the aftermath of the crash, the engineer of one of the trains was missing, Schaerli added, although he did not specify which of the two trains the missing engineer was piloting or how the engineer had exited the train. If Europe doesn’t manage to go a week or two without a derailment or crash on the tracks, its railways are going to develop an Amtrak-tastic reputation…….

- Earthquakes can wreck many acres of real estate and ruin lives. According to a team of German researchers, they may also release large amounts of methane gas from the seabed. In addition to toppling buildings, triggering landslides and launching tsunamis, researcher David Fischer and his team believe releasing gas is another possible effect of a quake. Fischer’s crew studied underwater quake off Pakistan nearly 70 years ago that fractured seafloor sediments and created pathways for methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to bubble up from below. They believe the phenomenon may be widespread enough that climate scientists should take it into account when estimating the amounts of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. “We suggest there is a new source that they might want to consider in the future,” Fischer said. Methane forms from the decomposition of organic material and commonly seeps from reservoirs under the seafloor in many places around the world. In extreme conditions, it mixes with seawater to form icy compounds, called gas hydrates, in the top layers of sediments. These hydrates act like an impermeable barrier that prevents more free methane from coming up from below. For their research, the team analyzed sediment cores taken in 2007 from two locations in the northern Arabian Sea where hydrates were present and seepage was occurring. Chemical signatures in the core suggested that the methane flow greatly increased sometime in the mid-20th century. Fischer then matched that timeline with a magnitude 8.1 earthquake occurred in the area in 1945. “The quake broke open gas-hydrate sediments and the free gas underneath migrated to the surface,” Fischer concluded. “The hydrates themselves did not dissolve. “They remain there.” The upward flow of methane from the sea floor still takes place and the research team estimated that nearly 10 million cubic yards of methane have been released from the core sites over the years. That’s a hell of a lot of gas……

- Philadelphia and its baseball team are on notice. The closer the Philadelphia Phillies inked closer Jonathan Papelbon last offseason with the thought that he could be a solid addition to the bullpen of a possible playoff contender. Instead, the team lots its eighth straight game Sunday, a 12-4 rout at the hands of the Detroit Tigers, dropping them to a season-worst seven games below .500. Their playoff hopes are D-E-A-D and Papelbon is none too happy with their play of late. Simply put, Jonathan Papelbon don’t tolerate no losers. "I definitely didn't come here for this," he fumed. The good news is that he is on the trading block and could find a new home before Wednesday’s trade deadline. "No, I would like to stay here," Papelbon said when asked about the possibility of being traded. "But if I'm going to have to put up with this year after year, then no, I don't want to be here. Why would you? Why would anybody?" His four-year, $50 million deal, signed in 2011, doesn’t seem to be offering much solace in this time of losing. He has been on disappointing teams before, including the 2011 Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox entered September as the leaders of the AL East, only to miss the playoffs following a late 7-20 swoon. Their year ended with lots of losses and tales of players eating fried chicken, drinking beer and playing video games in the clubhouse during games. "It's going to take, in my opinion, a lot," Papelbon said. "And in my opinion, I think it's going to have to be something very similar to what the Red Sox went through a couple years ago. From top to bottom." Amazingly enough, the Phillies are reportedly interested in moving their disgruntled closer if the right offer comes along……..

- Amusement park rides are quickly becoming the European train rides of American family entertainment. Last week’s death at Six Flags in Texas when Rosa Ayala-Gaona fell out of a roller coaster after complaining that she did not feel properly secured was a tragic incident that will hopefully never be replicated. The experience a few thrill seekers at Carowinds in Charlotte, N.C. had over the weekend was thankfully not deadly, but nonetheless terrifying. These park goers were buckled into one of the park's most popular rides, the Windseeker, and zipped through the tallest ride at Carowinds. Pete Suthers was one of those who was enjoying the view from 36 stories up when suddenly the ride went from thrilling to chilling. "As soon as we got to the top that was it," Suthers said. He and his daughter were among those trapped high above the ground for more than an hour after the ride abruptly came to a stop. "360 feet in the air. We have been stuck for over an hour," he said in a video he filmed with his smartphone during his mid-air adventure. He attempted to keep a few of the 64 riders who happened to be in his immediate vicinity. “I thought, I should have brought my sun cream with me because it was getting to be a bit hot up there and then there were one or two people starting to freak out a little bit, so I was trying to calm the people down behind me," he said. The Windseeker has experienced problems before. It broke down last summer, leading to a national review of all rides of similar design. The good news in this particular situation is that a safety sensor engaged when the problem occurred and the ride's safety system activated. Riders were given a free meal at one of the park’s overpriced concession stands and free tickets for another day at Carowinds……..

- Sometimes, albums drop and sell tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of copies in their first week. Last week was not such an occasion for former Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell. Borrell’s solo album dropped last week and it tore up the charts to the tune of  594 copies in its first week of release. “Borrell 1” debuted to mostly favorable reviews, but positive thoughts and words from critics don’t always translate to boatloads of people rushing out to buy a new release. In fact, the album sold few enough copies that it didn’t even ding the radar of the Top 100 of the UK Official Album Charts. Its disappointing sales were further amplified by the fact that a former “X Factor (Karaoke” contestant named Jahmene Douglas snagged the top spot on that same chart with an album full of cover tracks featuring him butchering other people’s tracks. That album, “Love Never Fails,” solid 19,000 copies in the United Kingdom. Borrell recorded his album with his new band Zazou. "Fred [Stitz, bassist] was in the last line-up of Razorlight. We were playing big shows, the every Monday night we'd play blues and tango at this underground club with a bunch of kids who were totally disenfranchised from the mainstream, just hanging out. The band grew out of that,” Borrell said of his new act. It may have grown out of a bunch of ostracized punks who played weird music at an underground club, but judging by the album’s paltry sales, that music remains stuck in the underground and may not surface for air or daylight any time soon…….

Movie news, NFLers chasing chickens and Hurricane Sandy damage art

- The champion at the box office this weekend is no surprise. Hugh Jackman and “The Wolverine” slashed the rest of the field with a $55 million opening-weekend haul to earn back a large chunk of the film’s $120 million budget. “The Conjuring” lost its top spot and finished second with $22.1 million, which is still more than its budget ($20 million) and elevates its cumulative domestic tally to $83.8 million. “Despicable Me 2” also dropped one spot and ranked third with $16 million and has brought in $306.4 million in one month of release. “Turbo” was the second animated movie with a top-five finish, placing fourth and adding $13.3 million to its overall total for a $55.7 million bank roll in two weeks. Somehow, people went to see “Grown Ups 2” for a third straight weekend and virtually ensured there will be an even crappier “Grown Ups 3” in a couple of years by padding the film’s total earnings with $11.5 million for a three-week tally of $101.6 million. The geezer action heroes of “Red 2” made $9.4 million for the frame and have scored $35.1 million in the film’s first two weeks. “Pacific Rim” snagged seventh place with $7.5 million and its run continues to fall short of the mark with $84 million in domestic earnings through three weeks against the backdrop of a $190 million budget. “The Heat” hung around the top 10 for another weekend, bringing in $6.8 million and upping its five-week total to $141.2 million. “R.I.P.D.” was terrible once more, making a mere $5.8 million and stumbling to a two-week bank roll of $24.3 million with a $130 million budget hanging over its head. “Fruitvale Station” rode plenty of positive buzz to tenth place despite remaining in limited release. It made $4.6 million even though its showed in a mere 1,064 theaters and has earned $6.3 million in three weeks. “World War Z” (No. 12) and “Monsters University” tumbled out from last weekend’s top 10………

- So, how is that quest for tolerance and racial understanding going, world? Before answering that question, take a quick look at Italy, where the country's first black minister made a speech over the weekend and had an ass hat in the crowd show an immense amount of class by throwing bananas at her. Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge is originally from Democratic Republic of Congo and she spoke at a rally in Cervia in central Italy on Friday. The bananas came hurtling toward the stage but missed their target. It is a continuation of the bigotry Kyenge has faced since joining the government. She has faced almost daily racial slurs and threats and earlier this month, the anti-immigration Northern League party likened her to an orangutan. Oh, and there was the enlightened local Northern League councilor who said Kyenge should be raped so she understands how victims of crimes committed by immigrants feel. That tool has received a suspended jail sentence and a temporary ban from public office. Prior to Friday’s event, members of the far-right Forza Nuova group left mannequins covered in fake blood near the site of the Democratic Party rally in protest against Kyenge's proposal to make anyone born on Italian soil a citizen. The group also distributed leaflets with the slogan “Immigration kills.” Italian police are seeking the banana thrower, but Forza Nuova has denied responsibility. Kyenge tweeted about the thrown banana, calling it "sad" and a waste of food. "The courage and optimism to change things has to come above all from the bottom up to reach the institutions," she added. Several top government officials expressed support for Kyenge and condemnation of the incident on Saturday and Environment Minister Andrea Orlando tweeted that he felt "utmost indignation for this lowly act" against his fellow minister………

- Every NFL player prepares for the season differently. Some find a warm climate and work out on the beach, others return to their hometown to train where they trained growing up and others seek out elite trainers and follow strict regimens designed to put them a step ahead of their peers when everyone reports for training camp. Dallas Cowboys receiver Dwayne Harris chose none of those options, yet he showed up at training camp in California weighing a svelte 199 pounds, down nine pounds from his playing weight last season. When Harris showed up shredded and in top shape, he was asked how he managed to improve his conditioning and odds are that no one around him would have guessed what he was about to say. Sure, he ate better and worked out a little more, but that’s as far as the common part of his tale goes. For the rest of his weight loss, Harris gives credit to the inspiration of of "Rocky II" with Sylvester Stallone chasing chickens around. That’s right, Harris chased animals around and while there aren’t any cheesy montages scored with ’80s music and him sprinting up the side of a mountain in Russia wearing a pair of boots, or of him assaulting a side of beef in a meat packing plant, there damn well could be footage of him trying to run down all manner of wildlife. "I'd just go out, man, and look for stuff to run after. All kinds of stuff. Rabbits. Cats. Everything,” Harris said. “Especially when I was back at home with my mom [in Stone Mountain, Ga.]. We live in the woods, so there was a lot of stuff running out there." His also chased his dog, Polo, a pit bull. "I'd chase after him because he doesn't want to come home," Harris said. His dog has slowed down a bit at 6 years old, but he was fast enough to keep his owner chasing after him to get into top form for the NFL season…….

- Ever wanted to hack into one of the most common cars found on America’s roadways? Now is your chance. Two well-known computer hackers will drop some major knowledge on the world this week when they release a how-to guide for hijacking and driving a Toyota Prius and Ford Escape. Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek plan to release the findings of their own informal study as part of the Def Con hacking convention in Las Vegas. Their government-funded research unearthed a way to alternately force a Prius to brake at 80 mph, veer quickly and dramatically, or accelerate, all without the driver’s prompting. The pair have also figured out a way to disable a Ford Escape’s brakes while the vehicle is traveling at “very low speeds,” regardless of how much the driver attempts to stop the vehicle. Sadly, a hacker would have to be inside the car in order to tamper with its computer in both instances, so taking control of some poor fool’s vehicle from a computer hundreds or even thousands of miles away is still a pipe dream. “Imagine what would happen if you were near a crowd,” Valasek said, adding that his and Miller’s research exposes weaknesses in automobile security systems so patches can be applied and criminals’ plots foiled. Their work produced a 100-page paper they hope will encourage other hackers to uncover additional automobile security flaws before they can be potentially exposed by malicious parties. “I trust the eyes of 100 security researchers more than the eyes that are in Ford and Toyota,” Miller said. A Toyota spokesman confirmed that the company was reviewing Miller and Valasek’s work, while Ford downplayed the study as unrealistic in a real-world scenario………

- Turning tragedy into art is rarely easy, but one homeowner along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline is doing just that in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Milford, Ct. resident Susan Ashelford lives in a neighborhood that was bludgeoned by the storm and like so many Americans all along the coast, she returned home to find debris strewn around her yard and neighborhood. The storm has not dampened her enthusiasm for living on the coast, but she is using its aftermath to crank out some very creative artwork that she hopes will expedite the healing process. "You live on the water because you love it," Ashelford said. "But, it can be so deadly and destructive at the same time." Her home emerged largely unscathed from the hurricane, but many of her neighbors had their domiciles devastated by its high winds and massive deluge of rain. Rebuilding has not been easy and with government aid and insurance money slow to roll in, residents of the neighborhood are struggling to get back on their feet. "It takes time, when you have to get the money yourselves," Ashelford said. Her backyard was hit heavily and remains in a state of chaos nine months after the storm, including a shed that was toppled and left on its side and a fence that is broken down and in need of major repair. After looking at this disheveled scene for weeks, Ashelford decided to take action. "I was looking at it and thought: what can I do?" she said. "Is there something I can make from all the debris, rather than sending it to the landfill?" She turned her fence posts into a picture frame for her nephew's wedding gift and the fence itself was converted into towel hooks, key chain holders and yard signs. Her art is sold at a downtown gift store called Given to Gauche and a portion of each sale goes to the Milford United Way Sandy Relief Fund………

Steve Nash plays soccer, rock star expenses and fake mouse memories

- The Los Angeles Lakers will not be a good team next season. Kobe Bryant may or may not be ready for the start of the season after tearing his Achilles’ tendon late last season, Dwight Howard left in free agency for Houston and the talent that remains on the roster is either past its prime or completely unproven. With at least five teams in the Western Conference markedly better than their favorite teams, Lakers fans are in for a long year. They will be able to use all the distractions they can get, so maybe Steve Nash can provide one. Nash, who believes Bryant is ahead of schedule in his recovery from Achilles' surgery, will try his hand at a different sport on Tuesday. The two-time NBA MVP will revisit his soccer roots with an informal tryout with Italian soccer power Inter Milan before the storied team opens play in the Guinness International Champions Cup tournament that's coming to the U.S. next week. Inter is one of eight teams in the tournament, which will crown a winner in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Aug. 7. "It's a dream come true to get a chance to try out, not just to try out but to take the field with Inter Milan, one of the great, storied franchises in professional sports," Nash said. "I feel like a little kid." Nash’s tryout will take place in New Jersey, two days before Inter Milan opens its portion of the event in Indianapolis against Chelsea. Nash knows he will be nervous, maybe even more than when he takes the court against Derrick Rose or Russell Westbrook. "I still get nervous for basketball games from time to time. When I get out on the court, I don't get nervous, but before. To go out there with guys that I look up to and watch play, it's definitely going to raise the nerves. I'll be really nervous and really excited,” Nash added. Odds are that Inter Milan’s players won't be nervous, as most of the clubs in the tournament are using the event as preseason training and the matches will allow for many more substitutions than normal. Nash, who was a soccer player as a child, had better hope that he doesn’t suffer a new injury during his tryout after playing just 50 games last seasons because of a broken left leg and a strained right hamstring…….

- China is not renowned as a dog-friendly place. A country where dogs are frequent occupants of spots on dinner menus has added an anti-dog law to the books in its capital city. Beijing residents who own large dogs and breeds that have been labeled dangerous by the government are living in fear because of a new law that bans 41 dog breeds from city limits for being “big and vicious.” Police are arresting dogs and executing them if they violate the new law, which also limits how tall a dog can be -- 14 inches is the maximum height. Part of the law has been on the books since 1994, but only began to be strictly enforced this year. Dog owners have logically wondered how such a generic law can be applied fairly, but fairness has no place in a communist hell hole of a nation. Even animal control officials haven't shown great enthusiasm for the law, but many point to data showing that in 2012, 13 people in Beijing died from rabies, more than doubling the previous year's figure. An estimated 1 million dogs live in the city, but many do not receive rabies vaccines. Official data shows that only 10-20 percent of dogs have been vaccinated for rabies, compared to 70 percent in the United States. The government seems blissfully willing to ignore the fact that some larger breeds are actually less likely to bite than smaller, more aggressive dogs. Dog owners who bring unapproved dogs inside city limits are also subject to an $800 fine. The whole concept of pets is a new one in China, where eating dogs remains common and Yulin, a small town in China’s southern Guangxi province, holds an annual dog meat festival………

- State control in filmmaking: It’s not just for totalitarian regimes looking to foist their propaganda on the masses. It is also for the state of Florida, which is getting into the movie business and forking over $5 million to finance a sequel for the 2011 movie “Dolphin Tale.” Gov. Rick Scott announced the decision on Friday at an event held at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Scott revealed that Florida will contribute $5 million in state funds to the sequel, which will feature the entire cast of the original film. Oscar winner Morgan Freeman Harry Connick Jr. and Ashley Judd will all be back and Charles Martin Smith has written the screenplay and will direct the film again. "The odds are we'll get a great return on investment," Gov. Scott said. There is nothing citizens enjoy more when their government allocates millions of dollars collected from taxpayers to a project than hearing an elected official tell them there are “great odds” that there will be a big return on that investment. The bet does appear to be a solid one, as movie goers are apt to have their hearts hooked again by the story of Winter the Dolphin, an animal swims with a prosthetic tail. "We have a sequel guys. Is that cool or what?” asked David Yates, CEO of Clearwater Marine Aquarium. With funding in place, filming is scheduled to begin in Clearwater in October and Warner Bros. has slated the project for a Sept. 19, 2014 release date. "The story is basically picking up Winter's life story and weaving some more real life elements we did not tell Dolphin Tale itself. With one of those key elements being the life story of the dolphin named Hope," Yates added…….

- Science has done done it again, y’all. By “it,” take that to mean implanting false memories into the minds of mice. A research team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was able to make the mice wrongly associate a benign environment with a previous unpleasant experience from different surroundings. This may sound like a ridiculous waste of time, but these brilliant scientific minds found a way to condition a network of neurons to respond to light, making the mice recall the unpleasant environment. Dr. Xu Liu and her team believe that this discovery could one day shed light into how false memories occur in humans. The study used genetically engineered mice implanted with optic fibers in order to deliver pulses of light to their brain. The technique, known as optogenetics, is able to make individual neurons respond to light. “Our memory changes every single time it's being recorded. That's why we can incorporate new information into old memories and this is how a false memory can form,” Liu said. “Just like in mice, our memories are stored in collections of cells, and when events are recalled we reconstruct parts of these cells - almost like re-assembling small pieces of a puzzle.” Human memory has long been known as unreliable and studies have shown the shakiness of eyewitness testimonies following crimes. Liu, who works at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics, revealed that when mice recalled a false memory, it was indistinguishable from the real memory in the way it drove a fear response in the memory forming cells of a mouse's brain. Mice were place inside a blue box and the brain cells encoding memory were labeled in this environment. Their cells were made responsive to light and the mice were then place inside a red box, where light was delivered into the brain to activate the labeled cells. That spurred the mice to recall the blue box while they were simultaneously given mild electrical shocks to their feet. When they were returned to the blue box, they showed signs of fear even though no pain had occurred in that setting……..

- Oh, the price of being a world-famous rock star. Muse frontman Matt Bellamy has dropped a bombshell on the world by revealing the cost of bribing local government and safety officials in order for his band to be able to set off the pyrotechnics fans have come to expect during their extravagant live shows. According to Bellamy, representatives for the British rock band have had to offer backhanders to people at various gigs so they could use their pyrotechnics and explosive effects. "Everywhere you go there are problems," Bellamy said. "We have accountants and lawyers arguing with all sorts of local councils and police and promoters." Bellamy explained that the costs of bribing the necessary officials so Muse can rock out in its expected fashion have soared to absurd heights and included phone calls to very powerful people. "In Rome, we had to bribe people with thousands of euros just to be allowed to blast our fire effects. We had to phone the British Embassy in Rome and argue with some official,” he continued. “If you want to do things like this on the move, it's quite a big deal. It's pretty bloody expensive, though. It's mind-boggling how much, actually." Maybe those officials who are hesitant to allow over-the-top pyrotechnic displays have a point, though. In May, residents of Coventry, England actually thought their local stadium had been set on fire because the special effects during a pre-show rehearsal were so extensive. Flames rose above the top of the city's Ricoh Arena and rumors of a blaze lit up Facebook and Twitter. Sadly, giving a free concert last month in London for the premiere of “World War Z” did not buy Muse enough goodwill to set off as many explosives as they want anywhere across the continent………

Swiss prison breaks, missing a $2 million NFL bonus and "American Karaoke" racism suits

- Good luck finding a new home for the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden officials. The iconic venue, home to all manner of concerts, sporting events and other major festivities, has a ticking clock to move from its current home at the corner of 34th and 8th streets in midtown Manhattan. A 47-1 vote this week by the New York City Council gives the arena a decade to relocate amid efforts to renovate the equally well-known Penn Station that sits below it. The council approved a special permit allowing the arena to operate for 10 years while its management seeks to relocate. City officials and business interests have pushed to expand Penn Station for years and when Madison Square Garden's 50-year land-use permit expired in January, the door was open to force a move. It is a reversal of what happened in 1963, when the original Penn Station and its Corinthian columns, vast hallways and glass ceilings was demolished make way for the construction of the current Madison Square Garden, which opened in 1968. "The approval of this permit offers us a great opportunity to re-imagine and redevelop Penn Station as a world-class transportation destination and allow time to relocate Madison Square Garden to a new and improved home," Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine C. Quinn said after the vote. Current New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg had hoped for a 15-year permit, but if the arena cannot find a new home, it will have to reapply for a permit once it expires. Finding that much real estate in one of the world’s most expensive cities is going to be a huge challenge, but the council argued at its meeting that the arena’s presence above Penn Station is an "intractable problem." "Imagine 220 mph bullet trains that sweep you to D.C. or Boston in 90 minutes or less. These plans are on the table, but they can only be realized with a modern, renovated Penn Station," Manhattan Borough President and city comptroller candidate Scott M. Stringer said. "That is not possible as long as the Garden sits squarely on top of the nation's busiest rail transit hub." It is a situation rife with problems regardless of the final solution……..

- Down with “American Karaoke!” That has been the battle cry in this space for years and it is now the cry of 10 former contestants on Fox’s lame-tastic reality karaoke show. The 10 contestants, all black, have filed a lawsuit against the show, claiming that they were eliminated from the competition due to a racist ratings scheme. Never mind the fact that black contestants have won multiple seasons of the show, because Corey Clark (Season 2), Jaered Andrews (Season 2), Jacob John Smalley (Season 2), Donnie Williams (Season 3), Terrell Brittenum (Season 5), Derrell Brittenum (Season 5), Thomas Daniels (Season 6), Akron Watson (Season 6), Ju'Not Joyner (Season 8) and Chris Golightly (Season 9) believe they were targeted for elimination because of their skin color. All 10 are seeking $25 million each in damages for the show's alleged discrimination and other misdeeds and they also want the show to adopt new anti-racism rules. New York attorney James H. Freeman represents the group and said he began investigating the show after Jermaine Jones was kicked off on March 15, 2012 for not telling producers about multiple outstanding warrants for his arrest. When Freeman investigated, he said he discovered that 10 people had been publicly disqualified from the show and all of them happened to be black. Even though being a wanted criminal seems like a solid reason to boot a person from a show, Freeman argues in the lawsuit that the eliminations were part of a "cruel and inhumane" plot to humiliate black singers to boost ratings. The claim makes no sense because humiliating black people isn’t exactly a known ratings gold mine, but the lawsuit also cites the show’s background checks, in which producers ask, "Have you ever been arrested?" This is a violation of the California employment law, according to Freeman. Just to be safe, maybe it’s time to shut the entire show down and board up the windows……..

- Hackers are always looking for a security flaw to exploit and security firm BlueBox claims to have identified the first known malicious use of Android's "master key" vulnerability. The bug was first identified publicly earlier this month and allows attackers to install code on to phones running Google's mobile operating system and then take control of them. Another security firm, Symantec, said it identified two apps distributed in China that had been infected using the hack. Two weeks ago, Google released a patch to manufacturers, but the fix has not been sent to all customers yet even though the company is insistent that it has taken the necessary steps to address the problem. It has also searched its own Play marketplace for the bug, but there is no such protection for consumers who download software from other stores. BlueBox first reported the bug on July 3, but Google hasn’t address the topic much publicly. Android apps are built with an encrypted signature that the operating system uses to check the program is legitimate and has not been tampered with, but BlueBox was allegedly able to find a back door that allowed it to make changes to an app's code without affecting the signature. The technique could be used to install a Trojan to read any data on a device, harvest passwords, record phone calls, take photos and carry out other functions that would put a person’s digital security and personal information in jeopardy. In this case, hackers exploited the flaw to install malware called Android.Skullkey, which steals data from compromised phones, monitors texts received and written on the handset sends its own SMS messages to premium numbers. According to Symantec, users can manually remove the malicious software by going into their settings menu. Eventually, the Google fix may make its way to all consumers………

- NFL players don’t always pay close attention to every detail regarding their contract and other business deals. As many would tell you, that’s why they have an agent. San Francisco 49ers starting cornerback Tarell Brown is wishing right now that he had focused more on the details of his deal because if he had, he would not have missed out on a $2 million escalator in his contract by not participating in the team's voluntary offseason program. The team voided that provision in the deal when Brown was AWOL and he openly admitted that he didn't know about that clause in the deal and only learned of it via Twitter after practice Thursday. Once he found out, it took him all of five seconds to fire agent Brian Overstreet for the mistake. Before his f*ck-up, Brown had been due to earn $2.925 million in salary for the 2013 season. He is entering his contract year and worked out on his own this offseason -- something he said he routinely has done. With $2 million on the line, he said he would have acted differently if he had known about the clause. "No one wants to leave money on the table," Brown said. "If I would have known the clauses in my contract -- that's what agents get paid to do, to orchestrate the contract and to let you know what you can and can't do as far as workouts and OTAs and things of that sort. That's what he got paid to do. He didn't do that, so in my opinion, you have to be let go. We all are held accountable for our actions. This is part of the business." Once he learned about his lost money, Brown contacted Overstreet and the agent reached out to the 49ers. By that point, there was little either Brown or his now-former agent could do. The veteran cornerback received a $7.125 million, three-year contract extension in late October 2009 that takes him through this season. He hopes to work out some sort of compromise with the team, but at this point there is little incentive for the 49ers to give him a single cent of the money they could have owed him……..

- In the land of neutrality, there are still some situations where avoiding confrontation is not an option. This would be one of those times. Milan Poparic, a member of the notorious 'Pink Panther' jewel thief gang, exploited a crack in the proverbial walls of the Swiss penal system Thursday night when he escaped from the Orbe prison in the western canton of Vaud. The plan to break Poparic out wasn’t exactly sophisticated or subtle, as he fled the prison with a fellow inmate late Thursday after two accomplices rammed a gate and fired on guards. The Bosnian national was serving a sentence of six years and eight months for robbing a jewelry store in Neuchatel, Switzerland, in 2009. In confirming the escape, Swiss police confirmed that Poparic was a member of the Pink Panthers group, prime suspects in a series of thefts over the past decade. While not exactly rocking the most badass nickname ever for a criminal outfit, the gang takes its name from the 1963 movie starring Peter Sellers as the bungling Inspector Clouseau. Police did not immediately reveal the nature of the relationship between Poparic and fellow inmate and escapee Adrian Albrecht, who was serving a seven-year prison for various crimes. The search continues for both men, but in a mountainous coutnry where so much of the terrain is remote and hilly, finding an intelligent criminal with a known network of associates won’t be easy……..

Martian valleys, Irish heroism and degrees in video games

- How did Mars get its valley networks? An international team of planetary scientists now believe the red planet had its surface carved by winds driving soggy air up the slopes of a mountain range, where the moisture condenses and precipitation leaves those slopes with lush vegetation and a network of valleys and ravines. According to a team led by Kathleen Scanlon, a PhD candidate at Brown University, the same process that is common on Earth may have taken place on Mars some 3.7 billion years ago. The result is a large network of wide, shallow valleys that drop from ridges, peaks and crater rims on the Martian highlands. If accurate, this study could provide valuable details about Mars' climate during a period when water filled what are now dry river beds. These conditions and processes "point to a more hospitable climate than we currently have on Mars, one that could potentially have been more amenable to life," Scanlon said. Her team could not determine whether the precipitation would have appeared mainly as rain or snow because Mars’ temperature at that time is not known. Brown’s team included scientists from the University of Chicago and the University of Paris and their model pointed to colder average temperatures for the period in question, meaning snow. Regardless of its form, the atmospheric moisture played a key role in shaping the Martian surface during a time the red planet's climate is thought to have started its shift from what some researchers suggest was a relatively warm, wet period to the chilled, desiccated climate of the present. The valleys surveyed average a few hundred yards deep and a few miles across, Scanlon said. Her team’s next step is to determine if the atmosphere could have held enough moisture to allow precipitation from topographic lift to play a significant role in forming the valley networks………

- If ever there was a single occasion that perfectly summed up who a professional athlete is, the way New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is handling his current roster limbo with his team is it. Rodriguez hasn’t played all season and if the Yankees have their way, he will never play for them again. He has missed the entire season while recovering from hip surgery and has recently been going through a rehab stint in the minor league. At the same time, he is next in line to be whacked with a major suspension by Major League Baseball for his involvement with a Miami-area wellness clinic that was essentially a front for distributing performance-enhancing drugs. Knowing he is on the verge of a long suspension and possibly one of the dirtiest athletes in modern sports history, the Yankees clearly have no interest in him ever donning their uniform again. Over the weekend, he was supposedly done with his rehab and ready to rejoin the Yankees when he suffered a mysterious quadriceps strain. The Yankees did an MRI and determined that he would need another week or two to rehab, secretly hoping he would be suspended before he could get back on the field. When it became clear he wasn’t going to be cleared to play, Rodriguez did what me-first, PED-using diva/cheaters do in such situations: He went out and found a doctor he had never met to look at his MRI, ask him a few questions over the phone and go out on the media circuit to do interviews in which he said A-Fraud was healthy enough to play. The doctor in question is Dr. Michael Gross, a New Jersey physician who was previously reprimanded by the state of New Jersey in February for not properly supervising an unlicensed employee. According to a report filed by the state's attorney general, Gross failed to "adequately ensure proper patient treatment involving the prescribing of hormones, including steroids" at the Acting Center for Health & Wellness. He admitted that he has never met Rodriguez in person. "I spoke with Alex on the phone, and I asked him if he has any pain and he said, 'I don't,' " Gross said. "I said, 'Do you have an injury?' And he said, 'I don't.' He said, 'Would you be willing to say I'm ready to play?' I said, 'No, I'm not willing to say that. I've never examined you. I've looked at your MRI.'" For some odd reason, the Yankees are angry and reportedly considering a suspension for violating MLB policy by seeking an unapproved second opinion on his condition………

- There will be no letting it be for the production company behind a Beatles-themed musical that opened on Broadway Wednesday night. The cash grab/celebration of the Beatles' music has become a real sh*t storm of ego, control and anger after a rival production company claimed the “Let It Be” show ripped off its concepts. The show played in the West End last year and premiered on the Great White Way this week in the midst of an on-going copyright infringement lawsuit filed by the creators of rival tribute show, “Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles.” The “Rain” crew claims that “Let It Be” uses elements of their 2010-11 show, including musical arrangements of hits, hairstyles, similar Scouser banter and a selection of 28 of the 31 songs that “Rain” used on Broadway. Attorney Peter Cane, representing “Let It Be” producers Jeff Parry and Annerin Productions, denounced the copyright claim as absurd. "Let It Be is a tribute to The Beatles, not to the four guys who impersonate The Beatles. How do you monopolize the ability to present an impersonation of The Beatles?” Cane asked. “How many different ways can you really do it? The Beatles acted a certain way, they played certain notes, they spoke a certain way." Those on the opposing side claim that the new version is a virtual spin-off of their production and that both teams came together in 2005 in a 50/50 partnership. At the time, Jeff Parry allegedly wanted to take “Rain” to London and informed the opposing side that they were instead entitled to just 7.125 percent of the revenue from “Let It Be.” Neither side is willing to back down and with boatloads of cash at stake, it’s unlikely they ever will be……..

- College students spend enough time playing video games, they may as well earn a degree in the business of gaming. Designing and producing games is actually a lucrative business and it’s (partially) why the University of California at Santa Cruz is now offering a master’s degree in video gaming at its Silicon Valley extension in Santa Clara. Learner/gamers like UC Santa Cruz student Mark Gerow, inventor of his own video game known as “Siege Breakers,” is one of those who will be in the first class in the brand-new program this fall at the Santa Clara campus. He is aiming to earn a master’s in Games and Playable Media. “It’s a very technically oriented program that requires a lot of hard work … it’s not quite underwater basket weaving,” Gerow said. “It requires a little bit of blood, sweat and tears.” He and his fellow students believe games are a mythical blend of art and technology and say the program requires a mastery of a variety of diverse subjects, from state-of-the art touch screen software to art design to video and sound. It purportedly is an opportunity for students to take their computer science experience and invent their own games from scratch, which conveniently means a whole lot of time playing video games to “test” them and make sure they are bug-free for their eventual release. UC Santa Cruz Professor Noah Wardrip-Fruin will be one of the educators leading this ship of dorks. “And that’s an experience that’s really hard to go through in your garage or a traditional undergraduate program,” Wardrip-Fruin said. “But by doing it in this masters program, you can really take your skills to the next level.” The cost for in video gaming at UC Santa Cruz would cost about $16,000 for in-state grad students and a very affordable $32,000 for out-of-state students……..

- Heroism is in the water – or the water in this case – off the west coast of Ireland Wednesday morning. On a sunny, calm morning, a small Dutch ship nearly met its demise and its crew along with it. By Thursday, the mast and part of the hull from the sailing vessel Astrid protruding from the water was the only reminder of what had transpired a day before. Those who witnessed or knew of the rescue called it miraculous and Kinsale Mayor Tony Cierans was passing out “well done, lad” praises like they were going out of style. “Any maritime accident is distressing but one which involves youngsters is all the more traumatic.  Huge thanks are due to the Kinsale and Courtmacsherry lifeboat crews, the Coastguard and other services,” Cierans said. “It’s at such moments that one becomes aware of the vital service provided by these groups. Their bravery is truly overwhelming.  They deserve our admiration and gratitude, Thanks also to Kinsale Yacht Club and local families for their hospitality.” All 30 of the sailors in training and the crew of the Astrid survived after their vessel struck the rocks around mid-day. The mayor cited the response of the RNLI Kinsale inshore and Courtmachserry lifeboats, Irish Coastguard and other emergency services in what a spokesman for the coast guard described as a most challenging and complex rescue operation. Irish Sailing Association CEO Harry Hermon tried in vain to use his own boat to prevent Astrid hitting rocks and said the crash could have been much worse. Rescue crews were on the scene 18 minutes after the original distress call went out and crew members Nicky Searls, Liam O’Connell and Jim Grennan got all 30 passengers off the Astrid, initially on to a life-raft before 18 were transferred to the Courtmacsherry lifeboat and 12 on to the vessel Spirit of Oysterhaven. All of the sailors were taken to Kinsale port and safety………

Mercedes golf carts, Riot Watch! Bulgaria and banks repossessing the wrong homes

- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Bulgaria isn’t often at the forefront of the dissident movement, but that changed on Wednesday when an enraged mob of Bulgarians laid siege to their parliament building and forced more than 100 lawmakers, ministers and journalists to spend the night barricaded inside. Angry anti-corruption protesters attacked the building and raged against the machine overnight before riot police were finally able to force them from the scene. The ongoing political crisis in the eastern European nation stems from anger over utility price rises, but has grown to include accusations that private interests control state institutions has caused months of protests in the ex-communist state, which joined the European Union in 2007. Bulgaria has struggled to live up to its governance standards, hence the protests. Parliament closed for business on Thursday, barricaded and under heavy police guard, after speaker Mikhail Mikov implored deputies not to go to work until public order is restored. In a heartwarming scene, lawmakers were escorted out of the building in police vans at around 3 a.m. after spending eight hours trapped inside by protesters shouting "Mafia!" and "Resign!" and tearing up paving stones to stack with garbage and form makeshift barricades. European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding boldly stepped up to support these brave dissidents during a speech in the capital of Sofia. "My sympathy is with the Bulgarian citizens who are protesting on the streets against corruption,” Reding said. "Bulgaria must continue its reform efforts." On the opposite side of the coolness spectrum, European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly called for calm on all sides. What makes the Bulgarian uprising unique is that many of the10,000 people who have shown up daily to protest are well-educated Bulgarians who have carved time out their schedules for the past 40 days to demand the resignation of the Socialist-led government that took office in May after an inconclusive election. Even after a controversial nominee to a top security position was withdrawn, the masses have remained livid. The final push that started the blockade of the parliament was a government decision to borrow 1 billion levs ($676 million), raising the budget deficit to 2 percent of gross domestic product. If that isn't a reason to riot, nothing is…….

- Life as a movie star is decent. Ryan Gosling can attest to that fact, what with starring in all sorts of big-budget films and working alongside the likes of Rachel McAdams on a regular basis. Having a world-famous rock band on the rise invite you and your fledgling band on the road with them is also a nice perk and one Gosling can now experience courtesy of New Jersey natives The Gaslight Anthem. Frontman Brian Fallon and his bandmates have issued an open invitation to the movie star to hit the road with them. On his official Instagram page, Fallon posted a picture of Gosling playing the guitar with his band Dead Man's Bones and wrote, “Hey Girl... Dead Man's Bones is actually really good. You come tour with us and not make Only God Forgives 2.” Gosling and his band, Dead Man’s Bones, need to think and react to this offer quickly because after playing Pier 26 in New York City this Friday and Sunday, The Gaslight Anthem will head across the Atlantic for a few weeks to perform at a number of European festivals before returning to North America to tour. The Garden State quarter released their fourth studio album, “Handwritten,” last year and have suggested that their next project will be inspired by grunge rock icons Pearl Jam. “I want to do the 'No Code' record [Pearl Jam's fourth album], that one. They did these three rock records, and [then] they all of a sudden went left turn. And everybody went, 'What the hell?' Then later, five years, they went, 'This is amazing,’” Fallon said. "We're searching for something new to do with songwriting, rather than just piecing together verses and choruses in more of a traditional sense. We're looking for some other thing – not some other genre, but something else. And it might not be the favorite of everyone, but [it] might be the 'weird' album coming up. I'm pretty sure it is." That sounds like just the sort of band Gosling should want to hit the road with………

- Von Miller likes to use some sort of illegal substance. If he didn’t, then he probably wouldn’t be facing a pending four-game substance-abuse suspension from the NFL. The 2011 Defensive Rookie of the Year, who reportedly tested positive for amphetamines and marijuana in 2011 in his rookie season, hasn’t offered any details about the reason for his suspension. All he has said so far is that he doesn't smoke marijuana. Of course, the more prevalent rumors are that he made have used ecstasy, so he might be more of a Skrillex fan than a Phish fan. For now, he is invoking the NFL's confidentiality clause to deflect questions about the suspension. He acknowledged his case is under appeal and promised he would provide some candid answers once the appeal is resolved, but nothing is likely to happen until the NFL hears his appeal, which is expected to happen some time in mid-August. All Miller would say when asked about his possible bong-hitting was that smoking chron is “absolutely not” part of his life. Being suspended for four games would mean two positive tests for banned substances under the NFL’s drug policy. Miller believes that life at training camp will be fairly normally while he awaits word on whether he'll be banned beginning Aug. 30 -- the day after Denver's final preseason game. "It's tough, but I'm going to be me. I'm going to come here every single day with my teammates. We're focused on the task ahead. That's pretty much it," Miller said. "Everybody has tough moments in their lives. I have great teammates. My teammates have been great for me." Coach John Fox was similarly tight-lipped about Miller’s case and resorted to clichés and coach speak when asked about the potential he would be without his best defensive player for one quarter of the season…….

- Behold the power of technology. It can be used to expedite the transfer information faster, make life simpler, cure diseases….or create a swankier way for weekend hackers to enjoy their time boozing it up/golfing at the local municipal course or country club. The forward-thinking innovator behind the latest great invention is Mercedes-Benz, whose new concept for a luxury golf cart features virtually every conceivable perk and benefit a wannabe PGA Tour pro could ask for. The car maker unveiled sketches for the “Vision Golf Cart” during the British Open and the images have begun to circulate online, showing designs for a vehicle that would look more at home roving Mars than cruising down a cart path. Mercedes-Benz's head of design, Gorden Wagener, came up with the design with input from golf fans, who were asked to suggest the amenities they would want in a state-of-the-art golf cart. The cart is driven by a central joystick, allowing riders sitting on either side to control its direction. That means no more switching seats depending on who’s hitting next, which could theoretically speed up the pace of play. Once inside, passengers will have the luxury of a revolving iPhone/iPad docking station, heating/cooling cup holders and a cooler/warmer refrigerator. In total, half of the vehicle’s primary components are focused on either cooling down or heating up beverages even though hot tea and coffee typically aren’t in high demand on the links. Oh, and there is also an “air scarf” heater, a solar panel roof and a “Fore!” button to alert other golfers if a ball (or runaway cart) is headed their way……..

- Everyone makes mistakes, even banks. Banks even make mistakes on major decisions like repossessing homes and kicking its occupants out onto the street. Vinton County (Ohio) resident Katie Barnett understands this in vivid detail after the First National Bank in Wellston foreclosed on her house even though it was not and never has been her bank. “They repossessed my house on accident, thinking it was the house across the street,” Barnett said. She had been away from her home for two weeks while on vacation and said she had to crawl through the window of her own house in order to get in after her key did not work. Some of her household items had been hauled away and others had been sold, given away or thrown away. The bank sent a repo man to take back the house located across the street from Barnett’s house, but their incompetent muscle man broke into the wrong house. “They told me that the GPS led them to my house,” Barnett said. “My grass hadn’t been mowed and they just assumed.” After getting home, Barnett called the McArthur Police about the incident, but weeks later, the local police chief announced the case was closed. According to Barnett, the bank president insisted this was the first time something like this has happened. However, when she presented him with an $18,000 estimate to replace the losses, the bank refused to pay. “He got very firm with me and said, ‘We’re not paying you retail here, that’s just the way it is,’” Barnett said. “I did not tell them to come in my house and make me an offer. They took my stuff and I want it back.” She is predictably pissed and is still attempting to negotiate a settlement with First National Bank…….

Smurf-blue Spanish towns, PGA Tour power for the fans and J. Cole insults autism sufferers

- Golf fans typically don’t have any problem getting involved in PGA Tour events. From the kooks who scream “Get in the hole!” every time a player tees it up from 550 yards away on a par 5 to the losers who sit at home and phone in potential rules violations on players in the middle of their rounds, there is no shortage of wannabe tour pros who will horn in on the action whenever possible. For the final major of the year, the tour is actually inviting that fan intrusion. For the first time in the 95-year history of the PGA Championship, fans will have a voice in the course setup for the tournament, which starts Aug. 8 at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. As part of the  "Pick the Hole Challenge" sponsored by the PGA of America, fans can vote for one of four pin positions for the final round for the par-3, 181-yard 15th hole. Voting officially launched on Tuesday. Whichever pin placement fans choose, it will come at the end of a downhill setup with two bunkers on the left side and water on the right of a narrow green. Tour officials said they chose this particular hole for the vote because of its importance as a closing hole in the tournament and the plethora of challenging pin locations. The concept came from one of golf’s true legends: Jack Nicklaus, who won the last of his five PGA Championships in 1980 at Oak Hill. Nicklaus cooked up the idea as a way to incentivize fans to play a more active role in the event. "The chance for golf fans to interact with the PGA Championship and play a role in shaping the outcome of the final round fascinates me," Nicklaus said in a statement. "It's like being able to call the shots during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl." Course setup and pin placement typically fall under the control of the competition or championship committee. "A big part of this is not only to enhance participation and interests among golf fans worldwide," said Kerry Haigh, the chief championships officer for the PGA of America. "(It is) also to educate fans, spectators and non-golfers of the information that the best players in the world have when they stand on the tee with their hole sheet and yardage book and all the factors that they are considering for the shot." Vote early and vote often………

- Green energy source or health menace? Wind turbines have been labeled as both by those on opposing sides of the debate and it’s no mystery which side Vergennes, Vt. resident Michael Mammoliti and his wife are on. The Mammolitis are raising their fists in anger and reaching for the aspirin with their other hand and their troubles date back to the end of 2011, when a wind turbine was installed a few hundred feet from their home. The couple have been fighting against the turbine since the plan to build it was announced in the fall of 2011. Mammoliti and his wife, Brenda, filed a complaint to the Public Service Board against a plan by Green Mountain Power to build the 120-foot-tall alternative energy source…and their voice was promptly ignored by the powers that be. The turbine went online in December 2011 and with Phase 1 of their anti-green energy plan a failure, the Mammolitis turned to Phase 2: fight to have it shut down. That fight has taken a new angle in recent months with the argument that the wind turbine is somehow making the couple sick Michael Mammoliti claims the turbine gives him terrible headaches. “Is it just for someone to suffer for someone else's profit?” Michael Mammoliti said. “Is this the way we should live today in the world?” The alleged problem stems from the path of the sun for part of the year. That path places the turbine between the sun and the house, casting a shadow. On sunny days (and everyone knows every day is a sunny day in Vermont), the turbine’s blades beam light through his windows, Mammoliti said. “It’s like flashes of light,” he said. “Like a strobe light.” Green Mountain Power spokeswoman Dorothy Schnure confirmed that the company is aware of the Mammolitis' complaints and has done what it can to mitigate the issue. So far, turning off the turbine off between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., when the sun is lowest in the sky, doesn’t seem to have solved the problem………

- Rappers can't do their thing, be successful and not insult people. Very few groups are off limits when a rapper begins spitting game and yet, there are a few select groups that even the most hardcore hip-hop star shouldn’t take a run at. People who suffer from autism are at or near the top of that list, but that fact appears to have been lost on J Cole when he recorded his part for the Drake track “Jedeci Freestyle.” Cole began catching heat not long after the track drops because of lines in which he refers to some of his rivals as "autistic" and "retarded.” “Go check the numbers dummy, that’s just me gettin’ started/ I’m artistic, you n****s is autistic, retarded,” Cole raps. Oddly enough, parents of autistic children may not listen to Drake albums, but they heard about the song and began speaking out. That led Cole to apologize for the "highly offensive" lyrics and say that he is "embarrassed" that he "would be ignorant enough say something so hurtful.” He expounded on his feelings of contrition in a blog post and the post reads very much like a member of his management team, someone much smarter than J Cole, wrote it. "In a recent verse on the song 'Jodeci Freestyle', I said something highly offensive to people with Autism. Last week, when I first saw a comment from someone outraged about the lyric, I realized right away that what I said was wrong,” the post reads. “I was instantly embarrassed that I would be ignorant enough say something so hurtful. What makes the crime worse is that I should have known better. To the entire Autism community who expressed outrage, I'm moved and inspired by your passion, and I'm amazed at how strong you are as a unit. I have now read stories online from parents about their struggles and triumphs with raising an Autistic child and I admire how incredibly strong you have to be to do so. It’s touching.” Various autism charities and parent groups had demanded the apology and for Cole to think before he raps – or at least be smarter when he opens his mouth……..

- So far, Windows tablets have failed the same way all other Windows products typically fail. The Washington-based tech giant behind the world’s worst operating system has shown that its ambitions are loftier than its ability to deliver and as a result, Microsoft and its partners have not exactly turned in a product line of winners. Many of the Windows tablets’ issues have stemmed from processor power issues. Even the best of the low-wattage Ultrabook chips drain too much power, leading manufacturers to house their hybrids in cases full of fans and resulting in thicker, louder tablets than anyone wants. Intel may have the answer for this dilemma after introducing t new Core Y-series Haswell processors capable of fitting in thin, completely fanless designs. The chip maker announced that the new processors will be available in the next few months and if they meet their promised level of performance, tablet makers will be thrilled. Intel had previously announced its Core Y-series chips would run at a scenario design point of 6 watts, which is means of measuring the power draw during sustained workload, but the newly announced processors will go even lower, down to 4.5 watts. That 1.5-watt difference between the two is the difference between needing additional cooling and a potentially fanless design, Intel explained. With the new chips, Intel spokesman Dan Snyder said tablets will be able to offer more than nine hours of battery life on active usage. The chips won't have a ton of processing power, but even a low-powered Haswell processor will be faster than both ARM chips and Intel’s own Atom CPUs. The finished product is projected to be a tablet that looks more like a tablet and is lighter and easier to use………

- Too few towns are willing to homage to the tiny blue cartoon characters known as the Smurfs. The Spanish hilltop village of Juzcar is thankfully willing to buck this trend and in a country where a massive recession and frequent protests have dragged the national moon down the ol’ commode, a village willing to mute the recession blues by keeping all its buildings blue, the way they were painted in 2011 for a promotion for a “Smurfs” cartoon movie is just what a nation needs. Mayor David Fernandez is leading from the front on this issue and admits that a large part of the draw in keeping his town Smurf blue is the amount of tourist money the oddly-colored buildings bring in. "We calculate that around 210,000 tourists have visited us since we painted ourselves blue two years ago, and people keep on coming," Fernandez said. Tourism remains one of the few constant elements in Spain's recession-bound economy and few places in Spain or elsewhere around the globe have the weird, quirky charm of a traditional village nestled among chestnut forests in the southern region of Andalusia that went full-on sellout for a promotional stunt tied to a new movie. Juzcar, with a population of fewer than 250 people, painted everything blue, including its church and town hall, after being chosen by Sony Pictures to host an event to promote the movie, "The Smurfs 3D." No, the town didn’t host any of the filming, just a single promotional event that brought Hollywood to town for a couple of days two years ago. Even after the movie big wigs and power players left, residents voted to keep it blue because of the economic benefits brought by Smurf-seeking tourists. Having a real-life tribute to the Smurfs in Spain is a bit odd because the fictional blue creatures are based on a Belgian cartoon series. They dwell in mushroom-like houses and fittingly enough, a town full of blue houses and buildings is enough to make one wonder if the residents there are doing ‘shrooms themselves…….