- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! You might think Egypt would have
grown tired of trying to burn itself to the ground in a smoldering pile of ash
over the past two years, but no. On Sunday, a giant morass of mischief hit the
streets in Cairo as tens of thousands of opponents and supporters of Egyptian President
Mohammed Morsi staged dueling protests that – if we’re lucky - could descend
into mayhem and bloodshed. Throngs of anti-government demonstrators massed in
Tahrir Square, the genesis of 2011’s “Arab Spring” uprisings that
overthrew autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak. "The people want the fall
of the regime!" the rioters chanted. Many waved national flags in a shoe
of opposition to their first-ever elected leader. A simultaneous gathering outside
the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque near the Ittihadiya presidential palace
featured Morsi’s supporters, many decked out in military-style regalia and
carrying shields and clubs. Sadly, both sides promised to stay down and not
escalate their demonstrations into full-fledged riots of the sort that have
left at least seven people dead in the past week. Dueling protests are a
fitting capper for a 12-month span that has seen scores of political crises,
dozens of bloody clashes and a declining economy that have played out against a
backdrop of power outages, fuel shortages, skyrocketing prices and routine
lawlessness and crime. Seeing opposing factions rise up reminds the world of
the bitter political, social, and religious divisions in contemporary Egypt as
the Muslim Brotherhood and other hard-line groups face off against Morsi’s more
liberal (relatively speaking) opponents, including moderate Muslims and
Christians. According to liberal leaders, nearly half all Egyptian voters —
some 22 million people — have signed a petition calling for new elections. "We
all feel we're walking on a dead-end road and that the country will
collapse," said Mohamed El-Baradei, a former U.N. nuclear watchdog chief
and liberal leader in his homeland. For his part, Morsi has dismissed the
rising wave of protests as an undemocratic assault on his electoral legitimacy……..
- Female buddy comedies can indeed work, but they still
can’t beat back the animate might of cartoon monsters. “Monsters University” held onto
the top spot at the box office in its second weekend, adding $46.2 million to
its cumulative domestic total for a two-week haul of $171.1 million. The Sandra
Bullock-Melissa McCarthy comedy “The Heat” opened surprisingly well, banking
$40 million for its debut against a $43 million budget. “World War Z” dropped
one spot to third with $29.8 million for a two-week total of $123.7 million and
counting. The second new movie in the top 10 was “White House Down,” which did
not earn a large chunk of its $150 million budget by making a mere $25.7
million in its debut. “Man of Steel” clung to fifth place with $20.8 million
and has now brought in $248.6 million through its first three weeks in
theaters. There was a massive drop-off from the top five to the rest of the
pack as “This is the End” was well back in sixth place at $8.7 million and its
cumulative domestic haul stands at $74.6 million and counting after three weeks
of performing better than it was expected to. Seventh place belonged to “Now
You See Me,” which only had enough magic to bring in $5.5 million and place
eighth as its overall earnings tiptoed past the $100 million mark at $104.6
million. “Fast & Furious 6” kept driving in eighth place with $2.4 million
to up its six-week bank roll to $233.3 million and counting. “Star Trek Into
Darkness” seized ninth place with its slowest weekend to date, making $2
million for an overall domestic tally of $220.5 million. The final spot in the
top 10 went to “The Internship” with $1.4 million and the Vaughn-Stiller comedy
flick has brought in $41.7 million in four weeks. “Iron Man 3” (No. 11) and “The
Purge” (No. 12) both lost their spots in the top 10 from last weekend……..
- The weekend was a contentious one on golf courses across
America and it had nothing to do with 25-handicap hackers having four beers too
many by the time they hit the back nine and getting a bit too forceful in
hitting on the snack cart girl. It was the pros on the links who were blowing
up and losing their cool on the weekend, beginning with LGPA player Jessica
Korda. Korda was one of many players struggling their way around the course
Saturday at the U.S. Women's Open, but she was the only one to engage in a
screaming match with her caddie mid-round and then fire the poor guy before
they reached the end of the round. Korda and caddie Jason Gilroyed didn’t see
eye to eye on a club choice of shot selection and so Gilroyed found himself fired
mid-round after a shouting match. What’s a young, attractive female golfer to
do with no one to carry her club and give her yardage readings in the second
half of her round? Snag her boyfriend from the crowed and have him caddy the
rest of the way, of course. Korda's boyfriend, Johnny DelPreti, was on the bag
for the remainder of the round as she fumbled her way to a 76 that left her in
a tie for sixth place. Still, her day was less emotionally explosive than that
of D.H. Lee, who didn’t record many birdies but did manage to flip one to the
crowd Saturday at the PGA Tour's AT&T National in Bethesda, Md. His
approach shot sailed long on the 12th hole at Congressional and the South
Korean pro, apparently reacting to a fan in the gallery, hit the gallery with a
middle finger. Sadly, he didn’t go double bird, but the gesture was caught by
CBS' cameras and later replayed during the telecast. He went on to bogey the hole
and after starting the day in a tie for fourth, two shots off the lead, he shot
a 4-over 75, dropping him into a tie for 20th at 1-under 212. Score one for
class and restraint on the course………
- Dinosaurs and humans may not seem to have a lot in common,
but a new study suggests that one of the ancient beasts may have shared a gait
with mankind. The
study, led by Qi Zhao, a PhD student at the University of Bristol and lead
researcher at the Institute for Vertebrae Paleontology in Beijing, found that the
dinosaur Psittacosaurus (allegedly) went from walking on four feet to two
feet about 100 million years ago. Qi’s team found a total of 16 fossil
specimens ranging in age from 1-10 years old and from their remains,
extrapolated their conclusions on how the dinosaur walked. This study is the
first to show the dinosaur evolved over time from a four-legged creature to a
two-legged animal and the newly discovered dinosaur has been dubbed the “parrot
dinosaur.” It is thought to be of the genus of psittacosaurid ceratopsian
dinosaurs, which roamed Earth during the Early Cretaceous period. Psittacosaurus
species are defined as gazelle-sized bipedal herbivores with a high, powerful
beak on the upper jaw. Along with proof of how Psittacosaurus walked,
scientists are hopeful that the find will provide a better understanding of how
dinosaurs evolved over time. Walking upright would have allowed it to see
approaching predators, wade deep into waters in search of prey, all while
maintaining the ability to pluck fruit from trees. When Psittacosaurus’ walking
style changed, scientists said, its hip bones then evolved to support the
weight of the of the body. Bipedalism eventually saved the dinosaur energy
during movement, allowing it to travel longer distances and avoid predators. Qi
postulated that the dinosaurs changed their walking style between the ages of
4-6. He and his team had to receive special permission from officials in
Beijing to study the samples for their project…….
- What with the U.S. government pushing its citizens to gain
better control of their firearms, mightn’t it be wise for the government to
secure its own weapons first? That comment is directed specifically at the good
men and women of the U.S. Park Police, who are failing to adequately keep
track of their firearms, creating an environment in which weapons are
vulnerable to theft or misuse, according to a government report released
Friday. The report cited "a lackadaisical attitude toward firearms
management" by commanders and investigators reported finding "credible evidence of conditions
that would allow for theft and misuse of firearms, and the ability to conceal
the fact if weapons were missing." The USPP has a force of approximately
640 officers who are accused of failing to properly account for hundreds of
weapons. Additionally, the auditors also found that that the agency has more
than 1,400 extra weapons, including 477 military-style automatic and
semiautomatic rifles. The head of the Park Police officers' union, Ian Glick,
admitted to an "antiquated
system of weapon tracking," but insisted public safety was never put in
jeopardy. He added that "all the weapons are accounted for. Every weapon,
every stick of ammo, everything is accounted for. But it's not accounted for in
the National Park Service weapons inventory computer system." The park
service has immediately ordered a complete weapons inventory and vowed to implement
the report's recommendations on recordkeeping. Among the more enjoyable parts
of the lengthy report is the section citing several examples of mishandling of
weapons, including two officers it says brought their rifles home with them.
Maybe they were just worried that the Obama administration would want to rip
their guns from their hands just like the NRA kooks who keep stockpiling guns
they’ll never need……..
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