- Minnesota Timberwolves guard Shabazz Muhammad isn’t off to a
good start in the NBA. Muhammad, who dropped in the draft after concerns over
his character and maturity and whose father was found to have lied about his
age when he enrolled at UCLA, made quite an impression at the NBA's Rookie
Transition Program. Muhammad was sent home from the program on Wednesday, the
Timberwolves confirmed after reports that Muhammad was dismissed for violating
a rule by bringing a female guest into his hotel room. The first-round pick will also be fined and will have
to return and complete the program next summer, like a lazy high school student
repeating 10th grade because he was too lazy to wake up for the first two
periods of the day most of the year. "We have been made aware of the
circumstances surrounding Shabazz Muhammad's dismissal from the NBA's Rookie
Transition Program in New Jersey," Wolves president of basketball
operations Flip Saunders said. "The team fully supports the NBA's rules
and policies in all matters pertaining to this situation, and we will abide by the
league's action." To successfully complete a four-day program, held in
Florham Park, N.J., all Muhammad needed to do was follow the plan that the rest
of the 50 rookies at the seminar followed, which included not picking a skank
up at the bar and taking her back to his hotel room. The purpose of the program
is to help familiarize rookies with the league and understand the challenges
they will face on and off the court. Instead, Muhammad took only a few hours to
break one of the basic rules he was given and was sent home because of it. The
rule in question mandated that players could have no guests in their rooms unless
approved by administrators. Muhammad joins an illustrious group that includes
former Kansas players Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur, who were booted from
the program after it was discovered that women and marijuana were in their room………
- Finding a place to park in one of the world’s great cities
can be difficult. Millions of people plus precious little real estate for them
to park their cars is a sour mixture and for this reason, finding a small
rectangle to leave an automobile is both tough and expensive in a place such as
New York City…or even London. When a choice parking spot does come on the
market, the bidding can be intense….to the tune of $465,000. That’s the price tag on a parking spot has been put
on the market in Britain's capital this week. Measuring just 11 feet by 12
feet, the space is smack dab in the middle of the exclusive Hyde Park Gardens
neighborhood near Buckingham Palace, where houses often cost millions of
dollars and parking is nearly as expensive. This particular parking spot costs almost
twice as much as the average U.K. home and yet, real estate agents Kay and Co.
said several people have already expressed interest in the six-figure spot.
Anyone willing to spend that much money is going to want something significant
in return for their investment and this spot lives up to the billing with a
91-year lease. "We anticipate that the space will attract interest from
local residents eager to secure parking close by," Kay and Co. associate
director Mathew Abernethy said. "You have a large apartment there
that has sold for over $9 million that doesn't have any parking and the people
who are in the sort of bracket want parking.” This particular space must be
especially nice because Abernathy confirmed that t the company had sold two
spaces in the same row for more than $387,000 in the past 18 months. A studio
apartment nearby recently sold for just $775 less than the price of the space.
Parking in London can cost as much as $60 for 24 hours, but the rate on this
gem of a lease works out to a cheap hourly rate of $14.25………
- Steven Spielberg is having a solid summer and it’s good to
see a young Hollywood up-and-comer finding some success in Tinseltown. Spielberg
has been doing well of late in his usual arena, films, but has found a place
for himself in the world of television as well. CBS has ordered his new series
“Extant,” the network announced Wednesday. The story is a futuristic thriller that
follows a female astronaut who tries to reconnect with her family when she
returns after a year in outer space. In an amazing twist, her experiences in
the great beyond lead to events that ultimately change the course of human
history. "Extant is a very original concept with layers of humanity,
mystery and surprise that reveal itself throughout the script," said Nina
Tassler, President of CBS Entertainment. "Our partnership with Amblin for
Under the Dome showed that viewers respond to high-quality event programming in
the summer. We look forward to building on that with Extant and offering CBS
audiences another highconcept, unique event for summer television." Spielberg
has already kicked a little bit of ass on the small screen this summer in his
role as executive producer on other CBS summer drama “Under the Dome,” which is
itself an adaptation of a Stephen King novel. Spielberg will have the same EP
title on “Extant” alongside Greg Walker, Brooklyn Weaver, Justin Falvey, Darryl
Frank and Mickey Fisher, who will also be the lead writer for the project. The
good news for movie fans is that if Spielberg is wrapped up in numerous
television projects, he should be too busy to crank out another terrible and
wholly unnecessary “Indiana Jones” sequel……..
- Dolphins may be able to rival elephants when it comes to
memory. According to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the
Royal Society of London B, dolphins
have one of the longest memories in the animal kingdom. Researcher Jason Bruck
and his team tested the memory of dolphins using auditory recognition and found
that dolphins can recognize the whistle of an old tank-mate from 20 years ago.
The recognition could even rival facial recognition among humans, because human
faces age over time but dolphin whistles remain the same. Dolphins are known as
one of the smartest species around, comparable to only humans, chimpanzees and
elephants. Bruck and his team collected data from 53 dolphins at six different
facilities that rotate their dolphins for breeding purposes. The researchers measured
dolphins’ memory by testing whether they remembered a specific whistle of a
dolphin that used to be at a facility but was moved. The dolphins were kept in
six different cities and saw each other only when they were rotated for
breeding. The facilities kept records of the dolphins’ tank partners for
decades, providing plenty of valuable data for the research. Previous studies
have shown that dolphins use a unique signature whistle that functions like a
name. For the project, Bruck played recordings of the dolphins’ whistles to
their former tank-mates to see whether or not they acted like they recognized
the whistle. The dolphins did not react to unfamiliar whistles, but perked up
immediately when they heard the whistle of a former tank mate. One pair had
been separated for 20 years but still responded to one another’s whistle……
- Paper delivery boys can be an unreliable lot. Teen and
pre-teen brats looking for some extra cash to pay their cell phone bill or buy
a new PS3 don’t always show up for work or get the paper anywhere close to the
box or front porch. How does a delivery boy well past retirement age and
creeping up on the century mark do the job? Melvin Teel of Christopher, Ill. is
proving that old folks can still do (relatively) physical labor as he treks
through neighborhoods in southern Illinois chucking newspaper. "I have about three miles to cover all
over town," Teel said. "(It) takes about an hour and a half." He
goes out on his route regardless of the weather and his wife made it clear her
husband has no intention of stopping his part-time job and enjoying full-time
retirement any time soon. "He's going to go as long as he can go,"
said Marilyn Teel. "He's 90 years old; you know he's going to go as long
as he can go." Like many older people who have a part-time gig, Marvin
Teel said his job keeps him going and feeling as if he’s contributing something
to the world. Pedaling his bike around town is a means of both exercise and
delivering newspapers in an eco-friendly way. "I don't know how much of my
age I can attribute to bike riding but surely some of it," Teel added. He
has plenty of experience delivering pieces of paper to homes, as prior to his
retirement he delivered mail for the local post office for 45 years. With the
post office phasing out home delivery in the years ahead, there may be more
mail deliver people who need to follow in Teel’s footsteps……..
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