- Leading a failed coup is one of the most costly endeavors
known to mankind. Retired Turkish military chief of staff General Ilker Basbug was
reminded of that fact Monday when a court sentenced him to life in prison for
his role in the "Ergenekon" conspiracy to overthrow the government of
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Basbug and dozens of others, including opposition
members of parliament, were sentenced to long terms for plotting against the
government. Nearly 300 defendant were on trial, but most of the focus was on
Basbug and three serving parliamentarians from the opposition Republican
People's Party. The trio of politicians were sentenced to between 12 and 35
years in prison. The case has so divided Turkey that security forces fired tear
gas in fields around the courthouse in the Silivri jail complex, west of
Istanbul, as defendants' supporters gathered to protest against the five-year
trial. Opposition groups have billed it as a landmark case in the decade-long
battle between Erdogan and the secularist establishment. Prosecutors argued
that a network of secular arch-nationalists, code-named Ergenekon carried out extra-judicial
killings and bombings in order to trigger a military coup. In turn, opposition
leaders have decried the charges as trumped-up fabrications aimed at stifling
opposition and taming the secularist establishment which has long dominated
Turkey. "This is Erdogan's trial, it is his theater," said Umut Oran,
a parliamentarian with the opposition CHP party. "In the 21st century for
a country that wants to become a full member of the European Union, this
obvious political trial has no legal basis.” Erdogan has denied trying to
influence the case, but lying is sort of his thing, so those words are dubious
at best. Seeing protestors attempt to cross fields to reach the court and
prison complex and clash with riot police was fairly awesome in spite of the
verdict. "The day will come when the AKP will pay the price," some
protestors chanted. Such are the repercussions of a failed coup…….
- The portraits in London’s National Portrait Gallery, they are a-changin’.
Beginning on Aug. 24, the gallery will host a series of 12 pastel works by folk
rock icon Bob Dylan. The paintings are a mix of real and fictitious characters
and will be displayed at the London museum and will be on display through Jan.
5. It marks the first time Dylan has exhibited his work in the UK since 2008,
when The Halcyon Gallery showed a collection of his drawings from 1989 and
1992. "Bob Dylan is one of the most influential cultural figures of our
time. He has always created a highly visual world either with his words or music,
or in paints and pastels,” said Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait
Gallery. The name of the exhibit is “Bob Dylan: Face Value” and it will appear in
the Contemporary Collection displays at the National Portrait Gallery. Dylan is
having himself quite a second half of 2013, as he will release a new album of
rarities and previously unheard recordings later this month. “'The Bootleg
Series, Vol. 10 - Another Self Portrait (1969-1971)” will drop on Aug. 26 and
offer diehard Dylan fans and hipsters everywhere 35 tracks recorded during the
1970 studio recording sessions that resulted in Dylan's 10th and 11th albums “Self
Portrait” and “New Morning.” The good news for those who have long lamented
Dylan’s mumbling, low-talking vocal style as a recording artist is that they
need not hear the sound of his voice in order to enjoy the voice of his art.
All they must do is take a trip to London and spend some time hanging out in
the peaceful, quiet environment of a wonderful art museum……….
- Thanks science….maybe? In what could be a leap forward in
the fight against global hunger or a giant setback to food that doesn’t taste
like ass, the world's
first laboratory-grown beef burger was flipped out of a Petri dish and into a
frying pan on Monday. A team of less-than-enthusiastic food tasters tepidly
declared that it tasted "close to meat.” Oh, and this culinary gem was grown in-vitro from
cattle stem cells at a cost of $332,000. For its big debut, the burger was
cooked and eaten in front of television cameras to gain the greatest media
coverage for the culmination of a five-year science experiment. The faux-burger
did resemble a standard circular-shaped red meat patty, but it was actually created
by knitting together 20,000 strands of laboratory-grown protein, combined with
other ingredients normally used in burgers, such as salt, breadcrumbs and egg
powder. Scientists added red beet juice and saffron to give it color. Two
tasters were on hand at the unveiling in London and both were judicious in
their comments, going so far as to compliment the quasi-burger for its “absence
of fat.” It’s akin to saying a 350-pound girl with a handlebar mustache and
rampant body odor has “a nice personality.” When asked for a more detailed
description of the flavor, food writer Josh Schonwald said the cultured beef
had an "animal protein cake" like quality to it and said he would
like to try it with some traditional burger toppings. Vascular biologist Mark
Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands is responsible for the
sorta-burger and admitted that there is much work left to do. "It's a very
good start," said. His goal for the project is to prove that the world can
have met that does not come from the environmentally and economically costly
rearing and slaughtering of millions of animals. According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), meat production is projected to rise to 376 million tons by
2030, meaning artificial patties could be in high demand………
- Twitter continues to be a grenade ready to explode in
the hands of athletes not smart enough to know how to use it. Texas Rangers right-hander Matt Garza
proved that point Saturday night in a Twitter rant aimed at A's second baseman
Eric Sogard and his wife, Kaycee. The problems began Saturday when Sogard laid
down a safety squeeze bunt in the seventh inning that pushed across a run in
the A's 4-2 win. The A’s bunted on Garza several times, but it was Sogard’s
bunt that appeared to upset him the most. He was angry enough to carry that
discontent off the field and into the Twitter-sphere afterward. That’s where he
threw an unprovoked social networking haymaker at Kaycee Sogard in response to
what appeared to be an innocent tweet. Garza wrote: "@KayceeSogard tell
your husband to speak up so his wife doesn't have to do it for him ... Chumps!
... Hahaha!" He then took a swing at the English language and good grammar
by adding that "certain people can't shut there woman up!" Although
his Twitter account is protected and would-be followers need approval from
Garza before being allowed to subscribe to his posts, this is the social
networking age and tweets like that are going to go viral. For some odd reason,
Rangers assistant general manager Thad Levine called Garza's tweets
"totally inappropriate." "I think that was certainly crossing the
line and not sentiments that are condoned by the team, by any stretch,"
Levine said. Garza either agreed or was pressured into agreeing because he apologized
Sunday for his words. "No questions. Just a statement today," Garza
said. "All I want to say is I let my competitive spirit cross outside the
lines, and that shouldn't happen. I let my passion, my fire carry over, and
that's not how this game should be played. And for that I apologize to the
Sogards for anything that was said through my Twitter. That's all I have.” If only
you didn’t have all of that when you decided to go Twitter tough guy on an
opposing player wife……
- That was a load of crap. The operative word in that
sentence is “was,” because what was a load of crap contained in the back of a truck that empties out sewer systems became
a hazardous materials spill at the intersection of Frederick and Airline boulevards
in Portsmouth, Va. Monday afternoon. The intersection was closed for several
hours because of the spill and Portsmouth Deputy Fire Chief Mike Stockton
confirmed that the truck leaked for nearly a mile before the driver pulled over
near High Street. "It had a mechanical failure that released the back of
the truck and allowed it to dump," Stockton said. Atlantic Heating and
Cooling Services owns the truck and therefore bore the burden of cleaning up
the mess. In what can only be described as a delightfully fragrant scene, the
spilled waste was several inches thick in some spots and it looked like a
ginormous layer of mud covering the road. Children walked nearby and as only
children can do, held their noses and made funny faces as they walked by. The
spill proved to be a boon for nearby Smith Brothers Car Wash, where workers
were able to take advantage of the sudden surge in cars drizzled or splashed
with human waste matter and in need of a very thorough cleaning. "People
were bringing their cars back twice because the smell was all inside the car
like someone just poured some doo doo or something in there," said employee
Charles Watson. "The manure smell was terrible." No word on whether
drivers plan to send their cleaning bills to Atlantic Heating and Cooling, but
15 cars were taken for cleaning. The intersection remained closed for much of
the day while the cleanup was completed………
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