Saturday, August 03, 2013

LeBron as an NFLer, Taiwanese parliament fights and a Brooklyn Bridge beach


- As maligned as some of its smartphone upgrades have been, Apple has never really been knocked for its “Find my iPhone” service. Tracking down the list phones of absent-minded tech junkies is a useful thing, so much so that Google is launching its own take on the phone-locating service. The Android Device Manager, announced by Google in a blog post Friday, will enable users to track down not only their lost phone, but their tablet as well. The service will pinpoint the desired device’s exact location regardless of how near or far from the users it may be. Google users will need to register their device with the service and once they do, they will be able to log in to the service and see their phone or tablet’s current or last known position on a map. If the device is close enough, a person will then be able to make it ring or sound off at maximum volume, even if they (or the person who stole it from them) left it in silent mode. Should the device be too far away for a loud ring or blast of sound to do any good, merely knowing where it is should be a solid starting point for tracking it down. There could be an issue with calling the bar or diner where you left it because, you know, you don’t have a phone, but there are bugs with any new invention. In the event the phone has been stolen, there is also the option to quickly wipe all the data from the device so whoever has it can't abuse your accounts or run up charges. The Android Device Manager will go live later this month for any Android device that runs version 2.2 or above. Google’s official Android blog will provide updates in between now and the launch……..


- Taylor Swift just jacked some b’otch up and chipped her tooth. Unfortunately, that b’otch was Taylor Swift. The country pop singer managed to blast herself in the mouth and chip a tooth during a show last month in Pittsburgh. Swift, who definitely is not the first person to get into a fight in the Steel City and end up losing part or all of a tooth, admitted that she took a chunk out of her incisor after "uppercutting" herself in the mouth. She was cranking out one of her many country pop hits about a boy she used to love but broke up with in bitter and very public fashion when she brought the microphone up towards her mouth and accidentally crashed it into her mouth. In an incredibly hilarious twist, the song was “I Knew You Were Trouble.” Clearly, Swift should have known the microphone was trouble when she picked it up – HEY OH (insert rim shot here)! Footage of the incident shows the mouth assault unfolding and it seems unlikely base on the footage that those in the audience who paid $50 for seats in the last row had any clue what had happened. The next night, she addressed the accident at a show. "Tonight I was particularly hung up on not chipping another tooth like last show in Pittsburgh, definitely. It had a tip on [the tooth] and it doesn't anymore,” Swift said. “I try to be really quick with the microphone, so I'm not standing there just waiting to sing with my mic right next to my face, so I really quickly pulled my mic up to sing and basically uppercut punched myself in the tooth." This was far from the only ugly incident on Swift’s current tour; a competition offering the chance to have a picture taken with her backstage at one of her concerts has been cancelled because online communities 4chan and Reddit conspired to ensure a "fat old guy" named Charles would win……..


- Now THAT is how a parliament should work. Taiwan’s lawmakers know what’s up and there is no better topic to go nuclear on that a possible new nuclear power plant. Ahead of a vote that would authorize a referendum on whether to finish a fourth nuclear power plant on the densely populated island of 23 million, lawmakers on both sides of the debate went street thug on one another. Legislators threw punches and hurled bottles of water at one another and while it would have been great to see a few chair shots dished out, the fight was respectable – at least for a group of elected officials in suits. Footage from the fight showed as many as eight people involved in one scrap and two other men brawling on the floor as some of htier fellow legislators attempted to separate them. There were even cheerleaders for the brawl in the form of more than a dozen activists in bright yellow shirts who chanted and waved signs on a nearby balcony. In addition to the lawmakers throwing water battles, several of the activists splashed water onto lawmakers below. The issue at hand is a long-simmering one, as construction on the plant began in 1997 before being halted between 2000 and 2008 when the republic’s main opposition party Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was in power. “The DPP believes the plant should not be built without a complete safety assessment and a national referendum is unnecessary,” a party spokesman said. “Commercial operation of the plant would threaten the life and property of Taiwanese and endanger the island’s sustainable development.” Opposing nuclear power has long been a plank in the platform of the party, which is against nuclear power generation on safety grounds, particularly given the high incidence of earthquakes on the island. President Ma Ying-jeou's ruling Nationalist Party argued in favor of the referendum on the ground that that the island will suffer disruptive power shortages if the plant is not completed. All-out scrum or not, the referendum bill is expected to pass easily because of a large Nationalist majority in the 113-seat legislature. If the Taiwanese parliament keeps this up, this fight and the battle royale that took place as MP's clashed over capital gains tax on June 25 could start the legislature’s very own fight club………


- Every inch of Manhattan real estate is a valuable commodity because someone can be extorted into paying five or six times its real value because IT’S LOCATED IN NEW YORK CITY! Even the tiniest apartment in the most God-forsaken neighborhood in the scariest section of Manhattan is insanely expensive and that trend extends to public spaces as well. It’s why a desolate strip of land along the East River in lower Manhattan may soon be transformed into a beautiful beach. Finding a beach in New York City usually means leaving New York City and heading out to Long Island or up to the Hamptons, but not if City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer are able to successfully execute their plan. The duo have teamed up to set aside $8 million for the project, which involves turning what is presently an inaccessible stretch of sand under the Brooklyn Bridge into a public beach and vibrant waterfront. Sure, getting people to go to a beach under a bridge can be a tough sell, but an historic and iconic structure like the Brooklyn Bridge might be a little bit more interesting to frolic in the sand underneath. In addition to dumping a sh*t load of sand under the bridge, the plan also calls for concession stands, a spot for fishing and a new kayak launch at 23rd Street that Quinn and Stringer hope will bookend eventual waterfront access from 34th Street to what they call Brooklyn Bridge Beach. Just don’t ask about parking for the beach……


- Fans and media have weighed in many times on how good LeBron James could be if he played another sport. Having Joe Six Pack in the bleachers or a columnist postulate how the world’s best basketball player would fare if he tried baseball or hockey or track and field is fine, but when a professional athlete from another sport weighs in, that’s something worth listening to. Dallas Cowboys receiver and diehard NBA fan Dez Bryant believes that James would have great success if he were playing in the NFL and his words make sense because James was an all-state football player in high school. Bryant said James would be a "beast" in the NFL if the reigning NBA MVP decided to exit stage left from basketball and change sports. The question was a hypothetical one, but Bryant’s enthusiasm was anything but artificial as he discussed the possibility of a 6-foot-9, 275-pound physical freak like James putting on a pair of shoulder pads and a helmet. The idea of James as an NFL tight end or receiver sat well with Bryant. "That dude is just that talented," Bryant said. "I think it would take him probably about a good two weeks to get very acquainted with football, knowing what he's supposed to do. I think that's all he'd need with his physical ability. I've seen a little bit of his highlights from high school. He's got the hands, he can run the routes, he's fast enough. He could play in this league if he put it all together." Although he has been troubled on and off the field during his own football career, Bryant is coming off a breakout season of 92 catches for 1,382 yards and 12 touchdowns. James is a self-described Cowboys fan and upset some in Cleveland during his days with the Cavaliers by wearing a Cowboys hat and visiting the Dallas sideline before a Browns-Cowboys game. Bryant has a point about James' combination of height, power, hands, speed and leaping ability and believes that with a little work on his technique, LBJ could play at a high level on the gridiron……….å

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