Sunday, August 18, 2013

Violent classrooms, own Coolio's music and Ukrainian outrage


- Classrooms are getting more and more violent these days. Teachers and students need to be prepared in the event a madman with a gun attacks their school, whether that school is an elementary school or a college. The University of Maryland-Eastern Shore knows this and it’s why the school has partnered with a Maryland company that makes bulletproof whiteboards for an order of 200 boards that will to offer its professors greater protection in the event of a school shooting. Hardware LLC, which builds the boards using technology designed to protect U.S. troops, is based in Pocomoke City, Md. University officials cited the need for a heightened sense of security in the wake of deadly mass shootings in recent years in explaining their purchase. Hardware LLCS manufactures a variety of protective systems for police and military use and also designs protective systems for infrastructure such as bridges. Its most-extensive military project took place between 2008-11, when , it produced more than 5,000 armor kits for U.S. Mine Resistant Ambushed Protected (MRAP) vehicles. Its focus has shifted to technologies for school security because there is a sh*t load of money to be made there and the result is the lightweight, 18-by-20-inch bulletproof whiteboards designed to protect the user's head and torso. University president Juliette Bell admitted that the deadly school shooting in Newtown, Conn. last December was a factor in the decision. UMES has never had a shooting incident, but Bell said , preventive campus security is a critical consideration. "It's the reality, as unfortunate as that is,” Bell said. "Anything that we can do that could potentially save a life, we are going to explore.” UMES Campus Police Chief Ernest Leatherbury praised the board’s ease of use. . "This is so accessible," he said, "and it's not cumbersome." UMES gets to make history by becoming the first U.S. institution of higher education to make such a significant investment in the whiteboards and must now hope that $60,000 it spent are never needed for an actual shooting………


- Wow…..shocking news from Kansas City, where City Royals infielder Miguel Tejada has been suspended 105 games after testing positive for an amphetamine in violation of Major League Baseball's drug program. Tejada, who has been known to lie about plenty of issues in his baseball past, is well-known for falsifying his age and being found out, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he was pumping a PED into his system. The 2002 American League MVP is suspended effective immediately, the Office of the Commissioner announced Saturday. Just know that he wasn’t trying to gain an edge of the field by using a drug that can give athletes an edge on the field. "I admitted I made a mistake. But I want people to understand one thing: I wasn't using a drug to take advantage on the field, or be stronger or hit more home runs," Tejada said. "I've been using it [Adderall] for the past five years and had medical permission from MLB. But my last permit expired on April 15 and they didn't gave me another. I knew that I was in risk of breaking the rules, but at the same time, I could not stop using the medicine because I suffer from ADD [Attention Deficit Disorder]. It's not a vice, it is a disease." Tejada had previously tested positive under the league's amphetamine policy, setting up an 80-game suspensions, and an 80-game suspension for a third test. Both came this season and he resulting ban is the third-longest non-lifetime suspension handed down by MLB, behind Alex Rodriguez's pending 211-game ban and Steve Howe's 119-game sanction in 1992. Tejada joins an exclusive-but-growing club as the third former MVP to be suspended this season under baseball's drug program, joining Rodriguez and Ryan Braun (65 games) of the Milwaukee Brewers. Despite the ban, Tejada said he does not plan to retire from baseball and will seek a contract for next year once he becomes a free agent at the end of the season. Talking any team into signing a soon-to-be-40 infielder who will miss more than one-third of the season will be difficult……….


- Ukrainians need to be less sensitive. Just because a German consumer goods company produced and sold withdrawn a brand of toilet freshener that resembled the Ukrainian national flag is no reason to overreact. Yet here we are after a company called Henkel ran an ad for the yellow-and-blue Bref Duo Stick freshener. The ad drew outrage from Ukrainians after it was aired on Russian television, which is watched by many in the neighboring ex-Soviet Republic. In the ad, the freshener - a rectangular-shaped block - is put under the toilet rim and its yellow-and-blue design bears a striking resemblance to the flag, which is a simplistic design of one lateral blue stripe and one lateral yellow stripe. Before getting upset, Ukrainians would also do well to realize that with such a basic flag design, plenty of unappealing products could resemble that banner. "A delirious idea from uncultured people," one person commented on the YouTube clip. Henkel responded by removing the ad and stopping sales of the product in eastern Europe. Tore Birol, Henkel's general manager for laundry and home care products in Ukraine, confirmed that his company pulled the product within three days of seeing the complaints. "We are very sorry if people were offended by the design of our new product," Birol said. "We stopped the production, distribution and television advertising (of the product)." He added that the product’s design used colored yellow to represent its lemon scent and blue to symbolize water and hygiene. Ukraine has been very touchy of late and earlier this month, authorities found that Jared Hasselhoff, a bassist for American rock band Bloodhound Gang, had urinated on the Ukrainian flag during a gig in Kiev and launched a criminal probe that led to Hasselhoff being banned from visiting the country for five years………


- The chance of a lifetime is here, music fans. Assuming the chance of a lifetime is to earn two here-and-gone rap his from 20 years ago and 121 crappy, inherently forgettable tracks by a man who has become a decent actor with a dubious musical history. Yes, Coolio is back and he’s auctioning the royalty rights to his back catalogue so he can use the money raised to help him with his dream to become a world-famous chef. Yes, you read that correctly. His 123-song catalogue includes ‘90s hit “Gangsta’s Paradise” and quasi-hit “Rollin’ With My Homies,” along with 121 other songs that no one knows, remembers or ever heard. The auction’s prices seem a bit steep for that reason, given that bidding starts at $140,000. Starting at $140,000 seems more appropriate, not only because Coolio doesn’t have $140,000 worth of music, but also because the auction takes place Aug. 28 and that doesn’t give those who might be interested in bidding much time to rally up the necessary cash. Whatever amount the auction brings in - assuming someone actually bids on the catalogue - will be put toward follow-up books to 2009's Cookin' With Coolio. The cookbook may or may not be a hit, but it will definitely do better if Coolio sells it under his real name, Artis Leon Ivey, Jr. Foodies may not be hyped up about cooking with Coolio, but don’t act for one second like cooking with Artis Leon Ivey, Jr. isn't appealing as heck. Ivey already has an online cooking show by the same name as his book and makes all sorts of interesting food items on the show. He could say that selling his back catalogue is his way of retiring from music, but seeing as he hasn’t released an album since 2009 and is now 50 years old, that is already vividly clear………

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