- Roger Goodell’s quest to take ultra-violent hits out of
football isn't going over well with everyone. Even after the NFL commissioner
penned a propaganda letter to 10 million fans about the league allegedly being
a crusader for player safety because excerpts from a book about the league’s
overt attempts to suppress negative information about its response to said safety
issues over the years, some folks still aren’t sold. For example, San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner
seems peeved. Whitner revealed he was fined $21,000 by the league for a hit
during last Thursday night's victory over the St. Louis Rams and his response
is not to change his approach or even verbally accost Goodell in the media. No,
Whitner’s response is to head down to the courthouse, fill out some forms and
officially drop the "W" from his last name. From here on out,
he will be known as Donte Hitner. "I actually put the paperwork in
yesterday afternoon. Just waiting to get the paperwork out," he said. "So
from here on out until I retire, my name will be Donte Hitner, without the
W." He previously revealed his name change in a tweet and confirmed that he'd
like to get it changed on his uniform. That might be unrealistic, but Hitner is
in this one for the long run. "That's what I do. It's my last name and
removing a letter makes it pretty cool," Hitner added, nothing that some
fans already call him "Hitner" anyway. The alteration comes with a
price tag, as NFL rules stipulate that if a player changes his name during an
NFL season, he is required to purchase all the remaining inventory of
merchandise with the old name that hasn't been sold. Never mind that rare
attire, such as a pre-name change jersey for a player, tends to have higher
value, because the league intends to make Hitner abide by the rules. He
insisted he'd be willing to pay for the remaining No. 31 49ers jerseys in
Nike's inventory "depending on how many there are," and the
49ers have already posted a Twitter picture of his new jersey and name on their
official Twitter feed…….
- The Rift Valley's Lake Natron is an odd place. It is the chosen mating
ground of the endangered lesser flamingo, a creature that manages to exist in
place that is quite literally hell on earth. That’s because its teeply alkaline
waters are a lethal to thousands of small birds, birds that have become lens
fodder for wildlife Nick Brandt. Brandt has used the corpses littering the Tanzanian lake
shores as posed models for a haunting new series of photographs. He visited
Lake Natron, which is typically about 80 degrees Fahrenheit and blood-red from
bacteria, and found the lesser flamingo to be the only living things that can
survive its deadly alkalinity. Bodies of smaller animals commonly wash ashore
in eerily well-preserved form. Bats, flamingos, eagles and swallows are among
the animals that have died and been preserved by the lake. "I unexpectedly
found the creatures — all manner of birds and bats — washed up along the
shoreline of Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania," Brandt said. "I took
these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in
'living' positions, bringing them back to 'life.' What he found and
photographed is on display at the Hasted Kraeutler Gallery in New York City and
will be published in a photo anthology by Abrams Books. What’s amazing is that
beyond the birds he snapped, the lake is fall with thousands more
well-preserved carcasses of animals that die and fall in, but don't decompose
and wither in the water, instead simply getting pickled. Encrusted in
salt, the dead animals exist in their state of suspended animation indefinitely
in the confines of the 12- by 30-mile lake. Its water levels fluctuate easily
because it's so hot and when the water level dips, the corpses are left behind
on the shores, coated in salt, exactly how Brandt found them. The lake’s
salt comes from magmatic limestone that's been forged deep in the Earth, poured
out in runny lava flows and blasted into the air to become ash clouds 10 miles
high. The source is Ol Doinyo Lengai, a million-year old volcano just
south of Lake Natron. Other than the flamingos and one extreme-living
bacterium, nothing lives in the waters of Earth’s oddest body of water………
- Life in a city is getting too dangerous when even the
Russians don’t feel safe hanging around. That perfectly describes the situation
on the ground in Libya, where Russia ordered its diplomats to leave on Thursday after
unidentified gunmen tried to storm the Russian Embassy in Tripoli late
Wednesday. Despite rocket and automatic weapons fire, embassy security
personnel were able to repel the attack and no Russians were injured. Before
the attack was snuffed out, the attackers managed to scale the compound’s walls
on three sides and pull down the Russian flag. It was eerily similar to the
Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi that left
four Americans dead, but thankfully no one died this time, although there were
reports that one attacker may have been killed. Seeing why the Russians might
want to exit stage right isn't difficult, given that this is the second attack in
less than two years on their Libyan compound. The first came in February 2012,
when Syrians and Libyans launched a similar assault to protest Russia’s
blocking of a United Nations resolution condemning Syrian President Bashar
Assad. Russian Ministry spokesman Aleksander Lukashevich described Thursday’s attack
as two cars, filled with gunmen, driving up to the embassy’s main entrance and shooting
up a vehicle that was parked outside, setting it ablaze. Small-arms fire and
rocket-propelled grenades were then fired at the building from multiple
directions. Local media reports indicated there was looting of the embassy
following the attack, with computers and television sets being taken from the
building. Sadly, the attackers did not attempt to set the embassy on fire. Lukashevich
admitted that Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz warned the Russian
ambassador that Libya would be unable to protect the compound and for once, the
Libyan government appears to be telling the truth……..
- Welcome to the world of horror films, we’ve got fake blood
and guts. We’ve got all the gore you want, everything you need. Yes, former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash has produced
his first horror film and “Nothing Left To Fear” hits theaters across North
America today. For his first foray into film, Slash wrote the score and the
closing theme song with vocals from his regular collaborator Myles Kennedy. Anthony
Leonardi III directed the project, which stars Clancy Brown, Anne Heche and
Jennifer Stone. Slash is predictably geeked about the movie and said he enjoyed
the entire process of making a movie. "Everything about doing this is
exciting to me, a lot because I've had a passion for movies, and especially
horror movies, for as long as I can remember,” he explained. “So at this stage
of the game, to have the opportunity to be able to produce horror movies is
great, and to be hands-on behind the scenes and getting to finally be involved
where you can influence the outcome of what the picture is gonna be and what
it's gonna look like is very exciting." Putting in so much time and effort
and going through the headaches of getting a feature film made can be taxing on
a person, but Slash said he’s keen on getting back into the movie business. "I'm
hunting down the next story,” he added, expressing an interest in collaborating
with the director Sam Raimi. "I think he's an amazing horror director.”
Slash wouldn’t give up the details on his next idea, saying only that the idea
is “very ominous” and would be creature-feature centric. In the meantime, he is
working on a new solo album, to be release next year as the follow up to
“Apocalyptic Love,” his 2012 solo debut………
- There cannot be many places worse to be in the event of a
fire and explosion than an ammunition plant. Workers at an ammunition plant in
Hamilton County (Ohio) know this fact well after they were injured when an explosion occurred
at about 8:11 a.m. Thursday at the plant, located in the 3700 block of Round
Bottom Road, according to Hamilton County emergency dispatchers. Despite the
disaster, those at the scene knew how to react and firefighters said the
building was already evacuated when they arrived. Little Miami Fire-Rescue Lt.
Tim Allen confirmed that three people were injured and officials said all of
the victims were company employees. Two of the victims were taken to the University
of Cincinnati Medical Center, where they were treated for minor injuries. The
site of the explosion was the aptly named One Shot Inc., which is currently under
construction and will be called Liberty Station’s Ready Line. Fire officials
are still investigating and a state fire marshal was dispatched, but Newtown
Police Chief Tom Synan said crews believe the explosion started in a container
at the facility. A spot underneath a table inside the factory is believed to be
the spot where the sh*t hit the fan, but no one has confirmed what was in the
container or what caused it to explode. The container that exploded held
ammunition parts, but no actual ammunition. No damage estimate was provided and
there was no larger fire as a result of the explosion. Still, f ire crews from
the Little Miami Fire District, Union Township, Mariemont and Anderson Township
were called to the scene. Sending all of them just seems like a real shot in
the dark………
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