- Someone make sure Tiger Woods brings home an extra pint
of Rocky Road ice cream, some tissues and a vial of Vicodin because his special
lady friend is going to need some consoling in the days ahead. Woods main
squeeze, reigning Olympic downhill
champion Lindsey Vonn, suffered a partial ACL tear in her surgically repaired
right knee after crashing during a training run and also suffered a strain in
her knee, facial abrasions and a bruised shoulder blade. The injuries came as
Vonn attempted a comeback from torn knee ligaments sustained in a high-speed
accident at the world championships in February. These new injuries will
prevent Vonn from returning to World Cup competition next week in Beaver Creek,
Colo. and they also throw into question her chances to compete at the upcoming
Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Vonn will "pursue aggressive
physical therapy and will determine the next time she is able to compete after
seeing how she responds to the treatment," publicist Lewis Kay said in a
statement. The statement did not address Vonn’s status for the Olympics, but she was
not admitted to a hospital and instead went home to Vail to be evaluated by the
doctor who performed her knee surgery. The crash occurred during a training
session in Copper Mountain, Colo. If Vonn cannot compete in the Olympics, Woods
would dodge a major bullet because he had reportedly balked at her suggestion
that he should hop on a plane and fly 12 hours to Russia to watch her compete
in the frigid cold of Russia in February……
- Time to face the music – or sleep disorder testing – FAT
American pilots. In the wake of several highly publicized incidents involving
sleeping or fatigued pilots and air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation
Administration is dropping its bureaucratic hammer on fatties by requiring all
overweight pilots and controllers to undergo testing for sleep disorders. This
may seem harsh, but it comes directly from the FAA's federal air surgeon. The
directive is massive in scope and could apply to about 125,000 of the nation's
600,000 commercial and private pilots, as well as a large percentage of the
nation's 14,500 controllers. The new policy mandates that all pilots and
controllers will be screened during their routine medical examinations and
those with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or greater and a neck circumference of
17 inches would have to be tested for obstructive sleep apnea. For those who
would argue in favor of the chubby, a BMI of 40 equates to a 5-foot, 11-inch
man weighing 287 pounds, according to the National Institutes of Health. That
isn't exactly svelte and anyone fitting into that category likely has bigger
issues than napping it out on the job. Sleep apnea is extremely common in
people who fit those criteria, Dr. Fred Tilton, the federal air surgeon, wrote
in a statement announcing the new policy. Any pilot with a sleep disorder must
be treated before they receive a medical certification needed to fly. To ward
off any appearance of insensitivity, the FAA is merely starting with the obese
and will then move on to those with lower BMIs "until we have identified
and assured treatment for every airman" with sleep apnea, Tilton wrote.
Predictably, the FAT-enabling folks at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association, a group representing private pilots, immediately asked the FAA to
indefinitely suspend implementation of the policy, saying there is no evidence
to support the screening of general aviation pilots……….
- Have you ever tried reinventing your iconic, seminal punk
rock band on the fly? If not, Pixies frontman Black Francis wants you to know
that it ain’t easy. Francis, speaking about new and unreleased songs the band
have written ahead of future EP releases, said many people within the band's
camp are not down with the sound of the new tunes or the fact that those songs
are being played live. The Pixies returned to the music scene this year with
the unimaginatively named “EP1” and it sounded different in part because it was
the first release since the departure of bassist Kim Deal. Despite the dissenting
voices, Francis is adamant that he will recapture the energy the band had when
they first started with his new material. "Ultimately, I'm looking for
something that hasn't happened since the first time the band met success in
clubs in Europe and the U.K. back in the '80s, when people were going nuts,” Francis
said. “People were throwing themselves at the stage. It was like a religious
revival or something. I don't know if I'll ever experience something like that
again but I always hope that can happen again." That type of statement
raises the question of whether or not a successful rock frontman would even
want to keep going, especially when he is on the record as saying that members
of the band’s camp believe the new songs are not resonating with the audience
during shows. "I have the ambition to. It's not easy trying to reinvent your
band after all these years,” Francis added. “I think they've been going down
really well. The rumor is there are some people, let's just say 'in our camp',
who think it's too bad these new songs aren't really lifting the audience
during the show." In an era when there are fewer all-time great bands at
the top of their game, having the Pixies back at full strength would be a great
thing……..
- Money that’s not actually money (physically, anyhow) just
took another cyber-step forward. Yes, the long-rumored Google Wallet Card is now a
reality. As part of Google’s quest for world domination, the search giant has launched
its first physical payment card, with early support from MasterCard. The Google
Wallet Card serves as a prepaid debit card that allows access to the user's
Wallet Balance at ATMs, banks and anywhere MasterCard is accepted. For now, it
is only available in the United States. Google Wallet users who have passed the
identity verification process will be prompted their computer or mobile device
to fill out the mobile application to order a Wallet Card. The wait for
approval and sending of the card will be 10-12 days, but once it arrives it can
be activated online – duh – and used immediately. The Wallet Card is not a
credit card and only as much money as is saved in the user's Wallet balance. In
other words, it’s nothing more than a pre-paid card to be used as any credit or
debit card. Users will have a PIN for the card and may also be prompted at the
point of sale to enter the ZIP code linked to their home address. Additionally,
Google will cap the card's spending limit at $5,000 per 24 hours, not counting
cash withdrawals at ATMs or banks. This is the latest step in Google’s plan to
replace actual wallets, a process than began in 2011 with the promise of smartphone-based
system that allows users to leave their bulky wallet at home. One can only
imagine what the search titan will dream up next………
- Umm…..did someone leave their hidden stash of gold bars worth $1.2
million in the commode aboard a Jet Airways Boeing 737 at the Kolkata, India,
airport a few days ago? Some weird sh*t can go down in an airplane bathroom to
be sure, but loser smokers trying to get their puff on without getting caught
or frisky lovers looking to join the Mile High Club is one thing; someone
leaving behind 53 pounds of gold bars behind is quite another. An aircraft
maintenance crew found the 24 gold bars in two bags in the plane’s
bathroom during routine end-of-day checks. “It was quite a surprise,” airport
director BP Sharma said. “The bars were packed in bags so we did not
immediately know what it was. The bags were inspected and found to be gold.”
The golden flight had traveled from Mumbai to Thailand's capital Bangkok,
before returning to Kolkata for the night. While airport officials were still
attempting to determine the origin and owner of the gold, the bars appeared to
have originated in the United Arab Emirates. A clever detective might deduce
that because the gold bars were found in a compartment in the bathroom, someone
must have stashed them there to hide them with the intention of coming back
later to retrieve them. Stories of criminals attempting to smuggle gold onto
aircraft in their hand luggage are uncommon, but not unheard of, but this is
the first known instance of the airplane bathroom being a drop point for $1.2
million in precious metals. Customs officials are investigating, but no arrests
have been made. India is traditionally been the world’s largest importer of
gold, as much of its immense gold stockpiles is hoarded or offered to the gods……..
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