- Dallas Cowboys
receiver Dez Bryant is a man given to emotional reactions. The most-discussed
moment of the Cowboys’ season was Bryant blowing up on the sidelines and
screaming at teammates and coaches during an Oct. 27 loss to Detroit. Cowboys
quarterback Tony Romo and others rushed to Bryant’s defense in the aftermath of
the incident, but the drama clearly took a toll on the team. If only Bryant’s
penchant for the dramatic were always as positive as it proved to be Thursday
night at a Dallas Wal-Mart. Bryant, who is known to brag about being the
world's best "Madden" video game player on PlayStation, showed up
with dozens of other degenerate loser gamers for the launch of the Sony
PlayStation 4 and while waiting in line with a bunch of dudes who deliver pizzas
or work in cubicles and use their console as an escape from a life they hate,
Bryant made a major impulse buy – for everyone in line with him. While
purchasing his own PS4, Bryant made a spur-of-the-moment decision to buy one
for all of the shoppers around him in line. The PlayStation 4 retails for a
little more than $500, so getting a free one courtesy of one of the best
receivers in the NFL is the sort of early Christmas gift that makes a person’s
day or week. Shoppers lined up at local video game stores across North Texas
for the release of the PS4 and a few shoppers who had the good fortune to be in
line with Bryant tweeted about his generosity, including one man who posted a
picture of himself posing with Bryant at the store. A shopper named Marquis Rodgers
tweeted, “Damn, @DezBryant just bought whoever was in line at a Walmart in
Dallas a PS4.” Hopefully those shoppers will remember Bryant’s kindness when he
drops a pass one Sunday and they start to curse him for being the reason their
beloved Cowboys lose another winnable game………
- Not on our soil, world. Albania may be a small country
most citizens of the world can't locate on a map (as well as the place Liam
Neeson goes to ply his very particular set of skills in big-budget action films
about kidnappings), but that doesn’t mean it is willing to be the black bag
where the world takes Syria’s surrendered chemical weapons for destruction.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama decreed that his country will not allow the destruction of Syrian chemical
weapons on its soil, with his proclamation coming after two days of
protests in Tirana and other cities. Maybe foreign nations thought Albania
would be up for the task because the Balkan nation recently destroyed its own
chemical stockpile. As part of the deal brokered by Russia to remove Syria's
chemical weapons, the nations negotiating the agreement stipulated that the
weapons should be destroyed outside the country if possible. While saying his
nation would not agree to that plan, Rama attacked the Albanian opposition for
having criticized the government's willingness to consider the idea. His
announcement came as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
(OPCW) - the international watchdog supervising the destruction – adjourned an
important meeting to wait on Albania’s decision. The OPCW must now develop a
Plan B with the deadline for a detailed plan on destroying Damascus's toxic
agents now having passed. France was previously suggested as an alternative
site for destroying Syria's 1,000 or so tons of chemical arms and the
always-helpful Norwegians have pledged to send a civilian cargo ship and a navy
frigate to Syrian ports to pick up the weapons and carry them elsewhere for
destruction………..
- Way to be, Swedish scientists. Your new invention may
look utterly ridiculous, but it will make bikers wealthy enough to afford it
safer and in a corner of the world where cycling as a means of transportation
is very popular, that’s a good thing. The Hövding device,
worn around the neck, is a new “invisible” bicycle helmet that uses technology
similar to a vehicle airbag. The device is designed to shoot a protective,
inflatable nylon hood around the user's head within one tenth of a second of
impact. Inventors Terese Alstin and Anna Haupt said they were inspired by
frustrations over traditional hard plastic designs that were unfashionable and
ruined their hair. Yes, Europeans and their fashion-conscious ways were upset
that bike helmets were wrecking their look, so they develop a side-curtain
airbag for their heads. “I don’t want anything on my head,” Alstin said. “I
don’t want my hair to be destroyed.” The pair began developing the Hövding in
2005, when they were industrial design students at Sweden’s University of
Lund. Alstin and Haupt spent seven years refining and testing heir
invention with the help of professional cyclists and crafted a device capable
of monitoring a cyclist's movements more than 200 times a second using an
inbuilt computer, sensors and gyroscope. When it senses a collison, the Hövding’s
small gas canister held in the back of the collar inflates the protective cover
within milliseconds. “We had to simulate all known accidents,” Alstin said. "Everything
from an icy road crash to getting hit by a car." Once the collar deploys,
the air pressure inside remains constant for several seconds, allowing a
cyclist to withstand multiple head impacts during the same accident before it
starts to deflate. “It’s actually three or four times better in terms of shock
absorbance,” Alstin added. “And that’s the most important factor. It covers
more of the head - including the entire neck - than traditional helmets."
To make the Hövding more marketable, its inventors have created several
fashionable designs and anyone with $536 to spare can own one………
- For rich people, life is all about the perks and bennies.
They not only want the best and most luxurious items, but they also want freebies
and kitschy add-ons because dammit, they're rich and they should be treated in
the most special fashion imaginable. Boca Raton realtor Senada Adzem knows how the 1
percent thinks and it’s why she’s sweetening the pot for would-be buyers of the
largest house in the upper-crusty city. She is the latest in a series of
realtors struggling to flip the $13 million home, so Adzem has decided to kick
things up a notch by throwing in an enticing freebie to garner interest. What
sort of free item can a realtor dangle in front of someone wealthy enough to
spend eight figures on a home perched on the waterfront and containing seven bedrooms,
eight baths and nearly 16,000 square feet of living space? A new toaster or
microwave over isn't going to do it and even a brand-new iPad Mini likely won't
be enough, so the owner and Adzem are offering a rare, $500,000 Rolls-Royce
Phantom. "Everyone likes perks, everyone likes great perks," Adzem said.
With the free Phantom, the person who buys the home will get the huge value of
$13,250,000 million worth of goods for just $12,750,000. According to Adzem,
adding the Rolls Royce to the mix was necessary in part because the housing
market in Florida has taken a dive and the prospect of a pad with a personal
gym, two kitchens and a movie theater, simply wasn’t enough to propel the
filthy rich to action. Of course, the eternal optimist that is a realtor in
search of a big commission inside her has Adzem believing that the car will
lure in the right buyer and claimed that several clients have already expressed
interest in the home and the car………
- Given a chance to shine this summer, Emmy-award
winning comedian John Oliver took full advantge and now, he’s getting an even
bigger opportunity. Oliver hosted “The Daily Show” for two months while Jon
Stewart directed a movie in the Middle East. Oliver did a more-than-capable job
holding down the fort and when Stewart returned in September, Oliver slid back
into his role as a correspondent for the show. HBO took notice of the job he
did as a fill-in host and now, Oliver is exiting stage right at Comedy Central
for his own show on HBO. After serving as a correspondent for "The Daily
Show" since 2006, Oliver is moving to HBO for a brand-new topical comedy
series, slated to launch in 2014. The series will air weekly on Sunday nights
and HBO noted in its announcement that Oliver’s work pinch-hitting for Stewart
caught them off guard. "We weren't otherwise searching for another weekly
talk show, but when we saw John Oliver handling host duties on The Daily Show,
we knew that his singular perspective and distinct voice belonged on HBO,"
HBO Programming president Michael Lombardo said. "We are extremely excited
that John has agreed to make HBO his home." Oliver handled the big news
with his typical brand of smart humor, giving a tip of his cap to his
now-former boss. "I'm incredibly excited to be joining HBO, especially as
I presume this means I get free HBO now," Oliver said. "I want to
thank Comedy Central, and everyone at The Daily Show for the best seven and a
half years of my life. But most of all, I'd like to thank Jon Stewart. He
taught me everything I know. In fact, if I fail in the future, it's entirely
his fault." Oliver’s departure opens up a spot for the next aspiring
comedian to step in at “The Daily Show” and join a list of successful alumni
that includes Stephen Colbert, Steve Carrell and now, Oliver……….
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