- Nerds are getting some run at a small university in
Missouri and the jocks don’t like it. Webster University, so obscure that even people
from Webster University have barely heard of it, decided to post a billboard
honoring its national championship chess team. Having a national championship
chess team would be shameful for most schools, but Webster officials elected to
tout their feat along I-70, about 10 miles east of a series of billboards
promoting University of Missouri football. “Our best recruits are chess
players,” the billboard proclaims against a backdrop of two chess nerds posing
in their best mean mugs and eye black on their faces. The billboards are having
their desired effect, namely creating controversy and getting people talking
about the university. Many members of the university community have expressed support
– or at least amusement – over the temporary display. Others….not so much. A
group of Webster student-athletes are protesting the billboard, calling it a
slap in the face and demanding that it be taken down. Yes, NCAA Division III
athletes are claiming they can be insulted. Barbra O’Malley, the university’s
chief communications officer, doesn’t sound like someone who is about to back
down and insisted the billboard was never meant to be critical of anyone. “It
is supposed to be tongue in cheek. We wanted people to realize the friendly,
funniness of it all in the middle of football season and it was never our
intent that anyone would take offense at that,” O’Malley said. She added that
the display won't be up for long, but that its placement near the Missouri football
billboards was meant to illustrate some of the differences between the two
institutions of higher learning. Webster basketball player Maggie Zehner is
leading the pointless charge against the billboard and so far, her efforts have
amounted to a lame-o social media campaign. Way to keep your eyes on the
important parts of life, M……….
- If karma does exist in this world and there are
repercussions for being a ginormous tool that every dude in the civilized world
wants to punch in the face, then this story is karma in full effect. Ryan
Lochte, who can swim really well but seems miserably ill-equipped for every
facet of life that requires either IQ points or working brain cells, has made a
lot of money and bagged a lot of hot chicks by being a) famous and b) really
good-looking. Over the weekend, those good looks and irresistible charm caught
up with the man who trademarked the word “Jeeeeah!” in a big, big way. The
five-time Olympic champion was visiting Gainesville, Fla. when he had a fateful
encounter with an overly enthusiastic teenage girl. Like any piece of
man-candy, Lochte clearly attracts truly shallow chicks wherever he goes and on
this occasion, the girl in question recognized him and went into a dead sprint
for her celebrity crush. She lunged at him, Lochte attempted to catch her and
things went to sh*t from there. Perhaps too focused on chasing fame and reality
TV success and not enough on her upper-body workouts, Lochte was knocked
backwards by the force of the leaping girl and struck his left knee on the
curb. In the process, he tore his MCL and sprained his ACL, while the
overzealous fan was not hurt in the incident. Lochte’s Janice Lee said in a
statement that the swimmer’s medical team expects him "to make a full and
speedy recovery." Lochte has to bear much of the blame in this one , as he
tweeted that he was headed to Gainesville last weekend and tipped off would-be
celebrity stalkers that he would be in the area. Lee did not say what affect
the injuries would have on Lochte’s ability to participate in his next
scheduled meet representing the United States in the Duel in the Pool meet in
Scotland on Dec. 20-21. Thankfully, his irresistible smile emerged from his
fall unscathed………
- Look the hell out world: India is freaking serious about
becoming a player on the world stage. As long as by “freaking serious,” you
mean willing to launch a rocket into space in the hopes of joining an elite group of explorers
to Mars. The Asian nation’s space research organization (ISRO) launched its
orbiter to the Red Planet on Tuesday, seeking to join only NASA, the former
Soviet Union and the Europeans in operating probes from Mars. Japan made a
legit effort in 1998, but its probe didn’t even reach the red planet before
crashing and burning. China gave it a shot as well, but its space explorer was
lost along with the Russian Phobos-Grunt mission in January 2012. The United
Kingdom united for a try of its own, but its Beagle 2 probe separated from the
European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter in 2003 and the lander was never
heard from again. Even if India’s probe does reach Mars, the Mars Orbiter
Mission won't reach its destination until 10 months after lifting off from the
Satish Dhawan Space Centre near Chennai. Should the probe reach Mars, it will
explore the planet's surface features, minerals and atmosphere. Indian
officials are seeking to discover more about the loss of water from Mars, map
the sources of methane gas, as well as collecting data about its two moons,
Phobos and Deimos. ISRO officials readily admit that getting to Mars is the
biggest challenge of them all, as most missions have either failed to reach the
planet or crashed on the surface. In space program aging, India’s space program
is relatively young, having launched its first Earth satellite in 1975 and put
an unmanned probe into orbit around the moon in 2008. Its first manned space
flight is planned for 2016, with all of this evidence suggesting that the
attention and resources the United States has wisely shifted into more
Earth-bound pursuits as opposed to space exploration is being channeled right
back to outer space by another country………
- The early adopters who have jumped on the Pebble smartwatch
bandwagon received some positive reinforcement Wednesday when a second version
of the Pebble software development kit (SDK) and a new iOS app that offers
improved iOS 7 notifications debuted. While Pebble watches have always been
capable of displaying caller IDs, SMS messages and email notifications from an
iPhone linked to them via Bluetooth, the new iOS app fully integrates the
smartwatches with the iOS 7 Notification Center. That means any notifications a
person enables on their iOS device will appear on their wrist. Now, Pebble's
notifications display works with Apple iOS devices just as well as it works
with Android devices, which have always been able to share notifications from
third-party apps with the smartwatch. The upgrade also means that Bluetooth Low
Energy (LE) support is provided for the smartwatch and while large firmware
updates and other data-heavy functions will still be sent over classic
Bluetooth, notifications will be pushed to the Pebble via Bluetooth LE from
devices that support it, conserving battery power in the process. Once Apple
green-lights the new app, it will appear in the iTunes App Store. Until then, version
2.0 of the Pebble SDK is now available from the company's website as an initial
beta release that anyone willing to take a chance and gamble on a piece of
unproven technology can try…….
- In case no one has noticed,
superheroes are kind of a big deal these days. Studios are falling all over
each other to find new heroes to team up for blockbuster movies, Comic-Con is
bigger than ever and fanboys are actually daring to venture out of their
parents’ basements and into the world of pop culture. The CW is already in on
the superhero kick, having aired the final years of the decade-long run of the
Superman prequel series “Smallville” and spinning off its current series
“Arrow” from that show. Now, the network is looking to add another DC Comics
character to its stable of superheroes and this one is a deep, deep reach back
into the annals of superhero lore. CW creative minds are reportedly developing
the script for “Houman,” which is based on characters that first appeared in
1940. Only the hardest of hardcore comic book dorks will know the details of
Houman’s tale, which centers on a "brilliant yet troubled"
pharmaceutical analyst who discovers that he can see glimpses of tragic events
about to occur one hour into the future. “Determined to win back his ex-wife
and son, he heroically prevents these tragedies from unfolding, finding both
purpose and redemption along the way," the CW said in a statement. Dan Lin
(“Gangster Squad”) and Jennifer Gwartz will executive produce the project, with
“Ironside” EP Michael Caleo penning the script. All of this is in addition to
the CW also introducing The Flash to the “Arrow” landscape this season, with
one eye cast toward a spinoff for the lightning-fast hero………
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