Progress in Peru, NHLers are badass and feeding the homeless decriminalized in Dallas

- Hockey players are still badass, in case anyone forgot. Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby proved the point once more on Saturday during 2-0 victory against the New York Islanders. Crosby, whose team notched its 15th consecutive win and is within two wins of the NHL record by Mario Lemieux and the 1992-93 Penguins, wasn’t on the ice when the game ended because he lost several teeth and needed oral surgery after he was hit in the mouth with a puck. He exited the ice with a towel covering his mouth after Brooks Orpik's slap shot from the point deflected off a stick and blasted him in the mouth just 1:28 into the game. Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma wasn't sure if the injury affected Crosby's jaw and didn't know if he would miss any additional games. "I just know he had some issues with his teeth," Bylsma said. "Just from the replay I know that." With a well-documented history of concussion problems, the Penguins aren’t likely to take any chances with their biggest star. Crosby missed the final 41 games in 2011 and the Stanley Cup playoffs due to concussion-related symptoms and also missed most of the 2012 regular season as symptoms lingered. "I think every time that type of thing happens to a player you think about it," Bylsma admitted. Crosby’s production has soared this season as his health has improved and he currently leads the league with 41 assists and 56 points. He also holds a 10-point lead in the NHL scoring race, but his latest injury could harm his chances of snagging the scoring title. The Penguins wre at least fortuitous in the timing of the injury, as they acquired star forward Jarome Iginla in a trade with Calgary two days prior to Crosby getting blasted in the head with a puck. He immediately fell to the ice and tossed his stick in the air after impact, then was rushed to the hospital for surgery…….

- Feeding the homeless has finally been decriminalized for one Dallas man. Don Hart has spent the past three decades feeding the down and out in Big D, but the past eight years have been a bit of a battle. That’s because in  2005, the city of Dallas passed an ordinance, requiring organizations feeding the homeless to get the city’s approval, provide bathrooms and meet a list of public safety requirements. That made life difficult for a small-time outfit such as Hart’s BIGHEART Ministries. By the time the ordinance passed, he had a steady crowd of homeless men and women coming to him for a meal, clothing and counseling. “I feel like it’s God’s appointment,” he said. “It grew, grew, grew… until we were feeding thousands of people.” Once the new regulations went into place, Hart found himself spending thousands and thousands of dollars to comply and it reached the point where trying to help was simply too expensive. He and his daughter, Dana Hart-Ball, had to sit the Christmas season out because they couldn’t afford to assist in a way that would be city-approved. . “It kept getting worse, until finally police were coming out,” Hart-Ball said. One day, officers arrived on the scene and nearly a dozen cars ringed the scene of an event. Officers began questioning volunteers and threatening to haul them off to jail unless they ceased and desisted immediately. “They’re ready to take us to jail – for what?  Praying for people? Scrambling eggs?” Hart-Ball asked. With all of the drama surrounding Hart’s charitable efforts the past few years, he’s also been waging a legal war against the city. His lawsuit dragged on for more than seven years, but it came to an end. Thursday morning when a judge ruled the city’s ordinance violated Texas law protecting Hart’s religious freedom. “I’m totally blessed.  It’s been a great, great, great victory,” he said. Sounds like a real Easter miracle…….

- Firefighters being able to see is typically a positive development. British researchers believe that they can help in that pursuit and they have devised the prototype of a tactile helmet which uses vibrations to help firefighters find their way through dark or smoke-filled conditions. A team at the University of Sheffield Centre for Robotics created the helmet, which was inspired by the study of touch-related sensing of rodents who use their whiskers as an early-warning system against potential hazards. It contains a large number of ultrasound sensors used to detect the distance between the person wearing the headgear and nearby obstacles, including walls. These sensors then emit signals to vibration pads attached to the inside of the helmet. The pads rest against the forehead of the person wearing the helmet and as a firefighter gets closer to an obstacle, the pads against their forehead will vibrate to alert them to the presence of the object. "When a firefighter is responding to an emergency situation he will be using his eyes and ears to make sense of his environment, trying to make out objects in a smoke filled room, for example, or straining to hear sounds from people who might need rescuing,” said project leader Tony Prescott, professor and director of the Sheffield Centre for Robotics. “We found that in these circumstances it was difficult to process additional information through these senses. Using the sense of touch, however, we were able to deliver additional information effectively.” He and his team used a donated Rosenbauer-brand firefighting helmet to develop the prototype and they spent two years chewing through research dollars from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)………

- Progress is being made in Peru. A country that wouldn’t be classified as a world or military power by much of anyone is starting to reach a place the United States was at decades ago, back in the Vietnam War era. Yes, the proud tradition of rich people using their ways and means to get out of having to go to war lives on and it has arrived in South America. All of this has come about after Peru’s government announced new rules for a possible military draft. The Peruvian military is struggling to fill thousands of vacant positions and authorities say if they cannot find enough volunteers, they will start a draft this May. Both men and women 18 and older will be eligible…..but there’s a caveat. If a person is draft-eligible but doesn’t want to be put in a position where someone might end up shooting at them, they can merely pay a fine of 1,850 soles ($715). For some odd reason, critics claim the measure will allow the wealthy to avoid military service and leave the poor with no other option but to enlist. Right…and the problem is? Rich people and the affluent did just that with great success back when the U.S. was conscripting unwilling souls into going off to die for their country in unjust wars and it’s nice to see this proud tradition revived. Military leaders are adamant that the new measure isn't discriminatory and that the draft is a necessary step to rebuild their ranks. Opposition lawmakers plan to summon Peru's defense minister to testify over the matter, but various media outlets have already slammed the potential new rule as "discrimination against those who have the least." In a country where nearly a third of the population lives below the poverty line and a minimum wage salary is 750 soles ($290) per month, coming up with $715 could be tough….but it will teach the poor the value of saving their money and not spending it on frivolous things such as food, housing and clothing because some day, they may need it to avoid being drafted. The new policy would be the same as neighboring Colombia, which also fines those who refuse to serve after they're called up………

- A win is a win, but the ass-kicking machine that “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” was supposed to be at the box office in its debut weekend never really materialized. After its release was delayed for several months due to alleged issues surrounding the 3-D version of the film, the action heavyweight dropped to a $41.2 million result to seize the top spot for the weekend. That allowed it to wrangle the top spot away from last weekend’s top film, “The Croods,” which fell to second with $26.5 million and has banked $88.6 million in domestic earnings through two weeks. The latest identical and unwatchable Tyler Perry movie, “Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor,” opened in third place with $22.3 million, which was enough to bump “Olympus Has Fallen” to fourth place. A $14 million second weekend placed the action not-so-epic two spots lower than last weekend and raised its cumulative domestic total to $54.7 million and counting. “Oz The Great and Powerful” ranked fifth for the frame with $11.6 million and has banked $198.2 million so far. Newcomer “The Host” failed to impress much of anyone and made a mere $11 million in its opening weekend, good for only sixth place. “The Call” secured seventh place with $4.8 million in its third weekend and the WWE-produced drama has earned $39.4 million thus far. Tina Fey’s new comedy “Admission” turned in another uninspired result, with $3.3 million for a two-week total of just $11.7 million. “Spring Breakers” raged its way to ninth place and made $2.7 million in its process. While its overall earnings are modest at $10.1 million, a modest $5 million budget means it has more than doubled itself up already. The final spot in the top 10 belonged to “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” with $1.3 million in its third weekend for a flop-tastic three-week tally of $20.5 million. “Identity Thief,” (No. 11), “Jack the Giant Slayer” (No. 12) and “Snitch” (No. 14) all dropped out from last weekend’s top 10………

J-Lo divas her way out of India, LeBron v. the world and assaulting Egypt's Internet

- Hasn’t Egypt suffered enough? Constant political turmoil, oppressive rulers, riots and religious conflicts have plagued the northern African nation for the past two years, leaving a country full of people who just want some peace and a few conflict-free months. The three kooks who were trying to cut an undersea Internet cable in the Mediterranean this week and deprive Egyptians of high-speed Internet access. This trio of ass hats were caught on a speeding fishing boat just off the port city of Alexandria after going out as scuba divers, although Egypt’s military did not provide details on who they were or why they would have wanted to cut a cable. There were already issues with Egypt’s Internet access over the past week, with telecommunications executives blaming a weeklong Internet slowdown on damage caused to another cable by a ship. Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said in a statement that the three divers were arrested while "cutting the undersea cable" of the country's main communications company, Telecom Egypt, and that all three were believed to be Egyptian. Along with the statement detailing their arrest, the military also released a photo of them staring up at a camera in what looks like an inflatable launch. Issues surrounding the country’s Internet services have persisted since March 22 and Telecom Egypt executive manager Mohammed el-Nawawi explained that CBC that the damage was caused by a ship. He also insisted there would be a full recovery from the slowdown by the end of the week……..

- Wednesday night was not a good one for the Miami Heat. First, the undermanned Chicago Bulls beat the living sh*t out of them and ended tehir run at history with a 101-97 loss that brought the Heat’s 27-game winning streak to an end. With their chance to eclipse the NBA record for longest winning streak over and the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers’ 33-game streak safe, it took precious little time for Heat star LeBron James to whine about several hard fouls administered to his person by various Bulls players in the game. James decried the fouls as “not basketball plays” and suggested the officials should have helped him out by assessing flagrant fouls to his defenders. That whining didn’t go over well with Bulls forward Taj Gibson, who delivered one of the hard fouls, or Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. Ainge’s Celtics are bitter rivals of the Heat and Ainge used the occasion of James’ whining to fire an unprovoked shot at the presumed MVP for a season that isn’t yet over. "I think the referees got the calls right. I don't think it was a hard foul," Ainge said then. "I think the one involving LeBron against [Carlos] Boozer, that was flagrant. I think the officials got it right. "I think that it's almost embarrassing that LeBron would complain about officiating." His words were quickly relayed to Miami Heat president Pat Riley, who wasted no time in going nuclear on Ainge. “Danny Ainge needs to shut the f--- up and manage his own team," Riley said in a statement. "He was the biggest whiner going when he was playing and I know that because I coached against him." Ainge actually conceded that Riley had a point, even if he wasn’t willing to fully fall on his sword. "I would say we're both right," Ainge replied. "LeBron should quit complaining; I complained as a player and I should manage my own team. We're both right." Riley and Ainge were also rivals when Riley was the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, who battled Ainge and the Celtics in the 1984, 1985 and 1987 NBA Finals. For his part, James insisted that he could not care less about any criticism of his comments after Wednesday night’s game. "I actually didn't know anything about people's responses," James said. "I don't care what other people's responses are." A potential playoff matchup between these two teams is starting to sound even more interesting than normal……..

- There is NO reason either Ford or ad agency WPP should be apologizing. Both sides may appear to have egg on their respective faces after (allegedly) offensive artwork depicting women tied up in the back of a Ford Figo, a car available in India, surfaced this week. While the artwork never appeared in an ad, somehow it leaked and that left the two parties feeling like they needed to apologize for an image depicting Silvio Berlusconi, former Italian prime minister and a candidate in the country’s current campaign, driving a Ford Figo with three tied-up women in the back. The three women are in what amounts to cartoon versions of different slutty outfits a female college stuent might wear to an off-campus Halloween party. Oh, and there was a second image showing Paris Hilton driving a Figo with what's meant to be the three Kardashian sisters tied up in the back and a third one showing three male racecar drivers tied up in the back. However, Ford and WPP want everyone to know that the drawings were never part of a paid campaign but were part of "a creative exercise by a team that was submitting for an ad competition," according to Chris Preuss, Ford spokesman for WPP. "They were actually posters uploaded to a website, which is where it all took off from." That sounds…..like a pathetic excuse. Was the exercise to come up with the single most offensive ad campaign possible, one that would never see the light of day? If so, count this one as a win. "We deeply regret this incident and agree with our agency partners that it should have never happened," Ford said in a statement. "The posters are contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency within Ford and our agency partners." That these images pertain to a car sold solely in India is a bit of a black eye, sure, given that the country is particularly sensitive to the topic of violence against women on account of several high-profile gang rapes that have occurred there in recent months, but that doesn’t mean anyone needs to apologize……….

- Since when have India’s musical standards been so low? When a country’s top choice for its premier sporting event is Jennifer Lopez and its second option is über-crappy rapper extraordinaire Pitbull, it’s time to ask what is going wrong in a nation. Both of these icons of terrible music were on the short list to perform for the opening ceremonies of India’s Premier League cricket tournament, but Lopez diva-ed her way out of the chance to perform for a viewing audience of 60 million people with a laundry list of demands that included all of her furniture being white, all of the food in her dressing room also being white and a sh*t-load of luxury hotel rooms for herself and her entourage of managers, stylists and lackeys. Oh, and she demanded that a private plane be dispatched to transport her to India, so there’s that as well. Lopez may not be the first famous person to make ridiculous demands and try to take advantage of people just because she can, but maybe it’s time for her to look in the mirror and remember that these days, she’s little more than a judge for a crappy reality karaoke show who occasionally acts in a D+ movie or records another album of garbage-worthy pop drivel. Once Lopez priced her way out of the running, tournament organizers needed someone else to fill to void and lip-sync to a few of their terrible songs so the masses could be entertained before the tournament began. Next on the list was Pitbull, who had an opening in between filming ear-assaultingly awful beer and soda commercials and was happy to accept the invitation and the large payday. One would have to imagine that plenty of space in which to fist-pump and a new pair of the designer shades he seems committed to wearing in even the darkest of rooms were the two top entries on his list of demands for the show……

- Not everyone wants the smallest, lightest and most mobile computer they can afford. Super-smart researchers and dorks at prestigious colleges and universities across the United States and around the world need computing power and not necessarily speed or portability. That includes researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who now have one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world at their disposal. The Blue Waters supercomputer is the most powerful supercomputer on a university campus and now that it is up and running, it will operate around the clock and facilitate research that would be otherwise impossible. This titan of computing power is capable of performing quadrillions of calculations every second and working with quadrillions of bytes of data and it never needs a break. It is made out of Cray hardware and operates at a sustained performance of more than 1 quadrillion calculations per second, with a jaw-dropping peak performance of 11.61 quadrillion calculations per second. In other words, the average college student would be stunned at how quickly this beast can download porn or computer equations for the algebra homework they procrastinated on for the better part of a week and which is due first thing tomorrow morning. Although the Blue Waters supercomputer is located in Illinois, its round-the-clock number-crunching will help scientists and engineers across the country tackle a wide variety of science and engineering challenges…….

South Korea's sexiness crackdown, lamenting NFL nanny states and upgrading Find My Friends

- The original was a movie spanning nearly three hours and transporting viewers back to mid-to-late 19th century New York and the world of rival gangs vying for control of the city. Now, Martin Scorsese's 2002 epic is moving in the opposite direction as most entertainment franchises these days. While a litany of current or former TV shows are making their way from the small screen to the silver screen, “Gangs of New York” is downsizing from a feature film to a series that doesn’t yet have a cast or a network, but is in the development process. Miramax announced the development on Thursday, saying the show will reach beyond New York City and include organized crime in cities like New Orleans and Chicago at the turn of the century. As interminable as it seemed at times, the three-hour extravaganza of vintage crime and chicanery that was “Gangs of New York” didn’t have time to expand its scope beyond Manhattan and instead devoted plenty of screen time to Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day-Lewis. Scorsese clearly feels there is more story left to tell. “This time and era of America’s history and heritage is rich with characters and stories that we could not fully explore in a two hour film," the award-winning director said in a statement. "A television series allows us the time and creative freedom to bring this colorful world, and all the implications it had and still does on our society, to life." Scorsese will also have help from Graham King, who co-executive-produced "Gangs of New York," in converting the movie to the episodic format of broadcast television. There is no official launch date yet and no cast announcements have been made so far…….

- The price of gas is up, the price of food is through the roof and there isn’t a product, good or service on any market that doesn’t cost more than it once did.  Go ahead and count cows as a part of that trend because if a cow is selling to anyone, anywhere for more than many people pay for their first home, than bovine prices have gotten out of control as well. Karlie the Jersey cow is proof of this reality, as the New York-born cow became the most expensive Jersey cow ever sold at auction this week when Arethusa Farm in Litchfield, Conn. purchased her for a record-breaking $172,000 at a show cow auction in Syracuse on Monday. That staggering amount was almost twice the previous record high for a cow and while paying that kind of cash for an animal that is going to have to crank out a heck of a lot of milk to justify the cost, Matt Senecal of Arethusa Farm said his farm was willing to pay such a high price because Karlie has the potential to be a great cow for breeding. Additionally, she is only 2 years old and the farm hopes to have some of her daughters to show. Arethusa Farm is both a breeding and showing operation with a worldwide reputation and the walls of its barns are decorated with awards. "It does sound like a lot of money," Senecal said. “But she actually sold as a package. She already has three pregnancies in surrogates coming in September and we also have more calves coming in December." Karlie sounds like a real breeding machine and she commanded a high price because Senecal was impressed by her udder, her body structure and how much rib she has. "When you start getting into these types of cattle you can really tell which ones go right to the top, and she's one of those cows that people love to look at," Senecal said. Finding a cow that people enjoy looking at truly is what makes the world go ‘round……..

- Finding your friends using your iPhone should become a little easier courtesy of an update released this week by Apple for its Find My Friends app for the iPhone. While calling or texting your friends to see where they’re at or checking to see if they’ve tweeted, uploaded an Instagram photo from their current location or updated their Facebook status in the past five minutes remain viable options Find My Friends is Apple's own location-based app and service for seeing where your friends and family are and it shoots users a notification when those people are nearby. The version 1.2 update allows individuals to be more specific in their use of the app by setting exact locations for notifications, as well as distances from those locations, which comes in handy when you’re creeping/stalking, er, want to know when someone arrives at or leaves a specific location such as work or school. That could be a definite benefit for overprotective parents who want to make sure their child is where they say they are or an overly suspicious and distrusting boyfriend or girlfriend who wants to make sure that their significant other really is going to work or making a run to the grocery story and not having a covert rendezvous with that hot blonde they may or may not be fooling around with. If only Apple can be as on-point and accurate with its location notifications from Find My Friends as it has been with its oft-maligned mapping service that leaves people staring at the end of dead-end streets or lost in the middle of nowhere when they’re supposed to be right in the middle of a large city, then there is no doubt that this app is going to be extremely beneficial for one and all……

- Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu has a beef with the powers that be in the NFL. After NFL owners passed a new rule against delivering forcible blows with the crown of the helmet outside the tackle box, a move that should – in theory anyhow – appease defensive players, Polamalu was neither appeased nor pleased. He believes that if the league plans on continuing to pass new rules on an annual basis with the aim of making football safer, players should have a chance to vote on those rules.  "There's rule changes every year," Polamalu said. "I do wish, however, that the NFL did have a voice from the players' side, whether it's our players' union president, or team captains, or our executive committee on the players' side. Because we're the guys that realize the risk, we're the guys on the field." In (mild) defense of the NFL, its competition committee did ask for player input on that rule before presenting the change to the owners, even if that input has no chance of preventing the rule from being approved by a vote of 31-1. Like other big hitters playing on both sides of the ball, Polamalu knows he has no choice but to adjust to the new rule or face penalties, fines and suspensions for noncompliance. Still, he echoed the sentiments of players such as Tennessee Titans safety Bernard Pollard in worrying that the game is changing too much. "We're professional athletes, so we can adjust, but we grow up understanding instinctively how to play the game of football, and it's really hard to say, 'OK, eventually I'm not going to be able to use my head, or wrap with my arms' or whatever it may be," Polamalu said. "I think you can only do so much to the game before you really start to change the essence of our sport. In other words, the NFL is walking the fine line between making the game safer and making it soft. Pollard is convinced that these changes will continue to the point that the NFL doesn’t even exist 30 years from now, an extreme Polamalu hasn’t reached quite yet………

- Time to class it up, South Korea. It may not be to a point of K-Pop girl groups being forced to abandon their microshorts or The Man lurking outside clubs in Gangnam with rulers to ensure that miniskirts aren't too mini, but the times are definitely a-changin’ on the non-Communist end of the Korean Peninsula, where a revised "overexposure law" went into effect this week. President Park Geun-hye's regime approved the new law during its first Cabinet meeting earlier this month, imposing a fine of 50,000 KRW (US$45) on those deemed to be "overexposed" in public. In the wake of the new legislation being announced, many South Koreans thought it meant restrictions on revealing outfits that are prevalent on the streets of Seoul and other South Korean cities. The "no pants" look has become commonplace, with women eschewing pants and skirts for leggings, stockings or über-tiny microshorts. Women are on board with the look and most men are likely behind it as well (only partially for the view), plus the aforementioned affinity for the look displayed by K-Pop artists. The South Korean government has even hit a few music videos with 19-and-over-only viewing restrictions. After the new “dress code” was announced, South Korean sex symbols (yes, they do exist) expressed concern over what it might mean for them. "Is the overexposure fine for real? I'm so dead," tweeted Lee Hyori, the country's most famous sex symbol. Critics have likened the new law to to similar restrictions imposed by Park Chung-hee (the current President Park's late father), who ruled the country from 1963 to 1979. Those rules led to a dark period in the 1970s when skirts that ended 20 centimeters above the knee or higher were prohibited in South Korea. Critics have derided the law as an infringement on freedom of expression. "Why does the state interfere with how citizens dress?" Democratic United Party member Ki Sik Kim tweeted. "Park Geun-hye's government gives cause for concern that we are returning to the era when hair length and skirt length were regulated." Police have argued that the overexposure fine doesn't pertain to skirt length or revealing outfits in general, but rather involving public nudity and public indecency. Authorities plan to make an effort to increase awareness of the amendment's true purpose, but the entire concept does seem decidedly shady on some level………

An invisibility cloak, tearing down the Berlin Wall and Fox's porn-tastic new channel

- Thank God for science because without it, the world would not be one significant step closer to having access to an invisibility cloak straight out of the world of Harry Potter. Physicists at the University of Texas have developed a method to make objects "invisible" within a limited range of light waves and it’s a key step in developing a device that could create complete invincibility. The UT researchers have developed a thin material called a “mantle cloak,” which causes any object wrapped in it to “disappear” – but only under a limited range of light waves and specifically, microwaves. For their experiment, the researchers covered a cylinder about a foot long and an inch or so in diameter with the material and microwave detectors were unable to see it even though it remained visible to the human eye. The next step is transferring this same principle to the range of perceptible light, which could make objects invisible to the human eye. For now, the invisibility effect only covers a very small band of electromagnetic waves at one time and therefore only “disappears” objects significantly thinner than a single strand of hair. While it could be useful in nanotechnology by letting light bypass microscopic objects that would otherwise block it, that’s not going to excite much of anyone not wearing a lab coat or rocking the letter PhD after their name. Streamlining the process of making objects “invisible” and making the devices used in the process simpler and smaller is fine, but until this new cloak made of a sheer, handy material that can be applied to many surfaces is turned into a cloak that a would-be superhero can drape themselves in and disappear from view of the bad guys, the invention is unlikely to generate much buzz. Maybe a magician or two will utilize the cloak in their Vegas act if it ever becomes an affordable technology, but the mantle cloak’s new approach to invisibility needs refinement. The cloak is made by combining copper tape with polycarbonate, a material commonly used in DVDs. That process creates a very small pattern that is effective in neutralizing the waves bouncing off of it. However, it only works if the material's pattern is roughly the size of the wavelength of light to be canceled out. Nice try, science, but you’ll have to do better than that……..

- Major League Baseball may eventually embrace equipment that makes the game safer for pitchers and hitters, but that embracing won't come in time for the start of the coming season. Despite the fact that then-Oakland Athletics pitcher Brandon McCarthy suffered life-threatening brain injuries after he was struck in the head by a line drive in September and MLB responded by accelerating its efforts to come up with acceptable protective headgear for pitchers, that new headgear won't be in use when the season begins next week. MLB senior vice president Dan Halem conceded in an interview that no safety devices, be it a padded cap lining for pitchers or something else, will be approved in time for Opening Day. Halem based his statement on the fact that no products have yet passed high-speed impact tests that MLB mandates before it approves a device for on-field use. The silver lining in MLB’s slow response to the issue is that pitchers don't need the league office's clearance to wear caps with padded linings. Players can take their safety into their own hands if they are concerned enough and even when MLB officially approves such a product, Halem said the plan is for it to be offered on a voluntary basis. Equipment maker Unequal has gone to major league teams on its own and sent two unapproved padded cap prototypes to 26 of them. The company is unsure if any players plan to wear them this season, but if the joked-filled reaction to a bulked-up batting helmet worn by New York Mets third baseman David Wright is any indication, it wouldn’t be a surprise if no pitchers took the mound with a padded cap on top of their head………

- In a truly cowardly act that was historically ironic while also being complete bullsh*t, construction crews, protected by about 250 police, took down part of a three-quarter of a mile strip of what remains of the Berlin Wall. The wall, which was constructed overnight and divided Germany’s capital city from 1961 until the peaceful revolution against the communist East German government in 1989, still stands in small sections around Berlin. It remains a powerful reminder of the World War II era and its aftermath and what Berliners faced when they woke up one morning to find that a barrier had been built that prevented them from seeing friends and family members who may have only lived a few blocks away. It remained a despised symbol of division for nearly 30 years, a weaving concrete mass that snaked through neighborhoods and cut the city in two. When most of the wall was finally torn down in 1990, dignitaries gathered and crowds cheered each swing of a sledgehammer to break it apart. In recent days, those opposed to a section of it being torn down to provide access to a planned luxury apartment complex overlooking the Spree River have battled to keep the site, known as the East Side Gallery, standing. The section of the wall has become a major tourist attraction, with colorful images painted by 120 different artists adorning its gray concrete sections. No less a German icon than David Hasselhoff visited Berlin and vowed to raise money to save the section of wall, fueling allegations that developers are sacrificing history for profit. It remains the largest surviving portion of the 96-mile wall that surrounded Western-occupied West Berlin. At least 136 people were killed trying to escape East Germany by scaling the wall, running across the “no man’s land” in the middle and hopping the fence on the other side. When the ‘Hoff attended a rally to save the wall, he was adamant that it should stand. “It’s like tearing down an Indian burial ground,” Hasselhoff said during the March 17 protest. “It’s a no-brainer.” Demolition work was temporarily halted as local politicians and the investors looked for alternative access to the apartment site, but no alternative was found and the project’s main investor, Maik Uwe Hinkel, decided to resume the project. Demolition began at 5 a.m. Wednesday in order to avoid doing the work with too many people out on the streets to see and possibly interfere. “I can’t believe they came here in the dark in such a sneaky manner,” said Kani Alavi, the head of the East Side Gallery’s artists’ group. “All they see is their money. They have no understanding for the historic relevance and art of this place.” Well said, K…….

- Add another entry to the list of products that dog lovers simply could not allow to be humans-only items. How dare anyone suggest that sweaters, comfortable beds or exercise equipment shouldn’t be available for canines? Oh, and slot energy bars somewhere on that list as well because Vermont resident Mark Brooks has tackled a key need in the lives of dogs by creating a version of the popular product that is safe for pooches. Brooks’ creation, Yaff Bars, is the result of months of trial and error and has achieved market saturation across the Northeast. Seeing someone like Brooks take his background and training as a chef and using it to make a completely unnecessary product whose users cannot speak a single word about what they think of it is definitely uplifting. He says the doggie energy bars grew from a product he began making in a simple mixing bowl in his kitchen to a large-scale, multi-state business built on wheat-based, caffeine-laced dairy bars that are mostly organic. Brooks admitted that he is surprised by how quickly the idea has taken off and what’s sad is that he really shouldn’t be. Overly enthusiastic, loser pet owners who treat and feed their dogs better than they do their children and human family members will buy anything they think might put a “smile” on Fido’s face. "There are great people in Vermont," Brooks said in explaining Yaff Bars’ success. "Making connections and finding out how to get into a market is not as daunting as it would be in a place like New York City or another major market." He keeps the business mostly in state, using Vermonters for website and package design in the hope that his company can help young entrepreneurs in the state……

- One channel wasn’t enough, two was insufficient and so FX Networks is creating a third channel, rounding out its offerings with a trio of options that it plans to use to target specific audiences and demographics. The new network bears a name, FXX, that makes it sound like Fox is getting into the porn business, but the new channel is actually a replacement/upgrade for the current Fox Soccer Channel. FXX will launch Sept. 2 and target the desirable demographic of adults ages 18 to 34. It will do so by reaching 74 million homes and by serving as the home for established shows such as “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (returning for a 10th season), “The League” (back for a sixth season) and “Legit” (returning for its second season). “Totally Biased,” a late-night series starring W. Kamau Bell, will also air on FXX and will expand to a five-nights-a-week talk show from its current weekly format. Fox plans to develop a fourth comedy for the channel and will also use FXX to air reruns of “How I Met Your Mother,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Freaks and Geeks,” “Arrested Development” and “Sports Night.” It will be focused more on comedy than FX Networks sibling FX, which will retain hit series such as “Louie,” “Justified, “”American Horror Story” and top-rated “Sons of Anarchy.” FX will also have a slew of new projects to replace what it will lose to FXX, including “The Bridge,” a new series debuting in July and featuring Demian Bichir and Diane Kruger as Mexican and American detectives working to capture a cross-border killer, and “Fargo,” a 10-episode "limited series" due next spring and based on the 1996 film of the same name. Other comedy and drama pilots are in the works and Fox clearly feels strongly that several of them will make it to air or it would not be going ahead with the launch of its porn-tastic new FXX channel………

Cats on a leash, Gronk defends himself and Todd Akin on "Law & Order"

- It took nearly two decades, but two former Bosnian Serb officials have finally been tracked down by justice. More than 17 years after the end of the Balkan country's 1992-95 war, Mico Stanisic and his subordinate Stojan Zupljanin were sentenced to  22 years in prison for their roles in a campaign to rid Bosnia of Muslims, Croats and other non-Serbs. The pair were convicted by the Yugoslav war crimes court at the Hague, Nertherlands on Wednesday. "The trial chamber hereby sentences Mico Stanisic and his subordinate Stojan Zupljanin to a single sentence of 22 years in prison," International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) judge Burton Hall said. Stanisic is a former minister in the Bosnian Serb Ministry of Internal Affairs and Zupljanin was his stool pigeon/regional security services chief. The two men aced war crimes and crimes against humanity charges including murder, torture and cruel treatment of non-Serbs in municipalities and detention centers during Bosnia's war which left 100,000 people dead and some 2.2 million homeless. "The chamber finds that the goal of these actions was the establishment of a Serb state as ethnically pure as possible," Hall said. "Through these acts and omissions both intended and significantly contributed to the plan of removing Muslims and Croats from the territory of the planned Serbian state.” Zupljanin somehow managed to land a gig as an advisor to former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who is himself facing charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide before the ICTY, after Stanisic left power. Stanisic finally gave himself up in March 2005 and has remained free while awaiting trial. Zupljanin was apprehended in 2008 after more than nine years on the run, but he remained in custody because for some odd reason, the court considered him to be a flight risk. Now, the two convicted war criminals can finally spend some quality time together……….

- Two of the newest technologies on the market are combining forces to give fans a better gaming experience. MakerBot, maker of 3-D printers and scanners, is partnering with OUYA, which is set to release its new gaming console on Thursday. Even with consoles set to begin shipping tomorrow, OUYA is still tweaking its product and to enhance what it already offers, has announced a partnership that will see the release of the 3D design files for the console’s case. The template and specifications for the OUYA’s case are already available and the small segment of the population that owns a MakerBot 3D printer will be able to make their own case for the gaming console. The companies are calling their effort the “OUYA MakerBot 3D Printing Development Kit” and it can be downloaded from MakerBot’s Thingiverse website. From there, users can design their own personalized OUYA shell. The kit allows individuals to add their own patterns and colors to the cases, which can then be printed using PLA plastic on the MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer or using ABS plastic on a MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer. Perhaps the next step in the open sourcing of technology, OUYA is also unique in that the company is producing the consoles using the profits from a Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter backers will be the first to receive their consoles, while the general public will have to wait until June to buy them. OUYA plans to sell them at retail stores, as well as on Amazon and its own website, all for an affordable $99………

- Don’t sweat the small stuff…and next to 6-foot-6, 265-pound New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, it’s all small stuff. The man known simply as Gronk has taken plenty of criticism this offseason simply for being himself. After breaking his arm in a game against the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 18, missing five games, returning for the regular-season finale and breaking the arm again early in the first quarter of the Patriots' divisional-round loss to the Baltimore Ravens, he entered the offseason with his arm in a cast. He then showed up on TMZ.com in a grainy video from a Las Vegas nightclub in February, dancing on stage and executing a wrestling move on a friend – all while shirtless, of course. The video led to criticism from fans, media members and former players, all of whom grouped around the same basic idea: Gronk needed to grow up and stop acting like a glorified frat boy. Rather than get hooked by the haters, Gronk chose to lay low and say very little about the incident or about any conversations between himself and the team about it. He finally addressed it in an interview Wednesday morning, insisting he would never do something he thought would put his health at risk. "They're my fans," he said. "They're looking out for and they're big fans of the Patriots and they just want to see the team do well. I totally understand where the fans are coming [from], where they don't want [me] to put myself in jeopardy of getting hurt. I totally understand that. I would never do that, put myself in jeopardy.” In other words, fans pay my salary and like me, they love to get drunk and act like idiots, so I don’t mind them worrying about me because their opinion doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. When asked about whether the team has spoken to him about the incident, Gronk read straight from the official Patriots playbook for dealing with potential controversies. "Whatever I talk to [with] the Patriots, we stay confidential. We really don't give anything out," Gronk said. "Basically, just coming from myself, [I] just have to watch out who's out there, who's watching and everything, and basically just keep doing what I've been doing since Day 1. That's what got me here this far." Of course, if he really felt bad about the Vegas incident, he probably would not have shown up shortly thereafter posing in a "Sorry For Partying" T-shirt………

- Ripping stories from the headlines and turning them into another formulaic, predictable episode of one of the longest-running TV franchises around is a staple of “Law & Order” and its spin-offs. The show has already done an episode, “Funny Valentine,” on domestic abuse, almost certainly be based on the troubled relationship of singers Chris Brown and Rihanna.  Another episode, “Excalibur,” a governor apparently based on former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is involved in an upscale prostitution ring. Oh, and there was “Scorched Earth,” an episode in which a maid claims a foreign prime minister candidate (presumably Dominqiue Strauss Kahn) raped her in a hotel room. So who’s the next target for the scribes of “Law & Order: SVU” and how can they possibly top that trio? That target would be failed Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin, best known as the idiot who cost himself a shot at the Senate by suggesting that a woman’s body has ways of shutting down its reproductive system and preventing pregnancy in the event of a “legitimate rape.” Aiken lost to Sen. Claire McCaskill and became a national punch line for his remarks, both in his native Missouri and beyond. Now, the case has inspired a “Law & Order: SVU” episode titled “Legitimate Rape.” A promo for the show begins with the words “ripped from the headlines, words that set off a national controversy” and goes on to show a man in a suit and tie appearing in court declaring, “It’s nearly impossible for a victim of legitimate rape to become pregnant.” McCaskill responded to the “Law & Order” episode, tweeting “now this is surreal.” Of course, all “Law & Order” episodes begin with the tongue-in-cheek disclaimer that their stories are fictional and do not depict any real person or event……

- West Springfield (Mass.) Mayor Greg Neffinger is an effing genius. Neffinger is two steps ahead of a problem that has vexed humanity for as long as the family pet has existed and he has designs on remedying a blatant and unfair double standard that has existed for far too long. Neffiner, the mayor of a city 28,391, isn’t using his city’s small-town status to excuse the continued overlooking of the daily hazards posed by a truly contemptible group: cats. The mayor recently sent a letter to Town Council President Kathy Bourque asking the council to consider a statute that would force lazy cat owners to finally accept responsibility for outdoor cats. The proposed ordinance would require cats to be on a leash in public spaces and require cat owners to clean up cat poop, two areas where cats have been allowed to skate in communities across America for years. Bourque, who could just be Crazy Cat Lady based on her response to the idea, argues that the ordinance would be hard to enforce and may not be realistic. She is choosing to ignore the fact that West Springfield already has a similar law for dogs and the fact that the town's health director did ask the council to approve some language so complaints can be enforced to some degree. Forcing cat owners to leash their aloof, trouble-causing felines and pick up after them if they take a dump on the sidewalk only seems fair. Just imagine how much of a wonderfully hilarious strain such a law would place on all of the Crazy Cat Ladies out there whose homes are overrun by hundreds of cats and who cannot possibly keep all of those cats inside all of the time. Hopefully, Mayor Neffinger sets an example that mayors and city councils across the United States follow because if Michael Bloomberg can go nanny state on Manhattan’s six million residents, then anything is possible………

Meatball theft at West Point, changing the speed of light and Mussolini's new bunker

- American studios aren’t the only ones who can breathe new life into a popular spy drama by spinning it into a feature film. On this side of the Atlantic Ocean, defunct spy series “Veronica Mars” is being made into a movie and on the opposite side of the ocean, canceled BBC spy drama “Spooks” could get its own big screen spin-off. Actor Peter Firth, who starred as Sir Harry Pearce in the long-running TV show, revealed that the chances for a film version of the series are high. The shoe was created by David Wolstencroft in 2002 and ran for 86 episodes before ending after its tenth season in 2011. It followed a team of MI5 officers working from a high-security office complex known as The Grid. Firth revealed that efforts are underway to revive “Spooks” for a one-off film. He said "there is a script kind of in the machine" and said several of the show’s original writers are working on the project. Nothing is official and the same issue that led “Veronica Mars” creator Rob Thomas to launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund a “Veronica Mars” movie: fundraising. Securing a production budget for the “Spooks” movie may also be difficult, but Firth is firmly behind the idea. "They should make it. It's not like it's a gamble with this one. But it costs a lot, and there's not a lot of money to go round at the moment,” he said. As the only actor to feature in all 86 episodes of Spooks, Firth may have an ulterior motive, but some other well-known British acting names also appeared on the show in recurring rules and Mathew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, Richard Armitage, David Oyelowo, Hermione Norris and Rupert Penry Jones could probably be convinced to return for the right price……..

- Adolf Hitler had one and every good World War II-era dictator had to have one, so news that Italian officials have discovered what appears to be the last bunker of dictator Benito Mussolini is worth noting. Coming nearly 70 years after the despot’s death, images and video of the bunker have surfaced and Mussolini clearly knew how to build himself a quality underground hiding place. His spacious final hideaway underneath his Palazzo Venezia headquarters in Rome features nine large rooms was originally discovered during the renovation of the historic Palazzo in 2010. During the renovation, city superintendent Anna Imponente noticed a small wooden hatch that led down into a concrete structure nearly 50 feet below the surface. A tour of the structure last week suggested that it was probably designed for only a few people, maybe Mussolini and his mistress, Claretta Petacci. Featuring rough-hewn walls and clearly unfinished floors and ceilings, the bunker was clearly never finished and it was also never used by the dictator known as "Il Duce." Work is underway to make the bunker ready for its public opening, which is expected this fall. Touring the hideout should give visitors a look at what life could have been like for the power-hungry Mussolini had he gone the same route as Hitler, who built his own bunker under Berlin, not far from the Brandenburg gate. A parking lot and a simple sign identifying the location are atop the spot where Hitler is believed to have taken his own life near the end of World War II. That bunker remained unmarked for many years and no one has ever gone underground to explore whatever remains of it. Mussolini’s newly discovered bunker, combined with a similar one discovered beneath his Villa Torlonia residence and opened to the public last year are receiving a much more public treatment………

- Who’s down for debunking – or at least altering – a key component of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity? For many years, Einstein’s famous E=MC² has been predicated upon the idea that the speed of light is a finite number, 299,792.458 km per second to be exact. However, new research from France and Germany indicates that light may not travel at a fixed rate, but rather a variable one. Such a revelation would reverse scientific thinking as it has existed since 1676, when Danish astronomer Ole Rømer first established his findings while studying the motion of Jupiter’s moon Io. Separate studies by scientists from the University of Paris-Sud in France and from the Max Planck Institutes for the Physics of Light in Germany both contend that this belief is false and are contesting that belief concerning the nature of a vacuum. French researcher Marcel Urban and his colleagues claim to have identified a “quantum level mechanism” for understanding vacuum. Their theory suggests that at a vacuum is not completely empty as long thought, but instead contains pairs of virtual or ephemeral particles with varying levels of energy.  Urban believes that because the characteristics of a vacuum fluctuate, the speed of light then must also vary as well. He and his team reached the same general conclusion as Gerd Leuchs and Luis L. Sánchez-Soto of Germany’s Max Planck Institutes, but via a different path. Leuchs and Soto argue that certain physical constants (physical quantities with values that are thought to be universal in nature and remain unchanged over time) indicate the existence of a number of elementary particles in nature, including those that may be found in a vacuum. Should the findings of either study be proven true, it would likely have a significant impact on existing theories involving the speed of light……….
 

- Seeing the United States military rocked by scandal is a jarring experience for Americans. Having that scandal take place at an institution tasked with training the next generation of leaders for the U.S. Army is even more of a stunner – unless that scandal surrounds a bag of stolen meatballs. The woman at the heart of the scandal is Estelle Casimir, a housekeeper at the U.S. Military Academy who could face up to two years in jail if convicted of trying to steal a bag of frozen meatballs. Casimir pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in White Plains, New York and according to her attorney, she is extremely troubled by the seriousness of the case against her. "She is very upset," attorney Michael Ferraro said. "We've pleaded not guilty, definitely." According to court documents, Casimir has been charged with stealing from the mess hall at the famed military academy in West Point, N.Y., on January 30. A signed affidavit from the operations manager on duty at West Point tells a tale of Casimir being spotted attempting to hide a black bag with her hand. According to the affadavit, the manager asked her what it was. "Nothing, it is garbage," Casimir reportedly replied. "If it is garbage why didn't you throw it away near the pantry area, where they have a dumpster by the door?" the manager asked, according to the affidavit. When pressed further, Casimir revealed the bag of meatballs. In a striking coincidence, meatballs just happened to be on the menu that night. She claimed that she found the bag in a trash container and was going downstairs to throw it in another dumpster, which seems dubious at best. She now faces two counts of misdemeanor crimes for stealing property and possessing stolen property, both of which carry a possible penalty of up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. While her case is adjudicated, Casimir has been suspended without pay by her employer, Watson Services, which provides food services at West Point. Ferraro is attempting to reach an agreement with the assistant U.S. attorney prior to Casimir’s next court appearance on April 19……..

- When college football finally has the first edition of the Division I playoff that should have taken place years ago, the sparkliest football palace in all the land is all but certain to host the event. Wednesday was the deadline to submit bids to host the championship game for college football's new four-team playoff on Jan. 12, 2015 and only two locations submitted bids: North Texas and Tampa Bay, Fla. North Texas would be the home of Jerry Jones’ football palace, a.k.a. Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex. Multiple sources have suggested that Cowboys Stadium is all but assured of hosting the game, but the BCS commissioners will meet April 23-25 in Pasadena, Calif., to officially announce the site and other details about the playoff. Cowboys Stadium, which hosts the AT&T Cotton Bowl, has such a stronghold on the bidding process that many communities elected to simply not place a bid at all because they knew it would be a waste of time. Tampa Bay, which has hosted four Super Bowls and the men's and women's Final Four, remains in the running but its best chance seems to be pitching the committee on its merits as a host city for a future edition of the game. College football will play one final season under the idiotic, poorly designed Bowl Championship Series system before embarking upon a four-team playoff arrangement that will begin in the 2014 season. The Jan. 1, 2015, semifinals will be held at the Rose Bowl presented by Vizio in Pasadena, Calif., and the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, followed by the inaugural championship game. The minimum seating requirement to bid for the title game was 65,000 and cities are barred from hosting both a semifinal game and the title contest in the same year……

50 Cent v. gun violence, Pervez Musharraf v. Taliban hitmen and Google Reader v. indifference

- A country being bitter about losing to the United States in soccer is nothing new. The U.S. is a bottom-rung team in the world of international soccer and losing to the red, white and blue on the pitch is typically a reason for embarrassment. However, the reason Costa Rica is bitter about its 1-0 defeat to the U.S. Friday night in Denver is not because it believes it is somehow superior and should have won the game. In fact, the Costa Ricans are last in the six-team CONCACAF region World Cup-qualifying group they share with the Americans. They almost certainly won't qualify for soccer’s premier event in Rio de Janeiro next year, but that isn't stopping them from morphing into a bunch of whiners and filing a protest of their loss because it just so happened to take place in the middle of a snowstorm. Costa Rican soccer officials have submitted their protest to FIFA, soccer’s governing body, and demanded that the World Cup qualifier be replayed. FIFA officials confirmed receiving the protest and said their administration "will now analyze the content of the letter and next steps will be determined in due course." The protest hinges on the argument that the "physical integrity" of players and officials was affected, "ball movement became impossible" and field markings were not visible in Friday's match. Costa Rican officials also urged FIFA to punish match officials, including referee Joel Aguilar of El Salvador, for allowing the match to proceed. Aguilar spoke with Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto and U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann in the second half and motioned to stop the game, but Klinsmann pleaded his case and won. For the protest to succeed, it must meet specific requirements, including one stating that in the event of an unplayable field, the protesting team's captain "shall immediately lodge a protest with the referee in the presence of the captain of the opposing team." The offended team must also file written protests with the match coordinator within two hours of the final whistle, and to FIFA's administration by registered letter within 24 hours, "otherwise they shall be disregarded.” The protest doesn’t appear to have met all of those requirements, but FIFA has not made a decision yet. Should the result stand, Costa Rica appears to have little chance of obtaining one of the top three spots in the group to qualify automatically or even finishing fourth and having a chance to qualify through a playoff against New Zealand……….

- Taking the kids for ice cream can be sooooo annoying. Immature, fidgety little brats demanding that you allow them to get two schools of moose tracks with sprinkles on top and then crying their eyes out when they absent-mindedly spill their cone on the sidewalk after two licks make for an unenjoyable evening. However, spending time around pretentious wine lovers and seeing them swirl a 1 oz. sample of some $500-a-bottle brew around in their mouth before spitting it back into a bucket and raving about its full body and its vintage is almost as unenjoyable. So is there a product out there that can bridge the gap between these two and find a way to make both experiences more enjoyable?  Maybe….if you happen to be in Ogden, N.C. Ogden, located near Wilmington, is home to a new business that recently opened on Market Street in its downtown area. Known as Fermental, this business is giving the people what they want – as long as what they want is wine ice cream. Fermental is offering the ice cream for everyone of legal drinking age and owner Steve Gibbs is fired up about the frozen treat he has acquired from Mercer's, a dairy farm in upstate New York. "It tastes very good," Gibbs said. "The funny thing about them is they're a dairy and they make ice cream first and foremost. They aren't just doing this as a gimmick. They make very good ice cream and this happens to have wine in it." Fermental has an edge because it’s the only place in North Carolina where people can go toboth get drunk and indulge their sweet tooth. The store also has a sour side, selling "hop pickles," which are made with Dogfish Head IPA. Oh, and with an on-premise permit, Fermental shoppers can sip while they shop………

- The quest for world domination has taken a step backward. Even a technological world takeover must take a step back and admit it made a mistake every now and then and Google has done as much by announcing that it will end its Reader service because of low usage. The service is used to aggregate content from numerous RSS feeds and given that many Internet users have very little idea what an RSS platform is, the news of its demise shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. In the aftermath of the announcement, the few people who have adopted the service launched several petitions hoping to convince Google to continue the service. One of the petitions has garnered 150,000 signatures, but Google has given no indication that it would consider changing its mind. Google Reader is scheduled to close its metaphorical doors on July 1 and competitors such as Feedly have already seen users jumping ship. Feedly said it picked up 500,000 users from Reader after Google announced Reader’s impending closure. A lack of interest remains the primary reason for the closure, but reports surfaced over the weekend suggesting that Google also terminated the service rather than commit a full staff to it to ensure that it complied with privacy laws. The company previously agreed to multi-million dollar settlements with government agencies over privacy issues and CEO Larry Page has been adding lawyers, policy experts and others to ensure that his company remains on top of compliance and privacy issues. Company officials showed no inclination to add more personnel to the Reader project, which didn't even have a product manager or a full-time engineer working on it. At least the tech giant can take solace in knowing that Reader could never been as big of a flop as Google+, its ill-fated foray into the world of social networking………

- The clock is ticking on former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. A pitched battle is on to see which happens first: him fulfilling his promise to return to his country and “save” it or the Pakistani Taliban making good on their promise to put a bullet in his head. Musharraf ended more than four years in self-imposed exile on Sunday when he touched down in Karachi, where he was immediately whisked away by security forces as hundreds of supporters greeted him with showers of rose petals, signs ad flags. Musharraf spent the past four-plus years in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai and no sooner than news of his return broke, Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said his organization would send out a "death squad" to kill him. Ehsan demanded that the former president surrender himself, a development that seems unlikely given that Musharraf proclaimed upon landing, "I'm here to save Pakistan. I'm not scared of anyone but Allah.” The last time he was seen in Pakistan, Musharraf was resigning his post as president and fleeing the country. Despite his five years away, 69-year-old remains hated by militants for backing America after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He rose to power in a 1999 coup and ruled Pakistan between 2001 and 2008. After being whisked away from the airport Sunday, he tweeted that he was “thrilled to be back home.” Before arriving, he announced his intention to lead his party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, in elections in May. Leading would also mean dealing with a sinking economy, resilient Islamic extremist factions and tensions with the U.S. over drone strikes and the secret raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Oh, and there’s also the matter of legal charges stemming from the probe of the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The most terrifying part of the equation would have to be the prospect of Taliban suicide bombers and snipers out to kill him, but sometimes that’s the price a hero must pay……….

- For as long as he raps or is a public figure, 50 Cent, a.k.a. Curtis Jackson, will by synonymous with gun violence. A man who was once shot nine times and survived just has a tough time escaping the ties to bullets and handguns, but Jackson wants to make it clear that he is not seeking to glorify gun violence with his music. Having previously promised that his new album, “Street King Immortal,” would “not fall short of a classic,” he is now on the offensive, defending it against critics who say it glorifies gun violence in a culture where shootings are an increasingly discussed topic and an omnipresent threat in nearly every part of the country. However, Jackson said in an interview over the weekend that his songs do not glorify violence and are merely him retelling his own experiences, making them “art imitating life.” "I'm flattered actually when they say that [rap music glorifies violence] to me because it would mean that I'm so, I have such a strong hold on the youth or people in general that it completely changes their thought process - the music is that powerful,” Jackson said. He was also asked about the tired stereotype that rapping is about more than just guns, drugs and violence. "Yeah, it's a lot more. It's writing. If you were doing that and didn't actually experience it, I would say you're glorifying it. If you're drawing from something from your actual experience, isn't art imitating life?" he asked. The man makes a fair point because to reduce rap to guns, drugs and violence is overly reductionist. There are also ho’s, hitting the jewelers to pick up some new ice and buying a third Bentley to rap about. “Street King Immortal” is set to drop later this year and it will be the follow-up to “Before I Self-Destruct,” 50 Cent’s last release, four years ago……..

Investigating Detroit, movie news and reviving extinct frogs

- Professional athletes will often go to ridiculous lengths to keep their uniform number when they move to a new team. Either they’re extremely superstitious, they believe their number is a vital part of their brand and identity or they just like a particular integer, but jumping to a new team where someone already wears your number causes issues. It can cause an issue on both sides, as former Chicago White Sox infielder Willie Harris found out after getting his number (12) tattooed on his arm only to be forced to surrender his jersey when the team acquired future Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar. Newly acquired New England Patriots safety Adrian Wilson has no such issues, but in moving from the perennially hapless Arizona Cardinals to the perennially contending Patriots, Wilson has his eyes set on making sure he has the No. 24 jersey on his back. The man who currently holds that number is newly re-signed cornerback Kyle Arrington. Wilson could have gone the typical route of throwing a large wad of cash Arrington’s way and hoping for the best, but he elected to get creative with it and instead of a stack of Benjamins, dangled a bottomless supply of Huggies in Arrington’s face. Arrington, a first-time father, has a newborn son at home and Wilson figured that any new parent is likely exasperated by the number of diapers their son or daughter plows through on a daily basis. Wilson made what seemed to be a joking offer on Twitter, saying he would trade Arrington a year's worth of diapers in exchange for the No. 24. However, he later made it clear the offer was no joke and intends to do everything possible to keep the number he has donned throughout his 12-year career. He may have drawn inspiration from Arrington’s previous jokes on Twitter that his son has left him and his wife "worn out" from all the attention a newborn needs…….

- The wizard is dead…at the box office, anyhow. “Oz the Great and Powerful” has been dethroned as the reigning earnings champion as a pair of new films wrested away the top spot in their first weekend. The animated family flick “The Croods” snagged the top spot with a $44.7 million debut, enough to outlast fellow newcomer “Olympus Has Fallen” for the title belt. “Olympus” managed a respectable $30.5 million in its first weekend, while “Oz”” tumbled to third as its earnings fell off 46 percent to $22 million. That boosted its cumulative domestic earnings to $177.6 million in three weeks of release. “The Call” ranked fourth for the frame, adding $8.7 million to its coffers for a two-week total of $30.9 million that has already more than doubled its budget and made it a profitable film in a short amount of time. Tina Fey’s new movie “Admission” performed in predictably mediocre fashion, ranking fifth in its debut after earning a mere $6.4 million. That was just enough to hold off the surging “Spring Breakers,” which beer-bonged its way to sixth place, up 21 spots from last weekend, as it added more than 1,100 theaters and banked $5 million for the weekend. “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” continued to be anything but as it dropped four spots to seventh, earning a paltry $4.2 million to elevate its two-week domestic total to $17.3 million. Eighth place belonged to “Jack the Giant Slayer,” down four spots with a $2.9 million weekend that leaves the film with $59 million in overall earnings through four weeks – against a whopping $195 million budget. “Identity Thief” somehow clung to a spot in the top 10 in its seventh weekend, bringing in $2.5 million to up its domestic haul to $127.7 million and counting. “Snitch” rounded out the top 10 with $1.9 million and has made $40.4 million thus far. “Silver Linings Playbook,” (No. 11), “Safe Haven” (No. 12) and “21 and Over” (No. 13) all fell out of the top 10 from last weekend……….

- How many times over the past three decades has someone commented how the world would be better off if the world's most decidedly bizarre species of frog weren't extinct? It’s a pressing problem for a hurting world and it’s the reason the Lazarus Project exists. It exists to bring the gastric-brooding frog back to life even though the frog is known for swallowing its own eggs. Researchers at the Lazarus Porject, which takes its name from a man in the Bible brought back to life by Jesus, were able to “revive” the gastric-brooding frog using a small piece of the frog was kept in hopes that one day technology might progress to the point that science could recreate it. LP researchers believe they are moving toward reviving the animal using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer. They have successfully inactivated the egg nuclei in each one and replaced it with dead nuclei from the gastric-brooding frog using fresh donor eggs from the distantly related great barred frog. During this process, several of the eggs spontaneously began to divide and grow to an early embryonic stage. None of the eggs made it past that point in the developmental process, but tests showed that the dividing cells contained the genetic material of the extinct frog. Even though the experiment wasn’t successful in creating a living gastric-brooding frog, it did show that scientists were able to revive the frog's genome in the process of transforming dead cells into living ones. That means they now have fresh cryo-preserved cells necessary for future experiments. Lead researcher Mike Archer, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, expressed excitement about the future of his team’s efforts. "We are watching Lazarus arise from the dead, step by exciting step,” he said with a definite dose of hyperbole……

- Mystery and intrigue are high in London and it’s all over a Russian. Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, 67, was found dead on Saturday, and a Thames Valley police cordon remains in place as police investigate his unexplained death. His body was left at the Berkshire house while the search of the property took place and investigators with expertise in environments contaminated with chemical, biological and nuclear material scoured the house. Although police described the search as a precaution and insisted the public was not at risk. An ambulance was called to Berezovsky’s Ascot house at 3:18 p.m. on Saturday. "Specially trained officers are currently at the scene, including CBRN [chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear] trained officers, who are conducting a number of searches as a precaution,” Thames Valley police said in a statement. “This is to enable officers to carry out an investigation into the man's death." Berezovsky was a wanted man in Russia, where he was an outspoken critic of Communist despot Vladimir Putin’s regime and therefore an enemy of the state. He was also a former Kremlin power-broker whose influence and profile waned under Putin’s iron-fisted rule. As his position in Russian politics faded, Berezovsky emigrated to the United Kingdom in 2000. His fortunes weren't markedly better in England, where he lost a claim of $4.7 billion in damages claim against Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich last year. Numerous reports of depression and financial woes swirled around Berezovsky and with massive debts and hefty legal fees hanging over his head, he became increasingly reclusive. None of this indicates that a top-secret Russian hit squad infiltrated his estate and took him out, but Thamas Valley police aren’t taking any chances. "We are aware the cordon is causing disruption to local residents and we apologize for any inconvenience, but it is important we take all necessary measures to ensure a full and thorough investigation can be carried out,” Supt. Stuart Greenfield said. "I would like to reassure residents that we are confident there is no risk to the wider community." Because the house is part of a much larger estate, completing the search could take some time……….

- Detroit and the state of Michigan as a whole have not been especially well governed in recent years. Having your state’s largest city perpetually on the verge of bankruptcy and a possible takeover by the state suggests as much, but U.S. Reps. John Conyers and Gary Peters are looking to kick things up a notch. The two legislators have asked the federal government to investigate emergency managers in Michigan because they question the effectiveness of state takeovers. Both men represent parts of Detroit and sent a joint letter to the Government Accountability Office requesting a probe. Their request comes one week after Gov. Rick Snyder k named attorney Kevyn Orr to take over Detroit government. The takeover puts Detroit in the same category as Flint, Benton Harbor, Ecorse and Allen Park, along with the Highland Park, Muskegon Heights and Detroit school districts, all of which are under the control of state-appointed emergency managers. “It is difficult to identify a single instance where an emergency manager has succeeded in turning around the financial fortunes of a city or jurisdiction," said Conyers in a statement. "The history of the emergency manager law in Michigan is replete with fiscal mismanagement and conflicts of interest." Conyers specifically asked the GOA to scrutinize the impact of emergency management on federal funding for local municipalities, a development he  and Peters claim could sacrifice long-term gain for short-term sustainability. “By focusing only on short-term budgetary patches, emergency managers have failed to address the long-term systemic issues confronting older urban areas," Peters said. "The consistent record of poor results we’ve seen from emergency managers is why I’m joining with Congressman John Conyers in calling for a GAO review.” Doubters or not, Orr is expected to begin on Monday and has the unenviable task of addressing Detroit's $327 million budget deficit and $14 billion long-term debt……….