- Quentin Tarantino
has never existed as an especially rational, normal or logical person. Anyone
who has seen his films knows there is something seriously twisted inside his
cinematic mind, but Tarantino has never been as outwardly angry as he appears
to be at the moment. The enigmatic director has t he will not proceed with his
new project "The Hateful Eight" because the script leaked online
after he sent it to three actors. The leak became public courtesy of celebrity
gossip site Gawker.com and the site not only reported on the link, but it
posted a link to another website in order to download the script. It took Tarantino
all of five seconds to sue the websites that are hosting his script and hit
Gawker with a separate lawsuit merely for providing a link. "The article contains multiple direct links
for downloading the entire screenplay through a conveniently anonymous URL by
simply clicking button links on the Gawker page, and brazenly encourages Gawker
visitors to read the screenplay illegally with the invitation to 'Enjoy!' it,"
Tarantino’s lawsuit states. Gawker plans to fight the suit, claiming that “someone unknown to Gawker put it on a website
called AnonFiles, and someone unknown to Gawker put it on a different website
called Scribd.” In other words, it was a bunch of shady characters doing
dastardly things and we had NOTHING to do with it. As Gawker sees it, it was
merely doing its job as a news site and is being sued for "linking to a site that is being sued for
copyright infringement." The site took its rebuttal one step
further by alleging that it was likely Tarantino himself who leaked the script,
which seems like the sort of twisted thing he might do…..except for the fact
that his movies make a sh*t load of money and pulling the plug on “Hateful
Eight” seriously lessens its earning potential………
- Fans of Shark Week on Discovery Channel, there is bad news
for you courtesy of science. According to the possibly alarmist folks of the Shark
Specialist Group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), about
25 percent of worldwide shark and ray populations could go extinct within the
next few decades. The IUCN published a paper describing the dire global status
of cartilaginous fish and Nick Dulvy of Simon Fraser University in Canada –
chair of the IUCN’s Shark Specialist Group – paints a dire picture of the
future for sharks and rays. “There are no real
sanctuaries for sharks where they are safe from overfishing,” Dulvy warned. He
noted that the species in the greatest danger are the largest species of rays
and sharks, especially those living in relatively shallow water that is
accessible to fisheries. A lethal combination of overexploitation are most
severe for the 90 species found in freshwater, leaving animals such as manta
and devil rays in danger. The study’s authors advocate immediate action to
address the problem. “Unless binding commitments to protect these fish are made
now, there is a real risk that our grandchildren won’t see sharks and rays in
the wild,” Dulvy said. The study is the product of two decades of 17
workshops involving 300 experts and it surveyed the status of these species at
a global level. To compile their data, the researchers studied all available
information about cartilaginous fish — sharks, rays, and chimaeras — such as
their distribution, population trends, fishing harvests, threats and efforts in
conservation. They characterized 249 out of 1,041 known species of
cartilaginous fish under the “Critically Endangered,” “Endangered,” and
“Vulnerable” headings in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Shark Week won't
be nearly as riveting if all of these creatures go the way of the dinosaurs………
- It took a century, but Peru finally got its land back. The
South American nation lost one-third of its territory to Chile in a bitter war more than 100 years
ago, but got that real estate back courtesy of the International Court of
Justice at The Hague, which announced that it has conceded new maritime
territory to Peru while partially upholding Chilean territory claims in a
ruling that both governments appear to be considering a positive compromise.
The court’s ruling took two hours to read as president of the International
Court of Justice Peter Tomka laid out a new maritime border for Peru and Chile.
Peru got territory – not all of the territory it wanted – and as with most good
deals, both sides left the table feeling slightly dissatisfied. As part of its
ruling, the court upheld Chile’s claim that the maritime border should extend
from border marker number one, drawing a line out from said border marker 80 nautical
miles into the sea. Oddly enough, the court did not set the border at precise
geographical points, instead issuing a map intended to be used for illustrative
purposes. “The Court expects that [Peru and Chile] will determine these
co-ordinates in accordance with the present Judgment, in the spirit of good
neighborliness,” the ruling stated. The big victory for Peru was gaining
maritime territory over which it did not previously have control, specifically
past the 80 miles extending from border marker No. 1 and in a descending manner
to the southwest to point B. Like the ruling or not, both sides must abide by
it because the verdict is final and cannot be appealed. Both governments have
vowed to abide by the ruling, which is sad in a sense because conflict is
always more interesting than mutual agreement……..
- Wisconsinites are a hearty people. You have to be to
survive eight-month winters with temperatures regularly going double digits
below zero and not find the first moving truck available for a drive to
Florida. In some ways, the cold weather is just what folks are looking for when
it comes to finding their next meal or enjoying some outdoor fun. Chilly
temperatures make for thick ice and for ice fishermen seeking sturgeon, thick
ice is good because it supports their shelters when they’re out on the ice,
along with their drilling equipment. Yet even for these cold-weather maniacs,
there is a limit and the current Arctic blast sweeping across the United States
has pushed past that limit. Ice fishermen on Lake Winnebago in rural
Wisconsin are having a difficult time cutting holes through the ice and if they
can't cut their holes, they can't jam their spears into the water to poach
fish. Spearers are in the process of cutting their holes in the ice and getting
their shanties ready for up to 16 days of searching for the lake’s biggest
bottom feeders, but many are lamenting some of the thickest ice they’ve seen on
the lake in years. The most common choice for cutting the ice is a homemade
sled saw, but most sled saws measure 42 inches in length. They typically sit at
least six inches off the ice and cut at an angle, further reducing the depth to
which they can cut. With no way to extend them, some fishermen are at a loss
unless they happen to find someone else on the lake who has a big enough saw. Sturgeon
spearing season opens on Feb. 8, giving fishermen precious little time to find
a solution and make their preparations for their icy winter fun……..
- Challenge accepted. With the Winter Olympics a couple of weeks
away, International Olympic and
anti-doping officials are implementing the toughest drug-testing program in the
history of the event and they’re making sure everyone knows about it. Equipped
with all manner of intelligence to target athletes and events considered most
at risk, authorities are relying on rigorous pre-games and pre-competition
tests to make sure the Games are clean. They won't be, of course, but that’s
the aim. The fact is that the International Olympic Committee can conduct a
record number of tests if they so choose and they can store urine and blood
samples for eight years for retroactive testing, but if they think athletes
still aren’t trying to cheat the system, they’re kidding themselves. "I
think it would be stupid to try to cheat," IOC medical director Dr.
Richard Budgett said. "If there are any doping cases in Sochi, some of
them may be because athletes are being stupid." Stupid, desperate,
devious….call it what you will, but there has not been an Olympics since the
start of the steroid era that has been 100 percent clean and Sochi will not
break that streak. It’s admirable to have the Russian testing lab analyzing
samples around the clock and that might be enough to discourage most would-be
cheaters, but not all of them. The Winter Olympics are significantly smaller
than their summer counterparts and thus have fewer positive tests, but to
assume that all athletes will forego the economic and status benefits they
could reap by cheating and winning is a fallacy of the highest order. During
the Games, the IOC plans to carry out 2,453 tests, including 1,269
pre-competition controls. That is a 57-percent increase in pre-games tests from
the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, with the majority of the 1,184
in-competition tests will be done in sports like cross-country skiing and
biathlon, endurance events with a history of blood doping and EPO use. All of
this testing begins Jan. 30, the day the athletes village opens. The Games
close on Feb.. 23 and athletes can be tested any time, anywhere. About 2,000 of
the 3,000 athletes competing in Sochi are expected to be tested, including the
top five finishers in every event. Even so, the cheaters always employ the best
doctors and chemists to help them beat tests and these Olympics will be no
different………
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