- So cranky media members whose hotel rooms don’t have
doorknobs or pillows aren't the only folks dissatisfied with the infrastructure
in Sochi. Olympic snowboarders aren't pleased with the state of their playing
surface and after multiple hard spills during practice runs on a halfpipe that looks only half ready,
competitors were lighting up the surface with one verbal blast after another.
Monday’s practice session was pushed from morning to night while workers tried
to make fixes, but to little effect. "When you see every other person
fall, you know something's wrong," said American Hannah Teter, the 2006
gold medalist. "It's a little dangerous. I've seen more people fall today
than I saw all season. It's dangerous because it's crappy." That very
succinct and blunt statement might be the best quote of the Games so far and
not just because it includes the word crappy. American Danny Davis went a step
farther, leaving the halfpipe as "garbage" on Sunday and saying after
Monday’s adjustments that the course was only marginally better. "It's a
bummer to show up to an event like the Olympics and not have the quality of the
halfpipe match the quality of the riders," Davis said. "Anyone who
watched practice tonight can see there were a bunch of people bouncing around
in the flat bottom." One of the primary issues with the halfpipe was its
steep vertical pitch, which most riders said had been improved by the time the
practice session began. Still, the bottom of the pipe remained a major point of
concern because it had far too much bounce. Rider after rider chattered through
the bottom, which slows speed and causes wrecks. The combination of chemicals that
keep the ice frozen at higher temperatures and higher temperatures further
tested the surface overnight, but most riders sounded resigned to competing on
a less-than-ideal surface. Russian officials, who have bristled at virtually
every critical remark about their hosting efforts, can take some solace from
the face that riders also complained about the pipe in the lead-up to the
snowboard event four years ago in Vancouver but admitted afterward that conditions
improved for the actual contest..........
- Half of all marriages end in divorce. A significantly
lower percentage end with the new bride BASE jumping 2,000 feet to her death. In
fact, put the number at one in however many marriages have ever occurred in the
history of the world. The one just so happened to go down (pun intended)
Saturday in Utah's
rugged Zion National Park when Amber Bellows and her husband of two weeks, Clayton
Butler, climbed up Mount Kinesava, a 7,276-foot peak that overlooks the park
and leapt off of the mountain for the hell of it. The Salt Lake City couple
were said to be experienced BASE jumpers, authorities said, but BASE jumping is
an inherently dangerous hobby and thus fraught with chances to die. It involves
participants leaping from fixed objects, such as mountains or buildings, using
parachutes to slow their falls. Situations like this are probably why BASE
jumping is illegal inside Zion National Park, but Bellows and Butler didn’t
seem to give a damn. Bellows jumped first on Saturday afternoon, but her
parachute didn't open properly, Butler told authorities. He quickly leapt after
her, but was unable to reach her and immediately hiked out of the remote area
to find help, alerting park authorities at about 6:30 p.m. Recovery teams
finally located Bellows' body around 10 a.m. Sunday and hoisted her from the
rocky terrain to a nearby ambulance using a helicopter. According to Joshua
Lloyd, Bellows’ manager and videographer, the jump looked fine at first, but
her main parachute didn't deploy properly. Park officials announced that her
death, the first of a BASE jumper in the park, is under investigation…….
- Well done, America. Preparing the next generation is vital
for a nation’s success and the adults of the United States are doing their job
well when it comes to infusing the right mindset – and loads of caffeine – into
the nation’s youth. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, between 1999 and 2010, 63 percent of children between the ages of two
and five years old consumed at least some caffeine on a given day. That’s
right, coffee and energy drinks are now the main caffeine sources consumed by
American children and those numbers are headed north in a hurry. It’s
noteworthy that the caffeine came not from sugary soda, but from the more
concentrated caffeine sources of coffee and energy drinks. Expand the age range
up to 22 years old and individuals examined for the study consumed some
caffeine on a given day. Anyone seeking some sunny, healthy news can point to the
that that during the study period, caffeine intake from soda fell 62 percent.
To compensate, Americans have boosted their coffee and energy drink intake.
Coffee consumption, which once accounted for a mere 10 percent of caffeine
intake among young people skyrocketed to more than 24 percent in 2009 and 2010.
Don’t expect back flips from the worrywarts at the American Academy of
Pediatrics, which discourages young people from consuming caffeine and warned
in 2011 that “stimulant-containing
energy drinks” must not be part of any children and adolescents diets. Study co-author
Amy Branum postulated that the main reason for this increase in caffeine
consumption among children and teens is the increased availability of energy
drinks. Branum added the energy drinks’ increased contribution in caffeine
consumption among this demographic represented “quite a difference in a
relatively short amount of time.” Sure, this can lead to high blood pressure,
rapid heart beating and higher anxiety levels in children, but isn't that just
better preparation for the stressed-out, caffeinated lives ahead of them?
Lets give credit to parents and guardians everywhere for getting their children
ready for their bright, jittery futures……..
- There are a few commodities that are never in short supply
in the world, including stoners, felons, bad drivers, annoying children….and
wannabe rock stars desperate for their big break. That fact was confirmed when
former
Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things member Carl Barât launched an online
campaign to find members for a new band and received a predictably large and
overzealous response. Barât posted a message on Facebook explaining that he was
searching for new bandmates and promptly received over 1,000 applications to
join his band. The good news for the band seekers applying for the gig is that
while Barât has recorded demos for the follow up to his 2010 self-titled debut
solo album with Johnny Marr, Andy Burrows and The Bronx's Joby Ford, he says he
won't release any of the new material until he recruits a new band. That means
there is a real sense of urgency to find the new drummer, bass player and
rhythm guitarist he’s seeking and Barât wants the 1,000-plus applicants to know
that he’s not looking to run some reality karaoke show-type event. "This
isn't some sort of indie X Factor and I'm definitely no Simon Cowell,
this is the real thing." Barât
explained. "I don't want to be a solo artist anymore, I want to get
another band together and I want to do that straight away. I've made a record
I'm really proud of, but I've worked too hard to just put it out there. The
songs are great, so I don't just want to get a load of session players in the
tour it. I want the best band around me to play it, I want the gang
mentality." Hear that, wannabe rockers? Carl Barât wants friends to share
his musical success and if you have the skills and the look, you could be one
of those friends……..
- The mighty Thames is not to be messed with. With wet, wild
winter weather besieging the world in so many places, even London is not immune
to the effects of storm after storm. Monday’s chaotic scene was the latest ugly
picture painted by nature as hundreds of homes to the west of London were put at severe risk of
flooding after the River Thames burst its banks. England continues to suffer
from one of the wettest winters in more than two centuries and with waters predicted
to rise further this week, Prime Minister David Cameron said the government
would do all it could to assist those affected as he visited flood-hit areas in
the southwest of England. Of course, as he made that promise response efforts were
undermined after parts of the government blamed each other for not doing more
to protect communities. Yes, even non-American political factions can do
nothing while accusing each other of being the reason nothing is getting done.
In this case, t he opposition Labour Party also accused the government of being
slow to react. Meanwhile, he government's Environment Agency, which manages
flood defenses, issued severe flood warnings-for 14 areas in the southeast of
England and two in the southwest, one of the hardest hit regions. The agency
also warned that flooding was expected and immediate action required for 137
further areas across England. According to data released by the EA, this is
England’s wettest January since 1776 and has the country on track for its wettest
winter—defined as the months of December, January and February—in 250 years.
Despite preventative efforts, more than 600 homes have been flooded over the
past week. "Extreme weather will continue to threaten communities this
week, with further severe flooding expected Monday evening into Tuesday along
the Thames in [the counties of] Berkshire and Surrey," said Paul Leinster,
the chief executive of the Environment Agency. In addition to flooded homes and
businesses, train operators said services were unable to run in parts of the
Thames Valley and southwest of England Monday. But no worries, because the
powers that be are on top of the situation. Eric Pickles, the minister
responsible for local government, accused the national government of relying too
much on the advice of the Environment Agency and it had been a mistake to
reduce dredging of rivers in the flooded community of Somerset. When a man
named Pickles questions your competence, sh*t just go real……..
No comments:
Post a Comment