- It’s not really a true day in the world of hip-hop (or
faux hip-hop) unless someone is accusing someone else of stealing one of their
beats, riffs or chords, so count today as legit now that Franz Ferdinand
frontman Alex Kapranos has accused producer Pharrell Williams of "borrowing" a riff from the band
for a new song he produced for Paloma Faith. Williams worked with Faith on the
new single “Can't Rely On You,” the first track from the London-based singer’s
new album “A Perfect Contradiciton.” The accompanying video is also online and
when he heard the track, Kapranos heard a riff that sounded awfully familiar to
one contained in one of the few tracks from his band that the average music fan
would know, the 2004 song “Take Me Out.” Like anyone with a beef but without
immediate access to the object of their anger, Kapranos took to Twitter to
confront Williams. He suggested that the song borrows generously from his own
work, although Kapranos didn’t exactly sound like he wanted to find Williams
and fight him for his musical misdeed. "Hey @Pharrell - I love your tunes.
If you want to borrow a riff, just ask," Kapranos tweeted. Williams has
yet to respond, but if he follows the hip-hop playbook to which he claims to
subscribe, he’ll steadfastly deny that he borrowed any part of the song from
anyone and good-naturedly tell Kapranos to stay in his lane and not mess with
an über-producer who churns out a steady stream of crappy pop music but is
still much richer and more successful than the lead singer for a quality indie
rock band from the United Kingdom…….
- If peanuts terrify you because they have the potential to
kill you, then good news is on the way. Thanks to researchers at the Stanford
University School of Medicine, the world is that much closer to a blood test
for DNA changes that could be used to monitor the long-term effectiveness of
so-called "immunotherapy" in patients allergic to peanuts. Such
treatments seek to build up resistance in people with peanut allergy and
according to Dr. Kari Nadeau, an associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford,
they may also leave telltale signs in the people's immune-system DNA. There is
still no cure for peanut allergies, but researchers are studying the
possibility that consuming increasing amounts of peanut powder could help desensitize
people to the peanut allergen. Some patients are actually told post-treatment
that they should eat peanuts every day for the rest of their lives. The problem
is that it's not possible to test patients to determine if they can safely stop
eating peanuts every day, Nadeau explained. "At first, eating two peanut
butter cups a day might seem fun, but it gets a little boring and a lot of
people might stop," Nadeau said. "Our new finding can help us try to
determine whether, for the long term, someone's allergy has truly been shut off
so people can eat ad lib." Her study was small in size, with 20 children
and adults with peanut allergies spending two years building up their immunity
to the point that they were able to eat a 4-gram serving of peanuts each day
without suffering a severe allergic reaction. Participants were then instructed
to avoid peanuts for three months, after which they were given a small amount
of peanut powder to determine if their allergy had returned. Thirteen
participants’ peanut allergies had returned, while seven remained allergy-free,
the study authors said. Blood analysis determined that the DNA in white blood
cells, which help reduce allergy response, was different in each group. Nadeau believes
this test might one day help doctors in deciding whether a person "can
safely go off of immunotherapy, or if they need to continue to eat the food
every day." Study this one closely, science, because a person’s ability to
enjoy Snickers bars is not to be trifled with……..
- Someone call LMFAO (they’re probably not busy) and tell
them to get to Licking County, Ohio right away. A resident of one of Ohio’s
most rural counties is (or thinks) she’s sexy and she knows it. The artist
formerly known as Sheila Ranea Crabtree is going where luminaries such as Chad
Ochocinco have gone, changing her name to something truly absurd and having no
remorse. Crabtree decided she hated her given first name so much that she felt
the need to legally change it, which isn’t weird or unprecedented. What is
weird is changing your first name to Sexy, which Crabtree has done. She picked
her new moniker because she says it fits her personality and it’s something her
husband often calls her, although by that logic she could likely have switched
it to, “Hey babe,” “Honey,” “B*tch” or “You f’ing idiot” and they would have
fit. Her hate of her original name was the driving factor in the nuttiness. “It’s an ugly name
I was cursed with,” Crabtree said. “My mom chose my middle name, Ranea, which I
love. And my dad chose the ugly name.” She claims that she intended to choose
her new name without any fanfare and originally, she didn’t even tell her
husband about it. Unfortunately for her and her quest for secrecy, part of the
application process to change one’s name is running a notice in the newspaper.
Someone stumbled across this news nugget, word spread and next thing you know,
a story in über-small print became big news around town. Crabtree has received
interview requests from websites, radio stations and TV stations from all over
the country, but insisted she isn't doing it for attention. Uh huh, sure. “My
husband sometimes calls me sexy,” she said. “I just decided on that just
because it’s fun. I wasn’t expecting anyone to find out. I didn’t even tell my
husband I was going through with it. I’m not doing it for attention. I’m just
doing it for me. This is what I want in my life.” That’s a lie, of course. If
she wanted a new name without the fanfare, she would have changed it to an
actual name and not Sexy. But her plan to get a lot of attention while
pretending she doesn’t want any of it is working perfectly and although her 15
minutes will be up any second now, they are 15 minutes more than she should
have gotten………
- How does that feel, Europe? All those years looking down
your noses at the United States and thinking you’re smarter, cooler and more
cultured (at least the last one is true) than Americans is bad karma and the
blast of winter weather b*tch-slapping your continent is proof. The most dire
situation is in Serbia, which has declared localized state of emergency zones as it
deploys its military to rescue more than 1,000 people stranded by severe snowstorms.
Authorities confirmed that many roads throughout northern Serbia have been
blocked by snow drifts and like Atlanta – only with actual snow to blame for
the problem and not a measly inch or two of light powder – cars are backed up
in columns for several miles. Travel warnings were issued, but obviously not
heeded by the 1,000-plus people who had to be rescued by the army and emergency
services after becoming stuck on a road linking Serbia to Hungary for 15 hours.
As the weather worsened and winds gusted as high as 100 mph, the government
imposed a total ban on vehicles travelling from Hungary or Romania. A military
helicopter was used to rescue nearly two dozen people from their cars on a road
about 30 miles northeast of the capital Belgrade, while more than 60 people
were stranded in their vehicles overnight. “It is very difficult, even for
machinery. The rescuers are walking towards stranded cars,” said Predrad Maric,
head of the Serbian Interior Ministry's emergencies department. The scene has
been slightly better but still ugly in areas of France and Italy, where heavy
rains have flooded riverside towns, including the Italian city of Pisa, where a
30-meter stretch of the city’s medieval wall collapsed as a result of the heavy
rain. Take that, Europe……..
- Even history needs an overhaul from time to time. Notre Dame's iconic football stadium is a
cathedral of college football, but the structure is a simple and antiquated one
in many ways. Smaller and more outdated than the stadiums of so many top
programs, the facility will get the sort of upgrade that university officials
clearly hope will further increase revenues for the Fighting Irish. The project
will create nearly 4,000 premium seats at the stadium while adding three
massive buildings at a total cost of $400 million. The Rev. John Jenkins, the
university's president, presented the plan in grandiose fashion to the
university's board of trustees during their meeting in Rome – yes, that Rome.
Jenkins called it "the most ambitious building project in the 172-year
history of Notre Dame” and had the stones to suggest that the reason behind the
construction is that more space is needed to accommodate Notre Dame's
broadening research activity. "What's exciting about this project is it
brings together athletics, faculty and academics, research and a student
center, so it's an integrated model,'' Jenkins said. Sure thing, Johnny.
Everyone knows how much cash your football program generates and if you can
boost that revenue while also providing some tangible benefits for the rest of
the university, so much the better. Combined, the new buildings will add about
750,000 square feet and will house a student center, the anthropology and
psychology departments, a digital media center and music and sacred music
departments. The most iconic feature of the area around the stadium, Touchdown
Jesus, won't be affected by the new buildings. Two of the new structures will
stand on the east and west sides of the stadium and they will rise nine stories
and include premium seating, increasing the capacity of Notre Dame Stadium from
80,795 to more than 84,000. The third new building, on the south side of the
stadium, will be six stories high and include a hospitality area. With the new
student center comes a recreation center, allowing the university to turn the
existing Rolfs Sports Recreation Center into the practice home for the men's
and women's basketball teams. How is all of this going to be funded? With
donations from rich alumni who still believe Notre Dame is an elite football
program, of course. And you know the money will come in…….
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