- Golf is supposed to be a gentleman’s game – the key word
there being “supposed.” English PGA Tour standout Ian Poulter does not subscribe
to that theory, at least not based on his Twitter scud fired Friday night at Japanese
star Hideki Matsuyama. Poulter used social media to call his peer an
"idiot" for apparently damaging a green by thrusting his putter into
the putting surface at the 13th hole. "Playing
with Matsuyama tomo. He buried his putter in the 13th green 5ft from the hole.
Referee had to repair the
crater. Because he didn't," Poulter tweeted after the round. That he made
the comment before being paired with the guy he lit up for his Saturday round
made it all the better. At 22, Matsuyama has been a pro for less than a year
and has played primarily on the Japan Tour. He earned his PGA Tour card last year and is ranked 22nd in the
world, but Poulter seems to rank him much lower when it comes to on-court
etiquette and class. "Why should Matsuyama leave a crater in the green for
others to putt over, or have to call to repair the damage. Idiot," Poulter tweeted. When a Twitter
follower asked him whether he would "speak to him like a man or just blast
him on Twitter like all the
other keyboard warriors," Poulter replied, "I can't wait to."
The incident in question came on the
Blue Monster course at Trump National Doral and despite their differing
approaching to green maintenance and care, both players finished at 5 over par
Friday in treacherous conditions. "I'm no saint and first to say. But that
was disgusting. I wouldn't bury a putter in a green 5 ft from a hole and have players behind deal with it,” Poulter
said to finish off his rant, just hours before the two men teed off in the same
group at 11:15 a.m. ET………
- Are you properly protected from a coronal mass ejection by
the sun? Whether you know it or not, you are. The ejections occur during the
sun’s active periods and can send solar storms of charged particles that can lead to radio
blackouts and geomagnetic storms. According to researchers from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA, Earth has an insurance policy
in the form of a plasma shield located within the planet’s magnetic field. Last
month, a solar flare created enough space radiation to delay Orbital Sciences’
International Space Station resupply mission, but Earth’s magnetic field, known
as the magnetosphere, protects the planet from solar storms the joint research
team identified a process involving plasma that acts as another protective
barrier. The process involves a jet of plasma, super-heated ionized gas that
slows down magnetic reconnection. Lead researcher John Foster, associate
director of MIT’s Haystack Observatory, and his team analyzed Earth’s plasma
plumes by monitoring distortions in radio signals. To create maps of plasma
plumes and other atmospheric phenomena, the team utilized more than 1,000
Earth-based receivers that collect incoming radio signals from GPS satellites.
After finding evidence of a plasma plume during a solar storm in January,
Foster and members of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center analyzed what was
happening from space. NASA was able to confirm the evidence of a plasma plume
as well as the reduction of the force of solar storms. Because Earth’s magnetic
field extends outward and interacts with the sun’s magnetic field, the
result is magnetic reconnection and the allowance for charged particles to get
through Earth’s magnetic field. "It slows down reconnection, and it can
contribute to the generation of waves that, in turn, accelerate particles in
other parts of the magnetosphere. So it’s a recirculation process, and really
fascinating," Foster explained. Indeed……….
- China promises not to be a bully. If that sounds good
enough for you, then skip the rest of this story and keep going. For those
dubious of the promises of one of the world’s most bully-tastic nations, then
let’s take a closer look at Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s claims that his country
will never bully its neighbors but will also not compromise over unreasonable
demands in territorial disputes. Wang explained that Beijing would like to
resolve such disputes through peaceful negotiations, but would "defend
every inch of territory that belongs to us.” That sounds like a vague and
open-ended statement made at the annual National People's Congress and it was a
not-so-veiled allusion to the Philippines and other claimants to territory in
the South China Sea. The comment was in response to the Philippines’
declaration that it had rejected a Chinese offer to withdraw its ships from the
Scarborough Shoal if Manila delayed filing its arbitration case over the matter
with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. China maintains that it
never made such an offer, but the showdown with the Philippines is far from its
only ongoing dispute. There is also the tiff with Japan over a cluster of
islands in the East China Sea, of which Wang said "there is no room for
compromise in territorial and historical issues.” The two sides continue to
trade angry barbs over their claims to the Diaoyu Islands, which Japan controls
and calls the Senkakus. Japan said it had purchased the Senkakus from private
owners last year, but China refuses to accept the claim. Wang pointed Japan to
its fellow World War II heel Germany’s contrition over its wartime aggression
and suggested Tokyo learn a lesson. "Only by making a clean break with the
past and not going back on their own words can the relationship between the two
nations emerge from the current deadlock and have a future," Wang added. This
one is just getting chippy enough to be interesting………
- Keep taking a blowtorch to that reputation, Queen. Aside
from whoring out every possible part of their legacy and becoming the biggest
sellouts around for much of the past decade, the boys from London are now
intent on killing any remaining credibility by staging the ultimate rip-off
tour of all rip-off tours. Many bands have gone out on the road sans original
members and yet charged their fans the same exorbitant prices they charged in
their heyday, but Queen is the first iconic rock band to take to the road with
a former “American Karaoke” contestant as their replacement frontman. Yes,
Queen will hit the road for a North American tour this summer and have lined up former
“American Karaoke” runner-up Adam Lambert to handle lead vocals. Giving a
reality karaoke hack the right to sing the same songs with the same band as an
icon like Freddie Mercury is akin to handing an ex-“Real World” cast member the
director’s chair for the next “Star Wars” movie, only more difficult to listen
to. This dumpster fire of a tour is scheduled to kick off at the United Center
in Chicago on June 19 and will include stops in Canadian musical meccas such as
Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Calgary as well as American stops in New
York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. "I'm honored to be able to pay my
respects to Freddie's memory," Lambert said in a statement. "He's a
personal hero of mine, and I am deeply grateful for the chance to sing such
powerful music for fans of this legendary band." Attempt at flattery
rejected, karaoke-er. You may have performed with members of Queen before on
stage at the “American Karaoke” finale in 2009, but having Brian May and Roger
Taylor toss their musical reputation in the mud for a one-off reality karaoke
gig is different than parading around pretending you deserve to be fronting
anything other than a local community choir’s spring production of “Guys and
Dolls” or signing the national anthem before a high school football game in
South Dakota………
- Ah, frat and sorority parties. They’re great because they
have so little connection to reality, decency or respect for anything or anyone.
The bros at the Phi Delta Theta chapter on the campus of tiny McDaniel College (Maryland)
totally understand this and they proved as much with a bitchin’ party that may
or may not have stereotyped and greatly offended multiple races in the name of
keg stands, scantily clad skanks and beer pong. The Phi Delta Theta bros and a
partner sorority, Phi Sigma Sigma, recently threw a party with a theme that has
become increasingly popular on college campuses around the United States: “Country
Music Television versus Black Entertainment Television.” As one might expect,
those dressed as CMT fans are clad in all manner of redneck attire such as
cut-off jean shorts, camouflage and Duck Dynasty gear. Those dressed as BET
fans rock more urban, hip-hop attire. For some reason, once photos from the
party began appearing online, members of the fraternity and sorority involved
were hit with allegations of ethnic stereotyping and now face penalties ranging
from a warning to the loss of their charters. “McDaniel supports inclusiveness.
Any event that promotes negatives stereotypes or disrespect of others is
reprehensible,” the school said in a statement. Clearly, school officials have
never spent any time on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, because if they had,
they would know that dozens of frats and sororities around the country have
done the same thing. Pass out some blame to the campus newspaper as well,
because it first reported on the party. This event wasn’t even close to being
on par with a recent Duke that mocked Asians or a Martin Luther King, Jr. party
that belittled African-Americans. “Phi Sigma Sigma finds the actions associated
with this event inappropriate… The issue has been brought to the attention of
Phi Sigma Sigma’s International Standards Board, and our collegiate women will
be held accountable for their actions,” the sorority’s national governing body
said in a statement. Totally uncool, dudes………
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