- Look the hell out, Latvia. Heads are rolling and
apparently, it’s unacceptable for a government official – even one with as
little power as the country’s environment minister – to participate in annual
commemorations of Latvian soldiers who fought in Nazi units during World War
II. What would seem like a wonderful event for anyone to be a part of given
that people died for their country and are being honored was instead a reason
to pink slip Environment Minister Einars Cilinskis of the right-wing National
Alliance. Cilinskis announced Friday that he would attend Sunday's events in
Riga, flying in the face of warnings from Prime Minister Lamidota Straujuma. The
prime minister's spokesman, Andis Blinds, explained that because of an act of
direct and willful defiance, Straujuma had no choice but to dismiss Cilinskis,
who was not only the minister of environmental protection, but also of regional
development. Why would any prime minister dare order members of his government
to stay away from a seemingly positive happening? The warning for Cabinet
ministers to stay away from the March 16 events was allegedly issued because
they are expected to prompt counter-protests from members of Latvia's
Russian-speaking minority. Oh, and most Latvians consider the Waffen SS veterans
as heroes who fought for independence from the Soviet Union. Russians commonly
view the march as an attempt to glorify fascism, which quite frankly does not
happen often enough in the world these days as fascist, dictatorial leaders are
in dwindling supply. This charade isn’t going to help matters at all……..
- It’s cash-grab time for one of the most iconic rock bands
of all-time. Yes, Led Zeppelin wants in on the gravy train once again. Jimmy
Page, Robert Plant and Co. are reaching into the wallets of loyal fans with the
tired, er, tried and true move of reissuing digitally re-mastered versions of
their old albums and tossing in a handful of “previously unreleased rarities”
that have never been heard before. Led Zep will re-release its first three albums
and sprinkle in four new tracks to entice fans to buy music they already own. The new song “La
La” will appear on the second disc of “Led Zeppelin II,” while “Led Zeppelin
III” will feature “Jennings Farm Blues,” “Bathroom Sound” and “Keys To The Highway/Trouble
In Mind.” Previously, the unreleased tracks had only been available to the 100
percent of music fans willing to pick up bootleg albums and get their hands on
the same music as everyone else, except for free. There will also be a live
music inclusion in the package, as a recording of a gig recorded at Olympia
Theatre in Paris from October 1969 will accompany the overhauled version of the
original “Led Zeppelin” album. The companion audio for the new “Led Zeppelin
II” will get a boost from alternate mixes of five songs from the album, backing
tracks to “Thank You” and “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just A Woman).” The “Led
Zeppelin III” re-release will come with a bonus disc filled with seven studio
outtakes of songs from the album as well as the aforementioned three previously
unheard compositions. "The material on the companion discs presents a
portal to the time of the recording of Led Zeppelin," Page said. "It
is a selection of work in progress with rough mixes, backing tracks, alternate
versions and new material recorded at the time." To appeal to hipsters as
well as those stuck in the 1990s, the reissues will be released on CD and vinyl
as well as digitally on June 2, with all tracks remastered by Page. Eventually,
all nine of the band’s studio albums will be reissued in the same style……..
- Never let it be said that northern Europe doesn’t love
the environment. An ugly haze of yellowish air pollution has hung over Paris
for several days and cloaked the normally picturesque streets of Belgium has led
transportation officials to extend a unique offer in the name of environmental
protection. With a belt of smog stretching hundreds of miles, all the way from France's Atlantic coast to Belgium and well into Germany, public
transit around Paris and in two other cities is being offered for free for the
remainder of the weekend. Drivers in Belgium have been forced to slow down
significantly on account of the smog and nearly all of France was under some
sort of pollution alert Friday, with levels in the Parisian region surpassing
some of those in the world's most notoriously polluted cities, including
Beijing and Delhi. It was the worst air pollution France has seen since 2007,
according to the European Environment Agency said. Other areas of France and Belgium's
southern Wallonia area offered free transportation on Friday only, but if
conditions don’t improve, that offer could resurface. Smog levels are believed
to be on the rise on account of France’s current unusually high number of
diesel vehicles, whose nitrogen oxide fumes mix with ammonia from springtime
fertilizers and form particulate ammonium nitrate. Mix in pollutants from the
burning of dead leaves and wood and the scene is ugly enough to prompt
environmental groups to denounce the lack of government response to the
mini-crisis as putting lives in danger. European Environment Agency air quality
manager Valentin Foltescu noted that pollution can be an immediate health
hazard, especially for those with respiratory or cardiac disorders. "Some
people will, unfortunately, die," Foltescu said. "There is a high
correlation of pollution of this kind and mortality.” As the smog lingered,
speed limits were lowered in France and Belgium and electronic billboards in
Paris dispensed advice and emergency information. Foltescu said if everyone
follows the government's advice "you will see an instant difference."
If not, he predicted that the smog would last as long as the region's
unseasonably warm and sunny weather……..
- What it cold, slippery and goes boom when you strap dynamite
to it? Trick question. Anything cold and slippery goes boom in such situations,
but this week it was an ice dam on a
creek in the small town of Onalaska, Wisc. As happens when a state is locked in
below-zero temperatures from October through May (approximate), bodies of water
of all shapes and sizes tend to freeze up. The water on Sand Lake Coulee Creek
in the town of Onalaska could not hold off the cold any longer and its
once-flowing waters eventually turned into a ginormous mass of ice. Town
officials knew they needed to take action and do something about ice that was
six feet deep at some points. When heavy machinery wouldn't clear up that ice
block out of the way, it was clearly time for more….um…explosive measures. After
what were undoubtedly intense discussions and plenty of wonderful brainstorming
sessions, they settled on dynamite to blow up the ice. The blockage had to go
because the ice dam was causing water to flow around a dike and get close to
about a dozen homes. The town council went to the state legislature and the
Department of Natural Resources to get all the proper permits they needed to
blow the sh*t out of that ice. "That fractured the ice out and the
explosions took what ice came out straight up in the air and came back down,
there's no debris outside of the creek bed," town spokesman Rolly Bogert
said. The explosion went as planned, crews dug out the channel after everything
went boom and water was flowing smoothly (and coldly) by the next day……..
- In case there was any doubt that professional sports
locker rooms remain among the many places in the world were ignorance and
racial insensitivity still reside, this should resolve that wondering. The
central character in this drama is New York Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen, who didn’t exactly go on a
slur-laced rant but did manage to prove that he’s an old, out-of-touch guy who
should probably join the rest of us in 2014. Warthen publicly apologized
Wednesday night for having directed a slur once commonly used to denigrate
people of Asian descent at Cutler. He reportedly approached the interpreter for
right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka to apologize for using a common racial slur for
Asians during a previous conversation. Interpreter Jeff Cutler was speaking
with a reporter who happened to be a Chinese American from San Francisco and in
apologizing to Cutler, Warthen mentioned the slur again. The reporter was
offended and Warthen found himself having to apologize all over again.
Thankfully for him, Matsuzaka and Cutler are two forgiving guys and in addition
to pitching well in his bid for the final spot in the Mets’ rotation, the
veteran Japanese pitcher is big enough to accept a mea culpa and move on. "Today
I was just preparing for my game, so I just spoke to him about today's lineup
and what was going on during the game," Matsuzaka said through his
interpreter after holding the Washington Nationals to one run on three hits and
striking out four in 3 2/3 innings. "... I think everyone makes mistakes,
and Dan has already commented on it. I don't want to dig deeper into it or try
to add to what it is." Cutler said he too has forgive Warthen and that
team officials have addressed the issue as well. He added that it was not
productive to speak about whether he was personally offended by Warthen's use
of the slur, which shows the he too is smarter and less stuck in a bygone era
than Warthen himself. Score one for lack of enlightenment…….
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