- Clearly, the oil-rich United Arab Emirates has
reached a point where its wealth and opulence are having a negative effect on
its collective sanity and responsibility. It’s the only reasonable way to
explain a UAE-based company’s offer to shoot one of the country’s über-wealthy
denizens into space aboard Virgin Galactic's spaceship when it begins
transporting suckers, er, space enthusiasts into the great beyond for the
briefest of visits. Government-backed Aabar Investments announced Sunday the
start of a competition to award an Emirati a free spot on Sir Richard Branson’s
latest vanity project and while contest details are still being fleshed out –
who can be bothered with details before announcing a contest when the prize is
so damned decadent – but sadly, the large numbers of expatriates who far
outnumber the local Emirati population aren't eligible. The UAE is a
seven-state federation that includes Dubai and the federal capital Abu Dhabi
and its jingoistic contest philosophy somehow includes limiting eligible
winners to those who were actually born in a place where having a silver spoon
in your mouth is considered low-class because only suckers don’t have access to
copious amounts of gold. Part of the reason details are sketchy could be that Virgin
Galactic hasn't set a firm start date to begin taking paying passengers on its
suborbital flights. It’s tough to tell someone to rush and enter a contest with
no firm date of conclusion. Aabar is a partial owner of the company along with
Branson's Virgin Group and with such power players involved, the money to shoot
the contest winner into space seems likely to be there regardless of the day
and time……..
- Bernard Hopkins may actually be from another planet. The
man who once dubbed himself The Executioner and regaled the world with his
tales of rising from a life marred by prison stints and poverty has taken to
calling himself The Alien of late, suggesting that he is from another planet
because at nearly 50 years old, he remains one of the top fighters in the world.
Arguing with that logic became more difficult over the weekend as the
49-year-old champion outpointed
Beibut Shumenov to unify light heavyweight world titles before a crowd of 6,823
on Saturday night at the D.C. Armory. Hopkins won on all three judges’ cards
and even Shumenov didn't think he
won the fight. Anyone who witnessed the bout was appalled that the scoring was
even that close and defeating a man who was 5 years old when Hopkins turned pro
in 1988 had The Alien crowing about his awesomeness. "I'm special, in a
way that is good," Hopkins said. "I don't have to explain special.
There is no definition for special. Special speaks for itself. I had a great
night. I am a great champion." The victory extends his third reign with a
175-pound title and made him the oldest fighter in history to unify titles. "Another
page of history that I hope you don't get bored with," Hopkins added.
"Money is great, but history is something that you can never get rid of
and act like it didn't happen. I'm glad to [unify titles]." He also holds the
division record with 20 title defenses and also became the first fighter to
unify all four major alphabet belts. This is all in addition to his previous
records as the oldest boxer to hold a world title (49), oldest to win a world
title and oldest to successfully defend a world title (49). Hopkins (55-6-2, 32
KOs) carries the fighting mentality of his hometown of Philadelphia with him wherever
he goes and his next stop is slated to be further unifying titles against
lineal champion Adonis Stevenson of Montreal. According to Hopkins, that fight
has special importance for his career and legacy. "I must be the
undisputed light heavyweight champion before I leave. We are with Showtime
until I end my career and whatever fight it is I want to be light heavyweight
champion before 50. Stevenson, I'm coming to Canada. I'm getting my papers
together,” Hopkins concluded……..
- Was Jesus really a raging stoner who was loving and
peaceable only because he was baked out of his mind half the time? No, but that
didn’t stop a Seattle
restaurant chain from trying to drum up publicity and sales by combining the
unique convergence of the holiest day on the Christian calendar and the most
righteous day on the rarely-bathing, poorly-maintained and cannabis-scented
calendar of stoners. As Easter Sunday this year fell on April 20, a.k.a. 4/20,
a.k.a. the high holiday for potheads, the Lunchbox Laboratory in Seattle is
looking to cash in. For the last two years, the shop has used Jesus holding a
sandwich to promote an Easter day 2-for-1 promotion of its signature dish
called "Burger of the Gods." With the 4/20 holiday falling on Easter
this year, the shop’s owners added some spice to their special event by jamming
a fattie in Jesus’ holy hand as he cradles a sandwich in an advertisement that
was only sent out to 15,000 people on the restaurant's email list. "This
is not about Jesus. It's about the burger of the gods, its an actual burger
that we have," said Lunchbox Laboratory owner John Schmidt.
"I'm
not your moral guide in life, I'm selling burgers. It's not an anti Christian
message, its a very peaceful message, Jesus enjoying a sandwich and a blunt."
Uh-huh, sure thing, Johnny. No one is looking to the owner of some corner
sandwich shop as their moral guide, so you’re probably safe there. As for not
being anti-Christian…..portraying the holiest figure of a religion as a
ganja-puffing chron lover may indeed be offensive to followers of that
religion, so it’s a distinct possibility. The ad has gone from a graphic in an
email to a point of debate shared across social media and Sdhmidt said he and
his marketing staff created the ad for a couple of hundred dollars. In a perfect
demonstration of why any business created such a flashpoint ad, Schmidt says it
resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in free advertising because it been
picked up by several media outlets. To critics who questioned why he used Jesus
and not Muhammad or the Pope, Schmidt explain that he is a Christian and
therefore, Jesus is his homeboy. He also plans to bring back the burger of the
gods next Easter, sans the doobie because the holiday will fall 15 days earlier
in April……..
- Its numbers were down significantly, but “Captain
America: The Winter Soldier” remains the box office earnings king for another
week. With $26.7 million for the frame, the superhero epic crossed the $200
million barrier with $201.5 million in domestic earnings through its first
three weeks. That was enough to fend off “Rio 2,” which remained in second place
in its second weekend with $22.5 million, good for an overall haul of $75.4
million and counting. A trio of newcomers was next, led by “Heaven is for
Real,” which claimed third place with $21.5 million and nearly doubled its $12
million budget in the process. Its nearest pursuer was fourth-place finished
“Transcendence,” which was downright flop-tastic in its debut with a meager
$11.2 million bank roll. Bracketing it with fellow new films that outperformed
expectations, “A Haunted House 2” snagged fifth place with $9.1 million and
like “Heaven,” it virtually doubled its scant budget. Sixth place went to the
freefalling “Draft Day,” which – like the woeful NFL franchise upon which its
story is based – never got higher than fourth and tumbled two spots this week
with $5.9 million, good for a cumulative domestic total of $19.6 million. “Divergent”
procured seventh place with $5.8 million and increased its impressive five-week
total to $134 million and counting. “Oculus” was next in eighth place in its
second weekend, banking $5.2 million for a total take of $21.2 million. “Noah”
fell four spots to ninth in its fourth weekend of release, adding $5 million to
its total. At $93.2 million, it is still $32 million short of breaking even. “God’s
Not Dead” rounded out the top 10 with $4.8 million and has made $48.3 million
through five weeks of release. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (No. 12), “Muppets
Most Wanted” (No. 13) and “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” (No. 14) all lost their
spots from last weekend’s top 10……….
- Were there schizophrenic Neanderthals? HOW SHOULD I KNOW?
WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME? WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM? Sorry, my bad. What I meant to say
was that scientists have discovered why modern humans develop brain disorders
like autism or schizophrenia, but our Neanderthal ancestors allegedly did
not. A team led by researcher Liram Carmel from Hebrew University of Jerusalem
recently discovered the cellular equivalent of "on/off" switches that
determine whether DNA is activated or not. Based upon this finding, the research
team determined that hundreds of Neanderthals' genes were turned off while the
identical genes in today's humans are turned on. Another few hundred
Neanderthal genes were switched on, but are turned off in modern humans. “The
genes related to autism, as well as to schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease,
were more likely to be "off" in Neanderthals than in modern humans,” Carmel
said. “The on/off switches could also explain the anatomical differences
between archaic and present-day humans, including Neanderthals' shorter legs
and arms, bow-leggedness, large hands and fingers, and curved arm bones.”
According to the study’s findings, the dozens of brain-related genes that are
more active in modern humans are the ones that produce d the harmful side
effect of neurological illnesses. Genomes often vary markedly from person to
person based on diet, environment
and other factors. “It is, therefore, impossible to know whether the 'on/off'
patterns found in Neanderthal genes are typical of the species overall or
peculiar to the individual studied,” the research team wrote in its report. All
of this begs the obvious question of how anyone is sure that Neanderthals didn’t
suffer from such mental illnesses……..
No comments:
Post a Comment