Saturday, May 31, 2014

New York rat reservoirs, sh*t on Biffy Clyro's new album anf French art museum riots

- Biffy Clyro’s new album may sound like sh*t. Just don’t blame the Scottish indie rockers for it. While recording their latest release, the quartet have had to deal with raw sewage leaking into their recording studio. As they lay down tracks for the successor to last year’s double album “Opposites,” Biffy Clyro have worked in the cozy confines of a renovated farmhouse they have used for the past decade. Unfortunately, as tends to happen with old farmhouses that people continue using, a plumbing problem has developed. "We've got a plumbing problem," frontman Simon Neil said. "There has been raw sewage leaking through a wall. Its gone from being just gross to actually kinda dangerous... maybe the new album will be raw sewage influenced. It might end up sounding like municipal waste." Hey oh…..good one, Simon. "It's time for us to move on and do something new," he said. "In a way 'Opposites' has shown us what not to do for the next record. It certainly won't be as expansive or long. It's liberating to know that we couldn't have made a more epic record than the one we just did, but we don't want to repeat that again." n put on his serious pants and said the new album will be less orchestral and dramatic than its predecessor. Leading up to the recording process, Neil added, he was experimenting with a wide range of musical styles, including beatboxing, black metal and "stoner-reggae.” Stoner reggae seems inherently redundant, as the next reggae fan who isn’t a blazing stoner will be the first. Regardless, Neil said he has 14 songs ready to record and while not all will eventually make the cut, it’s nice to see a quality band get right back to work and not rest on its laurels……..


- France sure does know how to open a new art museum. Other countries might just trot out a few local dignitaries, put up a few balloons and some bunting and serve cake and punch for people who are wildly overdressed to look at framed paintings and sculptures whose design they do not understand. Not the French. No, as a new art museum in southern France opened its doors for the first time and President Francois Hollande showed up for a publicity grab, er, to honor an important cultural happening, his thunder was stolen by an uproarious demonstration by a posse of angry farmers who grandstanded and ripped the intended purpose of the event in order to draw attention to their anger over the arrest two days earlier of five of their comrades in northern France for dismantling part of a huge dairy farm under construction there. The militant Confederation Paysanne led the protest and added to their show of force and farce with claims that they detained Hollande's agriculture aide, Philippe Vincent, for several hours during the inauguration of the museum in southern France. Hollande's office told a different tale, insisting Vincent met with farmers but was "absolutely not held" against his will. Sadly, the farmers did not ride cows onto the scene, nor did they tote pitchforks and point them menacingly at Hollande. Worse still, there were no arrests and no comment from Hollande on what went down. All of this stems from the aforementioned farm in northern France, which Confederation Paysanne opposes on the grounds that it will hurt small farmers. There are no small farmers, of course, just smaller points of view on one’s place in the world……….


- New York City is famous for its pizza, its parks and yes, its rats. Two those three entities are ones that city officials want to keep around….and sadly, the rats are not one of those two. While Manhattan remains notorious for its rats, these filthy critters are so resilient that simply efforts to get rid of them have not worked – so much so that New York actually has places known as rat reservoirs. These reservoirs are the target of a new city health department initiative aimed at getting rid of the borough’s rodents. Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett announced the plan this week, explaining that a whopping $611,000 from the health department’s budget will go toward the effort. The problems leading to these unsavory reservoirs have been the obvious: food and water in plentiful supply. Rat reservoirs are commonly found underneath parks and in subways, both of which are places tourists tend to frequent. The campaign to wipe out rogue rats is centered on parts of north Manhattan and the south Bronx that have chronic rat infestations – and yes, there are actually parts of the city that have fewer rats than other parts. In several parts of the target zone, property owners have attempted to expunge the rat population on their own and have failed. Often, these are low-income communities with poor housing conditions, Bassett noted. To help facilitate the campaign, the health department has created an interactive map in which New Yorkers can plug in a location and see the building’s rodent inspection history. With it being New York and there being oodles of other, more appealing things to do than go online and do rat research, one would expect the site to see minimal traffic……..


- Hey, remember when the Memphis Grizzlies’ overbearing owner tried to clean house in his team’s entire front office and all but drove his 50-win head coach to the airport so said coach could fly to Minnesota to interview for another coaching job? Neither do the rest of us. Memphis Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger was about to become former Memphis Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger after owner Robert Pera fired chief executive officer Jason Levien and player personnel director Stu Lash following a falling out with both executives. Amidst the upheaval, the Minnesota Timberwolves asked for permission to speak with Joerger about their vacant head coaching job. His ties to the Timberwolves from earlier in his coaching career are strong and Joerger appeared to be on the verge of foolishly fleeing to a frozen tundra of a state to coach a worse team. Yet after interviewing twice with the Timberwolves, he and the team were unable to come to an agreement and he returned to Memphis and signed a new contract extension. As Joerger described it in a news conference to announce the extension, everything is now copasetic and it’s as if nothing really happened. "There's a relief for me," Joerger said. "It's like 'Whew,' the owner and I are married now.' This feels really good and really positive." He said there is more harmony now within the organization and for a man who went from assistant coach to head coach, hired a staff and won 50 games despite a myriad of injuries within a 14-month span, harmony sounds solid. Memphis’ front office chaos began on May 19, when Levien and Lash were ousted and general manager Chris Wallace re-assumed power after being elbowed aside by Levien. Pera is poised to play a larger role in the front office because he signs the checks and not because he has a damn what he’s doing, yet Joerger claims to be rolling with it all and ready to move ahead with a smile on his face. Somehow, it just doesn’t seem right………


- Cynics suck. But at least they’ll eventually pay for it, eh American Academy of Neurology? The good folks and noted party animals of the AAN have released a new study showing that cynical people have a higher likelihood of developing dementia. “There have been previous studies that showed that people who were cynical were more likely to die earlier and have other poor health outcomes, but no one that we could tell ever looked at dementia," said Anna-Maija Tolppanen, one of the study's authors and a professor at the University of Eastern Finland. "We have seen some studies that show people who are more open and optimistic have a lower risk for dementia so we thought this was a good question to ask.”  Cynicism is characterized as a type of chronic anger and distrust that grows over time and for this study, the researchers examined the habit of doubting what others say and believing most people seek their own interests ahead of those of their community. Participants skewed old, with an average age of 71, and 1,449 took part. They were tested separately for both cynicism and dementia, with the cynicism test posing statements such as, "Most people will use somewhat unfair reasons to gain profit or an advantage rather than lose it"; "I think most people would lie to get ahead"; and "It is safer to trust nobody." Those who ranked highest in cynicism had a 2.54 times greater risk of dementia than those with the lowest cynicism rating. Worse still for the cynics, the study showed that they did not die sooner than their more optimistic counterparts, meaning they have to stick around and be miserable for just as long……….


Friday, May 30, 2014

Thai protest smackdowns, NFL QB's b*tch-slapped by punters and Marilyn Manson on "Sons of Anarchy"


- Charlie Whitehurst, give back your Clipboard Jesus moniker immediately. You can no longer rock any sort of cool handle after what went down this week during the Tennessee Titans’ organized team activities. Whitehurst, the former star Clemson quarterback-turned-career NFL backup, is now wearing Titans blue and red and is with his third NFL team in eight seasons. Like many players who join a new team, Whitehurst is partial to a certain uniform number and as so often happens in such cases, someone on his new team already has that number. A player who wants to pry a certain digit away from a new teammate must negotiate a fair price and then pony up some combination of cash and benefits that will satisfy the number’s current owner. Whitehurst found a way around paying out when it came to getting jersey No. 6 away from punter Brett Kern… but he still won't be wearing the number he has had on every team on which he has played since his college days. That’s because, as Whitehurst revealed via Instagram, he tried and failed to win No. 6 away from Kern in none other than am arm wrestling contest. A quarterback should never challenge a punter to an arm wrestling contest because neither winning or losing gains him anything worthwhile, but if you’re going to challenge the guy whose job it is to dropkick the ball away six times a game and not get trucked during the ensuing return, then you cannot lose. Whitehurst did exactly that and getting owned on some card table in the locker room by Kern is far worse than appearing in just 13 NFL games in eight seasons and average less than half a touchdown pass per season. If the Titans don’t cut Whitehurst on the spot, then they’re sending a bad message to their entire team……….


- You’ve done it again, Guinness Book of World Records. You have inspired another ass-hatted fool with no discernable skills capable of actually benefitting humanity to attempt a truly pointless feat just to secure a spot in your silly, silly pages. The latest kook to attempt a stunt along the lines of collecting the world’s largest ball of rubber bands or dancing backward to “Who Let the Dogs Out” for 48 straight hours is Plymouth, Mass. resident Matt Kenny, who saw a worthless world record he knew he could beat while accomplishing nothing of significance and thought to himself, “Dammit, now THAT is something I need to try.” And so it is that Kenny and his unique way of walking vaulted onto the world stage. “When I was a kid I always wanted to get in to the Guinness Book of World Records,” Kenny said. We all had moronic ideas and dreams as kids, Kenny, but we got past the idea of eating cereal for every meal and living on the moon with our best friends in a treehouse made of cheese. The record Kenny targeted was for the fastest inverted 50-yard dash. But Kenny knew reaching world-class status would take time and so he spent years practicing and honing his craft. He practiced through college and he turned 29, he finally broke the worthless record he had been chasing for so long. As the years went by, Kenny got married and started a family. Eventually, he realized that all his children knew of his feeble feat was the plaque and pictures they had seen. That inspired him to try for a second world record, this time walking down a set of stairs on his hands. He practiced for half an hour every day and when the time was right, he hand-sprinted down 77 stairs in a mere 30 seconds, setting a second world record in his life. “Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not big enough, smart enough, fast enough, strong enough to do something. Because if you work at something, you can do it,” he said. Here’s hoping zeroes and zeroes more morons are inspired by your words, Matthew………


- It’s nice to see Marilyn Manson still has something to do and a role for himself that so well suits his talents. Manson, best known as an anti-religious shock rocker who grew up going to a Christian school in Ohio, has landed himself a respectable gig as a white supremacist on FX’s hit biker drama “Sons of Anarchy.” Venturing into acting is not new territory for Manson, who has previously appeared in popular cable dramas “Eastbound & Down” and Californication. Manson has also appeared in a number of films, including “Lost Highway” and “Party Monster,” and recently contributed a new song, entitled “Cupid Carries A Gun,” to the soundtrack of drama series Salem. In actuality, he has somehow morphed into a pop culture figure who is less known for tearing up Bibles on stage and more known for buddying around with A-listers and growing into a caricature of his old self. His “Anarchy” role will be that of Ron Tully, a powerful figure in prison who has a recurring role on the show. "‘Sons’ has been such a big part of my life, as well as my father's, so I was determined to make him proud by being involved in what will probably be remembered as the most amazing piece of television cinema,” Manson said in a statement. “After all, the very heart of SOA is about that relationship. So, now all I need is a motorcycle.” One would guess that finding a suitable hog for Manson shouldn’t be difficult and those looking forward to the seventh season of the critically acclaimed show have another reason to be curious about what lies ahead………


- Does Skype “Hablo Espanol” and “Sprechen Sie Deutsch” for its friends around the world? Not yet, but maybe soon… very soon. After Microsoft’s presentation this week at the inaugural Code Conference in Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif., the world just might be a step closer to a universal translator that users around the globe have been hankering for. Microsoft announced plans to introduce real-time language translation on its popular video conferencing platform later this year and at the conference, a company presenter demoed Skype Translator with a real-time translation of an audio conversation from English to German and German to English. Obviously, German to English and vice versa is one of the simpler translations, but successful implementation of this new feature would clear the way for individuals from around the planet to communicate openly without them having to go through the pain and travails of spending years actually learning someone else’s language – perfect for lazy Americans who expect everyone else to know English in order to accommodate their unlearned asses. Obviously, the business applications alone would be extremely lucrative, all joking aside. This new feature is the result of a decade’s worth of development and it functions using Bing translation and voice recognition software for the Kinect. Gurdeep Pall, corporate vice president of Skype and Lync at Microsoft, explained that his team drew dork-tastic inspiration for the Universal Translator from Star Trek and will offer testing for their new gizmo as a Windows 8 beta before moving to other platforms like smartphones and tablets……..


- Oh no, you didn’t, ruling Thai military junta. You cannot tell the people that if they don’t like your violent coup to seize control of their country that they can f*ck off and stay home. Yet that is exactly what the powers that be have done in Thailand, where more than 1,000 troops and police sealed off one of Bangkok's busiest intersections to prevent a planned protest,  throwing down the gauntlet against any demonstrations against last week's military coup. In a ridiculous show of force, truckloads of soldiers blocked all incoming roads to the capital's Victory Monument at the height of evening rush hour in an area that serves as one of the city's commuter bus hubs. To show they were serious, security forces parked more than a dozen police prisoner trucks along the emptied roundabout, taunting anyone who would show up and stand up for their rights to dissent. Maybe protestors were lurking in the shadows, formulating their next plan to show defiance against an ongoing ban on political gatherings. Interestingly enough, the first person detained on the day was a Belgian man taken into custody for wearing a truly heinous T-shirt with the message, “PEACE PLEASE.” Two Thai women were hauled away after they showed signs with anti-coup messages, continuing a trend of small demonstrations in the aftermath of the ban being put in place. However, a planned gathering Thursday didn’t materialize and the fate of a mass rally scheduled for Sunday is now in doubt. Gen. Somyot Poompanmoung, the deputy national police chief, ass-hattedly declared that small protests would no longer be allowed. "We know their rally is mainly for symbolic reasons, but it's against the law," he said. "We have to keep the law sacred." Wrong answer, Somyot. He warned that police are ready should protestors take a new approach and here’s hoping they do, because the sh*t needs to get real, real fast. This fight is light years from over………

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Finding aliens, evicting smelly French migrants and Kasabian saves rock 'n roll


- It’s difficult to see how this one ended badly. Former Pleasant Hill, Calif. city clerk Kim Lehmkuhl and her ex-employer sound like such a wonderful match that it’s difficult to imagine either side not thriving in such a symbiotic relationship. Lehmkuhl has become an icon for disenchanted employees everywhere thanks to a biting, relentless resignation letter in which she wished the city "best of luck in finding some schmuck" to fill her position. "This has been an atrocious, incredibly depressing, and mindnumbingly inane experience I would not wish on anyone," Lehmkuhl wrote in her resignation letter. "I wish the City the best of luck in finding some schmuck eager to transcribe every last misogynistic joke, self-indulgent anecdote, and pathetic pandering attempt by Council, and every tinfoil hat conspiracy theory, racist aside, and NIMBY asshattery from the lovely Council meeting frequent flyers, without which, surely our democracy could not flourish. June, also best of luck with your imminent unfunded pensions scandal, that is going to be a rough one." Bonus points for jamming “asshattery” into the mix, especially in a letter addressed to Mayor Tim Flaherty and City Manager June Catalano. Thankfully, this gem went worldwide after it was admitted into the record
during a council meeting Monday. "At least her resignation demonstrated her ability to craft a full
sentence with colorful language," Flaherty snarked while noting that there was a recall effort under way to remove Lehmkuhl. The mayor claimed that every council member had called for Lehmkuhl’s resignation and said others had to be asked to do her job because she did not perform it well enough. The good news is that the public service hero said she is “committed to helping Pleasant Hill residents stay engaged in our community, and to keeping City Hall accountable, ethical and transparent." In other words, she and her good friends in the city’s administration will see a lot of each other in the future. City officials have also accused Lehmkuhl of writing offensive tweets during council meetings and said she never fully explain why she was quitting before doing so. Thank God she got around to it in written form………..


- Being tasked with saving rock ‘n roll is a heady proposition. Kasabian may not be widely known outside the indie rock world, but that has somehow become the British rockers’ (self-bestowed) mission in life and the quest begins with their new album, “48:13,” which drops on June 9. Kasabian guitarist Serge Pizzorno said he wants the bands new album to inspire a new generation of rock 'n roll bands because in his world view, the genre is dying out. As Pizzorno sees it, there are precious few true rock bands left in the music industry and the supposedly earth-shaking experimentation on his group's new album will help push new bands to look to the future. "It's weird to think of ourselves as one of the last rock 'n' roll bands around," Pizzorno said. "But it's important because there just don't seem to be many left. "This new record we've done is important because it's our best work yet. It's so much a forward-thinking record. It's a new and futuristic version of a rock band, which is important for kids starting bands, going 'Ah we don't just have to do that…we can experiment.’” Every band will say publicly that their new album is their best yet, so take those words very lightly. Factor in the reality that Kasabian have put out some music with as much of a rock ‘n roll edge as Hanson in recent years and all of this begins to sound like a whole lot of bluster from an artist looking to drum up publicity for his band’s newest release. Perhaps “48:13” will live up to that hype and deliver on its auteur’s bravado….and if so, music will be better for it……….


- The French are not known for their whimsical nature – because they don’t actually have one. That dour disposition was on full display Wednesday as hundreds of migrants were evicted from three makeshift camps on Wednesday at the port of Calais from where they hope to reach Britain. Police officers giving them the boot cited concerns over an outbreak of scabies and increasing violence, both of which are possibly legitimate reasons. According to The Man, the cleared areas needed to be razed because of "deplorable hygiene" conditions. Locals complained to police about the sanitation of the area and the unsavory presence of human traffickers trying to move the migrants. Conspiracy theorists can point to the fact that the operation took place just three days after the far-Right anti-immigration Front National caused a political uproar by coming first in European elections in France, but police insisted it was all a coincidence. Coincidence or not, 200 riot police encircled the camps and corralled an estimated 550 migrants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria after a deadline to leave expired. Once the migrants were out, the camps were bulldozed. Medical officials estimated that as many as 25 percent of the 850 migrants in the area had scabies. The camps have been a nuisance a since the French authorities closed down the infamous Sangatte immigrant detention centre in 2002, which housed around 2,000 people at one point. Migrants in Calais erected makeshift barricades to fend off police, but it was all for naught. Denis Robin, the prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region, defended the operation as necessary on the basis of the alleged scabies epidemic. He promised no arrests of the migrants as long as they don’t get violent. Residents of the camp argued that the scabies story was fabricated as an excuse to dislodge them. Humanitarian organizations supported those claims, but they aren’t the ones who have to tolerate smelly migrants camping out in their port city……….


- Alien-loving kooks, here is some fuel for your delusional arguments. Last week, the Senate Committee on Science, Space and Technology held a hearing to check in on the search for intelligent life in places it has never been found…like Detroit. Just kidding, Detroit. You’re an easy target these days, but sorry. The committee chatted about the current state of the science related to the search for life in the universe and as part of that discussion, committee members asked the question: “What is the likelihood of finding life in the universe?” They heard from two experts on the search for alien life, Dan Werthimer and Seth Shostak, and came away thinking that humanity might be closer to connecting with aliens than previously thought after every viewing of a Gary Busey commercial. Werthimer, the director of the University of California at Berkeley’s new SETI Research Center, referenced NASA’s Keplar mission, which has shown that the Milky Way Galaxy alone has a trillion planets. “Billions of these planets are Earth sized and in the ‘habitable’ or so called ‘Goldilocks’ zone – not too distant from their host star, and not too close to their star,” Werthimer said. “There are billions of other galaxies outside our Milky Way galaxy – plenty of places where life could emerge and evolve.” Space nuts have long asked if there have ever been habitable conditions on Mars and Shostak tossed kerosene on that smoldering blaze with his remarks. “At least a half-dozen other worlds that might have life are in our solar system. The chances of finding it, I think, are good, and if that happens, it’ll happen in the next 20 years, depending on the financing,” he said. Werthimer and his SETI colleagues have embarked upon a new project they call eavesdropping SETI, where they listen only when two planets in a distant system are aligned with Earth and try to intercept signals. Best of success with that, dorks……..


- Florida coach Will Muschamp says the right thing, but his recent handiwork suggests otherwise. Muschamp, whose Gators lost to Football Championship Subdivision foe Georgia Southern last year, claims that he wants to avoid playing FCS teams. In a questionable soliloquy at the Southeastern Conference's annual spring meetings, Muschamp postulated about his preference for a 12-game schedule that features eight league teams, in-state rival Florida State and three more teams from the Football Bowl Subdivision. "We're probably going to move forward without playing FCS opponents," Muschamp said. “And I think our fan base wants to see better opponents.” Actually, your fan base wants more wins and they don’t really give a damn if they come against Alabama or Alabama A&M, Will. If the Gators are 13-0 and win the SEC championship game in December, then it’s all good. Of course, saying you want to rid your schedule of overmatched FCS teams you pay $600,000 to come to your house and take a 70-3 beating so bad your walk-ons are light years better than the opposition sounds good for fans and media members. Many coaches would say such a thing and have no intention of following through, even if a few of Muschamp’s peers aren’t willing to go that far. "At this point, I believe it's best for us to continue doing that," Mississippi coach Hugh Freeze said. "I just find it hard to believe that one game like that ... over the totality of the season would really hinder you if you perform well in those other games." Points for honesty and admitting that you have neither the balls to tackle nor the confidence in your team’s ability to win out against a schedule full of opponents who could actually play you on level footing. Don’t think for one second that any SEC coach has forgotten that Georgia Southern shocked Florida 26-20 in Gainesville last season to cement a losing season for the Gators, nor have coaches nationwide forgotten Appalachian State's stunner at Michigan in 2007. More than any sense of fair play and competitive integrity, each and every last one of these guys values job security above all else and there is no surer way to keep your job than winning games – regardless of the opposition………

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Dudes are idiots, a "Django Unchained" miniseries and MLBers' stolen scooters


- Someone did Hunter Pence a favor. The San Francisco right fielder may not see it that way right now, but in time it will all become clear. For the moment, Pence is upset that someone stole his motorized scooter from a restaurant parking lot Sunday night, but that’s only because he’s too close to the situation. After realizing that his glorified Schwinn with a lawnmower engine was gone, Pence took to the Twittersphere to offer a reward for the return of the scooter. He is dangling a signed bobblehead that shows him riding the scooter for the person who brings it back. "I try not to be too attached to things, even though I have a bobblehead with it," Pence said. "I felt it was an extension of me." One might suggest that not locking the scooter up means Pence is asking to have it stolen, but he has his reasons. "It won't last very long," Pence said. "I try to trust people. Apparently somebody needed it more than I do." In the aftermath of the theft, he posted a tweet lamenting the loss of his personalized mode of transportation. “Ahhhh someone stole my scooter! :(,” his tweet read. He later posted a picture and asked his followers to keep an eye out for the scooter. Perhaps in the interim, someone can clue him into the fact that a major leaguer with a major leaguer’s paycheck can not be rolling around town on something that makes a Vespa look macho. Buy whatever kind of whip you want, but your ride says a lot about you when you’re at Pence’s level and a scooter says, “I’m a dork who enjoys speeding around at 12 mph because I don’t have the game for anything with more horsepower.” Who knows, maybe one of Pence’s boys knew how bad of a look a scooter was for him and boosted it to save him further embarrassment………


- Where some might see an impetus for change and a sign that people across the European Union are ready for a new direction, Turkish despot/Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees something much darker and more sinister. Erdogan scanned the scene in the aftermath of the European Parliament election results from last week and what he sees are frightening indicators of a threat of rising racism in Europe. In Erdogan’s convoluted world, Turkey has been beating the drum for months about racism and increasing racist attacks in Europe and based on the results from ballot boxes around the EU, he believes there is concrete proof that those long-expressed concerns are "legitimate and correct." His remarks came while addressing members of his ruling party in parliament days after France's National Front and other far-right parties that are against the European Union and immigration made strong gains in the European Parliament elections. Coincidentally, many of those parties have vocally opposed Turkey's EU membership bid. In the face of this perceived hate and bias, Erdogan made the case that his heavily Muslim nation’s potential EU membership would serve as an "antidote" to racism and anti-Semitism in Europe. To end his speech, the prime minister – who has plenty of his own problems at home and might not need to pick fights abroad – dropped the ultimate pipe bomb when he said, "Europe needs Turkey more than Turkey needs the EU." That statement is a steaming pile of monkey crap, of course, but having the stones to say it is still a totally macho thing to do………


- The fight against pollution and the increasing corruption of Earth’s ecosystem has a new player and to find it, humanity need only look down. That’s right, the soil is up – up to no good, that is. According to a new study led by University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor of geography Erika Marin-Spiotta, there is far more carbon stored in Earth’s soil than previously thought and disturbing that soil could send copious amounts of carbon hurtling into the atmosphere. Marin-Spiotta and her team examined ancient soil that was buried thousands of years ago and found it to be rich in organic carbon. This dangerous dirt lies about 21 feet below ground, but it could eventually be exposed through erosion, agriculture, mining, deforestation and other human activities. “There is a lot of carbon at depths where nobody is measuring,” Spiotta said. “It was assumed that there was little carbon in deeper soils. Most studies are done in only the top 30 centimeters. Our study is showing that we are potentially grossly underestimating carbon in soils.” That Earth’s soil sequesters carbon and is another stop on the environmental carbon cycle is not new knowledge, but the amount found in this particular region of the ground is. Marin-Spiotta and her team studied a patch of soil in the Great Plains of southwestern Nebraska known as the Brady soil, believed to have formed between 13,500 and 15,000 years ago. The soil was then buried during the last glacial retreat. However, the soil formed at a time when the area was clear of glaciers and was later subjected to rapid climate change and a series of wildfires, adding to the carbon stockpile. “The world was getting warmer during the time the Brady soil formed,” said Joseph Mason, UW-Madison geography professor and co-author of the study, said in a statement. “Warm-season prairie grasses were increasing and their expansion on the landscape was almost certainly related to rising temperatures.” Based on their research, the UW team believes there could be other similar environments worldwide, ratcheting up the threat even further……….


- It’s good to know that Quentin Tarantino isn't throwing a hissy fit and walking away from all of his projects – just the ones where a copy of the script leaks to gossip websites and ruins the surprise for the world. One project that doesn’t need to leak is a possible miniseries of Tarantino’s much-discussed and highly stylized Western film “Django Unchained.” Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival last week, the director revealed that there is plenty of Jamie Foxx’s character still in the can and suggested that there is enough additional footage to piece together a miniseries. "I have about 90 minutes worth of material with Django," Tarantino said. “It hasn't been seen. My idea, frankly, is to cut together a four-hour version of 'Django Unchained.' But I wouldn't show it like a four-hour movie. I would cut it up into hour chapters, like a four-part miniseries and show it on cable television, show it like an hour at a time, each chapter." Having extra footage is nothing new for Tarantino, as “Kill Bill” was originally supposed to be one movie but expanded to two feature-length films because it became such a behemoth. In addition to Foxx as the title character who ho was freed from slavery to help bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) in exchange for the promise that his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) would be freed from her cruel plantation owner, the “Django” movie had a strong case that held up well despite sometimes-shaky writing. It was nominated for an Oscar and Tarantino suggested that had he used his extra footage in the movie, it could have bordered on four hours in length………


- As always, if three drivers are going to have their cars wrecked and their days ruined, at least there was a good reason for it. Big ups to 19-year-old driver/dullest-knife-in-the-drawer Daniel Calhoon who decided to go brain-dead behind the wheel…by doing something that could have eventually left him brain-dead. According to the Oregon State Police Department, Calhoon caused a three-vehicle crash on Highway 26 in Washington County when he passed out while holding his breath through a tunnel. Why was Calhoon holding his breath while driving his 1990 Toyota Camry  toward a tunnel? The same reason all dudes of every age do moronic things in the presence of their friends: because someone dared him to. According to police, Calhoon and a passenger were approaching the tunnel when the dare was thrown down. Ever the dedicated idiot, Calhoon continued to hold his breath while driving into the tunnel and as the oxygen stopped flowing to a brain that may have already been severely deprived of it, the Camry crossed the center line and collided head-on with a 2013 Ford Explorer. That crash spilled into the path of a 1990 GMC pickup and all three cars then struck the wall of the tunnel. Calhoon – who was charged with three counts of recklessly endangering another person and fourth-degree assault - and his passenger were transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, while the driver and passenger of the explorer were also transported to the hospital. If this incident doesn’t go down in the first chapter of the textbook on why the collective IQ of guys of all ages nosedives when two or more of them are gathered in the same place, then clearly it’s time to rewrite that book……..

Monday, May 26, 2014

NBA Midwest beefs, karma blows up in Egypt and weekend movie news


- Rarely do two irrelevant NBA teams light up the playoffs with a battle between their respective suit-clad representatives. Neither the Detroit Pistons nor the Cleveland Cavaliers were anywhere close to the postseason in 2014, but the two middling Midwest teams are locked in a pitched battle of words over something that really shouldn’t matter to either side. Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert started the scrap by saying he that the Pistons should remove "Detroit" from its name because they play in Auburn Hills. That mild shot across the bow struck a nerve with new Pistons coach and team president Stan Van Gundy, who returned fire at the Detroit native and founder of Quicken Loans. "Dan Gilbert has some selfish interests for saying what he said," Van Gundy said. "I think we know what those are. Finally, I think he has enough to worry about with his own team.” Gilbert could claim that he’s merely looking out for his hometown and point out that he has invested millions in downtown Detroit, but Van Gundy is correct in saying that Gilbert has more than enough problems in Cleveland. Gilbert also claims to have spoken to Pistons owner Tom Gores "four or five times at the owners meetings," where he's brought up the topic about a downtown move. "If you're gonna convince someone like that, and I've said it to him, long term for business reasons, that's not a viable place that you're gonna have a long-term successful, profitable venture," Gilbert said. "People want entertainment, a whole night of it, a whole experience." The Pistons’ current home in Auburn Hills is located light years from anything resembling a downtown area or an entertainment district, residing in the middle of a field and housing the team since 1988. Location aside, bad basketball is bad basketball wherever you play it……..


- Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh may be a millionaire, but he is not the guy you want to sit next to on a plane. Bergh is not a fan of a certain household appliance, at least as it pertains to the sewn-together sections of denim that his company manufactures and which he faithfully wears. Wading into the long running denim debate that has divided jeans-wearing people worldwide for decades, Bergh put forth his official theory on the best way to care for and maintain a person’s favorite pair of jeans. Simply put, Bergh wants Levi’s customers to keep their pants out the washing machine. "These are one of my favorite jeans. These jeans are maybe a year old and these have yet to see a washing machine,” Bergh said. “I know that sounds totally disgusting. I know it does. But believe me, you can spot clean it, you can air dry it and it is fine. I have yet to get a skin disease or anything else. It works.” It works is a fairly ambiguous term, largely because Bergh’s significant other and co-workers were not in on the interview. Maybe the interviewer should have solicited input from his secretary or people who have to smell Bergh’s stank as he walks around in public as he rocks what he has dubbed the ultimate in "slow fashion." That’s code for long-wear fashion, i.e. wearing something as many times as possible without having to wash out all of the sweat and general world filth that a piece of clothing absorbs over time. All of this comes as the Levi's 501 jean marks its 141st birthday and the company readies to launch its new  "waterless" jeans, which will get an acid-wash look without using harsh bleach or chemicals………


- Superheroes uniting dominate once more. “X-Men: Days of Future Past” rode its comic book powers to $90.7 million in domestic earnings to debut in first place, ousting reigning box office champion “Godzilla” in the process. The beastly former earnings king added $31.4 million to its coffers, making its two-week domestic total $148.7 million. It was not a resounding debut for the Drew Barrymore-Adam Sandler romantic comedy “Blended,” which could do no better than third place with $14.2 million in its first weekend. “Neighbors” finished fourth with $14 million and has done much better than a movie of its quality should with $113.6 million domestically in three weeks of release. “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” added a fifth-place finish to its résumé thanks to a $7.8 million effort that upped its take to $184.9 million after one month in theaters. Next on the list was “Million Dollar Arm,” which didn’t have a huge budget at $25 million but hasn’t yet made all of that money back after banking $7.1 million to elevate its domestic haul to $20.7 million. “The Other Woman” somehow remained in the top 10 in its fifth weekend, earnings another $3.7 million. Despite sucking abysmally, this cinematic dumpster fire has amassed $77.8 million so far. “Rio 2” landed in eighth place thanks to a $2.5 million weekend, meaning it has animated its way to $121.6 million and counting. Indie favorite “Chef” performed well in limited release, snagging ninth place despite showing in just 498 theaters. In spite of its limited reach, the Jon Favreau vehicle cranked out $2.3 million and has logged $3.5 million through three weeks. The top 10’s final spot belonged to “Heaven is for Real,” the recipient of $2 million in box office cash and $85.7 million in moviegoers’ money in its six weeks of release. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (No. 11) and “Moms' Night Out” (No. 13) both dropped out from last weekend’s top 10……….


- People in the middle of nowhere are finally going to get an affordable alternative to their limited Internet options – and possibly a break from those absurd and corny commercials from satellite Internet provider Hughes Net. Thanks to a federal appeals court’s decision to uphold the agency's Connect America Fund after challenges from smaller carriers, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can go ahead with its plan to offer subsidies for providers or rural connections to broadband service. In a purely self-serving argument, the smaller carriers argued in court that a shift from subsidizing phone calls to high-speed Internet access would hurt their bottom line. The court disagreed, ruling that all claims made in court by these carriers were either too weak to carry the day or blocked from legal consideration in the first place. Even with this legal hurdle cleared, the FCC fund still has lingering opposition from critics who fear that its $4.5 billion in subsidies will send phone bills soaring thanks to increasing fees. Oh, and there are the worries that the pork and fraud inherent in virtually every government program will filter into Connect America, which seems like a reasonable worry because, you know, it’s the United States government and that’s just how it rolls. If the plan can serve up high-speed connections at an affordable price for people in isolated areas who want to be able to post 10,000 identical Facebook photos of their children in their store-bought Halloween costumes and Instagram pics of their delicious French toast for breakfast, then all of this will clearly have been worthwhile……..


- Karma lives everywhere in the world, including Egypt. This difficult lesson was the last one a suspected member of an al-Qaida-inspired group learned before shuffling off this mortal coil and leaving his father with a lasting reminder of what happened to morons who play with makeshift incendiary devices in Third World countries. This would-be killer ended up taking just one life with his plan to plant a bomb on a road frequently used by the army. While Egyptian officials aren't disclosing details about what went down, the militant was reportedly blown to bits by his own roadside bomb in the country's combustible Sinai Peninsula. According to sources close to the incident, the militant's father lost an arm in the blast and both men are believed to be members of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has been blamed for some of the bloodiest attacks in Egypt in recent years. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has stepped up its violent assault game after the overthrow of the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July and without a credible government in place to check them, they have become increasingly active in recent months. While it its difficult to ask a man who just blew the living sh*t out of himself – literally – one could hazard a reasonable guess that the bomb may have some link to the fact that Egyptians will vote Monday and Tuesday in a presidential election. Scaring the populace and flexing your bomb-making muscles right before people head to the polls is a nice way of reminding them to be scared of what might happen next………

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Pat Sajak v. the world, Bulls 1 Humans 0 and drunken Fox News conserva-Nazi anchors


- So…..how about those conservative stalwarts at Fox News? These conserva-Nazis bristle at the slightest suggestion that they aren’t wholesome, upright defenders of all that is right and good about America, so how on Earth are they going to reconcile the recent actions of anchor Gregg Jarrett with all that Fox News stands for? Jarrett was recently passing through Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport when his travel adventure went sideways in a big way. According to airport spokesman Patrick Hogan, Jarrett was "belligerent and uncooperative" with police officers who responded to a report Wednesday that he was drunk at an airport bar. Getting drunk at an airport bar is such a terrible cliché that it’s almost sad, but watching a drunken Fox News anchor brawl with airport security had to be an entertaining sight for Jarrett’s fellow travelers – or at least it would have been if any of them had any idea who he was. Instead, he was likely just that drunk old man that everyone else in the bar was working really hard to keep their distance from. Jarrett was arrested on charges of interfering with a police officer and spent a dozen hours in jail. He was released from the Hennepin County Jail on a $300 bond early Thursday, according to jail records. He’s now staring down a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of the legal process and interfering with a peace officer, but this is far from a surprising development. Fox News announced on May 12 that Jarrett was taking time off from his weekend anchor duties on Fox after reportedly asking the network for time off for personal reasons. "He is dealing with serious personal issues at this time," Fox News said in a statement. "A date at which Gregg might return to air has yet to be determined.” In other words, we’ll let you know when we find an optimal time to fire him……… 


- The race to own the Los Angeles Clippers has apparently added some very tall and athletic men. While Hollywood A-listers like Oprah Winfrey and Frankie Muniz have indicated their interest in owning the franchise when world-class racist/bigot/all-around piece of sh*t Donald Sterling finally puts it on the market – voluntarily or not – there is no question that former NBA stars will be in the long line of those wanting to pay ten figures to buy the Clippers. Magic Johnson has already shown an interest in being an owner and now, he will have to do battle with the likes of former NBA All-Stars Grant Hill and Yao Ming. Both Hill, who is just completing his first year in retirement after a 19-season career that ended with the Clippers, and Yao are reportedly working to line up investors for a bid once Donald and Shelly Sterling capitulate and put the Clips on the open market. Neither Hill nor Yao are as far removed from their respective playing careers as Johnson and haven’t had the chance to build a successful business empire the way he has, including a partial ownership stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers. Thus, both need to compile a consortium of likeminded folks willing to throw in with them on their bid. Yao’s interest is particularly intriguing given the NBA’s focus on building its brand globally. His investment group would presumably consist of Chinese investors, which would make perfect sense in the context of the NBA’s global philosophy. Yao previously made a run at purchasing the Milwaukee Bucks, but they were ultimately sold to Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry for a purchase price of $550 million. Most observers expect the Clippers to retail for three times that price, so whoever wins this bidding process will make one of the most expensive purchases possible on the planet………


- It’s nice to see the animal kingdom score a win against stupid humans every now and then. At Spain's top annual bullfighting festival, the two-horned quadrupeds have claimed victory over the two-legged kind. Credit goes to the first two bulls into the ring, which combined to gore or otherwise incapacitate three bullfighters, putting them out of action, and forcing authorities to suspend a bullfight at the San Isidro Festival in Madrid for the first time in 35 years. The Las Ventas bullring was packed by a sold-out crowd of 24,000 and with a national television audience looking on, the first bull, weighing just over half a ton gored the first bullfighter, David Mora, in the left leg. Mora was carted off for treatment, but the rules demand that the bull must die and so into the ring came the second bullfighter, Antonio Nazare, who finished him off. A second bull, even heavier at 1,100 pounds, entered to face the third bullfighter, Saul Jimenez Fortes. Nazare, who as second bullfighter on the card would normally have faced the second bull, exercised his right to step in and replaced Jimenez in the ring. That proved to be a fatal error, as the bull heat-buttled Nazare so hard in the knees that he had to be carted off to the on-site infirmary. Jimenez was the last bullfighter standing and he was the only one left to enter the ring and do battle with the second bull. He tried to move in for the kill, but the bull stopped him by goring him in the right leg. Somehow, Jimenez stayed on his feet and managed to deliver a kill shot. It was at that point that Jimenez joined his colleagues in the infirmary. With four bulls left on the card and no one insane enough to fight them, authorities called off the rest of the scheduled bouts. Here’s hoping that the rest of the San Isidro festival, named for Madrid's patron saint, goes better. The festival continues until June 8 and has 31 scheduled fights. The real winners for the day were the four bulls that didn’t have to fight. They were returned to their ranches, safe and sound……..


- Pat Sajak has a definite capacity to be an intolerable asshole. He is, after all, the man who once jerked with a “Wheel of Fortune” contestant panel comprised of military members by repeatedly turning away soldiers and sailors who knew the correct answer to a pop culture puzzle but could not correctly pronounce the names of Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa. But it’s on Twitter where the aging game show host does most of his damage these days and while it is virtually impossible to discern what the hell he’s saying much of the time, it is nonetheless entertaining to watch the steam pour from Sajak’s ears as he rants and raves about various matters that catch his attention. His latest rant was more puzzling than any of the messages he’s asked contestants to solve while standing beside a spinning wheel of cash and prizes. “I now believe global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists knowingly misleading for their own ends. Good night,” Sajak tweeted. Cryptic….with a dose of irrational and a dash of persecution complex. On the surface, it seems Sajak is merely espousing the right-wing view that global warming is a lie and yet, what the hell does patriotism or racism have to do with any of it? At last check, global warming believes are from virtually all races and ethnic backgrounds. Sajak then mocked the supposed reactionary viewpoints of those who disagree with him, tweeting, “Very hot weather: ‘We're all going to die!’ Very cold weather: ‘There's a difference between climate & weather, moron!’” Duly noted, moron……..


- Who made the list this year? No, not People magazine's Most Beautiful List. Not even Maxim’s Hot 100 list. No, the list that has animal lovers worldwide peaking on passion for the world’s most intriguing critters is the International Institute for Species Exploration’s top 10 of nearly 18,000 new species named in the previous year. An international committee made up of scientists and experts linked to the State University of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry compiled the list and released it Friday to celebrate the birthday of 18th-century Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, who is considered the father of modern taxonomy. It is "a way to call attention to species that are going extinct faster than they are being identified," the institute said in a written release. The cuddliest inclusion on this year’s list is the olinguito, a small mammal with fluffy red-orange fur, a short bushy tail, and an adorable, rounded face. It is a member of the raccoon family and it is the first mammalian carnivore species to be newly identified in the Americas in 35 years, according to Kristofer Helgen, curator of mammals at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Olinguitos were previously classified as members of their sister species, the olingos, following their discovery in August. The more the panel studied them, the more they noticed that olingos are larger, less furry and have longer faces than the newly discovered species. The olinguito primarily dines on fruits, but also consumes insects and nectar and is primarily nocturnal. At about 2 feet long from nose to tail, it weights a mere 2 pounds and is a little smaller than a house cat. Other entries on the list included: Kaweesak's Dragon Tree (Thailand), Anemonel (Antarctica), Skeleton Shrimp (California), Orange Penicillium (Tunisia) and the Leaf-tailed Gecko (Australia)………

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Frat bros hot-sauce guys' balls, reviving a David Bowie classic and NFL CB squabbling


- Cornerbacks are locked in a pitched battle with wide receivers on and off the NFL playing field. On the field, they’re trying to stop one another from accomplishing their respective goals. Off the field, they duel for the title of most cocksure and arrogant athletes in the league, b*tching about everything from the size of their contracts to who is the best athlete in the NFL. Arizona Cardinals three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Peterson isn’t backpedaling from any battle over who’s the best, not even if his opponent is the smack-talking, Super Bowl-winning defensive backfield hero of the reigning champion Seattle Seahawks. Earlier this month, Peterson said he felt he was worth more than the $57.4 million extension Seahawks standout Richard Sherman signed and Sherman responded with a tweet of a graphic showing him to be the league’s interception leader over the past three seasons by a wide margin. The tweet may or may not have been directly aimed at Peterson, but that didn’t stop him from returning fire during a radio interview this week. He said Sherman couldn't handle playing in Arizona's defensive scheme. "I believe if you put him in our system I don't think he'd be able to last, honestly," Peterson said. "I actually do much more than he is. I don't want to get into that debate as far as the stats that he has and things he has." Great Pat, but the stats are better for Sherman and what he has is a Super Bowl ring that you definitely do not have. His 20 interceptions to your 12 over the past three seasons also suggest he’s better than you. "He's only covering space. He's not really covering a guy," Peterson said. "At the end of the day, he has great stats and he has great playmaking ability, not taking that away from him because he is a good corner. But as far as being a shutdown corner, man-to-man guy, in my eyes, I don't believe he's that." Peterson’s case hinges largely on the fact that he plays a token role on offense and returns kicks, but until he wins anything that matters, talking so much only makes noise……..


- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Brazil is about to host its first of two major world sporting events in a two-year span, but it’s safe to say that not all Brazilians are happy about their nation’s state of affairs. If they were, several thousand of them would not have marched through an expensive business district of Brazil's largest city to protest against urban developments for next month’s World Cup. Demonstrators claim the building process has left many homeless and their rage was palpable as they chanted, "I don't want a World Cup in Brazil, I want a roof," while parading past the extravagant Iguatemi shopping center, demanding government housing for those who have been pushed out of their homes by skyrocketing real estate prices. "You can send in troops, but if you don't look after the people there will be no Cup," a banner read. Sadly, the demonstration remained peaceful even though it clogged up traffic and forced many shops to close their doors to avoid additional drama. It fell well short of the standard set by recent riots, which have spiraled out of control to include violent clashes with police and rioting. Officials have expressed concern that such violence could disrupt the World Cup when it kicks off in three weeks at Sao Paulo's new Arena Corinthians stadium. This particular display of disdain was organized by a group called the Homeless Worker's movement, which represents 4,000 families living in a tent city on land a few miles from the stadium that they say priced them out of their working class neighborhood. They did not seem satisfied with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s promise of low-cost government housing to resolve the dispute and given the overall lack of action toward this aim, it’s hard to argue with them……..


- Give yourself a pat on the back, science. You’ve finally cracked the  150-year-old evolutionary mystery of the origins of the iconic New Zealand kiwi. The iconic bird no longer flies, but University of Adelaide scientists have confirmed that the kiwi once did take to the skies. Its  closest relative is not the emu, as was previously thought, but rather the extinct Madagascan elephant bird, which stands as tall as 10 feet and can weight more than 600 pounds. The research team examined specimens of the kiwi and found that the now-flightless bird wasn’t always ground-bound. "We recently found fossils of small kiwi ancestors, which we suggested might have had the power of flight not too long ago," said Flinders University researcher Dr. Trevor Worthy. "The genetic results back up this interpretation, and confirm that kiwis were flying when they arrived in New Zealand. It also explains why the kiwi remained small. By the time it arrived in New Zealand, the large herbivore role was already taken by the moa, forcing the kiwi to stay small, and become insectivorous and nocturnal.” The study, which took place at the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, had a broader focus of figuring out the origins of giant flightless ratite birds, such as the emu and ostrich, which are found across the southern continents. Previously, these avians were believed to have developed as flightless birds isolated by the separation of the southern continents over the centuries. To test this idea, the researchers extracted ancient DNA from bones of two elephant birds held by the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa. Testing revealed a close genetic connection with the kiwi, despite striking differences in geography, morphology and ecology between the two. "This result was about as unexpected as you could get," said researcher Kieren Mitchell.  "New Zealand and Madagascar were only ever distantly physically joined via Antarctica and Australia, so this result shows the ratites must have dispersed around the world by flight.” Ironically, UA professor Alan Cooper previously postulated that the closest living relatives of the kiwi were the Australian emu and cassowary, but his fellow academics at the university proved him wrong. The new working theory is that flying ratite ancestors dispersed around the world right after the dinosaurs went extinct, before the mammals dramatically increased in size and became the dominant group. That is, of course, until the next great theory emerges……….


- David Bowie doesn’t show up many places these days – even when the Summer Olympics are in his hometown and he’s being honored at the closing ceremonies – but that doesn’t mean one of his most famous albums can't show up on stage, performed by the men who served in a supporting role for the project. Members of Bowie's backing band from the Ziggy Stardust era of his career, The Spiders From Mars, are set to perform a concert in London in September in which they will play Bowie's third album, 1970’s “The Man Who Sold The World.” The band will play the full album from start to finish, with help from an ensemble of ten musicians including Spandau Ballet saxophone player Steve Norman and Heaven 17's Glenn Gregory. They will not be joined by Bowie himself, although he has reportedly given his blessing to the project. Tony Visconti – who produced Bowie's 2013 comeback album 'The Next Day' among many others – and Mick "Woody" Woodmansey, will helm the project and both seem genuinely excited about the chance to have people pay attention to them again – even if it is playing someone else’s music. “'The Man Who Sold the World' was the first album Mick Ronson and I played on, our first even in a proper London studio, yet it never got played live," Woodmansey said. Woodmansey added that “'The Man Who Sold The World” was Bowie’s “first step into rock n’ roll” and received such critical acclaim that not touring in support of it was a true disappointment. This may not be a tour and it may not involve Bowie, but the album is still a classic and the show, which will take place at The Garage on Sept. 17, should be solid……….


- The University of Tennessee, like so many institutions of higher learning, has a lot of people who act like they’re high 97 percent of the time. These alcoholics and potheads do what many college students do, namely enjoy parties and road trips with just enough class mixed in to remain off academic probation and possibly graduate at some point. A few of them even join fraternities so they can booze and bong it up with like-minded bros while wearing sweatshirts featuring Greek letters whose meaning they still don’t know even though it’s the name of their fraternity. The frat bros of UT are also renowned for allegedly inventing the now-famous butt-chugging technique used to get alcohol into a person’s system faster than normal, and yet the powers that be at the university are up in arms over a relatively benign hazing ritual that involved neither binge drinking nor any trips to the emergency room to have someone’s stomach pumped. University officials have suspended the school’s chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity after an investigation led to admissions of hazing….via hot sauce. That’s right, UT documents show the hazing involved paddling and pouring hot sauce on pledges’ genitals. Putting Frank’s Red Hot on another man’s package would be a reason to go for virtually any dude, but guys who are willing to endure immense pain and humiliation for entry into a place where they can readily access the best dank and cheat using saved tests and term papers from their predecessors will go through most anything their pledge leaders an dish out. According to the university, Alpha Phi Alpha wasn’t supposed to be admitting any more members, but a dozen students were trying to gain entry. Ten of these courageous college students denied the hazing, but two weak suckers eventually admitted to it. Now, the fraternity has had its charter revoked and despite not having a house on campus and rocking single-digit membership, UT felt compelled to persecute it even further by banning it from admitting any new members until August 2016 and ripping its status as a campus organization………

Friday, May 23, 2014

The chintziest tablet yet, win Phil Mickelson's winnings and Paul McCartney is full of sh*t


- It’s time for another edition of “Whose police force is the most corrupt in the world today?” and the journey for the day takes us to Puerto Rico, an island nation where 16 former and current police officers have been charged with running a criminal ring to generate money through bribes, robberies and drug sales, authorities said Thursday. The law enforcement heroes are accused of planting evidence to make false arrests and then extorting victims, demanding money in exchange for their release, according to U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez. But wait…there’s more. Lots more. In addition to bogus arrests and extortion scams, the officers are also are accused of entering homes used by suspected criminals to steal money, drugs and other items. On the surface, it’s a smart play. You target criminals, you arrest criminals and when they’re hauled off, you take their loot. Maybe you don’t even wait until they arrested because after all, where is a drug dealer going to go to file a complaint if his drugs and money are stolen? He sure as hell can’t go to the police – they’re the ones who stole his sh*t in the first place. Toss a few hundred cases of allegedly providing false testimonies, manipulating court records and not appearing in court to force the dismissal of cases in exchange for bribes and you have yourself a genuine mess that spanned a long stretch from 2009 until January 2014. In one reported incident, two officers allegedly conducted a traffic stop and stole some $22,000 in what authorities say was illegal drug money. None of this would appear to be good news for Puerto Rico's police department, which is undergoing a 10-year federally mandated reform after a 2011 report accused officers of illegal killings, corruption and civil rights violations. Reform can be a relative term, but not this relative……..


- Paul McCartney is a blazing liar. Sure, Sir Paul has been knighted by the Queen of England and he is one of two living members of arguably the biggest rock band in history, but that does not make him infallible and if he’s going around doing indefensible sh*t like telling Jared Leto that he has musical greatness in him, then McCartney has gone several steps too far. Sure, Leto won Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards earlier this year for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club” and that seems great, but it doesn’t mean that his band 30 Seconds to Mars, isn’t a steaming pile of musical monkey turds that sounds like the unholy union of a broken synthesizer and Lady Gaga if someone woke her up in the middle of the night and demanded that she sing a song without the benefit of auto tuning. Yet there was McCartney, telling Leto that it was a good idea for him to get to work on new music for his band. "I was talking to Paul McCartney at one of these events during awards season – always great to drop Paul McCartney's name, don't worry, I'll do Bono next – anyway, I was kind of prodding him for some advice,” Leto said. “And he just talked about something I've heard many creative people say before. He said, 'You know what? Just write. Show up every day and write something. And keep writing. Even when you think you don't have something to say, just do it. And wonderful things will happen.'” In all fairness to McCartney, he may not have had any idea who Leto was and merely thought, “Hey, I may as well encourage that long-haired hippie and his garage rock band. What harm could that possibly do?” If only someone could slide Sir Paul a copy of 30 Seconds to Mars’ latest album before he encourages them to write and record, ugly incidents like this could be avoided………


- No credit for undoing something you shouldn’t have done in the first place, United States House of Representatives. Sure, you 435 Brooks Brothers suit-wearing ass hats finally passed legislation to end the National Security Agency's bulk collection of American phone records, but don’t pretend you would have gotten to this point if not for a series of embarrassing disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Hell, even this measure is a diluted, weak-ass version of what should have been passed and Democrat Jan Schakowsky of Illinois knows it. "We must not let the perfect be the enemy of the good," said Schakowsky, an intelligence committee member. The bill passed by a vote of 303 to 120, with 9 members not voting. Schakowsky acted as if he represented the feelings of many Republicans and Democrats who voted for the measure but wanted tougher provisions, but if those men and women had any real stones, they would have found a way to force through a requirement for an independent public advocate on the secret intelligence court that oversees the NSA. Dubbed the USA Freedom Act, this impotent piece of legislation is the solidification of a proposal made in January by President Barack Obama, who said he wanted to end the NSA's practice of collecting the "to and from" records of nearly every American landline telephone call under a program that searched the data for connections to terrorist plots abroad. Under the proposed law, the NSA would have authority to request certain records from the companies to search them in terrorism investigations in response to a judicial order. If the Senate can pass a version of this bill, then America will take one very tiny step in the right direction……..


- Verrrry bold, golf equipment manufacturer Callaway, very bold. Companies such as Callaway are always looking for new ways to promote their brand and boost their bottom line – with a bare minimum of risk and expense, of course. Callaway just may have found the least-risky idea ever for generating publicity while simultaneously offering a juicy reward that it most certainly will not have to make good on. In a thinly veiled effort to jolt the struggling golf equipment market, the company is offering golfers a chance to win the same amount of money that Phil Mickelson wins at this year's U.S. Open. The "Big Big Bertha Payday" promotion seems like a nice offer: Golfers who demo the brand's Big Bertha drivers or fairway wood at retailers before the final round of this year's U.S. Open will be entered into a drawing and the winner will get a lump sum payment of the exact amount of money Mickelson, who endorses Callaway, wins at Pinehurst. If this were 2009, this would be a great chance for weekend hackers everywhere to win some sweet cash and possibly even the $1.5 million that the winner of the tournament takes home. As is, Mickelson has been no-showing for events and missing cuts all year long and if he misses the 36-hole cut at Pinehurst, that means he gets no money at all and neither does the contestant whose fate is tied to his. Those who demo the product will be given a code and entered into a random drawing. Mickelson has tried to win money for strangers before and in  2010, golf retailer Golfsmith offered a full refund on Callaway drivers purchased in the month before the Masters if Mickelson won. He did, and the company paid back $1 million in refunds. The risk of that happening to Callaway this time went out the window right around the same time as Mickelson’s habit of actually winning tournaments………


- Tablets are surging in popularity, but they’re not a ubiquitous item for people the way a smartphone is. In some sense, they remain a luxury item for many and although Apple’s iPad and iPad Mini retail at a consistent clip, rivals such as Android tablets have seen a decline in sales of late and their relatively hefty price points don’t help matters. The quest for more affordable tablets that still deliver quality performance is always in swing and in that spirit, HP has released a new Android tablet, the HP Plus 7, that aims for the sweet spot of solid performance while retailing for a modest $100. While its durability and reception by users with a taste for non-chintzy hardware that doesn’t feel like an overpriced children’s toy are to be determined, the HP Plus 7 features a 1024-by-600 display with quad-core ARM Cortex A7 processor at 1 Ghz with 1 GB of RAM. A basic Google search of computer terms for the ignorant will reveal that those are not impressive numbers, nor are the tablet’s 8 GB of onboard storage with a MicroSD slot for expandable storage and 802.11n wireless connectivity. Even the ear-facing 2-megapixel camera and 0.7-megapixel front-facing camera are yawn-worthy and when prospective buyers realize that this glorified Etch-A-Sketch does not include Bluetooth and is accompanied only by the feeble offer of 25 GB of cloud storage via Box free with every purchase, there enthusiasm is going to be tougher to locate that Mitch McConnell’s personality. Oh, and the HP Minus 7 has a weak 2800mAh battery that will only last for about six hours. Sure, it will include all of Google’s services, but the best part of this technological train wreck is that it weighs in at about 0.65 pounds, making it easier to throw off the nearest cliff if someone actually gives it to you as a present……..

Thursday, May 22, 2014

French train size issues, baseball dugout biters and teen dorks love Joe Biden


- The Los Angles Dodgers are paying more than $200 million in salary this season to chase a World Series title, so you’d think they could splurge to pay for mental health exams for all of their players as well. Specifically, Magic Johnson’s crew might want to provide some counseling and possibly a Hannibal Lecter-esque gimp mask for Albuquerque Isotopes catcher Miguel Olivo. One or both of the above might help prevent Olivo from taking any more meaty bites out of top Dodgers prospects. That’s what happened Tuesday when Alex Guerrero, the Cuban infielder the Los Angeles Dodgers gave $28 million this past winter, lost a chunk of one of his ears because Olvio went Mike Tyson on the appendage. Guerrero’s agent, Scott Boras, confirmed that Olivo bit off part of Guerrero's ear and Guerrero was having plastic surgery on his ear following the Isotopes’  7-4 loss to Salt Lake. Guerrero could reportedly miss as much as five weeks and Olivo could find himself in court after Salt Lake City police visited Guerrero in the hospital and he elected to hold off on filing a report until after talking to a lawyer. The sh*t went south during an Albuquerque pitching change in the bottom of the seventh inning and the two men continued their beef in the dugout in the top of the eighth, at which point the altercation became physical. Olivo was reportedly irate with Guerrero for failing to tag out a runner after Olivo made what he thought to be a good throw to second base. Both players were removed from the game and the Dodgers released a statement saying they were aware and investigating the incident. "We don't condone it, and we don't think it's constructive," Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said at Citi Field, where the Dodgers were to play the New York Mets on Tuesday night. "People can have disagreements. When it gets beyond that level, it's over the limit." Wait….cannibalizing a teammate’s is over the limit? Wow........


- Quincy Jones is a brilliant man. No, it has nothing to do with being an über-producer and record executive who has churned out hundreds of acclaimed projects and artists over the years. Those feats are all swell, but Jones’ proudest moment came this week when he wisely denounced the posthumous Michael Jackson album “Xscape” as the ginormous and blatant cash grab that it is. Jones blasted the release as being all about the money and said an album featuring eight unreleased Michael Jackson tracks re-tooled by producers including LA Reid and Timbaland is an embarrassment for all involved. The album dropped last week and it was a bitter pill to swallow for Jones, who made several classic albums with the late and allegedly great pop singer, including “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad.” It’s safe to say Jones doesn’t believe “Xscape” lives up to the standard set by those celebrated releases. "They're trying to make money. And I understand it. Everybody's after money, the estate, the lawyers. It's about money,” Jones said. “But it’s not my business anymore. They're not our business." This train wreck does continue the awesome tradition of those left behind when an artist passes away at a young age amazingly finding every unreleased scrap of a song and producing the hell out of each and every one for posthumous releases that squeeze every last bit of cash possible out of the deceased. Jones was joined in condemning the new album by the most willing critic of all things music currently walking the planet, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney, who glossed “Xscape” as “bullsh*t” that only happened because Reid needed a new boat……..


- Seventeen year-old Newington (Conn.) resident Talia Maselli is not one of the cool kids. This is not an indictment of Maselli as a person or to suggest that she awaits a life of reading comic books and watching “Sex and the City” reruns on her couch with her many cats. It’s merely an observation that anyone whose idea of a fun date to their high school prom is the doddering dullard is Vice Present Joe Biden. Maselli was debating whether or not she wanted to attend the prom, which is not uncommon and always a worthwhile debate to have, but her conclusion was one that no one in the history of humanity has ever reached for any reason. She decided that the only way she was going to show up at A Night Under the Stars/Under the Sea/A Night in Paris/Stairway to Heaven/whatever the hell the actual theme of the prom was without the noted man candy that is Biden on her arm. With that in mind, she put a plan in motion to get the vice president’s attention. “She said ‘I’m going to write him a letter,’” her mother Dawn Maselli said. “So for her it was like a joke.” In her letter, which even Biden shouldn’t have been dumb enough to actually take seriously, Talia Maselli dubbed the vice president “the most delightful man in all of America,” but jokingly noted that if he said no, she might have to invite the world’s most famous tanning bed accident in motion, Speaker of the House John Boehner. Talia Maselli did not expect an actual response from Biden, but a knock on her door the day before the prom changed her mind. “I thought it was a practical joke because the guy gave me a corsage and that letter and said that the Secret Service told him to bring it to me,” she said. Biden allegedly picked the corsage himself and sent a handwritten letter of his own in response. “I’m flattered but my schedule will not permit me to be in Connecticut on Friday evening … but I hope you will accept this corsage and enjoy your prom as much as I did mine,” Biden wrote. When Talia Maselli called a phone number on the letter, she was connected to the White House and knew the message as legit. She ultimately decided not to attend prom, but did receive an invitation to the White House and plans to visit in July……..


- The Colorado River has been reunited and it feels so good….for both the river and its old friend, the Sea of Cortez in northwestern Mexico. Thanks to an agreement struck between the United States and Mexico, the two bodies of water are back together for the first time in a long time. Depending upon whom you ask, this is the first time that has happened since either 1993 or 1998 and regardless of the exact time frame, nature lovers are fired up about the occurrence of something rarer than any government agency actually accomplishing anything positive. In this case, the water in question was released in March from the Morelos Dam near the U.S.-Mexico border and it took its sweet time winding its way to the sea, taking a full eight weeks to complete its meandering journey. The underlying philosophy is to restore life to the Colorado River delta, which has pretty much dried up since the advent of the big dam era. And yes, you’re damn right that there is a big dam era. This particular experiment is the first time water from the river has been diverted solely for environmental purposes and altering nature to benefit the environment is certainly something new. The initial pulse flow of water has been shut off, but smaller amounts of liquid refreshment will be released to the delta over the next few years in the hopes of revitalizing the dormant habitat. Conservationists have been plating trees timed to germinate with the water's release. "It is sort of overwhelming, and I think it sheds light on a sort of global interest in the Colorado River completing that journey again," said Jennifer Pitt of the Environmental Defense Fund's Colorado River Project. Keep up the good work, enviro-nuts………


- Crash and burn, France, crash and burn. Literally, if the country’s new trains for its national railway network were used without serious modifications, they literally would have crashed and burned. See, French railway and government officials ordered 341 shiny new trains that were to be introduced between now and 2016. The problem is that engineers at the French railway network forgot to go and measure the actual distance between tracks and platforms. That ended up being a problem because a mere 1,300 stations are just a few inches too narrow for the new trains to fit and when it comes to fitting a train between the various platforms that comprise your average French train station, that’s an issue. When reports surfaced in various media outlets, it seemed like perhaps the stories had to be some sort of joke because no government agency would be so foolish as to…..bahaha, just kidding. There isn't a government in the world incapable of f*cking up in such a colossal – and colossally expensive – fashion. This particular mistake will cost a robust $68 million to fix and sadly, that is no joke. Jacques Rapoport, president of rail infrastructure organization RFF, acknowledged the problem was "discovered a little late" and yet, the average Frenchman cutting a slice off his baguette and wondering what kind of tasty cheese to have with his breakfast croissant is not going to feel any better knowing that his government finally owned a massive blunder. Just to be safe, before the trains are retrofitted, maybe you want to send someone out with a tape measure and a laser level to make sure you get it right this time, French government……….