Thursday, May 08, 2014

Babysitters with Glocs, outer space sammitches and Skrillex wants less rage


- In case you forgot, hockey players are some of the biggest badasses in all of sports. Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson became the latest case study in this phenomenon Tuesday night when he played against the Minnesota Wild in Game 3 of a Western Conference second-round series despite not being medically cleared to speak after being struck in the throat area by the puck during Game 2 at the United Center. "He's fine, but he's unable to speak right now," coach Joel Quenneville said prior to the game – because of course, Hjalmarsson couldn’t speak for himself. "But he's ready to go." Hjalmarsson took a hard, compacted rubber disk to the throat during the first period of Game 2 on Sunday and in a moment that would have sent most average people scrambling for their retirement, he fell to the ice, stayed on the ground for a few minutes and then skated to the bench on his own. There, he was examined by the Blackhawks' medical staff and returned to the ice for his next shift. A smart person – or simply a non-hockey player – would have skated off the ice, swapped their skates for street shoes and had someone drive them to the nearest hospital. Instead, Hjalmarsson manned the hell up and played on. "He's a tough character," said Johnny Oduya, Hjalmarsson's defense partner. "He's a Swedish Viking. He's one of a kind, obviously. It's good for morale. We know he's always out there doing his job.” Hjalmarsson wore a protective neck guard during Tuesday’s morning skate, then went out and played 17 silent minutes in a 4-0 loss that left his team with a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4 Friday night in Minneapolis……..


- Skrillex makes a lot of people mad. Typically those people are fans of good music who view the sampling and electronic dance garbage the DJ/pop artist cranks out for the Ecstasy-using, rave sect. But according to Skrillex himself, those aren't the only people who are moved to rage by his “songs.” It seems that he has witnessed some of this outpouring of anger during his live shows, but Skrillex cautioned that despite the aggressive reaction some people had to his music early on in his career, physical violence is "not who I am.” Much of the difference between crowds and their reaction to his music seems to be based on where in the world Skrillex is performing. "It was funny," he said. "In the U.S. I'd play and there'd be girls in their bras on the front row. The in the UK it was fucking dudes killing each other. I'm not trying to be above anybody, but that's not who I am. I don't want people to beat the f*ck out of each other." It’s a fair point, inasmuch as seeing hot chicks with no shirts on is preferable to brawling tweakers in wife beaters for most people. In addition to fighting dudes in the front row, Skrillex is also working on ways to give so-called “DIY” artists like himself (i.e. stitching together a bunch of sounds and samples from other people’s work or material generated by a computer) a chance to make a name for themselves in the industry. He extended a helping hand to a few such artists on his most recent album, “Recess,” which dropped in March. The project included guest spots by Ragga Twins, Chance The Rapper, Diplo, Passion Pit vocalist Michael Angelakos and OWSLA stars Kill The Noise, Alvin Risk and Milo & Otis………


- Attention all Islamist militants who have waged war against the forces of evil but whose hands aren't stained with the blood of others: Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki has thrown open his country’s borders to you, saying the "door of hope and repentance is open." That’s right, Tunisia's president has offered amnesty for Islamist fighters, making the offer during a visit to Mount Chaambi, where extremists have been fighting security forces near Tunisia's border with Algeria. Before giving Marzouki too much credit for his kind gesture to men more likely to blow someone’s head off than give them a hug, just know that this is almost an exact (and shamelessly blatant) rip-off of the offer made in Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's 2005 National Reconciliation Charter that lured thousands of Islamic insurgents home, although some rejoined comrades in arms. "You are fighting an imaginary enemy,” Marzouki said in his address to jihadist fighters, adding that death won't lead to martyrdom. What will make redeeming a card good for free entry into Tunisia difficult is that as per Marzouki’s orders, the offer applies only to those who haven't killed. Proving that you haven't blasted a hole in any enemies with your rifle will be difficult, although taking off the cool stickers you receive to stick on the side of your gun to commemorate each kill before reaching the Tunisian border would be a good first step. Mount Chaambi has been a key point in the fight against such militant over the past year. Security forces have tracked extremists for more than a year before they holed up in the area and more than a dozen soldiers have been killed along the way……….


- What better combination could there be than cool discoveries in outer space and sammitches? A new report from NASA researchers revealed that at least one corner of the solar system may be serving up an ice-and-water sandwich. Known as the "club sandwich" phenomenon, it may be occurring on Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system and a satellite of Jupiter. As a result, there is the possibility that life could have even arisen on Ganymede. Lead study author Steve Vance of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory noted that there may be a layer of salty water directly on top of Ganymede's rocky core and explained that such chemical interactions between rock and water could lead to the formation of life. "This is good news for Ganymede," Vance said in a statement. "Its ocean is huge, with enormous pressures, so it was thought that dense ice had to form at the bottom of the ocean. When we added salts to our models, we came up with liquids dense enough to sink to the sea floor." Ganymede’s oceans could be as much as 25 times the volume of Earth's oceans, but the moon itself is 41 percent smaller than Earth, with an average radius of 1,634 miles. A very small number in the solar system are believed to have subsurface oceans, but fellow Jupiter moon Europa and Saturn's moons Enceladus and Titan have oceans under ice as well. NASA's Cassini spacecraft relayed data last month showing that Enceladus has an ocean at least the size of Lake Superior under its ice layer. Vance and his colleagues performed laboratory experiments here on Earth to simulate what would happen to ice and salty water on Ganymede and found that the density of liquids goes up with the presence of salt under extreme conditions inside such moons. As a result of salt ions attracting molecules of H2O, liquid water becomes denser when salt is added. Ice molecules get packed together more tightly at high pressures, Vance said, and in deep oceans, the dense ice would actually be heavier than water, plummeting to the ocean floor. This type of ice is known as Ice VI. On Ganymede, the researchers believe the saltiest liquid would be so dense that it would be at the very bottom, above the rock. That means the moon could have as many as three ice layers with liquid ocean between them – an deliciously salty outer space sammitch……….


- Pack your Glock, 14-year-old Grace from the blue house down the street, because when you show up to babysit the Jones children next Friday night so their parents can hit up Applebee’s for date night, you are legally allowed to carry your firearm. Currently, Missouri law allows property owners to use deadly force. That right would expand if a bill making its way through the General Assembly becomes law. The bill would give babysitters and guests the right to use deadly force against intruders. It’s great news because you should never be limited in your right to use lethal force by where you happen to be hanging out at any given moment. Should you be at a buddy’s house watching the game or should your babysitter be playing Wii games with your children while you see the new Seth Rogen movie at the multiplex and a gun-required situation arises, the person in danger should be allowed to blast away and Missouri legislators know it. Legislature hero Rep. Joe Don McGaugh, R-Carrollton, sponsored the original bill that the Missouri House overwhelmingly passed. "This is a common sense extension of the law that would empower a nanny or babysitter or anyone with the owner's permission to occupy a property, to defend himself or herself against an intruder," McGaugh said. HB 2126 would extend the existing Castle Doctrine law to include anyone inside a residence with the specific permission of the resident. The bill is pending in the Missouri Senate and while some naysayers have suggested that the bill is too broad and could lead to the use of deadly force could be used by a fan at a sporting event, it is expected to come up for a vote in the next week………

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