- What the eff, Greece? Your country is on the verge of
financial ruin, you’ve dealt with regular riots for months on end and yet,
you’re going to be the ones helping the Chinese government with
the evacuation of "hundreds" of its citizens from the violence in
Libya. Libya has been a hellhole of violence since the 2011 ouster of dictator
Muammar Qaddafi, but the unrest has reached new heights of late and governments
from around the world are scrambling to evacuate their citizens from the
country. Greece just happens to be in the neighborhood and therefore, a viable
option to lend a hand. Plus, the Greeks totally need the cash and will probably
take any request to give folks fleeing Libya a ride. A Greek government
official confirmed that China chartered a merchant vessel, but refused to
expound on the rescue plan. According to the Greek Defense Ministry and other
government officials, the sudden rescue nation will also send a navy frigate to
pick up its embassy staff members as well as about 70 Greeks and dozens of
others from China, Cyprus, Britain and Malta after their governments requested
help. All of this rushing to get out the door is a direct result of clashes
between heavily armed rival militias in Libya resulting in the worst violence
since the civil war three years ago. In the past few weeks of fighting, nearly
100 people have been killed, 400 others wounded, and much of the airport in
Tripoli has been destroyed. Multiple countries have suspended operations at
their embassies in Tripoli and earlier this week, Spain sent a military plane
to pick up 60 people from Libya. Last one out should turn off the lights,
except by this put all the lights have been blown to sh*t, so never mind………
- Clearly the Oakland
Athletics did not consult their marketing department before pulling the trigger
on one of the boldest moves ahead of Thursday's trade deadline. If they had,
they clearly would not have gone through with the acquisition of ace pitcher
Jon Lester in a deal that included popular slugger Yoenis Cespedes heading out
of town. Cespedes, the All-Srtar outfielder and two-time defending Home Run
Derby champion, was sent to Boston along with a draft pick in exchange for
Lester and outfielder Jonny Gomes as the A’s sought to bolster their
already-sterling rotation. Normally that sort of balls-out trade would be a
great move for a team….unless it happened to have 10,000 T-shirts emblazoned
with the last name of the All-Star they just shipped out. See, the A’s had
planned a promotional giveaway for their home game against the Kansas City
Royals on Saturday, when the first 10,000 fans would receive a Cespedes-themed
T-shirt with the message "La Potencia" -- Spanish for "The
Power" -- written across the front. That seemed like a wonderful idea, but
it turned out to be a disastrous one now that Cespedes is no longer a member of
the organization. As one would expect in such a situation, the A's announced on
their official Twitter account that they still planned on giving away the
T-shirts before Saturday's game. The only real options were giving the shirts
out and recognizing all Cespedes did for their team or treating the shirts like
the ones waiting for teams that lose major sporting events – shirts proclaiming
them to be champions in the event they actually won the big one. Those shirts
are shipped to a Third World country whose residents have no idea what they
say. Just handing out free shirts to fans who will be happy to have them anyhow
seems like an easier alternative………
- The Air Force has lots of important duties on a daily
basis including protecting the air space of the United States from would-be
invaders and of course, joining in efforts to help control mosquito-borne
illnesses plaguing South Florida. Yes, the United States Air Force has been
called in for the spraying of Miami-Dade County with a very powerful
insecticide from a plane. The process actually began Wednesday morning, but had
to be delayed later in the day due to bad weather. The C130H plane, carrying 90
gallons of the powerful insecticide, returned to the air around 6 p.m. Thursday
evening. “Hopefully, depending on the weather tonight, we’ve already done the
area here over the base and our plan is to be southwest of the base tonight—in
Homestead Redlands area,” said Lt. Colonel Frank Galati from the Homestead Air
Reserve Base. The insecticide in question is being used to help control the
spread of dangerous diseases carried by mosquitoes like malaria, west Nile,
dengue fever and chikungunya, the latter of which has most recently been seen
with two cases in South Florida. It can be deadly and symptoms include muscle
and joint pain, headaches and bleeding of the nose and gums. Despite the
dangers, some locals have expressed concerns about the safety of the spray
being used on account of its chemical components. None of them seems to be thankful
that the Air Force showed up to help them………
- Some bands rehearse intensely for and spend hours
preparing for gigs. The Libertines are not one of those bands. When Pete Doherty and his
perpetually drug-addled self is involved, professionalism and attention to
detail aren't exactly at the top of the agenda. For example, The Libertines
played to thousands of people at London's Hyde Park last month as part of this
year's British Summer Time Festival and yet, they didn’t exactly treat the gig
like a big deal. In fact, they have revealed that they rehearsed for "one
hour" before taking to the stage. That intense period of preparation came
after they performed two warm-up gigs in Glasgow and didn’t bother to rehearse
prior to either of them. According to drummer Gary Powell , one planned
practice session in Hamburg was disrupted after Doherty drove the band away
from their rehearsal space in the camper van he currently lives in. "While
we were inside looking around he decided to kidnap us and drove off,"
Powell said. "We ended up down the Reeperbahn getting hassled by some
prostitutes and watching the football. Hilarious.” There was actually a plan
for a rehearsal on the morning of the Hyde Park gig, but Carl Barat flew from
Paris to London the day before the gig after, "realizing it was probably
what the occasion demanded.” That seems to make little sense, but the show
itself seemed to go well and the audience didn’t boo The Libertines off the
stage, so maybe not rehearsing is the way to go……….
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