- Selfies and other so-not-candid shots snapped for social
media are very literally a hazard to picture subjects’ health. The growing list
of people who have fallen off cliffs or into bodies of water because they just
had to get that epic photo for their Instagram feed or to Snapchat to their
friends would have been enough, but that list received a fatal addition over
the weekend when a man posing for a photo in front of a moving
train in Oregon was struck and killed by another train that he didn’t notice heading
in the other direction. This would-be viral legend was traveling on a
Tacoma-to-Portland road trip with a female companion when the two of them made
what was supposed to be a quick stop at train tracks along the Kalama River.
Their plan was to grab a quick lung dart break and snap a few pictures while
they were there, but that plan had some major flaws. A northbound train passed
by and thinking he had the perfect photo op, the man "walked out between
the northbound and southbound set of train tracks to pose for pictures as the
train passed by him," Cowlitz County Sheriff's Chief Criminal Deputy
Charlie Rosenzweig said. Sadly, not paying attention despite walking on the
very tracks where Amtrak train was approaching on the southbound tracks was the
lethal punch line for this story and the man was struck and killed while posing
for a photo, Rosenzweig added. There aren't any great ways to shuffle off this
mortal coil, but this one should qualify the unidentified victim for the Darwin
Awards, given annually to the person who does humanity the biggest favor by
removing himself or herself from the gene pool……….
- At least it’s a better option than donating to the next
Scott Stapp album. TLC might be two-thirds of a has-been pop/R&B group that
put out some wildly overrated albums nearly two decades ago, but if they’re
asking for $150,000 to fund their new release, then giving them a few bucks is
much wiser than acceding to the former Creed frontman’ plea for $300,000 to
crank out another collection of unlistenable, preachy arena rock. The TLC
request came from Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas and Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins, who are putting
the album together without founding member Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes, who was
killed in a car crash in La Ceiba, Honduras. The group made its pitch via
Kickstarter last month and nearly tripled their asking price by raising
$430,000. It will be their fifth and final album and first since 2002's “3D,” which dropped seven months
after Lopez’s passing. To entice fans to give, the group offered them the
chance to receive old music video outfits, an exercise class with member,
slumber parties, signed vinyl, movie dates, phone calls, outgoing voicemail
messages and more. It was a mildly sad offering to befriend/pimp out what
remains of their credibility in order to get money for an album, but anything
in pursuit of a dream, eh? They even hooked fellow pop hack Katy Perry, who
pledged $5,000 and received the gift of a slumber party with Watkins. Pledges
began at $5 and Thomas explained how the idea got rolling. "I got on
Twitter later than most. I already had fans asking, 'When are you coming back?
We need more music,'", she said. "Then once our biopic came out, the
requests were just overwhelming. Fans have even been sending ideas for what
they want a new album cover to look like – they get so creative. They have so
much love for us, and we thought, 'We gotta do this, and we have to involve the
fans.'" She even had the audacity to suggest that offering perks in exchange
for Kickstarter contributions was “outside the box,” which is both cute and
clueless/naïve………
- Don’t you just hate it when thee best part of a country
gets wrecked, the part that made you love that country so much in the first
place? No, this has nothing to do with America and keeping it the way it is by
erecting 50-foot- high walls with 10-foot metal spikes on top and a moat in
front of it filled with alligators to eat any potential border crashers. This
is a tale that hits much closer to home for a vital group – the über-rich. For
many years, wealthy folks have looked to evade taxes and keep more of their
not-so-hard-earned cash by funneling it into back accounts in foreign tax
havens where it’s safe and secure. Those places have included the Cayman
Islands and until now, Switzerland. Cross the Swiss off the list of places to
stash that eight-figure nest egg because today is the day the Swiss sold out by
inking a deal with neighboring Italy to end Swiss banking
secrecy. The neighboring countries, in the agreement signed in Milan, promised
to exchange information for tax purposes in line with international standards.
It’s easy to understand why Italy wanted this deal; it needs all the help it
can get to help it fight tax evasion. The law stipulates that Italians with
Swiss bank accounts can voluntarily disclose them, pay the tax due and incur
milder sanctions if they do so by September. According to Italy's finance
ministry, its authorities can immediately try to "pinpoint potential
Italian tax evaders who keep wealth in Swiss territory." After high-fiving
himself and enjoying some biscotti, Premier Matteo Renzi claimed that the deal means
"billions of euros" will return to Italy in tax revenues. The real
question is how the hell Switzerland sold out so many people who trusted it not
just for the world’s best cheese, chocolate and skiing and how they plan to
live with themselves now………
- Baseball players are among the most ridiculously
superstitious souls walking the planet. They have lucky golden thongs, they eat
the same meal before every game believing it impacts their hitting and they
refuse to wash various articles of clothing or shave in order to keep
themselves on a hot streak at the plate. So if Atlanta Braves outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. decided to go back to
using his government name instead of playing under B.J., short for Bossman --
his father, Manny's, nickname – Junior because he believed it would help him
recover from two of the worst seasons of his career, no one would have a second
thought. But according to Upton, that’s not why he’s changing his moniker. He’s
adamant that his decision to change his first name has nothing to do with his
struggles over the past two seasons. "This has nothing to do with starting
a new chapter," he said. "I just wanted to. My father thought enough
to give me his name, so why not?" His full name is Melvin Emanuel Upton
and he said that most of his friends already call him "Mel or
Melvin." "Nobody really calls me B.J., except at the stadium,"
he said. In truth, the Braves obviously don’t give a damn what name Upton uses
as long as he comes a lot closer to earning the money he’ll receive in this third
year of a five-year, $75 million deal with Atlanta, the biggest free-agent
contract in Braves history. In the first year of that deal, Upton gave the team
a .184 batting average and struck out in more than one-third of his at-bats before
his ass was benched. Last season, he sort of upgraded those numbers by blasting
the ball over the yard to the tune of .208 with 12 homers and 35 RBIs. At this
point, his 2012 season with the Tampa Bay Rays, in which he belted a
career-high 28 home runs while batting .246, seems like Barry Bonds, Babe
Ruth and Ken Griffey Jr. rolled into one by comparison. "[Those years] are
over with," Upton said. "They're gone, and I can't change them. So I
just need to work to the future and get ready for this year." Whatever you
day, B.J. Melvin Emmanuel Upton II Jr…………
No comments:
Post a Comment