- If the
St. Louis Cardinals are a Major League Baseball team worth hundreds of millions
of dollars, then why couldn’t they afford to spend $500 bucks to pay some
community college-attending hacker to help them with illegally breaking into a
rival team’s database? You know, so they wouldn’t be right where they are now, being
investigated by the FBI for allegedly hacking into networks and trying to steal
information about the Houston Astros? There are probably 1,000 hackers in
Missouri alone who could have helped the Cardinals break in and (allegedly)
thieve statistics, scouting reports and internal discussions about players,
trades and other proprietary information, so the fact that the federal
government is bringing the legal smack down on St. Louis is just unnecessary.
The investigation began last year after some information was posted anonymously
online and is reportedly close to a conclusion, prompting MLB the Cardinals and
Astros to issue statements on the case. It looks really bad for the Cardinals,
as the FBI and Justice Department reportedly
have evidence that Cardinals officials allegedly tapped into the Astros'
database. Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred took the only stance he could given
that the FBI and Justice Department are involved, saying that MLB will not
reach judgment until the investigation progresses further. "I think until
we know, this is different from when we might investigate, for example, a drug
case where we're one of the investigators," Manfred said. You think? When
federal laws are being broken and real jail time is involved as opposed to a
50-game ban for PED use, then it probably is different. If both the Cardinals and
MLB have been served with subpoenas, then sh*t just got real. The Astros
claimed to have been victims of hackers who accessed their servers and both the
FBI and Major League Baseball dug in and determined that Cardinals officials
gained access to the Astros' database by using a list of passwords associated
with Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow dating to his tenure with the Cardinals
from 2003 until he left for Houston after the 2011 season. Next time, don’t use
password or 1234 as your password, Jeff……...
- Man,
the Waldorf Astoria just ain’t as classy as it used to be. The famed ritzy
hotel in Manhattan that was featured in a 1945 film, "Week-end at the
Waldorf” has long been known as a high-end establishment where the rich and
famous go when in New York City for a few days or if they need to hold a
wedding reception so expensive that the average engaged couple could buy a new
home and matching new cars with the same amount of money. Now, it’s a place
where some absent-minded hoodlum with his piece tucked into his waistband
accidentally squeezes off a round, grazing a woman in the head when the bullet
ricochets through the lobby. The scene was pretty damn exciting over the
weekend with guests were taking pictures in a lobby when the gun went off while
it was in the pocket of a guest. The woman who was strafed by the stray bullet was not seriously injured, while four others
were injured when they were hit by shattered glass or debris and treated at
local hospitals. The guest carrying the gun was detained and questioned by
police, but no charges were immediately filed. Rather than shut the show down
and cancel the entire event, the Waldorf Astoria allowed the couple to continue
with the wedding ceremony, but asked guests to leave after 10 p.m. Wedding
receptions ending that early generally aren't a lot of fun, but when there’s a
chance of getting 50 Cent-ed because one of your fellow guests can't keep it -
meaning the ordinance in their gun - in their pants, then sending everyone home
early is probably wise. "The safety and security of our guests and team
members are the hotel's top priorities," Waldorf Astoria said in a
statement. Hmm, is it then safe to assume that metal detectors next to the
guest book will be the hotel’s next feature at weddings it hosts……….
- It’s
that time again, as in time to mine even more of that cash from the bottomless
gold mine that is The Beatles’ legacy. There have been dozens of documentaries,
movies, books and tribute albums and TV specials released across the past three
decades, but there is always room for another and it will come courtesy of the
band’s famed album recording sessions at London's Abbey Road Studios. A new
stage musical based on the sessions is in the works and a replica of the iconic
building's Studio Two will be built at the capital's Royal Albert Hall for the
production. The musical won't debut until next April, but it aims to paint an
accurate picture of how the sessions unfolded as The Beatles laid down several
epic albums, including 'Revolver' and 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.’ The
musical's producer, Stig Edgren, is trying to distinguish what he’s doing from
the ever-growing horde of Beatles-themed projects hitting the market each year.
"It will be a musical documentary giving audiences an honest, respectful
and accurate re-creation of how music history was made,” Edgren said. The
producer insisted that the actors he casts will not be trying to impersonate
John, Paul, George and Ringo as if they were some hack tribute group hitting
the stage at your average county fair. "I didn't want it to be another lookalike
show...We're not trying to look like The Beatles. We [are] trying to sound like
them. The idea is you're watching them in recording session mode,” Edgren added.
Whatever you say, Stig. Calling this some sort of innovative, revolutionary
take on The Beatles is as much of a stretch as you can make, but there are
enough aging fans of the band still hanging around that you can probably sell
out a few shows and squeeze a few favorable reviews out of sympathetic
critics……….
- The
unwillingness of people to accept the fact that a massive natural disaster is
hurtling their way and will bulldoze everything they hold dear is weirdly
powerful - or at least it would be if these deniers weren't about to be buried
beneath a wave of hot, molten lava. Meet thousands of Indonesian villagers who
are steadfastly refusing to leave their homes on the slopes of
one of Indonesia's most volatile volcanoes despite warnings that it is poised
for a powerful eruption. Mount Sinabung, one of about 130 active volcanoes in
Indonesia, has remained at the highest alert level for nearly two weeks and
this week, at least 48 avalanches of hot
ash barreled down its slopes, with the biggest reaching 1.5 miles
southeastward. Maybe two weeks of high alert has the local somewhat numb to the
danger they face, having built up a sort of resistance to it. That doesn’t
change the fact that the volcano in northern Sumatra, one of Indonesia's main
islands, has also been shooting smoke and ash more than 2,300 feet into the air
and could go boom at any moment. The good news is that several thousand people,
including women carrying babies in slings, have fled the mountain in police trucks since Monday
after the volcanic activity intensified over the weekend. These ash-cloaked
folks are the smart ones, but only 10,000 of about 33,000 people living within
the main danger zone have moved into tent camps or government buildings a safe
distance from the volcano. But Subur Tambun, who heads the local disaster
mitigation agency, is worried about those who remain. "The villagers insisted on tending crops,"
Tambun said. "They are confident of being able to escape a major eruption.
All we can do is ask them to leave." The 8,070-foot Mount Sinabung has
erupted sporadically since 2010 after four centuries dormant and just last
year, a massive explosion destroyed villages around its slopes and killed at
least 17 people. Short-term memory or sheer stubbornness seems to be fueling
those who have ignored pleas to vacate the main danger zone four miles to the south and southeast of the peak. Yes, because
who wants to miss their chance to be part of the modern remake of the horror
movie that was Pompeii………..
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