- It’s
time for some residents of Bend, Oregon to start giving a crap about where
their pets give a crap. Scooping up poop is simply a responsibility that comes
when one owns a dog, but not everyone gets that or has the modest level of
character needed to carry a plastic bag and remove dog feces from the ground
when that poop drops beyond the limits of their own property. Residents in the
area of Pine Ridge Elementary School in Bend are facing their own poop-idemic
and have chosen to fight back in an unusual way. It all started with a local
family who created numerous, clever signs and planted them right next to every
dog dropping left on the lawns in their area. Their idea caught on and soon,
there were close to 300 signs marking the spots. Neighbors applauded the family
for taking action against those who walk their dogs, allow Fido to drop a deuce
in someone else’s yard and then simply keep walking as if nothing happened or
the whole world is simply one big extension of their lawn at home. Stories of
people walking out their door on a Sunday morning and stepping into a pile of
poop or ending up sole-first in a mass of manure on the way to or from school
began to emerge and while the signs may not have eradicated the problem,
drawing attention to it is the first step in a process that this activist posse
hope will eventually create a community in which folks have the dignity and
common courtesy to clean up what their dogs are putting down……..
- There
are times when social media makes life extremely awkward for all involved. The American
Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament was a place for awkward over
the weekend thanks to the Tulane Green Wave, who upset No. 2 seed Houston 72-69
on Friday night to reach the championship semifinals, but did so with a
lame-duck coach who learned that he was a lame-duck coach from fans seated
behind the bench during the game. After report surfaced on social media in the
first half that Tulane would fire head coach Ed Conroy at the conclusion of the
season, the 10th-seeded Green Wave toppled Houston while their coach digested
the news that he would likely be canned once the game - or the next one - came
to an end. "I have not," Conroy said when asked if he's been told
anything specifically about his future. "You're going to come together and
play harder. Anybody who says those things right now doesn't have those kids'
best interest at heart." True, but those reporting and relaying those
rumors isn't responsible for the best interests of Tulane’s players. Conroy has
spent six seasons at Tulane and posted a 92-103 record that includes just one
appearance each in the CIT and CBI postseason tournaments. He never finished
above .500 in league play while with the Green Wave, losing at least 15 games
every season, so even though he signed a contract extension in 2014 that ran
through the end of next season, the end came Saturday when the Green Wave
crashed out of the AAC tournament and sealed his fate to cap an awkward weekend
that owes much of its awkwardness to Twitter……..
- Been
longing to visit the former official residence of one of the most hated rulers
in the history of Eastern Europe? Then this is a fortunate day for you because
the official residence of the Ceausescu family has been opened to the Romanian
public 26 years since the über-despised pair were overthrown. This weekend,
some 300 people were allowed to visit the Spring Palace in Bucharest's upscale
Primaverii district for free, but don’t expect those free passes to continue. This
week, visitors will be able to tour the one-storied palace for tickets costing
15 lei to 30 lei ($3.70-$7.40). It’s a decent price for a first look at the
palace, which was built after Ceausescu came to power in 1965 and remained the
family's residence until 1989. Proving that oppressive despots are regular
people just like the rest of us, Nicolae Ceausescu even had his compound
expanded so his parents and in-laws could move in, making for one big, happy,
dictatorial family under one roof. The happy times came to an end when Nicolae
and Elena Ceausescu were shot dead during a December 1989 revolt and since
then, the palace and its marble and gilded features in the ostentatious style
fashionable at the time it was built has stood as an off-limits reminder of one
of the most forgettable eras in the country’s history. It’s a rather hideous
hodgepodge of Neoclassicism and late Renaissance, but if it can make some money
for Romania without having to convince anyone to actually buy its ugly ass,
then that’s not such a terrible thing……….
- This
one cuts. It cuts like a freaking knife. Canadian Prime Minister, er, ‘80s
rocker Bryan Adams has crafted so many epic(ally cheesy) mainstream rock
ballads over the years, bringing endless joy to Canucks and fans of vocally strained
mainstream rock with extremely cheesy music videos around the world. He’s
crafted the aforementioned “Cuts Like a Knife” along with "The Summer of
'69" and "Please Forgive Me," but Egyptian customs officials
either don’t know Adams’ contributions to music or simply have an affinity for
defacing valuable instruments because when the singer traveled through the
Cairo International Airport when a true musical injustice befell one of his
prized possessions. In a Facebook post, Adams accused customs officials of
scribbling on his vintage six-string guitar using a green marker. "Airport
customs graffiti on my 1946 Martin D-18 from Egypt," Adams wrote. His
other photos from the trip show the Grammy winner performing near the Sphinx
and Pyramids of Giza, but it’s the photo of the guitar and graffiti near its
neck that generated the most reaction. "Thank you for writing about the guitar,
I really appreciate it, it will be fixed no problem," Adams wrote to his
Egyptian fans on Facebook. "The incident of defacing our instruments at
airport customs is annoying, but it needed to be said," the singer said.
"Much love to you all and look forward to bringing my family to visit you
one day soon. ... Next time no green markers please!" At least Adams is
showing a sense of humor about the whole situation and while he can certainly
have the guitar restored, his next trip through customs in Egypt might not be a
very pleasant experience………
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