- Did you know that there’s a country called Estonia? And
did you know that Estonia has a navy? Oh, and did you know that the commander
of said Estonian Navy has resigned after customs officials said they found
smuggled alcohol and cigarettes aboard an Estonian ship taking part in NATO
operations on the Baltic Sea? It’s all true and why this sort of scandal isn’t
typically a reason you want the whole world looking at your tiny, oft-ignored
Baltic nation, sometimes you have to take what you can get and in this case,
what Estonia got it Captain Sten Sepper taking full responsibility for the 56
cases of undeclared cigarettes and 1,000 liters of undeclared liquor customs
officials seized from aboard the Estonian minehunter Sakala earlier this month.
Yes, dude was brought down by booze and lung darts, according to the Estonian Defense
Ministry. No offense to Estonia, but it’s not exctly like the commander was
accepting bribes to overlook human trafficking through the port, or selling
shiploads of illegal weapons to mercenaries on the dock. Yet cancer sticks and
quality vodka were enough for Sepper to tender his resignation to Defense
Minister Hannes Hanso, who described the incident as "unacceptable." The
taint of the scandal was enough to also compel the Sakala's commander, Lt.
Cmdr. Ott Laanemets, to announce his resignation. The scandal remains cloaked
in a bit of mystery, as authorities haven't released details on where the
contraband was picked up or where it was being taken, although a criminal
investigation has been launched………
- Remember all of those warm, fuzzy feelings swirling around
Major League Baseball as the 2016 season came to a close? Yeah, well MLB owners
and the players’ union may be about to take a blowtorch to all of them. The two
sides are barreling toward a Dec. 1 deadline for a new collective bargaining
agreement and if they don’t strike a new accord, then a lockout is likely to
ensue. The good news is that those surrounding the negotiations are optimistic
that talks have progressed to the point where there’s a legitimate chance for a
new deal before owners impose a lockout. Owners and the union have been hung up
for weeks over several major issues, one of them being the idea of an
international draft rather than a giant free-for-all allowing teams to throw
massive bonuses and negotiating fees at international prospects. Other topics
on the table include the elimination of draft-pick compensation for teams that
sign free agents and a new luxury tax/revenue-sharing formula. Despite the
progress, owners have reportedly made preparations for a potential lockout of
the union, though the progress has been helped along by the fact that a lockout
is a hard line both sides must deal with rather than a soft deadline that could
be pushed back. And true, a December lockout wouldn't result in lost games, but
it would put a lockdown on all typical offseason activity, including free-agent
movement and cutting off funding of benefits to players. Not only that, locking
someone out creates all sorts of bad feelings and could set the negotiating
process back several steps in the wake of a memorable postseason that produced
the highest World Series ratings in a decade and a half. The clock is ticking,
fellas………
- And this is why we don’t keep marsupials as pets. Because trying
to contain a kangaroo is not like trying to keep a dog chained up, something a
Rankin County, Mississippi family learned when Boomer, their pet kangaroo,
escaped from his cage this week. The animal’s owners posted a Facebook message
claiming that Boomer and several dogs got out of their yard when an unknown
individual opened the gates. Rankin County Undersheriff Raymond Duke and other
Rankin County Sheriff's deputies began searching for the AWOL ‘roo around 5
p.m. and thanks to a call alerting them to a conspicuously out-of-place,
two-legged, tail-having hopper on Star Road near Highway 49. Deputies hurried
to the scene and because local sheriff’s deputies typically aren’t trained in
proper kangaroo apprehension, they attempted to lasso and tranquilize the
animal but were unsuccessful. Boomer got away, escaping into the woods.
Authorities continued to work with the family to find and apprehend the missing
kangaroo and according to the owner, Boomer ran straight to her husband when the
animal was finally located a second time. It remains unclear who decided it
would be funny to release the hounds - and their kangaroo friend - for a romp
around town, but in the wake of this incident, the family has chosen not the
best option - giving their kangaroo to a zoo where it might actually be
well-housed - but rather to install extra surveillance equipment and locks to
ensure that the gate is not opened again. Yes, because that will definitely fix
the problem forever…….
- Rarely has someone combined dork-dom and would-be-rock-and-roll-badassery
quite the way a group of nerds known as Galactic Empire have and now, these
aspiring rock stars are one step closer to realizing their dream - of having
their mundane metal offerings ignored by millions. Galactic Empire are, of
course, a Star Wars-themed metal band who released their cover version of the
franchise’s iconic theme song last year. Based on that effort, they were then
able to raise $61,000 through a crowdfunding campaign and with that money, they
will be able to record a full album and play tour dates in support of the
project. The boys of Galactic Empire announced that their self-titled album
will be released on Feb. 3 via Rise Records. A post on their Kickstarter page describes
the band as “a heavy metal band comprised of the most sinister villains in the
universe.” Yes, as long as patterning your bands’ style after a fake universe
of outer-space weirdos makes you sinister, then these guys are truly hard core.
“We have successfully infiltrated earth’s “internet” with our first music
video, accumulating 8 million total views, press coverage from Huffington Post,
Entertainment Weekly and MSNBC (among many others), and a live network
television performance on E! Entertainment during their coverage of the 2016
Academy Awards,” Galactic Empire wrote in the post. “The puny humans of your
small forest planet Earth have indicated a desire to see the mighty Galactic
Empire perform our music in a live scenario. We would be most pleased to
fulfill this request.” Dweebs to the cosmic end, eh fellas…….
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