- China, you have company. The Asian power remains one of
the biggest polluters in the world and its cities routinely clog the skies
above with billions of cubic centimeters of pollution and cause citizens to don
protective health masks on their faces to safeguard their lungs, but Paris -
site of a climate-change accord world powers agreed to in an effort to save the
planet from imminent doom not so long ago - is jumping into the fray and its
current plight has officials trying to fight the city’s worst winter pollution
in a decade by banning many cars from the streets in a bid to clear the smog
from the French capital. This sudden le-surge
in pollution is being caused by cold weather and windless conditions
trapping exhaust fumes and smoke from wood fires in the atmosphere, according
to the good air sniffers of the AirParif air monitoring service. Parisians are
facing hostile skies as the current level of fine airborne particles is at 60
percent of the level in Beijing - much closer than anyone wants to be to the
rare air occupied by one of the world’s most notoriously polluted cities. In
response to the lung-threatening conditions, officials in Paris announced that
private cars with license plates ending in odd numbers are banned from the
streets between 5:30 a.m. and midnight. The rule has been in place for two days
now, alternating between even and odd plates, and traffic police fined more
than 1,700 drivers Tuesday for breaking the rules. To incentivize leaving the
Smart Car or Peugeot in the garage, city officials are also offering public
transit for free…….
- If you don’t think one of the top free-agent sluggers on
the market will sign with you, just keep your mouth shut and move on, Baltimore
Orioles general manager Dan Duquette. Duquette apparently felt like free agent
Jose Bautista, previously of Baltimore’s division rival Toronto, wasn’t going
to sign with the Orioles this offseason, so rather than accept that quietly,
the GM decided to make up a thoroughly ridiculous story blaming/crediting his
team’s fans with “inspiring” the team not to pursue Bautista. "We told
[Bautista's] agent that we are not interested because our fans don't like
him," Duquette said . "Our fans don't like Jose Bautista, with good
reason." The former Toronto Blue Jays outfielder, now a free agent, has
definitely clashed with the Orioles in the past, most notably a number of
incidents with Orioles pitcher Darren O'Day and outfielder Adam Jones dating
back to 2013, when O'Day and Bautista exchanged words after the slugger struck
out. Following a Bautista homer later in the game, the two barked at each other
again and the next year, O'Day plunked Bautista in what appeared to be
retaliation for Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman throwing at an Orioles hitter. The
hostilities continued in April 2015, when Jones took exception to a Bautista
bat flip after a home run and they too shouted angrily at one another. Trying
to couch his remarks, Duquette did note that the money Bautista wants could
also be an issue, saying "of course, that may change. But the [qualifying
offer] makes things difficult." Oddly enough, Bautista's agent, Jay Alou,
said he never had such a conversation with Duquette, further upping the
potential that the GM is either a) full of sh*t or b) trying to drive down
Bautista’s asking price…….
- Normally, coating anything in the United States in
anything bacon-related is cause for outright joy. But one group for whom that
is decidedly untrue is Muslims, who definitely don’t want any pig-derived
products on or near them because their religion views the muck-loving animals
as unclean. That includes Galveston, Texas restaurateur Asad Khan, who owns
ZaZa Bar And Bites. Khan and his community are definitely not cool with someone
smearing bacon grease and bacon strips on his restaurant twice in the past
month, including on the door handle. According to Khan, he has also received
phone calls telling him to return to his native Pakistan, though police haven’t
determined whether there is a link between the vandalism and the phone calls. Either
way, it’s the sort of small-minded, xenophobic bigotry that flared up far too
often during the just-concluded presidential election, yet that type of
horrific hate has existed in America for as long as the country has existed, so
discrimination is unfortunately alive and well with too many. North Texas is
home to an armed group known for staging protests outside of mosques, so the
Lone Star State isn't really representing itself all that well in the love,
tolerance and understanding department of late. What’s surprising is that prior
to these incidents, Khan didn’t have security cameras at his business, but he
plans to install them to discourage similar ugly acts in the future. The
Council on American-Islamic relations is calling on police to investigate and
many in the community have been dining at the restaurant since the vandalism in
order to show their support for Khan……..
- Memo to Londoners frequenting the sort of trendy pubs
where a star of a popular cable television zombie drama might hang out: Keep
your eyes peeled for a thick, bound stack of paper that looks like it might
contain the intimate secrets of that show. It seems that “Fear The Walking Dead”
star Frank Dillane, who plays Nick Clark in the zombie show, both enjoys beer
and has a bad habit of leaving his scripts behind when he visits his favorite
drinking establishments. Dillane admitted that since the show premiered last
year as a spin-off to “The Walking Dead,” he hasn’t followed through on
standing orders to shred his copy of scripts. “We have to shred our scripts –
I’m forever leaving my scripts in pubs. I could get in trouble… I have done it
numerous times,” Dillane said. “I’ve left them in a few pubs. There are
probably a few [floating around]… they are very strict on that you are not
allowed to [leave them lying around].” Given his absent-mindedness, Dillane
admitted that he’s surprised that there haven’t been any leaks yet. He added
that he’s willing to take the fall if they do, but at this point, maybe it’s
best that no one knows what’s coming on a show spun off of a series whose
ratings have plummeted in recent months. “The Walking Dead” is sinking in the
ratings and that could rub off on “Fear,” even though the spin-off has shown
that it has enough juice to stand on its own, at least for the time being……..
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