Limits of Tebow, FEMEN rage and chili plants' fragility

- Researchers don’t spend nearly enough time digging into life’s truly important issues. Rather than asking how to cure cancer or slow the degenerative effects of Alzheimer’s, why aren't the smart guys in lab coats focusing on key questions like why peppers are so spicy, what can be done to make them spicier and how they grow? A team of researchers led by David Haak of Indiana University understand this reality and it’s why they’ve done some vital research to discover that the spiciest peppers have the most trouble where water is scarce. These über-spicy peppers produce fewer seeds with less water and therefore leave fewer offspring, giving non-spicy chilies a distinct advantage in dry climates. "There is a trade-off. The pungent plants aren't allowed to use their water resource as well as non-pungent plants," Haak said. When the climate is flipped and the environment is extremely damp, spicy chilis are more successful and non-spicy chilies are less able to fight off fungi. For the study, Haak and other researchers grew wild chilies in a lab to study the effects of different environmental conditions. They previously made five grueling sampling trips to Bolivia from 2002 through 2009 to study the spiciness of chilies in different climates. In 2008, Haak’s team discovered that the pungency of wild peppers varies by where they are growing. Spiciness is determined by a pepper’s amount of spicy chemicals called capsaicinoids and capsaicinoids vary from climate to climate. Researchers focused on peppers from varying climates of southeastern Bolivia and sampled from regions that were dry and arid and also those that were extremely damp. They found the spice-less peppers were more abundant in areas with little water and that the opposite was true as the climate shifted. With a few sample plants in tow, researchers headed back to the lab and studied both types of chilis. The plants were deprived of water during their fruiting cycle and researchers learned that when it's dry out, production of capsaicinoids can be costly to the plants. Spicier plants ended up producing 50 percent fewer seeds if they were water-starved, while the non-hot plants were unaffected. What’s to blame for the lack of seed output? Haak said spicier chili plants had more stomata — the pores that let water and air in and out of the plant cells - and like tomatoes and other relatives, chili peppers aren't very good at regulating how these pores open and close. Losing more water led to fewer seeds. Problem solved. More on this riveting research is in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences…………

- Morons and explosives are an unavoidable and disastrous mixture. The draw explosive devices have to a person is inversely proportional to their IQ and Barratt Duncan Young of Murrayville, Ga. does not appear to rank high on the ol’ IQ scale. He was taken to a local medical facility after he attempted to modify a World War II-style pineapple grenade and in a totally unforeseen occurrence, failed miserably. According to police, Young modified the grenade and refilled it with explosive material. Somewhere along the way he made a wrong move and the grenade blew up in his hands. That led to a rather raucous explosion around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at his home on Underwood Drive in Murrayville. In a move that still needs to be explained, Young had a friend drive him to a gas station several miles from his home and was located there by officers. The friend, who was with Young when the grenade exploded but was clearly not intelligent enough to realize the situation was literally going to blow up in Young’s face, was not injured when the incendiary device went boom. Police investigators later searched Young’s home and found materials used to make homemade explosives, according to Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks with the Hall County Sheriff's Office. Investigators then searched a second home in the area and found two more inert grenades. Young was taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center, where he was treated for injuries and burns to his face, hands and abdomen. Once he finished there, he was arrested on several charges including possessing and manufacturing an explosive device, reckless conduct, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and consuming alcohol under the age of 21. That’s right, alcohol was involved. Who could have guessed that one? Alcohol and modified explosives, a truly winning combination. One positive from the investigation is that investigators do not believe the explosives were related to domestic terrorism, nor were they intended to be used to hurt anyone. In truth, the only person injured was the only person who deserved to be injured…………

- Even the supernatural power of one Timothy Richard Tebow has its limits. Tebow has stepped in as the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos and led them from 1-4 to 8-6 and first place in the AFC West despite his inadequacies as an actual quarterback, winning legions of maniacal followers along the way. But even he cannot overcome the morass of mediocrity that is the Buffalo Bills. Tebow’s Broncos are set to play in Buffalo on Saturday and with the Bills mired in a seven-game losing streak that has knocked them out of playoff contention, the Buffalo faithful aren't exactly beating on the ticket office window to get their seats for the game. In fact, the Bills announced Wednesday they still had about 24,000 tickets left for their final home game of the season. If fans aren't enthused enough to venture out in unnaturally good weather for late December to see their team for its last home contest of the year and see one of the biggest curiosities in all of professional sports, then maybe Tebow really isn't all that powerful. Unless something changes by the end of the day, the Bills will end their season having their last three home games blacked out. Then again, why go out and watch Tebow from some crappy nosebleed seats in the upper deck when you can sit down in front of your 50” flat screen, flip on the NFL Ticket package and watch the game via satellite…………

- There simply are not enough topless protests in the world. The Ukrainian feminist group Femen understands this and its members regularly doff their clothes to……umm…..make some point…..I think. They pick their issues, pick a place and show up sans shirts and bras. The sight is typically a welcome one for men on either side of a given issue, but the most recent Femen protest took an ugly turn and members who participated in a protest last week. Femen member Oksana Shechko claims she and other protestors were kidnapped, beaten and abused by local security officials in neighboring Belarus after a demonstration there. She alleged that Belarusian authorities were punishing them for a protest in Minsk on Monday in which they bared their breasts to bring attention to President Aleksander Lukashenko’s crackdown on the opposition. In retaliation, security forces allegedly kidnapped the women, interrogated them on a bus for 12 hours, forced them to take off the rest of their clothes in the woods in freezing temperatures and proceeded to beat them, threaten them with death and rape and smear them with paint before cutting off some of their hair and sending them on their way. “It was a real fight for survival,” Shechko said upon returning to Kiev. “We ended up in the hands of the butchers who kill and terrify the Belarusian people.” Shechko also said that she and her fellow protestors were prevented from moving or speaking while they sat on the bus and were eventually left half-naked in a freezing forest to fend for themselves. They eventually received help from local residents and were able to contact the Ukrainian embassy. When the group arrived back in Kiev, they sported bizarre hairstyles courtesy of their captors. Femen member Inna Shevchenko’s hair had been dyed green and some of it cut off in the back. Do they now regret staging a demonstration on the steps of the KGB headquarters? Not according to Shechko, they don’t. The more pressing question is when Femen will be bringing its act to the United States……………

- TV series die every day……or maybe it just seems that way. Series debut and are canceled with whiplash speed and quite a few don’t even survive one season on the air. By the current standard, HBO’s “Bored to Death” is a virtual senior citizen of the airwaves. However, its run is about to end and series creator Jonathan Ames wants to send the show off in style. No, he’s not pushing for a massive budget for the series finale or trying to craft the perfect dramatic storyline to make the finale truly memorable. Instead, Ames wants to use the finale as a means of connecting with the show’s loyal fans. After HBO announced it was canceling the series effective at the end of the current season, Ames has invited viewers to celebrate its three-year run with a drink. He invited fans of the half-hour comedy to join him for a drink - as long as they’re going to be in the greater Manhattan area Wednesday night. "I invite all fans of Bored to Death to come to the Brooklyn Inn tomorrow night, Wednesday, and I'll buy you a drink," Ames said after the announcement. "John Hodgman will be joining me and perhaps other local New York City actors from the show will be there, and we can all toast Bored to Death and a completely loony and improbably three-year run." The gathering will begin around 10 p.m. and go until there aren’t any more drinks to buy. “Bored to Death” debuted on HBO on Sept. 20, 2009, starring Jason Schwartzman as a fictional version of Ames. Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis were part of the cast along with Hodgman. The series third and final season debuted on Oct. 11………….

Don't f*ck with hockey in Canada, Riot Watch! lands in Kazakhstan and Big Brother smacks AT&T

- Don’t f*ck with Canadians favorite sport/religion. Aside from making sure their bacon is round and building a quality shack for ice fishing, there aren't any lessons more vital than not jerking with hockey in the Great White North. Within Canada, there are also specific groups you also do not want to upset and the good people of Quebec are one of those groups. They love their hockey team and they love their French Canadian heritage. Attempts to mess with either of those are bound to go poorly. Just ask the Montreal Canadiens if you doubt this. As with most every team across the National Hockey League, the Canadiens have fired their coach less than halfway through the season (a slight exaggeration perhaps). Jacques Martin was fired Saturday with a 13-12-7 record and Randy Cunneyworth was hired to take his place. Before Cunneyworth could coach a single game, the powers that be in the province were already irate over his hiring. Why? Is it because they don’t believe he has the hockey chops to lead their beloved Habs to a playoff berth? Maybe they feel he’s not a good enough tactician? Nope. The Quebec government upset because Cunneyworth doesn’t speak French. The province's culture minister ominously said she expects the Habs to correct the situation. Christine St-Pierre stopped short of calling for Cunneyworth’s firing, but does not like the fact that he doesn’t speak the province’s official language. Her reason for not advocating the coach’s ouster is that the Habs have supposedly given the impression his hiring is temporary, and she takes them at their word. His interim title suggests as much, but it has done little to placate the angry masses calling for a boycott of products associated with the Canadiens. Identity debates for Quebec are not uncommon and the pro-Canada Charest government often faces pressure from its more nationalist opponents to take a more aggressive stand in protecting Quebec's identity. Those who object to Cunneyworth’s presence on the bench insist the Canadiens are more than just a hockey team and are instead an institution that represents French-Canadian pride. The backlash against the hiring has been severe enough to compel Canadiens owner Geoff Molson to send a letter to fans Monday to explain the hiring of Cunneyworth, who was elevated from his assistant coach job after Martin was fired. "The action was taken to remedy the situation without further delay," Molson wrote. "Randy Cunneyworth is a qualified and experienced coach who has earned the respect of the players and everyone within the organisation." He assured fans the team would find a coach who speaks French at the end of the season when they hire someone on a long-term basis. No word on whether the new coach also needs to love round bacon………


- AT&T has tapped out and the federal government has won. The cell phone giant wilted in the face of heavy resistance from the U.S. government and dropped its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile. AT&T officially announced the decision Monday, killing a deal that would have created by far the nation's largest wireless company. In its bitter declaration of defeat, the company warned that consumers will be worse off because of the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice's successful moves to block the deal. Ominous words of a larger data spectrum necessitated by the surge in popularity of smartphones and tablets were the centerpiece of the corporate complaining. "The AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage," Randall Stephenson, AT&T's CEO, said in a prepared statement. "In the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled." The fight for spectrum is heated because it is a limited quantity and larger companies are hurriedly buying up smaller companies with big spectrum allotments. This month alone, Verizon bid $3.6 billion for spectrum held by a consortium of cable companies and Sprint gave a $1.6 billion boost to partner Clearwire. AT&T went much bigger in attempting a merger in which it, the nation’s second-largest wireless provider, would have purchased the fourth-largest, creating an über-company with well over 120 million subscribers. Both the FCC and DOJ both sought to block the deal by claiming a high probability of higher prices, worse service, less consumer choice and huge job cuts. AT&T eventually took the hint and dropped its bid, but warned in the process that it will be acquiring some smaller companies sooner rather than later. Adding capacity to meet these needs will require policymakers to do two things," Stephenson said. "First, in the near term, they should allow the free markets to work so that additional spectrum is available to meet the immediate needs of the U.S. wireless industry. Second, policymakers should enact legislation to meet our nation's longer-term spectrum needs." Its other major project at the moment is seeking regulatory approval of its $1.9 billion spectrum purchase from Qualcomm even though most experts believe that boost will not be enough to satisfy customers' long-term demands. AT&T will also have to pay T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom a $3 billion breakup fee over the scrapped deal. T-Mobile will stay in business for now, but is not equipped to offer a competitive 4G network and will likely lose ground quickly against its competitors. Ain’t it wonderful when Big Brother steps in and dictates how the world will work…………


- Is anyone stunned to know that James Franco can’t act his way out of a paper bag……or above a D level in a New York University film class? When a so-so role in “Spiderman” and a starring effort in a true cinematic classic like “Pineapple Express” packaged with a bomb-tastic Oscar hosting effort are your thespian calling cards, being considered the Marlon Brando or Robert DeNiro of your generation is a problem you won't really have to cope with. One factor in Franco’s favor is his willingness to take on a large number of projects at once and do them while also attending classes at New York University in Manhattan. Few actors are working toward their college degree while taking on roles and for that, Franco deserves some credit……just not enough to elevate him to the level of average student. He reportedly received a "D" in his NYU acting class and was lucky to snare that mark, according to the professor in the course. The reason Franco’s low mark has come to light is that now-former NYU professor José Angel Santana has filed suit against the university because it allegedly fired him for sticking the actor with a low grade. Santana and his attorney, Matt Blit, alleged that NYU exhibited preferential treatment toward Franco and fired him when he refused to do the same. "I saw what every other student did during [the 3 years I was there], and I saw what [Franco] did at that time, and there's no comparison," Santana claimed. He did praise Franco for being a solid student when he actually bothered to attend class - which the actor allegedly did just two out of 14 times it met. "When he was in my classes he was a model student," Santana said. And the problem is? That’s a pretty solid rate of attendance for any college student, even if Franco’s reason for not attending likely had nothing to do with the usual standbys of oversleeping or being too hung over or stoned to make it to class…………


- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! It may be a different day and a different place, but the spirit of rising up against The Man remains the same. Kazakhstan is the scene of the awesomeness today as hundreds of people took to the streets in western Kazakhstan on Monday in to defy of a bloody police crackdown on striking oil workers that has caused dozens of casualties in the Central Asian nation. In the port city of Aktau on the Caspian Sea, angry protestors clashed with police as a nice extension of three days of battles between police and the striking workers in several cities in the region. The official death count from the four-day-and-counting mini-revolt is 14, so the actual number is likely much higher and human rights groups believe it could be several times higher. In a feeble attempt to pacify the masses, Kazakhstan’s prime minister on Monday announced a government commission to investigate the violence and address the grievances of the striking workers. Hmm, sounds worthless and subject to government corruption, so go for it. The igniter of the violence came Friday in the city of Zhanaozen, not far from Aktau. For reasons that remain unclear and which could not matter less because they sparked some inspiring uprisings, police lit the fuse for the rebellion by inexplicably opening fire on oil workers who had been holding a continuous strike in a central square for six months apparently over a wage dispute. At least 13 people were killed in the unprovoked shooting and within 24 hours the unrest spread to the nearby city of Shetpe, where police again got trigger happy and opened fire after several hundred protesters blocked railroad tracks. One death was confirmed and dozens were wounded, setting up the weekend’s festivities in Aktau. All of the violence could trace its roots to the installation of holiday decorations in the main square in Zhanaozen, purportedly for a government-sponsored children’s party. The striking workers quickly saw through the plan as a feeble ruse to remove them from the square and the showdown with police was on. Mixing all of these ingredients together and they produce Monday’s scene in Aktau, where several hundred people faced off with waves of police officers who were toting shields and armed with automatic weapons. Protestors demanded that authorities lift a block on phone and Internet service in Zhanaozen and draw down troops sent to the region, a demand that has gone unanswered thus far. A state of emergency has been declared for the city and tensions seem to be escalating quickly……………


- Band dorks, know your role and shut your spit valves. When your take on humor and social issues is wanted, you will be told what it is. Until then, dial it down and stop thinking you’re smarter and more clever than the rest of the world. This message goes out specifically to the Missouri State University marching band, which thought it was a marching band of comedians last month during an appearance in downtown Springfield last month. A group of band members known as the pride band was brought in to perform in the town square and decided to spice up their performance with a nice rendition of “Dixie,” a song written in the 1850s that tells the story of a freed black slave pining for the plantation of his birth. Oddly enough, that struck many people as offensive in a place where three black men were lynched in 1906. Those people lodged complaints with the university and the local NAACP office, which condemned the song choice. MSU interim president Clif Smart (ironically named in this case) apologized for what he called a poor choice and the band’s band director, Jerry Hoover, said he's sorry about the selection and didn't understand the significance of the song as it related to the square. Yeah, you probably should have done a little research and understood what the song was about and the history of your city before making that choice. Even though Smart said the song was an "unfortunate selection" that will not be played again in a public venue, the incident is just another example of why we all hate marching bands and wish they would just go away………

Locking up Bond, irony in Lackawanna and soccer as sports' one great constant

- Lackawanna, N.Y.: Incredible irony lives here. Like many towns across America, Lackawanna has a fire department it counts on to keep its citizens safe in the event of fire or emergency. The Lackawanna Fire Department does its best to educate and inform the public on home safety and fire prevention, but perhaps the department should have been directing those messages of safety inward. See, Lackawanna Fire House #3 is not what you would call a safe place. The fire house has been under renovation for the past month, specifically for asbestos abatement. That’s right, the fire house was so out of code that it was rocking some of the most hazardous insulation material known to mankind. What, no lead paint on the windows and lead pipes bringing water to the fire house kitchen? Even with the renovations, testing last week showed unsafe levels of asbestos inside the building. Firefighters demanded the most recent round of testing and hired an independent lab to come in after they started noticing a large amount of dust in the building. Most of the dust was on the building’s second floor, but it was being tracked to other parts of the structure as well. Lab tests showed dangerous levels of asbestos in the that dust and raw building material that was left sitting on the ground. The results contradict air quality tests conducted on the structure, but city officials didn’t exactly spring into action once they were apprised of the testing. After the results came back from the lab on Dec. 8, the city engineer took a full nine days to order firefighters to vacate the building until it can be cleaned up. "A memo was published that we should avoid the second floor as best as possible. That was a less than appropriate response to the level of asbestos that was in the building", said Capt. Thomas Mendez, president of the firefighter’s union. A contractor hired by the city said it would be five to six days to clean up all the dust and asbestos out of the building. Until then, Lackawanna locals are advised to avoid burning things to the ground………….


- When you have a quality star who can actually carry an iconic movie franchise and further its legacy, you probably want to lock them up so you can continue cranking out nearly identical sequel after nearly identical sequel and rake in the cash. That lesson is not lost on producer Michael G. Wilson, who has offered star Daniel Craig a chance to renew his license to kill for five more “James Bond” movies. Craig assumed the role with the distinct advantage of following the consistently underwhelming Pierce Brosnan and his perpetually lifeless Bond performances and has done a solid job as 007. Rewarding him is a good idea even if his most-hyped project at the moment is "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," which hits theaters this week, and not a “Bond” flick. The next film in the spy series, "Skyfall," is currently in production and if Craig accepts the extension he would become the longest-tenured Bond in the 23-and-counting installment franchise, surpassing Roger Moore's seven tours of duty with MI6. "Filming has gone very well so far and I’d love Daniel to surpass Roger's record and do eight pictures. Daniel’s been an absolute pleasure to be around because he takes the role so seriously. There’s really no one more passionate about making these films work than him – he’s a filmmaker’s dream," Wilson said. "A lot of people have said Daniel’s been their favorite Bond since Sean Connery and I can’t argue with them. He’s doing a great job." Again, it’s a sliding scale and following Brosnan helps quite a bit. Keeping Craig could eat up a significant chunk of the budget - he's reportedly earning more than $12 million for "Skyfall" - but there is much to be said for continuity, as those associated with the “Bourne” franchise can confirm. “Skyfall” will begin filming soon in London, Shanghai, Istanbul and Scotland and is set for a late 2012 release with Javier Bardem, Judy Dench, Berenice Marlohe and Ralph Fiennes also on board……………


- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! If you close your eyes and just listen to the anguished screams of protestors being ruthlessly assaulted and abused by riot police, it’s like nothing at all has changed this year in Egypt. Hosni Mubarak could still be in power and the situation in Tahrir Square on Monday would not have unfolded any differently. The sight of hundreds of Egyptian soldiers in riot gear sweeping through Cairo's Tahrir Square early Monday and opening fire on protesters demanding an immediate end to military rule was a perfectly Mubarak thing to do. The Health Ministry confirmed three deaths in the crackdown, raising bringing the death toll for four days of clashes to 14. The latest round of violence in Cairo began Friday when military forces guarding the Cabinet building near Tahrir Square began cracking skulls and stomping protestors participating in a 3-week-old sit-in to demand Egypt's ruling generals immediately surrender power to a civilian authority. Monday’s raid theoretically attempted to keep protesters away from key government buildings near the square and protect parliament and the Interior Ministry, but it quickly veered off that aim and went straight to police looking for any excuse to pummel any protestor in their immediate vicinity. Witnesses reported more than the three deaths confirmed by the government and related stories of troops bum-rushing a mosque on the square and beating up protesters who spent the night inside. Monday’s violence marks the latest battle between pro-democracy protesters and the military. Images of troops attacking protestors have spread online and some of the more disturbing pictures show soldiers dragging women by the hair and ferociously beating protestors who are not even fighting back. Yet even as Monday’s attack reverberated across the country and the world, military council member Maj. Gen. Adel Emara ass-hattedly attempted to defend the use of force against protesters, arguing that the events since Friday amounted to what he called an attempt to "topple the state." Maj. Gen. Emara also took a shot at the media for its coverage of the violence. "There is a methodical and prepared plot to topple the state, but Egypt will not fall," he said. Umm……no and yes. No, it’s not a plot to topple the state, but the Egypt you know and rule over will eventually fall. Accusing protestors of attempting to destroy state property is missing the point all together. Ask yourself why protestors are attempting to destroy state property and you may begin to understand the magnitude of the problems facing Egypt right now. "What are we supposed to do when protesters break the law? Should we invite people from abroad to govern our nation?" Emara asked. What are you supposed to do? How about fix the damn problems that are causing them to riot? In 10 months of rule by the military council, Egyptians have seen what amounts of a continuation of the Egypt they knew under Mubarak’s repressive regime. Stop denying excessive force by troops against protesters, address the crisis before you can turn power over to a legitimate government…………


- Who isn’t clamoring for another reason to quit smoking or to never, ever start that disgusting habit? This news may apply specifically to the ladies, but that doesn’t mean it can’t bring joy to everyone. A new study has discovered a link between tobacco use and skin cancer. That’s right, smoking may in fact up your chances for not one, but two types of cancer! Score. Study lead author Dana Rollison, an associate member in the Moffitt Cancer Center department of cancer epidemiology, in Tampa, Fla., and her team found that women who had squamous cell skin cancer were more likely to have smoked than those who were free from the disease. Also, those who smoked at least 20 years were twice as likely to develop squamous cell skin cancer, a less aggressive form of skin cancer than melanoma. Men also saw a slight increase in their risk for the two types of non-melanoma skin cancer -- basal cell and squamous cell cancer -- but the results weren't statistically significant, the study authors determined. "We don't know why," Rollison said, referring to the difference between women's and men's risk. Doesn’t matter, D., doesn’t matter. What does matter is that hormonal differences affecting the metabolization of nicotine and the body's ability to repair damage to lung DNA caused by smoking suggest that the female hormone estrogen may play a role in links between smoking and skin cancer. In the study, 383 patients with skin cancer were compared to 315 people without the disease and all 698 participants were asked how much they smoked, when they picked up the habit and the total number of years they'd smoked. A total of 355 men and 343 women were included in the study and all were white, as white people are the race most likely to suffer from skin cancer, Rollison said. She and her team found that men who had basal cell skin cancer were significantly more likely to have smoked for at least 20 years than men with no cancer. Despite the link, researchers were not able to definitively establish a cause and effect firmly tying smoking to skin cancer. Other experts were unsurprised by the study’s results between smoke wafting from cancer sticks is known to contain carcinogens and loser smokers spend much of their day blowing the smoke and ash around their faces. Even if the link between smoking and skin cancer is not definite at this point, the mere possibility that it could increase a person’s chance for contracting a second type of cancer is reason enough to ramp up the effort to ban smoking and all tobacco products immediately and permanently. Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, with about 2 million cases are treated annually, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. To read more about this very valid, 7,887,441st reason to hate smoking, hop on the Internet and peruse the online issue of the journal Cancer Causes Control…………


- Soccer, it’s good to know we can count on you. Granted, the world counts on soccer for on-field flopping, ridiculous goal celebrations when the one goal scored in each week’s worth of games around the world, brawls in the stands and general hooliganism inside and outside of the stadium, but still. Fans of Colombian soccer club America get all the credit for the latest reminder that soccer is sports’ most reliable constant. The concept of relegation also plays a role, even if it is a foreign one (no pun intended) for American sports fans. In essence, most soccer leagues around the world have different levels and divisions. To stay at a specific level, teams must finish at or near the top of their league. If they finish last or close to last, they risk being relegated to a lower division. A 4-3 loss to second division team Patriotas forced America into that unenviable spot and as difficult as relegation must have been for the team to accept, the news was even more jarring for America fans. How difficult? Difficult enough that hundreds of fans took to the streets of Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, and attempted to burn it to the ground or at least destroy enough of it to sufficiently demonstrate their displeasure. Riots broke out both inside the stadium as in other parts of the city after the loss to Patriotas, which will be promoted to the first division of Colombia's Liga Postobon to claim the spot vacated by America’s relegation. The news hit hard in large part because America de Cali is officially Colombia's best-performing team ever. That history could not help them after losing in the two-legged playoffs against Patriotas, a team from the small town of Tunja. Police arrested 66 people inside and outside the stadium as the mayhem quickly spread across the city. The arrests were for typical soccer riot crimes such as property destruction, fighting with police and disorderly conduct. Stay classy, soccer fans……….

Chinese village chaos, weekend movie news and the James Harrison rule

- The villagers are angry in Wukan, China, and they’re just getting started. After an inspiring week of protests, the people of Wukan are facing government suppression attempts and spitting in the face of those attempts. The locals have vowed to carry on protests this week and appear to be digging in for a prolonged standoff with Chinese authorities despite heightened security in the region. Neighboring villages are sending support in the form of bags of rice and other essential supplies and despite a quiet Sunday evening, residents left benches and a stage set up for more rallies planned later this week. Protest leaders spent the day discussing ideas for the week, including the potential for a march outside the village later in the week. Clearly, anyone who viewed Wukan as nothing more than a sleepy little fishing village of 20,000 in southern China's relatively prosperous Guangdong province drastically underestimated its residents. They have become the emblem of the current state of unrest in China and the disdain of citizens for the manner in which local and national government officials conduct business and stifle dissent. The primary concern in Wukan is over the conduct of local officials. Protestors have appealed to Beijing for intervention and have also called for an investigation of local government corruption. At the center of the mess is village Communist Party chief, Xue Chang, who has served in the position for about 40 years. Observers are looking at the tenuous situation in Wukan as an indicator of how government leaders will handle unrest if China's economy slows further or if dissent grows louder. During the uprising, the villagers have essentially been policing themselves and some have set up their own barricades to keep police out while smartly setting up an impromptu media center where foreign reporters can get electricity. Getting the word out about what’s going on is wise and occupying the local offices of the Communist party and the public security bureau is smarter still. Oddly enough, the scene inside the village has been somewhat surreal and even Rockwell-ian. Residents gather to watch movies on an outdoor screen, other set off fireworks and some sip tea in their living rooms. All of the benign activities belie the incident that took the uprising to a more intense level: the death of Xue Jinbo, who authorities say died of a heart attack while in custody but who many villagers believe was murdered. Xue’s body has not been returned and angry villagers went from enraged to nuclear when they first learned of his death. Microblogging sites have cryptically reported a steady buildup of security forces around the village in recent days, portending a fight that has a definite potential to become extremely violent in rapid fashion. Should be fun……………


- James Harrison has inspired the National Football League. He has also fueled quite a few of its charitable causes via his regular donations for illegal hits. But Harrison’s unquestionable legacy as the king of violent and illegal hits to quarterbacks and defenseless receivers now has the league seriously looking at expanding the ban on launching and helmet hits. Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay, the co-chairman of the league's competition committee, suggested that the topic will be discussed by the committee during the offseason and potential changes could be presented to the owners next spring. "I think the launch will be discussed more and more and eventually we will see helmet hits modified in the open field," McKay said. The competition committee is a group of coaches and executives that recommends rules changes to the owners, who then vote on them at the annual March meetings. It was the committee that played a key role in outlawing the technique of launching -- when a player leaves his feet and leads with his head -- against defenseless players. Based on what the league has observed this year, McKay and his cohorts could propose a complete ban on launching for next season. "Coaches felt there were too many circumstances where players could be perceived as doing it and were not really," he said. "It is a big step, not something I expect membership gets comfortable with over a year's time." At present, a 15-yard penalty is enforced for anyone who leaves both feet before contact to spring forward and upward into an opponent and delivers a blow to the helmet with any part of his helmet. Commissioner Roger Goodell and league officials then review all such tackles and determine whether to assess fines, ejections and suspensions. In a humorous twist, McKay claimed Harrison's hit on Browns quarterback Colt McCoy on Dec. 8 is not the inspiration for further discussions even though Harrison became the first player suspended for such a hit under the NFL's new guidelines. "I don't like the fact one play would drive the discussion more than a need to do it for a bigger reason: a lot of plays that are putting players at risk," McKay said. "Our game has taken some real steps in a safety direction and we see, culturally, some modifications. We need to continue in that direction." Just do everyone a favor, call it the James Harrison Rule and keep on moving………..


- Welcome to this week’s edition of “Places You Might Live in Outer Space,” wherein NASA tries to locate planets and other celestial bodies wherein life could exist. The newest possible real estate listing in the great beyond is "Kepler-22b" (the name could use some work), a planet some 600 light-years away that circles its star squarely in a "habitable zone" — the orbital distance where a world's surface temperature would neither boil nor freeze water, perhaps allowing oceans to survive as on Earth. With water widely viewed as one of life's vital ingredients by planetary scientists, Kepler-22b has one major advantage working in its favor. Compared to other proposed habitable zone worlds reported by astronomers, Kepler-22b is actually a decent moniker. Other recent suggestions include "55 Cancri f" and "HD 85512 b.” More than 700 possibly habitable planets have been suggested in the past two decades and the Kepler space telescope team estimates that in our Milky Way galaxy alone, some 500 million planets likely orbit inside their star's habitable zone. "We have many candidates in that region," said Kepler principal scientist William Borucki of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. Borucki spoke at a briefing unveiling Kepler-22b to his colleagues and showed a chart depicting more than 50 possible habitable zone planets, as well as Kepler-22b, among the 2,326 planetary candidates detected by Kepler since its 2009 launch. The numbers are impressive, but when you pay $591 million for a space telescope, results should probably be expected. Kepler focuses unblinkingly at roughly 170,000 stars within 3,000 light years along the "Orion Spur" of stars in our Milky Way and searches for habitable spheres by detecting dips in starlight, eclipses called "transits," that planets cause when they circle in front of their stars. Borucki cautioned would-be Kepler-dwellers that Kepler-22b isn't really Earth-like and seems more like a smaller version of the gas-shrouded world Neptune. Kepler-22B is likely about 14 times heavier than Earth and at that weight, Kepler-22b likely has an atmosphere nothing like Earth. Estimates from the Kepler team put Kepler-22b’s average temperature at around 72 degrees Fahrenheit, but despite the balmy climate even Borucki and colleagues admit the presence of life on the planet "not very likely." The only hope for life in the Kepler-22b ‘hood is the possible discovery of moons where life could have a better chance of thriving. Once again, hopes for a new Earth are dashed before they can truly be realized or even enjoyed for a moment……………


- Are crackheads or crack dealers typically the smartest people in the world? No. Not to insult all the friendly neighborhood crack dealers and lovers of eight balls of blow out there, but they tend to be slightly less than Ivy League educated. So why, oh why are Houston residents so upset about a sweatshirt being sold at a local discount store that basically serves as a how-to guide for making crack cocaine? A thrift store known as DD’S Discounts was selling the crack shirt for $8 and the typically overreactionary response from the general public was to lash out at that which threatens their beloved cultural norms. “I can’t believe they’re selling something like this,” said shopper George Wyatt while standing in the parking lot of the store, which is located at Wilcrest Drive and Beechnut Street. “I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say.” How about thank you? As in, thank you for teaching people how to properly make their crack so they don’t blow up their house? Crack heads are going to make what they want anyhow, so why no educate them? Even for someone who has never smoked, shot or snorted cocaine in their life, the shirt is an easy how-to manual complete with baking soda, spoon and an open flame. Rather than appreciate the educational assist, local anti-drug activists were quick to rip the shirt and the store for selling it. Sadly, DD’S Discounts relented and took the item off its shelves late in the week because it is “committed to addressing issues quickly as they may arise,” according to a corporate spokesperson before adding that DD’s didn’t make the shirt and said it was only selling it. Way to stifle the rights of free trade and commerce, Houstonians…………..


- On a weekend where the real question was how much it would trump every other film by, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” didn’t exactly deliver a knockout effort. It registered just $40 million in its opening weekend, enough to best the field but not enough to be in the area code of any cinematic records. Fellow newcomer “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” was not that far behind at $23.5 million in its own debut and was mildly disappointing in its own right. However, the true disappointment for the weekend had to be “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol,” which bombed out to the tune of $13 million in domestic earnings and cost a whopping $140 million to make. Even with international box office numbers mixed in, Tom Cruise and Co. may have finally discovered that the “Mission: Impossible” franchise just doesn’t have any life left in it. Opening so weakly with as much hype as the film received suggests that it might be time to pull the plug on Ethan Hunt as a hero. Fourth place went to last week’s top film, the star-stocked “New Year’s Day.” A 43-percent decline and $7.4 million effort gave the project $24.9 million in domestic earnings through two weeks. For the second consecutive week, it finished one spot ahead of the Jonah Hill vehicle “The Sitter,” fifth this time around with a mere $4.4 million and $17.7 million for its first two weeks of release. The latter half of the top 10 had some big names and titles in it, with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 falling to its lowest point in five weeks in theaters at No. 6 thanks to a $4.3 million weekend that boosted its cumulative tally to $266.4 million and counting in the U.S. alone. Charlize Theron and her new project “Young Adult” finished at No. 7 with $3.7 million in limited release and the film has earned $4.1 million through two weeks. “Hugo” was the No. 8 film for the weekend after cranking out $3.6 million and has a four-week total of $39.1 million. “Arthur Christmas” snagged the No. 9 spot in its fourth weekend by adding $3.5 million to its coffers and has accumulated $38.5 million in one month of release. The last spot in the top 10 went to “The Muppets,” which made $3.4 million and found a way to hang on in the top 10 despite dropping off more than 50 percent from the previous weekend. “The Descendants” (No. 11), “Jack and Jill” (No. 12), “Happy Feet Two” (No. 13) and “Immortals” (No. 15) could not avoid the same fate and all dropped from the list this time around……………

Cannibal shrimp, Hungarian hunger strikes and "Sherlock Holmes" accuracy

- With all the hazards in the Gulf of Mexico, cannibal shrimp may get lost in the mix. That would be a mistake. A new menace has emerged in the Gulf and it comes in the form of the black tiger shrimp, the biggest saltwater shrimp in the world. Named for their tiger-like stripes, black tiger shrimp “are cannibalistic as are other shrimp but it’s larger so it can consume the others,” according to Tony Reisinger, country extension agent for the Texas Sea Grant Extension Service. While they may not be quite the hazard that millions of gallons of crude spilled into the water by a lackadaisical oil titan, black tiger shrimp are a major threat to the region’s native shrimp and oyster population. "Our oystermen right now are hurting because the oyster season is shut down due to a red tide. But this (black tiger) shrimp poses other concerns,” Reisinger said. The species first appeared about 25 years ago, but had not been seen much of late. “The first time they started appearing was in the late 1980s on the East Coast,” Reisinger explained. “Then they disappeared in 1991.” Following the record-breaking hurricane season of 2005, black tiger shrimp began reappearing in the Gulf. TSGES officials estimate that there are more than 1,000 black tigers in the Gulf at present and five have been caught in recent weeks off the coast of Texas. Reisinger spoke at a meeting of the Brownsville-Port Isabel Shrimp Producers Association recently to warn them about the shrimp but discovered that many already knew about the problem because they had caught black tiger shrimp and thrown them back. Maybe someone should toss one of them in a pan with some butter and cumin and see how it tastes…………


- He may have been part of a failure last season as the Heatles - a.k.a. the Miami Heat - failed to begin delivering on LeBron James vow to win “not one, not two, not six, not seven” NBA championships, but Heatles coach Erik Spoelstra has still earned an extension from the team just before starting the last season under his existing contract. "We have one of the great young coaches in the league and (he) is an absolute member of this family," Heat president Pat Riley said. "He's the perfect coach for this team now. The reason why we did it was to extend him and keep him in the family and (not) have somebody come steal him away from us." Well, that and Riley believed the media would try to create even more drama for the league’s biggest soap opera. "He wouldn't have been a lame-duck coach even though (the media) would've made him one," Riley said "We want him to become a Hall of a Famer." Ah, blaming the media for calling a lame-duck coach a lame duck coach. Don’t fault the media for properly applying a term to someone who is the definition of it, Riles. Teams that value their coach and want him around long-term typically don’t allow him to get to the final year of his contract before extending him. Spoelstra has posted a record of 148-98 and made the playoffs each of his three years at the helm of the Heatles. He has the grammatically inaccurate support of his star player as well. "Me and Erik, our relationship will continue to grow," James said. "It's much better today than it was the first day of practice last year. We didn't know each other at all. We were still learning each other. We'd seen each other from a distance. I'd seen him coach from the sideline ... he'd seen me play while he was coaching from the sideline. Our relationship is really good right now.” Riley declined to provide details on the length or financial value of the extension, but Spoelstra had been one of the league’s lowest-paid coaches, earning a base salary of less than $2 million per season. Last week, Spoelstra insisted he wouldn't allow his contract situation to be a distraction from the team and did not plan to address the subject with the media, but now that won't be a concern. He can merely focus on how to get James to actually show up in the fourth quarter of big games………….


- The unpopularity of Carrier IQ has soared in a short amount of time. To be fair, the average cell phone user has good reason to be concerned about software that tracks their every movement and keystroke. Sprint has heard those concerns and taken action. The biggest user of Carrier IQ's software announced Friday it has disabled use of the tool in response to customer concerns. The wireless carrier is no longer using Carrier IQ and said in an official statement that it is still deciding what to do regarding the software going forward. "We have weighed customer concerns and we have disabled use of the tool so that diagnostic information and data is no longer being collected," the statement said. "At Sprint, we work hard to earn the trust of our customers and believe this course of action is in the best interest of our business and customers." Sprint also fired off a letter to Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who had earlier sent a letter to Sprint, AT&T and several other companies demanding details on their use of Carrier IQ's software. Franken penned his message in response to security researcher Trevor Eckhart's disclosure last month that Carrier IQ's software could be used to conduct highly intrusive tracking of mobile phone users. In its response to Franken, Sprint insisted that its use of Carrier IQ's software had been limited to reviewing device functionality on its network to better understand issues such as dropped calls and gaps in cell phone coverage. It also disclosed that it had installed Carrier IQ's controversial software on 26 million of its handsets since 2006. In its statement Friday, Sprint stood firm on the claims it made in the letter to Franken. "To be clear, Sprint has not used Carrier IQ diagnostics to profile customers, to serve targeted advertising, or for any purpose not specifically related to certifying that a device is able to operate on our network," the company said. "Sprint does not look at the content of customer messages, emails, photos, videos, keystrokes, etc. using the diagnostic tools offered by Carrier IQ." Yeah…..whatever you say, Sprint. Apple has made the same promise about disabling Carrier IQ on iPhones, so maybe the problem really has been addressed………….


- Hunger strike time! Hunger strikes are always a blast…..unless you’re the one doing the hunger striking, but otherwise they are a giant ball of good times. Three Hungarian journalists are bringing the fun with a protest aimed at ending acts of censorship and increasing government meddling the country’s state-funded media. A new media law went into effect at the beginning of the year and has drawn sharp criticism from international observers. Even the European Union weighed in on the law’s potential ability to restrict press freedoms. Critics have focused largely on the centralization of the state media's news service as a concern. The government hailed the move as one that would eliminate duplication among Hungarian state radio and TV stations, but media outlets countered with claims that Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government was seeking to censor content. In response to the perceived censorship, Balazs Nagy Navarro, a foreign affairs editor at Hungary's state TV, and two colleagues have been drinking only water, tea and other liquids since last Saturday. "There is constant pressure from every government to try to influence public media ... but what this current group is doing is unprecedented," Navarro said. "Stories are manipulated daily and (state television) has become a mouthpiece for the government.” No one wants to be a government mouthpiece and it became clear to state TV officials that was what they had become after images of Zoltan Lomnici, a former head of Hungary's Supreme Court but an opponent of the current regime, were pixelated beyond recognition on state television two weeks ago. Media members have argued that they merely want to remain impartial and do their job, not editorialize and advocate against the government. Hungarian officials seem content to build a reputation as the China of Eastern Europe and steadily strip away the relatively wide degree of independence journalists who work for state media in Hungary once enjoyed. To fight for the return of that independent status, Navarro, his two colleagues and two civilian activists who have joined the hunger strike are battling back the best way they know how. Supporters have begun stopping by state television headquarters with bags full of fruit juice and soft drinks to fuel the hunger strikers and for now, it’s a standoff with The Man…………


- Robert Downey Jr. does not come across as an incredibly formal person. Soliciting hookers and dabbling in drugs are not behaviors typically associated with those wrapped up in formality and adhering to social norms, but his flaws and checkered past are part of his charm in a sense. Just don’t tell that to a loser whose claim to fame is as the “quintessential ‘Sherlock Holmes’ expert” in the world. Downey, of course, is the star of “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” premiering this weekend. To make sure the film was accurate and true to the book upon which it is based, producers brought in the “Holmes” expert and had him on set to make sure all of the actors stayed true to the story. The biggest problem causer was reportedly Downey, who offended the continuity director while filming by constantly referring to his sidekick, played by Jude Law, by his character’s first name. “We have a man on the set who makes sure you are being accurate to the book. It turns out the quintessential Sherlock Holmes expert is a tax lawyer who lives in Malibu,” Downey explained. ""After Sherlock two I guess I dropped the ball, he was very upset, I said, 'What happened?' and he said, You called him John.' "So I said, 'Well that's his name, John Watson?' and he goes, 'He would never call him John. Only call him Watson or Mr. Watson.'" In other words, not formal enough. Sure, he was playing a fictional English detective and Brits are known for being a little more formal. Despite his issues with the continuity loser, er, director, Downey did score some points by doing most of his own stunts for the Guy Ritchie-directed movie and coming through injury-free. Too bad the continuity director didn’t get injured for acting like a tool with a stick shoved up his……………

Chimps without gigs, kicking out Love and Russian Playboy models in parliament

- The not-so-long trend of celebrities wrecking properties they have rented from other rich people now has a second participant. Vastly overrated musical “icon” Prince really kicked things off by renting a home from NBA player Carlos Boozer and hitting it with a ridiculous Prince-esque paint job and makeover inside and out that included coloring most everything in sight purple, but the loathsome Courtney Love may have gone just as far overboard with a New York property she has been renting the for the last 10 months. The woman who is famous because she gravy trained the fame and career of late husband Kurt Cobain is being evicted from her home after the property's owner accused her of wrecking the house and owing over $50,000 in unpaid rent. Donna Lyon has gone to court to remove Love from the house in part because the Hole frontwoman allegedly decorated the property without Lyon’s consent and ruined its designer interior by wallpapering and painting over its walls. Toss in $50,000 worth of unpaid rent and it’s not difficult to see how any homeowner would be pissed. The case is scheduled to go before a judge in Manhattan's civil court on December 21. In her lawsuit, Lyon claimed: "[The house] was decorated by the previous owner, interior designer Steven Gambrel. One of the requirements of the lease is that nothing should be done to the interiors. Courtney has wallpapered and painted a large portion of the property without my consent. I learned about this when I wanted to sell the house and had photographs taken. They sent me the brochure and I said, 'This can't be my property.'" Wait……are we talking about the same Courtney Love? The humble, modest, bland and overly respectful one who never so much as curses, wears something garish or acts like a total scumbag? Just kidding. Lyon also said she traveled to New York to see the home and was “horrified” by what Love had done. “The walls that had been hand-painted and glazed were ruined, covered in damask wallpaper and ice-blue paint,’ she fumed. Love has already had a bad day or two in court this year, having been ordered by a judge to pay $93,000 to a jeweler after she failed to return items she borrowed for a charity event. This case seems likely to continue that trend…………


- Russian men, you voted and you have what you wanted. Specifically, you have a former skin mag skank, er, model, representing you in parliament. As one of the winners in disputed elections last week to select a new parliament for the communist nation, Maria Kozhevnikova won a parliamentary seat with Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party. Kozhevnikova, who once graced the cover of the Russian version of Playboy, was selected to represent Tomsk in the Russian Parliament. She is a former “actress” and “model” who took her clothes off for Playboy in 2009. Kozhevnikova was understandably excited about winning a seat in parliament despite no discernable qualifications for the gig. "For me this is an absolutely big event in my life," she said of winning her seat. Perhaps she was one of the beneficiaries of the rigged election process and defending Putin’s actions throughout the electoral process paid off…….but odds are it doesn’t matter to the lecherous men who voted for her because they like the idea of a porn star representing them. Kozhevnikova has continued to defend Putin as protests have raged across Russia over the election results. Spouting the party lines perfectly, she echoed the dictator’s statements that the protests were funded by Western interests. "I've seen Putin close up several times and I want to say that this man has very strong vibes," she said. "I've watched how people have changed when they got close to Putin, not because they are afraid, but because they feel a calm and strong confidence. Because of this, the West is afraid of him, and that is understandable.” He’s giving off “vibes” and intimidating the West? Someone really is drinking the Putin Kool-Aid. But Ms. Kozhevnikova wasn’t done, adding, “A 'strong Russia' cannot be controlled. Mass rallies have never solved the people's problems and answered their aspirations. The people were always just a weapon in the struggle for power." The people WERE just a weapon in the struggle for power? How about in Russia, they still are? Next time, stick to what you do best: taking your clothes off for money………….


- Kobe Bryant sounds happy as a new NBA season dawns. The Los Angeles Lakers star does not seem at all bitter about the three-team trade that was nixed by NBA commissioner David Stern last week, ultimately preventing the Lakers from acquiring Chris Paul. Stern asininely vetoed the trade because of "basketball reasons" but never explained what those reasons were. He sounded like a flustered parent telling his or her child to go to bed or stop doing something because, “I said so.” Bryant doesn’t buy Stern’s logic either and placed a chunk of the blame for the foiled trade on some of the commissioner’s cronies. "I think other owners did not want the Lakers to make significant improvements again," Bryant said after practice Thursday. "We always contended as players that the lockout was really more so about the owners fighting amongst themselves, which is what you just saw [with the vetoed trade]. You got Chris Paul coming here and the other owners weren't with that, because you don't want another great player coming to L.A., and all of the sudden Los Angeles has another player that can carry them on well after I retire. So, it's more about the owners bickering amongst themselves." Beyond those observations, Bryant stated his belief that the Lakers were "getting hammered" rules of the recently ratified collective bargaining agreement. A more punitive luxury tax system that will severely penalize the Lakers unless they cut down their $83 million payroll between now and 2013-14 could indeed make life miserable for the basketball kings of Los Angeles. In addition to Bryant, Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss reportedly remains livid about Stern's decision, even if he will never say so publicly. Stern fanned the flames on a conference call Wednesday night by claiming that the trade between the Lakers, Houston Rockets and Hornets was dead before he put the burning slug in to the back of its head. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak backed up his star player and owner by saying that the team "did the best we can to express our displeasure" to the league. Following the failed trade, forward Lamar Odom was so upset over being included in the swap that he demanded to be moved anyhow and the Lakers panicked and shipped him to top rival Dallas for virtually nothing in return. Now the Clippers have acquired Paul, Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups this offseason to complement talented young stars like Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan and suddenly basketball in L.A. is not a Lakers-only matter. Ever the defiant competitor, Bryant insisted he likes it that way. "It's about damn time," he said. "We had one year there where they were doing something in the playoffs and we weren't [in 2006]. And now it looks like it can be something that's more consistent." Consistent and with a major edge to it……………


- Memo to all racist d-bags drifting through life and trying to foist their bass-ackwards views on the rest of the world: Know who you’re starting a fight with or you just might get knocked the heck out in a hurry. Take the story of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho resident Daren Abbey as a life lesson and allow it to guide you going forward in life. See, Abbey was at a local watering hole in Coeur d’Alene doing his skinhead, neo-Nazi thing. Being the blatant bigot he is, Abbey threatened to stab a man, Marlon L. Baker, who is black, because Baker dared to come into a bar in the United States in the 21st century and expect to be a) served and b) not hassled by someone due to the color of his skin. Baker rightly realized that this is not 1940 and that he was not going to a beer hall in pre-World War II Germany with Adolf Hitler in charge of the country. Abbey realized neither of those things and informed Baker that “blacks were not welcome in Bayview,” according to police. Baker attempted to be the bigger man and stood up to leave in order to avoid a confrontation. Had Abbey been smart (or literate) he would have allow Baker to leave without accosting him further. Being the ass-hated skinhead he is, however, he followed Baker and allegedly poked him in the chest. When Baker turned around with bad intentions, perhaps Abbey had a split second to read the words emblazoned on Baker’s t-shirt: “Spokane Boxing Club Champion.” That shirt was clearly not one Baker picked up at the local thrift store because he showed off his pugilistic skills by knocking Abbey’s sorry ass out with one punch. Abbey went down in a heap, neo-Nazi tattoos and all, and later told officials that he felt he had been “hit by a brick.” When he woke up, collected his wits and spent some quality time without local law enforcement, Abbey was charged with felony malicious harassment (Idaho’s hate-crime law) and battery. He suffered facial fractures and had to spend a night in the Kootenai County jail. He also left officers with a true race relations gem that the world would do well to abide by. He informed police that he told Baker that if he “behaved” himself around the whites everything would be “cool” and he would be allowed to stay in Bayview. He also asked officers while being arrested, “What, you’re arresting the white man?” Yeah, that’s kind of how it works when the white man commits a felony…………


- Haven’t chimps given enough to the scientific community? According to the Institute of Medicine report, headed by bioethicist Jeffrey Kahn of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the answer to that question is yes. Emphatically. The report recommends that science halt medical experiments on chimpanzees, except perhaps for preventive vaccines for Hepatitis C and some drug therapies where there are no better alternatives. Even though chimpanzees are the closest cousins to humans in the animal world, the expert panel that wrote the report believes the time has come to ease up on chimp-centric studies. Battles between animal rights advocates and medical researchers over the 937 research chimps held at five institutions nationwide have raged for several years and Kahn’s team largely sided with the bleeding heart liberal side of the debate. The reported recommended that medical experiments on chimps should only be done to advance public health in cases where no other lab animals would be satisfactory. The report found immediate acceptance with at least one important member of the scientific and medical community. "I have decided to accept the Institute of Medicine report recommendations," National Institutes of Health chief Francis Collins said following release of the report. "Effective immediately, NIH will not issue any awards for research involving chimps.” Collins’ decision will have a substantial impact, as he estimated that half of the roughly 40 currently NIH-supported research projects, studying hepatitis, malaria and other ailments, would end as a result. NIH and other institutions have relied on chimps for decades to do everything from test drugs to conduct behavioral tests. It was chimp studies that produced advances in understanding malaria and in identifying Hepatitis C, a disease that chronically infects more than 130 million people worldwide and can lead to liver cancer. The medical chimp population surged due to efforts to breed research chimps for NASA's 1960s space race and that led to a moratorium on breeding in 1995. Breeding or not, a high number of chimps remain at research facilities and now those chimps won’t have anything to do if the panel has its way. "Most current use of chimpanzees for biomedical research is unnecessary," the 12-person panel concluded. Other than the U.S., Gabon is the only other country that permits chimp medical experiments. In other words, there isn't even a market for us to move our chimps on craigslist or eBay. They may be 99 percent similar to humans genetically, but what the heck are we supposed to do with them now? Do they have any marketable skills should they be released from captivity? Even if they cost only about $45 a day to house, they would still be a burden a faltering American economy just doesn’t need…………

B-Walters v. the Kardashians, Britain v. the EU and drug-dealing NFLers

- Either Barbara Walters simply has excellent news sense from her many years in the business or she has reached the point all old people hit at some point where she just said incredibly direct and offensive sh*t because hell, she’s going to be shuffling off this mortal coil soon and why hold back? Either way, she managed to make at least one interview in her annual special on the most fascinating people in the world (in her opinion) remotely interesting. That interview came with the ever-vapid, camera-whorish Kim Kardashian, who remains famous for……umm….being famous? Walters’ interview with Kardashian as part of her “Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People of 2011” aired Wednesday night and Babs was extremely blunt with the backside-centric reality personality. "You don't really act, you don't sing, you don't dance," Walters proclaimed. "You don't have any -- forgive me -- any talent!" No forgiveness needed, B-Dubs. That statement to Kardashian, flanked by mom Kris and sisters Khloe and Kourtney, was 100 percent accurate. What was K-squared’s response, given that she got married simply for publicity, has posed for Playboy for publicity and done everything else in her life for since she became famous in order to get attention? “I think it’s more of a challenge to go on a reality show and get people to fall in love with you for being you. So, there’s definitely a lot more pressure, I think, to be famous for being ourselves,” Kardashian offered. Umm…no mention of actual talent anywhere in that reply. Oh, and people aren't “in love with you.” They like watching you and laughing at you because your life is way more effed up than their even though you’re rich and famous. Walters was locked in at that point and kept challenging Kardashian. “You became famous. So, was it a good thing to have done?” she asked in regards to Kardashian’s infamous 2007 sex tape with R&B singer Ray J. “I’ve made mistakes in my life, for sure,” was the response. Yes, and a two-month marriage to marginal NBAer Kris Humphries-Kardashian for publicity’s sake would qualify as such for most people - just not this family. Mom Kris came to her daughter’s defense on the issue of the sex tape by adding, “And you’ve learned a lot from it.” Yes, like how to rack up a series of reality shows and a combined family annual income of more than $65 million……………


- Britain tends not to play nice with the rest of the European Union. As one of 12 European countries that do not use the euro, Britain does feel a compelling need to be part of the EU party. That showed through last week when the Brits blocked an EU treaty change to enshrine euro zone fiscal controls. But in spite of that block, Britain has been invited to participate in talks on a pact with the other 26 members of the European Union, the government said on Thursday. During a summit in Brussels last week, Prime Minister David Cameron chose not to join the other countries in backing changes to the EU's fundamental law. The decision left the other 26 member nations to pursue an intergovernmental agreement instead. Yet for some reason, the other diplomats involved in the talks want to keep a good rapport with Britain because the new fiscal agreement may need to make use of institutions created for the entire 27-country bloc such as the European Commission for things like monitoring the euro zone. "The Council has now proposed an ad hoc grouping of representatives from member states and the EU institutions to take forward this work and we will participate in those discussions," said a British government spokesman. "This means that we will be at the table when the use of the EU institutions are discussed, giving us the opportunity to raise any concerns and to support the role of the institutions in safeguarding the single market." Left out of the offer was an explanation of what status Britain would enjoy in the talks. A senior EU diplomat insisted no decision had been made in this regard and indicated that Britain is asking for an observer status only. The British government said recently it had not received adequate safeguards for its financial services industry at last week’s summit. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte partially explained the plan for Britain’s involvement in the talks, telling his parliament: "My goal is to keep Britain involved. They are participating as an observer, that is what we are working on now. They will be an observer when drawing up the agreements between the 26 (EU countries), the 17-plus (countries)." That didn’t resonate well with a British government spokesman, who said of observer status, "We wouldn't put it like that. This is not some new organization - it's an ad hoc grouping of officials that will meet to prepare an international agreement on fiscal stability amongst the euro zone and other countries who choose to join." A spokesman for Cameron detachedly remarked that the British are only attending the talks because they are “one of the 27.” Sounds like a great working relationship…………


- Being a marginal NFL player just doesn’t pay like it used to. If it did, Chicago Bears receiver Sam Hurd would probably not have been arrested in Chicago on federal drug charges Wednesday night for allegedly attempting to purchase cocaine and marijuana from a supplier in North Texas. Hurd’s ties to North Texas likely stem from his time as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. The criminal complaint against him describes Hurd as regularly dealing large amounts of drugs in Chicago, where he was arrested by undercover agents at a steakhouse Wednesday night. His initial court appearance in the case came in federal court Thursday as he faced a charge that he did "possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more" of cocaine. Given his current legal status, suiting up for the Bears Sunday against Seattle seems unlikely. "We are aware of Sam's arrest and are continuing to gather details surrounding it," the Bears said in a statement. "We are disappointed whenever these circumstances arise. We will deal with them appropriately once we have all the information." The NFL also acknowledged the arrest but is not taking any action yet. Federal agents began investigating Hurd in July, when he was still a member of the Dallas Cowboys and allegedly attempted to buy large amounts of cocaine and marijuana. The investigation concluded when he personally met with an undercover agent Wednesday at Morton's The Steakhouse in Rosemont. Hurd told the informant that he wanted to buy "five to 10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week for distribution in the Chicago area," according to the complaint. He negotiated a fairly solid price of $25,000 per kilogram for the cocaine and $450 per pound for the marijuana and the complaint says that Hurd "further stated that he and another co-conspirator currently distribute four kilograms of cocaine per week in the Chicago area, but that the supplier could not supply him with enough quantity." Once the price was agreed upon, the undercover agent gave Hurd a kilogram of cocaine, according to the complaint. Hurd even told the agent he plays for the Bears and would make arrangements to pay for the drugs once he got out of practice. He never made it to practice or even to his car, as agents arrested him as he tried to leave. His downfall began when an informant in Texas ratted him out to the feds and he was soon linked to a drug ring through phone records. Ties to four individuals who were detained in California with currency, narcotics and weapon didn’t help and from there, his demise in the drug game was only a matter of time and leg work by federal agents…………..


- Google’s quest for world domination is expanding beyond computers and smartphones and now there is concrete proof. The tech titan wants to add the power to control your ride to its list of abilities and earlier this week was granted a patent for a method of controlling an autonomous vehicle. That’s right, Google wants to use wireless communication to tell a car where to drive. Aside from being a substantial improvement over the driving skills of many humans when they are physically behind the wheel, the patent is interesting because it details how a vehicle can transition from being human-driven to autonomous mode. One example, according to the patent, would be a car driving itself to a specific location and based on a visual indicator on a "landing strip," such as a bar code or radio tag. The vehicle would then transition to autonomous operation. Of course, integrating such a vehicle into the flow of human-driven traffic could be complicated and a better idea might be directing the car to a roadway dedicated to autonomous vehicles where the transition would take place. Google laid out generalities of its plan in a corporate blog post last year in which it announced it had has hired some of the top autonomous-vehicle engineers to enhance the state of driverless cars. Left unsaid at the time was how such an endeavor would enhance its overall business. According to respected software engineer Sebastian Thrun, who is working on the project, the company's goal is to "help prevent traffic accidents, free up people's time, and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use." Early research has equipped Toyota Priuses with sensors and communications that send large amounts of data back to Google's data centers to analyze and make driving decisions. Last year, Thrun said these vehicles had logged over 140,000 autonomous miles. In the patent application, Google’s engineers also expound on the method for how sensors would find a marker to switch to autonomous mode and receive instructions from an Internet address over a wireless network. It also describes the design of an onboard computing device capable of handling the information needed for autonomous operation, although to the cynic this might seem like a gadget that would add an extra dollar or two to the sticker price of a new whip…………


- In the battle against illegal immigration, Connecticut would typically not be viewed as a battleground state. Most immigrants are not looking to sneak into the country from the north by boat and enter a cold-weather climate, so the Nutmeg State typically doesn’t factor into discussions about tougher immigration laws and how to deal with issues surrounding illegals. However, that doesn’t mean grandstanding local politicians like New Haven, Conn. Mayor John DeStefano doesn’t have a thought or two on the rights of border crashers in order to gain some attention for himself. Apparently there is an actual debate over illegal immigration in New Haven and with the commoners up a mini-uproar, DeStafano elected to fan the flames by saying he wants voting rights for illegal residents in the city. He explained the reasoning behind his belief by detailing the 26th amendment, which states that U.S. citizens have the right to vote applies only to federal elections, not local. "I think we also should remember that the same document, for a long period of time, precluded women, and African Americans from voting," DeStefano said. "And Americans had a more expansive view of what it meant to belong to a community. So for those that cite it, that applies to federal elections, and federal government is fine to make its own decisions. I'm just talking about our corner of the world. There are people who belong, in large numbers, to this community, who are members of the community, and I don't see an issue, as other communities around the United States have done, giving them a say about what happens in the place in which they live and pay their taxes, and have been good neighbors." His idea actually correlates somewhat to a dismissed proposal by the French parliament to allow foreigners living legally in the country and paying taxes to vote in local elections, although there is the whole legality part of the equation. The French measure was quickly dismissed, but DeStefano plans to propose his idea o the state legislature in their next legislative session. 
Gov. Daniel Malloy said Wednesday that he's not comfortable with the idea, so a battle might be a-brewin’…………

Corporate tats banned by MLB, Bourne-less "Bourne" films and punk rock persecution in Indonesia

- Major League Baseball players as corporate billboards is a problem the sports powers that be are looking to head off before it becomes an issue. Now that MLB’s new labor agreement has been ratified, some of its particular nuances are coming to light and while many of them are favorable to the players, one is decidedly against their right to self-expression……for profit. A new rule will ban players getting tattoos with corporate logos. The agreement says "no player may have any visible markings or logos tattooed on his body" as part of the uniform regulations. "Just trying to head something off at the pass," said Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations. While the uniform Nazis in the NFL league office do have a rule against "unauthorized commercial identification," according to spokesman Greg Aiello, and the NBA has a rule banning corporate insignia, MLB is the first U.S. major pro league to specifically ban commercial tattoos. The ban does not apply to any other tattoos, only those with corporate logos for which a player might be paid. Of course, signing a contract to ink up for any company is something that would theoretically cost a ton of money for an advertiser because, you know, tattoos are permanent and all. The more player-friendly aspects of the new labor deal include expanded video replay to (theoretically) get more calls right, the chance for a longer All-Star break and the opportunity for players to secure a private room instead of a roommate during spring training. Weighing in at several hundred pages long, the new labor deal could also hit home for any player looking to pull a “LeBron” by changing his jersey number to something more marketable, er, that honors one of the game’s legends by no longer wearing his jersey number. Players who wish to change numbers without changing teams will have to give MLB eight months’ notice or agree to buy warehouses full of merchandise with their number on it. As per the agreement, a player cannot change his jersey number without changing teams unless "the player (or someone on his behalf) purchases the existing finished goods inventory of apparel containing the player's jersey number." That means every replica jersey, jacket, T-shirt, mug, keychain, mouse pad and any other item MLB has found a way to slam its logo on. A good way to pay for that? Until now, pimping out your own skin for a corporate tattoo would have been a great solution……….


- Fight back, Indonesian punk rockers. Yes, Indonesia has a punk rock culture and that culture now has even more reason to rage against the machine after police in Indonesia's most conservative province raided a punk-rock concert and detained 65 fans before shaving off their mohawks and stripping away body piercings because of a perceived threat to Islamic values. Officers also seized dog-collar necklaces and chains and threw the punks in pools of water for "spiritual" cleansing, local police chief Iskandar Hasan said Wednesday. Step back and soak in the sheer absurdity of this mental image and then imagine officers replacing their "disgusting" clothes with suitable ones and handing each a toothbrush with the terse instruction to "use it." Score one for zealotry, small-mindedness and intolerance, y’all. This indefensible scene is merely the last sad step in an asinine effort by authorities to promote strict moral values in Aceh, the only in the secular but predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million to have imposed Islamic laws. There is still no defense for the actions by police, but their deeds do make more sense in a place where adultery is punishable by stoning to death, homosexuals are thrown in jail or lashed in public with rattan canes and women are forced to wear headscarves. No explanation was given as to why police chose to persecute punks, although pierced and tattooed individuals have complained for months about harassment. Raiding a punk rock concert, aside from further cementing the anti-establishment aura of punk, was the most out-of-line crackdown year. The small show was attended by around 100 people but came to an abrupt end when police barged in wielding batons and looking to dehumanize. Hasan unapologetically admitted that 59 men and five women were loaded into vans and taken to a police detention center 30 miles from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. There, they will be forced to spend 10 days being “rehabilitated” by taking military-style discipline and religious classes, including Quran recitation. After that, they will be sent home with their mandated new hairstyles and expected to comply……or hopefully find a new place to live where total ass hats are not in charge. Perhaps a few will be bold enough to stand up to The Man and continue fighting this battle………….


- Like any government agency in any city, state or other municipality around the United States, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation almost certainly has organizational fat that could be trimmed. There are employees on the payroll who aren't useful enough to justify having a desk and title and yet they linger because eliminating their job or firing them involves too much effort and/or bureaucratic red tape. This is a pertinent point because with all of that unnecessary manpower on hand, someone in the department should be competent enough (and have plenty of free time on his or her hands) to operate a dictionary - either in print form, from an app of some sort or online - or run a basic Internet search to ensure that signs the MDOT puts up along the state’s roadways actually spell the name of a road or town correctly. So either the whole department is comprised of grammatically stunted morons or everyone is too busy binging on Margot in account’s leftover birthday cake in the conference room, but whatever the reason, signs posted recently in and around the town of Haverhill effectively butcher the monikers of neighboring towns. One sign directs drivers toward Plastow, but there is no such place as Plastow, at least not in the area. Instead of pointing travelers north to Plaistow, the sign instead suggests they head to a nonexistent place where readin’ and writin’ really ain’t two important. What to do when you have a letter missing from a sign and no room to add it? Yup, you tape over it. MDOT crews placed green tape over the town’s name, but that was only half of the problem. A second sign points east to 'Merrimack', but there is no ‘K’ in the proper spelling of the town’s name. That faux paus was easier to fix, as a well-placed piece of tape over the letter ‘K’ took care of the problem. Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini admitted he didn’t even see the mistakes at first. “My wife did. She pointed it out to me and said ‘Look at that, two cities spelled wrong,’” Fiorentini said. The mayor conceded that he was a bit ashamed of the misspelling but had received assurances that the erroneous signs would be replaced by new ones and more money would be wasted in the process. We called them and they had it corrected within a day or two, so it was quick work on their part. A little embarrassing though,” Fiorentini remarked. Maybe do a little spell checking before the new ones are cranked out, though………….


- What’s worse than a “Bourne” film without Jason Bourne? The director of that film trying to convince everyone that the insufficient replacement he has lined up to replace Matt Damon is absolutely the right choice for the role. Director Troy Gilroy is making that claim and unfortunately, there is no chance of Damon riding to the rescue and saving the film. While promoting his new film, We Bought a Zoo, Damon was adamant that he had no association with the fourth Bourne movie and but didn’t sound like was closing the door on a possible return for any additional sequels. “"No, I'm not in that one. I haven't even read the script," Damon said of the project. When asked about his thoughts on the project as the actor who built the entire franchise, Damon did his best to offer insights and not simply dump on the movie in the fashion it deserves. "My understanding is that it's like if you think of 'X-Men' and then 'Wolverine,' the spin-off movie, just think of it in reverse," Damon offered. "There's the Bourne character, and then there's this whole world. It doesn't preclude [director] Paul Greengrass and I from doing another ['Bourne' movie]." The last part of that statement is key because the reason he isn't attached to the forthcoming film is that Greengrass was not signed to direct. Damon made it clear he would not return without Greengrass and willingly stepped aside as Jeremy Renner took over the lead role for the film. Damon said he and Renner spoke briefly, but didn’t discuss the movie itself all that much. . "We didn't really talk about the movie much. I'm just a huge fan of his," Damon said. One surprising revelation from Damon on the topic of Renner replacing him was that he and Greengrass apparently have had discussions about who could take over if he ever decided to move on and Renner’s name was one both men agreed on. The Bourne Legacy opens in August, at which time the idea of a Bourne-free Bourne movie will still be every bit as ridiculous as it has always been…………


- Have you seen very little of your gaming-obsessed love ones in the past couple of weeks? Even less than normal, that is. Granted, gamers tend to immerse themselves in all-night sessions online and have very little interaction with friends, family or society in general, but the recent release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 ratcheted the intensity up several notches for the pale, pasty, basement-dwelling, controller-clutching dorks who thrive on launching virtual rockets and racking up the online kills. Their dedication to the game may have strained their few actual interpersonal relationships, but it has also helped Modern Warfare 3 to set an impressive record after a little more than two weeks on store shelves. The game is now officially the fastest ever to record $1 billion in sales, reaching the mark after 16 days. That broke the previous record of 17 days set by the Avatar game inspired by James Cameron’s massive, bloated blockbuster of the same name. Activision has certainly poured loads of money, time and energy into building the Call of Duty franchise up into an immensely popular franchise and it has now grown into a brand so all-encompassing that it’s set itself apart from the company’s other offerings. Reaching $1 billion in 16 days also speaks to just how big the gaming industry has become and according to industry data, game sales in November were up a solid 15 percent thanks to high-profile sequels like Modern Warfare 3, Elder Scroll V: Skyrim, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Discounted hardware costs ultimately ate away almost all of the extra revenue from game sales, but gamers will undoubtedly stay faithful in pissing away their savings accounts to get the latest games and the future for the gaming industry remains extremely bright because of it…………

Butter shortages in Norway, reasons to hate Coldplay and alienated NBAers

- Americans might not be able to believe that it’s not butter, but Norwegians can’t believe how difficult it is to actually find butter or anything remotely resembling it. While Americans deep-fry the dairy product, slather nearly every food they eat in it and would probably eat it as its own side dish if it were socially acceptable (outside of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, of course), Norwegians are finding butter extremely scarce these days. Because of the soaring popularity of a fat-rich fad diet in which butter is a perfect fit, Norway’s butter stockpiles are extremely depleted and with the holiday season looming the crisis is that much more pressing. While devoting themselves to the fat-rich, low-carb diet, Norwegians have eaten up the country’s entire stockpile of butter. Norwegian culture in general is much more accepting of a higher intake of fats anyhow, but the widespread popularity of this particular diet has exacerbated the problem. “Sales all of a sudden just soared, 20 per cent in October then 30 per cent in November,” said Lars Galtung, the head of communications at TINE, the country’s biggest farmer-owned cooperative. Other issues, including an exceptionally wet summer which reduced the quality of animal feed and cut milk output by 25 million liters, have also played a role in the shortage. Wise-cracking critics have even suggested that the world’s eighth-largest oil exporter offer some of its plentiful fuel supply in exchange for butter. Gatlung didn’t exactly dismiss the idea in praising Norwegians’ affection for butter. “Norwegians are not afraid of natural fats, they love their butter and cream,” he explained. How high is the demand? The price of butter on Norway’s top auction website starts at the equivalent of $13 for a 250-gram piece, roughly four times its normal price. In this time of crisis, many Norwegians will pay these exorbitant rates so they can enjoy plenty of buttery traditional biscuits and other homemade Christmas treats laden with loads of butter. One potential solution, imports from top dairy producer and Scandinavian neighbor, Denmark is being foiled by Norway’s high tariffs on imports. As of now, there simply isn't any relief in sight………..


- Coldplay are not doing themselves any favors the past few months. Other that releasing a kick-ass new album and preparing to tour in support of it, Chris Martin and the fellas are giving music fans even more reasons to openly despise them. After offering praise for stupendously terrible reality karaoke show The X-Factor for consistently churning out “great” music, Martin moved on with the asininely indefensible statement that he thinks Lady Gaga is a better songwriter than him. The woman who wears meat dresses, shows up for awards shows in oversized eggs and whose music is overproduced, far too digital and lacking in anything remotely resembling good music is a better songwriter than the talented-yet-pompous Martin? Umm…..not really. But the polarizing frontman insisted Lady Gaga e pens "better choruses" than him. "She's very sweet. I think what undercuts it all, though, is that she's talented and writes everything," Martin said. He went on to point out that he could never launch his own solo career because he'd be "terrible" without his bandmates. "I don't think I could even get a gig in Butlins — and I've been to Butlins. I think me and my keyboard would be outside Woolworths most days, getting shouted at," Martin opined. That his comments came after Coldplay performed at the X Factor finale on Monday may go a long way toward explaining his far-out ideas. After all, being around the hacks of a reality karaoke show is enough to warp anyone’s mind at least temporarily. Martin also channeled his inner metrosexual in marveling at Gaga’s oft-bizarre appearance. “I just admire all of the hats and the dresses and the madness and everything because I know that underneath it all she can beat me at writing choruses,” he said. As for the band he writes supposedly inferior songs for, Coldplay will play a massive UK tour next summer, with seven shows scheduled at major soccer stadiums, including three nights at Arsenal FC's Emirates Stadium. In between now and then, Martin may want to stop talking for a while and sit the next few plays out…………


- It’s about freaking time someone found a good use for helicopters. Sure, military units use them to drop supplies and transport troops and hospitals use them to move patients and organs needed for emergency transplants, but the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources has found something much more awesome than any of those things. The SCDNR needs to stock the lower Saluda River in Lexington County with thousands of rainbow and brown trout and rather than go boring or traditional by using a boat or other means, department officials plan to stock the river using a helicopter and specialized lift bucket. The idea will be part of its annual fish stocking and should help because stocking by helicopter allows SCDNR employees o distribute trout up and down the river system in order to prevent fish concentrations in one particular area. The air-dropped trout came from an Oconee County hatchery and these fortunate fish will be among the 400,000 trout stocked annually into the state's public waters, including in more than 50 cold-water rivers and streams in Greenville, Pickens and Oconee counties, in Lake Jocassee, and the cool tail-waters below the Lake Hartwell and Lake Murray dams. Lest anyone think the department is merely looking to use its cool helicopter toy to go out for a day of fun, the state earns about $9 million annually from trout fishing retail sales according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The total estimated economic output weighs in at more than $14 million, meaning the fish are a quality investment. Fishing tourism benefits the Upstate and Midlands regions and their hotels, restaurants, local sporting goods stores and other businesses. Stocking the Saluda River directly is necessary because the trout are not native to the area and can only survive because of the cold-water releases from the bottom of the Lake Murray dam. To supply the river fully, the SCDNR stocks the river with approximately 30,000 trout each year between December and April. However, officials are urging anglers to practice catch-and-release fishing during the winter and early spring in order to give the young trout enough time to grow…………


- New Dallas Mavericks forward Lamar Odom is what one might call an overly sensitive star player. Odom, a versatile 6’11 tool for any team and a guy who can play down low or on the perimeter and be effective, is also known as a guy who takes situations very personally. Thus, when he was included in the potential three-team deal that would have sent him to the New Orleans Hornets, Lakers center Pau Gasol to Houston and All-Star point guard Chris Paul to the Lakers as the main cogs of the trade and that trade fell apart because commission David Stern inexplicably blocked it, Odom didn’t handle the situation well. He pouted on Twitter, should up 90 minutes late for the Lakers’ first team workout and asked for a trade. The three-team deal appeared to receive some life after the involved teams resubmitted it to the league over the weekend, but the Lakers pulled out and when they did, Odom let them know he wanted out. The Lakers obliged by sending him to the team that swept them out of the playoffs last year and went on to win the NBA title. They received next to nothing (a trade exception, cash and a draft pick) in return and in the process infuriated star guard Kobe Bryant. Odom admitted that the Lakers' decision to package him in a deal to the Hornets and not being informed that the trade was in place soured his relationship with the team to the point he asked to be moved. While appearing at Tuesday's media day wearing the Mavericks' home white uniform for the first time, Odom was emotional about the move. "It's surreal, it's definitely surreal," Odom said. "It happened, you know, like that." Asked about almost being traded to a New Orleans team currently owned (and poorly run) by the league, Odom conceded that he had no interest in playing for the Hornets. "Yeah, um, I can't cuss. That's not where I wanted to be," Odom said of New Orleans. "No disrespect to anybody on that team or the city or the ownership. But it's not a place that I wanted to be after playing for the Lakers, a team that contends for a championship. That's what you expect to be around. It was hard for me to picture myself there starting over." He blasted Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak for his handling of the trade. “It wasn't about going to New Orleans. It was just about how they did it," Odom said. "I felt a little disrespected. After being here for so long and going through so many things, I felt like they could have just told me and I probably would have accepted it. If someone is telling you that you can't be here or there's no more room for you, you got to understand that. I think because it's just how they did it is the reason why I took it so personal." And that, everyone, is how a team and a league bungling a major trade can ruin relationships and rosters………….


- NASA is no longer shooting humans into space and rides with the Russians are far too expensive to hitch regularly, so it’s up to private companies to take over the space race for America. The match couldn’t be a better fit because rich people are always looking for new novelties to waste their boatloads of cash on and there are few things more rare than being able to brag about going to space. Sir Richard Branson is hard at work on space vacations and he now has competition from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan, who are teaming up to build the world's biggest plane to help launch cargo and astronauts into space. The pair unveiled plans Tuesday for a twin-fuselage aircraft with wings longer than a football field to carry a rocket high into the atmosphere and drop it. This approach would eliminate the need for a launch pad and the expense of additional rocket fuel. Allen and Rutan partnered in 2004 to send the first privately financed, manned spacecraft into space and the Portland Trailblazers owner said his new project would "keep America at the forefront of space exploration" and give a new generation of children something to dream about.” Acknowledging the growing group of tycoons and billionaires working on space travel, Allen admitted the task is a daunting one. "We have plenty and many challenges ahead of us," he said at a news conference. Several companies are already competing to develop spacecraft to deliver cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station, which was previously serviced by NASA missions. Allen took a moment from promoting his own project to blast the government for reducing funding for spaceflight. "When I was growing up, America's space program was the symbol of aspiration," he said. "For me, the fascination with space never ended. I never stopped dreaming what might be possible." The initial flight for Allen and Rutan’s craft is planned for 2016 and it will be unmanned. Beyond that, manned flights could be an additional five years off. Meanwhile, Branson licensed the technology Allen and Rutan used on the experimental SpaceShipOne in 2004 and he is developing SpaceShipTwo to carry tourists to space. Rutan will build the new craft, which will have a wingspan of 380 feet — the world's largest - and use six 747 engines. Nothing quite like watching rich people duke it out for the honor of being the first to do something crazy………….