- The war for domination of the social networking world continues and even though it faces a massive uphill battle in the quest to topple Facebook, Google isn't backing down from the challenge. Following the launch of its Google+ service last week, the tech giant is stepping up its efforts to provide an alternative to Facebook by making it easier for Google+ users to take their data with them whenever they choose, a perk that Facebook users have often wished for. Through the Google Data Liberation Front, the company has added the ability for users to export lists of the Websites they recommended to other users via the Google +1 button. In essence, the +1 button allows users to recommend search results or ads they've like while using Google.com. With the launch of Google+, a social network that lets users share links, videos and photos, the +1 button has taken on an added level of relevance. The Data Liberation Front smartly timed the unveiling of Google Takeout, which lets users export their data from Google Buzz, Google Contacts and Google+ Profile, Circles and Streams, for the same day Google+ launched to limited field testing. The DLF also debuted Picasa Web Albums, which provides the picture storage foundation for Google+. Both Google+ and Google +1 should provide a massive boost for the Data Liberation Front, launched in September 2009 to let users free data from Gmail, Google AdWords, Google Chrome and other company services. Google Engineering Manager Brian Fitzpatrick and his team have taken some unusual approaches in allowing users to move data they create via Google Web services outside those applications, falling in line with Google’s stated “totally open” policy on freeing up user data, something Facebook has been reluctant to do. While Mark Zuckerberg and Co. do allow users to download their data and take it with them, the world’s most popular social networking site is still lagging behind Google when it comes to freedom of information. Because of that reticence, developers have created tools such as Move2Picasa, which lets users shuttle their Facebook photos to Picasa Web Albums on Google+. Taking a page from Twitter, Facebook blocked Facebook Friend Exporter, a Chrome extension that automates the extraction of user data, along with other apps giving more data freedom to users. Now that Google has taken large steps toward giving its users the freedom Facebook never has, it should be interesting to see how Facebook responds…………


- No soccer fans, this does not mean that your sport is legitimately important in the United States or that it is poised to blow right by the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball atop the totem pole of sports importance for Americans. Yes, the Women's World Cup final between Japan and the United States set the record for tweets per second, but that has much more to do with Twitter’s surging popularity than with how much people love soccer. Generating more tweets per second than the wedding of Prince William and Kate and the death of Osama bin Laden is swell and all, but don’t go ascribing world-changing levels of importance to Japan’s nail-biting victory over the favored Americans on penalty kicks after the Japanese rallied twice to tie the game before converting three of their first four penalty kicks to the Americans’ one in the shootout. The victory gave Japan its first-ever world cup and denied the Americans their third, in the process spawning 7,196 tweets per second, according to Twitter. That was enough to break the previous record of 6,939 set just after midnight in Japan on New Year's Day, along with bin Laden's death (5,106 per second) and the Super Bowl in February (4,064). To show the power of Americans loving to boast about things we’re good at (at least while we’re ahead on the scoreboard), Spain's World Cup win over the Netherlands in men’s action in July 2010 garnered a high of 3,051 tweets per second. Twitter is also immensely popular in Japan, so combining that with Americans’ growing embracement of the microblogging site provided something of a perfect storm for the record to be set. Then again, Twitter claims it is adding some 600,000 users per day and its users send 200 million tweets per day, compared to 10 million two years ago, so there are bound to be more tweets than ever on just about every topic, even ones that Twitter users didn’t care about two weeks ago and stopped caring about the instant the game ended…………


- Stop persecuting cyclists, Philadelphia. They’re lessening their potential impact on the environment by not driving, they’re potentially reducing health care costs by remaining in better physical condition and if you have to put up with some minor traffic-related inconveniences to gain those benefits, so be it. Yes, many cyclists openly admit that they regularly break traffic laws while biking in the city, but how big a problem is that really? If you operate based on the approach city officials and law enforcement are taking to this perceived problem, it must be huge. With bike lanes becoming a much more common sight around the city center, police are cracking down on disobedient bikers as part of the Give Respect, Get Respect campaign aimed at promoting and enforcing the peaceful coexistence of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. As part of the campaign, a traffic-enforcement team of bike cops stopped 803 cyclists and motorists from its May 16 launch through Thursday. Cops on bikes hassling citizens on bikes just seems wrong, but 600 of those stopped in the first few weeks of the campaign were cyclists, according to statistics from the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities. "Cyclists seem to be where the educational focus needs to go," said Capt. Alan Clark, who leads the patrol out of the Police Department's Center City District substation. "[Motorists] don't need education. If they ran a red light, they know what they did." Oh, so now cyclists are ignorant too? And no, it doesn’t lessen the sting when Clark claims motorists received more tickets, while cyclists were mostly issued warnings. Of the 600 cyclists stopped, 590 were issued warnings, while three were cited for moving violations, which commonly include running red lights or riding against traffic and carry the same $120.50 fine as they do for motorists. As a quick aside, all cyclists in the Philadelphia area are advised to NOT carry any forms of identification with them and forget their real name if they happen to be pulled over by police. Oh, and what happens if the offending cyclist is some 12-year-old kid? Are police going to hit the kid up with a $120.50 fine? Oh, and seven cyclists received code violations for riding on the sidewalk, which carry a $50 fine. Let’s see, ride on the sidewalk and avoid reckless motorists or ride on the street and put yourself in danger…..hmm. Worse still, Andrew Stober, chief of staff of the transportation office, said he expects the number of tickets given to cyclists to increase in the near future. "That's going to be at the Police Department's discretion, as they see particularly repeat offenders - and that's largely who's been getting the tickets that have been written already," Stober said. All of these tickets are being handed out even though bike patrols typically take place a few afternoons or evenings per week. They consist of eight to 12 officers cruising the city center for three to four hours along planned routes or at busy crosswalks and intersections. Many cyclists in the city have complained about feeling unfairly targeted by the campaign and based on the facts provided thus far, it’s hard to disagree with them………….


- After all of his (possibly fake) insanity, anti-establishment rants, bizarre nonsense spewing from his mouth and utter stupidity, Charlie Sheen has arrived at his destination, which is……..essentially the same freaking place he departed from when he left the world of sanity as we know it and went off to whatever planet he’s been dwelling on for the past few months. Prior to wrecking his relationship with CBS and everyone associated with its (inexplicably) popular sitcom Two and a Half Men, Sheen was the lead actor in a subpar half-hour weekly comedy and after his explosive departure, string of nonsensical interviews and “Torpedoes of Truth” comedy tour, he is now returning to being the lead actor in a sitcom on the small screen. Sheen is developing a pilot for a new series based on Anger Management, the predictable and mostly unwatchable 2003 film starring Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler. "I chose Anger Management because, while it might be a big stretch for me to play a guy with serious anger management issues, I think it is a great concept," Sheen said in a tongue-in-cheek statement. Ah yes, the “it’s a great concept” explanation, the same one everyone in the entertainment industry gives for dredging up a tired, already-been-done concept so they can recycle it and thus have a “new” project without having to cook up an original idea of their own. Nothing screams originality and creativity quite like hijacking and remaking someone else’s idea for a movie or show. In addition to writing, developing and acting in the show, the drug-addled actor will also “retain a significant ownership stake in the series," according to the statement. "It also provides me with real ownership in the series, a certain amount of creative control and the chance to be back in business with one of my favorite movie producers of all time, Joe Roth," Sheen stated. At a minimum, working with Roth might help keep Sheen on a relatively even keel, as he also worked with the producer on the movies Major League, Young Guns and Three Musketeers. Sheen's manager Mark Burg will be part of the project as well through his production company, which is producing the show, and he said the show came together like a dream. "We have been fielding numerous offers for Charlie since his departure from Two and a Half Men, but none were as creatively and financially compelling as Anger Management," Burg declared. One way or another, it should be quite the entertaining train wreck…………


- How was your weekend, Ecuador? Hopefully you entered said weekend well stocked on your chosen brand of alcohol because authorities quickly turned the 72 hours ‘twixt working weeks into a dry one by banning alcohol sales in an emergency measure to stop contaminated drinks from reaching consumers after at least 21 people died. Officials announced the 72-hour national dry law Sunday following alcohol poisoning cases in several parts of the country and no, the alcohol poisoning wasn’t because some epic ragers were going on and attendees simply went overboard on drinking cheap beer and Jell-O shots. Hospitals across the country treated more than 100 people who fell ill after drinking bootleg liquor over the past week, according to the government, and at least 21 people died as a result of apparent poisoning. Investigators discovered dangerous quantities of methanol -- an industrial-grade alcohol not intended for human consumption - in the drinks consumed by many of those who were poisoned. "It is a potent poison that can in small quantities, including a quarter of a cup, cause the death of the individual that consumes it," Health Minister David Chiriboga explained. Oddly enough, the liquor was sold in unlabeled bottles, with no indication of its contents or where it originated. That’s bizarre because people selling bootleg liquor with potentially dangerous or deadly side effects tend to label their products quite well and make it easy to trace their origins. The first cases of alcohol poisoning first appeared last Tuesday, Ecuador's government said, and by Sunday, 103 patients showing symptoms had come to local hospitals. Officials in the affected area, the city of Los Rios, implemented a curfew (not sure how that helped), shut down bars and confiscated hundreds of unlabeled bottles containing bootleg alcohol. Much of the damage appears to have been done during a festival in the town of Urdaneta, Los Rios, when the tainted liquor "was massively consumed," Ecuador's government said in a statement. All 21 fatalities were residents of Los Rios, but similar poisoning cases have also been reported in at least four other areas, the government said. Police have been able to locate and arrest the seller of the liquor and the investigation continues…………

Anti-muslim pizza kings, movie news and drivers still aren't athletes

- The pizza king may not have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the Republican presidential nomination for next year’s election, but that doesn’t mean Herman Cain can't generate plenty of headlines and discussion while he remains in the race. The Herman-ator continued doing exactly that Sunday in defending his opposition to a new mosque in Tennessee. The way Cain sees it, there is great reason to be concerned about Shariah law and as a result, Americans "have the right" to ban mosques in their communities. Those comments came on the heels of Cain’s admission earlier this year that he would be uncomfortable appointing a Muslim to his Cabinet if elected. Rather than double back and try to spin his words, Cain chose to pile on this past week by expressing concern about the controversial mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Outside of the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" in New York City, the Murfreesboro mosque has become easily the most controversial in the United States. The mosque has sparked demonstrations and legal challenges and inspired Cain’s latest controversial remarks during an appearance on über-conservative Fox News new magazine "Fox News Sunday." Cain explained that he came to oppose the Murfreesboro mosque after talking to members of that community. In Cain’s words, the site is "hallowed ground" to Murfreesboro residents and that they're concerned about "the intentions of trying to get Shariah law" -- the code governing conduct in Islamic societies. "It's not just a mosque for religious purposes. This is what the people are objecting to," he said. The obvious follow-up question is what rights a community should have in preventing the construction of a mosque and in Herman Cain’s mind, those rights should be immense. "They have the right to do that. That's not discriminating ... against that particular religion. That is an aspect of them building that mosque that doesn't get talked about," he said of stopping a mosque from being built. Unfortunately for Cain, a local judge has ruled that the project can go forward and there’s no guarantee that, as the Herman-ator believes, the case will actually reach the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the same heat Cain and his followers are putting on the mosque is being directed at him by the Muslim community, which is excoriating Cain for his words. The Council on American-Islamic Relations accused him of using "bigoted" language with his Cabinet comments and said Sunday that he should "apologize" for his latest remarks. Ah, life must have been much easier when Cain was only the CEO of Godfather's Pizza and his biggest dilemma was the appropriate price point for pizza with cheese baked into the crust…………


- There may not be a smarter player in the NFL than Seattle Seahawks receiver Golden Tate. Tate may not be a Mensa member and he may not have a certified IQ of 150, but his extremely wise comments on NASCAR and whether or not its drivers are athletes could not be more on point. As the ESPY Awards rolled around last week to honor some of the best in sports over the past year, Tate expressed wonderment that NASCAR drive Jimmie Johnson, the four-time defending NASCAR champion, was nominated for male athlete of the year at the ESPYs. Tate posted on his account, @ShowtimeTate, "Jimmy johnson up for best athlete???? Um nooo .. Driving a car does not show athleticism." Well said, Golden. Driving a car 200 mph in a circle may require skill, but it does not make one an athlete. If driving fast, going in circles, cutting other drivers off, not using your turn signal and causing accidents makes someone an athlete, then every American with a driver’s license is an athlete. Those who insist that auto racing is a sport forget the basic principle that for something to meet the basic criteria of a sport, a human being should be providing the vast majority of the power, not an internal combustion engine. Tate’s accurate comments predictably prompted outrage from oversensitive NASCAR fans, who besieged him with angry replies. He later posted, "12th man get these rednecks off me," alluding to the nickname commonly used for the Seahawks’ rowdy fan base at home games. When media members ran Tate’s words past Johnson Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Johnson laughed them off and invited Tate to the track to learn more about NASCAR. "I think it's easy to make a comment when you don't know," Johnson said. "In a lot of situations, people haven't been to a race or been close enough to our sport to understand what takes place here." Umm, no. Don’t mistake not knowing the ins and outs of auto racing or how difficult it is with realizing that what you all do is NOT a sport. Tate knows as much, which is why he later tweeted that drivers aren't qualified to be called athletes like men in shoulder pads. “I've driven a car on unknown roads at night at 90mph no big deal. No sign of athletism (sp)," he posted. “Guarantee he couldn't in million year play any SPORT. give me 6 months of training and I bet I could compete." So swift and severe was the backlash for his words (the truth hurts), Tate had to back down. "Apologies for my offensive comment to NASCAR fans. I actually read up on it and NO I couldn't race a car 150 mph," he tweeted. "will say my respect for NASCAR has gone up tremendously yalls fans r hard nose and passionate #respect!" Just don’t mistake that apology for a concession that your heroes in firesuits and souped-up cars are actual athletes, auto racing fans, because clearly they’re not and never will be until they cut holes in the floors of their rides and make them run by going all Fred Flintstone with it…………


- Think twice before draining that beer bong a second time or doing another keg stand, ladies. According to researchers from the University of California, San Diego and Stanford University and the findings of their study published in the most recent issue of everyone’s must-read scientific journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, teenage girls who binge-drink have a higher risk of long-term harm to the brain compared to boys of the same age who also binge drink. For the study, researchers defined binge drinking as consuming at least four (for females) or five (for males) alcoholic drinks at one sitting. Activity levels in several regions of the brain among girls who binge drink were lower than what one would normally find among typical teenagers among participants. "These differences in brain activity were linked to worse performance on other measures of attention and working memory ability,” co-author, Susan Tapert of Stanford University said. Reasons for the difference in the impact of binge drinking on brain activity were not explicitly spelled out by the study, but researchers offered theories including: a girl's brain tends to develop a couple of years earlier than a boy's, the slower metabolic rate in girls, the typical weight difference between boys and girls or hormonal differences. The findings were similar to those of previous studies on adults who abuse alcohol - women tend to be more vulnerable to its harmful effects on the brain. Its scope was small - just 95 participants - and of those 95 teenagers, 40 said they had taken part in sessions of binge drinking. They were also asked how often they had consumed an alcoholic drink during their lifetime and what their alcohol consumption had been during the three months before the study began. Following those questions, participants were asked to complete tasks that activated brain parts responsible for spatial working memory, while at the same time being scanned with an MRI (medical resonance imaging) device. Any impairment of spatial memory can result in problems doing everyday tasks such as driving, reading a map and sports involving significant motor skills. Any worries that researchers were benefitting from some teenage alcoholics without actually helping them can be shelved because Tapert was adamant that none of the 95 participants was alcoholic or had a drink problem. Extrapolating their results on a grander scale, the study’s authors estimated that nearly 30 percent of all teenagers in America in their last year of school reported binge drinking during the previous four weeks. Overall, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that 75 percent of all alcohol consumed in the U.S. is consumed during binge-drinking sessions. Now, we have a better idea of where it is going and what its potential effects may be………….


- He may still be the man (un)officially in power over the communist behemoth that is Russia, but communist or not, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin deserves respect. He deserves that respect if for no other reason than inspiring a group called "Putin's Army,” which just might be the coolest political support group in recorded history. What - or who - is Putin’s Army? The group came to light through an online campaign launched in Russia urging young women to support Putin in a presidential vote by taking off their clothes. Putin, who was president between 2000-2008 before handing the reins to his protege Dmitry Medvedev, is planning to return to the post he’s never truly left and has apparently enlisted the help of someone who thinks that hot chicks getting naked is a great way to rally support for a presidential candidate (something Bill Clinton would undoubtedly support). The site for Putin’s Army features a video of a blonde student called Diana strutting her stuff on the streets of Moscow in a sexy black suit and high heels before writing "I will tear my clothes off for Putin" on a white top in red lipstick and starting to undo her clothes. Were that all there was to the video, it would be slimy, greasy, dirty, pervy and more than a little creepy. Thankfully, the apparent point of the video is actually inviting girls to strip for the chance of winning an iPad2. In a country where poverty is common and affording a new, state-of-the-art tablet computer is all but impossible for the average Russian, channeling your inner stripper and skanking it up for a new iPad 2 may actually be incentive enough to inspire some of Russia’s finest talent to doff their clothing and show their support for a new tablet, er, their future president in the process. Sure, there’s a chance you could humiliate yourself by stripping to enter the contest and not win anything, but perhaps it will lead you to a lucrative career of taking your clothes off for disgusting, pervy strangers who will reward you by shoving paper money into your G-string, so either way the result could be positive………….


- Everyone saw it coming and realized it would happen regardless of how good or bad Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was, so the final installment of the dork-tastic wizard series inspired by J.K. Rowling’s children’s books crushing the field at the box office this weekend was merely a question of how wide the margin would be. That number ended up in the category of fairly staggering, as the film set a record for domestic earnings on an opening weekend with $168.5 million. That was nearly eight times the amount earned by the runner-up, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. In its third weekend, Michael Bay’s latest overhyped, underwhelming effort churned out $21.2 million to push its three-week domestic total over the $300 million mark at $302.8 million and counting. Third place went to the Jason Bateman-led comedy Horrible Bosses, which may not be very good but still cranked out $17.6 million in its second weekend of release and has made $60 million in the U.S. thus far. The worst movie of the top 10 (in a very heated race, even more heated than most weekends) came in fourth, as Zookeeper somehow found enough idiots to see a talking ape movie that is essentially Dr. Doolittle set in a zoo to make $12.3 million for a cumulative total of $42.3 million. Rounding out the top five was Cars 2, which has been fairly successful in its first month and came in fifth with $8.4 million to make its overall tally at the four-week mark a solid $165.3 million in domestic movie dollars. Scanning the latter half of the top 10 yields a list consisting of: newcomers Winnie the Pooh (No. 6 with an underwhelming debut of $8 in its first weekend), Cameron Diaz’s Bad Teacher (No. 7 and another contender for worst movie in the top 10, earning $5.2 million for the weekend and $88 million through one month in theaters), the thoroughly forgettable and mediocre Larry Crowne (No. 8 with $2.5 million, a whopping 56 drop from last weekend, and $31.6 through three weeks), the hearty Super 8 (checking in at No. 9 after six weeks of release with $1.9 million and a cumulative total of $122.2 million) and Midnight in Paris (jumping back into the top 10 at No. 10 after falling out last week by making $1.8 million for a nine-week total of $41.8 million). Three films - the final three - from last week’s top 10 all fell out this time around, with Mr. Popper’s Penguins (would have been a contender for worst top 10 film if it had made the cut) at No. 12, Monte Carlo plummeting to No. 13 and Green Lantern falling four spots to No. 14………….

A good international theft ring, Google's next big step and soccer doping by North Korea

- How long has it been since the world has been able to enjoy a quality international smuggling ring accused of stealing millions of dollars in antiquities from Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries? Too long, that’s how long. Thankfully, such a ring has been discovered and its members are now facing federal charges in the United States. Authorities announced the charges Thursday as they detailed some of the items seized by investigators. "It is the first time an alleged cultural property network has been dismantled within the United States," James Hayes Jr., special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Homeland Security investigators in New York. A federal indictment spelled out the charges against four men who are alleged to have conspired to smuggle artifacts and launder money. These intrepid smugglers are identified as Mousa Khouli, who operated a business called Windsor Antiquities in New York; Salem Alshdaifat, who operated a business called Holyland Numismatics with a mailing address in West Bloomfield, Michigan; Joseph A. Lewis, II, described only as a collector of Egyptian antiquities; and Ayman Ramadan, who operated a business called Nafertiti Eastern Sculptures Trading in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. None of the four comes across as any sort of lowlife criminal thug, which makes sense because they are alleged to have operated a sophisticated smuggling operation that wrapped around the globe, purchasing valuable antiquities from looters in several countries and then selling them to collectors. At present, Ramadan is the only one of the four suspects not currently in custody. The investigation of the ring lasted more than three years and took investigators around the world and back again. "In addition to smuggling cultural property, this case also focuses on significant money laundering activity," Hayes said. "This is notable because the illicit sale of cultural property is the third most profitable black market industry following narcotics and weapons trafficking." As happens so often in major theft investigations, the break in the case came from something much smaller. ICE Special Agent Brenton Easter said his team initially was looking for one item - a terracotta head uncovered in Iraq in 2000 -- when they stumbled upon a multinational network. “This is one of the first times in the U.S. that we've actually dismantled an entire network. What we've done is identified the person in the Middle East who was the conduit, we've identified the broker, we've identified the individual providing false provenance, and we've identified the end-all collector," Easter said. The total value of items recovered from the ring by ICE agents has been estimated at $2.5 million, including a Greco-Roman-style Egyptian sarcophagus, a nesting set of three Egyptian sarcophagi, a set of Egyptian funerary boats, and Egyptian limestone figures that date back to 552 B.C. Investigators also seized artifacts from Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan. All of the antiquities were smuggled in to the United States from the Port of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and many were discovered by using rudimentary metal detectors. All of these factors add up into something the world has desperately been lacking, namely a major international antiquities theft ring to entertain it…………


- Friday Night Lights has had its run as a feature film, it has enjoyed a few critically acclaimed seasons as a television show and now that run is ending, leaving the franchise to……go back to the big screen? As the fifth and final season of the show comes to a close on NBC, rumors are already swirling that FNL may live on by making a return to Hollywood. Armed with Emmy nominations and a certain cult following, the drama may churn out a sequel to the original film that spawned the show in the first place, which would certainly be a nice little circle. The first movie starred Billy Bob Thornton in the lead role and speculation has the next film picking up where the small screen version left off and center on Coach Taylor (Thornton’s role) and his love interest Tami, as played by Emmy nominees Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton (who played the same role opposite Thornton in the original movie). Series creator Peter Berg has gone on the record as saying he wants to do the movie and since he piloted both the movie and series (with help from executive producer Jason Katims), he would certainly have a lot of sway in making another movie happen. Going back to the big screen may not be quite as simple as making the transition from film to TV series initially, as book rights and multiple production companies, Imagine and NBC’s production arm, Universal Media Studios, involved. NBC has already said it does not currently have a FNL project in development, but any chance of cashing in on this profitable franchise one more time and scoring another big pay day before FNL is retired would change that “not currently” into a “work in progress” in a hurry…………


- Google is pretty happy with itself right about now. This week’s successful launch of its Google+ social network has sufficiently bolstered the tech giant in its ongoing quest for global domination and led to the requisite flexing of its corporate muscle. In that spirit, Google is requiring users to provide Google Profiles, the identity component of Google+, with "the name that you commonly go by in daily life." The concept is essentially the same as Facebook's name policy, which has already rankled Internet users who prefer to interact online without being personally identified. As a small concession to those fans of online privacy, Google recently added "Other" as a gender designation option in Profiles, but the overarching sentiment is clearly for more information to be shared. Look no further than the Google News portion of the website for evidence of this, as on Thursday Google took major steps forward turning it into a social media experience by introducing a system of online badges that Google News readers can earn by reading news articles. The process, known as "gamification," combines the basic principles of online gaming with non-game activities. Gamification has been a major topic at several recent game industry conferences and tech experts believe it will be practiced by a much wider range of organizations with an online presence in the next two to three years. Google is merely ahead of the game and has designed more than 500 badges to recognize diligent news reading. The badges are private for now, but Google hopes to see users make them public and has designed them to be shareable while making certain information associated with the badges private by default. "Your badges are private by default, but if you want, you can share your badges with your friends," wrote Google engineer Natasha Mohanty in a blog post. "Tell them about your news interests, display your expertise, start a conversation, or just plain brag about how well-read you are." Bragging is also a big component of Google’s current endeavors and Google Profiles has recently added a data field titled "Bragging rights." This feature will allow Google News readers in the U.S. to boast titles like Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Ultimate. In order to use news badges, users need to have their Web history enabled. Users who are vigilant about their privacy can still duck all of these new features by disabling their Web history and not signing in to Google when they search and browse for news and other assorted content……….


- Stunning, just stunning. North Korea is accused of engaging in dishonest, deceptive behavior involving illegal substances. But take a deep breath and relax, world, because the substances in question aren’t nuclear and no world wars will start over these allegations. In fact, the entire situation revolves around something completely irrelevant and unimportant: women’s soccer. The North Korean women’s national team may not have won a game or even scored a goal in being eliminated in the group stage from the ongoing World Cup in Germany, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t trying their damndest to compete and win. According to soccer governing body FIFA, five North Korea players have tested positive for steroids at the World Cup, soccer's biggest doping scandal at a major tournament in 17 years. And as anyone who has ever played a sport at any level knows, if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Saturday that two players were caught during the tournament this month, leading tournament officials to test the rest of the North Korean squad. Those tests led to three more positive results. "This is a shock," Blatter said at a news conference. "We are confronted with a very, very bad case of doping and it hurts." Those words coming from someone who just won re-election as FIFA’s president despite rampant corruption in the organization and scandals in which he was personally involved is a bit rich, but let’s roll with Blatter’s righteous indignation for the moment. The scandal is the first of significance since the men's 1994 World Cup in the United States, when Argentinean star Diego Maradona was kicked out after testing positive for stimulants. North Korea’s defense against the allegations is predictably bizarre, with officials telling FIFA that the steroids were accidentally taken with traditional Chinese medicines based on musk deer glands to treat players who had been struck by lightning on June 8 during a training camp. That’s right, they’re invoking the old “lightning strike necessitates musk deer gland usage” excuse. That argument should play very well with FIFA's disciplinary committee, which will now take up the case. Defenders Song Jong Sun and Jong Pok Sim were the first two players to test positive in testing conducted after North Korea's first two group games. They were suspended for the last match, which ended in a scoreless draw with Colombia. Blatter didn’t seem to find the initial explanation for the positive tests plausible, saying the North Korean federation "wrote to us and they presented their excuses. They said that a lightning strike was responsible for this." The musk deer gland remedy comes from musk deer living in a large swathe of Asia from Siberia to North Korea and the hairy 4-centimeter gland is usually cut open to extract a liquid that is used for medical purposes. FIFA officials encountered steroids that had never before been found by any governing body and were initially perplexed by what they discovered. "It was very complex," FIFA's chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak said. "It is really the first case in which this has been discovered." The organization has yet to release the names of the other three players who tested positive, but with women’s soccer set to fade right back into obscurity once the tournament ends Sunday, odds are this entire saga will soon be forgotten…………


- Sooner or later, it was going to happen. Enough travelers have been put through enough invasive searches/gropings by Transportation Security Administration officials while going through security checkpoints at airports across the United States that one was eventually going to snap. When millions of people are scanned, wanded, patted down, groped and undressed, TSA screeners are bound to run into one who will snap and do something insane in response to being put through their requisite thorough examination before being allowed to proceed to their gate and board their plane. That the person who snapped was a 61-year-old Asian-American woman from Colorado may not have been the obvious choice, but it’s not really that stunning. Yukari Mihamae was passing through security at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix when she was pulled aside by a female TSA agent for closer screening. Instead, it was the agent who received a more thorough examination when Mihamae reportedly grabbed the agent’s left breast and squeezed and twisted it with both hands. Phoenix police are not sure why Mihamae committed the bizarre act, but the police report states that she admitted to the crime. She was later released on her own recognizance and now faces a felony count of sexual abuse. Without having any legal expertise, the best advice for Mihamae has to be taking the case to trial. After all, her chances of going in front of a jury and finding 12 people who have suffered through a TSA screening nightmare of their own and are sympathetic to someone exacting a bit of revenge on the blue-shirted jerks who seize tubes of toothpaste in excess of three ounces from carry-on bags and force people to disrobe and allow a total stranger to feel them up in a public places would seem to be fairly good. Well, either that or Mihamae can claim she is not guilty by reason of insanity because her actions would definitely seem to back that up. Or there is always the chance she just thought the TSA agent was hot and that was Mihamae’s crude way of hitting on her………..

Basketball tickets over family, turmoil in Turkey and exciting tea research

- Never, ever again should anyone underestimate how much college basketball means to the good people of North Carolina. Too often, rabid fans of a team are said to treat a sport as “a religion,” but those words actually do apply to a select few whack-a-doos who can't maintain an actual working relationship with reality. Count Katina Dorton as one of those whack jobs by virtue of her filing a lawsuit Friday against her sister, her sister's husband and Duke University regarding the transfer of two tickets that once belonged to her father for games at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils are annually one of college basketball’s best teams and seeing their games from the best possible seats seems to mean more to Dorton than having a non-toxic relationship with her family. She is seeking unspecified damages and asking the court to invalidate the "fraudulent transfer" to Gordon and Sophia Caudle that occurred without the knowledge or consent of her father or other family members, according to the complaint. Dorton’s father John was a Duke graduate and dentist who treated athletes and coaches over the years and purchased tickets through longtime contributions to the Iron Dukes -- the fundraising arm of the school's athletic department. He passed away in January 2010 at age 81, but passed on his season tickets to Dorton’s sister and her husband in July 2008. Dorton alleges her father was "ill and unable to act for himself" when the transfer occurred even though the Iron Dukes allow members to pass on tickets to family members willing to meet financial obligations. In John Dorton’s case, that meant a $50,000 transfer donation and a $6,000 annual contribution. The lawsuit seeks to void Sophia and Gordon Caudle’s arrangement while allowing Katina Dorton to assume the transferred ticket rights. "This is important and it's valuable," said Randall M. Roden, an attorney for Dorton. "She's a graduate. She genuinely wants to support the Blue Devils and go to the games. But she was shocked by the way Duke handled this." Shocked enough to file suit in Wake County Superior Court and throw whatever remains of her relationship with her sister under the oncoming bus. "Sophia and Gordon Caudle regret that this private family matter has been made public," said John N. Hutson Jr., an attorney for the Caudles. "Now that it has been made public, they welcome the opportunity to present their case in court where they believe both they and Duke University will be found to have acted properly." They regret it? Not nearly as much as the rest of us. The legal basis of the complaint is that Caudle had no authority to arrange the transfer because he wasn't yet married to Sophia Caudle when he signed the agreement. Controversy ensued and the Caudles later composed an agreement returning the tickets to John Dorton for his lifetime after he became "extremely upset and agitated" by the change. He later signed the document stating he agreed to the transfer, though the complaint claims it's invalid because Dorton was "suffering from diminished capacity" and his focus was to regain control of the tickets. Now that he’s gone, the fight is on and sisterly love is nowhere to be found, all over college basketball tickets. "They're good seats in Cameron," Roden said. "That's a big deal in anybody's book." All righty, then……….


- Terrified by the superbug known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and its potential to send you shuffling off this mortal coil too soon? According to Dr. Eric Matheson of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and a few of his colleagues, you can mitigate that risk simply by drinking hot tea or coffee. In a study reported in the July/August issue of Annals of Family Medicine, Matheson and his team found people who drink either beverage are less likely to carry MRSA in their noses. Consuming either beverage was associated with about a 50 percent relative reduction in the odds of nasal MRSA carriage. Caffeine addicts who consumed both beverages saw a 67-percent reduction in their MRSA risk the researchers wrote that the findings "raise the possibility of a promising new method to decrease MRSA nasal carriage that is safe, inexpensive, and easily accessible.” Potential enthusiasm over the findings has been somewhat damened by the fact that the relationship between nasal MRSA carriage and the chances of systemic infection has not been resolved. But not knowing the clinical importance of the finding doesn’t mean the study was a waste of time and money because it still accomplished a helluva lot more than most studies ever do. Previous studies have demonstrated antimicrobial properties in coffee and tea when applied topically. This new round of research included 5,555 individuals ages 2 and older, representing 182.1 million people. Less than half of participants (48.6 percent) reported consuming hot tea over the past month and 60.8 percent reported drinking coffee over the past month (hopefully the 2-year-olds weren’t the ones chugging coffee). A mere 1.4 percent of the participants carried MRSA in their noses and even after adjusting for age, race, sex, poverty status, current health status, hospitalization in the past 12 months, and use of antibiotics in the past month, there were lower odds of nasal MRSA carriage among individuals who drank any amount of hot tea, coffee or both compared with those who drank none. Even when separating adult participants from the mix, the results for them were the same. Unfortunately, the same benefits were not found to extend to iced tea drinkers, perhaps because iced tea has lower levels of polyphenolic compounds than hot tea, or that the volatile antimicrobial compounds in coffee and tea reach the nose in vapor form, according to the researchers. So how do the researchers explain their findings? "In the case of coffee, particular attention has focused on the potential antibacterial properties of trigonelline, glyoxal, methylglyoxal, and diacetyl," Matheson and colleagues wrote. "For tea, attention has focused on the antimicrobial properties of tannic acid and catechins." Their report adds the positive news that drinking both coffee and tea decrease iron absorption, which could affect the growth of S. aureus. While no one is completely certain what all of this means, it is wonderful to find a study that does something other than reaffirm facts we all already knew…………


- Kurdish rebels, you have been warned. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has placed you on notice that you will pay a "heavy price" after launching an ambush that killed 13 Turkish soldiers. That vow was punctuated by soldiers, air force bombers and helicopter gunships launching a major offensive in south-eastern Turkey on Friday, one day after an ambush in which 13 soldiers and seven rebels were killed - the deadliest clash in three years. "I'm openly telling the terrorist organization and its extensions that they should never expect any goodwill on our part in the face of such ill-intentioned actions," Erdogan said. Meanwhile, a Kurdish umbrella group declared "democratic autonomy" in direct defiance of the government. "As the Kurdish people we declare democratic autonomy, remaining bound to the national unity of the peoples of Turkey," read Aysel Tugluk, deputy chairwoman of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) on Thursday as the ambush took place. No one is quite sure what "democratic autonomy" means, but its general concept was still enough to enrage the government, so much so that prosecutors opened an investigation into the declaration. They could even press criminal charges against some of the 850 delegates who took part in the DTK event. The group describes itself as a local grouping of Kurds in eastern Turkey, comprising intellectuals, representatives from civil society organizations and pro-Kurdish politicians, while the government seems to view them as equivalent to terrorists. Erdogan derisivelt referred to the declaration as a "self-styled thesis" and mocked the group as not being on the level of actual political activists. "If they want peace, there is one thing to do: the terrorist organization must lay down arms," Erdogan said. The overall struggle for peace with the Kurds has dragged on for several years even though they have been granted some improved cultural rights. At present, the main Kurdish political party, the DTP, is boycotting parliament, demanding the release from prison of several of its members who won election to parliament last month. Yes, members of parliament are currently chillaxin’ in a Turkish prison. The greater struggle for Kurdish autonomy dates back to 1984 and in the 28 years since, more than 40,000 people have been killed. That number seems fairly likely to continue rising…………


- Maybe it’s cynical, but it’s still fair to wonder why the hell actors, actresses, directors and producers get so angry when their show or movie is not nominated for an Oscar or Emmy. After all, these awards are like every other damn pretentious, self-congratulating, elitist industry awards show in that they recognize the same shows and people over and over again, whether they deserve it in a particular year or not. The same holds true in the music industry and yet, those who believe they have been snubbed for an award often react with immense rage, as if receiving an award validates their work instead of knowing they have produced something of quality whether some lame academy voter base recognizes it or not. Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter is a perfect example of this phenomenon, as he took to Twitter (of course) to unleash a few F- and C-bombs after his show was not nominated for the awards he believed it should receive. Sutter let loose with a Twitter tirade for the ages, but couched his comments by insisting, "If I was really pissed off, I wouldn't be on Twitter ranting about it.” He did complain that media outlets reporting on his rant were doing a poor job of putting his comments in context - continuing the ever-popular refrain amongst public figures making controversial remarks that they were taken out of context. "All the people who follow me on Twitter know my sense of humor," Sutter said. "I sometimes forget the blogosphere will give it more weight than I intended ... [But] 10 percent of all that is what I feel and 90 percent is me just throwing sh*t up." He explained that his tirade began as a few simple jokes before he "got a great tweet from Damon [Lindelof]. So then I said, 'F*ck it,' and went off and have some fun." After the fact, Sutter claimed he was angry not only over the Emmy selection process, but also at himself. "I get more pissed off at myself for having expectations [of Emmy nominations] than not getting them," he explained. "You don't want to get invested, but then then Katey [Sagal, Sutter's wife] wins the Golden Globe and you do these roundtables and panels and you get so pumped up." Perhaps the critical disapproval of his show’s third season factored in to the lack of nominations, or maybe it was as Sutter suggested, that his bosses at FX favored some of the network's other shows over SoA. Regardless, he would be well served by taking a step back, examining the true absurdity and worthlessness of the entire awards show scene and directing his Twitter rants at more worthwhile targets…………


- Kooks are everywhere. They are in lowly positions with no authority, they are in positions of great authority and they are everywhere in between. For instance, you might just find one working as the county supervisor in Riverside County, Calif. Step up, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone, and receive your due recognition. Why is Stone a kook? How about trying to go all Civil War on the rest of his state and secede? That’s right, this tool wants to form the 51st state by seceding his region from California because the state's problems require "radical" solutions. "Listen, I knew I'd be criticized. I learned in my tenure of being a politician for 19 years, sometimes you have to do radical things to get people's attention," Stone said. "We have hit a nerve with citizens who are just fed up with business as usual in the state. I'm talking about a secession plan from the state of California." Criticized? No, not at all. Laughed at hysterically? Absolutely. But the Riverside County Board of Supervisors is actually encouraging Stone’s pipe dream and this week, the board authorized him to Stone to hold a summit of California's local leaders to discuss solutions for the state’s many woes, including his plan for secession. The only caveat is the board insisting that no taxpayer money be used for the conference. Attendees will be able to hear all about Stone’s plan for a new state, for which he has already come up with a name: South California. Under Stone’s plan, the new state would be composed of 13 largely Republican counties, most of which are inland along the Nevada and Arizona state lines. It would exclude Los Angeles County, but would include Orange and San Diego Counties, both on the coast. At this point, it seems like a solid idea to ask what exactly Stone’s grievances with the state are and it turns out they are many and varied: high taxes and fees, inability to reform welfare programs, high unemployment and excessive regulations. "What the state has done is they've been balancing their budgets on the backs of our local coffers. They've been stealing our sales tax, property tax," Stone stated. "The bottom line for me and my constituents is jobs. We are sending jobs out of the state of California by the train load." To be fair to Stone and his idiocy, Riverside County is among the hardest hit communities by the recession and mortgage meltdown. “We are the foreclosure capital of the world," Stone claimed. "We have some areas of the county that have 25% unemployment. The average in Riverside County is about 15%." Those are definitely disheartening figures, but most pundits don’t give Stone’s plan much of chance for success. At least 27 other secession efforts have taken place in the state since the 1800s and obviously, none has been successful. The financial costs alone would be overwhelming, especially that whole getting a new state government up and running thingy. Yes, kooks certainly are everywhere………….

Using beer waste, Mexico's new trafficking problem and NBA financial woes

- What can be done to make use of beer waste, something that can benefit one and all? No, not THAT kind of beer waste, the type that ends up being flushed down the sewage lines of bars, restaurants and apartments once the alcohol does its thing and is expunged from the body of the person consuming it. No, the beer waste in question comes from the actual production of the beer and one Vermont brewer may just have the answer for that perplexing question. The makers of Magic Hat beer are turning their operation green by finding an enviro-friendly way to use the waste created during the production process. The tens of thousands of pounds of wet, smelly mess left behind every day when Magic Hat beer is brewed and bottled along the assembly line or poured from the tap doesn’t sound like something that could benefit anyone, but the South Burlington company and energy firm Purpose Energy are partnering to make use of the waste. “If you can first remove all of the carbon and produce a renewable fuel source from it, then it is a lot easier to get rid of,” said Eric Fitch of Purpose Energy. “We just started feeding it about a week ago and as you can see, we already have a small flare going from the biogas that's being produced from the various waste.” Purpose Energy has built a 492,000-gallon digester to convert the grain waste, water and yeast product into usable biogas. At a cost of $2.7 million, the project has been months in the making and at present, the digester is pumping out about 15 cubic feet of biogas a minute. If production can be upped to 100 cubic feet of gas per minute, that would be enough to funnel the gas back into the plant and make the entire brewing process self-sustaining, in a sense. “Well you're talking about close to half a mile going back and forth between this digester and the heat exchanger and back to the building again, and then all the pipes that come out of our brewery, into our flow equalization tank,” said Dan Martell of Purpose Energy. Making beer from one’s own byproduct sounds more than a little disgusting on the surface, but of course the biogas would not come into contact with the actual beer. If the project proves successful for Magic Hat, Purpose Energy hopes to expand the idea to brewers all over the country. With those companies always in search of new means of reducing energy cost and waste from producing beer, the idea seems to have plenty of potential…………


- Irony appears to be lost on the city council members of Aberdeen, Wash. While he was alive, rocker Kurt Cobain would have wanted nothing to do with them or the establishment in general and would have expressed certain contempt for these small-time politicians, but now that the Nirvana front man has been gone from this earth for nearly two decades, the powers that be can blow right past that disdain and pretend that “honoring” Cobain somehow means he was appreciated and accepted while still alive. The latest attempt in this futile endeavor is now underway as the council debates whether to honor the rocker by naming the Young Street bridge in Aberdeen after him. The bridge was referenced in 'Something In The Way,' off Nirvana’s famed “Nevermind” album. The bridge is also where Cobain often claimed to have slept while growing up, near the Wishkah River crossing, which has become a visitor attraction for Nirvana fans and spawned the name of a live album the band released as well. A public hearing will be held on July 27 to debate renaming the bridge, which also includes a motion to name a small public park after Cobain. The council is reportedly split on the proposal, with some (seeking to draw in more tourists and further cash in on Cobain’s fame for the town’s profit) in favor and others mortified by the idea of honoring a man who was known to be a drug addict, regularly derided the city in interviews and died by suicide - although conspiracy theorists still insist the facts to support the suicide don’t add up. Renaming things and creating cash-generating commodities to capitalize on Cobain’s image has happened consistently since his death in 1994 and earlier this year, a statue of Cobain's signature Fender Jag-Stang guitar was unveiled in Aberdeen. Back in 2008, Converse "honored" the singer with his own limited edition training shoe, which bore his name, lyrics, writing and signature. Ironically, Cobain probably had nothing to do with any sort of athletic training during his life and would have hated the concept, but no one involved in these charades could care less about that………….


- A new European invasion is coming to the United States and looking to shake up the American music scene. It’s not a catch British rock band or a bunch of stylish Frenchmen peddling beautiful melodies, but rather Spotify, a Swedish digital music service with a catalog of 15 million songs and 10 million registered users in Europe. The system offers limited hours of music for free or streams unlimited songs for a small fee to computers and mobile phones. Free or cheap music could mean stern competition for Apple and its iTunes store, with 99-cent (or $1.29) digital downloads. Apple unquestionably has a chokehold on the digital music market, which was somewhat stagnant last year with just 1 percent growth from the previous year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Digital sales have somewhat rebounded this year and experts have expressed hope that last year was just an aberration. Spotify executives must subscribe to that theory because they wouldn’t spend millions to expand their business to the U.S. if they didn’t believe the digital music business would continue to grow. Some believe subscription services such as Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio, MOG, Slacker and others will become the preferred choice of users going forward and that Spotify will succeed in the U.S. with the same formula that has worked for it in Europe - a free service supported by advertising and two premium tiers that let users listen without ads on computers and on mobile devices. On the free option, users can listen to the company's catalog from a computer connection for six months. After six months, they are limited to
10 hours a month and up to five plays for any particular song. The next step up is paying $4.99 a month to access the service without ads or limitations from a computer connection. A “premium” level costs $9.99 a month and lets users listen to the service from a smartphone, such as an iPhone or Android, Palm or Windows 7 device. Spotify currently boats 10 million registered users in Europe, 1.6 million of whom spring for a premium service. Is that enough to steal a significant portion of Apple’s 60 percent share of the market? That will largely depend on the response of those fortunate enough to receive an invitation from Spotify or one of its partners to join the service, which is the only way in at present for American users………..


- Every now and then, a country needs to sit down and evaluate its constitution just to make sure there aren’t glaring loopholes and cracks that make it much easier for citizens and non-citizens alike to carry out heinous crimes on said country’s soil. So kudos to Mexico and President Felipe Calderon for approving several changes to the country's constitution aimed at cracking down on human trafficking. Calderon officially approved the changes Wednesday, one that requires those accused of human trafficking to be imprisoned during trials and one that guarantees anonymity of victims who denounce the crime. "It is important that they can give their testimony to the authorities and to society without being at risk," Calderon said. He also gave Mexico's Congress 180 days to approve a new nationwide human trafficking law that will streamline the process of handling trafficking cases across the country. "There are thousands and thousands of cases, in a society that is still unaware of the seriousness of this crime," he said. "We have to break through this curtain ... that is hiding from the Mexicans a criminal reality that is in front of us." This bill might seem long overdue to anyone with a shred of common sense, but its driving force seems to be the trend of criminal organizations that ship and sell drugs and weapons adding human trafficking to their repertoire to increase revenue. As part of Wednesday’s presentation, Calderon also showed a video featuring an anonymous woman who shared a story of how a man lured her into a human trafficking network over the internet. A report published earlier this year by Mexico City's human rights commission estimated that 10,000 women were victims of human trafficking in Mexico's capital alone, yet there were only 40 investigations of the crime and three convictions in the city in 2010. The commission labeled the trend a "new form of slavery” and on Wednesday, Calderon pleaded with lawmakers and citizens to face the problem directly. "We have to create a unified front to end human trafficking in Mexico," he said. "This front is not limited to police or officials, this front starts in the streets, in the neighborhoods and in the communities." Sounds like a solid idea, so why don’t you go ahead and get on that, Mexico, just put it on the “to do” list after “Stop drug violence from destroying country”…………


- If your boat has a giant hole in the hull and is taking on water in the middle of the ocean, hundreds of miles from shore, does it do much good to deny that said hole exists? The question is a fitting one for the NBA to ask it self after it laid off about 114 people over the last two days while steadfastly denying that the layoffs are a result of the league’s ongoing lockout. A league spokesman said Thursday are "not a direct result of the lockout” and characterized the moves as planned cost-cutting steps, which seems like total semantics in order to avoid admitting the unenviable financial position the Association currently finds itself in. The laid off employees represent about 11 percent of the league office workforce in New York, New Jersey and internationally, but spokesman Mike Bass insisted the layoffs are "not a direct result of the lockout but rather a response to the same underlying issue; that is, the league's expenses far outpace our revenues." The argument is as predictable as it is absurd, as the NBA has and will surely continue to do everything possible to back up its claims that it lost $300 million this season after losing hundreds of millions in each previous year of the collective bargaining agreement that expired at the end of the day June 30. The NBA Players Association has disputed those figures and accused the league of, um, creative accounting in order to make its financial plight seem much more dire than it actually is. "The roughly 11 percent reduction in headcount from the league office is part of larger cost-cutting measures to reduce our costs by $50 million across all areas of our business," Bass said. As for the lockout, the players and owners remain far apart on nearly all of the core issues and neither side has displayed any sense of urgency to get back to the negotiating table in recent days. In total, the NBA and teams had trimmed staff by about 275 since October 2008 as the lockout loomed on the horizon. Additionally, the league has cut administrative costs, travel and new technology and consolidated offices in Europe and Asia, closing offices in Paris and Tokyo, and is shutting down the studio in Secaucus, N.J. where it annually holds the draft lottery. Piece it all together and you almost can buy into the idea that a league operating at the height of its popularity is losing more than $300 million a year through no fault of those in charge……………

Famous hotties let soldiers down, Syrian oppression and bad news for data hogs

- Being hot might not be enough to get actress Mila Kunis off on this one. The "Black Swan" actress received some friendly encouragement from her "Friends With Benefits" co-star, Justin Timberlake, on Monday to accept one Marine’s YouTube offer to attend the Marine Corps Ball with him. Sgt. Scott Moore threw up a Hail Mary in asking Kunis to be his date for the event and the plea came to Timberlake’s attention Monday. He passed word of the offer along to Kunis and urged, "You need to do it for your country." Kunis replied to Timberlake, "I'll go. I'll do it for you. I'll do it." Perhaps she should have taken some time and consulted either her agent or her BlackBerry before responding and committing to something she might not be able to do, because it turns out that Kunis will not be attending the Marine Corps Ball with Sgt. Moore in November. Why is she breaking this brave military man’s heart? Because she has filming commitments that will keep her too busy for traveling. Instead of going to the ball with Moore, she will be filming her role as Theodora in the upcoming Sam Raimi "Wizard of Oz" re-imagining, "Oz: The Great and Powerful," for a 2013 release. She reportedly has another project filming around the same time, although it is unclear what that other project may be. Her publicist has yet to respond to requests for comment on the story, although it would take an extremely ballsy and bold PR flack to look into a camera or speak into a microphone and attempt to offer a serious reason why a hot, famous actress would get a Marine’s hopes up for his dream date only to dash those hopes because she’s either too ADHD to remember what movies she’ll be filming in the coming months or too lazy to double check before saying yes to the request. Maybe Timberlake will handle his own Marine Corps Ball request better, as he has an invitation from Cpl. Kelsey De Santis -- the only female posted at the Martial Arts Center for Excellence at Marine Corps Base Quantico, in Virginia -- who posted a video Tuesday asking Timberlake to be her date. Think (and double check your schedule) before you respond, JT…………


- Every professional sports franchise and most colleges are doing it with their home venues, so why not the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority? Selling naming rights is a surefire way to make money without actually having to provide anything tangible to the person handing you millions of dollars. Yes, that leaves your field or stadium with an awkward-sounding name of some insurance company, tech firm or mortgage broker attached to it, but you’ve got the infusion of cash and that’s that. Like any business operating in the United States these days, the MBTA is in dire financial straits and to dig out of its financial hole, is looking to sell naming rights to stations along its routes. MBTA officials say the maneuver would be one way to avoid raising rates, which they claim is a last resort. "You know we won't be putting Yankee names for example," said MBTA General Manager Richard Davey. "But things like Alewife station sponsored by X brand." In exchange for their naming rights dollars, companies would be able to rename -- and brand -- some of the most popular stations like Fenway, Downtown Crossing, and Park Street. Some locals have actually responded favorably to the plan, saying it might be nice to see something different in stations they pass through day after day with no change and nothing of interest to see. Selling naming rights comes on the heels of the MBTA’s launch of an online store that sells Charlie-doctored souvenirs including flip-flops and sweatshirts. Davey said several institutions have already approached the MBTA about branding, including several of Boston’s 577 (approximately) colleges and universities. With that level of interesting, the MBTA would be well-advised to actually set prices for renaming, something it has yet to do. If successful, the effort could actually achieve its stated goal of raising millions of dollars to help in whittling away at the authority’s $137 million deficit……….


- The hordes of would-be all-stars who bailed on Major League Baseball's All-Star Game clearly were not the only ones who wanted nothing to do with the midsummer classic. With big-name players like Derek Jeter and Ryan Braun bailing on the contest and leaving one of the sport’s biggest events without a large portion of its expected star power, fans didn’t exactly flock to watch the game Tuesday night. In fact, the broadcast of the National League's 5-1 win Tuesday on Fox earned a 6.9 rating and 12 share, setting a new record low for ratings for the second straight year. Those numbers represent an 8-percent decline from the 7.5/13 in 2010, which in turn stepped under the bar set by the 2005 game, which had been the standard bearer for unwatchable MLB All-Star games with a rating of 8.1/14. For the ratings illiterate, ratings represent the percentage of all households with televisions tuned into a program, and shares represent the percentage of all homes with TVs in use at the time. What these numbers say is that fans saw the mass exodus of stars from the game and either scanned the TV listings to find something else to watch or had better things to do with their time than watch television on a nice summer evening. Given that baseball’s all-star game isn't an all-weekend event like the NBA’s version of the concept, the low ratings aren’t a surprise. Mix in baseball’s declining place of prominence on the national sports interest scale and, well, you get a new record that no one wanted any part of setting…………


- Life doesn’t seem extremely pleasant in Syria right about now, not if you happen to disagree with the powers that be. The military’s rampage against opposition forces continued Wednesday as Syrian forces killed four villagers near Turkey, rights campaigners claimed. The attack is allegedly part of a growing military campaign to crush dissent against embattled President Bashar al-Assad. The scene in the Jabal al-Zawya region in northwestern Idlib province near the border with Turkey was ugly, with tank-backed assaults on at least four villages, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Assad and his supporters have been struggling to put down widening demonstrations in Syria’s outlying rural and tribal regions. Voices demanding an end to his autocratic rule have grown progressively louder and rather than accept the reality that his time has ended, Assad has deployed massive numbers of security forces and made mass arrests a common sight. Military assaults on small towns and villages have raged on for more than five weeks, sending thousands of refugees fleeing across the border into Turkey to escape the chaos. The arbitrary arrests are hallmark of any campaign of terror and oppression for a dictator whose grasp on power is slipping and they have continued even as authorities have convened what they described as a "national dialogue" conference composed mostly of Assad supporters. Their rage was also directed at the U.S. and French embassies in Damascus, both of which have been under attack this week. A similar scene unfolded in the coastal city of Latakia, where Assad loyalists in surrounded the British Council on Wednesday. These sycophants hurled eggs and tomatoes into the compound while shouting profanities against Britain and Prime Minister David Cameron. Meanwhile, Syrian security forces arrested at least 30 people, including prominent film directors Nabil Maleh and Mohammad Malas, during a pro-democracy protest in Damascus on Wednesday. Of course, getting arrested is always preferable to the fate suffered by singer Ibrahim Qashou, who had composed a song entitled "Assad leave" that became something of an anthem for anti-Asssad groups and was found dead earlier this month in the Orontes river in Hama with his throat slit. Violence is erupting all across the country on a daily basis and the international community has condemned Assad’s government for its actions, but thus far the regime seems fairly indifferent to that condemnation…………


- Virgin Mobile has good news for some of its customers and really bad news for those same customers and many others. On the one hand, the company says it is lowering the price for its smartphones' unlimited data plans. However, it is also planning on slowing the Internet connection speeds for some heavy data users. Wednesday’s announcement falls in line with the wireless industry’s gradual move away from unlimited data plans to penalize the small percentage of heavy users who consume massive chunks of bandwidth and strain carriers' networks. Virgin Mobile can claim it is still offering unlimited data plans while also imposing a performance - instead of financial - penalty for users who go beyond 2.5 gigabytes per month. Rather than the ugly sting of charging people extra for using too much data, Virgin Mobile can say with a smile that it isn't charging heavy data users a penny more while also extricating some serious revenge by forcing those data hogs to wait…..and wait……and wait for what they want. Also, the company seems content to stick by the party like that the new rules affect less than 3 percent of its users. To add another selling point for the change, unlimited data, texting and voice calls will drop $5 to $55 per month and existing customers as of July 19 can keep their current plans as long as their accounts are current. "We are all facing the same situation and this is the best way for Virgin Mobile to maintain the best network experience as data usage explodes," David Trimble, vice president for Virgin Mobile USA, said in a statement. Virgin’s plan falls in line with that of Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless carrier, which ended its unlimited data plan for new smartphone customers last week. AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA, the second- and fourth-largest U.S. carriers, respectively, have already set limits on monthly data usage, leaving Sprint Nextel Corp., the country's third-largest carrier and which owns Virgin Mobile, as the only one offering a truly unlimited plan…………

Places not to travel, promoting far off films and abandoning all-star games

- With nearly all of the power players having said that "The Dark Knight Rises" will be their final film in the Batman series, obviously the hype machine is working overtime to promote the sure-to-be-ginormous summer blockbuster, even if it’s the summer of 2012 when the movie will commence busting blocks instead of the current installment of the year’s best season. With the release date of July 20, 2012 still more than a year away (and situated nicely between the present and the supposed end of the world several months after its theatrical debut), Warner Bros. is cranking up the hype early and in volume. The latest tactical maneuver came over the weekend, when the studio released a teaser poster that gives up no real clues or information but should sufficiently whip the movie-loving fan base into a frenzy. The poster features a simple design highlighted by the Batman symbol in white, outlined by buildings presumably in Gotham City. The release date is the only other information on the poster, meaning Warner Bros. essentially paid one of its graphic designers several hours’ salary to take a logo he or she probably has 100 different versions of, place it against a backdrop he or she probably had dozens of variations on and pick a font in which to write the date of the film’s release. There is nothing new or noteworthy on the poster itself and it really comes across more like a “Save the date” flyer or friendly reminder not to forget about the movie in light of the current summer blockbusters gracing cinema screens around the country. All of the important commodities in the movie are well-known, with director Christopher Nolan heading the project, which will star Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman and "Inception's" Tom Hardy as Bane. Real news on the cast also came down in April, when Warner Bros. revealed that Hardy's "Inception" co-stars Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are also on board, with Cotillard playing an employee at Bruce Wayne's company, and Gordon-Levitt playing a Gotham City police officer. Look for more empty, worthless gestures and promotional efforts from Warner Bros. along the lines of this pointless poster in the months ahead…………


- You’ve got ‘em on the run, Greenville, now finish the job! Smokers are a well-persecuted group in these here United States (not nearly as much so in Europe), but there is always room for improvement and the good folks who run things in Greenville, S.C. are reaching for that improvement in a big way. The decisive blow came Monday night during a city council meeting, when council members voted five to one in favor of a new ordinance extending the current smoking ban to include patios and outdoor eating areas, private clubs and city parks near play grounds. That means loser smokers in Greenville won't be able to light up, even outside, at city restaurants and bars. Basically, the only places they will be able to choke down their cancer sticks and slowly kill themselves is their own homes. Sure, there were a few morons who showed up at the meeting to voice dissent over the proposed ordinance, like Dixie's Tavern owner, Fred Kissling. Kissling admitted to understanding the reason for the ban but wanted an exception made so people can smoke outside if they drink. Right, because you just have to drastically up your chances for lung cancer and emphysema is you’re also assaulting your liver with cheap alcohol. He wondered what would happen if the ordinance passed and theorized that the next question would be, "What constitutes a patio?" The obvious question to ask is which buffoon on the council was dumb enough to vote against the measure and one need look no further than Mayor Knox White to find the only vote against the ordinance. Perhaps the mayor knew it would pass regardless and was looking to curry favor with the smoker vote for the next election (a bad play because a lot of them may not be alive when it rolls around). Either way, he was soundly defeated by a quintet led by councilman David Sudduth, who said the current ban has been successful and assured those present that the new ordinance will only clarify where people can and cannot smoke. Really, the only bad news is that the new law will apparently be self-policed. "As long as everyone understands what the rules are, that most people are happy to comply with it," said Sudduth. And if they don’t comply, then simply ramp up the persecution. The ordinance goes into effect August 1, so enjoy the limited time of marginal freedom you have left, loser smokers of Greenville………….


- Cell phone users may vary in the model of phone they prefer and the carrier they use, but one near universal for all is the presence of mysterious, unexplained fees each month when the cell phone bill arrives in the mail. New rules proposed by federal regulators could remove some of that mystery and actually make e it easier for consumers to detect and challenge those fees on their phone bills. While an actual decision is still nowhere close to reality, the Federal Communications Commission voted Tuesday to seek public comments on the proposed rules to crack down on the practice of "cramming." The term is defined as the illegal placement of unauthorized fees on a consumer's phone bill — either by the phone company or an outside party. Companies bury the charges deep in the bill and attempt to hide them under generic descriptions such as minute use fee, activation, member fee, voice mail or Web hosting. Because the fees are typically only a few dollars, many users simply overlook them. Now, the FCC is taking up the case and the Senate is also set to told a hearing on the issue. If approved, the proposed FCC rules would require landline phone companies to place third-party charges in a separate section of phone bills and to notify consumers whether they offer the option of blocking such charges. Customers would receive the notification when they sign up for service and it would also legally have to appear online and on their bills. Additionally, the new measures would require both landline and wireless carriers to notify consumers that they can file complaints about cramming with the FCC. The figures on the number of Americans impacted annually by these mystery fees are staggering, with the FCC estimating that as many as 15 million to 20 million American households have mystery fees on their monthly landline phone bills every year. Soon, the commission could be telling cell phone companies to cram it up their cram hole…………


- The world has added its 193rd country and Americans are encouraged to celebrate the occasion with the rest of the world and salute Southern Sudan as the world’s newest nation……..just not to visit Southern Sudan and boost its new economy with their tourism dollars. Instead, the State Department warned Americans Tuesday to use "extreme care" visiting the world's newest country, where the fledgling government provides only limited security outside the capital Juba. According to the State Department, U.S. citizens should "avoid all travel" to border regions, where violent clashes have erupted in recent months between Sudanese troops from Khartoum and former rebel forces loyal to the south. "You should exercise extreme care in all areas of South Sudan," read the travel warning. "In addition to fighting on the ground, the Sudanese air force has bombed areas in Unity and Southern Kordofan states." Having someone tag you with a travel advisory after less than a week as a country could be taken as an affront to a nation, but I would urge Southern Sudan to wear the designation as a badge of honor. It says, “You have arrived as a nation and are officially a member of the club.” All nations have been hit with travel warnings and advisories if they’re worth a damn, so don’t worry about it. You always remember your first foreign travel advisory once you become a country. The State Department also cautioned that there were seven different rebel militia forces that "frequently engage in violent clashes with SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) forces in various areas of South Sudan. These clashes can flare up with little warning." That would have been sufficient, but the statement also piled on Southern Sudan’s new government by suggesting it "has limited capacity to deter crime or provide security to travelers outside of the capital city of Juba." The U.S. embassy in Juba has imposed a curfew from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am, and is requiring American personnel to "travel in armored government vehicles at all times at night, and to obtain advance permission for any travel outside of Juba." That does not sound like a place I would like to visit…………


- The NFL and NBA have nearly cornered the market on players being selected to their league’s all-star games and not actually taking part, but Major League Baseball has definitely made headway this season when it comes to stars choosing not to shine when selected for this honor. Perhaps the most glaring absence among MLBers chosen for Tuesday’s All-Star Game by the fans or their peers is New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, who reached the 3,000 hit plateau over the weekend and has battled injuries during the first half of the season. Jeter was to be the starting shortstop for the American League in the midsummer classic, but pulled out of the game and chose not to attend at all, citing "emotional and physical exhaustion" from his pursuit of 3,000 hits. The decision rankled fans, players and even league officials, with one anonymous major league official saying baseball wanted to celebrate Jeter's accomplishment and isn't happy he's not there. "Derek Jeter has done everything right during his whole career," the official said. "He was wrong on this one." However, commissioner Bud Selig came to Jeter’s defense, claiming he understood and respected his choice. "There isn't a player I'm more proud of in the last 15 years than Derek Jeter," Selig said. “I know why Derek Jeter is not here. I respect that and I must tell you that I think I would have made the same decision. Any suggestion that I or anybody else around here is unhappy with him not being here is just false. He has played the game the way it should be played, and he's been a better human being off the field.” Sources close to Jeter said the shortstop felt it would be better for him to rest and prepare for the second half of the season for the Yankees, who are locked in a tight battle with Boston for first place in the AL East. Still, many of his peers wondered if Jeter shouldn’t have at least shown up and been there for the festivities even if he did not play. "I do believe, as a ballplayer, if you have no injuries, you should be here," New York Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran said. "The fans are the ones that vote for you and want to see you here." Another Mets player, injured shortstop Jose Reyes, said that "I want to come no matter what happens." But Jeter or no Jeter, one fact remains unalterable: deciding homefield advantage for the World Series in a meaningless exhibition game is still absurd…………

Idiots pursue records, Israel oppresses and Ohio State falters

- Aaaaaand the Guinness Book of World records continues to inspire asinine feats by complete morons. It’s been happening since……well, whenever the book was first published and the trend continues to this day, with the last example being a group of tools in Fremont, Neb. who decided that combining their total lack of self-respect and worthwhile pursuits in life with canned meat products in one giant orgy of stupidity. The end result was an attempt to make the world’s largest open-faced sandwich, using an ingredient made by Fremont’s largest employer - SPAM. As part of its John C. Fremont Days festival, named for a famed Civil War general, the town collected 1,400 pounds of the canned meat-like substance that can also double as spackle and then had to bake a bread slice big enough for all that SPAM. "We actually will heat this box up to 325 degrees, with the amount of heat we have in there. And within a couple hours, the bread should be cooked,” said Scott Getzschman, president of Getzschman Heating and Sheet Metal. Volunteers showed up early on Saturday to waste their day, er, be part of the effort. Organizer Don Cunningham and his hapless helpers did their best to ensure that everyone remained focused and on task. "They want everything validated, documented. It's got to be done right. And that's a challenge because every step along the way, it's got to be right,” Cunningham said. The primary focus of the event being to break a world record, Cunningham and Co. had to be sure they kept a close eye on the weight of their ginormous sando so they didn’t waste an entire day baking and making a huge SPAM-wich that not only was ridiculous but also didn’t break a world record. The Nebraska State Patrol jumped in to help as well, weighing the sandwich on a certified scale. Those who took part in the event also wanted to salute SPAM for its role in their town and its history. “SPAM kept our World War II soldiers fed. We have soldiers who I've talked to here in town that tell me that's all they ate. And it was good,” Cunningham said. Wow……there was a time when SPAM was good? In the end, the effort was a success (in some sad, warped way) as Fremont’s SPAM-wich weighed in at 1,652 pounds, well above the record set last year in North Carolina. Now, it’s up to the good folks at Guinness to validate the record and the patheticness of everyone who had a hand in setting it…………


- Dorks, life must be very exciting for you right now. Having the chance to prove your loser-dom by camping outside theaters in anticipation of the final Harry Potter film is the opportunity of a lifetime for a loser, something hundreds of people proved by lining up a week ago outside New York City’s Lincoln Center for the mere opportunity to catch a glimpse of the film’s stars as they attend the New York premiere of the final Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two." That’s right, these ass hats aren’t even lining up for the right to be the first to buy tickets for the initial midnight showing of the film; they merely want to watch a bunch of famous people they don’t know (and will never know) walk down the red carpet into a theater where they will watch the film. The crowd of tools who began lining up a full week before the premiere and thus proved that they have neither lives and pride nor friends came from all five of the city’s boroughs and as far away as Canada, Mexico, Australia and Japan. Inexplicably, one of the film’s stars, actor Tom Felton, encourages these buffoons by delivering pizza to them. Tom, we all know that you do not, under any circumstances, feed the animals. Allow them to starve and maybe they’ll get a clue and go home. In the end, the first 200 to line up for the “competition” will be allowed to stand near the red carpet as the stars walk down it. It’s almost pathetic enough to make the SPAM-wich creators in Nebraska seem cool by comparison…………


- Oh no you didn’t, Israeli parliament. You did NOT just pass a controversial law that will punish any Israeli individual or organization boycotting West Bank settlements. You definitely did not blow right through several attempts to delay debate on the bill and pass it by a 47-36 margin. Oh wait……you did do those things? Well, now it’s on. Rights groups immediately blasted the legislation as stifling freedom of speech and ruining Israeli democracy. Prior to the bill’s passage, several efforts were undertaken encouraging boycotts of institutions or individuals linked to Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Under international law, those settlements are illegal despite Israel’s protestations. The issue short-circuited recent peace talks with the Palestinians, who want the West Bank as part of a future state. A recent pledge by Israeli academics and artists to boycott the West Bank settlement of Ariel infuriated settlers and their influential political patrons further and Israeli developers also agreed not to use products or services from settlements when they signed on to help build a new modern Palestinian city, north of Ramallah. The new law would allow the government or offended citizens to slap those who sponsor a "geographically based boycott" - which includes any part of the Jewish state or its settlements - with a lawsuit for damages in a civil court. Worse still (yes, worse than stifling the protest spirit that makes the world go ‘round), the petitioner is not required to prove that "economic, cultural or academic damage" was caused, only that it could reasonably be expected from the move. "The State of Israel has for years been dealing with boycotts from Arab nations, but now we are talking about a homegrown boycott," said the author of the legislation, lawmaker, Zeev Elvin, said while somehow managing not to burst into a giant fireball of hypocrisy. "It is time to put an end to this travesty. If the State of Israel does not protect itself, we will have no moral right to ask our allies for protection from such boycotts." Protect yourself? By stifling boycotts and protests, which are legitimate, democratic forms of dissidence? How very progressive of you, Israel. Activists responded to the bill’s passage in appropriate fashion, holding a noisy demonstration outside the Justice Ministry while carrying banners which read "the boycott law boycotts democracy." There are also plans to challenge the legislation in Israel's Supreme Court, which should be a rollicking good time. It’s freaking go time and the sh*t is definitely about to hit the Middle East fan on this one…………


- The fallout from being a dishonest, shady and soon-to-be-smacked-by-the-NCAA football program is beginning to reach the campus of Ohio State and things could quickly snowball from this point. With the Buckeyes embroiled in a scandal brought on under the (lack of) leadership from former coach Jim Tressel and players who arrived on campus with their hands out and welcoming all offers of illegal benefits from anyone offering, recruits and potential recruits are looking at the Big Ten’s gold standard program in a different light. Take, for example, prized recruit Kyle Kalis of St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio. Kalis, a prized offensive line recruit for OSU’s 2012 recruiting class, switched his commitment from Ohio State to rival Michigan last weekend and wasn’t shy about why he was going north of the border. "I can't go there (Ohio State) and take penalties for something I never did," Kalis said, alluding to the NCAA’s impending discipline on the Buckeyes. "Ohio State is a great program. I'm just not sure how long it will take them to recover. I want a solid, grounded coaching staff with a safe environment. Where there aren't such tough questions." Those questions include a potential postseason ban, scholarship reductions that could further weaken the program and uncertainty at the head coaching position, where interim coach Luke Fickell could be a one-and-done wonder if the school can land a bigger name after this season. "When I de-committed to (Ohio State coach) Luke Fickell I called him and told him and he understood where I'm coming from," Kalis said. "With the turmoil and uncertainty I just couldn't." Kalis, who is listed at 6-foot-5 and 306 pounds and is considered one of the nation's top offensive line recruits, admitted to being an Ohio State fan and receiving "constant stress and anxiety" from the community about his decision. In the end, he visited Michigan last weekend and placed a call to UM coach Brady Hoke from the "M" logo at the middle of the field at Michigan Stadium to announce his decision. He said after making the choice he believed that as many as eight or nine other Ohio recruits could follow in his footsteps and go to play for a program based in a state whose name most Ohioans can’t bring themselves to utter…………


- Skanks and sluts of the world, this is not good news for you. According to a report presented Monday at a conference in Quebec City, Canada, a new, untreatable strain of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea has been discovered in Japan. An international team of infectious disease experts has christened the strain H041 and cited it is resistant to all known forms of antibiotics. The proclamation comes just three days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that U.S. gonorrhea samples had being showing new signs of drug resistance as well. So far, drugs have remained effective in almost all U.S. cases, but the CDC conceded that analysis of bacteria samples taken from 2000 to 2010 showed that the gonorrhea bug was becoming less and less susceptible to the frontline drugs, cephalosporins, as the years went by. "This is both an alarming and a predictable discovery," Dr. Magnus Unemo said in a statement about H041. Unemo, who works for the Swedish Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria, partnered with Japanese colleagues to characterize the new H041 multidrug-resistant gonorrhea strain. He called the multidrug resistance "predictable" because most gonorrhea strains worldwide are already resistant to at least one major class of antibiotics. Typically, when a colony of bacteria first comes in contact with antibiotics, the antibiotics will kill off the most susceptible bacteria at higher rates. Thus leaves behind a disproportionately robust batch of surviving bacteria to pass on heartier genes to their offspring. The more antibiotics a strain is exposed to, the more durable it becomes. The U.S. has been dealing with gonorrhea strains resistant to penicillin and tetracycline since the 1970s, according to the CDC. Most Neisseria gonorrhoeae - the bacteria that causes gonorrhea - have also become resistant to fluoroquinolines. The CDC thus recommends treating gonorrhea with both a cephalosporin and either azithromycin or doxycycline, two relatively commonly administered antibiotics. Recently, the CDC discovered that U.S. samples of Neisseria gonorrhoeae are no longer responding quite as well as they used to against cephalosporins either. Couple that with news of the new strain in Japan that is reportedly resistant to everything and…….damn. Gonorrhea is already the most common of sexually transmitted infections, with 700,000 new cases in the U.S. each year, and an estimated 340 million new cases each year globally. As anyone who has spent quality time hanging with gonorrhea knows, it often causes painful intercourse among women, tender and swollen testicles among men and pain when urinating among infected people of both sexes. Left untreated, it can lead to internal scarring of parts of the reproductive tract and, in women, pelvic inflammatory disease or lifelong infertility. "The potential emergence of gonococcal cephalosporin resistance is of particular concern because the U.S. gonorrhea control strategy relies upon effective antibiotic therapy," the CDC announced Friday. "No other well-studied and effective antibiotic treatment options or combinations currently are available [once the bacteria are resistant to cephalosporins]." And to think, all of this can be avoided for almost everyone by simply not skanking it up………….