Smoking bans, dumb deer and anger over blue football turf

- Faced with a quandary that had only two realistic solutions, the good people of Williamsville, N.Y. went with the easier option: installing C-shaped steel brackets, designed to prevent deer from impaling themselves on the iron spikes of the town cemetery. Obviously, educating the deer on the dangers of trying to leap over a tall metal fence with spikes on top was also an option, but deer are notoriously difficult to educate and not reliable for showing up to classes where they can be taught about life-threatening dangers. Because renovating the fence was the easier option, cemetery officials and members of an animal advocacy group teamed up with a Williamsville-based company specializing in historic preservation to make the necessary adjustments to the fence in order to prevent IQ-deprived deer from impaling themselves on it. "If a deer comes against it, they'll be bounced back in. They will not be able to come down on the spike. This will not rotate," Joseph Jakubik of International Chimney Corporation said about the new brackets that will be attached to the top of the fence. One Williamsville resident who lives next to the cemetery has seen the deer problem manifest itself numerous times but seemed to side mostly with the fence in the matter. "I don't expect them to take the fence down. Fence is what, a 100, a 150 years old. If they hide the points that'll be a good idea," Mark Beatty Sr. said. Local wildlife administrator Joel Thomas was consult on the problem and fully endorses the proposed solution. "It should stop or seriously reduce any kind of injury to deer and other wildlife, and it's a good conservation, good stewardship decision," Thomas stated. The leader of the charge for a new fence has been Morgan Dunbar, founder of Animal Allies of Western New York, a local animal-rights group. Dunbar estimated that about 4,400 of the steel safety brackets will be needed and her organization will be collecting donations from the public to fund the project. "We're asking for a $10 donation, and $10 will buy you a deer shield. So, that you can know that I had a role in fixing this problem," Dunbar explained. The goal of the project, aside from having no more dead deer lying around the cemetery, is to maintain the historic aspects of the fence. "We did not want to change the original design of the fence and still make people be able to see it," Jakubik said. To make the changes official, the Williamsville Cemetery will file a certificate of appropriateness with the village's Historic Preservation Commission. Once that request is approved, it’s only a matter of time before the dumb deer of Williamsville have one less death trap to contend with…………


- Memo to both of you, Thailand and Cambodia: I don’t care. It doesn’t matter which of you fired the first salvo Friday and sparked an intense exchange of gunfire with unconfirmed casualties on both sides of the border. The responsible party isn't important because any time you have two neighboring nations so on edge that the smallest provocation can spark a major firefight that could escalate into a full-fledged military conflict, the only thing that matters is that someone - anyone - fires that first shot. We may never know who fired the first shot, but we do know that Thailand and Cambodia exchanged gunfire along their border on Friday, with Thailand saying three of its soldiers were killed, while Cambodia cited unspecified casualties on its side. Tensions between the two sides have been high for decades, based largely on competing claims to a piece of territory near the Preah Vihear temple. Even though the International Court of Justice awarded the Hindu temple to Cambodia in 1962, Thailand has never fully accepted the decision. The latest round of tensions flared up after the temple was declared a world heritage site a few years ago. Oddly enough, the one portion of Friday’s drama both sides agreed on was that the hostilities occurred near a different temple site. Cambodian officials informed the United Nations Security Council that Thai troops directed artillery fire towards two temples located deep inside the Cambodian territory. That was not the story being told by Thai officials, who alleged an intrusion by some Cambodian soldiers into Thai territory, where they started building a bunker. In this version of the story, the Cambodian troops opened fire once their actions were discovered. Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong shot down this story in a letter to Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa as well, complaining about Thailand's “large-scale attack.” So how to resolve this skirmish? Thailand suggested bilateral talks with Cambodia to resolve the tensions, but Cambodia balked at the suggestion and instead asked for a mediated settlement, arguing that Bangkok's proposal was “a pretext for the use of [Thailand's] larger and materially more sophisticated armed forces against Cambodia.” Neither side seemed interested in a previous plan to station Indonesian military observers along the Thai-Cambodian border. In the meantime, keep up the hostilities, you two, because it certainly is entertaining for the rest of us…………


- A new head coach in any sport typically assumes his or her new role with certain ideas of how to run the team and any changes they may want to make. That phenomenon is nothing new, but new San Diego State football coach Rocky Long’s big idea for change has nothing to do with the Aztecs themselves. Not long after being promoted from defensive coordinator, Long turned his focus on another newcomer in the Mountain West conference: the Boise State Broncos. The Broncos, perennial powers in the Western Athletic Conference, are known for two things: being the plucky mid-major team that intrudes into the world of the BCS on a regular basis and their gimmicky blue turf. The turf is reportedly to discourage birds from landing on the field and possibly to make Boise State football unique, but Long is none too impressed without it and took a pointed shot at the blue turf in a recent interview with an Idaho newspaper. “I think they ought to get rid of that blue turf. I think it’s unfair,” said Long. “It takes the visiting team a quarter or two to get used to that different field.” On the surface, Long’s words sound like a whiny coach looking for excuses as to why his team won't be able to compete with a tough opponent. But he insists there is a legitimate reason the blue turf is a problem. Long said players “track the ball differently” on the blue turf and when combined with Boise State’s traditionally all-blue uniforms against the backdrop of the turf, the advantage for the home team is unfair. Obviously, Long is not the first coach, player or analyst to suggest that the blue turf needs to go. Yet the exact opposite seems to be happening, as Eastern Washington took Boise State’s example and installed blood-red turf at its own stadium prior to last season. Whether Long and other blue-turf haters like it or not, the curiously colored carpet is not going anywhere in the near or distant future…………


- If North Carolina can do it, maybe anyone can do it. A state that has long been at the unfortunately beating heart of the tobacco industry has finally enacted a statewide smoking ban nearly a full decade ahead of the 2020 target date set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for all restaurants, bars and workplaces to be smoke free. The North Carolina ban applies to restaurants and bars and puts the state in stark contrast to its southern neighbors. In a recent report, the CDC noted that the number of states, including Washington, D.C., that enacted some sort of a ban on public smoking increased from zero in 2000 to 26 in 2010. However, most southern states have lagged behind in this area and with the exception of North Carolina, Louisiana and Florida, no southern state has any kind of smoking restrictions. While this may give southerners a decided advantage when it comes to contracting lung cancer, emphysema and other smoking-related illnesses early in life, it does play to unfortunate, misguided and inaccurate stereotypes of this region of the country being full of backwards, socially and culturally stunted hicks. That no southern state has a smoke-free law for all three venues measured by the CDC - restaurants, bars and workplaces - also does not help in this respect. Obviously, the CDC’s worthy goal of a smoke-free nation full of public places can be reached only if the South comes on board. This seems like a great time to remind those states still dragging their feet on enacting smoking bans that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that second-hand smoke exposure results in an estimated 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths among non-smoking American adults each year. Southern states, follow the outstanding example of Delaware, which was the first state to implement a comprehensive smoke-free law, passing the legislation in 2002. Other leaders in this area include New York (2003) and Massachusetts (2004). There are multiple ways to achieve a ban, with most states choosing the legislative route. Others, such as Arizona, Ohio, South Dakota and Washington, enacted theirs through ballot measures. Even with its partial ban, North Carolina is still something of a marvel because of the significant clout tobacco carries in the state. A possible smoking ban has been under consideration since 2009, but there was sufficient political and public support for the ban at that time. The state is still a large tobacco producer and home to cigarette companies Reynolds American in Winston-Salem and Lorillard in Greensboro. But if North Carolina can muster up the courage to ban smoking in bars and restaurants, then other southern states can do the same and we will all be one step closer to living the dream…………


- Attention all directors and screenwriters: If you have a movie idea that is original, unique and/or not based on a comic book character, don’t even bother. The current credo in Hollywood is to do only movies that are either remakes or sequels of recent films. Whether the movie was made 10 years ago, 20 years ago or 50 years ago, the call has gone out for it to be remade. Equally high on the list are movies with comic book heroes in them or films that lend themselves to franchises. Fortunately for the upcoming films Captain America and Thor, they have two of those factors working in their favor. They both center on comic book heroes (more than one hero in Captain America’s case) and lend themselves to multiple sequels even if the franchise becomes tired, runs out of interesting ideas and is begging to be killed off. With that in mind, Marvel has already confirmed sequels to both movies despite neither having been released yet. The comic publisher’s studio will release both blockbusters in the coming year, with Chris Evans starring as in the title role in Captain America: The First Avenger, while Chris Hemsworth plays the eponymous God Of Thunder in Thor. Both films will also get a boost when their stars appear in the upcoming all-star movie The Avengers, alongside Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, Mark Ruffalo's Hulk and Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye. Marvel president Kevin Feige sought to build the hype even further by confirming reports of sequels for Captain America and Thor, saying: "Thor will go off into a new adventure, and Captain America will continue to explore the modern world in another film of his own." Hmm, vague, generalized and yet not reassuring at all in terms of preventing an unnecessary and unwanted sequel if both movies fall well short of expectations. In other words, typically Hollywood of Marvel…………

Bankrupt orchestras, new reality karaoke show menaces and baseball conspiracy theories

- Honestly, issuing one unheeded warning after another is getting old. Having spent years warning the world about the growing menace to music and really, to society as a whole, that is American Karaoke, and watching those warnings go ignored has been frustrating to say the least. So why continue issuing them, trying to alert everyone of the very real danger posed to one and all if we don’t put a stop to this menace? Because now that menace is threatening to grow in international fashion and I cannot in good conscience allow that to happen. As you probably know, horrible actress and even worse “singer” Jennifer Lopez has continued contributing to the ruination of music this season as a judge on American Karaoke. It was really the perfect destination for a pop music hack with no actual vocal talent, judging aspiring karaoke-ers with a similar ability level. Unlike Steven Tyler, who used to rock and have musical credibility, Lopez didn’t have anything to lose by joining the AK judging panel. By all accounts, she has blended in perfectly on the show, so much so that she is now exploring the possibility of launching her own reality show that would essentially be a Latin American slant on AK. Lopez is partnering with Idol producer Simon Fuller and his XIX Entertainment to shop the new project to broadcast networks. The basic premise of the show would be Lopez and her husband Marc Antony touring Latin America and searching for the best undiscovered musical talent. In that respect, it would be much different than AK, which has never had anything to do with talent. The working title for the potential new show is Que Viva, but the project is still in early stages of development. Those who feel Lopez has injected life into the AK franchise (akin to injecting life into a rusted-out 1970 Datsun with no seats or engine), the possibility of her trying to launch her own reality karaoke show is cause for concern. After all, if she can be in charge of a crappy reality show with subpar musical talent, why would she want to be just a pretty face on another such show? Sure, Tyler is signed for more than one season and is expected to return to the show next season, but Lopez is only signed on through the end of this season. However, examples from the no-so-distant past would suggest that it is possible for an AK judge to handle both the taxing duties of offering worthless, pithy comments about bad karaoke performances on one show and captain another project at the same time. After all, fellow judge Randy Jackson has run his MTV reality dance show America’s Best Dance Crew and continued to do his AK “job” as well. The bigger concern, obviously, is infecting even more of the globe with the plague of reality karaoke shows…………


- Getting the Barry Bonds treatment isn't a euphemism one wants to be on the receiving end of. The San Francisco Giants scrubbed their entire ballpark of traces of Bonds the instant his career ended in disgrace, amidst steroid allegations, federal perjury charges and general disrepute. Finding any reference to Bonds inside AT&T Park is a nearly impossible even though he set numerous team and Major League Baseball records with the Giants and was the sport’s most recognizable player for more than half a decade. Yet as swiftly as the Giants moved to erase all mentions of Bonds from their stadium, the people of Egypt are moving even more swiftly to erase ousted President Hosni Mubarak from their country. Mubarak's 29 years in power ended with his resignation in February after weeks of mass anti-government protests and he is currently under arrest at a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Back in Egypt, a national court has ruled that the names of Mubarak and his wife Suzanne be removed from all public places. The ruling includes hundreds of public squares, streets, libraries and schools across Egypt named after the couple. Aside from showing Mubarak’s narcissistic nature, the sheer number of places where his name must be erased means the effort will take months, if not years. It’s difficult to find fault with the court on this decision, as Mubarak is due to be questioned about allegations of corruption and alleged violence against protesters during the popular uprising whenever he stops faking illness, er, gets off bed rest and is able to travel. Reports say his health is "unstable,” which could be code for “not eager to return home and face justice.” Portraits of the disgraced leader have already been taken down at public institutions across the country, so the process of expunging him from the national conscience is already underway. In explaining the decision to erase the Mubarak name from public places, Judge Mohammed Hassan Omar said: "It has become clear that the size of the corruption that's being uncovered every day exceeds by far anyone's imagination." Following the ruling, Egypt’s transportation minister said the Mubarak name would be removed from all ministry facilities, including a major underground station in central Cairo. Some have suggested renaming streets with Mubarak’s name on them after the people who were killed in the recent anti-government protests. In total, at least 846 people were killed and 6,400 were injured during the 18 days of protests earlier this year, according to a government fact-finding panel. Those are crimes for which the ousted despot will eventually have to answer……….


- Having not won a World Series in more than a century, the Chicago Cubs and their fans have been at a loss to explain their run of ineptitude. Everything from disrespected goats to idiot fans interfering with games have been blamed, but maybe the cause of their failures is the Cubs themselves and a piece of team history that has just resurfaced. While the 1919 Chicago White Sox have long been known as the team that disgraced Chicago and the sport of baseball by (allegedly) throwing the World Series for gamblers, one participant in that intentional tank job claimed before his death that the White Sox - later dubbed the Black Sox for their disgraceful actions - were inspired by a similar scheme executed one year prior by the Cubs. Eddie Cicotte, one of the infamous Black Sox banned from baseball after their tainted World Series against Cincinnati, claimed in a 1920 court deposition that the Cubs were guilty of throwing the World Series one year prior to his own team’s actions. The Chicago History Museum recently put Cicotte’s deposition on its website and in it, Cicotte said "the boys on the club" spoke about how a Cub or a number of Cubs were offered $10,000 to throw the 1918 Series they lost 4-2 to the Boston Red Sox. Unfortunately, Cicotte offers no specifics in the deposition and no details as to how the players might have done it or even if he believes the Cubs threw the Series. The juicy part of the story, of course, is the idea that Chicago was the center of the sports gambling universe in the early 20th century, so much so that Chicago that both teams could be involved in back-to-back years. Peter Alter, an archivist at the museum who examined the document and other artifacts that the museum paid $100,000 for at auction, believes that there may be some truth to Cicotte’s claims. The deposition also provides insights into what life was like for players during Cicotte’s era, when players were not well-paid and lived lifestyles much closer to that of the average fan as opposed to the lives of relative luxury they often live in modern times. According to Cicotte, gamblers were a frequent sight at games and players often talked about gambling rumors. "The ball players were talking about somebody trying to fix the National League ball players or something like that," Cicotte said of one long train ride to the East Coast. "Well anyway there was some talk about them offering $10,000 or something to throw the Cubs in the Boston Series. Somebody made a crack about getting money, if we got into the Series, to throw the Series." Unfortunately, Cicotte died in 1969, so his deposition is the only say he’ll have on the discussion. While the truth of his claims may never be verified, arguments over money between players and owners were common during the time. Before one 1918 World Series game in Boston, the two teams refused to come on the field until the owners paid them what they were promised. The players ultimately backed down. As for the series itself, no Cubs hitter forgot how to hit and Cubs pitchers were terrific, finishing the Series with an astonishing 1.04 ERA. There were some suspicious plays, most involving Cubs outfielder Max Flack. In the fourth game, Flack was picked off twice and in the series’ sixth and final game, he dropped a catchable fly ball for an error that allowed two runs to score in the Red Sox's 2-1 win. Still, the plays amount to nothing more than circumstantial evidence for a wild conspiracy theory espoused by a noted cheat. But wouldn’t it be amazing if the theory were true…………


- If checking books out of your local library, not returning them on time and ignoring the 75 cents in fines you accrued for your crime has gotten old, maybe it’s time to take that act electronic. With every major electronics manufacturer throwing its hat into the e-reader ring, electronic books represent a growing (albeit still small) portion of the literary world. Amazon was a frontrunner in the field with the Kindle and is now looking to add a new slant to its electronic book offerings with a new service called Kindle Library Lending. The name is self-explanatory, meaning users will be able to go to a local participating library and check out an eBook to read at home. Like that library book you keep forgetting to return as it rests forgotten under the passenger’s seat of your car, your library eBook will eventually expire. While you have it, you can read it as many times as you want even make digital notes on the margins. Those notes will remain in your digital “copy” of the book if you return to the library and check out the same title again weeks or months later. For those with extra cash to throw around, the notes will also remain attached to a copy of the book if you purchase one. “Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no,” Jay Marine, director of Amazon Kindle, said in a statement. “Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them.” There is no official launch date for the new lending service, although Amazon has said it will start some time this year. The initial offering from Amazon will consist of 11,000 books to be available at libraries across the United States, although it’s not clear what sort of investment or technological support local libraries will need to offer the service………..


- Philadelphians, maybe it’s time to stop booing your sports teams and start experiencing a little culture every now and then. The Phillies may be World Series favorites in the National League, the 76ers may be in the NBA playoffs and the Flyers may be in the midst of a rugged NHL opening-round playoff series, but none of them are teetering on the brink of financial collapse the way your beloved Philadelphia Orchestra is. Instead of practicing or performing in the orchestra pit and delighting crowds, the orchestra spent its day Wednesday in court filing for bankruptcy. With the filing, the Philadelphia Orchestra became the first major U.S. orchestra to declare bankruptcy. Among the major issues facing the orchestra are contracts for current members and pension obligations for past members. Management lawyer Lawrence McMichael claimed the musicians’ pension is underfunded by as much as $40-50 million, while the lawyer representing the musicians, Bruce Simon, suggested it’s only $6-8 million. Simon suggested that the bankruptcy could have been avoided by accessing the orchestra’s $140 million endowment fund. “That money can be reached. It’s been reached by other institutions,” Simon said. Asked if it was allowable to use endowment money for operational expenses, Simon was adamant that it could be. “In our view, yes,” Simon replied. McMichael argued that the orchestra would have difficulty raising funds in the future if they were to “raid endowments” to pay operating expenses. “It’s restricted by a variety of instruments and trusts, all of which are fully valid and enforceable,” McMichael explained. For the time being, the two sides hope to come up with a bankruptcy-exit plan over the next several months and firming up charitable contributions from donors while also renewing the campaign for ticket and subscription sales. And that, culture-deprived Philadelphians, is where you come in………….

Riots and elections now synonymous, flash mobs cause chaos and hostile college baseball crowds

- Do flash mobs look quite as cool and fun now, now that someone has been shot and hospitalized because of these insipid mass gatherings wherein a bunch of losers with nothing better to do organize, rehearse and agree to meet at a predetermined place and time for an organized song-and-dance routine to a song that inevitably sucks in any form, no matter who sings it? Didn’t think so and if you disagree, then you’re probably one of the losers who takes part in flash mobs. Maybe that will change after Saturday’s scene on the Venice boardwalk, where an online effort to pull together a flash mob at the shoreline basketball courts along Ocean Front Walk ended in tragedy, with one man in critical condition with a gunshot wound. "Venice beach bball ct going up tomorrow," read the Twitter alert, which was retweeted and embellished throughout the day. A member of a neighborhood watch group notified police of the planned assembly and the crowd around the basketball courts grew steadily throughout the afternoon. Police called in reinforcements, but even they had no idea of what was about to happen. At approximately 6:30 p.m., six to eight shots rang out at 17th Avenue and Ocean Front Walk and the lone victim was struck in the side of the head and in his side before running half a block to an alley where he collapsed. He was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and listed in critical condition. As the shots rang out, the flash mob quickly turned into straight-up mob, fleeing the scene in all directions. “It looked like a human tidal wave," said Spencer L. Sirlin, who witnessed the attack. Some people hid in nearby shops and others packed into bus stops, desperate for the first thing on wheels to take them as far away as possible from the scene. Sadly, some members of the flash mob lingered or ran backwards as they fled the scene so they could see the action. It was not the first flash mob incident in the area, but it was the first to end in violence, police said. Local merchants worry the incident will impugn Venice’s growing popularity with tourists, although scaring away people who come to gawk at the perpetual freak show that is Venice Beach will probably take more than one shooting. No arrests have been made in the case, but police say they are still investigating………….


- Never, ever did anyone see this coming. On the list of things you need to be sitting down when you hear them, this story is at the peak. Lindsay Lohan has……wait for it……been removed from consideration from a movie role. Lohan, the picture of reliability, consistency and laying low, was reportedly a shoo-in for the role of Victoria Gotti in the upcoming film Gotti: Three Generations. She appeared to be a mortal lock to star alongside John Travolta - playing John Gotti Sr. - and even appeared at the movie's Apr. 12 press conference looking eerily like Victoria Gotti. Travolta himself praised her at the time and spoke as if she had already signed on for the project. "I always thought she was gorgeous and talented," Travolta remarked. Yet somewhere in between that press conference and Apr. 19, Lohan went from sure thing to persona non grata. Producer Marc Fiore made it official Tuesday, saying Lohan is no longer under consideration for the role. "We are not talking any further about Lindsay playing Victoria," Fiore declared. "She is no longer being considered. The talks have stopped. We are going to meet with other people [for the role]." The obvious question is why Fiore changed his mind on Lohan. After all, it’s not like she has a known drug habit that could pop up at any……never mind. But it’s not like she’s a raging alcoholic and clubber who could go off the deep end at the drop of……oops. Yeah, but she doesn’t have a history of flaking on films she’s committed to or going into rehab at the worst possible time and sabotaging an entire……damn. Okay, so there are about a thousand reasons Lohan is a bad fit for any film, to the point that last year, an indie film wanted nothing to do with her because she was too radioactive. All of her personal and legal troubles would make her incredibly expensive for any studio to insure and when the choice is between paying a substantial price for that insurance and hoping for the best or finding a more reliable, possibly less talented actress who will definitely show up and stay out of trouble, most studios will elect for the latter. Fiore refused to elaborate and said the requisite kind things about the woman he had just, in essence, fired. "She a wonderful person," he raved. "Her legal case has nothing to do with it. We just couldn't reach terms." Uh-huh, sure. Also out is director Nick Cassavetes, who allegedly pulled out due to scheduling conflicts. Suffice it to say that Gotti: Three Generations does not seem like the most stable production at the moment. Perhaps it was actually the perfect fit for Lohan in that respect……….


- Successful athletes can differ in their makeup and personality, depending on their sport, experience and other factors, but one constant in all greats no matter what game they play is an ability to handle challenges and adversity without allowing the moment to overwhelm them. Whether it’s a tough opponent, a hostile crowd or unfavorable weather conditions, the best of the best find a way to overcome and succeed in spite of adversity. Without knowing too much about him as a baseball player, it would seem reasonable to say that Mississippi State baseball player Brent Brownlee doesn’t exactly possess this prerequisite for athletic success. Basing such a judgment off a single game is risky, but not too many players have taken mild verbal abuse from a hostile crowd and responded with an obscene gesture, so maybe it’s not as much of a risk. Brownlee let fly with the one-fingered salute to the crowd after recording the final out in a 5-3 MSU win over Arkansas Sunday afternoon. He caught a fly ball hit to him in left field and as he headed toward the infield to celebrate the win with his teammates, he hit a group of fans who had taunted him during the game with a middle-fingered salute. Mississippi State coach John Cohen suspended Brownlee for one game for the incident and tweeted out an explanation of what happened later in the day. “This was (a) unfortunate incident. No amount of verbal abuse or threats of physical violence from fans justifies Brent’s reaction,” Cohen wrote. “He’s a model citizen and he feels embarrassed. I know that if he could take back those few seconds he would in a heartbeat but he’s going to take responsibility for his actions and he’ll pay a tough price for that. I will say that Brent Brownlee’s track record up to this point has been flawless. It would take a lot to provoke Brent Brownlee,” the coach said in a subsequent statement. Wait……verbal abuse and threats of physical violence? Where was this game played, the University of Arkansas campus or the Oakland Coliseum in front of the spiked-shoulder-pad-wearing Raider fan freaks in the Black Hole? Who’s going to college baseball games other than the parents and girlfriends of players anyhow? Were they the ones threatening Brownlee or did some beered-up frat dudes get into the stadium and let loose with a few threats? Either way, I doubt the threats were severe enough to warrant an obscene gesture and if they were, then tell stadium security or the event staff and let them take care of it. Every stadium, big or small, has an announcment before the game stressing sportsmanship and reminding the crowd that verbal and physical threats against players, coaches and officials will not be tolerated. In the aftermath of his embarrassing moment, Brownlee said in an official statement released Monday: “I apologize for my actions after the game Sunday. I let my emotions get the most of me in the heat of the moment. Those actions in no way represent me, my team and my university, and I regret letting so many people down.” Don’t worry, Brent. It’s college baseball, so you didn’t let that many people down…………


- Why all the hate for people who like to pop a pain pill or five from time to time, Food and Drug Administration? Apparently, prescription drug abuse is a crisis in the United States - at least according to federal government officials - and they plan to do something about it. Tuesday’s release of a new FDA report titled “Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis,” is allegedly the start of a major crackdown on this epidemic. The report recommends a four-part strategy to reduce painkiller overdoses: 1) increase education, particularly among parents and children, about prescription drug abuse, 2) monitor “doctor-shoppers,” a term for abusers who get multiple prescriptions for drugs, 3) encourage safe disposal programs of unneeded or expired medications and 4) regulate or shut down “pill mills”—pain clinics known for dispensing upwards of hundreds of pills per patient. Why all of the uproar, you ask? Is it simply because a few high-profile athletes have admitted to painkiller addictions over the past several year? Not according to the hardliners at the FDA. They point to the fact that nearly 12,000 people died from an opioid overdose in 2007, up from about 3,000 people in 1999, citing the latest statistics available from the Centers for Disease Control. In other words, overdoses are trending upward and both the FDA and CDC (no word on the FBI, FDIC, CIA, NSA OR NOAA) don’t like that trend. "Unintentional drug overdose is a growing epidemic in the U.S. and is now the leading cause of injury death in 17 states," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said in a release. "There are effective and emerging strategies out there to address this problem." The report also identifies the means most painkiller addicts use to procure their pills, with 70 percent receiving their most recent dose from a friend or family member, according to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Ten percent purchased their pills, while 5 percent of users admitted to stealing them. To combat painkiller abuse, the FDA has created a simple set of guidelines that will likely be ignored but might actually be helpful if anyone paid attention to them. The first guideline instructs individuals not to flush their pills down the toilet unless the label on their container explicitly says that is acceptable. Secondly, take unfinished prescriptions to a community drug take-back program, perhaps even on National Prescription Drug Take Back Day (April 30). This option seems especially dubious, as the current economic crisis in the United States combined with the availability of unused pain medication would beg for a person to pawn off their unused pills for a few extra bucks. The last suggestion is pouring the pills into a plastic bag and if they are solid, adding water to dissolve them before filling the bag with kitty litter, dirt or coffee grinds—anything to make it look undesirable to children or pets, before sealing the bag and throwing it in the trash. Honestly, this all sounds like a giant pain in the butt and you know what’s good for that sort of pain…………


- The words riot and elections are becoming more and more synonymous these days, no? If your country is holding elections and no one is rioting, chances are you’re not doing it correctly. Before you attempt to refute that suggestion, turn your gaze toward Turkey, where protesters clashed with police in southeast Turkey for the second day Wednesday after several Kurdish parliamentary candidates were disqualified from June national-election ballots. The clashes left one demonstrator dead and dozens more injured. Thousands of demonstrators fought with police in Diyabakir, the largest city in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, over the disqualification of their candidates. The unrest led Democracy Party, or BDP, co-chairman Selahattin Demirtas to cancel an emergency meeting with President Abdullah Gul in Ankara. "One person was shot in the chest with a bullet during the police intervention. We also heard that more than one person is wounded and hundreds have been arrested," a BDP spokesman said. Police refused to confirm the death, but the upheaval was enough to convince Demirtas to cancel a meeting, ironically enough, that had been called to discuss the Turkish election commission's decision Monday to disqualify 12 candidates, including seven from the BDP, due to allegations of previous terrorism-related convictions. Why anyone wouldn’t want a convicted terrorist helping to run their country, I’m not sure. No one is messing with a country run by maniacal psychopaths will to kill indiscriminately, that’s for certain. The violence in Diyabakir began just as tensions across Turkey appeared to be calming down following Tuesday’s decision. Protestors, as is their nature, had no interest in waiting for the election commission to honor its promise to consider appeals to its decision after all seven BDP candidates filed formal complaints. Other parties voiced concern over the ban and President Gul offered to meet with the BDP leadership late Wednesday. His office also released a brief statement saying: "A legal and political effort must be made to solve the problem." The initial government response was received relatively well, with Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of Turkey's main opposition party, labeling the election commission's softening its initial stance as a "positive" development. But for now, it’s riot time…………

Map Maker hits America, bulletproof vests for cabbies and NBA officiating conspiracy theories

- Let the mapping begin, America. Google, which is in a perpetual quest for world domination, has previously made its Map Maker tool, which lets locals contribute mapping information to Google Maps, available in nearly every country except the United States. That’s not an exaggeration, either; Map Maker has previously been open to 183 countries and regions around the world. Google’s reasons for withholding Map Maker from the U.S. haven’t always been clear, but most experts believe the wealth of data already available in Google Maps as a primary cause for the Web giant’s patience in adding the Map Maker app to the equation. As of today, Map Maker is available in the United States, meaning a nation full of people mostly absorbed in their own little world can now take time and effort they have no interest in sharing and use it to provide information about their local neighborhoods, businesses, campuses, roads, and lanes in order to boost the collective knowledge base of Google Maps’ satellite-gathered data. Much like Wikipedia entries, all submitted changes are reviewed by an editor and if they are approved, the edits are made available for everyone to see within Google Maps. The Map Maker app launched in 2008 and has been the source of both great progress in mapping many of the world’s locations in Google Maps and a fair amount of controversy. More than a few neighborhoods and individuals have objected to Google showing their homes, streets and properties in great detail for all the world to see. According to the company’s official blog, more than 30 percent of the world’s population now has detailed online maps of their neighborhoods, about twice as much as before the tool’s existence. Google Maps is already one of the company’s most used products and also provides local information and directions to users across many devices and platforms, including the iPhone and Google’s own Android. Because of its varied uses, Google is perpetually seeking to increase the amount of available mapping information, having most recently added locations of electric car charging stations. So like it or not, chances are that your street, avenue, road or boulevard will soon be added to Google Maps’ ever-growing database…………


- The outcome of Game 2 of the Dallas-Mavericks' first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers will be decided by the players on the court, but in case the Mavs lose, their fans will have a built-in excuse. That excuse will come in the form of a middle-aged white dude wearing a striped shirt and black pants, sporting a whistle and, in the mind of Mavericks fans anyhow, a chip on his shoulder when it comes to their favorite team. Referee Danny Crawford will work the game as the lead official of the crew that will be charged with calling the fouls and keeping order on the court. Why is one official’s presence such an issue? It probably has something to do with the Mavs’ 2-16 record in playoff games officiated by Crawford, including 16 losses in the last 17 games. They are 48-41 in the rest of their playoff games during the ownership tenure of Mark Cuban, who has accrued literally millions of dollars in fines over the last 11 years for publicly complaining about officiating. Asked about Crawford’s assignment to Tuesday night’s game, Cuban tersely replied, "Not saying a word.” The NBA office likewise had no comment when queried as to whether the league has reviewed the Mavericks playoff games officiated by Crawford or considered not using him in a Dallas series. Should the Mavs overcome their troubles with Crawford, they will snap a six-game losing streak in games he has officiated. The drama began with Game 3 of the 2006 NBA Finals, when the Miami Heat rallied from a 13-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter in a series widely viewed as one of the most poorly officiated in Finals history. Crawford also worked Game 6 of those Finals, when the Heat won their fourth consecutive game to claim the championship. Combined, the Heat had a 71-49 advantage in free throws in those two games. Statistics from Crawford-officiated games do nothing to silence the conspiracy theorists, as the Mavs have been called for 2.3 fouls per game more than their opponents in playoff games officiated by Crawford, compared to a nearly even foul differential in their other playoff games since 2001. As expected, current Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle downplayed any potential controversy when asked about it early Tuesday. "I don't consider that a factor," Rick Carlisle said. "It would be pretty defeatist if we did. He's a great official and history shows that." The series has already experienced turbulence when it comes to the men in striped shirts, as Blazers coach Nate McMillan was fined $35,000 for publicly commenting on the officiating after the Mavs' 89-81 win Saturday night. McMillan’s beef was with Dallas’ 19-2 advantage in free throws during the fourth quarter of that game. Complaints about officiating have quickly become a dominant storyline just a few games into the postseason, so Crawford’s assignment to a game involving the Mavericks is extremely appropriate at this point…………


- Sweeeeet, it’s international conflict time, a magical time when neighboring (or non-neighboring) nations oppose each other on important issues, throw out vague threats, posture, claim violent military action is on the way and generally put on an entertaining show for anyone not directly involved in the conflict. The key players in this particular dispute are Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, with the latter three squaring off against Laos on its proposal to build the first hydropower dam on the main stream of the lower Mekong River. Laos says the dam will cause no serious problems, but its neighbors aren’t convinced and insist more information is needed about its environmental and economic effects. To settle the conflict (theoretically), delegates from Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam postponed a decision Tuesday on the plan to build the hydropower dam on the lower Mekong. The meeting of the Mekong River Commission in the Lao capital, Vientiane, was contentious as the meeting’s Lao delegate said the dam likely would not affect the environment of its neighboring countries and will meet international standards. Those claims did not satisfy Te Navuth, chairman of the MRC's Joint Committee, who said Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam have lingering concerns. "The three countries want additional information while Laos... Laos wishes to have the process completed after six months.” By comparison, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam want a comprehensive assessment of cross-boundary environmental effects that would likely take several months, if not longer. All four countries agreed to hold a ministerial-level meeting later this year to come to an agreement, but considering they’ve made about as much progress as NFL owners and players working on a new collective bargaining agreement (i.e. none), resolving all issues in a single ministerial-level meeting does not seem likely. Yet this laborious process is exactly what the four countries set themselves up for by creating the commission, which requires them to consult each other on projects along the river without requiring each other’s permission. Vietnam has been the project’s most vocal critic thus far and has demanded that all plans for dams on the Mekong’s main stream be put on hold for at least 10 years. Both Cambodia and Vietnam are concerned the dam, one of 11 planned for the Mekong, could adversely affect fish stocks and rice production, two staples of both nations’ economies. One commission study concluded the dam would affect fish migration and push several endangered species native to the region to extinction. Then there are Taiwan’s concerns, most significantly its worries about the sustainability of the $3.5 billion project. Projections for the dam are 1,260 megawatts of electricity daily, 95 percent of which would be sold to Thailand. However, another commission study said the dam could lose up to 60 percent of its operating capacity in 30 years because of sediment building up in the reservoir. With 60 million people dependent on the Mekong for their livelihoods, any change to the geography of the region could be disastrous. Laos, an impoverished communist nation ruled by an oppressive regime, wants the dam to raise revenue. At present, the only dams built on the Mekong’s main channel are in China, where it is known as the Lancang river. Oddly enough, the communist regime there built the dams without consulting any of its neighbors and plans to build four more in the coming decade. Something tells me the Chinese wouldn’t have listened even if objections had been voiced…………


- In the interest of honesty, writing about the following comment from one of the most manufactured, artificial acts in music history without laughing uncontrollably the entire time was an impossibly difficult task. But with that disclaimer out of the way, lets…..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA……sorry…..let’s HAHAHAHAHA……okay, okay, let’s try to move forward. So clearly, the walking, contrived freak show that is Lady Gaga is the only one aware of the artificial reality in which she exists. Anyone who has seen one of her music videos or live performances or listened to even one of her artificial, crappy pop songs would immediately use words such as “manufactured” or “artificial.” The reasons for that, without delving too deep musically, is that her songs use a HEAVY amount of synthesized, computer-generated sounds, especially auto-tuning. Before she struck it big as a hack pop star, she was much more punk rock-oriented, but she sold out any and all credibility in that area in order to churn out predictable, overproduced pop garbage that would ensure her more mainstream acceptance and radio play. On top of that, her entire career is built on a very manufactured image based on bizarre stunts and shock value, doing, saying and wearing whatever is necessary to get people talking and draw attention to her instead of her musically worthless songs. Just don’t pass that wisdom along to Lady Gaga herself, because she’s busy comparing herself to musical legends whose dirty socks she’s not worth of washing. Asked about critics (i.e. everyone with a brain and a shred of musical integrity) who say she is manufactured, Lady Gaga has declared that they can all "f*ck off.” In an in-depth interview with a British music publication, she spoke about misguided assumptions that she employs songwriters to pen her hits. "If you want me to be a manufactured act, you can f*ck off, " she stated. Reading those words, perhaps some semantic issues are muddying the waters when it comes to her feelings about the aforementioned criticisms. Yes, having songwriters craft songs for you is one way to be a manufactured act, but so are auto-tuning, digitally enhancing your songs and intentionally doing “controversial” things to generate buzz. When she was through attacking her critics, Lady Gaga then made the biggest musical reach ever by likening herself to John Lennon in that she struggles to ever be completely happy with her songs. "I am perpetually unhappy with what I create," she said. "Even though I might tell you that 'Edge Of Glory' is a pop masterpiece, when it's all said and finished there will be things I dread, and every time I listen to it I'll hear them. In John Lennon's [1980] Playboy interview he talked about how he hated certain songs because of the way they were finished. And they might be my favorite songs, but Lennon couldn't listen to them." See, the key difference there is Lennon was unhappy with his songs because he believed they could be better, whereas the reason to be happy with Lady Gaga songs is because they unequivocally suck…………


- Showers and personal hygiene may not be a party of the daily routine of many New York City taxi cab drivers (just kidding, cabbies), but bulletproof vests will now be just such a staple. Following a series of attacks on city livery cab drivers, the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers announced plans Monday to provide some of its drivers with bulletproof vests donated by New York-based security firm Security USA. The vests, which cost $400 each, are part of a pilot program to provide additional protection for drivers working the overnight shift in several neighborhoods deemed the most dangerous in the city. NYSFTD representative Sergio Rodriguez explained that drivers will be selected to receive a vest based on their typical daily route. "We chose drivers from East New York, Jamaica Queens, the South Bronx - areas that where we've had a number of high assaults," he said. "We didn't just necessarily pick an area because it was crime-ridden, because sometimes there could be a crime ridden area where our drivers aren't really getting assaulted. We took it to where most of our drivers have been getting assaulted over the years based on statistics.” The initial implementation of the program will give 12 drivers bulletproof vests in addition to 15 to 20 already being used after a donation earlier this year by retired NYPD police officers and veteran servicemen, Rodriguez said. The vests worn by cab drivers will be nearly identical to those worn by NYPD officers except for a front metal shock plate that will be removed to make driving more comfortable - unless you’re actually shot. Anyone wondering if such measures are really necessary for taxi cab drivers simply hasn’t been paying attention to the news of late, as city livery cab drivers have been the target of numerous robberies and assaults - some fatal - over the past several months. Earlier this month, 64-year-old driver Julio Lora was left paralyzed from the neck down after he was shot during a failed robbery attempt in the Bronx. Now if we could only install those in-car showering systems…………

Dangerous flyovers, Record Store Day and hotlines for kooks

- Attention all kooks in the greater Manhattan area: If you believe that, among the inherent weirdness seen in and around the five boroughs on a daily basis, you have seen something extraterrestrially odd, you have a friendly voice with which to share your delusions, er, um, visions from another world. That voice is retired computer consultant Joe Capp, who has established a hotline for anyone who claims to have had a close encounter with aliens. The hotline, 347-298-9020, is run by the 68-year-old Capp and is wife from their home in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Capp has been a believer in alien spaceships and little green men since 1962 after supposedly seeing a UFO while at the beach in Atlantic City. "Two flying discs went right over our heads," he said. "They looked like giant frisbees." The hotline is merely Capp’s latest attempt to carve out a community of kooks who can commiserate over their stories of the weird, an outgrowth of a support group he has been leading at the Skylight Diner in Manhattan since 2007. "I try to give them a perspective," Capp said. "No matter what these are, they're not hurting anyone. If a person says 'I saw a ghost,' I empathize with seeing something that everybody else says is impossible." On that note, Capps may actually be correct. Unless these freaks are out there forcefully trying to indoctrinate others with their message, then the only thing they are hurting is their own credibility and all perceptions of them as relatively normal, sane human beings. Those who attend the support group’s monthly meetings share their alleged flying saucer experiences and express their fears, hopefully as everyone else in the diner silently (and not so silently) mocks and belittles them. Since starting the hotline in February, Capp has received calls reporting about two-dozen sightings around the city, the most seen since that ugly alien bug was trying to flee the soon-to-be-destroyed planet Earth in the first Men in Black movie…………


- In case you missed it, Saturday was a very important day……..assuming you’re a diehard music fan who hasn’t fully embraced the digital music revolution. For those who still love the feel of a vinyl record in their hands and the superior sound quality of vinyl, Record Store Day is always circled on the calendar. The day was important enough for fans to begin lining up outside former White Stripes frontman Jack White's Third Man Records shortly after midnight. White was happy to serve as unofficial master of ceremonies for the occasion, opening the store early and allowing music dorks of all ages to pour in and look for something special to add to their collection. "Record stores are closing all over the place, yet vinyl record sales are the only thing growing in the music industry," White pointed out. "So it's a beautiful thing that everyone can come together and release these special releases, whether they're brand new or old or obscure or never released tracks, whatever they are, it's really cool that people can get out and buy them. I mean look at how many people are here to buy records. That's pretty cool. Very cool." To commemorate Record Store Day, major and minor record labels released more than 300 items exclusive to the day, the fourth year of the celebration meant to inject life into a segment of the music industry that, as White mentioned, is dying off. White himself contributed two 7-inch rereleases of the White Stripes' first singles and the possibility of snagging one of them brought out scores of fans to camp out to camp outside Third Man Records’ Nashville location. Some slept on the street, under trees and anywhere they could find a safe spot. Others brought their own grills and cooked breakfast to warm themselves up after a cold night on the street and by daybreak, the line to get into the store stretched around the block. Even rain and a chilly wind dropped temperatures into the 50s didn’t seem to deter many, although the weather did postpone the Jerry Lee Lewis' concert at White's record store until Sunday. Prior to the postponement, White spoke about Lewis and his impact on music over the years. "This is a guy who he was setting his piano on fire before Hendrix did it," White said. "That shows you how wild the early days of rock 'n' roll were and how important it was, breaking up the cookie cutter sort of clean-cut pop music that was out there at the time. It's just as important today as it was then. He's a founding father and it's incredible to even be able to do something like this." Other special Record Store Day events included a Foo Fighters show at Fingerprints Records in Los Angeles, an appearance by My Morning Jacket at CD Central in Lexington, Ky., the Drive-By Truckers showing up at Plan 9 Music in Charlottesville, Va. and the Del McCoury Band performing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in Greenfield, Wis. Say what you will about music dorks being anal over the quality of vinyl and acting like hipsters in extolling its virtues, but no one is holding iTunes Day or Rhapsody Day to bring digital music fans together to share their love of their preferred means of accessing their favorite artists…………


- Let’s not be hasty, Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Just because you discovered 145 bodies in mass graves earlier this month is no reason to go off and fire your head of security. Laying all blame for this ugly and tragic scene at the feet of former army Gen. Ubaldo Ayala Tinoco just seems punitive. Even the state governor has blamed the killings on the Zetas drug cartel and more than 20 suspected cartel members have been arrested in connection with the killings, including the alleged mastermind of the massacre. So why is the government using Tinoco as a scapegoat and replacing him with another former soldier, Capt. Rafael Lomeli Martinez? Because 16 state policemen have also been arrested on suspicion of protecting the criminals, you say? Hmm. Just to play along with this charade, let’s ask the obvious question of what local officials expect Martinez to change. The state governor said Martinez would improve coordination with the army and federal police in the fight against drugs gangs while also combating corruption. The ability to eradicate corruption has to be questioned no matter who is in charge of security, as powerful cartels with deep pockets combined with police officers on meager salaries is always a dangerous mix. Tinoco had his own take on his departure, saying he was stepping down because the state government had failed to provide increased pay and better equipment for the state police. Martinez previously served as head of the Federal Police in Nuevo Leon, another northern border state heavily saturated with drug-related violence. He has already vowed to calm things down in Tamaulipas, which is the scene of a bloody battle between the Zetas and the rival Gulf cartel as they compete for control of drug smuggling routes into the United States. Most of the bodies found in the mass grave are thought to have been abducted from long-distance buses traveling north to the U.S. border. No motive for the killings has been discovered, but the prevailing theory is cartel gunmen may have killed men who refused to join their ranks. Seventy-two bodies of Central and South American migrants were found in the same area last year, so another mass grave in the general vicinity was apparently a tipping point for Tinoco’s tenure as head of security. A potential break in the investigation came on Saturday, when the Mexican navy captured Omar Martin Estrada - a.k.a. "El Kilo" - the suspected leader of the Zetas in San Fernando and alleged mastermind of the killings. Police investigators are working to identify the bodies from the mass grave and cross-checking those results with lists of anyone who has gone missing in the region over the past few months. Overall, the Mexican government says around 35,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon began deploying troops to fight the cartels in December 2006 and more than 5,000 people have been reported missing. Something tells me that appointing a new head of security won't do much to change any of that…………


- World, your attention please: Here is yet another reason you do not want to be FAT. Along with not dying young from heart disease, a heart attack, diabetes and other girth-related illnesses, along with an improved quality of life, the ability to wear something other than tent-like, concealing clothing and go to the beach without being mistaken for a beached whale, staying away from the big numbers on the scale may also lead to improved memory. According to a study led by John Gunstad of Kent State University, there is a possible link between weight loss and improved memory in patients. The study focused on roughly 150 overweight patients who were split into two groups, with one group receiving gastric bypass surgery, while the other group did not. Before the surgery, researchers tested the cognitive abilities of both groups, focusing on their memory as well as ability to concentrate and their attention span. Amazingly, 12 weeks after the surgery the group that received gastric bypass surgery performed significantly better than those who did not. However, researchers believe that weight loss by other means - diet, exercise or other weight-loss procedures - would produce a similarly positive effect on memory and overall cognitive functioning. Oh, and there’s also the part of the equation in which a person feels better about themselves and their self-image and is able to go through their daily life with more confidence and less embarrassment if they aren’t grossly obese. All in all, let’s chalk this up as reason No. 144,177 to push away from the buffet table, put on your workout clothes and start shedding those excess pounds, America……….


- How close is too close? For the four Air Force pilots accused of flying too close to the ground during a ceremonial flyover before the Iowa-Ohio State football game on Nov. 20, that question has been answered. Maj. Christopher Kopacek, a pilot from Ankeny with the 25th Flying Training Squadron, and his fellow pilots will be disciplined to varying degrees for their roles in the botched flyover. Kopacek violated four codes and plans to leave the Air Force, according to a news release from Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Okla. He was the only one of the four identified publicly, as the other three did not waive their right to privacy. The other three pilots will be punished for their mistakes but their violations and sanctions will not be disclosed, said Vance spokeswoman 1st Lt. Katie Roling. The 71st Flying Training Wing investigated the incident, which involved four T-38 aircraft. The flyover was scheduled to be a typical pregame flyover at a major sporting event, but somehow all four planes ended up flying just 176 feet above the ground as they cleared the stadium. The press box at Kinnick Stadium is 160 feet above ground level and Cedar Rapids Approach Control verified that the aircraft cleared the scoreboard, which is 118 feet above ground level by 58 feet and were 16 feet above the press box, which put them at 176 feet above ground level. How far below acceptable standards is that figure? Try 824 feet, as 1,000 feet is the normal standard for flyovers. Additionally, the flyovers on Nov. 20 occurred at 400 knots, well above the maximum allowable speed of 300 knots for such maneuvers. For some reason, that unnerved many of those in attendance that day and their unrest led to a lot of unhappy Air Force officials. “While I understand that fans attending the game enjoyed the flyover, rules are in place to ensure everyone’s safety,” said Col. Russell Mack, 71st FTW Commander. “We appreciate the opportunity to perform flyovers and thank the University of Iowa for the chance to showcase our abilities. However, this was a serious breach of flight discipline and it was necessary to take administrative action against all of the members involved.” Yeah, there’s really no argument to be made against Mack’s comments. Even Maverick would have considered that flyover risky and pulling that sort of stunt would have gotten anyone kicked out of the Top Gun academy, thereby ending their short-shorts wearing beach volleyball career (if you don’t get the Top Gun reference…..shame on you). The four rules Kopaceck and his three fellow pilots were found to have violated were: flying above the speed of 300 knots below 10,000 feet mean sea level for the practice flyover Nov. 19, 2010, and the actual flyover Nov. 20, 2010; flying over a congested area below 1,000 feet above ground level above the highest obstacle within 2,000 feet of the aircraft; failing to verbally report the flight deviations to a supervisor or commander within 24 hours of the flight deviation and failing to make a detailed written record within 24 hours and making a false official statement to investigators during the course of the investigation. Their punishments will come under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Vance initiated the investigation on Nov. 24, and all four pilots and two ground controllers were removed from flying status until the investigation was complete. But hey, everyone in attendance that day has a vivid memory they’re unlikely to ever fully shake from their mind…………

Creating fake army units, movie news and African mutinies

- When people speak of the American dream, of making something out of nothing and creating a life for oneself……this is not what they mean. While creating a fake U.S. Army unit and convincing immigrants that joining the squad was a path to citizenship is certainly original and innovative, charging more than 100 Chinese nationals a fee of between $300 and $450 to join the fake Army unit has to rank fairly high on the list of outright scum-baggery. The man behind this visionary effort is Yupeng Deng, a Chinese man who created the fake military unit, gave his recruits military uniforms, had them parade in a Los Angeles suburb and took them to the decommissioned USS Midway aircraft carrier, which is a museum in San Diego. He called his bogus squad the U.S. Army/Military Special Forces Reserve unit, or MSFR for short, and bestowed upon himself the impressive title of supreme commander, prosecutors said. Perhaps it should have been a tip-off that they were being charged to join a military unit or maybe these were simply not the best and brightest China had to offer, but the 100 people who were suckered in by this scam should have figured out that the operation wasn’t legitimate right around the time Supreme Commander Deng dropped that title on himself. The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office claimed that in addition to promising that service in his unit was a path to citizenship, Deng also urged recruits to pay him cash for higher military rank and allegedly provided them with fake documents and phony military identification cards. Honestly, if it weren’t so offensive that Deng was taking advantage of so many poor, ignorant fools and disrespecting those who actually do serve in the military, the lengths he went to in order to make his operation seem legitimate would be impressive. Either way, the resident of the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte was arrested on Tuesday by sheriff's deputies and charged with theft by false pretenses, manufacturing deceptive government documents and counterfeit of an official government seal. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday and faces up to eight years in prison if convicted. Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, refused to comment on how Deng was caught. "All the details and evidence will come out in a preliminary hearing," she said. And some uplifting details I’m sure they will be…………


- Switch one family film out for another and you essentially have the story at the top of the box office earnings race for this weekend. Hop, ironically enough, was bounced after two weeks at the top even though it is a movie about the Easter bunny’s son and Easter is just a week away. In its place was newcomer Rio (what is it with animated movies whose names are just three letters long being the top-earning movie of late), which opened strong with $40 million to more than double up its nearest competitor. That competitor would be a movie whose premise could not be more diametrically opposed to Rio, the latest installment of Scream, a series that should have died after one movie because of how tacky, predictable and clichéd it is. Yet Scream 4 (clearly not sophisticated enough to use Roman numerals in its title) made a decent $19.3 million in its debut weekend to finish in second place. Third went to Hop, dropping two spots but adding another $11.2 million to its coffers for a cumulative total of $82.6 million after three weeks. In fourth was Soul Surfer, a movie profiling the real-life tale of teenage surfer Bethany Hamilton losing her arm to a shark attack. Surfer scared up $7.4 million and after two weeks has made $20 million, an amount that seems better when stacked up against a scant $18 million budget. Last among the top five was Hanna, an action thriller that hasn’t thrilled moviegoers yet and fell off 41 percent in its second weekend, earning $7.3 million for a two-week total of $23.3 million. The remainder of the top 10 was: Arthur (No. 6 after dropping off 43 percent and making $6.9 million in its second weekend for a cumulative total of $22.3 million), Insidious (No. 7 with $6.8 million and a three-week tally of $36 million), Source Code (No. 8 with $6.3 million in its third weekend to raise its total earnings to $37 million), newcomer The Conspirator (No. 9 despite opening narrowly in a mere 707 theaters, yet making $3.9 million in its first weekend) and Your Highness (No. 10 to chase an über-disappointing opening weekend by falling from No. 6 with a scant $3.9 million and $15.9 million for its first two weeks). Two movies falling out of the top 10 from last weekend were Limitless (No. 11) and The Lincoln Lawyer (No. 12)…………


- Honestly, is anyone stunned to find something unsanitary and unsavory floating in the water of the Playboy mansion’s hot tub? Not to get graphic, but it seems safe to say that, well, a lot of activity that would produce certain unclean and not at all savory substances takes place in that hot tub on a fairly regular basis. But those substances are not the ones being blamed for more than 100 people becoming ill after a fundraising party at the mansion in February, reporting pneumonia and flu-like symptoms. Health inspectors contacted 439 people who attended the event and found 123 had fallen sick with symptoms including fever, headache, cough, shortness of breath and aches. The Los Angeles health department scoured every potential area of contamination partygoers were exposed to and ultimately focused their attention on the hot tub, from which they took water samples and identified legionella bacterium, which can cause the potentially fatal legionnaires' disease. Of the 123 guests who were sickened, 96 of them fell ill the day of the party, which was a fundraiser for DomainFest, a conference for internet investors from 30 countries. However, officials are not ready to confirm the bacteria in the pool as the cause of the outbreak. In a statement the Los Angeles County department of public health said: "Though legionella bacteria was identified in a water sample taken from the Playboy Mansion, this bacteria has not been determined as the source of the respiratory outbreak. Other potential causes under investigation include influenza, as three individuals who attended the conference tested later positive for the flu." Regardless of the culprit, Hefner can’t be happy with the timing of the situation. He is busy preparing for his June wedding to Crystal Harris, Playboy Playmate of the month in December 2009. Also, as great as hanging at the Playboy mansion is and being around playmates all night long in the grotto and the pool, not being able to hop in the hot tub for fear of coming out with a potentially life-threatening illness will put something of a damper on the night…………


- The single biggest (literally and figuratively) No. 1 overall draft pick bust in NFL history is only getting worse. JaMarcus Russell is now out of the league and his quest to find his way back to the game that handed him more than $25 million in guaranteed money isn't going any better than his career went on the field. Russell, who was released by the Oakland Raiders in May, had been with former NBA coach and patron saint of lost souls in the sports world John Lucas to get his life back on track. Lucas has taken on numerous troubled athletes over the years and helped them rebuild their lives and careers, but as of Thursday, he has resigned his post as Russell's "life coach,” which he had worked in since September in an attempt to get the quarterback into shape to return to the NFL. Initially, Russell worked hard after he and Lucas linked up but as with so many other endeavors of his life, he lost interest and laziness won out over the drive to succeed. Russell began slacking (and returned to the horrendous dietary and workout habits that led to him eating his way out of the NFL in the first place) and Lucas became tired of trying to motivate him. Even NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley tried to motivate Russell, without success. Sources close to Russell say there is no motivation on his part whatsoever and even before the owners locked players out to star the NFL’s first work stoppage in decades, there was non interest in signing him. His most recent workouts were in November, when he showed up at a workout for the Washington Redskins on Nov. 2 weighing a beefy 288 pounds and managed to pack on four more pounds before a Nov. 16 workout with the Dolphins, tipping the scales at 292 pounds. Needless to say, that weight is significantly more than Russell’s playing weight of 260 and not conducive to a quarterback looking to evade pass rushers, move in the pocket and make athletic plays to keep drives going for his team. The most damning evidence of how far Russell had fallen may well have come in November when Baltimore Ravens president Ozzie Newsome, who was in Mobile for the Senior Bowl, refused to meet with Russell, a Mobile native who was there at the time. Adding up all of the aforementioned carnage and the bleak future ahead for Russell, saying he has edged ahead of fellow draft bust Ryan Leaf as the single worst No. 1 pick in league history. Amazing doesn’t begin to describe the fact that the top overall draft pick in 2007 lost his starting job, was released, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and seems highly unlikely to ever play another down in the NFL…………


- Welcome to the revolution trend, Burkina Faso. The small, landlocked nation in west Africa has become the latest embroiled in a power struggle focused on ousting the current powers that be. The revolt is being led by the military and mutinous soldiers are reported to have taken control of a southern town in Burkina Faso as the revolt against Blaise Compaore, the West African nation's ruler, entered its fourth day. Soldiers at a military garrison in Po, near the Ghana border, took a much-needed break from soldierly duties such as protecting and serving and used the respite to fire their weapons into the air, terrorize the populace, loot shops and seize private vehicles. Two citizens were injured by the gunfire in Po, located about 87 miles from Ouagadougou, the capital. Po houses a training school for Burkinabe military officers, making it a logical place for the military to launch part of its revolt. According to the government, the soldiers are protesting over payment of housing and daily food allowances. The uprising began Thursday with the ever-bold move of soldiers opening fire on the presidential compound late in the day, followed by two nights of looting. The soldiers’ actions led to a reprisal by hundreds of traders who rioted and set fire to the headquarters of Burkina Faso's ruling party on Saturday, in protest against the soldiers looting their shops. As a result of the unrest, the defense ministry imposed a curfew in Ouagadougou from 7 p.m. on Saturday to 6 a.m. on Sunday. In response to the mutiny, Compaore has already fired much of his administration, including the army chief and his head of presidential security. Fittingly, Compaore came to power in a 1987 military coup and could leave office the same way he entered. He has been the target of a series of protests since February, staged first by students and then by soldiers. Given enough time, the odds are that another offended group will emerge to join in the unrest. In spite of the high number of pissed-off segments of the citizenry, Compaore somehow won a new five-year term in office after taking 80 percent of the votes in November elections. The cost of living has risen significantly since then, otherwise tens of thousands of people would not have taken to the streets last week in Ouagadougou to speak out against the high cost of living. The cost of living is just one of many issues of concern to citizens of Burkina Faso, which ranks 161 out of 169 countries on the UN Human Development Index, a composite measure of the quality of life. Life is unlikely to get better with shops, banks and petrol stations having remained shut since Thursday. On the positive side, everyone wins when they can enjoy a good riot…………

College basketball criminals, embarrasing rock secrets and online privacy

- Reality has finally sunk in for Syrian President Bashar Assad, who finally seemed to recognize the seriousness of the uprising against him as he addressed his nation Saturday in response to massive anti-government protests. Speaking at the first meeting of the new Syrian government in Damascus, Assad focused on the importance of cooperation between government institutions and the people. While conceding that there were faults in his government, he cautioned that necessary changes and reforms could not happen immediately and would be only be impeded by any continued resistance from the public. "I must say that the current situation has caused a lot of pain in the soul of each and every citizen for those who have been martyred," he lied in trying to pawn blame off on anyone but the ones deserving of it, i.e. his regime and their goons. "Investigations are continuing to find out those who are responsible." Mmm hmm, sure. Props on lifting the state of emergency across Syria, but that won't mean much if your government continues to oppress and be as irresponsive to public concerns as it was in spurring the first round of riots. Assad announced that he had requested for his cabinet to lift the state of emergency as early as next week, at which point resolutions could be drafted. The speech was relatively brief, clocking in at just under half an hour, and showed a marked shift in tone from Assad’s previous comments on the popular uprising. Even though mere words are relatively meaningless to anti-government groups in light of what the government has done thus far in its reign, Assad did express a desire to meet protesters’ demands and to implement sweeping reforms that would improve citizens' quality of life. "The world is rapidly changing around us and we have to keep up with new developments," he said. He also recognize the major economic problems that were largely responsible for inspiring the protests. "There is no doubt that unemployment remains the biggest problem in the country," he said. "Of course the improvement of the economy will create more jobs, but this will take a long time to develop." When it came to the combustible issue of Syria's Kurdish sector, Assad offered few specifics but claimed he was in favor of granting Syrian citizenship to that portion of the population while emphasizing the need for better communication between the government and its citizens. "We have to open up new channels between us and the people," he said. "This trust of the people cannot come without complete transparency. In my talks with the people I have realized there is a huge gap between the institution of the state and the people. I realize we need to narrow that gap and fill that space with trust." Nice words, Mr. President, but until your overbearing regime begins backing those sentiments up with tangible actions and results, you can expect your people to approach all dealings with the government with a high degree of skepticism……….


- The search for online privacy has become a central storyline for all makers of Web browsers, as users are becoming increasingly paranoid about advertisers tracking them and compiling information about their browsing habits. Apple has joined the trend of tracking-free browsing with a test version of its latest Safari browser, including a do-not-track privacy tool to for keeping customers' online activities from being monitored by marketers. The tool is included with Lion, the newest version of Apple's Mac OS X operating system that is currently available only to developers. The final version of the OS is scheduled to be released to the public this summer, but rumors of the do-not-track feature in the Safari browser began to appear several weeks ago on message boards and Twitter. Apple’s browser upgrade leaves Google as the only major browser provider that hasn't added a do-no-track capability. Both Microsoft (maker of the world’s worst operating system and its worst browser - Internet Explorer) and Mozilla (Firefox) offer do-not-track features in their latest browsers. Asked about the disparity, a Google spokesman said the company "will continue to be involved closely" in discussions about do-not-track. For now, users of the company’s mediocre Chrome browser can download an add-on program called "Keep My Opt-Outs" that allows users to request that their data not be used for targeted advertising. Even with a do-not-track tool included in a browser, users are still at the mercy of websites and online-advertising networks, which must honor the messages automatically sent out by the tools requesting that users' movements around the Web not be tracked. So far, major online-advertising networks, which use tracking to sell ads tailored to consumers' tastes, have made no official decision on honoring the system. Apple and Microsoft both offer other tracking protection features that don't require the support of online advertisers, but nothing that is completely effective. Congress is also talking about involving itself in the matter, with Rep. Cliff Stearns (R, Fla.) introducing legislation Friday that would encourage companies to offer more information to consumers about how they are being tracked. The bill, being co-sponsored by Jim Matheson (D, Utah), would require firms to create privacy policies that inform consumers about the collection, sale and use of their data. Amazingly, no federal law currently exists to address the issue. Under the proposed legislation, a policing program would be approved by the Federal Trade Commission. For now, though, your online privacy is on your shoulders………


- Just as a thought for Liam Gallagher to consider: If you’re going to spend half of your waking moments either thinking of or unleashing scathing criticisms of your former band and especially your brother with whom you played in said band, then revealing that your hype music before taking the stage to perform with your new band is a cheesy, ridiculously awful elevator pop song from the 1970s is probably not a wise choice. Perhaps he did so with a certain amount of irony, but Gallagher’s revelation that listens to Rod Stewart's 1978 hit single 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?' to get pumped up before he goes onstage with hi current band, Beady Eye, is not exactly the stuff of rock legends. He made the disclosure during an interview on BBC Radio 1 before the band's gig at Liverpool Guild Of Students on April 13. Granted, hearing him do anything other than bash brother Noel and their former band Oasis in an interview was refreshing, but the Rod Stewart fetish is something that we all could have done without. When the interviewer suggested that an unnamed member of Beady Eye's crew had asked that he choose something else to listen to before taking the stage, Gallagher replied: "Someone in our camp needs to get a sense of humor." No Liam, someone in your crew needs to get better taste in music and that someone is you. Following his successful attempt to embarrass himself, Gallagher said the band’s tour was going well and he was grateful that "no-one's been screaming for Oasis songs.” Ah, there it is. A thinly veiled dig at Oasis. No Liam Gallagher interview from here on out will be complete without it…………


- Need to park on a city street but don’t have change for the parking meter? There’s an app for that. Well, if you live in Lake Worth, Fla., then there’s an app for that. The city is removing some of its older parking meters and replacing them with a dozen new meters that are designed to be more user-friendly and can be paid using coins, credit cards or an app you can download to your smartphone. For a 25 cent fee, the app allows you to pay for parking from wherever you are, including the beach. Anyone who has ever returned to their car to find a ticket on the window because the meter expired two minutes prior to their arrival would welcome that idea, especially since the app can also send you a text message when your parking time is about to expire. Most visitors to Lake Worth are there to hit the beach, so anything that makes it less stressful is a good idea. The city will have to invest $73,000 to install the new meters, so the initial hit will be approximately $6,000 per meter. But if the meters are as conducive to a better visit to Lake Worth and tourists are able to avoid parking tickets because their meter shoots them a text when it’s about to expire, the investment could be worth it. Of course, dinging people for a $75 parking ticket is a very useful way to raise funds for the town as well, so one could easily argue that Lake Worth wins no matter what it does. Another way the city will save is by eliminating the electrical costs of operating meters, as the new models are fully solar-powered and eco-friendly. The new meters will be installed later this month at Lake Worth beach, the Bryant Park boat ramp and at a city-leased lot in downtown Lake Worth………


- Reading between the lines of a transcript from the arrest of two University of Florida basketball players and a team manager Sunday morning, it would seem to the cynic that the players receive special treatment from Gainesville police if and when they land in trouble with the law. Unfortunately for players Erik Murphy and Cody Larson and manager Joshua Adel, they weren’t arrested for breaking into cars and underage drinking in Gainesville. Police picked them up early Sunday morning outside Scarlett O'Hara's bar in St. Augustine, Fla. The three were placed in the back of a squad car and apparently don't know they're being recorded while there. Had the known, they probably would not have admitted to the crimes of which they are accused. Police placed the recorder in the back of the car and in the 34-minute recording, Murphy makes up several possible stories to tell the police. Adel shoots every last cover story down and snaps that he told the players to stop breaking into cars. However, the most interesting part of the tape is the three men talking about implied preferential treatment by Gainesville police agencies and different levels of punishment on the UF basketball team. "Bro, do you know how f*cked I am because of y'all dumb motherf*ckers," Adel tells Murphy in the police car. "I'm fired. Like, you'll have another shot. I'm done. I have no second shot, bro." Murphy didn’t agree, responding, "I don't have a second shot either.” Murphy and Larson are charged with felony burglary while Adel faces a charge of principal to burglary for acting as a lookout. While Adel and Murphy spoke, police were still looking for Larson, who called Adel six times while they were in the back of the police car. These future Mensa members put Larson on speaker phone, so his voice is recorded by police too. "They don't have anything on us. We're gonna get off," Murphy told Larson. Larson asked how the two were passing the phone back and forth and what guarantees they could give him that they would “get off.” After that, Murphy began expounding on his ideas for how to get out of trouble and what they could tell officers. "You know what we could say. Listen, listen, listen. When we went back in, the dude was being a d**che bag to us and was like, 'You gotta leave.' I was looking for my wallet," he told Adel. "Dude, come on man. ... That is a dumb G** d*** idea," Adel shot back. The duo later discusses the possibility of preferential treatment had the arrests occurred closer to Gainesville. "Have you ever gotten arrested before?" Murphy asked Adel, who said no. "Then we could get off." Adel wasn’t buying it, replying, "There's no getting off. We're not in f*cking Gainesville. They [St. Augustine police] don't give a f*ck," Adel countered. Head coach Billy Donovan has suspended all three from all basketball-related activities until the police investigation is complete, which shouldn’t take too long considering that all three accused men have already copped to their crimes…………

Badass bacteria, NFLers and boxing and time travel bans in China

- When in locker rooms, dudes tend to do a few things: play video games (if they’re a professional and have a gaming system in their plush locker room), shower, sit at their locker and play music, play cards…..or act like overgrown 10-year-olds arguing about who can beat up who. The last entry on that list goes on more frequently than you might imagine and you can be sure it’s a regular topic of conversation in the Baltimore Ravens locker room, as Ravens safety Tom Zbikowski had an extremely successful career as an amateur boxer and has taken the sport back up in earnest now that the NFL is mired in a lockout with no end in sight. Zbikowski is 3-0 as a professional boxer, beating two heavyweights this year, and his next scheduled fight is April 23 against cruiserweight Blake Warner. His teammates are supportive of his boxing career, but just don’t think any of them are in awe of what he can do in the ring, especially not Pro Bowl linebacker, all-around terrifying dude and former accessory to murder suspect Ray Lewis. Lewis, who is using some of his free time during the lockout to dabble in the media world, was quoted in a blog on the NFL Network saying of Zbikowski’s boxing career and what would happen if the two of them stepped into the ring against one another, "Zbikowski would lose. We’ve already talked about that. Zbikowski is a realist when it comes to the sport. The locker room talk is always that about who can beat who. He’ll be the first to tell you he’s not going to get in the ring with a 250-pound person. That’s crazy!" For the record, if Zbikowski is afraid of Lewis or nervous about stepping in the ring with Ray-Ray, he should feel secure in knowing that he’s not alone. Pretty much everyone on the face of the planet - outside of Chuck Norris, of course - would be petrified at the prospect of an enraged Ray Lewis charging at them with bad intentions and looking to cave their face in………


- Had you only arrived at this oppressive conclusion a few years ago, China, you could have saved yourselves from the oft-incomprehensible and frequently ridiculous final few seasons of Lost. That final season was intolerable because it liberally mixed in the idea of time travel and left viewers wondering what (and when) they were watching. That would not be an issue in today’s China, where the government has banned any depiction of time travel in TV shows and films because the plot element "disrespects history." The phrase “disrespects history” made be code for “gives our people the idea that there is a world view other than the narrow, restricted one we provide for them” in this case, but rest assured that the government has a ready rationale locked and loaded. In a prepared statement, China's State Administration for Radio, Film & Television said that fictional time-traveling in programs "casually make up myths, have monstrous and weird plots, use absurd tactics, and even promote feudalism, superstition, fatalism and reincarnation." Wow…..feudalism? Seriously? As in the dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord's land and give him homage, labor, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection? Interesting. Tell me more. "Producers and writers are treating serious history in a frivolous way, which should by no means be encouraged anymore," SARFT said. Glad you stamped that out before it really spread and became a major issue. You certainly don’t want common people thinking for themselves, using their imaginations and……oh yeah, watching science fiction shows that are obviously fictitious through and through. The issued guidelines restrict producers and writers from using time travel, along with any elements that contain "fantasy ... random compilations of mythical stories, bizarre plots, absurd techniques," if they want their programs to stay on the air. Because SARFT has the power to pull the plug on any show whenever it wants, the guidelines are more of a threat than a suggestion. Not so coincidentally, the ruling comes as the Communist party celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. "Follow the central spirit of the CPC to celebrate its 90th anniversary on television," SARFT said. "All levels should actively prepare to launch vivid reproductions of the Chinese revolution, the nation's construction and its reform and opening up." Once again, the omnipresent message of, “Do exactly as we say and there will be no problems.” Reassuring…………


- Albany, N.Y., are you still fighting over chickens? Sadly, the answer is yes. A battle that has dragged on for months refuses to die. Homeowners in Albany are still fighting for the right to keep their chickens on their property and the battle took another absurd step forward Thursday as the town’s common Council weighed in on the issue at a public meeting attended by dozens of people on both sides of the issues. As it has for months, the council remained divided on the issue. Most of the concerned citizens in attendance argued once again that raising chickens is a matter of sustainability and have proposed amendments to the ordinance so that it fully addresses the concerns over chickens on residential properties. That wasn’t enough to sway the full council, which ended 90 minutes of debate without rendering its decision. "The facts just back up the fact that chicken is something that's great for cities," said Michael Guidice, of the Albany Chicken Coalition. "It's happened in cities across the country and its time for Albany to change its laws." In response, council members voiced concerns regarding health, property values and more, but several members supported the chicken enthusiasts. "There hasn't been one person yet that hasn't spoken against this ordinance, other than a couple of the council members that have issues," said Dominick Calsolaro, a member of the council. If adopted, the proposed amendment would create a system similar to the one that currently exists in Buffalo, where a permit system exists. It would regulate how chickens are kept and require homeowners who want them to have their neighbors’ consent. "I want the common council to say they're putting a step forward on issues of sustainability that are brought from the grassroots," said Calsolaro. The process did take a step forward Thursday night when the council’s law committee voted to bring this Albany Chicken Ordinance to the full council for a vote, which is expected to happen at a meeting in the near future. In the interim, feel free to hit up the Albany Chicken Coalition's Facebook page for more information on these misfits…………


- Beware the bacteria in the meat you buy from the shelves of the deli at your local supermarket. That meat may well contain not just high levels of bacteria, but bacteria that has a better than even money chance of being resistant to multiple types of antibiotics. Researchers at the Arizona-based Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGRI) examined 136 meat samples from 26 grocery stores in Illinois, Florida, California, Arizona and Washington D.C. and found dangerous bacteria in many of the meats. More than half of the bacteria wad found to be resistant to multiple types of antibiotics. Researchers cautioned that while the meat commonly found in grocery stores is still safe to eat, consumers should take precautions especially in handling and cooking. Chief researcher Dr. Lance Price said high levels of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria were found in the meat. "Staph causes hundreds of thousands of infections in the United States every year," Price said. "It causes a whole slew of infections ranging from skin infections to really bad respiratory infections like pneumonia." A spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration confirmed the agency was aware of the TGRI findings, and similar studies of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in meats. This agency mouthpiece claimed the FDA is working with the U.S. Agriculture Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the causes and effects. "FDA has been monitoring the situation. The TGRI study points out that the public health relevance of the findings is unclear. FDA continues to work with CDC and USDA to better understand this issue," the FDA spokeswoman said. Primary focus among the numerous points of concern the study raises should go to how resistant the bacteria in the meat is becoming to antibiotics farmers use to treat the animals they slaughter. In the study, 96 percent of the meats with staph bacteria the bacteria were resistant to at least one type of antibiotic, and 52 percent were resistant to three or more types. "The bacteria is always going to be there. But the reason why they're resistant is directly related to antibiotic use in food animal production," Price said. "Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to public health we face today. This is one more reason to be very careful when you're handling raw meat and poultry in the kitchen. You can cook away these bacteria. But the problem is when you bring in that raw product, you almost inevitably contaminate your kitchen with these bacteria." The typical standbys of washing hands and counters before and after handling meat and keeping other foods away from uncooked meat remain the best ways to combat the bacteria problem, but Price believes it is incumbent upon regulatory agencies to address the problem from their end. "To put it all on the consumer is really directing blame at the wrong end of the food chain," Price said. Sounds good, but I think I’m gonna go make me a sammich……….


- Unintentional truth in tongue-in-cheek advertising is typically good for a laugh. Actor Paul Reiser should know, since he spent the past two weeks in sarcastic commericials designed to promote his new NBC sitcom The Paul Reiser Show, commercials in which he postulated that the only thing viewers would remember from the commercials was him mentioning that Will Ferrell would be appearing on this week’s new episode of NBC’s hit comedy The Office. The commercials were designed to promote both shows and to use self-efficacy to pimp Reiser’s new series. As it turned out, the commercials worked well……for The Office. Thanks to Ferrell’s presence for an extended guest spot, the show was up 15 percent week-to-week and helped the Peacock score the second-best overall ratings for the night even though Reiser’s show bombed abysmally. The supposed comedy was taking a beating from critics before a single episode aired, but viewers did nothing to contradict those views and overwhelmingly rejected Paul Reiser’s return to series comedy, making it NBC’s lowest-rated in-season comedy premiere ever. The show averaged a meager 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic with just 3.3 million viewers overall, putting it at the literal bottom of the ratings race, behind reruns CBS’ Rules of Engagement and the CW’s The Vampire Diaries. The obvious conclusions to draw from those numbers are a) the concept of having a star playing a thinly veiled version of himself – as in Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm with Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, respectively - doesn’t work for everyone and b) one needs to be both funny and better than a D-list star to pull the concept off. By comparion, the ratings for The Paul Reiser Show were down almost 50 percent compared to the January premiere of NBC’s Perfect Couples. The only silver lining for the network was the overall strength of its performance for the night, boosted by The Office and strong showings from Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock and Outsourced. For the night, NBC averaged a 2.1 rating with 4.6 million viewers followed by CBS (1.6, 8.5 million), and ABC (1.3, 4.4 million), with all three finishing behind Fox…………