- For anyone who has attended college for even one semester, the absurdity of some course offerings on a school’s class list is a well-known commodity. Whether it’s studying passing cultural phenomena or movies from the 1950s, plenty of courses offer a chance to waste time, acquire credit hours and yet provide no actual progress toward being successful after graduation. The University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC) understands this truth and is attempting to rectify the problem, one small (criminal) step at a time. About 200 UNCC students are enrolled in a specialized computer class teaching them all about hacking and protecting computer systems. The program, called HoneyNet, is a global effort that includes students from around the world and UNCC has a chapter of it. Students who complete the program typically go on to work for private companies and security agencies, although the basic concept of the class does lead one to wonder if some might choose to put their newly learned skills to, um, different use. Sure, knowing how to hack can theoretically teach a person how to defend against hackers and might land at job at, say, the Department of Homeland Security. And yes, someone who aspires to be a hacker probably isn't going to go the more official, educational route to get there. Still, program director Dr. Bill Chu and his charges just might be hatching future members of hacker super group Anonymous. For the program, students use a separate computer system from UNCC's system so the system is not compromised. They log in and wait for a hacking attempt. "Make it look like tempting targets for the bad guy to hit," Chu said. "And then your objective is to understand what your adversaries obtain." That experience teaches students what needs to be done to better protect companies’ computer systems, or how to hack them and get away with it…………
- The tradition continues for the Cincinnati Bengals. Long the reigning felony champions of the National Football League, the Bengals have seen their criminal activity wane a bit in the past few seasons but never die out entirely. In all fairness, maintaining their degree of felonious proficiency of a few years back would be impossible for any team. Linebacker Rey Maualuga is doing his best to keep the Bengals’ criminal continuity going and he has only been in Cincinnati for three seasons. With one strike already on his record during his time with the Bengals after pleading guilty to drunken driving after police in northern Kentucky said he hit a parking meter and two parked cars in January 2010, Maualuga (allegedly) added to his legacy on Feb. 5 when he (allegedly) punched an employee at a downtown Cincinnati bar in the face. The employee reported the incident to police and Maualuga was charged with misdemeanor assault. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge and his attorney filed a written plea Friday in Hamilton County Municipal Court. Neither Maualuga nor the Bengals have commented on the charge, which could result in a fine or suspension from the NFL. After he was suspended for two games for violating its conduct policy with his first offense. A second conviction would make him a repeat offender and allow commissioner Roger Goodell to hammer him with a lengthier suspension that would keep him out for the first few weeks of next season. Yes, punching bouncers or bartenders in the face is pretty sophomoric and some more sophisticated criminal activity would be nice, but keep the tradition alive is what really matters………….
- Bob Mugabe sounds paranoid. The Zimbabwean dictator has plenty of reasons to be paranoid, of course, given that most of his country wants him ousted from power. His focus at the moment is on political rivals he has accused of plotting a rather unusual coup to kick him out of office. Rather than go with the standard military coup, according to Mugabe his rivals are attempting to use constitutional reforms to get rid of him. However, Mugabe dismissively insisted his ZANU-PF party would reject any changes threatening its future. For a guy who turns 88 on Tuesday, he’s extremely spry and feisty, perhaps because he is hell-bent on remaining in power until he dies – assuming he allows death to make a decision on his future. His paranoia and egomania have been at new heights since he was forced into a coalition government following disputed elections in 2008. Staying in power for 32 years isn't easy and definitely requires trampling the rights and wishes of a lot of people and Mugabe is something of an expert in the practice. For his next power ploy, he is seeking to extend his rule in an early poll that he wants held this year, a year ahead of schedule. Oddly enough, not everyone is down with the idea. In fact, Mugabe alleged in an interview with the state-owned newspaper that lawyers hired to draft a new national charter and rivals from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had "erred" by including issues not included in a public survey. Certain clauses in the first draft of the charter could prevent him from running for another term and Bob Mugabe won’t stand for that, nor for any charter that includes granting rights to gays and lesbians. "The issue is that what is not the view of the people and not in the present constitution or has not been discussed, we will reject," he said. "Such a constitution would be thrown out by ZANU-PF. We would not accept that. They erred if it is like that." The “errors” Mugabe referred to are limits on presidential powers and terms in office, which would be restricted to 10 years. Even for the math-challenged, it would not be difficult to see that Mugabe would be barred from running under such a rule. In a shocking development, he has already been nominated as his ZANU-PF party's candidate and intends to run in an election he wants held in 2012. Whenever they are held, the elections will be preceded by the writing of a new constitution. Every last part of the process should be an all-out brawl with Mugabe involved…………
- An über-competitive field of returning films battled it out at the box office and the weekend victor was Denzel Washington and his new spy flick “Safe House,” which swapped spots with defending champion “The Vow” for a win in the second weekend of release for both movies. “Safe House” notched the win with $24 million, raising its two-week haul to $78.3 million and counting. “The Vow” was close behind at $23.6 million and has earned $85.6 million in its first two weeks. The top new film was “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” which rode to an opening weekend of $22 million to place third. It was a solid, if unspectacular performance for the latest installment of Nicolas Cage’s demonic motorcycle-centric franchise. “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” dropped one spot to fourth in its second weekend, keeping its status as the “top family film” (how “Ghost Rider” doesn’t qualify as a family film is a true mystery) with an $20 million effort and $54 million through two weeks. With all its promotional hype and Reese Witherspoon’s hotness, “This Means War” could do no better than fifth in its debut. With $17.6 million, “War,” opened in relatively quiet fashion. “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (in 3D)” finished sixth for the weekend on the strength of $7.9 million in earnings and has bilked $33.7 million from pasty, basement-dwelling dorks in its two weeks in theaters. “Chronicle” was next on the list with $7.5 million for seventh place, followed by “The Woman in Black” in eighth with $7.5 million. That was enough to outdo newcomer “The Secret World of Arrietty” as the animated film opened with $6.4 million. Liam Neeson’s ass-kicking ways led “The Grey” to the final spot in the top 10 with $3 million. Films falling out of the top 10 from last weekend were “The Descendants” (No. 11), “The Artist” (No. 12) and “Big Miracle” (No. 13)…………
- Goats: They’re not just the slow, crabby, disagreeable barnyard dwellers they are so often painted as. In fact, they may possess a trait previously believed to belong to humans, elephants, whales, bats and dolphins. According to researchers at Queen Mary University in London, goats also pick up accents as they get older and join social groups. Yes, goats have social groups and joining them apparently impacts the animals’ voices. Scientists previously believed only a select group of mammals had the ability to modify vocal sounds according to their surroundings, and that other species' "voices" were determined solely by genetics. To measure goats’ ability to adjust their voices, Dr. Elodie Briefer and her team recorded the bleats of four groups of pygmy goats at one week old, when goats from the same litter remain with one another, and again at five weeks old, when they form social groups with other goats of the same age. Even at the five-week mark, the study found genetically related kids produced similar calls. However, the vocal calls of goats raised in the same social groups also became more similar as the animals grew older. "This suggests that goat kids modify their calls according to their social surroundings, developing similar ‘accents,’” Briefer said. She admitted she did not know if the findings were applicable to other animals but suggested that if goats' calls can be affected by their environment maybe all mammals' calls could be too. So yes, the dream of hearing a goat with a Baa-ston accent lives……….
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Liqour at toy stores, Riot Watch! Tunisia and pets' effect on relationships
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Tunisia is the place and hundreds of angry Salafists were the instigators as they took to the streets of the capital city of Tunis to rage against their government. The Salafists (one letter away from being the Salsa Fists, oddly enough) are a group of ultraconservative Islamists who took to the streets after Friday prayers condemning comments by the president that they were an insignificant minority. Nothing shows a group’s significance quite like a small-scale riot forcing police to don their protective gear and use tear gas to disperse participants. Protesters carried signs calling for Islamic law and chanted God is the greatest, firing a shot across the bow of the country’s more moderate Islamic government. Tunisia’s political landscape has changed drastically since January 2011, when El Abidine Ben Ali’s 23-year rule came to an end and with it, his secular ideology and strict limits on political Islam. Since then, Islamic groups have flourished and the Salafists are a prime example of their prevalence. Even though a more moderate Islamist political party won elections in October, the government clearly should not overlook minorities like the Salafists. And if it takes marching on the capital with signs, chanting and clashing with police to get that point across, so be it…………
- Needless to say, there are plenty of people in this world who love their dogs….a little too much. Those who act as if their dog is a human being, feed it accordingly and pamper it like a real child are in plentiful supply, so it should come as no surprise that a new study has shown that a woman is more satisfied in her relationship when her partner feels the same about her pet as she does. In other words, if she’s obsessing over her Labradoodle, he needs to be doing the same and if she treats the dog with more detachment, he needs to follow suit. The same doesn’t hold true for male dog owners, according to study researcher Kristen Capuozzo, a doctoral candidate at the University of Houston. "Either they're unaware or they don't care," Capuozzo explained. "It doesn't matter to them." Capuozzo drew on her own life as a dog owner and decided to embark upon the study following conversations with a few pet-owning friends. One of her friends had just dumped a guy she was dating because he didn't like her dog. "I started thinking, 'I wonder if that actually does affect people's relationships?'" Capuozzo said. She and her team recruited 120 cohabitating heterosexual couples to answer online questionnaires about how close they felt to their pets and how happy they were with their lives and relationships. Each partner in a relationship filled out their own separate survey, with 75 percent of respondents being dog owners. There weren’t enough cat or other pet owners for an accurate sample of how animal type might play into the results. Women in the study reported being happier with their relationship when their partner reported similar levels of closeness to their pet. Men did not place a high level of importance on their partner’s feelings about their pet matching their own. "Females are much more in-tune with the harmony of the household," Capuozzo. said. "Is everybody getting along? Is there any kind of disagreement, any discord? If I'm super-attached to my pet and my husband isn't, then that might cause some disharmony: 'Why is that pet in my bed? Why are you spending so much money on that pet?'" Women also showed a high amount of jealousy if their partner was closer to their pet, a trend that did not hold for men……….
- What do rich, successful professional golfers spend their hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars on when they’ve built a nice home, have a sweet ride? Iconic cars from classic ’80s TV shows with racist symbols of hate emblazoned on the top, of course. At least PGA Tour golfer Bubba Watson does and he threw down $110,000 for the "General Lee," the car from the television series "The Dukes of Hazzard." Watson recently bought the car at an auction for $110,000 and rather than leave it in a garage somewhere, he had an idea. Based on his friendship with NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin, Watson teamed with the racing circuit for the idea of driving the car at Phoenix International Raceway next month on a parade lap before the March 4 Sprint Cup series race. NASCAR has scrapped those plans for a very simple reason: the car has a large Confederate flag on its roof, just as it did when it appeared on the show. "The image of the Confederate flag is not something that should play an official role in our sport as we continue to reach out to new fans and make NASCAR more inclusive," NASCAR spokesman David Higdon said in a statement Friday. Wait, the racing circuit that began with southern moonshiners trying to outrun the law, souping up their cars and sparking the idea to race against each other doesn’t want a bright orange 1969 Dodge Charger with the preeminent symbol of slavery on its roof driving around in front of tens of thousands of fans? Higdon explained the decision was made jointly by NASCAR, the racetrack, and track ownership group International Speedway Corp. Watson drove the car to the Phoenix Open golf tournament in anticipation of his big day on the track and was disappointed with the decision. "Sorry to say @nascar won't let me drive The General Lee at the @PhoenixRaceway !!! #dreamcrushed," he tweeted. The irony of the flag flying from many RVs and trailers of fans in the infield at NASCAR events is noteworthy, of course. Watson made is clear after his round Friday at the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles that the car only has the flag on it because that's the way it looked on the show. "The show was not racist. But I understand why people would get upset with the flag," Watson said. Even though he can’t drive the car at Phoenix, Waston plans to restore its interior and has no plans to sell it. He still plans to attend the race and have Hamlin caddy for him in the Par 3 tournament at the Masters. "Me and Denny have been friends for a couple of years," Watson said. "I'll still go to the race, even though I can't drive around the race track." Good to know that a $110,000 impulse buy won’t go to waste………
- The initial impulse when hearing that country-popster Miranda Lambert is beefing with hack R&B-er Chris Brown is to say, “Who cares?” Lambert is a marginal artist in a genre many music fans can't stand and know nothing about and Brown is a drastically overrated artist who succeeds more on his dance moves and looks than on his musical skills. But after last Sunday's Chris Brown Grammy lovefest, Lambert decided she’d heard enough praise for a confirmed woman-abuser who famously struck then-girlfriend Rihanna and destroyed her cell phone in a 2009 incident. Nearly three years have passed since the incident, Brown has released a new album since then and the world has moved on…..but not Lambert. Brown was featured on not one but two performances during the Grammy Awards and received a warm reception at the event. That didn’t sit well with Lambert, who ripped Brown both on Twitter and during a recent concert in Amherst, Mass. "Chris Brown twice? I don’t get it. He beat on a girl," she tweeted. "He needs to listen to Gunpowder and lead and be put back in his place." For those who don’t know the catalog of a B-list country singer, "Gunpowder and Lead" is Lambert’s song about a woman preparing to kill her abusive husband. She performed the song at her show Thursday in Amherst and tagged it with a message for Brown. Before starting the song, she held up a poster "Take Notes Chris Brown." She suggested the audience snap a picture with their camera phones and tweet it out. "Get a good picture now, put it on Twitter," she said. "I’ve been in a world of hurt with Chris Brown fans ... but see, I have to speak my mind because where I come from beating up on a woman is never okay.” During the song, she continued her rant by proclaiming, "So that's why my daddy taught me early on in life how to use a shotgun." Just think how compelling this story might be if either one of its principals were really talented………
- A new breed of toy store has arrived and Danvers, Mass. is its home. For too long, parents have been dragged to the toy store by their children and forced to listen to their whiny kids beg for overpriced toys they don’t need and will stop playing with in a week when something newer and shinier comes along. The Green Elephant toy store in Danvers has an opportunity to remedy this problem even if the solution happened upon them more so than the store’s owners coming up with the idea. The toy store is located where Natalie’s Restaurant was supposed to be and like any restaurant seeking to make a decent profit, Natalie’s applied for a liquor license. Town officials forwarded the application on to the state last spring and Gov. Deval Patrick approved it. However, plans restaurant had been abandoned by the time the license was granted and The Green Elephant had taken over the property at 13 Elm Street. The store has a soft opening in the summer and opened its doors for good in the fall. “Throughout the summer we worked on making it what it is and then September first we opened up the doors permanently,” said Jennifer LaMontagne, Green Elephant co-owner. She had no idea anyone had applied for a liquor license and was surprised when it arrived. “It was very shocking to us,” she said. “We heard about it yesterday, that was the first time we had heard about it. Technically the liquor license is only good for the restaurant whose name was on the application and won’t transfer to the toy store, but it should. “The town could not transfer that license to anyone else,” said Rep. Ted Speliotis of Danvers. Bad idea, Ted. Toy stores serving hard liquor to miserable parents toy shopping with their children is a brilliant idea whose time has come……….
- Needless to say, there are plenty of people in this world who love their dogs….a little too much. Those who act as if their dog is a human being, feed it accordingly and pamper it like a real child are in plentiful supply, so it should come as no surprise that a new study has shown that a woman is more satisfied in her relationship when her partner feels the same about her pet as she does. In other words, if she’s obsessing over her Labradoodle, he needs to be doing the same and if she treats the dog with more detachment, he needs to follow suit. The same doesn’t hold true for male dog owners, according to study researcher Kristen Capuozzo, a doctoral candidate at the University of Houston. "Either they're unaware or they don't care," Capuozzo explained. "It doesn't matter to them." Capuozzo drew on her own life as a dog owner and decided to embark upon the study following conversations with a few pet-owning friends. One of her friends had just dumped a guy she was dating because he didn't like her dog. "I started thinking, 'I wonder if that actually does affect people's relationships?'" Capuozzo said. She and her team recruited 120 cohabitating heterosexual couples to answer online questionnaires about how close they felt to their pets and how happy they were with their lives and relationships. Each partner in a relationship filled out their own separate survey, with 75 percent of respondents being dog owners. There weren’t enough cat or other pet owners for an accurate sample of how animal type might play into the results. Women in the study reported being happier with their relationship when their partner reported similar levels of closeness to their pet. Men did not place a high level of importance on their partner’s feelings about their pet matching their own. "Females are much more in-tune with the harmony of the household," Capuozzo. said. "Is everybody getting along? Is there any kind of disagreement, any discord? If I'm super-attached to my pet and my husband isn't, then that might cause some disharmony: 'Why is that pet in my bed? Why are you spending so much money on that pet?'" Women also showed a high amount of jealousy if their partner was closer to their pet, a trend that did not hold for men……….
- What do rich, successful professional golfers spend their hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars on when they’ve built a nice home, have a sweet ride? Iconic cars from classic ’80s TV shows with racist symbols of hate emblazoned on the top, of course. At least PGA Tour golfer Bubba Watson does and he threw down $110,000 for the "General Lee," the car from the television series "The Dukes of Hazzard." Watson recently bought the car at an auction for $110,000 and rather than leave it in a garage somewhere, he had an idea. Based on his friendship with NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin, Watson teamed with the racing circuit for the idea of driving the car at Phoenix International Raceway next month on a parade lap before the March 4 Sprint Cup series race. NASCAR has scrapped those plans for a very simple reason: the car has a large Confederate flag on its roof, just as it did when it appeared on the show. "The image of the Confederate flag is not something that should play an official role in our sport as we continue to reach out to new fans and make NASCAR more inclusive," NASCAR spokesman David Higdon said in a statement Friday. Wait, the racing circuit that began with southern moonshiners trying to outrun the law, souping up their cars and sparking the idea to race against each other doesn’t want a bright orange 1969 Dodge Charger with the preeminent symbol of slavery on its roof driving around in front of tens of thousands of fans? Higdon explained the decision was made jointly by NASCAR, the racetrack, and track ownership group International Speedway Corp. Watson drove the car to the Phoenix Open golf tournament in anticipation of his big day on the track and was disappointed with the decision. "Sorry to say @nascar won't let me drive The General Lee at the @PhoenixRaceway !!! #dreamcrushed," he tweeted. The irony of the flag flying from many RVs and trailers of fans in the infield at NASCAR events is noteworthy, of course. Watson made is clear after his round Friday at the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles that the car only has the flag on it because that's the way it looked on the show. "The show was not racist. But I understand why people would get upset with the flag," Watson said. Even though he can’t drive the car at Phoenix, Waston plans to restore its interior and has no plans to sell it. He still plans to attend the race and have Hamlin caddy for him in the Par 3 tournament at the Masters. "Me and Denny have been friends for a couple of years," Watson said. "I'll still go to the race, even though I can't drive around the race track." Good to know that a $110,000 impulse buy won’t go to waste………
- The initial impulse when hearing that country-popster Miranda Lambert is beefing with hack R&B-er Chris Brown is to say, “Who cares?” Lambert is a marginal artist in a genre many music fans can't stand and know nothing about and Brown is a drastically overrated artist who succeeds more on his dance moves and looks than on his musical skills. But after last Sunday's Chris Brown Grammy lovefest, Lambert decided she’d heard enough praise for a confirmed woman-abuser who famously struck then-girlfriend Rihanna and destroyed her cell phone in a 2009 incident. Nearly three years have passed since the incident, Brown has released a new album since then and the world has moved on…..but not Lambert. Brown was featured on not one but two performances during the Grammy Awards and received a warm reception at the event. That didn’t sit well with Lambert, who ripped Brown both on Twitter and during a recent concert in Amherst, Mass. "Chris Brown twice? I don’t get it. He beat on a girl," she tweeted. "He needs to listen to Gunpowder and lead and be put back in his place." For those who don’t know the catalog of a B-list country singer, "Gunpowder and Lead" is Lambert’s song about a woman preparing to kill her abusive husband. She performed the song at her show Thursday in Amherst and tagged it with a message for Brown. Before starting the song, she held up a poster "Take Notes Chris Brown." She suggested the audience snap a picture with their camera phones and tweet it out. "Get a good picture now, put it on Twitter," she said. "I’ve been in a world of hurt with Chris Brown fans ... but see, I have to speak my mind because where I come from beating up on a woman is never okay.” During the song, she continued her rant by proclaiming, "So that's why my daddy taught me early on in life how to use a shotgun." Just think how compelling this story might be if either one of its principals were really talented………
- A new breed of toy store has arrived and Danvers, Mass. is its home. For too long, parents have been dragged to the toy store by their children and forced to listen to their whiny kids beg for overpriced toys they don’t need and will stop playing with in a week when something newer and shinier comes along. The Green Elephant toy store in Danvers has an opportunity to remedy this problem even if the solution happened upon them more so than the store’s owners coming up with the idea. The toy store is located where Natalie’s Restaurant was supposed to be and like any restaurant seeking to make a decent profit, Natalie’s applied for a liquor license. Town officials forwarded the application on to the state last spring and Gov. Deval Patrick approved it. However, plans restaurant had been abandoned by the time the license was granted and The Green Elephant had taken over the property at 13 Elm Street. The store has a soft opening in the summer and opened its doors for good in the fall. “Throughout the summer we worked on making it what it is and then September first we opened up the doors permanently,” said Jennifer LaMontagne, Green Elephant co-owner. She had no idea anyone had applied for a liquor license and was surprised when it arrived. “It was very shocking to us,” she said. “We heard about it yesterday, that was the first time we had heard about it. Technically the liquor license is only good for the restaurant whose name was on the application and won’t transfer to the toy store, but it should. “The town could not transfer that license to anyone else,” said Rep. Ted Speliotis of Danvers. Bad idea, Ted. Toy stores serving hard liquor to miserable parents toy shopping with their children is a brilliant idea whose time has come……….
Friday, February 17, 2012
Belgian bikini hotties against Islam, "X-Factor Karaoke" judges needed and anti-government sentiments in Massachusetts
- Pre-fight press conferences in boxing are just about the most tired thing in sports. Two fighters who will be paid a massive sum of money strip down to their shorts and hop on the scale for a weigh-in, then stride up to the podium and say all manner of insulting and demeaning things about their opponent before guaranteeing a win. The capper for the whole charade is a nose-to-nose stare down while camera flashes go off all over the room and the “drama” builds. There is typically a fake skirmish in which members of each fighter’s camp have to step in and pull the two opponents apart. All of that happened as challenger Dereck Chisora and WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko held their presser for their upcoming fight in Munich, but there was a little something extra going on. "Everybody's tired of you and your brother," Chisora said to Klitschko. "There's no excitement in the ring. It's time for the new king. People want a new relief in boxing. Him and his brother have killed the sport I love." That comment was a reference to the dominance of Vitali and his younger brother, Wladimir, who holds the other significant belts in the heavyweight division. Despite the lack of sizzle in the division, both Klitschko brothers remain huge drawing cards in Germany, where their fights have become like rock concerts, complete with live music in the ring, laser shows and champagne. Sure enough, the 12,500-seat Olympic Hall is sold out for this fight. None of that impresses Chisora, a relatively unknown British fighter, who stepped up to face Klitschko with his grill partially concealed by a Union Jack handkerchief and hit the champion with an open-handed b*tch slap across the face. Klitschko did not retaliate and insisted he would take care of business in the ring. "I am going to hit back on Saturday," he declared. "He will get his beating." Even though the 40-year-old Klitschko is 12 years older than Chisora, few give the challenger any real chance at winning even though he has boldly predicted he will knock out the Ukrainian in the eighth round and claims he can "smell fear" in Klitschko's camp. That fear just might be the fear that Klitschko will knock Chisora out in the fourth round instead of the third and cut into the time he and his crew have for the post-fight party……….
- In the quest for world domination, one sometimes must break laws and step on toes. Google is right in the middle of such an effort and may have violated a previous privacy agreement with the Federal Trade Commission by tracking Web browser cookies in a way that circumvents default privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser. Cookies are information about Web pages recorded every time a user visits a site. They can be easily monitored by third parties and are stored on a person’s hard drive unless that person is tech-savvy enough to clean them out regularly. The Consumer Watchdog advocacy group took notice of Google’s possible violation and on Friday asked the FTC to investigate the case. Stanford grad student Jonathan Mayer brought the issue to light with a study he conducted detailing Google's method of getting around Safari's default blockage of third-party cookies. While some have tied the practice exclusively to the iPhone, the method ctually works across iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, laptop and desktop computers. The Wall Street Journal contacted Google to inquire about the technique and Google responded by disabling the code that had allowed it to install tracking cookies on Safari, even though the browser is designed to block such cookies by default. Believe it or not, Google claims the tracking was completely unintentional. Intentional or not, he advertising cookies spread without Google even realizing it. Part of the allure of being an Apple devotee is that unlike other browser providers, Apple enables cookie blocking by default. Every one of its devices ships with the privacy feature turned on. Google used its code to place the “+1” button tied to its Google+ service in advertisements. That provided a work-around for Google because one of the exceptions to Safari’s cookie blocking is interaction with an advertisement or form that allows that entity to set a cookie even if you aren’t technically visiting the site. Google capitalized on this loophole and exploited it, along with three advertising companies -Vibrant Media, Media Innovation Group, and PointRoll – accused of doing the same thing. Google Senior VP of Communications and Public Policy Rachel Whetstone maintained that that the advertising cookies did not collect any personal information and were an unintentional byproduct of Google adding new functionality for signed-in Google users on Safari. An update to Webkit that closes the loophole was created by two Google engineers and could be incorporated into future versions of Safari…………
- Even if you aren’t Belgian and have no stake in Belgian politics, how can anyone not root for Filip Dewinter, leader of the far-right Vlaams Belang party? Dewinter has launched a ‘Women Against Islamization’ campaign, but the reason to root for him is not his opposition to Islam. He could be fighting for an environmental cause, education reform or a complete overhaul of the Belgian health care system (A waffle a day keeps the doctor away!) and the situation would not change. Why? Because with Dewinter, it’s not the cause, it’s the means being used to further the cause. Like any politician, Dewinter knows what assets he posseses and he’s deploying them in the most effective fashion possible. Dewinter’s best asset, simply put, is his smoking-hot, 19-year-old daughter An-Sofie. An-Sofie Dewinter claimed that she had been threatened by Muslim groups and to aid her father’s crusade against them, she posed for an ad in which she sports a revealing dark blue bikini inside a burqa. Simply put, she’s drop-dead gorgeous and the image is bound to rally plenty of dudes to Filip Dewinter’s side of the issue. Sure, it is also likely to inflame tensions among Islamic groups and nationalists in racially-divided Belgium, but sometimes upsetting the status quo is necessary to do something important. The ad displays the words ‘Vrijheid of Islam?’ (Freedom or Islam?) written on a red bar and at the bottom, across the crotch, is written ‘Durven Kiezen!’ (You choose). The extremist Vlaams Belang party argued the poster is to convince women to take a stand against Islam and An-Sofie Dewinter made it clear she was not being used by some political machine. “I’ve suggested (the poster) myself, I have learned to live with it but I have had everything up to death threats made at me,” she said. ‘What is the greatest contrast with a niqab? Nude. The campaign fits in perfectly with how I feel about the whole issue . As women, we must choose: freedom or Islam.” What did her old man have to say about pimping his daughter out for eye candy, er, um, political gain? “Women are always the first victims of Islam. We want to make clear that they have a choice,” Filip Dewinter said. Any guy taking a look at that poster will probably agree with that…..or anything else Dewinter advocates………….
- Simon Cowell is on the prowl. He’s like the desperate cougar of the reality karaoke show scene, scouring the music world for someone to fill Paula Abdul's judging seat on “X-Factor Karaoke.” Abdul, who is leaving for more insane pastures, followed Cowell from “American Karaoke.” Now that she’s gone, Cowell needs to find another attention-loving, musical-integrity-free artist willing to bastardize any remaining credibility they have to sit in judgment of a bunch of hack karaoke-ers. His top target might just be the wardrobe-malfunctioning popster Abdul was once a video choreographer for, Janet Jackson. Jackson is reportedly in preliminary negotiations to join “X-Factor Karaoke” as a judge after last month’s show purge that saw Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones given the heave-ho. Abdul worked with Jackson for several videos in the 1980s and with the untimely passing of Whitney Houston, who was reportedly in the running for a judging spot on the show, Jackson has apparently vaulted to the forefront of Cowell’s ever-expanding wish list. Jackson was asked about it earlier this week during an interview on CNN. Plenty of other names have been thrown into the mix as well, with hack-tacular pop tart Katy Perry another possible option. Cowell himself said recently that Perry was high on his list as well. “I worked with Katy once. I think she would be fun because she is hard — in a good way — and she’s feisty,” he said. “She would be great.” As much of a joke as “X-Factor Karaoke” and other similar shows are, Cowell might be correct about Perry. Why have someone who has actual musical chops and credibility lower themselves to judge these aspiring karaoke-ers when Perry is already on their level? She has no musical credibility left to lose and who better to judge these knobs that someone they are just like? Sign her up, drop Jackson into the mix as well and let the freak show roll on…………
- Angry, anti-national government stances are not something the South has a monopoly on. Revolution in America has its roots in the Northeast, after all, so it makes sense that the town of Northampton, Mass. is taking a bold stance against a controversial federal law. At the city council’s meeting Thursday night, members voted to pass a resolution rejecting the National Defense Authorization Act. Northampton becomes the first city in New England to pass such a measure since President Obama signed the NDAA back in December. Two parts of the act precipitated a sh*t storm of controversy: Sections 1021 and 1022, which allow for the indefinite military detention of any person, including a U.S. citizen, without a trial. The law applies to any person "who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners," or anyone who commits a "belligerent act" against the United States or its allies. At Thursday night’s meeting, city leaders and advocacy groups united to demand a "restoration of due process and the right to trial." They have the always-welcome support of the kooks at the American Civil Liberties Union, who maintain that the NDAA flies in the face of Constitutional rights. “While President Obama issued a signing statement saying he had 'serious reservations' about the provisions, the statement only applies to how his administration would use it and would not affect how the law is interpreted by subsequent administrations," the ACLU wrote in an official statement. "The statute is particularly dangerous because it has no temporal or geographic limitations, and can be used by this and future presidents to militarily detain people captured far from any battlefield." Western Massachusetts ACLU director William Newman attended the meeting and spoke about the law afterward. "We have a country based on laws and process and fairness. This law is an absolute affront to those principles that make America a free nation,” he proclaimed. With all of the opposition to the law, the council unanimously approved a non-binding resolution to reject the NDAA law and called on federal leaders to do the same. The resolution wont override any existing laws and is more of a symbolic statement similar to the one the same council passed 10 years ago against the Patriot Act. Other cities followed suit and Northampton is hoping the same thing happens again………….
- In the quest for world domination, one sometimes must break laws and step on toes. Google is right in the middle of such an effort and may have violated a previous privacy agreement with the Federal Trade Commission by tracking Web browser cookies in a way that circumvents default privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser. Cookies are information about Web pages recorded every time a user visits a site. They can be easily monitored by third parties and are stored on a person’s hard drive unless that person is tech-savvy enough to clean them out regularly. The Consumer Watchdog advocacy group took notice of Google’s possible violation and on Friday asked the FTC to investigate the case. Stanford grad student Jonathan Mayer brought the issue to light with a study he conducted detailing Google's method of getting around Safari's default blockage of third-party cookies. While some have tied the practice exclusively to the iPhone, the method ctually works across iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, laptop and desktop computers. The Wall Street Journal contacted Google to inquire about the technique and Google responded by disabling the code that had allowed it to install tracking cookies on Safari, even though the browser is designed to block such cookies by default. Believe it or not, Google claims the tracking was completely unintentional. Intentional or not, he advertising cookies spread without Google even realizing it. Part of the allure of being an Apple devotee is that unlike other browser providers, Apple enables cookie blocking by default. Every one of its devices ships with the privacy feature turned on. Google used its code to place the “+1” button tied to its Google+ service in advertisements. That provided a work-around for Google because one of the exceptions to Safari’s cookie blocking is interaction with an advertisement or form that allows that entity to set a cookie even if you aren’t technically visiting the site. Google capitalized on this loophole and exploited it, along with three advertising companies -Vibrant Media, Media Innovation Group, and PointRoll – accused of doing the same thing. Google Senior VP of Communications and Public Policy Rachel Whetstone maintained that that the advertising cookies did not collect any personal information and were an unintentional byproduct of Google adding new functionality for signed-in Google users on Safari. An update to Webkit that closes the loophole was created by two Google engineers and could be incorporated into future versions of Safari…………
- Even if you aren’t Belgian and have no stake in Belgian politics, how can anyone not root for Filip Dewinter, leader of the far-right Vlaams Belang party? Dewinter has launched a ‘Women Against Islamization’ campaign, but the reason to root for him is not his opposition to Islam. He could be fighting for an environmental cause, education reform or a complete overhaul of the Belgian health care system (A waffle a day keeps the doctor away!) and the situation would not change. Why? Because with Dewinter, it’s not the cause, it’s the means being used to further the cause. Like any politician, Dewinter knows what assets he posseses and he’s deploying them in the most effective fashion possible. Dewinter’s best asset, simply put, is his smoking-hot, 19-year-old daughter An-Sofie. An-Sofie Dewinter claimed that she had been threatened by Muslim groups and to aid her father’s crusade against them, she posed for an ad in which she sports a revealing dark blue bikini inside a burqa. Simply put, she’s drop-dead gorgeous and the image is bound to rally plenty of dudes to Filip Dewinter’s side of the issue. Sure, it is also likely to inflame tensions among Islamic groups and nationalists in racially-divided Belgium, but sometimes upsetting the status quo is necessary to do something important. The ad displays the words ‘Vrijheid of Islam?’ (Freedom or Islam?) written on a red bar and at the bottom, across the crotch, is written ‘Durven Kiezen!’ (You choose). The extremist Vlaams Belang party argued the poster is to convince women to take a stand against Islam and An-Sofie Dewinter made it clear she was not being used by some political machine. “I’ve suggested (the poster) myself, I have learned to live with it but I have had everything up to death threats made at me,” she said. ‘What is the greatest contrast with a niqab? Nude. The campaign fits in perfectly with how I feel about the whole issue . As women, we must choose: freedom or Islam.” What did her old man have to say about pimping his daughter out for eye candy, er, um, political gain? “Women are always the first victims of Islam. We want to make clear that they have a choice,” Filip Dewinter said. Any guy taking a look at that poster will probably agree with that…..or anything else Dewinter advocates………….
- Simon Cowell is on the prowl. He’s like the desperate cougar of the reality karaoke show scene, scouring the music world for someone to fill Paula Abdul's judging seat on “X-Factor Karaoke.” Abdul, who is leaving for more insane pastures, followed Cowell from “American Karaoke.” Now that she’s gone, Cowell needs to find another attention-loving, musical-integrity-free artist willing to bastardize any remaining credibility they have to sit in judgment of a bunch of hack karaoke-ers. His top target might just be the wardrobe-malfunctioning popster Abdul was once a video choreographer for, Janet Jackson. Jackson is reportedly in preliminary negotiations to join “X-Factor Karaoke” as a judge after last month’s show purge that saw Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones given the heave-ho. Abdul worked with Jackson for several videos in the 1980s and with the untimely passing of Whitney Houston, who was reportedly in the running for a judging spot on the show, Jackson has apparently vaulted to the forefront of Cowell’s ever-expanding wish list. Jackson was asked about it earlier this week during an interview on CNN. Plenty of other names have been thrown into the mix as well, with hack-tacular pop tart Katy Perry another possible option. Cowell himself said recently that Perry was high on his list as well. “I worked with Katy once. I think she would be fun because she is hard — in a good way — and she’s feisty,” he said. “She would be great.” As much of a joke as “X-Factor Karaoke” and other similar shows are, Cowell might be correct about Perry. Why have someone who has actual musical chops and credibility lower themselves to judge these aspiring karaoke-ers when Perry is already on their level? She has no musical credibility left to lose and who better to judge these knobs that someone they are just like? Sign her up, drop Jackson into the mix as well and let the freak show roll on…………
- Angry, anti-national government stances are not something the South has a monopoly on. Revolution in America has its roots in the Northeast, after all, so it makes sense that the town of Northampton, Mass. is taking a bold stance against a controversial federal law. At the city council’s meeting Thursday night, members voted to pass a resolution rejecting the National Defense Authorization Act. Northampton becomes the first city in New England to pass such a measure since President Obama signed the NDAA back in December. Two parts of the act precipitated a sh*t storm of controversy: Sections 1021 and 1022, which allow for the indefinite military detention of any person, including a U.S. citizen, without a trial. The law applies to any person "who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners," or anyone who commits a "belligerent act" against the United States or its allies. At Thursday night’s meeting, city leaders and advocacy groups united to demand a "restoration of due process and the right to trial." They have the always-welcome support of the kooks at the American Civil Liberties Union, who maintain that the NDAA flies in the face of Constitutional rights. “While President Obama issued a signing statement saying he had 'serious reservations' about the provisions, the statement only applies to how his administration would use it and would not affect how the law is interpreted by subsequent administrations," the ACLU wrote in an official statement. "The statute is particularly dangerous because it has no temporal or geographic limitations, and can be used by this and future presidents to militarily detain people captured far from any battlefield." Western Massachusetts ACLU director William Newman attended the meeting and spoke about the law afterward. "We have a country based on laws and process and fairness. This law is an absolute affront to those principles that make America a free nation,” he proclaimed. With all of the opposition to the law, the council unanimously approved a non-binding resolution to reject the NDAA law and called on federal leaders to do the same. The resolution wont override any existing laws and is more of a symbolic statement similar to the one the same council passed 10 years ago against the Patriot Act. Other cities followed suit and Northampton is hoping the same thing happens again………….
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Stem cells heal hearts, boxing brawl fallout and simpleton ass hats in Iowa
- Those who support stem cell use and research will love this news. Those who oppose these endeavors will hate it. Either way, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have discovered that stem cells grown from patients' own cardiac tissue can heal damage once thought to be permanent after a heart attack. Eduardo Marban, the study's lead author, led a study that suggests approach could be used to fend off heart failure. His team conducted a trial of 25 heart attack patients in which 17 participants received the stem cell treatment and showed a 50 percent reduction in cardiac scar tissue compared with no improvement for the eight who received standard care. All 25 participants had recently suffered a heart attack and the goal of the trial was repairing the damage might help stave off failure. Promising as they may be, the results represent only the first of three sets of clinical trials generally needed for regulatory approval. "The findings in this paper are encouraging," said Deepak Srivastava, the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco. “There's a dire need for new therapies for people with heart failure. It's still the No. 1 cause of death in men and women." Marban theorized that new tissue regenerated by the stem cells can strengthen the heart even though patients getting the stem cells showed no more improvement in heart function than those who didn't get the experimental therapy. The stem cells were implanted within five weeks after patients suffering heart attacks and doctors removed heart tissue, about the size of half a raisin, using a minimally invasive procedure that involved a thin needle threaded through the veins. The stem cells were cultivated from the tissue and doctors reinserted between 12.5 million and 25 million cells using a second minimally invasive procedure. While the primary aim was to examine the safety of the procedure, the decrease in scar tissue is likely to spawn a larger study that focuses on broader clinical outcomes, researchers said in the paper. "If we can regenerate the whole heart, then the patient would be completely normal," Marban said.……..
- Boy, you start one in-ring brawl in which you physically threaten a referee and your opponent is assaulted by fans with folding chairs and bottles to the point he hides under the ring and next thing you know, one of boxing’s 75 alphabet governing organizations is banning you from participating in any fight it is associated with. After Argentinean fighter Luis Lazarte sparked a brawl following a defeat against Johnriel Casimero of the Philippines at a fight in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Casimero stopped Lazarte in the 10th round and neither Lazarte nor the come crowd took the outcome well. Lazarte threatened the referee and helped spark an ugly riot that led to security officials hiding Casimero under the ring until the chaos abated. With the win, Casimero claimed the IBF's vacant interim 108-pound world title. He did so despite repeated head-butts, punches below the belt, shots behind the head and two bites from Lazarte. Following one of the bites in the sixth round, referee Eddie Claudio admonished Lazarte and deducted a point, at which point the fighter responded by threatening the referee. Lazarte removed his mouthpiece and can clearly be heard in video from the bout saying to Claudio, "Do you want to make it out of here alive?" For some odd reason, IBF president Daryl Peoples had a problem with those words and wrote to Osvaldo Bisbal, the president of the Argentina Boxing Federation, to inform him of the decision. "There is one measure that we are taking into our own hands and that we will enforce," Peoples wrote. "As a result of Luis Lazarte threatening the life of referee Eddie Claudio while receiving a points deduction in the sixth round, Lazarte is banned from being involved in any capacity in any IBF-related fight that takes place in Argentina or around the world.” The ban may be a moot point, as Lazarte is 40 and said after the fight he is considering retirement. It’s probably a wise choice for known cheater who is too old and too slow for his dirty tricks to compensate for his declining in-ring skills…………
- To quote iconic “Seinfeld” slacker George Costanza, “Was that wrong?” Guards at a now-incinerated Honduran prison who stand accused of leaving prisoners to die trapped inside their cells and even firing on others when they tried to escape. More than 350 prisoners died in the fire and as charred bodies were pulled out of the prison complex on Thursday, relatives of victims and survivors of the blaze pointed to guards' negligence and a failed justice system as the reason for the disaster, which killed many inmates who had not even been convicted. The fire ripped through Comayagua National Penitentiary on Tuesday night, turning the facility into a massive inferno filled with terrified prisoners who perished screaming to be let out of their cells. Rosendo Sanchez, a convicted murderer serving a 10-year sentence – yes, a 10-year sentence for a convicted murderer – said he awoke as the fire started and was able to escape. He claimed he saw guards firing at other inmates trying to escape. "It was hell here, seeing your friends, people you have known well burn alive," he said. Reports from the scene alleged that the fire brigade did not come into the prison for more than half an hour. The country's director of police intelligence, Elder Madrid, explained that the fire broke out in block six during a fight over a mattress between two inmates, one of whom set it on fire. Why one didn’t just shank the other and solve the problem the old-school way remains unclear. Once the fire started, the prison’s 850 inmates fought again – this time to escape. Some managed to force their way to safety through the tin roofs of the prison, but 359 of the prisoners never found their way out, according to the attorney general's office. Estimates by prison workers placed the number of prisoners who had been tried and convicted at about half the facility’s population. Within hours, prisoners’ families began looking for someone to blame and accused everyone from prison guards and officials to the local fire brigade. Brigade chief Jaime Omar Silva in turn blamed prison authorities for not allowing his crews into the building soon enough. "These people in the prisons have their protocols, and while these are going on, they don't let anybody in," told the El Tiempo newspaper. Could that protocol be designed to efficiently execute prisoners in the most murderous country on the planet, where prisons are vastly overcrowded? Sure, one-third of the prison was destroyed by the flames, but isn't that a cheap price to pay for ridding the world of 359 possibly guilty individuals………….
- If Iowa wants to stop being the backwards-thinking hayseeds it has long been in the view of Americans living in any state that’s not Iowa, its political leaders should probably have a nice, long chat with the Bettendorf Park Board. This board of small-town simpletons is considering a policy that would address the tattoos, piercings and attire that a guest is allowed to display at city facilities. The idea stems from a complaint lodged last summer by a patron at Splash Landing water park who whined about another patron’s tattoo because it was inappropriate in the view of the offended patron. A staff member asked the guest to cover their tattoo but the guest decided to leave instead. Bettendorf Parks and Recreation director Steve Grimes believes an official policy is necessary to deal with situations like this one because not every person with a tattoo is going to be so meek as to leave when there is an issue. Grimes said the policy would address issues of “decency” of tattoos that are allowed to be displayed. “We certainly want to respect people’s right to expression and at the same time, we want to respect a families’ right to have a family environment. We have to find a balance,” he said. Umm, not really, ass hat. Unless someone has a tattoo of people engaged in graphic sexual activity or messages of rampant profanity (neither of which people tend to have inked on their body), then no one should even give their body art a second thought, let alone complain about it. Allow the tat haters to pick up and leave if they have a problem with it because the second the parks department puts any rule in place prohibiting any type of tattoo, they will be subjected to so many lawsuits the entire Iowa legal system will buckle under the weight. Anyone who would even consider a complaint about someone else’s tattoo at a water park is the problem, not part of the solution. Step your game up and update your antiquated views on the world, Iowa…………
- British indie rockers The Futureheads are like most artists in that they are (or at least should be) always searching for a way to be better and to improve their music. Whether that means refining their skills or altering their sound, every artist should be looking to better themselves. That betterment should theoretically show up on their next album. The Futureheads have definitely mastered the “different” part of the concept, but it’s difficult not to wonder how good their new approach will be. The band announced Thursday that they will release a new album titled “Rant” that will feature no instruments at all. The album, which will be released on April 2 on the band's own Nul Records, will be comprised of a cappella versions of the band's tracks and a series of cover versions. The track listing for the album is: “Meantime,” “Meet Me Halfway,” “Robot,” “Beeswing,” “Thursday,” “Sumer Is Icumen In,” “The Keeper,” “The No. 1 Song in Heaven,” “The Old Dun Cow,” “Acapella” and “Man Ray.” The a cappella version of “Robot” is available for listening online and yes, those who read the track listing and know anything about absurdly awful, unlistenable pop music realized this project includes covers of Hack Eyed Peas' “Meet Me Halfway” and Kelis' “Acapella.” Why The Futureheads chose not to cover Kelis’ true lyrical classic of a track, “Milkshake,” is not known. Fans who hate the concept and don’t embrace the albums just don’t get the vision, according to lead singer Barry Hyde. "A Futureheads fan who doesn’t get 'Rant' is not a Futureheads fan. This version of The Futureheads has always been there. We’re bringing to the fore what we’re really about: a unification, a gang mentality, which is in the balance between our voices and our personalities. And on 'Rant' we're pushing that right into your face," Hyde said. Right on, Bar, except for the part where you bastardize your musical credibility by covering hacks like the HEP and Kelis…………
- Boy, you start one in-ring brawl in which you physically threaten a referee and your opponent is assaulted by fans with folding chairs and bottles to the point he hides under the ring and next thing you know, one of boxing’s 75 alphabet governing organizations is banning you from participating in any fight it is associated with. After Argentinean fighter Luis Lazarte sparked a brawl following a defeat against Johnriel Casimero of the Philippines at a fight in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Casimero stopped Lazarte in the 10th round and neither Lazarte nor the come crowd took the outcome well. Lazarte threatened the referee and helped spark an ugly riot that led to security officials hiding Casimero under the ring until the chaos abated. With the win, Casimero claimed the IBF's vacant interim 108-pound world title. He did so despite repeated head-butts, punches below the belt, shots behind the head and two bites from Lazarte. Following one of the bites in the sixth round, referee Eddie Claudio admonished Lazarte and deducted a point, at which point the fighter responded by threatening the referee. Lazarte removed his mouthpiece and can clearly be heard in video from the bout saying to Claudio, "Do you want to make it out of here alive?" For some odd reason, IBF president Daryl Peoples had a problem with those words and wrote to Osvaldo Bisbal, the president of the Argentina Boxing Federation, to inform him of the decision. "There is one measure that we are taking into our own hands and that we will enforce," Peoples wrote. "As a result of Luis Lazarte threatening the life of referee Eddie Claudio while receiving a points deduction in the sixth round, Lazarte is banned from being involved in any capacity in any IBF-related fight that takes place in Argentina or around the world.” The ban may be a moot point, as Lazarte is 40 and said after the fight he is considering retirement. It’s probably a wise choice for known cheater who is too old and too slow for his dirty tricks to compensate for his declining in-ring skills…………
- To quote iconic “Seinfeld” slacker George Costanza, “Was that wrong?” Guards at a now-incinerated Honduran prison who stand accused of leaving prisoners to die trapped inside their cells and even firing on others when they tried to escape. More than 350 prisoners died in the fire and as charred bodies were pulled out of the prison complex on Thursday, relatives of victims and survivors of the blaze pointed to guards' negligence and a failed justice system as the reason for the disaster, which killed many inmates who had not even been convicted. The fire ripped through Comayagua National Penitentiary on Tuesday night, turning the facility into a massive inferno filled with terrified prisoners who perished screaming to be let out of their cells. Rosendo Sanchez, a convicted murderer serving a 10-year sentence – yes, a 10-year sentence for a convicted murderer – said he awoke as the fire started and was able to escape. He claimed he saw guards firing at other inmates trying to escape. "It was hell here, seeing your friends, people you have known well burn alive," he said. Reports from the scene alleged that the fire brigade did not come into the prison for more than half an hour. The country's director of police intelligence, Elder Madrid, explained that the fire broke out in block six during a fight over a mattress between two inmates, one of whom set it on fire. Why one didn’t just shank the other and solve the problem the old-school way remains unclear. Once the fire started, the prison’s 850 inmates fought again – this time to escape. Some managed to force their way to safety through the tin roofs of the prison, but 359 of the prisoners never found their way out, according to the attorney general's office. Estimates by prison workers placed the number of prisoners who had been tried and convicted at about half the facility’s population. Within hours, prisoners’ families began looking for someone to blame and accused everyone from prison guards and officials to the local fire brigade. Brigade chief Jaime Omar Silva in turn blamed prison authorities for not allowing his crews into the building soon enough. "These people in the prisons have their protocols, and while these are going on, they don't let anybody in," told the El Tiempo newspaper. Could that protocol be designed to efficiently execute prisoners in the most murderous country on the planet, where prisons are vastly overcrowded? Sure, one-third of the prison was destroyed by the flames, but isn't that a cheap price to pay for ridding the world of 359 possibly guilty individuals………….
- If Iowa wants to stop being the backwards-thinking hayseeds it has long been in the view of Americans living in any state that’s not Iowa, its political leaders should probably have a nice, long chat with the Bettendorf Park Board. This board of small-town simpletons is considering a policy that would address the tattoos, piercings and attire that a guest is allowed to display at city facilities. The idea stems from a complaint lodged last summer by a patron at Splash Landing water park who whined about another patron’s tattoo because it was inappropriate in the view of the offended patron. A staff member asked the guest to cover their tattoo but the guest decided to leave instead. Bettendorf Parks and Recreation director Steve Grimes believes an official policy is necessary to deal with situations like this one because not every person with a tattoo is going to be so meek as to leave when there is an issue. Grimes said the policy would address issues of “decency” of tattoos that are allowed to be displayed. “We certainly want to respect people’s right to expression and at the same time, we want to respect a families’ right to have a family environment. We have to find a balance,” he said. Umm, not really, ass hat. Unless someone has a tattoo of people engaged in graphic sexual activity or messages of rampant profanity (neither of which people tend to have inked on their body), then no one should even give their body art a second thought, let alone complain about it. Allow the tat haters to pick up and leave if they have a problem with it because the second the parks department puts any rule in place prohibiting any type of tattoo, they will be subjected to so many lawsuits the entire Iowa legal system will buckle under the weight. Anyone who would even consider a complaint about someone else’s tattoo at a water park is the problem, not part of the solution. Step your game up and update your antiquated views on the world, Iowa…………
- British indie rockers The Futureheads are like most artists in that they are (or at least should be) always searching for a way to be better and to improve their music. Whether that means refining their skills or altering their sound, every artist should be looking to better themselves. That betterment should theoretically show up on their next album. The Futureheads have definitely mastered the “different” part of the concept, but it’s difficult not to wonder how good their new approach will be. The band announced Thursday that they will release a new album titled “Rant” that will feature no instruments at all. The album, which will be released on April 2 on the band's own Nul Records, will be comprised of a cappella versions of the band's tracks and a series of cover versions. The track listing for the album is: “Meantime,” “Meet Me Halfway,” “Robot,” “Beeswing,” “Thursday,” “Sumer Is Icumen In,” “The Keeper,” “The No. 1 Song in Heaven,” “The Old Dun Cow,” “Acapella” and “Man Ray.” The a cappella version of “Robot” is available for listening online and yes, those who read the track listing and know anything about absurdly awful, unlistenable pop music realized this project includes covers of Hack Eyed Peas' “Meet Me Halfway” and Kelis' “Acapella.” Why The Futureheads chose not to cover Kelis’ true lyrical classic of a track, “Milkshake,” is not known. Fans who hate the concept and don’t embrace the albums just don’t get the vision, according to lead singer Barry Hyde. "A Futureheads fan who doesn’t get 'Rant' is not a Futureheads fan. This version of The Futureheads has always been there. We’re bringing to the fore what we’re really about: a unification, a gang mentality, which is in the balance between our voices and our personalities. And on 'Rant' we're pushing that right into your face," Hyde said. Right on, Bar, except for the part where you bastardize your musical credibility by covering hacks like the HEP and Kelis…………
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Unwanted Albert, West Bank candle future and the end of "House"
- All travelers know to be über-paranoid when in an airport and monitor their belongings as if a gang of desperate thieves needing to steal to save their life are trailing them at every moment, right? Obviously not, or else the story of a bonafide scumbag who passed through a security checkpoint in Terminal 3 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Jan. 18 and swiped a very valuable possession from a careless fellow traveler would not have happened. In security footage from the airport, a woman wearing a black and white shirt passes through the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint and deposits a stainless steel and gold Rolex valued at $6,500 in a bin to be run through the X-ray machine. A man walks through the metal detector right behind her and when the woman passes through and collects her belongings on the other side, she forgets her watch, amazingly. The man bends down, ties his shoes and stands up to collect his own possessions. Noticing the Rolex in a bin ahead of his, he looks around and makes sure no one is paying attention to him. Then, this opportunistic a-hole pockets the watch and simply walks away as if he hasn’t done anything wrong. "This is no mistake; it was deliberate," said airport security officer Lt. Brian Montgomery. Not only does the thief snag the watch, but he has the audacity to walk over to a bench, set his stuff down right next to the woman in the black and white shirt, and then put her watch in his backpack. "He again looks around to make sure no one is looking, and then he proceeds to walk by two uniformed deputy sheriffs, and when he sees them, he looks down to the ground. But then when he looks up, he looks directly into the surveillance cameras," Montgomery said. Unfortunately, no one stopped him at the time and the man continued to his gate. Some have questioned whether the action really is a crime because the woman forgot the watch and walked away, but police believe if they can find the suspect they can make a charge of grand theft stick. The watch’s owner, Gloria de Regalado, lives in El Salvador and has a home on Key Biscayne. She and airport security are offering a reward up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest. Recovering the watch would be nice, but if it is not found at least she has a reminder to carry her brain with her and pay attention when traveling in the future…………
- Space is filled with a lot of crap. Because it’s out of sight, mankind simply forgets about all the crap it shoots into space and doesn’t keep a close watch on. After more than half a century of sending objects into space, the Earth is surrounded by a ton of junk. Pieces of defunct satellites drift around, spent rocket stages float about and various types of debris fly to and fro at almost 18,000 mph. Each piece of space junk is a potential hazard to working satellites or astronauts and no one is bothering to clean it up – until now. The Swiss are stepping in to solve the planet’s space junk problem. Thanks to scientists at the Swiss space centre at EPFL, the federal institute for technology in Lausanne, the idea for sending a "janitor satellite" into orbit to sweep up debris and permanently remove it from orbit has been proposed. At a cost of nearly $10 million, the satellite known as CleanSpace One could launch within five years, according to EPFL. NASA keeps a log of more than 16,000 pieces of orbiting junk that are larger than 4 in. in diameter, but researchers estimate there could be more than 500,000 measuring between 1-4 in. in diameter and hundreds of millions of smaller pieces. Dismissing these tiny pieces of space trash would be a mistake because even one small fragment of debris could severely damage (or even destroy) satellites or other spacecraft that collide with them, creating even more dangerous debris. The International Space Station routinely alters its orbit to avoid collisions with large bits of junk. Another shining example of what wayward space junk can do occurred in February 2009, when the US satellite Iridium-33 exploded after striking Russia's long-abandoned Cosmos-2251 satellite. "It has become essential to be aware of the existence of this debris and the risks that are run by its proliferation," said Claude Nicollier, an astronaut and EPFL professor. CleanSpace One would clean up debris by matching its trajectory to that of its target using an EPFL-designed ultra-compact motor. Upon reaching its target, it would grab the junk with a gripping claw and pull it in. Doing so at speeds of up to 18,000 mph will be difficult and the exercise could take on an added degree of complexity if the junk is rotating. Once it completes its cleanup mission CleanSpace One will return to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere, along with its collected space junk. Its first mission will be to bring down one of two abandoned Swiss satellites: the Swisscube picosatellite, which was launched into orbit in 2009, or the TIsat, launched in July 2010. The satellite’s creators see it as something of a cottage industry for them. "We want to offer and sell a whole family of readymade systems, designed as sustainably as possible, that are able to de-orbit several different kinds of satellites," said Volker Gass, the Swiss space centre's director, in a statement. "Space agencies are increasingly finding it necessary to take into consideration and prepare for the elimination of the stuff they're sending into space. We want to be the pioneers in this area." Sounds like another solid idea from the Swiss……….
- Wait a second……was the decision to end Fox’s hit drama “House” after eight seasons really inevitable? Did the producers and cast have a chance to save their show or was the end unavoidable? According to sources close to the situation, both cast and show runners wanted to bring the drama back for another year even though it was widely assumed that everyone was ready to move on. Star Hugh Laurie had plenty of reasons to keep the series going, as he makes $700,000 an episode. However, those sources claimed Laurie was willing to take a pay cut in order to return. Oh, and apparently the network wasn't get rid of “House” either. It averages a 3.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 9.1 million viewers and network executives were reportedly in agreement with executive producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs about keeping it around. Even Universal TV, the studio behind House, wanted to keep the show alive on account of the millions of dollars it adds to NBCUniversal's bottom line. "Universal was the lead horse, the one driving a renewal," a source said. "It had the most desire and ambition to do another season." Why then is the show dead? Because Fox, which currently spends $5 million an episode for “House,” sought a cut in the show's license fee before considering a renewal. Universal was willing to take back some costs, just not enough to satisfy Fox and have its 22-episode order accepted. Fox was only willing to air a final 13-episode season. Universal was overly aggressive, insiders claimed, and Fix backed off. Fans of the show held out hope because last May, negotiations between Fox and Universal weren't resolved until just days before the network announced its fall schedule. Even though those talks led to the departure of Lisa Edelstein (Cuddy) and other changes to the show, at least it was still around (as “Chuck” fans nod sadly). Shore began pushing Fox and Universal since last fall to give him a firm answer on whether the show would continue and didn’t receive much help. "We have just been avoiding it, to be honest with you,” Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said in January. On Feb. 8, the cast and crew were informed that the show would end. Peter Jacobson (Dr. Taub) was in New York watching a high school basketball game when he received the call. "I seriously cannot say enough how much I will miss being around the whole cast and crew," he said. "A truly lovely, hardworking and generous group of people who are perpetually fun to be around." When they released a statement announcing the show's end, Shore, Jacobs and Laurie claimed the show was ending so Dr. House could go out on his terms….which is partially true. Universal TV maintains the rights to shop House elsewhere, but that’s the same pipe dream fans of every canceled show hang onto until reality sets in…………
- The party just keeps getting crazier and more fun in Gaza! Already known as the go-to place for hijinks, shenanigans, tomfoolery and all-around craziness rarely seen outside of Mardi Gras and Carnival, the zaniest place on Earth – as long as car bombs, suicide bombers, violent killings in the street and everyday instability for each and every resident are considered fun – is about to get even wackier because Palestinian officials have shut down the Gaza Strip's lone power plant, causing blackouts in the impoverished territory. The government blamed fuel shortages for the shutdown, which makes sense because Gaza's energy authority has until recently relied on fuel smuggled from Egypt to circumvent an Israeli blockade and shortages in Egypt have left significantly less fuel to smuggle. Gaza's power plant director Walid Sayel also blamed part of the crisis on infighting with the rival Palestinian government in the West Bank. Some officials have called on the West Bank government to renew money transfers to the territory, which might allow it to purchase fuel from the Egyptian government and bypass the black market. As the shortage continues, hospitals are running on emergency generators and hospital administrators say they are rapidly running out of fuel for those generators. In a possibly related note, now is a wonderful time to invest in candles for anyone who lives in the West Bank…………
- Albert Haynesworth has fallen farther, faster than just about any “elite” NFL player in recent memory without suffering a major injury or spending time inside a jail cell. The cantankerous defensive tackle developed into one of the league's top defensive linemen during seven seasons with the Tennessee Titans, but began a precipitous decline after signing a seven-year, $100 million deal with the Redskins in 2009. He has registered just 6.5 sacks in the past three seasons, none in 13 games with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Patriots released him and he headed south to Tampa after just six games in New England. The Buccaneers took him on because they were desperate for help on their defensive line after Gerald McCoy suffered a season-ending injury and several other defensive linemen were banged up. Bringing in a player who was once the most dominant defensive force in the NFL (a mere four years ago) seemed like a solid gamble, but Haynesworth seemed unmotivated and indifferent in Tampa and played in seven games, starting six, recording just 25 tackles. It was clear he had no long-term future in Tampa Bay with McCoy due back and young linemen Brian Price and Roy Miller in place. Haynesworth’s cause was hurt by the $7.2 million cap hit the Buccaneers would have taken in 2012 by keeping him. Releasing his bloated carcass and lackluster production will give the team approximately $67 million in cap space and leaves Haynesworth in a bad place. He must now rededicate himself enough to convince a new team to take a chance on a 350-pound sloth who famously failed multiple conditioning tests with the Redskins to the point he wasn’t allowed on the field at training camp. He and his agent must persuade a general manager that he really does care and wants to play football, which wont be easy because his actions over the past three years have shown the exact opposite…………
- Space is filled with a lot of crap. Because it’s out of sight, mankind simply forgets about all the crap it shoots into space and doesn’t keep a close watch on. After more than half a century of sending objects into space, the Earth is surrounded by a ton of junk. Pieces of defunct satellites drift around, spent rocket stages float about and various types of debris fly to and fro at almost 18,000 mph. Each piece of space junk is a potential hazard to working satellites or astronauts and no one is bothering to clean it up – until now. The Swiss are stepping in to solve the planet’s space junk problem. Thanks to scientists at the Swiss space centre at EPFL, the federal institute for technology in Lausanne, the idea for sending a "janitor satellite" into orbit to sweep up debris and permanently remove it from orbit has been proposed. At a cost of nearly $10 million, the satellite known as CleanSpace One could launch within five years, according to EPFL. NASA keeps a log of more than 16,000 pieces of orbiting junk that are larger than 4 in. in diameter, but researchers estimate there could be more than 500,000 measuring between 1-4 in. in diameter and hundreds of millions of smaller pieces. Dismissing these tiny pieces of space trash would be a mistake because even one small fragment of debris could severely damage (or even destroy) satellites or other spacecraft that collide with them, creating even more dangerous debris. The International Space Station routinely alters its orbit to avoid collisions with large bits of junk. Another shining example of what wayward space junk can do occurred in February 2009, when the US satellite Iridium-33 exploded after striking Russia's long-abandoned Cosmos-2251 satellite. "It has become essential to be aware of the existence of this debris and the risks that are run by its proliferation," said Claude Nicollier, an astronaut and EPFL professor. CleanSpace One would clean up debris by matching its trajectory to that of its target using an EPFL-designed ultra-compact motor. Upon reaching its target, it would grab the junk with a gripping claw and pull it in. Doing so at speeds of up to 18,000 mph will be difficult and the exercise could take on an added degree of complexity if the junk is rotating. Once it completes its cleanup mission CleanSpace One will return to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere, along with its collected space junk. Its first mission will be to bring down one of two abandoned Swiss satellites: the Swisscube picosatellite, which was launched into orbit in 2009, or the TIsat, launched in July 2010. The satellite’s creators see it as something of a cottage industry for them. "We want to offer and sell a whole family of readymade systems, designed as sustainably as possible, that are able to de-orbit several different kinds of satellites," said Volker Gass, the Swiss space centre's director, in a statement. "Space agencies are increasingly finding it necessary to take into consideration and prepare for the elimination of the stuff they're sending into space. We want to be the pioneers in this area." Sounds like another solid idea from the Swiss……….
- Wait a second……was the decision to end Fox’s hit drama “House” after eight seasons really inevitable? Did the producers and cast have a chance to save their show or was the end unavoidable? According to sources close to the situation, both cast and show runners wanted to bring the drama back for another year even though it was widely assumed that everyone was ready to move on. Star Hugh Laurie had plenty of reasons to keep the series going, as he makes $700,000 an episode. However, those sources claimed Laurie was willing to take a pay cut in order to return. Oh, and apparently the network wasn't get rid of “House” either. It averages a 3.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 9.1 million viewers and network executives were reportedly in agreement with executive producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs about keeping it around. Even Universal TV, the studio behind House, wanted to keep the show alive on account of the millions of dollars it adds to NBCUniversal's bottom line. "Universal was the lead horse, the one driving a renewal," a source said. "It had the most desire and ambition to do another season." Why then is the show dead? Because Fox, which currently spends $5 million an episode for “House,” sought a cut in the show's license fee before considering a renewal. Universal was willing to take back some costs, just not enough to satisfy Fox and have its 22-episode order accepted. Fox was only willing to air a final 13-episode season. Universal was overly aggressive, insiders claimed, and Fix backed off. Fans of the show held out hope because last May, negotiations between Fox and Universal weren't resolved until just days before the network announced its fall schedule. Even though those talks led to the departure of Lisa Edelstein (Cuddy) and other changes to the show, at least it was still around (as “Chuck” fans nod sadly). Shore began pushing Fox and Universal since last fall to give him a firm answer on whether the show would continue and didn’t receive much help. "We have just been avoiding it, to be honest with you,” Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said in January. On Feb. 8, the cast and crew were informed that the show would end. Peter Jacobson (Dr. Taub) was in New York watching a high school basketball game when he received the call. "I seriously cannot say enough how much I will miss being around the whole cast and crew," he said. "A truly lovely, hardworking and generous group of people who are perpetually fun to be around." When they released a statement announcing the show's end, Shore, Jacobs and Laurie claimed the show was ending so Dr. House could go out on his terms….which is partially true. Universal TV maintains the rights to shop House elsewhere, but that’s the same pipe dream fans of every canceled show hang onto until reality sets in…………
- The party just keeps getting crazier and more fun in Gaza! Already known as the go-to place for hijinks, shenanigans, tomfoolery and all-around craziness rarely seen outside of Mardi Gras and Carnival, the zaniest place on Earth – as long as car bombs, suicide bombers, violent killings in the street and everyday instability for each and every resident are considered fun – is about to get even wackier because Palestinian officials have shut down the Gaza Strip's lone power plant, causing blackouts in the impoverished territory. The government blamed fuel shortages for the shutdown, which makes sense because Gaza's energy authority has until recently relied on fuel smuggled from Egypt to circumvent an Israeli blockade and shortages in Egypt have left significantly less fuel to smuggle. Gaza's power plant director Walid Sayel also blamed part of the crisis on infighting with the rival Palestinian government in the West Bank. Some officials have called on the West Bank government to renew money transfers to the territory, which might allow it to purchase fuel from the Egyptian government and bypass the black market. As the shortage continues, hospitals are running on emergency generators and hospital administrators say they are rapidly running out of fuel for those generators. In a possibly related note, now is a wonderful time to invest in candles for anyone who lives in the West Bank…………
- Albert Haynesworth has fallen farther, faster than just about any “elite” NFL player in recent memory without suffering a major injury or spending time inside a jail cell. The cantankerous defensive tackle developed into one of the league's top defensive linemen during seven seasons with the Tennessee Titans, but began a precipitous decline after signing a seven-year, $100 million deal with the Redskins in 2009. He has registered just 6.5 sacks in the past three seasons, none in 13 games with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Patriots released him and he headed south to Tampa after just six games in New England. The Buccaneers took him on because they were desperate for help on their defensive line after Gerald McCoy suffered a season-ending injury and several other defensive linemen were banged up. Bringing in a player who was once the most dominant defensive force in the NFL (a mere four years ago) seemed like a solid gamble, but Haynesworth seemed unmotivated and indifferent in Tampa and played in seven games, starting six, recording just 25 tackles. It was clear he had no long-term future in Tampa Bay with McCoy due back and young linemen Brian Price and Roy Miller in place. Haynesworth’s cause was hurt by the $7.2 million cap hit the Buccaneers would have taken in 2012 by keeping him. Releasing his bloated carcass and lackluster production will give the team approximately $67 million in cap space and leaves Haynesworth in a bad place. He must now rededicate himself enough to convince a new team to take a chance on a 350-pound sloth who famously failed multiple conditioning tests with the Redskins to the point he wasn’t allowed on the field at training camp. He and his agent must persuade a general manager that he really does care and wants to play football, which wont be easy because his actions over the past three years have shown the exact opposite…………
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
PTC kooks strike again, crank-enhancing pills as PEDs and the race fo kick off WWIII
- The ass hats at the Parents Television Council are at it again. Yes, the kooks who object to everything on the airwaves more risqué than June, Ward and the Beav with their classic 1950s Americana values. Past targets have included MTV’s teen drama “Skins” and various storylines in the fake world of professional wrestling, but the PTC has never been angrier over offensive entertainment options than they are about MTV’s new scripted series “I Just Want My Pants Back.” The series is a relationship comedy with a cast of young adults who act….well, like young adults. They drop profanities regularly, have random hookups and engage in sexually-charged conversations. That doesn’t sit well with the conserva-Nazis of the PTC, who are attacking the show’s sponsors because they believe MTV is targeting 12-year-old children with the show’s adult-appropriate content. “Once again MTV is taking HBO-style content and marketing it to a Nickelodeon-age audience,” says PTC president Tim Winter. “The network programming executive is on the record saying 12-year-olds are in his crosshairs. And the TV-14 content rating is intentionally misleading for parents and for advertisers. The Parents Television Council will not sit silently and allow this affront to go unchallenged.” Wow, look at you, PTC. The fearless guardians of all that is good, right and pure in the world. Of course, leaning on the network and show directly won't work because neither gives a damn what a bunch of far-right wing prudes think about their work. Attacking advertisers is better because as anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of the broadcasting world knows, advertising is how television (and radio) makes money. No one is disputing that MTV’s target demo is 12 to 34, but so far nothing Winter said really carries a lot of weight. To get his point across, he really needs a verbal kill shot. So whatcha got, PTC Chief Ass Hat? : “All of MTV’s advertisers, including Dr. Pepper, T-Mobile and Toyota, will be asked if foursomes and a woman who tells her sexual partner to ‘stick a finger in my a**’ are an accurate reflection of their hard-earned corporate brands,” Winter proclaimed. Oooh, that sounds fierce. No way the PTC doesn’t win this battle by TKO……….
- This is a first. Athletes are frequently suspended from their sport for using performance-enhancing drugs that give them an unfair advantage over their peers. Synthetic testosterone, drugs that mask the use of other PEDs, human-growth hormone…the list goes on and on. Mostly, athletes are looking for anything to give them an edge, whether it’s recovering more quickly from injuries or being able to push themselves harder and longer in the weight room than everyone else. Former University of Memphis star Roburt Sallie is not like those other PED-loving players. Sallie, who never played in the NBA but spent last year playing in Europe, was cut by his Spanish team a couple months ago. Being released is common for Americans playing in Europe, as most leagues have limits on the number of foreigners a team can have on its roster and players bounce around quite a bit. But the reason Sallie was released is something that must be heard several times to fully believe. See, Sallie sought an edge from a little bottle of pills and he wanted to take something that would make him more dominant……in the bedroom. That’s right, after playing 20 minutes and scoring five points in a Nov. 18 game, Sallie took a drug test and failed. Asked if he was taking any medications, he admitted to taking pills for crank enhancement. These drugs have numerous names and are pushed incessantly on television and the Internet, with the most common brand that is publicly known being Extenze. In short, the pills promise to add length to a dude’s manhood. Unfortunately for Sallie, not only was he revealed to be lacking in size below the belt, but such drugs can sometimes result in testing positive for excessive testosterone. He has since clarified that he did not take Extenze, but male enhancement pill called “Black Ant,” as if that makes any difference at all. Two lessons can be taken from Sallie’s saga: 1) Cheating is still cheating no matter what you’re trying to accomplish and 2) Size may matter, just not enough to jeopardize your livelihood…………
- Uh-oh. The race for instigating World War III has a new entrant and although they are a bit of an underdog, the Israelis should not be taken lightly. Not blessed with a legacy of insanity and instability like North Korea and Iran, Israel is nonetheless right in the middle of international drama now that Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch vowed Wednesday that his country will "settle the score" with the perpetrators of a bombing attempt in Bangkok. Aharonovitch referred to an incident in which an Iranian man carrying grenades blew his own legs off in the blast, wounding four civilians in what appeared to be an attempted terrorist attack backed by Iran. Israel was already on edge following a pair of attacks on Israeli diplomatic targets in India and Georgia and when Aharonovitch went on Israel Radio Tuesday, he did not directly accuse Iran but hinted that Israel would seek revenge. "We know who carried out the terror attacks, we know who sent them, and Israel will settle the score with them," he said. Aharonovitch also claimed security forces found more explosives in the house where the Iranian man was staying in Bangkok but had not identified possible targets. Bangkok Police Gen. Pansiri Prapawat said a passport found at the scene of one of the blasts in Bangkok indicated the assailant was Saeid Moradi from Iran. Tehran did not respond to requests for comment on the incident, although despot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime did deny responsibility for the attacks in Georgia and India. Oddly enough, both attacks seemed eerily similar to the recent "sticky bomb" killings of Iranian nuclear scientists that Tehran has blamed on Israel. Israeli officials have gone to the truly dubious extreme of suspecting the attacks are merely the first in a wave of assaults on Israeli targets worldwide by Iran and its Lebanese counterpart Hezbollah. Mix in existing tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and well, this could escalate quickly. The bizarre nature of the Thailand incident is difficult to fully comprehend, as an unusual sequence of explosions appeared to begin when a stash of explosives detonated by accident in a Bangkok house occupied by three Iranians. Those explosions blew the roof off the building and two men fled, leaving behind a wounded man identified as Saeid Moradi. “He tried to wave down a taxi, but he was covered in blood, and the driver refused to take him," Pansiri said. Moradi didn’t handle rejection well and threw an explosive that hit the taxi and damaged it and began running. When police responded to the scene and pursued him, Moradi chucked a grenade at them but it somehow ricocheted back and blew off his legs, Pansiri said. It definitely sounds like Iran (allegedly) could use some more competent terrorists………
- Details of the iPad 3 are scarce as Apple goes into typical lockdown mode with a highly anticipated new gadget is nearing release. But one detail about the latest version of the company’s best-selling tablet has leaked out and it is a big one. According to multiple sources, the iPad 3 will support the LTE 4G networks of both AT&T and Verizon Wireless, meaning the nation's two largest network operators will sell the device. iPad 3 users will be able to surf the Internet at 4G speeds while also having support for the older 3G networks. AT&T and Verizon Wireless are the only network operators that sell the iPad 2, with one version for AT&T's HSPA+ network and a separate version for Verizon's CDMA-EVDO network. Ideally, Apple would create a single version to cover all networks, similar to the iPhone 4S. Tablets have the inner space to accommodate the necessary radios to provide support for LTE 4G for both AT&T and Verizon, so that should not be an issue. Sprint and T-Mobile could be candidates for their own version of the iPad 3, as an iPad built to work on Verizon's 3G network could technically also work on Sprint's 3G network. At present, Verizon's LTE network is live in 200 markets around the United States and has a coverage area of about 190 million people. The company’s 4G footprint is modest buy growing and Verizon expects to have much of the country covered by 2013. With download speeds between 5 Mbps and 12 Mbps and uploads of 2 Mbps to 5 Mbps, 4G LTE is a major upgrade….when it works correctly. AT&T’s LTE network is much smaller and is operational in just a dozen markets, covering 90 million users with speeds similar to those offered by Verizon. Price points for the iPad 3 have not been announced, but Apple has consistently charged $130 more for cellular-equipped iPads when compared to the Wi-Fi-only models. Those who want to be at the front of the tech wave will still buy in, but whether non-tech dorks will do the same is the bigger question………
- Hero or unhinged, overreactive idiot: Tommy Jordan is one or the other, depending on your point of view. Jordan, a Stanly County, N.C. resident who went viral after posting a video in which he responded to his teenage daughter complaining on Facebook about her chores by busting out his sidearm and blasting her computer, has earned his 15 minutes from the video. In the video, titled "Facebook Parenting for the troubled teen," he pulls out his gun and terminates the laptop’s existence after asking two rather pointed questions. “Pay you for chores?” Jordan said in the video. “Are you out of your mind?” Yes, he had the gall to ask his daughter if she was out of her mind before committing technological manslaughter on a dated laptop. The video received more than 21 million views in five days and also inspired visits from the local police and child protective services. Jordan, a former Marine, wrote on his Facebook page that Child Protective Services officials came to his home on Saturday and interviewed he and his daughter after viewers of the video called with concerns about his actions and mental stability. Police officers also stopped by although if Jordan’s Facebook account of their meeting is to be believed, they didn’t exactly drop the hammer on him. “The police by the way said ‘Kudos, sir,’ ” Jordan wrote. "I actually had a "thank you" from an entire detectives squad. And another police officer is using it in a positive manner in his presentation for the school system. How’s about those apples? Didn’t expect THAT when you called the cops did you?” Umm, someone sounds angry……still. Jordan doesn’t seem like the sort of person you want to antagonize, does he? The Stanly County Sheriff's Office said there are no laws against what Jordan did, so they will not be investigating the matter. Jordan maintained that he did not regret making the video but would make a few small tweaks if he could do it again. "Not be smoking a cigarette ... not have used the word "ass" in my comment directed at my daughter ... would have worn my Silverbelly Stetson, not my Tilley hat if I'd known that image was going to follow me the rest of my life and I'd probably have cleaned my boots," he cracked. Very funny, you gun-toting psycho. Nothing like some quality parental overreaction to a simple matter. The one positive to come from the saga is an ice cream shop in the town of Stanley offering Jordan's daughter a gig………….
- This is a first. Athletes are frequently suspended from their sport for using performance-enhancing drugs that give them an unfair advantage over their peers. Synthetic testosterone, drugs that mask the use of other PEDs, human-growth hormone…the list goes on and on. Mostly, athletes are looking for anything to give them an edge, whether it’s recovering more quickly from injuries or being able to push themselves harder and longer in the weight room than everyone else. Former University of Memphis star Roburt Sallie is not like those other PED-loving players. Sallie, who never played in the NBA but spent last year playing in Europe, was cut by his Spanish team a couple months ago. Being released is common for Americans playing in Europe, as most leagues have limits on the number of foreigners a team can have on its roster and players bounce around quite a bit. But the reason Sallie was released is something that must be heard several times to fully believe. See, Sallie sought an edge from a little bottle of pills and he wanted to take something that would make him more dominant……in the bedroom. That’s right, after playing 20 minutes and scoring five points in a Nov. 18 game, Sallie took a drug test and failed. Asked if he was taking any medications, he admitted to taking pills for crank enhancement. These drugs have numerous names and are pushed incessantly on television and the Internet, with the most common brand that is publicly known being Extenze. In short, the pills promise to add length to a dude’s manhood. Unfortunately for Sallie, not only was he revealed to be lacking in size below the belt, but such drugs can sometimes result in testing positive for excessive testosterone. He has since clarified that he did not take Extenze, but male enhancement pill called “Black Ant,” as if that makes any difference at all. Two lessons can be taken from Sallie’s saga: 1) Cheating is still cheating no matter what you’re trying to accomplish and 2) Size may matter, just not enough to jeopardize your livelihood…………
- Uh-oh. The race for instigating World War III has a new entrant and although they are a bit of an underdog, the Israelis should not be taken lightly. Not blessed with a legacy of insanity and instability like North Korea and Iran, Israel is nonetheless right in the middle of international drama now that Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch vowed Wednesday that his country will "settle the score" with the perpetrators of a bombing attempt in Bangkok. Aharonovitch referred to an incident in which an Iranian man carrying grenades blew his own legs off in the blast, wounding four civilians in what appeared to be an attempted terrorist attack backed by Iran. Israel was already on edge following a pair of attacks on Israeli diplomatic targets in India and Georgia and when Aharonovitch went on Israel Radio Tuesday, he did not directly accuse Iran but hinted that Israel would seek revenge. "We know who carried out the terror attacks, we know who sent them, and Israel will settle the score with them," he said. Aharonovitch also claimed security forces found more explosives in the house where the Iranian man was staying in Bangkok but had not identified possible targets. Bangkok Police Gen. Pansiri Prapawat said a passport found at the scene of one of the blasts in Bangkok indicated the assailant was Saeid Moradi from Iran. Tehran did not respond to requests for comment on the incident, although despot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime did deny responsibility for the attacks in Georgia and India. Oddly enough, both attacks seemed eerily similar to the recent "sticky bomb" killings of Iranian nuclear scientists that Tehran has blamed on Israel. Israeli officials have gone to the truly dubious extreme of suspecting the attacks are merely the first in a wave of assaults on Israeli targets worldwide by Iran and its Lebanese counterpart Hezbollah. Mix in existing tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and well, this could escalate quickly. The bizarre nature of the Thailand incident is difficult to fully comprehend, as an unusual sequence of explosions appeared to begin when a stash of explosives detonated by accident in a Bangkok house occupied by three Iranians. Those explosions blew the roof off the building and two men fled, leaving behind a wounded man identified as Saeid Moradi. “He tried to wave down a taxi, but he was covered in blood, and the driver refused to take him," Pansiri said. Moradi didn’t handle rejection well and threw an explosive that hit the taxi and damaged it and began running. When police responded to the scene and pursued him, Moradi chucked a grenade at them but it somehow ricocheted back and blew off his legs, Pansiri said. It definitely sounds like Iran (allegedly) could use some more competent terrorists………
- Details of the iPad 3 are scarce as Apple goes into typical lockdown mode with a highly anticipated new gadget is nearing release. But one detail about the latest version of the company’s best-selling tablet has leaked out and it is a big one. According to multiple sources, the iPad 3 will support the LTE 4G networks of both AT&T and Verizon Wireless, meaning the nation's two largest network operators will sell the device. iPad 3 users will be able to surf the Internet at 4G speeds while also having support for the older 3G networks. AT&T and Verizon Wireless are the only network operators that sell the iPad 2, with one version for AT&T's HSPA+ network and a separate version for Verizon's CDMA-EVDO network. Ideally, Apple would create a single version to cover all networks, similar to the iPhone 4S. Tablets have the inner space to accommodate the necessary radios to provide support for LTE 4G for both AT&T and Verizon, so that should not be an issue. Sprint and T-Mobile could be candidates for their own version of the iPad 3, as an iPad built to work on Verizon's 3G network could technically also work on Sprint's 3G network. At present, Verizon's LTE network is live in 200 markets around the United States and has a coverage area of about 190 million people. The company’s 4G footprint is modest buy growing and Verizon expects to have much of the country covered by 2013. With download speeds between 5 Mbps and 12 Mbps and uploads of 2 Mbps to 5 Mbps, 4G LTE is a major upgrade….when it works correctly. AT&T’s LTE network is much smaller and is operational in just a dozen markets, covering 90 million users with speeds similar to those offered by Verizon. Price points for the iPad 3 have not been announced, but Apple has consistently charged $130 more for cellular-equipped iPads when compared to the Wi-Fi-only models. Those who want to be at the front of the tech wave will still buy in, but whether non-tech dorks will do the same is the bigger question………
- Hero or unhinged, overreactive idiot: Tommy Jordan is one or the other, depending on your point of view. Jordan, a Stanly County, N.C. resident who went viral after posting a video in which he responded to his teenage daughter complaining on Facebook about her chores by busting out his sidearm and blasting her computer, has earned his 15 minutes from the video. In the video, titled "Facebook Parenting for the troubled teen," he pulls out his gun and terminates the laptop’s existence after asking two rather pointed questions. “Pay you for chores?” Jordan said in the video. “Are you out of your mind?” Yes, he had the gall to ask his daughter if she was out of her mind before committing technological manslaughter on a dated laptop. The video received more than 21 million views in five days and also inspired visits from the local police and child protective services. Jordan, a former Marine, wrote on his Facebook page that Child Protective Services officials came to his home on Saturday and interviewed he and his daughter after viewers of the video called with concerns about his actions and mental stability. Police officers also stopped by although if Jordan’s Facebook account of their meeting is to be believed, they didn’t exactly drop the hammer on him. “The police by the way said ‘Kudos, sir,’ ” Jordan wrote. "I actually had a "thank you" from an entire detectives squad. And another police officer is using it in a positive manner in his presentation for the school system. How’s about those apples? Didn’t expect THAT when you called the cops did you?” Umm, someone sounds angry……still. Jordan doesn’t seem like the sort of person you want to antagonize, does he? The Stanly County Sheriff's Office said there are no laws against what Jordan did, so they will not be investigating the matter. Jordan maintained that he did not regret making the video but would make a few small tweaks if he could do it again. "Not be smoking a cigarette ... not have used the word "ass" in my comment directed at my daughter ... would have worn my Silverbelly Stetson, not my Tilley hat if I'd known that image was going to follow me the rest of my life and I'd probably have cleaned my boots," he cracked. Very funny, you gun-toting psycho. Nothing like some quality parental overreaction to a simple matter. The one positive to come from the saga is an ice cream shop in the town of Stanley offering Jordan's daughter a gig………….
Monday, February 13, 2012
Soccer racism rises again, bin Laden's hidden love for the West and plastic surgery as an economic indicator
- Soccer is awesome. Well, as long as you consider a running drama involving racism and bigotry to be awesome, anyhow. The ongoing drama involving Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and Manchester United has underscored an already simmering hatred between the two clubs even if no rivalry really needs an infusion of racism to make it interesting. The two teams faced off Saturday in a Premier League game at Old Trafford, their first meeting since Suarez was banned for eight matches for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra in October. Suarez, a national player for Uruguay, probably should have viewed the game as a chance to move past his ugly remarks and mend some fences, but instead he heaped more gas on the fire by refusing to shake hands with Evra on Saturday. Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, who initially defended Suarez during a post-match television interview, and the club's American owners both took plenty of heat for backing their player and Suarez finally caved and apologized for his actions - again. He acknowledged that "made a mistake and I regret what happened." Hmm, ya think? "I have spoken with the manager since the game at Old Trafford and I realize I got things wrong," Suarez said in a statement released on Liverpool's official website. "I've not only let him down, but also the club and what it stands for and I'm sorry." Dalglish also apologized, saying he was wrong to take a confrontational tone with reporters and insist critics were "bang out of order" for blaming Suarez for the contentious nature of a tense game between England's two most successful clubs. The tension included a clash between players from both teams reportedly outside the dressing room at halftime -- requiring police intervention -- and Evra stirring up home fans with exuberant post-match celebrations, in front of Suarez. Both Dalglish and Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre said Suarez misled club officials about his intention to shake hands with Evra prior to the game. "I was shocked to hear that the player had not shaken hands having been told earlier in the week that he would," Dalglish said. In a his own statement, Ayre said the team is "extremely disappointed" and made it "absolutely clear" Suarez's behavior "was not acceptable." United issued a statement accepting both apologies and expressing a desire to move on from the drama, which began Oct. 15 when Suarez repeatedly racially abused Evra during a league match at Anfield. Along with several other racially charged incidents in the Premier League this season, Suarez’s actions have many critics clamoring for league and national soccer officials to do more to address the issue……….
- Of the many economic indicators so-called experts use to measure how well or how poorly a given nation’s economy is doing, it’s safe to say that none is more reliable than how many people are getting their face carved, their tummy tucked or their love handles liposuction-ed off. Sure, one could look at whether people are buying homes or new cars, maybe monitor whether families are taking vacations or not, but are any of those categories really going to tell you anything of worth about a nation’s economic fate? No, but looking at how many people are getting Botoxed certainly will and if the statistics from 2011 are any indication, the Obama administration may actually be in the process of turning the U.S. around. According to an annual report from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Americans got about 1.6 million cosmetic surgeries in 2011, the second year of increase after a big drop in 2009. The group’s president has a simple explanation about the link between more plastic surgery procedures and the improved economy. “Consumer confidence was up, auto sales rose 10 percent, so it is not surprising that we would also see increased demand for plastic surgery procedures," the group's president, Malcolm Z. Roth, said in a statement. The most popular procedures and surgeries in 2011 were: Botox injections (5.7 million), soft tissue fillers (1.9 million), chemical peels (1.1 million), laser hair removal (1.1 million), microdermabrasion (900,000), breast augmentation (307,000), nose reshaping (244,000), liposuction (205,000), eyelid surgery (196,000) and
facelift (119,000). Despite those numbers, Americans got fewer nose jobs, facelifts and other big-ticket surgeries than in 2005, when they peaked at 2.1 million. In other words, the economy is rebounding but it is happening gradually. Maybe the (relative) success of past-their-prime stars like Madonna and Joan Rivers getting carved and looking younger is encouraging the trend. Either that or America is even more superficial than it has ever been………
- Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi has a message and she knows how to get it out. No, not by doing interviews or holding press conferences because most Americans view her with equal parts disbelief, indifference and outright contempt in the same way they view every politician. But Pelosi wants people to listen to her message about the so-called DISCLOSE Act, which House Democrats are reintroducing Thursday. The DISCLOSE act would, among other things, require more transparency by the super PACs that have attracted so much criticism and scrutiny during the Republican presidential campaign in terms of who their donors are. Knowing no one will listen to her blabbering into a microphone, Pelosi decided to engage someone with a voice American will actually listen to: Comedy Central host and comedian Stephen Colbert. Colbert, who formed a very real super PAC in order to make a mockery of the super PAC process and lax laws governing them, raised more than a million dollars with his super PAC, temporarily “turned over” control of the group to fellow Comedy Central host Jon Stewart in order to stage a faux run for president during the South Carolina primaries and retook control of the super PAC afterward. Pelosi released a video late last week tongue-in-cheekedly attacking Colbert for his super PAC, with black-and-white pictures of the TV funny man scrolling by while Pelosi narrates, “(He) used to be my friend. I even signed the poor baby's cast." She then criticizes Colbert for being "out of control" for taking money from special interests for his super PAC. Pointing to Colbert satirizing a picture of Pelosi on a couch with Newt Gingrich, Pelosi says Colbert "even used his super PAC to attack my friend Newt Gingrich." Her hope, according to Democrats, is that Colbert will take the bait and respond to the video on his show, “The Colbert Report.” Colbert and Congress have a history together, as in September 2010 a House committee called Colbert to testify on the plight of immigrant workers and he aired several humorous pieces on his show in which he tried his hand at farm work before showing up to testify before the committee. Critics lamented the supposed disrespect of inviting a comedian to such a serious setting, forgetting that Congress is already a joke to many Americans……….
- Uh-oh. What is Adele going to write about now? The winner of Grammys for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Short Form Music Video took home the hardware Sunday night, but will she be able to have the same success now that she has vowed to be "done being a bitter witch" and promised that she will never write another album inspired by a break-up? After all, she has sold over 11 million copies of her second album “21” and that’s how she shot to the top of the charts, so what subject matter will fuel her subsequent albums? Truly great music must be about something, not just a celebration of partying, excess and wealth. Also, the best art is said to come from pain, so what is going to inspire Adele now? She doesn’t seem like the type to write an entire album about clubbing or how many Bentleys and Maybachs she owns or how much bling she rocks. Songs like “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” are based on deep emotions and pain. True, there are other types of pain in the world besides breakups, but are any of those hurts painful enough to inspire award-winning track after award-winning track. Heck, Adele’s producer Paul Epworth was also named Producer Of The Year for his work on “21.” Maybe Adele’s next album will be all sunny, happy anthems of love to uplift and bring joy to the entire world. She could also write about her frightening throat surgery and what it was like to see her career possibly hanging in the balance……….
- So…..über-terrorist Osama bin Laden wanted to blow up everyone and everything in the West because it was all fundamentally evil, but he wanted his younger children to go to college in the West and live in peace rather than embrace terrorism? That sounds dubious at best. The deceased madman’s brother-in-law, Zakaria al Sadah, wants the world to believe that there was a good bone or too in Osama bin Laden’s body and that he adamant that his children "should not follow him down the road to jihad." Two of bin Laden's sons, three-year-old Hussain and five-year-old Zainab, lived in his compound in the Pakistan city of Abbottabad where he was killed by a U.S. Navy SEAL team last May, with seven other children. Sadah said in an interview that despite bin Laden’s unrelenting campaign against the West, he wanted his offspring to immerse themselves in the West. "He told his own children and grandchildren, 'Go to Europe and America and get a good education,'" Sadah said. If the claims are true, they could rise from bin Laden’s brothers attending Harvard Law School, the University of Southern California and Tufts University. While he himself studied at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, bin Laden supposedly wanted a peaceful existence for his children. “You have to study, live in peace and don't do what I am doing or what I have done," Sadah recalled his brother-in-law saying to his progeny. According to Sadah, bin Laden's three wives and nine children, who lived with him in the Abbottabad compound, are currently being held in a three-room flat in Islamabad, which is under guard by Pakistan's ISI intelligence service. Any of the nine children’s chance for a normal existence is pretty much on par with the chances of your average Hollywood child star who is thrown into a world of excess, wealth and drugs when they’re eight years old………..
- Of the many economic indicators so-called experts use to measure how well or how poorly a given nation’s economy is doing, it’s safe to say that none is more reliable than how many people are getting their face carved, their tummy tucked or their love handles liposuction-ed off. Sure, one could look at whether people are buying homes or new cars, maybe monitor whether families are taking vacations or not, but are any of those categories really going to tell you anything of worth about a nation’s economic fate? No, but looking at how many people are getting Botoxed certainly will and if the statistics from 2011 are any indication, the Obama administration may actually be in the process of turning the U.S. around. According to an annual report from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Americans got about 1.6 million cosmetic surgeries in 2011, the second year of increase after a big drop in 2009. The group’s president has a simple explanation about the link between more plastic surgery procedures and the improved economy. “Consumer confidence was up, auto sales rose 10 percent, so it is not surprising that we would also see increased demand for plastic surgery procedures," the group's president, Malcolm Z. Roth, said in a statement. The most popular procedures and surgeries in 2011 were: Botox injections (5.7 million), soft tissue fillers (1.9 million), chemical peels (1.1 million), laser hair removal (1.1 million), microdermabrasion (900,000), breast augmentation (307,000), nose reshaping (244,000), liposuction (205,000), eyelid surgery (196,000) and
facelift (119,000). Despite those numbers, Americans got fewer nose jobs, facelifts and other big-ticket surgeries than in 2005, when they peaked at 2.1 million. In other words, the economy is rebounding but it is happening gradually. Maybe the (relative) success of past-their-prime stars like Madonna and Joan Rivers getting carved and looking younger is encouraging the trend. Either that or America is even more superficial than it has ever been………
- Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi has a message and she knows how to get it out. No, not by doing interviews or holding press conferences because most Americans view her with equal parts disbelief, indifference and outright contempt in the same way they view every politician. But Pelosi wants people to listen to her message about the so-called DISCLOSE Act, which House Democrats are reintroducing Thursday. The DISCLOSE act would, among other things, require more transparency by the super PACs that have attracted so much criticism and scrutiny during the Republican presidential campaign in terms of who their donors are. Knowing no one will listen to her blabbering into a microphone, Pelosi decided to engage someone with a voice American will actually listen to: Comedy Central host and comedian Stephen Colbert. Colbert, who formed a very real super PAC in order to make a mockery of the super PAC process and lax laws governing them, raised more than a million dollars with his super PAC, temporarily “turned over” control of the group to fellow Comedy Central host Jon Stewart in order to stage a faux run for president during the South Carolina primaries and retook control of the super PAC afterward. Pelosi released a video late last week tongue-in-cheekedly attacking Colbert for his super PAC, with black-and-white pictures of the TV funny man scrolling by while Pelosi narrates, “(He) used to be my friend. I even signed the poor baby's cast." She then criticizes Colbert for being "out of control" for taking money from special interests for his super PAC. Pointing to Colbert satirizing a picture of Pelosi on a couch with Newt Gingrich, Pelosi says Colbert "even used his super PAC to attack my friend Newt Gingrich." Her hope, according to Democrats, is that Colbert will take the bait and respond to the video on his show, “The Colbert Report.” Colbert and Congress have a history together, as in September 2010 a House committee called Colbert to testify on the plight of immigrant workers and he aired several humorous pieces on his show in which he tried his hand at farm work before showing up to testify before the committee. Critics lamented the supposed disrespect of inviting a comedian to such a serious setting, forgetting that Congress is already a joke to many Americans……….
- Uh-oh. What is Adele going to write about now? The winner of Grammys for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Short Form Music Video took home the hardware Sunday night, but will she be able to have the same success now that she has vowed to be "done being a bitter witch" and promised that she will never write another album inspired by a break-up? After all, she has sold over 11 million copies of her second album “21” and that’s how she shot to the top of the charts, so what subject matter will fuel her subsequent albums? Truly great music must be about something, not just a celebration of partying, excess and wealth. Also, the best art is said to come from pain, so what is going to inspire Adele now? She doesn’t seem like the type to write an entire album about clubbing or how many Bentleys and Maybachs she owns or how much bling she rocks. Songs like “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” are based on deep emotions and pain. True, there are other types of pain in the world besides breakups, but are any of those hurts painful enough to inspire award-winning track after award-winning track. Heck, Adele’s producer Paul Epworth was also named Producer Of The Year for his work on “21.” Maybe Adele’s next album will be all sunny, happy anthems of love to uplift and bring joy to the entire world. She could also write about her frightening throat surgery and what it was like to see her career possibly hanging in the balance……….
- So…..über-terrorist Osama bin Laden wanted to blow up everyone and everything in the West because it was all fundamentally evil, but he wanted his younger children to go to college in the West and live in peace rather than embrace terrorism? That sounds dubious at best. The deceased madman’s brother-in-law, Zakaria al Sadah, wants the world to believe that there was a good bone or too in Osama bin Laden’s body and that he adamant that his children "should not follow him down the road to jihad." Two of bin Laden's sons, three-year-old Hussain and five-year-old Zainab, lived in his compound in the Pakistan city of Abbottabad where he was killed by a U.S. Navy SEAL team last May, with seven other children. Sadah said in an interview that despite bin Laden’s unrelenting campaign against the West, he wanted his offspring to immerse themselves in the West. "He told his own children and grandchildren, 'Go to Europe and America and get a good education,'" Sadah said. If the claims are true, they could rise from bin Laden’s brothers attending Harvard Law School, the University of Southern California and Tufts University. While he himself studied at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, bin Laden supposedly wanted a peaceful existence for his children. “You have to study, live in peace and don't do what I am doing or what I have done," Sadah recalled his brother-in-law saying to his progeny. According to Sadah, bin Laden's three wives and nine children, who lived with him in the Abbottabad compound, are currently being held in a three-room flat in Islamabad, which is under guard by Pakistan's ISI intelligence service. Any of the nine children’s chance for a normal existence is pretty much on par with the chances of your average Hollywood child star who is thrown into a world of excess, wealth and drugs when they’re eight years old………..
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Protesting pays, movie news and Nixon takes on the NFL
- NFL fans who suffer the slap in the face of not being able to watch their home team because not enough people were willing to pony up $100 for a seat in some far-flung corner of said team’s modern, taxpayer-funded stadium to ensure a sellout, it could be worse. As the league looks to maintain its TV blackout of home games that don't sell out, a previously unreported tape recording from the National Archives shows just how much worse it could be for fans if a thoroughly corrupt and megalomaniacal former president had his way. Some 40 years ago, President Richard Nixon presented an interesting offer to the NFL and commissioner Pete Rozelle? Allow playoff games to be televised in the hometown city, and the president would block any legislation requiring regular-season home games to be televised. The astonishing policy of the league at the time, at least by modern standards, was to black out all home games, whether they were sellouts or not. Nixon was an avid Washington Redskins fan and sympathized with Washington residents who couldn't watch Redskins games on TV. Even though Redskins games routinely sold out, there was no way for fans to watch them on television. In October 1972, Nixon's Justice Department informed Congress it was time for serious modification of the blackout policy "in the public interest." Two months later, the NFL maintained it would black out that season's playoff games, including the first-round Redskins-Green Bay Packers game in Washington. That precipitated a call from Nixon to Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst in which the president told the attorney general to relay this message to NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle: "If you make the move, for these playoff games, we will block any -- any -- legislation to stop anything else. I will fight it personally and veto any -- any -- legislation. You can tell him that I will veto it. And we'll sustain the veto. ... Go all out on it and tell him he's got the president's personal commitment. I'm for pro football all the way, and I think it's not in pro football's interest to allow this to build up because before you know it, they'll have the damn Congress go all the way. We don't want Congress to go all the way. Showing just how much clout Rozelle wielded, he rejected the offer. Kleindienst responded by saying the administration would "seek legislation that is more in keeping with the public interest." Congress became involved the next year and passed legislation preventing blackouts of professional sports games that are sold out 72 hours beforehand. Nixon signed the bill into law in time for the 1973 season and the NFL is now the single-biggest television draw any sports-broadcasting network can have…………
- So, the situation in Syria can't get much worse, right? Sure, President Bashar al-Assad's troops have bombarded Homs for eight days and counting in an attempt to wipe out the opposition, but slaughtering your own people because they dare to oppose your regime is the worst it can get…..or not. Just when it seemed al-Assad’s regime had finally plumbed the depths of its soulless existence, word comes that government forces are using detained civilians as human shields, placing them on tanks in Homs to prevent the opposition Free Syrian Army from fighting back. Substantiating those claims is difficult by Assad’s regime has heavily restricted access to foreign media, but does anyone seriously doubt that the Syrian government would commit such atrocities? Sunday was the eighth consecutive day of shelling of the city by the military, with three civilians killed in the day’s bombardment of the Baba Amr neighborhood. Arab League members, who have done little to intervene in the conflict thus far, met in Cairo on Sunday to discuss its next steps on Syria. Nabil el-Araby, the league's secretary general, proposed ducking any substantial involvement by suggesting that the United Nations deploy a joint force of U.N. and Arab League military experts on the ground as a peacekeeping force. Even Pope Benedict XVI weighed in on the situation during a message at St. Peter's Square. "I renew a pressing appeal to put an end to violence and bloodshed," the pope said He called on "everyone, and above all the political authorities in Syria, to favor the paths of dialogue, reconciliation and commitment to peace. It 's urgent to respond to the legitimate aspirations of the various components of the nation, as well as the wishes of the international community concerned about the welfare of the entire region.” In truth U.N. draft resolutions (currently in the process of being submitted to the U.N. General Assembly) and strongly worded denouncements by the pope will not resolve the conflict. The world railing against human rights abuses will change nothing and unless an outside party steps in and at least arms the Syrian opposition so it can have a chance, the battle will rage on and it will continue to be bloody. Tales of wounded people bleeding to death in the streets because they can't get medical attention and snipers picking off civilians running for cover will continue and the death toll will continue to climb past the already-staggering estimate of 7,000 by human rights groups. One can only hope Assad some day finds himself used as a human shield as well……….
- Science, consider your world rocked. The belief that flight stability is best achieved with a relatively even distribution of weight, long held as fact in the physics world, have been challenged by a study conducted by scientists at New York University. The NYU research team studied conditions needed to achieve stable hovering in mechanical flyers and created a collection of pyramid-shaped "bugs" constructed from paper that hovered when placed in an oscillating column of air, replicating the effect of flapping wings. In order to determine which types of structures best maintained their balance, the researchers crafted both low center-of-mass bugs with a weight below the pyramid and top-heavy bugs with a weight above the pyramid. Surprisingly, the top-heavy bugs hovered stably while those with a lower center of mass could not maintain their balance. The logical conclusion is that hovering in midair is easier for structures that are top-heavy. The top-heavy crafts in the study ejected swirls of air ejected from the far side of the body, which automatically adjust to keep it upright. "It works somewhat like balancing a broomstick in your hand," study co-author Jun Zhang said. "If it begins to fall to one side, you need to apply a force in this same direction to keep it upright." Based on the findings, subsequent projects could lead to stable and maneuverable flapping-wing robots, something that would clearly make the world a much better place……….
- If you have been doubting the power of protests, now would be a very good time to stop. The slow fizzling out of the Occupy movement may suggest that protestors can make a lot of noise and yet affect very little actual change, but reaching back in time a few years, an example to the contrary emerges. Thanks to the persistence of protestors involved in an anti-war demonstration in Chicago in 2003, the city will be paying out more than $6 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving arrests in conjunction with the protest. As the city prepares for the upcoming G8 and NATO summits, the $6.2 million settlement could have implications on how the protestors certain to show up for the events are handled. A federal judge gave the city plenty of inspiration to settle the case by denouncing the "idiocy" of the city's policies on protests. The protests took place one day after the United States began bombing Iraq. One day later, thousands of people took to the streets in Chicago to protest and seized control of Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. Police told protestors on each street that they had to turn back, but there was nowhere to go. Bottled up and full of anti-war anger, protestors soon began clashing with police and nearly 700 people were arrested or detained by police that night. A lawsuit followed and despite the inevitable sloth-like speed of the American judicial system, the case finally wound its way to a federal judge who found the actions of officers arbitrary. Allowing the march by without warning beginning to arrest protestors who were forbidden from leaving made no sense to the court. "The chilling effect is, it had the potential, and in some cases it did, scare people from coming out and ever protesting again," said plaintiff's attorney Joey Mogul. Under the terms of the settlement, those arrested and charged that night would receive up to $15,000, those arrested but not charged could get as much as $8,750 and anyone who was simply detained on the street for several hours would be eligible for up to $500. Sounds like a decent day’s work for a civic-minded citizen. This is verified proof that protests really can get you paid………
- On Valentine’s Day weekend, could there be two more appropriate movies at the top of the box office earnings list? On the one hand is “The Vow,” a movie about a woman who wakes up from a coma and can't remember much about her former life, including her own fiancé, who tries to win her heart all over again. Fronted by Channing Tatum and Amy Adams, that movie made $41.7 million in its opening weekend, undoubtedly fueled by scores of dudes taking their special ladies to see a true romantic tale. On the other hand is “Safe House,” featuring Denzel Washington as a blacklisted former spy wanted by the American government and on a crusade for revenge against those who have wronged him. If that doesn’t scream romance, then nothing does. “Safe House” debuted in second place with $39.3 million for a strong start. A quartet of newcomers occupied the top four spots as “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” finished third for the weekend with $27.5 million and “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (in 3D)” landed in fourth place with $23 million. “Phantom Menace” technically may not be a new movie, but the 3-D version was in its first weekend of release. Those four new films combined to knock last weekend’s top film, “Chronicle,” all the way down to fifth in its second weekend following a 44-percent decline and $12.3 million in domestic earnings to raise its cumulative total to $40.2 million. “The Woman in Black” also dropped precipitously, plummeting 51 percent for a sixth-place finish with $10.3 million and $35.4 million and counting through two weeks. Liam Neeson kicked enough ass for “The Grey” to rank seventh with $5.1 million and a three-week total of $42.9 million. “Big Miracle” was anything but miraculous in its second weekend, ranking eighth with $3.9 million for a two-week total of $13.2 million. Limited release continued to be kind to George Clooney’s “The Descendents,” with an additional $3.5 million going into the film’s coffers for a 13-week haul of $70.7 million. “Underworld Awakening” completed the top 10 with $2.5 million and has earned $58.9 million domestically in four weeks of release. “Red Tails” (No.11), “One for the Money” (No. 12), “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” (No. 15) and “Man on a Ledge” (No. 16) all dropped out of the top 10 from last weekend………..
- So, the situation in Syria can't get much worse, right? Sure, President Bashar al-Assad's troops have bombarded Homs for eight days and counting in an attempt to wipe out the opposition, but slaughtering your own people because they dare to oppose your regime is the worst it can get…..or not. Just when it seemed al-Assad’s regime had finally plumbed the depths of its soulless existence, word comes that government forces are using detained civilians as human shields, placing them on tanks in Homs to prevent the opposition Free Syrian Army from fighting back. Substantiating those claims is difficult by Assad’s regime has heavily restricted access to foreign media, but does anyone seriously doubt that the Syrian government would commit such atrocities? Sunday was the eighth consecutive day of shelling of the city by the military, with three civilians killed in the day’s bombardment of the Baba Amr neighborhood. Arab League members, who have done little to intervene in the conflict thus far, met in Cairo on Sunday to discuss its next steps on Syria. Nabil el-Araby, the league's secretary general, proposed ducking any substantial involvement by suggesting that the United Nations deploy a joint force of U.N. and Arab League military experts on the ground as a peacekeeping force. Even Pope Benedict XVI weighed in on the situation during a message at St. Peter's Square. "I renew a pressing appeal to put an end to violence and bloodshed," the pope said He called on "everyone, and above all the political authorities in Syria, to favor the paths of dialogue, reconciliation and commitment to peace. It 's urgent to respond to the legitimate aspirations of the various components of the nation, as well as the wishes of the international community concerned about the welfare of the entire region.” In truth U.N. draft resolutions (currently in the process of being submitted to the U.N. General Assembly) and strongly worded denouncements by the pope will not resolve the conflict. The world railing against human rights abuses will change nothing and unless an outside party steps in and at least arms the Syrian opposition so it can have a chance, the battle will rage on and it will continue to be bloody. Tales of wounded people bleeding to death in the streets because they can't get medical attention and snipers picking off civilians running for cover will continue and the death toll will continue to climb past the already-staggering estimate of 7,000 by human rights groups. One can only hope Assad some day finds himself used as a human shield as well……….
- Science, consider your world rocked. The belief that flight stability is best achieved with a relatively even distribution of weight, long held as fact in the physics world, have been challenged by a study conducted by scientists at New York University. The NYU research team studied conditions needed to achieve stable hovering in mechanical flyers and created a collection of pyramid-shaped "bugs" constructed from paper that hovered when placed in an oscillating column of air, replicating the effect of flapping wings. In order to determine which types of structures best maintained their balance, the researchers crafted both low center-of-mass bugs with a weight below the pyramid and top-heavy bugs with a weight above the pyramid. Surprisingly, the top-heavy bugs hovered stably while those with a lower center of mass could not maintain their balance. The logical conclusion is that hovering in midair is easier for structures that are top-heavy. The top-heavy crafts in the study ejected swirls of air ejected from the far side of the body, which automatically adjust to keep it upright. "It works somewhat like balancing a broomstick in your hand," study co-author Jun Zhang said. "If it begins to fall to one side, you need to apply a force in this same direction to keep it upright." Based on the findings, subsequent projects could lead to stable and maneuverable flapping-wing robots, something that would clearly make the world a much better place……….
- If you have been doubting the power of protests, now would be a very good time to stop. The slow fizzling out of the Occupy movement may suggest that protestors can make a lot of noise and yet affect very little actual change, but reaching back in time a few years, an example to the contrary emerges. Thanks to the persistence of protestors involved in an anti-war demonstration in Chicago in 2003, the city will be paying out more than $6 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving arrests in conjunction with the protest. As the city prepares for the upcoming G8 and NATO summits, the $6.2 million settlement could have implications on how the protestors certain to show up for the events are handled. A federal judge gave the city plenty of inspiration to settle the case by denouncing the "idiocy" of the city's policies on protests. The protests took place one day after the United States began bombing Iraq. One day later, thousands of people took to the streets in Chicago to protest and seized control of Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. Police told protestors on each street that they had to turn back, but there was nowhere to go. Bottled up and full of anti-war anger, protestors soon began clashing with police and nearly 700 people were arrested or detained by police that night. A lawsuit followed and despite the inevitable sloth-like speed of the American judicial system, the case finally wound its way to a federal judge who found the actions of officers arbitrary. Allowing the march by without warning beginning to arrest protestors who were forbidden from leaving made no sense to the court. "The chilling effect is, it had the potential, and in some cases it did, scare people from coming out and ever protesting again," said plaintiff's attorney Joey Mogul. Under the terms of the settlement, those arrested and charged that night would receive up to $15,000, those arrested but not charged could get as much as $8,750 and anyone who was simply detained on the street for several hours would be eligible for up to $500. Sounds like a decent day’s work for a civic-minded citizen. This is verified proof that protests really can get you paid………
- On Valentine’s Day weekend, could there be two more appropriate movies at the top of the box office earnings list? On the one hand is “The Vow,” a movie about a woman who wakes up from a coma and can't remember much about her former life, including her own fiancé, who tries to win her heart all over again. Fronted by Channing Tatum and Amy Adams, that movie made $41.7 million in its opening weekend, undoubtedly fueled by scores of dudes taking their special ladies to see a true romantic tale. On the other hand is “Safe House,” featuring Denzel Washington as a blacklisted former spy wanted by the American government and on a crusade for revenge against those who have wronged him. If that doesn’t scream romance, then nothing does. “Safe House” debuted in second place with $39.3 million for a strong start. A quartet of newcomers occupied the top four spots as “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” finished third for the weekend with $27.5 million and “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (in 3D)” landed in fourth place with $23 million. “Phantom Menace” technically may not be a new movie, but the 3-D version was in its first weekend of release. Those four new films combined to knock last weekend’s top film, “Chronicle,” all the way down to fifth in its second weekend following a 44-percent decline and $12.3 million in domestic earnings to raise its cumulative total to $40.2 million. “The Woman in Black” also dropped precipitously, plummeting 51 percent for a sixth-place finish with $10.3 million and $35.4 million and counting through two weeks. Liam Neeson kicked enough ass for “The Grey” to rank seventh with $5.1 million and a three-week total of $42.9 million. “Big Miracle” was anything but miraculous in its second weekend, ranking eighth with $3.9 million for a two-week total of $13.2 million. Limited release continued to be kind to George Clooney’s “The Descendents,” with an additional $3.5 million going into the film’s coffers for a 13-week haul of $70.7 million. “Underworld Awakening” completed the top 10 with $2.5 million and has earned $58.9 million domestically in four weeks of release. “Red Tails” (No.11), “One for the Money” (No. 12), “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” (No. 15) and “Man on a Ledge” (No. 16) all dropped out of the top 10 from last weekend………..
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Google Wallet picked, Riot Watch! Greece and booze at your favorite college sporting event
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Greece may be one of the only countries in Europe escaping the massive blast of crippling winter weather sweeping across the continent, but that doesn’t mean the country isn't still in upheaval. However, Greece’s turmoil has nothing to do with snow and ice and everything to do with being on the verge of financial collapse. The Greek Parliament is staring down tough new conditions it meet before euro zone finance ministers will give the country billions of desperately needed euros to bail out the debt-ridden country and the masses are not happy with the proposed measures. That would seem to be the message sent by mobs of angry rioters who hurled stones at police in front of the parliament building as the new measures were debated. Police responded with stun grenades outside the building as the debate raged inside. Greece needs the euro zone ministers to sign off on a new €130 billion ($172.6 billion) bailout deal and that won't happen until it agrees to its end of the arrangement. Doing so would mean further antagonizing the aforementioned angry mobs and also, trade unions whose members began a two-day strike to protest the austerity measures the deal would require. The main Greek party leaders agreed to a last-minute deal Thursday after lengthy negotiations, but the agreement still must be presented to the other 16 eurozone leaders by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Parliament must approve them as well. What are the chances of that? Not great after Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg and head of the Eurogroup, made clear Friday he would not support the deal because more assurances were needed from Athens before the bailout could be paid out. "Despite the important progress achieved over the last days, we did not yet have all necessary elements on the table to take decisions today," he said. Juncker expressed skepticism that Greece's political leaders will continue to implement the measures after elections in April. In anticipation of the measures passing, large crowds gathered in central Athens for a planned rally in Syntagma Square outside the Greek Parliament building. Unfortunately, most of those in attendance dispersed once police showed up. Only a few bold souls hung around to clash with The Man and force riot police to break out their tear gas and stun grenades to combat the chunks of marble and Molotov cocktails being thrown their way. All in all, a solid day of revolt in the capital city…………
- Irony is obviously lost on the Material Skank. Madonna may be deft at trading out one lame pop music gimmick for another and swapping out her musical persona for something new in order to remain quasi-relevant, but she definitely doesn’t grasp the irony or hypocrisy in her cracking subpar British rapper M.I.A for flipping the middle finger during her Super Bowl XLVI halftime show on Feb. 5. Madonna saying anyone’s actions were not appropriate for the stage is rife with hypocrisy, given the fact that she is best known for her slut-tacular performance of “Like a Virgin” at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards and two decades later she tongued Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in a repeat performance of the song at the same show. “I wasn't happy about it. I understand it's kind of punk rock and everything, but to me there was such a feeling of love and good energy and positivity, it seemed negative. It's one of those things, it's such a teenager, in a way, kind of irrelevant kind of thing to do. There was such a feeling of love and unity there, what was the point? It was just out of place,” the MS told teeth-bleach, man-blouse-wearing tool Ryan Seacrest during an interview. Umm…..nothing about that show or that display were remotely punk rock, so no. But how the MS can criticize anyone for inappropriate actions on stage is befuddling. She did make a point of saying she didn't know what had happened until afterwards. “To tell you the truth, I didn't even know about it. I didn't know about it until I left. I found out about it in the elevator, actually. I was really surprised. I didn't know anything about it,” she said. That portion of her monologue was actually believeable, as the running circus on stage during the MS’ performance had Roman soldiers, bizarrely attired dancers and every possible show of freakery imaginable during its interminably long run. Seeing one middle finger amidst all of that stupidity would be difficult……….
- It’s about damn time. Arizona’s college sports scene has been dry for too long and the state legislature has been negligent in addressing the issue. Arizona State is a renowned party school on the national scene, the University of Arizona isn't too shabby on that front either and yet state law largely prohibits colleges and universities from selling alcohol at sporting events. In a healthy economy, the situation might stay that way. Of course, the American economy is anything but healthy and with Arizona lawmakers searching desperately for ways to conjure up revenue, fans at Sun Devils and Wildcats game may soon be able to get their drink on - legally and through alcohol purchased inside their venue of choice, that is. Three House Democrats have introduced a bill, HB 2785, that would enable the Arizona Board of Regents to establish a pilot program for beer and wine to be sold at university-sponsored sporting events. "This would be a huge benefit to our universities, especially in the face of declining revenues from the state," Rep. Ed Ableser (D-Tempe) said. Ableser pointed the success of another big-time school, West Virginia University, where the sale of booze at sporting events has brought in thousands of dollars for the athletic department. Granted, some fans (especially students) at places like ASU and WVU will find ways to sneak their alcoholic beverage of choice into games no matter what, but selling beer and wine would appeal to many fans. Supporters of the bill argue that controlling the sale of alcohol inside the stadium and adding security would create a safer atmosphere for fans and may actually decrease the number of alcohol-related incidents at games. One of the rules for the proposed program would be stopping the sale of alcohol early in the third quarter and not allowing fans who leave to re-enter after that point. A few squares have spoken out in opposition of the bill, but maybe they just need to crack open a cold one and relax……….
- No offense to the friendly, cool people of Wisconsin, but Milwaukee Bucks Brandon Jennings can't exactly be blamed for keeping his options open. Jennings, the Bucks’ leading scorer, can become an unrestricted free agent in 2014 if he signs a qualifying offer after next season and admitted Thursday he will strongly consider leaving Milwaukee for one of the league's larger markets once his rookie contract ends. "I am going to keep my options open, knowing that the time is coming up,'' Jennings said. "I'm doing my homework on big-market teams.'' Before Wisconsin residents spit out their fried cheese curds and Milwaukee’s Best and look for someone to chuck a snowball at, take a step back and consider the reality of the situation. Jennings is a California native who played one season in Italy before entering the NBA, so living in Wisconsin has to be a shock to the system, both culturally and meteorologically. Suffering through brutally cold Wisconsin winters and adjusting to the Midwestern lifestyle would be difficult for anyone and for a rising star who will likely command a massive contract on the free-agent market, staying with the small-market Bucks simply doesn’t have that same appeal. At best, the Bucks are a fringe playoff team that will lose an opening-round series against Miami or Chicago. The fact that Jennings is already admitting he’s eyeing big-market teams doesn’t bode well for the Bucks. "I'm not saying I won't (sign an extension with the Bucks) and I'm not saying I will,'' he said. "I'm just keeping my options open.'' Mmm hmm, sure. The NBA’s financial landscape and the growing trend of star players congregating with big-market teams in major cities (New York, Miami, Los Angeles) further dim the hopes of fans who want Jennings to stay in the Land of Cheese. He insisted his wandering eye has nothing to do with the organization. "It has nothing to do with the city of Milwaukee or anything like that because that's where I started my career,'' Jennings said. "They've been nothing but good to me.” Yes, but being good to a person only goes so far when it’s 15 degrees outside with six inches of snow on the ground and your team is 9 1/2 games out of first place……….
- Smartphones doubling as wallets. More and more people own smartphones and fewer people are carrying cash on them, so it follows logically that a growing number of individuals will want to take advantage of the chance to turn their iPhone, Droid or BlackBerry into a digital wallet. However, waiting until all the kinks are worked out would be advisable, or at least most of those kinks. A few of them were revealed this week when the Google Wallet team was hit with two different vulnerabilities in their system. One hacker was able to reveal a user’s PIN number on a rooted phone and a second was able to open access to a user’s phone in a way that allowed anyone to reset the PIN and gain access to funds on a Google Wallet prepaid card. Google responded to the first hack by urging users not to use Google Wallet on a rooted device and countered the second hack by temporarily disabling provisioning of prepaid cards. Those responses were not sufficient to keep many Android users from wondering if Google Wallet is safe enough for mobile phone payments. Google predictably said there was no reason to worry and tried to spin a potential negative into a positive. “The simple answer to this question is yes. In fact, Google Wallet offers advantages over the plastic cards and folded wallets in use today,” the company said in an official statement. First, Google Wallet is protected by a PIN — as well as the phone’s lock screen, if a user sets that option. Second, we also take concrete actions to help protect our users. For example, to address an issue that could have allowed unauthorized use of an existing prepaid card balance if someone recovered a lost phone without a screen lock, tonight we temporarily disabled provisioning of prepaid cards.” Google went on to shift some blame for the issues with Google Wallet to users. “Sometimes users choose to disable important security mechanisms in order to gain system-level “root” access to their phone; we strongly discourage doing so if you plan to use Google Wallet because the product is not supported on rooted phones,” the official statement went on to say. Hmm, someone is getting a bit defensive……….
- Irony is obviously lost on the Material Skank. Madonna may be deft at trading out one lame pop music gimmick for another and swapping out her musical persona for something new in order to remain quasi-relevant, but she definitely doesn’t grasp the irony or hypocrisy in her cracking subpar British rapper M.I.A for flipping the middle finger during her Super Bowl XLVI halftime show on Feb. 5. Madonna saying anyone’s actions were not appropriate for the stage is rife with hypocrisy, given the fact that she is best known for her slut-tacular performance of “Like a Virgin” at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards and two decades later she tongued Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in a repeat performance of the song at the same show. “I wasn't happy about it. I understand it's kind of punk rock and everything, but to me there was such a feeling of love and good energy and positivity, it seemed negative. It's one of those things, it's such a teenager, in a way, kind of irrelevant kind of thing to do. There was such a feeling of love and unity there, what was the point? It was just out of place,” the MS told teeth-bleach, man-blouse-wearing tool Ryan Seacrest during an interview. Umm…..nothing about that show or that display were remotely punk rock, so no. But how the MS can criticize anyone for inappropriate actions on stage is befuddling. She did make a point of saying she didn't know what had happened until afterwards. “To tell you the truth, I didn't even know about it. I didn't know about it until I left. I found out about it in the elevator, actually. I was really surprised. I didn't know anything about it,” she said. That portion of her monologue was actually believeable, as the running circus on stage during the MS’ performance had Roman soldiers, bizarrely attired dancers and every possible show of freakery imaginable during its interminably long run. Seeing one middle finger amidst all of that stupidity would be difficult……….
- It’s about damn time. Arizona’s college sports scene has been dry for too long and the state legislature has been negligent in addressing the issue. Arizona State is a renowned party school on the national scene, the University of Arizona isn't too shabby on that front either and yet state law largely prohibits colleges and universities from selling alcohol at sporting events. In a healthy economy, the situation might stay that way. Of course, the American economy is anything but healthy and with Arizona lawmakers searching desperately for ways to conjure up revenue, fans at Sun Devils and Wildcats game may soon be able to get their drink on - legally and through alcohol purchased inside their venue of choice, that is. Three House Democrats have introduced a bill, HB 2785, that would enable the Arizona Board of Regents to establish a pilot program for beer and wine to be sold at university-sponsored sporting events. "This would be a huge benefit to our universities, especially in the face of declining revenues from the state," Rep. Ed Ableser (D-Tempe) said. Ableser pointed the success of another big-time school, West Virginia University, where the sale of booze at sporting events has brought in thousands of dollars for the athletic department. Granted, some fans (especially students) at places like ASU and WVU will find ways to sneak their alcoholic beverage of choice into games no matter what, but selling beer and wine would appeal to many fans. Supporters of the bill argue that controlling the sale of alcohol inside the stadium and adding security would create a safer atmosphere for fans and may actually decrease the number of alcohol-related incidents at games. One of the rules for the proposed program would be stopping the sale of alcohol early in the third quarter and not allowing fans who leave to re-enter after that point. A few squares have spoken out in opposition of the bill, but maybe they just need to crack open a cold one and relax……….
- No offense to the friendly, cool people of Wisconsin, but Milwaukee Bucks Brandon Jennings can't exactly be blamed for keeping his options open. Jennings, the Bucks’ leading scorer, can become an unrestricted free agent in 2014 if he signs a qualifying offer after next season and admitted Thursday he will strongly consider leaving Milwaukee for one of the league's larger markets once his rookie contract ends. "I am going to keep my options open, knowing that the time is coming up,'' Jennings said. "I'm doing my homework on big-market teams.'' Before Wisconsin residents spit out their fried cheese curds and Milwaukee’s Best and look for someone to chuck a snowball at, take a step back and consider the reality of the situation. Jennings is a California native who played one season in Italy before entering the NBA, so living in Wisconsin has to be a shock to the system, both culturally and meteorologically. Suffering through brutally cold Wisconsin winters and adjusting to the Midwestern lifestyle would be difficult for anyone and for a rising star who will likely command a massive contract on the free-agent market, staying with the small-market Bucks simply doesn’t have that same appeal. At best, the Bucks are a fringe playoff team that will lose an opening-round series against Miami or Chicago. The fact that Jennings is already admitting he’s eyeing big-market teams doesn’t bode well for the Bucks. "I'm not saying I won't (sign an extension with the Bucks) and I'm not saying I will,'' he said. "I'm just keeping my options open.'' Mmm hmm, sure. The NBA’s financial landscape and the growing trend of star players congregating with big-market teams in major cities (New York, Miami, Los Angeles) further dim the hopes of fans who want Jennings to stay in the Land of Cheese. He insisted his wandering eye has nothing to do with the organization. "It has nothing to do with the city of Milwaukee or anything like that because that's where I started my career,'' Jennings said. "They've been nothing but good to me.” Yes, but being good to a person only goes so far when it’s 15 degrees outside with six inches of snow on the ground and your team is 9 1/2 games out of first place……….
- Smartphones doubling as wallets. More and more people own smartphones and fewer people are carrying cash on them, so it follows logically that a growing number of individuals will want to take advantage of the chance to turn their iPhone, Droid or BlackBerry into a digital wallet. However, waiting until all the kinks are worked out would be advisable, or at least most of those kinks. A few of them were revealed this week when the Google Wallet team was hit with two different vulnerabilities in their system. One hacker was able to reveal a user’s PIN number on a rooted phone and a second was able to open access to a user’s phone in a way that allowed anyone to reset the PIN and gain access to funds on a Google Wallet prepaid card. Google responded to the first hack by urging users not to use Google Wallet on a rooted device and countered the second hack by temporarily disabling provisioning of prepaid cards. Those responses were not sufficient to keep many Android users from wondering if Google Wallet is safe enough for mobile phone payments. Google predictably said there was no reason to worry and tried to spin a potential negative into a positive. “The simple answer to this question is yes. In fact, Google Wallet offers advantages over the plastic cards and folded wallets in use today,” the company said in an official statement. First, Google Wallet is protected by a PIN — as well as the phone’s lock screen, if a user sets that option. Second, we also take concrete actions to help protect our users. For example, to address an issue that could have allowed unauthorized use of an existing prepaid card balance if someone recovered a lost phone without a screen lock, tonight we temporarily disabled provisioning of prepaid cards.” Google went on to shift some blame for the issues with Google Wallet to users. “Sometimes users choose to disable important security mechanisms in order to gain system-level “root” access to their phone; we strongly discourage doing so if you plan to use Google Wallet because the product is not supported on rooted phones,” the official statement went on to say. Hmm, someone is getting a bit defensive……….
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)