Avoid skin cancer while avoiding dangerous chemicals? No thanks!

When it comes to sun protection, humans can’t slather ourselves in mud to preserve our tender skin from the burning rays of the sun, so every year, the Environmental Working Group puts together a list of the safest possible sunscreens.  While the FDA has approved sunscreen additives like oxybenzone (since 1978) and retinal palmitate, the EWG doesn’t exactly agree with the safety of those products.  When it comes to safety, most people would rather be safe than sorry, which is why the Environmental Working Group has released their 2012 round-up of safest sunscreens on the market.

“The results are slightly better than previous years, but it continues to surprise us that we can recommend such few products,” said Nneka Leiba, an Environmental Working Group senior analyst.  ”We will continue to push for better options every year. We’re trying to fill the gap where the FDA has failed.  Consumers get frustrated when there are no alternatives, but the point of this is that you don’t have to be completely disheartened, because there are products on the market that don’t contain these chemicals.”

Here is EWG’s Skin Deep list of safe sunscreens for 2012.  The company provides lists of both sunscreens, lip balms, and makeup that contain no oxybenzone, retinyl palmitate, have SPF 50 or above sun protection, and block both UVA and UVB rays.

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General Motors is very popular on Facebook, even without ads.

General Motors is an incredible rebound story, from getting government bailouts to returning to profitability in a very short time.  Part of GM’s prowess is their dedication to advertising.  General Motors is the third-largest advertiser in the United States, spending a staggering $1.8 billion dollars per year on ads.  That’s an incredible amount, but there’s one place GM is going to be trimming its advertisement budget.  GM is pulling its ads from Facebook, admitting that the results from Facebook ads aren’t quite as effective as they had hoped.  GM had been spending $10 million on paid advertising on Facebook, in addition to having about $30 million in unpaid Facebook ads.

“We are reassessing our Facebook advertising, but we remain committed to very aggressive social media strategies and will continue to push content on Facebook through our product and brand Facebook pages,” said GM spokesman Patrick Morrissey.

This isn’t great timing for Facebook, considering the company is about to launch a record-breaking IPO (and just dropped $1 billion on Instagram).  Facebook depends on two things to keep running:  visitor eyeballs and ad dollars.  If more companies feel they’re not getting the proper amount of bang for their advertising buck, that won’t be good.  Even if companies like GM maintain active Facebook presences, it’s meaningless to Facebook without the spent income to go along with it.

Tags: facebook, facebook ads, general motors, gm, gm pulls its ads from facebook, gm to stop advertising on facebook, gm facebook ads, facebook ads do not work, gm says facebook ads do not work, advertising, online advertising, social networks, patrick morrissey, gm facebook advertising

Like him or not, the late Apple founder Steve Jobs had an interesting life.  He founded a major tech company, was kicked out by the board, then came back to save the company from failure in the ultimate redemption story.  Jobs changed the way we use computers, changed the way we listen to music, and pretty much turned the tablet computer from a very niche market to a major computer sales point.  Long story short, the dude was interesting for his business exploits before you even get into his personal life.  Aaron Sorkin would be the perfect writer to handle a Steve Jobs movie, which is great because Aaron Sorkin is going to write the official Steve Jobs biopic.

Sony Pictures has hired Sorkin to adapt Walter Isaacson’s official biography of Jobs; Sorkin has previously brought drama to the White House as creator of The West Wing and turned Mark Zuckerberg and computer programming into excitement in The Social Network.  If he can turn something like Facebook into riveting, five-star cinema, he can turn Steve Jobs’s life into something as riveting and pulse-pounding as an action movie.  Sorkin is also co-creator of the upcoming HBO series The Newsroom, as well as an upcoming stage play about Harry Houdini.

Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal said of Sorkin, “No writer working in Hollywood today who is more capable of capturing such an extraordinary life.  In his hands, we’re confident that the film will be everything that Jobs himself was: captivating, entertaining and polarizing.”

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Apparently he approves of the name Mason.

When you give a baby a name, you’re charting the life course for that person.  Names are for life, and they will affect how your child acts (if you put stock in Freakonomics).  It’s a tough choice for any parent, as you try to balance giving your child a unique name, but not so unique that they’re forced to become a reality television star or something.  The top baby names of 2011 have been released, and there’s a new top gal on the block.  Sophia and Jacob were the most popular names in the United States for 2011, with Mason (as in Mason Kardashian) knocking Michael out of the top five boy names for the first time in 63 years.

“It shows what we’re paying attention to, what we’re thinking about.  Today, you can’t walk through a supermarket without learning more than you hoped to know about the Kardashian family.  That’s just reality,” said Laura Wattenberg of the website babynamewizard.com.  However, don’t blame the popularity of Mason on reality television.  ”Celebrity naming is just about the exposure, and about everybody hearing that name at the same time.  It’s not about the fame, it’s about the name.”

However, besides Mason, other names became popular due to reality TV.  Briella shot up 394 spots thanks to Briella Calafiore, star of TV’s Jerseylicious and Glam Fairy.  Elvis, which dropped off the list last year after being on the baby list since 1955, has returned to the list at 904.

In the movie The Social Network, Sean Parker asks Facebook founder Eduardo Saverin a question:  ”You don’t even know what the thing is yet.  How big it can get, how far it can go.  This is no time to take your chips down.  A million dollars isn’t cool, you know what’s cool?  A billion dollars.”  Mark Zuckerberg and company have taken this fictional lesson to heart.  Facebook has raised the price of its IPO and the valuation of the company sits at $104 billion dollars assuming the IPO goes well.  Facebook raised the maximum price of its stock to $38, and will be selling 337 million shares once it hits market.

This means that Facebook would be the first US company to be valued at $100 billion dollars at the time of its IPO.  The previous record for an IPO valuation by a US company is a paltry $60 billion.  The opening stock sale could raise as much as $12 billion dollars for the company when it hits the market, with stock prices between $34 and $38 dollars.

Facebook is rumored to be making its debut Friday on the NASDAQ.  Its stock ticker symbol will be FB.

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This is my "ool." Notice there is no "P" in it.

It sounds like a bad comedy routine.  Someone out swimming in the water pauses to go to the bathroom, and then dead fish start popping up out of the water, killed by the potency of the swimmer’s waste.  Well, it’s not funny to fishermen in Hamburg, Germany.  Eichbaum Lake, a destination near Hamburg, is the latest place to be victim to a massive fish kill.  While it’s not in the millions, it’s a pretty small lake, so 500 dead fish is a big deal to local anglers.  Some local fishermen believe that swimmers peeing in the water is killing the fish.

“Swimmers who urinate in the lake are introducing a lot of phosphate,” said Manfred Siedler, a spokesman for a local fisherman’s group.  ”We’re calculating half a liter of urine per swimmer per day.”

The pee isn’t the only problem Eichbaum Lake is having; ice skaters in winter are also causing a lot of trouble for the local fishermen.  Apparently, anything you do in a lake can kill fish, if by anything you mean relieving your bladder and then skating on the yellow ice.

“The ice-skaters make a noise that wakes the fish out of hibernation,” says Kerstin Graupner, a spokeswoman for the local environmental authority.  ”Then they can’t breathe and freeze.  That’s a very common phenomenon.”

Swimmers have been banned from Eichbaum due to the high concentration of algae there, which causes swimmer’s itch.  Apparently the algae blooms feed off of the urine in the water, then they consume all the oxygen as they grow, live, and die, which causes the fish to suffocate.  So far, all attempts by the local government to clear the lake of algae have failed.

Tags: Eichbaum lake, Hamburg, Germany, lake closed after swimmer pee kills fish, swimmer urine kills fish, swimmer pee kills fish, unusual environmental hazards, swimmers peeing in lakes can kill fish, algae blooms, urine, urine kills fish, unusual news, weird news, weird nature news, the environment, Manfred Siedler, Kerstin Graupner

Eduardo Saverin is a billionaire, but he's too cheap to get his eyebrows waxed.

When you’re preparing to receive a billion-dollar windfall in the biggest IPO of all time, it’s a smart move to flee the United States.  Eduardo Saverin, who was Mark Zuckerberg’s friend and business partner at Harvard, owns about 4 percent of Facebook stock as a result of his many court battles with Zuckerberg.  That’s going to be lucrative in a few weeks when Facebook launches its IPO, and has proven very lucrative on the private market.  Hence, to dodge his US tax bill, Facebook’s Eduardo Saverin has renounced his US citizenship in a move that could save him a whole lot of money in a week’s time.

“Eduardo recently found it more practical to become a resident of Singapore since he plans to live there for an indefinite period of time,” said Saverrin’s spokeswoman, Sabrina Strauss.  ”He plans to invest in Brazilian and global companies that have strong interests in entering the Asian markets.  Accordingly, it made the most sense for him to use Singapore as a home base.”

Saverin, who has lived in Singapore since 2011, was born in Brazil before becoming a US citizen in 1998.  Saverin is one of 1780 people who renounced US citizenship last year.  He is worth an estimated $2 billion.

Tags: singapore, eduardo saverin, eduardo saverin renounces us citizenship, facebook founder leaves the united states, facebook founder renounces us citizenship, leaving the united states, mark zuckerberg, facebook ipo, sabrina strauss, income tax law, income taxes, leaving the country to avoid taxes, billionaires, facebook founders

Thor and Captain America lay waste to box office records.

The Avengers had a record-shattering opening weekend, becoming the fastest movie ever to $200 million in US box office history.  That was a good warm-up act.  The record-breaking continues for The Avengers in its second weekend, when the movie grossed $103.2 million dollars.  This is the first time in movie history that a movie has broken $100 million dollars in its second weekend in theaters.  That’s just part of it; internationally, The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble) has taken in $1 billion dollars.

That’s just mind-boggling.  Already, the movie has cracked the top ten in box office earnings all time, and before everything is said and done, The Avengers might be the third-highest grossing movie of all time, just behind James Cameron’s Avatar and Titanic.  Both those movies have had multiple releases, too.  It takes money to make money, but compared to the other huge movies of the last decade, The Avengers has cost practically nothing and is just raking in cash hand-over-fist.

Tags: the avengers, avengers assemble, the avengers makes

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The new and original Coal Miner's Daughters together.

In 1978, Loretta Lynn brought actress Sissy Spacek onto the stage at the Grand Ole Opry and announced, to the world, that Spacek would be playing Loretta Lynn in an upcoming biographic film.  That movie, Coal Miner’s Daughter, won Spacek the best actress Oscar and helped turn Loretta Lynn into an icon far beyond her Country Music Hall Of Fame career.  Last night, at the Ryman Auditorium during a Grand Ole Opry show, Loretta Lynn brought Zooey Deschanel onto stage and announced that Deschanel would be playing the eponymous Coal Miner’s Daughter in the Broadway version.

“I have a friend here tonight.  I don’t know if ya’ll remember when Sissy Spacek was with me.  I brought her out here with me. She about fainted.  We both fainted,”  laughed Lynn, now 80.  ”She went on to do the Coal Miner’s Daughter, and you know from there.  Well, there’s a little girl back stage that’s going to do the play of Coal Miner’s Daughter on Broadway,” Lynn continued.  ”Zooey, where you at honey?”

Deschanel came out and performed the titular song with Loretta Lynn.  The question is, will Deschanel find time to take on the role?  She’s filming a Fox sitcom, The New Girl, she’s the owner of the website Hello Giggles (and an active participant there), and she maintains an active recording career as half of the folk-pop duo She And Him with M.Ward.  The producers of the Broadway show insist their run will work with The New Girl‘s shooting schedule.  I’m sure Deschanel, a producer on The New Girl, can make that happen if there is any conflict.

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Time's tempest in a C cup.

Breastfeeding is normal, natural, and a wonderful way to bond mother to baby.  Key word in that sentence, for most people, is “baby.”  Not toddler, and certainly not kindergartner.  Time Magazine has kicked off a scrum of controversy with a photo depicting a woman breastfeeding a 3-year-old boy.  Meanwhile, the crux of the issue isn’t breastfeeding or even attachment parenting (which encourages this sort of thing), but Dr. Bill Sears, author of The Baby Book.  But all anyone can talk about is that cover.

“People have to realize this is biologically normal,” said Jamie Lynne Grumet, the 26-year-old stay-at-home mother from Los Angeles who is on the magazine cover.  ”The more people see it, the more it’ll become normal in our culture.  That’s what I’m hoping.  I want people to see it.”

So, my take on the issue as a non-breastfeeding non-parent?  If the child can walk, talk, and get food without serious assistance, maybe it’s time to wean said child.  Or, if you can’t wean, at least not breastfeed the child in public.  There are bottles and ways to express said breastmilk.  Once the child can form memories of being breastfed, the act gets into some strange Alicia Silverstone spitting food into his son’s mouth territory.

Tags: breast feeding, breastfeeding, breastfeeding toddlers, time magazine, time magazine cover, time magazine scandal, breast feeding time magazine cover, time magazine breastfeeding cover, unusual magazine covers, attachment parenting,  Jamie Lynne Grumet, the baby book, bill sears, controversies, los angeles, california

Birdman Andersen's home was raided by police.

When it comes to crimes against children, there’s nothing more shocking than when that crime allegation comes against a sports figure, especially one known for his charity work.  While his minutes have disappeared this season, Denver Nuggets basketball player Chris “Birdman” Andersen is very popular in the community for his colorful tattoos, high-flying blocks, and his charity work.  He’s something of a redemption story, coming off a two-year drug suspension to resume his NBA career, but that career might be over.  Chris “Birdman” Andersen’s home was raided by the Douglas County Internet Crimes Against Children unit.

“For me right now, I think I’m at a stage where I don’t know enough information,” said George Karl, Andersen’s coach with the Denver Nuggets. “I think we all were advised probably not to talk about it until we know the information.  The only thing I will say is I trust Chris.  In my years with him, he’s been fantastic.  I think he’s really grown as a person.  We’re going to support him and stand by him.”  Karl added, “I think enough guys individually have been told what’s going on. I don’t think we have the full information, the full story to analyze or scrutinize.  Like I said before, I trust Bird.  I think Bird will figure this out.”

Andersen has been suspended indefinitely by the team pending the results of the investigation.  No one has been arrested as a result of this investigation, and no arrests are pending.  Andersen shares the home with several roommates.

Tags: Chris Andersen, Birdman, Chris Birdman Andersen, Denver, Colorado, Denver Nuggets, Internet Crimes Against Children, Birdman Andersen investigated for child pornography, child pornography, crimes against children, george karl, basketball, sports, nba, national basketball association, basketball player chris andersen investigated for child porn

Vidal Sassoon was suave until the end.

The change was overnight.  Gone were the heavily hairsprayed helmets and greased-down locks of the 50′s.  The product was minimized; the cut was the thing according to Vidal Sassoon, and he crafted some of the most iconic hair styles of all time at his London, England salon.  He would later go on to revolutionize the hair care industry with a series of iconic commercials stating, “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.”  Vidal Sassoon, beauty industry pioneer, passed away at 84.

Vidal Sassoon’s most famous creation was a very public one.  After doing the hair for Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion, director Roman Polanski paid Sassoon $5000 to give Mia Farrow her iconic pixie haircut in the movie Rosemary’s Baby.  It ushered in a whole new look for women and made Farrow one of the most iconic women in horror.  All thanks to a nice trim and shape.

“I made up my mind then that if I was going to be in hairdressing long term, I wanted to change things,” said Sassoon in the documentary Vidal Sassoon:  The Movie.  ”I didn’t have a picture of what hair should be, but I had a definite picture of what hair shouldn’t be.”

He also created the modern beauty industry.  Before selling his company in 1983, Vidal Sassoon’s company brought in $100 million dollars a year.  Not bad for a poor Jewish boy from London who spent time in an orphanage before becoming an apprentice at age 14.

Tags: vidal sassoon, vidal sassoon dead at 84, vidal sassoon dead, mia farrow, hairdressers, hair dresser, vidal sassoon hair dresser, london, england, mia farrow, rosemary’s baby, roman polanski, beauty products, pioneers, hair salon

The Sukhoi Superjet-100 crashed in Indonesia.

The best way to sell something like a car or an airplane is to take people up, show them what it can do, and then sell them on the comforts and luxury of the plane.  That’s what Sukhoi was doing with their new Superjet-100, which was on the fourth stop of a six-nation Asian tour.  Unfortunately for the 42 passengers and 8 crew, the Superjet wasn’t so super.  During a test flight, the Sukhoi Superjet-100 crashed with 50 people on board.  The plane crashed into Mount Salak, a dormant volcano outside of Jakarta, Indonesia.

“The airplane crashed at the edge of Salak mountain,” said Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.  ”An investigation must be done immediately and thoroughly.”

The results of the investigation may determine the future of the Superjet-100.  If it was some sort of pilot error or tower error, then the plane might be okay.  If it was a technical problem, then the long-delayed next-generation small jet from Sukhoi might be doomed before it can even take off.

Tags: Jakarta, Indonesia, superjet, superjet crashes into volcano, test jet crashes into volcano, unusual accidents, jet crashes, Sukhoi, Sukhoi Superjet-100, Superjet-100, Superjet-100 crashes on sales flight, jet sales flight ends in tragedy, airplane crashes, air industry, test flight ends in crash, 50 people dead in plane crash in Indonesia, mount salak, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

Take THAT, Nazis!

Once upon a time, having a game that renders in 3D was a novelty.  Among the best of this first generation of 3D shooters is the Nazi blasting classic, Wolfenstein 3D.  Wolfenstein 3D is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and Bethesda Software has a unique celebration for that event.  Bethesda has published a free browser-based version of Wolfenstein 3D to honor the game’s legacy!   That’s right, kids, it’s free and it’s fun!  Wolfenstein 3D was a remake of Return To Castle Wolfenstein for the Apple II; originally published by iD Software, iD was acquired by Bethesda in 2009.

“The core essence of taking an experience that used to be done in top-down – we were all familiar at the time with top-down shooters like Gauntlet and things where you would run around and shoot at the enemies there – taking really similar gameplay and projecting it into the 3D environment, adding perspective and the fact that that changed the game experience so much was the real triumph of what we did then,” said John Carmack, founder of iD Software and a game developer.

The game will play in any modern browser:  Google Chrome 16, Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 11, and Apple Safari 5.  It works as keyboard only, or with keyboard and mouse.  You can play Wolfenstein 3D at Bethesda’s homepage.

Tags: iD software, bethesda, id, wolfenstein, wolfenstein 3d, video games, first person shooters, 3d shooters, 20th anniversary of wolfenstein, free wolfenstein 3d, video game anniversaries, browser-based games, browser games, bethesda gives away wolfenstein 3d, 3d video games, john carmack

Tom Gabel is becoming Laura Jane Grace.

For years, punk musician Tom Gabel has harbored a secret.  Apparently, that secret has been gender dysphoria.  That’s when a man or woman feels like they should have been born as a member of a different gender, like the infamous pregnant man.  Against Me! lead singer Tom Gable is planning to become Laura Jane Grace.  He’s going to begin his transition with electrolysis and hormone treatments.

“For me, the most terrifying thing about this was how she would accept the news,” says Gabel of his wife Heather, who he will stay married to.  ”But she’s been super-amazing and understanding.”

I’m having a lot of trouble dealing with this news, if only because Against Me! is one of my favorite bands ever, I’ve seen them multiple times, and if Tom Gabel starts getting hormone treatments and his voice changes into something different, the band won’t be able to sound the same.  His voice is crucial their entire sound, and I’m sure injecting yourself with hormones will probably end up changing the quality of your voice (and that’s before we get into things like voice lessons to sound more feminine, getting your Adam’s apple shaved, and that sort of thing).

Realistically, it’s his body, and his voice has changed anyway from the first recordings until now, so I guess if it makes him happy, he’s welcome to change whatever he wants about himself.  I’ll still see the band next time I get a chance, and maybe it won’t change his sound a lot since it didn’t affect Jayne County a whole lot.  Of course, he transitioned in the 70′s, so who knows what his future holds now.  I guess that’s between him and his gender reassignment therapist.

Tags: tom gabel, against me!, against me tom gabel, tom gabel becoming a woman, transgender, music, rock music, punk rock, laura jane grace, tom gabel to become laura jane grace, heather gabel, gender dysphoria, rolling stone

An unairbrushed Kardashian walking down the street.

Between 1960 and 1980, 15 percent of the population was obese.  Those numbers stayed flat and consistent, but since then, obesity rates have skyrocketed.  In 2010, 36 percent of Americans were considered obese (30 pounds or more over their healthy weight range) and 6 percent were considered severely obese (100 pounds over their healthy weight range).  Unsurprisingly, those numbers are only going to get worse.  By 2030, health experts predict that 42 percent of the US population will be obese.

“The obesity problem is likely to get much worse without a major public health intervention,” said lead researcher Eric Finkelstein of the Duke University Global Health Institute.

The study was released at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Weight of the Nation” conference and will be published in full in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.  It used a variety of CDC data, including the body-mass index (which is a flawed metric for most people and one I hate), to determine the future trends in obesity.  The rate will continue to rise, but not as quickly as it has in recent years.

According to the BMI, the healthy weight range for a 6′ man is 136-184 pounds.  At my lowest weight, 180 pounds, I was barely not obese, and I had to not eat anything I enjoyed to get there.  I’ll just stay obese, thanks.

Tags: obesity, health epidemics, obesity rates to rise, 42 percent of US to be obese by 2030, US to grow in obesity by 2030, US obesity rates, united states health concerns, united states, obesity, Duke University Global Health Institute, Eric Finkelstein,  American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Weight of the Nation,  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Nevada governor Brian Sandoval goes for a spin in a self-driving car.

Nevada is the first name you think of when you think of gambling.  Nevada is the home of Las Vegas, the world’s gambling mecca, and as such, it’s the state most associated with risk-taking and putting everything on the flip of a stack of cards.  Unsurprisingly, Nevada’s gambling goes past casino games and covers pretty much anything.  In this case, Nevada has become the first state willing to take a chance on self-driving cars.

Remember that self-driving car Google has been testing?  Well, there are now officially eight of them on the road:  six Priuses, an Audi TT, and a Lexus RX450h.  Nevada governor Brian Sandoval gave his approval yesterday for the test run of driverless cars, though he has hedged his bets by mandating two people in the car during tests, one behind the driver’s seat and one in the passenger’s seat.  The human driver can take over for the car’s sophisticated self-driving system of GPS and sensors by tapping the brakes and turning the wheel.  Still, the cars are now on the road, and you’ll notice them by their red license plates featuring the infinity symbol on the left side of the plate.

“I feel using the infinity symbol was the best way to represent the ‘car of the future,’” said DMV director Bruce Breslow.

Tags: las vegas, nevada, driverless cars, cars with no drivers, self-driving cars, google self-driving car, google gets self-driving car license in nevada, nevada becomes first state to allow driverless cars, nevada approves google self-driving cars, unusual vehicles, car of tomorrow, driverless cars, auto cars, brian sandoval, technology, automotive technology, bruce breslow

Bryce Harper stealing home plate.

There are a lot of exciting plays in baseball.  Chicks dig the long ball, and everyone loves a good fight, but the Washington Nationals haven’t had a lot of positive highlights in their team history since reforming as a Major League Baseball franchise in 2005.  There’s Stephen Strasburg and that’s about it.  Then, Bryce Harper came along.  The top pick in the 2010 draft, Bryce Harper is turning heads in Washington thanks to stealing home plate in a game versus Philadelphia.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Nationals lost to the Phillies 9-3, but Harper showed Phila starter Cole Hamels that deliberately plunking him, even in the first inning, is a bad idea.  After Hamels’ bean ball, Harper moved along to third and then, when Jayson Werth was running to first base, Harper struck, blasting from third to home and just beating out the throw.  Serves Hamels right, who admitted to reporters after the game to hitting Harper deliberately.

“I was trying to hit him,” said Hamels, who hit Harper in the back with a 93-mile-an-hour fastball.  ”I’m not going to deny it. That’s just — you know what, it’s something that I grew up watching. That’s what happened, so I’m just trying to continue the old baseball. . . . I’m not going to injure a guy. They’re probably not going to like me for it but I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t trying to do it.”

Tags: philadelphia phillies, washington nationals, bryce harper, cole hamels, jayson werth, bryce harper steals home base, stealing home, bryce harper steals home, videos, youtube, sports highlights, sports, baseball, major league baseball, mlb, unusual feats, phillies beat nationals 9-3

George Lindsey as Goober Pyle.

It’s not often that a show puts multiple iconic characters into the national consciousness, but The Andy Griffith Show was no ordinary show.  When secondary character Gomer Pyle proved to be so popular he got his own spin-off program, Gomer’s cousin Goober Pyle stepped right into the role of comic relief in Mayberry, filling in at Wally’s Gas Station and putting the bumpkin in country bumpkin.  The man who brought Goober to life, George Lindsey, passed away in Nashville following a short illness.  He was 83.

The most interesting part about Goober’s life is just how George Lindsey got the role.  In 1962, he was one of the men who auditioned for the role of Gomer Pyle, but lost out to Jim Nabors.  Naturally, when Nabors left Mayberry after two seasons, Lindsey stepped right into the role of Gomer’s cousin Goober.  Goober, a slang take on the African word Nguba for “peanut,” which spawned the phrase “Goober pea” for peanut and turned the word “goober” into a slang term for a dork.

Lindsey played Goober for seven seasons, four on Andy Griffith’s show and three on follow-up Mayberry RFD.  He also played Goober in a staggering 44 appearances on Hee-Haw, making him one of the show’s most popular guest stars.

Tags: andy griffith, george lindsey, jim nabors, goober, goober pyle, mayberry, mayberry rfd, goober pyle dead, george lindsey dead at 83, george lindsey dead, nashville, tennessee, hollywood, obituaries, television, television actors, peanuts

Hawkeye, Captain America, and Black Widow guard Marvel's money vault.

When Marvel started the process to create an Avengers movie, it was a bit worrisome.  After all, The Avengers combines four franchises, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and The Hulk (also Hawkeye and Black Widow), which would mean at least establishing franchises for two new characters in the wake of the two moderately successful Hulk films and the $1.2 billion dollar Iron Man franchise.  As it turns out, Disney/Marvel‘s gamble has paid off handsomely.  Marvel’s The Avengers, AKA Avengers Assemble, smashed box office records on its opening weekend to the tune of $200.3 million dollars.

Along the way, it broke records both American and International, including the highest-ever opening in Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Central America, Bolivia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Philippines.  It took second in America’s one-day box office gross record on Friday, bringing in $80.5 million.  It broke the record for Saturday as well, taking home $69.7 million.  The movie’s $50.1 million on Sunday was the biggest Sunday release ever, unsurprisingly.  It was the fastest movie to $100, $150, and $200 million at the box office in movie history.

The trailer was marketing brilliance, and the movie itself must have also been great, as it earned a nearly-impossible A+ on CinemaScore and has gotten great word-of-mouth.  I’m sure timing its release for Free Comic Book Day weekend was both intentional and a boon to the movie.

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A wild Super Moon approaches!

Ever since NASA bombed the moon in 2009, the moon has been looking to get its revenge.  You see, we started a war with the moon, but we didn’t finish it.  The moon will not be tamed so easily.  Tonight, Saturday May 5, the moon will return stronger than ever.  That’s right, tonight is the night of the Super Moon.  Someone let the werewolves know it’s time to party!

Basically, in a super moon event, the moon is as close to the earth as it is going to be all year, thus the moon looks larger than it does the rest of the year.  It doesn’t count as a super moon until the full moon, which will be on Saturday at this particular point in the moon’s orbit around the earth.  The super moon is expected to be 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than normal, making it the biggest and brightest the moon will look in 2012.

NASA says that the optimal time for viewing the super moon will be as the moon rises over the earth just after sunset.  That is expected to be at about 8 PM tonight, depending on your location.

Tags: moon, super moon, supermoon, brighter and larger moon, may 5 will be super moon night, super moon may 5, super moon on saturday night, super moon on saturday, lunar events, astronomy, nighttime, nighttime sky events, big moon, may 5 will have super moon, unusual lunar events, unusual astronomy, weird science

Just call her "Red Dreams" for short.

When her son died young, 41-year-old Dawn McManus founded a charity known as Red Dreams to help young people live out their artistic dreams.  The woman, from Hartlepool, England, has been a big cheerleader for the charity since its foundation, and the organization has helped out many people during its time.  That’s why Ms. McManus is becoming the form Ms. McManus.  Dawn McManus’s new official first and last names are Red Dreams, but it is her new middle names that are drawing attention.  Dawn McManus has changed her name to 161 words.

Dawn McManus has changed her name to the following:  Red Wacky League Antlez Broke the Stereo Neon Tide Bring Back Honesty Coalition Feedback Hand of Aces Keep Going Captain Let’s Pretend Lost State of Dance Paper Taxis Lunar Road Up Down Strange All and I Neon Sheep Eve Hornby Faye Bradley AJ Wilde Michael Rice Dion Watts Matthew Appleyard John Ashurst Lauren Swales Zoe Angus Jaspreet Singh Emma Matthews Nicola Brown Leanne Pickering Victoria Davies Rachel Burnside Gil Parker Freya Watson Alisha Watts James Pearson Jacob Sotheran Darley Beth Lowery Jasmine Hewitt Chloe Gibson Molly Farquhar Lewis Murphy Abbie Coulson Nick Davies Harvey Parker Kyran Williamson Michael Anderson Bethany Murray Sophie Hamilton Amy Wilkins Emma Simpson Liam Wales Jacob Bartram Alex Hooks Rebecca Miller Caitlin Miller Sean McCloskey Dominic Parker Abbey Sharpe Elena Larkin Rebecca Simpson Nick Dixon Abbie Farrelly Liam Grieves Casey Smith Liam Downing Ben Wignall Elizabeth Hann Danielle Walker Lauren Glen James Johnson Ben Ervine Kate Burton James Hudson Daniel Mayes Matthew Kitching Josh Bennett Evolution Dreams.

Said Dawn of her new name, “Officially I should be called Red, but I appreciate some people will find it hard to embrace the change.”  She added that sometimes her husband will slip up and still call her Dawn.

I guess that tops the woman who changed her name to an A-Z list of the alphabet and the woman who changed her name to badmouth her travel agents.  At least this name will honor her charity and hopefully raise awareness and help more budding artists.

Tags: dawn mcmanus, unusual names, charity names, woman has 161-word name, red dreams, hartlepool, woman changes name for charity, unusual names, weird names, long names, england, red dreams charity, massive names, charities, arts foundation, very long names, Red Wacky League Antlez Broke the Stereo Neon Tide Bring Back Honesty Coalition Feedback Hand of Aces Keep Going Captain Let’s Pretend Lost State of Dance Paper Taxis Lunar Road Up Down Strange All and I Neon Sheep Eve Hornby Faye Bradley AJ Wilde Michael Rice Dion Watts Matthew Appleyard John Ashurst Lauren Swales Zoe Angus Jaspreet Singh Emma Matthews Nicola Brown Leanne Pickering Victoria Davies Rachel Burnside Gil Parker Freya Watson Alisha Watts James Pearson Jacob Sotheran Darley Beth Lowery Jasmine Hewitt Chloe Gibson Molly Farquhar Lewis Murphy Abbie Coulson Nick Davies Harvey Parker Kyran Williamson Michael Anderson Bethany Murray Sophie Hamilton Amy Wilkins Emma Simpson Liam Wales Jacob Bartram Alex Hooks Rebecca Miller Caitlin Miller Sean McCloskey Dominic Parker Abbey Sharpe Elena Larkin Rebecca Simpson Nick Dixon Abbie Farrelly Liam Grieves Casey Smith Liam Downing Ben Wignall Elizabeth Hann Danielle Walker Lauren Glen James Johnson Ben Ervine Kate Burton James Hudson Daniel Mayes Matthew Kitching Josh Bennett Evolution Dreams

MCA, far right, progressed from party boy to peace activist.

You cannot say enough about pioneering rap group The Beastie Boys.  Three Jewish kids from New York named Mike D, Ad Rock, and MCA took punk rock and metal and fused it with the growing hip-hop sound and thus straddled two genres.  They rapped over beats from the Dust Brothers and they rapped over music they played live with traditional rock instruments.  They combined macho bravado with comedy and science fiction nerdery, and no one was more important to their sound than the gruff, tough MCA, AKA Adam Yauch, who has lost his battle with cancer.  Adam Yauch was 47.

However, MCA was important for far more than his rapping; he was also an activist and a film producer.  He was one of the founders of arthouse distributor Oscilloscope Pictures and–when he wasn’t busy selling 40 million albums, winning 3 Grammy awards, getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and putting out 8 iconic albums–was one of the organizers of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, a series of all-star benefit concerts to benefit Tibet and Tibetan independence.

Tags: mca, beastie boys, adam yauch, adam ‘mca’ yauch, adam yauch dead, mca dead, beastie boys mca dead, adam yauch dead at 47, cancer, music, rapping, hip-hop, mca beastie boys died, oscilloscope pictures, tibetan freedom concerts, rock and roll hall of fame

Best. Day. EVER!

Are you busy Saturday, May 5?  If not, then you’re in for a treat.  The first Saturday in May has been dubbed Free Comic Book Day for a few years now, so that means Free Comic Book day is coming up on Saturday, May 5.  Thousands of comic book stores are planning on giving away over 3.5 million comic books in an attempt to win over new customers and expand their business.

While comic books are entering your local library and cracking best-of lists, they’re still a niche market and thus they need to spread the word to survive.  Things like Free Comic Book Day may cost the industry as a whole money, but if they can lure a few new fans into the world of Bongo Comics or The Avengers, then they have a fan for life who is more likely to buy other comics (good for the industry) and buy that series of comics (good for the company).

There looks to be a wide variety of free comics available for Free Comic Book Day, but I suggest getting to your local store early to get copies of what you want before everyone else shows up and takes the rest.  Here’s a list of the free comics that may be available in your area.  You can see a list of participating comic shops at FreeComicBookDay.com.

Tags: free comic books, may 5 is free comic book day, free comic book day, comic book giveaway, graphic novels, comics, FreeComicBookDay.com, free comic book giveaway, free stuff, comic book celebration, bongo comics, comic book guy

A medical research lab.

For 20 years, researchers at a lab in San Francisco have been hard at work trying to figure out a vaccine for Neisseria meningitidis, a strain of bacteria that causes meningitis, blood infections, and infects a thousand people in the United States every year, mostly infants and college students.  The bacteria infects the body rapidly, and for a lot of patients, they are dead before they  realize they are truly sick.  Twenty-five year old Richard Din was one such person.  Din, a medical researcher working on finding a vaccine for Neisseria meningitidis, died from the very thing he was trying to cure.

“It’s our responsibility to assume it’s laboratory-associated until proven otherwise,” said Harry Lampiris, the chief of infectious disease at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where Din worked.  Coworkers described Din as “a very talented, hard-working and fastidious individual,” and Lampiris added, ”He was a very bright person who was probably at the beginning of a long research career.”

According to the CDC, someone dying of an infection they were fighting to prevent is very unusual, so there’s no word on just how Din got infected with meningitis.  Samples will need to be tested to determine if Din died from his research strain of bacteria, though it is pretty likely that he did.

Tags: richard din, san francisco, california, san francisco va, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center,  Neisseria meningitidis, Harry Lampiris, meningitis, researcher killed by research subject, researcher killed by disease, accidents, bacteria kills researcher, unusual accidents, medical research

For years and years, Mariano Rivera’s greatness has been related to his ability to be consistent.  He’s got one pitch he throws, a cut fastball that hits in the low 90′s on the radar gun.  He has saved at least 25 games for 15 seasons (and is baseball’s all-time saves leader).  For 11 seasons, he has had an ERA under 2.00.  He’s a 12-time All Star.  When coming out to save a game, he’d come out to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”  And, last but not least, before every game he would head out to the outfield and shag fly balls to warm up, loosen his 42-year-old bones and have a little fun.  Well, last night in Kansas City, Mariano Rivera blew out his knee warming up for the game with the Royals.

“I got caught between the grass and dirt.  I couldn’t pull my leg up,” said Rivera after being examined at KU Medical Center West.  ”It’s torn.  We have to fix it. … But I was doing what I love to do and would do it over again.  I just have to fight through.”

Tags: kansas city, kansas city royals, mariano rivera, new york yankees, all-time saves leader mariano rivera blows out a knee, mariano rivera hurts his knee before the game in kansas city, mariano rivera out for the season with a knee injury, baseball, mlb, major league baseball, sports, injuries, freak injuries, torn meniscus, torn acl, anterior cruciate ligament injury, KU Medical Center West

Eric LeGrand and new Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano back in their Rutgers days.

When Eric LeGrand was paralyzed in a game against Army in 2010, he lost more than his dream of playing professional football.  Fracturing two vertebrae in his neck, LeGrand was told by doctors that he would never walk again, let alone play football.  While his official football days are over, Eric LeGrand has served as an inspiration to millions of others who, while they may be in wheelchairs, are not giving up on life.  That’s why Greg Schiano, LeGrand’s former coach with Rutgers, signed Eric LeGrand to a contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“It’s a symbolic gesture.  They can’t give me any money with the salary cap and all that kind of stuff,” said a thrilled LeGrand, who is on track to graduate from Rutgers with a degree in broadcast journalism.  ”It’s symbolic, something Coach wanted to do and I appreciate that.  It just shows the man that he is.”  LeGrand added, “It’s something I always dreamed about, go to the NFL and retire and become a sportscaster.  Dreams do come true if you really believe.  You do the right things in life, good things happen to you.  He really just did this out of the kindness of his heart.  It’s really what he wanted to do.  I had no idea this was going to happen.”

This is really a classy move by Schiano.  Good for him for making a kid’s dreams come true, and good for the Bucs to let that happen.  It’s nice to see a guy get rewarded for his efforts to inspire others, and it’s heartwarming to see a coach remember his former player in such a public way.

Tags: greg schiano, eric legrand, tampa bay buccaneers, eric legrand signs with tampa bay, nfl, national football league, heartwarming stories, sports, football, professional football, paralyzed football player signs professional contract, eric legrand signs with tampa bay, eric legrand paralyzed, rutgers scarlet knights, rutgers

This is a wolfdog, but it is not Chief the wolfdog.

There have been a lot of dangerous dogs covered in PopFi’s long history, from death row escapees to vicious Pomeranians, but there hasn’t been a story like Chief.  Chief, a wolf-dog hybrid like the one seen above, was sentenced to death row in Louisiana until a judge stepped in and gave him a reprieve.  Chief the wolf-dog has gotten sent from doggy death row to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, guarding the perimeters of the massive Angola prison farm.  District Judge James Best, who signed the euthanasia order, commuted Chief’s sentence to a life in prison and shipped him off to the farm.

Deputy Warden Bruce Dodd said prison officials in Angola read about Chief’s exploits in New Roads and decided that a dangerous wolfdog who loves to roam would be great at guarding the prison’s 18,000 acres of farmland.  Sounds about right to me, given the dog’s temperament.  I’d much rather see a dog get put to good use than get put down, so here’s hoping Chief makes a better prison employee than he does a neighbor.

Tags: Deputy Warden Bruce Dodd, Angola, Louisiana, New Roads, Louisiana State Penitentiary, Chief, wolfdogs, wolf-dog hybrid, dog saved from death row to work in prison, wolfdog to be used as prison guard, dog saved from death row to be prison dog, prison guards, unusual prison employees, prison guard dog, dangerous dog to be used as prison guard, district judge james best

The late, great Junior Seau.

Junior Seau was a tough man.  Every day for decades, he battled other massive men on the football field with the reckless abandon of a kid playing his favorite game.  (He also survived a 100-foot fall down a cliff in his car in 2010.)  He did some wonderful things on and off the field, but now his life is over.  Junior Seau died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Oceanside, California.  He was only 43 years old; just last year, he was inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame.

“It’s a sad thing.  It’s hard to understand,” said Bobby Beathard, the former Chargers GM who drafted Seau.  ”He was really just a great guy.  If you drew up a player you’d love to have the opportunity to draft and have on the team and as a teammate, Junior and Rodney (Harrison), they’d be the kind of guys you’d like to have.  He was a leader emotionally and he played that way.  He was great to young kids.  I just can’t imagine this, because I’ve never seen Junior in a down frame of mind.  He was always so upbeat and he would keep people up.  He practiced the way he played.  He made practice fun.  He was a coach’s dream.”

Junior Seau played 20 seasons, 12 of them with San Diego.  He played in 268 career games, second-most out of all linebackers to suit up in the NFL.  He recorded over 1800 tackles and 56.5 sacks as the fifth overall draft pick in 1990 out of USC.  He made 12 Pro Bowls, was a 10-time All Pro, was the defensive player of the year in 1994, the AFC player of the year in 1994, a member of the 1990′s All Decade team, and a two-time player in the Super Bowl with the Chargers and Patriots.  In 2015, Seau will be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, without question.

It’s just a shame he won’t be there to see it.

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Kate Upton and Terry Richardson are about to get banned by YouTube.

Kate Upton is one of the most famous models in the world.  Her bikini-clad figure was displayed on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, and that was the moment she went from being a working model to being a celebrity model.  Since then, videos of her goofing around in bikinis (or just in general) have become hot property, and nobody knows that more than fashion photographer Terry Richardson, who made sure to have fun with Upton while shooting the model for Harper’s Bazaar.  A 20-second video of Kate Upton dancing in a bikini was deemed too hot for YouTube and was banned by the service.

Of course, once the banning went viral, YouTube reposted the video.  That’s good, because they corrected their mistake.  Granted, YouTube is a private company who can remove any video they want at any time, but there is much worse content on YouTube than a girl dancing in a bikini.  This wouldn’t even be a controversy if YouTube didn’t make it a controversy; to me, the video is more goofy and awkward (and blatantly trying to get attention) than illicit.

Here’s the video, restored by YouTube and published at Terry Richardson’s YouTube channel.  Decide for yourself if Kate Upton’s Cat Daddy dance is too hot for YouTube.  If you ask me, it’s more awkward and goofy, but I’m not YouTube.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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It is possibly the most iconic painting of all time.  A screaming man pictured under a blood red sky.  It is human anxiety made manifest in pastels on board and is one of four variations on the same theme by Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch.  Now, you can call it the most expensive painting ever auctioned.  The only version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream in private hands was auctioned for a world record $119.9 million dollars at Sotheby’s in New York City yesterday.

The bidding started at $40 million and quickly boiled down to two bidders, both working over the phone.  It took only 12 minutes for the price to exceed Picasso’s old record of $106 million dollars.  The version of The Scream is unique because not only is it the most colorful version, it is also the only version in which Munch hand-painted the frame around the painting with the words of the poem that inspired the legendary work of art.

According to owner Petter Olsen, whose Norwegian businessman father was a patron of Munch, “the moment has come to offer the rest of the world the chance to own and appreciate this remarkable work.  I have lived with this work all my life, and its power and energy have only increased with time.”

Olsen’s share of the $119.9 million dollars will be used to establish a new museum, art center, and hotel in Hvitsten, Norway, where Munch lived at the time he committed his famous scream to canvas.

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Our long national pregnancy is finally over.

It seems like Jessica Simpson has been pregnant forever.  I mean, the jokes about her eternal pregnancy have been going around for months now, so surely she’s been gestating for a year or more, right?  As it turns out, she’s only been pregnant since late October and her daughter, 9 pound 13 ounce Maxwell Drew Johnson, is a healthy and normal baby girl (and not some kind of elephant baby gestating for 18 months).  This is the first child for Simpson and her ex-NFL fiance Eric Johnson.

“We are so grateful for all of the love, support and prayers we have received,” crowed Simpson in a statement on her website.  ”This has been the greatest experience of our lives!!”

So why Maxwell Drew Johnson?  It’s a weird and slightly terrible name for a girl, and I think we all agree with that.  Here’s the rationale:  Maxwell is Eric Johnson’s middle name and Eric Johnson’s mother’s maiden name.  Drew is Jessica Simpson’s mother’s maiden name.  That makes it slightly cute, but a child with the name Maxwell Drew should probably still be male, no matter how adorable the mother thinks the name is.

Image:  ABC

Tags: jessica simpson, eric johnson, maxwell drew johnson, jessica simpson baby, jessica simpson gives birth, jessica simpson’s first child born, celebrities, babies, celebrity babies, unusual names

Octomom buried in octodebt.

I hate projecting goals onto people, but I can only imagine that Nadya Suleman, AKA Octomom, wanted to be famous when she had in-vitro fertilization treatments to give herself a set of octuplets.  Well, while she did get fame, she did not exactly get fortune.  As it turns out, Octomom is $1 million dollars in debt and has been forced to file bankruptcy.  As it turns out, PETA ads can’t pay the rent all the time once the first blush of fame wears off.

“I have had to make some very difficult decisions this year, and filing Chapter 7 was one of them,” said Suleman, who is a mother of 14 and practically a one-w0man Duggar family.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy means that a court-appointed trustee will sell off Suleman’s possessions and dole out the money to her many creditors before forgiving the rest of her debts.  Among the people she owes money to are her father, DirecTV, the water department of the city of La Habra, Whittier Christian School, and her landlord (she is $30,000 behind on her rent for her four-bedroom house).  With listed assets of $50,000, she owes about 20 times her net worth.

No doubt due to her dire financial straits, she is also apparently now willing to do porn to make a little extra money and get herself out of hock.

Tags: octomom, la habra, california, octomom bankrupt, nadya suleman, octomom nadya suleman files for bankruptcy, octomom over

[tags]octomom, la habra, california, octomom bankrupt, nadya suleman, octomom nadya suleman files for bankruptcy, octomom over $1 million dollars in debt, octomom debt, octuplets, chapter seven bankruptcy, celebrities, unusual people[/tags]

Tyler Perry Studios, after the massive fire.

It was like a scene out of a Madea movie, but without the cross-dressing and crazy violence inside a church.  The sprawling 200,000-square-feet complex known as Tyler Perry Studios in southwestern Atlanta was the scene of a massive fire.  The fire was so large and difficult to fight that it was a full-fledged four alarm fire, involving a hundred firemen and twenty fire trucks, according to Atlanta Fire Department Capt. J. L. Bundrige.  Fortunately, officials were able to get the fire under control and apparently no one was hurt.

The Tyler Perry Studios facility is massive, home to multiple studios.  Fire trucks were seen surrounding the Ruby Dee-Ossie Davis studio, the Cicely Tyson studio, the Sydney Poitier studio, among others.  The blaze was located in the central area of the facility.  The Tyler Perry Studios complex contains five sound stages, a 400-seat theater, a private screening room, studio back lots, post-production facility, and areas for entertainment and special events.

Tags: tyler perry, atlanta, georgia, tyler perry studios, tyler perry studios four alarm fire, four alarm fire, fires, celebrities, film production studio, film studio burned, tyler perry film studio burned, Ruby Dee-Ossie Davis studio, Cicely Tyson studio, Sidney Poitier studio, captain j. l. bundrige, atlanta fire department

Ryan Braun smashes three homers (and a triple).

Petco Park in San Diego is one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in Major League Baseball.  The walls are deeper than average, and fairly high, which makes it a tough place to hit one home run.  I’m sure rookie pitcher Joe Wieland thought he was safe.  As it turns out, he was not.  During last night’s 8-3 smashing by the Milwaukee Brewers over the San Diego Padres, reigning NL MVP and proven-but-thrown-out steroid user Ryan Braun tied a team record by hitting three home runs.  This was the first three homer game in Petco Park history, and it was an impressive display of power by Braun.

Two of those home runs came off the unfortunate Wieland, with the third coming off relief pitcher Ernesto Frieri.  Braun was all set to hit a fourth home run as well, only to have the pitch land just before the wall.  Braun’s total line for last night was 4-5 with 3 runs, 3home runs, and 6 RBIs.  That’s a two solo homers, a two-run homer, and a two-run triple.

Braun is the second MLB player to hit three home runs this season after Yankee outfielder Curtis Granderson did it against the Minnesota Twins on April 19.

Tags: san diego padres, milwaukee brewers, petco park, ryan braun, ryan braun hits three home runs in petco park, first ever three-homer game in petco park, ryan braun three home runs, unusual feats, sports, baseball, major league baseball, mlb, park milestones, joe wieland, ernesto frieri

A mock-up of One World Trade as seen from Battery Park.

One World Trade Center has some shoes to fill.  Its predecessors, the Twin Towers that were felled on 9/11 and killed 3000 people, were two of the tallest buildings in the world and had supplanted the historic Empire State Building as the tallest structures in New York City before the terrorist attacks that felled them.  Well, the Empire State Building is back to number two as the former Freedom Tower, AKA One World Trade Center, is now New York’s tallest building and it’s not even complete!

“The new World Trade Center is more than just a skyscraper: it is a symbol of the enduring spirit of the City and State of New York, representing our commitment to rebuilding stronger than before,” said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Granted, the milestone is a technicality, but it will become a fact by the time the building rises to its full 1776-foot height in late 2013.  Construction workers raised a beam at the 1270-foot mark in One World Trade’s construction, which makes that building’s height just slightly taller than the top floor observation deck of the Empire State Building, which is 1250 feet up.  When you factor in the antenna on the top, the Empire State Building stands 1545 feet tall.  The North Tower of the old Twin Towers was 1727 feet tall.

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Professional sports are returning to Brooklyn for the first time since the Dodgers abandoned the borough for Los Angeles, and Mikhail Prokhorov is doing his best to ensure that the return to Brooklyn comes with a bang, not a whimper.  The formerly New Jersey Nets have a new arena, the Barclays Center, a new color scheme, and a new logo to celebrate their new home.  The first Brooklyn Nets material went on sale early this morning, showing off the new logo.

“We thought it kind of represented Brooklyn.  It’s simple.  It’s crisp.  It’s kind of classic.  It’s urban.  We thought it’s New York,” said Irina Pavlova, president of owner Prokhorov’s sports and entertainment venture.

Interestingly, the B logo was chosen not by Prokhorov, but by minority owner, rapper, and chicken mogul Jay Z, who pushed hard for the simple B over the other suggested BK logo.  I have to admit, the B looks pretty sharp, as does the team’s simple color scheme.

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A few weeks ago, the 100th anniversary of the maiden voyage of the Titanic was celebrated, and apparently that hoopla gave Australian billionaire Clive Palmer an idea.  A tourism magnate who developed Australia’s Gold Coast into the destination in that country, Palmer seems to have a great sense about what people want, and according to Palmer, what people want is the Titanic.  That’s right, the long-sunk luxury liner.  Clive Palmer is planning on rebuilding the Titanic, dubbing it Titanic II, and sailing it from England to New York and back again.

“It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic, but … will have state-of-the-art 21st-century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems,” said Palmer.  He dubbed his project, “a tribute to the spirit of the men and women who worked on the original Titanic.”

The actual technical details on the Titanic II have yet to be released, but Palmer has lined up a builder and founded a new company, Blue Star Line Pty. Ltd., to run the cruise venture.  The ship will be built by CSC Jinling Shipyard, a Chinese state-owned shipyard.  Titanic II will be a bit smaller than modern ships, holding only about 1680 people, but it would definitely be the most luxurious ship on the sea.  James Cameron, eat your heart out!

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Draft time!

With the new collective bargaining agreement in place, the NFL Draft has changed wildly since last year’s edition.  While there are still hundreds of talented college players vying to become professional football stars, teams are suddenly more aware of the value of draft picks these days thanks to the rookie salary schedule, and that means that trading up, down, and around in the draft is suddenly much more useful for a team.  There were a staggering 10 trades during the first round of the NFL Draft, the most since 2002.

In fact, after Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III went first and second, the trades started immediately.  Cleveland traded up to get Trent Richardson, the talented running back from Alabama, and Minnesota traded down to fourth to get Matt Kalil out of USC.  Jacksonville traded up from seventh to fifth to pick up Oklahoma State wideout Justin Blackmon, while the Cowboys moved up to sixth to pick up Morris Claiborne of LSU.  Rounding out the top ten were safety Mark Barron (picked seventh by Tampa), quarterback Ryan Tannehill (picked eighth by Miami), linebacker Luke Kuechly (ninth by Carolina), and cornerback Stephon Gilmore (going tenth to the Bills).

There were a staggering four trades among the first six selections of the draft!  More teams moved in the top ten than stayed the same!  But hey, much like last year, everyone was booing Roger Goodell.

Tags: andrew luck, robert griffin iii, nfl draft, football, professional football, 2012 nfl draft, first tournd of the nfl draft, national football leage, multiple trades at the nfl draft, 10 trades during the first round of the nfl draft

Soy sauce is a delicious source of umami, a foodie favorite.

While I hate the label foodie, I’m more than willing to try new foods, eat internationally, and give new things a chance (provided those things have no cheese in them).  If that makes me a foodie, so be it.  As it turns out, self-proclaimed foodies are different from the general population in more than just openness to new things.  Foodies enjoy different tastes from everyone else.  Perhaps their foodiness stems from some key chemical difference?  Or maybe, postulates one researcher, it’s boredom.

“Being labeled a foodie is very fashionable,” said Ken Albala, a food history processor at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.  ”No one is born liking anchovies.  The more you eat of it, the more you think it’s great.”

For most people, their favorite taste is either sweet or salty; for foodies, the top flavor preferences are bitter, sour, and the mysterious umami, which is a Japanese term for a pleasant savory taste best exemplified in miso soup, giant tuna fish, or soy sauce.  Seniors, Gen X, and Baby Boomers fell into the former category, while foodies and the majority of the Millennials fell for the more adventurous tastes of bitterness, sour, and umami and were more willing to try exotic tastes like Iron Age beer or 2400-year-old soup.

Tags: unusual foods, millennials are foodies, taste, foodies, foodies have different taste than everyone else, foodie taste preferences, average taste preferences, umami, salty, sweet, bitter, sour, taste profiles, ken albala, university of the pacific, stockton, california, food trends, food science, what tastes people enjoy