Things You Should Probably Know: Can Money Buy Happiness?

Submitted by brodiemanthe1st on 12/21/12 10:00am

It is time for another small dose of knowledge from ASAP Science. This time they ask, "Can money buy happiness?" The answer may or may not startle you, but it definitely says something about altruism.

Oh No They Didn't: UPS Steals An iPad Mini Delivered By FedEx

Submitted by brodiemanthe1st on 12/21/12 9:00am

Oh humanity, how you never cease to amaze me. Here we have a lovely display of people at their worst. After a FedEx employee drops off an iPad Mini for this home, a UPS driver also drops off a package. However, this guy seems to think that he can just steal packages as well as deliver them. Fortunately for the homeowner, they were recording it. What a dick!

Pop Culture Happenings: "This Is The End" Trailer Comes Just In Time

Submitted by brodiemanthe1st on 12/21/12 8:17am

Seth Rogen's newest film, "This Is The End," has released a red band trailer just in time for the Mayan Apocalypse. Hopefully, the world either ends or the words "Mayan Apocalypse" forever disappear from the collective consciousness. Regardless, check out this trailer starring most of the Rogen/Apatow crew all seeming to play themselves when the world ends. Nice burn on Michael Cera, too.

Winter Baseball: Guti! Guti! Guti!

Submitted by Spectator on 12/21/12 7:31am
It might not mean much, but it's good to see

Everyone wants to add more "impact bats" to the lineup, beyond Kendrys Morales (who gets a big thumbs-up), and most folks are presumably somewhat unconvinced that Jason Bay is going to qualify.

Then there's this:

629 PA, 160 H, 24 dbl, 1 tpl, 18 HR, 16 SB (5 CS)

.283/.339/.425/.764

That looks pretty good, doesn't it?  From a gold glove center fielder?

Well, that was 2009 "Death to Flying Things" Franklin Gutierrez ... pre-gastrowhatever, pre-concussion, etc.

Would it be nice to get that back as a most-days CF?  Well, check out what Guti is up to in Venezeula (link to winter stats):

21 G, 27-for-80, 5 dbl, 3 HR, 9 BB

.338/.404/.513/.917

Last 10 games:

14-for-38, 2 dbl, 2 HR

.368/.400/.579/.979

That includes five hits and 2 HR in the last two days.  Do Venezuelan winter stats ever mean too much?  No.

But ... when a guy has shown strong MLB ability, and is indicating that he might be back at full strength by slugging .500 for an extended period ... let's just say it's not bad news.

***

The other guy going nuts down in South America is Danny Farquhar (link to winter stats).  The journeyman obtained in the Ichiro deal has an ERA of 1.50 in 21 appearances.

He is on a streak in which he has 15 strikeouts and 0 walks in his last nine games.

***

And down in Australian Rules Baseball, where the world has presumably already ended per the Mayans, our man Ji-Man Choi (link to winter stats) is hitting an even .300 with 18 hits and 11 walks in 17 games for an OBP of .405.

From the Olympic Stage to the Vegas Strip

Submitted by Mulv Jones on 12/20/12 5:57pm
Former Olympian and NCAA Champ has secret escort life exposed.

Many know Suzy Favor-Hamilton as a former Olympian. Though her image was marred some what but a debated deliberate fall in the final of 1500m race of the Sydney Olympics, Favor-Hamilton is still one of the most decorated female runners in U.S. history. To much awe and surprise, this week celebrity gossip site The Smoking Gun released an article mapping out the past year of Favor-Hamilton’s life, as she worked as a high-paid Las Vegas Escort.  

The shocking story states how Favor-Hamilton, while being a wife and mother of a seven year old daughter, has spent the last year working for Haley Heston’s Private Collection escort agency. Under the moniker “Kelly,” Favor-Hamilton charged up $600 per hour, or $6000 for 24-hours, for her escort service, as well as a subsequent $300 for different sexually activities. She is quoted in The Smoking Gun article saying “I take full responsibility for my mistakes. I’m not the victim and I’m not going that route. I’m owning up to what I did. I would not blame anybody except myself.”

What makes the story even more bizarre is the double life which Favor-Hamilton lives. After hanging up the shoes, she has been busy making appearances at different Rock n' Roll and Disney Marathons, doing nearly 60 motivational speeches a year, as well as owning and operating a business with her husband in Wisconsin.

Though Favor-Hamilton believed there was an unspoken rule about anonymity between John and escort, one of her clients broke the story to the celebrity gossip site. Favor-Hamilton was not discrete about her personal life, and was open with clients about her actual identity. She admitted later to being, “too trusting,” of her clients, and stated how athletes at her level are conditioned to think they are, “invincible.”

Before becoming an escort, or even an Olympian, Suzy Favor-Hamilton produced the most decorated NCAA career of any female in history. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Favor-Hamilton won nine individual NCAA titles, including holding the championship records in the 800m and 1500m events. She was a 2-time NCAA Cross Country Championship runner up, won 23 Big Ten Conference Championships, and was named the NCAA Women of the Year. Along with her decorated collegiate career, Favor-Hamilton was also a prep star, holding the U.S. Junior record in the 1500m.

Since the story broke, Hamilton has ceased to do any more escort dates. She has been taken off all of the escort sites, and is dealing with the media exposure. No word on criminal charges yet. 

Inside Pitch (!) On Kendrys Morales

Submitted by jemanji on 12/20/12 3:52pm
Loch Ness Monster, Dept.

.

After, we sez after, our series that took y'down to Ko K'Mo, we heard from 'net legend autentico Inside Pitch.  

It had been, oh, two years since we'd heard from him, and he dropped us a line this morning about the Morales deal.  Sitting atop the Trout-Hamilton-Pujols dragon hoard with a Cheshire Cat grin, he could afford to be magnanimous. You aren't going to believe this, those of you who aren't in on the joke, but this was Chance's scouting report without having seen the SSI shtick.  More to the point, this was his scouting report not having cared about the SSI shtick, not having visited SSI in some years:

.

 

Grats on Fat Ichiro ...
 
LOL ....
 
Don't take that to be derogatory, once you get to see Kmo hit you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.   Kendrys will be very very good for you guys, he was the best bat to keep among Trumbo, PB and himself, but he offered the least amount of long term value and since he could only play 1B and DH -- he was deemed the most expendable.
 
What you will find in Kendry is that he's a singles hitter with extreme power, he adjusts to balls like a little guy but he has enough brute strength to make it go farther, harder than one would expect.  He's got fast, fast, hands...  I once compared him to Fred Flinstone bowling, if you recall the cartoon and how he would be on his tippy toes and then BOOM.  He's interesting to watch as I don't really recall anyone his size that moved the way he did in the batters box..  I dubbed him Fat Ichiro many years ago..   I will miss Kendrysan.
 
Also, for whatever reasons, Kendrys went without batting gloves late in the season and said the bat felt better in his hands..  He said he felt the weight better -- whatever baloney reasoning he may have put together in his melon, it worked.   Personally, I'd ignore the first half of the season and focus on the second half, particularly the last two months or so when he took the gloves off and started slamming the ball.  Early on it seemed Kendry was reaching, he looked like a guy that had not seen live pitching in a year and a half, and a guy who was dealing with some physical limitations he'd not had before.  So, he relied on those hands and that ability to flick at balls, and then he got healthy...
 
He's a good guy too.  Almost as smart as he is strong, and having shaken his hand, I was dismayed at just how brutishly strong he is.
 
Maybe you should call him Country Ichiro....
 
Regards,

Chance

.

No words to describe Dr. D's amusement at having shadow-danced with Pitch on an Angels hero, and a Cuban one no less.

Any of you guys ever see Jackie Chan's 1970's movie, The Big Brawl?  His uncle preps him for the tourney and at first Jackie takes his lumps.  But by the end of the training, uncle swings his cane, Jackie wraps his elbow around his neck, sets a tea cup on unc's elbow and pours tea into it...

This morning I think I know how he felt, topping off the teacup.  ;- )

..............

Pitch finishes with,

 

BTW, my life is much less hectic so, I'll bug you much more often.

We'll hold yer to it.  You're going to need somebody to gloat onto.

BABVA,

Dr D

 

SPD loosening marijuana restrictions for new recruits

Submitted by erika on 12/20/12 1:08pm
Had been considering easing up even before I-502 passed

Until I-502 passed, the Seattle Police Department required that recruits be clean of marijuana usage for the last three years. The SPD is still beholden to federal laws, so they can't drop the requirement altogether. However, they are going to drop it to one year.

This is another way in which I-502 is actually going to benefit law enforcement. Not only will officers be able to stop picking people up and jailing them for marijuana possession (which many police officers found silly and a waste of their time and jail space), but it will also make it easier for the SPD to get good qualified recruits.
 
Law enforcement is a job sector that is growing steadily across the country, but several factors have made it difficult to find qualified recruits. Law enforcement is dangerous, thankless work. It's a difficult job mentally, emotionally and physically. And many people who might otherwise have gone into law enforcement have chosen to enter the military instead, with its greater hiring bonuses and lower chance of being shot.
 
In fact, the Huffington Post reports that the SPD's former marijuana policy meant that they had to regretfully pass on two excellent recruits. "One was a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who had briefly been prescribed marijuana by a doctor for pain. Another was a former high-level college athlete who had smoked marijuana 20 months before applying."
 
Now, I know that a lot of marijuana fans are not exactly super-keen on the police. And I get that, I really do. However, if I-502 is going to stand, then it needs to have law enforcement behind it, not working against it. And not to point out the obvious, but the police aren't just annoying power-trip junkies out to harass you and your friends on a Friday night; they are also the first responders who might literally save your life one day. 
 
The cops get a bad rap in some circles, but they are also the ones who rushed up into the Twin Towers on 9/11, and the ones who ran into Sandy Hook elementary school. It's okay to be a watchdog for police abuse, while still giving our first responders the respect that they deserve.
 
At this point, only the Seattle Police Department is loosening their marijuana restrictions. It remains to be seen whether other local police agencies across the state will follow suit.
 

Oh No They Didn't: WTF Is Miss Venezuela Saying?

Submitted by brodiemanthe1st on 12/20/12 1:05pm

So when the Miss Universe competition happened, Miss Venezuela had a little spot of bad luck. Either her translator gave her a bad interpretation, or she simply doesn't have the best grasp of English. Either way, suuuuuuper awkward sounding. 

Golden eagle viral video: fake

Submitted by erika on 12/20/12 12:28pm
If you thought it was too amazing to be true - you were right!

The viral video hit of the week was this video of a golden eagle swooping down on a park. The eagle appears to pick up a toddler, swoop away with it for about five or six feet, then - luckily for the toddler - drops it, presumably because the kid was too heavy.

The first time I saw this video, I had some suspicions. For one thing, if a toddler had been grabbed by a golden eagle, even through several layers of winter coat, that kid would not have been fine (as seen in the video). A golden eagle's talons can exert 440 pounds of pressure per square inch, and are about 2 inches long. Being grabbed by a golden eagle is like having your shoulders snatched by a trash compactor with steak knives. A puffy coat isn't going to provide much protection. (In Asia, Golden eagles were trained for falconry and used to hunt surprisingly large prey, including "deer, antelope, and wolves.")
 
A few days after the video exploded, the animation students behind the video went public to explain that it was a fake. Normand Archambault and Felix Marquis-Poulin created it as a class project, and I hope they got a good grade out of it! Although it was quickly exposed partly because of some visual glitches that were easily apparent when viewed on a frame-by-frame basis, the video has a remarkably realistic feel. And I applaud Archambault and Marquis-Poulin for going public so quickly, unlike so many other videos which are eventually proved fake.
 
One thing that these students got right was the Golden eagle's hunting style. The largest of all raptors, the Golden eagle typically kills in a two-phased attack. In phase 1, the eagle cruises slowly over its hunting ground, looking for prey with its incredible eyesight. In phase 2, the eagle swings around behind the prey and makes a low, fast gliding attack before snatching the prey with its amazing talons. Most prey animals never hear or see the eagle coming.
 
Habitat destruction is one of the biggest threats faced by Golden eagles today. These magnificent birds have been pushed back from most of their range, and are found primarily in mountain areas. (Which made the bird's appearance in a metropolitan Montreal park even more suspicious.) They have also been exterminated through much of their territory by hunting, often by ranchers and shepherds trying to protect their herds, who believe that "the only good eagle is a dead eagle."

Emerald green flash

Submitted by Penny Lane on 12/20/12 11:37am
Clothing, jewelry and accessories in rich green hues

Make a bold impression and turn a few heads in rich shades of emerald green this holiday season. This hot jewel tone is appearing on the streets and runways alike, by way of clothing, jewelry and accessories. Don't hesitate to wear it through spring; rumor has it, emerald green is the "it" color for 2013 weddings or otherwise. Get your emerald green ideas on at Seattle in Style! 

Alice+Olivia | $472

Laurence Dacade | $455

Opening Ceremony |$175

Max & Chloe | $70

Bright By Black | $320

Dorothy Perkins | $29

Complice Vintage | $173

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