Rolling Thunder rolls in to commemorate Memorial Day

 

WASHINGTON - It's time to get ready to hear the rumble of Rolling Thunder. Hundreds of thousands of motorcycle riders are converging on D.C. this weekend for their 25th Memorial Day ride. Riders have already begun arriving for the weekend of events to remember prisoners of war and those missing in action. "I have a brother I lost in Vietnam in 1968," says Mark Given, a Desert Storm veteran. He joined Rolling Thunder to make sure the sacrifices of people like his brother are not forgotten - especially on Memorial Day. Given was one of about six riders from Rolling Thunder on Friday morning who laid wreaths at historic Congressional Cemetery in Southeast, paying tribute to the fallen as a bugler played taps. Given's 12-year-old son, Martin, came with him from New Jersey this year. The youngster is named after Given's brother, "I carry his name on for who he was and for serving our country," he says. At the grave of an unknown soldier, Carlos Hollifield says laying a wreath is appropriate. "Our mission is to ensure that in the future we have no unknowns." Hollifield says there are still more than 100,000 Americans from all wars still unaccounted for. "We work to make sure that political leaders and citizens never forget our prisoners of war and our missing in action." The riders also placed a wreath at the gravesite of several War of 1812 veterans. Congressional Cemetery was the first national cemetery established in 1807.

Jenna Jameson arrested for suspected DUI in Calif. - San Jose Mercury News

 

WESTMINSTER, Calif.—Former adult film star Jenna Jameson has been arrested in Southern California for investigation of driving under the influence after she struck a light pole with her vehicle. Police say Jameson had driven her vehicle into a light pole early Friday in Westminster. She suffered minor injuries but refused medical treatment. A police statement says a field sobriety test was conduct and there were signs of intoxication. Jameson was booked and later cited and released. A statement issued by her website says Jameson is home and well but has no immediate comment. Jameson crossed into the mainstream after publishing a popular autobiography in 2004. She has twin sons with mixed martial arts star Tito Ortiz, who two y

 

 

Chernobyl Diaries’ is a disaster of a horror film

 

Poor decisions and bad luck are contingencies of most horror films. Marion Crane decides to take a shower at the Bates Motel. People on Amity Island continue to swim in sharky water. The kids on Elm Street can’t stop falling asleep. All that appears to be motivating anybody in “Chernobyl Diaries” to do anything is paltry screenwriting. Chris and Amanda and Natalie visit Chris’s brother, Paul, in Kiev. The plan is to go to Moscow, but Paul thinks it would be fun to pile inside a stranger’s van and head to the site of a town abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in 1986. Movie Review CHERNOBYL DIARIES Directed by: Bradley Parker Written by: Shane Van Dyke, Carey Van Dyke, and Oren Peli Starring: Jonathan Sadowski, Jesse McCartney, Olivia Dudley, and Devin Kelley At: Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs Running time: 88 minutes Rated: R (violence, some bloody images, and pervasive language) There are scraps of interest. Four or five people in the audience might see these guys wandering around big, vacant, Soviet-era structures and wish to quench an urge to watch something by Andrei Tarkovsky. But they won’t say anything because that observation would be more interesting than what they are actually watching. There’s also the matter of style. The movie has been shot with a hand-held camera that suggests that someone in the group is a cinematographer. It looks like the found footage in stuff like “Chronicle” and “Project X” but with reverse shots, shifting point-of-view shots, and competent editing. When three characters find the cellphone of two missing characters, the explanatory video one of them made is actual found footage. We’re supposed to understand this is just nominally creepy camerawork. Anyway, it’s all assembled from a kit. Something is still alive — and it’s not the bear that jogs by them in an empty apartment complex or the dogs that might have ripped up Chris’s leg. The movie wants us to find this frightening, but there’s no suspense, no terrifying images. (There’s no diary, either!) No one runs for dear life. They just inch into one small, dark room after the next. There is a pitiful attempt to bring the nuclearness of things in on the action and a worse attempt to end it all. The plot twist has arthritis. The actors playing the four Americans — Jesse McCartney, Jonathan Sadowski, Olivia Dudley, and Devin Kelley — have natural enough rapport. They could be improvising. So could the two people playing the hippie couple that joins the tour. But the real stars of the movie are the tired devices and plot points. They’re famous, but they’re as old as Betty White: The Guide Is Dead, The Van Won’t Start, Her Shirt Has a Plunging Neckline, Don’t Go in There. That last one doesn’t happen for us this time. It’s more like: Please. Go in there. We want to go home.

Lolo Jones and Tim Tebow: Match made in heaven?

 

U. S. Olympics track and field star Lolo Jones said she is looking for a special bond, and cleared up her status on Twitter in March. According to the Sporting News, she wrote, "Yes I'm a virgin. #1 reason why I'm single bc guys deuce out when I won't put out. I do so to honor God & future husband." Jones will compete in the women's 100-meter hurdles. She called herself a “professional shoplifter” by the time she was in sixth grade. She said she took frozen dinners for her family, and she lived in the basement of a Salvation Army for a time, according to USA Today. HBO's "Real Sports" with Bryant Gumbel reported that the 29-year-old said she has tried dating services and Twitter to find a prospective boyfriend. She said it’s been difficult maintaining her virginity until marriage. Jones said, according to the Los Angeles Times, "If there are virgins out there, I'm going to let them know, it's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life — harder than training for the Olympics and graduating from college.” "I've had guys tell me, ‘If you have sex, it will help you run faster,'" she added. Jones runs fast enough. She was leading the100-meter hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but tripped on the next-to-last hurdle and finished seventh. Meanwhile, a guy with similar morals to Jones named Tim Tebow has recently heard some chants of “Lo-lo!” from his teammates. Jones gave her thoughts on the matchup with Tebow on Twitter, according to an Associated Press report in the Chicago Sun-Times: “Ask Tebow if he wants a glass of milk. If he says yes, ask him if he prefers chocolate. If he says no, then no more Tebow date suggestions.”

Schilling's 38 Studios a Rhode Island 'Debacle,'

 

May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Former Boston Red Sox pitching star Curt Schilling's 38 Studios LLC game-making company is "disintegrating" despite state efforts to save it, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee said. "We are doing our best to salvage this, but the situation is very dire," Chafee said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. The company dismissed workers yesterday, according to Nicole Romeo, a Labor and Training Department spokeswoman. Schilling, 45, moved the company to Providence from Maynard, Massachusetts, with the promise to create hundreds of jobs after Rhode Island provided $75 million from an economic development fund, using bonds sold in 2010. The state unemployment rate has been more than 10 percent for three years, rising to 11.2 percent last month. Concerns about 38 Studios arose when the company missed a May 1 debt-service payment, covering it later. Chafee, an independent who took office in January 2011, inherited the deal with Schilling's company from former Governor Donald Carcieri, a Republican. "It was really insanity on the part of the previous administration to get into this high-risk industry, and now we're seeing the ramifications," Chafee said on Bloomberg TV's "Street Smart" show. "Now we're seeing this company disintegrate on us," he said, calling it "a debacle." Bond Repayment The state may be on the hook to repay bondholders who own the debt, issued by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. No one from the company has responded to telephone calls today and yesterday seeking comment on the dismissals. 38 Studios released its first game, "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning," in February. Chafee said sales fell short. "The game failed," he said yesterday at a briefing for reporters in the Rhode Island Statehouse. "That was integral to the success of the company." The bonds maturing in November 2015 traded at an average yield of about 4.8 percent May 23, up from 3 percent April 10, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. "The financial struggles of 38 Studios, a video-gaming venture, underscore the risks pertaining to economic development project financing by state and local governments," Marcia Van Wagner, a Moody's Investors Service senior analyst, said yesterday in a statement. She said the debt used to back the company isn't at risk, citing state commitments to cover repayment. Wearing number 38 on his jersey with the Red Sox in 2004, Schilling helped the team win its first World Series title in 86 years. He also played for Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles.

Analyzing Timetable for Hakeem Nicks's Recovery

 

Analyzing Timetable for Hakeem Nicks’s Recovery By JENE BRAMEL Jene Bramel, a Fifth Down contributor, has begun a blog, Second Opinion, in which he’ll use his experience as a doctor to help fans understand various injuries and analyze their effect on players and teams. Hakeem Nicks broke the fifth metatarsal in his right foot Thursday. Early estimates put his expected recovery at 12 weeks, giving him a chance to return to the field by mid-August. Giants Coach Tom Coughlin wasn’t as confident, saying “it’s probably going to be close” when asked if Nicks would be ready for the season opener on Sept. 5. Can Nicks rehab in time for the Wednesday night season opener? How realistic is the 12-week timetable? Though optimistic, it is realistic, according to a study done by Dr. Robert Anderson of the Carolina Foot and Ankle Institute. Anderson, who will be performing Nicks’s surgery, is the go-to surgeon for N.F.L. players with complicated injuries, especially Lisfranc injuries, Achilles’ tendon ruptures and fifth metatarsal fractures. Anderson’s 2011 study looked at outcomes for elite athletes who required surgical revision of a poorly healed or re-fractured fifth metatarsal. While Nicks’s injury does not fall into that more concerning group, he’ll very likely be undergoing the same surgical procedure – screw fixation with bone grafting – and have a comparable rehabilitation schedule. Of the 21 athletes Anderson studied, 12 were football players. Nine of those twelve returned in 12 weeks or less; three returned within 15-16 weeks. Among all 21 athletes, 16 returned to their sport within 12 weeks. All returned to their previous level of competition. Though Anderson’s study is reassuring, Nicks’s rehab and recovery won’t be without potential setbacks. Areas of the fifth metatarsal are notorious for inconsistent healing and re-fracture because of relative poor blood supply to parts of the bone. Anderson’s method seems to limit those complications with the aid of bone grafting, but a player pushing the limits of the recovery timetable will heighten the risk of re-fracture. Should Nicks have a successful rehab after surgery, he’ll also have to avoid a cascade injury – an injury to another, previously unaffected part of the body – as he gets into football shape late in camp. Hamstring or other muscle strains are an all-too-common occurrence as players attempt to return to their previous level of play before fully conditioned. The bottom line: While Nicks may be able return to practice during training camp, those final two-three weeks of rehabilitation will be critical. If he makes it through the end of training camp without a compensatory injury, he should be considered fully healed and back to his baseline injury risk. Unfortunately for the Giants and Nicks, who has yet to finish a full 16-game season, the durability concerns won’t be going away anytime soon.

The Bodega: A Brief History of an Urban Institution

 

In some parts of America, it’s called a “party store.” In others it’s called a “corner store.” And elsewhere it’s a “grocery”. In New York City, the term for a small, local retailer that sells everything from beer to diapers  is “bodega,” and it was in the stockroom of one of these stores that 6-year-old Etan Patz lost his life 33 years ago today. On Thursday, a former bodega employee named Pedro Hernandez told police that on a sunny morning in 1979, he had lured the boy into the basement of a store in Manhattan’s SoHo district, choked him to death and then hidden the body in a trash bag. He is accused of second-degree murder. (MORE: Are We Witnessing the Death of the Big-Box Store?) While most local outlets went ahead and called the crime scene a bodega, TIME refrained from using the term in our story on Etan today;  not everyone in the country is familiar with the Nuyorican, Caribbean or Noo Yawk patois that spawned the term. The word is from the Spanish la bodega — grocery store — and years ago, referred primarily to those found in Spanish speaking neighborhoods in the city, where the shops sprang up on streetcorners in residential neighborhoods, as opposed to the more established retailers along major avenues. But the convenience of having a convenience store within arms reach of one’s apartment appealed more and more over the years to New Yorkers. Delis, Korean groceries and bodegas — the terms are fairly interchangeable, no matter what neighborhood you’re in –  now number number more than 13,000 in New York City alone, many still owned by Puerto Rican and Dominican retailers. “In Central and South America and the Caribbean, they have bodegas on every corner to serve the poor,” said Fernando Mateo, spokesman for the Bodega Association of the United States. The term is used in cities with large Spanish-speaking populations elsewhere, of course; but it’s taken firmer root in the Big Apple than anywhere else. “New York City is basically the largest urban community in the world. Bodegas serve people who are used to that service in their native countries.” Mateo explained that bodegas have traditionally served a need in the inner city because where a large retailer will charge $5 for a gallon of milk, a bodega owner might charge $1.50 for a quart; someone who has an immediate need will go for the more convenient option several times a week. “But also they become a place where people get together and go over their daily news, and people become part of their communities,” he said. “It’s unique that supermarkets have not been able to put the bodega owner out of business.” (VIDEO: Extreme Couponers Get Groceries for (Almost) Free) But because the bodegas have also been the targets of armed robberies and complaints about food choices, the stores are not without their detractors. In 2002 the city launched an initiative to install security cameras in many of the stores after 12 bodega owners were killed in stickups. The city, adopting the term itself, launched its “Healthy Bodega Initiative” to help owners offer healthier alternatives for their customers. Politics, however, have found their way into bodegas as well. Mateo disagrees with what city health officials are trying to do. “It’s a political initiative, not a real initiative,” he says. “You’re not going to change the habits of people who are used to eating a certain kind of food.”