Rats On A Plane: Kebersihan dan Salinitas Maskapai Qantas Mulai Dipertanyakan

Seorang awak pesawat memeriksa kabin pesawat Qantas sebelum lepas landas menemukan tikus di kompartemen holding peralatan medis, menunda penerbangan selama lebih dari satu hari, seorang jurubicara mengatakan pada hari Kamis.

Setelah diperiksa bahwa tidak ada lagi tikus, pesawat itu kembali beroperasi Kamis pagi.

Para penumpang yang terpaksa menunda perjalanannya dari Sydney ke Brisbane telah dipindahkan ke pesawat lain.

Seorang juru bicara Qantas mengatakan insiden itu "sangat tidak biasa." Dia menolak disebutkan namanya, dengan alasan kebijakan.

Tapi Scott Connolly dari Serikat Pekerja Transportasi mengatakan pada radio Australian Broadcasting Corp pada hari Kamis bahwa para anggotanya memiliki keprihatinan tentang kebersihan dan sanitasi pada penerbangan Qantas.

Juru bicara membantah yang terjadi. "Ini merupakan kejadian yang sangat tidak teratur,"katanya.

Qantas, maskapai nasional Australia, telah mengalami serangkaian masalah dalam beberapa bulan terakhir, termasuk ledakan mesin dan pendaratan darurat.

Awal pekan ini, sebuah penerbangan Qantas dari Dallas, Texas, ke Australia harus berhenti di sebuah pulau Pasifik karena pilot takut mereka akan kehabisan bahan bakar karena angin yang kencang. Juru bicara Qantas mengatakan maskapai itu memiliki komitmen untuk rute - yang baru dan salah satu rute terpanjang di dunia untuk pesawat Boeing 747.

A-Rod's Banned Drug Mule Spotted On Yankees Road Trip

Major league baseball is looking into New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez's relationship with his steroid-supplying cousin Yuri Sucart after the admitted drug mule was spotted at the team's San Francisco hotel during the Yankees series against the Oakland A's.

Like bedbugs and Katie Couric, Sucart isn't easy to get rid of.

According to a team source, Sucart was seen at the St. Regis Hotel Tuesday night during the Yankees two-game series across the bay.  Sucart has been banned by the Yankees from any team-related activities after Rodriguez admitted that his cousin supplied and injected him with performance-enhancing drugs while he was with the Texas Rangers in 2001-3.

The source said Sucart, Rodriguez's mysterious "trainer" and "personal manager,"  has accompanied the Yankee third-baseman on numerous road trips over the past two seasons and the Yankees and MLB aren't too happy about the donkey's alleged resurrection.

Sucart was Rodriguez's constant companion during A-Rod's playing days with the Rangers, the Seattle Mariners and the Yankees.  He was banished, by the Yankees in 2009, from any Yankees team flights, stadiums or training facilities where the team was located.  Unofficially, Sucart's banishment does not apply to team hotels or sitting in the stands as a spectator.

After a 2009 Sports Illustrated story reported that Rodriguez tested positive during a 2003 drug test, he confessed how Sucart would pick up the steroids (or "boli" as it is sometimes called) in the Dominican Republic and inject the drug into both him and his cousin when he played for the Rangers in 2001-3.

Since 2003, Major League Baseball has had it's own ban on personal trainers and managers who are not affiliated with the teams and is once again looking into A-Rod's questionable relationship with Sucart.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman had no comment on the allegations, but can't be too happy about his star player bringing another distraction to the team.  MLB is already interested in the miraculous "stem-cell procedure" that has revived Yankees starting pitcher Bartolo Colon's arm.

The 48 year-old Sucart has seen better times since his Yankee banishment.  He is in foreclosure on several real estate properties according to his lawyer and feels he took the rap for A-Rod's misdeeds.

"Everybody wants a scapegoat," the dejected Sucart once said.

Maybe that's a step up from being a mule.

Chan Ho Park Sent To The Minors....In Japan

When an ex-major leaguer goes to Japan to play baseball, they usually dominate the competition and extend their careers. Some do go over there and fail, but it doesn't happen too much. And they hardly get sent to the minors. Unless your Jose Tolentino.

Somehow former all-star pitcher Chan Ho Park has been demoted to Japan's minor leagues. Park has won only one of seven starts for the Buffaloes with an earned run average of 4.29,so I can see why.

Pitching coach Osamu Fukuma said that Park needs to "stop fooling around" and get serious.

“He needs to pull himself together,” pitching coach Osamu Fukuma told the Sankei Sports newspaper. “He has not come here to fool around. He needs to do a lot better.”


In my opinion, Park hasn't been the same since he grooved that pitch to Cal Ripken Jr. in the All-Star Game.


 




   

Poking Fun At Tressel's Expense

Since the black cloud appeared at Ohio State and isn't leaving anytime soon, it's been real easy for rival fans to poke fun at Jim Tressel.

First there was the billboard along I-94 up here in Michigan, the minor league promotion, and now from Sportscrack.com is the latest t-shirt for Michigan fans to wear.

I'm a Michigan fan, but let's get some respect back and some wins over OSU under our belt before we start crowing about anything.  

Karya Seni Unik Dari Kubis

Seniman wanita Ju Duoqi menciptakan seni rupa yang unik ini untuk proyeknya yang disebut 'Fantasi Kubis Cina'.

Hasilnya adalah sosok-sosok wanita dalam pose-pose sensual dan glamor layaknya model 'sungguhan'.

Ju yang berasal dari Beijing, Cina menggunakan pisau untuk memotong-motong kubis berdasarkan warna dan jenisnya, dan menggunakan tusuk gigi untuk menyusunnya.

Kubis dibiarkan hingga jangka waktu yang berbeda-beda dan kemudian dimasak dengan cara-cara yang berbeda untuk mendapatkan hasil warna dan tekstur yang diinginkan.

Dia mengatakan, "Sayuran yang segar, layu, kering, diacar, direbus atau digoreng - semuanya akan memberikan hasil yang berbeda-beda."

Yankees Bartolo Colon: The Round Mound on the Rebound

Out of all of the New York Yankees off-season scrap-heap pick-ups, was there a more questionable signing than pitcher Bartolo Colon?  The righthander  had not pitched since injuring his arm in 2009 and showed up at camp with a body that made Rosie O'Donnell look svelte than the 2005 Cy Young winner he once was.  The sight of Colon in a major league camp, never mind pinstripes, must have appeared to be some kind of joke.

Signing the rotund Colon may one of the best moves in an off-season of questionable moves by Yankees GM Brian Cashman.  Maybe Yankees bench coach, Tony Pena, should get the credit.  After all, it was Pena who phoned Cashman, after seeing Colon in the Dominican Winter League, and recommended bringing the fastballer to spring training and giving him a look-see.

Now, with Phil Hughes dead arm and Ivan Nova looking at a hitch in the minors, signing Colon may be the best move by Cashman so far this year.

The Yankees signed Colon for the bargain basement price of $900,000 and, while he won't make anyone forget the non-signing of Cliff Lee, he's taken out a little of the sting.

After throwing a masterful complete-game, 4-hit shutout victory over the Oakland A's on Monday, the 38 year-old seems to have found the fountain of youth.  And that makes people talk.



How is it a pitcher who's 2009 elbow MRI resembled a pile of pick-up sticks and sat out a full season come back and rebound like that?

Colon has been steady so far this season.  He is 4-4 with a 3.14 ERA and has 62 strikeouts with only 15 walks.  His fastball is consistently in the mid-90's and even his final throw against the A's was clocked at 95 mph. 

The fountain of youth is in Florida and resides in Boca Raton.  Dr. Joseph Purita is the orthopedic surgeon who may hold the future of sports medicine in his skillful hands--stem-cell procedures.   It could be the new Tommy John surgery and it now has tongues wagging.

Dr. Purita performed the controversial stem-cell procedure on Colon's tattered elbow and shoulder in the Dominican Republic eighteen months ago.

Colon went to Dr. Purita as a last resort for a partially-torn rotator cuff and elbow which constantly sent pain stinging up and down his arm.

The stem-cell operation, headed by Dr. Purita, was a procedure which drew fat (no Colon jokes) and healthy cells from Colon's bone marrow and inserted them into his bum shoulder and elbow.

The doctors claim they did the procedure without Human Growth Hormone--which can be used to hasten the healing.

MLB said Colon is part of an investigation into Dr. Purita's past practice of administering HGH to his patients.  Since other major league hurlers are looking into the doctor's procedure, expect more inquiries.

Dr. Purita swears that his team did not use HGH and said he is willing to take a lie-detector test to prove it.  He claims Colon wanted to avoid the scrutiny of the MLB substance abuse cops and went through the whole procedure HGH-free. 

The Yankees are no strangers to the scandal of HGH.  There's a virtual All-Star line-up of Yankees wearing or about to adorn those damaging scarlet letters.  Beginning with Andy Pettitte, Alex Rodriguez and ending with Roger Clemens.  Having the procedure done in the Dominican Republic didn't due anything to silence the truth-seekers

While Cashman said he wasn't aware of the scope of Colon's off-season stem-cell procedure, don't expect the Yankees to open up a can of worms with any investigation regarding Colon's resurgence.  They'll take the doctor's words--and supply the polygraph machine.

For now, Colon may be the steal of the season.  With Hughes and Nova hurting and A.J. Burnett reverting to his old inconsistent self, Colon finds himself as the #2 starter behind CC Sabathia.

The Yankees know a healthy fastball from a hefty 38 year-old is a valuable, but fragile, commodity and manager Joe Girardi (the heat-miser) will monitor Colon's innings, throws or any other stat he can muster to prolong Colon's health.  Girardi will begin by giving Colon an extra day of rest in this rotation.

"You have to be careful, but we have not seen his stuff drop off,' said Girardi.

Whether or not Colon is a freak of nature or a the new Frankenstein of modern medicine is yet to be seen.  The re-animated Colon has given the Yankees life for the first two months of the season and, combined with the team's other junk-pile bargain Garcia, have kept the Yankees in the thick of the AL East.

Foto Finalis Miss Indonesia 2011

Malam puncak Miss Indonesia 2011 diselenggarakan pada tanggal 3 Juni 2011 di Central Park, Jakarta, dipandu oleh Sandra Angelia, Indy Barends, dan Ferdy Hasan. Pengisi acara ini antara lain Ungu, J-rocks, Andien, Petra Sihombing, Igo, dan Felocity. Acara ini dihadiri oleh Alexandria Mills, Miss World 2010, dan Julia Morley, Chairwoman Miss World Organization. Asyifa Latief, Miss Indonesia 2010,