Hot News

airbnb

2011-07-25T12:26:00.002-07:00

The billion-dollar start-up club has a new member: Airbnb Inc.

The San Francisco Internet company, which offers a marketplace for people to book vacations in other people's homes, has raised a $112 million round of financing from Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global and General Catalyst. The investment values the company at $1.3 billion, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Airbnb's latest round comes amid rocketing investor interest for hot tech start-ups that are smaller than the likes of Facebook Inc. and Zynga Inc. but are growing fast. Last month, mobile device payments service Square Inc. raised $100 million, valuing the company at more than $1 billion. Wireless products maker Jawbone Inc. recently raised $70 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. Other Silicon Valley start-ups that venture capitalists and others are watching include Dropbox Inc., an online storage service.

Airbnb is making a big leap into the club following an investment round last year, in which it raised just $7 million. The financing was led by Greylock Partners.

"We started realizing that this movement was about to tip, and we want to be able to invest around the world," said Brian Chesky, Airbnb's co-founder and chief executive. "To be a global company, you have to have a global presence."

Apart from its San Francisco headquarters, Airbnb currently has an office of about 30 in Germany, plus service staff sprinkled in other countries worldwide. With the new financing, the company plans to push into Italy, France, Spain, Brazil and the UK, among others. Some of the money will be spent on opening offices and hiring staff, while some will be spent on marketing, Mr. Chesky said. With a marketplace model that's easily replicated, Airbnb already faces competition from clones of itself globally.

Mr. Chesky declined to say what Airbnb's revenue was, but said the number of bookings it has processed since it was founded in 2008 has grown to more than 2 million, up from 1 million earlier this year. The company takes about 10% of the transaction cost of all the bookings made on its site.

Mr. Chesky said the potential global market for vacation rental bookings is at least $100 billion out of people's second homes, and many times more out of people's primary homes.

What drew the attention of investors, he said, was the comparison between Airbnb and eBay Inc., the 15-year-old online marketplace and payments company. "Airbnb is to space what eBay is to stuff," he said, adding that he thinks Airbnb could some day be even bigger than eBay, which is currently valued by the market at nearly $44 billion.

Jeff Jordan, a former eBay executive who is now a venture capitalist at Andreessen Horowitz, which put in $60 million into the Airbnb round, said the company reminded him of his early days at the e-commerce pioneer.

"Airbnb started with this notion of air beds and breakfasts, and today there are vacation homes and sublets and parking spaces and quirky things like treehouses," he said. "The community is taking it and extending it."

He stopped short of saying that he thought that Airbnb could some day be bigger than eBay. "I think that is to be determined," Mr. Jordan said. "We are pretty confident that there's a substantial market here."

angies list

2011-07-25T12:26:00.001-07:00

Dear Angie:

Last May we hired a contractor to replace our concrete driveway. He did a very nice job, but we now have a medium sized crack near our entry door that is difficult to ignore. Others have pointed it out as well. We spoke to the contractor who set up an appointment, but then was a no show. He rescheduled after we called him again, but again was a no show. We have since left several messages on his cell phone, emailed him, and left a message on his business line. No response. This contractor is listed on Angie's List. Aside from making a formal complaint through your site, do I have any recourse to get him to repair this unsightly crack?

- Theda J., Milwaukee

Dear Theda:

It seems you're having quite a tough time getting a hold of this contractor. The first thing I always recommend doing is what you've already done: put your complaint in writing. By emailing or even sending a letter through the mail you'll have a written and dated record of your account of what has happened to the driveway.

If you find that the contractor continues to ignore you or won't work with you on a solution I encourage you to file a report with Angie's List about your experience. We notify service providers when they are first reported on to us and encourage them to monitor their reports. If your driveway contractor sees your report, he or she could be propelled into action to protect the company's reputation.

If you choose to submit a report on this contractor to Angie's List and you assign a grade of C or lower, our Complaint Resolution Service team will reach out to you to offer our help it comes free as part of your membership. This is a process in which a complaint resolution specialist will go to bat for you and encourage the contractor to resolve your issue.

Our CRS team is great at reviving communication. We find that most contractors care about their reputation and are willing to work to resolve issues to the satisfaction of our members.

Angie's List collects about 40,000 consumer reports each month covering more than 350 categories of home-related services. Angie Hicks compiles the best advice from the most highly rated service pros on Angie's List to answer your questions. Ask Angie your question at askangie@angieslist.com

paleo diet

2011-07-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

The Paleo Diet (also known as the Caveman Diet) is a new diet craze that seems to be taking the world by storm, as well as saving money on the grocery bill.

According to the Paleo Diet website, “The Paleo Diet, the world’s healthiest diet, is based on the simple understanding that the best human diet is the one to which we are best genetically adapted. It is supported by documented scientific evidence and by real-life improvements, even triumphs, of people winning their personal health battles.”

In short, by eating the foods that our primal ancestors ate (mostly meat, vegetables, and nuts), we can possibly lose a ton of weight. This diet looks promising because it keeps grains, legumes, processed foods and fruits at a minimum (the things that generally cause weight gain).

The diet also claims to help clear acne, improve athletic performance, slow the progression of autoimmune diseases, cause weight loss without dieting and exercise, and reduce or eliminate the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, as well as many other chronic degenerative diseases.

The Paleo Diet seems to be one of the more budget-conscious diets, as it focuses on foods that happen to be cheaper and healthier than most diets that require specific and typically expensive foods. Grain-based foods are cut from this diet, which makes a heavy impact on the grocery bill. Even though grain-based foods are usually cheap, they add up. Think of all the bread, cereal, pasta, cookies, crackers, chips, rice, pretzels, etc., purchased weekly. Fruits and beans are also typically on the expensive side and is advised to be eaten minimally if any at all in this diet.

The Paleo Diet encourages the consumption of meat, which is not suitable for vegetarians or vegans, however, adjustments can be made for those who are.

stock market today

2011-07-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Stock futures were positioned for the lower opening this morning and the major indices in the U.S. moved through the red during the majority of the trading session today. The Dow Jones dropped off as the session opened and slowly made its way back towards break-even but prior to close, it was still trending red.

Negative sentiment was felt today as word spread that the U.S. government was having more difficulty coming to a debt ceiling resolution. The deadline is looming and investors on Wall Street are feeling the pressure. Some analysts feel that it could be an economic Armageddon if a compromise is not reached. The American public would be subject to a myriad of problems such as higher interest rates and a decline in the dollar’s value. The uncertainty and associated fear that is growing in the market place kept index values in the red today. With the deadline only eight days away, possible default is becoming more real by the day. The fear and anxiety is pushing investors towards safe havens and precious metal gold is benefiting from the attention. The dollar is weakening today versus the euro and the Japanese yen. This fact is also helping to support precious metal gold today. Gold futures hit an intraday record during the session. European markets and Asian markets are closing lower this day as well. As close approached this day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was posting red. The DJIA was lower by .62 percent or 77.99 points at 12,603.17. The Nasdaq was red by .43 percent or 12.38 at 2,846.36 and the S&P 500 was lower by .46 percent at 6.20 at 1,338.70.

nfl lockout news

2011-07-25T12:23:00.002-07:00

It's over.

After four and a half months, the NFL lockout came to an end on Monday, with the player representatives and NFLPA executive committee agreeing to a settlement of a new collective bargaining deal, the terms of which the owners had approved last week.

FANTASY FOOTBALL: Top 25 players | Get the best fantasy advice

"It’s been a long time coming, and football’s back, and that’s the great news for everybody," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a joint news conference outside the players’ association offices in Washington, D.C. "Having a 10-year agreement is extraordinarily great for our game, but most importantly our fans. I think this agreement is going to make our game better.”

Although the players have been locked out for most of the 2011 offseason getting the deal done in late July ensures training camps, remaining exhibition games and the regular season will go on as scheduled.

Basically, the NFL will rush back to business. On Tuesday, teams can sign drafted and undrafted rookies. They can also negotiate with all free agents, both their own, and free agents from other teams. However, teams cannot sign free agents to contracts until Friday, when free agency will officially begin.

POST-LOCKOUT NEWS: Brett Favre back? | Chris Johnson holdout?

NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith gave the official word that the lockout had ended Monday afternoon. A few minutes later, Patriots owner Robert Kraft was joined by Goodell, and two other NFL owners — John Mara of the Giants and Jerry Richardson of the Panthers.

"Our guys stood together when nobody thought we would," Smith said. "And football is back because of it."

Colts player representative Jeff Saturday gave special mention to Kraft, whose wife, Myra, died of cancer last week.

"Without him (Kraft), this deal doesn't get done," said Saturday, who hugged Kraft.

Kraft offered an apology to fans.

"For the last five or six months, we've been talking about the business of football," Kraft said. "But the end result is, we’ve been able to have an agreement that I think is going to allow this sport to flourish over the next decade."

Although the rookie wage scale (passed) and the league's desire to expand to a 18-game schedule (not passed) were among the issues that turned into obstacles, in the end, both sides eventually saw eye to eye on the most important one: How to fairly share an estimated $9.3 billion in annual revenue generated by the league. The deal is good through the 2020 season, ensuring labor peace for the long haul.

Last Thursday, the league's 32 owners met in Atlanta for a meeting lasted all day and ended with a 31-0 vote (Raiders abstention) to ratify a new, 10-year CBA. The players were once expected to vote on that CBA in a conference call that evening, but needed the weekend to review and digest the terms before approval. Their vote to ratify and match the owners in passing the resolution happened on Monday.

In the same owners meeting it was decided that the preseason opener, the scheduled Hall of Fame game between the Bears and Rams on August 7, would be canceled. It turns it will be the only game-action casualty to come from the delay in the players and owners mutually signing off on a new CBA.

The battle initially started in the courts, but ultimately, a truce was struck between the owners and the decertified NFL players association after a series of clandestine cross-country meetings and long negotiating sessions over the past month.

Starting with a small, powerful group of owner and player representatives and ending with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith getting involved, a deal was methodically hammered out with help from lawyers representing both sides.

The owners' Thursday approval was initially met with player frustration because of new language about supplemental review. Upon further review, cooler heads prevailed and

With the ratification now behind the approximate 1,900 NFL players after Monday's vote, the process of recertification of the union is expected to be a formality.

The next order of business is the signing, trading and releasing of players over a short window between now and the time players are required to report to their respective training camps. The labor negotiations may have dragged out over the summer, but teams making their desired acquisitions will be a swift process.

Fans and reporters have been inundated with legal facts and figures, but it's now finally time to go back to the NFL business that has made it such a lucrative, popular sport: The Xs and Os.

gina carano

2011-07-25T12:23:00.001-07:00

Move over Angelina Jolie, there’s a beautiful new butt-kicking action star in Hollywood. MMA champion Gina Carano is destined to cause jaws to drop and heads to roll as a secret service op seeking revenge on her betrayers in Steven Soderbergh’s much-buzzed action thriller, “Haywire,” slated for release in January 2012.

Carano is part of a start-studded cast of Hollywood veterans including Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas, but her co-star Channing Tatum insisted that the young female fighter is ultimately what makes the film.

“You are going to get some really satisfying girl on dude whoop-ass, just straight up whoop-ass. In our society we’re used to seeing guys beat up other dudes but this is so satisfying for me to see just a beautiful woman beat the s**t out of many so guys,” Tatum told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column at the Comic-Con International Convention over the weekend. “The way she holds her body is very much like a dancer, when you’re fighting it comes down to inches, bad things happen if you miss even by just an inch. There is one sequence where I have to pick her up off the counter and essentially slam her onto the ground and there only an inch of mistake area if I push down too hard… she tenses up and grabs me for one half a second so she doesn’t crack her head on the ground. But we did it perfectly every time.”

brett favre

2011-07-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

Our national game of chicken has finally ended.

No, the other one.

Even if congressional talks to raise the debt ceiling continue, Americans will not have to devote the full measure of their attention to it now that the NFL players and owners have agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement.

Football is back.

Fans can prepare themselves for headlines mere minutes apart this week, as teams scramble to negotiate with their own players, sign free agents and snake the best players with money they are now compelled to spend. Imagine general managers running across the country with sacks of money, looking to gauge the interest and ability of current players -- and ferret out worthy undrafted free agents to fill out a 90-man roster.

Unprecedented, chaotic -- and totally preventable.

The dearly departed CBA had an opt-out clause that proved irresistible to NFL owners, keeping the 2006 class of players restricted rather than unrestricted free agents. Not having some of their proven players able to test their worth on the free market saved teams millions. But once the train was out of the station, it rushed downhill.

The NFL is clearing $9 billion a year, and that number is rising. It's a number so large that only the "nine" in front really registers. And that number is going up. Surely such a waterfall of cash is enough for 32 owners and 1,800-ish players.

What? No?

Have the 130-plus days of the lockout been the unnecessary result of owners' vanity, greed and an inflated sense of their own self-worth? (I think everyone should pause after reading that sentence and fill in their own answer.)

But if there are two things that puffed-up peacocks can understand in the midst of their brinksmanship, they are money and image.

Anyone who has worked as a reporter can appreciate the imperative of a firm deadline. For NFL owners, that deadline probably looks a lot like Sept. 11, 2011, when games in Washington, D.C., and New York will merge nationalism and football. It is what the league does best, from Air Force flyovers to field-sized flags stretched between the hash marks.

Can you imagine if that day arrives and the stadium lights remain dark?

Neither can the owners.

And now, neither can we. Things have finally returned to normal, even if normal has decided to shotgun a case of Red Bull. Heck, even Brett Favre's name is popping up as a backup for Mike Vick with the Eagles, and Favre rumors are the catnip of any NFL offseason.

General managers and fantasy players will have to select and set their rosters. Players who have worked out nonstop since the lockout began will show up as facilities open, as will players who may only have regularly lifted, say, Fritos and Miller Light.

Fans who vowed never to watch another down of the NFL can go ahead and order that DirecTV package. Even before the CBA was officially ratified Monday morning, radio hosts were discussing the possible outcomes of Week 1 games. Did I mention that rosters haven't been set yet?

People can be forgiven for getting ahead of themselves. It's been a long, hard 136 days. The NFL will be lucky to avoid a class-action suit from millions of fans seeking compensation for emotional distress incurred over the last few months.

But Monday's agreement is about coming together, healing the divide between the haves and the have-nots. And it's not like anybody was denied a seat at the Super Bowl.

Football is back. Now fasten your seatbelt.

dallas cowboys

2011-07-25T12:20:00.000-07:00

Now that the lockout is over, we can stop speculating about what the Cowboys might do and instead focus on what they are doing.

This is an organization trying to regroup from a 6-10 season, during which coach Wade Phillips was fired and Jason Garrett took over the reins.

Let's look at five things the Cowboys will immediately start trying to do:

1. Sign Doug Free

We're not saying starting left tackle Doug Free is the next Larry Allen, but Free was the Cowboys' most productive lineman last season. He'll become an unrestricted free agent and the Cowboys will attempt to sign him and keep him off the open market. What's he worth? If the Cowboys had franchised him, it would have cost roughly $10.1 million. So expect Free and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, to command at least $20 million in guaranteed money.

2. Settle the safety position

Strong safety Gerald Sensabaugh said he's going to test the market. Alan Ball is moving back to cornerback from free safety, and not a moment too soon, after allowing a league-tying seven touchdowns in 2010. There are numerous safeties on the market -- including two with Texas ties, Michael Huff (Irving Nimitz/UT) and Danieal Manning (Corsicana) -- who could step in and make an impact. Abram Elam, who played in Rob Ryan's system in Cleveland, also would be a nice signing. Committing one of the safety spots to a younger player, such as second-year player Barry Church, is another possibility.

3. Fix the salary cap

As it stands now, the Cowboys are $18 million over the salary cap. The team gets a $3 million credit as part of the new CBA. In order to get under the cap, the Cowboys would have to restructure the contracts of several high-priced vets such as Tony Romo, Miles Austin and DeMarcus Ware. Releasing underachieving vets like Marion Barber or Leonard Davis could provide some savings. Cutting right tackle Marc Colombo to make room for rookie Tyron Smith takes a burden off the cap as well. Once the team is able to open cap space, the Cowboys will be able to attempt to upgrade the roster through free agency -- taking care of their own and making offers to others on the open market.

4. Have a productive training camp

It'll be a quick turnaround to the start of camp. Last year, the Cowboys had a long camp -- almost a month -- and the team was tired. The team practiced in three states and played in five different cities. That took a toll, as the Cowboys got off to an 0-2 start and lost seven of their first eight games. Under the new CBA, teams will have fewer two-a-day practices, reducing the amount of hitting more than Jason Garrett would prefer. Garrett will have two weeks to get in as much work as possible and make sure his team is fresh after finishing the last two preseason games on the road. The first two games of the regular season are at the New York Jets and at San Francisco.

5. Get Rob Ryan to fix the defense

As soon as the players are allowed to come to Valley Ranch, make it mandatory for the defensive players to meet with Ryan. The defense allowed a franchise-worst 436 points last season, and there might be major changes coming. The team might lose a starting defensive end, two starting safeties and -- for cap reasons -- a cornerback. If that's the case, Ryan has plenty of work to do. The lockout prevented him from teaching his new players how to run his version of the 3-4 defense. Ryan is considered one of the best coordinators in the league, and he wants to become a head coach like his brother Rex, so success is important.

nfl

2011-07-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

The NFL began reopening for business Monday after player leaders recommended approval of their new 10-year collective bargaining agreement with the league.

The ratification recommendation, made during a meeting in Washington, came after representatives of the two sides ironed out the final details of the labor deal. In addition to the executive committee recommendation, the deal was unanimously approved by the player representatives from the 32 teams, according to the NFL Players Association. The 4 1 / 2-month lockout of the players will end officially if the labor agreement is approved by a majority of the close to 2,000 players, which is virtually certain.

NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith confirmed the vote in a brief set of remarks to reporters outside the organization’s downtown Washington offices. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and several owners arrived minutes later and headed upstairs for the signing of the agreement, and Smith and Goodell were to address reporters later.

The sport will resume operations in stages, with some signings of players to begin by Tuesday and some teams opening training camps Wednesday.

Rookies can begin signing with their teams Tuesday. Veteran free agents can negotiate with teams Tuesday but cannot sign contracts until Friday.

Ten NFL will will open their training camps Wednesday, including the Washington Redskins. Another 10 will open camps Thursday, then 10 more Friday and the remaining two Sunday. The preseason will begin Aug. 11. The regular season will begin Sept. 8.

The owners voted, 31-0 with one abstention by the Oakland Raiders, Thursday in Atlanta to approve the collective bargaining agreement.

Players have been locked out since March 12. They dissolved their union in March, the day before the lockout began, and filed an antitrust lawsuit against the owners. They would re-form their union in conjunction with full ratification of the labor deal.

The new 10-year deal has no opt-out provision.

The deal settles the players’ antitrust lawsuit against the owners and other litigation, including a case by the players involving the league’s television contracts and a claim by players accusing teams of improper collusion.

The league and players had been in agreement on the major economic issues of their dispute since July 15. But they had to work out a series of finishing details since then, including differing views of the process by which the players would re-form their union.

The deal includes a salary cap system by which players will receive an average of at least 47 percent of the sport’s revenues, now about $9.3 billion annually and expected to rise sharply in future seasons, over the 10-year duration of the agreement. The salary cap is to be set at $120.4 million per team for the upcoming season, not counting $22 million per club in player benefits. There is a salary cap exception by which a team may borrow up to $3 million in cap space from a future season to sign players this season. There are new payroll minimums requiring the teams to collectively spend 99 percent of the salary cap in cash over the next two seasons, and 95 percent in subsequent seasons.

The requirement for a player with an expired contract to be eligible for unrestricted free agency is restored to four seasons of NFL experience, down from the six seasons required last year in a season without a salary cap. Teams can continue to use franchise-player tags and transition-player designations to restrict some players’ free agent mobility. A new rookie pay system curbs the amount of guaranteed money in rookies’ contracts and stipulates contract lengths. Rookies selected in the NFL draft are to sign four-year contracts, with fifth-season options for first-round draft choices. Undrafted rookies are to sign three-year deals.

The new collective bargaining agreement keeps the regular season at 16 games per team. The players had opposed the league’s previous proposal to increase the season to 18 games per club. The deal stipulates the players must agree to any future switch to a longer season. The agreement includes cutbacks in offseason workouts and reductions in hitting in practices during training camp and the season.

The deal ends federal court oversight of the sport’s labor situation and includes a $620 million “legacy fund” for retired players over the 10-year duration of the agreement. Some provisions cannot be negotiated until players re-form their union. That includes drug-testing issues. So while people within the sport have said they expect players to be blood-tested for human growth hormone, that provision is not yet included in the agreement.

kristin cavallari

2011-07-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

Just 10 days ago, former Laguna Beach and Hills star Kristin Cavallari was walking a Miami Beach runway modeling this glass bikini designed by Diesel and inspired by SKYY Vodka's iconic blue glass bottle. She told People.com at the time she was "nervous" about showing off her bod - and about the sharp pieces cutting into her skin, but not about her upcoming wedding to Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, 28.

"I am so happy and currently planning my wedding," Cavallari, 24, said at the time. The two got engaged in April and already had wedding registries at Williams-Sonoma and Crate & Barrel.

But now the wedding's off. One unnamed friend says Cavallari "got dumped." Another friend as says Cutler was "too controlling" and it soured the relationship, leaving Cavallari "devastated." She was spotted Saturday in West Hollywood without her 5.2-carat engagement ring, reports UsMagazine.com.

Cutler confirmed the split himself early today on his Facebook page, writing, "Thank you all for the support, but if you talk bad about Kristin I will delete and block you," he wrote. The athlete also changed his profile picture from one of him and Cavallari to one of him and his sister, Jenna. Notes GossipCop.com: Cutler changed his status to single.

chevrolet beat

2011-07-25T05:17:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI -- General Motors Co. Monday introduced its smallest diesel engine globally to power the Chevrolet Beat small car in India, as the U.S.-based auto maker takes on competition for small diesel cars in this fast-growing automobile market.

The 1.0-liter diesel engine has been developed by GM's engineers in Europe and modified to suit Indian driving conditions at the company's technical center in Bangalore, Karl Slym, president and managing director at GM India Pvt. Ltd. told a news conference.

GM India also sells a 1.2-liter gasoline Beat car.

Introducing the diesel hatchback will likely help GM to augment sales in Asia's third-largest automobile market where more people are preferring to buy diesel vehicles due to lower cost of the fuel.

Diesel costs 41.29 rupees ($0.93) per liter in New Delhi, compared with 63.70 rupees per liter for gasoline, according to the web site of fuel retailer Indian Oil Corp. The government controls diesel prices, while fuel-marketing companies can fix gasoline prices.

The Indian car market used to comprise 30% diesel vehicles and the rest gasoline-run ones, Mr. Slym said. "Of course, that has changed, all thanks to the pricing of fuel."

Most other car makers in India, including market leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd. and the local unit of Ford Motor Co., already sell diesel-powered small cars.

Ford's maiden small-car, Figo, helped the Michigan-based auto maker improve sales multifold in India, and nearly two-thirds of Figo's sales are from its diesel variant. Maruti sells its Swift and Ritz hatchbacks with diesel engines, while Tata Motors' flagship Indica is the cheapest car in the segment with prices starting at 395,453 rupees at showroom's in New Delhi.

The base model of the diesel Beat is priced 429,000 rupees at showrooms in New Delhi, while the top-end model will cost 545,000 rupees.

Mr. Slym said GM India plans to sell 4,000-5,000 units of the diesel car each month. The company now sells 2,700-3,000 gasoline Beats a month.

GM India also produces other vehicles under the Chevrolet brand, including the Spark and Aveo U-VA hatchbacks, the Optra and Aveo sedans, and the Tavera multi-utility vehicle.

It sold a record 110,804 cars in India in 2010, which it aims to increase to about 150,000 vehicles this year and 200,000 next year.

Mr. Slym said GM India is the sole producer of the new diesel engine and there are plans to export the engine to Europe.

He said also GM India plans to introduce five new vehicles in the next 18 months, including a hatchback. He declined to elaborate.

rediff

2011-07-25T05:16:00.002-07:00

orld number nine Mardy Fish [ Images ] saved two match points in recording a 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 victory over fellow American John Isner to defend his Atlanta Tennis Championship title on Sunday.

In a repeat of last year's final, American No.1 Fish was deep in trouble in the second set tiebreak when he trailed 5-1 and 6-4 but reeled off four straight points to take the match into a decider at the racquet Club of the South.

The momentum carried over to the third set as Fish broke Isner in the first game and then held to love.

Mardy Fish with the Atlanta Tennis Championships title"When you're in that position, it's almost over," Fish told the ATP Tour website.

"I was lucky to get out of it. I stuck some returns and put some balls in play. I played some good points from then on."

Isner was unable to capitalise on two break points in the sixth game of the decider, then gifted another break to Fish when he double-faulted twice to fall behind 5-2.

"I ran out of gas in the third set," Isner told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

"I didn't feel my best. Maybe it was the heat. I don't know what it was but it was the difference in the third set."

Fish closed out the match to win his sixth title and deny Isner a consecutive trophy after he won on the Newport, Rhode Island grasscourts two weeks ago.

The Atlanta tournament is the first in the US Open [ Images ] series which culminates in the Flushing Meadows Grand Slam.

12th result

2011-07-25T05:16:00.001-07:00

Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner took victory over Jorge Lorenzo at the Red Bull US Grand Prix race at the spectacular Laguna Seca circuit, his fifth win of 2011 to further strengthen his lead in the World Championship rankings.

In front of a crowd of over 52,000 passionate fans, the MotoGP field lined up under the California sunshine for the start of the Red Bull US Grand Prix. Yamaha Factory rider Lorenzo had a great launch from pole position leading into turn one with the three Repsol Hondas tracking close behind, with Dani Pedrosa heading the trio. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) had a strong start and followed a tight fifth behind the Hondas until he crashed exiting turn 5 on lap seven, ending the race for the Italian.

While Lorenzo led the race, behind him Stoner was picking up steam, first passing his team mate Pedrosa on lap 18 of the 32 lap race, then ticking off fast laps to reel in the race leader. The Australian caught up to the Spaniard and proceeded to pressure him for several laps, finally making his move around the outside of Lorenzo, driving out of the last corner to take the lead with six laps to go. Stoner immediately put down the hammer and pulled away, crossing the finish with a five and a half second lead to take his fifth win of the 2011 season.

Local hero Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) had a poor start at his home track, fighting his way past Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) in the early laps of the race, then scrapping with Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) to end the race in fourth position, the highest placing American on home turf.

Dovizioso crossed the line in fifth place, ahead of the battle for sixth between the Ducati Team riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden. Hayden lost out to the Italian, crossing the line on his GP11 seven tenths behind the GP11.1 of his teammate.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was unable to improve the feeling of his bike after citing struggles with it after qualifying the day before, ending the race what is sure to be a disappointing eighth place in front of a huge following of loyal fans at the circuit. Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) finished in ninth, one place behind his qualifying position and Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) met his top ten goal, finishing in tenth. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) finished eleventh, in front of Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) who is still struggling with pain from injuries, and Toni Elías (LCR Honda) in thirteenth.

Cal Crutchlow crashed out on lap three, the British rider hugely disappointed after qualifying ahead of his team mate Colin Edwards at the Texan’s home track, followed by Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) who fell on lap 13, while Ben Bostrom rode off the track after missing a gear on lap six, decided not to re-enter the race and retiring the LCR Honda to the garages.

ind vs eng

2011-07-25T05:15:00.003-07:00

NEW DELHI: England's James Anderson won the duel when Rahul Dravid chased a away going ball to hand a catch to Matt Prior on Day 5 of the first Test at Lord's.

Scorecard | Hawk-eye

There was just a lapse of concentration on the part of Dravid, as he fished at a ball going away from him to give a simple catch to England's wicketkeeper.

However, the onus is now on Indian batsmen to save the first Test on Day 5 after England set a formidable target of 458 for the visitors.

India, at the close of the fourth day, were 80 for one in their second innings. They need a further 378 in a minimum of 98 overs on Monday's final day to reach their victory target - a run-rate of 3.85 an over.

This is the 2,000th Test of all-time and no side has ever scored more in the fourth innings to win a match than the West Indies' 418 for seven against Australia in Antigua in 2002/03.

Dravid, who made 103 not out in India's first innings, was unbeaten on 34 having opened in place of Gautam Gambhir who was injured fielding at short leg earlier in the day, at stumps.

Laxman was 32 not out, with the experienced duo's stand so far worth 61.

Prior, who came in with England having collapsed to 62 for five, said: "I think we're probably just ahead."

It was Prior's sixth century in 44 Tests and second in as many at Lord's following his 126 against Sri Lanka last month.

Stuart Broad, who'd led England's attack with four for 37 in India's first innings, gave Prior excellent support in an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 162 at nearly a run-a-ball as India's depleted attack toiled on a sunny day.

Broad, who bats left-handed but bowls right, demonstrated his all-round ability with a fluent 74 not out off 90 balls including nine fours.

2 result

2011-07-25T05:15:00.001-07:00

Baltika's Unaudited Financial Results, 2 quarter 2011

On the whole, Baltika Group's performance in the second quarter of 2011
corresponded to the company's expectations. The focus of the period was on
improving efficiency by restructuring the Group's retail network and
streamlining the internal processes. Throughout the first half-year, the
company continued to enhance its collections creation process, upgrade
inventory and discount management, aim its marketing efforts more directly at
the brands' target customers and improve customer service at the stores. Thanks
to determined streamlining, in the second quarter sales per square metre grew
by 10%, and even more in local currencies. At the same time, store operating
expenses were almost 10% smaller and costs per square metre dropped by 1.4%.

Second quarter gross margin rose to 58% (Q2 2010: 56%) and discount rates
improved significantly; the average discount rate for the second quarter was 5
percentage points smaller than a year ago. Inventory turnover increased and
although the world market saw an upsurge in raw materials prices (particularly
cotton) and cost inflation in China was substantial, the Group succeeded in
maintaining its cost to sales price ratio stable.

Sales level with the second quarter of 2010 were achieved on an 9% smaller
sales area while gross profit grew by 4% and operating expenses (distribution
and administrative expenses) declined by 6%. In the second quarter, the Group's
profit centres considerably improved their performance, all brands and
continuing retail markets generated a profit and total profit of the retail
system grew by 57% year-over-year.

Operating loss for the second quarter of 2011 was 99 thousand euros compared
with an operating loss of 511 thousand euros for the second quarter of 2010.
The current year second quarter figure includes a foreign exchange loss of 94
thousand euros while in the comparative period the Group earned foreign
exchange gain of 304 thousand euros. The second quarter of 2011 ended in a net
loss of 444 thousand euros against a net loss of 886 thousand euros for the
second quarter of 2010.

Second quarter highlights:

-- The Group continued to monitor all underperforming stores and closed its
Evropeysky store in Moscow. This will lower operating expenses in Russia
and will increase the profitability of the retail system. At the same time,
the Group opened a store in a shopping centre in Odessa, Ukraine.
-- The Group reinforced management of the Russian market by hiring a
professional with over 15 years of retailing experience.
-- The sannual general meeting that convened on 11 May 2011 decided to
increase the share capital of AS Baltika by issuing 3,150,000 additional
shares with an issue price of 1 euro each. As a sufficient quantity of
shares was not subscribed for, the company cancelled the issue. On 27 June
2011 the supervisory council resolved to increase the share capital of AS
Baltika by the issue of 4,300,000 additional registered shares with an
issue price of 0.70 euros each. The new shares are being offered to
existing and new shareholders through a public offering and can be
subscribed for from 19 July to 2 August. The shareholder KJK Fund Sicav-SIF
has signed the obligation to subscribe for 2,142,857 shares, the
shareholder E.Miroglio S.A. for 2,157,142 shares and the shareholder East
Capital Baltic Fund for 333,000 shares.

The ongoing share issue is designed to support implementation of Baltika's
adopted strategy:

-- Sales will be increased, mainly by improving the efficiency of existing
stores, opening new stores and making more active use of additional sales
channels. For this, the company will complete a refresh of the visual
identities and retail concepts of the Monton and Mosaic brands, a project
undertaken in partnership with the creative agency Dan Pearlman, and will
begin gradual refurbishment of the stores. The new retail concepts will be
applied in at least one new store in Ukraine and one in Latvia and three
stores that will be taken over from a Russian wholesale partner in the
Siberia region in Russia. In addition, the company will continue
preparations for launching the Monton e-shop (testing has been scheduled
for the fourth quarter of this year) and making new wholesale and franchise
offers (the first contracts should be signed in the first half of 2012).
Baltika will exit the Polish market in the third quarter of 2011 and
associated sales will be discontinued in august.
-- To improve management efficiency and product development and better utilise
the sales resources, a new and more effective brand and sales management
structure will be implemented in the third quarter of 2011. Baltika will
continue to operate with four brands but will centralise a number of
activities that used to be brand-based and will streamline its matrix
management structure by reducing management levels and specifying
responsibilities.
-- To raise the efficiency of its manufacturing operations, the Group will
develop a strategic development plan for its factories. This will be done
in the third quarter. Options include complete integration of the product
development and manufacturing operations and transformation of the
factories into an independent profit centre freely competing in the market.
The purpose of both options is to continue lowering the cost of conversion.

The Group anticipates current growth to continue in the following quarters and
management's target is to achieve a positive net result for the second
half-year.

india vs england live score

2011-07-25T05:12:00.002-07:00

Hi Friends here you can check the latest India England Live Score. India England Live Score get it here. Watch India England Live Score check it. IPL 2011 India England Live Score available in this page. India England Live Score in Hindi, Tamil and desktop scorecard get it here.

online income tax return

2011-07-25T05:12:00.001-07:00

The Income Tax Department has overhauled the filing of tax returns by introducing e-filing, which has simplified matters to a significant extent. It also involves relatively less effort and is also efficient. Today, the online facility enables the assessee to file returns, pay taxes, view tax credit, track the processing status and also get refunds credited directly to the bank account. It is all automatic.

There are still apprehensions about e-filing of tax returns and the aim of this article is to dispel them. Let us visit the process and get acquainted with the online services that the Income Tax Department offers.

E-Filing

E-filing or online filing of returns can be done 24×7 from anywhere. You just need access to the internet. There is no need to visit the Income Tax office or contact a Chartered Accountant. The whole process does not take more than 20 minutes. If you are worried about security, there is no need to fear for the return you file online is encrypted and transmitted over a secure connection. Your details remain confidential. Also, electronically filed returns are less prone to errors than paper returns. Further, you also get an electronic proof of filing called the ITR-V form.

allahabad bank

2011-07-25T05:11:00.002-07:00

NIM improves to 3.40%; but asset quality is still a concern

Allahabad Bank has reported decent results for the quarter ended June 11 with 38% increase in NII at Rs. 1175.55 crore and 20% increase in Net Profit at Rs. 418.13 crore. Despite increase in the cost of funds, the bank has managed to improve NIM to 3.40% in quarter under review against 3.38% a quarter ago and 3.10% a year ago. However, drastic fall in trading profits by 79% and sharp increase in provisions on investments and bad debts has curtailed the growth in PBT to meager 3% at Rs. 569.95 crore. Thank to whooping 10.6% dip in the effective tax rate, Net Profit was up by modest 20% on y-o-y basis. Although the margins improved declining asset quality is a concern for the bank.

Allahabad Bank has increased base rate and BPLR by 25 bps each to 10.25% and 14.50% respectively w.e.f 15 July 11.

Asset Quality:

The Gross NPA of the bank has inched up 41% y-o-y and slipped 3% q-o-q to Rs. 1604.37 crore for the quarter ended June 11. During the quarter, the bank has cash recovery of Rs. 98.83 crore, up gradation of Rs. 101.90 crore and slippages of Rs. 118.24 crore. The % GNPA stood at 1.62% against 1.5% a year ago and 1.74% a quarter ago. Slippage ratio stood at 0.65% at end of June 11 against 0.66% in the corresponding previous year and 2.21% at end of March 11.
Net NPA has surged up by 90% y-o-y and 20% q-o-q to Rs. 588.59 crore at end of June 11. The % NNPA stood at 0.6% against 0.41% a year ago and 0.79% a quarter ago. Provision coverage ratio increased to 79.90% as on June 11 compared to 75.67% as at end of March 11.
The outstanding restructured assets at end of June 11 stood at Rs. 3059 crore, of which Rs. 312 crore turned to NPA's.

Business Highlights:

Total business of the bank has improved 26% y-o-y and 3% q-o-q to Rs. 232558 crore for the quarter ended June 11.
Gross Credit has inched up by 30% y-o-y and 4% q-o-q to Rs. 98740 crore at end of June 2011. Market share of the bank in credit has also inched up to 2.39% against 2.23% a quarter ago and 2.14% a year ago. Total disbursements under retail credit increased 25% to Rs. 677 crore. Priority sector Credit grew by 27% to Rs. 31404 crore while that of agri credit grew 17% to Rs. 13565 crore. Credit to MSE grew by 60% to Rs. 13666 crore and that of MSME by 55% to Rs. 10498 crore.
Deposits grew by 1% q-o-q and 24% y-o-y to Rs. 133818 crore at end of June 11. Market share of the bank in deposits stood increased to 2.41% against 2.31% a quarter ago. CASA deposits grew 16% y-o-y and slipped 3% q-o-q to Rs. 42855 crore at end of June 11. Resultantly, CASA ratio slipped to 32.17% against 34.42% a year ago and 33.70% a quarter ago.
Credit deposit ratio rose to 74.12% at end of June 11 against 70.30% in the corresponding previous year.
Cost of deposits inched up to 7.01% at end of June 11 against 5.83% at end of March 11 and 5.60% at end of June 10. Yield on advances also inched up to 11.58% against 10.50% at end of March 11 and 10.32% at end of June 10. NIM improved to 3.40% in quarter under review against 3.38% a quarter ago and 3.10% a year ago.
Capital Adequacy ratio stood at 12.75% with Tier I capital of 8.55% at end of June 11 against 12.96% with Tier I capital of 8.57% at end of March 11. Risk Weighted Assets at end of quarter stood at Rs. 97285 crore. RWA to working funds stood at 62.74% against 60.92% at end of March 11 and 64.05% at end of June 10.
Investment book has improved by 25% y-o-y and 5% q-o-q to Rs. 45696 crore at end of June 11. The Breakup of the book is HTM Rs. 31532 crore, AFS Rs. 13835 crore and HFT Rs. 328 crore. The total duration of the book is 4.94 years while modified duration 4.94 years. SLR % stood at 29.97% while HTM to SLR is 81.84%. Yield on investment has increased to 7.57% against 7.04% a quarter ago and 6.84% a year ago.
Business per employee surged to Rs. 11.09 crore at end of June 11 against Rs. 8.83 crore in the corresponding previous year. Business per branch has increased to Rs. 11.09 crore against Rs. 8.83 crore in the corresponding previous year.
The total branches at end of June 11 stood at 2416 against 2415 at end of March 11.

Quarterly Performance:

For the quarter ended June 11, the bank has reported 38% increase in the NII at Rs. 1175.55 crore owing to 48% increase in the Interest earned at Rs. 3549.84 crore and 53% increase in the Interest expended at Rs. 2374.29 crore. Interest on advances increased by 49% to Rs. 2699 crore while that of interest paid on deposit grew by 54% to Rs. 2234 crore. Cost of deposits inched up by 141 bps and that of yield on advances rose up by 126 bps in the quarter under review. On the other hand, spread has increased by 6 bps and pushed NIM up to 3.40% against 3.10% a year ago and 3.38% a quarter ago. Fee based income has inched up by 21.5% to Rs. 207 crore. However trading profit income slipped by 72% to Rs. 26 crore and totaled other income down by 4% to Rs. 285.93 crore. The other income to net total income slipped to 170 bps to 11.9%.

The Employee cost has inch up 34% to Rs. 382.19 crore in quarter under review. The bank has provided provision for pension and gratuity for the quarter at Rs. 37.40 crore being 1/4th of Rs. 149.54 crore. The other operating expenses inched up by 19% to Rs. 189.67 crore, totaling Operating expenses up by 29% to Rs. 571.86 crore. The cost to income ratio has inched up by 50 bps to 39.1% and led Operating Profit up by 26% to Rs. 889.62 crore.

The provisions and contingencies have more than doubled at Rs. 319.67 crore (up by 112%) owing to huge increase in the provisions for bad and doubtful debts and depreciation on Investments. The bank has provided Rs. 112.88 crore on depreciation on investment (Rs 1.95 crore in the corresponding previous year), Bad and Doubtful debts Rs. 165.57 crore (Rs 70 crore in the corresponding previous quarter). The provisions on standard advances have also increased to Rs. 45.11 crore (against Rs. 12.65 crore). Resultantly, growth in PBT was curtailed to a lower single digit growth of 3% to Rs. 569.95 crore. However, whooping 1060 bps decline in effective tax rate at 26.6% has led Net Profit up by 20% to Rs. 418.13 crore.

Yearly Performance:

For the year ended March 11, Allahabad bank has reported 18% increase in Net Profit at Rs. 1423.11 crore over 52% increase in the NII at Rs. 4022.47 crore. The other income declined by 10% to Rs. 1370.41 crore owing to 72% dip in the trading profits at Rs. 160 crore. The Operating expenses grew by 45% to Rs. 2338.30 crore and paved cost to income ratio by 450 bps to 43.4%. Thus Operating profit grew by 20% to Rs. 3054.58 crore. Finally after accounting 22% increase in provisions and contingencies at Rs. 1631.47 crore, Net profit was up by 18%.

Other Information:

The Scrip is hovering at Rs. 218.05 on BSE.
Considering EPS of Rs. 35.1, PE stands at 6.2 times.
At Book value per share of Rs. 169.27 and Adjusted Book Value per share of Rs. 140.9 at end of June 2011, the P/BV and P/ABV works out to be 1.3 and 1.5 respectively.

know your pan

2011-07-25T05:11:00.001-07:00

At the time, Cibo Matto’s 1996 major-label debut Viva! La Woman may have seemed like goofy, flash-in-the-pan stuff—playground-rhymy and seemingly food-obsessed, with every song named after something edible. But at that point, American radio listeners were still recovering from the clinical depression of grunge, and seemed eager to champion anything that reconstructed their self-esteem—Rage Against the Machine directed teens’ anger away from themselves, toward the government; Marilyn Manson transformed geeks into goths; the Spice Girls shilled cheap “girl power” in miniskirts. But if they wanted something that wasn’t beating a message into their heads, listeners would have found that in Cibo Matto—a pair of Japanese transplants who made a statement without being so damn obvious about it. “I know my chicken/You got to know your chicken,” they sang, playfully, but true to the idiom’s meaning, Cibo Matto knew its stuff. Yuka Honda’s productions could be funky, loungy, or scattershot, but were consistently fastidious; Miho Hatori vocalized all over the map, from punk rock on “Birthday Cake” to the mostly chillaxed material on their second and last album, 1999’s Stereo Type A. Earlier on, the duo even unearthed prettiness in grunge, offering a serene cover of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” on its debut EP. The band split in 2001, but decided to reunite and record a new album in the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami and its path of destruction. Leave it to Cibo Matto to make art when people need it most. (Ally Schweitzer) With Tony Castles at 8 p.m. at the Rock & Roll Hotel. $20.

MUSIC

Local dude Meredith Bragg has another album of lush and mysterious indie-folk, which we're reviewing in this week's City Paper. Here's some of what we have to say:

His words demand mental involvement, and they reward any level of focus. He references concrete things—birds, dogs, seasons, people, architecture—but the lyrics almost always shift toward the abstract. He carefully lays out impressions and interactions, but he avoids deliberate scene descriptions and plot points. Everything is familiar and genuine, but not much is obvious. And his singing, always a little nasal, is more cool and controlled than ever.

Sounds like an endorsement! With Matthew Hemerlein at 8:30 p.m. at Black Cat Backstage. $10.

Cuban son ensemble Sierra Maestra features a bunch of dudes from Buena Vista Social Club—and as Steve Kiviat reports today, the group is obstinately 0ld-school. At 8:30 p.m. at Artisphere. $22-$25.

FILM

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck became going concerns with their film Half Nelson, but they improved upon their neo-neo-realism with Sugar, their 2008 film about a Dominican baseball player raised in his country's baseball-farm system. At 6:30 p.m. at the Museum of the Americas. Free, but RSVP here.

income tax india

2011-07-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

AHMEDABAD: School students will soon get tax lessons. In an attempt to promote tax payment, income tax (I-T) department has decided to conduct seminars on the 'importance of paying tax' in schools. The announcement was made during an event organized to conclude the year-long celebrations of 150 years of 'Income Tax in India' in the city on Sunday.

Ela Bhatt, founder of Sewa, was the chief guest of the event which was attended by senior income tax officials in Gujarat . Speaking on the occasion, I-T chief commissioner, Gujarat R N Tripathi, said, "From Rs 30 lakh tax collected when income tax was first introduced in India in 1860 to Rs 4.4 lakh crore collection in 2010-11, I-T department's 150 years' journey has been a partner in the country's growth at every stage."

A declamation competition was organized at the event and students from 10 schools participated. A film, 'Journey and growth of the department since 1860' was also screened on the occasion. Talking about tax payers in Gujarat, Tripathi said, "Gujarat has been at the top in tax payment and the department overhauls its capacity every day to serve tax payers in a better way. We will soon set up five more single windows, Ayekar Seva Kendras in Gujarat and an information kiosk will be put up at post offices and different government buildings."

Bhatt said that there were only 3 crore tax payers in the country at present. She emphasized that more people should pay their taxes honestly.

helen keller

2011-07-24T22:25:00.002-07:00

An original Yousuf Karsh portrait of Helen Keller and her companion Polly Thompson will now have a home at the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation's new Maplesoft Centre where it is hoped it will inspire cancer survivors.

In a ceremony Friday at the Maplesoft Centre on Alta Vista Drive, Karsh's widow Estrellita donated the portrait of Keller and Thompson that was taken in 1948 at the New York City apartment of legendary American stage actress Katharine Cornell.

The stark black-and-white photograph, from the estate of Karsh, is one of many classic photographs taken by the photographer who, at one time, made Ottawa his home. He died July 13, 2002 at age 93.

"Helen Keller was a survivor. She survived illness, at the age of three, the illness left her blind, it left her deaf but it did not leave her dumb. She spoke out loud and clear for the rest of her life," said Estrellita Karsh at a reception at the official unveiling of the portrait.

"She was not dumb, she was smart, she earned a PhD from Radcliffe, and for the rest of her life she tried to help humanity," she said. Estrellita Karsh said Keller and Thompson had a "symbiotic relationship," adding that when one person spoke the other listened until they were able to communicate with each other.

"My husband was also a survivor of a terrible time long ago and he emerged to form a relationship with this woman whom he considered the most sublime woman he had ever met. We are all survivors of something in our lives and this Maplesoft Centre will help people surviving from cancer. We are all on the journey together whether we have cancer, live with it, abet it, or comfort it," she said.

Maplesoft Centre is expected to open this fall and is intended to be a resource centre for cancer survivors and their families, with a number of day and evening programs.

"I hope people come here and find solace and love. I'm happy, and I know Yousuf would have been so happy to have this photograph here. It means so much to him and it means so much to me. I hope through the years it will mean so much to all of you," she said.

The framed photograph of Keller and Thompson is on the main floor of the 11,000-square-foot facility.

Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation president and CEO Linda Eagen said she was thankful to receive the photograph, which will be one of the focal points of the new facility.

"There is more to journeying through cancer than attacking the tumour. We are whole people, we have needs, and this centre is going to address those needs," said Eagen, adding that the centre is possible because of the inspiration of many people in the community.

Estrellita Karsh personally picked the frame of the Keller-Thompson photo, which came from Framed, a retail store on Bank Street.

"The frame is a lovely shape, a lovely colour and contrasts with the photograph, It has a lot of texture and it just frames it beautifully," she said.

In his long and distinguished career, Yousuf Karsh had more than 15,300 sittings and produced more than 150,000 negatives. His widow said the Keller-Thompson photo remained one of his favourites.

"I know that he would have been so happy that this photograph, taken in 1948, is now speaking to people in the 21st-century and hopefully will continue to speak to people," she said.

life in a day

2011-07-24T22:25:00.001-07:00

OB/GYN Doctors Aaron Sudbury and Jennifer Swanson scrub up in silence. As they push through the doors of the operating room, scrub nurses and a registered nurse anesthetist are ready. Gleaming surgical instruments are lined up on a table covered in blue; a patient is draped in matching fabric with only a small, outlying hand visible. The day begins.

First, one surgical procedure. Then on to another procedure and a trip to the pathologist; heartbreaking news for one patient, but the work goes on.

A third operation begins when Dr. Swanson is notified that Tawanda Fakayode is in labor. It is her third child; each born exactly eight years apart.

A swift walk through the bright corridors of Lakewood Ranch Medical Center brings Dr. Swanson to Tawanda; she is very close to birth. Pain marks her face, but the touch of her husband’s hand and his gentle murmerings seem to comfort her.

Dr. Swanson coordinates Tawanda’s contractions with breathing and pushing: “1, 2, come on! Good job! 3, 4, You’re doing great! Keep going ... 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Great. Now breathe,” urges Swanson.

The darkened room is quiet but for the beeping heart monitor and Tawanda’s breathing until it’s time to push again.

At 11:43 a.m., baby Ifeoluwa Fakayode emerges into the waiting arms of Dr. Swanson to be whisked away by baby nurse Lori Overton. Ifeoluwa is measured, weighed, tested, cleaned and bundled before making it into her smiling mother’s arms. Just in time, it seems; a nurse leans into the room to tell Dr. Swanson that in the next room Karen Raybuck is ready to deliver.

At 12:48 p.m., Evan Raybuck is born. It was a difficult birth; the cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck and Karen required stitches, but an exhausted Karen beamed as she was handed her swaddled baby.

Minutes later, Jennifer Swanson leans against the counter at the nurse’s station and takes a deep breath before heading back to the OR.

Hours later Aaron Sudbury heads back to his office for scheduled appointments and a waiting meal. “My staff takes good care of me,” said Sudbury as he popped a french fry into his mouth and filled out forms on a computer tablet. Other than a shoveled mouthful of scrambled eggs in the morning, Sudbury hadn’t taken a break.

Five expectant mothers were examined before Sudbury was stopped short in the hallway by one of his staff; he was urgently needed back at the hospital.

There was just enough time for a couple more notations, a phone call and one more french fry.

With a smile, a wave, he was away.

sandra bullock the proposal

2011-07-24T22:24:00.001-07:00

Last week’s grand-bargain discussions between House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama included a highly unusual feature, according to two people familiar with the situation: a ceiling on future federal revenues, in order to limit the size of any future tax increase.

The Boehner-Obama deal fell apart, so the complicated arrangement isn’t going anywhere right now. But it could resurface in future negotiations over a tax overhaul and new revenues. That’s likely to be a recurring topic in deficit-plagued Washington.

The revenue ceiling being advanced by the speaker’s side would have capped future federal revenues at $36.2 trillion over the next decade, according to one person familiar with the discussions. That’s about $800 billion more than the amount that’s expected to be produced by current tax policies, including the Bush-era rates for individuals. But it’s far less than the amount that would be produced by returning as scheduled to pre-Bush rates after 2012, as Mr. Boehner has noted in the last few days.

Republicans hoped that the extra $800 billion in revenues would come in whole or part from higher economic growth stemming from a streamlined tax system, rather than from any policy changes that would be involved in a tax overhaul, such as limiting deductions. The ceiling on overall revenue collections was intended to help prevent a revamp of the tax code from turning into a tax increase.

That, in turn, would have helped them sell the higher revenue number to their tax-averse rank-and-file members. The speaker and others familiar with the discussions say the deal would not have been a tax increase.

“We had an agreement on a revenue number, a revenue number that we thought we could reach based on a flatter tax code with lower rates and a broader base that would produce more economic growth, more employees and more taxpayers, and a tax system that was more efficient in collecting the taxes that were due the federal government,” Mr. Boehner said in his news conference late Friday. He blamed the collapse of the discussions on a recent White House demand for another $400 billion in future revenue increases.

Claims of higher government revenues from tax changes have been a point of dispute in Washington for decades. By and large, congressional scorekeepers have been skeptical of claims of big revenue increases from broad tax overhauls.

But with deficits so deep and the U.S. tax system so riddled with complications, some lawmakers are likely to keep pressing the argument that streamlining the code will pay off for Uncle Sam as well as everyone else.

david hasselhoff

2011-07-24T22:23:00.002-07:00

So Cassi went home because Jordan couldn't go against her alliance in the "Big Brother 13" house - will that come back to bite Jordan in the butt? We shall see. Don't forget to sign up for the live feeds so you don't miss a moment of "Big Brother" this summer.

Post-HOH

Lawon hilariously says that Rachel evicted Cassi because she didn't want Cassi stealing her "Big Brother" spotlight - "Who's house?! Rachel's house! Whoop!" Lawon cracks me up, I wish he got more Diary Room time.

Brendon talking-heads that Rachel is the brains of their operation. Um. Sigh. Also - I was mostly on board with the old pairs joining the house, but dammit, the newbies need to step up and win something! This is starting to smell like The Boston Rob Show and that was boring as hell to watch. Get it together, newbies. Stop doing whatever the veterans tell you to do.

When Rachel gets her HOH key, everybody lies in wait to pelt her with pillows. It's marginally amusing, but I suppose when you're trapped in that house like they are, that probably seems really hilarious. We see Rachel's pictures and hey - your sister's the pretty one!

She reads her letter and Jeff hilariously gives a talking-head about not knowing Rachel was engaged. Hee. It's much funnier than it sounds here.

Wheelin' and dealin'

Adam comes to Brenchel and says he wants to work the veterans, but Rachel smells what he is shoveling and knows he's not to be trusted. Lawon takes his butt-kissing HOH turn, but they can also tell he is just sucking up to them.

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK

So it turns out Dominic snores like a lumberjack. I am engaged to someone like that - you just gotta go and roll that sonuvabitch over.

Luxury Competition Extended Commercial for "Same Name"

No Have Nots this week, woot woot! A guy nobody knows comes out and says whoever guesses which celebrity this guy shares his name with goes to the Diary Room, makes a guess and will win a prize. It's David Hasselhoff and the first two clues are soap and some binoculars and Jordan gets it right away! Holy balls. She also calls them opera sunglasses. Can't you just picture Jordan going all "Pretty Woman" and trying to keep them up the wrong way and then saying the opera was so good she almost peed her pants? Totally.

Brendon guesses Michael C. Hall, which - what? Porsche and Adam are a bit closer with Michael Jackson and Ricky Martin. Lawon guesses Barbra Streisand, like she would have ANYTHING to do with this show. Also - bald guy in the backyard shares the name. It's not "Barbra Streisand."

So in the backyard, after all the clues, is the famous David Hasselhoff and the "Knight Rider" car. The Hoff is a great sport about it all. Jordan is revealed as the winner and she chooses Jeff, Shelly and Kalia to join her on the "prize" where they watch the pilot episode of "Same Name" in the HOH room. Rachel is super pissed that Jordan didn't choose her. Of course she is.

Meanwhile, Rachel and Brendon fight about something stupid. Must be Sunday. Brendon, run. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE before you are shackled to this woman with a child. He threatens to leave the show, saying something about jeopardizing his Ph.D. to be there (um dude, if it meant that much to you, you would not be there). All the other hamsters sit in the dining room and can hear Brenchel fighting, it's pretty funny. Brenchel really are terrible losers.

Jordan says she didn't want to take Brenchel because they would smooch all the time during the reward, plus they win challenges a lot, so it's like - spread the wealth around. Rachel's gonna be even more pissed when she finds out they got sushi, I bet you anything.

Brendon then takes Rachel's anger about not getting chosen for the reward to suggest they backdoor Jeff and Jordan. Oooh, after they didn't do that to you? Sneaky. The Brenchel fight then takes a weird stream-of-consciousness, rambling, teary fustercluck. I mean, what are they even saying at this point?! Nobody knows.

More wheelin' and dealin'

Dominic takes his turn kissing up to Brenchel and they actually seem to believe him, which is weird. To his credit, Dominic talking-heads that he needs Brenchel in the game to keep the target off him because they are the biggest targets. Brendon thinks the two of them team up with Dominic and Daniele and get out Jeff. Rachel says the second strike against J & J was not taking her to the reward. Oh, gag me. Just shut your piehole, Rachel.

Backdooring Jeff is fine. Whatever. I mean, I'd rather watch J&J than Brenchel, but I get the strategy. But stop with the whiny b**** move of doing it because they didn't take you on the reward! That is weak and so childish.

Dani knows she has to get the couples to turn on each other, so she plays Rachel's anger and insecurity like a violin to suggest that they backdoor J&J. So Jeff and Jordan pow-wow with Brenchel, who deny being upset about not going on the reward. Jeff then points out that last week, he and Jordan could have backdoored them and didn't. Somehow I don't think Rachel cares.

Nomination Ceremony

Rachel nominates Dominic and Adam, which leads me to believe that if Brenchel or Dom/Adam wins POV (or possibly Dani, if she plays), then Jeff is heading home via backdoor. Also - how huge do Rachel's boobs look in that shirt? Like, worse than normal. She has clown boobs, y'all.

secretariat

2011-07-24T22:23:00.001-07:00

The Governments of the People's Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (hereinafter jointly referred to as the "Parties"),

Desiring to establish a secretariat for the efficient promotion and management of trilateral cooperation among the Parties and to enhance existing dialogue mechanisms and contribute to the further promotion of their cooperative relations as decided at the Third Trilateral Summit held on May 30, 2010, in Jeju island, the Republic of Korea,

Have agreed as follows:

Article 1

1. The Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretariat") is hereby established.

2. The Secretariat shall be located in the Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as the "host country").

Article 2

The objective of the Secretariat is to contribute to the further promotion of cooperative relations among the three countries by providing support for the operation and management of the trilateral consultative mechanisms among the Parties and by facilitating the exploration and implementation of cooperative projects.

Article 3

1. In order to achieve the objective referred to in Article 2, the Secretariat shall carry out the following functions and activities:

(a) provide administrative and technical support for the operation and management of such trilateral consultative mechanisms among the Parties (hereinafter referred to as the "consultative mechanisms") as the Trilateral Summit Meeting, the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the Three-Party Committee and other ministerial meetings, and the Trilateral Senior Foreign Affairs Officials' Consultation and send, if necessary, its representatives to attend major consultative mechanisms;

(b) communicate and coordinate with the Parties, and if necessary, with other international organizations, particularly with other East Asian cooperation mechanisms;

(c) explore and identify potential cooperative projects among the Parties, and report those projects to the relevant consultative mechanisms for adoption;

(d) evaluate the cooperative projects and draft reports on them, compile necessary documents into database, and submit annual progress reports to the Three-Party Committee or the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting for approval; and

(e) conduct research on important issues related to the trilateral cooperation, manage the Secretariat's website, and promote understanding of the trilateral cooperation.

2. The Secretariat shall carry out its functions and activities within its mandate authorized by and under the supervision of the Parties through the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting or in a manner decided by the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

Article 4

In the host country, the Secretariat shall have the legal capacity:

(a) to contract;

(b) to acquire and dispose of movable and immovable property; and

(c) to institute legal proceedings.

Article 5

1. The Secretariat shall be comprised of a Secretary-General, two Deputy Secretary-Generals and Professional Staffs (hereinafter jointly referred to as the "officials") and General Services Staffs to be nominated and appointed, or employed, in the following ways:

(a) The Secretary-General shall be appointed at the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting upon nomination of a Party on a rotational basis in the order of the Republic of Korea, Japan and the People's Republic of China. The tenure of office shall be two years.

(b) Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, each Party other than the Government of the country of the Secretary-General shall nominate a Deputy Secretary-General respectively who shall be appointed at the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting. The tenure of office shall, in general, be two years. The appointment of the Deputy Secretary-General may be renewed once for an additional period of up to two years with the approval of the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

(c) The Secretary-General shall appoint the personnel seconded by the Parties as the Professional Staff.

(d) The Secretary-General may employ the General Services Staff as needed to carry out the functions and activities of the Secretariat.

2. The Secretariat shall have the Consultative Board comprised of the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-Generals. The Consultative Board shall consult and make decisions by consensus on matters submitted for its consideration. The Consultative Board shall consult with the Parties on matters of importance in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 3.

3. Subject to the approval of the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the Secretary-General may establish the departments of the Secretariat to efficiently carry out the functions and activities of the Secretariat with a view to facilitating trilateral cooperation in various areas.

Article 6

The Secretary-General shall represent the Secretariat and be responsible for the functions and activities carried out by the Secretariat. The Secretary-General shall also be responsible for the administration of the Secretariat, in particular as follows:

(a) prepare annual and, where necessary, ad-hoc reports on the functions and activities of the Secretariat, as well as an annual budget of the Secretariat, and submit them, with the approval of the Trilateral Senior Foreign Affairs Officials' Consultation, to the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting for approval;

(b) establish and amend internal rules and regulations of the Secretariat subject to the approval of the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting;

(c) establish the basic terms and conditions of the officials' secondment, including their salary matters, subject to the approval of the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting, and suggest the termination of the appointment of the Professional Staffs to the Party which seconds them after the consultation with the Deputy Secretary-Generals;

(d) establish General Services Staff positions, and terms and conditions of employment, including salaries, subject to the approval of the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting, and employ qualified personnel for the General Services Staff positions and dismiss the General Services Staff, as necessary, in accordance with the rules and regulations referred to in sub-paragraph (b) of this Article; and

(e) enter into contracts required for the operation of the Secretariat.

jay cutler

2011-07-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

Cutler proposed to the Laguna Beach and The Hills star in April as they vacationed in Mexico. The couple, who had been dating since last fall, were said to be planning a spring wedding.

As recently as last week Cavallari tweeted about her recent engagement party.

"Thx to all my amazing friends for making my engagement party a blast last night!" she wrote.

The couple also had recently completed their wedding registry.

People reported that the break-up came as a shock to Cavallari, who had planned to move to Chicago for the upcoming football season.

Cavallari rose to fame in reality TV but has since dabbled in acting with appearances in ABC's The Middle and CBS' CSI: NY.

Cutler spent three seasons with the Denver Broncos after the 2006 NFL draft before being traded to the Bears in 2009.

brett favre

2011-07-24T22:21:00.002-07:00

Just after the Brett Favre rumors began heating up Sunday an NFL source threw water on it.

The day began promisingly with a report that it was possible Favre could be signed by the Eagles, who this week are likely to trade backup passer Kevin Kolb to the Arizona Cardinals.

Eagles starting quarterback Mike Vick obviously was caught up in the hype as he wrote on his verified Twitter account, “I would be honored to have Brett Favre as a backup...amazing Learning how to toy with defenses the way he did.”

That obviously got the attention of everyone who felt it was just another ridiculous rumor, including the Eagles, who were enjoying an otherwise quiet Sunday. Privately they aren’t interested in Favre.

Coincidentally, perhaps, the tweet was conspicuously missing from Vick’s Twitter timeline later in the day.

But don’t rule Favre totally out if something awful happened to Vick. Favre, 41, knows enough about the West Coast Offense to run it without an offseason. The only real question is whether his throwing arm and shoulder are up to another year in the NFL.

All of that said, the Eagles would be much better served locking up a slightly younger veteran when they trade Kolb. Tarvaris Jackson (Vikings) and probably Vince Young (Titans) could be available in free agency.

Free agency begins this weekend as the players are expected to recertify as a union and vote to approve the settlement NFL owners agreed upon last week. A majority vote is necessary to approve what would be the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Favre has a good relationship with Eagles head coach Andy Reid.

entourage season 8 start date

2011-07-24T22:21:00.001-07:00

“Entourage” began its eighth and final season with a bang Sunday night. Creator/writer Doug Ellin has established a web of compelling new story lines.

Vince is getting out of rehab for his substance-abuse addiction. Johnny Drama is freaking out and sweeping the house of all traces of drugs, even Advil, and steering Vince (Adrian Grenier) clear of Tic-Tacs. Drama wants to throw Vince a sober-only party to welcome him home. “Do you know any sober people?” he asks the guys.

Ari is freaked because Vince wants to direct his own feel-good movie, which Ari belittles as a Lifetime cable knockoff. Drama warns the guys not to disillusion Vince even though, clearly, nobody is pleased at the prospect.

As ever, Ari is still dumping on Eric, Drama and Turtle. When Vince, who is easing back to civilization, asks the guys what’s new, Ari cuts him off by muttering that nothing is new with them. In the best line of the episode, Ari (Jeremy Piven) snarls: “They’ve been frozen like Ted Williams!”

Ari is desperate to reconcile with his beloved Mrs. Ari, following their traumatic split at the end of last season. But she stuns him when she says: “I’ve been seeing someone.” He storms out of her house.

Meanwhile, Sloan hates Eric (Kevin Connolly) and their wedding plans are in tatters. She even returns his $30,000 engagement ring — through the U.S. mail, no less.

At least, Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) is wearing his beloved New York Yankees cap, so all is right in the world.

E gets no relief anywhere. He is perturbed that Vince called all the guys, but not him, to pick him up when he gets out of rehab. Eric and his business partner Scott at the agency have picked up right where they left off last year. Scott is irritating Eric by trying to win over Vince, E’s best friend and his meal ticket.

The high points center on Johnny Drama, whether he is chewing out the guys or a thoroughly sober Billy Walsh. Drama is insecure that his new co-star on the animated television show “Johnny Bananas” is upstaging him. Kevin Dillon, who plays Drama, can do more with a grimace than most TV actors can do with a page full of dialogue.

“I want to get back to where I was,” Vince says. As they move forward to episode No. 2, Vince is determined to make his movie. Uh-oh.

kristin cavallari

2011-07-24T22:20:00.000-07:00

MTV reality star Kristin Cavallari and Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler have called off their engagement, according to published reports.

Cutler proposed to the Laguna Beach and The Hills star in April as they vacationed in Mexico. The couple, who had been dating since last fall, were said to be planning a spring wedding.

As recently as last week Cavallari tweeted about her recent engagement party.

"Thx to all my amazing friends for making my engagement party a blast last night!" she wrote.

The couple also had recently completed their wedding registry.

People reported that the break-up came as a shock to Cavallari, who had planned to move to Chicago for the upcoming football season.

Cavallari rose to fame in reality TV but has since dabbled in acting with appearances in ABC's The Middle and CBS' CSI: NY.

Cutler spent three seasons with the Denver Broncos after the 2006 NFL draft before being traded to the Bears in 2009.

psoriasis

2011-07-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kim was diagnosed with psoriasis. While not quite as frightening as the ringworm Khloe suspected it was, the disease is one that, understandably hit Kim hard.

For all her seeming perfection, being diagnosed with this incurable disease that shows itself in red, scaly patches on the skin, was shocking but also really brave of Kim to share her condition with the world. I'm sure knowing of her experience will comfort some others who suffer from it as well. So good for her, but shame on Kris Jenner for her whole reaction to Kim's diagnosis.

I don't know if they're intentionally trying to make Kris look like an insensitive, money-hungry madwoman who cares less about her daughters' feelings than making a buck, but they're doing it well.

As a sufferer herself, you would think she would have been more sympathetic to Kim's concern, but instead she laughed when Kim showed her the psoriasis. Just the warm, motherly reaction you'd hope for from your own mother. Even better were comforting words like, "Oh my gosh yours is SO bad" and then pointing out how hard it was going to be for Kim because she's still dating and it was easier for her because she was married when she was diagnosed herself. Thanks, mom?

In addition to her entire career, Kim was worried about a specific commercial she shoot she was doing the next day when her body was covered with psoriasis. Kris had little sympathy and told Kim she was blowing the whole thing "out of proportion" -- there was a commission for her at stake, dammit.

"You're going to have to suck it up," she told her. After fighting with Kim about it, she stormed out. “You are so rude," she shouted. "Call me when you calm down, princess.”

Uh, who's rude?

For someone whose entire career has been based on her looks, I'd say for an incurable disease like this Kim's reaction was actually pretty calm. While there are some treatments, there is no cure, and it can get extremely bad in some cases.

Fortunately Kim decided not to let psoriasis keep her out the spotlight. Her makeup artist was able to cover the spots successfully, and the shoot went off without a hitch.

The only downer was that Kris got her way in the end again."I’m just happy that we got it all back where it needs to be, and I’m getting my 10 percent,” she said.

Hope it's worth it, Kris.

What did you think of the way Kris Jenner reacted to Kim's diagnosis with psoriasis?

knights templar

2011-07-24T12:05:00.002-07:00

A Knight Templar rides into battle in this 1847 engraving. Photograph: Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Li/Alamy

Age: 891-ish.

Appearance: The church militant.

Are we talking about the Christian military order founded at the time of the Crusades to protect pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem? The one with castles throughout western Europe, the Mediterranean and the Holy Land? The one that the French king Philip the Fair did his best to destroy, ably assisted by Pope Clement V? Are you trying to put me out of a job?

It's my specialist subject! I can also reveal that the Templars survived the onslaught of 1307-12 and have spent seven centuries as guardians of a secret that, if revealed, would shake Christianity to its foundations. Only if you're the sort of idiot who believes every crackpot conspiracy theory . . .

Which, of course, I am. And thinks The Da Vinci Code is a historical document . . .

Which, of course, I do. And yet there is a grain of truth in what you say. A group calling itself the Knights Templar is indeed alive, kicking and waging a deadly war against its enemies . . .

Aha! In the Mexican state of Michoacan. But it specialises in drug-dealing, and its enemies are rival gangs and police. The Mexican Templars are also known for executing suspected thieves, rapists and kidnappers.

That won't do the brand any good. Is it just the Templar name that the crooks like? Police have seized hooded tunics, crosses, metal helmets and rule books calling for gentlemanly behaviour . . .

How sweet. As well as the murder of informants and their families.

Or maybe not. One might also describe these Templars as a tad hypocritical, since they're forbidden to take drugs yet run a huge crystal meth operation.

How does this play with the locals? Surprisingly well, according to Al Jazeera. In the cartel's stronghold of Apatzingan, they're more bothered by the 1,800 police and soldiers trying to catch their leader. He's a former schoolmaster called Servando Gomez.

Everyone respects a teacher. Especially if he can have you rubbed out.

Do say: "Let us pray."

Don't say: "Let us slay."

Not to be confused with: Simon Templar, Shirley Temple, the Knights who say Ni.

cowboys and aliens

2011-07-24T12:05:00.001-07:00

SAN DIEGO (TheWrap) - To write a film about aliens invading the Wild West, you've got to be a bit of a believer.

When asked if aliens exist, "Cowboys & Aliens" writer and producer Roberto Orci perked up.

"I think the evidence clearly indicates that the government's lying about what the hell's going on," Orci joked to TheWrap on the red carpet ahead of the movie's premiere on Saturday at Comic-Con in San Diego.

The film stars Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde in an unusual adventure story about a gunslinger who leads an uprising against alien invaders. In Orci's story, a spaceship arrives in Arizona in 1873 to take over the earth, and a posse of cowboys are all that stand in their way.

According to Orci, "Cowboys & Aliens" is not the first film to blend two classic American genres. "Star Wars" was a Wild West tale set in space.

"They've been together," he told TheWrap. "You've seen 'Star Wars' -- how did you meet Harrison Ford the first time around? He's a gunslinger in a saloon. And 'Star Trek' -- how is that pitched? As a wagon train to the stars.

"So in a way this movie is being honest about it from the very beginning. We're literally calling it 'Cowboys & Aliens' and we're not hiding it."

The film's co-producer Scott Mitchell Rosenberg isn't hiding his extraterrestrial proclivities either. He told TheWrap that out of the millions and billions of planets in our universe, we'd be selfish to think we were the only living creatures.

"I don't give it much thought," reflected Abigail Spencer, who plays Alice in the film. But I definitely am open to the idea."

Meanwhile, 13-year-old Noah Ringer told TheWrap that he's ready to take a break after working on two major motion pictures in the last few years.

Ringer plays young sheriff's son Emmett Taggart in the Western sci-fi picture. Ringer starred as Aang in M. Night Shymalan's "The Last Airbender," a young member of the Avatar lineage who must put his childhood on the back burner in order to stop the Fire Nation from destroying Earth, Water and Wind, where he was able to gain notoriety despite the film's lackluster reception.

But in real life, Ringer is holding on to his childhood for at least a little longer.

"I'm just gonna be a normal kid, have a great summer and see what happens from there," he told TheWrap.

But walking the Comic-Con red carpet Saturday alongside the likes of Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig for the "Cowboys & Aliens" premiere is not on the itineraries of most 13-year-olds.

The cast finished filming last year.

blow

2011-07-24T12:04:00.001-07:00

The revelation by CNN that Norwegian right wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik kept a diary in which he obsessed about the dangers of cultural Marxism, multiculturalism, and the “Islamification” of Europe will remind many Americans of the tactics of our own right wing (only these themes have been taken up by people much more mainstream in the US than Breivik is in Norway!) The movement to ban the shariah, the castigation of a progressive income tax as “Marxist,” the condemnation of multiculturalism as a threat to Western values, are all themes commonly heard in the US Tea Party and in the right wing of the Israel lobbies.

It would be wrong, of course, to suggest that anyone who hits these themes is a terrorist in waiting or supports violence.

But here is the reason for which such rhetoric is dangerous and can easily lead to social violence.

It is black and white, allowing no nuance. Immigration is not a smooth process, and is attended with problems in some cases. The history of the United States, an immigrant society, suggests that whatever the problems are, they are not insuperable. But Breivik saw Muslim immigration in particular as a threat to the very identity of Europe. That is, if the immigration from the Middle East were allowed to continue, then ultimately there would be no Europe, just a big Iran on all sides of the Mediterranean. Moreover, he imagined this process of Islamification as happening very quickly.

Breivik’s thinking is not new under the sun. Protestant Nativists of the “Native American” and later “Know-Nothing” (i.e. secret society) movement in the 1830s through 1850s in the United States felt exactly the same way about Catholic immigrants to the US. America wouldn’t be America if this went on. Their values were inherently incompatible with the Constitution. Their loyalties were to an anti-modern foreign court dedicated to reinforcement of political and intellectual tyranny. The hordes of them would take over the country before too long. The combination of black-and-white thinking and a conviction that undesirable change is coming very rapidly often provokes violence. Brian Porter’s When Nationalism Learned to Hate makes the point about Poland, that peaceful democratic processes depend crucially on patience and a conviction that the future can be won. When members of a movement become impatient and believe that the situation could quickly and unalterably shift against them, they are much more likely to turn to violence.

Catholic immigrants to the US, like Muslim immigrants to Europe, cannot in fact be characterized in a black and white way. Catholics in the contemporary US are politically and socially diverse, but on the whole are more socially liberal than evangelical Protestants. That is, if the Know-Nothings were afraid of an anti-Enlightenment religious movement, it would have been to their own, Protestant ranks, that they should have looked.

Likewise, making a black-and-white division between “Christian” Europe and “Islam” is frankly silly. The European continent is itself a fiction (it is geologically contiguous with North Africa, and there is no eastern geographical feature that divides it from Afro-Asia). Islam has been the religion of millions of Europeans over the past 1400 years, whether in Umayyad Spain, Arab Sicily, or Ottoman Eastern Europe, and Muslim contributions to European advances are widely acknowledged.

As for contemporary Muslims in Europe, they are diverse. Overwhelmingly, e.g., Parisian Muslims say that they are loyal to France. About half of the Turks in Germany are from the Alevi sect, a kind of folk Shiism, and most of those are not very religious and politically are just social democrats (oh, the horror of Breivik’s nightmare– Muslim progressives in Europe!) That the few hundred thousand Muslims in Spain (pop. 45 mn.) , or the 4 million in Germany (5 percent of the population) could effect a revolution in European affairs of the sort Breivik fears is frankly absurd, especially since Muslims are not a political bloc who agree with one another about politics and society. They are from different countries and traditions. Many do not have full citizenship or voting rights, most of the rest are apolitical. But even if they became a substantial proportion of the population, they would be unlikely to change Europe’s way of doing things that much.

Breivik, of course, also exercised black-and-white thinking about the left of center currents in Europe, amalgamating them all to Marxism, presumably of a Soviet sort, and seeing them as taking over. In fact, ironically, it is parties and rhetoric that Breivik would have approved of that are making the most rapid strides in Europe. Right wing parties that would once have been pariahs have been power brokers in Sweden and Finland, and Nicolas Sarkozy has borrowed so much rhetoric from the LePens that some accuse him of legitimizing them.

Worrying about the impact of immigration is not pernicious. Opposing leftist political ideas is everyone’s right in a democracy. Disagreeing over religion is natural.

But when you hear people talking about lumping all these issues together; when you hear them obliterating distinctions and using black-and-white rhetoric; when you hear them talk of existential threats, and above all when you see that they are convinced that small movements that they hate are likely to have an immediate and revolutionary impact, then you should be afraid, be very afraid. That is when extremism learns to hate, and turns to violence.

Democracy depends on a different kind of rhetoric. Healthy politics is about specific programs, not about conspiracy theories as to what underlies someone’s commitment to a program. Most Americans don’t want people to die because of not being able to afford health care. Lambasting that sentiment as tyrannical Bolshevism is a recipe for social conflict.

Unfortunately, some unscrupulous billionaires, Rupert Murdoch and the Koch Brothers prominent among them, have honed their propaganda skills in the media and public life. The promotion of hate, panic, and fear, especially if it is tied to specific political, ethnic and religious groups, always risks violence.

The real message of Breivik is that we should all take a deep breath and step back from the precipice.

kids

2011-07-24T12:03:00.002-07:00

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (AP) — The owner of a Texas skating rink says he shoved children out of harm's way when a parent suddenly opened fire on his estranged wife and her family at a birthday party.

Forum Roller World owner Walt Hedrick says the Saturday night shooting that left six dead in Grand Prairie lasted just moments.

Hedrick said Sunday he was about 40 feet away from the gunman, whose son was celebrating his 11th birthday at the rink.

Police say the gunman told the children to leave the area before he began shooting. He later killed himself.

Hedrick says he'll re-open the skating rink Sunday afternoon to show that skating is still a fun and safe activity for parents and kids.

journey

2011-07-24T12:03:00.001-07:00

* The Boston Globe's Julian Benbow pens a nice look at JaJuan Johnson and his road to the NBA. It closes with a look at Johnson's unconventional summer given the lockout:

“It’s definitely not the traditional summer that a rookie probably goes through, but you can also use this opportunity to rest yourself, work out your own game, watch film,’’ he said. “Even though you’re not with the team, you have the opportunity to do those types of things.’’

At the end of the month, Johnson will head to Attack Athletics in Chicago to work with Tim Grover, who has trained Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade, and Gilbert Arenas, among others. He’ll focus on core exercises and lower-body strength. Weight won’t be an issue.

“They’d always say something about my weight,’’ he said. “Now, I just kind of use what I’ve got. I’m happy with myself. I know I definitely need to get stronger. But it’s not one of those things that I’m stressing myself over.’’

* The joke, of course, is that it would be easier to create a list of players not interested in playing overseas if the lockout persists, but here's ESPN.com's growing list of players headed overseas or playing for their national team (and those few that are not interested in going international during the work stoppage).

* Celtics guard Avery Bradley is among those working out this summer at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas. Impact has a history of aiding the development of NBA players (Jermaine O'Neal and Kevin Garnett are featured on the site). What's more, Bradley spent his senior year of high school playing at nearby Findlay College Prep in Henderson, Nev.

* Speaking of C's in Vegas, the Las Vegas Review Journal noted Garnett, Rajon Rondo, and Ty Lue were part of an All-Star list of NBA hoopsters at Marquee's Boom Box Room on Friday.

* The Portland Press Herald takes a look at Red Claws new head coach Dave Leitao. The story talks about Leitao getting a chance to reconnect with his family after leaving the University of Virginia.

"It was the best two years of my life, and I can say that unequivocally," said Leitao. "When I left (Virginia) I did not realize where I was at in other important areas of my life. This time off game me time, while I was still staying busy, to address some of the things that are clearly important to one's life and provide balance so that, if you go get the chance to get back in (to coaching), you do it with a much better perspective.

"So whether it's been my relationship as a father, as a husband, my spiritual relationship, my mental health, my physical health, all of those things, I made sure to address them and spend a lot of time taking care of them."

barbados amy winehouse

2011-07-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

JENNY GRAHAM might not have the oil-fuelled backing of Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Stud operation but the trainer is doing a fine job on the two-year-old front.

Graham made the 4½-hour trip back to Port Macquarie on Saturday evening content with the effort of $6500 buy Alcancia, which ran second at Warwick Farm.

It was the race just after Darley Stud's head trainer, Peter Snowden, led in a two-year-old quinella with Bello beating home the debutant Barbados. Another Darley juvenile, Pied A Terre, remained unbeaten after winning at Flemington just before Bello and Barbados fought it out.

Graham hunts another baby bonus with talented Leviosa
Craig Young
July 25, 2011
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Spoilt for choice ... Peter Snowden.

Spoilt for choice ... Peter Snowden. Photo: Jenny Evans

JENNY GRAHAM might not have the oil-fuelled backing of Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Stud operation but the trainer is doing a fine job on the two-year-old front.

Graham made the 4½-hour trip back to Port Macquarie on Saturday evening content with the effort of $6500 buy Alcancia, which ran second at Warwick Farm.

It was the race just after Darley Stud's head trainer, Peter Snowden, led in a two-year-old quinella with Bello beating home the debutant Barbados. Another Darley juvenile, Pied A Terre, remained unbeaten after winning at Flemington just before Bello and Barbados fought it out.
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It was the 41st two-year-old race win this season for the Darley operation. There have been 25 individual winners. Darley cleaned up all five group 1 races for two-year-olds as Sepoy took out the Blue Diamond-Golden Slipper double, Helmet the Sires' Produce and Champagne Stakes at Randwick, and Benfica won the TJ Smith in Brisbane. Snowden said 140 rising two-year-olds had gone through the Darley structure in preparation for the new racing season. Graham has 14 horses in work, and she'll return to Rosehill on Saturday with another baby.

Alcancia collected $13,300 for finishing second and took her prizemoney tally to $119,150. Graham's unbeaten juvenile, Leviosa, is out for a bumper pay day at Rosehill on Saturday in a two-year-olds' race carrying a $100,000 William Inglis bonus. Alcancia picked up one when winning at the Scone Cup meeting, while Leviosa, a $14,000 buy, collected a similar bonus when victorious at the recent Grafton Cup carnival.

The Rosehill race carries prizemoney of $70,000 and there is a $20,000 BOBS incentive to be claimed. Graham has again booked Robert Thompson, who has won more races than any Australian jockey.

''We do not get the chance very often to run in races worth this much,'' Graham said yesterday. ''Most of the time you don't have a horse to have a go at them. It is a great incentive and it is good to have a little horse at least capable of having a try for that money. It has been overwhelming for me to win two Inglis bonuses already.''

Alcancia and Leviosa were bought out of last year's William Inglis yearling sale at Scone. Both appealed to Graham, whose parents, Janice and Barry Avery, share in the ownership of the pair.

''She [Leviosa] was a very fine filly and still is at the moment,'' Graham said. ''She walked out lovely, good mannerism about her. A nice little type of filly.''

Graham thought Leviosa would need time to mature and ''take a little longer as a two-year-old'' but the filly has surprised. ''She has done a good job,'' she said. ''Her mother was supposedly quick as a two-year-old. Leviosa has been in and out a few times with shin soreness. She is still a little immature She has strengthened up as she has gone along, she is doing nicely.''

Leviosa has won her three races by a combined margin of 8.1 lengths and her victory at Grafton was from the outside barrier, 11.

''She pulled up terrific from the run at Grafton,'' Graham said. ''Robert is happy with both of them. As funny as it sounds, he said, 'I just don't know, both are going as well as each other.' She [Leviosa] is going well enough to have a try in this particular race.''

The performance of Alcancia, which has won three from five outings, has given Graham added confidence heading into the Rosehill meeting.

''The other one [Alcancia] would be as competitive as this one, I feel,'' she said. ''We'll give it a try and see how we go.''

Graham may also put Playful Miss on the float. The filly won a race at Canterbury in December. ''She'll have a gallop through the week and we'll make up our mind,'' Graham said. Playful Miss has won four from eight, with Thompson on board in each of those wins. He and Graham are proving formidable.

entourage season 8

2011-07-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

CHICAGO – I remember when “Entourage” first took off back in 2004 wondering how Doug Ellin and his talented cast could possibly keep this concept fresh for the length of a series. Wouldn’t we get tired of watching Vinnie Chase (Adrian Grenier) try to make it big? Or worse, would these guys turn into the preening celebrities that the show at least somewhat skewered at the start? Could they keep it fresh? Even the most diehard fans of the HBO hit would admit they’ve struggled to do so but things were looking up regarding a solid final arc after last season, one that actually injected a bit of edge into the program by allowing Vince to deal with addiction. The show still wasn’t up to the standard of the first 3-4 seasons but it wasn’t as bad as season six.

So, where does that leave us? Does “Entourage” go out on an inspired, daring note? It sure doesn’t seem like it. The season premiere is a whiny mess with little understanding of what worked about the program in the first place. Remember the time when you wanted Vinnie Chase’s life? Or wanted to be one of his loyal friends? I understand taking a character through ups and downs but Vincent Chase isn’t a guy I’d really want to hang out with now much less be. And that’s the biggest problem with late “Entourage.” In its prime, these four (five if you count Ari) guys were like friends you got to see once a week. That sense of fun, playful friendship is gone.

russell brand amy winehouse

2011-07-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

As a former heroin addict, Russell Brand has a soft spot for Amy Winehouse. In a Sunday morning blog post, the 36-year-old "Arthur" star -- who has been sober since 2002 -- reflects on the life of the British soul singer, who was found dead in her London apartment Saturday at the age of 27.

VIDEO: Remembering Amy Winehouse (1983-2011)

"I've known Amy Winehouse for years. When I first met her around Camden she was just some twit in a pink satin jacket shuffling round bars with mutual friends, most of whom were in cool Indie bands or peripheral Camden figures Withnail-ing their way through life on impotent charisma," Brand writes.
Slideshow: Russell Brand's many roles (on this page)

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"Carl Barrat told me that 'Winehouse' (which I usually called her and got a kick out of cos it's kind of funny to call a girl by her surname) was a jazz singer, which struck me as a bizarrely anomalous in that crowd. To me, with my limited musical knowledge this information placed Amy beyond an invisible boundary of relevance; 'Jazz singer? She must be some kind of eccentric,' I thought. I chatted to her anyway though, she was after all, a girl, and she was sweet and peculiar but most of all vulnerable."PHOTOS: Amy and other stars who died at 27

"I was myself at that time barely out of rehab and was thirstily seeking less complicated women so I barely reflected on the now glaringly obvious fact that Winehouse and I shared an affliction, the disease of addiction. All addicts, regardless of the substance or their social status share a consistent and obvious symptom; they're not quite present when you talk to them. They communicate to you through a barely discernible but un-ignorable veil. Whether a homeless smack head troubling you for 50 pence for a cup of tea or a coked-up, pinstriped exec foaming off about his 'speedboat,' there is a toxic aura that prevents connection. They have about them the air of elsewhere, that they're looking through you to somewhere else they'd rather be. And of course they are. The priority of any addict is to anesthetize the pain of living to ease the passage of the day with some purchased relief."
Story: Singer Amy Winehouse found dead in London home

"From time to time I'd bump into Amy she had good banter so we could chat a bit and have a laugh, she was 'a character' but that world was riddled with half cut, doped up chancers, I was one of them, even in early recovery I was kept afloat only by clinging to the bodies of strangers so Winehouse, but for her gentle quirks didn’t especially register."PHOTOS: Amy Winehouse's tumultuous life

Brand — who wed American pop star Katy Perry in October 2010 — hadn't witnessed Winehouse's undeniable talent until he saw her open for Paul Weller at the Roundhouse.

secretariat

2011-07-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

rder here: amzn.to Secretariat will be available in stores nationwide as a 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Movie Download on January 25, 2011. To find out more about Secretariat, become a fan on Facebook: facebook.com or visit: www.disney.go.com "This is one of the year's best films," states Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times. This powerful and thrilling journey of the 1973 Triple Crown winner and its owner Penny Chenery, played by Academy Award® and Golden Globe nominee Diane Lane, brings hope, heart and courage to audiences of all ages making SECRETARIAT a perfect film to add to the home library.
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ketamine amy winehouse

2011-07-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

The committee is calling on ministers to offer more help for users and raise awareness of potential health problems.

Ketamine use can cause bladder problems as well as kidney and liver damage.

The committee said that ketamine's classification in the lowest Class C category of controlled substance wrongly suggested it was less dangerous than ecstasy (Class A) or cannabis (Class B).

"Our review of the scientific evidence suggests that this classification of ketamine does not accurately reflect its known and potentially severe harms," the report said.

But the ISCD specifically does not call for ketamine to be reclassified.

"All our research suggests that changing classification does not change people's use of the drug," said Professor Val Curran, who co-wrote the report.

"Ketamine was originally just controlled under the Medicines Act.

"When it was made a Class C under the Misuse of Drugs Act its use went up and its cost came down."

The report added that an annual survey had found the average price of a gram of ketamine had fallen from £30 to £20 between 2005 and 2008 - and since become cheaper still.
'Very dangerous'

Some campaigners are calling for ketamine's classification to be changed.

Shielmor Twomey insists that ketamine was a significant factor in the death of her son Caleb, who killed himself in Bristol last year.

"I looked it up on the internet to see if it was a harmful drug," Mrs Twomey said.

"Having seen it was a Class C, I thought it's not going to do him any harm.

"The government should realise that it's a very dangerous drug and it needs to be reclassified."

Ketamine is an animal tranquiliser but its use as a recreational drug has grown over the last decade.

The British Crime Survey began including the drug in 2006, and reported an increase in users from about 85,000 in 2006/07 to 113,000 in 2008/09.

Bristol is one of the cities where ketamine has become increasingly popular.

"It's showing its face in more mainstream club culture," according to Jim Bartlett of the Bristol Drugs Project.

"We have seen increasing numbers of people coming to us with ketamine-related problems."

cake pops

2011-07-23T10:14:00.002-07:00

Although recipes vary, cake pops are essentially crumbled cake mixed with a generous dollop of frosting, rolled into a ball and fashioned on to a stick. The pop is then chilled and dipped in a colourful melted candy mix and decorated in increasingly imaginative ways.

These tasty, golf-ball sized bites are popping up everywhere, not least at children's birthday parties, school functions and even weddings. One can find assorted cake-pop cookbooks - in several languages - as well as step-by-step cake-pop tutorials online and even special pans devoted to the cause.

The craze first came to the world's attention via Bakerella.com, a popular blog that translated into huge success for the author, who last September published a cake-pop cookbook that went on to become a New York Times bestseller. The aptly titled Cake Pops: Tips, Tricks, and Recipes for More Than 40 Irresistible Mini Treats instructs enthusiasts how to fashion cake pops into an assortment of creatures, from rabbits to robots.

Never one to miss a trick, Starbucks picked up on the trend and promptly stocked its shelves. The treats continue to adapt to tastes, branching out from straight cake to include brownie and cheesecake varieties. People are making cake-pop babies, cake-pop Berts and Ernies (from the popular US television show Sesame Street) and even cake pops that look like cupcakes.

movie theaters : captain america rotten tomatoes, captain america, captain america review, hayley atwell, captain america trailer

2011-07-23T10:14:00.001-07:00

Amongst Hollywood's chief weapons are superheroes, Nazis and recycled ideas, so "Captain America: The First Avenger" represents the state-of-the-summer-art.

Rated TB for "Tween Boy," this brisk World War II adventure is a half step up from most of the comic book-inspired features that have cluttered our cineplexes in recent months and years.

That's fitting, because this comic began with more of an agenda than most. Created by writer Joe Simon and artist "Jack Kirby" (Jacob K), the first issue of "Captain America" appeared in March 1941, nine months before the United States entered the war. But the cover showed the hero slugging Adolf Hitler.

Unlike most comic-book flicks not featuring Batman, the script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely requires a leading man who has some power of acting. Although he may be best known from yet another superhero franchise, as the Fantastic 4's Johnny Storm, Chris Evans exhibits the necessary skills.

evans072311_optComputer-downsized into scrawny Steve Rogers, whose bouillabaisse of ailments continually thwarts his attempts to join his buddies enlisting in the service, Evans makes the character's fundamental decency and courage apparent.

CLICK FOR CAPTAIN AMERICA TRAILER

While buff best pal Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) gets the ladies, Steve catches the eye of sane scientist Abraham Erskine. A German émigré hoping to build a better world but willing to settle for a super soldier, Erskine is charmingly played by Stanley Tucci as though he suspects he's really in a Mel Brooks movie.

Erskine has anticipated our steroid era and soon sticks willing volunteer Steve full of precious body-building fluids, then slaps him into a metal sarcophagus to be bombarded with manta rays, or something.

From labs to factories, motorcycles to planes, the imaginary and inexplicable 1940s technology is another highlight of this movie, with Rick Heinrichs heading the production design team. Today, the look might be called Light Steampunk, but since this in set 70 years ago, Retro Futurism will have to do. (Characters even perform the neat trick of visiting the 1939 World's Fair in 1942.)

Even as Erskine and his team work for the Allies, though, the forces of evil have assembled their own tech team, albeit more mystically oriented. The always reliable Hugo Weaving is in fine form as their leader, Johann Schmidt, a mastermind so diabolical that he cannot abide Nazi inefficiency.

bryan stow

2011-07-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

San Francisco -- Two men charged Friday with mayhem in the beating of Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium targeted Giants fans on Opening Day, and one of the suspects has also been charged with attacking two other San Francisco fans, Los Angeles authorities say.

Two months after assuring the public that police had arrested the right man in Stow's beating, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck announced Friday that Giovanni Ramirez was in fact innocent.

Instead, Beck said, it was Louie Alex Sanchez, 29, and Marvin Eugene Norwood, 30, who punched Stow in the back of the head as the crowd let out at Dodger Stadium on March 31, knocked him to the ground, and beat and kicked him before jumping into a car that was driven away by a woman.

"Our goal is to find justice for Bryan Stow," Beck said during a news conference at Los Angeles police headquarters. Sanchez and Norwood live just houses apart from each other in Rialto (San Bernardino County), and the Los Angeles County district attorney's office charged the friends with mayhem, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery, all felonies.

Sanchez was also charged with misdemeanor battery stemming from an attack on two unnamed Giants fans at Dodger Stadium that same night. The men are being held on $500,000 bail each and are expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles court on Monday morning.

Sanchez's sister, Dorene Sanchez, 31, was arrested as an accessory in the crime but was not charged as of Friday, said Matt Krasnowski, spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

She was freed after her arrest and has been identified as Norwood's girlfriend. Authorities said they believe she was the woman who drove the vehicle after the attack.

Los Angeles police robbery homicide investigators arrested the three on Thursday, but Beck did not reveal why the investigation had shifted away from Ramirez, who is serving a 10-month prison term for parole violation.
Promising signs

The arrests came as Stow showed some promising signs.

Stow, 42, of Santa Cruz, who has been hospitalized since the attack, underwent emergency surgery earlier this week at San Francisco General Hospital after fluid built up in his brain during a seizure.

On Friday, the Stow family posted an update on its website that a nurse practitioner reported Stow had his eyes open and attempted to hold up his thumb or two fingers, then opened and closed his eyes on command.

When asked for his last name, he mouthed "Stow," the family said.

"The nurse practitioner, his nurse and the neurosurgeon witnessed this and they are very sure that is what he did," the family noted, but added that he was given an antiseizure medication and was asleep when family arrived. "We didn't get to see anything, but that is OK ... we were still very excited!"

The family was wary about announcing progress, acknowledging there will likely be setbacks.

"As always with these steps forward, we are aware that it's intermittent, and there will still be some steps back," the post says. "Even before the surgery, when he was at his best, his response to commands were not consistent."
'Big Dodgers fan'

In Southern California, meanwhile, the owner of the company where Norwood worked as an acoustic ceiling installer said he had a "bunch of tattoos," including a pair of lips on his neck.

"He was a big Dodgers fan - I remember he took off Opening Day," said the business owner, who asked not to be named.

She said Norwood was a reliable employee, but did serve a stint in custody for domestic violence during the two years he had worked for her. She also said he recently became a father.

"He seemed like a mild-mannered guy - I know he came to work every day," she said.

Los Angeles officials struggled to explain how they had so badly bungled the original investigation into the beating. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he was proud of the police work on the case and stressed that "everything we've done since the brutal attack on Mr. Stow was done with (his family) in mind. From the very beginning, LAPD has exhausted each and every avenue of interest."

He said the case involved "literally thousands of hours" of police work. "The process has worked. We want to assure you that the best of the best have been tasked to work on the case."

On Friday, Ramirez's mother, Soledad Gonzalez, lashed out at police for their wrongful pursuit of her son and offered stern advice: "Make sure you have the right suspect."

whale shark

2011-07-23T10:11:00.002-07:00

Hundreds of whale sharks, the largest fish in the world, have met up for their annual summer congregation in the Gulf of Mexico.

The enormous fish converge in the coastal waters off Cancun from May to September.

Some 250 whale sharks have been sighted so far in a positive sign for the species, New Zealand's 3 News reports.

A record was set in 2009 with 420 whale sharks reported in a single aerial survey.

Local biologist Rafael de la Parra says marine species such as dolphins, stingrays, tuna fish and the whale shark come to the Isla Mujeres, in the Gulf of Mexico, and feed on plankton, algae, krill and small fish or squid, NZ's 3 News says.

De la Parra, of government conservation group Project Domino, thinks the sharks come to reproduce.

Biologists had thought increased sightings indicated that Isla Mujeres was a point along the sharks' migration route, but recent research indicates otherwise.

Meanwhile, the U.K's Daily Mail reports that a man came very close to being swallowed by one of the sharks as he was photographing them.

Mauricio Handler, 49 and father of two, said he was leading an expedition of photographers down there when the moment was captured on camera.

"The picture of the diver staring into the gaping jaws of the shark was an incredible adrenaline rush," the Daily Mail reports.

"They don't have very good eyesight but the diver managed to get out of the way. If he had have been sucked into the massive mouth the shark would have just spat him out."

The Daily Mail reported there were about 600 sharks feeding at the time.

The whale shark is mainly gray in color with a white underside. It is not dangerous to humans and can live between 60 to 150 years.

Whale sharks have been recorded up to 46 feet in length and 15 tonnes in weight, but the average whale shark measures 25 feet in length.

They only swim at about 4.8 kilometers per hour and, unlike many other sharks, they swim by moving their entire bodies from side to side.

bart

2011-07-23T10:11:00.001-07:00

The BART police officer who shot and killed Charles Hill was a “newbie” with 18-months on the force, according to recordings of BART police communications released to The Bay Citizen Friday.

BART police have refused to identify the two officers involved in the July 3 shooting, saying only that one had six years of experience and the other 18 months. BART blacked out the face of the officer who shot Hill when it released surveillance camera video of the incident Thursday.

But in one recorded conversation shortly after the incident, a BART police employee asks about the officer who shot Hill. “He’s one of the newbies,” the dispatcher responds. “Holy shit,” the man says.

The recordings also reveal that BART personnel at first did not view Hill, a 45-year-old homeless man, as an immediate threat to himself or others.

In the first call to dispatchers, someone who appears to be a BART employee at the Civic Center station calmly reports that a white man in a tie-dyed t-shirt and khaki pants is "walking on the platform with an open bottle of alcohol."

The same person calls back some time later and calmly tells dispatchers, "Our guy with the alcohol at Civic Center. He's still there. He's kind of wobbling around." The recordings do not indicate how much time elapsed between calls.

There appear to be no communications between dispatchers and the two BART police officers during the 25-seconds between when they arrived at the Civic Center station and when Hill was shot.

The first call after the shooting comes from an officer on the scene, who radios in, “Shots fired. Code 3 ambulance. He had a knife. Officer involved shooting.”

In the minutes immediately following the shooting, the calls among BART police personnel show a deep concern for the two officers. In one call, a department employee trying to find a police technician to go the scene contacts one who is on vacation in Utah.

“There was an officer involved shooting . . .,” she says.

“Oh my gosh. Okay,” he says.

“Is everyone okay?”

“Yes, the suspect was shot. Not us,” she says. “So, we’re okay.”

“Can I ask you a question about it? Is the victim not going to make it?”

“We don’t know,” she answers. “CPR was being performed on him and at least three shots loaded into him that I saw from the platform . . . He had a knife so, and he was resisting officers; he was fighting.”

“I’m only asking because we're family. That’s why I’m asking to make sure everyone’s okay."

The recordings also indicate San Francisco Police Department investigators were concerned that BART trains traveling through the station after the shooting were blowing around evidence, including shell casings. The SFPD is one of four agencies investigating the shooting.

BART has also released two different surveillance videos during the past two days. The video released Thursday showed the young white officer getting off a BART train at Civic Center station with his partner at around 9:45 p.m.

weather boston

2011-07-23T10:10:00.002-07:00

Until yesterday, Boston’s thermometers had not seen 103 degrees on a July 22 since 1926, but the heat wave baking the East Coast reached the record-tying temperature at 3:52 p.m., testing New England’s power grid and punishing anyone who stepped outside.

Fainting and dehydration reports came in faster than on average summer days, but not as fast as some expected, and authorities are giving people credit for heeding safety advice.

Boston Emergency Medical Services fielded a surge of heat-related calls for a second day yesterday, but nothing serious, said Boston EMS spokeswoman Jennifer Mehigan.

With today’s temperatures expected to nearly match yesterday’s, however, she slipped in a precautionary “knock on wood.’’

“It hasn’t been bad here today for such a hot day,’’ said Ryan Donovan, a spokesman for Massachusetts General Hospital. “We had just under 10 cases of fainting, dehydration, or other heat-related issues. We’re thinking people took advice to stay indoors.’’

But many people work outdoors, some fighting fires.

Boston Deputy Fire Chief Michael Doherty called in three alarms to a fire in an Egleston Square duplex yesterday afternoon, in part because he feared that the high temperatures would overwhelm firefighters. About 75 firefighters worked in rotation, alternately fighting the fire and guzzling water.

Others were outside willingly.

In Framingham yesterday, 1,700 people walked about a dozen miles to Waltham in midday heat as part of a Susan G. Komen breast cancer fund-raiser.

“I’m taking it easy; I’m not going to lie to you,’’ said Maurine Turcotte, a 49-year-old breast cancer survivor from Amesbury who has undergone chemotherapy most Mondays since 2007.

“I’m not going to be on breast cancer treatment for four years and end up in the hospital because of a walk,’’ she said.

Organizers set up cooling centers, served extra water, and shortened the route in the afternoon as medical tents began filling up, Turcotte said.

Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co. trains on the Framingham/Worcester line were experiencing heat-related delays of 10 to 15 minutes yesterday afternoon, according to the MBTA website. A commuter rail spokesman said delays of about 30 minutes on the Rockport line were also weather-related.

The last time Massachusetts hit 100 degrees was July 6, 2010, and the all-time record for Boston is 104 degrees, set July 4, 1911.

Because yesterday was the third straight day with temperatures more than 90 degrees, Massachusetts is officially in a heat wave.

So it was among the last things swimmers at three area beaches wanted to hear yesterday when health officials warned them they were swimming in bacteria three times acceptable levels.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation posted advisories at King’s Beach in Lynn, one part of Nahant Beach, and at Revere Beach, warning that water exceeded safe levels of Enterococci, a group of bacterial species typically found in human and animal intestines and therefore in their feces, the Department of Public Health said.

“Reports from the field suggest that many folks have remained at the beach, but not as many are in the water, perhaps choosing to dip their toes instead of a full swim,’’ DCR spokeswoman S.J. Port said in an e-mail.

The DCR, the city of Boston, and many other municipalities extended pool hours or opened cooling centers. Boston extended the operation of cooling centers until tonight.

Meanwhile, New England is drawing near-record amounts of power, and ISO New England pushed closer to its generating capacity, but it stopped short of calling on all consumers to conserve electricity.

“Conditions are extremely tight,’’ Dominic Slowey, a spokesman for the regional energy operator, said yesterday afternoon. “We’re watching the system closely. At the moment, we’re OK, but as the heat wave continues, it puts stress on all of the equipment.’’

On a typical summer day, he said, consumption is around 22,000 or 23,000 megawatts, with each megawatt being generally enough to power 1,000 homes. The system tops out around 32,000 megawatts if all power plants are online and transmitters are running smoothly, Slowey said.

He said ISO New England dipped into energy reserves yesterday and paid large-scale power users to cut back on consumption as plants pumped out the second-highest megawatt count ever: 27,780 megawatts.

The worst of the heat is expected to ease today with temperatures in the upper 90s, said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton.

And tomorrow, the heat wave is expected to end.

Expect “highs in the refreshing lower 80s, or it might even be better, with highs in the upper 70s,’’ Dunham said.

And after a long dry week, Monday night has a 50 percent chance of showers, which could continue into Tuesday morning, Dunham said.

bmc

2011-07-23T10:10:00.001-07:00

The time-trial duel last night between Australian Cadel Evans and Luxembourg's Andy Schleck was compelling for many reasons. But one important factor that has slipped through to the keeper is the extra motivation both have to win. They share the misfortune of having placed second in the Tour twice.

AUSSIE WATCH

How the six Australians were placed - Evans (BMC) 3rd at 57s; Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-SunGard) 75th at 2h:8.58s; Stuart O'Grady (Leopard-Trek) 78th at 2:14.18; Simon Gerrans (Sky) 96th at 2:32.26; Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) 142nd at 3:17mins.48; Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad) 162nd at 3:36.38s.
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OH MY, GOSS

I think we get the picture about what Australian rider Matt Goss was going on about after finishing Friday's stage to l'Alpe d'Huez when he Tweeted: ''Maybe shouldn't have stole a staff sandwich in the car before the race. The gerkin [sic] and onion didn't taste so nice after 30k racing.'' Has this been a habit by the Tasmanian? Recall several stages ago the dispatch about how Goss had been regurgitating food.

UNSCATHED, UNBROKEN

As of writing, Australian Cadel Evans (BMC) is the only major favourite not to have crashed or been held up by a crash. OK … Italian Ivan Basso (Liquigas) has been spared such fate, but the 2010 Giro d'Italia winner fell out of the reckoning for a podium place on Friday when he finished 15th at 2m 6s to French stage 19 winner Pierre Rolland (Europcar).

TODAY'S TEAM

Today we look at the QuickStep team. Registered: Belgium. Team manager: Patrick Lefevre (Bel). Leader: Tom Boonen (Bel). Aussies on Tour: none. Budget: 10 million Euros. Sponsor: 1989 as co-sponsor with Mapei. 2003 as a major sponsor. What they do: Floor products with 3700 employees. Exported to 110 countries. Turnover: N/A.

THEY SAID IT

''I've imagined this dozens of times. I kept my cool up against the two Spaniards [Alberto Contador, Sammy Sanchez] who know each other so well and have been riding together since the start. It was double or nothing, but I didn't want to be second.'' - France's Pierre Rolland on his stage 19 win.

TODAY'S STAGE

Stage 21: Creteil to the Champs Elysees, Paris (95km). The best news for the peloton is that there are no more steep hills. What awaits, after a processional first 40km, are eight lightening-fast laps of the Champs Elysees circuit. A stage for the sprinters, and always a spectacular finish.

black widow

2011-07-23T10:09:00.002-07:00

LONGMONT -- Jeff Seale was almost certainly not killed by a black widow spider, experts at Colorado State University and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science said Friday.

"I'd say zero chance, not likely at all," said Dr. Paula Cushing, the museum's curator of invertebrate zoology and a past president of the American Arachnological Society. "I think it's tragic that he did die so young, but it's extremely unlikely that this is the cause."

The 40-year-old Seale died July 17 in his Erie home. His sister, Stephanie Baum of Longmont, said he reported finding 19 bites on his left foot around July 2 and believed they were from a black widow. He saw a doctor two or three days later, she said, but did not seek out medical treatment again before his death.

"It could be totally unrelated to the bites on his foot," said Baum, the wife of Longmont Mayor Bryan Baum. "I truly have no idea what it could be."

The Boulder County Coroner's Office has not released an official cause of death and is not expected to for at least four weeks.

Human deaths due to black widow poisoning are rare, usually occurring in the very young, the elderly or those with compromised immune systems. Seale was a former star pitcher for Fairview High School and still in good shape, his sister said, aside from high blood pressure.

Both Cushing and entomologist Whitney Cranshaw of Colorado State University said several details make a black widow unlikely to be the cause of death. Both first noted the number of bites -- a black widow typically bites once if it feels threatened and then tries to get away. It doesn't hang around for a second bite -- never mind a 19th -- unless it has nowhere to go, such as a spider trapped in a shoe.

"But if you had it in your shoe, you'd know it," Cushing said.

That's because a bite isn't subtle. It's painful, Cranshaw said. The venom is a neurotoxin, a poison that interferes with the nervous system, whose symptoms set in within about 30 minutes.

"It feels like someone's kicking you in the stomach over and over again," Cushing said.

If it wasn't one spider 19 times, could it have been multiple ones? Again, unlikely, the experts said. True, it's not uncommon to see several black widows in a barn or crawl space, Cushing said, but to invite a bite, you generally have to be pressing against the spider or threatening its web or egg sac. And though spiders are predators, they're not pack hunters.

"They don't gang up on people," Cranshaw said.

The two experts also found the timing odd. According to the National Library of Medicine, severe symptoms from a black widow bite start to improve within two to three days, though milder symptoms can hang on for a month. According to his sister, Seale initially matched that pattern: a couple of days of pain early on, followed by improvement with some flu-like symptoms afterward. But the pain he felt on the day he died two weeks later didn't fit.

"Sunday morning, he said his whole body was in excruciating pain," Baum said. "He couldn't get up to do anything."

Both Cushing and Cranshaw agreed that a two-week-old black widow bite shouldn't be lethal.

"The fact that it was two weeks later that these symptoms started appearing, that alone says (the cause of death) was not a black widow," Cushing said.

Baum said she had discussed other possibilities with the coroner.

A visitation for Seale will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Crist Mortuary in Boulder. A celebration of his life will be held at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at First Presbyterian Church of Boulder, 1820 15th St. He will be honored at 4 p.m. Thursday on the Fairview High School baseball field at the opening of the Legion A State Tournament.

"He truly left a legacy," Baum said. "It would have warmed his heart to see, so many years after he'd graduated, that people cared about him so much."

thundercats

2011-07-23T10:09:00.001-07:00

If you’re a fan of the property, chances are you already know that the ThunderCats will be returning to television courtesy of Cartoon Network. Although the series doesn’t debut until a week from today (Friday, July 29th), the network screened the debut episode at Comic-Con in Room 6A. For my thoughts on the screening and the ensuing panel, hit the jump. [Warning: Spoilers may lie ahead]

Bombastic drums and a sparking ThunderCats logo kick off the screening in grand fashion. The longer the logo stays, the more the anticipation builds. Then, the premiere begins. A quick narrative sets up the episode as a small aid to those who may not be all that familiar with the franchise’s mythology (i.e. myself). The episode wastes no time introducing key characters such as Lion-O (Will Friedle), Cheetara (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and Tygra (Matthew Mercer) to huge audience applause. Only a few minutes in, it’s apparent that the series has a solid balance of action and humor.

thundercats-2011-tv-series-wallpaper-01The episode does a great job of establishing Lion-O’s conflict as an heir apparent who has a ton of potential and not enough maturity for someone wielding a weapon as powerful as the Sword of Omens. As I watched, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the similar conflict encountered earlier this summer by Chris Hemsworth’s Thor. If this were the ACT, you might say that Lion-O is to Tygra as Thor is to Loki.

Following a fight between Lion-O and Tygra, the episode spends a little time developing Wilykit and Wilykat, the orphans who will inevitably join forces with Lion-O. Shortly after, the series establishes some societal overtones when Lion-O convinces those around him to end the oppressive tension that exists between his people and the lizard inhabitants of Third Earth. The guy (er, cat) may be immature, but he’s light years ahead of Tygra and co. in the compassion department.

A little past midway through, a major battle is set up that will eventually validate Lion-O’s earlier claim that technology exists and, in order to defend yourself against it, you must choose to understand rather than ignore it. Moving ahead, the battle (led by an onslaught of Mumm-Ra’s minions) claims much of Lion-O’s kingdom, including his father, King Claudus. As heir to the throne, the ball is now squarely in Lion-O’s court and a round of applause explodes as he claims his father’s deceased sword and assembles his fellow ThunderCats for the first time. “This is only the beginning,” he says as the screen fades to black.

thundercats-2011-tv-series-wallpaper-04Obviously, I can’t speak for those who have previous ties to the property as nostalgia may win out over any iteration of the characters regardless of quality. That said, given how much I enjoyed the episode, I feel confident in saying that Cartoon Network has successfully crafted a ThunderCats series that will appeal to a new generation of audience members while satisfying a majority of longtime fans in the process.

Following the screening, producers Ethan Spaulding and Michael Jelenic discussed how they approached bringing ThunderCats to a new generation of viewers. They cited voice actor Larry Kenney (the original Lion-O and King Claudus in this series) and the sense of adventure found in the original as being the two things they were most concerned with carrying over. Chriqui then talked about how Cheetara’s independence and strength were the elements that most attracted her to the character.

Next, Kenney took the floor and thanked the fans (and their parents) for supporting the series and giving him the opportunity to be a part of the series and their pop-culture memories not once, but twice. As the panel was rushed for time, art director Dan Norton closed things out by taking briefly about the pressure he felt in bringing a beloved property like ThunderCats to life. As I said earlier, I think everyone involved has done a commendable job as I thoroughly enjoyed the episode and look forward to checking out the series on Cartoon Network.

oklahoma city bombing

2011-07-23T10:08:00.001-07:00

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2011 (AFP) - The right-wing, anti-government mindset attributed to the Norwegian rampage suspect has observers recalling US extremist Timothy McVeigh, behind the devastating Oklahoma City bombing.

McVeigh, then just 26, blew up a van he had packed with explosives and parked outside a large federal building in the Oklahoman state capital, on April 19, 1995.

The blast killed 168 people, including 19 children and babies, injured more than 800, in the deadliest ever domestic attack in US history, and brought into sharp focus the threat of homegrown terrorism.

Arrested shortly afterwards, McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran, was found to have been a figure in neo-Nazi groups and even claimed to have acted for the "common good" of Americans, as he railed against what he thought was the dictatorship of the federal government.

After six years he was executed on June 11, 2001, but while on death row, McVeigh spoke openly of his part in the bombing and the anti-government hatred that motivated him.

In the case of the murderous rampage in Norway that has killed at least 91 people and shocked the normally peaceful northern European nation, a portrait of the lone attacker has emerged as a "Christian fundamentalist," and links have been made with right-groups.

Widely named by local media as Anders Behring Breivik, he identifies himself as "ethnically Norwegian," and has posted writings at length on his dismay with the Norwegian government and the ruling liberal political party.

On his Facebook page -- since deleted -- Breivik also said he was a director of an organic farming business, which gave him access to nitrate chemicals apparently used in the Oslo explosion that kicked off Norway's own worst ever homegrown attack on Friday.

An agricultural firm has indicated Breivik purchased some six tons of chemical fertilizer in early May.

The Oklahoma City bombing in the United States drew wide attention and even acclaim from some far-right militias.

"Timothy McVeigh is still seen by some groups in the US as a hero," said Matthew Goodwin, politics lecturer at the University of Nottingham in central England.

"Whether this attack (in Norway) will inspire copycat attacks itself remains to be seen. There is certainly the potential for it."

According to data compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in the United States, the number of dedicated militias with a racist, extremist agenda has increased 60 percent since 2000, from 602 then to over 1,000 recorded last year.

The SPLC estimated in 2009 that such movements were further emboldened with the election of the first black president, Barack Obama in 2008.

Amy Winehouse, 27, found dead at her London flat

2011-07-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her home in London, it has been reported.

The Back To Black singer was found at the property in by emergency services at 3.54pm this afternoon, according to sources, and her death is being treated as 'unexplained' by police.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: 'Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square NW1 shortly before 16.05hrs today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased.
Passing: Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her home this afternoon

Passing: Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her home this afternoon

'On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene.

'Enquiries continue into the circumstances of the death. At this early stage it is being treated as unexplained.’

It is not known whether Amy’s father Mitch actually knows about his daughter’s death and Sky News have confirmed that he is currently on a plane to New York to take part in a Jazz festival.
Healthy: Amy was spotted out in London looking healthier earlier this month
Healthy: Amy was spotted out in London looking healthier earlier this month

Healthy: Amy was spotted out in London looking healthier earlier this month

Winehouse had been seen with her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield earlier this week as the teenager took to the stage at the iTunes festival.

She refused to join in for Mama Said, but did support the 14-year-old with a few dance moves before urging the crowd to buy Dionne's new album Good For The Soul.

A source said: 'Amy staggered onstage and grabbed the mic to beg the crowd to buy her protege’s new album.'
Daddy's girl: Amy was very close to her father Mitch, who is believed not to know about his daughter's death

Daddy's girl: Amy was very close to her father Mitch, who is believed not to know about his daughter's death

Winehouse's appearance at the concert came after she cancelled her European tour following a disastrous performance in June when she stumbled onto the stage in Belgrade and gave an incoherent performance appearing very disorientated and removed from reality.

Following the concert which saw fans enraged and the subsequent video that circulated to millions she cancelled the remaining dates of her European tour.

A statement released by the troubled singer's spokesperson said that the singer would be given 'as long as it takes' to recover.

The statement read: 'Amy Winehouse is withdrawing from all scheduled performances.

'Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen.'

Winehouse had been working on her long-awaited new album, the follow-up to her 2006 breakthrough multi-million selling Back To Black, for the past three years.

Winehouse has had a troubled life which has included various stints in rehab for drug and alcohol addiction.

In an interview in 2008, her mother Janis said she would be unsurprised if her daughter died before her time.

She said: 'I've known for a long time that my daughter has problems. But seeing it on screen rammed it home. I realise my daughter could be dead within the year. We're watching her kill herself, slowly.

'I've already come to terms with her dead. I've steeled myself to ask her what ground she wants to be buried in, which cemetery. Because the drugs will get her if she stays on this road.

'I look at Heath Ledger and Britney. She's on their path. It's like watching a car crash - this person throwing all these gifts away.'

As well her battles with drugs and alcohol, Winehouse also had a troubled marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil, who she divorced in summer 2009.

Fielder-Civil and Winehouse married in 2007 in Miami. The pair's relationship - heavily documented by the media - saw them appearing in public bloodied and bruised after fights.

It is also alleged former music video producer Fielder-Civil was the one who introduced the Back to Black star to heroin and crack cocaine.

24 hour fitness

2011-07-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

Tammie D. Turner sought to bring a class action against 24 Hour Fitness and its related entities (24 Hour Fitness) for unlawful and unfair conduct in selling personal training sessions. The trial court sustained a demurrer to Turner's fifth amended complaint without leave to amend. We affirm.
FACTS
Evan W. Granowitz initially brought this action on July 3, 2007, on behalf of a similarly situated class of individuals who entered into a Fitness Service Agreement (FSA) to buy personal training sessions from 24 Hour Fitness. In his third amended complaint, Granowitz alleged that he purchased five one-hour training sessions but was unable to schedule his sessions outside of work hours due to an insufficient number of personal trainers. He also alleged he was not allowed to view the FSA until after he made the purchase so was unaware of the six-month expiration. Instead, Granowitz had previously purchased training sessions from personal trainers who paid 24 Hour Fitness a monthly fee to sell their services to its members. These prepaid training sessions did not expire. 24 Hour Fitness's demurrer to the third amended complaint was sustained with leave to amend.
In the fourth amended complaint, Granowitz alleged causes of action for violation of the Unfair Competition Law under Business & Professions Code section 17200 (UCL), breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, declaratory relief and money had and received. The trial court sustained in part and overruled in part 24 Hour Fitness's demurrer. It overruled the demurrer as to the allegations that 24 Hour Fitness breached the implied covenant of good faith by failing to provide enough personal trainers to accommodate the number of training sessions sold, but sustained the demurrer as to the allegations that the covenant was breached because 24 Hour Fitness forced him to purchase training sessions before he saw the FSA and declared the unused training session forfeited and refused to provide him a refund. The trial court further overruled the demurrer as to the claim for money had and received. It also "granted without leave to amend as to any allegations that the FSA's expiration provision itself provides a basis for liability or that liability can be predicated on conversion or violation of the [Consumer Legal Remedies Act]." We summarily denied Granowitz's petition for writ of mandate seeking review on this issue.
At the hearing on the second amended complaint, Granowitz revealed that he worked for the law firm representing him in this matter. He was granted leave to locate an alternate class representative as he could not both serve as class representative and class counsel. Turner was substituted in as class representative in the fifth amended complaint, which alleged causes of action for violation of the UCL, money had and received, forfeiture and unlawful penalty. Turner alleged that she purchased 20 half training sessions from a sales associate at 24 Hour Fitness but that she was not made aware that unused training sessions would expire if not used within six months of purchase. Turner did not use all of her 20 training sessions before the six month expiration.

iron man 2

2011-07-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

When someone who goes by Iron Andy talks, people are likely to listen.

The message he communicates is simple: “Have a positive attitude.”

Iron Andy is Andy Holder of Skippack, an ironman thriathlete with Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes, who believes “everyone should have an opportunity to live a healthy and active life” … and “so much stems from having a positive attitude.

“There are so many things in life we can’t really control, things that happen to us on a daily basis, small things, big things,” Holder said. “Oftentimes people get caught up in worrying about things they can’t change or control, making excuses, blaming other people.

“I tell them, ‘The only thing you can control is your attitude. Constantly train yourself to have a positive attitude, even about little things. Then when something big is thrown your way, you’re prepared for it. It causes a chain reaction of seeing the positive in what others might see as negative. Before you know it you’re opening yourself up, doing extraordinary things, inspiring people. (A positive attitude) feeds the engine.’

“How else would I have turned being diagnosed with Type 1 into an opportunity?”

Nearly seven years ago, Holder, a husband and father of two boys, was told after having a life insurance exam that he had prediabetes for Type 2. At the time he was 36 and working in the investment business. And he didn’t at all fit the profile for Type 2.

“It made absolutely no sense to me, because I was extremely fit. I worked out all the time. I was a drug-free body builder. Diabetes was the last thing I thought I would have had,” Holder said.

He was retested a few months later. At that point his blood sugar was “through the roof, far surpassing the norm.” The test indicated that Holder, who was about to turn 37, had Type 1 diabetes.

“Which was even more confusing, because I thought that was for just children,” he said.

Formerly called juvenile diabetes, Type 1 results from autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas.

Although doctors couldn’t give Holder a definitive answer, he was told his diabetes could have been caused by a virus, one he possibly contracted as a kid that laid dormant for many years until something, like stress, triggered it.

He was in “shock, denial,” but quickly came to terms, telling himself, “I already eat well and have a healthy lifestyle, so if have to take some medication, then so be it.”

And with acceptance came a positive attitude.

“Very quickly — a testament to my makeup — I decided I didn’t want (diabetes) to take over my life, I didn’t want it to define me, I didn’t want my sons growing up seeing me as someone who let something like this change or limit our lives,” Holder said.

“I told my wife, ‘I’m not happy about it, but I can’t change it. The only thing I can do is move forward and turn it into a positive.’

“The very first thing that came to mind was doing the ironman triathlon, and doing it in a way that I’d draw lots of attention and quite possibly inspire others.”

Just thinking about what an ironman triathlon actually is — a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike and a full marathon of 26.2 miles, raced in that order and without a break — would scare most people away. But Holder said he didn’t really think. He just did.

Admittedly, he was the “farthest thing from a triathlete. I didn’t own a bike. I really didn’t know how to swim. The question that comes to mind is: Why?

“Most people are programmed to choose the path of least resistance, so they’re amazed why I’d do something so difficult,” Holder continued. “To me, it was as easy as this — an ironman was the hardest thing I could choose to do, and if I picked something easy, I wouldn’t inspire and motivate people.”

As it turns out, Holder’s diagnosis was a blessing in disguise, not only for the 70-plus kids he’s sent to overnight diabetes camps nationwide in this summer alone, but also for himself.

“In my old career, I knew … I should’ve been doing something bigger, having more of an impact,” Holder said. “But you get stuck in a job and before you know it it’s 15 years later. I knew I was not in the right place.

“Thankfully …, having a positive attitude, I was able to see an opportunity in diabetes — where maybe most people would not have — for me to finally do that something extra and leave a better footprint on the world.”

So he shared with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation his plan to use his own journey to an ironman competition as a platform to raise money and awareness for diabetes. They loved it and asked Holder to help support the Philadelphia chapter’s fundraising efforts by sharing his story with corporate sponsors and asking them to rally around diabetes efforts.

The first company he met with was AmerisourceBergen, a pharmaceutical wholesaler located in Chesterbrook, and the parent company of Good Neighbor Pharmacy, a national retailers’ cooperative network of independently owned and operated pharmacies, which is headquartered in Valley Forge.

“These pharmacies do a lot of work with diabetes and have designated diabetes training in their stores. They thought my story was a great vehicle to create this national marketing campaign that would not only inspire people with diabetes, but also educate people on how helpful a pharmacy could be for someone with diabetes. They created a campaign around my story called ‘Managing Diabetes: Living without Limits.’”

This set into motion a chain of events. Holder quit his job and became the national spokesman for Good Neighbor Pharmacy. What was designed as a two-year campaign has now lasted for five years. He travels around the country as a motivational speaker, addressing audiences at schools, hospitals, health fairs and Fortune 500 companies.

He founded The Iron Andy Foundation with a “mission to help children, young adults and families dealing with diabetes have a proactive approach and attitude towards managing and fighting this chronic disease.”

The foundation’s flagship program, the Iron Andy Challenge, provides scholarships to children and young adults who want to attend diabetes camps and leadership conferences and who demonstrate a commitment to the foundation’s core principles: physical activity, fundraising, education and public awareness and service.

And of course, he trains. Hard.

“Learning how to swim at 36 is no small task,” Holder said with a laugh. “There’s a difference between a couple laps at the Y and swimming 2.4 miles, in open water, with a bunch of people around you. There’s also a steep learning curve for biking and running a marathon. It’s a lot of training and hard work. There were days I felt like throwing in the towel.

“On top of how hard it is on its own, doing an ironman with Type 1 diabetes is hard to the 10th power.” It means managing his blood sugar and giving himself insulin while in motion.

Holder doesn’t have a continuous glucose monitor and pump — he tried it a couple of years ago but it wasn’t for him — rather he tests the “old-fashioned way,” pricking his finger 50, 60, 70 times during a race, and he delivers insulin manually.

But Holder’s biggest challenge on race day, he said, comes before the race even starts.

“When you’re exercising, doing anything physical, and your body doesn’t know how to regulate blood sugar, the fear is when you (manually) give yourself too much insulin the exercise will bring your blood sugar to dangerous lows.

“The swim takes anywhere from an hour and 10 to an hour and 30 minutes. I can’t check when I’m swimming and would otherwise never exercise that long without checking. So I get up early, have a big pre-race meal and give myself a small percentage of insulin, because I don’t want to be back down to normal before swimming; I want to be high.

“What I do before a race sets the tone for the rest of the day.”

It’s a science figuring out how to manipulate his blood sugar levels so that they’re high enough to last through the swim, Holder said, adding that even race day jitters and water temperature can affect his blood sugar.

While biking he’s taking in carbohydrate calories every 15 minutes and testing his blood sugar, leaning on the handlebars and moving 20 miles per hour. He keeps up the balancing act while he’s running as well, never stopping.

Holder races in triathlons at a variety of distances. He’s completed an impressive seven full ironmans. He ran in the Philadelphia Triathlon last month and is currently training for the Cleveland Triathlon - Olympic distance in August. After that he has three half-ironmans, one in Georgia, one in the Poconos and another in Texas, and then the Philadelphia Marathon in November.

Even with a name like Iron Andy, Holder said he’s not promoting the ironman triathlon, and he’s careful not to come across that way, especially when speaking to kids.

“What I’m trying to do is show them what’s possible. As hard as this disease is, there’s nothing they can’t do. It would be a crime to me if any child were to let diabetes limit (him) in any way. If anything, it should be a catalyst for (kids) to do more.”

tom watson open

2011-07-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

TOM Watson was too far back last night to win a sixth claret jug but it's a testament to the player he is that, at 61 years of age, he's even in the conversation.

With the exception of Sam Snead, no golfer has contended at majors into their twilight years like Watson, who surely must be considered one of the greatest links players.

He went out in the foulest of Saturday's weather and turned in a two-over-par round of 72 that left even the best players in the world in awe.

"If we had weather like we had this morning the entire tournament, I don't know who's going to beat him," Phil Mickelson said.

Unfortunately for Watson, the skies cleared and the winds softened for the leaders and he was left in a tie for 25th after three days, nine shots behind the surprise leader, Darren Clarke.

He could've been better had he not lost his nerve on a few short putts but, as he later admitted, he made his share of long ones, too.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

Irrespective, Watson's left his mark on this, his 34th Open Championship, when he became the oldest man to make the cut in the long history of this tournament.

Robert Allenby and Davis Love III were in the group behind on Friday morning when Watson sent a four-iron high into the par-three sixth at Royal St George's, in the garden of England.

They didn't see the ball as it flew at the flag, but they didn't need eyes to know what had happened.

Their ears told them that the old man by the sea had reeled himself in a hole-in-one.

Even for a couple of grizzled veterans, it was a magical moment.

"He's just an amazing golfer," Allenby, shaking his head, told Love.

What's remarkable about Watson is that he's still got that Huckleberry Finn grin, still got that glint in his eye, still got that beautiful, age-defying swing and, most of all, hasn't lost his hunger for this, his most treasured tournament.

He's won it five times, trailing the record-holder, Harry Vardon, by one.

Yet it's clear from speaking to him that Watson doesn't cross the Atlantic every July to soak up applause and trade off fading memories.

The man can still play and he hasn't given up on the idea that he might just shock the world one last time.

"I guess I refuse to be a ceremonial player," he said, "(When) that time comes, then I'll hang them up."

Love said Watson "gets inspired when he comes over here".

The links is an acquired taste many never acquire. Most players dread the prospect of pulling on the waterproofs.

"Not Tom -- if it gets windy and rainy, he gets excited," Love said.

But for how much longer will he be excited?

"I don't know, until this old body says 'no mas'," Watson said.

"If I'm out there not able to compete and shooting 80 or 78 or 76 all the time, I'm not going to stay around very much if I do that."

I asked him how old he felt.

"I feel in pretty good shape. I'm not too bad," he said.

"But when you see these kids and the speed with which they hit the golf ball with their driver _ it's just a different sound. Their sound is a whoosh and mine is a thud. There's a difference."

"But," he said with a wink, "The thud works every time."

Meanwhile, the Australian assault on Royal St George's fizzled during the third round.

Adam Scott had been perched for a run at his first major but left disappointed after a third-round 73. He fell to two over par for the tournament, seven behind Clarke.

"I made it look worse than it was," he said of the conditions.

"I three-putted twice in the first four holes so I made the worst of a bad situation."

Scott refused to blame his broomstick putter.

"My speed was off, that was the thing; they were just that much slower after some rain," he said.

Like Watson, Jason Day got the worst of the elements but didn't fare as well.

The Queenslander, who finished as runner-up at both the Masters and US Open, shot 76 in the third round to fall to seven over par for the tournament.

"I actually hit it better today but it was just hard because I was taking into consideration a 40-mile-an-hour wind," he said.

"A four- or five-club wind.

"I was talking to (playing partner) Bubba (Watson) about it and we agreed that it was the toughest day we had ever played. You've never seen so many people hold their umbrellas sideways."

Of the other Australians who made the cut, Allenby shot 75, Richard Green 73 and Matthew Millar, who went out first with a marker, turned in an 80.

"The conditions were brutal," Millar said.

"I usually don't mind it if it's a bit tougher but it really got hold of me today.

"You just keep making bogeys and it's really hard to make birdies and as the rain keeps tumbling, it gets worse."

Green said the fourth hole _ which Day said he played as if it was a three-shot par-five _ was impossible, with a 40mph wind.

"I think my driver went just 200 yards and then a three-wood just as far again, then I pitched up on to the green and made par," he said.

"I walked off there, I couldn't believe it."

criss angel latest video

2011-07-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

A lot has changed since Criss Angel graduated from East Meadow High School 26 years ago.

Angel, 43, whose real name is Christopher Sarantakos, is now one of the world's most renowned illusionists, and he's had many highlights in his career. He has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" twice, his "Criss Angel Walks on Water" video on YouTube has more than 40 million views and his recent Orville Redenbacher popcorn commercial has been a resounding hit as well.

While his magic may have taken him around the world, his story began in East Meadow. Angel says his time at EMHS really helped shape the person he has become today.

"The teachers saw my passion," Angel said. "They allowed me to create a schedule that let me spend a lot of time on my love of magic, and that really guided me in the right direction. Everybody just supported what I was trying to do."

Angel began learning magic when he was 6 years old. His aunt showed him a card trick and he was hooked.

"Ever since then, I drove my family crazy by doing tricks to them and getting their opinions and advice about how I could better my presentation," Angel said.

As he became older, Angel would ride his bike and perform locally, including working at some benefits at Nassau University Medical Center. That's how he became "the guy to go to for magic," Angel says.

Now, Angel is the most watched magician in television history. His big break came in 2001 when he launched his Broadway show, "Criss Angel: Mindfreak." Now, Angel performs two shows a night at the Luxor in Las Vegas, and he has his own show on A&E. He also is working on 14 new shows, and will soon be debuting his own broadcasting network. His new website will be debuting in July, and it will be featuring the "best of the best" in music and magic, including the likes of Ke$ha, Siegfried and Roy and Little John, just to name a few.

"Coming this July, the revolution is on," Angel said. "You’re going to see anything and everything to do with magic."

Angel's site will offer people the opportunity to purchase from a selection of over 10,000 items, and unique features, such as the ability to hire Angel's own magicians.

Angel still makes sure to visit East Meadow at least once or twice per year, and he says he is "sure to be back in New York for a lot more time" once his current contract expires.

"I'm the same person I was in East Meadow," Angel said. "I am trying to motivate people. I’m just somebody that has a dream and worked my [expletive] off to achieve a dream, and anyone else can do it as well."

eragon

2011-07-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

The Big Twenty is Shur’tugal’s twenty week long series of in depth discussion and theorizing, all centered around twenty core questions, loose ends, and theories in the Inheritance universe. The Big Twenty is the ultimate fan guide to happenings in Book 4 — and we hope you’ll join us for the adventure! To learn more about the Big Twenty, view our announcement article.

Eragon’s love was prophesied to revolve around one of noble birth and heritage, said to be a powerful, wise, and beautiful woman. However, Eragon hasn’t been the luckiest courter following his failed advances on Arya, princess of the Ellesmera. Does Eragon still have a chance to win over the powerful warrior, or does Eragon’s future love life lay elsewhere?

Our fourth Big Twenty article will explore Eragon’s love life, largely missing from the series so far, and whether or not our hero stands a chance at finding true love.

Remember to keep a copy of The Inheritance Almanac – the official companion guide to Inheritance, approved by Christopher Paolini himself – by your side as we work through the books, stories, tales, and theories leading up to Book 4! The Inheritance Almanac has everything you need to know about the people, places, and things in Alagaësia including unknown facts, exclusive information, and exciting tidbits. You can pick the book up through Amazon (or any local book dealer) for only $10 – and it’s rated 4.5 stars!

A Love Story Foretold and Seemingly Forgotten

Eragon’s romantic future was seemingly set-in-stone early on in the series during our first encounter with Angela the herbalist. Angela offers Eragon a glimpse into his own future by reading his fortune from magic-imbued dragon bones. Many of the witch’s predictions have since come true, yet the outcome of the foretold romance remains unresolved:

“An epic romance is in your future, extraordinary, as the moon indicates – for that is the magical symbol – strong enough to outlast empires. I cannot say if this passion will end happily, but your love is of noble birth and heritage. She is powerful, wise, and beautiful beyond compare.”

This prediction hinges on two major points:

This passion – not love affair – may only be one-way. This prediction does not state that the receiver of Eragon’s love will ever love him back. In fact, “I cannot say if this passion will end happily” doesn’t seem to bode well for the Rider.

The prediction’s description of his “love target” is spot-on for Arya. “Noble birth and heritage” – check. “Powerful” – check. “Wise” – check. “Beautiful beyond compare” – Eragon sure seems to think so!

A Dream – But is it Just That?

Another indicator of a set-in-stone romantic future for our young hero is his early dream of two Riders – himself and another mysterious female – leaving Alagaësia forever.

“A strange, fair ship waited for them, shining under a bright moon. The figures slowly boarded the vessel; two of them, taller than the rest, walked arm in arm. Their faces were obscured by cowls, but he could tell that one was a woman. They stood on the deck of the ship and faced the shore. A man stood alone on the pebble beach, the only one who had no boarded the ship. He threw back his head and let out a long, aching cry. As it faded, the ship glided down the river, without a breeze or oars, out into the flat, empty land. The vision clouded, but just before it disappeared, Eragon glimpsed two dragons in the sky.”

It is widely believed that this dream was a vision into one of Eragon’s possible futures – a future where he will leave Alagaësia forever, arm in arm with his soul mate: a female Rider.

A Lackluster Love Life During Hard Times

Many would argue that the hope of an entire continent and the survival of multiple races rests on the shoulders of Eragon and Saphira. These individuals feel that the young Rider should set aside his personal wants and desires – relationships included – for the betterment of Alagaësia and its people. This is a large order for such a young boy, even considering the circumstances.

While Eragon has grown and matured substantially over a short period of time, it is unfair to ignore his need to withdraw from the conflict when there is time in order to maintain his own personal wellbeing and sanity. Casting aside these core feelings and emotions would lead to a withdrawn and bitter version of Eragon, taking our hero down a path that is both self-destructive and destructive to those around him.

However, we cannot argue that Eragon has attempted to cast aside these desires for the betterment of Alagaësia. In fact, throughout all three books, we see Eragon’s initial “crush” on Arya bloom into full swooning, and eventually take form in multiple advances on the elven royal… all, while flattering, have been awkwardly declined. We see him fail time after time to court Arya, causing momentary strife between the elf and Rider, all leading nowhere.

Brisingr is in the past and Inheritance is on the horizon. The final pages of the third installment left fans with a lingering feeling of resignation and despair: Eragon appears to have finally given up on chasing the woman of his dreams – Arya – possibly for the final time. She has declined his advances, he has made a fool of himself, and love seems lost.

What is set in stone? Eragon has clearly said that he remains uneasy about taking a mortal mate; the idea of watching his love grow old and die as he never ages is too much for him to bear. Should Eragon stay true to this “rule”, his options are limited: he may search for love among the elves, a race which ages as slowly as he does, or he can hold out hope that the last (green) Rider is a female with whom he may one day find a mutual interest.

Exploring Potential Suitors

Many people believe that “celebrity” status is something reserved for our generation, where people idolize and adore those in a position of power and awe; however, we fully believe this not to be the case. While Alagaësia’s citizens certainly face some monumental issues in the form of tyrant leaders, warring nations, dwindling supplies, and attacks, they must seek comfort in objects or people they can idolize and enjoy in their spare time. It’s likely that hundreds, if not thousands, will take to “tempting” Eragon during and after the war. Young women will idolize him as a hero, hoping to spend their days with him. There will be no end to the women Eragon can choose from, but the real question is – will he want any of them?

We seem to believe that there are only a few potential individuals who truly stand a chance at winning Eragon’s heart:

Arya – Princess of the elves and once-protector of Saphira’s egg. Maybe she’ll come around?
Nasuada – Leader of the Varden and passionate voice for freedom in Alagaësia.
Future Rider – Should the “Green Rider” be female, it’s likely that Eragon will bond with this individual, leading down a potential “path to love”
An unknown noble –Whether from Surda or a rightful female heir to the Broddring Nation, there are likely other females of noble birth in Alagaësia.

Arya – From a Story Standpoint, Most Likely

Most fans will argue that Arya is the only true and logical choice for Eragon’s potential life mate. This theory is certainly backed by three books’ history… though the same history also seems to indicate that while Eragon has strong and passionate feelings for the elf princess, she simply cannot reciprocate. Despite Eragon’s constant advances (which have begun to wane as the series progresses), Arya wishes for their relationship to sit in the dreaded “friend zone”.

Eragon has made an extraordinary effort to take his relationship with Arya past friendship. He has offered his feelings on a silver platter and has been denied each time. Yet, despite all of this, we feel as though there might still be hope for the two as a couple in the future. Once the war is in the past, the two may have time to get to know each other on a more personal level, offering new ways for the couple to bond beyond friendship. It is possible that Arya is incapable of seeing anything more than a friend within Eragon due to the dire circumstances the pair faces; once these circumstances are eliminated, Arya may be able to look past a friendship toward something more.

Fan theories point to Arya becoming the final “Green Rider” in the series. Should this be the case – again, this is not confirmed – more avenues may open between Eragon and Arya. The elf princess will find herself in a vulnerable situation with few to relate to and will turn to Eragon for support and guidance. Having faced a very similar situation himself, it is likely that Eragon will find it easier to bond with a more open-minded Arya. Becoming a Rider in Alagaësia is a rare and powerful feat and the few remaining Riders need to stick together. This possible circumstance would likely ignite a relationship between the two – the relationship Eragon has been seeking since first encountering the elf in his dreams.

While the pair’s future seems rocky at best, we still have an entire book’s plot left to either drive the pair together… or apart.

Nasuada – Less Likely, But Possibly Fits

Nasuada is an unlikely option for Eragon’s future love, yet she cannot be ignored. Our hero’s prophecy clearly states that his future love will be “of noble birth and heritage”; Nasuada, in her own way, falls within this category. Her mother remains unknown, yet she was the daughter of one of the most powerful men in Alagaësia before ascending to the “throne” – an elected position, in her case – to lead Alagaësia’s most powerful rebel group. The prophecy also states that his love will be beautiful, powerful, and wise – three qualities we know Nasuada possesses and are alluded to throughout all three books.

We know that chemistry exists between Eragon and Nasuada, but we haven’t seen a single sign indicating that the chemistry will extend past the “working friendship” the pair share now as de facto leaders of the rebel movement.

This could happen, but it’s very unlikely. No plot threads have existed in the first three books which could be indicative of a budding relationship between the Rider and Varden leader, yet the option has never been ruled out. One thing is for certain: Eragon and Nasuada ending up together may annoy Murtagh just a bit!

Future Green Rider: Future Possibility?

As mentioned above, Eragon hasn’t had the best luck finding love with currently-known characters. Because of this, we feel the most likely path for Eragon’s love rests with whomever ends up bonding with Alagaesia’s final dragon egg… if that person is a female. We are shown through Eragon’s Guide to Alagaesia (which takes place after the events of Book 4) that Eragon has survived the war. This leaves room for Eragon to finally explore his love life, which may mean bonding with the new Rider to create a new generation of Riders, dragons, and hilariously pointy-eared offspring.
Another Beautiful, Powerful and Wise Female is Out There Somewhere
Alagaësia is certainly home to many beautiful, powerful and wise females willing to sit at Eragon’s side. The boy is relatively new to the world and has many adventures ahead of him – assuming he doesn’t meet his demise in Book 4. We cannot rule out the possibility of his future life-mate being someone we haven’t yet encountered. We also cannot ignore the fact that we may never receive closure in this field. It’s possible that with all the action in Alagaësia, Eragon may cast aside his own needs and deal with them following the war. Should this happen, it’s likely that it would be “after Book 4” – an unwritten story left up to the fans’ own minds.

To please the prophecy at the back of all of our minds, one needs only to consider that the Broddring Nation’s original bloodlines flow throughout Palancar Valley. Could Eragon have already met a young, beautiful descendant of the original kings? Could his future love be waiting for him back home?

Questions to Consider (Answer in the Comments Below!)

Do you think Eragon’s love life is as cut and dry as everyone assumes (aka, he’ll end up with Arya)?
Do you think Christopher has a surprise in store for us regarding Eragon’s future life mate?
Do you think that Christopher may choose to ignore Eragon’s love life due to all that is going on in Alagaesia during Book 4?
Did the Menoa tree take Eragon’s ability to love?
Who do you feel will be Eragon’s true love and why?

isis

2011-07-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

The FINANCIAL -- Oxford, UK, 14th July 2011 Isis and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford have awarded two new Fellowships for MBA graduates from the School, marking the fifth year of this successful and popular programme.

These fellowships are awarded annually to graduates of the Saïd Business School MBA programme. Applicants are required to demonstrate their interest in applying their entrepreneurial skills to University technology transfer activities, and submit a personal statement which is assessed by a selection panel. Each Fellowship provides the recipient with £6,000 over the three months they spend at Isis.

Manuel Fuertes and Dr Tony Williams bring complementary skill sets from substantial business experience and their MBA. Manuel is from Spain, and has been an engineer and entrepreneur in the UK and China, having worked at Rolls Royce, and subsequently built up a business from scratch to a turnover of over £4m. Tony studied in Cambridge and then worked in Edinburgh, Princeton and, prior to his MBA studies, in London for the Royal Society Enterprise Fund performing scientific due diligence work predominantly in the Cleantech sector.

Previous recipients of the Fellowships have brought valuable skills to Isis, and have pursued subsequent careers in finance and industry. Two of the previous recipients are employed by Isis in its Oxford and Hong Kong offices.
Tom Hockaday, Managing Director of Isis Innovation Ltd., said, “We believe that this programme is a true “win-win” – Isis gives the recipients an opportunity to apply their experience and knowledge in a busy and diverse technology transfer environment, and benefits both from their fresh ideas and energy, and also from the chance to build working relationships with the business leaders of the future.”

Derek Walker, Director of Careers at the Saïd Business School, said, “We’re delighted to continue the cooperation with Isis and are very pleased that MBA graduates from the School continue to add value to Isis’ business.”

hepatitis b info

2011-07-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

Do you know that there is a virus that is 100 times more contagious than human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)?

The virus does not just infect the body and produce inflammation in the liver; moreover, it may cause massive death of liver cells and develop into liver scarring (cirrhosis), cancer and chronic infection.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one major threat to global health. It is estimated that 2 billion people around the world have been infected with HBV and around 350 million people have contracted chronic (long-term) hepatitis B infection. Moreover, approximately 500,000-700,000 people die from hepatitis B every year.

The prevalence of hepatitis B infection varies geographically and it is categorized into low, intermediate, high prevalence.

Indonesia, along with other countries in Southeast Asia, China and some countries in Africa are classified as high prevalence areas. In Indonesia, there are 12 million people infected by HBV; the third-greatest number in the world after China and India.

HBV, discovered by Prof. Baruch Blumberg in 1965, is a DNA virus and a member of the hepadnavirus family.

There are eight known genotypes of hepatitis B virus (genotype A-H) and additionally, it reported one putative new genotype (genotype I) was recently found in Asia. Each of the genotypes has a distinct geographical distribution and has different responses to treatment.

The virus is transmitted by exposure to infectious blood or body fluids (such as vaginal fluid, semen). The possible routes of transmission are contaminated blood transfusion, sexual contact, sharing contaminated razors or toothbrushes, using contaminated needles for injecting drugs, ear piercing, tattooing, acupuncture, using contaminated tools in some manicure or pedicure procedures and vertical transmission from mother to child during childbirth.

Unfortunately, up to 90 percent of infected newborns develop chronic HBV infection, which consequently gives a higher risk of liver cancer later in adulthood. About 25 percent of adults chronically infected during childhood die from chronic hepatitis B complications such as liver cancer or cirrhosis.

In contrast, approximately 5-10 percent of infections acquired in adulthood will develop into chronic infection. HBV is not spread by shaking hands, coughing, sneezing, hugging, using the same toilet, food or water.

The symptoms of HBV infection vary — from no symptoms into fatigue, joint aches, fever, nausea, vomiting, stomachache, jaundice (yellowing of the eyes and skin), dark urine, clay-colored stools.

The complications are fulminate hepatitis (acute massive death of liver cells), cirrhosis which can present with asides (accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity), legs edema, spleen enlargement, bleeding disorder, gynecomastia (enlargement of the male breast), disturbance in consciousness and liver cancer. Patients with HBV are also susceptible to hepatitis D virus infection.

This double infection might lead to fulminate hepatitis. There are advances in drugs for treatment of chronic HBV infection, including more potent anti-viral agents and interferon.

Nevertheless, complete eradication of HBV is still not possible. Liver transplantation is considered when liver damage is severe.

It seems that HBV is a disastrous and unbeatable virus. However, there are quite simple things that can prevent and break the spread of the HBV.

HBV infection can be effectively prevented by vaccination. Prof. Blumberg invented the vaccine in 1969. It is the first vaccine in the world preventing human cancer.

There has been a substantial increase in the number of countries that include hepatitis B vaccine in their national infant immunization programs, from 31 countries in 1992 to 177 countries in 2009.

The hepatitis B vaccination is the mainstay of HBV prevention and has been proven to reduce the rate of chronic infection in many countries, from 8-15 percent to less than 1 percent among children vaccinated. Moreover, in Taiwan, the vaccination program had decreased the incidence of liver cancer in children.

In Indonesia, the hepatitis B immunization for newborns was first introduced in 1987 and has been part of the routine immunization program since 1997.

The WHO recommends hepatitis B vaccination to all infants; first at birth followed by two subsequent vaccinations with each minimum interval of 1 and 2 months respectively.

Children and adolescents younger than 18 years old who haven’t been vaccinated before, should be vaccinated. Adults in high risk groups, such as having an HBV infected spouse, frequently requiring blood transfusions, hemodialized patients, needle drug users, having occupational risk of HBV infection (healthcare workers) and international travelers to areas with high rates of HBV should also receive the vaccine.

The vaccine is safe and effective, but the antibody level induced by vaccination may decline over time. Therefore, booster vaccination is needed when the antibody level has declined.

In addition to vaccination, there are things to do to keep us safe. These consist of using sterilized and disposable needles, not sharing toothbrushes or razors with others, wearing gloves when touching blood or other infectious body fluids, knowing your spouse’s HBV infection status and practicing safe sex.

July 28th is World Hepatitis Day. One of the purposes of this event is to increase awareness, prevention, screening and control of viral hepatitis, especially HBV and hepatitis C virus (HCV), the two types of hepatitis virus most often associated with cirrhosis and cancer complications.

Although many countries have implemented hepatitis B vaccination as part of their national immunization programs, helping to decrease infection rates, the number of people infected with HBV is still high.

Since there is no hepatitis C vaccine available and the hepatitis B vaccine indirectly prevents hepatitis D infection, adequate hepatitis B vaccination is really important, especially for those categorized as high risk groups.

From the economic aspect, the cost for buying oral HBV drugs is around 10 times higher than buying a hepatitis B vaccine and it will increase several times when the injection type drug is needed for treatment.

Furthermore, there are also huge costs for procurement to treat complications, hospitalization cost and laboratory examination costs.

Last but not least, the disease impacts human productivity, not only individually, but also on a global scale. So let’s take part in the global war against HBV.

Know the HBV, the route of transmission, the measures to keep safe and be sure you have received the hepatitis B vaccine adequately.

dalai lama

2011-07-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

BEIJING (AP) — China on Sunday slammed President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama as an act that has "grossly interfered in China's internal affairs" and damaged Chinese-American relations.

The strident statement from China's Foreign Ministry came hours after Obama met with the Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who was in Washington for an 11-day Buddhist ritual.

China had already called on the United States to stop Saturday's meeting, warning it could hurt relations between the two countries.

After the 45-minute private session at the White House, China said the Foreign Ministry and the Chinese Embassy had lodged objections with U.S. representatives in Beijing and Washington.

"Such an act has grossly interfered in China's internal affairs, hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and damaged Sino-American relations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in the statement.

"We demand the U.S. side seriously consider China's stance, immediately adopt measures to wipe out the baneful impact, stop interfering in China's internal affairs and cease to connive and support anti-China separatist forces that seek 'Tibetan independence,"' Ma said.

China considers the Dalai Lama a separatist intent on ending Chinese rule over Tibet. The Nobel laureate says he seeks only a high level of autonomy for Tibet.

The meeting came less than 10 days before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is due to visit the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen and meet with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, Beijing's top foreign policy official.

"It's difficult to say at the moment whether this meeting will be affected," said Jin Canrong, an international affairs expert at Renmin University. "But this meeting is quite important and whether it takes place or is canceled will give us an indication of what the follow-up impact will be."

Vice President Joseph Biden is also scheduled to visit China this summer, followed by a trip to Washington by his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

China Central Television showed Xi visiting Tibet on Sunday to attend festivities marking the 60th anniversary of communist rule, which passed in May.

Obama last met with the Dalai Lama in February 2010, infuriating Beijing during a tension-filled year in which China and the U.S. also feuded over online censorship and arms sales for Taiwan. Relations were considered back on track in January when President Hu Jintao visited Washington.

"I think after this meeting Sino-U.S. relations will be rather cold over the next few months," said Jin. "It may lead to the suspension of high-level official exchanges and therefore impact on the strategic mutual trust and cooperation between China and the U.S. in some fields, including military ties."

The White House said that during Saturday's meeting, Obama "underscored the importance of the protection of human rights of Tibetans in China." Obama restated U.S. policy that it does not support Tibetan independence.

Tibet has been a source of controversy for decades, since Beijing sent troops to occupy the country following the 1949 Communist revolution. It insists the region has been part of Chinese territory for centuries, a claim disputed by many Tibetans who say their Himalayan region has a long history of autonomous rule led by a series of Buddhist leaders.

A failed uprising in 1959 led the Dalai Lama to flee into exile in India.

On Sunday, major Chinese papers prominently carried the same long article by the state-run news agency Xinhua that praised the 60 years of communist rule over Tibet.

Under the headline "Deep care and a great leap forward," the article said that Tibetans' living standards had greatly improved and the government had invested heavily in Tibet's infrastructure, with this year's investment expected to reach 26 billion yuan ($4 billion), a new high.

breaking bad season 4

2011-07-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

“Can we slow that down?” Vince Gilligan says from the editing bay of his offices for AMC's “Breaking Bad,” where the show's creator is putting the finishing touches on an episode from “Bad's” fourth season, which premieres tonight at 10 p.m.

Gilligan, 44, a devotee of Westerns, leans forward at the center of three flat screens displaying the shot.

The scene seems unnerving enough. Set against a sandstorm in Albuquerque, where the series is shot, Pinkman (Aaron Paul) looks like a dead man — again. He's talking big, sweating hard and doing little to rattle grizzled henchman Mike (Jonathan Banks), who ferries Pinkman to a deserted windmill. Desperate, Pinkman scans the car for something sharp.

“Can we Sergio Leone-y that a bit?” Gilligan says, a reference to the director of ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.'

Gilligan has been devising gun- and drug-slinging elements since he approached AMC five years ago with the idea of a high school chemistry teacher (Bryan Cranston) who discovers he has lung cancer. To secure a nest egg for his family, he cooks crystal methamphetamine with the help of a student he once flunked (Paul).

Since premiering in 2008, “Breaking Bad” has become a critical darling and found some unexpected fans. Cranston, who is a co-owner of Cinemas Palme d'Or in Palm Desert, became the first actor to win three straight best dramatic acting Emmys. Time magazine named it “TV's best thriller.”

Last year, the show averaged 2 million viewers a week. AMC's smash “Mad Men” averaged 2.5 million in its third year.

So what's Gilligan's plan for this season, which picks up where Season 3 ended: with a pistol an inch from an unarmed man's face?

Gilligan wants to get darker.

Good luck with that. In addition to collecting statuettes, “Bad” is pushing how much violence basic cable can get away with. Consider some of the show-enders last year: a man getting his brains blown out and two dealers being flattened by Walt White's putrid Pontiac Aztek.

How do you trump that?

“It's all about the heroes,” says Gilligan, a Richmond, Va., native who heard the term “breaking bad” from parents clucking that a kid was raising hell.

In “Bad,” “we want to make Walt White a truly bad guy. He's going from being a protagonist to an antagonist. We want to make people question who they're pulling for, and why.”

casey anthony release

2011-07-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

Casey Anthony, the Florida mother who was acquitted of charges that she murdered her daughter Caylee, was released just after midnight today from an Orange County jail, according to her attorney and jail officials.

She was escorted out of the jail by two sheriff's deputies armed with semi-automatic rifles and was driven away by her attorney, Jose Baez, without speaking to anyone in the mob of reporters and demonstrators.

"This release had an unusual amount of security so, therefore, in that sense, it would not be a normal release," Orange County Jail spokesman Allen Moore said. "We have made every effort to not provide any special treatment for her. She's been treated like every other inmate."

Her release comes 12 days after she was convicted of four counts of lying to police and a day after she filed an appeal of those convictions.

Anthony, 25, was sentenced to four years for lying to investigators about Caylee's death, but she had already served three years and was credited for good behavior. Aside the jail time Anthony was fined $4,000.

Hundreds of protestors, carrying signs reading "Travesty of Justice," "Justice for Caylee ... Bella Vita" -- a reference to the tattoo Anthony got after Caylee went missing -- and "Don't Be a Part of Blood Money," had gathered outside the jail for much of the day.

People in the crowd lined up on both sides of the highway outside the jail chanted "Caylee, Caylee," and cars driving by honked their horns in response a sign saying "Honk for Caylee."

"Nothing like this has ever happened like this in Orlando, so we're here for the experience," said onlooker Francis Muller.

But along with those angry about Anthony's release, were a few supporters of the young woman.

Jose Baez, Anthony's lead attorney, told ABC News she will not be going to stay with her parents and will not be going to Puerto Rico, which had been widely rumored.

He also said that while security is the main immediate concern because of public outrage at the not guilty verdict, there are no plans for Anthony to alter her appearance with plastic surgery.

According to the sheriff's department, the plans for Anthony's release were that she would be driven by jail guards to a secret location away from the grounds, but after that she would be on her own.

Her attorneys say she has received seven serious death threats, including one email photo with a bullet photoshopped through her head, but the sheriffs department said the threats aren't credible and after her release she is on her own.

"We will not be providing any elaborate security or protection for Casey once she leaves," Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said.

With only a few hundred dollars in donations from strangers to her inmate account and no family support after her scorched earth defense made her mother look like a liar and painted her father and brother as abusers, where she will go is a mystery.

But security experts advise her to stay under the radar and protected around the clock.

"You have to have someone with you -- we call it shadowing -- 24/7," Clark Pena. "You can't see people the way you used to, you can't go out to clubs the way you used to, you can't -- your life has changed 100 percent."

She will also have to deal with several lawsuits, including one filed by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez who claims the Florida woman cost her a house and a job and subjected her to death threats when Anthony claimed that a babysitter of the same name stole Caylee.

Caylee Anthony died in June 2008 and wasn't reported missing for 31 days.

Casey Anthony claimed for three years that she was kidnapped by a babysitter. Her decomposed body was found six months later in a swampy area near the Anthony home.

At the beginning of her murder trial, Anthony's lawyer said that Caylee actually drowned in the family pool.

Jurors in the case have said they regretted there wasn't a less serious charge for them to consider besides murder.

mila kunis

2011-07-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

We sort of always knew that Mila Kunis was pretty rad, but the "Friends With Benefits" star upped her cool quotient this week when she agreed to go out on a date with Marine Sgt. Scott Moore.

Here's the back story: Scott made a video to try and woo the "Black Swan" starlet to be his date for a big event. The video was brought to the actress' attention, and with some nudging from Justin Timberlake, she agreed to attend the Marine Corps Ball with Scott in November. Now, how sweet is that?

But, here's the thing: If we knew it was that easy to get a celebrity to date us, we may have tried the whole viral video thing ages ago. While we aren't camera-ready today, there are a number of A-listers we wouldn't mind hiring hair and makeup for if it meant we could catch their attention. Who would we ask to a ball and get all Cinderella-fied for?

Chris Evans makes our cut. The "Captain America" star is certainly fine enough for us to go to the lengths of making a video and posting it on the internet. Right?

And let's not forget about Mila's co-star. No, not Natalie Portman! (Though we totally love her, just not like that.) We mean Justin Timberlake. Hello? Have you seen him dance? That alone is reason enough to take our plea viral.

Ryan Reynolds would "Change-Up" our lives if he agreed to date up after seeing our video, that is if we have one… cause we totally don't… like at all… so don't go looking, okay?

No list would be complete without mentioning Ryan Gosling. The "Crazy, Stupid, Love." star has had us wanting to date him since his days as a Mouseketeer. So, Ryan, what do you say? I mean, Mila did it.

gonorrhea info

2011-07-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

Government heath officials are warning that gonorrhea, one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, is becoming increasingly resistant to the last type of antibiotics left to treat it.

Although no cases of resistant gonorrhea have been reported in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says its own laboratory studies are detecting growing signs of resistance to a class of antibiotic drugs called cephalosporins. In addition, resistant strains already have shown up in other countries. Recently, two cases in which gonorrhea treatment failed were reported in Norway among heterosexual men, and a new resistant strain of the bacteria was identified from a female sex worker in Japan, a finding reported this week at the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Disease Research conference in Quebec.

The new strain may be “a true superbug that initiates a future era of untreatable gonorrhea,’’ wrote the team of Japanese and Swedish scientists in a recent report about the new strain.

In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the C.D.C. reported last week on a decade-long analysis of 5,400 to 6,500 annual gonorrhea cases from men treated in 30 American cities. From 2000 to 2010, the percentage of gonorrhea cases that showed potential resistance to two cephalosporin drugs rose sharply. Surveillance data from 2010 showed that over all, 1.4 percent of samples showed increasing resistance to the oral drug cefixime, up from 0.2 percent in 2000. Resistance to the injectable drug ceftriaxone rose to 3 percent, up from 1 percent a decade ago.

Some parts of the United States showed bigger increases than others. For instance, testing in Honolulu found 7.7 percent of 2010 samples with potential resistance to cefixime, compared with none in 2000. In California, 4.5 percent of samples showed signs of resistance in 2010, up from zero in 2000.

Health officials emphasized that while the signs of growing resistance are seen in laboratory studies, so far in the United States, there have been no cases of treatment-resistant gonorrhea in patients. The trends, however, are concerning, because cephalosporin drugs are the fourth type of antibiotic used to treat gonorrhea since the 1940s. Resistance to penicillin and tetracycline occurred during the 1970s and became widespread during the early 1980s, the C.D.C. reported. More recently, the disease became resistant to a class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones, and in 2007 the government stopped recommending those drugs for gonorrhea treatment. That left cephalosporin drugs as the last line of defense against gonorrhea.

“The measurements we’re finding in the laboratory do show concerning trends of declining susceptibility to cephalosporin antibiotics,’’ said Dr. Robert D. Kirkcaldy, a medical epidemiologist in the C.D.C.’s division of sexually transmitted disease prevention and co-author of the agency’s report last week. “What we’ve been noticing is really since 2009 and 2010, it’s taking higher concentrations of antibiotic to kill the bacteria. This could mean resistance to the last antibiotic we have for gonorrhea could be on the horizon.’’

The problem of growing resistance appears limited to gonorrhea and is not occurring with other sexually transmitted bacterial diseases. “It’s a very complex bacteria which has a pretty amazing ability to mutate and for people to develop resistance to antibiotics,” said Dr. Kirkcaldy. “It has a pretty documented track record of developing resistance since the dawn of the antibiotic age.”

More than 700,000 people in the United States get gonorrhea every year, although about only half those cases are reported to public health agencies. In women, untreated gonorrhea can lead to fertility problems, pelvic inflammatory disease or ectopic pregnancy, and pregnant women can pass the disease to their babies. In men, the disease can cause painful scarring of the urethra, urination problems and kidney failure. Long-term complications for both sexes include joint pain, heart valve infection and meningitis.

The signs of emerging resistance to cephalosporin drugs are following roughly the same patterns that occurred when gonorrhea became resistant to fluoroquinolones a few years ago. In that case, resistance was documented first in Asia, then emerged in the United States, first in Hawaii followed by other Western states, according to the C.D.C.

The hope is that new antibiotics eventually can be developed to treat gonorrhea.

“The challenge is that there is not a well-studied second antibiotic we can turn to even when cephalosporin resistance does emerge,” said Dr. Kirkcaldy. “That’s why we’re so concerned, and one reason we wanted to sound the alarm about these findings. It’s incumbent on researchers in the pharmaceutical and other sectors to step up quickly and boldly to identify new drug combinations.”

the dark knight rises

2011-07-12T08:13:00.000-07:00

While moviegoers eagerly wait to see whether the teaser for “The Dark Knight Rises” will be show up online and in front of screenings of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” this weekend, the first teaser poster for the much anticipated next Batman film has been released.

Given what the blog Superhero Hype previously reported — that both the teaser trailer and the poster would be released this week — the arrival of the image below suggests a clip might be imminent. Well, that and that the bat signal is capable of crashing through buildings.

All-Star game, Bruce Bochy all about winning

2011-07-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants third-base coach Tim Flannery likes to tell a story about manager Bruce Bochy, and it has nothing to do with World Series parades, accolades or riding high.

"It was in 1999 with the Padres, after they slashed the payroll, and we were outgunned and undermanned on every level," Flannery said. "I remember saying one day, 'What possibly are we going to do about it?' And he walked in with seven Betamax tapes, all stacked up, stuck 'em right in my lap and said, 'We're going to work harder.'

"He doesn't care if he's outgunned or outmanned. He always believes he has a chance to win."

Bochy will round up his posse of N.L. All-Stars on Tuesday in Phoenix, and although the selection process provided a few king-size headaches, he is ecstatic to manage the game for the second time in his career.

The last time, in 1999 in Boston, he felt more pressure to run it like a Little League game. Everyone participates. This time, with home-field advantage in the World Series at stake and a few rules changes that will make it easier to substitute, Bochy can manage to win.

And that is just the way he likes it.

"They say teams take on the personality of their manager," Flannery said. "I'll look at our guys late in the game, and as much as we want to win, these guys really hate losing. That comes from him."

It's true for anyone who knew him well during his 12 seasons managing the San Diego Padres and his five years with the Giants: They all have a story about how much Bochy hates to lose.

Padres coach Glenn Hoffman recalled many nights after a loss when Bochy would collapse flat on his back on the floor of the coaches' room, his 6-foot-3 frame blocking the way out.

"Do we step around him? How do we leave? Should we leave?" said Hoffman, smiling at the memory. "We didn't know."

That kind of passion can backfire when a manager fails to control it, either spilling out in their public comments or turning a team on tilt. Yet when Bochy leaves the privacy of his office, he is able to keep his frustration simmering under a calm exterior. That's the part that amazes Giants general manager Brian Sabean.

"I don't know how he does it with the press, especially with the kind of games we play," Sabean said. "He'll have a tantrum, but he has to wipe that face off and face you guys, and he's stoic about that, then he's back in the clubhouse doing what he's got to do to blow off the loss. I can't imagine how you do that over time."

That stoic face has kept the Giants from panicking despite the losses of Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez, plus injuries that robbed Pablo Sandoval, Cody Ross and Andres Torres of time or momentum. Despite one of the worst offenses in the majors, the Giants are in first place in the N.L. West. They have won 21 games -- more than 40 percent of their victories -- while scoring three runs or fewer.

Bochy's career record of wins and losses is beginning to pile up. With luminaries such as Lou Piniella, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre no longer active, Bochy's tenure of 17 consecutive seasons as a big league manager is second only to Tony LaRussa's 33.

With 1,326 wins, Bochy trails only LaRussa, Jim Leyland and Dusty Baker among active managers.

The All-Star game isn't merely a showcase for baseball's great players. It's a chance for Bochy, fresh off his World Series victory, to gain a little national recognition, too.

"Oh, he's always been one of the great managers," said Leyland, when the Giants visited Detroit this month. "Just a very good, solid man. He's a prince of a guy, that guy. I think the world of him, and I have for a long time.

"He's a champion, and he's been a champion before he won the World Series, as far as I'm concerned. You know who's in charge. You never hear him blowing his own horn. He's a great tribute to our game."

Leyland said Bochy should enjoy managing the All-Star game now that he doesn't have to double-switch to avoid having the pitcher's spot come up.

"It was a thrill for me to do it, but it was a chore," Leyland said. "I can't say I enjoyed it like I wish I could have. But now, this will be a piece of cake for him, and he'll enjoy the moment."

For all the indelible memories of managing at Fenway Park in '99, with the All-Stars gathering around Ted Williams on the field, Bochy hasn't forgotten that he lost the game. He was grateful the National League ended its 13-year streak without a victory last July, giving the Giants home-field advantage in the World Series against the Texas Rangers.

"We want to keep that advantage — hopefully for us, but for whoever gets there, you'd like to say you helped the N.L. out," Bochy said.

Will his priority be on showcasing his roster or winning the game? You don't need to peer over a stack of scouting tapes to know the answer.

"Winning the game," Bochy said. "Not that I'll grind any of the players out, and they'll want to enjoy the experience, but I'll let them know that we're here to win.

"I want to win this thing "... really bad."

George R.R. Martin talks 'A Dance With Dragons'

2011-07-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

After six years, George R.R. Martin’s eagerly anticipated A Dance With Dragons has arrived to glowing reviews. EW met with the author at his Santa Fe office for an in-depth conversation about his wildly popular Song of Ice and Fire series. Below he discusses why Book 5 took so long, his feelings about HBO’s Game of Thrones and his thoughts on killing beloved characters, among other topics. For more, see next week’s EW print edition featuring a profile of Martin that answers some burning fan questions. [Note: There are no Dance spoilers below, but there are spoilers from the previous four books].

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve said before that the first book, Game of Thrones, was partly a reaction to the sort of storytelling you couldn’t do as a TV writer in the 1980s. What was the actual moment that inspired Thrones?
Martin: I just wanted to make it big. For so long [in TV], I heard, “It’s too big, it’s too expensive, lose characters and lose the settings.” Going back to prose, I could make it as big as I wanted, as big as my imagination. It really came out of nowhere. I knew in a general sense I wanted to write an epic fantasy since I loved [J.R.R.] Tolkien since I was a kid. But I didn’t have any specific ideas for it. In the summer of 1991 I was in Hollywood but I had no TV deal. Suddenly I just got the first chapter where they found the direwolf pups — it was just there. I knew I had to write it.

This may be a silly question, but: When you think of the world you’ve created, where seasons last for years, where is it? It is another planet?
It’s what Tolkien wrote was “the secondary world.” It’s not another planet. It’s Earth. But it’s not our Earth. If you wanted to do a science fiction approach, you could call it an alternate world, but that sounds too science fictional. Tolkien really pioneered that with Middle Earth. He put in some vague things about tying it to our past, but that doesn’t really hold up. I have people constantly writing me with science fiction theories about the seasons — “It’s a double star system with a black dwarf and that would explain–” It’s fantasy, man, it’s magic.

Do you find it fun to write?
I do. Yeah. To the extent that anything is fun to write. I’m one of those writers who say “I’ve enjoy having written.” There are days I really enjoy writing and there are days I f–king hate it. I can see it in my head and the words won’t come. I try to put it on the page and it feels stiff and wooden and it’s stupid. Writing is hard work.

On your blog you say you throw a lot away.
I do. Maybe more than I should, especially with these books, especially as we go deeper. I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, or the series is getting more complicated. I think I’ve been influenced by my own good reviews. I’ve had so many people say this is the greatest fantasy since Tolkien or even greater. It’s awoken in me a desire not to blow it.

Is there anything you regret in the series?
The biggest thing I’m wresting with is the chronology. When I set out with the young characters it was my intention that the kids grow up during the series. And I thought I’d have a chapter, and the the next chapter would be a month later, then the next would be two months after that, and by the end of the book a year will have passed. But it doesn’t make sense that a character will take two months to respond to something that happens. So you wind up writing the whole book and very little time has passed. After the third book I thought I would jump forward five years, then the kids would be older. That was part of the delay. I tried to write it with a gap but it just didn’t work, so I wound up scrapping all that.

Do you know the ending?
I know the ending in broad strokes. I don’t know every little twist and turn that will get me there, and I don’t know the ending of every secondary character. But the ending and the main characters, yeah. And [Game of Thrones producers] David Benioff and Dan Weiss know some of that too, which the fans are very worried about in case I get hit by a truck.

There’s a point in the series where you feel like you’re reading a bunch of separate stories. Toward the end of Dance, you feel the threads starting to come back together. Is that accurate?
That’s certainly the intent, and always was the intent. Tolkien was my great model for much of this. Although I differ from Tolkien in important ways, I’m second to no one in my respect for him. If you look at Lord of the Rings, it begins with a tight focus and all the characters are together. Then by end of the first book the Fellowship splits up and they have different adventures. I did the same thing. Everybody is at Winterfell in the beginning except for Dany, then they split up into groups, and ultimately those split up too. The intent was to fan out, then curve and come back together. Finding the point where that turns begin has been one of the issues I’ve wrestled with.

If you wrote Rings, Gandalf would have stayed dead after Mines of Moria.
Yes, he would have. I get a lot of credit for killing my characters, but Tolkien really did it first and in some ways that was the inspiration for me. And then Tolkien did it again at end of the second book where he seemingly kills Frodo, though that turns out to be feint.

There’s a line in book 5 where character says, “The gods are good.” Jaime thinks, “You go on believing that.” You talk about religion a lot in the stories, but what are your views?
I suppose I’m a lapsed Catholic. You would consider me an atheist or agnostic. I find religion and spirituality fascinating. I would like to believe this isn’t the end and there’s something more, but I can’t convince the rational part of me that that makes any sense whatsoever. That’s what Tolkien left out — there’s no priesthood, there’s no temples; nobody is worshiping anything in Rings.

There’s few acts of kindness in your novels. If somebody is on their own, or weakened, they can pretty much expect everybody to take advantage of them or treat them terribly. Obviously Aslan is not going to save the day, but are your books cynical about human nature?
I think the books are realistic. I’ve always liked gray characters. And as for the gods, I’ve never been satisfied by any of the answers that are given. If there really is a benevolent loving god, why is the world full of rape and torture? Why do we even have pain? I was taught pain is to let us know when our body is breaking down. Well, why couldn’t we have a light? Like a dashboard light? If Chevrolet could come up with that, why couldn’t God? Why is agony a good way to handle things?

When fans complain about a character killed off, what do you say to them?
In some cases I sympathize. It’s hard to kill characters, they’re my children. Obviously some were marked for death in the beginning like Ned. There are plenty of books out there for fans who want comfort reading, who want to enjoy an exciting story with nothing to upset or disturb them. It’s fun to go to an Indiana Jones movie and watch him kill 40 Nazis, but there’s a place for Schindler’s List too. Schindler’s heroism resonates more with me than Indy’s — one is fun, but the other is profound and says something about human nature. I don’t know if I’m achieving it, but that’s what I’m striving for. I think fantasy after Tolkien had become Indiana Jones. They were imitating a lot of Tolkien’s tropes without capturing the spirit of Tolkien. His books are not all happy fun books.

Do you feel like you owe your fans anything? At end of the day, is there a responsibility?
I think owe is the wrong word. I try to give them a good story. And I like my fans — the vast majority are great. I probably have more interaction with fans than any author I know. By and large, I’m very nice to my fans. But I don’t owe it to them to be nice. And if I wanted to withdraw, that would be my right. I certainly believe it’s my right to take off Sundays and watch NFL football and go to conventions and work on other projects — the more hardcore trolls, that’s what they object to. You met [his assistant] Ty, he think it’s generational. That people who are angry [about Book 5 taking six years] are younger people from what he calls The Entitlement Generation. They want instant gratification — something that they’re used to from the Internet. I’m from the Baby Boomer generation, and we had to wait for s–t, man. If I heard about a book, it might never come to the spinner rack at the local drugstore. If I wanted to see a movie, we’d have to hope they’d show it on television at some time. It’s Ty’s theory, not mine, but maybe it’s true.

You intended the story in Book 5 to go further, I hear?
It’s always difficult to know where to break each book. You’re walking a fine line. Like Lord of the Rings, you’re writing one story. At the same time, I want each book to represent a phase of the journey. I try to end each character with a cliffhanger or some kind of resolution. And I try to make the cliffhangers the smaller portion — I don’t want eight cliffhangers. [Dance] had more cliffhangers than I ideally would have liked.

So with the next book, have you now gotten to the point where you no longer need to have the characters in separate books?
That is certainly my hope, yes. Three years from now when I’m sitting on 1,800 pages of manuscript with no end in sight, who the hell knows.

Which episode of Game of Thrones are you writing next season?
The Battle of the Blackwater, God help me. David and Dan must hate me.

That’s the one where you have to be most conscious of budgetary decisions.
It’s very tough because we don’t have the budget to do the battle in the book. We just don’t.

Well, they have to be able to show the ships and what happens to them, right?
I hope so. We’ll see. I’m writing it. I’m cutting certain things. We’ll see once I turn it in if we can do it. When you look HBO’s Rome–

Loved Rome.
I loved it too, but what about the battles?

We see Caesar leave the tent to go to war, then he comes back and falls asleep.
Caesar leaves the tent. Pompey leaves the tent. Then we see Pompey’s banner in the mud. And Caesar comes back to the tent. The next episode, Pompey describes the battle to Pullo and Vorenus drawing it in the dirt with a stick to explain what happened. For the Battle of Actium, they open with Mark Anthony floating on a piece of wood — and Rome had a bigger budget than we do. I’ve been trying to tell the fans that. On some level they’re expecting the Battle of Pelennor Fields [from Peter Jackson's The Return of the King].

Fans don’t distinguish as much between mediums now.
They don’t. And television has set that up by being increasingly good. Back in the 1960s or ’70s, you could tell TV show from a movie in three frames just way it was shot and lit. But you can’t these days.

There’s a lot of debates about whether Thrones is feminist or anti-feminist. Were you surprised by those reactions?
Not really. I think it’s good people were debating those points. Obviously I don’t think I’m misogynistic or racist as some of those critics say, I think they’re reading it too simplistic. Certainly, I’m a 62 year old white male and none of us entirely escape the values that we’re inoculated with at an early age, even if we reject them — like me leaving Catholicism. I don’t hold myself up as a paragon of feminism. But I’m very gratified — that idiot critic at the New York Times notwithstanding — on the fact I have so many female fans who love my women characters and I tried to provide a variety of female characters. With all my characters, I try to show that we’re all human.

There was a fair amount of explicit sex in the series and some fans of the books were taken aback.
One of the reasons I wanted to do this with HBO is that I wanted to keep the sex. We had some real problems because Dany is only 13 in the books, and that’s based on medieval history. They didn’t have this concept of adolescence or the teenage years. You were a child or you were an adult. And the onset of sexual maturity meant you were an adult. So I reflected that in the books. But then when you go to film it you run into people going crazy about child pornography and there’s actual laws about how you can’t depict a 13 year old having sex even if you have an 18 year old acting the part — it’s illegal in the United Kingdom. So we ended up with a 22 year old portraying an 18 year old, instead of an 18 year old portraying a 13 year old. If we decided to lose the sex we could have kept the original ages. And once you change the age of one character you have to change the ages of all the characters, and change the date of the war [that dethroned the Mad King]. The fact we made all these changes indicates how important we thought sex was.

Was the viewer reaction to killing off Ned Stark bigger than you anticipated?
It was. It was fascinating to see the intensity of the reaction. You have to remember I wrote that scene in 1994 and it came out in 1996. So people were reacting with extreme shock in 2011 to something that’s been a hallmark of the books. On one level it was good, you don’t want to kill an important character and nobody gives a damn. You should grieve when a character dies. I will say your column after the death of Ned, and then a week later about the ratings, was news I was pleased to see. Because there were people saying they were giving up on the show.

The big question is what’s going to happen in the ratings between seasons. But I suspect, if anything, it’s going to come back bigger.
Well, Natalie Dormer [cast as Margaery Tyrell] is a great choice to start with. She was best thing about The Tudors and the best Anne Boleyn I’ve ever seen.

Is there any changes the TV show made that you particularly liked?
I loved some of the new scenes they added. As a novelist, I have certain tools like internal monologue and the device of the unreliable narrator. I can have flashbacks and dreams, which are pretty hokey in a TV series. So they had to insert some new scenes. I loved the interplay between Varys and Littlefinger, which never occurred in the books since neither is a viewpoint character. I loved the scene of Drogo ripping out Mago’s throat, which was entirely new. But that’s going to have ramifications if we go the full length down the pike. I’ve talked to Dan and Dave about the butterfly effect — you’re familiar with the classic Ray Bradbury short story?

A Sound of Thunder. One of my favorites.
Step on a butterfly in the Pleistocene era and changes everything in year 2000. [MILD BOOK 6 SPOILER WARNING] So Mago is not dead in the books. And, in fact, he’s going to be a recurring character in Winds of Winter. He’s a particularly nasty bloodrider to one of the other Khals that’s broken away after Drogo dies. This is the challenge the shows face as we go forward. There will be divergences, they’re trying to be faithful and Dan and David are doing a wonderful job. But the books are plotted so intricately that you do step on a butterfly in season one and in season four you’re going to have to deal with that. There’s also another character, [the singer] Marillion, who also got his tongue ripped out in season one, and that doesn’t happen with the books. Joffrey makes that decision, but it’s an unnamed bard. Marillion [has more to do]. We ought to call it The Tongue Effect instead of The Butterfly Effect.

Was there anything you missed from the book?
I wish the tournament was much bigger. They originally scripted in the first draft a parade of knights and a dozen jousts that they had to cut for budgetary reasons. And I would have liked the crowd to have been much bigger. This is like the Super Bowl in the books and draws people from all over the Seven Kingdoms.

Sansa no longer telling Cersei about her father’s plans to leave — were you OK with that change?
It didn’t bother me.

TV viewers might have never forgiven her.
A lot of book readers haven’t forgiven her. The other thing was lost was Catelyn to Jon Snow saying ‘It should have been you” [after Bran was injured].

For me, seeing her in the show, the way she acted toward him, the visual added a lot of harshness without that line.
Yes, just her face, which you can’t do in the books. It got the same thing across.

Is there any performance in the TV show that’s caused you to think differently about a character?
The performances have been great, but they’ve been great at capturing the characters as I saw them. The one exception is Natalia Tena as Osha. Cause she’s very different than in the book, but I think she’s more interesting. When I bring Osha back in Winds of Winter, I’ll have Natalia in mind and perhaps give the character more interesting things to do.

One big concern has been what if the TV series surpasses where you are in the books. For awhile, that seemed premature. Now that season one has done well, it’s worth asking.
There’s two questions here. The first is: How long will it take me to write the next book. Will Winds of Winter go smoothly or is it going to be Feast and Dance all over again? I certainly hope it’s not the latter. The other issue is: What is what is HBO going to do if we get a third season and beyond? Storm of Swords is a gigantic book. I was hoping they’d give us 12 episodes for Clash. So I don’t know how they’ll get everything in. But there’s no way they can get Storm into 10 or even 12. My hope is they’ll split that into two seasons. There’s nothing in the law that says each season must cover one book. The only danger of catching up is if we have to do all of Storm, and then Feast and Dance have to be re-combined. Then there’s a danger they would catch up with me. I think I’ll have Winds out by then, but they could catch up with me before [Book 7] A Dream of Spring.

Is there anything you’d like to add?
I’d like to see more fantasy on TV. There’s been resistance to it, the powers that be often don’t think it can succeed. Most of it’s action-adventure for kids. I enjoyed Xena Warrior Princess, but fantasy can be much more than that. I’d love to see somebody do Roger Zelazny’s Nine Princes in Amber. What a fantastic HBO series that would be.

I don’t read much fantasy, but that’s the one I would pick too — the Chronicles of Amber. It’s been kicked around in development forever; Syfy had the rights to it for awhile. So how firm are you that Ice and Fire will be seven books?
I’m–

kelly kelly

2011-02-05T04:02:00.000-08:00

As witnessed tonight on SmackDown, Kelly Kelly was ‘fired’ by Vickie Guerrero after helping Edge retain his World Heavyweight Championship in a 3-on-2 handicap match.

Kelly speared Layla to win the match which effectively meant that Edge retains his belt.

Having already angered the assistant GM by her actions at the Royal Rumble, Guerrero fired Kelly before proceeding to berate her (“No one gives a damn about you!”) as K2 sobbed all the way up the ramp to the back.

Though it should really go without saying, obviously the angle was storylined and Kelly has not been released by the company.

What do you think is next for K2? Will she be reinstated to SmackDown and feud with Vickie? Move to Raw? Sound off in the comments!

barbara walters special

2011-02-05T04:01:00.000-08:00

Apparently, hosting a TV talk show is hazardous to your heart health. In A Barbara Walters Special: A Matter of Life and Death (9 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4), the woman behind "The View" talks about her own heart surgery, and talks to talk show hosts David Letterman, Charlie Rose and Regis Philbin about theirs.

Of course, running a country and comedy can cause you trouble, too. Walters also interviews former President Bill Clinton and Robin Williams.

Elsewhere on TV ...

The Defenders (7 p.m., CBS/Ch. 2): Nick's former friend tries to use new technology to prove he's not a murderer.

Who Do You Think You Are? (7 p.m., NBC/Ch. 5): In the second-season premiere, Vanessa Williams learns about her family history.

Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials (8 p.m., CBS/Ch. 2): A look at the ads viewers voted as the 10 best.

Fringe (8 p.m., Fox/Ch. 13): A blue powder disintegrates a scientist's bones.

NBA (8:30 p.m., ESPN and FSN): Utah Jazz at Denver Nuggets

CSI: NY (9 p.m., CBS/Ch. 2): A tractor-trailer loaded with ritzy party guests crashes into the Hudson River.

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (11 p.m., Starz): Batiatus' plans are dashed when his father unexpectedly returns.

super bass lyrics

2011-02-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

The superstar rapper, Nicki Minaj has countless fans around the world, and she has many celebrity fans as well. One such fan is Taylor Swift, who at a radio interview took on "Super Bass" a track off of the debut album from Minaj, Pink Friday. The album is currently back at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and the album has become an instant success with her fans. Taylor Swift is also a superstar who has won a few Grammy Awards, and her latest album, Speak Now was also an instant hit with fans. The album sold over 1 million albums in its first week of release.

As Celebuzz reports, Taylor Swift appeared on 107.5 The River, a radio station in Nashville. Apparently, "Super Bass" is a track that Taylor Swift it currently liking a lot, and so the singer was asked to perform a verse from the song, and she did. As viewers can see from the video, Swift rapped the lyrics to the song perfectly.

Minaj recently released "Moment 4 Life" as a single, and the video features Drake. The fans are waiting to see what the next single from Pink Friday will be.

What do you think about the fact that Taylor Swift performed a verse of the Nicki Minaj track, "Super Bass"? Do you like the Minaj song as well?

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robert plant

2011-02-05T03:59:00.000-08:00

On Monday Alice Cooper Puzzled By Plant's Led Zeppelin Reunion Rejection was a top story. Here is the recap: (Rock AAA) Alice Cooper has revealed his bemusement at Robert Plant's reluctance to perform Led Zeppelin hits. Plant has gone on record to suggest he is too old to sing the legendary band's songs but Cooper, who recently turned 63, tells Examiner.com he can't relate to his reasoning.

He says: "I go out on stage and say 'turn it up' and I never get tired of playing my songs. They are just standing there. What is so hard? Jimmy Page wants to do it. John Paul Jones wants to do it. And they got Bonham's son (Jason), who is a killer drummer. All they need is Robert Plant. But what is Robert Plant out there doing? Playing folk music. What is he doing?"

Plant recently expressed his fears he was too old to do his old hits justice in an interview with Rolling Stone – despite confessing he loved being involved with the 2007 reunion shows.

spartacus gods of the arena episode 3

2011-02-05T03:58:00.000-08:00

In anticipation of an all new Spartacus: Gods of the Arena episode that is set to take place today at 22:00 on Starz – we take a look at a sneak peak of the episode titled ‘Paterfamilias’.
Spartacus: Gods of the Arena Season 1 Episode 3 ‘Paterfamilias’ Preview

Just as his fortunes are on the rise, his future clear before him, Batiatus is stunned by the return of his father which puts his attempts to gain rank by exploiting those above his class at risk.

For those who haven’t been following the show for the last 1 year it has been airing then let us give you a reminder of what the show is about, ahead of today’s episode. The show serves as a prequel to the popular series “Spartacus” Blood and Sand” in which we find out more about the time before Spartacus’ arrival, detailing the rise of the House of Batiatus and its champions.

Can Nick Tarabay and the rest of the crew crank out another good episode? To find out, tune in to Starz today at 22:00 to watch Spartacus: Gods of the Arena season 1 episode 3 ‘Paterfamilias’.

ufc 126 weigh in video

2011-02-05T03:57:00.000-08:00

The staredown between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and his opponent at UFC 126 Vitor Belfort took an interesting turn on Friday night.

Belfort had the following to say about Silva earlier this week,“I just know one thing, when you say silly things, when you do silly things, it’s because you’re worried and you’re trying to wear a mask. The way I fight, and the way I am, I have respect."

“I just need to wear one mask, myself.”

When Silva faced off against Belfort he was wearing a blank white mask. When the mask came off he started to jaw at Belfort who became highly agitated and the fighters had to be physically restrained.

As Joe Rogan interviewed the fighters, Silva was clearly booed by the crowd while the fans on hand chanted Belfort's name.

It is clear heading into Saturday's fight that Belfort is the fan favorite.

the house bunny

2011-02-05T03:56:00.002-08:00

Finding family. Shelley Darlingson was raised in an orphanage, finally happy when she blossoms into a fox and moves into the Playboy Mansion. Unfortunately, she's summarily expelled on her 27th birthday(she's now too old). In desperation she takes a job as house mother for a sorority of misfits losing their house for lack of members. They have but a few months to find 30 pledges, or a sorority of mean girls will take over their place. Shelley figures that girls will pledge a house that boys find interesting, so she sets out to make the Zetas alluring, not act too smart, and host great parties. Can she succeed, and what about her own makeover? Sabotage is everywhere, plus it's hard to be one's self.

harvey levin

2011-02-05T03:56:00.001-08:00

TMZ reports that actor Charlie Sheen was rushed to the hospital on Thursday with abdominal pains, but now he's surrounded by more controversy. Early reports say there was a party at his home until the wee hours, and we checked in with TMZ's Harvey Levin to get the latest scoop on Sheen and Bears QB Jay Cutler's condition.

triunfo del amor capitulo 75

2011-02-05T03:55:00.001-08:00

Fernanda (Livia Brito) pasa cada vez más tiempo con Cruz (Pablo Montero) y está vez se van a montar a caballo cerca de un lago, ambos pasan un gran día juntos.

Maximiliano (William Levy) platica con Fabián (Marco Méndez) en la oficina y le asegura que peleará por María Desamparada (Maite Perroni), Fabián se sorprende, pues no pensó que Maximiliano estuviera tan enamorado.

Maximiliano enfrenta a Jimena (Dominika Paleta), pero ella lo amenaza con no dejarle ver a su hijo si los abandona, entonces Maximiliano se enfurece y asegura que ni ella ni nadie lo separara de su hijo.

María Desamparada se reúne con Bernarda (Daniela Romo) para platicar de su madre, Bernarda le dice que tal vez su madre no la quiere ver porque le recordaría los errores que ha cometido en el pasado.

María Desamparada se encuentra con Victoria (Victoria Ruffo) y la enfrenta, Victoria está a punto de darle una cachetada, pero María Desamparada se defiende y se da cuenta que Victoria trae una muñeca en los brazos, la muñeca que es de su hija perdida.

¿Qué más pasará? ¿Se enterará Victoria que María Desamparada es su hija? ¿Sabrá María Desamparada que Juan Pablo si es su padre? ¿Qué hará Maximiliano, sacrificará a su hijo con Jimena por el amor de María Desamparada? Descúbrelo esta noche en Triunfo del amor. 21:15 horas por el Canal de las estrellas.

rebecca romijn

2011-02-05T03:54:00.000-08:00

He’s star of The Defenders, husband to Rebecca Romijn and dad to fraternal twin daughters Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip, but is Jerry O’Connell ready to add hair dresser to that list?

“The girl thing is like, ‘Wow,’” the actor, 36, joked during a Wednesday appearance on the Rachael Ray Show.

“Trying to comb their hair is like, ‘Ah! Ah! Ahhhh!’ I’m not trying to murder you, I’m trying to brush your hair!”

But according to O’Connell, his “crazy” daughters’ hair troubles are the least of his worries these days.

With the twins “just starting to talk,” 2-year-old Dolly and Charlie have both had a “tricky” time perfecting their pronunciation.

“If they see a clock they look at it and say, ‘clock,’ but they mispronounce it. They drop the ‘l’ from it,” he laughs. “I don’t want to react because I don’t want them to know it’s a bad word, but I want to encourage them to talk so I’m like, ‘That’s good!’”

maggie gyllenhaal ugly

2011-02-05T03:53:00.002-08:00

Yeah, we get it. You need to understand more about the gameplay before you get excited. And if it isn't what you want, Square-Enix is once again banished to the doghouse.

Well, while concrete details remain few and far between, we do have an update from S-E bosses Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama, who recently spoke to Dengeki PlayStation after the big unveiling of Final Fantasy XIII-2. You can find the full rundown at Andriasang, where we learn a bit more about the story, world and characters. FFXIII-2 is a true sequel, in that it will continue to deal with the concepts of fal'Cie and l'Cie, although the game covers "a different area of the Fabula mythology from XIII." The new Etro deity will be introduced and indeed, we will be starting this new adventure in the "Gran Pulse world," which immediately hints at more freedom right from the start. Fans remember playing through a good 15-20 hours of linear pathways before reaching Gran Pulse in FFXIII...

The world in XIII-2 will also "expand further," but we're not sure if Toriyama was indicating actual size, or if he was merely talking more about the story and mythology. Lighting will be the protagonist but other characters will return in "unexpected forms;" Toriyama said that some characters will be placed in a very different atmosphere. Plus, we will be introduced to new characters as well, and that includes the mysterious male character Lightning faces down in the teaser trailer (he is also shown with Lightning in the game's logo). We don't know who he is, but he's described as being "in conflict with Lightning" and is a "character of equal strength."

We have yet to learn much about the supposed "expanded combat," and that might be the most important aspect of the new project. But maybe we'll get that info sooner than you think...

llena de amor capitulo 200

2011-02-05T03:53:00.001-08:00

El sol, la arena y el mar de Xcaret recibieron con los brazos abiertos al elenco de la telenovela Llena de amor.

La selva, gaviotas, olas, fauna, agua, trajes de baño, calor y sabor de esta privilegiada zona arqueológica de la República mexicana se utilizaron como escenario para cerrar con broche de oro.

"Admiro mucho el agua impecable, la tranquilidad", aseguró Altair Jarabo.

"Un perfecto escenario para acabar un gran melodrama ¡qué maravilla!, qué mejor que Cancún, increíblemente hermoso y muy variado, tiene muchos sets, locaciones", comentó César Évora.

"Qué policías más VIP, así es, dos policías: Armandito Araiza y yo para resolver algo muy importante de la historia", contó Ricardo Margaleff.

Al finalizar este melodrama la hermosa actriz Altair Jarabo se tomará un tiempo para descubrir nuevos horizontes.

"Feliz de encontrármelos, voy de vacaciones a Egipto, Jordania, Líbano, Turquía y regreso por París, sí me aviento casi un mes de vacaciones", declaró.

Por otra parte Ricardo Margaleff ha encontrada nuevas razones por las cuáles no dejará de sonreír.

"Me encantaría hacer un villano, haber si ahora sí se deciden en darme su próximo protagonista, que la gente vote en los Premios TVyNovelas como Revelación Masculina, para ser ganador y de una vez irme con mi premio, las guacamayas de plata exactamente".

Debido a la gran aceptación del público, el gran final de la telenovela Llena de amor será transmitido en fin de semana, el próximo 13 de febrero a las 8 de la noche por el Canal de las Estrellas. ¡No te lo puedes perder!

laura mendoza govan

2011-02-05T03:52:00.000-08:00

Magic PG Gilbert Arenas said he was served with child support and custody papers as he was leaving the court at Amway Center on Thursday night during halftime against the Miami Heat.

Arenas is battling his girlfriend or former girlfriend, Laura Mendoza Govan, who seeks custody and support for three children that Arenas fathered and support for another unborn child.

The Associated Press first reported that a process server stopped Arenas as he walked off the floor. AP obtained court documents regarding a California petition filed by Govan.

"This is who she is as a person," Arenas said, when asked to comment by the Sentinel after he returned Friday to face the Washington Wizards, his former team. "I have to deal with it. ?It's bad it has to be carried out in the public eye."

Govan said that Arenas was cut off financial support to the family --- a charge that Arenas and Arenas' attorney, Lisa Fishberg, disputed in an email obtained by the team.

"This is a private matter involving young children?.Gilbert Arenas has been extremely generous in paying monthly support voluntarily. The accusation that they have been 'financially cut-off' has no basis in fact," Fishberg said.

Said Arenas. "When a girl asks for $100,000, it doesn't mean she's being cut off. She's still getting $20,000 (a month) to begin with. That's what bothers me."

Magic GM Otis Smith is aware of the situation and he did not know how a process-server got close enough to Arenas to serve him.

"People only know part of the story. I know the whole story," said Smith, who has been a friend and mentor to Smith since 2001. "Sometimes real life interferes with what we do."

Arenas' journey back to Washington, D.C. began with him getting lost in Orlando on his way to the Magic's airport hangar after Thursday night's game against Miami.

Smith said that Arenas was driving for the first time since joining the Magic in mid-December and "was about at Disney" before righting himself. Arenas, dealt by the Wizards to the Magic for F Rashard Lewis, had been driven to the hangar since coming to Orlando.

Smith teases LeBron again

A night after LeBron James said he was inspired, in part, by Smith's comments to score 51 points against Orlando, Smith joked Friday, "I'd let LeBron score 52 if all he took were jump-shots."

James made 17-of-25 shots in Miami's 104-100 win, most of them from the outside, seldom taking his 6-8, 260-pound frame inside.

James said that he was motivated by offseason comments between the Magic and the Heat after he left Cleveland to join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Smith was disappointed that James left the Cavs, saying, "I thought, I guess, that he was more of a competitor."

No big-man search?

With the trade deadline a few weeks away, Smith reiterated that acquiring another big man was not a high priority. "I don't know if it's an issue," he said.

Smith said that when starting C Dwight Howard is out of the lineup, "We play a different way, anyway," meaning the team becomes more perimeter-oriented.

With starting power forward and back-up center Brandon Bass sidelined with a sprained ankle, Howard played 48 minutes against the Heat.

Smith said he still wants to see a fully healthy Malik Allen, who played in just his eighth game of the season Friday night.

joel courtney

2011-02-05T03:51:00.002-08:00

Tonight’s Dateline NBC called Bringing Brooke Home featured the story of Brooke Wilberger’s murder. Ultimately on the show, Brooke got justice, but it was hard to watch. Kate Snow was reporting.

The killer’s family actually pieced together the information that their family member Joel Courtney was the murderer. It is amazing that Brooke’s family was able to get justice.

Dateline followed the story of the most publicized murder in the history of the State of Oregon. In May 2004, Courtney raped and then murdered 19-year-old Brooke Wilberger. Corvallis was rocked by the girl's disappearance.

Courtney had disappeared during the time of the murder, and when he came back, Courtney told his family an unbelievable story.

During the episode, Courtney’s family even remembered his life especially right after Wilberger disappeared. His sister Dina said, “He walked through the door and announced kind of loudly, you'll never believe where I've been. I said okay, where were you? I was kidnapped, (he said). There were these guys. They had guns and knives and we were in the woods. It was rainy and cold and there was a girl there and we were hiding. And y'know there was blood and it was awful.”

The break in this case came when a similar case happened in New Mexico. This time the victim survived, and she testified against her attacker. Finally, all the pieces came together, and the family was able to bring Brooke home once and for all.

The toughest part of tonight’s Dateline NBC was listening to Brooke Willberger’s mother actually thank her daughter’s killer for telling her where he left Brooke’s body. It is nearly unbelievable that she was in that sort of situation. In return for his information, Joel Courtney received life in prison instead of the death penalty for his crime.

One Oklahoma City dad named Kent said, “I don’t see how the family was able to handle this situation with such grace. As a father I’m not sure I would be able to do what the Wilbergers did.”

Did you watch Dateline NBC tonight on Channel 4 in Oklahoma City? What was the toughest part of the special two hour episode for you?

nik pace

2011-02-05T03:51:00.001-08:00

Nik Cochran put forth 21 points and seven rebounds to pace the Davidson Wildcats in an 75-64 upset of the College of Charleston Cougars in a Southern Conference showdown at the Belk Arena.

JP Kuhlman posted 15 points for the Wildcats (9-12, 3-7 SoCon), who ended a four-game slide. Brendan McKillop chipped in with 11 points, while Jake Cohen and De'Mon Brooks had 10 points apiece.

Andrew Goudelock dropped in 21 points for the Cougars (15-7, 8-2), who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end. Jeremy Simmons and Trent Wiedeman each scored 11 points, while Andrew Lawrence finished with 10.

Davidson shot a dismal 26.7 percent from the field, including an 0-of-10 showing from downtown, in the first half and it trailed 33-24 at the break.

The Wildcats turned it around in the second half, shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 9-of-14 from three-point range for the 11-point victory.

Davidson won the battle on the boards, 43-29, including a 17-6 advantage on the offensive glass.

brooke wilberger

2011-02-05T03:50:00.001-08:00

jeffrey skilling's sons dies

2011-02-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

The youngest son of imprisoned Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling has been found dead in his apartment in Santa Ana, Calif., according several media sources.

20-year-old John Taylor "J.T." Skilling was a sophomore at Chapman University in Orange, Calif.
According to Jeffrey Skilling's attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, authorities have not yet determined a cause of death but have ruled out foul play or suicide.

The Orange County Coroner's says the final cause of death is pending toxicology results.

Petrocelli said the young man’s classmates became worried because they had not seen Skilling for some time. Late Tuesday night, they broke into his apartment in Santa Ana, CA, and found him dead.

JT’s father, who is serving a 24-year prison term for his role in connection with Enron's collapse, will seek a temporary release from jail to attend his son's funeral, Petrocelli noted.

610 wip

2011-02-04T09:55:00.000-08:00

The Wing Bowl has been become a tradition in Philadelphia held the Friday before the Superbowl by 610 WIP. This is the 19th year the event has taken place and while it has suffered from some diminishing returns in recent years, there's no doubt that it's something many of us in Philly look forward to every year. That said, this year was a classic.

This year's contest came down to two former champions, the legendary El Wingador and Super Squibb, both hailing from South Jersey, and may go down as the closest wing bowl of them all. The two champions both broke the previous record of 241 wings, but it was Super Squibb who emerged victorious with 255 wings, one more than Wingador. Wingador announced after the event that he would not return for Wing Bowl 20.

Next year will however see the return of hot dog eating legend Kobayashi, who after breaking the speed cheesteak eating record this morning, vowed to return for Wing Bowl 20.

super bowl commercials 2011

2011-02-04T09:54:00.000-08:00

This year's Super Bowl champion could be a pint-sized Darth Vader, Kim Kardashian or a dude who loves to lick leftover Doritos cheese off other people's fingers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers or Green Bay Packers will of course battle for victory on the field, but the popularity competition among commercials that air between plays has become just as cutthroat.

Last year's fan favorite from Snickers featured actress Betty White being tackled the ground in a pickup football game. The spot became a viral sensation and rejuvenated the geriatric star's acting career.

Contenders for best ad from Sunday's Super Bowl include:

* A Roseanne Barr Snickers ad
* The annual entries from Anheuser-Busch
* A sexy Sketchers spot featuring reality TV bombshell Kim Kardashian
* A Volkswagen commercial starring a kid in a Star Wars costume
* The Doritos licker.

houston traffic

2011-02-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

HOUSTON - It looks like with the wet winter weather, most overnight construction projects will be put on hold.

One area to watch for this weekend (weather permitting, of course) is 610 North Loop from I-10 the Baytown East Freeway all the way to 59 Eastex Freeway. That entire section will be closed starting at 9 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Sunday. Just use the signage in the area for your detour.

Also, emergency officials are warning motorists to stay off the roadways if possible and to drive with extreme caution, especially on elevated freeways and fly-overs. They will have 'spotters' out all night driving around Houston monitoring areas of concern and they will bring in law enforcement to make the call if an area of roadway or a fly-over needs to be shut down.

We'll start traffic reports at 4 am Friday, so tune in if you have any concerns about your commute, otherwise, you can report areas to the city hotline - just dial 311 or call TXDOT's road conditions hotline at 1-800-452-9292.

Good Luck out there, be safe and cancel your plans if you have to! It's not worth your life and pack some extra cold weather clothes in the car just in case your car breaks down or you do have an incident and are stranded.

Let me know if you see anything of concern, or if you have any questions! And if you're able (and safe!) send in a snapshot of some ice or SNOW!

texas department of transportation

2011-02-04T09:52:00.002-08:00

Friday morning's freezing rain and snow have made for treacherous driving conditions around the Brazos Valley and officials with the Texas Department of Transportation are urging people to stay off the roads.

TxDOT crews have been working throughout the night sanding bridges and overpasses, but despite the preparations, spokesperson Bob Colwell says everything is frozen and may not defrost until noon.

Colwell says all ten counties within the region are reporting the same type of road conditions, slick and dangerous. Throughout the early morning hours, numerous accidents have been reported after drives lost control on slippery roads.

"We cannot urge people enough to stay off the roads. That's the message we want to get out right now," says Colwell.

transtar houston

2011-02-04T09:52:00.001-08:00

Houstonians woke up Friday morning to little or no snow, but lots of ice, which made freeways nearly impassable.

Predictions of up to three inches of snow did not occur, but a thick sheet of ice covered most roads, resulting in hundreds of wrecks. A 10-car pileup at Highway 290 and HIghway 6 early this morning was reported.

All METRO Park and Ride locations are closed this morning. Buses and the light rail are running, but service is slow. All toll roads are closed. With an expected freeze tonight, the Hardy, Westpark and Sam Houston toll roads are closed until Saturday.

Officials cautioned residents to stay home if possible because the treacherous roads make travel virtually impossible.

The MFAH, which remained open during its normal hours Thursday night while many closed, has decided to close Friday. Its scheduled screening of Texas Legends Before They Were Legends Friday night is canceled.

Transtar maintains a list of icy roads and accidents. Close to noon, most of the interstate freeway system has been opened, although officials continue to caution motorists to stay off the roads if possible.

txdot road conditions

2011-02-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

The last week has had many different states scrambling to fix up the roads. There have been wrecks and injuries all over the place. Even down in warm Texas there have been some pretty tough road conditions. TxDOT is urging drivers to stay off the roads.

TxDOT is working as hard as they can to sand bridges and overpasses. These are the most dangerous places that you can be. Make sure that you stay off these areas if you do decide that you must venture out. TxDOT says that they can not urge drivers enough to stay off the roads.

The spokesman Bob Colwell says that no matter what they have done it’s impossible for anything to thaw until noon. All ten counties within the region have the same road conditions. Everyone is reporting that it is slick and dangerous. I suggest that you listen to TxDOT and stay off the roads.

wear red day 2011

2011-02-04T09:50:00.002-08:00

There are lots of ways to fight heart disease, but probably none as fun as getting your favorite red dress, pumps or pant suit out of the closet.

That's the message from the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health, which have put together Wear Red Day 2011 in order to raise awareness about heart disease and women.

It's the number one killer of women in America - men too - claiming more than 600,000 lives each year.

Betty White's on board. Check out her video here.

The fashion industry is on board too with its annual The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection fashion show , held on the eve of Fashion Week's start in New York. This year, the show on Feb. 9 will feature celebs Dita Von Teese, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Alison Sweeney, Julianne Hough, and Eve, who will wear red dresses by designers like Donna Karan, Zac Posen, Monique Lhuillier, Badgley Mischka and Oscar de la Renta.

Some of the gowns featured in the show will be auctioned off to raise money for the effort. The show will kick off on Wednesday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. EDT, and will be webcast live on CBSNews.com's The Heart Truth page.

What are you going to do?
Let us know. We would love to hear your Red Day stories.

txdot

2011-02-04T09:50:00.001-08:00

wing bowl 2011

2011-02-04T09:49:00.001-08:00

The Super Bowl might be around the corner, but only one competition matters today - Wing Bowl 2011.

Jonathan 'Super' Squib set a new Wing Bowl record today, taking down an astonishing 255 wings in what may be the world's least healthy competition. The potential calorie count for a win like this could be close to 40,000 calories with about 2,550 grams of fat, according to CBS News.

Squib's record came at the expense of competitors like "El Wingadore," "Drunken Mussel," and "Lord Bemis." The N.J. accountant's win made him the 19th champion of the Philadelphia competition, according to CBS.

"He's focused and he attacks those wings," a CBS Sports Radio 610 WIP said describing Squib. "He's an amazing competitor."

greg palkot

2011-02-04T02:59:00.002-08:00

Earlier today we reported on the attacks of Fox News journalists Greg Palkot and video journalist Olaf Wiig that sent them both to the hospital with “fairly grave” injuries . Mediaite has learned that upon being rushed the hospital, Palkot and Wiig were both detained by military police and accused of being Israeli spies. A source with knowledge of the situation says that Palkot was blindfolded throughout the ordeal.

It was an exceptionally nerve wracking 24 hours at Fox News, according to our source, with a flurry of calls being made behind the scenes as a small team of executives were on pins & needles throughout. We’re told both Palkot and Wiig have been in touch with executives there who were relieved to hear their voices, although both are said to be extremely shaken and are only operating on adrenalin at this point.

Upon discovering that members of their news team were in danger, executives at Fox News immediately contacted White House officials who quickly dispatched information to the State Department. Officials there got in touch with the embassy in Cairo and Egyptian ambassador in Washington, all of whom intervened to help secure Palkot and Wiig’s release. Both Palkot and Wiig were let go this morning and brought to a safe, undisclosed location.

This is serious business; editors and managers at major news operations are going to have to start making some difficult calls about whether to pull their writers, video journalists and on-air talent from what has clearly become a perilous situation.

Fox News’ response here stands in stark contrast to some other news networks who almost seem to be promoting the danger their journalists are facing. While we have repeatedly lauded Anderson Cooper’s tireless and intrepid work in the field, the question remains whether CNN should have promoted that danger throughout the day and night yesterday, by releasing and promoting photos of Anderson Cooper being punched (which Mediaite did post.)

Mediaite has been told that Fox News’ had placed the safety and well being of their journalists as the highest priority. The network only confirmed Palkot and Wiig’s perilous experience after they’d been assured that both had been released from the hospital and were safe, 24 hours after the attack. According to a Fox News official, “We were more concerned with the health and safety of Greg and Olaf than doing press junkets….we’ll leave that to others.”

caliphate definition

2011-02-04T02:59:00.001-08:00

The word was said by Glenn Beck on his Fox News show on Monday. He was giving his thoughts about the consequences of protests in Egypt.

He said:
“I believe that I can make a case in the end that there are three powers that you will see really emerge. One, a Muslim caliphate that controls the Mideast and parts of Europe. Two, China, that will control Asia, the southern half of Africa, part of the Middle East, Australia, maybe New Zealand, and God only knows what else. And Russia, which will control all of the old former Soviet Union bloc, plus maybe the Netherlands. I’m not really sure. But their strong arm is coming. That leaves us and South America. What happens to us?”

Now for the meaning:

Wikipedia:

the term caliphate (from the Arabic or khilāfa, Turkish: Halife ) refers to the first system of government established in Islam, and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah (nation). In theory, it is a constitutional republic meaning that the head of state (the Caliph) and other officials are representatives of the people and must govern according to Islamic law, which limits the government’s power over citizens. It was initially led by Muhammad’s disciples as a continuation of the political system the prophet established, known as the ‘rashidun caliphates’. It represented the political unity, not the theological unity of Muslims as theology was a personal matter. It was the world’s first major welfare state. A “caliphate” is also a state which implements such a governmental system.

Glenn Beck's meaning:

The office or jurisdiction of a caliph. The last caliphate was held by Ottoman Turkish sultans until it was abolished by Kemal Atatürk in 1924.

john corbett

2011-02-04T02:58:00.000-08:00

SEX & THE CITY star JOHN CORBETT has gone public with his longtime partner BO DEREK's biggest secret - he insists the 10 star knows everything.

The actor was asked to talk about his girlfriend for an Oprah Winfrey Show segment, which aired in America on Thursday (03Feb11), and he decided to reveal just how clever the actress is.

He said, "She's one of the smartest people, she speaks four or five languages, she knows everything about politics from both sides, she knows more than any other person about other cultures. She's kind of a walking encyclopedia."

truancy

2011-02-04T02:57:00.002-08:00

A Cheboygan County mother is going to jail for not sending her child to school.

Jennifer Specht will spend at least two days behind bars, with a possibility of up to 90 days.

She pleaded guilty to a truancy charge for not sending her six year old to school.

There have been cases of truancy in Cheboygan schools, but usually, they're settled by the school and liaison officer paying a visit with the parents and discussing the resources.

But when that doesn’t work, the courts get involved.

Cheboygan County Sheriff's Deputy Ron Fenlon is the Cheboygan Schools resource and liaison officer. He says last year, there were 27 cases of kids missing school, or truancy cases, within the district, and there wasn't a single case that made it to the judge. 30 year old Jennifer Specht will spend time behind bars because she didn't cooperate and she failed to get her six year old to school.

"Bringing a case into court is absolutely the last resort," said Cheboygan County Assistant Prosecutor Aaron Gauthier.

Gauthier says the last time a parent has been criminally prosecuted for truancy was back in 2007. In this case, the mother was given several chances to get her kid to school, but she failed. The student missed 22 days.

“If the parent does not provide that educational opportunity for the children, we're going to take that very seriously," said Gauthier.

In Cheboygan Schools, Superintendent Mark Dombroski says a student is considered truant when he or she misses 10 days of school unexcused. The district sends a letter to the parents and schedules a meeting. When a student misses 15 days, it gets a little more serious. The school sends a letter saying the courts could be involved, the family is visited by the liaison officer, and it acts as a last warning.

"If there is reason a student is being gone 9, 10, 15 days, then we want some medical documentation that says there's other reasons," said Dombroski.

"I’m not there to take them to court; I'm there to be used as a resource," said Fenlon.

And with the help of the school liaison officer and the resources he can provide to parents and children who are having a problem, the hope is to not have these cases reach the courts.

“We want to make sure kids are coming to school," said Dombroski.

"By having them refer these kids to me, at an early stage, whether it is a 10 day letter or 15 day letter, it's making a big difference," said Fenlon.

Fenlon says the problem is usually at the high school level -- kids not coming to school.

But he says every once and a while, there are the cases like this one, where the parent doesn't bring their child to school.

lee majors

2011-02-04T02:57:00.001-08:00

Two old pros met on the field of sitcom battle on Thursday night (Feb. 3) when Lee Majors did a guest spot on "$#*! My Dad Says."

Majors -- aka "The Six Million Dollar Man," aka "The Fall Guy" -- has in recent years made a pretty good living winking at his tough-guy image from those shows, so it's fitting that he would guest on "Dad" opposite the king of self-aware hamminess, William Shatner. Majors played Don Reger, a millionaire and rival of Ed's (Shatner) for the affection of Ed's neighbor Rosemary (Jean Smart).

Silliness ensued, and the two guys ended up duking it out while wearing mascot costumes. As you do in these cases.

The "S#*! My Dad Says" guest spot was Majors' second appearance on TV this season; he also had an uncredited cameo on "Undercovers" in December. Had things broken differently a couple seasons back, however, you would have seen him on TV every week. He starred with Jamie Kennedy in a FOX pilot called "Me and Lee" -- it wasn't picked up to series, but it lives on thanks to the Internet. Take a look at the first 12 minutes of it below.

nadin khoury

2011-02-04T02:56:00.001-08:00

Nadin Khoury thinks he knows why he was attacked by a group of fellow Upper Darby High School students.

"I was the smallest one," the teen said Thursday during an appearance on the ABC morning talk show "The View."

Khoury, the Upper Darby 13-year-old who was allegedly bullied by seven fellow students Jan. 11, appeared on the ABC daytime show on Thursday.

Khoury’s story came to the forefront this week when Upper Darby police arrested seven teenagers who were recorded on video bullying him, which concluded with Khoury hanging by his coat from a fence.

Taking questions from interviewer Barbara Walters, Khoury, with his mother, Rebecca Wright, and stepfather sitting by his side, said he knew why he was picked to be a victim.

“They messed with me because I’m one of the smallest ones,” he said. “When we first moved into the area, they saw my mom and because she was an African they made fun of my mom a lot.”

Khoury said the bullying started with words, before it became physical.

“They used to come over and say smart things, call me names, go over to their friends and make fun about it,” he said. “The teacher would sit there and watch and not do anything.”

Wright said one thing Khoury won’t be doing is going back to school at Upper Darby. He will be home-schooled.

code pink

2011-02-04T02:55:00.000-08:00

Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin Wednesday headed up a dozen Code Pink banner-bearing activists in Cairo's Tahrir Square -- a scene she said descended into a bloody "war zone" as "government thugs" battled pro-democracy demonstrators.

But Benjamin told us by cell phone just minutes also that while the government of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak government has now signalled it will "go down kicking and screaming,'' pro-democracy protesters are fully determined and "ready to die here."

We caught Benjamin just after midnight Egyptian time as she retreated from the embattled square in Cairo -- in a country where Internet coverage is just returning after days of blackout. Benjamin, a longtime Bay Area progessive activist, has been in the region since Monday with Code Pink and said the lack of Internet connection has been frustrating.

But she noted it couldn't stop her and the Code Pinkers who took to the square Wednesday, parading a large banner in both Engligh and Arabic, reading: "The World Says It's Time For Mubarak to Go."

The reaction from Egyptians, she reported, was both heart-breaking and uplifting. "They cheered and cried, and they were so excited to see it,'' she said. "They said they were so cut off from the world, they didn't know what the media was saying. So to see that kind of solidarity was important."

Benjamin told us events in Cairo over the last 24 hours have been eye-opening and frightening -- but she said that it's clear the youth-driven movement to end the reign of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak is energized, and determined to succeed.

You can see photos of her and Code Pink in Cairo today here. And here's her account:

"I just walked out of the square minutes ago....and what I saw today was a beautiful gathering of people from all over Egypt into Tahrir Square...Everyone was helping each other and proud for the first time."

"Today it turned very ugly with government thugs who came armed with rocks and sticks; they're charging in and they created chaos,'' she told us. "We were running down the street where our hotel is, and it was like war zone. We saw molotov cocktails, and government people were grabbing any construction materials that were around, and...throwing things off the roof."

"There are so many people wounded and they were so brave. They say they won't leave and they're ready to die here. It's very serious, and very ugly...the government is showing it's willing to go down kicking and screaming.''

Benjamin's message to Americans watching the fledgling pro-democracy Egyptian political movement back home on TV: "We're telling them to keep pressuring the U.S. government. Obama is moving in a better and better direction. We should be cutting off all aide to this government. We should be saying that it is government people who started the violence...and cutting off funds would send a huge message."

pam grier

2011-02-04T02:54:00.002-08:00

Seventies movie sex symbol PAM GRIER has revealed one of late comic RICHARD PRYOR's secrets in her new tell-all book - the comedian couldn't read.

The movie star claims she taught Pryor to read, while she was dating him - because it was his dream to thumb through Leo Tolstoy's epic War & Peace.

Grier says, "He would learn his lines phonetically and people would help him learn his lines, but he'd say, 'Baby, I wanna learn how to read, and I wanna read War & Peace'."