Asperger's Syndrome

British Court Allows Hacker to be Extradited to U.S.

 
A British hacker who broke into U.S. government computer systems seeking evidence of alien life has failed in his latest efforts to block extradition to the U.S. to face trial. 

On Friday, the High Court ruled the extradition of Gary McKinnon, whose hacking exploits have drawn high-profile attention from U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and celebrities such as David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, should proceed. Karen Todner, McKinnon's attorney, said they will lodge an appeal within 28 days, possibly taking the case to the U.K.'s Supreme Court.

McKinnon's attorneys had asked the court to review a refusal by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for England and Wales to prosecute the him in the U.K. British prosecutors maintain that the U.S. wants jurisdiction and that most evidence and witnesses are in the U.S. 

McKinnon had also asked the court to review his extradition order, which was approved by the U.K. government in July 2006, on the basis of his diagnosis with Asperger Syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by obsessive behavior and deficiencies in social interaction.

"Gary is clearly someone who is not equipped to deal with the American penal system, and there is clear evidence that he will suffer a mental breakdown if extradited," Todner said in a news release.

Todner said that on Friday she sent a letter signed by 40 Members of Parliament to U.S. President Barack Obama, asking him "to step in and bring this shameful episode to an end."

McKinnon faces up to 60 years in prison for hacking into 97 U.S. military and NASA computers between February 2001 and March 2002. He was indicted in 2002 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

While in the U.K., McKinnon has freely admitted to hacking the computers using a program called "RemotelyAnywhere," a remote access tool. He has said that many of the computer systems still had their default passwords, which is generally considered a poor security practice, and that other passwords were easy to obtain.

McKinnon contends he didn't harm the computer but was merely searching for proof of the existence UFOs. The U.S. military contends that McKinnon deleted critical files from its computers, which hampered its efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

so you think you can dance results

so you think you can dance results

Last night was the results show of “So You Think You Can Dance,” where we found out who America has chosen as their final four dancers of this season. The show started with a routine to “Send in the Clowns,” which had been choreographed by Tyce DiOrio.

Then according it went very quickly on to the results, where Jeanine was told she was safe and will be competing in this season’s finale. It then came to the guys turn and Brandon was told he is through to the finale next week.

In between the results, they showed some of the best dances from last season, which was nice for the fans watching. Plus Melissa, Ade, Kayla and Evan had to repeat their solo dances and then some guest dancers performed.

And finally it was down to the last results of the night, with Kayla being told she is in the finale and Melissa being sent home and Evan being told he is through to the finale and Ade being told he was going home. So the final 4 is Jeanine, Kayla, Brandon and Evan.

fartlek

fartlek

Fartlek Training,Fartleks:Fartlek training offers a wide range of athletes an effective ad efficient form of endurance conditioning…

But just like every other form of sports training you must structure the session to meet the demands of your sport..

Fartlek training allows the athlete to run freely over varying distances and at varying speeds. A single session might consist of walking, cruising and sprinting. It might last for 20 minutes or 5 miles. The variations are unlimited. And that means some specific guidelines are in order so each session can be made as effective as possible.

If you’ve read some of the other articles on the site you’ll appreciate the importance of specificity. It’s one the most important principles of training and one that is often overlooked.

In most fartlek training sessions intervals are kept relatively short and frequent. Anything too long simply becomes more like interval training. Each interval might range from 10 seconds up to 5 minutes for example.

For long distance runners (anything from 1500m to 10k) more structured sessions are beneficial. For example, you might run hard for 5 minutes (above race pace) then jog slowly for 1 minute to recover, and repeat that five or six times.

For multi-sprint sports such as soccer, basketball, racket sports, hockey and so on, shorter and more random intervals will be more appropriate. Consider tennis for example…

Plenty of stop-starting, movement patterns are unpredictable and very few rallies last longer than a minute at most.

A more effective fartlek training session then, would be a jog for 60 seconds, followed by a hard run for 30 seconds, followed by a jog for 30 seconds, followed by all-out sprint for 10 seconds, followed by a walk for 30 seconds. This would then be repeated for a total of 20-30 minutes.

In theory you could make the session up as you go along, throwing in some jogs, runs, sprints, backward running etc. as and when. But in practise this becomes hard for athletes to a) push themselves and b) measure progression over time.

Here are some example fartlek training sessions for different sports and events:

cash for clunkers suspended

cash for clunkers suspended



'Cash for Clunkers' Suspended? Funds Already Running Out,
The U.S. government's wildly popular Cash for Clunkers program was designed to help the struggling auto industry by giving owners of old cars money toward the purchase of a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle. But now the program appears to be running out of gas. It looks as if the money to buy up used cars has already been used up.

The White House announced late Thursday it was reviewing the program, denying earlier reports that "Cash for Clunkers" was being suspended. The conflicting announcements created confusion for buyers and car dealers alike.
Cash for Clunkers was supposed to continue through Nov. 1, 2009, or until the money ran out. But with the number of dealers participating, if each completed just a dozen cash for clunkers deals, the $1 billion would be spent. And some dealers have initiated more like 250 "Cash for Clunkers" deals -- 20 times what the government was expecting.

linda trivisonno

linda trivisonno

Linda Trivisonno had persistence and a mortgage analyst’s help, and her story looks like it will have a happy ending.

When her husband died last year, she realized she was not going to be able to maintain the $1,300 monthly payments on her Fort Myers home. “There was no way,” she says.

She began a frustrating quest for somebody at her bank who would talk about modifying the loan.

Even after finally being steered to a woman who seemed ready to help, she never heard back.

“I called dozens and dozens of times.”

Finally, faced with imminent foreclosure, Trivisonno was able to get the lender to consider a modification proposal worked up for her by Lane Houk, a Fort Myers mortgage analyst.

sporting news top 50 coaches

sporting news top 50 coaches


Bowman Ranked 7th In Sporting News' Top 50 Coaches Of All-Time List

Chicago Blackhawks Senior Advisor, Hockey Operations Scotty Bowman has been listed at number seven in The Sporting News Magazine's Top 50 Greatest Coaches of All-Time list, which was released on Wednesday. Bowman is the highest ranked National Hockey League coach on the list, as selected by a panel of 118 Hall of Famers, championships coaches and other experts.

"I feel honored and privileged to be considered in such elite company," Bowman said. "It is a reflection on the many great Hall of Fame players that I had the good fortune to coach.

Bowman, who joined the Blackhawks Hockey Operations Department on July 31, 2008, has been a member of 11 Stanley Cup winning teams since 1973, which includes an NHL record nine as a head coach. The Montreal native is also the NHL's all-time leader with 1,224 regular-season wins and 223 postseason victories. Prior to joining the Blackhawks, Bowman has held a position in professional hockey since 1967.

Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder in 1991, Bowman is the only man in the history of the sport to lead three different teams to the Stanley Cup and has reached the league Finals 13 times as a bench boss. As a head coach, he has captured the Cup with the Montreal Canadiens (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979), Pittsburgh Penguins (1992) and Red Wings (1997, 1998 and 2002). He served as the director of player development on Pittsburgh's 1991 Stanley Cup winning club and most recently celebrated his 11th league title with the Red Wings in 2008.

Bowman has coached an NHL record 2,141 contests and has captured the Jack Adams Award as the league's best coach twice (1977 and 1996). He also spent time behind the St. Louis Blues' bench (1967-71) and the Buffalo Sabres' bench (1979-87), while guiding his squads to the postseason in 29 of his 30 years as a head coach. He has coached in an NHL-best 13 All-Star games, which includes his final season in 2002, when he led the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup after posting 51 wins and 116 points during the regular-season. Statistically, Bowman registered his best season in 1995-96 when his Detroit team racked up an NHL record 62 wins.

iphone virus

iphone virus

LAS VEGAS--Researchers have discovered a way to take complete control over an iPhone merely by sending special SMS messages and demonstrated it on my iPhone at the Black Hat security conference on Wednesday.

Although an attacker could exploit the hole to make calls, steal data, send text messages, and do basically anything that I can do with my iPhone, the researchers were kind and merely rendered it temporarily inoperable.

Here's what happened: While I was talking on the phone to Charlie Miller, his partner, Collin Mulliner, sent me a text message from his phone. One minute I'm talking to Miller and the next minute my phone is dead, and this time it's not AT&T's fault. After a few seconds it came back to life, but I was not able to make or receive calls until I rebooted.

The attack is enabled by a serious memory corruption bug in the way the iPhone handles SMS messages, said Miller, a senior security researcher at Independent Security Evaluators. There is no patch, despite the fact that Apple was notified of the problem about six weeks ago, he said.

The attack is similar to an SMS attack demonstration CNET News wrote about in April in which mobile security firm Trust Digital was able to send an SMS to a phone that opened up a Web browser and directed the phone to a malicious Web site where malware could be downloaded.

In the more recent research, Android-based phones were found to be similarly susceptible to an SMS attack, only an attacker could temporarily knock the phone off the cell network but not take control, according to Mulliner, who's getting his PhD at the Technical University of Berlin. Google patched the hole last week within a day or two of being notified of the problem, he said.

Meanwhile, a bug in the code written by HTC that controls the user interface on Windows Mobile devices could also be exploited via the SMS messages to make it so there are no buttons to push so the phone can't be used, said Miller.

For the attack to work, an attacker must send hundreds of SMS control messages, which are different from regular SMS messages, according to Miller. Only the initial SMS may be seen, he said.

The researchers will demonstrate the attack on an Android phone and an iPhone during their presentation on Thursday.

Previous iPhone attacks required an attacker to lure the iPhone user to visit a malicious Web site or open a malicious file, but this attack requires no effort on the part of the user and requires only that an attacker have the victim's phone number, Miller said.

Once inside a victim's phone, the attacker could then send an SMS to anyone in the victim's address book and spread the attack from phone to phone, he said.

powerball

powerball


Powerball: Powerball Number: 33 Colorado Powerball tickets win $200 each,
Louisiana Lottery Powerball | Louisiana Lotto | Powerball Numbers | Louisiana Lottery Winning Numbers | Louisiana Lottery Corp. | Multistate Powerball Drawings | Louisiana Lotto Players | winners in Wednesday’s lottery drawings | no winning results

On Wednesday night’s the Louisiana Lotto and multistate Powerball drawing, the Powerball jackpot will grow to an estimated $120 million for Saturday since no one matched all 6 of the numbers.

Powerball tickets sold in New Orleans and Sulphur did win $200,000 by matching all five numbers, say Lottery officials. And Wednesday’s winning numbers were 2-5-38-43-59, the Powerball was 8 and the multiplier was 2.

According to AP, Colorado’s top prize was $200 apiece for 33 Power Play tickets that matched other number combinations.

Powerball was created in 1992 and launched in Colorado in 2001.

It’s now played in 30 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

microsoft yahoo

microsoft yahoo



Microsoft Yahoo Search Deal: The Most Important Facts (And Some Opinion),

Now that the search deal struck between Microsoft and Yahoo has been officially confirmed by both companies, by means of a press release and a website dubbed let’s take a step back and analyze the most important tidbits from the announcement:

As expected, Microsoft will power Yahoo Search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ advertisers.

This will have major repercussions for the online advertising industry, where both Microsoft and Yahoo are strongholds and carry a lot of weight. Likely, it will take months if not years to align these important businesses. As Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz indicated in the press release, on the flip side advertisers and publishers would benefit significantly from a unified platform and the promise of scalability allround. I believe this is indeed the core of being able to compete with both companies’ dominant rival, Google.

Of course the companies didn’t spell out Google in the official announcements made this morning (except for a link on the Yahoo blog post), but which other company “dominates more than 70 percent of all search”? We actually thought it was more like 65%, but the reality is that this difference in statistics isn’t nearly as important as the obvious fact that Google controls the large majority of search market share on one hand and even more of the advertising dollars that flow into there on the other hand. Clearly, Microsoft desperately wants a piece of this cake, and it won’t settle for a small one.

Microsoft has shown it can compete in search by releasing Bing which by now clearly has claimed its stake as a quality search engine that people actually use and enjoy using to boot. It helps that it has boatloads of cash ready to market Bing aggressively, and you can make sure that they will, too. Furthermore, the companies claim the search deal and technology exchange can lead to more innovation in search, which I agree with wholeheartedly and encourage on multiple levels. If it effectively will eat away at Google’s core business by stealing significant market share organically remains to be seen, though.

One of the most apparent facts in the announcement that was not known beforehand by any blogs or news sites, is the longevity of the agreement: 10 years, which is like an eternity in the Internet space. Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10 year license to Yahoo’s core search technologies, which is basically the same as saying it just gained unparalleled access to the blueprint of Yahoo Search, something that can only lead to improvement of its Bing search engine. That and the fact that Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites confirms the notion that Sunnyvale has indeed given up on search in a big way.

Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process. That means there’s now Google AdWords vs. Microsoft AdCenter and Google AdSense s. Microsoft PubCenter, and little else that matters in the search marketing arena. Take note, marketers.

Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs to Yahoo at an initial rate of 88% of search revenue generated on Yahoo’s owned and operated sites during the first 5 years of the agreement, and guarantee revenue per search in each country for the first 18 months following initial implementation in that country. This is huge, and it shows Redmond will continue to chase after the heart of Google, no matter how much money it takes. After those 18 month and 5 year periods, it’s unclear what will happen. Important to note is that Yahoo! will continue to syndicate its existing search affiliate partnerships.

Yahoo expects to fully implement the combined effort within 24 months following regulatory approval, which it hopes to gain early 2010. The company estimates - based on current levels of revenue and operating expenses - that the agreement will provide a benefit to annual GAAP operating income of approximately $500 million and capital expenditure savings of approximately $200 million. Yahoo! also estimates that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual operating cash flow of approximately $275 million, something it sorely needs and which shareholders will be very happy about if it checks out eventually.

Already, Yahoo and Microsoft are fencing off regulatory investigation and criticism, stating clearly that they will be limiting the data shared between the companies to the “minimum necessary to operate and improve the combined search platform”, and restrict the use of search data shared between the companies.

What do you think: is this a win-win agreement for both Microsoft and Yahoo? How about users? Should Google be worried? Will the deal be approved at all?

gayatri devi

gayatri devi




Stylish 'Queen Mother' of Indian politics dies,
NEW DELHI — One of the last queens of India, Maharani Gayatri Devi, who was feted as an international style icon and spent time in jail after she became a politician, died on Wednesday, her family doctor said.

Devi, who was 90, married the Maharaja of Jaipur in 1939, becoming a member of the royal family that effectively ruled the city of Jaipur and the surrounding area of Rajasthan state.

The family -- surrounded by hundreds of servants -- lived a lavish life revolving around hunting, polo, entertaining friends and summers spent in Europe.

After India's independence from Britain in 1947, the family retained its local influence and much of its wealth, and Devi became a successful politician winning a seat in parliament in 1962 and retaining it twice in elections.

A critic of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, she was jailed by prime minister Indira Gandhi for five months for violating tax laws in the 1970s, when India's former ruling families were finally stripped of many of their privileges.

Devi, who was famed as a horsewoman and as a fashion trend setter, died in Jaipur after a long illness, the Press Trust of India quoted her doctor as saying.

She was once among Vogue magazine's list of the world's 10 most beautiful women and counted Britain's Queen Elizabeth and former US first lady Jacqueline Kennedy among her friends.

Devi, who was dubbed "Queen Mother", was also well-known for promoting education among women and she founded a prestigious school in Jaipur named after her.

bryce dallas howard

bryce dallas howard























Eclipse Switch; Bryce Dallas Howard to Play Vampire Victoria, Twilight fans are used to the renegade vampire Victoria causing trouble for lovers Bella and Edward, but come the third installment of the film series, they may be taken aback by Bryce Dallas Howard baring her fangs in the role. That's right:

The 28-year-old daughter of director Ron Howard will be replacing Rachelle Lefevre, 30, who took on the role for the first film and its upcoming sequel, New Moon. "Rachelle brought Victoria to great screen life, and Bryce will bring a new dimension to the character,"says Erik Feig, president of worldwide production and acquisitions for Summit Entertainment.

"The franchise is lucky to have such a talented actress as Bryce coming in to fill the role." According to Summit, Lefevre is leaving the series because of scheduling conflicts with a new film project. She's slated to appear opposite Dustin Hoffman in the independent film Barney's Version, which begins filming the same day as Eclipse – only on the opposite end of the continent, in Quebec.

rorschach wikipedia

rorschach wikipedia

Is Wikipedia the worst offender in ruining the Rorschach test,

In the last few months, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia has been engulfed in a furious debate involving psychologists who are angry that the 10 original Rorschach plates are reproduced online, along with common responses for each. For them, the Wikipedia page is the equivalent of posting an answer sheet to next year’s SAT.

They are pitted against the overwhelming majority of Wikipedia’s users, who share the site’s “free culture” ethos, which opposes the suppression of information that it is legal to publish....

“The only winners seem to be those for whom this issue has become personal, and who see this as a game in which victory means having their way,” one Wikipedia poster named Faustian wrote on Monday, adding, “Just don’t pretend you are doing anything other than harming scientific research.”

What had been a simmering dispute over the reproduction of a single plate reached new heights in June when James Heilman, an emergency-room doctor from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, posted images of all 10 plates to the bottom of the article about the test, along with what research had found to be the most popular responses for each.

“I just wanted to raise the bar — whether one should keep a single image on Wikipedia seemed absurd to me, so I put all 10 up,” Dr. Heilman said in an interview. “The debate has exploded from there.”

Wow! OK, I understand the psychologists' point. I do think they should consider seeing a psychiatrist about their explosive anger.

But they shouldn't pretend that this is anything new. I've had a book called Big Secrets, by William Poundstone, since the '90s. Now, that book isn't as bad as Wikipedia -- it's worse. See, the Wikipedia page gives extremely sparse descriptions of potential answers, like this:

Plate 2 (two humans)

That's Wikipedia's entire description of Plate 2 (aside from reprinting the plate itself). In contrast, the Big Secrets book includes this revealing analysis:

It is important to see this blog as two human figures -- usually females or clowns. If you don't, it's seen as a sign that you have trouble relating to people. You may give other responses as well, such as cave entrance (the triangular white space between the two figures) and butterfly (the red "vagina," bottom center).

Should you mention the penis and vagina? Not necessarily.... You may not say that the lower red area looks like a vagina, but psychologists assume that what you do say will show how you feel about women. Nix on "crab"; stick with "butterfly."

Oh, but isn't it disingenuous of me to suggest that Big Secrets and Wikipedia are equally important? Come on -- Wikipedia is on the internet, and we all know that's what people read these days, right?

First of all, I wish people would be more explicit about their assumptions. If we're supposed to know that intelligent people are more likely to turn to Wikipedia than books for information, then fine -- let's say that openly. But let's also remember that point when it comes time to debate whether Wikipedia is a second-class or first-class source of knowledge.

But anyway, Big Secrets actually is available on the internet -- on Amazon. You can find it by searching for [rorschach], and it's the first result if you search for [rorschach secrets]. From there, you can read all the salacious details about the ink blots, since Amazon allows you to search the book's full text. So let's see the psychologists channel some of their rage against William Poundstone and Amazon.

Fruit

The Palatka Fruit Market on U.S. 17 was demolished this morning when the driver of a logging truck lost consciousness and drove into the $250,000 building head-on, Florida Highway Patrol said.

The driver of the truck, Willie J. Davis, 53, Palatka, was taken to the Putnam Community Medical Center shortly after the 2 a.m. incident in serious condition, FHP said.

Witnesses said Davis was driving in the inside eastbound lane when he suddenly began to drift into the outside lane and then off the road.

A cashier in the fruit market building when the crash occurred told troopers she saw the truck coming and was able to get out of the way just as the truck demolished the building.

Troopers said the structure was "totally destroyed" in the accident and and building officials in Putnam county declared it no longer safe for occupancy.

Davis, who was not wearing a seatbelt, told troopers he blacked out just before the crash.

Troopers said alcohol was not a factor in the accident.

cfa institute

cfa institute



Mumbai, July 28, 2009 – CFA Institute announces that the Delhi High Court has granted permission for it to conduct the December 2009 CFA Level I exam in India. CFA Institute has already informed its candidates from India through emails of such and the procedure for changing test centers from other countries to Mumbai.

“We are delighted with the permission saving
thousands of candidates time and money in travel and accommodation to other countries. We appreciate the decision given in the interest of the candidates and will remain dedicated to the Indian investment industry and educational field,” said Dr. Ashvin P. Vibhakar, CFA, managing director, Asia-Pacific Operations, CFA Institute.

Level I of the CFA exam is administered globally twice per year, in June and December, and Levels II and III are administered just once per year, in June. The second and final deadlines for new CFA Program enrollments and exam registrations for the December 2009 exam will occur on August 21, 2009 and September 15, 2009 respectively. The CFA Program is not approved by the All India Council For Technical Education.
About CFA Institute
CFA Institute is the global association for investment professionals. It administers the CFA® and CIPM curriculum and exam programs worldwide; publishes research; conducts professional development programs; and sets voluntary, ethics-based professional and performance-reporting standards for the investment industry. CFA Institute has nearly 100,000 members, who include the world’s more than 84,000 CFA charterholders, as well as 136 affiliated professional societies in 57 countries and territories. More information may be found at www.cfainstitute.org.

More To Love

All dating shows exploit the tension between inner and outer beauty, but two new ones make a point of it. More to Love, which premieres tonight on Fox, is a high-body-mass-index version of "The Bachelor," with 330-pound, 26-year-old real estate investor Luke Conley winnowing a field of 20 "plus-size" women to find a Match Made on Television. (Indeed, it shares an executive producer with "The Bachelor," Mike Fleiss.) "Dating in the Dark," which began on ABC last week and airs Monday nights, puts three men and three women into a pitch-black room to take appearance out of the picture entirely.

Hosted by plus-size supermodel Emme, "More to Love" adds an extra layer of pathos to the genre's usual Harlequin hearts and flowers, its candlelit rooms, poolside chats and painfully drawn out ritual eliminations. There are years of tears unleashed here, as many -- though not all -- of the women recount their isolation, loneliness and dreams of being loved as they are. (Feelings known, of course, to viewers of all proportions.) Danielle has "never had a second date," Melissa has never been on a date at all. Most seem less bothered by their weight -- all but a couple top 200 pounds -- than by a world that shuns them for it.

That the series has been made at all testifies to the fact that most dating shows -- most TV shows -- feature people who fit the latest definition of hotness. We may praise the inner person, but we are nevertheless continually encouraged (and perhaps wired) to worship the conventionally attractive surface.

Not that these people aren't pretty. They may be larger than most, but they are young and shiny and dressed to the nines. (And there is nothing homogeneous about them; they come in a variety of shapes and styles.) Conley, who also wears his bulk well, seems like a nice guy, but he is also a bit of a kid in a candy store, finagling kisses right and left. And though he claims to have "no type," it probably isn't fair to say that looks won't matter at all to him. That is just how humans are.

Dating in the Dark more directly addresses that propensity. Meeting only in utter darkness, potential soul mates choose each other sight unseen, judging mainly by smell and touch and talk. (It is fundamentally "The Dating Game," with a little bit of physical contact.) That there are no eliminations -- and that the connections are made in the course of a single episode -- keeps things friendly and fresh, and allows for better look at the individual characters. Some you root for, some you don't, but it's overall a sweet show.

We see their blind fumblings in infrared. It resembles a trust exercise, or a high school party game: "It's like at slumber parties," says contestant Melanie. "All the juicy stuff comes out after dark."

Each woman chooses a man, and each man a woman, but they are allowed to beg off at the end if they don't like what they see. It's the crucial, character-defining moment. Christina says, "I hope to God when all is revealed I don't have a guy that looks like Shrek," but Melanie is more concerned about how she's going to feel "if I get rejected when the lights go on. I'm just a little nervous about that one."

Eastern Time

China Digital TV Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STV) ("China Digital TV" or ''the Company''), the leading provider of conditional access systems to China's expanding digital television market, today announced it will report financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2009, after the U.S. market closes on Thursday, August 6, 2009. The Company will hold an earnings conference call on the same day at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (8:00 a.m. on Friday, August 7, Beijing/Hong Kong Time).

Conference Call Dial-in Information

United States Toll Free:         +1-800-901-5241
International:                   +1-617-786-2963
Hong Kong:                       +852-3002-1672
China Toll Free:                 +10-800-130-0399

Passcode:  China Digital TV Earnings Call

A replay of the call will be available for 1 week between 10:00 p.m. on August 6, 2009 and 10:00 p.m. on August 13, 2009 Eastern Time.

Replay Dial-in Information

United States:                   +1-888-286-8010
International:                   +1-617-801-6888

Passcode:                        63707809

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of this call will be available on the Investor Relations section of China Digital TV's corporate.

About China Digital TV

Founded in 2004, China Digital TV is the leading provider of conditional access ("CA") systems to China's expanding digital television market. CA systems enable television network operators to manage the delivery of customized content and services to their subscribers. China Digital TV conducts its CA-related business through its subsidiary, Beijing Super TV Co. Ltd., and its affiliate, Beijing Novel-Super Digital TV Technology Co. Ltd. and its value-added services business through its subsidiary, Beijing Novel-Super Media Investment Co. Ltd.

For more information please visit the Investor Relations section of China Digital TV's,

shana martin

shana martin


Shana Martin, Penn State’s athletic history boasts national champions, iconic coaches, Olympians, a Heisman trophy winner, first round draft picks and now a boom running world champion.Shana Martin
Alyse Schroeder, a toxicology major and full time student, captured the world’s top ranking in a thrilling race on June 25th. The junior finished in 11.14 seconds, just edging opponent and event favorite Shana Martin, who ran in 11.28 seconds.

“I had been working my butt off to become champion, it was a relief,” Schroeder said. “It was a satisfaction knowing that all of my hard work had paid off.”

This weekend, she will defend her title.

Boom running is part of the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS series and the Lumberjack World Championship. In the event, two competitors race down a series of logs connected by rope to a small dock. Once they reach the dock, the athletes have to go around a marker, usually a large barrel then race back down the logs for the finish.

Schroeder began her professional career last year at the Lumberjack World Championship, held annually in her hometown of Hayward, Wisc., and placed third. At the 2009 STIHL TIMBERSPORTS series, which is televised as part of ESPN’s outdoor games, the junior won the title in front of a national audience.

“Honestly, its an unreal experience — especially winning,” Schroeder said. “Everybody is smothering you, and it’s amazing. Seeing myself on TV is a surreal experience.”

Wendy Schroeder, Alyse’s mother, got her daughter into the sport when the family moved to Hayward from Minneapolis. After the Schroeders settled in, an acquaintance asked if the girls wanted to try log rolling.

Alyse and her sister Lauryn went out to try, and the two have been competing ever since. Schroeder has been involved in amateur and pro level competitions in both log rolling and boom running since age 7, and her sister has been following her the whole time.

“I had never heard of a thing like log running, so I said ’sure,’ ” Wendy said.

Living in Hayward allows Schroeder to train on the Lumberjack series track, which is located in a lake by her home. The sisters spend two hours a day running the course when they are home.

When classes are in session and without access to an actual course, Schroeder uses a multitude of other training methods. While at Penn State, Schroeder’s focus is to just stay in shape, and she goes to the gym every day while running distance and a multitude of sprints.

“We obviously don’t have a log at school, so I do a lot of running and strength training in my legs,” Schroeder said. “It is hard, but none of the competitions are during the winter, so I’m not losing that much.”

While the girls don’t have an actual coach, they have a unique support group to help them prepare for competitions. Alyse was taught by former men’s world champion J. R. Slazman and currently trains with 2008 women’s champ Taylor Duffy.

The closest the sisters have to a coach is their father, Brian, who wrestled for the University of Minnesota. Despite not having any experience actually competing, Brian brings his own touch to the training.

“They call me their coach, but I really can’t give them any pointers in the actual event,” Brian Schroeder said. “But I do know what kind of dedication it takes to achieve the kind of success they’ve had. If anything, I’m a little hard on them actually.”

The training for boom running is demanding, and the girls’ father has taken to the role of patching up their frequent injuries. Brian said he sees his job as keeping his daughters going through the pain and giving them the push to succeed.

While the lumberjack series of games has a professional and amateur level, the premier events like this weekend’s are professional invite-only outings. Therefore, Alyse only has to defend her title at invitational events sponsored by STIHL or the Lumberjack Championship.

Schroeder’s success at such a young age took many on the circuit by surprise, she said. She placed third in just her first invitational event, and captured the title less than a year later.

“It was quite an upset for Alyse to win the STIHL national competition,” Brian Schroeder said. “She beat an unbelievable athlete by a fraction of a second. It was an upset to most people. Alyse came out of nowhere in the last two years to be at that level.”

minnesota unemployment

minnesota unemployment

After hitting a peak of 12.4 percent in March and falling in April and May, unemployment in Crow Wing County is once again on the rise - but only slightly so.

In the region, three counties once again reached double-digit unemployment.

But the city of Brainerd no longer holds the dubious honor of having the largest unemployment rate of larger Minnesota cities in the state.

The June unemployment rate in the region was higher than the state average and the Crow Wing County rate was about the same as the U.S. rate.
The June unemployment rate, not seasonally adjusted, ranged from a low of 9.1 percent in Todd County to a high of 12.3 percent in Mille Lacs County.

The Crow Wing County unemployment rate in June was 9.5 percent, up from 9.3 percent in May. The Cass County unemployment rate in June was 9.3 percent, up from 9.1 percent in May.

Two years ago, the Crow Wing County unemployment rate was 4.7 percent.

The three area counties with double-digit unemployment in June were Mille Lacs County at 12.3 percent, Morrison County at 11.3 percent and Wadena County at 10.3 percent.

In the city of Brainerd, the June unemployment rate was 15.4 percent, down from 15.6 percent in May. The city unemployment rate peaked at 21 percent in January. Two years ago, the city of Brainerd unemployment was 8.2 percent.

The distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in a large Minnesota city goes to Hibbing. Its June unemployment hit 18.7 percent, up from 14.5 percent in May. Behind Brainerd is Bemidji, which had June unemployment of 14 percent and May unemployment of 13.2 percent.

The Brainerd lakes area micropolitan unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in June, up from 9.2 percent in May. The recent peak was 13 percent in January and February.

The U.S. unemployment rate was 9.7 percent in June, with a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.5 percent. In May, the U.S. rate was 9.1 percent, with a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.4 percent.

The Minnesota unemployment rate in June, both seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted, was 8.4 percent. In May, the rate was 7.8 percent not seasonally adjusted and 8.1 percent seasonally adjusted.

lake george new york

lake george new york





Adirondack Winery Won Second Place for its “Autumn Brilliance” series of wine labels at the 2009 New York State Wine Labeling and Packaging Competition.

Included in our Autumn Brilliance series is our Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, and Sangiovese wine labels, all of which feature photographs of Lake George’s Shepard Park and Glens Falls’ Crandall Park Pond in Autumn. All of the photographs were taken by Adirondack Winery co-owner and president, Sasha Pardy.

In fact, all of Adirondack Winery’s labels feature photographs of landscapes and landmarks of the Lake George / Queensbury area, showing off the Adirondacks’ beautiful scenery.

ironman lake placid

ironman lake placid


LAKE PLACID — The Ironman Triathlon bills itself as the ultimate test of body, mind and spirit.

Competitors at this year's Ironman USA Lake Placid Triathlon will have to battle the grueling course with another concern lingering on their minds — the weather.

The National Weather Forecast is predicting an 80 percent chance for rain throughout the day which could turn into heavy rain. The forecast is also calling for thunderstorms starting in the early Sunday hours.

Inclement weather is nothing new for the event — it rained throughout last year's competition — but the precipitation and possibility of lightning creates several problems for the race, including the safety of those involved.

Bob Heins, 70, is a volunteer worker for the triathlon and will be in a kayak for the swimming portion.

Heins, from Plattsburgh, normally races in the event, but he qualified for the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championship in Hawaii thanks to his finish in the Ironman Coeur d'Alene in June and decided to sit out Lake Placid this year.

He said cold temperatures could lead to hypothermia, which caused problems last year.

"There's a whole multitude of things," he said. "If its thunderstorms and is warm, you don't deal with the hypothermic problems. You just have to deal with the rain in your face and a slippery road."

The Ironman Lake Placid, now in its 11th year, will field more than 2,500 participants. There are 45 local athletes competing.

The triathlon consists of three legs — a 2.4-mile swim around Mirror Lake, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run to finish up. There are 24 men and 15 women professionals competing in this year's race.

Petr Zlin Vabrousek of the Czech Republic is the top returning men's finisher. He placed second with a time of 8:55:20. Kim Loeffler of the United States is the top female returner. She finished second among women with a time of 9:54:55.

The 2009 purse is $50,000, with first place taking $8,500, $5,500 for second and $3,500 for third.

The Ironman Lake Placid is another chance for athletes to qualify for the Ironman World Championship. Seventy-two qualifying slots will be awarded to the top professional and age group finishers, according to the Ironman Lake Placid Athlete Information Guide.

Adverse weather could lead to a number of scenarios involved with the swim, which is the first part. The professionals' starting time is scheduled for 6:50 a.m., followed by the age group race at 7 a.m. Heins said there could be a delay of either 30 minutes or an hour if necessary.

The problem with potential delays, he said, is that the bike cutoff time is 5:30 p.m. If postponed for one hour, the swimming portion will be one loop instead of two.

If lightning forces a cancellation of the swim, the bike race will begin with a time-trial start.

"You have a plan in place because if it's lightning they don't want people in the water," Heins said. "Hopefully that doesn't happen."

Rain-slicked roads could slow down the bike portion as well. Heins said that while on a good day an athlete could reach 40 miles per hour, but wet conditions could force bikers to slow down to 20 to 25 miles per hour.

Regardless of conditions, Heins said, "That's what Ironman's all about and you just have to deal with it."

time warner cable rochester ny

time warner cable rochester ny

The Detroit Pistons have signed free-agent forward Chris Wilcox to a multiyear contract.

The 26-year-old, who played at Enloe High in Raleigh and helped Maryland win the 2002 NCAA title, has appeared in 448 NBA games since the Los Angeles Clippers drafted him eighth overall in 2002. He also has played for Seattle/Oklahoma City and the New York Knicks, averaging 9.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 21.7 minutes per game in his career.

In 62 games with Oklahoma City and New York last season, Wilcox averaged 7.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 17 minutes per game.

More NBA moves: The Indiana Pacers have waived point guard Jamaal Tinsley, ending an often strained relationship. If Tinsley clears waivers, he will become a free agent. As a result, next week's grievance arbitration has been canceled. Tinsley was owed $14.7 million over the next two years.

•The Indiana Pacers re-signed 6-foot-10 free-agent forward Josh McRoberts. Terms of the former Duke player's multiyear deal were not revealed.

D-League tryouts in Charlotte: The Charlotte Bobcats will host an open tryout for their new NBA Development League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, on Sept. 12-13 at Time Warner Cable Arena. Three players could receive invitations to participate in the Red Claws' training camp in November in Portland, Maine. Tryouts will be limited to the first 125 applicants who register

pay a registration fee of $195.

From Bobcats news release

Top pick out of camp

Blake Griffin has pulled out of USA Basketball's minicamp because of a strained right shoulder, possibly hurting the No. 1 pick's chances of playing next year in the world championships.

Griffin said Wednesday that he was unable to play because he was injured during the third of the Los Angeles Clippers' five summer league games. He will rest the shoulder three to four weeks.

McGee in, Bayless out: USA Basketball has added Washington Wizards forward/center JaVale McGee to its minicamp roster. Portland guard Jerryd Bayless withdrew because he injured his left wrist during the NBA's summer league.

The players will practice today and Friday before playing an intrasquad exhibition Saturday.

vernon forrest

vernon forrest



Murdered; Vernon Forrest, good fighter, greater citizen, 38

Boxing was hit, and hit hard, by another violent death Saturday night. On the heels of the murder of former world champion and fan favorite Arturo Gatti comes news that Vernon “Viper” Forrest, a three time champion and a boxer noted for good works with mentally challenged youths, has been killed in an attempted carjacking in his hometown of Atlanta. Forrest, who grew up in Augusta, Ga., was only 38, a year younger than Gatti. Gatti was found murdered in a Brazilian hotel room and his wife remains in jail and under suspicion in the case but has not been formally charged by authorities.

Just two weeks ago, Forrest had paid verbal tribute to the fallen Gatti:

"Rest in Peace to my friend "Arturo 'Thunder' Gatti. He was a good friend and great boxer and at one time in our careers we both shared management, trainers, and promotional company. We even sparred once and let me tell you he was one tough guy."

Forrest, who was instrumental in creating the Destiny’s Child Inc. group home for mentally challenged young adults, had an astounding amateur record of 225-16 and an excellent pro mark of 41-3 with one no contest and 29 knockouts.

His pro career was plagued with injuries and surgeries.

News reports say Forrest was putting air in the tires of his Jaguar with when two men who drove a red Monte Carlo accosted him. A woman friend and a baby were inside his car.

Evidently, both the would be carjackers and the three time world champion both had guns.

Police say Forrest pursued the robbers on foot and gunfire was exchanged.

Forrest, who was on the 1992 US Olympic team, was training for an August bout against Sergio Martinez.

Forrest posted not one but two victories over future Hall Of Famer Sugar Shane Mosley.

He also beat out Mosley in the Olympic Trials.

Inexplicably, however, Forrest managed to get knocked out by and lose a controversial decision to run of the mill Ricardo Mayorga. He also lost a fight against Sergio Mora.

Police told WSB Radio News in Atlanta they do not think the robbers knew that their chosen victim was a professional boxer.

Xavier Biggs, Atlanta resident and brother of Olympic gold medalist Tyrell Biggs, is hosting a 1984 Olmypic boxing team tribute dinner and fight night in the city on Aug. 15.

I would not be surprised if Biggs and the others involved in this event memorialize fallen Olympian Forrest on that night.

Others included in the 1984 team tribute are Evander Holyfield and Meldrick Taylor.

e lynn harris website

e lynn harris website
















Author E. Lynn Harris website, E. Lynn Harris Biography (Wiki) : Everette “E.” Lynn Harris (June 20, 1955 – July 23, 2009) was an openly gay prolific American author, best known for his depictions of African American men on the down-low or in the closet. See E. Lynn Harris website and E. Lynn Harris Biography below.

According to his official biography E. Lynn Harris was born in Flint, Michigan and raised, along with three sisters, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he was the school’s first black yearbook editor, the first black male Razorbacks cheerleader, and the president of his fraternity. He graduated with honors with a degree in journalism.

Harris sold computers for IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and AT&T for thirteen years while living in Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. He finally quit his sales job to write his first novel, Invisible Life, and, failing to find a publisher, he published it himself in 1991 and sold it mostly at black-owned bookstores, beauty salons, and book clubs before he was “discovered” by Anchor Books. Anchor published Invisible Life as a trade paperback in 1994, and thus his career as an author officially began.

Harris has won numerous accolades and prizes for his work. Just As I Am was awarded the Novel of the Year Prize by the Blackboard African-American Bestsellers, Inc. If This World Were Mine was nominated for a NAACP Image Award and won the James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence. Abide with Me was also nominated for a NAACP Image Award. His anthology Freedom in this Village won the Lambda Literary Award in 2005. In 1999, the University of Arkansas honored Harris with a Citation of Distinguished Alumni for outstanding professional achievement, and in October 2000 he was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. Over the past three years, he has also been named to Ebony’s “Most Intriguing Blacks” list, Out Magazine’s “Out 100″ list, New York Magazine’s “Gay Power 101″ list, and Savoy’s “100 Leaders and Heroes in Black America” list. Other honors have included the Sprague Todes Literary Award, the Harvey Milk Honorary Diploma, and The Silas Hunt Award for Outstanding Achievement from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

He divides his time between Atlanta, Georgia, and Fayetteville, Arkansas.

E. Lynn Harris Wiki : Born in Flint, Michigan, he had homes in Houston, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia and Fayetteville, Arkansas. In his writings, Harris maintained a poignant motif, occasionally emotive, that incorporated vernacular and slang from popular culture.

Harris became the first black male cheerleader while attending the University of Arkansas. After graduation, he became a computer salesman with IBM for a time.

Harris was initially unable to land a book deal with a reputable publishing house for his first work, Invisible Life, so he self-published it through a vanity publisher and sold copies from his car trunk. Since then, five of his novels have achieved New York Times bestseller status.

Alongside fiction, Harris had also penned a personal memoir, What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?

Death : Harris died suddenly on July 23, 2009 at the age of 54 while touring to promote his latest book, Basketball Jones. He was found unconscious at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills California, and was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Flowers For Algernon

Flowers for Algernon offers great summer read for teens and parents.

Parents and teens alike can find a lot of good summer reading in Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Written from the perspective of progress reports from the mentally-challenged protagonist, the story follows Charlie as he volunteers for a human trial of brain surgery in search of the mental stability.

Though a difficult story to read, Flowers for Algernon is a great option to share with your teen to get a conversation started.

The novel is based on an award-winning science fiction short story from 1958.

secret millionaires club

secret millionaires club




A year after selling DIC Entertainment, Andy Heyward has returned to the kidvid scene with a new banner, A Squared Entertainment, and an animation production partnership with AOL.

Heyward has cut a deal with AOL for four webisode toon series featuring such notables as Warren Buffett, Martha Stewart and Gisele Bundchen. Deal is part of AOL's push to increase the level of original content on its site, though the webisodes will also be widely distribbed to other sites.

A Squared will produce 26 episodes for each series, with weekly segs running three to five minutes. The shows are all designed to have an underlying educational message and complementary websites with relevant info, games and other kid-friendly resources. The four series are skedded to bow next spring.

The Buffett project, dubbed "Secret Millionaires Club," features the famed investor serving as a mentor to a group of kids who have adventures in the business world. Skein aims to teach kids about money and how the business world works.

"What better time to help educate our kids about financial responsibility," Buffett said in a statement. Buffett and Heyward have been friends since the 1980s, when Capital Cities/ABC, in which Buffett was a major investor, bought DIC Entertainment (which Heyward bought back years later after Disney acquired Cap Cities).

DIC was a big player in TV kidvid for years, with franchises that included "Strawberry Shortcake" and "Care Bears" toon series. But because kids are spending so much time on computers and on the Internet these days, Heyward knew his new venture needed to be Web-focused.

"The Internet has hit critical mass," Heyward said. "That's where kids live."

The Stewart project, "Little Martha," features a 10-year-old Martha Stewart who runs an event planning service from her treehouse. The Bundchen series, "Gigi and the Green Team," features the supermodel as an "environmental superhero." A Squared also has a deal for a kid-friendly take on Carl Sagan's landmark astronomy docu,"Cosmos," with Sagan's collaborator,

Heyward's partners in A Squared include his wife, marketing vet Amy Moynihan, and AOL. Company has set up shop in Los Angeles.

Last year, Heyward sold DIC to Canada's Cookie Jar Entertainment for $195 million.

so you think you can dance results july 23

so you think you can dance results july 23



So You Think You Can Dance: Results Show Recap for July 23,2009.
It’s Thursday, which means Fox' So You Think You Can Dance - and tonight we say goodbye to two more dancers. Also, it’s the 100^th episode, which means much fun and frivolity will precede the farewell on tonight's So You Think You Can Dance!

We start with the group dance to “One” from The Chorus Line, a show that I heart beyond reason. They have white suits and dance with mirrors and even though it’s Tyce Diorio I really like it! Then it turns out NOT to be Tyce at all, but Mia Michaels. Interesting. Well, last night Tyce’s piece was very Mia-like, so maybe they’re exchanging tributes.

Cat promises an incredible evening and re-introduces us to the judges, sans Ellen Degeneres. Mia’s favorite thing about this show is the “little babies coming back home to the nest” and becoming Emmy-nominated choreographers and showing what they’ve learned. This show means the world to Mary, it’s been a lot of laughter and tears, and it has changed her life. She is very proud and grateful. Nigel says the best part is that television at its best can reach out and unite a country with a shared experience, and he thinks last night’s Tyce routine was one such moment. Olivia Newton-John, a breast cancer survivor, called Nigel and thought the routine said more than words could. He is extremely proud that the program can shed light on a difficult subject.

We get a reel of highlights from the past five seasons, and I’m amazed at all I remember and all I’ve forgotten. Blake, Travis, Sabra, Hok… faces I haven’t thought of in a while, and a few moments I remember all the time—including the Bench and the Hummingbird and the Flower, both of which we’ll see, live, tonight.

Cat reminds us what happened last night. You saw it. And if you didn’t you missed out.

RESULTS! Start with the girls. Melissa was awesome. Is she the first in danger? No. Nice recovery from last week, girlfriend. Kayla. Is she still alive? Possibly not, she’s in the bottom two. Wow. Janette or Jeanine? Janette has NEVER been in the bottom. Is she there tonight? Yep. Wow. Interesting…

And the first special treat of the night: back from Season 3 with the Hummingbird and the Flower by Wade Robson, it’s Hok and Jaimie!! Oddly, this wasn’t one of my favorites at the time, but over the course of 5 seasons it is definitely still memorable. Nice to see these two again. Watching it now I think I like it better than I did then…

The guys’ results. Ade. Mia thought his cha-cha was his worst of the season, did he make up for it with the magical Tyce routine? We’ll find out after we speak to Jason. One is safe and one is not. The dancer is danger is… Jason. Evan and Brandon. Neither has ever been in the bottom group. NO WAY. Brandon is in the bottom two. What sort of crazy fan base does Evan have? I mean, I love him, but I’m surprised that he is above these two. I kinda thought it was his time.

Oooh yay! THE BENCH. Travis and Heidi (from Season 2) are back, and I love this routine. Heidi is very blond. This was always a showcase for Travis, and I do wish there was more Heidi. I love that routine.

I think they should do this every week—bring back favorites from the past. It keeps the show moving, there’s no filler, it’s just good stuff and I’m loving it.

Kayla reprises her solo from last night. And again, I’m not blown away by it, but she’s undeniably good. Jason. There might be a touch more energy from him tonight. Janette’s up quickly, again with the Celine Dion. If she’s sent home I think she can blame Celine. Brandon. Sigh. He’s wearing a shirt this time. Subtract points for that. Best solo of the night, by far, in my opinion, even with a shirt on.

Now, a group routine from days past. The top 8 from Season 2 is joined onstage by Wade Robson. Ramalama, ladies and gentlemen. I would love to see this live. LOVE. If for no other reason than not to be bound to the choices of camera angles. The focus on Wade is certainly understandable, but I want to see Ivan and Allison and Donyelle and my other favorites! Also, these are choreographed for the audience, not the camera. Mostly. But this dance is just awesome. Certainly worth watching, check it out if you can.

Katie Holmes is here because she is involved in the Dizzy Feet Foundation, and is apparently good friends with Tyce. Huh. She’s doing an homage to Judy Garland. I knew she could sing (Joey Potter could sing, ya know, as well as her character on Eli Stone) but I didn’t know she could dance. Her hair is really shiny. I wonder what million dollar product she uses that makes her hair so shiny. It is not live onstage, which I thought it would be… silly me. It’s a production. I really wanted her to sing live. She’s lip syncing really well. And she’s not going to win any dance awards either. I shouldn’t be so mean, especially if her participation is helping what seems to be a really great cause. Theatre people, though, one of which she is supposed to be, don’t lip sync.

Nigel thanks Katie Holmes for working so hard and donating her fee to the foundation. Also, Judy Garland’s son Joey Luft is in the audience.

Kayla and Janette, one is going home. The girl leaving is… Janette. I’m surprised, and I think she has Tyce to blame for keeping Melissa. She went from never being in the bottom to going home, just like that. She has had an amazing season, held her own with Brandon, danced everything, and had the least training of all of them. Cat thinks it is the shock of the season. Nigel admits he really wanted her to win, and her ouster has ruined the 100^th celebration. Wow. She’s not going back to the bank after this.

Jason or Brandon. The guy leaving is… Jason. He’s not visibly surprised, if only because Brandon going would have been a shock.

And then my DVR decided I’d seen enough of tonight's So You Think You Can Dance. Well. It’s getting harder every week, and I’m actually, honestly, pathetically sad to think the season is almost over. See you next week!

cash for clunkers stimulus

cash for clunkers stimulus

The old blue Ford in Lawrence Anthony's driveway is bound for destruction.

The federal government's “cash for clunkers” program officially rolls out today, and Anthony, 41, plans to roll the gas-guzzler down the road to Performance Toyota in LaVista in exchange for a new Tacoma pickup — Saturday morning, if all goes as planned.

“That's too bad it's going to be crushed,” he said, a little wistfully, recalling that the 1991 Ford F150 was the first new vehicle he bought. “But she was starting to rot out.”

New-car dealers in the Omaha-Council Bluffs and Lincoln areas expect to be busy as the government unveils final details today, or some of them anyway, of the new-car stimulus program. Many have been lining up deals for weeks but remained uncertain Thursday about when they would be able to finalize sales and release new vehicles to buyers.

Dealers expect consumers to quickly devour the $1 billion that Congress committed to the program last month.

“What we've heard from the manufacturers is a two- to three-week window before the money is gone,” said Kevin Brennan, new-vehicle director at Edwards Subaru Hyundai Inc. in Council Bluffs. “There's a finite amount of money out there, and I don't want people to miss out on it.”

The program, officially known as the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS, is to last until the $1 billion is gone or Nov. 1, whichever comes first, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The program offers consumers a $3,500 or $4,500 credit toward a new vehicle if they turn in a qualifying low-gas-mileage vehicle. The program is intended to spur recession-battered sales of new cars — and at the same time replace some older cars and trucks with newer, greener models.

“It would shock me if the money lasts a month,” said Mike Miller, a salesman at Performance Toyota who said cash-for-clunker interest was “off the chart.”

Such urgent talk is not just a sales tactic, said Brennan.

“Honestly, I think it's going to go shockingly fast. I think it's going to be gone before you know it,” he said. “If I thought the money was going to stick around a while, I wouldn't be taking deposits.”

Nick Hunke, general manager at Sid Dillon Lincoln, said the dealership was bringing in extra part time employees to help process cash-for-clunker sales and handle new shoppers.

“We're going to have a full staff,” Hunke said, adding that no one is allowed to take off today or Saturday. “We're willing to put in the extra work to help them out and help us out in return.”

Rob Rodriguez, sales manager at Honda Cars of Bellevue, said his dealership already had lined up rebates totaling nearly $100,000. In four or five cases, Rodriguez said, his company made sales even after people discovered that their old vehicles wouldn't qualify as clunkers under the government program.

A Web site, www.cars.gov, has provided official but general guidelines about the program. Final rules — expected today, according to the site — will launch the program into gear.

The responsibility falls on the dealer to verify that a car qualifies and for what amount, dealers said.

“The people have to get a letter and have a number for their car they are trading in,” Rodriguez said. “Until we get that number and they are authorized, it would be crazy for a dealer to deliver a car without knowing what the rebate money really is.

“There are manufacturers already doing that, but they are taking a lot of chances,” he said.

New incentives pegged to the cash-for-clunkers program are emerging, too.

Chrysler Group LLC announced Wednesday that is offering new-car buyers as much as $4,500 in cash, potentially doubling a consumer's savings.

erin andrews peephole tape video

erin andrews peephole tape video



Erin Andrews Peephole Video Tape Story Puts ESPN In Spotlight.

The biggest criticism of ESPN, the self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” has been that it engages in shameless self-promotion that often makes it seem as if the network is bigger than the stories it covers. But in a strange twist, two stories have developed in recent days that have thrust ESPN into the national spotlight and made the network the story. Here’s a look at those two stories one that made the network the focus through no fault of ESPN’s and one that did through ESPN’s doing and how they have been viewed.

The Erin Andrews videotape

What happened

A videotape surfaced on the Internet of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, who was filmed naked through a peephole in a hotel room. Andrews’ representatives and ESPN acknowledged the grainy video was of Andrews and that they would seek civil and criminal action against those behind the video if they are caught.

Exploiting the story

While all agree that Andrews was the victim of an abhorrent act, that didn’t stop several media outlets, including Fox News and CBS, from airing either photos from the video or the video (with parts of Andrews’ body blurred). The New York Post also ran several still photos, and ESPN has responded by banning Post reporters from appearing on its shows.

In an e-mail to the St. Petersburg Times, ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer said, “Erin was grievously wronged here, and while we understand the Post’s decision to cover this as a news story, their running photos obtained in such a fashion went well beyond the boundaries of common decency in the interest of sensationalism. This is not a decision we undertook lightly, but we feel it is an appropriate one.”

Backlash

In the story’s wake has come backlash against ESPN and Andrews. The Post’s Page Six gossip page ran at item Thursday that blamed ESPN. The Post wrote, “No one would have known that a sick voyeur had secretly videotaped ESPN reporter Erin Andrews nude in her hotel room if the Mickey Mouse sports network hadn’t sent a letter to an obscure Web site demanding that it take down its link to a fuzzy video of an unidentified blonde.”

Meantime, USA Today columnist Christine Brennan seemed to criticize Andrews in a Twitter post, writing, “Women sports journalists need to be smart and not play to the frat house. There are tons of nuts out there. Erin Andrews incident is bad, but to add perspective: there are 100s of women sports journalists who have never had this happen to them.”

Brennan clarified her comments Thursday, saying her “frat house” comment, “was not meant to be pointed specifically at Erin, and I’m sorry if it was taken that way.” She added, “What happened to her is terrible, and she will always have my full support.”

Interestingly, “Erin Andrews peephole tape” was the top Google search Tuesday and Wednesday this week and No. 3 on Thursday. As AOL Fanhouse’s David Whitley wrote, “The fact is only one person committed the crime, but almost all of us have contributed to this revealing peep at our culture. That includes ESPN.”

Bottom line

Andrews was the victim of a pervert who crossed all lines of decency. To somehow question her style as a reporter or ESPN’s role in creating a media sensation such as Andrews in the context of this scandal is not only unfair, it’s indecent. Certainly there is never an inappropriate time to have intelligent conversations about networks’ hiring practices, the networks’ role in developing popular personalities and why certain personalities become popular. But it is apples and oranges. In this case, the blame starts and stops with those responsible for drilling a hole in a wall, taping an unsuspecting naked woman and posting that video on the Internet.

The Ben Roethlisberger case

What happened

This week a woman in Nevada filed a civil lawsuit accusing Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of sexually assaulting her last summer. The story appeared in newspapers throughout the country (including this one), on other media outlets and on major sports Web sites with one notable exception: ESPN. The network did not report it on any of its broadcast outlets or its Web site. It said that it has a policy of not running stories based on civil suits without a criminal investigation or without conducting its own reporting.