WebProNews

Author: Val Powell

  • Typhoon Yolanda Makes Landfall in Philippines

    The Philippines has been hit by  powerful pacific storm, Haiyan, which is classified as a super typhoon. The typhoon brought sustained winds that were measured at more than 195 miles per hour before making landfall. The storm sustained one minute winds producing powerful puffs of 230 miles per hour.

    This typhoon is the most powerful typhoon to make a landfall in 2013 and is extremely catastrophic. The South East Asian country has been affected by the super typhoon in Central Visayas, Layet, and Samar provinces. It is estimated that the potential landfall area of this typhoon will likely be along Northern Leyte by Friday.

    Residents living in Bicol Region, Northern Mindanao and Northern Quezon are asked to remain vigilant as they monitor the approach of this destructive typhoon. Emergency and disaster management plans are now in place. Warnings have been issued regarding heavy damages likely to affect the communities, which includes power disruptions and serious agricultural losses, as well as infrastructural damages.

    When the landfall occurs, heavy to intense rainfall will be expected and the typhoon’s diameter is expected to extend to 600km. So people are asked to postpone all travel, especially to the affected areas.

    Meanwhile, Philippines’ Disaster Government website has been hacked.  According to Ibtimes, Cyber pirates infiltrated the website of Dina, a government disaster management websites and redirected visitors to an adult site. “A server where we upload was hacked,” said council executive director Eduardo del Rosario.

    The website was launched to offer real-time information to Filipinos on natural disasters like floods, tsunamis, landslides, and typhoons, among others. Rosario told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the website would “educate the general public on disaster preparedness”.

    According to reports, the group responsible for the website attack is believed to be hacktivist group known as Anonymous. The hackers have already said that they have hacked several government website as a global protest against the government’s action to censor information and engage in corruption.

    (image via weather.com)

  • Ruben Studdard Axed from ‘The Biggest Loser’

    You gotta give Ruben Studdard some credit even though he didn’t turn out to be the biggest loser after managing to shed only 5 pounds for a whole week’s work.

    (image)Ruben Studdard’s elimination from NBC’s reality competition belied the hard work the American Idol alum has been putting in to stand a chance to at least remain in the competition. “I worked really, really hard this week,” he said during the weigh-in. “I swam extra. I walked extra.”

    Studdard needed to lose 11 pounds to save his team. But the scales indicated that he only lost about 5 pounds. However, all is not lost for the 35 year old singer because he goes home with the prize of having lost 39 pounds in four weeks.

    This was a sad moments for the fans and the organizers of the show as well because Studdard was the fans’ favorite in season 15. As a matter of fact, Ruben had been extended a golden ticket of sorts when producers of the show had approached him and invited him to join the show, unlike what normally happens with thousands of people who compete for the chance to join the ranch each year. The balladeer winner of American Idol had said that he jumped at the opportunity because he wanted to take his singing career to the next level.

    What everyone is now asking is what went wrong because Ruben had started on a high note, shedding about 21 pounds in his first weigh in. What caused the dramatic decline of progress is a mystery. Even his trainer is asking the same question. “Everything I asked you to do, you did it,” said the trainer.

    Despite the setback, Studdard vowed to continue with his diet and exercise program. Studdard may have been ruled out of the $250,000 grand prize but he still has a chance to try the at-home prize of $100,000.

    (images from NBC)

  • Internet Explorer 11 Now Hits Window 7 Officially

    Internet Explorer 11 has now been launched for Window 7 users too. Earlier, Microsoft had promised that the new Explorer will arrive on Windows 7, so this isn’t a big surprise. IE11 is the default browser of Windows 8.1. Starting Thursday, users of Window 7 who decided to remain behind in the launch of Windows 8 (later 8.1) will now enjoy the features of IE11 as well.

    Although there isn’t much difference between IE11 from its previous versions, IE11 is a worthy upgrade for anyone using Windows 7. However, Microsoft says that the javascript engine of IE11 is almost 10% faster than IE10 and 30% faster than browsers like Chrome and Firefox.

    The new Explorer also supports most of the newest apps and plugins like HTML5 video without plugins as well as the latest version of WebGL. There are other subtle upgrades to IE11 that will create the feeling of faster browsing. Improvements include its prefetching capabilities as well as updates to F12 developer tools for Microsoft. One drawback, however, is that IE11 doesn’t support Google’s SPDY protocol.

    Another interesting feature of IE11 is its enhanced security features that are capable of blocking socially engineered malware. According to the NSS Labs study, Internet Explorer can block about 99 % of malware while Firefox blocks only 4% and Chrome blocks only 70% of the socially engineered malware. Similar percentages apply in terms of blocking phishing attacks. In short, IE11 offers advanced JavaScript performance, better security and ensures greater compatibility and interoperability.

    According to Internet Explorer group program managers Rob Mauceri and Sandeep Singhal, Microsoft will begin automatically  updating Windows 7 customers to IE11 in the weeks ahead, starting today (Thursday) with customers running the IE11 Developer and Release Previews,” Users can download the new Internet Explorer 11 from Microsoft’s website.

    (image from Microsoft.com)

  • CMA Awards 2013 Notable Winners

    CMA Awards 2013 Notable Winners

    The 47th Country Music Association Awards celebrations were held on Wednesday, at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena and broadcasted live by ABC Television Network. Newcomers were among the biggest winners of this year’s event. Notable among them was the 25 year old Kacey Musgraves, who was also nominated for a total of six awards. The Texan singer walked away with the Artist of the Year award. Clutching her trophy, the excited singer was at a loss for words “I can’t even put it into words”, she said. The singer then thanked her family and fans for the support and encouragement.

    The trophy for the Best Male Vocalist of the Year went to Blake Shelton, and Best Female Vocalist of the Year went to his wife Miranda Lambert. The duo made history as the first married couple to ever win the trophy in four consecutive years. While accepting the trophy of the Best Female Vocalist of the Year, Lambert said “Well, hell! I really didn’t think this was going to happen this year.” She also thanked Blake Shelton for being superbly supportive as a husband. Shelton also had very kind words for her.

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    The coveted trophy of the Entertainer of the Year went to George Strait. The last time Strait won the trophy was in 1990. Holding his hand over his heart, Strait did not hide his amazement. “Thank you so much to the CMA. I mean, this blows me away. I cannot believe it. With such powerful entertainers, I’m just thrilled to even be nominated again.”

    The winner of the Album of the Year is Shelton’s Based on a True Story – an album he made with the help of producer Scott Hendricks. After receiving the trophy, Shelton joked, “My phone is blowing up all of a sudden. If there was one award that would mean the most to me tonight, it would be Album of the Year.”

    Other winners include: Music Video of the Year (Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift and Keith Urban), Single of the Year (Florida Georgia Line), and Musician of the Year (Mac McAnally)

    (images from usatoday.com and today.com)

  • Twitter IPO Flies High At $26 Per Share

    Twitter IPO Flies High At $26 Per Share

    Twitter’s stock price has now been priced at $26 and will start trading from Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “TWTR”. The company is now valued at $18 billion, and it is expected that the IPO will raise about $1.8 billion to fund future expansion and About 70 million shares will be sold.

    Earlier in the week, its IPO price had ranged between $23 and $25, but some analysts now say that the price may leap to as much as $50 once the trading starts, and it is widely expected that this IPO might be the second largest after Google’s 2004 that raised about $1.92 billion.

    Twitter has been trying to avoid the trouble that marred Facebook’s IPO where its IPO offering was tarnished by a $10 million fine imposed by Nasdaq as a result of technical glitches and its Wall Street underwriters are doing everything they can to ensure that the process is a smoother one.

    Barclays Capital will be the company’s designated market maker. The Role of the designated market maker is to allow human beings to trade stock, unlike what happens with all-electronics stock exchanges like Nasqaq.

    It is interesting to note that Twitter has not made any profit since 2006; therefore, it goes public a much smaller company compared to others like Facebook, Google, and Linkedln. However, there is no doubting the fact that Twitter holds an important share in social media.

    Perhaps Twitter has chosen to go public at the time when it’s registering massive growth in its users. It should be remembered that Twitter’s active users rose by 25% in its first 9 months compared to 45% growth in the same period last year.

    By the time Twitter goes public, Twitter Co-founder Evan Williams will own about 10.4% of the company’s share. The largest shareholder is Rizvi Traverse, who holds about 16% stake valued at $2.2 Billion. Others with a considerable stake in the company include Jack Dorsey ($609 Million), Peter Fenton ($820 Million) and CEO Dick Costolo (199 Million).

    (image via twitter.com)

  • Blockbuster Closing Its Doors Forever

    Blockbuster has found itself in a situation where it has to wind up its retail and mail distribution business by January 2014 because of the expected decline in demand of its services. Blockbuster may have had a booming business in the 1990s and early 2000s, but not anymore. Online streaming videos like YouTube and companies like Amazon, Netflix, among others have effectively driven Blockbuster out of business as the world is moving from physical items like VHS, DVDs, CDs, and books to digital contents in the form of bytes and pixels.

    Joseph P. Clayton, the president of Dish Network Company (the parent company of Blockbuster) announced today that Blockbuster will be ending its retail distribution activities by January 2014. However, those chains which are not under Dish Network will continue to operate for some time. “Consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment,” said Joseph P. Clayton in a statement.

    Despite the closure, Blockbuster will retain its brand as it continues to expand on its digital offerings. “Despite our closing of the physical distribution elements of the business, we continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings.” Added Joseph P. Clayton in a statement.  Moreover, Dish Network will continue to offer the Blockbuster @Home service and the Blockbuster On Demand program will live on.

    Although Blockbuster is no more, many will remember its golden days, particularly in 2004 when it was operating about 9,000 stores. It is certainly a name many people will not be too quick to forget.

    On the other hand, there are those who are rejoicing at the news. This is what one Blockbuster customer had to say “Yes! All the Blockbuster Video Stores are closing! That means they’ll never get back that VHS tape of Vampire In Brooklyn. I won!”

    Blockbuster’s remaining 300 stores will close by January 2014.

    (image via Wikipedia)

  • Yasser Arafat: Forensics Show He May Have Been Poisoned

    A report published by a team of experts from Lausanne University Hospital’s Institute of radiation now concludes that Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned. Arafat’s remains are being studied by three teams from Switzerland, France and Russia following the request of his widow, Suha. Suha had given Al Jazeera permission to access his medical records and other personal effects with the aim of determining the cause of his death. The other teams from Russia and France have not yet published their reports.

    The results show that the former leader might have died of Polonium-210 poisoning.  According to the same report, “polonium is normally deposited in soft tissue rather than the bone”. When the bones were examined for polonium, the scientist discovered traces of the poison in various parts like the rib, the sternum, and in the crest of the skull. In total, there were about 900 milibecquerels of polonium in Arafat’s remains, a level that is between 18-36 times the averages according to Dave Barclay, a U.K. forensic scientist.

    Following the news, Arafat’s widow said on Wednesday that the report has confirmed all doubts and that “We are revealing a real crime, a political assassination,”

    However, according to wired, polonium-210 has half-life of 138 days, meaning that the possibility of still finding any trace of polonium after 8 years is negligible. Therefore, what was discovered might have been a by-product of the body’s decay rather than polonium itself.

    Arafat died in 2004 at the age of 74, but there was no autopsy performed at the time, and the cause of his death has never been conclusively determined. This had been made difficult because immediately after Arafat’s death, evidence of his death were poorly documented, and samples destroyed.

    Following the reports, many Palestinians began speculating who might have poisoned Arafat, with many pointing fingers to Israel. However, Israel has strongly denied the charges through former Israel Spokesman, Raanan Gissin  who told the associated press that “if anyone poisoned him, it could have been someone from his close circle.”

    (image via Wikipedia)

  • Xbox One And PS4 On Sale This November

    Xbox One And PS4 On Sale This November

    It’s almost Christmas time again and for gamers that means going to great lengths to get their hands on one of the new must-have, next-gen video game consoles. On Nov. 15, Sony will release the PS4 while Microsoft will release the Xbox One on Nov. 22 – one week before Black Friday.

    Did you pre-order? If the answer to that question is no, then good luck trying to get your hands on one of these consoles before the year goes out. Your best bet now is to wait in the really long line at your neighborhood Gamestop for the small chance that you may walk away lucky. But if you’re a real gamer you probably knew that already.

    Xbox One: Invitation

     Playstation 4: Greatness Awaits

    Gamestop, Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart have all closed their reservations.  It seems as though every Fall for the past several years there’s a frenzy for the next Xbox or PlayStation.

    For those of you that are still hoping to get a Xbox One or PlayStation 4 – you ain’t gonna get one for cheap. The Xbox One is priced at $499, and the PlayStation 4 goes for $399. The retail cost of these two items may be a bit hefty but these are not just games they are entertainment centers.

    The Xbox One comes with advanced voice and motion control and switches easily from game to TV or a movie. In order to take advantage of premium features, like access to apps, downloadable games and online messaging, users of the Xbox One will need to pay extra for the Xbox Live service.

    Sony claims that PlayStation 4 has better graphics than Xbox One, but the graphics quality for both consoles are so incredibly realistic that subtle differences will be undetectable for most gamers. The PlayStation 4 does, however,  come with Ustream – a feature that will allow PlayStation 4 users to upload and share video game clips to the internet. PlayStation 4 also has a lower price tag that should make it an attractive alternative for hardcore gamers looking to save money.

    (image via YouTube video)

  • Pope Francis Upstaged By Young Boy

    Pope Francis Upstaged By Young Boy

    On Saturday Pope Francis gave a speech at the Vatican. Several children were invited to sit near the front of the stage while the Pope addressed an audience of thousands at St Peter’s Square. For one boy, sitting among the other children wasn’t enough. He decided to kick-it on stage with the Pope.

    Vatican security tried to shoo the boy off stage to no avail — this boy had already booked his personal play date with the Pope and he wasn’t going anywhere.

    The boy’s real name has not been revealed to protect his privacy, but ABC News has christened him ‘Carlos’. Carlos stood by the Pontiff’s side for about 20 minutes that evening. He at one point kissed the Pope’s Papal necklace to which the Pope smiled and patted him on the head. Carlos also sat in the Pope’s chair, clung to the Pope’s leg mid-speech and even acted as a host by leading a young girl on stage to meet the Pope.

    Many in the media are calling this boy’s antics cute, but was it? Would you consider it cute if you were trying to give an important speech to an audience of thousands and some kid upstaged you — waving to the crowd, sitting in your chair, clinging to your leg? God bless the Pope for his patience.

    Ok  seriously, where the hell…ahem…I mean where in heaven’s name were Carlos’ parents ? Did they put him up to this? His parents say they had nothing to do with Carlos’ behavior. Turns out Carlos is a 6-year-old orphan from Colombia that was adopted by an Italian family last year. His mother put out a message via social media saying “The blessing our son received goes out to all the abandoned children in this world.”

    (photo via  KTNV video)

     

  • Nelson Mandela Assassination Plotters Sentenced to 35 Years

    A South African court convicted five ring-wing extremist leaders of treason for plotting to assassinate former South African President Nelson Mandela.

    In a trial that lasted 10 years,  ringleader, Mike du Toit and four other men were sentenced to 35 years in prison by a Pretoria High Court. The men were members of a group called ‘Boeremag‘ — a gang of apartheid loyalists who were implicated in an attempt of a coup in 2002. A number other Boeremag members received lesser sentences.

    (image)According to BBC ,witnesses testified that Boeremag tried to assassinate Nelson Mandela by setting off a bomb along a route he was scheduled to travel on. Fortunately for Mandela, he changed his choice of vehicles that day and proceeded to his destination by helicopter.

    South Africa has come a long way since democratically electing its first black President 20 years ago, but the country still has some ways to go. Even so, most South Africans are not extreme in their racial beliefs — apartheid is over — and extremist groups like Boeremag and the Afrikaner Resistance Movement have little support either from the country’s majority of 40 million blacks or its 5 million white minority.

    The alleged ringleader of Boeremag is Mike du Toit — a former university professor. Du Toit was the first of the group to have been convicted of treason last July.

    According to the prosecution Du Toit created a blueprint for ridding South Africa of blacks and implementing an all white military government. Du Toit’s plans detailed how he and his gang would lure blacks toward the country’s northern border by baiting them with parcels of food while using the country’s Indian population as allies before shooting them once their mission was accomplished.

    Du Toit’s maniacal plans included other heinous acts like: blowing up a dam and shooting down an aeroplane to reach their goal of ridding South Africa of its native black population.

    Almost 200 people testified against Boeremag — including some informants from within the group. Ironically, the trial took place in the same courtroom that Mandala was sentenced to 27 year back in 1964.

     

    photo of Mandela via Wikipedia and one.org

  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Heats Up Nov. 22

    The final trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire debuted on Sunday at game 4 of the World Series. The trailer begins with Katniss Everdeen, played by actress Jennifer Lawrence, peering through an opening amongst the trees on a lush hillside with her bow and arrow aimed and ready. About 13 seconds into the 1 minute 7 second long clip,  President Snow– played by veteran actor, Donald Sutherland,  says,

     “Ms. Everdeen… you fought very hard in the arena, but they were games. Would you like to be in a real war?” 

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    I’m sure this quote got baseball fans at Busch Stadium amped up for their favorite team.

    The second installment of the series picks up with Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) returning to her home in District 12 after winning the 74th annual Hunger Games. Everdeen has now become a beacon of hope for all the people enslaved under the wrath of the Capitol, controlled by President Snow. The President is determined to see her demise and once again Everdeen finds herself in a battle for her life.

    (image)  (image)

    The film is directed by Francis Lawrence, from a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy and Michael DeBruyn. The screenplay is an adaptation of  the novel written by Suzanne Collins — a novel that has sold over 50 million copies in the U.S. alone.  The Hunger Games movie was also very successful earning nearly $700 million worldwide at the box office last year.

    Hunger Games: Catching Fire — the sequel to 2012’s The Hunger Games — will see  Woody Harrelson reprise his role as Haymitch Abernathy, along with Elizabeth Banks as Effie and Lenny Kravitz as Cinna. Also featured in the movie are newcomers Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sam Claflin, who play Gatekeeper Plutarch Heavensbee and Finnick Odair, respectively. Also new are Jena Malone as Johanna,  Jeffrey Wright as  Beetee.

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    The Hunger Games: Catching Fire premieres in U.S. theaters on Nov. 22.

     

    (photos via YouTube videos (1) (2)

  • ‘Bad Grandpa’ No. 1 At The Box Office

    Bad Grandpa — featuring Johnny Knoxville and child actor, Jackson Nicoll made $32 million its opening weekend to claim the No. 1 spot at the box office.

    The 3D space epic Gravity, dropped to No. 2, earning just over $20 million this week. Gravity is expected to reach over $200 million domestically sometime early next week. The movie did exceptionally well at the box office, where it was the top earning movie for three weeks prior to Bad Grandpa. So far Gravity raked in $164 million internationally and nearly $364 million worldwide.

    Bad Grandpa stars Johnny Knoxville as a grumpy 86-year-old grandpa named Irving Zisman. The film also features co-star Jackson Nicoll who plays Zisman’s  8-year-old Grandson, Billy. The twosome set out on a road trip across America, playing practical jokes and punking unsuspecting people. On their road trip, they come across a cast of interesting characters, including male strippers, bikers and testy child beauty pageant contestants.

    Though Bad Grandpa did well in its first week, it fell way behind the last Jackass film. Jackass 3D premiered in October of 2010 and earned a whopping $50.4 million in its opening week. Jackass: Number Two debut in September 2006, earning $29 million and Jackass: The Movie (the first Jackass) debut in October 2002, earning $23 million.

    Before the Jackass movies hit the silver screen, Jackass was a reality series that originally aired on MTV in 2000. The TV show featured people performing crude and often dangerous stunts and pranks. The TV show was successful and lead to the movies being made.

    Rob Moore, Paramount Pictures Vice President, says that the latest iteration of Jackass is more of a spin-off rather than a continuation of the franchise. Unlike the first three Jackass movies, Bad Grandpa has a storyline instead of just the usually practical jokes and mayhem. Moore likened Bad Grandpa to Borat than the other three Jackass films.

    “The movie is executed ala Borat, where Knoxville’s character is interacting with real people and doing crazy things,” said Moore. According to Moore Bad Grandpa played better to an older audience (only 37 percent of Bad Grandpas audience was under 25, in comparison to Jackass 3D’s 69 percent)

    Bad Grandpa also did well overseas where it debut to $8 million from 16 territories, about equal to Jackass 3D and much bigger than Jackass: Number Two.

     

    Source Hollywood Reporter

    photo via Youtube

  • USS Forrestal: Ship Sold For A Penny

    NPR reported today that the USS Forrestal was sold to a ship breaker for just one penny. When the ship was built in 1954, it took over 16, 000 engineers and builders to see it come to fruition. The cost of the ship back then was about $217 million — $2 billion today.

    The gigantic, 1067 foot vessel was sold to a Texas company named All Star Metals to be scrapped and recycled. The Forrestal was the U.S. Navy’s first supercarrier. All Star Metals will now have the job of relocating the ship by the end of the year from the Navy facility in Philadelphia to its own facility in Brownsville, Texas.

    In December of 1954, the Navy launched the USS Forrestal and later retired it in 1993.  The ship will probably be best known for catching fire in the Tonkin Gulf, just off the coast of Vietnam back in 1967. Stray voltage on the carrier set off a chain reaction of explosions that caused the accident. The fire was devastating, killing 134 sailors and wounding 161 others.

    67-year-old USS Forrestal historian, Ken  Killmeyer, survived the accident. He recalls the “total devastation” and the loss of a sense of security both he and his fellow crew members felt prior to the fire. The crew had believed up until that point that they were safer aboard the carrier in comparison to their counterparts on land.

    “As crewmembers, we relive July 29, 1967, every time we hear a loud, unexplained noise, whether you’re at the beach or you’re in your office,” said Killmeyer. “Or, some people are affected by certain odors. When you smell flesh burnt from jet fuel, it kind of stays with you forever. You can’t get away from it.”

     

    (photo via Wikipedia)

    source: NPR

     

  • Pope Francis Boots “Bishop of Bling”

    On Wednesday, German bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, aka the “bishop of bling” was temporarily expelled from the Pope’s diocese pending the result of a church inquiry into his lavish 31 million-euro ($42 million) residence. The German church is currently carrying out an investigation into his role in the multi-million dollar home construction.

    There has been no word from the Vatican regarding how long Bishop Tebartz-van Elst would be away for the diocese of Limburg. Rev. Wolfgang Roesch was scheduled to start in his new role as vicar general of Limburg on Jan. 1st but had to start working immediately in the absence of the bishop. The Vatican did, however, confirm that Bishop Tebartz-van Elst was not yet permanently removed, though fellow bishops of the diocese were doubtful that he would be allowed to return.

    Doubt was also expressed by the dean of the cathedral chapter, Guenther Geis, who said “This is a crisis of confidence that will be hard to overcome.”

    The cause of all the controversy stems from the exorbitant cost of the bishop’s residential complex. Tebartz-van Elst’s explanation for the cost was that the $42 million sum was actually spent on 10 different projects and some of the costs went into historic preservation of the buildings.

    The bishop was reported to have spent excessively on a number of other things, including: first class airline flights, a $475, 000 closet, a $20, 000 bathtub and he even spent money on a heated roof for his $4 million private chapel. This is in stark contrast to Pope Francis’ lifestyle. The Pope has chosen to trade in many of his Papal luxuries. He chose to drive his own car– a very modest 1984 Renault, and even pay his own hotel bills.

    The German public is out-raged by the alleged behavior or the bishop, and the general consensus is that he should be removed permanently. In August and September, over 4,000 people signed an open letter to the bishop criticizing his leadership style for being too authoritarian.

     

    (photo via catholic.org)

    source: Huffington Post

     

  • Casey Anthony Reaches Settlement with Texas EquuSearch

    Casey Anthony reached a settlement with search and rescue organization, Texas EquuSearch last Friday. The organization said it spent over $100, 000 in an attempt to find her missing daughter.

    Anthony is the Florida mother acquitted in 2011 of the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie. The nationally televised court trial leading up to her acquittal, engrossed Americans for nearly three years. Anthony lied to investigators in 2008 when she told them that Caylee was kidnapped, when, in fact, Caylee had drowned at home in the family pool. Though Anthony was set free, jurors found her guilty of a lesser charge of giving false information to law enforcement.

    File:CMA Memorial (1 of 1).jpg

    Caylee’s body was found six months after her death. She was duct-taped and discarded in a wooded area near by her mother’s home.

    When Caylee went missing in 2008, Texas EquuSearch put together a huge rescue operation to find her. They claimed to have spent about $100, 000 in the search, which resulted in their using up much of their financial resources. All the while, Anthony, knew the truth.

    On Monday Marc Wites, Texas EquuSearch lawyer, said his client decided not to go to trial with the case. Instead, Anthony reached a settlement allowing Texas EquuSearch to be named as a creditor to an unsecured sum of $75,000. The 26-year-old Anthony, has declared bankruptcy, claiming to have nearly $800, 000 in debt while only having about $1000 in assets.

    Anthony’s most valuable asset right now may be the rights to her life story. Bankruptcy trustee Stephen Meininger, wanted to secure some of her potential earnings for Anthony’s creditors but, her lawyers retaliated, saying that such measures were a violation of her constitutional rights.

    “Texas EquuSearch’s mission and purpose is to help families and individuals to find their missing loved ones,” said Wites. “That’s the reason they helped the Anthony family in the first place. While they were searching for Caylee, they got calls from other families for help and had to turn them away.” 

    Wites believes that due to Anthony declaring bankruptcy, it is unlikely that his client will receive any money.

    Anthony’s court problems are not over. She still has to deal with a defamation of character lawsuit by a woman named Zenaida Gonzalez. Gonzales was the woman who happened to find Caylee’s body while working as a meter reader. Anthony mislead law enforcement when she pretended that a woman who matched Gonzalez’s description kidnapped her daughter.

    What do you think about Casey Anthony’s situation?

    Was she just a young mother that made a terrible mistake and deserves a break?

    Or does she deserve the problems she continues to face?

    Images via Wikimedia Commons

  • Boston Red Sox Advance to World Series with Grand Slam

    Fenway Park was packed on Saturday night for Game 6 of the American League Championship between the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers . The Red Sox were trailing 2-1, but the crowd was still in good spirits. The crowd sang, “Don’t worry about a thing, ’cause every little thing is gonna be all right,” — the chorus to Bob Marley’s song, “Three Little Birds.”

    Shane Victorino stepped to the plate in the seventh inning with the bases loaded. Then came Tigers reliever, Jose Veras. Strike one…strike two… Victorino missed on both curve balls from Veras. Then came another throw by Veras but this time Victorino connected. Victorino hit the ball just past the Green Monster for a Grand Slam, putting the Sox ahead 5 -2 over the Tigers, whose bullpen gave yet another disappointing performance.

    As Victorino made his way around the diamond, the dugout celebrated and the stadium cheered.”It’s one of those moments you live for,” said Victorino, “Just listen to the crowd…the one thing I came here to do is to be a part of this city. With all we went through as a city, there’s definitely a bond.”
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    “My emotions are getting me,” Victorino said, “A special moment. Something I will never forget.

    The Red Sox won the series, four games to two and will start the World Series at Fenway Park on Wednesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night to win NL pennant.

    “This series had a little bit of everything — dramatic comeback wins, dominant starting pitching, particularly on their part,” said Red Sox Manager, John Farrell. “You couldn’t have asked for a better series. It tested everything we had, pushed us to the limit.”

    Also worth mentioning, is the Red Sox pitcher, Koji Uehara, who got the last three outs for his team and went on to win the series MVP award.

    Game one of the World Series starts Wednesday.

     

  • Mischa Barton Talks About Her Breakdown

    “The OC” star, Mischa Barton seemed to have it all, she was young rich and famous. But all of a sudden things took a turn for the worst. Barton tells People magazine that her intense party lifestyle became so overwhelming that in 2009, she was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center  psychiatric ward for fear she would commit suicide. She had a “full-on breakdown”.

    “It was terrifying,” said Barton. “Straight out of ‘Girl, Interrupted.’ Story of my life.” So what happened?

    The former teen star told People magazine that she was under tremendous pressure. At 16 years old, she was unprepared for  the fame that came with the mega-hit TV show “The OC”.

    She talks about her jet-set lifestyle, the enablers, working too hard and partying too hard. She also talks about her friends Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie, both of whom have been victims of the fast paced Hollywood celebrity lifestyle.

    Like so many young Hollywood stars, the lifestyle caught up with her. In Dec. 2007, she was arrested for D.U.I. and marijuana possession. She was fined and received 36 months probation.

    (image)

    Barton says that her parents staged an intervention in 2009 while she was starring in “The Beautiful Life”. Barton insists she was never suicidal but instead, she was overworked and depressed. Her depression was only made worse by the negative media attention she received when she was admitted to the hospital.

    The now 27 year old actress says that the media was relentless in its scrutiny. She said that her weight was always criticized.  “Not everybody stays the same body type. It was always ‘She’s too skinny, she must be sick.’ Then it was, ‘she’s too big.’ I was never the right weight.” said Barton

    Barton said that she since learned to stand up for herself, and after being out of the media spotlight for several years she’s back. Barton now has a new movie project and a TV pilot in progress.

    (Mischa’s mugshot via wikipedia)

  • Hall and Oates Nominated for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

    Hall and Oates have been nominated for the Class of 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Daryl Hall & John Oates is an American hit-making music duo. They are best known for their hit songs from the late 1970s to the mid 80s. The duo fused rock and roll and rhythm and blues, and dubbed their music “rock and soul.”

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    (photo via npr.org)

    Hall and Oates have had an impressive six No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: “Kiss on My List”, “Rich Girl”, “Private Eyes”, “Maneater“, “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” and “Out of Touch”, as well as a string of Top 40 hits. Hall and Oates are bonafide hitmakers; 34 chart hits on the US Billboard Hot 100, six RIAA albums that went gold and seven that went platinum. Due to their chart success, they outranked The Everly Brother’s as Billboard magazine’s most successful duo of the rock era.

    Other nominees for 2014 include Nirvana, Kiss, The Replacements, Peter Gabriel, Deep purple, Chic, N.W.A., LL Cool J, and Cat Stevens among others. The nominees with the most votes will be inducted at the ceremony in New York City in April.

    http://youtu.be/UPNMp5_vhd0

    For the second year in a row, the public will be allowed to vote with the artists and members of the music industry. For those that want to vote, simply go to RollingStone.com and vote for your favorite artists from now till December 10th. A “fan ballot” will be counted as one of more than 600 ballots and will be awarded to the top five acts for the Class of 2014.

    In order to qualify for the ballot, the nominees had to have released their first album or single in 1988 (25 years ago). You may be wondering how it is that Nirvana is already nominated – has it been 25 years for them already? Yes, it has. The band released a little known cover song called “Love Buzz” by Shocking Blue in 1988 – it was their first single. Nirvana is also the only act this year to be nominated in its first year of eligibility.

    Whom will you vote for? Vote for the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees

    (main pic via wikimedia commons)

  • Kim Kardashian’s Engagement Ring Sells for $620K

    Kris Humphries scored some cool cash today after selling his ex-wife’s engagement ring. Humphries is a pro ball player for the NBA but is probably better known for his marriage to reality TV star and fashionista, Kim Kardashian.

    The enormous engagement ring designed by Lorraine Schwartz, sold for $620,000 on Tuesday at Christie’s auction house in New York City. The buyer will, however, need to cough up a total of $749,000 after Christie’s mark up is included.

    The ring features a 16.2-karat emerald cut center stone flanked by 1.8-karat trapezoid diamonds.

    Sparkler: A ring with the same dimensions and made by the same designer who created Kim Kardashian's engagement ring is going up for auction at Christie's in New York

    Though Christie’s did not name the seller, Lee Hutton, Humphries’ lawyer, confirmed that Humphries was in fact, the “the gentleman” doing the selling.

    Kim Kardashian’s ring was valued by Christie’s to be between $300,000 to $500,000, but Hutton insists that Humphries is not losing money. Really? A few years prior to the ring’s sale at auction, Humphries presented the ring to Kardashian when he proposed on one knee on her reality show. At that time the ring was estimated to be valued at $2 million.

    “It was something that was a part of the divorce, the dissolution agreement,” said Hutton to the Daily News. “Kris is pleased with the outcome of the sale and the fact he can give a portion of the proceeds to a deserving charity. He’s in the process of selecting the charity now.”

    Humphries and Kardashian tied the knot in August 2011, in a nationally televised TV special, but the union was short lived – it lasted just 72 days.

    Humphries, now 28, said he was blindsided by Kardashian, 32.  She filed for divorce on October 31st, stating that her decision was made with “careful consideration.” Humphries later sought an annulment claiming that the marriage was a fraud and a publicity stunt for Kardashian’s reality show.

    (photo via abc news)

    Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries were officially divorced on June 3rd of this year. Two weeks later, she gave birth to her first child, North, with rapper Kanye West.

     

    (image via tv.yahoo.com)

  • U.S. Default Looms Still No Resolution

    Central Bank officials have gathered to make contingency plans on how to sustain financial markets should the U.S. default on its debt.

    U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, hosted a lunch of counterparts on Oct.12 during the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting held in Washington D.C. A number of policy makers had the chance to discuss the threat of the U.S. default.

    U.S. default on its debt would likely send the nation into a depression and cause chaos worldwide. In 2008, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc triggered a near global financial meltdown due to its investment in U.S. subprime mortgages. When the subprime bubble burst, Lehman Brothers owed $517 billion and filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15. 2008 . Lehman’s bankruptcy filing remains the largest in U.S. history. Well, according to the U.S. debt clock, as of today the U.S. national debt is about $17 trillion – that’s nearly 30 times what Lehman Brothers owed, so the stakes are extremely high.

    Time is running out for the U.S. congress to end the gridlock that risk’s putting the nation into default if the debt ceiling isn’t raised by Oct, 17th. The government shutdown is now in its 15th day, and neither Democratic or Republican leaders have come to a resolution.

    “We’ve made tremendous progress,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D), said yesterday as the chamber adjourned. He expressed hope that a deal would be made today. Senate minority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell (R), said there was “substantial progress.”

    The U.S. has always managed to straighten things out and pay its bills. Policy makers around the world have expressed their confidence that the U.S. will not default. Congress may act stupidly, but they aren’t that stupid, right?

    In the past six years, central banks have increased their ability to deal with financial crisis starting in August of 2007 when it became apparent that the U.S. subprime market was insecure. Lehman failed, and set off a domino effect that negatively affected financial markets worldwide, especially in Europe.

    In actuality, there may be a number of things that countries and investors can do to minimize the damage caused by a default but truthfully, if the U.S. economy goes belly up there is no real fail safe. Let’s hope congress can resolve this problem before the deadline.

     

    (image via wikipedia)

  • Florida Roller Coaster Leaves 12 People Stranded

    On Wednesday at around 7p.m. EST, 12 people were left stranded on a roller coaster for nearly 3 harrowing hours. The incident happened on The Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit (Florida’s tallest roller coaster) at Universal Studios in Florida. The Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit has a total height of 167 feet, a length of 3,800 feet, and a top speed of 65 miles per hour.

    According to Tom Schroder, Universal Orlando spokesman, the coaster’s computer went into safety mode due to a glitch. The glitch caused the ride to come to an abrupt stop, leaving its passengers stuck. Several of the cars on the ride were stuck, but all the passengers were quickly rescued except for one car, which was left suspended in a vertical position at the top of the 17 story high coaster.

    “The safety system did exactly what it’s supposed to do,” Schroder said. “The reason the rescue took so long is because park officials wanted to take their time and do it safely…we spent a lot of that time talking to them and trying to make them as comfortable as we could.”

    When the Orlando Fire Department arrived on the scene, the disabled coaster car was moved to a horizontal position. As an added safety measure, each passenger was placed in a harness before being released from the coaster. At around 9:45 p.m., they were taken down to ground level in an elevator.

    Fortunately nobody was injured, though one woman on the ride was taken to the local hospital for “mental exhaustion”.

    This wasn’t the first malfunction for the coaster. On August 1st, the coaster came to another abrupt stop. A passenger on the ride sustained minor injuries which led the park to shut down the ride for two days .

    “We’re not going to reopen the ride until we know what happened, and we’re sure it won’t happen again,” said Tom Schroder.

    The ride reopened on Thursday.

     

    (photo via Twitter)