Real Clear Way

JAAN GAI

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 13:57:00 +0000

Sweden's defensive strategy pays off again with upset of Brazil

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 09:57:00 +0000

RIO DE JANEIRO – Sweden’s ultra-defensive strategy paid off again.

The Swedish team, which knocked off the United States in the quarterfinal after forcing a penalty shootout – which prompted Hope Solo to call the team “cowards” – went with the same game plan against Brazil in the semifinal on Tuesday.

It worked again. Brazil was unable to unlock the Swedish defense, and the game went to a penalty shootout after neither team was able to score in the 90 minutes of regular time and 30 minutes of extra time.

After Andressa of Brazil had her penalty saved by Swedish keeper Hedvig Lindahl, Sweden’s Lisa Dahlkvist stepped up and buried hers in the net, giving the team a 4-3 win in penalties. The crowd in Maracana Stadium gasped as the Swedish team sprinted around the field in celebration.

Medal Count

United States

China

Great Britain

After the match, Dahlkvist said the way she dealt with the crowd was a little mental gymnastics: “I was just thinking that they were cheering for Sweden, and that the noise was for me.”

Moments after the game ended, the arena gave the Brazilian team a standing ovation.

“We owe [the crowd] one,” said Brazil coach Vadao through a translator after the match. “They did their part.”

The game was played on Sweden’s terms. For everything Brazil threw at them, they had an answer, staying compact in the back, often with eight, nine, even 10 players back behind the ball on defense. Brazil wanted to play through the feet of Marta, but Sweden gummed up the middle, forcing the Brazil star into wider and wider positions to collect and find space.

In the second half Brazil made a clear effort to push Marta back into the center of the park, but as the game went on, she drifted wide again. Sweden’s entire game plan was built on forcing the Brazilians wide, then winning the ball when Brazil would try to cross it in. For 120 minutes, it worked.

“All the Swedish players know Marta very well,” said Sundhage. “I thought she had a fantastic game. She created some problems for us on the left side. But overall looking at the midfield … we did pretty good.”

In overtime, Sweden kept up the game plan. The stuck back, defended hard. Players went down with injuries that Sweden’s fans certainly saw as real and Brazilian fans, quite loudly, saw as faked attempts at time-wasting. Brazil brought on Cristiane, who was thought to be suffering from a hamstring strain, in the hopes of her providing that creative spark to unlock the Sweden defense.

It didn’t work, and the game went to penalties.

“We tried all of the ways to play, everything possible, for the entire 120 minutes,” Vadao said through a translator. “I put in Cristiane at the end. I can only say that this is very frustrating.”

Former USWNT coach and current Sweden coach Pia Sundhage said that Solo’s comments weren’t necessarily a motivating factor in the match.

“I wouldn’t say that we brought it up many times,” said Sundhage, “because football is so much more than a comment here and there.”

The two teams played in front of a crowd that was overwhelmingly Brazilian -- two Sweden fans, Melissa Denbaum and Petter Ericsson of Stockholm, said they’d seen less than five other Sweden fans inside and outside the stadium, which has a capacity of 78,000.

China ‘to provide aid, enhance military training’ in Syria – top army official

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 16:27:00 +0000

Beijing and Damascus have agreed that the Chinese military will provide humanitarian aid to Syria, a high-ranking People's Liberation Army officer said, adding that the training of Syrian personnel by Chinese instructors has also been discussed.

Director of the Office for International Military Cooperation of China's Central Military Commission, Guan Youfei, arrived in Damascus on Tuesday for talks with Syrian Defense Minister Fahad Jassim al-Freij, Chinese Xinhua news agency reported.

During the negotiation, Guan noted China’s consistent diplomatic efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis, adding that Beijing is now seeking closer military ties with Damascus.

"The Chinese and Syrian militaries traditionally have a friendly relationship, and the Chinese military is willing to keep strengthening exchanges and cooperation with the Syrian military," he said.

Guan and al-Freij discussed the enhancement of training and "reached a consensus" on the Chinese military providing humanitarian aid to Syria, Xinhua reported, without providing further details.

According to the agency, Guam also met with a Russian general during his visit to the Syrian capital.

Despite being a permanent UN Security Council member and relying on the Middle East for oil, China was previously reluctant to become involved in the Syrian conflict.

Beijing preferred to concentrate on domestic affairs and the territorial dispute with its neighbors in the South China Sea.

It praised Moscow’s anti-terrorism efforts in Syria as Russia staged a bombing campaign there in September 2015 to March 2016. Russia still has some of its forces in the country to provide humanitarian and military assistance to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.

Last year, there were reports that China was sending dozens of military advisers to Syria to help the country fight terrorists.

Syria has been engulfed in civil war since 2011, with the government fighting a number of rebel groups, in addition to terrorist groups such as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Nusra Front.

Sex for shelter: Craigslist ads offer homeless women indecent proposal

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 16:26:00 +0000

Online advertisements are offering free accommodation to vulnerable homeless women, as long as they are “stunning” and can prove their attractiveness with a picture, a British charity has warned.

Posted on Craigslist, the “sordid” ads are “targeting desperate women who feel they have no other options – and women who may already have experienced sexual or domestic violence,” homelessness charity Shelter said in a statement.

There are hundreds of listings on the site, some of which boldly state that women will be given free accommodation if they’re prepared to return the favor in the form of sex. The ads vary from explicit sexual demands to implied intentions.

“If any young female student is in need of free of charge accommodation and is prepared to act as a ‘resource’ in return, then please provide full personal details and a recent pic and reply from your own private email address please. No pic, no reply,” one ad states.

Another explicitly states that only “stunning” women need apply.

Shelter called the ads a “dangerous attempt to establish deeply exploitative relationships off the back of homelessness,” noting that the charity sees cases of people trying to exploit the British housing crisis every day.

Moreover, the charity noted that many of those targeted in the ads may have already experienced sexual or domestic violence in the past, and noted a unique danger in the current notices.

“Women are being asked to enter a space which is entirely controlled by someone else, a person who always has the right to be there, who can say who else can enter the property and on whom they are entirely dependent for shelter,” the charity said.

“This is the vile exploitation proposed by these adverts: that women who feel they have no choice enter an arrangement where they feel they never have the choice to say no,” Shelter added.

Although the charity noted there is no evidence that women have responded to the ads, it did say “it seems a tangible risk that some lead to these arrangements being established,” due to the fact there are so many on the site. At the time the statement was written, there were 288 free accommodation listings and 51 for under £10 (US$13) a month.

Noting that there are numerous issues at play, many of which are “beyond Shelter’s area of particular expertise,” the charity said it is undeniable that part of the problem is the UK’s housing crisis.

“Because while it is a story of men trying to exploit women, the thing that makes that exploitation possible is unaffordable housing and lack of appropriate support services and move on accommodation for those who do find themselves homeless,” Shelter wrote.

“High housing costs don’t make these particular exploitative relationships inevitable...but not being able to afford shelter drives people to desperation – and when people are desperate, some kind of exploitation and misery is certain,” the charity concluded.

Simulated black hole experiment backs Hawking prediction

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 16:15:00 +0000

By Paul Rincon Science editor, BBC News website

A lab experiment has lent support to one of Stephen Hawking's most important predictions about black holes.

Prof Jeff Steinhauer simulated a black hole in a super-cooled state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate.
In the journal Nature Physics, he describes having observed the equivalent of a phenomenon called Hawking radiation - predicted to be released by black holes.
Prof Hawking first argued for its existence in 1974.
"Classical" physics dictates that the gravity of a black holes is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. So Hawking's idea relies on quantum mechanics - the realm of physics which takes hold at very small scales.
These quantum effects allow black holes to radiate particles in a process which, over vast stretches of time, would ultimately cause the black hole to evaporate.

Prof Hawking described the mechanism of black hole radiation in 1974

But the amount of radiation emitted is small, so the phenomenon has never actually been observed in an astrophysical black hole.
Prof Steinhauer, from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, uncovered evidence that particles were spontaneously escaping his replica black hole.
Furthermore, these were "entangled" (or linked) with partner particles being pulled into the hole - a key signature of Hawking radiation.
The Bose-Einstein condensate used in the experiment is created when matter, in this case a cloud of rubidium atoms inside a tube, is cooled to near the temperature known as absolute zero, -273C.
In this environment, sound travels at just half a millimetre per second. By speeding up the atoms partway along the tube, to faster than that speed, Prof Steinhauer created a sort of "event horizon" for sound waves.
It was packets of sound waves, called "phonons", that played the part of entangled particles on the fringe of a black hole.

Prof Steinhauer observed the equivalent of Hawking radiation in the simulated black hole

The findings do not help answer one of the trickiest puzzles about black hole physics: the Information Paradox.
One of the implications of Hawking's theory is that physical information - for example, about properties of a sub-atomic particle - is destroyed when black holes emit Hawking radiation.
But this violates one of the rules of quantum theory.
Toby Wiseman, a theoretical physicist at Imperial College London, told BBC News: "Analogues are very interesting from an experimental and technological point of view. But I don't think we're ever going to learn anything about actual black holes [from these simulations]. What it is doing is confirming the ideas of Hawking, but in this analogue setting."
Dr Wiseman, who was not involved with the research, compared idea of the Bose-Einstein condensate simulation to water in a bathtub.
"It relies on the fact that there's a precise mathematical analogue between the physics of particles near black holes and ripples in flowing fluids... It's an elegant idea that goes back some way.
"If you pull the plug in a bath, you create a flow down the plug, and the ripples on the the water get dragged down the plughole. The flow gets quicker as it gets toward the plughole and if you have a system where the flow is going faster than the speed of the ripples, when those ripples flow past some point near the plughole, they can never come back out."
Dr Wiseman said this point was equivalent to the event horizon - the point of no return for matter being drawn in by the gravity of a black hole.

Mining giant BHP slumps to record loss

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 16:12:00 +0000

Mining giant BHP Billiton has reported a record loss for the past year following a mining disaster in Brazil and a slump in commodity prices.

The Anglo-Australian commodities firm reported an annual net loss of $6.4bn (£5bn) for the year to 30 June.

The global mining sector has seen years of weak demand attributed largely to slowing growth in China.

BHP results were also hit by costs after the Samarco mining disaster in Brazil, which killed 19 people.

The record losses come after the company had reported a $1.9bn net profit.

"While commodity prices are expected to remain low and volatile in the short to medium term, we are confident in the long-term outlook for our commodities, particularly oil and copper," chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said in a statement.

Underlying earnings for the past year, which strip out one-off costs, came in at $1.22bn.

Ongoing uncertainty

The financial fallout from the Samarco mining tragedy is still not clear though warns James Butterfill, head of research & investment strategy at ETF Securities.

"There's a huge uncertainty overhang," he told the BBC. "The report hasn't been published with regard to the Samarco dam collapse and there's currently a $48bn lawsuit. It's unrealistic to be that amount, but this is really BHP's Macondo well incident theoretically that BP endured."

The company also slashed its payout, setting a final dividend of 30 cents, compared with 62 cents last year. That follows BHP's decision in February to abandon its previous dividend policy, where shareholders were given gradually higher payouts.

Image copyright Getty Images

The difficult market situation led global ratings agency Standard & Poor's to downgrade BHP's rating from A+ to A earlier this year.

However, with regard to the slump in the commodities market, the outlook is expected to improve.

Michael McCarthy, an analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, told the BBC: "There are signs in the commodity prices - and in particular for iron ore and oil - that they have stabilised.

"The demand might be edging back to equilibrium again and that's good news for the longer term for BHP shareholders."

BHP Billiton is one of the world's largest producers of major commodities including iron ore, metallurgical coal, copper and uranium, and has substantial interests in both conventional and shale oil and gas and energy coal.

BHP was founded in the mid-1800s in Australia, while Billiton's roots can be traced back to a tin mine in Indonesia in 1851. The Anglo-Dutch company merged with BHP in 2001 to form a global mining giant.

The bridesmaid who comes at a price

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 15:57:00 +0000

By Catherine Snowdon BBC

Imagine posing for your wedding photos with a stranger pride of place in your bridal party. Not a wedding crasher, not a friend's new girlfriend you are yet to meet, but instead a woman you have paid to be there. A professional bridesmaid.

For most women, choosing who to ask to be their bridesmaid is an agonising decision.

Trying to juggle various friendships and family relationships so as not to hurt anyone's feelings, while also making sure you have the perfect combination of support, organisation and fun, can be next to impossible.

When I was planning my wedding it took me weeks to decide who to ask. One thing that certainly never occurred to me, was to hire in a professional.

And yet it would have been a very real possibility. Jen Glantz, a 28-year-old New Yorker, has been working as a professional bridesmaid for two years now.

The idea for her website, Bridesmaid for Hire, started with a passing comment back when she was working as a copywriter for a technology start-up company.

Jen returned home one day after having been asked to be a bridesmaid by two different friends on the same day, and her flatmate remarked that Jen was becoming a professional.

"It was a light bulb moment," says Jen. She posted an advert on Craigslist, the classified advertisements website, and the response was phenomenal.

"I couldn't believe it, I knew I was on to something," she says. In June 2014 the website was launched and a new era of renting a bridesmaid began.

You choose

The service works on a system of packages. Starting from $300 (£230), you can have the "Virtual Bridesmaid" offering, which includes one-to-one sessions to help brides "create a to-do list, a day-of itinerary and a budget for your wedding adventure".

While there is a set number of phone sessions, Jen is on hand at all times via text and email.

There are a few other options, available to both bridesmaids who need a bit of help as well as brides.

These reach a crescendo with the "by your side" bridesmaid experience, starting from $1,000 (£770). This essentially sees a bride paying a perfect stranger to be with them for the whole wedding process, right down to mingling with the wedding party and appearing in photos.

There are a few additional costs for the bride to think about, such as transportation and the dress Jen will wear (and yes, she gets to keep them); but with the average wedding now costing in the region of $26,000 (£20,000), according to the Cost of Wedding website, a few hundred extra might not seem all that much for some brides.

Jen says the most her bill for a wedding has ever come to is about $3,000 (£2,300).

Discussing with friends and colleagues, I was surprised and amused by their responses to the idea of paying for Jen's services.

One recalled a nightmare bridesmaid who had been nothing but trouble from the word go, making wedding planning and the day itself far more about her than the bride - a situation that clearly would never arise with a professional in place.

However, another welled up, sad at the idea of a woman not having a friend to ask in the first place.

No-one to go to

Jen says she works with all kinds of women. Some have six or more other bridesmaids; others come to her with no close friends at all.

"It happens, lives grow apart and some women find themselves without that friendship to call on," she says.

"I really try to make friends with all my clients. I will work with them for anything between a year and three months before their wedding day; we build a relationship in that time.

"I am that emotional support system for women who don't necessarily have the people around them to help plan their big day and support them through the inevitable stress."

No-one who's ever been involved in planning a wedding will doubt the pressures involved. You can't help but wonder how being part of multiple weddings at once doesn't get overwhelming.

Jen admits she does get exhausted by her work.

"I can be working with anywhere between five and 15 clients at any one time. I love it with all my heart, but it is hard work. Weddings aren't magical and perfect, they are stressful," she says.

In 2015 she worked with over 40 clients. So far this year she has 25 weddings on the books. With business going well she does sometimes need help.

Occasionally a bride will request two or three bridesmaids, or she'll be booked to be at two weddings on the same day. When these situations arise Jen will dip into her store of back-up 'maids.

And she isn't short of people who want to work for her, having had more than 10,000 applications via her website from all over the world.

Shhhhh

For some brides the process of hiring Jen has an added complication, the desire for secrecy.

For whatever reason, a bride may not want family and friends, or even her husband-to-be, to know that she has hired in help.

This situation calls for Jen and the bride to come up with a story of how they know each other.

"I like to keep it simple," she says. "But it can still get challenging if people ask too many questions."

To date she hasn't blown her cover at a wedding, but says she has come close.

"I've worked two weddings in one weekend where I had different stories. It can be hard to remember all the detail," she says.

Jen's website is packed with glowing reviews. Regardless of the reasons behind hiring her, the brides she has worked with are clearly pleased with her work.

She says what she does differs from a traditional wedding planner in one crucial way.

"The planner is there to focus on the things, the venue, the decor, the transport. I'm there strictly for the people. I want the people to look and feel great," she says.

Although she will of course take on other tasks as required. She is, at the end of the day, on the bride's wage.

South Africa rape: 'Shocking' levels of violence in mining area

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 15:53:00 +0000

One in four women living in a key platinum mining area in South Africa has been raped in her lifetime, a survey by medical charity MSF has said.

About half of women in Rustenburg had been subject to sexual violence or intimate partner violence, it said.
The charity said the findings of its survey were "shocking but not uncommon" in South Africa.
South Africa has one of the highest incidences of rape in the world and a low prosecution rate.

Based on its survey of more than 800 women aged 18-49 in Rustenburg municipality, north-west of Johannesburg, MSF said only 5% of the approximately 11,000 women and girls raped each year reported the incident to a health worker.

Stigma

The research also suggested that a very low number of these women were aware of how to prevent HIV transmission and even pregnancy.
MSF said survivors of sexual violence faced numerous other barriers to seeking care.
"Stigma within communities is high and options are few for accessing well-resourced, dedicated sexual violence health services," it said.
Despite lying at the centre of South Africa's platinum belt, Rustenburg is home to many poor communities.

The area attracts both men hoping to work in the mines and women from across South Africa and abroad who hope to benefit from the local mining economy.
MSF said unemployment was particularly high for migrant women "creating conditions that promote dependency on men who are more readily employed by mines in the area".

Marikana anniversary

The charity said there was a need to increase the number of staff trained in sexual healthcare in the area.
The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says the authorities hope ongoing awareness campaigns will encourage rape victims to seek medical attention and even legal recourse.
The survey was published on the fourth anniversary of the shooting by police of striking workers at the Marikana mine in the Rustenburg municipality.
Thirty-four people died in what was the worst violence in South Africa since the end of apartheid 20 years earlier. The incident led to intense scrutiny over the roles of the police, mining companies, unions and the government.

Rio 2016: Was Chinese proposal romantic or just a form of male control?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 15:49:00 +0000

By Tom Spender BBC News

The crowd loved it - but did He Zi?

The Chinese diver had tears in her eyes when fellow athlete Qin Kai proposed during her silver medal ceremony.
A smile, however, took a lot longer to appear.
She eventually said yes to her boyfriend of six years, but his very public stunt has since divided opinion around the world.

In China, where unusual marriage proposals are widely shared and commented on, some gushed over the "romantic gesture of a lifetime" but others were sceptical.
"What a way to add pressure to her, having the entire world watch her as she makes such a private and life-changing decision," wrote Gu Jueyang on microblogging site Weibo.
"If she rejects his offer of marriage, she will be labelled a cruel person by billions around the world, watching. It may be masked as romantic but I feel otherwise."

Image copyright AFP/Getty

One Weibo user even accused the couple of a cynical grab for celebrity status: "Publicity and timing - all essential to becoming China's new golden couple," he wrote.
Meanwhile on the BBC Facebook page, some users criticised "sexist" media coverage that they said focused more on the proposal than on Ms He's sporting achievement.
"People get married all the time, only a few have the chance to achieve Olympic glory. Or should the little lady be relieved a man will have her?" asked Zoe MacGechan.

'Control mechanism'

London-based author Sunny Singh tweeted that the proposal revealed a sense of male entitlement.
She described it to the BBC as "a dick move, and definitely not romantic".
"It's a control mechanism, a way of saying 'You may just have won an Olympic medal, or be a CEO or have designed a spacecraft, but really the most important thing is you're my wife'," she said.
"Imagine if it was someone like Michael Phelps receiving a medal and a woman came up and proposed - people would laugh at her. When men experience success, women are expected to stand aside and cheer from the background."

Image copyright AP

Mr Qin had also taken advantage of what must already have been an emotional moment, Ms Singh said.
"You would also have to be extremely brave to say no at that point. You've won a medal, you're in public, you've worked your whole life for this. Even the best human being is likely to be emotionally shaky and vulnerable at such a moment. And women are taught from an early age to be nice and not to say no," she added.
Mr Qin's proposal was not the first to take place at the Rio Games - earlier Marjorie Enya entered the pitch after the first Women's Rugby Sevens Final between Australia and New Zealand and asked Brazilian player Isadora Cerullo to marry her.
But that was different, Ms Singh said, because it did not involve hijacking a medal ceremony.

'All about the Olympics'

However, others said Mr Qin had simply been "shouting his love from the rooftops" and there was nothing wrong with that.
Daisy Amodio, founder of proposal consultants The Proposers, said the move made sense because they were both athletes.
"For this couple it was all about the Olympics. They have been through four years of training, dedication and hard work so why not do it there? The reward for them afterwards is we've done this really amazing thing, let's get married. It's very special," she said.

Image copyright AFP/Getty

Ms Amodio said proposing in public could be risky - and some do go spectacularly wrong - but not as risky as many might think.
"You need to be 100% sure that person is going to accept. However some girls are literally begging their boyfriends to propose. I was begging my boyfriend to propose for five years," she said.
About half the proposals arranged by Ms Amodio's company take place in public, she said, but demand has flattened off after growing for several years and many of those now planning to pop the question opt for a location with an amazing view rather than a big audience.
However Ms Amodio was unsurprised by delight shown by the crowd - if not by Ms He herself - when Mr Qin got down on bended knee.
"People like to see a happy story, particularly when there's so much doom and gloom in the news," she said.

10 Intriguing Finds Uncovered By Stormy Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 15:42:00 +0000

Jana Louise Smit

Sometimes, the stripping forces of nature remind us how much incredible stuff is still out there. Whether artifacts are deeply under sand or sea or sitting shallow, wild weather can reveal them in one powerful sweep. On occasion, storms raze the landscape and unmask rare, bizarre, or historical finds, saving archaeologists and fossil hunters a lot of time and funds.

10 World War II Fat

Photo credit: Scottish Natural Heritage via LiveScience

For decades, lard from a World War II shipwreck has appeared on the beach after heavy storms at St. Cyrus, Scotland. Most recently, four chunks washed up, still retaining the barrel shapes of their long-gone wooden kegs.

The odd war relics started appearing during World War II after a merchant ship was bombed and sunk nearby. It’s believed that the wreck systematically breaks up with each storm, releasing a little bit more of its fatty cargo.

Locals are well familiar with the sight and claim that the fat is good enough to use despite being crusted with barnacles. The large lumps were a godsend during the war when lard was unavailable to most people.

9 Baile Sear

Photo credit: The Megalithic Portal

In 2005, a violent storm hit Scotland. Tragically, it killed five members of the same family on Benbecula, but it also swept clean ruins that had been hiding for 2,000 years. Residents have always accepted that there was something old on the shores of Baile Sear, but the cobbles and sand obscured the remains too much to allow identification.

After the storm, people were stunned to find the structures just standing there on the beach. Fearing that the unknown beach ruins might get destroyed in another powerful storm, archaeologists moved in quickly. They identified the site as two roundhouses belonging to the Iron Age.

8 Alabama Shipwreck

Photo credit: The Huffington Post

Revealed bit by bit by three different hurricanes, an Alabama ship hull was finally picked clean when Hurricane Isaac hit the coast. With sad-looking bare ribs, the remaining skeleton doesn’t look like much.

However, there are two mysteries swirling around the sagging ship. The first is her identity. Local historians believe that she is a World War I schooner named the Rachel. Others believe that she’s an unknown vessel from before the Civil War.

But if she is the Rachel, then a second mystery can be considered. What exactly was her cargo? She was built to carry lumber, but she operated during Prohibition.

Constructed during the war, the three-mast, 45-meter-long (150 ft) wooden ship was destroyed during a stormy voyage in 1923. Her crew burned her onshore after the cargo (rumored to be illegal booze) was removed.

7 The Connacht Storms

Photo credit: The Irish Times

Storms mauled the Irish coastline of Connacht in 2014, resulting in an archaeological tragedy with a silver lining. Valuable historical treasures were damaged or lost while intriguing new ones were unearthed. Two graveyards, which are part of a medieval monastery found in the 1990s, creepily came to the surface. Other discoveries included sunken houses from the 18th and 19th centuries and a 6,000-year-old Neolithic bog.

In this case, however, nature also took away. Middens are shell heaps that are basically ancient kitchen waste. They give us clues about what our ancestors ate and what their lifestyles were like. All the coastal midden deposits from Galway Bay to Dog’s Bay were lost, including the most ancient site dating back to the late Mesolithic period.

6 World War II Bombs

Photo credit: Daily Mail

In 2014, unusually heavy storms in the UK caused the flooding of the Thames. It also revealed a sinister scene when tides and winds uncovered the location of 244 World War II bombs. Many of them still live, they littered the one location where travel guides tell you to go and have fun—the beach.

Some were German, and others were from British training sessions. Buried for a long time, the bombs started appearing around mid-December when the weather went werewolf. Nearly every day, phone calls alerted the Royal Navy’s Southern Dive Unit of the discovery of another bomb.

The unit safely disposed of the shells, but there could still be many out there. The previous year, another 108 were removed from British beaches for the public’s safety. The really chilling part is that the longer they remain live under the sand, the more unstable these literal time bombs become.

5 Mystery Mill

Photo credit: wistv.com

A historical piece of South Carolina’s past came to light after floods ravaged Richland County. State archaeologists fell out of the woodwork to examine timber beams and steel nails discovered after the waters withdrew. The discovery is exciting because these are the first real clues to emerge at a known archaeological site.

Until the centuries-old wood was found, the creek was believed to be the location of Garner’s Mill. But the mill is a hazy part of the county’s past. Experts don’t know what it produced, and the early 18th-century community to which it belonged is also a mystery.

The 1-ton beams were uncovered after violent flooding forced them from their resting place under the soil. As to their purpose, they could have been a plank road, one that led as far as Winnsboro or to a long-gone bridge.

4 Valuable Ichthyosaur

Photo credit: BBC News

Christmas in Dorset offered a rare gift to fossil hunters. The bones of an ichthyosaur uncovered during a coastal storm in 2014 proved to be exceptional. Depending on how you view it, the ichthyosaur can be adorable or scary.

Reaching a size of 1.5 meters (5 ft), it resembled a dolphin but was actually a predatory marine reptile. Complete remains for this species aren’t common, so this discovery turned into a five-star moment when it became clear that the skeleton was only missing a part of its snout.

But professional fossil hunters realized that the ichthyosaur was in danger of being lost because another powerful storm was approaching. Since fossils need to be painstakingly removed over a period of days or weeks, the eight-hour excavation was almost like emergency surgery. Shortly before the storm was due, the 200-million-year-old predator was lifted to safety.

3 The Galway Finds

Photo credit: The Irish Times

After storms lashed the Irish coastline of Galway, a haunting landscape rose from antiquity. Around 7,500 years ago, waters rose so fast that they killed off a large forest of oak, pine, and birch trees. The recent weather revealed the petrified tree stumps, some of which were almost a century old when they died.

A massive blanket of peat—once organic matter from the forest floor—was also revealed. Then a resident found a wooden artifact about 1.5 meters (5 ft) by 1 meter (3 ft) under the peat.

Once examined, it was identified as an oak trackway dating back as far as 4,500 years ago. It was also tantalizing proof that a Neolithic or Bronze Age people lived in the forest before Galway Bay was even formed. This might even be older than the Corlea trackway, an Iron Age construction and the largest of its kind ever found in Europe.

2 Underwater Forest

Photo credit: Public Radio International

A short distance off the coast of Alabama sits a time capsule. Under oxygen-free sea sediments, a primeval forest has been preserved for a cool 50,000 years. Hurricane Katrina shifted the sands and revealed the stumps of a vast bald cypress landscape.

The remains are truly massive and so well-preserved that one can smell the fresh cypress sap when cutting them. Some trunks are 2 meters (7 ft) wide and hold thousands of years of growth rings. These are invaluable to researchers because they contain thousands of years of weather history for the Gulf of Mexico.

The submerged forest’s wildlife is also somewhat different than it used to be. Fish, crustaceans, and sea anemones are abundant. It is feared that the pristine state of the trees won’t last, not even as long as a few years. Since the forest became an artificial reef, marine life is slowly destroying the wood with its burrowing.

1 The Tree Teenager

Photo credit: history.com

After a coastal storm toppled a 215-year-old tree in Ireland, its roots were gripping the skeleton of a murdered medieval teenager. By chance, someone had planted the beech tree on the grave around 1800 and it grew down into the youth’s remains. When the tree crashed, the root system tore off the top half of the body and lifted it from the grave while the rest remained behind.

The bones tell quite a story. Between 17 and 20 years old, the young man ate well enough to have belonged to the upper crust. Yet he already had spinal disease from performing physical labor since a very young age.

He attempted but failed to fight off a violent death. Two nicks to his ribs fit with knife stabs. The strongest evidence that a blade caused the teen’s death was a clear stab wound to his left hand, as if he was trying to ward off his attacker.

Coffins Unearthed by Deadly Flood Waters Spotted Floating Down Residential Streets

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 14:55:00 +0000

Coffins unearthed by deadly flooding in Louisiana were spotted floating down a street lined with houses over the weekend.

According to the Walker Police Department, the caskets had floated up from the St. Mark's Cemetery in Baton Rouge Friday afternoon as a result of the flooding.

Some residents spotted caskets drifting, while others saw entire burial vaults in the floodwaters.

After the police department shared the eerie image on their Facebook page, those with relatives buried in the cemetery spoke out to share their concern.

"I have family buried here," one person commented. "It is so sad."

Another wrote: "My daddy's wife is buried here. I feel so sorry for her children."

Parts of Louisiana have seen as much as 17 inches of rain over the past weekend, the Associated Press reported.

One man scrambled to rescue nearly a dozen dogs in his car before searching for shelter from the floods.

"It was two inches when I left this morning," the man could be heard saying in footage by WAFB, "it's now about three feet in my house."

After the historic flood left five people dead, and at least 10,000 people in shelters since the rainfall began Friday night, President Obama has declared a state of emergency in Louisiana.

Sydney McLaughlin shows her promise, inexperience in 400 hurdles qualifying

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 14:51:00 +0000

RIO DE JANEIRO — Once her Summer Games are over, Sydney McLaughlin will need to pick up her summer reading before school starts in early September.

“I think that’s next on my agenda,” she said.

The assembled media contingent could only commiserate; they’d all been there before.

When it comes to track and field at these Rio Games, however, it’s a problem only McLaughlin could have. The 17-year-old hurdler from New Brunswick, N.J., is the youngest athlete on the USA’s track and field team and the youngest track athlete to represent the country since 1980.

Her qualifying heat during the 400-meter hurdles at once spoke to McLaughlin’s talent — abilities that rank her among the most promising Americans on the track in Rio — and her inexperience.

On the one hand, she advanced: McLaughlin (with a time of 56.32 seconds) finished fifth in her race but 20th overall, moving her into Tuesday’s semifinals.

But it wasn’t a good race, she said, adding, “I’m not particularly happy with my performance.”

“It is the weather and it is the thousands of people in the crowd, and I have a cold. It’s just so much to process in one race and try to overcome at one time.”

There’s no doubt that she was caught off guard by the competition the Olympic Games has to offer. It took about 200 meters for her to come to a realization: It’s not just another race.

“I kind of doubted what I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be another qualifying round. But t

his is people actually trying to get a spot in the semifinals,” she said.

“I thought it was going to be a little bit slower, the times. But everyone is racing. This is a race. I think I kind of forgot that when I got on the line.”

Yet she still advanced, and with each passing race McLaughlin will almost certainly begin to develop a comfort level to go with her beyond-her-years ability.

“It’s exciting to be here but it’s also a little intimidating,” she said. “A lot of people have done this before and have more experience than me. I still got to represent my country. I’m happy about that.”

Olympian's dive for the gold sparks internet debate

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 14:46:00 +0000

Allyson Felix became the most decorated female track athlete in United States history with a silver medal in the 400 meter, but a dive at the finish line by Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas kept Felix from gold.

The fall to the track for Miller was the finish to a personal best of 49.44 seconds in the event, just 0.07 seconds ahead of Felix’s time of 49.51. But the desperate move for gold has come under fire from many who question the fairness of an athlete leaving their feet to surge to the finish line.

There’s no question of the legality of Miller’s dive. The rules say a runner can go to the ground across the finish line as long as he or she doesn’t impede another in the process. Even though Miller appeared to slightly cross into the lane to her left, it happened after the finish line and she didn’t impede any other runners

Just a little earlier in the night, Joao Vitor de Oliveira of Brazil did a similar move in the 110-meter hurdles to barely qualify for the semifinals in the event. Still, many questioned the fairness of one runner staying on their feet to the finish and another lunging forward with a dive.

Many of the best track athletes in the world don’t have qualms with the strategy, though. U.S. Olympian Ariana Washington and former U.S. Olympian Lolo Jones both tweeted support for Miller’s dive.

Jones also noted that diving for the finish is a risky proposition – dive too soon and you’ll lose a step on the competition. But Miller timed it perfectly and it was a risk that paid off in gold for the Bahamian.

Russian warplanes take off from Iran to target IS in Syria

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 13:34:00 +0000

NATALIYA VASILYEVA and BASSEM MROUE,Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian warplanes took off on Tuesday from a base in Iran to target Islamic State fighters and other militants in Syria, Russia's Defense Ministry said, widening Moscow's bombing campaign in Syria in a major development in the country's civil war.

The long-range bombers took off from near the Iranian city of Hamedan, around 280 kilometers (175 miles) southwest of the Iranian capital, and struck targets in three provinces in northern and eastern Syria.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition activists said a wave of airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo killed at least 15 civilians and wounded many others on Tuesday, but it was not clear whether the strikes were carried out by the Russian or Syrian government's air force.

It is virtually unheard of in Iran's recent history to allow a foreign power to use one of its bases to stage attacks from. Russia has also never used the territory of another country in the Middle East for its operations inside Syria, where it has been carrying out an aerial campaign in support of President Bashar Assad's government for nearly a year.

The announcement suggests cooperation on the highest levels between Moscow and Tehran, both key allies of the embattled president.

It comes a day after Russia's defense minister said Moscow and Washington are edging closer to an agreement on Syria that would help defuse the situation in the besieged northern city of Aleppo.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the agreement would "allow us to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory," adding that Russian representatives are "in a very active stage of talks with our American colleagues."

A U.S. official said, however, that discussions with the Russians are still ongoing and no agreement is close. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media about the ongoing talks.

Russia and the United States have been discussing greater coordination for striking extremists in Syria, but they have been unable to reach agreement on which militant groups could be targeted.

Russia has criticized what it describes as U.S. reluctance to persuade the Syrian opposition groups it supports to withdraw from areas controlled by al-Qaida's branch in Syria.

In Tehran, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, as saying that Tehran and Moscow have exchanged "capacity and possibilities" in the fight against the Islamic State group.

"With constructive and extended cooperation between Iran, Russia and Syria and the resistance front (Hezbollah), the situation has become very tough for terrorists and the trend will continue until the complete destruction of them," Shamkhani said.
Russia and Iran have been expanding their ties in the past months after most of the sanctions against Iran were lifted following the nuclear deal with world powers that put restricted Iran's nuclear program from weapons-grade capability.
A top Russian lawmaker, Adm. Vladimir Komoyedov, said Russia's decision to use a base in Iran will help to cut costs, which is "paramount right now."
The Russian ministry's statement issued said Su-34 and Tu-22M3 bombers took off earlier in the day to target Islamic State and the Nusra Front militants in Aleppo, as well as in Deir el-Zour and Idlib, destroying five major ammunition depots, training camps and three command posts.
The Nusra Front is al-Qaida's branch in Syria. However, the group recently announced it was changing its name to Fath al-Sham and severing ties with the global terror network in an apparent attempt to evade Russian and U.S.-led airstrikes. Russia and the U.S. have dismissed the name change as window-dressing.
The Russian Defense Ministry released a video showing a Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bomber dropping bombs in strikes described as "terrorist objects in Syria."
The nearest air base to Hamedan is Shahid Nojeh Air Base, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the city. The base has seen Russian aircraft land there before. A report in December by the American Enterprise Institute, based off satellite imagery, suggested the air base saw a Russian Su-34 "Fullback" strike fighter land there in late November. It said a Russian Il-76 "Candid" transport plane also landed there around the same time before both took off, suggesting the Su-34 may have suffered a mechanical issue.
The report described the air base as "quite large with a 15,000-foot (4,572-meter) runway, extensive taxiways and multiple hangars and bunkers — all seemingly in good repair." It said it is "ideal for providing covert ground support to Russian combat missions."
Iran's constitution, ratified after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, bans the establishment of any foreign military base in the country. However, nothing bars Iranian officials from allowing foreign countries to use an airfield.
The announcement from Russia marks the first significant stationing of its troops there since World War II, when allied British and Soviet forces invaded Iran to secure oil fields and keep Allied supply lines open.
Russia says its bombing campaign in Syria is focused on extremist groups but it has frequently struck other, including more moderate rebels fighting Assad's forces.
Last week, Russian bombers launched a wave of airstrikes on the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State group's de factor capital in northern Syria, killing at least 20 civilians according to Syrian opposition activists.
___
Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press Writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; Zeina Karam in Beirut and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Leonardo DiCaprio's Model Girlfriend Wears Tracksuits on Planes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 13:31:00 +0000

Supermodel Nina Agdal has had quite a busy summer. Since July, she has been in Malibu, California, with her boyfriend Leonardo DiCaprio, Ibiza (also with Leo), Mykonos, Dominican Republic, and Sardinia. Last weekend, the New York City resident found herself a little closer to home, in the Hamptons for a day of wellness and a celebration of Buick's new Envision. (Agdal stars in the brand's new film, "Joy to Drive.") After workout classes by the legendary fitness instructor Tracy Anderson and SoulCycle guru Akin Akman, Agdal explained how she manages to stay calm, relaxed and healthy while doing so much traveling.

What's your go-to travel outfit? Track suits. I wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and I just try to stay comfortable. I can’t do the jeans and a t-shirt thing. It’s too tight. Don’t want it. I just want to be able to let it be and have no pressure so if I eat something my jeans are not too tight, or if I get swollen…. I’m just not down.

And favorite travel shoes? Sneakers. Either Converse or Nike Air Max, because they’re easier to take off. They are great if you’re late because you can run in them. It's nothing fancy. I dress like a dude, but it works. I never miss my flight, knock on wood. I have been very late, but I’ve never missed a flight. I’m probably going to miss the next one now.

Who is the best person you have ever been seated next to on a plane? Benicio del Toro was the best I’ve ever sat next to. We flew from New York to L.A. together, which is a long flight if you're sitting next to someone you don’t want to talk to. We just had a long conversation for six hours. It was in the beginning of my career, and he gave me some great advice on how to stay sane. He was honestly giving me a lot of tips that I have kept with me over the years. He gave me recommendations for where to go in L.A., advice about people, and just to be careful with the whole scene. He knew I was really young, and it came from a really sweet place. He was very nice.

And the worst? We all have that guy who just wants to talk to you and you’re just not that interested. It’s Sunday morning, you’re hungover and you’re wearing your headphones for a reason. And there have been a lot of those. Generally, I act like I’m sleeping. That’s the other good thing about wearing a sweatshirt with a hood. You can just take your hoodie and pull it so no one can see your face.

Which do you prefer: city or beach? I live in New York City, so I want to say the beach. I grew up in Denmark and we have a beach but it’s not warm, so every time I see a palm tree I get excited.

Window or aisle? I always get window. If I’m in the aisle I have to get up a lot [to take pictures with fans], but if I’m in the window and I have my hoodie pulled nobody is going to notice me. I just hate making people wait while you take a picture in the aisle and American Airlines is like “Can you please take your seat?” and you’re like, "I’m sorry!" Also, the picture on the plane is never going to be good. The lighting is awful. I would recommend that you do it when we're off the plane or before the flight--if you must, the beauty filter on Snapchat would have to be the only thing that could help you.

Snapchat or Instagram? I just did my first Instagram story today, I am really nervous because it’s my first one, but I’m starting to learn how to do that now. Snapchat is fun, but it’s my private account. I do that for friends, and I do my Instagram for the public so it’s really exciting and scary. I don’t have a finstagram. What you see is what you get.

What’s in your suitcase? A lot of basic t-shirts. Like white tees. My stylist Jamie Frankel helps me with everything else, but when I’m packing it’s a lot of boyish t-shirts, shorts, sneakers, and workout clothes. For accessories, I just wear my watch and my rings. Nothing fancy.

What beauty products do you always bring with you? I hate to say it, but I really don’t use beauty products. I’m never going to get a beauty campaign. The only thing I use is rose water and Laura Mercier's prime foundation radiance cream... or whatever it’s called. It makes you super glowy. Take your makeup off, wash with water, use sunscreen if you’re in the sun, and add lip balm. Also, I never have the energy to pack shampoo and conditioner, I assume the hotel will just have it. And the thing is they never do. They never have conditioner. And my hair is huge. If I don’t put conditioner in this hair it is a dreadlock, but I’m still too lazy to even bring it.

How about self tanner? This is real! Normally I don’t have a real tan, but I just came back from this trip. I was way darker, but I usually do the St. Tropez, the self tanner. Have someone help you with your back, but you can do it yourself if you’re flexible. Sleep on it, take a shower in the morning, and you’ll be tan for the next five days.

How do you exercise on the road? I like to do it outdoors on the beach do a little boot camp with your friends. I’m usually the instructor. "Do this! Get down! Jump up! Squat!" It’s super fun – having your friends

do it with you outdoors. I love biking, hiking, and going for walks.

What's your favorite mode of transportation? I love biking. If you have ever been to Copenhagen, you’ll see that everyone bikes. My dad bikes 40 miles a day. Growing up, even if it was snowing or freezing, I would bike to school. There was no mercy. My dad was like "No, you’re not going in a car you're going to bike there." But it’s the best way to see places. It's fun--you can talk to people, you can play music... I just really enjoy it. In New York, I Citi bike everywhere. I go on long trips, on short trips. I like to just go on rides and see where I end up.

What's the best hotel you've ever stayed in? I stayed in this villa in the Seychelles and it was so epic. The last night, the crew left so I had the entire villa to myself. I had my own chef. There was a mouse in my room, but it was absolutely gorgeous. That whole experience – it’s just printed in my memory. Being alone in a palace in the Seychelles, which is like where the royals go. I was even fine with the mouse, just don’t infect me with anything.

What's the best souvenir you have picked up on a trip? I steal cups and little spoons from restaurants, planes…. it's so weird. When we went to Europe me and my girls they both bought like little bracelets. And I came back without a single souvenir – but I had gotten a little tipsy on the plane and in my bag were two cups from KLM airlines that I thought at the time were incredible. I didn’t realize they had a KLM logo on them. They looked like crystal! But I still love them. And I just got some from my trip to Sardenia too, from Iberia Airlines. So I guess that’s my thing now.

Challenging judges in Olympic gymnastics costs real money

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 13:21:00 +0000

En route to winning a silver medal, Laurie Hernandez protested the score on her beam routine on Monday. That’s not unusual in and of itself across sports, where video challenges are now routine, but here’s what is: The inquiry alone cost Team USA as much as $300. Yes, really.

Imagine if an NFL coach wanting to challenge a call had to throw a few bills on the field as well as a red flag. Imagine if a tennis player wanting to challenge a line call had to pull out a wad of cash before protest. Strange, yes, but that’s exactly what happens in gymnastics competitions, including the Olympics.

Gymnastics coaches can protest a scoring judgment of a gymnast’s routine, but there are some very tight restrictions, as Sports Illustrated noted back in 2012. Coaches, gymnasts or other country officials must make a verbal challenge, known as an inquiry, between the posting of the score and the end of the next gymnast’s routine. They must supply a written version of the protest within four minutes of making the verbal protest. Oh, and they must pay a fee, which can be anywhere from $100 up to $300 in cash, depending on the event.

The inquiry system was devised by the International Gymnastics Federation after 2004, when widespread protests about judging led to a complete overhaul of the scoring system, including the elimination of the “perfect 10.” Scores now include an open-ended difficulty score, measuring the complexity of the routine, and the execution score, measuring how well the gymnast performed the routine.

If so inclined, the coaches can make the protest, submitting a (usually preprepared) card explaining the questioning of the final score. “The coach considers that the Difficulty score for the exercise presented by the above athlete does not correspond to the real value of the gymnast’s presentation,” the card reads, and savvy coaches will have them prefilled in order to save time.

The inquiry involves video review, and if the initial score is upheld, as Hernandez’s one was on Monday, the Benjamins are gone. (The fee is donated to the FIG Foundation, a charitable endeavor.) But if the initial score gets overturned, the fee gets returned to the team.

Why the fee? Well, it could make a coach think twice before making a challenge of every single score, or even a challenge every time one’s available (say, twice per routine). That, or, like every other Olympic-level sport, everything costs more money than it should.

Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

Are Earth Humans The 'Aliens' Early To The Universe's Life Party?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 17:35:00 +0000

Photo: DC Comics

Curtis Silver ,

Applying the dark arts of satire, cynicism & humor to consumer tech.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

A few months ago there was a theory proposed in the astronomy community that surmised that we humans might be too late for alien life. The theory pretty much stated that alien life is already extinct and we are all that was left of life in the universe. Just like every study about drinking a glass of wine before bed or snorting raw eggs; a new theory proposes that we’re not staggering into the party late with warm beer, but we’re super early, playing guitar in the stairwell to an audience of zero.
The theory, authored by Abraham Loeb of Harvard and Rafael Batista and David Sloan of the University of Oxford, states that the chance of life grows much higher in the distant future. Life first became possible 30 million years after the Big Bang when there was enough carbon and oxygen to make that sweet life juice. The theory considers the likelihood of life after the Big Bang, but before the end of the universe after all the stars have faded — in about 10 trillion years.

The main factor in determining our arrival to the cosmic party is how long stars are hanging around. Many stars sputter and die before life even has a chance to get started. In the wide view of the universe, we’re the guy watching the theater crew clean up popcorn off the floor while we munch our fresh bag. The smallest stars will burn for 10 trillion years, creating that Goldilocks Zone where life could thrive. There is some probability involved in this theory and based on your pile of losing lottery tickets, that doesn’t matter. Says the theory:

Currently, we only know of life on Earth. The Sun formed ∼4.6 Gyr ago and has a lifetime comparable to the current age of the Universe. But the lowest mass stars near the hydrogen burning threshold at 0.08M could live a thousand times longer, up to 10 trillion years. Given that habitable planets may have existed in the distant past and might exist in the distant future, it is natural to ask: what is the relative probability for the emergence of life as a function of cosmic time?

Then the theory gets into some pretty heavy math and probability equations that may have spilled my brains all over the desk. Gyr is a gigayear, which is how long it feels when you are in the queue at Starbucks SBUX +0.00% before breakfast on a weekday. So the universe is about 13.8 billion years old and that’s only 0.14% of the total estimated life of the universe. So perhaps we are in fact sitting around an empty Dentist’s office. The Earth is about five billion years old and we’re just starting to notice other possible life-bearing planets.
Star Trek: First Contact had it backwards — we’re the Vulcans. Or if Trump gets elected, we’re the Borg (or, as one commenter pointed out — if Clinton gets elected, we’re the Reavers. To round it all out, Stein is tribbles and Cylons for Johnson).
Somewhere out there in the universe, there are planets just getting started with life. While there might have been life on Mars or Venus, according to this new theory — our galaxy was first. Soon we’ll be heading out there expecting to find aliens looking for us, but instead we’ll be the ones enacting the prime directive. We have 10 trillion years to get over our center-of-the-universe egos and discover budding life that is no-where near our possibly justified level of galactic avarice.

Russia's Klishina wins appeal, can compete at Rio Olympics

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 17:31:00 +0000

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- The lone Russian track and field athlete at the Olympics has won her appeal to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled early Monday that Darya Klishina is eligible to take part in Tuesday's long jump qualifying because she has been based outside of Russia for the last three years and has been subjected to regular drug testing.

''With the appeal now behind me, I can thankfully focus my time and attention on competing tomorrow night and enjoying my Olympic experience, which I have dreamed of since I first began long jumping as a young girl,'' Klishina said in a post on her Facebook page.

She was the only one of 68 Russians cleared to participate in Rio by the IAAF, track and field's governing body. It tried to ban her from the Olympics last week, however, after receiving what it said was new information from World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren.

The IAAF has not disclosed what new information it has.

CAS, however, concluded that Klishina ''complied with the relevant criteria because of her permanent residence outside Russia ... despite the additional information provided by Prof. McLaren.''

''Relevantly, the athlete established that she was subject to fully compliant drug-testing in- and out-of-competition outside of Russia for the 'relevant period.'''

The IAAF on Monday issued a short statement accepting the ruling.

''We instigated a review process following new evidence presented to us,'' it said. ''The outcome we reached to revoke Darya Klishina's exceptional eligibility was not upheld by CAS despite the information received from McLaren and she is therefore eligible to compete in Rio.''

Klishina attended Sunday's hearing in person at the court's temporary base at a beachfront hotel in Rio, then trained near the Olympic Stadium on Sunday night while awaiting the court's decision.

The long jump final is scheduled for Wednesday.

Unlike in previous legal battles over Russian doping, the Russian Sports Ministry and the country's Olympic committee have taken a back seat in Klishina's case, with her American management company in a leading role.

In comments to the R-Sport news agency before the decision was announced, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said the accusations against Klishina were part of a ''campaign directed against Russian sport, to discredit it. It's beyond the realm of common sense.''

The rest of the Russian track team remains banned from all international competition over allegations of a widespread, state-sponsored doping program. The sanction was upheld for the Olympics by CAS last month.

---

AP Sports Writer Stephen Wilson contributed to this report.

Mattek-Sands and Sock deny Venus Williams' chance for Olympic history

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 17:28:00 +0000

Bethanie Mattek-Sands, of the United States, and partner Jack Sock, right, hold their hand to their heart during the national anthem after winning their mixed doubles gold medal. (AP)

Lucky Stars of Rio: ‘Shot Diva’ first American woman to win shot put | Rose wins golf gold | U.S. win gold medal No. 1,000

Venus Williams’ quest for a record fifth gold medal in Olympic tennis fell short Sunday.
Competing in the mixed doubles final, Williams and Rajeev Ram fell to fellow Americans Jack Sock and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in three sets. After splitting the first two sets 6-7 (3), 6-1, the match was decided in a tiebreaker that featured a series of runs.
Sock and Mattek-Sands won the first three points before Williams and Ram rattled off six straight to take a 6-3 lead in the tiebreaker (instead of a full third set, mixed doubles have a tiebreaker where the first to 10 points with a two-point margin wins). Sock and Mattek-Sands responded in a big way, winning the next six points to reclaim a 9-6 lead. Williams and Ram took the next point, but Sock and Mattek-Sands finished things off, 10-7, to seal the gold.

The victory marked the second medal of the Rio Games for Sock. He also took home bronze in the men’s doubles alongside Steve Johnson on Friday night.
Even without winning gold, Williams still made a bit of history Sunday. She is now tied with Britain’s Kathleen McKane with five medals in tennis. McKane won five medals in the 1920s. Williams has three golds in doubles with her sister Serena and also won gold in singles in 2000.
Venus and Serena are tied at four gold medals apiece. Serena won gold in singles at the 2012 Games in London.
This year in singles, Serena lost in the third round while Venus fell in the first. The Williams sisters also competed in doubles, but were surprisingly upset in the first round by Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic.

– – – – – – –

Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
Follow @SamDCooper

Sailor who apologized to Iranian captors appeals punishment

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 15:39:00 +0000

The U.S. Navy lieutenant who apologized on video for “a mistake” while he and his crew were being held by Iranian captors in January is appealing his discipline for violating the service’s code of conduct, The Navy Times reported.

Lt. David Nartker was given a non-judicial punishment last week by the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, two officials familiar with the proceeding told The Times. Narker appeared before Rear Adm. Frank Morneau on Aug. 4 to hear the charges against him, Stars and Stripes reported.

The exact punishment given to Nartker and the charges leveled against him have not yet been revealed. Stars and Stripes reported the punishments could range from confinement to his quarters to a letter of reprimand – which could be a career-ender.

Nartker was the most senior officer of 10 sailors manning a pair of boats captured by Iran after the U.S. vessels accidentally strayed into Iranian waters on Jan. 12. He was filmed apologizing for the incursion on a video that was later released by Iran.

“It was a mistake,” Nartker said on camera. “That was our fault. And we apologize for our mistake.”

The sailors were detained for one night before being released.

“Left to his own devices, [Nartker] emulated the poor leadership traits he witnessed first-hand within his own chain of command,” the Iran incident investigation report said.

The NECC would not comment on the specifics of the case.

“Following [non-judicial punishment] proceedings, members may appeal the findings to a higher authority,” Lt. Cmdr. Jen Cragg said in an email to The Navy Times. “The appeal authority may set aside the punishment, decrease its severity, or deny the appeal, but may not increase the severity of the punishment.”

U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii has a 30-day period to review the appeal, Stars and Stripes reported.

Why Madison Kocian deserved uneven bar gold

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 15:34:00 +0000

Yahoo Sports' Shawn Johnson explains why the American gymnast should have won the uneven bars final on Sunday.

Chinese woman 'survives 38 hours in sea' after falling from cruise

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 15:31:00 +0000

A Chinese woman who fell off a cruise ship and drifted at sea for 38 hours before being rescued by fishermen has lived to tell the tale.

The woman from Shanghai, known only by her surname Fan, leaned too far forward from a ship deck and fell overboard, according to Chinese media.

She reportedly fell from the fourth deck, the approximate height of a seven-floor building.

The 31-year-old survived the ordeal with only minor injuries, reports said.

Ms Fan was on a five-day cruise on the Royal Caribbean from Shanghai to South Korea and Japan, according to reports.

She reportedly had nothing to cling on to after she fell in the sea, and drifted for most of the time until she saw a fishing boat approaching.

Her parents, who were allegedly on the cruise with her, did not realise she was missing until hours later.

Her father refused to believe his daughter was alive until he heard her voice on the phone, reports said.

'She should join the Olympics'

The 1.75m tall woman had allegedly been enjoying the view on the cruise deck on Wednesday night when she accidentally fell forward into the sea.

She called for help but was not heard.

She eventually became exhausted, yet somehow managed to tread water while dozing off, Chinese media said.

She spotted a fishing vessel when she awoke on Friday morning.

Fan is said to have escaped with only blisters on her arms caused by jellyfish stings.

Some users took to micro-blogging site Sina Weibo to express their incredulity.

"She didn't eat and drink at sea for 38 hours and she survived? That's a miracle," said one user.

"This can't be real," said another.

One commenter was more light-hearted, saying: "She should join the Olympics".

Reports suggest that Fan's physical strength may have helped her, as she studied sport at university and started swimming from the age of five.

Local media attributed her survival to her "strong will" - but did not explain how she survived the low temperatures.

Earlier this year, a 33-year-old woman in the US fell overboard a cruise from Texas to Mexico.

Her friends were not aware that she had gone missing until 10 hours later, and police have yet to find her body.

Clinton Foundation Investigation Could Spell Hillary's Doom

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 15:29:00 +0000

Scandal: The Daily Caller reports that the FBI now has multiple investigations underway into the nefarious dealings of the Bill and Hillary's favor bank, also known as the Clinton Foundation. If true, this investigation could succeed where others have been stonewalled or blocked by the Clinton machine.

Is Hillary Clinton going to be held to account for her corrupt dealings between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation? That question just became highly relevant again.

According to the Daily Caller, this investigation — unlike the politically neutered FBI probe into Clinton's reckless use of a private email server while Secretary of State — is being headed by Preet Bharara, a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Bharara, the story notes, has a well-deserved reputation as a nonpartisan who fearlessly takes on powerful political interests.

If this is true, and the report is admittedly based on the word of an unnamed source, it could spell big trouble for Hillary.

This latest report comes just days after Judicial Watch released a batch of emails that exposed a cozy relationship between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation — a relationship Clinton swore she would avoid when taking the job.

As the Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton put it, the documents show that "the State Department and the Clinton Foundation worked hand in hand in terms of policy and donor effort."

Even the mainstream press was forced to admit that the new emails "raised questions" about "whether the charitable foundation worked to reward its donors with access and influence at the State Department."

Meanwhile, CNN is reporting that in 2012, Clinton's top State Department aide, Cheryl Mills, traveled to New York in 2012 to interview candidates to run the foundation. As CNN put it, this "raises new questions about the blurred lines that have dogged the Clintons in recent years."

The Daily Caller report also comes amid news that three FBI field offices were pushing months ago to launch a public corruption investigation into the Clinton Foundation, but were rebuffed by the Justice Department.

The FBI announced in May that it was investigating longtime Clinton crony and Virginia's ethically challenged Gov. Terry McAuliffe for possible illegal campaign contributions. The FBI said it was also looking into McAuliffe's time as a board member of the Foundation's Clinton Global Initiative.

Before taking the job at State, Clinton agreed not to avoid conflicts of interest between the Foundation and her role at State. It should be obvious to everyone that this promise wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.

All of this supports the central contention of Peter Schweizer's 2015 book, "Clinton Cash," that detailed how the Clinton's used Hillary's position at State to trade massive donations to the Foundation for favors from the Obama administration. As Schweizer put it, "they have monetized public service in a massive way."

We also learned Friday that the Clintons made $1 million in donations to their own foundation, which effectively amounts to recirculating the money back to themselves and their friends while taking a massive tax deduction.

This sort of corruption would be intolerable to liberals and the mainstream media if a Republican were engaged in it. Yet these same liberals reflexively dismiss all such corruption claims against team Clinton as lacking "definitive proof" or as insignificant or immaterial.

As a result, for too long, the Clintons have gotten away such scams. One can only hope that this time Bill and Hillary meet their match in U.S. attorney Bharara.

more: http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/clinton-foundation-investigation-could-spell-hillarys-doom/

Two gymnasts attempt the 'Vault of Death'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 15:26:00 +0000

Daniel Tran,Fourth-Place Medal

When you take a shot at the champ, you better bring your best stuff. Nolan Ryan had the fastball, Shawn Michaels had Sweet Chin Music, Goku had the Kamehameha.

But when gymnasts find themselves battling one of the greatest of all time, desperate times call for desperate measures. And there is nothing more desperate than attempting a move that the Olympic individual all-around champ won’t even attempt.

Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan and Dipa Karmakar of India needed something to wow the judges with, with Simone Biles in the field of the individual vault finals. So they decided to flirt with death.
The front handspring off the vaulting horse to two front somersaults is widely considered the most difficult vault in all of gymnastics. The skill is known as “the Produnova,” named after Yelena Produnova who was the first to successfully complete the vault.
It more commonly known as the “Vault of Death.”

Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan falls while competing in the Women’s Vault Final. (Getty)

Both gymnasts attempted the vault with expected results. Chusovitina over-rotated, and rolled through her landing like a spy jumping off a ledge. Karmakar finished her last rotation late and sat on the landing mat for her effort.
It is the hardest vault ever, after all.
It is also very dangerous. Fadwa Mahmoud attempted the Produnova in 2014 when she nearly landed on her neck.

Gymnasts don’t do the skill often, but will attempt it if they are outmatched and need a big score to stay in competitions. The high start value of the Produnova allows for gymnasts to get large deductions from bad landings and still achieve a high score. Karmakar finished fourth in the vaulting final despite a large deduction in points after failing to stick the landing.
Simone Biles finished the vault final with the win and a gold medal without having to attempt the dangerous maneuver. Don’t expect her to do it the near future either. Biles was asked if she would ever attempt the Produnova.
“I’m not trying to die,” she said.
Fair enough.

Haunting photos of abandoned Olympic venues

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 13:48:00 +0000

Have you been watching the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics? Of course you have.

But amongst the patriotism, competition and sport is a costly price tag. The final cost of the Rio Games are yet to be determined, but they have budgeted upwards of $10 billion — and keep in mind that on Olympic Games since 1960 has ever come in under budget.

The bobsleigh track from the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics is sometimes used as a bike run. Photo: Imgur

Besides the monetary cost, there is also the infrastructure cost that typically sees venues built specifically for the Games go abandoned as soon as everyone leaves town. Now there are instances of venues, Olympic villages and housing being put to good use after the days in the limelight are long gone — but these are far and few between and the majority are left to decay.

The ski jump tower from the Italy 1956 Winter Olympics. Photo: Imgur

A series of images showing these venues in decay has been put on Imgur, and it’s sad to see what once was glory is now crumbling. Check out a few of the images and see the full series on Imgur. Wonder what venues from Rio will be abandoned in a few years time?

The swimming pool from the Berlin 1936 Olympics. Photo: Imgur