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Kyrie Irving on trade request, explained

2017-07-22T08:26:00.003-07:00

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Kyrie Irving reportedly requested that the Cavaliers trade him this summer after six seasons in Cleveland. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reports that Irving made the request last week. NBA.com’s David Aldridge reports that Irving requested a trade to the Bulls so he could play with Jimmy Butler before the NBA Draft in June. (Butler has since been traded to Minnesota.)

This is a shocker with major ramifications around the league. Let’s explain the basics.

Why is Irving requesting a trade?

ESPN is reporting that Irving no longer wants to play alongside LeBron James, the four-time MVP and arguably one of the three best players in NBA history. Windhorst indicates that Irving is looking for an opportunity to be a focal point for an offense.

LeBron is only under contract through the end of the 2017-18 season, but has previously indicated he plans to finish his career in Cleveland. Irving is under contract through the 2018-19 season.

Is Kyrie crazy?

It all depends on where your values lie.

As a Cavalier, he’ll be on national TV a million times and probably make the NBA Finals. He has a shot at winning a championship. But if Irving values personal excellence and becoming an all-timer under his own shingle over being LeBron’s top sidekick, that’s understandable.

Irving, like James, came in as an undisputed No. 1 overall pick with grand designs. Historically, those types of players willing to be sidekicks are in the minority. Most want to be the alpha dog.

Do the Cavaliers have to honor the request?

Since Irving is under contract for two more seasons, technically speaking there’s nothing forcing the Cavaliers from keeping Kyrie. But given that leaks have specifically singled out LeBron as the reason Irving wants to leave, it would seem highly unlikely Cleveland would be comfortable bringing him back for an awkward reunion without some sort of major sitdown between the pair. As such, you’d expect the Cavs to pull off a trade before training camp begins in late September.

Can the Cavaliers trade LeBron instead?

No.

LeBron has a no-trade clause, meaning he can veto any trade Cleveland proposes. The weird mix of his value, his contract situation (including the no-trade clause), and the extant likelihood he wants to remain in Cleveland makes it basically impossible to find a proper trade.
How good is Irving, anyway?

How dare you ask the question on the internet. Are you trying to start a war or something?
Sorry.

Here, read this piece I wrote during the NBA Finals about what a maddening riddle Irving’s career has become. The bit about LeBron’s barbershop comments takes on new life with Irving’s trade request.

How does LeBron feel about Kyrie’s request?

He is “devastated” according to ESPN.

Have any other Cavaliers responded?

Kevin Love, previously the subject of rampant trade rumors, had a hilarious tweet commenting on the situation in a typically Love-ian fashion.

What are the likely trade destinations?

Irving has given Cleveland four preferred choices, per Windhorst: the Spurs, Knicks, Heat, and Timberwolves. But, while Irving is likely to be traded, he has no real leverage on where he’ll be traded because he’s under contract for two more seasons. San Antonio would not appear to have the pieces to make a move for Irving in a straight-up deal — Cleveland doesn’t need LaMarcus Aldridge. Minnesota is too messy a trade partner at this point. Miami is flexible, and a New York trade would likely center on Carmelo Anthony.

Kevin Pelton suggests a win-win trade scenario with the Phoenix Suns, who would offer Irving the central role he desires while offering Cleveland a win-now piece in Eric Bledsoe (a friend of LeBron’s) and some youth. There are a few personal wrinkles here, too: Bledsoe is a Klutch Sports client. Klutch is run by Rich Paul, LeBron’s close friend and agent. Also, the Suns this week hired James Jones as vice president of basketball operations. Jones is LeBron’s longtime teammate and friend. There are a lot of personal strings to pull on here for both sides.

The Suns truly do seem like the most likely option at this point, barring a Melo trade.

Are the Warriors still going to win the 2018 NBA Championship?

Yes, probably.

Is LeBron’s NBA Finals streak going to end?

Possibly. The Celtics added Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum while losing Avery Bradley. Toronto swapped out Cory Joseph and DeMarre Carroll for C.J. Miles. All of the other high-end Eastern challengers stayed static or got worse. Odds are Cleveland will replace Irving with a major producer and remain the best in the East, but Boston, Toronto, or Washington could pull off an upset.

Does this all mean LeBron is leaving Cleveland next summer?

This has been one internet fever theory: that Kyrie saw the writing on the wall and tried to get out before LeBron bolts. To be honest, that makes no sense given the stated rationale for Irving’s trade request. Kyrie is going to be criticized for requesting a trade to escape LeBron’s shadow. If he were truly requesting a trade to be the first man off a sinking ship, his camp would have leaked that instead. It would sound better to the masses and create a distraction.

Unless the Cavaliers completely botch this thing, it’s unlikely Irving’s request will affect LeBron’s decision one way or the other. Some people think LeBron is totally bailing. Some people (including myself) think he’s finishing his career in Cleveland.

You said “unless the Cavaliers completely botch this thing.” What are the odds that the Cavaliers completely botch this thing?

Given how this summer has gone for Cleveland, the odds that they completely botch this thing are definitely non-zero.

Source: https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/7/22/16014068/kyrie-irving-trade-request-explainer-cavaliers
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Descendants 2: Dove Cameron and Sofia Carson's Costume - Behind-the-Scenes

2017-07-22T04:58:00.000-07:00

‘Descendants 2’: Behind-the-Scenes Look at Dove Cameron and Sofia Carson’s Costumes (Watch)

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Disney’s hotly anticipated film “Descendants 2” makes its grand debut Friday night across five networks, and aside from more-than-likely bringing big ratings, the whimsical sequel is sure to showcase larger-than-life costumes.

Stars Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, and China Anne McClain chat about the fashion of “Descendants 2,” along with costume designer Kara Saun who gives a behind-the-scenes tour of her designing space in this video, exclusively obtained by Variety.

“I knew coming back that we needed to come back bigger and brighter, more breathtaking,” Saun says. “There’s a lot more action, there’s a lot more dancing and physicality that you have to really take note of that when you’re designing the wardrobe.”

“Descendants 2” revolves around the offspring of Disney villains Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, Jafar, the Evil Queen, Ursula, Captain Hook, and Gaston.

Cameron, Carson, and McClain star with Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart, Mitchell Hope, Thomas Doherty, Dylan Playfair, and Anna Cathcart. Kenny Ortega is director, executive producer, and choreographer. Sara Parriott and Josann McGibbon wrote the flick and exec produced with Wendy Japhet.

“Descendants 2” airs Friday at 8 p.m. on the Disney Channel, Disney XD, Freeform, Lifetime, and ABC.

Source: http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/descendants-2-costumes-video-dove-cameron-sofia-carson-1202503135/

The stars of Descendants 2 have descended upon Disneyland.

In between appearances at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, Calif., last weekend, Cameron Boyce, Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, China Anne McClain and Booboo Stewart left Auradon and the Isle of the Lost to surprise their fans at Disneyland, Disney California Adventure Park and the Disneyland Hotel—and now E! News has your exclusive first look at all the wicked fun they had.

Disguised as a PhotoPass photographer, Stewart snapped pictures of people posing with their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It didn't take long for fans to recognize the actor, who plays Jafar's son, Jay, in the musical sequel. "Oh, my gosh! I know who that is!" a woman said. "That's Booboo!" Then, the younger guest's eyes lit up. "You're Jay!" she shouted. "You're my favorite!"

One family was so into their photo shoot with the Marvel superhero that they didn't recognize Stewart until he asked, "Have you guys seen Descendants?" The looks on their faces said it all, and before long they were taking photos with the actor. "Come on and give me a hug!" he said.

Source: http://www.eonline.com/news/868377/descendants-2-stars-cameron-boyce-dove-cameron-sofia-carson-china-anne-mcclain-and-booboo-stewart-surprise-fans-at-disneyland

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Kit Harington's rep denies report he and Rose Leslie are engaged

2017-07-21T16:24:00.001-07:00

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Kit Harington and Rose Leslie reportedly being engaged is a bit like the HBO hit show where they met — you never know who to believe.

The couple got enaged this week after Harington supposedly popped the question to his "Game of Thrones" co-star and on-screen love interest over a cozy dinner, according to Life & Style. But hours later, a rep for Harington shut down the rumors, telling Metro UK, "They are not engaged."

But the details in Life & Style's report are right out of "Thrones" fans' fantasies.

"Kit recently cooked Rose a romantic candlelight dinner and proposed to her," the tabloid magazine reported. "She burst into tears and immediately said yes."

The couple met while filming the hit HBO show in 2012 and finally announced their relationship after four years of speculation and an on-again, off-again courtship. Harington and Leslie, who had recurring roles in "Downton Abbey" and "The Good Fight," recently moved in together after purchasing a 15th-century home in East Anglia in the English countryside for $2.27 million. And even though Harington's publicist now says there's no engagement, the couple is clearly getting close.

“We are very, very happy,” Harington told Esquire in May.
The love affair stems from the pair's work together on the show. In Season 2 of "Thrones," Harington's Jon Snow takes wildling Ygritte (Leslie) captive as his prisoner, but the two end up falling in love. The subsequent sex scene is replete with nudity, animal skins and a blazing hearth deep in a secluded cave.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/kit-harington-rose-leslie-reportedly-engaged-article-1.3344968

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Sean Spicer Resigns as White House Press Secretary

2017-07-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

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Update: July 22, 2017

WASHINGTON — Sean Spicer fought on two fronts each day: With the press and with President Donald Trump.

On his first day as press secretary just over six months ago, things got off to a memorable start when Spicer accused the press of "dishonesty" in covering Trump’s inauguration, incorrectly claiming the president had "the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period." At Trump's behest, he labeled the media "shameful and wrong" — for reporting the facts.

That set the tense and sometimes ugly tone for the remainder of his short-lived tenure as White House press secretary.

As the weeks and months went on, he was obviously out of step with his boss — both in substance and in style. At the outset, Trump reportedly didn't like Spicer's fashion sense, specifically bringing up his ill-fitting, light-colored suit jackets. The press secretary began sporting darker threads soon after.

The hits kept coming. Spicer insisted Trump’s legally challenged "travel ban" was not a ban at all. He found himself humbled after a briefing-room gaffe about Hitler overtook that day’s news cycle and required clarification and an apology. Spicer drew rebukes from female journalists and even Hillary Clinton after snapping at longtime White House reporter April Ryan to "stop shaking your head" during a heated line of questioning. And his mispronunciations of world leaders names, like Syria's Bashar Al-Assad, went viral.

Spicer's manner, gaffes, and claims made him a household name. His briefings, filled with hostile interactions with reporters, were must-see TV. He was mercilessly spoofed on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," where the parody became a sensation. Melissa McCarthy’s "Spicey" had an explosive temper, a moving lectern, a hatred of The New York Times and other outlets, and wads of chewing gum. Suddenly Spicer was a household figure, an amusing symbol of the Trump administration's permanent combat with the media.

Perhaps he could have survived his duels with the White House press corps. But not with the president.

In the early-morning hours came the presidential tweets, frequently detonating whatever messaging Spicer’s communications team had carefully set for the day ahead. Long-planned and scripted "theme weeks" about infrastructure or jobs were often upended by the president’s tweets about the latest revelations in the Russia investigation or random over-the-top attacks on the media and critics.

It was only after Spicer had quit on on Friday that the president offered what was perhaps his strongest and most public praise of his former aide, calling him a "wonderful person who took tremendous abuse from the Fake News Media - but his future is bright!"

That was a stark contrast for a president who often contradicted his own spokesman's statements, contributing to the erosion of trust between the White House and the media. The most glaring instance came in the days following the president’s surprise firing of FBI Director James Comey, when Trump's account of the reasons behind his fateful decision ran counter to what Spicer had told reporters the night before.

And Trump laid the blame for scrambled messaging and contradictory explanations about Comey at the feet of his communications team, prompting grumbling from the press about whether Spicer was in the know and further damaging his credibility. The enduring image from the Comey debacle was Spicer ending up in the bushes outside the White House to avoid reporters’ questions.

"That was so bad last night," a White House official told NBC News at the time.

Reporters and White House watchers saw clearly the central and ultimately insurmountable problem that Spicer faced: Speaking on behalf of a president who believes he is his best spokesman, who thinks that no one else is up to the task, and who isn't afraid to remind the staff of it.

Post-Comey, Trump, according to sources inside and outside the White House, polled confidantes on their thoughts about Spicer’s job performance. And sources said Trump began to realize he had another option in then-Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was named press secretary on Friday. That drove the president, as one person put it, "to consider whether or not it makes sense…to change the face of the administration."

And that face did begin to change. The White House more often banned cameras from the press briefings, sparking an uproar from the press. And Spicer was now infrequently at the podium, having been replaced by Sanders.

When he did make what turned out to be his final return to the podium earlier this week, a reporter commented: "We miss you, Sean."

"Well, I miss you, too," he pantomimed.

Traveling reporters knew that Spicer, a devout Catholic, had fallen from favor when he was excluded from the group of White House staffers given an audience with the Pope when the president was visiting Vatican City. Spicer's days seemed numbered. Trump was irked that the press briefings were getting such high ratings, and even that Spicer was portrayed by a woman on SNL. The question in the White House became not whether Spicer would be replaced, but when.

Spicer’s exit came after he had told confidantes that if Trump brought in Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, he would leave. Minutes after Spicer slammed the door in the face of a veteran reporter, news of his departure broke on Twitter.

Later Friday, Spicer appeared on Fox News to end his tenure much as he began it, complaining about media bias, accusing the press of being increasingly concerned with "their clip or their click than they are about the truth and the facts," and insisting, despite the distractions, that the White House had just had a "very successful" Made in America week.

Months in the wings watching Spicer’s follies paid off for Scaramucci, who gushed from the podium Friday about how much he loved and respected the president, how his policies were right for the country, and he preened about Trump’s media savvy and understanding of the voters. It was as if he’d learned the lesson that Spicer couldn't quite master: The person speaking to the American public and press on behalf of the White House is really playing to an audience of just one.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/how-sean-spicer-went-horribly-wrong-n785496

Date: July 20, 2017

WASHINGTON — Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, resigned on Friday after denouncing chaos in the West Wing and telling President Trump he vehemently disagreed with the appointment of the New York financier Anthony Scaramucci as communications director.

After offering Mr. Scaramucci the communications job Friday morning, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Spicer to stay on as press secretary. But Mr. Spicer told Mr. Trump that he believed the appointment of Mr. Scaramucci was a major mistake and said he was resigning, according to a person with direct knowledge of the exchange.

In one of his first official acts, Mr. Scaramucci, who founded the global investment firm SkyBridge Capital and is a Fox News contributor, joined Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mr. Spicer’s chief deputy, in the White House briefing room and announced that she would succeed Mr. Spicer as press secretary.

He said he had great respect for Mr. Spicer, adding, “I hope he goes on to make a tremendous amount of money.” But he acknowledged the awkwardness of Mr. Spicer’s resignation. “This is obviously a difficult situation to be in,” Mr. Scaramucci said.

Ms. Sanders said Mr. Trump was grateful for Mr. Spicer’s service and that the president believes Mr. Spicer will succeed going forward. “Just look at his great television ratings,” Mr. Trump said in a statement read by Ms. Sanders.

Mr. Spicer’s rumored departure has been one of the longest-running internal sagas in an administration brimming with dissension and intrigue. A former Republican National Committee spokesman and strategist, Mr. Spicer was a frequent target of the president’s ire — and correctives — during the first few months of the administration.

His turbulent tenure as the president’s top spokesman was marked by a combative style with the news media that spawned a caricature of him on “Saturday Night Live.” He had hoped to last a year. He lasted six months and a day.

The resignation is a serious blow to the embattled White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, the former Republican Party chairman who brought Mr. Spicer into the West Wing despite skepticism from Mr. Trump, who initially questioned his loyalty. Mr. Scaramucci described his relationship with Mr. Priebus as a brotherly one where they “rough each other up.” He called Mr. Priebus a “good friend.”

Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has grown critical of both Mr. Spicer and Mr. Priebus, whom he regards as party establishment figures who operate out of self-interest.

Mr. Kushner also supported Mr. Trump’s decision to supplant Marc Kasowitz as his lead attorney on matters pertaining to Russia, according to people familiar with the situation.

Mr. Scaramucci was to meet with Mr. Priebus on Friday, according to a West Wing official — and applause could be heard in the second-floor communications hallway when Mr. Scaramucci was introduced. Mr. Priebus denied that there is friction with Mr. Scaramucci.

For his part, Mr. Spicer said it had been an “honor” and “privilege” to serve Mr. Trump.

Senior officials, including Ms. Sanders, Mr. Spicer’s top deputy, were said to be stunned by the sudden shuffle.

Mr. Spicer has agreed to stay on for two weeks to a month, and Mr. Trump has told his advisers he is open to rotating new people into the briefing room, including one of the president’s personal favorites, Sebastian Gorka, a blustery foreign policy official who has been accused of having ties to far-right groups in Europe.

During the transition, Mr. Trump had planned to appoint Mr. Scaramucci, a 52-year-old Harvard Law graduate from Long Island, as director of his office of public liaison, but the offer was pulled at the request of Mr. Priebus over concerns about Mr. Scaramucci’s overseas investments.

His appointment Friday came two months after the previous communications director, Mike Dubke, stepped down. Mr. Trump was frustrated with Mr. Priebus over the slow pace of finding a replacement, according to a half-dozen people familiar with the situation.

Mr. Trump made the appointment over the objection of Mr. Priebus, who thought Mr. Scaramucci lacked the requisite organizational or political experience. But the president believed Mr. Scaramucci, a ferocious defender of Mr. Trump’s on cable television, was best equipped to play the same role in-house, and he offered him a role with far-reaching powers independent of Mr. Priebus’s.

Mr. Spicer flatly rejected the president’s offer of a position subordinate to Mr. Scaramucci, according to two administration officials familiar with the exchange.

The appointment of Mr. Scaramucci, a favorite of Mr. Trump’s earliest campaign supporters, was backed by the president’s daughter Ivanka, his son-in-law and adviser Mr. Kushner and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the officials said.

Ms. Sanders will inherit one of the toughest public relations jobs in modern political history. The job of press secretary, once regarded as among the most coveted slots in Washington, a steppingstone to fame and a big post-government payday, has lost much of its allure under a president who tweets his opinions and considers himself to be his best spokesman.

Mr. Spicer, according to several people close to him, was tired of being blindsided by Mr. Trump, most recently this week when the president gave a lengthy interview to The New York Times in which he questioned his appointment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He was also weary of the daily dressings-down and instituted the highly contentious practice of holding off-air briefings, less so to snub reporters than to avoid Mr. Trump’s critiques of his performance, according to one of Mr. Spicer’s friends.

Shortly after Mr. Spicer’s resignation became public, the White House press office announced Ms. Sanders would hold the first on-air briefing since June 29.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/us/politics/sean-spicer-resigns-as-white-house-press-secretary.html

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British Open Leaderboard: Spieth, Koepka and Kuchar Tied at the Top

2017-07-20T20:31:00.001-07:00

SOUTHPORT, England — The wind off the Irish Sea pushed away the rain clouds and bathed Royal Birkdale in sunshine, Stars and Stripes.

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The British Open began Thursday with an All-American flavor.

Jordan Spieth, chomping away on gum as he watched one putt after another pour into the center of the cup, worked some bunker magic late in the round to keep his card filled only with birdies and pars for a 5-under 65.

Brooks Koepka, with no competition and barely any practice since winning the United States Open a month ago, ran off three straight birdies and holed a tough shot from a pot bunker for eagle on the par-5 17th hole for his own 5-under 65.

Joining them at the top of the leaderboard was Matt Kuchar, who first endeared himself to these British fans as a 19-year-old amateur in 1998 at Royal Birkdale. He tied the course record with a 29 on the front nine, only to fall into a routine of pars the rest of the way. He still shot 65, his best score ever in a major.

They had a one-shot lead over Paul Casey and Charl Schwartzel on a day that started nasty and ended with 39 players breaking par. The biggest question after a long day on the links was what was in store for Friday, when high wind and occasional showers were in the forecast.

“I thought today’s round was extremely important, as they all are,” Spieth said, atop the leaderboard at a major for the first time since last year’s Masters. “But given the forecast coming in, I thought you really needed to be in the red today. You can certainly make up ground in a round tomorrow, and we’ll see it happen. But being able to kind of play with shots, or play a little more conservative because you don’t try to do too much on a day like tomorrow, that’s nice and very helpful.”

Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy fall into that category.

The top-ranked Johnson, who has not played the weekend at a major since the British Open last year, managed only one birdie on a decent day for scoring and shot 71. McIlroy also shot 71 and was relieved. Coming off three missed cuts in his last four events, he was five-over through six holes when his caddie gave him a pep talk. McIlroy closed with three birdies over the last four holes to stay in the game.

Phil Mickelson failed to make a birdie, the first time that has happened in a major in five years, and shot 73.

Kuchar was the only one at 65 who played in the afternoon. The wind remained strong, though the course was manageable for everyone who holed putts and stayed out of bunkers and deep grass.

“I watched some of the golf this morning on TV, ” Kuchar said. “It looked awfully challenging. It looked like anything under par was going to be a good score. Seemed like the later your tee time, the better draw you got.”

Charley Hoffman had the best start of all, holing out from the rough on the daunting opening hole for an eagle. He was poised to join the leaders when he reached five-under with a birdie on the 15th, only to drop shots on the next two holes. Hoffman shot 69 and was in a group that included Ian Poulter and Rafa Cabrera Bello.

The defending champion, Henrik Stenson, who played with Spieth, had a 71. Stenson also played with Spieth the first two rounds of the 2015 Masters, which Spieth won wire-to-wire.

“He was rolling it superbly that week, and I don’t think it was that far behind today,” Stenson said.

But Spieth’s best shot was with his feet in the sand. He was in thick rough to the right of the 16th fairway when his shot crept into the back of a pot bunker. Not only was the ball on a slight slope, the rake marks left his ball between two ridges.

“This is dangerous,” Spieth said to his caddie.

He aimed to the right of the hole to avoid it going off the green on the other side and into another bunker, and it came off perfectly about 10 feet away.

“That was awesome,” were Spieth’s next words to his caddie.

He made the par putt. He followed with a two-putt birdie on the 17th and narrowly missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the last. It was his best start in a major since he shot 66 at the Masters a year ago. Spieth rated it among the top five or six rounds he has ever played in a major, not bad for someone who came close to the Grand Slam two years ago.

“I couldn’t have done much better today,” he said.

Royal Birkdale was much more kind than it was nine years ago in raging wind and rain. The 146th Open began in cool temperatures, a light rain and a strong wind. Mark O’Meara, a winner at Royal Birkdale in 1998 who is playing in his last British Open, hit the opening tee shot.

And then he hit another one.

O’Meara’s first shot was lost in the gorse, he made a quadruple-bogey 8 and was on his way to an 81. His threesome required 18 shots to play that hole. But the weather settled down a few hours later, and the scorecards filled up with plenty of birdies and eagles.

Just not for McIlroy until late in the round, or Johnson and Mickelson all day.

“With the weather we’re expecting tomorrow, I still feel I’m in the golf tournament,” McIlroy said. “If I can go out and play a good, quality round of golf in the morning and try to get in the clubhouse somewhere around even par, under par, I’ll still be around for the weekend.”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/20/sports/british-open-first-round-leaderboard.html

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Chester Bennington: Linkin Park vocalist - Killed Himself

2017-07-20T17:06:00.002-07:00

Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington has died aged 41, LA County Coroner says.

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Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington has died aged 41, LA County Coroner says.

The coroner said Bennington apparently hanged himself. His body was found at a private home in the county at 09:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Thursday.

Bennington was said to be close to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell, who took his own life in May.

Formed in 1996, Linkin Park have sold more than 70 million albums worldwide and won two Grammy Awards.

The band had a string of hits including Faint, In The End and Crawling, and collaborated with the rapper Jay-Z.

The album Meteora topped the Billboard 200 chart in 2003 and is regarded as one of the biggest indie rock records of all time.

The band had been due to begin a tour next week.

Voice of a generation: By Steve Holden, BBC Newsbeat

For a generation growing up in the early 2000s, it would have been hard not to find someone who didn't own a copy of the band's debut album Hybrid Theory.

It's sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and remains one of the biggest selling albums released since the start of the millennium.

Linkin Park's successful trick was to fuse elements of metal and rock with rap and hip-hop to shape the nu-metal genre on songs such as Crawling, In The End and Numb.

Arguably their biggest asset was Chester's powerhouse voice. He had a huge, raspy vocal which suited their stadium-filling, singalong anthems.

Whilst his vocal persona could be described as angry and harsh, in person he was warm, articulate and funny.

The band's most recent album, One More Light, saw a different direction as they worked with prolific pop songwriters Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter - and collaborated with UK grime artist Stormzy.

He leaves a wife, and six children from two marriages.

The singer is said to have struggled for years with alcohol and drug abuse, and has talked in the past about contemplating suicide as a result of being a victim of abuse as a child.

The story behind Linkin Park's collaboration with Stormzy
Linkin Park: New album raw and dirty

Who was Chester Bennington?

Born March 1976 in Phoenix, Arizona, son of a police officer
Performed with Phoenix post-grunge band Grey Daze 1993-98
Joined Linkin Park in 1998; Hybrid Theory was released two years later
Fronted the Stone Temple Pilots between 2013 and 2015
Also performed with supergroups Dead by Sunrise and Kings of Chaos

Bennington wrote an open letter to Chris Cornell on the latter's death, saying: "You have inspired me in ways you could never have known... I can't imagine a world without you in it."

Cornell would have celebrated his 53rd birthday on Thursday. He hanged himself after a concert in Detroit on 17 May.

Band member Mike Shinoda confirmed the news of Bennington's death on Twitter: "Shocked and heartbroken, but it's true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one."

Tributes to Bennington flooded in soon after news of his death.

The band Imagine Dragons tweeted: "no words, so heartbroken. RIP Chester Bennington."

Grime artist Stormzy, who collaborated with Linkin Park earlier this year, tweeted: "Bruv I can't lie I'm so upset serious."

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40676530

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Funny man Kevin Hart to perform in Shreveport - get your tickets now!

2017-07-19T20:21:00.004-07:00

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Actor Hart says writing his memoir - "I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons" - was "therapeutic." AP

Comedian and entertainer Kevin Hart will perform in Shreveport at the Municipal Auditorium at 7 p.m. Oct. 21.

Tickets start at $45 and are on sale beginning at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 19. Tickets are available at the Shreveport Convention Center Box Office, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,at all Ticketmaster locations, online at ticketmaster.com and livenation.com, or charge by phone 800-745-3000. All tickets subject to applicable service charges and fees.

2017 has already been a banner year for Hart, his memoir I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons debuted at number one on the New York Times Bestseller list and has remained on the list for five consecutive weeks. The book also topped records on the Audible platform, selling over 100,000 copies in the first five weeks.

Also this year Hart voiced a title character in "Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie." To close 2017, Kevin will appear in the Sony reboot of the classic film "Jumanji" alongside Dwayne Johnson and Jack Black.

Entertainment: Shreveport cover band is shaking up '90s tunes

Hart’s newest business venture is his digital platform the LOL NETWORK - Laugh Out Loud, the comedy brand and multi-platform network founded by Hart in partnership global content leader Lionsgate. The streaming video service will launch on Aug. 3 featuring a slate of original scripted and unscripted comedy series, stand-up specials, licensed programming, and live broadcasts.

Hart’s recent movie projects include the animated film "The Secret Life of Pets"(Illumination Entertainment) and the live action comedy "Central Intelligence" (New Line Cinema and Universal Pictures), Universal’s "Ride Along 2", which grossed over $100 million worldwide, Screen Gems’ "The Wedding Ringer" and Warner Brothers’ "Get Hard."

Source: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/entertainment/2017/07/19/funny-man-kevin-hart-perform-shreveport/492191001/

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John McCain Has Brain Cancer, His Office Says - Hoping for Fast Recovery

2017-07-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

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WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee known for his independent streak over more than three decades representing Arizona in the Senate, has brain cancer, his office disclosed Wednesday night in a statement from the Mayo Clinic.

The statement said the medical condition was discovered after Mr. McCain, 80, who was re-elected to a sixth term in November, underwent surgery to remove a blood clot above his left eye at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix.

“Subsequent tissue pathology revealed that a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was associated with the blood clot,” the statement said. “Treatment options may include a combination of chemotherapy and radiation.”

Medical experts said his condition was extremely serious. Eugene S. Flamm, chairman of neurosurgery at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, said that “a glioblastoma is the most common and most malignant of brain tumors.”

The median survival is about 16 months, he said. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, died in 2009 from this kind of aggressive brain tumor, which almost always grows back even after chemotherapy and radiation.

The illness of Mr. McCain, a former Navy pilot who was captured and held as a prisoner during the Vietnam War, had implications this week for the health care debate. His absence caused Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, to postpone a floor fight until Mr. McCain returned to Washington.

The diagnosis shook the Senate, where Mr. McCain is a popular figure despite his occasionally heated disputes with colleagues in both parties. About a dozen lawmakers who on Wednesday night were gathered in the Dirksen Senate Office Building to explore a health care compromise asked Senator James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican who is a Baptist minister, to lead them in prayer for their colleague.

“It was very emotional,” said Senator John Hoeven, Republican of North Dakota, who was present. He said finding a solution to the health care impasse was “more challenging without him.”

Mr. McConnell called Mr. McCain a hero to both Senate Republicans and the nation at large.

“He has never shied from a fight, and I know that he will face this challenge with the same extraordinary courage that has characterized his life,” Mr. McConnell said Wednesday night. “We all look forward to seeing this American hero again soon.”

The disclosure on Wednesday suggested that Mr. McCain’s condition was more serious than initially believed, although the statement said that “he is recovering from his surgery ‘amazingly well,’” according to his doctors, “and his underlying health is excellent.”

President Trump on Wednesday night issued a statement urging Mr. McCain to quickly recover.

“Senator John McCain has always been a fighter,” Mr. Trump said.

As the Republican health care bill teetered in recent days, Mr. Trump referred affectionately to Mr. McCain as a “crusty voice” in the capital. But their relationship has been fraught. In July 2016, during the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump denigrated Mr. McCain’s military record, saying he was considered a war hero only because he was captured. “I like people who weren’t captured,” Mr. Trump said in a comment that many suggested had gone too far. Mr. McCain, who at the time was facing conservative opposition in his re-election to his Senate seat, remained a supporter of Mr. Trump throughout the campaign.

However, Mr. McCain has pressed for a deep investigation into any interference into the presidential campaign that was conducted by Russia, which he considers an adversary. On Tuesday, and despite his condition, Mr. McCain issued a statement warning about Russian intrusion in Ukraine and calling for new sanctions against Moscow.

On Twitter, former President Barack Obama, who defeated Mr. McCain in the 2008 election, called the senator a “hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.”

Mr. McCain, who had failed to win his party’s presidential nomination in 2000, faced an uphill battle in 2008 given public discontentment with the United States-led war in Iraq and overall fatigue with the administration of President George W. Bush. Mr. McCain picked Sarah Palin, then the governor of Alaska, as his vice-presidential running mate in an effort to reinvigorate a flagging campaign with a woman on the ticket.

A crucial moment in the race occurred in late September 2008 when he suddenly suspended his campaign and returned to Washington for an economic summit meeting at the White House that was also attended by Mr. Obama, then a Democratic senator from Illinois. Mr. McCain’s 11th-hour effort to focus on the economy was generally considered a lost opportunity, and the financial collapse helped propel Mr. Obama to the presidency.

Mr. McCain currently leads the Senate Armed Services Committee and is a top proponent of using military force overseas. The Senate is preparing to take up the annual Pentagon policy measure produced by the committee.

In Congress, he is probably best known for his efforts to champion changes in campaign finance laws over the fierce objections of some of his Republican colleagues, particularly Mr. McConnell.

Mr. McCain’s office said he “appreciates the outpouring of support he has received over the last few days.” The statement added: “He is in good spirits as he continues to recover at home with his family in Arizona. He is grateful to the doctors and staff at Mayo Clinic for their outstanding care, and is confident that any future treatment will be effective. Further consultations with Senator McCain’s Mayo Clinic care team will indicate when he will return to the United States Senate.”

The standard of care includes surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible, and then radiation and chemotherapy. In the past, radiation sometimes diminished patient’s brain function, but techniques have improved so that more healthy brain tissue is spared and patients fare better, said Dr. Mitchel S. Berger, a neurosurgeon and glioblastoma expert at the University of California, San Francisco.

Senator Jeff Flake, the junior Republican senator from Arizona, acknowledged the seriousness of Mr. McCain’s diagnosis in a still-hopeful Twitter post. “Tough diagnosis, but even tougher man,” Mr. Flake wrote.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/john-mccain-brain-cancer.html

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2017 Mazda CX-5 - Mazda first drive review

2017-03-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

7 Mazda CX-5 first drive review: Will more tech, quieter cockpit match Audi, BMW?

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The second-generation Mazda CX-5 compact crossover / SUV stands as the best choice for driving enthusiasts who need an affordable crossover to haul gear or family members. The 2017 CX-5 is also emerging as the category’s technology champ with a head-up display, smart blind spot detection aler t, full-range adaptive cruise control, standard LED headlamps, and an intelligent all-wheel-drive system. Mazda makes a fair claim that the CX-5 has “class above” technology more in line with what Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz offer. “We know we’re already better than [Honda] CR-Vs and such, so we benchmarked upscale,” Mazda’s chief engineer proclaims.
To appeal to mainstream buyers who’ve made Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 each outsell Mazda 3-1 last year, Mazda has worked on sound-damping, improving ride quality, adding rear seat heaters, upping the quality of the audio system, and adding rear seat USB jacks. Nobody’s perfect and in Mazda’s case there’s still no performance engine for enthusiasts. For mainstream buyers, there’s no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto offered, no satellite radio except on the costliest CX-5, and those rear seat heaters are an option on the costliest CX-5. Overall, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Second generation, looks like the first generation

Mazda says there are big changes inside and out, as there have been almost every since the first-gen CX-5 arrived as a 2013 model. For 2017 (lower image above), there’s a sharper nose, a black egg-carton grille (no horizontal strakes now), and a side body character line that sweeps down instead of up as it moves rearward. It’s still 179 inches long, right in the sweet spot for compact SUVs. There’s one engine choice, a 187-hp normally aspirated (no turbo) four-cylinder engine, rated at 23 mpg city, 30 mpg highway, 26 mpg combined for all-wheel-drive, 24/31/27 for front-drive. The transmission is a six-speed automatic.
Mazda said new features appealing to mainstream buyers are an available power liftgate, a second-row seat that reclines (slightly) and also folds fully flat, and improved NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) without degrading handling. See the slideshow below for the 10 tech improvements that make the CX-5, as Mazda says, punch above its weight, including full-range adaptive cruise control, G-Vectoring, more USB jacks, a head-up display that includes blind spot information, and traffic sign recognition.
Ten tech features make the 2017 CX-5 stand out:

Full-range adaptive cruise control (ACC)

Among Mazda's 10 coolest, class-above features: Mazda Radar Cruise Control (Mazda's term) for 2017 goes all the way down to stopped and back up to speed. It's a big advantage in metro areas with stop-and-go highway commuting. It's also less abrupt then 2016's system. ACC is still not common on mainstream compact SUVs; here, it's offered on all but the entry trim line.

On the road

I test-drove the CX-5 in San Diego and eastward along the US-Mexico border (lots of border patrol agents, no sign of the wall). In comparison with the 2016 Mazda CX-5 I’ve been driving the past half-year, the new one is indeed quieter and a bit less bouncy on rough roads. Mazda attributes this to more welds, acoustic laminated glass in front, extra door seals, and more sound insulation in the floor.
The adaptive cruise control was smoother; the older one sometimes locked on to a car ahead and then a few seconds later braked firmly, enough to make the passengers look up. The head up display was a great addition, particularly since it put the blind spot warning in the HUD (as well as in the side mirrors). When a car shows up in your blind spot, three sonar-looking waves turn orange on the left, right, or both. If you’re thinking about changing lanes, you have to shift your vision to the side mirror for a couple hundred milliseconds; with the HUD, you just glance down, all the while keeping your eyes on the road ahead. The steering wheel has even bigger buttons this year.
The engine is basically the same: Mazda’s high-tech SkyActiv inline-four with low emissions and adequate pickup for merging onto expressways. The mileage is decent, but you’ll probably be in the high 20s in combined driving; you need a light foot to pass 30 mpg. Thus my interest in seeing how peppy and economical the 2.2-liter SkyActiv diesel will be this fall.
Navigation is adequate; there are better and worse from competitors, but it gets the job done. The new Bose audio with 10 speakers sounds better. It’s great having USB jacks for back seat passengers. I’ve grown to like the Commander control wheel in the console. A nearby button to fetch audio presets (you scroll to the one you want) gives you as many as you want, but it’s not as direct as having six or eight dedicated presets right under the center LCD.
The back is still roomy especially for a small car. Four adults can travel all day in comfort, and even more so with back seat HVAC vents and the improved ride.

Where Mazda isn’t yet class-above

Mazda wants to be compared with the big boys: Audi Q3 and Q5 (the CX-5 falls in between in size), BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz GLC, and the two Japanese crossovers that are 1-2 in premium SUV sales: Lexus NX and Acura RDX. Fair enough. Here’s where Mazda comes up short.
Blind spot detection doesn’t offer haptic feedback, meaning a steering wheel or seat vibration that only alerts the driver. The beep is only a second long, which makes it only halfway annoying. Lane departure warning does offer a vibration now, along with either a beep or a rumble strip sound through the speakers (pick one).
Not having Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in 2017 is starting to look dated. We understand that adopting them puts a small automaker at the mercies of Apple and Google. At least it’s in the works. Satellite radio is only offered on the costliest CX-5, the Grand Touring. It needs to be on every trim line.
Some, not all, class-above competitors offer side window screens (the CX-9 does, too) and it’s great for long trips. The CX-5 also lacks surround vision cameras, automated parallel parking, and factory-installed rear parking sonar (as a dealer accessory, it’s costly). Campers and boaters would wish for 3,500-pound towing capacity, not just 2,000 pounds; it’s rare in affordable compact SUVs (Toyota offers a special RAV4 that tows 3,500 pounds), but not uncommon among higher end competitors.
Mazda as yet offers no telematics package like GM OnStar. It will become more and more useful to get real-time updates on road conditions, detours, and restaurant and hotel information. Mazda at least gets current speed information by reading roadside speed limit signs (also stop signs and traffic lights).
There are also little things: BMW and Audi have roller wheels on the steering wheel for adjusting volume or audio choices, which is faster, smoother, and cooler than up-down buttons. It also costs a bit more.
The interior leather trim is either off-white or black; a medium brown or chestnut would be a good in-between choice. For Mazda, the challenge is that every time it offers another choice, there’s more complexity in finding exactly what you want in stock. (Although it’s zero percent now if you want a tobacco-color leather.)
Mazda doesn’t lose all the comparisons. Mazda has LED headlamps standard; BMW offers LED headlamps on the X3 for $1,900. Advantage, Mazda.

Mazda CX-5 pricing: $25,000 to $34,000 all-in

Mazda pricing is on par with most other mainstream compact crossovers. There are three trim lines, or model variants. The technology builds with each trim line.
CX-5 Sport. $24,985 (including $940 freight), $26,285 with all-wheel-drive. Standard equipment includes LED headlamps, Smart City Brake Support, backup camera, two USB jacks, phone and audio Bluetooth, 7-inch dash mounted LCD, AM/FM/HD radio, and 17-inch alloy wheels. Seats are manual with cloth trim. There are no options packages other than Soul Red Crystal paint: $595 for a dazzling red.
CX-5 Touring. $26,855, $28,155 with AWD. It adds blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, keyless entry, two rear USB jacks, leatherette heated front seats with “lux suede” inserts and six-way power driver’s seat, auto-leveling LED headlamps, six-speaker audio, rear center armrest, and rear HVAC vents. The $780 Preferred Equipment Package adds 10-speaker Bose audio, a moonroof, a power liftgate, navigation, auto-dimming mirrors, Homelink (garage door opener), and auto on/off headlamps. The Touring i-Activsense package, $625, adds lane departure warning, automatic high beams, lane keep-assist, stop and go adaptive cruise control (“radar cruise control”), and smart brake support. Machine Gray Metallic paint is $300, and Snowflake White Pearl is $200.
CX-5 Grand Touring. $30,335, $31,635 with AWD. In addition to the Touring’s standard and optional features, it adds steerable headlamps, LED fog and tail lamps, satellite radio, rain-sensing wipers, heated outside mirrors, eight-way power driver’s seat, leather seats, and 19-inch alloy wheels. The $1,830 Grand Touring package includes a true head up display (“Active Driving Display”) with traffic sign recognition, power front passenger seat, heated outboard rear seats, heated steering wheel, and windshield wiper de-icer.

Is this the compact SUV to buy?

Mazda makes a strong case that its compact crossover has the most features offered at a competitive price. If marriage and a baby make you trade your sports sedan for a small SUV, this is hands-down the best crossover for enthusiasts who don’t want to pay BMW X3, Audi Q5, or Mercedes-Benz GLC kinds of money. A loaded CX-5 is a couple thousand less than a stripped Lexus NX or Acura RDX, the two sales leaders among premium compact SUVs, and about $6,000 less than an zero-options X3. Comparably equipped, a premium compact SUV will be $10,000-$15,000 more, although they’ll likely have better resale value, meaning attractive lease rates.
With the tweaks in the 2017 model, you’ll find the new CX-5 more palatable for passengers who don’t like a firm ride. The interior is upscale. The exterior lines are crisper. The Soul Red Crystal paint is to die for (at almost $600, you might feel a small twinge). The sum of the technology is best-in-category against the CR-V, RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Ford Escape, and Chevrolet Equinox, the five compact SUVs that sold 242,000 (Chevy) to 357,000 units (Honda) last year versus Mazda’s 112,000.
If you value technology, the 2017 Mazda CX-5 is your car. The case for the 2017 CX-5 is best if you’re looking at the very top trim line, the Grand Touring with the Premium package. It shows the most changes from the outgoing 2016.5 CX-5, particularly the adaptive cruise and HUD. The bang-for-the buck CX-5 is the CX-5 Touring with the two options packages that give you lane departure warning, automatic high beams, lane keep-assist, stop and go adaptive cruise control, the power liftgate, premium audio, and the sunroof: just under $30,000, all in.
If you’re not a fan of new technology, then you should also look at leftover 2016 models, making sure that your spouse/partner goes along for the test ride so your both comfortable with how it feels on smooth and bumpy roads. Mazda indeed punches above its weight.

Source: https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/245417-will-tech-quieter-cockpit-put-2017-mazda-cx-5-par-audi-bmw

Snap Stock - Shares in Snapchat maker fall below initial trading price and falling

2017-03-06T20:56:00.003-08:00

Snap Inc.’s stock market debut last week has been celebrated as a success in the tech world as its share price surged in their first two days on the market. But that optimism doesn’t necessarily extend to Wall Street, where analysts remain doubtful of the company’s current value.

Shares of Snap Inc. opened at $28.17 on Monday morning, up about 4% from their price at the close of market Friday and up 66% from the $17 price paid by investors in Snap’s IPO last week. But they fell just below $24 — Snap’s initial trading price — when the session ended.

That’s still above what Wall Street analysts believe Snap shares are worth. Of seven analysts surveyed by FactSet who cover the stock, none has issued a “buy” rating for Snap, and all have set their fair value estimate or target price between $10 and $23.

“It’s overvalued,” said Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group, a financial analysis firm. “That’s the simple answer.”

Wieser set the year-end target price for Snap’s stock at $10 and gave it a “sell” rating based on his estimates of the company’s future profitability. “To get to the [current] valuation requires willful optimism about the fundamentals,” he said.

In a report on Snap last week, Wieser pointed to the company’s high costs — which include hosting, serving and creating content, as well as sharing revenue with content partners — and its “sub-optimal corporate structure” with relatively inexperienced managers at the helm.

Analysts were also concerned about Snap’s ability to grow and to compete successfully with Facebook, which has 1.2 billion daily active users compared with Snapchat’s 158 million.

Laura Martin, an analyst with Needham & Co., said Snap’s narrow target demographic and bandwidth-intensive app limit its potential audience to young people in first-world countries. She estimated the total size of that audience to be about 650 million, compared with the 3.6 billion for each Google and Facebook.

And even within its core demographic, Snap faces competition from copycats, Martin said.

“If you’re a Snap shareholder, you get hit with all the failures as they experiment and then when they have a win, Facebook copies it,” she said. “They have no protection.”

Instagram, for example, launched its own version of Stories, a Snapchat feature in which users can post a sequence of photos or videos that are available for viewing for 24 hours, last August. Snap’s growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter of 2016.

“The major risk for Snap is the possibility that its coveted demographic of younger users finds Facebook’s collection of apps more appealing than Snap’s and migrates over,” wrote Victor Anthony, an analyst at Aegis Capital Corp., in a report initiating his firm’s coverage of Snap last week.

Adopting Snap-like features doesn’t just mean Facebook can retain or attract young users. Advertisers, too, will stick with the platform.

“Large advertisers still view Snap as experimental,” said Anthony in an interview by phone, but they feel more comfortable with Facebook. “It’s a platform they know whose return is proven,” he said.

That’s a problem for Snap, which, like other social media companies, makes its money from advertisers, not consumers. The bulk of Snap's $400 million in revenue last year came from selling ads that appear on the Snapchat app, and ads are expected to be the main revenue driver for the foreseeable future.

So how come the stock is still trading far above its $17 offering price?

“There’s a lot riding on the success of the Snap IPO,” said Anthony. After a drought of technology IPOs in recent years, investors are hoping this one will succeed and open the floodgates to other tech IPOs, Anthony said.

On top of that, most of the investors who have thus far bought Snap shares are institutional investors — big funds and corporations, such as NBCUniversal, which purchased about 15% of the shares available in last week’s IPO. Many of these investors have committed not to sell their shares for at least a year, Anthony said, meaning there’s a limited supply available, which drives up the price.

And all the buzz around Snap’s IPO may be tempting small and individual investors to buy, said Anthony, pushing up demand.

Though he expressed concerns about Snap’s ability to grow and the formidable competition it faces from Facebook, Anthony said he surveyed several advertisers and found they are eager to get in front of Snap’s coveted demographic.

“We see Snap as a sustained ad share gainer over the next two year,” he wrote. “That alone should lead to share price performance this year.”

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tn-snap-stock-20170306-story.html

Dancing With the Stars 2017: Season 24 celebrity cast and partners revealed on 'GMA’

2017-03-01T15:30:00.005-08:00

‘Dancing With the Stars’ 2017: Season 24 celebrity cast and partners revealed on 'GMA’

The cast of season 24 of the hit reality TV show "Dancing with the Stars" was announced live on "Good Morning America" today.

This year's lineup of stars features decorated Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, legendary figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, and the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Erika Jayne, among other celebrities from music, television and sports, who will all be hitting the dance floor to battle each other for the mirrorball trophy this season.

Biles, who will be dancing with partner Sasha Farber, joins the cast the season after her Olympic teammate, Laurie Hernandez, took home the trophy last season. Hernandez said winning the Mirrorball brought her the "same joy" as winning her Olympic medals. Val Chmerkovskiy, Hernandez's champion partner last season, is back this year, teaming up with "Fifth Harmony" singer Normani Kordei.

The season 24 premiere is the 400th episode of the hit show, and many fan-favorite dancing partners will also be returning to the show, including Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd, who welcomed their first child together just this year. Veteran dancer Kym Herjavec is also back this season, after she took a hiatus following her marriage to her former "DWTS" partner Robert Herjavec.

The celebrities and their partners appeared live on "GMA" today.

The new season of “Dancing With the Stars” premieres on Mon. March 20, 2017 at at 8 p.m. ET.

'Dancing With the Stars' 2017: Fun facts about the new celebrity cast

'Dancing' stars Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd to return to next season of the show

'DWTS' winner Laurie Hernandez had 'same joy' winning mirror ball as she did Olympic medals

Simone Biles with Sasha Farber
The four-time gold medalist will be dancing with partner Sasha Farber.

Simone Biles will compete with pro Sasha Farber on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Simone Biles will compete with pro Sasha Farber on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Bonner Bolton with Sharna Burgess
The professional bull rider and model will be dancing with partner Sharna Burgess.

Bonner Bolton will compete with pro Sharna Burgess, left, on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Bonner Bolton will compete with pro Sharna Burgess, left, on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Charo with Keo Motsepe
The "Chuchi-Chuchi" girl will be dancing with partner Keo Motsepe.

Charo will compete with pro Keo Motsepe on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Chris Kattan with Witney Carson
The "Saturday Night Live" veteran will be dancing with partner Witney Carson.

Chris Kattan, right, will compete with pro Witney Carson on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Chris Kattan, right, will compete with pro Witney Carson on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

David Ross with Lindsay Arnold
The two-time World Series champion, and the show's first baseball star, will be dancing with partner Lindsay Arnold.

David Ross, right, will compete with pro Lindsay Arnold on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
David Ross, right, will compete with pro Lindsay Arnold on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Erika Jayne with Gleb Savchenko
The dance club musician and "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star will be dancing with partner Gleb Savchenko.

Erika Jayne will compete with pro Gleb Savchenko on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Erika Jayne will compete with pro Gleb Savchenko on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Heather Morris with Maksim Chmerkovskiy
The "Glee" actress will be dancing with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

Heather Morris will compete with pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Heather Morris will compete with pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Mr. T with Kym Herjavec
The former professional wrestler and actor will be dancing with partner Kym Herjavec.

Mr. T, right, will compete with pro Kym Herjavec on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Mr. T, right, will compete with pro Kym Herjavec on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Nancy Kerrigan with Artem Chigvintsev
The former Olympic figure skater will be dancing with partner Artem Chigvintsev.

Nancy Kerrigan will compete with pro Artem Chigvintsev on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Nancy Kerrigan will compete with pro Artem Chigvintsev on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Normani Kordei with Valentin Chmerkovskiy
The "Fifth Harmony" singer will be dancing with partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy.

Normani Kordei will compete with pro Valentin Chmerkovskiy on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Normani Kordei will compete with pro Valentin Chmerkovskiy on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Rashad Jennings with Emma Slater
The NFL player will be dancing with partner Emma Slater.

Rashad Jennings will compete with pro Emma Slater on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Rashad Jennings will compete with pro Emma Slater on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Nick Viall with Peta Murgatroyd
The Bachelor will be dancing with pro Peta Murgatroyd.

Nick Viall will compete with pro Peta Murgatroyd on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Nick Viall will compete with pro Peta Murgatroyd on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

The new season of “Dancing With the Stars” premieres on Mon. March 20, 2017 at at 8 p.m. ET.

Charo will compete with pro Keo Motsepe on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/dancing-stars-2017-season-24-celebrity-cast-partners/story?id=45767534

6 things you probably didn’t know about Birthday boy Justin Bieber

2017-03-01T06:49:00.002-08:00

After being discovered by a talent manager through his YouTube videos covering songs in 2008, Justin Bieber has gone on to become one of the most notorious and successful musicians of our times. The baby-faced teenager who sprung on to the scene with his debut single 'Baby', has delivered four multi-platinum albums over the course of his career. Much is known about his eccentric habits, relationships and breakups, but here are 6 things that you probably didn't know about the artist who turns 23 today.

1. Birthday boy Justin Bieber loves to watch the re-runs of his favourite sitcom 'Friends':
Even though the show ended its ten year run on TV screens in 2004, Beebs is a big fan of the 62-time Primetime Emmy Awards nominated show. The popstar apparently likes to catch up on re-runs of his favourite show whenever he can.

2. Bieber, who spends $750 on a haircut, once auctioned his cut hair online for $40,668:
A lock of his freshly-chopped locks, which Justin gifted to chat show host Ellen DeGeneres in a signed box after his much talked about buzz cut was put to auction in 2011. The bidding went up all the way to $40,668 and the proceeds were donated to charity.

3. Justin Bieber was born in Canada, today he boasts of more Twitter followers than the population of Canada:
J-Beebs has a current follower count of over 92 million on Twitter, while the population of his home country Canada is 35.15 million according to their 2016 census.

4. Justin can solve the Rubik's cube in less than two minutes!:
In a TV show appearance, JB went on to solve the Rubik's cube in under two minutes. He flaunted his skills again in a recent episode of 'The Late, Late Show with James Corden.'
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5. Birthday boy Justin Bieber is counselled by Will Smith on a weekly basis:

However unlikely it may seem, but his mentor is one of Hollywood's greatest (and most famous) actors. We don't know how the two got connected, but clearly they have a lot in common. On a red-carpet appearance, Will said that he'll be available for the young musician whenever he calls on him for help.

6. The music sensation feels that denim shorts and a tank top is the sexiest thing a woman can wear:

Justin told a popular magazine that he thinks "attitude" is the hottest thing about a girl. The singer also said that he likes when girls wear "booty shorts" and tank tops.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/english/music/news/6-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-birthday-boy-justin-bieber/articleshow/57412313.cms

Kellyanne Conway explains 'disrespectful' Oval Office sofa picture

2017-03-01T05:38:00.001-08:00

Kellyanne Conway explains 'disrespectful' Oval Office sofa picture

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Kellyanne Conway has explained she "meant no disrespect" after she was widely criticised for kneeling on a sofa in the Oval Office.
Ms Conway, the senior advisor to President Donald Trump, spoke on Fox News about the backlash she faced for her "disrespectful" stance.

She told Fox: "These are the presidents and other leaders within the historically black college and universities and they came to visit the White House.

"Of course, just today, the President signed the executive order on HCBU’s and I had an occasion to speak at length to many of those leaders before that picture and after that picture and again today.

"And I really want to thank so many of them for coming to my defense because they were in the room and they know I was being asked to take a picture in a crowded room with the press behind us. I was asked to take a certain angle and was doing exactly that. I certainly meant no disrespect, I didn’t mean to have my feet on the couch."
Some questioned why she felt she had to take the picture on her phone instead of asking an official photographer to document the moment.
Ms Conway, who has courted controversy in recent weeks for referring to a fictional "Bowling Green Massacre" to justify the president's travel ban and for promoting Ivanka Trump's brand, was widely lambasted for the way she sat.

Moments after taking a photo herself, she was seen checking her phone, with her legs tucked beneath her on the sofa.

"What are you doing on that couch Kellyanne Conway? Does not look respectful in the Oval Office," one Twitter user said.
Another said: "To be fair we shouldn't expect people born in barn to know any better. No respect for the highest office."
Kellyanne Conway blamed the media for the furore and spoke about the coverage she receives.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/01/kellyanne-conway-explains-disrespectful-oval-office-sofa-picture/

BPI (Basketball Power Index)- who are the winners and losers?

2017-02-28T07:48:00.000-08:00

Teams that have hurt themselves: Kansas State, Gonzaga, Maryland
Teams that have helped themselves: Providence, SMU, Arkansas
With just less than two weeks to Selection Sunday, every men’s college basketball team is trying to either earn its way into the tournament or prove that it deserves a top seed. Games over the past week provided teams with the opportunities to do just that. Some teams took advantage of those opportunities, and some did not. The Basketball Power Index (BPI), which measures how good a team is looking forward, and strength of record (SOR), which measures how impressive a team’s win-loss record is, can be used to not only provide those pieces of information but also to simulate the rest of the season, tournament seeding and the tournament itself. The results of this week’s games, along with the window into the past and future provided by the metrics, allow us to see some of the biggest winners and losers of the week.
Winner: Southern Methodist University (BPI – 19, SOR – 18)
After upsetting the University of Houston on the road last week, SMU took its 20th BPI ranking into its only game of the week: a road game against 84th-ranked University of Connecticut. BPI gave SMU a 72 percent chance to win that game on the road and projected it would win by five to six points. SMU won, boosted its SOR to 18th and increased its odds of winning the American Conference tournament to 37 percent.
Winner: Providence (BPI – 53, SOR – 44)
Providence followed an impressive week in which it beat higher-ranked teams Butler and Xavier with two more good wins against Creighton on the road and Marquette at home. These wins have boosted Providence’s tournament prospects significantly. Its current SOR of 44 suggests that it has 62 percent chance to make the tournament -- up from just 50 percent before its win over Marquette.
Winner: Arkansas (BPI – 46, SOR – 31)
Much like Providence, Arkansas has had a good two-week stretch. It was ranked 55th in BPI two weeks ago, and since then it has beaten South Carolina, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Auburn. With that stretch of wins, it has moved up to 46th in BPI and, as two of those wins were on the road, now has the 31st most impressive schedule in the country. The win on Saturday at Auburn in fact boosted its odds to make the tournament to 95 percent from 85 percent. Arkansas had only a 6 percent chance of winning its past four games, and those wins have been key to solidifying a spot in the tournament.
Loser: Kansas State (BPI – 42, SOR – 51)
A rough week for Kansas State began with a loss at home to Oklahoma State in which BPI favored Kansas State to win by three. The team followed that with a loss on the road to 77th-ranked Oklahoma in which it was favored to win by 2. Kansas State was 33rd in BPI going into the week and has now slid to 42; worse, its odds to make the tournament have fallen to 14 percent from 39 percent before the Oklahoma game.
Loser: Gonzaga (BPI – 3, SOR – 3)
Gonzaga spoiled its perfect season by dropping a home game to 73rd-ranked BYU at home -- when the Zags were favored to win by nearly 26 points. While the loss certainly does not affect their odds of making the tournament, and while a perfect season is a great story, dropping one game -- even an eminently winnable one to BYU -- is understandable. But it will cost them in their chance to grab a top seed in the tournament. Going into the game against BYU, BPI had Gonzaga in the top spot with a 91 percent chance at landing a No. 1 seed. The loss dropped it to third in BPI and third in SOR, and Gonzaga now has only a 46 percent chance to grab a top seed.
Loser: Maryland (BPI – 49, SOR – 29)
Maryland’s record has exceeded the expectations of its BPI ranking all season, but that seems to be slipping recently. Maryland was 40th in BPI going into a week in which it had two home games. BPI gave it a 70 percent chance to beat Minnesota and an 84 percent chance to beat Iowa. Maryland lost both games, however, by a combined 28 points, pushing it down to 49th overall in BPI and behind such teams as Minnesota and Miami in SOR. Maryland was 40th in BPI and 17th in SOR going into the week and now sits at 49th and 29th, meaning that it might have cost itself significantly in seeding for the tournament. For example, if the tournament were seeded by SOR alone, Maryland would have gone from a 4- or 5-seed a week ago to a 7- or 8-seed this week.

Source: http://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/129946/who-were-this-weeks-bpi-winners-and-losers

The SpaceX Moon mission extends Elon Musk's ambitions

2017-02-28T06:15:00.000-08:00

Elon Musk, it seems, loves nothing more than to spin plates. When most of us might be looking to lighten the load, he's piling on the ambition.

The serial entrepreneur's latest gambit is to fly people around the Moon. Two wealthy individuals have apparently lodged significant deposits with his SpaceX company to make this journey.
We have no idea who they are, just that these space tourists include "nobody from Hollywood".
That Mr Musk should announce his intention to carry out an Apollo 8-like Moon loop should not really be a surprise; such a venture is on the natural path to deep-space exploration and colonisation - his stated end goals.
What does take the breath away is the timeline.
He's talking about doing this journey in late 2018, in hardware that has not yet even flown. That's Elon for you.

For sure, his Falcon rockets have been working for some time now and the Dragon capsule has become something of an old hand at shuttling back and forth to the International Space Station (ISS). But the circumlunar project is another step on from robotic cargo runs to low-Earth orbit.
The Falcon Heavy, the much bigger rocket that will be needed, should make its debut this summer.
The crew version of Dragon, with its all-important life-support equipment, is targeted to make its maiden voyage at the end of 2017.
This will be an unmanned test outing; the first flight to the ISS with people aboard is slated for the spring of 2018.
That does not leave much time to configure and adapt systems for the longer, more arduous Moon mission.

The Dragon will need some sort of propulsion and service module (with extra propellants, oxygen, water, etc) to help sustain the required trajectory and the tourists for what will be at minimum a 6-to-7-day journey.
"Back in the Apollo days the outbound journey would usually take between two and three days and the same for the return journey, maybe about a one-week round trip once they leave the Earth," commented Jason Davis from the space advocacy group the Planetary Society.
"It is a little bit different than say putting an astronaut in low-Earth orbit on the International Space Station because your quick return to Earth is no longer an option.
"Once you fire that rocket and head towards the Moon, you can't turn around and go home so you are really kind of on your own for about a week with no-one to come and save you if there is a problem."
Mr Musk says his tourists understand the risks, and that they will receive "extensive training before going on the mission."
The entrepreneur hasn't yet confirmed it, but it's hard to imagine the ticketed passengers would fly without also being accompanied by an astronaut of experience. If there is a problem, having someone aboard with intimate knowledge of the Dragon's workings could make all the difference.

Of course, history tells us that everything in space "moves to the right". Timelines are rarely fixed. And SpaceX is not immune in this respect.
The Falcon Heavy is behind on its original schedule; like Musk, we all thought he’d be flying people to the ISS regularly by now; and his recently promised robotic Mars landing has just been pushed back two years. And don't forget the long list of satellite operators who've seen their launches delayed in the aftermath of two Falcon mishaps.
So, don't be surprised if this Moon loop also extends into the future. The really interesting sub-plot, however, is what this all means for the US space agency (Nasa).
It can be no coincidence that its leadership has announced that it will be looking to put people on the maiden flight of the agency’s huge new rocket, the Space Launch System, and its associated crew capsule, Orion.
These systems are currently due to fly in an unmanned test configuration late next year. A Nasa inquiry could now see a way to slip the mission to 2019 and make it a manned outing instead.
This would make for an intriguing comparison. You would have two missions launching almost at the same time, to do essentially the same mission profile around the Moon, except one (SLS/Orion) would have cost billions to get to the launch pad while the other (Falcon Heavy/Dragon) would have cost in the hundreds of millions. Certainly there would be an order of magnitude difference in price.

It is said that President Trump is looking very hard at how to expand commercial space activity during his administration. The Moon missions would give him considerable food for thought.
Publicly, both Musk and Nasa are on the same page. The agency, which has invested considerable sums in SpaceX, released a statement late on Monday saying that it commended "its industry partners for reaching higher".
Musk tweeted: “SpaceX could not do this without Nasa. Can't express enough appreciation”.
But the comparisons are inescapable. And this is a wave we are witnessing.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has been quietly acquiring space credentials through his impressive Blue Origin company. He is building a rocket to rival the Falcon Heavy that he calls New Glenn. He’s even got one on the drawing board that’s bigger still called New Armstrong.
The ambition is the same as SpaceX. So is the cost model. That is, to create something that is considerably cheaper than the public sector can deliver with its burdensome oversight and its (politically driven) distributed manufacturing methods.
After all, it is in part the cost of access to space that has slowed the pace of exploration since the Apollo era.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39115201

Doris Roberts of 'Raymond's' has died

2016-04-18T20:15:00.002-07:00

Doris Roberts of 'Raymond's' has died

April 18, 2016

Doris Roberts, celebrated for her portrayal of a loving but meddling mom on Everybody Loves Raymond, died Sunday.
Roberts' son, Michael Cannata, confirmed the news in a statement issued Monday that says his mother "died peacefully in her sleep of natural causes."
The 90-year-old actress, whose celebrated career spanned six decades, won four Emmys for her portrayal of Marie Barone on the top-rated, long-running CBS comedy series (1996-2005). She won an Emmy earlier in her career for supporting actress for her role on NBC's medical drama St. Elsewhere.
Raymond star Ray Romano remembered the actress who played his title character's mother in a statement: "Doris Roberts had an energy and a spirit that amazed me. She never stopped. Whether working professionally or with her many charities, or just nurturing and mentoring a young, green comic trying to make it as an actor, she did it all with such a grand love for life and people and I will miss her dearly."

On Raymond, Roberts' Marie was a loving, sometimes smothering and often all-knowing (at least in her own mind) presence in the home of son Raymond and his wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton), who did not always appreciate Marie's interference. The late Peter Boyle played Marie's husband, Frank, and Brad Garrett played Raymond's brother, Robert, who always felt that he played second fiddle to the coddled Raymond.
Roberts, who was born in St. Louis and grew up in New York, was a veteran of Broadway before starring in various films and TV series during an illustrious acting career that began in the 1950s. Her stage credits include The Desk Set, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers and Bad Habits, for which she won an Outer Critics Circle Award.

Besides Raymond, Roberts had memorable roles in other TV series, including Remington Steele and Angie. Early in her career, she appeared on such classic shows as The Naked City and Ben Casey and more recently she was featured in ABC's Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and The Middle, which stars Heaton.
Roberts' feature film roles include Barefoot in the Park (1967), The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) and Madea's Witness Protection (2012).
Roberts' passion for cooking was reflected in her 2005 book, Are You Hungry, Dear? Life, Laughs and Lasagna, which she co-wrote with Danielle Morton.
In addition to son Michael, Roberts is survived by her daughter-in-law, Jane, and three grandchildren: Kelsey, Andrew and Devon Cannata.

Hope Solo arrested on domestic violence allegations involving sister, nephew

2014-06-21T22:07:00.001-07:00

Hope Solo

Hope Solo, the goalkeeper on the U.S. women’s soccer team, was arrested for allegedly assaulting two of her relatives after a dispute broke out early Saturday morning during a party at her suburban Seattle home.

Police answered a 911 call from the Kirkland, Wash., home Solo shares with her husband Jerramy Stevens and arrested her for allegedly striking her sister and teenage nephew. Solo, according to police, appeared “intoxicated and upset” and her nephew, 17, and adult sister had visible injuries. “There was a big party going on at her house. It was an out-of-control situation,” Kirkland police Lt. Mike Murray told the Seattle Times. Solo, 32, was being held without bail in South King County Jail on two charges of domestic violence assault in the fourth degree. Listed under her married name, Hope Amelia Stevens, she is to appear Monday in Kirkland Municipal Court.

Solo married Stevens, a former NFL player for the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in November 2012, shortly after he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Solo, but charges were never brought because there was insufficient evidence. Solo, who has played on two Olympic gold-medal winning teams, appeared as a contestant on ABC television’s “Dancing with the Stars” in 2011.

Kirkland police released details of her arrest (via the Times):

    On June 21st 2014 and just before 1:00 am, Kirkland Police Department Patrol Units responded to a 911 call of a disturbance in the 10600 block of 124th AVE NE. The male caller stated that a female at the residence was “hitting people” and they could not get her to stop or to leave the house. Officer arrived and immediately heard the sounds of the disturbance inside the residence.

    They entered and contacted several persons; one being Hope A Stevens (Solo) who appeared intoxicated and upset. As officers made contact, they observed visible injuries on Solo’s 17-year-old nephew and on Solo’s sister. After receiving statements of the persons involved, Officers determined that Solo was the primary aggressor and had instigated the assault.

    Solo was arrested on 2 counts of Domestic Violence Assault 4th Degree and booked into the south King County detention facility (SCORE). Solo will have a mandatory court appearance Monday June 23rd at the Kirkland Municipal Court, with the time yet to be determined.

The Seattle Reign, for whom Solo plays, said in a statement: “We are aware of the situation regarding Hope Solo and are currently gathering information. We have no further comments at this time.”

Jeremy Meeks: Alleged Felon’s Mug Shot Goes Viral On Facebook

2014-06-20T07:57:00.003-07:00

Jeremy Meeks, 30, could’ve never guessed that thousands of women would share, like and comment on his mugshot on the Stockton PD’s Facebook page — but that’s exactly what happened after he was arrested! In one of the weirdest stories so far this summer, Jeremy — teardrop tattoo and all — has become a well-known face overnight.

In the Stockton PD’s Facebook post, they detailed Jeremy as one of their day’s arrests: “Jeremy Meeks, a 30 year old man, convicted felon, arrested for felony weapon charges,” part of the post attached to Jeremy’s photo read.
The Stockton Police caught Jeremy as part of their Operation Ceasefire enforcement mission. The criminal sweep was a multi-agency task force that included the Stockton PD Gang Violence Suppression Unit, Community Response Team, County Wide Gang Task Force and nine other organizations, including the FBI, according to the department’s Facebook page.
While the fact that Jeremy was arrested by the hard-working police department for an alleged crime is VERY serious, the comments on his Facebook mug shot are simply hilarious.

Jeremy Meeks’ is the guy that women have been swooning over ever since his mugshot went viral on June 18. Here are five things you must know about this sexy felon.

Well, he is quite a hunk! Jeremy Meeks, 30, and his model face went viral overnight when his mugshot caught the attention of ladies around the world. HollywoodLife.com has rounded up 5 things you must know about Jeremy, the man whose gorgeous mugshot went viral! Note of caution, ladies: he’s a convicted felon, so he’s not exactly date material!

Jeremy Meeks: 5 Things To Know About The Guy Whose Mugshot Went Viral

1. He was arrested for felony weapons charges.

Jeremy was arrested on felony weapons charges on June 18 along with three other men. The police believe Jeremy was a part of an active group that is allegedly responsible for many shootings and robberies in the area, according to the Stockton Police Department Facebook page. He has also been convicted of a crime in the past.

2. He has a son, according to Facebook.

On a community Facebook page created about Jeremy, pictures surfaced of Jeremy with what seems to be his son. His mother also posted pictures of Jeremy with his on her GoFundMe page. Like Jeremy, his son is a cutie.

In a new interview, Jeremy revealed that he also has a wife.

3. His mother has started a GoFundMe page to “Free Jeremy.”

His mother, Katherine Angier, started a GoFundMe page to raise money to “Free Jeremy.” On the page, Katherine pleaded with people to donate to get him released. “Please help,” she wrote. “My son was taken into custody on his way to work. He is a working man with a son. He is being stereotyped due to old tatoos.”

4. His mother believes he’s been stereotyped because of his tattoos.

His mother also believes he’s been singled out because of his significant tattoos. “He has a job and … He was on his way to work,” she also wrote. “With no gang affiliations as per two of the charges. He has old tattoos..which causes him to be sterotyped. He’s my son and he is so sweet. Please help him to get a fair trial or else he’ll be railroaded.”

5. His picture on the Facebook page has been liked over 45,000 times!

Yes, you read that right. The picture that the Stockton Police Department posted after the arrests, and the one that’s gone viral, has been liked over 45,000 times and counting! The ladies seem to have a thing for this bad boy.

Ada Lovelace's 197th birthday on Google Doodle: First Programmer and Math Enchantress

2012-12-10T15:30:00.001-08:00

Ada Lovelace, who has been called the world's first computer programmer and the "enchantress of numbers," was honored by Google on Monday with a Google Doodle marking her 197th birthday.
If you've never heard of this mathematical pioneer, you are not alone. Megan Smith, a vice president at Google, and Lynette Webb, senior manager of external relations, write that as of last year, most people at Google hadn't heard of her either.
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace was born on December 10, 1815 in London--the daughter of Anne Isabelle Millbanke, and George Gordon Noel Byron--better known as Lord Byron, the poet.

Lovelace never had a relationship with her father. He and her mother separated when she was still an infant. Her mother, who was a mathematician herself, insisted her daughter be tutored in math and music in the hopes that Lovelace would not follow in her father's amoral footsteps.
Lovelace showed an aptitude early on for mathematics, and when she was 17, she met and befriended Charles Babbage, who is now considered the "father of the computer." She was fascinated by a contraption he was building -- the Difference Engine, one of the earliest attempts to create a machine that could calculate a series of values automatically.
Babbage never finished the Difference Engine. Before it was completed he started work on the Analytical Engine, which could be programmed using punched cards. In 1843 Babbage asked Lovelace to translate a French article about the Analytical Engine by an Italian engineer named Luigi Manabrea. While translating the article, Lovelace added copious notes of her own -- including the first step-by-step sequences of operations for solving certain mathematical problems. It was these sets of instructions that have led to her be called the first computer programmer.
Lovelace also saw potential in Babbage's machines that he may not have seen himself. As Smith and Webb write on Google's official blog, "While Babbage saw [the analytical engine] as a mathematical calculator, Ada understood it had much more potential. She realized it was, in essence, a machine that could manipulate symbols in accordance with defined rules, and -- crucially -- that there was no reason the symbols had to represent only numbers and equations. ... This was an astounding conceptual leap from calculation to computing."
"The Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves," she wrote in 1843 in a lovely synthesis of mathematics and poetry.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-ada-lovelace-google-doodle-20121210,0,1375011.story

Pacquiao vs Marquez 4: Manny Defeated in Round Six

2012-12-09T14:53:00.003-08:00

Pacquiao vs. Marquez 4 Contract: Details on Prize Fight Money and Purse

Nevermind the result of Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez 4; both sides will walk away happy. After all, their contracts ensure they'll be doing so with millions.

And in Pacquiao's case, it could be up to $30 million.

The fight, won by Marquez on a sixth-round KO, took place at MGM Grand Garden in Nevada and was expected to draw a heavy pay-per-view audience.

Pacquiao's contract with the Nevada Athletic Commission for this fight is $8.595 million. Marquez's contract is quite a bit smaller, but he's still taking away a guaranteed $3 million.

But that's just the beginning. The eventual purse for both fighters could be much, much larger.
This event was broadcast on HBO pay-per-view and was projected to garner over one million buys. The last Pacquiao-Marquez fight earned 1.3 million buys.

Pacquiao is perhaps the biggest draw in the sport, and the views reflect that.
A large chunk of Pacquiao's sum will come from his upside of the pay-per-view sales. And if it does well, Pacquiao will earn multiple millions from HBO.

Add that to his potential earning from the international broadcast of the fight and Pacquiao is easily projected to clear the $25-million barrier. Marquez is also expected to receive a significant sum from pay-per-view sales.

Saturday, December 8th was the Pacquiao vs Marquez 4 fight, broadcast on HBO's Pay-Per-View service, so obviously, not everyone got a chance to watch the event. The fight happened at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Manny Pacquaio had won the two most recent meetings with Juan Manuel Marquez, and this was their fourth time facing off.

This fourth match-up of two great fighters is an exciting one for fans, and in the day of modern, instant technology people are able to watch it live via pay-per-view as it happens, if they are not able to get tickets or make a trip to Las Vegas. But HBO is charging ridiculous rates for these fights (around $50), which could be considered a fair price for actual seats in the arena at the MGM Grand.
The fight results were a surprise to many, with Pacquaio being knocked out in the sixth round at 2:59. Below is a link to the video highlights of the fight, as well as a recap of the event, round-by-round.

Round One: Pacquiao starts out strong, aggressively taking the fight to Marquez, and lands three lefts and an uppercut for a round end score of 10-9 Pacquiao.
Round Two: Marquez misses a left hook and Pacquiao isn't as aggressive as he was being in the first round. Both are landing punches on the inside. Once again 10-9 Pacquiao.
Round Three: This is where things heat up a little. Marquez tries for a left hook but it is blocked by Pacquiao, who lands a right and a left. Marquez lands a left on the body and then another. Marquez tosses a hard overhand right that throws Pacquiao for a loop. This round 10-8 Marquez.
Round Four: Pacquiao seems to have lost the energy and aggressiveness he came out with in the first round. Marquez seems to be landing the majority of punches but the scoreboard reads 10-9 Pacquaio at the end of the round.
Round Five: Pacquiao lands a great left as the round begins, and knocks down Marquez. Both fighters throw some massive punches and amazingly they are still able to push back, even though the room must be spinning with the power of some of those blows. This round goes to Pacquiao 10-8.
Round Six: Manny Pacquaio lands a flurry of punches which Marquez survives, but then Manny has him on the ropes with punch combinations. Then, Marquez sees his opportunity and sends out a massive left punch, right after being hit hard. Pacquiao goes down, KO's at 2:59 in Round Six.
Some of the greatest fights in history have happened on HBO's Pay-Per-View service, but if they keep hiking the price up in pursuit of even more millions of dollars in revenue, people may stop watching boxing altogether. The November 13th fight between Pacquiao and Marquez generated nearly a million and a half buy-ins. You'd think with that many people paying to watch the fight, HBO could lower their prices to a reasonable rate.

Source:
http://sports.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981806062

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1438227-pacquiao-vs-marquez-4-contract-details-on-prize-fight-money-and-purse

Victoria Secret: Hottest pics of Sexy Models 2012

2012-12-07T22:53:00.001-08:00

Tonight's the night! The annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show airs Tuesday and you'll be able to witness all of the hot models and musical acts on the tube. However, we've got a sneak peek of the action, which actually went down in early November.

One of the standout Angels from the show is a seasoned Angel Miranda Kerr. It definitely wasn't her first time on the catwalk for an event like this. She strutted her stuff with big feathers and glittering jewels and the whole nine yards and didn't so much as flinch in her stilettos. Now that's talent!

The brunette wore a variety of sexy ensembles down the runway and we have pictures all of her best looks, plus shots of all the other hot ladies

It's the end of the year and time for what is possibly the sexiest fashion night on television - the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. We would be kidding ourselves if we said this was just a regular fashion show.
Mix fantasy with fashion and a dose of sexiness to come up with leggy runway models/angels showcasing the latest in glittery underwear. For those who wonder what the secret is, Victoria will defnitely be spilling it all tonight.

Tonight's show features gorgeous models, ridiculously expensive underwear featuring diamonds, glitter and wings. Whether or not your daily bedtime routine involves angel wings, diamond bras or six inch heels is not the point. The point is that somewhere tonight, in between the blackberry and the ice cream, women everywhere are going to be subjected to someone's fantasy and another's heightened insecurity - the perfectly oiled, coiffed, lingerie model on the Victoria's Secret fashion runway. Where else do women wear heavy wings, high heels and barely there underwear? If you do this regularly, then don't respond.
Tonight's show features singers, including Bruno Mars, Justin Beiber and Rihanna; and of course, the angels, including Cameron Russell, Mirander Kerr, Candice Swanepoel, Alessandra Ambriosio and many others. With themes from dangerous liasons to the circus and old world Hollywood glam, there is something for everyone; well, maybe not everyone.
Tonight's sexy spectacle promises to be another spectacular night of sexy lingerie fashion. And we will be watching of course. Only Victoria's Secret can make an overdose of glitter and rhinestones make sense on underwear. Someone had too much fun with the glue gun.

Cara Delevingne attending the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2012 held at the Lexington Armory in New York

Erin Heatherton attending the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2012 held at the Lexington Armory in New York

Miranda Kerr attending the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2012 held at the Lexington Armory in New York

Candice Swanepoel attending the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2012 held at the Lexington Armory in New York

Doutzen Kroes and Rihanna attending the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2012 held at the Lexington Armory in New York

More pics below:

Pictures Courtesy of Zimbio.com
Source:
http://www.zimbio.com/Victoria+Secret+Angels+Names+And+Pictures/articles/BWOgoecOdQw/Victoria+Secret+Models+2012+Hottest+Pictures

Jovan Belcher, Kansas City Chiefs player from Long Island, kills girlfriend and self

2012-12-01T20:11:00.001-08:00

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend Saturday morning, and minutes later, holding a gun to his head, thanked his general manager and coach before shooting himself outside the team's practice complex, authorities said.

Authorities did not release a motive for the murder-suicide, though police said that Belcher and his girlfriend, 22-year-old Kasandra M. Perkins, had been arguing recently. The two of them have a 3-month-old girl who was being cared for by family.

Belcher thanked general manager Scott Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel before pulling the trigger, police spokesman Darin Snapp said. Officers had locked down the Chiefs facility by midmorning.

The team said it would play its home game against the Carolina Panthers as scheduled on Sunday at noon local time ''after discussions between the league office, Head Coach Romeo Crennel and Chiefs team captains.''

A spokesman for the team told The Associated Press that Crennel plans to coach on Sunday.

Belcher was a 25-year-old native of West Babylon, N.Y., on Long Island, who played college ball at Maine. He signed with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2009, made the team and stayed with it for four years, moving into the starting lineup. He had played in all 11 games this season.

''The entire Chiefs family is deeply saddened by today's events, and our collective hearts are heavy with sympathy, thoughts and prayers for the families and friends affected by this unthinkable tragedy,'' Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement.

''We sincerely appreciate the expressions of sympathy and support we have received from so many in the Kansas City and NFL communities, and ask for continued prayers for the loved ones of those impacted,'' Hunt said. ''We will continue to fully cooperate with the authorities and work to ensure that the appropriate counseling resources are available to all members of the organization.''

The NFL released a statement that also expressed sympathy and said, ''We have connected the Chiefs with our national team of professional counselors to support both the team and the families of those affected. We will continue to provide assistance in any way that we can.''

Authorities reported receiving a call Saturday morning from a woman who said her daughter had been shot multiple times at a residence about five miles from the Arrowhead Stadium complex. The call came from Belcher's mother, who referred to the victim as her daughter, leading to some initial confusion.

''She treated Kasandra like a daughter,'' Snapp said. Belcher's mother, who is from New York, had recently moved in with the couple, ''probably to help out with the baby,'' Snapp said.

Police then received a phone call from the Chiefs' training facility.

''The description matched the suspect description from that other address. We kind of knew what we were dealing with,'' Snapp said. The player was ''holding a gun to his head'' as he stood in front of the front doors of the practice facility.

''And there were Pioli and Crennel and another coach or employee was standing outside and appeared to be talking to him. It appeared they were talking to the suspect,'' Snapp said. ''The suspect began to walk in the opposite direction of the coaches and the officers and that's when they heard the gunshot. It appears he took his own life.''

The coaches told police they never felt in any danger, Snapp said.

''They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they'd done for him,'' he said. ''They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything. That's when he walked away and shot himself.''

At the home of Belcher's mother on Long Island, relatives declined to talk to reporters. An SUV in the home's driveway was flying a small Kansas City Chiefs flag.

The somber mood lightened somewhat as darkness fell, with music playing and people drinking from Styrofoam cups. Belcher's family turned the front yard into a shrine, with a large poster of the player, an array of his trophies, and jerseys and jackets from Kansas City, Maine and West Babylon High.

''He was a good, good person ... a family man. A loving guy,'' said family friend Ruben Marshall, 42, who said he coached Belcher in youth football. He was stunned by the shooting and suicide. ''You couldn't be around a better person.''

At least 20 people gathered for a large group hug in the driveway.

''I still can't believe it,'' neighbor Roy Brown said. ''I don't believe it.''

Perkin's Facebook page shows the couple smiling and holding the baby.

''His move to the NFL was in keeping with his dreams,'' said Jack Cosgrove, who coached Belcher at Maine. ''This is an indescribably horrible tragedy.''

Dwayne Wilmot, who was Belcher's position coach at Maine and is now an assistant coach at Yale, said, ''He was a tremendous player and all those things, and his accolades speak for themselves, but he lit up when he spoke about his mom, or when he hugged his family after games.

''It's difficult to talk about Jovan in the past tense,'' he told the AP. ''There's going to be unanswered questions, the why's of this tragedy. It'll never be truly known to us.''

Wilmot said he'd stayed in touch with Belcher the past few years through social media.

''He was someone who took genuine pleasure in bringing happiness to others,'' Wilmot said. ''I was so excited when he became a father, because I knew he'd be a great father.''

Belcher is the latest among several players and NFL retirees to die from self-inflicted gunshot wounds in the past couple of years. The death of the beloved star Junior Seau, who shot himself in the chest at his California home last May, sent shockwaves around the league.

Seau's family, like those of other suicide victims, has donated his brain tissue to determine if head injuries he sustained playing football might be linked to his death.

Belcher did not have an extensive injury history, though the linebacker showed up on the official injury report on Nov. 11, 2009, as being limited in practice with a head injury. Belcher played four days later against the Oakland Raiders.

Earlier this year, the NFL provided a grant to help establish an independently operated phone service that connects players, coaches, team officials and other staff with counselors trained to work through personal and emotional crises. The NFL Life Line is available 24 hours a day.

Kansas City Mayor Sly James said that he spoke to Pioli after the shooting.

''I can tell you that you have absolutely no idea what it's like to see someone kill themselves,'' James said. ''You can take your worst nightmare and put someone you know and love in that situation, and give them a gun and stand three feet away and watch them kill themselves. That's what it's like.

''It's unfathomable.''

The season has been a massive disappointment for the Chiefs, who were expected to contend for the AFC West title. They're just 1-10 and mired in an eight-game losing streak marked by injuries, poor play and fan upheaval, with constant calls the past several weeks for Pioli and Crennel to be fired.

The Twitter account for a fan group known as ''Save Our Chiefs'' recently surpassed 80,000 followers, about 17,000 more than the announced crowd at a recent game. The group was organizing a ''Can Scott Pioli'' food drive for Sunday that has since been canceled.

SOURCE: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/jovan-belcher-kansas-city-chiefs-kills-self-suicide-kills-girlfriend-team-facility-120112

Sons Of Anarchy: Death Comes To SAMCRO

2012-09-25T23:37:00.000-07:00

Don't read on unless you've seen Season 5, Episode 3 of FX's "Sons of Anarchy," entitled "Laying Pipe."

I hadn't planned on writing weekly review of any show this fall -- it's just too busy for me to commit to that -- but my hope is to write about individual episodes of various shows that stand out in one way or another, and "Laying Pipe" qualifies.
The title is another example of "Sons of Anarchy's" pitch-black humor at work: Opie was, of course, killed with a length of pipe, but the term also refers to the ways in which TV shows sets up future plots and machinations. No doubt what happened in this week's hour will resonate down the line, perhaps with more deaths down the road. (What, am I stupid? Of course there will be more deaths to come, and without question the prison guard will be one of them.)
But the future's already here, in a way: We saw the effects of Opie's death in this hour. We saw Jax die a little more, we saw the light go out in his eyes even more. We saw his hardness and his misery grow until they were fused into one driven mass of pain and determination.
I was very, very hard on "Sons of Anarchy" in my Season 5 review, and I stand by what I wrote in it, but the Opie-Jax storyline in "Laying Pipe" is the kind of thing that both gives me hope and makes me crazy. It gives me hope that "SOA" is still capable of telling stories that are not so bedazzled with external manipulations and nonsensical plot gyrations that the characters seem like innocent bystanders in the middle of an overcaffeinated snarl of story threads.
My God, in that cell, Charlie Hunnam did such a fine job of selling the Rico-Ireland-cartel nonsense that I almost bought it myself. And overall, in "Laying Pipe," it really helped that the Jax-Opie-Tig-Chibs storyline was economical and focused. There was a clarity of purpose to the story that the first two episodes -- concerned as they were with re-establishing the old stories, jamming in new ones and adding moments of ultraviolence -- lacked.
But in "Laying Pipe," we had Jax and Opie, two friends who have been through so much together, losing each other in the most painful and yet the most noble way possible. Hunnam and Ryan Hurst have always been great together, and the loss of Hurst is going to be a great blow to the show. Of course, I'm not arguing that the show shouldn't kill off key characters -- Season 4 was ultimately such a misfire because it gave us a bunch of reasons that Clay should die, then the show didn't kill him off. (I'm glad Opie and I are in agreement about that.)
But this is Jax's journey, and who is Jax without Opie -- even an angry, bitter Opie -- by his side?
And what makes me crazy? The show has turned Gemma into a cartoon character, and that makes me sad, because Katey Sagal is a capable of so much more than the kind of material that she's being given these days. "SOA's" female characters don't really have arcs; their stories -- such as they are -- fit in around those of the men. The women are who the show needs them to be that season or that week, and thus their personalities go through inexplicable shifts almost week to week. Quite often "SOA" doesn't even know what to do with them, so it gives them terrible stories like Tara's abduction in Season 3 or Gemma's general tendency to keep secrets and start trouble ... well, just because.
These days, Gemma exists to stir up sh*t in the "SOA" universe, and that's about it. The stuff with Jax's kids, the stuff with Clay's prostitute (hello, Ashley Tisdale!) -- I mean, she's just a hair-pulling, one-note character these days, and Stern Tara isn't much better. It's a testament to both these actresses that they made their characters work as long as they did, but I've just grown increasingly tired of their repetitive fights and shrill shenanigans. Isn't it interesting to contemplate the fact that the show's finest season gave Gemma a prominent and well-conceived storyline? Ah, Season 2, those were the days.
But back to Opie, who was the real focus here. Here's a possibly interesting fact: Before I watched the episode, I knew that someone was going to die in "Laying Pipe," and I knew it was going to be Opie. But it didn't matter. His death still had an impact, thanks to great performances and thanks to the kind of restraint that "SOA" can still pull off: The second most memorable moment in the episode was Jax turning away from the window where Opie was being beaten, as total silence descended. There were no words or music that could convey the pain of that moment.
I'm actually glad I knew that Opie was going to be the one who died; it made me appreciate Hurst's performance all the more. I think Opie decided early on in that episode, around the time of his confrontation in the cell with Jax, that he would be the one to sacrifice himself. He had nothing left to live for -- what kind of father would he be to his kids, as broken as he was by this point -- and this death would give two people (Opie and Jax) some kind of awful relief.
The most memorable moment, of course, was Opie, smiling-grimacing at Jax just before the end. Opie chose his death. Well, "SOA" chose his death, because there was really no way that Clay, Opie and Jax could sit around that table this season.

Bank of America website downtime issue prolonged

2012-09-19T23:06:00.002-07:00

Bank of America

Bank of America's website

was sluggish and intermittently unavailable for many users on Tuesday, in an outage that the bank hadn't explained by the end of the day.
Bank of America spokesman Mark Pipitone said the company is "working to ensure full availability," and that online banking is available "although some customers may experience occasional slowness."

The majority of Bank of America's customers were able to access the site, which remained online throughout the day, Pipitone said. Still, many customers were unable to connect because of the site's slowness.
Data from Keynote, a testing and monitoring company, showed that the problems began around 10 a.m. ET and were still ongoing as of 6:10 p.m.

"It's possible that something Bank of America has done on its end, some kind of change, caused the problem," said Aaron Rudger, Keynote's senior marketing manager of Web performance. The bank's homepage looked different before the trouble began, he said.

As of about 6 p.m. Tuesday, Rudger said, a "small percentage" of website requests were being fulfilled successfully, but the majority were still met with errors.

On Wednesday morning, Rudger said that the bank appeared to have "rolled out some change that improved the situation and modestly reduced the long time-out failures" on Tuesday night. By mid-morning on Wednesday, Keynote's data showed the site's performance had stabilized.

If the problem is indeed due to system updates that Bank of America rolled out, it wouldn't be the first time. The bank experienced nearly a full week of outages in October 2011, and later explained that the problems stemmed from a combination of technical difficulties and heavier than normal traffic. The bank had been migrating its online banking to a new platform and deploying new tools for customers when the problems began.

On blogs and Twitter, some hacker groups were claiming responsibility for the outage. But there was no evidence to support those claims, and several recent ones turned out to be hoaxes.

Earlier this month, a person affiliated with the hacktivist collective Anonymous said the group took down the web hosting service GoDaddy, and in June the group UGNazi claimed responsibility for downing Twitter. Both outages were later revealed to be technical issues.

"I can assure you we continuously take proactive measures to secure our systems," Bank of America's spokesman said in response to a question about whether the company had seen any signs on Tuesday of a cyberattack.

LIVE: NFL menu offers 13 games in first Sunday of season

2012-09-09T17:53:00.003-07:00

8:10 p.m.: Thanks for hanging with us. Enjoy Peyton Manning's return tonight vs. the Steelers.

8:01 p.m. (Cardinals 20, Seahawks 16): Kevin Kolb comes off the bench to throw the winning TD to Andre Roberts with 5 minutes to go as the Cards overcome the loss of John Skelton (and the replacement refs?) to beat their division rivals.

7:56 p.m. (Refs losing control?): It seems the referees lost track of the timeouts in the Arizona-Seattle game and may have given the Seahawks an extra timeout. Keep an eye on this one.

7:52 p.m. (49ers 30, Packers 22): NFC Championship Game preview? The Niners survived Green Bay's fourth-quarter charge and showed more offensive diversity in winning at Lambeau Field for the first time in more than two decades. Alex Smith matches Aaron Rodgers with two TD passes.

7:30 p.m. (Buccaneers 16, Panthers 10): Tampa Bay wins its debut under new coach Greg Schiano in workmanlike fashion. The Bucs' revitalized defense picked off Cam Newton twice and held him to 4 rushing yards. On the flip side, Tampa rookie RB Doug Martin (a.k.a. Ray Rice South) ran for 95 yards and Josh Freeman threw a TD pass to Mike Williams.

7:24 p.m. (Skelton out): After losing the Cardinals quarterback competition this summer, Kevin Kolb is back at the helm after John Skelton was carted off the field with a right leg injury. Kolb led the Cards right down the field and fired a go-ahead TD pass against Seattle.

7:15 p.m. (Panthers also clawing back): Carolina has come out flat today, but a Justin Medlock FG has them within 16-10 even as the clock ticks below the 3-minute mark. Credit the Bucs and new HC Greg Schiano, who are turning around a defense that allowed a league-worst 494 points in 2011.
7:10 p.m. (Pack clawing back): Randall Cobb's 75-yard punt return for a TD (and a subsequent two-point conversion) has Green Bay within 23-15 after getting outclassed by the 49ers all day.

6:56 p.m. (PHOTOS): Take a spin around this photo gallery for Week 1 highlights.

6:47 p.m. (Photo of Davis blowing the dunk): TE Vernon Davis caught a 4-yard TD pass from Alex Smith to give the 49ers a 23-7 third-quarter lead at Lambeau. But good thing the Niners didn't need Davis to go for two ... because he blew the post-TD dunk attempt over the crossbar. We hope to bring you the video later.

6:40 p.m. (Video of Brady's broken nose): If you missed Titans DE Kamerion Wimbley re-arranging the face of Patriots QB Tom Brady earlier in the afternoon, here's the evidence ... much to Gisele's chagrin.

6:10 p.m. (Record-tying field goal): K David Akers' 63-yard FG at the halftime gun gave the 49ers a 16-7 lead at Green Bay. Akers boot bounced straight up off the crossbar before falling over for three points, tying the previous marks of Tom Dempsey, Jason Elam, and Sebastian Janikowski.

6:09 p.m. (Jets' Scott flips script on reporters): Everybody in the Jets' locker room was smiling after Sunday's 48-28 whipping of the Bills. Everyone except LB Bart Scott, who was steaming, then venting about the Jets being portrayed by a New York newspaper as a summer-long circus.

"I've got a media mutiny,'' Scott said when approached by USA TODAY Sports at his MetLife Stadium locker.

You mean a media boycott?

"Yeah, a boycott.''

Can you explain why?

"You guys treat us like we're a (bleeping) joke,'' the 32-year-old defensive leader said. "You all want us to feed your papers, but then you all talk (bleep) about us. So why would I want to give you all quotes to sell papers with if you all treat us like (bleep)? That doesn't make sense. ... You all talk stuff about us and then when we win, you flip the story. You all win either way.''

So you're boycotting the media because you take exception to the circus references?

"I'm just going to be quiet,'' Scott says.

Even coming off a great all-around, season-opening team performance in all phases?

"You're all going to screw us next week or the week after, you're all going to get us eventually,'' Scott said.

5:53 p.m. (Seattle's Wilson serves up his own INT): Seahawks rookie QB Russell Wilson lofted his first career INT to end the half at Arizona (it amounted to a harmless jump ball that Cardinals S Adrian Wilson came down with, though it could have become disastrous had CB Patrick Peterson not been tackled after taking Adrian Wilson's lateral). Rookie QBs have now accounted for 11 combined INTs today: Andrew Luck (3), Ryan Tannehill (3) and Brandon Weeden (4).

5:20 p.m. (Schaub cashes in): Texans QB Matt Schaub passed for 266 yards and a TD in his first game since a Lisfranc (foot) injury ended his 2011 campaign after 10 games. But that was mere prelude to Schaub's biggest score of the day after Houston announced signing him to a contract extension. Per NFL Network's Steve Wyche, Schaub's new deal is worth up to $62 million over four years with nearly $30 million guaranteed. "We've got a tremendous organization," Schaub said, "an owner that really cares about us as players in providing an environment to win. I'm really excited about that."

5:16 p.m. (Revis hurt): It wasn't all roses for the Jets. All-pro CB Darrelle Revis suffered an apparent head injury after being accidentally kicked by teammate Bart Scott. Revis did not speak with reporters following the game.

5:11 p.m. (No Moss? not exactly): Welcome back, Randy Moss. He terrorized the Lambeau faithful again by snaring his first TD pass in two years to stake the 49ers to a 10-0 lead at Green Bay. It was Moss' 154th career TD grab, breaking his tie for second place all-time in that category with currently unemployed Terrell Owens.

5:02 p.m.: We referenced Rex Ryan's sideline collision with Bills TE Scott Chandler earlier.

4:56 p.m. (Jets 48, Bills 28): And if you haven't been reading along all day, tales of the Jets' demise and Bills' ascent in the AFC East seem to be premature for now. Jets QB Mark Sanchez passed for 266 yards and three TDs (Tim Tebow rushed five times for 11 yards) and Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was intercepted three times in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicates.

4:52 p.m. (Patriots 34, Titans 13): The defending AFC champs had little trouble handling the Titans on the road, limiting RB Chris Johnson to 4 yards on 11 carries. Tom Brady threw two TDs, and Jake Locker was forced from the game with a left shoulder injury.

4:45 p.m. (Redskins 40, Saints 32): In the stunner of the day, Redskins rookie QB Robert Griffin III outgunned the Saints and Drew Brees, handing New Orleans its first Superdome loss in two years ... a defeat that obviously stings on the heels of the franchise's Bountygate-dominated offseason. Griffin (320 passing yards, 2 TDs, 42 yards rushing) was the only first-year QB in the early games who played like a veteran. The Saints' remade defense clearly has a lot of work ahead of it.

4:41 p.m. (Eagles 17, Browns 16): Eagles QB Michael Vick atoned for his four INTs by leading his team on a 16-play, 91-yard touchdown drive for the go-ahead TD with 1:18 left. Vick capped the drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass to TE Clay Harbor. Browns rookie QB Brandon Weeden was picked off four times himself but didn't throw a TD pass.-- John Perrotto for USA TODAY Sports (@jperrotto) from Cleveland

4:36 p.m. (Bears 41, Colts 21): Colts QB Andrew Luck looked like a rookie, throwing three INTs as Indianapolis was overrun by the Bears and their new weapons. Chicago got a combined four TDs from players who weren't on the roster last year: Michael Bush (2), Brandon Marshall and rookie Alshon Jeffery.

4:32 p.m. (Vikings 26, Jaguars 23 OT): Rookie K Blair Walsh's 38-yard FG in OT put a cherry on top of RB Adrian Peterson's triumphant return. Peterson ran for 84 yards and two TDs in his first game since tearing two knee ligaments on Christmas Eve.

4:26 p.m. (Lions 27, Rams 23): In what seemed like a mismatch going in, the Lions needed aTD pass from Matthew Stafford (who overcame 3 INTs) to Kevin Smith with 10 seconds left to overcome the plucky Rams.

4:21 p.m. (Scary injury): Rams LT Rodger Saffold was carted off the field Sunday with what appeared to be a neck injury. Per AP, he crumpled to the ground after a block and didn't appear to be moving much as he was lifted into the ambulance (UPDATE: Saffold has movement in his limbs but will undergo a CT scan).

See more from the source:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2012/09/live-nfl-menu-offers-13-games-in-first-sunday-of-season/1#.UE03ua5jvYg