Arian Foster reveals hamstring MRI

The Texans — not to mention fantasy owners everywhere — are crossing their fingers that Arian Foster’s hamstring injury will heal in time for the 1,600-yard back to be ready for Week 1 against the Colts. Foster tweeted Wednesday what he said was an image of an MRI he had on the hamstring.

The MRI showed some white discoloration in the area of his right hamstring, which Foster said was “known in the medical world as anti-awesome.” Later, probably after some panicked responses from fans, Foster tweeted this:

However, injury analyst Dr. Michael Kaplan told ESPN that the MRI looked like “at least a mild to moderate strain, meaning he’s torn some of the muscle fibers — a Grade one to two (strain).

“There’s a fair amount of swelling and bleeding on the MRI. … It’s going to be a couple weeks at least (before he can play). If you get him back to soon, he’s at a high risk for re-rupture and you can’t take that risk. … I think it’s very unlikely (Foster is ready for Week 1).”

A timetable of “a couple weeks” or more would keep Foster on the sideline for that all-important opener vs. the Colts and possibly beyond — Houston visits Miami in Week 2, New Orleans in Week 3 and returns home to play Pittsburgh in Week 4.

We’ve already covered here how the Texans could survive without Foster, though the longer this injury drags out, the harder that becomes.

Given how tight-lipped teams can be about injuries, it’s pretty surprising that Foster revealed his MRI result to the world. For now, that’s all we have to go on regarding his health, and it does not appear overly promising.

Bill O'Reilly: Things Heat Up in Republican Precincts

By Bill O'Reilly

In a couple of weeks, the Republican campaign to unseat President Obama will be ramped up.

According to the latest polls, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is now the frontrunner, Mitt Romney second and Michele Bachmann third. At this point, those are the three candidates who seem to have a chance for the nomination. Of course, anything can happen in the bizarre world of politics.

Michele Bachmann is an ideological candidate who is handling herself very well in my opinion. Her appeal is for conservatives and fiscal independents who are simply fed up with liberal philosophy and big government spending. But at this point, the polls say that Mrs. Bachmann is a long shot.

Therefore, the race between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney becomes a headline, and there are reports that the two men don't like each other very much.

On Tuesday, Gov. Romney spoke to the VFW in San Antonio, Texas:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, I'm a conservative businessman. I spent most of my life outside politics dealing with real problems in the real economy. Career politicians got us into this mess, and they simply don't know how to get us out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Some believe that was a veiled shot at Rick Perry, who is a career politician.

What separates the two governors is, again, ideology. Mr. Perry is more conservative than Mr. Romney, and he often uses spirituality in his presentations. Mr. Romney is running as America's CEO, a man who has succeeded in private business and who knows how to handle the free marketplace. Gov. Perry is pretty much running on that as well, showcasing Texas as an economic success story.

The truth is that both Romney and Perry have many things in common, including good hair, and both of them would offer a tough challenge to Barack Obama. At this point, it is impossible to say which man has the most going for him. Even though Gov. Perry leads in the polls, he is untested in debate and Americans don't know very much about him. Gov. Romney has big-name recognition, but many conservatives are suspicious of him -- not a good thing in Republican primaries.

Right now "Talking Points" believes the Perry-Romney battle is a toss-up and could go either way depending on how the candidates perform in the upcoming debates.

So as they like to say in Texas, there will be a high noon between these two men, a verbal shoot-out that will leave just one standing.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

As you may know, former Vice President Dick Cheney has a book out, and, of course, the late-night guys sense an easy target.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Dick Cheney's new book is out. It comes out tomorrow. This is Dick Cheney's new book. It's right here. It's called "Torture in the Rye." You don't want to miss it.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON": In a recent interview, Dick Cheney said that his new memoir will have "heads exploding in D.C." Yes, especially if you read it while you're on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney.

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Dick says that the reason he wrote the memoir is because friends encouraged him to do it. What? This guy has friends?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

You know, fellows, it's just too easy. You're pinheads for being predictable.

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Chick-Fil-A Offers Reservations for a Free Breakfast

Stake your claim now for a free breakfast item during this year's Chick-Fil-A For Breakfast promotion

Are you the kind of Chick-Fil-A fanatic who’s prone to showing up dressed like a cow for the sake of a free chicken biscuit? Or are you a newcomer, curious to see what Chick-Fil-A has to offer but not quite sold enough to commit to costumes? Or do you just need a little something special to get you through the doldrums of a new school year? Throughout the first week of September, the chicken-centric fast food chain is rolling out its annual promotion that should appeal to all three of these demographics: the Chick-Fil-A For Breakfast reservation campaign.

The premise couldn’t be simpler:

1.Find your nearest location at the Chick-Fil-A for Breakfastmicrosite.
2.Make your reservation and print it.
3.Show up at your agreed-upon hour with that printed reservation.
4.Collect free Chick-Fil-A breakfast item!

You’re not even limited to the standard chicken biscuit – this year, the chain is pretty much giving its fans the run of the breakfast menu, from a spicy chicken biscuit or Chick-N-Minis to the ultra-fancy chicken, egg, and cheese on a sunflower multigrain bagel. You can even pick up a multigrain oatmeal bowl, if that’s what you’re into.

So, when is this all going down exactly? Reservations are for September 6 through September 10, but it’s probably within your best interests to stake your claim now – reservations have only just become available, but time slots are quickly filling up and the site has even crashed throughout the morning due to traffic. It’s much ado about one little chicken sandwich (or burrito if you like), but ardent Chick-Fil-A fans would argue that it’s absolutely worth it.

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile To Reportedly Put $100 Million More Into Isis

Look to get more competitive against Google

Back in November, we told you about a joint venture between AT&T and Verizon Wireless (it also includes T-Mobile, which AT&T is trying to acquire) on a mobile payments network. The offering, called Isis, allows users to pay for purchases from their smartphones.

Now, Isis is getting a new injection of funds to the tune of $100 million from the three mobile carriers, as it aims to take on Google Wallet, according to a report from Bloomberg.

“Our mobile commerce network, through relationships with merchants, will provide an enhanced, more convenient, more personalized shopping experience for consumers,” Isis CEO Michael Abbott said back when it was announced.

“While mobile payments will be at the core of our offering, it is only the start,” he said at the time. “We plan to create a mobile wallet that ultimately eliminates the need for consumers to carry cash, credit and debit cards, reward cards, coupons, tickets and transit passes.”

Google introduced Google Wallet in May as an app that turns your phone into your wallet:



“A key benefit to retailers will be the integration of coupons, or offers, into Google Wallet. We’ve been testing a variety of offers – from discounts directly within search ads to check-in offers to offers in Google Places,” said Google Director of Commerce Partnerships, Spencer Spinnell. “Over time, consumers will be able to save each of these offers directly to their Google Wallet. That means consumers will get the benefit of carrying their offers with them at all times, bringing retailers targeted foot traffic.”

With Google trying to acquire Motorola Mobility, it will be quite interesting to see how all of this plays out. Remember that Google Wallet will likely be integrated with Google Offers and Google+.

DTS, LG Partner to Launch 3D Phone

DTS Inc. recently partnered with Korean mobile manufacturer LG Electronics tto develop its latest 3D smartphone LG Optimus (LG-P920).

The smartphone, which has debuted in Korea, is scheduled to release in more than 60 countries in the second half of 2011. The latest device is equipped with DTS’ high-performance audio technology and is supported by the tri-dual architecture.

The “tri-dual” configuration boosts performance, leveraging its dual-core, dual-channel and dual-memory architecture capabilities. LG Optimus is the world’s first smartphone, which can be used without the help of a 3D glass.

LG integrated DTS’ audio decoding (or DTS Digital Surround) technology into the latest smartphone. The integration of DTS technology in LG products is the latest milestone in the growth of DTS, which is quickly becoming a household name in the home entertainment arena.

The integration of DTS Inc. technologies with mobile manufacturing companies will be incrementally beneficial for the company as it would gain significant traction in the mobile and tablet market space. As the demand for mobile devices increase, the company would cater to more manufacturers and thus increase its revenue.

With the competition heating up in the mobile and tablet space, product quality and audio-visual experience along with innovations and affordability will be the key factors in determining market share. In this scenario, the onus lies with the manufacturing companies to combine the technologies so that consumers can easily stream content from their phones and enjoy superior sound quality.

Moreover, DTS has partnerships with a number of other companies such as Pantech and Chinese manufacturers such as Changhong, Skyworth, Hisense, Haier, TLC and Konka, which will drive growth. The company’s existing partnerships with the Internet Protocol television (IPTV) operators in the broadcast market will also boost top-line growth and expand their business going forward, in our view.

Daryl Hannah arrested in White House oil protest

Actress Daryl Hannah is arrested by U.S. Park Police in front of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011, during a protest against the Keystone oil pipeline. (Credit: AP)

(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - Actress Daryl Hannah was arrested in front of the White House on Tuesday while protesting a planned oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The sit-in Tuesday involved Hannah and dozens of others protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. It would go through six states to refineries in Texas.

"We stand here today to just say no to slavery, to just say no to tar, sands, oil, and no to the Keystone pipeline," Hannah said during the protest, according to CNN.

Before she was arrested, Hannah told The Associated Press the protesters want to be free from dependence on fossil fuels. The group calls for clean energy investments instead. Hannah says they hope President Barack Obama will not bow to oil lobbyists.

Hannah sat down on the sidewalk near the White House and refused orders from U.S. Park Police to move. More than 70 people were arrested during the Tar Sand Action protest, according to Reuters.

The actress, whose film credits include "Splash" and the "Kill Bill" franchise, has been arrested in the past for environmental causes.

Boy Proves Heaven is Real!

Colton Burpo's story was told here on NBC Today and was also on NBC Dateline tonight, August 29.

Sam Bradford makes a girl cry

Sam Bradford makes a girl cry after he signs her enormous marriage proposal

Dancing With The Stars Reveals Potential Cast List

Dancing With The Stars
Tom Bergeron (“America’s Funniest Home Videos”) along with Brooke Burke co-host the live unveiling of the new 2011 all-star cast list. Stay tuned at 8PM ET/PT. “Dancing with the Stars” is the hit tv series where celebrities participate in choreographed dance routines. They are then evaluated by 3 distinguished ball room judges: Len Goodman and dancer/choreographers Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba. The viewers also has a hand in choosing the winners.

DWTS Schedule
The spectacular celebrity cast for the new season of “Dancing with the Stars” will be reported live on ABC, MONDAY, AUGUST 29, during “Bachelor Pad.” On TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, there’ll be two hours of original programming. Beginning with “Dancing with the Stars: Meet the Cast” (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). Accompanied by the premiere of “Dancing with the Stars the Results Show” (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET).

Who’s Rumored To Boogie
“Dancing with the Stars” 2011 Season 13 cast members are now being leaked slowly. This is merely speculation so don’t get too excited just yet. Rumor has it that CNN’s Nancy Grace will be competing. Chaz Bono is Cher and Sonny daughter Chastity, that has had sex reassignment surgery is joining DWTS and will be dancing with Karina Smirnof. David Arquette actor soon to ex husband to Courney Cox. Rob Kardashian is Kim Kardashian’s brother and his mother is Kris Jenner who will be sitting in as a guest host on “Today” sometime within October and fill in for “The Talk” celeb Sharon Osbourne, who’s taking a short vacation to be with spouse and children. Jenner’s position with “The Talk” won’t be long term. Hope Solo is goalkeeper for the U.S. women’s soccer team.

A Few More Possibilities
Sheri Shepherd is from “The View” and also the host on “The Newlywed Game” plus newly married herself. Christina Milian actress, singer and ex-wife of record producer The Dream Kristin Cavallari “The Hills” actress also ex-fiancee of Jay Cutler Chicago Bears quarterback. Ron Artest a Los Angeles Laker forward, that is rumored to be a poor dancer, his wife is also on “Basketball Wives LA”. J.R. Martinez actor on ABC’s “All My Children” and Iraq war veteran. Ryan O’Neal, actor and reality star “Ryan & Tatum: The O’Neals” the late Farrah Fawcett’s long time significant other. Ricki Lake actress and newly engaged. Chynna Phillips singer daughter to The Mamas & the Papas’ bandmates John and Michelle Phillips.

This is all speculation and gossip, so don’t tattoo the names on your body just yet. This will be a new interesting season regardless of who makes the list or gets kicked off. They will be naming the new cast tonight on ABC. So, stay close to your television or computer. The season officially starts September 20.

PPL: Restoring power after Irene a 'multi-day" effort

Tens of thousands of residents remain without power Sunday and could remain in the dark for several days as utility crews rush to repair what they say is one of the worst storms to hit the area in the past 20 years.

At the peak of the outages Sunday afternoon, about 53,000 Met-Ed and PPL customers in Monroe and Pike counties were without power. By 5 p.m., that number dropped to 40,000.

“We are looking at a multiple day restoration process,” said PPL Electric Utilities spokesman Kurt Blumenau. “We are also not issuing localized restoration times because we are still getting our arms around how much damage is out there.”

At 10 a.m., about 200,000 PPL customers were without power throughout the company's 29-county service territory, including more than 25,000 customers in Lancaster and Berks counties and more than 17,000 in the Harrisburg and Cumberland Valley area.

In a statement, PPL said Irene will rank among one of the worst storms to hit its service area in the past 20 years.
Met-Ed had more than 150,000 residents across Pennsylvania without power Sunday afternoon.

“Since the winds are still kicking up, the potential for additional outages remains, but we have more than 3,000 people out working to restore power in Pennsylvania and New Jersey,” said Met-Ed spokesman Scott Surgeoner.

Conditions like downed trees and overflowing streams and creeks made it impossible for utilities crews to quickly reach some areas, Surgeoner said.

Thar She Blew: Hurricane Irene Leaves Millions In The Dark

A typical scene. A downed tree in coastal Massachusetts. Power might not be restored to southern New England until the end of the week, according to power company National Grid.


The East Coast was long overdue for a hurricane, and they got it.

The biggest Eastern hurricane of the decade, according to meteorologists from Atlanta to Boston, finally weakened early Sunday morning as it made land fall in southern New England after soaking New York. Power outages and transportation delays promise to make for a slow recovery to business as usual on Monday. A number of schools are already delaying the first day of classes, scheduled for Monday in Providence, Rhode Island’s capital city. New York city airports will resume operations later in the day, so Monday morning business travel will be delayed.

Heavy rain hit coastal Massachusetts first at 01:00 and then remained calm for two more hours before another downpour hit the south around 03:00. Strong winds arrived by 05:30, enough to knock out power before most people got out of bed Sunday morning.

Winds were coming in around 55 miles per hour in southern Massachusetts, with the heaviest winds along Horseneck Beack, Newport and Westerly, RI on the Conn border. By the time Hurricane Irene hit New England, it had already weakened to a tropical storm, which is what locals were expecting by Saturday. Still, 50mph sustained winds is enough to break tree limbs and cause coastal flooding, other than knocking out power.

Several people did not take their boats out off the water at the Westerly Yacht Club, which was flooded by early morning and being bombarded with heavy rain, high winds and even a tornado warning. The warning was lifted around 10:20. Local beach bars along Misquamicut Beach saw roof damage at the outset of the storm.

Over 147,000 people had lost power by 09:45 in Rhode Island and 40,000 in Massachusetts with electric power officials saying that number would triple before the end of the day. Working conditions for power companies was difficult due to high winds early in the day, according to National Grid. Later in the day, Massachusetts residents without power rose to 400,000 due to power line damage.

Hurricane barriers from Narragansett to Providence were all closed with no flooding reported in the city, but numerous trees were down throughout southern New England, blocking the roads. “It doesn’t take much for a tree full of wet leaves to go over in 40 mile an hour winds,” said RI meteorologist Steve Caccione.

Mike Lewis, direct of the RI Department of Transportation, told people to stay off the roads, especially off the high Newport and Jamestown bridges. The bridges were open, but covered in fog. Several large trees have been knocked down in Newport. Wind gusts were reported as high as 70 mph.

Dave Samuel, WPRO 630 AM radio meteorologist, said the storm will likely subside by early evening. The bulk of the storm is west of coastal New England. Sunny and dry weather is forecast for the next four days with temperatures in the high 70s, Samuel said.

The bulk of Irene’s rain and wind will be felt in western New England, far from the coasts and major cities, but enough to cause travel disruptions and make it that much longer before power is restored statewide in the region, National Grid spokesman said.

On Saturday in Newport, RI, surfers were out in full force as eight foot swells rolled in after noon. Police and fire officials monitored the coastline all day, and shortly after 18:00 police and fire officials ordered a mandatory evacuation of the seaside resort town by midnight.

In New York, water had started flowing into lower Manhattan by 09:30 from the East River and flowing towards Wall Street. Three million customers from North Carolina to Connecticut are without power, ABC News Radio reported.

The East Coast will be open for business on Monday, but not everyone will be back to work.

The storm is likely not to go down as one of the most vicious in the northeast and in New England in particular. However, it will take days for business to get back to normal due to transportation and airport shut downs since Saturday, and power outages across the area.

Further south, in Nags Head, North Carolina, Anne Compton of ABC News said Sunday on ABC affiliate WPRO that, “The evacuation took tremendous pressure off the first responders here. The roads are empty of tourists,” she said.

Irene: Hurricane Storm Tracker and Weather Channel Overload?

Storm tracker: Sites for following hurricanes
http://cnet.co/nrs9Ip

ATLANTA, GA - Finding a balance between getting information out in order to warn people and giving too much information is a fine line that modern media corporations need to walk during large events like Hurricane Irene. With too much hype, hysteria in NYC, Philadelphia and Jersey may be the result. On the other hand, with too little preparation, lots of people can get into trouble.

Hurricane Katrina is still on the minds of many people. The federal government has ran tests preparing for an event such as this, and warning the public is probably one of the best things that can be done so that people prepare. That is, unless they go overboard and people begin to panic and go into a frenzy.

With mass transportation being shut down in New York City this weekend, it is obvious that the government at all levels is taking Hurricane Irene seriously. That is not to say that Fox News, The Weather Channel and other news and information outlets may have hyped the storm a bit too much. With the storm still heading inland and the weekend not over yet, the nation hopes it's not that bad but are ready if it is.

From social networks like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter to new technologies like texting and email, it has never been easier to keep in touch - when the power stays on. While the storm crawls up the east coast, many people are hoping that the damage is not too bad. Preparation is good and there is something to be said about getting the information out days before the storm hit.

Governor Christie telling people to "get the hell off the beach" was played over and over Friday by The Weather Channel and other news organizations.

In a way, Governor Christie summed up the feeling of many people who were watching people at the beach in New York enjoying a wonderful Friday afternoon.

The New Yorker asked residents to make sure they are prepared, but turn off the Weather Channel and make sure they aren't caught up in the hype.

As the storm continues to do real damage to property along the coast line, the preparations and warnings will be put to the test as America faces a large weather event.

Loyal Dog

A man's best friend shows emotion to the presence of his master at his funeral service. music by Harold Britton titled "canon" composed by Johann Pachelbel,( very short video looped for emphasis).

During the funeral service of Navy Seal hero Jon Tumilson, his loyal dog Hawkeye lays down with a sigh near his casket.

Jon Tumilson, a Navy SEAL, was one of 30 Americans killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 6 when a rocket-propelled grenade took out a U.S. Chinook helicopter. He was mourned at a service in Rockford, Iowa, attended by 1,500 family members, friends--and Hawkeye, Tumilson's dog.

The Labrador retriever was such an important part of Tumilson's life that the friends and family of the San Diego resident called the dog his "son."

When Tumilson's friend Scott Nichols walked to the front of the room to speak, Hawkeye followed, Today.com reports. "As Nichols prepared to memorialize his friend, Hawkeye dutifully laid down near the casket".

Irene slams N.C. coast ; N.J braces for flooding from Cat 1 storm

Hurricane Irene slammed into North Carolina Saturday morning near Cape Lookout with winds clocking 90 mph after battering the Carolina coast.

The storm blew a large tree limb onto a Nashville, N.C., man, killing him, officials said. Nashville is 150 miles inland from Nags Head, N.C., on the coastal Outer Banks.

Meanwhile, thousands of people have lost power as the storm heads up the East Coast. Shortly after Irene made landfall near Cape Lookout, N.C., forecasters said Irene’s winds had dropped to 85 mph.

---For live updates, go to:
http://topics.gannett.com/hurricaneupdates/?template=thetowntalk

Bearing down on New Jersey
Hurricane Irene, now a Category 1 storm, is expected to pass very close to the New Jersey coast late tonight into Sunday morning, with gusts to 80 mph, dangerous flooding and severe beach erosion expected, according to the National Weather Service.

“I think there’s still a formidable coastal threat,” said David A. Robinson, the New Jersey state climatologist at Rutgers University. “There’s certainly (a) formidable wind threat, and I’m absolutely concerned about inland flooding.”

The storm is expected to be almost at Sandy Hook by 8 a.m. Sunday, meaning it will be moving faster than forecast Friday, he said.

That means the tide will be rising as the hurricane is coming up the coast, with winds shifting to the northwest in South Jersey by high tide, he said.

“So it’s probably better news for South Jersey than North Jersey,” he said. The timing now is “certainly not favoring the north Jersey coast,” he said.

Meanwhile, a tornado watch is in effect until 8 p.m. today in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties, according to the weather service.

Isolated tornadoes are possible near the coast and on the Delmarva Peninsula through this evening, according to the weather service.

Residents are being told to get out of low-lying bayside neighborhoods in the southernmost Ocean County towns of Eagelswood, Tuckerton and Little Egg Harbor, along with neighboring Bass River.

'Girls can play guitar,' says Lita Ford, heading to Soaring Eagle with Whitesnake, Tesla

When the Runaways first hit the national scene in the 1970s, breaking down walls for the rocking females to come, Lita Ford was all of 16.

“And I was the oldest in the band,” she said, breaking into a dry laugh. “Joan Jett was 16, too, but she was born September 22 and I was September 19.”

A lot has changed since those days — most people now know Ford plays her own guitar — but one thing remains the same. When it comes to rock ’n’ roll, she still lets loose with a throaty “Yeah, it’s the best.”

Ford, back on the concert trail, performs Saturday, Aug. 27, with Whitesnake and Tesla at Mount Pleasant’s Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort. And when she’s not traveling, she’s in the studio, putting the final touches on an album she said is pure Lita.

“Recording has changed so much; it’s easier now,” she said. “You just have to get in the groove. Touring has changed, too, and the way you sell records. Everything is online now.

“Everyone’s moving into other things, too. There’s a book out for everybody.”

Ford almost did a reality show for TLC, too, but it fell apart before they closed the deal.

“We’ll get it next time around, when we have something different and new,” she said.

Her career is one for reality TV, beginning with the pioneering Runaways.

“It was really hard for me, when we broke up after five years together, to establish myself,” Ford remembered. “I had to go to such extremes because no one would take me seriously as a guitarist.”

With a quick laugh, she added, “I was always in my hot pants and (lead singer) Cherie Currie was running around in her underwear, so I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they didn’t look on us as musicians.”

But she set out to change that, pulling together a three-piece band — bass, drums and guitar — that would leave no doubt on who was making the music. And she was rockin’ hard, moving into metal.

“I wanted all the attention,” she said. “I wanted people to say, ‘Gee, it really is her.’ I had to prove to the fans that girls can play guitar.”

It was another story with fellow musicians — “They knew me personally, and we played together somewhere along the line,” she said. “But fans were devastated. ‘She’s doing what? She can’t do that!’ Please, oh, yes, I can. You’re looking right at it.”

“Gotta Let Go” and “Kiss Me Deadly,” named one of the best hard-rock songs ever by VH1, were convincing evidence, and collaborations with Meatloaf on “I’d Do Anything For Love,” and Ozzy Osbourne on “Close My Eyes Forever” furthered her exposure.

“Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne fed off each other and it as wonderful for both of them,” Ford said. “I thought she was fantastic, and I asked if she would be my manager.

“I was sitting on the Queen Mary, where it’s docked now in California, with all these little restaurants and oyster bars inside, and I gave her a call. It was crazy, I already had everything in place, I had signed with RCA, but I just wanted her to fill those shoes.”

Ford made the call — “Sharon was a very powerful lady but I figured the worst that could happen is that she’d hang up on me,” she said — and Osbourne answered with a drawled out, “Yes, of course.”

“I celebrated on the spot with my oysters and Bloody Marys,” Ford said.

In the years since, she’s blazed the trails for many more women, in music and out. Bands from The Donnas and Bikini Kill to the Bangles and the Go-Gos built their careers on the foundation Ford built in the business.

“I"m really proud of people who can stand up and follow their dreams, and if I was part of the soundtrack, well, that’s what it’s all about. Go for it, girl!”

That’s just what she did nearly 15 years ago, when she was pregnant with her first son.

“I wanted to devote myself to being a mom,” she remembered. “I had been touring so long — I started on the guitar when I was 11 and I was 38 then —and I decided, after 27 years, it was time to disappear.”

A second son came along, and now, she said, “they’re at the point where they don’t need me hanging around all the time,” she said. “And I missed rock ‘n’ roll. It’s still great, and there are still people who don’t get it.

“But when I get out there, yeah, it’s the best!”

'Bizarre' Tribute to Condoleezza Rice .

Moammar Gadhafi's apparent fascination with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lives on.

Among items Libyan rebels found in Moammar Gadhafi's ransacked Bab al-Aziziya compound this week was a photo album filled with shots of former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, according to Associated Press reports and photos.

The find follows a history of admiring remarks by the Libyan leader. In interviews during President George W. Bush's administration, he repeatedly referred to her as his "African Queen."

"I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders. ... Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. ... I love her very much," Col. Gadhafi said in a 2007 interview with Al Jazeera.

Col. Gadhafi went out of his way to make a good impression on Ms. Rice during her 2008 visit to Tripoli, a milestone in U.S.-Libyan relations. The self-proclaimed Brother Leader and King of Africa showered her with more than $200,000 in jewelry, according to Ms. Rice's former aides, and invited her into his private kitchen to celebrate the end of fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. He presented Ms. Rice with works including 'Isralestine,' his blueprint for forging an Arab-Israeli peace agreement.

Ms. Rice, 56, who now teaches at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, declined to comment on Thursday.

A State Department spokeswoman said she wasn't totally surprised by Col. Gadhafi's apparent affection for Washington's one-time top diplomat, who played a major role in his short-lived political rehabilitation.

"Bizarre and creepy are good adjectives to describe much of Gadhafi's behavior," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said when told of the photo album. "So [it] doesn't surprise me. It's deeply bizarre and deeply creepy, though, if it is as you described."

Emma Stone Is Subject of Video Love Letter by Jim Carrey

Emma Stone has a not-so-secret admirer.

Jim Carrey has sent the star of The Help a video love letter, posted on his new website, Jimcarreytrulife.com.

"I think you're all the way beautiful," Carrey, 49, tells to the actress, 22. "Not just pretty but smart and kindhearted."

But age, apparently, does matter to Carrey.

"If I were a lot younger I would marry you and we would have chubby little freckle-faced kids. We'd laugh all day long and go camping and play Yahtzee and tell ghost stories by the fire," he says. "And everyday for the rest of your life you would thank God that I was the appropriate age for you. But I'm not. I'm 49. I have lines on my face. Sometimes a little gray in my beard and it takes me a lot longer to pee than it used to."

Although he does mention sex, Carrey seems to find the topic too exciting to elaborate. Instead, he concludes his video love letter by wishing Stone happiness.

"I just wanted to let you know how I felt. I think you're pretty special. I wish you continued success and artistic fulfillment but most of all I wish you love and contentment," he says. "That's all."

Apple’s Stock: Looks Like Jobs’s Departure Was Priced In.

Apple shares are down about 5% in after-hours trading following the news that Steve Jobs was stepping down as CEO.

This is to be expected: 5% is not actually a large drop, considering the importance of Jobs to the company he founded. Your Digits blogger doesn’t go in much for stock pricing, but it seems to her that this rather small selloff is simply an emotional reaction.

That’s not to say that the loss of Steve Jobs as CEO should be taken lightly, although he will remain as chairman.

What your Digits blogger means by that is this: Anyone who did not price Jobs’s coming departure into their purchase of Apple shares has not been paying attention.

Now, maybe there will be questions about how much Apple should have disclosed to shareholders. But the fact of the matter is that Jobs has been on medical leave since January. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant two years ago, as Yukari Kane mentions in her story about the resignation.

Apple presents an air of magic, and everyone involved with Apple wants Steve Jobs to be healthy. But this is a serious situation, and investors by this point should have accepted it as such.

Apple’s share price is astronomical, it’s true. But that isn’t just because of Steve Jobs. It’s because Apple has been producing – increasing its share in the PC market, continuing it performance in smartphones and MP3 players, and just trouncing everyone when it comes to tablets. If Jobs weren’t ill, one could imagine that the stock price would be a good deal higher.

Of course, some could point to Apple’s previous stint apart from Steve Jobs – when the company nearly failed before bringing him back as chief executive. In that case, however, Apple was having trouble even before Jobs’s departure. It certainly was not coming off a string of hit after hit after hit.

A logical pricing of Apple’s stock might take into account the importance of Jobs, but it should also account for the fact that Apple appears to have a pretty good thing going.

Plus, Jobs has known for a while that he is facing a serious illness. There hasn’t been anything stopping him from making sure a long-term strategy is in place. He is going to remain as chairman, and the new CEO, Tim Cook, has been running day-to-day operations for some time.

So given the fact that Jobs is so identified with Apple, a 5% drop seems unsurprising and not terribly big. Jobs’s departure, while sad, appears to have been mostly priced in.

Jobs battles with rare pancreatic cancer, privacy

Steve Jobs has battled a rare form of pancreatic cancer for years, undergoing a series of aggressive treatments and surviving longer than many others with the disease.

Jobs, 56, has a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor. This kind of tumor accounts for only about 5% of the 43,000 pancreatic cancers diagnosed each year, and is generally more curable than more common types of pancreatic cancer.

In general, patients with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed only after the disease has spread to vital organs, and die within a year or less, says Zev Wainberg, a gastrointestinal oncologist with UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center.

Neuroendocrine tumors, which arise in hormone-producing cells of the pancreas, typically grow much more slowly, allowing patients to live at least two or there years, says Wainberg, who hasn't treated Jobs.

Unless the disease is completely eradicated, however, the cancer eventually takes a turn for the worse, growing much more quickly, Wainberg says.

While no one can say how Jobs will fare, "I suspect we will not be talking about years" of additional survival, Wainberg says.

With Jobs' work ethic and strong love of his job, doctors say his decision to resign as Apple CEO suggests that he must be feeling very ill.

"Given his will to dominate, you'd have to speculate that he must not be doing well," says James Abbruzzese, a pancreatic cancer expert at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Abbruzzese, one of the USA's leading pancreatic cancer specialists, consulted on Jobs' care early in the course of his treatment, but has not participated in Jobs' treatment in several years.

Jobs has undergone aggressive treatment for the cancer, which he first acknowledged in 2004. Jobs had surgery to treat the original cancer, then underwent a liver transplant in 2009.

That suggests that his original tumor had spread from his pancreas to his liver, in spite of surgery to remove it, says Margaret Tempero, a pancreatic cancer expert at the University of California-San Francisco and former president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Liver transplants for this kind of tumor are "occasionally successful, but it's a real long shot," Tempero says.

Patients who receive organ transplants must take drugs to prevent the body from rejecting the new organ, Tempero says. But because these drugs also suppress the immune system, they can allow the original cancer to re-emerge and attack either the new liver or other organs.

In rare cases, a liver transplant may cure the patient's cancer, if it hasn't spread around the body, Abbruzzese says.

More often, the transplants helps restore normal liver function, giving patients a few more years with a better quality of life, Abbruzzese says.

These neuroendocrine tumors, which develop in the pancreas' hormone-producing cells, tend to grow more slowly than other kinds of pancreatic cancers, making them more curable, experts say.

The fiercely private Jobs has said relatively little about his health problems, although he did acknowledge his bout with cancer during a commencement speech at Stanford University. "No one wants to die," he said. "And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it."

While liver transplants can be life-saving, they aren't always successful. That's because the original tumor can spread to the new liver. Or, treatment for the main cancer can damage the liver. Immediately after surgery, the body also can reject the transplanted liver, experts say.

Some people with neuroendocrine tumors survive for decades, experts say.

Actor Patrick Swayze died of pancreatic cancer in 2009. Opera star Luciano Pavarotti died of the disease in 2007. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also has had pancreatic cancer.

Doctors don't know what causes most cases of pancreatic cancer, although heavy smoking increases the risk by two to three times, experts say. Diets filled with meat and fat also may contribute to the disease. Those at greater risk include men, African-Americans, people older than 50, diabetics and those with a family history of pancreatic cancer. Chronic inflammation of the pancreas and exposure to certain chemicals also can cause the disease.

Scientists are actively studying ways to find the disease earlier, when it might be more curable, by looking at families in which several people have developed the cancer. Researchers also are searching for genes that may be involved. In January, scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore announced that they had deciphered the genetic code, or genome, of neuroendocrine tumors, which they hope will lead to better treatments.

California earthquake felt across Bay Area

A California earthquake measuring magnitude-3.6 was felt most strongly in the East Bay and Peninsula regions, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It was followed this morning by a 2.7 quake reported near Yorba Linda in Orange County.

But the Bay Area quake was significantly larger and felt over a larger area.

According to the USGS's Did You Feel It? map, hundreds of people signed in to report the Bay Area temblor. Many were in such cities as Oakland, San Leandro, Burlingame, Alameda, San Francisco and Castro Valley.

The quake, which struck at 11:36 p.m., appeared to be centered on the Hayward Fault about six miles south of Oakland. A magnitude-2.3 quake rolled through about five minutes later.

Doug Sovern, a reporter for KCBS 740 AM, said in a tweet: "Quick hard shake of the house here on Berkeley-Oakland border." He said the quake only lasted for two or three seconds. "Nice adrenaline boost!" he tweeted.

Vols' Summitt diagnosed with dementia

The University of Tennessee and the world of women’s basketball received some shocking news on Tuesday.

Pat Summitt, the legendary coach of the Lady Volunteers and perhaps the most recognizable face in women’s basketball, confirmed she has been diagnosed with early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type.

Summitt underwent a series of tests at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., in May and later learned the news.

"There's not going to be any pity party and I'll make sure of that," Summitt told the Knoxville News Sentinel.

The 59-year-old is planning to coach her 38th season with the program that she’s led to 1,071 victories, the most of any college basketball coach, men's or women's, and eight national titles. She also has the support from the University's administration to do so.

"I feel better just knowing what I'm dealing with," she told the newspaper. "And as far as I'm concerned, it's not going to keep me from living my life, not going to keep me from coaching."



She informed the Lady Vols about her diagnosis in a team meeting on Tuesday afternoon, The Associated Press reported.

Junior guard Taber Spani said the meeting was business-like, with Summitt calmly telling the Lady Vols nothing would get in the way for their quest of a ninth national title this season.

''More than anything she just emphasized that she's our coach and that she wanted us to have complete confidence in her, and we do,'' Spani told AP.

Summitt's longtime associate head coach Holly Warlick said the players told Summitt that they were committed to her and the Tennessee family and would not let her down. Warlick said for Summitt, the support was ''like a weight was off her shoulders.''

''I watched how our team reacted to us today,'' Warlick told AP. ''They said, 'Pat we love you. We're a family. We're going to get this done. You're going to get through this.' ''

Warlick said Summitt also wanted to crush any speculation about her health after the announcement.

''We got on the phone immediately and called kids and commitments and had nothing but a huge amount of support,'' Warlick said. ''I think it's one thing to see it on the (TV news) ticker. It's another thing to hear from Pat Summitt that we're here, we're going to be here and nothing is going to change about Tennessee basketball.''

Summitt also told the News Sentinel that her grandmother suffered from severe dementia. As defined by the Mayo Clinic, Alzheimer's is caused by the destruction of brain cells and typically progresses slowly. Summitt added that during last season, she didn't feel her usual confident self on the court.

"There were some mornings I would wake up and think I don't even want to go in," she told the newspaper. "That didn't last long but it was like 'What's wrong with me? What's going on with me?'"

Summitt said she didn't ponder retirement. She received plenty of encouragement from Dr. Ronald Petersen, the director of the Mayo Clinic's Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center to continue her coaching career.

"He's the one who told me you can coach as long as you want to coach and no one else had said anything like that to me," Summitt told the News Sentinel. "I haven't talked to him (lately) and I even thought about calling him sometime soon and telling him where I am with this. He was so positive (saying) 'You can work through this.'"

Interim athletic director Joan Cronan is supporting Summitt.

"I'm comfortable because I know her as a person and I know her as a coach," Cronan said. "And I feel like if it wasn't the right thing for her or us she wouldn't be going forward."

Summitt had the company of her son, Tyler, during her time at the Mayo Clinic. Tyler is a junior walk-on for the Tennessee men's basketball program. He explained his mother's feelings after being diagnosed.

"Nobody accepts this," Tyler said. "And there was anger. 'Why me?' was a question she asked more than once. But then, once she came to terms with it, she treated it like every other challenge she ever had, and is going to do everything she possibly can to keep her mind right and stay the coach."

Kyle Busch pleads guilty to speeding

STATESVILLE, N.C. (AP)
NASCAR points leader Kyle Busch lost his driver's license for 45 days on Tuesday for driving 128 mph on a road close to a day-care center and church in a nearly $400,000 car. His lawyer said his client was not treated "like any other citizen."

Busch, who doesn't need a license to compete in NASCAR, also was fined $1,000, sentenced to 30 hours of community service and put on one year of unsupervised probation. He pleaded guilty to speeding and no contest to reckless and careless driving in North Carolina District Court in Iredell County.

Busch addressed the court before his sentencing by District Court Judge H. Thomas Church, apologizing again for driving 128 mph in a 45 mph zone in a bright yellow 2012 Lexus on May 24.

"I think you'll be different in the future," Church said.

"I sure will, your honor," Busch replied.

Busch and his wife, Samantha, were in the car when he was pulled over on a two-lane road in an area near a subdivision, a day-care center and a church. The hand-built LFA sports car was on loan to Busch from Lexus for a 24-hour test drive.

Busch attorney Cliff Homesley argued that his client wasn't being treated the same as other people in similar circumstances, citing a July case of a 21-year-old convicted felon who was caught doing 128 mph and received a $300 fine and no loss of license.

"In 25 years of practicing law I've never seen someone not being offered better than this," Homesley argued before the court. "All I am asking is to treat Kyle Busch like any other citizen that appears before the court."

Homesley, calling Busch one of the best drivers in the world, said: "He had full control of that vehicle at all times.

"That automobile in his hands was like a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon. Not a knife in the hands of a 5-year-old."

Busch is coming off his Sprint Cup series-best fourth victory at Michigan on Sunday, and he holds a 10-point lead over five-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson in the standings. His next scheduled race is Wednesday's Trucks Series event at Bristol, where he's won the last five races spanning NASCAR's top three national series.

"This is closure. That certainly was what we were looking for in this case," Busch said outside the court. "We've had a lot of people stand behind me and we've gone through this is as diligent as we could, as respectful as we could, and that's why I am here today in person to do it myself and to accept responsibility for my actions.

"Today's done. We move on to tomorrow and try to go win a truck race at Bristol."

Busch spoke only briefly outside court, where a hot dog vendor was set up roughly 100 feet away offering the "128 mph special." Busch headed in opposite direction of the stand as he left with his attorney.

In court, Homesley admitted Busch passed three different patrol cars following one another as the deputies headed to lunch. The first clocked him at 128 mph, the second clocked him at 79 and the third at 59 - numbers that proved Busch was in control of the car and able to slow it down quickly.

Busch did tell the deputy who pulled him over the Lexus was "just a toy," a remark he backed away from while apologizing for the incident in in a media session two days later.

"I'm certainly sorry that it happened," he said. "It wasn't a toy, it's a high-performance vehicle. It should be driven with caution. Obviously, I didn't have caution and I had a lack of judgment.

"There's probably reason why on the TV commercials that they always show at the bottom, 'Professional driver, closed course.' Mine was not that. Again, I apologize sincerely. All I can do is make sure it doesn't happen again."

Busch will do his community service with the teen safe-driving program B.R.A.K.E.S., which was developed by drag racer Doug Herbert.

Herbert's two sons were killed in a 2008 accident attributed to speeding, and the drag racer established the "Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe" program to teach teenagers safety behind the wheel.

Busch agreed to sponsor 300 students in the program, as well as participate in some of the sessions. He'll have to do at least 30 hours as part of his sentence.

Earthquake Rocks U.S.

A huge earthquake hit my former state of Virginia today. I actually first got the news from a writer of ours on CleanTechnica. he lives in Queens, New York and felt it there. Sent me a follow-up email telling me it was in Virginia. I though, “Oh My! That’s a big one.” Followed very quickly by, “Oh My! I hope everyone I know in Virginia is OK.”

The USGS is currently reporting that this earthquake was a magnitude 5.8. You can see in the map here that it was in between Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia.

Apparently, the earthquake was felt about as far away as Ottawa. Pretty shocking how powerful earthquakes are.

No injuries have been reported, from what I’ve read, and two nuclear reactors in the area immediately shut off, automatically, around the time of the earthquake.

Cell phone service got jammed, though, as people feverishly tried calling family and friends. Twitter and Facebook also blew up with commentary from those experiencing it. Here’s an interesting note from @allisonkilkenny of The Nation that USA Today noticed: “Weirdest moment: Seeing the people I’m following in DC tweet ‘earthquake’ seconds before I felt it here in NYC.” I bet.

The quake was one of the largest in Virginia’s known earthquake history. The fact that it was only 0.6 miles deep is largely responsible for it’s wide range of influence.

“Central Virginia does get its share of minor earthquakes, but an earthquake of this size on the East Coast is certainly very unusual,” says seismologist Karen Fischer of Brown University.

Earthquakes Today in Washington, DC - National Weather Service Says no Tsunami Threat

The earthquake today in Washington, DC and surrounding areas has many people shaken up, but so far no serious damage or injuries have been reported. Just recently, more good news was reported, as their has been confirmation this will not bring a tsunami to the East Coast.

A report from the Associated Press indicates that the National Weather Service's West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center have weighed in on the potential for a tsunami in the aftermath. They have said due to the quake's location, centered in Virginia, "the quake was far enough inland" to set off any sort of tsunamis for the coast. According to the director of the services, Paul Whitmore, there are gauges located all up and down the East Coast, yet none of these showed any detection of a tsunami.

This is good news for those who were startled by the earthquakes today. Earthquakes were felt in various states with a part of Virginia as the center of the weather incident. The fact there will be no tsunamis following this startling event should make many families rest a bit easier tonight.

Triple Play After Ball Bounces Off Centerfielder's Head

Video via WOWT-TV.

Inside Kim Kardashian's Wedding

The beautiful E! reality star makes it official with beau Kris Humphries! Get the first look inside their glamorous nuptials.

Steve Wallace Gets Hair Pulled After Montreal Race-HD

A crew member for Patrick Carpentier's team is apparently angry that Steve Wallace and Carpentier got together, taking Carpentier out of contention for his farewell NASCAR race.

Several factors make Pryor an intriguing choice for Raiders

Even with their shoddy record for selecting players the past several years, principally a speed-based approach that has produced mostly crap-shoot results, the Oakland Raiders' gamble in choosing former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor in the third round of Monday's supplemental draft might have been one that was worth taking.

The choice of Pryor, in which the Raiders will forfeit their third-round choice in the 2012 draft, leaves Oakland for now with no selections in the second, third, or fourth rounds next year. But it at least provides the Raiders with the promise of securing the rights to a player who might help in the future.

Given the dubious results of the team's recent drafts, that's a rarity.

Pryor might never take a snap at quarterback for the Raiders, who, in the typical Al Davis obsessed-with-speed fashion, plan to first audition the former Buckeyes star as a wide receiver. But know this, too: Right now, Oakland, which exercised its first-ever supplemental pick Monday, doesn't have a single veteran quarterback on the roster under contract beyond this season.

Starter Jason Campbell and backups Trent Edwards and Kyle Boller are all working on one-year deals.

And there is this: As noted by The Sports Xchange earlier Monday, citing the example of Buffalo Bills do-it-all veteran Brad Smith, more franchises are likely to seek versatile players who can fill multiple roles. And fewer teams probably will dress three quarterbacks in 2011. In the past two seasons, there have been only 13 occasions in which a team used all three quarterbacks in a game, and just seven in which three quarterbacks attempted a pass.

No matter where the Raiders stick Pryor in camp, the fact remains that he has played quarterback at a high level. At 6-feet-5, 232 pounds, and with a 40-yard time of 4.44 seconds -- that was the clocking on a Raiders scouts' watch, as opposed to the 4.41 widely reported (still pretty fast) -- Pryor can be a fourth or fifth wide receiver, an H-back, perhaps even a flexed tight end in some situations.

He doesn't necessarily have to specialize anymore to be at least borderline special for an Oakland team always fascinated by physical tools. With everything Pryor has been through the past two months, the likelihood is he'll arrive in Oakland with a chip on his shoulder, a guy willing to work hard to prove the skeptics wrong. That figures to be an added benefit.

For the price -- likely a signing bonus somewhere between $586,000 and $591,000 and a four-year contract with minimum salaries -- the move to choose Pryor looks at first blush to be a solid one for the Oakland organization.

Police want LSU players' side of story

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Four LSU football players hired a defense attorney and put off a meeting with police about a bar fight that started when a patron honked at a crowd blocking his exit from a parking lot, Baton Rouge police said Sunday.

Quarterback Jordan Jefferson, offensive lineman Chris Davenport, defensive lineman Josh Johns and receiver Jarvis Landry had been asked to give their side of the story at police headquarters Monday, but attorney Nathan Fisher asked for a delay, Sgt. Donald Stone said.

Attorney Nathan Fisher requested "a 24 hour postponement so that he can meet with the players and get a better understanding of the incident," Stone wrote in a news release.

He said police would speak with Fisher on Monday to arrange the interviews, which had previously been set for Monday morning.

"We just got the case at 8 a.m. today," Fisher told the Times Picayune of New Orleans. "I just met with the kids this morning."

Earlier, Stone said the fight began when a driver honked his horn at a crowd blocking his way out of the bar's parking lot. The driver was one of four people injured in the fight outside Shady's Bar, according to a news release.

"They weren't asked to turn themselves in. They were asked to come in so they can be interviewed and tell their side of the story," Stone said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. The investigation will continue after that, and police may interview other players, he said.

Stone said police interviewed four people who were treated and released -- three for minor injuries and a fourth for a more serious injury that could bring a felony charge of second-degree battery. Some witnesses also have talked to police, he said.

Stone confirmed that one of the players kicked one of the victims in the head, but could not identify whom it was, the Times Picayune reported.

On Saturday, coach Les Miles apologized for the fight, saying a "relatively large group" was involved, and that the entire team had checked in at Thursday's 10:30 p.m. curfew. He said he won't punish specific players until details are collected and revealed.

"We've started disciplining our team because this was a team violation," Miles said. "This was not just a guy. This was the team. "

As many as 50 LSU players went out to celebrate the end of two-a-days Thursday night, the Times Picayune reported, citing a source close to the team.

The fourth-ranked Tigers start the season playing No. 3 Oregon on Sept. 3 at Cowboys Stadium.

Iran gives US men eight-year sentences for spying, entering the country illegally

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Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal insist they were hikers who strayed over border by accident

Two American men arrested more than two years ago while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border have been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges that include espionage, state TV reported Saturday, in an apparent sharp blow to hopes their release was imminent.

The announcement seems to send a hard-line message from Iran's judiciary — which answers directly to the ruling clerics — weeks after the country's foreign minister suggested that the trial of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal could clear the way for their freedom.

It also is likely to raise speculation about Iran using the Americans as political bargaining chips and could bring added tensions to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's expected visit to New York next month for the annual General Assembly at the United Nations.

But the report — although carried on Iran's highly controlled state media — was not immediately confirmed by authorities. Iranian government officials made no further comment, but it is not unusual for Iran to use selected state news outlets to make high-profile announcements.

In Washington, State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland restated U.S. appeals for their release. "We have repeatedly called for the release of Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, who have now been held in Iran's Evin prison for two years," Nuland said. "Shane and Josh have been imprisoned too long, and it is time to reunite them with their families."

The Americans, whose final court hearing was three weeks ago, deny the charges and say they were only hiking in a scenic and largely peaceful area of northern Iraq near the porous border.

They were detained in July 2009 along with a third American, Sarah Shourd, who was released in September 2010 on $500,000 bail and returned to the United States. Shourd's case "is still open," the state-run TV website irinn.ir reported.

Bauer and Fattal, both 29, have been sentenced to three years each for illegal entry into Iran and five years each for spying for the United States, the website quoted "informed sources" at Iran's judiciary as saying. It was not immediately clear if that includes time served. They have 20 days to appeal the sentence.

Their Iranian attorney, Masoud Shafiei, said he has not been notified of the verdict but he will definitely appeal the sentence if true.

"I've not been notified of any verdict in the case of my clients," Shafiei told The Associated Press. "This is a strong verdict inconsistent with the charges."

The two have 20 days to appeal their sentence, NBC News reported Saturday.

It's unclear what maximum sentence was possible by the Revolutionary Court, which handles state security issues. Espionage can bring the death penalty, but handing the sentence to a foreigner is unknown legal territory in Iran.

Iran insists that its judiciary is independent from political currents, but Iranian officials have used the detained Americans to draw attention to alleged mistreatment of Iranians in U.S. prisons and others who were held by U.S. forces in Iraq. The report on the sentences came just two days after President Barack Obama made his most direct call for the resignation of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who remains among Iran's closest Mideast allies.

The case, meanwhile, has added to tensions between the United States and Iran that were already high over other issues, including Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

But Iran also recognizes the potential for goodwill gestures. Shourd's release — assisting with talks by Oman — came last year as Ahmadinejad was preparing for the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders.

The Americans say they mistakenly crossed into Iran when they stepped off a dirt road while hiking near a waterfall in the Kurdish region of Iraq. While other parts of Iraq remain troubled by violence, the semiautonomous Kurdish north has drawn tourists in recent years, including foreigners.

The U.S. government has appealed for the two men to be released, insisting that they have done nothing wrong. The two countries have no direct diplomatic relations, so Washington has been relying on an interests section at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran to follow the case.

Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he hoped "the trial of the two American defendants who were detained for the crime of illegally entering Iran will finally lead to their freedom." Their lawyer also had expressed hope they might receive a pardon for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Phone and email messages left for Sarah Shourd, relatives of the two men and the families' spokeswoman Samantha Topping were not immediately returned.

Shourd is back living in Oakland, California; Bauer grew up in Onamia, Minnesota; and Fattal is from suburban Philadelphia. The last direct contact family members had with Bauer and Fattal was in May 2010 when their mothers were permitted a short visit in Tehran.

Their case most closely parallels that of freelance journalist Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American who convicted of spying before being released in May 2009. Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison, but an appeals court reduced that to a two-year suspended sentence and let her return to the U.S.

At the time, a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary said the court ordered the reduction as a gesture of "Islamic mercy" because Saberi had cooperated with authorities and expressed regret.

In May 2009, a French academic, Clotilde Reiss, also was freed after her 10-year sentence on espionage-related charges was commuted.

Last year, Iran freed an Iranian-American businessman, Reza Taghavi, was held for 29 months for alleged links to a bombing in the southern city of Shiraz, which killed 14 people. Taghavi denied any role in the attack.

Upgrade Your Life: Revive a dying laptop battery

First, the basics

Most laptops use batteries that can last for 3-5 years, or about 1000 charges. (A premium laptop's battery might last longer.) Every time you charge your battery, the total capacity of the battery is diminished. Originally it may have had a run time of 3.5 hours, but after a year it'll run out of juice at 3 hours, even on a full charge.

If your battery capacity has diminished, there are a few things you can do about it. First, you have to correctly gauge how much capacity has been lost. There are free downloads to do this job, like Battery Bar (for Windows PCs) or Coconut Battery (for Macs). These will compare your battery's current maximum capacity to how long it lasted when it was new.
(UPDATE- we originally recommended Battery Eater and while the program works great, their download site has been compromised and we are recommending an alternate program, Battery Bar downloadable from CNET.)

Calibrating your Battery

You can't miraculously reconstitute your battery's capacity. It loses power over time due to chemical reactions taking place in the battery, as it chugs along powering your laptop. You can't undo those changes, but there is one common battery issue you can fix: In many laptops, the operating system's battery meter gets out of sync with how much juice the battery actually has.

Imagine if the gas gauge on your car dashboard was misreading how much gas you actually had in the tank. You'd either run out of gas when you thought you had a quarter of a tank left, or you'd be filling up too frequently. In your laptop, this can mean your laptop shuts down abruptly when the meter says you have 30 minutes left. Or else the meter might warn that you only have 2 minutes of battery life left and shut your laptop down, when it really has another 20 minutes remaining.

Recalibrating gets the battery meter to correctly read the current state of the battery, so you and the operating system know where you stand with existing battery life.



How to recalibrate

First, charge your laptop's battery to full, and leave it that way for at least two hours. Then unplug your laptop, and set its power management settings to never turn off or lower the monitor brightness. (HP has instructions for how do to this on Windows 7 and Vista, as well as Windows XP, while Apple has instructions for Mac laptops on their site.)

You want to drain the battery completely, then let your laptop sit for at least five hours this way -- like, say, overnight. (Just be careful and mute the volume, since some laptops make a warning sound when they're about to run out.) Afterwards, charge it up again, and you should notice a more accurate portrayal of your battery capacity. In some cases, you may even get more life out of it.

Best practices to maintain battery life

You'd think that the best way to keep your laptop's battery from wearing out is to not use it. Right?

As it turns out, batteries are like muscles; they need to be worked out regularly to stay healthy. Ideally, you'd use your laptop unplugged at least once a day, like on a train or bus commute or on the couch in front of the TV. If you're not going to use it, constantly charging your battery is a bad idea; HP recommends on their website that if you're going to leave your laptop plugged in or put up in storage for more than two weeks, you should take the battery out of your laptop.



Past the expiration date

So when is it time to throw out that old battery? The answer, surprisingly, is "never." Laptop batteries contain lots of toxic chemicals, and should never end up in landfills. Fortunately, e-stewards.org has a list of environmentally responsible recyclers that will take your old battery with no fuss.

When is it time to replace your battery, then? Use the free utility apps Becky mentioned, and when they say that your battery can only hold around 25% of its original capacity it's probably time for a new one. You can buy a replacement battery from the original laptop manufacturer, and there are plenty of places online that sell discounted PC laptop batteries, like Laptops for Less and Batteries.com. Owners of newer Mac laptops can get their laptop's non-removable battery swapped out at any Apple store, with a scheduled appointment.

See the video here:
http://tinyurl.com/28f2gph

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States Where No One Wants To Buy A New Home

There is a strong indication that home builders have almost ceased activity in several states as demand for newly built homes has dwindled. The slowdown in new home permits is particularly stark when compared to the total number of existing homes in each state. 24/7 Wall St. examined the number of building permits to find the states where no one wants to buy a new home.

Building permits are among the carefully watched statistics issues by the real estate industry each month. Permits are needed in most jurisdictions before individuals or contractor can begin physical work. Therefore, they are a reasonable indicator of future home construction. The data on permits is issued by the Commerce Department.

Building permit activity has fallen in most months since the 2007 housing crash — one that continues today. In the first half of 2005, slightly over one million permits were issued. By contrast, the number was the just below 300,000 for the first six months of this year. The decline in new permits in some states is over 80% for the same period.

Building permits are not enough in and of themselves to demonstrate a slowdown. Their size in relation to the total existing homes is also an indication of the state of the housing market. Consider that in a large state like California, across all towns and cities, just over 20,000 permits were issued during the first six months of this year. The number of permits may seem like a lot for a weak housing market, but is negligible when compared to the 13.6 million existing homes in the state.

24/7 Wall St. looked at the total number of building permits issued by each state for the first half of the year. We then identified the states that had the lowest percentage of new housing permits as compared to the total number of housing units.

Surprisingly, our list of states where few permits have been issued recently is different from the typical list of the worst housing markets. California, Nevada and Florida are always on those lists because homes are vacant and home values continue to drop. But the three are not on this list. It may be that prices have dropped so low in these markets that home inventory has begun to move, even if only tentatively. Instead, markets where housing permits are very small in relation to total homes are markets in which builders have abandoned any hope of near-term sales.

The 24/7 Wall St. analysis is another look through the prism that is the collapsing residential real estate market. Most data the public sees is based on home prices, number of homes sold or foreclosures. Housing permits are a way to look ahead at what is likely to happen in the markets in the next year. Once a permit is issued, the builder has no obligation to begin or complete the construction. This additional risk has a compounding effect.

These are the states where no one wants to buy a new home:

1. Rhode Island
Building permits/total housing units: 0.07%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -70.81% (22nd largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 312
Total housing units: 463,388

Foreclosure filings increased 4% in Rhode Island from the first six months of 2010 to the first six months of 2011, according to RealtyTrac. Foreclosures dropped by 29% for that same period on the national level. Rhode Island home sales decreased 20% from one year ago in the second-quarter, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. Additionally, median home prices have dropped 2%. These numbers indicate that Rhode Island's housing market is not recovering at the same pace as the majority of the country. For the first six months of this year, the state has issued a mere 312 building permits, the smallest number in the country.

2. West Virginia
Building permits/total housing units: 0.09%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -72.71% (17th largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 774
Total housing units: 881,917

West Virginia's decline in building permits has slowed to almost a crawl. In the first six months of 2005, the state issued almost 3,000 permits. For the first half of 2011, that amount decreased to 774. If every permit were to result in a new housing structure, those homes would represent less than 0.1% of the total housing units in the state. Despite all this, construction is one area that is benefiting the state. According to the organization, WorkForce West Virginia, 700 construction jobs were added in-state this past July — the largest amount of jobs added in the private sector.

3. Illinois
Building permits/total housing units: 0.09%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -84.18% (3rd largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 4,897
Total housing units: 5,296,715

Illinois has seen an almost 85% decrease in new housing permits since 2005. This is the third largest drop in the country. There are a number of initiatives being made across the state to improve the housing markets. In Chicago, for instance, Mayor Emanuel has made a number of changes to increase the speed with which building permits are issued. Additionally, a “Micro-Market Recovery Program has been introduced to slow the city's foreclosure rate.

4. Michigan
Building permits/total housing units: 0.09
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -82.19% (7th largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 4,250
Total housing units: 4,532,233

Michigan is one of the states that has suffered the most from the recession. The state's unemployment rate peaked around 15% in 2010. It is now at 10.5%, which is still significantlyhigher than the national average of 9.2%. The state has a vacancy rate of just under 15%, which is one of the highest in the country. New building permits have also decreased by over 80% since 2005, also one of the highest rates in the country. The state may now be more focused on tearing down old buildings than building new ones.

5. Connecticut
Building permits/total housing units: 0.09%
Decline in building permits(2005-2011): -74.06% (14th largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 1,403
Total housing units: 1,487,891

Connecticut has had one of the greatest declines in the number of new building permits in the country. This trend saw a small turnaround in June — the first monthly year-over-year gain in 2011 in new construction, according to the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. However, the Hartford Courant reports that for the first six months of the year, residential construction was down 30 percent compared with the same period in 2010. June was also the first increase in home construction in five years.

6. Ohio
Building permits/total housing units: 0.12%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -76.61% (12th largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 6,184
Total housing units: 5,127,508

Ohio has suffered, and continues to suffer, greatly from the housing crisis. Over 8,000 homes were foreclosed in July 2011, the ninth-largest amount in the country, according to real estate company RealtyTrac. With such a high foreclosure rate, currently at one in every 608 housing units, housing is already too inexpensive for people to want to build. Ohio has therefore had one of the greatest decreases in building permits in the country over the past six years. Median existing home sales are also down in many areas of the state, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. In Toledo, prices are down 17% from one year ago, the third largest rate in the country.

7. Massachusetts
Building permits/total housing units: 0.12%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): 69.55% (24th smallest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 3,402
Total housing units: 2,808,254

Despite having a healthy economy compared to much of the country, Massachusetts' housing market is beginning to face serious troubles. In June 2011, sales of single-family homes in the state decreased 23.5% from the year before, reaching the lowest level since 1991, according to the Warren Group, a New England real estate research firm. With so few home sales, it follows that not many new homes are being built. Year-to-date, building permits for 2011 are about one quarter of what they were in 2005.

8. New York
Building permits/total housing units: 0.14%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -61.85% (12th smallest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 11,033
Total housing units: 8,108,103

New York State's housing market is among the largest in the country. As a result, the number of permits is minuscule when compared to the state's total housing units. Although new home sales decreased in the first half of 2011 from 2010, the number of permits actually increased slightly during that period, from 10,189 in 2010. This is significantly lower than 2005's 28,921 permits.

9. Maine
Building permits/total housing units: 0.14%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -77.09% (11th largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 1,000
Total housing units: 721,830

Maine has seen one of the largest decreases in building permits in the past six years. This is not surprising as home sales in general declined substantially. Home sales for June 2011 decreased 21.39% from June 2010, according to the Maine Association of Realtors. The state's median sales price also decreased 1.37% over this same period. According to numbers from the Census Bureau, Maine has the highest vacancy rate in the country, reaching 22.8% in 2010. However, this number also includes empty vacation houses.

10. Pennsylvania
Building permits/total housing units: 0.15%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -60.29% (11th smallest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 8,136
Total housing units: 5,567,315

At the beginning of 2011, a number of new, restrictive building codes went into effect in Pennsylvania. This caused a rush among builders to secure permits, with housing permits increasing a massive 117.8% between November and December 2010, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve. The state's housing market has not been doing well since. Permits issued from January to June 2011 fell 16% compared to the same six-month period one year earlier. The national average for permits issued in the first six months of 2011 compared to the first six months of 2011 is a decrease of 6%.