Mark Appel did not disappoint the largest crowd of the season Friday night, pitching a six-hitter over eight innings as the Stanford baseball team downed visiting Washington, 6-2, in a Pac-10 conference game.

Shakira happily chats on her cell while exiting The Park Hyatt Hotel on Tuesday (May 3) in Milan, Italy. The 34-year-old singer, rocking black platform boots and a ponytail, was friendly with the crowd gathered outside, giving a big wave and smile as she got into a car. Earlier this week, Shakira had a late-night arrival to [...]

Intimacy cuts both ways. Acoustic instruments, soft tones, delicate timbres -- the "Unplugged" approach reliably draws us close. But, really, communion occurs just as intimately within an ear-piercing, teeth-rattling cacophony.

Neil Young has spent decades swinging between these extremes. During his measured performance Friday night at the Chicago Theatre, his first of two this weekend, he calmly and ably applied both tactics. He spoke to the hooting, sold-out crowd softly, in gentle and sometimes acoustic songs, but occasionally he carried a big, sonic stick. Nothing new, nothing life-altering, just solid and intense.

Assistant Forest Service forest engineer Garrett Villanueva stood in front of a crowd of 30 or so mountain bikers and off-road motorcyclists April 28 and asked, "What do you want out of the Corral Loop Trail?" To mediate the discussion and to form a plan of action, mountain bike trail consultants Hilride were contracted by the Forest Service.

By Rich Hansen, MMA Torch Columnist:

Dan Downes didn't need to fight last night, but he wanted to stay sharp. That decision almost cost him dearly, as little known Tory Bogguess locked in two very tight chokes early in the first round of their main event fight for the NAFC event in Milwaukee. Ultimately Downes was able to escape both submission attempts before submitting Bogguess at the 3:24 mark of round 1.

Downes (8-1) accepted this fight outside of the UFC while still under UFC contract in order to stay sharp. That gamble almost blew up in his face as the undersized Bogguess came out like a ball of fire. Bogguess came out charging from the opening bell, landing a flying superman punch within the first two seconds of the fight. After knocking the larger Downes against the cage, Bogguess was able to get Downes down and sunk in a tight rear naked choke.

After Downes managed to escape that choke, he found himself in an even more dire predicament as Bogguess managed to slap on an even tighter guillotine choke. After several seconds that seemed much longer to the partisan Milwaukee crowd, Downes managed to pop his head out and was able to turn the tables on his smaller opponent.

After controlling Bogguess up against the cage from side control, Bogguess tried escaping by walking the cage. Instead of escaping, Bogguess walked into the waiting legs of Downes and was forced to tap to a triangle choke.

Having fought for a smaller organization while under UFC contract, Downes told MMA Torch after the fight that he wants his next fight to be in the UFC, and that there's a 99 percent chance that his next fight will indeed be for the Zuffa owned company.

In the co-main event of the evening, Duke Roufus' newest up and coming star Joe Cason made quick work of veteran Sean Salmon. Cason needed a mere 74 seconds to dispatch the overwhelmed Salmon. After landing an uppercut early, Cason flattened Salmon with a standing knee. From there, Cason swarmed Salmon who had no way to stop the ground and pound attack of the much larger Cason. Referee Al Weickhardt stopped the fight, giving Cason his first victory since joining Duke Roufus' team last month. Cason, a college wrestling teammate of UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon "Bones" Jones, looks to have to skills to make a name for himself in the sport's light heavyweight division.

Complete results from NAFC: Mayhem below.

Dan Downes defeated Tory Bogguess via submission (triangle choke) at 3:24 of Round 1

Joe Cason defeated Sean Salmon via TKO at 1:14 of Round 1

Matt Brown defeated John Hosman via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Matt Masterson defeated Kyle Weickardt via submission (side choke)at 3:33 of Round 2

Jose Pacheco defeated David Rhoads via submission (rear naked choke)at 4:33 of Round 1

Thiago Veiga defeated Donald Ceri via submission (arm bar)at 2:50 of Round 2

Mike Santiago def Zach Underwood via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Jeff Golden def Jim Bleau via submission (rear naked choke) at 4:35 of Round 1

Malaysia Star, 7 May 2011HUNDREDS of family members enjoying their breakfast looked up in surprise as a thunderous applause broke out and everyone rushed towards five approaching figures.They were opposition candidates who were campaigning in Aljunied, mingling with the crowd, signing autographs and posing for photographs.The suburban quiet was broken by spontaneous shouts of “Workers’ Party”.

Cannondale's CAAD9 aluminum chassis was a privateer road racer's secret weapon, offering very good frame stiffness and weight at a relatively bargain-basement price. The new CAAD10 is even more so, being substantially lighter than before and with a more refined ride quality. Our CAAD10 4 Rival tester has proven to be especially good value and is just a set of tires and cables away from being all that most of us will ever need, and all at US$1,799.

Ride & handling: Excellent manners on the road with a feel that rivals mid-range carbon

Cannondale can't wield a magic wand and overcome the inherent material property differences between aluminum and carbon fiber but the performance of their new CAAD10 does an excellent job of showcasing what's possible when the limits are pushed. Even when pressed hard, the CAAD10 makes an admirable showing against the much more expensive SuperSix Hi-Mod.

Overall stiffness is very good in most situations and generally on-par – if not better than – many cheaper carbon bikes out there, especially while just cruising along, as many buyers will likely spend most of their time doing anyway. It's not until you really have to put your foot on the gas that the differences between the CAAD10 and the SuperSix Hi-Mod or standard Six become more evident. There's a little more front-end twist when sprinting and the bike doesn't reward surges in power quite as immediately, but neither change is at all objectionable and the SuperSix Hi-Mod establishes some heady benchmarks.

Cannondale's frame designers have spent a lot of time engineering some vertical flex into the rear end of the new CAAD10 and it shows out on the road with a noticeably smoother feel than its predecessor. That being said, aluminum still can't match carbon fiber's ability to damp vibration and while the CAAD10 offers a pleasant ride on most surfaces, it's more "firm" than "buttery smooth", particularly on nastier obstacles like potholes and washboarded dirt roads. On the plus side, that firm feel is nicely balanced from front to rear with no sense of disconnectedness between the two ends.

Riders who find carbon frames to be a bit too isolating and prefer a little more feedback will likely be very happy, as road feel is excellent, with a generally snappy personality overall. You're always keenly aware of what the pavement is like beneath you and the CAAD10 chassis is constantly transmitting good feedback on how the tires are behaving.

There's absolutely no compromise in handling, though, as Cannondale's value-packed CAAD10 chassis may sport a bargain-basement price but its geometry is wisely copied millimeter-for-millimeter from the flagship SuperSix. As a result, handling is simply brilliant, with an intuitive turn-in on both fast and slow corners plus rock-solid stability even while careening down blistering Rocky Mountain descents. 

Likewise, fit is spot-on for high-performance riding as long as you're not expecting a casually upright "endurance" machine. Cannondale make some efforts to cater to that crowd with the extra-tall headset cone and a generous allotment of spacers but racer-types should still be able to get their desired positions by swapping to a standard cone and slamming the stem.

Even the total weight isn't much of a deterrent to speed provided you're not just doing hill repeats all day. Total weight as tested without pedals was just 7.83kg (17.26lb) and swapping in nothing more than a set of mid-range aluminum race wheels and proper tires brings that number closer to 7kg flat.

Frame: Elaborate shaping brings out the potential of aluminum

Top-flight carbon fiber bikes still hold an advantage over aluminum in terms of weight, stiffness and ride refinement owing to its uniquely anisotropic material properties – meaning the material itself can be tuned to have directional stiffness and flex – but an ultra-aggressive campaign of tube shaping on the part of Cannondale's frame engineers has done wonders with the CAAD10's all-aluminum backbone.

Many of the frame features are borrowed from the company's Flash carbon hardtail, including the strategically flattened seat- and chainstays, the extra-wide seatstay spacing, the swaged and ovalized 'Delta' seat tube, and a top tube that's wider and flatter at the seat cluster and squared off at the head tube for extra front triangle stiffness without overly impinging on knee clearance.

Cannondale have also infused the CAAD10 with a tapered 1-1/8 to 1-1/4in head tube, a hydroformed down tube that's especially bulbous up front, the company's trademark BB30 bottom bracket shell, miniscule alloy dropouts and a sandwich-style rear derailleur hanger that's stiffer than simpler one-sided arrangements but will stay cleave off in a bad wreck.

The 1,230g actual frame weight for our 52cm tester is greater than Cannondale's 1,150g claims (for a larger 56cm sample no less) but that doesn't mean that figure isn't believable. That mark is for an anodized sample instead of our painted one (paint is surprisingly heavy and lighter hues like our white CAAD10 4 require more of it to be opaque) and we've also included the seat collar, hanger and bottle bolts. The all-carbon fork is spot-on at 390g.

The available size range is very generous, too, with top tube lengths ranging from 515mm all the way to 600mm – bravo. Long-time Cannondale devotees will want to note that production has now moved overseas. That's not necessarily a downside as far as quality is concerned but unlike CAAD frames of yesteryear, the welds on the CAAD10 frame aren't flawlessly smooth.

Equipment: Highly competent mix overall but dreadful tires and sub-par cables

The build kit on our CAAD10 4 is especially good for a bike at this price, likely due to the lower cost of the aluminum frame versus a carbon one (lest you believe otherwise, carbon frames aren't just injection molded from a pot of amorphous goo).  

Save for some extra mass, the SRAM Rival DoubleTap levers, derailleurs, and PG-1070 cassette offer nearly identical shift performance to Force and Red – even with the subbed-in KMC chain – and Cannondale upgrade the crankset to a light and narrow Force BB30 carbon unit in your choice of standard or compact. We're less enamored with the SRAM Apex dual-pivot calipers, however, as they're notably flexier and less positive feeling than their higher-end brethren (or comparably priced units from Tektro for that matter). 

We applaud the decision to go with standard instead of aero wheels, since at this price, the latter would be prohibitively heavy. The Shimano RS10 aluminum clinchers still aren't particularly light at nearly 2kg for the pair but they're impressively stiff, the rims are slightly wider than typical, and the cup-and-cone bearings can be easily serviced and perfectly tuned, unlike low-quality cartridge bearing setups.

Save for the Prologo Kappa Pas saddle, most of the remainder of the kit is filled in with Cannondale's house-brand alloy bar and stem plus a carbon-shafted seatpost – all of which did their duty with minimal fuss. The only major demerits come with the tires and cables. 

The Schwalbe Lugano folding clinchers are a reasonable weight at 290g apiece and have decent grip but rolling resistance is almost unbelievably high – to the point where we stopped a couple of times during the maiden voyage trying to figure out what was broken. The stiff, overly rubberized sidewalls also lend a crude, stiff and dull ride quality.

It wasn't until we swapped out the low-rent rubber for something nicer – in this case, Specialized's awesome new S-Works Turbo – that the CAAD10 revealed its potential. If you're a privateer racer and already have some better wheels for competition then feel free to use the stock Schwalbe Luganos until the cords show. Otherwise, we'd suggest swapping them out before you even walk out the shop door.

Cables and housing were also disappointing, though not to the same degree. Regardless of how carefully we finished the ends or what kind of lube we used, overall friction was frustratingly high – not to the point where things didn't work but enough that it restricted the smooth feel that we know the drivetrain is capable of from previous experience. Despite those two oversights, the Cannondale CAAD10 4 Rival still delivers the goods on the scale, especially at this price. Bottom line: yes, please.

Forecast from National Restaurant Association

Is his poetry any good? The answer for anyone who can't read Bengali must be: don't know. No translation is up to the job

Rabindranath Tagore was born 150 years ago today. This weekend festivities and seminars are being held in his honour across the world. In London, the BFI is hosting a season of films inspired by his work; last night his fellow Bengali (and fellow Nobel laureate) Amartya Sen gave a talk at the British Museum; a two-day conference at the University of London will, among other things, examine his legacy in the Netherlands, Poland and Germany.

I consulted two dictionaries of quotations, the Oxford and Penguin, to check the most memorable lines of this poet, novelist, essayist, song and short story writer. Not a single entry. They skipped from Tacitus to Hippolyte Taine as if there was nothing in Tagore's collected works (28 thick books, even with his 2,500 songs published separately) that ever had stuck in anyone's mind, or was so pithily expressed that it deserved to; as if what had come out of Tagore's pen was a kind of oriental ectoplasm, floating high above our materialist western heads, and ungraspable. In fact, I could remember one line clearly enough, and vaguely remember a whole stanza. The first is how he described the Taj Mahal: like "a teardrop on the face of eternity". The second is the inscription Wilfred Owen's mother found in her dead son's pocketbook: "When I go from hence, let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable." But I owe this knowledge to (a) a tourist guide in Agra, and (b) to a biography. Reading Tagore himself had nothing to do with it.

True, writers can't be ranked merely by their quotability, but Tagore's neglect is extraordinary. No other language group reveres a writer as 250 million Bengali-speakers do Tagore. Shakespeare and Dickens don't come into the picture; the popularity of Burns in Scotland 100 years ago may be his nearest equivalent in Britain. Every Bengali will know some Tagore, even if they can't read or write and the words come from a popular song or the national anthem (those of both India and Bangladesh use his verse). The visitor to Bengal can easily find some comedy in the mass adoration. Years ago, trying to penetrate a layer of Kolkata bureaucracy, I spent hours listening to bureaucrats on the subject of Tagore – "his translations into English are like embroidery seen from the back," one said – while getting nowhere with the unrelated topic I was meant to be investigating. Then again, love of literature can slide into fetishism, and from there, obscenity. When Tagore died in 1941, the huge crowd around his funeral cortege plucked hairs from his head. At the cremation pyre, mourners burst through the cordon before the body had been completely consumed by fire, searching for bones and keepsakes.

It's hard to think of any other writer anywhere who has aroused this level of fervour, but Tagore might still be seen as a purely local phenomenon, a curiosity and irrelevance to the world beyond Bengal. Except that he wasn't. In 1913 he won the Nobel prize for literature, the first non-European to win a Nobel. The story is well known. In 1912 he sailed from India to England with a collection of English translations – the 100 or so poems that became the anthology Gitanjali, or "song offerings". He lost the manuscript on the London tube. Famously, it was found in a left luggage office. Then – decisively – WB Yeats met Tagore, read his poems and became his passionate advocate (while pencilling in suggestions for improvements).

Events moved at breathtaking speed. Tagore had arrived in London in June, he had his anthology published by Macmillan with an introduction by Yeats in the following March, and on 13 November 1913 he was awarded the Nobel. Before he left Kolkata he knew one person in London, the painter William Rothenstein. Two years later he was a global phenomenon. The notion that literary prizes secure reputations and sell books is modern publishing wisdom, but nothing compares with what the Nobel did for Tagore a century ago. Gitanjali found a vast audience in its many editions. In the tremulous months before the first world war, as well as during the war, its spiritual message and reverence for the natural world struck a chord. It contains the lines Owen wrote in his pocketbook, and soon had translations in many other languages, including French, by André Gide, and Russian, by Boris Pasternak.

The success turned everyone's heads, including Tagore's. He became the most prominent embodiment of how the west wanted to see the east – sagelike, mystical, descending from some less developed but perhaps more innocent civilisation; above all, exotic. He looked the part, with his white robes and flowing beard and hair, and sometimes overplayed it. Of course, the truth was more complicated. The Tagores were among Kolkata's most influential families. They'd prospered in their role as middle men to the East India Company, whose servants named them Tagore because it was more easily pronounced than the Bengali title, Thakur. The west wasn't strange to them. Rabindranath's grandfather, Dwarkanath, owned steam tug companies and coal mines, became a favourite of Queen Victoria's and died in England (his tombstone is in Kensal Green cemetery). As for the poet himself, this was his third visit to London. On his first, he'd heard the music hall songs and folk tunes that he later incorporated into his distinctive musical genre, rabindra sangeet.

More than anything, what Tagore stood for was a synthesis of east and west. He admired the European intellect and felt betrayed when Britain's conduct in India let down the ideal. His western enthusiasts, however, saw what they wanted to see. First, he was an exotic fashion and then he was not. "Damn Tagore," wrote Yeats in 1935, blaming the "sentimental rubbish" of his later books for ruining his reputation. "An Indian has written to ask what I think of Rabindrum [sic] Tagore," wrote Philip Larkin to his friend Robert Conquest in 1956. "Feel like sending him a telegram: 'Fuck all. Larkin.'"

Is his poetry any good? The answer for anyone who can't read Bengali must be: don't know. No translation (according to Bengalis) lives up to the job, and at their worst, they can read like In Memoriam notices: "Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark" is among the better lines. Translator William Radice thinks that Tagore's willingness to tackle the big questions, heart on sleeve, has made him vulnerable to "philistinism or contempt". That may be so – see Larkin – but perhaps the time has come for us to forget Tagore was ever a poet, and think of his more intelligible achievements. These are many. He was a fine essayist; an educationist who founded a university; an opponent of the terrorism that then plagued Bengal; a secularist amid religious divisions; an agricultural improver and ecologist; a critical nationalist. In his fiction, he showed an understanding of women – their discontents and dilemmas in a patriarchal society – that was ahead of its time. On his 150th anniversary, we shouldn't resist two cheers, at least.

Former “Bachelorette’’ beefcakes Chris Lambton and Kasey Kahl were in the crowd at this week’s fund-raiser for Falmouth-based Compassionate Care ALS. Lambton, who brought along his girlfriend, Peyton Wright , spoke about his own family’s experience with CCALS. . . . Plastic surgeon Paul Nassif , husband of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’’ cast member Adrienne Maloof , dined at ...

PORTLAND, Ore. – John Spencer was so fired up after the Timbers beat the Philadelphia Union 1-0 on Friday night that he grabbed a flag and waved it in front of a celebrating Timbers Army.

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"Sugar" Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao stepped on the scales to weigh-in for their Showtime pay-per-view bout which airs at 9:00 p.m. ET Saturday night. Manny Pacquiao weighed in at 145 pounds while Shane Mosley tipped the scales at 147 pounds. Both men looked in great shape and ready to go for their bout.

Showtime Sports has posted a video with highlights of the event including both men stepping on the scales and plenty of shots of the huge crowd that showed up for the weigh in:

Speaking of that huge crowd, from a Showtime press release:

Six thousand fans, including the first arrival at 5 a.m., jammed MGM Grand Garden Arena Friday for the Free Public Weigh-in featuring Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley. Another 2,000 were turned away.

This fight is doing some very big business.

Follow all of our fight coverage in this Pacquiao vs. Mosley StoryStream, which includes updated news, odds, and live results the night of the fight. SB Nation's boxing blog Bad Left Hook also has extensive Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley coverage. 

It's taken the Portland Timbers 70 minutes but they have finally broken the deadlock at JELD-WEN Field. After a handball in the middle of the field, Jack Jewsbury sent in the free kick and Manadou "Futty" Danso finished the cross for the game's first goal. Danso headed home a wonderful ball from Jewsbury off a difficult angle for the free kick.

The goal was Danso's first career Major League Soccer goal.

The Timbers continue to prove how good they are on set pieces as they take the lead and get the crowd back on into the game a bit more. The Philadelphia Union defenders were all out of position and Danso was able to break free on the set piece. 

So far the second half has been just as open as the first was for the Timbers. The Timbers continue to dominate the possession in this one as the Union have a more offensive lineup on the field in the second half with Kyle Nakazawa came on for Gabriel Farfan early in the half. The Union haven't been able to find the possession yet to get scoring chances here. 

Once again the fortress that is JELD-WEN Field has yielded another victim. The Portland Timbers had the bulk of the possession, the better chances on goal and in the end a Mamadou "Futty" Danso header was the difference as the Timbers down the Philadelphia Union 1-0. The win marks the second straight shutout for the Timbers who had been giving up goals left and right in previous games. 

Danso's goal came midway through the second half when the Union were whistled for a handball in the middle of the park. Jack Jewsbury had a tough angle on the free kick but he curled in a ball straight to Danso, who was free in the box to head it home. 

The Timbers looked pretty solid throughout this game and held the bulk of possession in this one. Getting a second straight shutout at home is huge for the Timbers too. Their defense wasn't tested much tonight but the few chances that came the Union's way, Troy Perkins came up big or his defense in front of him did. 

Neither side played all that well though. Philadelphia sat back for much of the first half and part of the second and really allowed Portland to take the game to them. The little possession they saw they wasted their chances with it. But give plenty of credit to the Union defense as it could have easily been a two or maybe even a three goal game for the Timbers. Faryd Mondragon and his defense really did a good job of shutting down the Timbers attack. The back four for the Union also did a good job of cutting down passing lanes.

The Timbers only had a few chances even with the bulk of possession. Kenny Cooper never got enough touches on the ball tonight but his partner up top, Jorge Perlaza was a workhorse all night for the Timbers. His energy allowed the Timbers offense to keep pressure on the young Union back line. 

The loss for the Union isn't a terrible ont but they have to feel this was a wasted trip to Portland as their offense never got going in this game. Whether it was the loud crowd in the stands or the shorten field, the Union just couldn't get it going in the offensive end.

With the win the Timbers move up to a second-place tie in the Western Conference (with the Colorado Rapids), sitting just below the Los Angeles Galaxy. 

There is barely a dry eye in the house as an autistic boy dances his way into the hearts of the audience in tonight's Britain's Got Talent.

Daily Mail

Caught on camera: 'Swarm mob' laugh and joke as they steal beer, soda and ... Daily Mail In a blatant, arrogant raid on the City Stop store in Las Vegas, a crowd of around 30 young people were caught on camera helping themselves to beer, soda, chips and even beef jerky. They then casually waltzed out of the door without paying all the ... and more »

Like anxious grandparents getting ready for an extended visit by the grandkids, Polk County is starting to prepare for the joys and perils of welcoming children when Legoland Florida opens in Winter Haven later this year.

DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki scored 32 points, Jason Terry had 23 and Peja Stojakovic scored 11 of his 15 in the fourth quarter, rallying the Dallas Mavericks to a 98-92 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night that puts the two-time defending champions on the brink of elimination.

Dallas trailed by seven points with 5:05 left and was getting shredded inside by a new-look Lakers lineup featuring three big men. The Mavs hadn't led since late in the second quarter and a record crowd was turning silent. Then Nowitzki hit a 3-pointer and Stojakovic followed with another, bringing the team and the crowd to life. An 18-6 rally followed, turning around the game and possibly sealing the series.

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"I know I’ve reached the zenith of my checkered career, as a fill-in between K’Naan and Alicia Keys performances," said Stephen Lewis at the Hope Rising! benefit concert, held Tuesday night at the Sony Centre in Toronto. Money raised from the star-studded evening will benefit Lewis’ foundation, which supports community-based organizations working to stop the AIDS pandemic in Africa. The A-list talent roster also included Harry Belafonte, Lorraine Segato and Rufus Wainwright, who joked about being the only white dude on stage, before singing a tear-inducing cover of Leonard Cohen’s "Hallelujah." But the message hit home the hardest when D’Bi Young, an African-Jamaican-Canadian dub poet, dramatically rapped, "I’m black and straight, this disease don’t discriminate." A sold-out crowd of 3200 people raised over $500,000.

The legendary Paul Rodriguez celebrated Cinco de Mayo Thursday night in style at Thunder Valley Casino and Resort, playing to a sold out crowd. Joining Rodriguez on stage was Gene Pompa and Dennis Gaxiola, both accomplished comedians in their own right.

Pompa opened the evening and really got the crowd excited. He says he is an old-school, hardcore political activist. For instance, he still won't eat grapes because of the plight of the migrant farm workers. He also won't eat raisins because of the older migrant farm workers. That's how hardcore he is. He also won't eat prunes, but that's for a completely different reason.

Next up was Gaxiola. He really got the ball rolling with his impressions of various marriage proposals. First up was the Mexican proposal: “You gonna keep it?” Then came the African-American proposal: “As the judge in this case, I find the DNA evidence is a match and you are the father.” The cowboy: “Please, don’t tell Mom,” which really got the crowd roaring.

Pompa came back out on stage to introduce Rodriguez. Rodriguez started off by saying it was nice to be back from the Middle East and then simply stated, “We got him,” and that was all it took. Everyone in the crowd knew he was referring to Osama and the audience erupted into cheers. For the past several years, Rodriguez has been working with the USO to help entertain our troops in the Middle East. This last trip was his sixth journey overseas.

With his classic style of comedy, mixing Spanish and English, Rodriguez’s performance was exactly what the audience was looking for. There were a couple of times when it appeared Rodriguez was through for the evening, only to then think of something else to talk about. Then it would be off on another litany of jokes and one-liners leaving no nationality or religion untouched.

Rodriguez took aim at Germans, Italians, Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans (the Mexicans of Japan), and even Mexicans. He also berated the various religions, in particular Catholic priests — I’ll just leave that one alone.

Rodriguez is considered one of the first Latin Kings of Comedy. As an actor and comedian, his career spans over two decades and includes starring roles and featured appearances in over 40 films and countless television series and comedy specials.

Make sure and get out to Thunder Valley Casino’s summer concert series, which kicks off this month with Creedence Clearwater Revisited on May 21, followed by The Fray on May 25.

Randy Miramontez is a contributing writer and photographer with The Sacramento Press.
 

The sheer volume of @sshattery that has come out of the mouths of members of the GOP is astonishing. Today's bumper crop yielded two nominees for 'The Stupid It Burns' poll.

First, Little Ricky Santorum, who claims Obama 'Didn't Get Osama Bin Laden!'. He went on the Laura Ingraham show and showed his @ss over Osama bin Laden and who deserves credit for it, particularly to give the kudos to Bush for his torture interrogation tactics. Via Think Progress:

SANTORUM: 9/11 families and everybody else in America should be furious at this president that he's walking abound taking credit for, you know, getting Osama bin Laden. He didn't get Osama bin Laden! ... The president of the United States simply said - courageous act, give him credit for saying yes - but that's all he did, is say yes. He didn't do the hard work. The people he's going after did the hard work. And that is an outrage.

Santorum is referrering to his claim that Attorney General Eric Holder is "going after" CIA agents who used enhanced interrogation tactics under President Bush. But perhaps Santorum is too fixated on his Google problem to remember that Obama said two years ago that he wouldn't prosecute CIA agents who engaged in torture.

Number 2 nominee is Rep. Allen West (R-FL). The batsh*ttery here is hard to beat. At a town hall in Fort Lauderdale he opened his pie hole and a lot of truthiness of epic proportions came out.

Warning the crowd about the economic and national security dangers that China poses to the United States, West declared - twice - that "China is in control of the Panama Canal":

WEST: I had the opportunity to go down to the United States southern command which is headquartered in Miami, Florida. There is a huge threat coming up out of South America through Central America, through Mexico, and into the United States. Iran is in South America. Hezbollah is in South America. I already talked about how China is in control of the Panama Canal. And even about 50 miles away from here in the Bahamas, building a port there. You know, there is some serious threats to our country.

The notion that China controls the Panama Canal is patently false.

So who wins the poll? Cast your vote below.

A line from Wings coach Mike Babcock’s post-game presser stuck with me and stuck with me good, summarizing the Red Wings’ elimination-staving 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks on Friday. Here’s what Babcock said to a few members of the press corps about their broaching of the retirement question with Lidstrom: “You guys did a real good job by talking to him about retirement yesterday, and answered that pretty good.” Lidstrom scored two goals, the Wings got goals from depth players for the first time in this series, they earned their literal and figurative bounces, their penalty-kill was finally good in limited action and while the Wings stopped skating in the 2nd and appeared gassed at times in the 3rd…The crowd picked their Red Wings up. The crowd at Joe Louis Arena did nothing less than a masterful, Datsyukian job of injecting the Wings with the energy and belief they needed to finally eke out a one-goal victory over the Sharks via a workmanlike goal from Darren Helm, and perhaps Red Wings Nation imbued the Wings with enough self-belief to ensure that Friday night’s game wasn’t the last one at the Joe.

It's always a poignant moment for Marsha Yessick to hear the crowd at Churchill Downs raise their voices in "My Old Kentucky Home" moments before the Run for the Roses.

ATLANTA – They say bad habits from the regular season carry over, and apparently that’s true. For instance, just because it’s the playoffs doesn’t mean the Hawks have stopped mailing in games.

In a season full of baffling home blowouts, the Hawks added another to the list in a 99-82 loss to Chicago in Game 3. It was the eighth time this season Atlanta lost at Philips Arena by 15 points or more, falling behind almost immediately as Derrick Rose eviscerated them for 44 points. The Bulls lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 heading into Game 4 on Sunday.

While Rose’s brilliance meant Atlanta was unlikely to win this game no matter what they did, the Hawks felt the lopsided nature of the defeat was more a result of apathy than execution or Xs and Os. Few in the audience disagreed.

The turning point? How about the 49-second mark. Hawks coach Larry Drew called as early a timeout as you’ll ever see after two easy baskets gave the Bulls a 4-0 lead. What set him off was an easy transition lay-up for Rose after a defensive board, a bucket that opened the floodgates on his career-high performance.

“I saw an energy level that, right away, I knew we were in trouble,” said Drew. “When you play an explosive guard like Derrick Rose, you have to make a commitment to getting back and making sure you try to keep him out of the paint. He’s too fast and too explosive.”

“I saw right then and there my team had not made the commitment we made in Game 1. We know he’s so good and explosive that he can get in there. But when I don’t’ see the effort on getting back in transition, not getting there and allowing them to get to the basket without a contest, I knew that we were not committed like we were in Games 1 and 2.”

The only energy in the arena, in fact, came from the Bulls fans chanting “MVP” after most of Rose’s 16 field goals. For the third time this season, the arena had a heavy sprinkling of Bulls fans, adding insult to injury as Atlanta’s “home” crowed cheered its demise.

And it should be noted that Rose foiled the Hawks even when their efforts were up to snuff. The most crucial instance was coming out of a timeout after the Hawks had cut the Bulls’ lead to 11 points early in the fourth quarter. On Chicago’s possession, Atlanta’s Jamal Crawford played great denial defense to eliminate a play the Bulls had diagrammed for Kyle Korver. No matter; Rose improvised and hit a difficult shot on the other side of the floor to end the Atlanta rally.

“That’s frustrating, for sure,” said Crawford. “Plays like that kind of stick the needle in the balloon, because you’re fighting so hard to get back and then he makes an incredible shot.”

There were subplots for Atlanta that were equally disheartening, however. While Rose was having his way on the perimeter, the Hawks were also getting destroyed on the glass. The Bulls had 18 offensive rebounds, nearly matching the Hawks’ total on the defensive glass (25); the board dominance gave Chicago a nine-possession edge.

“They completely beat us up,” said Drew. “My big guys didn’t show up tonight and I told them that at halftime. You have to play this team with energy, you have to match their physicality, you cannot complain to the officials, and you have to be ready to make it a war for 48 minutes. Tonight we did not do that.”

One option for Atlanta to deal with the board disparity is returning Jason Collins to the starting lineup, something Drew said he will consider based on what he finds when he watches the tape. That lineup has its own issues – scoring immediately becomes a concern, especially against the league’s top-ranked defense – but if it can stem the bleeding on the defensive end it might be worth it.

And obviously, having Kirk Hinrich would have helped. With Rose appearing back at full strength after struggling with ankle problems in the first two games, Teague’s general inexperience and his lack of size to contest Rose’s shot became much more glaring shortcomings.

Nonetheless, to a man the Hawks admitted that the greatest remedy is to simply play harder.

“It’s just disheartening to come out and start the game like that,” said Crawford.

It’s a sight the locals have witnessed far too often this year; as was the case with this game, usually right after they’d been sucked in by a recent burst of success. The glass-half-full approach is to say the Hawks weren’t winning this one anyway with Rose going off as he was, so perhaps it’s best to get it out of their system now.

But based on recent history, there’s little assurance the Philips Arena crowd won’t get an encore performance on Sunday.

Whether you are a manager or an engineer, everyone needs to have some competency in presenting their ideas.  Presentation skills are critical in influencing others, articulating complex ideas, and addressing large groups of people.  Even if you spend your days confined to your office writing code or finding bugs, at some point, you will need to present your ideas, maybe even to the VP when he stops by your office to see your new software features.  So what makes for a good presentation?  Recently, I had to give a formal presentation and had to think through my years of training to make sure I communicated key points and started meaningful conversations with the audience.  So let me spend this time giving you my top 10 tips on giving a good presentation.

1. YOU: Spend the first few minutes of your presentation introducing yourself.  This is more than just your name and “rank”.  You are in front of this group of people for a reason.  Take advantage of it to let them know a little more about you and your career highlights.  For many people, the first few minutes of your presentation will allow them to judge if they like you are not, or if they are interested in your topic or not.  Ever heard of first impressions?  This is first impressions to the extreme, especially if the audience is large.  Don’t blow it!
2. YOUR AUDIENCE:  Know your audience.  If you are going to influence your audience you need to know who they are.  Not personally, but you need to know how much they already know about your topic, what points may be the most interesting to them, and what takeaways they are looking for within your presentation.  Don't give details to high-level managers and don't give high-level business facts to a technical audience.
3. YOUR TOPIC: Review your overall message with key members of the audience beforehand if this is a proposal or new idea.  If this is a presentation to your team, upper management, or some other group within your company, you should be able to sample a few people before the day of the presentation, give them the highlights, and see if they are in agreement with your assertions.  This is especially critical if the topic is controversial.  You want allies in the audience that will speak up if the discussion heads in the wrong direction.  If you are presenting to a bigger, more anonymous group (either a training class or conference) you may not be able to poll a sample of the audience beforehand, but you still should run your presentation by a few people to gather inputs.
4. YOUR VISUALS: Your topic needs to be clear and concise – your slides will make or break your presentation.  If you have verbose slides and then read them word-for-word then you are wasting the audience’s time.  Couldn't you just make your point in email?  The text in your slides should be bullet points.  You should form what you are going to say for each bullet item and it should add more information and value than what the slide by itself says.  If your slide deck will get passed around and doesn’t contain enough info with just your bullet points, you can add notes (Microsoft PowerPoint has a notes section for each slide).  Just remember, your presentation is more about what you say and how you say it than what each slide says.  Also, if you can add fancy visuals and animations make sure they are appropriate and don’t overwhelm your point.  I don’t have that problem.  As a Test Manager, the most fancy “visual” you’ll see from me is a table of data, but that hasn’t stopped me from having good, productive presentations.  Also, being a Test Manager, I never like seeing presentations with spelling errors in the text or other inconsistencies so have your slides reviewed by someone before presenting them.
5. YOUR VOICE:  Show passion and excitement when you talk.  Add some inflection to your voice.  Being monotone can put the audience to sleep no matter how interesting the topic.  Also, speak up loudly.  Always loudly.  A microphone helps, but you shouldn’t need one.  Speaking loudly shows confidence and will keep your audience engaged.  If you are soft spoken and don’t have a microphone, you are not setting yourself up for success.  Inflection and volume in your voice is a great way to keep the audience engaged.  There was a time at Microsoft where presenters tried different methods to keep the audience's attention.  I've seen presentations from people in crazy costumes where you didn't actually know who the presenter was, and even one presenter who decided he would get his head shaved during his whole presentation.  It was amazing to see how this shaving progressed and that he didn't flinch or get distracted from his presentation topics, but I honestly don't remember what the presentation was about, only that I just saw a guy get his head shaved.
6. YOUR FLOW:  Show your idea or topic in a progressive way that ends with a clear message on how it will add value.  Start by giving some background so the audience is all on the same page.  Explain the issues, give your proposals or examples from your experience, and suggest ways it can add value to the individuals in the audience.  If you have challenges or risks, state them.  If you have asks from the audience, state them.  If your presentation is about the audience making a final decision (like if presenting to managers) state your expectation on the last slide that you are looking for a decision from them.  Clarity makes for a productive presentation.
7. YOUR BRAIN:  Show that you have expertise in the topic and additional insight that others in the audience may not have.  Don’t just present facts or issues, but draw conclusions so that you can lead your audience in the right direction.  Given that, it’s also not fair to the audience to present a one-sided argument.  Give counter-arguments yourself so that others in the audience don’t have to.  Lay it all out from background info through technology, proposals to risks, and final conclusions.  Pretend you are giving your audience breakfast in bed.  You don’t expect them to get out of bed when they don’t have all that they need.  Think through all that is needed and have it all on hand for them just in case.  If you aren't sure, put it in an appendix.  That way, you can go to it if the presentation changes direction, but if not, it is there for a reference.
8. YOUR BODY:  Show confidence in your body language.  Don’t dance and don’t cross your arms.  I can give you more advice here, but then I’d follow that up with don’t be self-conscious about your body language, and that will make you really confused.  What works for me is pretend you are opening up to the audience, maybe even hugging them.  Your arms are inviting by being beside you, behind you, or in some other position that sends the message that you are inviting people in.  Crossing them says ‘stay away’ and that’s not the message your audience wants to hear if you are giving them good information in your presentation.  Dance, pacing, or any other walking around can be distracting unless it’s up and down the aisles in which case you are again opening yourself up with your body language to help draw people in, so getting into the crowd is good.  Movement while in front of the crowd can be distracting.  If you are concerned about any of this, sit down in a chair at a conference table.  That is by far the easiest environment to present from.  If you want to go bigger than that, try video-taping yourself first during a practice run.  You’ll find watching yourself will be priceless in improving your presentation skills.
9. YOUR TIME:  Actually, it’s the audience’s time.  Watch the clock.  Don’t go over the time you are allotted.  If you allow questions within your presentation, make sure that you get back on topic and don’t go off on a tangential discussion.  I typically count my slides and my time and make sure I have a good ratio.  For example, I recent had to present 15 slides in 30 minutes.  2 minutes a slide was reasonable but even at the end I stopped before the final slide (which was less important to the conversation) and skipped any appendix items.  If you have 30 minutes to present 45 slides, you aren’t going to complete it in time.  Be reasonable about your pace.
10. YOUR STAGE: The logistics are the most important part, really.  Yes, microphones, projectors, laser pens, and more can make or break a presentation because your comfort level with these items will affect your focus on the topic at hand.  Know what surroundings you are going to be presenting in.  Sometimes I will show up a bit early or check out the facilities the day before to understand the configuration of the audience (seating arrangements) and of the speaker.  If you think you will be sitting at a large conference room table with your own laptop, but instead find out you will be hooked to a microphone, video-taped, and talking from a pedestal, this can make a big difference in how you prepare, what you wear (yes, that is important to some degree), and when you arrive.  Should you bring print-outs or send out the slide deck to the audience ahead of time?  What about remote viewers through video conferencing?  If you plan on doing any audience participation-like activity, you should think twice about this if part of your audience in remote.  And questions from the audience can be really tough to hear for remote viewers so always repeat the questions before giving answers. 

And a bonus tip if you've read this far:  ADVANCED SKILL:  Adding humor is great in keeping the audience engaged, but it’s a double-edged sword.  Although it can be very powerful when done right, many times it is done wrong and the phrase or topic you thought would be funny and get a laugh, gets silence, long, uncomfortable silence, and that throws off the whole presentation.  So my advice, don’t go for the jokes.  As you get more confortable presenting, they actually somewhat form on their own as you make your way through your topic points.

 

Overall, the most important tip is to just go do presentations.  You need to get out there, in front of people, and practice this skill.  Some will be good and some will honestly suck.  But how else are you going to get better?  If you don't practice, you may have some awesome ideas and no mechanism to get momentum behind them.  Good luck!

Daily Mail

Caught on camera: ¿Swarm mob¿ laugh and joke as they steal beer, soda and ... Daily Mail In a blatant, arrogant raid on the City Stop store in Las Vegas, a crowd of around 30 young people were caught on camera helping themselves to beer, soda, chips and even beef jerky. They then casually waltzed out of the door without paying all the ... and more »

Thousands took part in the 2010 edition of the "Duck Race to End Racism" and organizers expect an even bigger crowd this year.

This day 50 years ago the Space Race heated up. Hot on the heels of the Soviet accomplishment, sending their first astronaut (Cosmonaut) Yuri Gagarin into space in April, America quickly followed suit by sending Alan Shepard, America's first astronaut into space.

Here is the sound of the launch from May 5, 1961 and the first Press Conference Shepard delivered on May 8th where he recapped the flight to an overflow crowd of reporters.

A large page of history was made on this day and space became the biggest thing on peoples minds.

. . .and if you don't mind . .

During a Fort Lauderdale town hall last week, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) warned his constituents about “serious threats to our country,” including Iran and Hezbollah. However, one of the examples West used repeatedly, was not just overblown; it was demonstrably untrue.

Warning the crowd about the economic and national security dangers that China poses to the United States, West declared – twice – that “China is in control of the Panama Canal”:

WEST: I had the opportunity to go down to the United States southern command which is headquartered in Miami, Florida. There is a huge threat coming up out of South America through Central America, through Mexico, and into the United States. Iran is in South America. Hezbollah is in South America. I already talked about how China is in control of the Panama Canal. And even about 50 miles away from here in the Bahamas, building a port there. You know, there is some serious threats to our country.

Watch it:

The notion that China controls the Panama Canal is patently false. The United States handed control of the canal over to Panama on December 31, 1999 and it has remained in Panamanian hands ever since. This false claim was even debunked by the conservative news outlet Newsmax back in 2006. In fact, rather than owning the Panama Canal, China is currently proposing a rival railroad in Colombia that would allow goods to bypass the canal.

West is certainly no stranger to outlandish statements. He made a name for himself over the past year with comments like endorsing the censorship of news agencies that “enabled” Wikileaks, arguing that nobody is getting laid off in Washington D.C., saying that liberal women are “neutering American men,” and calling President Obama a “low level Socialist agitator.”

It’s time to send the raucous teenagers down to the basement, where they can make all the noise they want without bothering anybody. The grownups are arriving for the dinner party that will be the Republicans’ 2012 presidential campaign.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, just back from a stint as U.S. ambassador to China, formed his “leadership political action committee” this week, which is an early step in deciding whether to plunge into the race.

Huntsman, a fiscal conservative and relative social moderate, is clearly the potential challenger who most worries President Obama. Obama has taken pains to point out Huntsman’s service in the current administration, calling him an “outstanding advocate for this administration and for this country,” and noting, “I couldn’t be happier with the ambassador’s service.” It seems likely that White House aides are responsible for leaking correspondence in which Huntsman called his former boss a “remarkable leader.”

The idea, evidently, is that if Huntsman was willing to serve under a Democratic administration, and if he does not believe Obama has horns and carries a pitchfork, he will be unacceptable to Republican primary voters – and thus will have no chance to later court the moderates that Obama badly needs in the general election.

Such thinking is not entirely divorced from reality – each party has its dedicated core that cannot countenance any cooperation with, or respect for, the other side – but if you have to count on the opposition benching one of its best players, you aren’t entering the game in a strong position to win.

Some Republicans will certainly reject Huntsman for his live-and-let-live social views, and others will abhor his service in the Obama-Clinton State Department, but I suspect many more will respect his willingness to answer a president’s call to help manage one of our most important international relationships. Also, many (one would hope most) Republicans are well aware that the country’s policies on spending, taxes, trade and debt are likely to be the keys to this election, and are far more important than social questions like same-sex marriage, which are losing their political resonance. Focus on the economy brought GOP success in 2010. Plenty of Republicans are eager to use the same playbook in 2012.

And Huntsman is not the only credible challenger.

Former Govs. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota are both deep into their respective campaigns, Romney coming out of his 2008 run. Pawlenty is a social conservative from the Midwest who would be acceptable to nearly all factions in the GOP. He also has the advantage of coming from the state next door to Iowa, where the real campaign kicks off in just eight months. Romney has his own baggage, not least from the health care reform enacted on his watch in Massachusetts, but he also has plenty of gravitas and a successful record in business and governance. And he comes from the state adjoining New Hampshire, another key state in the race to the nomination.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels will get to sit at the adult table well. Some Republicans are trying to coax Daniels into the race because of his track record in fixing Indiana finances. Daniels would be a formidable candidate, in the same vein as Huntsman, Pawlenty or Romney.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania could emerge as the darling of the party’s social conservatives. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, held that spot until now, but he has made too many buffoonish mistakes to keep it. Santorum is not my cup of tea, but then, I don’t go to tea parties. It’s clear, however, that Huckabee will be sent to the basement, where he can make noise and appear on Fox News with the other kids.

One of those kids – and Fox commentators – is Sarah Palin. Her diminishing band of supporters would love for her to run. Every Republican who is serious about capturing the White House prays that she won’t. From all appearances, she will answer those prayers; it seems she actually prefers hanging out with the cool kids to listening to all that boring adult chitchat about cost containment and budget authorizations.

Newt Gingrich, the long-ago House speaker and GOP wunderkind, also gets sent downstairs. He hasn’t been relevant for more than a decade, and he offers nothing that would change that today. I get the impression he really just wants to hang out with those cool kids anyway, even though he isn’t cool himself.

Donald Trump is standing at the top of the basement stairs, bellowing that the party can start now that The Donald is here. Trump wanted to sit with the adults, but was banished for being developmentally underage. I don’t think those kids in the basement particularly want Trump’s company, either, but he has to be someplace, and he – like the other preening adolescents – wants “someplace” to have TV cameras. So downstairs he goes.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour probably loves kids, from kissable babies right up through the Palin crowd. (Okay, maybe he can’t tolerate The Donald, but who can?) Barbour, however, gets to sit with the adults, despite his “good ol’ boy” persona. He earned his place at the table through his calm handling of Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill, and he cemented it by having the good grace to take his name out of the presidential sweepstakes while everyone else is still trying to get in. Imagine: a good ol’ boy who knows when to trade in his six-pack of beer for a bottle of Chardonnay.

This might turn out to be a party worth attending, after all.

For more articles on financial, business, and other topics, view the Palisades Hudson newsletter, Sentinel, or subscribe to my daily opinion column, Current Commentary.

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The Chicago White Sox have looked pitiful so far this season and are a deserved last in the American League. With Felix Hernandez on the mound and a delirious Ichiro-Bobblehead inspired crowd behind them, the M's have a shot to get back to .500 this series. It all begins tonight.

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CNET

Radiation monitoring in Japan goes crowd, open source CNET The data captured from the geiger counters will be fed into Safecast.org, which aggregates radiation readings from government, nonprofit, and other sources, as well as into Pachube, a global open-source network of sensors. Safecast is one of the larger ...

In a little more than two years since making his UFC debut, Stefan Struve has steadily risen through the ranks of the organization’s heaviest division. Although Struve insists that he isn’t feeling the pressure, the fact of the matter is “The Skyscraper” is on the brink of becoming a bonafide contender in the UFC's heavyweight division.

An established star on the European mixed martial arts circuit, before making his UFC debut in February of 2009, Struve has since claimed five wins in seven Octagon appearances—including victories over Paul Buentello, Christian Morecraft and, most recently, Sean McCorkle.

Right now, Struve is preparing for his next bout—a heavyweight tilt on May 28th against Travis Browne at UFC 130.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Stefan Struve about, among other topics, the joys of home-ownership, what he's been able to accomplish in the UFC so far and his upcoming bout against Browne later this month.

How are you doing today?

Good. I just finished training; I had grappling this morning with my training partners and had strength and conditioning in the evening and I just came home from my new house—I bought a new house. So, I’m doing really good.

You’ve got a new house?

Yeah, I just bought a new house a couple days ago—I just got the key yesterday.

How does that feel?

It’s awesome; it’s really nice. I bought my house with the money I’ve made in the UFC so far, so it’s been excellent.

That’s got to feel good.

Yeah, it feels really, really good. That’s another reason why I love my job.

The money?

Well, it’s not only the money that makes you happy, but the things that you can do with it; I bought a home for myself and that’s really nice. I’m really thankful for the way my career has gone so far.

Did you think, in the beginning, that you would be able to buy your own home with your talents as a mixed martial artist?

At first, I didn’t think about that. When I first signed my deal with the UFC, I didn’t think things would go this fast. That’s the truth.

Were you surprised to get that call from the UFC so early in your career?

Well, I was young—I was 20 years old—but to be honest, I was doing really, really good in Europe; I won 14 fights in a row and then I lost one and then I won five straight. For someone that’s 20 years old and fighting in the heavyweight division at 220 pounds, I think that’s pretty good, you know? We heard that Dream was following my fights and we heard that the UFC was following my fights and Affliction was following my fights, but when the offer finally came, of course we were very proud and a little surprised. The UFC is the biggest stage there is.

Was there any hesitation on your behalf to sign the contract?

To be honest, there was. At first we thought, if we signed with the UFC, then we would only be fighting three or four times a year. When I wasn’t fighting in the UFC, I was fighting seven-to-nine times a year. I really liked that rhythm, but to be honest, three or four times a year is good enough for me. With the way that I’m getting paid, it’s better because I can let my injuries heal and I can take more time to work on technical training instead of going back to strength and conditioning right after the fight, you know?

At this point, you prefer the three or four fights a year?

I think I will fight three times this year because this will be my first fight in May. I was supposed to fight in March against [Brendan] Schaub, but it got canceled because I had a small injury that I had to let heal and I needed some more time.

Do you think, looking back, it was a positive thing for your career that you got the opportunity to come to the UFC so early?

Yeah, of course I think it was. I was pretty much done fighting lower-level competition in Europe; there were no more big tests for me, to be honest. I’m getting tested in the UFC and I think Travis is another big test for me.

Did you have a “welcome to the UFC” moment, where it all kind of hit you that you were in the major league?

When it hit me? Yeah; fight-week, with all of the media attention and the attention from the crowd and the fans at the weigh-ins at the stage with all of the people in the audience. When I finally stepped into the Octagon I realized that I had to fight in the UFC for the first time and I thought, “Okay, now we’re here and now it needs to happen.” And it didn’t happen [laughs].

Was that at all overwhelming?

Yeah, everything was a little overwhelming; the media, the audience—everything. And then a guy like Junior Dos Santos is standing in front of you—who didn’t really have a big-name back then, but was coming off a big win over Fabricio Werdum—so he felt really good in there. I think I jammed; I couldn’t move, I didn’t do my thing, but losses happen and it made me stronger.

After a loss, do you ever question why you compete?

No, not really; I love my sport and I couldn’t be more thankful for the way my career has gone so far. Of course, after a loss you’re disappointed, but I never think, “Why am I doing this?” That never happens, no. 

How do you feel about what you’ve been able to accomplish so far in the UFC?

I’m pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished so far; I’ve already got five wins—I’ve won five out of my last six—and my only two losses are against guys that are doing really well right now in the UFC. In the fight with Roy [Nelson], there were some things that were happening fight-week that—and you wish that those things didn’t happen—but they happen. For the future, it will be nice to get a rematch with both guys, but there’s no rush; I’m only 23 and, like I said, I’ve very proud of what I’ve accomplished so far and I plan on winning my sixth fight in the UFC in a couple of weeks.

How much better do you feel you are now than when you first came into the UFC two years ago?

A lot, a lot, a lot better. I’ve worked on everything; my ground-game has improved a lot and especially my stand-up—if you look at my fights, I’ve improved so much. I think I weighed in at 239 pounds, and I’m at 260, 262 right now, so I’ve improved a lot.

You’re at 262, you said?

260, 262 or something like that; around 260.

Do you usually walk around that heavy?

No; I got a little heavier. I had some more time off after the fight, so I did more strength and conditioning to get bigger, you know? That was good. I did a lot of technical training after the fight with [Sean] McCorkle; a lot of BJJ and technical kick-boxing. I’ve improved a lot since my last fight.

Do you feel a lot stronger with that added weight?

Yeah. I’m feeling it a lot—especially when I’m hitting somebody with a punch. In the gym, I’m afraid to hit people with full-force, because I know that if I hit someone it’s good-night—that’s a good feeling. On the ground, as well; I’ve got a lot more strength. It’s really good.

What do you think you will weigh come fight night?

Somewhere around 260—I don’t know. When I started my camp, after my fight with McCorkle, I went to L.A. for two weeks and when I came back I was at 280. It’s pretty big, but I didn’t train a lot and I ate a lot of pizza and shit like that in L. A. Like I said, I think around 260.

What motivated you to put on the extra weight?

Look at who’s running the heavyweight division; Brock [Lesnar], [Shane] Carwin, [Cain] Velasquez and Dos Santos—those are big guys for their frames. I need to put more muscle on my frame. On my frame, I can easily go up to 280 or 290, in my opinion, and cut down, weigh in at 265 and weigh 280, 285 in the cage.

Is that something that you would be interested in doing in the future?

Yeah—in the future. I’m getting bigger every single fight and for my next fight, I may even have to cut a little bit before the fight. That’s for the next fight; I’m under the 265-limit right now.

Did you think, when you started your career, that you would ever be that heavy?

Of course I knew that I would get bigger eventually. Especially with the people in the gym, when I was young, they would say that if I did the right things—if I ate correct and kept on training—it will all come by itself. If I continued to do the right things, they said I’d become a monster. I said that sounded cool, but I was 16 years old when they said that, but they had it right [laughs].

I remember, I think it was in one of your first bouts in the UFC, Joe Rogan said that when you grow into your body and physically mature, then you would be a real force to be reckoned with. Now that that is becoming a reality, how confident are you?

I’m really confident for my next fight. Like I said, I’ve improved a lot. My kick-boxing and my ground-game was already really technical, but because I’m getting bigger and stronger right now, I feel that my technique is really starting to work; when I give someone a push-kick or a jab or something, it has impact and I can feel it. Like I said, when I spar, I’m afraid to hit somebody with all of my power, because I know, if I hit someone on the chin then it will be good-night [laughs]. That’s a really good feeling.

What does that mean to you?

[Laughs] To me, it means that Travis Browne is going to have a bad night at UFC 130, that’s for sure.

What problems does Travis pose to you?

He’s a big test; he’s got solid power in his fists and he’s got some powerful kicks. He’s a tall guy, he’s a good striker, but I feel that my ground-game is far ahead of his. He’s got some good wrestling, but I’m not really afraid of wrestlers because my ground-game is good and my guard is good—they don’t really want to be in my guard, in my opinion. You saw that in my last fight, when McCorkle took me down because he didn’t want to stand up with me, so he decided to take me down and after a couple minutes I reversed him and he didn’t have a chance on the ground against me.

Do you feel Travis has anything to offer that you haven’t already seen?

I’m not underestimating him; he’s a good fighter. He’s four inches smaller than me—that’s a lot—but, he’s still 6’7” and he’s got a lot of power in his hands.  In my opinion, it’s going to be an awesome fight. He always comes to fight and I always come to fight; we both love to throw leather. It’s going to be an awesome fight for the fans, for sure. He puts it all on the line and I put it all on the line...I like to be in a brawl and I just like to fight. It’s been too long; I wish I could just close my eyes and be in there [laughs].

What do you think Travis’ game plan will be going into this fight?

I think he’ll want to put pressure on me and, maybe, take me down to try to ground-and-pound me, but I don’t think he will succeed with that [laughs].

Do you have a prediction for how it’s going to end?

I don’t really do predictions for fights, but I always come to finish my fight—it’s the same thing with this fight at UFC 130; I’ll be coming in to finish the fight and he’ll be coming in to finish the fight. Of course I’m confident and I feel that I’m going to win this fight. Either by submission or knock-out—I don’t care—wherever the fight goes, it’s fine with me. I’m going to be in there to finish.

What would a win at UFC 130 mean to you?

A win at UFC 130 would be my sixth win and my third straight, so that’s a good feeling. I want to put another streak together and maybe go up against the bigger boys—we’ll see. There’s no rush; I’m only 23 years old, so I’m going in there without any sort of pressure—I’m just going to fight my ass off and I’m going to do it with a good feeling, that’s for sure.

Assuming you win, where do you see yourself in the UFC’s heavyweight division?

If I win, I’ll be top 10. I think I’m around top 10 now—maybe in it, but maybe not yet. I think being in the top 10 in the UFC for someone who is only 23 years old and fighting in the heavyweight division isn’t that bad. With the future ahead—like I said, no rush and no pressure—I’m just going to keep on giving awesome fights to the fans. When I get bigger and learn more, I’m going to make a run for the belt, but there’s no rush for that. This fight is the first fight that I’ve had coaches for every single thing, you know? At first, we did almost everything in our own gym, but now I’ve got a BJJ coach, I’ve got a strength and conditioning coach, I’ve got a coach for the stand-up, I’ve got new guys to train with. It’s been an awesome camp and I can’t wait to go show how much I’ve improved.

What inspired you to make that move?

All the guys do it that way, you know? I figured that I should give it a try and see how it works. You need people who are the best in their discipline; for the stand-up, ground-game, wrestling, strength and conditioning, nutrition. You need people who know everything about all of those things and it has been really good. I’ve learned a lot about every aspect. Especially for the mental aspect of the game; I’ve learned so much and I know for myself that that’s good. Like I said, I can’t wait to show all of the technique that I’ve learned.

Do you feel that everything is really coming together at this point?

This is just the start, in my opinion. If I can keep going like this for five or six years, then I see myself being one of the best in the UFC. Also, with the strength and the weight that I added, my wrestling has been going very good, I’ve been throwing people around easier than before. Like you said, it’s coming together a little bit, but for me it’s only the start.

What are your goals in the sport at this point?

At this point? Right now, the only goal is to win my fight at UFC 130. For the future, I still have at least 12 or 13 years of competition in me—and maybe ever more. Of course I want to have the belt around my waist at some time. I’m only 23 and doing really good in the UFC, so I see myself with a belt in a couple years.

Is that what motivates you to train every day?

Every single fight motivates me to work hard. It’s my job—I need money—and I get paid for delivering exciting fights. Another motivation is the appreciation that I get from my fans. I’m not a big contender yet; it’s not like people are talking about me fighting for the belt after my next fight or anything, but I get fan mail. I read things on the Internet and people talk to me on Twitter and Facebook—it’s very motivating. People love my fights and there are a lot of people that really appreciate the way I fight—that motivates me, too.

What do the fans mean to you?

A lot. Of course, without the fans this sport wouldn’t be this big. I always want to deliver a good fight and give the fans what they came to see and what they paid for.

Have you thought about what you might like to do in 12 or 13 years when you’re doing fighting?

Well, I can’t see myself involved in anything but sports, so I think owning a gym or anything related to sports; making people better, making people stronger. Maybe something related to nutrition. I want to learn about everything that has to do with my sport. I want to start studying again so I will learn even more about my body. I want to be the best with everything, you know?

Are you excited to see what the future holds for you as a mixed martial artist?

Like I said, I can’t wait for the future, but right now I love my job, I love my life, I love Holland—things are going very well. The future can wait, and I’ll just do my thing. You never know what will happen—you might get injured—so, I enjoy every second of this and I try my best to improve every day.

Derrick Rose scored a career-high 44-points in front of a home crowd on the road as the Bulls seized control of their second round series against the Atlanta Hawks. The game, which Chicago won 99-82, was a combination of "wasn't the Hawks' night" and "Derrick Rose was unstoppable." Rose shot 16 of 27 from the [...]

3:23 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hey, it’s good to be back with you all. I’ll tell you what.  I want to thank General Colt for accompanying me up here.  I get the honor of introducing the General.

I was back here on February 11th, to welcome home members of the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan -- 155 of you got off that plane in the middle of the night, and the only thing that was more exciting than seeing you getting off is watching your families watch you all get off.  So it’s an honor to be back here so soon.

I know many of you have just gotten home in the past few weeks -- so welcome home.  And I know from experience that your families want more than anything to spend time with you.  And so, every time I show up at a welcome home ceremony, I’m always worried about getting in the way.  Because I remember when my son came back home from Iraq after a year, there were all these ceremonies.  And I kept saying, hell, man, stop, I want to see my kid.  (Laughter.)

So, anyway, I get it.  So let me just say how much gratitude the President and I have, and all Americans do, for you all.  You guys have been in the fight from the beginning.  And the risk you’ve taken, the incredible sacrifices you’ve made, the comrades you’ve lost, the losses you’ve personally endured -- you’ve been in some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world.

I’ve been there a number of times, back up those damn mountains.  I’d get a helicopter to go down 9,800 feet, and all I got on is a vest -- a bulletproof vest and a helmet and I’m out of breath climbing up about 40 clicks -- 40 feet.  And you guys are up there, 60 to 80-pound packs running around.  God, you’re amazing.  You just are amazing.  I’m in awe of the job you do, in awe of the job you do.  (Applause.)

As I said back in February, I want to also thank your families.  They made sacrifices as well, those intangible sacrifices -- those missed births and those missed birthdays, those missed graduations, those missed -- an occasional funeral. Perhaps more than anything else, just being missed, just not having you home.

The famous poet -- there was a famous poet I like to quote, John Milton, who said, “They also serve who only stand and wait.” Your families serve as well.  And the rest of America owes your families a debt of gratitude as well.  (Applause.)  And so, to all the families that are listening, I want to say their service is as real as yours and it’s as appreciated.

To the soldiers here, you are the most capable warriors.  Let me say this without any fear of contradiction, you’re the most capable warriors in the history of the world.  There has never, never, never, never been a fighting force as capable as you are.

It’s my job today and my honor to talk a little bit about the man that I get to work with every day.  We’ve just got to spend time with the assaulters who got bin Laden.  (Applause.)

By the way, I shouldn’t say this, but I’m going to tell you anyway -- the President is going to be mad I’m taking so long -- (laughter) -- but today was “Grandfather’s Day,” so I went by earlier this morning before I came out here to my granddaughter’s little spring play.  And after it’s all over she said, “Pop, come back to my classroom with me.”  I said, “I can’t, honey.”  She said, “Are you going someplace on Air Force Two?”  I said, “Yeah, I am, babe.”  She said, “Where are you going?”  I said, going to -- true story -- I said, “I’m going to Fort Campbell.”  I said, “We’re going to see the guys out there who got Osama bin Laden.” Absolutely true story.  She said, “Pop!” and then she grabbed a little friend of hers and she said,  “My Pop is going out to see the whales.”  (Laughter.)  Not the SEALs, the whales  (Laughter.) Because if they’re that good they got to be big, man.  They got to be big.  (Laughter.)  Well, you guys are the gorillas, I’ll tell you.

I want to tell you, look, I’ve watched -- I’ve been around a while with eight Presidents, so I’ve watched Presidents make some difficult decisions.  They’ve all had to make difficult decisions.  But sitting in every meeting getting ready and planning for this mission and assault, for the mission to get bin Laden, I saw something extraordinary.  I saw a President who was told the odds -- told the odds weren’t but much more than 50/50 that he’d be there and we could do this, but they were considerably less than 100 percent.

And I, along with the all the rest of his national security team and Secretary of Defense, stayed -- everyone else, we sat around there and he asked our advice and we gave him our advice, and we told him told him a little this and that.  And finally, he just looked at all of us and said, I got faith in the -- I got faith in these guys.

He walked off on his own without anybody giving him any guarantees at all and he decided -- because he believed in not only the SEALs, but believes in all of you.  He has absolute total faith in all of you.  And he made that determination, and it was an amazing thing to watch.  But it was because he had the absolute confidence that you were there.

And so he decided, when he got into office, because of the fight you all were in from the beginning, that the number one priority was to get Osama bin Laden.  And he knew the risks, he knew there were significant risks, and more importantly, special operations risks to the people who were risking their lives getting there.  But he didn’t hesitate, nor did your guys.

Bob Gates said something interesting.  I’ve known Bob for a long time.  He said, it was one of the gutsiest decisions I’ve ever seen made and one of the gutsiest raids.  This is going to go down in history, what happened.  This is going to go down in history.

And here to introduce your Commander-in-Chief, the guy that I’m proud to serve with, is one of the country’s leading warriors himself, Deputy Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, General Jeffrey Colt.  Ladies and gentlemen, General Colt.  (Applause.)

GENERAL COLT:  Thank you, sir.

I can only try to tell you today just how proud of you that this Division and this local community are.  But more importantly, today, you’re going to get to hear from the Commander-in-Chief just how appreciative he is of all of your service and your sacrifices.

Please join me in this great privilege of welcoming the President of the United States, Barack Obama.  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Fort Campbell!  (Applause.)  101st Airborne Division—Air Assault, hello!  (Applause.)

General Colt, thank you for that great introduction -- it was great because it was brief.  (Laughter.)  More importantly, thank you for the extraordinary leadership that you’ve shown here at one of the largest Army bases in America.  (Applause.)

And let me just say, I make a lot of decisions; one of the earliest and best decisions I made was choosing one of the finest Vice Presidents in our history -- Joe Biden, right here.  (Applause.)

Chaplain Miller, thank you for the beautiful invocation.

I want to thank General Colt for welcoming me here today, along with your great Command Sergeant Major, Wayne St. Louis.  (Applause.)  The Quartet and 101st Division Band.  (Applause.)  All these troopers behind me —- you look great.  (Applause.)  You noticed they kind of hesitated.  (Laughter.)  

We got a lot of folks in the house.  We’ve got military police and medical personnel.  We’ve got the Green Berets of the 5th Special Forces Group.  I think we’ve got a few Air Force here.  Ohh -- (laughter.)  Well, we thought we did.  There they go -- okay.  Come on.  (Applause.)  And, of course, the legendary Screaming Eagles.  (Applause.)  And although they’re not in the audience, I want to acknowledge the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment —- the Night Stalkers -— for their extraordinary service.  (Applause.)

Now, I’ve got to say, some of you are starting to look a little familiar -- because last December, when we were at Bagram, I was out there to thank you for your service, especially during the holidays.  And we had a great rally, a big crowd -- it seemed like everybody was there from the 101st.

And since then, I know we’ve had quite a few homecomings.  The Rakkasans.  (Applause.)  Destiny.  (Applause.)  Strike.  (Applause.)  Bastogne.  (Applause.)  And some of the Division Headquarters —- the Gladiators.  (Applause.)  On behalf of a grateful nation —- welcome home.  (Applause.)   

Of course, our thoughts and prayers are with General Campbell, Command Sergeant Major Schroeder, and all of the Screaming Eagles and troops that are still risking their lives in theater.  And I’m so pleased that Ann Campbell and Marla Schroeder, and some of the inspiring military spouses are here.  Where are they at?  Right over there.  (Applause.)  We are grateful to you.  God bless you.  There they are.  Thank you so much.  (Applause.)  This happens to be Military Spouse Appreciation Day.  (Applause.)  And we honor your service as well.

Now, I didn’t come here to make a really long speech.  I know you're hearing that.  (Laughter.)  It’s like, yeah, it’s hot!  (Laughter.)  What I really wanted to do was come down and shake some hands.  I came here for a simple reason —- to say thank you on behalf of America.  This has been an historic week in the life of our nation.  (Applause.)  Thanks to the incredible skill and courage of countless individuals -— intelligence, military —- over many years, the terrorist leader who struck our nation on 9/11 will never threaten America again.  (Applause.)

Yesterday, I traveled to New York City, and, along with some of our 9/11 families, laid a wreath at Ground Zero in memory of their loved ones.  I met with the first responders —- the firefighters, the police officers, the Port Authority officers —- who lost so many of their own when they rushed into those burning towers.  I promised that our nation will never forget those we lost that dark September day.   

And today, here at Fort Campbell, I had the privilege of meeting the extraordinary Special Ops folks who honored that promise.  It was a chance for me to say —- on behalf of all Americans and people around the world —- “Job well done.”  Job well done.  (Applause.)

They’re America’s “quiet professionals” -- because success demands secrecy.  But I will say this.  Like all of you, they could have chosen a life of ease.  But like you, they volunteered.  They chose to serve in a time of war, knowing they could be sent into harm’s way.  They trained for years.  They’re battle-hardened.  They practiced tirelessly for this mission.  And when I gave the order, they were ready.

Now, in recent days, the whole world has learned just how ready they were.  These Americans deserve credit for one of the greatest intelligence military operations in our nation’s history.  But so does every person who wears America’s uniform, the finest military the world has ever known.  (Applause.)  And that includes all of you men and women of 101st.  (Applause.)

You have been on the frontlines of this fight for nearly 10 years.  You were there in those early days, driving the Taliban from power, pushing al Qaeda out of its safe havens.  Over time, as the insurgency grew, you went back for, in some cases, a second time, a third time, a fourth time.

When the decision was made to go into Iraq, you were there, too, making the longest air assault in history, defeating a vicious insurgency, ultimately giving Iraqis the chance to secure their democracy.  And you’ve been at the forefront of our new strategy in Afghanistan.

Sending you -- more of you -- into harm’s way is the toughest decision that I’ve made as Commander-in-Chief.  I don’t make it lightly.  Every time I visit Walter Reed, every time I visit Bethesda, I’m reminded of the wages of war.  But I made that decision because I know that this mission was vital to the security of the nation that we all love.

And I know it hasn’t been easy for you and it hasn’t, certainly, been easy for your families.  Since 9/11, no base has deployed more often, and few bases have sacrificed more than you.  We see it in our heroic wounded warriors, fighting every day to recover, and who deserve the absolute best care in the world.  (Applause.)  We see it in the mental and emotional toll that’s been taken -- in some cases, some good people, good soldiers who’ve taken their own lives.  So we’re going to keep saying to anybody who is hurting out there, don’t give up.  You’re not alone.  Your country needs you.  We’re here for you to keep you strong.

And most of all, we see the price of this war in the 125 soldiers from Fort Campbell who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice during this deployment to Afghanistan.  And every memorial ceremony —- every “Eagle Remembrance” —- is a solemn reminder of the heavy burdens of war, but also the values of loyalty and duty and honor that have defined your lives.

So here’s what each of you must know.  Because of your service, because of your sacrifices, we’re making progress in Afghanistan.  In some of the toughest parts of the country, General Campbell and the 101st are taking insurgents and their leaders off the battlefield and helping Afghans reclaim their communities.

Across Afghanistan, we’ve broken the Taliban’s momentum.  In key regions, we’ve seized the momentum, pushing them out of their strongholds.  We’re building the capacity of Afghans, partnering with communities and police and security forces, which are growing stronger.

And most of all, we’re making progress in our major goal, our central goal in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that is disrupting and dismantling -- and we are going to ultimately defeat al Qaeda.  (Applause.)  We have cut off their head and we will ultimately defeat them.  (Applause.)

Even before this week’s operation, we’ve put al Qaeda’s leadership under more pressure than at any time since 9/11, on both sides of the border.  So the bottom line is this:  Our strategy is working, and there’s no greater evidence of that than justice finally being delivered to Osama bin Laden.  (Applause.)

But I don’t want to fool you.  This continues to be a very tough fight.  You know that.  But because of this progress, we’re moving into a new phase.  In the coming months, we’ll start transferring responsibility for security to Afghan forces. Starting this summer, we’ll begin reducing American forces.  As we transition, we’ll build a long-term partnership with the Afghan people, so that al Qaeda can never again threaten America from that country.

And, as your Commander-in-Chief, I’m confident that we’re going to succeed in this mission.  The reason I’m confident is because in you I see the strength of America’s military -- (applause) -- and because in recent days we’ve all seen the resilience of the American spirit.

Now, this week I received a letter from a girl in New Jersey named Payton Wall.  She wrote to me on Monday after the news that bin Laden had been killed, and she explained how she still remembers that September morning almost 10 years ago.  She was only four years old.  Her father, Glen, was trapped inside the World Trade Center.  And so, in those final, frantic moments, knowing he might not make it, he called home.  And Payton remembers watching her mom sobbing as she spoke to her husband and then passed the phone to Payton.  And in words that were hard to hear but which she’s never forgotten, he said to her, “I love you Payton, and I will always be watching over you.”     

So yesterday, Payton, her mom, and her sister, Avery, joined me at Ground Zero.  And now Payton is 14.  These past 10 years have been tough for her.  In her letter, she said, “Ever since my father died, I lost a part of me that can never be replaced.”  And she describes her childhood as a “little girl struggling to shine through all the darkness in her life.”

But every year, more and more, Payton is shining through.  She’s playing a lot of sports, including lacrosse and track, just like her dad.  She’s doing well in school.  She’s mentoring younger students.  She’s looking ahead to high school in the fall.  And so, yesterday she was with us —- a strong, confident young woman -— honoring her father’s memory, even as she set her sights on the future.

And for her and for all of us, this week has been a reminder of what we’re about as a people.  It’s easy to forget sometimes, especially in times of hardship, times of uncertainty.  We’re coming out of the worst recession since the Great Depression; haven’t fully recovered from that.  We’ve made enormous sacrifices in two wars.  But the essence of America -- the values that have defined us for more than 200 years -- they don’t just endure; they are stronger than ever.

We’re still the America that does the hard things, that does the great things.  We’re the nation that always dared to dream.  We’re the nation that’s willing to take risks -- revolutionaries breaking free from an empire; pioneers heading West to settle new frontiers; innovators building railways and laying the highways and putting a man on the surface of the moon.

We are the nation -- and you’re the Division -- that parachuted behind enemy lines on D-Day, freeing a continent, liberating concentration camps.  We’re the nation that, all those years ago, sent your Division to a high school in Arkansas so that nine black students could get an education.  That was you.  Because we believed that all men are created equal; that everyone deserves a chance to realize their God-given potential.

We’re the nation that has faced tough times before -- tougher times than these.  But when our Union frayed, when the Depression came, when our harbor was bombed, when our country was attacked on that September day, when disaster strikes like that tornado that just ripped through this region, we do not falter.  We don’t turn back.  We pick ourselves up and we get on with the hard task of keeping our country strong and safe.

See, there’s nothing we can’t do together, 101st, when we remember who we are, at that is the United States of America.  (Applause.)  When we remember that, no problem is too hard and no challenge is too great.

And that is why I am so confident that, with your brave service, America’s greatest days are still to come.  (Applause.)

God bless you.  God bless the 101st.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END
3:47 P.M. CDT

paidContent Mobile: Platform Power in New York is less than two weeks away. On May 18, join us as we discuss the dominating mobile platforms and the rise of the tablet industry, among many more topics.

Albert Wenger, Union Square Ventures; Chrystia Freeland, Editor, Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) Digital; and Ben Jones, Vice President, Mobile, Zynga join an already strong roster including Bob Bowman, CEO, MLB Advanced Media; Mike Kelley, CEO, The Weather Channel; Peter Vesterbacka, Mighty Eagle, Rovio; Sara Öhrvall, Director of Global Research & Development, Bonnie; Andrew Stalbow, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Fox Digital Entertainment; Evan Harrison, Former President of Digital & EVP, Clear Channel Radio; Are Traasdahl, CEO of startup Tapad and founder of Thumbplay… With more to come.

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Our list of confirmed speakers so far:

»  Brian Alvey, President & Founder, Crowd Fusion
»  Bob Bowman, CEO, MLB Advanced Media
»  Walt Doyle, CEO, WHERE
»  Chrystia Freeland, Editor, Thomson Reuters Digital
»  Evan Harrison, Former President of Digital & EVP, Clear Channel Radio
»  Fran Hauser, President of Digital for Time Inc.‘s Style & Entertainment and Lifestyle Groups
»  Ben Jones, Vice President, Mobile, Zynga
»  Mike Kelley, CEO, The Weather Channel
»  Sara Öhrvall, Director of Global Research & Development, Bonnier
»  Shiven Ramji, Vice President, Mobile Media and Advertiser Products, The Nielsen Company
»  Colleen Fahey Rush, EVP & Chief Research Officer, MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA).
»  Andrew Stalbow, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Fox Digital Entertainment
»  Are Traasdahl, CEO of startup Tapad and founder of Thumbplay.
»  Peter Vesterbacka, Mighty Eagle, Rovio
»  Albert Wenger, Union Square Ventures

 

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - President Barack Obama on Friday privately thanked some of the special military operators who killed Osama bin Laden and later told an enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,000 soldiers that America ultimately will defeat al-Qaida.

President Barack Obama waves as he leaves John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Thursday, May 5, 2011, after visiting Ground Zero.

With the line outside City Mouse Studio and Store (WSB sponsor) in The Junction this morning, you’d have thought a rock star was visiting. Oh wait – one was: The strollers might have been a giveaway – the rock star on hand was Chris Ballew, aka Caspar Babypants, posing above with City Mouse proprietor Donna [...]

Photo credit: US Navy Hey-o! Look who decided to wake up and make a little noise on the energy front. After getting pushed around by the pro-drilling crowd for the last couple years, Obama at least made the effort today to note that drilling for oil won't solve our energy woes. After all, domestic production peaked in the 70s, and the proven reserves we have yet to tap aren... Read the full story on TreeHugger

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - President Barack Obama on Friday privately thanked some of the special military operators who killed Osama bin Laden and later told an enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,000 soldiers that America ultimately will defeat al-Qaida.

President Barack Obama waves as he leaves John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Thursday, May 5, 2011, after visiting Ground Zero.

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Gartner Business Intelligence Summit Reveals Changing, Growing BI Market eCRM Guide Gartner Business Intelligence Summit 2011, held in Los Angeles earlier this week, attracted a record crowd of more than 1000, showing that business intelligence remains one of the hottest enterprise software markets. ... Gartner BI Summit 2011: Mobile, Open Source, Keener Insights are KeysIntegration Developers Blogging from the Gartner BI Summit: Day 3Smart Data Collective SAP named market leader in business intelligence and analyticsManufacturing Computer Solutions PR Newswire (press release) -Citybizlist (press release) -Virtual Press Office (press release) all 37 news articles »

The final speaker at last Saturday night's Celebration of American Values Freedom Event during the NRA Annual Meeting was longtime NRA member and active Second Amendment supporter Governor Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee began the evening with telling the crowd about how his love of firearms began. Having a father and grandfather who were both "gun clingers" meant his family raised him from an early age to understand that a gun was not a toy — the same way most people starts out.

Learning to shoot with an old 16-gauge shotgun that he said was probably worth less than its instruction booklet, Huckabee collected pop bottles as a young boy until he had saved up enough for a single-shot .22 caliber rifle that "did a lot of squirrel hunting in South Arkansas," Huckabee boasted. As he grew older, he graduated from squirrel hunting and is not an avid duck and turkey hunter.

But as much as Huckabee and the members of the audience love hunting, "I want you to realize that the Second Amendment was not given to us to provide for and protect a hobby or a sport," he told them. "The Second Amendment is about preserving our freedom and without the freedom to make our own decisions as to what is right and what is wrong and what we do with our own families, it's not just hunting that we lose."

Huckabee then thanked Wayne LaPierre, Chris Cox and the many people of the NRA who work every day to make sure our basic and fundamental rights as Americans are not taken from us. "Your membership is worth it's weight in gold," Huckabee said, explaining that it pays for the NRA to spend their time protecting Second Amendment rights so that you don't have to.

Another story Huckabee recalled was later in life, during his undergraduate studies at Ouachita Baptist University. For reasons he still does not understand, students were forbidden to bring any cooking appliances into the dorms except for popcorn poppers. Naturally everyone brought the one thing they were allowed to cook with, but Huckabee had other plans for his device. While he never did make popcorn with it, Huckabee admitted to the audience that it became very effective at frying squirrels.

At the end of his speech, Huckabee reiterated his love for America and appreciation for all the NRA does to a standing ovation from the crowd.

With night's event concluded, attendees began to make their way back from the Consol Energy Center to their hotels in preparation for the final day of the 2011 NRA Annual Meeting.

The English composer Cornelius Cardew (1936-81) was among the most adventurous, controversial and innovative musicians of his generation. After an initial association with Stockhausen and the European avant-garde, he became engaged with the aesthetic ideas of John Cage and the New York school. A leading figure in the experimental music of the 1960s, Cardew is widely acknowledged as a pioneer of indeterminacy, graphic notation, free improvisation and performer involvement. As well as extending the boundaries of music in unprecedented directions, he enquired deeply into its social relevance and meaning. His passionate and untiring quest for wider social significance led him eventually to become a political activist.

The Austin New Music Coop plays Cornelius Cardew's The Great Learning over two days on 6-7 May 2011 in honour of the 75th anniversary of the composer's birth on 7 May 1936

My colleague Liz Kruesi did a great job covering some of last week’s highlights at the Antarctic Science Symposium and IceCube and particle physics symposium, but unfortunately she couldn’t stay for the final event. That’s too bad, because it was mostly just a celebratory conclusion, complete with free food and beer. But since the conference took place in Madison, Wisconsin, where I live (while Liz had to drive more than an hour home afterward to rescue her dog), I graciously volunteered to cover the party. Anyone familiar with our video series shouldn’t be surprised.

[caption image="http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/astronomy.Misc/8154.Antarctica_5F00_300.jpg"]Antarctica is home to countless scientists who can get down and party just as hard (practically) as your typical college student. // Photo by NASA[/caption]To put things in perspective, I’ll remind you that Madison is a college town, home to, not surprisingly, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It might have been nice if someone had reminded the symposium’s planners that this past weekend was also the date of one of the city’s two biggest parties of the year. I’m sure poor Liz wasn’t the only one befuddled by hordes of drunk college students, a lack of parking, and the general debauchery in the air she witnessed before she departed Saturday afternoon.

Perhaps it was all part of the planners’ … plans. This final event, called IceCube After Dark, took place at The Majestic, a somewhat raucous theater that occasionally puts on performances of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The free beer and hors d’oeuvres made the concluding event feel like the scientific equivalent of the partying a few blocks away.

After about a half-hour of mingling and jazzy standards playing in the background, the main presentation began. Mark Krasberg of UW-Madison gave a PowerPoint talk broadly outlining the IceCube experiment and what it is trying to do. Unfortunately, either the attendees’ familiarity with the subject or their alcohol consumption often forced Krasberg to wait for the chatter to die down, frequently lamenting how it impaired his concentration. I didn’t blame him, and vowed to speak more quietly.

When Krasberg moved from the science and schematics to pictures of penguins, the crowd instantly hushed. Sea lions, whales, various penguins, the auroa australis, and Antarctica’s frozen beauty kept the audience rapt for the remainder of the talk, which ended with standing ovations and cheers.

Next up were selections from the 2005 South Pole International Film Festival (SPIFF), which were variously hilarious, musical, and hard to understand (the Norwegian film).

SPIFF marked the night’s official end, but the symposium’s planners had one final surprise. The Majestic’s famed “80S VS 90S” night would supposedly feature a heavy dose of notoriously scientific rapper Ice Cube. I left before I could verify this, however. If I’m going to dance to rap music slightly buzzed, I might as well do it with 20,000 others outside.

We missed you, Liz!

By Adam Levin

By now almost everyone I know (and millions of people I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet) has read or heard about Sony’s announcement last week that its PlayStation network was hacked and that the Personal identifying Information (PII) of potentially 77 million individuals worldwide has been compromised.

Then, earlier this week, Sony notified us that there’d been a second breach. This one involved the accounts of 25 million members of Sony Online Entertainment, which hosts the popular online game EverQuest, among other diversions. That means that the PII of more than 100 million Sony customers is now twisting in the wind. And now, a law firm in Canada has filed a class action lawsuit against Sony for more than $1 billion in damages on behalf of nearly one million Canadians.

It is a reasonable assumption that many minors inhabited both of these Sony networks. The stolen PII included names, dates of birth, email addresses, physical addresses, user IDs and passwords and at least some credit card information. Further, children or their parents might unwittingly give up additional information (or expose their computer to malware that would turn their home network into a broadcast vehicle for their financial account numbers and passwords) to a “phisher” pretending to be a legitimate Sony representative following up on the breach. Were they to give up their Social Security number, for example, someone could do quite a bit of damage, especially given children have no reason to check credit information for many years to come. Perhaps the fact that the breach was so large, and involved kids, explains why in a week that saw mile-wide deadly and horrific tornados, a US president publicly releasing his birth certificate, and precious metals prices reaching all-time highs, the PlayStation breach made the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

[Related article: As Breach Worsens, Sony Leaders Say They Knew of Security Problems]

Here’s why: While, the compromise of children’s identities isn’t new, it certainly is a big story when it happens. It has been estimated that more than 400,000 such incidents occur each year and that number has been growing for some very good reasons. First and foremost, however vigilant most adults may be about their own identities, rarely do parents think about monitoring their children’s status. A thief thereby gains something very important—precious time before any discovery of the felony occurs. Secondly, a child is very likely to have a dormant Social Security number, which presents a clear field for account creation and manipulation. Again, should the perpetrator of a phishing attack succeed in obtaining a SSN, the damage he could do setting up new, fraudulent credit accounts could go undetected for years.

Frankly, I’m not surprised that Sony was hacked. Major data breaches, many of which have been the subject of several of these columns, are occurring about once a week these days. Surely one cannot reasonably believe that Sony—or for that matter its competitors, Microsoft and Nintendo—could be immune.

To say that Sony’s response to this breach has been understated is itself a huge understatement. In a press release that the company sent out this past weekend, almost two weeks after the breach happened, they outlined the steps they were taking to deal with their “oops” moment (I am being gentle here), and then tried to make amends in a manner befitting a clueless corporate monolith (ok, forget gentility). They’d like to welcome their users back to the network with the following:

“All existing PlayStation Network customers will be provided with 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service. Current members of PlayStation Plus will receive 30 days free service.

Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity subscribers (in countries where the service is available) will receive 30 days free service.”

They are also offering some unspecified, free downloads, in addition to some yet-to-be named freebies. Be still my heart! Thirty days of access to Playstation Plus and all you had to do was open the doors of your home, your office and your life to identity thieves. What a great deal! And, in case their customers are actually concerned about the integrity of their identities, Sony was kind enough to provide a few self-help tips on protecting yourself and a short list of government and credit reporting agencies to whom you can turn in the event of a personal compromise.

Hacking the System

I have always believed that all of the gaming networks, and other kids’ sites that have an e-commerce component, are the most vulnerable repositories of any large caches of PII, for a few very simple reasons. It is undeniable that although the universe of avid gamers and the galaxy of talented hackers aren’t congruent, there is a rather substantial overlap. Many of our children are light years beyond our technological prowess. Smart kids have been responsible for some of the most famous hacks of history, involving compromises of both government and industry computer networks, many of which were “innocent” pranks—done for thrills rather than financial gain or more nefarious purposes.

Remember when, a decade ago, the recording industry announced the development of the “copy-proof” music CD? The idea was to prevent the uploading of music on a physical disk to one of the file-sharing sites like Napster or Kazaa where the music could be freely traded (and traded for free). A good friend of mine who had a large company that distributed physical CDs informed me that within a few days the elaborate and very expensive protection system was defeated by kids around the country using only a felt tip pen!

More importantly, youthful online gamers often exist in a culture that seems to make hacking more socially acceptable, perhaps even socially esteemed. There is a “cheat site” for virtually every popular game—just Google the name of the game followed by the word “cheat” and you’ll see what I mean. Sure, this kind of cheating is victimless and really doesn’t constitute any type of crime, but it’s worth considering why little Johnny, who gets straight A’s in school and would never cheat on his math test, probably has no problem using the cheat sites or even contributing to them.

The worst unintended consequence of this culture seems to be the false sense of anonymity and invincibility kids tend to feel when they’re online. They don’t cheat in school because there’d be consequences if they got caught. But I sense that many kids feel that cyber-hacks, regardless of their severity, occur in an online vacuum and are free of real-world consequences. To take it one step further—because of this assumption, young people tend to be more cavalier about the sensitive information they share publicly.

If you think about it, the Sony breach merely underscores something obvious. The gaming networks and similar sites are delicious targets for the “because I can” crowd. Although the hackers themselves may not be trying to open a phony bank account with your child’s newly acquired PII, there are others, most likely older and much more venal, who would love to get their paws on that data for just such a purpose.

Beyond this, there is another type of currency available uniquely on the gaming networks—access to the accounts and special permissions related to a gamer’s skill, highest play level and acquired “spoils of war”—all of which have value on the Internet black market. That’s right, the youngest hackers are probably stealing identities because they are looking to make General in Halo Reach without having to do all the work themselves to rise through the ranks. (For those of you who are older than 15, Halo Reach is a video game in which players earn military-style ranks for successfully completing missions and shooting stuff.)

Regardless of the motivation, it is harmful on several levels that this information is now airborne. And as all readers of this column must know by now, once the data is airborne—it’s out there!

Sad reality check—we need to be as careful with our kids’ PII as we are with our own. Limit the amount of data your child makes available to anyone online. In fact, an effective countermeasure may be to fudge the data a bit. Does the gaming network really need to know any child’s street address (frankly, do they really need to know yours)? From the moment your child is born and assigned a Social Security number, you’d best monitor it, perhaps not every minute but certainly at least once or twice a year. And you should be sure to instruct them to pass it along to no one (employers aside). Bottom line—don’t allow your child’s zeal for vanquishing extra-terrestrial invaders, terrorists or street thugs alienate them from the benefits of a sound financial beginning as they come of age.

Adam Levin is the chairman and cofounder of Credit.com and Identity Theft 911. His experience as former director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs gives him unique insight into consumer privacy, legislation and financial advocacy. He is a nationally recognized expert on identity theft and credit.

This post originally appeared at Credit.com.

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Imagine you could register the www.url.anything domain name.

This week the US House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and Internet held a hearing on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) proposal to launch at least 200 and, potentially, an infinite number of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) (.COM and .NET suffixes are examples of gLTDs).

Setting impressive acronyms aside, what this means is that potential internet url suffixes are about to increase from 21 currently approved gTLDs to a potentially infinite number of truly "generic" Top Level Domains.

Now Congress wants to know how ICANN, the private entity responsible for governing the internet, intends to prevent the inevitable flood of trademark infringement. Business owners, who stand to see their valuable .COM addresses diluted with new .XYZ and other suffixes or, even worse, directly infringing suffixes (think www.google.google) should want some answers too.

Currently, trademark owners have two remedies against users who register confusingly similar domain names which could potentially divert consumers to online "knock-off" websites of major trademarked brands:

1) Sue infringers in Federal Court, per the Anticybersquating Consumer Protection Act, for money and an injunction forcing the infringer to turn over the registered domain to its rightful owners (e.g., America Online, Inc. v. AOL.org); or

2) take the infringers to arbitration via ICANN's uniform domain-name dispute resolution policy where, after a short and relatively inexpensive process, ICANN's arbitrators would force the domain name registrar to re-register the domain to the rightful trademark owner.

Even with the less expensive option #2 -- relative to the expense of full-fledged federal litigation -- business owners must spend a few thousand dollars to prevent internet infringers from free riding on their brands.

Fortunately, under the current gTLD system, there are only one or two popular alternatives to the .COM suffix that business owners need worry about policing because suffixes other than .NET and .ORG do not carry much credibility with the fairly sophisticated internet crowd. ICANN's proposal to expand the gTLD could change that.

A virtually infinite variation of url suffixes may, and probably will, alter internet culture with regard to suffix legitimacy. Imagine companies starting to use suffixes as well as prefixes to point to their most popular services (e.g., local.google.places or instant.netflix.movies). Such novel customizability could easily end the virtual street cred associated with .COM and .NET suffixes, making it that much easier for infringers to convince unsuspecting consumers that my.facebook.bestfriend points to a legitimate Facebook service rather than some infringing knockoff or, worse, an adware/malware den.

Hoping to allay such fears, ICANN Senior Vice President Kurt Pritz testified that new gTLDs will have significant, robust rights protection mechanisms that do not presently exist in current gTLDs. Specifically, "mark holders will have the opportunity to register their marks in a single repository that will serve all new gTLDs, the Trademark Clearinghouse."

Under the Clearinghouse plan, new gTLD registries would have to offer a pre-launch period during which registered trademark rights holders will have the opportunity to register their existing names in the new gTLD prior to general registration. Pritz added that "a Trademark Claims service will notify rights holders of domain name registrations that match marks in the Clearinghouse for a period of time at the beginning of general registration."

While ICANN's protection mechanisms seem reasonable for wealthy companies (read: Google and Facebook), smaller business would worry about their financial capacity to buy new domain registrations whenever a new, potentially infringing gLTD is offered by the registries.

But Pritz notes that economic studies do not support this fear. According to a study conducted by economists Michael Katz and Gregory Rosston of more than 200 top brands, current brand holders do not register names in all available TLDs, instead choosing to focus their investment on the .COM and .NET suffixes.

In other words, says Pritz, "abusive registrations do not occur at the same rates in newer gTLDs because they do not return value to the abuser." So business owners need not worry about buying "defensive registrations" in every new gTLDs because abusers are unlikely to register those names anyway.

Unfortunately, ICANN's diminishing returns theory is based on today's culture where .COM and .NET suffixes maintain credibility as gTLDs for official existing brands. As discussed above, introduction of a virtually infinite number of new suffixes could very well change that culture, thereby leaving businesses with the same old litigation/arbitration options for protecting their trademarks plus an added bonus of having to police against hundreds if not thousands of brand infringing url variations.

ICANN's proposals will be ready for final approval on June 20, 2011.

For more articles on internet business and intellectual property law, subscribe to the Handal & Morofsky blog, "Marks & Secrets" at www.handalglobal.com.

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See Also:

• The Best Apps For Windows Phone 7
• 10 Best Practices For Raising A VC Round
• Everything You Need To Know About China's Biggest Social Network

The Manny Pacquiao Express motors on as Bloody Elbow will cover today's weigh-in for his fight with "Sugar" Shane Mosley. The weigh-ins will stream live on Top Rank Boxing's website at 6 p.m. ET. Check it out on Showtime Extreme as well. [Update] Bad Left Hook's Scott Christ recommends using ESPN or Yahoo!'s stream, or flipping on SportsCenter, which will air the weigh-ins live.

[Update] We are live. James Brown of The NFL Today of CBS is emceeing the event. 

Brown running through the career accomplishments of both fighters. Cut to Ines Sainz interviewing Mosley. No clue why she's doing English-language work. Her cadence reminds me of Tyler Hansbrough reading to kids. She asks Shane how he plans to pretend to stop Manny's speed. So. There you have that.

Back to J.B., who is running through the Pacquiao press packet. Oh god, Bob Arum crawls on stage, looking a couple years away from Al Davis. Brent Brookhouse notes that Arum said compared Pacquiao's ability to punch with both hands to an MLB pitcher throwing left- and right-handed. My stream is godawful right now, and I'm not watching ESPN's coverage on SportsCenter.

Teddy Atlas says Mosley has a shot if he hurts Pacquiao early. Good luck with that. 

We're on Jimmy Lennon Jr. now. He calls up Shane Mosley to the stage. Mosley wearing a powder blue Adidas track suit, looking like an extra from a Run-DMC video or some sort of Russian coke dealer. Pacquiao comes to the stage now. Yellow logo t-shirt with a red sweat suit. They begin to undress.

Mosley to the scale first. Smattering of applause and jeers. Looks good. Lennon announces Shane Mosley weighs in at 147 pounds.

Pacquiao up now. Good reaction. He flexes for the crowd, which gets a pop. Manny Pacquiao weighs in at 145 pounds. Big "Man-ny!" cheer goes up.

Gentle staredown. They shake and embrace. 

Atlas notes that Mosley's "skin looks good" and that he isn't "ashy." Also noted that Mosley didn't grab immediately for liquids, so he thinks the cut went well. 

 

The weigh-ins (and tomorrow night's fight) are taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao and Mosley will fight at the welterweight (147 lb.) limit, with Pacquiao's WBO welterweight title up for grabs.

Pacquiao is 52-3-2 and the current WBC Super Welterweight World Champion and the WBO Welterweight World Champion. He is the first boxer to win the lineal title in four separate weight classes. He hasn't lost since Erik Morales took a unanimous decision over him in March of 2005, and he obliterated Antonio Margarito over twelve rounds in Cowboys Stadium in November.

Mosley is 46-6-1 with 1 no contest. He drew with Sergio Mora in his last fight in September. He dropped an uncompetitive decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May of 2010, with his last victory coming over Antonio Margarito by TKO in January of 2009.