Parents of teen sailor face sea of criticism

As a 16-year-old girl sat adrift and alone in the frigid southern Indian Ocean, her ship's mast dashed along with her around-the-world sailing effort, many people were asking “what were her parents thinking?”

Abby Sunderland's ship was rolling in 20- to 30-foot waves as she waited to be rescued by a boat that was expected to arrive early Saturday morning Pacific time.

She set off a distress signal Thursday after rough seas disabled her ship and her satellite phone reception. There were 20 hours of tense silence before a search plane launched from Australia's west coast made brief radio contact with Sunderland and found her alive and well.

Wild Eyes is equipped with 5 air-tight bulkheads to keep her buoyant in the event of major hull damage. It is built to Category 0 standards and is designed to self-right in the event of capsize.

More here.

Photo above shows Abby leaving Marina del Ray for her nonstop round-the-world trip aboard her sailboat Wild Eyes.



The photos below show Abby’s parents Marianne and Laurence Sunderland on the left and Abby sailing Wild Eyes on the right.

Panda bear cub playing at the Shanghai Zoo

Gaither Toronto Homecoming - “Just a Little While”

Mismanagement shames Arlington Cemetery

Worried families calling Arlington about cemetery mix-ups reported yesterday.

The Army announced Thursday that an investigation found potentially hundreds of remains may be unidentified or misidentified due to poor management and record keeping at the cemetery.

The Army has fired the two top Arlington administrators after a scathing review of America's "sacred ground" revealed more than 200 bodies had been misplaced or misidentified amid "dysfunctional management."

Link here and here.

Teen sailor found adrift in Indian Ocean

A 16-year-old sailor on a round-the-world journey was adrift in the frigid southern Indian Ocean on Friday as rescue boats headed toward her yacht, damaged by 30-foot waves that knocked out her communications and prompted her to set off a distress signal.

After a tense 20 hours of silence, a search plane launched from Australia's west coast made radio contact with Abby Sunderland on Friday.

The boat's mast was broken — ruining satellite phone reception — and was dragging with the sail in the ocean.

Link here and here.

University of Nebraska to join Big Ten

Will the last university to leave the Big 12 Conference please turn off the lights.


From a report at the link below:

According to a number of reports coming out of Nebraska, one of the most storied football programs in all of college football will join the Big Ten.

The Pac-10 allegedly extended offers to roughly half of the Big 12 in the last couple weeks; the mega-conference on the West coast reportedly invited Texas, Texas A & M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado to jump ship.

Schools in the Big 12 North with questionable futures include Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State.

College athletics has always been driven by football because that’s where the money is.

This puts the University of Kansas in an uncomfortable position. The dominant sport at KU is basketball and teams that change from one conference to another must transfer all of their sports - not just football.

Link

60M gallons and 53 days later Obama finally to meet BP chairman

Barack Obama has finally summoned BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg to a meeting over the gulf oil spill.

The report at the link below says Obama didn’t want to meet with BP’s CEO.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs parried questions about the failure to meet BP CEO Tony Hayward, and said that the firm's chairman was a more logical choice for any meeting.

Why then wasn’t a meeting with the chairman scheduled instead rather than waiting this long?

The reluctance on the part of Obama to meet with anyone connected with BP was no doubt because BP was a huge financial contributor to the Obama presidential campaign.

Now, however, after over 50 days and 60 million gallons later, Obama can’t wait any longer. He is acting tough -- saying he is looking for an a** to kick and finally planning to meet with someone at BP.

Link

View of oil slick from high in the air

Close-up of oil on the water

Teen girl feared lost on solo world sail

From a report at the link below:

A 16-year-old Southern California girl attempting a solo sail around the world was feared in trouble Thursday thousands of miles from land in the frigid, heaving southern Indian Ocean after her emergency beacons began signaling and communication was lost.

The photo at right above shows Abby Sunderland in January about to leave on her solo trip.

Abby is shown above on the cover of Seafaring magazine.

Abby Sunderland set sail from Los Angeles County's Marina del Rey in her 40-foot boat named Wild Eyes on Jan. 23.

She wanted to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone without stopping.

Link

U P D A T E
Rescuers make radio contact with teen sailor adrift in ocean.

A 16-year-old sailor on a round-the-world journey was adrift in the frigid southern Indian Ocean on Friday as rescue boats headed toward her yacht, damaged by 30-foot waves that knocked out her communications and prompted her to set off a distress signal.

Link

It’s Chevrolet not Chevy - got that?

General Motors executives are ready to drive their Chevy to the levee — and into the river. Well, the nickname Chevy, anyway.

From a report at the link below:

Apparently, when General Motors isn't busy destroying documents they're apparently not taking the time to improve their vehicles.

Instead, they're fretting over whether people refer to their most popular brand as "Chevrolet" or "Chevy."

In a memo sent to employees yesterday, GM executives wrote:

We'd ask that whether you're talking to a dealer, reviewing dealer advertising, or speaking with friends and family, that you communicate our brand as Chevrolet moving forward...

When you look at the most recognized brands throughout the world, such as Coke or Apple for instance, one of the things they all focus on is the consistency of their branding.

Except... their example of Coke certainly doesn't fly in terms of a consistent brand name. Since the company is named "Coca Cola" and in some parts of the country, a "Coke" just means any kind of soda. And even though "Apple" is a solid brand name, many people refer to their Apple computers as "Macs," and yet everyone knows they're referring to an Apple product.

It seems like GM is banning the use of “Chevy” - internally anyway.

What about national advertising? Will the name Chevy disappear from GM ads?

Just for fun we made a correction to a 2010 Camero ad calling it a Chevy as shown here.

How far will they go? One Internet article wondered if they want the lyrics of the song changed from “I drove my Chevy to the levee” to “I drove my Chevrolet to the levrolet?”

Link

Nevada Senate race: Angle 50%, Reid 39%

From Rasmussen Reports:

Sharron Angle, following her come-from-behind Republican Primary win Tuesday, has bounced to an 11-point lead over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada’s closely-watched U.S. Senate race.

This will make Angle the top target of Democrats who don’t want Harry Reid to be the second Senate Majority Leader to be defeated in just six years.

Link

Worst Apple security breach: 114,000I Pad owners exposed

Apple is embarrassed again. This time it’s the worst security breach in the company’s history as 114,000 iPad owners could be exposed to spam marketing and malicious hacking.

This includes all iPad owners including dozens of CEOs, military officials, and top politicians.

The breach, which comes just weeks after an Apple employee lost an iPhone prototype in a bar, exposed the most exclusive e-mail list on the planet, a collection of early-adopter iPad 3G subscribers that includes thousands of A-listers in finance, politics and media, from New York Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson to Diane Sawyer of ABC News to film mogul Harvey Weinstein to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

It even appears that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's information was compromised.

The report at the link below says it doesn't stop there. According to the data they were given by the web security group that exploited vulnerabilities on the AT&T network, they believe 114,000 user accounts have been compromised, although it's possible that confidential information about every iPad 3G owner in the U.S. has been exposed!

More here.

He wants another bottle of wine

Diversity at Carnival of Cultures Parade

Photos taken at the Carnival of Cultures Parade in Berlin. Thousands of people in a wide variety of costumes attend the Carnival celebrations.

Link

More on Obama’s six-month moratorium …

Watch the cleaning of oil-drenched pelicans

The photo above shows a pelican coming in for a landing in the gulf before the oil arrived. The video below shows how pelicans not so fortunate are cleaned after being contaminated by oil in the gulf.



Link here to CNN pelican rehab report.

Did the FBI blow it during the van der Sloot sting?

Joran van der Sloot tried to extort $250,000 from Natalee Holloway’s mother in exchange for disclosing the location of Natalee's body on the island of Aruba.

U.S. authorities stepped in and paid Joran van der Sloot $15,000 in a sting operation. The agency wired the $15,000 to a bank account van der Sloot controlled.


The photo shows Joran van der Sloot flanked by Natalee Holloway on the left and Stephany Flores on the right.

The FBI delayed arresting van der Sloot because they were trying to build a murder case against him in the 5-year-old disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba.

While the FBI was building a case for the Aruba disappearance, van der Sloot took the money and fled to Peru where he has now confessed to the murder of Stephany Flores.

Link

Peacock shows of his plumage

A peacock shows off his plumage at the Great Plaines Zoo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Apple CEO embarrassed on stage by tech issues showing off new iPhone

As Apple CEO Steve Jobs (pictured) began showing off the newest version of his iPhone to the world he began having monumental tech problems as demonstrated in the three minute video below.

He even asked anyone in the room to shut down if they were on WiFi. Tech zapped the tech guy.

By the way, doesn’t he have anything in his closet besides faded, baggy jeans?

New stadium for 49ers to be built in Santa Clara

The San Francisco 49’ers will say goodbye to Candlestick Park in 2014 when they move into a new stadium in Santa Clara.

An architect’s rendition of the new stadium is show above.

The team will keep the name San Francisco 49’ers even though, beginning in 2014, they will play their home games about an hours drive from San Francisco.

Changing the name of the team would probably drive fans away in droves. Can you imagine calling them the Santa Clara 49’ers? Neither can we.

Link

Ladies prevail in key primary elections

Left to right: Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Blanche Lincoln, Sharron Angle.

California:

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman defeated California state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner in what is the most expensive primary campaign based on candidates spending their own money.

Poizner put $24 million of his own money into his primary campaign while Whitman spent $71 million of her own money.

Also in California, Carly Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, beat Tom Campbell, a former congressman, and Chuck DeVore.

Whitman will challenge Jerry Brown, the state’s attorney general, who was first elected governor of California three decades ago.

Nevada:

Republicans in Nevada chose Sharron Angle to run against Harry Reid, the embattled Senate majority leader. Mr. Reid has emerged as a primary target of conservatives intent on toppling key Democrats this year.

Arkansas:

Blance Lincoln won in a runoff over Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, despite millions of dollars spent on his behalf by organized labor and other special interests.

Link

Victory formation at the stadium

Members of the South African Police Service sit in a “V formation” to watch a security demonstration at a stadium in Cape Town.

Kellogg drops Rice Krispies immune system claims

Cereal maker Kellogg Co. has agreed to drop advertising claims that Rice Krispies will strengthen children's immune systems.

In an advertising campaign that began in about July 2009, Kellogg began advertising on cereal boxes that Rice Krispies "now helps support your child's immunity."

The Federal Trade Commission said the company had agreed in February 2009 to stop claiming that its Frosted Mini Wheats were "clinically shown to improve kids' attentiveness by nearly 20 percent."

We have always said that you could get about as much nutrition by eating the box as eating Rice Krispies. The same could probably said for flavor.

Link

Bike racer slams face in security barrier

A rider crashes face first into a security barrier during the Red Bull Road Rage bike downhill race in Sigulda, Latvia.

Joran van der Sloot confessed to murder in Peru

US rocket sparks UFO frenzy in Australia

Photo shows the SpaceX's Falcon 9 blasting off on its maiden voyage.

The sight of rocket above Australia caused quite a stir as many people thought it was a UFO.

Link

Gulf oil leak reality check

90 second video from ABC News

Gulf oil spill disaster is affecting more than just ducks, egrets and pelicans

Bernie Madoff a big man in the big house

Prisoner Bernie Madoff revels in his celebrity status.

Student sleeps during Obama commencement speech

Going
Going
Going
Gone
Maybe the student was hypnotized as Obama turned back and forth between his right and left teleprompter.

Link

A good time to read the owners manual

Helen Thomas video documenting her anti-Semitism

Helen Thomas (pictured) has two passions. First, her political leanings are fervently anti-conservative. Second, she is just as fervently anti-Semetic.

Her first passion made her the darling of the leftist Washington press corps. They cheered her on when she asked the Bush White House questions like, “because of your failed policies in Iraq, why do you still….. etc. etc.?

Her second passion forced her into retirement at age 89.

She occupied a coveted front row seat in the White House briefing room even though she shouldn’t have had a seat in the room at all. Seats in the briefing room are reserved for reporters and correspondents - not part-time columnists.

The video below is the “shot heard round the world” and documented once and for all her out-spoken anti-Semitism.

Gulf spill response rated worse than Katrina

Did the Rockies save A. J. Hinch’s job?

The Colorado Rockies may have saved the jobs of A. J. Hinch and his staff after losing the last series with to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The photo shows manager A. J. Hinch of the Arizona Diamondbacks talking with umpire Casey Moser.

By winning the three-game series 2-1, the Diamonbacks snapped a 10-game losing streak (a major league record).

Ten-game losing streaks get managers fired and you can bet the futures of Diamondback manager A. J. Hinch and his staff were shaky at best.

Then the Colorado Rockies came to town with their reputation of “playing down to the level of their competition” and sure enough Hinch and his staff pulled off a series win saving their hides - for now.

The Rockies managed to eke out a one-run win in the final game of the series but only because they used the pitcher with the best stats in the majors this year.

Ubaldo Jimenez got his 11th win of the season despite ending his scoreless innings streak at 33. Jimenez earned run average is a a measly .93 - best in the majors.

Link

Obama returned to the gulf last Friday

In the last two weeks Obama visited the region twice, a marked increase in attention publicly paid to the disaster.

Up until last Friday, Obama seemed disinterested even though he kept saying the government was in charge.

Now the administration feels the heat that Mr. Obama has not been as involved as he should be in managing the disaster hence the gulf trip last Friday.

More here.

Don’t cry for participants in baseball’s spoiled perfect game

The story of a bad call (shown above) by baseball umpire Jim Joyce (on left below) robbing Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga (on right) of a perfect game has been reported over and over ad nauseam.

It’s time to get over it.

Don’t criticize the refusal of Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig for not reversing the call even though camera evidence clearly showed the runner was out and umpire Jim Joyce admitted the call was a mistake.

And don’t cry for the participants.

Jim Joyce will live with his bad call for the rest of his umpiring career. He will forever be known as the umpire who ruined a perfect game.

If Bud Selig would have reversed the call, Armando Galarraga would always be known as the pitcher with the “perfect game - followed by an asterisk.”

Besides, their joint celebrity may be good for both of them.

They may end up like Bobby Thompson and Ralph Branca after the 1951 game when Thompson of the New York Giants hit a home run off Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Branca. The home run put the Giants in the World Series.

It was an historic event. Later Thompson and Branca made appearances together at collectibles shows, and sold jointly autographed baseballs.

Why WH bribed Romanoff to end Senate race

In spite of the expected denials from the White House, we now know that Barack Obama's deputy chief of staff called Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff in September 2009 to offer him one of three enumerated jobs if only he would drop out of the Democratic Senate primary.

Romanoff would have faced Senator Michael Bennet (pictured) who was appointed to fill the seat vacated when Ken Salazar was given the Secretary of the Interior cabinet post.

The question is why was Romanoff bribed.

In the case of the Spector-Sestak bribe, the answer is obvious: The Obama administration wanted the Pennsylvania senator to switch parties so that they would have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

To persuade him to switch, the White House had to do its utmost to clear the field and assure him a safe path to the Senate nomination in his new political party.

The case of Michael Bennet in Colorado was different.

Having never been elected to a statewide position, he lacked a political base and was never a particularly strong candidate. He only got the Senate seat as an appointment to fill the seat vacated by Salazar.

So why was the Obama administration trying to clear the field for Bennet and assure him of the nomination? It was the passage of ObamaCare.

Bennet had been wavering on backing ObamaCare until soon after Romanoff was offered a job to drop out of the race.

It’s not only unethical, it’s illegal to bribe political candidates.

More here.

NHL team needs help flushing toilets in new arena

The Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team wants to find 250 students to help with an important task and there's only one major requirement: they must know how to flush a toilet.

Construction is near completion on the NHL team’s new arena, the Consol Energy Center. But like with any new arena or stadium, officials need to simultaneously flush all the toilets and urinals to make sure everything is working.

Link

The latest gulf beachwear

Video: Joran van der Sloot shown with murdered Peruvian girl

This ABC video shows the last seen photos of Stephany Flores before her death.

Joran van der Sloot is suspected in the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores on May 30 and the prime suspect in the disappearance of Atlanta honor student Natalie Hollaway in 2005.


The photo above shows Joran van der Sloot with Chile police officers.

Van der Sloot now faces charges in Alabama of trying to extort $250,000 in return for revealing the location of Natalee Holloway's body and details about how she died.

He was arrested twice in her disappearance and released both times for lack of evidence.

Brits are snickering at Hillary's gaffe on Queen’s Birthday

Hillary Clinton has been left red faced after mistakenly sending a birthday message to the Queen a week early.

An official statement from the US foreign policy chief paid tribute to the "Queen’s life and legacy,” despite the fact that the Monarch does not celebrate her official birthday until next weekend.

A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton attempted to make light of the gaffe.

"We were a week early," Philip Crowley joked to reporters in Washington. "It’s is better to give a greeting a week early than a week late.”

No mention if Obama sent along another iPod full of his speeches as a gift to the Queen.

This, after the Obama gift of movies in the wrong format to Gordon Brown and Michelle Obama putting her arm around the Queen (touching the Queen is an unthinkable etiquette breech), surely must have the British thinking how utterly unrefined the American leadership must be!

Link

Off-shore oil move on-shore