Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Miguel Cotto

Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. followed up with their own intense battle, but neither underdog was able to quite pull off the upset in the end.
Cotto and Mayweather didn't really provide much entertainment until the middle rounds when Cotto was at his best. Mayweather frustrated Cotto early with his unique defensive style. Blocking his body with the same defensive posture perfected by "The Mongoose" Archie Moore, Mayweather leaned back with his shoulder up and twisted out of the way of the worst shots from Cotto.
Cotto landed a few great shots to the body, but Mayweather kept a sharp jab in his face and found the right hook-left uppercut combo frequently. Cotto went back to his corner in the first with a welt already visibly forming near his left temple.
Cotto began finding more holes in the second round, but Mayweather thwarted his advances by ducking down to Cotto's waist and clinching to a break. Cotto caught Mayweather against the rope at one point and picked him right up off his feet at another. Still, nothing seemed to really hurt Mayweather. Rounds 3 and 4 went to Floyd due to his ability to land more accurate shots and stay out of Cotto's effective range.
Cotto unleashed his best on Mayweather in the fifth round to no avail. Mayweather won most of the exchanges working behind a nice mix of quick jabs and power jabs. Cotto did manage to bloody Floyd's nose, though. His aggression might have been enough for at least one judge to give Cotto the round.

Arguably the pound-for-pound greatest boxer in the world, Floyd Mayweather, returned to the ring last night (Sat., May 5, 2012) to do battle against Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the super welterweight championship on the line.

Mayweather came in with a jail sentence hanging over his head and a 42-0 career record to protect against a younger, stronger and hugely dangerous fighter in Cotto. He would need to dig deep into his bag of tricks to pull out victory number 43 but ultimately, that's exactly what he did.

The two pugilists engaged in a classic war that needed all 12 rounds and 36 minutes to be decided. "Money" shot out of the gate early with his usual stick and move style that gave Cotto trouble, enough to put him down on the scorecards in the first few rounds.

But as the bout wore on, the Puerto Rican started taking pages out of his opponents book, playing defense and staying loose on the outside. It worked, too, flustering Mayweather and leading to a few lost rounds in the middle of the contest. The seemingly inevitable happened, though, as "Money May" stepped on the gas pedal and got to counter punching, dipping his head behind his shoulder and avoiding the majority of Cotto's big punches.

Ultimately, the outcome was never in doubt ... not really. Cotto had come to fight and put his best foot forward, providing perhaps the toughest test of Mayweather's career. Ultimately, though, the best boxer in the world maintained his spot as the king of the sport with a unanimous decision victory by scores of 117-111, 117-111, 118-110.

White House Correspondents' Dinner 2012

One of the best recieved jokes of the night were Kimmel's quips about recently ousted Current TV host Keith Olbermann.
Jimmy Kimmel's half-hour speech at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday evening had a few targets--Kim Kardashian, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, Lindsay Lohan, Mitt Romney. But not everyone can take a  joke.

Olbermann, who did not attend the dinner and had instead been tweeting throughout the night about baseball ("Confirming: I would not, and have not voluntarily, attended the WHC Dinner since 1998. This conforms with my anti-torture stance," Olbermann wrote), didn't appreciate Kimmel's jabs. He took to--what else?--his Twitter account to explain why he felt Kimmel targeted him.

In response to his followers saying he shouldn't take it personally, Olbermann tweeted, "I'm not complaining about the Kimmel jokes - I'm fair game. I'm complaining about the revenge element. It reminds me of O'Reilly #nerdprom."

Where else can you see Kim Kardashian and Lindsay Lohan rubbing shoulders with Rick Santorum? See Michelle Obama go head-to-head in a fashion battle against Martha Stewart... and Kate Upton? See Jimmy Kimmel make cracks about the president... with the president sitting right in front of him?

Then again, it was President Obama making the best jokes of the night. Looking at ease at the podium, he acknowledged his newly-cool, meme-tastic peer Hillary Clinton ("She won't stop drunk texting me from Cartegena!") as well as Miss Kardashian ("Why is she famous anyway?") He also poked fun at his graying image, dedicated a full video segment to Bo Obama (!) and made more than a few digs at Congress, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and even Donald Trump.

We swoon. Below, see POTUS, FLOTUS, and all the glamorous stars -- Reese, Charlize, Diane, Kim, Claire, and Alicia among them -- who came out for Washington D.C.'s "prom."

Small Earthquake In California

U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude 4.1 Earthquake In California struck 8:07 a.m. Saturday. It was centered along the San Andreas Fault near Devore, in San Bernardino County. Some buildings swayed in downtown Los Angeles, about 60 miles to the west.

The Geological Survey says a small 2.0 magnitude aftershock hit about a half-mile away about two minutes later.

A San Bernardino County Sheriff's dispatcher in nearby Rancho Cucamonga said the station shook for a few seconds, but there were no calls about damage or injuries.

The USGS says a small 2.0 magnitude aftershock hit about a half-mile away about two minutes later. That was followed by a 1.8 magnitude shock at 8:14 a.m.

Dr. Lucy Jones with the USGS said the quake was located in an area where three faults come together. Early reports that the quake occurred on the San Andreas Fault were incorrect, Ms. Jones said.

Some buildings swayed in downtown Los Angeles, about 60 miles to the west, and residents reported shaking along Los Angeles County's beaches.

Paul Harrington was reading in bed at his home in Hesperia, about 20 miles north of the epicenter, when he felt the quake hit.

A clerk at an Albertson's market in Rancho Cucamonga said the store shook for several seconds but nothing fell from shelves.

The epicenter was approximately near the junction of the 15 and 215 freeways at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains below the Cajon Pass.

Kirk Cousins On Washington Redskins

Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins will be a starter within a few years on Saturday morning.
Cousins – the winningest quarterback in Michigan State history – said he had some contact with the Redskins at the Senior Bowl in January, when he played for the North team. The Redskins coaching staff coached the South team, but during that week, Cousins spoke to Mike and Kyle Shanahan often.

Actually, if history repeats itself in the place from which most American history emanates, maybe Cousins will be the starter.  After all, Frerotte ended up supplanting an ineffective Shuler.
Yes, it’s highly unlikely that it will happen with Cousins and Griffin.  But not as unlikely as it would have seemed in 1994, when Shuler was the can’t-miss prospect and Frerotte was the seventh-round afterthought.

The Redskins are set for starting linebackers with three-time Pro Bowl pick London Fletcher and third-year man Perry Riley inside and two-time Pro Bowl pick Brian Orakpo and 2011 rookie standout Ryan Kerrigan outside in coordinator Jim Haslett’s 3-4 scheme. However, Fletcher turns 37 next month and Washington lacks depth beyond jack-of-all-trades Lorenzo Alexander.

Mike Shanahan described Griffin as a franchise quarterback Thursday, but he is fond of competition, and now there will be a talented young passer to push Griffin. The Redskins re-signed veteran Rex Grossman, who knows the offense well, and also have John Beck under contract. But Beck, who went 0-3 as a starter for Washington, now faces a very uncertain future with the team.

Bryce Harper Make MLB Debut Tonight With Washington Nationals'

Bryce Harper is heading to the major leagues today with the Washington Nationals, who are recalling the 19-year-old outfielder from Triple-A Syracuse and putting third baseman Ryan Zimmerman on the disabled list..
Harper was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft. He hit .286 in spring training this year. The Nationals wanted him to get some more time in the minors, but with their top two hitters — Zimmerman and left fielder Michael Morse — sidelined by injuries, the team decided to bring up Harper.

When Bryce Harper was 13 and 14, which is not so long ago, he traveled across the country, without his parents, to play baseball in the best tournaments, the best leagues, for 15- and 16-year-olds. The other kids teased him. The other parents were jealous. Harper could gain acceptance if he played baseball well. Then he would fly to another tournament, put his uniform on in the car on the way from the airport to the field, and start over. That was a challenge. That was pressure.

Saturday night, Harper will be where he believes he belongs. Does he? We’ll have to see. “There’s no better place to get groomed than the big leagues,” Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth said. If Harper fails and gets sent back down to the minors, he will still believe he belongs. It will not ruin him. “He needs to be challenged,” one person close to Harper said.
There is no downside for it to happen now. If he’s ready, great, the Nationals have added offense to a team that desperately needs it. If he is not, he will handle it. His world will not end.

In that regard, Harper will benefit by being more famous than pretty much everyone on the field. He calls Albert Pujols by his first name. He wore a hat with an uncommon logo this spring, and when asked for an explanation, Harper said, “Kobe and Beckham wear it.”
He’ll walk to the plate Saturday night at Dodgers Stadium. He may or may not be ready. He will have handled tougher situations on a diamond. What will happen? Who knows?

Delmon Young arrested, accused of hate crime-related assault in New York

Detroit Tigers outfielder Delmon Young was arrested and faces a hate crime-related charge in connection with a dispute outside a hotel along New York’s 6th Avenue early this morning, a New York police spokesman told the Free Press.

According to the report, the victim called 911. Cops quickly responded to the scene and arrested Young for aggravated harassment. Investigators are considering charging the athlete with a hate crime.
Young reportedly was taken to Roosevelt Hospital to sober up before he was booked and charged with assault in the third degree.

He was the first overall pick in the 2003 draft, and in recent years finally rounded into a very solid major league contributor. Young played a key role in the Tigers' near-run to the World Series last season, hitting three home runs as the Tigers beat the Yankees in five games in the Division Series, and two more in their six-game loss to the Rangers in the AL Championship Series.

Young is not in the lineup for tonight's game against the Yankees. It was unclear what triggered the incident at the Hilton New York at about 2:30 a.m., though it began with a group of four men and a panhandler wearing a yarmulke.
The detective said police interviewed witnesses, and Young was still “being processed” at mid-morning.
Young faces an “aggravated harassment hate crime” charge and will be processed through central booking later today, Cavitolo said.

The charge is a misdemeanor.
The victim, described as a 32-year-old male, was “knocked to the ground, and an arrest” was made outside the Hilton New York. He suffered an elbow injury and refused medical attention, Cavitolo said.

History Of The Arbor Day

Arbor Day 'April 27' is holiday celebration on appreciate trees.  Arbor Day, first observed in 1872, seems like an appropriate time to celebrate these early adopters of green living.

Learn how to recognize the trees in Martinez using the Arbor Day Foundation's interactive tree identification tool.

My father was part of a generation that left the South en massege, though what they knew about the earth never left them. Even as a child in Los Angeles, I could spot them. They were like my dad who, in the 1980s, long before the "urban farming" trend, seemed intent on turning our South Los Angeles backyard into a Farmville. He grew greens, onions, okra, cucumber, tomatoes and, for a time, sunflowers. The practice wasn't so strange; other people did it too. The neighbor a few doors down had chickens.

The trees and the school were born in the mid-1950s when my dad was a teenager. In those days the color line divided everything, even earth love. On Arbor Day, white students planted over here, African Americans over there.

This is Arbor Brewing's fourth year of hosting a fundraiser for Arbor Day.

David Borneman, Natural Area Preservation Manager, said the donations will go toward a variety of things for the program, including more trees, shrubs flowers and other native plants to help beautify Ann Arbor’s parks.

The Adopt-A-Park program helps to organize volunteers looking to enhance area parks with things like tree and shrubbery plantings, litter cleanup and general caring to the parks.

Today we have options that Carver and previous generations never had. In our high-tech world, soon anybody with a smartphone equipped with a tree identification app can stand in front of a tree and know it. Snap a photo of a leaf and the phone will function as an electronic field guide, providing vital information about the tree. Today, iPhone and iPad users in certain parts of the country already have this ability through the app known as Leafsnap. Imagine what Carver would say if he could see us now!

Brandon Weeden

Brandon Weeden At 28 years, 195 days, he became the oldest player ever taken in the first round of the modern NFL draft. He was selected in the same MLB draft as Prince Fielder, Zack Greinke, Cole Hamels, Curtis Granderson and one of the main characters from "Moneyball".

Once the NFL draft got past quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, it was like a day on Wall Street. Everybody wanted to make a trade.

The wheeling and dealing started even before the Colts opened the proceedings as expected Thursday night by taking Luck and the Redskins followed by selecting RG3.

Behind closed doors, general managers around the league were gabbing away, jockeying to position their teams to land the most coveted player on their draft board.

When it was over, there were eight trades involving 12 of the league's 32 teams and draftniks breathlessly trying to keep up with the organized mayhem. It all started when Minnesota swapped its No. 3 choice for Cleveland's No. 4 pick. The Browns, who also gave up a fourth, fifth and seventh-rounder, desperately wanted Alabama running back Trent Richardson. The Vikings still got the guy they sought in Southern California tackle Matt Kalil.

Weeden was selected with the No. 22 pick by the Browns. He'll join third-overall pick Trent Richardson as rookies likely tasked with getting Cleveland back to the playoffs for the first time since 2002. Weeden is expected to enter training camp as the team's starting quarterback, especially in light of recent quotes from Browns GM Tom Heckert in which he said the team would consider trading McCoy.

The Oklahoma State quarterback didn't make our list of the 50 best draft prospects, but he earned praise from scouts for his quick release and accuracy.

Browns fans scared off by Weeden's age can take solace in one fact: He's not as old as Chris Weinke was when he was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in 2001. The Florida State quarterback was older than Weeden by three months, but went in the fourth round, not the first.

A third quarterback went eighth where Miami stayed put. The Dolphins took Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill, who played wide receiver for most of his time in college. His coach at A&M, Mike Sherman, is the Dolphins offensive coordinator.

Carolina selected Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, the nation's leading tackler. Buffalo chose cornerback Stephon Gilmore of South Carolina and Memphis defensive tackle Dontari Poe went to Kansas City before the next trade occurred.

Philadelphia moved up from 15 to 12, giving Seattle two later picks, then took Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox.

Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd went to Arizona, then the Rams finally got involved, taking LSU defensive tackle Michael Brockers.

New England's first deal was with Cincinnati to get Syracuse DE Chandler Jones at No. 21, and the second was with Denver to draft Crimson Tide linebacker Dont'a Hightower at No. 25.

Julianne Hough on American Idol

Julianne Hough is a professional ballroom dancer and country singer. Born in 1988 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Hough -- whose brother, Derek, also competes on DWTS -- began dancing as a child and even trained and competed professionally in London. When she returned to the U.S. five years later, Hough moved to Los Angeles to jumpstart her dance career.
Her big break came when she was approached to participate on the fourth season of DWTS. As a direct result of her talents, Hough has earned two “mirror ball trophies” on the series and was recognized with an Outstanding Choreography Emmy nomination in 2008.
The multi-talent released her self-titled debut in 2008, which quickly rose up the country music charts. In June 2009, she was offered a role in the movie remake of Footloose.
Hough, who has pledged abstinence until marriage, is currently dating Ryan Seacres.

Ryan Seacrest talks about his girlfriend, Julianne Hough, says she saw Phillips and "I thought I heard her say 'yummy!'" They then show her off-stage, looking surprised and laughing. Hmmm, that's a first on the show; in 11 seasons of watching I don't remember him ever talking about anyone he was dating, that I can remember, let alone shown someone.


Julianne Hough may be dating American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, but she has her eyes on one of the show’s contestants. Last night, Seacrest revealed to the audience that Hough blushed when Phillip Phillips walked by and said that he was “yummy.”
Phillips, a fan favorite, sang Dave Mathews “The Stone” on last night’s American Idol. Lopez called Phillips’ rendition “too artsy” and the judges poked fun at his dance moves. The song did, however, seem to win over Hough.

Joel Ward Talks Racist

Joel Ward speaks with USA Today about the racial garbage on Twitter after Game 7: "It doesn't faze me at all. We won, and we are moving on. … People are going to say what they want to say." He also said Jeff Halpern showed him the Tweets on the team plane and apologized that Ward had to see them.

I think I’m about to write 17 consecutive blog posts that say the same thing, but here’s the basic message: the mood of Washington sports fans on the Internet late Wednesday night was as giddily happy as I can ever remember.
Within 24 hours, sports fans will have seen see the Caps vanquish both the Stanley Cup champs and their game 7 demons, the Nats improve to an utterly absurd 14-4, and the Redskins draft the most likable Heisman Trophy-winning franchise quarterback in recent memory.

"There is no lying about it. …I'm definitely the one black guy in a room with 20 white guys," Joel Ward said. "There are definitely some cultural differences, such as taste in music, but I've neard heard anything derogatory."
He says he has no concern about his safety moving forward in the playoffs.
"I'm pretty laid-back and I get along with a lot of people," Ward said. "I don't fear anything like that, and I have a good group of guys to protect me."
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, in a blog post about the situation, called people making the comments "unforgivable."
“I hope they are now publicly identified and pay a huge price for their beliefs," Leonsis wrote. "There should be zero tolerance for this kind of hate mongering. Their messages should now stay glued into the algorithms to place a forever warning and a mark upon these people and their actions. They shouldn’t be able to escape their keystrokes.”
The Bruins also said they were "very disappointed" in the comments.
“These classless, ignorant views are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization,” read a team release.
Several of the tweets were aggregated at Chirpstory.com; by Thursday afternoon, many of the offending accounts had been deleted.
The comments started shortly after the 31-year-old Ward, in his first season with the Capitals, backhanded Mike Knuble's rebound past Thomas, giving Washington a 3-2 win.
"When I saw the puck there, I just took a whack at it," Ward said after the game. "It was a sense of relief, a great accomplishment."

Octomom was Investigated

“Octomom” Nadya Suleman was fully cooperative when social workers and La Habra police looked into a complaint about her children's living conditions and that they found nothing to merit further investigation.
The La Habra Police Department and investigators from the Orange County Social Services Agency visited the home Tuesday after a complaint of “general neglect” regarding conditions at Suleman’s home, said Sgt. Daniel Barnes.

La Habra police Sgt. Daniel Barnes says officers and Orange County Department of Family and Children's Services officials examined Suleman's home in Southern California on Tuesday and did not find anything unusual.
The entertainment news website TMZ.com says Suleman's hairstylist told police the house was a mess and there was only one working toilet in the home.
Barnes told City News Service that someone reported filth in the home.
The 36-year-old Suleman became known as Octomom after she gave birth to eight babies in January 2009. They are the world's longest-living octuplets

The company behind the hair procedure Octomom dropped hundreds of dollars on while on welfare -- is mortivied by Octo's reckless spending ... and now, it's hatched a plan to make things right with taxpayers.
KTLA News reported the person who filed the complaint said there was only one functioning toilet in the home and that the children had to use portable toilets. The person also claimed the children appeared unclean.
Barnes said officers conducted preliminary interviews at the home and “no crimes were noticed.” He said no criminal investigation was underway, although there could be further examination from social workers.
Suleman was dubbed “Octomom” after she gave birth to octuplets in 2009.

The NFL Draft

The NFL draft begins Thursday night with the first round, continues Friday night with the second and third rounds, and runs through Saturday, when the final four rounds will be held at Radio City Music Hall. The Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams both went 2-14 last season and had the top two picks, but the Rams traded the second spot to Washington.
While Andrew Luck and Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III will be the stars of the show, this year's draft will be more about defensive players than quarterbacks. In fact, only 3 QB's are expected to be picked in the first round while as many as four cornerbacks could have their names called early.

The New York Jets reached out Sunday to Alabama running back Trent Richardson, fueling speculation they will try to orchestrate a blockbuster move to trade up.
Richardson said Wednesday he received a call from the Jets soon after arriving in New York for pre-draft festivities.

It's common for a team to call potential picks a few days before the draft, but it's unusual to contact a player seemingly out of reach.
The Jets, picking 16th in the first round, are exploring the possibility of moving up for Richardson, according to league sources. But it's a long shot, considering they'd probably have to jump 11 or 12 spots.

Before an inexplicably large television audience and scored to the dulcet analytical tones of Chris Berman and Mel Kiper Jr., the Indianapolis Colts will take Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with the first pick of the NFL Draft on Thursday. Shortly after that, the Washington Redskins will select Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III with their first pick. At which point … well, Berman and Kiper will still be there, loudly, but things get pretty cloudy pretty quickly. This is generally the case in the mis- and disinformation-muddled days before the draft, which are traditionally home to both a great deal of uncertainty and some middle school-level psy-ops from front offices.

Uncertainty is, of course, the name of the game in the draft even when anonymous scouts aren’t talking down various players for reasons owing to peevishness, strategy or both. First-round picks don’t provide any real guarantee of success, and the odds of teams scoring an impact player decrease as the draft drags on.

The President with Jimmy Fallon

President Obama was on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” on Tuesday. OK, OK, technically it was Wednesday in Washington, as NBC broadcasts the show at 12:35 a.m. Eastern time. Anyway, the appearance seems to have worked up quite a bit of buzz among the blognoscenti and twitterati
First off, there was the slow jam of the news. If you haven’t heard about this, it’s a recurring Fallon bit in which he and a guest talk/croon about a serious topic over a beat laid down by house band The Roots.

Obama returned to the topic while discussing his college years with Fallon. According to Obama, he and his wife, Michelle, accrued a large amount of debt while earning their undergraduate and law school degrees.

"For the first 10 years of our marriage, we were still paying stuff off, even when we were supposed to be saving for Malia and Sasha," Obama said. "We didn't pay off all of our student loans until about eight years ago."
When asked by Fallon what legislation he would enact if he could bypass Congress, the president shifted his focus to energy and high fuel prices, an area his critics have focused on as a potential weak spot.

As to other stuff, Obama said people send him Web links to dancing bears and cute cats. It’s good to know that even presidents have friends eager to waste their time. Also, one of his favorite movies is “Groundhog Day,” which, Obama acknowledged, came out before many students in the crowd were born.
Also, Obama said he and Mitt Romney are not friends, but he did not appear to mean that in a bad way. He said because Romney had been a governor, their paths hadn’t crossed much in the course of political business, whereas he’d gotten to know last opponent John McCain in the Senate.

Drinks Hand Sanitizer Cases

Hand sanitizer, which has 62% ethyl alcohol, produces a potent drink that can cause alcohol poisoning. Some of the cases involve teenagers who used salt to separate out the alcohol.
There were also 147 cases involving children ages 6 to 12 and 2,180 cases ages 0 to 5, believed to have accidentally ingested the gel, according to poison control service, part of the UC San Francisco's Department of Clinical Pharmacy.
The vast majority of all the cases statewide were minor and treated at home, but about 50 of the youths went to a hospital or were referred to a hospital for treatment.
In Los Angeles County since March, there have been 16 cases of teenagers requiring medical attention, according to the California Poison Control System.
Officials began separately tracking hand sanitizer cases in 2010.

Dr. Akikur Mohammad, Founder of Inspire Malibu, recognized by many as the top addiction treatment center in Malibu, California and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California (www.USC.edu), announced today that his team at Inspire Malibu is launching an awareness campaign designed to draw attention to the rising number of adolescents and adults abusing hand sanitizer throughout the United States.

Six teenagers have shown up in two Los Angeles emergency rooms in the past few months with alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer and public health officials said the cases could signal a dangerous trend.
Some of the teenagers used salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer, making a potent drink that is similar to a shot of hard liquor.

The recent cases involving teenagers surprised doctors. There were no such cases last year. The incidents also raised concerns about the lack of awareness among parents of the risks linked to the popular hygiene product. Even small bottles contain highly concentrated alcohol.

Facts About Mad Cow Disease

The case of Mad Cow Disease in six years sparked fears of illness that prompted at least one major South Korean retailer to suspend the sale of American beef.

However, public health officials said the risk for disease for Americans is extremely low given that the affected dairy cow in central California was not part of the human food chain and was not exposed to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) through animal feed.

The is the fourth instance of Mad Cow Disease to have been discovered in US history. It was long believed that cattle were infected with BSE by eating feed that included spine and brain tissue of other cows who had consumed the meat of sheep infected with scrapie. But some scientists have since hypothesized that the disease may develop spontaneously in cattle. Federal officials believe that the recent instance in California was a indeed caused by an atypical genetic malformation, as CBS reported. “It was just a random mutation that can happen every once in a great while in an animal,” Bruce Akey, director of the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell University, told the AP. “Random mutations go on in nature all the time.” Federal officials further emphasized that the infected cow had not eaten contaminated feed.

South Korea is the world’s fourth-largest importer of U.S. beef.
South Korean agriculture officials are considering whether to formally suspend delivery of U.S. beef to stores by halting quarantine inspections, which would prevent the meat from clearing customs.

The new case of mad cow disease is the first in the U.S. since 2006. It was discovered in a dairy cow in California, but health authorities said Tuesday the animal was never a threat to the nation’s food supply.
The infected cow, the fourth ever discovered in the U.S., was found as part of an Agriculture Department surveillance program that tests about 40,000 cows a year for the fatal brain disease.
South Korea first imposed an import ban on U.S. beef in 2003 after mad cow disease was detected in a U.S. cow. The country lifted the ban in 2008 but faced a huge outcry from the public and months of candlelight protests.

Google Drive

Google Drive is a way to store your files on Google's servers, or "in the cloud." If you run the free Google Drive application, then you get a folder on your computer (Windows or OSX) that looks just like a directory on your hard disk that you can drag your files in to. Anything stored in that folder is kept on your hard disk and also copied to your account in the cloud. You can access those files from drive.google.com or from other computers, including mobile devices.
Google Drive is also the new name for Google Docs, which is Google's suite of Web-based productivity tools -- its word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation app. Documents you create using these tools now show up in your Google Drive. Sort of.


The Google Drive service, beginning today, gives users online storage similar to a hard drive’s, allowing access to files from computers and other devices, said Sundar Pichai, Google senior vice president. As much as 5 gigabytes of cloud- based storage is provided free, while users may pay $2.49 a month for 25 gigabytes and higher fees for more.
Google’s service helps the company expand beyond its search engine and query-based advertising. Apple has a similar offering called iCloud, while Microsoft provides one called SkyDrive. Google, based in Mountain View, California, says its service will encourage users to spend more time online with features that, among other things, enable creation of Web-based documents and sharing of photographs.

To get started with Google Drive, head to drive.google.com and enable the service. Once you have access to your Drive, you're ready to get started.
Right away, you'll notice that Google Drive looks and acts a lot like Google Docs -- you can create files, collections (folders), use the top bar to search, and upload files by dragging and dropping into the browser window.
However, unlike Docs, you can now manage your entire drive from your desktop by installing the Google Drive application. To get it, head to drive.google.com and select "Download Google Drive" in the left sidebar. After a short installation process, a Google Drive folder will be added to your desktop. That folder is synced with your Google Drive, so any changes you make to it will be reflected in the Web interface, and vice versa.
So, when you add a file to the Google Drive folder, it will be uploaded to your Web drive (as long as you're connected to the Internet).

The company may find users in the consumer arena, said Aaron Levie, chief executive officer of Los Altos, California- based Box Inc., which targets businesses with its online storage service. More than 100,000 businesses use Box.net and that will be a more-difficult market for Google to compete in, he said.
Google may also give up your data in response to a legal demand, like a subpoena. If you want your cloud storage to be a little more out of touch, you might be interested in Wuala, which has no storage servers in the United States. Or you might just want to keep your data off the Internet.

Ivan Rodriguez Retires in Texas

Ivan Rodríguez, a 14-time All Star catcher, ended a 21-season playing career doing what he does best from behind home plate.
Pudge made one last throw  to second base at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.
The Rangers then honored him with a pregame ceremony that ended with the unique first pitch. Rodríguez initially went to the mound while Michael Young, the team's longest-tenured player, set up to receive the pitch. But that didn't seem right, so Young ran out to second base and Rodríguez, already wearing a catcher's mitt, went behind the plate to a huge cheer and made a familiar throw across the diamond.

After 21 years in Major League Baseball with six teams, catcher Ivan Rodriguez formally retired on Monday, returning to his original big league team in Texas to say goodbye after 14 All-Star games and 13 Gold Glove awards.
Rodriguez, who played a record 2,427 games behind the plate, said farewell at a news conference at the Ballpark in Arlington before the Texas Rangers' game against the Yankees on Monday.

Rodríguez was surrounded at the podium by his wife and his three children, including his 19-year-old son who is a prospect in the Minnesota Twins organization. He thanked his parents and brother who sat in the front row for supporting him since he started playing baseball at age 5 in Puerto Rico.
Rodríguez plans to remain in baseball in some capacity, and Rangers president Nolan Ryan said there have already been some preliminary discussions about making that happen. 

Rodriguez is considered one of the best all-around catchers ever, thriving as a potent offensive player while garnering a record 13 Gold Glove awards for fielding.
He was named the 1999 American League Most Valuable Player after a season with 35 home runs, 113 runs batted in, 25 steals and a .332 batting average, and finished with a career batting average of .296 and 2,844 hits.
The strong-armed backstop threw out 41.7 percent of attempted basestealers, the best career figure since the statistic started being kept in 1974.

Rodríguez was only 16 years old when the Rangers signed him after a tryout camp in Puerto Rico in July 1988. Less than three years later, he was in the major leagues.
Rodríguez was quickly among the team's top prospects. He was the youngest player in the Texas League when the Rangers brought him up after getting constant reports that he made contact and was ready to catch in the big leagues.

Customer Collapses at Heart Attack Grill

The Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas would appear to have lived up to its reputation for the second time in as many months: On Saturday, a woman collapsed at the restaurant known for gleefully serving up artery-clogging entrees.
Owner Jon Basso said Monday that he wishes the customer a swift and full recovery. But, he added, the woman got exactly what she asked for: a brush with death.

This is the second time in three months that someone has collapsed while eating a burger at the Heart Attack Grill, where the motto is “Taste worth dying for.” Guests are described as patients in the restaurant’s stated quest against anorexia.
In February, a man in his 40s was eating a Triple Bypass when he began sweating and shaking.

This bout of unfortunate events has had little effect on the restaurant's business, in which people remain drawn to the monstrous burgers. The quadruple bypass burger clocks in around 10,000 calories -- Guinness World Records has crowned the burger the most caloric sandwich on Earth.
The Heart Attack Grill has signs that read "This Establishment is Bad for Your Health." "Unlike cigarettes, I have had warnings labels since Day 1 when we opened in 2005 telling people how bad our food is for you," owner Jon Basso tells the Los Angeles Times," I think that skirts any liability we might have."

The Heart Attack Grill is a hospital-themed restaurant that belly laughs at doctors’ orders to steer clear of excessively caloric and fatty meals.
Waitresses wear skin-tight nurses’ uniforms, and Basso dresses as the cardiologist on staff, complete with doctor’s coat and stethoscope. Diners are called patients. And on the menu: “Flatliner” fries cooked in lard, shakes made with pure cream, and four flavors of “bypass” burgers, as in single, double, triple or quadruple bypass.
The Quadruple Bypass Burger can top 10,000 calories. Basso said the Guinness World Records book contacted him Friday to say that the burger was being crowned the most caloric sandwich on Earth.

Luke Askew Dies At Age 80

Luke Askew died from lung cancer last month in his home in Oregon, according to news reports. The actor, who also acted in "Cool Hand Luke" and "Easy Rider," turned 80 three days before his death, OregonLive.com reported.
By Mark Hansen Hulett "Bucky" Askew, the ABA's consultant on legal education, is leaving the association at the end of August. Askew's departure was announced Monday (PDF) on the website of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

While there is little information on the circumstances of Askew's lung cancer -- what kind of cancer he had, how long he had it or what complications ultimately caused his death -- age is known to be a risk factor for many cancers.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, lung cancer is the No. 1 cause of cancer-related death for men when they are age 40 or older. For women, lung cancer outpaces breast cancer to be the leading cancer-related cause of death once they hit age 60.
Older people are more likely to develop lung cancer than young people, with 80 percent of lung cancers occurring in those ages 60 and older, according to MacMillan Cancer Support.

Deion Sanders Arrested After Domestic Incident

The estranged wife of former football star Deion Sanders was arrested on domestic violence-related charges Monday night, hours after Sanders sent a series of bizarre tweets saying she assaulted him.

In one of the messages posted on his verified Twitter account, Sanders even posted a picture of what he said were his children filling out complaints to give to police in Texas.

Pilar Sanders was booked into jail Monday night on suspicion of assault family violence, a misdemeanor, according to booking records at the Collin County Jail.
The couple has three children together. Sanders also has two other children from an earlier relationship.

The couple married in 1999 and starred in a reality show, "Deion & Pilar Prime Time Love," that aired on the Oxygen network.The marriage, however, soured, and the two are in the midst of a very public, bitter divorce.In February, Pilar Sanders filed a suit against her husband and his aunt, Laura Jones. She said the aunt attacked her in their 10-bedroom, 29,000-square-foot home in Prosper, Texas, while Deion Sanders watched.At the time, the two-sport star tweeted that his wife was the aggressor and the aunt was in the home merely to fix his phone.
Deion claims Pilar and her friend jumped him in front his two sons….and took to Twitter to prove his innocence:
Pray for me and my kids now! They just witnessed their mother and a friend jump me in my room. She’s going to jail n I’m pressing charges!
I’m sad my boys witnessed this mess but I warned the police department here that she was gone try n harm me and my boys. This is on my mama!
Filling out police reports now! Thank God for this platform to issue the Truth.

James Harden Dropped by Metta World Peace

James Harden fell hard to the floor as Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka of the Thunder moved toward World Peace. Other players quickly stepped in and, although World Peace argued that the elbow was inadvertent, he was given a flagrant foul type 2 and ejected. No doubt a significant suspension will follow.

 Metta World Peace is a ticking time bomb. How many times is he gonna be allowed to pull this crap? The guy has problems and needs to go work at McDonalds. Just lucky that he didn’t snap Hardens neck. You don’t see hits like that in the MMA! The commissioner needs to grow a pair and get stuff like this under control.

It's unlikely that Harden will play in the Thunder's two remaining regular-season games at home, beginning with Tuesday night's matchup against the Sacramento Kings. James Harden was the victim of Metta World Peace's vicious elbow during the second quarter of Sunday's 114-106 double-overtime road loss to the Lakers. The Thunder swingman dropped to the court and stayed down for about a minute before heading to the locker room. Oklahoma City (46-18) hasn't announced whether Harden, who leads the NBA as a reserve with 16.9 points per game, has a concussion.

James Harden stayed down and play was stopped for several minutes while the referees separated Lakers and Thunder players who were arguing and the flagrant 2 determination was only made after the collision was reviewed on a video monitor at center court.
Harden, who had 14 points, did not return to the court in the second quarter. Harden was diagnosed with a concussion, according to the Thunder. He will fly back with the team to Oklahoma City and his status for the Thunder's final two regular season games is uncertain.
Harden was the first player to leave Oklahoma City's locker room after the game and did not address the media

John Edwards Faces Campaign

Two portraits of John Edwards emerged in opening arguments at the trial of the disgraced politician, who is accused of breaking campaign finance laws by accepting more than $900,000 in illegal contributions to help conceal an extramarital affair during his 2008 bid for president.

The prosecution on Monday portrayed Edwards as a liar and a deceiver who went to great lengths to cover up his affair to protect his campaign image as a family man. The defense portrayed him as a man who committed a sin – a sin Edwards acknowledges – but did not break the law.
The former senator from North Carolina has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts related to campaign finance violations. He was joined in the courtroom by his parents and his daughter Cate.

 A key prosecution witness in the criminal trial of former presidential candidate John Edwards contacted other witnesses in the case to ask about their planned testimony, a possible violation of federal law, a judge said Monday.

U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles said that former Edwards aide Andrew Young called the three other witnesses in the last two weeks. Eagles ruled that lawyers for Edwards could mention the improper contact to jurors in opening arguments Monday, but barred them from using the term "witness tampering" or telling the jury that Young had a one-night stand with one of the other witnesses in 2007.
Young once falsely claimed paternity of the child Edwards fathered with his then-mistress Rielle Hunter in 2007. The former aide is potentially the government's most important witness as prosecutors seek to prove the then-married Democratic candidate masterminded a scheme to use nearly $1 million provided by two wealthy campaign donors to help hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the White House in 2008.
Edwards, 58, has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts related to alleged violations of federal campaign finance laws.

The former candidate sat silently in the courtroom Monday morning as the lead federal prosecutor called him a man who would say or do anything to get elected president, including violating the law to hide his affair and keep his campaign viable.

 The judge ruled that Button did not have to turn over all communications with third parties including the media regarding Edwards, Hunter and Young from 2009 to the present. Button also doesn't have to produce correspondence or proposals involving books and articles involving Edwards and key players in the case, or turn over postings on Facebook or other social media sites regarding Edwards during that time period.

Metta World Peace Elbowing James Harden

Lakers forward Metta World Peace delivered a blow to the side of the head of Oklahoma City guard James Harden that earned him a flagrant-two foul and an immediate ejection. A suspension of one game or more is likely.

World Peace, who had 12 points late in the second quarter following his third dunk of the game, pounded his chest alternately with both fists. Then, as James Harden was moving toward the baseline, World Peace swung his left arm above his shoulder and struck Harden in the left side of his head, sending the Thunder guard crashing to the court.

The incident with 1:37 left in the first half sparked all types of reactions. As Harden was motionless on the court, World Peace stood in a boxing stance as Thunder forwards Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka rushed toward World Peace. The fans at Staples Center and Lakers teammates seemed to think it was just an accident, something World Peace indicated with his body language to officials afterwards

Seeing it live, it appeared that World Peace's elbow was nothing but an accident. Maybe he was too giddy over his dunk to realize Harden was there. Maybe he didn't realize how far out he was swinging his arms. Maybe he didn't know his own strength. The replays appear to show otherwise. Harden bumped into him. World Peace backed into him. Then he cocked back his arm before delivering the blow.

World Peace post 12 points on four-of-10 shooting, five rebounds and three steals while holding Durant to a three-of-eight shooting clip. But the Lakers will miss that presence in the second half and likely beyond.


When the NBA looks at the replay, they're not going to care about intent. For better or worse, they're not going to care about his reputation, either. They're going to care about what World Peace did. And it was inexcusable.
In a moment when emotions completely overwhelmed him regarding his third dunk, World Peace cocked his arm and then reared back to deliver the vicious elbow. Say what you will about World Peace being caught up in the heat of the moment, not realizing his own strength or even realizing Harden was within striking distance. But logic suggests otherwise. Because of that, World Peace will have to pay a heavy price.