Why I'm returning my new iPad and buying a Kindle Fire

Kindle Fire @ $199.00

By Rick Broida

My new iPad is going back to the store.

I paid $600 for the 32GB Wi-Fi model, and although I like it well enough, I don't think it's worth the money.

Before the Apple faithful take my head off, allow me to explain -- and to note that I'm keeping my original iPad. Also, I have such mad love for my iPhone 4S, I want to cook it breakfast every morning. You get my meaning; this isn't just wayward iPad-bashing.

When Apple announced the new tablet, I was underwhelmed but intrigued. I'd skipped the iPad 2, so I figured I "owed" myself this upgrade. Plus, it would be a business expense; I do write for a blog called iPad Atlas, after all.

Mostly, though, I got caught up in the hype. After reading gushing praise for the new iPad's Retina Display and blazing processor, I had to see what the fuss was about.

The fuss, it turns out, was more overblown than a Kardashian wedding. The screen? Yep, it's nice. Does it make my eyes leap from my skull and dance a marimba cha-cha? No. Neither does it cure cancer or introduce me to supermodels, despite what some drooling bloggers intimated.

The new iPad is admirably peppy, though I never found my original iPad to be slow. My kids enjoy messing with the built-in cameras, but that's a luxury I certainly don't need. Using an iPad to snap photos or video is like driving a monster truck to the grocery store: uncomfortable and impractical (to say nothing of showy). The only thing that I'll actually miss is big-screen FaceTime -- but for those moments I can always Skype on my laptop.

4G LTE? Again, nice, but I have no need for it. And that leaves...what? The new iPad is a little slimmer, a little faster, and little easier on the eyes than the original. Not enough, Apple. I want my $600 back.

As fate would have it, a Kindle Fire arrived shortly after the new iPad. (It's a loaner, due back to Amazon in about a week.) As you're no doubt aware, it's a hair less expensive: $199.

Yes, it has a smaller screen, less storage, no cameras, no 3G/4G, no Bluetooth, and so on. But you know what? I love the little guy, because it better suits my needs.

For one thing, it's way more comfortable for reading. I consume a lot of e-books, but I find the iPad too big and cumbersome -- especially for reading in bed. The Fire is small enough and light enough that I can lie on my side and grip it one-handed. (Shut up.)

I also like magazines, most notably Entertainment Weekly, Time, and Wired. The app versions of all three work nicely on the iPad, but I like the Kindle Fire (Android) versions even better. Maybe it's because I was expecting a shrunken, ill-fitting stab at accommodating the smaller screen, but the formatting is just beautiful. Reading these mags on the Fire is a pleasure.

Music, movies, TV shows, games, apps -- the Kindle Fire excels at all this stuff, just like the iPad. I'm streaming "This Is Spinal Tap" (courtesy of Amazon Prime, an uneven but compelling service) as I type this, and it looks exquisite. Granted, the paltry 8GB of storage limits how much media I can take with me, but I'm mostly an around-the-house user anyway. (That's why I get by just fine with Wi-Fi.)

I also like the Kindle's modern, media-centric, dare-I-say-sexy interface, which actually makes Apple's UI seem rather dated.

So here's the upshot: for one-third of what I paid for the new iPad, I can accomplish 95 percent of what I want to do with a tablet, and with a smaller form factor I find more appealing. Different strokes for different folks, of course, but for me this is a no-brainer: I'm returning the new iPad and jumping into the Kindle Fire.

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Lin-surgery! Knicks guard done for regular season

Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin will miss the rest of the regular season because he needs knee surgery that will sideline him six weeks and could leave the Knicks without their star point guard in the playoffs - if they make it that far.

Lin had an MRI exam this week that revealed a small, chronic meniscus tear and he has elected to have surgery next week in New York.

With the regular season ending April 26, the biggest story in basketball this season is done unless the Knicks make a deep postseason run.

Speaking slowly during a pregame press conference, Lin was unable to hide his disappointment with the decision that was reached earlier Saturday after a painful workout.

“It (stinks) not being able to be out there with the team,” he said.

Upcoming: Lin-surgery.

He was barely holding on to a place in the NBA back in February. Now, after the back-to-back Sports Illustrated covers and popularity around the world, and now it’s over.

“If this was done very early in the year, obviously … I don’t know where my career would be. I could be, would be definitely without a job and probably fighting for a summer league spot,” Lin said. “But having said that, this happening now hurts just as much, because all the players, we really put our heart and souls into the team and into season, and to not be there when it really matters most is hard.”

The Knicks will continue to turn to Baron Davis in place of Lin, the undrafted Harvard alum who became the starter in February and turned in a series of brilliant performances, kicking off a phenomenon that was called Linsanity.

Lin is averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 assists, but the numbers only tell a small part of the story.

The Knicks were under .500 and looking like a mess when Lin was given a chance to play extended minutes at point guard for then-coach Mike D’Antoni on Feb. 4 against New Jersey.

Lin, the first American-born player of Taiwanese or Chinese descent to play in the NBA, scored 25 points with seven assists in that New York victory, was inserted into the starting lineup two days later against Utah, and took the Knicks on a seven-game winning streak that gained world-wide attention.

The 23-year-old Lin left the Knicks’ easy victory over Detroit last Saturday after feeling discomfort, saying afterward he could have returned for the fourth quarter if the game had been close. He took part in shootaround before their game Monday and at first believed he could deal with the pain.

Though the swelling went down, the pain never did. He said he got three or four opinions that all said the same thing, and after testing it again Friday and Saturday, he decided to have the surgery.

“I can’t really do much. Can’t really cut or jump, so it’s pretty clear that I won’t be able to help the team unless I get this fixed right now,” Lin said before the Knicks played Cleveland. “It’s disappointing for me, it’s hard to watch the games and I think I’d want to be out there obviously more than anything right now. But hopefully, it’s a six-week rehab process but I tend to heal fast, so hopefully I can come back as soon as possible and still contribute this season hopefully.”

It’s the second serious injury loss of the week for the Knicks, who are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Amare Stoudemire is out two to four weeks with a back injury, leaving the Knicks without their second- and third-leading scorers for perhaps the remainder of the regular season.

Davis still isn’t 100 percent after a herniated disk in his back kept him out of action until February. The Knicks also have Mike Bibby and Toney Douglas, plus rookie Iman Shumpert as point guard options, but none as good as Lin.

“We’ve got to go on, but he’s a big piece of our puzzle and what we were doing as of late before he actually went out,” interim coach Mike Woodson said. “All’s not bad. Again, we’ve got three veteran point guards sitting over there and the rookie we could play some at the point. We’re just going to have to make do until he’s able to get back into uniform. But it is a big blow.”

Lin flourished in D’Antoni’s offense, and there was immediate speculation he would struggle - or even lose his starting spot - when Woodson replaced him on March 14. Instead, Lin kept on rolling, leading the Knicks to six wins in seven games before he was hurt.

Woodson said he’s known of players that have played through meniscus tears, but that only Lin knows his body. Lin knew he would need surgery eventually, but hoped to delay it until after the season.

“He’s elected to have the surgery and we’ve got to respect that, because only he knows the pain that he’s feeling. And there is a problem, so it’s got to be fixed,” Woodson said.

The Knicks had already tried three point guards when they finally turned to Lin, who had been cut by Golden State and Houston before signing with the Knicks. D’Antoni immediately elevated him to the starting lineup after his performance against the Nets, and Lin responded with the greatest beginning stretch ever for a starter.

He was the first player with at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his first five starts since the Elias Sports Bureau began charting starts in 1970. He had a 3-pointer to win a game in Toronto, scored 38 points to outplay Kobe Bryant in a national TV victory over the Lakers, then had 28 points and 14 assists in another nationally televised victory over the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.

All along, the frenzy around him increased. Commissioner David Stern said he had never seen so much interest created by one player in such a short period of time. Knicks games were picked up by TV stations in basketball-crazed Asia, and Lin actually pleaded for privacy for his family in Taiwan.

Lin will be a free agent after the season and said he hopes to return to New York, but otherwise wasn’t thinking that far in the future.

“I’m not even worried about that right now,” he said. “It’s not like a career-ending thing or it’s not something that will bother me. Once it’s fixed, it’s fixed, it’s the most simple surgery you can have and so I’m more concerned about the season.”

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Earth Hour aims for lights off across the globe

Empire State Building in New York, Big Ben in London and the Eiffel Tower in Paris

(CNN) -- On Saturday, European Space Agency astronaut and World Wildlife Fund ambassador André Kuipers will watch from the International Space Station as each time zone hits 8:30 p.m. -- and track to see who on Earth turns out the lights.

Kuipers will blog from 240 miles above the planet as part of the Earth Hour, an annual event that encourages homes, businesses and governments to turn off their lights for one hour to build awareness about energy use and climate change.

"We are living beyond our means. That is not sustainable," says Andy Ridley, co-founder and executive director of Earth Hour. "We want to unite people around the world to build a sustainable future."

The message seems to hit home. Earth Hour 2012 has commitments from individuals, companies and landmarks to switch off lights in 147 countries and territories and over 5,000 cities, organizers say.

Sydney's Opera House is scheduled to go dark, followed by Asian landmarks such as the Great Wall of China, the Tokyo Tower, Taipei 101 and the India Gate. In Dubai, the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, will switch off its lights.

Other landmarks pledged to switch off: The Eiffel Tower in Paris, London's Big Ben, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and the Empire State Building in New York.

Kuipers will watch the spectacle from orbit, sharing photos and live commentary on the event from space for the first time.

Taking place on the last Saturday each March, the numbers of people and countries participating has increased each year, Ridley says.

"It became easier than ever to connect people around the world," says Ridley. But Earth Hour's long term goal is to go "beyond the hour." For Ridley, the important question is not if action on climate change is happening, but "is it happening fast enough," he says.

"We need to move a lot further, faster and as soon as possible. That is the big challenge, that we all move and that the economies can adapt to the change."

Organized by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour started in Sydney in 2007, when WWF-Australia encouraged 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businessmen to turn off their lights for one hour to support action on climate change.

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Rupert

The real Rupert - born in 1920

On a British geographical photomapping site to which I contribute, they have a weekly photograph competition. The idea is that the previous week's winner will pick the new winner from the current week's shortlist. Most weeks over 6,000 new photos are submitted to "Geograph" so it's quite a thrill if one of your photos is chosen as the winner. There are comments sections where members can remark on photos or raise associated points.

A couple of weeks ago, a gentleman with the first name Rupert was picked as the winner but he remained silent and inactive with regard to judging the new winner. A moderator asked, "Has anyone heard from Rupert?". Mischievously, but not maliciously, I added this comment: "Last time I saw him he was with Edward Trunk and Algy Pug down in Nutwood."

My "Geograph" censor

This caused a mixture of hilarity and, rather incredibly, hostility. After two or three days my comment was removed and so I left another comment that basically said - Why? I have received seven separate emails from other members of the site supporting my right to make light-hearted remarks and there has been much debate within the site about censorship and what's allowable and what's not. I certainly never expected all this fuss over a harmless quip.

I realise that non-British "aliens" from less cultured corners of the planet may be bemused by my initial response to the question "Has anyone heard from Rupert?" so I guess I need to fill you in. Rupert the Bear is an iconic English comic book character who lives in the pastoral haven of Nutwood with his other animal friends including the white elephant Edward Trunk and a pug called Algernon or Algy for short. There's also Podgy Pig and Rupert's best friend Bill Badger. The characters are anthropomorphic. They all walk on their hind legs and wear clothes from the 1920's which is when Rupert was first created in the mind of Mary Tourtel for the "Daily Express" newspaper. 

A rather menacing Rupert (1959)

Rupert is also a male Christian name that plebs like me associate with  our country's ruling class - the landed gentry that includes our current prime minister and his privileged inner cabinet. When naming male babies, English working class families would only ever pick names like Rupert, Randolph, Claude, Cecil or Clarence as a sort of joke and you would have to pity any ordinary lad lumbered with such a label for life. He'd invariably be a laughing stock just because of his name.

Anyone born in Britain in the nineteen fifties, as I was, is sure to remember Rupert the Bear. We received Christmas annuals in which Rupert and his friends got up to all manner of woodland adventures. The whole concept of Nutwood was rather bizarre and the way in which Rupert and his pals communicated with each other seemd to capture some of the essence of Middle England. We read these annuals but were also bemused by them. I found it hard to really "like" Rupert the Bear. His world was so twee and innocent but even in modern times Rupert hasn't disappeared. He has been transformed, turned into an animated cartoon, made into a cuddly toy and you might even pick up a Rupert costume from a fancy dress shop.

Transformed modern Rupert

Here's the beginning of the first story in the 1964 Rupert Annual:-

Rupert is coming home across the common. "What a frisky butterfly! Why is it dancing like that?" he thinks. "Is it excited by those gorse flowers? There's certainly something odd about the gorse scent. It smells more like violets. I wonder why." Feeling puzzled he continues homeward and notices a small figure standing alone. "Hello, there's Gregory Guinea-pig staring at the sky," he murmurs. "What can he be looking at?" Arriving at his cottage Rupert finds Mrs Bear. "I say, Mummy," he calls. "I've just seen a gorse bush that seems to smell of violets." "That's queer!" says Mrs Bear. "There was a smell of violets here too...Whatever can be causing it?" etc.

Riveting stuff, eh?

How the 'Crackberry' makers lost their way

BlackBerry

New York (CNN) – When I interviewed Research in Motion founder Mike Lazaridis two years ago at the launch of the Blackberry Torch, he was convinced the product would revive Blackberry’s fortunes because, “People don’t want to carry around two devices, they just want to carry one.”

He was right about that, but wrong about the device people wanted.

Thursday RIM announced a 23% drop in sales in the fourth quarter.  A recent Nielsen survey found only 5% of U.S. consumers buying a new smart phone chose a Blackberry.  It is a spectacular fall from grace for a company that pioneered push email and made their devices so indispensible they were nicknamed ‘Crackberrys.’

What happened?

For one thing, competition.  Workers who were issued Blackberry devices back in 2003-2005 didn’t just use them for work, they used them all the time and it didn’t take long for the likes of Apple and Google to catch on.  By 2007 both companies hit the market with phones that could not only deliver email and web access on the go, but had cool designs and access to app stores – something Blackberry did not.

But it wasn’t the competition that ultimately killed RIM’s edge.  The company suffered from “founder syndrome.” Mike Lazaridis and co-CEO Jim Balsillie created a brilliant product, but there were ultimately engineers that were blind to changes that were taking place.

In 2005, I went to Waterloo, Ontario to interview both men.  In lab coats and sanitized shoe booties, we toured the facilities and talked a lot about security and I.T. departments - not very much the user experience. It is something I have thought about often as I watched RIM’s stock and market share plummet.

It is often said that Steve Jobs was one of the few founders who was able to cannibalize his own products over and over.  Maybe it was Apple’s near death experience that enabled him to do that.  Is this finally RIM’s “a-ha” moment?  Maybe.

New CEO Thorsten Heins, who seemed in denial himself two months ago, has now announced a management shake-up, said he is open to selling or licensing part of the business. He vowed the company will turn its main focus back to the corporate market.  As one analyst told me, “it was the first RIM conference call in a long time where I didn’t roll my eyes.”

It may be too little, too late. Many of my friends and colleagues have gotten their I.T. departments to support their iPhones or Android phones. I can’t see them turning back.  And let’s not even mention tablets, which RIM has to practically give away to attract customers.

But RIM still had $4 billion in revenue. Their brand, though hurt, still carries weight – especially in developing countries.  And Matt Thornton, Avian Research in Boston says that if they do decide to license their operating system, and pare back from the hardware business, they have a shot.

“It will be a smaller company, but the gross margins on software companies can be 70-80% versus hardware companies which are closer to 40%,” he said.  Who might partner with Blackberry in a licensing deal?  Thornton thinks Samsung would make an interesting alliance.

Any Blackberry fans out there with advice for Thorsten Heins?  He’s gonna need it.

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Winning Mega Millions numbers announced

Winning Mega Millions numbers

(CBS/AP) ATLANTA - The drawing for what could be the single biggest lottery payout the world has ever seen is finally here.

The numbers drawn Friday night in Atlanta were 2-4-23-38-46, Mega Ball 23.

A $640 million jackpot is up for grabs. Taken as a lump sum, it would amount to $462 million — or about $347 million after federal tax withholding. It will be a couple of hours for details on possible winners come out.

Before Friday night's drawing, lottery ticket lines swelled as the record Mega Millions jackpot grew to $640 million, thanks greatly to players who opened their wallets despite long odds of success. Across the country, Americans plunked down an estimated $1.5 billion on the longest of long shots: an infinitesimally small chance to win what could end up being the single biggest lottery payout the world has ever seen.

A cafe worker in Arizona reported selling $2,600 worth of tickets to one buyer, while a retired soldier in Wisconsin doubled his regular weekly ticket spending to $55. But each would have to put down millions more to guarantee winning what could be the biggest single lotto payout in the world.

"I feel like a fool throwing that kind of money away," said Jesse Carter, who spent the $55 and donated the last two tickets he bought at a Milwaukee store Friday to a charity. "But it's a chance you take in life, with anything you do."

Laura Horsley, who does communications and marketing for a trade association, bought $20 worth of Quick Pick tickets at a downtown Washington, D.C., liquor store Friday. But Horsley, who said she won't buy a lottery ticket unless the jackpot tops $100 million, remained realistic.

"I don't actually think I'm going to win, and I don't believe in superstitions or numbers or anything like that," she said. "I just figured it's right around the corner. I'd be crazy not at least to give it a shot."

Thousands of players -- who converged on convenience stores in 42 states and Washington, D.C., where Mega Millions tickets are sold -- agreed.

Kelly Cripe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Lottery Commission, said that as of Tuesday, nationwide sales for the Mega Millions drawing totaled more than $839 million. Officials projected an additional $618.5 million in sales ahead of Friday's drawing, however, for a projected total sales figure of more than $1.46 billion.

"This is unprecedented," Cripe said Friday by e-mail.

Some Indiana players managed to get freebies, as Hoosier Lottery officials gave away one free Mega Millions ticket to each of the first 540 players at several outlets around the state Friday -- a plan announced before the jackpot grew by $100 million.

In Indianapolis, college student Chris Stewart said he showed up at the lottery's headquarters at 6:30 a.m. to be first in a line.

"I've never seen a jackpot like this before," said Stewart, who bought five additional tickets. "If I won -- I mean wow! I just don't know what I'd do. I'd really have to think what I could do with it."

The lines were out the door at Rosie's Den cafe in the rural northwestern Arizona community of White Hills, 72 miles southeast of Las Vegas and one of the closest points to Nevada -- which doesn't offer Mega Millions -- for buyers to get in the game.

Rosie's worker Christine Millim said it's been nonstop for four days.

"In one step I sold $2,600 worth so, that was one person," she said.

Mike Catalano, chairman of the mathematics department at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., concedes the math is clear: The more tickets you buy, the better chances you have of winning. Better long-shot chances, of course.

"You are about 50 times as likely to get struck by lightning as to win the lottery, based on the 90 people a year getting struck by lightning," Catalano said. "Of course, if you buy 50 tickets, you've equalized your chances of winning the jackpot with getting struck by lightning."

Based on other U.S. averages, you're about 8,000 times more likely to be murdered than to win the lottery, and about 20,000 times more likely to die in a car crash than hit the lucky numbers, Catalano said.

For David Kramer, a lawyer in Lincoln, Neb., buying his Mega Millions ticket wasn't about "the realistic opportunity to win."

"It's the fact that for three days, the daydreaming time about what I would do if I won is great entertainment and, frankly, a very nice release from a normal day," he said.

In Armen Keteyian's report for "CBS Evening News", the revenue from that jackpot pie is divided in three ways: About 60 percent goes to prize winners; 15 percent to retailers, marketing and operations; and 25 percent, or about $14 billion, goes back to the states for government services.

And while states earmark that money for education programs, state lotteries covered only a fraction of state education spending," according to a CBS News investigation.

Everett Eahmer, 80, of St. Paul, Minn., said he's been playing the lottery "since the beginning."

"If I win, the first thing I'm going to do is buy a (Tim) Tebow football shirt, and I'm going to do the Tebow pose," said Eahmer, who bought five tickets Thursday. "I'm with him in honoring a higher power."

Lottery officials are happy to have Friday's record Mega Millions jackpot fueling ticket sales, but even they caution against overspending.

"When people ask me, I just tell them that the odds of a lottery game make it a game of fate," said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Urbandale, Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association that oversees the Mega Millions, Powerball and other lotteries. "Just buy a ticket, sit back and see if fate points a finger at you for that day."

And what happens if you win? CBS MoneyWatch's Jill Schlesinger has some recommendations -- among them 1) Read the rules on the back of the lottery ticket and the lottery web site; 2) Assemble a team that would include interviewing attorneys and financial advisors; and 3) Allow yourself to spend a little money, but don't go crazy.

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Cambodian dad chains son to pole over online gaming

The Cambodian boy chained to a power pole by his father

PHNOM PENH: An irate Cambodian father chained his teenage son by the neck to a power pole to punish him for skipping school to play online games, police said yesterday.

The 13-year-old’s public ordeal came to an end in under two hours when neighbours alerted the police who brought in a locksmith to free the child.

“The father was so angry that he found his son at an Internet cafe instead of at school that he chained him up in public for people to see, to teach him a lesson,” Battambang deputy police chief Cheth Vanny told AFP, adding that the boy said he was also beaten by his father.

The 40-year-old father, Sok Thoeun, who works as a motorbike taxi driver, fled the scene after the incident Tuesday in the northern town of Battambang, and is now wanted on child abuse charges.

“He is still on the run,” the official said.

“This kind of torture is not acceptable.”

Impoverished Cambodia’s Internet usage rate is among the lowest in southeast Asia, with less than 1.5 per cent of its 14 million people listed as Internet subscribers in 2010, according to government statistics.

But as more Internet cafes have sprung up in urban areas in recent years, the popularity of online gaming has soared among the country’s teenagers, most of whom have no Internet access at home. — AFP

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YouTube Earth Hour Campaigns Dare You to Take Action for the Planet

Earth Hour

YouTube is launching a new platform called “I Will If You Will” for Earth Hour 2012, which lets users challenge others to take an environmentally friendly action for the planet.

Earth Hour, now in its sixth year, encourages people to turn off their lights for 60 minutes one day a year. It’s celebrated annually on March 31 between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. This year, the campaign is hoping its impact will last more than one hour.

“In its sixth year, with hundreds of millions of people taking part in Earth Hour, we want to go beyond the hour to encourage positive action for the environment,” Earth Hour co-founder and executive director Andy Ridley said. “The power of social media enables us to unite the global community in the endeavor to protect the planet.”

The “I Will If You Will” campaign is hosted by YouTube and was spearheaded by the Earth Hour founders, the World Wildlife Foundation and Leo Burnett. Supermodel Miranda Kerr is also on board.

As part of the campaign, Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax movie will turn the main character’s mustache green if 500 children commit to switch off their lights for the hour, the president of Fiji Epeli Nailatikau will walk 30 kilometers if businesses and NGOs make pledges, and Miranda Kerr will teach a yoga class to 500 fans who create their own challenge (a condition which was already met).

YouTube also plans to dim its entire site with a virtual light switch for the hour, as it did last year. The social video platform has donated nearly 15 million digital impressions for Earth Hour. Also joining in Earth Hour this year are more than 5,000 cities and towns in 147 countries.

Will you turn out your lights for Earth Hour? Will you challenge your friends to take action?

News by Mashable


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Olympic Legends Tube Map

Transport For London has released a celebratory map of the London Underground 'Tube' network, with the names of the 361 stations replaced with those of famous summer olympic athletes. Those honoured are largely medallists, although some are famous for other reasons including NOT winning medals.

Michael Phelps, the man who holds the record for most olympic gold medals (14 in swimming between 2004-2008) has the honour of being placed on the map at the site of the Olympic Park (Stratford). Other stars from 2008 include Rebecca Adlington (Snaresbrook) and Ursain Bolt (Victoria)

The underground lines correspond to different olympic disciplines, for example, gymnastics is featured on the Victoria Line. Gymnasts featured on the 'legends map' include (but aren't limited to) Nadia Comaneci (King's Cross), Yang Wei (Warren Street), Olga Korbut (Walthamstow Central) and Mary-Lou Retton (Highbury & Islington)

Realistically the map has no significance. The stations themselve are not planned to be re-branded for the games, but it is a nice touch and well worth a look.

Click here to view the full map. Compare it with the 'actual' london tube map here.

Joy is...

...performing your best when it counts!

With half the titles already wrapped up at the world championships in Nice, There are probably only a handful of skaters who can truely say the skated right up to their potential in bost the short and free programs. Japan's Narumi Takahashi and Mervin Tran are 2 of those skaters, surprising themselves, their coaches and the fans on the way to winning Japan's first ever world medal in pairs figure skating. True, they were 20 points or so away from challenging for gold, but before this week few would have picked them for the podium at all.

Given the fact that no major names were missing from this years pairs lineup (except perhaps for China's Zhang & Zhang) the final competition was a messy affair, with many of the predicted favourites taking falls and falling below their season's bests. Russia's Tatiana Volosozhar & Maxim Trankov skating lights out in the free skate to Black Swan, climbing all the way from a disasterous 8th place in the SP to 2nd overall, but narrowly edged by the now 4-time world champions Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy of Germany.

The pairs podium was indeed multinational, with 5 nations represented in fact! Both Tatiana Volosozhar and Aliona Savchenko are native Ukranians, having transferred location and citizenship to Russia and Germany respectively. Mervin Tran is Canadian (he and Takahashi train in Montreal on the same ice as 5th placed Duhamel & Radford).

This calls into question the matter of olympic eligibility. To compete at the games athletes need to be citizens of the country they are representing (for at least a certain period leading up to the games). As Japan does not allow dual citizenship, Tran would have to completely give up his canadian citizenship in order to skate with Takahashi under the Japanese flag in Sochi 2014. This would be a huge step and I haven't heard any word of it in the press, but pressure to do so may increase in the wake of their recent worlds success. It's not unheard of. Yuko Kavaguti (or Kawaguchi as she was known) gave up her Japanese citizenship to skate with Alexander Smirnov in Vancouver 2010. She now requires a visa to visit her family in Japan! Whilst it would be a shame to not see this young takented pair at the Olympics, it's hoped Mervin Tran is not too pressured by the Japanese Federation to take such a drastic step.

Is this the world's smallest dog?

BABY BEYONCE: The puppy, will have her size considered by Guinness World Records

A puppy named after one of the world's biggest pop stars could set the world's record for tiniest dog.

Animal rescuers in Northern California say the female Dachshund mix, named Beyonce, was so small at birth that she could fit into a spoon. At two weeks, she's about the size of a business card.

The Grace Foundation, based in El Dorado County, says animal control picked up Beyonce's pregnant mother, and she gave birth to a litter of five on March 8.

Beyonce was the last one delivered, and was born without a heartbeat. Veterinarians managed to revive her through chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The foundation says she'll be ready for adoption in about two weeks.

Meanwhile, it has submitted an application to Guinness World Records for world's smallest dog.

News by Stuff

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Indonesian women stripped of mini skirt rights

Indonesian women at demonstration

Indonesia's powerful religious affairs minister has declared that mini-skirts are pornographic and would be banned under the country's tough new anti-porn laws.

Minister Suryadharma Ali has been appointed to run Indonesia's new anti-porn task force, announced by president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono earlier this month.

He told reporters in Jakarta yesterday that before deciding what they must ban as pornography, the task force would consult widely to come up with "a set of universal criteria", adding that "one [criteria] will be when someone wears a skirt above the knee", according to the Jakarta Post.

Once a standard of pornography was established, the task force would apply it nationwide across all ethnicities, the newspaper reported.

Entrenched corruption is tearing apart the ruling Democratic Party and imprisoning its members of parliament. While thousands are demonstrating on the streets about fuel price rises and the cost of living,  the Indonesian government's response has been to crack down hard on short skirts.

Earlier this month, the country's parliamentary speaker Marzuki Alie announced he would draft rules banning female politicians and staff members from wearing mini skirts, saying, "there have been a lot of rape cases and other immoral acts recently and this is because women aren't wearing appropriate clothes".

"You know what men are like. Provocative clothing will make them do things."

The president announced the anti-pornography task force earlier this month to try to remove it entirely from Indonesia. Judging by a recent Google survey, Indonesians consume porn at least as enthusiastically as other people, despite a large majority of the population being Muslim.

Yudhoyono put Suryadharma, the religious affairs minister, in charge of the task force's day to day operation.

The minister is no stranger to controversy. In January he said the Shiite version of Islam, a minority interpretation in Indonesia, was heretical because it deviated from mainstream muslim teaching.

Declaring a sect heretical in Indonesia can be dangerous. Last year a machete-wielding mob attacked and killed three members of the "heretical" Ahmadiyah sect.

Suryadharma's department is also controversial. In February, Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission questioned the whereabouts of millions of dollars in interest earned on the deposits that pilgrims paid to the department to join the waiting list for a trip to Mecca.

These deposits, added to donations made to the poor, make the religious affairs department the wealthiest in the Indonesian government. 

News by Stuff

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Fresh Face Friday - Jasmine Vallejo

Property of Jasmine Vallejo

Quick Facts - 
Name: Jasmine Vallejo
D.O.B.: December 1, 2000 (Senior in 2016)
Gym: Precision Gymnastics
Coaches: Jill & Trent Spaulding








When I attended last year's US Challenge I was struck by one of my biggest pet peeves: cutesy floor routines. In my opinion, if your music sounds like it should be in a parade or carnival, it shouldn't be floor music. But anyway, one of the girls had a floor routine with the perfect amount of maturity and difficulty for a HOPES 11 year old: Jasmine Vallejo.

As the youngest girl in the entire meet, Jasmine's elegance on both floor and beam really stood out to me.

(Beam starts about a minute in)

Although she struggled a bit at this meet, her elegance and lines wowed me and I really anticipate this girl going far. Her long term goal, like many gymnasts, is to go to the Olympics. But for this season, she's looking "to mature as a competitor and have a strong performance at the US Classic in May." 

At only 10, Jasmine has been invited to "Developmental Camps" at the Ranch where she trained along with many other Elite hopefuls. 

Here are a few questions to help us learn a little bit more about Jasmine: 

What do you see as your biggest strengths and weaknesses? 

"I love to learn new skills and never give up no matter how difficult it may be at first. I would say that my biggest weakness is sometimes I want to move on too quickly and neglect the simpler elements in my routines."

What's your favorite competition you've competed in? 

"I don't think I've met my favorite yet. I love them all because I love to compete." 

Can you tell a funny/embarrassing story you've had in gymnastics? 

"Last year on the flight home from development camp, I was exhausted and I was dreaming. I woke up standing in front of my seat with my coach and some other passengers standing around me. My coach asked me what I was doing and I told him that I was dreaming and that in my dream he had asked me to do a stretch jump. He was laughing at me because as I dreamt it, I did it and scared him and everyone else on the plane." 

Coffee with mother-in-law saved life

A damaged Mistubishi Diamante, which was driven twice into a bed and breakfast in Napier.

A spur-of-the-moment decision to take his mother-in-law out for coffee was all that saved a Napier man from being killed when a drunk driver reversed repeatedly into his house.

Sea Breeze Bed and Breakfast owner Cafer Unac should have been sitting in his bedroom on his computer when a car came crashing through his front wall yesterday morning.

But he had ducked out to have a cup of coffee with his mother-in-law.

"I was so happy I wasn't here. Otherwise I would have been sitting in the room doing my emails."

Witnesses said the driver reversed out of a Marine Pde car park, across a traffic island, and into the Sea Breeze.

The driver then drove forward and reversed back into the historic building a second time.

The crash caused major damage to the front of the building but Mr Unac was confident it could be repaired quickly so that he could resume business.

His guests had left before the accident, which occurred just before 10am.

Auckland man Warwick Callaghan, who was on the footpath outside the neighbouring youth hostel, said the car came within a metre of hitting him.

"I could have touched the car as it passed.

"I thought he was trying to run me down."

He estimated the late-model Mitsubishi Diamante was travelling about 60kmh.

He said it hit a parked car in the southbound lane of Marine Pde, then reversed over a kerb and through plants on a raised traffic median before crossing the northbound land and smashing into the bed and breakfast.

"I was shouting at him through the window to get out of the car. I said, `Look what you've done to the building, you might have killed someone and you might kill yourself if you keep going.'

"He just gave me a vacant look."

Police said a man was in custody and was likely to face charges of reckless driving and drink-driving. 

News by Stuff

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Keeping up with the Ridges

Sally and Jaime Ridge garnered plenty of attention at Sonny Bill

New Zealand is to set to get its very own version of hit US TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians with Sally Ridge and daughter Jaime set to star in their very own reality show.

It's understood Sally and Jaime, 18, will feature in a TV3 show in the vein of the E! Channel hit which has seen millions of viewers worldwide following every moment of the Kardashian clans' made-for-TV lives for the last five years.

When contacted this afternoon Jaime said she had ''no comment to make''.

When asked if that meant the show wasn't happening she repeated the statement.

Media Works today refused to confirm or deny the show would screen.

"There is nothing imminent along these lines, but it's not our policy to comment on what is or isn't in development."

Keeping Up with the Kardashians initially centred around superstar siblings Kim, Kourtney and Khloe and their manager mum Kris. Lesser parts were played by brother Rob, stepfather Bruce Jenner and his children Kendall and Kylie along with Kourtney's long-term boyfriend Scott Disick.

Later the show grew to include the daughters' basketball playing husbands - Khloe is married to Lamar Odom and Kim had a brief 72 day marriage to Kris Humphries - and several spin-off versions of the series were created where the siblings took their luxury lives on the road to other cities - the last being New York. The seventh season is due out shortly.

While the Ridge women don't have the international pull of the Kardashians, there are some comparisons between their socialite lives where celebrity status has come through marriage and good looks.

Kris Kardashian is twice married. Her first husband, Robert, was a famous lawyer who helped defend O.J Simpson. Her current husband is a former decathlon gold medallist.

Sally Ridge was married to former All Black and New Zealand Warriors player Matthew Ridge before she switched sporting codes and took up with former Black Cap Adam Parore.

Daughter, Jaime, was involved with budding New Zealand hockey rep Dwayne Rowsell, then left him heartbroken when she took up with All Black and New Zealand heavyweight boxing champion Sonny Bill Williams.

That relationship was almost as short lived as Kim and Kris' and by New Zealand standards garnered as much publicity.

Like Kris and Kim, Sally and Jaime are inseparable.

When Williams had his February title bout, both mum and daughter were ringside. On Sundays the pair often feature side-by-side in the social pages where Sally has been chaperoning her daughter for years.

And the Ridges, like the Kardashian's who own fashion stores Dash, are also into fashion.

Sally is a former interior designer and owned failed underwear company James & August and her daughter is a model.

News by Stuff

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A bunch of random thoughts I need to get out of my system. Don't judge.

I was trying to write a blog for next week, and too many random thoughts kept flowing through my head, so I decided to get all of them out of my system. Here we go...
(If you're going to bitch about anything that I'm saying, just don't waste your time. Thanks...)

I'm really legitimately shocked that Randi Lau isn't 12.

Anyone who wants to write their gym/college team's name in giant letters across their leos deserves to have their toenails pulled out with pliers.

Property of LSU

I want Jordyn Wieber on my McDonalds cup.

Kathy Johnson shouldn't be allowed on HD.

I keep forgetting Rebecca Bross is a contender... Wait... Is she?

Is it time for the Olympics yet?

Mackenzie Brannan is too skinny to go to Alabama

It's going to really suck if everybody gets injured before July.

I think Diandra Milliner looks like a lot like Jordan Moore. Is that racist?

I want to know what the deal is with Asi Peko and why she hasn't signed with UCLA.

Also, why does the girl on MIOBI have a bunny?

Property of Gym Examiner

Where is Sabrina Vega? I really hope that she's not injured. She's gonna be a kick ass alternate.

You know when Mohini Bhardwaj did a Double Layout into Punch Front? That was crazy. More people should do that.

Jesus Christ I need to stop drinking so much caffeine to get through 12 hour days.

Woah. I lost a lot of respect for the Excalibur Coaches based on this article. (via IGF)


Mmmk. That's all.

I Wonder About You

Are you better at sadness now? 

I am. Or at least I am used to it. I have not been as sad as you, for as long, but sadness is sadness, and it's deathly in all its sizes.


Do they, the new "she's"-- (I rather think there are many than one; one is too threatening still.) Do they understand? Are they better at it than I was? 

I didn't set the bar too high. But still, I hope they are not.


Are things like smiling and tomorrow still chores? 

I wanted so much to make you smile; I failed to understand you needed me to be the one person you did not have to smile for. Or talk about tomorrow with, for that matter.


Do you still ache for the mundane? 

Sameness, which was so excruciating to me, is precisely what I miss the most.


Do you fit in yet? 

I can't imagine you do. You are an outsider and you are arrogant-- rightfully so, you are too smart and too beautiful for normality. I was much better at seeming comfortable. But it's a pose, nonetheless. I think I have become more transparent and tired. A facade requires cement-like armor and energy.


Are you forgetting? 

I am. 

I would rather who I was be dead to both of us. 


And... Do you, too, wonder?

I hope not. And I hope not never.


*

Masefield

Sea Fever

I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky, 

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, 

And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sails shaking, 

And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking. 

I must go down to the sea again, for the call of the running tide 

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; 

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, 

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying. 

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life, 

To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife; 

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover, 

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over. 

By John Masefield (1902)

Whitby Harbour  1880 by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe

Some poets write in a sort of academic and intellectual isolation - divorced from the real world. Others are very much involved in the hurly burly of their societies, acquiring experiences that nourish their writing. You might say that these latter poets are at "the front line" while the former are in field camps set comfortably well back from the action. I  note with approval that as a very young man John Masefield sought adventure at sea. Perhaps he was escaping from the disappointments of his childhood - the deaths of his parents and his unhappy schooling in Warwick - but anyway  he worked aboard transatlantic trade ships, mingling with rough and ready mariners. 

As he looked out, he wasn't just imagining the sea, he was experiencing it firsthand and it's that genuine feeling for the sea that marks this poem - written when he was still only twenty four. It's like a lot of his poetry - accessible, clear and a little predictable - rarely appearing to wrestle with slippery esoteric notions or to dance on undercurrents of meaning. What you see is what you get with Masefield. Some have said he was more of a storyteller than a poet but in his day he was feted as a poet on both sides  of the Atlantic, becoming Britain's Poet Laureate in 1930 - a position he held until his death in 1967.

U.S. autism rates reach new height: CDC

Tarya Seagraves-Quee bathes her six-year-old autistic son Joshua in their room at a motel

(Reuters) - About one in 88 children in the United States has autism or a related disorder, the highest estimate to date and one that is sure to revive a national argument over how the condition is diagnosed and treated.

The estimate released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention represents an overall increase of 25 percent since the last analysis in 2006 and a near-doubling of the reported rate in 2002.

Among boys, the rate of autism spectrum disorders is one in 54, almost five times that of girls, in whom the rate is one in 252.

"One thing the data tells us with certainty - there are many children and families who need help," said CDC Director Thomas Frieden. "We must continue to track autism spectrum disorders because this is the information communities need to guide improvements in services to help children."

Advocates for people with autism seized on the apparent spike in the prevalence of the disease to call for more research to identify its causes and more services for those affected by it.

"This is a national emergency and it's time for a national strategy," said Mark Roithmayr, president of the research and advocacy group Autism Speaks. He called for a "national training service corps" of therapists, caregivers, teachers and others who are trained to help children with autism.

Some researchers have questioned whether the increases over the last decade are real or reflects greater awareness that has led parents and teachers to see symptoms of autism in children who would not have received the diagnosis a generation ago.

Changes in how the disease is diagnosed explains a large fraction of the reported increase in prevalence, even advocates acknowledged.

EXAMINING RECORDS

"Inevitably when these statistics come out, the question is, what is driving the increase?" said Roithmayr. Better diagnoses, broader diagnostic criteria and higher awareness, he said, account for about half the reported increase.

The new estimate from the CDC comes from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, which operated in 14 states.

To determine whether a child has autism or a related disorder, what CDC calls "clinician reviewers" examined the medical and school records of 8-year-olds in the 14 states and also conducted screening. Children whose records included either an explicit notation of autism-spectrum disorder or merely descriptions of behavior consistent with the disorder were counted as falling on the autism spectrum.

CDC investigators warned, however, that the 14 sites are not "nationally representative." As a result, the rate of autism being reported on Thursday in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, "should not be generalized to the United States as a whole."

Autism spectrum disorders are marked by a suite of symptoms, all arising from atypical brain development that results in problems with socialization, communication, and behavior.

Although the disorder can be mild or severe, in general children with autism have difficulty communicating and making friends. Many find it painful to look other people in the eyes, which impairs their ability to understand what others are thinking and feeling.

News by Reuters

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2 Hot 2 Handle these Sexiest Stars

Jennifer Lopez

Neon has been all the rage since last fall, and it doesn't seem like the trend will be slowing down any time soon, thanks to stylish stars like Jennifer Lopez who adore bold looks. Speaking of J.Lo, the multi-talented mom-of-two did her part to keep the fad in fashion by donning a highlighter-hued Michael Kors frock and bright pink pumps for a recent appearance on a Brazilian talk show. What do you make of the former Fly Girl's getup? Luminous or lackluster?

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2 Hot 2 Handle these Sexiest Stars

Miley Cyrus

And last but not least we have Miley Cyrus, who was also spotted at the annual Muhammad Ali extravaganza. We're not feeling her clunky sandals, but we love her cinched cocktail frock and freshly lightened locks. Dare we say this is Miley's best hairdo to date?

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2 Hot 2 Handle these Sexiest Stars

Jordin Sparks

Jordin Sparks looked better than ever as she sashayed her way down the red carpet at Muhammad Ali's Celebrity Fight Night XIII in Phoenix, Arizona. The ex "Idol's" silk-chiffon Kevan Hall dress featured a halter neck and beading on the waist. Neutral makeup and a sleek pony perfected her overall ensemble.

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2 Hot 2 Handle these Sexiest Stars

Malin Akerman

Meanwhile, Malin Akerman was heating up West Hollywood at the launch of Lacoste's summer collection. The actress' geometric mini was absolutely marvelous, as were her tussled locks and patent leather pumps.

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2 Hot 2 Handle these Sexiest Stars

Kelly Bensimon

Monday night, former "Real Housewives of New York" star Kelly Bensimon showed her support for the LGBT community by attending the annual Jeffrey Fashion Cares auction. Despite her tendency to pose like a linebacker, the model-turned-reality star managed to look quite lovely in a shimmering sleeveless sheath and suede peep-toes.

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2 Hot 2 Handle these Sexiest Stars

Emma Roberts

Emma Roberts is either hit or miss in the style department, but the "Scream 4" queen knocked it out of the park on Monday night at the Metropolitan Opera's presentation of Jules Massenets "Manon." Are you loving her black strapless Yves St. Laurent jumpsuit and red metal belt as much as we are?

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