Sunday, August 31, 2008

Entertainment News

This week in Hollywood, Charlize Theron rejects a marrage proposal and Pitt shows his face.

#1) Charlize Theron was proposed to by a reporter. Soon after she was quoted saying ""you are very cute, but my boyfriend would kill you."

#2) Brad Pitt and George Clooney showed up in Venice promoting the new comedy "Burn After Reading." The movie is about two stupid gym trainers who stumble upon an ex-CIA officer's memoirs.

#3) Jennifer Aniston is filming for NBC again. The former "Friends" star is back to guest star in NBC's "30 rock."

#4) Dancing With The Stars has hooked in Kim Kardashian, Lance Bass, Susan Lucci, and Misty May-Treanor in the new season.

#5) Is Halle Berry engaged? New rumors surface every few months, but this time there's a ring to go with it! Is she finally married to Gabriel Aubry?

*All news courtesy of Yahoo!. Click the blog title for the original article.*

Never Mess With Mother Nature

Hurricane Gustav is quickly turning into a Category 5 hurricane as it nears New Orleans. Just three years after the devastating hurricane Katrina that ripped through New Orleans, residents are heeding the warnings of officials by leaving New Orleans. Gustav has already hit Cuba and Jamaica, killing at least 100 people and devastating more homes. In Cuba, residents returned to find flooded homes and washed-out roads. Florida has already been hit by a strong hurricane, flooding out roads and washing away homes. Gustav is due to hit anywhere between Florida and Texas. When passing Cuba, Gustav was already clocked at Category 5 with 140mph winds. Gustav has already killed about 84 people in the Dominican island of Haiti.

The GOP convention is also being hit hard, despite being set far from hurricane country. He started the day with news that President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will not be attending due to different reasons. Bush and Cheney were to stay in the white house to watch over Hurricane Gustav. Schwarzenegger cancelled because of a long due budget plan that the legislature hasn't sent out yet. Schwarzenegger has been in a deadlock battle against state legislatures of passing a budget, which is two months overdue. Later today, Senator and Presidential Nominee John McCain completely cancelled the convention, saying that he would be spending the day doing Hurricane Gustav related things. He was quoted as saying, "This is a time when we have to do away with our party politics and we have to act as Americans.*" All but the necessary opening day events would be rescheduled.

*Taken from Yahoo.com

Can't Hit It?

Ever wonder why flies are so hard to hit? Well researchers (yes there are researchers who actually study flies) at the California Institute of Technology have figured out why. Flies brains are wired to avoid the swatter. They take 200 milliseconds to register the attack, position themselves, and fly away from the angle of attack. "This illustrates how rapidly the fly's brain can process sensory information into an appropriate motor response," said Michael Dickinson, lead researcher. He also offered this advice in order to hit the pesky flies. "It is best not to swat at the fly's starting position," Dickinson said. Instead, aim for the escape route.

Dickinson, a bioengineer, has devoted his life's work to the study of insect flight. He has built a tiny robotic fly called Robofly and a 3-D visual flight simulator called Fly-O-Vision.*

*taken from Yahoo.com

Featured Artist - Barats And Bereta

Today's featured artist is Barats And Bereta, a older version of smosh. Some would say that they are even funnier than smosh. They blend comedy with, well, stupidity and random jokes which really works at making you laugh. Unfortunately, they are not ranked in the most subscribed all time because they have not posted a new video in nearly 5 months, but "hopefully our five month video drought has prepared you for a video hurricane-- CUZ IT'S COMING." Their website is http://baratsandbereta.com.



Go to the bottom of the page to watch more of Baratsandbereta's movies.

Changing It Up At Disney

Disneyland Resort in California is going to be renovated over the labor day weekend. Therefore, many rides will be closed down for a short period of time. Below is a list of the updates taken directly from the OCregister website. Click the title of this blog for a direct link to the original article.
  • Fantasmics!’s last performance of the summer is Monday and that show, along with the Sailing Ship Columbia, will be down through the fall and back up Nov. 7.
  • Also, because McDonald’s will no longer be selling food in the Disneyland Resort, the three McD’s locations will close Tuesday: Harbour Galley, Conestoga Fries and Burger Invasion.
  • New Orleans Square will be under a bit of construction as first the Haunted Mansion is closed starting Tuesday for a short time to be remade (as it is annually) as Haunted Mansion Holiday. Also, don’t worry about the construction fences that will be going up in New Orleans Square, Disney says the area will be refurbished and repaved during the fall. That construction also means the French Market will be closed during the fall for refurbishment.
  • The last performance of Golden Dreams for the public, an American dream film performance in Disney’s California Adventure, is Sept. 7. Disney announced back in fall that as part of sprucing up California Adventure, Golden Dreams will be replaced by a dark ride based on “The Little Mermaid.” So, if you want to see the show — show up by Sept. 7. Still, the theater will be open through the spring, but only to school kids as part of the Disney youth education program.
  • Also going on hiatus is the Aladdin mysical performed in the Hyperion Theaterof California Adventure. Don’t worry, we already reported here that the show is coming back next year— this time with some enhanced technology, more stage effects and some new cast members.
  • Finally, the Parade of Dreams in Disneyland will be showing daily, with the last fall performance on Nov. 11. There will be no Disneyland parade between Nov. 12 and 20. Then, starting Friday, Nov. 21, the Christmas Fantasy parade shows in the park. And, don’t worry, Disney says the Parade of Dreams (still showing from when it was the 50th anniversary parade) will come back early next year and it will show through the end of September 2009. The Christmas Fantasy parade ends Jan. 5. and the Parade of Dreams picks back up Feb. 13, 2009.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Featured Artist - Hotforwords

Todays featured artist is Hotforwords, who is pretty much the dictionary of Youtube. Combining learning words with seducing pictures and moves, she really makes you want to learn. On her profile is: "My name is Marina and I am a philologist (one who studies linguistics and etymology). I love to discuss the origins of words." Her website is http://wwwhotforwords.com.



Go to the bottom of the page to watch more of Marina's videos.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Earths Calling!

For billions of years, Earth has been clean and safe for all it's inhabitants. Than came man, totally unaware of how he's destroying the balance of Earth and nature. Only a few years ago did men and his machines become aware of what he's doing to the Earth. With the idea of global warming becoming more and more realistic, with all the news about ice caps melting away everyday, men have consistently looked for more ways to reduce it's impact. From taking cars off the roads to completely changing methods and "going green," men have constantly tried to reduce its impact, but to no avail. Scientists have even started using many unnatural ways to reduce emissions. Every year about 13,000 lbs of carbo monoxide is released into our atmosphere because of deforestation, and Earth is beginning to show the weakening signs. From making artificial clouds to reflect sunlight to spreading seeds through airplanes, scientists are coming up with everything under the space to change the impact. Discovery Channel is begginnning to air a new series called Discovery Project Earth which talks all about the ideas. Go to dsc.discovery.com for local listings.

Obama Sets More Records

A few weeks after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games began, which set a TV record of around 30 million households nation wide, the Democratic National Convention has beat that record. The 4 day convention was aired on ten different channels: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, BET, TV One, Univision and Telemundo. Based on the counts, the DMC topped 40 million viewers, with an average of 22.5 million households each day. PBS also aired the convention, though they did not pay to have its viewers counted. Obama's speech was the fifth-highest rated, non-sports event watched by blacks in the last 11 years. Obama's speech was a huge success for CNN, which logged an estimated 8.1 million people. ABC was second most watched with 6.6 million. NBC had 6.1 million. CBS had 4.7 million. Fox News Channel had 4.2 million and MSNBC had 4.1 million. Based on estimates of major cities, PBS is estimated to have had around 4 million viewers. President Bush's acceptance speech to GOP delegates had 27.6 million viewers. Rival John Kerry's speech drew a little more than 20 million people.

Phelps Goes Hollywood

With all the success and bling that Olympian Michael Phelps is carrying, who needs swimming? Since his successful 8 medal record, he's announced that he will be writing a book about his road to the olympics, as well as hosting the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live" and star in HBO's "Entourage" series. Friday, he celebrated with a parade at Walt Disney World in Florida. With all this stuff going on, people are really starting to think if all the fame is going into Phelps' head. But that's not all. Phelps is also scheduled to appear on the upcoming 2008 Video Music Awards. Other performers scheduled for the VMAs are HSM 3 stars Vanessa Hudgens, Corbin Bleu, Ashley Tisdale, and Zac Efron, as well as teen stars Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan. But that's not all. The star-studded awards will also feature Scarlett Johansson and Ciara,with music performances by The Jonas Brothers, Katy Perry, T-Pain, Rihanna, Pink, and T.I., who will be appearing for the first time after his arrest lst year.

P.S. This is the 100th blog. Yay!

McCain Picks VP Choice

When people think of McCain's VP choice, they think of a well-known senator or governor that has a lot of experience in foreign policy and somewhere near his own age. Which is why he surprised the world today when he announced that his VP choice was someone most people don't know from a place where most American's don't even think about.

McCain's VP choice is governor Sarah Palin, of Alaska. In just two years, Palin went from small-town mayor to governor to VP choice of a republican presidential nominee. She's also making history as the first ever femal running mate on a Republican Presidential ticket. At 44, she's only three years younger than Obama and a generation younger than McCain himself, who is 71. She has consistenly shown that she is against abortion and opposes gay marriage. Democrats claim that Palin knows more about catching fish than dealing with foreign policy or national affairs. They've started attacking McCain on his choice, saying that he is taking a "roll of the dice" in choosing an unexperienced person as his VP. In fact, Palin's lack of experience is exactly what worries most people of her ability to be VP.

Palin was born in Feb. 11, 1964, and shortly after moved to Alaska with her parents so that they could teach. She received a bachelor of science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987. The Palins' five children are Track, 19; Bristol 17; Willow 14; Piper, 7, and baby Trig. Track recently enlisted in the army on the 6th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

Featured Artist - WhatTheBuckShow

Today's featured artist is Micheal Buckley from the WhatTheBuckShow. This youtube style news channel is heavily watched and very funny. The style is celebrity humor, which is pretty accurate. His description on his profile reads, "What the Buck is the most popular entertainment show on You Tube. There are several original episodes posted each week covering important topics such as Britney's Beaver and Tyra's Latest Weave. What the Buck has over 200,000 subscribers, 80 million views and is the top rated show on You Tube. He occasionally covers sports and politics but would much rather talk about what happened on The Hills. Bonus episodes posted everyday on BuckHollywood.Com." His website is http://www.buckhollywood.com.



Go to the bottom of the page to see more WhatTheBuckShow's videos.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Featured Artist - Davedays

Today's featured artist on Youtube is Davedays. Davedays has consistently shown his musical abilities with parodies of hit songs such as "7 Things" by Miley Cyrus, and "No One" by Alicia Keys. Dave is 16 and "like to make music, videos, and whatever else I end up posting!" He also writes a bunch of his own original songs, such as "8 Years Apart" and "Youtube Celeb Diss." He's currently one of the most subscribed comedians on Youtube, behind Nigahiga, Smosh, Kevjumba, Fred, and WhatTheBuckShow. He's more of a musician than a comedian, though his attempts to put humor in his songs really works. His website is http://www.davedays.com.



Go to the bottom of the page to watch more of DaveDays' videos.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

In the latest news involving Russia and Georgia, Russian Prime Minister Putin claims, in a state released interview, that the U.S. intentionally provoked to conflict with Georgia for the benefit of one of the presidential candidates. Russian troops who were retreating from the battlefield confiscated a U.S. National Passport on the Georgian side. The passport is said to belong to a Michael Lee White, born in 1967, and issued in Houston, Texas. In his interview, Putin says that "If my suspicions are confirmed, in that case the suspicion arises that somebody in the United States has intentionally created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of U.S. president." It is unclear whether the benefitiary would be McCain or Obama. White House Spokeswoman Dana Perino said that Putin's allegations, made in an interview on CNN, were false, and the U.S. State Department thinks that it was "ludicrous" that Russia did not take responsibility of it's actions in Georgia.

Steve Jobs Dead?

An obtiuary on Apple CEO Steve Jobs was mistakenly published by Bloomberg. The leaked article was published at the gossip blog Gawker. The obituary even contains a list of people to contact for further information. Among the list is Apple Co-founder Steave Wozniak, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and etc. The obituary offers a summary of Jobs' life, and that he "helped make personal computers as easy to use as telephones, changed the way animated films are made, persuaded consumers to tune into digital music, and refashioned the mobile phone." Most major news outlets keep similar obituaries of important people, just in case. That way the obituaries can come out nearly instantly and further details could be added.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

"Burn After Reading" Trailer & Review

This movie features star Brad Pitt, a gym trainer who attempts to blackmail a former spy after finding the CIA spy's memoirs. Pitt has starred in previous movies such as "O Brother, Where Art Thou" and "Mr. And Mrs. Smith" The comedy also features Tilda Swinton and George Clooney.

Opening Date : September 12th, 2008
Rating : R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence
Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Starring : George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Lenny Venito
Trailer : http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809931646/video/9469837

Obama Written Into The History Books

Regardless of what happens in the presidential nomination, Barack Obama has made history as the first Black American to ever be nominated by a major political party. The democratic national convention was consumed in cheers of "Yes We Can," and "Obama", showing their approvement of the unity of the party. Hilary Clinton has done her best to release her delegates in her hard fought battle to former rival Barack Obama. Former president Bill Clinton has done his best to compare and contrast his situation when he was successfully elected with what Obama is in, showing the closeness of the two. The Clinton's have done the best they can to support Obama after the hard battle. Wednesday's speakers will include VP nominee Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton, Sen. John Kerry, Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Evan Bayh, Sen. Harry Reid, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Halloween in August

Hoschton, Georgia, isn't a very common name for a town, but it is about to one of the most famous little towns in the United States. In an attempt to stop people from thinking about the falling economy, antique dealer Robbie Bettis and her husband, Fred, are leading this little town's fall festival, which will start this Monday. For the fall festival, they're doing something out of the ordinary. They are going to break the world record for "Most Scarecrows in One Location." The previous record, set in 2003, is 3,311 scarecrows. This little town of 1,700 is going to attempt to triple the population of the town, surpassing 4,000 scarecrows.

The reason behind this? "We thought if we gave people something fun to do then maybe they will forget about the difficult economy," she said. "Winning the world record is just a byproduct." The town's mayor is even forcing criminals to pitch in. Two men who were recently caught knocking down scarecrows were told that they had two options. Build 25 scarecrows, or face trespassing charges.

I Didn't Do It!

With the Olympics, an interesting topic sprout up. The Chinese government was alledgedly blocking access to Olympics-based websites. This type of censorship has been shown repeatedly by the Chinese government. However, is the United States starting to move towards internet censorship also?

Recently, a blogger named Kevin Cogill was arrested by FBI on Wednesday morning after alledgedly putting up nine leaked songs made by the famous rock band, Guns N' Roses. The songs were from the album, titled "Chinese Democracy" which has been in the making for nearly ten years. It has been repeatedly delayed over and over again. The songs were later removed by Cogill, but apparently too late. FBI tracked the source back to Cogill, and he has been ordered to court. His bail was set at $100,000. It is reported that the leak could cause devastating damage to the profits from the album when it is released. Cogill is being charged with copyfright infringement. However, at least one song can be heard legally. The Guns n' Roses website claims that the song titled "Shackler's Revenge" can be heard in the soon-to-be-released video game Rock Band 2.

Featured Artist - HappySlip

Today's featured Youtube artist is Christine, AKA HappySlip. HappySlip is much like Kevjumba, intertwining serious topics and rants with tons of humor. HappySlip is one of the most subscribed people of all time on Youtube, behind others like Kevjumba, Nigahiga, Smosh, and SXEPhil. HappySlip does tons of videos with KevJumba as well. Though sometimes her videos can get confusing since she plays all the parts, I.E. the aunt, the father, the mother, the sister, and etc. Her website is http://www.happyslip.com.



Go to the bottom of the page to watch more of HappySlip's videos.

The Truth Behind The Moon Hoax

Ever since the first footage of the lunar landing by astronauts, there's been skeptics who believe that the whole moon hoax was staged. Finally, after three years of work, Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters" have put the myth in their aim. In an interview done in 2005, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage were asked what myth they would most like to test. Adam answered that "Jamie and I have done the research, and figured that the only way to end the debate about the 'myth' of the Apollo moon landing is to go there." Though they did not go to the moon, they still decided to test parts of the moon landing myth to finally confirm or bust this myth. The show will be aired on Wednesday, August 27th, at 9:00PM ET/PT.

Since they could not go to the moon, Adam and Jamie settled on testing three parts of the myth: how light interacted with the lunar surface, how the astronauts appeared to move in the low gravity of the Moon and how items behaved in the airless void of space. They were in constant interaction with official astronomers throughout the whole study, so the results should be spectacular. Over the 40 years that the tape has been in existence, hoaxers have picked at the tape constantly, claiming that the tape was made in an Earth-based studio. Adam and Jamie, being the special effects artists that they are, decided that this would be perfect for them. Tune in to the Discovery Channel tonight for the results of their three year long study.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Featured Artist - Fred

Today's featured artist is Fred, "A 6-year-old with anger management issues and an alcoholic mom who's not supposed to be using her video camera to post videos." Fred is really a teenager who got bored and experiments with voice changing technology. He's become a big hit on Youtube and has even been on national TV. With his crush "Judy" and his many videos, he's become one of the most subscribed people of all time on Youtube, behind Smosh and Nigahiga. His website is http://www.myspace.com/FRED.


Go to the bottom of the page to watch more of Fred's videos.

Back!

Hey everybody, I'm back from band camp and the site will be starting to run smoothly soon. I'm attempting to get other writers to help so we'll see. So, to start off the news we'll keep it local.

Officials recently recovered $150 million worth of pot in the hills in Riverside County, California. They were found around Sage, which is south of Hemet. The marijuana camp was spotted in a routine patrol by helicopter. This is just the latest in a series of raids by officials to stop the marijuana processing. Marijuana's harvest season is from the end of August to October. This is not the biggest load they have confiscated. Sherriff officials recently teamed up with the U.S. Forest Service and confiscated nearly $210 million worth of pot. Last week, Forest Service and San Bernandino County narcotics officers took $35 million worth of illicit drug and arrested seven people in San Bernandino National Forest, located just east of Big Bear.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Featured Artist - KevJumba

Today's featured artist is Youtube ranter KevJumba. Kevin is entering college this year and is one of the best vloggers on youtube yet. He's one of the mot subscribed youtubers of all time in fifth place, following youtubers like Fred, Smosh, and Nigahiga. He likes to intertwine his serious topics on his vlogs with a little humor, which is garunteed to make the viewers laugh while still sending out the message. His website is http://www.kevjumba.com.



Go to the bottom of the page to watch more KevJumba's videos.

Medal Update - Day 14 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Men's Pole Vault
Gold - Steve Hooker - Australia
Silver - Evgeny Lukyanenko - Russia
Bronze - Denys Yurchenko - Ukraine


Women's Welterweight (57-67 kg)
Gold - Kyungseon Hwang - South Korea
Silver - Karine Sergerie - Canada
Bronze - Sandra Saric - Croatia
Bronze - Gwladys Patience Epangue - France


Men's Welterweight (68-80 kg)
Gold - Hadi Saei - I. R. Iran
Silver - Mauro Sarmiento - Italy
Bronze - Guo Zhu - China
Bronze - Steven Lopez - United States


Women's 5000 Meters
Gold - Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene - Ethiopia
Silver - Elvan Abeylegesse - Turkey
Bronze - Meseret Defar - Ethiopia


Women's 4 x 100 Meter Relay
Gold - Russia - Russia
Silver - Belgium - Belgium
Bronze - Nigeria - Nigeria


Men's Decathlon
Gold - Bryan Clay - United States
Silver - Andrei Krauchanka - Belarus
Bronze - Leonel Suarez- Cuba


Men's 4 x 100 Meter Relay
Gold - Jamaica - Jamaica
Silver - Trinidad & Tobago - Trinidad & Tobago
Bronze - Japan - Japan


Men's Modern Pentathlon
Gold - Andrey Moiseev - Russia
Silver - Edvinas Krungolcas - Lithuania
Bronze - Andrejus Zadneprovskis - Lithuania

Medal Update - Day 14 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Men's Kayak Singles 1000m
Gold - Tim Brabants - Great Britain
Silver - Eirik Veraas Larsen - Norway
Bronze - Ken Wallace - Australia


Men's Canoe Singles 1000m
Gold - Attila Sandor Vajda - Hungary
Silver - David Cal - Spain
Bronze - Thomas Hall - Canada


Women's Kayak Fours 500m
Gold - Germany - Germany
Silver - Hungary - Hungary
Bronze - Australia - Australia


Men's Kayak Doubles 1000m
Gold - Andreas Ihle, Martin Hollstein - Germany
Silver - Rene Holten Poulsen, Kim Wraae Knudsen - Denmark
Bronze - Antonio Massimiliano Scaduto, Andrea Facchin - Italy


Men's Canoe Doubles 1000m
Gold - Aliaksandr Bahdanovich, Andrei Bahdanovich - Belarus
Silver - Thomasz Wylenzek, Christian Gille - Germany
Bronze - Tamas Kiss, Gyorgy Kozmann - Hungary


Men's Kayak Fours 1000m
Gold - Belarus - Belarus
Silver - Slovakia - Slovakia
Bronze - Germany - Germany


Women's Long Jump
Gold - Maurren Higa Maggi - Brazil
Silver - Tatyana Lebedeva - Russia
Bronze - Blessing Okagbare - Nigeria

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Medal Update - Day 14

The following is a list of the medals won on day 14 of the games, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's BMX
Gold - Anne-Caroline Chausson - France
Silver - Laetitia le Corguille - France
Bronze - Jill Kintner - United States


Men's BMX
Gold - Maris Strombergs - Latvia
Silver - Mike Day - United States
Bronze - Donny Robinson - United States


Men's Beach Volleyball
Gold - Todd Rogers, Philip Dalhausser - United States
Silver - Marcio Araujo, Fabio Magalhaes - Brazil
Bronze - Ricardo Santos, Emanuel Rego - Brazil

EARTH IS GONNA BLOW UP!

By Jerry Xiao

I was recently reading a article on Livescience.com (click title of post) and there was a section saying the top 10 natural disasters the United States could face. Sure the Pacific coast sunami and New York City Hurricane are interesting, but what really tickled my fancies was the number 1 disaster. It read:

Total Destruction of Earth
Okay, so nobody is spending too much time worrying about what to do if the planet is annihilated, but at least one person has seriously pondered whether and when it could happen. From being sucked into a black hole to being blown up by an antimatter reaction, there are scientifically plausible risks of an event that would render this whole list moot.

Now I was so interested by this revelation that I dove deeper into the article (by clicking "learn more" next to it). The list continued by telling readers how this may happen. Please enjoy the following ideas.

Total Existence Failure
Gobbled Up By Stranglets
Sucked Into A Microscopic Black Hole
Blown Up By Matter/Antimatter Reaction
Destroyed By Vacuum Energy Detonation
Sucked Into A GIANT Black Hole
Meticulously And Systematically Deconstructed
Pulverized By Impact With Blunt Instrument (Sounds like a murder scene)
Eaten By von Neumann Machines
Hurled Into The Sun


Okay most of those would need equipment that would not be found anywhere, like the "hurled into the sun" item. LiveScience says that you would need "Earthmoving equipment." Now where would we find that? Or maybe the murder scene one. They say you need "a big heavy rock, something with a bit of a swing to it... perhaps Mars." Thus proving that science CAN be fun! On the message boards below, the following comment seems perfect for the scene, courtesy of eliar. He writes "This really puts the Deathstar from Starwars in perspective --- ie Not possible lol" Right on Eliar. Right on.

News Of The Day

By: Jerry Xiao

Every other day I'm going to be writing about the most weird, akward, exciting, interesting, funny, stupid, or embarrassing news on the web on that day. Most of my titles will be coming from Yahoo! and the occasional Google. I will include a summary and a link to the original article if available. Here goes.


BREAKING NEWS!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080822/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_houses;_ylt=AtfYkebQA68bJueP.dWS4TWs0NUE
Senator and Presidential Nominee John McCain has no idea how many houses he owns! When asked how many houses he owns, McCain told interviewers that "I think — I'll have my staff get to you. It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you." Obama is using this to portray McCain as a Rich and out-of-touch person. McCain later said he had 4 houses, however property records reviewed by AP show that McCain and his wife own at least 8 houses - one ranch and two condominiums in Arizona, three condos in California, and another in Arlington, Virginia.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/gymnastics/news;_ylt=AsmwJ_74kwq_fH4e.tyIZt6VTZd4?slug=ap-gym-underagechinese&prov=ap&type=lgns
The Internation Olympic Committee is finally investigating the age of Chinese Gymnasts He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan, and Yang Yalin. Together, the three girls have won six medals, including two golds. Age falsification has been a big problem, since the FIG has set up these minimums in regards to the young girl's health. Several articles released by state run Xinhua News Agency state that all three girls may be as young as 14. The last time a chinese gymnast was investigated was Yang Yun, who won two bronze medals in Sydney for the 2000 games. She later came clean and said that she was 14 when she competed in the 2000 games. The minimum age of 16 was set by the FIG in 1997.

Medal Update - Day 13 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's 200 Meters
Gold - Veronica Campbell-Brown - Jamaica
Silver - Allyson Felix - United States
Bronze - Kerron Stewart - Jamaica


Women's Featherweight (49-57 kg)
Gold - Sujeong Lim - South Korea
Silver - Azize Tanrikulu - Turkey
Bronze - Martina Zubcic - Croatia
Bronze - Diana Lopez - United States


Women's 10-Meter Platform
Gold - Ruolin Chen - China
Silver - Emilie Heymans - Canada
Bronze - Xin Wang - China


Men's Featherweight (58-68 kg)
Gold - Taejin Son - South Korea
Silver - Mark Lopez - United States
Bronze - Servet Tazegul - Turkey
Bronze - Yu-Chi Sung - Taipei


Men's Triple Jump
Gold - Nelson Evora - Portugal
Silver - Phillips Idowu - Great Britain
Bronze - Leevan Sands - Bahamas


Men's 400-Meters
Gold - LaShawn Merritt - United States
Silver - Jeremy Wariner - United States
Bronze - David Neville - United States


Men's 110-Meter Hurdles
Gold - Dayron Robles - Cuba
Silver - David Payne - United States
Bronze - David Oliver- United States


Individual Jumping (Equestrian)
Gold - Eric Lamaze - Canada
Silver - Rolf-Goran Bengtsson - Sweden
Bronze - Beezie Madden - United States

Medal Update - Day 13 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's Beach Volleyball
Gold - Kerri Walsh, Misty May-Treanor - United States
Silver - Jia Tian, Jie Wang - China
Bronze - Chen Xue, Xi Zhang - China


Tornado - Multihull
Gold - Anton Paz, Fernando Echavarri - Spain
Silver - Darren Bundock, Glenn Ashby - Australia
Bronze - Santiago Lange, Carlos Espinola - Argentina


Men's Star - Keelboat
Gold - Andrew Simpson, Iain Percy - Great Britain
Silver - Bruno Prada, Robert Scheidt - Brazil
Bronze - Fredrik Loof, Anders Ekstrom - Sweden


Men's Freestyle 96-120 kg
Gold - Artur Taymazov - Uzbekistan
Silver - Bakhtiyar Akhmedov - Russia
Bronze - David Musulbes - Slovakia
Bronze - Marid Mutalimov - Kazakhstan


Men's Freestyle 84-96 kg
Gold - Shirvani Muradov - Russia
Silver - Taimuraz Tigiyev - Kazakhstan
Bronze - Khetag Gazyumov - Azerbaijan

Bronze - George Gogshelidze - Georgia

Men's Freestyle 74-84 kg
Gold - Revazi Mindorashvili - Georgia
Silver - Yusup Abdusalomov - Tajikistan
Bronze - Taras Danko - Ukraine
Bronze - Georgy Ketoev - Russia


Women's Javelin Throw
Gold - Barbora Spotakova - Czech Republic
Silver - Maria Abakumova - Russia
Bronze - Christina Obergfoll - Germany


Whoa That's BIG

A new species of fish has been identified by scientists using genetic data. Before, the species, scientifically known as Epinephelus itajara, consisted of both the Atlantic and Pacific ocean species. However, scientists have now distinguished that the two fish are very distinct in genes, and therefore, are not of the same species. The Goliath Grouper, as it is called, can grow up to 6 feet in length and weigh more than 1,000 lbs. Though both the Atlantic and Pacific ocean fish are called Goliath Grouper, the one living in the Pacific is scientifically called Epinephelus quinquefasciatus, versus the one living in the Atlantic, scientifically called Epinephelus itajara. The Atlantic variety is already listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or the IUCN.

These fish go back 3.5 million years ago, when they were once the same species. However, with central America dividing the two oceans, each fish adapted to its changes and started changing. The grouper lives in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and eats octopuses and crabs. It has five rows of teeth in its bottom jaw, allowing it to swallow its prey whole. Due to the scarcity of the fish, Epinephelus quinquefasciatus may also be critically endangered.

Featured Artist - Smosh

Today's featured artist is Smosh, a pair of 20 year olds who make short comedies. They are currently the most subscribed people on youtube of all time, in front of Nigahiga and Universalmusicgroup. Their best videos are probably the Smosh Food Battle of 2006, 2007, and 2008. Their website is http://smosh.com/.



More smosh videos are in the video unit at the bottom of the page.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Jonas Brothers Have Done It Again

Chances are if you have a tween at home, you've heard of the newest disney sensation. No, I'm not talking about Miley Cyrus. I'm talking about the band that her ex is in. The Jonas Brothers, a group of three brothers, have become the next Britney Spears of the world. Their new debut album, "A Little Bit Longer" has taken the spot of #3 on the biggest debut album sales. Not only that, but they have also landed TWO of their albums in the top 10 albums at the same time. The only two other albums to sell more than the Jonas Brothers is Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" which sold more than 1 million in it's first week, and Coldplay's "Viva La Vida, which sold about 720,000 in it's first week. The last group to have two albums in the top 10 at the same time was another teen hit, 'N Sync, way back in 1999.

The Jonas Brothers, featuring three brothers named Kevin, 20, Joe, 18, and Nick, 15, are one of the biggest hits around the world, featured in the KCA's and as well as the MTV Video Music Awards, which will be airing September 7th. They also landed a spot on the front cover of the Rolling Stones magazine. They have come out with three albums, and as well have starred in the disney movie, "Camp Rock" which has it's movie soundtrack at number 8 on the top 10 albums.

Medal Update - Day 13

The following is a list of the medals won on day 13 of the games, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Men's 10 km Marathon
Gold - Maarten van der Weijden - Netherlands
Silver - David Davies - Great Britain
Bronze - Thomas Lurz - Germany


Women's 20-Kilometer Race Walk
Gold - Olga Kaniskina - Russia
Silver - Kjersti Tysse Platzer - Norway
Bronze - Elisa Rigaudo - Italy

Featured Artist - Nigahiga

Today's featured artist features Youtube comedian Ryan Higa or more commonly known as "Nigahiga." Ryan lives in Hilo, Hawaii and is one of the most subscribed people of all time on youtube, behind Smosh. Along with his friends, he always knows how to get laughs. His website is http://www.myspace.com/ryannigahiga.

Medal Update - Day 12

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's 10 km Marathon
Gold - Larisa Ilchenko - Russia
Silver - Keri-Anne Payne- Great Britain
Bronze - Cassandra Patten - Great Britain


Women's RS:X - Wind Surfer
Gold - Jian Yin - China
Silver - Alessandra Sensini - Italy
Bronze - Bryony Shaw - Great Britain


Men's RS:X - WindSurfer
Gold - Tom Ashley - New Zealand
Silver - Julien Bontemps - France
Bronze - Shahar Zubari - Israel


Women's Duet
Gold - Anastasia Ermakova, Anastasia Davydova - Russia
Silver - Gemma Mengual, Andrea Fuentes - Spain
Bronze - Saho Harada, Emiko Suzuki - Japan


Men's Freestyle 66-74 kg
Gold - Buvaysa Saytiev - Russia
Silver - Soslan Tigiev - Uzbekistan
Bronze - Murad Gaidarov - Belarus
Bronze - Kiril Terziev - Bulgaria


Men's Freestyle 60-66 kg
Gold - Ramazan Sahin - Turkey
Silver - Andriy Stadnik- Ukraine
Bronze - Sushil Kumar - India
Bronze - Otar Tushishvili - Georgia


Women's Hammer Throw
Gold - Aksana Miankova - Belarus
Silver - Yipsi Moreno - Cuba
Bronze - Wenxiu Zhang - China


Men's 200 Meters
Gold - Usain Bolt - Jamaica
Silver - Shawn Crawford - United States
Bronze - Walter Dix - United States


Women's 400-Meter Hurdles
Gold - Melaine Walker - Jamaica
Silver - Sheena Tosta - United States
Bronze - Tasha Danvers - Great Britain

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Banks In Trouble...

By Jerry Xiao

Former IMF chief economist Kenneth Rogoff said that the worst of the United States financial crisis is stil yet to come. Recently, many middle sized banks have been failing, but Rogoff predicts that the next one to fail will be a big one, one of the biggest banks, even possibly Fannie Mac and Fannie Mae. Rogoff was the IMF (International Monetary Fund) chief economist from 2001 to 2004. He is also a Harvard Economics Professor. Rogoff criticized the move by the U.S. Treasury when it cut interest rates from 3.25 percent to 2 percent. He is quoted saying, "Cutting interest rates is going to lead to a lot of inflation in the next few years in the United States."

U.S. Dollar Weaking! Drugees Starting To Feel The Pressure!

By Jerry Xiao

John Daniel Miller III, a 55-year old man who lives in Tyler, Texas, was fined and jailed for growing pot on his rural farm. Police have declined to state the status of his case. However, when asked why he did it, he responded by telling deputies that he knew they were gonna come "sooner or later." He also claimed that he had decided to grow pot because the cost of the illegal substance was growing.

Granny Power!

By Jerry Xiao

A 85 year-old woman in Springhill Township, Pennsylvania, stopped an attempted burglary in her house when she forced the burglar to call 911. Leda Smith started keeping a .22 caliber handgun in her bedroom when her neighbor's house was robbed a few weeks ago. Smith took the gun and aimed it at the 17 year olf burglar, forcing him to call 911. She even kept watch while the police were on their way. The boy is going to be chaged with attempted burglary in juvenile court. When asked how she felt about this, she said "It was exciting. I just hope I broke up the burglary ring because they have been hitting a lot of places around here."

Note: Springhill is 45 miles south of Pittsburg.

LA Hospitals Fined

A recent report states that 18 hospitals in California were fined for violating state health codes. They provided poor care and hygiene, which sometimes led to deaths of the patients. The violations tend from te California Department of Public Health. Each hospital is to pay $25,000. These 18 are just the recent in a few finings of more than 40 different hospitals in California. Some of the violations include, but are not limited to: surgical instruments left inside patients after operation, failure of inserting a catherer properly, failure to turn on a ventilator when a patient was being transferred, and medication overdose.

Director of the California Department of Public Health say that these fines are intended, "to improve the overall quality of care in California."

Featured Artist - SxePhil

Today's artist features Phillip DeFranco, a wannabe "newscaster" who "takes the news, and makes it what he wants it to be." He does a webcast every monday, wednesday, and friday. His website is http://www.phillyd.tv/ .

Medal Update - Day 11 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Men's Over 105 kg
Gold - Matthias Steiner - Germany
Silver - Evgeny Chigishev - Russia
Bronze - Viktors Scerbatihs - Latvia


Men's High Jump
Gold - Andrey Silnov - Russian
Silver - Germaine Mason - Great Britain
Bronze - Yaroslav Rybakov - Russia


Individual Dressage
Gold - Anky van Grunsven - Netherlands
Silver - Isabell Werth - Germany
Bronze - Heike Kemmer - Germany


Men's Horizontal Bar
Gold - Kai Zou - China
Silver - Jonathan Horton - United States
Bronze - Fabian Hambuchen - Germany


Men's Individual
Gold - Chunlong Lu - China
Silver - Jason Burnett - Canada
Bronze - Dong Dong - China


Men's 3-Meter Springboard
Gold - Chong He - China
Silver - Alexandre Despatie - Canada
Bronze - Kai Qin - China


Men's Discus Throw
Gold - Gerd Kanter - Estonia
Silver - Piotr Malachowski -Poland
Bronze - Virgilijus Alekna - Lithuania


Women's 400 Meters
Gold - Christine Ohuruogu - Great Britain
Silver - Shericka Williams - Jamaica
Bronze - Sanya Richards - United States


Women's 100-Meter Hurdles
Gold - Dawn Harper - United States
Silver - Sally Mclellan - Australia
Bronze - Priscilla Lopes-Schliep - Canada


Men's 1500 Meters
Gold - Rasheed Ramzi - Bahrain
Silver - Asbel Kipruto Kiprop - Kenya
Bronze - Nick Willis - New Zealand

Medal Update - Day 11

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Men's Triathalon
Gold - Jan Frodeno - Germany
Silver - Simon Whitfield - Canada
Bronze - Bevan Docherty - New Zealand


Men's Laser - One-Person Dinghy
Gold - Paul Goodison - Great Britain
Silver - Vasilij Zbogar - Slovakia
Bronze - Diego Romero - Italy


Women's Laser Radial - One-Person Dinghy
Gold - Anna Tunnicliffe - United States
Silver - Gintare Volungeviciute - Lithunia
Bronze - Lijia Xu - China


Men's Freestyle 55-60 kg
Gold - Mavlet Batirov - Russia
Silver - Vasyl Fedoryshyn - Ukraine
Bronze - Seyedmorad Mohammadi - Iran
Bronze - Kenichi Yumoto - Japan


Men's Freestyle Under 55 kg
Gold - Henry Cejudo - United States
Silver - Tomohiro Matsunaga - Japan
Bronze - Besik Kudukhov - Russia
Bronze - Radoslav Velikov - Bulgaria


Men's Parallel Bars
Gold - Xiaopeng Li - China
Silver - Wonchul Yoo - South Korea
Bronze - Anton Fokin - Uzbekistan


Women's Sprint
Gold - Victoria Pendleton - Great Britain
Silver - Anna Meares - Australia
Bronze - Shuang Guo - China


Women's Balance Beam
Gold - Shawn Johnson - United States
Silver - Nastia Liukin - United States
Bronze - Fei Cheng - China


Men's Sprint Cycling
Gold - Chris Hoy - Great Britain
Silver - Jason Kenny - Great Britain
Bronze - Mickael Bourgain - France

Monday, August 18, 2008

News Of The Day

By: Jerry Xiao

Every other day I'm going to be writing about the most weird, akward, exciting, interesting, funny, stupid, or embarrassing news on the web on that day. Most of my titles will be coming from Yahoo! and the occasional Google. I will include a summary and a link to the original article if available. Here goes.

Whoa! Cool Auto...chair?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080818/ap_on_fe_st/odd_speeding_chair;_ylt=AslJ_LN21hDOF70_QXSB9gSs0NUE

German Police Officers in Gross-Zimmern took away a motorized chair today. The chair, invented by two 17-year olds, had a lawnmower engine, bicycle brake, and a metal frame. No news as to how fast it goes.

Wait A Minute... Who Are You?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080818/ap_on_fe_st/odd_wrong_suspect;_ylt=Ar1ddls.3MU2Si9yCnOCj2qs0NUE

A Kentucky Sheriff drove 4,100 miles to pick up a fugitive wanted for fleeing police and drunken driving. The fugitive, named Joe Orus, was being held in Tehachapi, California, when police noticed he had an outstanding warrant. California Police officers then called Kentucky sheriff Joe Gaddie to come pick him up. However, when Gaddie got back to Kentucky, He noticed a mistake. The man was not Joe Orus. In fact, he had stolen Joe Orus' identity.

LAX In Trouble

LAX has suffered a terrible year in domestic flights to and from Los Angeles International in the past years due to high fuel costs. However, international flights are just starting to be affected. Foreign Airlines are cutting back on the flights to LAX. The cuts by the foreign flights surprise LAX officials and economists, who thought that the internatioal flights wouldn't be affected by economy. In fact, LAX officials used the international flights as ways to even out the drops in domestic flights. The recent upgrades to the Tom Bradley International terminal in LAX are not going to be affected for now, though LAX officials may have to rethink spending strategy soon, such as a hiring freeze. The cuts are supposed to bring fewer non-stop flights overseas, higher fares, and more crowded planes.

Featured Video - Road To Redemption

Today's video features a documentary on the "Redeem Team" in the training sessions before the Beijing Olympic Ceremony. This is Episode one Part one of the series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5pXbOlcRA4&feature=PlayList&p=1D1723D68AA08366&index=0&playnext=1

What Do You Think?

By Jerry Xiao

What do you think about a 4 day school week? In fact, a 4 day school week isn't that rare around the nation anymore. Because of the ailing U.S. economy and the soaring prices for fuel, schools around the nation are cutting back on costs in anyway possible. By reducing the school wek to 4 days, school do not have to pay that extra day for the school buses, which could save $50,000 a year. However, to compensate for the missing day, schools are adding 10 minutes to the class times on the other four days. Some schools are even cutting back on electives, saving them an average of $65,000 a year. Montgomery County in Maryland, is cutting back funds to its award winning mathematics club.

Lenelle Cruse, the state PTA president, said that the state budget for education was so tight, that the schools actually had a toilet paper drive. Many schools have stopped ordering new textbooks, making use of the old ones and rebinding ones themselves.

And schools aren't the only people cutting back on costs for education. Many parents are starting to shop conservatively, making their children reuse their backpacks and materials from the year before. Parents were asked to carpool together to the athletic meetings in Paw Paw, Michigan.

If the U.S. economy doesn't pull up soon, who knows how it will affect the rest of the people in the nation.

Medal Update - Day 10 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's Discus Throwing
Gold - Stephanie Brown Trafton - United States
Silver - Yarelys Barrios - Cuba
Bronze - Olena Antonova - Ukraine


Women's Pole Vault
Gold - Elena Isinbaeva - Russia
Silver - Jennifer Stuczynski - United States
Bronze - Svetlana Feofanova - Russia


Men's Team Table Tenis
Gold - China - China
Silver - Germany - Germany
Bronze - South Korea - South Korea


Men's Horse Vault
Gold - Leszek Blanik - Poland
Silver - Thomas Bouhail - France
Bronze - Anton Golotsutskov - Russia


Men's Long Jump
Gold - Irving Jahir Saladino Aranda - Panama
Silver - Khotso Mokoena - South Africa
Bronze - Ibrahim Camejo - Cuba


Women's Individual
Gold - Wenna He - China
Silver - Karen Cockburn - Canada
Bronze - Ekaterina Khilko - Uzbekistan


Men's 3000-Meter Steeplechase
Gold - Brimin Kipruto - Kenya
Silver - Mahiedine Mekhissi Benabbad - France
Bronze - Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong - Kenya


Women's 800 Meters
Gold - Pamela Jelimo - Kenya
Silver - Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei - Kenya
Bronze - Hasna Benhassi - Morocco


Men's 400-Meter Hurdles
Gold - Angelo Taylor - United States
Silver - Kerron Clement - United States
Bronze - Bershawn Jackson - United States


Team Jumping, Equestrian
Gold - United States - United States
Silver - Canada - Canada
Bronze - Norway - Norway

Medal Update - Day 10 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Men's 470 - Two-Person Dinghy
Gold - Malcolm Page, Nathan Wilmot - Australia
Silver - Joe Glanfield, Nick Rogers - Great Britain
Bronze - Nicolas Charbonnier, Olivier Bausset - France


Women's 470 - Two-Person Dinghy
Gold - Elise Rechichi, Tessa Parkinson - Australia
Silver - Lobke Berkhout, Marcelien de Koning - Netherlands
Bronze - Isabel Swan, Fernanda Oliveira - Brazil


Women's Points Race
Gold - Marianne Vos - Netherlands
Silver - Yoanka Gonzalez - Cuba
Bronze - Leire Olaverria - Spain


Men's Rings
Gold - Yibing Chen - China
Silver - Wei Yang - China
Bronze - Oleksandr Vorobiov - Ukraine


Men's Team Pursuit
Gold - Great Britain - Great Britain
Silver - Denmark - Denmark
Bronze - New Zealand - New Zealand


Women's Uneven Parallel Bars
Gold - Kexin He - China
Silver - Nastia Liukin - United States
Bronze - Yilin Yang - China


Men's 94-105 kg
Gold - Andrei Aramnau - Belarus
Silver - Dmitriy Klokov - Russia
Bronze - Dmitry Lapikov - Russia

Sunday, August 17, 2008

News Of The Day

By: Jerry Xiao


Every other day I'm going to be writing about the most weird, akward, exciting, interesting, funny, stupid, or embarrassing news on the web on that day. Most of my titles will be coming from Yahoo! and the occasional Google. I will include a summary and a link to the original article if available. Here goes.


Hopes Of A Nation http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news;_ylt=AoIR3fstGQU.6CbY5E9HKK6VTZd4?slug=ap-ath-trackandfield-heats&prov=ap&type=lgns

Liu Xiang has become much of the face of the Beijing Olympics as Houston Rockets star Yao Ming. He's the defending champ in the 110-Meter Hurdles, and possibly the best and only star China has in Track and Field. There's no doubt that Liu Xiang is the greatest star in China, following behind Yao Ming. However, with the hopes of a nation of 1.3 billion, Liu Xiang was unable to compete in the 110-Meter Hurdles. In one of the qualifying rounds, he limped out of the blocks, before a false start was called. But, instead of go back to the blocks, Liu Xiang walked out of the way and sat down next to a concrete wall, no longer having that seemingly huge smile seen on the posters anymore. He withdrew because of a foot injury that has been bothering him for the last six or seven years.


Two time Olympic silver medalist Terrence Trammel of the United States also limped off the track after his second hurdle a few hours later. He withdrew because of an injured left leg.

Medal Update - Day 10

The following is a list of the medals won on day 10 of the games, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's Triathlon
Gold - Emma Snowsill - Australia
Silver - Vanessa Fernandes - Portugal
Bronze - Emma Moffatt - Australia

Box Office Numbers August 17th

1. "Tropic Thunder," $26 million.
2. "The Dark Knight," $16.8 million.
3. "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," $15.5 million.
4. "Mirrors," $11.1 million.
5. "Pineapple Express," $10 million.
6. "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," $8.6 million.
7. "Mamma Mia!", $6.5 million.
8. "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," $5.9 million.
9. "Step Brothers," $5 million.
10. "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," $3.7 million.

Did Phelps Win The Coveted 8th Medal?

Michael Phelps has become a household name all over the nation, attempting to do the impossible. Surviving 17 swims throughout the course of 9 days, Phelps has done the seemingly impossible. Phelps, alongside Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hensen, and Jason Lezak, won the 4 x 100 meter medley relay. Phelps Swam the butterfly leg of the relay, giving the United States a formidable lead, in which Lezak was able to hold onto. The United States has never lost the 4 x 100 meter medley relay in the history of the olympics since the United States started competing in the venue. Australia came in second, followed by China.

Mark Spitz's record has been the gold standard for 36 years, winning a total of 7 gold medals in one games. Phelps has finally beat that record, gaining an astounding 8 gold medals. When asked what he will remember about these games, he replied, "the whole thing." Phelps has swam into the history books, with a standard that will possibly be alive for years and years to come. Phelps has already become the most decorated athlete, with 14 gold medals. There's no telling when the next Phelps will gain the admiration of the world. Even at his young age, Phelps will probably have at least another games in his career. He could easily retire with 20+ golds. He's already won his way into the hearts of Americans all over the world. On the medal stands, Phelps did one more thing that he'd never done before. He broke down and cried. He's finally done the seemingly impossible, and he's beaten the odds. He's overcome the obstacles presented to him by the individual swimmers who all wanted to say that they beat the great Michael Phelps. He's presented some dramatic races, and changed the sport of swimming. Phelps has become the face of the American's in these games. He's surpassed all the other athletes in any way possible. When other countries think of America in these games, they'll no longer first think about Kobe Bryant, or Lebron James, or Shawn Johnson. They'll be thinking of the greatest athlete to set foot on the face of this Earth. They'll be thinking of Michael Phelps.

Possibly the most important quote of these games is,"When someone says you can’t do something, it shows that anything is possible. When you put your mind to a certain thing, it can happen. The biggest thing is nothing is impossible. All it takes is an imagination."

Medal Update - Day 9 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Men's Hammer Throw
Gold - Primoz Kozmus - Slovakia
Silver - Vadim Devyatovskiy - Belarus
Bronze - Ivan Tsikhan - Belarus


Mixed Doubles (Badminton)
Gold - Hyojung Lee, Yongdae Lee - South Korea
Silver - Nova Widianto, Liliyana - Indonesia
Bronze - Yang Yu, Hanbin He - China


Men's Pommel Horse
Gold - Qin Xiao - China
Silver - Filip Ude - Croatia
Bronze - Louis Smith - Great Britain


Women's Floor Excercise
Gold - Sandra Izbasa - Romania
Silver Shawn Johnson - United States
Bronze Nastia Liukin - United States


Women's 3-Meter Springboard
Gold - Jingjing Guo - China
Silver - Julia Pakhalina - Russia
Bronze - Minxia Wu - China


Men's Singles (Badminton)
Gold - Dan Lin - China
Silver - Chong Wei Lee - Malaysia
Bronze - Jin Chen - China


Women's 3000-Meter Steeplechase
Gold - Gulnara Galkina-Samitova - Russia
Silver - Eunice Jepkorir Kertich - Kenya
Bronze - Ekaterina Volkova - Russia


Women's Triple Jump
Gold - Francoise Mbango Etone - Cameroon
Silver - Tatiana Lebedeva - Russia
Bronze - Chrysopigi Devetzi - Greece


Women's 100-Meters
Gold - Shelly-Ann Frazer - Jamaica
Silver - Kerron Stewart - Jamaica
Bronze - Sherone Simpson - Jamaica


Men's 10000 Meters
Gold - Kenenisa Bekele Beyecha - Ethiopia
Silver - Seleshi Sihine Mekuria - Ethiopia
Bronze - Micah Kipkemboi - Kenya

Medal Update - Day 9 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's Quadruple Sculls Without Coxwain
Gold - China - China
Silver - Great Britain - Great Britain
Bronze - Germany - Germany


Men's Quadruple Sculls Without Coxwain
Gold - Poland - Poland
Silver - Italy - Italy
Bronze - France - France


Women's Individual Pursuit
Gold - Rebecca Romero - Great Britain
Silver - Wendy Houvenaghel - Great Britain
Bronze - Lesya Kalitovska - Ukraine


Women's Eight With Coxwain
Gold - United States - United States
Silver - Netherlands - Netherlands
Bronze - Romania - Romania


Men's Eight with Coxwain
Gold - Canada - Canada
Silver - Great Britain - Great Britain
Bronze - United States - United States


Men's Floor Excercise
Gold - Kai Zou - China
Silver - Gervasio Deferr - Spain
Bronze - Anton Golotsutskov - Russia


Women's Horse Vault
Gold - Un Jong Hong - North Korea
Silver - Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina - Germany
Bronze - Fei Cheng - China


Men's 85-94 kg
Gold - Ilya Ilin - Kazakhstan
Silver - Szymon Kolecki - Poland
Bronze - Khadzhimurat Akkaev - Russia


Men's Team Sabre
Gold - France - France
Silver - United States - United States
Bronze - Italy - Italy



Saturday, August 16, 2008

Medal Update - Day 9

The following is a list of the medals won on day 9 of the games, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's Shot Put
Gold - Valerie Vili - New Zealand
Silver - Natallia Mikhnevich - Belarus
Bronze - Nadzeya Ostapchuk - Belarus


Men's Doubles
Gold - Markis Kido, Hendra Setiawan - Indonesia
Silver - Haifeng Fu, Yun Cai - China
Bronze - Jiman Hwang, Jaejin Lee - South Korea


Men's 100 Meters
Gold - Usain Bolt - Jamaica
Silver - Richard Thompson - Trinidad
Bronze - Walter Dix - United States


Women's Marathon
Gold - Constantina Tomescu Dita - Romania
Silver - Wincatherine Nyambura Ndereba - Kenya
Bronze - Chunxiu Zhou - China


Women's 50-Meter Freestyle
Gold - Britta Steffen - Germany
Silver - Dara Torres - United States
Bronze - Cate Campbell - Australia


Men's 1500-Meter Freestyle
Gold - Oussama Mellouli - TUN
Silver - Grant Hackett - Australia
Bronze - Ryan Cochrane - Canada


Women's 4 x 100-Meter Medley Relay
Gold - Australia - Australia
Silver - United States - United States
Bronze - China - China


Men's 1 x 100-Meter Medley Relay
Gold - United States - United States
Silver - Australia - Australia
Bronze - Japan - Japan

Medal Update - Day 8 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Men's Points Race
Gold - Juan Llaneras - Spain
Silver - Roger Kluge - Germany
Bronze - Chris Newton - Great Britain


Men's Individual Pursuit
Gold - Bradley Wiggins - Great Britain
Silver - Hayden Roulston - New Zealand
Bronze - Steven Burke - Great Britain


Women's Over 75 kg
Gold - Miran Jang - South Korea
Silver - Olha Korobka - Ukraine
Bronze - Mariya Grabovetskaya - Kazakhstan


Men's Keirin
Gold - Chris Hoy - Great Britain
Silver - Ross Edgar - Great Britain
Bronze - Kiyofumi Nagai - Japan


Women's Team Foil
Gold - Russia - Russia
Silver - United States - United States
Bronze - Italy - Italy

Medal Update - Day 8 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's Singles
Gold - Ning Zhang - China
Silver - Xingfang Xie - China
Bronze - Maria Kristin Yulianti - Indonesia

Men's Skeet (125 Targets)
Gold - Vincent Hancock - United States
Silver - Tore Brovold - Norway
Bronze - Anthony Terras - France

Women's Single Sculls
Gold - Rumyana Neykova - Bulgaria
Silver - Michelle Guerette - United States
Bronze - Ekaterina Karsten - Belarus

Men's Single Sculls
Gold - Olaf Tufte - Norway
Silver - Ondrej Synek - Czech Republic
Bronze - Mahe Drysdale - New Zealand

Women's Pair Without Coxwain
Gold - Georgeta Andrunache, Viorica Susanu - Romanic
Silver - You Wu, Yulan Gao - China
Bronze - Yuliya Bichyk, Natallia Helakh - Belarus

Women's Freestyle 48-55 kg
Gold - Saori Yoshida - Japan
Silver - Li Xu - China
Bronze - Tonya Verbeek - Canada
Bronze - Jackeline Renteria - Colombia

Men's Pair Without Coxwain
Gold - Drew Ginn, Duncan Free - Australia
Silver - David Calder, Scott Frandsen - Canada
Bronze - Nathan Twaddle, George Bridgewater - New Zealand

Friday, August 15, 2008

Talk About Stupid...

Tell me. What would you do if a lottery winner offered you $600,000. Would you believe that a florida jackpot winner took home $6 million and took $600,000 out of that and offered it to his church. Would you believe that the church REFUSED to take it?! The man was hoping to follow the tenth commandment and give 10% his earnings to his church, but for some reason that the churh has yet to tell, they refused to take it. Other churches who heard the story were also shocked. Pastor Dr. Lorenzo Hall was quoted saying, "I’m against the lottery, but if one of my members won. . . . I wish and hope he would give 10 percent to the church.

Medal Update - Day 8

The following is a list of the medals won on day 8 of the games, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Men's 20-Kilometer Race Walk
Gold - Valeriy Borchin - Russia
Silver - Jefferson Perez - Ecuador
Bronze - Jared Tallent - Australia


Women's 200-Meter Backstroke
Gold - Kirsty Coventry - Zimbabwe
Silver - Margaret Hoelzer - United States
Bronze - Reiko Nakamura - Japan


Men's 100-Meter Butterfly
Gold - Michael Phelps - United States
Silver - Milorad Cavic - Serbia
Bronze - Andrew Lauterstein - Australia


Women's 800-Meter Freestyle
Gold - Rebecca Adlington - Great Britain
Silver - Alessia Filippi - Italy
Bronze - Lotte Friis -Denmark


Men's 50-Meter Freestyle
Gold - Cesar Cielo Filho - Brazil
Silver - Amaury Leveaux - France
Bronze - Alain Bernard - France


Men's 25-Meter Rapid Fire Pistol (60 Shots)
Gold - Oleksandr Petriv - Ukraine
Silver - Ralf Schumann - Germany
Bronze - Christian Reitz - Germany

Into History...

Swimming into to the history books. That's what Michael Phelps did today. Phelps has been the talk of the world since the beggining of the olympics, ever since news broke out that he is attempting to break world legend Mark Spitz's record of 7 gold medals in a single games. Since the beggining of the games, Phelps has consistently giving everything he has, setting 6 world records in his 7 swims so far. He swam into the record books alongside Mark Spitz today, when he beat out Milarod Cavic. The swim was nearly the end of Phelp's dream of the impossible, but Phelp just barely beat Cavic by a hundreth of a second. The only world record he hasn't set is for today's 100-Meter Butterfly, in which he had a time of 50.58 seconds. He's been hailed as the greatest athlete of the world, and he greatest racer of all-time. Phelps has already won the most gold medals ever by a single athlete, with a record of 13, breaking the previous record of 9. The 100-Meter Butterfly was Phelp's last indivdual race. Phelps will be taking the butterfly leg of the 400 relay, a race in which the United States was disqualified last time because of a false start. Huge pressure is on Phelps and especially his teammates, who have all said that they would hate to be the one that prevented Phelps from becoming the greatest of the greatest. Phelps has already entered the heart of millions of Americans, showing true pride in the pool. Phelps nearly lost the race, with the referees having to slow the reply by to one frame every 10-thousandth second. The replay was seen after dozens of protests by the Serbians. Cavic's final time was 50.59. Phelps has already said that the Australian team might be tough competition for his 8th gold. But will Phelps be able to shine in his moment once again? Will he enter the immortal halls of fame? If he does win the last medal, he will become an even greater legend than he already is. But will the pressure be too much for the swimmer from Baltimore? We'll have to see tommorow, on the last day of the swimming events of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.

In Good Spirits

In celebration of the games and the happiness and joy all over the world, here's a few articles that will really make you smile.

Helping out your peers
Out of respect to the billionare Ed McMahon, who recently has been facing financial problems including the foreclosure of his 7000 square foot, six-bedroom, five-bathroom house, billionaire and financial tycoon Donald Trump has said that he will buy McMahon's home and lease it back to him. The exact amount that Trump is paying hasn't been disclosed yet. Trump doesn't know McMahon personally, but acted out of compassion and said that it "would be an honor" to help.

First Gold Medal
Thousands of mongolians had reason to celebrate last night, seeing as how it was the first gold medal for the country ever. The medal was won by judo fighter Tuvshinbayar Naidan, who beat out Kazakhstan's Askhat Zhitkeyev. Mongolia has won silvers and bronze in other venues such as wrestling, boxing, judo, and shooting, but they have never won a gold medal.

Medal Update - Day 7 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Men's Team Sprint (Cycling)
Gold - Jason Kenny, Chris Hoy, Jamie Staff - Great Britain
Silver - Kevin Sireau, Gregory Bauge, Arnaud Tournant - France
Bronze - Maximilian Levy, Rene Enders, Stefan Nimke - Germany


Men's 77-85 kg
Gold - Yong Lu - China
Silver - Andrei Rybakou - Belarus
Bronze - Tigran Varban Martirosyan - Armenia


Men's Team Epee
Gold - France - France
Silver - Poland - Poland
Bronze - Italy - Italy


Men's Shot Put
Gold - Tomasz Majewski - Poland
Silver - Christian Cantwell - United States
Bronze - Andrei Mikhnevich - Belarus


Women's 10000 Meters
Gold - Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene - Ethiopia
Silver - Elvan Abeylegesse - Turkey
Bronze - Shalane Flanagan - United States

Medal Update - Day 7 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's 69-75 kg
Gold - Lei Cao - China
Silver - Alla Vazhenina - Kazakhstan
Bronze - Nadezda Evstyukhina - Russia

Women's Kayak Single
Gold - Elena Kaliska - Slovakia
Silver - Jacqueline Lawrence - Australia
Bronze - Violetta Oblinger Peters - Austria

Men's Individual (70 Meter) Archery
Gold - Viktor Ruban - Ukraine
Silver - Kyungmo Park - South Korea
Bronze - Bair Badenov - Russia

Women's Heavyweight (Over 78 kg)
Gold - Wen Tong - China
Silver - Maki Tsukada - Japan
Bronze - Lucija Polavder - Slovenia
Bronze - Idalys Ortiz - Cuba

Men's Heavyweight (Over 100 kg)
Gold - Satoshi Ishii - Japan
Silver - Abdullo Tangriev - Uzbekistan
Bronze - Oscar Brayson - Cuba
Bronze - Teddy Riner - France