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New research out of the U.K. has found that, based on observations of a star with wave behavior that is similar to solar flares, the sun has the potential to release a superflare which contains the energy equivalent to a billion megaton bombs. | 5 | 98,100 | news |
TORONTO Unless he participates in February's All-Star Weekend festivities, Kobe Bryant has enjoyed his final NBA moment on Canadian soil. Bryant's farewell tour rolled through Toronto on Monday when the Lakers suffered a 102-93 loss to the Raptors at Air Canada Centre. BOX SCORE: RAPTORS 102, LAKERS 93 The unmistakable colors of Lakers jerseys filled the arena starting several hours before tip-off. Those fans came to witness Bryant, who recently announced his retirement for the end of the season, make his final regular season visit north of the border. An overwhelming majority of the 20,163 fans in attendance offered loud chants of "Kobe! Kobe!" before the game even started. Those chants extended throughout the action and past the final horn, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to will Bryant to a winning performance. Battling illness, Bryant had 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting (his first 50% shooting game of the season) against the team he famously dropped 81 points on in Los Angeles in January 2006. "You just try to figure your way through the challenge. You try to learn from it and do better and try to figure out this puzzle," Bryant told USA TODAY Sports after the game. "It's tough, because it's not like we're a championship contender or anything like that, but you still have to try to go out there and do what you have to do. I have to take responsibility to try to do better." Bryant has produced several memorable games against the Raptors during his historic career. He's scored 40 or more points against the team on five separate occasions, but his rapid decline in scoring production kept him far from that benchmark Monday. After the game, Bryant reflected on why the 81-point game against the Raptors is so dear to his heart. "I think the game was more special not just from a basketball standpoint, but from a family standpoint," Bryant said. "My grandfather's birthday, who passed away recently. My grandmother, who doesn't like coming to the games because it makes her so nervous, she flew out to L.A. to watch me play. From a personal standpoint that game holds a tremendous amount of value even besides what took place on the court." As has become routine during a season that has the Lakers in the basement of the Western Conference standings, Bryant's final moment against the team he delivered his greatest single-game performance was no fairy tale. "I know it's hard on him because I know what type of competitor he is, but I also think at this point in his career and his life he's pretty much accepted the fact this is the end of the road," Lakers coach Byron Scott said prior to the game. "The one thing I see from him now on the day-to-day basis is he's very much at peace with his decision to retire after this season is over. So I think he's trying to enjoy it as much as possible. "He's one of those guys where I don't think he left any stone unturned. He got everything he could possibly get out of his body for 20 years in this league and I think he's left his heart on the basketball court." Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry took a firm grip on the action early, with his 19 first-half points putting the Raptors ahead 52-42 at halftime. He finished with 27. The Lakers pushed back throughout the second half, even tying the game multiple times in the fourth quarter, but ultimately they were unable to get over the hump and take a lead. The Raptors' ability to prevent a Lakers comeback was in large part due to the second-half scoring of Terrance Ross (22 points) and the low-post work of Bismack Biyombo (15 points, 13 rebounds). Although it marked the Lakers' 10th defeat in the past 11 games, their ability to keep the contest relatively close from beginning to end was a sign of improvement that arguably stemmed from the decision to start Lou Williams and Larry Nance Jr. in place of D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle. The shakeup was fruitless in the end, though, because the Lakers could not deliver key stops down the stretch to keep the game within reach. Although it was Bryant's most efficient shooting performance this year, it was another unsuccessful performance by the Lakers. Bryant ends his career against the Raptors with a 24-9 record including 10-6 in Toronto. The future Hall of Fame inductee was cheered loudly during his final substitution off the court with 23 seconds remaining, which is a sign of appreciation from fans that Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan said was more than deserved. "That man played at the highest level of basketball for 18 years. You've got to give him credit no matter how he goes out," DeRozan said. "He could average one point for the rest of the year. That don't take away from him being one of the greatest players of all time." | 1 | 98,101 | sports |
No. 9 Oklahoma crushed No. 7 Villanova 78-55 Monday. Isaiah Cousins led the Sooners with 19 points and 10 assists | 1 | 98,102 | sports |
The Spurs easily beat the 76ers 119-68 on Monday. LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 26 points after tallying 20 and nine in the first half. Boban Marjanovic scored a career-high 18 points. | 1 | 98,103 | sports |
Howard Kurtz weighs in | 5 | 98,104 | news |
HONOLULU (AP) -- The answer for No. 7 Oklahoma in facing No. 9 Villanova came from afar. The Sooners made a season-high 14 3-pointers, including four apiece from senior guards Isaiah Cousins and Buddy Hield, to cruise to a 78-55 victory over the Wildcats on Monday in the Pearl Harbor Invitational. BOX SCORE: OKLAHOMA 78, VILLANOVA 55 Cousins scored 19 points and Hield added 18 for Oklahoma (6-0), which never trailed. Half of the Sooners field goals were 3-pointers, including 8 of 12 from behind the arc in the second half. "Villanova is an experienced team, too, but our coaches got us real prepared for this game," said Hield, who was named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team. "We watched a lot of film and we studied them real well and they had different schemes, but we came out and executed. We came out with a great team win." our players scored in double figures for Oklahoma. Ryan Spangler had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Dinjiyl Walker, a reserve, made three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points in 18 minutes. Jordan Woodward added 10 points for the Sooners. "That's what we do," Hield said. "Coach always preaches moving the basketball and we can't be selfish. That's how we make plays for each other and we've got to be an unselfish team and everybody is going to be able to get shots up. Isaiah did a great job facilitating the ball. "He was great out there. They preach it every day in practice and it paid off today for us." Cousins made all four of his 3-point attempts and Hield went 4 of 9. Josh Hart, Phil Booth and Ryan Arcidiacono scored 10 points each for the Wildcats (7-1), who shot 32 percent from the field, including going 4 of 32 on 3-point attempts. "We have not started well any game this season and to do it against a team like that and to try to come from behind against a team like that, you're going to be in trouble and that's what happened," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. Cousins was 7 of 14 from the field and had 10 assists. He scored 11 points in the second half. Hield had 14 points by halftime. The Sooners opened the game by making their first six field goals -- all 3-pointers. Walker's basket with 12 minutes left in the first half gave the Sooners a 22-10 lead. During an Oklahoma scoreless stretch of nearly 6 minutes later in the first half, Villanova went on an 11-0 run, capped by two free throws by Hart, to pull even at 26. The Sooners then scored the final six points of the half. "We made some shots early there, which gave us some cushion and then they made the run to tie and then we widened it back out," Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. "All that is good, we learn from making shots early and then when they tie we have to respond, which we did, so that was good." Villanova pulled within 50-42 on layup by Arcidiacono at the 11:10 mark of the second half, but Oklahoma answered with a 10-2 run, culminating with a 3 by Cousins to stretch its lead to 60-44. TIP-INS Oklahoma: Hield has 219 3-pointers in his career, which moved into him sole possession of fourth place on the Sooners' all-time list. Villanova: The 14 3-pointers it allowed Monday were the most by an opponent this season. The previous mark was 11 by Akron on Nov. 22 PAYING RESPECT Both teams wore special jerseys for the event, which was held at the 4,000-seat Bloch Arena on the 74th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In lieu of last names, each player had one of the following words embroidered on the back of his jersey: Respect, Integrity, Courage, Service or Honor. UP NEXT Oklahoma hosts Oral Roberts on Saturday. Villanova hosts La Salle on Sunday. | 1 | 98,105 | sports |
The Raptors beat the Lakers 102-93 on Monday. Terrence Ross threw down a big dunk and scored 22 points. Kobe Bryant scored 21 points in the loss. | 1 | 98,106 | sports |
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) -- Dez Bryant's tantrum on the Dallas Cowboys' sideline was not a good look. Neither was Darren McFadden's two-fumble performance. Matt Cassel's passes often sailed nowhere near his receivers. All in all, it was an ugly game, devoid of any style points or many scoreboard points until the final 1 1/2 minutes. Perhaps fittingly, a fumbled punt return by Washington's DeSean Jackson deep in his own territory led to Dallas' only touchdown. BOX SCORE: COWBOYS 19, REDKSINS 16 And yet, none of that mattered to Dallas, really, because by beating Washington 19-16 on Dan Bailey's 54-yard field goal with 9 seconds left Monday night, the Cowboys somehow kept themselves in the thick of the playoff chase in the woeful NFC East. "We have everything to gain and everything to lose," Bryant said. "We are still in this thing." HIGHLIGHTS: Cowboys prevail in wild finish Hard to believe, but true. The last-place Cowboys (4-8) won for the first time this season without quarterback Tony Romo and are only one game behind the Redskins, Giants and Eagles, who are all 5-7. "Our guys don't blink," Dallas coach Jason Garrett said. "We've given ourselves an opportunity to stay in it." After combining to score 18 points in the first 58 1/2 minutes, the teams combined for 17 the frenzied rest of the way. Dallas scored the game's first TD with 74 seconds remaining to lead 16-9 after recovering Jackson's miscue, Washington tied it on Jackson's 28-yard TD catch, and then Bailey hit the go-ahead kick. "A roller coaster," Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins called it. Washington had won its past five home games, but this loss continued a pattern: The Redskins have not won in consecutive weeks all season. "We just had some unforced errors," coach Jay Gruden said. None bigger than Jackson's. With the score knotted at 9-9, Jackson -- who hadn't been used as a punt returner this season until last week -- caught the kick at his 16, began running up the field and got past the 20, before reversing course and heading backward to the 1. As he again tried to move forward, Jackson was surrounded and the ball popped out, recovered by punter Chris Jones at the 15 with 86 seconds remaining. "Well, it didn't end up the way we wanted it to," Gruden said about that play, quite an understatement. Jackson did not deflect blame. "I take that one on my chin," he said. "I'm a veteran in this league, and I know I need to protect the ball." Dallas needed only two plays to cash in, jumping in front on McFadden's 6-yard touchdown run. A 41-yard kickoff return plus a 15-yard facemask penalty on J.J. Wilcox set the Redskins up at Dallas' 43, and four plays later, Jackson hauled in a perfect pass from Cousins to pull even with 44 seconds to go. That left enough time for Cassel to lead Dallas 20 yards in five plays for Bailey's fourth field goal. "One of the crazier games I've ever been a part of," Cassel said. He was previously 0-4 as a starter in place of the injured Romo this season. "I feel stunned we have not been able to win more games without Tony. I thought we could coach it up enough to put it together enough to not have lost those games without Romo early, and we'd be in better shape now," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "We won one on will tonight." Both QBs were mediocre, with Cousins going 22 for 31 for 219 yards, the one TD and zero interceptions, marking the first time Washington has lost this season when he avoided throwing a pick. Cassel finished 16 for 29 for 222 yards, with several of his throws landing nowhere near teammates. Bryant was yelling and cursing and generally carrying on along the Cowboys' sideline in the first half, apparently upset about not being thrown the ball. By halftime, he had zero catches and had been targeted twice. He finished with three receptions for 62 yards, including a diving 42-yard grab that led to -- what else? -- a field goal. "I have to do a better job," Cassel said, "of giving him more opportunities." NOTES: Redskins K Dustin Hopkins made three kicks but missed one from 43 yards with about 7 1/2 minutes remaining. ... The teams combined for 16 penalties for 144 yards. There were 10 punts, seven in the first quarter alone. ... Dallas lost three fumbles, but those led to only three points for Washington. ... Because of a power problem, the tablets used by teams on the sidelines were shut off. ------ Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP--NFL ------ Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich | 1 | 98,107 | sports |
High-end luxury car maker Bugatti is teaming up with high-end sport yacht maker Palmer Johnson to create the Niniette sophistication, speed and luxury that only money can buy. | 8 | 98,108 | video |
The Canucks beat the Sabres 5-2 on Monday. Radim Vrbata netted a hat trick, while Brian Gionta scored a ridiculous goal. | 1 | 98,109 | sports |
The United States has deployed a P-8 Poseidon spy plane in Singapore for the first time ever, both countries said, amid simmering regional tensions over Beijing's island-building in the disputed South China Sea. China is locked in a territorial dispute with four Southeast Asian countries -- including Washington allies Vietnam and the Philippines -- and the US in October sent a warship near the disputed Spratly Islands chain, arguing for its right to freedom of navigation. Singapore and Washington stressed the need for a strong US military presence in the region, where the plane was deployed Monday and will remain until December 14. US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his Singapore counterpart Ng Eng Hen "welcomed the inaugural deployment of the P-8 Poseidon aircraft", in a joint statement issued after a meeting in Washington on Monday. The plane's deployment "would promote greater inter-operability with regional militaries through participation in bilateral and multilateral exercises", the statement said. The deployment would also support disaster relief and maritime security efforts, it added. A separate statement from Singapore's defence ministry said both ministers "reaffirmed the importance of a strong US presence in the Asia-Pacific in ensuring regional peace and stability". Regional diplomats said the deployment of the sophisticated spy plane is likely aimed at sending a message to China about Washington's resolve to oppose what they describe as Beijing's aggressive moves in the South China Sea, including its building of artificial islands in the disputed waters, through which much of the world's trade passes. "The unstated message of course is that this deployment is aimed at China," a Southeast Asian diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "And the message is that the US is here to stay, ready to support its friends and allies in the region," the diplomat told AFP. The P-8 aircraft is a modified Boeing 737 jet equipped with advanced sensors and radar designed to gather intelligence and hunt down submarines. A CNN crew aboard a P-8 Poseidon aircraft that flew from the Philippines over the artificial islands in May said they received repeated warnings from the Chinese navy to leave the area. China claims almost all of the sea, including waters close to the shores of smaller Southeast Asian states. Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan are the other claimants, but the Philippines and Vietnam are the most vocal against China's blanket claims. Singapore is not a claimant, but officials in the city-state say it has an interest in the freedom of navigation because of its open, trade-dependent economy. | 5 | 98,110 | news |
"Mommy, why are your boobs so long?" ranks among the questions I never thought would be asked of me. I am a small B when not pregnant; while nursing our first daughter, I swelled up to a porn star-esque full D and they were perky Ds at that. Now that I'm at the tail end of nursing baby No. 2, though, things looks a little different, I am told. Lefty is still going strong, but Righy petered out months ago, so my chest is somewhat lopsided . (My daughter has referred to Righty as my "baby booby.") Anyway, I was in the locker room with my daughter last week and we were both changing out of our bathing suits. I was standing over her, combing her hair. Apparently things were swinging, and that's when she lobbed her comment at me. And I thought, "OMG, I just got body shamed by my preschooler!" She didn't mean to insult me, of course. And a key feature of body shaming is intent to harm, so I'm being tongue-in-cheek. But it made me think of my friend S., whose kids have referred to her chest as "gorilla boobies." So I started asking around. Here are some of the other body shaming bon mots to have come out of the mouths of my friends' babes (Full disclosure: One of these was said to me, but I'm too chicken to cop to it): 1. "Mommy, you have a nice mustache." 2. "Why do you have donkey hair on your vagina?" 3. "Your breath smells so good! I love the way pickles smell!" 4. "Mommy, why is your forehead so dirty?" Note: It was post-pregnancy melisma , not dirt. 5. "Mommy, your vagina smells terrible." 6. (To a dad) "Are you pregnant?" "No." (Points to stomach) "Well, what happened then?" 7. (Pointing to mom's vagina) "What's that?" "It's my vagina." "Oh, well it looks like a tushy beard." 8. "Can I have polka-dotted legs like yours?" Note: Mom is a brunette and hadn't shaved that day. 9. "My friend said you are really pretty, but I told him no you're not, you're just a mom." Mom Johanna Stein (aka "Momhead") even pretend-strapped a camera to her head and captured her kids insulting her throughout her day, including, "Your tummy looks like a bagel," and "Clara and I were playing in your underpants and they fit both of us at the same time." The good news is that all of these slights came from kids too young to be malicious. Some of them even come from a place of innocence and love (for example, my friend whose breath smells like gherkins told me that her daughter was snuggling up to her and patting her cheek when she said this.) One day, our daughter will likely be hurling teen angst-fueled actual insults at me, so for now, I'll take them as a chance to chuckle and will pull her closer, smooshing her face into my long boob, breathing alligator breath on her and telling her I love her, no matter what. | 4 | 98,111 | lifestyle |
You're trying to lose weight, so you pack a salad for lunch. Cucumber Corn and Black Bean Salad With such a high fiber and water content, this simple salad recipe will be the weapon you need to stay full for hours. To increase the protein, add marianted tofu or grilled chicken on top. Calories: 274 Fiber: 11.9 grams Protein: 9.9 grams Avocado Chicken Salad This avocado chicken salad is creamy, tangy, filling, and everything you love about a classic; but the fiber-packed avocado will keep you satisfied until dinner. Calories: 425 Fiber: 8.3 grams Protein: 39.6 grams Chickpea and Kale Stew This chickpea and kale stew is jam-packed with beans to help you lose weight and veggies, so you know it'll satisfy hunger, but it's also made with cayenne to give your metabolism a boost. Calories: 502 Fiber: 20.4 grams Protein: 23.9 grams Rainbow Quinoa Salad Made with ginger to soothe your muscles after a tough workout and prevent a bloated belly, this beautiful veggie-packed quinoa salad isn't just for vegetarians or vegans! Calories: 363 Fiber: 7.8 grams Protein: 15 grams Veggie and Hummus Sandwich If you're tired of a vegan-friendly sandwich that doesn't satisfy, prepare to build the best veggie sandwich ever. Hummus and avocado provide the fiber and protein you need to stay fueled, and layers of tasty veggies offer crunch, flavor, and important nutrients your body needs. Calories: 336 Fiber: 12.5 grams Protein: 12.4 grams Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad Make your lunch really fiber-licious and filling with this sweet potato and quinoa salad . Beyond being loaded with fiber to help move things along, those roasted sweet potatoes can help regulate your blood sugar and help you lose weight ! Calories: 484 Fiber: 12.6 grams Protein: 15.8 grams Spicy Chicken Chili Substituting ground chicken for beef in this spicy chili recipe brings the same traditional flavors and textures of the classic you crave - just lightened up for your healthy diet. Make a big pot and you'll have a hearty lunch all week long. Finish off your bowl with an apple or pear for added fiber and you won't need an afternoon snack. Calories: 324 Fiber: 5.1 grams Protein: 18.4 grams Vegan Bean Salad This vegan bean salad is the perfect protein-packed, refreshing meal to enjoy after a workout to help your muscles recover and satisfy your insatiable hunger. Calories: 349 Fiber: 13.3 grams Protein: 16.9 grams Baby Kale Sesame Salad Baby kale, baby spinach, and chard make a perfect delicate combo for this sesame chicken salad that offers a crazy amount of hunger-fighting protein. Calories: 414 Fiber: 9 grams Protein: 29.8 grams Santa Fe Vegetable Soup This Paleo-friendly vegetable soup simmers nicely in your slow cooker overnight for lunch the next day. While this recipe uses shredded chicken and chicken stock, you can substitute them with more beans and vegetable stock for a vegetarian dish that still packs in the protein you need to fight fat. Calories: 321 Fiber: 3.3 grams Protein: 36.4 grams Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Roasted sweet potatoes swirling with tender black beans and corn, succulent red peppers, and juicy tomatoes wrapped in a warm whole-wheat tortilla make this one delicious and gratifying meal . Calories: 471 Fiber: 13.6 grams Protein: 13.7 grams Loaded Baked Potato Soup Versatile cauliflower stands in for the majority of the starch, which dramatically slashes the carb count without sacrificing the texture or flavor of this loaded baked potato soup . Calories (2 servings): 370 Fiber: 10.2 grams Protein: 20.2 grams Healthy Chicken Salad Traditional chicken salad clocks in at 500 calories, but this healthy chicken salad is 139 calories per serving. The secret? A simple swap of Greek yogurt for mayo. Calories (with 2 slices of wheat bread): 359 Fiber: 6.3 grams Protein: 29.8 grams Veggie Burrito Bowl Offering nearly 22 grams of protein and 43 percent of your daily recommended fiber, this oh-so-easy recipe satisfies hunger as it supports your weight-loss goals. Assemble all your ingredients tonight, and pack it all up for an easy lunch at work tomorrow. Calories: 385 Fiber: 10.7 grams Protein: 21.9 grams Quinoa Wrap If you're looking for a light-yet-satisfying vegan meal, this filling wrap has your name all over it. Quinoa and chickpeas combine for a protein-packed recipe, offering nearly 20 grams per serving! Dried cranberries and raisins provide just the right sweetness, while fresh dill and lemon brighten up the filling. Calories: 500 Fiber: 17.4 grams Protein: 19.4 grams Chirashi Bowl This light, refreshing meal is perfect for any day! Try this chirashi bowl , made with fresh vegetables, brown rice, and sushi-grade tuna, the next time you're hankering for takeout sushi. Calories: 402 Fiber: 7.1 grams Protein: 21.7 grams Tomato Lentil Soup Make a bulked-up twist on classic tomato soup. This tomato lentil soup makes for a satisfying meal with more than 14 grams of protein per serving. Calories: 260 Fiber: 3.8 grams Protein: 14.7 grams Chickpea Curry When you're craving Indian food, cook up this nutrient-dense chickpea and sweet potato curry instead of picking up takeout that's loaded with cream and butter. This vegan recipe is rich in protein, fiber, and flavor and is even better the next day. Calories: 397 Fiber: 7.2 grams Protein: 10.5 grams Broccoli Slaw "Pasta" For a gluten-free girl on the go, this cheesy, garlicky broccoli slaw "pasta" from healthy chef Hungry Girl is perfect. It's quick to come together for dinner and delicious as leftovers for lunch the next day. Calories: 134 Fiber: 7.6 grams Protein: 6.5 grams Tortilla-Less Soup A spicy, low-carb "tortilla" soup that's ready in 20 minutes? It's so packed with protein that you won't need to think about eating anything until dinnertime. Just enjoy an apple, pear, or cup of blueberries for dessert to add some fiber to your meal. Calories: 291 Fiber: 3.8 grams Protein: 39.1 grams Red, White, Bean, and Basil Frittata This high-protein frittata made with eggs and black beans is bursting with flavor, fiber, and protein. Make it Sunday night, and you'll have a satifying lunch for four days. Calories (for 2 slices): 378 Fiber: 8.4 grams Protein: 26 grams Taco Salad The homemade cilantro-lime dressing gives this taco salad a fresh and zesty flavor. The layered ingredients also offer 20 grams of both protein and fiber. Prep this salad in advance and store in your fridge for a ready-to-go meal. Calories: 463 Fiber: 20.5 grams Protein: 22.6 grams Two-Bean Sweet Potato Soup Take a twist on classic black bean soup, and opt for low-calorie black and white bean soup with sweet potatoes . This hearty soup makes a delicious high-protein lunch for work - perfect if you're getting in a midday strength-training session! Calories: 288 Fiber: 11.3 grams Protein: 12.3 grams Indian-Spiced Curry The combination of turmeric and ginger in this Indian-spiced tofu and chard curry gives this recipe both metabolism-boosting and anti-inflammatory properties. Calories: 222 Fiber: 5.3 grams Protein: 7.3 grams Thai Peanut Soba Noodles Craving pasta? Make this Thai-inspired soba noodle salad and you'll enjoy a protein-rich and fiber-full lunch. Calories: 424 Fiber: 5.8 grams Protein: 16.5 grams Pea Soup For a quick and filling meal, skip the bloat-causing, sodium-laden can of soup and go for this pea soup that you can whip up in your blender. Calories: 218 Fiber: 11.7 grams Protein: 16.9 grams Smashed Avocado Chickpea Salad This 10-minute avocado chickpea salad is so creamy, delicious, and fiber-rich, you'll beat hunger pangs all afternoon long. Calories (with 1/2 English muffin): 485 Fiber: 13.8 grams Protein: 14 grams Turmeric-Spiced Mushroom Pilaf Tasty turmeric-spiced mushroom pilaf is a debloating recipe that's comforting on a cold afternoon. Calories (2 servings): 402 Fiber: 7 grams Protein: 13.4 grams Mexican Tempeh Quinoa Salad Made with spices like cumin and cayenne to give your metabolism a kick, this Mexican tempeh quinoa salad offers the zesty, fresh flavor you're craving, and the tempeh offers a low-fat protein. Calories: 353 Fiber: 9.8 grams Protein: 17.4 grams Vegan Bolognese Loading up on beef midday can leave you feeling heavy and tired. Solve this problem - and cut back on calories, fat, and cholesterol - with this recipe for vegan bolognese that's perfect for lunch. Calories (with 1/2 cup cooked whole-wheat spaghetti): 345 Fiber: 8.7 grams Protein: 12.4 grams Cucumber Caprese Salad This hydrating and refreshing cucumber caprese salad is high in protein and fiber, yet light on your belly. Throw in some chickpeas to increase the fiber and protein even more. Calories: 253 Fiber: 5.2 grams Protein: 10.7 grams Raw Veggie Salad High in fiber, vitamin C, and vitamin A, this raw rainbow salad adds color and flavor to any meal. The water content in romaine hydrates and fills up your body, while the high fiber content in the red cabbage and carrots aids in healthy digestion, making it a great addition to any long-term weight-loss or shorter detox plan. Calories (2 servings with dressing, including a quarter of an avocado): 342 Fiber: 10.6 grams Protein: 9.2 grams Beef and Vegetable Stew Tons of root veggies and fresh, fragrant herbs make this a fiber- and protein-rich beef stew that will fill up calorie- and carb-conscious eaters - perfect when you're craving some warm comfort food. Calories: 265 Fiber: 7.4 grams Protein: 27.8 grams Squash, Sweet Potato, Carrot, and White Bean Soup This twist on the always-loved butternut squash soup recipe includes sweet potatoes and carrots for an extra fill of fiber and vitamin A, as well as white cannellini beans not only to boost protein to satiate hunger, but to also to add creaminess without a drop of dairy. Calories: 272 Fiber: 9.6 grams Protein: 14.3 grams Jennifer Aniston's Favorite Quinoa Salad It's high in fiber, iron, and vitamin C, so you can see all the healthy reasons actress Jennifer Aniston loves this simple quinoa salad . Think of it as a bulked-up tabbouleh, since detoxifying parsley lays the base of the greens, while a scoop of quinoa and diced avocado provide over 60 percent of your daily recommended fiber. Squeeze fresh lemon juice on top for a brighter flavor and even more detoxifying power. Calories: 532 Fiber: 15.2 grams Protein: 8.8 grams Cumin-Spiced Lentil and Quinoa Stew Give your regular quinoa salad routine a spicy makeover with this cumin-spiced lentil and quinoa stew . A hearty bowl will quiet any hunger pangs for hours. Calories: 370 Fiber: 19.5 grams Protein: 18.7 grams Related: Vegan Cookie Dough Fudge Made With Lentils Roasted Root Soup This low-carb roasted root soup plays up the natural flavors of the produce and simmers it all in a creamy coconut bath. Throw in some beans for added fiber and protein, and talk about a filling lunch! Calories: 267 Fiber: 5.7 grams Protein: 4 grams Raw Gorilla Wraps Give your cold-cut sandwich routine a rest and opt for this creative lunch instead. These fresh, raw, and fast wraps feature a unique filling: ground walnuts, seasoned with tamari, cumin, and other spices, and topped with your favorite salsa. It's a great alternative if you're watching your carb intake. Calories: 275 Fiber: 4 grams Protein: 11.1 grams Spicy Sweet Potato Salad High-fiber sweet potatoes in this spicy salad recipe can regulate blood sugar and help you lose weight, while a spicy, antioxidant-rich red pepper and jalapeño dressing ties everything together. Since the salad alone doesn't offer much protein, be sure to enjoy a bowl with a side of lean protein like beans or roasted chicken. Calories: 270 Fiber: 4.8 grams Protein: 2.1 grams Apple Cabbage Detox Salad For a lightened-up take on classic coleslaw, whip up this detox salad . Apples marry with the dynamic duo of red and Savoy cabbage, combining for a fiber-filled meal that aids in digestion. The addition of fennel seeds adds to the fiber factor, plus a kick of cayenne boosts your metabolism. Calories: 289 Fiber: 8.1 grams Protein: 9.8 grams Red Pepper and Lentil Bake High in vitamin A, vitamin C, and fiber, red bell peppers make a perfect accompaniment to protein-rich lentils in this low-calorie cheesy red pepper and lentil bake . Calories: 233 Fiber: 9 grams Protein: 11.6 grams Thai Citrus Chicken Salad The combination of cabbage, carrot, and daikon in this citrus chicken salad is an antioxidant-rich trifecta! It's also high in protein and low in fat, carbs, and calories. Throw in some sliced apples or grapes to increase the fiber and you're looking at a perfect lunch to help you lose weight. Calories: 223 Fiber: 3.5 grams Protein: 24.1 grams Kale, Almond, and Shredded Veggie Salad This satisfying, refreshing, and detoxifying vegan salad offers over 10 grams of protein and almost 40 percent of your daily recommended fiber, so you know it's super filling. Calories: 300 Fiber: 9.7 grams Protein: 10.2 grams Flat-Belly Salad Made with fiber-rich Bibb lettuce, this flat-belly salad gets an extra boost from every ingredient tossed into the mix. From the monounsaturated fats from the avocado and almonds to the chia seeds in the dressing, every tasty ingredient in this satisfying vegan salad helps fight belly bloat and supports healthy weight loss. Boost the protein by sprinkling on some spicy roasted chickpeas . Calories: 340 Fiber: 10.6 grams Protein: 6.3 grams Burrito Bowl This healthy burrito bowl recipe is half the calories of one you'd order at Chiptotle, and it's super easy to make (the secret is precooked chicken breast). In under 10 minutes, you'll have a fresh lunch that hits all your Mexican takeout cravings. Plenty of protein plus a dollop of Greek yogurt keep bloat at bay. Calories : 350 Fiber: 8.3 grams Protein: 42.6 grams Hemp and Cabbage Detox Salad If you're on the hunt for a quick and tasty detoxifying recipe, this crunchy cabbage and hemp salad is for you. If you haven't had them yet, it's time to give hemp seeds a try. They're a great source of omega-3s and vitamin E for vegans and vegetarians, and the combination of the cold-pressed oil and seeds in this recipe gives this fresh salad a nutty flavor you'll love. Top with some lean protein and your co-workers will be jealous! Calories: 381 Fiber: 9.7 grams Protein: 6.6 grams Blueberry, Quinoa, and Kale Salad This colorful salad has a bit of everything: blueberries, carrots, tomatoes, almonds, nori, kale, and quinoa, all blended with an Asian-inspired soy-ginger dressing. Eating a rainbow is one way to help your brain feel more satisfied and bring you closer to your goal weight . Calories: 434 Fiber: 8.5 grams Protein: 14.1 grams Not-Tuna Salad Spruce up your usual salad and make this this protein-rich not-tuna salad fortified with an entire can of garbanzo beans. The pecans and apple pieces add fiber while giving this dish a crisp, fresh flavor. Calories (2 servings): 376 Fiber: 12 grams Protein: 11.8 grams Mediterranean Quinoa Salad If you're always left wanting something else after chowing down on a standard Greek salad, this Mediterranean quinoa salad is the answer to your olive- and feta-filled prayers. The addition of this complex carb fills you up with even more fiber! Calories: 397 Fiber: 12.9 grams Protein: 15.5 grams Chinese Chicken Salad Colorful, crispy, and packed with nutrition, this Asian chicken salad is a much healthier alternative to ordering out at an Asian restaurant. It tastes amazing, so you won't feel like you're missing out! Calories: 231 Fiber: 6.1 grams Protein: 19.9 grams Goop's Mustard Lentils Naturally gluten-free and full of fiber, these tiny legumes are a healthy pantry staple you should always have on hand - and they're absolutely delicious in this lentil salad from Goop . Tangy and clean, this recipe makes for a light yet filling meal and even better leftovers; the longer this salad sits in the fridge, the better it tastes. Calories: 253 Fiber: 15.8 grams Protein: 13.3 grams Broccoli Slaw Salad Instead of fatty coleslaw, mix up this lightened-up broccoli slaw salad recipe instead. Served with lean protein like grilled chicken breast, it makes for a low-calorie, filling comfort meal. Calories: 313 Fiber: 6 grams Protein: 34.2 grams Healthier Cobb Salad Loaded with oversize portions of bacon, blue cheese, avocado, and fatty dressing, you can easily eat half your recommended calories for the day in one sitting. Opt for this healthier 375-calorie Cobb salad that still hits all the notes you love about the classic. Calories: 372 Fiber: 5.4 grams Protein: 36.4 grams Butternut Squash Lentil Soup If you've got a slow cooker, making this vegan butternut squash lentil soup will be a breeze. This recipe makes eight servings, so you can make enough for dinner, lunch, and then some. Calories: 253 Fiber: 17 grams Protein: 18.3 grams Vegan Pasta Salad Even if a barbecue isn't in your near future, you'll want to whip up a batch of this veggie pasta salad . It's lower in fat and higher in nutrients than regular pasta salad, which makes it a good and good-for-you lunch that you'll look forward to. Calories: 213 Fiber: 4.9 grams Protein: 6.4 grams Related: 15 Healthy Vegan Dinner Recipes You Should Add to Your Rotation Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup At just 250 calories per bowl, this protein-packed vegan split pea and sweet potato soup is hearty, satisfying, and great for your body. Calories: 254 Fiber: 15.5 grams Protein: 19.3 grams | 7 | 98,112 | health |
What impact has Ronda Rousey's loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193 had on her stardom? The 120 crew weighs in. | 1 | 98,113 | sports |
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was frustrated with the defensive performance Monday, and he said he did not get any explanation for the non-travel call late in the game. | 1 | 98,114 | sports |
BOSTON (AP) -- Viktor Arvidsson went to the net, and it paid off in a big way for the Nashville Predators. Arvidsson scored with 4:56 left, Roman Josi had two goals and the Predators beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 on Monday night. BOX SCORE: PREDATORS 3, BRUINS 2 On the game-winner, Arvidsson came flying down the left wing, circled around Boston defenseman Kevan Miller, who stumbled, and shifted around goalie Jonas Gustavsson before finishing the play for his third goal of the season. "He's a guy that fights for every puck, went around a D and showed great patience and scored a big goal for us," Josi said. Gustavsson said he misread the play, trying to come out and knock the puck away. "I didn't think he had that much time," Gustavsson said. "I read the situation wrong. That's how it is. I tried to poke check it." Nashville won for just the third time in its last seven games. Miller and Loui Eriksson scored for Boston. The Bruins had collected at least one point in each of their last eight games (6-0-2). Gustavsson made 30 saves in a matchup of backup goaltenders. Carter Hutton stopped 15 shots. The Bruins were frustrated by their low number of shots. "Yeah, it was tough. I mean we had some looks," center Ryan Spooner said. "We missed the net. I had one in front where I should have scored that one. It kind of just rolled off my stick. It's times like that where we have to score, you know? Yeah, I mean, 17 shots or something like that is definitely not enough when they had like 34 or something like that." With James Neal in the penalty box for embellishment midway into the second period, the Bruins moved ahead 2-1 when Eriksson redirected Spooner's cross-ice pass into the net from the edge of the crease just 8 seconds into the power play. But Nashville struck nearly as quickly on its next power play. A pair of Bruins watched Josi skate past them down the right wing, and he cut in front of the net and slipped the puck behind Gustavsson 11 seconds into the man advantage. "I had a lot of space,' Josi said. "I think their D tried to clear it and was out of position. I just had an empty lane to the net. I decided I was going to take it to the net and see what happens." Nashville had a pair of good chances to break the tie early in the third. Gustavsson came across to make a pad stop on Colin Wilson at the end of a 2-on-1 break. Neal hit a post with a wrist shot from the slot. The Bruins jumped in front 4:13 into the first when Miller's soft shot caromed off Nashville center Colton Sissons' right skate and bounced over Hutton's shoulder. The Predators tied it on Josi's power-play goal in the closing minute of the first. Boston winger Tyler Randell sent Nashville's Eric Nystrom flying to the ice and bloodied his face with a right-hand punch during a second-period fight that seemed to wake up the slumbering Bruins. Boston was held without a shot on goal for nearly 7 minutes in the second before taking the lead on Eriksson's score. NOTES: Bruins veteran D Dennis Seidenberg and RW Jimmy Hayes were both healthy scratches for the second straight game. ... Boston C Patrice Bergeron got an assist on Eriksson's goal, tying Milt Schmidt for 11th on the club's scoring list with his 575th point. .. The teams meet just once more this season -- in Nashville on Feb. 18. | 1 | 98,115 | sports |
Not many would argue the validity of the three men chosen to attend the Heisman Trophy presentation later this month, but the voters couldn't have been more wrong sending just those three. For the record, the three in question are running back Christian McCaffrey out of Stanford, running back Derrick Henry out of Alabama and quarterback Deshaun Watson out of Clemson. All three young men put together outstanding seasons worthy of Heisman consideration, but they were far from the only players who deserved to make the trip to New York. How hard would it have been to include two or three others? Based on historical merits alone, Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds deserved to be invited. After all, not only did he lead the Midshipmen to an impressive 9-2 record but he also rushed for 19 scores (adding six more through the air) and broke the all-time record for most rushing touchdowns in college football history this season, finishing his career with 83. Keenan Reynolds is a #Heisman Finalist in our eyes @navyathletics @navyfb https://t.co/EZFyTTSmi4 American Football (@American_FB) December 7, 2015 That he wasn't included in the special day is a real shame, and it's the biggest reason for pointing out the injustice of the three-man field in 2015. Then there is Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield, who led the Sooners into the College Football Playoff while totaling 3,809 yards and 42 touchdowns numbers that rival those of Watson, who did make it to New York. Don't forget about Dalvin Cook, Ezekiel Elliott and Leonard Fournette. All three running backs could have made it to the presentation without anyone batting an eyelash, having put up tremendous statistical seasons playing against tough competition in the SEC and ACC. Some would argue some of these men left out of the presentation had a better shot at winning than Henry , who was a battering ram for 'Bama and benefited from the nation's best offensive line. While he did make some huge plays by himself during the season, what Cook did playing at FSU was arguably more impressive, given the talent he played behind. For what it's worth, this scribe's choice for the coveted award is McCaffrey, but it's really too bad he'll only be joined at Radio City Music Hall by two of his worthy peers. The voters made a huge mistake this year, and while I'll cheer the winner, I will also lament a missed opportunity to honor other worthy players who should have been included. | 1 | 98,116 | sports |
USC has issued a statement after former USC head coach Steve Sarkisian filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Trojans. | 1 | 98,117 | sports |
HONOLULU (AP) -- With Tyler Dorsey, Oregon's leading scorer, out against Navy on Monday night, Dillon Brooks followed coach Dana Altman's orders. Brooks, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, scored 19 points to lead four Oregon players in double figures and the 24th-ranked Ducks prevailed 67-47 in the Pearl Harbor Invitational. Dorsey, who is averaging 14.4 points and 2.9 assists per game, did not play due to a knee injury suffered in Oregon's 80-69 loss to UNLV just three days earlier. Brooks, who finished 7 of 14 from the field, had 13 points by halftime. Dwayne Benjamin scored 16 points, Chris Boucher had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds and Casey Benson added 10 points for the Ducks (7-1). "Coach said that I had to step up," Brooks said. "Tyler Dorsey was scoring a lot for us so people had to come in and score. Dwayne was shooting it well, Elgin (Cook) was playing well, Casey had a couple buckets, Trevor (Manuel) came in and played hard and it was just like next man up." Oregon shot 47 percent from the field and was 13 of 16 from the free throw line. It got 20 points off 18 Navy turnovers and registered a season-high 14 steals. "It was a big focus for us to be really active on defense," Benson said. "We knew that they like to take a lot of time on their possessions so we couldn't relax. We focused on having active hands and getting deflections; that's a lot of what we talked about before the game and during the game, to get hands on balls and getting stops was key for us." Will Kelly had 13 points and eight rebounds and Jace Hogan added 10 points for the Midshipmen (7-3), who saw their seven-game winning streak snapped. Navy, whose bench outscored Oregon's 22-0, never led in the game. Oregon led 36-23 at halftime. It was the first ever meeting between the schools. Navy got as close as 45-38 on a 3-pointer by Bryce Dulin with 10:03 to play, but Benjamin answered with a 3 on Oregon's next possession to ignite a 7-2 run. Oregon came into the game ranked 15th in the nation in blocks per game and improved upon that mark with eight against Navy. Manuel, a reserve forward had four blocks and Boucher, who is second in the nation in blocks per game, had three. Boucher set a school record with nine blocks in a win over Arkansas State on Nov. 25. "We take a lot of pride in taking away buckets -- it's just like a bucket for us -- and it gets us going and it gets us going in transition," Brooks said. Of Navy's 35 rebounds, 16 came on the offensive glass. However, the Midshipmen were just 9 of 18 from the free throw line. The Midshipmen shot just 32 percent from the field and were 2 of 14 on 3-point attempts. "Oregon is very good. We knew coming into the game with their speed, athleticism and their length that it was really going to be a problem for us and it was," Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. "They're a very good team. I thought we played very hard, I thought we competed, we just didn't play well. We missed a lot of 1-foot shots, we had 16 offensive rebounds, (but) we just didn't turn them into any points." It was the 609th consecutive game that the Ducks made at least one 3-pointer, a streak that dates to Feb. 6, 1997. TIP-INS: Oregon: It was the second time in three seasons that the Ducks participated in a game to honor the nation's military. They defeated Georgetown 82-75 in the Armed Forces Challenge at Camp Humphreys in South Korea to open the 2013 season. Navy: The 47 points were the fewest in a game since a 59-41 loss to Florida to open the season on Nov. 13. SALUTE THE TROOPS The game was the feature matchup of a doubleheader in the inaugural event played at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on the 74th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. No. 7 Oklahoma defeated No. 9 Villanova 78-55 in the early game. "In the case of Oklahoma, they're representing one of the ships that was sunk here at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 (USS Oklahoma) and I think that's a real tribute to the men that lost their lives on that ship and a tribute to all the service members that served here and were either injured or even killed," said Lt. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield, deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Command. Tickets to the games were not available for public purchase. Most of the crowd was made up of service members -- either active duty or retired, including a number of Pearl Harbor survivors. They were honored with standing ovations during numerous television timeouts. "I'm excited, not for me, I'm excited for those soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines both past and present who have served. I'm very proud of them and I'm honor to stand here today in the midst of true legends: those that served in World War II," Crutchfield said. UP NEXT Oregon visits Boise State on Saturday. Navy visits VMI on Saturday. | 1 | 98,118 | sports |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Royals manger Ned Yost predicted in 2011 that his club would be World Series champions in four to five years, but he didn't expect the reception in Kansas City to be quite like this. "It's a lot different, a lot busier, a lot crazier," Yost said Monday at baseball's winter meetings. "When I go to Kansas City, it's hard to go out anywhere without getting standing ovations and stuff like that. I mean, it's absolutely crazy, going to a restaurant, you just kind of want to sneak in. MORE: 2015 World Series in photos | KC celebrates its champs "First of all, you knock off six weeks of your winter. I've been going to places I normally wouldn't go to during the offseason. Been to a lot of different cities for a lot of different things. But thank goodness, after the winter meetings, I'm pretty freed up through the new year, so that will be nice." While Royals fans booed Yost for questionable calls and calling out fans during the team's back to back 90-loss seasons just three years ago (and still do with the term "Yosted"), the Royals skipper's persistence paid off with the club's first World Series title since 1985. On paper at the beginning of the season, the Royals didn't have the scientific formula to return to the World Series, let alone win it, but Yost said he knew from Day 1 of spring training how the 2015 season was going to end. "Their energy, their intensity, their focus never wavered," the 61-year-old manager said. "I've never been on a team that's played 162 games where their energy never wavered for one instance throughout the entire year. They knew what they wanted to accomplish. "They wanted to win the division for the first time ever as the Kansas City Royals. They did that. They wanted to win home-field advantage. They did that. We had eight guys on the All-Star team that wanted to win homefield advantage for the American League in the World Series. They did that. And they wanted to win the World Series, and they did that, too. It was a group I was very, very proud of. Whatever they set their mind to, they accomplished." With outfielders Alex Gordon and Alex Rios likely lost to free agency and Omar Infante set to replace Ben Zobrist at second base, the Royals will have to prove everyone wrong again in 2016. | 1 | 98,119 | sports |
Details have emerged in the domestic incident involving Aroldis Chapman from October. Could this be why a deal hasn't been made? | 1 | 98,120 | sports |
It may not be mistletoe, but rosemary is the next best thing to giving your cookies that holiday kick! Ingredients: FOR THE DOUGH: 1 3/4 C flour 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp cream of tartar 1/2 C butter (1 stick), room temp 1 C sugar 1 egg 2 tablespoons milk 1 tsp vanilla 2 T fresh chopped rosemary FOR THE TOPPING: 3 tablespoons of sugar 1 tsp cinnamon | 0 | 98,121 | foodanddrink |
Tom Coughlin is still an elite coach, he hasn't come close to losing the locker room in fact, his players adore him and his owners revere him. That being said, it's time for a change. Change doesn't guarantee success. But neither does keeping things the same. The Giants are in a rut, have been for four years now, their talent level is not playoff-caliber and a postseason shakeup appears inevitable. It's just time to give change a chance. Instead of putting John Mara and Steve Tisch through the agony of firing him and instead of Coughlin suffering the indignity of being fired by the team he loves, he should make this easy on everybody and go out in a dignified way by retiring. Coughlin is going to be 70 next August, and he neither has a lifetime contract nor will he coach forever, so the break will come at some point soon, and walking away on his own, no matter how counter-intuitive it will be for a man who is off-the-charts competitive, would be best for him and the organization. If any coach in Giants history deserves a fairy tale ending, it's Coughlin. He has been all the Maras and Tisches and Big Blue Nation could have wanted in a coach and as the face of the franchise for the last 12 seasons. He has added two Lombardi trophies to the Giants collection started by Bill Parcells. He has never flirted with another job, like Parcells, or walked out on the team two months before training camp, like Parcells. He is a Giant. But this 5-7 season has been demoralizing to the owners, coaches, players and fans, to say the least. It has included five excruciating losses in which every late-game tactical decision Coughlin has made has backfired five blown fourth quarter leads, the deciding points in three of them coming in the final 10 seconds and Sunday's brutal overtime loss to the Jets. "The conclusion I come to we'll win when we deserve to win," Coughlin said Monday. He is often very protective of his players, but at various times Monday, he was critical of the defense for not holding another lead, dropped interceptions by Landon Collins and Prince Amukamara, JPP not being able to bring in an interception with his good hand and the enigmatic Rueben Randle, who broke off his route on Eli Manning's interception on the critical fourth-and-2 call that jump-started the Jets comeback. "We're all sick of losing, let's face it," Coughlin said. If the story was being written by the Brothers Grimm, this pumpkin of a team Jerry Reese has put together would win its last four games, a beautiful stage coach would arrive at the front door of MetLife Stadium and take Coughlin on another magical run through the playoffs and right to Super Bowl 50, where he would win another title and walk off into the sunset with his wife Judy, move back to Jacksonville and devote his full-time energy to his amazing charity work. It doesn't often end pretty for coaches in the NFL. Remember, Tom Landry was fired and Bill Walsh and Don Shula were nudged out the door. Coughlin is smart enough to know it's not working anymore with the Giants, but of course, he's stubborn enough to think he will get it turned around. Consider, however, that after winning Super Bowl XVI following a 9-7 regular season, the worst record ever for a Super Bowl champion, the Giants are 27-33 and on the verge of missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season. No Giants coach has done that since former Giants great Alex Webster missed the postseason in all five of his seasons from 1969-73. If the Giants win their last four against the Dolphins, Panthers, Vikings and Eagles and win the NFC East at 9-7 and lose in the wild-card round, that would likely buy Coughlin another year. If they split their last four and win the division at 7-9 and lose in the wild card round, that should not camouflage the problems. Coughlin insisted Monday he is not concerned about his job status. "I don't pay any attention to it. I'm trying to stay focused for the benefit of my team, my coaches, and everybody else," he said. "Quite frankly, you can all disagree, but we're trying to win games the best way we can. To be honest with you, nobody knows my team better than I know my team. So when you sit in judgment of what goes on, it's all been thought out, whether you like it or not, whether it's right or wrong." Coughlin's career with the Giants should be celebrated and not be attached to the negativity of being fired. It's semantics, but Coughlin and the Giants have meant so much to each other that the best way this can end is if he makes the decision before Mara and Tisch do it for him. The reality is Coughlin didn't suddenly forget how to coach. But there was a big gap in Reese's drafts where he gave Coughlin players who should be starting now but turned out to be duds. I don't think the Giants will fire Reese and start over with a new coach and GM. It's not their way. It hasn't happened since they hired GM George Young in 1979 and he hired Ray Perkins to coach the team. Only Steve Owen, who coached the Giants from 1931-53 23 seasons has kept this job longer than Coughlin in the 91-year history of the franchise. He deserves a better finish, but there was no fairy tale ending for Landry, Walsh or Shula, either. | 1 | 98,122 | sports |
DENVER (AP) -- John Mitchell gave the Colorado Avalanche another reason to celebrate on a night when they honored their past stars. Mitchell scored at 3:35 of overtime, and the Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Monday for a rare win over their Central Division rivals. BOX SCORE: AVALANCHE 2, WILD 1 "We hate these guys, to be honest," Tyson Barrie said. "It's a rivalry for us and they've had our number over the last season and a half. This is a big win for us." The rivalry started when the Wild rallied from a 2-0 series deficit to beat Colorado in seven games during the 2014 Western Conference quarterfinals. Minnesota won four of five meetings last season and the first two this season. Four of those wins were shutouts. "They've had our number here for a little while here now," Mitchell said. Mitchell got the winner when he took a pass from Matt Duchene in the right circle and beat goalie Darcy Kuemper with a shot that banged off the right post. Barrie had a goal and an assist and Semyon Varlamov made 19 saves for the Avalanche, who played in front of members of their 20th anniversary team. Sixteen of the 20 players selected were introduced before the game, as well as former team president and general manager Pierre Lacroix. Ray Bourque, Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy, the current coach, were given big ovations when their names were announced. "You think back to the memories watching these guys, it's definitely a cool experience," said Duchene, one of four current players on the anniversary team. "At the start of the year I was kind of secretly hoping to be on it. This is the organization I grew up pretty much worshipping. To be a part of this is really special." Kuemper finished with 18 saves and Zach Parise scored for Minnesota, which had won three in a row. The Wild held a 44-20 advantage in shots on goal in Saturday's 3-0 win over Colorado, but the Avalanche cut down the chances Monday. Minnesota had just 13 shots through the first two periods and few clean ones on Varlamov. "I'm sure they didn't want to play that same game they played the other night," Parise said. "They wanted to try and slow us down with the neutral zone and counterattack. It was a lot tougher for us tonight." Colorado had gone five periods without a goal against the Wild when Barrie scored at 4:13 of the second. It was his fourth goal of the season and the first time the Avalanche had scored on Kuemper in four career games. "It was a great pass by Carl (Soderberg) on that goal," Barrie said. "I just had to go to the net and stop and it literally hit my stick and I had the whole net." Two of Kuemper's five career shutouts came against Colorado. Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota's starting goalie, was injured during the second period of Saturday's win against Colorado. Kuemper replaced Dubnyk and made nine saves to get the victory. The Wild tied it on Parise's eighth goal at 13:51 of the third period. It was Parise's first goal in 10 games. "We have a couple of guys that could use a goal right now and Zach is one of them," coach Mike Yeo said. "He's been pushing hard." NOTES: The Wild are 1-5 in overtime this season. ... Minnesota D Marco Scandella left in the third period after taking a puck to the face on a shot by Jarome Iginla. Scandella returned later in the game. ... Wild D Mike Reilly, called up on Wednesday, has yet to play. ... Colorado D Brad Stuart (back) has been out since Nov. 10. ... Minnesota G Niklas Backstrom served as Kuemper's backup. It is the first time this season he has been dressed. | 1 | 98,123 | sports |
NEW HAVEN, Conn. A Yale University faculty member who sparked protests when she said students should be free to push boundaries with Halloween costumes, even to the point of offense, resigned from her teaching position, the school announced Monday. Erika Christakis chose not to continue teaching in the spring semester, the university said on its website. "Her teaching is highly valued and she is welcome to resume teaching anytime at Yale, where freedom of expression and academic inquiry are the paramount principle and practice," the school said. Christakis came under attack in October for her response to a request from the Intercultural Affairs Committee that students avoid wearing racially insensitive costumes, such as Native American headgear, turbans or blackface. She wrote in an email to students living in the residence hall where she's an administrator that they should be able to wear any costume they want. "Is there no room anymore for a child or young person to be a little bit obnoxious, a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive?" she wrote. "American universities were once a safe space not only for maturation but also for a certain regressive, or even transgressive, experience; increasingly, it seems, they have become places of censure and prohibition." The email was one of several incidents on campus that prompted hundreds of students and faculty members to march in protest on Nov. 9 of what they see as racial insensitivity at the Ivy League school. The school also has been dealing with criticism over a residential hall named after John Calhoun, a prominent slave-owning politician, questions about how minorities are treated on campus and allegations that a woman was turned away from a fraternity party because she was not white. After the march, dozens of faculty members contributed to an open letter showing support Christakis, taught courses on child development and psychology. "I have great respect and affection for my students, but I worry that the current climate at Yale is not, in my view, conducive to the civil dialogue and open inquiry required to solve our urgent societal problems," Christakis said in an email to The Washington Post. | 5 | 98,124 | news |
CHICAGO (AP) -- Mirza Teletovic scored 21 points, including a follow basket with 0.3 seconds left, to cap the Phoenix Suns' furious fourth-quarter rally in a 103-101 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday night. Brandon Knight had 17 of his 21 points in the fourth as the Suns came back from 16 down after three quarters to snap a four-game skid. Phoenix outscored Chicago 42-24 in the final period. BOX SCORE: SUNS 103, BULLS 101 Pau Gasol scored 22 points to lead the Bulls, Jimmy Butler added 19 and Derrick Rose 14. Chicago led most of the way and its advantage grew to 77-61 entering the fourth quarter as Phoenix was held to 10 points on 4 of 20 shooting in the third. The Suns' offense, though, came to life at the start of the final quarter. Trailing 86-75 with just under 8 minutes to go, Phoenix went on an 11-2 run to pull within 88-86 with just under 5 minutes remaining. Following a basket by Rose, Knight converted a three-point play to make it 90-89. The Bulls seemingly created a little breathing room when Butler hit a 3-pointer for a 101-96 edge with just under two left. But rookie Devin Booker hit a 3-pointer and Eric Bledsoe came up with a steal and fast break layup to tie the game with 1:17 left. That's where it stayed until Teletovic rebounded a shot and put up a fadaway jumper from about 10 feet. TIP INS Suns: C Tyson Chandler missed his sixth straight game with a right hamstring strain. "We've got to get him 100 percent," Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek said. "If we get him out there too early and he strains it again and is out another two or three weeks, that's not gonna help us out." ... They lost four straight before Monday by a combined 13 points. It's their first losing streak of four games or more with each game decided by points or fewer since 1983. Bulls: F/C Cameron Bairstow was recalled from the Austin Spurs of the NBDL before the game. Bairstow played five games in the NBDL, averaging 14 points and eight rebounds. ... Entering Monday, they were second in the NBA in opponent field-goal percentage with a mark of .409 UP NEXT Suns: Host Orlando on Wednesday. Bulls: At Boston on Wednesday.\ | 1 | 98,125 | sports |
We asked four experts - who've helped everyone from celebs to everyday women get their diets back on track - to tell us the mistakes they see their clients make over and over when it comes to healthy eating. Read on for the top four mistakes women make when it comes to nutrition, as well as our tips to be sure you're not making these same choices! 1. Only counting calories When it comes to losing weight, it can be easy to fall in a quality vs. quantity trap - focusing on calorie counting instead of the whole picture. "Many [diet] programs focus on what I call the 'surface' evaluations of foods - how many calories, grams of carbs, protein, etc. a food has," says Kimberly Snyder, a celebrity nutritionist and author of The Beauty Detox Solution . "Too many women feel like they have to micromanage and count everything they eat in order to look their best, [but] that's simply not true," she advises. Our tip: Instead of counting calories, focus on adding more whole foods, especially vegetables and fruits, into your diet. A green juice or smoothie in the morning is an excellent way to get a lot of nutrients into your diet in one go; check out Kimberly's recipe for her Glowing Green Smoothie to start. 2. Not being consistent Busy lives tend to mess up our carefully constructed healthy eating schedules, which doesn't do a body good. "I see many clients who eat erratically in terms of the timing, composition, and quality of their meals. Some days they may graze all day and on others go long stretches without eating, and some days may include kale salad and lentils, while others include frozen dinners and processed snack foods," says Cynthia Sass, a registered dietitian and author of S.A.S.S. Yourself Slim. Our tip: Before your busy life gets the better of you, block out time on the weekend to prepare lunches and shop for dinner so you won't go the takeout route on the weekdays. 3. Not drinking enough water Getting adequate hydration is a simple part of a nutrition plan that many women neglect the most, says registered dietitian Erin Palinski, a spokesperson for ZICO Coconut Water . "In order for your body to function properly, you need to be properly hydrated, otherwise you can run into issues like fatigue, headaches, even dizziness and more dangerous long-term issues like kidney and liver function, cholesterol problems, and muscle damage," Erin says. And not only that, but she's seen that "many people also mistake thirst for hunger and can overeat as a result." Our tip: Make your water bottle a fixture on your desk at work. If you're tired of drinking plain water, add healthy, no-calorie additions like lemon slices, ginger, cucumber, or mint to your water to make it more appealing. 4. Eating emotionally "Women let nutrition go before anything else," says vegan nutritionist Melissa Costello, author of the Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook . "We have a lot on our plates - kids, works, husbands." A hectic schedule can upend any healthy eating goals, leading you to eat emotionally, "which usually always tends to be something that is not so healthy for us, like sugar, candy, or processed foods," warns Melissa. Our tip: If you find yourself reaching for what's convenient or what you crave, make healthy snacks easily accessible - and more convenient than the junk food option. This snack center you can keep in your fridge includes healthy options like string cheese, already-washed fruit and veggies, and preportioned nuts and pretzels to make choosing a lower-calorie, more-nutritious snack easy. More on MSN The 50 Best Healthy Snacks 15 Weight Loss Tips from the Sexiest Trainer Alive | 7 | 98,126 | health |
Will Muschamp didn't take long to get to his finest quality as a football coach on Monday. He told the good people of South Carolina to take a look at his wife, Carol. "Gamecock Nation, if you don't think I can recruit, look at her and look at me," Muschamp said. "I can sell ice to an Eskimo." When reached for comment, members of Eskimo Nation said they would indeed buy ice from Muschamp. But they would not hire him to coach their football team. South Carolina had no such cold feet. Coach Boom has been chosen to replace Steve Spurrier. You wish you could hear the NSA tapes of the conversation that power brokers had while going over the stack of r�sum�s. "Hey, why don't we hire the one guy who has proven he isn't qualified to be a head coach!" That's one skeptical explanation. Another is that the Gamecocks have such an acute case of Gator Envy they would have offered the job to Galen Hall if Muschamp had turned them down. "There's only one coach Spurrier," the new guy said. "I need to be Will Muschamp." That's what Florida and 12 other SEC schools hope. South Carolina is banking on F. Scott Fitzgerald being wrong about there being no second acts in American life. While talents from Richard Nixon to Britney Spears have risen from career ashes, most of them at least showed they had the goods the first time around. In Muschamp's only time around as a head coach, he showed he was a fine assistant coach. There's no doubt Boom can recruit and design a defense. But at Florida he had Trump-like resources and kept filing for offensive bankruptcy. That's why Muschamp was probably South Carolina's fourth or fifth choice. But as Georgia scooped up Kirby Smart and Houston locked up Tom Herman, it became clear the Gamecocks would have to invoke the Patron Saint of Second Chances. Bill Belichick was a bust in his first head coaching job in the NFL. Of course, it was in Cleveland, so he gets some slack there. But a 36-44 record from 1991-95 gave no indication that the next Lombardi was lurking under the hoodie. Belichick refined his approach, drafted Tom Brady and the rest is Super Bowl history. If Muschamp had recruited Brady, he would have turned him into Jeff Driskel. And for every Belichick who made the most of his mulligan, there are far more flops like Charlie Weis. That's why there are far fewer coaching re-treads in college. A FoxSports.com survey showed 51 FBS job openings in 2013 and 2014. Only six went to coaches who'd been fired or resigned from previous jobs. The pecking order is usually: 1) coaches who've been successful; and 2) assistants with promise and pizzazz. The best a Muschamp can usually hope for is a gig at a struggling mid-major. Now he can show he's learned from his mistakes and is ready for an SEC job again. I don't know what Muschamp learned in one season as Auburn's defensive coordinator. Based on his sideline tirade during the Alabama game, when he had to be restrained from going WWE on the officials, he still tends to go "boom." The new ball coach addressed that concern Monday. "I think absolutely there's a huge difference in being a head coach and a defensive coordinator," Muschamp said He also hopes there's a huge difference in Kurt Roper, who was his last offensive coordinator at UF. He's getting the band back together at South Carolina. Fans there can only hope Weis isn't named offensive quality control coach. I hope it works out. Almost everyone (except referees) who's been around Muschamp loves him. He didn't win like Urban Meyer at UF, but he ran a far more respectable program. The Gamecocks can expect that. They can expect intensity, great defense and a guy who really could sell ice to Eskimos. Beyond that, all Gamecock fans can do now is hope they haven't been sold a bill of coaching goods. [email protected] | 1 | 98,127 | sports |
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday there is no timetable for the league to decide on pending expansion applications from Las Vegas and Quebec City. Bettman spoke after the league's executive committee reviewed presentations from the two cities in a three-hour meeting, and then presented that information to the Board of Governors at the annual December meeting. "The board will meet to vote when we decide there's something to be put to a vote," Bettman said. "That will really be after the executive committee begins and finishes deliberations and are prepared to make a recommendation." Bettman said no decisions have been made on whether to add one, two or no teams at all. Despite no action being taken at the meeting, Bettman said it does not mean the process has slowed down since Bill Foley's Black Knight Sports & Entertainment and Montreal-based communications giant Quebecor were chosen earlier this year from 16 expansion applicants. "When I say there's no timeline, I know the steps we have to go through to get there," he said. "Could they be done in time for 17-18 start? Yes. Will they be? Maybe, maybe not." Bettman said the league has "virtually" all the information it needs from the two cities and discussions now are about if the league wants to expand, if these are the right cities and how the process would go in terms of the expansion and entry drafts. Bettman also shot down reports that the league will open the expansion process to other cities, saying Las Vegas and Quebec City are the only options at this moment. "We will go through this process and complete this process one way or another and that's where we'll be," he said. "If we decide at another point in time to reopen expansion, I'm not saying we would, that's a subsequent decision. This process is this process with these two applicants, period." Bettman also gave the board a preliminary projection for next season's salary cap, saying it would likely be somewhere between where it is this season at $71.4 million and an increase of about $3 million despite the fall in value of the Canadian dollar. "It's not set in stone or concrete so you have to tread carefully," New Jersey Devils general manager Ray Shero said. "Again, it's good news for the league when it goes up, good news for the players." The board also discussed player safety and the game on the ice and Bettman said the league is pleased with the new 3-on-3 overtime and coaches challenge system. He said there was no talk about taking steps to increase scoring, adding that the general managers must first decide whether it is a problem before the league looks into possible solutions like increasing the size of the goal, changing the posts or reducing goalie pads. "None of that is really on the table until we have a discussion about whether or not we need more goal scoring," he said. "Based on all the data available and fan research that's been done I don't know there's anything wrong with this game." The board is expected to discuss the executive and coach compensation policy among other issues on Tuesday. Under the current compensation system for coaches and executives implemented last January, teams can receive a second- or third-round draft pick as compensation for losing a coach or executive to another franchise. That even can happen if the coach or executive had been fired but was still under contract. | 1 | 98,128 | sports |
Boston College has reportedly told its basketball team to stop eating Chipotle after other athletes and students were getting sick. | 1 | 98,129 | sports |
ORLANDO, Fla. _ A 22-year-old burglary suspect trying to evade authorities was killed by an 11-foot alligator last month, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office said. Deputies said Matthew Riggins drowned as a result of the gator attack. He was missing his lower extremities and part of an arm, according to deputies. Riggins and another man were in Barefoot Bay to commit house burglaries in the late evening hours of Nov. 12 and early morning hours of Nov. 13. A resident called deputies around 2 a.m. to say the two men, dressed in black, were walking behind houses near Tequesta Drive. Riggins and the other man were spotted on Royal Palm Boulevard, but they fled. A K-9 and helicopter search were unsuccessful. According to deputies, Riggins called his girlfriend to say he was being chased by authorities. Riggins was reported missing later on Nov. 13 after he didn't come home. His body was found in a Barefoot Bay lake just north of Ocean Avenue Way on Nov. 23. While sheriff dive team members were recovering Riggins' body, they encountered a large gator "aggressively approaching" them. The gator was trapped by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and euthanized. "A forensic examination of the alligator located remains consistent with the injuries to Riggins inside the alligator's stomach," deputies said. The other man who was with Riggins has been identified, but is not cooperating with the investigation. Deputies didn't say if he was charged. | 5 | 98,130 | news |
The trade of Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman to the Dodgers has not yet been finalized because of domestic violence allegations against the hard-throwing reliever, Yahoo's Tim Brown and Jeff Passan report . According to police reports obtained by Yahoo, Chapman is accused of choking his girlfriend, pushing her against a wall and firing eight gunshots during an argument at his home in Florida in late October. Chapman's attorney denied the allegations when speaking with Yahoo. MLB will investigate the incident, it told Yahoo. Reports emerged Monday morning that the Dodgers and Reds had a deal in place that would send Chapman to Los Angeles in exchange for two prospects. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reported later Monday that the deal was not done. • SPAN: Jose Reyes case a test for MLB and a lesson for us all? MLB introduced a domestic violence policy in August that leaves punishments up to the discretion of the commissioner. Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes was arrested last month on domestic abuse charges and Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig was involved in a fight at a nightclub late last month that may have involved his sister. - Dan Gartland | 1 | 98,131 | sports |
Oscar Pistorius - the South African athlete found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp - is due in court to apply for bail on Tuesday. | 1 | 98,132 | sports |
Theresa Vail, a former beauty queen who hosts the Outdoor Channel adventure show, "Limitless with Theresa Vail," illegally shot an Alaska grizzly bear and conspired to cover up the violation. Vail is being charged with killing a grizzly bear in May without possessing a state bear tag for the animal. Investigators say she held a single bear tag and shot a male grizzly bear, attempted to kill it with a second shot, and instead fired and killed a second bear, a sow grizzly. | 8 | 98,133 | video |
Check out the Top 10 plays from Monday night's action. | 1 | 98,134 | sports |
The holiday party circuit is here! When it comes to what to wear to all these festive parties, who wants to try a million dresses on or not be sure which silhouette to shop for online? Instead, go for one of these dresses that are sure to look amazing on you, no matter which body type you have. | 4 | 98,135 | lifestyle |
Monday's Top 5 Plays include a hat trick from Radim Vrbata, Mirza Teletovic's game-winning shot and Kevin Garnett dunking on Blake Griffin. | 1 | 98,136 | sports |
Some Muslims in Pakistan on Tuesday denounced Donald Trump's call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, dismissing the U.S. Republican presidential front-runner as a bigot who promoted violence. Trump's statement on "preventing Muslim immigration" drew swift and fierce criticism from many directions at home, including the from the White House and rivals for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Trump, responding to last week's California shooting spree by two Muslims who the Federal Bureau of Investigation said had been radicalized, called for a complete block on Muslims entering the United States "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on". "It's so absurd a statement that I don't even wish to react to it," said Asma Jahangir, one of Pakistan's most prominent human rights lawyers. "This is the worst kind of bigotry mixed with ignorance. I would imagine that someone who is hoping to become president of the U.S. doesn't want to compete with an ignorant criminal-minded mullah of Pakistan who denounces people of other religions ... Although we are not as advanced as the U.S., we have never elected such people to power in Pakistan." Tahir Ashrafi, the head of the Ulema Council, Pakistan's biggest council of Muslim clerics, said Trump's comments promoted violence. "If some Muslim leader says there is a war between Christians and Muslims, we condemn him. So why should we not condemn an American if he says that? "Islamic State is a problem of Syria, not religion. If you solve the Syria issue, 75 percent of the IS problem will be solved." Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir said his government would not comment on election campaigns in other countries, while adding that his country had made know its position on terrorism. "As the country with the biggest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia affirms that Islam teaches peace and tolerance," he told Reuters. "Acts of terror do not have any relation with any religion or country or race." Trump's comments at a rally on Monday in South Carolina prompted criticism from Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney and Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, who said Trump was "unhinged". They followed last week's killings in San Bernardino, California, by a Muslim couple. The husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, was U.S.-born. The wife, Tashfeen Malik, was born in Pakistan and came to the United States from Saudi Arabia. (Additional reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor in Jakarta; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Robert Birsel) | 5 | 98,137 | news |
FRESNO, Calif. In a trailer park tucked among irrigated orchards that help make California's San Joaquin Valley the richest farm region in the world, 16-year-old Giselle Alvarez, one of the few English-speakers in the community of farmworkers, puzzles over the notices posted on front doors: There's a danger in their drinking water. Uranium, the notices warn, tests at a level considered unsafe by federal and state standards. The law requires the park's owner to post the warnings. But they are awkwardly worded and mostly in English, a language few of the park's dozens of Spanish-speaking families can read. "It says you can drink the water but if you drink the water over a period of time, you can get cancer," said Alvarez, whose working-class family has no choice but keep drinking and cooking with the tainted tap water. "They really don't explain." Uranium, the stuff of nuclear fuel for power plants and atom bombs, increasingly is showing in drinking water systems in major farming regions of the U.S. West a natural though unexpected byproduct of irrigation, drought, and the overpumping of natural underground water reserves. An Associated Press investigation in California's central farm valleys along with the U.S. Central Plains, among the areas most affected found authorities are doing little to inform the public at large of the risk. That includes the one out of four families on private wells in this farm valley who, unknowingly, are drinking dangerous amounts of uranium. Government authorities say long-term exposure to uranium can damage kidneys and raise cancer risks, and scientists say it can have other harmful effects. In this swath of farmland, roughly 250 miles long and encompassing cities, up to one in 10 public water systems have raw drinking water with uranium levels that exceed safety standards, the U.S. Geological Survey has found. More broadly, nearly 2 million people in California's Central Valley and the U.S. Midwest live within a half-mile of groundwater containing uranium over the health limits, University of Nebraska researchers said in a study in September. Entities ranging from state agencies to tiny rural schools are scrambling to deal with hundreds of tainted public wells. That includes water wells at the Westport Elementary School, where 450 children study outside the Central California farm hub of Modesto. At Westport's playground, schoolchildren take a break from tether ball to sip from fountains marked with Spanish and English placards: "SAFE TO DRINK." The school is one of about 10 water-well systems in Central California that have installed on-site uranium removal facilities in recent years. Prices range from $65,000 to millions of dollars. Just off Westport's playground, a school maintenance chief jangles the keys to the school's treatment operation, locked in a shed. Inside, a system of tubes, dials and canisters resembling scuba tanks removes up to a pound a year of uranium from the school's well water. The uranium gleaned from local water systems is handled like the nuclear material it is taken away by workers in masks, gloves and other protective garments, said Ron Dollar, a vice president at Water Remediation Technology, a Colorado-based firm. It is then processed into nuclear fuel for power plants, Dollar said. Before treatment, Westport's water tests up to four times state and federal limits. After treatment, it's safe for the children, teachers and staff to drink. Meanwhile, the city of Modesto, with a half-million residents, recently spent more than $500,000 to start blending water from one contaminated well to dilute the uranium to safe levels. The city has retired a half-dozen other wells with excess levels of uranium. State officials don't track spending on uranium-contaminated wells. But the state's Water Resources Control Board identified at least $16.7 million the state has spent since 2010 helping public water systems deal with high levels of uranium. In coming years, more public water systems likely will be compelled to invest in such costly fixes, said Miranda Fram, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey in Sacramento. Fram and her colleagues believe the amount of uranium increased in Central Valley drinking water supplies over the last 150 years with the spread of farming. In California, as in the Rockies, mountain snowmelt washes uranium-laden sediment to the flatlands, where groundwater is used to irrigate crops. Irrigation allows year-round farming, and the irrigated plants naturally create a weak acid that is leeching more and more uranium from sediment. Groundwater pumping pulls the contaminated water down into the earth, where it is tapped by wells that supply drinking water. The USGS calculates that the average level of uranium in public-supply wells of the eastern San Joaquin Valley increased 17 percent from 1990 to the mid-2000s. The number of public-supply wells with unsafe levels of uranium, meantime, climbed from 7 percent to 10 percent over the same period there. "We should not have any doubts as to whether drinking water with uranium in it is a problem or not. It is," said Doug Brugge, professor of public health and community medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. "The larger the population that's drinking this water, the more people that are going to be affected." In California, changes in water standards since the late 2000s have mandated testing for uranium in public water systems. For private well-owners and small water systems, however, officials were unable to point to any public health campaigns in the most-affected areas, or any help testing or dealing with uranium-contaminated wells. "When it comes to private domestic wells, we do what we can to get the word out. It's safe to say that there's always more than can be done," said John Borkovich, head of water quality at the state Water Resources Control Board. The Associated Press commissioned independent sampling of wells at five homes in the countryside outside Modesto. The results: Water from two of the five private wells tested over the government maximums for uranium in fact, two and three times the maximum. None of the five families had ever heard that uranium could be a problem. "It would be nice to be informed, so we can make an informed decision, and those wells can be tested," said Michelle Norleen, one of the five, who was later relieved to learn her own water had tested safe. ___ Manuel Valdes and Serdar Tumgoren contributed to this report. | 5 | 98,138 | news |
Mavericks veteran Dirk Nowitzki praised Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis after Dallas's victory over New York on Monday night. "He's for real," Nowitzki told reporters after the game . "He's long, he's athletic, he can put the ball on the floor. He's the complete package." Porzingis, by virtue of being a tall, European power forward with three-point range, has been frequently compared to Nowitzki. Nowitzki also addressed those comparisons. Full quotes from Dirk on Porzingis: pic.twitter.com/vdNcHr7hvO alex (@steven_lebron) December 8, 2015 The Mavs won the game 104 97 and Porzingis had 28 points on 13-of-18 shooting, though he also had a season-low two rebounds. Nowitzki had 25 points and six rebounds. - Dan Gartland | 1 | 98,139 | sports |
Dwyane Wade scores 26 on 12 of 15 shooting, adds 7 rebounds and 9 assists as he tries to put the Miami Heat on his shoulders against the Washington Wizards. | 1 | 98,140 | sports |
Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday have all passed, and that means that the holiday season is in full swing. It may also mean that annual challenge you face coming up with creative gift ideas for the entrepreneur in your life. If that's so, take a minute to read through this list and the ten suggestions I offer for gifts I'm confident every entrepreneur would be thrilled to receive. Related: Holiday Shopping for an Entrepreneur? Follow These Do's and Don'ts 1. Dry Erase Board Think this is a silly idea? Try to find an entrepreneur that doesn't love whiteboards -- you can't. Also, try to find an entrepreneur that wouldn't be excited to receive another one to add to his or her office wall -- another impossible task. This one from Walmart is a great size for less than $50. I can vouch for this particular board -- I ordered one a couple of weeks ago for my marketing company . 2. Apple Watch I'll admit that I wasn't sold on the Apple Watch when it first hit the market. Since then, I've seen quite a few of them, and I get it -- it's a cool tech gadget. I still haven't pulled out my wallet to pick one up, but I wouldn't be disappointed at all if I received one as a gift -- and I think the same could be said for all entrepreneurs. 3. GoPro HERO4 Black GoPro has been dominating the portable action camera market for quite some time, and its HERO4 Black model is the latest and greatest in the company's lineup. With vlogging becoming such a powerful marketing and brand-building tool, you may find it hard to locate an entrepreneur who wouldn't love one of these. If you are looking for a great vlog to subscribe to, check out Casey Neistat's YouTube channel -- it's actually where I first got familiar with this GoPro model. 4. 'The School of Greatness' Every entrepreneur should be reading books -- lots of them. The School of Greatness: A Real-World Guide to Living Bigger, Loving Deeper, and Leaving a Legacy , is a book by entrepreneur (and Entrepreneur.com contributor ) Lewis Howes. His story is unique and inspirational; this is a book that the entrepreneur on your list will pull value from. Related: 10 High-Tech Holiday Gifts You Can Buy for Under $100 5. Wine of the Month Club Make sure that hard-working entrepreneur (age 21 and up, of course) on your list always has a nice bottle of wine on hand to pop open after a long day or week in the office. Wine of the Month Club is one of the very first subscription-based services -- having started before subscription-based services were even a thing. With several very affordable options to select from, this is a great gift for the wine-loving entrepreneur on your list. 6. Hoverboard The hoverboard is one of the hottest-selling tech gadgets of the holiday season, and rightfully so: They are that cool, and fun! There are several companies selling these now, but I'm partial to Uwheels -- a company that avoided traditional marketing, instead using social media influencers to build a multi-million-dollar business. There isn't a cooler mode of office transportation available. 7. Conference admission Almost every single industry has multiple annual conferences, and now is the perfect time to book in advance to take advantage of early bird specials. Inbound , a marketing conference put together by HubSpot every year, and one of my favorites, had some incredible early registration specials for its 2016 event; the majority of events follow a similar business model. Find out what conferences the entrepreneur on your list attends annually and surprise him or her with an admission ticket. 8. External battery power Entrepreneurs are mobile and plugged into several electronic devices -- mobile phones, laptops, cameras, etc. This makes battery power a valuable commodity. An external battery pack, like the mophie powerstation line , can come in really handy when you need some extra juice on the go. I have an older model, and while it's a bit bulky, it has proven useful multiple times; and its new line is much thinner than are previous models. 9. Badass business cards Business cards aren't yet extinct -- they still matter . And because some entrepreneurs may not want to spend the extra money on business cards that stand out, you have the perfect opportunity to surprise them with a gift they will truly appreciate. Unforgettable business cards work very well: MyMetalBusinessCard.com makes some of the most impressive business cards I have seen, which is what prompted me to use this company for my own personal cards. 10. Standing desk Entrepreneurs are an extremely motivated bunch who often work long hours glued to their desks. That much sitting isn't healthy. Standing desks have become very popular this past year, and in an effort to become healthier myself , I picked up a model from Evodesk . There are several manufacturers that make standing desks, but I chose this one -- it's the Lamborghini of standing desks -- super sleek. Related: The 25 Best Social Media-Inspired Gifts | 3 | 98,141 | finance |
Monday's top NHL plays include Viktor Arvidsson's winning goal, a goal from Roman Josi and Brian Gionta swatting the puck out of the air for a goal. | 1 | 98,142 | sports |
The Avalanche beat the Wild 2-1 in overtime Monday. Tyson Barrie and John Mitchell scored in the win. | 1 | 98,143 | sports |
After missing the cut Saturday to the final round of the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament Finals at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., Kristy McPherson reiterated Monday that she plans to play a full season on the Symetra Tour in 2016. McPherson shot rounds of 74, 75, 73 and 81 to tie for 144th, and she plans to return to the LPGA's feeder tour after nine years competing at the highest level of women's golf. "I can't say it's the worst thing in the world for me since I've struggled for a few years on the LPGA," the Conway native said. "A good year on the Symetra Tour will be better than a bad year on the LPGA. I have to get out there and feel I can compete again." The 23-event Symetra Tour schedule - which features tournament purses between $100,000 and $250,000 - begins Feb. 18 in California and the following five events are in either Florida, where McPherson lives, or the Carolinas, where most of her family lives. "Schedule-wise the Symetra is not terrible," McPherson said. "Maybe playing on the Symetra will free me up and I can play well in the LPGA events I get into." McPherson was successful in her previous stint on the Symetra Tour after graduating from South Carolina. In 60 events from 2003-06, she didn't miss a single cut and won twice in 2006 to finish fourth on the money list and graduate to the LPGA. Golf will likely be far from McPherson's mind for more than a week. She was on her way to Africa on Monday to take part in a trip through the World Vision Christian humanitarian organization. She has taken part in two Golf Fore Africa pro-ams hosted by World Golf Hall of Fame member Betsy King in each of the past few years in Phoenix and Long Island, which raise money to create wells to supply clean drinking water. McPherson and a few other players will spend six days in villages in Zambia visiting schools, dispensing supplies and speaking to children and women. That will be followed by a two-day safari. "That will be pretty cool," McPherson said. "I'm pretty sure that will put things in perspective. My bad days on the golf course I'm sure aren't anything like a bad day over there. It's pretty good timing for the trip." Other golfers on the trip include Cheyenne Woods, Kendall Dye and Amy Anderson. Woods, the niece of Tiger Woods, was among those who finished in the top 20 Monday to earn exempt LPGA playing privileges in 2016. Simin Feng of China led wire-to-wire to earn medalist honors, and other top-20 qualifiers included players from the U.S., Canada, Thailand, the Philippines, Mexico, Israel, South Korea, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Staying in Sunshine McPherson often entertains the thought of moving back to South Carolina from Tampa, but living in Florida is too beneficial to give up just yet. She purchased her parents a house in Murrells Inlet in 2010 and regularly visits, but Florida is better for her Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, her golf game and her bank accounts because of the warmer winter weather and lack of state income tax. "Every year I think I want to move back to South Carolina ... but the offseason when I need to be practicing it's perfect in Tampa so it's kind of hard to get out of there," McPherson said. Though she's taxed on tour earnings in the states where tournaments are held, any sponsorship earnings are taxed in her state of residence. McPherson's sponsors include T3 Solutions, a software company based in Augusta used by the military; Greg Norman clothing; Titleist balls, gloves and shoes; and Vimovo, an arthritis medication that McPherson takes. "It has been pretty good for me," McPherson said of her new endorsement agreement with Vimovo. "I've been on drugs my whole life so it's nice to get a partnership with them." Sunbelt represented Of the 17 golfers who played on the Grand Strand-based Sunbelt Senior Tour in 2015 and reached the final stage of the Champions Tour Qualifying Tournament, Gibby Gilbert III was the one who earned enough status to likely get several starts in 2016. Gilbert shot rounds of 64, 68, 68 and 70 for a 14-under 270 at TPC Scottsdale's Champions Course in Arizona to finish seventh, two shots out of a playoff for fifth and the final fully exempt spot available through Q-School. Exempt status was earned Friday by medalist and six-time Japan Golf Tour winner Brandt Jobe, 2001 RBC Heritage champion Jose Coceres of Argentina, Tom Byrum, Willie Wood and Mike Grob. Players finishing sixth through 12th - John Riegger, Gilbert, Jean-Francois Remesy, Stan Utley, Steve Jones, Chien Soon Lu and Miguel Angel Martin - all earned 2016 conditional status. Among those in the top 12, all but Gilbert, the son of a three-time PGA Tour winner and six-time Champions Tour winner, are past PGA Tour or Champions Tour members. Gilbert, 50, won two Sunbelt Tour events in 2015 and earned nearly $12,000 in eight tournaments. "I really expect Gibby to do well," said Sunbelt Tour founder and director Don Barnes. "He's a good player. When he gets into events I expect him to do well." Gilbert told Barnes he plans to play in some 2016 Sunbelt events, including the opener in Melbourne, Fla., in late February when the Champions Tour is in the midst of a one-month break. The top 30 finishers at Q-School get directly into Champions Tour Monday qualifiers and can bypass weekly pre-qualifiers, and those include past Sunbelt event participants Mike Goodes, Skip Kendall, Dick Mast, Paul Broadhurst, Barry Lane, Gene Jones, Neal Lancaster, who has been working with Strand swing instructor Brad Redding, also tied for 30th. Past Sunbelt member Gene Jones, who won a Sunbelt event in March, picked up local caddie Garry Hanchera, 64, who had an apparent heart attack and collapsed on the 15th hole during the final round. Goodes was in Jones' pairing and reportedly administered CPR with the help of another caddie, and a defibrillator was used in the fairway in an attempt to revive Hanchera, who was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Play was suspended more than a half hour as Hanchera was tended to. Amazingly, Jones birdied the 15th and 17th holes to shoot a 1-under 70 and tie for 20th at 9-under 275. BCG hires Justman Billy Casper Golf, the owner-operator of more than 150 golf courses, country clubs and resorts across 29 states, has hired Scott Justman as its Western Region Director of Operations. Justman spent three years as the vice president of golf operations for National Golf Management, which was formed by a 2012 merger of the golf-related holdings of Myrtle Beach National Co., and Burroughs & Chapin Golf Management and operated up to 23 courses. NGM sold nearly all of its assets to Founders Group International in late April, and Justman spent a short time as one of the company's regional managers. Justman will be overseeing BCG properties in Arizona, California, Hawaii and Washington and will be based in Denver. He is responsible for business planning, budgeting, team leadership and training, revenue and expense management, and client relations, and will liaise with regional operations, marketing, sales and agronomy teams. He was previously the head pro at The Landings Golf Course at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga. Light back to work Little River resident and 2015 Mackenzie Tour - PGA Tour Canada member Tyler Light has returned to the Strand after spending Thanksgiving with family in Ohio and is participating in a pair of Swing Thought Tour Carolina Series events on the Strand in the next two weeks. After not advancing through the First Stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, the Massillon, Ohio, native traveled to Las Vegas to work on swing changes with swing coach Paul Wilson at Bear's Best. He had been working with Alasdair Dyer at Barefoot Resort. "I just wanted to see something different and the opportunity presented itself," Light said. He's one of 16 players entered in a Carolina Series event Wednesday and Thursday at Farmstead Golf Links and plans to play in next week's event at Crow Creek Golf Club. In 2016, he's considering Mackenzie Tour Q-School again if he can afford it, and is also considering traveling to a number of Monday qualifiers for Web.com Tour events. Alan Blondin: 843-626-0284, [email protected], @alanblondin | 1 | 98,144 | sports |
A job at a startup can be exhilarating, exhausting, rewarding, and nerve wracking. And although there are many startups obtaining angel and venture funding, it can still be difficult to get a job at a promising startup, especially a technology startup. This article provides a dozen concrete tips for finding promising startups and landing a great job. 1. Establish a Quality LinkedIn Profile One of the first things you should do is to establish a high-quality profile on LinkedIn. Here are some things to do in connection with that profile: Make sure that you have detailed all of your experiences and proficiencies. Companies will search for prospective employees on LinkedIn by keyword, so make sure all the relevant keywords that apply to you are listed (e.g., "social media," "SEO," "Java," "SaaS," "hardware startup," "mobile apps," "html5," "iOS," "healthcare IT," or whatever you are proficient in). Start to build up your connections. You want to display at least 50-100 connections. Ask colleagues to endorse you or provide recommendations on your profile. Post articles or blog posts you may have written. Add a professional-looking picture. List your skills in order of importance. Join relevant professional groups, which will then be listed in your profile. LinkedIn itself provides tips on creating the perfect LinkedIn profile . And check out The 31 Best LinkedIn Profile Tips for Job Seekers . 2. Get on Email Lists That Provide Startup News You want to keep up-to-date on promising startups, especially ones that have just announced they have gotten a round of venture capital or angel financing. That will typically signal that the company is about to go on a hiring spree. Here are some important email newsletters you can subscribe to for free: TechCrunch PEHub BusinessInsider Fortune Term Sheet VentureBeat 3. Understand the Startup Culture and Issues It's helpful if you have a good understanding of issues that startups face, and in particular the cultural issues of the startup you are interested in. So get a good understanding of all the issues startups encounter, from obtaining financing to hiring and firing, sales and marketing, and much more. Become a regular reader on the key startup sites, such as: AllBusiness.com Entrepreneur.com Inc.com Yahoo Small Business Advisor 4. Attend Networking and Startup Events You should attend networking and startup tech seminars. This has several benefits: you can meet important connections, learn about interesting startups, and even hear about jobs. Some of my favorites include: Vator.tv TechCrunch.com MeetUp.com BusinessInsider.com Leanstartup.co To find some local events, do a search in Google for "startup events" and the city you are in. 5. Check Out Angel List AngelList is an online resource that allows you to apply for startup jobs. The site also allows you to identify new startups that are looking to raise angel or seed financing. By continually checking the site, you can get an advanced heads up of interesting early stage companies, before they become well known. 6. Connect With Startup Recruiters There are plenty of job recruiters or "headhunters" who will specifically target job opportunities in startups and growing companies. These recruiters will have connections and knowledge as to which companies are hiring. Ask colleagues or friends for connections to these recruiters, or do a search on LinkedIn. 7. Identify Someone Who Has Connections to the Startup You Are Interested In One of the best ways to get your foot in the door of a startup is to get an introduction to a key decision maker. So you have to figure out what connections you have that may help facilitate that introduction. Here are some things you can check: Check out the LinkedIn profile of the key executives and Board members to see if you have any connections to them. Review who has invested in the company (this can often be found by reviewing the company's press releases). If it's a venture fund, go to the fund's Web site and review the bios of the professionals working there. Do a search for employees of the company on LinkedIn. 8. Check Out the Specialized Job Boards There are a number of job boards you can review that specialize in startup jobs. Some of them include: www.Startuphire.com https://news.ycombinator.com/jobs www.VentureLoop.com www.CrunchBoard.com http://findjobs.mashable.com/ www.linkedin.com/jobs https://jobs.github.com/ http://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs 9. Email the CEO, Founder, or Key Executive Once you have found a company you like, email the CEO, founder, or key executive. Here are the things you should include in the email: Ideally, identify a connection to the person you are contacting can you say that you are emailing him or her at the suggestion of a trusted colleague? Briefly state why you think the company is terrific and why you would like to work there. Keep the email short and to the point. Early stage executives are very busy. Add your resume or link to your LinkedIn profile. Explain that you are a hard worker and willing and able to perform multiple functions (startups have to rely on a small number of people to do many different tasks). Provide contact info: a professional-looking email address and your phone number. 10. Follow Up There is a good chance your email to the company won't get a response. But persevere and send another email (but be careful you don't overdo it and become bothersome). Startup executives are busy and are often buried in email. 11. Make Sure You Have Prepared for the Interview If you are fortunate enough to land an interview at an interesting startup, do the following to prepare for the interview: Do a Google search on the startup and read as many articles about them as you can. Thoroughly review the startup's Web site. Read the company's blogs and postings on social media, especially LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Check out the LinkedIn profiles of the key executives, and anyone at the company who you may be interviewing with. Test out the product or service of the company, and be prepared to talk about your experience and ways you could improve the user experience. Research and understand the startup's industry and chief competitors. Check out the company on Crunchbase.com. Practice and be prepared for interview questions you will likely be asked. 12. Send a Thank You Note After the Interview It's a good idea to send a thank you email to the people who interviewed you. It shows you are respectful, interested, and polite and it will make you stand out among other applicants who don't do that. Just say that you enjoyed the meeting and appreciated the opportunity to spend some time with the person and learn more about the company. If appropriate, you might also ask them if they would mind connecting on LinkedIn. | 3 | 98,145 | finance |
Deshaun Watson, Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry will head to New York City for the Heisman Trophy. Check out what the Twitter-verse has to say about the three finalists. | 1 | 98,146 | sports |
Is there any food more quintessentially all-American than the hamburger? Whether you like it with or without cheese, topped with everything under the sun or kept pure and simple, one thing is for certain: Beef patties are a staple of American cuisine. And much like you can find foods from almost every country in American restaurants, eateries in other nations have added burgers to their menus as well. While some stay faithful to American-style burgers, others put their own twists on the classics. Let's take a trip around the world and explore some of the best hamburgers you'll find in every corner of the Earth. 1. Taqueria dos Parados: Monterrey, Mexico Starting south of the border, the burgers at this standing-room-only joint are famous for being among the best in the city. The beef patties are grilled over hot coals and served Mexican-style, on fresh buns with spicy house-made salsa, bacon, cheese and ham. The result is a rich and delicious concoction that may make any American burger pale in comparison. 2. Foie Gras Burger: Au Pied de Cochon, Montreal Heading north into Canada, you'll find some of the most decadent dishes anywhere at Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal; however, one of the most popular items on the menu is the PDC Burger: A venison patty topped with foie gras, maple-cured pork belly, cheddar cheese, port and red-wine-infused mayonnaise, balsamic sauce and marinated onions served on a white bun. It's an explosion of flavors unlike anything you'll ever taste. 3. Mapetla: Jo'burger In Dublin When you're reviewing your options for Dublin hotels you may want to find a spot close to Jo'burger, a popular burger joint. With a whimsical 1970s-inspired theme the place is fun, but the real stars are the burgers, made from organic beef, lamb or fish. Order the Mapetla, a patty served with beetroot salad and relish, or the Zondi, served with chili, green curry mayonnaise and coriander. 4. "The Fresco Burger:" Jacoby's Burger In Haebangchon, Seoul The Fresco Burger isn't your average burger it's much taller. It's almost impossible to capture the whole thing in one bite, but if you do, you're treated to a mixture of beef patty, mozzarella cheese, bacon, tomato sauce and onion rings. 5. Burgermeester: Amsterdam What makes these fresh, all-natural burgers unusual is their size: They are huge, and most would serve as a meal on their own without the bun and toppings. De Burgermeester keeps things simple, but you can choose from beef, lamb, fish or falafel patties to satisfy your particular craving. 6. Honest Burgers: London A growing chain in London, Honest Burgers are simple, fresh and delicious. Made from chicken or aged beef (an organic veggie burger option is also available), Honest Burgers are served on homemade buns with lettuce, tomatoes and cheese with a side of homemade rosemary-seasoned chips. A popular destination with Londoners, it can be hard to get a table in these unassuming restaurants. 7. Ramly Burger: Singapore It's not difficult to find traditional American burgers in Singapore, which is packed with U.S. chains including Carl's, Jr., but for a more unusual taste, pick up a Ramly Burger from one of the street vendors near bus terminals and other crowded areas. Traditionally a Malay specialty, this burger consists of a patty topped with chili sauce, mayo and egg. These are but a few of the literally hundreds of international interpretations of the classic American burger. No matter where your travels take you, there's a good chance that you'll find a taste of home with a regional twist and ideas that you can bring home to impress your friends at your next backyard barbecue. | 0 | 98,147 | foodanddrink |
Total online shopping for this year's Cyber Monday topped $3 billion , a record amount and an impressive 21 percent increase from the previous year. Combined with the news that Alibaba hauled in more than $14 billion in November for Single's Day, entrepreneurs could (and should) conclude that the traditional retail shopping experience may be on its final legs . I have opined on many occasions that retail is dead or dying (I may have also contributed personally to its slow decay). A recent study , however, from Blackhawk Engagement Solutions , an international incentives and engagement company, may offer a ray of hope to small retailers. The study, a compilation of two distinct studies, examines the means, the devices and the influences along millennials' paths to purchase. The first study was conducted in April 2015 and surveyed more than 500 millennials, focusing on specific shopping behaviors. The second study was conducted in October 2015 and included an additional 500 millennials and their mobile app and gift card preferences. The results demonstrated that millennial shoppers are plugged into mobile and social shopping and are completely disrupting historically traditional shopping patterns. Related: How Major Brands Are Using Livestreaming to Market to Millennials "Millennials are leading a change in purchase trends," said Rodney Mason, global vice president of marketing at Blackhawk Engagement Solutions. "As such, it's incredibly important for retailers and retail marketers to understand how to appeal to this demographic. Millennials are savvy shoppers and many have come of age in a post-recession era, and our our research shows that this group routinely comparison shops on mobile to get the best value and shopping experience. The market, however, has not yet capitalized on those habits." Retail entrepreneurs can certainly learn from the key findings the study, which can provide guidance as they examine and refine their strategies this holiday. 1. Smartphones are a primary means to connect to the Internet. No surprise, but smartphones are a dominant method of connection to the web for millennials, with 89 percent of them using the devices to connect, vs. 75 percent who use laptops, 45 percent tablets and 37 percent desktop computers. Retailers therefore need to have a mobile first strategy if they want to stay relevant with this generation. 2. Social media is number one for shopping information. Without a doubt, millennials are connected to social media . More important, they are using it as their primary source to find and hear about products, special deals and shopping news. The study also found that the traditional methods of advertising, television (six) and print media (seven), both fall behind other digital advertising methods. Retailers need to at the very least integrate digital media with their traditional advertising strategy -- if not replace it altogether. 3. Millennials are sensitive to price. When it comes to price sensitivity, 95 percent of respondents said they have more or the same sensitivity to price as last year. Additionally, price has the greatest influence on millennials' purchase decisions above all other factors, including quality, brand, store and availability. This is surprising because a growing economy or shopper segment typically leads to less sensitivity to price, but millennials clearly are bucking that trend. More than likely, this is due to the simple fact that they have the ability instantly to price compare and save on almost anything they buy. 4. Google and Amazon are favorites for comparing prices on smartphones. Amazon (46 percent) and Google (43 percent) dominate millennials' preference for price comparison activities. Love it or hate it, the reality is that millennials (and more so older generations) are using mobile devices to price compare and save , even while in your store or on your website. To compete, retailers need either to offer competitive pricing or more value than consumers can get on Amazon, Google or other large retail outlets. Related: The Secret to Creating Content for Millennials? Skip the Short Form, and Go Deep. 5. Millennials prefer higher-value rebates over instant discounts across shopping categories. For categories including electronics, entertainment, sporting goods, clothing, wireless plans and even groceries, the majority of millennials indicated they would choose a higher-value rebate offer over an instant discount. What this means is that retailers can offer rebates that provide more savings (and greater value) than simply cutting and matching a price or offering an instant discount. When retailers figure in the value of unredeemed rebates, it could ultimately wash out any price cut. Retailers should tread with extreme caution, however, and assure that any rebate program is not difficult to redeem or deceptive , which could end up harming your brand long term. 6. Millennials will consider "Buy Online, Pickup In Store" as an incentive. An impressive 88 percent of millennials say they would consider buying online and picking up in store to save $10 on a $50 item. For retailers who ship, offering a discount to pick up in store not only creates perceived value but also saves shipping and handling cost and drives traffic to the store. 7. Gift cards are believed to be safest for online shopping. Millennials are sensitive to cyber security issues and i dentity fraud , and 64 percent of millennials believe that gift cards are safer to use online than any other digital payment method. Moreover, 66 percent believe gift cards limit identity fraud. By offering gift cards or alternative payment options, such as Paypal, retailers can attract sensitive buyers who are looking for alternatives to Amazon. 8. Millennials embrace loyalty programs. While millennials are much less likely to be loyal to a brand , 69 percent belong to a retail loyalty program, and 70 percent of those are happy with their programs. While the preferences of millennials are changing, requiring entrepreneurs to examine brand loyalty in an entirely new way , retailers can still drive return sales by creating a transparent and value-added loyalty program . These shopping habits probably are not news for most big retailers, but for smaller retailers who struggle to compete and stay relevant in today's digital landscape, attracting millennials may be as easy -- and as affordable -- as understanding and adapting to the non-traditional shopping habits of this growing market of millennials shoppers. | 4 | 98,148 | lifestyle |
During a meeting with NASA's advisory panel, William Gerstenmaier (the agency's chief of human spaceflight) has pretty much confirmed that the agency isn't working on a successor to the ISS. NASA isn't even thinking of funding the current one beyond 2024 (2028 at the latest), because its new primary goal is to bring humans to the moon's orbit a.k.a. cislunar space. "We're going to get out of ISS as quickly as we can," Gerstenmaier said, according to Ars Technica . "Whether it gets filled in by the private sector or not, NASA's vision is we're trying to move out." The agency has no choice but to leave low Earth orbit (LEO) behind, because it can't afford funding both projects at the same time. NASA is apparently hoping for the private sector -- the same space companies ferrying supplies to the ISS -- to take its place in low Earth orbit. But since the agency can't help or force them to make an ISS 2.0, it's now telling companies to take advantage of microgravity research while it's still shouldering most of the costs of sending studies to the space station. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is even trying to convince the government to give tax incentives to companies that ask them to test materials or products in zero-g. The agency's move to cislunar space doesn't come as a surprise: NASA has been talking about taking us farther out into space until we reach Mars for a long time. In fact, its new gargantuan rocket (the Space Launch System ) could fly to the lunar orbit with four crew members aboard the Orion capsule as soon as 2021. [Image credit: jaycatalano/Flickr ] Ars Technica Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/12/08/nasa-plans-to-move-out-of-the-iss-on-its-way-to-the-moon/ | 5 | 98,149 | news |
WASHINGTON (AP) Amid fear of terrorism, the Republican candidates for president for months have escalated their rhetoric about the place of Muslims in the United States. A Muslim shouldn't be president. Muslims fleeing war-torn Syria and Iraq should be barred from the country. Mosques should be placed under surveillance and shut down if people are radicalized in them. Republican front-runner Donald Trump's call Monday for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" was the latest salvo for a party aggressively testing the boundaries between concerns about security and discrimination against a religious group. For most of Trump's rivals in the 2016 race, as well as numerous other Republicans, it was also the proposal that finally crossed that line. "Donald Trump is unhinged," former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said via Twitter. "His 'policy' proposals are not serious." South Carolina Republican Chairman Matt Moore, whose state is third on the primary voting calendar, said that "as a conservative who truly cares about religious liberty, Donald Trump's bad idea and rhetoric send a shiver down my spine." The nearly unanimous condemnation from fellow Republicans, Democrats and legal and immigration experts showed no sign of affecting Trump. He reiterated his proposal to keep Muslims out of the U.S. "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on" at a Monday night rally in South Carolina, drawing cheers from the crowd. Trump has faced pushback from within his party for earlier comments about Muslims, but never with such speed and force. Some rivals challenged his debunked assertion that thousands of Muslims living in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks. The GOP field largely condemned his support for the idea of a database to track Muslims living in the U.S., but his comments were vague enough that Trump was able to walk them back without much harm to his campaign. Trump's comments Monday came as his lead in preference polls in Iowa, the state that kicks off the nominating contest, appeared to be challenged by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. If the real estate mogul's goal was to shift focus away from Cruz and back onto his candidacy, he no doubt succeeded. Trump's comments seem aimed squarely at Republican primary voters wary of Muslims, particularly those with direct ties to countries in the Middle East that have spawned violent extremist groups. A 2014 Pew Research Center poll showed Republicans view Muslims more negatively than they do any other religious group, and significantly worse than do Democrats. Following the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, responsibility for which was claimed by the Islamic State group, surveys showed Americans increasingly opposed to accepting refugees from Syria, the predominately Muslim country where IS has a stronghold. For Americans, the fear of Islamic State-inspired attacks drew even closer last week when a married couple killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. The FBI said both had been radicalized for some time and the woman claimed allegiance to the Islamic State on Facebook shortly before the attack. While Trump's rhetoric may be more bombastic and his proposals more aggressive, his rivals have proposed their own ideas for keeping tabs on Muslims in the United States and blocking those who want to come here. In September, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said he did not believe a Muslim should serve as president of the United States. "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that," Carson said in an interview with NBC's "Meet The Press." Following the Paris attacks, which left 130 people dead and hundreds more wounded, GOP candidates rallied around proposals to limit Muslim refugees coming to the U.S. Their calls were echoed by Republican governors who vowed to keep Syrian refugees from being resettled in their states. Cruz proposed legislation banning Syrian Muslims from coming to the U.S. Bush said American assistance to Syrian refugees should focus primarily on Christians. And Carson compared handling refugees fleeing Syria's intractable civil war to dealing with "rabid dogs." After Trump said he wanted surveillance of "certain mosques" and would considering shutting down some of those houses of worship, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he, too, would be willing to shut down mosques and any other places that radicalize people. While Trump has been at the forefront of his party's aggressive posture on Muslims, Democrats say the comments from other candidates give Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton a ripe opportunity to cast the entire GOP field as out of step with American values of religious tolerance. "Given how far he's pushed the party, Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, are going to have no problem tying all of the candidates to Donald Trump in one nice little extremist package bow," said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist. But for some Republicans, the most pressing challenge isn't keeping Trump from negatively branding Republicans in the general election it's making sure he's not the candidate representing the party in next November's White House race. "So far, every boundary he has pushed has worked out for him," said Ari Fleischer, who served as White House press secretary for former President George W. Bush. "I hope GOP voters recognize this time he's gone too far." ___ Follow Julie Pace on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jpaceDC | 5 | 98,150 | news |
Global mining giant Anglo American announced Tuesday a "radical" restructuring of the firm that will slash its workforce by almost two-thirds, as commodity prices crash on world markets. Some of the jobs will be transferred via asset sales, although Anglo will also write off billions of dollars owing to the closure of loss-making mines. The prices of metals and other raw materials, notably oil, are sliding on markets owing to weak demand growth, in particular from the world's second biggest economy China. Anglo's announcements, as part of its investor day, come as sector rival Rio Tinto said it would slash its spending next year owing to sliding metals prices. In a statement, Anglo American chief executive Mark Cutifani said "the severity of commodity price deterioration requires bolder action". The London-listed company said it expects "impairments of $3.7-$4.7 billion (3.4 billion euros and 4.3 billion euros), largely due to weaker prices and asset closures". And Anglo said it plans to slash its workforce by almost two-thirds, from 135,000 staff to 50,000 after 2017. The company published a graph showing the expected decline in jobs -- to 99,000 next year and 92,000 in 2017 followed by another sharp reduction -- via a combination of asset sales and internal cuts. "We will be radically restructuring our portfolio, so the net result is expect to be a reduction to around 50,000 employees," a spokesperson confirmed in an email to AFP. "But bear in mind that these include assets that we will sell, so the 85,000 jobs don't (all) disappear as many will be employed by new owners of those mines that we sell." Anglo has already been cutting jobs in recent years, with the workforce standing at 162,000 in 2013. - Simplified business - Cutifani added that Anglo American plans to halve its business setup to leave just three components -- its diamonds operation De Beers, Industrial Metals and Bulk Commodities. "Anglo American is today setting out an accelerated and more radical restructuring programme to redefine the focus of its asset portfolio to transform the company's competitive position and create a more resilient business to deliver sustainable shareholder returns," the group statement said. Delivering a blow to shareholders, Anglo said it would suspend dividend payments until the end of next year. Anglo's share price slumped following the announcements, hitting an all-time low at 332 pence. Approaching midday in London, it tumbled 8.4 percent to 338 pence on the capital's benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was 0.7-percent lower overall compared with Monday's close. Anglo added that it would further slash investment through to the end of next year by about $1.0 billion. Earlier Tuesday, Rio Tinto said it planned to slash spending in 2016 by a similar amount to maintain profits in the face of the commodities price rout. The weak demand situation has been worsened by a supply glut blamed on rising output by leading miners, including BHP Billiton and Rio. Tumbling values for commodities, including Rio's main raw material iron ore, has massively increased the pressure on mining firms. Critics have argued that large miners raise output in the face of falling prices to try to flood the market and drive smaller competitors out of business. Rio Tinto shares were down a hefty 5.2 percent and BHP Billiton plunged 5.1 percent in London deals. "With key benchmark commodity indexes below levels last seen in the 1990s, and Chinese demand set to remain weak, it is clear that commodity prices remain some way short of giving any evidence of bottoming out," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at traders CMC Markets UK. | 3 | 98,151 | finance |
Charles Woodson is in his 18th NFL season and still playing at a high level, a fairly amazing accomplishment considering that he broke into the league when the Reggie White won his second Defensive Player of the Year award and Randall Cunningham was the league's All-Pro quarterback. The first player Woodson ever tackled in the pros? Andre Rison, who has been retired for 15 years. The MMQB's Peter King went for a trip down memory lane with the 39-year-old Woodson and asked the question we all want to know: Will he be playing for the Raiders or anyone in 2016? On knowing when he first wanted to be a football player "Oh man, that is tough. The first time I said I wanted to be a football player … I grew up watching my older brother very closely who was a football player and a star in my hometown of Fremont, Ohio. My love of the game started early because of watching him. My neighborhood played a ton of football, pickup games outside in the backyards of the apartments where I grew up. And that's where my love for the game truly developed as a kid on the playground and watching my older brother." On choosing Michigan "Oh, you've got to incorporate my brother again. My older brother was a huge Michigan fan. Fremont's like the midpoint between Ohio State and Michigan. Because my brother liked Michigan, I liked Michigan, and by the nature of that, I didn't like Ohio State. I took three visits Michigan, Notre Dame, Miami. I took a visit to South Bend, but I wasn't really feeling Notre Dame, so they were out of it. I really gave a lot of thought to Miami, but they at the time were actually going through some issues with the coaching. Dennis Erickson ended up going to Seattle, but I talked to him and he said he wasn't going anywhere, so I gave that some thought. But Michigan was always going to be The One if I had that opportunity. On winning the Heisman "My sophomore year, I started to play a little bit of offense. A reverse here or there, a deep ball or whatnot during games that season. And then going into my junior season, there was a little bit of hype around me being a two-way player. I had been in some magazines, so there began to be a little chatter about me and the Heisman. So then we start out against Colorado, we have a huge game against Colorado, the first game of the season and I end up having an interception that game and so then the chatter started to heat up a little bit even after that first game. I continued to dominate on defense and then a couple of games I scored touchdowns on a screen pass against Baylor I remember, and I want to say a reverse against Minnesota, and then the one-handed catch against Michigan State. Once that one happened, I think people were like, 'Oh wait a minute, this guy here is a serious contender for the Heisman.' But I remember getting to New York for the ceremony and the driver at the time had a newspaper in the back of the car and I picked up the paper and there was this huge write-up on Peyton Manning, and I was reading it and I thought, 'Oh wow, I don't have a shot.' It said all the great things about Peyton, that he came back for his senior year, and I was like, 'Yeah, I'll have a good trip with my family up there, and then we'll go home.' " On Al Davis "The first thing that really caught my eye is it seemed like Al Davis knew everything about me. I mean everything about my mom, my father, me growing up in Fremont, Ohio. And I was just thinking to myself, 'I know people do their homework but it seemed like he knew everything about me.' It was a little bit intimidating because this guy who I never met up until that point knew everything about me." On his Raider years "I think I was a great player early on but I continued to get greater. When I talk about the early years in Oakland, I don't want to take anything away from who that player was, because that player was still a heck of a player, that player was just young. I played off the field the same way that I played on the field. There was always that thing hanging over my head, I was the guy who loved to go out, loved to hang out, loved to be doing this or that so that kind of overshadowed the play sometimes. There were some instances off the field where I got into some trouble so that overshadowed it. Then I broke my leg twice, I hurt my shoulder, had turf toe, so there were injuries sprinkled in. So people would talk more about that more than anything I did on the field." On the Tuck Rule game [Editor's note: With 1:47 left to play in the 2001 AFC divisional playoff game between the Raiders and Patriots in snowy Foxboro, Oakland led 13-10 and Tom Brady dropped back to pass. To Brady's right, Woodson came on a corner blitz. Brady pumped to throw, pulled the ball back, and Woodson strip-sacked Brady at Oakland' 48-yard line. The Raiders recovered. The Patriots had no timeouts left. Oakland likely would have been able to run the clock out and win by running three times. But referee Walt Coleman reviewed the play and ruled that Brady was in the act of throwing. Instead of a fumble recovered by Oakland, the play was ruled an incomplete pass. The Patriots won in overtime, 16-13.] "Yeah. [Sighs] Man, you just remember the continuous falling of the snow that day. It was really a great day for football. We got a kick out of the fact that it was snowing so much, and coming from the West Coast and we got to play in this snow game. It was snowing but it wasn't really that cold, so everybody was out there and nobody was really worried about the weather that much. We were out there to win a game and we felt like we had a better team. On that play, we're blitzing. I'm coming and I see him pump the ball and he brings it back in, and I'm like, 'Wow, we've got him!' I hit him and the ball comes out. In our mind, the game is over, we're celebrating, jumping around, and then all of a sudden the referee says that the play is being reviewed. None of us could really understand why. What is to be reviewed? It's a fumble it was clearly a fumble. It seemed like it took forever. I'm not sure what the timeframe was, but it seemed like forever. I remember a couple of us on the sideline saying, 'I think we're about to get screwed here.' " How he felt getting on the plane home after that game "Punch in the gut. Game ripped away from us. Still feel it today. At the time we're like, tuck rule? What is that? Nobody had a clue about a tuck rule. And so then it's like you are at the height of your positive emotion to all of a sudden that being ripped out from under you. Nobody on the team ever recovered quick enough to go out there and do what we needed to do for the rest of the game, because we felt like we got punched in the gut. So, they end up going down and tying the game up and the rest is history with Vinatieri kicking the field goal and the whole nine. Whenever you play the game, you just want the game to be on the up and up. You don't want to ever lose a game because you felt like it was stolen from you. And we felt that way about it and I know a lot of people still feel that way about it now. The only way to get over it a little bit is to say, 'That was just that game and we would have still had to go on and win another two games. No guarantee we were going to win the Super Bowl.' Give credit to them, they went on and won the whole thing." The feeling that never leaves you when you're a Raider "When you play for the Raiders and you play for Al Davis, it was always the talk that it was Al Davis against the rest of the league. Some of the calls that we would get, we would always say, 'Oh we got that call because of Al's relationship with the NFL.' If there was any point in my life playing for the Raiders that I ever thought we got a call against us because of playing for Al Davis, that was the one, that one in Foxboro that night." On fellow Wolverine Tom Brady "Brady is a good friend of mine. But I've never had that conversation with him about that play. Maybe at some point, man, I'll sit down with him and ask him, 'Hey man, you thought that was a fumble huh?' Usually when we talk it's about other things, a text here and there about each other's career and whatnot." On winning the Super Bowl with the Packers and having broken his collarbone just before halftime "I remember the play because one of our corners, Sam Shields, got hurt. I was playing at the nickel position, but with him out, I moved to the outside. On this play, I am on Mike Wallace and we all know he is a speedster. We take off the line and he is hauling so I am trying to do my best to keep up with this guy who is flying and I'm right with him and I turn around as the ball is coming. I thought I could get to it by diving. When I think about it now, I probably should have taken another step. But I thought I needed to dive to get to the ball and my arms were extended all the way out. I came down and when I hit the ground it was almost like I was landing on concrete. I knew something was wrong. I didn't know what was wrong and I actually tried to play the next play. They ended up taking me in and looking at the X-ray. I remember sitting in the room and the doctors went out to look at the pictures but they left me in there for what felt like too long. So, I get up and I peek around the corner to look at the X-ray and I can see it, plain as day. I saw the collarbone and I saw how one piece of the bone was separated from the other piece of the bone. I was like, 'Oh my God, man, I can't play!' I've sustained a lot of injuries all over my body throughout the years where I could go out and still play, but I knew I was done at that point. Pittsburgh had caught a little momentum going into halftime so I'm like, Man, I'm not going to be able to be out there and help my team secure this victory. I was just devastated that I wasn't going to be able to go out there to contribute on the field for the rest of that game. I just wanted the game to be over right then so I could know we had the Super Bowl won, but we still had another half to play. I tried to say something to my guys at halftime, like, 'You know how much the game means to me, just go out there and get it done.' I was way too emotional to say anything more than that. And then we got it done." On Rodney Harrison saying Woodson is the greatest defensive back of all time "I did see that. Man, I read it and I guess I was just kind of stuck for a minute, because that's kind of strong for someone to say that, especially an All-Pro safety, a guy who played this game for a long time, a champion. He's a defensive back himself. He's seen a lot of football, seen a lot of players, so there is a lot of validity to what he is saying because it's not just some guy. I am very humbled by that statement, but at the same time, when you work hard at something and every week you go out …" [Pause. Woodson seemed emotional.] "He has that opinion and I'm sure there will be somebody else who will rebut him and talk about another player and that's their right. But this is why you do what you do. This is why you get up early in the morning to work out or stay up late to watch film, why you make all the tackles that you can in a game, why you try your best to get the ball back for the offense, that's why you do it, so other people have respect for what you do. That really means a lot. I want to prove him right." On playing this well he's tied for third in the NFL with five interceptions at 39 years old "I'm not surprised at all. I was born to do this." On if he'll play another season, at 40 "It's hard to say one way or the other. For one, I don't want to feel like I am committed to one way or the other. If you say you're coming back, people start talking and if you say you are retiring, they hold you to that. So I would rather just leave it open and then after the season relax a little bit, unwind and see where your mind takes you. I just want my mind to take me one way or the either at the end of the season. I'll know it, whenever that time comes to make that decision and figure it out, in my heart I'll know it." | 1 | 98,152 | sports |
AN anorexic teenager was just hours from death after eating no food and water for a WEEK in a desperate bid to become popular at school. Ellen Lietzow, then 17, had refused to let even a drop of water touch her lips in the worst of her struggle with anorexia, where her weight plunged to under five and a half stone. After a week of fasting she collapsed with a seizure and was rushed to hospital. She was in such poor condition doctors and nurses were astonished she was still alive. Shockingly, Elle admitted to losing weight because she thought that being skinny would make her popular amongst her peers. She has now bounced back to health after embarking on a strict vegan and fruitarian diet. | 8 | 98,153 | video |
Half of Beijing's private cars were ordered off the streets Tuesday and many construction sites and schools were closed under the Chinese capital's first-ever red alert for pollution. A grey haze descended on the city of around 21.5 million people, with levels of PM2.5 -- harmful microscopic particles that penetrate deep into the lungs -- at one point above 300 micrograms per cubic metre according to the US embassy, which issues independent readings. The World Health Organization's recommended maximum exposure is 25. The alert coincided with global climate change talks in Paris, where Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed "action" on greenhouse gas emissions. Most of China's greenhouse gas emissions come from the burning of coal for electricity and heating, which spikes when demand peaks in winter and is the main cause of smog. It was the first time authorities declared a "red alert" since emergency air pollution plans were introduced two years ago, although levels were far from the city's worst. It came a week after thick grey smog shrouded Beijing, cutting visibility severely and sending PM 2.5 levels as high as 634 micrograms per cubic metre. Under the alert -- the highest in a four-tiered, colour-coded warning system -- an odd-even number plate system bans half the city's roughly 4.4 million private cars from the streets on alternate days. Outdoor construction sites are ordered to close and some industrial plants told to cease or reduce operations. Some schools are also urged to close, and several Beijing residents said their children had been told to stay at home. Authorities in the capital were heavily criticised after only issuing an orange alert for last week's pollution. "The red alert is a welcome sign of a different attitude from the Beijing government," said Dong Liansai, climate and energy campaigner for environmental group Greenpeace. "However, this, the latest of a series of airpocalypses to hit Beijing, is also a firm reminder of just how much more needs to be done to ensure safe air for all." Nonetheless some social media commenters said the measures were not enough. "Can we apply to work at home? The air in our office is totally 'poison gas'", said one poster on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter. The decision to issue the red alert despite relatively low numbers also provoked ridicule. "Today wasn't as serious as the previous time," said one commenter. "How could they not issue a red alert then and issue a red alert now?" An editorial in the government-published newspaper the China Daily on Tuesday said the move showed that "authorities have listened to residents' concerns." "Of course," it added, "we don't expect the frequent issuance of a red alert, and we hope that we will be able to forget about it in the near future", when the government can "keep the air clean for good". | 5 | 98,154 | news |
Recently I had a chance to sample the updated 2016 Toyota RAV4. As mid-cycle refreshes go, the 2016 RAV4's was pretty extensive, reworking both the exterior and interior and adding the first RAV4 Hybrid to the top end of the lineup. Here are 10 things you might not have known about the new 2016 RAV4. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook The first hybrid in the segment since the last-gen Escape hybrid. The 2016 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid is the first hybrid in the segment since the second-generation Ford Escape Hybrid went out of production in 2011. While Toyota isn't sure why Ford gave up the segment, it gladly fills the void with the RAV4 Hybrid, which is powered by a 2.5-liter I-4 mated to a CVT and two electric motors, one up front and one at the rear axle. Total system output is 194 hp. All hybrids are all-wheel drive. All RAV4 Hybrids are all-wheel drive, but there's no mechanical linkage between the front and rear axle; the rear of the RAV4 is powered by an electric motor. Toyota says that the RAV4 Hybrid's four-cylinder engine also functions as a generator to make sure the Nickel-Metal Hydride (NI-MH) battery is always at a sufficient charge state to power the rear electric motor and ensure that the all-wheel-drive system is always functioning. Not surprisingly, the RAV4 Hybrid is the fuel economy standout. According to the EPA, the RAV4 Hybrid nets 34/31/33 mpg city/highway/combined. That beats a comparable all-wheel drive 2011 Ford Escape Hybrid which was EPA-rated at 30/27/29 mpg, though front-drive versions of the Escape Hybrid could get 34/31/32 mpg. Non-Hybrid 2016 Toyota RAV4s are mechanically identical to 2015 models. Non-hybrid RAV4s are powered by an unchanged 2.5-liter I-4 making 176 hp and 172 lb-ft of torque, paired with a six-speed automatic . Front-drive versions are EPA rated at 24/31/26 mpg, and all-wheel drive versions net 22/29/25 mpg. The pre-refresh RAV4 was too carlike for Toyota's buyers. Despite the fact that Toyota has sold 256,000 RAV4s so far this year, Toyota found that many of its loyal RAV4 buyers thought the design was too carlike (a 2014 model is shown above and a 2016 model below). To satisfy these customers, Toyota redesigned the front and rear bumpers to be more SUV-like, with a higher hood and beltline than before, less black-plastic molding, and faux skidplates front and rear. Other customer complaints included excessive NVH and hard plastics inside. To satisfy customers who didn't like the fact that Toyota pulled cost out of the RAV4, the new 2016 model sports a revised interior design that has more soft-touch materials and more luxurious trim, and 55 percent more sound deadening than before. Toyota also wanted to improve the RAV4's driving experience. In the wake of sportier competition, the Toyota RAV4 SE is new for the 2016 model year. The RAV4 SE features more aggressive styling, sportier wheels, and revised suspension and steering tuning. All RAV4s benefit from the extra suspension and steering tuning, though none is as outright sporty as the SE. The Hybrid is the jack-of-all-trades of the RAV4 lineup. Not only is the RAV4 Hybrid the most efficient model in the RAV4 lineup, but it's also the quickest and the most capable tower. The RAV4 Hybrid can accelerate from 0-60 mph in an estimated 8.1 seconds to the non-Hybrid's 8.4 seconds. The RAV4 Hybrid can also tow 1750 pounds to the RAV4 gasser's 1500 pounds. The Hybrid has only a $700 premium to comparable non-hybrid RAV4. You can get a RAV4 Hybrid XLE for just $29,270, or a RAV4 Hybrid Limited for $34,510 including $900 in destination. Toyota expects the RAV4 to out-sell the Camry by the end of the decade. By 2020, Toyota estimates it'll be selling 400,000 RAV4s a year. To meet anticipated demand, U.S. production of the next-generation RAV4 will be moved to Ontario, Canada. Read the 2016 Toyota RAV4 First Look here . | 9 | 98,155 | autos |
Rair Simonyan, chairman of UBS Russia, says the oil price is a major factor influencing Russia's economy and its outlook for the future. | 3 | 98,156 | finance |
Jordan Spieth won the 2015 Valspar Championship in a playoff to jumpstart his incredible run. Spieth returns to the place his season started to defend that title against Henrik Stenson, Patrick Reed and the PGA Tour field. | 1 | 98,157 | sports |
Click through the slideshow above to see the world's youngest self-made billionaires. A record 66 members of the 2016 Forbes Billionaires List are under the age of 40. Of those, an impressive 36 built their fortunes themselves. Nearly three-quarters of these self-made billionaires got rich in the tech sector, with half of the tech fortunes coming from so-called "Unicorns" private startups valued by investors at $1 billion or more. Many of these companies, like Snapchat, Uber, Pinterest and Airbnb, didn't even exist 10 years ago. The youngest of these self-made mavens is 25-year-old Snapchat cofounder Evan Spiegel. In May, Snapchat raised $538 million in funding, valuing the ephemeral messaging company at $16 billion and increasing Spiegel's net worth to $2.1 billion. His Snapchat cofounder and Stanford friend, 27-year-old Bobby Murphy is the next youngest self-made billionaire with a net worth of $1.8 billion. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was the world's youngest billionaire when he debuted on the list in March 2008 at age 23 with a net worth of $1.5 billion. Today, the 31-year-old is not the youngest but he's definitely the richest by far of the under-40 crowd, with a net worth of $44.6 billion. There is only one woman billionaire under 40 with a self-made fortune. Elizabeth Holmes, now 32, founded her blood-testing company Theranos at age 19. The company has come under fire in the past year for shipping an unapproved blood-collecting device and having unsafe lab practices, leading Forbes to lower our valuation of Theranos. Holmes, who owns half of Theranos, is worth an estimated $3.6 billion. More on Forbes : The world's richest people 2016 | 3 | 98,158 | finance |
Did the Dodgers' roster improve from last season? Jonah Keri joins Ryan Bass to preview the 2016 season in Los Angeles. | 1 | 98,159 | sports |
That's not the only animal/food comparison that will blow your mind. | 8 | 98,160 | video |
Singer, songwriter, actress and daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith is now also a member of the Chanel family. News of her promotion from endorsement to Karl Largerfeld-selected ambassador broke on Tuesday as she attended the fashion house's fall/winter 2016 Ready-To-Wear show at the Grand Palais in Paris. Fifteen-year-old Smith has been officially wearing Chanel since 2013. Smith becomes the youngest trendsetting face for the brand, after Johnny Depp's 16 year-old daughter Lily-Rose became a Chanel ambassador in July. | 4 | 98,161 | lifestyle |
It's puppy time! Contagious Smile This little pup has the cutest smile in all the land. Don't you wish puppies stayed this small forever? Share This on Facebook? Image via Instagram: @compton_tbb Playtime Pup Nothing is better than watching a cute puppy play with its toy. Puppy playtime at its best! Share This on Facebook? Image via rootography.com Toilet Trouble "Uh, hi. Just a little West Highland White Terrier in the bathroom. Nothing to see here. Promise." Share This on Facebook? Image via Reddit Snowy Sweetie Playing in the snow is a very underrated activity. Especially when there are Yorkshire terrier puppies involved. Share This on Facebook? Image via Reddit Watered Down "Where the sprinklers at? Come at me!" Share This on Facebook? Image via Reddit Little Helper "Hello there. I am pup. I am here to help you garden. And have fun while doing it." Share This on Facebook? Image via Reddit Pure Happiness No idea what's going on here with this adorable French Bulldog. But we like it. Share This on Facebook? Image via Instagram: @chloetheminifrenchie PJ Pup Puppies in pajamas are the best thing since sliced bread. Puppies in pajamas are basically the best thing in the world. Share This on Facebook? Image via Instagram: @roofusandkilo Mirror Kisses "Wait a second, that Beagle puppy looks just like me. Wait a second..." Share This on Facebook? Image via Imgur Cheeky Corgie Puppies making adorable faces = adorable. Corgi puppies making insanely adorable faces = life. Share This on Facebook? Image via Imgur Always Optimistic "I am here and ready for whatever the day brings! Let's have some fun! Where are all the other puppies at?" Share This on Facebook? Image via Imgur Dirty Dog "Wahoo! It's time to get my puppy paws dirty!" Share This on Facebook? Image via Imgur Determined Doggy "I see something over there and I am gonna get it. Is it a cat? Or a rabbit? I AM GOING TO GET IT!" Share This on Facebook? Image via Reddit Cuteness At Your Service The best things in life are fluffy. And have four paws. And a pink tongue. And are puppies. Share This on Facebook? Image via Imgur Jumping For Joy "I can see the light! I see it!" Share This on Facebook? Image via 500px.com Pup-ture Perfect Sometimes, you just have to do you and the cute, adorable, silly puppy that you are just destined to be. How adorable is this guy? Share This on Facebook? Image via Morgan Taylor Love Is Wanted Just an adorable little puppy running for your love. Not a big deal or anything. Share This on Facebook? Image via grootshoot.com Time For Fun "Hi! How ya doin'? Puppy here! Want to play? Where's the ball?" Share This on Facebook? Image via assistancedogs.wordpress.com Cuteness Alarm So small! So cute! GIVE HIM TO ME. Share This on Facebook? Image via cutestuff.co Swinging Sweetheart "This is actually very relaxing. I think I am going to do this all day." Share This on Facebook? Image via alibaba.com Boat Babe "This is the best day of my life. The best day ever. I can't wait to jump into the ocean!" Share This on Facebook? Image via Imgur Cuteness Is Coming "I am a cute Bulldog being silly and I'm comin' for ya!" Share This on Facebook? Image via Reddit Bleacher Baby "Take me out to the ballgame, take me out with the crowd! / Buy me some rawhides and tennis balls / I don't care if you don't scratch my back ..." Share This on Facebook? Image via Imgur Curious Canine "Whatcha doin'? Want to play? Want to scratch my ears? Want to talk to me in a cute voice?" Share This on Facebook? Image fia Flickr: CathieV Tickles Forever "Hehehehehe! That feels good! Don't you ever stop." Share This on Facebook? Image via Twitter: @hamsao699 Raise Up The Pup "I am free, like a bird! I am a flying bird! Wheee!" Share This on Facebook? Image via The Chive Bashful Pup "Aw, shucks, don't make me blush." Share This on Facebook? Image via Imgur Wrinkles For Days "Did anyone order some wrinkles?" Share This on Facebook? Image via Lisa Van Dyke Puppy Extraordinaire This puppy is the puppy of all puppies. Share This on Facebook? Image via Reddit Patient Puppy "Waiting to get my head scratched." Share This on Facebook? Image via Imgur | 4 | 98,162 | lifestyle |
Bill Weir travels to the 'Forbidden Island' to find out what Americans can expect when they visit Cuba for the first time in a generation. | 8 | 98,163 | video |
From the Golden Gate Bridge to the Pont du Gard, here are the world's most impressive bridges. | 2 | 98,164 | travel |
Some of the lesser known attractions that Italy has to offer. Italy's best kept secrets The Leaning Tower of Pisa and the canals of Venice are at the top of every visitor's must-see list in Italy. Here we'll show you some of the lesser known attractions on the Italian peninsula. San Gimignano This walled medieval hill town in Tuscany is known as "the Town of Fine Towers," and is famous for its medieval architecture. Its many towers coupled with its hilltop location offer San Gimignano an enchanting skyline. A favorite of writers, a fictionalized version of the town features in EM Forster's "Where Angels Fear to Tread" as well John Grisham's "The Broker". The Sant'Agostino Church houses some artwork from the Renaissance era for art connoisseurs. Civita di Bagnoregio A town in the province of Viterbo, about 74.5 miles north of Rome. Civita di Bagnoregio, founded 2,500 years ago by the Etruscans, is home to only ten people and has no post office, supermarket or hospital. Located atop a plateau overlooking the Tiber valley, this beautiful town has stood tall despite witnessing countless wars. Salina This island, which is home to six volcanoes, is featured on the World Heritage List primarily because of its value to the study of volcanoes. This lush island has an abundance of ferns, poplars, and chestnut trees of various kinds. It takes quite a while to reach Salina from mainland Italy, which is why it is less popular with tourists than many of Italy's other attractions. Santo Stefano di Sessanio A small town in Abruzzo, located in Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park. Many properties in the region have been restored due to the efforts of Swedish-Italian entrepreneur Daniele Kihlgren in the early 2000s - his commitment to preserving the town's ancient architecture has made it a hugely popular destination for Italian tourists. Castel del Monte Located in the heart of the Gran Sasso mountain range, the town is set in a steep hillside near the high plain of Campo Imperatore. "La Notte delle Streghe" or "The Night of the Witches" is one of the major tourist attractions of the town, which had a population of just over 450 as of December 2013. Bolzano The capital of Italy's northernmost region of South Tyrol, it was part of Germany until World War I. The discovery of Otzi the well-preserved natural mummy of a man who lived in and around 3,300 BC was made in this region. Bolzano is a perfect mixture of Northern European and Mediterranean influences. Calabria It is located at the toe of the Italian peninsula in Southern Italy. Calabria is bordered to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea. Interestingly, in ancient times the region of Calabria was known as Italy before the name was extended to the entire peninsula. Scilla, Tropea, Capo Vaticano, Gerace, and Squillace are some of the best-known coastal attractions of Calabria. Selinunte The abandoned city of Selinunte features five temples centered on an acropolis, including the historic Temple of Hera. Located on the southwestern coast of Sicily, it is considered one of the most impressive ancient sites in the Mediterranean. Marettimo The island of Marettimo sits to the west of Sicily, and serves as a haven for scuba divers. Home to 300 people during the winter months, the number of residents more than doubles in the summer on an island that is also a breeding ground for some very rare species of plants. Porto Venere Designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997, along with five nearby villages that make up the Cinque Terre, Porto Venere is located in the province of La Spezia. The Gothic Church of St. Peter, Doria Castle, and the Romanesque church of St. Lawrence are some of the must visits for travelers to the town. | 2 | 98,165 | travel |
The 21-year-old painter has captivated the internet with her incredible body art. | 8 | 98,166 | video |
Fox Biz Flash: Wednesday, 3/9 | 3 | 98,167 | finance |
Listening to Trump made this veteran hungry. | 8 | 98,168 | video |
CHICAGO Two people were killed and 19 others were wounded over 20 hours in Chicago from Tuesday through early Wednesday, the equivalent of someone shot every 58 minutes. The period was more violent than the entire previous weekend _ when one person was killed and 14 wounded and ranged across the city. The burst of violence included three shootings in the area of 63rd Street and Sacramento Avenue within two hours that left a man dead and three others wounded, including two 16-year-old boys. Five miles away, in the Gresham neighborhood, four people were shot in three incidents. The number of shootings and homicides in the city is more than double what it was the same time last year as Chicago experiences its most violent start of a year since the late 1990s. More than 500 people have been shot since the first of the year, and more than 100 of them have been killed. One of the last shootings during the 20-hour stretch killed a 21-year-old woman in West Town. She was a passenger in a car when someone walked up and fired shots around 12:10 a.m. Wednesday, hitting her in the back. The car slammed into an iron fence outside a row of townhouses. The woman was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her cousin stood outside the crime scene, wearing short sleeves that bared the tattoos of names and dates on her arm. She was soon surrounded by people trying to sort things out: Where was the woman's young child? Which family members knew? Could anyone see if there were bullet holes in the car? How old was she? Could her loved ones retaliate without going straight to jail? How long would it take for her parents to get to Stroger Hospital from the South Side? "County (is) a beast," someone said, referring to the old name for Stroger, Cook County Hospital. "They'll pull her through." Men yelled at each other from across a playground, their voices indecipherable in the rain and wind. The cousin began to yell too. "If they're shooting to kill, they're killing the wrong people. People with kids!" she said. She gestured at the rows of brick townhouses lining the block. "Everybody's going to stay in their houses going, 'I didn't see nothing, I didn't see nothing,' and keep it that way for the rest of their lives." A detective drove up just as word spread that the woman had died. The cousin began to scream. "No, please, no," she said, gripping the iron fence and hopping up and down. She fell backward, hard onto the ground. She brought her cellphone to her ear, then threw it over the fence and turned to sit on a fire hydrant. "Why? Why? Why?" she cried. The other fatal shooting occurred around 7:50 p.m. in the Marquette Park neighborhood. A 31-year-old man was walking with a friend on South Troy Avenue when shots were fired and he fell to the ground. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with a gunshot wound to the back of his head and was pronounced dead there. | 5 | 98,169 | news |
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North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea according to a South Korean military statement. CNN's Paula Hancocks reports. | 5 | 98,173 | news |
An Illustrated History of the Pickup Truck An Illustrated History of the Pickup Truck It would be hard to argue that any type of vehicle is more uniquely American than the pickup truck. Once the most basic of basic transportation embraced only by farmers and tradespeople, pickups today are often as likely to be loaded up with options as cargo, and they have become the personal transportation of millions of individuals and families many of whom never burden their trucks with more than a few bags of groceries or a bicycle or two. America's love affair with the pickup has blossomed to the point where the bestselling vehicle in the U.S. is the Ford pickup, and it's been that way for 34 years. As their popularity has grown, so have the variety of models and equipment available, enabling buyers to choose anything from a basic work truck, to a rugged off-roader, to a four-door family hauler, to feature-laden models with all the comforts of a luxury car. Ram truck alone offers 12 different trim levels, and all the major manufacturers let buyers choose from at least three different cab sizes, several bed lengths, and two- or four-wheel drive. Here's a look at some of the milestone models that have led to the choices we have today. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook The First Pickup Henry Ford gets the credit for both the first factory-built pickup truck and for coining the term "pickup." The 1925 Model T Roadster with Pickup Body was created when Ford saw an opportunity to cash in on the many farmers who were either modifying the famously simple and rugged Model T automobiles for work in their fields, or just using them as is. Henry himself, it is said, had a 1912 Model T with a cargo box on his own farm, and coachbuilders and Ford dealers alike had been offering pickup bodies for years before the factory got on the bandwagon. By the time the pickup version arrived, the venerable Model T was approaching obsolescence, and it was replaced in 1928 with the larger and more powerful Model A. Still, Ford sold somewhere around 135,000 Model T pickups, beginning an American love story and putting untold numbers of horses out of work. Research Ford's Latest Models on MSN Autos The Advent of Four-Wheel Drive Component supplier Marmon-Herrington began converting Ford pickup trucks to four-wheel drive back in 1935, but the first production four-wheel-drive pickup was the 1946 Dodge Power Wagon. A product of the war effort, the Power Wagon was essentially a one-ton four-wheel-drive military truck with civilian sheetmetal. Domestic production continued until 1968, with only minor changes. The Willys-Overland Jeep Truck arrived just after the Dodge, in 1947, another adaptation of wartime technology. Like the Power Wagon, it made for rugged if rudimentary civilian transportation at best and stayed that way until production ended in 1965. By the late 1950s, all domestic manufacturers were offering four-wheel drive in conventional pickups. Research Jeep's Latest Models on MSN Autos Forward-Control Pickups Forward-control, or flat-nosed, pickups offer the utility and bed length of a conventional design but with shorter overall length for greater maneuverability. Often based on vans, their popularity peaked in the 1960s when buyers could choose among several manufacturers. First up was the 1952 Volkswagen Transporter, with a 1.1-liter engine and a whopping 25 horsepower. Gradual increases in power and other evolutionary changes followed over the years, along with variants including a crew cab. But U.S. availability ended in the mid-'60s, when the VW pickup became a victim of the "chicken tax", a 25-percent tariff imposed on imported light trucks in response to European taxes on U.S. chicken exports.. The Jeep FC150 appeared in late 1956, with four-wheel drive and all the utility and luxury of a box of hammers. Popular with utilities and others appreciative of its maneuverability and go-anywhere capability, the FC150 remained in production until 1965. Chevrolet and Ford joined the party in 1961, with their respective Falcon Econoline and Corvair flat-nosed pickups. With six-cylinder engines, available automatic transmissions, and trim upgrades along with other options, both offered more power and comfort. But that's where their similarities ended. Like the sedan it was based on, the Corvair pickup used a rear-engine layout, and it could be had with either a conventional rear tailgate or a side-opening Rampside design. It also had an impressive 3/4-ton load capacity. The Econoline was more conventional, with its engine mounted up front and rear-wheel drive. Dodge followed the Ford model in 1964, with a flat-nose pickup based on the A100 van. Never as popular with customers as conventional pickups, forward-control designs began to disappear by the mid-1960s as manufacturers focused on the growing demand for conventional pickups. The Corvair was discontinued in 1964, while Ford and Dodge soldiered on until 1967 and 1970, respectively. Smooth-Sided Cargo Bed As pickups continued to find their way off the farm and into suburban driveways, buyers demanded more style and amenities. Rising to the occasion, Chevrolet's 1955 Cameo Carrier and its GMC Suburban counterpart were the first pickups to ditch the distinct rear fenders that had been standard pickup fare since the 1920s, in favor of smooth fiberglass flanks for a more carlike appearance. Their exterior was further gussied up with two-tone paint and a liberal application of chrome. The decadence continued inside, with matching two-tone upholstery and unheard-of amenities such as dual sun visors and armrests all for a hefty 30-percent price premium. Still, the design was a modest success, and other makers soon followed suit. By 1960, Ford, Dodge, and GM all offered smooth-sided pickups, but with conventional steel bodies. Car-Based Pickups Based on a two-door Ford station wagon, the '57 Ford Ranchero combined carlike styling, comfort, and handling with some of the utility of a pickup truck. Most of the wagon's features and options were available, including the 352-cubic-inch V-8. With almost 22,000 sold in its first year of production, the Ranchero's success led Chevrolet to follow suit with the El Camino in 1959. The names stuck, but both manufacturers played around with different platforms for their car-based pickups before settling on mid-size models by the mid-1960s. Options lists grew long, letting buyers choose anything from a fairly basic model to a feature-laden Cowboy Cadillac and even sporty Ranchero GT and El Camino SS models with the same big V-8 engines found in muscle-car siblings. The GMC Sprint appeared as a rebadged El Camino from 1971 to '77 and had a name change to Caballero in 1978. Ranchero production ended after the '79 model year; the El Camino and Caballero continued through 1987. Room for More: Crew Cabs The now-defunct International Harvester introduced the first crew-cab pickup, the Travelette, in 1957. A three-door design with a full back seat and room for six, the Travelette didn't sprout a fourth door until 1961. Dodge joined the party in 1961, although its earliest examples were converted by an outside contractor. Production moved in-house in 1964, and Ford brought out its own four-door pickup a year later. The first crew cabs were bought almost exclusively by utility companies and contractors, and they were designed solely to get workers and their gear to and from the job site. But as the metamorphosis of trucks into family haulers got going in the late 1960s and '70s, crew cabs moved upmarket with nicer interiors and the amenities of passenger cars. The movement was well underway by the time General Motors started building Chevrolet and GMC crew cabs in 1973. Today, crew cabs are available with interiors rivaling those of a luxury car, and they're the configuration of choice for families. Room for More: Enlarged Two-Door Cabs Extended cabs are another family-friendly option. The first was the Dodge Club Cab of 1973, which was a two-door with its cab stretched by 18 inches and a small back seat. Ford followed suit with the SuperCab in 1974. The configuration is still offered by domestic manufacturers, although now with small rear doors. Compact Mini-Pickups As Japanese cars began to arrive in the U.S., pickups were not far behind. Datsun (now Nissan) was the first to land a truck in stateside showrooms, with the Datsun 1000 arriving for the 1958 model year. With a quarter-ton payload capacity and just 37 horsepower from a 1.0-liter four-cylinder engine, the 1000 wasn't exactly a stump-puller and rang up just 10 sales in its inaugural year. Undeterred, Datsun fitted a larger 1200-cc engine, and sales began a slow but steady climb. Toyota began importing the competing Stout pickup in 1964, but it wasn't until the arrival of the Datsun 520 in 1965 that things really heated up, with 15,000 sales in its first year. By the dawn of the 1970s, the compact-pickup-truck craze was in full swing, led by those trendy Californians and their fondness for modifying pickups with wider tires, custom wheels, and other personal touches. Datsun and Toyota reaped the benefits, with combined sales of roughly 100,000 units per year. Those numbers were too big for domestic manufacturers to ignore, leading to the introduction of so-called captive-import pickups from their overseas subsidiaries. Arriving in 1972, Ford's Courier was a thinly disguised Mazda, which brought over its own version the same year. Not to be left out, Chevrolet introduced the LUV (Light Utility Vehicle) from Isuzu that same year. Dodge and Plymouth didn't get on the bandwagon until the late '70s and early '80s with the Mitsubishi-sourced Dodge D50 and Plymouth Arrow. None enjoyed anywhere near the sales volumes of Datsun and Toyota. Most disappeared in the early 1980s. Chevrolet and GMC launched the larger, domestically built S-10 and S-15 in 1982, and Ford followed with the long-running Ranger for the 1983 model year. The Muscle Truck The little-known Dodge Custom Sports Special of 1963 67 came with un-truck-like features for the time, including full carpeting, bucket seats, a console, and racing stripes. And there was more to be had, provided buyers skipped the standard slant-six or lesser V-8s available and went for the High Performance Package. That brought a 365-hp 426-cubic-inch "Wedge" V-8, the legendary precursor to the Hemi and a legitimate terror on the drag strip in its own right. A factory brochure listed the push-button three-speed automatic as the only transmission choice with the 426, along with other high-performance equipment including dual exhausts, heavy-duty springs front and rear, and special instrumentation including a tachometer. It makes no mention of upgraded brakes, however, which may be part of the reason these trucks are so rare. Big-block engines also found their way into Chevy and Ford's full-size pickups during the same period, but these were intended more for hauling campers and trailers rather than straight-line performance. It wasn't until the 1990 Chevrolet Silverado 454SS that another full-size muscle truck came along. Available only with two-wheel drive and a short bed to minimize weight, the 454SS came stuffed with a 230-hp 7.4-liter V-8 and was good for a zero-to-60-mph time of less than eight seconds downright respectable for the time. A total of 16,953 examples had been built by the time 454SS production ended in 1993, the same year that Ford introduced the F-150 based SVT Lightning. See new truck-related news on MSN Autos Like the Chevy, Ford's Lightning was available as a short-bed, two-wheel-drive model only. Powered by a 240-hp 5.8-liter V-8, the Lightning made no pretenses about being a work truck but offered zero-to-60-mph times in the seven-second range. Handling was surprisingly nimble for a truck. Production of the first-generation Lightning ended after the 1995 model year and 11,563 units. An even more powerful Lightning emerged in 1999 and stayed in production through 2004. Car and Driver tested a Lightning equipped with a 380-hp 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 in 2001 and recorded a 5.2-second run to 60. In 2004, Dodge escalated the performance-truck wars with the 500-hp, 8.3-liter, V-10 powered Dodge Ram SRT-10. With various aerodynamic tweaks including a rear spoiler over the bed, the SRT-10 was capable of more than 150 mph, and Car and Driver recorded a zero-to-60-mph time of 4.9 seconds. Production ended after the 2006 model year, by which time about 9500 units had been built. Research Ram's Latest Trucks on MSN Autos Pickup Campers Slide-in pickup campers like the Cree Truck Coach and the Sport King began to appear in the mid-1940s and early '50s, but it wasn't until the 1960s that the camping craze really caught on. As larger and more luxuriously equipped units became available, Dodge, Ford, and General Motors all responded with Camper Special models to handle the load. Typically equipped with a long bed, a larger engine, and beefed-up suspensions and brakes, these trucks usually also featured larger side mirrors and sliding rear windows for easier cab access. Diesel Power for Pickups Diesels are common today in heavy-duty pickups and available in lighter-duty models from Nissan and Ram, but it wasn't until the fuel crisis of the mid-1970s that domestic manufacturers came to embrace diesel engines, and their earliest efforts were so rushed that they may have done the diesel's reputation more harm than good. 1978 saw the arrival of the ubiquitous GM 5.7-liter V-8 diesel in Chevrolet/GMC pickups. The GM 5.7 was phased out in the early 1980s, but it marked the beginning of steady diesel availability in Chevrolet and GMC trucks that has continued ever since. A much lesser known early diesel, also making its debut for 1978, was a six-cylinder diesel version of the Dodge D100. Sourced from Mitsubishi, the 105-hp 4.0-liter six delivered respectable fuel economy, but it had a hard time motivating the big Dodge and was quietly dropped the following year. Dodge then stayed out of the diesel-pickup market until 1989. Ford, meanwhile, launched its first diesel F-series in 1983. Read More: Diesel Cars: The Pros & Cons Custom from the Factory Personalizing trucks with custom wheels, tires, and performance bits is a long-standing tradition, but with the Li'l Red Express Truck, Dodge cut out the middle person and offered a custom truck right from the factory. The Li'l Red Express came with a 360-cubic-inch V-8 equipped with a four-barrel carburetor and various high-performance bits plucked from the police package. With dual exhaust stacks and no catalytic converter, the engine was good for 225 horsepower, and Car and Driver declared the truck the fastest domestic vehicle from zero to 100 mph after testing. Cosmetic upgrades included special wheels and wider tires plus real oak in the bed. A total of 7376 units were built during the course of its two-year run. An Import Oddball Never a manufacturer to shy away from quirkiness, Subaru's entry into the pickup market wasn't just another truck. Based on a GL sedan, the BRAT (Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter) was sort of a smaller take on an El Camino but with Subaru's obligatory all-wheel drive and two rear-facing seats in the bed. The reason for the jump seats was to dodge the so-called "chicken tax." Some manufacturers got around it by building stateside assembly plants. But by importing their trucks with seats in the back, Subaru was able to classify the BRAT as a car. Read More: These tiny big rigs are trucks like you've never seen them before Smaller Car-Based Pickups As the compact-pickup craze hit its peak in the era of rising fuel prices, smaller car-based models became available. Dodge enjoyed modest success with the Omni-based Rampage of 1982 84 (and sister model Plymouth Scamp), but it was the Volkswagen Rabbit pickup that really defined the category. Arriving for the 1980 model year, the Rabbit offered decent fuel mileage and relatively sporty handling for a truck. Based on the two-door hatchback, the pickup was identical from the front doors forward, sharing its independent suspension, front-wheel drive, and choice of four-cylinder gasoline or diesel engines. In order to accommodate a proper six-foot bed out back, the pickup's wheelbase was stretched to 103.3 inches, almost nine inches more than the hatchback. And it ditched the hatchback's independent rear suspension in favor of a solid rear axle for increased load capacity. An immediate hit, sales peaked at 37,392 in 1981. But cheaper gas and an increasing market for larger trucks quickly took their toll, and sales dropped to just 2079 two years later. U.S. sales ended after a five-year run, with a total of 75,947 produced. But sales continued in Europe and South Africa, where pickups with the unlikely name Caddy were produced into the 21st century. The Convertible Pickup If pickups are a lifestyle statement, a convertible version probably makes all the sense in the world. Or maybe not. Some softtop pickups from the 1920s and '30s could arguably be called convertibles, but the first manufacturer to go with the lifestyle idea was Dodge with the Dakota convertible of 1989 91. With a built-in roll bar and a manual top, all started out as conventional pickups and were transformed by the American Sunroof Corporation (ASC). Available with rear- or four-wheel drive, they were equipped with a 3.9-liter V-6 engine and either a five-speed manual or a three-speed automatic transmission. A total of 2842 droptop Dakota pickups found homes the first year, but just 909 were sold in 1990. The rarest of these rare birds are the 1991 models, of which Chrysler says approximately eight were built. First Compact Muscle Truck The Syclone didn't even pretend to aspire to truck duty in the traditional sense. Its 500-pound payload capacity took care of that. But with a turbocharged and intercooled 4.3-liter V-6 good for 280 horsepower, full-time four-wheel drive, a lowered suspension, and fat, sticky tires, the Syclone was not only a quick truck, it was among the fastest production vehicles you could buy in 1991. In an infamous test pitting a Syclone against a then-new Ferrari 348ts, Car and Driver recorded a zero-to-60-mph time of 5.3 seconds with the GMC and a quarter-mile time of 14.1 seconds at 93 mph. Both were faster than the Ferrari. Syclone production was canceled after just three examples were built for the 1992 model year, with a total run of just under 3000 units. First Full-Size Japanese Pickup Compact Japanese pickups established a reputation for reliability in the 1970s and had been a familiar sight on U.S. roads for decades before Toyota and Nissan made a move toward building full-size models. Still, encroaching on the territory of this most American of vehicles was risky business. To smooth their way, Toyota elected to build its truck in the U.S., and Nissan followed suit when its larger, more aggressively styled Titan was introduced for the 2003 model year. Both were available with V-8 power and the same assortment of cab and bed configurations as their American counterparts. Where the first Tundra was a refined and reliable package, it looked almost delicate compared with its competition, and it didn't resonate all that well with traditional truck buyers. A larger and more macho redesign arrived for the 2007 model year to a lot of hype and was even used to tow a 292,000-pound space shuttle to help prove its street cred. Research the Nissan Titan on MSN Autos The Pickup/SUV Mashup Combining the virtues of a pickup and a full-size SUV, the Chevrolet Suburban based Avalanche had four doors, a folding rear seat, and a clever "Midgate" partition between the cab and the bed that could be stowed to enable the truck to haul full sheets of plywood in an eight-foot bed. Available with two- or four-wheel drive, the Avalanche came standard with a locking plastic cover that helped keep bed contents out of sight. The Cadillac Escalade EXT was a more luxurious take on the same package. Avalanche sales peaked in the 2003 calendar year, when 93,482 were sold in the United States. By 2011, that number had fallen to about 20,000 units. The 2013 model year marked the end of the line for both. Research Chevrolet's Latest Models on MSN Autos Luxury-Brand Pickups The term Cowboy Cadillac has long been used to describe pickup trucks dressed up with luxury features, but Lincoln was the first to try a luxury-brand pickup back in 2002. Based on a four-door Ford F-150, the Blackwood had a more posh interior and a short, 56.3-inch bed. Its utility was further limited by full carpeting in the cargo area, which was trimmed with stainless steel and unlikely to be used for transporting dirty cargo. A power-operated tonneau cover was included, however, so at least the carpet was protected from the elements. Not much of a success, just 3356 examples were sold before Lincoln pulled the plug after one year. Undaunted, the brand tried again with the Mark LT, a slightly more traditional pickup sold from 2006 to '08. That too, found few takers. Topping the Sales Charts Chances are, Henry Ford knew he was onto something when he introduced the Model T pickup back in 1925. He might have even guessed that a pickup bearing his name would eventually become the biggest-selling truck in the U.S. for 39 years and counting. But it's unlikely that even Henry could've hoped that the F-series would become the bestselling vehicle in America, a title it has held since 1982. Even a controversial 2015 redesign that brought a switch to a weight-saving aluminum body and greater emphasis on six-cylinder power in a market not known for radical change has been taken in stride by buyers, who continued to snap up a new Ford pickup every 41 seconds on average last year. Henry would be proud, even if he might not get the idea of a pickup with a dual-pane sunroof and a heated steering wheel. At least you can still get it in black. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 98,174 | autos |
PHOENIX (AP) Police were searching Wednesday for the parents of a newborn baby girl who was left in front of a suburban Phoenix home, her umbilical cord still attached. "At this point, our detectives have kind of exhausted all of our initial possible leads that we had," Mesa police spokesman Steve Berry said at a news conference. "We have had no success in locating either Mom or Dad for this child." The 7-pound-8-ounce infant remained hospitalized, but doctors said she appeared to be healthy. Police estimate she was hours old when she was found, Berry said. James and Roseanne McCulloh said their son spotted a baby carrier on top of an irrigation box Tuesday morning while he was standing on the front porch. He then gently removed a metal panel that was on top of it. "I saw him jump 20 feet, and he said 'There's a baby in it,' " Roseanne McCulloh said. "I ran over there. She wasn't blue. I touched her little arm, and I opened up the blanket. She was just beautiful." The girl was wrapped in a blanket, but there was nothing else in the carrier. The couple brought her inside and called 911. Roseanne McCulloh warmed up a blanket in the microwave while her husband wiped the baby down. Emergency responders showed up and transported the girl to the hospital. Roseanne McCulloh said she believes the baby was left there around 2 a.m. She said her daughter recalls hearing noise from their irrigation box through her bedroom window around that time. Mesa police are asking anyone who may have been in the area Tuesday morning to come forward, Berry said. Investigators want to speak with anyone who remembers seeing a woman or a vehicle or anything suspicious. As of Wednesday afternoon, police hadn't received any calls with possible new leads since holding the news conference. Investigators do not believe the mother gave birth at any hospital. Berry said no medical facility would have let an infant leave with "a full umbilical cord attached." Arizona has a Safe Haven Law that allows a person to leave a newborn at certain locations such as fire stations, hospitals and churches without fear of criminal prosecution. Police are wondering why the parents essentially left the baby on the sidewalk when there is a fire station about half a mile away, Berry said. "Fortunately, the homeowner did happen to come out to the house and discovered the baby," he said. The infant, who police are calling "Baby Jane," is described as either Hispanic or Native American with black hair. If nobody claims the baby, she will be put into the custody of the Arizona Department of Child Safety and likely placed in a foster home. | 5 | 98,175 | news |
Volkswagen AG's top U.S. executive is stepping down nearly six months after the German automaker admitted to installing software to allow 580,000 diesel U.S. vehicles to emit excess emissions, the company said on Wednesday. Michael Horn, who has been president and chief executive officer of Volkswagen of America since 2014, is leaving by mutual agreement "to pursue other opportunities effective immediately," VW said. Horn could not immediately be reached. A lawyer for Horn did not immediately return a call seeking comment. The German automaker said on an interim basis, Hinrich J. Woebcken, who was recently named the new head of the North American Region and chairman of Volkswagen Group of America, will assume Horn's role. Horn's departure comes as VW continues to negotiate with California, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency on possible fixes or buybacks for the diesel vehicles. It faces a March 24 deadline to tell a federal judge whether it has an acceptable fix. A top California official told state lawmakers Tuesday that VW may only be able to mount a partial fix and may have to pay to mitigate the harm caused by allowing vehicles to remain on the road. During the initial response to the crisis, Horn was VW's public face in the United States, apologizing days after the scandal became public and testifying before Congress. "Let's be clear about this: our company was dishonest - with the EPA and the California Air Resources Board - and with all of you. And in my German words: We totally screwed up. We must fix those cars," Horn said in New York on Sept. 21. In October, Horn told a U.S. House of Representatives panel that VW's supervisory board and top leadership did not intentionally order the cheating, but said it was the work of a few individuals. Asked by Rep. Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas, if it made sense that a company like VW could allow a fraud to go on for seven years without top leaders knowing, Horn was blunt. "I agree it is very hard to believe," he said. "Some people made the wrong decisions." Horn told Congress he had no knowledge of the cheating. He became CEO based at VW's U.S. headquarters in Herndon, Virginia following the resignation of his predecessor, Jonathan Browning who abruptly resigned after VW brand sales fell in 2013. Sales fell despite an aggressive plan announced in 2008 by VW to triple sales in 10 years. | 3 | 98,176 | finance |
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The 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS has been making a name for itself since it launched late last year, and while we thought the 455-hp Camaro was good enough to take the title of 2016 Motor Trend Car of the Year , the guys at Hennessey believed it could be even better. Hennessey Performance (HPE) set out to boost horsepower by increasing airflow through the engine. The team started with an HPE600 naturally aspirated engine upgrade, added CNC ported cylinder heads, camshaft, and valvetrain upgrades. Kooks 1 7/8-inch long-tube stainless steel headers, high-flow catalytic converters and a high-flow intake manifold were also added, which bumped the horsepower to 605 bhp at 6,500 rpm. But the team didn't stop there. A nitrous-oxide kit was thrown in the mix to deliver another 150 hp. The team also used a GM Performance Parts lowered suspension system and equipped the Hennessey Camaro with lightweight 20-inch Hennessey H10 wheels wrapped in Continental ContiSportContact 5P tires. "Last year we built and tested one of our specially-prepared Ford Mustangs to over 200 mph. So it just seemed natural to take the latest Gen 6 Camaro SS and try to push the boundaries of performance. In this case, we felt like breaking 200 mph would be a great way to validate our 2016 Camaro SS performance upgrade program," said John Hennessey, president and company founder, in a release. This isn't even the most potent state of tune Hennessey offers for the 2016 Camaro. The tuner's HPE750 upgrade adds a TVS2300 supercharger that brings output to 751 hp and 643 lb-ft of torque (649 rear-wheel hp according to HPE's Dynojet chassis dyno) without nitrous. Source: Hennessey Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 98,179 | autos |
Compare a beautifully restored muscle car with shiny paint to an unrestored, weathered-paint example. Both have their place, but only one can be replaced. The restored car can always be restored again, but the original, unrestored car is only original once. Like the research project that rightly depends on primary sources, the original, unrestored car is the best resource for a proper restoration. Call it rolling history, a time capsule, or a miracle, leaving a car alone might be the best course of action. An untouched muscle car provides the ultimate history lesson for OE assembly-line methods and procedures. The Pennsylvania-based original owner of this unrestored 1965 Chevrolet Impala SS wanted a muscle car, but needed both a family car and a tow vehicle for his small fishing boat. For that reason, the sporty Corvette and midsize Chevelle were deemed not practical. However, the newly designed 1965 Impala SS seemed to address most of the needs of the Vietnam veteran and his young family. Smart work on the order sheet and 24 years of meticulous care resulted in the preservation of a remarkable automobile. In the summer of 1989, Tom Dietz of St. Charles, Illinois, was at the car show in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He spotted this Regal Red Impala SS on the road to the car corral. Noting that the car rolled backward on an incline start, Tom realized the car was stick and jogged over to speak to the owner. Thanks to the original owner's job perk of a company truck, the big four-speed Chevrolet showed only 8,900 original miles. The 327ci, 250hp, four-barrel engine transferring power through the Muncie M20 four-speed to the 12-bolt open rear with 3.55 gears was certainly adequate for miles with smiles. Dietz worked out a number with the owner and drove his newly acquired Impala SS home. In addition to the aforementioned drivetrain, this Impala SS is nicely equipped. The bucket seat SS interior with center console is dressed up with optional two-spoke wood wheel, tachometer-and-gauges package, tilt wheel, AM/FM radio with rear speaker, shaded Soft Ray glass, and factory floor mats. Additional options include painted pinstripes, power steering, power brakes, heavy-duty suspension, and factory air shocks. This car was properly equipped to handle occasional fishing trips. The condition of the Impala SS combined with its fastback styling make for one of the best-looking big cars ever produced by Chevrolet. Chevrolet's fullsize line set record sales for 1965. The styling looks as fresh and exciting as it did back in 1965. This particular Impala SS is certainly one of the best-preserved examples on the planet. As far as Tom knows, only the water pump and tires have been replaced. Every other component is original and properly preserved. Though there are a few imperfections on the car from its limited road trips, the Regal Red Chevrolet is regal in splendor. Built during the fourth week of February 1965, Dietz's Impala SS might have been perfect had the original owner opted for either the 409/340 or the 409/400hp engine. Had he waited a couple extra months, he could have checked the box for the newly introduced big-block 396/325 or even the 396/425 monster motor. Regardless, this car is astounding just the way it sits, with a very desirable list of options and the pedigree of two owners who have properly left the car untouched for 51 years. At a Glance 1965 Impala SS Owned by: Tom Dietz, St. Charles, IL Restored by: Unrestored original Engine: 327ci/250hp V-8 Transmission: Muncie M20 wide-ratio 4-speed manual Rearend: 12-bolt with 3.55 gears Interior: Black vinyl bucket seat Wheels: 14x6 factory steel with SS hubcaps Tires: P215/75R14 Sentry Macho Special parts: 11,335 original miles The 1965 Impala SS came standard with the sporty SS hubcaps. New styling for the 1965 model year retained the 119-inch wheelbase but saw the overall length of the car grow to 213 inches. The larger girth was supported by a newly designed perimeter frame, replacing the previous X-frame design. Tom Dietz's original unrestored Impala SS is equipped with the optional 327ci/250hp engine. The single-snorkel air cleaner sits atop the unrestored, not rebuilt, engine. As far as Tom has been able to tell, only the water pump has been replaced. Everything else is factory original. Even the original 51-year-old exhaust system is still in place. That white paint on this data plate is factory original and was applied after the firewall had been painted black. The white paint apparently made the plate easier to read as the car made its trip down the assembly line. The code "O2D" reveals that the car was built the fourth week of February, 1965. The Impala's interior is spectacular, especially since it was augmented by the OE wood wheel and tach-and-gauges package. The low-mileage original retains the factory four-speed shifter, console, door panels with brightwork, and handsome chrome-trimmed bucket seats. The optional factory 6,000-rpm tachometer in the dashboard works great, just like everything else on the car. The console clock is as-delivered and has not been rebuilt. The lens is faded and worn, but Dietz has rightly decided to leave it in original condition. The pinstripes were a high priority item for the original owner. Over time, the pinstripes have worn away in some areas. For the preservationist, these pinstripes are historical evidence of originality. The trunk hinge and trunk were painted together, but then shims were added to adjust panel fitment. The unpainted area under the hinge, as well as the unpainted shims, tell the story. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 98,180 | autos |
Let's discover the city of Dubai, which is know for its magnificent tourism and luxurious shopping malls. Top 15 places in Dubai you should visit More and more people are visiting Dubai on vacation, and for obvious reasons beautiful hotels, wonderful food and amazing views. Let's take a look at the top 15 places you shouldn't miss when you're in this magnificent city. Dubai Mall The second largest mall in the world, the Dubai Mall boasts a luxury hotel, 100 restaurants, over 20 cinema screens and 1,200 shops. If you are visiting with children, there's plenty for them to do, including the Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre. It's also worth visiting the mall during annual events such as food and shopping festivals. Dubai Dolphinarium This air-conditioned, modern marine facility covers 54,000 square feet and can seat around 1,250 people. It houses seals and dolphins, including five Black Sea bottlenose dolphins and four Northern fur seals. The dolphinarium is supported by the Dubai government and organizes various kids activities such as birthday parties, summer camps and field trips. Burj Khalifa A trip to Dubai would not be complete without visiting the tallest man-made structure in the world the Burj Khalifa. The supertall skyscraper stands at 2,722 feet and has won several awards for its architecture. Don't forget to visit the observation deck on the 124th floor called "At the Top" the highest observation deck in the world offering breathtaking views of the city. Ski Dubai Only in Dubai could you experience the thrills of skiing in the Middle East. Ski Dubai, an indoor ski resort, is a 242,187 square-foot facility that offers an 85-meter-high indoor mountain with 5 slopes. The daily temperature is maintained at 30 degrees and 21 degrees at night. Jumeirah Mosque Another beautiful landmark to visit in the city is the Jumeirah Mosque. The picturesque structure can house up to 1,200 worshippers and is built from white stones in the medieval Fatimid tradition. If possible, visit the mosque in dusk when it's beautifully lit. Dubai Fountain Set on the Burj Khalifa lake, the Dubai Fountain is the world's largest choreographed fountain system. The fountain is illuminated by over 6,000 lights and about 20 color projectors. It sprays more than 20,000 gallons of water in the air that reaches up to 902.2 feet. Atlantis The resort located on Palm Jumeirah was the first to be built on the island and is based on the myth of Atlantis. The Atlantis is flanked by the Aquaventure water park and the popular Nasimi Beach. Dubai Autodrome The Dubai Autodrome is a 'Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile' (FIA) sanctioned motorsports circuit that is 3.3 miles long. The multi-purpose motor sports facility hosted the December 2005 A1 Grand Prix and the FIA GT Championship from 2004 to 2006. Palm Jumeirah The smallest of the three Palm islands (the other two are Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira), Palm Jumeirah extends into the Persian Gulf. At 3.4 miles long, it is one of the largest artificial islands in the world. Gold Souk This market (or souk) is located in Deira, the heart of Dubai's commercial business district. The souk has more than 300 retailers that trade entirely in jewelry. It's estimated that 10 tons of gold is available in the market at any given time. Wild Wadi Water Park Located near Jumeirah, the Wild Wadi Water Park used to feature the largest water slide outside of North America, but it was removed in order to make space for two new rides. It has been featured on a few episodes of "Amazing Race" internationally. Dubai creek The saltwater creek traditionally divided the city into two main sections, Deira and Bur Dubai. The creek ends at Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary. As the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club is beside the creek, this stop is a must visit for those who want to try their hand at golf. Burj Al Arab The third tallest hotel in the world stands on an artificial island. The design of this hotel resembles the sail of a ship. Don't miss the opportunity to stay at this 5-star hotel while you're in Dubai - if you can afford the luxury. Dubai Museum This museum is located in the Al Fahidi Fort, which was built in 1787 and is the oldest structure in Dubai. The museum showcases the traditional way of life in Dubai. April to August is the museum's most visited times of the year. The World Islands The artificial group of small islands was constructed in the shape of a world map in the waters of the Persian Gulf. It is located 2.5 miles off the coast of Dubai. | 2 | 98,181 | travel |
Larry Fisette took no for an answer, but from 1988 until 2015 he kept asking the same question: "Are you ready to sell the car?" The car was a brand-new 1978 Corvette Indy Pace Car, stored for 37 years. Today, Fisette owns and operates the De Pere Auto Center in De Pere, Wisconsin. Larry's hobby is finding old cars. He has proven to be quite the sleuth. However, in 1988, the affable car enthusiast took a job as Used Car Manager at a small Chevy dealership in the little town of Markesan, Wisconsin. Today, that dealership is long gone and the building has been converted into a repair shop. While working at this job, Fisette heard about the '78 Pace Car stowed in a building not far from the dealership. Hmm, was this car for sale? The answer was a cool, crisp no from Fred Mathwak, the former owner of the dealership when the 1978 Pace Cars, one per dealership, became the target of a national "feeding frenzy." All over America, buyers went wild over the highly touted "limited production" Pace Cars. Prices went $5,000 over sticker. Some cars, we have heard, sold as high as $25,000 on an MSRP in the $14,000 vicinity. Many dealerships took their profit on Pace Cars, but some, like Fred, hung onto their instant classics, thinking this Vette was a car for the ages. Fred put a little over 100 miles on his Pace Car, and then squirreled the car away in storage as an investment for his grandson John. That's why Fred turned down Fisette's ambitious offer to buy the '78 in 1988. By this time, Fred was no longer in the car business. He had already willed his '78 to his grandson. Before Fred died (about 10 years ago), he gave the car to his grandson. The vehicle still with original plastic on the seats and unprepped changed storage buildings. Meanwhile, Fisette, ever the diligent car sleuth, kept track of his Corvette prey. He called John periodically. Oddly enough, the grandson did not put the Pace Car on the road. Like his grandfather, John kept the Vette in storage. But, eventually Fisette got his way. One day John called and said he was ready to sell. Wow, 27 years had passed since Fisette's first buy inquiry in 1988. The '78 Pace Car was parked in a small garage under a car cover surrounded by "stuff." The tires were flat. "You couldn't see there was a car there." Fisette snapped a few photos with his cell phone and then went in for the kill, literally. "I thought it would be full of dead mice. I was worried sick cause I thought when I opened the door it would stink, but it didn't." Fisette believes the wooden garage with "no sweating" was, for whatever reason along with luck why there were no rodents. After 37 years, the Corvette Pace Car woke up from its long sleep. The original tires aired right up, and incredibly with a fresh battery the 350 small-block V-8 fired up. "I didn't even put gas in the carburetor," Fisette said. "The car still had its original oil filter and spark plugs. We didn't change any of that. The car didn't overheat or do anything wrong, just worked." As the pictures show, the Vette cleaned up to look mint. Fisette resold the '78 to a collector who is "in love" with the Vette so much he has already built a special building for storage. Apparently, mileage will stay at 140 and the car will be stored put back to sleep for who knows how many years. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 98,182 | autos |
Vietnam veteran Bruce Jensen ordered his 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 straight from the battlefield and the two have been together ever since. Nineteen-year-old Northport, New York, resident Butch Jensen received his draft papers in March 1968. The Vietnam War was in full swing halfway around the world and the Long Island teenager was about to get a full ride to the Southeast Asian battleground, courtesy of Uncle Sam. When his marching orders came, Butch proudly packed himself up and headed to infantry school at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, for basic training. He was soon assigned to the 1st Infantry Division (the famed "Big Red One") as an 81mm mortar man. In August 1968, the young soldier was sent to the battlefield to fight. When infantryman Jensen wasn't thinking about dodging impending danger, or how he was going to effectively return home in one piece, he often thought about his future life after he returned home to the States. Being a car guy through and through, he frequently thought about the new ride he was going to buy with his saved military wages on his return to Long Island. Coming from a Ford-infused family, Butch's first choice was a Mustang Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet. It was definitely a potent Pony, and was a car his Blue Oval loving family figured a young car guy like Butch would buy. But that just wasn't in the cards. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook Chevy Stray In April 1969, Butch's squad leader Al Jenicek finished his tour of duty and left Vietnam. With that move, the young Long Islander was bumped up to Sergeant and made the troop's new commander out on the battlefield. It was a big jump up the ladder for the freshman soldier. His buddy Al got back to the States and immediately started car shopping. The muscle car wars were in full bloom, and the ex-serviceman had an abundance of hot cars to choose from; many of which had high-horsepower powerplants raging under their bulging hoods. After Al picked his new ride, he sent a letter to Butch with a photo of the new car he had chosen. Interestingly enough, his choice was a 1969 Dusk-Blue-skinned Camaro Z/28. When Butch received Al's letter and spied the photo, to say he was blown away would be an understatement. The lines, the stripes, the aggressive stance; that picture gripped Butch's attention like a turbo-powered torque wrench. That Mustang he had once longed for became an afterthought. Butch knew instantly he had to have one of these new Camaros to call his own. More classic cars on MSN Autos Battlefield P.O. Even though he was surrounded by life-threatening situations, Butch couldn't throw the idea of pre-ordering a set of "hot wheels" for his return home. But being entrenched in a major war and locked down on a battlefield 6,000 miles from Long Island definitely made the process of ordering a car a difficult task. So with that thought, he did what he could do; he sent a letter to his parents, stating he wanted them to help him purchase a new Z/28, and have it there and ready for when he was done with his tour of duty; four long months down the road. Like any set of loving parents, the Jensen's did their best to comply with their son's wishes. With only the words he wrote in his letter home to go on, they went to BF Chevrolet in East Northport, New York, and ordered the car their son lusted after. Since Butch was actively engaged in battle, and had only the picture and short description Al had given him of the car, the process was rather simple. The Jensen's just asked for "a 1969 Z/28 Camaro in Dusk Blue." That was it. No frills, no add-ons, no options. Nothing. The car that the Jensen's ordered for their hero son was as bare-bones as you could get, and exactly what the young soldier wanted. A simpler purchase order would be pretty hard to find these days. Rods & Customs on MSN Autos D-livery Day Once Butch's new Camaro came in at the dealership, it was quickly delivered to the Jensen house and lovingly placed in the garage for safekeeping and the arrival of their son. And, knowing that his brand-new ride was back home waiting for him must have given Butch stomach knots. But, he still had time to serve, and had to keep his wits about him. Over the next four months, Butch battened down. He blew off any R&R he was offered so he could save more of his wages to pay for his Camaro-in-waiting. As time rolled by, the youngster led his troops onward, making it through the summer unscathed. By August 1969 he had finally finished his tour in Vietnam and was ready to head home. He still owed seven months of service to the Army stateside, which was just fine by him. Butch came home to find his Camaro waiting for him in the garage. The Chevy was more beautiful in person than he had ever imagined. It was almost like a dream. The process that led him to this purchase seemed surreal, made possible only by his inner persistence and his parents' loving support. But in the end, his hard work and determination paid off. He was back in Long Island and he was ready to start his new life, in his new ride. Things just couldn't be any better. Motorcycles on MSN Autos His Z Butch's Camaro is as raw as possible. No options except for the Z/28 package were ordered with the car. The Dusk Blue paint was a must in Butch's eyes and the hood is the original flat-style, as he did not order the special cowl-induction piece. A standard vinyl interior was just fine with the owner, and his car received the full-length spoiler out back. No power steering, no power brakes or windows … this baby is as manual as it gets. Without a brochure or anything to order from, Butch had inadvertently skipped all the extras, and in the process got what he really needed a stripped down street burner, without all the bells and whistles. Classic trucks on MSN Autos Moving On After a month of R&R in Long Island, Butch had to report to duty in Washington State. So, after three weeks of breaking her in, the serviceman hopped in his new ride and drove the 3,000 miles to the left coast. Talk about a journey to clear your mind. One moment you're fighting for your life, and the next minute your living life beyond expectations … flogging the open road in the car of your dreams. Butch and his Z/28 were inseparable for the next 12 years. Love and then marriage came, and with them, a growing family blossomed. Still, the owner and machine found time together. Butch just loved showing off the "most beautiful car in the world" to the members of his local car scene. However, in 1981, 2 years after his third son was born, the Camaro was retired and sent to the garage to live out the next 33 years. Though it was out of use, the car never left its owner's thoughts. He knew one day the Z/28 would see daylight again. In 2014 that day came. The Z/28 was pulled out of storage and sent for a complete makeover. For the next 18 months the car was torn down, with every part going through an in-depth restoration process. To say it was a nut and bolt restoration would be an understatement. First off, the trusty 302 was removed and disassembled. Gary at The Performance Shop in West Babylon, New York, did the machine work and blueprinting. It was in relatively good shape when it was torn down, as it was still running well when parked. Mike Chirello at MVA Customs in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York, handled all the bodywork, and getting this Camaro back to its original form. Last but not least, Glenn Hunter at Hunter's Garage in East Northport, New York, handled all the mechanicals, the engine rebuild, and pulled this build together to reach its final state. What does the future hold? Well, Butch is making up for those three, long decades where the Z was out of commission as he now regularly flogs the beautifully restored Camaro around Long Island's North Shore, hitting the local shows and the cruise night scene. He's using the car for what it was intended, as it's no trailer queen. The car gets driven hard, and often, out on the local byways. And Butch, well, he just wouldn't have it any other way. More muscle cars on MSN Autos | 9 | 98,183 | autos |
Chrysler's Hemi is the dominant engine in drag racing, having played a vital part of the evolution of drag racing, which was started almost at the same time Chrysler introduced the engine in 1951. Since then Mopar performance cars have played an important role in the popularity of drag racing. And with the second-generation 426 Hemi showing up in 1964, it has become the basis for most every Top Fuel and alcohol car in drag racing ever since. Besides the Top Fuel and Funny Car entrants running virtually 100-percent Hemi-based cars, there were a bunch of Sportsman Mopars that made the trek to Famoso Raceway for the 57th annual March Meet in 2016. Classic muscle cars on MSN Autos Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 98,184 | autos |
A wrap up of the day in sports Fastball Chicago Cubs' Jake Arrieta throws during the second inning of a spring training game against the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday in Mesa, Ariz. Distance is not an issue Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) shoots the ball from from beyond the half court line against Utah Jazz on Wednesday in Oakland. Duck hunt Gabriel Landeskog #92 of the Colorado Avalanche puts a hit on Jamie McGinn #88 of the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday in Denver. The Avalanche won 3-0. It's tourney time Tennessee players and coaches celebrate late during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Auburn in the Southeastern Conference tournament on Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn. Tennessee won 97-59. Right across the face Philadelphia 76ers' Nerlens Noel, top, tries to block a shot by Houston Rockets' Dwight Howard on Wednesday in Philadelphia. The Rockets won 118-104. Solo save Hope Solo of the U.S. makes a save during a match against Germany in the 2016 SheBelieves Cup at FAU Stadium on Wednesday in Boca Raton, Fla. The U.S. won 2-1. Doubling up Texas Rangers second baseman Hanser Alberto, top, throws to first base to complete a double play after forcing out Cincinnati Reds shortstop Calten Daal at second base during the third inning at Goodyear Ballpark on Wednesday in Goodyear, Ariz. Keeping a grip Jordan Murphy, right, of the Minnesota Golden Gophers pulls a rebound away from Malcolm Hill of the Illinois Fighting Illini in the first round of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament on Wednesday in Indianapolis. Illinois won 85-52. A kiss for good luck Kevin Kiermaier of the Tampa Bay Rays kisses his bat in the dugout during a spring training game against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday in Port Charlotte, Fla. They're really into it The Boston Celtics dance team performs during a game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday in Boston. Zlatan has it easy Zlatan Ibrahimovic, left, of Paris Saint-Germain scores his team's second goal past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois of Chelsea during a UEFA Champions League round of 16, second-leg match at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday in London. Paris Saint-Germain won 2-1 to advance 4-2 on aggregate. Limp stick St. Louis Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko breaks his stick on a slap shot during the second period of an NHL game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday in St. Louis. The Blues won 3-2. Joining the hit parade Milwaukee Brewers' Michael Reed connects for a hit as Kansas City Royals' Salvador Perez, right, looks on during the first inning of a spring training game on Wednesday in Surprise, Ariz. Tough to guard Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas, right, passes the ball against Memphis Grizzlies forward Matt Barnes, center, and forward P.J. Hairston on Wednesday in Boston. The Celtics won 116-96. In the clouds Australian BMX rider Bodi Turner poses during a portrait session at Nerang BMX Club on Wednesday in Gold Coast, Australia. Benfica advances to quarters Zenit St. Petersburg's Artem Dzyuba, right, in action against Benfica's Ljubomir Fejsa during a UEFA Champions League round of 16, second-leg match at Petrovsky stadium on Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Russia. Benfica won 2-1 to advance 3-1 on aggregate. A gap in the defense Saint Louis guard Davell Roby, left, and forward Reggie Agbeko, right, defend George Mason guard Marquise Moore during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the Atlantic 10 men's tournament on Wednesday in New York. Saint Louis won 83-78. One out will have to do New York Mets' Neil Walker, bottom, is forced out at second as New York Yankees second baseman Dustin Ackley fails to turn the double play during the second inning of a spring training game on Wednesday in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Predatory stop Carter Hutton #30 of the Nashville Predators makes a save against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday in Calgary. The Flames won 3-2. Helping hand Defending champion Jordan Spieth invites a young spectator, 11-year-old Manny Santos of Tampa, Florida, to take a turn putting with Spieth's putter at the 11th green during the Valspar Championship Pro-Am at Innisbrook Resort - Copperhead Course on Wednesday in Palm Harbor, FL. Charging ahead Georgetown guard Tre Campbell, top, shoots against DePaul guard Darrick Wood in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game during the Big East men's tournament on Wednesday in New York. Georgetown won 70-53. Head in his hand Rafael Nadal of Spain holds up a picture of himself during day three of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Wednesday in Indian Wells, Calif. Slide in time Denard Span of the San Francisco Giants safely slides into third base in the first inning of the spring training game against the Colorado Rockies at Scottsdale Stadium on Wednesday in Scottsdale, Ariz. Gunning for gold Marie Dorin Habert of France on her way to winning the gold medal during the IBU Biathlon World Championships women's 15km Individual on Wednesday in Oslo, Norway. Down but not out Duke Blue Devils guard Grayson Allen (3) dives to pass the ball against North Carolina State Wolfpack on Wednesday in Washington, DC. The Blue Devils won 92-89. Balancing act Washington State Cougars cheerleaders perform during the team's first-round game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the Colorado Buffaloes on Wednesday in Las Vegas. Colorado won 80-56. Flipping over Luiz Junior (white) of Brazil fights with Edu Ramos of Brazil during the 81kg men's category at the International Judo Tournament at the Olympic Park on Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Man in the mirror Omar Mosaad of Egypt (L) plays a forehand during his quarter-final match against Daryl Selby of Great Britain (C) during day three of the Canary Wharf Squash Classic 2016 at the East Wintergarden on Wednesday in London. Saving six Ireland's Gary Wilson jumps in the air to stop a sixer during the ICC World Twenty20 2016 cricket tournament against Oman at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium on Wednesday in Dharmsala, India. Mop squad Team Ontario skip Glenn Howard (2nd R) discusses a shot with teammates Adam Spencer (L), Richard Hart (2nd L) and Scott Howard during their draw against Team Northern Ontario at the Brier curling championships on Wednesday in Ottawa, Canada. | 1 | 98,185 | sports |
USA TODAY Sports breaks down the biggest deals on a busy first day of free agency. | 1 | 98,186 | sports |
In the hot rod world of NHRA Top Fuel dragsters and twin-turbo everything, an engine that makes 1,500 hp sounds, dare we say, normal. Heck, we put a street-legal Camaro with 3,600 hp on the cover of the February issue of HOT ROD Magazine. So we were tempted to act unimpressed when Bugatti released its new hypercar, the Chiron (pronounced "shir-on") at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. Then we saw pictures of the quad-turbo, W16 (16 cylinders, packaged in a W configuration) in all of its carbon-fiber and titanium-laden glory. We also realized the Chiron outputs more than twice the power of our late-model hot rod halo cars, the Hellcat Charger and Challenger. That being said, we can't help but join our friends over at Motor Trend and Automobile as they drool over this new production car benchmark. While the Bugatti Chiron this engine comes in also looks pretty nice, all we really care about is that motor, so we'll stop beating around the bush and get to the good stuff. The engine is a W16, meaning it has eight cylinders on one side of the V and eight more cylinders on the other side. The Chiron's 8.0L engine makes a respectable 1,500 hp and 1,165 lb-ft of torque but the astonishing thing isn't simply the peak power figures, it's how the power is delivered. If you looked at a dyno-chart for the Chiron, the line indicating its horsepower climbs nice and linear all the way to its peak. The torque curve isn't much of a torque curve at all because it jumps to its peak by 2,000 rpm and stays there until 6,000 rpm. A power-band like the Chiron's seems like witchcraft, but in reality it's all thanks to the Bugatti engineers. Bugatti developed the four turbochargers in-house and set them up to work in pairs. The first two turbos are said to begin to spool at just 700 rpm while the other two lay dormant until about 3,800 rpm before kicking in to maintain a steady torque curve through the rest of the rev-range. To save weight, Bugatti used carbon fiber for the intake tubes, charge air system, and timing chain housing. The exhaust is made almost entirely of titanium, even the mufflers or "silencers" as Bugatti calls them. Finally, Bugatti built its own seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT) and full-time all-wheel-drive system to reliably handle the engine's brutal power. To transfer power from the motor to the DCT, Bugatti claims to have fit the largest high-performance clutch ever offered in a passenger car. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 98,187 | autos |
He's bringing sexy back from prison. Jeremy Meeks' beautiful mugshot was plastered all over the Internet after he was arrested in June 2014 for gun possession. He was sentenced in July 2015 to 27 months in prison and was reportedly released on Wednesday to the delight of many online admirers. The "hot convict" or "sexy felon" as he was quickly labeled is now embarking on a whole new journey: modeling. After his mugshot was posted to the Stockton Police Department's Facebook page, it racked up more than 100,000 likes. On March 3, the 30-year-old posted a photo to Instagram showing off his striking blue eyes and tear drop tattoo with the caption, "Looking forward to reuniting with my family. Counting down the days. #6days #spreadtheword." The J Meeks Official Instagram account also shared a photo of a shirtless Meeks steering a boat with the caption "Looking forward to my time on the lake with my kids." The married father of three is starting to put the pieces of his modeling career together, his agent Jim Jordan told BuzzFeed News . "We're putting everything in place," Jordan said. "We're in talks with a lot of different agencies. There's movies on the table. We have a lot of different things happening." Before he entered the Mendota Federal Correctional Institution, he already signed with two Hollywood agents and had his sights set on a reality TV deal. Jordan also told BuzzFeed that Meeks prison pals were "real nice to him." [email protected] | 5 | 98,188 | news |
Rarely do I jump at a moment's notice to go document something. Usually a car has been sitting for decades, and I plan to search out the car when I have the time. Other times, when the car is so rare, and the circumstances changing so quickly, I have to move fast to get the story. Getting a lead on a real 1969 SCCA Trans-Am Camaro definitely fit into the latter category. A gentleman by the name of Jeff and I had kept in contact through the years on various cars he had uncovered. Most of the time I couldn't make it out to Ohio to follow up with him before he got the car out of the barn, garage, or wherever it was hiding. But once the stars aligned, I booked it out to Ohio to follow up on this car, which had been untouched for nearly 40 years. Jeff told me he heard from a friend about the car and some parts. He followed up with the owner and was able to purchase the Camaro. Unfortunately, the car had been buried for decades in an old metal building on the back of the property. Jeff gathered a crew of friends to help him dig it out on a Saturday morning. All I knew going in was it was an old SCCA race car. When I got there, it turned out, my expectations were much, much too low. Check out all the latest on MSN Autos Our little caravan pulled onto the property where the car was stored, and the owner met us outside his home. Judging by what I saw from the drive onto the property, I could tell this was going to be a memorable day. Cars were everywhere. Engines were hidden in the weeds. In the back was this large metal storage building with its doors wide open. And there, sitting just to the right of the giant maw was a rusting hulk of a Camaro, with no front sheetmetal to speak of. It took me a moment to realize this was the car we were there for. Sunk into the dirt floor was the mythical racer I had been hearing about, a true 1969 Camaro Z/28 SCCA racer. The owner had the foresight to keep every single piece of paperwork back to the beginning. Every note from Chevrolet on how to convert the car to SCCA trim, order sheets, diagrams, this car had everything from the day it was ordered. And for nearly 40 years, it had been sitting in this metal shed, hidden from the world. Jeff started getting everyone organized. Not only had the car sunk into the dirt, but there were piles of cylinder heads, bikes, and other miscellaneous stuff blocking the car from getting out the door. While we brainstormed about how to remove the Camaro from its crypt, the owner told us how he had acquired the car. Ken Stoddart bought the car new in 1969 and had driven it in SCCA races east of the Mississippi up until about 1972 or 1974. At some point, Ken had worked with the current owner on a few things, and when all was said and done, the current owner got the remains of the racer. He never did anything with it, and the car basically sat in the metal building ever since. With at least a rough game plan, we started getting down to the business of digging out the Camaro. While they were working, the owner was kind enough to take me around his property and show me everything. Just what was in the building itself was mind boggling. Next to the Camaro was an old Chevrolet pickup, vintage motorcycles, another truck, Corvettes, stock cars, and more. And since the owner had been an engine builder, there were piles, shelves, and walls filled with Chevrolet engine parts. A complete 348 Tri-power engine was sinking into the dirt in one corner. Quick-change rearends were piled up here and there. It was incredible. Outside was nearly as good. A 1930s Durant sat next to a 1969 Camaro RS/SS 396 four-speed car that had seen better days. The Sunbeam Tiger the owner used to race was out there, along with the 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air that used to be home to the 348 in the building. An old Ford was sitting next to that. There was even a Lotus-based fiberglass shell sitting out back in the weeds. It took a few hours, but Jeff and his compadres removed enough of the stuff around the car to drag it out of the building. They backed up an old Ford Ranger, just small enough to get down the grass driveway, and hooked up to the Camaro. After a few tries, the Camaro began to move out from the building, front wheels rolling, back wheels dragging. The car had been sitting so long that the tires left indentations in the dirt. Slowly, the Ranger dragged the dilapidated Camaro from its slumber. In the slightly wet grass, the car left two long, muddy drag marks all the way to the road, as if it were saying it didn't want to go back out into the world. While the crew worked on a way to get a car that doesn't roll on a trailer without a winch the owner showed me his old machine shop. Scattered about everywhere were engines and parts, a Hilborn injection setup on a shelf in the corner, machines tucked up against the walls. In the middle of the room was the only engine on a stand, and it was fairly complete. The owner told me it was an original L88 Corvette engine. A real monster. And there it was, sitting in a dark, damp garage-turned-engine-shop. By the time we left the shop, the guys had figured out how to get the Camaro on the trailer, and it was just about loaded up. We were finally able to get a really good look in and underneath the car. It was rough, but all the important stuff was there. It had full documentation, everything matched up. So we were good to go. We thanked the previous owner again for the incredible day, and he was happy that the car was being saved. We left his shop full of stories to tell and plans to make for the future. Jeff is going to bring the car to the 2016 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals Barn Finds & Hidden Gems display, then undertake a full restoration into "as raced" condition. He already has a date-correct 302 and JL8 rearend, and there's more sitting on the shelf. We'll follow up with him as it comes together. It doesn't happen often, but there are times you can save a barn find. Michael Keyser photographed the Camaro in the 1970s while covering a few SCCA races. Here it is in its original paint scheme. Look past the Boss and you can see Michael Keyser caught the Camaro sans wheels after an axle problem. The Z/28 wasn't the only treasure on this property. This is one of many shelving units in the owner's shop full of Chevrolet engine parts, including cranks and heads. A pile of Chevrolet cylinder heads and blocks completely covers one corner of the building, just sitting on the dirt floor. Outside the building, this poor 1969 Camaro RS/SS 396 sits rusting away, missing the engine, sheetmetal, and just about everything else! A 348 Tri-power slowly sinks into the ground in the corner of the building. This engine used to power the owner's 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air. Sitting in the owner's old engine shop, this is purported to be an original L88 Corvette engine. This guy knew his Chevrolets, so I did not doubt it. To get the Camaro out of the barn for the first time in nearly 40 years, the little Ford Ranger needed some help. Finally, our first good look at the car with nothing else around it. It is rough, but all the important bits are there. The interior is basically gutted, but the rollcage is intact and looks to be unchanged from its time in SCCA. The motley crew that came together to help Jeff save this Camaro. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 98,189 | autos |
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In another example of dumb things people will do to take pictures of themselves, a Bulgarian tourist in Macedonia this week reportedly dragged a swan out of Lake Ohrid in order to get a selfie with it. Macedonia Online reports that witnesses said the swan 'remained motionless on the beach after the encounter', and later died. Shocked witnesses also described how the swan did not react to the woman walking up to it, as they are used to the presence of tourists visiting the town of Ohrid, which shares the lake's name. | 2 | 98,193 | travel |
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According to a report from Autocar, Honda may build an Acura NSX Type R to compete with the likes of the Porsche 911 GT3. Nick Robinson, dynamic development leader for the NSX, told Autocar that the Type R could help boost Honda's sporting image. Although the project hasn't yet received the green light, "there is a huge will within Honda to do it," Robinson says. Currently, the 2017 Acura NSX features a longitudinally mounted twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 with three electric motors (two in the front, one in the rear). Total output hits 573 hp and 569 lb-ft of torque. A Type R version could lose the two front electric motors and become a rear-wheel-drive model. Removing the motors would help shed precious pounds over the standard NSX. The use of other lightweight materials, while they may be expensive, could help drop weight further. Autocar imagines a scenario where only the rear motor, which would act as an alternator, remains along with a starter motor and flywheel. Autocar says Honda is racing a special rear-wheel-drive NSX at the Pikes Peak hill climb later this year. The Type R may have plenty of potential on the track, and Robinson even compared it to the 991-generation 911 GT3. "The GT3 is a very track-focused car. But for a Type R, of course, it could be a direct competitor," he said. As we previously reported, Acura benchmarked the Ferrari 458 Italia and 911 GT3 during the standard NSX's development. However, Robinson says the GT3 was only benchmarked for steering feel. Robinson said Honda will likely launch a convertible-roofed version of the NSX after the coupe heads to market. Losing the roof panel should make little difference in the model's torsional rigidity. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook Source: Autocar | 9 | 98,197 | autos |
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Snake in the Grass: A road-trip to an upholstery shop leads us to a 1967 Lime Gold Shelby GT500 fastback. While on an assignment in Georgia, documenting the Phil Bonner Thunderbolt restoration, I was asked if I'd be interested in going to the upholstery shop to look at the headliner and trim material samples for the car. I'd also been told that there was something beyond belief on the way to the shop that I needed to see. It was just before sunrise and as we got closer to the upholstery shop things started to lighten up a bit as the sun was on the rise. We turned right onto a gravel road, and I thought how tough it would be to get back into this rural country location without the Ford Excursion we were in. Heavy rain had settled in and soaked the area for days and it had taken a toll on the gravel road turning it into a washboard with divots, and potholes galore. As we slowly made our way along the road, I was forewarned about an interesting piece of yard art in the distance. As we got closer, I had to strain for a closer look, then rocked back in my seat as the object threw me for a loop. In my wildest dreams, I could not have prepared myself for the sight before me. Parked in a front yard, was a lime green (well, it used to be anyway) 1967 Shelby G.T. 500, with a tree, shrubs, and foliage overtaking the engine bay. The Shelby was missing the hood only to be replaced by vibrant green plant life. We turned into the driveway arriving at the upholstery shop and as we got out of the Excursion, I could see the "Snake in the grass" less than a football field away. One can imagine how the sight had my head spinning with curiosity, and questions about how a 1967 Shelby G.T. 500 could end up parked in a yard rotting away into the earth. More barn finds on MSN Autos After making our way into the building, I was introduced to the upholstery shop owner and during our conversation he mentioned his brother owned the Shelby, and it had been parked in the exact spot for 20 years or more. He pointed to a picture hanging on the shop wall and stated, "Back in 1967 it was the Crazy Horse drag car raced by Wayne Blackwood and owned by Casey Paul Ford in Cumming, Georgia. They owned and sponsored the Shelby as it made the rounds at local drag ways throughout Georgia and the southern region." He went on to tell me that prior to the body changes and launch of the new 1968 G.T. 500, someone from the dealership with connections at Carroll Shelby Motors worked out a deal to get all of the updated 1968 parts sent to the dealership so the 1967 Shelby could be transformed into a cosmetically correct 1968 model. Once the work was completed, Casey Paul Ford had a head start on the competition with the "new" 1968 Shelby G.T. 500 in the showroom. With hundreds of Ford dealerships around the US, and Canada anticipating the new 1968 model Shelby, being a first to have one in their showroom put Casey Paul Ford in a unique position. More Detroit iron on MSN Autos While discussing the picture on the wall with the upholstery shop owner, I asked if it would be okay to grab my Nikon and take pictures of the car. He thought for a minute and said, "go for it. I don't have a problem with it my brother has given me permission to allow certain people to get a closer look". After getting a condensed photo shoot of the car, I made my way to the shop and assured the owner that he and his brothers' identities would not be disclosed, and explained that I'd been driven to the location and never given an address. To this day, I do not know the address and going back to the exact location is totally out of the question. His brother purchased the Shelby over 30 years ago from a storage yard where it had been taken by the local authorities. The car had been stolen, then recovered and taken to the storage yard while the owner was contacted to pick it up. Time passed, but no one showed up at the holding yard to make a claim and pay the storage bill. Working with the local authorities the car was purchased and transported to this private location. Having sat idle for a long time, the new owner started out with a plan to restore the G.T. 500 back to way it looked when new. A closer look at the interior during the photo shoot revealed many genuine Ford Motor Company parts in their original wrappers sitting on the front and rear floorboards. The front and rear seats were gone as was the hood. The driver and passenger-side doors appeared to be repaired earlier at some time after the current owner had purchased it. I was further amazed to see a 427 cubic-inch engine block with a crank and camshaft resting on the driver's side floorpan surrounded by a set of pistons and other engine parts for the Shelby. Classic trucks on MSN Autos Here's where the story takes a turn and gets fascinating to say the least: On September 8th, I'm at Allen Restorations in Clarkesville, Georgia as the Bonner Thunderbolt undergoes the final preparations for paint. Donald Allen gives me the news that Wayne Blackwood is on his way to the shop to see the Thunderbolt get painted. Back in 1964 he was in the body shop at Al Mean Ford with Phil Bonner when the "Little Car" was painted burgundy the first time. Since he was on hand to witness the car being painted the first time around Allen thought it would be special to have Blackwood on hand the second time around. After introductions, I had an opportunity to spend quality time with Blackwood. We discussed the Bonner Thunderbolt in greater detail and then the Shelby came up. He went on to say it was indeed his Crazy Horse race car and backed up the story of how he'd driven it for Casey Paul Ford in Cumming, Georgia. He went onto to say the dealership received the necessary parts from Shelby Motors to convert the car into a 1968 model then placed in the showroom for promotional purposes. The car was a huge hit and drew people into the dealership to get a first-hand look at the changes for the new model year. It was a great marketing idea; the dealership had orders heading to Ford and Shelby Motors after customers had an opportunity to see the real thing in person, and not just a picture in a brochure. It was an amazing opportunity to meet Wayne Blackwood. During our conversation he asked if I'd seen his "Shelby Race Car." I told him yes I'd been taken to see it days before. He responded by simply saying, "I'd love to buy my race car" and we never discussed it the rest of the day. One has to wonder, what the future holds for the "Snake in the Grass" but for now it's most definitely not for sale, and is still sitting right where it was when I took these pictures. Muscle Cars & Hot Rods on MSN Autos Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 98,199 | autos |
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