Opinion: US credit rating downgrade

To me the US credit rating downgrade from AAA to AA+ is just another cog in this year’s economic locomotive, quickly picking up speed as it heads downhill.

Investing in shares (especially the right ones) is no easy task on a good day and the current economic problems in the US and Europe has made it even harder for investors.

US President Barack Obama has jumped from the fry pan into the fire and may well be toppled in the next election if another candidate can come up with a way in which he/she can solve the economic woes of the US.  

Fact of the day

There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

Source: http://www.tealdragon.net/humor/facts/facts.htm

Don't look down

The CN Tower in Toronto is offering thrill-seekers a chance to walk around the roof, outside the building!

The roof of Canada’s tallest building will be open to the public within a matter of days, offering daredevils the chance to dangle off the roof of the 365 metre-high building. 

The CN Tower in Toronto will allow people to walk around the circumference of the roof - outside and with no guard rail - when its new EdgeWalk attraction opens to the public on August 1.

Participants are connected to an overhead rail while they walk the 1.5 metre wide open-mesh metal walkway, allowing them to look down towards the tiny people below.

The $3.4 million attraction offers spectacular uninterrupted views of Toronto and gives many people a chance to overcome their fear of heights.

But it's definitely not for the faint-heated. The CEO of Canada Lands, Mark Laroche, has tried the experience four times and says, "my legs were shaking".

 

Tickets cost C$175 for the 30-minute experience.

The tower estimates that up to 12,000 people will try out the attraction each year. Tickets for the first public walk quickly sold out when it was opened last month.

Similar attractions exist in New Zealand (Auckland), Macau, China and Sydney.

Fact of the day

The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer.

Source: http://www.funfactz.com/business-facts/

Fact of the day

More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money printed throughout the world.

Source: http://www.tealdragon.net/humor/facts/facts.htm

Casey Stoner wins US Grand Prix, increases title lead

Australia’s Casey Stoner has increased his lead at the top of the MotoGP standings after a superb victory in the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca Raceway today.

Stoner overtook Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo with six laps remaining on the tricky circuit to claim the victory and take his points total to 193, 20 more than defending world champion Lorenzo, who had started from pole despite a crash in practice on Saturday. 


Stoner’s teammate Dani Pedrosa finished third.

Stoner won in 43min 52.145sec, more than five seconds ahead of Lorenzo, for his fifth victory of the season.

Lorenzo led for much of the race until Stoner surged past him, winning by 5.634 seconds.

Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso finished fifth behind teammate Ben Spies. Dovizioso remains in third on the MotoGP standings with 143 points.

The Ducatis of Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden finished sixth and seventh.

France's Randy de Puniet didn't start after suffering two broken vertebrae and a suspected broken pelvis when he crashed his Ducati in qualifying on Saturday.

South African 'corpse' wakes up and scares morgue staff

Approximately 24 hours after being transported to a morgue in South Africa, a 50-year-old man gave two staff members the fright of their lives after he woke up and requested to be taken out of the “cold place”.

Sizwe Kupelo, a spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Health Department said that the two mortuary attendants who were on duty fled the building, thinking they had seen a ghost.

“The man’s family called a private undertaker who took what they thought was a dead body to the morgue, but the man woke up inside the morgue and screamed, demanding to be taken out of the cold place,” Kupelo said.

The man was taken to a hospital where he was treated for exposure as he had been subjected to extreme cold for nearly 24 hours.

Cadel Evans becomes first Australian to win the Tour de France

Cadel Evans has officially etched his place in sporting history, becoming the first Australian to win the Tour de France. The 34-year-old is the oldest rider to win the Tour de France since World War II.

At the beginning of the final stage of the 2011 Tour de France Cadel Evans was still 95kms away from swapping his water bottle for a glass of champagne.

Andy Schleck finished second overall for the third time in a row. Up to 700,000 fans lined the streets of Paris to cheer on Evans.

After seven years of trying and two second place finishes Cadel Evans finally made it to the top of the podium.

Some say this is Australia’s greatest sporting achievement. 

Fact of the day

Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and Australia have participated in every Games.

Source: http://www.tealdragon.net/humor/facts/facts.htm

On this day: 1969 - Humankind's first steps on the moon

On the morning of July 16, 1969 Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins sat in the Saturn V rocket at the Kennedy Space Centre waiting to make history.

At 9:32 a.m. EDT the Saturn V rocket, with the help of its 7.5 million pounds of thrust launched the astronauts into the air. About 12 minutes after the launch the crew was in orbit of Earth.

After having orbited the Earth one and a half times, Apollo 11 got the ‘green light’ from mission controllers to head towards the moon.

Three days later the crew was in lunar orbit. The following day, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin entered the lunar module Eagle and began the descent to the moon.

When the time came to land the module on the moon, Armstrong manually piloted the contraption past an area full of boulders. During the final seconds of landing, Eagle’s computer started to sound alarms.

The reason for the alarms turned out to be due to the computer trying to do too many things at once.

The lunar module landed on the moon at 4:18 p.m. EDT with only 30 seconds of fuel remaining.

At 10:56 p.m. EDT on July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong climbed down the Eagle’s ladder and onto the moon, becoming the first human to place a foot on another planet. Upon taking the step – with over half a billion people watching on television – he said: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

Buzz Aldrin later joined Armstrong on the moon and they explored the surface of the moon for two and a half hours.

They left behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and a plaque on one of Eagle's legs. It stated, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." 

Tour de France 2011 stage 16 summary: Hushovd wins his 10th stage in 2011 Tour

Stage 16 of the 2011 Tour de France was 162.5 kilometres starting at Saint-Paul-Trois Châteaux and finishing at Gap. The stage was a steady uphill ride and was the last stage before the riders hit the Alps.

The pace was very high at the start of the stage, which made it very hard for any riders to breakaway from the peloton in the first half of the course.

Columbian-born team COFIDIS rider Leonardo Duque crashed with 96.7 kilometres remaining in the stage. Duque was not hurt too badly and managed to get back on his bike.

Rain started falling with 70 kilometres to go during a downhill section of the stage. The riders who led the descent took advantage of the wide roads and a small group finally manages to leave the peloton.

The group consisted of well-known riders including world champion Thor Hushovd. It took 100 kilometres for the second - and larger - breakaway group to form.

The peloton slowed down drastically. With 27.3 kilometres remaining the weather conditions got worse but the leading riders did not reduce their effort, the ten men at the front were still six minutes clear.

With 14.5 kilometres remaining Alberto Contador attacked. The Schleck brothers, Cadel Evans, Samuel Sanchez and Tour leader Thomas Voeckler managed to stay with the defending Tour de France champion. Contador then increased his speed once more, this time only Evans and Sanchez could keep up.

At the top, Contador, Evans and Sanchez passed the summit of Col de Monse 20 seconds before the yellow jersey group. Notable riders in the group included the Schleck brothers and Thomas Voeckler.

Alberto Contador sent a clear message today that he will stay well in the hunt for the title in the Alps stages.

At the end of the race world champion Thor Hushovd used his fellow Garmin-Cervelo teammate Ryder Hesjedal to help him cross the finish line just ahead of his compatriot Edvald Boasson Hagen. Hesjedal finished third.

Cadel Evans finished fourth, 4 minutes and 23 seconds after Hushovd, three seconds before Contador, 21 seconds before Voeckler, Frank Schleck and 1 minute and 9 seconds before Andy Schleck.

Cadel Evans confirmed that he is candidate for the title, Contador is back in the hunt and Andy Schleck is not racing at his best. 

Fact of the day

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

Source: http://www.tealdragon.net/humor/facts/facts.htm

Poll: Who will win the 2011 Tour de France

Vote in the online poll at the top right corner of the blog. Who do you think will win this year's Tour de France?

Former News of the World reporter found dead

Former News of the World showbiz reporter Sean Hoare was today found dead inside his home in Watford, England.

Hoare was the first named journalist to allege that former editor Andy Coulson was aware of the phone hacking scandals.

Hertfordshire Police said that Sean Hoare’s body was discovered at 10:40AM at his home in Langley Rd, Watford after reports came in to them regarding his whereabouts.

The police described his death as unexplained, however they did not believe it to be suspicious. They said investigations are continuing into weather he killed himself.

Mr. Hoare was the first whistle-blower in the phone hacking scandal, he informed the New York Times that Andy Coulson – The Prime Minister’s former communications chief – had encouraged him to hack telephones. Andy Coulson has of course denied the allegations.

The timing of this could not be worse for Britain’s Prime Minister, having to cut short his trip to Africa in order to come back and deal with all this.

This grim finding comes on a day in which Scotland Yard has been left in turmoil in the past 24 hours, losing its commissioner and its head of counter terror operations John Yates who decided to jump before he was pushed.

Fact of the day

By 2050, it is predicted that 70% of the world’s population will live in cities.

Source: IBM.

Fact of the day

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s 15-year-old son set a new world record after he typed the entire English alphabet on an iPad in just 5.26 seconds.

Source: TIME Magazine July 18, 2011 edition.

Mum put kids for sale on eBay 'as a joke'

A Victorian woman is being investigated after she put her two young children up for sale to the highest bidder on online auction site eBay.

The woman is in her early 30’s and lives close to Geelong.  The lady wrote a detailed description on the site and a “lengthy sales pitch” that included photographs of her son and daughter, both under the age of 10.

Many people placed bids on the disturbing auction, which has worried authorities.

Detectives from the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse unit were lead to the internet page by an appalled member of the public.

The page has since been removed and the children may be taken into permanent care, away from the mother.

Victoria Police will not press charges against the mum, who says the act was a joke. However, the police were disturbed by the incident and by the genuine bidders who tried to ‘buy’ the children.

The page was posted on Wednesday and was active until late Thursday morning.

The page was removed by eBay within two hours of being notified by officers. The auction site then provided detectives with details about the woman.

The woman faced charges that carried a maximum sentence of 12 months but officers believed her when she said it was a joke. 

Scottish couple wins record $245m in lottery

A Scottish couple suffering from ill health and out of work are now Europe’s biggest ever lottery winners after winning 185 million euros ($245.39 million) in the recent EuroMillions jackpot.

The couple, who have been married for 30 years and live in the town of Largs near Glasgow, received the money after Tuesday’s draw.

The prize took them up to 430th place in this year's Sunday Times Rich List for Britain. Wife and former psychiatric nurse Chris Weir said they were “tickled pink” during their first press conference as multi-millionaires.

"I even had a glass of white wine, which is something I normally only do at Christmas. It really is unbelievable."

Colin Weir, a former TV cameraman and studio manager appeared somewhat stunned by the amount of attention they were generating.

"When we first realised we had won, it felt like a dream. But it feels like a good thing; something we should not be afraid of but for us to enjoy with the children," he said.

The Weirs plan on using the money to buy homes for their daughter Carly, 24 and their son Jamie, 22. They also said that their children will now be able to take their first driving lessons.

The couple said they wanted to visit the Great Wall of China and Uluru, as well as art galleries in Paris and Russia. 

Colin, a fan of Spanish football (soccer) hopes to see Barcelona play from a private box at the Camp Nou stadium. 

The Weirs have been unable to work in recent years due to serious health conditions.Colin Weir suffered a leg injury and rheumatoid arthritis while Chris Weir worked in nursing for 37 years before quitting three years ago due to poor health.

The couple said they would have liked to keep their win a secret. They also said they hoped their newfound wealth would not change who they are.

The previous British record jackpot holder, who won 129 million euros ($171.11 million) in October last year, chose to remain anonymous.

The EuroMillions lottery was launched in 2004 and is now played in nine countries across Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.

Royal Australian Navy uniforms issued with badges that misspell country's name

Uniforms worn by men and women serving in the Australian Defence Force have been issued with a badge misspelling the name of their country.

Royal Australian Navy officers currently serving in the Middle East were given the uniforms with the badge carrying an extra “L” in  the word Australian.

The embarrassing typo has shocked the RSL and had raised the issue of Defence uniforms being made overseas.

A Tasmanian company was receiving the badges from a factory in Hong Kong.

The men and women serving in the Defence Force are extremely proud of their uniform and what they represent when they wear it.

This revelation comes just days after Victorian clothing manufacturer Australian Defence Apparel was sold to an international partner.

The company makes uniforms for the Australian Army and emergency services.

United States defence uniforms are required to be made in America.

Man in Malaysian kindergarten siege dies

A hammer-wielding man who held 30 children and their teachers hostage at a kindergarten in Malaysia has died of injuries.

Loi Hui Chung, 40, entered the kindergarten in Sg Abong, in the southern district of Muar, at around 9.00am local time yesterday armed with a hammer and a machete.

He barricaded 30 children and four teachers on the second floor of the school building and threatened to harm the children unless a gun was given to him by negotiators.

Authorities brought in a dozen members of the police special action unit from the capital, Kuala Lumpur, about 160km away.

Loi's siblings and an uncle were also brought to the scene in the hope that they would be able to persuade him to surrender.

When that failed, a decision was made to storm the building, with commandos firing a smoke bomb and entering the kindergarten to end the six-hour stand-off.

Loi, 40, was shot in the head and taken to the Sultanah Fatimah Hospital where he died at 9.15pm local time yesterday.

Two police officers suffered injuries to their faces and hands during the siege.

Muar was the scene of a similar kindergarten siege in March last year when a man with a hammer entered a school and left three six-year-olds with head injuries.

Prince William and Kate Middleton arrive in LA

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arrived in Los Angeles, the last stop on their 12-day tour of North America. The royal couple will attend many receptions, a game of polo in which Prince William will be playing and will experience the glamour of Hollywood.

The couple left Calgary, Alberta earlier Friday after spending nine days travelling across Canada and arrived at Los Angeles International Airport late in the afternoon aboard a Canadian Forces Airbus 310. This is Catherine’s first trip to America.

From the airport, their next stop was to be at a local hotel for a conference in support of UK trade and investment. From there, they were to attend a reception at the home of the British consul-general, where they are staying.

Today, William will play in a charity polo match at the Santa Barbara Polo Club and that evening the couple will attend the British Academy of Film and Television Arts "Brits to Watch" event.

Sunday will start with a trip to "Skid Row" in the city's downtown to visit an arts school for children from poor neighbourhoods. There also was a scheduled stop at a job fair for military veterans at Sony Studios before the couple leaves to fly back to London.

Atlantis launches on final shuttle mission

The space shuttle Atlantis has blasted off from Cape Canaveral in the US for the final flight of the 30-year-old shuttle program.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators gathered around the launch site to watch the shuttle ascend towards the International Space Station.

The weather didn’t disturb the launch as Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus and Mission Specialist Rex Walheim blasted off on a humid, gloomy day.

It was the last launch for the 30-year-old program. Each launch cost an average of $1.6 billion, much more than the $7 million NASA originally predicted.

Atlantis will undergo a 12-day mission to the International Space Station, delivering supplies, spare parts and a logistics module. This will be the shuttles 33rd and final flight.

The space shuttle is also carrying two iPhone 4’s to be used as “research tools” and 10,400 kilograms of clothing, food and equipment, enough to keep the International Space Station running for a year.

135 shuttle missions have been flown. Shuttles and flight-test models that never flew in space will be displayed at museums in Los Angeles, Cape Canaveral, New York and outside Washington.

Malaysian man holds 30 children hostage

Police have raided a kindergarten and subdued a man who had taken more than 30 children and teachers hostage in Malaysia.

The man was armed with a hammer and a machete.

District police said the man barged into the kindergarten in southern Johor state earlier today.

He said police had cordoned off the area and were negotiating with the man. Reports said that at least one child has died.

Reports said the man had told the negotiators to give him a gun or he would kill the children.

Tomic to lead Australia in Davis Cup

Young-gun Bernard Tomic will lead Australia in their Davis Cup match-up against China in Beijing this weekend, with long-time team leader Lleyton Hewitt left out of the opening singles matches.

Tomic, who reached this year’s Wimbledon quarter-finals, will be Australia’s number one player in the Asia-Oceania zone qualifying tie against China while debutant Marinko Matosevic, ranked 141, has beaten Hewitt for second spot.

Two-time Grand Slam winner Hewitt, who made his Davis Cup debut in 1999, is Australia’s most successful Davis Cup player with a 36-9 record in singles and 8-3 record in doubles.

Hewitt, who will be playing in his 30^th Davis Cup tie against the Chinese at the Beijing International Tennis Centre in the July 8-10 match, with partner Chris Guccione in Saturday’s doubles match.

Hewitt has been passed by Tomic in the ATP rankings after the teenager’s fine run at Wimbledon, where he was beaten by eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

Only Boris Becker, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg reached the Wimbledon last eight at a younger age than 18-year-old Tomic. Tomic is seen as a future Grand Slam champion.

Tomic slashed his ranking from 158 to a current 71, while former world number one Hewitt has slumped to 173.

Tomic, who has played one Davis Cup tie winning both his singles matches against Taiwan in Melbourne last year, believes he can follow in Hewitt’s footsteps and become the backbone of the Australian team.

Roos will play finals: Malthouse

Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse says North Melbourne is certain to play AFL finals this season.

The Kangaroos have won four of their last five games, four of which were consecutive before their loss to St. Kilda last Sunday. They are currently 10^th on the ladder.

Collingwood will play North Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.

Malthouse says that, irrespective of the positions on the ladder, the Magpies are expecting a tough fight against a side he believes will be in the finals this year.

“I’ve had them in the eight before the season started and I still think they’ve got a wonderful chance to be in the eight,” Malthouse said on Thursday.

“I think they’re a terrific side. I look at that side and think, they’re young and aggressive, with a fantastic game structure.

“I admire the coach (Brad Scott) and I admire their club spirit – we’re in for a fight.”

Malthouse said that were it not for a few unlucky decisions this year, the Kangaroos would probably already be in the top eight.

“The win-loss ratio – I think they’ve been very, very stiff in a couple of decisions that may well have gone either way for them,” he said.

Malthouse was highly admiring of North captain Brent Harvey, who he coached in the Australian team against Ireland in 2008 but said Collingwood would have to tackle an all-round talented side.

Body washes up where Australian tourist disappeared

A woman’s body was found this morning washed ashore on the popular Thai island of Phuket. The body was found close to where an Australian tourist went missing earlier in the week.

Jennifer Laidley was reported missing on Monday night by her friend Lisa Crosland after she didn’t return from a dusk swim at Karon beach on Phuket, off the southwest coast of Thailand.

A two-day search with the Thai Royal Navy, Marine police, lifeguards and regular police failed to find the missing 44-year-old.

However, at roughly 7:30am local time today, a body washed ashore on Karon beach. The body has not been identified yet but Australian consular officials in Thailand were informed about the grim finding.

Hiker killed by grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park

A man has been killed by a female grizzly bear whilst walking with his wife in Yellowstone National Park. The couple apparently surprised the bear and its cubs.

The attack was the first deadly bear attack in the Wyoming park since 1986.

A park statement said: “In an apparent attempt to defend a perceived threat to her cubs, the bear attacked and fatally wounded the man”.

Investigators have been interviewing the woman about the attack which occurred close to Canyon Village and near the middle of the park, spokesman Al Nash said.

Park officials have not taken any action against the bear, he said.

"This is complicated because of where this has occurred," Nash said.

"It is in the back country of the park, and we have access challenges and limited communication."

Park officials worked hard to make sure there were no other hikers in the area.

All trails and back-country campsites in the area have been closed and a warning sign has been installed on the trail. 

Nine Nazis receive life sentences

A court in Italy has sentenced nine elderly Germans to life imprisonment for Nazi killings of hundreds of people in the north of Italy in 1944.

The convicted men were part of the “Hermann Goerhring” group which had attempted to destroy the Italian resistance and unsystematically slaughtered hundreds of innocent people.

The verdicts were also for massacres operated in other parts of the Emilia Romagna region and near Arezzo in Tuscany.

The trial began in November 2010 after five years of investigation. The men were absent when sentenced.

Plaintiff Demos Malavasi said that “Finally there has been justice for the victims and their relatives and a bloody page of history can be closed”.

He also mentioned the fact that sixty-seven years have passed but at least they weren’t in vain.

Charges had been dropped against three other men, now dead.

However, 90-year old Wilhelm Karl Stark (sergeant at the time) was given a life sentence along with 93-year old Ferdinand Osterhaus (second lieutenant at the time) and 91-year old Helmut Odenwald (captain at the time).

Herbert Wilke, 92, Erich Koeppe, 91, Hans Georg Karl Winkler and Karl Friedrich Mess (both in their 80’s) also received life sentences.

The men were also ordered to pay the relatives of the victims – who had travelled to the Verona court house with local mayors – compensation.

Recapping SBS’ ‘Go Back To Where You Came From’ – episode 3/3

Storyline:

In this episode the six Australians travel to two of the deadliest countries in the world to experience the scars of war first hand.

Episode recap:

The episode starts off at the refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya, home to 80,000 refugees. The three Australians at the camp lined up to get their food. It took them an hour and a half to get their food. The small rations of food the refugees are given need to last them two weeks.

The three Australians in Kenya visited relatives of the family with whom they stayed in Albury-Wodonga in episode 1.

The refugee camp in Kenya stretches over 75km and refugees are given a small section of land to build their own shelters.

The relatives at the camp did a Skype video call with their family members in Australia. It was a very emotional segment.

The Australians in Kenya were offered the chance to go to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two of the three travelled to Congo whilst the other Australian decided to stay in Kenya.

The two went to a refugee camp and offered a small donation to help with the rape the women within the camp face.

The three Australians in Jordan went to a hospital and saw the scars of war first hand.

Later in the show the 3 Australians in Jordan accepted an offer to travel to Iraq and be taken to Baghdad by the U.S. Army.

The three in Jordan flew to a military base in Kuwait. After they arrived in Baghdad they drove through the notorious “red zone” and experienced what it is like to be on the front line.

By the end of the series most of the Australians have changed their views on refugees and asylum seekers. All the participants now understand the difficulties the refugees and asylum seekers face in their countries.

Some of the facts:

• The refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya is home to 80,000 refugees.
• There are 9 million displaced people in Africa.
• Close to half a million refugees first fled to Jordan after war broke out in Iraq.
• Jordan has 2 million refugees which equates to one third of their entire population.
• 5 million people have died from war in the Congo of a population of 70 million.
• More than 10,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq due to the war.
• Four and a half thousand U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq. This is more than the total number of people killed in the September 11 attacks.