It was frenzy on Friday for Americans hoping to win what was described as "the world's largest jackpot" of $640 million in an historic lottery. The chance to get suddenly very, very rich -- even if it was only a one-in-176-million chance -- sparked feverish ticket sales at convenience stores and news kiosks across the United States ahead of the 11.00pm (0300 GMT) drawing for the Mega Millions prize.
The jackpot hit a record level because no one had matched the magic five numbers and Mega Ball since January 24 -- a full 18 drawings with no winner.
The tickets made it unequivocally clear: this was nothing less than "the world's largest jackpot."
Mega Millions is played in 42 US states plus the national capital Washington and the US Virgin Islands. Foreigners can play, too, but they must be in the United States.
The lucky winner gets to choose between an immediate cash option or the full amount disbursed over 26 annual payments. The prize will then take a severe knock in federal and state taxes.
But whatever the final sum, it had already knocked the previous US record drawing of $390 million in 2007, out of the park.
National Cleavage Day was started in 2002 and is usually celebrated at either the end of March or the beginning of April every year since then.
Wonderbra together with the Cosmopolitan magazine and 5fm, a SABC radio station mainly based in Johannesburg, sponsored the National Cleavage Day.
According to Samantha Paterson, the brand manager for Wonderbra, the National Cleavage Day is started according to a design to solemnise women's independence and power in all facets of life, from their careers to their relationships to their own destiny. Anita Meiring, public relations consultant for Wonderbra, explained the event. "It is a day for women to realise that their cleavage is something unique and that they should be proud of it." Paterson explained "It gives women a chance to be beautiful and glow in the furtive, yet appreciative, glances their cleavage evokes from men". She also explained "It gives men a legitimate reason to stare at boobs."
Dr. Siqwana-Ndulo, provincial gender commissioner in Eastern Cape, condemned the celebrations, warning women not to be involved in the National Cleavage Day. Siqwana-Ndulo said "This is a pure marketing tool using people's bodies." She added, "The commission is against any person or advertising company which uses people's bodies for marketing purposes be blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah"
This Morning host, Holly Willoughby, 31, topped the poll in the UK this year.
Arrested Drunk Man Sings "Bohemian Rhapsody" In Its Entirety In Back Of Police Car
Dude in the video above wasn't happy about being picked up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for being intoxicated. The best excuse he can muster is something about "brotherhood of men on the planet earth" before he segues right into singing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." In its entirety. He even provides the instrumentation interlude. This performance can't be topped.
'WHAT HE SANG IN THE CAR CAN IN NO WAY BE CONSIDERED AN ADMISSION OF GUILT'
When a team goes through a goal drought, most fans have a simple answer: a few abusive chants from the terraces, followed by a moan in the pub after the game. But fans of German regional side FC Magdeburg decided to take a more constructive and creative approach - one that has now made them globally famous.
Reasoning that their men had gone without a goal for five matches simply from having forgotten where the goal was, they decided to take giant dayglo arrows to the match to point their heroes in the right direction. Together with a giant banner reading 'Wir zeigen euch, wo das tor steht!' (rough translation: Don't worry chaps, we'll show you the goal is), they left their men in no doubt as to what their jobs were during their home clash against BAK '07 on Sunday.
It wasn't to be a happy ending, however: BAK then found the net in the penultimate minute to secure the win.
Animal rights activists plan to picket the circus responsible for the elephant that made a dash for freedom across a Cork carpark.
Animal Rights Action Network (Aran) said the incident might have lead to a trampling that could have caused serious injury or death. The group is campaigning for a ban on animal circus acts.
“This should be seen as a clear warning that’s it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed or injured. These are animals that belong in the wild but are kept in cramped vans and wagons for transportation and then made to perform ridiculous acts,” Aran spokesman John Carmody said.
Aran members picketed the Courtney Brothers circus in Bandon last week. They claim despite best intentions, animals cannot be housed in a humane way as part of the circus.
“These are wild animals by nature. But they are chained and tethered. In Bandon, their only freedom was a small enclosure covered with tarpaulin. They are made to perform ridiculous, degrading acts,” Mr Carmody said.
The Courtney Brothers walk the herd of five elephants through each town they perform in to announce their arrival, which Aran claim is a danger to public safety.
This is to 'Battle Royale' what 'Twilight' was to 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' ..... it's a watered down version of an existing classic, it comes from the same stable as Twilight [Lionsgate] and is targeting the same audience .......... Tweens.
THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE HOLLYWOOD
Wake up America ...... Killing is not all sweetness and roses .... it's blood and guts, gone are the days when John Wayne could kill 12 Japanese soldiers with 4 bullets, when baddies clutched their stomachs and fell over dead from one shot ....... this is not 1950 anymore, and we are not in Kansas.
It’s been six years since Twitter founder Jack Dorsey posted his first tweet to microblogging site, paving the way for what has quickly become a cultural phenomenon.
“Just setting up my twttr,” he said.
Since then, the site has exploded in popularity and played a pivotal role in documenting — and sometimes creating — current events and culture. Twitter.com attracted more than 178 million unique visitors across the globe in February, according to online measurement firm comScore.
Below is a selection of some of the most noteworthy tweets from Twitter history.
Do you remember more? Share them with us in the comments section below.
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, @jack, made his first public tweet March 21, 2006.
Kazakhstan's shooting team has been left stunned after a comedy national anthem from the film Borat was played at a medal ceremony at championships in Kuwait instead of the real one.
The team asked for an apology and the medal ceremony was later rerun.
The team's coach told Kazakh media the organisers had downloaded the parody from the internet by mistake.
The song was produced by UK comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for the film, which shows Kazakhs as backward and bigoted.
Footage of Thursday's original ceremony posted on YouTube shows gold medallist Maria Dmitrienko listening to the anthem without emotion and finally smiling as it ends.
The spoof song praises Kazakhstan for its superior potassium exports and for having the cleanest prostitutes in the region.
The film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, released in 2006, follows Baron Cohen's character, the journalist Borat Sagdiyev, as he travels to the US and pursues the actress Pamela Anderson.
The film outraged people in Kazakhstan and was eventually banned in the country. The government also threatened Baron Cohen with legal action.
BORAT'S VERSION
Kazakhstan greatest country in the world.
All other countries are run by little girls.
Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium.
Other countries have inferior potassium.
Kazakhstan home of Tinshein swimming pool.
It’s length thirty meter and width six meter.
Filtration system a marvel to behold.
It remove 80 percent of human solid waste.
Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place.
From Plains of Tarashek to Norther fence of Jewtown.
Kazakhstan friend of all except Uzbekistan.
They very nosey people with bone in their brain.
Kazakhstan industry best in the world.
We invented toffee and trouser belt.
Kazakhstan’s prostitutes cleanest in the region.
Except of course Turkmenistan’s
Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place.
From Plains of Tarashek to Norther fence of Jewtown.
Come grasp the might phenis of our leader.
From junction with the testes to tip of its face!
If you want to save money, next time you're going somewhere, don't get on the bus but run behind it instead ......... to save even more money, run behind a taxi.
From scorers of 3 Chelsea goals against Leicester in the FA Cup, final score 5 - 2 to Chelsea. Gary Cahill had a T Shirt made up to show support for his former teammate Fabrice Muamba who suffered a heart attack while on the pitch on Saturday, and Fernando Torres sporting a T Shirt he had made when his goal scoring drought began.
"As soon as it happened we could all tell something was seriously wrong, the ground fell silent and we just watched as it unfolded. Some of the fans were crying and holding each other. The rest just couldn't believe it was happening" Said Di Matteo after Fernando Torres scored "
Fabice Muamba, the Bolton midfielder has spoken for the first time since his heart attack last saturday .... when told that Fernando Torres has scored two goals .... he said " Mon Dieu ! ... How long have I been out ? "
Treme actress Danai Gurira will play Walking Dead character Michonne, a katana-wielding survivor who is one of the few people who knows exactly how to stay alive in a zombified world.
The character, who drags along two armless, toothless zombies on chains, made a brief appearance on Sunday’s Walking Dead season-two finale. She arrived just in time to save Andrea (Lori Holden) from a walker. Her face was barely seen from under a hood.
DANIA GURIRA
But in Sunday’s Talking Dead, the recap show that follows each episode, Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman said Gurira had landed the role.
Fans seem excited for Michonne’s arrival: The character is one of the most popular in Kirkman’s comics, which inspired the series. And in a Talking Dead poll, 66 percent of participants said her appearance was their favorite moment of the season finale.
The casting is the second major one announced for the show’s third season, premiering this fall. David Morrissey has been cast as villain The Governor, who also happens to keep a zombie on a chain, at least in the comics.
US horse racing series Luck has been cancelled by HBO after a third thoroughbred died during the making of the drama starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte.
HBO said the final two episodes of the series would be shown but the series will not return for its second season which began production last month.
“While we maintained the highest safety standards possible, accidents unfortunately happen and it is impossible to guarantee they won’t in the future,” the channel said. “Accordingly, we have reached this difficult decision.”
The move was made in agreement with David Milch, the show’s creator, and Michael Mann, his fellow executive producer on the drama that brought Hollywood star Hoffman to series TV. It was a high-profile project for the premium channel that stakes its reputation on such fare.
This is the third series in a row Milch has done for HBO, and the third to end more abruptly than he had planned. "Deadwood" was canceled after the third season (out of a planned four) for financial reasons, with Milch playing the good soldier and playing along with the story that he was really eager to move on to the metaphysical surfing drama "John from Cincinnati" which was a mess, creatively and financially, and HBO pulled the plug after only one season.
HBO said it was “immensely proud” of the series and those involved in it, and the producers said in a joint statement that they “loved this series, loved the cast, crew and writers”.
Retired jockey Gary Stevens, who co-stars in Luck and was in the racehorse film Seabiscuit , tweeted his support to the HBO series, saying: “So bummed. Peace out to all my family in Luck .”
The American Humane Association, which oversees animal welfare on Hollywood productions, said that in light of the three deaths “this is arguably the best decision HBO could have made”.
5 thoroughbred racehorses were put down in the last 2 days at The Cheltenham Festival`- March 14th and 15th 2012.
Educated Evans - Fell - Injured - Destroyed
Garde Champetre - Broke Down - Destroyed
Scotsirish - Broke Hind Leg - Destroyed
Featherbed Lane - Broke Leg - Destroyed
Abergavenny - Fell - Broke Elbow - Destroyed
just 5 of the 29 who have been destroyed since Jan 1st 2012 at English racing meets, and of over 150 that have been destroyed in Britain since the TV series 'Luck' went into production.
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He’s one of the most unique new characters joining HBO’s “Game of Thrones” Season 2, and today, Access Hollywood has the exclusive first look at the mysterious Jaqen H’ghar.
Played by German actor Tom Wlaschiha, Jaqen enters the life of a boyishly-disguised Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), as she hides from the Lannisters among a band of King’s Landing leftovers and criminals bound for the Night’s Watch.
Author Lee Child has defended the choice of Tom Cruise to play Jack Reacher in the new film One Shot, despite the actor being nearly a foot shorter than the fictional tough guy detective .
TOM CRUISE WITH HIS 6'7" WIFE KATIE HOLMES, OR 'TREEHOUSE' AS SHE'S
AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS IN THE HOLLYWOOD INDUSTRY
One Shot is expected to start shooting in Pittsburgh later this year and although Cruise is only 5' 7" (in heels) Child said: "Reacher's size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way,"
Child's words are unlikely to placate some fans of the books, who have either expressed their dismay and anger over the choice - or resorted to mocking Cruise.
Reacher, the character who is a former graduate of West Point, is described in the books as being 6'5" and weighing 18 stone. His official description on Child's website says:
Measurements: 6'5", 220-250 lbs, 50" chest
Hair: Dirty-blond
Eyes: Ice blue
Clothing: 3XLT coat, 95 cm. pants' inseam
Blogs and social media sites were full of comments about the supposed miscasting. American author Tom Bergeron tweeted: "Novel Casting Dept: Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. Could work, I suppose. On the radio"
DANNY DEVITO AND TOM CRUISE
Scottish author Ian Rankin tweeted: "The story that Tom Cruise may play Jack Reacher reminds me that Lawrence Block's white, male cat-burglar was filmed with Whoopi Goldberg"
Sky Sports News presenter Georgie Thompson wrote on Twitter: ‘Am i to believe what you're all tweeting; that Tom Cruise is to play Jack Reacher ? Seriously ? What !’
Fellow actor, Danny Devito called Cruise ' A giant of the Hollywood industry'.
Reacher has figured in 15 books which have sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. They are written by British author Jim Grant, who writes under the pen name Lee Child.
In One Shot - which will be directed by Christopher McQuarrie - Reacher investigates a case in which a lone sniper murders five victims. He is described in one book as being "built like a brick outhouse. Hands like shovels, face like a catcher's mitt."
As with Battlestar Galactica, the Game of Thrones online game will be free-to-play. The game will be set in the series' fictional medieval world of Westeros and feature plot lines inspired by the show and George R.R. Martin's original A Song of Ice and Fire book series. The second season of Game of Thrones starts April 1
“With a rich and complex story, expressed through an amazing level of detail, it’s easy to see why the HBO series Game of Thrones has amassed an army of fans worldwide,” said Bigpoint CEO Heiko Hubertz. “We intend to build a game that resonates intimately with its diehard community of followers, while also creating an authentic gaming experience that attracts newcomers to the franchise.”
Norwegian games studio Artplant will develop the game, with a closed beta version expected to deliver this fall. Bigpoint is one of the leaders in the fast-growing free-to-play gaming industry. The Hamburg-based company has over 250 million registered users worldwide.
..............................................................................................................................................
SOME OF THE NEW FACES ON SEASON 2 OF GAME OF THRONES [A CLASH OF KINGS]
Balon Greyjoy
Patrick Malahide will play Lord Balon Greyjoy, the head of the house of Greyjoy. Balon is the ruler of the Iron Islands and father to Theon (Alfie Allen) and Yara (Gemma Whelan).
Brienne
Gwendoline Christie joins Season 2 as Brienne, Maid of Tarth, who in the George R.R. Martin books is a highly skilled warrior and would rather be a knight than a wife. She’s described as odd because of her height and abnormal strength and near-absence of female sexual characteristics. She’s sent to escort Jamie Lannister (played in the series by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to King’s Landing to exchange him for Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) after their capture.
Davos Seaworth
Liam Cunningham will play Davis Seaworth, a former smuggler who earned the nickname "Onion Knight." He's described as a great supporter and confidante to Lord Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane).
Melisandre
Carice van Houten joins the cast as Melisandre, she is from the distant city of Asshai, she is a Shadowbinder and a priestess of R'hllor, God of Flame and Shadow, Lord of Light. She believes that Stannis is Azor Ahai reborn, a hero destined to defeat the Great Other, the antithesis of her god and thus has become a close advisor of him and his family.
Can you land the Lufthansa plane in the correct city ?
Once the jet takes off, the name of a European city will appear on the screen. You'll start with 8 seconds to correctly identify the location of that city by clicking on the map. The closer you click to the correct destination, the higher your score. The game consists of three rounds, with each round containing 5 destinations. Each round is more challenging, which is reflected in the point value for each destination per round.
Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve is the flagship brand of bourbon whiskey owned by the “Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery” company (which does not actually own or operate a distillery), and is distilled and bottled by the Sazerac Company at its Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky.
Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve was formerly made from corn, rye, and barley malt, but now uses wheat in place of rye, and is aged in charred oak barrels. It is aged for 15, 20 or 23 years, which is considerably longer than the aging period for most bourbons. The 20 and 23 year ages are bottled at 45.2 apy (90.4 proof). The 15 year is bottled at 107 proof.
Price: $300 per bottle if you can find one.
Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 23 Year Old Bourbon was named “Spirit of the Year” for 2010 by Wine and Spirits magazine in its annual buying guide issue.
The 12 Year Old Special Reserve was recognized with the "Trophy for Worldwide Whisky" and a Best-In-Class Gold Medallion in the International Wine and Spirit Competition for 2008. It received a score of 99 ("superlative") from the Beverage Testing Institute in the same year.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine have shown sustained remissions of up to a year among a small group of advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients treated with genetically engineered versions of their own T cells.
The protocol, which involves removing patients' cells and modifying them in Penn's vaccine production facility, then infusing the new cells back into the patient's body following chemotherapy, provides a tumor-attack roadmap for the treatment of other cancers including those of the lung and ovaries and myeloma and melanoma. The findings, published simultaneously today in the New England Journal of Medicine and Science Translational Medicine, are the first demonstration of the use of gene transfer therapy to create "serial killer" T cells aimed at cancerous tumors.
"Within three weeks, the tumors had been blown away, in a way that was much more violent than we ever expected," said senior author Carl June, MD, director of Translational Research and a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Abramson Cancer Center, who led the work. "It worked much better than we thought it would."
'8,' Dustin Lance Black's Prop. 8 Play, Available In Full On YouTube
Dustin Lance Black's traveling Prop. 8 play, "8," landed at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles Saturday night with its star-heavy cast, including the newly announced Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Kevin Bacon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Martin Sheen, John C. Reilly and too many more to name. The play, which is a reading of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial -- the case the American Foundation for Equal Rights filed with the federal district court to overturn the bill preventing gay and lesbian couples from marrying in California -- was also livestreamed on YouTube. According to the AP, director Rob Reiner said the livestream attracted 200,000 viewers.
For those of you who were not sitting at home in front of your computers on Saturday night, you can watch the full, one-night-only performance here (Reiner predicts about a million of you will do so). Pitt takes the judge's seat as United States District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker, while Clooney and Sheen play plaintiffs’ lead co-counsel David Boies and Theodore B. Olson, respectively. If only there were a market for star-studded C-Span trial recasts, we'd all probably be much more well-informed.
The play itself begins at 0:30:26 with a pre-show beginning at 0:18:00
Ireland is like Europe's lunatic child that's normally kept in the attic, and when it's left out it ends up doing something really stupid.
Regardless of 80,000 people petition and numerous complaints that the bill was obviously bringing in web filtering, the government of Ireland has approved a law similar to American Stop Online Piracy Act.
Local newspapers reported that Junior minister Seán Sherlock had confirmed that the controversial legislation that reinforced Internet copyright laws in the country has been signed into law. The bill will allow rights owners to seek court injunctions against Internet service providers or social networks whose servers are currently hosting copyright violating content.
Ironically enough, Seán Sherlock is the Minister for Research and Innovation. He claimed that the High Court now has important guidance from the European Court of Justice about the implementation of the measure. This move is regarded as a result of bullying from the entertainment industry that sued the country’s government for failing to implement blocking legislation. The move in question would provide the industry some blocking laws to play with.
The Minister for Research and Innovation explained that it will be up to the court to make sure that any remedy would uphold the freedom of broadband providers in order to conduct their business. Meanwhile, Sherlock claimed that an Internet service provider can’t be ordered to monitor data.
Nevertheless, Sherlock said that he was at the same time launching a new stage of the Copyright Review Committee looking forward to removing barriers to innovation. He added that it’s very important to develop the country’s legislation in this area in such a way as to allow for the greatest possible encouragement for innovation in both the creative and digital industries.
Irish politicians are the most easily led bunch of spineless buffoons not only in Europe ......... but in the world, either that ....... or they're easily bought.
An 80 year old Irish couple were having problems remembering things, so they decided to go to their doctor to get checked out to make sure nothing was wrong with them.
When they arrived at the doctors, they explained to the doctor about the problems they were having with their memory. After checking the couple out, the doctor told them that they were physically okay but might want to start writing things down and make notes to help them remember things.
The couple thanked the doctor and left. Later that night while watching TV, the man got up from his chair and his wife asked, "Where are you going?" He replied, "To the kitchen." She asked, "Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?" He replied, "Sure." She then asked him, "Don't you think you should write it down so you can remember it?" He said, "No, I can remember that."
She then said, "Well I would also like some strawberries on top. You had better write that down because I know you'll forget that." He said, "I can remember that, you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries." She replied, "Well I also would like whipped cream on top. I know you will forget that so you better write it down."
With irritation in his voice, he said, "I don't need to write that down! I can remember that." He then fumes into the kitchen. After about 20 minutes he returned from the kitchen and handed her a plate of bacon and eggs. She stared at the plate for a moment and said angrily: "I TOLD you to write it down ! You forgot my toast !"
OR ..... YOU PAY MONEY TO WATCH THIS SHOITE !!!!!!
Andre Villas-Boas has parted company with Chelsea Football Club today.
The board would like to record our gratitude for his work and express our disappointment that the relationship has ended so early.
Unfortunately the results and performances of the team have not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season.
The club is still competing in the latter stages of the Uefa Champions League and the FA Cup, as well as challenging for a top-four spot in the Premier League, and we aim to remain as competitive as possible on all fronts.
With that in mind we felt our only option was to make a change at this time.
With immediate effect Roberto Di Matteo has been appointed first team coach on an interim basis until the end of the season.
Davy Jones stood about a head shorter than his mates in The Monkees — the nation's first made-for-TV boy band — the 5-foot-3, British-born singer had the winning personality of his mop-topped "Pre-Fab Four" alter ego Paul McCartney, the teen-idol dreaminess of a Justin Bieber and the distinctive voice of a genuine hitmaker.
Jones, 66, died Wednesday of a heart attack near his home in Indiantown, Fla. The news rocked the surviving Monkees.
