What if Google Search Was Lazy?  

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Here’s an interesting idea – what if websites had personalities of their own? The Search Operators is a thought-provoking site that turns Google into a lazy staff member that can’t quite be bothered to get anything right.
Enter search queries and it will yawn. Hit ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ and you’ll be out of luck. Even the search results you do get will be not quite what you wanted.
Built using HTML5 Canvas, Processing.js, Javascript, jQuery, the Google Search API and a dash of imagination, the site’s developers describe the site as “The sloppy twin of Google search. By reversing the passive roles of UI elements, we want to expand the traditional notion of user interfaces. We hope this sloppy twin helps you switch mind set from everyday web routines and open up new perspectives.”

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Wes Leonard, high school basketball star, died of cardiac arrest  

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The Michigan high school basketball star who died shortly after his game-winning shotThursday had an enlarged heart and suffered cardiac arrest because of the condition, the Ottawa County medical examiner said after Friday's autopsy.
Wes Leonard, a 16-year-old junior who scored more than 1,000 points in his career at Fennville (Mich.) High, collapsed on the floor during the postgame celebration moments after his layup with 30 seconds left in overtime preserved his team's undefeated season.
He was taken by ambulance to Holland Hospital, where he was eventually pronounced dead.

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Defriend Day  

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Today is one of those days that may have you wondering what happened to all my friends?  I don’t mean your real life friends.   The ones who you can call on a daily basis just to chat, call up to grab a glass of wine after work, or call upon as a last minute baby-sitter .  I mean all those facebook friends you have compiled over the past few years.  The guy you dated once in college.   The kid who sat behind you in homeroom.  The stranger you added just to help you with some funky Farmville mission.   Those are the folks who may be busy defriending you today on the social networking site. 
It’s not just you whose supply of Facebook friends may be diminishing today.  There’s a whole crop of celebrities who rely on their social network to call attention to themselves and their every action (Hello Justin Bieber!)  While most of the celebs rely on everyone to ‘like’ them on the website in order to share their current marketing message, some others will actually friend you themselves (usually the newbies).    Most folks are going to totally disregard the whole National Facebook Defriend Day movement, but I expect to see some celebs see their likability shrink a bit as folks use this as an opportunity to clean up their wall just a bit.   The last time the world was called upon to unfriend folks was November 17, 2010 when Jimmy Kimmel dared the world to defriend those false friends that stalk our walls.

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Kent's Stefano Langone sings for survival on 'American Idol'  

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When Kent's Stefano Langone sang "I Need You Now" to the three judges on "American Idol" Thursday night, he really meant it.
Without their support, he would have been eliminated from the show.
As it turned out, Langone's heartfelt rendition of Smokie Norful's ballad earned him a spot as one of 13 contestants to survive the round. Eleven others were sent home.
Ten finalists advanced on the Fox reality show through online and phone votes from viewers, but Langone didn't make that cut.
In a new twist, judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler picked six of the remaining 14 for a wild-card competition. That's when Langone, 21, pulled "I Need You Now" out of his pocket.
He scored a wild-card berth, as did Ashthon Jones, 24, of Nashville and Naima Adedapo, 26, of Milwaukee.
"This is the toughest night ever," Jackson said.
Five men and five women were chosen by viewers. They are Casey Abrams, 20, of Idyllwild, Calif.; James Durbin, 22, of Santa Cruz, Calif.; Jacob Lusk, 23, of Compton, Calif.; Scotty McCreery, 17, of Garner, N.C.; Paul McDonald, 26, of Nashville; Thia Megia, 16, of Mountain House, Calif.; Haley Reinhart, 20, of Wheeling, Ill.; Karen Rodriguez, 21, of New York; Pia Toscano, 22, of Howard Beach, N.Y.; and Lauren Alaina, 16, of Rossville, Ga

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College basketball: J.P. Tokoto to attend North Carolina  

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WAUWATOSA - In the end, J.P. Tokoto couldn't pass up the opportunity to play for one of the marquee programs in men's college basketball.
Tokoto, a highly recruited junior forward from Menomonee Falls, announced Thursday night during a press conference at Dave and Buster's that he's heading to North Carolina after his prep career is over. Tokoto can make his decision official by signing a letter of intent in the fall.
One of the most hotly recruited players in the history of Wisconsin prep basketball, Tokoto chose coach Roy Williams and the Tar Heels over a host of successful programs that included two schools in his backyard, the University of Wisconsin and Marquette.
"It felt like it was home to me," Tokoto said of his visit to North Carolina two years ago after his freshman season. "Wisconsin's definitely home, but when I got down to North Carolina it felt like something different."
The 6-foot-6, 190-pound Tokoto recently narrowed a large list of teams chasing him down to a final eight: Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Marquette, Maryland, North Carolina, UCLA and UW.
Tokoto said his decision came down to North Carolina and UW, which offered him a scholarship two years ago.
"I'm coming to the University of North Carolina to play for you," Tokoto told Williams in a phone conversation after he announced his decision. Tokoto ended the conversation by telling Williams he loved him.
The Badgers had made Tokoto their top priority in their 2012 recruiting class, with coach Bo Ryan taking the lead in trying to get the athletic Tokoto to stay in state and play at UW. There, he would have joined another state product, Sheboygan Lutheran forward Sam Dekker, who orally committed to UW last summer. To date, Dekker is the lone commitment in the Badgers' 2012 class.
Tokoto said he left a message for Ryan prior to UW's game at Indiana on Thursday night.
Like Ryan, Williams made Tokoto a high priority for his program and made several visits to Wisconsin to watch Tokoto play.
Tokoto said style of play - the Tar Heels are high-tempo, while the Badgers are much more deliberate - didn't play a major role in his decision.
"I like to get up and down the floor, but at the same time I felt like if I went to Wisconsin I'd fit right in with the offense," Tokoto said. "It's not like they're a walk-it-up-the-floor type of offense."
Tokoto is averaging 20.5 points as a junior at Menomonee Falls, which is 11-11 and will play at Waukesha South in a WIAA Division 1 regional final on Saturday.
Several national recruiting services have Tokoto ranked among the top players in the 2012 class.
Longtime evaluator Bob Gibbons, who runs the All Star Report, rates Tokoto as the 10th-best junior in the nation.
Rivals.com has Tokoto ranked No. 40 overall in the 2012 class and 10th among small forwards.
ESPN ranks Tokoto No. 32 overall and No. 4 among small forwards in the class.
Tokoto said he felt relieved that the recruiting process was over.
"Before this, I was kind of nervous," Tokoto said. "I feel great now that I got it out. I feel like we can go focus on other things." 

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Brandon Davies' Girlfriend Rumor, an Honor Code Violation and the BYU Cougars' Future  

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But Brandon Davies isn't just any college student. He's a superstar on the Brigham Young University basketball team -- which is currently ranked No. 3 -- and is therefore bound by the Mormon school's strict honor code. And in addition to mandating that students "[a]bstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee and substance abuse" and "[u]se clean language," BYU students are expected to "live a chaste life."

That means getting down before exchanging vows is strictly verboten.

So Davies, a center, is off of BYU's team for at least the rest of the season, after having been accused of having premarital sex. (There are rumors online that Davies' misbehavior came to light after his girlfriend became pregnant, but Surge Desk can't find any reports confirming that.)

According to The Salt Lake Tribune, Davies has apologized to his BYU Cougar teammates.

"He told us everything. He told us he was sorry and that he let us down. We just held our heads high and told him it was OK, that it is life, and you make mistakes, and you just got to play through it," teammate Jimmer Fredette told the paper.

The Cougars themselves may be forgiving, but what does this mean for the team? Last night, they lost their first Davies-less game, falling 82-64 to the New Mexico Lobos.

Lobos coach Steve Alford said in postgame interviews that his guys took advantage of Davies' absence. "[Davies] has been very, very big for them all year. He's very skilled and he's very talented ... that's a tremendous loss, so we just wanted to make sure that we went inside as much as possible," he told The Associated Press.

The Cougars are going to have to regroup quickly to compensate for losing Davies, according to sportswriters in the wake of the suspension. "The sophomore was a vital member of BYU's frontcourt," ESPN said. The sports channel also noted that "BYU's Final Four chances [have been] dealt a significant blow."

Vanquish the Foe, a BYU Cougars fan blog, has run down the options for adjusting the lineup. As Bleacher Report points out, the backup centers on the team haven't had much court time this year. "Getting away with not having your starting center might fly against the lower seeds, but this all but guarantees they are not going to be able to make a run as deep as many experts have been predicting."

Those struggles aside, at BYU, even the school paper's sports editor is saying that he isn't angry with the decision to suspend Davies for at least the season. J.J Despain writes: "Davies and his work under the basket will be sorely missed as the Cougars wrap up the regular season and head into postseason play. But, believe it or not, there are things more important than sports."

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Doctor Who 'Brigadier' Nicholas Courtney dies aged 81  

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Veteran Doctor Who actor Nicholas Courtney, best known for playing Brigadier Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart, has died in London at the age of 81.
The series regular passed away after a short illness, his agent told the BBC. He had been suffering from cancer.
The actor appeared on screen opposite many different Doctors and worked with some more on Doctor Who audio stories.
Former Doctor Tom Baker remembered him as "a wonderful companion" with "a marvellous resonant voice".
"Of all the characters in Doctor Who there is no doubt that he was the most loved by the fans," he wrote on his official website.
'Nick' Courtney had already appeared in such series as Escape and The Saint before making his first Doctor Who appearance in 1965, playing a character named Bret Vyon.
He returned to the show in 1968 to make his first appearance as the Brigadier opposite the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton.
The stalwart of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT) would periodically return over the next two decades before his final appearance in 1989.
In 2008 he reprised his Brigadier role in Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Nicholas Courtney in The Sarah Jane AdventuresIn 2008 he appeared in an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures
Courtney appeared on other shows during his Doctor Who years, including The Avengers, Callan, The Champions and Minder.
Afterwards he had parts in such popular dramas as The Bill, Casualty and Doctors and was recently heard on BBC Radio 7 series The Scarifyers.
In 1997 he became honorary president of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society in recognition of the 107 episodes in which he appeared.
League of Gentlemen star and Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss remembered the actor as "a childhood hero and the sweetest of gentlemen".
Impressionist Jon Culsaw said Courtney was "a brilliant actor and warm, charming man", while Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright paid tribute to "a true gent".

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JaVale McGee never had a shot against Blake Griffin, but still put on a show  

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Blake Griffin certainly had the most entertaining, choir-singing, scene-stealing, crowd-screaming, show-stopping, car-hopping dunk of the night. But overall, he was probably the third-best dunker in Staples Center on Saturday. The best two dunkers were JaVale McGee and Toronto Raptors swingman DeMar DeRozan, and both have a legitimate argument that they were robbed from an opportunity to be slam dunk champion.
Not hating on Griffin, just calling it how I see it.
The odds were severely stacked against any participant not named Griffin, since he had the hype, the fan support and most famous name in the competition. He's an all-star who has been a force since he was allowed to play for the Los Angeles Clippers after taking a year off to recover from a knee injury. But when word began to circulate a few hours before the contest that Griffin had planned to dunk over a car, the other competitors really had to start preparing for second place.
I mean, Griffin had the NBA's official vehicle, the Kia Optima, with a Sprite Slam Dunk sticker on the side. That meant he had to make to the second round, because a prop that elaborate, and possibly expensive, was not going to waste.
I happened to be seated near the tunnel, where Baron Davis was resting on the hood, so I knew what was about to go down before Kenny Smith grabbed the microphone, begged people to get out of their seats and said, "We're going to bring the pageantry to the dunk contest."
To top it off, Griffin had the Crenshaw Elite choir come out to sing, "I Believe I Can Fly." No way McGee was going to follow up the dunk with anything better. McGee joked afterward, "Nothing's going to beat the car unless I bring a plane out or something."

McGee certainly tried his best to overcome a second-or-nothing situation, as he brought out two dunks that had never been attempted before in the slam dunk contest. His first dunk -- or rather dunks -- was so ridiculous that I thought he was a tad too ambitious. He had originally thought about raising a prop goal to 12 feet, so that he could dunk flatfooted off the vertical. But after McGee practiced it on Thursday, he didn't like how it looked, so an observer suggested he dunk with two basketball off both rims.
He tried the first time and got it to go down. So he decided to add it to his arsenal. He needed almost the entire two minutes to pull it off, but when he did, it was rather incredible. He got a 50.
"He created that two rim dunk and only a seven-footer with his wingspan could pull that off," said McGee's mom, Pam. "I was shocked."
Pam McGee was enlisted for his second dunk, but only after JaVale McGee flinched and was forced to change his plans. A few weeks ago, McGee came up with the dunk in which he snatched a piece of paper out the net with his teeth before jamming. He had added a tweak for the competition but was unable to attempt in when Oklahoma City forward Serge Ibaka -- who early had a severely slept-on foul line dunk -- pulled a doll off the rim with his teeth directly before him.
"Serge had did a dunk that was similar to the one, so I switched it around so that I could get a high score," JaVale McGee said.
JaVale McGee had pulled off his three-ball dunk earlier this week in Orlando. Hilton Armstrong was the passer and he put the ball in the right spot for McGee to get it on the first try. He brought out John Wall, who needed a few attempts before McGee could throw them down. He got a 49, only because Brent Barry gave him a nine. I predicted a 50 when I saw it on Wednesday, but Barry should know, as a former champion, that dunking three times while in mid-air is not the easiest thing to do.
McGee had his mother involved, as she walked down an aisle, carrying a red, white and blue in a box and wearing her old Los Angeles Sparks warmup from her days in the WNBA. Afterward, McGee let it be known that it would've been better used in the final round.
"Definitely was trying to get the crowd into it, we knew they was going to be text voting, too," he said. "Most of the people in the world are women, so we felt it was good to get those texts."


McGee earned his trip to the final round, but DeRozan really has a reason to be upset. DeRozan had the disadvantage of going first, but he started out the competition really well, as his Raptors teammate Amir Johnson threw the ball off the basket support and DeRozan jumped underneath the basket, brought the ball between the legs and dunked. He got a 44. It was at least a 47. Canadian exchange rate or something.
The judges made up for it some, when they gave him a 50 for a really nice jam in which he caught the ball of the bounce, brought it down below his waist and nearly banged his head on the rim as he did a reverse dunk.
Now, Griffin's first dunk was a two-handed 360-jam, but I was surprised that he got a 49 right after McGee got a 50 for dunking on two rims. I didn't think McGee's dunk, given the degree of difficulty and creativity, could only be one point better than Griffin's. But it was no biggie, since I wanted to see McGee battle Griffin in the final. I just didn't know that Griffin would get ushered in with some questionable scoring.
Griffin wanted to catch a pass from Davis off the side of the backboard and do another 360-dunk, which would've been insane. But he had to settled for catching the ball of the backboard and throwing down a windmill. It was nice dunk, but certainly not better than DeRozan's between-the-legs 44. Griffin got a 46, giving him the extra point he needed to advance.
Granted, Griffin plays for the Clippers, but DeRozan is born and raised in Los Angeles -- and went to USC. He got no love.
Griffin brought back Vince Carter's arm in the rim dunk in the final round, but McGee added a twist to Michael Jordan's famous rock-the-cradle. McGee's third dunk may have been his best of the night, given the dexterity required to pull it off. He drove baseline, dipped under backboard, rocked the ball and dunked it on the other end.
The irony of the competition? Coach Flip Saunders always criticizes McGee for being a style over substance player, yet McGee was upended because he had more substance than style. Once the decision was left up to fans with cellphones, then McGee had no shot at winning a popularity contest. Most people hadn't heard of the guy until he showed up on Saturday. Griffin trumped McGee with 68 percent of the vote.
On his decisive jam, Griffin had the assistance of two great showmen in Davis and Smith, a former slam dunk champ. "It was actually my idea to use the car," Griffin said. "When they first came to me with the dunk contest idea, they said there was no rules. I was like, 'So I can jump over a car?' Kind of playing around.
"I got the dimensions and all that. Figured I could probably clear it and Baron came up with the choir and Kenny and they all put everything together," he said. "I was actually going to jump over the choir separate from the car, and then Baron was like, 'Why don't you do it together?' So we had the choir position around the car, and then people came in and said you can't cover up the car."
When Griffin hurdled the Kia, Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett waved his hands across his neck and yelled, "It's over." And it was. McGee was so shook after that dunk, he could've dunked from halfcourt and not turned a head. It was a tough act to follow. But Pam McGee still has her own opinion about the real champion.
"In my opinion, my son won the dunk contest," she said. "The dunk contest is entertainment. I think JaVale accomplished what he wanted to do. If you don't know, you better ask somebody, you know who JaVale McGee is now. I think hey, he did a wonderful job."
McGee was happy with his performance and said he would likely compete again. Maybe he can jump over a truck. "Hey," he said. "I might."

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James Harden, Serge Ibaka combine for 44 points in Rookie Challenge  

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LOS ANGELES — Thunder guard James Harden, who was a late replacement for injured guard Tyreke Evans, scored a team-high 30 points in 27 minutes for the Sophomore team in Friday night’s Rookie Challenge. Serge Ibaka added 14 points, including two 3-pointers and two blocked shots in 19 minutes.
The Rookies won 148-140, the second straight year that the first-year players have pulled the upset.
Washington guard John Wall scored 12 points with a Rookie Challenge record 22 assists. Wall’s former teammate at Kentucky, DeMarcus Cousins, scored a game-high 33 points with 14 rebounds. Clippers rookie Blake Griffin, who is from Oklahoma City and played in college at Oklahoma, finished with 14 points in just 13 minutes.
To the accompaniment of supersonic screams from thousands of children crammed into Staples Center's lower bowl, both teams went through the usual array of alley-oops, breakaway jams and matador defense before the rookies pulled away in the final minutes. No. 1 draft pick Wall scored 12 points while surpassing Chris Paul's 2007 Rookie Challenge record of 17 assists, repeatedly setting up his fellow rookies for acrobatic dunks and wide-open jumpers.
The erstwhile Wildcats switched roles for the rookies' final basket with 12.8 seconds left, with Cousins lofting a pass off the backboard for an electric two-handed dunk by Wall, who hung on the rim for emphasis.
“Coach told us to run a couple of plays, but we knew our team was going to push the ball, and I know (Cousins) can finish,” Wall said.
Griffin bounced back from an elbow to the nose to score 14 points for the rookies, but the Clippers' high-flying dunk machine watched his team's late surge from the bench despite thousands of children chanting, “We want Blake!”
San Antonio's DeJuan Blair had 28 points and 15 rebounds.
In the final minutes of a tight game, the kids began chanting insistently for Griffin — with rookies coach Kevin McHale egging them on. With a towel draped on his head, Griffin responded with a sheepish grin, but sat out the final 12:25.
Griffin already is booked for the busiest All-Star weekend in recent memory in his home arena. He's the strong favorite in Saturday's slam dunk contest, and he'll play in Sunday's main event as the first rookie All-Star in eight years.
The Rookie of the Year front-runner was hit in the nose by an accidental elbow from New York's Landry Fields while playing defense in the opening minutes, but Griffin kept playing. He left the game wincing a few possessions later, but didn't appear limited when he returned later.
Evans, last season's MVP with 26 points for the rookies, sat out of the sophomores' lineup with an injured left foot. Harden replaced him.

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Vinita Nair: ABC’s Vinita Nair on One Life to Live  

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World News reporter Vinita Nair, co-anchor of ABC World News Now will appear an upcoming episode of the soap opera One Life to Live as a doctor in Natalie’s pregnancy storyline.
“I got to be a soap star for a day,” Nair said during a broadcast.
The episode featuring Nair and Natalie’s labor will air on January 11th.

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Wilson Holloway's funeral set for Monday  

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News of Wilson Holloway’s death on Wednesday shocked and stunned many close friends.
One of those was former high school basketball teammate Blake Griffin, who was visibly affected after hearing the news following the Los Angeles Clippers’ win at Minnesota on Wednesday night.

ESPN.com reported that Griffin “had his head in his hands in the locker room after receiving a phone call that a friend from home had died.”

Griffin and Holloway were high school teammates at Oklahoma Christian School and won state championships in 2006 and 2007. They remained close after Griffin went to the NBA and Holloway was an offensive lineman at the University of Tulsa.

Holloway’s funeral will be at 1 p.m. Monday at the Memorial Road Church of Christ in Edmond. Arrangements are being handled by Temple and Sons Funeral Home.

Holloway died on Wednesday from complications of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

His loss was felt by his former schoolmates at OCS.

Former classmates Angela Patton and Laurie Allendorfer have helped plan a memorial candlelight service honoring Holloway. The service will be held on the OCS campus at 6 p.m. Friday.

“We’re expected between 200 and 400 people,” said Patton, a University of Central Oklahoma student who was a 2007 graduate at OCS with Holloway.

Patton said she last saw Holloway at the Saints’ homecoming basketball game last week. Holloway’s cancer had taken a toll on his body, but didn’t pierce his spirit.

“He looked like he was only 150 pounds,” Patton said, “We were all worried about him, but he remained positive.

He said ‘Guys, I’ll be fine and I’ll fight through it.’ “He was always just so positive.”

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Stewart looking for another win in Nationwide opener at Daytona  

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Daytona Beach, FL (Sports Network) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday, February 19. Race: DRIVE4COPD 300. Site: Daytona International Speedway. Track: 2.5-mile tri-oval. Start time: 1:15 p.m. (et). Laps: 120. Miles: 300. 2010 winner: Tony Stewart. Television: ESPN 2. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio
Tony Stewart's only scheduled Nationwide Series race this season is the one he's favored to win. Stewart has won the series' season-opener at Daytona International Speedway five times in the past six years.
Kevin Harvick, the owner of Stewart's Nationwide car, won the 300-mile race at Daytona in 2007.
"It's always a bonus when you can win on Saturday before going into the biggest race of the year on Sunday," Stewart said. "To get a Nationwide win there, that's how you like to go to bed the night before the Daytona 500, knowing that you've got that trophy sitting out there on your desk from what you did Saturday afternoon."
Dale Earnhardt holds the series record with five consecutive victories in the season-opening race at Daytona. Earnhardt's wins came from 1990-94. His son, Dale Jr., won the February race here consecutively from 2002-04.
This will be Stewart's first event in the new Nationwide car. Last year, the series ran the car in four races -- Daytona (July), Michigan (August), Richmond (September) and Charlotte (October).
The car will be used full-time this season.
When the car made its debut at Daytona, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won in the No.3 Wrangler Chevrolet, a car number and paint scheme made famous by his late father.
Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart are among the nine Sprint Cup Series regulars competing in the Nationwide race at Daytona. Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards and Joe Nemechek are also entered in this event.
JR Motorsports, co-owned by Earnhardt Jr., will field three entries at Daytona. Earnhardt Jr. will drive the No.5 car.
"I feel good about the contingent of cars and teams JR Motorsports is taking to Daytona this year," Earnhardt Jr. said.
Danica Patrick will kick off her 12-race schedule driving the No.7 car for JRM. Patrick is also slated to compete at Phoenix (February 26), Las Vegas (March 5) and Bristol, TN (March 19) before her full-time duties in the IZOD IndyCar Series begin at St. Petersburg, FL (Mar. 27).
"Daytona is exciting because it's the first race of the year and everybody is geared up and ready to go," Patrick said. "I'm looking forward to going back to some of these tracks for a second time with the GoDaddy car."
Aric Almirola will run a full schedule in JRM's No.88 car this year. Almirola was a full-time competitor in the Camping World Truck Series in 2010, finishing second in points.
Forty-five teams are on the entry list for Saturday's DRIVE4COPD 300. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday.


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MRN reports $5.97 million half-year net profit  

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Radio broadcaster Macquarie Radio Network (MRN) has reported a $5.97 million net profit for the first half of the 2010-11 financial year.
The result for the six months to December 31, 2010 is up 95 percent from $3m recorded in the previous corresponding period.
Strong growth was also recorded in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of 78 per cent to $9.6m, which is the company's best first-half result.
The group, which owns and operates Sydney's 2GB, 2CHand Melbourne's MTR stations, saw total revenue rise 28 per cent from 23.6m this time last year to $30.1m.
As the Sydney radio market increased revenue by 8.5 per cent, MRN simultaneously lifted its share of Sydney revenue from 21 per cent up to 26 per cent.
In the latest radio survey, 2GB secured a 14.3 per cent share of listeners in the Sydney market. This was assisted by popular breakfast announcer Alan Jones, who dominated the early morning timeslot with a 17.7 per cent share.
"Whilst the growth rate of the sydney radio market has slowed, we continue to outperform our competitors and increase our revenue share," said Russell Tate, MRN's chairman.
"Notwithstanding our commitment to a significant marketing spend over the next six months, our extremely strong first half and the positive forward outlook gives us confidence that we will now deliver full year consolidated earnings growth of at least 35 per cent."
Earnings per share increased 95 per cent to $0.08 per share. The company's broad also declared an interim fully franked dividend of $0.05 per share, up 25 per cent year-on-year.

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Bed Bath And Beyond Coupon  

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If you are like me then you like to save money. If I can find coupons ways to save money I am going to jump on it. Now I found out that one of my favorite stores is offering discounts. You can get your own Bed Bath and Beyond coupon.
The Bed Bath and Beyond coupon is for 20%. They say that it is for anything in the store. What I really like is it’s not supposed to expire either. What are you going to use your 20% Bed Bath and Beyond coupon for?
To get this coupon all you have to do is subscribe to their news letter. This is easy to do and you will receive news of sales and new products to your email. If you do not want the emails you can stop them at anytime by clicking unsubscribe. Either way you still get the printable Bed Bath and Beyond coupon.

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How to effectively manage your social media time  

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Anyone who has dabbled in social networking knows how easy it is to lose track of time while chatting on Facebook, brainstorming tweets, updating your LinkedIn profile or obsessively checking visitor statistics.

These seemingly innocuous activities can quickly become addictive and can distract you from running your business. And that’s not what you want to happen, particularly if your goal for using social media tools is to build business.

Unless you are one of those rare individuals who has a reliable internal time clock coupled with a high degree of self-discipline, you’ll need to carefully monitor your social networking time.

First, you must become aware of exactly how much time per week you spend social networking. In her book, “168 Hours,” Laura Vanderkam suggests writing down what you do every hour of the day for a full week. “Think of yourself as an attorney billing your time to different projects,” she writes.

After you’ve documented your 168-hour week, categorize your activities. Record how much time you spent working, commuting, interacting with your family, sleeping, watching TV, showering, exercising and checking your Facebook page.

Then ask yourself: Do these numbers reflect the number of hours I’d like to “bill” to these activities?

If your 168-hour chart reveals that you’ve been “billing” too many hours to social media, you need to reprioritize and reorganize your social networking time. Consider bookending your workday with social media, updating your accounts for 15 minutes at the beginning of the day and another 15 minutes at the end.

As an alternative, reserve a specific chunk of the workday for social networking and blogging.

Or spend five minutes, four times per day interacting with friends and fans online. Keep in mind that this method, while enticing, is difficult to maintain because five minutes can quickly morph into 10, and then 20 minutes.

I recommend choosing one method and testing it for three weeks. And because I know you’ll feel tempted to cheat, I am requiring you to set a timer. If you plan a 15-minute social networking chunk, set a timer for 15 minutes. When it dings, you’re done. Period. No excuses.

You can set the alarm or countdown timer on your cell phone or use a kitchen timer or a Web-based egg timer, but it has to be something that dings, beeps, honks or otherwise makes an obnoxious noise to alert you that time’s up.

I use two free Web-based timers: e.ggtimer.com and online-stopwatch.com. With e.ggtimer.com, I type in the number of hours, minutes and seconds and click “Go!” The timer immediately begins counting down. When it reaches zero, it makes an irritating high-pitched hospital heart monitor beep-beep, beep-beep. Impossible to ignore.

Online-stopwatch.com works in a similar fashion. Select the countdown feature, set the time and click “Start.” When time runs out, a jangling alarm clock startles you out of your skin. Again, impossible to ignore.

If you have a mean streak and want to drive others in your office bonkers, you can customize the alarm so it sounds like an air raid siren, a submarine dive horn or a horse race bugle call.

As a less intrusive alternative, you can make the alarm sound like an audience applauding appreciatively. Consider it a reward for successfully concluding your social media session.

Whichever method you choose, commit to using it consistently. Serving as your own gatekeeper will help you use social media tools productively. And over time, strategic use of social media tools may give your business a competitive advantage.

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T1 Quad SIM Four Standby Unlocked Quad Band Phone with TV WIFI and JAVA  

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As an experienced China mobile wholesale, umibuy.com launched a brand new T1 Unlocked Quad Band Phone Four SIM Four Standby with TV WIFI and JAVA after the Chinese New Year.
Online PR News – 11-February-2011 –After a long Spring Festival holiday, umibuy.com continues to provide good service to the old and new customers. Customers can go on online shopping the latest and coolest China consumer electronics.
As an experienced China mobile wholesale (http://www.umibuy.com), umibuy.com launched a brand new T1 Unlocked Quad Band Phone Four SIM Four Standby with TV WIFI and JAVA after the Chinese New Year. This T1 Phone has function like Camera. Image viewer, video recorder, video player, audio player, imichat, slide show, FM, sound recorder and so on
The most attractive feature of the new phone is four sim four standby functions. Break traditional single sim single standby, dual sim dual standby and even tri sim tri standby, the phone supports four sim four standby function. It is really cool to insert 4 sim cards according to the personal needs; it is especially convenient to the business men. It will help them have a clear mobile life.
The cool phone also supports analog TV function. It supports PAL/NTSC color TV. The operation is just like FM radio, users just need to set the location and search; no need to be charged extra fee, users can watch as many as wonderful TV programs of the local channel.
The cheap China phone (http://www.umibuy.com/wholesale-unlocked-wholesale-cell-phone.html) comes with Wi-Fi function. As long as there is a hot spot, users can use this function to connect to the internet. Without additional charge, users can surf the internet wireless. Moreover, it supports Java; users can download and install as many as interesting Java applications and games. Together with WiFi function, it is easy and convenient to enjoy wonderful java games for free.
The T1 phone also has smart G-sensor. It is interesting to shake to change themes, songs, channels, etc. There is no need to press many keys. The operation is easy and convenient.

In addition to the above main functions, the cheap unlocked phone also supports Email, msn, facebook, ebuddy, google map, twitter, yahoo, task, calendar, world clock, calculator, currency converter, stopwatch, health, ebook reader, imichat, slide show, etc.
The Multilanguage is another outstanding feature of unlocked China phone (http://www.umibuy.com/wholesale-unlocked-wholesale-cell-phone/wholesale-hot-sellling.html). The cool phone supports English, French, Spanish, Danish, Polish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Malaya, Indonesia, Dutch, Vietnamese, Turkish, Russia, Arabic, Persian, Thai, Greek, traditional Chinese, simple Chinese.
If users want to take photo, the T1 phone is a great partner, too. It equipped with high definition dual camera. Dual camera is a fashion feature which can meet the demand of self-capturing.
Except this new cool phone, umibuy.com also publishes another wide selection of China mobile phones. Most importantly, Umibuy.com never ends up paying attention to reliability. Abiding by the "Reliability First", Umibuy.com is always striving for provide customers the first class and safe shopping experience. There are no fake and defective products, no fraud transactions, and no inobservant policies.

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Cardinals undersold Pujols with offer  

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Although the Albert Pujols negotiations have weighed heavily on our minds for much of the past week -- and probably longer for Cardinals fans -- it was impossible to analyze them because we just didn't know what was going on behind closed doors. Well, thanks to Ken Rosenthal's reports and ESPN's Karl Ravech, it looks like we know why a deal didn't get done. Rosenthal tweets that, according to a source, the Cardinals offer would only give Pujols the 10th highest salary in the game, somewhere around $19-21 million dollars per season.

Albert Pujols
Greg Fiume/Getty ImagesSt. Louis was reportedly offering Albert Pujols around $20 million a season.
The Cardinals had to know there was no chance that Albert would sign that offer. People are asking questions like“Is Albert Pujols Worth $40 Million Per Season?” and “Is Albert Pujols Worth 300 Million?", not whether he would sign for $20 million per year. Looking at some hard numbers, Gas House Graphs, an excellent Cardinals blog, comes up with a 10-year value for Albert at $260 million with some help from saberist wonder Tom Tango.

Using Rosenthal's numbers, we get a contract offer from the Cardinals of eight years and $168 million, nine years and $189 million, or 10 years and $210 million. By the Gas House Graphs numbers, the Cardinals are underselling Pujols by some $50 million even if they actually went out to 10 years, a length which the Cardinals seemed reluctant to offer.

It's certainly understandable that the Cardinals haven't come out and offered Pujols the fabled $300 million contract or some other such big deal. Although Pujols’ on-field value is currently untouched by any other player, that doesn't mean the Cardinals should simply empty the coffers in front of Pujols. After all, this is a business.

However, it's obvious that the team is in better shape with Albert on the team. The only way that they remain contenders, at least in the short-term, is with Albert on the team. Thenewly-released PECOTA projections have Albert worth 7.7 WARP -- wins above replacement player. The next best position player? Ryan Braun, at 4.9 WARP. Pujols so outclasses the rest of his position player colleagues that he is nearly three full wins over No. 2.

The Cardinals had a huge asset in their exclusivity to negotiate with Pujols. They could have been able to reach a deal with the superstar for under his market value, and any contract with Pujols will almost certainly offer huge surpluses in the first few years of the deal. The offer that they made, however, had no chance of ever being accepted, and I find it hard to believe that Cardinals management didn't know that fact themselves.

It's not over for St. Louis, though. They'll get another chance, even if it has to wait until after the season, assuming that the deadline set by Pujols actually means anything. If they want to get anything done with their superstar on the second go-round, they'll need to actually acknowledge his value. The Cardinals found out that their reportedly discounted offers just aren't going to fly. We'll see in about eight months if the Cardinals will open up the checkbook and pay Pujols what he's worth.

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Winter Ave Zoli to Appear on Playboy's March Cover  

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Actress Winter Ave Zoli arrives at the premiere premiere of FX and FOX 21's "Sons Of Anarchy" Season 3 on Aug. 30, 2010, in Hollywood, Calif

"Sons of Anarchy" actress Winter Ave Zoli will appear on the cover of the March issue of Playboy, due on newsstands Friday, according to published reports.
Fox News is reporting that Zoli's cover and nude centerfold spread is accompanied by an article in which the Pennsylvania-born and Czech-trained actress says she doesn't find nudity a problem in her career.
It's not a surprising admission, considering that she has built that career on portraying hookers and X-rated actresses. On the FX series, she plays porn star Lyla.
She has also appeared in the TV series "The Philanthropist" and the TV miniseries "Revelations." Her movie credits include "Hellboy," "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," "The Pagan Queen," and "Psych: 9."

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