Michael Jackson dead at 50. The 'King of Pop' is no more.

The sensationally gifted Michael Jackson died at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Ed Winter, the assistant chief coroner for Los Angeles County, confirmed his office had been notified of the death and would handle the investigation.

The circumstances of Jackson’s death were not immediately clear. Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at his Los Angeles home about 12:30 p.m., Capt. Steve Ruda told the Los Angeles Times. The paramedics performed CPR and took him to the hospital, Ruda told the newspaper.

Jackson’s death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music’s premier all-around performer, who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.

Jackson was preparing for what was to be his greatest comeback: He was scheduled for an unprecedented 50 shows at a London arena, with the first set for July 13. He was in rehearsals in Los Angeles for the concert, an extravaganza that was to capture the classic Jackson magic: showstopping dance moves, elaborate staging and throbbing dance beats.

I will always remember Michael Jackson for the entertainer that he was! Love you Michael, RIP.



This is one song that will remain with me forever!

Outrage after Microsoft decides to ignore web standards in Outlook 2010

Yes, Microsoft is down to it's dirty tactics yet again! A senior member of the Outlook team confirmed they plan on continuing to use Word to render HTML emails. Not only that, but early tests indicate that HTML support in the Word engine has not been improved in any way. Same bugs. Same quirks.

Email Standards Project put in a lot of effort to demonstrate just how bad the Word rendering engine is in Outlook 2010. Here’s exactly the same email rendered in Outlook 2000, and then Outlook 2010. Click the image for a full sized version.



Outlook 2010 is still in beta and a year away from public release. Thankfully, Microsoft want to hear your feedback about this. To send the strongest message yet to Microsoft, the team at Email Standards Project have built fixoutlook.org.



All you have to do is tweet your thoughts about this issue, and make sure you include the fixoutlook.org URL somewhere in the tweet. The more tweets, the more impact, so please start spreading the word today and encourage your friends and colleagues to do the same.

Stanley Cup 2009 Final - Penguins defeat Red Wings

DETROIT - The Penguins won a third Cup in their history and their first since their championships in 1991 and 1992. The Penguins avenged last year's loss to the same Red Wings, who could not repeat as champion against a gifted young team that had too much energy and firepower for the battered and perhaps fatigued home side.

Max Talbot scored two goals and the Pittsburgh Penguins overcame an injury in the second period to captain Sidney Crosby to defeat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in a gripping Game 7 to win the Stanley Cup on Friday night. Rookie Jonathan Ericsson scored with 6:07 left in the third period for Detroit, which failed in a bid for a second straight Cup and fifth in 12 seasons.

"I looked up at the clock and there were six seconds left and I couldn't believe it was actually going to happen," said Penguins forward Bill Guerin.

Marc-Andre Fleury, chased from the net after allowing five goals in Game 5 a week ago, bounced back with a huge game as the crowd of 20,066 spurred their team with chants and roars through a stunning end to what had been a thriller series between Pittsburgh'young talent and Detroit's cool and efficient veterans.

The Penguins led 1-0 at the time and Talbot got his second goal five minutes later as Crosby's teammates, many getting more ice time than they're used to, worked to contain an all-out attack from the desperate Red Wings the rest of the way.

Detroit controlled the opening minutes of a scoreless first period, but by mid-period, the Penguins began to press and Jordan Staal was stopped on a good chance from in front. But late in the period, Fleury stoned Red Wings veteran Kirk Maltby from the doorstep.

Pittsburgh was in the Detroit end from the opening faceoff of the second frame and it produced the first goal as Malkin stripped Brad Stuart of the puck and fed Talbot, who beat Chris Osgood with a shot along the ice to the far post at 1:17.

At 10:09, Chris Kunitz won a battle with Stuart to set up a two-on-one break. Talbot elected to shoot and his high attempt found the top corner to Osgood's glove side.

The Penguins matched the 1971 Montreal Canadiens as the only teams to win the Cup on the road in Game 7 after home teams won all six previous games, and the only teams to win two Game 7s on the road in the same playoff year. Pittsburgh won in Washington in seven in the second round.

The Penguins looked unlikely even to make the playoffs in mid-February, but the replacement of head coach Michel Therrien with rookie Dan Bylsma, the return of Sergei Gonchar from injury and trades for Kunitz and Guerin let them finish the regular season 18-3-4 and carry their hot run into the post-season.

Bylsma became only the second rookie coach to win the Cup after joining his team in mid-season, after Al MacNeil with the 1971 Canadiens.

The Penguins are 5-0 all-time in playoff game 7s on the road.

Roger Federer defeats Roddick. Reaches Australian Open 2009 Final!

World number two Roger Federer proved too much for seventh seed Roddick, taking just two hours 17 minutes to defeat the American 6-2 7-5 7-5 and book a place in the final against either top seed Rafael Nadal or Fernando Verdasco.

This was Roddick's 16th loss to Federer in 18 games! Chasing his 14th grand slam, Federer defeated Roddick in staright sets 6-2 7-5 7-5.

Andy Roddick, whose fastest serve of the match was a scorching 224 KMH as compare to Federer's 208 KMH, managed only 8 aces as compared to this opponent's 16.

As the official Australian Open site puts it - "When Andy Roddick saw Roger Federer make two consecutive video line-calling challenges and get them both right, he should have known he was in for a pounding. Unfortunately for the American, that moment came in only the sixth game of the first set - and by then, he was already two breaks of serve in arrears. It was not going to be a comfortable night."

Will we see another Federer-Nadal final this Sunday? Federer surely can't wait to get his hands on his record 14th Grand Slam title!

India v/s Srilanka 1st ODI : India win by 6 wickets

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni led by example as India relied on a clinical all-round display to thrash Sri Lanka by six wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series in Dambulla on Wednesday.

Chasing 247, major contributions for India came from Gautam Gambhir (62) and Suresh Raina (54) and M.S. Dhoni (61 not out).

The ageing genius Sanath Jayasuriya's 28th ODI century went in vain as the Indians never allowed the islanders to break loose on a slow track. Kumar Sangakkara contributed 44 as Sri Lanka posted 246 for seven wickets in their allotted 50 overs.

With a hip injury keeping Virender Sehwag out of action and Sachin Tendulkar (5) back in the hut in the fourth over, the chase on a sluggish track was far from easy. But with Gambhir and Raina on song, India hardly had a reason to worry.

The left-handed duo went on to stitch together a 113-run stand for the second wicket which laid the perfect foundation for a successful chase, besides offsetting the setback of losing Tendulkar early in the innings.

Kumar Dharmasena made his ODI debut as umpire today. He took his time before approving the vociferous appeal against Sachin Tendulkar in the 4th over of the Indian innings.


Both the teams now move to Colombo for the second match on Saturday. This was India's sixth ODI win in a row, coming after their 5-0 whitewash of England at home.

Schools in NY closed due to storm!

ALBANY, N.Y. - Scores of schools from the Finger Lakes to Long Island are closed or delaying the start of classes because of a storm that's expected to dump up to 16 inches of snow on some upstate areas.

Only a handful of school closings are reported Wednesday morning in western New York, where up to 4 inches had fallen and up to 12 inches is expected. Most of the closings are in the eastern half of the state, where forecasts predict 8 to 16 inches of snow in the Adirondacks and up to a foot in the Albany area by Wednesday night.

Highway closures were reported in the Hudson Valley after accidents occurred during snowy conditions. The southbound Thruway lanes between exits 18 and 17 and the eastbound lanes of Interstate in Putnam County have since reopened. No details on the accidents were immediately available from state police.

SOURCE - newsday.com

Brazilian amputee model loses to infection

Health officials have confirmed the death of the Brazilian model whose feet and hands were amputated because of an infection earlier this month.

Officials said in a statement early Saturday that 20-year-old Mariana Bridi's condition deteriorated overnight and she died at 2:30am.

The 20-year-old beauty queen suffered from a generalised infection that forced the amputation of her hands and feet because the flow of oxygen to her limbs was reduced.

The Espirito Santo State Health Secretariat said she died from complications related to a generalised infection. It was caused by the life-threatening bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is known to be resistant to several kinds of antibiotics.

Her feet were amputated last week, and earlier this week doctors were forced to surgically remove her hands.

Bridi also underwent surgery to have part of her stomach removed as doctors tried to contain internal bleeding, local media said. She was not breathing on her own and underwent haemodialysis.

Bridi had been in the hospital in the city of Serra in south-eastern Brazil since January 3. She became ill in December and doctors originally diagnosed her with kidney stones. But her condition worsened and she was then diagnosed with a urinary tract infection that spread.

Bridi was twice a finalist in the Brazilian stage of the Miss World pageant.