Mammoth Blog

- Carl Edwards walked into the post-race interview room wearing a black cowboy hat, a prop awarded by the folks at Texas Motor Speedway for winning Sunday's NASCAR Dickies 500.

The black hat, literally and figuratively, might have been better suited to the cocky Kyle Busch. But it's Edwards who has been on his horse lately, winning the last two races and closing on Jimmie Johnson in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship

Edwards, a 29-year-old native of Columbia, Mo., said he spent part of last week hunting in the Missouri woods to get his mind off racing, and plans to again this week.

"I call it hunting, but it's mostly just watching because I'm terrible," Edwards said. "I'll be in the woods in my tree stand thinking about anything but Jimmie Johnson."

If that's possible, because Edwards is hunting down Johnson for NASCAR's championship.

Only a week ago, Johnson's lead, then 183 points over Edwards, was thought invincible as Johnson tries to become only the second NASCAR driver, with Cale Yarborough, to win three consecutive Cup titles.

And although Edwards' win Sunday on a dramatic fuel-mileage call by his crew chief, Bob Osborne, knocked 77 points off that lead, to 106, Johnson remains in a strong position with only two races left -- at Phoenix on Sunday and at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) on Nov. 16.

Shortly after the race ended, NASCAR issued a statement that it would be "difficult" for Johnson to clinch the title at Phoenix. That drew a few snickers from reporters who figured it was a NASCAR effort to maintain interest in the Homestead-Miami finale.

But it won't be easy either. Johnson could clinch at Phoenix if he runs well and Edwards stumbles badly. (Johnson would have to gain at least 90 points on Edwards in the desert to secure the title.)

But a frustrated Johnson -- who finished 15th at Texas because of his poorly handling Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet -- did not act like a driver confident of clinching anything. "In racing, anything can happen and usually does," he said. "I have known all along we were going to have to fight every week for this thing."

Edwards' No. 99 Ford, prepared by Roush Fenway Racing, was the dominant car at Texas. But because of caution periods, he needed a fuel gamble to climb from seventh and inherit the lead.

He did so by going the final 69 laps of the 334-lap race without refueling again, a stretch that baffled even team co-owner Jack Roush, whose other drivers needed to refuel 12 laps earlier.

"I didn't understand why, and I still don't understand why" Edwards pulled it off, Roush said, although he suggested it might have been how Edwards drove his car compared with his teammates rather than the car itself.

Edwards now has eight wins, tying him for the series lead with Busch, and lots of momentum. Yet Edwards remains a long shot, in no small part because Johnson has won the last two races on the 1-mile Phoenix track.

Still, Johnson's teammate, Jeff Gordon, who finished second to Edwards at Texas, said Friday that although he was impressed with Johnson's record this season, "I've felt all year that it would be Carl's year."

There are still two races to see if Gordon, who has four Cup championships himself, turns out to be prescient. source>>>

Kyle Busch dedicated his latest NASCAR Nationwide Series win to South Carolinian Sam Ard, the two-time Busch Series champion who is not only suffering from Alzheimer's disease but also faces severe financial difficulties. "Sam Ard was one of the pioneers of the sport and this really means a lot to me," Busch said. "I got to thinking about it and I decided I'm going give him $100,000 to try to help him out."

Busch tie Ard's 1983 record for most wins in a single season this past Saturday in the O'Reilly Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway. source>>>

t's not just American kids who become more aggressive by playing violent video games. A new study -- presented last month at the inaugural seminar sponsored by Iowa State University's Center for the Study of Violence -- showed effects of violent video games on aggression over a 3-6 month period in children from Japan as well as the United States.

ISU Distinguished Professor of Psychology Craig Anderson -- director of the Center for the Study of Violence -- presented the results from the study, which is published in the November issue of Pediatrics, the professional journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The research links an earlier ISU study of 364 American children ages 9-12 with two similar studies of more than 1,200 children between the ages of 12-18 from Japan. It found that exposure to violent video games was a causal risk factor for aggression and violence in those children.

"Basically what we found was that in all three samples, a lot of violent video game play early in a school year leads to higher levels of aggression during the school year, as measured later in the school year -- even after you control for how aggressive the kids were at the beginning of the year," said Anderson, who was recently elected president-elect for the International Society for Research on Aggression (IRSA).

ISU Assistant Professor of Psychology Douglas Gentile, the center's associate director, and Akira Sakamoto -- an associate professor of psychology at Ochanomizu University and a leading violent video games researcher from Japan -- collaborated with Anderson and additional Japanese researchers on the study.

Studying kids video game habits and aggression

Researchers assessed the children's video game habits and their level of physical aggression against each other at two different times during the school year.

"The studies varied somewhat in the length of time between what we're calling time one and time two (times between the reports of video game use and physical behavior)," Anderson said. "The shortest duration was three months and the longest was six months.

"Each of the three samples showed significant increases in aggression by children who played a lot of violent video games," he said.

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The Segway X2 Golf was designed especially for golfers. Like the other Segways, it's a mobility machine, but it has special low-pressure tires that enable the X2 Golf to travel gently while causing less damage to the turf than a golf cart. It also has a golf-bag carrier and a score card holder mounted in the center on the handle bars. It makes your scorecard, golf balls and tees readily accessible.

Unlike golf carts the Segway X2 Golf is much smaller and it can fit into cars.

The Segway X2 Golf weighs 120 lbs and travels at a max speed of 12.5 mph. It has a range of 24 miles on 1 single battery charge. It also features the new LeanSteer technology, a wireless InfoKey controller and long lasting Saphio Lithium-ion Batteries. source>>>

Capturing yourself doing a sport is a great way to improve your game (unless you're me, in which case there isn't a flash card big enough to catch all the mistakes). This idea is the basis of My Tour Swing, which lets users upload video of their golf swing to share with other players, or have it analyzed by a golf teaching pro.

The site is free to use; it's free to upload video, and free if you want others users to comment on your swing, but if you want deeper analysis, well...that'll cost you. For $10, you can have your swing analyzed by special software from Dartfish that provides slow-motion replay and points out different details at key points in your stroke. If you want more of a personal touch, you can pay $35 dollars to have your swing analyzed by a real live golf teaching pro, who will record audio to explain what you could do better.

Chicago-based My Tour Swing was founded by Charlie McKenna about a year ago. The company is privately funded and currently has less than 10 employees. The site went live in September and is slated to be rolled out with a big marketing push in November. My Tour Swing believes that given the number of avid golfers out there and the high-end nature of the audience, it will be able to attract advertising dollars as well.

I'm a big believer in video helping anybody's game out, and leveraging UGC is a good option for golfers wanting a little extra help. To me, $35 seems a little steep for some video commentary, but it beats paying way more than that for an hour-long lesson at the golf course.

The biggest hurdle to My Tour Swing's success could be the exact same reason it was able to get up to speed so quickly. The company used white-label video service provider Reality Digital to create its infrastructure, but now that it's in place, My Tour Swing doesn't offer anything else proprietary or unique. McKenna says there are a few lone golf pros doing something similar, but if this catches on, there's nothing stopping the PGA or the USGA from creating an identical service and getting brand-name pros to provide analysis. source>>>

On a Friday afternoon, the rundown basketball court behind the Bishop's elementary school in Jabal Amman echoes with excited shouting. The basketball team from the Worker's Association of Wadi Saqra (WAWS) has been slowly building up a lead against the Dynamics, but it's a close game. Play is aggressive; fouls are common.

About 100 people are gathered to watch, but the atmosphere is as charged as a Final Four matchup - perhaps because the players and audience are migrant workers from the Philippines, and this game is one of their few escapes from a difficult and lonely life.

In the summer, the men play basketball, while the women play volleyball. In the winter a bowling league takes over, along with billiards and chess tournaments. The teams represent various Filipino social clubs, which come together to organize the events. Some clubs even have cheerleading squads to bolster their players.

Championship games are packed. Only trophies are at stake - no money - but the games are taken incredibly seriously. Leaving a volleyball team can mean your friends may never speak to you again - at least not for a year or so.

"Without this kind of activity, I think we would die here," says Noli Pugay, the coach of the WAWS basketball team, which won the 2008 championship.

Close to 900,000 Filipinos go abroad to work every year, according to Philippines government estimates. At the end of 2007, there were 8.7 million Filipinos living abroad; they sent home $14.5 billion in remittances. In 2003, the United Nations estimated that 175 million people around the world were migrants, most driven by economic concerns.

Officially, about 15,000 Filipino work in Jordan, but many more may have overstayed their visas or been brought by agencies that avoid the usual legal channels.

They take all kinds of jobs, but the largest share are domestic workers: maids, cooks, nannies, and drivers. They come for wages of about $210 a month, sometimes less. Some are locked up in the homes or factories of their employers, where they sometimes face abuse and are not paid.

The ones trafficked here illegally can face huge fines when they want to leave. Those who avoid those problems often find Amman a dry, desolate expanse of urban sprawl, with little to offer by way of entertainment or social space.

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- The Music City Bowl memories are good ones for Ventrell Jenkins.

The University of Kentucky defensive end just doesn't want any more of them.

"I've got nothing against Nashville, but I don't want to go back," Jenkins said yesterday. "Nice bowl, nice hotel, nice city. But three years in a row is just a little much for me."

As UK (6-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) prepares for Saturday's game against No. 14 Georgia (7-2, 4-2), the Wildcats have designs on repeating a feat they pulled two seasons ago in upsetting the Bulldogs at Commonwealth Stadium.

They're also hoping to surpass the accomplishments of the past two years, when UK won the Music City Bowl.

With three games to play, UK can equal or surpass its seven-win regular seasons in 2006 and 2007.

Another win or two could make the Cats candidates for the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta or the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla.

"Coming into the season, that's all we talked about -- getting to a better bowl, winning the SEC," tight end Maurice Grinter said. "It's still possible that we could get to an even better bowl than the Music City Bowl or the Liberty Bowl."

Coach Rich Brooks would settle for just about any of them.

He said at his weekly news conference that ultimately his program needs to take a step toward a bigger bowl game. For now, though, Brooks just wants his team to continue finding its way to the postseason.

"I think at some point (a bigger-name bowl) probably becomes pretty important, and for fans I know it's important every year," he said. "But I think that consistency is more important than maybe climbing one little rung higher each year."

With bowl talk in the air again, UK faces an opponent that provided a significant steppingstone two seasons ago. In 2006, the Cats' fifth win came against Georgia, snapping a 10-game losing streak to the Bulldogs.

"I think that was the time when we no longer accepted moral victories," said Jenkins, named yesterday as the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week for his two-sack performance at Mississippi State on Saturday. "Moral victories were a big thing around here. When we'd walk around campus, a lot of people would pat us on our back after we'd come close to beating one of the big schools, Georgia, Florida or Tennessee."

Those heightened expectations now apply to the postseason.

"You don't want to be in the end looked back (at) as the team who went to three straight Music City Bowls," cornerback Robbie McAtee said. "We want to go for something greater, something more. We want to create a legacy for ourselves."
Beets out for season

Right guard Jess Beets has a torn anterior cruciate ligament, Brooks said, and will require season-ending surgery.

Wide receiver DeMoreo Ford will miss Saturday's game after suffering a concussion against Mississippi State.
UK-Vandy on ESPN2

UK's Nov. 15 home game against Vanderbilt will air on ESPN2, the SEC announced. The game will kick off at 8 p.m. source>>>

- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Case Western Reserve University and Gibson Guitar will honor the extraordinary Les Paul with a weeklong series of events culminating in a retrospective of Paul's life and legacy at Case Western University and an all-star tribute concert at PlayhouseSquare's State Theater. Artists that have been added to the lineup include Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Duane Eddy as well as Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Eric Carmen, Lonnie Mack, and Katy Moffatt.

The concert will also feature Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees James Burton, Billy Gibbons and the Ventures along with Jennifer Batten, Dennis Coffey, Lenny Kaye, Steve Lukather, Barbara Lynn, Alannah Myles, Richie Sambora and Slash.
Tickets are $30, $40 and $50 and can be purchased at playhousesquare.org and at the PlayhouseSquare box office (216) 241-6000 or by visiting www.rockhall.com. A limited number of Rock Hall VIP event packages (priced at $250 and $500 each) are available by calling (216) 515-1207.

Community partner Cuyahoga County Public Library invites Les Paul's friends and fans to post and share tributes and stories using the latest technologies by visiting conTRIBUTE at www.cuyahogalibrary.org/conTRIBUTE/ or www.rockhall.com. This partnership with the library allows people near and far to post written, video or photograph accolades and to share their anecdotes about Paul's impact. The testimonials will be permanently housed in the Rock Hall's Library and Archives scheduled to open to the public in 2010.

The complete schedule of events for the 13 Annual American Music Masters series The Wizard of Waukesha: The Life and Legacy of Les Paul includes:

Monday, November 10 at 7 p.m. - Rock and Roll Night School: The Les Paul Sound at the Baker-Nord Center at Case Western Reserve University, 11130 Bellflower Road, Clark Hall Room 309

The Rock Hall's Lauren Onkey and Jason Hanley, and Case Western Reserve Music Professor Mary Davis will introduce the life and career of Les Paul with a multimedia presentation, exploring his extraordinary contribution to music, guitars, and recording technology. This event is free with a reservation. Email education@rockhall.org or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.

Tuesday, November 11 at 7 p.m. - The Gibson Sound: A Night with Henry Juszkiewicz and Special Guest Ace Frehley on the Rock Hall's Main Stage

Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar, will take the audience through the story of Gibson Guitar, its history and leadership in music innovation while highlighting the company's more than 50-year history with Les Paul, and the guitar that bears Les's name. Special guest Ace Frehley will talk about playing guitar and demonstrate some of his signature riffs. This event is free with a reservation. Email education@rockhall.org or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.

Wednesday, November 12 at 4:30 p.m. Teachers Rock: Guitars in the Classroom in the Rock Hall's 4th Floor Theater

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Now that Irving Azoff -- the owner of Front Line Entertainment, "the most influential management agency in the world" according to Wired -- is running Ticketmaster, the company is looking to expand into a one-stop shop for tickets, merch, music and more.

"The biggest misconception about this [Front Line] deal is that Ticketmaster in the future will be what it was in the past," Azoff explained to Billboard. "The new name of the company is Ticketmaster Entertainment, and it's a platform for us to build a lot of other things. The fortunes of this company aren't going to rise and fall just on the ticketing business. We're going to build the ability for people to distribute their music."

In other words, you may soon be able to bundle your tickets to Christina Aguilera, The Eagles, Jewel or Steely Dan -- all Azoff clients -- with each artist's latest album. One pop star is happy about the plan. Speaking to Wired's Listening Post blog, they said, "I love to make new music, but I hate to play two or three new songs and have people get up and go to the bathroom. I want to give my music away to the people who buy tickets so they'll know the new songs when we play them. If they've spent $60 or $80 or $100 to buy a ticket and if I give them the music as part of that, I bet they'll bother to listen to it." source>>>

Oregon State comes into the Rose Bowl on Saturday trying to break a five-game losing streak against UCLA that dates back to 2000.

It gets even worse for the Beavers. Counting Mike Riley's two stints as coach (1997-98 and 2003-present) and his time as offensive coordinator at USC (1993-96), he has gone zero for his last nine games against UCLA.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about that," Riley said on this morning's Pacific 10 Conference coaches' call. "Do we have to talk about that?"

The Beavers insist the past has no connection to this season. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it," Riley said. They have the conference standings to support their theory.

At 3-5, struggling UCLA must win three of its final four games to become bowl eligible. At 5-3 -- and 4-1 in conference play -- the Beavers could, with a few more wins, return to Pasadena on New Year's Day.

Which raises another point. Will they be looking around the stadium on Saturday thinking about the future?

"It's a long time before anybody knows what their final position will be," Riley said. "The focus of this whole deal is only about the Bruins. The venue is not a big deal." source>>>

Jermaine Wiggins isn't promising mixed martial arts stardom, but he does guarantee better success than another former NFL player who made a similar career change.

"I'm not going to pull a Johnnie Morton," Wiggins said in a recent telephone interview.

Morton's first MMA bout was his last. An NFL wide receiver for 12 seasons, Morton was taken out on a stretcher after being knocked out in 38 seconds during his well-publicized June 2007 debut.

At that time, Wiggins was still trying to continue a journeyman career as a tight end that included a Super Bowl championship with the 2001 New England Patriots. With a background in boxing and kickboxing already part of his conditioning program, Wiggins said he began branching out into the grappling and jiu-jitsu disciplines when it appeared "the NFL might not be the path for me anymore."

Wiggins began full-time MMA training in August and hopes to stage his first fight in early 2009, possibly with the California-based Strike Force promotion.

"I'm willing to take my lumps," Wiggins said. "I'm going about this the slow way. I'm not trying to jump into anything just because of my name."

Tommy Rojas recently worked with Wiggins for a week in California through his Primetime Fighters group. As with other NFL players who have MMA aspirations, Rojas admits he was initially skeptical about Wiggins' fighting prospects as a 6-foot-2, 250-pound heavyweight. But Rojas says Wiggins' agility sets him apart from other prospects.

"He is such an amazing athlete," Rojas said. "Because of his understanding of movement and body control, he is at the same point of most people with over a year of training. His only weakness is lack of ring time."

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As part of this extraordinary collaboration, a limited number of once-in-a-lifetime concert experiences and memorabilia will be auctioned online through eBay Giving Works.

Beginning July 14th at 7pm (ET) through July 24th, several VIP Concert Packages will be available including for example: The Police Ultimate VIP Package for Two which features an intimate meeting with The Police, Access to the band's final Sound Check (a few select guests will be invited to join the Police on stage to lend their rock star abilities to the rehearsal!), Front row seats to the final show, Pre concert dinner with a cocktail reception, and Limited edition souvenirs. There is a B-52s VIP package for Four, which includes a private Meet n' Greet, Rare access to the B-52s Sound Check, Front row seats, and Four one-of-a-kind signed memorabilia gift sets. There is also The Police Snake Pit Ticket package for Four (the only Pit tickets available to the general public are in this auction!).

Auction, Wave 2: Begins August 4th at 7:00pm (ET)- August 14th.
The second wave of the auction will feature a complete set of The Police's autographed instruments including: Sting's Signature Bass, Sennheiser Microphone and Stand (used during the 2007/2008 world Police tour); Andy's Signature Fender Telecaster; plus Stewart's Tama Star Drum Set (played at 2007 GRAMMY Awards).

GO TO WWW.EBAY.COM/PUBLICTELEVISIONROCKS

100% of the proceeds from both auctions will benefit Public Television Rocks!, an initiative formed between NY Public Television stations, Thirteen/WNET (Thirteen/WNET) and WLIW21 (wliw.org). The Police chose to support these stations in recognition of their contributions to art, music, and culture both in New York, and nationally. For more information, visit Public Television Rocks! The Police

How can you be help be a part of this incredible auction? Simply by posting the eBay URL and auction details on your website or blog to spread the word. We have chosen your website because we know that your audience will appreciate this tip-and we hope you will, too! Thank you for your time and support of public television. source>>>

: Cave owner Steve Rush has a deal for you.

Rush, 49, is auctioning the Mystic Caverns in the Ozark Mountains on eBay. The 28-acre property in Arkansas includes a gift shop and three caves, two of which are safe enough for visitors.

The bidding starts at $899,999, cut from Rush's original asking price of $1.2 million.

Business has dropped since a nearby amusement park closed in the 1990s. Rush said the Mystic Caverns still get about 15,000 visitors each year.

Rush said he had been quietly shopping the caves around for two years but took the sale public when no takers came forward. source>>>

An Arizona college student has put his vote in Tuesday's election up for sale to the highest bidder on eBay. However, he decided to take the listing down after learning vote sales are illegal. (Nov. 3) source>>>

As millions head to the polls Tuesday, history will be made. Either Barack Obama will become the first African-American president, or Sarah Palin will become the first female vice president.
The 2008 presidential election will have a historic outcome, whichever ticket wins.

The 2008 presidential election will have a historic outcome, whichever ticket wins.

But what about all the other history and trivia from the past 219 years? Check out some tidbits to quench any political junkies' thirst, impress friends and maybe even win a few bar bets.

Election 2008

- Either John McCain or Obama will be the first incumbent member of Congress to be elected president since John F. Kennedy in 1960.

- Either McCain or Obama will become only the third senator to move directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House. The other two senators: Warren G. Harding (1920) and John F. Kennedy (1960).

- This year's contest marks the 25th presidential election without an incumbent president on the ballot.

- This is the first election in 24 years without a Bush or a Clinton heading a major party's presidential ticket.

McCain/Obama scenarios

- If McCain wins, he will be the first president from Arizona.

- If McCain wins, he will have headed the first successful GOP presidential ticket in 80 years that did not include someone named Bush or Nixon.
Don't Miss

* In Depth: Election Center
* Voters ready for historic election
* Obama, McCain face off in Wall Street Journal

- If McCain wins, Palin will become the first vice president from Alaska.

- If Obama wins, he will be the third president from Illinois. The first two: Abraham Lincoln (elected in 1860 and 1864) and Ulysses S. Grant (elected in 1868 and 1872).

- If Obama wins, he will be the 27th lawyer to become president. Bill Clinton was the last lawyer elected president, and the first was John Adams.

- If Obama wins, Joe Biden will become the first vice president from Delaware.

Past presidential races

- Nineteen of America's 43 presidents have been Republicans; 14 have been Democrats.

- The first Republican president was Abraham Lincoln, who was elected in 1860 and 1864. Andrew Jackson, elected in 1828 and 1832, was the first presidential candidate to run (and win) as a Democrat.

- The House has twice decided the presidential election because no candidate received a majority in the Electoral College (Thomas Jefferson in 1800 and John Quincy Adams in 1824).

- The most states ever won by a presidential candidate is 49. In 1972, Richard Nixon carried every state except Massachusetts; in 1984, Ronald Reagan carried every state except Minnesota. Both lost the District of Columbia. The most states ever won by a Democratic presidential candidate is 46. In 1936, Franklin Roosevelt carried 46 of 48 states, failing to capture only Maine and Vermont.

- Four presidents have won the presidency while losing the popular vote: John Quincy Adams (1824), Rutherford B. Hayes (1876), Benjamin Harrison (1888) and George W. Bush (2000).

In the House and Senate

- Democrats controlled both houses of Congress from 1955 to 1981. This 26-year stretch is the longest any single party has controlled both chambers of Congress. (The GOP took control of the Senate in 1981.)

- The last time the Democrats won the White House while maintaining control of the House and the Senate was in 1992.

- The last time the Republicans won the White House without electing a majority in either the House or the Senate was in 1988.

- Sixteen women currently serve in the Senate. Three -- Susan Collins, Elizabeth Dole and Mary Landrieu -- are up for re-election this year. Seventy-one women currently serve in the House as voting members. source>>>