22 June, 2012

Udderly Ridiculous: School Principal Milks Cow as Lady Gaga

Udderly Ridiculous: School Principal Milks Cow as Lady Gaga
22/06/2012 by Christine Erickson on Mashable

We may have found the coolest elementary school principal ever.
Roger Clap Innovation School’s Justin Vernon willingly accepted a bet with his students — even if it meant dressing up as Lady Gaga and milking a cow.
Vernon’s side of the bargain would only be met if his students read 10,000 books by the end of the term. The kids went above and beyond the quota, reading 13,000 books instead.


According to RCIS, the school enrolls nearly 150 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

“I couldn’t be any more proud of the students,” says a very glam Vernon in the video above.



Source: MASHABLE

14 June, 2012

George Bailey at a press conference in Melbourne, George Bailey

George Bailey at a press conference in Melbourne, June 13, 2012©Getty Images
George Bailey at a press conference in Melbourne, June 13, 2012©Getty Images

Allen Stanford jailed for 110 years in fraud case, Allen Stanford

Allen Stanford jailed for 110 years in fraud case, Allen Stanford
Allen Stanford, the disgraced Texan cricket financier, has been sentenced to 110 years in prison after being found guilty of a multi-billion dollar fraud © Getty Images
Allen Stanford, the disgraced Texan cricket financier, has been sentenced to 110 years in prison after being found guilty of a multi-billion dollar fraud © Getty Images

Allen Stanford jailed for 110 years in fraud case

Stanford trial
Allen Stanford jailed for 110 years in fraud case
ESPNcricinfo staff
June 14, 2012
Allen Stanford arrives at the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse in Houston, where he will be tried for fraud, Houston, Texas, March 5, 2012
Allen Stanford
Allen Stanford, the disgraced Texan financier who came to embody English cricket's most embarrassing alliance, has been sentenced to 110 years in jail for one of the biggest frauds in history. He was convicted in March on 13 of 14 charges of defrauding investors of more than $7 billion (£4.5 billion).

Stanford was hailed as cricket's American sugar daddy when he bankrolled an international cricket tournament in Antigua that promised to transform cricket finances in England and West Indies and, in the eyes of ECB executives, provide a rival to the burgeoning Indian Premier League.

But his financial empire collapsed under an investigation by United States regulators. Since his arrest in 2009, he has spent three years in jail without bail.

Stanford, whose trial was delayed on health grounds after he was beaten up by prison inmates, has always denied his guilt and told the District Judge David Hittner at his sentencing hearing: "I did not defraud anybody".

Stanford's statement lasted around 40 minutes as he stuck to his claim that he did not run a Ponzi scheme - a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from profit earned by the individual or organization - and that his financial affairs only collapsed once investigations into his affairs became known.

He told the judge: "I'm not here to ask for sympathy or forgiveness or to throw myself at your mercy. I did not run a Ponzi scheme. I didn't defraud anybody."

Prosecutors had asked for a 230-year sentence, with defence lawyers arguing for a lenient term of 44 months.

It was all a world away from the night in 2008 that England and West Indies fought out a Twenty20 match in Antigua for a winner-takes-all prize of £20m. Stanford socialised in a touchy-feely fashion with England players' wives, waved to the crowds, entered the dressing rooms at will, and finished the night with what was virtually an impromptu cabaret.

The deal had been publicised in ostentatious style as Stanford was allowed to land his private helicopter on the outfield at Lord's, after which he presented a Perspex box filled with $20 million in prize money in front of smiling ECB officials.

Stanford signed a five year deal with the ECB worth $100 million in total, an episode from which some believe English cricket has never entirely recovered. But financial experts have repeatedly suggested that his real victims are the investors, whose estimates suggest have received back about 5% of their investment. Cricket, presenting itself as victims in a highly-complex case, has not returned a penny.

In Antigua, where financial regulation was relatively lax, Stanford had a private terminal at the airport, was one of its biggest employers on the island and was said to be worth more than Antigua's GDP. He was knighted in 2006 but after the extent of his fraud was revealed he was stripped of the title.

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

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Microsoft Is Launching an ‘iPad Killer’ [REPORT]

Microsoft Is Launching an ‘iPad Killer’ [REPORT]
05/06/2012 by Chris Taylor on Mashable


We already had our invitation to Microsoft’s “major” announcement in Hollywood next Monday — an Apple-style event so hush-hush, there isn’t even a location yet.

Now rumors are starting to coalesce around the thing being launched: a touchscreen tablet, manufactured by Microsoft itself, running on Windows RT (a version of Windows 8), intended to rival Apple’s iPad.

Hollywood blog The Wrap cites “an individual with knowledge of the company”, who claims the software giant would be “making a foray into a new hardware category that would put the company in direct competition with rival Apple” — tablets.

This would hardly be the first time Microsoft has tried its hand at a tablet device. Indeed, its first tablet preceded the iPad by the better part of a decade. But it was a bulky laptop hybrid that required a stylus, to which it wasn’t very responsive.

Between 2008 and 2010, the company was said to be working on a dual-touchscreen folding tablet — kind of like a book — called “Courier.” But Microsoft management killed that project — coincidentally, right around the time Steve Jobs launched the first iPad. (The Courier team went on to design the award-winning iPad notebook app, Paper.)

We’ve previously seen half-baked demonstrations of Windows tablets from CEO Steve Ballmer, and of course there are a variety of third-party tablets on the way for the Windows 8 interface that works on PC, phone and tablet.

But this forthcoming tablet, if the rumors are to be believed, will be made in-house — much like the most successful Microsoft product of the last decade, the Xbox.

What would a Microsoft tablet have to do to beat the iPad? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.





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Source: Mashable

11 June, 2012

Lasith Malinga is the event ambassador of the 2012 World Twenty20

© AFP
Lasith Malinga is the event ambassador of the 2012 World Twenty20, Pallekele, June 10, 2012
© AFP

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Lasith Malinga, Mahela Jayawardene, Haroon Lorgat, Upali Dharmadasa, Mohammad Hafeez and Shashikala Siriwardene get together to mark 100 days to the World Twenty20

Lasith Malinga, Mahela Jayawardene, Haroon Lorgat, Upali Dharmadasa, Mohammad Hafeez and Shashikala Siriwardene get together to mark 100 days to the World Twenty20, Pallekele, June 10, 2012
© AFP


Lasith Malinga, Mahela Jayawardene, Haroon Lorgat, Upali Dharmadasa, Mohammad Hafeez, Shashikala Siriwardene

Apple - Introducing MacBook Pro with Retina display

Apple - Introducing MacBook Pro with Retina display

Stunning Retina display. All-flash architecture. Incredibly thin and light design. It's a whole new vision for the notebook.

Ayeza Khan Photoshoot 2020, Ayeza Khan Photos, Ayeza Khan 2020 New

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