NBey6's Blog

Zeus' Day 5-13-10 Thursday

384, 361, 123, 983, 191, 691, 450, 875, 203

610, 193, 124, 111, 174, 560, 411, 346, 619

409, 803, 352, 176, 791, 001, 257, 497, 347

998, 568, 507, 807, 000, 660, 071, 073, 777

4100, 4701, 1084, 3459, 3478, 9988, 9989

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.    - Nathaniel Hawthorne -

"Nothing is exactly as it seems, nor is it otherwise."                                   - Alan Watts -

Being a supertaster is no piece of cake

By Diane Mapes

Being a “supertaster” may sound like a foodie’s dream come true, but in reality, it’s no picnic.

Coffee and alcohol are unpalatable – along with tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, strawberries, condiments and most sweets.

“I can’t stand cake,” says Michelle Triplett, a 31-year-old stay-at-home mom and supertaster from Olympia, Wash., who spoke, coincidentally, on her birthday. “It’s too sweet for me. And when I drink beer, I gag. It’s like drinking urine.”

Supertasters detect components – like salt or bitterness -- in food that others can’t, says Dr. Alan Hirsch, founder and neurological director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago.

“[Supertasters] have densities of taste buds that are 10 to 100 times greater than the normal population,” he says. “As a result, supertasters are much more sensitive to spicy foods and they can taste … very mild flavors.”

Serena Williams loses to Nadia Petrova in Madrid Open

Page last updated at 21:03 GMT,

Wednesday, 12 May 2010 22:03 UK 

Williams missed much of the early part of the year through injury

Top seed Serena Williams became the latest big name to exit the Madrid Open after losing to Russia's Nadia Petrova.

Williams, who lost in the opening round last year, got off to a positive start in her third-round tie against the Russian before losing 4-6 6-2 6-3.

She struggled as the match wore on thanks to some relentlessly accurate hitting from Petrova.

She follows Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina out of the tournament.

Williams, who had to work hard to beat Vera Dushevina in the last round, looked down and out well before she sent a forehand over the baseline on the Russian's first match point.

Petrova, the 16th seed, will now meet Czech Lucie Safarova or Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru in the quarter-finals.

But Serena's sister Venus ensured she would go back to number two in the world rankings following her 3-6 6-1 6-2 win over Italy's Francesca Schiavone.

When the new list is released on Monday, it will be the first time since May 2003 the siblings, who have won 19 Grand Slam singles titles between them, have been ranked first and second.

Elsewhere, seventh seed Jelena Jankovic edged a tense all-Serbian second-round battle when she beat Ana Ivanovic 4-6 6-4 6-1.

Both players looked well below par in a match littered with errors and struggled to hold serve throughout.

Jankovic, the world number four and runner-up in Rome last week, will play Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues for a place in the quarter-finals.

"Overall, I am not really happy with the way that I played, but a win is a win," she said.

"I had quite a lot of trouble in the first set and I didn't serve well and I wasn't really feeling the shots.

"I was quite a long way from where I was playing the past few weeks but then I just tried to stay as positive as possible."

Midday & Evening

** until 5-15-10 **

210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219

013, 113, 123, 133, 143, 153, 163, 173, 183, 193

607, 617, 627, 637, 647, 657, 667, 677, 687, 697

086, 186, 286, 386, 486, 586, 686, 786, 886, 986

Black hole 'hurled out of galaxy'

The red circle indicates where a black hole may be

The finding comes from analysis of data collected by the US Chandra space X-ray observatory.

However, there are alternative explanations for the observation.

The work, by an international team of astronomers, has been published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Normally, each galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its centre.

Given that these objects can have masses equivalent to one billion Suns, it takes a special set of conditions to cause this to happen.

The authors believe this could be the result of the merger of two smaller black holes.

But there are alternative explanations for the bright X-ray source; it could also be a Type IIn supernova, or an ultra-luminous X-ray source (ULX) with an optical counterpart (which could represent several phenomena).

Simulations using supercomputers suggest that when this happens, the larger black hole that results is shot away at high speed.

Black holes may be expelled from their host galaxies after mergers

However, this depends on the direction and velocity at which the two black holes are rotating before their collision.

Marianne Heida of the University of Utrecht used data in the Chandra Source Catalogue to compare hundreds of thousands of sources of X-rays with the positions of millions of galaxies.

The material that falls into black holes heats up dramatically on its final journey, which often means that black holes are strong X-ray sources.

X-rays are also able to penetrate the dust and gas that obscures the centre of a galaxy, giving astronomers a clear view of the region around the black hole, with the bright source appearing as a star-like point.

Looking at one galaxy in the Catalogue, Ms Heida noticed that the point of light was offset from the centre and yet was so bright that it could be associated with a supermassive black hole.

Ms Heida said: "We have found many more objects in this strange class of X-ray sources. With Chandra we should be able to make the accurate measurements we need to pinpoint them more precisely and identify their nature."

OMG!!!

S.C. governor meets Argentine lover in Fla.

Affair ruined his marriage, wrecked his political career

updated 2:01 p.m. ET, Wed., May 12, 2010

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said Wednesday he spent last weekend in Florida with his Argentine lover, hoping to rekindle the affair that wrecked his marriage and his political future and brought a formal rebuke from legislators for embarrassing the state.

At a news conference on an unrelated issue, Sanford did not mention Maria Belen Chapur of Argentina by name when asked about a weekend trip out of state about which his staff has refused to provide details. But the governor, now divorced, left no room for doubt.

"As a matter of record, everybody in this room knows exactly who I was with over the weekend," Sanford said. "That is no mystery to anybody given what I said last summer. And, you know, the purpose was obviously to see if something could be restarted on that front given the rather enormous geographic gulf between us. And time will tell. I don't know if it will or won't."

Questions arose after the website Gawker posted comments from tipsters who reported seeing Sanford in the Florida Keys this past weekend with a tall, attractive brunette they assumed was Chapur. Sanford said he didn't stay at the hotel mentioned in that posting or a subsequent published report.

He said Wednesday that he owed it to the public to say he was being protected by Florida law enforcement on the trip and that he was in touch with his office while away. Those became issues when he disappeared for five days last summer.

Beyond that, he said, the media should back off.

"But this obsession with one's personal life at some point has got to end," Sanford said.

He did not provide details about the trip or say if it was the first time he had seen Chapur since he vanished from the state in June and returned to say he had been in Argentina visiting her. He told his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. He appeared before cameras to tearfully admit the yearlong affair with the woman he described days later as his soul mate in an interview with The Associated Press.

Since then, Sanford has been censured by the House. Wife Jenny Sanford divorced him in March after penning a tell-all book describing their relationship. She's now dating a Georgia businessman.

And Mark Sanford agreed to pay the largest ethics fines in state history for, among other things, his use of state planes for personal and political purposes.

The term-limited Republican, once considered a possible 2012 presidential contender, leaves office in January after completing his second term.

Child may be lone survivor in Libya plane crash

By the CNN Wire Staff

• NEW: An 8-year-old Dutch boy apparently suffers bone injuries but survived
• Airbus A330-200 commercial flight crashes during landing at airport in Tripoli, Libya
• European parliament president says about 100 dead. Dutch tourism official says child survived
• Flight carrying 93 passengers, 11 crew was near end of nine-hour flight when it crashed

(CNN) -- A Dutch child is believed to be the only survivor of a passenger plane crash in Libya Wednesday that may have killed more than 100 people, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said.

The plane was carrying 93 passengers and 11 crew members when it crashed while trying to land at the Tripoli International Airport.

The boy underwent surgery at a hospital in the Libyan capital of Tripoli after the Afriqiyah Airways plane that left Johannesburg crashed as it neared the end of its flight.

He was identified as Ruben van Ashout, 8, a doctor at the hospital where he is being treated told CNN. The boy had many fractures in his lower limbs, the doctor told CNN by phone.

The president of the European Parliament said about 100 people died, and Libya's state news agency said 96 bodies had been recovered.

Nicky Knapp, a representative of the Airports Company South Africa, provided the breakdown in the destinations of the passengers aboard: seven to London, 32 to Brussels, 42 to Dusseldorf, one to Paris, and 11 to Libya. She was speaking on behalf of Afriqiyah Airways.

The plane, an Airbus A330-200, was at the tail end of its nearly nine-hour-long flight when it crashed.

"We express our sincere regret and sadness on behalf of the airline. As well, we would like to express our condolences to the relatives and friends of those who had passengers on Flight 8U771 destined for Tripoli late last night, due to arrive around 6 o'clock this morning," she said.

Calling the incident a tragedy, Jerzy Buzek, the president of the European Parliament said "some 100 people have died no doubt from many countries around the world."

He said the child's survival "given this tragic event, is truly a miracle."

The Dutch Royal Touring Club said 61 of 62 Dutch passengers on the plane died.

A Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman said the government was trying to get more information about those aboard.

The British Foreign Office said it was looking into whether British nationals were on board the flight.

At the crash site, workers with surgical masks combed through the smoldering wreckage that spilled over a large area. A wheel lay atop a pile of bags. Two green airline seats sat upright and intact amid burned parts of the aircraft.

Officials recovered the plane's flight data recorder, which investigators use to piece together a flight's last minutes.

The Tripoli-based Afriqiyah (Arabic for "African") operates flights to four continents. The planes in the fleet carry the logo 9.9.99 -- the date when the African Union was formed.

The Airbus that crashed is one of three Airbus 330-200s that the airline owns.

Well Madrid 2010 is really heating up and Venus Williams secured the number 2 position in the world by winning her 3rd round match against Francesca Schiavone, while her sister Serena, lost to Nadia Petrova. On Monday May 17th, 2010, Serena and Venus will have achieved another one of their many goals....................to be the Number 1 & 2 tennis players in the world. Congraulations ladies, you two truly do deserve it!!!!!
Serena1  &  2  Venus

Celtics stun Cavs, take 3-2 lead in series

By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer

Tom Withers, Ap Sports Writer

2 hrs 32 mins ago

CLEVELAND – His team down by 27 points and a promising season suddenly in peril, LeBron James walked off the floor to a smattering of boos and rows of empty seats.

If this was goodbye Cleveland, it wasn't the send-off he imagined.

The Boston Celtics have pushed the two-time MVP and the Cavaliers dangerously close to an early start to the Summer of LeBron.

Ray Allen scored 25 points, Rajon Rondo scored all of his 16 in the second half and the Celtics, once thought too old to challenge for another title, beat James and the Cavs 120-88 in Game 5 on Tuesday night to move within one win of knocking the league's top team from the playoffs.

Paul Pierce added 21 and Kevin Garnett 18 for the Celtics, who handed the Cavs their worst home playoff loss in history and can end Cleveland's season with a win in Game 6 on Thursday night.

"We cannot come back here," Garnett said. "We have to think this is our Game 7 coming up and we cannot afford to have the best team in the league have a Game 7 on their floor. Just not possible."

James, on the verge of an expected trip into free agency on July 1, had an atrocious game. He scored 15 points on 3-of-14 shooting, a startling outing for the 25-year-old who has been playing with a sprained elbow. He refused to use his injury as an excuse.

"I missed a lot of open shots that I normally make," he said with little emotion. "You don't see that out of me a lot so when it happens, it's a big surprise."

Because of James' uncertain future, Game 5 may have been his last at home for Cleveland and it has set up Game 6 as the most important in franchise history: Win and force Game 7 on Sunday in Cleveland; lose and maybe watch James, the local kid trying to deliver this city its first pro championship since 1964, leave for good.

"Our backs are against the wall," James said. "We've won on that floor before and we've got to get it done."

As for this potentially being his last game in Cleveland, James added: "I didn't even think about that. Me sitting up here and saying this is potentially our last game here this season, that wouldn't be me and that wouldn't be our team."

Rondo, coming off a 29-point, 18-rebound, 13-assist performance in Game 4, was held without a point in the first half as the Cavs concentrated their defense on stopping the point guard from penetrating into the paint. He finally got loose in the third, scoring 12 as the Celtics opened a 21-point lead.

Boston went up by 24 in the fourth, sending battered Cleveland fans toward the exits.

James finally checked out with 3:58 left and the Celtics leading by 27. He shrugged his shoulders and slapped hands with Cleveland's coaches and teammate Shaquille O'Neal, who had 21 points and afterward stated the obvious.

"It's plain and simple," said O'Neal, who came to Cleveland determined "to win a ring for the King." "We've got to win two in a row. We've got to man up. I've been in this situation before."

Before the game, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said his team would not change its strategy.

"We are who we are," Rivers said. "We don't need anyone to play hero basketball. We have to be a team. We're good when we're a team."

And through five games, the Celtics have been the better one. Because of injuries, Boston, two years removed from its 17th NBA championship, never found its groove in the regular season.

The Celtics got it now.

They've outperformed the top-seeded Cavs in almost every aspect of the game, outrunning and outhustling a younger team that with the addition of O'Neal, Antawn Jamison and Anthony Parker, was built for the postseason but has yet to show it's serious about winning a title.

"We've done nothing," Rivers said. "We've won three games but we've got to win four."

Allen opened the second half with back-to-back 3s, pushing Boston's six-point halftime lead to 12 and deflating already nervous Cleveland fans, who have seen so many of their teams choke in pressure situations before.

In the first half, the Cavs did a brilliant job on Rondo, who didn't score his first points until the 9:47 mark of the third quarter. But by then, the Celtics had opened their double-digit lead and with James misfiring from the outside, Cleveland was in big trouble.

James missed his first seven shots before he got loose on a leak-out dunk with 6:15 left in the third.

The Cavs led 29-21 when, with Rondo on the bench, Boston's Big Three of Allen, Garnett and Pierce did all the scoring in a 16-0 run that put the Celtics ahead by eight.

NOTES: Kentucky coach John Calipari, a friend of James, sat courtside with James' agent, Leon Rose — just a few seats from Cavs owner Dan Gilbert. ... Rivers was asked if Rondo's postseason breakout signifies a passing of the Celtics' torch from Boston's Big Three. "I'm just trying to get them to pass the ball to each other," he joked. "That torch stuff, I'm going to leave that alone. If they pass it to each other, I'm good." ... Joe Tait, the Cavs' radio voice for 38 seasons, and Boston Globe reporter Jackie MacMullan will receive the Curt Gowdy Media Awards at the Basketball Hall of Fame this summer. MacMullan is the first woman to be honored.

"Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own."

- Aesop -

TIW TN 5-11-10 Evening

Winning Numbers: 309 & 9317

693, 509, 456, 497, 430, 375, 218, 067
4167, 5413, 6285, 3721, 3095, 7549, 7369
0246, 0843, 0857, 0561, 2489, 1869, 9210

430, 541, 652, 763, 874, 985, 096, 107, 218, 329

375, 486, 597, 608, 719, 820, 931, 042, 153, 264

3090, 3091, 3092, 3093, 3094, 3095, 3096, 3097, 3098, 3099

0095, 1095, 2095, 3095, 4095, 5095, 6095, 7095, 8095, 9095

7540, 7541, 7542, 7543, 7544, 7545, 7546, 7547, 7548, 7549

0549, 1549, 2549, 3549, 4549, 5549, 6549, 7549, 8549, 9549

85, 20, 30 and/or 75 pairs

TIW NC 5-11-10 Evening

Winning Numbers: 048 & 0530

196, 289, 521, 593, 568, 632, 704, 813
7185, 6713, 8496, 3541, 3206, 5670, 5380
2478, 2973, 2965, 2681, 4790, 1980, 0412

704, 815, 926, 037, 148, 259, 360, 471, 582, 693

0410, 0411, 0412, 0413, 0414, 0415, 0416, 0417, 0418, 0419

0412, 1412, 2412, 3412, 4412, 5412, 6412, 7412, 8412, 9412

59 and/or 04 pairs