Australia’s “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin dies SYDNEY (Reuters) – Steve Irwin, the quirky Australian naturalist who won worldwide acclaim, has died in a marine accident off Australia’s northeast coast, local media reported on Monday. Queensland state government sources quoted by Australian Associated Press (AAP) said Irwin, 44, whose television show “The Crocodile Hunter” won international acclaim and popularised the phrase “Crikey”, was believed to have been killed by a stingray barb that pierced his chest. He was filming an underwater documentary off Port Douglas when the accident occurred, the report said. Sky Television also reported that Irwin had been stung by a sting ray. Australian emergency officials could not immediately confirm the reports. Irwin won a global following for his daredevil antics but also triggered outrage in 2004 by holding his then one-month-old baby while feeding a snapping crocodile at his Australian zoo.

Holy Shit. Fucking A.

U.S. woman to become first female space tourist Fri Aug 25, 10:08 AM ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Anousheh Ansari, a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin, will become the world’s first female space tourist when she blasts off aboard a Russian rocket on September 14, the launch company said on Friday.   
 
 
Daisuke Enomoto, a Japanese entrepreneur who had hoped to lift off in a Soyuz spaceship, was deemed unfit for the 10-day journey by a medical commission earlier this week.

Ansari, a 39-year-old chairwoman and co-founder of Prodea Systems, Inc., a digital home technology company, will be the world’s fourth space tourist.

“Anousheh Ansari has been officially named to the Soyuz TMA-9 primary crew,” Space Adventures, working in partnership with Russia’s space agency Roskosmos to launch space tourists, said in a statement.

“The first female spaceflight participant will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on September 14, 2006, en route to the        International Space Station along with the Expedition 14 crew members:        NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin.”

U.S. entrepreneur Dennis Tito pioneered space tourism, flying to the ISS in April 2001. He was followed by South African Mark Shuttleworth in April 2002 and American Greg Olsen in October 2005.

Space tourists are reported to pay the Russians about $20 million for the trip and a 10-day stay in orbit. This is believed to be the cost of a Soyuz rocket launch. Russian officials keep contracts with space tourists confidential.

I wonder if Lance Bass read this yet…

Except from site:

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I swear the weed is getting more potent these last few decades…

By EILEEN ALT POWELL, AP Business Writer Wed Aug 23, 4:47 PM ET

NEW YORK – A year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, experts are taking a hard look at how well relief operations functioned, including those backed by charities and other nonprofit organizations. 

It’s important to know what went right and what didn’t so donors can be assured that the lessons are applied to future disaster recovery efforts, said Trent Stamp, executive director of the Charity Navigator, based in Mahwah, N.J.

One thing Americans did that was very right was to give generously to relief groups, with some $4.2 billion contributed after Katrina hit on Aug. 29, followed by hurricanes Rita and Wilma. But at least a quarter of that money didn’t go to established nonprofits like the

American Red Cross or the Salvation Army but to what Stamp refers to as “the new, best thing,” which are charities that spring up to deal with a single incident or specific cause.

“I don’t think disasters are a time for amateurs,” Stamp said. “We saw people show up in New Orleans with new foundations saying, ‘I’m, going to participate,’ but they didn’t have the right skills and their track records weren’t particularly good.”

Charity Navigator, a nonprofit organization, operates the Web site http://www.charitynavigator.org, which provides information on more than 5,000 charities to help donors make informed decisions about giving.

Stamp said wise spending by charities is important, but he fears a great deal of money that was raised in the name of Katrina victims will never be properly accounted for.

“Maybe $1 billion went to groups that we’ve never heard of to do work we’re not sure was needed or even done,” he said. “There’s no accountability for that money, and that concerns me.”

A new study by the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York in Albany concluded that people moved by the devastation Katrina caused “helped fill a tremendous gap left in the response by the state, local and federal governments.”

It pointed out that in many cases, volunteers from these churches and charities were among the first to reach devastated areas. But it said there were questions about how effective they were once they got there.

“Lack of coordination, both with government officials and with other nonprofit agencies, slowed progress,” the study said. “Many small nonprofit or faith-based organizations took on more than they could comfortably handle.”

Food, housing and transportation for volunteers was sometimes a problem, it added.

Still, Karen Rowley, special projects manager with the research council, which is based in Baton Rouge, La., said small charities should be encouraged to participate in future disaster recovery campaigns.

“They’re smaller, which often makes them more flexible, and they’re creative in their thinking,” she said.

Rowley said among the lessons of Katrina was that “the groups in our region, the local nonprofits, need to have a plan for how they’re going to handle a disaster in the future.” She added: “If they pool their expertise — get organized and have a plan — in the immediate aftermath (of a disaster) they could be very powerful.”

Patrick Rooney, director of research with the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in Indianapolis, said he thought the media and government agencies did a good job referring people to the Web sites and toll free telephone numbers of bona fide relief agencies.

“That helped to minimize the problems with fraudulent groups,” Rooney said.

Another good thing, he said, was that many of the major relief agencies had developed better operating procedures after dealing with the fallout from the September 2001 terror attacks and the tsunami that hit Asia in December 2004.

“Many of the disaster relief nonprofits did a better job of communicating with one another and with FEMA (the

Federal Emergency Management Agency) and with state and local governments,” Rooney said.He added, however, that “clearly, one of the lessons learned for the future was that neither FEMA or the relief organizations were prepared for a disaster of this order of magnitude.”

Looking forward, he said, deciding where to contribute money “depends on what lights your fire.” The American Red Cross needs contributions to be prepared for the next disaster, he said, but churches and community groups need money to contribute to Gulf Coast rebuilding projects, too.

Charity Navigator’s Stamp, who visited the Gulf Coast shortly after Katrina and again last month, said volunteers also were badly needed.

“They desperately need bodies,” he said. “They need young healthy bodies to gut houses, pick up debris. They also need professionals, including doctors and mental health workers, because a lot of people left and haven’t come back.”

___

On the Net:

http://www.charitynavigator.org

http://www.rockinst.org/gulfgov

http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu

Kampusch, who was 10 when she was snatched off a street on her way to school and imprisoned in a cramped, windowless cell, described what she went through at the hands of Wolfgang Priklopil, 44, who killed himself within hours of her escape by throwing himself beneath a commuter train.

Kampusch refused to discuss allegations of abuse but indicated that Priklopil at times treated her well, but at other times very badly.

“I don’t want to, and won’t, answer any questions about intimate or personal details,” she said. “I will punish breaches of personal boundaries, whoever crosses voyeuristic boundaries. Whoever tries that better prepare themselves for something.”

She described the man who enslaved her as “a part of my life,” adding “that’s why I also mourn for him in a certain way.”

Kampusch also said she refused to comply with Priklopil’s requests to call him “master.”

“He was not my master. I was just as strong,” she said in the statement, read to reporters by a psychologist.

Police said Monday they have only just begun to question Kampusch about her March 1998 abduction and many questions remain unanswered about the case, which until her escape last Wednesday was one of Austria’s greatest unsolved criminal mysteries.

Police Maj. Gen. Gerhard Lang of the Federal Criminal Investigations Bureau said investigators continued to follow every lead and had intensified their search for clues.

Lang said Kampusch knew from the first day of her captivity that she was in Strasshof, a peaceful community north of Vienna, where children play freely on the streets and houses with flower pots are close together.

Because construction plans to the house where Kampusch was held were missing, investigators could not say for certain that it had no other hidden rooms, Lang said.

Kampusch said she slipped to safety while Priklopil was busy with a cell phone call and she was cleaning his car in the garden with a vacuum cleaner. She has been at an undisclosed location since.

At the time of her escape, she weighed just 92 1/2 pounds — exactly her weight when she vanished as a freckle-faced 10-year-old, the news magazine Profil reported.

“In principle, I don’t have the feeling that I missed out on something,” Kampusch said in the statement, reflecting on her youth, which she acknowledged was different to those of others.

Still, she said, “I was spared some things — didn’t start smoking and drinking and didn’t have any bad friends.”

On a typical day, she said, she would have breakfast with Priklopil, a communications technician who she said usually didn’t work. The rest of the day would be spent doing various things around the house.

“Housework, reading, watching television, talking, cooking. That was it, for years. Everything tied to the fear of loneliness,” she said.

Although authorities have released photographs and video footage of the cramped, windowless basement cell where Kampusch was kept, she referred to it simply as “my room” in her statement, which was read by criminal psychologist Max Friedrich.

Police images showed the room contained, among other things, books, clothes, a television, a bed, a toilet and a sink. Investigators say she also was allowed to listen to the radio and watch some videos, and with the help of a book, taught herself how to knit.

Police were in contact with Priklopil after Kampusch’s disappearance because he owned a white van — the type of vehicle a witness said the girl was dragged into. But investigators believed him when he said he was alone at home working on construction at the time of the abduction.

“He was convincing, friendly, cooperative. One didn’t see any reason to doubt his statements,” Lang told the Austria Press Agency. At the time, a photo was taken of the van, which contained building materials and construction waste.

Austrian television reported Monday that Priklopil sought medical attention the day after the kidnapping for an almost-severed finger he claimed got shut in the door of a safe. It said he wound up back in the hospital about a year later for bruises he said he suffered while digging a ditch.

In her statement, Kampusch said she understood the curiosity about what she endured and how she is faring, but she pleaded: “Please leave me alone for the coming while.”

“Everyone always wants to ask me intimate questions. That’s nobody’s business,” she said. “Maybe I’ll tell a therapist one day or someone when I feel the need to. Or maybe never. The intimacy only belongs to me.”

“Many people are taking care of me,” she added, saying that she has been in telephone contact with her family. “Give me time until I can give my own account.”

Except from site:

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This is simply a great invention. Something like this will make millions. Excuse me while I buy some stocks…

The Most Expensive Rental Markets In America

By Lacey Rose
Forbes.com

If you’re hesitant to jump into the housing market, you’re not alone.

As the real estate market shows signs of softening, many Americans are adopting a wait-and-see attitude about home buying. And those in need of housing are turning to the only viable alternative — rentals.

The result of this shift is an increasingly tight rental market.

According to the latest Commercial Real Estate Outlook from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), a trade association based in Washington, D.C., the apartment rental market will see average vacancy rates of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of this year, down from 6.2 percent during the same period in 2005.

“With mortgages rising and home prices at such a high level, people who might have considered purchasing a home a few years ago may now be turning to the rental market, particularly in big cities like New York,” says Richard Levy, a senior research analyst at the National Multi Housing Council, an industry association based in Washington, D.C.

But much to renters’ chagrin — and landlords’ delight — greater demand has led to higher rents. In fact, NAR expects rents will rise an average of 4.1 percent this year, compared to a 2.9 percent increase last year.

The Usual Suspects

To determine the costliest 20 rental markets in the U.S., we turned to real estate research firm Global Real Analytics, which publishes the National Real Estate Index. The San Francisco-based company collects rental data for studios through three-bedroom units in apartment complexes around the country. The firm provided its most recent data on the metropolitan areas with the highest annual rents per square foot.

As in 2005, the New York metropolitan area, which includes New York City and its surrounding counties, topped our list, with an average price of more than $27 per square foot for a high-end apartment.

In Manhattan specifically, the average rent came in at a whopping $48.33 per square foot — an estimate supported by July figures from Citi Habitats, a New York City-area real estate agency.

The median monthly rent for a studio apartment in Manhattan is more than $1,900, according to Citi Habitats. If it’s a three-bedroom spread that you’re after, prepare to fork over somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000.

While metro areas like Boston, Chicago and Miami also scored spots on our list, this year’s ranking was dominated by California markets, with San Francisco leading the pack.

San Fran’s rental market, which took a major spill after the dot-com bust, has regained strength — and costly price tags. The average price is $27.17 per square foot each year for a high-end spread in the hilly city, up from $22.48 last year, an increase of more than 20 percent. That means renters will fork over more than $2,000 a month for a 1,000-square-foot pad.

Its southern neighbor, Los Angeles, isn’t much more affordable, at $25.12 per square foot.

“An average home in the Hollywood Hills will rent for $10,000 a month,” says Aaron Leider, owner of Keller Williams Realty’s Brentwood office. “That’s a basic home. A really nice home is in the area of about $30,000.”

Beyond being highly desirable places to call home, the reasons for the lofty price tags — which range from $13.87 annually per square foot in West Palm Beach, Fla., to $27.84 in New York City — vary from region to region and neighborhood to neighborhood.

New Condo Construction a Factor

Take New York. Yuval Greenblatt, executive vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman in Manhattan, says there is a siege on the local rental market. Among the stressors are a lack of new rental construction and the conversion of many rental buildings into condominiums.

“Literally, there is nothing available,” he says. “I’ve found myself sending people to Long Island City and Roosevelt Island,” two less-desirable neighborhoods outside of Manhattan.

Dennis R. Hughes, a senior vice president at New York brokerage The Corcoran Group, a division of Cendant, says he recently worked with a customer who had a budget of up to $25,000 per month for a three-bedroom apartment, but he still had a hard time finding anything suitable.

“There were just a handful of rental listings to show at that price point — that’s how tight the market is,” Hughes says.

But when a prime rental does come on the market, residents are willing to shell out the big bucks — even in the priciest area.

Just last month, Frances Katzen and Dennis Murphy, co-exclusive agents of Prudential Douglas Elliman and Posh Domain respectively, signed leases on the highest recorded rental in Manhattan’s trendy Meatpacking District. The apartment, approximately 5,000 square feet of unfinished space, rented for $37,500 per month, or $90 per square foot.

Of course, not everyone is convinced that renting, particularly at current prices, is the better alternative. For the $10,000 a month you shell out for a rental, you could buy a $1.5 million house, says Keller Williams Realty’s Leider.

“And you don’t even get the tax advantage,” he says.

See the slideshow

Back to Real Estate 2006

[Fudge. There goes my following in Donald Trump..]

The United States has never had a female president, so we’ve never grappled with this bit of etiquette. Or, to put it another way, there’s no precedent for that president. That said, our first female president will be referred to as “Madam President.” This is how female heads of state are referred to in other countries. We can only assume the same rules will apply here. Addressing the president’s husband (if she’s married) is a bit trickier.If Hillary Clinton were elected president, we’d most likely still refer to Bill Clinton as either “Mr. President” or “former President Clinton.” Even after they’re out of office, past commanders in chief retain the title. Call it a perk of the job.

Of course, not every potential presidential candidate is married to a previous ruler of the free world. For example, if Britney Spears were elected to the office (God help us), we’d all address Kevin Federline as “First Gentleman.” This is how Dan Mulhern, the spouse of the governor of Michigan, is referred to. Same thing with Jose Miguel Tuason Arroyo, husband of Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.