tsunami warning hawaii

tsunami warning hawaii

tsunami warning hawaii

Hawaii braced Saturday for a potentially damaging tsunami, after a massive earthquake off Chile sent waves across the Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning — its highest alert — for Hawaii, where incoming waves could cause damage along the coastlines across the island
chain. A warning was also in effect for Guam, American Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands.

The first waves were expected to arrive in Hawaii at 11:19 a.m. Saturday (4:19 p.m. EST).

A lower-grade tsunami advisory was in effect for the coast of California and an Alaskan coastal area from Kodiak to Attu islands. Authorities in Australia did not issue a warning, but asked residents to stay away from the coast.

The Ewa Beach, Hawaii-based center called for “urgent action to protect lives and property” in Hawaii, which is among 53 nations and territories subject to tsunami warnings.

bloom box

bloom box

bloom box

In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that's inexpensive and clean, with no emissions. Well over 100 start-ups in Silicon Valley are working on it, and one of them, Bloom Energy, is about to make public its invention: a little power plant-in-a-box they want to put literally in your backyard.

You'll generate your own electricity with the box and it'll be wireless. The idea is to one day replace the big power plants and transmission line grid, the way the laptop moved in on the desktop and cell phones supplanted landlines.

Two boxes can power the average high-consumption home and one box can power the average low-consumption home, at least that's the claim being made by K.R. Sridhar, founder of Bloom Energy, on the 60 Minutes show on CBS. The original technology comes from an oxygen generator meant for a scrapped NASA Mars program that has been converted, with the help of an estimated $400 million in private funding, into a fuel cell.

Bloom's design feeds oxygen into one side of a cell while fuel (natural gas, bio gas from landfill waste, solar, etc) is supplied to the other side to provide the chemical reaction required for power. The cells themselves are inexpensive ceramic disks painted with a secret green "ink" on one side and a black "ink" on the other. The disks are separated by a cheap metal alloy, instead of more precious metals like platinum, and stacked into a cube of varying capabilities - a stack of 64 can power a small business like Starbucks.

Now get this, skeptics: there are already several corporate customers using refrigerator-sized Bloom Boxes. The corporate-sized cells cost $700,000 to $800,000 and are installed at 20 customers you've already heard of including FedEx and Wal-mart - Google was first to join this green energy party, using its Bloom Boxes to power a data center for the last 18 months. Ebay has installed its boxes on the front lawn of its San Jose location. It estimates to receive almost 15% of its energy needs from Bloom, saving about $100,000 since installing its five boxes 9 months ago - an estimate we assume doesn't factor in the millions Ebay paid for the boxes themselves. Bloom makes about one box a day at the moment and believes that within 5 to 10 years it can drive down the cost to about $3,000 to make it suitable for home use, which sounds awfully expensive. Nevertheless, Bloom Energy will go public with details on the 24th of February.

When author Tasha Tudor's ashes were finally buried, it wasn't in one place. Her bickering survivors couldn't agree on when, where and how, so a judge ordered her cremated remains divided in half.

On Oct. 17, sons Seth Tudor and Thomas Tudor and daughters Bethany Tudor and Efner Tudor Holmes buried some under a rosebush she loved in her garden and the rest on Seth's neighboring property, where her precious Pembroke Welsh corgi dogs were already buried.

"(Seth) got the ashes, we went outside and he gave us half the ashes and he went down to his property and scattered or buried the ashes there and we scattered ours," said Thomas Tudor, 64. "It was really an unpleasant situation."

Call it the war of the Tudors: Almost two years after the famed children's book author and illustrator died at 92, a battle over her $2 million estate rages on — pitting sibling against sibling, blasting through her assets with Probate Court litigation and sullying the eccentric artist's name.

At issue: family grievances old and new, including whether Tudor was unduly influenced when she rewrote her will to give nearly everything — including dolls now on loan to Colonial Williamsburg — to Seth Tudor, 67, her older son.

"If they don't do anything soon, the lawyers will get all of it, that's what I think," said Bethany Tudor, 69, the elder daughter.

Corgiville was never like this.

Beginning with "Pumpkin Moonshine" in 1938, Tudor earned fame for the delicately drawn images and watercolors illustrating "Little Women," "The Secret Garden" and dozens of other children's books and for her own "Corgiville Fair" and "The Great Corgiville Kidnapping."

Her works celebrated holidays, family and her love for children, a back-to-basics lifestyle and the sturdy little dogs she loved so much.

Tudor, who was fond of saying she wished she'd been born in 1830, lived much of her life as if she had been.

sasquatch 2010 lineup

sasquatch 2010 lineup

sasquatch 2010 lineup

Even though the terrible winter weather still grips most of the East Coast and the South, there's a light at the end of the tunnel: Festival season is just around the corner. The Coachella lineup has already been announced (featuring Jay-Z, Muse and Gorillaz), the bands for Bonnaroo have been set (including Weezer, the Flaming Lips, Kings of Leon and Jay-Z again) and rumors are already circulating about the Lollapalooza lineup (Lady Gaga and the reunited Soundgarden are being whispered about).

On Monday night, the latest warm-weather festival announced its full slate of bands. The ninth annual Sasquatch festival, held every year at the picturesque Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, revealed its full lineup during a party at Seattle's Crocodile Café. The indie-centric lineup is lead by the newly reunited Pavement, My Morning Jacket, MGMT and Vampire Weekend.

The three-day festival, which kicks off on Saturday, May 29 and runs through Monday, May 31 (Memorial Day), will also feature sets from a bevy of indie favorites like the National, the Hold Steady, Passion Pit, the Dirty Projectors, No Age, Tegan & Sara, Drive By Truckers, She & Him, Band of Horses and LCD Soundsystem.

It won't be all jangly guitars, though, as Brother Ali, Wale and Kid Cudi will hold down the hip-hop fort. Sasquatch also embraces stand-up comedy, which is why former "Daily Show" correspondent Rob Riggle and Craig Robinson (star of "The Office" and the upcoming "Hot Tub Time Machine") are booked for sets.

More bands will be announced as the opening day of the festival approaches, but in the meantime, presale begins on Wednesday (Febru

marcus camby

marcus camby

marcus camby

In town in advance of their Tuesday game against the Trail Blazers, the Clippers were having a team dinner at Portland’s Ringside steakhouse Monday night when Camby received a call on his cell phone from his agent, Rick Kaplan. Kaplan informed Camby that he will likely be traded to Portland. One league source cautioned that the Blazers’ ownership had yet to sign off on the deal. The Denver Nuggets also are trying to make a last-ditch effort to bring back Camby before the Portland deal is finalized.

After taking the call from Kaplan, Camby immediately walked out of the restaurant. A source close to Camby says that while he recognizes the benefits of playing for a better team, he is upset because his family is comfortably settled in Los Angeles. He had hoped to re-sign with the Clippers this summer. “He likes the Clippers, he likes the organization, he likes L.A.,” the source said. “His wife is happy in L.A. And he’s not one for change. He’s definitely not happy about this.”

Though close to getting done, the deal hasn’t been finalized (team owners Donald Sterling and Paul Allen have yet to give their final blessings.)

With the season-ending injuries to both Greg Oden and Joel “Ghostface” Przybilla, Portland needs all the help they can get get on the inside, especially defensively. Happy to do it or not, this is something Marcus Camby can provide for them.

As for the Clippers, who are essentially giving away their best defensive player for next to nothing, well, some things never seem to change.

minisink valley school district

minisink valley school district

minisink valley school district

SLATE HILL — The Minisink Valley School District and its teachers may be squabbling over a new contract, but they've still managed to reach a significant financial agreement.

For teachers eligible for a full state pension — at least 55 years old and 30 years of service — the district will offer $25,000 to retire at the end of the school year. Superintendent Martha Murray said 14 district teachers would be eligible for the program.

"We are going to have staff reductions, and we'd prefer to do as much of it as possible through attrition," Murray says.

Minisink Valley isn't the first local school district to offer such sweeteners for eligible retirees — Pine Bush offered a $30,000 incentive last year. Even the City of Middletown offered a $20,000 incentive to eligible employees last year — Mayor Joe DeStefano said nine employees took it.

And with the state threatening to slash school aid, retirement incentives are one thing districts and teachers unions can agree on.

"Early retirement options are a win-win situation for districts and teachers," says Carl Korn, a spokesman for New York State United Teachers. "Teachers and taxpayers benefit by seeing teachers at the top of the pay scale retire, replaced by teachers at the bottom of the pay scale.

"The savings you get isn't for one year, it's for 15 to 20 years."

Even when districts won't replace retiring teachers — the 18 Pine Bush teachers who took the incentive weren't replaced, and Minisink Valley plans not to hire replacements, either — Korn says it still beats layoffs.

"In almost every labor-management contract, there's a seniority clause," Korn says. "Under a seniority clause, the least experienced teachers are the first ones to face layoffs. There's a financial interest on behalf of the districts and allows the teachers at the lower end of the pay scale to keep their jobs."

And the number of retirement incentive packages could grow if the state Legislature decides to lower eligibility for a full teacher's pension to 25 years of service. In Minisink Valley alone, Teachers Association President Chris D'Angelo said that could make at least another 10 teachers eligible.

KD Lang hallelujah

KD Lang hallelujah

KD Lang hallelujah

2010 Winter Olympics Performance: Kathryn Dawn Lang, popularly known by her stage name k.d. lang performed at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

k.d. lang performed Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah (Hallelujah is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen) at the Olympics Opening Ceremony in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics was held on February 12, 2010, beginning at 6:00 pm PST (02:00 UTC, February 13).

The event was officially opened by Governor General Michaëlle Jean, the Canadian representative of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.

jack murtha

jack murtha

jack murtha

Washington

Until his public break with the Bush administration over the war in Iraq on Nov. 17, 2005, Rep. John Murtha (D) of Pennsylvania, who died Monday after surgery, was best known for the billions of dollars he secured for his district behind closed doors.


Abandoned by coal and steel factories, Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District owed its billions in defense contracts and infrastructure to the persistence and clout of its 19-term representative, who last month became the state's longest-serving House member of all time.

A protégé of legendary House Speaker Tip O’Neill and, more recently, a confidant of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representative Murtha swayed the lion’s share of member projects in any budget year from a perch on top of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee. Regardless of which party was in control of Congress, Murtha had a hand in overseeing the defense budget and distributing its member-projects, or earmarks. There’s even an area of the House floor dubbed “Murtha’s Corner,” for its traffic in earmarks.

His zeal in winning projects for his district brought him to the edge of scandal and frequent ethics investigations. Last month, he was cleared by the Office of Congressional Ethics of charges that he had accepted campaign contributions from PMA Group, a former top defense lobbying firm, in exchange for funding for earmarked projects.

Murtha brushed off the criticism, especially that from those who had never visited his district nor seen the economic devastation there.

“Jack Murtha was a man who thought representing his constituents was the most important thing in his public service,” said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center of Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. “He could care less what people said about pork barrel or earmarks or wasting. He felt that the primary goal of his service was to the 12th District and for that he had their undying affection.”

The first Vietnam combat veteran elected to Congress, Murtha was also focused on support of US military forces, especially in combat.

“Ever since I was a young boy, I had two goals in life – I wanted to be a colonel in the Marine Corps and a member of Congress,” he wrote in his 2006 memoir “From Vietnam to 9/11.”

A lifelong hawk and an early supporter of the war in Iraq, Murtha led Democrats in pushing for sufficient support for the troops, including adequately armored vehicles. His break with President Bush over the war in Iraq in late 2005 gave a significant boost to the antiwar movement both on and off Capitol Hill.

“Jack was a devoted husband, a loving father and a steadfast advocate for the people of Pennsylvania for nearly 40 years,” said President Obama in a statement honoring Murtha.

federal government closed tuesday

federal government closed tuesday

federal government closed tuesday

According to the latest OPM operating status, the Federal Government is closed Tuesday, February 9, 2010. The announcement comes due to the news that there is a weather forecast for high snowfall in the Washington, DC area on Tuesday, just days after a huge snow storm blanketed the nation's capital. This will mean that all Federal agencies in Washington, DC will be closed on Tuesday. Nonemergency employees will also be given an excused absence for the number of hours they were normally scheduled to work, except for those on leave without pay for military duty, workers' comp, suspensation or other nonpay status.

Telework and Emergency employees must still report for duty as normal. Emergency employees are still expected to report to their job on time, while telework employees must work from their usual telework sites specified in their agreements for work. These announcements were made just several hours ago at 6PM Monday evening.

The United States Office of Personnel Management made the announcement via their website here, which also says that the OPM Operating Status for Tuesday is Pending. Additionally, other sections of the OPM site are not functioning due to the high volume of visits to the site to see the news that the Federal Government is closed Tuesday.

Dunleavy out as Clippers coach

Dunleavy out as Clippers coach

Dunleavy out as Clippers coach

he Los Angeles Clippers have made a coaching change with just 32 games left in the season, naming Kim Hughes as their interim coach on Thursday night after Mike Dunleavy relinquished his bench duties.

Dunleavy will retain the title of Clippers general manager in what the team has described as a decision that was "reached mutually" earlier Thursday during a meeting attended by club president Andy Roeser, Dunleavy and assistant general manager Neil Olshey.

Although Dunleavy has been under pressure at various points during the past few months despite the season-long absence of No. 1 overall pick Blake Griffin (ESPN.com reported in November that Clippers owner Donald Sterling contemplated making a change after an 0-4 start), one source close to the situation insisted that it was Dunleavy's "decision to step down."Said Dunleavy in a team statement: "I've had several conversations with our owner [Sterling] concerning what we think is best for the team overall. We have discussed the possibility of my concentrating only on basketball operations. That option has always been available to me.

"I've come to the conclusion that this is the ideal time for me to direct my efforts toward the many personnel opportunities that lie before us, such as the trade market, the draft and the free-agent process. We fully expect to be active and productive on all those fronts."

It has been widely assumed in NBA coaching circles that Dunleavy, given Sterling's famed aversion to paying coaches who no longer work for the Clippers, was insulated from being fired because his contract has one more season to go after this season at $5 million.

But even an unexpected victory Tuesday over Chicago could not prevent the Clippers from a 2-6 record on the season's longest road trip, dropping them to 12th in the Western Conference and seven games out of a playoff spot. The trip included a loss in New Jersey, the fourth win all season for the Nets as they careen toward the league's all-time worst single-season record of 9-73 established by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1972-73 campaign.

Three sources close to the situation told ESPN.com that the recent double-digit road losses to New Jersey and Minnesota and the fade from playoff contention again had Sterling and Roeser contemplating a coaching change before Dunleavy voluntarily removed himself from the bench.

"We fully agree with Mike that this is the right time to make this change," Roeser said in a statement. "It just seems clear that the team needs a fresh voice and we hope that our players will respond in a positive way.

"As we approach the trade deadline, the NBA draft and the upcoming free-agent period, our team is very well positioned from a salary-cap standpoint. Mike's experienced input will be vitally important as we continue to develop our young talented nucleus and shape our team's future."

Dunleavy's next chore is deciding whether to trade or keep the in-demand Marcus Camby before the league's Feb. 18 deadline. Dunleavy's record on personnel matters has been strong in L.A., and the Clippers are positioned to have a significant amount of salary-cap space this summer bacause of the trade that sent Zach Randolph to Memphis. The cap flexibility they've maintained to this point has also enabled the Clippers to acquire two quality players -- Camby and swingman Rasual Butler -- from teams plagued by luxury-tax issues (Denver and New Orleans, respectively).

"Mike was a good coach. He's been around the game for like 30 years. It was unfortunate how things turned out. I think he just got caught up in a lot of difficult circumstances," Camby said upon hearing the news.

As the winningest and highest-paid coach in Clippers history, Dunleavy has survived nearly seven seasons working for the volatile Sterling. His record in L.A. is 215-325, but Dunleavy also took the franchise that has suffered so long in the Lakers' shadow to within one win of the Western Conference finals in 2006.

The Clippers had two options when choosing an interim successor before settling on Hughes. The other was John Lucas, who's in his first season as an assistant coach with the Clippers after previous coaching stints in San Antonio, Philadelphia and Cleveland.

Hughes is in his seventh season as a Clippers assistant after 12 seasons as a coach and scout with Denver and Milwaukee.

This is the third coaching change in the NBA this season. New Orleans (Jeff Bower replacing Byron Scott) and New Jersey (Kiki Vandeweghe replacing Lawrence Frank) are the other teams to make changes this season.

"This is something we've been contemplating for some time," Dunleavy's longtime agent Warren LeGarie said. "There's a shelf life to coaching sometimes. So you constantly have to keep measuring whether [the team's inconsistency] is because of injuries, because of you, or something else.

"And at some point you have to make a judgement call about what's best for the team, and that's what Mike did."

Dunleavy has a career record of 613-716 as a head coach with the Lakers, Milwaukee, Portland and the Clippers. He reached the NBA Finals in his first season of coaching in 1990-91 and came within one game of the 2000 Finals with the Trail Blazers before a fourth-quarter collapse in Game 7 propelled Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant to their first of three championships together with the Lakers.

After the trip to the playoffs with the Clippers in 2006, with Dunleavy and point guard Sam Cassell forming a successful bond, L.A. has been consistently hampered by injuries. The Clippers were also dealt a blow in free agency in 2008 when guard Baron Davis reached an agreement to leave the Golden State Warriors to play in his hometown, believing that he'd be playing alongside longtime Clippers forward Elton Brand. But Brand elected to sign with Philadelphia. Davis and Dunleavy then struggled to coexist until the arrival of Lucas, who has served as an effective go-between this season.

Mike Dunleavy

Mike Dunleavy

Mike Dunleavy

The Clippers announced Thursday afternoon that Mike Dunleavy has stepped down as head coach and that assistant coach Kim Hughes will assume the head coach position for the remainder of the season.

Clipperslogo Dunleavy will remain as Clippers general manager. He is under contract through the 2010-11 season.

The Clippers just concluded a 2-6 trip with a loss to Atlanta on Wednesday night and are a season-worst seven games under .500.

Clippers President Andy Roeser said in a statement, "It just seems clear that the team needs a fresh voice and we hope the players will respond in a positive way."

Dunleavy became the Clippers head coach for the 2003-04 season. The Clippers made the playoffs only once under Dunleavy, in the 2005-06 season.

This season turned sour for the Clippers before the opener when the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, forward Blake Griffin, injured his knee. Last month the Clippers said that Griffin would miss the entire season and need surgery.

In a statement, Dunleavy said: "I've come to the conclusion that this is the ideal time for me to direct my efforts toward the many personnel opportunities that lie before us, such as the trade market, the Draft and the free agent process. We fully expect to be active and productive on all those fronts."

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn

Last Olympics, downhill skier Lindsey Vonn, 25, had to be taken to the hospital with an injured hip. This time around, Lindsey is ready.

She is one of the best downhill skiers, if not the best downhill skier, in the world right now. She has won the past two World Cup Championships. Can she pull out a gold at the Olympics this year?

"If you work hard, it will pay off in the end," Lindsey says on her own Website. The tall, blonde skier is a fan favorite.Four years ago, she won the U.S. Olympic Spirit Award. She will be competing in 5 Olympic downhill skiing events in Vancouver this year.

The opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada will air Friday, Feb. 12 on NBC.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4

Sonic the Hedgehog 4

Sonic the Hedgehog 4

At long last, the big reveal is here. Sega has been teasing their next Sonic game for ages, even pulling a fast one on us with their cast list game (don't worry, it's just Sonic in this one -- no pink fluffy eyed Chao babies or what-have-you). Now, we know what the fuss is all about: Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Wait, there's more: Episode 1. As in, the first of several episodes. As in your inner child will be experiencing euphoria for quite some time. Too much? To heck with it, it's Sonic 4, man.

From what very little has been teased with the reveal, it certainly seems this will live up in every way to the original titles. Graphically, it looks identical, save for high-defintion goodness -- it's noted it'll have 3D visuals, though we can't see how at this stage. In any case it looks great, and is exactly what original Sonic fans have wanted for ages. Sega said they'd be going back to the roots; we were definitely skeptical, but it really appears they've got their heads screwed on straight this time.

As for details, it'll be coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade, WiiWare, PlayStation Network, and one mystery platform -- the video and official website show us a blank rectangular space with a lock and a question mark around it near the other platform logos. Looks like a perfect fit for the Steam logo to us, so PC gamers should hold out hope. Differences between versions are worth noting, too: the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will run at 1080p; the Wii version will be limited to 480p. No special controls for Xbox gamers, but Wii and PS3 owners will be able to take advantage of motion control courtesy of the WiiMote and Sixaxis, respectively.

Though subtitled Episode 1, Sonic 4 will be a full-length title. Sega associate brand manager Ken Balough notes, "When Sega released Sonic 3, ultimately it was the part 1 of a story that saw its conclusion in Sonic & Knuckles. In that same spirit, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is a bigger story, and this is that first chapter."

We also know it will take place after Sonic & Knuckles (aka the last true Sonic title), and all the classic moves are there (spin dash, power sneakers, etc.), in addition to a new one: homing attack. Leaderboards will be in store, too.

Frances Reid

Frances Reid

Frances Reid

The very well respected actress who played Alice Horton for many years on American daytime soap The Days Of Our Lives, Frances Reid, has died.

Reid died on the morning of Feb 3rd her family members confirmed her passing by posting sentiments on a blog.

The actress born in Wichita Falls , Texas passed at the age of 95.

Growing up in Berkley, California, Reid had achieved worldwide fame for her role as Alice Horton. Having it’s debut at 1965, Reid’s final performance was in December 2007.

Reid was married to fellow actor Philip Bourneuf, in 1940, but he passed in 1979.

That same year she was nominated for a Supporting Actress and in 1987 as a Lead Actress, for a Daytime Emmy Award. She won awards for Outstanding Actress in a Mature Role in Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1978, 1979, 1984 and 1985.

Then in 2003 Reid was inducted into the Television Academy’s archives, and in 2004 she gained a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement.

The characters in The Days Of Our Lives, who played her grandchildren, Hope, Jennifer and Melissa paid a special tribute to their grandmother in days.

Her role was adored by fans for it’s cheekiness humor and charm, and she will be fondly remembered by her fans of the show.

For many reasons you could see the person she was through her role, it seemed her beauty as a person shone through her part.

She will be missed by many.