Monday, May 26, 2008

Harkleroad in Playboy !


(pic HLN)

PARIS (AFP) - America's Ashley Harkleroad was knocked out of the French Open by Serena Williams on Sunday but stole the headlines from her publicity-conscious compatriot by announcing she has posed for Playboy.

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The blonde 22-year-old, who has endured a mediocre career on the women's tour and sits at 61 in the world, revealed she had agreed to the photoshoot while she lay in a hospital bed recovering from surgery to remove a cyst on her ovaries.

Harkleroad, who lost her first round match 6-2, 6-1, believes she is the first tennis player to pose for the magazine and follows American swimmer Amanda Beard in baring all for the cameras.

"I was just lying there in hospital for three weeks, and an offer came to me. I thought about it and it was something that I did. I'm proud of my body," said the Florida native whose pictures will appear in the August edition.

"I stay in shape and try to stay fit. I'm just trying to represent a female athlete and her body. That can be sexy too. It's no big deal."

Williams said she backed Harkleroad's decision to pose for the magazine.

"I do appreciate that magazine. I think Hugh Hefner is a great businessman, and he has a niche that he just did really amazing in," said Williams.

"I'm happy for her if that's what she wanted to do. It takes a lot of courage. And whether I'm courageous enough, I don't know, but it's great for someone to be so courageous and tough."

(Yahoo news)

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Chouffke was right! Why didn't he place a bet.... :-)

(pic Belga)
SHAUN CUSTIS
(aet: 1-1, United win 6-5 on pens)


Published: 21 May 2008

CRISTIANO RONALDO knows he could have been the man in pieces this morning.

Instead, he is waking up a Champions League winner and it is Chelsea skipper John Terry left in bits.
When Ronaldo’s nervy third penalty for Manchester United in a dramatic sudden-death shootout was saved by Petr Cech, the double Footballer of the Year seemed to have destroyed a brilliant season.
Questions had been asked about whether he could do it on the biggest stage and he had apparently blown it when it really mattered.

With Chelsea hammering in their first four penalties, lionheart defender Terry was one kick away from the greatest moment of his career as he stepped up to take his team’s fifth spot-kick with the clock ticking past 1.30am in the Luzhniki Stadium.


All Terry had to do was put the ball in the net from 12 yards and the cup with the big ears would be the Londoners’ for the first time in their history.
It is a chance players dream about. But few ever get the opportunity to make that dream come true.
With rain pelting down, Terry stepped up to the ball and, just before he connected, his left foot gave way on the uneven pitch.
His shot skewed off the outside of United keeper Edwin Van der Sar’s left post and agonisingly wide.
It was reminiscent of David Beckham’s miss when England lost on penalties to host nation Portugal at Euro 2004. Just as it was for Becks, it turned out a nightmare for Terry.

The kicks then went to sudden death and, after Anderson and Salomon Kalou had scored, Ryan Giggs coolly slotted home on his record-breaking 759th United appearance to make it 6-5.
Nicolas Anelka had to score to keep the Blues alive but his kick was superbly saved by the veteran Van der Sar diving to his right. Cue mayhem in the United end where the penalties were taken, as the players raced to engulf their Dutch hero.

They were minus only a mightily relieved Ronaldo, who was lying face down on the halfway line with his emotions having got the better of him.
Manager Alex Ferguson danced a jig as he celebrated a second Champions League success to go with that of 1999 and another magnificent Double.

Maybe it was always meant to be that United should succeed 50 years after the Munich air disaster.
Meanwhile, emotions of a different kind were overwhelming the Chelsea players. Terry was inconsolable. No player should have to go through the pain he suffered.
He did not deserve such a fate after a superb performance at the back which had taken his team to the brink of that first-ever triumph in a Champions League final.
United’s young team are now looking forward to years of success, as they grow into maturity. It will be carnage at Chelsea, though, with manager Avram Grant probably losing his job and the likes of striker Didier Drogba leaving the club.Drogba was not even around to take a penalty in the shootout, having been sent off for slapping Nemanja Vidic with six minutes left.


In fact, Terry would not have stepped up for that decisive kick had Drogba still been on the field.


This final never looked like it would go to penalties, because United so dominated the first half they should have been out of sight by half-time.


But Chelsea were on top from then on and were desperately unlucky to hit the woodwork twice.


United took the lead on 26 minutes. Wes Brown, an unsung hero at Old Trafford, combined with Paul Scholes, who missed out on the triumph in Barcelona nine years ago through suspension.


Scholes’ genius unlocked the space for Brown on the right and his deep cross found Ronaldo, who climbed high above a static Michael Essien to head into the corner for his 42nd goal of the season.


Chelsea almost equalised seven minutes later. Drogba nodded down Frank Lampard’s pass and Rio Ferdinand, under fierce pressure from Michael Ballack, headed at his own keeper Van der Sar. The Dutchman just managed to paw the ball away.



It then took the brilliance of Cech to stop Chelsea going two down.


Ronaldo crossed for Carlos Tevez, whose diving header was saved by Cech low down.





FRANK YOU ... Chelsea ace Frank Lampard levels

As the ball ran loose, Michael Carrick smashed in a shot and Cech recovered to thrust out his right hand and turn it round his right post. Holes were opening up all over the Blues’ defence and Tevez, sliding in, could not get a proper contact on Wayne Rooney’s skidding cross from seven yards.

Right on half-time, Chelsea were back in it. Essien’s drive hit Vidic and Ferdinand before bouncing obligingly across to Lampard, who clipped a left-foot effort past Van der Sar.

Lampard raced away and raised both arms to the heavens, where his mum Pat, who died so tragically only a month ago, was looking down and willing her boy on.

Chelsea could have been out of it, yet now it felt like the psychological edge was with them.
Grant’s men came within a coat of paint of grabbing the lead with 12 minutes remaining after great work by Drogba.

He shrugged off three challenges before whipping a 25-yard, right-foot drive beyond Van der Sar and away off a post.

Chelsea also hit the bar in extra-time. Lampard turned beautifully, clipped his shot over Van der Sar and put his head in his hands as the ball bounced to safety.

Then Terry headed away a Giggs strike which was going in, only for his night to end in misery soon after.

But United have been England’s best team this season. They thoroughly deserve their reward.


(The Sun)

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Manchester United wins the CL .....


At least, if you ask Chouffke. He thinks the game will end with a: 2 - 1

Just wait and see !!!!

(pic Belga)

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Microsoft & Yahoo

May 20, 2008

Google in urgent talks over Microsoft-Yahoo! deal

Google executives convened an emergency meeting last night to discuss the implications of a possible revived deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft.

The pair are understood to be negotiating a deal concerning the control of advertisements that are displayed next to internet search results, a market that is dominated by Google. The joint venture could be sealed in the next few days.

Speaking at the Google Zeitgeist conference in Hertfordshire, hosted by the internet company’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, the chief executive, said: “After this press conference the three of us will meet and decide what our response is.”

The three companies are fighting over online advertising, which is thought to be worth about $40 billion a year and is expected to double by 2010.

Over the past few days, Microsoft contacted Yahoo! about acquiring part of the internet company, but said that it had not ruled out a full takeover for the whole group. It is thought that Microsoft also wants to take a minority, passive stake in Yahoo!.

The renewed talks were triggered by Carl Icahn, the billionaire activist shareholder, who last week threatened to try to dismisss ten of Yahoo!’s directors and replace them with his own nominated executives. Mr Icahn is trying to use his 4 per cent shareholding in Yahoo! to force it to reopen talks with Microsoft.

At the end of January, Microsoft approached Yahoo! with a hostile takeover approach valuing the group at more than $40 billion. Two weeks ago, it raised its offer to $47.5 billion. Both were rejected by Yahoo! as too low.

Mr Brin said yesterday that he would give Jerry Yang, the chief executive of Yahoo!, refuge within Google if investors were to push him out. Mr Schmidt and Google’s co-founders added that they believed that Google was recession-resilient, saying that search advertising was attractive to advertisers. Mr Brin added that Google had not yet ruled out a tie-up with Yahoo! Google recently ran a small trial of its technology on Yahoo!’s site in the US which was widely seen as offering Mr Yang a way to escape a Microsoft takeover.

Yahoo! failed to return calls yesterday and Microsoft could not be reached. Mr Icahn failed to return calls.

— Google yesterday launched a new health service which allows online users to compile their medical records and suggests relevant websites such as local doctors. The service is password protected and can be found by clicking on to http://www.google.com/health/.

Online numbers

$40bn
Value of the online advertising market

$80bn
Estimated value of the online advertising market in 2010

$47.5bn
Value of Microsoft’s rejected offer for Yahoo!

(www.timesonline.co.uk)

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Justine Henin quitting tennis?


WORLD No1 Justine Henin is set to announce her retirement from tennis.
The shock move will bring the Belgian ace's career to an end at the age of just 25.
On Friday, Henin withdrew from a tournament in Italy complaining of fatigue.
That decision came a day after she was beaten by Dinara Safina in third round of the German Open.
Henin won 10 of the 14 events she entered last season, losing just four matches and winning a record £2.5million.
(pic Reuters: Dubai)

But in 20 matches this season, Henin has already equalled last year's loss total and has won just two of her six events played.
She cited a right knee injury as the reason for a recent lay-off.


(The Sun)

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Police chief's breach over sex e-mails!

Police chief broke rules to access lover's explicit e-mails




Terry Grange, former chief constable of Dyfed-Powys Police

(File photo dated 01/03/2002 of Terry Grange, former chief constable of Dyfed-Powys Police.)

Terry Grange, former chief constable of Dyfed-Powys Police

A chief constable risked a serious security breach by insisting that sexually explicit e-mails from his mistress be allowed to pass through his force’s computer firewall.

Terry Grange retired abruptly last year as Chief Constable of Dyfed Powys Police a week after the Independent Police Complaints Commission began an investigation into allegations of misconduct and abuse of expenses.

The commission's report was published today and upholds a number of allegations against Mr Grange – finding that he pressed a junior employee to change computer security settings to admit his lover’s messages.

The report said: “The implications for allowing such access is clearly a breach of security and could have allowed force systems to be contaminated by computer viruses with serious consequences.”

Mr Grange had an affair with a woman identified in the report as Ms A between November 2006 and August 2007.

Two months after the relationship ended she sent a written complaint to an IPCC commissioner alleging that she went with Mr Grange to official meetings, that he claimed for romantic dinners on police expenses and that they exchanged “sexually explicit” and “politically sensitive” e-mails.

A trawl of the force’s e-mail archive found 102 messages from Mr Grange to Ms A. The content of the messages was not retained, they had subject headings ranging from “visits to Wales” to “Irish sausages” and “Hindu cows”.

Investigators obtained print-outs of some of the e-mails from Ms A and confirmed that they “contain inappropriate comments and sexual innuendo”.

The report added: “The e-mails in possession of the IPCC are inappropriate and could be extremely damaging to Mr Grange and the police service if they found their way into the public domain. Mr Grange has clearly breached force policy by use of the force computer system to send inappropriate e-mails and his actions and content of the e-mails would clearly bring the force into disrepute.”

The commission also concluded that Mr Grange had misused his corporate Barclaycard to claim for hotels, meals and drinks with Ms A. He argued that he submitted personal cheques to cover those elements of expenditure but had made “a right pigs” of filling out the claim form.

Investigators reported: “The explanations provided by Mr Grange for these anomalies are unconvincing and lack credibility. Whatever the truth of the matter, Mr Grange has made a financial benefit from double-claiming expenses. He has also misused his corporate Barclaycard.”

The inquiry also found that there were no records of how much annual leave Mr Grange took and called on Dyfed-Powys police authority to tighten up procedures on senior officers’ expenses, duty commitments and holiday entitlement.

Mr Grange was interviewed under caution during the inquiry but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to press criminal charges against him.

Because he has resigned from the police he is not subject to police misconduct procedures.

Tom Davies, the IPCC Commissioner for Wales, said: “This is a sad end to a long and distinguished career of a senior police officer.” (timesonline)

Monday, May 5, 2008

Teacher Tiffany Shepherd Fired for Bikini Work

Teacher Tiffany Shepherd Fired for Bikini Work


Tiffany Shepherd on the boat.


(St. Lucie County, Florida) A 30-year-old science teacher, Tiffany Shepherd, has been fired from her position at Port St. Lucie High School. Shepherd claims that she was booted because of her second job as a bikini-clad mate for a charter fishing boat operation.


Packaging : Botlles of 75 cl
Botlles of 150 cl (= BIG CHOUFFE)
20 L kegs

Description : Golden Ale, strong, spicy, lightly hoppy, with evoluting taste. Natural Beer, bottle refermented, unfiltered, not pasteurised and without any additives

Alcohol : 8% alc./vol.

Original gravity : 16 °Plato

Storage : Store the bottles vertically in a cold place, sheltered from light. The yeast deposit can either be drunk or left according to taste

Serve at : 8 to 12°C (botlle)

The Brasserie d'Achouffe is a Belgian brewery based in Achouffe. It was founded in 1982 by two brothers-in-law, Pierre Gobron and Christian Bauweraerts, as a hobby. In 1984, Gobron decided to quit his job and to concentrate on his brewery, joined four years later by Bauweraerts. That year (1988), they began to export the beer in Quebec. In September 2006, the brewery was bought by brewery group Duvel Moortgat.

The brewing process of
LA CHOUFFE & Mc CHOUFFE


LA CHOUFFE & Mc CHOUFFE are brewed from spring water and crushed malt barley. This liquid, called “wort”, is pumped into boiling vats, where two types of hops (Styrie & Saaz) are added, as well as sugars and, for LA CHOUFFE, coriander.

After being cooled, the wort is transferred to fermenting vessels. Here, it is fermented into young Beer, thanks to fresh yeast. This young Beer is aged during two weeks, and then pumped into a centrifuge. Then we fill in the bottles or kegs with this Beer and with fresh yeast, to allow a second fermentation.

After three weeks, both LA CHOUFFE and Mc CHOUFFE leave the Brewery, to delight Beer lovers all around the world…


Packaging : Botlles of 75 cl
20 L kegs

Description : Dark Ale, strong, spicy, lightly hoppy, with evoluting taste. Natural Beer, bottle refermented, unfiltered, not pasteurised and without any additives

Alcohol : 8,5% alc./vol.

Original gravity : 16 °Plato

Storage : Store the bottles vertically in a cold place, sheltered from light. The yeast deposit can either be drunk or left according to taste

Serve at : 8 to 12°C (botlle)



Bottle size : 70 cl bottle

Description : CHOUFFE Coffee is a liqueur with a base of Esprit d’Achouffe, obtained through the distillation of CHOUFFE. Addition of grain alcohol and 100% natural coffee extracts and a strong dash of Mc CHOUFFE produce this exceptional result: a highly delicious coffee liqueur !!!

Alcohol level : 25% alc./vol.

Bottle size : 70 cl bottle

Serve at : CHOUFFE Coffee is to be served hot (max. 60°C with a cover of whipped cream) or cold, in a 7 cl glass

More information : Rubbens Distillery
Tél. : 052/445035
Info@Rubbens-Gebr.Be

and to warm you up during the winter

Available from 1st December until out of stock

Bottle size : 75 cl bottles
20 L kegs

Description : Dark Beer, strong, fruity,lightly hoppy, with an evoluting taste. Natural Beer, bottle refermented,
unfiltered, not pasteurised and without additive.

Alcohol level : 10% alc./vol.

Original gravity : 20 °Plato

Storage : Store the bottles vertically in a cold place,
sheltered from light. The yeast deposit can
either be drunk or left according to taste

Serve at : 8 to12°C (bottle)