EMPEROR EMERALD FOUND IN NC

The nearly 65-carat emerald its finders are marketing by the name Carolina Emperor was pulled from a farm once so well known among treasure hunters that the owners charged $3 a day to shovel for small samples of the green stones. After the gem was cut and re-cut, the finished product was about one-fifth the weight of the original find, making it slightly larger than a U.S. quarter and about as heavy as a AA battery found from a pit near corn rows at a North Carolina farm. The emerald compares in size and quality to one surrounded by diamonds in a brooch once owned by Catherine the Great, who was empress in the 18th century, that Christie's auction house in New York sold in April for $1.65 million

While big, uncut crystals and even notable gem-quality emeralds have come from the community 50 miles northwest of Charlotte called Hiddenite, there has never been one so big it's worthy of an imperial treasury

TRUE BLOOD SUPER HOT NAKED ROLLING STONE COVER

THEY'RE HOT! THEY'RE SEXY! THEY'RE UNDEAD!

Hunky True Blood actor Alexander Skarsgard gets his kit off for scenes in the sexy show, but unlike other actors he doesn't cover his manhood up!Swedish star Alexander Skasgard - who plays vampire Eric Northman in True Blood – doesn’t opt for a modesty saving “sock” like many of his fellow actors and insists he is happy to be nude on set.

The idea of celibate vampires is ridiculous, True Blood creator Alan Ball says. "To me, vampires are sex," he says. "I don't get a vampire story about abstinence. I'm 53. I don't care about high school students. I find them irritating and uninformed." On his show, every available orifice is used for intercourse: gay, straight, between humans and supernatural beings, and supernatural being on supernatural being, whether he be werewolf, dog or an enormous Minotaur-looking being called a maenad. None of the sex is quite as good as vampire sex, though, which can happen at the astonishing rhythm of 120 bpm while simultaneously devouring one's neck and making your eyes roll back into your head. Says Stephen Moyer — who plays Bill Compton, the undead Southern Civil War Veteran — "If we go from a base level, vampires create a hole in the neck where there wasn't one before. It's a de-virginization — breaking the hymen, creating blood and then drinking the virginal blood. And there's something sharp, the fang, which is probing and penetrating and moving into it. So that's pretty sexy. I think that makes vampires attractive." He laughs a little. "Plus, Robert Pattinson is just hot, right?" 

Guns N Roses AXL ROSE twitter account HACKED!

Festival organisers have confirmed that Axl Roses Twitter account was hacked and that Gun N' Roses will definitely be performing at this years Reading and Leeds festivals.

The bands appearance had been thrown into some doubt after Axl Rose appeared to claim on Twitter that all forthcoming GN'R tour dates had been canceled.
It has now been confirmed by the organizers of the Reading and Leeds festivals however that the Tweet was the result of a hack and that Axl Rose and his band mates will still be appearing at the festival as well as their planned tour dates.
A statement issued says:
"(We) are informed by GN'R management that Guns N' Roses have NOT canceled their performances at Reading & Leeds and that Axl Rose's Twitter account was hacked into and all claims of dates being canceled are unfounded."

AMERICAN IDOL: Fantasia Barrino Drug Overdose

American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino was hospitalized Monday night after overdosing on aspirin and a sleep aid. Barrino was rushed by ambulance to Carolinas Medical Center-Pineville in her hometown of Charlotte, N.C., at about 8:55 p.m. Monday, according to local media.

Her manager, Brian Dickens, released a statement Tuesday, saying Barrino’s injuries were not life-threatening and she would be released from hospital soon. “She was dehydrated and exhausted at the time,” Dickens said. “Fantasia is stable now.” But a North Carolina police report called the overdoes a “serious injury” and classified it as an attempted suicide, according to UsMagazine.com.

The 26-year-old, who won the TV singing competition in 2004, was recently named as the other woman in a divorced suit filed by a North Carolina woman. Paula Cook alleges that Barrino was her husband Antwaun Cook’s mistress and that the pair made sex tapes.

Dickens released a statement to TMZ saying Barrino is “certain that she is not responsible for the deterioration of Cook’s marriage.”

Dickens said Tuesday that Barrino “believed (Cook) when he told her he and Mrs. Cook separated in the late summer of 2009.” Dickens said Barrino was in love with Cook and the two dated “on and off for about 11 months.”

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SIKORSKY X2: PROJECT FIREFLY

Historically, vertical flight has required a compromise between hover performance and forward speed. If you look at efficiency vs. speed image on the right; the desired helicopter attributes (good hover efficiency, low speed controllability, low downwash, hover endurance) fall to the left of the plot. High disk loading aircraft such as Harriers and JSF, fall on the right of the plot: while fast, their hovering capabilities are limited, and their operational costs tend to increase due to the required power loading. Sikorsky is focused on creating an aircraft that operates to the right on this scale: providing more speed without compromising the essential attributes that make helicopters valuable.

The Sikorsky X2 TECHNOLOGY™ demonstrator aircraft will incorporate several new technologies and demonstrate them in a flight environment. These technologies include an integrated Fly-by-Wire system that allows the engine/rotor/propulsor system to operate efficiently, with full control of rotor rpm throughout the flight envelope, high lift-to-drag rigid blades, low drag hub fairings, and Active Vibration Control. In addition, the aircraft will be used as a 'flying wind tunnel' to determine the main rotor to propulsor aerodynamic interaction, shaft angle optimization for performance, and blade tip clearance for a range of maneuvers. This will allow optimization of the X2 TECHNOLOGY™ suite for future products.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH : COMBINED DRUG INTOXICATION TRIAL

Two doctors who treated Anna Nicole Smith in the months before her death and her lawyer-boyfriend go on trial Wednesday on charges they illegally conspired to provide the actress with drugs.

Steven Sadow, the lead lawyer for Howard K. Stern, said the defense team was "very pleased" with the jury of six men and six women who were sworn in Tuesday afternoon.

Opening statements were scheduled for Wednesday morning. Lawyers predicted the trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court could last up to three months. Potential jurors were asked more than 100 questions, including personal questions about their prescription drug use.

Smith's boyfriend Stern, along with Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor, face 23 felony charges, including three counts of conspiracy to dispense and administer controlled substances to a known addict. The three also are accused of conspiring to use false names to obtain drugs for Smith, a practice defense attorneys have argued was intended to protect the celebrity's privacy. Smith died February 8, 2007, from what a Florida medical examiner ruled was "acute combined drug intoxication."

A jury of six women and six men was selected Tuesday in the Anna Nicole Smith drug conspiracy trial in Los Angeles. Opening statements were scheduled Wednesday. The panel includes a registered nurse and a hospital employee who works with drug-addicted mothers. Another panelist has a doctorate in biology and promised not to substitute her expertise in drugs for that of witnesses in the case. The jury also includes a traffic officer, telephone company collection agent and a parcel delivery man. Smith's lawyer-boyfriend Howard K. Stern and two of the former Playboy model's doctors have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to provide Smith with massive amounts of opiates and sedatives. They are not charged with her overdose death in 2007. More than 120 prospective jurors underwent intensive questioning over two days. Most have known people with drug problems; some had family members in prison. Almost everyone questioned said they regularly take prescription drugs. Lawyers also asked jury candidates if they thought celebrities deserved privacy concerning their medical records. 

Judge Robert Perry dismissed several jurors because of what he called "language problems" or because they expressed opinions suggesting they had already concluded guilt in the case. The judge described one juror as "dull" and predicted she would become a problem if allowed on the jury. Judge Perry ruled at the end of a 13-day preliminary hearing last fall that there was probable cause to try Stern and the two doctors for involvement in an alleged conspiracy to provide drugs to a known addict. "Evidence in the record strongly suggests she was an addict," he said. Perry said "there was a widespread and ongoing effort" to obtain drugs for Smith, whom he characterized as a "strong-willed person" intent on getting drugs. The doctors may have been "blinded by the celebrity of their patient," Perry said. A defense lawyer said the case could have a chilling effect on doctors who treat patients for pain, since the doctors could be held criminally liable if their prescriptions are deemed excessive. Witnesses described Smith as weak and "zombie-like" much of the time in the months after September 11, 2006, when her 20-year-old son died in the Bahamas hospital room where she was recovering from the birth of her daughter. Sadow argued that Stern should not be charged because he did not know his companion was an addict or that it was illegal to obtain medication with a prescription written out to a false name. "He's being charged here with doctor-related activities, which doctors have specific knowledge of and he's just a layperson," Sadow told the judge. Prosecution witnesses outlined evidence that the doctors wrote many prescriptions using several names, including Stern's, for drugs intended for Smith. "One of their theories is that the mere prescribing of medications using a pseudonym is a crime and it's rebutted by the fact that some of the most respected hospitals in this city use this practice to protect the privacy of some of their celebrity patients," Eroshevich defense lawyer Adam Braun said. Prosecutors argued that Stern used the false names to get double doses of dangerous drugs to feed the addiction of the former Playboy model and reality TV star. Kapoor's lawyer said prosecutors could make it difficult for California doctors to treat their patients for pain. "If this prosecution is successful, you can all plan to call the D.A. office every time you ask your doctor for a prescription for pain, because that's going to be the standard," attorney Ellyn Garafalo said.

UNBREAKABLE GLASS: THE GORILLA GLASS

Continuing a tradition of more than 150 years of innovation in materials science and technology, Corning’s Gorilla® Glass is an environmentally friendly alkali-aluminosilicate thin sheet glass designed specifically to function as a protective cover glass for high-end display devices such as notebook PCs, televisions and mobile phones.

Two to three times stronger than other glass and resistant to dents and scratches, it's beginning to find its way onto screens for smartphones, tablet computers, and soon flat-screen high-definition TVs. Sales are expected to nearly quadruple from last year. Its inventor, New York-based Corning, expects sales to quadruple again next year into a $1 billion business as the flat-screen TV business takes off.

But don't expect a huge surge of American jobs as a result. Although production will be expanding in the United States, the big market potential lies with TVs, which are all made in Asia. That's why Corning is planning to locate there to remain price competitive.

At the moment, all Gorilla glass is produced in Corning's Harrodsburg, Ky., plant. On Tuesday, Corning is expected to announce a $200 million expansion in the facility that will add about 80 workers over time to the 300-odd work force already there. Although many of the smartphones and other portable devices using it are made in Asia, the size of the screens and the amounts needed are small enough that it's possible to export from the United States.

In July, however, Corning announced it had an agreement with an Asian manufacturer to supply Gorilla glass for flat-screen TVs that should appear in the marketplace early next year. So it is retrofitting a liquid-crystal display (LCD) plant in Shizuoka, Japan, to start manufacturing the special glass later this quarter. The company is spending several hundred million dollars in the Japanese plant, which will employ several hundred workers. It's a signal that the company expects to ink similar deals with other TV manufacturers.That's what happens when a country or region dominates an industry. Suppliers, even the most innovative ones, tend to locate near the manufacturers. Although it played a big role in creating the first LCDs, Corning never did any large-scale US manufacturing because the manufacturers in the 1980s were located in Japan. Over the decades, the company has followed the manufacturers to South Korea, Taiwan, and now China.

THE FUTURE IS HERE: THE C.R.A.B. DEFENSE SYSTEM

C.R.A.B. stands for Cybernetic Autonomous Remote Barricade. As you can see, C.R.A.B. is the most advanced system of defense and it is several times bigger than a human is. This defender is using most advanced weaponry and armor but so far it’s just a concept design. Speaking of weaponry C.R.A.B. should use high impulse twin cannons and reinforced body armor and it should be perfect for emergencies such as riots. Besides advanced weaponry and armor this robot will use certain amount of artificial intelligence. Interesting this is that two weapon manufacturers, Dalton/Stanley and Omni Consumer, have been working on artificial intelligence for this robot for past twelve years.

MAN WINS 183 GADGETS PRIZES ON CHANNEL 5 SHOW

Steven Tolmie was in high-tech heaven yesterday after winning 183 extraordinary prizes on Channel 5’s popular programme The Gadget Show. 

Steven, a foreman for a civil engineering firm in Inverness, was delighted – and a little overwhelmed – with the number of prizes delivered to his home. He said: “I like my gadgets and I watch The Gadget Show to keep up to date with the latest technology.”

The married father of one confessed he has not had time to take in all his new devices. I’ve only just got back off holiday and there are so many. I have got three televisions, a laptop, a net book, an iPod, an iPhone,” he said. “I know how to work most of the stuff but it may take some time.”

Steven, who won the bumper prize by texting in the answer to a simple question, says he intends to remain an avid viewer of the show. The Gadget Show is one of Channel 5’s most successful series, attracting more than  two million viewers each week. 

Described by fans as a “sexy modern-day version of Tomorrow’s World”, the programme sees Suzi Perry, Jason Bradbury and their presenter colleagues trying out the latest in cutting edge technology.