Facebook sleuth tracks down non-paying customers
November 28, 2008
An Australian restaurateur left holding a hefty unpaid bill when five young diners bolted used the popular social network website Facebook to track them down – and they got their just desserts.
Pranksters dupe Americans with fake New York Times
November 13, 2008
A group of pranksters handed out more than 1.2 million fake New York Times newspapers mainly in New York City and Los Angeles on Wednesday with a front page story declaring “Iraq War Ends”.
The elaborate 14-page edition, dated July 4, 2009, is said to be the work of a group called the Yes Men, whose previous hoaxes include masquerading as World Trade Organisation officials announcing they were disbanding the body.
David Duchovny and Tea Leoni split
October 18, 2008
Actor David Duchovny, who recently sought treatment for sex addiction, has separated from Tea Leoni, his wife of 11 years and mother of their two children, People magazine reported on Wednesday.
Beach Volleyballs Love/Hate Relationship With the Olympics
August 9, 2008
BEIJING (Reuters) – Beach volleyball’s popularity has created something of a love-hate relationship with television. The highly-photogenic sport has been a winner for broadcasters at the Olympics, where according to the International Olympic Committee it accumulated 3.5 billion television viewer hours during the Athens Games.
In turn that has raised the profile of beach volleyball, inspired more countries to build up teams, and lured in sponsors.
The downside is that broadcasters start to demand games be played to fit their schedules and in a style that makes better television.
In Beijing, the semi-finals and finals will be played in the morning to catch the all-important evening prime time viewing in the United States and Brazil, where beach volleyball has a wide following.
This year, officials have also tightened up the enforcement of a 1999 rule that players must serve within 12 seconds of the last point ending – a decision some players put down to broadcasting needs.
“It’s a very dynamic sport and the international rules have been changed for television,” said Australia’s Natalie Cook, who has competed in every Olympics since beach volleyball joined the Games in 1996 and won the gold medal in Sydney.
Quicker turnarounds make for faster-paced television but are not easy on the players, particularly in Beijing.
“The more time you have between points, the more you can recover from the last point and get some water. It’ll be tough on the players in such hot and humid conditions,” said Brazil’s Renata Ribeiro.
For all the time pressure television piles on, players also hope that their moment in the media sun will help bring in more cash for courts, training and prizes as well as educate people about the sport.
“There’s still an element of people thinking it’s all about bikinis,” said Cook. “But once they actually watch a match, they realize how dynamic and athletic it is so they stay and stop talking about sex.”
So in honor of this amazingly fun to watch (and play) sport we have decided to put together a little slide show of sorts to highlight some of beach volleyballs biggest stars:
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