| Football recruiting
And the Bulldogs may not be done. With North Carolina tight end Dwayne Allen's last-minute flip-flop to Clemson, the Bulldogs still have a scholarship to give. "When all the dust settles, there might be someone out there we have been interested in, I don't know," Richt said. — Paul Johnson's Georgia Tech class was ranked 38th nationally by Scout.com and 49th by Rivals.com. "I don't get into all these rating services, and I don't care who else is recruiting them," Johnson said. — Who's No. 1? That's Alabama, experts say. Three "five-star" recruits and 19 "four-star" players (according to Scout.com's rankings) gave Nick Saban & Co. the edge. The Tide's headliners included wide receiver Julio Jones and linebacker Jerrell Harris.
How would you like to own an owl?
France has its Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles and Britain has its Hall of Mirrors in the illusion created by the "Red Lines." All you have to do is carefully go through those 40 odd tedious pages of legalese mumbo jumbo and you eventually get to realize that at best Britain buys 5 years exclusion from those provisions specified after which it either complies fully or faces limitless punishment over which it has no say. "It's one of the bees in my bonnet that many people underestimate the scale of the EU's foreign policy role and ambition. It's big and it's getting bigger,for good or ill." Why should the role the EU's foreign policy functionaries aspire to be any less than any of the other roles? The ultimate objective could hardly be more clear, a single continental power under a single unified authority to rival the United States of America.
Ferrari roars ahead with a full order book
Piero Ferrari inherited the distinctive eyes of his late father, Enzo, but at least Piero radiates a sense of inner calm and happiness. Enzo was never seen without his sunglasses after the untimely death of his first son, Alfredo, also known as Dino, in 1956. Devastated, he famously wrote in his diary - using his trademark purple ink - "the match is lost". On a personal level, Enzo Ferrari endured much tragedy, but the company that bears his name is going from strength to strength. In 1996, 3,351 Ferraris were sold worldwide, netting the company €486.6million in sales and an operating profit of €5.4million. According to figures released this week, last year there were 6,465 new car sales, turnover stood at €1.67billion (£1.24billion) and profits reached €266million, despite the fall in the value of the dollar - a currency in which a third of Ferrari's sales are made.
Davidson Calendar: Jan. 11-25
The Improv Nashville Show: Improv Nashville performs scenes, games, and a one-act play based on audience suggestions. Advance ticket purchase is recommended. 8 p.m. Jan. 11, 18 and 25, 12th South Arts Venue, 2907 12th Ave. S.; $10. For tickets call 418-0905 or visit www.improvnashville.com. Donate Blood: Minimum age 17. Minimum weight 110 pounds. Info: main switchboard is 346-7000. For blood donation, 1-800-GIVE LIFE (448-3543). http://tnvalley.redcross.org/hoursA.html#one. 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Jan. 11, 18 and 25; 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Jan. 12 and 19; 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Jan. 14 - 17, 21 - 24, American Red Cross, Nashville Area Chapter, 2201 Charlotte Ave. .
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies, aged 91
VLODROP Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the spiritual guru whose pupils included the Beatles and Clint Eastwood, has died. The founder of transcendental meditation, a mind control technique using chanting, died at about 6pm GMT at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop. He was thought to be 91, although his exact birth date is unclear. A Transcendantal Meditation movement spokesman said that the cause of death was unconfirmed, but appeared to be natural causes. The spiritualist, whose birth name was Mahesh Prasad Varma, attracted his most famous pupils in 1967, when the Beatles travelled to Bangor, North Wales, to enrol in a course. The band later travelled to India, but the trip was soured when John Lennon left early. The Beatle wrote about his experience in the song Sexy Sadie, which contained the lyrics "What have you done? You made a fool out of everyone." Other followers included the Beach Boys and David Lynch, the film director best known for Blue Velvet.
A Great Big Bucket of Fail
In contrast to this daring arbitrariness, the current anchors fall back on straight-up impersonation and on catchphrases that are stale the moment they're first uttered. SportsCenter veteran Linda Cohn, for example, peppers basketball highlights with an array of catchphrases that reflects an apparent front-office directive that she must, at all costs, have catchphrases. And so, when a player makes a steal, she says, "He's a thief," and when somebody gets open and hits a three-point field goal, she says he's "responding to a good visual." It's important to remind yourself that she has prepared these catchphrases ahead of time. Often paired with Cohn is Steve Berthiaume, a fit-looking fellow with enviable composure and a classic nasal delivery. Berthiaume's specialty is an impersonation of Marv Albert, which is sports broadcasting's single deadest cliché.
REUTEMAN: Dots worth connecting: beetle kill to motor fuel
A flurry of announcements in recent weeks about combating the pine beetle has to make you wonder. Why now? It's already infested 1.5 million acres of Colorado lodgepole pine forest, laying waste to a goodly chunk of the state's scenic beauty. Mostly we've heard that nature was allowed to take its course. It's tempting to say the devastation finally got people's attention when it began showing up along the populous Front Range. But that's only partly true. "It's about time," said Gary Severson, executive director of the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments. "We've been hitting this problem real hard for the past three years." In 2007, the affected areas grew by half a million acres in one year's beetle flight, he said. "The wind currents blew the beetles up over the Continental Divide.
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