Pow! Disney captures Spider-Man, Iron Man and other Marvel characters in $4 billion deal
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co. is punching its way into the universe of superheroes and their male fans with a deal announced Monday to acquire Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion, bringing characters such as Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family of Mickey Mouse and "Toy Story."
The surprise cash-and-stock deal sent Spidey senses tingling in the comic book world. It could lead to new rides, movies, action figures and other outlets for Marvel's 5,000 characters, although Marvel already was aggressively licensing its properties for such uses.
The deal won't have benefits right away, and Disney stock sank on the news. Disney expects a short-term profit hit, and Marvel characters from X-Men to Daredevil are locked up in deals with other movie studios and theme parks. But Disney's CEO, Robert Iger, promised an action-packed future.
"`Sparks will fly' is the expression that comes to mind," Iger told analysts.
Stan Lee, the 86-year-old co-creator of "Spider-Man" and many more of Marvel's most famous characters, said he was thrilled to be informed of the marriage Monday morning.
"I love both companies," he said. "From every point of view, this is a great match."
The deal is expected to close by the end of the year and marks Disney's biggest acquisition since it purchased Pixar Animation Studios Inc., the maker of "Up" and "Cars," for $7.4 billion in stock in 2006.
Marvel would follow another storied comic book publisher into the arms of a media conglomerate. DC Comics, the home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, was bought by Warner Bros. -- now part of Time Warner Inc. -- in 1969.
Buying Marvel is meant to improve Disney's following among men and boys. Disney acknowledges it lost some of its footing with guys as it poured resources into female favorites such as "Hannah Montana" and the Jonas Brothers.
"Disney will have something guys grew up with and can experience with their kids, especially their sons," said Gareb Shamus, whose company Wizard Entertainment Group runs several of the Comic-Con conventions around the nation.
Marvel TV shows already account for 20 hours per week of programming on Disney's recently rebranded, boy-focused cable network, Disney XD, and that looks likely to increase, Iger said. The shows are "right in the wheelhouse for boys," he said.
There will be some lag before Marvel's trove of characters are fully developed at Disney, because of licensing deals Marvel has with other studios.
For example, Sony Corp.'s Columbia Pictures is developing the next three "Spider-Man" sequels, starting with "Spider-Man 4" set for a May 2011 release. News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox has the long-term movie rights to the "X-Men," "Fantastic Four," "Silver Surfer" and "Daredevil" franchises.
Both studios maintain those rights in perpetuity unless they fail to make more movies.
Separately, Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures has a five-picture distribution deal for Marvel-made movies, the first of which will be "Iron Man 2," set for release next May. Paramount said it expects to continue working with Marvel and Disney.
General Electric Co.'s Universal Studios has an attraction called Marvel Super Hero Island in Orlando, Fla., that will stay in existence as long as Universal wants to keep it there and follows the contract terms, Universal said.
Disney said it will honor and re-examine Marvel's licensing deals upon expiration and may extend the profitable ones. Iger noted that when it bought Pixar, that company also had third-party licensing agreements that eventually expired, allowing the companies to move forward together.
Despite beginning to make its own movies, starting with "Iron Man" last year, licensing remained a key driver of Marvel's $206 million in profit and $676 million in revenue last year. Iger said Disney could give Marvel broader global distribution and better relationships with retailers to sell Marvel products.
However, analyst David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co. noted that the $4 billion offer was at "full price."
Marvel shareholders will receive $30 per share in cash, plus 0.745 Disney shares for every Marvel share they own. That values each Marvel share at $50, a 29 percent premium over Friday's closing stock price. The final ratio of cash and stock will be adjusted to ensure Disney stock makes up at least 40 percent of the final offer.
Marvel shares shot up $9.72, or 25 percent, to close at $48.37 on Monday. Disney shares fell 80 cents, or 3 percent, to $26.04.
Disney investors were probably unhappy that the deal will reduce earnings per share in the short term and might not turn positive until the company's 2012 fiscal year. Disney's earnings per share will drop partly because the company will issue 59 million new shares, and partly because Marvel plans to release two costly blockbusters, "Thor" and "The First Avenger: Captain America" in 2011. DVD sales of those films likely won't roll in until fiscal 2012.
Disney said the boards of both companies have approved the transaction, but it will require an antitrust review and the approval of Marvel shareholders.
If it works out, Marvel's chief executive, Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter, 66, will pocket a hefty payday. He snatched Marvel assets out of bankruptcy in 1998, in a deal that valued the company at around $450 million including debt, outmaneuvering investors Carl Icahn and Ronald Perelman. His 37 percent stake in Marvel is now worth about $1.5 billion.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
AP IMPACT: Secret process benefits pet projects
WASHINGTON – A sleepy Montana checkpoint along the Canadian border that sees about three travelers a day will get $15 million under President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan. A government priority list ranked the project as marginal, but two powerful Democratic senators persuaded the administration to make it happen.
Despite Obama's promises that the stimulus plan would be transparent and free of politics, the government is handing out $720 million for border upgrades under a process that is both secretive and susceptible to political influence. This allowed low-priority projects such as the checkpoint in Whitetail, Mont., to skip ahead of more pressing concerns, according to documents revealed to The Associated Press.
A House oversight committee has added the checkpoint projects to its investigation into how the stimulus money is being spent. The top Republican on that committee, California's Rep. Darrell Issa, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Wednesday, questioning why some projects leapfrogged others.
It wasn't supposed to be that way. In 2004, Congress ordered Homeland Security to create a list, updated annually, of the most important repairs at checkpoints nationwide. But the Obama administration continued a Bush administration practice of considering other, more subjective factors when deciding which projects get money.
The results:
• A border station in Napolitano's home state of Arizona is getting $199 million, five times more than any other border station. The busy Nogales checkpoint has required repairs for years but was not rated among the neediest projects on the master list reviewed by the AP. Napolitano credited her lobbying as Arizona governor for getting the project near the front of the line for funding under the Bush administration. All it needed was money, which the stimulus provided.
• A checkpoint in Laredo, Texas, which serves more than 55,000 travelers and 4,200 trucks a day, is rated among the government's highest priorities but was passed over for stimulus money.
• The Westhope, N.D., checkpoint, which serves about 73 people a day and is among the lowest-priority projects, is set to get nearly $15 million for renovations.
The Whitetail project, which involves building a border station the size and cost of a Hollywood mansion, benefited from two key allies, Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester. Both pressed Napolitano to finance projects in their state. Tester's office boasted of that effort in an April news release, crediting Baucus and his seat at the head of the "powerful Senate Finance Committee."
Customs officials would not discuss that claim. Asked to explain Whitetail's windfall, they provided a one-page fact sheet that contains no information about Whitetail's needs and is almost identical to the fact sheet for every other Montana project.
It's hardly a recent phenomenon for politicians to use their influence to steer money to their home states. Yet Obama said the stimulus would be different. He banned "earmarks," which lawmakers routinely slip into bills to pay for pet projects, and he told agencies to "develop transparent, merit-based selection criteria" for spending.
Customs and Border Protection, the Homeland Security agency overseeing border projects, allowed the AP to review the list but will not make it public or explain its justifications for deviating from it.
Releasing that information would allow the public to see whether less important projects are getting money. The Transportation Department, for instance, recently was criticized by its internal watchdog for not following its standards when handing out money for 50 airport construction projects. Now the full $1.1 billion airport construction program is under scrutiny.
Without the lists, the public and members of Congress don't know when the administration bumps a project ahead of others ranked more important.
Customs officials said they wouldn't release the master list because it was just a starting point and subject to misunderstanding. They acknowledged there's no way for the public to know whether they are cherry-picking projects.
"There's a certain level of trust here," said Robert Jacksta, a deputy customs commissioner.
Some discrepancies between the stimulus plan and the priority list can be attributed to Congress, which set aside separate pools of money for large and small border stations. That guaranteed that a few small, probably lower-rated projects would be chosen ahead of bigger, higher-priority projects. But it doesn't explain all the discrepancies, because even within the two pools, Homeland Security sometimes reached way down on the list when selecting projects.
Many of the nation's 163 border checkpoints, known as land ports, are more than 40 years old and in need of upgrade and repairs. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, those needs became more pressing and complex as officials beefed up border security. There is far more work to be done than money to complete it.
To prioritize, officials score each project on traffic volume, security vulnerability, construction needs and other factors. The resulting list represents "an objective and fair method for prioritizing projects," officials wrote in a 2005 summary.
That's the process the Obama administration described in a news release announcing $720 million in stimulus money for borders. But it didn't say that officials can choose projects out of order for many reasons.
Trent Frazier, who oversees the border projects, said the list Congress required is more like a meal plan. The administration can decide when to eat each dish, as long as everything eventually gets eaten.
Explaining why one project might get pushed ahead, Frazier said, "You just really liked pizza and you wanted to accelerate it."
In the case of the stimulus, officials said the Nogales, Ariz., project was construction-ready, a requirement of the recovery law. Officials also consider the economy, which means if the government expects local businesses to close and border traffic to decrease, it can delay paying for that project.
In one instance, officials said they reached deep into the list to provide $39 million for repairs in Van Buren, Maine, because flooding made the facility a safety hazard. In another, they are spending $30 million in Blaine, Wash., a lower-rated project that is unusual because it includes covering the costs of a state road project. With the 2010 Olympics coming to nearby Vancouver, Canada, officials worried the border would be strained without the project.
Officials said they could similarly justify every decision they've made. They would not provide those justifications to the AP. Frazier said the department would answer questions on a case-by-case basis, working through Congress to explain decisions to the public.
But even some in Congress say they aren't getting answers. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said he has yet to hear a good explanation about why highly ranked projects such as Laredo were snubbed.
More than $116 billion in freight passed through Laredo last year, according to the Transportation Department. It is one of the busiest border stations in the country. Unemployment in the metropolitan area is 9.4 percent.
"For the sake of fairness, if you have a list, there's some sort of expectation that you're going to follow that list," Cuellar said.
Tester, who said he pressed the Obama administration to get money for Montana projects, said border crossings in his state had been unfairly ignored.
"The northern border tends to be forgotten, and it shouldn't be," Tester told the Great Falls Tribune after announcing $77 million for Montana posts in the stimulus.
Whitetail, Mont., an unincorporated town with a population of 71, saw only about $63,000 in freight cross its border last year. County unemployment is an enviable 4 percent.
"I think, absolutely, it's going to create jobs and build the infrastructure," Tester said.
Despite Obama's promises that the stimulus plan would be transparent and free of politics, the government is handing out $720 million for border upgrades under a process that is both secretive and susceptible to political influence. This allowed low-priority projects such as the checkpoint in Whitetail, Mont., to skip ahead of more pressing concerns, according to documents revealed to The Associated Press.
A House oversight committee has added the checkpoint projects to its investigation into how the stimulus money is being spent. The top Republican on that committee, California's Rep. Darrell Issa, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Wednesday, questioning why some projects leapfrogged others.
It wasn't supposed to be that way. In 2004, Congress ordered Homeland Security to create a list, updated annually, of the most important repairs at checkpoints nationwide. But the Obama administration continued a Bush administration practice of considering other, more subjective factors when deciding which projects get money.
The results:
• A border station in Napolitano's home state of Arizona is getting $199 million, five times more than any other border station. The busy Nogales checkpoint has required repairs for years but was not rated among the neediest projects on the master list reviewed by the AP. Napolitano credited her lobbying as Arizona governor for getting the project near the front of the line for funding under the Bush administration. All it needed was money, which the stimulus provided.
• A checkpoint in Laredo, Texas, which serves more than 55,000 travelers and 4,200 trucks a day, is rated among the government's highest priorities but was passed over for stimulus money.
• The Westhope, N.D., checkpoint, which serves about 73 people a day and is among the lowest-priority projects, is set to get nearly $15 million for renovations.
The Whitetail project, which involves building a border station the size and cost of a Hollywood mansion, benefited from two key allies, Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester. Both pressed Napolitano to finance projects in their state. Tester's office boasted of that effort in an April news release, crediting Baucus and his seat at the head of the "powerful Senate Finance Committee."
Customs officials would not discuss that claim. Asked to explain Whitetail's windfall, they provided a one-page fact sheet that contains no information about Whitetail's needs and is almost identical to the fact sheet for every other Montana project.
It's hardly a recent phenomenon for politicians to use their influence to steer money to their home states. Yet Obama said the stimulus would be different. He banned "earmarks," which lawmakers routinely slip into bills to pay for pet projects, and he told agencies to "develop transparent, merit-based selection criteria" for spending.
Customs and Border Protection, the Homeland Security agency overseeing border projects, allowed the AP to review the list but will not make it public or explain its justifications for deviating from it.
Releasing that information would allow the public to see whether less important projects are getting money. The Transportation Department, for instance, recently was criticized by its internal watchdog for not following its standards when handing out money for 50 airport construction projects. Now the full $1.1 billion airport construction program is under scrutiny.
Without the lists, the public and members of Congress don't know when the administration bumps a project ahead of others ranked more important.
Customs officials said they wouldn't release the master list because it was just a starting point and subject to misunderstanding. They acknowledged there's no way for the public to know whether they are cherry-picking projects.
"There's a certain level of trust here," said Robert Jacksta, a deputy customs commissioner.
Some discrepancies between the stimulus plan and the priority list can be attributed to Congress, which set aside separate pools of money for large and small border stations. That guaranteed that a few small, probably lower-rated projects would be chosen ahead of bigger, higher-priority projects. But it doesn't explain all the discrepancies, because even within the two pools, Homeland Security sometimes reached way down on the list when selecting projects.
Many of the nation's 163 border checkpoints, known as land ports, are more than 40 years old and in need of upgrade and repairs. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, those needs became more pressing and complex as officials beefed up border security. There is far more work to be done than money to complete it.
To prioritize, officials score each project on traffic volume, security vulnerability, construction needs and other factors. The resulting list represents "an objective and fair method for prioritizing projects," officials wrote in a 2005 summary.
That's the process the Obama administration described in a news release announcing $720 million in stimulus money for borders. But it didn't say that officials can choose projects out of order for many reasons.
Trent Frazier, who oversees the border projects, said the list Congress required is more like a meal plan. The administration can decide when to eat each dish, as long as everything eventually gets eaten.
Explaining why one project might get pushed ahead, Frazier said, "You just really liked pizza and you wanted to accelerate it."
In the case of the stimulus, officials said the Nogales, Ariz., project was construction-ready, a requirement of the recovery law. Officials also consider the economy, which means if the government expects local businesses to close and border traffic to decrease, it can delay paying for that project.
In one instance, officials said they reached deep into the list to provide $39 million for repairs in Van Buren, Maine, because flooding made the facility a safety hazard. In another, they are spending $30 million in Blaine, Wash., a lower-rated project that is unusual because it includes covering the costs of a state road project. With the 2010 Olympics coming to nearby Vancouver, Canada, officials worried the border would be strained without the project.
Officials said they could similarly justify every decision they've made. They would not provide those justifications to the AP. Frazier said the department would answer questions on a case-by-case basis, working through Congress to explain decisions to the public.
But even some in Congress say they aren't getting answers. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said he has yet to hear a good explanation about why highly ranked projects such as Laredo were snubbed.
More than $116 billion in freight passed through Laredo last year, according to the Transportation Department. It is one of the busiest border stations in the country. Unemployment in the metropolitan area is 9.4 percent.
"For the sake of fairness, if you have a list, there's some sort of expectation that you're going to follow that list," Cuellar said.
Tester, who said he pressed the Obama administration to get money for Montana projects, said border crossings in his state had been unfairly ignored.
"The northern border tends to be forgotten, and it shouldn't be," Tester told the Great Falls Tribune after announcing $77 million for Montana posts in the stimulus.
Whitetail, Mont., an unincorporated town with a population of 71, saw only about $63,000 in freight cross its border last year. County unemployment is an enviable 4 percent.
"I think, absolutely, it's going to create jobs and build the infrastructure," Tester said.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
New details emerge about ordeal of kidnapped girl
PLACERVILLE, Calif. – Authorities say an alleged kidnapper fathered two children with the woman who emerged 18 years after being snatched from a bus stop.
The new details came as authorities provided more information about the saga Jaycee Lee Dugard, who vanished when she was 11 years old and turned up at a police station in Northern California this week.
El Dorado County Undersheriff Fred Kollar says the woman spent most of her time in sheds, tents and outbuildings to isolate her from the world. Police say her captor was Phillip Garrido, who is being held on various kidnapping and sex charges.
Kollar says Dugard and the children have never been to school, never been to the doctor, and were kept in complete isolation in this compound.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PLACERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say an alleged kidnapper fathered two children with the woman who emerged 18 years after being snatched from a bus stop.
The new details came as authorities provided more information about the saga Jaycee Lee Dugard, who vanished when she was 11 years old and turned up at a police station in Northern California this week.
El Dorado County Undersheriff Fred Kollar says the woman spent most of her time in sheds, tents and outbuildings to isolate her from the world. Police say her captor was Phillip Garrido. He is being held for investigation of kidnapping, rape by force, lewd and lascivious acts with a minor and sexual penetration.
The new details came as authorities provided more information about the saga Jaycee Lee Dugard, who vanished when she was 11 years old and turned up at a police station in Northern California this week.
El Dorado County Undersheriff Fred Kollar says the woman spent most of her time in sheds, tents and outbuildings to isolate her from the world. Police say her captor was Phillip Garrido, who is being held on various kidnapping and sex charges.
Kollar says Dugard and the children have never been to school, never been to the doctor, and were kept in complete isolation in this compound.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PLACERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say an alleged kidnapper fathered two children with the woman who emerged 18 years after being snatched from a bus stop.
The new details came as authorities provided more information about the saga Jaycee Lee Dugard, who vanished when she was 11 years old and turned up at a police station in Northern California this week.
El Dorado County Undersheriff Fred Kollar says the woman spent most of her time in sheds, tents and outbuildings to isolate her from the world. Police say her captor was Phillip Garrido. He is being held for investigation of kidnapping, rape by force, lewd and lascivious acts with a minor and sexual penetration.
Venezuela repeats at Miss Universe contest
NASSAU, Bahamas – Miss Venezuela was the fairest of them all once again, winning the 2009 Miss Universe crown for the second year straight and the sixth time since the pageant's creation.
Dressed in a flowing red gown, 18-year-old Stefania Fernandez hugged the runner-up from the Dominican Republic and danced in joy as her victory was announced Sunday.
The crown briefly fell to the floor as it passed from one Venezuelan beauty to the next.
But Fernandez said there was time for outgoing Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza to whisper in her ear that she must have worked hard for Venezuela to win consecutive crowns.
"What do we Venezuelans have?" Fernandez, an international relations student, told reporters after the pageant. "That we are ourselves."
The other top-five finalists were runner-up Ada Aimee de la Cruz, followed by Miss Kosovo, Droga Ganusha; Miss Australia, Rachael Finch; and Miss Puerto Rico, Mayra Matos Perez.
During a question-and-answer segment with the five top finalists, Fernandez said she believed women have overcome obstacles such as hitting the proverbial glass ceiling.
"I feel we have reached the level that men are at," she said.
When asked later how she thought beauty contests promoted equality between men and women, Fernandez said they provided exposure.
"We have quite a following worldwide," she said. "We are models to follow."
The new Miss Universe is from the city of Merida in the west of a beauty-obsessed South American country where hard-fought pageants are something of a national sport, with contestants widely dissected by the public and the media.
Fernandez said she did not know whether Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez would receive her. He did not meet with Mendoza when she won and made no public statements at the time.
But Fernandez said he might change his mind.
"We'll see, because we are making history," she said.
The top 15 Miss Universe finalists appeared in bathing suits before the final 10 were chosen for the evening gown segment.
Pageant co-owner Donald Trump told reporters, "I think this is the most beautiful group of women I've ever seen."
The televised event included musical performances by Flo Rida, Heidi Montag, David Guetta and Kelly Rowland.
Montag gave her first live performance, singing "Body Language" from her debut album.
Fans cheered on the blond star of MTV's "The Hills," although NBC, which broadcast the event in the Bahamas live, blocked out more than half of her performance as they introduced the 15 finalists.
"It's my first performance live and it's in front of a billion eyes," Montag said.
The on-stage hosts were Billy Bush, co-anchor of "Access Hollywood," and Claudia Jordan, a former Miss Rhode Island USA who has appeared on several TV shows. Judges included actor Dean Cain and supermodel Valeria Mazza.
Miss China, Wang Jingyao, was named Miss Congeniality and Miss Thailand, Chutima Durongdej, won Miss Photogenic.
Many contestants have suffered from dehydration in recent weeks, and Jewel Selver, Miss Turks and Caicos, went home Saturday to recuperate, said Esther Swan, Miss Universe spokeswoman.
Dressed in a flowing red gown, 18-year-old Stefania Fernandez hugged the runner-up from the Dominican Republic and danced in joy as her victory was announced Sunday.
The crown briefly fell to the floor as it passed from one Venezuelan beauty to the next.
But Fernandez said there was time for outgoing Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza to whisper in her ear that she must have worked hard for Venezuela to win consecutive crowns.
"What do we Venezuelans have?" Fernandez, an international relations student, told reporters after the pageant. "That we are ourselves."
The other top-five finalists were runner-up Ada Aimee de la Cruz, followed by Miss Kosovo, Droga Ganusha; Miss Australia, Rachael Finch; and Miss Puerto Rico, Mayra Matos Perez.
During a question-and-answer segment with the five top finalists, Fernandez said she believed women have overcome obstacles such as hitting the proverbial glass ceiling.
"I feel we have reached the level that men are at," she said.
When asked later how she thought beauty contests promoted equality between men and women, Fernandez said they provided exposure.
"We have quite a following worldwide," she said. "We are models to follow."
The new Miss Universe is from the city of Merida in the west of a beauty-obsessed South American country where hard-fought pageants are something of a national sport, with contestants widely dissected by the public and the media.
Fernandez said she did not know whether Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez would receive her. He did not meet with Mendoza when she won and made no public statements at the time.
But Fernandez said he might change his mind.
"We'll see, because we are making history," she said.
The top 15 Miss Universe finalists appeared in bathing suits before the final 10 were chosen for the evening gown segment.
Pageant co-owner Donald Trump told reporters, "I think this is the most beautiful group of women I've ever seen."
The televised event included musical performances by Flo Rida, Heidi Montag, David Guetta and Kelly Rowland.
Montag gave her first live performance, singing "Body Language" from her debut album.
Fans cheered on the blond star of MTV's "The Hills," although NBC, which broadcast the event in the Bahamas live, blocked out more than half of her performance as they introduced the 15 finalists.
"It's my first performance live and it's in front of a billion eyes," Montag said.
The on-stage hosts were Billy Bush, co-anchor of "Access Hollywood," and Claudia Jordan, a former Miss Rhode Island USA who has appeared on several TV shows. Judges included actor Dean Cain and supermodel Valeria Mazza.
Miss China, Wang Jingyao, was named Miss Congeniality and Miss Thailand, Chutima Durongdej, won Miss Photogenic.
Many contestants have suffered from dehydration in recent weeks, and Jewel Selver, Miss Turks and Caicos, went home Saturday to recuperate, said Esther Swan, Miss Universe spokeswoman.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Love in the Time of Terror
She was a single;he was divorced and searching.Together they kindled an epic passion for each other-and jihad.
This is a story about love — love that lives and grows in the least likely places. It's a story about soul mates joined in the soulless business of terror.
Malika met Abdessattar at a tram stop in Brussels. She was fully veiled; he bore the deep marks of prostration before Allah, of ritually pounding his forehead into the ground. They grew passionate — about each other, and about jihad. Two years later, Abdessattar would become a martyr. This past December, Malika would be arrested in a vast counterterrorism operation in Belgium, with authorities calling her "an al Qaeda living legend." Utter devotion led them there.
I first came into contact with Malika el Aroud four years ago when I obtained a rare copy of her self-published memoir, Soldiers of Light, while I was helping to research a book and CNN documentary on Osama bin Laden. I found her e-mail address, but it would take six months of phone calls before she would agree to meet with me for an interview.
"One Woman’s War" is based on Paul Cruickshank's reporting for Marie Claire. It was produced by Paul Cruickshank and presented by Nic Robertson, CNN's Senior International Correspondent.
On an icy winter day, I knocked on the door of her second-floor chalet apartment in a sleepy Swiss hamlet near the city of Fribourg. A vision in black greeted me politely in perfect French — but refused to shake my hand, explaining that her religion forbids it. Malika, 46 at the time, was covered from head to toe in dark robes; only her round face showed. Her features were unremarkable, except for a burning intensity in her expressive deep-brown eyes.
She offered me a cup of Moroccan tea and an array of Swiss cakes, and served them up in her small kitchen, which, like the rest of her home, was immaculate and paneled in ski-lodge pinewood.
I sat down across from her to start our interview, and it was then that she dropped her motherly tone. "If you're polite with me, I'll stay polite and there'll be no problem," she said, fixing me with her piercing eyes.
"For many years, I lived without religion," she began. "Islam for me was really a gift from God." A Moroccan immigrant living in Belgium, Malika had grown up feeling stifled and frustrated; her observant parents had required her to don a veil at home, yet she wore miniskirts and tight jeans to school. At 18, she found freedom of a sort by marrying a Moroccan seeking identity papers. But instead of moving in with him, she started hanging out in seedy nightclubs, sleeping at the apartments of random acquaintances, and showering in public restrooms. "I did everything that is bad," she told me. Jobless and too proud to ask for money, she hardly ate and at one point tried to kill herself by swallowing a handful of pills. Eventually she got engaged to a cousin, who left her when she became pregnant.
At 32, an unmoored and vulnerable single mom, Malika began a journey back to Islam. It started simply, when she was listening to a Moroccan radio station one afternoon: "I heard the Arabic call of prayer, and I felt something very strong in my heart telling me to wake up and return," she told me, her voice thick with emotion. She found a Koran and read it for the first time. As she described in her memoir: "It penetrated my heart like a ray of light. I discovered that God's forgiveness is immense."
A few years later, Malika signed up for classes at the Centre Islamique Belge, an organization that adheres to a rigid, fundamentalist interpretation of Islam known as Salafism, which shuns Western modernity. When she walked into her first class, all of the women turned and stared, irked by her Western clothes. It would not be long before Malika started viewing the world through a 2-inch-by-6-inch slit in her veil.
Two more short-lived marriages followed. Then one day, Abdessattar Dahmane, wearing glasses and a fezlike Tunisian cap, gingerly approached Malika while she was waiting for a tram. He explained, as she stood there fully veiled, that he had heard about her through the center and wanted to meet her. Apologizing for being so forward, he gave her his phone number and asked if they could continue the conversation by phone. Attracted by his courtesy and warm smile, Malika agreed.
In early 1999, the two had long talks and walks in the city's public parks, and a chaste romance developed. "He was very gallant and gentle toward me," Malika told me, her eyes shining. What she did not know was that Abdessattar, who had also been married and had pursued media studies at Tunis University, had caught the attention of Belgian security services because of his connection to a group of pro-al Qaeda extremists. When she met him, he had just returned from trying to get into Kosovo, where he wanted to fight jihad against Serb forces targeting Kosovo Muslims.
On an early spring day in 1999, Abdessattar proposed to Malika. She'd just learned that she had contracted tuberculosis, and she was dreading what Abdessattar's reaction might be when she told him. But what he said made her swoon: "You're going to need me, and I want to take care of you." After their wedding at the Islamic center in April, he was true to his word, even insisting on taking care of all the household chores.
Malika’s younger sister, Saida, remembered just how smitten Malika was during this time. "She'd had many bad experiences with men, but Abdessattar treated her well, and that made all the difference," she told me. Unlike Malika, Saida, who runs her own housecleaning business in Brussels, is comfortably integrated into Belgian society and has made it clear that she shares none of her sister's radical views.
But Abdessattar's behavior struck Saida as bizarre at the time. "He would say a minimum to me, and he would avert his gaze when he did speak to me," Saida said. One day, Saida and her husband invited the newlyweds to dinner at their home. The evening was a disaster: Abdessattar stormed out when he discovered that Saida's husband belonged to the Shia branch of Islam instead of the Sunni branch that Abdessattar adhered to. (The root of the divide between these factions is a disagreement about the true successor of the Prophet Muhammad. The most extreme Sunni radicals believe that Shia Muslims are heretics who deserve to die.) Abdessattar's abrupt exit from the dinner party caused a deep rift between the two sisters.
In the early months of his marriage to Malika, Abdessattar talked incessantly about how an alliance of non-Muslim powers led by the United States was oppressing Muslims around the world. He spoke of "global jihad," which had been recently declared by bin Laden from the mountains of Afghanistan. "He made me understand certain things," Malika told me. "I felt the same pain he felt, seeing our brothers and sisters massacred and killed. I felt such anger that I wanted to take up arms myself." Russian military actions against Chechen Muslims particularly agitated the couple.
One evening in late 1999, Abdessattar caught sight of bin Laden on the evening news: The self-styled prophet, dressed in flowing white robes, was calling for volunteers for his global jihad. "My husband was transfixed," Malika told me, dreamily. "There was a fascination, a love. It was very clear, and I felt the same. Osama had a beauty in his face." At that very moment, Malika said, her husband resolved to leave Belgium for Afghanistan to volunteer for jihad. She agreed that she would eventually join him.
Abdessattar left in the spring of 2000 for Afghanistan, where he enrolled in a training camp near the city of Jalalabad. His initial hope was to eventually fight with jihadists in Chechnya, but at some point he was recruited into bin Laden's terrorist network. In January 2001, after eight months of separation, Malika boarded a flight to Pakistan. She felt a pang of guilt about saying good-bye to her daughter, who was getting ready to start college, but the feeling quickly vanished as she thought about seeing the man she loved. For the first time in her life, she felt she was doing something meaningful: Her plan, she told me, was to set up an orphanage in Afghanistan.
When Malika landed, two men drove her through the stunning mountain passes across the border into Afghanistan. Despite the natural beauty of her surroundings, Malika could hardly believe the poverty of the Afghan people. As she described it in her memoir: "What I saw then was wretchedness with a capital W. It's something that we in the West just can't imagine." She felt ashamed of the simple luxuries she'd enjoyed in Belgium.
When they reached Jalalabad, an eastern Afghan city in a valley beneath the soaring, snowcapped mountains of the Hindu Kush, her drivers dropped her off in front of a small, dilapidated shack. Her husband emerged, noticeably bulked up from his training. He greeted her with a smile, and she was burning to embrace him. They did not leave the dwelling for the next three days.
Malika took to the mundane rhythm of life in Jalalabad, accepting the lack of running water, limited access to electricity, and other inconveniences, such as living in only one room. "It was like being in the Middle Ages," she told me. "I had to pump water from the wells and burn wood to heat the place up. There were holes all over the walls." When Abdessattar left the home, Malika would spend time cooking vegetable dishes with the wives of her husband's al Qaeda comrades. Meat was expensive and difficult to come by. Occasionally she would go to the market to pick up some pieces of chicken — although it took a little time to get used to seeing her dinner slaughtered right in front of her because of a lack of refrigeration. But she adjusted. Malika's only complaint: She did not like having to wear the mesh grill of the burka over her eyes when she went out; it made her lose her balance.
Once or twice she saw the wives of bin Laden, when they came to visit with him from Kandahar, al Qaeda's headquarters in the south. Despite well-worn tales of scant freedoms — of virtual house arrest for the wives of Islamic fundamentalists — "they seemed happy, from what I could tell," she said. "They were radiant, even. Otherwise they wouldn't be married to him. I don't think he was forceful with them." Malika never met bin Laden, because of strict segregation between the sexes, but called his appeal magnetic. "It's easy for me to describe the love that Abdessattar felt for him because I felt it myself," she told me, her voice brimming with passion. "It was he who helped the oppressed. It was he who stood up against the biggest enemy in the world: the United States."
A few months after her arrival, she and Abdessattar moved into a more comfortable residence in an enclave of homes reserved for bin Laden's most trusted operatives near Jalalabad's main river. But Abdessattar was determined to school Malika and show her more of the real Afghanistan, taking her on tours of run-down hospitals and villages ravaged by war and hunger. Her husband told her, "Look, look at this closely, because this is the work of the Americans, the result of the U.N. sanctions."
One day, Abdessattar took Malika on a tour of his training camp, where, to her delight, he showed her how to fire a Kalashnikov assault rifle, even allowing her to squeeze the trigger, making the mountain valley echo with the thunderous sound of high-intensity rounds. But Abdessattar had not taken her there just for her amusement; he was teaching her how to protect herself from the nearby Northern Alliance, which was fighting against bin Laden and the Taliban. He told her, "If they come when I am away, fire on them till they kill you. Don't let yourself be taken alive." From that day on, Malika would never sleep without the weapon at the foot of her bed.
In August 2001, Abdessattar headed for northern Afghanistan, telling Malika that he was taking a trip to film a report on the exploits of jihadists on the northern front. It was a lie. Bin Laden had personally selected Abdessattar to carry out one of his most vital missions. Al Qaeda's catastrophic strike against the U.S. — five years in the making — was now only weeks away. Bin Laden knew the 9/11 attack would make him the world's most wanted man and that there would be enormous pressure on the Taliban to give him up. How better to ingratiate himself with the Taliban than by killing their greatest foe, Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance? The plan was for Abdessattar and a colleague to pose as TV journalists to gain access to Massoud, then assassinate him.
When Abdessattar set off on his trip, he knew it would likely be the last time he saw the woman he loved, but his passion for jihad was greater. When I asked Malika why she was kept in the dark, she snapped, "Since when does a secret agent, entrusted with a mission, tell his wife?"
On September 9, the al Qaeda hit men went to meet Massoud at his field headquarters. According to survivors of the attack, Abdessattar's first question to Massoud was: "If you capture Osama bin Laden, what will you do with him?" There was no second question. His colleague, the fake cameraman, who had been filming Massoud at close range, triggered his suicide vest, fatally wounding the Northern Alliance leader. Abdessattar, who had been standing a few feet away, survived the bomb blast and was captured by Massoud's guards and locked in a nearby room. But after they left, Abdessattar escaped through a window, then sprinted. Just as he started to gain ground, he came to a river blocking his path. He tried to wade across, but the guards caught up with him and shot him dead.
By September 12, the suicide mission was an open secret in Jalalabad, where people in the streets were celebrating the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. and the death of Massoud. Malika learned of her husband's death when she stepped outside and a woman warmly congratulated her on being the wife of a martyr. Malika recalled in her memoir, "My heart jumped."
A succession of visitors came to congratulate her over the next few days, seemingly unaware of how stricken she was with grief. Eventually a courier, sent by bin Laden, dropped off a videotape that her husband had made in the hope that she would hear the news from him first. "Abdessattar gently prepared me for the fact he was no longer there," Malika said, as if speaking of the most tender kind of love token. "He told me he loved me, but he was already on the other side." The courier also gave her $500 in cash from bin Laden to settle her husband's debts. "It's the pinnacle in Islam to be the widow of a martyr," Malika told me proudly. "For a woman, it's extraordinary."
Weeks later, still gripped by sorrow, Malika watched with detachment as the night sky above Jalalabad lit up with explosions from American bombs. In mid-November, she heard on the radio that the Taliban had abandoned their positions around the city. Worse, word came to her that Massoud's men knew where she was — and planned to hunt her down in order to avenge the death of their commander.
Before she could escape, Massoud's men stormed her compound. Trapped inside and terrified, Malika heard only the deafening sound of explosions, gunfire, and shattering glass. The al Qaeda fighters told the women and children to run for their lives, while the men provided cover, launching grenades and bazooka rounds on their assailants. Assisted by one of the al Qaeda men, Malika ran to the back of the compound and climbed a ladder to the top of a 7-foot wall. Then she jumped — burka and all — down onto the muddy bank of the river below. She waded across the icy waters with other fleeing women and children, to what they hoped would be safety.
However, after bedding down with an Afghan family overnight, the fugitives ran into a group of Northern Alliance fighters on a road leading out of the city, and the women were taken prisoner. Malika remembered the words of her husband: "Don't let them take you alive." But lucky for her, Malika's captors didn't know the prize they'd caught, given that she was wrapped in her burka. She and the others were held in several locations in the mountains above Jalalabad before being taken back into the city.
After a couple of weeks, a band of al Qaeda fighters discovered where the women were being held and launched a daring raid at dawn to set them free. Shouting "Don't be afraid, sisters! We are your brothers in Islam!" they loaded Malika and the others into vans and sped off into the Jalalabad morning.
The convoy drove high up into the mountains, but the last long, steep climb had to be made by foot. Finally they came upon an elaborate cave complex. Although Malika was never told the name of the place, she was likely taken to Tora Bora, al Qaeda's infamous mountain redoubt.
When she entered the caves, she saw dozens of fighters milling about. She was offered fresh food, fruit, and hot coffee, and was relieved to find a bucket of clean water so that she could bathe. "It was like a scene out of Ali Baba," she recalled in her memoir. "There were mattresses, blankets, gas lamps ... it was all incredibly well organized." As the sun set, she noticed the gorgeous view and wished she could take some photos.
The next morning, an al Qaeda escort brought her across the border into Pakistan. She was lucky to have left when she did. Soon after, the U.S. initiated an intensive bombing campaign after receiving intelligence that bin Laden was hiding at Tora Bora.
On December 18, 2001, Malika's escort dropped her off at the gates of the Belgian embassy in Islamabad, where she turned herself in, in the interest of safe passage back to Brussels. "We will never stop our fight," the al Qaeda fighter told her before he left. The chivalry of her husband's comrades — who had risked their own lives to protect hers — sealed her devotion to the cause.
On her return to Belgium, Malika was interrogated by authorities, who eventually charged her with complicity in the assassination of Massoud. But she was cleared in a 2003 trial and went on to meet another Tunisian-born man, Moez Garsallaoui, who shared her incendiary views. They married, and she moved in with him in Switzerland, away from the media attention in Brussels. There, Malika devoted herself to promoting bin Laden's cause online. The computer-savvy Moez set up an Arabic Website for himself and helped his wife administer a French-language counterpart called Minbar-SoS, a reference to the pulpits in mosques, called minbars. Under the pseudonym Oum Oubeyda, a variation on Abdessattar's al Qaeda code name, Malika regularly voiced her support for al Qaeda, while others posted videos of bloody attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq. The site eventually attracted a following of more than 1400 full-time members.
As I talked with Malika in her Swiss home, Moez wandered in and out of the room. Meek rather than menacing, with a neatly cropped beard and glasses, he clearly played second fiddle to his wife, who gently bossed him around throughout the afternoon. Although she tried to make a public display of being deferential to him, it was obvious who was in awe of whom.
This is a story about love — love that lives and grows in the least likely places. It's a story about soul mates joined in the soulless business of terror.
Malika met Abdessattar at a tram stop in Brussels. She was fully veiled; he bore the deep marks of prostration before Allah, of ritually pounding his forehead into the ground. They grew passionate — about each other, and about jihad. Two years later, Abdessattar would become a martyr. This past December, Malika would be arrested in a vast counterterrorism operation in Belgium, with authorities calling her "an al Qaeda living legend." Utter devotion led them there.
I first came into contact with Malika el Aroud four years ago when I obtained a rare copy of her self-published memoir, Soldiers of Light, while I was helping to research a book and CNN documentary on Osama bin Laden. I found her e-mail address, but it would take six months of phone calls before she would agree to meet with me for an interview.
"One Woman’s War" is based on Paul Cruickshank's reporting for Marie Claire. It was produced by Paul Cruickshank and presented by Nic Robertson, CNN's Senior International Correspondent.
On an icy winter day, I knocked on the door of her second-floor chalet apartment in a sleepy Swiss hamlet near the city of Fribourg. A vision in black greeted me politely in perfect French — but refused to shake my hand, explaining that her religion forbids it. Malika, 46 at the time, was covered from head to toe in dark robes; only her round face showed. Her features were unremarkable, except for a burning intensity in her expressive deep-brown eyes.
She offered me a cup of Moroccan tea and an array of Swiss cakes, and served them up in her small kitchen, which, like the rest of her home, was immaculate and paneled in ski-lodge pinewood.
I sat down across from her to start our interview, and it was then that she dropped her motherly tone. "If you're polite with me, I'll stay polite and there'll be no problem," she said, fixing me with her piercing eyes.
"For many years, I lived without religion," she began. "Islam for me was really a gift from God." A Moroccan immigrant living in Belgium, Malika had grown up feeling stifled and frustrated; her observant parents had required her to don a veil at home, yet she wore miniskirts and tight jeans to school. At 18, she found freedom of a sort by marrying a Moroccan seeking identity papers. But instead of moving in with him, she started hanging out in seedy nightclubs, sleeping at the apartments of random acquaintances, and showering in public restrooms. "I did everything that is bad," she told me. Jobless and too proud to ask for money, she hardly ate and at one point tried to kill herself by swallowing a handful of pills. Eventually she got engaged to a cousin, who left her when she became pregnant.
At 32, an unmoored and vulnerable single mom, Malika began a journey back to Islam. It started simply, when she was listening to a Moroccan radio station one afternoon: "I heard the Arabic call of prayer, and I felt something very strong in my heart telling me to wake up and return," she told me, her voice thick with emotion. She found a Koran and read it for the first time. As she described in her memoir: "It penetrated my heart like a ray of light. I discovered that God's forgiveness is immense."
A few years later, Malika signed up for classes at the Centre Islamique Belge, an organization that adheres to a rigid, fundamentalist interpretation of Islam known as Salafism, which shuns Western modernity. When she walked into her first class, all of the women turned and stared, irked by her Western clothes. It would not be long before Malika started viewing the world through a 2-inch-by-6-inch slit in her veil.
Two more short-lived marriages followed. Then one day, Abdessattar Dahmane, wearing glasses and a fezlike Tunisian cap, gingerly approached Malika while she was waiting for a tram. He explained, as she stood there fully veiled, that he had heard about her through the center and wanted to meet her. Apologizing for being so forward, he gave her his phone number and asked if they could continue the conversation by phone. Attracted by his courtesy and warm smile, Malika agreed.
In early 1999, the two had long talks and walks in the city's public parks, and a chaste romance developed. "He was very gallant and gentle toward me," Malika told me, her eyes shining. What she did not know was that Abdessattar, who had also been married and had pursued media studies at Tunis University, had caught the attention of Belgian security services because of his connection to a group of pro-al Qaeda extremists. When she met him, he had just returned from trying to get into Kosovo, where he wanted to fight jihad against Serb forces targeting Kosovo Muslims.
On an early spring day in 1999, Abdessattar proposed to Malika. She'd just learned that she had contracted tuberculosis, and she was dreading what Abdessattar's reaction might be when she told him. But what he said made her swoon: "You're going to need me, and I want to take care of you." After their wedding at the Islamic center in April, he was true to his word, even insisting on taking care of all the household chores.
Malika’s younger sister, Saida, remembered just how smitten Malika was during this time. "She'd had many bad experiences with men, but Abdessattar treated her well, and that made all the difference," she told me. Unlike Malika, Saida, who runs her own housecleaning business in Brussels, is comfortably integrated into Belgian society and has made it clear that she shares none of her sister's radical views.
But Abdessattar's behavior struck Saida as bizarre at the time. "He would say a minimum to me, and he would avert his gaze when he did speak to me," Saida said. One day, Saida and her husband invited the newlyweds to dinner at their home. The evening was a disaster: Abdessattar stormed out when he discovered that Saida's husband belonged to the Shia branch of Islam instead of the Sunni branch that Abdessattar adhered to. (The root of the divide between these factions is a disagreement about the true successor of the Prophet Muhammad. The most extreme Sunni radicals believe that Shia Muslims are heretics who deserve to die.) Abdessattar's abrupt exit from the dinner party caused a deep rift between the two sisters.
In the early months of his marriage to Malika, Abdessattar talked incessantly about how an alliance of non-Muslim powers led by the United States was oppressing Muslims around the world. He spoke of "global jihad," which had been recently declared by bin Laden from the mountains of Afghanistan. "He made me understand certain things," Malika told me. "I felt the same pain he felt, seeing our brothers and sisters massacred and killed. I felt such anger that I wanted to take up arms myself." Russian military actions against Chechen Muslims particularly agitated the couple.
One evening in late 1999, Abdessattar caught sight of bin Laden on the evening news: The self-styled prophet, dressed in flowing white robes, was calling for volunteers for his global jihad. "My husband was transfixed," Malika told me, dreamily. "There was a fascination, a love. It was very clear, and I felt the same. Osama had a beauty in his face." At that very moment, Malika said, her husband resolved to leave Belgium for Afghanistan to volunteer for jihad. She agreed that she would eventually join him.
Abdessattar left in the spring of 2000 for Afghanistan, where he enrolled in a training camp near the city of Jalalabad. His initial hope was to eventually fight with jihadists in Chechnya, but at some point he was recruited into bin Laden's terrorist network. In January 2001, after eight months of separation, Malika boarded a flight to Pakistan. She felt a pang of guilt about saying good-bye to her daughter, who was getting ready to start college, but the feeling quickly vanished as she thought about seeing the man she loved. For the first time in her life, she felt she was doing something meaningful: Her plan, she told me, was to set up an orphanage in Afghanistan.
When Malika landed, two men drove her through the stunning mountain passes across the border into Afghanistan. Despite the natural beauty of her surroundings, Malika could hardly believe the poverty of the Afghan people. As she described it in her memoir: "What I saw then was wretchedness with a capital W. It's something that we in the West just can't imagine." She felt ashamed of the simple luxuries she'd enjoyed in Belgium.
When they reached Jalalabad, an eastern Afghan city in a valley beneath the soaring, snowcapped mountains of the Hindu Kush, her drivers dropped her off in front of a small, dilapidated shack. Her husband emerged, noticeably bulked up from his training. He greeted her with a smile, and she was burning to embrace him. They did not leave the dwelling for the next three days.
Malika took to the mundane rhythm of life in Jalalabad, accepting the lack of running water, limited access to electricity, and other inconveniences, such as living in only one room. "It was like being in the Middle Ages," she told me. "I had to pump water from the wells and burn wood to heat the place up. There were holes all over the walls." When Abdessattar left the home, Malika would spend time cooking vegetable dishes with the wives of her husband's al Qaeda comrades. Meat was expensive and difficult to come by. Occasionally she would go to the market to pick up some pieces of chicken — although it took a little time to get used to seeing her dinner slaughtered right in front of her because of a lack of refrigeration. But she adjusted. Malika's only complaint: She did not like having to wear the mesh grill of the burka over her eyes when she went out; it made her lose her balance.
Once or twice she saw the wives of bin Laden, when they came to visit with him from Kandahar, al Qaeda's headquarters in the south. Despite well-worn tales of scant freedoms — of virtual house arrest for the wives of Islamic fundamentalists — "they seemed happy, from what I could tell," she said. "They were radiant, even. Otherwise they wouldn't be married to him. I don't think he was forceful with them." Malika never met bin Laden, because of strict segregation between the sexes, but called his appeal magnetic. "It's easy for me to describe the love that Abdessattar felt for him because I felt it myself," she told me, her voice brimming with passion. "It was he who helped the oppressed. It was he who stood up against the biggest enemy in the world: the United States."
A few months after her arrival, she and Abdessattar moved into a more comfortable residence in an enclave of homes reserved for bin Laden's most trusted operatives near Jalalabad's main river. But Abdessattar was determined to school Malika and show her more of the real Afghanistan, taking her on tours of run-down hospitals and villages ravaged by war and hunger. Her husband told her, "Look, look at this closely, because this is the work of the Americans, the result of the U.N. sanctions."
One day, Abdessattar took Malika on a tour of his training camp, where, to her delight, he showed her how to fire a Kalashnikov assault rifle, even allowing her to squeeze the trigger, making the mountain valley echo with the thunderous sound of high-intensity rounds. But Abdessattar had not taken her there just for her amusement; he was teaching her how to protect herself from the nearby Northern Alliance, which was fighting against bin Laden and the Taliban. He told her, "If they come when I am away, fire on them till they kill you. Don't let yourself be taken alive." From that day on, Malika would never sleep without the weapon at the foot of her bed.
In August 2001, Abdessattar headed for northern Afghanistan, telling Malika that he was taking a trip to film a report on the exploits of jihadists on the northern front. It was a lie. Bin Laden had personally selected Abdessattar to carry out one of his most vital missions. Al Qaeda's catastrophic strike against the U.S. — five years in the making — was now only weeks away. Bin Laden knew the 9/11 attack would make him the world's most wanted man and that there would be enormous pressure on the Taliban to give him up. How better to ingratiate himself with the Taliban than by killing their greatest foe, Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance? The plan was for Abdessattar and a colleague to pose as TV journalists to gain access to Massoud, then assassinate him.
When Abdessattar set off on his trip, he knew it would likely be the last time he saw the woman he loved, but his passion for jihad was greater. When I asked Malika why she was kept in the dark, she snapped, "Since when does a secret agent, entrusted with a mission, tell his wife?"
On September 9, the al Qaeda hit men went to meet Massoud at his field headquarters. According to survivors of the attack, Abdessattar's first question to Massoud was: "If you capture Osama bin Laden, what will you do with him?" There was no second question. His colleague, the fake cameraman, who had been filming Massoud at close range, triggered his suicide vest, fatally wounding the Northern Alliance leader. Abdessattar, who had been standing a few feet away, survived the bomb blast and was captured by Massoud's guards and locked in a nearby room. But after they left, Abdessattar escaped through a window, then sprinted. Just as he started to gain ground, he came to a river blocking his path. He tried to wade across, but the guards caught up with him and shot him dead.
By September 12, the suicide mission was an open secret in Jalalabad, where people in the streets were celebrating the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. and the death of Massoud. Malika learned of her husband's death when she stepped outside and a woman warmly congratulated her on being the wife of a martyr. Malika recalled in her memoir, "My heart jumped."
A succession of visitors came to congratulate her over the next few days, seemingly unaware of how stricken she was with grief. Eventually a courier, sent by bin Laden, dropped off a videotape that her husband had made in the hope that she would hear the news from him first. "Abdessattar gently prepared me for the fact he was no longer there," Malika said, as if speaking of the most tender kind of love token. "He told me he loved me, but he was already on the other side." The courier also gave her $500 in cash from bin Laden to settle her husband's debts. "It's the pinnacle in Islam to be the widow of a martyr," Malika told me proudly. "For a woman, it's extraordinary."
Weeks later, still gripped by sorrow, Malika watched with detachment as the night sky above Jalalabad lit up with explosions from American bombs. In mid-November, she heard on the radio that the Taliban had abandoned their positions around the city. Worse, word came to her that Massoud's men knew where she was — and planned to hunt her down in order to avenge the death of their commander.
Before she could escape, Massoud's men stormed her compound. Trapped inside and terrified, Malika heard only the deafening sound of explosions, gunfire, and shattering glass. The al Qaeda fighters told the women and children to run for their lives, while the men provided cover, launching grenades and bazooka rounds on their assailants. Assisted by one of the al Qaeda men, Malika ran to the back of the compound and climbed a ladder to the top of a 7-foot wall. Then she jumped — burka and all — down onto the muddy bank of the river below. She waded across the icy waters with other fleeing women and children, to what they hoped would be safety.
However, after bedding down with an Afghan family overnight, the fugitives ran into a group of Northern Alliance fighters on a road leading out of the city, and the women were taken prisoner. Malika remembered the words of her husband: "Don't let them take you alive." But lucky for her, Malika's captors didn't know the prize they'd caught, given that she was wrapped in her burka. She and the others were held in several locations in the mountains above Jalalabad before being taken back into the city.
After a couple of weeks, a band of al Qaeda fighters discovered where the women were being held and launched a daring raid at dawn to set them free. Shouting "Don't be afraid, sisters! We are your brothers in Islam!" they loaded Malika and the others into vans and sped off into the Jalalabad morning.
The convoy drove high up into the mountains, but the last long, steep climb had to be made by foot. Finally they came upon an elaborate cave complex. Although Malika was never told the name of the place, she was likely taken to Tora Bora, al Qaeda's infamous mountain redoubt.
When she entered the caves, she saw dozens of fighters milling about. She was offered fresh food, fruit, and hot coffee, and was relieved to find a bucket of clean water so that she could bathe. "It was like a scene out of Ali Baba," she recalled in her memoir. "There were mattresses, blankets, gas lamps ... it was all incredibly well organized." As the sun set, she noticed the gorgeous view and wished she could take some photos.
The next morning, an al Qaeda escort brought her across the border into Pakistan. She was lucky to have left when she did. Soon after, the U.S. initiated an intensive bombing campaign after receiving intelligence that bin Laden was hiding at Tora Bora.
On December 18, 2001, Malika's escort dropped her off at the gates of the Belgian embassy in Islamabad, where she turned herself in, in the interest of safe passage back to Brussels. "We will never stop our fight," the al Qaeda fighter told her before he left. The chivalry of her husband's comrades — who had risked their own lives to protect hers — sealed her devotion to the cause.
On her return to Belgium, Malika was interrogated by authorities, who eventually charged her with complicity in the assassination of Massoud. But she was cleared in a 2003 trial and went on to meet another Tunisian-born man, Moez Garsallaoui, who shared her incendiary views. They married, and she moved in with him in Switzerland, away from the media attention in Brussels. There, Malika devoted herself to promoting bin Laden's cause online. The computer-savvy Moez set up an Arabic Website for himself and helped his wife administer a French-language counterpart called Minbar-SoS, a reference to the pulpits in mosques, called minbars. Under the pseudonym Oum Oubeyda, a variation on Abdessattar's al Qaeda code name, Malika regularly voiced her support for al Qaeda, while others posted videos of bloody attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq. The site eventually attracted a following of more than 1400 full-time members.
As I talked with Malika in her Swiss home, Moez wandered in and out of the room. Meek rather than menacing, with a neatly cropped beard and glasses, he clearly played second fiddle to his wife, who gently bossed him around throughout the afternoon. Although she tried to make a public display of being deferential to him, it was obvious who was in awe of whom.
World's Weirdest Hotels
On your next trip, you could be checking into a wine cask, a salvaged 727 airplane, or a room where the furniture defies the law of gravity.
Upside-down stay
At Berlin's Propeller Island City Lodge, each of the 30 rooms is weird in its own way. The artist-owner, Lars Stroschen, has seen to that. One room, the first built, is made to look like a brightly painted medieval town, with an ultra-mini golf course surrounding the castle bed. Another has furniture attached to the ceiling, another has coffins for beds, and still another has lion cages on stilts (the website claims that kids "love to sleep" in them). Then there's the Freedom Room, which resembles a prison, complete with a toilet next to the bed—oh, that German humor!
A place to unwine'd
When they were owned by a Swiss château, the four enormous casks on the grounds of the Hotel De Vrouwe Van Stavoren in the Netherlands held the equivalent of 19,333 bottles of wine. Now, after some creative recycling, it's guests rather than booze that mellow out inside the casks. The richly worn and airtight oak barrels have two narrow beds, with a small sitting area outside. The grounds are quite close to tiny Stavoren's harbor, which was a major port in the Middle Ages.
Crazy kind of stay
The daughter of Ho Chi Minh's No. 2 masterminded the Hang Nga Guest House and Art Gallery in Da Lat, Vietnam, a complex that more than earns its local nickname, the Crazy House. The three main buildings are Gaudi-esque concrete treehouse-like growths that appear as if they flowed organically out of the ground. Inside, the walls seem to dissolve into the floor, and right angles are avoided entirely. Each guest room is built around a different animal theme: the Eagle Room has a big-beaked bird standing atop a huge egg, while another has arm-sized ants crawling up the wall. The animal theme continues outside — a large giraffe statue on the property contains a teahouse, and human-size "spider webs" are set up here and there.
In a league of its own
Hydrophobics should stay far from Jules' Undersea Lodge, named for novelist Jules Verne of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea fame. The 600-square-foot lodge, a former marine lab, is 21 feet underwater, close to the bottom of the mangrove-filled Emerald Lagoon, in Key Largo. You'll have to know how to scuba dive to reach your room, and guests without the mandatory certification must take a course at the hotel. Once you've reached the lodge, which sleeps up to six, you'll be close to angelfish, anemones, barracuda, oysters, and other creatures—each room is equipped with a 42-inch window, so you don't need to be suited up to keep an eye on the neighborhood.
Crash in a jet plane
Near a beach that's within Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica, the Hotel Costa Verde doesn't lack for great sights. But few are as amazing as its own 727 Fuselage Suite, a salvaged 1965 Boeing 727-100 that looks as if it's crashed into the Costa Rican jungle (it's actually mounted atop a 50-foot pillar and reached via a spiral staircase). The jet's interior was once able to hold up to 125 passengers, but there are few reminders left of its days in the service of South African Airways and Colombia's Avianca Airlines. The suite's two bedrooms, dining area, and sitting room are now covered over entirely in teak to match the surroundings. Guests can play "spot the toucan" on the small wood deck that sits on top of the right wing.
Your escape pod awaits
Colored bright-orange for easy visibility, the '70s-era escape pods that make up the Capsule Hotel once hung outside oil rigs, ready to be deployed in case of an evacuation. Recycled by self-proclaimed "garbage architect" Denis Oudendijk, the fleet of pods now rotates among different moorings in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. At the moment, two are in the western Dutch town of Vlissingen and another is in The Hague. For a kind of James Bond-meets-Barbarella twist, opt to book your pod with a disco ball and all the spy's movies on DVD. It's a super-kitschy nod to a similar pod's appearance in "The Spy Who Loved Me."
Where the penthouse is a trailer park
Cape Town's sleek Grand Daddy hotel has a surprise on its roof: a fleet of seven Airstream trailers, six of which were imported from the U.S. The aluminum-clad "rooms," which sleep two people, have been done in playful themes that incorporate icons like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (a blonde wig and a bear suit are available for dress-up), and John Lennon and Yoko Ono (the room's white-on-white furnishings include an enormous bed, natch). If you don't want to stray as far from the trailers' original looks, there's the Pleasantville model, an Eisenhower-era fantasia with chintz, harvest-gold curtains, and flower-covered throw pillows.
Upside-down stay
At Berlin's Propeller Island City Lodge, each of the 30 rooms is weird in its own way. The artist-owner, Lars Stroschen, has seen to that. One room, the first built, is made to look like a brightly painted medieval town, with an ultra-mini golf course surrounding the castle bed. Another has furniture attached to the ceiling, another has coffins for beds, and still another has lion cages on stilts (the website claims that kids "love to sleep" in them). Then there's the Freedom Room, which resembles a prison, complete with a toilet next to the bed—oh, that German humor!
A place to unwine'd
When they were owned by a Swiss château, the four enormous casks on the grounds of the Hotel De Vrouwe Van Stavoren in the Netherlands held the equivalent of 19,333 bottles of wine. Now, after some creative recycling, it's guests rather than booze that mellow out inside the casks. The richly worn and airtight oak barrels have two narrow beds, with a small sitting area outside. The grounds are quite close to tiny Stavoren's harbor, which was a major port in the Middle Ages.
Crazy kind of stay
The daughter of Ho Chi Minh's No. 2 masterminded the Hang Nga Guest House and Art Gallery in Da Lat, Vietnam, a complex that more than earns its local nickname, the Crazy House. The three main buildings are Gaudi-esque concrete treehouse-like growths that appear as if they flowed organically out of the ground. Inside, the walls seem to dissolve into the floor, and right angles are avoided entirely. Each guest room is built around a different animal theme: the Eagle Room has a big-beaked bird standing atop a huge egg, while another has arm-sized ants crawling up the wall. The animal theme continues outside — a large giraffe statue on the property contains a teahouse, and human-size "spider webs" are set up here and there.
In a league of its own
Hydrophobics should stay far from Jules' Undersea Lodge, named for novelist Jules Verne of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea fame. The 600-square-foot lodge, a former marine lab, is 21 feet underwater, close to the bottom of the mangrove-filled Emerald Lagoon, in Key Largo. You'll have to know how to scuba dive to reach your room, and guests without the mandatory certification must take a course at the hotel. Once you've reached the lodge, which sleeps up to six, you'll be close to angelfish, anemones, barracuda, oysters, and other creatures—each room is equipped with a 42-inch window, so you don't need to be suited up to keep an eye on the neighborhood.
Crash in a jet plane
Near a beach that's within Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica, the Hotel Costa Verde doesn't lack for great sights. But few are as amazing as its own 727 Fuselage Suite, a salvaged 1965 Boeing 727-100 that looks as if it's crashed into the Costa Rican jungle (it's actually mounted atop a 50-foot pillar and reached via a spiral staircase). The jet's interior was once able to hold up to 125 passengers, but there are few reminders left of its days in the service of South African Airways and Colombia's Avianca Airlines. The suite's two bedrooms, dining area, and sitting room are now covered over entirely in teak to match the surroundings. Guests can play "spot the toucan" on the small wood deck that sits on top of the right wing.
Your escape pod awaits
Colored bright-orange for easy visibility, the '70s-era escape pods that make up the Capsule Hotel once hung outside oil rigs, ready to be deployed in case of an evacuation. Recycled by self-proclaimed "garbage architect" Denis Oudendijk, the fleet of pods now rotates among different moorings in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. At the moment, two are in the western Dutch town of Vlissingen and another is in The Hague. For a kind of James Bond-meets-Barbarella twist, opt to book your pod with a disco ball and all the spy's movies on DVD. It's a super-kitschy nod to a similar pod's appearance in "The Spy Who Loved Me."
Where the penthouse is a trailer park
Cape Town's sleek Grand Daddy hotel has a surprise on its roof: a fleet of seven Airstream trailers, six of which were imported from the U.S. The aluminum-clad "rooms," which sleep two people, have been done in playful themes that incorporate icons like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (a blonde wig and a bear suit are available for dress-up), and John Lennon and Yoko Ono (the room's white-on-white furnishings include an enormous bed, natch). If you don't want to stray as far from the trailers' original looks, there's the Pleasantville model, an Eisenhower-era fantasia with chintz, harvest-gold curtains, and flower-covered throw pillows.
America's 10 Best Places to Grow Up
Low crime, strong schools, green spaces, and fun activities are key ingredients for a happy childhood.
If you could create the ideal community to raise a child in, what ingredients would you include? First off, you'd probably want a low crime rate.
A strong school system would also be key. From there, you'd need lots of other children, expansive green spaces to play in, and plenty of nearby family events. Toss in an abundance of artistic and recreational activities, and all of a sudden you've got one heck of a place to grow up. At U.S. News, we wanted to find out if any communities like that already existed—and if so, where they were located. So we dug into our database of 2,000 different places all across the country and pinpointed the locales that met these criteria. We then examined these communities more closely to determine which places offered the best combination of safe neighborhoods, fun activities, and top-notch educators. Our selections appear below, in our list of America's 10 Best Places to Grow Up:
Virginia Beach, Va.
Junior adventurers will love Virginia Beach, Va. This community of 434,000 residents in the southeastern part of the state has a low crime rate, a solid school system, and 35 miles of majestic beaches on the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. "It's kind of neat to be able to come home from work, make a call to my wife or son, grab a bucket of chicken or some sandwiches, and then go out on the bay and have dinner," says Greg Ward, who works for a marketing firm that represents the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Children can explore an impressive ecosystem of threatened and endangered species—including bald eagles and loggerhead sea turtles—in the 9,000-acre Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The warm summers and mild winters provide plenty of opportunities to hike, bike, and picnic your way through the 19 miles of scenic trails over at First Landing State Park. And after checking out the sand tiger sharks and the cow-nose rays at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center, children can catch an educational picture in its 3-D IMAX theater.
And in early September, the community is launching an online resource—VBparents.com—designed to keep parents plugged in to local health and school news, while ensuring that they are up-to-date on all of the community activities available to their kids. "There are lots of great parenting resources out there. This one is going to be specific to raising your child and your family within the city of Virginia Beach," says Jenefer Snyder, city of Virginia Beach GrowSmart coordinator. "We are constantly going to be connecting it back to community services, activities, events, programs, and classes."
Madison, Ala.
Of the roughly 43,000 residents in the friendly, churchgoing town of Madison, Ala., about 12,000 are under 18 years old. And this bedroom community of Huntsville, Ala., offers no shortage of outlets to keep these young folks active. "There is an event almost every weekend—whether it is in Madison, Huntsville, or Madison County—that families can attend," says Paul Finley, the mayor of Madison. Children can take advantage of the area's expansive outdoor amenities: watching beavers plunge into Bradford Creek or rabbits dart through the 130-acre Rainbow Mountain Trails park. And if they behave well enough, perhaps some lucky children can even persuade their mom and dad to send them to Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in nearby Huntsville.
Overland Park, Kan.
Just 12 miles outside of Kansas City, Mo., is the lovely community of Overland Park, Kan. This family-friendly suburb in America's heartland has a four-season climate and is opening a 12-field, artificially turfed, fully lit soccer complex in the late summer. "Soccer is a big sport in this community," says Mayor Carl Gerlach. Meanwhile, at the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead, kids can visit nearly 200 farm animals, toss a bobber into a fishing pond, or take a ride in a horse-drawn wagon. The 17-mile-long Indian Creek Trail makes for a great bike ride. At the same time, sports fans are only a short car ride away from a Kansas City Chiefs football game or a Kansas City Royals baseball game. In addition, "we have three different school districts in Overland Park," Gerlach says. "All three have been nationally ranked and won awards."
San Jose, Calif.
With 9 square miles of green spaces, 300 days of sunshine a year, and four different professional sports franchises to follow, San Jose, Calif., has everything you need for a happy childhood. At just over 1 million residents, San Jose considers itself the capital of Silicon Valley, but it doesn't take a computer scientist to understand the city's appeal to kids. San Jose is the country's safest big city, and although it's certainly expensive—the median home price is $449,000—the city offers all sorts of great activities for children. Rather than chasing its skateboarders away, San Jose has embraced them by opening six public skateboarding parks, including Lake Cunningham Regional Skate Park, the largest one in the state. And at the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, children can experience everything from theater to gardening.
Boston
With an exciting history and a boatload of activities, Boston is a great option for parents looking to raise children in a big city. Kids will marvel at the African penguins in the New England Aquarium, gawk at the humpback whales on a whale-watching tour, and erupt as the Red Sox take the field at beautiful Fenway Park. At the same time, Boston is one of the safest large cities in the country.
Rochester, Minn.
With about 100,000 residents, the safe, friendly city of Rochester, Minn., has enough activities to tire out even the most energetic youngsters: 85 miles of trails for in-line skating, 3,200 acres of public parks for touch football, and 56 different playgrounds. "It's a huge sports town," says Brad Jones, executive director of the Rochester Convention and Visitors Bureau. Fortunately, the area's big sport—hockey—is well-suited for Rochester's chilly winters. "We [also] have two hockey complexes, one with four rinks under one roof and the other with two," Jones says. "We have the National Volleyball Center located here, and it's always hopping with volleyball tournaments and trainings."
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
It would be tough to find a safer community than Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where the crime index is about a fifth of the national average. And with a solid school system, plenty of fun activities, and affordable housing costs, this eastern Iowa city can keep your kids happy without emptying your wallet. Tim Boyle, the executive director of the Cedar Rapids Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, says the city's manageable size—it has just 123,000 residents—allows its young people to get involved in a variety of different activities. "The thing that I like about Cedar Rapids is you could end up with a junior or senior in high school who is an offensive tackle on the football team and has the lead in the spring musical," Boyle says. In addition to a strong music program in its public schools, the area has more than 50 public tennis courts, more than 75 parks, 23 sand volleyball courts, and even a BMX dirt track. During the winters, which can get extremely cold, children can remain active on three indoor soccer fields and five ice-skating rinks.
Denver
Whether they prefer snowboarding in the Rocky Mountains, biking through America's largest city park system, or heading over to Invesco Field at Mile High for a Broncos football game, Denver is a wonderful place to be a kid. Also among the country's safest big cities, Denver has 300 days of annual sunshine, eight different professional sports franchises, and countless opportunities for fishing, white-water rafting, and horseback riding.
Plano, Texas
With 7,000 faculty and staff members serving 55,000 students in this Texas community, the Plano Independent School District has achieved national recognition for its strength. The Department of Education has handed 24 of its schools National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence awards, and 99 of its seniors were named semifinalists in the 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program. "We have a wonderful park system here in our community that has always been very much focused on youth sports, whether it is soccer or baseball or basketball," says Mayor Phil Dyer. Meanwhile, the community's less costly lifestyle—median home prices are just $213,900—means there should be enough cash left in the budget for the 50-minute trip to Arlington, Texas, for a Dallas Cowboys game.
Edison, N.J.
Working parents in Edison, N.J., can take advantage of the township's expansive after-school programs, which expose youngsters to a host of activities, including magic, piano, cooking, and arts and crafts. More than 30 area parks have facilities for tennis, basketball, soccer, and other sports. At the same time, this community of about 100,000 also offers organized youth leagues for everything from softball to lacrosse.
If you could create the ideal community to raise a child in, what ingredients would you include? First off, you'd probably want a low crime rate.
A strong school system would also be key. From there, you'd need lots of other children, expansive green spaces to play in, and plenty of nearby family events. Toss in an abundance of artistic and recreational activities, and all of a sudden you've got one heck of a place to grow up. At U.S. News, we wanted to find out if any communities like that already existed—and if so, where they were located. So we dug into our database of 2,000 different places all across the country and pinpointed the locales that met these criteria. We then examined these communities more closely to determine which places offered the best combination of safe neighborhoods, fun activities, and top-notch educators. Our selections appear below, in our list of America's 10 Best Places to Grow Up:
Virginia Beach, Va.
Junior adventurers will love Virginia Beach, Va. This community of 434,000 residents in the southeastern part of the state has a low crime rate, a solid school system, and 35 miles of majestic beaches on the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. "It's kind of neat to be able to come home from work, make a call to my wife or son, grab a bucket of chicken or some sandwiches, and then go out on the bay and have dinner," says Greg Ward, who works for a marketing firm that represents the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Children can explore an impressive ecosystem of threatened and endangered species—including bald eagles and loggerhead sea turtles—in the 9,000-acre Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The warm summers and mild winters provide plenty of opportunities to hike, bike, and picnic your way through the 19 miles of scenic trails over at First Landing State Park. And after checking out the sand tiger sharks and the cow-nose rays at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center, children can catch an educational picture in its 3-D IMAX theater.
And in early September, the community is launching an online resource—VBparents.com—designed to keep parents plugged in to local health and school news, while ensuring that they are up-to-date on all of the community activities available to their kids. "There are lots of great parenting resources out there. This one is going to be specific to raising your child and your family within the city of Virginia Beach," says Jenefer Snyder, city of Virginia Beach GrowSmart coordinator. "We are constantly going to be connecting it back to community services, activities, events, programs, and classes."
Madison, Ala.
Of the roughly 43,000 residents in the friendly, churchgoing town of Madison, Ala., about 12,000 are under 18 years old. And this bedroom community of Huntsville, Ala., offers no shortage of outlets to keep these young folks active. "There is an event almost every weekend—whether it is in Madison, Huntsville, or Madison County—that families can attend," says Paul Finley, the mayor of Madison. Children can take advantage of the area's expansive outdoor amenities: watching beavers plunge into Bradford Creek or rabbits dart through the 130-acre Rainbow Mountain Trails park. And if they behave well enough, perhaps some lucky children can even persuade their mom and dad to send them to Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in nearby Huntsville.
Overland Park, Kan.
Just 12 miles outside of Kansas City, Mo., is the lovely community of Overland Park, Kan. This family-friendly suburb in America's heartland has a four-season climate and is opening a 12-field, artificially turfed, fully lit soccer complex in the late summer. "Soccer is a big sport in this community," says Mayor Carl Gerlach. Meanwhile, at the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead, kids can visit nearly 200 farm animals, toss a bobber into a fishing pond, or take a ride in a horse-drawn wagon. The 17-mile-long Indian Creek Trail makes for a great bike ride. At the same time, sports fans are only a short car ride away from a Kansas City Chiefs football game or a Kansas City Royals baseball game. In addition, "we have three different school districts in Overland Park," Gerlach says. "All three have been nationally ranked and won awards."
San Jose, Calif.
With 9 square miles of green spaces, 300 days of sunshine a year, and four different professional sports franchises to follow, San Jose, Calif., has everything you need for a happy childhood. At just over 1 million residents, San Jose considers itself the capital of Silicon Valley, but it doesn't take a computer scientist to understand the city's appeal to kids. San Jose is the country's safest big city, and although it's certainly expensive—the median home price is $449,000—the city offers all sorts of great activities for children. Rather than chasing its skateboarders away, San Jose has embraced them by opening six public skateboarding parks, including Lake Cunningham Regional Skate Park, the largest one in the state. And at the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, children can experience everything from theater to gardening.
Boston
With an exciting history and a boatload of activities, Boston is a great option for parents looking to raise children in a big city. Kids will marvel at the African penguins in the New England Aquarium, gawk at the humpback whales on a whale-watching tour, and erupt as the Red Sox take the field at beautiful Fenway Park. At the same time, Boston is one of the safest large cities in the country.
Rochester, Minn.
With about 100,000 residents, the safe, friendly city of Rochester, Minn., has enough activities to tire out even the most energetic youngsters: 85 miles of trails for in-line skating, 3,200 acres of public parks for touch football, and 56 different playgrounds. "It's a huge sports town," says Brad Jones, executive director of the Rochester Convention and Visitors Bureau. Fortunately, the area's big sport—hockey—is well-suited for Rochester's chilly winters. "We [also] have two hockey complexes, one with four rinks under one roof and the other with two," Jones says. "We have the National Volleyball Center located here, and it's always hopping with volleyball tournaments and trainings."
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
It would be tough to find a safer community than Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where the crime index is about a fifth of the national average. And with a solid school system, plenty of fun activities, and affordable housing costs, this eastern Iowa city can keep your kids happy without emptying your wallet. Tim Boyle, the executive director of the Cedar Rapids Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, says the city's manageable size—it has just 123,000 residents—allows its young people to get involved in a variety of different activities. "The thing that I like about Cedar Rapids is you could end up with a junior or senior in high school who is an offensive tackle on the football team and has the lead in the spring musical," Boyle says. In addition to a strong music program in its public schools, the area has more than 50 public tennis courts, more than 75 parks, 23 sand volleyball courts, and even a BMX dirt track. During the winters, which can get extremely cold, children can remain active on three indoor soccer fields and five ice-skating rinks.
Denver
Whether they prefer snowboarding in the Rocky Mountains, biking through America's largest city park system, or heading over to Invesco Field at Mile High for a Broncos football game, Denver is a wonderful place to be a kid. Also among the country's safest big cities, Denver has 300 days of annual sunshine, eight different professional sports franchises, and countless opportunities for fishing, white-water rafting, and horseback riding.
Plano, Texas
With 7,000 faculty and staff members serving 55,000 students in this Texas community, the Plano Independent School District has achieved national recognition for its strength. The Department of Education has handed 24 of its schools National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence awards, and 99 of its seniors were named semifinalists in the 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program. "We have a wonderful park system here in our community that has always been very much focused on youth sports, whether it is soccer or baseball or basketball," says Mayor Phil Dyer. Meanwhile, the community's less costly lifestyle—median home prices are just $213,900—means there should be enough cash left in the budget for the 50-minute trip to Arlington, Texas, for a Dallas Cowboys game.
Edison, N.J.
Working parents in Edison, N.J., can take advantage of the township's expansive after-school programs, which expose youngsters to a host of activities, including magic, piano, cooking, and arts and crafts. More than 30 area parks have facilities for tennis, basketball, soccer, and other sports. At the same time, this community of about 100,000 also offers organized youth leagues for everything from softball to lacrosse.
4 Lies that Can Cost You Your Job
When Mark N. was approached by one of his company’s vendors, the Information Technology professional had no idea that secretly taking on a client in his spare time would cost him his job. Sure seems obvious after the fact, but Mark is not alone.
Lisa F. shares his pain, but from a managerial perspective. “I know when a woman lies about being sick, just by looking at her hands and toes.” For the senior level new media executive, the giveaway is newly polished nails. “You cannot imagine how many women come in after a sick day with a fresh manicure or pedicure,” she observes.
Every day individuals fib, lie and embellish their way through the work day, not realizing that there are repercussions. The consequences may not always be as severe as termination, but it can be a reduction in bonus, a permanent mark on your record or a poor score on your yearly review, not to mention the damage done to your reputation among fellow colleagues. What follows are 4 frequent fibs that every single should avoid in the workplace.
Pulling the Healthy Sick Card
If you call in sick when you’re feeling perfectly fine you better be smart about it. Taking off one too many hangover Fridays, or regularly turning the day before calendared holiday 3 day weekends into your personal 4 day long weekends, will no doubt cause suspicious minds. So come clean to your supervisor and ask that these be reported as vacation days, or try to schedule your healthy sick days on less conspicuous days during the week.
The Faux Appointment/Emergency
Leaving work under false medical or other emergent pretenses is asking for trouble. Take it from Kristine who played hooky to get prepped for a date and was spotted getting her hair blown out at the salon by one of her co-workers. All it takes is one sighting or slip and you can lose your credibility, especially when medical or family issues are used as an excuse.
Pointing the Finger
When people’s jobs and egos are at stake, blaming others when you’re at fault can lead to war in the workplace. Remember, it’s a politics game and you’ll lose if you try to dodge the bullet by feigning innocence. Folks, the only way to keep allies and integrity intact is to play fair and take ownership of your conduct and work in good times and in bad.
Fudging Hours & Fudging Expenses
Working to make sure you get in those all those billable hours is seriously stressful. You may hit your targets by rounding up to the nearest hour but don’t press your luck. This is a serious offense, and companies’ billings are increasingly being examined by their clients and their clients’ audit units or accountants. If you’re a certified professional, lying here may not cost you just a client, but your license.
Lisa F. shares his pain, but from a managerial perspective. “I know when a woman lies about being sick, just by looking at her hands and toes.” For the senior level new media executive, the giveaway is newly polished nails. “You cannot imagine how many women come in after a sick day with a fresh manicure or pedicure,” she observes.
Every day individuals fib, lie and embellish their way through the work day, not realizing that there are repercussions. The consequences may not always be as severe as termination, but it can be a reduction in bonus, a permanent mark on your record or a poor score on your yearly review, not to mention the damage done to your reputation among fellow colleagues. What follows are 4 frequent fibs that every single should avoid in the workplace.
Pulling the Healthy Sick Card
If you call in sick when you’re feeling perfectly fine you better be smart about it. Taking off one too many hangover Fridays, or regularly turning the day before calendared holiday 3 day weekends into your personal 4 day long weekends, will no doubt cause suspicious minds. So come clean to your supervisor and ask that these be reported as vacation days, or try to schedule your healthy sick days on less conspicuous days during the week.
The Faux Appointment/Emergency
Leaving work under false medical or other emergent pretenses is asking for trouble. Take it from Kristine who played hooky to get prepped for a date and was spotted getting her hair blown out at the salon by one of her co-workers. All it takes is one sighting or slip and you can lose your credibility, especially when medical or family issues are used as an excuse.
Pointing the Finger
When people’s jobs and egos are at stake, blaming others when you’re at fault can lead to war in the workplace. Remember, it’s a politics game and you’ll lose if you try to dodge the bullet by feigning innocence. Folks, the only way to keep allies and integrity intact is to play fair and take ownership of your conduct and work in good times and in bad.
Fudging Hours & Fudging Expenses
Working to make sure you get in those all those billable hours is seriously stressful. You may hit your targets by rounding up to the nearest hour but don’t press your luck. This is a serious offense, and companies’ billings are increasingly being examined by their clients and their clients’ audit units or accountants. If you’re a certified professional, lying here may not cost you just a client, but your license.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Explota iPhone en la cara de un joven
El adolescente recibió heridas leve en un ojo
Un adolescente de Francia sufrió una herida leve en su ojo luego de explotarle su iPhone en la cara.
El joven francés aseguró que en el momento del incidente tenÃa el teléfono celular a "30 centÃmetros de mi cara cuando sentà como un grano de arena en el ojo".
El móvil produjo sonidos continuados y rápidos, luego la pantalla de vidrio se cuarteó y explotó, por lo que arrojó pequeños fragmentos que se incrustaron en la cara del joven, de acuerdo con la página de internet informativostelecinco.com.
El adolescente asegura que el teléfono no estaba excesivamente caliente antes de explotar.
Hace unos dÃas un británico también denunció que el famoso móvil de Apple que compró a su hija explotó tras recalentarse. Reportó un periódico británico online.
Luego de hablar con varios departamentos, consiguió hablar con un ejecutivo de la compañÃa. Tras esta conversación, recibió una carta de Apple negando toda responsabilidad pero ofreciendo una compensación.
En 2007, una situación similar se presentó con las baterÃas de las computadoras Macbook, cuando varias computadoras portátiles reportaron sobrecalentamiento e incendio reportado por varios usuarios de internet, en blogs especializados sobre el tema.
Un adolescente de Francia sufrió una herida leve en su ojo luego de explotarle su iPhone en la cara.
El joven francés aseguró que en el momento del incidente tenÃa el teléfono celular a "30 centÃmetros de mi cara cuando sentà como un grano de arena en el ojo".
El móvil produjo sonidos continuados y rápidos, luego la pantalla de vidrio se cuarteó y explotó, por lo que arrojó pequeños fragmentos que se incrustaron en la cara del joven, de acuerdo con la página de internet informativostelecinco.com.
El adolescente asegura que el teléfono no estaba excesivamente caliente antes de explotar.
Hace unos dÃas un británico también denunció que el famoso móvil de Apple que compró a su hija explotó tras recalentarse. Reportó un periódico británico online.
Luego de hablar con varios departamentos, consiguió hablar con un ejecutivo de la compañÃa. Tras esta conversación, recibió una carta de Apple negando toda responsabilidad pero ofreciendo una compensación.
En 2007, una situación similar se presentó con las baterÃas de las computadoras Macbook, cuando varias computadoras portátiles reportaron sobrecalentamiento e incendio reportado por varios usuarios de internet, en blogs especializados sobre el tema.
Tropical Storm Bill forms as Ana races west
MIAMI – The government of the Netherland Antilles issued a tropical storm watch for St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius on Saturday as Ana raced west through the Atlantic.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Bill, the second named storm of the Atlantic season, formed further to the east and forecasters said they expected it to strengthen.
The National Hurricane Center said Saturday evening that Ana had maximum sustained winds near 40 mph and was moving west near 17 mph. It was about 730 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands.
The Hurricane Center said residents there and in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico should monitor Ana's progress. The tropical storm watch for the Netherland Antilles meant tropical storm conditions were possible, probably within 36 hours.
Tropical Storm Bill also had maximum sustained winds near 40 mph and was moving west near 16 mph. It was expected to get stronger within the next day or so and was about 820 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Guillermo was still swirling in the open Pacific but had weakened to a Category 2 storm with winds near 110 mph. Guillermo was expected to weaken further as it headed over cooler waters. It was moving west-northwest near 14 mph and was about 1,605 miles west of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Bill, the second named storm of the Atlantic season, formed further to the east and forecasters said they expected it to strengthen.
The National Hurricane Center said Saturday evening that Ana had maximum sustained winds near 40 mph and was moving west near 17 mph. It was about 730 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands.
The Hurricane Center said residents there and in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico should monitor Ana's progress. The tropical storm watch for the Netherland Antilles meant tropical storm conditions were possible, probably within 36 hours.
Tropical Storm Bill also had maximum sustained winds near 40 mph and was moving west near 16 mph. It was expected to get stronger within the next day or so and was about 820 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Guillermo was still swirling in the open Pacific but had weakened to a Category 2 storm with winds near 110 mph. Guillermo was expected to weaken further as it headed over cooler waters. It was moving west-northwest near 14 mph and was about 1,605 miles west of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.
Tropical Storm Claudette threatens Fla. Panhandle
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. – Brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Claudette was bringing heavy rain to the Florida Panhandle Sunday, likely becoming the first tropical storm to strike the U.S. mainland this year.
Claudette had winds of at least 50 mph, but was not expected to cause significant flooding or wind damage. Lurking more ominously was Tropical Storm Bill, which was quickly turning into a powerful storm over warm waters in the open Atlantic with sustained winds of 65 mph. Ana, a tropical storm that had also been churning in the Atlantic, had weakened to a depression.
Heavy rain began in the afternoon in Pensacola as Claudette approached. On Pensacola Beach, the National Park Service closed low-lying roads that connect the restaurants and hotels to the undeveloped National Seashore and historic Fort Pickens Fort.
The Park Service said campers would be ordered to leave the area because of the likelihood of the road flooding.
In Panama City, the Bay County Emergency Operations Center opened a shelter at a local high school for residents of low-lying areas and people with special needs.
Earlier along Pensacola Beach, surfers under gray skies enjoyed the waves and tourists mingled on the beach, despite a tropical storm warning covering most of the Panhandle, from the Alabama state line to the Suwanee River more than 300 miles to the east.
Miguel Gonzalez, on vacation from North Carolina, was unconcerned about the storm as he readied his children for day on Pensacola Beach. But he said his family would head in when the rain started.
"We will just stay out there for an hour or so, take a few pictures and then leave," he said.
Rainfall of 3 to 5 inches was expected, with isolated areas getting up to 10 inches, forecasters said.
"We may see some heavy rains as a result, but we don't expect any high winds or coastal flooding," said John Dosh, manager of Emergency Management. "This event is a good example of how quickly a tropical storm can develop. We won't always have a lot of warning. This is why citizens need to be prepared throughout hurricane season."
Pensacola Beach is still recovering from Hurricane Ivan, which devastated the western Florida Panhandle and parts of Alabama in 2004.
At 5 p.m. EDT, Claudette was about 40 miles west-southwest of Apalachicola and moving northwest near 14 mph. Its center was expected to reach the northern Gulf Coast by Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, Ana's winds had diminished to 35 mph and was expected to make landfall at the Leeward Islands early Monday. Watches were posted for Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Antigua, St. Maarten and several other islands in the area. Ana was forecast to bring 2 to 4 inches of rain.
Tropical Storm Bill, however, was intensifying far from land in the open Atlantic, and could become a hurricane late Sunday or on Monday.
In the Pacific, Hurricane Guillermo had winds that had dropped to 85 mph, and it was expected to lose steam in the next day. Guillermo was moving west at 14 mph, about 995 miles east of Hilo, Hawaii, and didn't threaten any land.
Despite the storms, a warmer weather pattern called El Nino over the Pacific Ocean is generally expected to damper the formation of tropical storms in the Caribbean and Atlantic this year, said Brian Daly, a meteorologist with the national weather service in Mobile, Ala.
"It's pretty frequent that an El Nino year would be somewhat delayed with fewer storms," Daly said.
Forecasters revised their Atlantic hurricane season predictions after the first two months of the season passed without any named storms developing.
Claudette had winds of at least 50 mph, but was not expected to cause significant flooding or wind damage. Lurking more ominously was Tropical Storm Bill, which was quickly turning into a powerful storm over warm waters in the open Atlantic with sustained winds of 65 mph. Ana, a tropical storm that had also been churning in the Atlantic, had weakened to a depression.
Heavy rain began in the afternoon in Pensacola as Claudette approached. On Pensacola Beach, the National Park Service closed low-lying roads that connect the restaurants and hotels to the undeveloped National Seashore and historic Fort Pickens Fort.
The Park Service said campers would be ordered to leave the area because of the likelihood of the road flooding.
In Panama City, the Bay County Emergency Operations Center opened a shelter at a local high school for residents of low-lying areas and people with special needs.
Earlier along Pensacola Beach, surfers under gray skies enjoyed the waves and tourists mingled on the beach, despite a tropical storm warning covering most of the Panhandle, from the Alabama state line to the Suwanee River more than 300 miles to the east.
Miguel Gonzalez, on vacation from North Carolina, was unconcerned about the storm as he readied his children for day on Pensacola Beach. But he said his family would head in when the rain started.
"We will just stay out there for an hour or so, take a few pictures and then leave," he said.
Rainfall of 3 to 5 inches was expected, with isolated areas getting up to 10 inches, forecasters said.
"We may see some heavy rains as a result, but we don't expect any high winds or coastal flooding," said John Dosh, manager of Emergency Management. "This event is a good example of how quickly a tropical storm can develop. We won't always have a lot of warning. This is why citizens need to be prepared throughout hurricane season."
Pensacola Beach is still recovering from Hurricane Ivan, which devastated the western Florida Panhandle and parts of Alabama in 2004.
At 5 p.m. EDT, Claudette was about 40 miles west-southwest of Apalachicola and moving northwest near 14 mph. Its center was expected to reach the northern Gulf Coast by Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, Ana's winds had diminished to 35 mph and was expected to make landfall at the Leeward Islands early Monday. Watches were posted for Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Antigua, St. Maarten and several other islands in the area. Ana was forecast to bring 2 to 4 inches of rain.
Tropical Storm Bill, however, was intensifying far from land in the open Atlantic, and could become a hurricane late Sunday or on Monday.
In the Pacific, Hurricane Guillermo had winds that had dropped to 85 mph, and it was expected to lose steam in the next day. Guillermo was moving west at 14 mph, about 995 miles east of Hilo, Hawaii, and didn't threaten any land.
Despite the storms, a warmer weather pattern called El Nino over the Pacific Ocean is generally expected to damper the formation of tropical storms in the Caribbean and Atlantic this year, said Brian Daly, a meteorologist with the national weather service in Mobile, Ala.
"It's pretty frequent that an El Nino year would be somewhat delayed with fewer storms," Daly said.
Forecasters revised their Atlantic hurricane season predictions after the first two months of the season passed without any named storms developing.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Questions Surround Chevy Volt Fuel Economy Claim
General Motors jolted the automotive world yesterday by announcing that its upcoming electric-drive Chevy Volt will earn an EPA city mileage rating of 230 mpg. It's an astounding claim - one that would make the Volt more than four times as efficient as the Toyota Prius. And yet, even the federal government says it can't back up GM's math.
What's going on here?
The Volt is one of several so-called Extended-Range Electric Vehicles, or EREVs, in development. An EREV functions as an electric car until its batteries are depleted to a certain level; then it starts a small gasoline engine. That engine, however, doesn't drive the wheels - it merely acts as a generator to recharge the batteries. The Volt, GM says, can travel about 40 miles at any speed before its onboard generator kicks in.
That number is significant, because Department of Transportation figures show that most Americans drive less than 40 miles per day. For most of us, owning a Chevy Volt could mean rarely ever using gasoline.
That possibility, however, makes measuring the car's predicted fuel economy a tricky process.
To attempt to solve that problem, the EPA has been developing a new testing process for EREVs. But they haven't finalized the process - and GM may have been premature in using it to arrive at their jaw-dropping number.
The EPA, in fact, won't back up GM's number. Instead, the agency released a statement reading, "EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM," though they added, "EPA does applaud GM's commitment to designing and building the car of the future."
The EPA's tentative EREV testing process won't actually measure gasoline usage. Instead, it rates vehicles in kilowatt hours per 100 miles, then converts that measurement to miles per gallon. Effectively, the testing procedure doesn't give an mpg rating. It merely shows that a vehicle will use energy that equates to a certain mpg rating.
To illustrate this point, Nissan quickly followed GM's announcement with its own, claiming the upcoming 2010 Nissan Leaf electric car will earn a 367 mpg EPA rating. The rules, it seems, can generate a miles-per-gallon rating for a car that doesn't even use gasoline.
So what kind of mileage can a Volt driver actually expect?
That depends entirely on how much they drive. GM claims the Volt has a 300-mile range after the gasoline engine ignites, but the company hasn't released what the size of the Volt's gas tank will be. Engineers have said it could be as small as 8.5 gallons - and 300 miles on 8.5 gallons means the car might be no more efficient than 35 mpg.
Your mileage, then, will vary greatly based on how far you drive. For 40 miles, the Volt uses no gas. After that, it's probably going to net about 35 mpg. So if you commute 40 miles or less per day, you could expect an infinite number of miles per gallon. For every mile you drive over 40, the number drops precipitously, stabilizing at around 35 mpg as the needle drifts toward empty.
But that explanation is a mouthful, and not nearly as easy to market as 230 mpg.
What's going on here?
The Volt is one of several so-called Extended-Range Electric Vehicles, or EREVs, in development. An EREV functions as an electric car until its batteries are depleted to a certain level; then it starts a small gasoline engine. That engine, however, doesn't drive the wheels - it merely acts as a generator to recharge the batteries. The Volt, GM says, can travel about 40 miles at any speed before its onboard generator kicks in.
That number is significant, because Department of Transportation figures show that most Americans drive less than 40 miles per day. For most of us, owning a Chevy Volt could mean rarely ever using gasoline.
That possibility, however, makes measuring the car's predicted fuel economy a tricky process.
To attempt to solve that problem, the EPA has been developing a new testing process for EREVs. But they haven't finalized the process - and GM may have been premature in using it to arrive at their jaw-dropping number.
The EPA, in fact, won't back up GM's number. Instead, the agency released a statement reading, "EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM," though they added, "EPA does applaud GM's commitment to designing and building the car of the future."
The EPA's tentative EREV testing process won't actually measure gasoline usage. Instead, it rates vehicles in kilowatt hours per 100 miles, then converts that measurement to miles per gallon. Effectively, the testing procedure doesn't give an mpg rating. It merely shows that a vehicle will use energy that equates to a certain mpg rating.
To illustrate this point, Nissan quickly followed GM's announcement with its own, claiming the upcoming 2010 Nissan Leaf electric car will earn a 367 mpg EPA rating. The rules, it seems, can generate a miles-per-gallon rating for a car that doesn't even use gasoline.
So what kind of mileage can a Volt driver actually expect?
That depends entirely on how much they drive. GM claims the Volt has a 300-mile range after the gasoline engine ignites, but the company hasn't released what the size of the Volt's gas tank will be. Engineers have said it could be as small as 8.5 gallons - and 300 miles on 8.5 gallons means the car might be no more efficient than 35 mpg.
Your mileage, then, will vary greatly based on how far you drive. For 40 miles, the Volt uses no gas. After that, it's probably going to net about 35 mpg. So if you commute 40 miles or less per day, you could expect an infinite number of miles per gallon. For every mile you drive over 40, the number drops precipitously, stabilizing at around 35 mpg as the needle drifts toward empty.
But that explanation is a mouthful, and not nearly as easy to market as 230 mpg.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Mexico beats US 2-1 in qualifier
MEXICO CITY(AP) —Miguel Sabah scored in the 82nd minute, lifting Mexico to a 2-1 victory over the United States in a World Cup qualifier Wednesday.
The win strengthened Mexico’s chances of reaching next year’s World Cup in South Africa. The Mexicans entered the game fourth in CONCACAF qualifying, with only the top three teams automatically advancing. Mexico now has nine points.
Sabah, a substitute, was all alone in front of the net when he beat goalkeeper Tim Howard, bringing Mexico’s home record against the Americans to 23-0-1. The United States entered the game second in qualifying behind Costa Rica with 10 points and took its first lead at Azteca on Charlie Davies’ goal in the 9th minute.
Israel Castro tied it 10 minutes later.
The win strengthened Mexico’s chances of reaching next year’s World Cup in South Africa. The Mexicans entered the game fourth in CONCACAF qualifying, with only the top three teams automatically advancing. Mexico now has nine points.
Sabah, a substitute, was all alone in front of the net when he beat goalkeeper Tim Howard, bringing Mexico’s home record against the Americans to 23-0-1. The United States entered the game second in qualifying behind Costa Rica with 10 points and took its first lead at Azteca on Charlie Davies’ goal in the 9th minute.
Israel Castro tied it 10 minutes later.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Website of the Day: Get Rid of Things
I was sitting on my couch the other day and found myself staring at my bookshelf. Although some of you may think you can never have enough books, the truth is, I have more than enough books. In fact, I started cleaning out said bookshelf and have now narrowed down my library to just about half the amount of novels, instruction manuals, and reference titles than when I started. But the only problem? What the heck do I do with all these books that are now living in a box in the middle of my apartment?
According to Get Rid of Things I could use the paper for scrapbooking, paper maché, or I could even dye my own paper for crafts if I wanted to. Sure, I could sell the books online (if I had the time), but this sounds way more fun. And that's the cool thing about Get Rid of Things — it doesn't just state the obvious ways you can get rid of unwanted books, but you'll find useful tidbits on how to get rid of cellulite, weird smells, and your husband. Just please read that last one with caution.
According to Get Rid of Things I could use the paper for scrapbooking, paper maché, or I could even dye my own paper for crafts if I wanted to. Sure, I could sell the books online (if I had the time), but this sounds way more fun. And that's the cool thing about Get Rid of Things — it doesn't just state the obvious ways you can get rid of unwanted books, but you'll find useful tidbits on how to get rid of cellulite, weird smells, and your husband. Just please read that last one with caution.
Do Tell: What's the Strangest Place You Ever Met Someone?
Now that we've all dished about how our parents met, I've been trying to think of the craziest places I've met men I've dated. Then I realized, all of mine are pretty boring: the dorm, the gym, the office, weddings, bars . . . ho hum.
But I do have friends with great stories, including a guy who got a girl's number through a car window while riding across the Golden Gate Bridge (thankfully, he wasn't driving). So I'm hoping you guys have some more interesting stories about the weirder places you've met your mates and dates. What's the most unusual place you've met a potential love interest?
A science-fiction convention. It was my first one, and he was the celebrity they'd flown in to host it. We ended up getting married.
I've met men in many different places -- outside a courtroom (an attorney), in a doctor's office (yes, the doctor), in a grocery aisle, when I was driving (another driver), etc. They were all unexpected places where I met someone, and received an offer. I declined most of them, as I was either attached or married at the time.
my first summer home from college, I met a boy who I ended up dating for the rest of the summer (cue "Grease" soundtrack) at one of his classmate's "Getting Out of Juvie" Party. no lie. my boy was not in juvie but it was still a really hilarious pretense.
I met my current boyfriend at a keg Smiling and my ex boyfriend while working on a homecoming float.
I once had a guy rear end me at a red light so he could get my number (he was definitely cute and he didn't damage my car but for a few scratches which he paid to have buffed out).
At Chuck-e-Cheese with my little brother. The guy was playing with the basketball game, and lost one of the balls...I tossed it back to him and he made a semi-crude remark about it. Nothing came of it, I'm in a committed long term relationship, and it was kind of creepy.
Weird thing was, a few months later when I brought my brother to school, the guy was there with his two daughters..turns out they're classmates. Talk about awkward..
"I once had a guy rear end me at a red light so he could get my number (he was definitely cute and he didn't damage my car but for a few scratches which he paid to have buffed out)."
OMG, that happened to me, too! I was pissed at the time, so of course, I turned him down. Also, I was married. But I would have rejected him anyways, even if I was unmarried and available. I was so mad.
i was at a gay bar on Halloween last year with my tranny friends. i somehow got to talking to the guy next to me who was straight but there with his gay brother.
But I do have friends with great stories, including a guy who got a girl's number through a car window while riding across the Golden Gate Bridge (thankfully, he wasn't driving). So I'm hoping you guys have some more interesting stories about the weirder places you've met your mates and dates. What's the most unusual place you've met a potential love interest?
A science-fiction convention. It was my first one, and he was the celebrity they'd flown in to host it. We ended up getting married.
I've met men in many different places -- outside a courtroom (an attorney), in a doctor's office (yes, the doctor), in a grocery aisle, when I was driving (another driver), etc. They were all unexpected places where I met someone, and received an offer. I declined most of them, as I was either attached or married at the time.
my first summer home from college, I met a boy who I ended up dating for the rest of the summer (cue "Grease" soundtrack) at one of his classmate's "Getting Out of Juvie" Party. no lie. my boy was not in juvie but it was still a really hilarious pretense.
I met my current boyfriend at a keg Smiling and my ex boyfriend while working on a homecoming float.
I once had a guy rear end me at a red light so he could get my number (he was definitely cute and he didn't damage my car but for a few scratches which he paid to have buffed out).
At Chuck-e-Cheese with my little brother. The guy was playing with the basketball game, and lost one of the balls...I tossed it back to him and he made a semi-crude remark about it. Nothing came of it, I'm in a committed long term relationship, and it was kind of creepy.
Weird thing was, a few months later when I brought my brother to school, the guy was there with his two daughters..turns out they're classmates. Talk about awkward..
"I once had a guy rear end me at a red light so he could get my number (he was definitely cute and he didn't damage my car but for a few scratches which he paid to have buffed out)."
OMG, that happened to me, too! I was pissed at the time, so of course, I turned him down. Also, I was married. But I would have rejected him anyways, even if I was unmarried and available. I was so mad.
i was at a gay bar on Halloween last year with my tranny friends. i somehow got to talking to the guy next to me who was straight but there with his gay brother.
OMG! 1 in 10 Teens Post Nude Pics Online
A study has uncovered a shocking predictable reality: teenagers do stupid things! The new survey results out yesterday from Common Sense Media reveal that one in 10 teens have posted a nude or seminude photo of themselves or someone else online. And thanks to technology, these teens will be stuck with their mistakes well past their carefree youth.
Just like a crazy tattoo you get when you're young, the images teens post online can stay with them forever. "Deleting" a photo will never get rid of the embarrassing pic completely, so when these kids get older, they'll never know what a curious future employer or college admissions officer will come across.
I guess these oversharing teens just have to hope that the people deciding their futures also have embarrassing photos of themselves floating around on the Internet. And judging by this survey, it won't be long until many do . . . we just have to wait for today's teens to grow up and become the employers and admissions officers!
Just like a crazy tattoo you get when you're young, the images teens post online can stay with them forever. "Deleting" a photo will never get rid of the embarrassing pic completely, so when these kids get older, they'll never know what a curious future employer or college admissions officer will come across.
I guess these oversharing teens just have to hope that the people deciding their futures also have embarrassing photos of themselves floating around on the Internet. And judging by this survey, it won't be long until many do . . . we just have to wait for today's teens to grow up and become the employers and admissions officers!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Woods to be fined for criticism of rules official
CHASKA, Minn. (AP)—Tiger Woods will be fined by the PGA Tour for his public criticism of a rules official after winning the Bridgestone Invitational, a tour official said Monday.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the tour does not publicize fines.
Woods was bothered after his four-shot victory Sunday because he and Padraig Harrington were put on the clock at the par-5 16th. He said that caused Harrington to rush three difficult shots, leading to triple bogey.
European Tour chief referee John Paramor told Woods and Harrington they were being timed.
Woods said he told Harrington after it was over, “I’m sorry that John got in the way of a great battle.”
Paramor said the final pairing was well behind most of the back nine, but officials gave them time to catch up. They were still 17 minutes out of position on the 16th tee, when they were put on the clock.
Woods hooked his tee shot, punched out to 178 yards and hit an 8-iron that stopped a foot from the hole for birdie. From the right trees, Harrington hit a 5-iron to the edge of a bunker, went over the green, then hit a flop shot too hard and into the water. The four-shot swing took the drama from one of the most compelling final rounds of the year.
“I don’t think that Paddy would have hit the pitch shot that way if he was able to take his time, look at it, analyze it,” Woods said. “But he was on the clock, had to get up there quickly and hit it.”
Harrington conceded he was rushed, although he said it would be unfair to give the final group preferential treatment.
Section VI-D in the PGA Tour’s player handbook says, “It is an obligation of membership to refrain from comments to the news media that unreasonably attack or disparage tournaments, sponsors, fellow members, players, or PGA Tour.”
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the tour does not publicize fines.
Woods was bothered after his four-shot victory Sunday because he and Padraig Harrington were put on the clock at the par-5 16th. He said that caused Harrington to rush three difficult shots, leading to triple bogey.
European Tour chief referee John Paramor told Woods and Harrington they were being timed.
Woods said he told Harrington after it was over, “I’m sorry that John got in the way of a great battle.”
Paramor said the final pairing was well behind most of the back nine, but officials gave them time to catch up. They were still 17 minutes out of position on the 16th tee, when they were put on the clock.
Woods hooked his tee shot, punched out to 178 yards and hit an 8-iron that stopped a foot from the hole for birdie. From the right trees, Harrington hit a 5-iron to the edge of a bunker, went over the green, then hit a flop shot too hard and into the water. The four-shot swing took the drama from one of the most compelling final rounds of the year.
“I don’t think that Paddy would have hit the pitch shot that way if he was able to take his time, look at it, analyze it,” Woods said. “But he was on the clock, had to get up there quickly and hit it.”
Harrington conceded he was rushed, although he said it would be unfair to give the final group preferential treatment.
Section VI-D in the PGA Tour’s player handbook says, “It is an obligation of membership to refrain from comments to the news media that unreasonably attack or disparage tournaments, sponsors, fellow members, players, or PGA Tour.”
U.S. recession seen ending in third quarter
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression will probably end in the third quarter, but uncertainty exists over the speed and duration of the economic recovery, according to the most recent survey of private economists.
The Blue Chip Economic Indicators survey of private economists released on Monday showed about 90 percent of the respondents surveyed believe the economic downturn will be declared to have ended this quarter.
This upbeat assessment followed recent government data showing gross domestic product (GDP) contracted at a shallow 1.0 percent rate in the second quarter after sinking 6.4 percent in the January-March quarter.
Recent data, including housing and key labor market indicators, have suggested a bottoming in the recession and the economy close to turning the corner. The economy slipped into recession in December 2007.
The Blue Chip survey's findings are broadly in line with a Reuters poll published last month, which predicted growth in the third quarter, though a brisk pace of expansion was not expected until late 2010.
"Debate now centers on the speed, strength and durability of the recovery," the survey said.
It showed nearly two-thirds of respondents believed the economy was set for a U-shaped recovery, marked by below-trend growth in gross domestic product before stronger growth took hold in the second half of 2010.
About 17 percent of the respondents anticipated a V-shaped rebound, where growth pulled back to its trend rate on a sustained basis, while the same percentage fretted that a W-shaped recovery could follow, the survey showed.
"In their view, GDP growth will pop higher for a quarter or two only to falter again before a lasting recovery takes hold," the survey said.
HIGHER GDP GROWTH
Growth in the second half was expected to garner support from a reduction in the pace of business inventory liquidation, marginal improvements in consumer spending and residential investment. The survey predicted that non-residential investment, however, would remain a drag on GDP.
Despite the improved economic picture, unemployment was expected to remain a problem, with the jobless rate predicted to peak at just over 10 percent late this year or early 2010, the survey showed. It was seen falling only slowly thereafter.
Government data on Friday showed the unemployment rate nudged down to 9.4 percent in July from 9.5 percent in June, but mostly because many people dropped out of the labor force.
"About 70 percent of the panelists believe the jobless rate will not dip below 7.0 percent on a sustained basis until the second half of 2012 or later," the survey said.
However, job losses could fade late this year or early 2010 and payrolls start to expand as companies rebuild inventories, which should lengthen the workweek, according to the survey.
The weak labor market, together with excess capacity in many business sectors were seen dampening inflation pressures.
"Consumer price inflation, excluding food and energy costs, will increase by slightly less in 2010 than in 2009," the survey said.
The Blue Chip Economic Indicators survey of private economists released on Monday showed about 90 percent of the respondents surveyed believe the economic downturn will be declared to have ended this quarter.
This upbeat assessment followed recent government data showing gross domestic product (GDP) contracted at a shallow 1.0 percent rate in the second quarter after sinking 6.4 percent in the January-March quarter.
Recent data, including housing and key labor market indicators, have suggested a bottoming in the recession and the economy close to turning the corner. The economy slipped into recession in December 2007.
The Blue Chip survey's findings are broadly in line with a Reuters poll published last month, which predicted growth in the third quarter, though a brisk pace of expansion was not expected until late 2010.
"Debate now centers on the speed, strength and durability of the recovery," the survey said.
It showed nearly two-thirds of respondents believed the economy was set for a U-shaped recovery, marked by below-trend growth in gross domestic product before stronger growth took hold in the second half of 2010.
About 17 percent of the respondents anticipated a V-shaped rebound, where growth pulled back to its trend rate on a sustained basis, while the same percentage fretted that a W-shaped recovery could follow, the survey showed.
"In their view, GDP growth will pop higher for a quarter or two only to falter again before a lasting recovery takes hold," the survey said.
HIGHER GDP GROWTH
Growth in the second half was expected to garner support from a reduction in the pace of business inventory liquidation, marginal improvements in consumer spending and residential investment. The survey predicted that non-residential investment, however, would remain a drag on GDP.
Despite the improved economic picture, unemployment was expected to remain a problem, with the jobless rate predicted to peak at just over 10 percent late this year or early 2010, the survey showed. It was seen falling only slowly thereafter.
Government data on Friday showed the unemployment rate nudged down to 9.4 percent in July from 9.5 percent in June, but mostly because many people dropped out of the labor force.
"About 70 percent of the panelists believe the jobless rate will not dip below 7.0 percent on a sustained basis until the second half of 2012 or later," the survey said.
However, job losses could fade late this year or early 2010 and payrolls start to expand as companies rebuild inventories, which should lengthen the workweek, according to the survey.
The weak labor market, together with excess capacity in many business sectors were seen dampening inflation pressures.
"Consumer price inflation, excluding food and energy costs, will increase by slightly less in 2010 than in 2009," the survey said.
Saturn's Rings to Disappear Tuesday
In a celestial feat any magician would appreciate, Saturn will make its wide but thin ring system disappear from our view Aug. 11.
Saturn's rings, loaded with ice and mud, boulders and tiny moons, is 170,000 miles wide. But the shimmering setup is only about 30 feet thick. The rings harbor 35 trillion-trillion tons of ice, dust and rock, scientists estimate.
The rings shine because they reflect sunlight. But every 15 years, the rings turn edge-on to the sun and reflect almost no sunlight.
"The light reflecting off this extremely narrow band is so small that for all intents and purposes the rings simply vanish," explained Linda Spilker, deputy project scientist for the Cassini Saturn mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Mysterious rings
The rings remain a bit of a mystery. Scientists are not sure when or how they formed, though likely a collision of other objects was involved.
Saturn's equator is tilted relative to its orbit around the sun by 27 degrees – similar to the 23-degree tilt of the Earth. As Saturn circles the sun, first one hemisphere and then the other is tilted sunward. This causes seasons on Saturn, just as Earth's tilt causes seasons on our planet.
While Earth goes around the sun once every 365 days or so, Saturn's annual orbit takes 29.7 years. So every 15 years, the attitude shift puts the gas giant planet's equator, and its ring plane, directly in line with sunlight. Scientists call it an equinox, and this one marks the arrival of spring to the giant planet's northern hemisphere. (On Earth, equinoxes occur in March and September.)
"Whenever equinox occurs on Saturn, sunlight will hit Saturn's thin rings, the ring plane, edge-on," Spilker said.
Galileo puzzled
Galileo Galilei was the first to notice the rings and their then-mysterious transformation in the 17th century. Through one of the first telescopes, which he built himself, Galileo discovered Saturn's rings. He didn't know what they were, though, since all he could see were two lobes attached to the planet like ears. He entered the newfound setup in his notebook as a tiny drawing, mid-sentence, to serve as a noun.
By December 1612, Galileo had studied the phenomenon for more than two years, and the lobes (he thought they might be moons) were getting thinner. Then they disappeared.
"I do not know what to say in a case so surprising, so unlooked for and so novel," he wrote in a letter.
Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens, using a better telescope, figured out what the rings were in 1655.
"Galileo had every right to be mystified by the rings," Spilker said. "While we know how Saturn pulls off its ring-plane crossing illusion, we are still fascinated and mystified by Saturn's rings, and equinox is a great time for us to learn more."
Up-close view
The edge-on setup casts shadows across the rings in a unique way that can reveal moonlets and other structures otherwise not visible.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has a front-row seat to the event.
Cassini is watching for topographic features – perhaps some tiny moons or warps in the rings, and it has already spotted some mystery features in the days leading up to the equinox. In one new image, an object seems to have punched through one of the rings, dragging material with it to leave a visible scar. The craft's near-infrared and ultraviolet instruments will be on the hunt for signs of seasonal change on the planet.
"We are not sure what we will find," Spilker said. "Like any great magician, Saturn never fails to impress."
* Gallery: Saturn at its Best
* Video: Rare Views of Saturn's Eclipsing Rings and Moons
* Gallery: Cassini's Latest Snapshots of Saturn
This article is part of SPACE.com's weekly Mystery Monday series.
Saturn's rings, loaded with ice and mud, boulders and tiny moons, is 170,000 miles wide. But the shimmering setup is only about 30 feet thick. The rings harbor 35 trillion-trillion tons of ice, dust and rock, scientists estimate.
The rings shine because they reflect sunlight. But every 15 years, the rings turn edge-on to the sun and reflect almost no sunlight.
"The light reflecting off this extremely narrow band is so small that for all intents and purposes the rings simply vanish," explained Linda Spilker, deputy project scientist for the Cassini Saturn mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Mysterious rings
The rings remain a bit of a mystery. Scientists are not sure when or how they formed, though likely a collision of other objects was involved.
Saturn's equator is tilted relative to its orbit around the sun by 27 degrees – similar to the 23-degree tilt of the Earth. As Saturn circles the sun, first one hemisphere and then the other is tilted sunward. This causes seasons on Saturn, just as Earth's tilt causes seasons on our planet.
While Earth goes around the sun once every 365 days or so, Saturn's annual orbit takes 29.7 years. So every 15 years, the attitude shift puts the gas giant planet's equator, and its ring plane, directly in line with sunlight. Scientists call it an equinox, and this one marks the arrival of spring to the giant planet's northern hemisphere. (On Earth, equinoxes occur in March and September.)
"Whenever equinox occurs on Saturn, sunlight will hit Saturn's thin rings, the ring plane, edge-on," Spilker said.
Galileo puzzled
Galileo Galilei was the first to notice the rings and their then-mysterious transformation in the 17th century. Through one of the first telescopes, which he built himself, Galileo discovered Saturn's rings. He didn't know what they were, though, since all he could see were two lobes attached to the planet like ears. He entered the newfound setup in his notebook as a tiny drawing, mid-sentence, to serve as a noun.
By December 1612, Galileo had studied the phenomenon for more than two years, and the lobes (he thought they might be moons) were getting thinner. Then they disappeared.
"I do not know what to say in a case so surprising, so unlooked for and so novel," he wrote in a letter.
Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens, using a better telescope, figured out what the rings were in 1655.
"Galileo had every right to be mystified by the rings," Spilker said. "While we know how Saturn pulls off its ring-plane crossing illusion, we are still fascinated and mystified by Saturn's rings, and equinox is a great time for us to learn more."
Up-close view
The edge-on setup casts shadows across the rings in a unique way that can reveal moonlets and other structures otherwise not visible.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has a front-row seat to the event.
Cassini is watching for topographic features – perhaps some tiny moons or warps in the rings, and it has already spotted some mystery features in the days leading up to the equinox. In one new image, an object seems to have punched through one of the rings, dragging material with it to leave a visible scar. The craft's near-infrared and ultraviolet instruments will be on the hunt for signs of seasonal change on the planet.
"We are not sure what we will find," Spilker said. "Like any great magician, Saturn never fails to impress."
* Gallery: Saturn at its Best
* Video: Rare Views of Saturn's Eclipsing Rings and Moons
* Gallery: Cassini's Latest Snapshots of Saturn
This article is part of SPACE.com's weekly Mystery Monday series.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Secrets of the National Parks
Too many national park vacations are exercises in contradictions: explorations of the natural world… spent mostly in the car. A search for a tranquil Eden… in the company of hundreds of other photo-snappers. But the national parks are more than Mother Earth's answer to the fast-food drive-through: Get out and explore by foot (or raft, or kayak, or bike), and you'll be rewarded with a more fulfilling experience. Concierge.com asked some park insiders—rangers, guides, neighbors, and others—to give us their best advice on how to avoid the crowds and even save a bit of money at a selection of ten parks, some well-known, others way off the beaten path.
Published May 2009. Pictured: Cathedral Peak in Yosemite National Park, California
Death Valley National Park, California
The setting: The hottest, driest, lowest place in North America, Death Valley is at once harsh and beautiful.
The inside scoop: Head to Golden Canyon, says Brad Day, the founder of Weekend Sherpa, a Bay Area Web site and newsletter for outdoor enthusiasts. It's near the Furnace Creek Visitor Center and is popular for its golden sandstone, which "resembles swirls of giant marble ice cream." But you can lose the crowds after the first mile by following the turnoff to Gower Gulch. A four-mile trail loops around the gulch, which you'll likely have all to yourself. Just be ready to rejoin the masses at the Visitor Center.
Plan B: Hike 9,064-foot Wildrose Peak, a particularly appealing option come summer, since temperatures will be much more bearable this high up (summer temps can spike to 120 degrees in some parts of the valley). The view from the top, says Day, "is arguably the best in the park." He also recommends bringing a picnic to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, just east of Stovepipe Wells Village, and climbing up a spine to catch the sunset.
Money-saving tip: Instead of the famous Furnace Creek Inn (which closes in summer), book a cabin at the less expensive Furnace Creek Ranch. For $124, you'll get a motel-style room with AC and access to a pool, golf course, and tennis courts.
When to go: Fall and spring are more bearable than the heat of summer. If you do come between June and August, be prepared with plenty of water—a gallon per person per day is recommended—and heed ranger warnings about heat exposure.
Denali National Park, Alaska
The setting: Named after its centerpiece, the tallest mountain on the continent (also known as Mount McKinley), Denali is a mix of green-carpeted forest, rock, and snow, and a home to a wide variety of wildlife.
The inside scoop: Traffic on the park's main road is limited to tour and shuttle buses beyond Mile 15. If wildlife is what you're after, park public affairs officer Kris Fister—who has worked at Denali since the mid-1990s—advises boarding a bus at least as far as Mile 53, near the Toklat River. The three-hour ride will take you past wide-open fields with low alpine vegetation—the better for spotting caribou, Dall sheep, wolves, and even grizzly bear. If you're set on seeing Denali itself, camp out at Wonder Lake (bring mosquito repellent) and set your alarm for 1:00 a.m.: The sky never completely darkens in summer this close to the Arctic Circle, and very early in the morning is the best time to see the mountain without its usual veil of clouds.
Plan B: If you're short on time, says Fister (perhaps your cruise ship awaits in Anchorage?), Primrose Ridge is a great hike just past Mile 15; you can leave your car near the ranger station at the Savage River and then follow the ridge as it rises 1,500 feet above the road.
Money-saving tip: The park shuttles are less expensive than the bus tours, and the drivers will still stop for wildlife viewing; they know the park well enough to help you figure out what you're looking at. Reservations for either buses or shuttles should be made in advance. Airfares have dropped slightly this summer: $475 from San Francisco to Anchorage, compared with $525 last August.
When to go: Denali's season is short—park transportation starts running in late May and stops in mid-September. Fister likes late August; by then, the moose have their new coats, the mosquitoes are gone, and the foliage has already started to turn.
Big Bend National Park, Texas
The setting: Big Bend National Park encompasses nearly 250 miles of the Rio Grande on the U.S. side of the Mexican border. The diversity of the landscape means that you can visit a river, desert, and mountain range in a single day.
The inside scoop: Jack Sullivan, operations manager at the Far Flung Outdoor Center, has been hiking, biking, and rafting in the park since he was 19. If you've taken the trouble to drive all the way to Big Bend (it's five hours from El Paso), he recommends a multiday float on the Rio Grande through Santa Elena Canyon. The 20-mile trip takes you past spectacular 1,500-foot limestone cliffs. You can do it in two days, or choose a three-day version that includes hikes into side canyons along the way. You can float along in a raft, which is powered by the guides, or opt for a canoe and do the work yourself.
Plan B: Hike the south rim of Chisos Basin. While the surrounding desert averages only 10 inches of rain per year, this mountain range gets about 24 inches, so it's a completely different ecosystem, with black bears and oak trees.
Money-saving tip: The only hotel in the park, the Chisos Mountains Lodge, costs just $110 per night. A three-day float trip with Far Flung is $440 a person, including meals and camping gear.
When to go: Summer temperatures peak around 115 degrees, but it's a dry heat—and a little cooler on the water. If you want a bigger ride, river levels tend to be higher in October.
Yosemite National Park, California
The setting: A favorite of early environmentalist John Muir, Yosemite combines sheer rock cliffs and Sequoia forests that rise up the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada range.
The inside scoop: Come summer, "Yosemite Valley is full and can feel overwhelming," says Lissie Kretch, who spent four years working for the Yosemite Institute, which runs environmental education programs. "But getting out of your car and onto a trail means you lose most of the visitors." One of the valley's less-visited routes runs from Mirror Lake to Snow Creek Falls, an eight-mile round-trip with gorgeous views of Half Dome.
Plan B: Tuolumne Meadows (pictured) opens only in the summer, so the human impact is reduced. Kretch recommends "finding a spot to sit and watch the clouds burst along the Tuolumne River. If you're up for it, hike Mount Hoffman, which is the geographical center of the park and supposedly Muir's favorite peak."
Money-saving tip: There's no need to rent a car in Yosemite. You can take public transportation into the park from San Francisco: Amtrak links to the Yosemite Area Rapid Transportation System via Merced for just $30 each way.
When to go: Since Yosemite does see a fair amount of weekend traffic from San Francisco and Sacramento, try to time your visit for midweek; hotel rates will be lower, and the trails emptier.
Glacier National Park, Montana
The setting: Glacier National Park is a stunning million-acre forest carved by ancient glaciers, the remnants of which are still visible—but quickly disappearing.
The inside scoop: Woody and Betsy Cox fulfilled their dreams when they retired to nearby Whitefish in 2002 and bought a B&B. They like to take a bottle of wine and head out on the Avalanche Lake trail (pictured), which meanders for about two miles beside a trickling stream and ends with a heart-stopping view of waterfalls emptying into the crystal-clear lake.
Plan B: Enter the park from the eastern border, which is far less touristed than the west, and visit the Many Glacier area. Here you can hike to Grinnell, one of the park's few remaining glaciers, and sit on the shores of Swiftcurrent Lake, surrounded by mountains.
Money-saving tip: Rooms at the Coxes' B&B, the Good Medicine Lodge, start at just $100—and that includes a hearty, home-cooked breakfast.
When to go: The park is open from mid-June until the first snowfall, usually in October, but planning a trip on either edge of the season is a gamble with the weather gods. The last week of August and first of September typically see warm temperatures yet fewer crowds.
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming and Montana
The setting: The country's first—and probably still best known—national park, Yellowstone is famous for both its otherworldly geological features (geysers, hot springs, and more) and its iconic mammals, including bison and elk.
The inside scoop: The Lower Loop of the Yellowstone road is the most crowded; the Upper Loop, a bit less so. But the least populated corner of the park is the Lamar Valley, through which runs the road from the Upper Loop to Cooke City, Montana. According to Lee Whittlesey, the park historian and a 30-year Yellowstone veteran, this also happens to be the place where you're most likely to spot the large predators—bears and wolves. "It's the American Serengeti," he says. He should know: He's written eight books on Yellowstone.
Plan B: Don't miss the two most popular sights in the park: Old Faithful and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Instead of watching Old Faithful with the hoi polloi down on the boardwalk, hike about one mile up the Observation Point Trail to a quiet spot that overlooks the famous geyser. For the canyon, Artist Point is the busiest viewing spot, but if you're reasonably fit and not afraid of heights, clamber the quarter mile down Uncle Tom's Trail, which drops you 500 feet into the ravine.
Money-saving tip: Accommodations within the park are relatively expensive and in high demand. Outside the park, you'll generally find cheaper options in Gardiner, by the north entrance, than in West Yellowstone.
When to go: Since the park isn't near any major cities that would bring in weekend traffic, it's equally crowded every day of the week. The park tends to get quieter at the end of August, when kids are getting back to school, and the weather is still pleasant through early September.
Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
The setting: Oregon's only national park, Crater Lake is centered on the country's deepest lake, created by the eruption and subsequent collapse of Mount Mazama 7,700 years ago.
The inside scoop: You shouldn't miss hiking down into the caldera on the short but steep Cleetwood Cove trail, but since it's the only route down to the lake and the popular boat tours, it tends to get crowded. Karl Samson, who wrote Frommer's Oregon and has visited Crater Lake more than ten times, suggests supplementing that with the quieter, 2.5-mile trail up Mount Scott. "The views from this summit on the rim of the caldera are stupendous," he says.
Plan B: Board a boat to Wizard Island (pictured), the cone of a new volcano that is sprouting up in the western end of the lake. The island's two hiking trails will take you up the rocky peak, scattered with a few hardy conifers, and past large chunks of cooled lava. Be prepared to spend the day there, however, since you're not guaranteed a ride back to Cleetwood Cove until the last boat of the day (overnight stays aren't allowed).
Money-saving tip: Have dinner on the deck of the Crater Lake Lodge as you watch the sun go down, then head to your less expensive motel unit ($90–$120) at the Prospect Historic Hotel, less than 45 minutes from the rim of the caldera.
When to go: The park is quieter but not yet snowy in September (Wizard Island closes mid-September). If you visit in late July or early August, take the Castle Crest Wildflower Trail "through meadows that are awash with color," says Samson.
Canyonlands National Park, Utah
The setting: This red-rock wonderland is far less touristed—and much bigger—than neighboring Arches National Park.
The inside scoop: Utah resident Cate O'Hare Adams has visited Canyonlands over a dozen times with her family. Her favorite memory of the park comes from a multiday rafting trip through Cataract Canyon with Western River Expeditions. After running 100 miles through the park to Lake Powell—floating calmly down the canyon most of the time, but with one thrilling day of riding more than 30 white-water rapids—guests board a small plane for the scenic flight back to Moab. "My pilot was the former head park ranger for Canyonlands," says Adams, "and he showed us from the air all of the places we had hiked to and camped at the past few days."
Plan B: Bike the White Rim Road, a 100-mile Jeep trail that loops around the "Island in the Sky," a high mesa with endless views. You can reserve permits to camp along the way, or book a guided trip through Rim Tours (from $675 for three days).
Money-saving tip: Adams shares a condo at the Moab Springs Ranch with another family to make the trip more affordable. "They have streams and pools, and hammocks hanging in the trees that are wonderful after a day of mountain biking or hiking," she says. A two-bedroom condo, which can sleep up to eight, goes for just $240 per night. For more advice on visiting this region, including the Grand Canyon, read Condé Nast Traveler's "10 Perfect Days in the American Southwest."
When to go: If you're heading to the park in the heat of summer, book a river tour—where the air is cool and the water even cooler—or plan to get out early and spend the middle of the day by your condo's pool.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii
The setting: Located on the Big Island, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park includes sections of two of the world's most active volcanoes: Mauna Loa and Kilauea.
The inside scoop: "Most people come to the park expecting to drive up to a river of molten lava," says Christina Hoffman, a biology professor at the University of Hawaii who has also led hiking trips for Hawaii Forest and Trail since 1997. "Sadly for them, this is not the case. Currently, Kilauea's lava flows are inaccessible from the ground." Instead, Hoffman recommends the Kilauea Iki trail, a four-mile loop that drops from the rain forest onto the floor of a former lava lake, where tough pioneer plants like the scarlet-colored Ohi'a lehua flower sprout next to tufts of steam still rising from cracks in the earth.
Plan B: Though you may need to contend with some crowds, Hoffman says you shouldn't miss either the Thurston Lava Tube—a tunnel formed by lava flow—or the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum, where you can learn about the work being done by volcanologists in the park and have a sheltered view of Kilauea.
Money-saving tip: If you don't feel like pitching your own tent at the Namakanipaio campground, stay at the Volcano House Hotel's rustic camper cabins; they sleep four, in one double bed and two twin bunks, for $55 per night.
When to go: The crowds decrease between Labor Day and Christmas, and you'll have the park more or less to yourself if you start your hike before 10:00 a.m.
Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
The setting: Picture the juxtaposition of the tallest dunes in North America with the 14,000-foot peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains behind them and the wet meadow below. It's a combination you'll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else on earth, and together these elements make up the country's newest national park.
The inside scoop: Charles Bedford—who, as state director of the Colorado Nature Conservancy, helped acquire the land and push through the legislation to create this park—calls Great Sand Dunes "one of the crown jewels in Colorado." Experiencing it isn't difficult: There's only one road into the park, which dead-ends at the main visitors center. Right beside the parking lot is an "enormous expanse of sand," says Bedford. "It's like a beach on steroids." Climb a dune, throw yourself off the edge, roll back down to the bottom, and you'll end up with just a little sand in your hair.
Plan B: Sign up for a dude ranch vacation at the Nature Conservancy's Zapata Ranch, which borders the park. You can wander into the dunes between horseback rides to round up cattle or to learn about the herd of 2,000 bison that graze nearby.
Money-saving tip: Call ahead to reserve a spot at Pinyon Flats, the single campground in the park. Bedford calls it "one of the primo camping sites in the country." Aim for a full moon, which will cast magical shadows across the dunes.
When to go: Since the park's altitude is close to 8,000 feet, summertime never gets very hot. In May and June, a river of snowmelt runs right across the dunes; in the fall, cottonwoods and aspens burst with color.
Summer vacation can mean cranky kids, crowded trails, and overpriced tourist traps. Or it can mean great values, blissful escapes, and quality family time. Here are some vacation ideas that will help you and your family have a smarter summer:
Affordable Family Vacations: Ten smart strategies for finding value this summer, including adventure trips kids will love, villa rentals you can afford—even a hotel that resembles Hogwarts.
Great American Beach Towns: When it comes to summer weekends in the sun, there's no place like home. Check out these 11 seaside escapes, from classic California to New England charm.
Clean Getaways: How about a vacation that requires only a few miles of travel, but takes you worlds away? Here are 12 domestic trips that won't burn a lot of fossil fuels (or dollar bills).
Travel's Most Endangered Places: Our national parks are well protected, but some of the world's greatest treasures are at risk. See them now… before they vanish forever.
Published May 2009. Pictured: Cathedral Peak in Yosemite National Park, California
Death Valley National Park, California
The setting: The hottest, driest, lowest place in North America, Death Valley is at once harsh and beautiful.
The inside scoop: Head to Golden Canyon, says Brad Day, the founder of Weekend Sherpa, a Bay Area Web site and newsletter for outdoor enthusiasts. It's near the Furnace Creek Visitor Center and is popular for its golden sandstone, which "resembles swirls of giant marble ice cream." But you can lose the crowds after the first mile by following the turnoff to Gower Gulch. A four-mile trail loops around the gulch, which you'll likely have all to yourself. Just be ready to rejoin the masses at the Visitor Center.
Plan B: Hike 9,064-foot Wildrose Peak, a particularly appealing option come summer, since temperatures will be much more bearable this high up (summer temps can spike to 120 degrees in some parts of the valley). The view from the top, says Day, "is arguably the best in the park." He also recommends bringing a picnic to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, just east of Stovepipe Wells Village, and climbing up a spine to catch the sunset.
Money-saving tip: Instead of the famous Furnace Creek Inn (which closes in summer), book a cabin at the less expensive Furnace Creek Ranch. For $124, you'll get a motel-style room with AC and access to a pool, golf course, and tennis courts.
When to go: Fall and spring are more bearable than the heat of summer. If you do come between June and August, be prepared with plenty of water—a gallon per person per day is recommended—and heed ranger warnings about heat exposure.
Denali National Park, Alaska
The setting: Named after its centerpiece, the tallest mountain on the continent (also known as Mount McKinley), Denali is a mix of green-carpeted forest, rock, and snow, and a home to a wide variety of wildlife.
The inside scoop: Traffic on the park's main road is limited to tour and shuttle buses beyond Mile 15. If wildlife is what you're after, park public affairs officer Kris Fister—who has worked at Denali since the mid-1990s—advises boarding a bus at least as far as Mile 53, near the Toklat River. The three-hour ride will take you past wide-open fields with low alpine vegetation—the better for spotting caribou, Dall sheep, wolves, and even grizzly bear. If you're set on seeing Denali itself, camp out at Wonder Lake (bring mosquito repellent) and set your alarm for 1:00 a.m.: The sky never completely darkens in summer this close to the Arctic Circle, and very early in the morning is the best time to see the mountain without its usual veil of clouds.
Plan B: If you're short on time, says Fister (perhaps your cruise ship awaits in Anchorage?), Primrose Ridge is a great hike just past Mile 15; you can leave your car near the ranger station at the Savage River and then follow the ridge as it rises 1,500 feet above the road.
Money-saving tip: The park shuttles are less expensive than the bus tours, and the drivers will still stop for wildlife viewing; they know the park well enough to help you figure out what you're looking at. Reservations for either buses or shuttles should be made in advance. Airfares have dropped slightly this summer: $475 from San Francisco to Anchorage, compared with $525 last August.
When to go: Denali's season is short—park transportation starts running in late May and stops in mid-September. Fister likes late August; by then, the moose have their new coats, the mosquitoes are gone, and the foliage has already started to turn.
Big Bend National Park, Texas
The setting: Big Bend National Park encompasses nearly 250 miles of the Rio Grande on the U.S. side of the Mexican border. The diversity of the landscape means that you can visit a river, desert, and mountain range in a single day.
The inside scoop: Jack Sullivan, operations manager at the Far Flung Outdoor Center, has been hiking, biking, and rafting in the park since he was 19. If you've taken the trouble to drive all the way to Big Bend (it's five hours from El Paso), he recommends a multiday float on the Rio Grande through Santa Elena Canyon. The 20-mile trip takes you past spectacular 1,500-foot limestone cliffs. You can do it in two days, or choose a three-day version that includes hikes into side canyons along the way. You can float along in a raft, which is powered by the guides, or opt for a canoe and do the work yourself.
Plan B: Hike the south rim of Chisos Basin. While the surrounding desert averages only 10 inches of rain per year, this mountain range gets about 24 inches, so it's a completely different ecosystem, with black bears and oak trees.
Money-saving tip: The only hotel in the park, the Chisos Mountains Lodge, costs just $110 per night. A three-day float trip with Far Flung is $440 a person, including meals and camping gear.
When to go: Summer temperatures peak around 115 degrees, but it's a dry heat—and a little cooler on the water. If you want a bigger ride, river levels tend to be higher in October.
Yosemite National Park, California
The setting: A favorite of early environmentalist John Muir, Yosemite combines sheer rock cliffs and Sequoia forests that rise up the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada range.
The inside scoop: Come summer, "Yosemite Valley is full and can feel overwhelming," says Lissie Kretch, who spent four years working for the Yosemite Institute, which runs environmental education programs. "But getting out of your car and onto a trail means you lose most of the visitors." One of the valley's less-visited routes runs from Mirror Lake to Snow Creek Falls, an eight-mile round-trip with gorgeous views of Half Dome.
Plan B: Tuolumne Meadows (pictured) opens only in the summer, so the human impact is reduced. Kretch recommends "finding a spot to sit and watch the clouds burst along the Tuolumne River. If you're up for it, hike Mount Hoffman, which is the geographical center of the park and supposedly Muir's favorite peak."
Money-saving tip: There's no need to rent a car in Yosemite. You can take public transportation into the park from San Francisco: Amtrak links to the Yosemite Area Rapid Transportation System via Merced for just $30 each way.
When to go: Since Yosemite does see a fair amount of weekend traffic from San Francisco and Sacramento, try to time your visit for midweek; hotel rates will be lower, and the trails emptier.
Glacier National Park, Montana
The setting: Glacier National Park is a stunning million-acre forest carved by ancient glaciers, the remnants of which are still visible—but quickly disappearing.
The inside scoop: Woody and Betsy Cox fulfilled their dreams when they retired to nearby Whitefish in 2002 and bought a B&B. They like to take a bottle of wine and head out on the Avalanche Lake trail (pictured), which meanders for about two miles beside a trickling stream and ends with a heart-stopping view of waterfalls emptying into the crystal-clear lake.
Plan B: Enter the park from the eastern border, which is far less touristed than the west, and visit the Many Glacier area. Here you can hike to Grinnell, one of the park's few remaining glaciers, and sit on the shores of Swiftcurrent Lake, surrounded by mountains.
Money-saving tip: Rooms at the Coxes' B&B, the Good Medicine Lodge, start at just $100—and that includes a hearty, home-cooked breakfast.
When to go: The park is open from mid-June until the first snowfall, usually in October, but planning a trip on either edge of the season is a gamble with the weather gods. The last week of August and first of September typically see warm temperatures yet fewer crowds.
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming and Montana
The setting: The country's first—and probably still best known—national park, Yellowstone is famous for both its otherworldly geological features (geysers, hot springs, and more) and its iconic mammals, including bison and elk.
The inside scoop: The Lower Loop of the Yellowstone road is the most crowded; the Upper Loop, a bit less so. But the least populated corner of the park is the Lamar Valley, through which runs the road from the Upper Loop to Cooke City, Montana. According to Lee Whittlesey, the park historian and a 30-year Yellowstone veteran, this also happens to be the place where you're most likely to spot the large predators—bears and wolves. "It's the American Serengeti," he says. He should know: He's written eight books on Yellowstone.
Plan B: Don't miss the two most popular sights in the park: Old Faithful and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Instead of watching Old Faithful with the hoi polloi down on the boardwalk, hike about one mile up the Observation Point Trail to a quiet spot that overlooks the famous geyser. For the canyon, Artist Point is the busiest viewing spot, but if you're reasonably fit and not afraid of heights, clamber the quarter mile down Uncle Tom's Trail, which drops you 500 feet into the ravine.
Money-saving tip: Accommodations within the park are relatively expensive and in high demand. Outside the park, you'll generally find cheaper options in Gardiner, by the north entrance, than in West Yellowstone.
When to go: Since the park isn't near any major cities that would bring in weekend traffic, it's equally crowded every day of the week. The park tends to get quieter at the end of August, when kids are getting back to school, and the weather is still pleasant through early September.
Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
The setting: Oregon's only national park, Crater Lake is centered on the country's deepest lake, created by the eruption and subsequent collapse of Mount Mazama 7,700 years ago.
The inside scoop: You shouldn't miss hiking down into the caldera on the short but steep Cleetwood Cove trail, but since it's the only route down to the lake and the popular boat tours, it tends to get crowded. Karl Samson, who wrote Frommer's Oregon and has visited Crater Lake more than ten times, suggests supplementing that with the quieter, 2.5-mile trail up Mount Scott. "The views from this summit on the rim of the caldera are stupendous," he says.
Plan B: Board a boat to Wizard Island (pictured), the cone of a new volcano that is sprouting up in the western end of the lake. The island's two hiking trails will take you up the rocky peak, scattered with a few hardy conifers, and past large chunks of cooled lava. Be prepared to spend the day there, however, since you're not guaranteed a ride back to Cleetwood Cove until the last boat of the day (overnight stays aren't allowed).
Money-saving tip: Have dinner on the deck of the Crater Lake Lodge as you watch the sun go down, then head to your less expensive motel unit ($90–$120) at the Prospect Historic Hotel, less than 45 minutes from the rim of the caldera.
When to go: The park is quieter but not yet snowy in September (Wizard Island closes mid-September). If you visit in late July or early August, take the Castle Crest Wildflower Trail "through meadows that are awash with color," says Samson.
Canyonlands National Park, Utah
The setting: This red-rock wonderland is far less touristed—and much bigger—than neighboring Arches National Park.
The inside scoop: Utah resident Cate O'Hare Adams has visited Canyonlands over a dozen times with her family. Her favorite memory of the park comes from a multiday rafting trip through Cataract Canyon with Western River Expeditions. After running 100 miles through the park to Lake Powell—floating calmly down the canyon most of the time, but with one thrilling day of riding more than 30 white-water rapids—guests board a small plane for the scenic flight back to Moab. "My pilot was the former head park ranger for Canyonlands," says Adams, "and he showed us from the air all of the places we had hiked to and camped at the past few days."
Plan B: Bike the White Rim Road, a 100-mile Jeep trail that loops around the "Island in the Sky," a high mesa with endless views. You can reserve permits to camp along the way, or book a guided trip through Rim Tours (from $675 for three days).
Money-saving tip: Adams shares a condo at the Moab Springs Ranch with another family to make the trip more affordable. "They have streams and pools, and hammocks hanging in the trees that are wonderful after a day of mountain biking or hiking," she says. A two-bedroom condo, which can sleep up to eight, goes for just $240 per night. For more advice on visiting this region, including the Grand Canyon, read Condé Nast Traveler's "10 Perfect Days in the American Southwest."
When to go: If you're heading to the park in the heat of summer, book a river tour—where the air is cool and the water even cooler—or plan to get out early and spend the middle of the day by your condo's pool.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii
The setting: Located on the Big Island, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park includes sections of two of the world's most active volcanoes: Mauna Loa and Kilauea.
The inside scoop: "Most people come to the park expecting to drive up to a river of molten lava," says Christina Hoffman, a biology professor at the University of Hawaii who has also led hiking trips for Hawaii Forest and Trail since 1997. "Sadly for them, this is not the case. Currently, Kilauea's lava flows are inaccessible from the ground." Instead, Hoffman recommends the Kilauea Iki trail, a four-mile loop that drops from the rain forest onto the floor of a former lava lake, where tough pioneer plants like the scarlet-colored Ohi'a lehua flower sprout next to tufts of steam still rising from cracks in the earth.
Plan B: Though you may need to contend with some crowds, Hoffman says you shouldn't miss either the Thurston Lava Tube—a tunnel formed by lava flow—or the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum, where you can learn about the work being done by volcanologists in the park and have a sheltered view of Kilauea.
Money-saving tip: If you don't feel like pitching your own tent at the Namakanipaio campground, stay at the Volcano House Hotel's rustic camper cabins; they sleep four, in one double bed and two twin bunks, for $55 per night.
When to go: The crowds decrease between Labor Day and Christmas, and you'll have the park more or less to yourself if you start your hike before 10:00 a.m.
Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
The setting: Picture the juxtaposition of the tallest dunes in North America with the 14,000-foot peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains behind them and the wet meadow below. It's a combination you'll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else on earth, and together these elements make up the country's newest national park.
The inside scoop: Charles Bedford—who, as state director of the Colorado Nature Conservancy, helped acquire the land and push through the legislation to create this park—calls Great Sand Dunes "one of the crown jewels in Colorado." Experiencing it isn't difficult: There's only one road into the park, which dead-ends at the main visitors center. Right beside the parking lot is an "enormous expanse of sand," says Bedford. "It's like a beach on steroids." Climb a dune, throw yourself off the edge, roll back down to the bottom, and you'll end up with just a little sand in your hair.
Plan B: Sign up for a dude ranch vacation at the Nature Conservancy's Zapata Ranch, which borders the park. You can wander into the dunes between horseback rides to round up cattle or to learn about the herd of 2,000 bison that graze nearby.
Money-saving tip: Call ahead to reserve a spot at Pinyon Flats, the single campground in the park. Bedford calls it "one of the primo camping sites in the country." Aim for a full moon, which will cast magical shadows across the dunes.
When to go: Since the park's altitude is close to 8,000 feet, summertime never gets very hot. In May and June, a river of snowmelt runs right across the dunes; in the fall, cottonwoods and aspens burst with color.
Summer vacation can mean cranky kids, crowded trails, and overpriced tourist traps. Or it can mean great values, blissful escapes, and quality family time. Here are some vacation ideas that will help you and your family have a smarter summer:
Affordable Family Vacations: Ten smart strategies for finding value this summer, including adventure trips kids will love, villa rentals you can afford—even a hotel that resembles Hogwarts.
Great American Beach Towns: When it comes to summer weekends in the sun, there's no place like home. Check out these 11 seaside escapes, from classic California to New England charm.
Clean Getaways: How about a vacation that requires only a few miles of travel, but takes you worlds away? Here are 12 domestic trips that won't burn a lot of fossil fuels (or dollar bills).
Travel's Most Endangered Places: Our national parks are well protected, but some of the world's greatest treasures are at risk. See them now… before they vanish forever.
Kansas man wins big in lottery for 2nd time in '09
WICHITA, Kan. – Edward Williams is the definition of lucky after winning the lottery for a second time in a year. Williams, 47, of Wichita won $75,000 in September playing a $10 scratch ticket. Then on Wednesday, he defied the odds again when matched all the numbers in the Super Kansas Cash drawing to win a jackpot worth nearly $900,000.
"When I hit $75,000, I figured lighting struck once, it won't ever hit again," Williams said in a prepared statement released by Kansas Lottery officials. "This one knocked me flat!"
He traveled Friday to Topeka to collect his winnings. Super Kansas Cash jackpots are paid in a single cash lump sum. After taxes are withheld, the jackpot is worth $627,541. Also, Yogi's Grill & Bar in Wichita will be eligible for a $1,000 bonus for selling the jackpot-winning ticket.
"When I won the $75,000, I bought a car and put the rest of the winnings into a CD," Williams said. "This time, I'm saving it for retirement, which I hope to do at 55."
Williams, who is single, has worked for almost 17 years ago for Johnson Controls. Before that, he served in the Marines.
He said he has been playing Super Kansas Cash, Powerball and other lottery games consistently for 17 years.
"Just keep on playing," advised Williams, who buys a $5 Quick Pick for every Super Kansas Cash drawing. "That's the best advice I have for other people looking for that big win."
Williams isn't the first repeat lottery winner.
Keith Selix, of Waterloo, Iowa, gained notoriety in 2006 after winning three lottery prizes totaling $81,000.
At the time, he said his fortune mysteriously changed after his wife died, and he was convinced he was being "led from above."
Ironically, Selix's wife had often scolded him for wasting his money on the "those cotton-picking tickets."
"When I hit $75,000, I figured lighting struck once, it won't ever hit again," Williams said in a prepared statement released by Kansas Lottery officials. "This one knocked me flat!"
He traveled Friday to Topeka to collect his winnings. Super Kansas Cash jackpots are paid in a single cash lump sum. After taxes are withheld, the jackpot is worth $627,541. Also, Yogi's Grill & Bar in Wichita will be eligible for a $1,000 bonus for selling the jackpot-winning ticket.
"When I won the $75,000, I bought a car and put the rest of the winnings into a CD," Williams said. "This time, I'm saving it for retirement, which I hope to do at 55."
Williams, who is single, has worked for almost 17 years ago for Johnson Controls. Before that, he served in the Marines.
He said he has been playing Super Kansas Cash, Powerball and other lottery games consistently for 17 years.
"Just keep on playing," advised Williams, who buys a $5 Quick Pick for every Super Kansas Cash drawing. "That's the best advice I have for other people looking for that big win."
Williams isn't the first repeat lottery winner.
Keith Selix, of Waterloo, Iowa, gained notoriety in 2006 after winning three lottery prizes totaling $81,000.
At the time, he said his fortune mysteriously changed after his wife died, and he was convinced he was being "led from above."
Ironically, Selix's wife had often scolded him for wasting his money on the "those cotton-picking tickets."
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