Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Mysterious bullet hole in plane spurs probe

A pilot's chance find in the fuselage of his 737 rattles nerves and stirs up big questions.

FBI Investigates Bullet Hole in Plane

Dizzying views aren't the only "wow" factor packed into a new record-breaking locale.

World's highest hotel opens in Hong Kong

HONG KONG (AFP) – The world's highest hotel opened its doors in Hong Kong on Tuesday, housed in the city's tallest skyscraper and offering unrivalled panoramic views of the world famous Victoria Harbour.
Towering some 490 metres (1,600 feet) above the bustling, chaotic streets of the Southern Chinese city, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel is making a grand comeback after temporarily closing in 2008.
Visitors peered out of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the 118th floor of the International Commerce Centre, which houses the hotel, for a 360 degree view of the glitzy financial hub and the South China Sea.

U.S. News ranked the top centers in cities with 1 million or more residents.

How to Find the Best Hospital Near You

For the first time, U.S. News has ranked hospitals in America's 52 largest metropolitan areas.
Some Americans are fortunate enough to live down the street from a world-class hospital. For them, where to go for highly skilled care is clear.
For most of us, though, finding a hospital that offers both excellent care and local convenience has long been a challenge. Healthcare consumers have faced a dearth of reliable information about how the hospitals near them stack up. The problem is most acute in large metropolitan areas, which are crowded with hospitals that offer varying degrees of expertise across a range of medical specialties.
In principle, going to a renowned medical center such as one of the nationally ranked U.S. News Best Hospitals is a solid option. But that could be difficult if it requires travel, expensive if not covered by insurance, and unnecessary except in the most challenging medical cases. No wonder most hospital patients stay close to home.

Two controversial moves 1,700 miles apart thrust race into the forefront of the fight.

Billboard, new law, highlight racial turn for abortion debate

As if America's debate over abortion weren't contentious enough, it's lately been stirred by the addition of another hot-button issue: race.
Yesterday, Arizona became the first state in the nation to outlaw abortions performed on the basis of the race or gender of the fetus. And an anti-abortion billboard that uses an image of President Obama to target Chicago's black community has sparked a furor.
The Arizona bill, signed into law on Tuesday by Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, makes it a felony for doctors or other medical professionals to perform an abortion in order to help parents choose their offspring on the basis of race or gender. The law does not punish the woman having the abortion.
"Governor Brewer believes society has a responsibility to protect its most vulnerable -- the unborn -- and this legislation is consistent with her strong pro-life track record," a spokesman for Brewer told Reuters.
But opponents of the unusual measure contend there's little evidence that fetuses in Arizona are being aborted on the basis of gender or race. And they say the law could lead doctors to ask women about their reasons for having an abortion--something supporters of abortion rights view as a private decision.
About 1,700 miles away, in Chicago, a Texas-based anti-abortion group unveiled a billboard in the predominantly black neighborhood of Englewood. Next to a picture of Obama, it reads: "Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted."

The Chicago Abortion Fund, a pro-choice group, denounced the billboard. "The ongoing anti-choice movement to target women of color in cities across the country is both despicable and deplorable," it said in a statement. "Not only is the ad attempting to shame black women but placing a picture of the President Obama alongside the message is cynical and misleading."

One contestant joins an exclusive list of celebs who have been eliminated first from the show.

As Chad Ochocinco learned in a soccer tryout, it takes a rare talent to star in two pro sports.

Top 10 Multi-Sport Athletes

Chad Ochocinco took to the pitch on Monday as a reserve for Sporting Kansas City of the MLS. Is the football star's flirtation with professional soccer enough to get him into ThePostGame's top 10 list of greatest multi-sport athletes?

No. 10 Michael Jordan

MJ's brief dalliance in the Chicago White Sox farm system is generally regarded as a failure. Compared to his stellar basketball career, it was. But how many 31-year-olds do you know that could drop into Double-A baseball after not having swung a bat since high school and still hold their own in the professional ranks Jordan's failing wasn't that he was bad at baseball; it's that he didn't give himself enough time to find out how good he could be.

No. 9 Bob Hayes

Rarely has a nickname been so fitting as "Bullet Bob." Hayes earned the title of world's fastest man during the 1960s by virtue of his Olympic sprint medals and world record times in the 60-yard, 100-yard and 100-meter races. One year after his triumphs in Tokyo, Hayes was wearing a star on his helmet, lining up as wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys. He would posthumously be named to the Hall of Fame in 2009.

A New York team wasn't amused by its opponent's inaccurate gear before their title game.

Premature championship shirts lead to title game upset

The ancient Greeks often spoke of hubris and how it would lead to a man's downfall. Time and time again, that ancient wisdom has proven prophetic in sports, a truism that was borne out at the scholastic level on Saturday, when Long Island (N.Y.) Lutheran High beat Manhasset (N.Y.) St. Mary's School in the state's Class A state championship game.

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