Sunday, December 25, 2011

Succes 2011: Scott Fahlman, computer scientist credited with originating the first smiley emoticon

Scott Elliot Fahlman (n. 21 martie, 1948, în Medina, Ohio, SUA) este un informatician la Universitatea Carnegie Mellon. Este cunoscut pentru munca sa de pionierat în planificare automată, rețele semantice, rețele neuronale (algoritmul Cascade correlation) și la limbajul Common Lisp (în special la CMU Common Lisp).
Fahlman a obținut o diplomă și un master în 1973 de la MIT și doctoratul (Ph.D.) de la MIT în 1977. Supervizorii tezei sale au fost Gerald Sussman și Marvin Minsky. Este membru al Asociației Americane de Inteligență Artificială.
Doctoranzi importanți ai lui Fahlman au fost Donald Cohen, David McDonald, David S. Touretzky, Skef Wholey și Justin Boyan.
În perioada mai 1996 – iulie 2000, Fahlman a fost directorul Justsystem Pittsburgh Research Center.
I se atribuie prima utilizare a unei emotigrame smiley, [1][2][3]. A considerat că folosirea smiley-urilor va ajuta persoanele participante la o conversație online să distingă glumele de textele serioase. A propus utilizarea semnelor :-) și :-( pentru acest scop. Mesajul originar a fost postat la 19 septembrie 1982.

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Scott Elliott Fahlman (born March 21, 1948, in Medina, Ohio, U.S.) is a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University. He is notable for early work on automated planning in a blocks world, on semantic networks, on neural networks (and, in particular, the cascade correlation algorithm), on the Dylan programming language, and on Common Lisp (in particular CMU Common Lisp). Recently, Fahlman has been engaged in constructing a Knowledge Base, "Scone", based in part on his thesis work on the NETL Semantic Network.
Fahlman received his bachelor's degree and master's degree in 1973 from MIT, and his Ph.D. from MIT in 1977. His thesis advisors were Drs Gerald Sussman and Patrick Winston. He is a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence.
Fahlman acted as thesis advisor for Donald Cohen, David B. McDonald, David S. Touretzky, Skef Wholey, Justin Boyan, Michael Witbrock, and Alicia Tribble Sagae.
From May 1996 to July 2000, Fahlman directed the Justsystem Pittsburgh Research Center.

Fahlman is credited with originating the first smiley emoticon,[1][2][3] which he thought would help people on a message board at Carnegie Mellon to distinguish serious posts from jokes. He proposed the use of :-) and :-( for this purpose, and the symbols caught on. The original message from which these symbols originated was posted on September 19, 1982. The message was recovered by Jeff Baird on September 10, 2002[4] and is quoted below:
19-Sep-82 11:44    Scott E  Fahlman             :-)
From: Scott E Fahlman 
 
I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:
        
:-)
        
Read it sideways.  Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends.  For this, use
        
:-( 
 
He and his colleagues, in the fall of 2007, created a student contest, a student award to foster innovation in technology-assisted person-person communication.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Succes 2011: Maria Sharapova, tennis player named by Time one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future"

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open. She has also won the year-end WTA Tour Championships in 2004.
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) has ranked Sharapova world no. 1 in singles on four separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on August 22, 2005, and last regained this ranking for the fourth time on May 19, 2008. As of November, 2011 Sharapova is ranked world no. 4. She has been in five Grand Slam finals with the final record 3–2.
Sharapova made her professional breakthrough in 2004 when, at age 17, she defeated two-time defending champion and top seed Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final for her first Grand Slam singles title. She entered the top 10 of the WTA Rankings with this win. Despite not winning a major in 2005, Sharapova briefly held the no. 1 ranking, and reached three Grand Slam semifinals, losing to the eventual champion each time. She won her second major at the 2006 US Open defeating then-world no. 1 Amélie Mauresmo in the semifinals and world no. 2 Justine Henin in the final. Sharapova's 2007 season was plagued with a chronic shoulder injury and saw her ranking fall out of the top 5 for the first time in two years. She ultimately won her third Grand Slam at the 2008 Australian Open, defeating Henin in the quarterfinals and Ana Ivanović in the final.

After reclaiming the no. 1 ranking in May 2008, Sharapova's shoulder problems re-surfaced, ultimately requiring surgery in October and forcing her out of the game for nearly 10 months. Sharapova returned in May 2009 and was ranked no. 126 in the world due to her extensive lay-off. Since her comeback, Sharapova has won five singles titles (bringing her career total to 24) and improved her ranking to the world no. 2.
Sharapova's public profile extends beyond tennis, as she has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She has been featured in many advertisements, including those for Nike, Prince and Canon, and is the face of several fashion houses, most notably Cole Haan. Sharapova was the most searched-for athlete on Yahoo! in both 2005 and 2008.Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme.
In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Succes 2011: Heinz Beck, Executive Chef at La Pergola, one of the best hotel restaurant in Rome

Executive Chef at La Pergola since 1994, Heinz Beck is the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding achievement throughout a long and prestigious career.
The menu at La Pergola is his greatest achievement to date - innovative and exciting while maintaining a respect for culinary tradition and remembering that great cooking is about fresh ingredients handled with sensitivity and passion. 'I want,' Beck says, 'to transmit emotions through a balance of aromas, flavours and colours.’ Like the Rome Cavalieri and La Pergola, Heinz is very much a part of Roman culture and society. In 2000 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Foyer of Artists Award, an International Award from La Sapienza University of Rome, the first time the award had been given to a chef.

The best Rome hotel restaurant, if not in Italy, La Pergola is much more than just a famous menu. Its three-Michelin stars - the only Rome restaurant to be accorded such an honour - attest to the excellence of its cuisine. A wine cellar with over 53,000 bottles, a water menu with 29 choices, olive oils and vintage balsamic vinegars from the best producers in Italy, and the finest ingredients to be sourced in the Mediterranean -- all attest tothe pursuit of culinary excellence.

But like everything at the Rome Cavalieri, it is also about ambience, about style. Your table is laid with vermeil plates and cutlery. All around are some of the hotel’s most charming art treasures – fine paintings, a rare Aubusson tapestry, Sèvres porcelain, 18th Century bronze candelabra, precious imperial furniture and a wonderful collection of hand-blown glass by Emile Gallé. At the centre of the room is an imposing 17th Century Celadron vase, adorned each day with a spectacular floral composition created by the hotel's master florist. Adjoining La Pergola is our exclusive Cigar Lounge where you can savour a great cigar with a vintage liqueur while enjoying our fine collection of orientalist paintings.


Winner of the "Grand Award" from the Wine Spectator since 2004, more than 53,000 bottles, over 3,000 labels, a cellar divided into a number of individually air-conditioned areas, a collection on a vast scale, wines from 1888 to the present day, cult wines: these are just some of the factors that make the cellar of La Pergola unique. It has received recognition worldwide, thanks to its "curator" Marco Reitano who has been awarded the Oscar del Vino, as the best Italian sommelier: his wine cellar is a masterpiece of absolute excellence which is not to be missed.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Succes 2011: Gheorghe Hagi

Gheorghe Hagi (born 5 February 1965 in Săcele) is a former Romanian footballer. He was famous for his passing, close control, long shots and was regarded as one of the best attacking midfielders in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s and is considered the greatest Romanian footballer of all time. Galatasaray fans called him 'Commandante' (The Commander) and the Romanians called him 'Regele' (The King).
Nicknamed "The Maradona of the Carpathians", he is considered a hero in his homeland as well as in Turkey. He has won his country's "Player of the Year" award six times, and is regarded as one of the best football players of the 20th century.
He played for the Romanian national team in three World Cups in 1990, 1994 and 1998, as well as in three European Football Championships in 1984, 1996 and 2000. He won a total of 125 caps for Romania, being ranked second after Dorinel Munteanu, and scored 35 goals, being ranked first.
In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Romania by the Romanian Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. Hagi is one of the few footballers to have played for both the Spanish rival clubs Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
In March 2004, he was named among the top 125 living footballers by Pelé.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Succes 2011: Uri Geller, psychic known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other psychic effects

Uri Geller is a self-proclaimed psychic known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other supposed psychic effects. Throughout the years, Geller has been accused of using simple conjuring tricks to achieve the effects of psychokinesis and telepathy. Geller's career as an entertainer has spanned almost four decades, with television shows and appearances in many countries. Geller used to call his abilities "psychic," but now prefers to refer to himself as a "mystifier" and entertainer.

Born in Tel Aviv, British Mandate of Palestine, to Hungarian Jewish parents, Geller is the son of Itzhaak Geller (Gellér Izsák), a retired army sergeant major, and Manzy Freud (Freud Manci). It is claimed that Geller is a distant relative of Sigmund Freud on his mother's side.
At the age of 11, Geller's family moved to Nicosia, Cyprus, where he attended a high school, The Terra Santa College and learned English. At the age of 18 he served as a paratrooper in the Israeli Army, and was wounded in action during the 1967 Six-Day War. He worked as a photographic model in 1968 and 1969; during that time, he began to perform for small audiences as a nightclub entertainer,becoming well known in Israel.
Geller first started to perform in theatres, public halls, auditoriums, military bases and universities in Israel. By the 1970s, Geller had become known in the United States and Europe. He also received attention from the scientific community, whose members were interested in examining his reported psychic abilities. At the peak of his career in the 1970s, he worked full-time, performing for television audiences worldwide.

Geller gained notice for demonstrating on television what he claimed to be psychokinesis, dowsing, and telepathy. His performance included bending spoons, describing hidden drawings, and making watches stop or run faster. Geller said he performs these feats through will power and the strength of his mind.Magicians have said that his performances can be duplicated using stage magic tricks.
In 1975 Geller published his first autobiography, My Story, and acknowledged that, in his early career, his manager talked him into adding a magic trick to make his performances last longer. This trick involved Geller appearing to guess audience members' license plate numbers, when in fact his manager had given them to him ahead of time. One of Geller's most prominent critics is the skeptic James Randi, who has accused Geller repeatedly of trying to pass off magic tricks as paranormal displays. Randi often duplicated Geller's performances using stage magic techniques.
Geller starred in the 2001 horror film Sanitarium, directed by Johannes Roberts and James Eaves. In May 2002, he appeared as a contestant on the first series of the British reality TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, where he finished in eighth place. In 2005, Geller starred in Uri's Haunted Cities: Venice, a XI Pictures/Lion TV production for Sky One, which led to a behind the scenes release in early 2008 called Cursed; both productions were directed by Jason Figgis. In early 2007, Geller hosted a reality show in Israel called The Successor (היורש), where the contestants performed magic tricks and Geller was accused of "trickery." In July 2007 NBC signed Geller and Criss Angel for Phenomenon, to search for the next great mentalist; contestant Mike Super won the position. In January 2008, Geller began hosting the TV show The Next Uri Geller, broadcast by Pro7 in Germany.
In February 2008, Geller began a show on Dutch television called De Nieuwe Uri Geller, which shares a similar format to its German counterpart. The goal of the programme is to find the best mentalist in the Netherlands. In March 2008, he started the same show in Hungary (A kiválasztott in Hungarian). During the show, Geller speaks in both Hungarian and English. Geller also performs his standard routines of allegedly making stopped watches start, spoons jump from televisions, and tables move.
In the early 1970s, an article in The Jerusalem Post accused Geller of being a fraud for claiming that his feats were telepathic. In addition, a 1974 article also hints at Geller's abilities being trickery. The article alleged that his manager Shipi Shtrang (whom he called his brother at the time) and Shipi's sister Hannah Shtrang secretly helped in Geller's performances. Eventually, Geller married Hannah and they had children.
In 1975, two scientists (Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff from the Stanford Research Institute) said they were convinced that Geller's demonstrations were genuine. Since that time, however, notable scientists, various magicians, and skeptics have suggested possible ways in which Geller could have tricked the scientists using misdirection techniques.These critics, who include Richard Feynman, James Randi and Martin Gardner, have accused him of using his demonstrations fraudulently outside of the entertainment business. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, who was an amateur magician, wrote in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (1985) that Geller was unable to bend a key for him and his son. Some of his claims have been described by watchmakers as restarting stopped mechanical clocks by moving them around.
Geller is well known for making predictions regarding sporting events. Skeptic James Randi and British tabloid newspaper The Sun have demonstrated the teams and players he chooses to win most often lose. John Atkinson explored "predictions" Geller made over 30 years and concluded "Uri more often than not scuppered [i.e., destroyed] the chances of sportsmen and teams he was trying to help."This was pointed out by one of Randi's readers, who called it "The Curse of Uri Geller."
During the Euro 96 football game between Scotland and England at Wembley, Geller, who was hovering overhead in a helicopter, claimed that he managed to move the ball from the penalty spot when Scotland's Gary McAllister was about to take a penalty kick, something that, if true, would be against the rules of Association football, as the ball would then have been "Out of Play". The player ended up missing the chance to equalise for Scotland.
In 2007, skeptics observed that Geller appeared to have dropped his claims that he does not perform magic tricks. Randi highlighted a quotation from the November 2007 issue of the magazine Magische Welt (Magic World) in which Geller said: "I'll no longer say that I have supernatural powers. I am an entertainer. I want to do a good show. My entire character has changed."
In a later interview, Geller told Telepolis, "I said to this German magazine, so what I did say, that I changed my character, to the best of my recollection, and I no longer say that I do supernatural things. It doesn't mean that I don't have powers. It means that I don't say 'it's supernatural', I say 'I'm a mystifier!' That's what I said. And the sceptics turned it around and said, 'Uri Geller said he's a magician!' I never said that." In that interview, Geller further explained that when he is asked how he does his stunts, he tells children to "Forget the paranormal. Forget spoon bending! Instead of that, focus on school! Become a positive thinker! Believe in yourself and create a target! Go to university! Never smoke! And never touch drugs! And think of success!" 
In February 2008, Geller stated in the TV show The Next Uri Geller (a German version of The Successor) that he did not have any supernatural powers, before winking to the camera.
Geller admits, "Sure, there are magicians who can duplicate [my performances] through trickery."  He has claimed that even though his spoon bending can be repeated using trickery, he uses psychic powers to achieve his results. Skeptic James Randi has stated that if Geller is truly using his mind to perform these feats, "He is doing it the hard way."
Stage magicians note several methods of creating the illusion of a spoon spontaneously bending. Most common is the practice of misdirection, an underlying principle of many stage magic tricks. There are many ways in which a bent spoon can be presented to an audience as to give the appearance it was manipulated using supernatural powers. One way is through brief moments of distraction in which a magician can physically bend a spoon unseen by the audience, before gradually revealing the bend to create the illusion that the spoon is bending before the viewers' eyes. Another way is to pre-bend the spoon, perhaps by heating it, reducing the amount of force that needed to be applied to bend it manually. It is also possible to chemically bend the spoon by applying a corrosive to one edge so that the spoon weakens and bends in a set period of time.

During telepathic drawing demonstrations, Geller claimed the ability to read the minds of subjects as they draw a picture. Although in these demonstrations he cannot see the picture being drawn, he is sometimes present in the room, and on these occasions can see the subjects as they draw. Critics argue this may allow Geller to infer common shapes from pencil movement and sound, with the power of suggestion doing the rest.

Watchmakers have noted that "many supposedly broken watches had merely been stopped by gummy oil, and simply holding them in the hand would warm the oil enough to soften it and allow watches to resume ticking."
In November 2008, Geller accepted an award during a convention of magicians, the Services to Promotion of Magic Award from the Berglas Foundation. In his acceptance speech, Geller said that if he hadn't had psychic powers then he "must be the greatest" to have been able to fool journalists, scientists and Berglas himself.


Geller's performances of drawing duplication and cutlery bending usually take place under informal conditions such as television interviews. During his early career he allowed some scientists to investigate his claims. A study by Stanford Research Institute (now known as SRI International) conducted by researchers Harold E. Puthoff and Russell Targ concluded that he had performed successfully enough to warrant further serious study, and the "Geller-effect" was coined to refer to the particular type of abilities they felt had been demonstrated.
In An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, Randi wrote: "Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ, who studied Mr. Geller at the Stanford Research Institute were aware, in one instance at least, that they were being shown a magician's trick by Geller." Moreover, Randi explained, "Their protocols for this 'serious' investigation of the powers claimed by Geller were described by Dr. Ray Hyman, who investigated the project on behalf of the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency, as 'sloppy and inadequate.'" Puthoff and Targ complained in a book about Hyman's procedures. They had suggested that Hyman and co. visit SRI and conduct their own experiments on Geller. This they did, and Hyman and his two colleagues spent ‘a couple of hours’ performing their own experiments on Geller. Hyman would not have observed any testing by Puthoff and Targ. Hyman's experiments were observed and video taped by Puthoff and Targ, who said that they were conducted in an ‘informal manner’ and ‘largely uncontrolled’.
Critics of this testing include psychologists Dr. David Marks and Dr. Richard Kammann, who published a description of how Geller could have cheated in an informal test of his so-called psychic powers in 1977.Their 1978 article in Nature and 1980 book The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd ed. 2000) described how a normal explanation was possible for Geller's alleged powers of telepathy. Marks and Kammann found evidence that while at SRI Geller was allowed to peek through a hole in the laboratory wall separating Geller from the drawings he was being invited to reproduce. The drawings he was asked to reproduce were placed on a wall opposite the peep hole which the investigators Targ and Puthoff had stuffed with cotton gauze. In addition to this error, the investigators had also allowed Geller access to a two-way intercom enabling Geller to listen to the investigators' conversation during the time when they were choosing and/or displaying the target drawings. These basic errors indicate the high importance of ensuring that psychologists, magicians or other people with an in-depth knowledge of perception, who are trained in methods for blocking sensory cues, be present during the testing of psychics.
In 1974, William E. Cox organized a Society of American Magicians to 'investigate false claims of ESP'.Geller was tested by several magicians of the Society of American Magicians and impressed them by some positive test results which their scrutiny could find no fraud. For example, William E. Cox held a robust key with one finger on a table and watched as it bent with Geller in view, and noticed no trickery

Friday, December 9, 2011

Succes 2011: Paloma Picasso, fashion designer and businesswoman, best known for her jewelry designs and signature perfumes. She is the youngest daughter of famed 20th-century artist Pablo Picasso and painter and writer Françoise Gilot

Anne Paloma Picasso (born 19 April 1949 in Vallauris, France) known professionally as Paloma Picasso, is a French/Spanish fashion designer and businesswoman, best known for her jewelry designs and signature perfumes. She is the youngest daughter of famed 20th-century artist Pablo Picasso and painter and writer Françoise Gilot. Paloma Picasso's older brother is Claude, her half brother is Paulo and her half sister is Maya.
Paloma literally means "dove" (or "pigeon") in Spanish. Paloma Picasso is represented in many of her father's works, such as Paloma with an Orange and Paloma in Blue.
Paloma Picasso lives in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Paloma Picasso's jewelry career began in 1968, when she was a costume designer in Paris. She loved clothes. Some rhinestone necklaces she had created from flea markets drew attention from critics, and she enrolled in a jewelry course. Soon, Yves Saint Laurent asked her to design accessories to accompany one of his collections, and by 1971 she was working for the Greek jewelry company Zolotas.
She also designed sets for playwright and director Rafael Lopez-Cambil (also known as Rafael Lopez-Sanchez), whom she later married.

In 1980 Picasso began designing jewelry for Tiffany & Co. of New York. Her early creations mixed color and varying gemstones in bold designs. She had long used the dove symbol and the color red as signatures of her work which she exploited throughout her career.

Soon Picasso branched into new areas of design when in 1984 she began experimenting with fragrance, creating the very successful "Paloma" perfume for L'Oréal. Her husband, Lopez-Cambil, developed the visual image for the perfume with red and black packaging and shaped bottle. In the New York Post Picasso described it as intended for "strong women like herself". A cosmetics and bath line including body lotion, powder, shower gel, and soap were produced in the same year.

Picasso, known for her bold colors and books, took her home accessories in a new direction. The once bright primary colors gave way to gray, gold, and tan. This shift was also reflected in Picasso’s personal appearance since she dispensed with the fire-engine-red lipstick favored by her since the age of 17.

Picasso briefly lost interest in designing following the death of her father in 1973, at which time she played Countess Erzsébet Báthory in Polish filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk's erotic film, Immoral Tales (1974), receiving praise from the critics for her beauty. She has not acted since.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Succes 2011: Ernest Brandt, an eyewitness to the John F. Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas

Ernest Brandt is an  assassination eyewitness who did not come forward until the 1990s. Since his first public interview in 1993, Brandt has been a regular fixture in Dealey Plaza on the annual assassination anniversary.

He never imagined he would witness one of the most significant events in American history.

Ernest Brandt was even captured in the Zapruder film as the first shot was fired.

On Nov. 22, 1963, a 37-year-old Brandt was lunching near Downtown with a business associate. Brandt mentioned that J.F. Kennedy would be routing through Dallas in about half an hour. The associate said he’d like to see the motorcade.

They wanted to avoid the dense crowd, Brandt and his associate decided to post-up at Dealey Plaza, the last block of Kennedy’s route, where the crowd had thinned.

John F. Kennedy was shot at 12:30 p.m., just 15 feet from where Brandt, his associate and the lady in the blue dress stood.

Since witnessing the Kennedy assassination, Brandt has spent decades researching and discussing the events of the day. He has appeared on numerous TV shows, including “48 Hours” with Dan Rather in 1995. He has recounted his eyewitness account to students, conspiracy theorists and tourists. Brandt even volunteered as a tour guide at the Sixth Floor Museum for three years, and he taught a series of JFK classes at the University of Texas.


Monday, November 28, 2011

Dr. Ei-ichi Negishi, japanese chemist, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Ei-ichi Negishi (根岸 英一 Negishi Eiichi, born July 14, 1935) is a Japanese chemist who has spent most of his career at Purdue University, United States. He is best known for his discovery of the Negishi coupling. He was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for palladium catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis" jointly with Richard F. Heck and Akira Suzuki.
Negishi was born in Hsinking, the capital of the Manchukuo, now Changchun of China. He brought up in Seoul, at that time the capital of Japanese-colonial Korea, now the capital of Republic of Korea. He graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1958, and did his internship at Teijin. He went on to study in the United States and obtained his PhD from University of Pennsylvania in 1963 under the supervision of professor Allan R. Day.
In 1966, He became a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University, and became assistant professor in 1968, working with Nobel laureate Herbert C. Brown. In 1972, he went on to become associate professor at Syracuse University where, in 1979, he was promoted to professor. In the same year, he went back to Purdue University.
In 2000, he was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry's Sir Edward Frankland Prize Lectureship.
In 2011, he was awarded the honorary doctor of science degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Succes 2011: Victoria Azarenka, professional tennis player, world no. 3 in WTA. Famous for the noise she makes when hitting the ball. In Wimbledon 2011 she grunted at 95 decibels. Her average screams were recorded to last 1.5 seconds

Victoria Azarenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Her career high and current ranking is world no. 3, which she first achieved on 12 September 2011. She became the highest-ranked Belarusian player ever, surpassing Natasha Zvereva by two spots.
Azarenka has won two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles: at the 2007 US Open with Max Mirnyi and at the 2008 French Open with Bob Bryan. She has won seven singles titles, including the Sony Ericsson Open in 2009 and 2011 and has made one Grand Slam semifinal appearance at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and five quarterfinal appearances overall.At 14 years old, Azarenka moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, in the United States, from Minsk, Belarus to be able to train in better conditions. At this time, she was aided by National Hockey League goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and his wife, who is a friend of Azarenka's mother.

Azarenka began her year at the Medibank International as the seventh seed, where she lost to Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals, 3-6, 2-6. At the 2011 Australian Open Azarenka was seeded eighth. She lost to the ninth seed and eventual finalist, Li Na, 3-6, 3-6, in the fourth round. Azarenka partnered with Maria Kirilenko in the women's doubles event, but the pair lost to Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta in the final.
Azarenka then travelled to Israel to compete in Fed Cup. Belarus beat Croatia, Austria, and Greece in the group stage, without losing a match. The Belarusian team then defeated Poland 2–0 to qualify for the World Group II play-Offs in April where they played Estonia.
Azarenka's next tournament was the 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was seeded 7th. She lost to Flavia Pennetta in the third round. Azarenka then competed at the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open as the sixth seed, but lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the first round in three sets, 6–4, 1–6, 2–6.
Azarenka's next event was the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, where she competed as the eighth seed. She retired in the quarterfinals against world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, whilst trailing 0-3, due to a left leg injury. She also became the second person to defeat both Radwańska sisters in the same tournament.
Azarenka then competed at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open as the eighth seed. She reached her second final at the event, where she defeated sixteenth seed Maria Sharapova, 6–1, 6–4 to win the title.

At the 2011 Andalucia Tennis Experience, Azarenka was the top seed and dropped only fourteen games on her way to the final. She defeated Irina-Camelia Begu, 6–3, 6–2, in the final. Azarenka's victory, and Samantha Stosur's inability to defend her points at Charleston, ensured that Azarenka would reach a career high of world no. 5. She then participated in Belarus' 5–0 win over Estonia in the Fed Cup, registering a 6–2, 6–0 win in her singles rubber. In her next tournament the 2011 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Azarenka retired after the first set of her first match, having won the first set 6–4 against Julia Goerges, ending her 12-match winning streak. Ironically, Julia went on to win the tournament.
At the 2011 Madrid Masters, Azarenka was seeded fourth. She lost in the final in straight sets to Petra Kvitová, but still rose to a career-high world no. 4. Azarenka then reached the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, where she was up a set before retiring to eventual champion Maria Sharapova.Azarenka was the fourth seed at the 2011 French Open. She beat Andrea Hlaváčková in the first round, Pauline Parmentier in the second round, 30th seed Roberta Vinci in the third round, and Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round to reach her fourth career Grand Slam quarterfinal. She lost to Li Na in the quarterfinals.
Azarenka was the fourth seed at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. She beat 25th seed Daniela Hantuchová in a three-set third-round match, before beating Nadia Petrova. She followed that up with an easy victory over Tamira Paszek, advancing to the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time. Azarenka was beaten by Czech player and eventual champion Petra Kvitová, going down in three sets, 1–6, 6–3, 2–6.
Her next tournament was the 2011 Bank of the West Classic, where she was the defending champion and top seed. Azarenka was ousted by 124th-ranked Marina Erakovic from New Zealand in the second round. Despite her 'horrible match' in singles, Azarenka claimed the doubles title with partner Kirilenko.
The next tournament Azarenka played was the 2011 Rogers Cup, where she was seeded fourth. After a bye, Azarenka crushed Stephanie Dubois, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, and Galina Voskoboeva, before being stopped by Serena Williams in the semifinals, 3-6, 3-6. Azarenka reached the doubles final with Kirilenko, but the team was forced to withdraw because of a hand injury to Azarenka.
Azarenka pulled out of the 2011 Western & Southern Open with the same injury.
Azarenka's next tournament was the 2011 US Open, where she was seeded fourth. She made it to the third round, where she was defeated by Serena Williams, 1–6, 6–7(5). Despite the early loss, she reached a new career high of no. 3 in the world.
Azarenka reached the semifinals of the 2011 Toray Pan Pacific Open, losing to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska. In doing so she qualified for the year-end championships in Istanbul.
The Belarusian participated in the China Open, the last of the four mandatory events for 2011, as the second seed. She defeated Polona Hercog in the second round, after receiving a first-round bye. She then withdrew from the tournament citing a right foot strain.
Azarenka would win her third title of the year at the 2011 BGL Luxembourg Open, defeating Monica Niculescu in the final.
Azarenka was placed in the White Group at the 2011 WTA Tour Championships. She beat Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-2 and Li Na 6-2, 6-2 in her first two Round Robin matches. She secured the move to the semifinals despite her loss in three sets, 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, to Marion Bartoli, a substitute for Maria Sharapova. She then beat Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-3 to move to the final where she lost to Petra Kvitova 5-7, 6-4, 3-6.

Azarenka has been criticized by ex-professionals for the noise she makes when hitting the ball. During the 2010 Australian Open quarterfinal between Azarenka and Serena Williams, ex-pro Pam Shriver, who was providing court-side commentary, noted that Azarenka's screams were so long that she was still yelling when Williams returned the ball. She has also been noted for her tendency to lose her temper during matches. In Wimbledon 2011 she grunted at 95 decibels, which caused the chief executive of the All England Lawn and Tennis Club Ian Ritchie to raise the issue with the press. He issued the following statement – "Officials would prefer to see less grunting". Her average screams were recorded to last 1.5 seconds.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Succes 2011: Clint Hill, former US Secret Service agent who was in the presidential motorcade during the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He is the last surviving passenger of the presidential limousine which arrived at Parkland

Clinton J. Hill (born 1932) is a former United States Secret Service agent who was in the presidential motorcade during the assassination of John F. Kennedy. After Kennedy was shot, Hill ran from the car immediately behind the presidential limousine and leapt onto the back of it, holding on while the car raced to Parkland Memorial Hospital. This action was documented in the famous Zapruder film. Hill is the last surviving passenger of the presidential limousine which arrived at Parkland.
Hill, a native of Washburn, ND, attended Concordia College (Moorhead) in Moorhead, MN where he played football, studied history, and was a 1954 graduate. After college he was assigned to the Denver office of Secret Service in 1958. After John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States, Hill was assigned to protect the First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy. Hill became a nationally-known figure upon the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
Hill remained assigned to Mrs. Kennedy and the children until after the 1964 presidential election. He then was assigned to President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House. In 1967, when Johnson was still in office, he became the Special Agent in Charge (SAIC) of Presidential protection. When Richard Nixon came into office, he moved over to SAIC of protection of Vice President Spiro Agnew. Finally, Hill was assigned to headquarters as the Assistant Director of the Secret Service for all protection. He retired in 1975.

President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, during a motorcade through the city while en route to a luncheon at the Dallas Trade Mart. The President and Mrs. Kennedy were riding in an open limousine containing three rows of seats. The Kennedys were in the rear seat of the car, and the Governor of Texas, John Connally, and his wife, Nellie Connally, were in the middle row. Secret Service agent William Greer was driving and the president's bodyguard, Roy Kellerman, was also in the front seat.
Hill was riding in the car that was immediately behind the presidential limousine. As soon as the shooting began, Hill jumped out and began running to overtake the moving car in front of him with the plan to climb on from the rear bumper and crawl over the trunk to the back seat where the President and First Lady were located.
Hill grabbed a small handrail on the left rear of the trunk that was normally used by bodyguards to stabilize themselves while standing on small platforms on the rear bumper. According to the Warren Commission's findings there were no bodyguards stationed on the bumper that day because
...the President had frequently stated that he did not want agents to ride on these steps during a motorcade except when necessary. He had repeated this wish only a few days before, during his visit to Tampa, FL. .
The notion that the President's instructions in Tampa jeopardized his security in Dallas has since been denied by Hill and other agents. Regardless of Kennedy's statement photos taken of the motorcade along earlier segments of the route show Hill riding on the step at the back of the car.
As an alternate explanation fellow agent Gerald Blaine cites the location of the shooting:
We were going into a freeway, and that's where you take the speeds up to 60 and 70 miles an hour. So we would not have had any agents there anyway.
Hill grabbed the handrail less than two seconds after the fatal shot to the President. The driver then accelerated, causing the car to slip away from Hill, who was in the midst of trying to leap on to it. He succeeded in regaining his footing and jumped on to the back of the quickly accelerating vehicle.
As he got on, he saw Mrs. Kennedy, apparently in shock, crawling onto the flat rear trunk of the moving limousine (he later told the Warren Commission that he thought Mrs. Kennedy was reaching for a piece of the President's skull which had been blown off). Agent Hill crawled to her and guided the First Lady back into her seat. Once back in the car, Hill placed his body above the President and Mrs. Kennedy. Meanwhile, in the folding jump seats directly in front of them, Mrs. Connally had pulled her wounded husband, Governor John Connally, to a prone position on her lap.
Agent Kellerman, in the front seat of the car, gave orders over the car's two-way radio to the lead vehicle in the procession "To the nearest hospital, quick!" Hill was shouting as loudly as he could "To the hospital, to the hospital!" Enroute to the hospital, Hill flashed a "thumbs-down" signal and shook his head from side to side at the agents in the followup car, signaling the graveness of the President's condition.
As the car moved at high speed to the hospital, Hill maintained his position shielding the couple with his body, and was looking down at the mortally wounded President. Agent Hill later testified:
The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car.
Mrs. Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not, except for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head.
The limousine then rapidly exited Dealey Plaza and sped to Parkland Memorial Hospital, only minutes away, followed by other vehicles in the motorcade.
Although the Secret Service was shocked at its failure to protect the life of President Kennedy, virtually everyone agreed that Clint Hill's rapid and brave actions had been without blemish. He was honored at a ceremony in Washington just days after the funeral of John F. Kennedy. Mrs. Kennedy, despite being in deep mourning, made a rare appearance at this same event to personally thank him.
n a 1975 interview with Mike Wallace, Hill tearfully surmised that if he had reached the vehicle a second earlier, he would have been able to have taken the third shot to his own body, and felt a great deal of regret for not being able to reach there in time.
In the two-part Quantum Leap episode "Lee Harvey Oswald", Dr. Sam Beckett leapt out of Oswald and into Clint Hill. While this did not stop the President from being assassinated, in the "original" history, Oswald also assassinated Mrs. Kennedy, which Beckett/Hill prevented.