plus 3, Politely, Canada kicked butt - Burlington Free Press

Politely, Canada kicked butt - Burlington Free Press
U2 Leads Money Makes List WIth $108 Million - digtriad.com
American Idol Judge Kara DioGuardi - LA House on Real Estate Market - National Ledger
Most Bizarre House Pets - Channel NewsAsia

Politely, Canada kicked butt - Burlington Free Press

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 08:02 PM PST

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Green and gold

America had more success than anyone. Its 37 total medals tie for the most won by any country at a Winter Olympics.

Among that haul are three medals made in Vermont. Kearney's gold was joined by the silver and bronze won by Hannah Teter of Belmont and Kelly Clark of West Dover in the women's halfpipe event.

As with nearly every medal winner here, each Vermonter had a great backstory.

Kearney, deflated by her Olympic failure in Torino, was ready to quit competitive skiing until a doctor's diagnosis of a blown-out knee reminded her how important it was to her. "I burst into tears," she recalled. "Maybe I really, really care about this sport."

She committed to her craft, and that commitment was rewarded with gold.

Her snowboarding cousins, Teter and Clark, already knew that reward. Teter was the gold medalist in Torino and parlayed that talent and fame into helping others. "People have all kinds of hobbies," she said. "Mine is charity."

All of her winnings the past three years have gone to relief work. This year's spoils are bound for Doctors Without Borders' efforts to help Haiti recover from a devastating earthquake. She said the thing she appreciated most about her silver medal was the cold cash it would bring to help others.

Clark's story may be most poignant. She thrust herself into the spotlight in 2002 with a gold-medal ride at Salt Lake City. A high-flyer at 18, her golden formula that day in Utah included pumping Blink 182's anthem "This Is Growing Up" through her headphones.

She didn't know the half of it. An instant celebrity, she did Letterman and Leno and took congratulatory phone calls from the likes of Britney Spears. It was all a little too much for a kid who eight months earlier had played first doubles on Brattleboro High's girls tennis team.

Clark turned to Christianity, and it brought her peace. She still had the fire to compete, though, and after finishing fourth in Torino, she recognized she needed to start over as a snowboarder.

Her bronze, bound for a showcase at her parents' restaurant near the foot of Mount Snow, was the reward for that rededication. It outshines the Salt Lake gold in her heart.

"Medals are a really funny thing because when you see them, they're prestigious and you can stand in awe of them," Clark said. "But I think to the person who receives them, they mean so much more.

"I see so much more in this medal than I did in Salt Lake because I know how hard I had to work to get here."

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U2 Leads Money Makes List WIth $108 Million - digtriad.com

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 07:40 PM PST

New York, NY -- If money makes the world go round, then U2's latest tour, which is dubbed "360 Degrees," proves this saying true.

The veteran act leads Billboard's 2010 Money Makers list, earning more than $108 million in 2009.

Bruce Springsteen is second with $57 million and Madonna follows with $47 million. AC/DC and Britney Spears round out the top 5 with $43 and $38 million, respectively.

Billboard compiles the list from monies earned through tours, CD and digital sales, publishing royalties and more.

Madonna topped the list last year; Springsteen came in third. Both U2 and Madonna have touring deals with Live Nation.
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On the Net:
http://www.billboard.com/

Associated Press

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American Idol Judge Kara DioGuardi - LA House on Real Estate Market - National Ledger

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 07:19 PM PST

What housing slide? American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi has put her Los Angeles home on the market. The Spanish-style home in the Hollywood Hills is listed for sale at $1,649,000. Public records show DioGuardi bought the two-story house in 2004 for $1,199,000.

She married Maine home builder Mike McCuddy last year and it is believed the couple have bought a new home together. The gated house, built in 1964, has city and canyon views, wood-beamed ceilings, extensive decks, an outdoor cedar sauna and a spa.

There are three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms in more than 2,700 square feet while a guest unit has its own entrance, living room, kitchen and bathroom. DioGuardi, 39, joined the panel of the Fox singing competition in 2009.

She has written hundreds of songs, including more than 165 on multi-platinum albums, and she has worked with Celine Dion, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Pink and American Idol winner Kris Allen, among others.

(Image: Splash News)

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Most Bizarre House Pets - Channel NewsAsia

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 07:19 PM PST

In 2009's smash comedy The Hangover, the drug-addled protagonists make off with boxer Mike Tyson's pet tiger. It's a hilarious vignette--and funnier still when you consider how many people in the real world in fact keep tigers, and all sorts of other unlikely beasts, as pets.

While only 3,500 tigers still roam the wild, Americans now own a staggering 10,000 of them. The heart of captive tiger country is Texas, where some 5,000 big cats live in backyards, cages and, gulp!, open ranches--no permits required. For all their majesty, tigers sell for a song: A young cub in good health can be had for the cost of a purebred dog, about $1,000, though "the meat bill is big," says Christopher Cutter, spokesman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). That's why tiger owners often cut deals on road kill with highway patrol. Then there's tiger insurance, for which Tyson has been known to pay $1,100 a month.

It's downright shocking the lengths to which some humans will go for companionship. "People own pretty much anything you can imagine," says Cutter, who stresses that the IFAW does not condone domesticating large carnivores. "I'm not sure what makes them do it, but you can get a hold of just about any animal these days and people do."

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More inconceivably, they let the animals breed. Last year New Jersey authorities called in the IFAW to help confiscate 24 tigers from a woman raising them in a suburban home. The great cats lived in a mishmash of shipping containers, industrial fencing and plywood behind the house. A year before that, the IFAW found a Nevada man keeping six tigers and a cheetah.

Tigers not weird enough for you? Here are some of the most bizarre yet very real house pets. For an entire list of 12--and they are worth a look--check out our slideshow.

Hippopotamuses

Hippos don't make ideal pets--mainly because they will kill you. (Hippos kill more people than any other animal in Africa.) But one, known as Jessica, is the darling of Tonie Joubert, a retired game warden in South Africa, and his wife. Jessica weighs nearly 1,000 pounds and regularly saunters into Joubert's house for a two-liter of sweetened coffee. She sleeps on the patio in a blanket with the couple's dogs. While Jessica can open doorknobs with her mouth, she's hard on the furniture: Casualties include a couch and three beds--another reason only a few dozen hippos are now pets.

Sugar Gliders

These little Australian critters--a cross between a squirrel and a chipmunk, with a badger face--glide from tree to tree using flaps of skin between their body and arms. Cute, yes; easy to care for, no. They require at least one hour of socialization a day lest they get depressed, says Blake. They also prefer live grubs, crickets and other insects. Then, of course, they'll want to do that gliding thing--and most people don't have the room at home for that. If they make it to your yard's maple or oak tree, you'll likely never see them again.

Alligators

America is home to thousands of pet alligators. President John Quincy Adams kept one at the White House for a time, and Miami Vice fans may recall Don Johnson's toothy pal, Elvis. While gators, which can grow to 12 feet, have made a comeback in the U.S. (after being hunted to near oblivion in the 20th century), they are illegal in many states as pets. That's probably wise given their appetite for just about everything: mammals, fowl, fish--and the occasional foot.

Bears

Yes, there are people who really do keep pet bears (black ones, not ferocious grizzlies), according to the folks at the IFAW. This, even though black bears can grow to 600 pounds and dispatch a human very quickly. One Massachusetts man, Kenneth Billiel, found a black bear cub in his yard and raised it past 100 pounds, at which point it was putting holes in walls. Authorities later confiscated the bear, but there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other pet bears in the U.S., confirms IFAW's Cutter.

Cockroaches

Roaches, pet lovers say, are great starter pets for children. The Madagascar hissing cockroach can grow to four inches long and one-inch wide. (Fly swatters? Think again.) As their name suggests, these ghastly critters let loose a tingling hiss when they're agitated. Now imagine a whole colony hissing and living in a big tank in your house. Like they say, greater starter pets.

Sharks

It takes a lot of water--at least 500 gallons--and plenty of attention to keep a shark at home. But then there's the cool factor! Celebrities including Nicolas Cage and Ice-T have kept sharks. So has Britney Spears' ex-husband, Kevin Federline (which may be an indication that sharks have, er, "jumped the shark"). Two years ago in Manhattan's West Village neighborhood, pedestrians were awed by a giant, illuminated shark tank in a second-floor apartment window. Resident Larry Saul was no celeb--just a child psychiatrist, family man and black-tip-reef-shark enthusiast.

For people searching for everything from hippos to falcons (and who are no fans of human houseguests), one source stands out: the Animal Finder's Guide, a veritable Craigslist of exotic pets and animals. An annual subscription of 18 issues costs $30. Articles range from "Capturing Exotic Animals" to "In Business With Alternative Livestock." Just mind your extremities.

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