ESPN.com: College Football    

Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Nathan Williams expected to debut
By Adam Rittenberg
ESPN.com

Ohio State junior defensive end Nathan Williams is expected to make his season debut Saturday against No. 12 Miami, although likely in a limited role.

Williams entered preseason camp as a projected starter but sustained a sprained left knee and missed several weeks. He practiced Sunday, and Buckeyes head coach Jim Tressel expects him to practice Tuesday afternoon.

"He'll be ready to go [for the game]," Tressel said, "but the question is what type of football shape he'll be in because he missed significant time in the preseason."

The 6-foot-3, 260-pound Williams recorded 26 tackles, including eight for loss and three sacks in 2009. Solomon Thomas started in his place Thursday in the season opener against Marshall.

Tressel also said Tuesday that linebacker Etienne Sabino, once thought to be the front-runner for a starting job, is likely headed for a redshirt season after being beaten out by Andrew Sweat.

Adam Rittenberg covers Big Ten football for ESPN.com. He can be reached at espnritt@gmail.com.

Major Earth quake is over due in So Cal.

Ice Cap Melting Rate Slashed By Half

PARIS (AFP) - – Estimates of the rate of ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica, one of the most worrying questions in the global warming debate, should be halved, according to Dutch and US scientists.
 
In the last two years, several teams have estimated Greenland is shedding roughly 230 gigatonnes of ice, or 230 billion tonnes, per year and West Antarctica around 132 gigatonnes annually.
 
Together, that would account for more than half of the annual three-millimetre (0.2 inch) yearly rise in sea levels, a pace that compares dramatically with 1.8mm (0.07 inches) annually in the early 1960s.
 
But, according to the new study, published in the September issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, the ice estimates fail to correct for a phenomenon known as glacial isostatic adjustment.
 
This is the term for the rebounding of Earth's crust following the last Ice Age.
 
Glaciers that were kilometers (miles) thick smothered Antarctica and most of the northern hemisphere for tens of thousands of years, compressing the elastic crust beneath it with their titanic weight.
 
When the glaciers started to retreat around 20,000 years ago, the crust started to rebound, and is still doing so.
 
This movement, though, is not just a single vertical motion, lead researcher Bert Vermeersen of Delft Technical University, in the Netherlands, said in phone interview with AFP.

http://www.thefoxnation.com/climate-change/2010/09/07/ice-cap-melting-rate-slashed-half

Independents break election deadlock in Australia

(CNN) -- Two independent lawmakers from rural Australia broke a parliamentary deadlock on Tuesday, giving the country its first elected female prime minister.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who replaced Kevin Rudd as leader of the center-left Labor Party in June, now has the votes to form a government, but lacks a mandate.

A national election on August 21 didn't produce a clear winner. That pitted Gillard against conservative Tony Abbott in the quest for the independents' support. Gillard and Abbott needed 76 votes for a parliamentary majority.

Independent parliament members Bob Katter, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor held the upper hand in down-to-the-wire political deal-making. In the final hour, Katter announced that he would cast his vote with Abbott. Then Windsor and Oakeshott sided with Gillard.

At a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, Windsor and Oakeshott spelled out how they made their decisions.

They described negotiation points that included the need to balance rural priorities with urban ones, such as broadband access and education.

"No one in any city needs to be scared. We are asking for equity," Oakeshott said.

He described extensive talks with Gillard and Abbott, and disenfranchised groups, before he and Windsor made their choice.

Oakeshott also stressed that Gillard lacks a mandate, and that the independents' continuing support depends on Gillard's government keeping faith.

Balancing urban-rural priorities and dealing with immigration and an aging workforce are among Australia's top political issues.

The country's economy has stayed relatively strong despite the global economic crisis. The demand for commodities from trading partners such as China have helped bolster resource-rich Australia.

In July, the country posted a 5.2 percent unemployment rate, according to the Australia Bureau of Statistics. By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate stood at 9.6 percent in August.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/07/australia.election/index.html

Van der Sloot: I've 'misused' Holloway case 'for my own advantage'

(CNN) -- In a jailhouse interview with a Dutch television station, Joran van der Sloot said he is remorseful for telling so many stories regarding the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, but once again denied culpability in the case.

"For everything that's happened since 2005, all the things said in the media and everything, I feel guilty for, yeah," van der Sloot, 22, said in the interview, portions of which were aired on NBC's "Today" on Tuesday.

The Dutch citizen is jailed in Lima, Peru, where he is awaiting trial on a murder charge in the death of Peruvian student Stephany Flores. Her body was found in May in a hotel room registered to van der Sloot, which the two were seen entering on surveillance camera video. He also is charged with a count of wire fraud and a count of extortion in Alabama for allegedly trying to extort more than $250,000 from Holloway's family in return for disclosing the location of her body.

Holloway was last seen in the early hours of May 30, 2005, leaving an Oranjestad, Aruba, nightclub with van der Sloot and two other men, brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. She was visiting the island with about 100 classmates to celebrate their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in suburban Birmingham, Alabama.

Van der Sloot was arrested twice in Aruba in connection with Holloway's disappearance, but was never charged. He has denied responsibility for her disappearance.

In the interview, van der Sloot said he feels guilty about his father's fatal heart attack, for not listening to his mother and for telling lies, as well as his past behavior.

"I was doing a lot of things that I shouldn't have been doing, and mostly only going out all the night and sleeping all the day," he said, describing himself as "impulsive."

Asked why he's told so many different stories about the Holloway case, he said, "There were people who were paying me to make up stories, and I was really good at making up stories. Everybody keeps coming at you asking questions ... if you want something, I'll tell you whatever you want to hear, sure."

Still, he said, he has "misused the situation for my own advantage." He said he feels bad about that and would take it back if he had the opportunity.

It's a familiar refrain, said John Q. Kelly, an attorney for Holloway's mother, Beth Twitty.

"He's always a victim. He's always seeking attention. He's always misunderstood and someday he's absolutely going to tell the truth," Kelly said on NBC. "... He's a pathological liar."

He said it was van der Sloot who contacted him about revealing the location of Holloway's body in exchange for payment. "We knew he was going to lie, and was going to make up the basis for wire fraud," Kelly said.

"It's attention-seeking behavior, as simple as that," he said. "He wants to be in the spotlight ... he just can't help himself."

Van der Sloot would not answer questions about the Flores case, saying it is "not in my best interest to talk about it at all." But he maintains police tricked him into making a confession, saying they would not let him call his mother, talk to anyone or arrange for an attorney.

Police said van der Sloot admitted that he attacked Flores, 21, on May 30 after she read an e-mail in his computer connected with the Holloway case. After killing Flores, police say, van der Sloot took money and bank cards from her wallet and fled to Chile, where he was arrested June 3.

He was returned the next day to Peru.

Asked about the extortion case, van der Sloot said, "I have had five years long that people have just been blaming me for something, and yeah, I have a lot of anger built up because of that." He said the Holloway family kept insisting he had information, and wanted to give him the money, so he thought, "I've already told a lot of different stories. I'll do it again." He added, "I know it's very wrong."

On Twitty's reaction to that statement, Kelly said, "I think in deference to Beth, I won't repeat what she said about what he had to say."

He said he isn't surprised that van der Sloot admitted the extortion, saying he has more than three weeks of e-mails between himself and van der Sloot, as well as audio and videotapes.

Van der Sloot said in the interview he wished he'd gone along with his mother's plan and sought psychiatric treatment, but instead he took the money and went to Peru to gamble, according to NBC.

Van der Sloot also spoke about Flores' family, saying, "I feel really bad that her family had to lose a daughter. It really does hurt me. I think about it all the time."

Asked if he will ever disclose what happened, he said, "When I speak to the judge, and the time is right, I'm going to tell the whole truth, absolutely."

"I've got 20 e-mails where he says he's very sorry for what happened, he's going to tell the truth, absolutely," Kelly said. "... He's just incapable of it."

He said if van der Sloot ever does tell the truth, he believes it will be out of a sense of self-preservation and fear -- not his conscience or respect for either Holloway's or his own family.

In the interview, van der Sloot acknowledged he has a "web of problems. But I created all of them myself, so yeah, I have to deal with it now, deal with the consequences."

Van der Sloot also admitted he extorted money from Holloway's family in an interview with a Dutch newspaper. His attorney in the Flores case suggested Monday that his comments may have been mis-translated.

In that interview, van der Sloot told the Telegraph he wanted to "get back at Natalee's family. Her parents have been making my life tough for years."

"When they offered to pay for the girl's location, I thought: 'Why not?'" he said.

"Maybe there were some mistakes in the translation," said attorney Maximo Alteza, who said he is not involved in the Holloway case.

Also Monday, a Peruvian court voted 2-1 to reject van der Sloot's contention that he is being held unlawfully, but the court requires three votes to secure a decision. Alteza said that a fourth jurist will hear the case and cast a vote at a public hearing next week. If that judge votes in favor of van der Sloot, a fifth judge will hear the case to break the tie.

Alteza said that van der Sloot's constitutional rights have been violated and he "could be released because of the mistakes made by the police during the investigation."

But Kelly pointed out Tuesday that if he is released, van der Sloot will be held in Alabama on the charges related to extortion.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/07/peru.vandersloot/index.html

Van Der Sloot speaks out from behind bars

In an American primetime exclusive, the chief suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, Joran Van der Sloot, is speaking out for the first time since his arrest three months ago in Peru for the murder of a young Peruvian woman, Stephany Flores. In the interview, licensed by NBC News, Van der Sloot admits to feelings of guilt, makes some startling admissions and shares some new details about the alleged crimes against him and his relationship with the Holloways.

"Joran Van der Sloot: Behind Bars," reported on by Chris Hansen, will air this Friday, Sept. 10 (10:00-11:00 PM/ET) on "Dateline." For the report, Hansen retraces Van der Sloot's jet-setting odyssey across four continents with exclusive details and photos, and interviews the veteran Dutch crime reporter John van den Heuvel who conducted the interview with him last week at Lima's Miguel Castro-Castro prison. Heuvel will also appear on TODAY, Wednesday, Sept. 8 (7:00 AM/ET).

Read more...

Dell prepares for Windows XP's final act

by Ina Fried

Dell said on Tuesday that it plans later this month to stop selling PCs downgraded to Windows XP, ahead of next month's deadline to stop nearly all shipments of PCs running the older operating system.

Microsoft ended sales of Windows XP some time ago, but has continued to allow PC makers to sell Windows 7 machines that are "factory downgraded" to the older operating system. However, even that option is set to end October 22 for Dell and other PC makers.


"This means that we will stop offering XP as an option for customers starting this month in preparation for next month's deadline," Dell said in a blog post. The company plans to continue offering driver support for Windows XP until December 2012.

Although Microsoft is requiring PC makers to stop selling PCs with Windows XP running, the computer maker has agreed to continue to give customers with Windows 7 Professional the right to downgrade to XP through the entire life cycle of Windows 7. It had originally planned to end that right with the shipment of Windows 7 Service Pack 1--a move that would have meant that companies' right to downgrade machines would have varied from computer to computer.

Volume licensing customers have always had additional options when it comes to running older versions of Windows--including XP. Dell will continue to offer some customers the ability to use a Windows XP image on their corporate computers.

"After the October 22 date, qualified customers will still be able to get systems with Windows XP through Dell's Custom Factory Integration service," the company said.

The nearly decade-old Windows XP has been slowly exiting the stage for some time. Sales of most PCs running XP ended in 2008, although Microsoft allowed sales to continue longer on Netbooks and in some emerging markets, in addition to allowing the downgrade option to continue.

Although it has now been superseded by both Windows Vista and Windows 7, XP remains the most used version of Microsoft's operating system. According to Net Applications, XP is used on three in five computers accessing the Web as compared to Windows 7, which runs on nearly 16 percent of machines and Windows Vista, which is used on 14 percent of computers.

Operating System Market Share   August, 2010


http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20015725-56.html

We could do a time share on house out there.