Tracy Morgan of '30 Rock' collapses at Sundance (AP)

PARK CITY, Utah ? Comedian and "30 Rock" cast member Tracy Morgan says he'll be back at work Tuesday after being hospitalized while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

Morgan's publicist, Lewis Kay, says the actor suffered from exhaustion and altitude when he collapsed Sunday in Park City, where the elevation is 7,000 feet.

Morgan posted Monday on Twitter that the high altitude "shook up this kid from Brooklyn."

Kay says hospital officials report no drugs or alcohol were found in Morgan's system.

Morgan attended Sundance in connection with the comedy film "Predisposed," one of the 100 films at the festival, in which he plays a drug dealer named Sprinkles.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_en_ot/us_film_sundance_tracy_morgan

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Seal "Shocked" By Heidi Klum Divorce

Mere hours after Heidi Klum and Seal confirmed their divorce, interviews between Seal and Ellen DeGeneres (airing today) and PBS' Tavis Smiley (Friday) hit the web.

The topic of his separation was not off the table. Not even close.

About to embark on a new album tour, Seal is more than willing to openly speak about what shocked us - and himself, apparently. "I think we were shocked," he said.

Seal on Ellen

"You go into these things with the greatest intentions when you say 'I do' and you say ''Till death do us part.' Those vows hold value," the singer told Ellen.

"They are not just words. These things happen. We pretty much said how we feel and made it clear in the release statement."

"But, for intents and purposes of this show, you just grow apart after awhile. You try and you work through it and the thing that you quickly realize when you are married and you become a parent is you do the best that you can."

"It makes you actually appreciate your parents a lot more."

"The thing that I'm most proud about this great woman who married - and I really do mean that from the bottom of my heart - is that together she has given me four incredible gifts, four beautiful children. 

"She still, in my opinion, the most wonderful woman in the world."

"I think our priority was to remain civil and do this thing with dignity. We still very much love each other. It's not a question of we were never to follow suit of some breakup or separations that you hear about, especially in our industry."

"It's a shame. To say that neither of us were grieving would be an out and out lie, and I don't mind telling you that. We both have a tremendous amount of respect and love and we try and do this with as much dignity as we possibly can."

"And of course, when you have four children, you hope and pray that the rest of the world will respect that we have four children and that their little hearts are at stake, too."

Here's Seal on Tavis Smiley's show as well:

Seal on Tavis Smiley

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/seal-shocked-by-heidi-klum-divorce/

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Audyssey Audio Dock Air

The past year brought us the first AirPlay speaker systems?speaker docks that stream audio wirelessly from Apple iOS products and some computers via a Wi-Fi signal. After the Editors' Choice Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air ($599.95, 4 stars) debuted Apple's integrated streaming audio technology, only a few offerings have actually been released. Joining the Zeppelin Air and the significantly less successful JBL On Air Wireless ($349.95, 2.5 stars) is the Audyssey Audio Dock Air, at $399.99. Deep bass lovers will enjoy the exaggerated low-end response of the Audyssey Dock; audiophiles will want to steer clear. Unfortunately, the dock suffers from some stream interruption issues that no one will enjoy, and this knocks its rating down a bit. However, an update to iOS will reportedly contain a fix for the streaming issue, so we will revisit this review when and if that occurs.

Design
Measuring 8.3 by 4.8 by 8.5 inches (HWD), the Audyssey Audio Dock resembles an upright square. Like most AirPlay docks, it has very few buttons and uses black felt to cover its drivers. It's almost as if Apple has specific design rules for AirPlay docks, so that they will all resemble a family of Apple-esque products. (If you detect sarcasm, it's because, in all likelihood, Apple is very much involved in the streamlined designs of all of these docks). The unadorned black felt speaker panels face in opposite directions, spreading the reach of the audio, for sure, but not necessarily increasing the width of the stereo field much, since both left and right channels originate from essentially the same spot once you're a foot or so away. That said, the opposite directions of the speakers can benefit from reflections off of walls in your room, and that can certainly have an effect on your perception of the stereo image, although it may not be one audio engineers will be pleased with?more on that in a bit. A matte black plastic band separates the two speaker panels. On the back end of the band, there's a connection for the included power supply, as well as a Pairing button (for initial setup) and a 3.5mm Aux input. The band's front side has a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the top panel houses a Volume control dial and two LEDs that indicate when the unit is powered up and when it is connected for AirPlay. The system ships with a 3.5mm audio cable for connecting devices to the Aux input.

Performance
Setting up the Audio Dock Air is not difficult, as the instructions are simple and laid out explicitly in the included manual. You will need a Wi-Fi connection, however, and a bit of patience, as the pairing process between devices, and the connection process to the Wi-Fi signal itself, can take a few minutes. Once complete, you are able to stream from any PC or Mac with a recent version of iTunes (beyond 10.1), and any iOS device (iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch).

AirPlay's sound quality is actually pretty impressive, with strong bass performance. The Audio Air Dock only adds to the bass experience; Even at low-to-moderate volumes, one might say it sounds "thunderous." As you boost the volume louder and louder, however, the bass signal becomes more and more compressed. Why does Audyssey do this? Well, first off, it's a process often referred to as Digital Signal Processing (DSP), and Audyssey is not alone in employing it. Bowers & Wilkins has utilized some signal processing on its consumer line as well. The basic goal is to eliminate any distortion or possibility of blowing a speaker. Deep bass frequencies at high volumes are usually the culprit when speakers distort, so the signal processing basically limits the volume of the bass as you raise the system's overall volume. At maximum volume on Bowers & Wilkins' PC speaker set, the MM-1 ($499.95, 4 stars), this ends up sounding like some serious dynamic compression, where the range of transient sounds like drum hits are squashed lower to be roughly the same volume as everything else in the mix. You've heard this before when a loud song comes on the radio and suddenly the overall volume of the song seems to dip as the heavily distorted guitars kick in.

On the Audio Dock Air speakers, however, this processing is quite noticeable, primarily because at lower-to-mid volume settings, the bass is already so boosted, that when you raise the volume high, it sounds like you're listening to a different speaker system because the bass frequencies have been so dramatically cut to prevent distortion. The good news is, this system sounds excellent?for bass enthusiasts, at least?at moderate volumes. Even when it's not really that loud, it feels loud. The bad news is, when you blast it, the signal processing steals some of the bass thunder and squashes the overall signal pretty intensely. Simply put, if you're into deep bass and listening at moderate levels, this system won't disappoint you sonically. It never really distorts, even on deep bass tracks at maximum volume, but the processing is intense enough that it can sound as if it's about to distort?a common characteristic of signal limiting at its most extreme.

Because of the placement of the speakers at opposite sides of the dock, projecting in opposite directions, the stereo image is altered a bit in a way that casual listening may not suffer from, but one channel will often appear louder than the other. Simply put, it definitely helps fill the room with sound, but this is not how records are mixed.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, I actually like the audio performance enough that it would have had a higher rating. Not every system needs to be made for audiophiles craving flat response?there's room enough in the world for those of you who really dig thumping bass. The Audio Dock Air is made with these listeners in mind, and it brings an extra bottom end to everything from hip hop and rock to even classical music, making the lower strings in John Adams' "The Chairman Dances" sound downright ominous and intense. But we have a different issue to deal with.

Tested on a home Wi-Fi network that regularly streams audio, via AirPlay, from a iPhone and a laptop to a stereo receiver with an AirPort express connected to it, the Audio Dock Air fared differently than the aforementioned setup. This is possibly because the AirPort Express uses 802.11n wireless signal, while Apple's AirPlay and the docks that have it built-in use 802.11g. Where the AirPort Express only seems to stutter when its sound source gets out of range?say, you take your iPhone too far into the kitchen, away from the router?the Audio Dock Air stutters more often, even, at times, in close proximity to the router and the sound source. Often, the stuttering seems to occur when the Wi-Fi network performs routine tasks at the same time?say, sending an email or loading a webpage while streaming music. Occasionally, the stream would halt altogether, and the system would need to be rebooted or the phone disconnected and reconnected to the network in order to re-pair the device with the speakers. The recent Klipsch Gallery G-17 Air($549.99, 3.5 stars), another AirPlay speaker dock, also suffers from the same streaming issues.

Given that Airplay is still in its infancy, some hiccups are to be expected. When you plug your device into the aux input directly, the Audyssey system offers up a bass lover's dream, but as a streaming system, it's got some issues to iron out. For you bass fiends out there waiting for a wireless system, let's hope this is an issue updates can solve and not a permanent limitation of the system or AirPlay's abilities. If you'd rather go the Bluetooth route, check out the fantastic JBL OnBeat Xtreme ($499.95, 4.5 stars), which appears as an AirPlay device on iOS devices despite using Bluetooth, and the portable Bose SoundLink Wireless Mobile Speaker ($299.95, 4 stars), Both of them recent Editors' Choice winners for wireless speaker systems.

More Speaker reviews:
??? Audyssey Audio Dock Air
??? Klipsch Gallery G-17 Air
??? Samsung HW-D450
??? Logitech Mini Boombox
??? Audioengine 5+
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/_1OCcY8-Vec/0,2817,2398128,00.asp

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Rosenthal: They believed, Alex Smith delivered

49ers quarterback is 2 victories away from ultimate football glory after nearly being left for dead

Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images

49ers quarterback Alex Smith runs in for a touchdown during his team's victory over the Saints in the divisional playoffs last Saturday.

updated 6:06 p.m. ET Jan. 20, 2012

Gregg Rosenthal

?We want Carr. We want Carr!?

It was the lowest moment of Alex Smith?s seven-year career in San Francisco, Oct. 12, 2010. The winless 49ers hosted the Eagles on Sunday Night Football, and the crowd was looking for blood.

After his fourth-quarter fumble, thunderous boos poured down on Smith. He was hearing it all game from the crowd, but this matched anything I?ve ever heard ? even in Philadelphia. The unmistakable chant that came with the booing was even more depressing.

?We want Carr. We want Carr!?

The home crowd wanted Smith benched in favor of backup quarterback David Carr. The fan base collectively waved the white flag. They were tired of their No. 1 overall pick bust and wanted to try another. It was only Week 5 of a rapidly devolving season.

Coach Mike Singletary tried to remove Smith from the game, but the quarterback barked back. He talked his way into staying in the contest. He wound up throwing for more than 300 yards with three touchdowns in a comeback attempt that fell just short, like so many other 49er games during Smith?s tenure.

The fans got their wish two weeks later when Carr replaced an injured Smith during a loss to the Panthers. Troy Smith wound up starting six games for the 2010 49ers. Alex Smith?s beleaguered run in San Francisco was all but over. If nothing else, that gave the fans something to smile about.

Between rare and extinct
David Carr tells us a lot about Alex Smith. Just like Smith, Carr was a No. 1 overall draft pick viewed as a franchise savior. Like Smith, Carr fell flat on his face.

Carr didn?t face the same injury struggles as Smith. Carr didn?t have two head coaches question his toughness. But after five years in Houston, Carr was beat up mentally and physically. When Carr hit free agency, he wanted to take a break.? He wanted out.

"I need to take a deep breath and be around a good environment and just start enjoying the game again,'' Carr said in 2007. ?I wanted to be on a team that was fun and exciting and whether I had a chance to play right away, it didn't matter to me.''

Smith had his chance to take a deep breath last offseason. His family wanted him to leave San Francisco, toasting to new beginnings after this season. Smith didn?t want to go anywhere.

That desire to finish what he started won over new 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh.

"I wanted to get to know him. I had never met him," Harbaugh said last week of his first meeting with Smith in January 2011. "I was just kind of looking in through the keyhole. But I guess the things that I wanted to know, if you boiled it down to one thing, was, did he want to start? Did he want be in the fire? Or did he want to wear the ball cap backward and backup somewhere??

Harbaugh was asking if Alex Smith wanted to be David Carr. (Or Vince Young. Or Matt Leinart. Or JaMarcus Russell.)

"I really felt that he had the competitive drive, the (desire) to prove himself, him wanting to do it here. That's the thing that probably intrigued me the most. That character of wanting to come back and do it here in San Francisco, which is pretty rare ? probably somewhere between rare and extinct. That's not just for football players. That's about anybody. ... And I thought we could really work with that character. To me that was special."

Smith?s seven fourth-quarter comeback victories this season are special. His league-leading interception percentage says a lot. But the most impressive part of Smith?s season is that he?s there at all. He survived.

The things Alex carries
Alex Smith carries his six seasons through the professional football meat grinder everywhere he goes. He carries the old playbooks; the losses; the chants; the manipulative coaches; the shoulder surgeries.

Smith has gone through this 14-3 season hesitant to look back. It?s as if he doesn?t want to jinx what?s happening.

Seven offensive coordinators
Smith?s first offensive coordinator was Mike McCarthy, who pushed the team to draft Smith over Aaron Rodgers with the No. 1 pick in 2005.

One touchdown, 11 interceptions by Smith later, McCarthy scored the Packers' head coaching job before his coaching stock sunk any further.

Norv Turner came next and guided Smith to a promising second season. Smith appeared to have turned a corner. It?s a reminder what good teaching can mean for a young quarterback.? Smith wouldn?t learn that lesson again until 2011.? Turner left after ?06 for the Chargers head coaching job.

Jim Hostler, Mike Martz, Jimmy Raye, and Mike Johnson followed Turner to disappointing results. Each man had a new idea of how an NFL offense should look and how Smith fit into their system. Some liked Smith more than others. Every spring meant a new playbook.

Smith?s seventh coordinator was the charm. Jim Harbaugh knows the quarterback position as well as any head coach, but he also brought in a terrific staff to help him. It?s one of the most underrated skills a head coach can have. Can he choose the right men to assist him?

Offensive coordinator Greg Roman and quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst have both done a fabulous job with Smith. It was Chryst who took over the play-calling late in the divisional round win over the Saints. Along with Harbaugh, the three men collaborate on one of the smartest offensive attacks in the league.

They create big-play opportunities without taking much risk. They accentuate what Smith does well and limit his weaknesses being exposed. They put Smith in position to succeed. That?s coaching.

2 misguided head coaches
Alex Smith?s rookie season was Mike Nolan?s rookie season as a head coach. Both men looked comfortable in their new role.

Nolan ran the 49ers through fear. He often seemed unnecessarily paranoid and played misguided mental games. When Smith?s shoulder was hurt in 2007, Nolan implied publicly that Smith wasn?t fighting through the injury. Nolan came out told the 49ers team behind closed doors that Smith was using his shoulder injury as an excuse for poor play. Smith fought back by speaking out.

?I felt it was trying to undermine me with my teammates,? Smith said back then.

Smith had shoulder surgery after the season.

The next 49ers head coach was a defensive-minded motivational speaker: Mike Singletary. Singletary said multiple times he didn?t think quarterback was the most important position on the field. He once called Smith ?meek.? After Singletary was fired, he was asked what he learned from the experience.

"You gotta have a quarterback," Singletary said.

These were the men in charge. They never believed in Smith.

Harbaugh saw something different in that first meeting with Smith. Most importantly, he saw a quietly improved player on film. Harbaugh?s effusive and immediate praise of Smith almost seemed comical. (He once said Smith had ?armadillo skin .?)

Smith, a free agent, publicly expressed doubt he?d return to San Francisco before Harbaugh started recruiting Smith with regular meetings. No one in San Francisco knew what to make of it. Why would the new hot shot coach stick out his neck for Smith?

?I?ve been studying Alex Smith and watching him and I believe that Alex Smith can be a winning quarterback in the National Football League,? Harbaugh said. ?Very accurate passer. Very athletic. And a guy that has played and been durable.?

This was January 2011. Harbaugh embraced the quarterback no one wanted. The message hasn?t changed since. The love affair has only grown.

The teammates
Smith was benched for the following quarterbacks during his 49ers career: Tim Rattay, Ken Dorsey, Trent Dilfer, Shaun Hill, J.T. O?Sullivan, and Troy Smith.

Guys like Carr and Cody Pickett replaced Smith when he was hurt. Only Hill went on to a modicum of success after leaving San Francisco.

The following wide receivers have started games during Smith?s tenure in San Francisco: ?Brandon Lloyd, Arnaz Battle, Johnnie Morton, Kevin McAddley, Antonio Bryant, Bryan Gilmore, Darrell Jackson, Ashley Lelie, Isaac Bruce, Bryant Johnson, Jason Hill, Josh Morgan, Michael Crabtree, Braylon Edwards, Ted Ginn, Kyle Williams, and Brett Swain.

Change was the only constant in San Francisco?s passing attack. Personnel objectives changed annually with the rotating offensive systems. Players past their prime were brought in like Morton, Jackson, and Bruce. Failed draft picks from other teams were given a second chance like Lelie, Johnson, Edwards, and Ginn. Very little stuck.

Even today, San Francisco?s wide receivers struggle to beat man coverage. It?s a concern this week going against a Giants defense that can get pressure with their front four and played great man coverage last week in Green Bay.

Harbaugh knows all this. He built an offense around the run game, his tight ends, and carefully orchestrated ?shot plays? the wideouts wouldn?t have to win consistently on the outside. He relied on Smith?s accuracy and decision making.

When Harbaugh has asked Smith and his receivers to carry the offense ? against the Giants and Saints ? they have found a way.

Bad habits
Smith deserves his share of blame for struggling until Harbaugh came along. He doesn?t have the big arm you?d expect of a top pick. He?s smart but has struggled to translate those smarts into instinct. He was deliberate making decisions.

Going back through five years of my game notes, the same word came up repeatedly describing Smith: tentative. He took the safe play. He didn?t have enough confidence in himself, his receivers, or perhaps his offense to make the difficult throw.

That slowly started to change this year. The 49ers are not an aggressive passing team, but Smith has played his best with the game on the line.

Back-to-back fourth-quarter comeback wins in Cincinnati and Philadelphia kick-started things. Smith threw a fourth-and-goal game-winner to Delanie Walker in Detroit. An insane 41-yard toss to Michael Crabtree set up the game-winning field goal in Seattle.

In most of those games, the 49ers still coached around Smith. Their wins were more about the defense, running game and short, safe passes. Last Saturday against the Saints, the 49ers coaching staff gave the keys to Smith.

"The winning touchdown to Vernon Davis ... and I'm taking nothing away from Vernon Davis's catch ... the throw made that play, not the catch," NFL Films guru Greg Cosell said on KNBR this week. ?He threw that ball before Davis even got past the underneath linebacker.?

The 49ers could have played for the tie, but they went for the win because of the confidence they had in Smith. It was the type of instinctive, anticipatory, gutsy throw we haven?t seen from Smith. Smith is starting to mix in aggression with his smarts. That could be a championship combination.

The other side
Alex Smith is Mark Sanchez if Sanchez went through another three years like the one he just had.

Smith took all the abuse we could hurl at him and emerged on the other side. He will never be Joe Montana, but that?s not the point. He?s here. He is one game away from playing in the Super Bowl. After what Smith has been through, he deserves to enjoy this moment.

Perhaps Smith will take a deep breath during the national anthem on Sunday and allow himself a peak at the opposing sideline. Giants backup quarterback David Carr will be standing there, representing the road more traveled.

When the anthem ends, Carr will reach to put on his backward hat. Smith will grab his helmet.

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Patriots prevail vs. Ravens

??The Patriots beat the stunned Ravens 23-20 in the AFC championship game Sunday after Baltimore's Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal attempt with 11 seconds remaining that would have tied the score.

Jamie Squire / Getty Images

Giants kick 49ers for trip to Super Bowl XLVI

??Lawrence Tynes kicked a winning 31-yard field goal in sudden-death overtime and New York beat the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in the NFC championship game Sunday night to reach its second Super Bowl in five seasons.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46067758/ns/sports-nfl/

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Ukrainian coach charged in sex case faces hearing (AP)

PHILADELPHIA ? A Ukrainian hockey coach who allegedly had sexual contact with a teenage boy attending clinics in the United States frequently traveled with teens, transporting them from city to city for camps, according to court documents.

Ivan Pravilov is due in court later Friday for a detention hearing in Philadelphia. Prosecutors want Pravilov kept in custody because they believe he's a risk to flee overseas.

Pravilov was charged Tuesday with committing sex acts with a boy attending hockey clinics with him in the United States.

According to court documents, a 14-year-old boy told investigators he had sexual contact with Pravilov at an apartment in Philadelphia on Jan. 3. A second teen gave an identical account, according to the criminal complaint.

Pravilov was charged with transporting a minor to engage in sexual activity because he allegedly transported the boy from the home of a host family in Wilmington, Del.

The website for the coach's hockey school, Ivan Pravilov's Unique Hockey School, says it held a number of camps up and down the East Coast this summer.

New Jersey Devils forward Dainius Zubrus is one of his most famous proteges. Zubrus left his native Lithuania as a boy to play for Pravilov in Ukraine, and made the NHL by 18, according to his mother, Irene Zubriene. She and her son remain close to Pravilov, and the coach uses her Cherry Hill, N.J., home as a mail drop, she said.

Pravilov brings young hockey players to the U.S. for about a month at a time to train, play in tournaments and perhaps catch a college or NHL scout's eye, Zubriene said Friday. She and other families in the U.S. host the players. She said she has often had a dozen or more players stay in her downstairs living area, while Pravilov slept in an upstairs bedroom.

She does not believe the allegations and suspects they stem from lingering jealousy of Pravilov in the Ukraine.

"It's not true. It's not true," Zubriene, 60, who saw Pravilov last week, told The Associated Press during an interview Friday at her home. "He's a good man."

Pravilov had been holding practices with Ukrainian boys at The Rink at Old York Road in Elkins Park since November, rink general manager and hockey director Justin Adamski Sr. said Thursday.

Pravilov had done practices at rinks throughout the area that would give him free ice time, Adamski said.

Adamski said he never saw anything inappropriate going on between Pravilov and the boys, who were mostly between the ages of 12 and 15.

"We were giving him ice time to skate," Adamski said.

Pravilov's school had about a dozen players practicing at the same rink on Friday. A coach working with the players declined comment, saying he did not speak English.

Two vans bearing the school's logo were parked outside the rink.

Rink officials declined to discuss the matter on Friday, referring questions to a management company.

A woman who helped host families in the United States said she knew Pravilov well, having volunteered her time for the boys.

"It's still very hard to comprehend everything," said Denise Reid, a contact listed on Pravilov's website for another Philadelphia-area ice rink where he held camps. "We're devastated. We're worried for the boys."

A coach at Pravilov's school in Ukraine declined to give his name declined to comment. The Interior Ministry, which oversees the Ukrainian branch of Interpol, had no comment.

An attorney for Pravilov didn't return messages seeking comment.

___

Associated Press writer Kathy Matheson contributed to this report

.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_sp_ot/us_ukrainian_coach_charged

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NASA Debunks Mysterious Triangular 'UFO' (SPACE.com)

Once again, alien conspiracy theorists have attempted to use publicly available NASA images to prove that the space agency must be engaging in an elaborate UFO cover-up. And, once again, they've been foiled by the laws of physics.

This time, they called attention to peculiar new footage captured by a telescope onboard NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft ? one of a pair of probes parked on either side of the sun which, together, provide a 360-degree view of the inner solar system. The footage shows Venus, Earth and, on the opposite side of the field-of-view, a mysterious triangular object headed our way.

"Comparing it for size to the planetary objects that are seen in this telescope, if my calculations are correct, that thing is enormous," said YouTube user "BeePeeOilDisaster" in his video commentary on the footage, which was captured Dec. 27 -29. Talk of a cover-up quickly followed when, a few days later, NASA scientists updated the STEREO website to display newer images.?

This is not the first time alien hunters have found what they believe to be enormous UFOs in images captured by the STEREO probes. [Mysterious Planet-Size Object Spotted Near Mercury]

But this time, the team of scientists who work with data from the probes decided to address the claim directly. In a post on the STEREO website, the researchers offered up an explanation of the triangular feature in the December footage. The researchers say it's no more than a trick of the light.

"The answer lies on the exact opposite side of the image," the scientists wrote. "At the same time as this strange-looking feature starts being visible, the very bright planet Venus enters the [telescopic camera's] field-of-view from the lower left."

The scientists note that Venus and the triangle, opposite each other across the middle of the camera plane, stay in step as they move. "This is not a coincidence. The strange-looking geometrical 'object' is actually an internal reflection of the planet Venus within the telescope optics. This effect has been seen many times before."

In this optical effect, incoming light reflects back and forth off lenses and mirrors inside the telescope; the shape of artifacts produced by this scattered light ? usually triangles and circles of various sizes ? depends on the relative orientations of those lenses and mirrors.

Another example of internal reflection, this time of light from planet Earth, can be seen in a STEREO-B image from May 2007. More examples of internal reflection and other optical and data-processing artifacts are displayed on the scientists' "Image Artifacts" Web page, along with explanations of the various effects.

This story was provided by Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to SPACE.com. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20120119/sc_space/nasadebunksmysterioustriangularufo

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Rare Arctic Panda Seal Visits Seattle Woman's Dock [Animals]

OK it's not really called a panda seal. But it should be! It's actually a ribbon seal, and it seems to have taken a wrong turn and paused for a nap on the dock of a Seattle-woman's riverside home. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/VcRsaX1JwUQ/rare-arctic-panda-seal-visits-seattle-womans-dock

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