In Illinois, a quarter horse queen's fall from grace

Ask anybody in the quarter horse business. They'll tell you. Rita Crundwell was one of the greatest owners anybody had heard...

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Geek Culture's 26 Most Awesome Female Ass-Kickers

Angelina Jolie extends her reputation as filmdom’s most compelling ass-kicker, Female Division, when Salt opens Friday. Midway through a summer freighted with testosterone, Jolie’s lithe Agent Salt is a potent reminder of the power of feminine fighters. A minority presence in sci-fi and action realms even in 2010, women warriors remain the exception to the guy-centric rule in film, TV, videogames...

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“Hobbit” may bring a Hollywood ending to 2012 box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It took more than a decade, two directors and a lawsuit before “The Hobbit” made it to the big screen. Hollywood executives are crossing their fingers that the culmination of that journey will help smash movie box office records this year.The film, which opens on December 14, is expected to contribute to the first annual box office increase in North America in three years,...

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L.A. County seeing high-risk offenders entering its probation system

One year into California's state prison realignment program, Los Angeles County is seeing an unexpected number of high-risk...

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Only in Vegas: Sprinting Santas and Run-Through Weddings

A sea of Santas in a silly sprint. Fido, it seems, has been very good this year.LAS VEGAS — Only in Sin City would the sight of 8,000 Santas running amok through the streets not raise an eyebrow. Even the Elvis Santas barely drew second glances in this town, where the King is as common as bad buffets and bad judgment.But such things are par for the course when you’re...

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Korean pop rides “Gangnam Style” into U.S. music scene

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Gangnam Style,” the catchy Korean song by rapper Psy, may have danced its way into the American charts but the Korean pop industry isn’t horsing around when it comes to capitalizing on the singer’s phenomenal U.S. success.With “Gangnam Style” topping the current Billboard Digital Songs chart and becoming the most-watched video on YouTube ever with more than 800 million views,...

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Hockey Coaches Defy Doctors on Concussions, Study Finds

Despite several years of intensive research, coverage and discussion about the dangers of concussions, the idea of playing through head injuries is so deeply rooted in hockey culture that two university teams kept concussed players on the ice even though they were taking part in a major concussion study. The study, which was published Friday in a series of articles in the journal Neurosurgical...

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Brazil Registers Anemic Growth in 3rd Quarter, Surprising Economists

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Brazil’s economy registered anemic growth in the third quarter as investment levels remained disappointingly low, according to figures released on Friday. The results cast doubt on policies meant to prevent Brazil from turning into a laggard among Latin America’s economies. Gross domestic product grew just 0.6 percent from the previous quarter, stunning economists who...

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George H.W. Bush hospitalized for bronchitis

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New Camera Snaps All-Sky Auroras in Full Color

Capturing a multicolored, all-sky image of the auroras that decorate Earth’s polar skies is now possible.Normally, studying these shimmering phenomena means taking multiple images of an aurora, using different filters that block or image different wavelengths. Now, a camera with tunable liquid crystal filters can capture many colors at once, a team of space-weather...

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“Homeland” in, “Boardwalk Empire” out in PGA TV nominations

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Emmy-winning dramas “Homeland”, “Mad Men” and British period piece “Downton Abbey” will compete for the annual Producers Guild Awards for the top shows on U.S. television, organizers announced on Wednesday.But last year’s winner – HBO’s lavish Prohibition-era gangster drama “Boardwalk Empire” – failed to make the cut this year with the Producers Guild of America, one of the...

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Clearing the Fog Around Personality Disorders

For years they have lived as orphans and outliers, a colony of misfit characters on their own island: the bizarre one and the needy one, the untrusting and the crooked, the grandiose and the cowardly. Their customs and rituals are as captivating as any tribe’s, and at least as mystifying. Every mental anthropologist who has visited their world seems to walk away with a different story, a...

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Chamber Competes to Be Heard in Fiscal Debate

WASHINGTON — After months of sparring with President Obama in the heat of the campaign season, Chamber of Commerce executives came to the White House this week with a far more conciliatory tone, offering up suggestions to avert large budget cuts without having to raise taxes. Jim Young/ReutersTom Donahue, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, with President Obama last year. The two...

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Anthem Blue Cross seeks to raise individual policyholders' rates

California's largest for-profit health insurer, Anthem Blue Cross, is seeking to raise rates an average of 18% for more than...

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Andrew W.K. Nixed as Cultural Ambassador to Bahrain, Vows to Continue Partying

It’s hard to tell what’s funnier: That the State Department considered sending “positive partying” performer Andrew W.K. as an a cultural ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain, or that the effusive entertainer is actually surprised that it didn’t happen.Earlier this week, Andrew W.K. announced that he had been invited to the U.S. embassy in Bahrain, an offer...

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Former boxing champ Mike Tyson to take one-man show on the road

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson plans to take his one-man theater show on the road across the United States early next year.Tyson, 45, made the announcement on ABC’s late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday.“Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth” is an autobiographical monologue performed by Tyson in which he reflects upon his tough childhood in Brooklyn, the absence...

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Well: Weight Loss Surgery May Not Combat Diabetes Long-Term

Weight loss surgery, which in recent years has been seen as an increasingly attractive option for treating Type 2 diabetes, may not be as effective against the disease as it was initially thought to be, according to a new report. The study found that many obese Type 2 diabetics who undergo gastric bypass surgery do not experience a remission of their disease, and of those that do, about a third redevelop...

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United Is Struggling Two Years After Its Merger With Continental

Nam Y. Huh/Associated PressA United 787 Dreamliner at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. United lost $103 million through the third quarter of 2012. CHICAGO — It was supposed to be a moment for celebration: United Airlines observing the delivery of its second Boeing 787 Dreamliner with a flight from Seattle to Chicago earlier this month for a select group of employees, while senior officers,...

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Alleged WikiLeaks source says he was illegally punished in jail

A key pretrial hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of giving classified material to the website WikiLeaks, which then...

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Microsoft Says It Has Sold 40 Million Windows 8 Licenses

Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in the month since it launched, suggesting that the operating system is selling faster, and in larger numbers, than Windows 7.Microsoft executive Tami Reller announced the milestone at the Credit Suisse 2012 Annual Technology Conference, and the company reiterated it Tuesday in a blog post that said, “Windows 8 is outpacing Windows 7 in terms...

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