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Sharapova, Hingis to clash in Tokyo semis Tokyo, Japan (Sports Network) - Defending champion Maria Sharapova and four- time Tokyo titlist Martina Hingis will square off in the semifinals at the $1.34 million Toray Pan Pacific Open. The top-seeded Sharapova, who beat American Lindsay Davenport in last year's finale here, handled Australian Samantha Stosur 6-1, 6-4 in 69 minutes in Friday's quarterfinal action at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Meanwhile, the Swiss Hingis easily defeated promising Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-1 to set-up the semifinal showdown with the Russian Sharapova. The unseeded Hingis, who rejoined the WTA Tour on a full-time...

SALT LAKE CITY -- A scorpion lived for 15 months without food or water inside the plaster mold of a dinosaur fossil, breaking free only when a scientist broke open the mold. Don DeBlieux, a paleontologist for the Utah Geological Survey, said he was sawing open the plaster mold when the scorpion wriggled from a crack in a sandstone block. ...The scorpion "must have been hanging out in a crack the day we plastered him," DeBlieux said Thursday. He discovered the two-inch critter on Jan. 5 after spending two months carefully removing the plaster mold. DeBlieux said he'll spend more...

Martina Hingis' hopes of once again dominating women's tennis received a reality check when world number eight Justine Henin-Hardenne dumped her out of the Sydney International first round in straight sets. Former number one Henin-Hardenne barely raised a sweat as she disposed of her childhood idol 6-3, 6-3 in just over an hour. Five-time grand slam winner Hingis admitted she was outclassed by Henin-Hardenne in her toughest test since beginning her comeback campaign this month following a three-year layoff due to injury. "She was at a different level today," a downcast Hingis told reporters after her defeat on Monday. Admitting...

Loss of Sharapova blow to Gold Coast Organisers of the Australian Women's Hardcourts have conceded Maria Sharapova's withdrawal is a blow for the Gold Coast tournament. The 18-year-old Russian former world number one has pulled out of the tournament with a shoulder strain, an injury she has been nursing since the second half of the 2005 season, and is also in doubt for next month's Australian Open in Melbourne. Tournament director Liz Smylie said while the loss of Sharapova was unfortunate, the return of Martina Hingis would ensure there was still plenty of interest in the event. "I've got media...

"As its title reveals, the novel is based on the life of one of the most fascinating, extraordinary women in Western history--Pope Joan, a controversial figure of historical record who, disguised as a man, rose to rule Christianity in the 9th century as the first and only woman to sit on the throne of St. Peter. Brilliant and talented, young Joan rebels against the medieval social strictures forbidding women to learn to read and write. When her older brother is killed during a Viking attack, Joan takes up his cloak and identity, goes to the monastery of Fulda, and is...

Hingis, right, friend Anna, left WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Former world number one Martina Hingis is to return to professional tennis next year. "I was never happy my injuries cut my career short and ultimately forced my decision to step away from tennis," said the 25-year-old Swiss in a statement issued by her agents Octagon on Tuesday. "I have enjoyed my time away from the court, a period that has allowed me to experience a different side of life. "However, I miss the game and the challenge of competing at the highest level of tennis, and I want...

"This exploration of the U.S. military's flirtation with the supernatural is at once funny and tragic. It reads like fiction, with plenty of dialogue and descriptive detail, but as Ronson's investigation into the government's peculiar past doings creeps into the present-and into Iraq-it will raise goose bumps. As Ronson reveals, a secret wing of the U.S. military called First Earth Battalion was created in 1979 with the purpose of creating "Warrior Monks," soldiers capable of walking through walls, becoming invisible, reading minds and even killing a goat simply by staring at it. Some of the characters involved seem well-meaning enough,...

Harriet is so last week. Let's try to move on. It's nicer when we don't fight. With Alito, there's nothing to fight over.

A revelatory new look at how Shakespeare secretly addressed the most profound political issues of his day, and how his plays embody a hidden history of England. In 16th century England many loyal subjects to the crown were asked to make a terrible choice: to follow their monarch or their God. The era was one of unprecedented authoritarianism: England, it seemed, had become a police state, fearful of threats from abroad and plotters at home. This age of terror was also the era of the greatest creative genius the world has ever known: William Shakespeare. How, then, could such a...

The Quest for Perpetual Flight The advantages of such aircraft are enormous, begging the question: Why aren't they already dotting the horizon? Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor -- Design News, September 26, 2005 In the middle of the night on June 1st, Alan Cocconi's "pilots" were holed up in a little 5×8-ft trailer in the California desert, glancing over each other's shoulders at the virtual gages on three computer screens, trying to keep their airplane aloft. Their task, even for instrument-rated flyers, was a formidable one: Maintain altitude by navigating from the ground, while looking only at telemetry data....

"I was producing a movie called Square Dance in Texas. It was a starring part for Winona Ryder, who was fourteen or fifteen. She said, "Aren't the Monkees gonna play in Arlington?" which was just up the road from where we were filming. I said, "Yeah." And she said, "Do you think you could get me tickets?" And I said, "Well, yeah, I probably could." And she said, "I'd really like to go -- would you take me?" And I said "No, I won't take you. I can't possibly do that." She said, "Why not?" I said, "Nonie, I am...

"Nothing is quite as it seems in Incident at Loch Ness, an entertaining pseudo-documentary comment on cinematic fakery. Conceived and directed by Hollywood screenwriter Zak Penn, this half-clever ruse begins with a master-stroke by casting German director Werner Herzog as himself, preparing to film a documentary about Scotland's mysterious Loch Ness monster. As this film-within-a-film is chronicled by a documentary crew led by renowned cinematographer John Bailey, "producer" Penn rises to apparently impossible heights of ineptitude, until it becomes obvious (indeed, it's the film's near-fatal flaw) that there is no "reality" here at all--just a very amusing pile-up of...

Sharapova Gunning For No.1 in Los Angeles LOS ANGELES - After two spectacular weeks of tennis already in California, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour wraps up its summer hard court swing in the Golden State this week with the JPMorgan Chase Open presented by Herbalife. A fantastic field has assembled at the Home Depot Center in Carson to take part in the $585,000 Tier II event, seeking to pick up some valuable points in the US Open Series. Five of the world's Top 10 will be in action this week, though one of the event's most popular names will...

A force for space with no reaction Tom Shelley reports on an extraordinary concept, which if it turns out to be as good as it seems, could change a large part of engineering A reactionless force motor, designed for space use, has the potential to drive objects on until they reach speeds close to that of light. Looking at first sight as if it cannot possibly work, a prototype has been developed by one of our leading engineers, and is endorsed by academics and government. Defying intuitive understanding, it is low cost to make, is said to obey the laws...

Will Michelle Wie be the next Anna Kournikova? My fellow bloggers Doug Carey and Jay Flemma have been talking a lot lately about Michelle Wie and her sponsor exemptions. Should she get them? Should she accept them? Is it nothing more than a publicity stunt? Yada yada yada. Well maybe it is nothing more than a publicity stunt. But guys, don’t you get it? Women’s golf needs publicity. Really badly. Annika’s up there breaking every record, winning 59 tournaments and no one’s batting an eyelash. But put a 15 year old on the PGA tour and suddenly everyone sits up...

Episode 35: Border Slingshot Is it feasible to fly over the frontier? In this episode, Adam and Jamie take on the myth that illegal immigrants are firing themselves 200 yards across the border and into the United States with a slingshot so accurate, it can land the human projectiles safely on a carefully placed mattress. Border patrols are reportedly baffled — can the MythBusters' handbuilt human-sized slingshot solve the puzzle? premiere: July 27, 2005

Max Size. Max Sweet Zone. Max 9 Hotter Points. In technical terms: MAXIMUS HOTTICUS When it comes to big and hot Cobra has always taken the lead. Now we're cranking the heat up even more. Meet our biggest, hottest titanium driver, the King Cobra 460 SZ. Named after its massive Sweet Zone, the 460 SZ features Cobra's exclusive Milled Rhombus Oval Face Insert, thin titanium perimeter face and Dual Weighting System that puts weight were you need it, low and deep. All this technology adds up to 9 Hotter Points on the clubface and those add up to longer...

Players Join Forces with Whirlpool to Paint for Charity BERLIN, Germany - Whirlpool and the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour have brought together some of the top tennis players on the Tour, to add their creative flair to the Whirlpool Player’s Painting. This unique work of art has been themed ‘Room with a View’, to link Habitat for Humanity’s core objective of building houses for low income people in need of simple decent low cost shelter across the world with Whirlpool’s goal of providing practical help to the disadvantaged. Players including Russian superstar Maria Sharapova (pictured ), France’s finest Amelie Mauresmo...

Apple punishes publisher of Jobs book The Associated Press THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO Apple Computer has retaliated against the publisher of an unauthorized biography of its chief executive, Steve Jobs, by removing dozens of other technology books sold by the publisher from Apple stores around the world. Apple removed the books last week from all 104 of its stores ... ... It is a strategy that experts in brand management say is likely to backfire ... ... The book's author, Jeffrey Young, said Jobs had nothing to fear from "iCon." He said it was a chronicle of Jobs's...