Halle Berry Stalked: Not Unusual If You're Gorgeous

• How Harry Potter Predicts Success for AOL

Halle Berry was terrorized by a stalker for three days—because she's pretty. 

The suspect, Richard Franco, was arrested yesterday after he jumped over the wall surrounding Berry's home for the third time in as many days. At one point, Berry looked through her window and saw Franco staring back at her. He is not "hounding" Berry the way an overly-amorous drunk might "hound" you in a bar for your phone number. He is stalking her. He is threatening her.

And just for the record,  millions of women and men are stalked every year and the vast majority of them look nothing like Halle Berry. According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, 3.4 million people a year are stalked in the U.S. and weapons are used to threaten or harm the victim in one out of five of those cases. Of the women who end up being killed by men they were in a relationship with, 76% of them were stalked first.

Stalkers stalk because they are mentally disturbed, not because a victim is "gorgeous."

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Why is June 21 Both the Summer and Winter Solstice?

The summer solstice occurred today at 1:16 p.m. EDT (17:16 GMT), the time the sun is at the highest point possible in the sky. In the Northern Hemphisphere, June 21 is the longest day of the year and marks the official beginning of summer.

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  People attend the annual summer solstice at the Stonehenge monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, southern England June 21, 2010.

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Today, the North Pole is tilted toward the sun more than any other day in 2011. The summer solstice is a result of the Earth tilted on its axis 23.4 degrees in the direction of the sun, exposing most of the Northern Hemisphere to sunlight.
Solstice is derived from Latin words meaning, "sun stands still." The summer solstice occurs when the sun is directly overhead at noon at the Tropic of Cancer.
For the Southern Hemisphere, everything is opposite. Today is the actually the beginning of the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year for the Southern Hemisphere.
Wherever a person is on the earth today, solstices occurred at the exact moment across all global timezones
Even though on June 21 is the day that the Northern Hemisphere receives the most sunlight in 2011, it is not necessarily the hottest day of the year. Since it takes several weeks for the earth to release the heat from the sunlight, the hottest days in summer are usually in July or August.

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Keith Olbermann’s New Show Makes TV Debut Tonight

Keith Olbermann returns to television Monday night in his new gig at Current TV. The show will air at a familiar time (8:00 p.m.) and with a familiar name, Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Olbermann left MSNBC, where Countdown had aired since March 2003, in January 2011. Olbermann joins the fledgling Current TV, not only as its marquee host, but also as its chief news officer. His role will extend beyond Countdown and he will be heavily involved with developing news programming across Current TV.
On a recent conference call with members of the media, Olbermann opened up more about the format of the show and some of the frequent contributing guests. It sounds like Countdown will continue much as it did on MSNBC, albeit with a slightly altered cast of regular characters.
Olbermann repeatedly underscored Current’s unique position as an independently owned news network. To wit, the first promo spot for the show is all about combatting the “heavily biased corporate-sponsored spin” that saturates modern media. The underlying message is that as an independent entity, Current TV (and Olbermann, by proxy) can cut through to the truth.
Of course, bias exists with or without corporate backing, and I have little doubt that Olbermann’s own gaze and point of view will carry over not only to Countdown, but to the other news programming on Current TV.

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Where’s the Digital Focus?

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One of the more disappointing aspects about the launch of the new Countdown is the lack — at least thus far — of a clear-cut digital strategy. It’s more than a little ironic that Current TV, a network that was originally formed with a focus on online content, is remaking itself to be more of the standard cable network, especially in an age when the established cable networks are trying to be more social.
Olbermann’s former network, MSNBC, has long had as strong digital presence. Not only are clips from its various programs available online (and the network has streaming deals with certain telecoms for mobile TV initiatives) almost instantly, the network has provided video podcasts of its primetime shows — including the former incarnation of Countdown. MSNBC also has a strong presence in the mobile app space.
In contrast, Current has reduced much of its online video presence to clips and promos for certain series. The website for Countdown, while beautiful and well-designed, will bring users exclusive behind-the-scenes video clips and curated clips from the nightly show. In other words, if your cable provider doesn’t carry Current, you won’t be able to watch the full show.
To combat that, Current is actively embarking on a “I Want My MTV”-esque campaign to get users to use social media, email and the phone to petition cable operators to add Current to their lineup.
Here’s a video that Olbermann made addressing cable television provider Cablevision:
It’s a little frustrating that the network is knowledgeable enough to know that Twitter and Facebook are important outlets to get the attention of cable operators, yet aren’t willing to take the next step of offering online access to content.Unlike CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, Current TV isn’t a cable news lineup staple. For that reason, Olbermann is not promising blockbuster traditional ratings. He pointed out that Countdown in the early days on MSNBC was only getting a small fraction of its audience circa 2011.
That’s a fair point and one we will certainly keep in mind when the reports are released. Still, we have to question the reliance on a traditional cable strategy when the industry model as a whole is moving to a more malleable and digital space.
My hope is that Current TV and Olbermann will learn to embrace digital audiences sooner rather than later. Yes, it’s important to target the existing cable market, but the focus should also be on the growing segment of users that consume their content — including news — online.

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The longest day – Summer Solstice 21st June 2011

Solstice Sunset Credit:Adrian West

June 21st, 2011 is Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year.
This is the time when the Sun is at its highest or most northerly point in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere and when we receive the most hours of daylight. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere it is the reverse, so you will be having “Winter Solstice.”
Also known as “Midsummer” the Summer Solstice gets its name from the Latin for sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). The Sun reaches its most Northerly point and momentarily stands still before starting its journey South in the sky again until it reaches its most Southerly point “Winter Solstice”, before repeating the cycle. This is basically how we get our seasons.

It’s not actually the Sun that moves North or South over the seasons although it may appear so. It’s the Earths axial tilt that causes the Sun to change position in the sky as the Earth orbits the Sun throughout the year.

The angle of the Sun and the Earth's seasons. Image credit: NASA

Summer Solstice/ Midsummer is steeped in ancient folklore especially in Northern Europe with the most famous place directly related to it being Stonehenge, where the sun has been worshiped for thousands of years.

Stonehenge Credit: bistrochic.net

The Sun reaches its most Northerly point in the sky at 17:16 UTC momentarily and from that point forward starts to make its way South. This means the days will get shorter and shorter until Winter Solstice in December.

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Tsonga shocks Nadal

World number one Rafael Nadal crashed out of Queen's on Friday when French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulled off a shock 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-1 win in the quarterfinals.

Nadal arrived at the Wimbledon warm-up event admitting he felt exhausted in the aftermath of his record-equalling sixth triumph at the French Open.

Despite his tiredness this was still a major blow for the Spaniard, who had reached seven successive finals before this defeat, and it leaves him short of game time on grass ahead of the defence of his Wimbledon title later this month.

"After losing the second set, mentally I lost my concentration. It has been a lot of matches in a row and after that break in the third set it was a mountain for me to come back," said Nadal.

"I am a little tired. I wasn't there like usual and certainly I think I need a little bit of break."

Tsonga added: "The first time I reached the world top 100 was here at Queen's and today I have beaten the world number one. It was close to my best tennis -- it has to be to beat Rafa."

The match wasn't even two games old when a light shower forced the players off court, but they returned within half an hour to slug it out in a setgruelling first set.
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Nadal had been below his best in a three-set win against Radek Stepanek in the previous round and Tsonga provided an even greater threat than the Czech veteran.

He refused to give an inch to Nadal as the first set went without a break of serve.
The tie-break was equally close, but Nadal raised his game at the key moment and, aided by a Tsonga double-fault that gave him set-point, the Spaniard buried a volley to take the set.

Tsonga came at Nadal just as strongly in the second set however and the Wimbledon champion found it harder to keep him at bay this time.

The Frenchman's brilliant diving winner put Nadal under pressure at 4-4 and he broke when Nadal dragged a forehand well wide before producing a strong service game to send the match to a final set.

Nadal looked a spent force now and Tsonga went for the kill. He broke twice in quick succession to establish a 3-0 lead and was never in danger of relinquishing his advantage.

Tsonga was a picture of joy as he danced on the court in celebration of only his second career win over Nadal, a triumph that sets up a semifinal against British wildcard James Ward.

Andy Roddick kept his bid for a record fifth Queen's title on course as the American set up a semifinal clash with Andy Murray after beating Spain's Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-2.

World number four Murray reached the semifinals after his last-eight opponent Marin Cilic was forced to pull out before the match due to an ankle injury.

Murray was joined in the semifinals by his compatriot Ward as the British number two enjoyed a superb double success.

Ward, ranked 216th, started the day by ending Sam Querrey's reign as Queen's champion as he won the final set of their rain-delayed third-round match to clinch a shock 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

The 24-year-old son of a London taxi driver had to return just hours later for his quarterfinal clash against France's Adrian Mannarino.
But Ward showed no signs of tiredness as he recovered from wasting seven match points in the second set to win 6-2, 6-7 (14/16), 6-4.
Ward, who was watched by British Prime Minister David Cameron, said: "This is a brilliant feeling. I played a poor game at the beginning of the third but I knew I'd get my chances.

"It's a shame I'm not playing Rafael Nadal, but it's not exactly a bonus draw playing Tsonga."

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