Video of the Reno Air Races Crash

Wow!

This video is short but the impact is seen and felt by the fans further down the course.

Here's the vid...

Death Toll Still Unknown at Reno Air Races

A racing plane plunged into the stands at an air race event in Reno in what an official described as a "mass casualty situation."

It wasn't immediately known how many people were killed. But video of the crash showed a horrific scene of bodies and wreckage at the front of the stands.

The National Championship Air Races draws thousands of people every year in September to watch various military and civilian planes race.

Kind of ironic, but earlier this week, race officials posted this video of how fans could stay safe and healthy at the races.  This ended up being a little more serious than a sunburn.

Ron Artest's Name Change Approved

Before the show has even started, there is a new contestant on Dancing With the Stars.  At least in name.

The most ballyhooed name change of the year became official Friday morning when a Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner approved the former Ron Artest's request.

World Peace was expected to attend the hearing, but about an hour after the court doors opened, his attorney, Nahla Rajan, announced that the Lakers forward was not coming. A few minutes later, Commissioner Matthew C. St. George approved the name change in a hearing that lasted about 30 seconds.

St. George: "Mr. Artest has requested a name change to Metta World Peace?"

Rajan: "Yes, your honor."

St. George: "And it's for personal reasons, he said?"

Rajan: "Yes, your honor."

St. George: "OK. All right. He'll now be known as Metta World Peace. Thank you."

We'll see how he's introduced on Dancing come Monday night and how much flack he catches.

Planet Found to Orbit Two Suns: We've Seen this Before

A team of scientists at NASA Ames Research Center has found such a remarkable place in outer space: a new planet, called Kepler-16b, which orbits around two different stars.

"It’s an indication of what is possible — something entirely new and different, something very exotic," said lead scientist Laurance Doyle of the SETI Institute of Mountain View, Calif.

This discovery evokes the emotional "Star Wars" scene where young Luke Skywalker ponders his future under two glowing orbs; all that’s missing is John Williams and the London Symphony soundtrack.

The planet resides in the western wing tip of the constellation Cynus, the swan. Of the three bright stars on the wing — barely visible with binoculars — Kepler16b is about a half a degree away from the star Iota.
But earthlings can’t get there, the team cautioned. It’s 200 light years away, so it would take about 3.5 million years to get there, if you travel as fast as the space probe Voyager.

About the size of Saturn, it has an ice-rocky core and a gassy helium-hydrogen atmosphere. The gravity is crushing. It’s cold — about 100 to 150 degrees below Fahrenheit, notably colder than the most frigid day ever in Antarctica. Although planets that orbit two stars instead of just one have been glimpsed before, none have been observed passing in front of, or transiting, their parent stars until now.

Astronomers believe that these "binary stars" are not so unusual — in fact, they are thought to comprise about half of all the stars in our galaxy. So our one sun galaxy may not be the norm.

J.R. Smith Takes His Talents and Tattoos to China

NBA player and tattoo fan, J.R. Smith today agreed to play basketball this season in China.  Citing a source, Yahoo said Smith signed a one-year deal with Zhejiang Wanma of the China Basketball Association.

Smith and Nuggets free-agent forward Wilson Chandler are now the two highest-paid players in the Chinese league, according to Yahoo. Neither player can return to play in the NBA until the end of the Chinese season, which lasts through March.

This news came on a day the start of the NBA season was thrown into doubt after players and owners remained divided over the salary cap structure at a key labor meeting. Union leaders and payers met today in Las Vegas and all reports say the union is united.  For now.

I wonder if he has any roon left to get some Chinese symbols tattooed on him.