Phyllis Diller Dies, Rosie O'Donnell has a Heart Attack

If things do happen in 3's, a female comedian somewhere should be on alert.

Phyllis Diller died Monday morning in Los Angeles at age 95.

"She died peacefully in her sleep with a smile on her face," her longtime manager, Milton Suchin, told The Associated Press.

Diller was known for her one-liners on such shows as Match Game and Hollywood Squares and of course, her facelifts.

Diller suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 1999. The cause of her death has not been released, but she was 95.

Rosie O'Donnell suffered a heart attack last week and is now recovering at home.

O'Donnell, 50 said she had a stent inserted after doctors found that her coronary artery was 99 percent blocked.

O'Donnell said her own health problems started on Aug. 14 after she helped "an enormous woman" struggling to get out of her car in a parking lot in Nyack, N.Y.

A few hours later, her chest ached, both arms felt sore as if they were bruised, she became nauseous, and had clammy skin.

"maybe this is a heart attack," she wrote. "i googled womens heart attack symptoms/i had many of them/but really? – i thought – naaaa."

She took the aspirin recommended for people who think they are suffering a heart attack but didn't call 911. She said that hundreds of thousands of women die each year of heart attacks and that many never dial the emergency number.

Auto Legend Carroll Shelby Dies at the Age of 89

A loss for the automobile world today.

Carroll Shelby, the legendary car designer and champion auto racer who built the well-known  Shelby Cobra sports car and injected horse-power into Ford's Mustang and Chrysler's Viper, has died. He was 89.

Shelby was one of the nation's longest-living heart transplant recipients, having received a heart on June 7, 1990, from a 34-year-old man who died of an aneurism. Shelby also received a kidney transplant in 1996 from his son, Michael.

The 1992 inductee into the Automobile Hall of Fame had homes in Los Angeles and his native east Texas.

Shelby first made his name behind the wheel of a car, winning France's grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race with teammate Ray Salvadori in 1959.

He eventually gave up racing and turned his attention to designing high-powered "muscle cars" that eventually became the Shelby Cobra and the Mustang Shelby GT500.

The Cobra, which used Ford engines and a British sport car chassis, was the fastest production model ever made when it was displayed at the New York Auto Show in 1962.

In 2007, an 800-horsepower model of the Cobra made in 1966, once Shelby's personal car, sold for $5.5 million at auction, a record for an American car.

"It's a special car. It would do just over three seconds to 60 (mph), 40 years ago," Shelby told the crowd before the sale, held in Scottsdale, Ariz.

It was Lee Iacocca, then head of Ford Motor Co., who had assigned Shelby the task of designing a fastback model of Ford's Mustang that could compete against the Corvette for young male buyers.

That car and the Shelby Cobra made his name a household word in the 1960s.

Many people don't know that Shelby also inaugurated the World Chili Cookoff competition and he began marketing Carroll Shelby Original Texas Chili.

In recent years, Shelby worked as a technical adviser on the Ford GT project and designed the Shelby Series 1 two-seat muscle car, a 21st century clone of his 1965 Cobra.

Shelby is survived by his three children, Patrick, Michael and Sharon; his sister Anne Shelby Ellison; and his wife, Cleo.

Thomas Kincade Will Live On With Apps

Thomas Kinkade will be known as America's most collected living artist. Coming from a modest background, Kinkade emphasizes simple pleasures and inspirational messages through his paintings. As a devout Christian, Kinkade used his gift as a vehicle to communicate and spread inherent life-affirming values.

Kincade died at his California home over the weekend, his family said.He was 54.Family and friends recalled the artist as a generous man, who inspired others and will missed."He had a rare ability to exude a sense of warmth, a transcendent light," said Robert Goodwin, who wrote the book "Points of Light: A Celebration of the American Spirit of Giving," with Kinkade.


Thomas Kinkade Limited Edition Art combines old world craftsmanship with the finest materials and latest production technologies to produce extraordinary canvas and paper Artwork. Each image is carefully reproduced to Thom's exacting standards so that the image you bring into your home radiates the same brilliance of the original.

A free Thomas Kincade app is available for your iDevice. I recommend it and think you will enjoy it.

Link:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id350026339?mt=8

Death Toll Rises in Turkey Earthquake

An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude on Sunday has killed 217 people and injured 1,090 in eastern Turkey, the interior minister said.

A hundred people died in Van city and 117 in the Ercis district of Van province, said Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin, adding 1,090 were injured.

An earlier toll announced by the Turkish prime minister had given 138 people dead and 350 injured.

The quake that struck Van, a large eastern city populated mainly by Kurds, was Turkey's strongest in years. Fears are running high that the toll might increase further as many people were trapped under collapsed buildings.

The US Geological Survey initially measured the quake at 7.3 magnitude but later downgraded it to 7.2.

Earthquake-prone Turkey lies atop several fault lines.

In 1999, two strong quakes in the heavily populated and industrialised regions of northwest Turkey left some 20,000 dead and many more homeless.

This video gives some indication of how violent the quake was.

10 Things You Might Not Know About Al Davis

Football lost one of its icons today when Oakland Raider managing partner and all around colorful character, Al Davis died at the age of 82.  

While Davis and his Raiders have been the butt of many jokes in recent years, Davis was a true pioneer in professional football and the league is as successful as it is today because of guys like Davis.

Davis did many things in his almost 60 years being involved with professional football.  Here are 10 things every football fan should know about Al Davis.

1. He was the AFL Commissioner and presided over the AFL/NFL merger.

2. He hired the NFL's first Latino and Black head coaches, along with the first female executive.

3. When the Raiders played in Los Angeles, Davis used a middle school as his team headquarters.

4. Davis was the AFL Coach of the Year in 1963.

5.  Over the years, Davis has sued: City of Los Angeles, City of Oakland, City of Irwindale, the NFL and countless others.

6. The Raider's logo was designed by Davis himself in 1963.

7. Davis traded his head coach, John Gruden for 2 number one draft picks.  Gruden went on to beat the Raiders in the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay.

8. In 2007, NFL Films chose the feud between Davis and the NFL as their top feud in NFL history.

9. Davis' son Marc has took a more active role in the helping his father run the team in recent years.  

10. He coined the Raider's famous motto, "Just win, baby."