Heat, LeBron securing places in history

MIAMI (AP) ? Dwyane Wade was walking down the hallway toward the Miami Heat locker room in the wee hours of Friday morning, still in uniform and fussing with the new championship hat atop his head as his team and their families were in the midst of partying the night away.

He stopped briefly and assessed the celebration.

"We're getting pretty good at these," Wade said.

That's understandable, the Heat are getting plenty of practice at throwing themselves end-of-season parties. Four trips to the NBA Finals since 2006, three championships in that span and with the last two titles coming consecutively, it's making the decisions that the Heat and LeBron James made three summers ago look pretty smart.

By topping San Antonio in Game 7 of a back-and-forth NBA Finals on Thursday, the Heat became the sixth franchise in league history to win consecutive championships. It's their third title overall; only four clubs have more. And for James, it capped two seasons where he won all he could ? two regular-season MVPs, two titles, two Finals MVPs, even an Olympic gold medal.

"It feels great. This team is amazing. And the vision that I had when I decided to come here is all coming true," James said. "Through adversity, through everything we've been through, we've been able to persevere and to win back to back championships. It's an unbelievable feeling. I'm happy to be part of such a first-class organization."

James said winning his first title was the toughest thing he's ever done.

It's now the second-toughest. Defending the crown, he said, was even more arduous. He was exhausted when it was over ? and still scored 37 points in the finale, more than he posted in any other postseason game this season.

"Believe in LeBron," Heat President Pat Riley said.

Miami did, all the way to the end.

The Heat rolled past Milwaukee in a first-round sweep, needed five games to oust Chicago in the second round, but then went to the seven-game limit against Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals and then to the last game again against the Spurs, who actually were 21 seconds away from ending the series in six games before James and the Heat engineered a huge rally.

Without that comeback, a championship-or-bust season would have gone bust.

Instead, legacies were enhanced, more trophies were hoisted, and Miami's place atop the NBA landscape was cemented.

"To be in the championship three years in a row, to win two of those three, is unbelievable," Wade said. "Everybody can't get to the Finals and win six in a row, like win six and not lose one like Michael Jordan. Everyone don't do that. But we are excited about the future of this organization. We are still a good team. And we're going to do everything we can to make sure that we can stay competitive."

Moves will be made, of course. The Heat have some luxury-tax concerns to address, and it would be a shock if they didn't try to get even better through a trade or free agency.

"All it's about now is what's in front of us," Riley said.

Then again, if James keeps getting better, Miami's place in history will probably only rise.

At 6-foot-8 and 250 pounds, James has a combination of size, speed and strength that seems unmatched in the NBA world. After Miami lost the 2011 finals to Dallas, James decided to improve his post play by working with Hakeem Olajuwon. Last season, his focus was on enhancing his mid-range jumper, something he continued working on throughout the season with Ray Allen.

So with about a half-minute left and the Heat up by two points, it was that mid-range jumper that sealed Miami's title. James delivered with 27.9 seconds left to make it a two-possession game. Not long afterward, he had the Larry O'Brien Trophy in one arm, the Finals MVP trophy in the other, ready for a well-deserved break from basketball.

"I want to be, if not the greatest, one of the greatest to ever play this game," James said. "And I will continue to work for that, and continue to put on this uniform and be the best I can be every night."

James has already put himself in that best-ever conversation.

"We all know his work ethic," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who spent part of his first day as a two-time champion coach at Jim Larranaga's basketball camp at the University of Miami. "It's probably unique for a guy who has been the best in the game since he was in seventh grade. Usually you wouldn't have the type of work ethic that would match that type of talent."

Jordan won six titles, James only has two. But if that's the sole standard, then Jordan isn't even close either, considering Bill Russell won 11 rings in his Boston career. Russell was there for the Heat title clincher, served as part of the on-court trophy presentations, then retreated to a small room not far from the Miami locker room as players meandered in for one of the immediate perks of winning a title ? a photo shoot with the trophy.

James posed for hundreds of photos during his time in there. Camera clicks were a constant sound for about 10 minutes when he was in the room. And before he left, he and Wade waved for Russell to come join them for some more snapshots.

"Get the legend up here," James shouted.

Russell walked to the front of the room as a few people, mostly Heat employees and family members, clapped. He shook hands with the Heat stars, then turned around to face the cameras and said something to James that was barely audible to those even a few feet away.

"You earned this one," Russell said.

James' grin became even broader, and camera shutters kept on whirring. Suddenly, that oft-mocked, oft-replayed "not two, not three, not four" answer James gave during the Heat celebration of their free agency coup in 2010 doesn't look like such a punch line anymore.

"I always felt that when he got up to five, six, seven that he was joking a little bit, but the media decided to take him very seriously," Heat managing general partner Micky Arison said. "I think right now he's real happy with two and next year he'll be worried about three."

James has played 10 seasons now. Including playoffs, his scoring average is 27.6, third-best in league history behind only Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. Since the league began charting plus-minus (the point differential when a player is on the court), James' teams have outscored opponents by 3,861 points with him in regular-season and playoff games. Second-best on that list? Wade, at 2,301 points. That gap is simply huge.

With an average season next year, he'll move into the Top 25 in all-time regular-season scoring. He got more rebounds per game this season than ever before, shot the 3-pointer better than ever before, punctuating that by making five in Game 7 of the finals. And here's what might be truly frightening for opponents: For the sixth straight year, James' shooting percentage got better.

"Hopefully people will leave him alone a little more now," Heat forward Shane Battier said. "He takes a lot of heat, I think undeservedly. He's the best player on the planet. And hopefully now with two titles, he'll get more the benefit of the doubt. But, you know, he's the best. He's the best right now."

So are the Heat. And that can't be argued.

The Celtics, Lakers and Bulls are the only franchises to win three straight titles. That will be the challenge for the Heat next year, to take a great run and make it a truly elite run.

For now, though, James wants no part of that conversation. He's going to enjoy this one for a good long while.

"It's the ultimate," James said. "I don't want to think about next year right now, what our possibilities are next year. Got to take full advantage of this one. It's an unbelievable moment for our team."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/heat-lebron-securing-places-history-212916314.html

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How the Xbox One Got Worse, What's Wrong With iOS 7 Icons, and More

Microsoft pulled a huge U-turn this week by pulling all it's DRM, and we're just itching to tell you why that's horrible. While we're at it, we've got a first look at OSX Mavericks, a lesson on what's wrong with the iOS 7 icons, billion-year-old drinking water, a new subatomic particle, and a smartphone tripod that will blow you away. Dig in!

OS X Mavericks First Impressions: A Little Good Going a Long Way

Mavericks is the first OS X release since Snow Leopard that doesn't constantly make you stop, consider a new feature that has just made your life worse in some incomprensible way, and then hope very hard that this is a bug, because it cannot possibly be an intended feature, because the world is, at a rest, a basically good place where people (like software engineers) do not deliberately inflict things like Launchpad on good, hardworking people. And that's a decent enough start.

What's Wrong With the iOS 7 Icons?

?It looks childish.? That was the first reaction I heard to iOS 7. I?m not going to lie, when I saw it for the first time myself, I freaked out a little too. Like any good simplicity-loving designer, I was eagerly waiting for Jonathan Ive to reveal a fresh, clean take on iOS.

Scientist Drinks Billion-Year-Old Water Just to See What It's Like

So remember about a month ago when scientists in Canada found the oldest undisturbed water cache ever? The one that had been stagnant beneath a rock for roughly 1.5 billion years? And that might hold the remains of prehistoric life? Yeah, don't drink that; it tastes like crap. Or so says Dr. Barbara Sherwood Lollar. And she should know?she's tasted it.

The Crazy New Subatomic Particle That May Rewrite the Rules of Matter

Two teams of physicists have stumbled across a weird new subatomic particle that's unlike anything else we've ever seen?and it could rewrite the rules of matter as we know them.

This Awesome Credit Card-Sized iPhone Tripod Blew Me Away

Sometimes the simplest things are the most useful, but rarely something makes me shake my head at how clever and cool it is like the Pocket Tripod 360? has. I keep thinking "why didn't someone do this before" and "what a great idea that I wish I'd thought of." I'm still blown away that the angle is adjustable like that.

The Best Smartphone Display: It's Not Who You Think

A new generation of smartphones with Full High Definition 1920x1080 displays have arrived, the same as your living room HDTV, but with a 5 inch screen size ? that is very impressive! But, how good are these new displays, do you really need all of that sharpness and resolution, and will you be able to actually see the difference? Also, how do they compare with the Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4? We?ll cover these issues and much more, with in-depth comprehensive display tests and analysis that you will find nowhere else.

The Xbox One Just Got Way Worse, And It's Our Fault

Microsoft just announced that its much-maligned DRM policies won't look at all like they originally had originally been described. They're going to more relaxed, sort of like the PS3's.Good news, you say? No. Bad news. The Xbox One just got worse.

The Hilarious Difference Between Google and Bing in One Picture

You use Google. Or maybe, just maybe you use Bing. Sometimes one is better. Sometimes the other is prettier. Sometimes it's the other way around. Whatever. The most hilarious, ridiculous difference between the two though? How they auto-complete the Xbox One. Google Instant finds words like terrible, ugly, a joke and so forth. Bing? Just one. Amazing.

20 Photos of Iconic Buildings and Bridges As They Were Being Built

There's a great scene in the first season of Mad Men where Don unveils a campaign for Bethlehem Steel. "New York, Chicago, and Detroit?all brought to you by Bethlehem," reads the copy. The client rejects the pitch, but the sentiment itself was hard to argue with: steel from those small rustbelt towns was feeding the growth of a kind of city never imagined before the 20th century.

The Mac Pro Recaptures the Spirit of Classic Workstations of Yore

Early computers were bland beige boxes?meant to blend in with whatever workspace they were placed on. But during the golden age of the super-powerful workstation, designers got wild with form factors and materials that oozed with confidence and no small amount of sass. In some ways, the new Mac Pro returns to that era?and here?s a speculative rendering to prove it.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-the-xbox-one-got-worse-whats-wrong-with-ios-7-ico-535335444

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Arab Islamist rebels, Kurds clash in northern Syria

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN (Reuters) - Islamist rebels have cut access to a Kurdish area in northern Syria and clashed with Kurdish nationalist PKK fighters whom they accuse of backing President Bashar al-Assad, sources on both sides said on Thursday.

The confrontation threatens to open a new front in Syria's 27-month-old civil war, in which Kurds, who form about 10 percent of the population, have so far played a limited role.

Fighting erupted overnight on the edge of Ifrin, a rugged, olive-growing area on the Turkish border, the sources said. Four people were killed, bringing to at least 30 the death toll from battles and assassinations in the last few days. Dozens more have been taken in tit-for-tat kidnappings, the sources said.

Tensions between Arabs and Kurds, whose relationship is riven by land disputes, especially in eastern Syria, have risen since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011.

Thousands of Kurds joined peaceful pro-democracy protests early on in the revolt but the community has mostly stayed out of the armed and largely Islamist insurgency that followed.

Although Kurdish politicians hold senior posts in the mostly Arab Sunni Muslim opposition, attempts to bring the main Kurdish parties into the umbrella Syrian National Coalition have failed, amid rows over how to define Kurdish rights in a future Syria.

Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, has pulled his troops out of cities in eastern Syria and out of many parts of Ifrin in the northwest, in effect granting the Kurds an autonomy many of them fear losing if he is toppled.

Ifrin was thrust deeper into the conflict when Assad's forces reinforced Zahra and Nubbul, two Shi'ite villages situated between Ifrin and the divided city of Aleppo, as part of an apparent attempt to capture the rural north, a supply line to Aleppo and to various rebel-held areas in the interior.

Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah fighters deployed in Zahra and Nubbul. The army also airlifted troops and loyalist militia to an area in Ifrin behind rebel lines, opposition sources said.

ECONOMIC DISRUPTION

Accusing PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) fighters of supplying the two villages, Islamist rebels cut main roads from Ifrin to the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo this month, causing prices of basic goods in Ifrin to soar, residents said.

Kurdish farmers are also struggling to market their crops, the sources said, with rebels extorting high fees at roadblocks.

"Ifrin has been sympathetic to the revolution but the rebels are not serving their cause by what they are doing," said Abboud Hakim, a retired government official in Ifrin.

"They accuse the PKK of delivering supplies to Nubbul and Zahra when they themselves let trucks go there if they pay them at the roadblocks," he said.

Rebel sources said the overnight clashes began when PKK gunmen attacked a roadblock held by an offshoot of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front near Jindaris, a Kurdish town southwest of Ifrin city, despite a truce brokered two days earlier by Colonel Mustafa al-Sheikh, a moderate Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander.

Under the deal between the FSA and the Kurdish Protection Units, a de facto PKK unit, the siege on Ifrin was to be lifted on Wednesday and both sides were to have freed their prisoners.

An opposition source in northern Syria said the ceasefire deal had little effect because Sheikh had only limited influence on the Islamist brigades which hold sway on the ground.

The PKK, the source said, also seemed to have little interest in the deal, especially after Arab reconciliation delegates sent to Ifrin were reportedly killed a few weeks ago.

Massoud Akko, a Kurdish activist based in Norway, said the conflict in Ifrin had become turf warfare with scant relevance to the Kurdish cause or the aims of the anti-Assad revolt.

"Even if the Kurdish Protection Units have committed violations, it does not justify besieging 150,000 civilians living in over 300 villages," Akko said. "The rebel forces are using the same methods of collective punishment as Assad."

In Aleppo, opposition activists reported the heaviest fighting in months as rebels fought to claw back gains by Assad's forces in several districts. Pro-Assad forces came under attack in al-Sakhour. Fighting also raged in Suleiman Halabi, a district largely held by Assad's loyalists.

(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon in Beirut; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arab-islamist-rebels-kurds-clash-northern-syria-153841504.html

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Crazy in Love! Beyonce & Jay-Z's Most Romantic Moments

The happy couple sipped champagne during a recent night out in NYC! Take a look back at how their romance has grown through the years.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/beyonce-jay-z-cutest-moments/1-b-531177?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Abeyonce-jay-z-cutest-moments-531177

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Acting 'as a father,' mayor takes away basketball hoops

Users of Memorial Park have lost their pool and now they are temporarily unable to play hoops at the basketball court.

By order of Mayor Gabriel J. Campana, the basketball rims at the park on West Fourth Street near Bowman Field will be removed for two weeks and not replaced until July 1.

Such punishment - for all who enjoy shooting hoops - is because of a few bad apples.

"Citizens must be responsible for their behavior," he said. "As a city, we cannot reward bad behavior."

For weeks, Campana claims the city has endured a chronic problem. The Streets and Parks Department has found drug paraphernalia, broken glass, cigarette butts and garbage in the areas surrounding the courts.

Staff has to clean up the mess, he said, and Campana also said he's received complaints about "unruly behavior" by those using the courts.

An inspection Saturday revealed the worst. "I was appalled by the condition of the site," Campana said. "Children using the playground equipment nearby should not be exposed to disrespectful behavior toward city property nor small children.

"A lesson will be taught as a father and mother teaches their children," Campana said of the temporary removal of the rims. "If the behavior improves, the courts will remain," he said, promising further action if conditions don't improve. "If not, I will consider removing the basketball rims permanently. We cannot enable bad behavior."

Meanwhile, those who seek a swim in a community pool will have to travel to Shaw Place Park's East End Pool, the only pool to remain open in the city because of budget issues.

Memorial Park is one of the three city parks under surveillance by cameras that were recently installed.

The cameras, four at the park, three at Roy A. Flanigan Park on Little League Boulevard and three at Newberry Park are designed as tools for law enforcement use, according to city Police Chief Gregory Foresman.

The video is kept at the police station for seven days, unless determined to be part of an investigation, he said.

"We hope this makes a big difference in the parks, and hopefully throughout the city down the road," Foresman said.

Source: http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/593742.html

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Red Hat's 1Q net up on higher subscription revenue

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? Red Hat Inc., the company behind the Linux open-source operating system, said Wednesday that net income in its fiscal first-quarter grew 8 percent as subscription revenue increased.

Shares added $2.78, or 6 percent, to $49 in after-hours trading. Red Hat's stock has dropped 13 percent in 2013 and closed down 41 cents at $46.22 Wednesday.

The Raleigh, N.C. company earned $40.4 million, or 21 cents per share, for the period that ended May 31. That is compared with $37.5 million, or 19 cents per share, earned in the same quarter last year.

Excluding costs for paying employees in stock and other one-time items, per-share earnings rose to 32 cents from 30 cents.

Red Hat's sales increased 15 percent to $363.3 from $314.7 million as subscription revenue grew 16 percent.

Analysts polled by FactSet, on average, were anticipating earnings of 31 cents per share with revenue of $359.7 million.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-06-19-US-Earns-Red-Hat/id-74321092b43e4fbaab5b03a3ed4c5bc6

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Black Sabbath's Lucky 13 Scores First Billboard #1 Debut

Big Time Rush slide in at #4 with their new one, 24/Seven.
By Gil Kaufman

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709287/black-sabbath-13-billboard-debut.jhtml

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