Happy Birthday Google!

A decade ago, Google was another fledgling Internet startup with a quirky name run by two buddies out of a suburban garage.

Today, it’s one of the world’s most recognizable brands and a ubiquitious company worth some $150 billion.

The 10th anniversary of Google’s incorporation Sunday has devotees wondering both how they did research before the company existed – and what the company’s innovators will think of next

“Google will keep pushing the envelope,” John Battelle, who wrote a book about Google, told The Associated Press. “It’s one of the things that seems to make them happy.” – more

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Collider Triggers End-of-World Fears

From the flagellants of the Middle Ages to the doomsayers of Y2K, humanity has always been prone to good old-fashioned the-end-is-nigh hysteria. The latest cause for concern: that the earth will be destroyed and the galaxy gobbled up by an ever-increasing black hole next week.

On Sept. 10, scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, will switch on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) — a $6 billion particle accelerator that will send beams of protons careening around a 17-mile underground ring, crash them into each other to re-create the immediate aftereffects of the Big Bang, and then monitor the debris in the hope of learning more about the origins and workings of the universe. Next week marks a low-power run of the circuit, and scientists hope to start smashing atoms at full power by the end of the month.

Critics of the LHC say the high-energy experiment might create a mini black hole that could expand to dangerous, Earth-eating proportions – more

Child Brides to Double in Next Decade

The number of girls in poor countries who marry before the age of 18 will double to 100 million in the next decade, putting many at risk from AIDS, a report said on Thursday.

A global food crisis is making matters worse by pushing more families in the developing world to send young daughters into marriage to deal with poverty, the survey from humanitarian group World Vision found.

Child brides suffer because they often end their education early and are more likely to be injured or to die during childbirth because their bodies are not fully developed.

“Complications during childbearing and delivery are most common in this age set, significantly raising the risk of death, premature delivery, infant mortality and low birthweight,” the report said.

An estimated 3,500 girls marry each day before their 15th birthday and another 21,000 do so before they are 18 — figures the humanitarian group said would balloon in coming years.

While the practice occurs worldwide and in wealthy nations too, it is most common in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and parts of Central America, the report said.

The highest child marriage rates were in Bangladesh where nearly 53 percent of girls married before the age of 15, followed by Niger at almost 38 percent, Chad at about 35 percent, and Ethiopia and India at about 31 percent – more

Letterman Questions NBC’s Replacing of Leno

David Letterman wants to stick with CBS’ “Late Show” through his contract — and maybe longer — as rival late night talk show host Jay Leno prepares to surrender the “Tonight” reins next year.

“The way I feel now, I would like to go beyond 2010, not much beyond, but you know, enough to go beyond. You always like to be able to excuse yourself on your own terms,” Letterman said in an interview in Rolling Stone magazine.

“If the network is happy with that, great. If they wanna make a change in 2010, you know, I’m fine with that, too,” Letterman said.

Letterman, along with Chris Rock and Tina Fey, is featured on the comedy-focused cover of the Rolling Stone issue out Friday.

Letterman, 61, questioned why NBC is proceeding with its plan to remove Leno, who consistently tops the late-night ratings. Conan O’Brien will take over “Tonight” in June 2009, with Jimmy Fallon moving into O’Brien’s “Late Night” chair.

“Unless I’m misunderstanding something, I don’t know why, after the job Jay has done for them, why they would relinquish that,” Letterman said, adding, “I have to believe he was not happy about it.” – more

Palin Fights Back

Top Republicans are swinging into battle after 48 hours of brutal personal attacks on Sarah Palin as the GOP vice presidential contender steps up to speak for herself tonight.

The Alaska governor takes tonight’s Republican National Convention stage in a dramatic, high-stakes bid to take her candidacy back from liberal bloggers and pundits who have pummeled her and her family.

“She’s tough, she’s thick-skinned and she seems to be very bright,” said U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.). “She’ll be able to handle anything that comes her way.”

The all-out attack on Palin – waged on the Internet, talk radio and cable TV – has included intense scrutiny of her teenage daughter’s pregnancy, purported photos of the 17-year-old partying with liquor, rehashing of Palin’s husband’s two-decades-old drunken driving bust, questions about her links to a quasi-secessionist group, scrutiny of her former church and even questions about whether better prenatal care could have prevented her newborn son from having Down syndrome – more

John McCain’s Wandering Eyes

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Who is Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin?

She’s the runner-up beauty queen who could wind up in the White House.

She’s a pro-life Christian conservative – and a Republican reformer who took on crooks in her party.

Meet Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, John McCain’s unlikely choice for running mate – a mother of five who drives a snowmobile, flies a plane, fishes for salmon and wears the mantle of maverick like a parka.

“I didn’t get into government to do easy things,” the 44-year-old bespectacled brunette told a rapturous Republican crowd yesterday after McCain introduced her to the country.

Nor was Palin expecting to be the first women – and first Alaskan – on a Republican presidential ticket  – more

Bill Clinton: ‘Obama Ready to Lead’

Former President Bill Clinton laid to rest any speculation Wednesday night that he would not enthusiastically back Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois for president by making a forceful call for voters to elect Obama because “Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world.”

“I am here first to support Barack Obama,” Clinton said, opening his address in characteristic fashion by deviating from the prepared text aides distributed to reporters ahead of time.

On the night the Democratic National Convention in Denver made Obama the first African-American ever nominated by a major party, Clinton acknowledged that his “preferred candidate” — his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York — had fallen short. But, he said, “like her, I want all of you to support Barack Obama in November.” – more

Sasha Obama – “What City Are You in Daddy?”

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Plot to Kill Obama

 

CBS4 has learned at least four people are under arrest in connection with a possible plot to kill Barack Obama at his Thursday night acceptance speech in Denver. All are being held on either drug or weapons charges.

CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass reported one of the suspects told authorities they were “going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a … rifle … sighted at 750 yards.”

Law enforcement sources tell Maass that one of the suspects “was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative.”

The story began emerging Sunday morning when Aurora police arrested 28-year-old Tharin Gartrell. He was driving a rented pickup truck in an erratic manner according to sources.

Sources told CBS4 police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, wigs, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licenses in the names of other people and 44 grams of methamphetamine. One of the rifles is listed as stolen from Kansas – more