RELATED: Roughly a quarter of a billion years ago, 90-95 percent of all life on Earth died out. It took 30 million years for the planet to recover. Most people are familiar with the extinction event 65 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs. But the Great Dying was much more devastating. It left almost nothing alive. So what happened? Nobody is completely sure, but there is evidence to support two major catastrophes, both of which would have led to devastating climate change. At the end-Permian, giant mega-volcanoes began to erupt in the Siberian region. At the same time, […]

With your bacon-maker, AP Ticker.

HUFFINGTON POST: Yay, the iPhone 4 is here. But today, instead of thinking about the latest version of the game-changing smartphone, I’m mourning the end of the era of the unlimited data plan. Last week AT&T announced a new tiered pricing model for data services for Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices, which charges users $15 for 200 MB of data and $25 for 2 GB, plus an additional charge for tethering (more on that in a bit). While some think the new model will ultimately be good for consumers, others disagree. David Pogue, while having issues about the tethering, thinks […]

The Chicago Blackhawks have won the Cup, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime in Game 6 for their first championship since 1961. RELATED: Indeed, the Flyers have won over the town – a remarkable feat considering all the snags the team and its fans endured this season. The franchise yanked one goalie out of the Russian hinterlands, another out of the lost-and-found bin and pulled a third from obscurity. Mike Richards battled the media and, later on, Jeff Carter and Ian Laperriere battled injuries. John Stevens was fired and replaced with Peter Laviolette, whose system didn’t reap rewards as […]

Holly Golightly and The Broke Offs “Holly started her musical career as a co-founder member of all girl garage band Thee Headcoatees, who were Thee Headcoats splinter group in 1991. Holly made her first solo album, The Good Things, in 1995. Although often connected with garage rock, Holly’s music is more a mixture of pre-rock electric country blues, folk and less frantic rock & roll. It brings to mind a bourbon soaked honky tonk bar, evenings on a dusty front porch with your faithful hound, cracked hearts and foot stomping good times. She creates a world all of her own, […]

WALL STREET JOURNAL: It’s yet another example of newsmaking outrageousness at a Phillies game this year. You may have heard about the New Jersey man who was arrested in April after intentionally unburdening his stomach upon the 11-year-old daughter of … an off-duty cop. Then, of course, there was Taser Boy, the wily teen who darted onto the Citizens Bank Park turf and got electrified in the outfield. As embarrassing as these incidents may be, these Philly moments underscore a curious, if not especially politically correct, crisis: New York is losing ground in the edgy fan-behavior race. Again: This is […]

AZ CENTRAL: The Diamondbacks announced Monday that Daryl Hall and John Oates canceled their postgame concert scheduled for July 2 at Chase Field because of their personal stance against Arizona’s new immigration law. Hall and Oates issued the following statement: “In addition to our personal convictions, we are standing in solidarity with the music community in our boycott of performing in Arizona at this time. We would like to emphasize that this has nothing to do with the management of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have been professional and cooperative throughout our dealings with them. This is our response to a […]

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Professor Peter Lutz is listed in BP’s 2009 response plan for a Gulf of Mexico oil spill as a national wildlife expert. He died in 2005. Under the heading “sensitive biological resources,” the plan lists marine mammals including walruses, sea otters, sea lions and seals. None lives anywhere near the Gulf. The names and phone numbers of several Texas A&M University marine life specialists are wrong. So are the numbers for marine mammal stranding network offices in Louisiana and Florida, which are no longer in service. BP PLC’s 582-page regional spill plan for the Gulf, and its 52-page, […]