Tesla CEO Elon Musk Met With Apple Executives: Report

Two of the world's most innovative companies may have discussed working together or even joining forces, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with Adrian Pierca, Apple’s head of mergers and acquisitions, last spring as analysts were suggesting Apple acquire the electronic carmaker, the Chronicle reported Sunday, citing an unnamed source.
“While a megadeal has yet to emerge (for all of its cash, Apple still plays hardball on valuation), such a high-level meeting between the two Silicon Valley giants involving their top dealmakers suggests Apple was very much interested in buying the electric car pioneer,” the report said.
(Read the full story from the San Francisco Chronicle here.)
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Huffington Post. Tesla declined to comment.
Apple and its CEO Tim Cook spent much of last year fighting off concerns from analysts and investors that the company had lost its innovative edge. While the company added new technologies to many of its products in recent years, Apple hasn’t launched a new product in a new category since 2010, when the iPad first came out, according to USA Today.
Acquiring Tesla could ease some of those worries. Nothing says “IT’S THE FUTURE” quite like a car that runs on electricity with a fancy touchscreen that tells drivers where they can charge up next. And Musk, a co-founder of PayPal, has become somewhat of a Silicon Valley darling, unveiling ideas like the Hyperloop -- an idea for an elevated transit system that could get people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just 30 minutes -- to much fanfare.

Andaan Ahmad, an analyst at German bank Berenberg, said as much when he suggested Apple buy Tesla in an open letter to Cook in October. Ahmad argued Apple needs “an out of the box” move into a new market, according to CNNMoney. Otherwise, he wrote, Apple’s future will only be about how much money the company can continue to squeeze out of the iPhone.
In addition, if Apple acquired Tesla, the tech giant would get the added benefit of bringing an innovative leader like Musk into the fold. "You could strike up a partnership and obtain a new iconic partner to lead Apple's innovation drive," Ahmad wrote.
Apple isn't the only tech giant to explore the auto world. Google has a project in the works for driverless cars that would keep people safer on the road.
Musk has signaled in the past that an Apple buy isn't out of the realm of possibility. "They do have a lot of cash," he told Bloomberg in an interview in May.
This story was updated after Tesla declined to comment.

Pa. woman admits Craigslist killing in interview

SUNBURY, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania woman charged along with her newlywed husband in the murder of a man they met through Craigslist admitted to the slaying in a jailhouse interview with a newspaper and said she has killed more than 20 others across the country, claims police said they are investigating.
In an interview with the Daily Item in Sunbury, Pa., 19-year-old Miranda Barbour said she wants to plead guilty to killing Troy LaFerrara in November. She also said in the interview that she has killed at least 22 other people from Alaska to North Carolina in the last six years as part of her involvement in a satanic cult.
"I feel it is time to get all of this out. I don't care if people believe me. I just want to get it out," Barbour told the newspaper for a story published Saturday night (http://bit.ly/1f7fvOH).
Sunbury police Chief Steve Mazzeo told the newspaper that investigators have been in contact with the FBI and law enforcement in several other states.
"From information we gathered and from information gathered from her interview we are seriously concerned and have been in contact with the proper authorities," Mazzeo said.
Lawyers for the couple did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press left at their offices Saturday night. An FBI spokesman referred questions to its Philly office, but an email message wasn't immediately returned.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Barbour and her husband, 22-year-old Elytte Barbour. Authorities said Miranda Barbour, a petite woman with long brown hair, told investigators she met the 6-foot-2, 278-pound victim after he responded to her Craigslist ad offering companionship for money.
Police allege in court papers that Elytte Barbour told investigators they committed the crime because they wanted to kill someone together. The couple, who were married in North Carolina and moved to Pennsylvania about three weeks before the crime, told police Miranda Barbour stabbed LaFerrara in the front seat of her car while her husband held a cord around his neck.
She said in the interview that she doesn't want to get out of jail and that she would kill again if she were released.
Miranda Barbour offered little detail on the murders she claimed to have participated in in Alaska, Texas, North Carolina and California. She claims she joined a satanic cult in Alaska when she was 13 before moving to North Carolina. Online records for the woman that the newspaper identified as Barbour's mother show her as having lived in both Alaska and North Carolina.
Last week, a judge granted a lawyer's request to have a forensic psychiatrist evaluate Miranda Barbour. The judge earlier approved a psychiatrist to evaluate Elytte Barbour.

Ice storm causes deaths, power outages, and traffic jams in the South

Tim Ballisty

Original shared on FB RT @beerandracing: Hwy 70 near RDU airport, few miles from home, taken today during snowstorm http://t.co/dRGQDgruwr

ATLANTA (AP) -- Small armies of utility workers labored to turn the lights - and the heat - back on for hundreds of thousands of Southerners as a winter storm that left them without power threatened major cities further up the East Coast.

The Deep South remained a world of ice-laden trees and driveways early Thursday after several unusual days of sleet and snow brought by a powerful system that could bring more than a foot of snow to such metropolises as Philadelphia, Washington and Boston.

At least 12 deaths across the South have been blamed on the stormy weather and nearly 3,300 flights nationwide were canceled with another day of complicated air and road travel ahead Thursday, particularly in the Northeast.

Drivers in and around Raleigh, N.C., became snarled Wednesday in huge traffic jams and abandoned cars in scenes reminiscent of motorist woes in Atlanta during a storm two weeks earlier. In Atlanta, many streets were eerily quiet this storm, with drivers heeding dire warnings to stay off the roads. State troopers say they worked more than 200 crashes in Georgia.

For some on slick, snow-covered interstates in North Carolina, commutes that should take minutes lasted hours after many got on the highways just as soon as snow and sleet began at midday.

And in South Carolina, more accustomed to occasional hurricanes, some could only relate the damage from ice-snapped tree limbs to that of bygone Hurricane Hugo. Even normally balmy Myrtle Beach, where millions of visitors cavort each summer, cars were coated in thick ice that also frosted palm trees and kiddie rides by the shore.

"I hate driving on this," grumbled South Carolina resident Mindy Taylor, 43, on her way for rock salt, kitty litter or anything else to melt the ice. "Hopefully it'll warm up by the weekend and it will all melt. I'm ready for Spring."

In Alabama, forecasters gleefully spoke of weekend temperatures reaching the 60s after inches of snow or sleet in its northern parts.

The snow, sleet and freezing rain that iced Southern highways also knocked out electricity to more than half a million homes and business as it advanced Thursday up the Interstate 95 corridor to the winter-weary Mid-Atlantic states.

Some Southerners who two weeks ago reveled in the so-called "snow jam" sounded tired this time of sleet and ice encasing highways, trees and even the tombstones of a cemetery replete with Confederate graves.

Bethany Lanier, 32, was walking in a mostly empty square in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur with Lindsay Futterman, a 30-year-old charter school teacher as they debated whether to get a drink at a pub.

If classes are canceled Friday, the charter school students will have missed nine days of school. To make up days, administrators have canceled a three-day break.

"Now, we're out because we have cabin fever," Lanier said as Futterman added: "It's kind of annoying now."

Many Southerners took to makeshift sleds on the ice and snow, with at least seven people hospitalized in sledding accidents just in Georgia. Four people were hurt sledding in a kayak that crashed into a pole, said Fire Chief Ricky Pruit in Cleveland, Ga. One victim suffered leg injuries, another was knocked unconscious and lost several teeth and the other two refused treatment, he said.

Ice combined with wind gusts up to 30 mph snapped tree limbs and power lines. More than 200,000 homes and businesses lost electricity in Georgia, South Carolina had about 245,000 outages, and North Carolina around 100,000. Some people could be in the dark for days.

As he did for parts of Georgia, President Barack Obama declared a disaster in South Carolina, opening the way for federal aid.

For the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, the heavy weather was the latest in an unending drumbeat of storms that have depleted cities' salt supplies and caused school systems to run out of snow days.

Washington, D.C., could see around 8 inches of snow, as could Boston. New York City could receive 6 inches. The Philadelphia area could get a foot or more, and Portland, Maine, may see 8 or 9 inches.

In Atlanta, which was caught badly unprepared by the last storm, area schools announced even before the first drop of sleet fell that they would be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Schools were also closed for Thursday. Many businesses in the corporate capital of the South shut down, too.

The scene was markedly different from the one Jan. 28, when thousands of children were stranded all night in schools by less than 3 inches of snow and countless drivers abandoned their cars after getting stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours and hours.

"I think some folks would even say they were a little trigger-happy to go ahead and cancel schools (Tuesday), as well as do all the preparation they did," said Matt Altmix, who was out walking his dog in Atlanta on Wednesday. "But it's justified."

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory urged people to charge their cellphones and find batteries for radios and flashlights because the storm could bring nearly a foot of snow in places such as Charlotte.

"Stay smart. Don't put your stupid hat on at this point in time. Protect yourself. Protect your family. Protect your neighbors," McCrory said.

In a warning issued early Wednesday, the National Weather Service called the storm across the South "catastrophic ... crippling ... paralyzing ... choose your adjective."

Meteorologist Eli Jacks noted that three-quarters of an inch of ice would be catastrophic anywhere.

However, the South is particularly vulnerable: Many trees are allowed to hang over power lines for the simple reason that people don't normally have to worry about ice and snow snapping off limbs.

Three people were killed when an ambulance careened off an icy West Texas road and caught fire. On Tuesday, four people died in weather-related traffic accidents in North Texas, including a Dallas firefighter who was knocked from an I-20 ramp and fell 50 feet. In Mississippi, two traffic deaths were reported as well as in North Carolina.

Also, a Georgia man apparently died of hypothermia after spending hours outside during the storm, a coroner said.

Entrepreneur to Launch an “Adult School” Speaking Tour

Author, Entrepreneur and Motivational Speaker James Thomas Sr. to visit area Adult Schools to speak to students about the benefits of owning a business and why they should always “Expect To Win.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

James Thomas Sr.

PRLog (Press Release) - Feb. 12, 2014 - LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- James Thomas Sr. still remembers the day he visited the Employment Development Department in his South Central Los Angeles neighborhood.  His goal was to find a bank job and speak to a counselor about how to start a business.  “To my dismay the counselor told me, no bank would hire me and the chances of me ever owning a business were astronomical.  He then gave me a referral for a janitor position at ABC Market” said Mr. Thomas.

That was more than 30 years ago and not only did he get a bank job, he has owned several successful businesses.  Today he is the President and CEO of BEM Media Group, Inc. a multimedia company that sells entertainment, information and motivational products and “The Red Letter Agency PR Firm, a Corporate, Entertainment and Sports PR Firm, in addition to being a highly sought after Motivational Speaker and Author.

Not one to rest on past success, Mr. Thomas is always searching for opportunities to encourage and motivate others.  “I was passing a local high school and there was a sign outside advertising their “Adult School” and it hit me, to my knowledge no one has ever done a speaking tour targeting adult school students.  I made a couple of phone calls and found the principles of these schools very enthusiastic about having a speaker come in so I decided to launch the “Expect to Win” Tour.” Stated Mr. Thomas

The “Expect to Win” program is designed to teach students that not only should they strive to win but if they remain focused and work hard, they should “Expect to Win.”

Mr. Thomas shares personal stories of obstacles he faced growing up in South Central Los Angeles, overcoming incarceration, a failed marriage, and lack of funding to become a speaker who has brought his message of faith and encouragement to audiences around the country.

The “Expect to Win” Adult School Tour is scheduled to begin in March with 10 stops throughout the state of California.

If your Adult School or College is interested in having Mr. Thomas visit your school contact Lisa at 562-547-2524

Contact
The Red Letter agency
***@bemmediagroup.com

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/12282076/1

Major Snowstorm to Slam into Northeast Wednesday Night

By AccuWeather

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014

Peggy Udden, of Norwood, Mass., shovels her driveway in Norwood, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A storm bringing heavy ice and snow to the interior South will reach the Northeast Wednesday night and Thursday with heavy snow, gusty winds and disruptions to travel and daily activities.

The same storm set on disrupting flights at the major hubs of Atlanta, Dallas and Charlotte, N.C., in the South will take a tour of the Northeast before Valentine's Day. Airports from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston will experience trouble with this storm.



Flight delays and cancellations are possible throughout much of the nation well away from and ahead of the storm, due to aircraft and crews being displaced.

A swath of heavy snow is projected by AccuWeather.com to reach from portions of western and central Virginia, the West Virginia mountains and northern Maryland to southeastern and central Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, southeastern New York and central New England.

This includes the I-81 corridor in Virginia, Maryland and part of Pennsylvania, as well as I-77 inNorth Carolina and Virginia and I-87 in New York.



The storm will start as accumulating snow throughout the I-95 corridor and most coastal areas in the Northeast.

According to Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, "While some rain can mix in along some of the I-95 cities, this will be a major storm throughout the corridor with enough snow to make for slippery roads and difficult travel."

Even though the storm will move much faster through the Northeast, when compared to the South, it has the potential to bring a foot of snow in a swath north and west of the track of the center of the system. This is most likely in the northern and western suburbs of the I-95 cities in the mid-Atlantic and New England.



The system will track in such a way that part of the I-95 corridor will experience a change from snow to rain or to a mix of rain and snow. Such a scenario would result in added weight to the snow. The weight and increasing winds near the coast could bring down trees and power lines.

Inland from the coast, where the precipitation falls as all snow, the storm will garner enough wind to cause blowing and drifting snow at the height of and in the immediate wake of the storm.

According to Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity, "In some areas from parts of Virginia, northeastward to New England, it may seem like a blizzard at times."

The storm is not likely to spare coastal areas, I-95 cities and their northern and western suburbs from heavy precipitation.

Folks from the Atlantic coast up to the Appalachians of the mid-Atlantic and New England should prepare for a classic nor'easter.

As the storm strengthens Thursday into Thursday night, enough onshore wind may be generated to cause minor flooding at times of high tide from New Jersey to Maine. The highest astronomical tides typically occur a day or so before the full moon, which happens to be on Friday, Valentine's Day. Water levels are likely to run about 2 feet above published levels.

RELATED:
AccuWeather.com Winter Weather Center
South Interactive Radar
Is the Northeast Running Out of Road Salt?

Prior to the arrival of the southern storm, most of the Northeast will be free of accumulating snow and will remain quite cold through the day Wednesday.

As of Tuesday midday, PECO was reporting that approximately 2,100 utility customers were still without power in the wake of the ice storm that hit southeastern Pennsylvania on Feb. 5, 2014.

There is the possibility of the power being knocked out in some of the same communities that were hit a week earlier.

For folks looking for a break in the cold, wintry pattern, a change to milder, less stormy weather is possible beginning around Feb. 17 or 18.

However, cold weather and storms may once again fight back toward the end of the month.

PHOTOS ON SKYE: Winter Storm Bears Down on US

Maze and Gisin tie for Olympic downhill gold

Sochi Olympics Alpine Skiing Women

Women's downhill gold medal winners Switzerland's Dominique Gisin, left, and Slovenia's Tina Maze, right, pose for photographers on the podium during a flower ceremony at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer)

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) - For the first time in Olympic history, an Alpine skiing race ended in a tie. Tina Maze of Slovenia and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland both sped down the Rosa Khutor course 1 minute, 41.57 seconds on Wednesday to share Olympic gold in women's downhill.
A few moments later, the good friends held hands as they stepped up to the top of the podium.
"I'm sure glad I'm going to share this gold with Tina," said Gisin, who will get a medal all to herself. "She's such a great woman and one of the greatest athletes of our sport."
Lara Gut of Switzerland earned bronze, 0.10 behind the winners.

Wednesday's marquee event was the eighth time that Olympic gold has been awarded to two competitors in the Winter Games, and the first time in Alpine skiing.
"Maybe just one finger or one hand can change the color of a medal," said Maze, adding there was no need to slice up their finishing times into thousandths of seconds rather than hundredths.
"It's even more interesting because it's not a usual thing," Maze said. "It's something special."
Still, if the rare occurrence had to happen, it might have been predicted that Gisin and Maze would be involved.
For the 28-year-old Gisin, it was only her third downhill victory, but two have been in ties. In January 2009, she shared a World Cup victory with Swedish great Anja Paerson in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria - the last time a women's downhill ended in a tie.
Maze was even involved in a three-way tie in October 2002. The World Cup season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, saw Maze, Andrine Flemmen of Norway and Nicole Hosp of Austria all occupy the podium's top step. Hosp placed ninth Wednesday.
Wednesday's Olympic race seemed in Maze's hands when she led Gisin at each time split and speed check. But she then appeared to make a small mistake before the final slope, which was slowed by softening snow.
Wearing bib No. 21, Maze started 30 minutes after No. 8 Gisin as temperatures approached 50 degrees (10 C).
Maze stretched both arms overhead and threw her race goggles in the air after seeing that she shared the lead. It's the best result in a difficult season for the Slovenian, who has struggled to match her exceptional 2013 campaign.
Though Maze won two silvers at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Gisin earned her first major medal. When Maze completed her run, Gisin came out of the leader's box and into the finish area to give her a hug.
Four years ago, Gisin's Olympic downhill ended when she crashed off the final jump and endured a long slide to the finish line, where she hit a bank of snow and was tossed into the air.
Then, Gisin sustained a concussion. This time, the Swiss racer was crying while speaking with her grandparents on her mobile phone.
"It was very emotional," Gisin said. "They did so much for me; my whole family did. This is just very nice to share it with them."
The last tie in Olympic skiing happened in men's super-G at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Didier Cuche of Switzerland and Hans Knauss of Austria both got silver behind winner Hermann Maier of Austria.
Twice, two women have tied for second place in Olympic giant slalom races.
At the 1992 Albertville Olympics, Diann Roffe of the United States and Anita Wachter of Austria both took silver behind Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden. At the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics, Christine Goitschel of France and Jean Saubert of the United States were second to gold medalist Marielle Goitschel of France.
In men's downhill at the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics, Swiss pair Karl Molitor and Ralph Olinger tied for bronze when timing was measured in tenths of seconds.
Pre-race favorites Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany and Julia Mancuso of the United States slipped out of contention, racing after Gisin.
Hoefl-Riesch, who was looking for a record-equaling fourth Olympic Alpine gold, was 1.17 back in 13th place. Mancuso trailed by 0.99 in eighth place after losing more than a half-second in the lower sections.
"I really thought Tina could do it," Mancuso said. "She almost did the same thing that I did on the bottom, but she was going a little faster so I think she pulled it off."
Mancuso had been fastest in the downhill portion of Monday's super-combined, in which she took bronze and Hoefl-Riesch won. Maze was fourth.
That day, Gut had been second-fastest in downhill before letting a medal slip by skiing out in slalom.
On Wednesday, Gut was in tears again, seemingly unable to understand how her speed - clocking 64.9 mph (104.4 kph) - did not translate into a faster time.
Gut placed her hands on her bowed head and looked exasperated before walking over to hug her winning teammate.
"It's cool to win a bronze, but when you know you can do more, at the beginning I think it's normal to be a bit disappointed," Gut said.
In a nasty crash, No. 4 starter Marie Marchand-Arvier of France slid back-first into safety fencing after losing her balance over a jump. She did not appear to be seriously hurt.

Bridget Gordon, HIV-Positive 'Oprah Show' Guest, Addresses Her Decision To Get Pregnant

 
In 2010, the "Oprah Show" audience met Bridget, a woman with a high-paying career, a beautiful home in Los Angeles and a loving husband... or so she thought. Shortly after her honeymoon, Bridget got sick and visited her doctor, who delivered shocking news: She was HIV-positive.
Bridget's husband John tested positive the very next day. Devastated, Bridget called and told her brother about their diagnoses. Her brother gave her very specific instructions.
"'You ask [your husband] how many men he's had sex with,'" Bridget remembers her brother saying.
So she did. John's response gave Bridget another shock.
"He said, 'Two,'" she told Oprah during her 2010 interview. "I said, 'Oh, really? When were you going to tell me that?'"
Bridget then opened her husband's computer and discovered that he had been cruising men-for-men websites, looking for other HIV-positive married men to have sex with. She threw him out of the house, filed for divorce and sued him for fraud.
After struggling to make peace with her HIV-positive status, Bridget told Oprah she found a way to move on, which included a new boyfriend and a planned pregnancy. Bridget, who was pregnant at the time of her "Oprah Show" appearance, conceived "the old-fashioned way," through unprotected sex -- a decision that drew criticism from those who thought she was putting her unborn child's health at risk.
"But you were willing to take that risk?" Oprah asked back then.
"Yes," Bridget nodded.
"Are you worried about the baby contracting HIV?" Oprah asked.
Bridget explained that she was taking a drug recommended to HIV-positive pregnant women. "It gives the baby less than one percent [chance] of getting the disease," she said. "Hopefully, little girl won't have HIV."
Bridget's little girl, Nina, is now 3 years old. "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" recently caught up with the family to see how they are doing today.
"The baby was born healthy, alert, eyes wide open and perfect," Bridget says. "When I heard she was HIV-negative… [it was a] huge relief."
Others still reacted to Bridget's planned pregnancy with anger. "There were people who were absolutely livid and said that I was irresponsible, that it was unfair to my child, that I shouldn't have children," she says. "It was really saddening because it told me that we really have not come as far as we should have after 30 years of this disease being present in America and around the world. People still have so much to learn."
"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on OWN.