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Tennis is one of the most favored international sports to watch; with its intensity and unpredictable outcomes its one of the most popular to play as well. It seems that everyone is watching and talking about the French Open right now, so here is some information and fun facts you might not have known.

First, the French Open is one of four grand slam tournaments. The grand slam tournaments are the Australian Open, US Open, French Open, and Wimbledon. These are the four major events that athletes strive to play in each year and which help determine their rankings.

Next, the French Open is held in Paris, France at Stade Roland Garros. The stadium, Roland Garros, was named after a notable French World War I pilot. The courts are made of clay and the French Open is the only grand slam tournament to be played on clay courts. Now, the difference between clay courts and hard or grass courts is that the ball bounces higher on clay and travels slower, making it a very physically demanding game.

Finally, the tournament was established in 1891, it was originally a national championship but was then changed allow international talent to compete.

As one of the largest tennis events of the year, the French Open attracts all the best players from all over the world. With the tricky surface, the tournament is full of surprises and you never know who will win. The French Open has a lot of history behind it and is definitely one of the major sporting events you won’t want to miss out on.

For those who are fans of Michael Jackson and want his legacy to continue, have no fear, a whole new set of attractions is coming to Las Vegas to commemorate the King of Pop.

The Mandalay Bay Las Vegas in conjunction with the Michael Jackson estate has announced that the hotel will house Michael Jackson themed attractions. The Las Vegas hotel will create a Michael Jackson themed lounge and install a Michael Jackson museum. The museum will be interactive and feature a great deal of Jackson’s memorabilia. Both of these attractions are expected to bring in big business for the Mandalay Bay. The museum and lounge will be open in 2013.
A Cirque du Soleil show is also in the works. The Cirque du Soleil show, “The Immortal”, will be a permanent installment at the Mandalay Bay but the show will also tour. The idea behind the show is to bring Jackson’s “Never Land” to the people, and to celebrate his unique music and dancing. The Jackson estate wanted fans to be able to experience Jackson’s Never Land estate but with its remote location they thought it a better idea to bring Never Land to the people in the form of creative theatre. The tour will hit 47 cities starting in Montreal and is the largest investment the French company has ever taken on, costing around $57 million; with Michael Jackson’s music and the creative abilities of the Cirque du Soleil designers this will be the show of the year.

The show will begin touring this year and finish in 2013.

One of the most popular quotes circulating the internet recently has been from the character Cave Johnson and his lemon rant from the video game Portal 2. The writers of the Portal games should really be commended for the wonderful monologues that they have written. Before Portal 2′s Cave Johnson, no one ever thought to do anything other than make lemonade when life gives you lemons, but Cave has some new ideas for those lemons. So far, each Portal game is guaranteed to be responsible for a few internet memes and the Cave Johnson lemon quote is the biggest hit of all. Watch Ignas Greed’s newest visual interpretations of the Cave Johnson’s famous lemon quote in the video below.

So take Cave Johnson’s advice and when life gives you lemons, get mad!

When you think of cool “how to” guys there is one name that should always be at the top of every list– MacGyver.  Fathom Information Design, recently created a website that details every single impromptu invention that was ever created by Richard Dean Anderson’s character, MacGyver, from the popular 80’s television show of the same name.  That website aptly named MacRecipes shows the general recipe for a MacGyver invention, episode number, and description in which it appeared. However, many of MacGyver’s inventions were just TV magic so there’s no guarantee that they will work but some of the tips are actually pretty useful like using duct tape and a map to patch a hole in a hot air balloon.  It appears as though Fathom, which is a data visualization company, created MacRecipes as sort of a fun joke project, but it’s obvious that a lot of attention and care went into it nonetheless.  So if you ever need to incubate eagle eggs and all you have is cooking oil and furniture stuffing then now you know where to go get it done.

Seriously though, please don’t try to recreate any of the crazy inventions that MacGyver has made over the years on TV; many of his inventions and plans are dangerous and could cause bodily harm.  Especially don’t try to disarm a missile with a paper clip like MacGyver did in episode 1.

We are not responsible for anything that you might choose to do with the information you learn from MacRecipes or MacGyver himself.

Image via Fathom Information Design

Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream.

Malcolm Muggeridge

The internet is a great place to conduct a housing search. It is chock full of resources that make every phase of moving that much easier — from choosing a place to live to settling in once the move is complete.

For starters, there are many places online that list vacant apartments, condos for rent, and even rental homes. Online classified ads, real estate listings, and the websites of property management companies are good places to start. Rental units can also be found on twitter, facebook, and other social media communities. Many landlords are using youtube and other video sharing sites to post virtual tours so that prospective tenants can get a feel for a place from their computer or cell phone.

The web is also the motherlode of how to. This means that tenants can find guides on everything associated with moving. First time renters can learn the ins and outs of leases and their responsibilities as tenants. There are articles and videos showing how to organize a move or load a moving truck. There are guides to neighborhoods to help new residents find their way around and there are countless design sites ready to help renters decorate their new home.

Some property management sites will offer a mixture of listings and guides, as transglobe does. This is true of other resources sites that offer a one-stop approach. Or renters can pick and choose from the myriad of helpful sources across the web.

You might want to check your calendar because it’s definitely time to go to Las Vegas. And if you’re wondering why, well, come on, really, do you honestly need to ask? Anytime is a great time to visit and the Las Vegas events calendar is filled with great options all the time. Whether it’s theatre, music concerts, comedy, magic or any other form of entertainment and performance, you will find it in Vegas every day of the year. Oh, that is, except yesterday. If you were there yesterday, well, you know what they say, if it happened there it stays there, so that’s the only day we can’t talk about.

Meanwhile, if you plan to visit Las Vegas soon, you will certainly encounter one of many events of a lifetime. If you visited Vegas today you would have the option of seeing the incredibly imaginative Mystere from Cirque de Soleil, or one of their other hits Human Nature or KA. In addition, The Lion King is still running and word has it that Penn and Teller have just signed on for another three years. Meanwhile, major Broadway hits Jersey Boys and Menopause the Musical continue to perform to full houses. Phantom, The Las Vegas Spectacular seems to be on its way to becoming one of the city’s iconic hits and these are just the main musical performance options. In addition, there are an endless variety of music concerts and great comedy acts. And we haven’t even discussed all the possible genre options. Whatever you’re looking for and whenever you want to find it, it will be waiting for you in Vegas. Unless it was yesterday.

The lore of Las Vegas is fairly substantial, especially for a city that is considered to be relatively new. There has been a long history of human habitation in the area, of course, but what is considered to be the contemporary urban center does not go back more than a few generations. Most people recognize it as one of the great weekend spots in the world, where a Vegas hotel means a wonderful time with friends in an exciting place. Most people also probably recognize its wild west origins, but very likely do not recognize the names of the ones who made the city accessible to an industrialized world.

Some visitors, and many of the locals, might be familiar with the Rafael Rivera Community Center , but may not be aware of its namesake. Rivera was, in fact, one of the reasons that the city is what it is today. In the middle of the 19th century, he was a scout in an expedition to make the trail open for travel to Los Angeles. He took a turn, and found himself in an area with fresh springs. This area was inhabited, and had been so for some time, but he was the first European-descended visitor. It was a perfect spot for a rest between cities, and became a stopping point on the way to the ocean, before it became the major center that it is today.

To many people, the appeal of the open road can only be fully realized on the back of a motorcycle. If you are one of these people, you may have dreamed of being a biker since you were a little kid. Or maybe you caught the motorcycle bug when you were older, after being exposed to a classic biker movie like Easy Rider or when introduced to the thrill of riding two wheels by a friend or on a date.

Now that you’ve brought home your new cycle, you need to master a few basic maintenance skills. You’ll want to save the major repairs for the professionals, but part of the pride of being a biker is being able to take care of minor upkeep and diagnose minor problems all on your own. This means that you’ll want to invest in a good motorcycle repair manual along with a helmet, riding clothes, and other accessories.

There are a number of similarities between engines in cars and motorcycles. Both types of vehicles need regular oil changes, tire checks, and should have professional check ups on a prescribed schedule. Just don’t expect the steps to be exactly the same or for things to be in the exact same place. Keep that repair manual handy the first few times you do something and be sure that you take it on the road with you. Bikers tend to favor less traveled roads, which means if you break down, you’re likely to be far from a repair shop and will need to be able to get your bike working again on your own.

For some riders, the way to avoid accidents is through a lot of attention, and a healthy dose of positive thinking. While changing the way one perceives the world can, indeed, have profound effects on the daily experience of living, attention might be more valuable than attitude. This is because, no matter how well-developed the thinking might be, there are bad days when a biker can run into trouble. Even the most experienced rider knows that there are times when skill simply can’t do anything for avoiding a bad situation. While no one sets out to enlist the services of a motorcycle accident injury lawyer Fort Lauderdale offers, it can be a very positive thing in the long run.

Dealing with the aftermath of a bad day can be very trying, especially when healing from an injury is also part of the equation. Yet the community of two-wheelers is a very tight one, and there are motorcycle riders in nearly every walk of life. This means that no one is ever alone. It can certainly seem like that when things start to go wrong at high speeds, but there is no experience that is truly unique. It’s simply a question of difference in detail. Here, positive thinking can help the healing process, and help to clear the mind so that the community can kick in and help make things right.