LeBron James Police Escort Disciplined For Concert Incident

MIAMI — The Miami-Dade Police Department says it will discipline the officer who provided a police escort to Miami Heat star LeBron James to the Justin Timberlake/Jay Z concert.

In a statement released Thursday, the department says it has chosen to give the officer “informal counseling” after investigating the escort involving the athlete. The statement says no further action will be taken. It does not identify the officer.

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5 Fun Tricks You Can Do with Dry Ice

You could argue that dry ice is one of the coolest (heh) things on the planet and you wouldn’t be wrong. But other than seeing white smoke crawl around the block, what else can you do with dry ice? Grant Thompson, constant haver of household fun, cooked up five different pranks and tricks you can easily pull off. I like dry ice making a candle impossible to light best. [Grant Thompson]

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Sun Storm Blasts Earth With Billions Of Tons Of Charged Particles

The sun fired off an intense solar storm at Earth Wednesday (Aug. 21) — the second in two days — hurtling billions of tons of charged particles at our planet, but should not pose a threat to people on the ground, NASA says.

The solar eruption, called a coronal mass ejection, occurred yesterday at 1:24 a.m. EDT (0524 GMT) and sent charged particles streaking outward at 380 miles per second. That’s just over 1.3 million mph (2.2 million km/h). The solar fallout from the sun storm is expected to reach Earth within the next three days.

“These particles cannot travel through the atmosphere to harm humans on Earth, but they can affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground,” NASA officials explained in a statement. [Solar Max Photos: Sun Storms of 2013]

Wednesday’s solar storm erupted just 21 hours after another powerful coronal mass ejection (NASA calls them CMEs) on Tuesday (Aug. 20). That solar tempest also sent billions of tons of solar particles on their way to Earth.

“Earth-directed CMEs can cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when they funnel energy into Earth’s magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere, for an extended period of time,” NASA officials said in a description of Wednesday’s solar eruption. “The CME’s magnetic fields peel back the outermost layers of Earth’s fields changing their very shape. In the past, geomagnetic storms caused by CMEs of this strength have usually been mild.”

Powerful geomagnetic storms can affect communications signals and spark electrical surges in power grids, NASA officials said. They can also supercharge northern lights displays or aurora observers at high latitudes.

According to Spaceweather.com, a website that tracks space weather and skywatching events, the two solar eruptions this week were triggered when vast rope-like filaments of magnetic solar plasma erupted. The CMEs should arrive at Earth in time for weekend aurora watching for stargazers at high latitudes.

“NOAA forecasters expect the CMEs to arrive on August 23-24, possibly sparking geomagnetic storms around the poles,” Spaceweather.com stated.

The sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle and is expected to reach its peak activity later this year. The current cycle is known as Solar Cycle 24.

Editor’s note: If you snap an amazing picture of the northern lights or any other night sky sight that you’d like to share for a possible story or image gallery, send photos, comments and your name and location to Managing Editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalikand Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookand Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Dan Auerbach Of The Black Keys Finalizes Divorce, Gives Up Bob Dylan’s Hair In Settlement

The Black Keys singer Dan Auerbach finalized his divorce from Stephanie Gonis earlier this week, and their settlement includes one very peculiar item.

Sure, Gonis gets more than $5 million, a home and the former couple’s 2012 Toyota Highlander. But she also is the lucky recipient of Bob Dylan’s hair, according to TMZ. Yes, you read that right.

Reports of the couple’s split emerged in February, after Gonis neglected to attend the Grammys; Auerbach took home three awards at the ceremony. In early August, it was reported that the pair’s split had taken a turn for the worse, with Gonis accusing Auerbach of abuse and Auerbach claiming that Gonis had made two suicide attempts.

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Honeymoon Tips To Help You Relax And Recharge

After the whirlwind of planning a wedding, the honeymoon is a much-needed and much-awaited break from reality. But if you spend your trip glued to your smartphone, checking emails on your iPad or worrying about all the work you have to catch up on when you get back, are you ever really able to relax?

On Thursday, we asked our followers on Twitter and Facebook to tell us what they did to unplug and recharge on their honeymoons. Click through the slideshow below for their tried-and-true tips. Then, add yours in the comments!

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Obama Heckled During Speech In Syracuse

President Barack Obama was heckled while giving a speech in Syracuse, New York on Wednesday.

According to NBC’s Shawna Thomas, two women were taken out of the event after yelling at Obama. One of the women had a sign that said “Free Bradley Manning,” referring to the soldier now known as Chelsea Manning, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday for handing WikiLeaks a massive cache of sensitive government documents detailing the inner workings of America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Transgender Americans Struggle For Coverage As U.S. Lags ‘Far Behind’ Even Iran

In one regard, many transgender Americans face the same plight as Chelsea Manning — their health insurer won’t cover the costly procedures associated with transitioning genders

But that isn’t the case everywhere.

While the majority of private and public health insurance plans in the United States won’t cover certain types of care or treatments for transgender people, a surprising array of countries including Iran,
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8 Worst Types Of Coworkers

Like prison, how much you can stand your job is probably largely dependent on your fellow prisoners AKA your coworkers.

If you make some good friends and some allies then you can get through it all with your sanity intact. But your sanity and your will to live will be in real trouble if you end up surrounded by these types of coworkers.

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Go Go Amy, Burlesque Performer, Sets Off Smoke Alarms With Burning Nipple Tassels

It’s the goal of a burlesque dancer to get the audience hot and bothered, but one pastie-wearing performer succeeded in ways she never expected — by setting off smoke alarms.

The performer, Go Go Amy, recently did a show at Abertay University in Dundee, Scotland, with her troupe, The Pretty Things PeepShow.

Go Go Amy’s act climaxed with a fire dance that included her
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Canon PowerShot N is a Facebook-ready point-and-shoot

In addition to four other models Canon rolled out last evening, the company has expanded its line with the PowerShot N, a Facebook-ready point-and-shoot. The camera is a Canon Direct exclusive offering, and achieves its social network-ready status via the inclusion of a Facebook Connect Button, something that instantly shuttles images off to one’s Facebook […]