2012 Top 10 Highest Paid Celebrities!! Who Made The List!!

(Blue Wasp/Splash News/Newscom)1. Oprah Winfrey

$165 million

The media mogul's earnings fell by a staggering $125 million from last year. However, even with the drop, she remains the highest earner on the list, just inching out director Michael Bay. It's been a challenging year for Winfrey, who signed off from her 25-year syndicated show and immediately turned her attention to struggling cable network OWN. The bulk of the earnings dive comes from lost income on The Oprah Winfrey Show, but her diversified portfolio includes O: The Oprah Magazine, spin-off shows like The Dr. Oz Show and a radio deal with Sirius. She does not earn a salary at OWN, which has faced ratings disappointments and financial issues since it premiered in Jan. 2011. As chairman and CEO of the joint venture with Discovery Communications, she hopes a recent restructuring, new programming and a distribution deal with Comcast will turn the network around.

(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)2. Michael Bay

$160 million

Bay nabs the title of top-earning director this year thanks toTransformers: Dark of the Moon. The 3-D film brought in $1.1 billion at the box office. Bay has a great deal on the films, taking a solid chunk of the profits. He also earns big from Transformer toys. Adding to Bay's coffers this year: a Transformers ride at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Bay has earned the right to finally do a small film. Pain & Gain has a budget well under $50 million.




(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)3. Steven Spielberg

$130 million

Spielberg's DreamWorks moved into television in a big way this year with four new shows, including Terra Nova and Smash. On top of that, the prolific producer stepped back into directing with two movies that hit theaters last Christmas, The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse. Both films were nominated for Oscars.






(WireImage/Getty Images)4. Jerry Bruckheimer

$115 million

Bruckheimer's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was one of the highest-grossing films of 2011, bringing in $1 billion at the global box office. That was a nice change from 2010 for Bruckheimer, when his two big films, Prince of Persia and The Sorcerer's Apprentice stumbled at the box office. In the new Hollywood, though, even Bruckheimer can't get away with an out-of-control budget. Disney made everyone take big cuts for The Lone Ranger.




(Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)5. Dr. Dre

$110 million

The ageless super-producer's latest hit isn't a song, but rather a line of headphones. In August handset maker HTC paid $300 million for a 51% stake in Beats by Dr. Dre, the headphone company he co-founded with Interscope chief Jimmy Iovine in 2006. Each owned about a third of the company, pocketing about $100 million apiece, before taxes, from last summer's deal.






(Jason Merritt/Getty Images)6. Tyler Perry

$105 million

Perry continues to be a busy, well-paid director/producer/writer/actor. His low-budget films, like the recent Good Deeds have built-in audiences and don't need to earn a ton of money to become profitable. Perry's most successful film was 2009's Madea Goes to Jail, which earned $90 million. He also has a successful TV empire that includes House of Payne,Meet the Browns and For Better or Worse.






(WireImage/Getty Images)7. Howard Stern

$95 million

Dwelling in the walled garden of satellite radio has been good for Stern's bank account, and it's probably spared him some FCC fines, but you can tell he misses being part of the broader culture. A new role as a judge on America's Got Talent gives him some extra visibility, along with a reported $15 million a year. It also gives him something to do with the free time he gained after signing a new contract that pays him less money in exchange for fewer days on the radio. Stern's relationship with Sirius appears to be cooling, and his defeat in a lawsuit against his employer over unpaid bonuses won't help.



(Getty Images)8. James Patterson

$94 million

There's a reason Patterson's earnings just keep going up: Every year, he seems to write more books. In 2011, he released 14 titles, a group that includes adult thrillers and fantasy/sci-fi novels aimed at younger readers. A platoon of co-writers help to supplement his output. An adaptation of his "I, Alex Cross" is in the works, with Tyler Perry stepping to the role previously played by Morgan Freeman.





(Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)9. George Lucas

$90 million

Thanks to the massive success of the Star Wars franchise, Lucas earns more money just by waking up in the morning than many people will see in a lifetime. But Lucas plows much of that money back into his company Industrial Light and Magic, which provides effects for movies like Battleship and The Avengers. Lucas' passion project, Red Tails about the Tuskegee airmen, fizzled at the box office, bringing in only $50 million.





(Getty Images)10. Simon Cowell

$90 million

Hits like American Idol don't grow on trees, as Simon Cowell discovered this year. The British music producer and TV impresario made headlines when he promised his new show, The X Factor, would at least match his old talent show in the ratings. It didn't, but the U.K. version of the show minted a breakout act, One Direction, for Cowell's label, Syco Records.






Click here for the full list of The Highest-Paid Celebrities.

Gareth Roberts
East Valley Consulting
East Valley Consulting
Scottsdale Arizona

Cyclist's ride on 'world's smallest bike' becomes Internet sensation

GARETH ROBERTS

EAST VALLEY CONSULTING

EAST VALLEY CONSULTING

Finally, a bicycle that fits into a day pack ... and a man who knows how to ride it! The accompanying video, which has gone viral during the past few days, shows a Russian cyclist pulling out an entire bicycle smaller than his shoe, and calmly climbing aboard and somehow pedaling it down a quiet street. 

It has been billed the world's smallest bicycle, and if anyone has proof of a smaller functioning bicycle, please share. What's incredible is that a) the man is able to balance on so small a bike, and b) that the pedals are able to support his weight.

If he's going to continue riding this bike in public, however, he'd better watch out. Some kid on a tricycle might happen along and run him over.

Million-dollar supercar drag race

GARETH ROBERTS

EAST VALLEY CONSULTING

EAST VALLEY CONSULTING

MORE AT MOTORTREND.COM

• » World Exclusive! 2012 Tesla Model S Test and Range Verification
• » 2013 Ram 1500 First Drive: More Features, More Efficiency, More Luxury
• » 2012 Motor Trend Best Driver's Car: Nine Performance Cars Battle for Supremacy

8.4 million and counting. That's how many views our inaugural "World's Greatest Drag Race" video has earned in the 12 months since it first debuted on our Motor Trend YouTube channel. Not too shabby, eh?

As we did last year, for "World's Greatest Drag Race 2" (creative title, we know), we lined up this year's Best Driver's Car contenders on a retired runway at the El Toro Marine Corps base and let them loose in an all-out run to the quarter-mile checkered flag. It's the perfect capper to our Best Driver's Car Week.

All of us here at Motor Trend hope you enjoy watching "World's Greatest Drag Race 2" as much as we did producing it. Without further ado, turn up the volume and let 'er rip!

The cars

Though we were down two cars from a year ago, this year's nine-car field was almost as stellar when it came to total horsepower and overall cost of the sheetmetal on hand. How does roughly $1.2 million and 4700 horsepower sound? Yeah, we thought so.

Here's how this year's BDC contenders stacked up against last year's:

2012 BDC Competitor	Base Price (Rounded Up)	Horsepower/Torque (lb-ft)
2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1	$56,000	580/556
2013 Ford Shelby GT500	$55,000	662/631
2012 Jaguar XKR-S	$133,000	550/502
2011 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4	$383,000	691/509
2012 McLaren MP4-12C	$231,000	592/443
2013 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series	$106,000	510/457
2013 Nissan GT-R Black Edition	$98,000	545/463
2012 Porsche Carrera S	$97,000	400/325
2013 Subaru BRZ	$28,000	200/151
Total	$1,187,000	4730/4037
2011 BDC Competitor	Base Price (Rounded Up)	Horsepower/Torque (lb-ft)
2012 Audi R8 GT	$201,000	560/398
2012 BMW 1 Series M	$47,000	335/369
2012 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 with Z07 Package	$77,000	505/470
2010 Ferrari 458 Italia	$230,000	557/398
2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca	$48,000	444/380
2012 Lexus LFA	$380,000	552/354
2011 Lotus Evora S	$77,000	345/295
2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	$187,000	563/479
2012 Nissan GT-R	$91,000	530/448
2012 Porsche Cayman R	$67,000	330/273
2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS	$140,000	450/317
Total	$1,545,000	5171/4181

The Test Team's Take

Our ace test crew consists of road test editor Scott Mortara, associate road test editor and Motor Trend YouTube star Carlos Lago, testing director Kim Reynolds, and technical director Frank Markus. In any given year they'll gather instrumented data on hundreds of new rides, from the tiniest Fiat to the beastliest Lamborghini. More often than not, they're the ones who teach the rest of us how to properly launch a vehicle. Cars can be finicky, especially in multi-launch "World's Greatest Drag Race" situations.

Gareth Roberts

East Valley Consulting

East Valley Consulting

Scottsdale Arizona

The Legend of Cliff Young: The 61 Year Old Farmer Who Won the World’s Toughest Race

The legendary story of Cliff Young is already known to many runners. If you aren't familiar with it, you're in for a fascinating read.

An Unlikely Competitor

Cliff Young

Every year, Australia hosts 543.7-mile (875-kilometer) endurance racing from Sydney to Melbourne. It is considered among the world's most grueling ultra-marathons. The race takes five days to complete and is normally only attempted by world-class athletes who train specially for the event. These athletes are typically less than 30 years old and backed by large companies such as Nike.

In 1983, a man named Cliff Young showed up at the start of this race. Cliff was 61 years old and wore overalls and work boots. To everyone's shock, Cliff wasn't a spectator. He picked up his race number and joined the other runners.

The press and other athletes became curious and questioned Cliff. They told him, "You're crazy, there's no way you can finish this race." To which he replied, "Yes I can. See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn't afford horses or tractors, and the whole time I was growing up, whenever the storms would roll in, I'd have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I'd always catch them. I believe I can run this race."

When the race started, the pros quickly left Cliff behind. The crowds and television audience were entertained because Cliff didn't even run properly; he appeared to shuffle. Many even feared for the old farmer's safety.

The Tortoise and the Hare

Cliff Young

All of the professional athletes knew that it took about 5 days to finish the race. In order to compete, one had to run about 18 hours a day and sleep the remaining 6 hours. The thing is, Cliff Young didn't know that!

When the morning of the second day came, everyone was in for another surprise. Not only was Cliff still in the race, he had continued jogging all night.

Eventually Cliff was asked about his tactics for the rest of the race. To everyone's disbelief, he claimed he would run straight through to the finish without sleeping.

Cliff kept running. Each night he came a little closer to the leading pack. By the final night, he had surpassed all of the young, world-class athletes. He was the first competitor to cross the finish line and he set a new course record.

When Cliff was awarded the winning prize of $10,000, he said he didn't know there was a prize and insisted that he did not enter for the money. He ended up giving all of his winnings to several other runners, an act that endeared him to all of Australia.

Continued Inspiration

In the following year, Cliff entered the same race and took 7th place. Not even a displaced hip during the race stopped him.

Cliff came to prominence again in 1997, aged 76, when he attempted to raise money for homeless children by running around Australia's border. He completed 6,520 kilometers of the 16,000-kilometer run before he had to pull out because his only crew member became ill. Cliff Young passed away in 2003 at age 81.

Today, the "Young-shuffle" has been adopted by ultra-marathon runners because it is considered more energy-efficient. At least three champions of the Sydney to Melbourne race have used the shuffle to win the race. Furthermore, during the Sydney to Melbourne race, modern competitors do not sleep. Winning the race requires runners to go all night as well as all day, just like Cliff Young.

Gareth Roberts
East Valley Consulting
East Valley Consulting
Scottsdale Arizona

2012 Top Party Schools!!!

GARETH ROBERTS

EAST VALLEY CONSULTING

EAST VALLEY CONSULTING

(CNN) -- Perhaps right now in Morgantown, West Virginia, they are raising a glass, or rather a mug, to celebrate their No. 1 ranking from the Princeton Review.

Not as the best university for academics, but for being named the best party school in the United States.

The 22,000-plus students there like to let some steam off every now and now, according to the survey, which asked questions of about 325 people on 377 college campuses.

All the schools on the top 20 list have more than 15,000 students, save for DePauw, which came in at No. 12, and No. 19 University of Maine.

"The schools on this list are mostly large, public universities with strong academic and research profiles, as well as highly successful athletic programs," West Virginia said in a news release. "But in the big picture, clearly this list has no real credibility."

West Virginia also topped the "Lots of Beer" list while Providence College was No.1 for "Lots of Hard Liquor."

Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, led the "Stone Cold Sober" list.

"Schools on the 'Party Schools' list are those at which surveyed students' answers indicated a combination of: low personal daily study hours (outside of class), high usages of alcohol and drugs on campus and high popularity on campus for frats/sororities," the Princeton Review said on its website.

The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. It is a test preparation and college admissions consulting company based in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Here is the full list of the top 20 party schools:

1) West Virginia University
2) University of Iowa
3) Ohio University
4) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
5) University of Georgia
6) University of Florida in Gainesville
7) University of California-Santa Barbara
8) Florida State University
9) Miami University of Ohio
10) Syracuse University
11) Penn State University
12) DePauw University
13) University of Wisconsin-Madison
14) University of Mississippi
15) University of Texas-Austin
16) University of Maryland
17) University of South Carolina
18) James Madison University
19) University of Maine
20) University of Tennessee

Gareth Roberts

East Valley Consulting

East Valley Consulting

Scottsdale Arizona