GOP Lawmaker's Graphic Sex-Bragging Caught On Tape

We've all seen those stories where a careless politician gets a little too candid when speaking into a hot mic. But this one's really in a whole different league.

[RELATED SLIDESHOW: TPM'S HISTORY OF THE SEX SCANDALOUS FALL OF THE MODERN CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT]

Michael Duvall is a conservative Republican state representative from Orange County, California. While waiting for the start of a legislative hearing in July, the 54-year-old married father of two and family values champion began describing, for the benefit of a colleague seated next to him, his ongoing affairs with two different women. In very graphic detail.

For instance:


She wears little eye-patch underwear. So, the other day she came here with her underwear, Thursday. And
 so, we had made love Wednesday--a lot! And so she'll, she's all, 'I am going 
up and down the stairs, and you're dripping out of me!' So messy!

Duvall's sophomoric braggadocio, of course, was picked up by the microphone in front of him, and wound up on a tape for the legislature's in-house TV station. From there it was sent to a local news station, KCAL, which ran this full report last night:

Berlin 2009 - Bolt smashes 100m world record

Jamaica's Usain Bolt shattered his own 100 metres world record to win the World Championship final in Berlin in a breathtaking 9.58 seconds.

The world's fastest man took a staggering 0.11 seconds off the 9.69 mark he set winning gold at the Beijing Olympics a year ago to the day, taking the event into a time zone undreamed of before his arrival on the scene.

American Tyson Gay, the 2007 world champion, ran the race of his life to finish second in 9.71, the third fastest time ever.

Jamaican Asafa Powell claimed bronze in 9.84.

In contrast to the Olympic final, when he was able to coast over the line, Bolt saved his celebrations until the race was actually finished.

He was pushed a little harder this time, though his victory on the blue track at the Olympic Stadium was never in doubt as he completed the set of major medals at the distance.

The 100 metres record usually comes down by one or two hundredths of a second at a time, making the bite Bolt took out of it on Sunday simply astonishing.

"I don't run for world records," a relaxed Bolt, 22, said. "The aim was just to come out here and execute because it was going to be a tough race."

"I got a pretty good start, I was there at 20 metres and that was it.," he said.

"I said anything could happen and it did. It was a big target but I got 9.58 and I am really happy with myself."

Bolt will now pocket $100,000 from the International Association of Athletics Federations for his world record but that is a mere fraction of what sponsors will now be ready to pay for him.

Bolt, who false-started in the semi-final, made a flying getaway in the final and was clear after only 20 metres.

He crossed the line with one eye on the clock before pounding his chest and blowing kisses to the crowd.

He hugged his friend Powell and completed a lap of honour roared on by some 70,000 cheering fans.

"Today was perfect. This gave me a lot of energy. Especially the crowd," Bolt said through the stadium microphone, immediately after the race. "I won't forget it."

Bolt, five days shy of his 23rd birthday, had pledged to wrestle the only major title still missing from his now perfect collection away from Gay, but had complained his preparation was plagued by rain and wind in the European meetings he ran.

He also had to undergo minor surgery to remove thorns from his foot in April, after stepping on them following a car crash.

"Now I plan to do even better in the future," threatened Bolt.

eurosport.com

NASA Looks to Fly Commercial

NASA will spend $50 million of federal economic stimulus funds to seed development of commercial passenger spaceships; however, a presidential panel reviewing the U.S. space program says that may be just the beginning.

According to the recommendations of the U.S. Human Space Flight Plans committee, which delivered its preliminary findings to the White House on Friday, NASA should set aside $2.4 billion between 2011 and 2014 for rides to the International Space Station on commercial U.S. carriers.

"There are companies that would love to move forward with orbital launch service on their own, using only private funds, but it just wouldn't happen for many, many years," John Gedmark, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, a Washington, D.C.-based industry trade group, told Discovery News. "What the government funding would do is basically allow these companies to accelerate these efforts."

With the government as a base customer, commercial firms would be able to develop an array of new markets for orbital launch services, including tourism and scientific research, Gedmark added.

"When you have multiple companies doing this as part of their core business, you open the doors for all sorts of things that you can do in space," he said.

The agency has $50 million available for firms to flesh out plans to provide astronauts rides to and from space station, which orbits about 225 miles above Earth. Proposals are due by Sept. 22.

Shiloh Jolie-Pitt - the sweetest kid from Hollywood

Snoop Dogg Closet - Heineken Parody

Snoop Dogg Closet - Heineken Parody de pe tare.ro

Eto'o arrives for Inter medical

Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o has arrived in Italy for a medical with Internazionale as the swap deal for Zlatan Ibrahimovic edges towards completion.

The Cameroon forward has said he is delighted to be joining the Serie A champions and has targeted winning the Champions League for his new side.

"I'm very happy to be at Inter," Eto'o told the club's website. "I'm here to work and win the Champions League."

Eto'o, who helped Barca to a Spanish league and Cup double and victory in the Champions League last season, is set to join Inter as part of a complicated deal that would see Ibrahimovic move in the opposite direction.

The Catalans will also loan Belarus midfielder Aleksandr Hleb to Inter and pay cash reported to be in the region of 50 million euros (£43m).

Inter manager Jose Mourinho had said his sadness at seeing his best player go was balanced by his excitement at Eto'o's arrival.

"Inter had to choose whether to say: 'We're not selling you' to Ibrahimovic, or get Eto'o plus Hleb free for a year, plus 50 million euros (£43.2m)," he said. "The fans are ready to love Eto'o.

"This seems an extraordinary deal to me, a 100m (£86.5m) euro deal, the deal of the summer. For me it's worth 100m (£86.5m) because Eto'o is not worth a euro less than Ibra'".

Reuters

Five Roman-Era Shipwrecks Found Off Italy

A team of archaeologists has discovered a trove of five Roman-era shipwrecks deep under the sea off a small Mediterranean island.

The find of well-preserved ships, made possible by sonar technology and the use of remotely operated vehicles, includes cargo of largely intact clay vases and pots transporting wine, olive oil, fish sauce and other goods.

Resting untouched between 330 to 490 feet underwater near the small island of Ventotene, which lies 30 miles off the Italian coast halfway between Rome and Naples, the ships date from the 1st century B.C. to the 5th century A.D.

From their cargo, archaeologists from the U.S. group AURORA Trust and Italy's Ministry of Culture, established that the vessels were transporting goods from Italy, Spain and north Africa.

They were probably heading for safe anchorage, but then sunk during a storm.

"Ventotene is a small island in the open sea. It was on major trade routes and was both a safe haven and a danger to shipping," Timmy Gambin, head of archaeology for the Aurora Trust, told Discovery News.

discovery.com

A little girl

A little girl is trying to knock down the sumo fighter Taiichiro Tashima.
PS: I hope her mother didn't make her do this.

World's Largest Telescope Acts Like Big Bucket

A new telescope scheduled to be inaugurated this week on Spain's Canary Islands holds the title as the world's largest, but contenders are gathering in the wings.

The Gran Telescopio Canarias, or GTC for short, has 10.4 meters (34 feet) of mirrors for collecting faint light from distant objects.

"Basically, a telescope mirror functions like a bucket in the rain: The larger the bucket, the faster you collect water," said Michael Richer, an astronomer with Mexico's Instituto de Astronomia Ensenada, who serves as a scientific advisor for the GTC.

"Larger telescopes allow you to collect light faster. This permits the observation of fainter sources -- either because they're farther away or because they're intrinsically fainter -- or more detailed observations that require more precise manipulation of the light," Richer told Discovery News.

GTC tops the 10-meter (32.8-foot) Keck Telescopes on Hawaii's Mauna Kea and folds new teams of astronomers into a heated quest for knowledge about how the universe formed and what it contains. The $180 million GTC is owned Spain, Mexico and the University of Florida.

"When you're a partner in your own telescope, you have a competitive advantage," said Stan Dermott, chairman of the astronomy department at the University of Florida.

discovery.com

Sarkozy hospitalized after jogging scare

PARIS, France (CNN) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy became faint while jogging late Sunday morning and was taken to a hospital, the presidential office said.

He did not lose consciousness, and initial tests showed nothing abnormal, said a statement released by the president's office. His heart will be monitored until Monday morning, which is standard procedure in such cases, the statement said.

In the meantime, according to the statement, he is resting and keeping in touch with his advisers.

Sarkozy, 54, had been jogging with bodyguards for about 45 minutes near the Elysee Palace, the official residence of the president, when he fell ill, the statement said. After being seen by the Elysee doctor, Sarkozy was taken by helicopter to the military hospital Val-de-Grace.

No further announcement was expected until morning, the statement said.

Sarkozy exercises regularly and is an avid jogger. Earlier this month, he was photographed jogging through Central Park in New York during his trip to the United States.

cnn.com

Magnetic Field On Bright Star Vega

Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing the first detection of a magnetic field on the star Vega, one of the brightest stars in the sky. Using the high-sensitivity NARVAL spectropolarimeter installed at the Bernard-Lyot telescope (Pic du Midi Observatory, France), a team of astronomers [1] detected the effect of a magnetic field (known as the Zeeman effect) in the light emitted by Vega.

Vega is a famous star among amateur and professional astronomers. Located at only 25 light years from Earth in the Lyra constellation, it is the fifth brightest star in the sky. It has been used as a reference star for brightness comparisons. Vega is twice as massive as the Sun and has only one tenth its age. Because it is both bright and nearby, Vega has been often studied but it is still revealing new aspects when it is observed with more powerful instruments.

Vega rotates in less than a day, while the Sun's rotation period is 27 days. The intense centrifugal force induced by this rapid rotation flattens its poles and generates temperature variations of more than 1000 degrees Celsius between the polar (warmer) and the equatorial regions of its surface. Vega is also surrounded by a disk of dust, in which the inhomogeneities suggest the presence of planets.

This time, astronomers analyzed the polarization of light emitted by Vega [2] and detected a weak magnetic field at its surface. This is really not a big surprise because one knows that the charged particle motions inside stars can generate magnetic fields, and this is how solar and terrestrial magnetic fields are produced. However, for more massive stars than the Sun, such as Vega, theoretical models cannot predict the intensity and the structure of the magnetic field, so that astronomers had no clue to the strength of the signal they were looking for. After many unsuccessful attempts in past decades, both the high sensitivity of NARVAL and the full dedication of an observing campaign to Vega have made this first detection possible.

The strength of Vega magnetic field is about 50 micro-tesla, which is close to that of the mean field on Earth and on the Sun. This first observational constraint opens the way to in-depth theoretical studies about the origin of magnetic fields in massive stars. This detection also suggests that magnetic fields exist but have not been detected yet on many stars like Vega, but farther and more difficult to observe. Astronomers believe that this discovery will be a key step in understanding stellar magnetic fields and their influence on stellar evolution. As for Vega, it is now the prototype of a new class of magnetic stars and will definitely continue fascinating astronomers for years.

[1] The team includes F. Lignières, P. Petit, T. Böhm, and M. Aurière (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Toulouse-Tarbes, CNRS/Université de Toulouse, France).

[2] Radiation is not only characterized by its wavelength and its intensity, but also by its polarization state. The polarization state of waves, including light waves, describes the orientation of their vibrations. A light wave can either be non-polarized, linearly or circularly polarized depending on the orientation of the electric field as the wave travels. In particular, the polarization state of radiation gives information about the presence of a magnetic field in the medium where the radiation was emitted. Hence, polarization data allow astronomers to study stellar magnetic fields.

sciencedaily.com

Premier League - Crouch set for Spurs move

Portsmouth manager Paul Hart has revealed he has accepted a bid from Spurs for striker Peter Crouch.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has been looking to reunite Crouch with his former Portsmouth strike partner Jermain Deofe and it now looks as though he has succeeded with a bid of around £10million.

Hart, who last week signed a two-and-a-half year deal to remain with the south coast club, claimed it was a result of a bid to balance the books following a period of unrealistic spending under Redknapp.

"Obviously I'm disappointed to see Peter leave, but given the severe financial restraints in place here we had no choice but to accept an offer from Tottenham," he told the Daily Mirror.

"I think people need to realise that Pompey have been punching above their weight and could no longer sustain the level of spending that has gone on here over the last three years."

PA Sport

Jordan: 2yr wait for split

JORDAN expected her 3½-year marriage to Peter Andre to end for TWO YEARS before it collapsed, she has revealed.
She said that she had not wept since the split in May because "I did all my crying while I was married".

Jordan, 31, real name Katie Price, said: "It was a fairytale. I was in love and it ended, but you've got to get on."

She said she and Aussie singer Peter, 36, were working things through for kids Harvey, seven, Junior, four, and Princess Tiaamii, two.

Premier League - Nasri breaks leg in training

Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri will miss the start of the Premier League season after breaking his leg in training.

The France international fractured his fibula during the Gunners' pre-season camp in Austria. Club medics expect the 22-year-old to be out for between two and three months.

He is also set to miss France's World Cup qualifiers against Faroe Islands in August and September's clashes with Romania and Group Seven leaders Serbia.

Nasri arrived at Arsenal a year ago from Marseille for around £15 million and immediately established himself as Arsene Wenger's first-choice on the left wing, scoring on his full debut in the 1-0 win over West Brom.

In all, he scored seven goals in his first season at the Emirates, including a decisive brace in the 2-1 win over Manchester United in November.

The injury blow is not as harsh as it could have been for Wenger as another left winger, Czech Tomas Rosicky, returned to action for the first time in 18 months in Saturday's pre-season friendly at Barnet.

Wenger is yet to boost the attacking contingent of his squad this summer, despite the recent sale of striker Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City. So far, Belgian centre-back Thomas Vermaelen is the only major addition to the Gunners' squad during the transfer window.

source : eurosport.yahoo.com

Google promises 'the end of viruses'

Google's Engineering Director has promised that its forthcoming Chrome OS will see 'the end of malware'.

Google is promising what the latest issue of New Scientist magazine refers to as "a carefree antivirus nirvana" with its forthcoming Google Chrome OS.

Linus Upson, Google's Engineering Director, has promised the company is: "Completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work."

Chrome browser patched

Ironically, Google is also in the news this week due to security flaws in its Chrome browser.

Two of the most recent Google Chrome web browser security flaws (one relating to malicious code exploitation in the Chrome tab sandbox and one relating to memory corruption in the browser tab processes) have now been fixed.

You can see the full run-down of all the latest changes over on Google's Chrome site.

So is the cloud computing future really going to be more secure than our current system of downloading regular security patches to constantly fix the software that's sitting on our hard drive?

"Downloading updates is always going to be a step or two behind the cloud approach because it takes a while to get a fix out to a PC to install it," argues Paul Jackson of Forrester Research.

And while Jackson agrees that "the cloud approach allows patches to be applied much faster" he notes that any web-based OS is still going to be at risk from malware targeting the browser or Linux.

Robert Caunt, an analyst from CCS Insight in London, notes that Google has a good record on security to date: "Its Gmail spam filter and search engine's phishing-detection is good. They know what needs doing."

Major computing brands such as Nvidia, Dell, Asus, Acer and others have already confirmed that they will be fully supporting Google's Chrome OS. Stay tuned for further Chrome OS news updates as and when we get them.

source : techradar.com

Federer strolls to final

Roger Federer was all class as he made history by becoming the first man to reach seven consecutive Wimbledon finals.

The five-times champion produced some immaculate tennis against a brave but outclassed Tommy Haas to win 7-6 (7/3) 7-5 6-3 and maintain his 100% record in Wimbledon semi-finals.

It was his ninth successive victory over the veteran German and his 50th win at Wimbledon, one short of drawing level with Bjorn Borg, who watched in awe from the Royal Box as Federer clinically disposed of the 24th seed.

A fifth straight-sets win of this year's Championships was just about his most comfortable as he denied Haas a single break point.

Error-free on his serve, Federer caused no end of frustration for his opponent with his ability to land the ball on a sixpence.

The 31-year-old Haas, who blew a two-set lead against Federer in the French Open last month, went shot for shot with the world number two in an opening set that remained on serve throughout.

The German's ploy was clear from the first game as he adopted the serve-and-volley tactics that served him so well against Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.

Federer got a couple of challenges wrong but just about everything else right, gradually bringing out his full array of shots.

And it was the 27-year-old Swiss ace who took his precision and accuracy into the tie-break, reeling off four points in a row to take it.

There were clear signs of Federer establishing a grip on the game as he reeled off back-to-back love service games early in the second set.

Haas, who produced some of the best tennis of his career to reach his first Wimbledon semi-final, had to work harder to hold his serve and the nerves began to show in the 10th game.

He missed a volley to present Federer with a set point - the first break point of the match - but redeemed himself with a 123mph serve.

It was only a temporary reprieve, however, as he put a forehand long to give his opponent a second set point.

That went by the way but another unforced error, his 20th of the match, enabled Federer to make it third time lucky as he took the second set 7-5.

There was a similar pattern to the third set with Federer starting with two more love service games.

Poor Haas could do little to combat the accuracy of Federer's serve and grew increasingly frustrated as the match began to slip inexorably away.

An unlucky net cord gave his opponent another break point in a prolonged eighth game and there was no way back for him when he netted a backhand to enable Federer to open up a 5-3 lead and he duly served out for a routine victory.

"Tommy has been playing extremely well since Paris and that is why I'm so happy come through," Federer said.

"I knew he was a danger so I'm very happy with my performance. It's unbelievable to be in another final."

Federer is through to a 20th grand slam final, overtaking the record of Ivan Lendl, and is unlikely to be overawed as he seeks to break Pete Sampras' all-time record of 14 grand slam titles.

"I've had a lot of pressure over the years, it's just another great opportunity to get into the history books," he said. "Going for something that big is quite extraordinary."

Transformers 2 Tops $200 Million in Five Days

Well, once again I am speechless at The Reject Report. I really don’t know what to say, or even where to begin with this Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie, which has set the five-day record for a Wednesday release with a total gross of $201,246,000. That’s based on the Sunday morning estimates. If we see a spike in the Sunday actuals by at least a couple more million by Monday, this movie may be in a position to also claim victory over The Dark Knight’s overall five-day haul of $203 million.

The weekend box office results are as follows:

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – $112,000,000
The Proposal – $18,466,000
The Hangover – $17,215,000
Up – $13,046,000
My Sister’s Keeper – $12,030,000
Year One – $5,800,000
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 – $5,400,000
Star Trek – $3,606,000
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian – $3,500,000
Away We Go – $1,678,000

Soccer : US shows it can compete with football's elite

JOHANNESBURG — The United States should remember the 2009 Confederations Cup as the first time it truly showed it was capable of competing with football's elite teams.
After stunning European champion Spain 2-0 in the semifinals, the Americans' were in a position to do the same to five-time World Cup champion Brazil in the final, only to throw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2.

"We've shown we can play with these teams. Sometimes that shows for a lot, like in the semifinals, and sometimes that counts for little, like tonight," goalkeeper Tim Howard said after the loss to Brazil on Sunday in the first FIFA final at any level for the American men.

"We can compete, we fight, we can score goals, we defend really well. We just need to start getting the small, little things right. If you look at Brazil, Italy, Spain, they got 11 guys who do a lot of the little things right for 90 minutes, and that creates a heck of a problem. We need to get better at that."

Fortunately for the Americans, time is on their side. The U.S. was the youngest team at this tournament, with an average age of just under 25.

source : usatoday.com

Penguins top Red Wings in Game 7, win Stanley Cup

Destiny fulfilled: Sidney Crosby raises the Stanley Cup.
DETROIT (CP) -- Even without Sidney Crosby for most of the game, the skilled and youthful Pittsburgh Penguins could not be kept from the Stanley Cup.

Maxime Talbot scored two goals and Marc-Andre Fleury made huge saves during a desperate third-period barrage as the Penguins defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in Friday's gripping Game 7 to win the Cup.

"It was so hard watching the clock tick down for the third period," said Crosby, who played one short shift after leaving the game early in the second period with a knee injury. "But everything it took to win, we did it -- blocking shots, great goaltending, having different guys step up."

The Penguins won a third Cup in their history and their first since capturing back-to-back championships in 1991 and 1992.

It was a first for the Penguins' new wave of young talent, led by Crosby, Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and others, who are expected to be an NHL power for years to come.

"We'll have a great core for the next couple of years and I can see great things for this team in the future, but right now, I'm going to enjoy this," Talbot said.

The Penguins did it with consecutive 2-1 victories after they were left reeling by a 5-0 loss in Game 5 in Detroit a week ago. But Fleury bounced back from being chased from that game with two exceptional outings while the older, injury-riddled Red Wings faltered.

Crosby played just one shift in the third period after a knee injury early in the second period on a hit by Red Wings forward Johan Franzen. But nothing could prevent the 21-year-old from rushing onto the ice to join the celebration, or from hoisting the Cup, one year after suffering a heartbreaking loss to Detroit in the final.





source: sportingnews.com

UK Minister Says “Three-Strikes” too Draconian

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham instead backs unspecified “technical measures.”
Back in January it was revealed for the first time that the UK govt had all but ruled out disconnecting repeat file-sharers from the Internet. Today Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has repeated that assertion at Music Week’s “Making Online Music Pay” conference.

He did confirm however, that the UK govt is preparing legislation to force ISPs to apply “technical solutions” to address the problem of repeat file-sharers.

“There will be many who don’t think a simple notification would be effective and we will reserve the powers to apply technical measures for persistent offenders,” he said. “Applying these measures will be a serious business, and not one we take lightly, but it is right that they are in place.”

“We intend to give the Office of Communications (Ofcom) powers to apply technical measures and we think that is the right option,” he later added. “The idea is for measures to be applied against individuals who are serial infringers. That is the proposal.”

It has yet to define who is a “serial infringer” and who will decide the guilt or innocence of accused file-sharers.

A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said the govt doesn’t want to terminate file-sharers’ Internet connections now that the Internet has become as vital as other utilities like water and electricity.

He said that the highly anticipated Digital Britain report, due to be released June 16th, “is likely to include an obligation on ISPs to send out letters to people who are infringing copyright.”

“What Mr Burnham also said was there was the likelihood that the MoU would be backed up by new powers for Ofcom to impose ‘technical solutions’ for repeat offenders if that process of sending out letters was not effective enough,” added the spokesman.

What precisely the “technical solutions” will be is still unclear, but it’s likely to be connection speed throttling, data caps, or a combination of the two. The UK film and television industry recently called for the govt to force ISPs to institute pop-up windows warning users who visit file-sharing related websites.

Burnham also warned that ISPs and the music industry could solve the problem on their own, without govt intervention, if only they were to sit down and figure out a framework for cooperation to tackle the problem.

“Both sides must find a point of balance,” he said. “Don’t wait for the heavy hand of Government, do it now. If you wait for Government then that might be worse.”

Worse? Without govt oversight private business interests will determine who’s a file-sharer and who isn’t. The music industry may lot like it, but the Internet has become a vital utility necessary for full civic participation, and any efforts to hinder or prevent that ability without trial is far worse for UK society than any problems illegal file-sharing may pose.

source : zeropaid.com

Federer claims first French Open

PARIS (AP) -- Oh, how Roger Federer savored every moment with his first French Open trophy.

He raised it overhead. He cradled it in the crook of his elbow. He closed his eyes and kissed it. He examined the names of other champions etched on its base. Even in a downpour on Court Philippe Chatrier, as heavy, gray clouds blocked any shred of sunlight Sunday, that silver trophy sure seemed to glisten.

Finally, the lone major championship that had eluded Federer was his. With his latest masterful performance, Federer tied Pete Sampras' record of 14 major singles titles and became the sixth man to complete a career Grand Slam.

History was at stake, and Federer was at his best, completely outplaying No. 23-seeded Robin Soderling en route to a 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4 victory in a French Open final that lacked suspense but not significance.

"Maybe my greatest victory -- or certainly the one that takes the most pressure off my shoulders," Federer said in French, moments after dropping to his knees, caking them with clay, as his 127 mph service winner ended the match. "I think that now, and until the end of my career, I can really play with my mind at peace and no longer hear that I've never won at Roland Garros."

Federer came heartbreakingly close in the past, losing the previous three French Open finals, so there certainly was something poetic about his tying Sampras' Grand Slam mark at this particular tournament, on this particular court.

"Now that he's won in Paris, I think it just more solidifies his place in history as the greatest player that played the game," Sampras told The Associated Press.

"If there's anyone that deserves it, it's Roger," Sampras said. "He's come so close -- lost to one guy who's going to go down as probably the greatest clay-courter of all time."

That would be Rafael Nadal, the man who beat Federer at Roland Garros in the 2006-08 finals and the 2005 semifinals, too. But Nadal's 31-match French Open winning streak ended this year with a fourth-round loss to the hard-hitting Soderling.

"I knew the day Rafa won't be in the finals, I will be there, and I will win. I always knew that, and I believed in it. That's exactly what happened," the second-seeded Federer said. "It's funny. I didn't hope for it. But I believed in it."

Only 7-13 against Nadal, Federer entered Sunday 9-0 against Soderling and, other than the threat of postponement because of rain, there was never any doubt that would become 10-0 by day's end.

That's because Federer showed off the athleticism and artistry that carried him to five championships at Wimbledon, the last five at the U.S. Open and three at the Australian Open. Federer hit more aces than Soderling, 16-2. He broke Soderling four times. He won 40 of the first 47 points on his serve. He won five points with delicate drop shots.

Federer was outstanding at the start, taking a 4-0 lead, and close to perfect in the tiebreaker. That was Soderling's chance to get into the match, but Federer wouldn't allow it: The Swiss star served four points -- and all four were aces, ranging from 118 mph to 132 mph.

Federer called it "one of the greatest tiebreakers in my career."

Soderling never really stood a chance, not against Federer, not on this day, not on this stage.

"You really gave me a lesson in how to play tennis," Soderling told Federer.