With the Atlantic Ocean behind him at Land’s End, England’s most southwesterly point, the triple Olympic gold medallist waited while the flame was flown in by a Royal Navy search and rescue helicopter.

Lieutenant Commander Richard Full carried the flame off the helicopter in a golden lantern, posed briefly for photographers, and took it a short distance to light the torch that Ainslie was holding in the bright morning sunshine.

Ainslie then set off, barely breaking into a jog as he let some of the 3,500 spectators lining the route touch the golden torch whose design has led it to be nicknamed the “cheese grater”.

After travelling barely 300 metres (yards), he passed on the torch to 18-year-old Anastassia Swallow, a surfer who is hoping that her sport will one day become an Olympic discipline.

Over the next 10 weeks, the torch will travel 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometres) around England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Irelandand will also visit the Republic of Ireland.

Some 8,000 people — one for every mile of the route — will take part in the torch relay as it heads for the Olympic Stadium in east London for the opening ceremony on July 27.

Ainslie, who just a day earlier won a sixth world title in the Finn class as he steps up his efforts to win a fourth Olympic gold, said it had been a special moment for him to start the relay in his home county of Cornwall.

“I’m really very proud for the whole nation,” said Britain’s greatest Olympic yachtsman, who wore the number 001 on his white London 2012 top.

“It was pretty emotional, so much effort has gone into getting the Olympics in London and it means so much to everyone involved.”

On its first leg, the torch was to be carried through Cornwall to the city of Plymouth.

On its 70-day odyssey, it will travel through 1,019 cities, towns and villages and visit landmarks such as Stonehenge.

From June 3-7, it will go to Northern Ireland and then the Republic of Ireland — the only country outside the United Kingdom on the route.

No overseas legs of the relay have been planned this year after those before the 2008 Beijing Games were hit by protests against China.

The flame was lit in Ancient Olympia in Greece on May 10 and was handed over to the British delegation in Athens in a rain-sodden ceremony on Thursday.

It was flown to Britain on board a British Airways plane renamed The Firefly for the occasion, accompanied by football star David Beckham and Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II.

Beckham had the honour of lighting the first torch at the Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose in Cornwall on Friday.

In contrast to the shoestring operation when Britain last hosted the Olympics in 1948, just three years after World War II ended, this year’s relay is a big-budget affair, with parties and public events at each of its stops.

The oldest runner will be a 100-year-old woman, while Olympians past and present and soldiers injured in Afghanistan will also take part.

But the London 2012 organisers wanted the bulk of people taking part in the relay to be unsung heroes who have helped their community, individuals involved in sport and younger people.

Swallow, the teenager who had taken over the torch from Ainslie, said it was a memorable day but admitted she got “a bit excited and a little crazy and ran too fast”.

“I was really surprised by the atmosphere here today. Everyone was cheering and calling my name. It is something I will never forget.”

 Carl Court

KSDK News reports that MERS Goodwill found $14,000 inside a box filled with Christmas donations. The people at Goodwill figured that the money was donated by accident and have been trying to return it to the rightful owner. But once the mistake was made public, the Goodwill has been flooded with calls from different people asking to have their money back.

MERS Goodwill CEO Lewis Chartock said at least 15 people have claimed to be the rightful owners of the money. Chartock said that he was able to discredit several of the claims (some didn’t know the location of the store) but others seem to genuinely believe that they donated the money by accident. Chartock said that the $14000 Goodwill donation could belong to three parties. The couple who delivered the donations, a woman who says that a box was accidentally mixed in with her donations, and another woman “who calls every day in tears, sure it’s her money.”

Chartock said that he’s turning the matter over to the St. Louis County Court.  “It’s in the hands of our lawyer who will talk to the court and figure out what to do.” Chartock added that accidentally cash donations aren’t uncommon.

“Elderly people who sometimes want to make sure there is cash around (the house) hide it in their houses and they don’t tell anybody that they hid it. It’s kinda stashed. And then when they die, nobody knows (about the money). Very often, the money is inadvertently donated to the Goodwill…. In all fairness, when somebody does that by mistake, we want them to have their money back,” he said. “In no way does Goodwill have any interest in keeping the money.”

Inquisitr

If you end up a playoff scapegoat, be prepared to be the whipping boy on social media, as sad as it is.

Lakers guard Steve Blake missed a wide open three-pointer that would have given his club the lead in the closing seconds of Game 2 at Oklahoma City, and that didn’t sit well with nitwits on Twitter.

“Fans” upset by the Lakers’ defeat took out their rage on Blake and his family on the popular micro-blogging website. Kristen Blake said she had to block over 500 users who were sending nasty comments and even death threats at her and her family.

One Twitter user, @JAMESALLONYOU tweeted to Blake “I hope your family gets murdered…” along with other obscenities and derogatory comments. Kristen Blake retweeted the threat with the response “Wow.”

“It’s pretty disappointing that there’s a lot of hateful people out there,” Blake explained to the Los Angeles Times. “You move on. I just don’t appreciate it when it’s toward my family. You can come at me all you want. But when you say things about my wife and my kids, it makes me upset.”

By the way, earlier in the postseason against the Nuggets, Blake scored a playoff career-high 19 points, becoming the first Laker since legend Michael Cooper in 1987 to record 19+ points and 5+ 3-pointers off the bench in a playoff game.

Ben Maller

Coklyat, 33, lost most of her sight four years ago as a result of diabetes. She had to give up her job at an art gallery and, despairingly, put down her paint brushes.

Today, Coklyat is full of energy, greeting visitors with a big smile at Saint Joseph’s School for the Blind in Jersey City.

An accomplished painter, she started as a volunteer, having decided to reexamine her life. At the school, which teaches children through all grades, she found “they did have an art class(room), a beautiful one, but no art teacher. I said, ‘can I volunteer?’”

At first, her initiative was something of a surprise at the school. But over the last two years she has become indispensable and money has been found in the budget to pay her.

During a recent session, she taught two blind adolescents and nine nursery school aged children.

Some of the younger children had limited ability to see colors. The older ones did not, but had mental concepts of different colors.

The older classmates arrived with their telescopic white canes, which they folded and attached to their jeans on arrival.

Coklyat moved from group to group, telling Kevin, 17, to keep on with a painting started the previous week.

“What color do you want?” she asked, taking his hand and guiding it from a part already painted to an unpainted area, then bringing him paint and a brush.

Omar, 15, had started illustrating the words “hope, fear, kindness,” she said. Again, she guided his hand, tracing the edges of the paper, before giving him a brush. Omar asked for white to illustrate “hope.”

“Hope is like a clarity, hope is clear, that’s why I chose white,” he said.

At the other end of the classroom, the young children were getting impatient.

“Can I start? I want pink,” a little girl said.

Coklyat suggested spring and flowers as a subject. Immediately she was off again to check on Omar.

“That is pretty much a perfect circle,” she said, congratulating him.

The art works were highly clumsy, but what matters, Coklyat said, “is the process of creating.”

“They are so into it. It is so important for them. It’s another way of expressing themselves. It gives them a sense of accomplishment.”

With the younger children, she got them to touch the wet paint.

“How does that feel? It’s wet paint,” she said. “You like the feeling of the brush?”

“Yes, that tickles,” a child replied.

Omar asked for red to paint the word “fear.”

“My favorite color is red. Red reminds me of the passion that I have for painting, it gets me strength,” he said.

He said he loves the class. “When I think about something I like to visualize it before I put in it on paper.”

When she’s not teaching, Coklyat paints at home, her face close to the canvas. She favors big pieces in vivid colors and her style has changed since she went through her huge health problems.

“I am less focused on details, and more focused on feelings. I use more contrasts, more bright colors, and black lines to guide me,” she said. “That is amazing how people find connections with my art and my feelings.”

In November she underwent a kidney and pancreas transplant and no longer needs dialysis and insulin injections. With her improving health, new projects are taking shape.

Coklyat is preparing several exhibitions and says now she’s keen to expand her experiences and become an art therapist.

Brigitte Dusseau

Joe Haden is a professional football player who signed a five-year, $50 million contract when he was drafted from the University of Florida. Joyce Grendel is an 18-year-old high school senior at Independence (Ohio) High. At first blush, the two wouldn’t seem to have much in common, but a closer inspection reveals that they’re both avid Twitter users and that neither had taken part in one of the most All-American activities imaginable: A senior prom.

All that made for a compelling backdrop when Grendel asked Haden if he would attend her high school prom with her, a bold step taken via Twitter after her original date backed out in the days before the event. To everyone’s surprise, Haden said yes, and showed up right on time to pick up Grendel on Friday in his own white Lamborghini.

As reported by Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS and Fox station WJW, Haden may have been just as nervous as his significantly less famous date. Because he graduated early from Friendly (Md.) High to enroll at Florida in time for spring workouts before his freshman campaign, Haden never actually got to attend his own senior prom. That made his Friday night experience in Independence a first for him as well.

“I am nervous, too. We were taking pictures with me and her family,” Haden told WJW. “I feel this is very legit, like I was getting ready, ‘Does this look cool?’ when I’m getting ready. I feel like I’m very legit. This is my prom, too.”

In fact, the young Browns defensive back said he was happy to take Grendel to the prom because they have developed a friendship which started with membership in Haden’s fan club and spread into a previous encounter when Haden went bowling with Grendel and one of her Independence High friends. That prior experience made Grendel’s father happy to sign off on the impromptu date for his daughter’s big night.

“I knew her because she tweets me a lot, and she’s been a really good Haden Nation supporter,” Haden told WJW. “All my autographs, all my signings, she always shows up.”

Grendel’s mother said that Haden’s quick response and willingness to take a fan to her prom spoke volumes about how he is anything but a typical pro.

“You know, a lot of times they won’t give you the time of day,” Carrie Grendel told WEWS. “I think that’s sad, because where would they be without the fans? For Joe to take the time to talk to them and respond back, that was huge.”

As for the teen herself, she was still stunned that Haden was actually going to the prom when he showed up on Friday night.

“I was screaming, I couldn’t believe it,” Grendel told WEWS of when she learned Haden would take her to prom. When he arrived right on time, Grendel’s reaction was even more telling. “I can’t breathe,” she said, before quickly greeting Haden with a quick hello.

Cameron Smith

Serena Williams, tennis champion, occasional actress,  and part-owner of the Miami Dolphins, is now a rapper, too.

Williams reportedly recorded an album last year in Florida at B Major Music Group, which is owned by Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie.

Her style even mimics Lil’ Wayne and Nicki Minaj’s “hashtag’ approach, a form where the spirit of a line is summarised with a single, final word.

The preview was enough to impress Californian MC, The Game, who told TMZ that Williams was the real deal. Calling her a “really talented artist,” and attributing her “raw skills” to her Compton upbringing. ”You shouldn’t expect her to come with anything less than the official rap bars,” he said, “I can see her doing big things.”

Though there’s no confirmation yet whether Williams will be making the rest of her rap music public.

Al Newstead

Andrew Bynum’s spiritless play has Kobe Bryant concerned. (AP) Bynum’s fortunate that Bryant didn’t see the smile on his face as he left the showers and entered the losing locker room. He would’ve exploded. This is the immaturity of Bynum, the attitude that inspired him to mock the Denver Nuggets for being an easy out when the Lakers had them down 3-1. His arrogance, his indifference, has cost the Lakers.

Bryant cornered Pau Gasol in a private moment before boarding the bus and told him, too: Enough of the drifting, enough of the timidity, enough of the entitlement. Bleeping play, man. These Denver Nuggets are fearless and rugged and believing suddenly they can make this comeback complete on Saturday night in Staples Center. Bryant needed Gasol and Bynum on Thursday, needed them to be champions at the end of a day.

The Lakers never expected to see Metta World Peace in this series – never mind expected to need him. Yet things have become so troubling for the Lakers – so perplexing with a 3-1 series lead spiraling into a Game 7 – that Bryant has gone far beyond forgiving World Peace for that foolish seven-game suspension. He’s missing him.

“I expect him to come out and play with the tenacity that he’s known for,” Bryant said. “He’s the one guy that I can rely on night in and night out to compete and play hard and play with a sense of urgency. And play with no fear. So, I’m looking forward to having him by my side again.”

Bryant balanced his anger with the back-to-back no-shows with some historical perspective. “We’ve been through this before,” he said. “We went seven games with Houston when won the title in 2009, and we went the full five games with Sacramento when we won the title in 2000. I mean, against Houston, we got blown out in Game 6 and had to come home for Game 7. In that series, we struggled with inconsistency, with a lack of effort.

“So, I’ve seen this before.”

In his mind, Bryant could still see a jagged journey to a championship, but that vision is so bleary now. This time, Bynum is no teenager and Gasol is no twentysomething still finding his way. They ought to know better, and yet they’ve let the Nuggets reshape the momentum of this series. Denver coach George Karl has been masterful in the way he’s reengaged these Nuggets, the way he’s sold a plan of victory to his players.

Adrian Wojnarowski

The “go for the gold” impulse
Let’s admit it, women who act like they’re hot are often perceived that way — and therefore more desirable than your average female. Dr. Gilda Carle, therapist, radio personality and author of Don’t Bet On The Prince!, feels that we sometimes get blinded and blindsided by sheer attitude. “Diva girls feel good about themselves. Sometimes even when they’re not drop-dead gorgeous, they carry themselves like they are. These ‘It Girls’ project the message that they’re worth any trouble a guy must go through to meet them or be with them.” And men fall all over themselves to prove they’re worthy of these divas’ company.

Confusing “divas” with strong women
Here’s another reason why nice guys often can’t resist the allure of the demanding “bad girl” type: “The guy mistakes her endless whining, unrealistic demands, and wild mood swings for the characteristics of a strong-willed, independent woman who knows what she wants. In reality, she’s just a big brat.

What’s more, Kelly feels that men are more likely to inflict these women upon themselves because of their upbringing: “If a man’s mother is like this, he is also more likely to be attracted to a demanding woman, because he finds it normal to jump when asked.”

How to resist this woman’s siren call
OK, now the job you face is to put the observations above into action. If you find yourself attracted to (or dating) one of these demanding divas, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I enjoy the “thrill of the hunt” on a certain level? Is it not “exciting” to date a woman who is immediately, easily interested in me?
2. Am I used to trying to “win women over,” perhaps since my childhood? Does that role of trying to earn a woman’s affections feel comfortable to me?
3. Do I perceive challenging women to be stronger than others are?
4. Do I think it’s possible for a woman to be easy-going while also being an independent person?
5. Is our chemistry really all that great considering that my partner usually is not very nice to me?

If you answer these questions truthfully, you should have your answer about whether dating a challenging woman is really worth the trouble.

Alan Goldsher

The Life Files reports Hov was in attendance at the exclusive event to launch the product, which is the latest addition to the Bacardi brand. Available next month, the VSOP cognac will retail at around $44.99 per 750-ml bottle.

The bottle is simple: Round shape, a cork, no label around the bottle neck, no label on the front. Just a golden double cross. That gives it a certain medieval touch, very royal.

Georgette Cline