Kiss . . . Kiss

KISS guitarist Paul Stanley fluffed his thick, shaggy hair as bassist Gene Simmons fidgeted in the background, their eyes looped in black makeup, faces painted chalky white. As the seconds counted down to 4 p.m., Stanley leaned on the green button in front of him.

"Clang, clang, clang!" went the bell as the clock struck the top of the hour.

Flap, flap, flap went Simmons' famous tongue, stretching to the tip of his chin and back again.

"Bang!" went the gavel, which Stanley brought down with a thud. The white-haired man next to him, Larry Young, head of Dr Pepper Snapple Group, smiled gamely and hoisted a Dr Pepper Cherry soda.

It was closing time at the New York Stock Exchange, and if it weren't for the fact that a Scottish terrier named Sadie, the Aflac duck, Sports Illustrated swimsuit models and snowboard champ Shaun White would soon stand on the same platform, the KISS-meets-Dr-Pepper spectacle might have been more of -- well -- a spectacle.

Barcelona's artistic side

The Casa de las Punxes, Catalan for "the House of Spikes," has six towers with conical points. The building, at Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona, was designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, one of the Modernistas who helped change the face of the city.

(Rosemary McClure / For The Times)

The first in more than eighty years

The the 14-story Peninsula Hotel in Shanghai, with 235 rooms and suites, is scheduled to open March 18, 2010. It is the first new structure on Shanghai's storied riverfront Bund since the Bank of China in 1927.

( Andrew J. Loiterton )

The Bobby Fischer Chess Marathon

Bobby Fischer plays an exhibition match against 50 players at Hollywood's Knickerbocker Hotel in 1964. (He won 47 and lost one. Two ended in draws.)

Can we trust "them" ???

Between 10% and 12% of the parking meters in Los Angeles fail at any given time, according to a recent study.

Officials aren't supposed to give parking tickets to motorists parked at broken meters, but some residents complain the city is doing just that.

7-year old Carlos makes good use of the "system"

Carlos, a 7-year-old boy who called 911 during a home invasion robbery as armed robbers threatened his parents poses with the dispatcher, Monique Patino, who took his call at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's dispatch centre on Wednesday in Norwalk, Calif.

Angels Flight to reopen

The California Public Utilities Commission has approved the safety certificate for the historic Angels Flight rail line in downtown L.A., nine years after a fatal accident closed the funicular.

In a letter to Angels Flight Railway Co., the PUC said that it had "no major safety concerns" regarding the rail line, which runs up and down Bunker Hill. The company has faced numerous delays in reopening Angels Flight.

John Welborne, head of a nonprofit foundation that is trying to reopen the funicular, said he was pleased by the PUC's decision, calling it an important step forward. He said the group has been waiting for the PUC's approval for nearly a year.

The California Public Utilities Commission has approved the safety certificate for the historic Angels Flight rail line in downtown L.A., nine years after a fatal accident closed the funicular.

In a letter to Angels Flight Railway Co., the PUC said that it had "no major safety concerns" regarding the rail line, which runs up and down Bunker Hill. The company has faced numerous delays in reopening Angels Flight.

John Welborne, head of a nonprofit foundation that is trying to reopen the funicular, said he was pleased by the PUC's decision, calling it an important step forward. He said the group has been waiting for the PUC's approval for nearly a year.

200 Women Pilots to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor

The ceremony takes places on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol. Surrounded by statues of some of the nation's most treasured icons, nearly 200 women who served as military pilots during World War II as part of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program will be on hand to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Recruited to fill a manpower shortage among male fliers, 25,000 women applied. Nearly 1,100 completed training. This little-known band of female pilots -- the first women in history trained to fly U.S. military aircraft -- did everything the men did except participate in combat. They flew trailers so male soldiers could take practice shots at the targets they pulled along. They flew bombardiers so male pilots could practice dropping bombs. They flew test planes, delivered supplies and piloted every plane the Air Force had in its arsenal. By war's end, 38 had been killed -- their bodies returned home and buried at their families' expense. In 1977, Congress finally granted them veteran status. This week, they finally get their due in Washington.

Sitting in the audience at the congressional ceremony will be 92-year-old Carol Brinton Selfridge (shown above in a 1944 photo). In an interview with the Ticket last week that she conducted on Skype, Selfridge reminisced about her adventures -- about the difficulty of finding a uniform to fit her 6-foot-tall frame, about soloing in a rare snowstorm at the base in Sweetwater, Texas, about the granddaughter who was so inspired by her story that she too became a pilot, now Lt. Col. Christy Kayser-Cook.

"even small levels of lead exposure may be damaging"

High doses of lead have for some time been linked to chronic kidney damage. But a recent study out of Johns Hopkins Children's Center found that even small levels of lead exposure may be damaging to children's kidneys.

The report, published January in the Archives of Internal Medicine, looked at the records of 769 healthy youth ages 12 to 20 with average blood lead levels of 1.5 micrograms per deciliter (well below the 10 microgram "threshold" of concern per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Researchers found that children with levels of just 2.9 micrograms per deciliters had worse kidney function than those with lower levels. With each doubling of lead levels, the filtration capacity dropped.

Ah fashion . . . always good for a laugh

This scene was described as "Sharp, edgy and versatile" while others might term it "incredibly rediculous and hilarious".

"the risk of hearing loss"

Perhaps it wasn't those years of listening to rock 'n' roll that damaged your hearing after all; regular use of aspirin, acetaminophen and other analgesics appears to substantially increase the risk of hearing loss, especially in men younger than 50.

Researchers reported recently in the American Journal of Medicine that use of acetaminophen more than twice a week by such men doubles the risk of hearing loss, use of ibuprofen and related non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) increases the risk by nearly two-thirds, and regular use of aspirin increases it by about a third.

"a new generation of matadors"

Francisco

There is a new generation of matadors in Spain who bring more excitement and more spectators into the bull ring than there's been for some time. High on this list are two brothers, Francisco Rivera Ordonez and his kid brother Cayetano.

Last October, 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon reported on their exploits inside and outside the ring and there's an update: the Spanish government recently awarded Francisco, the older brother, with the Fine Arts medal - the highest honor any artist can receive.

It led to front page news and to a national scandal. Two previous winners of the award returned their medals in disgust, insisting that Francisco didn't deserve it. His brother Cayetano believes he certainly does deserve it, and after watching and reading this story, you'll understand why.

Francisco Rivera Ordoñez has been fighting for 13 years. In fact, while 60 Minutes was Spain in Spain filming, he fought his 1000th fight. And the crowds couldn’t get enough of him.

Cayetano, his kid brother, has to fight off the crowds. People beg to be touched by their icon. He has been fighting only three years, and although he is still a rookie, he's worshipped all over Spain. He is one of the highest paid matadors in the country.

In fact, the brothers are the two most eligible bachelors in Spain. They each fight around 60 times during the season, and occasionally fight on the same day in the same place.

Cayetano

"chutzpah"

He is the undisputed David Beckham of Spanish bullfighting, a daring heart-throb with an adoring female following. But like many A-list performers at the top of their game, Jose Tomas always faces the risk of a career-ending injury. Tomas, who earns a staggering £400,000 a fight, is Spain's highest-paid matador. But he certainly gave the crowd in Cordoba, in the south of the country, their money's worth when a raging, half-ton bull got the better of him in dramatic style in 2008.

The celebrity bullfighter had an incredibly lucky escape when the bull outfoxed the 32-year-old and tossed him into the air during his second fight of the day.

After crashing to the ground, Tomas was skewered by the bull's ferocious horns before being hurled skywards for a second time. Despite this being his second serious 'cornada', or goring, in under a month (he was hospitalised after a bullfight in Jerez just two weeks prior), the battered Tomas somehow managed to get back on his feet and kill the bull. In recognition of his extraordinary chutzpah, Tomas was rewarded with both ears and the tail of the bull and was later carried out of the ring on a collegue's shoulders - the customary reward for feats of great bravery.

For the complete story with photos showing the blood, click on the heading above.

"Conch Shell Blowing"

A Key West resident who first blew a conch shell as a youngster, blew two shells at once to win the island's 48th Conch Shell Blowing Contest, Saturday, March 6.

Clinton Curry, 36, was among 40 contestants, each hoping to show contest judges they were the best at blowing magical sounds out of a conch shell. While many contestants delivered strong musical performances, it was Curry (below) who persuaded judges he was the best with his version of Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance."

“Master of Treachery” by Alex Milne

MLB SEASON will soon begin -- Here are some stars and "Not so" stars from past years

Luminario Ballet in L A

The Los Angeles Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest held its fifth annual celebration of Italian culture from Feb. 28 through Saturday, presenting 36 films and honoring such cultural personalities as tenor Andrea Bocelli and music producer David Foster.

The free film screenings combined Italian classics, U.S. premieres and documentaries, including “Andrea Bocelli: The Story Behind the Voice,” which was shown Monday, after which festival founder and producer Pascal Vicedomini called Bocelli “a legend of music” and lauded Foster for his contribution to Italian music.

The prior week, a young dance company -- the 15-month-old Luminario Ballet -- held a fundraiser under the stars at a private home with a stunning view. Is Los Angeles ready for a new dance company? Managing director Judith Flex Helle said she believed the timing was right for Luminario, which combines classic ballet, modern dance and aerials into its choreographic repertoire.

Photo: Alex Stabler and Ashley Hoffman perform "Bouquet" at the Luminario Ballet fundraiser. Credit: Johanna Jacobson.

Extinct Tasmanian Wolf on Display in Sydney, Australia

Since the beginning of the last century, 183 species are known to have become extinct, including the Tasmanian tiger, the Caribbean monk seal and the toolache wallaby. But this number is a gross underestimate of the true number of extinctions, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature species programme.

Photograph: Frans Lanting/Corbis

How's this for "stop action" with close attention to detail

Click on the heading for more photos like this.

The "Cadillac Converj"

Once again, General Motors has killed the electric car. More correctly it has killed an electric car.

Bloomberg is reporting that GM has ended development of the Cadillac Converj, an extended-range electric vehicle that was to be based on the same technology found in the upcoming Chevrolet Volt. Unnamed executives told the publication that a business plan couldn’t be made for the vehicle, despite the premium prices that could be charged for it under the auspices of the luxury nameplate.