What was the story with Tiger's Buddhism bracelet?

At the end of Sunday night's Golf Channel interview with Tiger Woods, interviewer Kelly Tilghman made note of the bracelet Woods wore on his left wrist. From the official transcript:



KT: I noticed you're wearing a bracelet, can we see it?
TW: Yeah.

KT: What does it mean?
TW: It's Buddhist, it's for protection and strength and I certainly need that.

KT: When did you start wearing it?
TW: Before I went into treatment.

KT: Will you be wearing it during the Masters?
TW: Absolutely.

KT: For the rest of your life?
TW: Absolutely.

(View the interview in its entirety here at The Golf Channel.)

The bracelet itself isn't the big deal; you can pick one of those up at the mall for five bucks (Amazon has hundreds of "Buddhist bracelets" for those who want to be like Tiger.) It's what the bracelet represents -- the idea of remembering one's "core values" -- that makes it significant.

Certainly, it's not uncommon for people embroiled in scandal to suddenly wrap themselves in religion as a way of deflecting criticism. Prisoners and politicians alike often turn to religion when their worldly deeds come crashing down around them. So it's understandable to view Woods' embracing of Buddhism, Sunday and at his Feb. 19 press conference, as a cynical ploy for sympathy.

Thing is, Woods publicly professed his connection to Buddhism long before the scandal broke. In a May 2008 Reuters interview shortly after the birth of his second child, Woods noted that he adhered to tenets of Buddhism such as meditation:

"I practice meditation -- that is something that I do, that my mum [sic] taught me over the years. We also have a thing we do every year, where we go to temple together," he said. "In the Buddhist religion you have to work for it yourself, internally, in order to achieve anything in life and set up the next life. It is all about what you do and you get out of it what you put into it. So you are going to have to work your butt off in every aspect of your life."


And as he admitted Sunday, he's got plenty of work ahead.

Also, the conspiracy-minded -- or those with too much time on their hands -- will note that Woods doesn't have a wedding ring on, and will surely scream that it's the sign of marital apocalypse. Not so, at least not based on that alone. Tiger never wears his wedding ring on the golf course, and as the photo at right shows, he apparently doesn't wear it when he's out with his family, either.

That photo is from last year's Cal-Stanford game, taken just days before the news of his initial affair broke. Tiger got roundly booed at that game, but it was because he was a Stanford alum, not for any other reason. No, the really bad news for Tiger was still a few days away. Hopefully, for the sake of his family and his golf game, the worst days are now behind him

EARTHQUAKE AT KUALA TRENGGANU,MALAYSIA

Mild earthquake hits Tasik Kenyir area
A mild 2.6-magnitude earthquake shook the Tasik Kenyir, Terengganu area at 11.10pm Wednesday (03.10.2010).





The earthquake was the second in more than 20 years.

The quake had an epicenter at 43km Southwest of Kuala Terengganu and 22km West of Kuala Berang.

According to Bernama, Dr Mohd Rosaidi Che Abas, director of the Malaysian Meterological Department's (MMD) Geophysics and Tsunami division said that "the earthquake last night may have been linked to the one that happened 20 years ago or the release of tectonic gas from the gas bearing basin or the plate tectonic setting in Terengganu."

He added that in the 1980s, Kenyir was hit by a 4.6 magnitude earthquake when the Kenyir Dam was being filled.

Dr Rosaidi mentioned that since it was the first case in 20 years, his department will work closely with the Mineral and Geosciences Department to find the actual cause of the quake.

He said that people shouldn't worry as a 2.6 scale earthquake was a mild one.

Prius with stuck accelerator glides to safe stop

A California Highway Patrol officer helped slow a runaway Toyota Prius from 94 mph to a safe stop on Monday after the car's accelerator became stuck on a San Diego County freeway, the CHP said.

Prius driver James Sikes called 911 about 1:30 p.m. after accelerating to pass another vehicle on Interstate 8 near La Posta and finding that he could not control his car, the CHP said.

"I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny... it jumped and it just stuck there," the 61-year-old driver said at a news conference. "As it was going, I was trying the brakes...it wasn't stopping, it wasn't doing anything and it just kept speeding up," Sikes said, adding he could smell the brakes burning he was pressing the pedal so hard.

A patrol car pulled alongside the Prius and officers told Sikes over a loudspeaker to push the brake pedal to the floor and apply the emergency brake.

"They also got it going on a steep upgrade," said Officer Jesse Udovich. "Between those three things, they got it to slow down."

After the car decelerated to about 50 mph, Sikes turned off the engine and coasted to a halt.

The officer then maneuvered his car in front of the Prius as a precautionary block, Udovich said.

In a statement, Toyota said it has dispatched a field technical specialist to San Diego to investigate the incident.

Toyota has recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide — more than 6 million in the United States — since last fall because of acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius.

Toyota owners have complained of their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles since 2000.

One of the crashes claimed the life of a CHP officer last August.

Off-duty CHP Officer Mark Saylor was killed along with his wife, her brother and the couple's daughter after their Lexus' accelerator got stuck in La Mesa.

The Toyota-manufactured loaner vehicle slammed into a sport utility vehicle at about 100 mph, careened off the freeway, hit an embankment, overturned and burst into flames.