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She was every teen-aged boy's wet dream in the 1970s, the blond with the perfect smile, the perfect body with just a hint of nipple showing because she could, and did, go without a bra most of the time.

Farah Fawcett was the perfect sex symbol for the time and even though the matured into a legitimate actress and fought the cancer that would eventually claim her life with grace and style, we remember her sexuality with no guilt.

The poster with the one-piece, form-fitting swimsuit, hung in many a young boy's bedroom and fed both fantasy and raging hormones. 

Fawcett, 62, died today after a long public battle with cancer. But even at the end, with her gaunt body ravaged by the disease she remained a timeless beauty.

Goodbye Farah. We will miss you but we also will never forget.  You were an icon of the 70s who endured. In hse times, that's a very rare commodity.

Marriage vows usually include the line: "'Till death do us part."  But death is supposed to be what tears your apart after you're married.

Scott Napper, 45 of Silverton, Oregon hoped to use a popular beach gathering place called Proposal Rock to formally ask 22-year-old Leafil Alforque for her hand in marriage.

It didn't quite work out that way. Reports OregonLive.Com:

The couple met through an Internet dating site in 2005 and had set a wedding date for Dec. 6. But Napper said Proposal Rock was the spot he wanted to ask for Alforque's hand in marriage ceremonially and give her the ring that waited in his pocket.

Alforque had arrived in Silverton just three days earlier on a fiancee visa from the Philippines. It was her first visit to the Oregon coast.

At some point during the walk to the rock, the two let go of each other's hands. From the angle they took walking toward the formation, Napper said, "you can't see the waves coming in."

About 10 feet from the rock, a wave 2- to 3-feet high suddenly came toward them.

"I turned into it to keep from getting pulled under it," he said. The water receded in a few seconds, and he turned to look for the diminutive Alforque, 4-foot-11 and 93 pounds. By then, he said, "She was about 30 feet away, getting swept away."

He said he immediately tore off his jacket to get rid of any extra weight, and when he looked up again she was gone.

"That's the last I saw of her," he said Wednesday, breaking into tears.

Some claim the judge in Las Vegas threw the book at O.J. Simpson by handing him a sentence ranging from 9-33 years for his role in breaking into a hotel room and retrieving memorabilia items he claimed were his.

Nah. He got off easy. The man who got away with offing his wife and an innocent bystander a decade ago is finally going to jail, which is where the murdering S.O.B. belonged all along.

O.J. the actor gave it one last try at avoiding the big house in his sentencing this week with a well-rehearsed plea to the judge that fell on deaf ears. He claimed he was sorry but the apology was hollow. He claimed he didn't know he was breaking the law. Using a gun to terrorize others and seize items that may or may not have been his isn't breaking the law?

Simpson's lawyers, of course, plan an appeal but such appeals seldom work. He's gone to jail.

Where he belongs.

Reports The Associated Press:

The pilot of a Continental Airlines flight became ill after takeoff and was later pronounced dead after the plane made an emergency landing Saturday, a company spokeswoman said.

The 210 passengers on the flight, which departed from Houston, were never in danger and the co-pilot landed the plane safely, Continental spokeswoman Macky Osorio said.

The airline said only that the pilot suffered a "serious medical problem." Continental believes the pilot died of natural causes, Osorio said. The pilot's name was not released.

The flight, bound for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, took off from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and was diverted to McAllen-Miller International Airport. The flight continued to Mexico with a new crew, Osorio said.

The Denver Broncos were eliminated from the National Football League playoffs Sunday. Later that evening, one of their stars was eliminated from life.

Reports The Associated Press:

Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was killed early Monday when his white stretch Hummer was sprayed by bullets after a nightclub dispute following a New Year's Eve party.

Police have no motive and no indication the 24-year-old player was targeted in the drive-by shooting of the limousine. The burst of violence occurred hours after the Broncos were eliminated from playoff contention.

"All of us are devastated by this tragedy," Broncos owner Pat Bowlen said in a statement. "To lose a young player, and more important, a great young man such as Darrent Williams, is incomprehensible. To lose him in such a senseless manner as this is beyond words."

A little after 2 a.m., the limousine was fired on from a vehicle that pulled up along its side, hitting three people, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said. As many as a dozen bullet holes were visible on the driver's side of the vehicle. One window was blown out.

A man and a woman, Brandon Flowers and Nicole Reindl, were wounded. They were taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital.

Coach Mike Shanahan said the killing left him "speechless with sadness."

Actor Peter Boyle is dead at 71. I remember his breakthrough performance at the violent racist in the independent film Joe in 1970 but he is probably remembered more as the monster in the Mel Brooks spook Young Frankenstein.

According to Newsweek, Wal-Mart sales are way off and management is singing the blues. Seems the retailer to the masses tried to upscale and that turned off the masses. First rule of sales: You've got to know the territory.

Noticed a lot more spam in your email box lately? You're not alone. Spam is on the rise and efforts to block the glut of useless messages are failing.

Reports The New York Times:

Hearing from a lot of new friends lately? You know, the ones that write “It’s me, Esmeralda,” and tip you off to an obscure stock that is “poised to explode” or a great deal on prescription drugs.

You’re not the only one. Spam is back — in e-mail in-boxes and on everyone’s minds. In the last six months, the problem has gotten measurably worse. Worldwide spam volumes have doubled from last year, according to Ironport, a spam filtering firm, and unsolicited junk mail now accounts for more than 9 of every 10 e-mail messages sent over the Internet.

Much of that flood is made up of a nettlesome new breed of junk e-mail called image spam, in which the words of the advertisement are part of a picture, often fooling traditional spam detectors that look for telltale phrases. Image spam increased fourfold from last year and now represents 25 to 45 percent of all junk e-mail, depending on the day, Ironport says.

The antispam industry is struggling to keep up with the surge. It is adding computer power and developing new techniques in an effort to avoid losing the battle with the most sophisticated spammers.

Another cruise ship, another virus. Reports WESH-TV:

Cruise officials said almost 400 passengers and crew aboard the world's largest cruise ship have been given over-the-counter medication for a virus.

The outbreak struck Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, which returned Sunday as scheduled to the Port of Miami.

A statement from the Miami-based company said crew members sanitized frequently touched surfaces such as railings, door handles and elevator buttons after the short-lived outbreak began. The cruise line also said that a guest previously exposed to norovirus likely brought it on board Nov. 26.

The Freedom of the Seas carries 4,000 passengers on 15 decks. Am I missing something here? How is spending several thousand bucks for a week or so with 4,000 others people on a floating city a vacation?

From the banking world comes news that Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh and the Bank of New York will merge. These mergers continue to create megabanks and names from long ago have disappeared into the woodwork. My files are filled with statements and cancelled checks from banks that no longer exists: Virginia National Bank, NationsBank, Soran, 1st Virginia Bank, Central Fidelity, MBNA and so on.