Toe

Security researchers Nick DePetrillo and Don Bailey have discovered a seven-digit numerical code that can unlock all kinds of secrets about you. It's your phone number. Using relatively simple techniques, this duo can use your cellphone number to figure out your name, where you live and work, where you travel and when you sleep. They could even listen to your voice messages and personal phone calls — if they wanted to. "It's really interesting to watch a phone number turn into a person's life," DePetrillo said.

So this is what socialism looks like: Private companies competing for people's business in an open marketplace. Californians got their first glimpse Thursday of what insurers plan to charge for coverage to be offered next year to about 5 million state residents who don't receive health insurance from employers. In southern Los Angeles County, for example, Health Net is charging $242 a month for one of its plans. Blue Shield is charging $287 and Kaiser Permanente $325 for the same coverage.

An X-ray Saturday revealed an inconclusive "line" on the right big toe that Erick Aybar fouled a ball off earlier in the day, and the Angels shortstop will be evaluated again Tuesday, the team announced. "He's not close to playing now," Angels Mike Scioscia said Monday after Aybar was spotted striding through the team's clubhouse in a walking boot strapped to just below his knee. "It will be determined by how he feels and if he can improve enough. Hopefully, he can avoid the disabled list.

It's counterintuitive, but Ohio State's small lineup paid big dividends on the boards Thursday. Ohio State defeated Arizona, 73-70, at Staples Center and advances to the West Regional final on Saturday. The Buckeyes out-rebounded the Wildcats, 32-30, and 11-9 on the offensive end, something that wasn't expected. Kaleb Tarczewski , Arizona's 7-foot freshman center, played just 16 minutes, far less than the other four starters. By putting smaller, quicker players on the floor, Ohio State forced Arizona to follow suit.

A common error resulted in a confusing headline in Palm Latitudes ("Towing the Orthodox Hemline," Jan. 27). You mean toeing, not towing. Human toes are involved, not trucks. 19th-Century classrooms had cracks in the floor. Teachers would have their pupils place their toes along the cracks during spelling competitions. This method of lining up students became so prevalent that the expressions toe the line, toe the mark and even toe the crack have now become honorable parts of the American language.

Here's your chance to experience "A Night at the Italian Opera." The Conejo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by maestro Elmer Ramsey, will present its annual City of Thousand Oaks Concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at the California Lutheran University Auditorium. Featured is a quartet composed of soprano MaryBeth Haag, contralto Geraldine Decker, tenor Bruce Johnson and bass-baritone Ken Knight. "It's going to be a hummer and a toe tapper," symphony Executive Director Harvey Roth said.

Rep. Gerry Sikorski (D-Minn.) lost the little toe on his right foot in a mower accident on his Minnesota farm this week. Sikorski said he was using an old rotary mower Tuesday to clear brush on his farm outside Stillwater when he kicked his foot under the open back end of the machine. The rotary blade cut through his right tennis shoe and severed the toe, he said.

Football is a macho sport and athletes take a certain amount of pride in playing while enduring injuries. It's not uncommon for an athlete to play with a partially separated shoulder, a badly sprained ankle, or a broken hand. So when USC tailback Aaron Emanuel was listed as inactive with a sprained big toe on his right foot, some eyebrows were raised.

Clippers today AT WASHINGTON When: 10 a.m. PST. Where: Verizon Center. On the air: TV: Prime Ticket; Radio: 980. Records: Clippers 19-23, Wizards 14-28. Record vs. Wizards: 1-0. Update: The Clippers are expected to play without injured guard Eric Gordon, who scored a team-high 29 points during a 97-95 win over the Wizards on Dec. 14 at Staples Center. Gordon is listed as questionable after spraining the big toe on his left foot in Wednesday's triumph over Chicago.

Biden or Kennedy going toe-to-toe with Bork is like Pee-wee Herman getting in the ring with (heavy-weight boxing champion) Mike Tyson. TED BROCK Santa Monica

OMAHA - Since she emerged from anonymity at age 13 and had an upset win in the junior event at the 2007 U.S. Championships, Mirai Nagasu has rarely been out of the figure skating spotlight. Prodigiously talented, with an impish personality, Nagasu attracted attention for what she said and what she did.  A senior national title at age 14.  A fourth in the 2010 Olympics at 16. She is 19 now.  Her skating the last two seasons has been so erratic she came to this nationals as something of an afterthought, no surprise given her seventh place finish at last year's championships.

Based on Tuesday night's presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York, here is a five-point plan: -- Moderator Candy Crowley, like Supreme Court justices, should be appointed for life. -- The town hall format, which allows the candidates to circle each other like prize fighters or come nose-to-nose like bickering spouses, is the best. As the Sundance Kid so famously said, "I'm better when I move. " -- CNN, seriously, lose that undecided voter crawl. It is completely distracting and simply absurd - how much value can there be in the real-time reactions of 35 undecided voters in Ohio?

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has paused, wiggled its toes into the sand and is set to break out its scooper for the first time to sample the Red Planet, mission scientists announced Thursday. Having driven 484 meters from its landing site in Gale Crater, the Mars Science Laboratory rover has made a pit stop to sample dunes at a spot called Rocknest.  “We're going to use, for the first time, one of the keystone capabilities of the rover,” said mission manager Mike Watkins.

Republican leaders are sick and tired of Democrats blaming all the nation's problems on George W. Bush, and of being tarnished by the former president's legacy. From walrus-mustached former U.N Ambassador John Bolton, to Bush's brother Jeb, to Fox News host Sean Hannity (who seldom lets a guest criticize Bush without pointing out that President Obama has been running the country for years), to "tea party" activists who since the 2008 elections have been complaining that Bush's failures could be blamed on the fact that he was not sufficiently conservative, the GOP would seem to wish Bush's name could be erased from the history books.

Sending out a few early-season wake-up calls for: •Michigan. The Wolverines fell from No. 8 to No. 19 in the Associated Press poll after last week's embarrassing loss to Alabama, and now must hop-to-it regroup for their home opener against Air Force. Michigan should replace the wings on its helmets with danger signs. The last time Big Blue faced an "A" school was last week against Alabama. The last time Michigan faced an "A" team in Ann Arbor was Appalachian State, in 2007.

When Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, who turns 79 in September, comes to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he brings qualities that one used to associate with departed veteran maestros of the past - a searching depth, revelation of detail without losing the forest for the trees, a sense of how to zero in upon and shape a climax. Yes, even at the Hollywood Bowl - with its extra-musical distractions, variable amplified sound and short rehearsal time - Frühbeck delivers the goods, and the appreciative Philharmonic keeps inviting him back.

Defining "barefoot running" is easy: It's the act of running without shoes. But defining "barefoot running shoe" isn't so simple. Is it a sock-like second skin; a modernized moccasin; a stripped-down, minimalist version of a "normal" trainer designed to function as a bridge between shod running and barefooting; or a simply cushioned shoe that places your foot on a level plane from front to back to encourage a barefoot-like forefoot/midsole strike?...

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said Tuesday night that examinations of injured shortstop Erick Aybar (right big toe) and relief pitcher Jordan Walden (strained right biceps) by team doctor Lewis Yocum were promising. Walden, out since July 8 with a weakened pitching arm that was related to an  issue with a nerve in his neck, will undergo a strength test Friday.  If the results are satisfactory, he can begin pitching from a mound  in anticipation of being activated from the disabled list.

DANVILLE, Va. - A Joe Biden campaign event can at times have the feel of a high-wire act. Sure, there's a prompter in place, and a message of the day he's been tasked to deliver. But the vice president's freelancing can begin almost immediately. "Mr. Mayor, thank you for the passport, thank you for letting me come back in," Biden said as he began remarks in Danville this week. "You get invited once, it's OK. Get invited back, man, that means he doesn't know any better," he said, ignoring his prepared remarks.

MEXICO CITY - Here they were again, marching through the dark and the rain - the preppies from private universities, the hipsters in fat-lace skater sneakers, the young intellectuals with faces framed in wispy Che Guevara beards, the regular kids with backpacks and smartphones. They pooled by the thousands on Avenida Chapultepec in front of the headquarters ofMexico'smost powerful broadcaster, brandishing signs and banners, trailed by an opportunistic band of hot dog and taco vendors.