Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Some people do not realise the importance of doomsday, where people will happily accept to commit suicide and find other means to end their lives when they know that they will perish and suffer terribly for all the wrong that they have committed all throughout their civilisations and stay here on planet Earth.

For real, they will definitely prefer alternate ways to end their lives rather than face the terrible doomsday.  Can you imagine,? Just like a road needs fresh water to take out its dirty layers and be clean again, well, it's most probably that fate that's awaiting us :) LOL

Asteroid Toutatis approaches Earth on December

Here is an excerpt from my upcoming PUBLICATION regarding the major doomsday theories and counter-doomsday theories.  I will be releasing Publication 2008 very soon.  The excerpt below is a debunking of Asteroid theories set forth by many theorist.  Their theory that particular asteroids are a CLEAR threat to the well-being of the human race contradicts recent data.  Many sites have been reporting on the recent data by the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard, which gives one the idea that the Asteroid Toutatis is going to be close enough to Earth to cause some global catastrophe on December 12, 2012.

Even though I would like to believe this and report it as possible doomsday evidence, I remain objective and examined the data myself. According to the data (which can be found here: (Center for Astrophysics at Harvard), on December 12, 2012 the Asteroid Toutatis will be 0.04633 A.U. away from Earth.

Oh my! Only 0.04633 AU! (sarcasm) That seems like such a small number so it must be the doomsday the asteroid. These other sites and doomsday theorists really believe you are unintelligent individuals and use that to feed you false information.

We do things differently here at DDIG where we know you are capable and intelligent individuals that deserve non-bias factual information. So back to the information at hand… you might be asking yourself what is an AU? 1 A.U. is the average distance between the center of mass of the Earth and the center of mass of the Sun which comes out to be approximately, 92,955,807 miles or 1.496×10^11meters. Now we can use simple dimensional analysis to see actually how far the Asteroid is from the Earth.

0.04633 AU x 92955807 mi = 4,306,642 Mi away from the Earth.

2012 asteroid ….1 AU

So the Asteroid will be 4.3 x 10^6 mi away from the Earth… is that close? Lets put that in perspective by comparing that to Earth-Moon average distance. The Earth-Moon distance is 238,900 miles apart, meaning that the asteroid will be 18X the distance of the Earth to the Moon. In my opinion, thats not close enough to classify it as a Doomsday possibility… its even stretching it to call it a “close encounter”

Here is a LINK to the article which presents the information as if the Asteroid is going to impact (“cross”) the Earth. This is the source of my frustration towards data manipulating authors.

Beyond that point, lets examine other NEO’s (near-Earth objects). Based on the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard, the data suggests that there are at least 3 known NEO’s < 0.001 AU. The objects are identified by WN5, SB45, and Apophis will be in the Earth’s proximity June 2028, October 2037 and April 2027, respectively. WN5 and SB45 have distances around 0.0015 AU which gives them a distance of around 130,000 miles away from Earth.

 

To put that in prospective, thats half the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Apophis has a distance of an 0.0002318 AU which coverts to 21547 miles away from the Earth! 21,547 miles is REALLY REALLY CLOSE. Could this be our Doomsday asteroid? Ill further examine dates in the Bible to make connections between Aprophis and the fire-filled Earth Biblical prophecies.

Read more at: Asteroid Toutatis approaches Earth on December 12, 2012 « DoomsDay Information Guide

Friday, November 25, 2011

 



With timelapse cameras, specialists recorded salt water being excluded from the sea ice and sinking.

The temperature of this sinking brine, which was well below 0C, caused the water to freeze in an icy sheath around it.

Where the so-called "brinicle" met the sea bed, a web of ice formed that froze everything it touched, including sea urchins and starfish.
The unusual phenomenon was filmed for the first time by cameramen Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson for the BBC One series Frozen Planet.
Creeping ice
Continue reading the main story
HOW DOES A BRINICLE FORM?
Dr Mark Brandon Polar oceanographer, The Open University

Freezing sea water doesn't make ice like the stuff you grow in your freezer. Instead of a solid dense lump, it is more like a seawater-soaked sponge with a tiny network of brine channels within it.

In winter, the air temperature above the sea ice can be below -20C, whereas the sea water is only about -1.9C. Heat flows from the warmer sea up to the very cold air, forming new ice from the bottom. The salt in this newly formed ice is concentrated and pushed into the brine channels. And because it is very cold and salty, it is denser than the water beneath.

The result is the brine sinks in a descending plume. But as this extremely cold brine leaves the sea ice, it freezes the relatively fresh seawater it comes in contact with. This forms a fragile tube of ice around the descending plume, which grows into what has been called a brinicle.

Brinicles are found in both the Arctic and the Antarctic, but it has to be relatively calm for them to grow as long as the ones the Frozen Planet team observed.

The icy phenomenon is caused by cold, sinking brine, which is more dense than the rest of the sea water. It forms a brinicle as it contacts warmer water below the surface.

Mr Miller set up the rig of timelapse equipment to capture the growing brinicle under the ice at Little Razorback Island, near Antarctica's Ross Archipelago.

"When we were exploring around that island we came across an area where there had been three or four [brinicles] previously and there was one actually happening," Mr Miller told BBC Nature.

The diving specialists noted the temperature and returned to the area as soon as the same conditions were repeated.

"It was a bit of a race against time because no-one really knew how fast they formed," said Mr Miller.

"The one we'd seen a week before was getting longer in front of our eyes... the whole thing only took five, six hours."

When a pregnant mother is very sick, mouse fetuses send up stem cells to help | ZME Science

Amidst of all the talks and protest against stem cell treatment and companies shutting down, nature has found its own way of treating diseases with stem cells. When a pregnant mouse mother, for example, has a heart attack, her fetus donates some of its own stem cells to help and cure.

Researchers started working on this experiment with two lines of mice: normal mice and mice genetically engineered to produce green fluorescent protein (or GFP) – which glows when exposed to blue light. They then mated normal female mice with GFP mice, meaning that the resulting fetuses also carried the GFP gene, thus their cells would glow in the dark. Twelve days later, almost two thirds into the pregnancy, scientists let loose their evil selves and gave half the mice heart attacks.

When they then examined their hearts, two weeks after the heart attacks, they found something absolutely stunning: lots of GFP tissue from the fetus was in their hearts; those who had heart attacks had eight times more fetus tissue than those who hadn’t. What is even more fascinating is that the GFP tissue actually differentiated into various types of heart tissue – something researchers are spending countless hours on, just to figure out how it works.

This is probably true for all mammals, including humans. Doctors often report that women with heart problems during pregnancy have better recovery rates than any other group of heart failure patients, and this study seems to explain why and how. Furthermore, this is not only true for heart problems, but other organs as well, including the brain here. When pregnant women have their organs damaged, fetal cells seem to show up wherever they are needed. Isn’t nature wonderful ?

It's Crowded Out There Again, Got A Holiday Travel Tip To Share? : The Two-Way : NPR

News nuggets like these are holiday classics:

— "42.5 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, a four percent increase from the 40.9 million people who traveled one year ago," the AAA says.

— "Los Angeles' LAX, Chicago's O'Hare (ORD) and Orlando International (MCO) will be the nation's busiest airports this Thanksgiving," Orbitz Worldwide predicts.

— Travelers are "at the mercy of the weather," says The Associated Press. "Heavy rains and scattered thunderstorms prompted flood warnings and closed some roads across swaths of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York early Wednesday. Snow mixed with sleet and freezing rain to make for treacherous driving and thousands of power outages across parts of New England and upstate New York."

— "Forecasters say some of the worst weather in the country for mid-week will be on the coasts and could back up some of the busiest airports such as those in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Seattle," ABC News adds.

— Some motorists were delayed for hours last night and early today on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Pittsburgh when "a tar-like substance ... leaked from a tanker," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

— "A car crash on the freeway just north of San Francisco International Airport is snarling traffic on one of the year's busiest travel days," says the AP. "Television footage shows a car flipped over on Highway 101 south near the airport exit as traffic slows to a crawl. Lanes have been blocked on both sides of the freeway.

Now, we know many folks have strategies for coping with Thanksgiving travel. For one thing, as The Baltimore Sun says, "Tuesday is the new Wednesday." As in: the Tuesday before Thanksgiving "is becoming the new Wednesday before Thanksgiving" as more travelers take to the roads, rails and skies a day earlier than in the past.

But there must be many other tips — get up early; stay over until Friday; don't travel? Please share in the comments thread.

black friday 2011

Pepper spray and violence mar Black Friday bargain hunting - CSMonitor.com

In Los Angeles, a woman used pepper spray to gain a "competitive shopping" advantage at a Walmart, inflicting minor injuries on 20 people soon after the store opened on Thanksgiving night. No one was able to catch her before she apparently made her purchases and left the store. Police are reviewing video surveillance to help in trying to identify her, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In San Leandro, Calif., a Walmart shopper was shot and wounded in a suspected robbery early Friday, while walking to his car.

Although most retailers managed the Black Friday bargain hunters with few problems, similar cases of retail-related violence cropped up in other states as well.

Early Friday in Fayetteville, N.C., gunfire erupted at Cross Creek Mall, and police say they're looking for two suspects. At an upstate New York Walmart, two women were injured and a man charged after a fight broke out, police say. A central Florida man is behind bars after a fight broke out at a jewelry counter in a Walmart in Kissimmee, Fla.

All that occurred while millions of other Americans had yet to eat their morning bagel or bowl of cereal on the day after Thanksgiving.

Is this any way to run a holiday shopping season?

The violence is grist for those who argue that Black Friday has become too big a commercial ritual for America's good. As shoppers elbow for cut-rate goods and retailers vie for their business, the holiday season certainly seems to have lost some of its peace.

But with Black Friday now entrenched as an annual tradition, the violent incidents may serve mainly to amplify a longstanding practical question: How can this day of shopping frenzy be made safer for all who participate?

In recent years, retailers have adopted new crowd-management techniques (to avoid injuries or deaths from trampling). They've also heightened security on  the big shopping day.

It's part of a broader safety and security challenge for retailers. Overall rates of shoplifting, theft by employees, and other crime or fraud at stores cost retailers $37.1 billion in 2010, up from $33.5 billion the year before, the National Retail Federation reported earlier this year.

The incidents of Black Friday violence might prompt some pragmatic thoughts for ordinary shoppers as well as for retailers.

First, remember that the reports of pepper spray and shootings are the retail-store exception, not the rule.

But second, some consumer advisers say, the threats to safety might be one of many reasons to be cautious about shopping on Black Friday.

A blog post on the website Fashionista recently warned, "Black Friday is ... a bad time for people to keep their tempers in check," and it may not offer such great bargains, anyway. The blog allows that some people do well at finding deals (and even enjoy the competitive crush), but many other shoppers buy more than they need, buy the wrong things, or are too late to get the bargains they hope for.

Lots of Americans might do as well shopping by computer, going to the mall some other day in the next couple of weeks, or working harder at finding bargains throughout the year.

Rosy Outlook for Black Friday? Retailers Gear Up for Biggest Shopping Day of Year

black friday 2011

As Americans get ready to stuff and baste turkey, millions seem equally excited about Black Friday. 

The day after Thanksgiving kicks off the annual holiday shopping season and has become the busiest shopping day of the year, with stores opening before dawn and offering radical discounts. 

The term “Black Friday” seems to have originated in Philadelphia in the mid-‘60s when police were contending with massive downtown traffic jams from the retail rush.  Though many insist that this Friday is called “black” because it’s the point when stores begin to turn a profit or move “into the black." 

If early online sales are any indication, 2011 figures to be a winner. ComScore is projecting a 15 percent increase over the 2010 holiday season.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

pepper spray california

It’s been a hectic week for Lt. John Pike. First he was suspended for his now notorious pepper-spray assault on protesters at UC Davis. Next he became an online sensation.

Now the campus police officer has his phone ringing off the hook — and it doesn’t look like it will stop anytime soon.

The online retaliation against the University of California Davis cop has only gotten stronger in recent days, and after a series of edited images portraying the police officer firing at everything from Mount Rushmore and Revolution War soldiers to classic works of art have made their rounds on the Web, hacking collective Anonymous has fired back with an assault of their own.

In a video clip uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday, a digitized voice claiming to be an operative with the shadowy hacktivist group Anonymous released the cell phone number, email and home address of Pike — and according to the Daily News, his voicemail box has been full ever since.

While YouTube raced to erase the video — citing a breach in its clause prohibiting hate speech — the contents of the clip have since circulated the Web. As the voice in the video puts it, "Dear Officer John Pike, we are Anonymous. Your information is now public domain.”

"We have no problem targeting police and releasing their information even if it puts them at risk," Anonymous claims, "because we want them to experience just a taste of the brutality and misery they serve us on an everyday basis."

The group adds, however, that more damage is on the way, so although no specifics are made, Lt. Pike and other overzealous officers that have gone after Occupy protesters should be ready.

"Expect our full wrath," the video adds. "Anonymous seeks to avenge all protesters. We are going to make you squeal like a pig,” they say, noting that police brutality “will no longer be tolerated.”

It looks as though the Internet meme that the now iconic image of Pike firing pepper spray at protesters was just the tip of the iceberg.

Nearly two months earlier, Anonymous operatives posted similar private information pertaining to NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, calling for an all-out attack on him as well.

“As we watched your officers kettle innocent women, we observed you barberically [sic] pepper spray wildly into the group of kettled women,” an alleged Anonymous member wrote on the Web back in September. “We were shocked and disgusted by your behavior. You know who the innocent women were, now they will have the chance to know who you are. Before you commit atrocities against innocent people, think twice. WE ARE WATCHING!!! Expect Us!”

The chancellor of UC Davis has since apologized for Pike’s actions, though community members — protesters, students and faculty alike — continue to call for her resignation.

pepper spray at university of californiapepper spray california

Call it the douse of pepper spray seen 'round the world.

The UC Davis police officer caught on camera shooting a bright red stream of highly concentrated, gaseous chili pepper onto a docile group of student protesters has inflamed a fiery national debate over just how harmful pepper spray can be.

Instead of dispersing the tension at the usually placid Northern California campus near Sacramento, Lt. John Pike's pepper spray canister has fueled the controversy into a growing encampment and spurred plans for a general strike Monday with sympathizers streaming in from across the state. There is now a geodesic dome and nearly 100 tents, donated from as far away as Egypt -- with more on the way.

"We've doubled in size, and we can double in size again," said Geoffrey Wildanger, 23, of Los Altos, who was one of the students sprayed Friday in what has become a touchstone moment for the Occupy movement.

And, suddenly, pepper spray is the focus of a national conversation, fomented by Fox News, MSNBC and Photoshopped images of Pike dousing the Declaration of Independence.

To one side it's a chemical weapon, but to the other it's as harmless as the sauce poured on chicken wings.

Wildanger said he still felt the burning four days later when he stepped into a hot shower.

"My eyes burned. The steam seemed to activate it," he said.

Another protester vomited blood, he said. Others felt burning on their hands for a day, and two

File - In this file photo from Monday, Nov. 21, 2011, University of California, Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi is escorted from the stage after she spoke during a rally on campus in Davis, Calif. Katehi, the first woman chancellor of the University of California, Davis, has found herself in the middle of national debate over use of pepper spray and has issued two apologies to the student body over the force campus police used on Occupy Wall Street protesters. Resisting calls for her resignation, she initiated inquiries into the episode and now is bracing for a protests at a UC Regents meeting on her campus Monday.


File - In this file photo from Monday, Nov. 21, 2011, University of California, Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi is escorted from the stage after she spoke during a rally on campus in Davis, Calif. Katehi, the first woman chancellor... of the University of California, Davis, has found herself in the middle of national debate over use of pepper spray and has issued two apologies to the student body over the force campus police used on Occupy Wall Street protesters. Resisting calls for her resignation, she initiated inquiries into the episode and now is bracing for a protests at a UC Regents meeting on her campus Monday.

During the first two months of the nationwide Occupy protests, the movement that is demanding more out of the wealthiest Americans cost local taxpayers at least $13 million in police overtime and other municipal services, according to a survey by The Associated Press.

The heaviest financial burden has fallen upon law enforcement agencies tasked with monitoring marches and evicting protesters from outdoor camps. And the steepest costs by far piled up in New York City and Oakland, Calif., where police clashed with protesters on several occasions.

The AP gathered figures from government agencies in 18 cities with active protests and focused on costs through Nov. 15, the day protesters were evicted from New York City's Zuccotti Park, where the protests began Sept. 17 before spreading nationwide. The survey did not attempt to tally the price of all protests but provides a glimpse of costs to cities large and small.

Broken down city by city, the numbers are more or less in line with the cost of policing major public events and emergencies. In Los Angeles, for example, the Michael Jackson memorial concert cost the city $1.4 million. And Atlanta spent several million dollars after a major snow and ice storm this year.

Calif. Students Protest Use of Pepper Spray - YouTube Students at the University of California, Davis on Monday protested the use of pepper spray at an Occupy encampment, ...as the school's besieged chancellor scrambled to ease tension on the Northern California campus amid calls for her resignation. (Nov. 21)

Congress is in the process of figuring next year's agriculture budget, and the food industry is using the occasion as an opportunity to bully the USDA as it rolls out new rules for the National School Lunch Program. According to the New York Times, Big Food has already dropped a cool $5.6 million lobbying to kibosh the new rules.

Why does the industry care about school lunches? Because school cafeterias get less than a dollar a day per student in federal funding to spend on ingredients (about two-thirds of the maximum $2.94 outlay per lunch goes to overhead and labor), and many public schools lack cooking facilities altogether. So cafeterias often outsource cooking to massive entities that know how to squeeze a profit by selling lots of dirt-cheap food—companies like meat giant Tyson and its infamous heat-and-serve "Dinosaur Shaped Chicken Nuggets," and Conagra and its frozen pizzas.

In January, the USDA came out with new guidelines governing what can go on kids' plates. Mandated by a 2004 act of Congress ordering USDA to align school lunches with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the rules (PDF) impose two new criteria that have drawn the ire of the food industry.

First, they rewrote the requirements around vegetable and fruit servings. Before, cafeterias were required to serve at least one vegetable per day, and the definition was expansive: Tater Tots and French fries, for example, counted. Now, they limit the amount of potatoes and other "starchy vegetables" to no more than one cup (two servings) per week—and require schools to serve at least one serving per week of dark green and red/orange vegetables. Second, they no longer allow the two ounces of tomato paste that lacquer a typical frozen pizza to count as a vegetable.

To Big Food and its friends on the Hill, none of this would do. Back in October, by a unanimous vote, the Senate slapped an amendment on its ag appropriations bill that will rescind the limit on potatoes. This, despite a major recent Harvard study finding that regular consumption of potatoes in all their forms, fried and not, contributes heavily to unhealthy weight gain.

And now, reports Politico's David Rogers, Conagra and fellow frozen-pizza behemoth Schwan are arraying their lobbying might against the new tomato-paste rule. Rogers writes:

A June letter from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, for example, celebrates the virtues of tomato paste in language that closely mirrors the arguments made by Schwan, a privately owned giant based in Marshall, Minn. And both Schwan and ConAgra have quietly helped to finance the "Coalition for Sustainable School Meals Programs" which maintains a red-white-blue—and yes green—website with the heading "Fix the Reg."

According to Rogers, the House version of the ag-spending bill will likely contain a provision nixing the rule change, and preserving frozen pepperoni pizza's status as a fruit/vegetable serving, so long as it harbors a bit of tomato paste. Between the Senate's amendemnt and this coming move from the House, school cafeterias will remain profitable places to move cheap corporate French fries and pizza, and train a new generation to regard such dubious fare as every-day food.

In my recent post on food and Occupy Wall Street, I showed how the food system, like the financial system, is both in desperate need of reform and utterly trapped under the heel of industry influence. The gutting of the USDA's new lunch guidelines provides yet another example.

UPDATE: I wrote this post before the House came out with its spending bill late Monday afternoon. It turns out, it's even worse than I thought. Associated Press:

The final version of a spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year, which included limiting the use of potatoes on the lunch line and delaying limits on sodium and delaying a requirement to boost whole grains.

The bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. USDA had wanted to prevent that.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011



Mumbai: Penthouse beauty Sunny Leone has in a short period of time occupied the centrestage in Bigg Boss` house.

In the episode telecasted on Wednesday, the California-based Indian girl appeared to be moving closer and closer to Sky`s camp, especially very close to Sky.

As part of a new task, Bigg Boss divided the housemates into two teams - one headed by Sky and other by Siddharth. Apart from the predictable inclusion of Pooja Bedi, Sky`s team comprised of Shraddha and Sunny Leone; Siddharth was left with Pooja Mishra, Shonali and Mehek.

Two members from each team, Pooja Bedi and Sunny from Sky`s side and Pooja Mishra and Mehek from Siddharth`s team jumped into the pool in swim suits in search of keys (the task was to collect a particular type of keys).

Sky`s team won and was rewarded by way of a shahi dinner arranged by Bigg Boss.

Apparently taking into account the hype around `porn star` Sunny Leone, Bigg Boss also set up a new task for her.
She would have to dance to a particular Bollywood number for the amusement of her housemates daily before bedtime and adding to the spice, was Pooja Mishra`s appointment as her aide in preparing for the show.

Day 1, she was given the raunchy number `Babuji zara dheere chalo...` to perform on. What made her performance more interesting was her costume - an ill fitting salwar kurta!!!And the moment she started to dance, the three guys in the house Amar, Sky and Siddharth were all over the floor trying to match up to her, beat by beat.

Sky even went to the extent of adopting the `all on four` posture which prompted Sunny Leone to sit on his back even as she continued with seductive body movements.

Here`s waiting for Sunny`s next `performance`....

Monday, November 21, 2011

occupy wall street

Today's "Day of Action," planned by the Occupy Wall Street movement, culminated at Foley Square near City Hall in New York. In some ways, it felt rather low key, because the space felt wide open and despite a sizable crowd that overflowed onto the streets and nearby sidewalks, the protest felt organized. That certainly wasn't the case for the earlier events: It was an expansive day that started with a chaotic and contested march to block the main arteries of Wall Street and wound its away across the streets and sidewalks of lower Manhattan to the edge of New York University three miles north.

The gathering at Foley Square also marked the end of a dramatic week, which opened on Tuesday with a predawn raid in which New York Police and sanitation workers tore down the tent city the protesters had built at Zuccotti Park.

Read more on Occupy Wall Street : NPR

nathalie wood

An investigation into the death of Natalie Wood has been reopened after “additional information” was presented to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the Associated Press reports.

The Oscar-nominated actress drowned 30 years ago this month after spending the day on Catalina Island and a yacht with husband Robert Wagner and her “Brainstorm” co-star, Christopher Walken.

Wood, best known for her roles in “West Side Story,” “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Splendor in the Grass,” had been drinking on the day of her death, which was officially ruled an accident. The circumstances surrounding that day have been considered a mystery.

A detective from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department will speak to the press Friday about why the case has been reopened, according to the AP. “Recently Sheriff’s Homicide Investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning,” the department said in a statement

TMZ reports the reason for the reinvestigation might be the 2009 book, “Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour,” written by Marti Rulli with the boat’s captain, Dennis Davern. The book suggests foul play, according to TMZ.

Wagner and Wood’s sister, Lana Wood, have both denied this in the past.

In an interview with “Today,” Davern said he “did lie on a [police] report several years ago.” He told David Gregory he thought Wagner intentionally kept the case low profile. When asked if he thought Wagner was “responsible” for Wood’s death, Davern responded, “Yes, I would say so.”

“We didn't take any steps to see if we could locate her,” Davern said. “I think it was a matter of, 'We're not going to look too hard, we're not going to turn on the searchlight, we're not going to notify anybody right now.’ ”

The Wagner family said in a statement, “Although no one in the Wagner family has heard from the LA County Sheriff’s department about this matter, they fully support the efforts of the LA County Sheriff’s Dept. and trust they will evaluate whether any new information relating to the death of Natalie Wood Wagner is valid, and that it comes from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30 year anniversary of her tragic death.”

twilight, breaking dawn

The Twilight movies have devoted three episodes to Bella Swan's clinging to her virginity despite the compelling appeal of Edward Cullen, the vampire. Now comes "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1," in which you have to give her credit: She holds out until after her wedding. Then she and Edward fly to Brazil and a luxurious honeymoon hideaway on the beach, where the morning after her wedding night she is black and blue with bruises, the frame of the bed is broken, all of the furniture is tossed around and the draperies are shredded. Good gravy! What happened?

We have no idea. The movie doesn't show us! Yes, the most eagerly awaited deflowering in recent movie history takes place entirely off-screen. That something momentous took place is indicated 14 days after the wedding ceremony, when Bella (Kristen Stewart) urps in the morning and discovers she is pregnant. Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) may have been dead for more than a century, but he's still producing industrial-strength sperm. Can humans and vampires mate? What's the blood chemistry on that? What will be in the wee one's bottle? Milk, or the unthinkable?

Despite these scientific conundrums, "Breaking Dawn - Part 1" is absorbing, if somewhat slow-paced, and has without doubt the most blood-curdling scene of live childbirth in a PG-13 movie. Probably the sight of Bella and Edward demolishing the bedroom would have tipped it over into R territory.

The first half is slow and dreamy, as wedding preparations get underway. If you recall the lore from the earlier films, you'll know that marriage to Edward means Bella must become a vampire herself, which any groupie who has slept with Gene Simmons will understand. It's a lovely wedding, with blossom-laden trees framing a lakeside altar. Bella's father Charlie (Billy Burke) is not entirely happy; his toast includes genial mention that should harm befall Bella he has a gun and knows how to use it. But he puts on a brave face while propelling Bella down the aisle. Edward awaits her, looking in pain as usual.

We get shots of the smiling guests. Many are familiar from the previous movies, but others on both sides of the aisle are new to us. They fascinated me. What were they thinking? How many knew Bella was marrying a vampire? Were they cool with that? Did anyone wonder why Edward apparently possessed not a single relative older than himself?

Back again is Bella's best friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), who you recall is now a shape-shifter who turns into a wolf. Enraged by Bella's pregnancy, he summons his pack. The wolves, it must be said, are underwhelming as a pack. They become huge ferocious beasts with sharp fangs, and hurtle at top speed through the forest, and… well, that's about it. They're always hurtling somewhere. Hurtle, hurtle.

Given that he had nine months to prepare for the big event, I can't say Edward trained himself carefully for the home delivery. The sum of his medical training seems to have been a viewing of "Pulp Fiction" in which he learned about a real big needle you can plunge into someone's chest with great results.

Kristen Stewart is really pretty good here, although like almost all actresses she believes pregnant women rub their baby bumps unceasingly. I would have liked more scenes developing her thoughts about married life. Although the possibility of an abortion is hinted at, we never learn her thinking on this question: Does a vampire baby have a soul? Does it have a right to life although, technically, it's half dead? Luckily, we must wait only until Nov. 16, 2012, when "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" will open. It had better have the answers. If it doesn't, Charlie Swan has a gun and he knows how to use it.

Read more on The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

Natalie Wood death probe reopened as ‘additional information’ comes to light; boat captain speaks on ‘Today’ - Celebritology 2.0 - The Washington Post

An investigation into the death of Natalie Wood has been reopened after “additional information” was presented to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the Associated Press reports.

The Oscar-nominated actress drowned 30 years ago this month after spending the day on Catalina Island and a yacht with husband Robert Wagner and her “Brainstorm” co-star, Christopher Walken.

Wood, best known for her roles in “West Side Story,” “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Splendor in the Grass,” had been drinking on the day of her death, which was officially ruled an accident. The circumstances surrounding that day have been considered a mystery.

A detective from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department will speak to the press Friday about why the case has been reopened, according to the AP. “Recently Sheriff’s Homicide Investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning,” the department said in a statement

TMZ reports the reason for the reinvestigation might be the 2009 book, “Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour,” written by Marti Rulli with the boat’s captain, Dennis Davern. The book suggests foul play, according to TMZ.

Wagner and Wood’s sister, Lana Wood, have both denied this in the past.

In an interview with “Today,” Davern said he “did lie on a [police] report several years ago.” He told David Gregory he thought Wagner intentionally kept the case low profile. When asked if he thought Wagner was “responsible” for Wood’s death, Davern responded, “Yes, I would say so.”

“We didn't take any steps to see if we could locate her,” Davern said. “I think it was a matter of, 'We're not going to look too hard, we're not going to turn on the searchlight, we're not going to notify anybody right now.’ ”

The Wagner family said in a statement, “Although no one in the Wagner family has heard from the LA County Sheriff’s department about this matter, they fully support the efforts of the LA County Sheriff’s Dept. and trust they will evaluate whether any new information relating to the death of Natalie Wood Wagner is valid, and that it comes from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30 year anniversary of her tragic death.”

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Paris-based post house Film Factory recently finished Relativity Media’s The Immortals. To help bring the visually rich film to fruition, Film Factory senior colorist and postproduction supervisor Lionel Kopp collaborated with the filmmakers to create a unique dailies-to-DI process built around Image Systems’ Nucoda Film Master.

The visual effects-heavy movie, releasing in 2D and 3D, required cutting-edge looks and the right tools to create a strong graphical vision for the story. The Nucoda grading and mastering system gave the company the toolset necessary to achieve the surreal look, and streamlined the workflow, which included over 12 VFX houses around the globe.

From the producers of 300 and director Tarsem Singh, The Immortals is the mythical tale of a power-mad king (played by Mickey Rourke) who assails ancient Greece and threatens to destroy mankind, until a young villager (played by Henry Cavill) rises up against him. The movie was produced in Montreal, and photographed by cinematographer Brendan Galvin.

Film Factory established a workflow that centered around the Nucoda Film Master, which married an on-set process to the final color pass. The Film Master system, which included a SAN and Nucoda Fuse assist station, were installed on set at Mel’s Studios in Montreal. On set, camera dailies from the Panavision Genesis HD camera were sent to the editing room in DNX 175 format with color settings. Those settings were carried through in dailies, with the raw camera data held for future changes and final color. Kopp graded every take from the first day of dailies through completion of the DI, helping to establish a look from the earliest point possible. In dailies, he could adjust the looks with notes from the director or cinematographer, and make ongoing changes to the images. As visual effects came in, they were graded and cut, creating a unified version.

“The Nucoda grading and mastering solution was the hub for everything, which was a powerful home base,” said Kopp. “Dailies settings, visual effects, and the DI were all managed in the Nucoda Film Master.”

Film Factory had made the decision to control the postproduction of the movie in-house. Film Factory’s second colorist Marc Boucrot explained, “A DI, especially one for a huge movie, is usually done in a big postproduction facility, but Film Factory saw value and flexibility in keeping the process in-house. Since most companies don’t have the expertise to build a fully functional and successful DI pipeline, we set out to make it happen. Film Factory built a screening environment and color timing areas right by the production offices. It was a risk, but it was a great success creatively and logistically.”

Kopp added that “our thoughts about how to bring the creative vision of the filmmakers to life was greatly helped by the Nucoda Film Master. It was extremely helpful to be able to start ‘grading’ the film from day one, incorporating color graded visual effects and easily moving elements between set, editorial and DI.”

The Immortals is a 2D and 3D release, but 90% of the feature was shot in 2D. “When we received the conform of the 3D material, we were able to go into the Nucoda and do a final pass of the stereoscopic material,” explained Kopp. “We brought in the senior stereographer from the production to make sure everything was in order for the 3D, and the Nucoda helped make that process flawless.”

“The movie looks incredible; it’s a visual accomplishment, and we are honored to work with Lionel and our talented customers at Film Factory,” said Martin Bennett, MD of media for Image Systems. “We are excited to continue our relationship with them on Mirror Mirror, currently in postproduction, and 10 other films in the pipeline.”

Read more: Film Factory Creates Innovative Color Pipeline for The Immortals | Below the Line

skyrim

I was stacking books on a shelf in my house in Whiterun, one of Skyrim's major cities, when I noticed a weapon rack right beside it. I set a sacrificial dagger in one slot, an Orcish mace in the other. They were on display for nobody but me and my computer-controlled housecarl, Lydia, who sat at a table patiently waiting for me to ask her to go questing. [{#wordpress.wp_more_alt}] The chest upstairs was reserved for excess weapons and armor, the bedside table for smithing ingots and ores, the one next to the Alchemy table for ingredients. I'd meticulously organized my owned virtual property not because I had to, but because tending to the minutia of domestic life is a comforting break from dealing with screaming frost trolls, dragons, a civil war, and job assignments that never seem to go as planned. It's even a sensible thing to do; a seemingly natural component of every day existence in Skyrim, one of the most fully-realized, easily enjoyable, and utterly engrossing role-playing games ever made.

Part of what makes it so enjoyable has to do with how legacy Elder Scrolls clutter has been condensed and in some cases eliminated. In Skyrim, there's no more moon-hopping between hilltops with a maxed out Acrobatics skill. That's gone, so is Athletics. The Elder Scrolls V pares down the amount of skills and cuts out attributes like Endurance and Intelligence altogether. There's no time wasted on the character creation screen agonizing over which skills to assign as major. You don't assign major and minor skills at all, but instead pick one of ten races, each with a specific bonus. High Elves can once a day regenerate magicka quickly, Orcs can enter a berserk rage for more effective close-range combat. These abilities are best paired with certain character builds – the High Elf regeneration is useful for a magic user – but don't represent a rigid class choice. Major decisions don't need to be made until you're already out in the world and can try out magic, sneaking and weapon combat, emphasizing first-hand experience over instruction manual study, letting you specialize only when you're ready.
 Watch the Skyrim Video Review

It contributes to the thrilling sense of freedom associated with life in Skyrim. Do a quest, kill a dragon, snatch torchbugs from the air, munch on butterfly wings or simply wander while listening to one of the best game soundtracks in recent memory. Despite the enormity of the world and the colossal amount of content contained within, little feels random and useless. Even chewing on a butterfly wing has purpose, as it reveals one of several alchemical parameters later useful in potion making at an alchemy table. Mined ore and scraps of metal from Dwemer ruins can be smelted into ingots and fashioned into armor sets, pelts lifted from slain wildlife can be turned into leather armor sets, and random books plucked from ancient ruins can trigger hidden quest lines that lead to valuable rewards. Skyrim's land mass is absolutely stuffed with content and curiosities, making every step you take, even if it's through what seems like total wilderness, an exciting one, as something unexpected often lies just over the next ridge.

Many times the unexpected takes the form of a dragon. Sometimes they're purposefully placed to guard relics, sometimes they swoop over cities and attack at seemingly random times. In the middle of a fight against a camp of bandits a dragon might strike, screaming through the sky and searing foe and friendly alike with frost or flame. Momentarily all on the battlefield unite, directing arrows and magic blasts upward to knock down the creature, creating impromptu moments of camaraderie -- a surprising change from what may have been yet another by-the-numbers bandit camp sweep. Dragons show up often, their presence announced by an ominous flap of broad wings or an otherworldly scream from high above. The scale and startling detail built into each creature's appearance and animations as it circles, stops to attack, circles again and slams to the ground makes encounters thrilling, though their predictable attack patterns lessen the excitement after a few battles. In the long run they're far less irritating than the Oblivion gate equivalent from The Elder Scrolls IV, can be completed in a few minutes, and always offer a useful reward.

PC Version Gameplay Commentary Video

Killing a dragon yields a soul, which powers Skyrim's new Shout system. These are magical abilities any character can use, you don't have to specialize in spell casting to slow time, throw your voice, change the weather, call in allies, blast out ice and fire, or knock back enemies with a rolling wave of pure force. Even if you favor sword, shield and heavy armor and ignore magic entirely, you'll still be able to take full advantage of these abilities provided you find the proper words – each Shout has three – hidden on Skyrim's high snowy peaks and in the depths of forgotten dungeons, serving as another reason to continue exploring long after you've exhausted the main quest story, joined with the Thieves Guild, fought alongside the Dark Brotherhood, or thrown your support behind one of the factions vying for control of Skyrim.

Not only is this land under assault by dragons, long thought to be dead, it's also ripped in two by civil war. You can choose one side or the other, but so much of the allure of Skyrim is how, even outside of the confines of quest lines, the embattled state of the world is evident, and steeped in a rich fictional legacy. Lord of the Rings this is not, but with the release of every Elder Scrolls game, the fiction becomes denser, and the cross-referencing for long-time fans all the more rewarding.

Skyrim's residents are all aware of current events. They'll comment on the civil war, some sympathizing with the rebels, others thinking the establishment sold its soul. The peasants complain about the Jarls who control each settlement, the Jarls complain about the rebels or foreign policy, the overprotective College librarian complains when I drop dragon scales all over his floor; many characters feel like whole, distinct personalities instead of vacuous nothings that hand out quests like a downtown greeter hands out flyers for discount jeans. Characters stereotype based on race, they double-cross at even the slightest hint it might be profitable, and they react to your evolving stature within the world. It makes a ridiculous realm, filled with computer-controlled cat people and humanoid reptiles, demon gods and dragons, feel authentic, like a world that existed long before you showed up and will continue to exist long after you leave.

immortals

If it's a crime to sit back and enjoy a film for what it is simply because you're an educated film buff, then I should probably be serving a life sentence in Guantanamo Bay. Throughout the years, I've sat through some of the dumbest films to ever grace the screen and still walk out with a smile on my face. Call them guilty pleasures or call me crazy (I don't care which), but I'm not exactly difficult to entertain. To satisfy completely? Yes, but not to entertain. Enter Immortals, the new special effects orgy from the producers of 300 and starring Superman-to-be Henry Cavill, a film that's tone deaf, but propulsively entertaining.

Taking three Greek mythology stories and mixing them into a single film, Immortals follows Theseus, a peasant chosen by the Gods to lead an army against the evil King Hyperion, a tyrant bent on unleashing the Titans from the depths of Mt. Tartarus and thus, declaring war on the heavens.

It's rare for a film to be able to balance out being one of the best films of the year, as well as one of the worst, but Immortals manages to pull it off effortlessly. It's home to some of the most spectacular visual effects seen on camera this year, some fine performances from it's rising stars, and tremendous action pieces. However, it's also home to one of the most underwritten and poorly conceived screenplays of the year and a story so haphazardly strung together, it makes Clash of the Titans (both versions I might add) look like The Lord of the Rings. Does that make it a tough sit? Not if you're willing to embrace its stupidity and relish in the carnage for little more than ninety minutes.

I'm relatively unfamiliar with director Tarsem Singh (and after that Mirror, Mirror trailer, I'm not sure I want to be), but from what I understand, his sophomore effort The Fall is a near masterpiece. Well, either that film has an infinitely better screenplay or it was his passion project because he's absolutely clueless here. The entire story is thrown together with the cohesiveness of a Bud Light commercial. For the first half of the film, nothing makes sense. A premise is brought to fruition revolving around a mythical bow that shoots energy-flared arrows, but its origins and purpose is never explained. It's simply there to provide the hero with a quest and the villain with a target. Plus, the characters have no charisma.......at all. And because of that, the first half of the film is, quite frankly, just flat-out boring, devoid of any real purpose or excitement.

Now, let's place that little rant aside and talk about the goods. And by that I mean the incredible blending of sets and CG locations, the intricate costume designs, and the beautiful action sequences. Singh may be slack with story, but the man is undeniably a cinematic artist, rivaling even Zack Snyder (who's a better director, but you know what I mean). His camera work is flawless, his timing perfect, his choreography breathtaking, and his sun-baked color palette magnificent. Let this be advice to future directors who find themselves with a script as bad as this one. Take Singh's path and abandon the story in the third act and deliver the bloody goods. It'll at the very least make up for the sluggish build-up. It did for me anyways. The final showdown between the Gods and Titans has to be one of the most entertaining bloodbaths I've seen since the producers' own 300. It alone is worth the price of admission.

The performances are much better. Fear not Superman fans, Henry Cavill is perfectly fit to don the cape. Here, he displays the amount of intensity to make his one-dimensional character shine when he needs to and conjures up just enough emotion to make Theseus likable. Mickey Rourke, on the other hand, steals the show as King Hyperion and shows off his inner barbarian that never quite escaped in Iron Man 2. If there were an Oscar category for best villain, he would certainly be in the running. Luke Evans, though somewhat channeling his doppelganger James McAvoy, makes for a solid Zeus, though not as fierce or intimidating as Liam Neeson. Frieda Pinto is, well, hot. She isn't given much to do, so at least she works as eye-candy, and John Hurt, brief as his role is, isn't useless.

Whenever the fighting isn't onscreen, Immortals is a near-unbearable slog. But whenever things heat up it transforms into one of the best spectacles of the year. Whether you feel the urge to experience it is your choice, but should you choose to invest in a ticket, make sure your brain is off and your popcorn bag heavy. It's the only way to walk away happy.

immortals

The gods of ancient Greece have extended their rule to the weekend box office with a No. 1 debut for the action tale “Immortals.’’ The story of Greek hero Theseus took in $32 million domestically, while Adam Sandler’s comedy “Jack and Jill’’ opened at No. 2 with $26 million, according to studio estimates yesterday. The new movies bumped the animated hit “Puss in Boots’’ to the No. 3 spot after two weekends at the top. “Puss in Boots’’ earned $25.5 million, raising its domestic total to $108.8 million. Director Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar,’’ a film biography starring Leonardo DiCaprio as longtime FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover, played in narrower release and opened at No. 5 with $11.5 million.

We are family

"It's just really a great experience to enjoy feeling like an equal on the set and that it's not a machine, it's a family." - Kellan Lutz, "Twilight" actor, to the Hollywood Reporter, about his new hit, "Immortals."

Read more on: ‘Immortals’ wins weekend box office - Arts - The Boston Globe

(Reuters) - Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has given birth to a baby girl, her husband Abhishek Bachchan announced on Twitter on Wednesday.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has baby girl

While the baby's father just said "it's a girl", her proud grandfather Amitabh Bachchan -- a veteran actor and head of Bollywood's most famous family -- could barely contain his joy.

 

"I AM DADA (grandfather) to the cutest baby girl!!" the 69-year-old Bachchan tweeted.

 

No further details were immediately available.

 

Rai, 38, a former Miss World, has been married to actor Abhishek Bachchan for more than four years and the star couple had been fending off baby rumours for months before the pregnancy was confirmed in June.

 

The Bollywood actress had been expected to give birth to her first child in November, and the Indian media followed her pregnancy obsessively.

 

She was admitted to a Mumbai hospital on Monday night.

 

Rai, who often features on "most beautiful" lists, won the Miss World crown in 1994. She went on to build a successful Bollywood career with hits such as "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" and "Devdas".

 

She has also worked in Hollywood films such as "The Pink Panther 2" and is a regular at the Cannes film festival.

 

This is the third grandchild for Amitabh Bachchan. His daughter Shweta has two children.

 

(Writing by Tony Tharakan, editing by Elaine Lies and Ed Lane)

More on: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has baby girl | Reuters

Friday, November 11, 2011

zinga employees

If you work for Zynga, now is a good time to quit.

And if you’re a Zynga employee who owns company stock, you might want to get a good lawyer.

The Wall Street Journal reports (via CNET) that Zynga execs have been telling its employees that it wants them to return their stock options before the company’s IPO. The reasons are silly and insidious. When speaking to employees, Zynga argues that it wants the shares back to make the company look more attractive to future talent. Behind the scenes, Zynga is apparently trying to avoid a scenario in which some of its lower-level employees become millionaires because they own a piece of the company.

In other words, GREED, GREED, GREED! Zynga doesn’t care about its employees. It doesn’t care about future talent. It only cares about its own bottom line. Its chief executive, Mark Pincus, has admitted to doing “every horrible thing in the book” to get revenues. So why should employees believe him now when he says he’s only thinking of the company’s future?

They shouldn’t. We know better. The truth is that Zynga is and always has been a greedy, questionable firm with a weak business plan and a lackluster distribution model. As someone who has been reporting on the game industry for more than 10 years (and watching it with a close eye for many years before that), I know how this market works. It has always been competitive. But what few seem to realize is that it has never thrived on fads.

(Check out Benzinga’s full line of professional investing services here.)

Thus, I’ve been predicting Zynga’s demise for quite some time. Early this fall, the company’s profits declined by roughly 95%. There have been numerous reports that the social game developer is cannibalizing its own market by releasing new games that steal players away from older Zynga titles. I find that revelation particularly amusing. While social games require consistency (players must return often and spend money regularly for Zynga to profit), traditional video games do not.

If every single one of the 6.5 million people who purchased Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 stopped playing right now, it wouldn’t matter because Activision has already made its money. With Call of Duty, consumers paid for the game up front. Map expansions and other online goodies are secondary.

Thus, if Modern Warfare 3′s buyers decided to start playing another Activision game instead, the company will continue to thrive. No cannibalization takes place. While a decline in Call of Duty play time today could certainly hurt Activision’s bottom line with the next Call of Duty release (scheduled for – wait for it – November 2012), the company has a full 12 months to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Zynga, on the other hand, does not have 12 months. It does not have a cash cow to carry it through the bad times that are surely ahead (and, looking at the numbers, may have already arrived). It does not have a big, all-powerful franchise with a diehard fan base that will ignore the incoming competition from Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS). Zynga does not have any of that. Simply put, Zynga builds time-killers, not franchises. And it sells those time-killers to a group of people who will pack up and leave the instant another fad catches their attention.

The same cannot be said for Activision (a company that does build franchises), which is why Battlefield 3 won’t beat Call of Duty, even if it is one of the most impressive games of the year.

Read more at: Zynga is Greedy Game Industry Scum, Steals from Employees to Help Bottom Line - Forbes

ashley madison ad

Imagine this: While perusing the morning paper over a cup of coffee, you spot an advertisement that features a photo of you, in which you’re scantily clad. The ad is for an extramarital affair website. And your body is being referred to as scary.

That nightmarish scenario recently became a reality for a woman who spotted her photo in an ad for Ashley Madison, a dating site that facilitates affairs. In the photo, the size 32 woman is lying on her stomach, wearing black and pink lingerie. The text reads: “Did your wife scare you last night?”

The woman – who identifies herself as “Jacqueline” – wrote to the website Jezebel to share her side of the story. A plus-sized model who runs a website tailored to those who like heavier-set women, Jacqueline says she was unaware that the photo would be used in the ad, which was recently published in New York’s Metro newspaper.

Jacqueline says she posed for the photos years earlier, with a photographer who she believed would sell the photos to people wanting them for their personal use. “I had no idea that the photographer would endeavour to sell the photos to corporations and/or stock photo companies, who would then go on, repeatedly, to use them in rude and mocking ways.”

On Tuesday, Ashley Madison published a second ad using Jacqueline’s image. In the new ad, a slender woman dressed in a similar outfit is featured above Jacqueline. Next to her, a green checkmark. Next to Jacqueline, a red X. The ad reads: “We call it as we see it.”

After Jezebel published Jacqueline’s letter, the website received a response from Ashley Madison chief executive officer Noel Bide man. “The best thing that could've happened to this woman is that we used her in our ad,” he writes. “Despite what she may want you to think, she is reaping the press for her own pornography website.”

Jacqueline says that for her, the issue lies with the mocking tone of the ad and the nature of Ashley Madison’s business. “I am mortified that my image and likeness would be used as advertisement for two things I am so vehemently against: namely cheating and … body shaming,” she says.

“A size 2 woman who sees this ad sees the message: ‘If I don't stay small, he will cheat.’ A size 12 woman might see this ad and think ‘If I don't lose 30 pounds, he will cheat.’ ”

ladt gaga mtv

BELFAST - Lady Gaga stole the show at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast on Sunday, scooping four prizes and going one better than 2010 when she also led the field with three.

The flamboyant 25-year-old New Yorker won best female, best song and video for her hit single "Born This Way" as well as the biggest fans award.

"I knew that this song was very special when I wrote it and I just didn't know when I first started out ... how special you would all be to me," a tearful Gaga told a packed, boisterous Odyssey Arena as she accepted the best song award.

"This is the single most important song that I've ever written and the single most important album. I love you little monsters to the end!" she added, using the term she employs to describe her fans.

Canadian teen sensation Justin Bieber was among the other multiple winners, picking up best pop act and top male singer.

Much of the attention in the run-up to the awards has been on the 17-year-old, who has denied allegations made by a US woman that he fathered her child when he was 16.

Accepting the second of his awards, he said: "There's been a lot of crap talked about me lately, but I've pulled through!" according to MTV.

Bieber's girlfriend Selena Gomez, an actress and singer, hosted the MTV event, and the pair were photographed out the previous night in the city in a public show of togetherness.

She also told Katy Perry during the show "I think he's cute!"

Los Angeles rockers Thirty Seconds to Mars won two awards -- best alternative act and best world stage -- as did Bruno Mars, honoured as the best new act and "push" artist who was promoted by MTV as an up-and-coming talent.

Perry was voted best live act, Eminem won best hip-hop artist, repeating his 2010 success, and Linkin Park scooped best rock. More than 150 million MTV viewers voted and decided most of the categories.

Read more at: Lady Gaga steals show at MTV Europe Awards...again

call of duty mw3

Modern Warfare 3 features a variety of different multiplayer weapons that can be customized with attachments, proficiencies and camouflages. Each weapon in MW3 has to be leveled up to unlock their specific upgrades. Once a weapon has been fully leveled up, it will unlock the golden camouflage for that specific weapon.

Weapon proficiencies give additional benefits, for example, once the Attachments proficiency has been unlocked, it allows you to equip two attachments to one primary weapon.

You can choose one primary and one secondary weapon for your class loadout.

For more info, check out :Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 | MW3 - Weapons List

tilt and visualise web page 3d

Tilt is a Firefox addon that lets you visualize any web page in 3D. A new update is available, coming with more developer-oriented features. Try the addon.

Since the first alpha version of Tilt was announced (a Firefox extension focused on creating a 3D visualization of a webpage), a lot of work has been done to add a great number of developer-oriented features. These focus on debugging the structure of a webpage, inspecting styling and attributes for each node and seamlessly refreshing the visualization when the DOM structure changes or after contents of document are repainted.

Solve nesting problems

Tilt is useful when searching problems in the HTML structure (like finding unclosed DIV elements for example) by providing the extra third dimension, layering each node based on nesting in the DOM tree. Stacks of elements visually represent branches in the DOM, and each node can be inspected for the inner HTML contents, its computed CSS style and the attributes.

Clicking anywhere on the visualization highlights a color-coded rectangle surrounding the corresponding node. Double click shows up the source preview for that node. Tilt also tries to show the most relevant information when needed (one is most likely to inspect the attributes of an input, button or image element, for example, but can easily switch between HTML, CSS and attributes view at any time).

marie curie

Marie Curie - Biography

Marie Curie,
née Maria Sklodowska, was born in Warsaw on November
7, 1867, the daughter of a secondary-school teacher. She received
a general education in local schools and some scientific training
from her father. She became involved in a students' revolutionary
organization and found it prudent to leave Warsaw, then in the
part of Poland dominated by Russia, for Cracow, which at that
time was under Austrian rule. In 1891, she went to Paris to
continue her studies at the Sorbonne where she obtained
Licenciateships in Physics and the Mathematical Sciences. She met
Pierre Curie, Professor in the School of Physics in 1894 and in
the following year they were married. She succeeded her husband
as Head of the Physics Laboratory at the Sorbonne, gained her
Doctor of Science degree in 1903, and following the tragic death
of Pierre Curie in 1906, she took his place as Professor of
General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences, the first time a
woman had held this position. She was also appointed Director of
the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of
Paris, founded in 1914.



Her early researches, together with her husband, were often
performed under difficult conditions, laboratory arrangements
were poor and both had to undertake much teaching to earn a
livelihood. The discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel in
1896 inspired the Curies in their brilliant researches and
analyses which led to the isolation of polonium, named after the
country of Marie's birth, and radium. Mme. Curie developed
methods for the separation of radium from radioactive residues in
sufficient quantities to allow for its characterization and the
careful study of its properties, therapeutic properties in
particular.



Mme. Curie throughout her life actively promoted the use of
radium to alleviate suffering and during World War I, assisted by
her daughter, Irene, she personally devoted herself to this
remedial work. She retained her enthusiasm for science throughout
her life and did much to establish a radioactivity laboratory in
her native city - in 1929 President Hoover of the United States
presented her with a gift of $ 50,000, donated by American
friends of science, to purchase radium for use in the laboratory
in Warsaw.



Mme. Curie, quiet, dignified and unassuming, was held in high
esteem and admiration by scientists throughout the world. She was
a member of the Conseil du Physique Solvay from 1911 until her
death and since 1922 she had been a member of the Committee of
Intellectual Co-operation of the League of Nations. Her work is
recorded in numerous papers in scientific journals and she is the
author of Recherches sur les Substances Radioactives
(1904), L'Isotopie et les Éléments Isotopes and
the classic Traité' de Radioactivité
(1910).



The importance of Mme. Curie's work is reflected in the numerous
awards bestowed on her. She received many honorary science,
medicine and law degrees and honorary memberships of learned
societies throughout the world. Together with her husband, she
was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, for
their study into the spontaneous radiation discovered by
Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of the Prize. In 1911
she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in
Chemistry
, in recognition of her work in radioactivity. She
also received, jointly with her husband, the Davy Medal of the
Royal Society in 1903 and, in 1921, President Harding of the
United States, on behalf of the women of America, presented her
with one gram of radium in recognition of her service to
science.

For further details, cf. Biography of Pierre Curie. Mme. Curie
died in Savoy, France, after a short illness, on July 4,
1934.

From Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901-1921, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1967


This autobiography/biography was written
at the time of the award and first
published in the book series Les
Prix Nobel
.
It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures.
To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.

andy rooney

I wasn’t his friend, but I knew Andy Rooney by reputation when we both lived in Rowayton, a small section of Norwalk, Connecticut. Some time in the mid-seventies, I was inveigled into doing the advertising and promotion for the city’s United Way Campaign. At an early planning session, that year’s chairman, president of a local corporation, said he wanted a gala kick-off dinner that would attract publicity and get the campaign off to a good start. Without thinking, I blurted out, “Maybe I can get Andy Rooney to be guest speaker.” Of course everyone on the committee jumped on the idea, completely missing the qualifier “maybe.” Even then, so many years ago, Rooney was reputed to be a curmudgeon who carefully guarded his privacy. I began worrying, what if he says no?

I thought about it for a few days, then wrote a carefully worded letter explaining that his participation would be a big boost to raising money for the many non-profits in Norwalk. To make sure he got the letter promptly, I sneaked up to his modest house one evening and dropped it in his mailbox. I stewed for a week or two. Finally, as the deadline for announcing the dinner drew near, I phoned him at home. His wife Marge answered, listened to my plea, then told me to hang on. After a long minute, Andy’s grating voice came on the line and I stuttered out my request. He said, “Well, I either get paid a lot to make a speech, or I do it for nothing. I guess this is one of those do-it-for-nothing speeches.” I chuckled what I hoped was an ingratiating chuckle. So he agreed to appear and we began publicizing the event, riding hard on his participation.

That was the last I heard from Rooney until a couple of days before the dinner. Again, I called his home and told him I’d be happy to drive him to the event. “Nah,” he said. “I’d rather have my own car.” I suspected he wanted to escape whenever he felt like it.

On the appointed evening, some 400 people streamed into the big catering hall while I stood nervously at the door, watching every car that drove up. But he and Marge arrived in plenty of time. When he realized he would be trapped into a dinner before his speech, he got a little cranky, but I introduced him to several, suitably impressed town fathers, and steered him to the dais in front of the hall. He loosened up and chatted with the dignitaries around him

After dinner, I clinked my glass and the place went quiet. I introduced Andy, sketched his background and got a laugh when I mentioned he was the guy who showed up at the New Jersey headquarters of Mrs. Wagner’s Pies and asked to see Mrs. Wagner. When Andy took the rostrum he spoke warmly and winningly without notes, as if he were sitting at home with friends. The audience loved it. His talk was fascinating, funny and at times poignant as he related his adventures as a correspondent for the Army newspaper in World War II, covering the invasion of France and later being among the first to see the concentration camp at Buchenwald. He said that he met Clark Gable who served for a while with the Eighth Air Force flying out of England. In one of those wry asides that later made him popular on “60 Minutes,” he said of Gable, “I couldn’t help noticing that his pants fit so well.”

Years later I was acquainted with Rooney again. The elderly grandfather of one of our neighbors was visiting from a small town in Illinois. When I met the unprepossessing little man, he told me he heard on TV that Andy Rooney was a woodworker. The grandfather said, “I’m a woodworker, too, and I made this inlaid, wooden trivet for Rooney. I’m going to go by his house and give it to him.” Uh oh, I thought, Rooney is sure to be at his prickly worst when a stranger rings his doorbell on a weekend and intrudes on his privacy. But when I met the grandfather a day later and asked him about his call on Rooney, he said it was delightful. “What a nice guy! He invited me in and took me down to his workshop in the basement. He has a great collection of hand tools and does nice work. We had a great time. He loved the trivet.”

Once, at a neighborhood cocktail party, I spotted Rooney standing alone in a corner, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. I sauntered over and reminded him that I had roped him into the United Way dinner a couple of years earlier. We chatted awhile and at one point, he started to laugh and said “You’ve got to hear this.” He told me that his son, a newspaper reporter in Upstate New York, had just been offered a job on network TV news. The son decided to turn down the offer, telling Andy, “That’s not real journalism, Dad. That’s all showbiz.” Andy was tickled and obviously proud, and I thought, that son is an authentic copy of his father.

Years later, I picked up a collection of Rooney’s essays and saw what a fine writer he was. We all loved him for his “few minutes with Andy Rooney” on Sunday evening, but he took more pride in being a journalist, writing a syndicated newspaper column for thirty years. At the end of a long obituary in the New York Times, the Times writer quoted Rooney’s remark on his last “60 Minutes” appearance. “I’ve done a lot of complaining here, but of all the things I’ve complained about, I can’t complain about my life.”

You may remember Andy Rooney as a grouch, but the few brushes I had with him many years ago were enough for me to know that his testy TV personality cloaked a core of kindness and integrity.

Read more at: A Few Moments with Andy Rooney | The Sag Harbor Express

joe frazier

Joe Frazier, whose first fight with Muhammad Ali—an event that attracted worldwide attention–sealed his legacy as one of the defining American sports figures of the last 50 years, died of liver cancer on November 7th. He was 67 years old.
Although Frazier was heavyweight champion from 1968 to 1973, he will certainly be remembered most for his vicious trilogy with Ali, one marked by malice, anguish and regret.  
Frazier and Ali first swapped punches on March 8, 1971, in a fight that transcended sports and became a social and political happening. Among the luminaries seated at ringside in New York City that night were Hubert Humphrey, Joe Louis, Woody Allen, Diana Ross, the Kennedys, J. Edgar Hoover, David Frost, Alan Shepard, and Joe DiMaggio. 
Even renowned matador El Cordobés was there. Burt Lancaster did commentary for the closed-circuit audience and Frank Sinatra, on assignment for Life magazine, took photos from the ring apron.
“This is the biggest event in the history of the planet Earth,” Ali said, only half-joking about “The Fight of the Century.”

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