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YOU may know actor Keith David for starring opposite Kurt Russell in the 1982 horror film The Thing, or for his Tony Award-winning role in the 1992 production of Jelly's Last Jam.

Gamers, however, will more likely recognize David for his role as the Arbiter, the deep-voiced alien "co-star" in Microsoft's best-selling Halo videogames.

"I'm not a big videogame player," David said.

"But once I was on the set of a film and one of the grips came up to me and said 'I know you're the voice of the Arbiter, can I have your autograph'?"

Videogames have helped resuscitate the careers of many film and television actors, whose distinctive voices can make them a hot commodity in the game world even as their status in Hollywood fades.

The surge in games using big-screen voice talent could even rewrite industry pay scales as actors angle for a bigger piece of the $US18 billion ($20.34 billion) video-game market.

Many once-familiar actors have carved out second careers as video-game characters.

Terrence Carson, one of the stars of the 1990s sitcom Living Single now voices Kratos, the main character in Sony's hit PlayStation franchise God of War.

Character actor Michael Ironside has lent his distinctive voice to the UbiSoft franchise Splinter Cell, playing the ruthless secret agent Sam Fisher.

Marty O'Donnell, audio director at Bungie Studios, which created Halo, said he stumbled across David's distinctive voice when listening to a documentary the actor was narrating, and knew he was perfect for the Arbiter.

"Keith is an A-list guy in my opinion," Mr O'Donnell said.

"Celebs are a boon for the industry, because there are a lot of great actors out there not currently working on the latest triple-A film."

Roughly 1200 to 1500 lines of dialogue per character are recorded for story-driven games. Halo 3 had more than 35,000 total lines of dialogue, according to Mr O'Donnell.

Voice actors are paid according to Screen Actors Guild rules, about $US760 ($855) for a single four-hour recording session, and top talent can book two or three sessions per day, providing a steadier paycheck than on-screen work.

Celebrity talent can rake in even more, with deals often starting at double the scale rate and going up from there.

And then there's the recognition.

Take Reuben Langdon who did the voice and motion-capture modeling for the character of Dante in Capcom's Devil May Cry 3 and the upcoming Devil May Cry 4.

Prior to his videogame work, Langdon, 32, had done several TV shows in Japan, but never would have been recognized on American streets. Now the fan mail floods in and he signs autographs at conventions.

"Before the game came out, nobody knew who I was," Langdon said. "I get way more attention than I ever got as a (screen) actor."

The surging popularity of videogames – sales jumped 43 per cent last year – is causing some actors to think it's time they earned a larger piece of the pie.

"In some ways, these games are even surpassing the DVD market," said David.

"That's why I believe our residuals in games will be a major bargaining issue in upcoming SAG negotiations."

Residuals are payments to actors for subsequent showings of their work, such as when a movie is shown on TV. Actors don't get residuals for games, and it's an issue that echoes the complaints of Hollywood's striking writers that they should be paid more for digital distribution of their works.

Lev Chapelsky, the general manager of production company Blindlight, which contracts screen actors to do videogame work, disagrees with the actors' contentions.

"It has been a problem lately," said Mr Chapelsky.

"Agents are under the misconception that there's a ton of money to be had for their clients. In a game, the entertainment is about the gameplay. The actor's contribution isn't as important as the gameplay."

Mr Chapelsky recalls a demand by one top talent for $US750,000 ($843,360) to do an hour's worth of voice work. He said it is common for star talent to receive in the high five figures for a single session. One star got more than $US500,000 ($562,240) for a single session.

"It wasn't us," he said. "That sets a bad preceden

Source:www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,256 42,23143871-5014117,00.html

digiGO!—The Digital World — Antex Electronics + Playnetwork — Hybrid MC — NAB + FASTROAD — Second Life + iMagicLab — Yahoo! — Zaxcom — Microsoft + WSJ — PopCap —

digiCREATION—Antex Electronics, a manufacturer of audio and video solutions for retail and commercial applications, has announced that PlayNetwork, a provider of integrated media experiences for business, has selected Antex to provide their XM-100 satellite receiver as part of a larger strategic relationship recently announced with XM Satellite Radio. Under terms of the PlayNetwork—XM Satellite Radio agreement, the new “XM for Business” service, available to business customers across the country, will enable businesses to experience XM and benefit from PlayNetwork’s industry expertise and specialized direct-sales workforce. As part of their on-going relationship, PlayNetwork’s XM for Business unit has chosen Antex to provide the XM-100 satellite receiver to their customers. PlayNetwork has used Antex’s advanced media playback device, the C400 Combo, exclusively for their custom business music and messaging services for the past several years. The inclusion of the XM-100 to PlayNetwork’s on-premise hardware offerings further enhances their full-service capability—Torrance, California

digiCREATION— Hybrid MC is an Emmy Award-winning pioneer in virtual studio technology and offers a full range of products and services for mixing real and computer-generated graphics. The company will have various new products on view at the 2008 NAB Show that include camera robotics and multipurpose 3D graphics solutions in addition to products showcasing Hybrid MC's core capabilities in virtual studio technology. For example, their SILVER Compact Robotic Camera Head supports cameras up to 12 kilos in weight for multiple applications such as parliamentary and conference coverage, industrial use, virtual studio, and regular broadcast productions. Suitable for use with tripods, cranes, or wall-mounts, SILVER can be positioned for high-level views to increase the perceived volume of a virtual set. In common with Hybrid MC's TITANIUM robotic head, SILVER provides the highest level of precision, combined with zero-latency operation—no video or audio delay. The product is available in a range of configurations suitable for anything from simple robotic camera applications to high-end virtual set broadcasting. Their new MERCURY Software Control for Multiple Robotic Cameras is their control software for simultaneous control of as many as six TITANIUM and/or SILVER robotic cameras. Running on Linux PCs, MERCURY provides a convenient, easy-to-use control solution for multiple cameras in any application. There's also a new version of their KRYPTON real-time 3D graphics solution for use in virtual studio broadcasting and other 3D apps, including augmented reality and virtual reality. Version 1.2 adds multilayer scene capabilities, allowing the addition of 3D overlays to create more complex and realistic virtual scenery. Compatible with the TITANIUM and new SILVER robotic heads, KRYPTON also integrates easily with third-party motion tracking devices and software. Used with Hybrid MCs robotic heads, KRYPTON is the only zero-latency virtual set solution available. Other goodies on display include new features for Krypton HD include render to texture, a real-time shader library, a new ManuTrack plugin from TrackMen and more. Check out their website for further info—Paris, France

Broadcast television could reap an additional $2 billion in annual revenue by 2012 delivering content to mobile and handheld devices, if an industry standard is adopted and technology deployed quickly, according to a study commissioned and released today by the NAB technology advocacy program known as FASTROAD (Flexible Advanced Services for Television & Radio On All Devices). The report concludes that the success of new mobile and handheld (M/H) DTV services in the U.S. will be maximized if an industry-accepted Advanced Television Standards Committee standard for M/H DTV is released by early 2009 and universally adopted for M/H broadcasting. Delaying adoption of the standard will dramatically impact the revenue potential for both local and network broadcasters in a negative way, the report concludes. The report, entitled "Study of the Impact of Multiple Systems for Mobile/Handheld Digital Television," was authored by experts from BIA Financial Network with support from Law and Economics Consulting Group (LECG). Assuming early adoption of a M/H standard, the report concludes the estimated $2 billion in additional revenue by broadcasters would be shared between local stations (approximately $1.1 billion), TV networks and syndicators (approximately $900 million). Revenue opportunities will come in the form of new advertising vehicles, monetizing over-the-air programming on pay mobile platforms, and partnerships with cell phone and other mobile delivery device providers, the report concludes. Several new technologies have been proposed that would enable U.S. broadcasters to transmit DTV signals that could be received by M/H devices such as cell phones, portable video players, and TV screens in automobiles. The Open Mobile Video Coalition, an alliance of numerous U.S. commercial and public broadcasters, announced its commitment to the development of mobile DTV in April 2007, and the ATSC has an accelerated program underway to standardize the system for M/H broadcasting. The full text of the report and information on the NAB FASTROAD technology advocacy program are available at www.NABFASTROAD.org.

digiCONTENT—Second Life, a virtual world where participant avatars conduct usual... and unusual... business and conduct themselves with various aplombs, continues to garner aficionados as well as more real world businesses who become digital retailers within this environment's digital climbs. Joining in now is the first virtual car dealership. Developed by iMagicLab, this new venue will be visitable on the company's AutoLand island and, within, avatars may visit a showroom filled with a variety of car brands. Plus, vehicles may be customized and as many as 50 car dealers will be available to "discuss" their products and services. The Automobile Dealer Relations Center is expected to open in Second Life on March 1st. Just don't expect your Linden dollars to pay the sticker price.

digiBIZ— We don't require much in the way of confirmation that the economy is not as robust as we all would wish—take, for example, Yahoo's latest earnings conference call wherein they reported profits were down 23 percent from the same period one year ago. This is resulting in the loss of jobs for 1,000 Yahoo-ites, which is approximately 7 percent of the company's workforce. Expect to see the job terminations occurring mid-month as reorg strikes, big-time. The company's Q4 profit was $205.7 million, at $0.15 per share... that's still better than the Street expected at $0.11 per share! However, profits are down from the $268.7 million a year ago. Yahoo continues to lose Internet real estate to Google, with their share of searches falling by 25 percent, while Google rose to a 76.6 percent search share.




digiCREATION—Zaxcom, for the third year in a row, has had its popular Deva hard disk recorder used on three out of the five films nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for achievement in sound mixing. Under consideration for the 80th Annual Academy Awards are Jim Stuebe for "3:10 to Yuma," Peter Kurland for "No Country for Old Men," and Peter J. Devlin for "Transformers" — all of whom relied on the Deva to complete sound mixing for the films. The Zaxcom Deva, available as the Deva 5.8 and Deva 16, provides 24-bit multidisk, multiformat location recording with backup to DVD-RAM or Compact Flash. The Deva 5.8 features eight integrated hardware faders, an internal DVD-RAM drive, and a Flash media slot, making it the only professional audio recording system to provide complete recording, mixing, and effects capabilities within one lightweight package. The Deva 16 provides the same trademark Zaxcom feature set with support for recording up to 16 audio tracks. Zaxcom also manufactures the Deva Mix-12, a control surface for all Devas that features 16 inputs and 18 outputs. The Mix-12 integrates with the Deva to perform all location mix and record functions, eliminating the need for expensive external mixing consoles—Pompton Plains, New Jersey

digiBITZ

• If you don't believe Microsoft is going for all of the online ad gold it can glom onto, check out their latest agreement with The Wall Street Journal. This is an ad sales and distribution partnership and ties in really well with the company's acquisition of aQuantive, a $6 billion purchase of a true advertising powerbroker. Microsoft President Steve Ballmer has already stated ads would comprise about 25 percent of Microsoft's total revs over the next few years, and with the ad platform and digital marketing talents now in house, expect a strong move by Microsoft. After all, they also have similar deals with CNBC, Edgar Online and MSN Money. When it comes to business, Microsoft certainly has a enveloping feel to it for business consumers.
• Remember when free games really revealed, through their less-than-attractive graphics and boring gameplay, there was a reason they were free? The same held true for the early iterations of online digital entertainments, as well. Now, with company's such as PopCap, such is no longer true. In fact, they are earning good, solid income, which is one reason why PopCap can afford to hire the likes of Martin Gannholm as their new Vice President of Engineering. He'll be taking charge of technology development to bring casual gaming to the masses. As he spent several years as a Microsoft biz software leader, as well as the group program manager of Microsoft Office Live, he knows the online biz!
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digiGO!™—The Digital World... does not sell or trade subscribers' names or personal information to any interested parties.

DISCLAIMER
digiGO! and its agents and distributors used all best efforts to collect and prepare the information published herein. However, digiGO! does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.

Copyright 2006—2008 digiGO! | High Sierra Media Group (HSMG) & SatNews Publishers. All rights reserved.

Source: www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/display_story .cgi?number=1694556024&nbs p;

It will be a "two for one" concert ticket as Quiet Faith Productions showcases two of West Michigan's singer-songwriters, Ralston Bowles and Drew Nelson, at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Muskegon County Museum.

Both Bowles and Nelson are well known in the West Michigan folk community for the originality and freshness of their tunes. But to classify them as regional performers is an injustice, as both of men have entertained folk audiences throughout the country as well as in Europe.

"The intimate confines of the Muskegon County Museum is the perfect venue to showcase these two talented West Michigan contemporary folk performers and will confirm the old adage that sometimes what you are looking for lies right in your own backyard," said Lou Lincoln of Quiet Faith Productions.

Bowles is a songwriter, producer, musician and singer from Grand Rapids. His latest CD release is "Rally at the Texas Hotel." He has been a fixture on the West Michigan music circuit since 1970, helping the Grand Rapids music scene flourish while encouraging national artists to make Grand Rapids a tour stop.

Host of the Frederik Meijer Gardens Tuesday Evening Music Club and a supporter of numerous charities through benefit concerts, he has performed with the Hothouse Flowers, T-Bone Burnett, Shawn Colvin and the Del McCoury Band among others, according to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralston_Bowles .

In 2004, Bowles released his debut album, "Carwreck Conversations," which was recognized with three Jammie Awards: Album of the Year, Best Folk Album and Artist of the Year.

Michael Packer, former station manager of Grand Rapid's WYCE radio, described a Bowles' performance like this: "Ralston's performances are always a treat and filled with the unexpected. He's the Cheshire Cat of the folksters, slyly romping in an unpredictable wonderland."

Nelson's songs are simple, direct expressions via mere melody and a mittful of guitar chords.

His latest CD, "Immigrant Son," has been getting plenty of air time on the radio both locally and also on the international air waves. In the fall of 2007, Nelson spent a month touring England, Ireland and Scotland. He performed at folk festivals, folk clubs and pubs, making friends, selling out of CDs and building an enthusiastic new audience for his original music. "Immigrant Son" is his first full-length album.

As a kid, Nelson said he quietly rebelled against the strict, religious confines of his home by secretly listening to rock radio. He overcame his band teacher's humbling criticism of his drumming skills by teaching himself to play guitar. He saw the world by joining the Navy and then traveling to the far corners of the world with his guitar on his back.

His itinerant lifestyle filled his notebook with ideas, and upon returning home, he found his voice in the small struggles and triumphs of daily life. Nelson has shared his passion with audiences in clubs and coffeehouses, and released his debut EP "Recovering Angels" in 2001. His music has taken him to Alaska, through Texas, to the Kerrville Folk Festival, to Muskegon Summer Celebration (opening for Melissa Etheridge), to recognition at the New Folk Contest for Emerging Songwriters, where he was a finalist.

Who: Singer-songwriters Ralston Bowles and Drew Nelson.

When: 2 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Muskegon County Museum, 403 W. Clay, Muskegon.

Tickets: $12, door; $10, members; $5 children (12 and under). Ticket are available at the Muskegon County Museum or by calling (616) 604-1001.

Information: 722-0278 or www.quietfaith.com

Source:www.mlive.com/entertainment/chronic le/index.ssf?/base/features-0/1201 630509272060.xml&coll=8

Reddy Ice's Buyout Deal Terminated; Expects 2007 Revenues To Slightly Exceed Prior Outlook - Update [FRZ]

1/31/2008 11:25:34 PM Thursday evening, Reddy Ice Holdings Inc. (FRZ), which, on July 2, 2007, signed deal to be acquired by affiliates of GSO Capital Partners LP for $31.25 per share in cash or about $1.1 billion in total, announced that it has now reached an agreement to terminate the merger deal. This is yet another merger deal, which is collapsing as banks withdraw funding commitments due to financial market turmoil.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement with GSO Capital, Reddy Ice will be receiving $21 million in cash on February 5, 2008, to terminate the deal, and will pay up to $4 million of fees and expenses incurred by GSO and third-party consultants in connection with the contemplated transactions.

Reddy Ice indicated that it would continue to explore transactions with GSO and to review other alternatives available to the company.

Commenting on the situation, William Brick, Reddy Ice's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are moving forward and executing on Reddy Ice's long-term business strategy. We are disappointed that the merger could not be consummated, but the Company will continue to focus on delivering value for its stockholders and customers,"

In addition, the company said it currently expects 2007 revenues will slightly exceed the previously provided guidance range $332 million to $338 million. Analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial have a consensus revenue estimate for the year of $336.43 million.

However, the company said it expects full-year net income and adjusted EBITDA to each come in at or slightly below the lower end of the guidance ranges. The company's prior outlook range was $11.3 million to $15.4 million of net income and $83 million to $87 million of adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations, excluding adjusted EBITDA related to discontinued operations of $1.0 million.

RDY closed Thursday's trading session at $22.43, gaining 39 cents, or 1.77%.

Source: www.rttnews.com/sp/breakingnews.asp?date=01/31/2008&i tem=196&vid=0

Dallas-based U.S. Preventive Medicine has announced that it will create a national and international operations center in Jacksonville, Fla. , where it has had a regional center.  

DatCard Systems, Inc, an Irvine, Calif-based provider of DICOM digital distribution systems, has filed suit in federal court to prevent Codonics, Inc. from infringing its newly awarded patent, which is directed to systems that distribute and record DICOM medical image data onto CDs or DVDs that can be read without specialized viewing software.

MyMedicalRecords. com, Inc. of Los Angeles has unveiled MMR Pro, designed as an easy-to-use, low-cost system to enable physicians and other healthcare providers to store their paper-based patient medical records in a secure online environment without requiring upfront costs for special hardware or software.

SciHealth has reported that Emory Healthcare in Atlanta has implemented the company's INSIGHT solution to more effectively measure individual performance and patient satisfaction scores.

Montreal-based Emergis, Inc. has announced that it has successfully completed the migration of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's Health Network System to its data facilities in Thornhill, Ontario. Emergis is now processing drug claims submitted by Ontario pharmacists on behalf of clients under the Ontario Drug Benefit program.

The TriZetto Group of Newport Beach, Calif. has announced the limited availability of CareAdvance Medicare, for proactive care management of Medicare members. The software will be sold as an optional component to TriZetto's Clinical CareAdvance application, the clinician-facing feature of the CareAdvance Enterprise solution. In addition, Blue Shield of California has contracted with TriZetto to acquire software for a major system-wide technology upgrade expected to launch in 2009.

Source: www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8526

It's not quite a drinking game, but the best way — the last way — to get any fun out of that exhausted "movie genre spoof" is to count the number of films the latest "Scary Movie"/"Epic Movie" sends up. Then count the laughs. If the latter outnumbers the former, you're golden.

No such luck with "Meet the Spartans," aka "Epic Movie 2." These cut-and-paste comedies are so worn out that they long ago ran out of genre movies to goof on and now have devolved to simple pop-culture riffs in the "Mad TV" sketch-comedy vein. Some "Mad TV" cast members show up to do their celeb impersonations here.

There are still more movies referenced than laugh-out-loud moments in this latest, a straight "300" parody that is anything but "straight."

A C-list cast including Carmen Electra, Kevin Sorbo, Diedrich Bader and "that fat guy from 'Borat'" don Greek wear, "banana hammocks" and fake six-packs and flop around in front of blue-screen effects. To little effect.

It's as played as a Britney Spears head-shaving gag, as dated as a Paris Hilton sex tape. The humor is aimed low, with the future King Leonidas (Sean Maguire) battling a trash-talking penguin to prove his manhood (birdy bowel movements), then meeting his future queen who burbles "Sign my rack! They're real!" (Carmen Electra, of course). The Persians aren't impressed by these sophomoric mincing Spartans prancing hither and yon like Monty Pythons in search of fresh coconuts.

"Backstage at an Elton John concert," one cracks. So Leonidas tosses them down the "pit of death," and we're off.

This Fox production takes more shots at Fox TV's "American Idol" than it does at "300," even as we follow 13-not-300 Spartans to the "Hot Gates" where they fend off the advances of Xerxes (Ken Davitian from "Borat"). Jokes about Lindsay Lohan in rehab, "Brangelina's" yen for Third World babies, starlets who wear no underwear and product plugs for Coke, YouTube and Dentyne Ice fill out the 70 or so minutes they allocate themselves for boring us.

And they still have to fill by doing a vamp of "I Will Survive" (disco still being gay, you understand) at the end to make the credits last longer.

Speaking of YouTube, let me save you 65 minutes. Go to the Web site, type in "United 300," and see a far funnier, far more clever "300" spoof that's only five minutes long. From last spring.

Source:www.gotriad.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080131 /GTCOM01/481840080/1071/G TCOM0224

I wonder how Panorama's real stars - serious, brave journalists such as Jane Corbin - felt about this. Pretty sick, I imagine, given that James's sole qualification for the task was that, when he was a pop star, he famously loved to powder his nose. What next? Dot Cotton from EastEnders takes on the tobacco giants? Or here's an idea: get the guy who plays Charlie in Casualty to make a film about MRSA - that'll get those bloody nurses washing their hands.

I do try to be grown-up when I write reviews, but since it would be a total fabrication to call this programme grown-up - or even, come to that, adolescent - I might as well admit that when I looked back at the notes I'd made while watching it, I found I'd scored the phrase "what an arse" in the margin no fewer than three times.

The film began with our "reporter" introducing himself. "I'm Alex James, and I'm a farmer," he said. No, you're not, Alex. You're a rock star who bought himself a farm, which is an entirely different state of affairs. With a flick of his poncey fringe, James held up a letter he'd received from the president of Colombia inviting him to see at first hand the miserable effects of the cocaine wars: landmines, kidnappings, human displacement, general destruction of the environment.

Journalists get killed covering this stuff: some 50 of them in the past 15 years, in fact. But was our cute little bass player trepidatious? Apparently not. He could hardly wait. Here, after all, was yet another chance for him to press his home-made cheese on an unsuspecting foreign dignitary.

So, off he went. Once out there, he undoubtedly had amazing access, from the Black Hawk team with whom he went out spraying coca crops in the rainforest to the drug cartel's full-time contract killer in whose "taxi" he took a spin. But did his insights into these experiences have to be so glib? Even when trying to convey fear, he couldn't resist gilding his statements with something more smug. "I'm out of my depth," he said, hopping into Mr Killer's cab. And then: "This is a long, long way from a cheeky line at a dinner party in Notting Hill."

This carry-on reached its nadir when he finally got to meet President Álvaro Uribe. First, we were treated to the ridiculous spectacle of James handing over a box of his farm-fresh fromage. The president sniffed it, politely. Uribe, a patrician right-winger and US ally, is determined to stamp on the drug cartels - they fund the Farc, the revolutionary guerrillas who murdered his father - and several attempts have been made on his life as a consequence.

James asked him a couple of vague questions, and was told that every line of cocaine snorted in Britain is simply more "gasoline for assassinations". Fine. Once the meeting was over, however, James began acting like some doe-eyed groupie. "I support him!" he said joyously, punching the air. Good grief. If Michael Crick were suddenly to have announced on Newsnight that he really fancies Yvette Cooper, and cannot therefore be expected to unpick her latest legislative proposals, I don't think I could have been any more appalled. Some will argue what we might call the Channel 4 battery chicken defence for this film - namely that celebrity can, and should, be used to right moral wrongs. Maybe so. But the key words here are "documentary" and "Panorama". A once-mighty current affairs programme is reduced to screening the ill-informed, partisan burblings of a pop-star cheese-maker with a daft fringe and, by his own account, "gringo Bond Street boots". Please, someone, make it stop.

Pick of the week

The Cult of Sunday
3 February, 8.35pm, BBC4
Look back at Sunday telly starts with All Creatures Great and Small. Moo!

Ashes to Ashes
Starts 7 February, 9pm, BBC1
DCI Gene Hunt tackles flicked hair, feminism – oh, and the odd crime.

Who Killed the Playboy Earl?
7 February, 9pm, Channel 4
The Earl of Shaftesbury in a cautionary, class-bound tale.

Source: www.newstatesman.com/200801310037

Gemini is just the latest in a series of devastating cuts imposed on British science by the Science and Technology Funding Council

To Professor Keith Mason it must have seemed appealing to put out his bad news in a press release near midnight on a Friday. Mason was announcing that Britain was to pull out of two of the world's most sophisticated space telescopes because his research council was running out of money.

.

It was the latest in a series of blows to British physics. The Gemini Observatory comprises two eight-metre telescopes, one based in Chile and the other in Hawaii, whose powerful reflectors and sophisticated optics mean they can image the oldest and most distant objects in the universe. Britain played a major role in their design and construction and they were meant to remain a centrepiece of the nation's astronomy research for years to come.

Gemini is just the latest in a series of devastating cuts imposed on British science by the Science and Technology Funding Council, of which Mason is chief executive. His attempt to save £80m has seen 300 redundancy notices issued at STFC laboratories at Daresbury, near Liverpool, with a further 200 expected at the Rutherford Appleton research centre near Didcot. Even Edinburgh's Royal Observatory is losing 50 staff.

Some of Britain's most senior physicists are so infuriated they have called for Mason's resignation while a group of senior solar physicists has created a website called Fight UK Underinvestment in Solar Terrestrial Facilities and Capabilities - a name deliberately chosen to create the acronym FUK U STFC. For Britain's normally sober science community such angry tactics are unheard of, but Mason is unabashed. He has also pulled the UK out of a planned £3.5bn particle accelerator, axed high-energy gamma ray astronomy and solar science and slashed research grants by 25 per cent - a move likely to force closure of several physics departments.

Together these comprise the heart of British physics, built up over many years and costing hundreds of millions of pounds - all suddenly at risk. Why?

It is not simple cost-cutting. Rather, British physics is being decimated by incompetence, with the ministers and civil servants overseeing the budgetary process displaying a failure to comprehend global science budgets and a dangerous misunderstanding of how science makes progress.

To understand what has gone wrong we first have to go back to 1998 and Lord Sainsbury's appointment as minister for science. He oversaw a renaissance in British science with rising budgets and high-quality financial oversight. The contrast with what has happened since Sainsbury quit in November 2006 could not be greater. Malcolm Wicks, the jobbing politician appointed as his successor, announced a shotgun wedding between the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, and the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils. The resulting body, the STFC, could have been a good idea but Wicks allowed an impossibly short timescale for the merger.

Then, in June last year, came another bombshell. Gordon Brown took over as PM and announced that the science brief was to be taken by another new minister, Ian Pearson, a quintessential policy wonk with an Oxford degree in, you guessed it, politics, philosophy and economics, and a brief to make science research more "applied".

Wicks and now Pearson were asked to oversee causes of great scientific complexity including the search for dark matter, the hunt for the Higgs Boson and the first detection of gravity waves, without having the first clue about such topics or about the historical relationship between pure research and commercial spin-offs.

Brian Foster, professor of experimental physics at Oxford University, said: "The research in physics departments sounds blue skies but it has huge practical benefits. The worldwide web came from physics research as did medical scanners and even the silicon devices that power domestic PCs, DVDs and many other appliances."

Neither do Pearson nor his civil servants seem to understand how modern science is funded, especially big physics, where machinery such as telescopes, accelerators and satellites are so expensive that funding is beyond the reach of any one country. This has led to the creation of international consortia such as the Cern particle physics centre near Geneva, the European Space Agency, the European Southern Observatory in Chile and the Gemini telescopes.

Britain has flourished under this regime but the commitment to such facilities is maintained by annual fees - vulnerable to factors such as exchange rates and inflation. Such risks need to be anticipated with contingency funds and other financial devices. Wicks and Pearson have failed to do this. In addition they have lumbered STFC with a legacy of financial blunders, especially the CCLRC's failure to calculate the future costs of running the £300m Diamond synchrotron, which opens for business this month at Harwell near Oxford.

Mason's lack of political experience and of "people skills" has not helped matters. When he first arrived at STFC he assembled staff in a large room and addressed them from his office via a video-link rather than in person. He has infuriated senior astronomers and particle physicists by failing to consult or even warn them of impending cuts.

Among those leading the fight to save Britain's research community is Dr Brian Cox, a Royal Society research fellow at Manchester University and former keyboard player with D:Ream, the band that penned the New Labour anthem "Things Can Only Get Better". He said: "The government and STFC together, after almost a decade of sensible and steady investment, have seriously damaged UK science in one month of madness. It is a kind of vandalism."

Jonathan Leake is science editor at the Sunday Times

Source:www.newstatesman.com/200801310016

(openPR) - 31 January 2008 - AirRadio Ltd today announces the completion of the upgrade to their London Heathrow Trunk Network, deploying Xfin technology from Team Simoco Limited (TSL). The network upgrade is the latest investment by AirRadio, the UK’s largest provider of operational radios to the UK Air Transport Industry, confirming their commitment to providing innovative services to their customers who include airlines, ground handlers and airport service companies.

Customers will benefit from increased capacity, enhanced calling functionality and system resilience. Xfin’s dynamic channel pooling functionality enables any available channel to be automatically allocated to any radio, maximising channel usage across the site and simplifying call set up for the user.

The introduction of cross system group calling allows radios to operate in a roaming mode across the whole network rather than previously needing to be assigned to key areas of the network, such as a specified Terminal. The Xfin upgrade has created a single operational zone across all airport terminals at Heathrow for sharing critical information enabling operations control to call resources from any part of the airport if needed at short notice.

AirRadio Operations Director, John Fincham confirmed: “The upgrade of our Heathrow network to Xfin provides our customers with increased service capability and more efficient and responsive support. Since deploying Xfin we have seen available capacity increase by over 20% providing resource optimisation for current customers and the opportunity to expand our customer base at Heathrow.”

He continued: “In terms of system resilience we now know that the network can cope in an emergency scenario, for example the recent event in January involving Flight BA038. The network remained active and uncongested during this time enabling all our customers to communicate immediate instructions regarding their operations.”

Mike Norfield, Managing Director of Team Simoco said: “Xfin’s IP technology has revolutionised PMR, combining increased functionality with a lower cost of ownership over the product lifecycle. The success of the Heathrow deployment confirms that Xfin has the resilience to be used in the most mission-critical operational environments in the world.”

Xfin comprises the latest MPT1327 trunked radio base stations with IP Ethernet connectivity to provide a completely fault tolerant, open architecture, radio communications system. Xfin provides an IP addressable base station, allowing remote configuration from authorised personnel and web-based diagnostics. In addition, each Xfin has a telephone interface for connecting PABX/PSTN line interface, with full VoIP routing on the IP network to guarantee non-blocking to telephone while resource is available.

Ends

Image available at: www.contextpr.co.uk/ClientLogin/files/LHR% 20airfield.JPG


For further information contact:

AirRadio Ltd
Tracey Blandford,
Tel: 0845 330 0782
Email: marketing@air-radio.com
www.air-radio.com

Team Simoco
Context Public Relations
Craig Coward / Luke Ford
Tel: 01625 511966
Email: teamsimoco@contextpr.co.uk
www.teamsimoco.com

About AirRadio:

AirRadio Ltd provides mobile voice and data communications for mission-critical environments to more than 85 corporate customers at 25 UK airports, including airlines, airports and ground operation companies. Its solutions allow clients to increase the efficiency of their day-to-day operations, thereby reducing costs, increasing revenues and improving utilization.

AirRadio has achieved 59% growth in radio numbers on the London Heathrow Trunk Network in the 5 years since the previous system upgrade.

The selection of Xfin Blade enables AirRadio’s system at London Heathrow to meet the new European RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances) directive.

AirRadio’s strategy for innovation saw the launch the first Digital Trunk Network dedicated to the Air Transport Industry – known as AR-en - at Birmingham International Airport in September 2006 and over the last 3 years AirRadio has expanded its service provision to the Utilities, Commercial and Public Sector industries.

AirRadio is a member of The Telecom Services Group of Spice plc.

About Team Simoco:

Team Simoco is one of the World’s leading radio communications specialists, providing cutting edge Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) and Private Mobile Radio (PMR) products and services to organisations around the globe. Team Simoco operates in a growing range of markets around the World, including emergency services, military, public sector, utilities and transport.

The Xfin Blade conforms to the MPT1327 standard, ensuring handset compatibility and enabling systems to be replaced without additional terminal costs. The self-contained system also ensures no interfacing issues in terms of cabling protocols and line levels.

Team Simoco is a member of The Telecom Services Group of Spice plc.

Source:www.openpr.com/news/36581/AirRadio-u pgrades-London-Heathrow-N etwork-with-Xfin-Technolo gy-from-Team-Simoco.html

   As Turkey is faced with very serious problems in its energy sector and the economy as well as in terror related issues, the government suddenly pushed the headscarf issue back on the country's agenda on the eve of upcoming local elections. This is, without a doubt, a populist approach to attract more votes in local elections.

  Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by confessing that he has just learned the meaning of �headscarf� by looking it up in dictionaries and reading encyclopedias and by suggesting that opposition leaders do the same, tries hard to disregard the political meaning of the headscarf and put emphasis on its dictionary meaning. During a recent visit to Spanish capital Madrid, Erdoğan noted that the �headscarf is not a political symbol� only to add �what does it matter if it is really a political symbol?� thus practically challenging society. The reason for this statement is that he knows perfectly well that the headscarf some women wear has a different meaning from the conventional headscarf worn by mainstream women; this is a tool the AKP uses for exploitation of beliefs and it claims that it is the requirement of Islam due to the party's political concerns.

  The AKP government is working on a draft constitution, on Article 10 and 42 in particular, in an attempt to lift the ban on wearing headscarves in universities. The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), supporting the AKP for political reasons, brings the �right to equal access to public services� to the fore through the headscarf issue. That is to say female students wearing headscarf and even women in black chadors should be able to attend universities freely and benefit from the right to equal education. But what if we have female students wearing headscarves who want to attend the Police Academy or the War Academy claiming their benefits from the equal education right? Will they wear a headscarf with their military or police uniforms? Or will they wear black chadors instead of uniforms as well as a headscarf? And will Turkey ever become member of the European Union with this ridiculous combination of clothes?

Exploitation of religion

  As many scientists correctly and objectively interpret, there is no single verse in the Koran that commands Muslim women to wear the headscarf in a way not even to show a string of hair. Therefore referring to female students in universities and arguing that �they are wearing it as religious requirement� has no religious ground. Such remarks belong to a group of clergy who exploit religion. What kind of persons believe that they are between individuals and God; no person and no institution has any right to intervene in that relationship; no one has any right to impose anything on this specific matter. Let people believe in what they want and let them wear what they want. This is the requirement of freedom of conscience. However, the freedom of conscience grants no one any right to overthrow law and order or to violate any laws.

  The AKP government exploiting religion for its own political motives is trying to eliminate the advantages the Republic granted us, secularism in particular. The AKP government politicizing all institutions is playing with fire and adding extra fuel to it.

  National judicial bodies and the European Court of Human Rights clearly cited that banning the headscarf does not violate the law and human rights. However, when the prime minister states that �….wearing a headscarf is a personal preference and no one has any right to ban personal preferences…,� in other words prioritizing personal preferences of individuals over the law and social interests of the Republic of Turkey as a democratic lawful state, it is obvious what he understands from the rule of law. Erdoğan with his latest remarks verbally attacks constitutional institutions such as the Supreme Court of Appeals and the Constitutional Court, becomes rude and creates tension and public reaction, which might cause a serious social earthquake. May God protect us against the aftershocks of such huge earthquake.

  * Professor K.Erçin Kasapoğlu is with the Geology Engineering Dept. of the Hacettepe University. He can be contacted at ercin@hacettepe.edu.tr

Source:www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=94382 

"I've played (linebacker) a little my sophomore and junior years, so it's not all brand new to me," Davis said. "I'll get used to it. I don't have any doubts that I can play there if I work hard at it. I've always been a little undersized wherever I've played, and people always want to tell me what I can't do. I'm here to tell them and show them what I can do."

Davis has mostly played defensive end the last two seasons, earning third-team all-state honors as a senior. He had 79 tackles, 14.5 sacks, three punt blocks and one interception last season in helping Dillard High to an 8-4 record and district championship.

Davis chose MTSU over scholarship offers from Central Michigan and Florida Atlantic. He was also heavily recruited by Western Michigan and South Carolina, according to Dillard High coach Keith Franklin.

Davis is the latest of 14 confirmed MTSU commitments with National Signing Day only six days away, and he plans to stand out among the list of prospects

"I feel like when I'm on the field, nobody can stop me," Davis said. "It doesn't matter where you're from, what you do, what position you play or what your name is, you still can't stop me. That's how I play. I play with confidence, and I try to prove anybody wrong that doubts me."

Franklin said Davis' versatility and athleticism should allow him to make the transition to linebacker.

"Darin has great speed off the edge, and he's quick when dropping back in (pass) coverage, too," Franklin said. "He can put his hand down and get in the backfield in a hurry, or he can run side-to-side. He plays kind of a Derrick Brooks style, so he fits in with any defense that uses versatile guys like that, and I believe Middle Tennessee is like that. People up there at Middle Tennessee will really enjoy watching him play."

MTSU Football Recruiting

Mid-term Signees

DT Immanuel Chu

 Source: dnj.midsouthnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080131 /SPORTS/801310328/1006

Gadget.com is a great resource for information and reviews of popular electronics and gadgets. Site includes a Buyers Guide, Ecommerce, and Forum.

St-Nicolas, Quebec, Canada, January 31, 2008 --(PR.com)-- InternationalBrands.com is pleased to announce the launch of a new website located at www.gadget.com.

Gadget.com is a great resource for information and reviews of popular electronics and technology. The Buyers’ Guide includes many articles and tips on buying the latest technology and gadgets. Users can browse the archive of gadget reviews or submit news. The Forum allows for users to meet and chat about the latest technologies and electronics. Visit the Shopping section to purchase popular gadgets and view website’s hot picks.

About InternationalBrands.com

InternationalBrands.com is a division of IBWA.Com Inc., a media company that acquires, develop and promote domain names and transform them into effective and superior domain media. The objective of InternationalBrands.com is to deliver innovative rentable online media solutions to a growing number of e-businesses. It specializes in looking for viable opportunities online and then developing strategies to maximize their potential.

For more information, please visit www.internationalbrands.com

###

Like lists? Most plant geeks do. So do restrained shoppers, if there is such a thing. Garden designers can't live without lists. Of course, there must be a rhyme or reason for an inventory of plants or it would be of no use at all. Except to feed our lust for the latest and best.

A useful list can be arranged in many ways: by plant category (trees, shrubs, vines and so on); by things you must have or you will wither away from longing; or a category of plants recommended by someone else.

Garden designers are the perfect candidates for plant lists. They use plants in every design they create, and they keep up on the latest introductions.

Conveniently, members of the Oregon chapter of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (www.apldoregon.org) made their own list. Prodded by chapter President Pat Alcheff, about 15 members offered up their top three favorite plants (which we've edited extensively for length). The range was wide, but trees and shrubs took precedence.

Alcheff was surprised by that, but figures it was the way she worded the survey. She asked for tried-and-true plants, which tend to fall in the shrubs category. Plus, both trees and shrubs form the backdrop of a garden and are more permanent than other plants.

"They make or break a garden," Alcheff says. "Sometimes the homeowner wants all the pretty perennials. As designers we have to say, 'Eat your vegetables, too.' "

Not that any of these plants are hard to swallow.

Kym Pokorny: 503-221-8205; kympokorny@news.oregonian.com

*APLD certified members

** APLD associate members

Source:www.oregonlive.com/hg/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/homes_gardens/1 20155730924320.xml&coll=7

New Hampshire students are making slow, steady progress in reading and math scores but are faltering in writing, according to results of statewide testing released yesterday.

In mathematics, all grade levels showed an increase in the proportion of students scoring at a proficient level or better. In reading, all grades improved except fifth-graders, who showed a slight drop in proficiency levels from last year.

But 57 percent of eighth-graders and 48 percent of fifth-graders scored below proficient in writing.

This is the third year students in grades three to eight have taken the New England Common Assessment Program.

"They're definitely improving, that's for sure," said state Education Commissioner Lyonel Tracy. "But until we can document growth for every single child, we won't be satisfied and we shouldn't be."

Tracy said writing results are difficult to compare because of the nature of the test. Yesterday's results will determine if individual schools and districts have made enough progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

But it will take the state Department of Education until spring to analyze the scores and then identify lagging schools.

Later this year, parents for the first time will be able to go online and track where their child stands in relation to his or her growth model, Tracy said.

In cities and towns, reactions to results ranged from pleased to cautious.

►School districts work to make the grade

In Manchester, the city's scores crept up slightly, welcome news given the entire district's designation as being in need of improvement.

"We haven't made huge improvements, but each step counts, and we'll get there." said Katherine Labanaris, the vice chairman of the school board.

In Raymond, improvements in third grade scores were offset by a drop in proficiency in fourth-grade math.

"We were hoping more students would get out of Level I (substantially below proficient), but it didn't work that way," said acting Superintendent Michael Shore. In both Bedford and Goffstown, officials said they have been placing emphasis on writing programs.

There are different ways to track the NECAP from year to year.

Grade results can be compared. For example, two-thirds of last year's seventh-graders tested at least proficient in reading. This year, 75 percent of seventh-graders scored proficient or greater. In math, the number edged up from 62 percent to 63 percent.

The NECAP can also track a class as it moves through the system.

Seventy-three percent of this year's sixth-graders, for example, tested at least proficient in reading, up from 69 percent when they were in fourth grade.

The test is based on classroom material, so education officials believe it to be a fair judge of whether kids are actually learning what they're being taught. Results are broken into four categories: proficient with distinction, proficient, partially proficient, substantially below proficient.

"The goal is to get every student to proficiency," Tracy said.

The state has established a growth model that personalizes targets for every student, based on first-year test results, Tracy said. Parents will be able to access that data later this year and track where their child stands.

Grade 11 took the NECAP for the first time last fall. Because it takes longer to calculate first-year scores, those results won't be available until Feb. 21.

Program trend graphs for reading, math and writing can be found at www.ed.state.nh.us/necap.

New Hampshire Union Leader Staff Writer Mark Hayward and Correspondents Greta Cuyler and Stephen Beale contributed to this report.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Following are two questions — the first math, the second reading — taken from the New England Common Assessment Program student practice test booklet for Grade 5.

Nathan, Alicia, and Taylor each ride to school on a bike.

Nathan rides his bike m miles.

Alicia rides her bike 3 times as many miles as Nathan does.

Taylor rides his bike 4 more miles than Nathan does.

A. Use m to write an expression for the number of miles Alicia rides her bike.

B. Use m to write an expression for the number of miles Taylor rides his bike.

Below are four words and their meanings from the glossary of a science book.

biology — the study of life

ecology — the study of the relationship of organisms to their environment

entomoloy — the study of insects

ornithology — the study of birds

What does the word radiology mean?

A. radios and their parts

B. the study of X-rays

C. the use of radon

D. radical ideas in science

Source:www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Latest+NH+t est+scores+show+some+prog ress&articleId=c92313 3b-3eb1-403e-a896-33dc8eb e3153

Pittsburgh, PA, January 29, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Outskirts Press, Inc. has published Phantoms of the Moon by Michael Ciardi, which is the author’s most recent book to date. The 5.5 x 8.5 Paperback in the Science Fiction - Adventure category is available worldwide on book retailer websites such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble for a suggested retail price of $14.95. The webpage at www.outskirtspress.com/phantomsofmoon was launched simultaneously with the book’s publication.

About the Book (Excerpts & Info)

The Journey to Beyond Begins from Within...
Beneath the backdrop of a provincial town, Ryan Hayden lives the life of a typical 17-year-old boy. As with any teenager on the brink of adulthood, he questions his place among his peers and contemplates the quandaries of friendship and love. But as a consequence of a childhood tragedy that mysteriously separates him from his family, the boy struggles with thoughts of isolation. Amid this bleak but reflective time, he kindles his imagination by peering upon a glittering grove of stars. Within this realm of the vast unknown, he unwittingly unearths the secrets afflicting his dreams. A relentless quest to discover the truth about his past will ultimately deliver him to a startling revelation. The terror culminates in a battle that wedges his very soul between the elements of this world and beyond.

Deftly constructed at 436 pages, Phantoms of the Moon is being aggressively promoted to appropriate markets with a focus on the Science Fiction - Adventure category. With U.S. wholesale distribution through Ingram and Baker & Taylor, and pervasive online availability through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and elsewhere, Phantoms of the Moon meets consumer demand through both retail and library markets with a suggested retail price of $14.95.

Additionally, Phantoms of the Moon can be ordered by retailers or wholesalers for the maximum trade discount price set by the author in quantities of ten or more from the Outskirts Press wholesale online bookstore at www.outskirtspress.com/buybooks

ISBN: 9781432716394 Format: 5.5 x 8.5 Paperback SRP: $14.95

For more information or to contact the author, visit www.outskirtspress.com/phantomsofmoon

About the Author

Michael Ciardi currently teaches English and creative writing at a high school in New Jersey. He is the author of two additional novels entitled Keeper of the Doves and Songs of a Peach Tree. He presently resides in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. You may contact Mr. Ciardi directly at mciardi@franklinboe.org

About Outskirts Press, Inc.

Outskirts Press, Inc. offers turn-key, full-service, custom self-publishing for authors seeking a cost-effective, fast, and flexible way to publish and distribute their books worldwide while retaining all their rights and full creative control. In 2007, the Denver Business Journal recognized Outskirts Press as the 3rd fastest-growing privately-held company in Colorado, with a growth rate of 1,560% since 2004. Available for authors globally at www.outskirtspress.com and located on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado, Outskirts Press represents the future of book publishing, today.

###

Outskirts Press, Inc., 10940 S. Parker Rd - 515, Parker, Colorado 80134
http://outskirtspress.com" title="http://outskirtspress.com" target="_blank"http://outskirtspress.com 1-888-OP-BOOKS

Source:www.pr.com/press-release/69798

A young Scottish politician has been crowned the winner of Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, bagging himself a £50,000 prize.

John Loughton ,20, from Edinburgh beat Emilia Arata, 18, from Birmingham, to win the new Channel 4 reality show.

He received 53.9% of the vote to Arata's 46.1% after guaranteeing his place in the final on the very first night.

Viewers of the broadcaster's latest twist on its signature reality show had been voting since last Friday for the winner.

But the programme has not received the cult following which has built up around the show in the past.

Last year's Celebrity Big Brother opened with 7.1 million viewers on Channel 4 alone.

Celebrity Hijack, however, launched earlier this month with a combined total of 3.4 million viewers on Channel 4 and E4.

Apart from the simulcast on both channels for the launch, the show was then only broadcast on E4.

Channel 4 bosses decided to change its format after last year's race row involving Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty.

This year the housemates were 12 young people chosen for their intelligence and talent while the celebrities took it in turns to take over the role of Big Brother.

Source: ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5juWpMNz c5dlt9_IxINj601e0ECLg

Fresh off her crushing defeat in South Carolina, Senator Hillary Clinton campaigned in the tri-state area Monday, before ending the day in Washington for the president's State of the Union address.

In Connecticut, she focused her political attack on George W. Bush and not her Democratic rivals.

“Taking that balanced budget and that surplus, turning it into deficit and debt again, getting us into so many problems around the world, and then when the vice president shot that guy in the face, I thought, that was it,” she said.

Meanwhile, following his win, Barack Obama picked up a big endorsement from high-profile members of the Kennedy family during a campaign appearance at American University in Washington Monday afternoon.

Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, his niece Caroline Kennedy and his son, Congressmen Patrick Kennedy all threw their support behind Obama.

The senior senator’s support is widely coveted among Democratic contenders because of his high profile and nationwide fund-raising network.

"Like you, we too want a president who appeals to the hopes of those that still believe in the American dream and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal,” said Senator Kennedy.

"Few public servants in American history have had such a profound influence on the course of our nation,” said Obama.

Meanwhile, a former fundraiser for Obama was arrested by federal agents and is awaiting trial for fraud, extortion and money laundering. Obama says he has given the alleged dirty money to charity.

John Edwards focused on the next Democratic contest Monday. At a campaign stop in Tennesee, he talked about jobs and eliminating tax breaks for the rich.

Tennessee is one of 22 states, including New York, holding Democratic primaries next Tuesday.

Source: www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=77907

The story of Moses and The Ten Commandments is one of the oldest in recorded history, and not just in terms of its account in the Bible. Hollywood and television producers have come up with multiple interpretations, the most famous of which probably being the classic Charlton Heston version (Heston played Moses). With the advent of cable TV, however, the story of the Ten Commandments seems to get a new version every few years, with the latest set to release on DVD in February. This latest version, however, is quite different for one reason alone: it's animated. And we're giving one copy of the animated version away for free

.

To enter to win this copy of The Ten Commandments on DVD, you must be 18 years old or older and submit an entry. This contest is open to every country worldwide (America, Canada, U.K., Japan, Germany, etc.). You may submit an entry once per day through 11:59pm PST on February 29. When the contest ends we'll select one winner, send an email for address confirmation and ship the DVD upon receiving that confirmation.

Source: www.dailygame.net/news/archives/007152.php

19 isn't the classic we might have expected, but as debuts go, it's more than promising. Rating 4/5

(Review by Andy Welch)

2) Joe Jackson - Rain: "Hey, can you hear me now as I fade away and lose my ground?" So begins Invisible Man, the opening track of Rain, and from most people who'd been making music for nearly 30 years that would be an accurate self-assessment.

But the wry lyrical wit and hummability which characterised hits like It's Different For Girls and Is She Really Going Out With Him remains intact. Perhaps it's because Jackson was never really a star as such, always having a sort of weatherbeaten everyman quality about him, but he doesn't seem to have faded. No revolution, but a worthwhile album. Rating 4/5

(Review by Alex Sarll)

3) ALO - Roses And Clover: ALO - which stands for Animal Liberation Orchestra - are signed to surf-rock poster-boy Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records. Such a nugget of information should be enough to tip you off about the contents of Roses And Clover.

As you might imagine, soft acoustic tales of love and happiness are the order of the day. Think America meets Hootie And The Blowfish and you'll be in the right ball park. Being easy on the ear isn't enough, however, and much of the Californians' second album is so sickly sweet it might just rot your teeth. Plastic Bubble is especially nauseating: Rating 2/5

(Review by Andy Welch)

4) Counting Crows - August And Everything After: Deluxe Edition: Perhaps most famous as the LP that introduced the ubiquitous Mr Jones to radio playlists everywhere, there is an otherwise distinctly autumnal feel to Counting Crows' aptly-titled 1993 debut, repackaged here on the eve of its 15th anniversary with a heap of bonus material.

Adam Duritz's trademark melancholy droll speaks of love and loss, and the intricacies of keeping relationships on the tracks, through a country-tinged landscape of piano and guitars.

Of most interest to fans will be the included live CD of a 1994 Paris concert, which reveals a band getting to grips with their creativity and musicianship, and showcasing a range of familiar and long-forgotten gems. Rating: 4/5

(Review by Con Franklin)

5) Van Morrison - Tupelo Honey: Reissue: 2008 could be a defining year for Van Morrison. Although the Irishman has long been accepted as one of the rock and roll overlords, a frightening number of people would recognise only pub-rock standard Brown Eyed Girl or X Factor favourite Moondance from his extensive back catalogue.

Tupelo Honey is the first of many slated remastered re-releases this year and while it lacks the mystical, poetic nature of his career-best Astral Weeks, it bounces with energy, jittery saxophone and one of modern music's definitive voices. Rating 4/5

(Review by Rory Dollard)

6) Sons And Daughters - This Gift: Sons And Daughters' latest Bernard Butler-produced offering has a heavier, more electrified sound than their previous two albums, while still preserving their sometimes dark lyrical content and forceful rockabilly rhythms.

Like a rougher version of The Long Blondes, the former Arab Strap members have crafted a cohesive album, beginning strongly with the rugged Gilt Complex, while the thumping Darling is an obvious highlight. It's been three years since Sons And Daughters' last album, The Repulsion Box, and their cult fanbase has grown steadily since then. This Gift might just take them to the next level. Here's hoping: Rating 4/5

(Review by Mark Cook)

7) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend: Furiously hyped on both sides of the Atlantic and praised by Talking Heads' David Byrne, this New York quartet have a lot to live up to with their debut album.

Much has been made of the band's Afrobeat influences, but generally these are just perky, skittering indie-rock tunes - think The Shins or even Arcade Fire. The 11 tracks rush by in just over half an hour, defined by Christopher Tomson's frantic drumming and topped by the pretty wail of frontman Ezra Koenig.

The only dud is One (Blake's Got A New Face), while highlights include the Coral-esque Oxford Comma and the dancing strings of M79. Tinny, sugary, pretentious... And just a little magical. Rating 4/5

(Review by Ian Atherton)

8) Mars Volta - Bedlam In Goliath: Given they possess such a singular and distinctive voice in modern rock music, it seems incongruous to say the least to find the theme of the Mars Volta's latest CD is based around multiple shady encounters via the ouija board.

From the opening, Bedlam in Goliath is all encompassing of genre, from a quasi-operatic cacophony to salsa crescendos by way of prog-rock noodling. It rarely makes a soothing sound for those faint of heart or ear. Songs such as the epic Goliath, however, remain accessible through the band's keen knack for a good time groove. Rating 4/5

(Review by Patrick Gates)

9) KD Lang - Watershed: Unfairly bracketed as dinner party music on account of having been around for a while, sold a lot of records and being easy on the ear, it's easy to forget that KD Lang has a lovely voice and some pretty good songs - at least, it is if you don't sit down and listen to one of her records.

Her first album of new material since 2000's Invincible Summer, Watershed's languidly smoky late-night laments are at times reminiscent of Leonard Cohen or alt.country, at others almost jazzy. Maybe Watershed won't change the world, but it's a timeless yet affecting collection. Rating 4/5

(Review by Alex Sarll)

10) Bullet For My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire: Bullet For My Valentine's first album The Poison sold around a million copies worldwide after its release in 2005. No small feat for a Welsh metalcore band.

Scream Aim Fire is the hotly anticipated follow-up, and from the off, it's much heavier than its predecessor. Michael 'Moose' Thomas' drumming throughout never lets up, while Matthew Tuck's vocals are unrelenting. Despite the enthusiasm, however, the songs are lacking in any real quality, and the crunching, effects-laden guitars soon become tiresome. Heart Bursts Into Fire is a brief high point, but there's little else to get excited about. Rating 2/5

(Review by Andy Welch)

Source:www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=244367&com mand=displayContent&s ourceNode=244365&cont entPK=19651797&folder Pk=112383&pNodeId=188 965 

Although the longest night of the year came and went in December, darkness still arrives early in January.

When the couch or easy chair calls your name during these long evenings, consider spending those moments wrapped up in a cozy blanket, reading a book that stretches your mind. That way, you can count your couch time as an asset toward your list of New Year’s goals, instead of a liability.

To help you choose your winter reading list, we asked local booksellers to recommend their favorite books with backbone. Read on for their suggestions.

Politics and economics

It seems as if this year’s presidential election is weighing heavy on the minds of the booksellers at Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing (3415 S.W. Cedar Hills Blvd.), because several of their book suggestions centered on economics and politics.

Bookseller Phil Clark recommended “Cracking the Code: How to Win Hearts, Change Minds and Restore America’s Original Vision” by local author Thom Hartmann.

Hartmann’s previous book, “Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class – And What We Can Do About It,” won a silver medal in the 2007 Independent Publisher Book Awards. He is also the host of a nationally syndicated Air America radio program and of a daily morning show on Portland’s KPOJ radio.

The “code” Hartmann refers to in the title of his latest book is the code of communication. Most of us, he believes, are “unconsciously incompetent” communicators.

“Cracking the Code” promises to teach readers how to become more effective communicators: how to tell a story, to whom to tell that story and why. Armed with these communication tools, Hartmann’s readers should be better able to dissect and react to political messages.

Hartmann writes: “Some politicians’ efforts at persuasion are conscious, intentional, systematic and, of necessity, deceptive because they don’t share the worldview held by the majority of Americans. To respond, the rest of us must learn to communicate more effectively.”

On Jan. 22, the Washington County Peak Oil Reading Group, which meets monthly on fourth Tuesdays at the Cedar Hills Powell’s, will discuss “Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future,” by global warming activist Bill McKibben.

In “Deep Economy,” McKibben argues that “more” is no longer “better” for the global economy. Because of the uneven distribution of wealth, fixating on bigger and faster economic growth doesn’t serve the best interests of the majority of the world’s population.

McKibben also points out that “simple, cheap, concentrated power lies at the heart of our modern economies” – i.e. fossil fuels. Experts project that we will deplete the world’s supply of fossil fuels in the not-so-distant future, using up what McKibben calls “a onetime gift that underwrote a onetime binge of growth.”

One of the Cedar Hills Powell’s managers, Frank Payne, suggested readers pick up “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism,” by Naomi Klein, a choice which was seconded by Will Peters, the book buyer at Annie Bloom’s Books in Multnomah Village (7834 S.W. Capitol Highway).

Klein is an award-winning journalist whose column for The Nation and The Guardian is syndicated internationally. About four years ago, Klein began investigating the free market’s response to shocking events like war, terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

She traveled to Baghdad, to Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami, and to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. She found that businesses were treating these tragedies as economic opportunities, using the public’s disorientation after these massive collective shocks to achieve control.

Klein wrote: “By the time Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, it was clear that this was now the preferred method of advancing corporate goals: using moments of collective trauma to engage in radical social and economic engineering.”

Peters, Annie Bloom’s book buyer, says that “The Shock Doctrine” is a very important book “in this age, as the world is increasingly globalized.”

The culture of food

Have you ever talked with a child who thinks that carrots originate in plastic bags, or that fish are square, because that’s the shape of frozen fish sticks? At first it seems funny, but if you stop and think about how far removed most of our food is from its original state, odds are that your smile will fade fast.

Our diets today are mostly made up of what author Michael Pollan describes as “edible foodlike substances,” processed packages of nutrients that our great-great grandmothers wouldn’t even recognize as food.

As a result, we no longer know how to eat. We rely on a plethora of “experts” with their own agendas to tell us what we should and shouldn’t eat, how much, and even when we should eat it.

In his latest release, “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” Pollan aims to answer the questions raised in his previous book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.” Can we reclaim the joy of eating while supporting our communities and protecting the environment?

Payne, a manager at the Cedar Hills Powell’s, and Annie Bloom’s book buyer, Peters, both feel that this is an intriguing book.

As Peters puts it, “It should be thought-provoking for anyone, as everyone eats.”

Concerned by many of the same issues that Pollan addresses – such as the fact that the average American meal travels about 1,500 miles before it reaches the end consumer – best-selling author Barbara Kingsolver and her family decided to spend one year procuring as much of their food as possible from their back yard, or from neighboring farms.

Kingsolver, her husband, and her 19-year-old daughter all contributed to “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,” which is part journalistic investigation and part memoir of the family’s year of eating local. The book comes recommended by Brandi Rinauro, a bookseller at the Cedar Hills Powell’s.

Finally, if you’re interested in learning more about how we came to eat the way we do, check out “Kitchen Literacy: How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes From and Why We Need to Get it Back,” by Oregon author Ann Vileisis.

By studying old cookbooks and historic advertisements, Vileisis chronicled the changes in how our nation has shopped, cooked and thought about food over two centuries.

If none of the above titles pique your interest, stop by your neighborhood bookstore and ask what’s new in your favorite section. Or visit www.booksense.com to find the Book Sense Picks, a monthly selection of eclectic new books chosen by independent booksell.

Source: www.tigardtimes.com/features/story.php?story_id=120103625286 213300

The Republican knock on John McCain is that he is a Republican beloved only by Democrats and reporters.

The Democratic knock on McCain is that he is the Republican they would least like to face in the fall.

Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, is seated with former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, left, at Baker Manufacturing Co., which makes spas and tubs, during a discussion on the economy in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008. (AP)

Those aren’t hard knocks for McCain to take right now.

Republican primary voters seem to be finding ways to vote for him. As they come to believe he is the candidate Democrats fear most, they'll probably find it even easier to vote for him in the coming primaries. And John McCain will be the nominee of the party he invited himself to so rudely.

The perennial McCain-haters in the party’s pseudo-establishment and right wings might cry in their milk if McCain is the nominee. But they’ll be joined by Democrats of all wings.

A McCain nomination would provide many amusing ironies. The one that would be most vexing for the disorganized assemblage known as the Democratic Party is this: the 2008 Republican primaries have been uniquely un-Republican - lacking an early front-runner, unpredictable and divisive - yet they produced the party’s strongest possible general election candidate.

The irony for Republicans is that the mischievous, anti-authoritarian party gadfly they thought they had offed in the summer of ’07 might save their elephant hide in the fall of ’08.

Intra-party popularity can be overrated. Many Democrats were downright embarrassed by Jimmy Carter in 1976. Many Republicans - especially those endangered creatures once called “moderate Republicans” - were mortified by Ronald Reagan in 1980. And Democrats were freshly disenchanted with Gennifer Flowers’ lover boy in 1992. You get the idea.

Democrats would prefer not to run against McCain because of his well-known appeal to independents. You wouldn’t know it from listening to cable news, but roughly a third of the American electorate is independent (32 percent in the latest CBS poll). America isn’t red and blue. And these independent voters, oddly enough, are the ones who tend to be open-minded. Attracting them in a general election is a good thing if you’re interested in victory. (Traditionally, Republicans are rather more interested in victory than Democrats).

In New Hampshire, for example, a jumbo 44 percent of the voters in the Democratic primary called themselves independents. In the Republican primary, 37 percent were independents and 40 percent of that crowd went for John McCain.

Four national surveys this month have polled to see how John McCain and Hillary Clinton would run against each other. McCain won in three of the four polls. In polls pitting her against Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani (three polls each), Clinton won every time. (McCain batted only .500 in the four match-ups with Barack Obama, who also appeals to independents.)

Horserace polls so far ahead of the election mean very little but they do illuminate why Democrats aren’t as happy as they might otherwise be.

After all, Democrats, the polls say, like their candidates very much. Their top two candidates are well-funded. They have had a consistent front-runner and she dramatically fought off a challenger in New Hampshire and appears strong going in to Super Tuesday. The economic news keeps getting worse, which is ordinarily disastrous for the incumbent party. And the war in Iraq, which McCain has consistently and adamantly backed, keeps going and Americans keep dying there.

Democrats should be happy but they aren’t.

Democrats aren’t happy because of John McCain.

Republicans aren’t happy because of John McCain.
I expect Republicans will change their minds long before the Democrats.

Source: www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/23/op inion/meyer/main3746433.shtml

On one hand, it allows artists to get heard without the backing of a record company. On the other, it can rush an artist to fame before they know what has hit them or have time to scramble together their expected debut album.

 Few know this better than British music's new it-girl, Kate Nash.

"With me it came fast, I thought, 'I don't know if I want this or if I am ready for this'. But you have to roll with it," Nash said yesterday from her Sydney hotel, where she is among a contingent of international artists in town for tomorrow's Big Day Out music festival.

"But I also have been able to determine how I am presented, I have connected with my fans and say this is what I am."

After abandoning at 18 her first dream of becoming an actor, Nash was given a guitar and began to write and record songs.

Like Lily Allen - who played last year's Big Day Out festival and with whom Nash is most often compared, because of their opinionated lyrics and Cockney accents - Nash rose to fame quickly via her MySpace site.

Within a year she had a hit single, followed by a record deal and debut album last year, Made Of Bricks.

"Lily Allen has been really cool and I really like her but there is a lot of grouping of girls in the same category. Now other girls are being told they are just like Kate Nash. It is like, 'Well done, girls, female singer-songwriters are back in fashion.' "

While fellow British music it-girls, including Nash's schoolmate Amy Winehouse, buckle under the pressure of fame, 20-year-old Nash still lives with her parents in a suburb on the outskirts of London.

"You have to try and keep your feet on the ground and make sure you keep your friends around you and your family … You can't let the whole celebrity thing make you crazy, you can't go and get all f---ed up on drugs."

Source:campbelltown.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=lifestyle%20new s&subclass=relax& story_id=1168454&cate gory=music

VALHALLA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FUJIFILM U.S.A., Inc. is showcasing a broad spectrum of imaging solutions at the PMA 2008 Annual Convention and Trade Show under its banner, “Fujifilm. Expand the World of Imaging.” The theme reinforces Fujifilm’s continuing commitment to create innovative imaging products and solutions for businesses and professionals by introducing new high-value products and services to the changing imaging marketplace.

“Fujifilm is a company that has demonstrated, through its history and its actions, that it is committed to the success of our retail customers, to the culture of photography, and advancing the imaging space through continuous innovation and new product offerings,” said Hiro Sakai, president and chief executive officer, FUJIFILM U.S.A., Inc. “The solutions we introduce at PMA this year -- from very exciting new digital cameras, to a wide range of printing solutions for retailers and Professional labs – demonstrate that we remain focused on helping our customers generate more revenue through photography.”

At PMA 2008, Fujifilm unveils new FinePix consumer digital cameras, a new One-Time-Use Camera, new photo paper, and the latest advances to expand Fujifilm’s Frontier Solutions.

Expanding the World of Picture Taking

FinePix Digital Cameras

2008 marks the 10^th Anniversary Year for the FinePix digital camera brand. Fujifilm’s FinePix cameras have been the source for such digital imaging innovations as Fujifilm’s uniquely designed Super CCD image sensor, High Sensitivity, and Face Detection.

At PMA 2008, Fujifilm will showcase the latest advances in its camera technology in two special models -- the FinePix S100FS and the FinePix F100fd. Both of these new FinePix models are powered by Fujifilm’s new 8^th Generation Super CCD image sensors and RP (Real Photo) Processor III, Dual Image Stabilization and deliver an extremely Wide Dynamic Range. The powerhouse-model FinePix F100fd features Face Detection 3.0, allowing for the detection of up to 10 human faces in a scene in as little as 0.036 seconds.

Fujifilm will shine a spotlight on the latest additions to its phenomenally well-received FinePix Z series. Known for sleek and stylish design, the debut of last year’s FinePix Z10fd created a buzz in the Gen “Z” set among teens and young adults. The Z10fd, specially designed for this demographic also broke ground with a feature set catering to the digital native lifestyle, such as blog mode, picture beaming, and auction mode. This year Fujifilm introduces the FinePix Z20fd, a new ultra-glamorous digital camera in four luminous colors. Fujifilm will also showcase successful FinePix Z100fd, the most “grown up” model in the Z line.

Two additions to Fujifilm’s award-winning S series – the S8100fd and S1000fd -- represent the most advanced SLR-styled FinePix models yet, boasting long zoom lenses and powerful image processors in cameras that deliver SLR functionality with the convenience of Fujifilm’s fixed-lens technology. With the introduction of the FinePix J10 and FinePix J50, Fujifilm introduces a new series of affordable models that don’t compromise on features.

All seven new models feature a versatile xD/SD Media Compatible Slot, and Fujifilm will display its full line of award-winning FinePix professional and consumer digital cameras at the show.

One-Time-Use Cameras

The world’s most famous cat says “cheese” as he makes his debut on the new Garfield™ One-Time-Use camera. Garfield follows a list of celebrity characters that have become a core part of the QuickSnap marketing strategy, making photography fun for picture takers of all ages.

Medium-Format Film Camera

In a special exhibit, Fujifilm will feature a prototype of a new portable medium-format film camera. Even as the company innovates in digital imaging technology, Fujifilm remains true to its heritage and to the acknowledged superior image quality delivered by professional photographic film products. Fujifilm is committed to further expanding the world of imaging whether in digital or analog technologies.

Expanding the World of Printing

Expanding Frontier Solutions

Fujifilm continues to build on its Expanding Frontier Solutions effort to bring the best imaging technology and workflow solutions to meet the varied and changing needs of retailers. From the first Fujifilm Frontier digital minilab that was introduced in 1996, has come a vast national digital printing infrastructure that today allows retailers and commercial labs to serve their customers with much more than a photo print. Today the Frontier solution includes consumer-facing input terminals, retailer web sites, kiosks, silver halide, ink-jet, dye sublimation, and xerography printing solutions -- all brought together by Frontier Workflow Management and Fujifilm’s proprietary Image Intelligence. Through Fujifilm’s Expanding Frontier Solutions effort, the industry standard of Frontier Quality is delivered, regardless of the input or output devices our customers choose.

Frontier Digital Lab Systems

At PMA 2008, Fujifilm introduces the newest additions to its standard-setting Frontier digital lab systems. The Frontier 750, 770 and 790 are the latest generation of Frontiers and feature a small body, updated image controller software, Image Intelligence and easy-to-use operation. The Frontier Series is renowned for delivering high quality prints from both analog and digital sources.

Fujifilm’s new Frontier Dry Minilab 400 is a completely dry ink-jet digital lab system for retail photo lab operations that will allow both new market entrants and traditional photofinishers to provide an affordable and flexible dry printing solution. Incorporating Image Intelligence, Frontier Dry Minilab 400 gives customers excellent Frontier Quality prints. The Frontier Dry Minilab 400 is an ideal start-up printing solution for supermarkets, drugstores, consumer electronics stores, convenience stores, or an excellent addition to an existing photofinishing lab.

Specialty Photo Printing Solutions

Fujifilm has expanded its collaboration with Xerox and will continue to offer retailers new ways to make photo specialty products on-site, including photo books, photo calendars, greeting cards and more, using the Xerox Phaser® 7760 tabloid color laser printer and the new Xerox DocuColor® 242/252/260 digital color printer/copier. The Xerox Phaser 7760 is compatible with Fujifilm kiosks and minilabs and uses Fujifilm’s Image Intelligence technology to provide the highest-quality images. The Xerox DocuColor 242/252/260 is a high-speed printer offering impressive image quality at 2400 x 2400 dpi, and is capable of printing on a wide range of substrates, up to 110 lb cover/300 g/m².

Retail & Professional Printing Solutions

In addition to the Fujifilm V5 Get Pix Kiosk terminal, Fujifilm will introduce the new GetPix^TM F6 Kiosk Terminal. The F6 terminal offers retailers an affordable and flexible solution without sacrificing functionality or speed. The low total cost of ownership with F6 is enhanced by a small footprint and lab quality print that are created using Fujifilm’s patented Image Intelligence Technology.

Fujifilm is also introducing new kiosk terminal and management software enhancements including: GetPix Kiosk Terminal Software “TS”, and Frontier Workflow Management Software “MS.” Fujifilm’s continued investment in research and development includes software advances that enhance usability for consumers and lab operators. The company remains committed to creating the industry’s best solutions to increase retail and lab business growth.

The standard-setting Fujicolor Crystal Archive Paper line also will see an addition at PMA 2008 with the introduction of Fujicolor Crystal Archive Preferred Paper. This new advance in the Fujifilm Crystal Archive line yields high quality glossy prints with the distinctive physical characteristics of a golden Fujicolor Crystal Archive back print with a thicker, stiffer base, for both digital and analog printers. Fujifilm also introduces its new single-part color Film Developer, a reformulated color film fixer, specifically formulated for reduced film processing volume, as well as its new Enviro Chem Photo Lab Cleaner, to meet the needs of today’s retail photo lab operators.

Professional Labs and Studio Photography Solutions

Fujifilm also renews its commitment to the culture of photography with a number of new software solutions including ID Link, ID Merge and LiteBox. In collaboration with Halse Imaging Systems, this suite of new school and event photography software for professional photographers and new workflow software for professional finishing labs are designed to help professional photographers link images together with data and products, and enable fulfillment by labs to streamline workflow and improve picture quality.

To capitalize on the growing market for photo identification, Fujifilm is introducing its own photo I.D. solution, the IP-10 Digital Photo ID system. The IP10 Digital Photo ID system incorporates the FinePix F480 digital camera, Fujifilm’s ImaVge Intelligence™ technology and a dye-sublimation printer for a turn-key passport photo ID production solution.

Home Printing Solutions

Fujifilm is introducing its new inkjet paper, Premium Plus Photo Paper line, developed using manufacturing technologies derived from the company’s nearly 80 year history in thin film coating manufacturing. The product incorporates features that result in an inkjet paper that offers “real photo quality” with excellent durability, and compatibility with all consumer ink jet printers.

Internet-Based Printing Solutions

Get the Picture Online Service (GTPOS)

Since the launch of GTPOS in 2003, participating retailers have seen growth in their digital photofinishing business as Fujifilm has expanded marketing partnerships with brands like Microsoft, Verizon, AT&T and others to drive online picture ordering. The latest GTPOS offerings will be highlighted at PMA 2008.

Heirloom-Class Photo Products

Fujifilm’s wholesale labs, FujiColor Processing are introducing a complete line of Heirloom-class Photo Products at PMA 2008. High quality portrait and commemorative product offerings can be ordered through GTPOS at www.yourpix.com.

ip.labs

Fujifilm’s recently announced acquisition of ip.labs, the Germany-based photo software development firm, will strengthen Fujifilm’s online photo creativity capabilities. New and unique consumer interface designs, and next-generation photo book and specialty product design templates will give retailers a whole new range of offerings for their customers. Visitors to the Fujifilm booth will get a first-hand look at Fujifilm ip.labs.

Fujifilm will be showcasing the full portfolio of imaging technologies and services in its booth at PMA (#E100). For more information or hi-res images, call 800-800-FUJI or go to www.fujifilmusa.com/pma.

About FUJIFILM U.S.A., Inc.

FUJIFILM U.S.A. Inc., is a marketing subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, providing digital and analog photographic Imaging Systems, Recording/Storage Media and Motion Picture Film products and services to consumers, professionals and businesses. For more information on Fujifilm U.S.A. products, customers can call 800-800-FUJI or visit www.fujifilmusa.com. To receive news and information direct from Fujifilm U.S.A. via RSS, subscribe free at www.fujifilmusa.com/rss.

About FUJIFILM

Fujifilm Corporation (NASDAQ: FUJI) brings continuous innovation and leading-edge products to a broad spectrum of imaging industries including medical, life sciences, consumer electronic, chemical, graphic arts, information systems, photography and office products based on its vast portfolio of digital, optical, fine chemical and thin film coating technologies. It was ranked number 15 for U.S. patents granted in 2006, employs more than 75,000 people worldwide and in the year ended March 31, 2007, had global revenues of $23.6 billion. For more information, please visit www.fujifilmholdings.com.

Souce:www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/in dex.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&a mp;newsId=20080123006472& amp;newsLang=en

NEW YORK (AP) -- Six different types of prescription drugs were found in Heath Ledger's apartment - including anti-anxiety medications and sleeping pills - though the cause of his death won't be known for several days after a preliminary autopsy Wednesday came back inconclusive, authorities said.

A rolled-up $20 bill was also found on the floor near the Australian actor's bed, but lab tests detected no traces of drug residue. Police also said no illegal drugs were found in the apartment.

Among the prescription medications found were pills to treat insomnia and anxiety, and an antihistamine, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. Three of the drugs were prescribed in Europe, the sources said. Ledger had recently been filming in London.

The $20 bill was found on the floor near Ledger's bed, and New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said lab tests found nothing to indicate it had been used to snort drugs.

The actor was found dead Tuesday by his housekeeper and a massage therapist - lying naked and face-down on his bed, police said. The pills were found in bottles in Ledger's bedroom and bathroom, and police said the death was caused by a possible drug overdose and appeared to be accidental.

Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office, said that the autopsy on the 28-year-old actor was inconclusive and that more would be known in about 10 days, when more tests were completed.

Police said Ledger probably died Tuesday between 1 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. At 1 p.m., the housekeeper went into his bedroom to change a light bulb, saw him sleeping and heard him snoring.

At 2:45 p.m., the massage therapist showed up for Ledger's appointment, knocked on his door and got no answer. She later noticed Ledger was unconscious and called actress Mary-Kate Olsen, whose number was programmed into Ledger's cell phone, to seek advice.

Olsen said she would send over her private security. In the ensuing moments, the massage therapist realized that Ledger might be dead, called Olsen again, then called 911. Paramedics - and Olsen's security people - arrived minutes later.

News of the death stunned relatives, fans and colleagues.

"Working with Heath was one of the purest joys of my life," said Ang Lee, who directed Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain." "He brought to the role of Ennis more than any of us could have imagined - a thirst for life, for love and for truth, and a vulnerability that made everyone who knew him love him. His death is heartbreaking."

Lee Daniels, who produced the critically acclaimed "Monster's Ball," in which Ledger starred, strongly disputed any notion that Ledger had a drug problem.

"The definition of substance abuse is really up to one's perspective," Daniels said. "I didn't see him as a drug addict. I saw him as someone who enjoyed life. I know drug addicts; he was not a drug addict."

He said that he saw Ledger a couple months ago and that he was in great spirits. "He was in a good mood, he was in a great place ... he was excited about living in New York."

Before moving to Manhattan, Ledger lived in Brooklyn with then-girlfriend Michelle Williams in a four-story, sage-green brownstone with a black wrought-iron fence. Yellow tulips with red stripes were among the bouquets left by well-wishers Wednesday.

At the Brawta Caribbean Cafe two blocks from the residence, owner Jennifer Ewers said Ledger was a frequent guest who always ordered jerk chicken, rice and beans, and sorrel.

"He was a perfect gentleman. He comes in here with his hoodie on, reads a book, and gives you a peace sign," she said. "He was always with his daughter, playing hide-and-seek among the plants, or on his skateboard, peeking his head in."

Fans left flowers and candles Wednesday outside Ledger's apartment in the tony SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan on Wednesday. Khaled Ali, 41, a stage manager for a Broadway show, dropped off a candle on his way to work, saying he and fellow cast members were devastated.

"I felt a connection with him as an actor, as a fellow in the theater community," he said. "With `Brokeback Mountain' he touched me personally in telling the story of my community. It was very touching."

Ledger was known for grueling, intense roles that became his trademark after he got his start in teen movies like "10 Things I Hate About You." Thereafter, he avoided the easy path in favor of roles that forced him to bury his Australian accent and downplay his leading-man looks: the tormented gay cowboy Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain"; a drug addict in "Candy"; an incarnation of Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There."

Playing the Joker in the upcoming Batman movie "The Dark Knight" may be his final finished performance.

Ledger split last year from Williams, who played his wife in "Brokeback." The two had a daughter, the now 2-year-old Matilda. Wednesday evening, Williams and Matilda returned to their Brooklyn home from Trollhattan, Sweden. The 27-year-old actress had been shooting scenes for the film "Mammoth," said Martin Stromberg, a spokesman for film production company Memfis Film.

"She received the news at her hotel late last night," Stromberg said, adding he had not spoken to the actress after she learned of Ledger's death.

A day after Ledger's death, at least six TV satellite trucks were parked on the block or around the corner from his Manhattan apartment, with a stream of TV reporters doing their standups. There were bouquets, letters and candles piled in front of the building.

A handwritten letter on plain white paper anchored by votive candles read:

"Heath, how could anyone hate 10 things about you. We couldn't find one bad thing about you. God bless your soul, you're in our prayers."

Source:herald-zeitung.com/wire.lasso?report=/dynamic/sto ries/H/HEATH_LEDGER&- session=HeraldZeitung:40D A3C4E0301438537HmK2C3F1E6

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THE SUPREME Court’s decision not to grant a domestic worker long-term residency will lead to ‘chaos’ and ‘gridlock’ in the courts, immigrant support group KISA warned yesterday.

KISA officials predicted the highest court’s latest ruling on migrants would open the floodgates for 8,000 new cases, leading to absolute chaos in the courts, as well as expose the state to charges of violating EU laws.

Last Monday, the full bench (12 judges) of the Supreme Court gave its final verdict in Motilla vs Republic of Cyprus. The Supreme Court had to decide whether a domestic worker who had completed five uninterrupted years of legal residency in Cyprus was entitled to a long-term residency permit as set out by EU Directive 2003/109/EC. The permit effectively grants non-EU nationals who are long-term residents of the EU similar rights to EU citizens, including free movement across the 27-member bloc.

The permit has to be renewed every five years, though the second application procedure is much easier than the first.

The appeal was rejected by a majority (eight judges) on the grounds that domestic workers and other such migrants did not come to Cyprus with the ‘expectation’ they would receive long-term residency.

The Court ruled that the EU directive only applied where migrants stayed in Cyprus under conditions that created good reasons to expect long-term residency, for example, where the state did not intervene in any way to prevent their uninterrupted and permanent stay.

It did not apply in the case of students, seasonal workers or au pair girls. Domestic workers also were not eligible because they were considered ‘temporarily resident’ in Cyprus as part of the government’s long-standing policy on temporary work and stay. No ‘expectation of permanent residence’ was created through this policy, on the contrary, their stay was ‘formally limited’, said the court.

In a statement released yesterday, KISA expressed its “grave concern” about the decision, arguing it would exclude all migrant workers from long-term residency. “With the blessings of the Supreme Court, the overwhelming majority of migrants cannot benefit from the provisions of the Directive as almost all residence permits are formally limited,” it said.

KISA asked why the Supreme Court saw fit to give its own interpretation of the Directive when the European Court of Justice was solely competent to interpret Community law. It had an obligation to seek clarification from the European Court instead of interpreting EU law itself “in a negative manner and decisively for the rights of thousands of third-country nationals who have submitted or will submit applications for acquiring long-term status”.

The NGO said it had no choice but to “denounce the Republic of Cyprus and its agencies, including the Supreme Court, to the European Commission for violation of the Community law”. It also called on all migrants, trade unions and organised groups to mobilise against this policy.

One KISA official noted that the decision would allow the state to reject all long-term residents’ applications. As a result, migrant applicants would have no choice but to appeal these decisions, giving them a legal footing to remain in the country until the appeals are heard or until the European Court rules on the legality of the government’s policy.

“We will write to the Commission [today], it will likely take a year and a half for the case to be heard, until that time the 8,000 migrants seeking long-term residence will have no choice but to appeal to the Supreme Court as a delaying tactic until the European Court rules on this,” said the official.

KISA warned that the decision would have a chain reaction on migration. The group predicted migrants without papers and asylum applications would increase as well as “the super-exploitation of the affected migrants by the various rings and ‘specialists’ ”.

The Interior Ministry implemented the law on long-term residents last November, almost two years after it came into force across the bloc. At the time, non-governmental organisations accused the government of delaying tactics. Lawyers and NGOs charged the authorities with conducting a ‘cleansing campaign’ to get rid of third country nationals eligible for long-term status, including families that had been in Cyprus for over a decade.

In November 2006, their fears were confirmed in a damning report by the Ombudswoman against the Migration Department. In her report, Iliana Nicolaou concluded there was an apparent “effort to expel” foreigners who were eligible for long-term residency benefits. She accused the state of practices that were
“incompatible with the rule of law” to which EU member states are bound.

Eventually, under threat of EU fines, the state opened a new department where applications could be submitted.

Source:http://www.cyprus-mail.com/ne...;cat_id=1

Senior executives from the Jumeirah Group, Emirates Airline and HSBC last week provided insight on how national companies make the transition to become global brands at an exclusive business forum hosted by The Capital Club, the flagship club of Signature Clubs International located within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

“Taking a company or brand global poses tough issues and choices,” explained Andrew Christon, General Manager of the Capital Club. “Hearing firsthand from brand leaders such as the Jumeirah Group on how they have addressed these challenges to garner international visibility and market share was an invigorating experience for the decision-makers who attended the forum.”

Held in the Capital Club’s Signature Dining Room, members engaged in a dynamic debate with Gerald Lawless, Executive Chairman of Jumeirah Group and his team of panellists - Mr Maurice Flanagan, Executive Vice Chairman & Group President of Emirates Airline & Group President and Mr Youssef Nasr, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited – and discussed the vision, branding and growth strategies required to reach an increasingly globalized market.

During the discussion, Lawless outlined plans for Jumeirah Group to increase its global portfolio of luxury hotels and resorts to more than 60 by 2012.

Mr Gerald Lawless’ presentation was the latest fixture of the Capital Club’s speakers’ programme, which has previously hosted among others H.E. Dr. Omar, Governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre; former Costa Rican President and CEO of Grupo Felipe IV in Spain, José María Figueres; and acclaimed business advisor, speaker, and author Ram Charan.

The Capital Club, launched late 2006, is opening this quarter in the DIFC’s Gate Village.

Source: www.dubaicityguide.com/geninfo/news_dtls.asp?newsid=10875

The latest build of the next version of Windows, currently labouring under the awkward title of Windows 7 Milestone 1 Build 6.1.6519.1, seems to be available for select people to trial if a post to Neowin's forums is to be believed.

A member going by the handle kenipnet posted a message detailing his experiences with this newest build of the next-gen OS to the Windows Beta Discussion section of Neowin's forums. The user started with the rather unpromising revelation that a he had to supply a SATA driver before the installer would continue, but perhaps that's to be expected on such an early release – drivers are unlikely to be bundled much before the RC stage.

After getting the install to run on his laptop, the poster then ran into problems with no driver for his graphics card – so no Aero Version 2 to stare at. Nevertheless, he was able to declare the GUI as being “very much like Vista” but with the gadget sidebar being ditched in favour of direct integration into the Explorer shell. He also describes a new gadget that plugs into Windows Media Center and “displays now playing information from the WMC.”

Support for XAML fonts has made it into Windows 7, it would seem, although under the heading “Composite Fonts”. A feedback tool included in the build claims that Microsoft is looking to “fine tune this release” with the changes from Vista being compared as similar to the changes from Windows 2000 to Windows XP. The tool also highlights some of the fascinating new features, including improved tools for connecting to networks, a Live Account which carries your IE settings and favourites over to other computers and, best of all, improved versions of Calc, Paint, and Wordpad.

Strangely, the post was deleted by kenipnet after going to all the effort of trialling the software: thankfully, a cached version lives on courtesy of another forum member.

Anyone out there know anything about this build, or even has a copy that they're trying out? Or do you think it's all just lies and bluffs? Give us a shout over in the forums.

Source: www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/01/23/windo ws_7_build_leaked/1

A 32-year-old man from Vietnam's northern Tuyen Quang province died from bird flu, local newspaper Youth reported Wednesday.

The man named Tran Van Dong from Son Duong district ate dead fowls, developed bird flu symptoms on Jan. 16, and died on Jan. 18. His specimens were initially tested positive to bird flu virus H5N1, the newspaper quoted its unspecified source as reporting.

Suffering from severe pneumonia and his weakened viscera, the man from Cao Lan ethnic group was admitted to the Tropical Disease Hospital in Hanoi on Jan. 16. Earlier, he and some of his family members slaughtered and ate dead fowls raised by them for meal.

In late December 2007, after detecting no human cases of bird flu infections for nearly four months, Vietnam's Health Ministry confirmed that a four-year-old boy from Moc Chau district, northern Son La province died from bird flu on Dec. 16, 2007.

The boy died after being admitted to the National Hospital of Pediatrics in Hanoi on Dec. 14, 2007. He was treated at a hospital in the district on Dec. 12, 2007 after showing signs of fever and pneumonia.

Vietnam has confirmed a total of 101 human cases of bird flu infections, including 47 fatalities, since the disease started to hit the country in December 2003. The country has yet to confirm the latest human case of bird flu infection.　

Source:english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/90880/6343 801.html 

Just because the Federal Reserve lowered key interest rates yesterday doesn't mean the state of New Jersey and hundreds of towns are off the hook.

Thanks to turbulence in the once-obscure market for bond insurance, interest rates could still end up rising for local governments, making it more expensive to borrow money for everything from sewage plants to new parks.

In some respects, this is devastating," said Noreen White, co-president of the Acacia Financial Group of Montclair and Marlton, a financial advisory firm to New Jersey municipalities.

Yesterday, Ambac Financial group, one of the biggest bond insurers, said it lost $3.3 billion in the fourth quarter because it backed risky mortgages that have since gone bad. That followed a move by Fitch Investor's Service to lower its bond rating to "AA."

The latest developments are another sign the full extent of the damage caused by subprime mortgage losses is still unknown. It also is shedding light on a small industry of eight companies who have guaranteed roughly half of the $2.6 trillion in outstanding municipal bonds, the financial lifeblood for many communities.

Bond insurers analyze the ability of a state, city, county or school district to collect taxes or other revenue and repay bond holders. If the insurer agrees to issue a policy, the government agency benefits from the insurer's strong credit rating, which makes it less expensive to borrow money.

Over the years, bond insurers expanded from government bonds to asset-backed securities and other complex debt instruments. The "perfect storm" that has hit the subprime mortgage market was more severe than bond insurers anticipated, leaving them with enormous liabilities.

What has government officials worried is the decline in Ambac's debt rating, which means they may have to pay higher interest on bonds guaranteed by Ambac. When a bond insurer's rating goes down, the interest rate on the bonds they guarantee can go up, and the savings achieved by buying the triple-A guarantee evaporates.

"We have been in the process of evaluating our entire portfolio of insured floating rate debt on a day-by-day basis for the past 30 days," said Nancy Feldman, director of the state's Office of Public Finance. "This could be a short-term phenomenon.

"The hard part is determining the cost it would take to change our credit providers compared to the cost of paying more interest today."

New Jersey's $30 billion in fixed and variable rate debt is rated "AA" by Standard & Poor's and a comparable Aaa3 by Moody's. Ambac insures about $700 million in variable rate debt for the state.

Experts said it could get expensive for towns whose ratings are less than triple-A.

"In New Jersey, there are very few AAA municipalities, school districts or water and sewer authorities," said White, the executive with Acacia Financial. "The vast majority of these entities are in the A category, or low AA category, so it is going to cost them more money to finance their projects.

 Source:www.nj.com/business/ledger/index .ssf?/base/business-8/1201 06653250020.xml&coll=1

A report in ‘The Register’ claims that BT’s broadband service, provided through its Home Hub scheme, could be vulnerable to hacking when customers make a call routed over the internet.

This could allow an attacker to make calls on the user’s machine, using a false number, according to the report. The hacker could then gain personal details by pretending to be a bank official - an attack known as phishing.

The vulnerability was identified by ethical hacking website GNUCitizen.

Following the report BT disabled the Remote Assistance feature, which patched the original vulnerability.

Later, BT issued a statement to the Register stating: “There’s no risk whatsoever of any ‘VoIP hijacking’ in relation to the Home Hub - we closed this theoretical exploit about three firmware upgrades ago and the purported exploit doesn’t work on the latest version.”

BT commenced its latest firmware update on 12 December 2007 and the BT Home Hub is updated automatically. It can take a few weeks before reaching all BT Home Hubs.

Source:www.voip-news.co.uk/2008/01/22/bt-denies-h ome-hub-open-to-hacking/

Manila, Philippines -- ThinkPad X Series is ideal for users who need an ultraportable notebook but refuse to sacrifice durability or performance. X Series notebooks can be equipped with Genuine Windows Vista, the latest dual-core processors and Wireless WAN capability. New ThinkPad X61 and X61s models even feature innovative battery controls to help you work longer unplugged, plus advances in security and available Intel Centrino Pro processor technology.

Success built in
ThinkPad X Series notebooks are the ultimate business tools for professionals who are constantly on the move and who need to stay productive — whenever, wherever. The newest models, the ThinkPad X61 and ThinkPad X61s, offer extremely long battery life in a small form factor that makes it easy to carry your business with you. Multiple connection options can help you stay connected all the time, and powerful Intel Core2 Duo processors deliver performance for even the most processor-intensive tasks, such as VoIP calls or heavy data analysis.

Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology can deliver a wide variety of benefits, including true parallel processing when running multi-threaded applications or multiple applications simultaneously. And on select X61 and X61s models, the Intel Centrino Pro platform provides hardware-based security and enhanced manageability, along with exceptional performance and outstanding mobility.

Fast, easy connectivity
Select ThinkPad X Series notebooks feature up to six built-in communications capabilities: Wi-Fi wireless, WWAN, Bluetooth technology, Ethernet, 56Kmodem and Infrared port (X60 models only). High-speed Gigabit Ethernet
connectivity is also featured on select models.

Incredible battery life, plus new custom battery controls Get up to 10 hours or more of battery life on X Series models equipped with the 8-cell system battery plus an optional ThinkPad X60 Series Extended Life Battery, which attaches via the docking connector. Select ThinkPad X61s models can run up to 12.5 hours with this same configuration.

Environmental commitment
Lenovo is committed to protecting our natural environment; our products have long been known for being environmentally friendly. And now we're especially proud that our latest notebooks carry the new Energy Star 4.0 label attesting to their superior efficiency and low emissions.

Source:www.hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?id=9766&cid=9

BAGHDAD (AP) - A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in front of a high school north of Baghdad on Tuesday, wounding 22 people including students and teachers a day after a deadly attack on a funeral.
The attack came about 8:30 a.m., just as students were arriving for the beginning of the school day. Bystanders and at least one police officer were also wounded in the bombing, according to a policeman who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals.
The target of the latest bombing was unclear: The school is next to the provincial governor's office and a municipal building in Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
Baqouba is the turbulent capital of Diyala province, which has defied a nationwide trend toward lower violence over the past six months. One reason for the continued bloodshed in Diyala is that al-Qaida in Iraq fighters fled there after Sunni insurgents and clansmen joined with American troops to oust them from much of Baghdad and Anbar province to the west.
However, the Diyala attack followed three suicide attacks in as many days in Sunni Arab areas thought to have been largely rid of al-Qaida militants.
U.S. commanders credit anti-al-Qaida fighters from Sunni groups, a six-month cease-fire by a Shiite militia and the dispatch of 30,000 additional U.S. soldiers last year for the reduction in violence. But there has been an uptick in high-profile bombings in recent weeks, suggesting al-Qaida remains a potent threat.
On Monday, a suicide bomber apparently targeting a senior security official blew himself up inside a funeral tent, killing 18 people in Hajaj, a village about midway along the nearly 20 miles (30 kilometers) between Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and the oil hub of Beiji, 155 miles (250 kilometers) north of Baghdad. But police said the attack bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Witnesses said about 70 people were inside the tent when the attacker set off his explosives soon after entering.
Officials said the target appeared to be Ahmed Abdullah, deputy governor in charge of security for Salahuddin province, of which Tikrit is the capital. He escaped unharmed.
Abdullah was a relative of the man being honored at the funeral, Antar Mohammed Abed, a former bodyguard of Saddam's wife, Sajida Khairallah Tulfah, who became a farmer after returning to Hajaj following the ouster of the late dictator's regime five years ago.
Abed's son and a grandson were among the 18 killed, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
As a relative, Abdullah should have been sitting close to the son and grandson, since family members take the seats closest to the entrance on such occasions to be the first to receive visitors.
Awad Jassim, a 25-year-old laborer hired by Abed's family to make tea and coffee for mourners, said he was only a few yards (meters) from the tent when the explosion ripped down the tent, sending him running for cover.
«Later, I returned to the tent when I heard the voices of the wounded begging for help,» he said. «There was chaos everywhere, but we managed to carry out the dead and the wounded.
Khamis Safaa was waiting for food to be served inside the tent when the blast threw him off his chair. He was one of the 22 people wounded, suffering from shrapnel cuts on his abdomen and both legs.
«I felt pain in most of my body and I was no longer capable of feeling my right leg,» he said from his hospital bed in Tikrit.
Policemen on duty outside the tent did not search visitors, said another witness, Mukhlis Salim, who lives nearby. He said he had paid his respects to Abed's family Sunday and rushed to the tent after the blast.
«I saw blood, bits of flesh and clothes. People were screaming and asking for help,» he said.
The attack came one day after a teenage suicide bomber targeted U.S.-backed, anti-al-Qaida fighters near the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah in Anbar province west of Baghdad. Six people were killed by that blast.

Source:www.pr-inside.com/suicide-bomber-attack s-outside-iraqi-school-r3 97991.htm 

'I'm spooked by all these video cameras constantly watching us.

Forget the mall, the ATM, the casinos or the changing room at Marshall's, where we all know the cameras are rolling, digitally recording and storing your every move.

Call me neurotic, but have you seen those devices that look like spy cameras, installed above all the traffic lights at intersections in West Hartford Center?

Perhaps you've been down Park Street in Hartford recently and looked up at the surveillance cameras at every intersection, funded with a $400,000 grant from state taxpayers.

"I think it violates my civil rights," Jorge Figueroa told me when I stopped to talk with him at a hot dog cart near the corner of Park and Lawrence, not far from a camera's watchful eye. "I feel like somebody is watching."

You've got that right, Jorge. Increasingly — and notably since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the federal Department of Homeland Security opened the funding spigot — the government is filming and recording us.

It's all to make you feel more secure, but there's not much research that suggests cameras reduce crime.

The latest issue of Popular Mechanics confirmed my fears.

"There are an estimated 30 million surveillance cameras now deployed in the United States shooting 4 billion hours of footage a week," James Vlahos writes in a feature story.

 "Americans are being watched, all of us, almost everywhere."

Just think how much fun all this makes going out on the town, knowing that some rent-a-cop — or Homeland Security snoop — is tracking you.

Bill Brown, co-founder and director of the Surveillance Camera Players, which monitors the growth of government video snooping, said all this should worry us.

"Right underneath our noses, our cities are changing," Brown said. "People know there are cameras, but they don't know how many there are."

A new feature film, "Look," tracks this obsessive videotaping trend, entirely from the perspective of a video surveillance camera.

"We're being captured on camera nearly 200 times a day, and those images are being digitized and archived forever," director Adam Rifkin told Newsweek. "Nobody's stopping to ask questions about its propriety."

A 2006 report by the New York Civil Liberties Union noted the installation of thousands of police cameras in New York since 9/11, creating "a massive video surveillance infrastructure ... with virtually no oversight."

In Stamford, where crime-fighting video cameras were approved last year, officials have promised careful supervision of citizen snooping. Downtown Hartford and New Haven are full of private and government cameras. In Newton, Mass., a liberal bastion, suspicious administrators installed cameras in the hallways of a high school. They were exposed by the school's student newspaper.

But in East Hartford, residents questioned a surveillance proposal and the town council tabled — for now — a $300,000 video camera initiative.

"It comes down to money and effectiveness. Put another officer or two on the beat instead," said Paul Roczynski, the local Republican Party chair who opposed the expanded surveillance. "Plus, it's a violation of people's privacy rights."

When I reached West Hartford Police Chief James Strillacci, he told me to relax and assured me that Big Brother is not yet tuning in to Blue Back Square. The devices above the traffic lights, although they look like it, aren't cameras.

"It's a controller for the lights," monitoring traffic to prevent long backups, Strillacci said. "But it's not to say we couldn't retrofit it or something."

Does all this make you feel safer? It just makes me paranoid.

Source:www.courant.com/news/local/columnists /hc-rgreen0122.artjan22,0,6653886.column?coll=hc_home_xprom o

As per the revised rate, diesel will now cost Rs 61 and 30 paisa per liter up from Rs 56 and 25 paisa.

Similarly, the revised rate for kerosene is Rs 61 up from Rs 51.

However, the government will continue to provide subsidised kerosene, which is the cooking fuel for many of the lower-middle and lower classes.

It may also be noted that there is only 30 paisa difference between prices of diesel and kerosene so that adulteration could be averted.

Likewise, the LP Gas will now cost Rs 1,250 per cylinder up from Rs 1100.

However, the price of LPG cylinder for the Terai belt from Jhapa to Rupandehi has been fixed for Rs 1,230.

The state-run Nepal Oil Corporation has stated that it will still incur a loss worth Rs 230 in per cylinder of LPG and Rs 6 and 8 paisa in diesel despite the latest price hike, notwithstanding hike in the price of petrol in December last year (for the second time in less than two months).

Similarly, the NOC maintains that it has been incurring a loss worth 54 paisa.

The board of directors of the NOC endorsed the price hike after consulting the line ministries.

Before hiking the price, the NOC had stalled distribution of all the petroleum products today.

The stakeholders are yet to react to the latest price hike.

A sharp rise in import prices and the government's slow action towards addressing oil losses have been contributing to fuel shortage, especially diesel over the recent days.

NOC has also admitted that the corporation was presently distributing some 700 kiloliters of diesel a day, which is some 300 kiloliters less than the normal daily demand.

NOC officials, however, had been arguing that with industries switching to diesel for their energy requirements because of the six-hour-long daily load shedding, the corporation had been put under added pressure at a time when it didn't have enough money even to pay for its regular imports.

Worse, if the government does not make immediate arrangements for funds, as it has pledged to do by issuing Oil Bonds, the crisis will only deepen, according to the NOC officials.

The NOC's recent report forwarded to the Supplies Ministry stated that the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sharply cut oil shipments as the state-owned petroleum monopoly failed to make full payments of the past two installments through its own resources.

The report showed that the corporation has so far paid to the IOC just about Rs 1.70 billion, including the Rs 816 million released on January 11, whereas the NOC needs to import fuel worth over Rs 4 billion to quench the thirst.

Because the IOC issues only as much petroleum as the NOC has paid for, imports of late have slid to about 2,500 kiloliters a day, which is 30 percent less than the normal daily requirement.

While the corporation has adequate stocks of petrol, it is running low on diesel and kerosene.

Source: www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?nid=134951

Stock markets around the world yesterday suffered their biggest falls since the September 11th terrorist attacks.

The FTSE 100 ended down 5.5%, or 323 points – which was its biggest ever single-day points fall – at 5,578, a level not seen since June 2006. And its European peers (the US markets were closed for a public holiday) were even worse off. The French CAC 40 and the German Dax Xetra both fell by 7%.

It was obvious, of course, why stock markets plunged on September 11th. But the cause of yesterday’s collapse was less obvious. No one piece of bad news could be blamed for the falls.

The truth is, yesterday’s seas of red could be put down to one thing. Investors across the world have finally woken up to reality. The Federal Reserve can’t save us from a global recession…

Acting on a tip-off, officers stopped the woman at Melbourne Airport. As they frisked her, a small, tightly wrapped package the size of an egg fell to the floor.

It was heroin, according to police. She had been allegedly hiding it in her underpants.

Thi Que Tran, 71, of Ascot Vale, and her daughter, Thi Minh Doan, 49, were arrested and taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital. There, police claim, the older woman passed another package of heroin which she had swallowed. Each pack allegedly contained 70 grams of heroin.

Her daughter was also found to be carrying internally a package containing 60 grams of heroin. The total value of the drugs was estimated at $60,000.

Thi Minh Doan pleaded guilty in the County Court on Thursday to a charge of importing a marketable quantity of heroin and was jailed for a minimum of two years. Her mother, an Australian citizen since 1993, has yet to plead to her own drug smuggling charge and is due in court on February 14.

The mother and daughter case is one of more than a dozen in the past year involving women accused of smuggling drugs into Australia.

Customs suspect the number of women smugglers is rising but are waiting for federal police — who make arrests at airports — to confirm the number and sex of airline passengers caught with drugs last year.

In recent Melbourne cases, Karen Beresford, 56, was arrested on November 29 after allegedly trying to smuggle the highly addictive drug "ice" (crystal methamphetamine) inside two bottles of hair-care products.

She was stopped after arriving on a flight from Malaysia. An X-ray of her bags indicated something was concealed in a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner. Customs officers allegedly found about 200 grams of ice wrapped inside two plastic bags. Beresford, of Southbank, will appear in court again on March 7.

In September, an American woman, 20, was charged with smuggling 265 grams of cocaine hidden inside her jacket on arrival from Los Angeles. And in Sydney, another American woman is suspected of leaving almost six kilograms of cocaine worth $660,000 in a United Airlines aircraft toilet on December 2. The woman, who has left Australia, is believed to have made a planned "drop" for collection by corrupt airport workers.

A customs spokesperson said it seemed women were being recruited to smuggle drugs in the belief they were more likely to avoid detection.

According to its 2006-07 annual report, customs made 1615 drug seizures, obtaining a total of 1531.36 kilograms of the four main illicit drug types (cocaine, heroin, amphetamine-type stimulants and ecstasy).

A worrying trend was a rise in the number of passengers trying to smuggle heroin into Australia inside their bodies, with seven detections in 2005-06 of drugs weighing about 1.2 kilograms, compared with 25 detections in 2006-07 weighing 7.1 kilograms.

Customs and federal police have set up an overseas awareness campaign targeting high-risk countries, including Vietnam and Cambodia.

Journey of substance

■ January 5: A Canadian woman, 24, and a man, 43, are arrested at Brisbane International Airport after a flight from Hong Kong, accused of attempting to smuggle cocaine.

■ January 5: An Australian woman, 51, is arrested at Sydney International Airport after a flight from Cambodia. She was found to have swallowed 119 pellets suspected of being heroin.

■ December 25: Two Zambian women, aged 29 and 31, are arrested at Sydney International Airport after a flight from Dubai, having allegedly ingested more than 50 pellets of heroin.

■ December 21: In Adelaide, a woman, 23, is arrested after a flight from Sydney, allegedly carrying the drug ice and cocaine hidden in shampoo and baby powder containers.

■ December 10: A Sydney woman, 47, is charged with attempting to import 1.96 kilograms of cocaine.

■ November 29: An Australian woman, 56, is arrested at Melbourne Airport allegedly carrying 200 grams of the drug ice.

Source:www.theage.com.au/news/national/women-ri de-latest-wave-of-drug-sm uggling/2008/01/19/120062 0280828.html?page=2 

(M&C) - Tractors and expensive agricultural equipment are the unusual, yet lucrative subject of the latest crime wave.

 FILE) Professional visitors chat in front of a large tractor on display at the agriculture trade fair 'Agritechnica 2007' in Hanover, Germany, 12 Novermber 2007. EPA/PETER STEFFEN

Investigators believe an international criminal syndicate is behind the theft of British tractors which are then given new "identification" ; and shipped to places such as Australia.

Senior managers at Britain's National Plant and Equipment Register are reported to be working with UK police to apprehend the criminals reports the Times.

"From the criminal perspective, there is a low-risk, high-reward balance in this activity," one of the register's managers Tim Purbrick told the newspaper.

"Drug smuggling is high risk, but the chances of being caught stealing a tractor are low, and stealing tractors is more lucrative."

Popular brands in the £3 million a year crime wave are the John Deere range as well as New Holland, Case, Massey Ferguson, JCB, Caterpillar and Daewoo.

Source:news.monstersandcritics.com/uk/news/article_13877 39.php/Tractors_the_latest_t arget_in_crime_wave

Former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents Jack Toal, Gregory Korniloff and Louis Diaz have filed a $50m (£25m) libel claim on behalf of more than 400 former and current drug squad officers in the New York area, saying hit film American Gangster falsely made them out to be villains.

The NBC Universal film, also produced by Sir Ridley, tells the story of New York heroin trafficker Frank Lucas, played by Denzel Washington, and has already picked up a cluster of Golden Globe and Bafta nominations.

The lawsuit claims

Director ... Sir Ridley Scott.

it defamed the agents and officers by claiming at the end that Lucas's collaboration with prosecutors "led to the convictions of three quarters of New York City's Drug Enforcement Agency".

 Lucas became a government informant after his conviction in 1975, and his tips led to the prosecutions of several drug dealers.

According to the lawsuit, no DEA agents or New York City police officers were ever convicted as a result of tips provided by Lucas.

Universal Pictures spokesman Michael Moses said in a written statement that the lawsuit is "entirely without merit".

American Gangster does not defame these or any federal agents," he said, adding that the corrupt law enforcers depicted in the film were supposed to be New York police officers, not DEA agents.

The film, which also starred Russell Crowe and Josh Brolin, was a box office hit on both sides of the Atlantic last year.

Source:www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Film-studio-behi nd-directors-latest.3691050.jp