Critics love the effects and praise Michael Fassbender's performance, but some feel the sci-fi flick gets lost in its own high-mindedness. By John Mitchell
Michael Fassbender as David 8 in "Prometheus" Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
One of the summer's most anticipated films, director Ridley Scott's "Prometheus," doesn't open until June 8, but early reviews for the sci-fi blockbuster are already trickling in, something many studios would fear so far ahead of a film's release — that is, if they weren't as universally positive.
So far, the consensus is clear: "Prometheus" is a flawed film with a lot of great things going for it, most notably a breakout scene-stealing performance from Michael Fassbender ("Shame"), inspired and amazing 3-D effects and plenty of "jolt and amaze" moments that all but assure filmgoers "will be right back for seconds" when 20th Century Fox releases the film next Friday.
Critics have nothing but praise for the performances of Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace and Idris Elba, though they are particularly emphatic in their appreciation for Fassbender as the android butler David. When MTV News caught up with Theron recently, she gushed about what makes Fassbender worthy of all that praise. And for fans who can't wait to see the cast in action, Theron will appear at the MTV Movie Awards, airing this Sunday, June 3 at 9 p.m. E.T. on MTV.
"Technically, 'Prometheus' is magnificent. Shot in 3-D but without the director taking the process into account in his conceptions or execution, the film absorbs and uses the process seamlessly," The Hollywood Reporter writes. "There is nary a false or phony note in the effects."
"Scott and his production crew compensate to some degree with an intricate, immersive visual design that doesn't skimp on futuristic eye-candy or prosthetic splatter," Variety agrees.
Those going in expecting a straightforward prequel to Scott's "Alien" may be disappointed. While it does answer a few questions burning in the minds of sci-fi aficionados, including some insight into the acid-for-blood aliens of the original series and the spacecraft they are discovered aboard, "Prometheus" is very much its own film.
"Much of Scott's audience are expecting a fully-formed prequel to 'Alien,'" The Telegraph writes, "but 'Prometheus' only really lays the groundwork, leaving plenty of dots disconnected."
Though movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes is only culling from nine reviews so far, many of them are from top critics, and the film enjoys an 88 percent "fresh" rating. That puts "Prometheus," presently, a few points ahead of "The Hunger Games" and a few points behind "The Avengers" in the race for best-reviewed blockbuster of the year so far. And several critics attribute that standing to Fassbender.
"Upstaging everyone is Fassbender, who provides the film's real glint of steel, while decentring its dramatic focus," the Guardian continues. "[Fassbender] steals the film with the chilling, parasitic relentlessness of that first gut-bound alien."
"The film contains the ideal embodiment of its sly existential paradox in David, the man-made manservant whose soulfully soulless presence brings to mind both 'A.I.' and '2001'; he's like HAL 9000 with better cheekbones," Variety concludes. "In a particularly witty touch, Fassbender's droll performance takes its cues from Peter O'Toole in 'Lawrence of Arabia,' a clip of which David continually watches as a model for how to behave around humans."
The ultimate result, according to THR, is a "visual feast of a 3D sci-fi movie that has trouble combining its high-minded notions about the origins of the species and its 'Alien'-based obligation to deliver oozy gross-out moments."
It's a sentiment echoed by The Guardian: "It is a muddled, intricate, spectacular film, but more or less in control of all its craziness and is very watchable. It lacks the central killer punch of 'Alien': it doesn't have its satirical brilliance and its tough, rationalist attack on human agency and guilt. But there's a driving narrative impulse, and, however silly, a kind of idealism, a sense that it's exciting to make contact with whatever's out there."
Are you planning to see "Prometheus"? Let us know in the comments below!
Conservationists are taking heroic measures to restore fertility to a three-footed Sumatran rhino, but it's unclear if this is a prudent undertaking
By Henry Nicholls and Nature magazine
?|
May 30, 2012?|
Image: M. SIMONS/GETTY
Why do testicles hang the way they do? Is there an adaptive function to the female orgasm? What does it feel like to want to kill yourself? Does ?free will?...
Read More??
From Nature magazine
First, the vet inserts his arm in a shoulder-length plastic glove. Next, he grips an ultrasound probe and slides both arm and probe deep into the rectum of a 500-kilogram rhinoceros. All eyes of those present, including his, are on the ultrasound image on the laptop monitor nearby. As the vet moves the probe over the animal's intestinal wall, her uterus comes into view on the screen. Even to the untrained eye, it is clear that there is something seriously wrong: marble-sized cysts fill the space where there should be a smooth uterine lining. As if in acknowledgement of the fact, the rhino lets out a doleful moan.
This is Puntung, a Sumatran rhinoceros that is missing a foot as well as a working uterus. Yet the future of this species in Malaysian Borneo may rest on the hairy shoulders of this singular beast. If she is ever to reproduce, she will need Thomas Hildebrandt and his veterinary team from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin to rescue her womb ? and then push the boundaries of rhino assisted-reproduction to new extremes.
According to the latest best guess, only 200?300 Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) may be left in the wild, split between three territories in southeast Asia: the Indonesian island of Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and the state of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo (see 'The remaining rhinos'). This perilous situation is a result of a devastating combination of habitat loss (mainly to create lucrative oil-palm plantations) and poaching (to feed the black market for rhino horn). Conservationists say that the species' small, fragmented population is now the biggest threat to its survival, with animals so sparsely distributed that they are simply unable to meet each other to mate. Because females that haven't mated when they are in oestrus can develop problems with their uterus, the rare encounters that do take place often come to naught. At best, rhino mothers take several years between pregnancies ? meaning that the birth rate in the wild is unlikely to keep up with poaching and natural deaths.
Drastic measures
This desperate situation has led conservationists in Sabah to a desperate conclusion: that the only way to maintain the rhino population here is to capture as many as possible of the remaining animals ? which may number as few as 30 ? and subject them to assisted reproductive technology. That includes scrubbing out the uterus of Puntung, and possibly techniques such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and cloning, the likes of which have rarely been wielded in the name of conservation. ?Either we give up or we try to make every fertile rhino contribute to the future of this species,? says John Payne, executive director of the Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA) in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. ?The best way to do that is to bring them into fenced, managed facilities.?
Such a drastic attempt to rescue a highly endangered species has precedents. Conservationists have, through heroic efforts, wrestled species such as the Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx), the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) and the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) back from the brink of extinction by bringing all the remaining animals together, using artificial insemination to spread sperm and maximize genetic diversity, and keeping offspring alive through round-the-clock husbandry.
In the case of the Sumatran rhino, however, some conservationists worry that without a long-term strategy for reversing the environmental pressures that are killing them off, captive breeding alone can never restore the wild population. ?It's not a plan unless you've mitigated the threats that wiped them out in the first place,? says Alan Rabinowitz, chief executive of the wild-cat conservation group Panthera in New York city. Others are uncomfortable with throwing so much money and effort at a single species ? a single animal, in Puntung's case ? when the chances of success are so slim. ?One of the biggest challenges facing conservation today is our inability to step back and admit that there are animals that would take a little bit less work and a little bit less money but have the potential to survive for their genetic diversity into the future,? says John Fraser, chief executive of the New Knowledge Organization in New York city, a think tank and advocate of a triage response to species conservation. ?They may not be as charismatic, but quite frankly we have to admit that some species are not going to make it and it's really, really sad.?
Acquiring and marketing a property in Michigan might not audio like an easy proposition. Numerous factors will have to be taken into consideration ahead of even putting a house up on the market or generating the correct purchase. Initial, an owing diligence of the house has to be carried out from the property owner at the same time because the buyer. On the other hand, just before taking into consideration each one of these, constantly enlist the solutions of the Real estate agent.
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Posted on 31 May 2012. Tags: health, Mens Health, nutrition, supplements and Vitamins, womens health
For many years, there was a longstanding belief in bodybuilding that it was important to lose as much fat as possible. However, a great deal of research has taken place over the years that clearly indicates the importance of dietary fat.
Our daily diet should include a certain amount dietary fats. But for bodybuilders, there is a great amount of information based on the experiences of many that you should try to learn. Much depends on exactly what you are trying to accomplish and what stage you are at in your own training.
It?s common knowledge that our diets are comprised of a combination of fats. Unsaturated fats should comprise most of the dietary fat intake of most people, and bodybuilders are no exception to that rule. It?s important to note that many of our nutritional needs like the Omega fatty acids have to be met through our diet.
Collectively the Omega acids are known as EFA?s or the Essential Fatty Acids. Wild salmon and tuna are an outstanding source of the polyunsaturated Omega 3s essential fatty acids. You can also readily find healthy fats in walnuts, various meats or even in kiwi fruits. Omega 3 fatty acids support cardiovascular health as well as brain function and health.
It is easy for inexperienced bodybuilders to get off on the wrong foot when it comes to fats in a proper diet. Focusing too much on completely excluding fats from their diets is a mistake that many new body builders make. That belief is founded in the misconception that less fat intake directly relates to the development of more muscle.
A person who doesn?t grasp the value of dietary fat as part of a healthy diet will ultimately have more difficulty reaching their fitness goals. The more contemporary approach that is actually driven by science is to make sure you?re taking in the right amounts of the right fats every day. Keep that in mind when formulating a health and fitness plan.
It is imperative to find a source of foods that have a profusion of the Omega class of fatty acids, or EFA?s. An abundant derivation of Omega 3 fatty acids can be found in cold water fish as well as other foods. Many oils have Omega 6 fatty acids including safflower, sunflower and evening primrose oils. Almost any kind of supplement can be found in a variety of grades. As a result, oil supplements should always be stored at the appropriate temperature. The correct light environment will ensure that some oils will hold their potency without becoming rancid.
It doesn?t matter what your total intentions are, bodybuilding can be a gratifying sport. You will have your work all prepared for you if you wish to participate on a high level. However you can cause your results to be more notable and easier to attain if you make it a point to get the precise sorts of fats in your diet every day. Your fat consumption matters very much, and you do need to make sure it is a daily effort. This is also another area in which you can find tune your nutritional requirements by being exact in what you do eat in terms of fat.
Shanix Pineda is a well-known author, He has been writing different blogs on different topics like health,nutrition,supplements etc .Checkout his article on Wealth Masters success and on Family IQ leads
Double hung windows are made from sash windows along with lower and upper sashes that move vertically one another within a single casement.
This kind of window is considered to be one of the most reliably old-fashioned windows. Generally, the position of the lower sash is in the front of the upper frame. There are two grooves for each sash to slide down and up separately. Double hung windows are popular due to its capacity to supply good ventilation. Many of the casements of these types of windows are made of wood, vinyl or aluminium although the panels are of glass. The technological advances of the present times have made a number of double hung window manufacturers have been promoting other features like its being power friendly due to its insulation, tilt-in sashes that will facilitate cleaning and protection from UV rays. Today, spring mounted operating mechanisms are being used for double hung window. These features have increased the popularity of cheap yet durable louvres among home owners and also with public and commercial facilities also.
Double hung windows can be either set up in single windows or they could be arrange in such a way that they fill a large opening as well as resemble a picture window without compromising ventilation and versatility which are usually lacking in conventional picture windows. This kind of window is likewise screen and AC friendly. It does not matter whether a half or whole screen is set up since the way of opening and closing it is up and down. Furthermore, this position of down and up in sliding the windows can?t disturb the position of the air conditioning unit. It is not required to make a different hole to support the air conditioning unit. Keeping the air temperature as well as controlling the water to come in are a few of the features of double hung windows. In winter season, the cold temperature outside the house is stopped from coming inside the house while the heat is kept inside. In addition, home owners have the option of subjecting this kind of window to quadruple weather-stripping to make it more airtight.
The work required to put in high quality louvres is not hard as it?s a regular DIY activity that could be done right if you?ve got the right supplies and equipment. A professional window company provides installation of a double hung window at a reasonable price. It is the same along with other home improvement job, the price of setting up double hung window improves in case the item is customized. The current double hung windows have a tilt-in feature. This gives the upper and lower sashes to tilt. Both sides of the windows could be reached for cleaning purposes. This is beneficial for those that have upper stories within their homes if you?ve got double hung windows on those floors. You could clean the windows from the inside if you have this tilt-in feature. The efforts put in climbing scaffoldings, ladders or any other similar tools is no longer required as you can now reach a window positioned on the second floor and up. A double hung window is stylish and useful and could complement numerous structural designs and styles such as colonials, bungalows, Victorian homes and a lot more.
>>>in for
tamron hall
.
mitt romney
's vegas style campbell with
donald trump
.
romney
headed to vegas where in a few hours he's going to be dining with the
donald
for a campaign fund rafund-raiser. ramps up his birtherism rhetoric, the latest remarks on cnbc.
>>a lot o questioning his
birth certificate
, they're questioning the authenticity of his
birth certificate
. i've been known as being a very
smart guy
for a long time i don't consider myself birther or not birther but there are major questions.
>>when asked about his association with
donald trump
,
romney
refused to condemn those specific remarks.
>>i don't agree with all of the people who support me. my guess is they don't agree with everything i believe in. i need 50.1% or more and i'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.
>>the
obama campaign
released this
web ad
, two republican nominees, how
john mccain
corrected his supporters' offensive remarks about the president in
2008
to
romney
's response now.
>>why doesn't he show his
birth certificate
? he doesn't have a
birth certificate
. he may have one, but there's something on that
birth certificate
, maybe religion, maybe says he's a muslim. i did a great job in getting him to, first of all i haven't seen it i'll look at it later -- i don't need to look at your copy. i loved running. i had a great time. i was doing fantastically in the polls i became friendly with
mitt romney
.
>>all of this comes as
mitt romney
prepares to clinch his party's nomination tonight. let's bring in today's "news nation" political panel,
peter alexander
, national syndicated
radio talk show
most, michael smerconi smerconish. we understand
romney
's campaign has released a statement to you, just moments ago, now being more specific about
donald trump
and the language that he's using from this morning.
>> reporter: a lot of people asking questions about what
mitt romney
said on the campaign plane latst night was sufficient and saying what
donald trump
said he disagreed. here what happens we are hearing specifically from the campaign in the last hour. governor
romney
has said repeatedly that he believes
president obama
was born in the
united states
, the democrats can talk about
donald trump
all they want.
mitt romney
is going to talk about jobs. and how he can get our economy moving again. those are the words from andrea saul, spokeswoman for the campaign. the goal, that's been on message recently, focus on jobs, trying to hit the president on the creating a hostile environment creators but as they began the holiday week they were distracted by this from
donald trump
. as you know, there's a multimillion dollar private fund-raiser with the
donald
. the timing couldn't be worse for the campaign as they try to make their mess annual one thing and stuck talking about birther movement, claims
donald trump
is talking about.
>>earlier today
donald trump
tweeting about all of this. and had this to say.
barack obama
practically begging
mitt romney
to disavow the place of the birth movement. he's afraid of it and for good reason. he keeps using
senator mccain
as an example, however, mccain lost the election. don't
let it happen
again.
steve
, as we look at this, and as you're looking at this unfolding before tonight's big campaign cash grab in
las vegas
, is this the best advice for
mitt romney
to follow, what
donald trump
is offering and the visual he's about to present,
mitt romney
on the same stage, the same arena, as
donald trump
?
>> reporter: well, i think unfortunately what we're seeing is why some of us try very hard in the last primary to avoid and
obama
matchup. we have a president who can't run right now on his record so he's got to run on how to paint
mitt romney
as outside of the mainstream as a conservative, which he's really not. and then you've got
mitt romney
, who actually won't run on his record, either. he's got to be the first major candidate for president who was a governor of a state who doesn't run on his own record as governor and that's because his record as governor was liberal and he doesn't want to remind his base on that. he's got to run on
obama
. and even when
donald trump
is pimping
romney
he has to do it by going after
obama
. we have twoen candidates for the next two months who can't run on their own records and i think that means we're going to see a lot of red her igs like this.
>>steve
, you were a
newt gingrich
supporter.
newt gingrich
is to appear with
mitt romney
,
donald trump
. does that change your opinions about
mitt romney
moving forward, the fact that
newt gingrich
is throwing his support behind him and showing up on the campaign trail with him?
>>no, i'm 38 years old, and i think a lot of folks that grew up in younger again rashgeneration, we'r e not just proxies. when they speak for us, we don't check our minds.
newt gingrich
isn't on the ballot,
mitt romney
is. it's
mitt romney
's responsibility to sell people on voting for him,
nobody else
.
>>so michael, let me ask you, under what circumstances do you think
romney
's association with
donald trump
could backfire? do you see this igniting the
obama
base or is this just something some fodder for the next
48 hours
that's going to go away after tonight's big event.
>>i think it's a constant, looming source of potential embarrassment. i'm not surprised to hear peter report on the statement from the
romney
campaign, because they're so controlled, they're so choreographed, so scripted. they've had gaffes of course. but usually they're in control of their message. and so to have the
donald
, this
powder keg
on the stage next to
mitt romney
is the antithesis where they need to be. the observation, there's no political upside. if you're a birther you're already for
mitt romney
. how his this perceived by independents? that needs be to the constant refrain from now to november. there lies the potential source of em barsment. people say, we've litigated this, why in the world is
mitt romney
impugning his character by standing with trump after he's tweeting and going on "
squawk box
" promoting birtherism.
>>promoting that and trying to draw up a correlation of the validity of the president's education. listen to this. this was from this morning on cnbc.
>>he's really stonewalling it when it comes to -- he just doesn't want to give those transcripts. so what is he saying at columbia and harvard and his other college where he supposedly didn't have good marks and got into columbia? what is he saying about place of birth? these are just questions.
>>steve
, as this talk is happening from
donald trump
, again,
mitt romney
not going to take credit for what some people are saying, however when they support him and show up with him on the same stage, people are going to say, all right, you're a reflection of the company that you keep. what does
donald trump
bring to
romney
's campaign after tonight's event? we're talking about millions of dollars from tonight but is it rogue with
newt gingrich
ander in to gets into pockets? what's the bottom line?
>>oh, i can assure your audience it's more shallow and basic of an instinct than that.
romney
has enough money to win the president sy. only so many commercials to buy neen a recession. you're looking at a
republican party
establishment that doesn't stand nor anything other than we're not democrats. they try to beat democrats, they look at what democrats beat them with and think, we should try that. they see
george clooney
holding fund-raisers and cool hipsters hanging out with
michelle obama
at the beyonce concert. they are thatting we should hang out with
donald trump
and patronize them, they are so stupid, they will vote for us because we're cool. that's what drives this, this is what happens when you stand for nothing is you have to run on cliches and
talking points
and metaphors and you have to condesce condescend.
>>is
romney
meeting with
sheldon adelson
?
>> reporter: there's a schedule meeting today in
las vegas
. two of them had some form of conversations during the course of the campaign. sheldon addleson, through the campaign, had been poring
newt gingrich
with at least $10 million, if not more, try trying to bankroll his campaign, specifically through the supoup pack, winning our future. as we talk about the impact the words of
george will
, he is owe believiating ignoramus. the gift, the
romney
campaign's making the bet that we will not be talking about
donald trump
in october, they feel confidently at the
end of the day
this is going to come down to jobs. they're going to take money, i would beg to disagree with steeb, the
romney
campaign believes there is more money out there, and they do need. they're confident this is a $1.5 billion campaign between the two,
obama
and
romney
. they think 800 million is what their opponent may raise, they hope to raise 3/4 of a billion dollars and at the
end of the day
for a lot of people regardless of what you say about
donald trump
, whatever your opinion is of the timing of this, and it's odd to everybody, for one or two news cycles we're talking about the birther movement and the extremism, not what
mitt romney
is trying to advocate, they're confident this is going to play out in their favor.
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Glazed ceramic tile is one of the most durable building products ever produced. It's wear- and stain-resistant, easy to clean, and impervious to water. When properly installed, a tiled surface can last for generations. Yet tile has an Achilles' heel: The grout used to fill the joints between the individual tiles is, by comparison, porous, soft, and easily stained. In most instances grout can be restored to like-new condition with a good cleaning. But in more extreme cases, the only solution may be to regrout the tile.
Clean It Up
If the grout is stained with dirt, mold, mildew, or soap scum, start by scrubbing it with a stiff-bristle nylon brush dipped in scouring powder. Then rinse the surface with clean water.
If the stains remain, mix a 50/50 solution of liquid chlorine bleach and water, and apply it to the grout with a sponge or a pump sprayer. (If using a sprayer, be sure it's rated for use with bleach. Bleach is too caustic for use in ordinary sprayers and plant misters.) Wait 10 minutes, then soak the grout with more bleach solution. After 10 more minutes, rinse off the surface with clean water.
Redo It
When grout is permanently stained, badly cracked, or crumbling out of the joints, you have no choice but to regrout the tiles. The first step is to remove the existing grout from between the tiles. Depending on the amount of damaged grout and the width of the grout joints, there are a few different tools to consider.
For smaller jobs with 1/4-inch or narrower grout joints, you can get by with a grout rake, which is a small hand tool that has a steel blade covered with super-sharp carbide grit. Simply pull the tool along the joints to "rake" out the grout. In most cases you don't have to remove every bit of grout. Removing about half of the grout is usually sufficient as long as the remaining grout is in good condition.
For larger jobs?say, more than about 30 square feet?or for grout joints wider than 1/4 inch, you need the speed and muscle of an electric tool. There are several motorized tools available for removing grout, including grinders, rotary tools, even reciprocating saws. However, the best tool for DIYers is an oscillating multitool fitted with a carbide-grit grout-removal blade. Because the multitool blade oscillates and doesn't spin at high speeds, it's much easier to control than most other tools. Plus, multitools are lightweight and feature compact, easy-grip handles.
Regardless of which tool you use to remove the grout, once the joints are cleaned out, you need to use a stiff-bristle nylon brush to scrub the joints of all dust, grit, and loose debris. Follow up with a wet/dry vacuum to ensure the joints are clean. Next, mix up a fresh batch of tile grout or buy a bucket of pre-mixed grout. Then, use a grout float to smear grout across the surface and deep into the joints.
Wait about 20 minutes, then use a large grout sponge and clean water to wipe the surface clean of all grout residue. Read the label on the grout container to find out how long it takes for the grout to cure (usually 48 hours or longer.) Once it's fully cured, apply a silicone-based sealer to the grout to increase its water and stain resistance.
1 888 680 7234, Email thecoach@radiocoach.biz, Radio Talent Coach Sam Weaver is an air talent coaching authority in terrestrial radio, online radio, and podcasting.? Sam makes his services affordable for veteran announcers and broadcast beginners
New Language: Part 5 You are at a disadvantage if you visit a non- English speaking country and can not speak the language. In order to effectively operate in the new world order of social media and social networking, it is important to understand the terminology. I have compiled a list of terms A-Z from various resources to assist you in learning social media language. Time for K Thru N. Check older post for previous language articles.? (Source references are listed at the bottom of each post.)
Learning Style: There are three basic ways people learn: visual (reading, watching demonstrations, reviewing charts), auditory (listening, making a presentation) and tactile or kinesthetic (performing a task, actively doing). Most people use a combination of all three. Podcasting, either audio only or video, allows marketers to add depth to their communications and offer prospects more ways to learn about their product or service.
Lick: A small piece of music often used in an intro or exit/outro of a show; can also be used to break a podcast into segments.
Lifestyle Podcast: Personal commentaries for a targeted demographic or cultural group. Topics include music, movies, fashion, gaming, TV and other pop cultural trends. Because such podcasts rely heavily on fleeting fads, they are not considered long-term branding opportunities. Marketing strategies, whether a business is considering series sponsorship or podcast commercials, should focus on short-term marketing goals based on the population of the audience.
Lilypod: A derogatory term used to describe a podcast that doesn?t provide the audience with meaningful information. May also be used when a sponsored podcast becomes too much like an infomercial; can also describe lifestyle podcasts that are boring or a narcissistic rant of the host.
Link Baiting: The process by which websites, blogs, etc. encourage links from other sites to improve popularity and to raise positions on search engines for your site. The enticement may include content, online tools, free downloads, or anything else that another site owner might find worthy of a link.
Links: The highlighted text or images that, when clicked, jump you from one web page or item of content to another. Bloggers use links a lot when writing, to reference their own or other content. Linking is another aspect of sharing, by which you offer content that may be linked, and acknowledge the value of other people?s contributions by linking to them. It is part of being open and generous.
Listening: In the blogosphere listening is the art of skimming feeds to see what topics are bubbling up, and also setting up searches that monitor when you or your organization are mentioned.
Location: The nature of location and presence is changed by the Internet and social media, because you can be active online in many different places, including in virtual worlds.
Logging in: The process for gaining access to a website. Once registered, it will require a usename and password each time for signing in. The username may be your ?real? name, or a combination of letters and/or numbers chosen for the purpose.
Lurkers: People who read but don?t contribute or add comments to forums. The one per cent rule-of-thumb suggests about one per cent of people contribute new content to an online community, another nine percent comment, and the rest lurk. However, this may not be a passive role because content read on forums may spark interaction elsewhere.
Mapping: Mapping networks enables you see who are the main connecting people. To do that you may need to ask people who they communicate with most frequently. If you want to grow an online community or network from an existing ?real world? network, it will be important that the key people in the network overlap with the champions for online networking.
Mashups: The smart mixes that techies do to combine several tools to create entirely new web services.
Meetings: Meetings are important in social networking in at least two ways. First, they accelerate the process of people getting to know each other.? Second, the open and fluid style of social media is making those using it impatient with committee-style meetings and conferences dominated by platform speakers. With a little commitment it is possible to agree on some meeting topics beforehand; circulate material, capture discussion at the time, carry on discussions afterwards ? or maybe not have the meeting at all. Use Voice over IP, chat, instant messaging ? or even a get-together in a virtual world.
Membership: Involves belonging to a group. Networking can offer some of the benefits of group membership, without the need for as much central co-ordination. A rise in networking may present challenges for organizations who depend on membership for funds or to demonstrate their credibility.
Meme: A unit of cultural information such as a popular tune, a catch-phrase, belief or fashion that can virally propagate from one mind to another. Online, it may be shared among bloggers or participants of social sites as a game, activity or quiz (e.g., name 50 favorite authors, the 100 worst songs, 10 favorite movies).
Micro-blogging: A form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually 140 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user, and then sent via text messaging, instant messaging, email, MP3 or web formats. Two common micro-blogging applications are Twitter and Digg.
Moblog: Abbreviated from ?mobile blog?. This is a blog dedicated to the distribution, sharing and/or rating of digital/camera-phone images, audio-casts or videos.
MP3: An audio compression format that allows almost CD-quality fidelity with only 10% of the file size by discarding frequencies that cannot be heard by the human ear or that clash with similar frequencies. The name comes from MP(EG-1 layer) 3.
?Narrowcasting: A term used in opposition to ?broadcasting? to describe a podcast?s ability to reach a narrowly focused, highly interested audience.
Neophyte: Someone who is new to the Internet or new to computers in general, it refers to mature people who don?t want to be called a newbie.
Netroots: A term coined to describe political activism organized through blogs and other online media including wikis, podcasts and various social networking sites.
Networks: Structures defined by nodes and the connections between them. In social networks the nodes are people, and the connections are the relationships that they have. Networking is the process by which you develop and strengthen those relationships.
Netizen: A citizen of the Internet, as in, one who spends a significant amount of time online or is an experienced user of the Net.
News Feed: A collection of headlines, news or story highlights, made available on the Internet in a standard format, often from a blog or news source made available in RSS format so that other sites and programs can check and download them automatically. News feeds can be used to publish information about podcasts. Podcast clients can subscribe to podcast news feeds, and use their information to find new shows to download.
Newsreader: A website or desktop tool that acts as an aggregator, gathering content from blogs and similar sites using RSS feeds, so you can read the content in one place, instead of having to visit different sites.
Source References for Blog: CGM Glossary Social Media Glossary Wikipedia Webopedia Netlingo Digital Dialogues
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New federal disclosure law may have little impact on drugs prescribedPublic release date: 29-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Kelly david.kelly@ucdenver.edu 303-315-6374 University of Colorado Denver
Law aims to increase transparency between physicians, drug makers
AURORA, Colo. (May 29, 2012) A Colorado School of Public Health researcher has found that laws designed to illuminate financial links between doctors and pharmaceutical companies have little or no effect on what drugs physicians prescribe.
"If the policymakers who passed these measures were hoping for a deterrent effect they may be disappointed," said the study's lead author, Genevieve Pham-Kanter, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy at the Colorado School of Public Health and a research fellow at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital.
The report, published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, was prompted by passage of the Physician Payments Sunshine Provision of the Affordable Care Act.
The new federal law requires drug manufacturers to disclose certain payments made to physicians including money for consulting, honoraria, gifts and travel.
"This law is based on the premise that transparency in these transactions is of public importance and that disclosure requirements can act as a deterrent against quid pro quo exchanges physicians may be reluctant to accept large payments from pharmaceutical firms if payments are publicly known and perceived as financial compensation for prescribing certain therapies," said Pham-Kanter who is also an assistant professor of economics at the University of Colorado Denver.
Working with Kavita Nair, Ph.D., associate clinical professor at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and G. Caleb Alexander, MD, MS, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Pham-Kanter examined West Virginia and Maine, two states with disclosure laws already on the books.
She specifically investigated the effect of the laws on the prescribing of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Marketing plays a heavy role in a physician's choice of therapy since members of each class of drug are similar and highly substitutable, Pham-Kanter said.
The researchers theorized that if disclosure laws were effective and doctors were deterred from taking payments from pharmaceutical companies, they in turn would be less likely to prescribe branded statins and SSRIs over similar generic drugs.
Using a wide variety of public data, they compared Maine, which enacted a disclosure law in 2004, with New Hampshire and Rhode Island, two demographically similar states without such laws. Then they compared West Virginia, which also passed its disclosure law in 2004, with Kentucky and Delaware which had none.
In Maine, the law was associated with a 0.8 percentage point reduction in the use of branded statins compared to New Hampshire, and a 5.3 percentage point reduction compared to Rhode Island. The researchers found little to no effect in West Virginia.
"Our results show that the disclosure laws in the two states we examined had a negligible to small effect on physicians switching from branded therapies to generics and no effect on reducing prescription costs," said Pham-Kanter.
She noted that despite the laws, accessing information about how much money a physician received from a pharmaceutical company is still difficult and opaque. Much of the information is not on-line yet.
"Transparency is important in its own right, but if deterring unnecessary, costly prescribing is a concern for policymakers, more direct action may be required," Pham-Kanter said.
###
The research was funded by the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.
About the Colorado School of Public Health
The Colorado School of Public Health is the first and only accredited school of public health in the Rocky Mountain Region, attracting top tier faculty and students from across the country, and providing a vital contribution toward ensuring our region's health and well-being. Collaboratively formed by the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, and the University of Northern Colorado, the Colorado School of Public Health provides training, innovative research and community service to actively address public health issues, including chronic disease, access to health care, environmental threats, emerging infectious diseases, and costly injuries.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New federal disclosure law may have little impact on drugs prescribedPublic release date: 29-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Kelly david.kelly@ucdenver.edu 303-315-6374 University of Colorado Denver
Law aims to increase transparency between physicians, drug makers
AURORA, Colo. (May 29, 2012) A Colorado School of Public Health researcher has found that laws designed to illuminate financial links between doctors and pharmaceutical companies have little or no effect on what drugs physicians prescribe.
"If the policymakers who passed these measures were hoping for a deterrent effect they may be disappointed," said the study's lead author, Genevieve Pham-Kanter, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy at the Colorado School of Public Health and a research fellow at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital.
The report, published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, was prompted by passage of the Physician Payments Sunshine Provision of the Affordable Care Act.
The new federal law requires drug manufacturers to disclose certain payments made to physicians including money for consulting, honoraria, gifts and travel.
"This law is based on the premise that transparency in these transactions is of public importance and that disclosure requirements can act as a deterrent against quid pro quo exchanges physicians may be reluctant to accept large payments from pharmaceutical firms if payments are publicly known and perceived as financial compensation for prescribing certain therapies," said Pham-Kanter who is also an assistant professor of economics at the University of Colorado Denver.
Working with Kavita Nair, Ph.D., associate clinical professor at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and G. Caleb Alexander, MD, MS, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Pham-Kanter examined West Virginia and Maine, two states with disclosure laws already on the books.
She specifically investigated the effect of the laws on the prescribing of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Marketing plays a heavy role in a physician's choice of therapy since members of each class of drug are similar and highly substitutable, Pham-Kanter said.
The researchers theorized that if disclosure laws were effective and doctors were deterred from taking payments from pharmaceutical companies, they in turn would be less likely to prescribe branded statins and SSRIs over similar generic drugs.
Using a wide variety of public data, they compared Maine, which enacted a disclosure law in 2004, with New Hampshire and Rhode Island, two demographically similar states without such laws. Then they compared West Virginia, which also passed its disclosure law in 2004, with Kentucky and Delaware which had none.
In Maine, the law was associated with a 0.8 percentage point reduction in the use of branded statins compared to New Hampshire, and a 5.3 percentage point reduction compared to Rhode Island. The researchers found little to no effect in West Virginia.
"Our results show that the disclosure laws in the two states we examined had a negligible to small effect on physicians switching from branded therapies to generics and no effect on reducing prescription costs," said Pham-Kanter.
She noted that despite the laws, accessing information about how much money a physician received from a pharmaceutical company is still difficult and opaque. Much of the information is not on-line yet.
"Transparency is important in its own right, but if deterring unnecessary, costly prescribing is a concern for policymakers, more direct action may be required," Pham-Kanter said.
###
The research was funded by the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.
About the Colorado School of Public Health
The Colorado School of Public Health is the first and only accredited school of public health in the Rocky Mountain Region, attracting top tier faculty and students from across the country, and providing a vital contribution toward ensuring our region's health and well-being. Collaboratively formed by the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, and the University of Northern Colorado, the Colorado School of Public Health provides training, innovative research and community service to actively address public health issues, including chronic disease, access to health care, environmental threats, emerging infectious diseases, and costly injuries.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Successful trials of new components of US Department of Defense Distributed Tactical Communications System
Cambridge Consultants, a leading technology design and development firm, today announced it successfully completed initial trials with Iridium Communications Inc (Nasdaq: IRDM) of new key components of the world?s largest push-to-talk (PTT) radio system ? the US Department of Defense (DoD) Distributed Tactical Communications System (DTCS). DTCS enables soldiers in isolated areas to communicate without the need for ground infrastructure ? and in locations where they often can?t pick up a geostationary satellite?s signal unless they move to higher ground.
The ?netted? group call communication system ? involving listeners in designated user ?nets? ? provides over-the-horizon, beyond line-of-sight tactical networks. Soldiers in remote combat zones or disaster areas are able to use lightweight handheld PTT radios to exchange mission-critical data with command centres across the globe, at the touch of a button.
Cambridge Consultants is delivering key new technology elements for DTCS. Ongoing development is extending existing capabilities to allow voice and data to be transmitted and received from any location worldwide, for unrivalled tactical and operational use. Using its unique knowledge of the Iridium system, as well as commercial PTT services, Cambridge Consultants has developed radio transceiver electronics for DTCS handheld radios, as well as gateway infrastructure to support the DTCS service. Both of these elements are critical to the success of the system, with the gateway element ultimately targeting a ?five nines? (99.999%) reliability rating, to ensure that soldiers have service when they need it most.
?Cambridge Consultants has a proven track record of developing technically challenging and ?mission critical? communications technologies, and bringing them to operational readiness quickly,? said Iridium executive vice-president for government programs Lt Gen John Campbell (USAF-Ret). ?As a result, we did not hesitate in selecting Cambridge Consultants as our technology partner for this project, and have every confidence in the company?s ability to develop the electronics and software efficiently, whilst still adhering to the stringent requirements necessary for success.?
The new technology developed by Cambridge Consultants includes advanced software radio functionality that will provide multiple receiver capability and rapid synchronisation to Iridium satellites to enhance PTT connection speed and call quality. In addition, new encrypted bearer channels support encrypted communication within groups.
Richard Traherne, head of the wireless division at Cambridge Consultants, said: ?We have been working with Iridium since 2003 as its design partner, and are excited to be extending our long-term relationship on this groundbreaking project. With one of the largest independent teams of wireless product developers in the world, we combine in-depth experience of mainstream communications with our unique Iridium system knowledge, to develop compelling products for Iridium?s clients. We look forward to supporting Iridium and its client ? the US DoD ? in launching the largest global PTT network.?
For further information please visit: http://www.cambridgeconsultants.com/news_pr323.html
Posted by admin on May 27, 2012 in Game Servers | 0 comments
Post by Firefall The Game
Online Gaming Better Than Offline Video games? ? Entertainment ? Video Games
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What helps make on the web gaming so exciting and fun? Is it any far more enjoyable and enjoyable than the old fashion regional offline video games of years previous? There are fairly a couple of gamers in this day and age who will attest to the concept that on the web gaming has gotten to be enormous. In the realm of Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and modern-day Pcs, there are a quite a high amount of gamers that really like their gaming, and enjoy playing them on the internet with hundreds, and even thousands of other gamers across the world.
What helps make these varieties of games so considerably much more exciting than playing a game by your self in front of the tv or computer system keep track of? Positive, a lot of of these games, whether they are single-player, regional multiplayer or on-line multiplayer love their video games. But there is something to be stated about being in a position to play these games online with other men and women that just scream a thing various. As a gamer myself, I like to know that even even though I am physically in the room by myself playing a thing like Contact of Duty or Battlefield, it really is great to know that I can hop on-line at anytime and play against living breathing opponents that act and react differently than any AI character from any variety of game. There is that human element.
Gone are the days when we have to be confined to a single space, crowed around a single tv set. Numerous would take into account that variety of situation a nerd?s globe where nothing at all but a bunch of girlfriendless guys are smack talking to every single other from across the couch. Now there is much more of a freedom that can be had when playing with your friend from across town or from another part of the country or the opposite end of the globe.
1 case in point is the game FireFall from the game firm Red 5 Studios. As a new game that is currently in Beta testing, FireFall is a game that features both a big, open world cooperative campaign that can be shared with hundreds of other players. The game also features a competitive multiplayer element that incorporates clans, leagues, ladders and tournaments. Because of this sort of on the web multiplayer, also recognized as an MMO or MMOG, which is quick for Massively Multiplayer On-line Game. With this type of game it moves past just playing with 5, 10, or 16 random gamers like you may see in video games like Call of Duty in which you may possibly get up to 32 gamers at a single time.
With an improve in the all round numbers of gamers that you can play with and interact with in a game like FireFall or other games like Globe of Warcraft and EVE On the web, there are so several a lot more choices at your disposal for on the web multiplayer entertaining. Getting in a position to interact with a high quantity of gamers at the second I log into a game like the ones I talked about truly give me far more to do. It increases my probabilities of becoming able to operate with far more folks, meet far more folks and make new buddies. Envision going into a virtual game town where most of the characters in that town are actual living folks, and not just CPUs. You can talk with them, play with them. These are items you cannot do in video games that characteristic only local multiplayer, or only people on the web games that have a modest player cap for every game session .
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All under wraps.The Imperial War Museum's new entranceway to the Churchill War Rooms in Whitehall.? Courtesy Clash Associates
The entrance to the Churchill War Rooms has for years mirrored its wartime role as a discreet, secret underground location where Winston Churchill and his cabinet conducted the business of war safe from the London Blitz and the terror of Hitler?s flying V bombs.
Now a new bold edifice designed by London-based architects Clash Associates is about to be unveiled that the Imperial War Museum hopes will act as a ?beacon, highlighting the museum?s unique role in the nation?s history.?
The new entrance, made of burnished bronze and Portland stone, promises to complement the listed Whitehall buildings that surround it whilst referencing the bulldog spirit of Churchill, the military hardware of World War Two and the bronze sculptures of Jacob Epstein and Henry Moore.
All will be revealed on May 31 when visitors will be welcomed into the fascinating wartime nerve centre via an equally fascinating new doorway.
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Public release date: 29-May-2012
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