Archive for May, 2009

Autonomous Vehicle Navigation

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Ever imagined reading a book or watching a movie in your car, while your vehicle guides itself through the traffic and navigates on its own? Well, thanks to a new technology called ‘autonomous vehicle navigation’, this could soon be a reality.

If this technology comes into action, it may also see fleets of self-navigating vehicles for the military operating in war zones.

Keeping this in mind, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contest was conducted, which aimed at spurring the development of such technologies.

The DARPA Urban Challenge was held at a former air force base in Victorville, Calif. in late 2007, and offered a 3.5 million dollars purse to competitors who could design the fastest and safest vehicles that could traverse a 60-mile urban course in moving traffic in less than six hours.

The contestant vehicles were unmanned and had to complete a simulated military supply mission, manoeuvring through a mock city environment, avoiding obstacles, merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, and negotiating intersections-all while conforming to California driving rules.

And out of the 89 international teams participating in the contest, only six could make it to the finish line in the allotted time

Dating Slumdog Dev Patel

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

I’m pretty sure we’d get along. Her, a talented actress. Me, a broke ass blogger. We’d have tons to talk about. Such as “what do you think they’ll say about your ironic Tuxedo shirt at the premiere?” and “will club soda take out dried in frozen yogurt?”. Sadly for me but I’m sure fortunately for her she is dating her Slumdog co-star Dev Patel.

The behavior of Rojas is unacceptable

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Jorge Rojas was suspended for two games and fined $1000 for exhibiting disorderly conduct during the game. He elbowed Houston Dynamo’s Midlfielder Bryan Mullan in the head followed by a heated argument with their goal keeper Pat Onsted.

He refused to leave the field in an orderly manner after his conduct.

The behavior of Rojas is unacceptable and goes against everything that Soccer stands for. The fact is that elbowing in the head just like the head butt could cause trauma to the brain. After all, the brain is the most sensitive area of the body with its multiple arteries and veins which controls all forms of movements and behaviour in the human body.

The MLS did the right thing in suspending Rojas for two games and this should be set as an example that anti social behavior and sports of all kinds should not mix. If the MLS had not stepped in soon with its two game suspension and $1000 fine, others could repeat the anti social activity or others.

Personally, it would be better if Rojas would have been fined $2000, have a quarter of his pay severed for five games and suspended for the same amount. Regardless, maybe the MLS knows better.

Obama ready to sign credit card reform

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

The legislation “is not going to be a hanging for banks, but I think Congress has collared them and are bringing them in,” says Robert McKinley, founder of CardTrak.com, which consults with banks. “It’s been the Wild West for the card industry for a long time.”

The changes will affect most households in America. About 90 million households carry credit cards, with an average debt load of more than $10,500, according to CardTrak.com. The curbs, which mostly take effect in nine months, deal with controversial practices including:

•Interest rate increases. Issuers can generally raise rates on existing credit card debt only if consumers have paid their bill more than 60 days late.

No Chance for Jerusalem to be divided

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Palestinians seeking to establish their own state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, as part of a future peace agreement with Israel, say they want their capital to be in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu’s comments on Thursday, at a ceremony marking Israel’s capture of Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War, were in line with his election pledge to keep Jerusalem “united.”

“A united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Jerusalem was and will always be ours. It shall never be divided and disunited again,” Netanyahu said at the ceremony.

Netanyahu, whose right-leaning coalition took office nearly two months ago, said that only Israeli sovereignty over a united Jerusalem would ensure free religious practice and access to holy sites by the three major faiths.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Netanyahu’s position on Jerusalem was a setback to the goal of a two-state solution, which is strongly supported by the Obama administration.

“Mr. Netanyahu, by saying that, he’s saying the state of conflict will be eternal,” Erekat said.

Netanyahu wants talks with Palestinians to focus on shoring up their economy and improving security in the West Bank instead of tackling thorny issues like the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and final borders.

Palestinians reject this approach, saying the renewal of peace negotiations with Israel hinges on Netanyahu publicly endorsing Palestinian statehood and halting settlement activity.

The statement by Netanyahu on Jerusalem was similar to one made by Obama during last year’s U.S. presidential campaign.

In a speech to a pro-Israel lobby group last June, Obama said Jerusalem “will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.”

He later said Palestinians and Israelis had to negotiate the status of the city. “We don’t want barbed wire running through Jerusalem, similar to the way it was prior to the ‘67 war,” Obama explained.

Benny Andersson and Bjorn’s first English-language productin

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Before there was the musical “Mamma Mia!” there was “Kristina.” And now New York will get to hear it.

The first English-language production of the musical by Benny Andersson and Bjorn (Byorn) Ulvaeus (OOL’-vay-us) of ABBA fame will be presented Sept. 23-24 at Carnegie Hall.

The musical about a family’s journey from Sweden to America in the mid-19th century premiered in Sweden in 1995 and ran there for nearly four years. The English-language version will have lyrics by Ulvaeus and Herbert Kretzmer. A concert version of the musical in Swedish played Minneapolis in 1996.

Andersson and Ulvaeus are the composers of the musical “Chess” as well as the long-running, worldwide hit “Mamma Mia!”

Abbas Kiarostami’s latest production

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

The Tuscany Film Commission in Cannes is sponsoring Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s latest production Certified Copy.

Starring the Academy Award winning French actress Juliette Binoche and co-produced by MK2 and Italy’s Angelo Barbagallo, the film will receive a USD 600,000 financial support.

Certified Copy is Kiarostami’s first film to be shot outside Iran and recounts a love story set in the Chianti countryside.

The film will start shooting on June 8, 2009 and it will be in French with parts of it in English.

The Tuscany Film Commission unveiled its new film funding program that will provide USD 12 million over the next two years for feature-length films, TV movies and documentaries shot in the region.

It offers up to USD 600,000 to directors that shoot at least 50% of their works in Tuscany. First-time directors receive a maximum of USD 270,000 and smaller amounts are available for documentary screenplay development.

Chris Weitz’s New Moon, Giorgio Serafini’s Il Falco e la Colomba and Antonello Grimaldi’s Il Mostro are also among the films committed to shooting in Tuscany this year.

Terminator Salvation story line in films

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

“Terminator Salvation” sticks to the story line established in the three feature films. McG didn’t ignore the Fox TV series, but he didn’t let it get in the way of his movie.

McG explained: If the first “Terminator” movie was about saving Sarah Connor and the second was about saving John Connor, this one is about saving Kyle Reese. “Terminator” fans know Reese is sent back through time by John Connor to save Sarah Connor. That trip proves to have an even more personal affect on John Connor’s life.

McG cast Anton Yelchin in the film’s pivotal role. The young actor, who played Pavel Chekov in the recent updated film version of “Star Trek,” is the latest Reese; Jonathan Jackson was Reese in the Fox Network series “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” Michael Biehn played him in the original 1984 film. Yelchin prefers the Biehn version.

“Being a huge fan of ‘Terminator,’ there was no way I was going into this movie and not have that Kyle Reese in this film,” he says of Biehn’s work. “I think there is a tendency in stories about heroes when they are younger, to see them start off weak and get stronger. I just thought that was (expletive deleted). You can’t do that with this character.

“You can’t have a weak Kyle Reese who then becomes the hero. He’s got to be a hero from the start.”

Yelchin approached the part of Reese much as he did the Chekov role. He kept familiar elements and added new layers: youthful enthusiasm for Chekov and anger and a fragile nature for Reese.

Netanyahu wants talks with Palestinians

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Netanyahu wants talks with Palestinians to focus on shoring up their economy and improving security in the West Bank instead of tackling thorny issues like the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and final borders.

Palestinians reject this approach, saying the renewal of peace negotiations with Israel hinges on Netanyahu publicly endorsing Palestinian statehood and halting settlement activity.

The statement by Netanyahu on Jerusalem was similar to one made by Obama during last year’s U.S. presidential campaign.

In a speech to a pro-Israel lobby group last June, Obama said Jerusalem “will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.”

He later said Palestinians and Israelis had to negotiate the status of the city. “We don’t want barbed wire running through Jerusalem, similar to the way it was prior to the ‘67 war,” Obama explained.

Brow-wrinkling and Blepharospasm

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

In the past decade, since its war on wrinkles began, Botox has gained a massive following, from soccer moms to movie stars, who refuse to accept the evidence that they’re getting on in years. Sales for cosmetic use of the drug, which causes temporary muscle paralysis and prevents the grimacing that leads to crow’s feet and frown lines, were $357 million in 2005, according to Allergan, the drug’s manufacturer. Meantime, sales for far-less-publicized therapeutic uses reached $473 million, as doctors have wielded it against everything from cerebral palsy to headache to Parkinson’s disease and crossed eyes.


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