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By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News
REVIEW: There are reasons to see "Django Unchained." Christoph Waltz is excellent as a pre-Civil War bounty hunter who buys and frees slave Django (Jamie Foxx) and teams up with him to find his sold-off wife. Leonardo DiCaprio, as a disturbing plantation owner who stages forced fights between muscular slaves, is creepy in a way that would've horrified sweet Jack from "Titanic." Writer and director Quentin Tarantino has not lost one bit of his ability to deliver compelling, smart dialogue and set up situations where you simply have to see what's lurking around the next corner.
And there are reasons not to see "Django Unchained." Blood falls like snow, pours like rain, wraps scenes like a blanket. It hangs in drippy, nasty gobbets, it takes flight like a flock of seagulls. There are whipping scenes, a near castration, and other tortures inflicted on the slaves. Yes, the N-word is used 100+ times, but it's hard to argue that usage isn't historically accurate. The forced slave fighting, dubbed "Mandingo fighting" in the film, is horrific -- if you've ever wondered how a pure one-on-one, mano-a-mano beating can kill a man, here is your visual evidence.
"Django" shares some elements with Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds." There's the satisfaction in both films of seeing the oppressed rise up against horrible historical?tormentors. Waltz's German bounty hunter finds American slavery disgusting, so he stands in for the audience as the horrors unfold. When he strikes out for justice, we're satisfied. Another scene portrays a pre-KKK group as a bunch of bumblers who can't even see out of their hastily hand-sewn masks, nicely crumbling their would-be terror plan.
You can take "Django" as a romance, as Django fights to get back to wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). You can take it as a reminder of the horrors of slavery, writ bloodily and brutally by the hand of a filmmaker who knows how to present violence in a most cinematic way. You can simply appreciate the performances of Waltz, Foxx, DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson as a cruel house slave, and, in a goofy little cameo, Tarantino himself.
But when all's over, and the ending blows up in typical big Tarantino style, the three-hour film doesn't really hold together as a cinematic experience. Revenge and reunion don't mean a happy ending, not for former slaves in the pre-Civil War South. Elements of the film remind viewers of better Tarantino films, but big fans would be better off renting "Pulp Fiction" for the zillionth time, to remember when Tarantino put together pulpy violence and pop culture dialogue in a fresher, more complete way.
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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
At a dinner event several years ago, a former editor-in-chief of a major computing trade magazine told attendees that his first published article was about home automation. That article ran back in 1979 -- just two years after the debut of the Apple II and two years before the introduction of the IBM PC.
Indeed, in its early days, home automation, like the PC, was confined to hobbyists more concerned with being able to do things rather than their practical value. However, the PC proved itself first in business and then with games, word processing and the consumer web as the internet grew. Meanwhile, home automation has largely remained the province of the very wealthy and corporations. Indeed, we're still likely many years away from all of us having smart homes, but there are signs of that future approaching and putting the squeeze on today's high-end installations both from above and below.
Continue reading Switched On: The roads to home automation
Filed under: Misc
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/16/the-roads-to-home-automation/
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Styles shows his soft side while celebrating Swift's 23rd birthday in the English countryside.
By Jocelyn Vena
Taylor Swift and Harry Styles
Photo: Splash News
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1698932/taylor-swift-birthday-harry-styles.jhtml
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Friday, Dec. 14 is the day for Arkansas to decide whether to set up a health insurance exchange as part of the federal health care law.
The state had sent a letter several weeks ago indicating it would likely go with a partnership with the federal government, rather than setting up its own exchange.
The president extended the deadline until Friday and the governor had asked legislative leaders if lawmakers would rather have a state-run exchange, but Governor Mike Beebe said on Wednesday that discussions are still ongoing since the legislature is still weighing options.
Meanwhile the governor says talks also continue about whether Arkansas should expand Medicaid as part of the health care bill.
?The various constituencies out there from doctors to hospitals, to patients, to insurance companies, to everybody else involved, are providing information as well and are making their feelings known. That?s part of the democratic process. It?s a working progress,? said Beebe.
The Obama administration said it won?t give extra money to states that block full Medicaid expansion.
Source: http://www.kuar.org/kuarnews/84043-deadline-on-health-insurance-exchange-is-coming-up.html
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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks to reporters following labor talks, Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, in New York. The league and the players' association met Friday for the fourth straight day trying to reach an agreement to end the lockout. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks to reporters following labor talks, Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, in New York. The league and the players' association met Friday for the fourth straight day trying to reach an agreement to end the lockout. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)
Donald Fehr, executive director of the NHL Players' Association, speaks to the media following talks after meeting with the NHL, Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, in New York. The league and the players' association met Friday for the fourth straight day and fifth time in seven days, trying to reach an agreement to end the lockout. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano)
National Hockey League Players? Association Executive Director Donald Fehr arrives for talks, in New York, Friday, Nov. 9, 2012. The NHL and NHL Players' Association are back in the boardroom. The sides have gathered for a fourth straight day of collective bargaining talks ? the longest run of meetings they've had during these negotiations to end the lockout.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)National Hockey League Players? Association executive director Donald Fehr arrives for talks with the NHL, Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, in New York. The league and the players' association met Friday for the fourth straight day and fifth time in seven days, trying to reach an agreement to end the lockout. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Donald Fehr, executive director of the NHL Players' Association, leaves after meeting with the NHL, Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, in New York. The league and the players' association met Friday for the fourth straight day and fifth time in seven days, trying to reach an agreement to end the lockout. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano)
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks to reporters following labor talks, Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, in New York. The league and the players' association met Friday for the fourth straight day, trying to reach an agreement to end the lockout. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)
NEW YORK (AP) ? A fourth straight day of NHL labor talks failed to bring the league and its locked-out players any closer to a deal that would put hockey back on the ice and save the season.
In fact, the gap between the fighting factions might have gotten even wider on a failed Friday.
After three consecutive seemingly positive days of talks this week, discussions turned a bit sour when negotiations ended for the night. The union was under the impression the numbers suggested they were nearer to an agreement with the league. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman disagreed.
"Gary made a comment (Thursday) that there is still a lot of work to do. I think, given today's session, there is still a lot of work to do," Fehr said. "We looked at some of the numbers on the various proposals and we thought we were much closer together on the structure of a deal than the suggestions were. They came back to us and said, 'No, we are very very far apart on the structure of the deal.'"
There were vocal disagreements at the end of the session, and the union team went back to its office to hold a conference call with the executive board and other players. The union is beginning to feel that the NHL isn't ready to make a deal now, even if the players were suddenly willing to accept the league's offer in full ? which they are not.
"We talked back and forth a little bit, and at one point the question was asked: 'If the players would agree to everything that's in your financial proposal, what you're saying is you still won't make an agreement unless the players give up everything in all of the player-contracting rights in your proposal? The answer was, 'Yes, because that's what we want,'" Fehr said. "One wonders if that's really the case. How do you get there from here?
"Given where we are, we're going to reconvene internally (Saturday) morning and we'll come to grips with where we are and try to figure out what we'll do next. I don't know what will happen next."
Bettman declined to reveal what was discussed or where the disagreements lie. He also wouldn't characterize the mood of the talks.
"I am not going into the details of what takes place in the room," he said. "I really apologize but I do not think it would be constructive to the process. I don't want to either raise or lower expectations. I won't be happy until we get to the end result and that means we're playing again."
Fehr said he expects the sides will get back together Saturday, but there is no way to gauge what the feeling in the room will be when they get there.
The union also fought to put out internal fires on Friday after a memo to players summarizing Thursday's negotiations was leaked to the media. That led to suggestions that the players' association didn't fully convey the owners' most recent proposal to its membership accurately or completely.
Fehr sternly shot down the report as false, if for no other reason that there were players present at the negotiations when the offer was put forward.
"Their proposal is made in front of players in the room who hear it," Fehr said. "It's made in front of staff who hear it, it's made in front of former players who hear it. They're on the phone talking to everybody on an ongoing basis afterward.
"Owners can't come to meetings when they want to hear stuff directly, but every single player can at the union's expense. Come hear it for himself, make the judgments, and all the rest of it."
Ron Hainsey, the player representative for the Winnipeg Jets, backed up Fehr's assertion in full.
"Every player is welcome in every meeting," the defenseman said. "Every player has the ability to get in touch with Don via phone, via email, or get in touch with me or any member of the negotiating committee via phone, via email. This notion that something was hidden over the past 24 or 48 hours is totally inaccurate. We feel that this should put this issue to rest.
"Obviously there aren't 30 owners in the room, there aren't 700 players, but we make sure everyone who wants to know exactly what's going on ... we're taking calls every night. It was a memo to summarize as quick as possible for players. At the end of that memo I believe it says if you want exact details of the offer, call us or email us."
Players made a pair of proposals Wednesday, and the NHL responded with one Thursday. No new official offers were exchanged Friday, but there was give and take during discussions throughout the day. The last of three sessions centered on the core economic issues keeping the sides apart, and it broke up after about two hours.
Bettman said the league is ready to continue talking as soon as the union wants.
"Whatever it takes. We're available," Bettman said. "It's always better to be together and talk when there is something to talk about. I am not getting into the specifics. When you're in a process like this, you're really not watching the calendar. I'm not sure I can tell you what day it is."
That could change soon if a deal isn't struck.
The 55-day-old lockout has already caused the league to call off 327 regular-season games, including the New Year's Day Winter Classic in Michigan, and the NHL has said a full season won't be played. The league is in danger of having a lockout wipe out a full season for the second time in seven years.
Bettman is scheduled to attend Hockey Hall of Fame inductions Monday night in Toronto, but developments in negotiations could prevent that.
"That's my plan (to attend), but if there is a reason to be doing something else, as much as I enjoy the Hall of Fame inductions, if there is something else that is pending, that would take precedence," he said.
The lockout began Sept. 16 after the collective bargaining agreement expired, and both sides rejected proposals Oct. 18. The players' association has agreed to a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenues, but that division wouldn't kick in until the third year of the deal.
During a second consecutive day of marathon negotiations Wednesday, the players' association made an offer on revenue sharing in which richer teams would help out poorer organizations, and another proposal regarding the "make-whole" provision that would guarantee full payment of all existing multiyear player contracts.
Revenue sharing and the make-whole provision are major hurdles. Both sides have made proposals that included a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenues. The NHL has moved toward the players' side on the "make-whole" provision and whose share of the economic pie that money will come from.
The NHLPA estimates that about $590 million is needed to guarantee the amount left to be paid to players on the "make-whole" provision, but so far the league is only offering $211 million.
Along with the split of hockey-related revenue and other core economic issues, the sides must also agree on contract lengths, arbitration and free agency.
The union accepted a salary cap in the previous labor pact, which wasn't reached until after the entire 2004-05 season was canceled because of a lockout. The union doesn't want to absorb the majority of concessions this time after the NHL had record revenue that exceeded $3 billion last season.
Players believe that dropping their share of hockey-related revenue from 57 percent to 50 percent is already a major concession on their part.
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ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2012) ? A new study of eight child prodigies suggests a possible link between these children's special skills and autism. Of the eight prodigies studied, three had a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders. As a group, the prodigies also tended to have slightly elevated scores on a test of autistic traits, when compared to a control group.
In addition, half of the prodigies had a family member or a first- or second-degree relative with an autism diagnosis.
The fact that half of the families and three of the prodigies themselves were affected by autism is surprising because autism occurs in only one of 120 individuals, said Joanne Ruthsatz, lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University's Mansfield campus.
"The link between child prodigies and autism is strong in our study," Ruthsatz said. "Our findings suggest child prodigies have traits in common with autistic children, but something is preventing them from displaying the deficits we associate with the disorder."
The study also found that while child prodigies had elevated general intelligence scores, where they really excelled was in working memory -- all of them scored above the 99th percentile on this trait.
Ruthsatz conducted the study with Jourdan Urbach of Yale University. Their results were published in a recent issue of the journal Intelligence.
For the study, the researchers identified eight child prodigies through the internet and television specials and by referral. The group included one art prodigy, one math prodigy, four musical prodigies and two who switched domains (one from music to gourmet cooking, and one from music to art). The study included six males and two females.
The researchers met with each prodigy individually over the course of two or three days. During that time, the prodigies completed the Stanford-Binet intelligence test, which included sub-tests on fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual spatial abilities and working memory.
In addition, the researchers administered the Autism-Spectrum Quotient assessment, which scores the level of autistic traits. The prodigies' scores on the test were compared to a control group of 174 adults who were contacted randomly by mail.
Ruthsatz said the most striking data was that which identified autistic traits among the prodigies.
The prodigies showed a general elevation in autistic traits compared to the control group, but this elevation was on average even smaller than that seen in high-functioning autistic people diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.
Autism is a developmental disability characterized by problems with communicating and socializing and a strong resistance to change. People with Asperger's are more likely than those with autism to have normal intelligence, but tend to have difficulties with social interaction.
The prodigies did score higher than the control group and the Asperger's group on one subsection of the autism assessment: attention to detail.
"These prodigies had an absolutely amazing memory for detail," she said. "They don't miss anything, which certainly helps them achieve the successes they have."
Ruthsatz said it was not the three prodigies who were diagnosed with autism who were driving this particular finding. In fact, the three autistic prodigies scored an average of 8 on attention to detail, compared to 8.5 for the entire group of prodigies.
On the intelligence test, the prodigies scored in the gifted range, but were not uniformly exceptional. While five of the eight prodigies scored in the 90th percentile or above on the IQ test, one scored at the 70th percentile and another at the 79th percentile.
But just as they did in the autism assessment, the prodigies stood out in one of the sub-tests of the intelligence test. In this case, the prodigies showed an exceptional working memory, with all of them scoring above the 99th percentile.
Working memory is the system in the brain that allows people to hold multiple pieces of information in mind for a short time in order to complete a task.
The findings paint a picture of what it takes to create a prodigy, Ruthsatz said.
"Overall, what we found is that prodigies have an elevated general intelligence and exceptional working memory, along with an elevated autism score, with exceptional attention to detail," Ruthsatz said.
These results suggest that prodigies share some striking similarities with autistic savants -- people who have the developmental disabilities associated with autism combined with an extraordinary talent or knowledge that is well beyond average.
"But while autistic savants display many of the deficits commonly associated with autism, the child prodigies do not," Ruthsatz said. "The question is why."
The answer may be some genetic mutation that allows prodigies to have the extreme talent found in savants, but without the deficits seen in autism. But the answer will require more study, Ruthsatz said.
"Our findings suggest that prodigies may have some moderated form of autism that actually enables their extraordinary talent."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ohio State University. The original article was written by Jeff Grabmeier.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Ggblml-xka8/121109111246.htm
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