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Difference between revisions of "Shangrila"
Revision as of 06:05, 1 December 2011
Shangrila (香格里拉; Xiānggélǐlā; formerly Zhongdian 中甸 in Chinese, known as Gyalthang in Tibetan) is in Yunnan Province.
The town is split between Tibetan and ethnic Han residents, as well as a fair smattering of Naxi, Bai, Yi and Lisu, with the surrounding countryside entirely Tibetan. While the crass name change in 2001 was a sign of the desire for increasing mass tourism a la Lijiang, the town has got nowhere near Lijiang's crowds, and it's still possible to experience the area's Tibetan heritage and see gorgeous countryside in near isolation.
Zhongdian was renamed Shangrila for marketing reasons. Signs in bus stations still use Zhongdian. There is also a third name in Tibetan, Gyelthang. The original Shangrila, from James Hilton's novel The Lost Horizon, was a (fictional) hidden paradise whose inhabitants lived for centuries. Hilton (who never went to China) located his Shangri-La in the Kunlun mountains. However, elements of his story were apparently inspired by National Geographic articles about various places in eastern Tibet (including Zhongdian); hence China's rationale for claiming the name.
Local Khampa Tibetans claim that the name Shangri-la was most likely derived from their word for paradise "Shambala," by Hilton through exposure to Rock's writings on the region.
Get in
By plane
There are daily flights to Shangrila (the airport's name is Diqing, airport code DIG) from Kunming and Lhasa.
By bus
Shangrila is the important stop for the journey from Yunnan to Tibet (G214), with regular buses to Lhasa and Chamdo. see also Overland to Tibet.
Get around
The main area of town runs along the north-south running Changzheng Road. The old town is at the south end of Changzheng Road, and the bus station is at the north end of town.
By bus
The bus costs ¥1.
Contrary to what the Lonely Planet guidebook says, it is relatively simple to get to Chengdu from Shangrila. Firstly, a sleeper bus to Pan Zhi Hua, arriving at 5am. A 25 minute taxi journey (Y70-80 for 3-4 people) to the train station to catch a midday train to Chengdu. This arrives at 11.43pm and costs Y102 for a hard seat. All in all, 31 hours from Shangrila to Chengdu at a cost of Y315.
Public bus
By motorcycle
Turtle Mountain Gear & Outfitters offer motorcycle rentals (dirt bikes of 200 cc) as well as 110 cc minibike adventures.
By bicycle
Renting a bike is a great way to see Shangri-La, the old town and the surrounding attractions. A decent mountain bike will cost ¥20-30 per day to rent. One warning to cyclists, some of the rental stores in the old town can be dangerous to rent from, as they refuse to provide tire repair kits and spare tires. If you get a flat tire they also will not pick you up, saying it is not their problem, then when you return they charge you to repair the flat. When asked to call for pickup they wanted to charge ¥200. Enjoy cycling but beware of the first rental store at the corner of Dawa Road, called 枫星户外 (FengXing Outdoor). The rentals from Yak Bar next door are a good choice though, and the boss there is quite friendly (just across from the Old Town parking lot and main entrance).
The city is famous for Tibetan jewelry, yak tails, Nixi pottery, Yi lacquerware, Dried matsutake mushroom and Tibetan medicinal herbs. Very good Tibetan incense. For shopping the new town is better than the old, cheaper prices.
Several budget guesthouses can be found in the old part of town, prices for a double should be in the region of ¥50 per night (low season). Heating is not provided even in the winter months, but additional blankets are happily provided and electric blankets are common.
Mid range
Be aware of the risk of altitude sickness. Zhongdian is at 3,200 m vs 2,000 for Dali or Kunming. Plan your trip to allow time to acclimatise.
Stay safe
Get out


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Youngest Of 3 Willmar Murder Defendants Gets Probation
WILLMAR (AP) - A teen who acted as a lookout while his friend's grandmother was killed in her Willmar home has been sentenced to probation and community service.
Sixteen-year-old Devon Jenkins earlier pleaded guilty to unintentional second-degree murder. A Kandiyohi County judge on Monday sentenced Jenkins to complete a youth correctional program, perform 100 hours of community service and serve probation until age 21.
Jenkins is the youngest of three defendants in the death of 79-year-old Lila Warwick. Prosecutors say her own grandson, 18-year-old Robert Warwick, came up with the plan that led 19-year-old Brok Junkermeier to choke and stab the woman last July. Junkermeier's trial is in March. Warwick's has not been scheduled.

subset: commoncrawl


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RBC.com | Français | | Contact Us
About RBC > Community & Sustainability > News >RBC sponsors annual Canadian summit on socially responsible investing
May 8 2013 - On June 17 – 19, RBC is sponsoring the Canadian Responsible Investment Conference in Vancouver, hosted by the Social Investment Organization (SIO).
This year's theme, Engaging for Change, explores the role of stakeholders in building sustainable financial markets. The conference also highlights the opportunities for SRI professionals to achieve better outcomes for investors and their world. John Montalbano, Chief Executive Officer of RBC Global Asset Management, will be speaking about trends in responsible investing and opportunities and challenges in the sector.
RBC is also sponsoring a panel discussion on impact investing, geared towards attendees who want to learn more about this emerging area.
The SIO is a national membership-based organization that includes financial institutions, investment firms, financial advisors, and various organizations and individuals interested in socially responsible investment. For more information, visit www.socialinvestment.ca/.
The RBC social finance initiative, launched in 2012, is a $20-million commitment to help ignite social and environmental change through investment activity. This commitment includes the $10-million RBC Generator, a pool of capital dedicated to financing enterprises addressing social and environmental challenges, and a $10-million investment of RBC Foundation assets into Socially Responsible Investment funds. For more information, visit rbc.com/socialfinance.


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Video: 14 things we love about the Dominican Republic
With waterfalls, beaches and wildlife galore, the Dominican Republic is an island paradise. If you need any more inspiration to plan a visit, here are 14 things…
Five kilometres beyond Baoruco, the pueblo San Rafael holds an enticing beach, if one with a strong, crashing surf, crowded with Dominicans on weekends but only moderately populated the rest of the week. Fortunately, a waterfall thrums down the nearby mountains and forms a natural swimming pool at the beach entrance, with an unobtrusive artificial barrier walling it in so that water slowly pours over the edge into the sea. The area around here is a popular camping spot, complete with public shower and bathroom facilities, and some shacks nearby sell excellent grilled lobster and fresh fish. You can hike along the river's cascades into the mountains, or head up a turnoff just west of the beach, with panoramic views atop a high cape. From the beach you can also climb up a series of small cascades that are a popular local bathing spot.
Another stunning beach lies 5km further west along the coast beyond Paraíso in Los Patos, where the ocean is joined again by a river descending from the mountains to form a freshwater swimming pool. The beach, surrounded by dense mangroves, is pretty lively throughout the week, with vendors lining the sand to take care of most visitors' culinary and souvenir needs.
Book through Rough Guides' trusted travel partners
The latest articles, galleries, quizzes and videos.
With waterfalls, beaches and wildlife galore, the Dominican Republic is an island paradise. If you need any more inspiration to plan a visit, here are 14 things…


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[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]
Do you remember when you bought your first BlackBerry® smartphone, or which device it was?
Remember how it changed everything you knew about the cellular phone? They were now called "smart" and you could do much more than just make a call with it. You felt connected, and you were.
It was no longer just a phone anymore. It was a BlackBerry smartphone, it was yours and you loved it.
What was your first BlackBerry smartphone? Tell us in the comments below!


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The season is still a few short weeks away, but Lipscomb students and fans caught basketball fever Monday night during the first ever HoopapaLUza at Allen Arena.
The evening was filled with skits, basketball skills contests, pizza and merchandise giveaways and introductions of coaches and players for the both the Bisons and Lady Bisons in addition to an appearance by the cheerleading squad for 2005-2006.
The event was a project of the Lipscomb Student Government Association. Lipscomb athletics marketing director Paul Nance, who helped with the event, thought the turnout was a tremendous success. Nance estimated approximately 750 students were in attendance with total attendance of around 1,000.
Bisons coach Scott Sanderson was excited about the turnout, especially from the students.
"The students were really enthused," Sanderson said. "If we can get a turnout like that for games all year long that will have a major impact on our team. Our guys enjoyed it. The students enjoyed it."
Sanderson credited the turnout from students, and overall fan support, for helping the Bisons land a couple of their home games on CSS this season. Both the Belmont and East Tennessee State games will be televised.
"Those are both going to be good games, but our good student support and our fan base were also factors," Sanderson said. "Our students and fans don't realized the impact they have on our games."
Bisons point guard James Poindexter beat Lady Bisons guard Dana Carrigan in a 3-point shooting contest. There was also a dunk contest. No winner was named, but Bisons center Shaun Durant left an indelible mark on the rim.
Players were also involved in skits that helped to show that even though they are involved with a sport that they take seriously, they are just like every other student.
"Our players practice from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. each day, but they are going to school and trying to get their degrees like all students," Sanderson said. "It was good for the students to see our guys in a different light. We feel that it is very important that they get involved with the student body."
Lady Bisons Coach Frank Bennett also thought the event was a success. He pointed out that few fans or students left early.
"It was a great turnout," Bennett said. "They seemed to have a lot of fun. It seemed like everybody stayed around for the whole event. At the end after we gave out ice cream students and fans were still hanging around and socializing. We want fans to see Allen Arena as a fun place to be. This was a big step."
Bennett credited Nance; Tina Walker; graduate assistant for marketing and promotions; Luke Flenor, student promotions director; SGA president Randi Johnson and SGA vice-president Baker Luck; and the SGA as an organization, for the success of the event. Bennett agreed with Sanderson that the event offered fans, especially students, the opportunity to see the players in a different atmosphere other than game night.
"It helps students and fans make a connection with our players," said Bennett. "Both teams are trying to be more outgoing in making friends with the student body."
Papa John's provided pizzas, Purity Dairies donated ice cream for all in attendance and Blockbuster Video provided gift cards as door prizes.
The Nashville City Paper featured HoopapaLUza in story in Tuesday's edition.


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This unit investigates asteroids, comets, and meteoroids, focusing on Vesta, a prominent asteroid in the asteroid belt. The unit of eleven lessons culminates in having students use engineering practices to design, build, and test devices that will... (View More) land on Vesta, collect and separate natural resources found there, and deliver a payload to a target. Teachers and students are also introduced to the Asteroid Mappers-Vesta Edition citizen science project that is part of the CosmoQuest online community. Lessons include background information for educators, reviews and assessments, and links to supplemental videos and websites. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core Standards are listed. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $10 - $20 per group of students
This 12-lesson unit includes inquiry-based lessons about the surface features of the Moon and the Earth and how these two worlds formed and continue to evolve. Students participate in real science as they help lunar scientists map the surface of the... (View More) Moon with MoonMappers, an online citizen science project that lets the public analyze real data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The lessons in this unit follow the 5E instructional model. Includes an overview of citizen science, glossary of lunar feature vocabulary, alignment to NGSS and NSES, and featured links. Each of the lessons addresses different topics and can be used together as a unit, or independently. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $10 - $20 per group of students
In this activity, student teams design small-scale physical models of hot and cold planets, (Venus and Mars), and learn that small scale models allow researchers to determine how much larger systems function. There is both a team challenge and... (View More) competition built into this activity. Experimental findings are then used to support a discussion of human outposts on Mars. The resource includes an experimental design guide for students as well as a handout outlining a method for the design of controlled experiments, and student data sheets. Student questions and an essay assignment are provided as classroom assessments. This is Activity A in the second module, titled "Modeling hot and cold planets," of the resource, "Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate?" The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $10 - $20 per group of students


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loftopussydesigns needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 127 designs submitted by 45 freelance designers.
To create a new logo for a 60's watch company named 'Old England'. The brand is to be relaunched with a similar original 60's inspired feel however with a more modern touch.
(Should any of you be interested in making some digital watch designs for me, (inspired/based on the originals 60's models which you can find by googling the brand, please feel free to email me seperately at email@example.com
Old England
The company was a trendsetting 60s icon, worn by the beatles, twiggy etc...i am planning to relaunch a new line over the next year that will also share that original unique look and wow factor, however the brand needs a major facelift, and whilst it will definately be 60's inspired i would like it to feel contemporary and modern at the same time.
The logo should keep or allude to the 60's heritage of the brand, however i want it to feel somewhat contemporary and modern as well.
I dont want to say that a british flag is something necessary to the logo however it is something i have thought about to incorporate in creative way, however it is not a must.
I am also thinking about placing the words "Made in Liverpool" beneath the logo so feel free to try and incorporate this into the design. however again this also is not a must for the logo, it doesnt matter if its not included at all.
I would like the finished design formatted in photoshop. But also a copy saved as a jpg file so its simple and easy to import to and from word
I give all of you absolute creative license to interpret the logo however you like..here are some links to the original 60's watches so you can get some idea
- Item 1...
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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September 29, 2008
Tutorial Time
Instructions without pictures:
With a little time and some beautiful fabric you can create a new quilted wallet today! The
project is able to be completed in about an hour's time - enjoy!
1. Cut your fabrics! You will need:
4 ½ x 8" for exterior
4 ½ x 8" batting
4 ½ x 17 ½ " for interior
4 ½ x 7 ½ " interfacing
2. Working with the long interior piece, make a fold, and iron, wrong sides together 1¾ " from
both ends
3. Topstitch 1/8 th of an inch making top edge of first pocket.
4. Right sides together create pocket 1 ¼ " deep, and iron.
5. Create second pocket by folding again, wrong sides together 1 ¾ " to the top, and ½ "
above first pocket. Iron and topstitch.
6. Finish second pocket by folding a 1 ¼ " pocket and iron.
7. Apply interfacing to completed interior.
8. Quilt exterior piece to batting. This is a good size to practice free-motion with - not too
9. Place interior and exterior of the wallet, right sides together, and pin in place.
10. Sew together, leaving a space between the tops of the pockets open. Be sure to rein-
force your opening.
11. Trim excess and corners.
12. Turn right side out - start with a corner opposite the opening - it will turn.
13. Use a knitting needle or other method to coerce your corners out all the way.
14. Press flat.
15. Topstitch around the entire wallet, closing the opening, and across the center, for a nice
16. Nice wallet! I would love to see your completed wallet.
We are off to gymnastics and then the evening hours of busyness . . . bedtime, will you ever come? Have a great evening ~ Amy
ETA: Welcome to those coming over from CraftGossip! If I could do this over again I would have done it different - amazing how much I've learned in a few short months! I have a recent tutorial here for making mitered corners - feel free to check out what I've been up to lately :)
13 comments:
- Amy said...
I may just give it a whirl
- September 29, 2008 at 5:54 PM
- Penny said...
thanks for the great tutorial Amy!
- September 29, 2008 at 7:25 PM
- melissa s. said...
adding this to my to-do list!!!! thanks for the tute!
- September 29, 2008 at 8:04 PM
- Thimbleanna said...
Very Cute! Thanks for the tutorial. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE that posh fabric. And I LOVE your adorable bookmarks that you've made with it too!
- September 30, 2008 at 7:29 AM
- Amy said...
That's a great idea - thanks!
I know that feeling - about bedtime feeling like it will never come... from around 5pm to 8pm every day!
- September 30, 2008 at 5:44 PM
- Marrdy said...
Yeah!!! Step by step directions. I will give this a try.
- September 30, 2008 at 8:51 PM
- tipper said...
So nice of you to do this for everyone!
- October 1, 2008 at 9:14 AM
- DiddleDaddleDesigns said...
Great tutorial. I need to give this a try.
- October 1, 2008 at 11:38 AM
- casserole said...
Great tutorial! I posted a link to your tutorial at Craft Gossip Sewing Blog: http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-sew-a…-fabric-wallettutorial-sew-a-simple-fabric-wallet/2009/04/05/
(link will be active April 5, 1:26 pm CST)
- April 5, 2009 at 10:26 AM
Thanks for the tutorial. I will be making these for easter gifts. Can't wait to get started.
- April 6, 2009 at 7:07 AM
- luluvision said...
Thanks for sharing this! I will give it a try!
- April 6, 2009 at 7:34 AM
- ferne said...
ooo...this would work for holding my many sewing machine needles and separating them by type...Nice tutorial, thanks!
- April 19, 2009 at 7:59 PM
Oh my goodness Thank you so much for posting this. I have been looking to make something almost exactly like this. I tweaked it and added a few things and created my new favorite wallet!
- February 28, 2010 at 11:17 PM


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- A month before the big day, our landlord gave us notice to quit the flat I shared with three friends. Panic stations! A friend kindly offered me a bed for the few weeks but I was moving 50 miles south to Hawick in the Scottish Borders where Neil worked, so I had to plan what stuff I needed in Edinburgh and then for the wedding and honeymoon, and what could be taken to Hawick. Plus I was now going to be leaving for the wedding from the reception hotel. I seemed to be dividing my time between three places. Talk about a stress full time!
- Then I had this awful dream where I turned up at the church in all my finery to discover it all shut up and there had been some mix up over the date. Was this an awful portent?
- The evening before we had a wedding rehearsal at the church - St. Peter's Episcopal. On the way, with my mother and aunt in Neil's car, we had a blow out on the main A1 into Edinburgh. We managed to get a taxi and left Neil to change the wheel. He arrived late at the church with oil over his cream Arran sweater. Was this a further portent? He had to spend the morning of his wedding getting the tyre repaired ahead of us driving north to the Highlands.
- Wedding day dawned and I was with my mother and bridesmaid fitting my headdress on when the phone rang in my hotel bedroom. It was the car hire firm to say in the heavy rain one of their cars had broken down on its way. It seemed to be left to me to suggest that the one car would have to do a double journey for the wedding party and of course I was late at the church. We never did get any money back on that missing car.
- As for photographs, all taken at the reception - do you notice somebody's trouser legs above our heads - it was a portrait of Edinburgh writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Not quite the composition you expect from a professional photographer who had been recommended to us.
Incidents did not end there. From the reception we took a taxi back to Neil's parent's house to collect the car safely locked in the garage (away from any idea his brother may have of decorating it). We drove to our honeymoon hotel in a rainstorm and then Neil discovered he had come away with the garage key - so we had to drive back to Edinburgh the next morning to return it.


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Since the beginning of the company, Volkswagen has been known for making high-quality vehicles consumers can depend on. It's virtually impossible to find someone who doesn't know a story about a person who kept a VW for years and years with little trouble. The Volkswagen Golf III series falls into this category. Reliability and comfortable driving define this car. Test drivers note how well the Golf III responds, and they remark about its comfortable ride.
There is no question that auto companies all over the world have achieved recognition and acclaim for their products and accomplishments. In Europe, certain names come to mind, calling up those companies that paved the way for auto manufacturing. Volkswagen almost always ranks first on the list. This German company has been in existence since the 1930s and dedicates itself to creating a car for the people. This car aims to be affordable enough for most citizens to buy it. The company accomplishes this goal, making it the largest car manufacturer in Europe.
Among the many car designs offered by this company over the years, the Golf series, including the Golf III, has played a huge role in Volkswagen's success.
The car's style and class define the Volkswagen Golf III as well. The exterior shows off a classic German design with plenty of modern features to keep the Golf III viable in today's market. Still, the interior of the car really shines. Volkswagen has chosen to give this model a host of well-made amenities that rival other competitors and even VW's own Jetta model. The Golf III has been so well appointed some industry analysts claim the car looks and feels more like a luxury sedan than a smaller class of car.
Volkswagen has chosen to release the Golf III for the 2012 model year. These cars come in both two- and four-door body styles. The Golf III offers two distinct trim levels in both of the body styles, the 2.5L and the TDI. Industry experts have been impressed so far by Volkswagen attention to detail with this line of cars and expect buyers to consider the higher price tag simply to have the quality vehicle.
Taking a look at the trim levels, buyers will find the 2.5L version of the Golf III comes equipped with full power accessories, keyless entry, and 15-inch alloy wheels. This model also boasts a sunroof, a trip computer, and an eight-speaker sound system. With the TDI version, Volkswagen offers a sport-tuned suspension, along with a lower ride height to give it more of a sports car-like driving experience and additional technological devices.
Under the hood, the Golf III comes equipped with a 2.5-liter, five-cylinder engine in the 2.5L model. This engine pairs with a five-speed manual transmission standard, though a six-speed automatic system provides another option. With the TDI Golf III, Volkswagen installs a 2.0-liter turbo diesel four-cylinder engine. This trim level offers more efficient fuel economy.
It's easy to see where Volkswagen found its good ideas for the 2012 model of the Golf III. This model has been in its third generation since 1991 and has undergone several changes in that time. For American buyers, the Golf III didn't make it to the shores until the 1993 model year. As it turns out, the delay resulted from some quality control issues in the company's Mexico-based plant. Since this plant supplies the U.S. and Canada, Volkswagen chose to delay the release of the Golf III until it resolved issues within the plant.
Much like the 2012 version, the previous versions offer the consumer plenty of choices and a reliable car. As a used car, consumers will find unique powertrains such as the 2.8-liter VR6 engine offered with the 1992 edition. Also popular, the 16-valve version arrived on the scene in the 1993 model year.
Overall, most industry experts see the Volkswagen Golf III as an excellent investment for those looking for a used car purchase. It has proven to be reliable and easy to drive.
1995 Volkswagen Golf III
Compact, Hatchback, Sports
The Golf III is one of Volkswagen's best-selling model lines.


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Deep Shade needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 159 designs submitted by 18 freelance designers.
Revive Massage
We are a new massage company opening on the beautiful north shore of Kauai. We are environmentally aware, and looking to represent a healthy lifestyle with our company. We want a high end logo to go with the high end type of business we are.
We are looking to attract all Hawaiian visitors who need to relax, And our target market is middle aged women for sure!
We want to maintain an overall all Hawaiian themed, elegant and "green"
Zen like look. We like the colors: green white, bamboo colors, ocean.
*Possibly using a cursive font...?
Very unique and something you remember!
We are building a brand, and this needs to be a powerful look:
Key words- Revive
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Psychological manifestations in ocular science: a lexicon of terms
Lawrence Lester Beacher
Psychological Library Publishers, 1968 - Ophthalmology - 53 pages
From inside the book
59 pages matching Ocular Science in this book
Page i
Where's the rest of this book?
Results 1-3 of 59
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Common terms and phrases
ailment apparatus appear behavior binocular imbalance blind spots brain Chancellor of Philathea changes light energy CHIASM—the chromatic color blindness color vision condition contact lenses cornea differential disease emotional upsets energy for mental energy to nervous eyeball eyes acting conjointly eyestrain fixation frequently function Glaucoma green headache Hirsch Lazaar Silverman inflammation instrument for measuring ISHAHARA layer of tears Lesley Kuhn Lester Beacher light-waves loss of vision macula lutea Manifestations in Ocular meaning mental perception MIRROR IMAGE PROJECTIVE muscular mydriatics nervous energy nervous system objects Ocular Science ophthalmologist optic nerve optometrist Optometry person Philathea College physical physicist portant theory primary colors psychol PSYCHOLOGICAL LIBRARY PUBLISHERS Psychological Manifestations PSYCHOLOGY—the pupil reflex refractive defects refractive error retina retinal images rhodopsin Sc.D sclera scleral contact scotoma sensitivity sexual stimulus student of vision theory on color tion various visual acuity visual field visual sensation wave-length yellow YOUNG-HELMHOLTZ THEORY


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Tuesday, 19 January 2010 05:25 PM
China plans to put the breaks on "Avatar's" record-breaking run.
Authorities are pulling the non-3D version of the science fiction epic from screens across the country as of Saturday, according to theater operators and state media, apparently for political and economic reasons.
China Film Group, the state-run domestic distributor of the Hollywood blockbuster, has reportedly ordered cinemas to stop showing the 2D version of James Cameron's global hit by this weekend on the orders of China's censors. The 3D and IMAX versions of the movie will continue their run into February.
Repeated calls to the distributor's spokesman Tuesday went unanswered.
Reportedly, part of the reason is to reduce competition for China's homegrown films, like the state-backed biopic of Confucius, the ancient Chinese philosopher, starring Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-fat, which opens this Thursday.
The Beijing Youth Daily on Tuesday quoted UME International Cineplex assistant manager Liu Hui confirming the pullout at theaters in the capital. She said it won't affect the cinema's revenues.
"In UME, the 3D and Imax version make up 90 percent of our box-office income, so it won't affect the majority of viewers. With the pullout of the 2D version, movies like Confucius will gain some room for showing," she said.
The other sensitivity is to the movie's plot regarding the forced evictions of the alien Na'vi race by humans — a story line that some have said draws unflattering comparisons to China's own, often brutal removal of millions of residents to make way for property developers.
Columnist Huang Hung penned a commentary in the official English-language China Daily, saying the film had struck a chord with Chinese viewers.
"All the forced removal of old neighborhoods in China makes us the only earthlings today who can really feel the pain of the Na'vi," she wrote.
"Avatar" is already the biggest box-office success in China, pulling in more than 300 million yuan ($44.1 million) as of Jan 12. It quickly surpassed last year's "2012" and "Transformers 3."
In theaters across the financial metropolis of Shanghai, word spread quickly that the 2D version of the movie would be gone by the weekend. All versions of the movie were originally scheduled to run through Chinese New Year in mid-February.
It's "not just our theater. The 2D 'Avatar' is going to be stopped everywhere," said a ticket sales manager at Nanjing Peace Theater who refused to give his name because he had not been authorized to speak to media.
"If you want to see it, seize the opportunity now — even for 3D! We just listen to the command from the relevant authority, although we will lose some ticket sales for sure," he said.
Associated Press researcher Ji Chen in Shanghai contributed to this report.
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4:00 am
Land Girls Annie knows she must choose between the two men in her life. Clarence gets cold feet before his marriage to Bea. Lady Hoxley takes revenge on Nancy. Tucker becomes more unstable. Part 5 of 5G
5:00 am
Billy Connolly's Route 66 The Scottish comedian and actor begins in Chicago on his journey to the Pacific Coast along the storied route. He points out distinctive aspects of the Chicago Tribune Building, meets the Route 66 "Pie Man," sees Abraham Lincoln's home, and the Chain of Rocks bridge. He paces a horse-drawn carriage with his low-rider motor-trike at an Amish community. Part 1 of 4G
6:00 am
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood "Environment" Marine botanist Sylvia Earle shows Mister Rogers some of the ocean's wonders as they snorkel together off the Florida Keyes. D
6:30 am
Curious George "Honey of a Monkey/Curious George's Egg Hunt" Honey of a Monkey - George and Steve are in a sticky situation when they accidentally eat all of Betsy's honeycomb. Will their homemade beehive produce enough honeycomb in time for Betsy's Earth Day presentation, or will she be buzzing mad? Curious George's Egg Hunt - George and Allie have discovered an egg in the grass with no nest in sight. Where is the egg's mother? They search high and low to find the right bird's nest but no egg will match. D
7:00 am
Wild Kratts "Aardvark Town" When a young aardvark accidentally becomes a stowaway in Chris's backpack, the Wild Kratts team sets off on a "door to door" search to return him to his home burrow. Along the way, they discover the incredible (and valuable) service the aardvark provides to all the burrow-living creatures of Africa. Science Concept: Aardvarks manipulate earth materials and alter landscapes. D
7:30 am
Peep and the Big Wide World/Pocoyo "Under Duck/All Fall Down/ Pocoyo - The Seed" Quack discovers there's more to his pond than meets the eye. (Namely, fish.) Spooked by falling leaves, Squeak the mouse warns Peep that the entire sky will soon be tumbling down. D
8:00 am
Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! "Gorillas in the Nest/Tale of a Dragon" Gorillas in the Nest - Sally and Nick have made a sleepover tent on the floor. But it's not very comfortable. The Cat's friend Gordon the Gorilla knows how to make a comfortable bed. D
8:30 am
Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps "Angelina and the Tummy Butterflies/Angelina and the Magician" Angelina and the Tummy Butterflies - The mouselings are learning about jazz dance, improvisation, and poetry. Ms. Mimi asks them to share the poems they're creating with the entire class. But Alice become anxious every time she thinks about presenting her poem to the rest of the students and can't understand why she feels like she has "tummy butterflies. D
9:00 am
Bob the Builder "Fun at the Beach" Scoops' Sea Rescue - Scoop dreams he's a brave sea captain. He's so excited his mind is elsewhere! He doesn't hear Bob asking him to collect the special fixings for the new lens for the lighthouse. Later, Bob asks Scoop to collect a special tool. D
9:30 am
Thomas & Friends "Sounds and Smells" O the Indignity - Gordon is horrified when Sir Topham Hatt announces that he is to take charge of Whiff's Waste Dump for the day. Gordon arrives at the Waste Dump and decides that the only thing for him to do is to hide when other engines arrive at the dump. Gordon just cannot be seen at such a smelly place! As the day progresses, Gordon hides from Spencer, Diesel and Thomas. D
10:00 am
Wishbone "The Slobbery Hound" This live-action program follows the exploits of Wishbone the dog and his human friends, Joe, David and Samantha through their adventures in their hometown of Oakdale. Wishbone's everyday experiences trigger his imagination and he finds himself in scenes from classic works of literature. In this episode, Wishbone is falsely accused so he and the kids team up as detectives to prove his innocence. D
10:30 am
Martha Speaks "Martha Runs The Store, Part 1 & Part 2" Martha Runs the Store, Part 1 - Skits and Martha are feeling desperate while they wait in the broiling sun for Helen to finish shopping. Martha Runs the Store, Part 2 - Helen can't find Martha and Skits anywhere.G
11:00 am
BBC Newsnight NULL
11:30 am
Consuelo Mack WealthTrack "Charitable Investments" Guests: Doug Bauer, Executive Director, The Clark Foundation; Jack Lund, President and CEO, YMCA of Greater New York. This week's Consuelo Mack WealthTrack explores philanthropy as an investment. Two philanthropy thought leaders, Jack Lund, CEO of the YMCA of Greater New York, and Doug Bauer, Executive Director of the Clark Foundation, share advice on how to get the best return from your giving. D
12:00 pm
To The Contrary with Bonnie Erbe As Hillary Clinton leaves behind her work at the State Department, she sits down with host, Bonnie Erbe, to share her dedication and commitment to women and girls' empowerment. From First Lady to the U. S. Senate to the State Department, Clinton guides us through her storied career with one common thread: issues facing women and girls. AND, she tells us what's next for her. D
12:30 pm
McLaughlin Group NULL
1:00 pm
Painting and Travel with Roger & Sarah Bansemer "The Watering Can" Stop at the studio of water color artist Gary Akers in St. George, Maine where Gary tells Sarah about his love of painting from an early age. Roger and Gary decide on a subject of summer flowers and a watering can and paint together. D
1:30 pm
Sew It All "Tank Girl, Vanessa Wilson" Create your own tank top pattern that fits and flatters. D
2:00 pm
Quilting Arts "Creative Approaches to Quilting" We all approach projects in our own way sometimes we start with a color, sometimes it's a technique, and sometimes we unearth a forgotten supply to get us motivated. Libby Lehman is back with her favorite presser feet. Then, meet Luana Rubin for a discussion of quilting styles from around the world. D
2:30 pm
Hometime "Log Cabin Systems 2" Dean, Miriam and the HOMETIME crew update plumbing systems with energy saving features, including on-demand hot showers. D
3:00 pm
Woodsmith Shop "Through Mortise & Tenon Projects" The Woodsmith editors present a couple of special weekend projects, a classic, Nantucket-style bench and a traditional wall shelf. Both projects feature through mortises and tenon joinery. In this episode, you'll learn the techniques to make this classic woodworking joint, in a unique way. D
3:30 pm
This Old House "Cambridge 2012/Hot Stuff" Kevin and Norm find the painters spraying the house a sunny yellow, while Tom trims out the windows with a custom detail specified by the architect. Custom copper half-round gutters and a Danish wood-burning fireplace go in, and homeowner Sally Peterson explores what commercial-grade cooking appliances can do for her kitchen. D
4:00 pm
Ask This Old House "Installing Interior Window Trim/Heating A Swimming Pool" General contractor Tom Silva installs interior window trim. Then, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey installs a new device that will heat a swimming pool for free using the excess heat produced by a central air conditioner. D
4:30 pm
P. Allen Smith's Garden to Table "Autumn Enchantment" With the welcomed cool air of autumn, it's the perfect time to celebrate the bounty of the season! Allen tells us about the second growing season of the year and shares a few ways to use Mother Nature's gift in the kitchen. He also visits Natchez, Mississippi where a close friend shows him how to make a delicious recipe with sweet potatoes. D
5:00 pm
Moyers & Company "Living Outside Tribal Lines" This week's encore broadcast of Moyers & Company (check local listings), begins with a report on striking extremes of wealth and poverty on display in California's Silicon Valley. Facebook, Google, and Apple are minting millionaires while the area's homeless -- who've grown 20 percent in the last two years -- are living in tent cities at their virtual doorsteps. These are the human faces of economic inequality. D
5:59 pm
Fake Or Fortune? "The Genuine Article" The show's art sleuths try to determine whether a painting hanging in a prestigious London museum is the real deal or a Han Van Meegeren forgery.G
7:00 pm
Outdoor Idaho "Nature's Healing Power" This episode features stories of Idahoans who have found strength and solace in nature as they confront illness and injury. It also shines a spotlight on four Idaho nonprofits that offer outdoor retreats for cancer survivors and disabled veterans - and the dedication of their volunteers.G
7:30 pm
Oregon Field Guide "Autumn Rivers Photo Essay, Condors and Lead Bullets, Outdoor School" One of the great success stories in saving wildlife still has some trouble. California condors are raised in captivity and then released into the wild. Scientists now are searching for reasons why so many of the condors require emergency medical care for lead poisoning.G
8:01 pm
Call The Midwife "S1 E1" Newly minted midwife Jenny Lee arrives in the East End of London to begin her career in the spring of 1957. After overcoming the initial shock that her new home, Nonnatus House, is a convent and not a private hospital, she soon is immersed in her new life. Living with nuns and working in a community of colorful characters are entirely new experiences for Jenny, who comes from an affluent country home.G
9:00 pm
Masterpiece Mystery! "Inspector Lewis, Series V: Fearful Symmetry" When babysitter Jessica Lake is discovered dead, Lewis and Hathaway are drawn into diverse new worlds beyond the usual Oxford colleges - squats and swinging suburbia, monkey labs and fetish photography.G
10:30 pm
New Tricks "Love Means Nothing In Tennis" The UCOS team investigates the case of 16-year-old tennis champion Alice Kemp, who fell to her death from the balcony of a penthouse apartment after losing a crucial match. As the team delves into this competitive world, Standing wonders if he did enough to encourage his own daughter's sporting ambitions.G
11:30 pm
British Antiques Roadshow "Tatton Park 1" In the gardens of Tatton Park in Cheshire, Henry Sandon has a memorable day when one of the rarest 18th-century pieces of Royal Worcester turns up, and an old box of golf balls has a value above par.G


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South Carolina lawmakers should be extremely cautious as they plan the next state budget, holding the line on spending and allocating new money to rebuilding the state's infrastructure.
For the past few years, the General Assembly has headed into each session with a budget deficit. That deficit was $850 million last year. The gap meant lawmakers had to cut spending to balance the budget.
Lawmakers face a new situation this year. They have more than $913 million in new one-time and recurring revenue. A number of state obligations, including higher costs of state employee health insurance and Medicaid requirements, could trim that number to about $400 million.
The temptation will be to ramp up annual state spending. Each agency will be asking lawmakers to restore the funding it lost during the leaner budget years. Legislative leaders know that attitude would result in a state spending spree, but it will take political fortitude to hold off that binge.
The problem is that the economy is not particularly stable. There are still threats from the massive national debt and from debt crises in Europe. The economy is truly global now, and another downturn could be only weeks away.
If that happens, the new money lawmakers plan to spend may evaporate. If the General Assembly allocates that money to boost the budgets of various state agencies and programs, then the state will be faced with another round of painful, midyear, across-the-board budget cuts.
Lawmakers would do better to hold annual state spending at current levels and allocate the new money to repairing the state's roads and bridges.
South Carolina's infrastructure has been allowed to deteriorate while budgets were being trimmed. Deferred maintenance can't be deferred forever. It piles up. Poor road and bridge maintenance impairs the state's tourism industry and economic development, leaving even less money for improvements. ...
One caveat is that this plan would have to include serious reform of the Department of Transportation. That body's record of choosing road projects has lawmakers from both parties calling for restructuring the Transportation Commission. That commission, as it exists, could not be allowed to prioritize this spending.
Reserving new revenue for infrastructure repairs would create jobs, give the state a needed economic boost and protect taxpayers from another legislative spending spree as well as another round of midyear cuts. Lawmakers should consider it.
It appears Gov. Nikki Haley is off to a good start for 2012, at least in terms of maintaining accurate records of her office's correspondence archives.
Haley came under fire — and rightfully so — after state newspapers sought opportunity to review the governor's office's incoming and outgoing emails. Some were deleted. Official reason given for the deleted emails: Server space and some of the emails simply were not important enough to retain.
The former reason has some merit, but the latter takes the governor's office down a slippery slope. Who decides what is and is not important enough to retain?
Technology has evolved. Gone are the days of tape-recorded conversations within an administration. One need only recall a few decades ago when the Nixon White House raised concerns as much for an 18-minute gap in a tape recording as it did for what the preserved secret recordings contained.
But Haley, who stepped into the governor's office with a promise of open and transparent government, has rightfully been criticized for notable gaps in her office's own transparency.
While following a law dating back to 1974, Haley's office — either deliberately or unwittingly — was doing a poor job of preserving correspondence that now and later might shed light on how her administration operated, how decisions were formulated and carried out.
The governor has promised to deliver a revamped policy, one that should carry forward in administrations to come, as it will apparently mandate the preservation of all correspondence sent and received by the governor.
That is as it should be. Emails and text exchanges transmitted through mobile devices potentially provide a cloaking device for elected officials carrying out the business of the taxpayers.
The new policy, if as strong and effective as Haley promises, should trickle down to all elected offices throughout the state and be as consistent a rule as the Freedom of Information Act itself.
It should include one other caveat: Email correspondence sent or received by elected officials and pertaining to official taxpayer business, and which is conducted using personal email accounts, should also be preserved and be accessible under the Freedom of Information Act.


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Redskins to play 1st road game against winless Bath
Sports Editor
On Friday, the Wapakoneta Redskins will face a winless Bath Wildcats team that is constant in some ways and dynamic in others.
"Through the years, they're a very physical, well-coached team. That has never changed," Wapak varsity coach Doug Frye said. "Coach (Bill) Garland has done a great job with getting these kids on track. They've got a lot of youngsters out there. They continue to get better each week. They're hard-nosed kids is what jumps out at me."
Bath's physicality and toughness are constants.
What changes is the type of looks and formations Bath operates from.
"They do all kinds of stuff, offensively," Frye said. "One week they're running the ball a good bit, the next week they're throwing the ball a good bit.
"They'll jump from spread to double tight," he said. "Their quarterback does a very good job. That makes it difficult to prepare for them because they give you so many different looks."
Frye named the key for defending the ever-changing Bath offense, which is led by junior quarterback Cameron Jenkins.
"We just need to get better fundamentally and recognize their base formations and tendencies," he said.
Defensively, the Wildcats will display a mix of 4-3 and 5-3 formations which are heavy in blitz pressure.
Frye described how his team prepares for blitzing defenses.
"We blitz every other play in practice to prepare," he said. "We've seen some and continue to see more and more."
Trent Jones, a 6-foot-6, 227-pound, defensive end received mention from Frye.
The game Friday against Bath will be Wapak's first road one of the season after three consecutive home games to start the season.
Wapak is 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the Western Buckeye League entering Friday's game.
The Redskins are coming off of a 42-0 win over the Elida Bulldogs last Friday.
Bath is 0-3, seeking its first win of the season.
The Wildcats lost 49-21 to the Defiance Bulldogs in their WBL opener last Friday.


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Bleeding gums can be a sign that you have or are at risk for gum disease. Ongoing gum bleeding may be due to serious medical conditions such as leukemia and bleeding and platelet disorders.
Alternative Names
Gums – bleeding
The main cause of bleeding gum is the buildup of plaque at the gum line. This will lead to a condition called
Plaque that is not removed will harden into tartar. This will lead to increased bleeding and a more advanced form of gum and jawbone disease known as
Other causes of bleeding gums include:
- Any bleeding disorder
- Brushing too hard
- Hormonal changes during pregnancy
Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura
- Ill-fitting dentures or other dental appliances
- Improper flossing
- Infection, which can be either tooth- or gum-related
Leukemia Scurvy
- Use of blood thinners
Vitamin Kdeficiency
Home Care
Visit the dentist at least once every 6 months for plaque removal. Follow your dentist's home care instructions.
You should brush your teeth gently with a soft-bristle toothbrush at least twice a day. It is best if you can brush after every meal. Your dentist may tell you to rinse with salt water or hydrogen peroxide and water. Do not use mouthwashes that contain alcohol, which can make the problem worse.
Flossing teeth twice a day can prevent plaque from building up. It can help to follow a balanced, healthy diet. Try to avoid snacking between meals and cut down on the carbohydrates you eat.
Other tips:
- Have periodontal exam.
- Avoid the use of tobacco, which aggravates bleeding gums.
- Control gum bleeding by applying pressure directly on the gums with a gauze pad soaked in ice water.
- If you have been diagnosed with a vitamin deficiency, take vitamin supplements.
- Avoid aspirin unless your health care provider has recommended that you take it.
- If side effects of a medicine are causing the irritation, ask your doctor to prescribe a different drug. Never change your medicine without first talking to your doctor.
- Use an oral irrigation device on the low setting to massage the gums.
- See your dentist if your dentures or other dental appliances do not fit well or are causing sore spots on your gums.
- Follow your dentist's instructions on how to brush and floss so you can avoid hurting your gums.
When to Contact a Medical Professional
Consult your health care provider if:
- The bleeding is severe or long term (chronic)
- Your gums continue to bleed even after treatment
- You have other unexplained symptoms with the bleeding
What to Expect at Your Office Visit
Your dentist will examine your teeth and gums, and ask questions about the problem and your oral care habits. You may also be asked questions about your diet and the medicines you take.
Diagnostic tests that may be performed include:
- Blood studies such as a
CBCor blood differential
- X-rays of the teeth and jawbone


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Nail'd is an arcade-style off-road racer with a focus on speed and chaos over realistic physics. Straight away, Nail'd seems a little dated. From the name to its style, it screams "X-Games circa 2003," when dudes were screaming about sick air while "DOING THE DEW BRO." But in reality, Nail'd actually goes further back from a design perspective, calling on memories of games like Off-road Thunder and other arcade rally racers in the late '80s and '90s. Those games eschewed complication in favor of immediate, in-your-face gratification because they had to; they were competing for your quarters 90 seconds at a time. However, it's 2010. Arcades are dead, consoles are king, depth is expected, and Nail'd just can't keep up with the pack.
The setup is simple enough. The meat of the game is in its career mode, where you can race an ATV or MX bike through several leagues and courses in a quest to win the Nail'd championship. Most races require you to finish three laps around a course, though occasionally, Nail'd mixes things up, whether it's by adding "mutators" to races (which add quirks such as infinite boost or no collision with other drivers), or through stunt challenges, where you're judged on your completion time and the "tricks" you pull off. I put tricks in quotes because there isn't much in the way of finesse here. Something as simple as landing successfully from a jump can be a trick, as is passing through flaming gates or running other racers off the track. There's also multiplayer racing for up to 12 players online.
Nail'd isn't about tight turn ratios or drifting or any other piece of racer jargon you've heard this year. The challenge in Nail'd is intended to come from finding the most insane, fastest route possible by boosting through busy courses while avoiding getting, well, nailed by other racers on ATVs or dirtbikes. There are times when it almost comes together too -- running off a ramp in the air at about a thousand miles an hour and weaving in between hot air balloons, or threading through giant wind turbines is admittedly cool. The physics in Nail'd aren't realistic, at all. Instead, you always have more or less complete control of your bike or ATV, leading to the aforementioned turbine-dodging and other crazy moments of in-air maneuvering and taking turns without slowing down at all.
Unfortunately, my desire to experiment and find routes and really push the courses was knocked out of me by the wreck and respawn system, which would be a player friendly feature, if it worked. As intended, respawning will keep you going instead of stranding you if you take a wrong turn. Instead, I'd often find myself in mid-air, positioning myself to land on a spot marked as the course below, only to explode when the game decided I wasn't in an approved area and killed me. There's no indication of what's cool or what isn't here. It's all learned the hard way, and it kills the game's momentum.
There are also strange forces at play that will cause wrecks with seemingly little provocation or reason, and times when the respawn mechanic won't kick in when it seems like it should. If I'm driving with all four wheels on the ground toward a ramp, why did I explode as my tires left the mud and hit the metal? If the slightest deviation from the course into the brush on the sides will cause my vehicle to explode, why will the game let me get stuck on a random piece of geometry and force me to sit in place, motionless, for precious seconds? Why go off the beaten path if the game is going to kill me for it?
Nail'd's main failing is that its primary idea just doesn't work that well. The physics that lend themselves to mid-air adjustment are far too lenient on the ground. There's an initial rush to take every course at maximum speed all the time, but it drains the need for strategy or much skill during races. Weird as it sounds, the fun in a racing game comes from dealing with a vehicle's physical limitations -- knowing what they are, testing them, etc. None of that's the case in Nail'd, and races usually end up feeling lifeless as a result. Even Nail'd's multiplayer lacks much excitement. I was winning most of my races and still didn't feel any real accomplishment. The courses did more to beat my competitors than I did.
Polish developer Techland's previous games (both Call of Juarez titles, for example) have been marked by a distinctive sense of personality that's helped to compensate for the otherwise rough edges of their presentation, but Nail'd comes up short. Instead of an appreciable identity, Nail'd instead thrusts forward with extreme sports clichés that would seem old years ago, which goes double for the soundtrack. Some fairly generic jock metal is joined by licensed tracks that have been making the rounds for longer than this game has likely been in development. I love Queens of the Stone Age, but can we please get a song other than "3's and 7's" for a change? And why is there a six-year-old Slipknot song here?
The Verdict
You can see some fun poking out here and there in Nail&#Array;d. The in-air physics work largely as advertised and add some excitement, but the game still feels surprisingly boring most of the time. Without the benefit of exploration for new routes or any meaningful challenge to vehicle handling though, Nail'd gets tedious fast and stays there.


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How Do We Know That Piracy Isn't Really A Big Issue? Because Media Companies Still Haven't Needed To Change As A Result Of It
from the calling-their-bluff dept
One of the positive outcomes of the debate that has raged around SOPA/PIPA is that more people have looked at the facts, rather than listened to the rhetoric, surrounding piracy. In particular, the copyright industries' hitherto unchallenged claim that piracy is destroying their business is finally being challenged – not least by reports like "The Sky is Rising" that consolidate industry figures to show that things are really looking pretty good across the board.
Another indication of that new attitude is the incredible response elicited by an article in Forbes entitled "You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You", which has received over 3600 re-tweets on Twitter, and nearly 10,000 shares on Facebook. The basic argument will be familiar enough to Techdirt readers: that the war on piracy can never be "won", and that what is needed is a change of attitude on the part of the media companies. The article concludes:
Treat your customers with respect, and they'll do the same to you. And that is how you fight piracy.
Pretty obvious, you would have thought, although strangely it isn't to the media companies.
The author of that piece, Paul Tassi, has followed it up with "Lies, Damned Lies and Piracy." Although this has proved far less popular than the first one, I think it's better, because it offers some original insights where the other went over well-trod ground.
I particularly liked his closing thoughts:
If the industry is struggling, I just don't see it, as their projects are getting bigger and more costly with each passing year. When a movie bombs or a show gets cancelled, no one ever says "oh, well, piracy." Rather, it's the quality of the product that accounts for such failures. Even with relatively high piracy rates across all forms of media, we're still seeing blockbuster films, shows and games released at a higher rate than ever, and profits to match.
There are three really key points packed in there. First, that the media industries just aren't struggling, despite their cries of woe. Secondly, what causes real financial harm to the film and music worlds are bad products that lose huge amounts of money and disappoint audiences. And finally – and most importantly – if piracy really were so life-threatening to the copyright industries, and if their bottom lines really were in danger, then they would have tried something other than begging lawmakers to protect them. The fact that they haven't, as Tassi emphasizes, means that there is no real pressure on them to do so: people still buy lots of stuff, piracy isn't really a problem, things are working.
I think the media industries would love to kill piracy with a quick piece of legislation that blacks out every torrent site on the internet, but I don't think they want to fight it so much that they'll change their entire distribution model on a dime, which would actually go a long way toward truly competing with piracy. The reason things are the way they are is because they're working. Despite the fact that even though yes, every piece of media is available on the internet for free somewhere, people are still buying.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and on Google+
Filed Under: business models, change, innovation, piracy


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Going out 2016: Stars in their eyes
The collection is about having fun, all night long! The colour palette features black, silver, charcoal and bright pink. Seasonal fabrics are upbeat and shiny in lurex, velour and satin. Details add to the sense of glam fun: Ruching on slinky tops and dresses whilst star and glitter prints add to the sense of playfulness


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Hi All,
I work for the newspaper in South Lake Tahoe and I'd like to write a story and shoot some photos of snowkiting. Is anybody headed up this way any time soon? Feel free to get in touch. Thanks!
D ylan S ilver
530 542 800 2
dsilver @ tahoedailytribune


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Lebron Got Crossed Up: 2002 Footage Of Maureece Rice Ankle Breaker Crossover On Lebron James (Lebron Vs Marureece High School Battle)
Lebron James vs Maureece Rice In High School - 2002
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Nebraska All-American James Green went 1-1 representing the United States in freestyle wrestling competition at the 2013 World University Games at Ak Bars Wrestling Palace on Thursday. Green, a junior from Willingboro, N.J., defeated Finland's Petteri Martikainen, 4-0, in his opening match in the 66 kg class. Martikainen finished fifth at the 2012 World University Championships. Nebraska's two-time All-American was then eliminated from medal contention in the round of eight with a loss to Kyrgyzstan's Ulukman Mamatov.
Green is one of seven wrestlers from Big Ten Conference schools competing on the 14-member USA Wrestling Team at the World University Games. He finished seventh at 157 pounds at the NCAA Championships in both 2012 and 2013 for Nebraska. Green earned his place on the USA Wrestling World University Games Team by capturing the 66 kg/145.5 lbs championship at 2013 ASICS University Freestyle Nationals in Akron, Ohio in late May.
Green was one of four U.S. wrestlers competing in freestyle on Thursday at the World University Games, joining Ed Ruth (Penn State, 84kg), Nico Megaludis (Penn State, 55 kg) and Tyrell Fortune (Grand Canyon, 120 kg), who earned a bronze medal for the United States.


text:
Louise Campbell
One lady that I think is very very cool, and who is very inspirational to me.
Labels: Contemporary Art and Design + SHARE
Louise Campbell
Louise Campbell
Welcome! My name is Inda. Thanks for visiting. This is where I compile my online presence and journal things that interest me, make me smile, or about my stream of life. Hope something I post inspires you, motivates you, or brings you joy...
R&D-I-Y: Research & Develop It Yourself
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture Lectures
Edible Education Lectures
Edible School Yard
Farmers Markets
Local Harvest: Community Supported Agriculture
Local Foods Wheel
Seasonal Ingredients Map
Introduction to Home Gardening
NYT Farmers Market Recipe Generator
Environmental Working Group
Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database
Three Stone Hearth
Terra Madre 2010: Slow Food in Action
Slow Food Revolution
Natural Food Benefits
Lhasa Karnak
Seafood Watch Pocket Guide
Raw Family
Green Smoothies
Cooking Oil Types
Storing Produce
Top Ten Food Additives to Avoid
Tips for Balancing Acid-Alkaline in your Diet
Meatpaper Magazine
Raw Energy
Ecology Center
Consumer's Guide to Pesticides in Produce
Download: List of Some Dangerous Additives to Avoid
My Fridge Food
Chez Panisse
The Juice Bar Collective
Deliciously Ella
Berkeley Bowl
Monterey Market
La Note
The Cheese Board Collective
Illustrated Bites
Digital Public Library
Open Culture
A Guide to Community Gardens Around the City
Urban Ore
Buy Local Berkeley Lomography
Builders Booksource


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Betty Patricia Barnes, 92, of Etna, passed away peacefully at the Madrone Hospice House in Yreka on March 14, 2013.
Betty Patricia Barnes, 92, of Etna, passed away peacefully at the Madrone Hospice House in Yreka on March 14, 2013. Betty made remarkable recoveries from a broken wrist in November and a subsequent fall in January which resulted in a broken hip. However, she was unable to overcome the effects of a second broken hip at the end of February this year.
Betty was born on Sept. 2, 1920 to Edgar L. and Pauline E. (Ryerson) Badgley in Los Angeles, Calif. She graduated from John Marshall High School in Los Angeles in 1938 and went on to the University of California at Davis where she completed the two-year degree program in May 1940. Betty also attended the Sawyer School of Business, and worked as a secretary at Gladding McBean Pottery Co., the Western Livestock Journal and Radio Station KMTR in Los Angeles. During World War II, she worked at Vega Aircraft.
On May 16, 1943, Betty married Glenn C. Barnes from Visalia who she'd met at UC Davis. Following their wedding, Betty worked at Nash deCamp Packing House in Exeter, for AAA, and taught fourth grade in Visalia.
In 1946, Betty and Glenn used their savings to make a small down-payment on the rustic Fay Ranch in Scott Valley. An early priority was to install indoor plumbing and retire the outhouse before the kids were born. While Glenn focused on increasing the productivity of the ranch, Betty turned her talent to improving the house, yard and garden, and raising their three children.
Betty and Glenn opened their house to friends, relatives, college students and foreign students. Betty was a gracious hostess and a good cook. They hosted foreign students through Farm Bureau and the American Field Service (AFS), including Loic LeGuillouzer from France. Many UC Davis students hired to work on their ranch under the Farm Practice Program lived with the family during the summer.
Betty was a longtime active member of the Etna United Methodist Church, a member of the Siskiyou County CowBelles (Cattlewomen) since 1955, a tutor for several foreign students and she served as the Etna 4-H community leader. She especially enjoyed teaching "her boys" 4-H outdoor camp cooking. In 1976, Betty was honored as Siskiyou County CowBelle of the Year, and as Pioneer Cattle Woman in 2004.
A lifelong learner, Betty took classes in sewing, photography, woodworking, geology and botany. Through neighbor Dorothy Parker, Betty expanded her knowledge of wildflowers, and was active in the local Rock Garden Club. Betty loved hiking to mountain lakes with "her buddies" to check out the wildflowers. On her 86th birthday, Betty hiked 12 strenuous miles with family members to Hogan Lake in the Salmon Mountains near her home.
Betty enjoyed genealogy and spent a great deal of time researching her family and visiting newly-discovered relatives in Montana, the Palouse region of Washington, Kentucky, Ontario Canada, and the Finger Lakes region of western New York, where she visited the graves of her Danish immigrant great-grandparents.
Betty was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Virginia Rome of Rancho Palos Verdes and her husband Glenn in 1994.
She is survived by her children: Steve (Paula) Barnes of Castro Valley, Patty (Bruce) Davie of Susanville and Rick (Nancy) Barnes of Callahan; eight grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and one great-great-granddaughter; plus many special nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 23, 2013 at the Etna United Methodist Church, 137 Diggles St. in Etna. Private inurnment will be in the Etna Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Betty's name to Madrone Hospice, 255 Collier Circle, Yreka, CA 96097; the Etna United Methodist Church; Scott Valley Scholarships, P.O. Box 352, Etna CA; or to the charity of choice.


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Bouncing off the Walls
by Fiona Bayrock
How's the music in your room? Too much treble or bass? Not enough? Got extra sound bouncing around? Do certain notes always jump out at you? Check the acoustics—the sound qualities of your room.
Whether your music sounds great, barely passable, or downright awful depends on how sound waves behave when they hit different surfaces. As a rule, sound waves are reflected by hard surfaces and absorbed by soft ones, but most materials absorb and reflect high-frequency (treble) and low-frequency (bass) sounds differently.
To improve the acoustics of your room, look first to the largest surface areas—the walls, ceiling, and floor. Wood absorbs bass tones; carpet and heavy or thickly gathered draperies absorb treble; and glass, tile, concrete, and polished stone are highly reflective.
An important acoustic effect to consider in a small room, such as a bedroom, is reverberation. Large, flat, parallel surfaces, such as two walls, or the floor and ceiling, can reflect sound waves back and forth. The reflected sounds may reach your brain while the original sound is still there, but too late for the brain to register the reflected sound as part of the original. The sounds partially overlap in the brain, with the result that you hear them at the same time as a "prolonged" sound.
Reverberation is especially noticeable as extra sound in an empty room. But your furnished bedroom may also reverberate strongly to music of certain frequencies, causing specific notes to jump out each time they're played. Reduce reverberation by making the shape of your room more complex. "The wavelengths of audible sound in air can range from less than an inch to tens of feet," says Dr. Dewey Lawson, a physicist at Duke University. "Ideally, the boundaries of listening rooms should be 'rough' [and] over that whole range of sizes."
Bookshelves with books, plants, or collectibles; a wooden mask collection hung on the wall; posters mounted on foam board; pictures in deep frames; a coat rack; clothing hooks; pillows; furniture of varying heights; chunks of fabric-covered spongy foam scattered across the wall—anything that helps break up large flat wall areas—will help reduce reverberation between walls and contribute to a feeling of full and lively sound in your room.
"Typically, treating only one of a pair of opposite walls will suffice—or treating different parts of the opposite walls," explains Lawson. Increasing the complexity of either the ceiling or the floor will also reduce reverberation between them. Aha! Clutter makes for better acoustics. At last, a scientific reason for having a messy room!
- Draw a diagram of a bedroom as if you were looking down into the bedroom from the ceiling. Include the kind of furniture that you might have in your bedroom, such as a bed, a desk, or a bookcase. Against one wall, draw a bureau or a dresser with a stereo on top of it. Now imagine that the stereo is turned on and playing your favorite kind of music. Is the music playing loudly or softly? Does the music have high pitches and low pitches? Think back to the sound waves that were shown in Lesson 2. Draw the kind of sound waves the stereo would produce. How would they move through the room? How would objects in the room change the direction of the sound waves? How would the objects absorb the sound waves? After completing your diagram, write a few sentences about how the sound waves move through the room and how the furniture and the shape of the room affect the sound waves.
[anno: Diagrams will vary but should show a bedroom with furniture and a stereo, with one or more types of sound waves traveling from the stereo through the room.]


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If your first impression of a typical control system schematic drawing is complete confusion, don't worry: you're not alone. All of those strange symbols really stand for something you should know, right? Throw in a PLC, and the confusion grows. However, if you approach these drawings with a solid understanding of the basics, the mystery fades away.
Do you approach a set of control system drawings as an archeologist trying to decipher hieroglyphics? Sure, some systems can be quite complex. But you can transform this tedious task from decryption to analyzation. All you need is practical knowledge of control symbols, what they denote, and how various control components work. It's not that difficult.
Decrypting the symbols. As this author discovered early in his career, drawings for industrial control systems use a unique set of symbols. Although some are similar to those used in other electrical drawings, you'll find many only in the industrial control area.
Control systems use many different types of switches and contacts used as input devices; Fig. 1 (original article) shows some of the more common ones. A human operator actuates these switches.
Notice how you can draw each of these devices in either the normally open or normally closed configuration. This is true of many control symbols. Normally open devices are open (not conducting) when you don't actuate them and closed (conducting) when you do actuate them. On the other hand, normally closed devices remain closed when you don't actuate them and open when you do actuate them.
The toggle switches shown in Fig. 1 (original article) may or may not return to the "normal" position after you actuate them. Therefore, all control system drawings should specify if a toggle switch maintains its last position, or if it has a spring to return it to the normal position. The other devices shown in Fig. 1 (original article) typically return to the normal position when not actuated.
Fig. 2 (original article ) shows switches actuated by a process, product, or machine (rather than a human operator). Note: We show limit switches in both their normal (not actuated) positions and "held" positions. This is because some designers chose to show limit switches in their true normal state, which can be either normally open-held closed or normally closed-held open. Suppose you use a limit switch as a safety interlock on a cabinet door. Here, it might be a normally open switch held closed by the door when the machine is in normal operation. The other switches shown in Fig. 2 (original article) detect a change in some value of a process. With these types of devices, the normally open/normally closed distinction can sometimes be confusing. No matter what's normal for the process, the measured value actuates these switches when it rises. For example, a normally open liquid level switch closes on rising level and opens on falling level. A normally closed pressure switch, on the other hand, opens on rising pressure and closes on falling pressure. If it better reflects normal operating conditions, you can draw these devices in their "held" position.
One more thing to watch out for: Many often draw switches that measure vacuum as pressure switches, but vacuum is actually negative pressure. Here, you must be careful in determining the proper behavior of the switch. Does a normally open device close on rising vacuum or on rising pressure, which is actually falling vacuum? See what we mean? You're going to have to test these devices if you're not sure of their function (as noted on the drawings). You may run into drawings that include notes such as "switch closes at 15 in. Hg vacuum" to eliminate confusion.
Fig. 3 (original article) shows devices actuated by other devices in the circuit. For example, a relay coil, when energized, will actuate its contacts. Normally open contacts will close and normally closed contacts will open. When not energized, the contacts are in their normal positions.
Take timer contacts as another example. Special relays that perform a timing function actuate them. When you energize a timer contact, an on-delay timer begins timing immediately and actuates its associated contacts after the preset time expires. When you de-energize it, the timer's contacts return to their normal positions immediately with no delay. Most drawings designate on-delay timer contacts as normally open-timed close (NOTC) or normally closed-timed open (NCTO).
An off-delay timer has the opposite behavior: Its contacts change state immediately when you energize the timer but remain in the actuated state when you de-energize the timer until the preset time expires. Most drawings designate off-delay timer contacts as normally open-timed open (NOTO) or normally closed-timed closed (NCTC).
Fig. 4 (original article) shows many other symbols commonly found in control diagrams. The motor shown is the common 3-phase squirrel cage type, but you'll see different symbols for other motor varieties like wound rotor and synchronous motors.
Almost all control drawings use the coil symbol, and you may see it labeled to further identify its purpose. Designers use this symbol for control relays (CR), motor contactors (M or MC), and timers (TR), among other devices.
The lamp symbol often contains a letter to designate color, such as the letter "R" for red.
Designers use the magnetic coil or solenoid symbol to denote devices like solenoid-operated valves, electric clutch or brake coils, and magnetically operated circuit breaker coils. (Some additional notation usually clarifies this.) Shown are values or ratings for resistors, capacitors, inductors, fuses, and circuit breakers.
Of course, we all associate the thermal element symbol with thermal overload trip devices, which are used for motor protection.
The transformer shown is a single-phase control transformer; you'll usually find the size and input/output voltage ratio noted on the drawing.
We use the very familiar earth ground symbol to represent grounds actually referenced to an earth-contact ground rod or grid in a power distribution system.
The chassis ground symbol basically represents a connection to a common chassis that's not earth grounded, such as the electrical system in a vehicle or airplane. The connector symbol can represent any type of plug-in connection.
Decrypting PLC inputs. So now you have an understanding of symbols and their meaning. But what about that intimidating looking black box called a PLC? Interpreting the state of inputs to PLCs can be particularly confusing. Why? Because you can program a normally open or normally closed input device as either an examine-on (normally open contact) or examine-off (normally closed contact) instruction in the PLC. So what's "examining" what?
A PLC interprets an examine-on instruction as conducting if its associated input circuit is energized. It interprets an examine-off instruction as conducting if its associated input circuit is de-energized. Whether or not an input is electrically energized depends on the state of the process and type of connected device.
The table (original article) shows all possible combinations of devices (normally open or normally closed), actuation, and program instructions (examine-on or examine-off), and how the PLC program interprets each combination.
Why are there two types of diagrams? You'll run into two types of diagrams that describe electrical control systems: the schematic (sometimes called elementary) diagram and the wiring (sometimes called connection) diagram. Even moderately complex systems use them.
Schematic diagram. This diagram describes the electrical function of a circuit or system. Fig. 5 (original article) shows a schematic diagram for a 3-phase motor starter. Designers use this type of diagram to make following current or logic flow easy. As you can see, they lay out these various devices for convenience and clarity. Their locations in the drawing don't represent their actual physical locations.
For example, the coil, motor starter contacts, and auxiliary contact (all labeled "M") are physically parts of the same device, but we show them in three different locations to simplify the drawing.
Wiring diagram. Fig. 6 (original article) shows a wiring diagram for the same motor starter. Here, we see the approximate physical locations of the various components as well as the actual physical wiring connections between them. Note that you now group the motor starter coil and contacts together in the approximate physical relationship you would see in the actual starter. The wiring diagram also clearly shows how the wiring routes between the devices and how you make the interconnections.
For example, it's obvious the start and stop buttons and red light are actually located in a remote pushbutton station. It's also obvious a four-conductor cable containing wire numbers 1A, 2, 3, and 4A connects that station to the motor starter, which is located in a motor control center.
As you can see, it's easier to make an estimate of material and labor from a wiring diagram than from a schematic diagram. In the latter, you can't tell if the pushbutton station and pilot light are together, separate, remote, or part of the starter.
Troubleshooting requires both types of drawings. If you're troubleshooting a control system, make sure you use both the schematic and wiring diagram (if they're available). You can use the schematic diagram to follow the sequence of events and the wiring diagram to see where you make your measurements.
Let's suppose you're troubleshooting the motor circuit shown in Figs. 5 and 6 (original article). The motor won't start when you push the start button. Looking at the schematic drawing (Fig. 5), you decide the start button will not work unless there is power on Wire 2. The wiring diagram (Fig. 6) shows you can find Wire 2 on the top side of the motor auxiliary contact in the MCC or out in the remote pushbutton station. A check indicates there's no power at the auxiliary contact, so you look at the schematic diagram again. It shows power flows through the stop button from Wire 1A, and the wiring diagram shows the stop button in the remote station. You go to the remote station and find Wire 1A is broke at the stop button. You make the repair and return the motor to service.
As you can see, this troubleshooting process is much more straightforward using both drawings than working with either one or the other alone.
It's necessary to have a thorough understanding of the symbols, notations, and conventions used on these drawings to read them properly. A good understanding of such symbols ensures you interpret logic correctly, and the effective use of schematic and wiring diagrams will make troubleshooting control systems easier and faster.


text:
Eugene Cho
More from Sojo.net
Eugene is the founder and lead pastor of Quest Church—an urban, multicultural, and multigenerational church in Seattle—and also the founder and executive director of Q Café—an innovative, nonprofit community cafe and music venue. Eugene and his wife Minhee are also the founders of One Day's Wages (ODW)—"a new movement of people, stories, and actions to alleviate extreme global poverty."
The strategy of ODW is to create a collaborative movement by integrating human relationships, social media/technology, and the power of story. ODW promotes awareness, invites simple giving (one day's wages), and supports sustainable relief through partnership—especially with smaller organizations in developing regions. Since it launched in October 2009, ODW has been featured in the The New York Times (twice), The Seattle Times, NPR, Mashable, and numerous other media outlets.
Eugene and Minhee have been married for more than 15 years and live with their three children in Seattle.
Areas of Expertise
- Leadership
- Biblical justice
- Faith and race
- Nonprofits


text:
Ratings and comments by David Sterritt and Monitor staff. Staff comments reflect the sometimes diverse views of at least three other moviegoers. Information on violence, drugs, sex/nudity, and profanity is compiled by the Monitor panel.
**** Excellent *** Good ** Fair * Poor DUD The Worst
New Releases
Animal Factory (R)
Director: Steve Buscemi. With Willem Dafoe, Edward Furlong, Mickey Rourke, John Heard, Seymour Cassel, Steve Buscemi, Tom Arnold, Danny Trejo. (94 min.)
Sterritt *** Sent to prison by a politically ambitious DA who wants to make an example of him, a first-time felon tries to serve his time quietly with the help of a thick-skinned inmate who befriends him, but one misstep after another gets him entangled with the jail's worst elements. Buscemi's directing blends hard-hitting visual qualities with great emotional energy and a refusal to let the story's message - that potentially valuable lives can be lost rather than redeemed in the brutal penitentiary system - get lost in the gut-wrenching violence that runs through it.
Diary of a Chambermaid (Not rated)
Director: Luis Bunuel. With Jeanne Moreau, Michel Piccoli, Georges Geret, Jean-Claude Carriere. (98 min.)
Sterritt **** Storytelling ingenuity, surrealistic imagination, and sheer cinematic mischief are brilliantly intertwined throughout this sardonic 1964 melodrama about a self-assured servant who takes a job in a peculiar and perhaps dangerous French household. Moreau is superb in every way, but top honors go to Bunuel's subtly dreamlike telling of the tale. In French with English subtitles
Just One Time (Not rated)
Director: Lane Janger. With Joelle Carter, Jennifer Esposito, David Lee Russek, Lane Janger. (111 min.)
Sterritt * A young woman agrees to act out her fiance's fantasy of a menage trois if he'll reciprocate by indulging her own sexual whims. The comedy isn't quite as crude as it sounds, but there's not much of value here beyond a little lively acting.
The Ladies Man (R)
Director: Reginald Hudlin. With Tim Meadows, Karyn Parsons, Billy Dee Williams, Kevin McDonald, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen. (84 min.)
Staff * Tim Meadows brings his SNL character Leon Phelps, aka "The Ladies Man," to the big screen. After Phelps loses his job as a radio show host and gets hunted by a band of outraged husbands - whose wives he slept with - he realizes his life as a player is not so cool. There are moments of hilarious comedy, but for the most part, it's "kinky and disgusting." By Stuart S. Cox Jr.
Staff * Silly, juvenile, offensive, meritless.
Sex/Nudity: Sexual innuendo and dialogue in almost every scene. Violence: 4 scenes. Profanity: 49 instances. Drugs: 12 instances of alcohol and smoking; both served as "background" elements for entire movie.
Live Nude Girls Unite! (Not rated)
Directors: Julia Query, Vicky Funari. With Julia Query. (70 min.)
Sterritt *** A highly personal documentary about Query's participation in a movement to unionize the striptease trade. The ambience is often squalid, but the movie has much to reveal about the exploitation of women in this sleazy corner of the show-business world.
The Yards (R)
Director: James Gray. With Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Ellen Burstyn, Charlize Theron, James Caan, Faye Dunaway. (115 min.)
Sterritt *** Determined to live an honest life after serving a prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit, a young man finds himself drawn into a network of criminal activity that grows more dangerous and violent. The cast is just right for this mini-"Godfather" yarn, and Gray's filmmaking is generally on target even if it does tend to dawdle along the way.
Currently iN RELEASE
Almost Famous (R)
Director: Cameron Crowe. With Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, Patrick Fugit, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee. (122 min.)
Sterritt *** The adventures of a young rock-music journalist who accompanies a second-rate band on tour in the early '70s, chasing his story through a maze of distractions ranging from groupies and parties to the group's insecurity about its future. Crowe's screenplay is loosely based on his past experiences, and a sense of authenticity and sincerity shines through the movie's Hollywood veneer. Fugit gives a starmaking performance as the teenage reporter, and Crudup and Lee are excellent as the band's lead guitarist and singer, respectively. Best of all is Hoffman as Lester Bangs.
Staff ***1/2 A valentine to '70s rock, poignant, funny.
Sex/Nudity: 1 sex scene, 2 with implied sex, 3 scenes with nudity. Violence: 1 scuffle and 1 instance of a girl getting her stomach pumped for overdose. Profanity: 37 expressions, mostly harsh. Drugs: 18 scenes with alcohol, 12 with tobacco, 5 with drugs.
Beautiful (PG-13)
Director: Sally Field. With Minnie Driver, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Joey Lauren Adams. (112 min.)
Staff ** Driver is a woman so consumed with winning beauty pageants that she's failed to develop a heart, even having a devoted friend (Adams) raise her daughter (Eisenberg). Field's directorial debut assembles a marvelous cast, but is less a film than a sampler box of genres - nostalgia piece, buddy flick, satire, expose, coming-of-age story. Some of these morsels are tasty indeed. Others take a long time to chew. Fields has a heart. If she can emulate her heroine's focus and drive, she may make a great movie some day. By M.K. Terrell
Sex/Nudity: 1 instance of innuendo. Violence: 3 scenes with violence, including suicide and a thwarted threat. Profanity: 17 expressions, mostly mild. Drugs: 2 scenes with alcohol, 2 with tobacco.
Billy Elliot (R)
Director: Stephen Daldry. With Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Gary Lewis, Jamie Draven, Adam Cooper. (110 min.)
Sterritt *** The sprightly tale of a feisty lad who lives in England's coal-mining country and wants to become a ballet dancer even though his family thinks that's no ambition for a real man. The movie does a fine job of integrating its political interests - a fierce 1984 mining strike - with a deeply felt love of dancing. It also trumpets the worthwhile message that ballet is just as manly and athletic as any other masculine activity - and maybe a touch more so, if you have to defy an uncomprehending community in order to pursue it.
The Contender (R)
Director: Rod Lurie. With Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Christian Slater, William Petersen, Philip Baker Hall, Saul Rubinek, Sam Elliott. (125 min.)
Sterritt ** A well-meaning chief executive chooses a female senator to replace his deceased vice president, then discovers that her many assets are accompanied by a liability: an alleged sex scandal that surfaces from her distant past. Will the president stick to his convictions and help her refurbish her reputation? What will follow from the explosive event that opens the movie: A jolting accident that boosts yet another politician to prominence? The story is so calculated that it ultimately bears little relation to the real world.
Sex/Nudity: 4 scenes of explicit sex and 1 scene with graphic descriptions of sexual activity. Violence: None. Profanity: 63 expressions, mostly harsh. Drugs: Cigar smoking throughout; a few scenes with cigarette smoking.
Dancer in the Dark (R)
Director: Lars von Trier. With Bjork, David Morse, Catherine Deneuve, Peter Stormare, Cara Seymour. (140 min.)
Sterritt *** Bjork is riveting as a single mother who labors in a factory even though she's losing her sight, saves for a surgical procedure that might save her little boy from a similar future, and gets into a deadly dispute when a neighbor threatens to ruin her plans. The other stars are von Trier's imaginative directing and Robby Muller's explosive cinematography, using 100 cameras to shoot the song-and-dance numbers that make this musical tragedy a celebration of life.
Staff *** Groundbreaking, bleak, captivating, martyrdom for its own sake.
Sex/Nudity/Profanity/Drugs: None. Violence: 4 scenes with varying degrees of violence, from a nicked finger to assault, battery, and murder.
Dr. T & the Women (R)
Director: Robert Altman. With Richard Gere, Shelley Long, Farrah Fawcett, Laura Dern, Kate Hudson, Liv Tyler, Helen Hunt, Matt Malloy, Tara Reid. (122 min.)
Sterritt *** Gere plays a Dallas doctor surrounded by women who seem determined to raise new challenges for him every time he thinks he's figured them out. The movie gets much of its emotional interest from Gere's fine performance. And it derives much of its personality from Altman's improvisational atmosphere and technically astute style. Some will dislike its shaggy-dog screenplay and restless camera work, and others may find its finale too postfeminist for comfort.
Sex/Nudity: A few scenes of partial nudity. Violence: None. Profanity: 25 mostly mild expressions. Drugs: 12 scenes with drinking, 3 with smoking.
Get Carter (R)
Director: Stephen T. Kay. With Sylvester Stallone, Miranda Richardson, Rachael Leigh Cook. (104 min.)
Staff ** Stallone opens his new movie with the line, "I'm Jack Carter. And you don't want to know me." He should have continued: "And you don't want to see my movie." Carter's a thug who drives from sunny Las Vegas to drizzly Seattle to mourn his brother's death and make amends with his estranged family. His mission to uncover the truth about his brother's untimely end leads Carter to a seedy array of cliched villains. The movie's production is as slick as Carter's Regis suits, but the final answer is that "Get Carter" won't get any Oscars. By Stuart S. Cox Jr.
Staff *1/2 An empty shell, overstylized, violent.
Sex/Nudity: 4 instances of innuendo. Violence: 12 scenes with violence, including car chases, a rape, and fistfights. Profanity: 76 expressions, many harsh. Drugs: 2 scenes with alcohol, 10 with tobacco, 2 with drugs.
Lost Souls (R)
Director: Janusz Kaminski. With Winona Ryder, Ben Chaplin, John Hurt, Philip Baker Hall. (102 min.)
Sterritt * A young woman discovers that the Antichrist is about to appear in the body of a popular New York author, and all creation will be doomed if she can't prevent this transformation from occurring. Kaminski is a gifted cinematographer, but his directorial debut suffers from a preposterous plot, bad acting, and dialogue that provokes more laughs than shivers. Even schlock like "The Exorcist" shines alongside this silly stuff.
Meet the Parents (PG-13)
Director: Jay Roach. With Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Nicole DeHuff, Blythe Danner, Owen Wilson. (108 min.)
Staff ***1/2 Pam's dad (De Niro): ex-CIA, a character somewhat reminiscent of the cat-loving James Bond nemesis Ernst Blofeld, absolutely paranoid, not likely to smile or chuckle. Try asking his permission for his daughter's hand in marriage. But smitten Greg (Stiller) tries when he realizes his beloved prefers the traditional route to the altar. Many belly laughs and sweet moments. By Katherine Dillin
Staff *** Well cast, nonstop laughs, Stiller rules as the underdog.
Sex/Nudity: 1 mildly suggestive scene, 4 instances of innuendo. Violence: 3 scenes with mostly cartoonish violence. Profanity: 15 expressions, mostly mild. Drugs: 3 scenes with alcohol, 2 with tobacco, 1 scene with implied use of marijuana.
Remember the Titans (PG)
Director: Boaz Yakin. With Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Donald Faison, Nicole Ari Parker. (113 min.)
Sterritt *** Washington is excellent as an African-American coach hired to train a high-school football team in Virginia as part of a 1971 integration effort. He turns his racially divided players into champions on and off the gridiron. The story is based on real events, but it's been Hollywoodized so completely - the coach is a saint, the victories don't stop coming, the music swells with schmaltz every chance it gets - that it can hardly be called a real-world history lesson. It has a good heart, though, and makes an amiable introduction to the integration battles of the '60s and '70s.
Staff *** Feel-good, inspiring, keeps moving.
Sex/Nudity: None. Violence: 9 scenes with violence, including football injuries and a shocking car crash, but nothing excessive. Profanity: 9 expressions, mostly mild, including some racial slurs. Drugs: 1 scene in a bar, but no alcohol consumed.
Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire (R)
Director: Kevin Jordan. With Derick Martini, Steven Martini, Christa Miller, Bill Henderson. (90 min.)
Sterritt *** A small-scale comedy about two Los Angeles brothers with different personalities - the title comes from nicknames their grandmother gave them - and varying solutions to the challenges they face when new girlfriends enter their lives. Henderson steals the show as an elderly African-American man befriended by one of the main characters.
Staff *** Subtle, refreshingly honest characters, new twist on typical story.
Sex/Nudity: 4 scenes with implied sex, 2 instances of innuendo. Violence: 3 scenes with violence, including a scuffle. Profanity: 81 harsh expressions. Drugs: 3 scenes with alcohol, 2 with tobacco, 1 with marijuana.
Out on Video
... in stores Oct. 24
Center Stage (PG-13)
Director: Nicholas Hytner. With Amanda Schull, Peter Gallagher, Susan May Pratt. (113 min.)
Sterritt *** Young dancers at a Lincoln Center ballet school learn the rules of their new home. Rarely has a dance movie done so many cinematic pirouettes with such a graceful sense of audience-pleasing fun.
Staff **1/2 Exuberant, formulaic.
The Patriot (R)
Director: Roland Emmerich. With Mel Gibson, Joely Richardson, Chris Cooper. (165 min.)
Sterritt ** A South Carolina farmer becomes a reluctant fighter in the Revolutionary War after English soldiers kill his little boy.
Staff *** Rousing, earnest, brutal, big.
Up at the Villa (Not rated)
Director: Philip Haas. With Kristin Scott Thomas, Sean Penn, Anne Bancroft. (120 min.)
Sterritt *** Seeking a last romantic adventure before her marriage to a boring British aristocrat in Italy during the late 1930s, a young woman spends a night with an impoverished Austrian refugee, then faces violent and scandalous consequences.
**1/2 Seamless, superb acting.
(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society