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UAlbany Women's Basketball Goes Undefeated in Conference Play, Clinches Regular Season Title
SEFCU Arena on University's main campus set to host America East Conference men's and women's tournaments, March 8-10
ALBANY, N.Y. (March 04, 2013) -- The University at Albany's women's basketball team's unprecedented regular season recently wrapped up as the Great Danes clinched the America East title with a record of 25-3. As a result of the win, the women's team has the No. 1 seed heading into the America East Basketball Tournament. UAlbany will host both the men's and women's tournaments at SEFCU Arena, March 8-10.
Led by UAlbany seniors Keyana Williams, Ebone Henry, Julie Forster, and Lindsey Lowrie, the Great Danes won 20 games this season -- for only the second time in school history -- in addition to going undefeated (16-0) in conference play.
"No one believed in us," remarked Williams. "While everyone came to the men's basketball game and celebrated their accomplishments, we were working out and getting better. Some may be surprised that we are 25-3, but everyone in our locker room knows we could be even better."
Dubbed a 'Seasons of Firsts,' the women's team made it to the NCAA playoffs for the first time in school history last year, nearly pulling out an upset against ranked opponent Texas A&M. This year, the team hopes karma will be on their side.
Keyana Williams, UAlbany's starting forward
"We're a scrappy team, but we care for one another and don't want to let each other down," said Henry, who was named the all-time leading scorer in UAlbany women's basketball history this season. "That's how we maintained this incredible streak, winning 17 consecutive games. We are going to carry this into next weekend's tournament and hopefully into the NCAA's."
The team, who four years ago won only a total of 11 games, has blossomed as the cream of the crop under third year head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson.
"Coach Abe is UAlbany Women's Basketball," said guard Lowrie. "She's more than a coach; she's our mentor, a friend and an integral part of our Purple Family."
"I have never been around a group of such talented, caring student athletes," said Abrahamson-Henderson. "These women have exemplified what it means to be model citizens, diligent students and a great basketball team."
The women's team is slated to play the winner of the Stony Brook-New Hampshire game on Sunday in the semifinal round. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m., and the game will be televised on ESPN3.
The Great Danes received a quarterfinal bye after the University of Maine women's basketball team announced it would not participate in the tournament in the aftermath of a Feb. 26 bus accident in which the team's bus driver and a player sustained injuries.
The team will continue its preparations amidst a media frenzy. Although they have achieved many accomplishments and received much praise, they remain focused on the task at hand.
"There's no time to sit and pat ourselves on the back. We have a championship to win next week," said Forster, the program's all-time leading rebounder.
The Men's team, which finished 22-10 overall (9-7 Conf.) garnered the No. 4 seed in this weekend America East Men's Championship Tournament. They will play the No. 5 Maine on Saturday at 8 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN3/WatchESPN, with the winner advancing to Sunday's semifinals to play the winner of the Stony Brook-Binghmaton game at 7 p.m.
The America East Championship Tournament will take place March 8 - 10 at University at Albany's SEFCU Arena. Tournament play gets started with three women's quarterfinal games on Friday, March 8, followed by the men's quarterfinals on Saturday, March 9. The semifinals will take place Sunday, with the women playing first, followed by the men. The highest seeds remaining in both the men's and women's tournament will host its respective championship game the following weekend. Tickets are on sale at www.ualbanysports.com.
Check out photos of UAlbany's Basketball Teams.
For more news, subscribe to UAlbany's RSS headline feeds
Educationally and culturally, the University at Albany-SUNY puts "The World Within Reach" for its 18,000 students. An internationally recognized research university with 58 undergraduate majors and 128 graduate degree programs, UAlbany is a leader among all New York State colleges and universities in such diverse fields as public policy, nanotechnology and criminal justice. With a curriculum enhanced by 300 study-abroad opportunities, UAlbany launches great careers. For more information about this globally ranked University, visit https://www.albany.edu/. For UAlbany's extensive roster of faculty experts, visit www.albany.edu/news/experts.shtml.


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Gabrielle Union thinks like an independent spirit (with video)
Gabrielle Union's career plan has a great deal to do with her lifestyle.
"I live so far below my means that I put myself in position where I don't have to be anxious about choosing jobs," said Union at a Beverly Hills, Calif., hotel.
That's why she works when she wants to, not when she needs to. Time will tell if she will change her philosophy after the 41-year-old marries Miami Heat basketball star Dwyane Wade (although she wouldn't discuss her relationship or the rumoured wedding date of Aug. 30 in Miami).
Union was more forthcoming about the professional side of things. For instance, she's happy to report that she managed to combine commerce with craft when she reprised her role in the sequel Think Like a Man Too.
In fact, everybody in the cast is back. The ensemble ends up in Las Vegas celebrating a pending wedding with separate bachelor and bachelorette parties.
Returning to the comedy fray are Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Regina Hall, Taraji P. Henson, and Wendi McLendon-Covey.
Back, too, is Jerry Ferrara who plays Jerry to Union's Kristen; they're a couple with a plan for a baby but with different expectations. Indeed, all of the couples are at various stages of their relationships in the latest battle-of-the-sexes romp.
"Part of the reason the sequel works so well is that we didn't abandon the couples," noted a confident Union.
Certainly, the first movie struck a chord. Based on Steve Harvey's best-selling advice book called Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, it was a surprise movie hit in 2012. And, it didn't take much persuading by director Tim Story and producer William Packer to get the actors back together.
"We are all friends, so any time you can work with your friends is great," Union said. "But sometimes we were having too much fun.
"When you are on set with Regina (Hall) and Wendi (McLendon-Covey), you have hard time getting things done because they are so good at making you laugh with their improvising."
Certainly, the relationship sub-plots tend to be more serious, but that's what Union believes makes the humour more accessible.
"I mean, we are trying to have a baby and I think a lot of people can relate to that situation," she said referring to the couple's dilemma in the film.
Perhaps, the only downside of returning to the sequel was the crazy film schedule that the Vegas sequences demanded.
"We were using so many locations that were tourist attractions; we had call times starting at 2 a.m.," she said. "So trying to train your body to sleep during the afternoon was challenging."
Preparing for the poolside scenes was another difficult task, but that had more to do with vanity than shift work.
"Wearing those bathing suits by the pool made us work out and kept us honest at lunch and dinner, and I'm not just talking about the women," said Union chuckling.
Meanwhile, she has a drama in her future. She'll play a reality TV star in the Chris Rock-directed film Finally Famous, out in the fall. Rock also co-wrote the movie and will co-star as a recovering alcoholic comic who wants to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor.
Union was also looking forward to the second season of her cable series Being Mary Jane, in which she plays a talk-show host. And yes, she would even be up for another Think Like a Man comedy adventure.
"We had so much fun doing them I can't imagine not coming back for a third one," Union said. "That will be especially true if they pick a good location for us."

subset: commoncrawl


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As seen in recent construction update shots, the center hall of Alumni Hall is a large area with a stage and space for seats — an auditorium. It was originally intended to be a chapel, but over its tenure thus far, it has also been an auditorium, a theatre, and a library.
The original Knox College library was housed in Old Main, while Alumni Hall's center hall was serving as a chapel. After Beecher Chapel was acquired by the school and the need for a larger library was realized, the books were moved to Alumni Hall in 1909.
This wasn't the first time a library was in Alumni Hall. Both literary societies, Adelphi and Gnothautii, had separate libraries on their sides, starting sometime around 1892. Once the College's library was moved to Alumni Hall, the literary societies combined their books and contributed to the centralized collection.
The library featured not only books, but two large tapestries from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. They framed the stage, as seen in the photo below.
Flooring was laid down from the lobby to the stage to level out the slope intended for auditorium seating. Two staircases were installed to reach from the bottom floor to the top balcony where Dr. Elder, the librarian, had an office and additional stacks were housed.
The center hall of Alumni Hall remained this way until the completion of Seymour Library, which still houses Knox's collection of books and library materials, in 1928.
As seen in the photo above, books lined the back walls of the lower level, and tables, chairs, and even statues decorated the area. It wasn't intended to look makeshift, although it was a temporary solution. From the convincing looks of it, it probably fooled a few students between 1909 and 1928 who would've never known it was an auditorium space.


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kidzsearch.com > wiki Explore:images videos games
Jørn Utzon
KidzSearch Safe Wikipedia for Kids.
Jørn Utzon (born April 9, 1918, died November 29, 2008) was a Danish architect. He was born in Copenhagen and grew up in Aalborg. He is most well known for designing the Sydney Opera House in Australia. He won a contest for designing the Sydney Opera House in 1957. However, he left Australia in 1966 and never returned and saw his completed work.[source?] He thought of his design of the Sydney Opera House to be like peeling an orange, as he said putting the shells of the building together would make a perfect sphere. In 2001, he was invited back to restore the building and change it back toward his original designs.[1]
In 2003, Utzon won the Pritzker Prize.[2]
Utzon died of a heart attack in Copenhagen.
- ↑ Flyvbjerg, Bent (Spring Summer 2005). "Design by Deception: The Politics of Megaproject Approval" (PDF). Harvard Design 22: p. 55. http://flyvbjerg.plan.aau.dk/HARVARDDESIGN63PRINT.pdf. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
- ↑ Pritzker Architecture Prize, "Jørn Utzon, 2003 Laureate"; retrieved 2013-3-27.
Other websites
- Utzon Center
- Pritzker Architecture Prize 2003, including essays and photographs.
- The Kingohouses website
- The Sydney Opera House history
- The Edge of the Possible, 58 minute documentary, 1998, Dir: Daryl Dellora, Film Art Doco Pty Ltd
- Design by Deception: The Politics of Megaproject Approval (PDF)


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Hello BibleWorks!
It would be nice not to have to retype my search terms(s) when BibleWorks does not detect them in the current database version. For instance, if I search make the simple search "knowledge puffs" and the KJV is the active version, BW will display an error message (see below), force you to click OK, and then promptly erase the string, rather then allowing you to simply correct the spelling, etc., and resubmit the search. This is somewhat time-consuming, esp. if you have typed in a larger text string (e.g., "love, joy, peace, patience," and so on.
Either way, thanks for your help. I love BibleWorks and appreciate your great service!


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The U.S. government spends about $60 billion a year subsidizing scientific research, and science and engineering graduate programs at U.S. universities are so good that they attract many of the best and brightest students from the rest of the world [source: National Science Foundation]. Surrounded by technological marvels, from talking ATMs and telecommunications satellites to supermarket tomatoes that are genetically modified to retain their flavor, Americans must be pretty darn smart when it comes to science, huh?
Well, guess again. The unsettling truth is that U.S. adults tend to be embarrassingly ignorant when it comes to basic scientific knowledge. A 2009 Harris Interactive survey found that only 53 percent knew that it took a year for Earth to revolve around the sun, and only 59 percent knew that the earliest humans and dinosaurs did not exist at the same time, the way they did in "The Flintstones." And just 47 percent correctly stated -- within a 10 percent range of error -- that about 70 percent of Earth's surface is covered by water. Just one in five U.S. adults could answer all three of those questions correctly [source: ScienceDaily]. A 2011 University of Michigan study found that only 28 percent of American adults had enough scientific knowledge to be able to read The New York Times' Tuesday Science section and understand it. Admittedly, that's an improvement from a 1988 study, when only 10 percent of adults could make sense of the Times' science articles [source: ScienceDaily].
So obviously, we've got quite a way to go to achieve anything resembling universal scientific literacy. But for those of you who feel the desperate urge to change the subject when someone mentions the Higgs boson, massively parallel supercomputing or the escalating debate over whether dinosaurs had feathers, fear not. We're going to start you off easy, with the answers to 10 really basic science questions that everybody should know how to answer.
Why is the sky blue?
"I see skies of blue and clouds of white," Louis Armstrong crooned in his 1968 song "What a Wonderful World." And he probably did, given that his song is an ode to optimism. European researchers have discovered that light from the blue part of the spectrum influences the emotions in a positive way, making us more responsive to emotional stimuli and more adaptable to emotional challenges [source: Opfocus].
But we digress. The reason the sky appears blue is because of an effect called scattering. Sunlight has to pass through Earth's atmosphere, which is filled with gases and particles that act like the bumpers on a pinball machine, bouncing sunlight all over the place. But if you've ever held a prism in your hands, you know that sunlight actually is made up of a bunch of different colors, all of which have different wavelengths. Blue light has a relatively short wavelength, so it gets through the filter more easily than colors with longer wavelengths, and as a result are scattered more widely as they pass through the atmosphere. That's why the sky looks blue during the parts of the day when the sun appears to be high in the sky (though it's actually the spot on the planet where you are standing that is moving, relative to the sun).
At sunrise and sunset, though, the sun's rays have to travel a longer distance to reach your position. That cancels out blue light's wavelength advantage and allows us to see the other colors better, which is why sunsets often appear red, orange or yellow [sources: NASA, ScienceDaily].
How old is Earth?
Earth's age is something that people have been arguing about, at times bitterly, for a long, long time. Back in 1654, a scholar named John Lightfoot, whose calculations were based upon the Bible's Book of Genesis, proclaimed that Earth had been created at precisely 9 a.m. Mesopotamian time, on Oct. 26, 4004 B.C.E. In the late 1700s, a scientist named the Comte de Buffon heated up a small replica of the planet that he had created and measured the rate at which it cooled, and based upon that data, estimated that Earth was about 75,000 years old. In the 19th century, the physicist Lord Kelvin used different equations to set Earth's age at 20 to 40 million years [source: Badash].
But all that was trumped in the late 1800s and early 1900s by the discovery of radioactivity, which was soon followed by calculation of the rates at which various radioactive substances decay [source: Badash]. Earth scientists have used that knowledge to determine the age of Earth's rocks, as well as samples from meteorites and rocks brought back from the moon by astronauts. For example, they've looked at the state of decay of lead isotopes from rocks, and then compared that to a scale based on calculations of how lead isotopes would change over time. From that, they've been able to determine that Earth formed approximately 4.54 billion years ago with an uncertainty of less than 1 percent [source: U.S. Geological Survey].
How does natural selection work?
Like the age of Earth, the theory of evolution -- first developed by biologist Charles Darwin in the mid-1800s -- is another subject that people tend to get worked up about. If you've ever seen the classic movie "Inherit the Wind," you probably already know about the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. Famous attorney Clarence Darrow argued unsuccessfully upon behalf of a high school biology teacher named John Scopes, who was accused of violating a Tennessee statute that banned anyone from teaching that humans were descended from "a lower order of animals," and decreed that the biblical story of creation was the only acceptable explanation [source: Linder]. In recent years, it's been anti-evolutionists who've fought in court and in legislatures to require that children learn "creation science" in school, in addition to evolutionary theory [source: Raffaele].
And if there's an idea that particularly bugs anti-evolutionists, it's Darwin's central concept, which is called natural selection. It's really not a difficult idea to understand. In nature, mutations -- that is, a permanent change in the genetic blueprint of organisms, which can cause them to develop different characteristics from their ancestors -- occur randomly. But evolution, the longer-term process by which animals and plants change over multiple generations, is not up to chance. Instead, changes in organisms tend to become more common over time if the change helps the organism to better survive and reproduce.
For example, imagine that some beetles are green, but then, a mutation causes some beetles to be brown, instead. The brown beetles blend into their surroundings better than the green beetles, so not as many of them are eaten by birds. Instead, more of them will survive and reproduce, and may pass along the genetic change that will make their offspring brown. Over time, the beetle population will gradually shift to being brown in color. That, of course, is the simple version. In practice, natural selection is based upon averages, not specific individuals, and it's not quite as smooth and orderly of a process [source: UC Berkeley].
Will the sun ever stop shining?
This question reminds us of another pop song, Skeeter Davis's 1962 single "The End of the World," in which the singer wonders why the sun keeps on shining after her boyfriend apparently has dumped her. The conceit of the lyrics is that the reality around us -- whether it's the shining sun or the birds singing in the trees -- is more durable than our fragile little feelings. In truth, though, our lovelorn lass had the misfortune to be born too soon -- by about 5.5 billion years, give or take a few. That's the point at which the sun, which like any other star is a gigantic fusion reactor, will run out of the hydrogen in its core that it burns as fuel to create sunshine and will start burning the hydrogen in its surrounding layers.
That'll be the start of the sun's death spiral, in which its core will shrink and its outer layers will expand massively, turning it into a red giant. In a final burst, the sun will roast the solar system with a blast of heat that will temporarily turn even the usually frigid vicinity of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt (out past Neptune) into a celestial sauna. It's likely that the inner planets, including Earth, will be either sucked into the dying giant, or else turned into cinders [source: Overbye].
On the plus side, unless humans manage to colonize the solar systems of other stars, nobody is going to be around to experience this final inferno. The sun, which is about halfway through its expected lifespan, is already gradually heating up, and a billion years from now, it's expected to be about 10 percent brighter than it is now. That increase in solar radiation will be enough to boil away our planet's oceans, leaving us without the water that our species depends upon for survival [source: Overbye].
How do magnets work?
"[Bleeping] magnets: How do they work?" That's the question that rappers Insane Clown Posse posed in their single "Miracles" a few years back, which led those snarkmeisters at "Saturday Night Live" to ridicule them unmercifully. And that was unfortunate, because it's a perfectly reasonable thing to ponder. A magnet is any object or material that has a magnetic field -- that is, a bunch of electrons flowing all around it in the same direction. Now, electrons -- like rappers from Detroit who wear clown masks, curse a lot, and drink Faygo Cola -- like to hook up in pairs, and iron has a lot of unpaired electrons that are all eager to get in on the action. So, objects that are solid iron or have a lot of iron in them -- nails, for example -- are going to be pulled toward a sufficiently powerful magnet. The substances and objects attracted to magnets are called ferromagnetic substances [source: University of Illinois].
Humans have known about the phenomenon of magnetism for a long, long time. There are naturally occurring magnets, such as lodestone, but medieval travelers figured out how to rub steel compass needles against those stones so that they picked up electrons and became magnetized, which means that they developed their own magnetic fields. Those magnets weren't particularly durable, but in the 20th century, researchers developed new materials and charging devices that enabled them to make more powerful permanent magnets [source: Stupak]. You can actually create a type of magnet, called an electromagnet, from a piece of iron by wrapping an electrical wire around it and then connecting the ends to the poles of one of those big batteries with the clips on top [source: University of Illinois].
What causes a rainbow?
There's something about this atmospheric phenomenon that has inspired awe in people since ancient times. In the Book of Genesis, God put a rainbow in the sky after the Great Flood and told Noah it was a sign of "a token of the covenant between me and Earth" [source: Biblos]. The ancient Greeks went further, and decided that the rainbow actually was a goddess, whom they named Iris. But they made her an ominous figure -- the bearer of the Olympian gods' tidings about war and retribution [source: Lee and Fraser, pg viii]. And over the centuries, great minds ranging from Aristotle to Rene Descartes sought to figure out what process created rainbows' striking array of colors [source: Broughton and Carriero].
Since then, though, scientists have nailed it pretty well. Basically, rainbows are caused by the droplets of water that remain suspended in the atmosphere after a rainstorm. The droplets have a different density than the surrounding air, so as sunlight hits them, the droplets act as tiny prisms, bending the light to break it up into its component wavelengths, and then reflecting them back at us. That in turns creates the arc with bands of colors of the visible spectrum that we see. Because the droplets have to reflect the light at us, in order to see a rainbow, we have to be standing with our backs to the sun. We also need to be looking up from the ground at an angle of approximately 40 degrees, which is the rainbow's angle of deviation -- i.e., the angle at which it bends sunlight. Interestingly, if you're in an airplane and you see a rainbow from above, it actually may look like a disk, rather than an arc [source: Physics Classroom].
What is the theory of relativity?
When someone refers to the "theory of relativity," what they really mean are two theories, special relativity and general relativity, which were devised by theoretical physicist Albert Einstein in the early 1900s [source: nobelprize.org]. But no matter what you call Einstein's body of work, it's undoubtedly baffling to most nonscientists. Einstein thought of a clever way to explain it: "When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity." [source: Mirsky].
And that actually sums it up pretty well, though the details are a bit more complex. Before Einstein, everybody pretty much believed that space and time were fixed qualities, which didn't ever change, because that's the way they look to us from our vantage point on Earth. But Einstein used mathematics to show that absolute view of things was an illusion. Instead, he explained, space and time both can undergo alterations -- space can contract, expand or curve, and the rate at which time passes can shift, as well, if an object is subjected to a strong gravitational field or is moving very quickly.
Moreover, how space and time appear can depend upon the vantage point of a person observing them. Imagine, for example, that you are looking at an old-fashioned ticking alarm clock with hands to tell the time. Now, imagine putting that clock in orbit around Earth, so that it is moving really fast, compared to your position on the surface. If you could still see the clock hands, they would look smaller to you than they would on Earth, and the ticks of the clock would be slower [source: Cornell University].
The clock moves more slowly because of a phenomenon called "time dilation." Space and time are actually a single thing, called space-time, which can be distorted by gravity and acceleration. So if an object is moving very fast, or has really powerful gravity acting upon it, time for that object will slow down, compared to an object that is not being subjected to the same forces. It's possible, by using mathematical calculations, to predict just how much time will slow down for a fast-moving object.
That probably sounds pretty weird. But we know that it actually is true. GPS, the satellites of which depend upon precise measurement of time to provide map positions on Earth, is proof. The satellites are whizzing around the planet at about 8,700 miles (14,000 kilometers) per hour, and if engineers didn't adjust their clocks to compensate for relativity, within a day, Google maps on our smartphones would be giving us positions that were 6 miles (9.86 kilometers) off [source: OSU Astronomy].
Why are bubbles round?
Well, actually, bubbles are not always perfectly round all the time, as you probably have noticed if you've ever used one of those toy thingies to blow soap bubbles. But bubbles want to be spherical, and if you blow one that's more cigar-shaped initially, it struggles to reshape itself. That's because bubbles basically are thin layers of liquid whose molecules stick together because they are attracted to one another, a phenomenon called cohesion [source: USGS]. This creates what we think of as surface tension -- that is, a barrier that resists objects trying to move through it [source: USGS]. Inside the layer, air molecules that are trapped can't get out, even though they're pushing against the water. But that's not the only force acting on that layer. On the outside, more air is pushing inward at them. The most efficient way for the liquid layer to resist those forces is to assume the most compact shape, which happens to be a sphere, in terms of ratio of volume to surface area [source: Popular Science].
Interestingly, scientists have figured out ways to make bubbles that aren't round, so they can study the geometry of the surfaces. They're able to create bubbles that are cubical and even rectangular, by suspending a thin layer of liquid on a wire frame that that is molded into the desired shape [source: NEWTON].
What are clouds made of?
Hopefully, this won't disappoint Joni Mitchell fans too much, but clouds are not actually bows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air. A cloud is a visible mass of water droplets, or ice crystals, or a mixture of both that is suspended above Earth's surface. Clouds are formed when moist, warm air rises. As it ascends higher and reaches a space that's cooler, the moist warm air cools down, too, and the water vapor condenses back into tiny water droplets and/or ice crystals, depending upon how cold they get. Those droplets and crystals stay massed together because of the principle of cohesion, which we've previously discussed. The result is a cloud [source: Britannica ]. Some clouds are thicker than others because they happen to have a higher density of water droplets.
Clouds are a key part of our planet's hydrologic cycle, in which water continually moves between the surface and the atmosphere, and changes in state from liquid to vapor to liquid, and sometimes to solid as well. If it weren't for that cycle, there probably wouldn't be any life on our planet [source: NASA].
In 1803, a meteorologist named Luke Howard came up with four main cloud classifications, whose names were based on Latin words. Cumulus, which is the Latin word for "pile," describes those heaped, lumpy clouds that we often see in the sky. Cirrus, which means "hair," is the term for high-level clouds that look wispy, like locks of hair. Flat-looking, featureless clouds that form sheets are called stratus, which is the Latin word for "layer." Finally, there are nimbus clouds (the name actually is Latin for "precipitating cloud") are low, gray rain clouds [source: NASA]. And sometimes they combine – like the very tall grey lumpy clouds you see before thunderstorms – called a cumulonimbus!
Why does water evaporate at room temperature?
We humans like to think of reality as a nice, stable place, where various stuff stays in the same place unless we want it to go somewhere else. But dream on. In reality, if you look at water at the molecular level, it acts like a bunch of puppies crowding into a dog bed, with molecules bumping each other and jostling for position. When a lot of water vapor is in the air, molecules will get bumped up against a surface and stick to it, which is why condensation forms on the outside of a cold drink on a humid day.
Conversely, when the air is drier, water molecules in your cup of water can get bumped up into the air and stick to other molecules that are floating around. That process is called evaporation. If the air is dry enough, more molecules will jump from your cup into the air than will stick from the air into the water. Over time, the water will continue to lose molecules to the air, and eventually you'll end up with an empty cup [source: NEWTON].
The ability of molecules from a liquid to get pushed into the air and stick to it is called vapor pressure, because the jumping molecules exert a force, just as a gas or a solid that's pressing against something would. Different liquids have different vapor pressures. A liquid such as acetone -- nail polish remover -- has a very high vapor pressure, which means that it easily evaporates and goes into the air. Olive oil, in contrast, has a very low vapor pressure, so it's not likely to evaporate much at room temperature [source: NEWTON].
Would Sonic the Hedgehog Be Able to Survive His Own Speed?
Could Sonic the Hedgehog realistically handle supersonic speeds? HowStuffWorks explores what else Sonic might need to survive his speediness.
Author's Note: 10 Science Questions You Should Really Know How to Answer
I've been fascinated with science and technology ever since I was 8 years old, when I eagerly poured through a series called the How and Why Wonder Books, which dealt with subjects ranging nuclear physics to the dinosaurs. I even tried to replicate the experiments described in the books, and bugged my parents to supply me with batteries, wire, aluminum foil and other stuff that I needed. I might even have pursued a career in some scientific field, except that I realized in high school that I disliked math, and that I was better at explaining experiments and studies to other people than I was at doing the work myself. Today, in addition to writing for HowStuffWorks, I'm also a blogger for the Science Channel Web site.
Related Articles
- Basash, Lawrence. "The Age-of-the-Earth Debate." Scientific American. August 1989. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.es.ucsc.edu/~pkoch/EART_206/09-0108/Badash%2089%20SciAmer.pdf
- BBC News. "World Soap Bubble Record Popped." News.bbc.co.uk. March 30, 2006. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/4860970.stm
- Biblos.com. "Genesis 9, King James Version." Biblos.com. Undated. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://kingjbible.com/genesis/9.htm
- Bound, John; Turner, Sarah; and Walsh, Patrick. "Internationalization of U.S. Doctorate Education." Population Studies Center. March 2009. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/pdf/rr09-675.pdf
- Broughton, Janet and Carriero, John. "A Companion to Descartes." Wiley-Blackwell. 2011. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://books.google.com/books?id=mBHVSlpu0ccC&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=rainbow+aristotle+descartes&source=bl&ots=Km71It2opK&sig=RDfe5nrWlwfjz_o_ufPMGb42KZA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cpp3UIL-F-f30gGBmYHoCQ&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=rainbow%20aristotle%20descartes&f=false
- Astronomy Department, Cornell University. "The Theory of Relativity." Cornell.edu. Dec. 18, 2011. (Oct. 12, 2012) http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/relativity.php
- Astronomy Department, Ohio State University. "Real-World Relativity: The GPS Navigation System." Astronomy.ohio-state.edu. Apr. 27, 2009. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit5/gps.html
- Department of Physics, University of Illinois. "Q&A: What is a Magnet?" Illinois.edu. Undated. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=393
- Encyclopedia Britannica. "Cloud." Britannica.com. Undated. (Oct. 12, 2012) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/122305/cloud
- Flandern, Tom Van. "What the Global Positioning System Tells Us about Relativity." Metaresearch.org. 2012. (Oct. 17, 2012) http://www.metaresearch.org/cosmology/gps-relativity.asp
- Hyperphysics. "Rods and Cones." Hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu. Undated. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/rodcone.html
- Lee, Raymond L. and Fraser, Alistair B. "The Rainbrow Bridge: Rainbows in Art, Myth and Science." Penn State University Press. 2001. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://books.google.com/books?id=kZcCtT1ZeaEC&pg=PA184&lpg=PA184&dq=explanation+for+rainbow+descartes&source=bl&ots=Y53uAt1Obz&sig=FLtcGgokBtVgY-OOmdWGYWkP6jY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FZN3UK3YLdS60AHK_ICwAQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=explanation%20for%20rainbow%20descartes&f=false
- Linder, Douglas O. "State v. John Scopes ('The Scopes Monkey Trial')." Umkc.edu. Jul, 10, 2010. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/evolut.htm
- Mirsky, Steve. "Einstein's Hot Time." Scientific American. Aug. 12, 2002. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=einsteins-hot-time
- Nave, CR. "Time Dilation." hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu. Undated. (Oct. 17, 2012) http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/relativ/tdil.html#c2
- NASA. "Introduction to Clouds." Science_edu.larc.nasa.gov. Undated. (Oct. 12, 2012) http://science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/cloud_chart/PDFs/NOAA-NASA-CloudChart.pdf
- NASA. "Why Is The Sky Blue?" spaceplace.nasa.gov. Undated. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/blue-sky/
- National Science Foundation. "Federal Obligations for Research and Development, by character of work, and for R&D Plant: FY 1951-2011." NSF.gov. Undated. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf12318/pdf/tab1.pdf
- NEWTON. "Ask a Scientist: Bubble Shapes." Newton.dept. anl.edu. Undated. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01058.htm
- NEWTON. "Equilibrium and Evaporation." Newton.dep.anl.gov. April 2007. (Oct. 12, 2012) http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen06/gen06302.htm
- Nobelprize.org. "Albert Einstein (Biography." Nobelprize.org. Undated. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html
- Opfocus. "Blue Light Beats The Blues." Opfocus.org. Oct. 13, 2011. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://opfocus.org/index.php?topic=story&v=15&s=1
- Overbye, Dennis. "Kissing the Earth Goodbye in about 7.59 Billion Years." The New York Times. March 11, 2008. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/science/space/11earth.html
- Physics Classroom. "Interesting Refraction Phenomena—Rainbow Formation." Physicsclassroom.com. 2012. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/refrn/u14l4b.cfm
- Popular Science. "What Do You Want to Know?" Popular Science. February 1923. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://books.google.com/books?id=XSoDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=why+are+bubbles+round&source=bl&ots=6jqMKKFTTg&sig=xhTGv-qLw2m1o_POtiP_PpElZGA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=A154UPnxKayt0AGkkYCoBw&ved=0CE8Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=why%20are%20bubbles%20round&f=false
- Raffaele, Martha. "Judge to Decide Fate of 'Intelligent Design' in Schools." Associated Press. Nov. 6, 2005. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aTIqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YkUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6473,5201969&dq=dover+delaware+school+district+evolution&hl=en
- ScienceDaily. "American Adults Flunk Basic Science." ScienceDaily.com. March 13, 2009.(Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090312115133.htm
- ScienceDaily. "US Public's Knowledge of Science: Getting Better but a Long Way to Go, Study Finds." ScienceDaily.com. Feb. 11, 2011. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110216110857.htm
- ScienceDaily. "What Determines Sky's Color at Sunrise and Sunset?" ScienceDaily.com. Nov. 15, 2007. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071108135522.htm
- Stupak, Joseph J. Jr. "Methods of Magnetizing Permanent Magnets." Oersted Technology Corp. 2000. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://oersted.com/magnetizing.PDF
- UC Berkeley. "Natural Selection." Berkeley.edu. Undated. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_25
- USGS Water Science School. "Adhesion and Cohesion of Water." USGS.gov. Sep. 13, 2012. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/adhesion.html
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- USGS. "Age of the Earth." Usgs.gov. Jul. 9, 2007. (Oct. 11, 2012) http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/age.html


text:
Hi Everyone,
The LEGO Community Team would like to know which themes you have always wanted LEGO to produce. Please post your comments here and I will pass them on to LEGO. Thanks!
Ben Ellermann
Ahhh, I have a theme in mind that both adults and kids would enjoy, me thinks!
A Merchant theme!
Think about it! We have all these pirate ships, and Imperial ships and whatnot, but only one, tiny, itty bitty little merchant set that came in a most expensive base! So what the heck are those pirate supposed to pillage and plunder from?
A list of sets could be something like this
The large set, ($120-$150)* would have a port, with a small merchant vessel. The port could have two or three building facades (for easier play) a wharf, with a small rowboat with a pirate or two on it. Figs would be about 8, having three merchants, one soldier, one pirate, two townsfolk, and one governor dude. The three buildings could be a blacksmith shop, an inn, and a house. A church or a fort could be on the list as well.
The medium large set ($80ish) would be a merchant vessel, utilizing some new small hulls, with one mast (Think old Imperial flagship design) Would have 4 figs. Three merchants, and one pirate, who might or might not have a boat of his own. A raft might work.
A medium set ($50ish) would be a smaller version of the large set, but with only one building facade, and an even smaller boat. Figs would be about 3, with 2 merchants, and a villager. The building could be a repeat of one in the larger set, but a different one, like a stable (With a horse), or perhaps the port master's office. Perhaps it could even attach to the large one, which could be modular (And perhaps in the style of the recent Soldiers fort?)
The small-medium set ($30ish) could be a small pirate boat, to attack that merchant ship. Would be around the size of the original Merchant ship form the Imperial Trading Post. Would have two or three pirates, and maybe a prisoner.
The small set ($10-$15) could be something along the lines of the Cario Ambush set from the Indiana Jones line. A small stall, with a large barrel, with four figs. Figs would be one soldier, one pirate, and two townsfolk.
Heck, there could even easily be two impulse sets. One would have a merchant, with some merchandise (Some food, a bottle or two, a crate to carry it all) and the other could be a pirate on a raft (Like the good ol' days), equipped with a cutlass and flag, and perhaps some stolen booty!
Really, if a line like this was out, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it all! And I think it could go along well with the PotC line.
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text:
The zoo sits on a cliff in Banos, along the river. They have animals from the Amazon Rain Forest divided between birds, mammals and reptiles. Since we didn't actually go into the jungle (trips with tribes are a min 3 nights) it was a nice way to see the animals that one could encounter. Many of the exotic species are in danger of extinction because of their high value to poachers or for sale on the black market. The zoo works to protect and maintain these endangered animals. Also, rehabilitated animals are released back into the wild when possible.
Frank nearly lost his phone.
Turtles need lovin' too.


text:
GNU VCDImager is a full-featured mastering suite for authoring, disassembling
and analyzing Video CDs and Super Video CDs. Features include: Support for
VCD 1.1 and 2.0, Support for SVCD 1.0 full playback control, automatic padding
of MPEG streams on the fly ... and more!
Maintained by: Johannes Schoepfer
Keywords: vcd,cd,image,vcdimager,svcd,multimedia
ChangeLog: vcdimager
Download SlackBuild:
vcdimager.tar.gz.asc (FAQ)
(the SlackBuild does not include the source)
|Individual Files:
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| vcdimager.SlackBuild
| vcdimager.info
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text:
If you have followed our Sundance coverage over the last week and a half, you know how massive the festival can feel from afar. These are the movies that will fill arthouses over the next year, so perhaps the best place for those who could not make it to Park City to start is at the end, with the announcement of the awards. In terms of the major awards, the Grand Jury Prizes went to Beasts of the Southern Wild (Dramatic), The House I Live In (in the Documentary category), Violeta Went to Heaven (World Dramatic), and The Law in These Parts (World Documentary). Beasts of the Southern Wild, the consensus critical darling, also won for cinematography and a producers' award. Thankfully Fox Searchlight made a deal to bring Beasts to a theater near you soon.
The Audience Awards went to The Surrogate (Dramatic), The Invisible War (Documentary), Valley of Saints (World Dramatic), and Searching for Sugar Man (World Documentary). The cast of The Surrogates—led by John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, and William H. Macy—doubled up with the Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting. Fox Searchlight also picked up The Surrogates. Love that studio. Hit the jump for the press release with the expansive list of award winners.
The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented by Charles Ferguson to:
The House I Live In / U.S.A. (Director: Eugene Jarecki) — For over 40 years, the War on Drugs has accounted for 45 million arrests, made America the world's largest jailer and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet, drugs are cheaper, purer and more available today than ever. Where did we go wrong and what is the path toward healing?
The Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented by Justin Lin to:
Beasts of the Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin' under, in this tale of a six year old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world. Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry.
The World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary was presented by Nick Fraser to:
The Law in These Parts / Israel (Director: Ra'anan Alexandrowicz) — Israel's 43-year military legal system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories unfolds through provocative interviews with the system's architects and historical footage showing the enactment of these laws upon the Palestinian population.
The World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented by Julia Ormond to:
Violeta Went to Heaven (Violeta se Fue a Los Cielos) / Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Spain (Director: Andrés Wood, Screenwriters: Eliseo Altunaga, Rodrigo Bazaes, Guillermo Calderón, Andrés Wood) — A portrait of famed Chilean singer and folklorist Violeta Parra filled with her musical work, her memories, her loves and her hopes. Cast: Francisca Gavilán, Thomas Durand, Luis Machín, Gabriela Aguilera, Roberto Farías.
The Audience Award: U.S. Documentary, Presented by Acura, was presented by Mike Birbiglia to:
The Invisible War / U.S.A. (Director: Kirby Dick) — An investigative and powerfully emotional examination of the epidemic of rape of soldiers within the U.S. military, the institutions that cover up its existence and the profound personal and social consequences that arise from it.
The Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, Presented by Acura, was presented by Mike Birbiglia to:
The Surrogate / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ben Lewin) — Mark O'Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist in an iron lung, decides he no longer wishes to be a virgin. With the help of his therapist and the guidance of his priest, he contacts a professional sex surrogate to take him on a journey to manhood. Cast: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy.
The World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary was presented by Edward James Olmos to:
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN / Sweden, United Kingdom (Director: Malik Bendjelloul) — Rodriguez was the greatest '70s US rock icon who never was. Hailed as the greatest recording artist of his generation he disappeared into oblivion – rising again from the ashes in a completely different context many miles away.
The World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic was presented by Edward James Olmos to:
Valley of Saints / India, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Musa Syeed) — Gulzar plans to run away from the war and poverty surrounding his village in Kashmir with his best friend, but a beautiful young woman researching the dying lake leads him to contemplate a different future Cast: Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, Mohammed Afzal Sofi, Neelofar Hamid.
The Best of NEXT <=> Audience Award, Presented by Adobe Systems Incorporated, was presented by Tim Heidecker to:
Sleepwalk With Me / U.S.A. (Director: Mike Birbiglia, Screenwriters: Mike Birbiglia, Ira Glass, Joe Birbiglia, Seth Barrish) — Reluctant to confront his fears of love, honesty, and growing up, a budding standup comedian has both a hilarious and intense struggle with sleepwalking. Cast: Mike Birbiglia, Lauren Ambrose, Carol Kane, James Rebhorn, Cristin Milioti.
The U.S. Directing Award: Documentary was presented by Fenton Bailey to:
The Queen of Versailles / U.S.A. (Director: Lauren Greenfield) — Jackie and David were triumphantly constructing the biggest house in America – a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot palace inspired by Versailles – when their timeshare empire falters due to the economic crisis. Their story reveals the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream.
The U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic was presented by Lynn Shelton to:
Middle Of Nowhere / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ava DuVernay) — When her husband is incarcerated, an African-American woman struggles to maintain her marriage and her identity. Cast: Emayatzy Corinealdi, David Oyelowo, Omari Hardwick, Lorraine Touissaint, Edwina Findley.
The World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary was presented by Jean-Marie Teno to:
5 Broken Cameras / Palestine, Israel, France (Directors: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi) — A Palestinian journalist chronicles his village's resistance to a separation barrier being erected on their land and in the process captures his young son's lens on the world.
The World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic was presented by Alexei Popogrebsky to:
Teddy Bear / Denmark (Director: Mads Matthiesen, Screenwriters: Mads Matthiesen, Martin Pieter Zandvliet) — Dennis, a painfully shy 38-year-old bodybuilder who lives with his mother, sets off to Thailand in search of love. Cast: Kim Kold, Elsebeth Steentoft, Lamaiporn Sangmanee Hougaard, David Winters, Allan Mogensen.
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award was presented by Anthony Mackie to:
Safety Not Guaranteed / U.S.A. (Director: Colin Trevorrow, Screenwriter: Derek Connolly) — A trio of magazine employees investigate a classified ad seeking a partner for time travel. One employee develops feelings for the paranoid but compelling loner and seeks to discover what he's really up to. Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni.
The World Cinema Screenwriting Award was presented by Richard Pena to:
Young & Wild / Chile (Director: Marialy Rivas, Screenwriters: Marialy Rivas, Camila Gutiérrez, Pedro Peirano, Sebastián Sepúlveda) — 17-year-old Daniela, raised in the bosom of a strict Evangelical family and recently unmasked as a fornicator by her shocked parents, struggles to find her own path to spiritual harmony. Cast: Alicia Rodríguez, Aline Kuppenheim, María Gracia Omegna, Felipe Pinto.
The U.S. Documentary Editing Award was presented by Kim Roberts to:
DETROPIA / U.S.A. (Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady) — The woes of Detroit are emblematic of the collapse of the U.S. manufacturing base. This is the dramatic story of a city and its people who refuse to leave the building, even as the flames are rising.
The World Cinema Documentary Editing Award was presented by Clara Kim to:
Indie Game: The Movie / Canada (Directors: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky) — Follow the dramatic journeys of indie game developers as they create games and release those works, and themselves, to the world.
The Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary was presented by Tia Lessin to:
Chasing Ice / U.S.A. (Director: Jeff Orlowski) — Science, spectacle and human passion mix in this stunningly cinematic portrait as National Geographic photographer James Balog captures time-lapse photography of glaciers over several years providing tangible visual evidence of climate change.
The Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented by Amy Vincent to:
Beasts of the Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin' under, in this tale of a six year old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world. Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry.
The World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary was presented by Jean-Marie Teno to:
Putin's Kiss / Denmark (Director: Lise Birk Pedersen) — 19-year-old Marsha is a model spokesperson in a strongly nationalistic Russian youth movement that aims to protect the country from its enemies. When she starts recognizing the organization's flaws, she must take a stand for or against it.
The World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic was presented by Alexei Popogrebsky to:
My Brother the Devil / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Sally El Hosaini) — A pair of British Arab brothers trying to get by in gangland London learn the extraordinary courage it takes to be yourself. Cast: James Floyd, Saïd Taghmaoui, Fady Elsayed.
A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for an Agent of Change was presented by Heather Croall to:
Love Free or Die / U.S.A. (Director: Macky Alston) — One man whose two defining passions are in conflict: An openly gay bishop refuses to leave the Church or the man he loves.
A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Defiance was presented by Heather Croall to:
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry / U.S.A., China (Director: Alison Klayman) — Renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has garnered international attention as much for his ambitious artwork as his political provocations and increasingly public clashes with the Chinese government.
A U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Independent Film Producing was presented by Cliff Martinez to:
Andrea Sperling and Jonathan Schwartz for Smashed and Nobody Walks
- Smashed / U.S.A. (Director: James Ponsoldt, Screenwriters: Susan Burke, James Ponsoldt) — Kate and Charlie are a young married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of music, laughter and… drinking. When Kate decides to get sober, her new lifestyle brings troubling issues to the surface and calls into question her relationship with Charlie. Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally.
- Nobody Walks / U.S.A. (Director: Ry Russo-Young, Screenwriters: Lena Dunham, Ry Russo-Young) — Martine, a young artist from New York, is invited into the home of a hip, liberal LA family for a week. Her presence unravels the family's carefully maintained status quo, and a mess of sexual and emotional entanglements ensues. Cast: John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby, Rosemarie DeWitt, India Ennenga, Justin Kirk.
A U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting was presented by Cliff Martinez to:
The Surrogate / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ben Lewin) — Mark O'Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist in an iron lung, decides he no longer wishes to be a virgin. With the help of his therapist and the guidance of his priest, he contacts a professional sex surrogate to take him on a journey to manhood. Cast: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy.
A World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Artistic Vision was presented by Clara Kim to:
Can / Turkey (Director and screenwriter: Rasit Celikezer) — A young married couple live happily in Istanbul, but their decision to illegally procure a child threatens their future together. Cast: Selen Uçer, Serdar Orçin, Berkan Demirbag, Erkan Avci.
A World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize for its Celebration of the Artistic Spirit was presented by Richard Pena to:
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN / Sweden, United Kingdom (Director: Malik Bendjelloul) — Rodriguez was the greatest '70s US rock icon who never was. Hailed as the greatest recording artist of his generation he disappeared into oblivion – rising again from the ashes in a completely different context many miles away.
The inaugural Short Film Audience Award, Presented by Yahoo!, based on online voting for nine short films that premiered at the Festival and are currently featured on Yahoo! Screen, was presented to:
The Debutante Hunters (Director: Maria White) — In the Lowcountry of South Carolina a group of true Southern belles reveal their more rugged side, providing a glimpse into what drives them to hunt in the wild.
The following awards were presented at separate ceremonies at the Festival:
The Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking was awarded to: FISHING WITHOUT NETS / U.S.A. (Director: Cutter Hodierne, Screenwriters: Cutter Hodierne, John Hibey). The Jury Prize in Short Film, U.S. Fiction was presented to: The Black Balloon / U.S.A. (Directors: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie). The Jury Prize in Short Film, International Fiction was presented to: The Return (Kthimi) / Kosovo (Director: Blerta Zeqiri, Screenwriter: Shefqet Gjocaj). The Jury Prize in Short Film, Non-Fiction was presented to: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom / U.S.A. (Director: Lucy Walker). The Jury Prize in Animated Short Film was presented to: A Morning Stroll / United Kingdom (Director: Grant Orchard). A Special Jury Award for Comedic Storytelling was presented to: The Arm / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos, Jessie Ennis). A Special Jury Award for Animation Direction was presented to: Robots of Brixton / United Kingdom (Director: Kibwe Tavares).
The winning directors and projects of the Sundance Institute | Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, in recognition and support of emerging independent filmmakers from around the world, are: Etienne Kallos / Vrystaat (Free State) (South Africa); Ariel Kleiman / Partisan (Australia); Dominga Sotomayor / Tarde Para Morir Joven (Late To Die Young) (Chile); and Shonali Bose / Margarita. With a Straw (India).
The Sundance/NHK International Filmmaker Award, honoring and supporting emerging filmmakers, was presented to Jens Assur, director of the upcoming film Close Far Away.
The inaugural Hilton Worldwide LightStay Sustainability Award for a completed feature film was presented to The Island President, directed by Jon Shenk. The in-process feature film award was presented to Solar Mamas, directed by Jehane Noujaim and Mona Eldaief. Each project received $25,000.
The inaugural Sundance Institute Indian Paintbrush Producer's Award and $10,000 grant was presented to Dan Janvey and Josh Penn for Beasts of the Southern Wild.
If you need further guidance, please refer to this handy list of Matt's insightful reviews:
- The Ambassador
- Arbitrage
- Bachelorette
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Black Rock
- Celeste and Jesse Forever
- Corpo Celeste
- The End of Love
- For a Good Time, Call…
- Goats
- Hello I Must Be Going
- The Law in These Parts
- Monsieur Lazhar
- The Raid
- Red Hook Summer
- Red Lights
- Safety Not Guaranteed
- Smashed
- The Surrogate
- The Words
- Wrong
- Your Sister's Sister


text:
Record labels have given up on copyright law and are trying to make internet service providers (ISPs) fight their battles for them in a "shameful attempt to pass [on] responsibility", singer-songwriter Billy Bragg has said.
Bragg is one of the main figures in a new performers' pressure group, the Featured Artists' Coalition (FAC). In an article in the Guardian newspaper Bragg, says that labels must stop punishing music fans and create a viable online music service.
Bragg said that the labels' reluctance to use legal action against downloaders shows that it has given up on using copyright law to protect its copyrights. Bragg said that the chairman of the record label body the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) had recently said that a 'write and sue' policy would be ineffective.
"Stating that a 'write and sue' policy will not work is an admission that the current copyright law is no longer fit for purpose in a digital age," said Bragg. "The government has pointed out to the BPI that if it wants to crack down on unauthorised file-sharing, the law is already on its side."
The recording industry, though, wants ISPs to take action, disconnecting users it accuses of breaking copyright law.
Bragg said that the industry is simply evading its responsibility.
"Fearful of the prospect of dragging their customers though the courts, with all the attendant costs and bad publicity, members of the record industry have come up with a simple, cost-free solution to their problem: get the ISPs to do their dirty work for them," he said. "This is a shameful attempt to pass responsibility on to another sector of industry."
The FAC emerged this year as a direct voice for artists who have often felt that record label bodies such as the BPI and its international counterpart the IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industries) represent the business interest of the labels and not the commercial and artistic interests of performers themselves.
"Not for the first time, we at the Featured Artist Coalition are forced to question whether the record industry is representing the best interests of artists in calling for such measures," he said. "As recording artists we question the wisdom of pursuing and penalising our potential audience."
Bragg said that the industry bodies were simply trying to cover up for the fact that they had not yet worked out how to capitalise on music fans' interest.
"The next generation of music fans may no longer want to pay for music, but they are still hungry to hear it. The challenge to the industry is to find ways to monetise their behaviour," he said. "The question is, are the major labels too wedded to their old business model to be capable of leading the next generation? It is all very well to claim that they have already transformed their business models online. Evidence suggests otherwise."
"Some form of P2P [peer to peer] subscription service is the way forward, if only because it provides the most convenient way for consumers to access music," he said. "Yet for the major labels, the success of such an initiative would mean the end of their control over the distribution of music. Is this the real reason why they seem determined to do everything they can to clip the wings of the fledgling digital industry before it can fly?"
The FAC has formulated a set of policies which differ from those of the record industry bodies.
"Artists should retain ultimate ownership of their music," says its 'charter for fair play'. "Rights holders should have a fiduciary duty of care to the originator of those rights and must always explain how any agreement may affect how their work is exploited."
The body recently called for the copyright in sound recordings to be extended beyond 50 years, but said that the copyrights should pass from record labels to artists after those 50 years have passed.
See: Bragg's article
Copyright © 2009, OUT-LAW.com
OUT-LAW.COM is part of international law firm Pinsent Masons.


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Lacuna Coil Pull Out of ShipRocked 2014 Due to 'Very Serious Personal Family Matters'
Bad news from the Lacuna Coil camp. Those looking forward to seeing the band on the 2014 ShipRocked Cruise will have to catch the band at a later date, as the Italian metal act has pulled out of the cruise to focus on "very serious personal family matters."
ShipRocked is set to embark on its latest voyage from Florida to the Bahamas on Jan. 26, bringing fans nonstop rock and partying until Jan. 30. ShipRocked 2014 will feature bands such as Five Finger Death Punch, Papa Roach, Three Days Grace, Sevendust, Living Colour + many others. Lacuna Coil were confirmed to play the floating rock fest, but have been forced to cancel their appearance.
Lacuna Coil posted a message to their fans via the group's official Facebook page:
We are truly sorry to announce that we have had to cancel our appearance at the 2014 ShipRocked Cruise.
We are dealing with some very serious personal family matters at this time which demand our full attention. Sadly, we are unable to travel such a far distance away from our loved ones.
We truly hope that you can understand.
Our most sincere apologies to everyone planning to come see us.
We hope to see everyone very soon.
Lacuna Coil
In better news involving the band, Lacuna Coil began recording the follow-up to 'Dark Adrenaline' in September, and have since completed work on the disc, which is being produced by Jay Baumgardner. The album is due to drop in the first half of 2014.


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The writers of Tron Legacy explain why they had to tell the story of Sam Flynn. The original Hulk is going to appear in The Avengers. A Warehouse 13 star is visiting No Ordinary Family. Spoilers for all ages!
The Avengers
Bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno, who played the Hulk in the 70s TV show and voiced him in 2008's The Incredible Hulk, revealed he will be involved in Joss Whedon's team-up movie, although he hasn't seen the script and doesn't know what his role will be. It's possible he will have a cameo, or he might again provide the voice for the grunts and screams for the digital Hulk. [NukeTheFridge.com]
Tron Legacy
Screenwriters Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz explain how they first came up with the concept for the movie, and why this particular story was perfect for a stand-alone sequel. Kitsis explains:
We never wanted to remake it, we thought it was blasphemous, but our goal was to write a movie that was from the same DNA, that would be a standalone, so if you've never seen the original TRON, you could totally come to this and appreciate it and get everything. That said, if you had seen TRON, you would be rewarded. That was our basic idea. So we thought, "who is going to take us into this world, the way Flynn took us in?" and it was his son. Then it was, "what if his father was stuck in there and the villain was a 35-year old version of himself who trapped him in there?" And you go, "if there was an 18-year old version of me out there trying to kill me, it represents everything I've grown from."
Battle: Los Angeles
The studio has released a few new high-res promo photos:
Ghostbusters 3
When asked about all the recent casting rumors (which were seemingly confirmed by Dan Aykroyd), Bill Hader was pretty unequivocal:
"I heard about it the same way you guys did! I went online and was like, 'Woah! Cool!' All my friends were calling, 'Are you gonna be in Ghostbusters 3?' I obviously am very flattered, but I don't know anything about it."
Anna Faris also said she hasn't been contacted and doesn't know anything about casting, although she did say she would love to be involved. [The Playlist via /Film]
Source Code
Duncan Jones's follow-up to Moon, which stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a man continually reliving the last 8 minutes of someone else's life, has changed composers. Moon composer Clint Mansell has had to bow out, citing scheduling difficulties, and Chris Bacon, whose solo work has mostly been in animation, is taking over. [BadassDigest]
Real Steel
The Hugh Jackman robot boxing movie is set to be released on October 7, 2011.
While we're talking release dates, I Am Number Four comes out February 18, 2011, Mars Needs Moms comes out March 11, 2011, and Wrath of the Titans has a release date set for March 30, 2012. [ComingSoon.net and /Film]
For those wondering what form this particular board game adaptation will take, screenwriters Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (who also wrote Tron Legacy) have the answer. Horowitz explicitly said the movie won't be a horror film, whatever the game's supernatural undertones:
It's INDIANA JONES – that kind of tone. It's a big adventure movie.
Episode 15 will be introducing us to the young Peter and Olivia, according to the new casting sheets:
[YOUNG PETER] Looking for a 9 year old Joshua Jackson. Dark hair. Blue eyes. Co-Star. Possible Guest Star.
[YOUNG OLIVIA] -9 years old. She's damaged, dark, quiet and yet tough and a survivor. Must match Anna Torv. Co-Star, Possible Guest Star.
Here's a bunch of photos showing Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv on set: [Benchwarmers Peter and Olivia]
Doctor Who
Here's an interview with Matt Smith, which also includes the previously released clips for "A Christmas Carol": [Doctor Who News Page]
Torchwood: The New World
Everyone's alien-fighting president, Bill Pullman, has joined the new series in an unspecified role. Series writer Jane Espenson confirmed the casting via Twitter. He's reportedly playing a character called Oswald Jones, and here's his character description:
Oswald Jones is dangerously clever, a psychotic, convicted murderer and pedophile. He escapes his lifelong prison sentence on a technicality and quickly becomes a media sensation.
Genuinely repentant yet boiling with lust and rage, Oswald gets caught up in a terrifying worldwide crisis.
So...he's not playing the alien-fighting president, then? [Deadline]
True Blood
The show has reportedly added a pair of guest stars. Dane DeHaan, who is probably best known as Jesse on HBO's In Treatment, will play a teen called Timbo who comes under Jason's supervision. Rebecca Wisocky, who has appeared on The Mentalist and 90210, will play Queen Mab, the mercurial ruler of a fantasy world. [TalkTVWorld.com]
Long-time Chuck writer Phil Klemmer, who left the show after last season to work on the now canceled Undercovers, has reportedly returned to the show's writing staff. [ChuckTV]
No Ordinary Family
Here's the synopsis for episode 13, "No Ordinary Detention." Among other things, it reveals Joanne Kelly - Myka Bering on Warehouse 13 - is guest starring, which I don't think we had heard about before now:
While Internal Affairs officer Rachel Jacobs (Joanne Kelly, "Warehouse 13") investigates reports of a rogue cop, Jim risks revealing himself as the prime suspect when the police station is overrun by a group of thugs, and he is the only hope of survival. Meanwhile, while trying to nurse an ailing Joshua back to health at the lab, Katie and Stephanie run into Human Resources VP Victoria Morrow (Rebecca Mader, "Lost") and begin to suspect that she isn't who she says she is.
The Event
President Martinez portrayer Blair Underwood described Virgina Madsen's new character, strongly implying she might be based on someone in real life:
Virginia Madsen joins. She plays a mother from Alaska, who becomes a Senator. So she's a political force from Alaska. Attractive woman. Housewife. From Alaska. (Raises eyebrow.)
He also revealed that Desperate Housewives actor Roger Bart will play the new Chief of Staff. He says the second half of the season will explain Hal Holbrook's shifting age and what's going on with the kids with old faces. [TV Guide]
The Cape
Here's some new promo photos for episode 2, "Bluebeard": [SpoilerTV]
Robert Sheehan has now denied the earlier reports from one of his movie costars that he is leaving the show. [SpoilerTV]
The second season premiere reportedly happens four days after the last season finale, and we see Anna dealing with dissent among her captains, who are concerned that she is developing human emotions. She apparently puts this concern to rest by killing a captain or two with her tail. [TV Guide]
Additional reporting by Michael Ann Dobbs and Charlie Jane Anders.


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We posted the first teaser trailer for Steven Spielberg's Lincoln earlier this week in anticipation of the full trailer being released during the Google + Q&A. Now that the full trailer is online, we finally get a chance to hear Daniel Day-Lewis speak as Abraham Lincoln. If I'm being honest, his choice of tone and inflection is not exactly what I had expected, but who am I to tell Day-Lewis what to do? There are plenty of scenes in the legislative houses, on the streets and on the battlefield, and they all give a sense of scope and tone to the film, just like Spielberg said it would during the Q&A.
Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Oyelowo, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, John Hawkes, Michael Stuhlbarg, David Strathairn, Walton Goggins, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill, Jackie Earle Haley, Lee Pace and Jared Harris. Lincoln opens on November 16th. [Update: We added 7 new images after the jump]
Check out the full trailer for Lincoln below :
Here's the synopsis for Lincoln:
Steven Spielberg directs two-time Academy Award® winner Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln," a revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.


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I have made a family connection that came as a surprise. Some of you know that DearMYRTLE and I are cousins. That came about by some computer screen sharing during a couple of presentations. The new cousin, Crista Cowan, The Barefoot Genealogist was giving a presentation on livestream/ancestry, and like Myrt saw a name, location, and timeframe that I knew.
Now, this IS a challenge. Related to someone at Ancestry?
What a golden opportunity to try to demonstrate how I use a connection, through an Ancestry Member Tree (AMT), to collaborate. I live within 2 hours of the "common place". It was a Quaker Meeting, had hoped with an attached Burial Ground, so I started to see if we had a connection. I certainly knew the Surname that got my attention, found it very quickly in my genealogy database. We shared our links to our AMTs, sure enough, not just one surname but several.
I have blogged about this in another Blog, if you are interested:
FTM2014 – Ancestry Member Tree Connection – Part 1
FTM2014 – Ancestry Member Tree Connection – Part 2
FTM2014 – Ancestry Member Tree Connection – Part 3
But, I haven't looked at that branch for a very long time. I better get to work and clean it up, as I have been doing. So, I thought I would share a lesson, already learned in the past, GO BACK AND LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE, and I have.
I started with about 300 Family Group Sheets from my Dad's first cousins. I worked with them over 10 years ago. So, I had all of those Family Group Sheets entered into my database.
So, I am taking this time to Scan these Family Group Sheets, putting the Citations into the correct Source Template for this type of document. Then I go back and check that all of the facts / events on these sheets are properly cited. Although done 10 – 12 years go, I hadn't done too bad of a job.
So, why blog about that ?
Because I also read the notes that I already had in my database. It came from this page of that Family Group Sheet.
I am sure you can't read that, but this is what it said, that got my attention and the reason for this blog post.
"Sixty or seventy years ago [that would be ca 1800], some of the farmers of Little Egg Harbor, who had not farms for all of their sons, sent the farmless over to Philadelphia to lean the brick layers trade, and especially this was the case among the Willits; and this is the cause of so many of them being residents of that city. Those who were sober and industrious amassed clever fortunes, but those who embarked in the craft of dissipation, went down to the grave in utter destruction, "unhonored and un____"!
"Among the youngsters of Little Egg Harbor who were apprenticed to the brick layer's trade, was Allan, son of Thomas Ridgeway, 3rd, Eben, John, and James, sons of Thomas Willits, Sr. Jeremiah [18], son of Jeremiah Willits, Sr., [36] and Archelan R., son of Timothy Pharo, Jr., also Job, Nathan and Edmond, sons of Nathan Bartlett, 2nd."
That little, re-read note, with 10 years of learning under the belt, NOW I have a Hint about why this family left Little Egg Harbor and moved closer to Philadelphia. The family did have a large farm, and I need to go back to Little Egg Harbor to find the farm, but the mentioned children headed to Philadelphia to learn a trade. Sounds like a reasonable reason to relocate.
That last name, Nathan Bartlett, may be connected to The Barefoot Genealogist family.
Lesson Learned: Re-Read what you already have. You may have learned something between the time you entered it, or last looked at it. May have given you new eyes to see what you want to find.


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(CNN) -- The latest in a series of beleaguered Carnival cruises made its way back to port early Sunday, capping a harrowing week for passengers aboard several troubled ships.
The Carnival Legend arrived in Tampa, Fla., hours ahead of schedule Sunday morning after propulsion system problems hampered its sailing speed.
The company had to cancel a scheduled stop on Grand Cayman because of the technical difficulty.
But Carnival Cruise Lines said the Legend is still scheduled to head out for its next voyage on time Sunday afternoon while technicians continue working on the repairs.
"The ship is expected to operate its normal itinerary with the exception of one port -- Grand Cayman -- which is being replaced by Costa Maya," Carnival said in a statement. "Any guests wishing not to proceed based on the change to one port of call have been given the option of canceling and receiving a full refund."
The company stressed that all safety systems, steering and hotel services were functioning normally.
But dismayed vacationers from the Legend's previous voyage vented their frustration.
"Passengers are now really pissed off," passenger Rob Bonenfant said via e-mail before the ship's arrival. "Mood on the ship is getting worse among passengers, captain is giving limited information."
Senator proposes cruise 'bill of rights'
The Legend's malfunction is the latest in a growing list of woes for the travel company. In the past month, three other Carnival cruise ships have reported problems.
One U.S. lawmaker said Sunday that the recent cruise incidents prompted him to propose a "Cruise Ship Passenger Bill of Rights."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said he was asking the cruise industry to voluntarily sign on to a list of guidelines, including the right to backup power if generators fail and the right to disembark a docked ship "if basic provisions cannot adequately be provided on board."
He also called on the International Maritime Organization to investigate whether cruise lines are following existing guidelines, and whether existing standards are being enforced by countries where cruise ships that serve U.S. passengers are based.
"Cruise ships, in large part operating outside the bounds of United States enforcement, have become the wild west of the travel industry, and it's time to rein them in before anyone else gets hurt," Schumer said in a statement. "This bill of rights, based on work we've done with the airline industry, will ensure that passengers aren't forced to live in third world conditions or put their lives at risk when they go on vacation."
Carnival Dream: Stuck in the Caribbean
The Carnival Dream lost power and some toilets stopped working temporarily last week, and for a while no one was allowed to get off the vessel docked at Philipsburg, St. Maarten, in the eastern Caribbean.
Gregg Stark, who was traveling with his wife and two young children on the Dream, said conditions on the ship were deplorable.
"There's human waste all over the floor in some of the bathrooms and they're overflowing -- and in the state rooms," he said last week. "The elevators have not been working."
Another passenger, Jonathan Evans, said passengers were kept on the ship "despite the fact that we have no way to use the restrooms on board."
But Carnival told CNN that based on conversations with the ship's management, a look at service logs "and extensive physical monitoring of all public areas, including restrooms, throughout the night, we can confirm that only one public restroom was taken offline for cleaning based on toilet overflow and there was a total of one request for cleaning of a guest cabin bathroom."
Carnival said the ship's emergency diesel generator failed, but the cruise line disputed notions of a widespread system failure.
"The ship's power plant, propulsion and hotel systems are fully operational. Aside from some periodic interruptions to restroom and elevator service for a few hours Tuesday night, at no time have any of the ship's systems and services not been functional," Carnival said in its statement.
The company said it was flying the more than 4,000 passengers and will give them discounts. By late Saturday, most of the passengers had left St. Maarten by air.
Once all passengers leave the ship, the Dream's crew will sail back to Port Canaveral on Sunday, the company said. The ship's next voyage has been canceled.
Passenger David Howard said he thought conditions were fine aboard the Dream, but said he was frustrated with how his family and other passengers were treated and by the "lack of communication."
Howard said he and his family weren't told until 1:45 a.m. Friday they had to get off the ship by 7:30 a.m., so they had to rush to pack in the middle of the night.
A message from the captain
Dream passengers received a letter from the captain, according to a passenger who e-mailed a photo of the correspondence to CNN.
Capt. Massimo Marino told passengers they would be booked on flights to Orlando or another destination. Passengers with cars at Port Canaveral would be bused from Orlando to the facility about an hour away.
"We sincerely apologize for the disappointment this unexpected change has caused and regret we were unable to provide you with the fun and memorable cruise vacation we had in store for you," he wrote.
The letter also offers passengers a three-day refund and a half-price cruise in the future.
Crisis communication expert Tom Donahue said Carnival may be making the right operational decisions. But the frequency and effectiveness of communications to passengers -- who have no other information source -- are what influences the passengers' perspective.
Carnival Elation
Like the Carnival Legend, the Carnival Elation suffered problems with its Azipod, a crucial part for steering and propelling a vessel.
A tug boat trailing the ship as it travels on the Mississippi River is "purely a precautionary measure," the company said.
Memories of the defeated Triumph
In the most publicized case, an engine room fire last month left the Carnival Triumph crippled and adrift in the Gulf of Mexico with more than 4,200 people aboard.
That scheduled four-day cruise stretched into eight days as tugs pulled the vessel into port in Alabama. Food was scarce, passengers sweltered in the heat with no air conditioning, toilets overflowed, and human waste ran down the walls in some parts of the ship, passengers reported.
A class-action lawsuit against Carnival Corp. followed.
The Triumph is still being repaired at a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, Carnival spokeswoman Joyce Oliva said.
Last week, Carnival announced it was conducting "a comprehensive review" of all 23 of its ships after the fire that crippled Triumph.
Carnival President and CEO Gerry Cahill said the investigation will focus on the prevention, detection and suppression of fires, engine room redundancies and what additional hotel facilities might be provided and might run off the emergency generators.
"We are now focused on the lessons we can learn from the incident and also what additional operational redundancies might be available," Cahill said last week.
Another ship, the Carnival Splendor, had a fire in 2010 due to "a catastrophic failure of a diesel generator," he said.
Not doomed
Despite all the recent problems, Donahue doesn't see any long-term negative effects for Carnival or its competitors.
"I don't necessarily see (last) week's events, or even combined with the Triumph event, as casting a pall on the cruise industry," he said, noting that several colleagues and friends who have recently gone on cruises, including on Carnival, enjoyed their vacations.
"People generally accept that complex pieces of equipment can encounter challenges. That's not the hurdle. I don't think anybody considering the cruise would be unforgiving of an unforeseen event, because those types of events occur with complex systems. People are far less forgiving (when) communications around the events seem to be lacking."
CNN's Mark Morgenstein, Dave Alsup, Chuck Johnston, Tina Burnside, Marlena Baldacci and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.
™ & © 2013 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.


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There's nothing new about Governor Jerry Brown's disclosure last weekend that the state budget deficit has swelled to $16 billion.
Anyone who is surprised by the revelation must have spent the past 11 months scuba diving at the bottom of Lake Tahoe.
If anything, the announcement is a painful reminder of just how far Californians will go to avoid taking political responsibility. That includes everyone--the governor, the legislature, and the voters.
Let's remember that the fiscal year began with a "balanced" budget missing $8 billion. How could that be? Because the the legislature passed and the governor signed a budget with assumptions that few people trusted as anything other than creative math.
Among them:
- revenues would be $4 billion more than projections by the legislative analyst
- the federal government would provide extra money to California because of its high unemployment rate
- the Department of Health and Human Services would allow California to reduce its Medi-Cal payments.
Add to those three assumptions a series of law suits that prevented the state from imposing other cuts and you have a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what we now have.
There's plenty of blame to go around.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
Legislative Democrats knew the budget was little more than wishful thinking. Legislative Republicans gave Democrats no choice by stubbornly refusing to accept any new meaningful revenues. The governor signed the "balanced" budget hoping that things would improve, with his November temporary tax increase the last part of the solution.
Things have only gone down hill from there. Month by month, Controller John Chiang has announced lower revenues and higher expenditures because of the conditions outlined above.
Last January, when Governor Jerry Brown could have reduced funding for already starved institutions and programs, he made modest cuts of less than one billion dollars.
By then we were already more than $10 billion in the hole, but Brown chose to avoid using the cleaver.
The people haven't helped. Public opinion surveys repeatedly have revealed an ignorant polity unaware of how much money is collected and where it is spent, unwilling to reduce spending for most programs, and only mildly interested in considering Brown's temporary tax hikes which now clearly are not enough to make the state whole.
Clearly, reality is in short supply in California.
Now California approaches the end of a fiscal year deeply in debt, and with the prospects of more debt in the months to come.
Will people ever realize that we must raise taxes from a variety of sources to survive? As the legislature and governor respond to this crisis over the next few weeks, we'll learn much about their character. Perhaps we'll learn something about ourselves as well.
Larry Gerston teaches political science at San Jose State University and is the political analyst at NBC Bay Area.
Send us your thoughts via Twitter @PropZero or add your comment to our Facebook page.


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Products Certificates
Letter of Patent


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Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Fargo Buyers Alert: Don't waste your home search time on Zillow,Trulia and Homes.com
For the past 12 months brokerage after brokerage has decided to withdrawal their listings from the nationwide real estate search portals citing, among other things, horribly inaccurate information and in some cases outright scams.
Very Inaccurate Real Estate Search Results National portals like Trulia and Zilliow are slow to show new listings. When a property is listed for sale it hits the local MLS in a matter of minutes, usually about 15, but can take as long as 9 days to populate to nationally syndicated sites according to studies on the subject. To real estate investors ready to pounce 9 days might as well be 3 months. By the time the home owner sees the listing, sees the property and submits an offer sufficient time will have passed that there could be one or more competitive bids or quite possibly the property could have sold already. A seasoned real estate agent knows how important timing is and getting all of your real estate listings even 24 hours later than your competitors will cause you to miss out on great deals.
Bad Data The real estate company Redfin was hired recently to assess the accuracy of sites like Trulia and Zillow and their study found that approximately 36% of the listings shown as active on Zillow and Trulia were no longer for sale in the local MLS, compared with almost 0% on local brokerage websites. The study further found that brokerage sourced listings using their local MLS feed displayed 100% of the MLS homes listed for sale on their websites but Trulia only displayed 81% and Zillow 79%. So let me summarize – over 1/3rd of the listings you are seeing are NOT ACTUALLY FOR SALE and you only get to see 4/5th of the listings that are actually for sale. LOL. I could go on but really there's no need. Obviously anyone searching for properties in a city would like to have access to all of the listings that are for sale and none of the ones that aren't.
What's My House Worth? (Don't Ask Zillow) I considered writing an entire post of the accuracy…or inaccuracy, of real estate portal pricing tools like the famed Zillow Zestimate. For those who aren't familiar with Zillow the website offers an opinion of a listed house value called a Zestimate and it is prominently displayed on each property's listing page. Sounds great right? Unfortunately the Zestimate values aren't even close to the actual values that the properties sell for. If you're wondering how I can be so sure it's because, to Zillow's credit, they actually publicize the accuracy of their Zestimates city by city. To measure the accuracy of the Zestimate Zillow compares the actual home sale prices of homes with their Zestimate and they've found that the Zesimtate is within 5% of the actual sale price around 33% of the time and within 10% of the sale price around 50% of the time. What To Do? For real estate home buyers in need of accurate and timely data national search portals like Trulia and Zillow are not as reliable as other options available. Instead of searching for properties on these websites real estate investors should focus on smaller, local brokerage based websites, establish relationships with local real estate agents or get a real estate license and pay to join the local MLS where they invest. These steps will assure that you are getting the most accurate and up to date information and will give you a competitive advantage over those who are searching for real estate with websites like Trulia and Zillow.
Find out the value of your home from a local real estate professional, using local market data and accurate listing information. Find out your homes value here.
What do you think? Do you use Trulia or Zillow?
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Behind the Scene Dance Sketches!!
Hey Guyz! Check out the some behind the scene sketches posted by Screenhog for the dance contest game!
Awesome right?
Hey Guyz! Check out the some behind the scene sketches posted by Screenhog for the dance contest game!
Awesome right?
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Around the world, militant extremists have harassed, attacked, and murdered secularists and dissidents for daring to promote and defend secular government and fundamental human rights. In some countries, including most recently Bangladesh, this problem is particularly severe, and new threats emerge across the globe every day.
Secular Rescue is a program of the Center for Inquiry designed to provide emergency assistance to writers, bloggers, publishers, and activists who face threats due to their beliefs or expressions regarding religion.
Generous public support has allowed the Center for Inquiry to assist more than two dozen individuals and their families in escaping to safety, either temporarily or permanently.
Read about some of our biggest success stories here.
However, many others remain in danger. Through Secular Rescue, CFI will continue to raise funds for this important cause so that we can act quickly and decisively before another individual is attacked. 100 percent of funds donated go to helping those at risk.
Please give now so that we can help these courageous defenders of secularism and freedom of religion, belief, and expression.
*This program was originally launched as the Freethought Emergency Fund in 2015 and relaunched as Secular Rescue on International Blasphemy Rights Day 2016.