Physics has a well-deserved reputation for being horrendously complicated, but sometimes it's the simplest questions that lead to truly profound insights. When Einstein asked himself, "What would happen if you could ride on a beam of light?" for example, the answer led him to the Special Theory of Relativity.
For the past few decades, particle physicists have been wrestling with another deceptively simple question: Why does anything have mass? You might wonder "why not?" But according to modern physics, you can't get away that easily. The existence of mass ? the property of matter that gives gravity something to pull on ? needs explaining. (Photos: The Large Hadron Particle Collider)
Now, say two independent teams of scientists who revealed their results at a symposium in Switzerland Tuesday morning, there are experimental signs of an elusive particle formally known as the Higgs boson ? and informally known as the "God particle." If the Higgs is really there, the existence of mass has finally been explained, and a Scottish physicist named Peter Higgs is a lock for the Nobel prize.
It's a big "if," though, and nobody is making an actual claim. Indeed, said Fabiola Gianotti, a member of one of the teams said at the symposium. "We cannot conclude anything at this stage." (Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs)
But that hardly means there's nothing to say. The gathering took place in a packed auditorium at the CERN laboratory outside Geneva ? the home of the mammoth Large Hadron Collider. The LHC, which is the world's most powerful particle accelerator, works by taking subatomic protons, sending them racing in opposite directions through a 17-mile oval-shaped tunnel, then letting them smash together head-on at nearly the speed of light. The impact is powerful enough to vaporize the particles into tiny fireballs of pure energy, recreating conditions in the first moments after the Big Bang. Then, just as in the early universe, the energy re-condenses into particles. Among them may be the elusive Higgs.
That's what physicists have been hoping for, anyway, since long before the LHC was even built. It was way back in the 1960's that Peter Higgs, of the University of Edinburgh, proposed what came to be known as the "Higgs mechanism" (others came up with similar ideas, but his is the name that stuck). The way it works is ... no, let's not go there. Suffice it to say that there's a sort of energy field that pervades the universe, and that when particles like protons, neutrons, quarks and the rest interact with the Higgs field, they're rewarded with mass. The Higgs boson helps broker the transaction. (Photos: Seeking Beauty in Scientific Research)
When the Higgs condenses out of particle collisions, it immediately decays into other particles, so physicists can't see it directly; they can only reconstruct its existence from the debris, like a CSI unit reconstructing what a bomb must have looked like from the fragments. And since each mini-Big Bang creates so many particles that decay into so many other particles, the reconstruction is incredibly difficult. The good news is that the new hints of a Higgs in all of that particle debris come from not one, but two entirely different detectors at the LHC ? the ATLAS (for "A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS") and the CMS (for Compact Muon Solenoid). The two operate in different ways, as a sort of mutual cross-check.
Both detectors have seen evidence of the Higgs ? which is big news and the reason for both the symposium and all of the speculation that attended its announcement. But the less good news is that in statistical terms, that evidence weighs in at what is known as the three-sigma confidence level. No need to go here in too much detail either, except to say you'd need to get to the five-sigma stage to claim an actual discovery. "It's too early to draw a definite conclusion," said Gianotti. "We need four times as much data." (See "Higgs Boson May Have Been Found! (But Probably Not.)")
Getting that data requires many thousands of fireballs, and the LHC accelerator will need another year or more to crank all of them out and allow Gianotti and her colleagues to announce that they've indeed discovered the Higgs boson. Or not. "The number of sub-three-sigma discoveries that have turned out to be wrong," says Princeton astrophysicist Michael Strauss, "is reasonably large."
You'd think that if the hunt for the Higgs comes to nothing it would be a big disappointment for physicists. But it's not necessarily so. Finding the Higgs would add a key missing brick to the edifice of the so-called Standard Model of particle physics, which would be important ? but also just a bit dull. (See "Why the Large Hadron Collider Matters: The Search for the 'God Particle'")
"The great irony," Harvard theorist Lisa Randall told the New York Times a day or two ago, "is that not finding a Higgs boson would be spectacular from the point of view of particle physics, pointing to something more interesting than the simple Higgs model." For physicists, it turns out, "be careful what you wish," especially if you're wishing for a Higgs, may truer than it seems.
(See "Higgs Boson: The Ghost in the Machine")
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When it comes to having the family over for holiday dinner, sometimes planning the menu is the easy part.
Whether you're hosting four or 14 people for a seasonal meal, Us Weekly has you covered, thanks to entertaining guru Mark Addison. Here, Addison shares three fun ideas for unique holiday tablescapes.
MIX AND MATCH HOLIDAY TABLE "Think of your table top as an extension of your closet and personal style," says our expert. "Mix traditional with modern and even eclectic pieces, top basics with flea market finds or borrow complementary patterns from friends and family. Mix colors and patterns to make each person's place setting unique."
PHOTOS: LOL! Celebs horrible holiday sweaters
LIVING HOLIDAY TABLE Tired of boring Poinsettia displays? Try Addison's chic and easy idea for a Living Wreath Centerpiece: Start with a floral foam wreath form and securely pin some topical moss to the wreath form. Then add color, texture and visual interest by layering miniature orchids, berries, and other festive florals into the wreath, making sure to cover the root balls with moss to keep them from drying out. To finish off your new accessory, place a clear cylinder vase into the center of the wreath and fill it with colored water and floating candles.
VIDEO: Nutrition tips and tricks to use to navigate the holiday buffet
CANDYLAND TABLE To make sure the kids behave during dinner, try Addison's sweet -- and chic -- idea for a Candyland-inspired table. First, lay out a red tablecloth, green napkins and plain white dinner plates. To spruce up the plates, bejewel them with jelly beans, attached to the plate with royal icing used as glue. For an extra yummy effect, Addison suggests adding an edible centerpiece using lollipops and candy canes arranged in brightly colored flower pots lined with chocolate rice cereal as "dirt." The best part? This centerpiece also doubles as dessert, since guests can graze right from the pots.
For more of Mark Addison's tips, visit his web site at MarkAddison.com.
WIN IT! To freshen up your holiday table for those family dinners, Us is gifting one lucky reader with a 1800Flowers.com Peace on Earth Holiday Bouquet. To enter, email your name, address, daytime phone number and age (must be over 21) to Giveaways@usmagazine.com. You must put 'Holiday Table Essentials' in the subject line of your email in order to be eligible. All entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. (EST) on Monday, December 5. Click here for official rules.
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Coming back to RPG Gateway and RPGing in general after a long absence. It all feels kind of weird getting back into this. I use to always rp with friends that I had class with in high school, now I've graduated and so much else has happened, my life has changed so much and I feel like something is missing. I am hoping getting back into this will help me out with everything. If you want to know what?s happened I can go into it.
Just seven weeks after announcing her breast cancer diagnosis on the Today show in October, Giuliana Rancic returned to the morning broadcast on Dec. 5 to share some sad news: She will have to undergo a double mastectomy.
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, right, bows and his wife Gloria applauds as Cain arrives on stage for a scheduled announcement Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Atlanta. "I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family," Cain told several hundred supporters gathered at what was to have been the opening of his national campaign headquarters. (AP Photo/David Tulis)
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, right, bows and his wife Gloria applauds as Cain arrives on stage for a scheduled announcement Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Atlanta. "I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family," Cain told several hundred supporters gathered at what was to have been the opening of his national campaign headquarters. (AP Photo/David Tulis)
Supporters from left, Marianne Sanderson, Lisa Shiflett, and Michelle McDonald, react to the announcement by Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain that he is suspending his campaign at an event Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain announces he is suspending his campaign as his wife Gloria, left, looks on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Atlanta. "I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family," Cain told several hundred supporters gathered at what was to have been the opening of his national campaign headquarters. (AP Photo/David Tulis)
ATLANTA (AP) ? A defiant Herman Cain suspended his faltering bid for the Republican presidential nomination Saturday amid a drumbeat of sexual misconduct allegations against him, throwing his staunchly conservative supporters up for grabs with just one month to go before the lead-off caucuses in Iowa.
Cain condemned the accusations as "false and unproven" but said they had been hurtful to his family, particularly his wife, Gloria, and were drowning out his ability to deliver his message. His wife stood behind him on the stage, smiling and waving as the crowd chanted her name.
"So as of today, with a lot of prayer and soul-searching, I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family," a tired-looking Cain told about 400 supporters.
Cain's announcement came five days after an Atlanta-area woman, Ginger White, claimed she and Cain had an affair for more than a decade, a claim that followed several allegations of sexual harassment against the Georgia businessman.
"Now, I have made many mistakes in life. Everybody has. I've made mistakes professionally, personally, as a candidate, in terms of how I run my campaign. And I take responsibility for the mistakes I've made, and I have been the very first to own up to any mistakes I've made," he said.
But Cain intoned: "I am at peace with my God. I am at peace with my wife. And she is at peace with me."
White's attorney said in a statement after the announcement that Cain had disparaged his client and should apologize. Cain had called her a "troubled Atlanta businesswoman" whom he had tried to help.
"We continue to encourage Mr. Cain to retract these statements and apologize for the way he has characterized these women in the media," Edward Buckley said. Cain's campaign had no immediate response.
Cain's announcement provides a new twist in what has already been a volatile Republican race. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has, so far, been the biggest beneficiary of Cain's precipitous slide. Polls show Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney atop the field in what is shaping up as a two-man race heading into early voting states.
But others, such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, will likely make a strong play for Cain's anti-establishment tea party backing as they look to rise as a viable alternative to Romney, whose conservative credentials are suspect in some GOP circles.
Cain said he would offer an endorsement, and his former rivals were quick to issue statements on Saturday praising his conservative ideals and grassroots appeal.
At a tea party rally in Staten Island, Gingrich praised Cain for bringing optimism and big ideas to the race.
"He had the courage to launch the 9-9-9 plan, which, whether you liked it or disliked it, was a big idea and started to elevate the debate toward big solutions and not the usual nitpicking, consultant-driven negativity," Gingrich said. He was referring to Cain's catchy but controversial plan to scrap the current tax code for a 9 percent tax on personal and corporate income as well as a new 9 percent national sales tax.
Some disappointed Cain supporters were clearly in search of a candidate on Saturday following his withdrawal.
"I don't know where I will go now," Janet Edwards, 52, said following Cain's announcement. "I guess I have to start looking at the rest of them."
Cain told supporters he planned to continue his efforts to influence Washington and announced "Plan B" ? what he called a grassroots effort to return government to the people.
"I am not going to be silenced, and I am not going away. And therefore, as of today, Plan B," he said.
Plan B includes formation of TheCainSolutions.com, which he described as a grassroots effort to bring government back to the people. It would also continue to push his signature 9-9-9 plan.
Cain's announcement was a remarkable turnabout for a man that just weeks ago vaulted out of nowhere to the top of the GOP field, propelled by a populist, outsider appeal and his tax overhaul plan.
Saturday's event was a bizarre piece of political theater even for a campaign that has seemed to thrive on defying convention.
Cain marked the end of his bid at what was supposed to be the grand opening of his new campaign headquarters in Atlanta. Minutes before he took the stage to pull the plug, aides and supporters took to the podium to urge attendees to vote for Cain and travel to early voting states to rev up support for his bid.
"Join the Cain train," David McCleary, Cain's Georgia director, urged the audience.
Volunteers had been up through the night preparing the former flooring warehouse to open as the new hub of Cain's early-state outreach.
He marveled at rising from a childhood in Atlanta marked by segregated water fountains and poverty to what he called "the final four" of the presidential contest.
The former Godfather's Pizza chief executive, who has never held elective office, rose just weeks ago to lead the Republican race. But he fumbled policy questions, leaving some to wonder whether he was ready for the presidency. Then it was revealed at the end of October that the National Restaurant Association had paid settlements to two women who claimed Cain sexually harassed them while he was president of the organization.
A third woman told The Associated Press that Cain made inappropriate sexual advances but that she didn't file a complaint. A fourth woman also stepped forward to accuse Cain of groping her in a car in 1997.
Cain has denied wrongdoing in all cases and continued to do so Saturday.
Polls suggest his popularity had suffered. A Des Moines Register poll released Friday showed Cain's support plunging, with backing from 8 percent of Republican caucus goers in Iowa, compared with 23 percent a month ago.
The Kindle Fire is reported to be the top tablet at Best Buy this year, and Amazon is expected to sell 5 million in the fourth quarter against an estimated 13 million for the iPad. While Apple???s iPad remains the clear winner, if these projections hold up, the Kindle Fire will be the first tablet to come this close to challenging it.
The Fire has two clear differences to the iPad. The first is a dramatically lower price; you can effectively buy 2.5 Kindle Fires for the price of an iPad. The second is screen size; the Fire has a 7-inch screen, a size that most thought was a non-starter before it shipped. I?ve been using the Fire for two weeks now, exclusively on a three-day trip for entertainment, and I?m coming to love the 7-inch size. Let me explain.
Breaking Android?s user interface curse
Now before we talk about the size, one other aspect I haven?t yet mentioned causes the Fire to be a strong player. The user interface is arguably more advanced than either Apple?s or Amazon?s icon-based interfaces. Now, recognize that once you?ve learned any interface (from Windows to iOS) it becomes natural, but Amazon?s is one of the easiest out of the box. Apple?s iOS interface was the clearly a step up when it launched from what Apple had previously, and Apple historically set the bar with regard to ease of use.
Most Android offerings seem to go down a path of imitating Apple, but with more flexibility. This flexibility tended to translate into complexity. Vendors tried different ways to overcome this, but most just seemed to make their products more unique, and therefore even more difficult to use. Given that Apple set the bar high with tablets, these products would generally be pounded for anything that was different and particularly inferior. On top of that, Apple did such a great job of buying parts and locking up production that competitors couldn?t even get close to Apple?s hardware cost. Most products just couldn?t compete.
It became clear that someone had to reset the bar (be massively different in a good way) and try to outdo Apple in user experience. Amazon is the first vendor to do both, and while the Kindle Fire did make some painful tradeoffs, it appears to be doing better than any other Android product in this space as a result.
I think what Android vendors didn?t initially understand was that first they had to stand out from Android rabble, because all the products were increasingly being painted with the same brush of disappointment. Amazon did that well.
The 7-inch tablet
The best part of a 7-inch tablet is that it will fit in an inside jacket pocket or in a woman?s purse. No, I don?t carry a man purse, but this is why my wife will carry the Kindle Fire out of the house, but generally leaves her iPad at home. In my case, this frees up my hands for the other crap I have to carry, and makes it less likely I leave it behind once I get used the weight of the device in the pocket. (It seems much easier to leave behind something you are carrying and tend to put down all the time). In watching movies, the lightness of the product is handy when you don?t have a table to set the thing down on, and a case that has a kickstand is helpful (and generally available) for both sizes of product when you do.
When it comes to glare and outdoor viewing, which is pretty much a problem with all current-generation tablets (at least until the Panasonic Toughpad ships), I found it is easier to find an angle where I can continue to use the tablet with the smaller size. This is largely because it fits in smaller shadows, and it?s light enough that I can hold it at odd angles in order to see the screen. On a plane, it actually fits in the shadow under the window, which is generally too small for a 10-inch product.
Now, for anything to do with productivity (including email), this product is at a disadvantage, but a better alternative to a smartphone. Still, I found that when it came to getting work done, I went back to my smartphone or laptop virtually all of the time. The Kindle fire was relegated to reading books, watching videos, and some Web browsing (where it is dramatically better than a smartphone, but nowhere near as good as a laptop).
The perfect third device
If you are like me and carry three devices (a smartphone, laptop, and then something for entertainment), the 7-inch form factor is better third device. Its size and weight allow it to drop in the gap between your other devices. 10-inch tablets are too similar to notebooks, which make them better if you want to leave the notebook behind, but too big and heavy if you, like me, have to carry a notebook anyway. They still don?t do all I need to comfortably leave my notebook behind. One thing I have noticed (which will be a long-term issue with ever leaving my notebook behind) is that 10-inch screens are just too small for me. I struggled with 11.3-inch and 12-inch laptops as well (currently I?m using a 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1), which suggests I?ll never be able to live on a tablet, and the 13-inch tablets I?ve tried over the years are just not practical. This suggests, at least for the next three to five years, I?ll be a three-device user, and that 7 inches may be the ideal tablet size for me.
?
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? In the weeks leading up to a visit by President Barack Obama to Solyndra on May 25, 2010, the California solar-panel maker was in crisis.
Prices for solar panels were in free-fall and the company's chief executive officer was bickering with customers unhappy with the amount of electricity produced by the cylindrical panels he invented, according to new e-mails released by Republicans investigating the now-bankrupt company.
An initial public offering was on the skids, and finally, there was a "mutiny" by the company's entire executive team, who flagged the crisis to the company's board of directors.
The e-mails between senior advisers to George Kaiser, a major investor in the company, provide the best view yet into how problems took root early at Solyndra.
The company had received a $535 million federal loan guarantee in 2009 and was held up by the Obama administration as an example of how it could help create green jobs.
Behind the scenes, Kaiser's Argonaut Private Equity was trying to right the flailing company. "To put it bluntly our poster child of private equity is acting up something fierce," a senior official from the George Kaiser Family Foundation said in an internal e-mail dated May 8, 2010, warning Solyndra's long-term business plan was in jeopardy.
The new emails highlight how the government backed a company that was in trouble from its early stages, giving more fuel to critics who believe the government threw good taxpayer money after bad.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu's top adviser on stimulus projects brushed aside White House questions about financial red flags ahead of Obama's May 25 visit.
The investment has become politically embarrassing for the administration in the 2012 presidential election race. Last month, Republicans grilled Chu about why he approved the restructuring plan, which kept the company going after it ran out of cash in late 2010.
Chu has staunchly defended his department's decisions as trying to get the best return for taxpayers. The department's inspector general, an independent watchdog, is probing the loan, with help from the FBI. The House Energy and Commerce Department has been investigating the loan since February, collecting more than 250,000 pages of documents from government departments, the White House and private investors.
The White House and Energy Department did not immediately comment on the emails.
Solyndra got the loan in 2009, the first company to receive funding under a program that was a top priority for the newly minted administration. Between November 2009 and February 2010, it became clear that subsidized Chinese solar panel manufacturers were undercutting higher-cost Solyndra, the e-mails from private investors said.
By April, Solyndra's Chief Executive Chris Gronet had "burned a lot of bridges" with customers, said Steven Mitchell, managing partner with Argonaut Private Equity, in an internal e-mail. "Gronet was unwilling to accept that the market was forcing a lower price -- he reacted unilaterally by forcing his sales people to maintain high pricing in spite of customers' pleas to 'help them out,'" Mitchell wrote.
At the same time, existing customers were "disgruntled" because panels they had bought from Solyndra were not producing as much electricity as promised. "Unfortunately, Gronet again took a unilateral stance and over the objections of his sales and marketing folks to argue with customers over their data set or power readings -- Gronet clearly never learned the 'customer is always right' slogan," wrote Mitchell, who had a seat on the company's board of directors.
That was the last straw before his executive team demanded a "derating" in the panels by 3.5 percent, another move that hurt the company's revenues.
"It took a full mutiny by management to bring this to the board's attention," Mitchell said.
Gronet's lawyer could not immediately comment about the emails on Thursday.
Argonaut first told the Energy Department about Solyndra's revenue problems between April and May 2010, Mitchell said in a November 2010 e-mail to Kaiser, a billionaire oilman and fund-raiser to Obama during last election.
After the initial public offering was withdrawn from the market in June, Solyndra hired a new CEO, Brian Harrison, and Gronet became the chairman of the board. It would have looked bad to fire Gronet, the founder, who had a good relationship with the Energy Department and was the face of the company in Washington, where the company wanted to focus more of its sales efforts, the Argonaut e-mails said.
"He has star power in DC and we need our government to step up if at all possible," one e-mail said. The company was counting on a second loan guarantee from the Energy Department for $469 million, but ultimately it was not approved.
By June, Solyndra was working with a Washington lobbying firm on a strategy to get government contracts with "Buy America" procurement rules that would give its panels an advantage, the e-mails showed. "Getting business from Uncle Sam is a principal element of Solyndra's channel strategy," an unidentified official said in an August 10 e-mail provided to Republican investigators by Argonaut.
Gronet stayed on as chairman through to August 19, 2011, when the company had run out of cash, and only weeks before it filed for bankruptcy.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton, additional reporting by Dan Levine in San Francisco; Editing by Russell Blinch and Cynthia Osterman)
Hollywood made up for lost time during the extended Thanksgiving holiday by returning to "work" and delivering us a healthier helping of movie development news. This week's Ketchup includes news of yet another remake of a Paul Verhoeven science fiction movie, and new (or at least potentially new) roles for Tom Cruise, Michael Fassbender, Harrison Ford, Colin Firth, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Hailee Steinfeld and Rachel Weisz.
This Week's Top Story
STARSHIP TROOPERS BEING REMADE: WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?
In the 15 years from 1985 to 2000, Dutch director Paul Verhoeven's Hollywood career included seven movies, four of which were science fiction (RoboCop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers and Hollow Man). MGM has been developing a remake of RoboCop for a few years now, and Columbia Pictures has already produced a remake of Total Recall (starring Colin Farrell), which is scheduled for release on August 3, 2012. This week, it was revealed that Sony Pictures and producer Neal Moritz are now developing a remake of Verhoeven's 1997 film Starship Troopers as well. Starship Troopers was an adaptation of the 1959 novel of the same title by Robert A. Heinlein, although Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter Edward Neumeier (who also cowrote RoboCop) also added enough new material to make the film more satirical. Heinlein's novel also didn't include any co-ed shower room nudity. Starship Troopers is just the latest remake project for producer Neal Moritz, who is also developing a remake of Highlander, has Total Recall coming soon, and in the past has produced such remakes as The Fast and the Furious, I Am Legend and Prom Night. The screenwriters that Neal Moritz has hired to start working on the Starship Troopers remake script are Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, who have worked together in the past as cowriters of Agent Cody Banks, Thor, X-Men: First Class and several episodes of Fringe and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Fresh Developments This Week
#1 WHO KNOWS IF MICHAEL FASSBENDER WILL SAY NO TO NOAH
Christian Bale has been mentioned as the likely star of director Darren Aronofsky's big biblical epic Noah for quite a while. However, Christian Bale has had to recently drop out of Noah due to conflicts with two upcoming projects (Lawless and Knight of Cups) with director Terrence Malick which are both expected to start filming in 2012. The actor that Aronofsky has started talking to and hopes to cast as Noah instead is Michael Fassbender, who recently costarred in X-Men: First Class (as Magneto), and also costars in next year's Prometheus (both for 20th Century Fox). Noah will be a joint production between Paramount Pictures and New Regency Productions (which is based at 20th Century Fox), and filming is expected to start in the spring of 2012.
#2 ALICE EVE THINKS STAR TREK SEQUEL IS NOT OUT OF HER LEAGUE
There are reportedly three major new roles to be introduced in the sequel to J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot of Star Trek. A few weeks ago, we learned that Benicio Del Toro had been cast as the film's main villain, and one of the other new roles is reportedly possibly a villain as well. What that leaves is a mysterious new female character, and this week it was Alice Eve who landed that part. Alice Eve is probably best known for starring in She's Out of My League, but she also costarred in Sex and the City 2, and the last season of Entourage. Eve reportedly won the role through auditioning, beating out both Teresa Palmer (I Am Number Four) and Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger). Although Eve's character is described as being new to the franchise, that hasn't stopped many fans from guessing (mostly based on her appearance) that she could actually be the reboot universe's Nurse Chapel, or possibly Dr. Carol Marcus (from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). It's worth noting that we also don't yet know who Benicio Del Toro is playing, even though many fans suspect it's Khan Noonien Singh. Paramount and J.J. Abrams plan on starting filming of the Star Trek sequel on January 15, 2012, so that mysterious third character should also be cast soon.
#3 TOM HANKS MEETS THE NAZIS AGAIN IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS
Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to the non-fiction novel In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (The Devil in the White City) for Tom Hanks to produce, and possibly/probably star in as well. In the Garden of Beasts tells the true story of William E. Dodd, the American professor who was chosen by FDR to become America's first ambassador to Nazi Germany in 1933. Dr. Dodd travelled to Berlin with his 24 year old daughter Martha, and the two had experiences that began quite differently, but ultimately led to the same opinion of what was really going on under Hitler in the 1930s. There is not yet any screenwriter attached to adapt Larson's book, and so it is likely to join The Devil in the White City in a development track that will last at least a few years.
#4 COLIN FIRTH IS THE RAILWAY MAN, A STEEL DRIVING MAN
Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz are set to star in the international production The Railway Man, based upon a best selling autobiography by Eric Lomax. Eric Lomax was a British officer during World War II who was captured by the Japanese, and forced to work on the Burma-Siam railroad (the subject of The Bridge Over the River Kwai). Lomax was also tortured and treated brutally for his attempts to build a radio. Decades later, Lomax sought reconciliation with one of his former torturers at the site of The Bridge Over the River Kwai, which became the focus of the 1995 documentary film Enemy My Friend. Colin Firth will play Eric Lomax in his post-war years, Rachel Weisz will play his wife Patti, and Jeremy Irvine (the star of War Horse) will play Eric Lomax during the World War II scenes. The Railway Man will be directed by Jonathan Teplitzsky (Better than Sex, Gettin' Square) from a script by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Hilary and Jackie, Millions, 24 Hour Party People) and Andy Paterson (one of the film's producers, making his screenwriting debut). Filming of The Railway Man is scheduled to start in February, 2012 at locations in Australia, the U.K. and Thailand.
#5 UNHOLY NIGHT CONTINUES THE WACKY HORROR MASH-UP MINI-GENRE
Author Seth Grahame-Smith is synonymous with the "horror/classics mash up" genre of fiction, mostly because he is nearly the only one writer writing it so exclusively. Grahame-Smith's books also have the distinction of being quickly picked up for movie adaptations consistently. First there was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (though that one remains mired in development hell), and the second book was Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter (which has been produced and is scheduled for a 6/22/12 release). Grahame-Smith's third mash-up novel will be called Unholy Night, and as the title suggests, it will take on the Nativity story of the Three Wise Men. Except, of course, Unholy Night will also somehow include monsters, or something. The "something" isn't yet known, because the book doesn't come out until April, 2012. Regardless, Warner Bros has acquired the rights to Unholy Night, which makes it the third project that Warner Bros is currently developing with ties to the Bible, even if Unholy Night is obviously not entirely serious about adapting its source material 100% faithfully. The other two Biblical projects in development at Warner Bros are a Moses biopic called Gods and Kings and Mel Gibson and Joe Eszterhas' planned biopic of Hebrew revolutionary Judah Maccabee (whose tale inspired the modern holiday of Hanukkah).
#6 TOM CRUISE SHOULD CHECK HIS GRAMMAR IF HE THINKS ALL YOU NEED IS KILL
All You Need is Kill is the title of a Japanese science fiction novel by Yoshitoshi Abe that has been in development as a live action adaptation at Warner Bros since 2010. Although the studio was at one time considering a younger star, Brad Pitt was later mentioned as possibly starring, followed by rumors of Tom Cruise. This week, Tom Cruise did indeed officially sign on to star in All You Need is Kill, which will be directed by Doug Liman (Jumper, The Bourne Identity, Mr & Mrs Smith). All You Need is Kill is a futuristic war movie with a premise a lot like Groundhog Day. Tom Cruise will play a soldier who keeps living his final battle over and over, but with each death, he also improves at killing his alien enemies. All You Need is Kill also represents a new focus on science fiction for Tom Cruise, as the star is also attached to star in Oblivion for director Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy).
Rotten Ideas of the Week
#3 HAILEE STEINFELD AND HARRISON FORD MAY ALSO PLAY ENDER'S GAME
Now that Asa Butterfield, the 14 year old star of Hugo, has signed on with Summit Entertainment to star in the long-in-development adaptation of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, the casting process is now moving on to other characters. First up is Colonel Hyrum Graff, the commander of the Battle School that has been established to train children to fight in an outer space war against an alien race called the Formics. Although nothing is official yet, the star that Summit is reportedly hoping to land for the part is none other than Harrison Ford, who only recently returned to the outer space science fiction genre with Cowboys & Aliens after hanging up his Han Solo vest years ago. Another major character in Ender's Game (and especially later novels like Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets) is Petra Arkanian, one of the female students at the Battle School. Hailee Steinfeld, the young actress who first came to attention in True Grit, is currently in negotations for that role. Ender's Game will be directed by Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) from his own adaptation of Card's novel.
#2 AT LEAST CALIFORNIANS WHO SEE SAN ANDREAS: 3D WILL KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT
New Line Cinema is currently looking for a director to sign on for San Andreas 3D, a disaster movie about the long-expected "big one" earthquake forecast to someday wreak havoc on the state of California. San Andreas 3D has already been written by screenwriter Allan Loeb, whose last four produced movies all received "Rotten" scores on the RT Tomatometer: 21 (35%), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (54%), The Switch (51%) and Just Go With It (20%). The premise of San Andreas revolves around a man who has to drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco "to reconcile with his children and his estranged wife, who's moved away and taken up with another man." If that sounds very familiar, then you most likely saw 2012, which featured almost exactly the same premise for the John Cusack character.
#1 JULIA ROBERTS DISAGREES WITH F. SCOTT FITZGERALD ABOUT SECOND ACT
Julia Roberts has come aboard a New Regency comedy called Second Act, which she will produce and also star in. Although Second Act does not yet have a director or even a screenwriter, the workplace comedy is described as being about "a woman who has never worked and is forced to take a job." This byline makes Second Act seem a bit like the sort of movie that Goldie Hawn used to specialize in, such as Private Benjamin, Protocol, Swing Shift and Overboard. Second Act is this week's Rotten Idea based mostly on the sheer lack of information, and the rather flimsy concept which also seems a bit too obviously designed to be a "Recession Era comedy."
For more Weekly Ketchup columns by Greg Dean Schmitz, check out the WK archive, and you can contact GDS via Facebook or a RT forum message.
Study shows many older Floridians have no backup plan after hanging up their keysPublic release date: 2-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Reynolds john.reynolds@fsu.edu 850-644-8825 Florida State University
Florida is home to one of the highest percentages of residents ages 65 and older in the United States, but very few of them have thought ahead to a time when they will no longer be able to drive a vehicle safely or considered how they will get around without a car, according to a new survey developed by Florida State University and the Florida Department of Transportation.
In fact, 13 percent of survey respondents indicated they would not stop driving at all, with 3 percent expressing the opinion that they would die before they would stop driving.
The findings reflect a serious issue in Florida and across the nation that older drivers are at a disproportionate risk for being involved in a fatal vehicular crash, according to John Reynolds, the Eagles Professor of Sociology at Florida State and director of the university's Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy.
To address the problem, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has awarded the Pepper Institute grants totaling $475,000 to assist it in establishing and implementing a statewide coalition to create a statewide Aging Road User Strategic Safety Plan.
"The bottom-line measure of success for the grant from the DOT is that we reduce the number of fatalities, injuries and crashes that involve older adults in Florida," Reynolds said. "However, in doing so we'll be making the roads safer for all Floridians and hopefully serving as a national model for other states."
In establishing a baseline for the development of the coalition and the safety plan, Reynolds analyzed the responses of more than 900 Floridians who participated in the 2011 Florida Aging Road User Survey, which was conducted this past spring and summer. Of those survey participants, half ranged in age from 50 to 64 years old, while the other half were 65 and older. Their responses provide some insights into the perceptions of older drivers regarding the mobility and safety challenges that they may one day face.
Among the findings:
Most older drivers don't plan for a future day when they may be unable to drive safely. Eighty-three percent of survey respondents ages 65 and older, and 92 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds, reported that they have no "transportation retirement plan." When asked to describe how they might transition from driving in the future, many indicated they would rely on family, friends or neighbors (23 percent), but many more replied that they did not know or had not ever thought about it (36 percent). About 13 percent said they would not stop driving at all, with some of those (3 percent overall) expressing an opinion that they would die before they needed to stop driving. Very few slightly under 4 percent of respondents stated that they planned to use a community driver program or paratransit service such as Dial-A-Ride.
Many aging road users see no alternatives to driving in their communities. When asked about ways they get around besides driving a car, 40 percent of respondents ages 65 and older replied that they ride with family or friends, 26 percent said they walk, and 15 percent said there was no other way to get around other than driving. (For 50- to 64-year-olds, the percentages were 38 percent, 29 percent and 16 percent, respectively.)
Responses to the Florida Aging Road User Survey also revealed that overall, older drivers consider roads in the state to be fairly safe. Seventy-eight percent of respondents ages 65 and older said Florida's roads are very safe (21 percent) or somewhat safe (57 percent). For those between the ages of 50 and 64, 75 percent rated roads in the state as either safe or very safe.
"Though many aging drivers in Florida view our roads as very or somewhat safe, we found a lot of concern about the other drivers who are on them," Reynolds said. "People responding to the survey voiced frustration, and sometimes anger, at other drivers who are talking on their phones, texting, or are otherwise being careless while they drive. This concern is being heard all around the country."
Residents ages 65 and older make up almost 18 percent of the Sunshine State's population, and the Census Bureau projects that number to grow to 27 percent over the next two decades. In 2008, 447 older adults were killed in automobile crashes on Florida roads, making up about 15 percent of all crash fatalities in the state.
Working with Gail Holley of the FDOT, the Pepper Institute supports the activities of the Safe Mobility for Life Coalition, which is composed of representatives from 28 organizations and agencies located throughout the state. The coalition was established to improve safety, mobility and access for Florida's aging road users in several key areas, including prevention and education; assistance in making the transition from driving to other means of transportation when necessary; promotion of aging in place; licensing; roadway improvements; advocacy and policy reform; and safety for non-drivers, including those who walk, bike or ride a bus.
"There are so many groups and agencies throughout the state that are committed to making our roads and communities safer for older adults," Reynolds said. "The coalition brings these groups together to work as a team on the objectives and goals identified in the strategic safety plan."
###
The Safe Mobility for Life Coalition includes representatives from 28 organizations: AAA Auto Club South, AARP, the Area Agency on Aging for North Florida, the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas, Carlin Rogers Consulting, the Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged, the Community Traffic Safety Teams Coalition, the Florida Department of Community Affairs, the Florida Department of Elder Affairs, the Florida Department of Health, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration Florida Division, the Florida Association of Area Agencies on Aging, the Florida Association of Senior Centers, the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida International University, the Florida Public Transportation Association, the Florida Regional Councils Association, the Florida State University College of Medicine, Lee County Sheriff's Office, the Metropolitan Planning Organization Advisory Council, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (ex officio member), the Tallahassee Senior Center, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Florida Institute for Mobility, Activity and Participation.
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Study shows many older Floridians have no backup plan after hanging up their keysPublic release date: 2-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Reynolds john.reynolds@fsu.edu 850-644-8825 Florida State University
Florida is home to one of the highest percentages of residents ages 65 and older in the United States, but very few of them have thought ahead to a time when they will no longer be able to drive a vehicle safely or considered how they will get around without a car, according to a new survey developed by Florida State University and the Florida Department of Transportation.
In fact, 13 percent of survey respondents indicated they would not stop driving at all, with 3 percent expressing the opinion that they would die before they would stop driving.
The findings reflect a serious issue in Florida and across the nation that older drivers are at a disproportionate risk for being involved in a fatal vehicular crash, according to John Reynolds, the Eagles Professor of Sociology at Florida State and director of the university's Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy.
To address the problem, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has awarded the Pepper Institute grants totaling $475,000 to assist it in establishing and implementing a statewide coalition to create a statewide Aging Road User Strategic Safety Plan.
"The bottom-line measure of success for the grant from the DOT is that we reduce the number of fatalities, injuries and crashes that involve older adults in Florida," Reynolds said. "However, in doing so we'll be making the roads safer for all Floridians and hopefully serving as a national model for other states."
In establishing a baseline for the development of the coalition and the safety plan, Reynolds analyzed the responses of more than 900 Floridians who participated in the 2011 Florida Aging Road User Survey, which was conducted this past spring and summer. Of those survey participants, half ranged in age from 50 to 64 years old, while the other half were 65 and older. Their responses provide some insights into the perceptions of older drivers regarding the mobility and safety challenges that they may one day face.
Among the findings:
Most older drivers don't plan for a future day when they may be unable to drive safely. Eighty-three percent of survey respondents ages 65 and older, and 92 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds, reported that they have no "transportation retirement plan." When asked to describe how they might transition from driving in the future, many indicated they would rely on family, friends or neighbors (23 percent), but many more replied that they did not know or had not ever thought about it (36 percent). About 13 percent said they would not stop driving at all, with some of those (3 percent overall) expressing an opinion that they would die before they needed to stop driving. Very few slightly under 4 percent of respondents stated that they planned to use a community driver program or paratransit service such as Dial-A-Ride.
Many aging road users see no alternatives to driving in their communities. When asked about ways they get around besides driving a car, 40 percent of respondents ages 65 and older replied that they ride with family or friends, 26 percent said they walk, and 15 percent said there was no other way to get around other than driving. (For 50- to 64-year-olds, the percentages were 38 percent, 29 percent and 16 percent, respectively.)
Responses to the Florida Aging Road User Survey also revealed that overall, older drivers consider roads in the state to be fairly safe. Seventy-eight percent of respondents ages 65 and older said Florida's roads are very safe (21 percent) or somewhat safe (57 percent). For those between the ages of 50 and 64, 75 percent rated roads in the state as either safe or very safe.
"Though many aging drivers in Florida view our roads as very or somewhat safe, we found a lot of concern about the other drivers who are on them," Reynolds said. "People responding to the survey voiced frustration, and sometimes anger, at other drivers who are talking on their phones, texting, or are otherwise being careless while they drive. This concern is being heard all around the country."
Residents ages 65 and older make up almost 18 percent of the Sunshine State's population, and the Census Bureau projects that number to grow to 27 percent over the next two decades. In 2008, 447 older adults were killed in automobile crashes on Florida roads, making up about 15 percent of all crash fatalities in the state.
Working with Gail Holley of the FDOT, the Pepper Institute supports the activities of the Safe Mobility for Life Coalition, which is composed of representatives from 28 organizations and agencies located throughout the state. The coalition was established to improve safety, mobility and access for Florida's aging road users in several key areas, including prevention and education; assistance in making the transition from driving to other means of transportation when necessary; promotion of aging in place; licensing; roadway improvements; advocacy and policy reform; and safety for non-drivers, including those who walk, bike or ride a bus.
"There are so many groups and agencies throughout the state that are committed to making our roads and communities safer for older adults," Reynolds said. "The coalition brings these groups together to work as a team on the objectives and goals identified in the strategic safety plan."
###
The Safe Mobility for Life Coalition includes representatives from 28 organizations: AAA Auto Club South, AARP, the Area Agency on Aging for North Florida, the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas, Carlin Rogers Consulting, the Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged, the Community Traffic Safety Teams Coalition, the Florida Department of Community Affairs, the Florida Department of Elder Affairs, the Florida Department of Health, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration Florida Division, the Florida Association of Area Agencies on Aging, the Florida Association of Senior Centers, the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida International University, the Florida Public Transportation Association, the Florida Regional Councils Association, the Florida State University College of Medicine, Lee County Sheriff's Office, the Metropolitan Planning Organization Advisory Council, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (ex officio member), the Tallahassee Senior Center, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Florida Institute for Mobility, Activity and Participation.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
WASHINGTON ? Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich landed the endorsement of New Hampshire's largest newspaper on Sunday while rival Mitt Romney earned a dismissive wave, potentially resetting the race in the state with the first-in-the-nation primary.
For Gingrich, the former House speaker, the backing builds on his recent rise in the polls and quick work to build a campaign after a disastrous start in the summer. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who has a vacation home in the state and has been called a "nearly native son of New Hampshire," absorbed the blow heading into the Jan. 10 vote that's vital to his campaign strategy.
"We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing," The New Hampshire Union Leader said in its front-page editorial, which was as much a promotion of Gingrich as a discreet rebuke of Romney.
"We don't back candidates based on popularity polls or big-shot backers. We look for conservatives of courage and conviction who are independent-minded, grounded in their core beliefs about this nation and its people, and best equipped for the job," the endorsement said.
The Union Leader's editorial telegraphed conservatives' concerns about Romney's shifts on crucial issues of abortion and gay rights were unlikely to fade. Those worries have led Romney to keep Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses ? where conservatives hold great sway ? at arm's length.
At the same time, the endorsement boosts Gingrich's conservative credentials. He spent the week defending his immigration policies against accusations that they a form of amnesty. On Monday, Gingrich takes a campaign swing through South Carolina, the South's first primary state.
Even Democrats on Sunday were noting Gingrich's rise.
"He's clearly a smart guy," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York. "And look, I give him some credit for not just blowing with the winds on an issue like immigration. That showed some real courage."
Romney, taking a few days' break for the Thanksgiving holiday, has kept focused on a long-term strategy that doesn't lurch from one development to another. Last week, he picked up the backing of Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota conservative, to add to his impressive roster of supporters.
The Union Leader's rejection of Romney wasn't surprising despite his efforts to woo state leaders. The newspaper rejected Romney four years ago in favor of Arizona Sen. John McCain, using front-page columns and editorials to promote McCain and criticize Romney. In the time since, Romney courted publisher Joseph W. McQuaid. Earlier this year Romney and his wife, Ann, had dinner with the McQuaids at the Bedford Village Inn near Manchester, hoping to reset the relationship. It didn't prove enough.
Romney's advisers were quick to point out that Gingrich went into October with more than $1 million in campaign debt. Romney, meanwhile, was sitting on a pile of cash and only last week began running television ads ? a luxury Gingrich can't yet afford.
The duo's rivals, meanwhile, tried to gain traction.
Herman Cain on Sunday criticized any immigration proposal that included residency or citizenship but struggled to explain how he would deal with the millions of people estimated to be currently living illegally in the United States.
Cain, who joined the race to great fanfare, has seen his luster fade as his seemed to have trouble articulating the nuances of his policy positions. For instance, he was unable to explain the difference between "targeted identification," which he says would determine common characteristics of people who want to harm the United States, and racial profiling.
At the same time, Cain acknowledged that accusations that he sexually harassed several women during his days running the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s have pulled him from among the front-runners. He has flatly denied the allegations repeatedly.
"Well, obviously false accusations and confusion about some of my positions has contributed" to his fall in the polls, Cain said.
While Romney enjoys solid support in national polls, many Republicans have shifted from candidate to candidate in search of an alternative to Romney. That led to the rise ? and fall ? of potential challengers such as Cain, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Romney enjoys solid leads in New Hampshire polls, too. A poll released last week showed him with 42 percent support among likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire. Gingrich followed with 15 percent in the WMUR-University of New Hampshire Granite State poll.
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas posted 12 percent support and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman found 8 percent support in that survey.
Those numbers could shift based on the backing of The Union Leader, a newspaper that proudly works to influence elections, from school boards to the White House, in the politically savvy state.
Huntsman, President Barack Obama's former ambassador to China, said the endorsement points to how competitive the New Hampshire contest is.
"A month ago for Newt Gingrich to have been in the running to capture The (New Hampshire) Union Leader endorsement would have been unthinkable," Huntsman said in an interview Sunday during a break in campaigning. "I think it reflects, more than anything else, the fluidity, the unpredictability of the race right now."
The endorsement, signed by McQuaid, suggested that New Hampshire's only state-wide newspaper was ready to assert itself again as a player in the GOP primary ? even if the newspaper has reservations.
"We don't have to agree with them on every issue," McQuaid wrote in the editorial that ran the width of the front page. "We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear."
Yet with six weeks until the primary, The Union Leader's move could again shuffle the race, further boosting Gingrich and priving a steady stream of criticism against his rivals. In recent weeks, Gingrich has seen a surge in some polls as Republicans focus more closely on deciding which candidate they consider best positioned to take on Obama.
He has also started to put together a strong campaign organization.
In New Hampshire, he brought on respected tea party leader Andrew Hemingway and his team has been contacting almost 1,000 voters each day. Gingrich hasn't begun television advertising and has refused to go negative on his opponents.
The newspaper has a decidedly mixed record of picking candidates. It backed Steve Forbes in 2000 and Pat Buchanan's 1992 and 1996 bids. Neither candidate won the Republican nomination.
Gingrich, who left the House in 1999 under the cloud of an ethics investigation and after disastrous midterm elections for the GOP, has faced skepticism of his personal life. He married to his third wife and acknowledged infidelity during his first marriages.
Even so, voters are giving Gingrich a look ? and the timing appears to be ideal for him.
"Romney is a very play-it-safe candidate. He doesn't want to offend everybody or anybody," said Drew Cline, the op-ed editor of The Union Leader. "He wants to be liked. He wants to try to reach out and be very safe, reach out to everybody, bring everybody on board."
That isn't the brand of candidate The Union Leader was looking to back, he said.
___
Schumer was interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press." Cain and Cline spoke with CNN's "State of the Union." Huntsman appeared on "Fox News Sunday."
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Public release date: 2-Dec-2011
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