'Fast & Furious 6' review: Bypasses logic and drives straight to the pleasure center

By Alonso Duralde

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Neuropsychologists should consider studying "Fast & Furious 6" (and its equally thrilling predecessor, "Fast Five") for its unique ability to completely bypass the brain's logic center and go right to pushing our pleasure buttons over and over again.

Countless action directors aspire to the big, dumb fun that these last few franchise entries have provided, but whereas most of them only get "dumb" and maybe "big" right, director Justin Lin and his crew deliver fun, fun, fun. (And nobody takes anybody's T-Bird away.)

"Furious 6" (as the film is called in the opening credits) opens with criminal and street racer Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel), his girlfriend Elena (Elsa Pataky), Dom's sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and Mia's husband (and Dom's former nemesis turned best bro) Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) living the good life in the Canary Islands, enjoying the spoils of the big Brazilian bank job from "Fast Five" and avoiding extradition.

Thankfully, their bliss comes to an end when federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) shows up with an offer that Dom and Brian can't refuse; Hobbs needs their help in taking down international no-goodnik Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), and the fact that one of Shaw's henchmen appears to be Dom's girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) - thought to have been killed two movies ago in "Fast & Furious" - compels the hot-rodders out of retirement to rescue her.

Nabbing Shaw means putting the band back together, so Tej (Ludacris), Han (Sung Kang), Gisele (Gal Gadot) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) are all called in from their respective exiles to pitch in. Shaw has his own Benetton-ad-ready group of multi-ethnic henchmen, while Hobbs has his own backup, the hard-kicking Riley (Gina Carano of "Haywire").

There's a lot of running around regarding the McGuffin device that Shaw wants to steal so he can do very bad things, but that's not what "Fast & Furious 6" is really about; it's really about driving really fast through Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and zipping along Spanish expressways while being shot at by a tank. And Lin and his team do an extraordinary job of staging the ever-escalating action sequences, up to a jaw-on-the-floor finale involving various four-wheel vehicles in and around a cargo plane that's trying to take off.

Not that all of the film's thrills are tied in to combustible engines. Getting to see Carano and Rodriguez (two of the screen's reigning bad-asses of any gender) go mano-a-mano twice counts as some kind of action movie landmark, and we also get Joe Taslim of the exhilarating "The Raid: Redemption" using his not-inconsiderable martial arts skills as one of Shaw's men. (The non-action casting is fairly creative as well, with Thure Lindhart, an Independent Spirit Award nominee for last year's powerful "Keep the Lights On," popping up in a supporting role.)

When the craziness slows down and people actually talk, the theme of family is constantly underlined, to the extent that my seatmate suggested a drinking game for every time the word "family" is mentioned. Nonetheless, while Diesel and Walker have a fairly limited skill set as actors, they are put to good use here, and six movies in, they've definitely established themselves and their co-stars as a cohesive unit.

The crazy gender politics of the "Fast and Furious" movies remain on display, and not just through the macho posturing and the bikini-clad car models writhing in slow motion. Every joke, insult or threat in the movie seems to revolve around the feminization if not outright emasculation of men. It's the sort of overcompensating we've come to expect from a series that critic Jennifer Smith once called "tender and homoerotic" and that spawned the "SNL" parody "The Fast and the Bi-Curious."

"Fast & Furious 6" serves up a big plate of entertainment. Its makers never pretend it's a steak, but they're happy to offer up a big fat juicy hamburger with extra cheese.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fast-furious-6-review-bypasses-logic-drives-straight-225106512.html

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Homes next to Florida sinkhole to be demolished

SEFFNER, Fla. (AP) ? The homes on either side of the Tampa area house where a sinkhole opened under a man's bedroom are being demolished.

Officials say the demolition will take place Wednesday in Seffner, Fla. The homes were condemned April 1, a month after the sinkhole opened under the house next door, killing 37-year-old Jeffrey Bush.

The Tampa Bay Times (http://bit.ly/10OWs4J) reports that engineering consultants determined that repairing the homes would cost more than 50 percent of their value.

On Wednesday morning, heavy equipment and trucks will return to the neighborhood near Tampa to demolish the homes.

___

Information from: Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.), http://www.tampabay.com.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/homes-next-florida-sinkhole-demolished-102244665.html

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Kohler ordered to pay $9.6 million in patent suit | Wisconsin Law ...

KOHLER, Wis. (AP) ? The Kohler Co. has been ordered in federal court to pay $9.6 million to a Massachusetts manufacturer for infringing on two of its patents for components that reduce exhaust emissions in marine generators.

Jurors in U.S. District Court in Boston last week found Kohler willfully infringed on the patents issued in 2008 and 2010. They are owned by an affiliate of the Westerbeke Corp., which accused Kohler of infringing on both patents with several models of its low carbon monoxide marine generators.

Kohler denied the allegations and filed a counterclaim seeking to declare Westerbeke?s patents invalid because the technology would have been ?obvious to one of ordinary skill,? according to court filings.

Kohler spokesman Todd Weber said the company still believes the technology used in its generators was ?well known and in the public domain? and was developed years ago by the automotive industry to reduce emissions.

?There is nothing novel about using this known technology on a marine generator,? Weber said.

Weber said Kohler will ask the court to modify the jury?s verdict and will file appeals on ?any remaining issues on infringement and invalidity.?

Westerbeke?s lawsuit, filed more than two years ago, went to trial earlier this month, with Westerbeke seeking to recoup damages and costs, along with an injunction prohibiting further patent infringement, according to The Sheboygan Press.

Jurors determined Westerbeke was due royalties worth 13.5 percent of Kohler?s gross sales on its marine generators, according to court records.

Information from: The Sheboygan Press, http://www.sheboygan-press.com

Source: http://wislawjournal.com/2013/05/21/kohler-ordered-to-pay-9-6-million-in-patent-suit/

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'I just felt totally helpless?

A downed utility pole along May Avenue in South Oklahoma City. (Holly Bailey/Yahoo News)

OKLAHOMA CITY?Anthony Connel was sitting in traffic off of South 149th Street, about a mile from his home, when he saw it happen: A dark black cloud, so ominous and wide that it didn?t even look like a tornado, dropped to the ground?and headed straight for his house.

Connel, a sales manager at Anheuser-Busch, had seen tornadoes before. They are a way of life in Oklahoma?a dangerous, yet fascinating phenomenon of nature considered as normal as the state?s rabid devotion to Sooner football. Here, local meteorologists are considered major celebrities, and everyone has been a storm chaser of sorts at least once or twice, curious about how a cloud so eerily beautiful could also be so destructive.

But there was something different about this tornado, Connel recalled in an interview with Yahoo News.

?It was just this big black cloud on the ground. You couldn?t even tell it was a tornado. And it didn?t seem to be moving. It just keep getting bigger and bigger,? he said. Watching the twister take direct aim at his largely rural neighborhood just east of Interstate 44, Connel realized he was about to lose everything. He knew his neighbors were in his storm cellar (his wife, Virginia, was at work) and believed they would be safe, but he also knew that his home probably wouldn?t survive.

?I just felt totally helpless,? Connel said Tuesday, as he stood alongside the large pile of shredded lumber, brick and steel that used to be his home.

?There was nothing I could do,? he added, his voice thick with emotion. ?It was too late. If I?d been here, I could have tried to save some things, but I just had to sit back and watch it happen. I was too late.?

To say Connel?s neighborhood looked like a war zone is an understatement. Trees lush and green earlier this spring, now shaved off and resembling slingshots, were pierced by sheet metal and daggers of jagged wood from homes swallowed up and spit out by the tornado. Massive electricity towers that usually resemble giant power robots along the prairie were twisted and collapsed, while downed power lines were everywhere, the utility poles snapped like matchsticks. Crushed cars were thrown up against homes and wrapped around tree trunks.

Across the street from Connel?s home, a mattress was impaled deep atop the trunk of a massacred tree. On a nearby lot, a brick mailbox was the only sign left of where a house once stood.

Within giant piles of debris were dead horses and cattle?apparently transported by the storm from other places. The air smelled strongly of natural gas.

On Tuesday afternoon, many of Connel?s neighbors climbed through the debris of their former homes, looking for anything they could salvage. Most waved off this reporter?saying it was just too hard to talk about what they were going through. But there was one miracle: Nobody in the immediate neighborhood had died.

At the remains of his home, Connel spoke of the small, yet important things he had recovered, including several external hard drives of photographs he had taken, as well as one of the old-timey shaving kits he collected.

He marveled at the randomness of what was found. Earlier that morning, Connel?s neighbor, an elderly man, had asked his family to look through the rubble for a jewelry box containing the wedding ring of his wife who had recently died. Amazingly, they found the ring buried in the red mud.

?That?s the only thing he wanted, and they found it,? Connel said.

For now, Connel and his wife are staying in a nearby hotel. As the skies darkened again and rain began to pour, he pointed across the street to a red car crushed against a tree near a dead cow. It was his beloved 1970 Road Runner, a car he had meticulously restored to pristine condition and that had a ?$10,000 paint job,? he said.

When Connel had left for work Monday, it had been parked in his garage. It was one of the first things he looked for upon returning to his house after the tornado. He looked for a half hour and then gave up, convinced the storm had just carried it away.

But a little while later, he noticed its crumpled shape against a tree.

?I know, standing here, it?s right in plain sight,? Connel said. ?But it doesn?t look like it used to. ... Things around here are hard to recognize. You just feel helpless."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/man-watched-tornado-destroy-home-just-felt-totally-205837677.html

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Editorial: Google confuses magic with middling as it steps into music ...

First of all: that name. Google Play Music All Access. Perhaps Google's presenters realized, as they were driving to the I/O keynote, that they had forgotten to name the new music-streaming service, and came up with that clunker backstage.

Unique? Magical? It's easy to dismiss those claims within minutes of signing up.

Jump to the keynote, where Chris Yerga described All Access as "a uniquely Google approach to a subscription service," and remarked, "Here's where the magic starts." Unique? Magical? It's easy to dismiss those claims within minutes of signing up. Prosaic and useful, yes; unique and magical, no. All Access is nowhere near an innovation. The major ecosystem companies, each of which started with groundbreaking technical development, now seem to fashion their business destinies on buttressing their networks with products innovated elsewhere, plugging holes to sway existing users from drifting out of the system. It's not a new story, but always a sad one.

Music-streaming services have been around for about 14 years. Rhapsody, a grizzled veteran in the current crop, launched in 2001 after two years of development under different names. Spotify, the poster brand for music streaming in 2013, lifted off in 2008. So there are well-established norms that users can and should expect in a streaming service.

A big catalog is the first expectation -- all the majors and a long tail of smaller labels and indies. A modern streaming service is batting .300 if it offers 20 million tracks.

Size isn't everything; it's what you can do with it that counts. Basic interactivity includes whole-track and album listening (obviously). Playlisting is important, so you can build that perfect 50-track set of pulsing electronica for an afternoon of desk work in headphones. Accumulating a library of favorites is a necessary function, via a cloud collection plus, ideally, the option of downloading music to a phone, tablet or computer for offline listening.

Social and sharing are increasingly vital music-discovery functions -- and just fun for users who are always visible in their community circles. It's not only outward sharing that matters (to Twitter, Facebook, et al.), but also sharing of playlists within the service, epitomized by 8tracks.com. Speaking of discovery, the service should do its part by offering a genre directory (the smarter and more granular, the better), editorial recommendations, reviews and connections to related music.

Google is more flexible than Pandora inasmuch as the user can peer inside the "radio" playlist and swipe away queued-up tracks, with what is arguably the platform's coolest feature.

Finally, a streaming service should offer some kind of passive option for a lean-back experience -- pushing music to users when they tire of exploring and pulling. That usually means some kind of misnamed "radio" or "station" feature, which, behind the scenes, is an array of curated playlists. GPMAA (who doesn't love acronyms?) emphasizes the push / pull quality of its curated streams by marketing the service as: "Radio without limits."

That tagline is clearly intended to contrast with the highly passive Pandora experience, the pre-eminent alternative to terrestrial radio in homes, cars and stores. (Over the past few years, when I have asked a retail proprietor about the store's music selection, I have increasingly heard the "Pandora" answer.) Google is more flexible than Pandora inasmuch as the user can peer inside the "radio" playlist and swipe away queued-up tracks, with what is arguably the platform's coolest feature.

In fact, it's really the only cool feature in what is otherwise a pedestrian and sketchy streaming service. All Access covers most of the expected bases, though not all of them. Google is planting a premium flag in the ground by withholding an ad-supported free layer (like Spotify), venturing instead down the all-subscription path with a monthly fee ranging from $7.99 to $9.99. (You get the lower price if you join during the first month.) I see commenters backing away from that value proposition, and it's easy to understand why someone with equity in an existing platform might not want to switch to a new copycat service.

At the same time, I see enthusiasm from Android users eager to add "celestial jukebox" music streaming to their eco-platform, which represents a larger and more meaningful investment than, for example, having built a bunch of playlists in Spotify.

I can imagine today's GPMAA as a starting point from which Google will weave some ecosystem magic. But even as a starting point, this platform is immature for discovery and community. Right now, the service is not connecting well with Google+ (or any other social network), which seems like a no-brainer whose implementation is probably forthcoming. More seriously, you can't follow other users from their playlists. Search is bizarrely bad. Blues guitarist Ana Popovic does not appear when you search for "ana popovich." Seriously, Google? Your flagship search engine understands any misspelling I throw at it, but one extra letter makes your music search fall to the ground twitching? That'll get fixed.

Google is following, not leading -- reacting to a market migration away from music downloads toward streaming access.

But for a company famous for its lengthy (and free) beta launches, the first impressions of the non-beta All Access are underwhelming. More important, for a company with a legacy of technology brilliance, this service feels like it was mailed in as a prop for the ecosystem.

Google is following, not leading -- reacting to a market migration away from music downloads toward streaming access. Apple will follow behind Google, if rumors hold true, and Apple is endowed with an explicit anti-subscription stance in music.

From leadership to following. It's good ecosystem business, admittedly, like renovating a house rather than reinventing rooms. But I cannot avoid a feeling of sadness, and even a trace of disdain, seeing this perfunctory service, with its lumbering name and aggressive pricing, soldered quickly into the Google / Android machinery. Gmail redefined email on its first day and remained respectfully in beta for five years. Times change. I'll ponder that while listening to my Rhapsody playlists.

---

Brad Hill is a former Vice President at AOL, and the former Director and General Manager of Weblogs, Inc. He listens to music on Rhapsody (FTW), Spotify, Rdio, SoundCloud and 8tracks.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/20/google-confuses-magic-with-middling-as-it-steps-into-music-streaming/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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TiVo adds MLB.tv in the US today, nears IPTV launch in Sweden

TiVo announced its quarterly earnings yesterday, revealing a net loss for the quarter of $10.8 million. Despite that, its push to partner with cable companies seems to be going well: it recorded its largest growth in MSO customers in seven years, adding 277,000 subscriptions that way. More interesting to most users however, will be news that the MLB.tv app Zatz Not Funny mentioned in January launches today. Additionally, Scandinavian operator Com Hem is about to start offering an IPTV service built on TiVo's devices, and is accepter preregistrations to be an early tester. The Com Hem project will combine an internet TV service with the usual TiVo features -- including TiVoToGo -- and DVR capable of recording up to three HD channels at once. What we can see of the box looks very similar to the one offered by Virgin in the UK, we'll wait and see if any other operators look the company's way when/if they make the transition to IPTV service in the future.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/21/tivo-adds-mlb-tv-in-the-us-today-nears-iptv-launch-in-sweden/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Chief Palestinian peace negotiator backs Kerry's efforts

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The top Palestinian negotiator with Israel on Monday threw his weight behind U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's bid to revive stalled peace talks, while describing the situation in the West Bank as apartheid worse than that suffered in South Africa.

Kerry is due to visit Jerusalem and Ramallah on Thursday and Friday. U.S.-brokered peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel broke down in 2010 in a dispute over continuing Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told a U.N. committee in New York on Monday that a settlement freeze and the release of Palestinian prisoners were not conditions for returning to negotiations, but rather obligations that Israel must fulfill.

"We have no conditions to resume negotiations," Erekat told the committee on rights of the Palestinian people, which was created by the U.N. General Assembly in 1975.

"Make no mistake we are exerting every possible effort in order to see that Mr. Kerry succeeds. No one benefits more from the success of Secretary Kerry than Palestinians and no one loses more from his failure than Palestinians," Erekat said.

He said that in the past two months Kerry had met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas five times, Erekat three times and that the three spoke by phone almost weekly.

"Mr. Kerry is keeping things (close to) his chest. He likes to work very, very, very below the radar and grow things like mushrooms," Erekat said. "We did everything ... in order to enable him to succeed. He is not going to wait for years or months actually, he's working very hard."

Palestinians seek to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza, where about 2.7 million Palestinians live, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

CHANCE FOR PEACE

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected any Israeli return to the lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, calling those boundaries indefensible.

"Today in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem ... I can sum up the situation with one word - apartheid. Worse than that which existed in South Africa," Erekat said. "Today Israel justifies its apartheid by the term security."

Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor accused Erekat of spreading falsehoods and propaganda.

"One would expect a so-called 'peace negotiator' to be educating his own people for tolerance and coexistence," Prosor said in a statement. "Saeb Erekat is using every microphone to incite, inflame, and demonize the State of Israel."

Erekat said the Palestinians had finished preparation to join a raft of international bodies, such as the International Criminal Court, but would not act yet in order to give Kerry and President Barack Obama "a chance" to pursue Middle East peace.

"We want to give a chance to all nations who have a common denominator of achieving two states on the 1967 lines," Erekat said. "There is a chance, there is a good opportunity now."

If the Palestinians were to join the ICC, they could file complaints with the court accusing Israel of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious crimes.

The Palestinians are able to apply to join the ICC and other international bodies after the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine on November 29.

It was a diplomatic setback for the United States and Israel, which were joined by only a handful of countries in voting against upgrading the Palestinian Authority's observer status to "non-member state" from "entity," like the Vatican.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chief-palestinian-peace-negotiator-backs-kerrys-efforts-204539386.html

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Conn. derailment to cause 'greatly slowed' commute

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ? Railroad officials in Connecticut say the morning commute is going as well as can be expected following Friday's train collision that that injured 72 people and has shut down service.

Metro-North is using a fleet of 120 buses at the Bridgeport train station to help rail commuters make their way around the scene of the accident and help get them get to New York City.

A shuttle train was operating about every 20 minutes Monday morning between New Haven and Bridgeport. Shuttle buses are running between the Bridgeport and Stamford stations, where commuters can then board trains for the final leg of their commute.

Officials say Friday's collision impacts about 30,000 people who normally use the train.

Heavy congestion ? averaging 15 mph ? was reported along Interstate 95 and the Merritt Parkway heading into New York City.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/conn-derailment-cause-greatly-slowed-commute-062512151.html

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'Anchorman 2' Trailer Had Us At 'Hello': Watch Now!

Will Ferrell is still keepin' it classy in latest sneak peek of December 20 sequel, 'Anchorman: The Legend Continues.'
By Katie Atkinson

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707618/anchorman-2-new-trailer.jhtml

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#SciAmBlogs Friday - quantum computing, rationalilty, armed Treebeard, Giant African Land Snails, invasive ladybugs, and more.

By Bora Zivkovic?| May 17, 2013 |??

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---

Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

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Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

More??

#SciAmBlogs Friday ? quantum computing, rationalilty, armed Treebeard, Giant African Land Snails, invasive ladybugs, and more.

About the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

More??

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=489a08da2c08d717580293587e8e0682

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Vitor Belfort gets highlight-reel knockout of Luke Rockhold at UFC on FX 8

Vitor Belfort gave fans in his home country of Brazil plenty to be happy about at UFC on FX 8 on Saturday, delivering a first-round knockout of Luke Rockhold that is sure to make UFC highlight reels for years to come.

Belfort held off Rockhold's takedown attempts early, and then set up to deliver a perfect knockout kick halfway through the round. Near the fence, Belfort landed a spinning kick to Rockhold's face. It landed flush, and Rockhold fell to the ground. Belfort finished with ground and pound. The fight was stopped at 2:32 in the first round.

It's Belfort's second straight win by knockout. He knocked out Michael Bisping in January, and before that, moved up to light heavyweight and lost a title fight to Jon Jones. His record is now 23-10. He already has a loss against UFC champion Anderson Silva, but is this fight enough to ask for another title shot? He wouldn't say.

"I'm here to fight. I don't pick fights. I accept fights," Belfort said after the win.

There was plenty of bad blood between the two before the fight began. Belfort is one of the UFC fighters who has an exemption to use testosterone replacement therapy. Rockhold viewed this as sanctioned cheating, and wasn't afraid to say so. The two had to be separated during Friday's weigh-ins as Rockhold got in Belfort's face.

This was Rockhold's first fight in the UFC. He is now 11-2, with most of his wins coming in Strikeforce, where he was the middleweight champion.

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
? Faceplant: The worst head-first slide ever?
? Patriots' Rob Gronkowski to have fourth surgery on forearm
? 'Sandlot' actors hit the big leagues, but still look like kids
? Mavs' Dirk Nowitzki offers to take 'significant pay cut' to woo free agents

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/vitor-belfort-gets-highlight-reel-knockout-luke-rockhold-030621416.html

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Dennis Rodman to Kim Jong-un: 'Do me a solid' and free Kenneth Bae (+video)

US basketball star Dennis Rodman recently hung out with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un - now he's tweeted a request?that the American sentenced to 15 years' hard labor be released.

By Ryan Lenora Brown,?Correspondent / May 9, 2013

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (l.) and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and US players in an exhibition basketball game at an arena in Pyongyang, North Korea, in February. Rodman is tapping his friendship with Kim Jong-un when he tweeted a request 'to do me a solid' and free Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American man detained in the North.

Jason Mojica/VICE Media/AP/File

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When Dennis Rodman spent a week touring North Korea in February, he had nothing but glowing words for the country?s leader, Kim Jong-un.

Skip to next paragraph Ryan Lenora Brown

Correspondent

Ryan Brown edits the Africa Monitor blog and contributes to the national and international news desks of the Monitor. She is a former Fulbright fellow to South Africa and holds a degree in history from Duke University.?

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?Guess what? I love him,? he told reporters. ?He?s really awesome.?

But now the basketball diplomat is testing his friendship with the young Kim by asking the leader to release an American sentenced last week to 15 years of hard labor for ?hostile acts? against the North Korean regime.

?I?m calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea, or as I call him, ?Kim,? to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose,? Mr. Rodman tweeted Tuesday.?

The missive came in response to a Seattle Times opinion piece last week, in which writer Thanh Tan called on Rodman to put his goodwill with Pyongyang on the line for Mr. Bae, a tour operator arrested in November on murky charges.

Perhaps now is the time for the NBA has-been to practice some real basketball diplomacy and call up his so-called friend for a favor: Grant American detainee Kenneth Bae amnesty and release him to his family?.

Bae is being used as a political pawn by a desperate despot who happened to?gallivant around the country with Rodman?in March. Perhaps now is the retired player?s chance to use his notoriety for something other than to over-inflate his ego.

Rodman apparently got the message.

?In direct response to your article headline, 'Ok.' Read your story @uscthanhtan, and I decided to help,? he tweeted.

And while Twitter is an admittedly feeble platform for diplomacy, it?s not out of the question that Kim will see the tweet. After all, the North Korean government has an active ? if bizarre ? Twitter presence itself, putting out an erratic blast of messages about American imperialism and the ?victory and glory? of the Kim regime.

But even if Kim gets Rodman?s message, will he understand it? After all, ?do me a solid? isn?t exactly a phrase that translates easily.

Washington Post blogger Max Fisher writes that the closest Korean equivalent of the colloquialism would be the somewhat menacing (at least to American ears) phrase, ?Look at my face and release Kenneth Bae.?

?Look at my face,? he writes, ?is a Korean expression that?s like a special, for-friends-only version of ?do me a favor.??

Whether Kim will look at Rodman?s face ? double nose ring and all ? remains to be seen, but Americans favored by North Korea have helped coax the regime to release American prisoners in the past.

In 2009, for instance, former President Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang and shortly after the visit then-Dear Leader Kim Jong-il pardoned two American journalists who were being held in the country. In total, six Americans ? including Bae ? have been held by the North Korean government since 2009, the Monitor reported. The other five were all released.

Rodman?s February visit to North Korea ? along with the friendship tour of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt in January ? was initially hailed by some Western observers as a sign that the young Kim might be more interested in opening his country to the rest of the world than his father and grandfather had been.

However, analysts say there have been no fundamental changes to the regime?s posture since then. If anything, interaction with Western celebrities puts the regime in a more powerful position because it can claim new geopolitical cache.?

?Ultimately, they [North Korea] come out ahead because they can portray it as the world coming to pay tribute, or at least to be there,? Aidan Foster-Carter, a Korean expert, told the Monitor in March.

Indeed, as the state-run Korean Central News Agency (as well as Western outlets) reported during Rodman?s trip, the basketball player was an enthusiastic tourist, visiting a greatest hits list of Kim-related sites.?

Rodman and his cohort "paid high tribute to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il before their statues. They entered the halls where Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il lie in state and paid homage to them,? a press release announced. ?They made an entry in the visitor's book.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/231i8YePVWE/Dennis-Rodman-to-Kim-Jong-un-Do-me-a-solid-and-free-Kenneth-Bae-video

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Stash your cash in Switzerland? US and Europe push to make it harder.

A Spanish court ruling and investigations spurred by whistleblowers are aimed at scaring tax evaders and raising revenue. One watchdog's list could lead to some 300 billion euros in tax havens.

By Andr?s Cala,?Correspondent / May 16, 2013

Herv? Falciani, a former HSBC worker wanted in Switzerland on allegations of stealing data on tens of thousands of Swiss bank accounts, appears at extradition proceedings last month near Madrid. The Spanish court denied Switzerland's extradition request, intensifying pressure on Switzerland and its banks to rein in tax evasion.

Juan Carlos Hidalgo/Reuters

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An intense diplomatic and public push is under way across Europe and in the United States to more aggressively hunt illegal cash stashed away in offshore paradises like Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, and Andorra.?

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Spurred by court rulings as well as investigations triggered by several whistleblowers, countries are tapping new information to scare tax evaders and raise public revenue during tough times. And they're pressing for reform of bank secrecy laws that allow billions in illegal money to be shielded from government oversight.

The issue is a politically charged one, especially in Switzerland, where bank secrecy is as ingrained as neutrality and cuckoo clocks. But the endgame is in sight, according to analysts.

Strict laws, like the Swiss one barring banks from surrendering clients' information, make it ?hard to trace? suspicious transactions, says Niels Johannesen, associate economics professor in the University of Copenhagen and an expert in off-shore banking. ?But I?m sure that as these cases build up people will be more afraid of hiding their money.?

Last week, a Spanish court rejected a Swiss extradition request for the whistleblower who stole clients' account information and is helping authorities comb through the data. Their secrets have limited legal use, as banks would first have to surrender their clients? information to confirm the stolen information, whether its money laundering, tax evasion, or transactions in violation of international sanctions, experts say. Doing so would violate Swiss law.

But the court decision does pile on already intensifying pressure. Swiss accounts hold more than $2 trillion in offshore wealth, and nearly 35 percent of the more than $8 trillion globally.

The Falciani affair

The Spanish ruling said that Herv? Falciani, a French-Italian computer expert at HSBC Bank until 2008, is free to travel after being under court custody since his arrest last year. He had illegally entered Spain following the advice of ?the Americans,? which most took to mean the US government. They warned him his life was in danger, without saying from whom, Mr. Falciani said in an interview last month with El Pa?s, a Spanish daily.

Falciani for years has been helping French authorities, who initially seized his trove of information stashed in encrypted memory drives in 2009, to decrypt and understand information on reportedly 130,000 millionaire accounts in the Swiss branch of HSBC.

France has been sharing the information with other countries. The Falciani list could reveal the existence of 300 billion euros that had found its way to havens, equivalent to 2.5 percent of the eurozone?s gross domestic product, suggested Spanish prosecutor Dolores Delgado, who represented the government in the extraditions hearings.

Today Falciani is one of the main sources for tax evasions and money-laundering investigators in the US, Germany, France, Italy, and of course Spain. The court?s denial was expected because Swiss charges of violating bank secrecy are not a crime in Spain.

?His help is not just in finding money that was hidden from tax authorities, but in revealing methods employed by HSBC that allow money laundering by drug-traffickers and terrorists,? Mrs. Delgado has said.

The stolen information is legally hard to use, though, and would in any case require offenders to voluntarily settle out of court or for banks to share account information. Banks can legally refuse, especially when it?s subject to criminal investigation of violating Swiss bank secrecy laws, as is the case with Falciani?s list.

Spanish investigations indeed illustrate the challenges. Of around 250 million euros recovered as a result of the Falciani list, more than 200 million euros came from an out of court settlement with the Bot?n family, which controls Banco Santander, Spain?s biggest and a global banking titan. They admitted to having an undeclared bank account that they claimed they didn?t know about, and settled out of court.

?The problem is that the information is stolen, and legally speaking would have to be confirmed by the bank. It?s been more of a political issue,? says Pablo Alarc?n, a law profesor in IE Business School and also a partner in Alarcon Espinosa Abogados firm, which specializes in wealth management.

But the very public, and often embarrassing, expos? of undeclared accounts is catalyzing change.?Mr. Alarc?n says that Swiss banks are being significantly more strict about internal screening, in fact closing down the accounts of some of his clients after failing to comply with requirements to show that the money has been declared to taxing authorities in their home countries.

?They don?t see Switzerland as destiny for off shore holdings,? Alarc?n says.

Lifting bank secrecy

But the Falciani affair and the refusal of his extradition does increase pressure on Swiss banks, politically. Rejecting his extradition ?is part of the same pressure that the US and Germany are putting Switzerland under,? Alarc?n says. ?It?s a message to share more information.?

The public disgrace of well known names, like the Bot?n family in Spain, but also former French Budget Minister J?r?me Cahuza, German football legend Uli Hoenes of Germany, and an ever growing list sourced from stolen information, at times paid for by officials, is helping governments to force tax evaders to settle out of court.

Luxembourg already agreed to share more information starting in 2015, and Austria is reportedly close to an agreement. Switzerland is the most ingrained holdout, but it too is also moving in that direction.

?What would make a difference is automatic sharing of information? as opposed to upon request, Johannesen says. The Swiss government already reached a deal with US authorities since the Treasury Department is increasingly target banks. Several banks have already signed agreements, under the threat of being booted from the US. HSBC agreed to pay $1.9 billion in an out of court settlement for money laundering allegations involving Mexican drug cartels.

Europe is increasingly trying to reach a strong consensus. Switzerland ?knows they can?t negotiate with the US, but with EU they are still holding out,? Johanessen says. ?It depends what EU consequences are. How much can they threaten? The US strength is its severity. The question is if the EU can agree on something similar.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/JQcrQOuk8gs/Stash-your-cash-in-Switzerland-US-and-Europe-push-to-make-it-harder

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14 Reasons to Keep Your Gadgets Away from Open Flame

Some men (and women!) just want to see the world burn. Others are content to focus more specifically on technology. Whichever one you are, if you've ever thought about chucking a misbehaving iPod into the incinerator, you're going to enjoy this.

Who's up for some catharsis?

A Canon EOS 7D digital single lens reflex camera during a durability test

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Destroyed in a house fire: DVD player, Digital Converter box, speaker, Santa

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Old cell phone burning

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Fires and dryers don't mix

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32GB iPhone meets its demise

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Melted iPhone cable

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A monitor's last visual triumph

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Phoenix laptop

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Roasting an Android tablet

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Destroying a Nokia E71 cellular phone

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A GoPro action cam case isn't built for this particular action

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Destruction of an iPod

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Ditching your cable plan's got nothing on burning your TV

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Source: http://gizmodo.com/14-reasons-to-keep-your-gadgets-away-from-open-flame-493854363

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NASA Designs the Scientifically Perfect Space Meal

After being strapped onto the front of a 15-story controlled explosion and launched clear out of the atmosphere to live in an experimental laboratory orbiting around the Earth at thousands of miles an hour, the least NASA can do is give you a good meal.

Read more...

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'Space Oddity'? First rock video sung and shot in space wows David Bowie. (+video)

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield performed and recorded the David Bowie classic 'Space Oddity' aboard the International Space Station, eliciting praise from Major Tom himself.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / May 13, 2013

Chris Hadfield records the first music video from space on Sunday. The song was his cover version of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity.' Hadfield and astronaut Thomas Marshburn are scheduled to return to earth on Monday.

NASA/AP

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Forget the Hollywood Bowl or Lincoln Center. The space age has opened a new venue for rock music, jazz, even a brief rumble or two from a homemade didgeridoo ? the International Space Station, whirring vent fans and all.

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And you thought it was just an orbiting national lab!

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is the latest in a line of astronauts dating back to the NASA's Gemini program in the 1960s to display considerable musical talent in space.

On the eve of his departure from the station Monday, the lanky, guitar-plucking Canadian unveiled a slick rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," Major Tom's launch and farewell to Earth ? the first rock-music video sung and shot in space.

Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford would be proud.

Back in December 1965, the duo treated ground controllers to a rendition of Jingle Bells as their Gemini 6A capsule orbited Earth. Schirra played a tiny, eight-holed harmonica, and Stafford had the sleigh bells ? both instruments cosmic contraband at the time because space was so tight in the two-seat capsule. The Smithsonian Institution has dubbed the event the first live-music performance in space.

These days, the ISS boasts an electronic keyboard, and crew members are free to have small instruments sent up ? from guitars and flutes to saxophones. It's all in the name of crew morale. Crew members spend six-month stints on the station. With down time from about midday Saturdays through Sundays, the crew has time to keep honed whatever musical skills they bring along.

And if you don't have an instrument? Cobble one together. During his most recent tour on the ISS, which ended July 1, 2012, NASA astronaut Don Pettit needed a didgeridoo as part of a science demonstration involving sound waves and water droplets.

No 'doo? No worries. He commandeered a length of hose from the station's vacuum-cleaner system. Nothing, if not inventive, he. Dr. Pettit also is credited with inventing a stabilizer that takes the station's jitters out of photos the astronauts take from the station. He also crafted the first coffee cup the crew could use in microgravity that didn't require a straw.

Other noteworthy performances include NASA astronaut Cady Coleman's duet with Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson in February 2011 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's historic mission as the first human to orbit the Earth. Dr. Coleman led off in zero G with Mr. Anderson performing his intricate riffs in 1 G.

But for sheer productivity and production values, Commander Hadfield is hard to beat. In "Space Oddity," he teams up with Emm Gryner, who was a member of Bowie's band for a couple of years. In her blog, she describes how the effort came about.

Nor is this the first time the crooning commander has collaborated with earthbound musicians. In February, he released a video complete with a youth chorus and musicians from the group Barenaked Ladies performing "I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing)," a tune he and co-writer Ed Robertson began collaborating on while Hadfield was still training for the mission he leaves today.

But for raw impact, "Space Oddity" is hard to beat.

Just ask Mr. Bowie. After Hadfield's video appeared on the web, Bowie posted to his Facebook Page: "It?s possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created...."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/nYKda6_6N-o/Space-Oddity-First-rock-video-sung-and-shot-in-space-wows-David-Bowie.-video

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House committee to grill ousted IRS chief

Niger Innis, National Outreach Director, TheTeaParty.net, speaks during a news conference with Tea Party leaders about the IRS targeting Tea Party groups, Thursday, May 16, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

Niger Innis, National Outreach Director, TheTeaParty.net, speaks during a news conference with Tea Party leaders about the IRS targeting Tea Party groups, Thursday, May 16, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

Tom Zawistowki, founder of the nonprofit Ohio Liberty Coalition, center, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 16, 2013, with Tea Party leaders to discuss the IRS targeting Tea Party groups. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., chair of the Tea Party Caucus, is at left, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. is at right. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., accompanied by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., chair of the Tea Party Caucus, left, and others, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 16, 2013, to discuss the IRS targeting Tea Party groups. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., chairwoman of the Tea Party Caucus, listens at left as while Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during a news conference with Tea Party leaders about the IRS targeting Tea Party groups, Thursday, May 16, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Lawmakers are ready to question the ousted head of the Internal Revenue Service as Congress holds its first hearing on the tougher scrutiny the IRS gave tea party and other conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status.

With the scandal joining the parade of political headaches buffeting President Barack Obama, the Republican-run House Ways and Means Committee planned to question the agency's ousted chief, Steven Miller, on Friday.

Miller, acting director until he resigned Wednesday, seems sure to get a hostile reception from the committee. Members of both parties have spent the past week bitterly chastising the agency for abandoning its charge of making nonpolitical decisions about which groups should qualify for tax-exempt status, which makes it easier for them to collect contributions from donors.

Lawmakers also have said that despite asking the IRS repeatedly about complaints from conservative groups that their applications were being treated unfairly, the agency ? including Miller ? never told them the groups were being targeted, even after May 2012, when the agency said Miller was briefed on the practice. Miller was previously a deputy commissioner whose portfolio included the unit that made decisions about tax-exempt status.

Also testifying Friday was J. Russell George, the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration.

A report George issued this week concluded that the IRS office in Cincinnati, which screened applications for the tax exemptions, improperly singled out tea party and other conservative groups for tougher treatment. The report says the practice began in March 2010 and lasted more than 18 months.

Republicans have spent the past few days trying to link the IRS' improper scrutiny of conservatives to Obama. The president has said he didn't know about the targeting until last Friday, when Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups, acknowledged at a legal conference that conservative groups had been singled out. She said it was wrong and apologized.

"I promise you this, that the minute I found out about it, then my main focus was making sure that we get the thing fixed," Obama said Thursday.

Even so, less than four months into his second term, the president has been on the defensive for the IRS controversy, along with questions about last September's attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, and the government's seizure of The Associated Press' telephone records as part of a leaks investigation.

In one of the latest GOP attacks, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, wrote Obama on Thursday asking whether the White House or Treasury Department pressured the IRS on the treatment of conservative groups. In the letter, Portman accused the administration of "policies that threaten to chill disfavored political speech."

The inspector general's report said all IRS officials questioned said their actions "were not influenced by any individual or organization outside the IRS."

The report blamed "ineffective management" for letting IRS officials craft "inappropriate criteria" to review applications from tea party and other conservative groups, based on their names or political views. It found that the IRS took no action on many of the conservative groups' applications for tax-exempt status for long periods of time, hindering their fundraising for the 2010 and 2012 elections.

Many of the groups were applying for tax-exempt status as social welfare organizations, which are allowed to participate in campaign activity if that is not their primary activity. The IRS judges whether that imprecise standard is met.

Friday's hearing was just the start of Congress' probe of the IRS' actions, with the Senate Finance and House Oversight committees planning hearings next week.

In addition, Attorney General Eric Holder has said the FBI was investigating whether the IRS may have violated applicants' civil rights.

Obama has rejected the idea of naming a special prosecutor to investigate the episode, saying Thursday that the probes by Congress and the Justice Department would get to the bottom of who was responsible.

Obama has named Daniel Werfel, a top White House budget officer, to replace Miller.

Also Thursday, Joseph Grant, one of Miller's top deputies, announced plans to retire June 3, according to an internal IRS memo. Grant is commissioner of the agency's tax exempt and government entities division, which includes the agents that targeted tea party groups for additional scrutiny.

Grant joined the IRS in 2005 and took over as acting commissioner of the tax exempt and government entities division in December 2010. He was just named the permanent commissioner May 8.

When asked whether Grant was pressured to leave, IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said Grant had more than 31 years of federal service and it was his personal decision to leave.

Before he joined the IRS, Grant was a top official at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Grant's predecessor at the IRS was Sarah Hall Ingram, who is now director of the agency's Affordable Care Act Office. Ingram was in charge of the tax exempt division when IRS agents first started targeting conservative groups.

The IRS said Ingram was assigned to help the agency implement the health care law in December 2010, about six months before the Treasury inspector general's report said her subordinate, the director of exempt organizations, learned about the targeting.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-17-IRS-Political%20Groups/id-e3d34bf43a78411b9f023f3bed55f87d

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Happy 27th Birthday, Megan Fox!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/happy-27th-birthday-megan-fox/

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Ohio man convicted of murder in case hinging on paralyzed victim blinking eyes to ID shooter

CINCINNATI - An Ohio man was found guilty Thursday in the shooting death of a man who authorities say identified his assailant by blinking his eyes while paralyzed and hooked up to a ventilator.

Ricardo Woods, 35, was convicted of fatally shooting David Chandler in Cincinnati in 2010 by a Hamilton County Common Pleas jury that began deliberations Tuesday. Woods also was convicted of felonious assault. He could be sentenced to life in prison.

Police interviewed the 35-year-old Chandler while he was hooked up to a ventilator, paralyzed after being shot in the head and neck Oct. 28, 2010, as he sat in a car. He was only able to communicate with his eyes and died about two weeks later.

Prosecutors showed jurors a videotaped police interview in which they say Chandler blinked three times for "yes" to identify a photo of Woods as his shooter. The defence had tried to block the video, saying Chandler's blinks were inconsistent and unreliable.

Woods' attorney, Kory Jackson, said Chandler's condition and drugs used to treat him could have affected his ability to understand and respond during the police interview.

Judge Beth Myers had watched the video and said that she found the identification reliable. She noted that Chandler's identification was made by pronounced, exaggerated movement of the eyes and not by involuntary movements. A doctor who treated Chandler also testified that Chandler was able to communicate clearly about his condition.

In the video, police had to repeat some questions when Chandler failed to respond or when the number of times he blinked appeared unclear. But Chandler blinked his eyes hard three times when police asked him if the photo of Woods was the photo of his shooter. He again blinked three times when they asked him if he was sure.

A jailhouse informant testified that Woods told him he shot at Chandler because he caught him buying drugs from someone else while still owing Woods money for drugs.

The defence argued that the informant, who faced armed robbery charges, was trying to use testimony against Woods to get a lighter sentence for himself. The defence also said Chandler had stolen drugs from dealers, was considered a police "snitch" and had many enemies.

The defence insisted that Woods was a victim of misidentification and misinformation.

Legal experts say such cases ? where prosecutors attempt to show a defendant was identified by a gesture ? are not unheard of but are unusual. Dying identifications relying on gestures rather than words are often not used in trials because of concern over reliability or differing interpretations. But some have been used in murder cases around the country that have ended in convictions.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-man-convicted-murder-case-hinging-paralyzed-victim-203314701.html

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Non-fiction eBook writing | Book Writing | Copywriting | eBooks ...

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