worldnews: September 2011

Friday, 23 September 2011

James Spader Makes Life Difficult In “The Office”

worldnews: Space Junk: NASA Now Predicts Satellite Re-Entry T...

worldnews: Space Junk: NASA Now Predicts Satellite Re-Entry T...: Re-entry of NASA's abandoned UARS satellite into earth's atmosphere is expected late today or early Saturday, the space agency said in a n...

Space Junk: NASA Now Predicts Satellite Re-Entry Tonight or Saturday Morning

Re-entry of NASA's abandoned UARS satellite into earth's atmosphere is expected late today or early Saturday, the space agency said in a new update. While NASA maintains that it will not be over North America at that time, they also insist it's too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any certainty.
The biggest piece of US space junk to fall in 30 years could hit Earth late Friday or early Saturday, NASA said as it struggled to predict where and when the defunct satellite would crash.NASA stressed that the risk is "extremely small" that the 26 fragments expected to survive re-entry would hit any of the planet's seven billion people.As rumors of potential crash sites lit up the Internet, Italy took the unusual step of warning residents to stay indoors late Friday to avoid a 1.5 percent risk of the six-ton satellite hitting the northern part of the country.The latest NASA data showed the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) was slowing down and changing its path so that a US landing could no longer be ruled out. On Thursday, the US space agency has said North America was out of range."The satellite's orientation or configuration apparently has changed, and that is now slowing its descent," NASA said in an update posted at 10:45 am (1445 GMT)."There is a low probability any debris that survives re-entry will land in the United States, but the possibility cannot be discounted because of this changing rate of descent," the update said."It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any certainty, but predictions will become more refined in the next 12 to 18 hours," or between 0230 GMT and 0830 GMT Saturday.Parts that survive the fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere may weigh as little as two pounds (one kilogram) or as much as 350 pounds (158 kilograms), NASA said, and the debris field is expected to span 500 miles (800 kilometers).Orbital debris scientists say the pieces will fall somewhere between 57 north latitude and 57 south latitude, which covers most of the populated world.The tumbling motion of the satellite makes it difficult to narrow down the location. And given that the world is 70 percent water, an ocean landing was considered likely.

Space Junk: NASA Now Predicts Satellite Re-Entry Tonight or Saturday Morning

worldnews: All My Children Ends 40-Season Run Today

worldnews: All My Children Ends 40-Season Run Today: All My Children Ends 40-Season Run Today :" All My Children" -- known affectionately as "All My Kids" to its devoted fans, some of whom ha...

worldnews: Obama Allowing States to opt out of Education Refo...

worldnews: Obama Allowing States to opt out of Education Refo...: President Barack Obama announced Friday that states will be allowed to opt out of certain requirements imposed by the controversial No Chil...

All My Children Ends 40-Season Run Today

All My Children Ends 40-Season Run Today:"All My Children" -- known affectionately as "All My Kids" to its devoted fans, some of whom have been watching the show since they were kids -- premiered on ABC on January 5, 1970.Lucci, arguably the most popular actress in soap opera history, joined that same year, as a 22-year-old playing the then-15-year-old Erica Kane, a troublemaker who would go on to become the first TV character to get an abortion and to become one of the most married characters in daytime (nearly a dozen for the love-loving Erica).The show has also seen its share of actors and actresses who've gone on to star in primetime and on the big screen, including Josh Duhamel, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Eva LaRue, Mischa Barton, Kim Delaney, Kelly Ripa and husband Mark Consuelos (who met on the show and were an "AMC" couple before they were married in real life), Jesse McCartney, Lauren Holly, Christian Slater and Michelle Trachtenberg.Both Carol Burnett and Elizabeth Taylor, fans of the series, made guest appearances on "AMC."As for the show's future, Lucci has yet to sign on for the version of "All My Children" that will continue as a Web series -- though her co-stars Cameron Mathison and Lindsay Hartley have -- and in an update of her memoir, "All My Life," Lucci slams ABC daytime head Brian Frons' decision to cancel "AMC," saying Frons has "that fatal combination of ignorance and arrogance."But soap ratings have been declining for years -- Mental Floss magazine has a great oral history of soaps that traces the genre's decline, beginning with the O.J. Simpson trial -- and when the also-canceled "One Life to Live" ends in January, there will be just four daytime soaps on ABC, CBS and NBC.Today, though, is all about the "Children," and those involved have hinted that viewers might see yet another Erica Kane wedding, as well as a cliffhanger that would be resolved in the Web continuation.As for Ms. Kane's potential "new" hubby, it's Jackson Montgomery (Walt Willey), who, of course, isn't new at all. He and Erica were married in 2005, divorced in 2007, and have been entangled many times since.

All My Children Ends 40-Season Run Today

Obama Allowing States to opt out of Education Reform Requirements

President Barack Obama announced Friday that states will be allowed to opt out of certain requirements imposed by the controversial No Child Left Behind law, the landmark education reform initiative passed with broad bipartisan support a decade ago. President Obama this morning unveiled major changes in the way public schools are evaluated, scrapping an essential element of President George W. Bush’s signature education program in favor of letting states come up with their own plans.Bush had good intentions with his No Child Left Behind plan of 2002, Obama told a crowd of educators and students, but it ended up inspiring states to lower their standards and schools to “teach to the test.”“Accountability is the right goal,” Obama said, “but experience has taught us that in its implementation No Child Left Behind is ... hurting instead of helping.”Obama's plan will basically throw out the requirement that every student pass state tests by the 2013-2014 school year, and let states draft their own plans to improve the performance of struggling students in troubled schools.Schools will not necessarily get failing grades for missing particular goals on state achievement tests, and states will be eligible for more flexibility in how they spend federal money previously marked for special tutoring programs.Obama hasn’t been able to reach an agreement in Congress on how to amend the elementary- and secondary-education act that carries the No Child Left Behind provisions, so the changes will come by way of state waivers.The Department of Education will let states apply to change the way they test students and the way they judge school and district performance. States may begin to apply as early as this November.The waivers will relieve elected officials all over the country who were expecting a raft of school-failure grades next year. About 80% of U.S. schools were projected to earn the "failed" label under the old standards.But some members of Congress are already reacting negatively to Obama’s move to make the changes with his executive power rather than through legislation. Some believe that the president and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are assuming too much power.Obama said he has no other choice after his team has been working with Congress for several months to try to remedy the problems without success.“Congress has not been able to fix these flaws so far,” Obama said, “so I will.”

Obama Allowing States to opt out of Education Reform Requirements

worldnews: 'Whitney' Series Premiere Review & Discussion

worldnews: 'Whitney' Series Premiere Review & Discussion: ' Whitney ' may very well be the most heavily promoted show in the new fall season, but does it deserve a spot in NBC's coveted Thursday...

'Whitney' Series Premiere Review & Discussion

'Whitney' may very well be the most heavily promoted show in the new fall season, but does it deserve a spot in NBC's coveted Thursday night comedy block? Find out, as we review and discuss the series premiere. Whitney Cummings may be Hollywood’s “It” girl of the moment, with two new shows premiering this week that she both co-created and co-produces.But there’s a good chance that spotlight will flame out after last night’s debut of her self-titled sitcom on NBC.It’s “Whitney,” the worst new show of 1998!Cummings plays a character named – wait for it – Whitney, who is in a committed relationship with her long-term boyfriend Alex (Chris D’Elia). The two are deeply in love but deeply opposed to the idea of marriage, which is supposed to allow for wacky hilarity to ensue.If that last phrase sounds like a bad sitcom from the ‘90s, well, that’s what “Whitney” feels like. The multi-camera set-up, the labored jokes, the obvious “pause for laughter” beats coming from the actors.In one scene, one of Whitney’s recently-divorced friends gives a diatribe about being single that basically boils down to, “whoa, DATING these days, am I right?”The producers did the show no favors by airing literally every single punch line in the endless promotions leading up to last night’s premiere. But it also doesn’t help that the jokes nearly all fell flat.Also not helping: D’Elia, whose line readings fall somewhere between boredom and constant mugging. Cummings herself isn’t terrible as an actress. The most honest moments come when she’s holding back her own laughter or, surprisingly, when she’s expressing genuine emotion rather than spouting off practiced one-liners,The setup for the premiere episode involved Whitney and Alex attending a wedding with their friends, where someone brings up the idea that relationships need to involve regular intimacy in order to stay fresh.Despite the fact that the couple is supposedly secure in their love for each other, Whitney suffers an immediate descent into self doubt and attempts to spice up her sex life. Cue the “sexy nurse” outfit you’ve seen in the previews, along with the jokes about her boyfriend actually having to fill out paperwork as part of their role play.Cummings has made a name for herself through a comedy style that involves quite a bit of raunch. But now that she’s on broadcast television, that sharp edge has to be dulled down to meet network standards, and it leaves the entire situation feeling like a scene that’s played out dozens of times.Between the bad jokes, wooden acting, predictable setups and feeling that we’ve seen this all before on other, better shows, I don’t think “Whitney” is long for this world.

‘Whitney’ Series Premiere Review & Discussion

worldnews: Breaking the Speed of Light

worldnews: Breaking the Speed of Light: Breaking the Speed of Light : It’s been a tenet of the standard model of physics for over a century. The speed of light is a unwavering an...

Breaking the Speed of Light

Breaking the Speed of Light:It’s been a tenet of the standard model of physics for over a century. The speed of light is a unwavering and unbreakable barrier, at least by any form of matter and energy we know of. Nothing in our Universe can travel faster than 299,792 km/s (186,282 mph), not even – as the term implies – light itself. It’s the universal constant, the “c” in Einstein’s E = mc², a cosmic speed limit that can’t be broken.A startling find at one of the world's foremost laboratories that a subatomic particle seemed to move faster than the speed of light has scientists around the world rethinking Albert Einstein and one of the foundations of physics.
Now they are planning to put the finding to further high-speed tests to see if a revolutionary shift in explaining the workings of the universe is needed — or if the European scientists made a mistake.Researchers at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research outside Geneva, who announced the discovery Thursday are still somewhat surprised themselves and planned to detail their findings on Friday.If these results are confirmed, they won't change at all the way we live or the way the universe behaves. After all, these particles have presumably been speed demons for billions of years. But the finding will fundamentally change our understanding of how the world works, physicists said.Only two labs elsewhere in the world can try to replicate the results. One is Fermilab outside Chicago and the other is a Japanese lab put on hold by the March tsunami and earthquake. Fermilab officials met Thursday about verifying the European study and said their particle beam is already up and running. The only trouble is that their measuring systems aren't nearly as precise as the Europeans' and won't be upgraded for a while, said Fermilab scientist Rob Plunkett."This thing is so important many of the normal scientific rivalries fall by the wayside," said Plunkett, a spokesman for the Fermilab team's experiments. "Everybody is going to be looking at every piece of information."Plunkett said he is keeping an open mind on whether Einstein's theories need an update, but he added: "It's dangerous to lay odds against Einstein. Einstein has been tested repeatedly over and over again."
Going faster than light is something that is just not supposed to happen according to Einstein's 1905 special theory of relativity — the one made famous by the equation E equals mc2. The speed of light — 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second) — has long been considered a cosmic speed limit."We'd be thrilled if it's right because we love something that shakes the foundation of what we believe," said famed Columbia University physicist Brian Greene. "That's what we live for."

Breaking the Speed of Light

worldnews: ROB BELL LEAVING MARS HILL

worldnews: ROB BELL LEAVING MARS HILL: ROB BELL LEAVING MARS HILL : Apprising Ministries is an online apologetics and discernment work that’s been a leading voice against one of...

ROB BELL LEAVING MARS HILL

ROB BELL LEAVING MARS HILL: Apprising Ministries is an online apologetics and discernment work that’s been a leading voice against one of the major players within the sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church; its original iconic rock star pastor Rob Bell.Rob Bell, the Michigan megachurch pastor whose bestselling book on hell sparked nationwide controversy earlier this year, has left his church.
Bell’s departure was announced on a website for 3,000-member Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville.“Feeling the call from God to pursue a growing number of strategic opportunities, our founding pastor Rob Bell has decided to leave Mars Hill in order to devote his full energy to sharing the message of God's love with a broader audience,” the statement read.No other details about his departure were made public. Bell’s book “Love Wins” questioned the traditional Christian view of hell. Bell argued that hell was not eternal. He wrote that people could choose to leave hell if they wanted too.That view angered conservative evangelicals like the Rev. John Piper, an influential writer and pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis.After seeing a video promoting "Love Wins," Piper tweeted “Farewell Rob Bell” on his Twitter account. That set off a furious online debate about the book. The controversy helped propel it to the number two spot on the New York Times bestseller list.After Bell’s departure became public, Ed Stetzer, president of Nashville-based LifeWay Research, tweeted “Farewell Rob Bell," a tongue-in-cheek reference to the controversy.

ROB BELL LEAVING MARS HILL

worldnews: Bengals Cedric Benson Denies Having Been Informed ...

worldnews: Bengals Cedric Benson Denies Having Been Informed ...: As we pointed out earlier this afternoon, Michael Silver of Yahoo ! Sports wrote that Cedric Benson has been notified of a three-game susp...

Bengals Cedric Benson Denies Having Been Informed Of Suspension, "Strong Case" For Appeal

As we pointed out earlier this afternoon, Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports wrote that Cedric Benson has been notified of a three-game suspension for violating the league's personal conduct policy during the lockout. An appeal will be heard on Tuesday allowing Benson to suit up and start against the San Francisco 49ers this weekend.Cincinnati Bengals running back Cedric Benson is facing a three-game suspension for player-conduct violations during the lockout, sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.Benson will have an appeal hearing Tuesday with the NFL to determine his fate, a source told ESPN.com's John Clayton. There is no timetable for when Benson would serve the possible suspension if he loses the appeal. He is expected to be available for Sunday's game against the 49ers.A source familiar with the situation believes Benson has a "strong case" to appeal the suspension. He will play this weekend against the San Francisco 49ers as no suspension is official until after appeal.Benson has rushed for 180 yards through the first two weeks of the season despite having the issue weighing on him.Benson was released from a Texas jail on Sept. 3 after serving five days to settle two misdemeanor assault cases.He had pleaded no contest and was given a 20-day jail sentence that was reduced in part because he volunteered to mop floors and help paint crews. He also got credit for time served after his arrests.The 28-year-old Benson was arrested in 2010 for allegedly punching a bar employee in Austin, an incident that earned him a meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell but resulted in no punishment. He pleaded no contest to a charge of assault with injury in that case.He also was arrested in July for allegedly punching a former roommate in downtown Austin. He pleaded no contest to a charge of assault with bodily injury with family violence, and that will be dismissed if he performs 30 hours of community service and pays an undisclosed amount of restitution to the victim.

Bengals Cedric Benson Denies Having Been Informed Of Suspension, “Strong Case” For Appeal

Thursday, 22 September 2011

worldnews: Rush Limbaugh On Gary Johnson Joke: 'Guess I've Be...

worldnews: Rush Limbaugh On Gary Johnson Joke: 'Guess I've Be...: NEW YORK -- Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson brought down the house at Thursday night's Fox News/ Google debate when he joked about how ...

Rush Limbaugh On Gary Johnson Joke: 'Guess I've Become Show Prep For The GOP Debates'

NEW YORK -- Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson brought down the house at Thursday night's Fox News/ Google debate when he joked about how his "next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration."Johnson’s comment about dogs creating more ‘shovel-ready jobs’ than Obama – actually said first by Rush Limbaugh – earns former governor attention at GOP presidential debateYes, former N.M. Gov. Gary Johnson is still a presidential candidate, though most people paying marginal attention to the GOP primary probably didn’t know it.
Until Thursday night.After being excluded from a number of debates, Johnson was finally allowed into one by Fox News. And while the media focused on the fighting between frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, Johnson got credit for the best line of the night.Near the end of the debate, Johnson had this zinger:
“My next-door neighbor’s two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration.” “For a candidate who is clocking in somewhere between asterisk and one percent in polling, the former New Mexico governor had a moment with his ‘my neighbor’s two dogs have created more shovel-ready projects than this president’ line,” the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza wrote in declaring Johnson one of the debate’s winners. “It will be the most replayed line of the night — without question.”
The Hill said Johnson “seemed nervous” through most of the debate but “pulled himself together for one of the evening’s more memorable lines.”

Rush Limbaugh On Gary Johnson Joke: ‘Guess I’ve Become Show Prep For The GOP Debates’

worldnews: Tiny Neutrinos May Have Broken Cosmic

worldnews: Tiny Neutrinos May Have Broken Cosmic: Albert Einstein had the idea. A century of observations have backed it up. It's one of the cornerstones of physics: Nothing travels faster ...

Tiny Neutrinos May Have Broken Cosmic

Albert Einstein had the idea. A century of observations have backed it up. It's one of the cornerstones of physics: Nothing travels faster than the speed of light.But now a team of experimental physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, says that one exotic particle possibly can.The scientists reached their conclusion after sending streams of tiny, subatomic particles called neutrinos hurtling from an accelerator at CERN outside Geneva to a detector at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy, about 450 miles away.The neutrinos seemed to get there too soon — 60 nanoseconds too soon, give or take — than they should if they'd been traveling at the speed of light.That slight edge, if it holds up under scrutiny, has enormous implications for our understanding of the laws of nature, physicists said."Basically, all of special relativity would be wrong," said Drexel University physics professor Dave Goldberg, referring to Einstein's 1905 theory establishing that light travels at a constant speed, regardless of how fast an observer is traveling, and that nothing in the universe can go faster than it."If you have particles traveling faster than the speed of light, you can in principle go back in time. So you can be your own grandmother. As you can imagine, that causes some problems," said Stephen Parke, a theoretical particle physicist at Fermilab in Batavia, Ill.The operative word is "if.""I'm fairly skeptical. I expect most people are," Goldberg said.The physicists responsible for the work said they'd checked their findings stringently."We wanted to find all possible explanations for this. We wanted to find a mistake, but we didn't," said physicist Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the so-called OPERA experiment, in an interview with the BBC on Thursday.Because it was such "a crazy result," the team was releasing its data, based on three years of measurements, so that others in the scientific community could confirm or refute the findings, he added.The researchers posted the paper online Thursday evening and planned a seminar at CERN to discuss the findings Friday.But even before the paper was available, scientists with the capability to generate and measure the speed of neutrinos were gearing up to try to duplicate the results."As you can imagine, something like this is so revolutionary that everyone who can weigh in will be attempting to do so," said particle physicist Rob Plunkett, co-spokesperson for the MINOS experiment at Fermilab.In 2007, MINOS scientists also clocked neutrinos apparently moving faster than the speed of light, but the margin of error for that experiment was far greater than what was reported at CERN."It was not enough to make a scientific claim," Plunkett said.MINOS scientists may perform experiments of their own in as soon as six months, said particle physicist and MINOS co-spokesperson Jenny Thomas.Plans to test the CERN results in Japan's multinational T2K (Tokai-to-Kamioka) experiment are in the works, said neutrino physicist and T2K spokesman Chang Kee Jung.Noodling the ramifications — should the findings be confirmed — gave physicists pause. There are just too many things in nature that special relativity explains."What does it mean? I don't know," Goldberg said. "The list of things we believe we understand still have to be true. You'd have to have another theory that makes them all work, but also accounts for this."
Parke, a fellow skeptic, said the findings could be explained without tossing out special relativity. For one thing, he said, it's possible the neutrinos' passage hadn't been timed accurately.Or maybe the neutrinos were traveling through different dimensions, taking shortcuts from Geneva to Gran Sasso."The jury's still out," Plunkett said. "It's revolutionary in principle. One has to approach it with healthy skepticism."

Mundane Neutrino Explanations

worldnews: NBC's 'Prime Suspect' Reinvents ITV's Restrained J...

worldnews: NBC's 'Prime Suspect' Reinvents ITV's Restrained J...: There is one thing that kept the series premiere of Prime Suspect from descending into mediocrity : Maria Bello.Never before have I watched...

NBC's 'Prime Suspect' Reinvents ITV's Restrained Jane

There is one thing that kept the series premiere of Prime Suspect from descending into mediocrity: Maria Bello.Never before have I watched someone who wanted something so badly. Bello, as Jane Timoney, is able to keep up with the boys and beat them at their own game of being a detective in New York City.
Hayden: It is impossible to talk about Prime Suspect without mentioning the original, the phenomenal British series about the difficulties and bitter triumphs of Detective Inspector Jane Tennison, played by Helen Mirren off and on for some 15 years. The original series (which, as I’m sure you know, is Britspeak for “season”) ran for two 100-minute episodes in 1991, in which we met Tennison and witnessed her struggle to be accepted as legitimate homicide police in face of institutional sexism. Many procedurals that followed Prime Suspect owed it a debt, especially the darker ones with tough-but-flawed female protagonists, such as The Closer. However, despite the debt, those were different shows. Tonight we have the debut of the Americanized version, a show that dares to use the same name and invite comparisons to the mostly unimpeachable original. In short, it has a lot to do to earn its name. Unfortunately, it is only about halfway there.
Americanized versions of British shows generally run into large problems right away. Since British TV series are usually scoped to have longer episodes and fewer of them per season, the Americanized versions tend to cram a lot of information and recycled plot points into the first few episodes, after which they either learn to swim by themselves or drown like dogs. The Prime Suspect pilot does not break this mold, shoving major points from the 200-minutes of the original Prime Suspect series into its 45 minutes of running time. This adaptation, stuffed though it might be, is handled reasonably well, surprisingly. Maria Bello’s Jane Timoney, the American counterpart of Tennison, is believably angry and brittle. Her colleagues in the original were working-class Londoners, and the best available translation is likely obnoxious Staten Island guys. There are more signs of intelligence at work in the writing, which is promising for future episodes. Another positive sign is the presence of the creator of the original series, Lynda La Plante, as one of the many executive producers. The presence of Peter Berg, who executive-produces and directs the pilot, is a bit more concerning, because we don’t know if we’re getting Peter “Friday Night Lights” Berg or Peter “Battleship: The Movie” Berg. The presence of Alexandra Cunningham, who is best known for foisting more episodes of Desperate Housewives upon an unsuspecting public, cannot be a good sign.

Prime Suspect Review: Series Premiere

worldnews: Today News GOP Debate Talk: 'Spanky McFarland Coul...

worldnews: Today News GOP Debate Talk: 'Spanky McFarland Coul...: Today News GOP Debate Talk: 'Spanky McFarland Could Be Running, And If He Could Beat Obama I'd Vote For Him ' : ORLANDO, Fla. -- Hours befo...

Today News GOP Debate Talk: 'Spanky McFarland Could Be Running, And If He Could Beat Obama I'd Vote For Him'

Today News GOP Debate Talk: 'Spanky McFarland Could Be Running, And If He Could Beat Obama I'd Vote For Him' :
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Hours before the sixth Republican presidential debate, the mood among the crowd was one of giddy anticipation. The early disappointments with the field have faded. The Republican contenders for the presidential nomination aimed their fire Thursday night at front-runner Rick Perry while several second-tier candidates tried to gain traction in the GOP field as they faced off at a debate in Orlando, Fla.The initial moments were congenial, with the candidates skewering President Obama's economic policies, but they soon turned on one another. As they have in prior meetings, Mitt Romney and Perry jousted repeatedly, with Perry at one point comparing their exchanges to a game of badminton as he gestured as though he were swinging a racket.Romney criticized Perry for saying that Social Security was unconstitutional as a federal matter and ought to be handled by the states, a claim the Texas governor denied. Throughout the evening, Perry repeatedly accused the former Massachusetts governor of flip-flopping."This is not the first time that Mitt's been wrong on issues. We never said we are going to move this back to the states," Perry said, arguing that he was discussing state workers, as they had in Massachusetts.Romney replied that Perry's words now are different than they were months ago, when his book "Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington" came out."There is a Rick Perry out there that's saying … that [the] federal government shouldn't be in the pension business, and it's unconstitutional, and it should be returned to the states, so you better find that Rick Perry and get him to stop saying that," Romney said.Perry used the exchange to draw attention to Romney's healthcare plan in Massachusetts, which included a mandate and which Obama's federal plan was based on.

Today News GOP Debate Talk: ‘Spanky McFarland Could Be Running, And If He Could Beat Obama I’d Vote For Him’

worldnews: 'Person Of Interest' Series Premiere Review & Disc...

worldnews: 'Person Of Interest' Series Premiere Review & Disc...: 'Person Of Interest' Series Premiere Review & Discussion: CBS' new action-thriller has a lot of buzz going for it, with stars James Caviez...

'Person Of Interest' Series Premiere Review & Discussion

'Person Of Interest' Series Premiere Review & Discussion:CBS' new action-thriller has a lot of buzz going for it, with stars James Caviezel and Michael Emerson, not to mention 'Dark Knight' writer Jonathan Nolan. But does the premiere deliver on the good guy/Big Brother premise? We begin with the sound of seagulls and the sight of breezy curtains. Reese (played by Jim Caviezel) is sexily shirtless and canoodling in bed with a pretty young woman. His voice is musing about how it is when you meet the right person…Cut to Reese in a NYC subway car, and now he’s shaggy-haired and in need of a shower. His voice asks: but when the right person is taken from you, what do you become then?Some thugs who are up to no good enter the car and their leader, Anton, tries to filch Reese’s bottle of whiskey. In a display of supersharp reflexes, Reese grabs hold of Anton’s wrist and scares the bejeesus out of him. But does Anton walk away? No, he taunts some more until Reese flips out and displays straight kung fu style: he knocks three of the thugs out and has Anton in a chokehold, all in the span of five seconds.The screen fades to fuzzy black and white, revealing that the entire scene has been filmed on security camera. And here we encounter one of the show’s major themes: civilian surveillance. The screen pans to hundreds of other black and white camera shots of ordinary life – the Brooklyn Bridge, the highway, a subway entrance, then a police station. Big Brother is always watching, and now we’re getting meta and watching people just like you and me being watched.

‘Person Of Interest’ Series Premiere Review & Discussion

worldnews: In First Company-Wide Email, Meg Whitman Says HP M...

worldnews: In First Company-Wide Email, Meg Whitman Says HP M...: In First Company-Wide Email, Meg Whitman Says HP Must Focus On Their Mission : Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitma...

worldnews: In First Company-Wide Email, Meg Whitman Says HP M...

In First Company-Wide Email, Meg Whitman Says HP Must Focus On Their Mission

In First Company-Wide Email, Meg Whitman Says HP Must Focus On Their Mission:Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman plans to stick by strategies set in motion by her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, betting that investors prefer steady leadership to another unsettling change of course.Whitman, in her first interview as Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, said the company stands by plans to acquire U.K. software marker Autonomy Corp. for $10.3 billion. The company also will continue to explore whether to sell or spin off the personal-computer division, she said. Those moves were announced on Aug. 18.“It does not signal a change in the strategy,” Whitman said yesterday of her appointment. “We are behind the actions that were taken on Aug. 18. We are firmly committed to Autonomy.”
Whitman is hewing to those plans to avoid alienating shareholders who were fed up with the about-faces that characterized Apotheker’s reign. Still, Hewlett-Packard is overpaying for Autonomy and it shouldn’t have announced a possible PC unit sale without a concrete plan in place, said Chris Whitmore, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG.“We’re going to get more of the same from a Meg Whitman- led HP as we did from a Leo-led HP,” said Whitmore, who is based in San Francisco and has a “sell” rating on Hewlett- Packard. “The board isn’t going to change the strategy and is going to continue down this path, which frankly was the fear.”

In First Company-Wide Email, Meg Whitman Says HP Must Focus On Their Mission

worldnews: Today Latest News Updates:Liveblogging Facebook F8...

worldnews: Today Latest News Updates:Liveblogging Facebook F8...: Today Latest News Updates:Liveblogging Facebook F8 Developer Conference 2011 : CEO Mark Zuckerberg and team reveal the Facebook's latest am...

Today Latest News Updates:Liveblogging Facebook F8 Developer Conference 2011

Today Latest News Updates:Liveblogging Facebook F8 Developer Conference 2011:CEO Mark Zuckerberg and team reveal the Facebook's latest ambitious efforts to socialize the Web. Facebook has radically redesigned its profile page, launching ‘timeline’ – a new way of telling the story of your life on a single page and will now allow users to listen to music, watch films and read news without leaving the site.Announcing the raft of changes at f8, Facebook’s annual developers conference in San Francisco, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and chief executive, said: “Millions of people curate stories of their lives on Facebook every day and have no way to share them once they fall off your profile page...we have been working on ‘timeline’ all year…it’s the story of your life and completely new way to express yourself.“It has three pieces: all your stories, your apps and a new way to express who you are.”Zuckerberg said he wanted people to be able to share “their entire lives” on Facebook and have “total control” over how their content appeared online. Using his own profile to demonstrate the new timeline, Zuckerberg showed photos of himself as a baby which he has inserted into the new profile page which is organized by years. ‘Timeline’ will be rolled out over the next “few weeks”.He said that he wanted people to “fill in the gaps” so that all users’ personal information was on their Facebook profile.

HP names Meg Whitman new President and CEO, gives Leo Apotheker the boot

Well, after less than a year on the job as HP’s top dog Léo Apotheker is out, and former eBay CEO and one time candidate for California governor Meg Whitman is in. The move was hardly unexpected, but it very quickly evolved from quiet mumblings and rumors to full-fledged fact this afternoon. Meg Whitman, eBay’s former chief executive, was named to lead Hewlett-Packard on Thursday, the company said.She replaces Léo Apotheker, the company’s chief executive, after only 11 months on the job. He is also stepping down as a director.But Mr. Apotheker’s strategy, including consideration of spinning off H.P.’s personal computer business from other parts of the company, will most likely remain in place.The company also said it was naming Ray Lane, who serves as nonexecutive chairman, as executive chairman. The company said it would appoint a lead independent director.“We are at a critical moment and we need renewed leadership to successfully implement our strategy and take advantage of the market opportunities ahead,” Mr. Lane said in a statement. “Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution. She is a strong communicator who is customer-focused with deep leadership capabilities. Furthermore, as a member of H.P.’s board of directors for the past eight months, Meg has a solid understanding of our products and markets.”Ms. Whitman is also a member of the H.P. board. According to a person with knowledge of the board’s decision, she was chosen for her track record of successfully managing a large, complex business, her communications skills both internally and with Wall Street and her ability to lead senior executives through corporate transitions.All of these were seen as Mr. Apotheker’s shortcomings. While the board liked his plan to move H.P. to a business with more software and services, H.P.’s poor earnings and unhappiness with Mr. Apotheker by some members of the company’s powerful executive committee ultimately spelled his downfall, the person close to the board said. Hewlett-Packard’s stock has declined more than 50 percent from its 52-week high, but rose almost 7 percent on Wednesday on reports that Mr. Apotheker faced dismissal. The shares were down almost 5 percent Thursday in a general sell-off on Wall Street.

HP names Meg Whitman new President and CEO, gives Leo Apotheker the boot

Ted Haggard to Swap Wives with Gary Busey

Ted Haggard to Swap Wives with Gary Busey:Seriously, we are not making this up: Ted Haggard and Gary Busey will take part in the first-ever episode of Celebrity Wife Swap. Hey, remember Ted Haggard, the evangelical anti-gay pastor who was deflocked in 2006 when it was revealed that he'd been doing crystal methamphetamine and also, ha ha, paying a male prostitute for sex for three years? And how about Gary Busey, the bizarre brain-injured drug-addict actor who used to do movies but recently has become known for being arrested and appearing on Celebrity Rehab and Celebrity Apprentice?
Some producer who is either clinically insane or an evil genius apparently thought these two freakshows would be two great tastes that taste great together, because they're both about to appear on a new ABC reality show, Celebrity Wife Swap.Yes, you heard that right: there is going to be a show about Ted Haggard and Gary Busey swapping wives. Oh, you thought nothing could be worse than Jersey Shore, but you were SO SO WRONG.
The premise is this: each episode of Celebrity Wife Swap will follow the couples as they switch wives for two weeks. During the first week, the wives must live by a rule book left behind by the departing spouse, and after that, the wives take charge in order to try and change the way their "new" families live.

Ted Haggard to Swap Wives with Gary Busey

worldnews: Daphne Guinness on Food: Who Needs It?

worldnews: Daphne Guinness on Food: Who Needs It?: Heiress/fashion icon Daphne Guinness raised eyebrows this week with her comments on style over comfort. Her diet of champions: Red Bill a...

Daphne Guinness on Food: Who Needs It?

Heiress/fashion icon Daphne Guinness raised eyebrows this week with her comments on style over comfort. Her diet of champions: Red Bill and Ensure. Daphne Guinness' secret to staying stick thin is out. The haute couture addict told the New Yorker that she would not eat until she was dead.In a New Yorker feature Guinness was quoted telling her personal assistant that if she ate she could not work. Her personal assistant, Teresa Alfonso allegedly tried to get her to eat some pasta that was prepared for the production team. " I'll eat when I'm dead," she was quoted saying.The New Yorker also revealed that the artist got through the shoot consuming Red Bull and other nutrition shakes.Meanwhile, the pieces from the wardrobe of the Guinness Heiress are being exhibited at The Museum at FIT, and will run through to Jan.7. The artist revealed that she has 2,500 pieces in her wardrobe as well as 450 pairs of shoes, 70 hats and 200 handbags."She is one of the - if not the - most stylish women living," designer and film director Tom Ford said of Daphne Guinness.

worldnews: Elizabeth Warren Blasts GOP 'Class Warfare' Charge...

worldnews: Elizabeth Warren Blasts GOP 'Class Warfare' Charge...: Elizabeth Warren Blasts GOP 'Class Warfare' Charge, Tax Cuts For The Rich:Elizabeth Warren , Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts ...

Elizabeth Warren Blasts GOP 'Class Warfare' Charge, Tax Cuts For The Rich

Elizabeth Warren Blasts GOP 'Class Warfare' Charge, Tax Cuts For The Rich:Elizabeth Warren, Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts and former White House financial reform adviser, blasted Republicans at an appearance In Andover last month for accusing Democrats of engaging in "class warfare." As she mounts a challenge to Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, former Harvard Law school professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren has tried to put her controversial days in Washington behind her – but it hasn’t been easy.Politico reported on Thursday that Warren, an unrelenting advocate of transparency in government, has been less than forthcoming about how the Congressional Oversight Panel she chaired for two years spent more than $10 million of taxpayer’s dollars in overseeing the government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program. Warren has yet to break down how much she received in total salary and how much the panel spent on travel expenses, meals and consultants, according to the report.