killmurphy: June 2012

Saturday, 16 June 2012

'Rock Of Ages': Behind The Star-Studded Cameos

Director Adam Shankman explains how '80s icons like Sebastian Bach and Debbie Gibson ended up in the movie musical.
By Amy Wilkinson

Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta in "Rock of Ages"
Photo:

The '80s are alive and well in director Adam Shankman's movie musical "Rock of Ages," which shimmied into theaters Friday (June 15).

Based on the hit Broadway production of the same name, the flick follows would-be musician Drew Boley (Diego Boneta) as he falls for new-in-town Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough) and lands his big break opening for rock legend Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) at the famed Bourbon Room.

The soundtrack is stuffed with the era's biggest hits like "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," "Don't Stop Believin' " and "I Want to Know What Love Is," but the toe-tapping tunes aren't the only throwbacks to the decade of decadence. Pay close attention and you'll spot a number of '80s music mavens.

A major plotline in the film centers around conservative advocate Patricia Whitmore's (Catherine Zeta-Jones) attempt to shutter the Bourbon Room and reclaim the Sunset Strip for more wholesome pursuits. The struggle reaches its climax in a rocking protest outside the club with Patricia and company facing off against club employee Lonny (Russell Brand) while singing a mash-up of "We Built This City" and "We're Not Gonna Take It." It's here among the assembled masses that you'll recognize a few familiar faces, like Skid Row's Sebastian Bach and Debbie Gibson. But how did the cameos come to be?

"I had said if anyone from the period wants to participate, there is a scene I'm happy to accommodate, 'cause it just felt right. ... So the studio just kind of put out the word, and that's what happened," Shankman said. "I would get the phone call the day before going, 'This is who's coming tomorrow,' and I'm like, 'Seriously?!' "

Having a bevy of rock stars on a single set might sound like a nightmare of warring egos and AquaNet, but in fact, Shankman said the stars sang for their supper, staging an impromptu concert.

"The greatest part of having those guys — [REO Speedwagon's] Kevin Cronin, [Extreme's] Nuno Bettencourt and Sebastian — all of them, our lunch that night was at 3:30 in the morning, and during lunch for the whole crew, they did a whole concert, and they sang all the songs."

Now that's a scene we want to see on the DVD bonus reel!

Check out everything we've got on "Rock of Ages."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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MTV Rough Cut: 'Rock Of Ages'

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Carlotta kills 2, weakens to tropical depression

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Friday, 15 June 2012

Nintendo's Iwata says Wii U's second screen was nearly scrapped due to price

The idea of a second screen experience is fairly central to the Wii U as it is today, but it looks like it could have nearly been shoved aside as just another concept. In an interview published today by The Telegraph, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that the company "almost gave up on the idea of the additional screen" during its final discussions about the console, adding that "this was due to our concern over the expected high cost, it may not have been feasible to create this and sell it at a reasonable price point for the consumers." As Joystiq notes, that does suggest it was ultimately able to land on a "reasonable" price for the console, although we're still only hearing unofficial numbers tossed around at this point. You can find the full interview at the source link below.

Nintendo's Iwata says Wii U's second screen was nearly scrapped due to price originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Texas Schools Foot Big Bill for STAAR Retakes

The school year ended the first week of June for most Texas students, but for hundreds of thousands of them, it won?t mean the end of class.

Because of low scores on the state?s new end-of-course exams, or EOCs, many incoming 10th-graders will have to retake them in July, landing them in summer classes to prepare ? and leaving school districts with a hefty bill.

This year, the scores on the exams don?t count toward high school students? final grades or toward school districts? accountability ratings. But a requirement that students retake a test if they do not achieve a minimum score remains in place.

As part of the new accountability system, high school students ? starting with this year?s ninth-graders ? must achieve a cumulative score across 15 standardized tests in order to graduate. Though students are getting a short-term break from having the exams factor into their final grades, this year?s round of tests will count for that cumulative score. That?s bad news for the students who are eligible to retake the exam in early July, and also for the school districts who must foot the bill for summer school, or what some districts are calling ?EOC camp.?

The Texas Education Agency does not know the exact number of students eligible to retake the exam; according to score summaries from the agency, there were about 430,000 failed exams, but the same student could have failed more than one.

Many districts did not receive notice of how well students did on the exams until after classes had already let out for the summer. That, combined with the logistical challenges of organizing summer classes for what could be thousands of extra students ? explaining to parents why their children need to attend, finding teachers, facilities and transportation ? has made for an ?extremely frustrating situation,? said Pascual Gonzalez, spokesman for San Antonio?s Northside Independent School District.

At around 95,000 students, Northside is the state?s fourth-largest district. It will spend an estimated $750,000 for roughly 2,100 students to attend score-improvement summer classes for 13 days.

?Legislators do not understand the logistics and operation of what it takes to implement laws,? said Gonzalez, whose district has already dipped into its reserves to pay for the summer classes. ?It's very unfair that they brag about cutting the state budget and balancing the books in Austin when all they've done is push these expenses to the local level.?

Houston ISD, the state?s biggest district, has hired more than 200 extra summer school teachers this year to handle an enrollment of up to 7,000 students. Depending on the potential bonuses the teachers earn ? they will be rewarded based on the number of students who pass the exams ? it could end up costing the district $1 million to $1.5 million. The funds are coming out of the pot of money usually reserved for teacher performance pay.

In the Panhandle, Amarillo ISD, which has about 32,000 students, has hired roughly 20 new summer teachers with more likely to come, spokeswoman Holly Shelton said. She estimated the total cost for the district would be around $50,000.

For smaller districts and those in rural areas, there can be an added challenge: Many of them have never operated summer school to begin with. Angelina County?s Hudson ISD has never offered summer school, said Superintendent Mary Ann Whiteker, because the district simply can?t afford it. Transportation for students in the rural East Texas district often ends up costing more than paying the teachers to be there. The district is still investigating how it will pay for remedial STAAR instruction.

Debbie Ratcliffe, a spokeswoman for the TEA, acknowledged that the test retaking requirement does create an added cost for schools.

?That's one thing that the districts are frankly chafing at right now,? she said.

The agency provides online training for teachers looking for tips on how to prepare students for the exams, and Ratcliffe said that in many cases instructors may be able to raise their scores with only a few adjustments in their curriculum.

The House Public Education Committee will hold its second interim hearing on the rollout of the new STAAR system on June 19 ? but so far, it has not gone smoothly. After outcry from parents and lawmakers and widespread confusion among school districts about how to apply a rule that new end-of-course exams account for 15 percent of high school students? final grades, TEA decided to delay its implementation for a year. More than 400 school boards have passed a resolution against high-stakes testing, saying that it is ?strangling our public schools.?

New passing standards set this year ? which the agency will phase in over the next few years ? have drawn criticism for being too lax from everyone from the Texas Association of Business to Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier. Even with the lower standards in place, only 55 percent of students passed the English writing exam and 68 percent passed the English reading test; the passing rates for all three other tests were in the 80s.

(Had the new passing standards been in place this year, the students? rate for the five tests would have been much lower: 41 percent for biology, 39 percent for algebra I, 40 percent for world geography, 46 percent for reading and 34 percent for writing.)

Anxiety over the new testing system has prompted the formation of several parent groups pushing for reforms. Susan Schultz, an Austin attorney and parent of a ninth-grader in Austin ISD, is a founding member of Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment.

She said the poor results on the tests were concerning, and she feels for the parents whose kids will have to spend the first part of their summer studying for the retakes.

?Do we really have confidence that these tests are truly aligned with the curriculum?? she asked. ?It's hard to believe that 55 percent of ninth-graders all of a sudden became bad writers. It makes you question ? who designed the tests, and how are they being scored??

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Cain throws first Giants perfect game

Right-hander strikes out 14 in setting down 27 straight Astros

updated 4:35 a.m. ET June 14, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO - For all those Giants masterpieces, from Christy Mathewson to Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry, Matt Cain topped them all.

Cain pitched the franchise's first perfect game and the 22nd in major league history, striking out a career-high 14 and getting help from two spectacular catches to beat the Houston Astros 10-0 on Wednesday night.

Cain's 125-pitch gem for San Francisco featured a pair of great plays by his corner outfielders. He got pinch-hitter Jason Castro on a grounder to third for his 27th and final out with the sellout crowd of 42,298 roaring.

"This is incredible right now," Cain said. "It was unbelievable. The guys did a great job making it, in a way, kind of relaxing, because they were able to get on the board early."

It was the fifth no-hitter in the majors already this season and second perfect game.

Another Year of the Pitcher? You bet.

In the very ballpark where Barry Bonds made home run history five summers ago, Cain produced the signature moment for pitchers. It was the 14th no-hitter in club history - Mathewson pitched Nos. 2 and 3 in 1901 and '05, and Marichal and Perry had one apiece.

Left fielder Melky Cabrera chased down Chris Snyder's one-out flyball in the sixth, scurrying back to make a leaping catch at the wall. Cain raised both arms and slapped his glove in delight when Cabrera made the play.

Then, right fielder Gregor Blanco ran into deep right-center to make a diving catch on the warning track and rob Jordan Schafer for the first out of the seventh. The 27-year-old pitcher hugged Blanco in the dugout after the inning.

"Those were unbelievable catches," Cain said. "I mean that right there, that changes the whole thing."

Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox tossed the majors' last perfecto at Seattle on April 21. This is the second time in three years there have been two perfect games in the same season - before that, the only other time it happened was in 1880.

Cain (8-2) accomplished a feat last done in the Bay Area by A's lefty Dallas Braden on Mother's Day 2010.

Braden tweeted Wednesday night: "What a beautiful game. Congrats 2 Matt Cain & a historic franchise & city. A special memory ill tell someones kids about! (hash)eraofthepitcher."

Not since 1917 have there been five no-hitters in a season by mid-June. The only year that came close was 1990, when Fernando Valenzuela and Dave Stewart each pitched no-hitters on June 29 - the fourth and fifth of the season.

This year, Johan Santana tossed the New York Mets' first no-hitter on June 1 and six Seattle pitchers shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers last Friday. Jered Weaver had one for the Los Angeles Angels on May 2.

The Astros were no-hit for the fifth time and first since Carlos Zambrano did so for the Cubs on Sept. 14, 2008.

"Just an incredible night," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We were all pulling so hard."

The Giants made a big commitment to Cain this spring, locking him up for a long haul - and he showed exactly why general manager Brian Sabean has vowed to keep his talented pitchers. In a week when the city's attention turned to golf and the U.S. Open, Cain delivered his most impressive gem yet in his 216th career start.

The 125 pitches were the most ever thrown in a perfect game.

The two-time All-Star who had long been the Giants starter who endured a lack of run support already was rewarded with a new $127.5 million, six-year contract in early April before the season started. This certainly meant as much or more to the homegrown pitcher.

Cain threw 86 pitches for strikes, faced just four full counts and still clocked 90 mph in the ninth. Cain followed up Madison Bumgarner's 12-strikeout gem in Tuesday night's 6-3 win.

"I know when I haven't given up a hit, I'm always conscious of it," Cain said. "Probably the first time through the lineup I felt like I had good stuff. The first time through the lineup I felt like something could happen."

Something special, all right. It was the first no-hitter by San Francisco since departed left-hander Jonathan Sanchez did it July 10, 2009, against the Padres at AT&T Park.

The Astros were no-hit by the Giants for the second time. Marichal did it on June 15, 1963.

Even Cain thought Snyder had enough to clear the fences in the sixth. That's when the Astros realized it might be a long night.

"When the ball I hit doesn't go out and the ball that Schafer hits is caught ... I've never seen a ball hit like that into that gap," Snyder said.

Blanco said of his catch: "I didn't think I was going to make it, but I did,"

Ted Barrett became the first umpire to work behind the plate for two perfect games. He also worked David Cone's 1999 perfecto at Yankee Stadium.

"He could put the ball anywhere he wanted," Barrett said. "He knew where he wanted to throw it, and he threw it there. Cone had the big, big backdoor breaking ball. It was against the Expos and I don't think they had faced him before. They were a little bit baffled by Cone's stuff."

Cain pivoted on the mound to watch third baseman Joaquin Arias make a long throw from third for the final out, then the celebration began. First baseman Brandon Belt caught the last throw, tucked the ball in his back pocket for safekeeping and rushed to the mound.

Catcher Buster Posey ran out to Cain, who raised his arm. His teammates jumped the dugout rail as the final out was made, a moment reminiscent of that improbable World Series championship in 2010 at Texas.

"I can't thank Buster enough," Cain said. "I didn't even question once what he was calling."

Cain's wife, Chelsea, fought tears when shown in the stands as the celebration began, then made her way to the dugout for a congratulatory hug and kiss.

Cain had come close already this season - not once, but twice. In his second start of the year, in the team's home opener April 13, he one-hit the Pirates in a 5-0 win, then allowed only two hits over nine innings in the Giants' 11-inning, 1-0 win over Cliff Lee and the Phillies.

"I've had some opportunities in the past. There's really nothing like it," Cain said.

Cabrera, Belt and Blanco each hit two-run homers and the Giants produced an offensive outburst rarely seen at home this season and rarely seen when Cain has pitched.

On this night, he threw nine of his initial 11 pitches for strikes, commanding his repertoire with a dazzling fastball.

Cain, who hit one drive into McCovey Cove alongside U.S. Open golfer Dustin Johnson before the game to show off one of his other favorite pastimes, sat by himself in the dugout between innings.

J.A. Happ (4-7) lost his fourth straight start after giving up eight runs and 11 hits in 3 1-3 innings.

NOTES: Blanco called it the best catch of his career. "I still don't know how he caught that ball," Bochy said. ... Cabrera's first-inning homer marked his first clout at home this year. ... Astros bench coach Joe Pettini will join Tony La Russa's NL All-Star coaching staff. ... Of the 22 perfect games, half have come in the last 24 years. Roy Halladay and Dallas Braden each threw one two seasons ago.

More news

New standard of perfection

??HBT: Not only did Giants right-hander Matt Cain throw a perfect game on Wednesday, it was statistically tied for the second most dominant pitching performance ever.

Jason O. Watson / Getty Images

Cain throws first Giants perfect game

??Matt Cain pitched the 22nd perfect game in major league history and first for the Giants, striking out a career-high 14 and getting help from two spectacular catches to beat the Houston Astros 10-0 on Wednesday night.

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What WWDC and Apple's 2012 Keynote meant for Apple investors

Monday was packed with the pure excitement and adrenalin of Apple's annual WWDC keynote. Sure, the stock may have declined slightly that day, but this is mostly due to overall market weakness that day and not Apple pessimism. Now that we?ve had a couple of days to digest Apple?s announcements let?s discuss what it means to investors.

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Sunday, 10 June 2012

Euro fin mins to discuss potential Spain rescue

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, adjust his glasses before a meeting with Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Moncloa Palace, in Madrid, Thursday, June 7, 2012. Spain's Prime Minister appeared Thursday to have abandoned his insistence that the country's troubled banking sector will not need an external bailout, as for the first time he avoided ruling out such an option.(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

A homeless person sleeps in the doorway of a bank in Madrid Thursday June 7, 2012. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pleaded with European leaders "to support those that are in difficulty" and push toward greater fiscal unity - a step that might allow its troubled banks to get direct financial help. The call comes although Spain insists it doesn't need outside aid. (AP Photo/Paul White)

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, speaks during a press conference after a meeting with Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Moncloa Palace, in Madrid, Thursday, June 7, 2012. Spain's Prime Minister appeared Thursday to have abandoned his insistence that the country's troubled banking sector will not need an external bailout, as for the first time he avoided ruling out such an option.(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

A woman uses an ATM cash point machine at a branch of the Bankia bank in Madrid, Wednesday, June 6, 2012. The Spanish economy is in recession for the second time in three years as the damage from a housing bust persists. Foreclosures are rising, Spain's banks are in worse financial shape and the government's deficit is hitting worrisome levels. The impact of the budget cuts has been brutal and unemployment has swelled to nearly 25 percent. Among people under age 25 it is a staggering 52 percent . (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

A demonstrator holds a banner reading in spanish "Bankia is a wild animal" during a demonstration next to a Bankia bank branch in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday June 2, 2012. Spain will stick to harsh austerity measures until it emerges from financial crisis, the prime minister said Saturday, promising that the country would survive the present economic turmoil. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

MADRID (AP) ? Finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro will discuss a potential rescue for Spain on Saturday, a eurozone official said, as pressure grows on Madrid to sort out its troubled banks even if it means seeking a European bailout.

The latest report ? from the International Monetary Fund ? estimated that Spain needs at least a ?40 billion ($50 billion) capital injection following a stress test it performed on the country's financial sector. That report came out early Saturday, three days ahead of schedule, underscoring the urgency of the situation.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Friday that the government would wait for the results of three reports, including the IMF one and two from independent auditors, before acting. But pressure is rising on the country, and the government appears to have resigned itself to the fact that it needs a bailout with money pumped in from Europe to prop up its struggling banks, and can't handle the job on its own.

A spokesman for Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the meetings of eurozone finance ministers, said that the ministers would discuss the situation on a conference call Saturday afternoon.

Guy Schuller said that Spain had not yet asked for help, "but we want to prepare if the call comes."

Officials at Spain's Economy Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

If it does request a bailout, Spain would become the fourth eurozone country to do so since the continent's debt crisis touched off two years ago. The three countries that have received rescues thus far ? Greece, Ireland and Portugal ? are fairly small, and many have worried that bailing out much-larger Spain could call the entire euro project into question.

Officials must walk a fine line between giving Spain enough money to make a rescue credible, if one is asked for, and not bankrupting the entire system.

On Friday, Saenz de Santamaria declined to say how much the sector, hit by the collapse of the country's real estate bubble, might need. Estimates of the cost of bailing out Spain's banks vary greatly, from ?40 billion ($49.87 billion) to as much as ?100 billon.

Spain has been criticized for being too slow to set out a roadmap to resolve its problem. European business leaders and analysts have stressed that Spain must find a solution quickly so that it is not caught up in any market turmoil sparked by the Greek elections on June 17. There are concerns that anti-bailout left-wing party Syriza could become the largest party in the Greek parliament, putting the country's membership of the 17-nation eurozone at risk.

"What we now crucially need is transparency and trust," said Andreas Schmitz, the head of Germany's banking association. "Any further uncertainty, any speculation how the situation could develop is poisonous for the markets."

But others said it's more important for Spain to correctly assess how to shore up its banking system than it is to hurry into a bailout ahead of the Greek elections. The audits that Spain's government is waiting for are crucial to determining precisely how much capital the nation's troubled banks need, said Mark Miller, an analyst with Capital Economics in London. The reports from independent auditors are due by June 21.

Associated Press

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	Essential News from The Associated Press

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Report: China plans manned space launch this month

People watch the Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft which moves to the launch pad at the Jiuquan launch center in Jiuquan, China's northwest Gansu province, Saturday, June 9, 2012. China will launch three astronauts this month to dock with an orbiting experimental module, and the crew might include its first female space traveler, a government news agency said Saturday. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

A Chinese man carries his son walks near the Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft which moves to the launch pad at the Jiuquan launch center in Jiuquan, China's northwest Gansu province, Saturday, June 9, 2012. China will launch three astronauts this month to dock with an orbiting experimental module, and the crew might include its first female space traveler, a government news agency said Saturday. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

In this Friday, June 8, 2012 photo, a flag flies near a rocket launch pad at the Jiuquan launch center in Jiuquan, China's northwest Gansu province. China will launch three astronauts this month to dock with an orbiting experimental module, and the crew might include its first female space traveler, a government news agency said Saturday. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

People hold flags near the Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft which moves to the launch pad at the Jiuquan launch center in Jiuquan, China's northwest Gansu province, Saturday, June 9, 2012. China will launch three astronauts this month to dock with an orbiting experimental module, and the crew might include its first female space traveler, a government news agency said Saturday. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

BEIJING (AP) ? China will launch three astronauts this month to dock with an orbiting experimental module, and the crew might include its first female space traveler, a government news agency said Saturday.

A rocket carrying the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft was moved to a launch pad in China's desert northwest on Saturday for the mid-June flight, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing an space program spokesman.

The three-member crew will dock with and live in the Tiangong 1 orbital module launched last year, Xinhua said. The government has not said how long the mission will last.

Xinhua cited Niu Hongguang, deputy commander in chief of the manned space program, as saying the crew "might include female astronauts."

The government said in 2010 that two female air force pilots had joined the astronaut program but has disclosed no other details.

China's space program has made steady progress since a 2003 launch that made it only the third nation to put a man in space on its own. Two more manned missions have followed, one including a space walk.

China completed its first space rendezvous in November when the unmanned Shenzhou 8 docked with the Tiangong 1 by remote control. Tiangong 1 was launched on Sept. 29.

Over the next few days, scientists will test the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, the Long March 2F rocket and ground systems, Xinhua said, citing the spokesman.

During the flight, one crew member will remain aboard the Shenzhou 9 "as a precautionary measure in case of emergency" while the others enter Tiangong 1, Xinhua said.

China has scheduled two space docking missions for this year and plans to complete a manned space station around 2020 to replace Tiangong 1. At about 60 tons, the Chinese station will be considerably smaller than the 16-nation International Space Station.

Beijing launched its independent space station program after being turned away from the International Space Station, largely due to U.S. objections. Washington is wary of the Chinese program's military links and of sharing technology with an economic and political rival.

Associated Press

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Racism fears mar Euro 2012 kick-off

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has enjoyed endorsements from influential conservatives who want to see him on the ballot with Mitt Romney in November, but he won't divulge if he's being considered. After a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Chicago Friday, Jindal declined to answer??

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Saturday, 9 June 2012

Will French voters deliver parliament to Hollande's party?

Tomorrow's parliamentary elections in France will determine if President Fran?ois Hollande will face a divided government that could challenge his agenda.?

By Robert Marquand,?Staff writer / June 9, 2012

This Sunday photo shows French president-elect Francois Hollande waving to supporters with his companion Valerie Trierweiler as he celebrates his election victory in Bastille Square in Paris.

Francois Mori/AP

Enlarge

French general elections tomorrow will begin to determine whether new president Fran?ois Hollande will govern Europe?s No. 2 nation with a clear majority or lead a divided government during the worst European crisis of money and confidence in decades.

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Mr. Hollande, a pragmatic pro-European Social Democrat, has said he would like to rebalance the current austerity policy in the European Union with a variety of growth policies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled some flexibility this week with her calls?for ?more Europe? and a ?political union? as Spain grapples with an acute banking crisis and Greece prepares for a new election June 17 in the midst of tumult, both of which are a serious test for Europe's future.?

The French parliamentary vote takes place in two rounds, one tomorrow and one June 17.? Hollande?s Socialist Party, coming off the May 5 presidential victory, wants to wrest control of the 577-member National Assembly from the right-wing party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, which holds a majority.

French voters have historically given the winner of presidential elections a mandate, though not always.?Polls show the Socialists, in league with a variety of left parties, currently winning as many as 320 seats ? enough for an outright majority.?

The Socialists anticipate a political coalition with the Europe Ecology party and the Greens ? leftist parties that would support broader European initiatives. But if Hollande needs the support of far left nationalist figure Jean-Luc Melenchon, who opposes further European federal answers, he could be constrained in pursuit of bolder initiatives.?

Moreover, the French right, represented mainly by Mr. Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement, has been riven over the extent to which it wants to ally itself with the far-right National Front party of Marine Le Pen. UMP officials say privately they do not have a coherent or unified policy and will likely to be ready to coalesce only after the general elections.

UMP member Jacques Myard told France 24 TV that France ?voted against Sarkozy but not necessarily for Hollande? in May and that the outcome is still unclear. Polls project the Socialists will win 36 percent of the vote, and the UMP 32 percent.

The National Front, variously anti-Europe and anti-immigrant, is running candidates in the local elections and the party could pick up its first seats in parliament since the 1997 election, although likely less than 10.

But these elections,?which have not sparked much enthusiasm in either the French public or media, may ultimately swing on turnout.

In random interviews around Paris, several French citizens said they hadn?t decided if they would vote. Their enthusiasm was low after a year of intense political speculation following the sex scandal last June entangling the presumptive Socialist nominee, former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Still, given the stakes for Europe, this is "an incredibly important election,? says John Gaffney of Aston University in the UK. ?Even if the French have lost interest in it?. which is quite a paradox.??

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National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs Getting Big, Still Adorable (PHOTOS)

WASHINGTON -- The Smithsonian's National Zoo announced Thursday that its two six-week-old cheetah cubs, who survived a "rare and risky" birth, are gaining weight and doing well.

The cubs, being hand-raised by zoo staff since their harrowing birth in April, got a clean bill of health when they were examined by veterinarians this week. They are said to have put on about 3 pounds each -- they were about 1 pound each when they were born.

As you can see in the slideshow below, they certainly look bigger!

National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs

A six-week-old cheetah cub being bottle-fed.
National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs

A six-week-old cheetah cub being bottle-fed.
National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs

A six-week-old cheetah cub.
National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs

A six-week-old cheetah cub.
National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs

A six-week-old cheetah cub.
National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs

Dr. Katharine Hope examines the National Zoo's 6-week-old female cheetah.
National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs

Dr. Katharine Hope examines the National Zoo's 6-week-old male cheetah.
National Zoo Cheetah Cubs

The National Zoo's cheetah cubs at 17 days old.
National Zoo Cheetah Cubs

The cheetah cubs, at two days old.
National Zoo Cheetah Cubs

The National Zoo's cheetah cubs at 2 days old.
National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs

The National Zoo's cheetah cubs at 16 days old.
National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs

The National Zoo's cheetah cubs at 16 days old.
National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs

The National Zoo's cheetah cubs at 17 days old.
National Zoo's Cheetah Cubs

The National Zoo's cheetah cubs at 2 days old.

The zoo said in a media release that the cubs are frisky, spending their time "running, jumping and chasing one another in their enclosure."

Wayne Millner, the cheetah keeper, told WTOP that they're "pretty goofy when they run because their bodies haven't caught up to their leg size."

The cheetahs are due to make their public debut this summer.

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Friday, 8 June 2012

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The Other Red Planet: Soviet Union Scored an Interplanetary First at Venus 45 Years Ago

Features | Space

The U.S.S.R.'s Venera 4 was the first spacecraft to return data from inside another planet's atmosphere

By Rachel Kaufman ?| June 8, 2012?|

Venera probe capsule DROP-OFF: The Venera 4 descent capsule successfully penetrated Venus's atmosphere 45 years ago, starting a new chapter of planetary exploration. Image: NASA

If Venus's pass across the sun earlier this week yields a bounty of information for hunters of transiting worlds in other planetary systems, it's because Venus is a known entity. Studying the June 5 Venus transit as if it were a faraway exoplanet "gives us a reality check," says planetary physicist Colin Wilson of the University of Oxford. "We can check on all those exoplanet techniques to see how accurate they really are." Such data may enhance NASA's Kepler mission as well as the many ground-based campaigns using planetary transits to identify distant worlds, a method that has led to the discovery or characterization of more than 200 exoplanets.

That reality check would not be possible without the data planetary scientists already have about Venus. And humanity's up-close exploration of Earth's cloud-shrouded closest neighbor began in earnest 45 years ago, when the Soviet probe Venera 4 launched on June 12, 1967.

The first two Veneras had failed after launch. Venera 3, launched in 1965, is thought to have crashed on Venus but returned no data.

At last, on October 18, 1967, Venera 4 became the first man-made object to enter another planet's atmosphere and send back data. "It was before any Mars landers or anything," Wilson says. And it changed our view of Earth's sister planet forever.

Not much was known at the time about Venus, according to Roald Sagdeev, former director of the Space Research Institute of the U.S.S.R. [now Russian] Academy of Sciences. What was known, he says, "was that it was covered by very dense clouds...and it was established that the atmosphere was in a state of super-rotation," meaning that the winds whip around Venus up to 60 times faster than the planet rotates. The unknowns were many, Sagdeev adds: "the temperature, the thickness of the atmosphere, and the atmospheric pressure. And nobody knew at the time that carbon dioxide was a major constituent of the atmosphere."

Venera 4 made it deep enough into Venus's atmosphere to reach pressures 22 times that at sea level on Earth (one atmosphere), sending back data all the way. Venera's instruments showed the atmosphere was mostly carbon dioxide and detected no oxygen or water.

From a technical perspective, too, the probe was an achievement, says Wilson, who works with the European Space Agency's Venus Express, currently orbiting the second planet. "It was the first planetary entry system that worked using the atmosphere to decelerate. They had to decelerate 300 g's. Building things to sustain that kind of shock is incredible."

The mission was not perfect, though. Partway through the dense atmosphere, Venera 4 conked out. "The immediate interpretation was that the spacecraft managed to hit the surface of the planet and terminated its work," says Sagdeev, who managed the Venera program starting with probe number 9. It was not until a few years later that the scientists realized that the spacecraft had been crushed by the pressure. "At least it helped them to design the next generation of Veneras," he says. And in fact, Venera 8, which Sagdeev called "very successful," was a beefed-up version of Venera 4. That lander survived on the surface for almost an hour, withstanding crushing pressure 92 times stronger than on Earth's surface.

After Venera 4, the Soviets sent 12 more Venera spacecraft to Venus?all successful?over the next decade and a half whereas the U.S. only flew one mission, Pioneer Venus, launched in 1978. Yet since the Venera program ended, there have been few Venus missions from any nation, with the notable exceptions of NASA's Magellan and the ESA's Venus Express, along with two Soviet Vega probes whose dual mission included a Halley's Comet flyby. There is still plenty more to learn about the planet.

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Microsoft comes out swinging in defense for your privacy

The conversation around 'Do Not Track' has been brought in to the spotlight after Microsoft announced that by?default, IE10 will enable DNT when browsing the web. To make a long?argument?short, advertisers were pissed off about this because they want to be able to track you so that they can deliver targeted advertisements but of course, with DNT enabled by default, this could put a dent in their CPM metrics.

What you have in one corner is the corporations and in the other corner privacy advocates and Microsoft has just penned up a post re-affirming their stance to maintain default DNT on IE and will continue to fight for this as the standard is deliberated with the W3C.

In short, we agree with those who say this is all about user choice. However, we respectfully disagree with those who argue that the default setting for DNT should favor tracking as opposed to privacy.

As of late, Microsoft has taken public steps to affirm its stance on end-user privacy and you can look to the recent SkyDrive vs GDrive privacy policy review?as an example. While Internet Explorer may have previously had a negative connotation to it, with a move such as?default?DNT, it is bound to re-gain trust of its previous users.

Microsoft made it clear in its posts that if a consumer wants to be tracked, they certainly have that option. But the big sticking point is that by default, should your online actions be tracked? That is what Microsoft is arguing and will continue to fight for against other juggernauts who want to be able to track you at all times.

The reason this is such a hot topic is?because?if DNT is set by?default, the?majority?of consumers will most likely not turn off this feature. If the?default?setting is not changed, a significant portion web users will be 'off the radar' for?advertisers?and making harder for them to get you to click their?advertisements.?

Source: Microsoft

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Thursday, 7 June 2012

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is on Brazil?s ?Dancing with the Stars,? and it?s amazing (VIDEO)

Somehow, this amazing, fantastic, worth every minute of your time video flew under my radar until reader Pedro Ivo Silva de Oliveira sent it to me. It's former UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in Brazil's version of "Dancing with the Stars," and it's glorious.

He starts dancing around 3:30, but you'll want to give this video the full five and a half minutes.

There is so much to take in: the multicolored pleather costumes, the use of punches as a dance move, his footwork (or lack thereof), the ending pose in a choke. He could use some dancing tips from his teammate, UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

Nogueira talked about why he's doing the show in an interview with Sherdog:

"I'll dance," Nogueira told Sherdog.com. "They called me to do it, and I'll be there. It's an opportunity to expose MMA to people who have never seen it. My grandmother, for instance, will attend 'Dance of the Famous,' but she doesn't watch my fights.

He is also preparing for his fight with Cheick Kongo at UFC 149. He is balancing training for his bout with training for the show.

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