December 7, 2006, 5:13 AM CT

Gibson's Latest Film Apocalypto

After producing and directing the religious blockbuster of all time, "The Passion of the Christ", Mel Gibson is once again praised for "blood-and-guts actions", "breathtaking vistas", and "bruising beauty" in his ancient Mayan epic Apocalypto.

"Despite the subject's inherent spectacle, conflict and societal interest, Central America's pre-Columbian history has scarcely been touched by filmmakers," writes Variety critic Todd McCarthy, who also called the film "remarkable."

The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a first-rate epic" while questioning its "over-the-top violence".

Maxim magazine's Pete Hammond said he was "blown away by the filmmaking".

The title "Apocalypto" which in Greek means "an unveiling and a new beginning," has been filmed entirely in the Mayan language.

Apocalypto features a cast of unknown actors from Mexico City, the Yucatán and it views the decline of Mexico's native civilization.

Rudy Youngblood played the role of the hero Jaguar Paw, a native American whose village is attacked by Mayan warriors. They burn huts, rape women and take the men to be human sacrifices in a Mayan city that is beset by drought and crop failure.

The film will be released on December 8. Earlier it was slated to release on August 4 but Touchstone Pictures has delayed the release date to December 8, 2006.........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

December 6, 2006, 9:09 PM CT

Beatles mashups

George Martin, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have produced an album of Beatles mashups. Yes, really. It's called Love, and if the sample remix of Strawberry Fields Forever is any indicator, it's amazing (even if the disc only mashes up one Beatles song with several others -- which makes it not as interesting as Revolved, The Beastles, or The Beachles -- most of which EMI has censored with legal threats).

George Martin, along with Paul and Ringo, produced this reinvention of the Beatles' music by going back to the original session tapes and creating new, and in a number of cases brilliant, versions of the already familiar catalog. It's NOT a rehash of what you've already got in your collection. In a lot of cases, it's like hearing this music for the first time all over again. 26 tracks, almost 80 minutes of music, reinvented and reimagined.........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

December 5, 2006, 9:17 PM CT

how caring sentiments can affect business sense

Imagine you are selling a used car on eBay. You will demand a higher price for the car if your toddler is sitting on your lap, says surprising new research from the recent issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. Researchers from the University of Toronto found that simply thinking about a personal relationship causes sellers to set a higher price, even if the relationship is not directly related to the transaction.

"Relationships are like the lenses that guide our view, not just in that particular relationship or with the relationship partner, but in other unrelated circumstances as well," says Pankaj Aggarwal, who authored the piece with doctoral student Meng Zhang.

The study is the first to examine how relationships affect our feelings of loss aversion. When selling an item we own, we tend to demand a price that is higher than what we are willing to pay for it. Personal interactions cause us to feel like parting with the item would be more of a loss by evoking sentiments about how the value of an item is more than just monetary and thus leading to a higher asking price.

"This research has some important implications, not just for marketing managers, but also for consumers," write the authors.

They explain, "The next time you are negotiating with a person when buying a used car, it might be worthwhile not to call him at home calling him at work may get you a better price!".........

Posted by: Tom      Permalink         Source

December 5, 2006, 8:56 PM CT

Southern Ocean Could Slow Global Warming

The Southern Ocean may slow the rate of global warming by absorbing significantly more heat and carbon dioxide than previously thought, as per new research.

The Southern Hemisphere westerly winds have moved southward in the last 30 years. A new climate model predicts that as the winds shift south, they can do a better job of transferring heat and carbon dioxide from the surface waters surrounding Antarctica into the deeper, colder waters.

The new finding surprised the scientists, said lead researcher Joellen L. Russell. "We think it will slow global warming. It won't reverse or stop it, but it will slow the rate of increase."

The new model Russell and her colleagues developed provides a realistic simulation of the Southern Hemisphere westerlies and Southern Ocean circulation.

Prior climate models did not have the winds properly located. In simulations of present-day climate, those models distorted the ocean's response to future increases in greenhouse gases.

"Because these winds have moved poleward, the Southern Ocean around Antarctica is likely to take up 20 percent more carbon dioxide than in a model where the winds are poorly located," said Russell, an assistant professor of geosciences at The University of Arizona in Tucson.........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink         Source

December 5, 2006, 8:04 PM CT

DaimlerChrysler Car-2-X Communication

Car accidents have been a major problem for the motorists and have led to so much damage. For years, the attempts are being made to reduce this risk by implementing new technologies that enable drivers to sense the danger and avoid it. Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication System is one of them. DaimlerChrysler has introduced a similar but much efficient system "WILLWARN". The system uses "Car-2-X Communication" to transmit radio details collected by on-board sensors. The system can warn the following cars about the fog, black ice or obstacles on the road such as broken-down vehicles well in advance providing the driver with enough time to adjust the speed of the vehicle to avoid accidents.

The system is beneficial over other systems as expensive, fixed-installation transmitting and receiving devices are not required, since the cars themselves act as both transmitters and receivers. The cars can setup an ad-hoc radio network to send any information to the other vehicles within the network and for the vehicles outside the network the car acts as a relay passing on the warnings further.

The system can be implemented with cooperation of other car manufacturers and permission from relevant authorities to set up a radio network in desired frequencies. Radio beacons at the side of the road are mandatory in order to ensure that the first vehicles to be equipped with such a system benefit immediately. The system will ensure the safety of vehicles and reduce the accident rate to a great extent.........

Posted by: Jim      Permalink         Source

December 5, 2006, 5:09 AM CT

Can the Stanley Cup playoffs harm your hearing?

During last year's NHL playoffs, Edmonton Oilers' fans tried to earn the title of loudest arena in the game, but new University of Alberta research shows that even a few hours of exposure to that level of noise can be harmful.

Bill Hodgetts from the U of A's Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine and Dr. Richard Liu, from the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry measured the noise levels during games three, four and six during the Stanley Cup finals against the Carolina Hurricanes last year. Liu attended the games and wore a noise dosimeter near his ear every second of the entire game. No matter where he went in the building, the dosimeter would sample his noise exposure. The research is published in the current edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The researchers found that for the levels experienced in game three, it took less than six minutes to reach the maximum allowable daily noise dose. Or everyone at the game received approximately 8100 per cent of their daily noise dose without any hearing protection. "Given the vast numbers of fans that do not wear hearing protection to hockey games, thousands are at risk for hearing damage," said the researchers.

Most people don't consider the risk of excessive noise exposure when participating in leisure activities, say the researchers, even though such noise over a period of a few hours can be harmful. "The risk of hearing loss for those who attend hockey games frequentlyseason ticket holders, workers in the arena, hockey players themselveswarrants serious consideration," they write in the paper. Even the cheapest foam earplugs would make a difference.........

Posted by: Jim      Permalink         Source

December 5, 2006, 4:26 AM CT

Sony Launched Its Blu-ray Player, Just in Time for Christmas

With the ability to play back just about all Blu-ray format discs (together with store-bought, write-once, and rewritable media) and featuring 1080p and HDMI outputs, the BDP-S1 player can play the DVDs as well. You will be able to own the hot Blu-ray player for about $600 (or $500 for the lower version).

If you are not in a mood to spend a big amount for the new arrival, PlayStation 3 can also play back Blu-ray movies presenting 1080p as well as HDMI. Therefore, it is up to you, whether you want to view movies on original Blu-ray format or PlayStation 3 turned Blu-ray. Choice is yours!........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

December 5, 2006, 4:20 AM CT

Ford a Sinking Ship

The Ford is in dire state and its present CEO Alan Mulally is pulling out all stops to pull out this billion dollar company from the red zone.

Eventhough it has been just two months that Alan has taken over as CEO but the company is working tirelessly to implement his 4-point agenda which was firstly to align the infrastructure in such a way so as to build as a number of vehicles as is the demand.

Secondly to accelerate the product development by integrating the research divisions which are at present scattered all around the world.

Thirdly to have money in coffers so as to execute plans and fourthly to integrate ford team worldwide so as to make it a collective effort in saving Ford.

But the analysts at Wall Street are skeptic and are saying they dono't think these steps will be enough to save Ford.

No auto analyst is suggesting investing in ford shares and an automotive analyst with Bank of America, Ronald Tadross says,.

"They're going to fail themselves and their investors if they don't restructure at an equal or even greater pace".

He believes that it ford will easily miss its years targets. He and other analysts said that very point that the Ford losses will put the company back by a $1 Billion. They further think that Ford should be more open with it restructuring plans so as to gain the confidence of the investors.........

Posted by: Jim      Permalink         Source

December 4, 2006, 4:55 AM CT

Mercedes Working on Anti-Microsleep System

The Mercedes are working on developing an Anti-Microsleep system which will pre-warn the drivers of their fatigue. The symptoms of fatigue are red eyes, yawning and shivering.

In the study that they conducted they observed that most of the accidents occur when the body is fatigued the reactions correspond to that of when driving drunk. The aim was to find the gradual transaction from a fully awake state to the state of fatigue.

Just some facts for you that if you are driving at 60mph and your eye closes for just a second you would have traveled 22 meters before you wake and these 22 seconds can result in a fatal crash.

The system will analyze the driver's behavior and will keep the data stored for future references.

The factors taken into account will be individual driving style, the duration of journey, the time of the day and the traffic situation. By comparing the data the system will reach to a conclusion on whether to warn the driver or not based on the probability calculus.

It was found out that after 2200 hours the level of human performance drop and it is lowest between 0300 to 0400 hours.

The assistance system will try to warn the drivers of the eminent problem and will make a vital contribution in improving road safety.........

Posted by: Jim      Permalink         Source

December 4, 2006, 4:45 AM CT

Outdoor XM Antenna

The main problem with XM radio is that the reception is really poor at some places. The problem becomes more weird when you have an XM tuner installed in the basement of your house.

Some countries have terrestrial repeaters to combat some of the problems but still the reception is not that great. The problems range from no audio to a complete drop out of the signal.

To solve the problem the best idea is to go for an outdoor XM Antenna. A Terk XM6 Outdoor Antenna works great.

The installation is not at all tricky and you will easily have it done in some hours. All the Installation requires is a RG-6 cable between the tuner and the roof.

The kit has a Female Connector to XM antenna connector, which you have to attach to one end of the RG-6 cable and the second end to the Antenna itself.

That's all you are done and now there should be full signal strength on your tuner.........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source