Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Robin Thicke Directs and Stars in Short Film 'Mercy' (Exclusive)


Robin Thicke is heading behind the camera.



The "Blurred Lines" singer wrote, directed and stars in the short film Mercy, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.


Thicke's wife Paula Patton (Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol, Precious), Robert Patrick (Walk the Line, Gangster Squad) and Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games) also star in the film.


Based on true events, Mercy follows Tom (Thicke), a family-focused limo driver, and his wife, Cynthia (Patton), a woman who is plagued by alcohol and drug addiction. Patrick plays Randall Cross, a man full of regrets who cannot sit idly by as he is on the verge of losing his home after his wife succumbs to cancer. Stenberg plays Tom and Cynthia's daughter, a talented violinist and former student of Randall's dying wife.


Mercy was filmed in Los Angeles earlier this year and was produced by Jump Films' Mick Partridge, with Thicke and Jordan Feldstein executive producing.


Thicke, who was part of a controversial MTV Video Music Awards performance with Miley Cyrus, is no stranger to the worlds of TV and film (his father is actor Alan Thicke). He next stars in the indie Abby in the Summer with Jaime Pressly and appeared in BET's satirical comedy Real Husbands of Hollywood. He also served as an adviser on the third season of NBC's The Voice and was a judge on ABC's singing competition Duets.


A North American tour in support of Thicke's sixth studio album, Blurred Lines, begins Feb. 21, 2014. Thicke will perform at the Grammy nominations concert Dec. 6 and will be a headliner on the first Jingle Ball U.S. tour, which kicks off Dec. 2.


Thicke is repped by CAA and Career Artist Management.


E-mail: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
Twitter: @insidethetube


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/music/~3/5E1XXLT-0tQ/story01.htm
Category: Geno Smith   Demi Lovato   Lavabit   Juan Pablo   emmy nominations  

Sanctions relief would be proportionate to Iran nuclear steps: U.S.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Iran disagree on what sanctions relief, if any, might be provided if Iran takes steps to curtail its atomic program, and any easing would be proportionate to Iran's actions, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.


State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki also said the Obama administration has not yet decided whether to urge the U.S. Congress to refrain from imposing additional sanctions on Iran - a request it made ahead of this week's talks on the issue.


Six major powers and Iran wrapped up talks in Geneva about the Iranian nuclear program on Wednesday and diplomats said Iran appears ready to scale back activity that could be useful in the development of nuclear bombs, suggesting Tehran is willing to compromise in return for relief from harsh economic sanctions.


Details of Iran's proposals, presented in two days of talks with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, have not been released and Western officials were unsure if Iran was ready to go far enough to reach a breakthrough deal.


In a clear sign of hope, however, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said it was agreed to hold the next round of negotiations in three weeks in Geneva, and Iran's chief negotiator praised this week's meetings as "fruitful."


"There remain differences (about) what sanctions relief might be appropriate," Psaki said at her daily briefing in Washington. "Anything we would do would be proportionate" to Iran's steps on curbing its nuclear program, she added.


As with a U.S. official who briefed reporters in Geneva, Psaki struck a somewhat upbeat tone.


"We have never had detailed technical discussions at this level before," she said, adding that the Iranian delegation had laid out "what they might do as a first step, and also, what should be in a final step." She provided no details on these steps.


Psaki said technical experts from Iran and the major powers will meet before the November 7-8 talks but did not say when or where.


(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Paul Simao)



Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sanctions-relief-proportionate-iran-nuclear-steps-u-213950879.html
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Adidas unveils $399 fitness smartwatch with GPS tracking and heart rate monitoring

Yesterday was Nike's day in the spotlight, but today Adidas is officially joining its rival in the wearable devices category. The company has announced its own smartwatch, which it says will appeal to runners thanks to built-in GPS tracking, Bluetooth connectivity, and pulse-based heart rate tracking — a feature that FuelBand users have long clamored for. Speaking at the GigaOM Mobilize conference, Adidas VP Paul Gaudio said that the watch will be able to offer tailored heart rate training, even sending out audio coaching to any Bluetooth headphones that are connected to the device.


But if you were hoping for a smartphone app or a community matching that of Nike+, you may be underwhelmed with what Adidas is offering. The $399 watch reportedly doesn't communicate with or forward notifications to your smartphone, nor can users stream music from their mobile device. Instead, the Adidas smartwatch is a standalone device that includes onboard flash storage to house your running mix. It's slated to go on sale November 1st, but at $250 more than both the Pebble smartwatch and Nike's just-unveiled FuelBand SE, it may be a tough sell for fitness-minded consumers. But if heart rate training is crucial to your workout regimen, Nike's latest won't do the trick anyway. ""We’re not trying to make a smartwatch, per se, but the smartest running watch," Gaudio said.





Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/16/4845078/adidas-unveils-fitness-smartwatch-with-gps-tracking-heart-rate-monitoring
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gamesGRABR Launches Equity Funding Campaign To Be ‘Pinterest For Games'






You’ve seen “Pinterest for X” style startups before I’m sure. Well, gamesGRABR is a new style “social network for gaming” which is aiming to become a sort of ‘Pinterest you games’. But before you turn away, take a look, as this is more than just an interface, it allows the user to curate games collections, discover, engage, play and share them with other users, on any gaming platform. Today it’s launched an equity crowdfunding campaign, to raise £150,000 for startup capital.


Led by serial gaming entrepreneur Tony Pearce, the campaign aims to raise interested investors for equity in parent company TeePee Games. Funding will be supplemented by an additional £200,000 raised by Pearce and his team from existing investors. The company closed a seed funding round of £250,000 in March 2013, used to develop and launch the site as it is today.


He tells me: “I suppose Pinterest could be a competitor but no gamers would be seen dead on Pinterest. We are still the only company to focus 100% on games in a pinboard style UI with social and cross platform discovery and recommendations. Other gaming sites such as Playfire you can see what your friends are playing but just on console games.”


Since a beta launched in June it’s been gaining traction and claims to have hit 100,000 uniques, continual growth and an average of 35% returning. The platform has over 50,000 games across all platforms and new features such as platform and genre filtering, the ability to play, buy or download any game in one click plus more social integration.


It’s also interesting that they chose Crowdcube which is essentially a much quicker way to raise equity funding – assuming they make it of course.


Pearce has in the past raised over £15m in VC funding, starting 3 companies with 2 successful exits. He co-founded Player X, Europe’s largest mobile games distribution company in Europe that was acquired by Spanish mobile content company Zed in April 2009.





Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/B21JN35KyA8/
Category: Ed Sheeran   Bobby Cannavale   downton abbey  

'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' finds humor in humanity

TV











18 hours ago

The cast of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine:"  L-R: Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Lo Truglio, Andre Braugher, Andy Samberg, Melissa Fumero,Terry Crews and Chelsea Peretti.

Fox Broadcasting Co.

"I grew up around a ton of cultures and ethnicities and sexual preferences in Berkeley," says "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" star Andy Samberg. "To have that be the tone of the show is very comfortable for me, and I'm very happy that people have taken note and said it's a big deal in that it's not treated like a big deal."

Andy Samberg’s “Brooklyn Nine Nine” character, Detective Jake Peralta is seated at his desk at the police precinct, head in hands and hung over when he receives an antidote from fellow detective Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), one handed down by her grandfather: a glass of raw egg yolks. “You look like the corpse we just pulled out of the river,” says their commander, Captain Ray Holt (Andre Braugher), as he walks in. Jake plays it off by claiming the drink is part of his fitness routine.

“You should drink it all,” Holt deadpans and pauses. “For your guns.”

It’s an amusing line the way the Emmy-winning Braugher dryly delivers it during a recent taping on the show's Los Angeles set. Samberg is inspired to improvise different endings that involve consuming the drink, insulting Santiago’s grandfather and trying to one-up Braugher. Soon, both actors are cracking up.

The exercise proves that Fox’s new comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” isn’t going for edge. “Parks and Recreation” producing team Dan Goor and Mike Schur have teamed up again to create a throwback workplace comedy that features daily life in a Brooklyn precinct without a laugh track a la “The Big Bang Theory” or a fake documentary crew like “Parks.”

But the show is quietly breaking ground (it has yet to crack five million viewers) with one of the most ethnically diverse casts on broadcast television. Samberg’s star detective is a goofball but skilled investigator whose two bosses are black men—one of whom is gay—and two of his detective peers are Latinas. In the same way that ensemble dramas like “ER,” “Lost” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” paved the way for multiculturalism without tokenism, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” defies stereotypical comedic expectations and finds the humor in humanity—not skin color or ethnic background or sexual preference.

“The worst kind of comedy, the worst kind of stand-up to me is when they talk about what you’re looking at—‘I’m Jewish’ or ‘I’m wearing glasses,” Samberg said. “You want to hear jokes about life and things you can relate to. I don’t think this show will ever go out of its way to make comments in that regard.”

Instead, the laughs are found in how the stoic and hard-to-read new commander Holt reacts to Peralta’s antics or how badly Santiago wants to beat Peralta’s closure rate—not where they come from or who they sleep with. Detective Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) is in love with hard-to-get detective Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz), a tough cookie who doesn’t speak with an accent or acts particularly sassy. Sgt. Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) is a hulk of a man who has become petrified of fighting crime since he became a father of twin girls; office secretary Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti) is just plain insane.

“I was working on this thing for a month before I realized that there’s two black guys running the precinct—and I work on the show!” said Crews during an interview with NBCNews in his dressing room. “I didn’t even think about that, which is so cool because, oh my God, we have all been there. I’ve turned down a lot of stuff where the message was ‘We’re going to be diverse!’ Give me a break. We’re in Brooklyn. If you don’t make it diverse, it looks funny. We are what ‘Friends’ should have been.”

During an interview in the set’s evidence room, Beatriz, who played Sofia Vergara’s character’s sister on “Modern Family” earlier this year, teared up as she described what it means to her to play a Latina whose ethnicity is not the butt of the jokes or the essence of her character.

“I remember as a kid watching TV and looking for myself and not being able to find myself very often,” she said. “There were very few shows I could see myself. I get a little emotional about it because it’s very important. Back in the day, people would go to theater to watch the human story. Now we’re watching it from our houses; to know that there are people who are watching it who can see themselves is a good feeling. I don’t talk about being Latina every day. I also don’t talk about what kind of deodorant I use. It’s something that happens or is a part of me. And it’s the same on the show. It’s almost monumental in its normalcy.”

The producers and casting director Allison Jones assembled the cast of veterans and fresh faces by staying open-minded during auditions. Once Samberg was cast in the lead role, Goor said his team went about making the Brooklyn precinct as realistic as possible without committing any characters to certain backgrounds or ethnicities. “Parks,” which is set in a small Indiana town, also boasts a multi-ethnic cast that includes Aubrey Plaza, Rashida Jones, Retta, and Aziz Ansari alongside star Amy Poehler.

“Our feeling was not calling attention to their ethnicities and not calling attention too much to Captain Holt being gay,’ Goor said. “We just feel like in real life you’re in a workplace and the Latina lady is not referencing the barrio. She’s a person, just like you’re a person. To a certain extent, it’s just writing toward reality.”

For example, Beatriz auditioned for the role of “Megan.” When the producers decided they wanted to hire her, they renamed her “Rosa.” That the two top officers in the precinct turned out to be black men, Goor said, was a function of wanting to work with Crews from the outset and being pleasantly surprised that Braugher, who is known for his dramatic heft, wanted to test his comedy chops. The role of the commander was always written as gay because the writers wanted the new leader to be a hard-working, ambitious policeman who had been held back because he had come out of the closet in the 80s.

“I’m not playing a gay police captain,” Braugher of his first comedic television role. “I’m playing a police captain who happens to be gay. The distinction is large in my mind. The gay police captain is eventually going to be wearing hot pants and singing ‘YMCA.’ The police captain who happens to be gay is going to be a huge collection of personality characteristics and motivations. I’ll get a husband one of these days but he’ll be my sweetheart as opposed to that man candy we bring in for stunt casting.”

In that same way, detective Boyle (Lo Truglio) is trying to win Rosa’s heart without any mamacita jokes or “spicy” references. “I love that these are traits that don’t define the characters,” the former “Reno 911” star said in an interview. “They shouldn’t. The reality of a police precinct in Brooklyn today is what you see here.”

Braugher jokes that he was lost in the “woods of drama” when “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” found him and won him over with its realistic treatment of diversity. “Broadcast TV is very conservative and they’re always concerned about reflecting the audience’s prejudices rather than reflecting the world as it is. When you’re going into people’s homes, there’s a big pressure to be lovable and acceptable. But life is made up of all these juicy parts. I’m not necessarily a fan of that kind of conservatism. I would like to start by holding a mirror up to life. And this is a show that does that.”








Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/entertainment/brooklyn-nine-nine-finds-humor-humanity-not-stereotypes-8C11381614
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JDS on Boxing the Klitschkos: “I Can Beat Them”


If you’ve ever participated or listened in on a ”best boxing in MMA’ discussion, chances are you’ve heard names like Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn, Nick Diaz and Junior dos Santos dropped. As after all, they, and several others, have buzzed audiences on more than one occasion with their fists. When it comes to the heavyweight division, however, dos Santos is consistently named as one of the sport’s top pugilists, and for obvious reasons. Not only is dos Santos gifted in terms of his agility and footwork, but he also possesses fearsome power.


Well, while appearing on the latest edition of “The MMA Hour” to promote his UFC 166 fight this Saturday with Cain Velaquez, JDS relayed he’d like to step into the boxing ring. Not only that, but “Cigano” apparently believes he can hang and then some with renowned heavyweight boxers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. Here is what the former UFC champ had to say about the subject.



“I’ve said that sometimes,” dos Santos said while discussing his desire to box. “I’m a boxing guy. I love to box with my training partners and everything but now everybody is saying this, everybody wants to fight with boxing guys. It’s become not sincere. When I say that, I’m sincere.”


“I think if they give me four months to get prepared, I can beat them,” JDS said while referring to the Klitschkos. “In the beginning of my all my camps, I do just boxing. I love to train boxing and I think I have enough skills in boxing. I know how to see a good fight. Four months, that’s what I need.”



So could this ever happen? Never say never, but chances are Junior’s MMA career is going to occupy much of his time in the foreseeable future. He did add that he’s discussed the possibility with UFC President Dana White, but that it wasn’t a serious discussion.


For now, it will be interesting to how much “Cigano’s” boxing skills come into play this Saturday in Houston. Stay tuned to MMA Frenzy.com for all your UFC news and coverage.




Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/94924/jds-on-boxing-the-klitschkos-i-can-beat-them/
Category: harry potter   Vma 2013 Miley Cyrus   powerball winning numbers   Reza Aslan   nelson mandela  

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Amazon Has Reportedly Teamed Up With HTC For Its New Line Of Smartphones


HTC isn’t exactly doing  great these days, but that may change if a new (and secretive) partnership pans out. A new report from the Financial Times alleges that HTC has partnered with none other than Amazon on a handful of devices that could make their way to the e-tailer’s virtual shelves as soon as next year.


That is, if they make it to market it at all. The FT points out that the launch timeline for one of those smartphones has always been mucked around with once, and there’s no guarantee that Amazon will ever sell the thing.


If true though, this could be a huge huge deal for the Taiwanese phone maker. Putting strange choices like the recently revealed One Max aside, there’s little question that HTC is capable of putting together some top-notch hardware. And to hear the company tell it, a lot of its problems stem from consumer perception — the HTC brand isn’t nearly as prominent or memorable as Apple’s or Samsung’s, an issue the company has tried to turn around with the launch of an expensive marketing campaign featuring Iron Man Robert Downey Jr.


And for what it’s worth, it wouldn’t be the first time that HTC has entered into a curious, potentially game-changing partnership. The Taiwanese company linked up with Google in 2008 to product the very first publicly available Android device, and that relationship also saw HTC push out the inaugural Nexus smartphone some two years later. Then more recently there was the tie-up with Facebook which ultimately yielded the HTC First, the first (and so far only) device to ship pre-loaded with the social networking giant’s Facebook Home interface. In fact, the company’s seeming eagerness to ink these sorts of deals almost seems like a trait encoded in the company’s DNA considering its humble origins as a maker of white-label gadgets that other companies could slap their livery all over.


The notion of an Amazon smartphone is one that’s been floating around for years now too, though the report is bolstered by recent leaks that indicate that more than one device is currently under development. According to earlier reports, the company was at least considering acquiring RIM in late 2011 in a move that would ostensibly provide the online retail titan with the development know-how and IP portfolio to have a spirited go at cracking the crowded smartphone market. As I noted some years ago though, an Amazon smartphone needs to have a hook to help bring customers on-board, and the company is in a better position than ever to do just that.


Its very brand is going to be enough to induce some people to dive in, as are the potential price tags — this line of devices is expected to run the pricing gamut just as the current line of Kindle Fire tablets do. And then there are the seemingly little things. Imagine if Mayday, the video-call-in-distress feature that debuted on the Kindle Fire HDX wound up on a phone. Since Amazon isn’t likely to flood carrier supply channels with these its phones, the notion of an on-demand assistant to help with initial setup and subsequent problems would be a staggering benefit for people itching for a friendlier sort of smartphone. Throw in a reported “3D” interface that responds to user head movements and we have the makings of a device (or devices) that could really make some waves.


At this point it’s starting to seem like all the pieces are finally coming together to make a series of Amazon phones happen, and it’s not hard to see how both Amazon and HTC could benefit. And this could be just what HTC needs to turn things around, so it had better Hope To Christ (or, you know, whatever deity whose newsletter they subscribe to) that this deal turns out fruitful.












1997


April 4, 2002, TPE:2498




HTC Corp, (TAIEX: 2498) produces smartphones running the Android and Windows Phone 8 operating systems for themselves and as an OEM to other manufacturers. Since launching its own brand in late 2006, the company has introduced hundreds of HTC-branded products around the world. Its current flagship product is the Android-running HTC One. Founded in 1997 by Cher Wang, Chairwoman, and H T Cho - former CEO who is a chairman now, HTC made its name as the company behind many...





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Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), is a leading global Internet company and one of the most trafficked Internet retail destinations worldwide. Amazon is one of the first companies to sell products deep into the long tail by housing them in numerous warehouses and distributing products from many partner companies. Amazon directly sells or acts as a platform for the sale of a broad range of products. These include books, music, videos, consumer electronics, clothing and household products. The majority of Amazon’s...





→ Learn more






Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/94OtEoIBsY8/
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Tweet Repeat: Ivanka Trump Shares Pics of Her New Baby Boy, Eva Longoria Returns To TV and More!



By Jillian Kirby

University of Florida grad turned Assistant Editor — loves shoes, baked goods and all things Bravo.




Welcome to Tweet Repeat, your daily dose of the best celeb anecdotes found on Twitter. We’ve scoured the site looking for the funniest, weirdest, goofiest, deepest, craziest, sweetest, most intriguing thoughts of the day, from the most intriguing people on the internet. See what Kate Bosworth, Hugh Jackman, Emmy Rossum, Conan O’Brien and more were up to in the Twittersphere today.













Source: http://okmagazine.com/meet-the-stars/tweet-repeat-ivanka-trump-shares-pics-of-her-new-baby-boy-eva-longoria-returns-to-tv-and-more/
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High court will review EPA global warming rules

The Supreme Court, shown Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013 in Washington, has agreed to consider whether the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority in developing rules aimed at cutting emissions of six heat-trapping gases from factories and power plants. The justices said Tuesday they will review a unanimous federal appeals court ruling that upheld the government's unprecedented regulations aimed at reducing the gases blamed for global warming. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)







The Supreme Court, shown Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013 in Washington, has agreed to consider whether the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority in developing rules aimed at cutting emissions of six heat-trapping gases from factories and power plants. The justices said Tuesday they will review a unanimous federal appeals court ruling that upheld the government's unprecedented regulations aimed at reducing the gases blamed for global warming. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)







WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide whether to block key aspects of the Obama administration's plan aimed at cutting power plant and factory emissions of gases blamed for global warming.

The justices said they will review a unanimous federal appeals court ruling that upheld the government's unprecedented regulation of carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases.

The question in the case is whether the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate automobile emissions of greenhouses gases as air pollutants, which stemmed from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling, also applies to power plants and factories.

The court's decision essentially puts on trial a small but critical piece of President Barack Obama's toolbox to tackle global warming — a requirement that companies expanding existing industrial facilities or building new ones that would increase overall pollution must evaluate ways to reduce the carbon they release, as well. For many industrial facilities, this is the only way heat-trapping gases will be regulated, until the EPA sets national standards.

That's because the administration's plans hinge on the high court's 2007 ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA which said the EPA has the authority, under the Clean Air Act, to limit emissions of greenhouse gases from vehicles. Two years later, Obama's EPA concluded that the release of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases endangered human health and welfare, a finding the administration has used to extend its authority beyond automobiles to develop national standards for large stationary sources.

The administration currently is at work setting first-time national standards for new and existing power plants, and will move on to other large stationary sources. But in the meantime, the only way companies are addressing global warming pollution is through a permitting program that requires them to analyze the best available technologies to reduce carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas.

The president gave the EPA until next summer to propose regulations for existing power plants, the largest unregulated source of global warming pollution.

"From an environmental standpoint, it is bad, but not catastrophic," said Michael Gerrard, a law professor at Columbia University and director of its Center for Climate Change Law. Gerrard said it would have been far worse if the court decided to question the EPA's conclusion that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare.

Environmental groups generally breathed a sigh of relief that the court rejected calls to overrule its 2007 decision or review the EPA's conclusion about the health effects of greenhouse gas emissions.

"It's a green light for EPA to go ahead with its carbon pollution standards for power plants because the court has left standing EPA's endangerment finding," said Joanne Spalding, the Sierra Club's senior managing attorney.

But a lawyer for some of the business groups involved in the case said the court issued a more sweeping ruling.

"Read in its broadest sense, it arguably opens the door to whether EPA can regulate greenhouse gases from stationary sources at all," said Roger Martella, a partner with the Sidley, Austin law firm in Washington.

The regulations have been in the works since 2011 and stem from the landmark Clean Air Act that was passed by Congress and signed by President Richard Nixon in 1970 to control air pollution.

The administration has come under fierce criticism from Republicans for pushing ahead with the regulations after Congress failed to pass climate legislation, and after the administration of President George W. Bush resisted such steps.

In 2012, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia concluded that the EPA was "unambiguously correct" in using existing federal law to address global warming.

The judges on that panel were: Then-Chief Judge David Sentelle, who was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, and David Tatel and Judith Rogers, both appointed by Democrat Bill Clinton.

The case will be argued in early 2014.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-10-15-Supreme%20Court-Greenhouse%20Gases/id-11e1fd7ce4c34489902d35b8d592faa8
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Blast from the Past

Well this is awkward. ^-^;;

Hi, everyone. Maybe I should start from the top...
I've been a member since...god knows when. I've made a lot roleplays and only succeeded with a few of them. I've also made a lot of friends from this site, many of those I'm still quite close with. I guess you can say I'm a veteran? Yeah...no...not really. Anyway, I stopped posting mostly because of lack of time. But now...I've got a month off school and a lot of time to use up.
I guess I'm sort of new here. If you have any rp's that needs members please invite me in them. c: But I have to warn you...I'm a little bit rusty.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/_aV_GPvt994/viewtopic.php
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First evidence that dust and sand deposits in China are controlled by rivers

First evidence that dust and sand deposits in China are controlled by rivers


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Public release date: 14-Oct-2013
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Contact: Tanya Gubbay
tanya.gubbay@rhul.ac.uk
Royal Holloway, University of London






New research published today in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews has found the first evidence that large rivers control desert sands and dust in Northern China.


Northern China holds some of the world's most significant wind-blown dust deposits, known as loess. The origin of this loess-forming dust and its relationship to sand has previously been the subject of considerable debate.


The team of researchers led by Royal Holloway University, analysed individual grains of fine wind-blown dust deposited in the Chinese Loess Plateau that has formed thick deposits over the past 2.5 million years. As part of this, they also analysed the Mu Us desert in Inner Mongolia and the Yellow River, one of the world's longest rivers, to identify links between the dust deposits and nearby deserts and rivers.



The results showed that the Yellow River transports large quantities of sediment from northern Tibet to the Mu Us desert and further suggests that the river contributes a significant volume of material to the Loess Plateau.


"The Yellow River drains the northeast Tibetan plateau and so the uplift of this region and the development of Yellow River drainage seems to control the large scale dust deposits and sand formation in this part of China," said lead researcher Tom Stevens from the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway.


"Identifying how this dust is formed and controlled is important, since it drives climate change and ocean productivity and impacts human health. Its relationship to the river and Tibet implies strong links between tectonics and climate change. This suggests that global climate change caused by atmospheric dust may be influenced by the uplift of Tibet and changes in major river systems that drain this area."


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First evidence that dust and sand deposits in China are controlled by rivers


[ Back to EurekAlert! ]
Public release date: 14-Oct-2013
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Contact: Tanya Gubbay
tanya.gubbay@rhul.ac.uk
Royal Holloway, University of London






New research published today in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews has found the first evidence that large rivers control desert sands and dust in Northern China.


Northern China holds some of the world's most significant wind-blown dust deposits, known as loess. The origin of this loess-forming dust and its relationship to sand has previously been the subject of considerable debate.


The team of researchers led by Royal Holloway University, analysed individual grains of fine wind-blown dust deposited in the Chinese Loess Plateau that has formed thick deposits over the past 2.5 million years. As part of this, they also analysed the Mu Us desert in Inner Mongolia and the Yellow River, one of the world's longest rivers, to identify links between the dust deposits and nearby deserts and rivers.



The results showed that the Yellow River transports large quantities of sediment from northern Tibet to the Mu Us desert and further suggests that the river contributes a significant volume of material to the Loess Plateau.


"The Yellow River drains the northeast Tibetan plateau and so the uplift of this region and the development of Yellow River drainage seems to control the large scale dust deposits and sand formation in this part of China," said lead researcher Tom Stevens from the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway.


"Identifying how this dust is formed and controlled is important, since it drives climate change and ocean productivity and impacts human health. Its relationship to the river and Tibet implies strong links between tectonics and climate change. This suggests that global climate change caused by atmospheric dust may be influenced by the uplift of Tibet and changes in major river systems that drain this area."


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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/rhuo-fet101113.php
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DC Kingdoms

Just so everyone knows, I will be gone for nearly all this week. I may be active late at night for me, (or early in the morning for most of you) But I probably will not be active or accept any characters until Friday or Saturday. I apologize, but you will have to be very patient with me for the next few weeks, my job is scheduling some very stupid hours. However, I promise that I will NOT abandon this RP, or If I am forced to close it, (which is highly unlikely) I will give prior notice, and hand off control of the RP and my characters to someone else.

But go ahead and submit a character now, and I will start accepting them as soon as I can.



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/rke8dCEZbqY/viewtopic.php
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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Indian officials say few deaths in massive cyclone

A motorcyclist rides past fallen traffic signal poles during Cyclone Phailin at a road crossing in Berhampur, India, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. An immense, powerful cyclone that lashed the Indian coast, forcing 500,000 people to evacuate and causing widespread damage, weakened Sunday after making landfall. Several people died in the rains that fell ahead of the storm, most killed by falling branches, Indian media reported, but the situation on the ground in many areas was still unclear after Cyclone Phailin slammed into the coast Saturday evening in Orissa state, where power and communications lines were down along much of the coastline. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)







A motorcyclist rides past fallen traffic signal poles during Cyclone Phailin at a road crossing in Berhampur, India, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. An immense, powerful cyclone that lashed the Indian coast, forcing 500,000 people to evacuate and causing widespread damage, weakened Sunday after making landfall. Several people died in the rains that fell ahead of the storm, most killed by falling branches, Indian media reported, but the situation on the ground in many areas was still unclear after Cyclone Phailin slammed into the coast Saturday evening in Orissa state, where power and communications lines were down along much of the coastline. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)







An Indian man salvages a table stuck in uprooted trees fallen during Cyclone Phailin on a road in Berhampur, India, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. An immense, powerful cyclone that lashed the Indian coast, forcing 500,000 people to evacuate and causing widespread damage, weakened Sunday after making landfall. Several people died in the rains that fell ahead of the storm, most killed by falling branches, Indian media reported, but the situation on the ground in many areas was still unclear after Cyclone Phailin slammed into the coast Saturday evening in Orissa state, where power and communications lines were down along much of the coastline. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)







An Indian man with his bicycle makes his way through uprooted trees fallen during Cyclone Phailin on a road in Berhampur, India, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. An immense, powerful cyclone that lashed the Indian coast, forcing 500,000 people to evacuate and causing widespread damage, weakened Sunday after making landfall. Several people died in the rains that fell ahead of the storm, most killed by falling branches, Indian media reported, but the situation on the ground in many areas was still unclear after Cyclone Phailin slammed into the coast Saturday evening in Orissa state, where power and communications lines were down along much of the coastline. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)







Locals remove a traffic signal pole fallen during Cyclone Phailin from a road in Berhampur, India, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. An immense, powerful cyclone that lashed the Indian coast, forcing 500,000 people to evacuate and causing widespread damage, weakened Sunday after making landfall. Several people died in the rains that fell ahead of the storm, most killed by falling branches, Indian media reported, but the situation on the ground in many areas was still unclear after Cyclone Phailin slammed into the coast Saturday evening in Orissa state, where power and communications lines were down along much of the coastline.(AP Photo/Bikas Das)







An Indian woman carries away a branch of an uprooted tree from Cyclone Phailin as municipal workers clear a main highway in Berhampur, India, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. An immense, powerful cyclone that lashed the Indian coast, forcing 500,000 people to evacuate and causing widespread damage, weakened Sunday after making landfall. Several people died in the rains that fell ahead of the storm, most killed by falling branches, Indian media reported, but the situation on the ground in many areas was still unclear after Cyclone Phailin slammed into the coast Saturday evening in Orissa state, where power and communications lines were down along much of the coastline. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)







BEHRAMPUR, India (AP) — Mass evacuations spared India the widespread deaths many had feared from a powerful cyclone that roared ashore over the weekend, officials said Sunday, as the country sorted through the wreckage of flooded towns, tangled power lines and tens of thousands of destroyed thatch homes.

Cyclone Phailin, the strongest storm to hit India in more than a decade, destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of crops, but more than 20 hours after it made landfall in Orissa state on the country's east coast, authorities said they knew of only 17 fatalities.

The final death toll is expected to climb further as officials reach areas of the cyclone-battered coast that remain isolated by downed communication links and blocked roads, but the evacuation of nearly 1 million people appeared to have saved many lives.

"Damage to property is extensive," said Amitabh Thakur, the top police officer in the Orissa district worst-hit by the cyclone. "But few lives have been lost," he said, crediting the mass evacuations.

On the highway to the seaside city of Gopalpur, where the storm made landfall early Saturday night, two tractor-trailers with shattered windshields were lying on their sides, while a hotel nearby was in tatters, with tables and chairs strewn about.

"We were terrified," A-1 Hotel owner Mihar Ranjan said of himself and 14 other people who had been huddling inside when the wind ripped the tin roof off the building.

On Sunday, Gopalpur's power lines sagged nearly to the ground and a strong surf churned off the coast. But some shops were opened, doing brisk business selling bottled drinks and snacks, and locals expressed relief that the damage wasn't worse.

A mermaid statue remained standing on Gopalpur's boardwalk, where most decorative street lamps still stood along with most of the city's buildings.

"Everyone feels very lucky," said Prabhati Das, a 40-year-old woman who came from the town of Behrampur, about 10 kilometers (7 miles) inland, to see the aftermath at the coast.

A cargo ship carrying iron ore, the MV Bingo, sank Saturday as the cyclone barreled through the Bay of Bengal, and its crew of 18 — including 17 Chinese and one Indonesian — went missing for a day, coast guard officials said. They were being rescued Sunday evening after their lifeboat was found about 185 kilometers (115 miles) off the Indian coast, coast guard Commandant Sharad Matri said.

Phailin weakened significantly after making landfall as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of up to 210 kilometers per hour (131 miles per hour), according to Indian meteorologists. Those numbers were slightly lower than the last advisory issued by the U.S. Navy's Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center, which reported maximum sustained winds of about 222 kph (138 mph) and gusts up to 268 kph (167 mph) four hours before the storm hit land.

Midday on Sunday, some areas reported little more than breezy drizzles, with winds in some areas blowing at 161 kph (100 mph). Meteorologists warned that Orissa and other states in the storm's path would face heavy rains, strong winds and rough seas for several more hours.

"Its intensity is still strong, but after crossing the coast it has weakened considerably," Sharat Sahu, a top official with the Indian Meteorological Dept. in Orissa, told reporters.

Indian officials spoke dismissively of American forecasters who earlier had warned of a record-breaking cyclone that would drive a massive wall of water — perhaps as large as 9 meters high (30 feet high) — into the coastline.

"They have been issuing warnings, and we have been contradicting them," said L.S. Rathore, director-general of the Indian Meteorological Department. "That is all that I want to say."

"As a scientist, we have our own opinion and we stuck to that. We told them that is what is required as a national weather service — to keep people informed with the reality without being influenced by over-warning," he said at a news conference in New Delhi, the capital.

Predicting how massive storms will develop is difficult in the Bay of Bengal, where there are no tidal gauges, ocean buoys or aircraft flying into storms to measure winds directly. Instead, both U.S. and Indian meteorologists rely on satellite imagery to assess a storm's strength and path.

The Indian government had faced immense public criticism after its slow response to a series of deadly floods and mudslides in June in the northern state of Uttarakhand, where more than 6,000 people were killed.

But officials took few chances with Phailin, especially given memories of a 1999 Orissa cyclone that devastated the coastline and left at least 10,000 people dead.

Nearly 1 million people were evacuated from the coast ahead of Phailin, including more than 870,000 in Orissa and more than 100,000 in neighboring Andhra Pradesh.

Still, some either missed the evacuation or chose to ride out the storm near the coast, for fear of losing their homes and livestock to possible looting.

Truck driver M.D. Makasad Ali had set out Saturday night from the coast for Behrampur, but was forced by strong winds to pull over and shelter in his cab.

"At around midnight, the wind shook the truck and it fell over," the 25-year-old said. He managed to crawl out of a broken window and run for cover at a nearby hotel.

Carpenter Pitambar Moharanat, 65, spent the night terrified in his employer's seaside building in Gopalpur, where for six hours he listened to screaming winds shake the bolted wooden shutters until the winds eased at around 3 a.m.

"I am thanking God for sparing us," he said.

For days before the storm hit, officials had been stockpiling emergency food supplies and setting up hundreds of shelters. The Indian military put some forces on alert, with trucks, planes and helicopters at the ready for relief operations.

Electric utility authorities in Orissa switched off the power in 12 districts after scores of electric pylons toppled from the torrential rain and high winds.

The storm wreaked havoc in Behrampur, with the wind shattering windows, blowing down trees and electrical poles, and terrifying residents. But only three people died in the town, a security official said.

"The trees and the buildings could not be saved, but the people have been evacuated, so the human toll was contained so far," said Naresh Sharma, a commander with the Indian Central Reserve Police Force.

For the people living along the coast, many of whom live as subsistence farmers in mud-and-thatch huts, the economic toll will be immense.

Heavy rains and surging seawater destroyed more than 500,000 hectares (1.23 million acres) of crops worth an estimated 24 billion rupees ($395 million), according to Orissa's disaster minister, S.N. Patro.

British Prime Minister David Cameron described the damage as "shocking," and said in a Twitter message that Britain would do "what it can to help."

U.S. forecasters had repeatedly warned that Phailin would be immense, and as the cyclone approached the Indian coast Saturday, satellite images showed its spinning tails covering an area larger than France.

With some of the world's warmest waters, the Indian Ocean is considered a cyclone hot spot, and 27 of the 35 deadliest storms in recorded history — including the 1999 cyclone — have come through the Bay of Bengal and landed in either India or Bangladesh.

___

Associated Press writers Katy Daigle in New Delhi, Manik Banerjee in Kolkata, India, and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-13-India-Cyclone/id-da55f154d03d451eabcce55b4cbf7b9b
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