This Fourth of July weekend think about what truly represents freedom: Old Glory, the Liberty Bell, and an ice-cold glass of lemonade. This month’s lineup of busybodies includes two regulars: the FDA, which is slapping new, more graphic, possibly counterproductive, warning labels on cigarette packs and the goldfish grabbers on San Francisco’s Animal Control and Welfare Commission. But top dishonors… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Big Government Discovery Date : 01/07/2011 14:56 Number of articles : 3
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Back in April, Samsung slapped back at Apple’s claims of patent infringement with a healthy helping of ten claims of its own. Now Bloomberg is reporting that Samsung quietly dropped its counter suit against the Cupertino-based company on June 30th, in an attempt “to streamline the legal proceedings.” Of course that doesn’t mean the saga is over: Apple’s smartphone infringement accusations stand, as do legal battles in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the UK Samsung says it will also continue to fight Apple’s accusations in the US in the form of a counter-claim. One down, one to go? Samsung drops counter suit against Apple — Apple’s still got a bone to pick originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jul 2011 13:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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**Posted by Phineas Today’s Klavan on the Culture deals with something that has puzzled the Wise for nearly a century: just why do African Americans vote for Democrats in such huge numbers’? Ya got me. Maybe Andrew can explain it. RELATED: An excellent book on the Democratic Party and race. (Crossposted at Public Secrets) Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Sister Toldjah Discovery Date : 01/07/2011 07:06 Number of articles : 4
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Former favourite to win 2012 presidential election may return to France more popular than ever if cleared of all charges French Socialists were in chaos as key figures speculated whether Dominique Strauss-Kahn could return to challenge Nicolas Sarkozy in the presidential race next year, throwing the party into another round of instability and internal ego-clashes. Strauss-Kahn was the clear favourite to win the 2012 presidential election before he was arrested for allegedly attempting to rape a New York hotel maid in May. He is no longer under house arrest, but still faces seven charges ranging from attempted rape to sexual assault. If he is cleared or charges are dropped, supporters such as former culture minister Jack Lang suggested he could return to France more popular than ever before. Strauss-Kahn’s possible return has thrown the Socialist party’s primary race into disarray. The party had presumed his presidential hopes were dead and opened its selection process for another candidate last week. Candidates must declare by 13 July for an October vote, but Strauss-Kahn’s next hearing is scheduled for 18 July. Current front-runner François Hollande was the first to declare this weekend that he had “no problem” with pushing back the declaration date until the end of August, allowing Strauss-Kahn to return from New York if charges were dropped quickly. But the party’s interim leader, Harlem Désir, snapped back that there didn’t seem to be “any reason” to move the deadline. The row has weakened Martine Aubry, who declared her presidential bid last week, but had a pact with Strauss-Kahn and could be pressured to stand aside for him. All depends on whether the prosecution maintains its case and goes to trial or quickly drops charges against Strauss-Kahn, and if so how the French public and opinion polls perceive him. Even while the charges still stand, some French supporters presented him as an innocent victim, hero and martyr. Left-wing philosopher Bernard-Henry Lévy spoke of a noble man who had been the victim of a “spiral of horror and calumny”. He told Le Parisien that Strauss-Kahn had been “lynched” by the “friends of minorities” in the US. He said that because the victim was “poor and immigrant” she had been presumed innocent, and because Strauss-Kahn was “powerful” he had been presumed guilty. Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette, political editor of the weekly Le Point , felt “anything is possible”. A returning Strauss-Kahn might be seen by the French as “hero” mistreated or “humiliated” by the American justice system. Much would depend on whether French left voters still saw him as a “saviour” against Sarkozy, she wrote. But while many Socialists felt DSK could return triumphant if totally cleared, others worried about the stain the case would leave on French politics and the damage done by revelations about his private life and his attitude to women. Since his arrest, a French taboo has been broken and Strauss-Kahn’s behaviour towards women, deemed “libertine” by his friends, has been raked over. Socialist Anne Mansouret, who said she regretted dissuading her daughter, journalist Tristane Banon, from pressing charges over an alleged sexual assault in 2002, had said Strauss-Kahn had a “problem” with women which could be seen as a sickness. Strauss-Kahn seemed not to be worried about his political image on Friday night when he went out for a $100 bowl of pasta with friends, casting aside the controversy in France that he should tone down his image of “champagne socialism”. Socialist MP Marisol Touraine, a key DSK ally, said she hoped for Strauss-Kahn’s “rehabilitation” but warned that he would not be able to return to a “status quo” in France as if nothing had happened. Gérard Collomb, the mayor of Lyon and Strauss-Kahn supporter, warned that Strauss-Kahn should first “rebuild himself” before a possible return to the presidential race, warning that no one emerged from such a case “unscathed”. Pollsters cautioned that Strauss-Kahn’s return would be shaped by whether the American justice system cleared him or whether charges were dropped, leaving doubts. Pascal Perrineau, of Paris’s Institute of Political Science, said that if Strauss-Kahn was cleared of all suspicion, his return to France could still be complicated. “If a strong doubt persists over his behaviour, and even if that behaviour isn’t as criminal as was once suggested, a return [to politics] seems really very difficult,” he told Reuters. Gerald Bronner, a sociologist at Strasbourg university, said: “This case has allowed another image of Strauss-Kahn to be put forward in French public opinion. The public wasn’t informed of the slightly libertine side of his personal life.” Jean Veil, Strauss-Kahn’s French lawyer, said: “He will speak once he’s in France and cleared of all suspicion.” Dominique Strauss-Kahn France Europe Nicolas Sarkozy Angelique Chrisafis guardian.co.uk
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Pierre and Elianne Thivillon don’t have any children. But they do have a 265-pound gorilla. The couple, both zookeepers, took in Digit 13 years ago, when her biological mother refused to breastfeed. They already had experience working with gorillas, but acknowledge that it’s not an easy job. New Zealand’s News 3 reports that the couple compares raising Digit to raising a child, in terms of the impact on their social life. There are no more nights out to the movies or restaurants, but they don’t seem to mind. BBC News reports that during the day, Digit spends her time at the Saint Martin la Plaine Zoo in France. In the evenings, she returns home to her adopted parents, where she enjoys sleeping in their bed. According to New Zealand’s News 3, the couple also once cared for Digit’s brother, Ginko, but he became aggressive and they had to return him to the zoo. “Life was very difficult a few days after Ginko left. We got used to seeing him everyday. He slept near us, we had breakfast together, we had a good time together and it was a real pleasure. It was very hard to see him go,” Pierre told the news organization. But Digit’s relationship to the couple appears to be quite loving, and video captures Digit hugging Pierre and even planting a kiss on him. As Pierre says, “It’s going very well. We have a 13-year-old relationship with Digit, so obviously we’ve created a very strong bond with each other.” Although Digit’s story is a unique situation, keeping wild animals in human households can be frowned upon. 17-year-old Felicia Frisco sleeps with a Bengal tiger in her bed, and questions were raised over whether or not the animal should be kept in captivity. Unfortunately though, a handler explained, “There’s nowhere for a tiger to live in the wild anymore.” As for gorillas, many are endangered or threatened. For example, mountain gorillas in Central Africa are threatened by the Human Metapneumovirus which causes deadly respiratory diseases in humans and can be passed on to mountain gorillas. WATCH:
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Gary Sinise is one of the rare Hollywood stars these days willing to give back to the nation by showing his support for the troops. On Thursday, he sat down with substitute host Laura Ingraham on Fox's “The O'Reilly Factor” to discuss a new documentary chronicling his tremendously patriotic efforts (video follows with transcript and commentary): LAURA INGRAHAM: In the “Back of the Book” segment tonight, Hollywood star Gary Sinise has devoted enormous amounts of money and time to help servicemen and their families around the world. If he isn't raising money for injured war vets and 9/11 responders, he and his band are performing for the troops stationed in the Middle East and around the world. Now he's starting a foundation to continue his work. And kicking it all off with a documentary about his band's good deeds. I spoke to Gary yesterday. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MARGARET HOOVER, CO-HOST, “CO-HOST, TRUTV'S, “In Session.”: So, Gary, July 4, the Gary Sinise Foundation launches. Tell us about it. GARY SINISE, FOUNDER, GARY SINISE FOUNDATION: Well, thanks for having me on, Laura. Gary Sinise Foundation. I started because I've been so involved in doing all kinds of things on multiple fronts in support of our troops, our first responders, veterans, their families. We have children of the fallen wounded warriors. There's so many things I'm involved in right now. And I kind of got to the point where I thought, “Well, I'm either going to pull back or ramp it up. And how do I ramp it up when I'm already spread so thin?” So I decided to start the foundation, in order to point people in the right direction with regards to organizations that I'm already supporting, that are doing good work out there in support of our troops. And also, to be able to guide some resources and take in some additional resources so that we can continue to create programs — creating programs and supporting programs that are doing good things for our warriors out there. INGRAHAM: What is the Web site address for it? SINISE: GarySiniseFoundation.org. INGRAHAM: It's easier to remember. First, I think a lot of people don't how. How did the Lieutenant Dan Band start? Can you just briefly tell us that story again? Because that propels us into the documentary. SINISE: Right. And the documentary is called “Lieutenant Dan Band for the Common Good. I have a band. Part of my mission to support our warriors and first responders and folks like that is to take my band around and kind of lift the morale, play some concerts to either raise money or just to raise morale. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SINISE: Everybody on your feet! Let's go. Everybody on your feet. (END VIDEO CLIP) SINISE: When I started going on USO tours, I would shake hands and take pictures. I asked them if I could take some musicians with me. They said OK. The troops always called me Lieutenant Dan, so I just went with that and said, “Let's call it Lieutenant Dan Band.” (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOM HANKS, ACTOR: Lieutenant Dan, what are you doing here? SINISE: Thought I'd try out my sea legs. HANKS: You ain't got no legs, Lieutenant Dan. SINISE: Yes, I know that. (END VIDEO CLIP) SINISE: And then a friend of mine, a documentary filmmaker, asked if he could document some of the — some of the trips I was making. So he followed me around with a camera crew for about 18 months. I took him to various events and military bases that I visited. Took him to Iraq. And he ended up with, you know, hundreds of thousands of feet of footage. And put this beautiful documentary together. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As soon as you walked out, he walked down off the stage. He wanted the children to come up. He knew it was for the kids. SINISE: They've had a pretty rough go of it, losing a parent in the war. We want to make sure they leave feeling better than when they walked in. OK? (END VIDEO CLIP) INGRAHAM: Gary, I know you've done 400 concerts, which I'm trying to get my mind around. Four hundred concerts around the world. Is that accurate? SINISE: That might be an exaggeration. There's hundreds, certainly hundreds of concerts. I don't know if it's that many. But we've been nonstop. You know, I'm on television every week. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SINISE: Where is he? (END VIDEO CLIP) SINISE: I'm shooting my show five days a week. And then I'll get on a plane and go out. On the weekends we go to bases all around this country. This year we're doing 16 USO shows. INGRAHAM: Wow. SINISE: That's just for the USO. And then we go out and we do charity concerts for military organizations. So probably play about 40 shows a year. INGRAHAM: And Gary, I think there are a couple of people who I know personally, who when they go on a military base, they spend time with the troops, the troops all gravitate towards them. Obviously, it's always going to be the commander in chief. But you and Ollie North, the two of you. I mean, you guys are like — I just want to follow you guys around, because then I'll get the great treatment at the bases, too. Because you mention your name. And I just get — I go to Camp Pendleton. I'm a friend of Sinise's; I get in. I go to Fort Hood, I'm a friend of Sinise's. It just — you just totally paved the way. I thank you. I thank you on behalf of all the O'Reilly “Factor” viewers. You carry the load for a lot of people, I think, in the entertainment industry. I know you get some help from your friends in the entertainment industry. But I think a lot of us wish there were a lot more people like you who have your platform, your face, your voice and your identity. It think this means a lot to people. It's a great inspiration. SINISE: Thank you so much, Laura. Look, I've been blessed. I know where freedom comes from. A lot of people are sacrificing for it. We all remember what happened to our Vietnam veterans when they came home from war. We don't want that to happen again. You know, if we're going to have volunteers go in service to our country and go into dangerous places, we have to take care of them before the battle, during the battle and after the battle. INGRAHAM: Hey, Gary, great to see you, as always. Have a wonderful Independence Day. And I can't wait to see the Lieutenant Dan Band and the documentary. And also just the band, really soon. I can't wait to see you. SINISE: Thanks so much, Laura. INGRAHAM: You can watch the film online at LieutenantDanBandMovie.com. It's going to be available for one month starting July 4. The cost is four bucks, and one out of every four dollars goes to the Gary Sinise Foundation to support military causes. From all of us at NewsBusters, thanks Gary, and God bless you!
Continue reading …Gary Sinise is one of the rare Hollywood stars these days willing to give back to the nation by showing his support for the troops. On Thursday, he sat down with substitute host Laura Ingraham on Fox's “The O'Reilly Factor” to discuss a new documentary chronicling his tremendously patriotic efforts (video follows with transcript and commentary): LAURA INGRAHAM: In the “Back of the Book” segment tonight, Hollywood star Gary Sinise has devoted enormous amounts of money and time to help servicemen and their families around the world. If he isn't raising money for injured war vets and 9/11 responders, he and his band are performing for the troops stationed in the Middle East and around the world. Now he's starting a foundation to continue his work. And kicking it all off with a documentary about his band's good deeds. I spoke to Gary yesterday. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MARGARET HOOVER, CO-HOST, “CO-HOST, TRUTV'S, “In Session.”: So, Gary, July 4, the Gary Sinise Foundation launches. Tell us about it. GARY SINISE, FOUNDER, GARY SINISE FOUNDATION: Well, thanks for having me on, Laura. Gary Sinise Foundation. I started because I've been so involved in doing all kinds of things on multiple fronts in support of our troops, our first responders, veterans, their families. We have children of the fallen wounded warriors. There's so many things I'm involved in right now. And I kind of got to the point where I thought, “Well, I'm either going to pull back or ramp it up. And how do I ramp it up when I'm already spread so thin?” So I decided to start the foundation, in order to point people in the right direction with regards to organizations that I'm already supporting, that are doing good work out there in support of our troops. And also, to be able to guide some resources and take in some additional resources so that we can continue to create programs — creating programs and supporting programs that are doing good things for our warriors out there. INGRAHAM: What is the Web site address for it? SINISE: GarySiniseFoundation.org. INGRAHAM: It's easier to remember. First, I think a lot of people don't how. How did the Lieutenant Dan Band start? Can you just briefly tell us that story again? Because that propels us into the documentary. SINISE: Right. And the documentary is called “Lieutenant Dan Band for the Common Good. I have a band. Part of my mission to support our warriors and first responders and folks like that is to take my band around and kind of lift the morale, play some concerts to either raise money or just to raise morale. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SINISE: Everybody on your feet! Let's go. Everybody on your feet. (END VIDEO CLIP) SINISE: When I started going on USO tours, I would shake hands and take pictures. I asked them if I could take some musicians with me. They said OK. The troops always called me Lieutenant Dan, so I just went with that and said, “Let's call it Lieutenant Dan Band.” (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOM HANKS, ACTOR: Lieutenant Dan, what are you doing here? SINISE: Thought I'd try out my sea legs. HANKS: You ain't got no legs, Lieutenant Dan. SINISE: Yes, I know that. (END VIDEO CLIP) SINISE: And then a friend of mine, a documentary filmmaker, asked if he could document some of the — some of the trips I was making. So he followed me around with a camera crew for about 18 months. I took him to various events and military bases that I visited. Took him to Iraq. And he ended up with, you know, hundreds of thousands of feet of footage. And put this beautiful documentary together. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As soon as you walked out, he walked down off the stage. He wanted the children to come up. He knew it was for the kids. SINISE: They've had a pretty rough go of it, losing a parent in the war. We want to make sure they leave feeling better than when they walked in. OK? (END VIDEO CLIP) INGRAHAM: Gary, I know you've done 400 concerts, which I'm trying to get my mind around. Four hundred concerts around the world. Is that accurate? SINISE: That might be an exaggeration. There's hundreds, certainly hundreds of concerts. I don't know if it's that many. But we've been nonstop. You know, I'm on television every week. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SINISE: Where is he? (END VIDEO CLIP) SINISE: I'm shooting my show five days a week. And then I'll get on a plane and go out. On the weekends we go to bases all around this country. This year we're doing 16 USO shows. INGRAHAM: Wow. SINISE: That's just for the USO. And then we go out and we do charity concerts for military organizations. So probably play about 40 shows a year. INGRAHAM: And Gary, I think there are a couple of people who I know personally, who when they go on a military base, they spend time with the troops, the troops all gravitate towards them. Obviously, it's always going to be the commander in chief. But you and Ollie North, the two of you. I mean, you guys are like — I just want to follow you guys around, because then I'll get the great treatment at the bases, too. Because you mention your name. And I just get — I go to Camp Pendleton. I'm a friend of Sinise's; I get in. I go to Fort Hood, I'm a friend of Sinise's. It just — you just totally paved the way. I thank you. I thank you on behalf of all the O'Reilly “Factor” viewers. You carry the load for a lot of people, I think, in the entertainment industry. I know you get some help from your friends in the entertainment industry. But I think a lot of us wish there were a lot more people like you who have your platform, your face, your voice and your identity. It think this means a lot to people. It's a great inspiration. SINISE: Thank you so much, Laura. Look, I've been blessed. I know where freedom comes from. A lot of people are sacrificing for it. We all remember what happened to our Vietnam veterans when they came home from war. We don't want that to happen again. You know, if we're going to have volunteers go in service to our country and go into dangerous places, we have to take care of them before the battle, during the battle and after the battle. INGRAHAM: Hey, Gary, great to see you, as always. Have a wonderful Independence Day. And I can't wait to see the Lieutenant Dan Band and the documentary. And also just the band, really soon. I can't wait to see you. SINISE: Thanks so much, Laura. INGRAHAM: You can watch the film online at LieutenantDanBandMovie.com. It's going to be available for one month starting July 4. The cost is four bucks, and one out of every four dollars goes to the Gary Sinise Foundation to support military causes. From all of us at NewsBusters, thanks Gary, and God bless you!
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Happy birthday, dear Global System for Mobile Communications! 20 years ago today, on July 1 1991, the world’s first GSM call was made by Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri. The historic call used Nokia gear on GSM’s original 900MHz band. Today GSM is all grown up and ruling the world — connecting 1.5 billion people in 212 countries and serving 80% of the planet’s mobile market. GSM gave us a number of firsts. It was the first fully digital cellular system using TDMA to cram more information into less spectrum and provide better sounding, more reliable calls using less power. It introduced the Subscriber Identity Module ( SIM ), the idea of switching handsets at will (something carriers have sought to subvert by locking phones), and the reality of international roaming. Short Messaging Service ( SMS ) was first launched on GSM networks, along with packet data ( GPRS and later EDGE ), which made internet access practical on mobile devices. Eventually, GSM expanded to the 400, 800, 1800 and 1900MHz bands and evolved into WDCMA-based UMTS (3G) and later HSPA and HSPA+, followed by LTE (4G) networks. So next time you’re at the coffee shop sipping on that latte while uploading that video to YouTube at 10Mbps using your LTE phone, remember to be thankful for that first GSM call 20 years ago — that’s when the mobile revolution really started. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] GSM turns 20 today, still rocking the world originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jul 2011 05:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …It was a strange week in the Twitterverse as measured by the top trending topics, with random viral memes out in force.
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A creative team in Amsterdam, Bas van de Poel and Daan van Dam, show us on this video how they used the twitter microblogging site to catch the attention of creative directors and land themselves a job in an advertising agency. Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · comments (0) Share: facebook ·… Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Global Voices Online Discovery Date : 01/07/2011 16:13 Number of articles : 4
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