Counsel for Raffaele Sollecito compares her to cartoon character Jessica Rabbit, saying she was ‘not bad – just drawn that way’ There was “no trace” of either Amanda Knox or her former Italian boyfriend in the room where Meredith Kercher was murdered, a court hearing their appeal was told on Tuesday. Knox, who was depicted as a witch at the previous hearing, was more like Jessica Rabbit in the 1988 animated film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, according to one of her lawyers. “She can be seen as a man-eater. But in fact she was a faithful woman in love,” said the first defence lawyer to sum up before the judges and jury who will decide if Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are freed. Giulia Bongiorno, counsel for Sollecito, quoted the cartoon vamp: “I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.” And jabbing a finger at the prosecutors, she said: “They drew her that way”. Her brief foray into the world of animated cartoon was the prelude to a vigorous assault on the prosecution case in which she came within a hair’s breadth of claiming that, like Roger Rabbit, her client and his former girlfriend had been framed. In 2009, a lower court decided Sollecito and Knox murdered Kercher in a drug-fuelled sex game with a third man, Rudy Guede. Yet, said Bongiorno, ‘in the room of the crime, there are no traces of either Amanda or Raffaele. This is the absolute truth’. The only alleged evidence was a trace of Sollecito’s DNA on Kercher’s bra clasp, and that was evidence “torn apart by the experts’ report”. In June, two Rome university professors appointed by the court to review the forensic findings had reported the DNA could have got there by contamination. The bra clasp lay at the scene of the crime for more than six weeks. The experts also reported that DNA attributed to Kercher on the alleged murder weapon was not necessarily hers. The knife bore signs that it had been handled by Sollecito and Knox, but was in the young Italian’s kitchen and likely therefore to have been handled by both. As a result of the experts’ report, Bongiorno said: “Nothing connects Raffaele Sollecito to this crime … The few indications were to do with Amanda Knox and have been transferred to him. There are people who acquire a family along with a girlfriend. He acquired a crime.” But, added his lawyer, there was “nothing on Amanda either”. Sollecito was a 23-year-old computer science student at the university of Perugia when he was arrested for the murder. His lawyer warned the court against being misled by the prosecution’s emphasis on the number of judges who had endorsed its case. A footprint in Kercher’s bedroom was ascribed to her client and that version was accepted as fact by judges up to and including Italy’s highest appeals court. It then turned out to belong to Rudy Guede, she said. Amanda Knox Italy Meredith Kercher Europe United States John Hooper guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Scientists prove that active exploration isn’t required to create memories, +1 for 2D learning
September 27, 2011 No Comment
In a small victory for gamers and TV junkies everywhere, scientists found that viewing 2D images helped create long-term memories, meaning that visual media can help your learn . To form lasting memories, nerve cells normally experience “long-term potentiation” and “long-term depression” — both essential for learning. Researchers found that long-term depression was achieved when they let rats actively wander around a new environment. When they replaced the explorable area with a computer screen, the same memory-making phenomenon still occurred. The study’s conclusion? Video games and TV shows can help us learn, similarly to traditional non-electronic methods. Of course, there are concerns that visual media overload could lead to shorter attention spans, interfere with lessons taught at school and… oh look! A cat! Check out the full findings by hitting the source link below. Scientists prove that active exploration isn’t required to create memories, +1 for 2D learning originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 04:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Working on the Blackboard Grade Centre Offline Using Blackboard for Explorer’s Guide Maritime Training courses.m4v Mark Eteson vs. Chephren Blake feat. Meighan Nealon – Blackboard Year (Rascal van Russ Mashup) DeadlyCyn187 says: Of coarse the day I decide to log into blackboard to do homework is the day that the shit don’t wanna work! Sighhh
Continue reading …The much talked about and one of the most valuable items of history, the Dead Sea scrolls have been finally made available to the online public Monday. These scrolls were known to have contained the oldest known surviving biblical texts namely; the Great Isaiah scroll, the Community Rule scroll, the commentary on Habbakuk, the Temple Dead Sea Scrolls Now Reaching The Netizens is a post from: Daily World Buzz
Continue reading …As Liberalism’s Approval Drops, Is MSNBC Slipping Into Third Place Behind CNN?
September 27, 2011 No Comment
The conventional wisdom on cable news branding may be changing. It’s been said that MSNBC found its way being a fiercely liberal channel, while CNN dithered with a calmer (ahem, still liberal) lineup. Now CNN is close to overtaking MSNBC in prime time, reported Bill Carter in The New York Times . So much for “leaning forward.” “MSNBC may be rediscovering the downside of partisan news,” Chris Daly, a professor of journalism at Boston University, told Carter. “That is, the size of your audience is essentially cajoled by the size of the electorate that already agrees with you.” The electorate isn’t getting thrills up its legs over Obama any more. The Times probably would not want to claim that the entire audience of Fox News Channel is an electoral bloc agreeing with conservatives. Carter reported: The ratings results for the month of September show that CNN, long relegated to third place in the prime-time cable news competition, is edging its way back up, while MSNBC is moving in the other direction. For the month, CNN averaged 257,000 viewers in prime time in the category that counts most to the networks — viewers between the ages of 25 and 54 — because that is where the advertising money goes for news programming. MSNBC was just barely ahead with 269,000 viewers. (Neither approached the leader, Fox News, with 526,000). Both CNN and MSNBC had one especially strong night because of the Republican presidential debates. With those excluded, however, CNN beat MSNBC, 219,000 to 207,000. Carter insists MSNBC is suffering from the removal of that egomaniac Keith Olbermann, and his little show on Current TV. “Mr. Olbermann averaged just over 50,000 viewers in the 25-to-54 measure in September, or less than 20 percent of what he attracted on MSNBC.” (He's certainly not drawing less than one-fifth his old salary.) The removal of the Olbermaniacs is apparently causing heartburn for MSNBC. The change in the September ratings was most noticeable at 8 p.m., where CNN has moved its best-known host, Anderson Cooper. The network’s performance during that hour has improved by 38 percent over last year, growing to 215,000 viewers from 156,000. On MSNBC, meanwhile, Lawrence O’Donnell has lost 100,000 viewers from the numbers Mr. Olbermann posted last September, with 185,000 viewers in the 25-to-54 age group, a drop of 35 percent. (Bill O’Reilly on Fox, as always, dwarfs his competitors with about three times as many viewers, 611,000.) More ominously, the falloff for Mr. O’Donnell seems to be affecting MSNBC’s biggest name, Rachel Maddow. Her audience dropped 15 percent this year, to 245,000 from 289,000. She still beats Piers Morgan on CNN in the 9 p.m. hour, but his show has improved 18 percent over Larry King’s ratings last year, with 193,000 viewers to Mr. King’s 164,000. MSNBC executives endured a contentious parting with Mr. Olbermann last January. Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, had a succinct answer to the question of whether the network is feeling the impact of Mr. Olbermann’s departure: “No.” He added, “I’m confident that we will increase our ratings as politics become the dominant story over the next year.” Carter did not apparently ask Griffin how his political-involvement standard for evening hosts has changed from Olbermann (dumped for a few political contributions) to Sharpton (running a permanent race-baiting campaign). The answer could have been priceless. But CNN is left to boast that its hottest hour in the key demographic is at 10 pm, where it's running a rerun of Anderson Cooper 360: It “remains CNN’s strongest hour, with 274,000 viewers, well ahead of “The Ed Show” on MSNBC with 200,000 (though both also are well behind Greta Van Susteren on Fox, who had 415,000.)” Ed Schultz should keep his day job on the radio.
Continue reading …
Amid the enthusiastic applause in New York and the celebrations in Ramallah, it was easy to believe — if only a for minute — that, after decades of obstruction by Israel and the United States, a Palestinian state might finally be pulled out of the United Nations hat. Will the world’s conscience be midwife to a new era ending Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians? It seems not. The Palestinian application, handed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon last week, has now disappeared from view — for weeks, it seems — while the United States and Israel devise a face-saving formula to kill it in the Security Council. Behind the scenes, the pair are strong-arming the Council’s members to block…
Continue reading …
After months of rumors and pre-orders , the Nokia N9 has finally begun shipping. Today, the Finnish manufacturer announced that its Meego-drenched handsets are now available for consumption, in both 16GB and 64GB variants. Of course, those of us in the US are out of luck , as are those in Germany and the UK (barring any back-door wizardry ), but everyone else can grab a 16GB model for the not-so-small price of €480 (about $650), or the 64GB version for the similarly steep price of €560 (roughly $757). Pricing and availability, of course, will vary by region, but you can find more details in the full press release after the break, or at the source link, below. Continue reading Nokia N9 begins shipping at not inexpensive prices Nokia N9 begins shipping at not inexpensive prices originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …(CNN) – One week after the release of a controversial book on Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor threatened to…
Continue reading …
The TV news channel dubbed ‘the Jewish al-Jazeera’ hopes to attract a global audience with its independent stance The world’s first Jewish 24-hour TV news channel has launched with the aim of offering not just “news for Jews” but attracting viewers interested in world events from a Jewish perspective as an alternative to leading networks such as the BBC, CNN, Sky News and al-Jazeera. “Since the beginning of the world, everything with the word ‘Jewish’ in it has been news,” said Alexander Zanzer, Brussels bureau chief of Jewish News 1 (JN1). “So we thought it was about time someone created a 24-hour rolling TV news channel that looks at global events through Jewish glasses.” Broadcasting in Europe began via satellite last Wednesday. The channel will be rolled out across North America and the Middle East in cable and satellite packages over the coming weeks, and an internet live stream will be up and running within a month. “We don’t look at our channel as just being ‘news for Jews’,” said JN1′s editor-in-chief Peter Dickinson, based in Kiev. “It’s a much wider enterprise than that and I’m confident we’ll get a lot of non-Jewish viewers coming by for the variety of our voice. “If you look at the news market over the last 20 years, the real development has been diversification. A lot of channels have gotten a lot of kudos by being different and we hope to do the same by offering our own unique perspective on global affairs”. JN1 has already opened bureaux in Brussels, Tel Aviv and Kiev, and further studios are planned for Washington, Paris, London, Berlin and Moscow, with both Jewish and non-Jewish correspondents being signed up. The channel – a not-for-profit venture – currently broadcasts in English, but plans to expand and provide current affairs coverage in Russian, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian and German, said Zanzer. Its owners are Ukrainian oligarchs Igor Kolomoisky and Vadim Rabinovich, president and vice-president respectively of the European Jewish Union (EJU), a Brussels-based umbrella body of Jewish communities and organisations in Europe. Both are prominent philanthropists in the international Jewish community, financing civil society events in Israel and Ukraine. The pair have reportedly invested $5m in the channel because, said Zanzer, “they now want to do something that resonates on an international level”. The Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations dominated the channel’s output in the last week, but it also broadcast other Jewish-themed international news items, such as a call for fans of the football team AFC Ajax to bring Israeli flags to their next home match in protest against calls from antisemitism campaigners to ban the club’s supporters from singing pro-Jewish chants. Eytan Gilboa, a communications professor at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, said that JN1 was part of a growing trend of independent global news channels set up by governments and non-state organisations dissatisfied with coverage offered by leading international TV news networks of their countries and interests. “France has France 24, Russia has Russia Today, China has CCTV news,” he said. “Israel should have had a channel like this long ago, though I’m glad JN1 is a private venture because government channels have no credibility.” Coverage of Israel by existing news networks like BBC World and CNN International – as well as al-Jazeera – was biased against the Jewish state, said Gilboa. The point was echoed by Zanzer, who said JN1 would “give more voice to Israel”. “Journalists want good guys and bad guys when they write a story, and when they write about Israel they’ve already made up their minds,” he added. But Zanzer was keen to point out that the channel was independent from the state of Israel and “will not necessarily be pro- or anti-Israel; we’ll let the public hear the Israeli perspective and it’ll be up to the viewers to decide whether they’re right”. The channel’s Israeli bureau chief, CNN and ABC News veteran Jordana Miller, was also adamant that JN1 will not become a “propaganda station”, saying “there’s nothing about this network that will exclude, diminish or cut off the Palestinian narrative when it comes to the conflict here”. Gilboa claimed it was too soon to say whether channels such as JN1 could be successful but pointed out that success was relative and dependeent on the goals and expectations of the people backing them. “None of these channels are profitable, they lose money,” he said. “It’s like foreigners buying football teams in Britain – they don’t buy them to make a profit.” TV news Al-Jazeera Television industry Israel Middle East guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
• Where the cuts will fall • Manufacturing likely to end at Brough • Unions call for government intervention Defence company BAE Systems has confirmed it is cutting almost 3,000 jobs at sites across the country, mainly in its military aircraft division. The firm ended days of speculation by giving details of a huge redundancy programme, saying it needed to maintain competitiveness. The biggest job cuts will be at sites in Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire and at Brough in east Yorkshire, although jobs will also be lost at the firm’s head office in Hampshire. Ian King, chief executive of BAE Systems, said: “Our customers are facing huge pressures on their defence budgets and affordability has become an increasing priority. Our business needs to rise to this challenge to maintain its competitiveness and ensure its long-term future.” BAE announced that it had started a consultation about ending manufacturing at the Brough site, which employs 1,300 workers. The firm said most of the job cuts would be in its military aircraft division, which is being affected by a slowdown in orders for the Eurofighter Typhoon combat jet. King said: “Some of our major programmes have seen significant changes. The four partner nations in the Typhoon programme [UK, Italy, Germany and Spain] have agreed to slow production rates to help ease their budget pressures. “Whilst this will help extend our production schedule and ensure the production line stays open until we receive anticipated export contracts, it does reduce the workload at a number of our sites. “The proposals announced today aim to put the business into the right shape to address the challenges we face now and in the future and ensure we are in the best possible position to win future business. “We understand that this is a time of uncertainty for our employees and we are committed to working with them and their representatives to explore ways of mitigating the potential job losses.” Unite union national officer Ian Waddell said: “After days of speculation and rumours, our worst fears have been confirmed. “It’s a dark day for thousands of skilled men and women across the country and it is a dark day for British manufacturing. “BAE Systems have dealt a hammer blow to the UK defence industry and Unite is determined to fight the cuts. “Last year the UK defence industry generated over �£9bn of revenue from exports alone. “The government’s defence review has led to deep cuts in defence spending and significant job losses, meaning it will be difficult to redeploy the jobs now at risk. “The government cannot sit on its hands and allow these highly skilled jobs to disappear. We expect the MoD to intervene urgently to protect these jobs, otherwise the UK’s defence industry risks losing the critical mass it needs to maintain its reputation as a world leader in defence manufacturing. “Once again George Osborne’s proclamation that he would create the right conditions to drive the economy forward through British manufacturing is ringing hollow.” In Brough, workers could be seen walking to a mass meeting where they were due to be addressed by a senior manager. They will then be allowed to go home for the day and the site will reopen on Wednesday. Local GMB officer Dave Oglesby said workers at the plant had been left “absolutely shocked” by the news. Speaking outside the sprawling facility, he said: “We were given firm assurances early this year that this plant would stay open – this plant was the most viable plant to deliver the Hawk [jet trainer aircraft] contract and we have had a complete turnaround. “It looks, to all intents and purposes, that this will no longer be a manufacturing facility.” Oglesby said the plant had been in existence for 100 years, often with three generations of the same family working there. He said there were 70 to 80 apprentices working at Brough. “Young people have been robbed of their future. Nine hundred families have been robbed of their livelihoods,” he added. BAE Systems Job losses Manufacturing sector Defence policy guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …