| Phil Lewis: Interior’s rules tread close to trampling free press
Those of us in the news media are more than a bit concerned over proposed rules that could restrict photography — both still and video — on public lands. The Society of Professional Journalists and 18 other journalism organizations signed a letter this month opposing the new rules being drafted by the U.S. Department of Interior. The federal agency says it is simply codifying agency rules that are already in place. These rules include a fee schedule for commercial crews that want to film in our national parks and guidelines for what can be filmed by others and where. So what's wrong with charging a Hollywood crew a fee to shoot a wildlife movie or some other film on public land? Shouldn't there be a charge when a television commercial is shot on the rim of the Grand Canyon? Aren't rules and oversight needed to keep film crews from damaging the fragile ecosystem of the Everglades and other national parks? That's not where the beef is.
It's a wrap: Lynchburger finishes directing first feature film
Martha "Marty" Elcan made the transition from Southern gal to California girl about a year too soon. In the 1970s, the Lynchburg native had just finished taking voice and diction classes at the University of Virginia when she auditioned for a film called "Rollercoaster," which was shooting at King's Dominion that summer. At the time, Elcan says, she had a strong Southern accent, but worked hard to lose it for the audition. After reading her lines, "the casting director looks at me and says, 'Where's your Virginia accent?'" Elcan recalled in a phone interview last week from her home in Van Nuys, Calif. But as hard as she tried, "I could not get my accent back." It all worked out in the end for Elcan, who helped out on the set of "Rollercoaster" and found her true calling behind the camera.
Photoshop 6 through CS2 on Linux with Wine
Over this past week end I have posted four Adobe Photoshop on Linux with Wine articles, versions 6 through CS2 are covered.
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iTALC promotes learning on a classroom network
iTALC, or Intelligent Teaching and Learning with Computers, is a didactical tool designed to assist teachers. Despite its name, the tool itself isn't a learning environment. It's meant to let teachers control their students' computers in a computer-driven classroom setting. Thanks to its powerful remote desktop control features, simple setup, and lack of cost, it's a potential remote assistance tool for any type of network.
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Strike One Against Microsoft
In our last blog posted on February 21, I proposed three test pitches for Microsoft to help judge the meaningfulness of its latest efforts to turn over a new leaf on interoperability.
'Indiana Jones' whips up Cannes premiere
If you're just dying to see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" before its worldwide premiere, you may need to take a trip to the South of France. George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford's long-awaited return to the "Indiana Jones" franchise will have its world premiere on Sunday, May 18 at the Cannes Film Festival. If you don't want to play the money to fly to Cannes -- and, let's face it, you probably couldn't have gotten tickets anyway -- "Indy 4" will open around the world on May 22. While Variety is reporting that the "Indiana Jones" premiere is essentially a done-deal, the trade paper takes great pains to note that nothing will be official until Cannes organizers announce the full festival slate in August. Spielberg is still editing and scoring the film -- which would presumably screen in an out-of-competition capacity -- and has yet to show even a rough cut to anybody.
G. Loves spreads the love
And when these three bands came out in the early nineties, there was no else around the world doing that much live hip-hop. And all these three bands came out of like a 20-block radius, so I think it's just kind of interesting. And the thing about Philly is it's just like a founding town of hip-hop. You know, some of the first rappers were all out of New York and Philly. Then because Philly is so integrated, it's allowed a lot of music to creep in to it. It has also allowed white boys like me, who are musicians, to be able to rap for some reason. I don't know, to me it's really interesting. Some of the first live hip-hop bands came out of Philly so that to me says something about the town. I'm not quite sure what it is but I wrote it in a rap and it went like this, “white boys rapping, black kids playing rock." That one line kind of sums up everything that can happen in Philly.
Clinton set to fight on after March 4th
Two of the biggest turnarounds vis-a-vis polling and actual results have occurred in New Hampshire and California, where larger than expected turnout among female voters (in New Hampshire) and Hispanics (in California) proved decisive, further emphasising the key role that racial and gender demographics have played in this years Democratic nomination contest. In Texas, Obama has a strong lead among blacks (85% to 8% according to Zogby), Mrs Clinton has a substantial advantage among Hispanic voters (55% to 33%) whilst the two are effectively tied among whites, suggesting the relative turnouts among blacks and Hispanics (respectively 21% and 24% of voters in the 2004 primary) could be crucial in determining the outcome of the statewide popular vote, a vote which both candidates realise has enormous propaganda value despite delegates being awarded based on outcomes in individual senate districts and precincts.
'Spring Forward' With Daylight Saving Time Facts From Howard Miller
Beginning in 2007, this changed the start of DST from the first Sunday of April to the second Sunday in March. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy found that it saves consumers $329 million dollars, avoids building more electric power plants, prevents the consumption of 21 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and avoids generating nearly 11 million metric tons of the carbon emissions that lead to Global Warming, due to decreased use of electricity. How does DST affect crime? A study by the U.S. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration found that rates of violent crime go down 10 to 13 percent during DST. This is because most crimes where darkness is a factor occur after dusk, not before dawn. How does DST affect birth time? DST affects the time when babies are born.
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