Clouds less seen

Darkmatters review - Knowing

Knowing (15)Dir. Alex Proyas 'previously of The Crow, Dark City and I Robot'Reviewed by Matt Adcock“Knowing me, knowing you, ah ha!!” sorry, the wife’s just been hitting the Singstar Abba on the PS3 – whilst I got to witness Knowing and report back on its merits.What would you do if you had a list of every major disaster which had occurred for the last 50 years – and it included some that hadn’t happened yet, one of which might just be the end of the entire world? That’s the premise for Alex Proyas’ stylish apocalyptic sci-fi epic Knowing which bites off a hard to digest slice of disturbing ‘fate or determinism’ theological debate.Nicolas Cage (looking more like a startled goat with every film he makes) is an unlikely astrophysics professor whose son Caleb (rising child star Chandler ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ Canterbury) is the recipient of the disaster tracking page of numbers.Things get progressively more freaky as the predicted disasters occur in a flurry of budget trashing large scale set pieces that include a truly horrific subway train crash. Knowing keeps the audience guessing by setting up a string of key questions such as ‘What happened to the odd looking little girl who wrote the doomsday number list itself as part of a school time capsule project?’, ‘Why didn’t she fill in a National Lottery grid or two and live happily ever after?’ or ‘who are those weird, darkly clad mystery men who start following young Caleb around?’ There are lots of ideas here, mix and matching influences from numerous sci-fi classics and the result has polarised critics but for me Knowing delivered a decent slice of nail biting hokum.I freely confess to being a big fan of Alex ‘The Crow and Dark City’ Proyas, he is a visionary director whose last movie I Robot managed to turn the Asimov’s high brow robo-future nightmare into a decent action flick for Will Smith. Here, even saddled with a rank performance from Cage, there is much to appreciate - not least the impressively bleakly hopeful spiritual elements that elevate this way beyond the like of weaker end of days efforts such as The Happening.Biblical in its scope and uncompromising in the scenes of devastation Knowing isn’t really light entertainment. But, if you’re looking for something to provoke debate and make you wonder again about our human nature and future destiny you ‘know’ what to choose.Arbitrary Darkmatters final rating of: öööööööö (8 -Not Knowingly Underwhelmed)Darkmatters quick reference guide:Action 8Style 8Babes 6Comedy 6Spiritual Enlightenment 9Not convinced? check out this review of the film over at FANGORIA - best line:"And the simple fact that it has more on its mind than the usual empty megamovie spectacle is a plus, even if that mind is severely addled. KNOWING is a lot of things—too many things—but dull isn’t one of them.."

march from hamra to egyptian embassy friday 1/2/09 (photos by Nate George)

Nate George is a former student and a filmmaker who is in graduate school at AUB in Beirut now. If you click on his name under the label below, you can read more about him. (Scroll down to read about his work as an undergraduate student.) If you click here and look at the 3rd entry, you can download his documentary film, The Patch, which exposes the frequency of false positive results with PharmChem “PharmChek” sweat patches. Trace amounts of cocaine found in the environment in many parts of the U.S. can land someone who hasn't used cocaine in Federal Prison. Nate made this film as an undergraduate student. I really like Nate's dad a whole lot too. He is a very sensitive and gentle person. So Nate's film Chloe From 3 to 5 am, which he also made as an undergraduate, always makes me cry. You can watch it here. But here's Nate's warning:WARNING: Contains an intense death scene. This video chronicles the last hours of the filmmaker's miniature schnauzer, Chloe. The filmmaker and his father must decide what is best for the dog- whether there is still valuable life yet to be lived or to end it before it gets much worse.The following are more recent photos Nate sent from Lebanon.

Medical groups aim to cut $2T in health care costs over 10 years

WASHINGTON - President Obama on Monday praised health care industry groups for coming together to try and cut $2 trillion in expenses over the next decade to slow the rising cost of medical care.At a White House news conference flanked by industry officials, Obama called the meeting of officials "who often fought with each other" a "historic day, a watershed event in the long quest for health care reform.""We can't continue down the same dangerous road we've been traveling for so many years, with costs that are out of control," Obama said.Obama called the step officials took Monday part of a "broader effort" to reform health care. The groups have pledged to cut the rate of growth of health care spending over the next 10 years.Obama said Monday it could save the typical family an average of $2,500 a year in health care costs."If these savings are truly achieved, this may be the most significant development on the path to health care reform," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, which advocates for expanded health care coverage. "It would cut health costs for families and businesses, and it would enable adequate subsidies to be offered so that everyone has access to quality affordable health care."Six medical trade groups, including the American Medical Association and America's Health Insurance Plans, which represents health insurance companies, have agreed to the cost-cutting. Health care costs would continue to rise, just not as quickly.Democratic lawmakers are developing a plan to expand coverage to more of the 46 million people the Census Bureau estimates are uninsured. A major obstacle to that effort is the rising cost of health care, which has grown to $2.2 trillion a year, according to the Congressional Research Service.Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, suggested a similar idea in congressional testimony in March."Cost savings of this magnitude could go a long way toward ensuring that every American has access to affordable, quality coverage," Ignagni said. "These savings could help finance part of the costs of providing coverage to the uninsured."

I am Jane Eyre

I enjoyed writing the recent Harry Potter post so much that I decided I would make a similar list of parallels between my life and that of one of my other favorite literary characters, Jane Eyre. For anyone who is not into Victorian literature, Jane Eyre is a book by Charlotte Bronte about an orphan girl. I first read it in high school for and I fell in love with it instantly. The movie is on TV right now and I am listening to it as I type. I wonder if other foster kids have found similarities between their life and this book.An obvious connection is that both of our names start with the letter J.Both of us were without any siblings. We both also fell in love with and married a man named Edward, whom others find a bit odd, but whom we find beautiful, charming, brilliant and amazing. Both Edwards were with a woman who was out of her mind before we came along.Jane had no relatives who were ready/willing/able to take care of her, so she ended up in the care of strangers. This is true for me also. Both of us had an aunt on our mother's side of the family, who was a single parent, who had three children and tried to take care of us for a while. It did not work out in either case. Those women were the ones who sought alternate placements for each of us. While she lived with that aunt, Jane had a male cousin who constantly picked on her with no intervention from his mother. This was something I also experienced while living with my aunt.Both of these cousins also had J names.Jane and I were both girls who drew more attention for our intellect and artistic gifts than for our beauty. As a child, Jane's favorite past time was sitting somewhere quiet and looking at books. The same was true for me.Note: My new job is going very well, but making it very hard to find time to blog right now, so please bare with me if my posts are a bit sporadic.

More Tax Money for Banks?

Jim Schneider began this broadcast with updates on the following stories: --National Public Radio now denies cutting sectarian programming. --Hate crimes legislation in the Senate (SB-909), although still in the Judiciary Committee at this point, remains a threat to free speech for Americans. --HR-1966, the Cyber Bullying Prevention Act, could squelch free speech on the Internet. Craig Smith is the President and CEO of Swiss America Trading Corporation, an investment firm specializing in U.S. gold and silver coins. Smith is an expert in tangible assets, as well as an author, commentator and frequent radio and television guest who gives analysis of economic trends. He also writes a weekly column for Worldnetdaily.com Stress tests were given to the top 19 banks to see which ones would be able to withstand further deterioration of assets. Craig believes these tests were "reverse engineered" in the sense that the government had a conclusion that they wished to bring to the American public so that they could say everything is ok. The conclusion? Craig feels that the banks, while in good shape overall, as a sector they aren't in good shape. Are U.S. banks too big and important to let them fail? Is there a move to nationalize our banks? With nations looking for an alternative to the U.S. dollar, does this signal the beginning of a one-world currency? Craig tackles these questions along with questions from listeners on this timely edition of Crosstalk.

Keyboard cup

Let the Games Begin!

As with drinking, we like to start summer early — and so, bless it, does popular music. The songs that will be boomin’ out of Jeeps, other vehicles, apartment dwellings, and cheap white headphones throughout the hot months are limbering up now, but just one will peak as the jam of our collective conscious (only, quite possibly, to become completely intolerable by August). That joint will be the Song of the Summer, 2009. With this list, we begin our pursuit of this magical and, most likely, frankly sexual few minutes of recorded sound. Once you’ve all weighed in, commenters, with your characteristic mix of incredulity and disdain, we will begin tracking the new entries and biggest gainers, and telling you a little something about the songs in the process. So please, read the list and tell us what we’re missing — or which single you’re banking on to take it all.In alphabetical order. Highlighting denotes editors’ early favorites. 1. Asher Roth, “I Love College” 2. Beyonc

5 Ways To Spot An Addict

"Good" and "bad" feelings"A lot happens in one day, both negative and positive. If we do not take time to appreciate both, perhaps we will miss something that will help us grow."IP No. 8, Just For TodayMost of us seem to unconsciously judge what happens in our lives each day as good or bad, success or failure. We tend to feel happy about the "good" and angry, frustrated, or guilty about the "bad." Good and bad feelings, though, often have little to do with what's truly good or bad for us. We may learn more from our failures than our successes, especially if failure has come from taking a risk.Attaching value judgments to our emotional reactions ties us to our old ways of thinking. We can change the way we think about the incidents of everyday life, viewing them as opportunities for growth, not as good or bad. When we do this, we learn something from each day. Our daily Tenth Step is an excellent tool for evaluating the day's events and learning from both success and failure.Just for today: I am offered an opportunity to apply the principles of recovery so that I shall learn and grow. When I learn from life's events, I succeed.------------------------------------------------------Not too long ago I received an email from Clare Flynn who offered me one of her articles, 5 Ways To Spot An Addict to be published here. You can also use this tiny url, http://tinyurl.com/66lz5g just in case the one above url was wrapped. So, here goes;If you suspect a friend, colleague or loved-one is addicted, you might be afraid of approaching the person, how can you tell if someone might be addicted?Confronting someone based purely on a gut instinct could lead to a big mistake and a real mess if you are wrong, but if you care about this person you desperately want to help.What can you do?Top 5 Warning SignsHere are 5 warning signs that point to addiction:1. Social withdrawalAddicts will often withdraw from their normal social circles, becoming distant from friends, family and work colleagues.As the addiction is prioritized relationships, studies and careers suffer.Of course people can become distant for many reasons, work stress, worries, illness, but a sign might be evasiveness when approached about it.2. Personality changesAs someone becomes addicted their personality can change.Once happy and bubbly personalities can lose energy, have less get up and go, and become less outgoing.Look for signs of lethargy, and moodiness.Many addicts become depressed, especially when addicted to opiates which affect your serotonin receptors.3. Physical Withdrawal symptomsAt the outset you might spot that they are tired all the time, jumpy or just not looking healthy.Depending on the dependency, the person could suffer from sleeplessness, anxiety, or even apparent illnesses like nausea and diarrhea.Of course they could just be feeling sick, so look for other signs rather than jump to conclusions.4. Financial impactThe combination of falling behind at work and funding the addiction can cause a great deal of financial weight on top of the physical symptoms.Money that should be paying bills, food, and so on is instead going to their new priority.Are they borrowing more? Do their spending habits seem to have changed? Have they stopped doing activities they used to pay to take part in or attend?5. Trouble with the lawWhile not every addict will have a scrape with the law, trying to ease the financial burden through petty crime, and the illegal nature of the addiction or drug source could lead to an increased risk of being arrested.Also the psychological changes could mean the person gets into fights, accidents or associating with the less upstanding members of society.SummaryEach symptom in isolation could be just a coincidence but the more factors that seem to fit the more you should be thinking about seeking advice. Just make sure you tread cautiously. The earlier you can detect the signs the faster you can find help, and the less damage there will be for everyone concerned.

My take:Here is a true story. One of my client who can't read or don't want to accept the warning signs to addiction ends up marrying an addict husband who treated her like football. I really can't blame her, maybe she like it rough.But please take heed of these warning. For one, you can seek help for your loved one or at least you don't end up marrying an addict without you knowing it until it's too late. I'm an addict and I've been there and done that. I know how life can be a bloody mess living with an addict, especially with an addict who think he/she is always right and the rest are wrong!That's all for now, my friends. See you when I see you. Take care...Technorati Tags: good and bad feelings, sign of addiction, warning signs that point to addiction, ways to spot an addictI cannot undo what I have done, I can only live better today. I share my experience, strength, and hope to all who desire positive change.

suspect...

...as you do, i have been out of the loop with you...far too long.yes there is a climax trying to wrap up the project,and getting a small teaser out to you...most of you have come into contact with xmadmx....i promise there is FAR more.i am onto the serious next phase:HOW CAN I SHARE THIS WHOLE HEARTEDLY WITH YOU????i am hatching a plan.it will slowly unfold.i am thankful for your patience, and perseverance.there will be some explosive chemistry exchanges in 2008.those of you here first (yes, you) will get entangled foremost.i have an experimental plan of how to make this EXCHANGE.to begin, would you please leave me your email addresses....i know this is crooked, and i don't have a "mailing list" section,but i'd like to start a log book of my visitors,so you are sure to be notified when the GAMES begin.if you can post a comment, leave your contact please.i saw my soul hero morrissey tonight.i cried twice,and freaked the guy next to me when i had to share"that was my high school yearbook quote"during "stretch out and wait"wow. thank you universe.thank you fellow humans.we have a lot to live for.i am emerging from my creative cocoon daily.on my way.stay in touch.long for more!xMAdMx

Killing for respect

A puzzling ground zero in Americas struggle with crime and raceAMBULANCE, not police; I saw the look in your eyes, says Phil Tagami, a native of Oakland and a property developer in the city, as another siren wails outside his downtown office. Mr Tagami, of Japanese, German and Jewish stock, knows his sirens and loves his town, which he calls the working waterfront for the Bay Area. Many of the people who work in San Francisco and Silicon Valley (across the bridge to the west) or in Berkeley (just to the north) live here. Then he opens a folder in a big pile of crime statistics. The story that emerges is not quite what recent headlines have suggested. Oakland is trying to return to normal after a horrendous and atypical bout of black-white racial tension. It began on New Years Day, when a white officer shot and killed a young black man lying face down on a railway-station platform. Bystanders recorded the shooting on their mobile phones and riots broke out. Then, last month, two white policemen pulled over a young black man in a routine traffic check. The man, Lovelle Mixon, who was on parole from prison and suspected of rape, opened fire, killing both policemen. He ran to an apartment building where he barricaded himself in with an assault rifle and gunned down two more officers before being shot to death himself.

Fried fish

in Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Mol. Cell. Biol., Vol. 28, No. 20. (15 October 2008), pp. 6426-6438.Oct4 and Sox2 are transcription factors required for pluripotency during early embryogenesis and for the maintenance of embryonic stem cell (ESC) identity. Functional mechanisms contributing to pluripotency are expected to be associated with genes transcriptionally activated by these factors. Here, we show that Oct4 and Sox2 bind to a conserved promoter region of miR-302, a cluster of eight microRNAs expressed specifically in ESCs and pluripotent cells. The expression of miR-302a is dependent on Oct4/Sox2 in human ESCs (hESCs), and miR-302a is expressed at the same developmental stages and in the same tissues as Oct4 during embryogenesis. miR-302a is predicted to target many cell cycle regulators, and the expression of miR-302a in primary and transformed cell lines promotes an increase in S-phase and a decrease in G1-phase cells, reminiscent of an ESC-like cell cycle profile. Correspondingly, the inhibition of miR-302 causes hESCs to accumulate in G1 phase. Moreover, we show that miR-302a represses the productive translation of an important G1 regulator, cyclin D1, in hESCs. The transcriptional activation of miR-302 and the translational repression of its targets, such as cyclin D1, may provide a link between Oct4/Sox2 and cell cycle regulation in pluripotent cells. 10.1128/MCB.00359-08Greer, Pratibha Hebbar, Leping Li, Kevin Trotter, Yoshihiro Komatsu, Yuji Mishina, Trevor Archer