Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/sJCiWwPPYiM/apple-tv-will-have-hbo-go-soon
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Thursday, January 31, 2013
Apple TV Will Get HBO Go Soon
YingYing Shang: An Open Thank You Letter to Taylor Swift
Dear Taylor Swift,
As I prepare to graduate from high school, I would like to take a moment to say a sincere and infinitely grateful, "Thank you."
As a feminist activist, I have heard plenty of critiques of your music. You slut-shame other girls in your song "Better Than Revenge." You promote the virgin-whore dichotomy in your music video for "You Belong With Me." You write about boys too much for someone who professes to be independent and pure. I will be the first to admit that much of this criticism has a point.
However, my connection with your music goes much, much deeper. You were the soundtrack to my bildungsroman. You empathized with me when no one else did. You inspired me to grow and to share.
I'll never forget first watching your "Teardrops on My Guitar" music video when I was 11 or 12, in 7th grade, and had my very first crush. I didn't understand why he didn't like me just because he was a football player and I was a nerd. I didn't understand why he ended up dating a popular girl who hung out with the skaters. But Taylor Swift, you understood. You sang it, "He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar/the only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star." And so my 12-year-old self wished on stars for that one blonde, blue-eyed football player to return my affections.
As embarrassing as it is to admit now, I felt it. I felt the unrequited crush heavy on my adolescent shoulders. I can't deny those feelings. I can't deny the sadness, the pain that my 12-year-old self felt. Taylor Swift sang those feelings, and I sat at my computer mooning over some popular middle school crush and wondering at life's unfairness. Do you remember those days? Taylor, thank you for being the soundtrack to my adolescence.
But it didn't end when I was twelve. There's this tendency in our society to disparage the very real feelings of teenage girls, writing them off as "hysterical" or "hormonal." Teenage girls are perhaps the most hated of all social groups -- the instant we love something, whether it's "Twilight" or "The Hunger Games," the value of that franchise decreases in the eyes of the majority of the population. We're portrayed as this hysterical mob as a collective, and as individuals, desired by hormonal teenage boys. It's such a paradox that in order to be considered "attractive," a teenage girl must never seek out the affections of a boy. The very act of desiring someone's affections -- that act of agency -- renders us pathetic and undesirable.
So Taylor, thank you for empathizing with my feelings, and more importantly, for showing me that it's okay to feel at all. There's nothing wrong with being a teen girl, and there's nothing wrong with the experience of being crazy and emotional when you're a teen girl. There's nothing shallow or insubstantial about the feelings you have when you're a teenager.
It's certainly important for girls to develop self-esteem and be able to have self-worth outside of boys, but that's a gradual process of self-discovery. As fans, we know that you're going through it as well. Whether the listener is male or female, love is a human need that all teenagers struggle with. I'm glad that you're sharing it with us.
No matter what critics say about the slut-shaming and male-objectifying of "You Belong with Me," the song's story spoke to my real experience. I have felt that I was not attractive enough or popular enough or cool enough to attain the object of my affection. When you're young, that's what you do. You don't imagine people in a complex way. I'm picturing myself at 14 and focused on the boy I have great conversations with who doesn't seem to be into me because he only goes for popular girls. I'm sitting in the afternoon sunlight streaming in the lobby windows as he talks about AP Bio. I'm thinking, "You belong with me."
I'm graduating from high school this year, but I don't foresee your influence on my life ending. As your music matures and grows more nuanced, and as I gain in life experiences to match, I'm starting to know what you mean by "I've found time can heal most anything, and you just might find who you're supposed to be," in the song "Fifteen." I'm starting to understand what you mean by, "And we know it's never simple, never easy/Never a clean break, no one here to save me," from "Breathe."
I'm 16 now, and sometimes at twilight, I ride the train, look out into the sunset and think about the boy that I sometimes still remember all too well. I play your song. "And I know it's long gone, and that magic's not here no more/it might be okay, but I'm not fine at all." And I look out the train window, and for a minute or two, it's okay to rip my heart open and let myself feel.
You've comforted me in the lowest of moments, which usually are boy-related, and you've celebrated with me in my moments of ecstasy. Critics say that you write too much about love and boyfriends, but let me tell you, so do I. To be honest, although I've devoted a large portion of my life to feminism and social justice, and despite never having had a serious/real boyfriend, love causes the most immediate despair and the most exuberant happiness in my life. And Taylor, you've been there.
It's a part of me, and it's a part of all of us at this age to seek that ideal of romantic love and to be disappointed by that ideal. We also get back up and to chase it again. I think it's so courageous of you to share your growing process through your songs.
There's an instrumental after the three minute mark in your new song, "All Too Well," and a few poignant lines that strike a chord in me every time. "You called me up again just to break me like a promise/so casually cruel in the name of being honest/I'm a crumpled up piece of paper lying here/'Cause I remember it all too well." That's so vivid -- it tells your story. But it also tells mine. About teenage despair, about longing, about being alive and feeling so intensely both the ups and downs of love.
Thank you for being there. Thank you for sharing your stories. Thank you for helping me grow to a place where I can share mine.
Yours,
YingYing
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Follow YingYing Shang on Twitter: www.twitter.com/yingyingsmiles
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yingying-shang/an-open-thank-you-letter-_b_2576849.html
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Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Pfizer Q4 net jumps on sale of nutrition business
Pfizer Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit more than quadrupled, despite competition from generic drugs hurting sales of Lipitor and other medicines, because of a $4.8 billion gain from selling its nutrition business. The drugmaker's profit and sales both beat Wall Street expectations.
The world's biggest drugmaker said Tuesday that its net income was $6.32 billion, or 85 cents per share, up from $1.44 billion, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding the windfall from selling its nutrition business to Nestle SA for $11.5 billion on Nov. 30, and a total of $888 million for restructuring, legal and other one-time items, the Viagra maker would have had a profit of $3.51 billion, or 47 cents per share. That's 3 cents more than analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting.
In early trading, the New York-based company's shares rose 26 cents, or 1 percent, to $27.10.
Revenue fell 7 percent to $15.1 billion, mainly due to generic competition to cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor. Analysts expected $14.35 billion.
"Overall, a good quarter driven by the revenue beat," BernsteinResearch analyst Dr. Timothy Anderson wrote to investors, calling Pfizer's 2013 financial forecast "a bit underwhelming."
Pfizer said it expects 2013 earnings per share of $2.20 to $2.30, excluding one-time items, and revenue of $56.2 billion to $58.2 billion. Analysts are expecting $2.28 per share and revenue of $57.55 billion.
Lipitor, which had reigned as the world's top-selling drug ever for nearly a decade, got U.S. generic competition in December 2011 and now has generic rivals in many major markets. The pill had been bringing Pfizer nearly $11 billion a year before then, down from its peak of $13 billion a year.
In the fourth quarter, Lipitor sales plunged 91 percent in the U.S. and 71 percent worldwide, to $584 million. A dozen other medicines also had lower sales due to generic competition.
Altogether, generic competition reduced prescription drug revenue by more than $2.1 billion. Unfavorable currency exchange rates lopped off another 2 percent, or $271 million.
However, several key newer drugs had double-digit sales increases, including fibromyalgia and pain treatment Lyrica, at $1.13 billion, painkiller Celebrex at $750 million, and the Prevnar 13 vaccine against meningitis and other pneumococcal infections, at $993 million. Viagra was up 6 percent at $553 million.
Altogether, Pfizer's prescription drug revenue fell 9 percent in the quarter, to $12.89 billion. The division was led by sales of primary-care medicines, which totaled $3.83 billion. Still, that was down 29 percent as Lipitor's sales in the two biggest markets, the U.S. and Japan, where shifted into the established products category. That segment, which markets off-patent drugs still popular in many countries, posted a 3 percent rise in revenue, to $2.37 billion.
Specialty products, such as Enbrel for psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, and hemophilia treatments Refacto AF and Benefix, had revenue dip 4 percent, to a combined $3.67 billion. Sales in emerging markets such as China and India jumped 17 percent, to $2.65 billion, while sales of cancer drugs, a newer focus for Pfizer, rose 9 percent to $370 million.
The animal health business saw revenue increase 6 percent, to $1.17 billion. Pfizer is set to sell about a 20 percent share in the business, called Zoetis, in an initial public offering on Friday.
The consumer health business saw revenue jump 16 percent, to $936 million, due to strong growth of Advil pain reliever and Centrum vitamins.
He said Pfizer will soon launch two new medicines, rheumatoid arthritis treatment Xeljanz and ? with partner Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. ? potential blockbuster Eliquis, for preventing heart attacks and dangerous clots in patients with the irregular heartbeat atrial fibrillation. CEO Ian Read said Pfizer's mid- to late-stage drug pipeline "continues to strengthen with key potential opportunities," including drugs for advanced breast cancer and three other types of cancer, one for high cholesterol and a meningococcal B vaccine for adolescents and young adults.
For the full year, net income was $14.57 billion, or $1.94 per share. That was down from $10.01 billion, or $1.27 per share, in 2011. Revenue totaled $58.99 billion, down 10 percent from $65.26 billion in 2011, before generic competition slashed sales of Lipitor and schizophrenia drug Geodon.
___
Linda A. Johnson can be followed at http://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma
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Flying Monkeys
Sam, the Rhesus monkey, after his ride in the Little Joe-2 (LJ-2) spacecraft. A U.S. Navy destroyer safely recovered Sam after he experienced three minutes of weightlessness during the flight, December 1959.
Photo courtesy of NASA/Wikimedia Commons
Iran claimed Monday to have sent a monkey into space. The country previously launched smaller animals into the final frontier, including a rat, worms, and two turtles. What do space programs look for in animal astronauts?
Portability, experience in the lab, and coolness under pressure. For more than 60 years, space programs have sent animals into space for the same reason coal miners sent canaries into the coal mine: to test for dangerous conditions. To select which species to send, scientists have long looked for a few key traits. First, the animal astronauts should be small, to fit in a spacecraft?s necessarily compact quarters. Second, they should be light, to avoid burdening the rocket. Third, scientists choose animals that they?re already used to studying. For example, scientists used to working with mice might send mice. Since they?ve done dozens of experiments on the species, they?ll know if Mickey is acting unusual when he returns.
The Soviets chose to launch many of their most important test flights with dogs because they had experimented on them since the beginning of the 20th century (most famously in the experiments of Ivan Pavlov). They also thought that dogs would be less fidgety in confined spaces. The Americans chose to work with monkeys and chimpanzees for the same reason?they were accustomed to working with them in the lab?though they also valued monkeys? and chimpanzees? many physiological similarities to humans.
Once rocket scientists have settled on their species, they often run tests to determine a standout member of the pack. After the Soviets settled on launching canine cosmonauts, their recruits were subjected to a series of Right Stuff-style tests to find the top dog. The animals were trained for confinement (by being placed in tight cells), for loud noises and vibrations (by being subjected to loud noises and vibrations), and to relieve themselves in their space suits (there was a special sanitation device attached to the suit). Only female dogs were eligible, because they were an easier fit with the sanitation devices, and only stray mutts were tested, reportedly because they thought the street-tough animals would fare better in extreme conditions. It was after scoring high in these tests that Laika, who was thought to be particularly easy-going, was selected to be the first animal to orbit Earth. On Nov. 3, 1957, Laika was blasted into Earth orbit on the Sputnik 2, never to return. (Laika, or ?Muttnik,? died after a few hours, and the Sputnik 2 burned up a few months later.)
The field of primates trying out for the American side was whittled down through a similar process. Some chimpanzees were spun around in centrifuges, to acclimate them to G-forces. Others were trained to throw switches when signaled by colored lights. Many were chosen for their temperament, but the earliest ones were just sent out sedated. Unfortunately, many of the primates gave their lives to science. The monkey Albert I, who was launched in a V-2 rocket, apparently suffocated before he even got off the ground. His successor, Albert II, completed his ascent but died on the return impact.
Squirrel monkey "Baker" rode a Jupiter IRBM into space and back in 1959. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army/Redstone Arsenal/Wikimedia Commons
Some of the first animals launched into space were fruit flies. Fruit flies are easy to study for chromosomal damage, and so they were ideal for detecting the effects of radiation in spaceflight. In 1947, a container of fruit flies soared to an altitude of 106 miles before parachuting back to Earth. The year before, the National Institutes of Health launched a flight containing fungus spores, also to study the effects of radiation, but the spores? containers were never recovered. Some later missions contained a wide variety of animals: A Soviet flight in August 1960 was launched with two dogs, two rats, 40 mice, 15 flasks of fruit flies and plants, and one gray rabbit. Each animal was included to further test the possible effects of space travel on humans. The first cat was launched in 1963, when the French wanted to give space flight a try. It?s unclear why, exactly, the Iranians had previously launched turtles and worms?it may be that Iranian scientists just are used to studying those creatures.
Got a question about today?s news??Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Colin Burgess and Chris Dubbs, co-authors of Animals in Space, and Cathleen Lewis of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=6745409121e9867195475aa73a66012c
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WINTER WARM-UP ? Recreation and Intramural Sports
January 29, 2013 by nsrecreation
Empress Varnado
Jan 29, 2013
I don?t know about you, but this winter and holiday break has been very rough on me. The cold weather has dampened my motivation to workout and the influx of wonderful holiday ?comfort food? meals has my jeans fitting pretty snug. Not to mention, my new class schedule will have me locked up in the library for hours. Simply put, this winter has seriously affected my workout groove. With the days getting darker and colder, it just happens that some of us start to operate at a lower level of happy during the winter.
It?s hard enough to make ourselves get out of bed and study, much less get out of the dorm (or house) to go for a run or go to the gym. In my experience, this turns into a repetitive and vicious cycle. The more I don?t get out and get active, the grumpier I get and the less I want to get out and do anything. On the reverse, the transformation that occurs after I get my butt out of bed and go to the gym for a fitness class or go for nice long run in Prospect Park is?incredible. I?m immediately happier, more energized, more likely to smile, and much more motivated to do anything else that needs to be done.
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Though this cycle holds true for any time of the year, it is especially true in the winter. So how do we keep our spirits up during the wretchedly cold months of January and February? We check out The New School?s Office of Recreation and Intramural Sports and get active! Maybe it?s a FREE group fitness class where we can dance and laugh and shake off our winter blues, maybe it?s a very serene yoga class that will connect you with your inner chi and concentrate on that paper you need to write. Perhaps it?s coming to Brooklyn Boulders the first Friday of the month and ?rocking out? on the climbing wall, or it?s joining the intramural basketball league and shooting some hoops with your friends; but whatever it is, it?ll put a smile on our faces and get our lives moving again.
The Office of Recreation and Intramural sports offers an array of fitness classes, outdoor adventures, sports clubs and fun and exciting activities (before, in-between and after your classes) to put you back in your workout groove and warm up those joints this semester. Find out more about our programs and services by exploring our Website or signing up for our Newsletter for updates.
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Also, join our #NarwhalNation by Liking us on Facebook, Chatting with us on Twitter, or Sharing photos on Instagram.
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Source: http://nsrecreation.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/winter-warm-up/
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Boy Scouts close to ending ban on gays
NBC's Pete Williams reports on the major policy shift being considered by the Boy Scouts of America.
By Pete Williams, Justice Correspondent, NBC News
The Boy Scouts of America, one of the nation?s largest private youth organizations, is actively considering an end to its decades-long policy of banning gay scouts or scout leaders, according to scouting officials and outsiders familiar with internal discussions.
If adopted by the organization?s board of directors, it would represent a profound change on an issue that has been highly controversial -- one that even went to the US Supreme Court. The new policy, now under discussion, would eliminate the ban from the national organization?s rules, leaving local sponsoring organizations free to decide for themselves whether to admit gay scouts.
?The chartered organizations that oversee and deliver scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with their organization?s mission, principles or religious beliefs,? according to Deron Smith, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts? national organization.
Individual sponsors and parents ?would be able to choose a local unit which best meets the needs of their families,? Smith said.
The discussion of a potential change in policy is nearing its final stages, according to outside scouting supporters. If approved, the change could be announced as early as next week, after the BSA's national board holds a regularly scheduled meeting.
Only seven months ago, the Boy Scouts affirmed a policy of banning gay members, after a nearly two-year examination of the issue by a committee of volunteers convened by national leaders of the Boy Scouts of America, known as the BSA.
In a statement last July affirming the ban, its national executive board called it ?the best policy for the organization.?
But since then, a scouting official said, local chapters have been urging a reconsideration. "We're a grassroots organization. This is a response to what's happening at the local level," the official said.
Two corporate CEOs on BSA?s national board, Randall Stephenson of AT&T and James Turley of Ernst & Young, have also said they would work to end the ban. Stephenson is next in line to be the BSA?s national chairman. During the 2012 presidential campaign, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney said the BSA should admit gay scouts and scout leaders.
Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted as a den mother for her son's Cub Scout troop because of her sexual orientation, is fighting back. Tyrrell talks to msnbc's Thomas Roberts about her petition to change the Boy Scouts of America's long-standing policy on banning gays and lesbians.
About 50 local United Way groups and several corporations and charities have concluded that the ban violates their non-discrimination requirements and have ceased providing financial aid to the Boy Scouts. An official of The Human Rights Campaign, an advocate for gay rights, said HRC planned to downgrade its non-discrimination ratings for corporations that continue to give the BSA financial support.
?It?s an extremely complex issue,? said one Boy Scouts of America official, who explained that other organizations have threatened to withdraw their financial support if the BSA drops the ban.
While the national scouting organization sets broad policies, more than 290 local councils nationwide govern the day-to-day conduct of the more than 116,000 local organizations. Individual scouting troops are sponsored by religious and civic organizations that represent a diversity of views on the issue of allowing gay scouts and leaders.
?The beliefs of the sponsoring organizations are highly diverse,? the official said.
The policy change now under discussion ?would allow the religious, civic or educational organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting to determine how to address this issue,? said the BSA's Smith.
?The Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members or parents. Under this proposed policy, the BSA would not require any chartered organization to act in ways inconsistent with that organization?s mission, principles or religious beliefs,? he said.
In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the Boy Scouts had a First Amendment right of free expression when it came to the organization?s belief that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with values stated in the scout oath, requiring scouts to be ?morally straight.?
The Scouts have won similar legal battles, with courts finding that the BSA?s right of free association permits it, as a private organization, to reject those it believes do not conform to is values.?
Related:?
Eagle Scouts return badges to protest policy banning gays?
Gay mom upset after dismissal by Boy Scouts?
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Injured Bolshoi Ballet director forgives attackers
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The artistic director of Russia's Bolshoi Ballet says the attacker who splashed acid in his face was probably driven by ambition or resentment but that he has forgiven them.
His head shaven and a bandage around his neck, Sergei Filin told a Russian television station from his hospital room that he was determined to return to work despite his injuries.
Filin, 42, suffered severe burns during the attack on his way home from the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow late on January 18. Doctors have performed two operations on each eye and hope to save his sight.
"I am not going to lie. Of course it is very hard for me and very difficult," Filin said in grainy footage in a video-link with NTV television late on Sunday.
"I tell myself every morning when I wake up: 'Sergei, you are healthy, everything is in its place - your arms, your legs'. ... And I will do everything to go back to being the same Sergei I was before."
Filin did not wear the thick bandages that had swathed his head and face in mobile phone footage taken the day after the attack, but his eyes were half-closed and it was unclear whether he could see.
Filin's job gave him the power to make or break careers at the ballet, which is an enduring symbol of Russian culture. He said after the attack that he had been receiving threats.
"A priest came to me, and I told him: 'You know, I forgive everyone, and God will be their judge. Because people are weak'," he said. "I forgive all the people who are involved in this."
He said he did not know who was behind the attack but made clear he believed that it was related to his work.
"Before somehow satisfying their ambitions or quenching the pain of resentment ... it would be truly good if they would just think about the fact that I have three remarkable sons," Filin said.
"Even if the worst happens, I will continue to look upon this world, and I will continue to do what I do - but it will be through the eyes of my three sons."
Russia's top eye doctor told Reuters last week that Filin would retain at least some vision in each eye.
"I promise, you will see me on stage," Filin said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/injured-bolshoi-ballet-director-forgives-attackers-103259150.html
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Congo deal delayed at African Union meeting
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) ? A large-scale peace agreement to end fighting in Congo that would see more peacekeeping forces enter the region was delayed Monday over what the United Nations chief called "procedural issues."
A signing ceremony scheduled for Monday at the African Union summit in Ethiopia was canceled. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, however, there are no fundamental differences holding back the agreement.
"This is a broader political and security framework whereby the country, particularly (Congo), will be committed to certain policies regarding the situation," Ban said, adding that other regional countries will also commit to support.
"To cope with the threat posed by armed groups in the eastern part of the country, we plan to create a peace enforcement force in the mission," said Ban.
The agreement had been circulated to eight countries: Congo, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, South Africa, Angola and Tanzania, he said.
The peace deal is an effort at a large-scale political framework to end violence in Congo. Separate talks are taking place in Uganda between the rebel group known as M23 and Congolese officials.
Jean Baptiste Rudaseswa, a lawyer for M23, said he was happy the U.N. plan has so far failed because he said it risked destabilizing Congo further.
"Our biggest concern is the deployment of a so-called neutral international force to wipe out M23 and other negative forces, as they say," he said.
Ban is seeking additional resources to strengthen the U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo with "intervention" troops with a more robust mandate to protect civilians from armed groups in Congo's vast eastern region.
U.N. diplomats said Ban is expected to send a report to the council with specific recommendations for additional troops ? possibly totaling as many as 2,500 ? that would actively intervene, for example, to prevent another takeover of the key eastern city of Goma.
The Security Council wants to beef up the U.N. peacekeeping force known as MONUSCO, which has more than 17,700 U.N. peacekeepers and over 1,400 international police, following last year's takeover of many villages and towns in eastern Congo by M23 rebels who briefly held Goma before withdrawing in early December. The force ? the largest of the U.N.'s 15 far-flung peacekeeping operations ? did little to protect the tens of thousands of civilians, many of whom fled their homes.
Rudaseswa said Ban's plan would lead to more violence, because then groups like M23 would have to defend themselves in action.
A senior Ugandan diplomat who has been involved in regional efforts to end violence in eastern Congo said the U.N. peace plan seemed unlikely to win the unconditional support of some regional leaders. The diplomat said he believed an African-led peace effort is more likely to succeed.
The official said there is not yet any agreement among regional leaders and the U.N. over who would control a new force to intervene in eastern Congo. The Southern African Development Community, a regional bloc, has already offered to send about 4,000 troops to eastern Congo .
The official, who insisted on anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly while negotiations were still taking place, said a U.N. push to introduce drones into the region has also been met with resistance.
Ban did not specify any time frame when further negotiations on the deal will take place.
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Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda. Associated Press writer Peter Spielmann contributed from the United Nations in New York.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/congo-deal-delayed-african-union-meeting-133116555.html
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Monday, January 28, 2013
'Objectify a Male Tech Writer Day' gets canned | Crave - CNET
Sorry, folks, February 1 is just another regular day.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)If you've been spending the last few days thinking up adjectives to use on Objectify a Male Tech Writer Day, you'll have to save "dreamy," "hunky," "handsome," and "hot" for another occasion. Leigh Alexander, the writer who first proposed the special day for February 1, has called an official halt to the festivities before they can begin.
Alexander's original idea was to make February 1 a day when people sharing articles written by male tech writers would add an extra comment about the writer's appearance. This was in response to ongoing issues she has encountered with people making comments about her appearance, something she feels few male tech writers have to deal with.
It was all supposed to be lighthearted and humorous, but Alexander received feedback that sparked concern about the day going in negative directions it wasn't intended to take.
Writing in the New Statesman, Alexander explains the cancellation. "#Objectify is not about celebrating objectification or about making people feel uncomfortable, but I'm increasingly worried that point will be lost and that harm can be done," she says.
Alexander's idea has already sparked a good amount of discussion about the issues it was designed to highlight. Comments flew fast and furious in articles and on the day's (now deleted) Facebook page.
Some readers supported the idea. "As a male, it's embarrassing to me when a discussion devolves from being about technology to being about a woman's physical assets," wrote reader bhartman35 in the comments on CNET's article. Others weren't so enthusiastic. "Sounds more like you're trying to even the score than prevent anything or educate anyone," wrote reader jlongino.
Objectification of female tech writers has flown under the radar for a long time. That we are talking about these issues means Objectify a Male Tech Writer Day has already served its purpose, without even becoming official.
(Via The Atlantic Wire)
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57566163-1/objectify-a-male-tech-writer-day-gets-canned/
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Italian court: Missile caused 1980 plane crash
ROME (AP) ? Italy's top criminal court has ruled there is "abundantly" clear evidence that a stray missile caused an Italian passenger jet to crash into the Mediterranean Sea in 1980, killing all 81 people aboard.
Quoting from the Rome ruling on Monday, the Italian news agency LaPresse said the court upheld a Palermo appeals ruling that Italian radar systems didn't adequately protect the skies and Italy must compensate the victims' families.
What caused the Itavia DC-9 to crash during a flight from Bologna to Palermo has been one of Italy's enduring mysteries.
Some theorized a bomb exploded. Others contended the jet was caught in the crossfire of a military aerial dogfight, with a Libyan plane possibly the target. French, U.S. and NATO officials have denied military activity in the skies that night.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italian-court-missile-caused-1980-plane-crash-181207406.html
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Sunday, January 27, 2013
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Chavez starting more medical treatment in Cuba
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has defeated a respiratory infection and has begun additional medical treatment in Cuba after struggling with complications following cancer surgery more than six weeks ago, a government spokesman said Saturday.
Venezuelan Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said that it remains unclear how soon Chavez could return home, and did not specify the kind of treatment he is receiving.
"Vice President (Nicolas) Maduro estimates that the time it could take President Chavez to return is within weeks. But we haven't wanted to fix an exact timeframe for the president's recuperation," Villegas told reporters on the sidelines of a 60-nation summit in Chile.
He read a statement that went beyond past government reports in providing additional information about Chavez's Dec. 11 surgery, but didn't describe the newest treatment. While refusing to release many details about the president's cancer, authorities in the past have reported on specific treatments, including radiation and chemotherapy.
"Forty-five days after carrying out a complex surgical intervention for the removal of a malignant lesion in the pelvis, with severe, acute complications, the patient's general evolution is favorable," Villegas said, reading the statement.
"At this time, the serious respiratory infection has been overcome, although a certain degree of respiratory deficiency persists and is being duly treated," Villegas said.
After that improvement, Villegas said, "systemic medical treatment for the fundamental illness began to be applied as a complement to the surgery."
Villegas also criticized Spain's leading newspaper El Pais, which was forced to reprint its Thursday edition after discovering that its front-page exclusive photograph supposedly showing an ailing Chavez being treated in Cuba was a fake.
The newspaper apologized to its readers for the mistake and said it was investigating how the photo made its way into the paper.
"But who has apologized to Chavez or his family?" Villegas said.
"In Venezuela we've seen a phenomenon where even the atheists are praying for Chavez," he said. "In Uruguay, President Mujica, who's not a believer, organized a Mass and prayed for Chavez."
Chavez hasn't appeared or spoken publicly since before the operation.
Maduro said early Saturday after meeting with Chavez in Cuba that the ailing president is now "in the best moment we've seen him in these days of struggle" following the surgery.
Maduro spoke on state television after returning from Havana to Venezuela, and before he traveled to Chile for the summit.
"We're taking a message prepared by the president, and we're going to turn it over to heads of state who attend the CELAC summit. He makes fundamental proposals," Maduro said, adding that the message was in Chavez's handwriting.
Maduro said Chavez also sent a message for Venezuelans, including that he was "very optimistic" about his treatment. Maduro said Chavez is "hanging on to Christ and to life."
Chavez has undergone repeated surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatment for an unspecified type of pelvic cancer. He has undergone much of his treatment in Cuba.
The 58-year-old president won re-election in October, and lawmakers indefinitely put off his inauguration earlier this month in a decision that was condemned by opponents but upheld by the Supreme Court.
The vice president said that Chavez "has reviewed and evaluated reports on different areas and has made decisions."
He said Chavez evaluated the country's economic situation and budget and made decisions about gold reserves, funding for public housing projects and "social investments and economic development." Maduro didn't give more details but said the actions approved by the president were intended to "guarantee the country's economic growth, infrastructure, housing."
Maduro said that one of the documents signed by Chavez dealt with the selection of his socialist party's candidates for mayoral elections later this year. The vice president showed the signature in red ink on one of the documents.
___
Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda and Ian James in Caracas, Venezuela, and Chris Gillete in Santiago, Chile contributed to this report.
__
Luis Andres Henao is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LuisAndresHenao
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chavez-starting-more-medical-treatment-cuba-001038574.html
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"Fruitvale," "Blood Brothers" win top awards at Sundance
PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) - Drama film "Fruitvale" and documentary "Blood Brothers" won the top awards at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, giving them a big boost to reach independent movie audiences this year.
"Fruitvale," starring Octavia Spencer and Michael B. Jordan and directed by 26-year-old, first-time filmmaker Ryan Coogler," picked up the U.S. drama jury and audience awards for its "moral and social urgency."
The film is based on the true story of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who was killed by police in Oakland, California, on New Year's Eve in 2008 and whose death sparked riots against police brutality. Movie studio The Weinstein Company purchased distribution rights for the film.
"This film had a profound impact on the audience that saw it ... this award goes out to my home in the Bay Area where Oscar Grant breathed, slept, loved, had fun and survived for 22 years," Coogler said in his acceptance speech.
Oscar-winning documentarian Davis Guggenheim awarded the U.S. documentary jury prize to "Blood Brothers," saying it shook the voting panel to their core.
The documentary follows an American man who moves to Africa and works with children suffering from HIV at an orphanage, and through his work, the children gain a voice.
"It is so encouraging for the kids ... their lives are so encouraging, and they die and no one remembers their name ... To take their story so that everyone sees it, it's so awesome," director Steve Hoover said."
Young actress Shailene Woodley, praised for her performance in "The Descendants" last year, and her co-star Miles Teller won the Special Jury acting prize in "The Spectacular Now."
Actress Lake Bell, who made her directorial debut in the U.S. drama category with quirky comedy "In A World," picked up the drama screenwriting award.
Hosted by actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who premiered his raunchy directorial debut "Don Jon's Addiction" this year, the Sundance Film Festival Awards pick winners at the top gathering for independent movies made outside of Hollywood's major studios.
"Sundance is a community of people of filmmakers and film lovers who all believe together that there's more to movies than glitz and glamour and money and the box office. In Hollywood, you can feel like a freak if you talk about movies as art, and here, you don't have that," Gordon-Levitt said.
WORLD CINEMA WINNERS
The Sundance Film Festival, now in its 35th year, is backed by Robert Redford's Sundance Institute. The 10-day gathering of the independent film industry is held in snowy Park City, Utah.
In previous years, films that win the top prizes at the Sundance Film Festival often go on to achieve Hollywood awards success as well.
Last year, mythological drama "Beasts of the Southern Wild" won the top prize at Sundance and is now nominated for four Oscars in major categories.
The award winners are voted for by special juries of industry professionals and by the audience for the audience favorite awards.
In the world cinema categories, South Korean drama "Jiseul" picked up the grand jury drama prize. The film, directed by Muel O, follows the residents of a small town who were forced to hide in a cave for 60 days after the military attacked their village.
Cambodian documentary "A River Changes Course," about three young Cambodians struggling with adversity in a country ravaged by war and debt, picked up the world cinema grand jury award.
"Events like these really bring our communities together to share in the beauty of the world and the beauty of our future," director Kalyanee Mam said.
"Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer," which follows the story of three members of a Russian feminist punk band jailed for performing a "punk prayer" in a Russian Orthodox church, picked up special jury prize in the world documentary category.
Co-director Mike Lerner said the three members of the band had "started a feminist revolution that we hope will continue around the world."
(Editing by Philip Barbara)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fruitvale-blood-brothers-win-top-awards-sundance-044044943.html
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Pa. man gets drive-thru send-off after funeral
The hearse carrying David Kime, Jr. pulls up to the drive-through at the Burger King in York, Pa. on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. To honor Kime, who loved fast food, his mourners went to Burger King and each got a "Whopper Jr." sandwich. Kime Jr. passed away Jan. 20. (AP Photo/York Daily Record, Jason Plotkin) YORK DISPATCH OUT
The hearse carrying David Kime, Jr. pulls up to the drive-through at the Burger King in York, Pa. on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. To honor Kime, who loved fast food, his mourners went to Burger King and each got a "Whopper Jr." sandwich. Kime Jr. passed away Jan. 20. (AP Photo/York Daily Record, Jason Plotkin) YORK DISPATCH OUT
Linda Phiel places a "Whopper Jr." sandwich from Burger King on the casket to be buried with her father David Kime, Jr. at Prospect Hill Cemetery in York, Pa. on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. Phiel and other mourners went through the drive-through at Burger King and each got the hamburger to honor Kime, Jr. who loved fast food. (AP Photo/York Daily Record, Jason Plotkin) YORK DISPATCH OUT
Margaret Hess, the manager at Burger King in York, Pa. passes out a Whopper Jr. sandwich to a mourner of David Kime, Jr. before his funeral on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. To honor Kime, who loved fast food, his mourners went to Burger King and each got a Whopper Jr. Kime Jr. passed away Jan. 20. (AP Photo/York Daily Record, Jason Plotkin) YORK DISPATCH OUT
YORK, Pa. (AP) ? Mourners at a Pennsylvania fast-food fan's funeral wanted him to have it his way, so they arranged for his hearse ? and the rest of the procession ? to make one last drive-thru visit before reaching the cemetery.
David Kime Jr. "lived by his own rules," daughter Linda Phiel said. He considered the lettuce on a burger his version of healthy eating, she said.
To give him a whopper of a send-off Saturday, the funeral procession stopped at a Burger King where each mourner got a sandwich for the road.
Kime got one last burger too, the York Daily Record reported. It was placed atop his flag-draped coffin at the cemetery.
Phiel said the display wasn't a joke, rather a happy way of honoring her father and the things that brought him joy.
"He lived a wonderful life and on his own terms," she said.
Kime, 88, a World War II veteran, died Jan. 20.
Restaurant manager Margaret Hess said she knew his face and his order. She and her crew made 40 burgers for the funeral procession.
"It's nice to know he was a loyal customer up until the end ? the very end," she said.
___
Information from: York Daily Record, http://www.ydr.com
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Saturday, January 26, 2013
Thailand Finance Minister Doesn't Want To Take ... - Forex Trading
The Finance Minister of Thailand, Kittiratt Na Ranong has stated that the Central Bank of Thailand should do away with any sort of intervention which fights the market forces to stem the major currency, Baht?s appreciation. Kittiratt added that he will never encourage the Central Bank to indulge into such activities of trading against the market determined rate unless it?s a part of the weekly or daily stability. He commented that even if such things are done, the impact on the Baht will not be significant and changes of some few basis points will occur only.
Incidentally, on this week, Baht has experienced several losses after reaching its highest figures in last 17 months. The investors are speculating that the Central Bank will soon take actions to prevent any further gains. Incidentally, the export growth of Thailand of last month was worse than the initial estimates and that made many concerned over the appreciation of Baht. Incidentally, an increased value of Baht is definitely a warning signal for the export industry of Thailand, which makes almost two-thirds of Thailand economy.
Incidentally, Thailand is one of those emerging markets which are seeking to stem the inflows because of monetary easing policy of different developed countries such as Japan and United States. Such a monetary easing policy causes greater demand of the higher yielding assets of these emerging markets. The Prime Minister of Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra, incidentally, took a few important steps this month, thereby adding to the stimulus measures which are primarily aimed to increase the purchasing power of the country and at the same time, reduce the reliance on exports for growth.
The policy makers of Thailand are believed to be considering a lot of options and lower interest rates is one of them. However, as Kittiratt says, this move can turn out to be a double edged sword for Thai economy as this will decrease the inflows, however, will have its detrimental effects on the stability.
Kittiratt believes that any measurement which is not natural or sustainable will not be beneficial on the longer run. According to analysts, Kittiratt?s statement has reduced the pressure from the Bank of Thailand officials and many believe that the Government will now be focusing more on increasing the domestic demand. Baht, incidentally, has increased by 2.7% against USD in December.
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The Book Club Catches 'The Andromeda Strain'
Copyright ? 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
IRA FLATOW, HOST:
It's that time again, the SCIENCE FRIDAY Book Club. Regulars are gathered here. With me are Flora Lichtman, correspondent and managing editor of video for SCIENCE FRIDAY, Annette Heist, our senior producer. And this month, we had a page-turner, "The Andromeda Strain."
FLORA LICHTMAN, BYLINE: Yes.
FLATOW: It goes very quickly, that book, doesn't it? Poof.
LICHTMAN: It did. I was thinking of 300 and something-odd pages, but I, you know, in one sitting, was halfway through. I couldn't put it down.
ANNETTE HEIST, BYLINE: It was hard to put down, and it's by Michael Crichton, we should say, also known for "Jurassic Park" and for you younger-ish folks, "ER."
FLATOW: "ER."
LICHTMAN: Oh, yeah. I didn't know that about - I learned that via Wikipedia this morning.
FLATOW: She said you younger folks.
HEIST: Younger-ish.
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: Well, OK. Let's go - let's get right to the meat of it. Flora, what did you think of the book?
LICHTMAN: I am a sci-fi convert after the book.
FLATOW: Oh, so you don't usually read sci-fi.
LICHTMAN: No, I don't. I think I was either being snooty or because we cover the nonfiction, and so I'm thinking like, oh, you know, what does sci-fi, you know, bring to the table for me since I get to hear about science all the time on our wonderful program? And what I learned was that it's so much more exciting when you fictionalize it. I mean...
FLATOW: You don't have to worry about the accuracy.
LICHTMAN: Absolutely not.
FLATOW: Details, details.
LICHTMAN: It was like - I love fiction, and it was fiction, but with all my favorite characters. You know, we had the labs that I heard about in my daily life and the topics that we cover, but applied to this sort of fantastical world, which I enjoyed it.
HEIST: And while it is fiction, there's a lot of fact in here, and I liked that part of it. I felt like it could be true. I think that's what made it...
FLATOW: Yeah.
HEIST: ...so compelling for me. I was turning pages quickly.
FLATOW: Yeah. Well, it was written like that. It really was true. That was the...
LICHTMAN: Yes.
FLATOW: He didn't say - you know, start off with the preface or whatever. The preface was right into the book, and you thought...
HEIST: Here's what happened.
FLATOW: ...here's what happened. You thought he was starting right from the...
HEIST: And he has a references section in the back that looked like real scientific papers. I Googled a bunch of those. They - they're - they - the format is exactly right, but the papers aren't real, at least not the ones that I checked. I'm still not convinced. I might have to go through...
FLATOW: 1-800-989-8255 is our number. If you've read Michael Crichton's book, "The Andromeda Strain," you want to talk about it, it's our Book Club pick this week. 1-800-989-8255. You can tweet us @scifri.
And now I'll chime in. I really liked the stuff, the way he taught science. He taught simple every-day facts that, you know, in a matter of sentences, you learned about proteins, how proteins folded and enzymes. It was beautifully written.
HEIST: And that all life forms that we're familiar with have amino acids.
FLATOW: Right.
HEIST: I liked that part of the book too. And he was setting us up for what comes later when they finally analyze the Andromeda Strain and the data comes out of the mass spectrometer, and you're the scientist. You're looking at just the raw data, and you're, uh-oh, something's wrong here.
FLATOW: Mm-hmm. This is the SCIENCE FRIDAY Book Club on SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR.
LICHTMAN: What about the ending? Can we talk about this, or is this a spoiler alert?
FLATOW: No. No. It's an old book.
(LAUGHTER)
LICHTMAN: Yeah. That's true enough. I was disappointed with the ending.
FLATOW: Yeah. I was too.
LICHTMAN: It fizzled out.
FLATOW: I thought it was a cop-out ending.
HEIST: Yeah. I - well, I sort of liked the ending. I'm going to be alone in this, I think, here. But, Ira, I sent you the review from The New York Times. This is from 1969, so can I just share the...
FLATOW: Sure.
HEIST: ...end of this review? You said you liked it.
FLATOW: Sure. I said it was right. Spot-on, as they say.
HEIST: Here's the writer, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, and these are his words: So curse you, Michael Crichton. You led me on with a beautiful dud - a chocolate eclair filled with shaving cream. You with your gibbering, squeaking computers, you stole a night's sleep from me with a fast shuffle. If you don't do better next time, I'll mutate you.
FLATOW: Which is what happened to the germ in the book.
HEIST: Yes.
FLATOW: It mutated.
LICHTMAN: The Andromeda Strain mutated.
FLATOW: The strain just mutated and that's it.
HEIST: That's it, the end.
FLATOW: All this setup, all the drama, all the other stuff, all the possibilities and, well, we'll just have it mutate and it'll - the danger will be over.
LICHTMAN: That's right. It didn't actually have to get solved.
FLATOW: We don't need - yeah, that's right. You don't need a hero. We set them up all for the book. We set up this huge research lab.
HEIST: Well, wait. There was a hero. Dr. Hall was a hero. He saved the lab from a nuclear explosion.
LICHTMAN: But from - by brawns, not brains.
FLATOW: Well, he saved it after they set it off to self-destruct. But that aside, there are a lot of - a lot of novels have bad endings.
HEIST: Yeah. I still liked it.
FLATOW: You still - I would still recommend people to read it.
HEIST: Yes. Me too. It was the book I was looking for after our - a couple of books that we had done where there was no real narrative to follow. This was good, I thought.
LICHTMAN: Yeah.
FLATOW: It was - it - and you could read this - you know, you don't want to put it - it is one of these things you don't want to put down, and it reads very quickly. And I skipped through parts of what I call some of the details about building a laboratory, which I didn't care to hear. I wanted to hear the plot, you know? No, look at that.
Well, what's cute about it, how some of the dated part of the books are cute to read. The computer printout, they're still, you know, pictures written with stars like they used to in the...
HEIST: Like the dot matrix...
FLATOW: The dot matrix.
HEIST: ...and I guess before the dot matrix printer.
FLATOW: Right.
LICHTMAN: Yeah. No. And there was this vision of the future that was kind of Jetsonian. So this lab is this futuristic kind of lab, but, you know, people are eating pills and only drinking vitamin juices. Of course there's vitamin water, but, you know, it absolutely follows this model of how people think the future is going to be.
HEIST: And some of it came true, right? He has the method of identifying the people who are allowed into the lab by putting your hand, letting your palm be read, like a biometric type of scanner to ID people.
FLATOW: Mm-hmm. Let me get a quick call in from Terry(ph) in Brewster Town, Tennessee. Hi, Terry.
TERRY: Hello, Ira and you guests. Actually, there has been at least two copies, two printings of "The Andromeda Strain" where the foreword, Michael Crichton is explaining that the government contracted him to write that book about an actual incident.
FLATOW: Is that right? Yeah. I think that's the copy we have.
LICHTMAN: That's in this one, yeah. I love that because I read that at the end and thought oh, my God, did I miss something? Did this really happen? For a moment I really - I believed it. it's convincing.
FLATOW: Tell you what, what did you think of the book?
TERRY: I thought it was great when I first read it. It was - it is definitely a page turner and when you think about that technology that was available during World Ward II that we only found out about 20 to 60 years afterwards. I think, it could done - definitely do that/
FLATOW: All right. thanks for calling. 1-800-989-8255 - forget it.
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: We'll - rushing to get the credits. We want to hear from you if you've read the book, you know, "The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton. You can phone us at 1-800-989-8255. You can tweet us, @SCIFRI - S-C-I-F-R-I. And when we come back, Richard Preston, author of "The Hot Zone" is all working on Crichton's unfinished book. So we'll talk about it after the break. Stay with us. I'm Ira Flatow. This is SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
FLATOW: You're listening to SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. We're talking this hour about "The Andromeda Strain," our SCIENCE FRIDAY Book Club pick this month. Here with me are Flora Lichtman, our correspondent and managing editor for video, senior producer Annette Heist. Joining us now to talk more about the book is Richard Preston. He is the author of "The Hot Zone." He also wrote "Micro," the book Michael Crichton was working on when he died and finished it up. It's an interesting story. It's now on paper back?
RICHARD PRESTON: Yes.
FLATOW: Richard, welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.
PRESTON: Hi.
FLATOW: How did you - how were you able to finish this book up for Michael?
LICHTMAN: Well, they brought me in when Michael passed away very suddenly. He was working on "Micro" at White Heat. And when I saw the manuscript, I was inspired. I thought, you know, somebody has got to finish this book. And I thought I had an idea where he was going with it. So I wrote up a little proposal and sent it to his widow, Sherri Crichton, and she liked it. So it went from there.
FLATOW: So let's get back to the book at hand, "The Andromeda Strain." What are your thoughts on that book?
PRESTON: Well, I think it's one of the best science fiction novels that's ever been written. It certainly turned me on when I was a 15-year-old, I read it for the first time. And I was so entranced by it that I faked illness to stay home from school in hope to finish it.
FLATOW: You can say you have "The Andromeda Strain."
PRESTON: No, I couldn't really make my blood clot up around my body.
(LAUGHTER)
PRESTON: But I had a really good fake cough.
FLATOW: Well, it didn't heat up the thermometer in the light bulb trick that did work that way. No.
What I discovered in actually trying to do a Michael Crichton novel is I discovered quite a lot about his research technique which I'm sure he used for "The Andromeda Strain." He was a veracious reader and he tended to read very highly technical scientific stuff, and you can see in "The Andromeda Strain" where he's been delving deeply into material that the public really didn't have any idea about. And for example, he obviously had read and knew a lot about the Army laboratories in Fort Detrick, Maryland, where the researchers, even back then in 1969, were working with space suits and dealing with extremely dangerous organisms. Back then, they had been working on biological weapons.
Right.
PRESTON: Really nasty stuff. Michael knew quite a lot about hits and he knew that the labs are divided into these levels, levels one through four. So for his fictional Andromeda Strain, he went one farther. He went to level five, of course. And..
(LAUGHTER)
PRESTON: And - but, you know, after hanging out in these labs and writing about them in a non-fiction way for "The Hot Zone," I could see exactly what he had learned. But what he did was he turned it into a - just a dynamic page turner, a real thriller. And it purports to be an after-action report. This is what the government does when there's a secret, classified action and they write up a classified report.
FLATOW: Right.
PRESTON: And he has himself as being the writer of it. So - and it's just filled with truly logical and factual material and all of these little details about how science works. In fact, I brought a little show-and-tell for you. I guess we have to tell, because we can't show. But.
(LAUGHTER)
PRESTON: Which was -this is a sample of Ebola virus here. Now, it's been completely sterilized.
FLATOW: Of course.
PRESTON: Here, I'll let you hold it.
(LAUGHTER)
PRESTON: No, no thanks? Anyway, what it is it's - let me describe it. It's a little small cylinder of transparent plastic, it's about the size of a peanut and it's honed down to sort of chiseled point. And right on the point, there is a black dot about the size of a poppy seed, and it's a sample of monkey liver. Now, as I said, it's been completely sterilized. The monkey liver was infected with Ebola Zaire virus originally, the hottest of the strains of Ebola - 90 percent fatality rate in humans.
Now, this little object that I'm describing is used to prepare a sample for an electron microscope which can magnify a virus particle, you know, 20,000 times or more till it looks like the size of a golf ball. And now, in "The Andromeda Strain," Crichton describes this object exactly. So you knew he had seen it but he gives it this wonderful thriller twist. Instead of the virus sample being this little black dot of tissue, he's got a glowing green which is cinematic.
LICHTMAN: It's amazing that you brought that, Richard, because I thought this was actually one of the most telling parts of the book, of how skilled Michael Crichton is at describing science. Because I was reading it enraptured with the process of preparing a sample for an electron-scanning microscope, that's incredible. I mean, that can be very dull very easily and he did make it so visual and the picture that I had in my mind really was pretty similar to now what I see it is. It's pretty cool.
FLATOW: He's very talented at that, you know, and all through the book, in just a few words, a few sentences, he can describe something that you might think I need to study biology or something for.
PRESTON: Yeah. And he has a wonderfully visual imagination, and that's what propels his language into these descriptions that you can just see in your mind's eye, you know, his description of the Wildfire Laboratory at Flatrock, Nevada where you go down underground and there are these different levels. The other thing that I thought was striking about "The Andromeda Strain," which actually adds to its realism, now, is the curiously anachronistic computer printouts that you see.
LICHTMAN: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: I love it.
PRESTON: This is state of the art in 1969, right, when computers would spit out these reams of paper with these little X's all over them.
HEIST: He goes into some detail about how computers work, too, that we don't really need to know now. When you read it, it's sort of like, yeah, we know that more than one person could enter data.
FLATOW: But you know...
PRESTON: Right.
FLATOW: What's also fascinating as always is the story itself, the story is the thing, and the unique ideas about trying to decide - this was one of the most fascinating things to me - the plot, where this Andromeda strain could have originated. And he says, you know, you might think it could come from outer space, like we, you know, something foreign. This one actually came from the Earth.
I mean, this is fascinating, you know, that the Earth somewhere maybe thousands, millions of years ago, a strain of bacteria got kicked up into the atmosphere, lived up there for a while, stayed up there, mutated, and came back and attacked us again. And sure enough this week, we saw a research that sort of talks about this not as Andromeda strain, but as a possibility for evolution.
HEIST: Of bacteria being up in the cloud.
FLATOW: Yeah.
HEIST: Kicked up from Earth, right?
PRESTON: Yeah. And nowadays, of course, we're finding out that bacteria have this amazing ability to live in environments that we would have assumed are completely hostile to bacteria. Michael, I think, was tapped into the zeitgeist at the time, at least in advanced science circles, where already, scientists were beginning to talk about the possibility of new and emerging infectious diseases that could enter the human population and sweep through it.
In particular, there was Joshua Lederberg, a Nobel-winning bacteriologist, who I'm pretty sure Michael had read, and maybe even have known him personally. But Joshua, in about 1966, predicted that bacteria would evolve resistance to antibiotics and that he thought that a new virus would be likely to come along out of the natural ecosystems of the world. And he predicted that it would be a sexually transmitted virus and it would be highly lethal. That was a prediction of the HIV virus decades before it occurred.
FLATOW: What did strike me in reading the book, because I'm a great fan of "War of the Worlds," both of radio play, the movie everything that followed, is that there is a similarity here about what killed it, you know, is that something strange on Earth itself that it was not ready for, you know? It - we didn't have to worry about killing it, in "War of the Worlds." It was at the common cold or something that killed the aliens.
PRESTON: Yeah. Well, Michael Crichton had a - he faced a narrative problem here in "The Andromeda Strain," which I've heard filmmakers in Hollywood when they're doing a great virus movie - you know, a panic in the streets, virus movie - they call it the problem with the third act.
(LAUGHTER)
PRESTON: If you have this lethal thing that is sweeping through the human population and people are dropping like flies in the streets, how do you stop it? You know, you drop a nuclear bomb on it, what do you do? And I think Crichton neatly sidestepped that problem by - I don't want to give too much of a spoiler away, but let's just say that...
You could spoil it if you'd like. It's an old book.
Yeah, probably, that's true. It's been around for a while. The virus, let's just say that it has its own agenda.
FLATOW: Mm-hmm.
(LAUGHTER)
PRESTON: And that actually is - what has happened in real outbreaks where, for example, the Ebola virus in Washington, which turned out not to be that much of a threat, it just - it didn't go away because people fought it to a standstill. It went away because it wasn't able to reproduce really successfully in humans.
FLATOW: Mm-hmm.
HEIST: You said you read this book when you were 15. Did it have any influence on you wanting to be a writer?
PRESTON: No, because anybody who told me I was going to be writer when I was 15 I would have disbelieved it. But I think in retrospect, it certainly did because when I turned to non-fiction writing, the story of an Ebola outbreak, when I heard it, Army soldiers had been involved in it. And they were wearing spacesuits at the time, and people were white-knuckle scared. My immediate reaction was that sounds like "The Andromeda Strain."
FLATOW: Right.
PRESTON: And, in fact, I was - at that time, was interviewing Joshua Lederberg, the virus expert, the bacteriologist who - I was asking him about emerging diseases, and he told me about this outbreak of Ebola. And I said, wow, I didn't, you know, I never heard of that. That sounds like "The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton. How can I learn more? And he said, well, I really don't know. I guess you'd have to call the Army.
FLATOW: Can you see hints of future novels to come in the way his mind is working from this book, what kind of subject material he would tackle later on?
PRESTON: Yes. I think Michael Crichton - one of the things that fascinated him was the distance scale in nature...
FLATOW: Yeah, Yeah.
PRESTON: ...and how organisms and - organisms run through an enormous range of sizes and that most living things are really a whole lot smaller than we are. Human beings are really actually on the very outer end of size of life. And so, you know, he had, you know, had thrillers about nanotechnology, really small things. And then "Micro," his last book, was about the insect world.
FLATOW: Right. 1-800-989-8255 is our number. Let's go to Ray in Washington. Hi, Ray.
RAY: Hey. How you doing?
FLATOW: Hey there.
RAY: I have to say that while agree with you about the ending, I didn't find the science compelling in the book. The best example that I can see is the ending, where all of the bugs mutate in the same way simultaneously. Evolution simply doesn't work that way. And I think that Crichton fundamentally is anti-science. He's a technophobe. And you can kind of see that in "The Andromeda Strain." But later when he does into full-blown climate change denialism(ph), you know, that you can really see that. And I'm wondering if any one else pickED up on that. I'll take my answer off the air.
FLATOW: OK. Ray, thanks for calling. Interesting point, Richard.
PRESTON: Well, I think that Michael Crichton had a very - not a very sanguine view of human ability to control or even understand nature. I think he was obsessed with technology. He lovede to write about it - it has great narrative potential. But you always - in his books, like in "Jurassic Park," you know, you find that when human beings try to manipulate and control nature, nature has a way of refusing to be controlled, and nature has its own goals, its own purposes, and we - sometimes it blows up in our faces.
FLATOW: Nature will find a way.
PRESTON: Nature will find a way as in "Jurassic Park."
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: I'm Ira Flatow. This is SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR.
I've used that reference so many times over the years.
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: It was great. And is there anything else you like to add about the book? Or would you say that when - somebody at certain might like it more than anyone else or...
LICHTMAN: I've - I think this is good for all ages. But back to the caller's point about whether there's sort of an anti-science, I think that's an interesting question. One thing that I noticed - and I wonder if anyone else had this impression too - that the scientists aren't real heroes in this book.
And the underdog of this book is a doctor, a surgeon, who sort of gets, you know, cast aside by the scientist, who think that he is not useful at all, and then in the end, he's the one who saves everybody's life by climbing through, like a hatch in the ceiling and withstanding poison gas and darts and things like that. So I had sort of a sense that he may have a complicated relationship with the scientific community. But I wonder if you know more about that, Richard.
PRESTON: Well, I think he certainly did. I think he saw human beings as being very frail and weak, and he included scientists in that category. And in many of his books, the scientists can be - some of them can be exceedingly unpleasant people. They can even be evil protagonists. But, you know, the five scientists, who are the protagonist of "The Andromeda Strain," they all have their weakness and they are described in not very attractive terms. We don't really have, you know, a hardcore grade A hero in "The Andromeda Strain."
FLATOW: Mm-hmm. It's not like "Contagion," which has definite heroes.
PRESTON: Correct.
FLATOW: Yeah. Right.
PRESTON: That's exactly right. Yeah.
FLATOW: Let's go to Curtis(ph) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hi, Curtis.
CURTIS: Hi. How are you today?
FLATOW: Hi there.
CURTIS: Hey. I'm referring to a comment that you talked about earlier, about how you're disappointed with the ending "Andromeda Strain." And I'm not sure how familiar with Michael Crichton's works, but it's a recurring theme throughout his books. I mean, if you look at "Jurassic Park," they abandoned the island. They don't give the dinosaurs, the chemical that they're genetically programmed not to produce, and they're just going to let all the dinosaurs die off.
And the end of "Sphere," everybody uses the sphere to wish like the sphere never existed. History goes back to the way it was before the story started. If you look at "Congo," there are huge - a volcano erupts, covers up the mine. Lost once again. It's a recurring dream theme throughout all his works, and he takes history, you know, they're all (unintelligible). He creates his bubble that he inserts the story into. And at the end of the story, he closes the bubble and the world, as we know it, goes back to the way it us.
FLATOW: Good comment, Curtis.
LICHTMAN: Wow.
PRESTON: Awesome. Great comment.
FLATOW: Thank - we'll we have...
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: You must really - do you like Crichton - is there someone like him, another author?
CURTIS: I just like a lot of science fiction and I started reading all these stories, I'm like, well, that was just like this other story that I read. And I started looking up who wrote them, and they were all by Michael Crichton. This guy is cowered. He's unable to change the world as we know it.
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: Who do you like - who is your favorite science fiction writer?
CURTIS: Isaac Asimov. And but - and here is the deal. Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury stand side by side. Isaac Asimov has more pure science and futuristic, you know, insight into his stories. And Ray Bradbury just has that personal feel with the bit of horror and a bit of macabre in his stories that gives it the, you know, a real biting, page-turning effect, whereas, Isaac Asimov is more - I can see that happening in 10 years or five years, or already we've seen that happen type of thing.
FLATOW: Yeah. Thanks for that great insight. Have a good weekend.
CURTIS: You too. Thank you.
FLATOW: I want to thank you for joining us today. Thanks for taking time to be with us today. Richard Preston is author of "The Hot Zone." He's also - he wrote "Micro," the book that Michael Crichton was working on when he died. It's out there in paperback now?
PRESTON: It's out in paperback.
FLATOW: Out in paperback. Thank you for joining. Let's...
PRESTON: Thank you.
FLATOW: But before we say goodbye to our Book Club, what's our next book?
LICHTMAN: Next month's book is "Gorillas in the Mist," Dian Fossey. And we'll be talking about that on February 22nd. So get your copies, start reading and call in with great comments like our caller did, please. And we'll meet you back here.
FLATOW: Meet you back here in a month.
LICHTMAN: Yeah.
FLATOW: Flora Lichtman, correspondent and managing editor of video for SCIENCE FRIDAY. Annette Heist our senior producer.
LICHTMAN: Thanks, Ira.
FLATOW: And happy reading.
LICHTMAN: You too.
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: That's about all the time we have for today.
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Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/01/25/170267859/the-book-club-catches-the-andromeda-strain?ft=1&f=1007
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