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'Edge Of Tomorrow': How Video Game Movies Should Work
"The use of the words "infinite lives" is no accident," writes Glace. The premise of the film comes from a Japanese graphic novel titled 'All You Need Is Kill', but it is steeped in the classic video game lore: restarting the game over and over until you are prepared for every conceivable threat. This is a fact director Liman openly celebrates - and it works here on countless levels. Cruise's efforts to train are all chronicled through an efficient, fun and fluid montage that serves as an excellent progression through the "levels," while cutting out the more mundane, frustrating repetition it "stands as an incredibly creative, intelligent piece of sci-fi filmmaking." "Taking inspiration from an underutilized resource, Cruise has made an incredible return to form," concludes Glace. "Unfortunately, "Edge of Tomorrow" is already a box-office dud, but I implore you to support this excellent film."
Top European Court to Rule on Obesity as a Disability
The US Equal Opportunity Commission already defines obesity as being a disability, under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act. In a recent case involving morbid obesity, a Texan employee who weighed more than 680 pounds received $55,000 in compensation for being dismissed. In October 2009, the man was told to report to human resources where officials told him the company had reached the conclusion he could no longer "perform his job duties because of his weight and he was therefore terminated," the suit said. Ronald Kratz, who had gotten two promotions and high performance ratings over his 16-year-career, insists his weight did not interfere with his ability to perform his job duties as a parts sorter. Kratz, who lost over three hundred pounds since he was fired, has not be able to find another job despite sending out numerous applications, and his unemployment benefits have run out. "It has been really hard on the family."
George R. R. Martin to Kill Facebook Employee in GOT
Goldblatt chose to be a "Valryian," a people group famous for their indestructible steel, as his station in Martin's literary universe. "You read some piece of fiction and for whatever reason you think one particular character or race is cool - and for whatever reason," says Goldblatt. I thought the Valyrians were cool. I'm hoping in future books we get to see more of them."
Court Rules Warrant Required for Cellphone Location Records
"The appeals court's opinion is a resounding defense of the Fourth Amendment's continuing vitality in the digital age," says American Civil Liberties Union Staff Attorney Nathan Freed Wessler, who argued the cellphone issues before the panel in April. "It puts police on notice that when they want to enlist people's cellphones as tracking devices, they must get a warrant from a judge based on probable cause" that the records will provide evidence of a crime.
Comcast Turns Private Homes into Public Hotspots
Bu concerns are being raised about this service. In addition to using customers' electricity for their service, some say that in areas that have lots of apartment buildings and multi-tenant dwellings within close proximity of one another, performance will slow down. Those routers are transmitting on the same channels for their 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals, leading to RF competition. "Comcast's FAQ about Xfinity's hotspots doesn't go into any details about channels and bands," writes Samara Lynn, "but the company should be clear about how adding these hotspot networks affects the performance of existing WLANs-especially in business use."
Theater Chain Bans Google Glass Over Piracy Fears
Attitudes towards Google Glass appear to be hardening in the US. In January, cinema chain AMC said the eyewear was "not appropriate" for use in cinemas, following an incident in which homeland security officers interrogated a Glass wearer during a screening of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit in Columbus, Ohio.
House Majority Leader Defeated in Republican Primary
The ouster of the No. 2 House Republican, who was seen by many as the next speaker, overturns the chamber's leadership hierarchy, and effectively kills any chance of immigration reform. "It's just sending shivers throughout the Republican conference," says veteran GOP Rep. Lee Terry. The come-from-behind victory of Dave Brat over Cantor has emboldened conservative activists nationwide, lifting their hopes of scoring more primary wins this year - and gaining renewed sway heading into a wide-open contest for the party's 2016 presidential nomination. "It creates a wave of energy that's just infectious," says Matt Kibbe, president of the Washington-based tea party group FreedomWorks for America, who sent an e-mail Wednesday to the group's activists with the subject line, "You're Winning."
Mars, Ho! Chapter Zero
Several chapters ago I decided to see if I could do what James Patterson did (badly IMO) in that one book of his I read, mixing first and third person. A few months ago I figured out how to do it with this book, and wrote a new chapter one that goes before the posted chapter one.
I was on a roll yesterday, adding 3000 words, some scattered through the entire existing book but most at the end, past where we are now.
I wasn't going to post chapter zero, but if I don't, then chapter 22 will make no sense. Chapter 22 is a continuation of "chapter zero", the third person chapter before chapter one. Here it is. I hope to have chapter 22 posted in a few days.
"Come in, Bob. Did you bring Knolls' report?"
"Yes sir, here it is."
"Did you read it?"
"Yes, sir, I did. It's interesting. Knolls could be a writer if his grammar wasn't so atrocious, it was actually a good read. These reports are usually pretty dry."
"Well, he's just a ship's captain. It's not like he's been to college or anything. How detailed is the report?"
"Heh, too detailed in places. I didn't really need to hear about his bowel movements."
"How much did he leave out?"
"Nothing important. At least I don't think he left anything important out."
"It says he saved her life? Is that correct?"
"Yes, sir. He apparently kept a cool head, kept his wits about him and did everything right. It looks like he saved Kelly's ship and cargo as well."
"Yes, I read the investigation report. Sabotage to Kelly's ship during the Mars overhaul so they could get his ship and ores. One of the workers was arrested, he'd been paid a huge sum of cash to do it. It wasn't hard to catch him, they just looked at spending patterns to find who was living beyond their means. He confessed, we need to figure out how to prevent that from happening again."
"yes sir, we're on it already. If Mark Johnson can't solve it, it's insoluble.
"It had better not be. What were damages to cargo?"
"One specimen was severely injured but recovered before reaching the port on Mars. A few of the specimens got into physical altercations but there was no real damage to them. Not nearly as bad as we'd anticipated.
"Other damages?"
"One of the ship's two fusion reactors was ruined, as well as three of its ion drives. The other fusion generator was damaged but easily repaired. One battery incinerated. Minimal damage considering the dangerous cargo it was carrying and the problems Knolls encountered. May I ask, sir, why you allowed her on board with such a dangerous cargo?"
"No, Bob, you may not, but I will say she's going to do whatever the hell she wants no matter what I think. I'm just glad it turned out the way it did."
"Sorry, sir. Anyway, I hope you read that report. It answers a lot of questions the investigators didn't."
"Don't worry. I will, you can be sure of it. Afternoon open? Want to shoot nine holes?"
"Of course. But please, sir, read the report first."
"Don't worry, I've been looking forward to it, especially considering... get the hell out of here, Bob. Let me read this thing. I'll see you on the golf course."
'America Has Become a War Zone'
NSF Bans Researcher for Mining Bitcoins
The incident follows a similar case in February in which a researcher at Harvard University was caught using supercomputer resources to mine dogecoin. The researcher was barred from accessing the computer resources.
