With newspapers giving away her novels, Pride and Prejudice being voted the nation's top book and a new biopic in the cinemas, Jane Austen is riding the crest of a revival. But for those who've never picked up one of her books, what's the big deal?

nice little article -- for myself i'm a huge Austen fan - apart from Mansfield Park -- the keenest observer of human behaviour -- a perfect blend of mind and emotion -- yes she only wrote about a microcosm in a sense but her canvas is larger than may at first appear -- witty, intelligent and humane -- for myself anyone who dislikes Austen is frankly wrong

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Jane Austen - why the fuss?

Shaun the Sheep made his on-screen debut in the 1995 film A Close Shave, alongside plasticine heroes Wallace and Gromit.

His appearance may have only been four minutes long, but it was enough to endear the loveable sheep to the British public.

Now Shaun has his own TV show on BBC One - the first children's TV show by Aardman Animations since Morph.

yeahhhhhhh
Shaun the Sheep rules

BBC NEWS | In pictures: Shaun the Sheep, Back in the fold

In 1987 Ronald Reagan declared that the US was about to enter an incredible new era of technology.

Levitating high-speed trains, super-efficient energy generators and ultra-powerful supercomputers would become commonplace thanks to a new breed of materials known as high temperature superconductors (HTSC).

"The breakthroughs in superconductivity bring us to the threshold of a new age," said the president. "It's our task to herald in that new age with a rush."

But 20 years on, the new world does not seem to have arrived. So what happened?
...
"If someone discovered a room temperature superconductor tomorrow which fits with what is outlined by our theory, we wouldn't be surprised at all," added Dr Newns.

This kind of optimism, seen the first time in the mid 1980s, now seems to be deserved.

There has been a crescendo of research, while at the same time the first commercial HTSC products are rolling out of factories.

According to Dr Yurek, this is a sign that the new age promised by Ronald Reagan is finally here.

"I think we're on a launching pad here and we're now ready to take off," he said.

BBC NEWS | Technology | The 'new age' of super materials

Since the mass firings were carried out three months ago, Justice Department officials have consistently portrayed them as personnel decisions based on the prosecutors' "performance-related" problems. But, yesterday, officials acknowledged that the ousters were based primarily on the administration's unhappiness with the prosecutors' policy decisions and revealed the White House's role in the matter.

I think this has been expected by some of us for quite some time.

White House Backed U.S. Attorney Firings, Officials Say - washingtonpost.com

The two-star general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center was relieved of command on Thursday, following disclosures that wounded soldiers being treated as outpatients there were living in dilapidated quarters and enduring long waits for treatment.
...
Mr. Boyce [an Army spokesman] said the worst conditions in the outpatient residences had been corrected but added the Army was planning to make more repairs, like replacing a faulty heating and air-conditioning system that was the cause of the mold on the walls.

scape goat?
any of the hospital's "customers" born on the 4th of July?
in this war no-one can say that vets have received sub standard medical care because Congress has been parsimonious. One of my main concerns about Congress attempting to shut down the war by stopping the funding was that if finances were squeezed the medical care to the vets would be one the first places to see cut backs in expenditure but it's happened anyway.
I oppose the war and I support the troops -- the Bush administration does the reverse -- the vets receiving anything but the finest care is a disgrace *cold anger*

General Is Fired Over Conditions at Walter Reed - New York Times

The 11th Star Trek film, to be directed by Lost creator JJ Abrams, will be released in the US on Christmas Day 2008, Paramount Pictures has announced.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Star Trek film gets release date

Verbage snatched from IMDB:

* * *

Just saw this on Film Four tonight (UK TV chanel)... very interesting, but 50 minutes isn't even near long enough if you've read Paul Sammon's excellent "Future Noir: the Making of Blade Runner". Interviews with everybody involved except Harrison Ford and Sean Young of course, who hated each other's guts during the making of the film. We even see Philip K. Dick before he died - what a paranoid bloke he was! And even, for the first time ever, a look at the deleted scene where Deckard visits Holden in hospital. If you look you'll see the set for that scene was from Alien.

It's amazing visiting the buildings Ridley Scott used to make his future vision of Los Angeles. In the daytime they look NOTHING like Scott's sets, particularly the Bradbury Building in L.A., used for the final battle... when you see the before and after shots it really brings home what a genius of visual style Scott is.

Most shocking is that whilst all of the people have obviously aged in the last 20 years, Joe Turkel (Eldon Tyrell) hasn't aged a day! Hmmmm...

For anyone that hasn't read Paul Sammon's book, you'll be amazed at the problems encountered making this film, a true up-hill struggle. But Blade Runner still remains one of the best American movies of all time.

Ridley Scott admits this is one of his best films, and millions of cult fans worldwide agree. A true original...

On The Edge Of Blade Runner

A must-watch clip of gay actor George Takei (Sulu from Star Trek) responding to Hardaway's homophobic comments.

Elonka :)

George Takei 0wnz Tim Hardaway

When the Guardian referred to Martin Amis as 'Britain's greatest living author' last week, one reader was so outraged she threatened to emigrate - or worse. So if not Amis, who?

ahh yes well I think I would have to vote for Salman Rushdie but I'm strongly tempted to abandon conventional notions of good literary stylistics and vote for Terry Pratchett, purely in terms of narrative he wins for me. Of course it all depends what you want. Salman Rushdie writes much better prose. Thinking about it I would vote for both apples and oranges -- Terry Pratchett and Salman Rushdie -- different traditions the genre and the "serious" -- the comic and the high art -- the studied and the spontaneous -- both storytellers -- Terry Pratchett unpeeling popular culture, the polis, dreams, fears, authority, diversity, feminism -- Salman Rushdie East and West and the interzone of cultures and dreams, the nature of narrative and democracy

they write down and distil the dreams of the collective unconscious

Who is the greatest of them all? | News | Guardian Unlimited Books

Decius wrote:

"Defuse the ticking time-bomb known as your child's imagination before it explodes and destroys her completely," said child-safety expert Kenneth McMillan, who advised the HHS in composing the guidelines. "New data shows a disturbing correlation between serious accidents and the ability of children to envision a world full of exciting possibility."

The guidelines, titled "Boundless Imagination, Boundless Hazards: Ways To Keep Your Kids Safe From A World Of Wonder," are posted on the HHS website, and will also be available in brochure form in pediatricians' offices across the country.

According to McMillan, children can suffer broken bones, head trauma, and even fatal injuries from unsupervised exposure to childlike awe. "If your children are allowed to unlock their imaginations, anything from a backyard swing set to a child's own bedroom can be transformed into a dangerous undersea castle or dragon's lair," McMillan said. "But by encouraging your kids to think linearly and literally, and constantly reminding them they can never be anything but human children with no extraordinary characteristics, you can better ensure that they will lead prolonged lives."

Somehow, when I saw this meme.. My eyes did not parse the "Satire" part at the beginning of the subject, but did parse the "CNN.com" part, before reading the quoted text. There is nothing quite like going from a jaw dropping "wtf?" to a good belly laugh.

RE: Satire: Experts call for restrictions on childhood imagination - CNN.com