LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? As a result of the poor box-office performance of "Happy Feet Two," 600 of the 700 employees at the digital production studio behind the animated movie reportedly have received their walking papers.
Employees at Dr. D Studios, which is based in Sydney, Australia, have been told they will be laid off in the coming weeks, according to IF.com.au. TheWrap was unable to reach Dr. D for comment.
The film, a sequel to 2006's Academy Award-winning "Happy Feet" -- which grossed $384.3 million off a budget of $100 million -- had amassed only an estimated $30.3 million worldwide as of Thursday.
There may be a silver lining for some of the employees, who reportedly have been offered a job at a new company that Kennedy-Miller Mitchell Films -- which launched Dr. D as a joint partnership with Omnilab Media -- plans to get off the ground in early 2012. KMM was founded in 1973 by "Happy Feet" director George Miller and producer Byron Kennedy.
In addition to the layoffs, KMM and Omnilab are reportedly at odds, and there is the possibility that the partnership between the two companies may be dissolved.
Released on November 18, "Happy Feet Two" has not found much success. It opened in 3,606 theaters and came in second at the box office during its debut weekend, grossing $21.2 million. Its estimated budget was $140 million.
"We obviously came in a little bit under our expectations on 'Happy Feet,' " Warner Bros. President of Distribution Dan Fellman told TheWrap. "The market expands enormously over the holiday. By next Monday, we'll know whether we're in good shape."
With three new family films released this week -- "The Muppets," "Hugo" and "Arthur Christmas" -- "Happy Feet Two" is unlikely to gain further traction.
Dr. D Studios, which specializes in digital feature film production and high-end special effects, reportedly had hoped to compete with Peter Jackson's Weta Digital in neighboring New Zealand. The studio is also attached to the long-delayed fourth "Mad Max" film, "Fury Road"; Miller was the director, producer and writer for the first three installments.
According to DrDStudios.com, "Fury Road" is in pre-production, although the site also includes an out-of-date notice that "Happy Feet Two" is in production. There are no job openings listed on the site.
JOHANNESBURG ? As delegates gather in South Africa to plot the next big push against climate change, Western governments are saying it's time to move beyond traditional distinctions between industrial and developing countries and get China and other growing economies to accept legally binding curbs on greenhouse gases.
It will be a central theme for the 25,000 national officials, lobbyists, scientists and advocates gathering under U.N. auspices in the coastal city of Durban on Nov. 28. Their two weeks of negotiations will end with a meeting of government ministers from more than 100 countries.
The immediate focus is the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 agreement requiring 37 industrialized countries to slash carbon emissions to 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Each country has a binding target and faces penalties for falling short. The U.S., then and now the world's largest polluter per capita, refused to join Kyoto because it imposed no obligations on countries like China, which has since surpassed the U.S. in overall emissions.
Now, with the Kyoto pact's expiry date looming, poor countries want the signatories to accept further reductions in a second commitment period up to at least 2017.
"The Kyoto Protocol is a cornerstone of the climate change regime," and a second commitment period "is the central priority for Durban," says Jorge Arguello of Argentina, the chairman of the developing countries' negotiating bloc known as G77 plus China.
But with growing consensus, wealthy countries are saying they cannot give further pledges unless all others ? or at least the major developing countries ? accept commitments themselves that are equally binding.
The European Union is bringing a proposal to Durban calling for a timetable for everyone to make these commitments by 2015.
Separately, Norway and Australia set out a six-page proposal for all governments to adopt a phased process of scaling down emissions.
Japan, Canada and Russia, three key countries in the Kyoto deal, announced last year they will not sign up to a second commitment period. Russia has submitted a proposal calling for a review and periodic amendments to the criteria for being judged rich or poor under Kyoto's legal prescriptions.
"We need to discuss whether we can continue to divide the world in the traditional thinking of the North and the South, where the North has to commit to a binding form whereas the South will only have to commit in a voluntary form," Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner on climate policies, told reporters this month.
It's an old debate that has been intensifying with the rapid growth of economies like those of China, India and some in Latin America and the wealth as well as high carbon emissions they generate.
The division of the globe into two unequal parts was embedded in the first climate convention adopted in 1992. At that time China was struggling to liberalize its economy, India was just opening its borders to international commerce, South Africa was breaking out of the apartheid era, and Brazil ? the host of the Earth Summit where the convention was adopted ? was an economic shambles with inflation topping 1,100 percent that year.
Everyone agrees that the few wealthy nations have the primary responsibility for reducing carbon emissions, since it was their industries that pumped carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for 200 years. Climate scientists say the accumulation of CO2 traps the Earth's heat, is already changing some weather patterns and agricultural conditions, and is heightening risks of devastating sea level rise.
The industrial countries ? the U.S. chief among them ? have long questioned whether those definitions of rich and poor, drawn up 20 years ago, should still apply. That was one reason why the U.S. backed out of the Kyoto Protocol.
The European Union also dismisses the poor countries' argument that, "you created the problem, now you fix it."
The EU is responsible for just 11 percent of global emissions, says the EU's Hedegaard, and it can't solve global warming without the help of those emitting the other 89 percent.
Despite their swelling national bank accounts, China, India, South Africa and others say they are still battling poverty and that tens of millions of their people lack electricity or running water.
To accept legal equality with wealthy countries would jeopardize their status as developing societies ? even though few countries are doing more than China to rein in the growth of their emissions.
It is a world leader in producing wind and solar energy and has closed thousands of outdated and heavily polluting power plants, replacing many with cleaner-burning coal plants. Its fuel efficiency standard already surpasses the 35 miles per gallon (14.7 kilometers per liter) for passenger cars that the U.S. government hopes to reach in 2016.
And so the stalemate continues leading up to Durban.
"The North-South divide over historical responsibility still has more weight than the forward-looking approach of respective capabilities," says Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Jennifer Morgan, climate analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute, says serious discussions are going on behind the scenes over the European timetable plan, although it was not clear this week if an agreement was possible in Durban.
Other experts agree that China privately is showing more flexibility than in public.
If no deal can be concluded, Figueres said last month, a patchwork of interim arrangements may be needed to keep negotiations alive.
"What arrangements? We don't know yet. According to what rules? We don't know yet. Interim for how long? We don't know yet," she said.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Reliance said negotiations to acquire Bharti's 74 percent stake in the life insurance and general insurance joint ventures were terminated as it was unable to reach agreement on the long-term vision and joint governance of ...
Holiday shoppers are flocking to stores with hopes of snagging Black Friday deals. Courtney Reagan reports from the Greene Town Center in Dayton, Ohio.
By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and Associated Press
Violence erupted at Black Friday?sales across the U.S. with one?bargain-hunter left?critically injured?after being shot during?a robbery and 15 other people?injured?when an angry shopper used pepper spray.
Updated 5:30 p.m. ET: Several of the incidents took place at Walmart stores as millions of Americans loaded up on holiday purchases. A spokesman for the company told NBC News that?"overall, it's been a very safe event at the thousands of Walmart stores open for Black Friday."
"There were a few unfortunate incidents, but otherwise we've heard positive feedback from our customers and associates," he said.
Update 12:17 p.m. ET:?A robot removed a suspicious device that led to the evacuation of a Walmart store ?in Cave Creek, Ariz.,?Maricopa County, sheriff's deputies said.
Deputies told KPHO-TV of Phoenix that they had reason to believe the device might have been an explosive and said whoever left it in a refrigerator at the store Thursday could face felony charges. Police dogs swept the store for further possible devices, they said, and the?store reopened late Thursday night, KPHO reported.
Update 11:57 a.m. ET:?An off-duty police officer used pepper spray?on shoppers at a Walmart in Kinston, N.C.
Kinston police Sgt. Roland Davis said an off-duty officer whom the store had hired to help with security used the chemical while trying to make an arrest during a disturbance. Unconfirmed reports said as many as 20 peopl ewer affected.
Updated 10:55 a.m. ET:?A Rome, N.Y., man was charged with disorderly conduct after a fight that broke out the moment Black Friday shopping began at midnight, NBC station WSTM of Syracuse, N.Y., reported.
Several shoppers at the electronics department at a Walmart store were pushed to the ground, and several fights broke out, Oneida County sheriff's deputies said. Two shoppers were taken to a hospital for minor injuries.
Updated 10:39 a.m. ET:?Police said they were investigating a possible shooting in the parking lot of Valley West Mall in West Des Moines, Iowa, NBC station WHO reported. There was no immediate report that anyone was injured.
Police got a call of shots fired shortly before 4 a.m., when the mall opened. They wouldn't say whether they had a suspect, and they reassured shoppers that the mall is safe..
Updated 9:50 a.m. ET: A 55-year-old shopper was shot and wounded during a robbery near a Walmart in Myrtle Beach, S.C., NBC station WMBF reported.
Tonia Robbins, 55, was shot in the foot after two men demanded her purse shortly after 1 a.m. ET Friday as she stood?by the trunk of her car with friends.
Updated 9:45 a.m. ET: An explosive device was found at a break room at a Walmart in Cave Creek, Ariz., according to reports Friday.??
Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said a suspicious package was found inside a refrigerator in the store break room on Thursday. The store was evacuated as a precaution while deputies investigated the package.
Updated at 9:40 a.m. ET: A Black Friday shopper was shot and critically injured during a robbery outside a Walmart in San Leandro, Calif., early Friday, police said.
Police patrolling the parking lot found a victim suffering a gunshot wound and a possible suspect being detained by family members of the victim.
Police said the victims were walking to their car with their purchases and were approached by multiple suspects who demanded the merchandise.
A fight ensued and one suspect pulled out a gun and shot one of the victims. Some of the victims wrestled down one suspect as the other suspect fled the scene.
The victim who was shot is in critical but stable condition at a local hospital. The suspect in custody is an adult male in his mid '20s, but it is not known if he was the shooter.
Updated at 7.30 a.m. ET: An angry woman used pepper spray?when?Black Friday bargain-hunters tried to cut in?line at a crowded Walmart store in Los Angeles late Thursday, leaving 15 people with minor injuries. The incident occurred shortly after 10:20 p.m. PT (1:20?a.m. ET Friday)?in the San Fernando Valley as shoppers looking for deals were let inside the outlet.
Shawn Lenske, a Los Angeles fire department spokesman, said the injuries were due to "rapid crowd movement."
Video uploaded to youTube shows shopper recovering after one woman allegedly doused them in pepper spray as they battled for bargains at a Walmart in Los Angeles. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports.
NBC News reported police said no more than 15 were hurt, 10 of them for the effects of inhalation of pepper spray.
Police Lt. Abel Parga said a woman used pepper spray, then left. Parga said police were looking for the woman and no arrests have been made.
?"It was an unhappy customer,'' he said.
A witness told Los Angeles' NBC4?that the incident started as people waited in line for the new Xbox 360.
The witness said a woman with two children in tow became upset with the way people were pushing in line. The witness said the woman pulled out pepper spray and sprayed the other people.
NBC News?quoted a police officer?as saying the flare-up was triggered when a crowd rushed toward merchandise following a "big reveal" of?items that had been hidden by draping.
NYT: Friday's deals may not be the best
One section of the store was cleared while patients were treated and the pepper spray dissipated, Parga said. People were seen pouring out of the store, but customers were allowed back in to continue shopping.
The dispute came as as stores opened their doors at midnight ? a few hours earlier than they normally do on the most anticipated shopping day of the year.
Story: Crazed weekend launches crucial retail season
Herald Square in New York was bustling at 6 p.m. ET Thursday, the Associated Press reported, with shoppers looking to snag discounts at Old Navy and other stores that were open on the Thanksgiving. By 9:45 p.m. ET, more than 300 people were waiting outside a Best Buy in New York before it opened at midnight. An hour later, nearly 2,000 were in line at another Best Buy in St. Petersburg, Florida, ahead of its midnight opening.
Retailers hope the earlier openings will make Black Friday shopping more convenient for Americans who are more likely to be worried about high unemployment and the other challenges they face in the weak economy.
A Texas couple is set to tie the knot after meeting three years ago while waiting in a Black Friday shopping line at Target. KXAS-TV's Amanda Guerra reports.
Black Friday is important to merchants because it kicks off the holiday shopping season, a time when they can make 25 to 40 percent of their annual revenue. It's expected that shoppers will spend nearly $500 billion during the holiday shopping season, or about 3 percent more than they did last year.
PhotoBlog: Black Friday shopping starts on Thursday
"It's a good move to try to get shoppers to spend sooner, before they run out of money," says Burt Flickinger, III, president of retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group.
About 34 percent of consumers plan to shop on Black Friday, up from 31 percent last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, and 16 percent had planned to shop on Thanksgiving Day itself. For the weekend, 152 million people are expected shop, up from 138 million last year.
Update at 5:45 a.m. ET: Authorities say gunfire erupted at a North Carolina mall as holiday shoppers gathered, the Associated Press reported.
The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said detectives were looking for two suspects after gunfire rang out at Cross Creek Mall in Fayetteville early Friday. No injuries were reported.
The first shots were fired around 2 a.m. outside the mall near a food court entrance. Investigators say several more shots were fired after one of the suspects ran inside the mall.
Officials from NASA and the European Space Agency have pitched in to help save the Russian Phobos-Grunt probe, which was supposed to fly to a Martian moon to collect soil samples but is instead stuck in orbit around Earth.?
An international effort is under way to save Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission to Mars, but time is quickly running out on propelling the probe toward the Red Planet.
Skip to next paragraph
The interplanetary undertaking is designed to visit Phobos, one of the moons of Mars, and return samples to Earth by 2014.
But?Phobos-Grunt's deadline?only chance for departure from Earth orbit is projected to be Nov. 24, due to the alignment of Earth and Mars as well as the spacecraft's fuel status to attain the outward-bound oomph required.
Using powerful radio dishes to monitor the vehicle, officials from the European Space Agency, NASA and Russia have been engaged in a global endeavor to rescue the spacecraft, which has been stranded in low-Earth orbit since its Nov. 8 launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After the?Phobos-Grunt probe?separated from its Zenit booster, the probe failed to perform a critical maneuver needed to begin the trek toward Mars. [Photos: Russia's Mars Moon Mission]
"We are trying to help them out of trouble," said Wolfgang Hell, the service manager who is overseeing the European Space Agency's support to Russia's NPO Lavochkin, the main contractor on the Phobos-Grunt project. Hell is based at the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany.
"Normally, we were supposed to step in, so to speak, and provide tracking services with our ground station network once the spacecraft was on an escape trajectory to Mars," Hell told SPACE.com. "It was never planned that we would support the spacecraft while in the near-Earth phase."
Hell said that his Russian colleagues have gained a better understanding of what ails the spacecraft. "They reached the conclusion that they have some kind of power problem onboard. So they have become more specific in terms of what we should be doing to help them."
But that help embraces a number of challenges, Hell said.
For instance, the spacecraft risks running out of electrical power each time the probe is eclipsed as it spins around Earth. Commanding?Phobos-Grunt?, therefore, is possible only while it's facing the sun.
Also, due to a lack of downlink from the craft's onboard transponder, ground trackers must rely on imprecise radar-tracking data. Not knowing exactly where the spacecraft is makes pointing ground transmitting antennas correctly a challenge.
"It takes a lot of luck to really hit the spacecraft with a main beam," Hell said. "Because it's in such a low-Earth orbit ? we have so little time, something like six to eight minutes, to get the command up."
CAIRO ? Egyptian police clashed with anti-government protesters for a fifth day in central Cairo Wednesday as a rights group raised the overall death toll from the ongoing unrest to at least 38. The United Nations strongly condemned what it called the use of excessive force by security forces.
The clashes resumed despite a promise by Egypt's military ruler to speed up a presidential election to the first half of next year, a concession swiftly rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square. The military previously floated late next year or early 2013 as the likely date for the vote, the last step in the process of transferring power to a civilian government.
The standoff has plunged the country deeper into crisis less than a week before parliamentary elections, the first since the ouster nine months ago of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi tried to defuse tensions with his address late Tuesday, but he did not set a date for handing authority to a civilian government, instead offering a referendum on the immediate return of the armed forces to their barracks.
The Tahrir crowd, along with protesters in a string of other cities across the nation, want Tantawi to step down immediately in favor of an interim civilian council to run the nation's affairs until elections for a new parliament and president are held.
Street battles have centered around the heavily fortified Interior Ministry, near the iconic square, with police and army troops using tear gas and rubber bullets to keep the protesters from storming the ministry, a sprawling complex that has for long been associated with the hated police and Mubarak's former regime.
The protesters, who have withstood tear gas and beatings, say they have no wish to storm the ministry but were trying to keep the police and army from moving on Tahrir Square.
Elnadeem Center, an Egyptian rights group known for its careful research of victims of police violence, said late Tuesday that the number of protesters killed in clashes nationwide since Saturday is 38, nine more than the Health Ministry's death toll. The clashes also have left at least 2,000 protesters wounded, mostly from gas inhalation or injuries caused by rubber bullets fired by the army and the police. The police deny using live ammunition.
Shady el-Nagar, a doctor in one of Tahrir's field hospitals, said three bodies arrived in the facility on Wednesday. All three had bullet wounds. "We don't know if these were caused by live ammunition or pellets because pellets can be deadly when fired from a short distance," he said.
Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, deplored the role of Egypt's military and security forces in attempting to suppress protesters during the ongoing unrest.
"Some of the images coming out of Tahrir, including the brutal beating of already subdued protesters, are deeply shocking, as are the reports of unarmed protesters being shot in the head," Pillay said. "There should be a prompt, impartial and independent investigation, and accountability for those found responsible for the abuses that have taken place should be ensured."
She said the actions of the military and police were inflaming the situation, prompting more people to join the protests. "The more they see fellow protesters being carted away in ambulances, the more determined and energized they become."
The five days of clashes are the longest spate of uninterrupted violence since the 18-day uprising that toppled the former regime in February, deepening the country's economic and security woes. the unrest also threatens to cloud the country's first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to begin on Monday.
In his address, Tantawi rejected all criticism of the military's handling of the transitional period and sought to cast himself and the generals on the military council he heads as the nation's foremost patriots. Significantly, he did not mention the protesters gathered in Tahrir Square or elsewhere in the country.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's strongest and best organized group, is not taking part in the ongoing protests in a move that is widely interpreted to be a reflection of its desire not to do anything that could derail a parliamentary election it is sure to dominate.
Hundreds of Brotherhood supporters, however, have defied the leadership and joined the crowds on the square.
___
Associated Press writer Frank Jordans contributed to this report from Geneva.
Black Friday 2011 deals are here but economists say consumers are hesitant. The problem isn't psychological; it's financial. Seventy?percent of the economy depends on consumer spending, but 80 percent of families are experiencing declining wages. Raising the minimum wage would help.
Yet again, ?Black Friday? is upon us, and those who monitor the pulse of American consumer spending note that we consumers seem hesitant, even two years into the economic recovery. According to their diagnosis, we continue to suffer a collective timidity; a ?crisis of confidence? that threatens to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Gutless consumers are the problem.
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We fear European debt, they say, or the United States deficit. It?s the housing crisis, and household ?deleveraging,? which is economist-speak for paying off debt. Some diagnose underlying trepidation about the failure of the congressional Super Committee.
Economists seem to relish coming up with complicated analyses for the problem, but the explanation is actually much simpler. Yes, much of economics is psychology, but in this case, many of us who are not out there spending suffer from a simple ability to do math, realizing that at our current wages, our pockets are empty.
During the Great Recession, median household income dropped by 3.2 percent, but during the ?recovery? it has decreased by 6.7 percent. The recession may technically be over, but Americans? personal financial crises remain all too real. While there have been some small positive month-to-month improvements in disposable income through 2011, overall levels have declined to those of early 2010.
Federal data reveal that between October of 2010 and October of 2011, real average weekly earnings fell by almost 2 percent, even as workers collectively put in more hours. The problem is that 70 percent of the economy depends on consumer spending, but 80 percent of families are experiencing declining wages. We aren?t suffering from some mass hysteria or lack of confidence; we?re broke.
Per person demand for domestically produced goods and services remains 7 percent lower than before the recession, 8.5 percent lower than what we?d see under normal growth. Consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that lower income families are pinching their pennies.
Since 2006 families with incomes of about $10,000 have cut their spending on fresh food, clothing, household goods, and transportation dramatically. Families bringing in closer to $30,000 have cut back too, and not just on luxuries: 25 percent less spent on beef, 23 percent less on meals away from home, 48 percent less on sheets and towels for their homes, and their young children are going to school with as much as 33 percent fewer new clothes.
Many of these families just don?t have the financial stability to handle holiday shopping this year.
UMD poll: Egyptians see military putting brake on revolution 2:1Public release date: 23-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Neil Tickner ntickner@umd.edu 301-405-4622 University of Maryland
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A new University of Maryland public opinion poll finds Egyptians harboring serious doubts about their military's commitment to the revolution that ousted the Mubarak regime last spring.
In the poll, 43 percent of Egyptians said they believe military authorities are working against the aims of the revolution, compared to nearly 21 percent who saw them as advancing these aims.
"There appears to be a major shift in Egyptian public attitudes toward military authorities, and this will likely have important consequences for politics there in coming weeks," says University of Maryland Sadat Professor and researcher Shibley Telhami, who conducts polling in Egypt and other Arab nations each year in conjunction with Zogby International.
"Egyptians have continuously expressed trust in the military institution, particularly in the early weeks after the fall of Mubarak, but this new survey suggests a loss of confidence that will be hard to address simply through modest steps, including the change of transitional government," Telhami adds.
The surveys were conducted in five Arab nations in October 2011: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. The sample size is 3,000, and the margin of error is plus or minus 1.8 percent.
Among Telhami's other conclusions from polling in Egypt:
"The poll reveals that Turkey is the biggest winner of the Arab Spring, seen to have played the 'most constructive' role in these event," Telhami concludes. "It's Prime Minister is the most admired among world leaders, and those who envision a new President for Egypt want that person to look most like him. Egyptians want their country to look more like Turkey than any of the other Muslim, Arab or other choices provided."
"Arabs in the five countries studied appear to overwhelmingly favor the rebels over the governments in Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain, though the support varies from country to country," Telhami says. "Still, they remain suspicious of foreign intervention and highly divided, even with respect to the international intervention in Libya."
KEY SURVEY FINDINGS
Egyptian Elections:
*Plurality of Egyptians (43 percent) believe that the military rulers are working to slow or reverse the gains of the revolution, while only 21 percent believe that they are working to advance these gains, and 14 percent believe that the military authorities are indifferent;
*Roughly one-third of Egyptians say they are likely to vote for an Islamic party in Parliamentary elections;
*Of the Egyptian Presidential candidates, Amr Mousa receives the support of 21 percent of those polled, followed by Muhammad ElBaradei and Ahmad Shafiq.
Arab Spring:
*Turkey emerges in the polls the big winner, seen as the "most constructive" player, and its prime minister the most admired among world leaders;
*Iran suffered mixed results. More people in 2011 identify Iran as one of the two biggest threats they face than ever before (18 percent ), and a plurality (35 percent) believe that if Iran acquires weapons of mass destruction it would be negative for the Middle East. On the other hand, Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains relatively popular, and most Arabs (64 percent) still feel Iran has the right to its nuclear program and should not be pressured by the international community to halt it;
*Although France remains relatively popular, it has suffered a major setback in Arab public opinion in comparison with the past several years. While 23 percent said they preferred France if there were only one superpower in 2009, this has now dropped to only 10 percent. This appears related to the issue of the international intervention in Libya: A plurality of Arabs in the five countries polled (46 percent ) say the international intervention was a mistake, although this varies from country to country;
*Overall, the Arabs polled strongly take the sides of the rebels against the government in Yemen (89 percent), Syria (86 percent), and Bahrain (64 percent), though support for particular rebels varies regionally;
*A majority of those polled, 55 percent, are more optimistic about the future of the Arab world in light of the Arab Spring, 16 percent are pessimistic and 23 percent feel no change. A majority feel the Arab Spring is mostly about "ordinary people seeking dignity, freedom and a better life," while 19 percent believe it is about foreign powers trying to stir trouble in the region and 16 percent feel it is about opposition parties or sects seeking to control governments.
###
Additional findings, including attitudes toward the United States, the Arab-Israeli conflict and media usage are available online: http://ter.ps/2x.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Shibley Telhami, Principal Investigator
UMD Sadat Chair for Peace and Development
301-405-6734
stelhami@umd.edu
Neil Tickner
UMD Public Affairs
301-405-4622
ntickner@umd.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
UMD poll: Egyptians see military putting brake on revolution 2:1Public release date: 23-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Neil Tickner ntickner@umd.edu 301-405-4622 University of Maryland
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A new University of Maryland public opinion poll finds Egyptians harboring serious doubts about their military's commitment to the revolution that ousted the Mubarak regime last spring.
In the poll, 43 percent of Egyptians said they believe military authorities are working against the aims of the revolution, compared to nearly 21 percent who saw them as advancing these aims.
"There appears to be a major shift in Egyptian public attitudes toward military authorities, and this will likely have important consequences for politics there in coming weeks," says University of Maryland Sadat Professor and researcher Shibley Telhami, who conducts polling in Egypt and other Arab nations each year in conjunction with Zogby International.
"Egyptians have continuously expressed trust in the military institution, particularly in the early weeks after the fall of Mubarak, but this new survey suggests a loss of confidence that will be hard to address simply through modest steps, including the change of transitional government," Telhami adds.
The surveys were conducted in five Arab nations in October 2011: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. The sample size is 3,000, and the margin of error is plus or minus 1.8 percent.
Among Telhami's other conclusions from polling in Egypt:
"The poll reveals that Turkey is the biggest winner of the Arab Spring, seen to have played the 'most constructive' role in these event," Telhami concludes. "It's Prime Minister is the most admired among world leaders, and those who envision a new President for Egypt want that person to look most like him. Egyptians want their country to look more like Turkey than any of the other Muslim, Arab or other choices provided."
"Arabs in the five countries studied appear to overwhelmingly favor the rebels over the governments in Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain, though the support varies from country to country," Telhami says. "Still, they remain suspicious of foreign intervention and highly divided, even with respect to the international intervention in Libya."
KEY SURVEY FINDINGS
Egyptian Elections:
*Plurality of Egyptians (43 percent) believe that the military rulers are working to slow or reverse the gains of the revolution, while only 21 percent believe that they are working to advance these gains, and 14 percent believe that the military authorities are indifferent;
*Roughly one-third of Egyptians say they are likely to vote for an Islamic party in Parliamentary elections;
*Of the Egyptian Presidential candidates, Amr Mousa receives the support of 21 percent of those polled, followed by Muhammad ElBaradei and Ahmad Shafiq.
Arab Spring:
*Turkey emerges in the polls the big winner, seen as the "most constructive" player, and its prime minister the most admired among world leaders;
*Iran suffered mixed results. More people in 2011 identify Iran as one of the two biggest threats they face than ever before (18 percent ), and a plurality (35 percent) believe that if Iran acquires weapons of mass destruction it would be negative for the Middle East. On the other hand, Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains relatively popular, and most Arabs (64 percent) still feel Iran has the right to its nuclear program and should not be pressured by the international community to halt it;
*Although France remains relatively popular, it has suffered a major setback in Arab public opinion in comparison with the past several years. While 23 percent said they preferred France if there were only one superpower in 2009, this has now dropped to only 10 percent. This appears related to the issue of the international intervention in Libya: A plurality of Arabs in the five countries polled (46 percent ) say the international intervention was a mistake, although this varies from country to country;
*Overall, the Arabs polled strongly take the sides of the rebels against the government in Yemen (89 percent), Syria (86 percent), and Bahrain (64 percent), though support for particular rebels varies regionally;
*A majority of those polled, 55 percent, are more optimistic about the future of the Arab world in light of the Arab Spring, 16 percent are pessimistic and 23 percent feel no change. A majority feel the Arab Spring is mostly about "ordinary people seeking dignity, freedom and a better life," while 19 percent believe it is about foreign powers trying to stir trouble in the region and 16 percent feel it is about opposition parties or sects seeking to control governments.
###
Additional findings, including attitudes toward the United States, the Arab-Israeli conflict and media usage are available online: http://ter.ps/2x.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Shibley Telhami, Principal Investigator
UMD Sadat Chair for Peace and Development
301-405-6734
stelhami@umd.edu
Neil Tickner
UMD Public Affairs
301-405-4622
ntickner@umd.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Game publisher Square Enix iPhone and iPod touch next month. Originally released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo, Chrono Trigger is hailed by many as a landmark game for its unique story and mechanics. Players travel through time via mysterious portals, gathering a party of memorable characters across different epochs and learning of their mysterious interconnections -- all in a bid to save the world from a future of destruction.
[More from Mashable: Hands-on With Infinity Blade 2: The iPhone 4S?s First Graphics Test]
Members of your party develop new skills as they fight together in combinations of three, and the deeds you do in one time period (e.g. the Middle Ages) affect circumstances in others (e.g. 2300 A.D.). With surprising plot twists and multiple endings, the game has heart and depth seen in few of its contemporary titles.
SEE ALSO: Top 10 Role-Playing Games for iPhone
[More from Mashable: 10 Best iPhone Action Games]
The game has been re-released previously on the Sony Playstation, the Nintendo DS, and most recently on the Wii's virtual console. The journey to iOS is one more step in the very gradual opening of Square's illustrious back catalog.
Square released some images showing the game's new touch interface. Besides a necessarily revamped UI, the original graphics appear to be intact.
The price and a specific release date have yet to be announced, though Square writes that fans will be able to get their thumbs on it "before the end of December." If you haven't experienced Chrono Trigger (or want to relive its 16-bit glory), mark your calendar and check the App Store. If the port is true to the original, you won't be disappointed.
Mobile ad network Millennial Media is releasing its October Mobile Mix report this morning. In October, Android led the Connected Device and Smartphone OS Mix on Millennial with 56% of the impressions on the ad network. Android has now been the leading OS on Millennial's platform for the past 11 months. iOS was the second largest smartphone OS on Millennial's platform with 28% of the impression share. RIM followed with 13% of the share. iOS led the Connected Device OS mix, thanks to the growth in the iPad, which has has been the number one tablet device on Millennial since its debut in April 2010.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Christopher Eccleston and Julie Walters garnered the main acting awards as British TV productions won five International Emmys on Monday, including two for the BBC crime anthology "Accused."
"Accused," written and created by Jimmy McGovern, received the Emmy for best drama series at the 39th Annual International Emmy Awards ceremony at the Hilton New York Hotel. The anthology tells the stories of people accused of crimes as they sit in holding cells beneath the courtroom awaiting the verdict in their trials.
The ceremony kicked off with a surprise appearance by Lady Gaga, wearing a tatooed thigh-revealing, floor-length black gown and oversize sunglasses, who presented the honorary International Emmy Founders Award to Britain's Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer of "American Idol" and "So You Think You Can Dance?"
Gaga praised Lythgoe as her favorite producer and expresed gratitude for "all of the early opportunities he gave me to perform on TV." She also cited the more than $140 million he has raised for charity through "Idol Gives Back" and his Dizzy Feet Foundation that provides scholarships to young dancers.
"He has always helped to nurture and foster my ideas no matter how crazy or demographic-unfriendly they may have been," said Gaga, who appeared on last season's "Idol" finals. "He always spoke poetically about the pursuit of widening the boundaries of love and acceptance in TV."
Lythgoe returned the favor by calling Gaga "the most creatively talented woman in the world of show business right now." But he couldn't resist taking a few good-natured jabs at former "Idol" judge Simon Cowell, who received the Founders Award last year.
"I now call Simon Lord Voldemort because he must not be named because every time I name him the press thinks we're enemies and we're fighting each other," Lythgoe said. "That's not true at all. Simon has no enemies whatsover in the world. He just has a lot of friends who hate him."
"Accused" originally wasn't even among the nominees in the drama category. But it ended up replacing another British crime show "Sherlock" after it was determined that the updated version of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries had also been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the U.S. The rules bar a program from being entered into the two Emmy competitions in the same year.
Eccleston, the former "Doctor Who" star, won the best actor award for his role in an episode of "Accused," in which he played a financially stressed, lapsed Catholic plumber who's struggling with an adulterous relationship and coming up with the money to pay for his daughter's wedding. After praying to God, he finds a packet of 20,000 pounds in the back of a taxi, doubles his money on the roulette wheel, but ends up on trial after the windfall turns out to be forged notes.
Walters, who earlier won a British BAFTA TV award for the same role, was chosen best actress for the TV film "Mo." She portrayed the late Mo Mowlam, the unorthodox British politician who battled a brain tumor which she concealed from Prime Minister Tony Blair while working to forge the 1998 Northern Ireland peace accord.
The other British winners both centered around teenagers in unusual circumstances. "Gareth Malone Goes to Glyndebourne" won in the arts programming category for its account of the staging of a new opera by untrained teenagers at the renowned British opera house. The Emmy for non-scripted entertainment went to "The World's Strictest Parents," which takes unruly British teenagers and sends them abroad to spend 10 days living with a strict host family.
Forty nominees from a record 20 countries were competing in 10 categories for International Emmys, honoring excellence in television programming outside the U.S., at the ceremony hosted for the second straight year by former "Beverly Hills 90210" star Jason Priestley.
The award in the TV Movie/Mini-Series category went to Sweden's "Millennium," based on the late Stieg Larsson's best-selling trilogy that follows investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the anti-social computer hacker Lisbeth Salander as they unravel various crimes.
A real-life family drama, Canada's "Life with Murder," about parents struggling to decide how to relate to their son after he's accused of killing his younger sister, was chosen the best documentary.
Other winners included Portugal's "Lacos de Sangue" ("Blood Ties") for best telenovela; the Belgian hidden camera show "Benidorm Bastards" for best comedy, and Chile's "Con Que Suenas?" ("What Is Your Dream?") in the children & young people category.
Actress Archie Panjabi ("The Good Wife") and Citigroup chairman Richard Parsons presented the honorary International Emmy Directorate Award to Indian media mogul Subhash Chandra, who broke a government monopoly by launching India's first privately owned television channel nearly 20 years ago. His Zee TV network now reaches more than 600 million viewers worldwide.
The awards are sponsored by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which includes media and entertainment figures from more than 50 countries and 500 companies.
All walking animals use the same basic nerve patterns to put one leg in front of the other(s)
Web edition : Friday, November 18th, 2011
Standing fully erect and balancing on only two feet gives humans a strange strut that sets them apart from all other mobile critters. Yet the basic motor commands that direct a human stride may also get other animals moving, a new study suggests.
Although legged vertebrates come in many different shapes and sizes and exhibit a wide variety of walking styles, they may all employ a similar nerve system, located in the spine, to coordinate the muscle activity needed for locomotion, neurophysiologist Francesco Lacquaniti of the University of Rome Tor Vergata and colleagues report in the Nov. 18 Science.
Networks of spinal nerve cells, called central pattern generators, contain all the necessary information to time the muscles for the step cycle, says neuroscientist Sten Grillner of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm,? who was not involved in the study. The networks still need to be turned on by the brain, but once triggered, the spinal nerves handle locomotion all on their own. A message to start moving gets generated in the spinal cord and travels down the nerve pathway to specialized nerve cells that deliver the message directly to muscle fibers.
The central pattern generators are so autonomous that, in some cases, cats can still walk after having their spinal cords severely damaged. It doesn?t work the same in humans, who typically suffer permanent paralysis after significant spinal shock.
?CPGs are still a little bit mysterious,? says Lacquaniti. But he hopes that recognizing the similarities in nerve-muscle interactions between different species will help physicians design better approaches to rehabilitating damaged spinal cords and developing robotic prosthetics.
Many herd animals take their first steps a few minutes after being born, and several species of bird walk directly after hatching. But it takes a human baby a lot longer to learn how to walk unassisted, leading some scientists to believe that there must be something fundamentally different about the human gait. But even though the musculature and biomechanics in humans might be different, ?the motor pathways are strikingly similar across species,? says Lacquaniti.
In fact, newborn rats and newborn humans had nearly identical neurological stepping profiles, the researchers found. And adult rats, cats, macaques and guinea fowl demonstrated motor nerve patterns that very closely resembled those of stepping human toddlers. ?Our findings suggest that all types of vertebrate locomotion may derive from an ancestral neural network,? Lacquaniti says.
To compare the nerve activity of human locomotion to that of felines, rodents, birds and other primates, the researchers used strategically placed electrodes to measure the electrical activity in 24 walking muscles in newborns (who were held up and allowed to make the walking motion), toddlers, preschoolers and adults.
The motor nerves of newborns exhibited two patterns of electrical activity that appeared as long waves on a monitoring device called an electromyograph. These same two electrical patterns were present in older participants, but so were two new patterns ? not waves, but flat lines with sharp peaks.
?In adults, we saw much shorter pulses of neural activity because they time muscle contraction at precise phases of the gait cycle,? says Lacquaniti. Adults get the most out of each stride, minimizing muscle use to save energy, something human newborns haven?t yet learned how to do. The longer waves of nerve activity seen in babies are evidence of prolonged muscle contractions, ?a very uneconomical way to move,? says Lacquaniti.
Adults don?t totally abandon the less efficient nerve patterns that first get them stepping, but refine such patterns and overlay new ones to improve the timing of the step cycle and maximize energy use while walking around. Newborns can only partially support their body weight and swing their limbs, but adults use additional nerve pathways to roll the foot heel-to-toe on the ground, seamlessly decelerating and accelerating once again.
Once perfected, the human gait is a marvel of physics, Lacquaniti says. Standing straight aligns all the leg and hip joints, reducing the torque around each hinge, which basically means less force is required to move human legs. The human walking motion isn?t a completely ideal pendulum (some energy is wasted), but adults have learned how best to exploit their alternately swinging legs, using the inertia of body motion to take the burden off leg and hip muscles.
There are disadvantages to walking on two legs ? primarily a lack of balance ? but the ability to amble and keep hands free for other tasks trumps instability issues. It?s possible that human locomotion evolved primarily to free hands for carrying tools, food and children, Lacquaniti says. As a result of such multitasking, humans now depend more on commands from the brain to coordinate locomotion.
Being more reliant on the brain?s commands may be a major reason why humans don?t regain motor function after a spinal injury the same way cats can ? an unfortunate by-product of human locomotive evolution, suggests Lacquaniti. But the most important thing this study reveals is that the human walking style is simply an elaboration on a common plan of vertebrate locomotion, with central pattern generators as the shared foundation.
Continuing to study the nerve patterns that drive locomotion in other animals could be the key to getting patients with spinal cord damage or conditions like cerebral palsy walking again.
ANKARA, Turkey ? Delegates at an international conservation meeting agreed Saturday on a measure mandating that silky sharks accidentally caught in fishing gear be released back into the sea alive, marine advocacy groups said.
The 48-member International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), however ? ending a weeklong meeting in Istanbul ? failed to reach consensus on other threatened shark species, the groups said.
Conservationists also said more could have been done to save swordfish from decline in the Mediterranean while the World Wildlife Fund said steps adopted to preserve bluefin tuna remained insufficient.
While establishing protections for the silky sharks, ICCAT ? which manages tuna in the Atlantic and Mediterranean as well as species, like sharks, that have traditionally been accidental catches for tuna fishermen ? made an exception for coastal developing countries, where the predators can continue to be caught for local consumption of their meat and not for the trade of their fins.
The sharks, named after the silk-like smooth texture of their skins, are among shark species most vulnerable to decline, threatened by the international trade in shark fins due to an increasing demand mainly in Asia for shark fin soup.
Marine advocacy groups, including Oceana and The Pew Environment Group, welcomed the measure saying it would help overturn the silky sharks' decline, though they also said they had hoped for more.
"Cutting the nets to free sharks when they are caught, will give a large number of them a real chance to survive," Susan Lieberman, director of international Policy at the Pew Environment Group, told The Associated Press by telephone. "The measure is an important step."
The group estimates that up to 1.5 million silky sharks are traded annually for their fins, and that up to 40 percent can survive if they are returned to the sea alive.
"It is a very good step forward in protecting one the most vulnerable species," said Elizabeth Griffin Wilson, senior manager of marine wildlife at Oceana.
The advocacy groups however, expressed disappointment that no measure had been taken to protect porbeagle sharks, or to establish catch limits for blue and shortfin mako sharks.
"It's another year that they could not reach a decision for the porbeagle shark," Lieberman said of the species which continue to be fished in Canadian waters.
Other measures adopted by ICCAT in Istanbul include a requirement for members to submit data on the species they catch or risk losing their right to catch those species in the following year. Oceana has said failure to report on catches were preventing conservationists from adequately assessing the impact of fisheries on threatened species.
On swordfish, ICCAT agreed on a set measures, including setting a minimum size for catch, but Oceana said "more should be done."
The conservation body also agreed on a system to electronically track data on bluefin tuna to better control fraudulent practices and help keep fishing closer to the legal quotas. A Pew report has found that in 2010, the amount of Mediterranean bluefin tuna traded surpassed the ICCAT quota by 141 percent.
The WWF said, however, the measure did not include data on fish transfers to tuna fattening farms in the Mediterranean arguing that this allowed for the "laundering of illegal, unregulated and unreported catches." The group called for a more "reliable" data assessment or for the total ban of tuna farming in the Mediterranean.
In a move to fight illegal fishing, ICCAT members also decided that vessels measuring 12 meters or more ? instead of the previous 20 meters or more ? would be inspected on arrival to port, Pew said.
SAN RAMON, Calif. ? General Electric Co., a maker of power plants, jet engines and medical imaging equipment, said Thursday that it is investing $1 billion in a new software headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area with plans to hire 400 software-related staffers to develop what it calls the "Industrial Internet."
The headquarters will be in San Ramon, about a half-hour drive east of Oakland, in leased space at the Bishop Ranch office complex.
The Fairfield, Conn.-based industrial giant is hoping to attract technology experts who live in the East Bay region of greater San Francisco, but prefer not to make the long commute to Silicon Valley, which is home to leading technology companies such as Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Intel Corp.
The company, which has 300,000 employees around the world, already has 5,000 software workers. The new center will focus on innovating software that runs increasingly intelligent machines and equipment.
"It's equipment being connected onto a network and the ability to gather that information, analyze it and act upon it," Bill Ruh, a GE vice president who is leading the initiative, said in an interview. "That's what we think of as the Industrial Internet."
GE has hired 50 workers already and plans to add another 350 over the next 18 months, Ruh said.
Self-help author James Arthur Ray asks for forgiveness from the families of his victims during his sentencing at Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Ariz., Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. Ray received a prison sentence of six years, two years for each of his three victims. Ray was convicted June 22, 2011, on three counts of negligent homicide for the deaths of participants at a sweat-lodge ceremony he held near Sedona in October 2009. (AP Photo/Rob Schumacher, Pool)
Self-help author James Arthur Ray asks for forgiveness from the families of his victims during his sentencing at Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Ariz., Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. Ray received a prison sentence of six years, two years for each of his three victims. Ray was convicted June 22, 2011, on three counts of negligent homicide for the deaths of participants at a sweat-lodge ceremony he held near Sedona in October 2009. (AP Photo/Rob Schumacher, Pool)
Self-help author James Arthur Ray cries as he asks for forgiveness from the families of his victims during his sentencing at Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Ariz., Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. Ray received a prison sentence of six years, two years for each of his three victims. Ray was convicted June 22, 2011, on three counts of negligent homicide for the deaths of participants at a sweat-lodge ceremony he held near Sedona in October 2009. (AP Photo/Rob Schumacher, Pool)
Self-help author James Arthur Ray, right, speaks during his sentencing at Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Ariz., Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. Ray received a prison sentence of six years, two years for each of his three victims. Ray was convicted June 22, 2011, on three counts of negligent homicide for the deaths of participants at a sweat-lodge ceremony he held near Sedona in October 2009. (AP Photo/Rob Schumacher, Pool)
Self-help author James Arthur Ray, right, speaks during his sentencing at Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Ariz., Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. Ray received a prison sentence of six years, two years for each of his three victims. Ray was convicted June 22, 2011, on three counts of negligent homicide for the deaths of participants at a sweat-lodge ceremony he held near Sedona in October 2009. (AP Photo/Rob Schumacher, Pool)
In this Nov. 8, 2011 file pool photo, self-help author James Arthur Ray sits with one of his attorneys, Thomas Kelly, during a pre-sentencing hearing at Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Ariz. Ray, a self-help author convicted of negligent homicide, stood before the families of three people who died in a sweat lodge ceremony he led and begged for forgiveness Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Michael Schennum, Pool, File)
PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) ? The self-help author who led an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony that ended with three deaths was sentenced Friday to two years behind bars ? not enough for the victims' family members, who earlier in the day yelled at James Arthur Ray and said he was "not worthy to spit shine" the victims' shoes.
A judge handed down three, two-year prison terms to be served concurrently and ordered Ray to pay more than $57,000 in restitution.
"I find that the aggravating circumstance of emotional harm is so strong and such that probation is simply unwarranted in this case," Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Warren Darrow said.
Authorities immediately took custody of Ray, who will serve his time with the state Department of Corrections.
Ray was convicted on a trio of negligent homicide charges earlier this year in the deaths of Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, N.Y.; James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee; and Liz Neuman, 49, of Prior Lake, Minn.
Family members of the three lashed out at Ray earlier Friday while asking the judge to hand down the maximum sentence of nine years in prison. They said they were appalled that Ray continued to deliver self-help messages through the Internet while he faced criminal charges.
"There was nothing you could teach Liz, James or Kirby about honor, integrity and impeccability," said Neuman's cousin, Lily Clark, drawing from Ray's principle teachings. "But they could have taught you a lot. They were born spiritual warriors, and you are not worthy to spit shine their combat boots."
Neuman's daughter, Andrea Puckett, later said she doesn't believe Ray grasps his role in the deaths, and called the sentence a joke.
"It's very frightening the control he has over people and his mentality," she said. "That's not going to change."
The victims' families also have blasted Ray for offering no solace for their loss until recently.
In asking for leniency, Ray told the judge he would have stopped the ceremony had he known people were dying or in distress. But he offered no excuses for his lack of action as chaos unfolded outside the structure at a retreat near Sedona.
"At the end of the day, I lost three friends, and I lost them on my watch," Ray said, standing before the victims' families. "Whatever errors in judgment or mistakes I have made, I'm going to have to live with those for the rest of my life. I truly understand your disappointment in my actions after, I do. I'm disappointed in myself."
Ray will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence. That comes out to almost 600 days, taking into account the credit he received for 24 days served. That's roughly the amount of time he's been out of jail on bond since his arrest early last year.
The courtroom was silent as the sentence was handed down. The victims' families held hands and braced for a decision, as did Ray's parents and brother.
Ray's family offered their condolences to the victims' families in a statement following the sentencing hearing and asked if they'd find forgiveness in their hearts.
"We were fortunate enough to meet with James after the sentencing," said his brother, Jon Ray. "He was in good spirits and said this would give him the opportunity to help people in prison that need it."
Defense attorneys said they would appeal, likely on the grounds that errors by the prosecution tainted the case.
County Attorney Sheila Polk hoped Ray would get the maximum and believed she had made a strong case for accountability, justice and deterrence. But, she said, "certainly some prison time over probation is better than no prison at all."
Ray originally was charged with manslaughter, but jurors rejected that he was reckless in his handling of the ceremony that highlighted Ray's five-day "Spiritual Warrior" event. Ray's attorneys suggested that toxins or poisons contributed to the deaths, but jurors said that theory was not credible.
Ray's motivational mantra drew dozens of people to the retreat with a promise that the sweat lodge typically used by American Indians to cleanse the body would lead to powerful breakthroughs. When the victims' families discovered something went wrong, they said Ray made no attempt to identify people in the hospital.
Participants began showing signs of distress about halfway through the two-hour sweat lodge ceremony. By the time it was over, some were vomiting, struggling to breathe and lying lifeless on the ground. Brown and Shore were pronounced dead. Neuman slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness. She died more than a week later at a Flagstaff hospital.
"He did some good, but this is about what he didn't do," said Shore's mother, Jane Shore-Gripp. "He had the opportunity to save three people, and he didn't."
The trial was a mix of lengthy witness testimony and legal wrangling that lasted four months. Witnesses painted conflicting pictures of Ray, with some describing him as a coach who encouraged participants to do their best to endure the heat but never forced them to remain in the sweat lodge.
Others said they learned through breathing exercises, a 36-hour fast, and a game in which Ray portrayed God that they dare not question him, and they lost the physical and mental ability to care for themselves or others.
Zombies, guns, mayham and chaos -- what more could you want? Dead On Arrival is the latest game released for the Xperia Play as an exclusive for a limited time and it's pretty awesome. Featuring top down 3D gameplay, Dead On Arrival uses comic-style cut scenes tell the story of a endless horde of zombies after you but you get an a massive catalog of weapons to blast them to bits and have fun while doing so. Right now, Dead On Arrival is available for free in the Android Market for all Xperia Play owners, jump past the break for the trailer and full press release.
Cox Wireless has always been something of an also-ran, trying to play catch up with the big boys that already had a well-established infrastructure. It snatched up some precious 700MHz spectrum from the FCC in 2008 and launched its somewhat gimmicky "unbelievably fair" service late last year. However, by May 2011 it was clear things were not going as planned. The company announced it would become a Sprint MVNO and finish migrating its customers to that network by the end of the year. Well, it appears even that plan was unsustainable as a tipster has sent us some legit looking documents indicating Cox plans to put its wireless division out of its misery completely. As of November 16th the company will cease selling wireless plans to new customers and support for existing subscribers will end on March 30th of 2012. The memo declares that Cox simply "no longer see[s] the 3G model as a strategic pursuit." Before you go pour one out for the short-lived carrier, head on after the break for one more pic.
Ever since the Nintendo 3DS launched back in March, consumers have been waiting for Nintendo to give them a Mario game that truly showed off the power of?the new portable game machine.
They wanted a good reason to drop first $250 and then $170 on this new gadget that displays 3-D images without requiring viewers to wear a pair of redorkulous glasses. Unfortunately, gamers have had to wait a long time ... too long, in fact ... for Mario to arrive.
But "Super Mario 3D Land" is finally here. Of course, the question is: Does it live up to expectations? And does it do for the 3DS what Nintendo needs it to do?
The short answer: Yes.
For the longer answer, read on for five reasons "Super Mario 3D Land" is worthy of your adoration ... and your $40.
It makes owning a Nintendo 3DS worth it If you own a Nintendo 3DS, this is the?game?you've been waiting for. In fact, this is the game that Nintendo should have launched when it launched the new handheld back in March.
It's too bad really. Perhaps if "Super Mario 3D Land" had been ready to go earlier, Nintendo wouldn't have struggled to meet initial 3DS sales expectations and wouldn't be in quite the financial hot spot it's currently in.
Nintendo
But it's here now and "Super Mario 3D Land" does just what Nintendo needs it to do: It presents players with a refined package of gameplay elements that really shows off what the 3DS has to offer.
That is, first and foremost "Super Mario 3D Land" presents glasses-free 3-D visuals in a truly delightful and creative way (more on that below). Meanwhile, the game ? which finds Mario once again trying to save Princess Peach from that dastardly Bowser ? also makes good use of the 3DS's gyroscope.
As you try to make your way through each level ? racing against the clock as you bump into blocks, collect coins and hunt for each of the three Star Medals hidden there ? you'll be given a chance scope out the world through a pair of binoculars. Simply move the 3DS around as you would a pair of real binoculars to take a gander at the landscape. It's a nice touch. Rather than forcing heavy-handed?motion controls on the player, this subtle implementation?adds a?nifty little?bonus to the game.
Meanwhile, "Super Mario 3D Land" also makes use of the 3DS' StreetPass system, which means you'll be able to compare speed?scores with other players and exchange Mystery Boxes and the benefits inside them as well.
The 3-D effects are awesome rather than annoying I've been on the fence about this whole 3-D thing. For starters, playing a game in 3-D on the Nintendo 3DS (as well as on other machines) eventually exhausts my eyeballs and, depending on the game, can make me a feel a bit dizzy at times. (Hello "Pilotwings Resort.")
I've also been on the fence because, too often, 3-D?can feel too much?like a gimmick rather than like something that deeply?enhances a game.
But when it comes to?the 3-D in "Super Mario 3D Land," it has been so superbly done that I barely notice the eyeball fatigue and I don't feel my usual desire to turn down (or turn off) the 3-D magic using the device's 3-D slider. Furthermore, it truly feels like it adds something special to this game.
Why does it work?so well? For starters, you'll be given the option to view the 3-D effects in either pop-out format (looks like the graphics are coming out of the screen) or pop-in format (looks like they are popping into the screen). Just press the D-pad and you can pick which way suits you and your eyeballs best.
Beyond that, the 3-D has just been so artfully done in each and every level, that it pulls you right into the Mushroom Kingdom like never before. This is already a bright, vibrant place, but now you really feel like you could reach out and touch it.
For those who are adamantly opposed to using 3-D, the good news is the game is still playable without it. However, the 3-D visuals certainly make solving various puzzles and finding various hidden items more intriguing. The way?the 3-D?tweaks your perspective on the Mushroom Kingdom is simply not to be missed.
The return of the Tanooki suit Though PETA may be up in arms about Mario' donning a fur suit in this game, one of the fun things about "Super Mario 3D Land" is seeing the return of the Tanooki power-up.
The tail-swinging suit ? which gives Mario the ability to float and swat his enemies with a raccoon tail ? first appeared in the good ol' NES game "Super Mario Bros. 3." More than 20 years later, it remains a fun and helpful addition to navigating the Mushroom Kingdom and conquering its various baddies.
But the Tanooki Suit is just one of several sweet power-ups that Mario comes across in the game. The Fire Flower power-up also makes a return ? allowing Mario to toss balls o' flame at his enemies. And there are?some new powers to uncover too ? such as the Boomerang Flower, which gives Mario the ability to toss boomerangs at his enemies.
Figuring out when and how to best use these powers is all part of the fun.
A beautiful blend of old and new The level design in "Super Mario 3D Land" is simply a blast ? not to mention a clever blend of old and new Mario gaming.
While?the game?is something of an old-school side-scroller at heart, Nintendo changes things up from one level to another ? mixing in a variety of different perspectives. Sometimes you'll be presented with a level in the 2-D view from days of yore where you move Mario from the left to right through the world. Other times you'll see him from the top down perspective. Sometimes the game has you follow?Mario from behind as he moves forward into the level. And sometimes a level will mix and match these different perspectives.
Meanwhile, from grassy, tree-filled landscapes to haunted houses to enemy-filled ships, you're presented with one memorable level to conquer after another. You'll help Mario walk on high wires, make his way across disappearing platforms, and slip past spikey enemies.
While you and Mario will face off against plenty of familiar enemies, there's a delightful array of new baddies to meet too ? Goombas with raccoon tails and Piranha Plants that can spit ink seemingly right at you until it covers the screen with black goo.
And each level is just the right length ? short enough to squeeze in during your spare moments and yet long enough to hook you and keep you coming back for more. Then, just when you think you're done ... there's more to come.?
Mario in fine form More than anything, this game just looks great. Whether you have the 3-D on or off, the Mushroom Kingdom is bright and gorgeous to behold and certainly gives its counterparts on the Wii a run for their money in the visual appeal department.
And the game doesn't just look good, it sounds good too. The sound design and music?are?top notch?and rarely hit that annoyingly repetitive note, even when you have to replay a tough level.
All in all, if you don't yet own a Nintendo 3DS, "Super Mario 3D Land" should give you plenty of good reasons to bump the game?gadget?to the top of your holiday wish list.
For more game news, check out:
Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things here on Twitter or join her in the stream here on Google+. And be sure to check out the In-Game Facebook page here.
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Public release date: 23-Nov-2011
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