Tim Cook brings in Burberry boss to restore Apple's shine

By Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) - Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts rebuilt the brand after over-exposure of its trademark pattern alienated wealthy clientele. Her approach: to embrace digital innovation, build a strong online business and tap Chinese and Latin American markets.

Now Apple Inc is hoping she can do the same at the world's most valuable technology company.

In poaching Ahrendts to direct strategy, expansion and operation of its retail and online stores, Apple CEO Tim Cook has set her the task of bolstering global iPad and iPhone sales and returning some luster to the Steve Jobs-created brand which has not launched a major new device in almost four years.

Apple's profit fell 22 percent in the June quarter as gross margins slid below 37 percent from 42 percent a year earlier and its shares, down more than 30 percent since September 2012, are being pummeled by fears of slowing growth, and competition from Samsung Electronics.

"The point of Apple retail is to sell Apple, not to sell Apple products," said Benedict Evans, who covers mobile and digital media at Enders Analysis, a research consultancy.

"What they've got is somebody who can take 400 stores with really great premium positioning and turn that into 800 stores and do that in China, and do that in India and do that in Europe and in Russia and in South America and everywhere else which at the moment they don't really have."

Jumping to Apple - whose $157 billion net sales are nearly 50 times those of Burberry - is a challenge of a different proportion for Ahrendts. The pressure is made all the more intense by Cook's previous stumble hiring a retail star from the UK market.

John Browett, chief executive of consumer electronics retailer Dixons, was appointed by Cook in 2012 to lead the iPad and iPhone maker's global retail expansion. But Browett left after just six months and later said he had not fitted in with the business culture at Cupertino, California-based Apple.

Ahrendts' digital experience means she is likely to have an easier time adapting. While at Burberry she launched a website dedicated to the firm's traditional trenchcoats and introduced webcast catwalks, using the new iPhone5S to shoot the entire spring/summer 2014 show. She also collaborated with Google for a brand campaign named Burberry Kisses.

STRATEGIC VISION

"Clearly she has good strategic vision; she understands and talks digital," said John Guy, an analyst at Berenberg in London. "Under her stewardship Burberry has done well, there has been a lot of organization in terms of the backend in sourcing supply and replenishment."

One of Ahrendts' main challenges will be to boost Apple's sales in China, its second-largest market. Here, analysts say, she will be able to draw on her Burberry experience of introducing less expensive goods without damaging the value of the brand.

Apple launched a cheaper plastic iPhone last month to help make up ground in emerging markets to rivals like Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies. Analysts said the phone - still more expensive than many of its rivals' models - was not cheap enough.

"Part of her role from a retail point of view will be to ensure that that kind of premium or added value level that Apple is seen to represent remains intact," said Neil Saunders, managing director of retail consultancy Conlumino.

"The trick is to allow people to buy into the product and make it as mass market as possible, because you want the volume and the sales, but you don't want that to come at the expense of the cachet of the brand."

(Additional reporting by James Davey, Paul Sandle and Sarah Young; Editing by Sophie Walker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tim-cook-brings-burberry-boss-restore-apples-shine-141553920--finance.html
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If A Tech Company Had Built The Federal Health Care Website

HealthCare.gov was meant to create a simple, easy way for millions of Americans to shop for subsidized health care.

Instead, in a little two more than weeks, it has become the poster child for the federal government's technical ineptitude.

A dysfunctional contracting system clearly bears some of the blame. But entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley likely would have approached the project differently from the start.

A week after the site launched, NPR spoke to Suzanne Cloud, a jazz musician based in Philadelphia. At that point, Cloud had spent hours on the site, trying to sign up for coverage. "Something went wrong, and it just went to a page with all kinds of html stuff," she said.

This week, Cloud says she gave up on the website and ended up registering by phone. The folks on the phone took all of her information — then asked if she'd like to pick out her plan online or receive information about her health care options via snail mail.

Cloud chose snail mail. "Once I signed up with the telephone, I didn't go back and try the site again," she said.

At 17 days old, HealthCare.gov has become a bit of a joke — even to folks like Cloud, who were eagerly awaiting its rollout.

So how could a roughly $400 million software project that had been in the works for years have so many problems at its launch? One bit of advice from Silicon Valley: Start small.

"It's not as if Facebook says, 'OK, here is our six-year plan for how we're going to make Facebook.com,' " says entrepreneur Ben Balter. "They build one feature at a time, and take a step back, look at how the feature is be used, before they go on to the next feature."

Balter says you build something small, you test it, and when it works for your users, then you take the next step. Right now, Balter works for GitHub.

"GitHub is a social code-sharing service," he says. "Think of it like Facebook for code. So instead of posting pictures of your kids or posting ... on Twitter what you had for lunch, you are showing what projects you're working on."

By sharing the code you are writing, lots of people can critique it, find the bugs, offer ideas and make sure it works. It's called open source, and Balter believes HealthCare.gov should have been written that way from the start.

"Why would you make that code private?" Balter asks.

But often when things don't work in government, the impulse is to duck and cover and clamp down on information.

"I think the key reason is the way projects get funded," says Michael Cockrill, who used to work in startups and is now the chief information officer for Washington state.

He says to get a software project funded in the public sector, typically you have say exactly what it is going to do, spell how much it will cost and when you will finish.

"As a result, you end up creating this culture that is all about doing what you said you were gonna do," Cockrill says.

It's a culture that is risk-adverse and terrified of public failure. You can't learn from little failures or adjust course midstream. And instead of taking big jobs, breaking them down into small tasks and testing for success at each step, a project like HealthCare.gov becomes a giant all-or-nothing gamble.

Cockrill says too often it's a gamble taxpayers loose.

"You've made all these commitments about what you are going to build. What is it going to look like upfront," Cockrill says. "And even if the market changes underneath you, and even if your customers need something different — which you know always happens — you made a commitment a big public commitment, and they've written it into budgets and law."

Cockrill and many others around the country are trying to help governments become more flexible and agile as they embark on software development projects.

"It's really hard to convince people to kind of trust you," he says. "Especially when you are saying, 'Look I don't know exactly what is going to look like — but we are going to do what matters most first.' "

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/17/235739367/if-a-tech-company-had-built-the-federal-health-care-website?ft=1&f=1003
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Google Shares Rise on Strong Quarterly Financials

Google said Thursday that it earned $10.74 cents per share on an adjusted basis in the most recent quarter, besting the expectations of analysts by 40 cents. Without adjustments, net income was $3 billion, up fro $2.2 billion a year ago.

Revenue for the Internet search giant rose 12 percent to $14.89 billion, about $100 million more than analysts had expected. Revenue after traffic-acquisition costs was $11.92 billion, better than the $11.64 billion expected by analysts.

Google shares, which were down 1 percent to $888.65 during the regular session, jumped nearly $70 during after-hours trading. If the gain survives, Google could open at an all-time high Friday with a market capitalization eclipsing the $300 billion mark.

Google's impressive third-quarter results came despite rising losses at its Motorola mobile phone unit. Google said Motorola's loss in the quarter was $248 million, up from a $192 million loss in the same quarter a year ago.

One worrisome trend was an 8 percent decrease in cost-per-click, which is the amount Google gets when users click on ads, but Google more than made up for it with a 26 percent increase in paid clicks.

On a conference call to discuss earnings, CEO Larry Page told analysts that 40 percent of the traffic at Google's YouTube now comes from mobile users, up from 6 percent just two years ago.

Page, who has been struggling with paralysis of a vocal chord, told analysts Thursday that he would not be participating in all of the upcoming earnings calls going forward because he needs to prioritize his time.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheHollywoodReporter-Technology/~3/GsrkidnCm9I/story01.htm
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Ed Lauter, prolific film and TV actor, dies at 74

Celebs

Mike Barnes
The Hollywood Reporter

6 hours ago

Getty Images

Ed Lauter arrives at the premiere of "Hitchcock" during AFI Fest in Los Angeles on Nov. 1, 2012.

Ed Lauter, the always working character actor who played the butler/chauffeur of Berenice Bejo’s character Peppy in the best-picture Oscar winner "The Artist," died Wednesday. He was 74.

Lauter discovered in May that he had contracted mesothelioma, a terminal form of cancer most commonly caused by exposure to asbestos, publicist Edward Lozzi told The Hollywood Reporter.

Lauter recently played a baseball scout opposite Clint Eastwood in "Trouble With the Curve" (2012) and had recurring roles on Showtime drama "Shameless" as Dick Healey and on USA Network’s "Pysch" as Deputy Commissioner Ed Dykstra. Earlier, he recurred on "ER," playing Fire Captain Dannaker.

A native of Long Beach, N.Y., Lauter made his TV debut on a 1971 episode of "Mannix" and arrived on the big screen for the first time in the Western "Dirty Little Billy" (1972). One of those character actors whose name is unknown but is instantly recognizable, he is listed with an incredible 204 credits as an actor on IMDb.

In Alfred Hitchcock’s final film, "Family Plot" (1976), the balding, angular Lauter played Maloney, the dangerous, blue-collar man who knows too much about dapper jewel thief and kidnapper Arthur Adamson (William Devane). Hitchcock cast Lauter after seeing him play Captain Wilhelm Knauer, the sadistic leader of the guards who go up against Burt Reynolds’ convict football team, in the classic "The Longest Yard" (1974).

“Hitchcock came out of his screening room, walked back into the office and said, ‘He’s very good, isn’t he?’” Lauter recalled in a 2003 interview. “[His assistant Peggy Anderson], thinking that he meant Burt Reynolds, said, ‘Yes, he is.’ ”

“Hitchcock said, ‘What’s his name again?’ Now, Peggy’s lost; he doesn’t know who Burt Reynolds is? Then, Hitchcock said, ‘Ed something …’ and when Peggy told him, ‘Ed Lauter,’ he said, ‘Yes, we’ve got our Maloney.’ He had actually told Peggy that he wasn’t going to do the film unless he first cast Maloney, the antagonist.”

PHOTOS: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2013

His film résumé also includes "The New Centurions" (1972), "The Last American Hero" (1973), "French Connection II" (1975), "King Kong" (1976), "Magic" (1978), "Cujo" (1983), "Lassiter" (1984), "Death Wish 3" (1985), "The Rocketeer" (1991), "Trial by Jury" (1994), "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995), "Mulholland Falls" (1995), "Seabiscuit" (2003), the 2005 remake of "The Longest Yard," "Seraphim Falls" (2006) and "The Number 23" (2007).

It only seems as if he was in every TV crime drama in history, with parts in "Cannon," "Ironside," "The Streets of San Francisco," "Kojak," "Baretta," "Police Story," "The Rockford Files," "Charlie’s Angels," "Hawaii Five-0," "Simon & Simon," "Magnum, P.I.," "The A-Team," "Miami Vice," "Walker, Texas Ranger," "Homicide: Life on the Street," "NYPD Blue," "Cold Case" and "CSI."

Lauter, who went to college on a basketball scholarship at C.W. Post on Long Island and worked as a stand-up comic, made his Broadway debut in the original 1968 stage production of "The Great White Hope" starring JamesEarl Jones and Jane Alexander.

He has three movies in the can yet to be released: "The Town That Dreaded Sundown," "Becker’s Farm" and "The Grave."

“He was a pal, not just a PR client,” recalled Lozzi. “His former stand-up comedy days would always entertain us behind the scenes with his most incredible impersonations. He called me as Clint Eastwood from the set of "Trouble With the Curve" last year. We really thought it was Eastwood!”

Lauter also was known to do excellent impersonations of Burt Lancaster, George C. Scott,James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart.

The Ed Lauter Foundation and a scholarship fund is being established to honor his work, and the scholarship will be awarded annually to aspiring young actors. His family, which includes his wife of eight years, Mia, asks that donations be made to the foundation.

In the 2003 interview, Lauter recalled: “Someone once said to me, ‘Eddie, you’re a “turn” actor.’ What’s that? He said, ‘That’s when a story is going along and your character shows up and the story suddenly takes a major turn.’ That’s kind of neat.”

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/ed-lauter-prolific-film-tv-actor-dies-74-8C11408676
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Google's 3Q earnings rise 36 percent, stock surges

The Chrome logo is displayed at a Google event, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013 in New York. Google is introducing a $279 laptop that runs its Internet-centric Chrome operating system, borrowing many of the high-end features found in models that cost $1,000 or more. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The Chrome logo is displayed at a Google event, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013 in New York. Google is introducing a $279 laptop that runs its Internet-centric Chrome operating system, borrowing many of the high-end features found in models that cost $1,000 or more. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google's third-quarter results may have proven that a deepening decline in the Internet search leader's average ad prices matters less than how frequently people are clicking on the commercial pitches.

The numbers released Thursday impressed investors who had been fretting about a downturn in Google's ad prices that began two years ago. Those concerns evaporated, at least temporarily, with a third-quarter performance that exceeded the analyst projections steering Wall Street.

Google's ad prices are still sagging as marketers pay less for commercial pitches on mobile devices, but the number of revenue-generating clicks on those ads is rising at a much faster clip.

The equation resulted in a 36 percent increase in Google's earnings for the three months ending in September.

Google's stock surged 8 percent to $959 in extended trading after the report came out. That leaves it poised to reach an all-time high in Friday's regular trading session.

The robust rally represents an abrupt about-face. As the overall stock market rose, Google's shares had slipped slightly during the past three months. The reason: Google's previous quarterly report in mid-July revealed the deterioration in the company's ad prices was getting worse.

Google's average ad price has now declined from the prior year in each of the last eight quarters, primarily because advertisers aren't yet paying as much for mobile ads because the screens on smartphones and tablet computers are smaller than those on laptop and desktop computers.

As more people rely on mobile devices to connect to Google's search engine and other services, it's driving down the company's average ad price, or "cost per click."

In Google's latest quarter, that measure fell 8 percent from last year. That was worse than the 6 percent drop in the previous quarter.

But the number of so-called "paid clicks" on Google's ads helped offset the lower prices in the third quarter. The clicking volume increased 26 percent from last year, an indication that Google's data analysis is doing a good job matching ads with the interests of its services' users.

Google Inc. earned nearly $3 billion, or $8.75 per share, during the three months ending in September. That compared to income of $2.2 billion, or $6.53 per share, at the same time last year.

If not for its expenses for employee stock compensation, Google said it would have earned $10.74 per share. That figure topped the average estimate of $10.36 per share among analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue for the third quarter rose 12 percent from last year to $14.9 billion. After subtracting commissions paid to Google's ad partners, Google's revenue stood at $11.9 billion — about $227 million above analysts' predictions.

Motorola Mobility, a mobile device maker that Google acquired for $12.4 billion last year, remains a financial drag. The division lost $248 million in the quarter, and still hasn't made any money under Google's ownership.

In a mild surprise, Google CEO Larry Page disclosed Thursday that he doesn't plan to regularly participate in the company's quarterly earnings calls with analysts in the future.

Page, 40, missed an earnings call last year because of an ailment on his vocal chords that made it difficult for him to talk. Although his voice remains raspy, Page didn't mention that as a reason for skipping the calls. He said he wants to devote more time to running the company and helping Google's engineers build great products.

Google's stock gained $70.21 to $959 in extended trading. The stock has never surpassed $928 in regular market trading since Google went public at $85 per share nine years ago.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-10-17-Earns-Google/id-a5a310d0f82d434c92f6efad1d3ffc24
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Rare whale found dead in Southern California

This image provided by Heal the Bay shows Heather Doyle, director of the Heal the Bay's Santa Monica Pier Aquarium pointing out shark bites found on a beached Stejneger's Beaked Whale that washed ashore Tuesday in the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles, Wednesday Oct. 16, 2013. Heal the Bay plans to study the whale. (AP Photo/Nick Flash)

This image provided by Heal the Bay shows Heather Doyle, director of the Heal the Bay's Santa Monica Pier Aquarium pointing out shark bites found on a beached Stejneger's Beaked Whale that washed ashore Tuesday in the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles, Wednesday Oct. 16, 2013. Heal the Bay plans to study the whale. (AP Photo/Nick Flash)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A rare whale that has a dolphin-shaped head and saber-like teeth has been found dead on Los Angeles' Venice Beach, even though it prefers frigid subarctic waters.

The roughly 15-foot-long female Stejneger's beaked whale washed ashore Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Times reported (http://lat.ms/1aq1Wnv ). A truck hauled away the mammal, which was being examined at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum to determine how it died.

The Stejneger's beaked whale is rarely seen in the wild. The species typically dives deep in subarctic waters to feed on squid and small fish. It is believed to migrate as far south as Northern California, and how the whale ended up so far south will probably remain a mystery.

"This is the best," said Nick Fash, an education specialist for the Santa Monica-based environmental group Heal the Bay. "(Previous finds) aren't anything like this. This is a treat."

Males are known for their saber teeth that stick up midway from each side of the lower jaw. However, the teeth of females and their offspring remain hidden beneath the gum tissue.

The whale was alive when it washed ashore, said Peter Wallerstein of Marine Animal Rescue. Its body was covered in bites from so-called cookie-cutter sharks that feed by gouging round pieces of flesh from larger animals.

Because the species isn't seen much anywhere, the autopsies of washed-up carcasses are the best source for scientists to gather information.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-10-16-US-Rare-Whale-Found/id-1acd7d559dc6475b8fe8b0758a29c730
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The Army's Cybersecurity Training Videos Are Embarrassing and Sad

For the past few years, the government's been relentless about making the American people respect the importance of cybersecurity. Obama's given speeches, written newspaper columns, and issued executive orders to drive that point home. This is serious business! So why are the Army's own instructional videos so silly?

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-armys-cybersecurity-training-videos-are-embarrassi-1446639728
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Japanese kids sing 'Sunny in Philadelphia' tune

TV

Randee Dawn
TODAY contributor

18 hours ago

The Internet does not always supply context. But when it offers up a video of adorable Japanese kids singing "The Dayman Song" from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" while standing in front of a whiteboard image of "Family Guy's" Peter Griffin, how much explanation does anyone really need?

The video was first published on YouTube in August, but started taking off virally after being posted as a Reddit link on Monday. Thus far, the video has over 370,000 hits on YouTube. In it, the children stand in a straight line and not only sing the lyrics (a conversation between "The Princess" and "The Dayman") but offer up a little choreography and hand gestures, too. (And if you like that, be sure to check out children rocking out to the Ramones' "Judy Is a Punk," from 2011.)

"Dayman" appeared on "Philadelphia" as part of a musical written by one of the show's characters; on the show, the musical did not go over well. Who knew it could have such a lively second life on the other side of the world from Philly?

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/japanese-kids-sing-its-always-sunny-philadelphia-tune-8C11393572
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Perfect Storm: Blizzard, Shutdown Pummel South Dakota Ranchers

On the same week that a federal budget standoff shut down vast swaths of the U.S. government, a freak blizzard shut down vast swaths of South Dakota. And both disasters have combined to devastate one of the state's biggest industries.

The early autumn blizzard struck the state with unexpected fury, dumping a record-breaking 19 inches (48 centimeters) of snow on Rapid City on Friday, Oct. 4. Other parts of the state got more, with some regions reporting snowdrifts almost 5 feet (1.5 meters) deep.

As troubling as this storm was for people, the blizzard was devastating for the region's cattle. Some ranchers are reporting losses of more than 90 percent of their herds. And help, unfortunately, is not on its way to South Dakota's $7-billion cattle industry, due to the shutdown at federal agencies — a shutdown that some claim the state's congressional representatives helped to create. [The 19 Weirdest Effects of the Government Shutdown]

As the snow melted, the losses mounted for the state's ranchers, who now face the grisly task of documenting the number of dead, rotting cattle carcasses littering their land. "There are no words to describe the devastation and loss," Joan Wink of Wink Cattle Company told Modern Farmer. "I'm not going to take photos. These deaths are too gruesome. Nobody wants to see this."

No assistance available

Many of the cattle died of hypothermia — winds in the blizzard reached 70 mph (113 km/h) — or were suffocated under deep snowdrifts. The week prior to the blizzard, temperatures were above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), and cattle did not yet have the protection of thick winter coats of hair.

Normally, the state's cattle ranchers would apply for assistance from the Farm Service Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But with that office shuttered by the federal government shutdown — now in its third week — that agency is closed.

South Dakota's representative in Congress is Kristi Noem, who, along with her fellow House Republicans, voted against funding the federal government in an effort to prevent implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). She also voted against providing federal disaster assistance to the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

"Nevertheless, she's at the front of the line asking the federal government for money to help victims of South Dakota's early-October blizzard," said former U.S. Treasury economist Joann Weiner in a Washington Post blog post. "It appears that Noem is against federal spending until she's for it."

South Dakota's Sen. John Thune (R) also voted to defund the ACA, and voted against proceeding with a decision to prevent a government default. "It's time to give families and the economy a break from Obamacare [ACA] by permanently delaying the law for all Americans," Thune said in a statement.

'Kids fighting over a toy'

But the state's other senator, Tim Johnson (D), insists that providing assistance to South Dakota's embattled ranchers underscores the need to fund government operations. "Like the snowstorm, the government shutdown is causing major disruptions in people's lives and everyday business," Johnson said in a statement.

South Dakota's ranchers aren't mincing words when it comes to venting their frustration with government leaders during the shutdown. "They're acting like a bunch of kids fighting over a toy," rancher Matt Kammerer told The New York Times. "They're getting paid; they ain't feeling any hardship."

Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/perfect-storm-blizzard-shutdown-pummel-south-dakota-ranchers-210212629.html
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Zimbabwe man jailed for 15 years for poisoning elephants

Harare (AFP) - A Zimbabwe court on Wednesday sentenced a poacher to more than 15 years in prison for poisoning and killing elephants with cyanide, the fourth such conviction in the country in a month.

The court in the western town of Hwange also found Akim Masuku, 26, guilty of illegal possession of ivory, handing down a total jail term of 15-and-a-half years, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority said in a statement.

The accused still faces separate charges for cyanide possession and for contravening environmental laws, wildlife officials said.

The case comes a day after the Parks and Wildlife Authority said 100 elephants had been killed by cyanide for their ivory in a single national park in just over a month.

"One hundred elephants have died in Hwange National Park due to cyanide poisoning and 12 people have since been arrested and four have been convicted and sentenced," it said.

Masuku's co-accused Norma Ncube, 18, is set to appear in court on October 30.

Three other poachers were in September sentenced to a minimum of 15 years each for poisoning 81 elephants.

They were also ordered to pay $600,000 (440,000 euro) to the wildlife authority for killing the animals.

Officials have given villagers living around the park until the end of October to hand over any cyanide they might have or risk arrest.

There are more than 120,000 elephants roaming Zimbabwe's poorly policed national parks.

Elephant tusks and other body parts are highly prized in Asia and the Middle East for ornaments, as talismans and for use in traditional medicine.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zimbabwe-man-jailed-15-years-poisoning-elephants-192707362.html
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This Huge Solar Thermal Plant Makes Electricity Even in the Dark

The primary complaint against solar power—that it, you know, requires the sun—is perfectly valid. But Arizona's new Solana Generating Station, the largest capacity solar thermal plant on the face of the Earth, has just provided a $1.4 billion counterpoint. Thanks to its massive molten salt reserves, this plant keeps producing power even after lights out.

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/eYZ9atJ0gQ0/this-huge-solar-thermal-plant-makes-electricity-even-in-1443930592
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Sodomy and the Prison of Multiplayer Gaming | PopMatters

Competitive gaming is about power, hierarchy, leader boards, and all the ways of establishing a pecking order among players. Owning someone is the goal in online gaming. It's about making someone your bitch.

This is a bit embarrassing, perhaps, to admit, but I’m very taken by the implications of a scene about virtual sodomy early on in Grand Theft Auto V. In fact, I found it kind of enlightening.
  
In the sequence, one of GTA V‘s protagonist’s Franklin, is given the assignment of repossessing a vehicle for his boss from the home of another GTA V protagonist, the very wealthy, retired bank robber, Michael. During the scene the player, as Franklin, finds that he has to creep through Michael’s home in order to reach the garage that the vehicle is housed in. More specifically, he has to creep past the room of Michael’s son, Jimmy.

Jimmy is distracted. He is playing a bit of online multiplyer, some kind of knock off of Call of Duty. He is fragging players left and right, and on mic, all that he can talk about is rape, rape, and more rape. He thereatens rape, he claims that he isn’t gay, he declares himself a rapist, and he rapes, rapes, rapes. If you stop long enough to listen to his diatribe and peek in the doorway, the game goes so far as to show a sequence on Jimmy’s television of one soldier sodomizing the other. In other words, this all too common expression of aggression and accomplishment in online gaming, “I raped your ass,” is embedded in the faux game itself. It is a satire, of course, of the caustic and over-the-top tone of competitive multiplayer play. But is also rather chillingly links the attitude of Jimmy and players like him to the medium itself.

It’s hard to say if GTA V is suggesting that “rape talk” is encouraged by these games or if these games have come to conform to the tones and attitudes of such players, but it got me thinking about a question that I have often asked myself while playing games like League of Legends, “Why is the current crop of gamers so fascinated by sodomy?”

For some reason the way that GTA V presented an image to match the attitude alongside all of the talk made me feel like, perhaps, I finally understood the connection. Multiplayer online playgrounds often mimic the social structure of prison.

“Pwned.” That’s what it’s all about, right? Owning someone (as “pwned” is a corrupt spelling of “owned”) is the goal in online gaming. Competitive gaming is about power, hierarchy, leader boards, and all the ways of establishing a pecking order among players. In the most reductivist terms possible, online gaming is, for many it would seem, a means of makig someone your bitch.

There is something primal in the attitude and its expression. This is alpha male bullshit played out virtually with boys proving their mad skillz by a show of virtual strength that precedes “ownership.” That which you can beat down and hummiliate is yours to do with as you will. Or at least that’s the feeling it provokes or maybe provides.

Sure, all sports, virtual ones and otherwise, are some kind of expression of us vs. them, showing the strength of your school, your state, your nation through a bit of physical conflict bounded by rules. Somehow, though, in the gaming world, the sense of belonging to a team, being sportsmanlike, that drawing a boundary between us and them erodes into an expression only of individual identity and prowess for many players, me vs. them. This is a space in which they feel threatened by everyone around them (note the legendarily caustic and toxic tone within randomly assigned teams in games like League of Legends and DoTA—these guys go off on their own teammates probably more often than they do the other team),, and, thus, they somehow feel a need to express their dominance and unassability to everyone “on the field.” They want to rape everyone’s asses before they get theirs raped.

At various points, I have wondered about the connection between geeks and gaming and this defensive (and then very aggressive) attitude. Geeks often are the outsiders, often are the ones that feel like it is me vs. them. They don’t go out for the team. After all, they were usually the ones that were picked last. Honestly, that’s me in a nutshell.

I’ve even said to some of my fellow League of Legends players that I think that, perhaps, some of these guys needed to “go out for the team” at some point (which despite being picked last for the team myself, I still was forced into doing by my father), that that is what they are lacking, that is why they lack sportsmanship. They have never existed in a space in which physical conflict was bounded by rules and thus they don’t know how to act in such a world.

However, League of Legends has over 3.5 million registered accounts (at least the last time I checked – it’s probably higher now). They can’t all be freaks and geeks, right? Of course, spaces in which the rules of decorum are allowed to erode or by necessity erode (like prison) do tend to get polluted by any who adopt a might-makes-right attitude. Cultures breed the values of the loud, the garroulous, the seemingly unafraid, and adopt their attitudes if that’s what it takes to survive in those spaces.

I don’t really have a solution. Really, I just have more troubled thoughts about power plays, and I feel pity for both victims and perpetrators. No one can ever feel safe in a world, again, virtual or otherwise, where they constantly feel threatened, constantly feel the need to flinch or to attack.

I don’t want to be owned, but I don’t want to own you either. There has to be a space to just play.

Source: http://www.popmatters.com/post/175834-sodomy-and-the-prison-of-multiplayer-gaming/
Similar Articles: powerball   Nfl Fantasy   Julie Harris   Garrett Clayton   Liz Cheney  

Britney Spears: Fan Favorite in London

Gearing up for the release of her new album Britney Jean, Britney Spears hit up the Kiss FM Studios in London, England on Wednesday morning (October 16).

The “Hold It Against Me” singer hammed it up with Rickie, Melvin, and Charlie from “In The Morning,” sporting a beige top and sunglasses.

Meanwhile, Britney sang Miley Cyrus’ praises during an interview earlier this week- "My mom and her mom know each other. She's a girl's girl and she gets the whole Southern thing."

As for their duet on “Bangerz (SMS)”, Spears noted, "It's just really worked out. I'm a huge fan of hers. I think she's brilliant right now. She has so much energy and she's on fire, so for her to even say anything about me is just really cool.”

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/britney-spears/britney-spears-fan-favorite-london-943639
Category: pittsburgh pirates   Ray Rice   george zimmerman   Sarin gas   gold cup  

Ed Westwick Talks Life & Acting After Gossip Girl!

We'll always have seksi Chuck Bass memz…

Ed Westwick has moved on from his villainous Upper East Side Gossip Girl days, and made a smooth transition into star-crossed murderous Shakespeare!

You heard that right!

From high school cocaine habits to sword fighting — this Brit does it all!

Ed took on the iconic role of Tybalt, Juliet's cousin and Romeo's enemy, in the latest adaption of Romeo and Juliet, and he gives a stellar performance!

In a new interview, the 26-year-old star reveals what life's been like after GG and how he's excited to take on different characters:

“At the moment, you know I did six years on Gossip Girl and it was an amazing experience. It was my first time working on an American TV show. And, right now, I’m enjoying the idea of exploring film and going from character to character."

And after acting on the hit CW show for so long, it was a natural transition to move out of his chic NYC digs, for a sunny new home in Los Angeles:

“I decided to leave New York after Gossip Girl, and I had such a specific experience of it for the time we were there. I have a place there and I look forward to going back at some point. I have wonderful friends there, and New York is an amazing place and did so much for me, and it was an incredible experience, but what I’d like to do, is, at some point, is go back and experience it in a different way.”

Did we mention his on-again off-again girlfriend Jessica Szohr resides in EL Lay?! Motivation to stay, perhaps???

We're sure they'd love to have Mr. Bass him back to cause rich kid mischief in the Big Apple, but we have a feeling he's going to be on the west coast for a while!

[Image via Nikki Nelson/WENN.]

Tags: acting, chuck bass, ed westwick, gossip girl, juliet, los angeles, new york, romeo, tv show, tybalt

Source: http://perezhilton.com/2013-10-15-ed-westwick-life-after-gossip-girl
Tags: Dancing With the Stars 2013   Miley Cyrus Pregnant   FedEx Cup standings   American flag   Christopher Lane  

Supreme Court To Weigh EPA Permits For Power Plant Emissions

The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case on the greenhouse gas permits for large polluters early next year.

Susan Walsh/AP

The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case on the greenhouse gas permits for large polluters early next year.

Susan Walsh/AP

The Supreme Court has agreed to review an Obama administration policy that requires new power plants and other big polluting facilities to apply for permits to emit greenhouse gases.

To get these permits, which have been required since 2011, companies may have to use pollution controls or otherwise reduce greenhouse gases from their operations — although industries report that so far they haven't had to install special pollution control equipment to qualify for the permits.

The rule is part of a larger effort by the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases.

The EPA started with automobiles. It determined that once it did that, it was "compelled" by the Clean Air Act to also require greenhouse gas permits when companies want to construct big new facilities. The statute requires permits for all facilities that are major polluters of "any air pollutant." And the EPA has long interpreted this to mean any pollutant that is regulated under the Clean Air Act.

The utilities, manufacturers and chemical companies that petitioned the Supreme Court challenge EPA's decision. They argue that the EPA should have interpreted "any air pollutant" to mean only pollutants that have health-based ambient air quality standards, such as ground-level ozone, according to Jeffrey Holmstead, an industry lawyer who headed EPA's air pollution program under the Bush administration.

Furthermore, industry groups argue that getting these permits causes delays in big projects that could help revive the economy.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided in 2012 that the EPA got it right.

In its decision, the appeals court cited a 2007 Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, which affirmed the EPA's determination that greenhouse gases are a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

That Supreme Court ruling also upheld the EPA's finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and the Obama administration's authority to regulate greenhouse gases from automobiles.

The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case on the greenhouse gas permits for large polluters early next year.

These greenhouse gas permits are not the same as the greenhouse gas regulations that the Obama administration has been drafting over the past couple of years.

The EPA last month released a second proposal regarding how it wants to set limits on how much greenhouse gases new power plants can release. President Obama says he also intends to regulate greenhouse gases from existing power plants, but has yet to release a proposal.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/15/234731532/supreme-court-to-weigh-epa-permits-for-power-plant-emissions?ft=1&f=1001
Category: Government Shutdown 2013   First Day Of Fall 2013   futurama   diana nyad   us open  

L.A. Will Waive Fees to Attract TV Pilot Production

Valerie Macon/Getty Images

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday passed a measure to waive fees for producers who shoot television pilots on location in the city.

The measure, which comes after years of declining pilot production in L.A., was first authored last year by Eric Garcetti, who in his recent campaign for mayor promised to find ways to stem runaway production and improve the environment for movie and TV production.

Garcetti is expected to sign the measure into law within a week and it should take effect soon after.

EXCLUSIVE: L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti Calls Runaway Film Production a Civic 'Emergency'

"Our economy is my top priority" said Garcetti, "and the entertainment industry generates more than 500,000 jobs in L.A. Focusing on TV pilots not only supports a key part of the industry, it can lead to a huge long-term dividend if a series gets picked up."

The production of TV pilots in Los Angeles, as tracked by Film L.A., has fallen from 2006-2007 when 82 percent were shot in the city to about 52 percent in the most recent pilot season. Studies have shown that there is a direct link between where a pilot is shot and where the show is ultimately produced, so grabbing pilot activity is crucial to keeping the jobs in Los Angeles.

In urging passage, L.A. City Councilman Paul Krekorian told his fellow council members: ""When production leaves Los Angeles, the loser is not the big studio, the loser is not the famous producer, the loser is not the A-list actor. The loser is the person who gets up early in the morning, drives to work in a pick-up truck in order to serve as a carpenter on a set, or the person who has been working their entire career as an electrician in the film industry, or the seamstress, or the other below-the-line workers or other middle class workers who don't travel to Vancouver or to New Mexico or New York to go with a production. Those are the people who don't work when we don't have production here in Los Angeles. 

This is another step by Garcetti, who in late September appointed former TV Academy president and Hollywood executive Tom Sherak as his film czar, to work to stem runaway production and lobby Sacramento legislators to increase and extend the current $100 million annual allocation of tax incentives to keep movie and TV jobs in California.

 

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/television/~3/VC0DInFddho/story01.htm
Tags: revenge   9 news   made in america   lindsay lohan   Emmy nominations 2013  

A Fox Is Living on the White House Grounds and No One Can Catch It Because of the Shutdown (Atlantic Politics Channel)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/334216265?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Vote for your Japanese GP driver of the weekend | 2013 Japanese Grand Prix

Which F1 driver was the best performer during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend?

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most during the last race weekend.

Japanese Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – Didn’t take pole position for the first time at Suzuka but had his KERS been working he would probably have found more than the tenth of a second that separated him from Webber. From the outset he played the tyre management game to allow him to run a short, aggressive final stint. When the crunch time came he wasted no time passing Grosjean to clinch a satisfying win which puts the championship destiny almost beyond doubt.

Mark Webber – Webber hasn’t always been close enough to Vettel this year to take advantage when his team mate has a problem but he was at Suzuka and pushed his team mate hard for the victory. Said he was “surprised” to be switched to a three-stop strategy^[1] but was able to use his superior speed in the final stint to pass Grosjean. Had he done so more quickly he could have gone after his team mate.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Held his hands up after being beaten by Massa in qualifying and admitted he hadn’t been quick enough^[2]. His race pace was better but he spent the first stint stuck behind Massa. He took advantage of traffic in the second stint to get past Massa, then later demoted Hulkenberg when the Sauber driver’s tyres began to drop off. That gave him fourth place, and he felt no more was possible under the circumstances^[3].

Felipe Massa – Would Massa “drive for himself”, as he told Brazilian media after being dropped by Ferrari, or would he “definitely help” his team mate^[4] as Luca di Montezemolo insisted? That was answered in the first stint when Massa repeatedly ignored Ferrari’s instructions to let Alonso through, delivered through the radio code “Multifunction strategy A”. Hulkenberg took advantage of the situation to jump both Ferraris, then Alonso finally found a way past his team mate, after which Massa picked up a penalty for speeding in the pits and fell to tenth.

McLaren

Jenson Button – Set the same time to within a tenth of a second on three separate occasions in qualifying and felt he’d wrung all there was from the MP4-28. Driving to the grid he chose to reduce the front wing angle on the car but quickly regretted the decision, suffering understeer which wasn’t cured until the last stint. Held off Massa for ninth.

Sergio Perez – Crashed at Spoon during second practice, which he said was his mistake as he’d touched the artificial grass on entry to the corner. Narrowly missed Q3 but started well, only to lose time when Rosberg came out of the pits immediately in front of him. Like Button he had a slow pit stop as well. His left-rear tyre was punctured in slight contact with Rosberg, which killed his chances of scoring points.

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen – Crashed in Friday practice – for the second weekend in a row – missing valuable race simulation time. Raikkonen’s been unhappy in qualifying since the new tyres were introduced and although he made gains in Japan he remained in the lower reaches of the top ten. Had wheelspin at the start which cost him places but he made progress from there on. A weekend which started poorly ended up with a brilliantly-judged pass on Hulkenberg for fifth place on the outside at the chicane.

Romain Grosjean – Surely his best F1 performance to date with a solid qualifying effort followed by an outrageous start from which he emerged as an unlikely threat to Red Bull. Led comfortably for almost half of the race and did well to hold off Webber as long as he did before taking another podium finish.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – An unsafe release from the pits dropped him back into the pack where he ended up scrapping with Perez. Like his team mate in Korea he spent the latter part of the race stuck behind a Sauber, Gutierrez limiting him to eighth.

Lewis Hamilton – The merest touch of his right-rear tyre against Vettel’s front wing was enough to give him a puncture as he dived between the Red Bulls off the line. From looking likely to take second at the start he was soon out of the race.

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg – Beat Alonso and Raikkonen in qualifying but couldn’t keep them behind in the race. However he held them off as long as he could until his tyres began to give up.

Esteban Gutierrez – Points looked unlikely when he lined up 14th on the grid but a superb start, gaining five places, brought him into contention. Gave away a position to Raikkonen though it was one he was always going to struggle to keep.

Force India

Paul di Resta – Ended his strong of retirements and took 11th, unable to resist Button in the latter part of the race. Still he was happy with the improved balance of the Force India.

Adrian Sutil – A crash in final practice forced him to change his gearbox, and after failing to escape Q1 he started last. Up to 16th by lap one, he gained two more places by the end of the race despite being passed by both Toro Rossos in one lap later on.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado – Went off twice in practice, but the first spin in Q1 was due to a wheel which hadn’t been attached properly and fell off^[5]. The stand-out moment of Maldonado’s race was his desperate lunge down the inside of Bottas on his final lap, signalling his eagerness not to finish behind his team mate.

Valtteri Bottas – Impressively out-qualified Maldonado on his first race at a real drivers’ circuit. But his tyres went off badly in the final stint, losing four places in the last three laps.

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – Knocked out in Q1 after a bizarre incident when he left the pits with both rear brakes locked^[6] – he thought his engine was down on power – which then caught fire. An early pit stop in the race didn’t work out for him as he became stuck in traffic. But three-stopping gave him the benefit of fresher tyres later in the race, allowing him to pass the Williams drivers and Sutil.

Daniel Ricciardo – Tried to make an alternative strategy work, starting on the hard tyres. But he became the latest driver to be penalised for completing a pass by going off the track on the outside of the corner, which he was deeply unimpressed with^[7]. His drive-through penalty confined him to 13th place.

Caterham

Charles Pic – Already carrying a ten-place penalty into the race weekend, Pic committed much the same infraction he had in Korea – passing a red light without stopping – and earned an unprecedented drive-through penalty which was declared before the race had begun^[8]. Despite that he was quick enough to beat the sole surviving Marussia home.

Giedo van der Garde – Collided with Bianchi at the start, putting both out. “I was squeezed between both the Marussia cars and had nowhere to go,” he said. “I lost my front wing in contact with Bianchi and then the car went straight off and into the wall.”

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – Hit the barrier at Degner 2 in first practice when his arm got caught against the side of the cockpit. Unfortunately that ruled him out of second practice as well^[9]. Beaten in a straight fight by his team mate in qualifying for the first time, he was taken out on lap one of the race. “As I turned into the first corner on the opening lap, van der Garde hit my rear wing which pushed me off track and into the gravel.” A wasted weekend in which he completed just 32 laps, most of which in Saturday’s hour of practice.

Max Chilton – Out-qualified Bianchi on merit for the first time the year. But despite Pic having a drive-through penalty he was caught and passed by the Marussia seven laps from home after his tyres began to go off.

Qualifying and race results summary

Review the race data

Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver do you think did the best job this weekend?

Cast your vote below and explain your choice in the comments.

Who was the best driver of the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix weekend?

• Sebastian Vettel (26%)
  
  


• Mark Webber (3%)
  
  


• Fernando Alonso (2%)
  
  


• Felipe Massa (0%)
  
  


• Jenson Button (0%)
  
  


• Sergio Perez (0%)
  
  


• Kimi Raikkonen (0%)
  
  


• Romain Grosjean (57%)
  
  


• Nico Rosberg (0%)
  
  


• Lewis Hamilton (1%)
  
  


• Nico Hulkenberg (4%)
  
  


• Esteban Gutierrez (6%)
  
  


• Paul di Resta (0%)
  
  


• Adrian Sutil (0%)
  
  


• Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  
  


• Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  
  


• Jean-Eric Vergne (0%)
  
  


• Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
  
  


• Charles Pic (0%)
  
  


• Giedo van der Garde (0%)
  
  


• Jules Bianchi (0%)
  
  


• Max Chilton (1%)
  
  

Total Voters: 372

An F1 Fanatic account is required in order to vote. If you do not have one, register an account here^[10] or read more about registering here^[11].

2013 Japanese Grand Prix

Browse all 2013 Japanese Grand Prix articles^[12]

Images © Red Bull/Getty, Lotus/LAT, Sauber

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References

1. ^{^} 2013 Japanese GP tyre strategies and pit stops (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
2. ^{^} “I’m not doing good enough”, admits Alonso (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
3. ^{^} Red Bull “untouchable” – Alonso (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
4. ^{^} Massa ‘will definitely help Alonso’ in championship (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
5. ^{^} Williams fined £50,000 after Maldonado loses wheel (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
6. ^{^} Stuck brakes caused Vergne’s qualifying fire (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
7. ^{^} Ricciardo disputes reason for drive-through penalty (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
8. ^{^} Pic given drive-through penalty for race (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
9. ^{^} Bianchi to miss second practice after crash (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
10. ^{^} register an account here (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
11. ^{^} read more about registering here (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
12. ^{^} Browse all 2013 Japanese Grand Prix articles (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/0Qw1wqq8MFY/
Category: 49ers   mrsa   Lleyton Hewitt   Kelly LeBrock   marc anthony  

Labelle, Latifah honorees of Black Girls Rock!

ATLANTA (AP) — Patti Labelle is a known diva and Queen Latifah does not consider herself one, but both will be among those honored as part of the Black Girls Rock! awards show on BET.

Black Girls Rock! founder Beverly Bond announced the show's honorees in a statement Monday. Other honorees include tennis champion Venus Williams, screenwriter-producer Mara Brock Akil, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, community organizer Ameena Matthews and children's rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman.

Actresses Tracee Ellis Ross and Regina King return as hosts of the ceremony, which will air Nov. 3. It will be taped later this month at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J.

Black Girls Rock! is a nonprofit organization that mentors young black girls and works to fight negative images of black women in the media.

___

http://www.blackgirlsrock.org

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/labelle-latifah-honorees-black-girls-rock-185937722.html
Tags: cnn   Ichiro Suzuki   paulina gretzky   Gia Allemand Dead   Frank Castillo