Mother Monster revealed on Thursday that the album is due out on November 11, with a single dropping August 19.
By Gil Kaufman
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1710460/lady-gaga-artpop.jhtml
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By Timothy Heritage
MOSCOW (Reuters) - When an Aeroflot plane from Moscow took an unusually southerly course to Havana on Thursday, it quickly triggered speculation that American fugitive Edward Snowden could be on board.
But the plane was probably just avoiding turbulence, like other aircraft that crossed the Atlantic yesterday. There was no sign of Snowden on arrival - he remained at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, where he was to meet human rights groups on Friday.
Still, aviation experts said such speculation is not without merit. Due to protections offered by international aviation rules, a commercial flight may be Snowden's best bet for a ticket to asylum, trumping private jets or government planes.
Commercial carriers have the freedom to use airspace of other countries, known as the First Freedom of the air, the centerpiece of a complex but well-established system that keeps global air transportation running smoothly.
"One of the principles of the Chicago Convention system is that commercial carriers have the right of overflight, or the right to do things like stop for fuel, without seeking permission from the country over which they are flying," said aviation lawyer Simon Phippard of UK-based law firm Bird & Bird.
Government aircraft, on the other hand, technically need permission before they can legally enter a foreign country's airspace. Any doubts that U.S. allies would bar Snowden's way ended last week when several European countries barred Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane from entering their airspace when he was travelling home from Moscow.
Snowden, a former spy agency contractor, is wanted by Washington for leaking top-secret U.S. surveillance programs. Morales said he was refused entry because of suspicions that Snowden was on board, though aviation lawyers said a country does not need any reason other than exerting its sovereignty to deny another government's plane.
"Every state on the basis of state sovereignty has the right to deny overflight to state aircraft," said John Mulligan, a research fellow at the International Aviation Law Institute at DePaul University in Chicago.
The legal grounds for preventing a private charter plane, such as a business jet, from entering a country's airspace are more complex and open to a patchwork of different rules and interpretations, but legal experts agree it would be harder to stop a commercial flight than a state or private plane.
SNOWDEN'S CONUNDRUM
Russia has grown impatient about Snowden's stay in transit at Sheremetyevo airport, and likely wants him gone before Moscow hosts a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations next week.
But any flight that takes Snowden through U.S. skies, or those of an ally, is fraught with risk, no matter what the international aviation rules say.
Although President Barack Obama said in June said he is "not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker," U.S. officials say Washington has warned countries that there would be "consequences" if they let Snowden land or pass through without turning him over to U.S. authorities.
There are no direct commercial flights from Moscow to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, the three Latin American countries that have offered Snowden asylum. The most obvious route is through Havana but Cuba has not said whether it would allow him to pass through.
Snowden had planned to take a flight to Havana with Aeroflot on June 24, less than 24 hours after his arrival in Moscow, sparking a frenzy of international media demand for tickets on the flight. But airport sources said he pulled out at the last minute, probably because the lane usually flies over the United States.
Assisted by the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group, Snowden could be looking for flights that hop from one country that is ideologically opposed to the United States to another.
Most long-haul commercial flights heading west from Moscow go over at least one European country. A potential option is a commercial flight to Tehran. He could then try to reach an African country such as Sudan or Angola, which might be ready to risk U.S. wrath. But there are no direct flights from Iran to either country.
Snowden could look at flights east to Shanghai, Beijing, Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, but they involve flying over countries that might object, and China has shown no interest in harboring him.
A private charter with a specially tailored route could take him north over the Arctic and then south over the Atlantic, avoiding U.S. and its allies' airspace. A former CIA analyst quoted by Foreign Policy magazine referred to this as the "scenic route" and estimated the journey at 11,000 km.
But where would the plane refuel, who would foot the potentially huge bill and where would Snowden get such a plane? There are no obvious answers.
The longest-range business jet in the world, according to its manufacturers, is the Gulfstream G550, made by a unit of General Dynamics. Its brochure boasts a range of 6,750 nautical miles but that could be shortened by the need to leave spare fuel for emergencies, especially when travelling over long stretches of ocean.
Private charters from Moscow to Caracas are advertised for about 100,000 euros without counting the extra mileage needed to thread his way between unfriendly airspace.
BOAT OR TRAIN?
Snowden might yet opt for a less obvious means of transport, perhaps heading northwest from Moscow by boat or taking the Trans-Siberian Express train across Russia towards Asia. There is virtually no trade between Russia and Venezuela, so hopping on a merchant ship is hardly likely to be an option, though.
Such trips would be slow, leaving him vulnerable, and involve leaving the precincts of the transit zone and formally stepping on Russian soil, something Moscow has made clear it wants to avoid.
Some Russian sources have suggested a foreign embassy car would not be considered Russian territory, opening up the possibility of a road trip across Russia. Where he might go is unclear but Belarus is in striking distance and has antagonistic relations with the United States.
Both Snowden and Russian authorities will want to avoid repeating the fate of Iranian refugee Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who spent about 18 years in Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport. His experience inspired the Tom Hanks film "The Terminal," which was shown on Russian satellite television this week.
(Additional reporting by Jane Wardell in Sydney, Tim Hepher in Paris, Alwyn Scott in New York, David Ingram in Washington and Marc Frank in Havana; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Ralph Boulton)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-experts-advise-snowden-fly-commercial-095836407.html
Source: www.betaarchive.com --- Friday, July 12, 2013
In Forum: Software/Application/Game Support and Discussion By User: Rob Jansen The BIOS date is 1 day after the compile date. And one thing to note is that there are BIOS dates even in RTM builds. The way to get the "timebomb date" is to go to "Gallery" in the blue area and find the screenshot of winver of the build. Well , in RTM builds , you do not have to set the BIOS date. Yeah but Rob Jansen put that in TCB. It is done automatically, since we only input the buildstring, the system sets the BIOS Date 1 day ahead of the buildstring. ...
Source: http://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=28883&sid=25435b729f34a571c68e5f28e88e76a4
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. and China wrapped up two days of high-level talks on security and economy in upbeat fashion Thursday, but not before trading barbs about NSA leaker Edward Snowden and human rights.
The two sides announced more cooperation on combating climate change and their plans to negotiate a bilateral investment treaty.
But Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said the U.S. was very disappointed how authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong handled Snowden's case by refusing to extradite him before he flew to Russia.
"China's handling of this case was not consistent with the spirit of Sunnylands and the new type of relationship that we both seek to build," Burns said, referring to the summit a month ago between President Barack Obama and China's new president, Xi Jinping, at a California resort.
Obama also expressed disappointment about the Snowden case when he met Thursday in the Oval Office with the two leaders of the Chinese delegation, a White House statement said.
State Councilor Yang Jiechi, who was sitting on the same dais as Burns as they closed the talks, retorted in his remarks that the handling of the case by authorities in semi-autonomous Hong Kong was "beyond reproach."
Yang also rejected U.S. criticism of China's rights record in the ethnic minority areas of Tibet and Xinjiang, saying people there are "enjoying happier lives and they enjoy unprecedented freedom and human rights."
He added: "We hope the U.S. will improve its own human rights situation."
About 120 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2011 to protest Chinese policies in Tibet and call for the return of the Dalai Lama, their exiled spiritual leader. In the far western region of Xinjiang, minority Muslims are also agitating against Beijing and clashes in recent months have killed at least 56 people.
The stark differences of opinion on those issues did not prevent kind words on both sides too.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew hailed the "personal approach" of China's new generation of leaders under Xi, who ascended to China's presidency in March in a once-in-a-decade power transition.
China's Vice Premier Wang Yang, whom U.S. officials say has demonstrated a keen sense of humor in this week's talks, quipped that Lew is smarter than he is and they've become good friends.
It's a sign of the importance the Obama administration puts on its relationship with China leaders that the president received the visiting officials and did so in the Oval Office, where more typically heads of government and state are hosted.
Obama welcomed China's commitment to open its economy to U.S. investment in the bilateral investment treaty ? a pact that Washington has been urging Beijing to negotiate in earnest on for years. The Chinese also agreed with him on the importance of cooperating to get North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons.
But Obama added that the United States would continue to speak out in support of international norms such as the protection of universal human rights, the White House statement said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-china-trade-barbs-snowden-case-235217920.html
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Just a few weeks ago, we learned that Sony Music Unlimited for iOS would be introducing offline mode and high-quality streaming, and today that update has gone live in the app store. Music Unlimited subscribers can now save songs, albums and playlists for easy listening even when short an internet connection. When online, you'll have the option of switching on high-quality streaming of 320 Kbps AAC files -- just remember to keep an eye on how much data you're gobbling up. Lastly, version 1.3.1 also includes a new tray-style global menu. To check out the new features for yourself, download the app at the source link below.
Filed under: Software, HD, Mobile, Sony
Source: iTunes
It has been interesting to watch the early critical reactions to Pacific Rim in light of the recent panning of The Lone Ranger considering that both films succeed and fail and in very similar ways. Pacific Rim is a Transformers-meets-Godzilla super-sized blockbuster that, like The Lone Ranger, is crowded with concepts, themes, and references; it is endlessly visually busy; and its plot alternates from attention deficit disorder action overloads to mumbling and endless plodding detours. And yet, there are some key differences. For one, Pacific Rim has a better pedigree; it was co-written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, who built his reputation on sizzling, gory cult indulgences that score well according to the Fanboy criteria. The Lone Ranger is the product of a more cynical Hollywood machine (Bruckheimer/Verbinski/Depp). That difference makes Pacific Rim?s indulgences more palatable and visual satisfying. In in a mess of a film like Pacific Rim, del Toro knows how to get enough glowing brains and oozing flesh on screen to make the thing feel like it has texture.
Like The Lone Ranger, Pacific Rim draws its premise largely from a mix of readymade, pop cultural sources: Godzilla, War of the Worlds, etc. In the new film, the world is under siege by an alien race, who have tapped into our planet via an underwater dimensional portal. The beasts that spew forth from that deep sea fissure are enormous, vicious, and seemingly unbeatable. A very long prologue ? a good twenty minutes of action and plot transpire before the title ?Pacific Rim? flashes on screen ? sets up the scenario. The beasts came and destroyed much of the world. But then the world joined forces to fight back, developing enormous machines that do hand-to-hand combat with the massive Godzillas. At first, things are going well. The robot pilots became heroes. But now the beasts are coming more often, and they are getting stronger. The politicians want to build giant walls (that we know won?t work) to keep them out, and they decommission the massive robot program.
You could write a long, boring book picking apart all the allegories, metaphors, visual quotes, and social overtones del Toro unleashes in his film. To start, there?s the bomber pilot hero worship syndrome, the industrial dystopia, the echoes of World War II genocidal combat, steam punk aesthetics, Japanese horror homage, globalization optimism, soft bureaucratic jabbing, and martial arts infatuation. None of these leitmotifs really amount to much, nor do some of the more overt narrative scenarios at play. To power the robots, the aces need to undergo a neurological ?handshake,? which matches their brain waves, making two pilots operate as one. (We wait for someone to call this brain sex, but alas, Pacific Rim is too self-serious and witless for that.) To get the robot program back and running, General Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) has to bump heads with his superior (another plotline that seems like it is leading somewhere before it evaporates). To beat the bag guys, the multi-national motley crew of pilots have to learn to get along, which they kind of do, or sort of, almost, and then the film just loses interest in that dynamic. And to save the day, two scientists need to tap into the brains of the beast, which almost adds another interesting element, until the end result is a feigned electrocution followed by babbling of meaningless sci-fi blather.
There are lots of half-character stories too. After he?s been out of the game for a while, superstar pilot Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) has overcome the death of his brother to get back in the ring (he kind of just does it). The young female Japanese aspire pilot, Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), has to overcome almost being killed by a beasty when she was a little girl, a seemingly key back story that is portrayed in one of the film?s longest, most dull flashbacks. The Australians have some father-son issues that are chewed and never gobbled, and the film suggests Stacker may have some past issues, which, after waiting for the reveal, are ultimately just brushed under the carpet. All these character elements are lacquered on thick, and every single one of them goes no where.
What does advance the film, though, are the spectacular CGI showdowns, which are incredibly detailed, lush, and almost beautiful in a made-for-a-computer-desktop-wallpaper sort of way. The film had me thinking of critic J. Hoberman?s term ?Cyborg Cinema,? which he uses to describe a new era of moviemaking that so seamlessly blends animation and photography that we can no longer call film the art of capturing something in front of a camera. Instead, what we get is a hybrid art form that combines elements of theatrical cinema with digital design, and more often than not, the machine ? the digital acrobatics ? dominate the humanity on screen (Terminator 2 is one of the first and most metaphorically rich examples of this kind of movie.) Pacific Rim is fully indulgent cyborg cinema straining for some kind of qualitative redemption, but it can?t resist the temptations of pure, meaningless visual spectacle.
Yes, there?s a plot. Once Raleigh?s back in the game, he has to team up with Mako Mori, fight beasts, maneuver the skeptical army brass, and save the day. While this is happening, the two scientists search for the theoretical ingredient to the alien monsters? demise. That leads Charlie Day?s Dr. Newton Geiszler into the Hong Kong underworld, where he tries to buy beasty body parts from Ron Perlman?s Hannibal Chau. The Perlman / Day scenes, which take place in a very City of Lost Children-like underworld, are disappointing if only because they are the movies best, and they make you wish the entire film consisted of just Perlman and Day moving through this dreamy, Jeunet-esque setting.
Instead, we are wrenched away again and again to the matter at hand: an action sci-fi plot that raises more than the usual number of premise red flags. In an age of drones, why would we buy that people actually have to be inside the massive robots to pilot them? And in an age of laser guided nuclear weaponry, why would mankind invent such a hulking, obviously vulnerable weapons to fight back the beast-driven apocalypse? And why is hand-to-hand combat the preferred means to orchestrate the defense of the future of humanity? The answer, we fear, is only the idea came first ? Mr. Exectutive Producer, how about a summer film that pits giant robots versus Godzilla beasts, and we can get that Hellboy guy to do and make it good ? and the details were sorted out later.
The Godzilla films are great because they are more campy, less ambitious, simpler, conceptually cleaner, and the sci-fi more easily translatable to relate-able human emotions, fears, and aspirations than the anything muddy Pacific Rim musters. Godzilla is a David and Goliath story set against the backdrop of nuclear paranoia. Pacific Rim is Goliath versus Hollywood set against the backdrop of every clich? character motivation you can squeeze into a few lines of dialogue. When the climax includes a messianic suicide bombing, the tangled mess of allegorical references short-circuit in the brain. It?s a cue: stop thinking, sit back, and just let the cyborg cinema wash over your synapses.
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Animas, New Mexico (Image: Flickr/BAlvarius)
This article was originally published on?ThisBigCity.net?by Lucas Lindsey.?
While much of America?s southwest and inter-mountain west has been?battling blazing forest fires, Magdalena, New Mexico faces a less spectacular but equally fearsome crisis: a municipal water system no longer capable of delivering potable water to the village?s 938 people. Since early June, Magdalena residents have been living on rationed bottled water and waiting on a daily parade of trucks to roll down the highway and deliver potable water thousands of gallons at time. The trucks deliver enough water to conservatively recharge the most basic daily needs of the village, but not enough to allow swamp coolers to run or baths to be drawn. A combination of systemic mismanagement, historic drought, and infrastructure disrepair led to the?collapse of Magdalena?s municipal well.
According to reports by the Las Cruces Sun-News, the area?s water table has dropped 20 feet since January, falling below the well?s minimum intake level.?Now, on the worst of days, residents must boil what little water they can get from their taps and use publicly installed porta-potties in lieu their own home?s restrooms. The state has?approved an emergency permit?to drill a second, deeper municipal well, but in the meantime residents and local business rely on water delivered from other central New Mexico cities?many of which face their own long term water crisis.
Magdalena is not an isolated story. After three years of extreme drought and the state?s driest decade in sixty years, water shortages are becoming a harsh reality for many communities across New Mexico. As recently as June 29th,?the Ruidoso Free Press announced?that the small mountain village of Cloudcroft ?will start receiving trucked in water shipments?due to faltering well and spring water production.? Las Vegas, a city of almost 15,000 in state?s northeast region, has been dealing with the threat of shortage?for over two years. In response, the local government passed a?Drought Contingency and Emergency Action Plan. The short governing document sets milestones for measuring escalating stages of drought and assigns mandatory consumption and conservation actions to each stage.
Local government action plans, with their policies grounded in the sobering consequences of water shortage, are a pragmatic and necessary interim step, but taken together they will not solve statewide inadequacies in water management and adaptation exposed by newspaper headlines and predicted?trends in climate change.
State level officials have begun positioning themselves ahead of the looming water crisis. U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM), in partnership with New Mexico State University, published?Hard Choices: Adapting Policy and Management to Water Scarcity?in 2012. The report details a number of cross-disciplinary policy prescriptions, including reforms to a century?s old water rights system, advanced investment in research and monitoring technologies, brackish water desalination, increased infrastructure maintenance funding, conservation standards, and changes to agriculture and large-scale irrigation. Interestingly, despite irrigated agriculture accounting for the lion?s share of statewide water withdrawals (roughly 77%), the report spends far less than 77% of its word count addressing the agriculture industry.
Unfortunately, Magdalena faces a different kind of crisis than the one debated by legislators, scientists, and academics. Their water shortage is visceral and immediate, an emergency management crisis demanding instantaneous sacrifice, not incremental planning and long-term adaptation. When the sun dries out the sky and rain is more memory than forecast, they no longer have the luxury to debate the nebulous topics of water rights and statewide policy.? Indeed, they are busy enough just trying to survive, which they do for now by waiting, by cutting back and conserving wherever possible, and by watching the highway for water trucks.
As for the rest of us, we survive by assuming Magdalena?s crisis will never be our own. And that might prove a costly assumption to make. The more we can shift the burden of the looming water crisis from short-term emergency management to long-term planning, the better off our cities and towns will be.
Adapting to a drier, hotter southwest necessitates making tough, future-oriented decisions in an era of uncertainty and change. For Magdalena, a deeper well expedited through the state engineer?s office may solve water shortage a month from now, but it won?t make it rain. What happens five or ten years down the road? What happens when water scarcity begins to impact not just the dusty rural towns of New Mexico but also the sprawling suburbs of its growing metro areas? ?When the prioritized expenditure of state emergency funding and limited water reserves demands a cost/benefit analysis, how will the rural compete with the urban?
If you are a state legislator representing Magdalena, Cloudcroft, or Las Vegas, these may be the kind of questions that someday keep you up at night. However, if you are a resident of these communities, they?re the kind of questions that already do.
Source: http://urbantimes.co/2013/07/water-crisis-challenges-ahead-in-new-mexico/
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