Bloglist's Blog (66)

Avatar Dominates At Box Office

The mysterious world of Pandora is as beautiful as it is dangerous, and it's that very combination that helped draw the masses to James Cameron's "Avatar," the director's first feature film in over a decade.

It's hardly surprising that the fantasy epic debuted in first place this weekend, dominating the closest competitor by more than $60 million. The 3-D flick… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 22, 2009 at 3:42am — No Comments

Dark Matter Detected for First Time?

Dark matter may have been "felt" for the first time deep in a Minnesota mine, physicists say.

Detectors in the mine, part of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment, were tripped recently by what might be weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.

WIMPs are among the most popular candidates for dark matter, the invisible material that… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 18, 2009 at 6:55pm — No Comments

'Avatar' Fans Rave About Film After Midnight Screening

"Avatar" opened in midnight screenings early Friday, and fans leaving those screenings generally seemed to agree that the movie was worth the wait, the epic runtime and the massive budget.

One fan raved to MTV News after catching a midnight screening in New York City, saying, "The imagination that James Cameron brought about was well worth the 15 years that he put into… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 18, 2009 at 4:22pm — No Comments

A New Eden, Both Cosmic and Cinematic

With “Avatar” James Cameron has turned one man’s dream of the movies into a trippy joy ride about the end of life — our moviegoing life included — as we know it. Several decades in the dreaming and four years in the actual making, the movie is a song to the natural world that was largely produced with software, an Emersonian exploration of the invisible world of the spirit… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 17, 2009 at 4:22pm — No Comments

Sealing the Senate deal

If and when Senate Democratic leaders finish healthcare negotiations and nail down 60 votes, they will begin the process spelled out in Senate rules for ending the expected Republican filibusters and moving to a final vote on the legislation. The expected sequence of events is likely to stretch well into next week, possibly culminating in a Senate session on Christmas Day:

Step… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 17, 2009 at 12:28pm — No Comments

Susan Powell notebook seized by West Valley police, sources say

A notebook that Susan Powell kept in her desk at work, possibly containing information about her relationship with her husband, was among the items seized by investigators last week, several sources have told the Deseret News.

The notebook, according to one source, detailed threats allegedly made against the missing West Valley City woman about a year… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 17, 2009 at 1:58am — No Comments

No agreement yet on extending estate tax: Hoyer

Democratic leaders in Congress have not yet reached an agreement to extend the estate tax before it expires at the end of the year, House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday.

Barack Obama

Lawmakers had hoped to ensure that the estate tax rate stay at 45 percent by attaching it to a must-pass defense spending bill, Hoyer… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 16, 2009 at 2:44am — No Comments

Russia Claims Huge Spiral Over Norway Was Due to Failed Missile Launch

Observers in northern Norway Wednesday morning witnessed a bizarre spiral appear in the sky at around 7:49 a.m. They first saw a blue light soar up from over a mountain to a north. The light then paused in midair and began circling. Before long, like the closing scene from the Japanese horror film Uzumaki, a massive spiral had filled the air.

Then came a brilliant… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 11, 2009 at 5:25pm — No Comments

Russia Claims Huge Spiral Over Norway Was Due to Failed Missile Launch

Added by bloglist on December 11, 2009 at 1:09pm — No Comments

U.S. pushes for emissions cuts from China, developing nations

Two top Obama administration officials arrived Wednesday at the U.N.-sponsored climate talks that opened this week offering both diplomacy and a tough line: The United States is willing to be a full partner in fighting climate change, but the real problem is with China and the developing world.

The day began with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 10, 2009 at 7:55am — No Comments

Obama urges bipartisan effort to boost U.S. jobs

U.S. President Barack Obama called on Wednesday for bipartisan cooperation to boost jobs and help small businesses through a series of initiatives that he has proposed to tackle double-digit unemployment.

"My hope is that as we move forward, we can do so together," Obama told reporters after meeting congressional leaders from both his Democratic Party and… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 9, 2009 at 5:36pm — No Comments

Ratings Scandal Kills More than 1000 iPhone Apps

Bogus reviews have landed Chinese iPhone app developer Molinker in deep trouble, resulting in all 1000-plus of its apps being removed and banned from the App Store. This is great news for consumers who are tired of downloading subpar apps based on inflated reviews, and bad news for companies looking to shill their products with internal misdeeds.

The discovery of… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 9, 2009 at 9:53am — No Comments

Company issues 2nd recall for tainted beef

For the second time this year, a Fresno beef company is recalling thousands of pounds of ground beef contaminated with a drug-resistant strain of salmonella.

Beef Packers Inc., owned by Cargill, announced the recall Friday. It covers 22,723 pounds of ground beef products that were sent to stores in Arizona and New Mexico.

WHY: Recall didn't include school… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 7, 2009 at 3:34am — No Comments

U.S. saddened by Russian nightclub blaze

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United States said on Saturday that it was "deeply saddened" for the deadly fire in the Russian Urals city of Perm, in which at least 109 people were killed.

"Coming on the heels of the recent attack on the Moscow-Saint Petersburg train, this significant loss of life and multiple casualties are especially painful," said… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 5, 2009 at 7:06pm — No Comments

The game we've been waiting on

ATLANTA -- No more waiting. It's here.

Alabama vs. Florida, for the SEC championship and the right to play in the BCS National Championship Game.

Thank goodness for the Georgia Dome, too. The weather in Atlanta is nasty. It's bitterly cold, and the wind is howling.

But inside, it's heating up as a few of the fans are starting to file in. The first player on… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 5, 2009 at 5:14pm — No Comments

Can you have a real Christmas with a fake tree?

It's December. Time to get real for Jodi Yorke.

Late last week, Yorke, her husband, Brendan, and their 2-year-old son, Owen, went to the Christmas tree lot at Broadway and Montrose to pick out a tree -- a real tree.

Although Brendan grew up grabbing presents under an artificial tree -- Jodi's family went the real route.

"There's definitely something… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 5, 2009 at 11:31am — No Comments

Alabama, Florida braced for clash of the titans

ATLANTA — After another season of crunching numbers and grinding teeth over the gilded lean-to that is the Bowl Championship Series, this half of the equation, at least, is child's play.

Once again, Florida, ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings and the defending national champion, plays No. 2 Alabama today at the Georgia Dome for the Southeastern Conference championship. The winner will play in the BCS title game Jan. 7 against, in arguable order of probability, Texas, Cincinnati or… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 5, 2009 at 9:37am — No Comments

US President Expected to Announce Afghanistan Policy Tuesday

U.S. news organizations say President Barack Obama plans to announce his new strategy for Afghanistan on Tuesday evening, during a prime-time television address.

The reports say the president is most likely to back a plan to send between 30,000 and 35,000 additional U.S. troops to the country.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan earlier this year told the president that up to 40,000 troops are needed to combat Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the region.…

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Added by bloglist on November 26, 2009 at 9:29am — No Comments

Obama to Visit India Next Year

President Barack Obama has hailed bilateral relations with India, and says he has accepted an invitation to travel to the country next year.

Mr. Obama is hosting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House for the first state visit of his presidency.

The president said he and the prime minister made progress in talks on climate change, and will work together to fight terrorism and other transnational threats. He said the two countries can cooperate in…

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Added by bloglist on November 24, 2009 at 4:04pm — No Comments

Hacked E-mails Fuel Climate Change Skeptics

Hundreds of private e-mails and documents hacked from a computer server at a British university are causing a stir among global warming skeptics, who say they show that climate scientists conspired to overstate the case for a human influence on climate change.

The e-mails, attributed to prominent American and British climate researchers, include discussions of scientific data and whether it should be released, exchanges about how best to combat the arguments of skeptics, and casual… Continue

Added by bloglist on November 21, 2009 at 2:44am — No Comments