A recent statement from a Samsung official says that the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the South Korean company?s next-generation phablet, will be launched, or announced, at IFA 2013 in Berlin. This lines up with a plethora of rumors from previous weeks suggesting that Samsung will use the yearly gadget expo to announce its jumbo-sized phablet with stylus pen support. IFA 2013 will kick off in the first week of September, 2013.
Photo credit: Mydrivers.com
Speaking to the Korea Times, a Samsung official confirmed that the Galaxy Note 3 will be launched at the Episode 2 Unpacked press event, which looks to be taking place at IFA early in September. The report also added a few notes on the Galaxy Note 3?s possible specifications, as it now looks most likely that the Galaxy Note 3 will feature a 5.99-inch display.
While this may be just a fraction smaller than the previously rumored 6-inch display, a fraction of an inch smaller means an additional pixel per inch or two, which makes for better specs marketing.
However, there?s a possibility Samsung may settle for an even six inches, as the Galaxy S4, once rumored to feature a 4.99-inch screen, shipped with a 5-inch screen instead.
If the Galaxy Note 3 will indeed be launching at IFA 2013, we can expect a release date sometime in October, as Samsung usually releases devices about a month, or slightly less than a month, after they get formally launched in public. Some of the other improvements buyers can expect include an eight-core Exynos processor, a 13-megapixel rear camera like the one on the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4-esque design language.
Unfortunately, recent reports have suggested that the Galaxy Note 3 may continue Samsung?s tradition of using plastic on its top-shelf devices as a build material.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Melissa McCarthy allegedly booted a female extra from the set of her directorial debut "Tammy" on Monday after catching the woman mistreating, and possibly even abusing, her child.
TMZ reports the unidentified woman reported to work on the Wilmington, N.C., set with a 4 to 5 year-old child in tow and struggled to control the child's behavior.
McCarthy's reps did not immediately respond to TheWrap's request for comment.
Witnesses said the young mother was frequently verbally reprimanding her disruptive child, but then went a step too far in McCarthy's eyes by strongly jerking the child up in the air by the wrist.
According to TMZ, McCarthy witnessed the incident and immediately ordered production assistants to remove the woman and child from set.
The "Heat" actress co-wrote and is co-directing "Tammy" with her husband, Ben Falcone. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are producing under Gary Sanchez Productions.
McCarthy also stars as the titular character who loses her job and learns her husband is unfaithful, so she hits the road with her profane, hard-drinking grandmother.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., right, confers with the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 20, 2013, as the committee assembles to work on a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions. The panel is aiming to pass the legislation out of committee this week, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., right, confers with the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 20, 2013, as the committee assembles to work on a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions. The panel is aiming to pass the legislation out of committee this week, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Judiciary Committee members Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. confer on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 20, 2013, as the committee assembled to work on a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions. The panel is aiming to pass the legislation out of committee this week, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Far-reaching legislation to grant a chance at citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a solid bipartisan vote Tuesday night after supporters somberly sidestepped a controversy over the rights of gay spouses.
The 13-5 vote cleared the way for an epic showdown on the Senate floor on the measure, which is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities yet also gives the Republican Party a chance to recast itself as more appealing to minorities.
The committee's action sparked rejoicing from immigration activists who crowded into a Senate committee room to witness the proceedings. "Yes, we can!" they shouted as they clapped rhythmically to show their pleasure.
In addition to creating a pathway to citizenship for 11.5 million immigrants, the legislation creates a new program for low-skilled foreign labor and would permit highly skilled workers into the country at far higher levels than is currently the case.
At the same time, it requires the government to take costly new steps to guard against future illegal immigration.
There was suspense to the end of the committee's deliberations, when Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who serves as chairman, sparked a debate over his proposal to give same-sex and heterosexual spouses equal rights under immigration law.
"I don't want to be the senator who asks people to choose between the love of their life and the love of their country," he said, adding he wanted to hear from others on the committee.
In response, he heard a chorus of pleas from the bill's supporters, seconding private appeals from the White House, not to force a vote that they warned would lead to the bill's demise.
"I believe in my heart of hearts that what you're doing is the right and just thing," said one of them, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. "But I believe this is the wrong moment, that this is the wrong bill."
In the hours leading to a final vote, the panel also agreed to a last-minute compromise covering an increase in the visa program for high-tech workers, a deal that brought Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah over to the ranks of supporters.
Under the compromise, the number of highly skilled workers admitted to the country would rise from 65,000 annually to 110,000, with the possibility of a further rise to 180,000, depending in part on unemployment levels.
Firms where foreign labor accounts for at least 15 percent of the skilled work force would be subjected to tighter conditions than companies less dependent on H-IB visa holders.
The compromise was negotiated by Hatch, whose state is home to a growing high tech industry, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. It is designed to balance the interests of industry, which relies increasingly on skilled foreign labor, and organized labor, which represents American workers.
AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka attacked the deal sharply as "anti-worker," although he also made clear organized labor would continue to support the overall legislation.
Robert Hoffman, senior vice president for government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council, welcomed the deal. "We obviously want to keep moving the bill forward and building support for the legislation, and this agreement allows us to do so," he said.
The issue of same-sex spouses hovered in the background from the start, and as the committee neared the end of its work, officials said Leahy had been informed that both the White House and Senate Democrats hoped he would not risk the destruction of months of painstaking work by putting the issue to a vote.
"There have been 300 amendments. Why shouldn't we have one more?" he told reporters at one point, hours before called the committee into session for a final time to debate the legislation.
A few hours later, Republicans and Democrats both answered his question bluntly.
"This would fracture the coalition. I could not support the bill," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was a member of the bipartisan so-called Gang of Eight that drafted the core elements of the bill.
Republicans and Democrats alike also noted that the Supreme Court may soon issue a ruling that renders the controversy moot.
Despite the concern that bipartisan support for the legislation was fragile, there was no doubting the command over committee proceedings that backers held.
In a final reminder, an attempt by Sen. Ted Cruz., R-Texas, to delete the pathway to citizenship failed on a 13-5 vote.
In defeat, he and others said they, too, wanted to overhaul immigration law, but not the way that drafters of the legislation had done.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, recalled that he had voted to give "amnesty" to those in the country illegally in 1986, the last time Congress took a major look at immigration. He said that bill, like the current one, promised to crack down on illegal immigration, but said it had failed to do so.
The centerpiece provision of the legislation allows an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally to obtain "registered provisional immigrant status" six months after enactment if certain conditions are also met.
Applicants must have arrived in the United States before Dec. 31, 2011, and maintained continuous physical presence, must not have a felony conviction of more than two misdemeanors on their record, and pay a $500 fine.
The registered provisional immigrant status lasts six years and is renewable for another $500. After a decade, though, individuals could seek a green card and lawful permanent resident status if they are up to date on their taxes and pay a $1,000 fine and meet other conditions.
Individuals brought to the country as youths would be able to apply for green cards in five years.
___
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.
Ray Manzarek, a founding member of the 1960s rock group The Doors whose versatile and often haunting keyboards complemented Jim Morrison's gloomy baritone and helped set the mood for some of rock's most enduring songs, has died. He was 74.
Manzarek died Monday in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family, said publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald. She said the musician's manager, Tom Vitorino, confirmed Manzarek died after being stricken with bile duct cancer.
The Doors' original lineup, which also included drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robbie Krieger, was only together for a few years and they only made six studio albums. But the band has retained a large and obsessive following decades after Morrison's 1971 death. The Doors have sold more than 100 million records and songs such as "Light My Fire" and "Riders On the Storm" are still "classic" rock favorites. For Doors admirers, the band symbolized the darker side of the Los Angeles lifestyle, what happened to the city after the sun went down and the Beach Boys fans headed home.
The Doors' vibe "has more to do with Charles Bukowski than it does with Farrah Fawcett," said John Doe of punk band X, a friend of Manzarek's for more than 30 years, referring to the poet and 'Charlie's Angels' star, respectively. "It has more to do with Raymond Chandler and Nathaniel West, and 'Sunset Boulevard' the movie, than it does with 'Beach Blanket Bingo,' right? ... It's a real dark place out in LA."
Next to Morrison, Manzarek was the most distinctive-looking band member, his glasses and wavy blond hair making him resemble a young English professor more than a rock star, a contrast to Morrison's Dionysian glamour ? his sensuous mouth and long, dark hair. Musically, Manzarek's spidery organ on "Light My Fire" is one of the most instantly recognizable sounds in rock history.
But he seemed up to finding the right touch for a wide range of songs ? the sleepy, lounge-style keyboards on "Riders On the Storm"; the liquid strains for "The Crystal Ship"; the barrelhouse romps on "Roadhouse Blues." The Doors always considered themselves "more" than a rock band and Manzarek, Densmore and Krieger often managed a flowing rapport that blended rock, blues and jazz behind Morrison's self-consciously poetic lyrics.
"There was no keyboard player on the planet more appropriate to support Jim Morrison's words," Densmore said in a statement. "Ray, I felt totally in sync with you musically. It was like we were of one mind, holding down the foundation for Robby and Jim to float on top of. I will miss my musical brother."
The Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Their records have been reissued frequently and the band was the subject of a 1991 Oliver Stone movie, "The Doors," starring Val Kilmer as Morrison and Kyle MacLachlan as Manzarek, who complained that the film stereotyped Morrison as a hopeless drunk and also omitted calmer, more humorous times.
The Doors' fame has hardly faded even though they're one of the few groups not to allow their music to be used for commercials, a source of great tension among surviving members. Manzarek and Krieger reportedly supported licensing the songs, and Densmore has resisted. The group also feuded when Krieger and Manzarek formed a new group, Doors of the 21st Century. Densmore objected, and Krieger and Manzarek performed under various names.
Other Doors albums included "The Soft Parade," ''Waiting for the Sun" and their last record with Morrison, "L.A. Woman."
Manzarek briefly tried to hold the band together on the albums "Other Voices" and "Full Circle," neither of which had critical or commercial success. He played in other bands over the years, working with X and Iggy Pop among others. He also wrote a memoir, "Light My Fire," and a novel, "The Poet In Exile," in which he imagines receiving messages from a Morrison-like artist who had supposedly died.
He produced four albums for X, including another landmark album "Los Angeles," and played off and on with the band for three decades. Doe said Manzarek enjoyed his place in rock 'n' roll history.
"He enjoyed people's company greatly. He was always interested in what had been going on with you and he was an incredible teller of stories, a sort of raconteur of spiritualism and wild moments ? 'weird scenes inside the gold mine,'" he said referencing a lyric from "The End."
"Ray loved to talk about and sort of mythologize, but it was all based in truth."
Born and raised in Chicago, Manzarek studied piano as a child and briefly considered a career in basketball. After graduating from DePauw University, he headed west to study film at UCLA. A few months after graduation, he and Morrison met in 1965 on Venice Beach in California. As Manzarek would often recall, Morrison read him some lyrics ? Let's swim to the moon/Let's climb through the tide/Penetrate the evening that the/City sleeps to hide" ? that became the start of "Moonlight Drive."
"I'd never heard lyrics to a rock song like that before," Manzarek told Billboard in 1967. "We talked a while before we decided to get a group together and make a million dollars."
By 1966, they had been joined by Krieger and Densmore and were a sensation live, especially during the theatrical, Oedipal epic, "The End." They were the house band at the famed Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles before being signed by Elektra Records and releasing a self-titled album in 1967, one of the most talked-about debuts in rock history.
"Well, to me, my God, for anybody who was there it means it was a fantastic time," Manzarek told The Republican in Massachusetts during an interview last year. "We thought we could actually change the world ? to make it a more Christian, Islamic, Judaic, Buddhist, Hindu, loving world. We thought we could. The children of the '50s post-war generation were actually in love with life and had opened the doors of perception. And we were in love with being alive and wanted to spread that love around the planet and make peace, love and harmony prevail upon earth, while getting stoned, dancing madly and having as much sex as you could possibly have."
Manzarek is survived by his wife, Dorothy; his son Pablo and two brothers, Rick and James. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Or maybe people should stop refusing to have their child vaccinated because of $CONSPIRACYTHEORY. Just a thought.
This.
From the article (emphasis mine):
During the 1980s, U.S. parents successfully sued manufacturers, alleging that the whole-cell vaccine also caused long-term brain damage. A 1991 Institute of Medicine report concluded that this was unproven, but by then many pertussis vaccine manufacturers had withdrawn from the market, leading Congress to create a federal vaccine injury compensation program for families who could show a strong case for vaccine damage.
Sound familiar?
One of the first areas in the US hit by a modern pertussis outbreak was here in California. It wasn't among poor people who couldn't afford the vaccine, like you might expect in emergent epidemics. Instead, it was in Marin County, home of highly affluent post-hippy folks like (say) George Lucas. These folks have been reading all of the holistic alternative medicine literature for years and have convinced themselves that every single article is another threat to the precious, precious unborn babies that they plan to have spring from their middle-aged wombs, and so huge numbers of them have decided to stop vaccinating altogether. Shock, horror, when the result is a resurgence of a disease that had been all but unseen in the area for decades, and a couple of those precious babies actually die.
You see the same thing all over the world. In France, there's some kind of conspiracy theory going around that the measles vaccine is bad. Measles is one of the most contagious diseases around. In 2011, there were 118 cases of measles in the entire United States in the first five months; in France, which has only about twice the population of California, there were 17,000.
On the positive side, people, including childless adults, can help to stop the spread of pertussis by getting a booster vaccination, which helps to increase herd immunity. If you catch whooping cough as an adult, you won't die, you'll get a very lousy respiratory illness for a while. But if you don't catch pertussis, you can't spread it to people who are more vulnerable, like children and the elderly. Right now, doctors believe you need a booster about once in your adult life. It's easy to get -- you can get it bundled with your tetanus vaccine, which if you're smart, you're getting every 10 years or so anyway. Last time I got a tetanus shot, I got the pertussis booster with it, and there was no change in price (i.e. both were fully covered by insurance).
LONDON (AP) ? Stock markets remained relatively solid Monday as evidence of a steady economic recovery in the U.S. continued to shore up sentiment.
Following another week, which saw many stock indexes around the world either hit record highs or multiyear peaks, investors have so far refrained from widespread profit-taking.
However, some analysts are beginning to wonder when a reverse will take place. That could be triggered if officials at the U.S. Federal Reserve start pondering an early end to the central bank's super-easy monetary policy after a run of strong U.S. economic data, particularly with regard to housing and jobs. The money generated by the Fed over the past few years in an attempt to keep the U.S. economy on an even keel has been one of the reasons why financial assets, such as stocks, have enjoyed strong gains despite a patchy global recovery.
In that context, investors will be particularly interested to hear what Fed chairman Ben Bernanke says when he addresses lawmakers on Wednesday.
"With many of the main indices looking dangerously overbought we are probably overdue a correction," said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at Interactive Investor.
"All eyes will be on the Congressional testimony on Wednesday for confirmation that the Fed will start to scale back the bond purchasing program later in the year," he added.
Any concerns over a change in policy did not have any market impact Monday.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was flat at 6,725 but around 13-year highs. Germany's DAX, which has set a series of all-time highs, rose 0.5 percent to 8,441. The CAC-40 in France was 0.2 percent higher at 4,009.
Wall Street was poised for a fairly steady opening, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.1 percent. The two indexes have also racked up a series of record highs.
In the currency markets, the dollar was slightly soft as traders booked some recent gains, with the euro up 0.4 percent at $1.2862. Against the yen, it was 0.6 percent lower at 102.55.
Earlier in Asia, stock markets had a strong start to the week. Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.5 percent to 15,360.81 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 1.8 percent to 23,493.03. Benchmarks in mainland China also rose but South Korea's Kospi fell 0.2 percent to 1,982.43.
Oil prices were fairly subdued, with the benchmark New York rate down 65 cents at $95.37 a barrel.
Why sign up for a one-way Mars trip? Three applicants explain the appeal - Cosmic Log
NASA / STScI
Mars looms large in a Hubble Space Telescope photo - and in the imaginations of those who have signed up for a one-way trip to the Red Planet. "It's not that I'm trying to get away," says 18-year-old Kayli McArthur, one of tens of thousands of applicants. "It's like I'm trying to strive for something more."
By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News
A one-way trip to Mars sounds like something you'd wish on your worst enemy ? so why would more than 78,000 people from around the world pay up to $75 for a chance to die on another planet?
"I can say I have an ulterior motive," said David Brin, who has written more than a dozen science-fiction novels ??including "The Postman," which was turned into a Kevin Costner movie in 1997. "I'd get a lot of writing done, and it might be memorable."
As a master of hard science fiction, the 62-year-old Brin knows better than most applicants what the first Red Planet settlers would face if they're sent off in 2022, as the Dutch-based Mars One venture has proposed.
The settlers would have to be sealed up in habitats, protected from harsh radiation, supplied with machine-made air and water, and nourished by whatever food can be grown on a cold, barren planet. They'd have to keep their sanity, millions of miles away from their families and Mission Control. Worst of all, they'd have to face the fact that there's no guarantee of ever going back.
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Will this scheme actually work? "I give it a low probability of happening," Brin said, "and I don't consider it to be the most responsible thing I've ever seen."
Nevertheless, the venture has an attraction for Brin and tens of thousands of others, The ages of those listed in Mars One's database range from 18 to 71. All those applicants are facing a long road even before the first four-person crew gets off the planet. Mars One is accepting applicants through Aug. 31. The field of applicants would first be whittled down by panels of experts. Then they'd undergo trial by reality TV, followed by years of training.
"This may sound crazy, but it kind of reminds me of 'The Hunger Games,'" said Kayli McArthur, an 18-year-old student who's one of the youngest Mars One applicants. "It's cool that it would be televised, but that's not my whole thing."
On the other end of the age spectrum, 71-year-old psychiatrist Sanford Pomerantz is a little surprised that it's taking this long to get something like Mars One off the ground. "I thought by now we would have colonized Mars," said Pomerantz, who's currently the oldest applicant on Mars One's list.
So what's the appeal of Mars One? It's too early for Brin, McArthur and Pomerantz to give a lot of thought to their adventure on Mars, let alone their death on Mars. Instead, they're focusing on the adventure here on Earth. Here's what's behind their thinking:
Mars One
David Brin: 'My main purpose is the conversation' Brin sees Mars One as just one of a number of ventures aimed at expanding humanity's frontier, ranging from Virgin Galactic's suborbital space tours to Golden Spike's moon missions. "It's emblematic of the new era that we're about to enter at long last ? what I call the barnstorming era," he said.
Like the daring airplane fliers of the 1920s, these 21st-century space barnstormers are willing to take bigger risks in hopes of providing bigger thrills ? and eventually, earning bigger payoffs. The Mars One project is "a great way to get the discussion going," Brin said.
"You have to assume that it may not work, and that there will be a statue of you on Mars someday," he said. "I'm aware of the tradeoffs, and I'm willing to explore it further, but largely my main purpose is the conversation. We've got to be talking about how we can be a more exploratory people ? a more interesting people, if you like."
Brin doesn't doubt that Mars One will find plenty of qualified (and interesting) people willing to take the risk.
"People who cannot imagine any sane person making that choice simply aren't envisioning the wide range of human diversity," said Brin, who has three children in school. "Consider what I told my family. By the very earliest date that Mars One might launch, I expect to be a spry 75-year-old whose kids are already successfully launched, and who might spend a few years doing something truly remarkable."
Even if it means dying on alien soil? Brin isn't completely sure he'd go that far, but he's willing to bet that others would.
"I think you'll find tens of thousands of people who, under those circumstances, will at least ponder it seriously," Brin said.
Mars One
Kayli McArthur: 'I'm trying to strive for something more' McArthur, a freshman at the University of Arizona, is one of more than three dozen?18-year-olds?on Mars One's list of applicants. Ever since she applied, she's been hearing that she has her whole life ahead of her, so why would she want to leave it all behind for Mars?
"Being young doesn't make me want to do it any less because I have my whole life ahead of me," she said. "It makes it more exciting. ... I love all my friends, my guy friends, my family. It's not that I'm trying to get away. It's like I'm trying to strive for something more."
She has long dreamed of going into outer space, and she figures that her future degree in materials science would come in handy for creating the first interplanetary settlement. "Going to Mars, there are so many opportunities for that," she said.?
So far, her family hasn't stood in her way. "My family jokes, like, 'Oh, Kayli, have your fun with it,'" she said. If the selection process gets more serious, she suspects she might face more resistance from her parents. But not from her grandfather.
"My grandpa is a retired three-star [general] in the Air Force," she said. "We were talking about it. I get really worked up and excited, and he was talking about it, too, and being realistic about it. He said, 'That would be so cool if you were able to do it.' ... I know my grandpa would totally support me."
Mars One
Sanford Pomerantz: 'Grandpa is going to Mars!' Pomerantz is old enough to remember when the idea of sending people into outer space seemed as far out as the idea of sending people on a one-way trip to Mars seems now. One of the books that made an impression on him in grade school was Robert Heinlein's "Red Planet: A Colonial Boy on Mars,"?which was published in 1949.
"I started as a physics major in the university, but then I got accepted into med school and changed directions," he said. At the age of 71, he's still a practicing psychiatrist in Topeka, Kan. But he's also still holding onto that boyhood dream of spaceflight.
"The Mars thing is exciting, because I hope it'll stimulate people to get interested in space. ... And I hope it has the secondary effect of stimulating science education, especially in the U.S.," he said.
Just as McArthur believes that Mars will need a materials scientist, Pomerantz believes the crew will need a psychiatrist. "Psychologically, it's going to be an interesting challenge, but human beings are very adaptable," he said. "It'll be exciting to go to a whole new world. It'll be a major step in human evolution."
If Pomerantz ends up being selected for the first Mars crew, he's likely to become not only the oldest human to head for the Red Planet, but the oldest human to go on any space mission. (The current record-holder is John Glenn, who flew on the shuttle Discovery when he was 77 years old.) For now at least, that prospect doesn't faze Pomerantz's three children and two grandchildren. "The grandchildren are excited," he said. "It's like, 'Grandpa is going to Mars!'"
Pomerantz became a certified scuba diver just two years ago, and he still expects to be in good physical and mental shape for liftoff in 2022. "Remember, age is a state of mind," he said. "Chronologlcally, I may be 71. ... But psychologically and physically, I'm definitely in my 20s. I look in the mirror and say, 'Who's that old guy?'"
Mars One's founders and would-be astronauts discuss plans to go a one-way trip to the Red Planet in 2023.
More about missions to Mars:
David Brin's latest science-fiction novel is "Existence,"?which is set in the latter part of the 21st century and involves matters way beyond Mars.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the NBC News Science Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with NBCNews.com's stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Why sign up for a one-way Mars trip? Three applicants explain the appeal - Cosmic Log
NASA / STScI
Mars looms large in a Hubble Space Telescope photo - and in the imaginations of those who have signed up for a one-way trip to the Red Planet. "It's not that I'm trying to get away," says 18-year-old Kayli McArthur, one of tens of thousands of applicants. "It's like I'm trying to strive for something more."
By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News
A one-way trip to Mars sounds like something you'd wish on your worst enemy ? so why would more than 78,000 people from around the world pay up to $75 for a chance to die on another planet?
"I can say I have an ulterior motive," said David Brin, who has written more than a dozen science-fiction novels ??including "The Postman," which was turned into a Kevin Costner movie in 1997. "I'd get a lot of writing done, and it might be memorable."
As a master of hard science fiction, the 62-year-old Brin knows better than most applicants what the first Red Planet settlers would face if they're sent off in 2022, as the Dutch-based Mars One venture has proposed.
The settlers would have to be sealed up in habitats, protected from harsh radiation, supplied with machine-made air and water, and nourished by whatever food can be grown on a cold, barren planet. They'd have to keep their sanity, millions of miles away from their families and Mission Control. Worst of all, they'd have to face the fact that there's no guarantee of ever going back.
View results
{{percent}}%
({{numVotes}} votes)
{{/data.answerData}}
{{data.totalVotes}} votes
Will this scheme actually work? "I give it a low probability of happening," Brin said, "and I don't consider it to be the most responsible thing I've ever seen."
Nevertheless, the venture has an attraction for Brin and tens of thousands of others, The ages of those listed in Mars One's database range from 18 to 71. All those applicants are facing a long road even before the first four-person crew gets off the planet. Mars One is accepting applicants through Aug. 31. The field of applicants would first be whittled down by panels of experts. Then they'd undergo trial by reality TV, followed by years of training.
"This may sound crazy, but it kind of reminds me of 'The Hunger Games,'" said Kayli McArthur, an 18-year-old student who's one of the youngest Mars One applicants. "It's cool that it would be televised, but that's not my whole thing."
On the other end of the age spectrum, 71-year-old psychiatrist Sanford Pomerantz is a little surprised that it's taking this long to get something like Mars One off the ground. "I thought by now we would have colonized Mars," said Pomerantz, who's currently the oldest applicant on Mars One's list.
So what's the appeal of Mars One? It's too early for Brin, McArthur and Pomerantz to give a lot of thought to their adventure on Mars, let alone their death on Mars. Instead, they're focusing on the adventure here on Earth. Here's what's behind their thinking:
Mars One
David Brin: 'My main purpose is the conversation' Brin sees Mars One as just one of a number of ventures aimed at expanding humanity's frontier, ranging from Virgin Galactic's suborbital space tours to Golden Spike's moon missions. "It's emblematic of the new era that we're about to enter at long last ? what I call the barnstorming era," he said.
Like the daring airplane fliers of the 1920s, these 21st-century space barnstormers are willing to take bigger risks in hopes of providing bigger thrills ? and eventually, earning bigger payoffs. The Mars One project is "a great way to get the discussion going," Brin said.
"You have to assume that it may not work, and that there will be a statue of you on Mars someday," he said. "I'm aware of the tradeoffs, and I'm willing to explore it further, but largely my main purpose is the conversation. We've got to be talking about how we can be a more exploratory people ? a more interesting people, if you like."
Brin doesn't doubt that Mars One will find plenty of qualified (and interesting) people willing to take the risk.
"People who cannot imagine any sane person making that choice simply aren't envisioning the wide range of human diversity," said Brin, who has three children in school. "Consider what I told my family. By the very earliest date that Mars One might launch, I expect to be a spry 75-year-old whose kids are already successfully launched, and who might spend a few years doing something truly remarkable."
Even if it means dying on alien soil? Brin isn't completely sure he'd go that far, but he's willing to bet that others would.
"I think you'll find tens of thousands of people who, under those circumstances, will at least ponder it seriously," Brin said.
Mars One
Kayli McArthur: 'I'm trying to strive for something more' McArthur, a freshman at the University of Arizona, is one of more than three dozen?18-year-olds?on Mars One's list of applicants. Ever since she applied, she's been hearing that she has her whole life ahead of her, so why would she want to leave it all behind for Mars?
"Being young doesn't make me want to do it any less because I have my whole life ahead of me," she said. "It makes it more exciting. ... I love all my friends, my guy friends, my family. It's not that I'm trying to get away. It's like I'm trying to strive for something more."
She has long dreamed of going into outer space, and she figures that her future degree in materials science would come in handy for creating the first interplanetary settlement. "Going to Mars, there are so many opportunities for that," she said.?
So far, her family hasn't stood in her way. "My family jokes, like, 'Oh, Kayli, have your fun with it,'" she said. If the selection process gets more serious, she suspects she might face more resistance from her parents. But not from her grandfather.
"My grandpa is a retired three-star [general] in the Air Force," she said. "We were talking about it. I get really worked up and excited, and he was talking about it, too, and being realistic about it. He said, 'That would be so cool if you were able to do it.' ... I know my grandpa would totally support me."
Mars One
Sanford Pomerantz: 'Grandpa is going to Mars!' Pomerantz is old enough to remember when the idea of sending people into outer space seemed as far out as the idea of sending people on a one-way trip to Mars seems now. One of the books that made an impression on him in grade school was Robert Heinlein's "Red Planet: A Colonial Boy on Mars,"?which was published in 1949.
"I started as a physics major in the university, but then I got accepted into med school and changed directions," he said. At the age of 71, he's still a practicing psychiatrist in Topeka, Kan. But he's also still holding onto that boyhood dream of spaceflight.
"The Mars thing is exciting, because I hope it'll stimulate people to get interested in space. ... And I hope it has the secondary effect of stimulating science education, especially in the U.S.," he said.
Just as McArthur believes that Mars will need a materials scientist, Pomerantz believes the crew will need a psychiatrist. "Psychologically, it's going to be an interesting challenge, but human beings are very adaptable," he said. "It'll be exciting to go to a whole new world. It'll be a major step in human evolution."
If Pomerantz ends up being selected for the first Mars crew, he's likely to become not only the oldest human to head for the Red Planet, but the oldest human to go on any space mission. (The current record-holder is John Glenn, who flew on the shuttle Discovery when he was 77 years old.) For now at least, that prospect doesn't faze Pomerantz's three children and two grandchildren. "The grandchildren are excited," he said. "It's like, 'Grandpa is going to Mars!'"
Pomerantz became a certified scuba diver just two years ago, and he still expects to be in good physical and mental shape for liftoff in 2022. "Remember, age is a state of mind," he said. "Chronologlcally, I may be 71. ... But psychologically and physically, I'm definitely in my 20s. I look in the mirror and say, 'Who's that old guy?'"
Mars One's founders and would-be astronauts discuss plans to go a one-way trip to the Red Planet in 2023.
More about missions to Mars:
David Brin's latest science-fiction novel is "Existence,"?which is set in the latter part of the 21st century and involves matters way beyond Mars.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the NBC News Science Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with NBCNews.com's stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) ? Two bombs exploded outside a court building in Russia's restive province of Dagestan on Monday, killing at least four people and wounding dozens of others, officials said.
The first bomb exploded in a parked car and the second went off in a trash bin about 15 minutes later after police had arrived on the scene in Makhachakala, the provincial capital, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Gasanov. He said the second blast, which was much more powerful, caused all of the casualties and many of those killed and wounded were police.
Health officials in Dagestan said about 45 people were taken to various hospitals for treatment. The federal Health Ministry in Moscow later said 35 people were hospitalized.
Investigators said it appeared that both explosions were set off by remote control.
Two separatist wars in Chechnya killed tens of thousands of people and spawned an Islamic insurgency that has engulfed the entire region, mainly neighboring Dagestan.
Deadly attacks on police and other officials occur almost daily.
Ex-Valve employees Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson had been hard at work on the project for over a year before Valve sliced off their bit of the company. Fortunately, Valve also let the project go with them, and the pair formed Technical Illusions to finish the sucker off. Now they're showing it off at Maker Faire where The Verge caught up with them.
Basically, once you don the glasses, the projectors shoot images out at a specialized, reflective projector screen. Then the screen spits them back at your face, and the glasses split them into left-eye and right-eye images for your 3D viewing pleasure.
While they are at it, the glasses also pick up on LEDs placed around the outside of the screen, and use that data to track your head's location in real-time, feeding you the correct perspectives of the non-existant 3D objects you're craning your head around to look at. It's pretty crazy.
So why not just goggles? Well, this approach lets you incorporate things like AR cards that sprout up game characters and whathaveyou, and then the glasses can track your line of sight to those physical objects to make sure they're rendering correctly in 3D.
The tech is obviously in its early stages, and part of the reason Technical Illusions has taken to Maker Faire is to try and figure out exactly how to apply this stuff. Beyond that, the setup?while impressive?is crazy sophisticated, with waaaaay more parts and requirements than any of the competing systems out there.
Still, it looks promising, and hopefully it'll make it out in some kind of simplified consumer form someday. But if nothing else, it's good to see other people shaking up the AR/VR scene with some wild new ideas. Who knows what other approaches there might be. Holodeck, you guys? You can hop over to The Verge to see these puppies in action. [The Verge]
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - An upmarket constituency of Pakistan's violence-plagued city of Karachi voted again under tight security on Sunday, a day after gunmen killed a senior politician from a reformist party in the district and a week after general elections.
It was not immediately clear who killed Zara Shahid Hussain, a leading member of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) party of former cricket star Imran Khan.
Imran blamed the killing on the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party, which has a stranglehold on the city. MQM leaders denied responsibility, condemned the killing and demanded a retraction from Imran.
The attack in the upscale Defence area, the family neighborhood of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, capped a bloody election campaign in which around 150 people were killed nationwide.
Last Saturday's elections handed a landslide victory to opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
But results from a handful of constituencies across the country are still uncertain amid accusations of vote-rigging. There is re-polling in a few others where security issues prevented voting.
Last week's election gave the MQM 18 of 19 national assembly seats in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city. The constituency, known blandly as NA-250, where Sunday's re-poll is taking place is thought to be a stronghold of the PTI.
The re-vote took place at 43 of 180 polling stations. The MQM, which wanted re-polling of the whole constituency, boycotted the vote.
Whatever the result, Sharif's national landslide win is assured. But as Pakistan's financial center, Karachi generates around half of government revenues and stability in the city is key to stability of the whole country.
For the first time, each ballot box was guarded by a ranger and a soldier inside and outside the booths to ensure security and no violence had been reported by early afternoon.
CONTROVERSIAL PARTY
Police said that two gunmen shot Hussain on Saturday outside her home in Defence.
"Her death has sent shockwaves across the rank and file of the party," Khan said in a statement.
"I hold (MQM leader) Altaf Hussain directly responsible for the murder as he openly threatened PTI workers and leaders through public broadcasts," Imran, recovering in hospital from a fall during campaigning, added in a tweet.
"I also hold the British government responsible as I had warned them about British citizen Altaf Hussain after his open threats."
Altaf Hussain is accused of murder in Pakistan and leads his party remotely from exile in England. His party is designated a terrorist organization by Canada, a charge it strongly denies.
In recent days he gave a speech which many Pakistanis felt was an incitement to attack political rivals. British police are investigating whether or not it constituted a hate speech.
The MQM, a secular party, is locked in a battle with various rival contenders for influence in Karachi, including Pakistan's Taliban movement, which has sought to gain a foothold in various districts on the outskirts of the city in recent years.
Imran's election campaign electrified many Pakistanis, pushing the PTI from a marginal party to Pakistan's third largest.
Karachi, the nuclear-armed country's key port, is home to 18 million people. It typically sees about a dozen murders a day, a combination of political killings, attacks by the Pakistan Taliban and sectarian militant groups, and street crime.
(Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
"The film is densely plotted, occasionally bordering on the convoluted, but the clarity and inventiveness of the direction keeps the drama and the action constantly percolating." Slant Magazine.?Full Review
"Spectacular special effects, superbly crafted action sequences, plenty of humor and terrific performances render it a cut above most summer blockbusters." Claudia Puig, USA Today.?Full Review
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review of the film with a comment below after you do.
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The Great Gatsby (also in 3D)
"Baz Luhrmann?s The Great Gatsby is the first must-see film of Hollywood?s summer season, if for no other reason than its jaw-dropping evocation of Roaring ?20s New York ? in 3-D, no less."?Lou Lumenick, New York Post.?Full Review
"The acting is really good, particularly Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby. But boy, with a running time of nearly 21/2 hours and a near-constant bombardment of visual overstimulation, it?s exhausting."?Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic.?Full Review
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review of the film with a comment below after you do.
- - - - -?
Iron Man 3
Run Time:?130mins.
Starring:?Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr.
Director:?Shane Black
Trailer
"Besides rehabbing a hero who overcomes anxiety to save the world and defeat the terror-industrial complex by the simple matter of cloning his body armor, the movie proves that there?s still intelligent life on Planet Marvel. As you?re propelled out of the theater on IM3?s hydraulic lift of pleasures, you?re likely to say, ?That is how it?s done.??Richard Corliss, Time.
"Given the keys to the franchise and a role in the writing, Black has massively upped the verbal sparring and kept the broad inventiveness of comic-book malleability in mind. ?I?m a mechanic,? Stark says to the boy in a moment of self-doubt. That?s 100% Black, that line, a tidy code of craft, and the jitters pass."?Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York.
Have you seen this movie? Help your neighbors out. Leave a review of the film with a comment below.
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Peeples
"Peeples may appropriate its entire premise and plot structure from ?Meet the Parents,? but its heart is suffused with French cinema." Variety.?Full Review
"Director Tina Gordon Chism keeps the innocuous class-meets-crass jokes bubbling, and the actors are amiable, but Peeples often seems to want to turn these characters into benignly goofy role models. Maybe that's why the basic comic collision never explodes." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly.?Full Review
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review of the film with a comment below after you do.
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The Big Wedding
"There?s not a bad performance in this movie. De Niro, Keaton and Sarandon are particularly good, what a surprise. But it feels as if all the guests at ?The Big Wedding? are wearing ID tags telling us their one Plot Point." Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times.
"There is nothing about the movie that isn?t utterly predictable. You meet a character, and it?s immediately obvious what?s going to happen to him (or her). And then it happens. Maybe it?s meant to make you feel good about your deductive reasoning skills or something. But mostly it just makes you want to see something else."?Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic.
Have you seen this movie? Help your neighbors out. Leave a review of the film with a comment below.
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Mud
"Reese Witherspoon's unglamorous, understated supporting work recalls the kinds of films she made before becoming a movie star. Other recognizable faces include Sam Shepard, Joe Don Baker, Michael Shannon, and Sarah Paulson." James Berardinelli, ReelViews.?Full Review
"It?s hard to believe Nichols thinks he can get away with all this and harder still to believe he does. It?s the quality of the attention that he brings ? his focus ? that makes his work so engrossing." David Edelstein, New York Magazine (Vulture).?Full Review
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Pain & Gain
"This is easily Bay?s best movie, the work of a filmmaker with a cracked sense of humor that he is able to share with the audience." Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald.
"Yes, the canon invoked for this film is that of the Three Stooges, but it?s still not as magnificently berserk as they can be. Set your expectations carefully for this one." Louis Black, Austin Chronicle.
Have you seen this movie? Help your neighbors out. Leave a review of the film with a comment below.
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42
"One of the all-time great sports movies ? primarily because it's one of the all-time great sports stories." Steve Persall, Tampa Bay Times.
"42 is competent, occasionally rousing and historically respectful ? but it rarely rises above standard, old-fashioned biography fare. It?s a mostly unexceptional film about an exceptional man." Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times.
Have you seen this movie? Help your neighbors out. Leave a review of the film with a comment below.
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The Croods (3D)
"This Chris Sanders fellow knows how to craft a heart-warming animation, and if not for a few minor problems this would have had a legitimate shot at the best animated movie of 2013."?Laremy Legel, Film.com
"The movie is at its most interesting and amusing when riffing on how cavemen might have reacted to new experiences and ideas, like fire and shoes. Whether the kiddies will appreciate that is unclear, but they?ll certainly like the voice work done by Emma Stone as Eep."?Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times.
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None of these spark your interest? Catch one of these older or lesser known titles before they're gone:
Rockshow
Oblivion
Oz the Great and Powerful
Century 20 Theaters at Jordan Creek Town Center in West Des Moines will be showing all these flicks. Showtimes and ticket cost can be found on the theater's website.
When Valve's first hardware hire, Jeri Ellsworth, tweeted back in February that she was fired from the company, we were disappointed but also intrigued by what she meant by "time for new exciting projects." Well we finally saw what she's been up to here at at Maker Faire 2013. It's called Cast AR, and it's a pair of 3D augmented-reality glasses that she and former Valve programmer Rick Johnson were working on at Valve before they left.
The model we saw is still in the early prototype stages, but the concepts are already in place. Perched atop a pair of active shutter glasses are a couple of miniature LCD projectors, which bounce images from a connected computer onto a special reflective surface at a 120Hz refresh rate. A camera module sits on the eyewear's bridge and monitors an array of infrared LEDs embedded in the reflective surface. This allows for quick and accurate head tracking. Join us after the break for our impressions and our video interview with Jeri Ellsworth.
>>>a gallery here in new
york city
is raising eyebrows that features photographs of people going about their daily lives but some say those images are an invasion of privacy. nbc's mara schiavocampo has this story. mara, good morning.
>> reporter: savannah, good morning. why are so many people upset about these pictures? because the subjects were photographed in secret. now the personal images aren't just on public display, they're also on sale. they're snapshots of the most intimate and private moments putting a sleeping child to bed, napping. the problem, the people in these pictures had no idea they were being photographed.
>>i'm upset because a lot of children live in this building, i have children, young children in this building.
>> reporter: the pictures were taken by arne
svenson
across the street using a
telephoto lens
. "the neighbors" are on sale for as much as $8,000 each.
>>i'm sure there's a lot we haven't seen, i don't know what he has on film and i think that's everybody's big concern is what else is there and what else is he planning on doing with them.
>> reporter: svenson
argues he's done nothing wrong and while no faces are fully visible residents argue it's an invasion of privacy.
>>i don't feel comfortable knowing that someone was pointing a camera into our place with a
telephoto lens
.
>> reporter: the gallery describes the photos as "social documentation in a very rarified environment" and fans of the exhibit agree.
>>you can't tell who they are so i think it's fine. i think they're, i love that, too, it's mysterious. i love them.
>> reporter: now
svenson
says he got the idea of these pictures from
bird watching
that it's really no different but he might have a hard time getting new pictures. since the exhibit opened a lot of people are keeping their curtains closed.
KAVARNA, Bulgaria (AP) ? Ryder Cup-winning teammates Graeme McDowell, Nicolas Colsaerts and Francesco Molinari are through to the quarterfinals of the World Match Play Championship.
McDowell beat Bo Van Pelt 2 and 1 on the Thracian Cliffs course Saturday and will look to avenge his loss from last year's final when he meets Colsaerts. The defending champion won 2 up against Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano after being ahead by five shots with five holes to play.
"I got off to a great start again, playing the first eight holes again fantastically. But just lost my rhythm for a while, and it was good to get the win in the end as I was fully prepared to go down the first extra hole," McDowell said. "This afternoon's match will be a little repeat of last year's final. He's beaten me twice the last two years running in this tournament, so you could say I'm owed one but we will see."
Colsaerts' five-shot lead evaporated until he was only 1 up when playing the last hole. But his approach landed within 4 feet of the hole, and his Spanish opponent conceded the hole and match.
"It was totally my fault as I should have ended our game an hour or an hour and a half earlier as I had a putt on 13 to win the match," Colsaerts said.
Molinari defeated Carl Pettersson 6 and 4 in a one-sided match for his third straight victory, while Thongchai Jaidee needed three extra play-off holes to defeat Peter Hanson.
In other matches, Branden Grace topped Brett Rumford 4 and 3, ending the Australian's hopes of becoming the first player since Seve Ballasteros in 1986 to win three straight European Tour titles.
"Branden just played too good right from the word go," Rumford said. "I started to play well in the middle of the round but just couldn't hole any putts and put pressure back on Branden, so he's seemingly had a nice leisurely walk this morning."
Thomas Aiken advanced to the last eight after Shane Lowry hit his second shot from a bunker into a hazard at the first playoff hole.
