Forecast: Snow with a high probability of bacteria

Bacteria, snow mix in forecast

Those beautiful snowflakes drifting out of the sky may have a surprise inside - bacteria.

Most snow and rain form in chilly conditions high in the sky, and atmospheric scientists have long known that, under most conditions, the moisture needs something to cling to in order to condense.

Those beautiful snowflakes drifting out of the sky may have a surprise inside — bacteria. Most snow and rain forms in chilly conditions high in the sky and atmospheric scientists have long known that, under most conditions, the moisture needs something to cling to in order to condense.

Now, a new study shows a surprisingly large share of those so-called nucleators turn out to be bacteria that can affect plants.

"Bacteria are by far the most active ice nuclei in nature," said Brent C. Christner, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Louisiana State University.

Christner and colleagues sampled snow from Antarctica, France, Montana and the Yukon and they report their findings in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

In some samples as much as 85 percent of the nuclei were bacteria, Christner said in a telephone interview. The bacteria were most common in France, followed by Montana and the Yukon, and was even present to a lesser degree in Antarctica.

The most common bacteria found was Pseudomonas syringae, which can cause disease in several types of plants including tomatoes and beans.

The study found it in 20 samples of snow from around the world and subsequent research has also found it in summer rainfall in Louisiana.

The focus on Pseudomonas in the past has been to try and eliminate it, Christner said, but now that it turns out to be a major factor in encouraging snow and rain, he wonders if that is a good idea. Would elimination of this bacteria result in less rain or snow, or would it be replaced by other nuclei such as soot and dust?

"The question is, are they a good guy or a bad guy," he said, "and I don't have the answer to that."

What is clear is that Pseudomonas is effective at getting moisture in a cloud to condense, he pointed out. Killed bacteria are even used as an additive in snow making at ski resorts.

Which raises the question, Christner said, of whether planting crops known to be infected by Pseudomonas in areas experiencing drought might help increase precipitation there by adding more nuclei to the atmosphere.

It has been known that microbes and insects and algae blow around in the atmosphere, Christner added, "but the atmosphere has not been recognized as a place where things are active. That has been changing in the last decade. In a cloud you've got water, organic carbon," everything necessary to support a microorganism.

Virginia K. Walker, a biologist at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, said other researchers have found bacteria serving as snow nuclei, but had not identified it as Pseudomonas.

"It's one of those great bacteria ... you can find them anywhere," said Walker, who was not part of the research team. "They are really interesting."

Charles Knight, a cloud physics expert at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., wasn't surprised by the finding, however.

At relatively warm temperatures of just a few degrees below freezing, bacteria are "remarkably effective" at attracting ice formation, said Knight, who also was not part of the research group.

The study was supported by a Louisiana State University research grant.

In a second paper published online by Science, researchers report that the amount of dust blown into the tropical Pacific over the last half-million years has varied widely between warm and cold periods.

Dust also has important impacts on weather and climate ranging from serving as nuclei for rain to blocking some incoming radiation from the sun, and it also delivers minerals like iron that increase growth of plankton in ocean areas.

Cores of seafloor sediment were taken from locations across the tropical Pacific covering a period of 500,000 years.

Researchers led by Gisela Winckler of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University found that dust deposited in the ocean peaked during cold periods and was less during warm periods. Using isotopes, the scientists traced the dust on the western side to Asia and that on the eastern side to South America.

They say the reasons for the change are complex but in general it tends to be windier in cold periods meaning more dust gets blown around.

They found that cold peaks occurred about every 100,000 years, with the last one at 20,000 years ago.

more
Brent Christner, LSU professor of biological sciences, in partnership with colleagues in Montana and France, recently found evidence that rain-making bacteria are widely distributed in the atmosphere. These biological particles could factor heavily into the precipitation cycle, affecting climate, agricultural productivity and even global warming. Christner and his colleagues published their results on Feb 29 in the journal Science.
Christner's team examined precipitation from global locations and demonstrated that the most active ice nuclei -- a substrate that enhances the formation of ice -- are biological in origin. This is important because the formation of ice in clouds is required for snow and most rainfall. Dust and soot particles can serve as ice nuclei, but biological ice nuclei are capable of catalyzing freezing at much warmer temperatures. If present in clouds, biological ice nuclei may affect the processes that trigger precipitation.

The concept of rain-making bacteria isn't far-fetched. Cloud seeding with silver iodide or dry ice has been done for more than 60 years. Many ski resorts use a commercially available freeze-dried preparation of ice-nucleating bacteria to make snow when the temperature is just a few degrees below freezing.

"My colleague David Sands from Montana State University proposed the concept of 'bioprecipitation' over 25 years ago and few scientists took it seriously, but evidence is beginning to accumulate that supports this idea," said Christner.

But, what makes this research more complicated is that most known ice-nucleating bacteria are plant pathogens. These pathogens, which are basically germs, can cause freezing injury in plants, resulting in devastating economic effects on agricultural crop yields.

"As is often the case with bacterial pathogens, other phases of their life cycle are frequently ignored because of the focused interest in their role in plant or animal health," said Christner. "Transport through the atmosphere is a very efficient dissemination strategy, so the ability of a pathogen to affect its precipitation from the atmosphere would be advantageous in finding new hosts."

It is possible that the atmosphere represents one facet of the infection cycle, whereby the bacteria infects a plant, multiplies, is aerosolized into the atmosphere and then delivered to a new plant through atmospheric precipitation.

"The role that biological particles play in atmospheric processes has been largely overlooked. However, we have found biological ice nuclei in precipitation samples from Antarctica to Louisiana -- they're ubiquitous. Our results provide an impetus for atmospheric scientists to start thinking about the role these particles play in precipitation," said Christner. "This work is truly multi-disciplinary, bridging the disciplines of ecology, microbiology, plant pathology and climatology. It represents a completely new avenue of research and clearly demonstrates that we are just beginning to understand the intricate interplay between the planet's climate and biosphere."

Michael Jackson faces forced sale of Neverland

Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch looks set to be put up for sale at a public auction next month.

The famous property will go under the hammer if the pop star does not pay the 24 million dollars plus he still owes on the property.

Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch could be headed for the chopping block.

A San Francisco-based title company said Tuesday that the 2,500-acre property in Los Olivos, California, might be sold at a public auction scheduled for Mar. 19 unless the financially beleaguered singer can come up with the $24 million he still owes on the estate.

Financial Title Co. filed the notice of trustee's sale in Santa Barbara Superior Court.

Jackson's people have not yet commented on this latest turn of events.

His rep issued a statement in November denying he had defaulted on a massive home loan and was in danger of losing his extravagant abode.

The erstwhile King of Pop has been living mainly in Las Vegas since returning to the United States a little more than a year ago, following extended stays in Bahrain and Europe. He hasn't lived at Neverland, which he bought in 1988 for $17 million, since 2003, when police first raided his home while building a child molestation case against him.

Jackson was acquitted of all charges in 2005 and immediately left the country.

Per court documents obtained by Fox News, the auction would really bleed the property dry. It would include not just the grounds and buildings on the property but all of the furnishings, appliances and various child-friendly accoutrements Jackson has added over the years, including "all merry-go-round-type devices."

The list is mighty thorough:

"Generators, engines, boilers, incinerators, building materials, appliances and goods of every nature whatsoever…including…those for the purposes of supplying or distributing heat, cooling, electricity, gas, water, air and light
Plumbing, bathtubs, water heaters, water closets, sinks, ranges, stoves, microwave ovens, refrigerators, dishwashers, disposals and any other kitchen equipment
All trees, shrubs and plants, sculptures, statuary and other outdoor artistic creations and displays
All railroad equipment, trains, locomotives, rail cars and other rolling stock
All Ferris wheels, carousels, merry-go-round-type devices, indoor and outdoor gymnasium and athletic equipment…"
And so on.

In March 2006, Jackson's camp made good on $300,000 in back wages owed to Neverland employees, after California's Department of Industrial Relations ordered the workers to quit until they were paid. The issue came to the department's attention after Jackson's workers' compensation insurance lapsed.

At the same time, Jackson was also taking heat from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which implored him to allow the organization to find new homes in "legitimate sanctuaries" for the various animals living on the property.

more....

Jackson faces Neverland auction

Pop star Michael Jackson could lose his Neverland ranch if he fails to pay nearly $25m (£12.5m) that he owes on the sprawling California property.
If Mr Jackson does not pay more than three months' arrears on the property it will go to auction on 19 March, a Santa Barbara official told the BBC.

The reclusive singer has not lived at the property since his acquittal on child molestation charges in 2005.

He bought Neverland in 1987 intending to create a fantasy-land for children.

It is named after an island in the story Peter Pan, where children never grow up.

After he purchased Neverland, Mr Jackson built a zoo and fairground on the 2,800 acre (1,100 hectare) property north-west of Santa Barbara.

It was closed in 2006 after he failed to pay his staff or maintain proper insurance.

According to court documents cited by Fox News, the auction is to include the house and everything on the estate including "all ferris wheels, carousels, merry-go-round type devices... and all amusement ride equipment and facilities of every kind or nature".

Technorati : Michael Jackson, Neverland, auction, entertainment, news, popsinger

Sports leaders debate merits of federal intervention

Members of Congress said yesterday that they plan to introduce legislation creating a national steroid policy, a proposal immediately opposed by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and players' representatives from football and baseball.

"It is my full intention to move a bill," Rep. Bobby Rush, chairman of an Energy and Commerce subcommittee, said during a hearing that brought together the commissioners of baseball, the NFL, NBA and NHL, as well as NCAA president Myles Brand.

A horse racing official also testified and called for states to bar the use of steroids in thoroughbreds - an action Maryland has studied but not yet taken. "The racing industry is in agreement racehorses should not compete on anabolic steroids," said Alexander Waldrop, president of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, an industry group.

Rush said his aim was a "level national policy" establishing standards to curb the use of performance-enhancing drugs across football, baseball, basketball, hockey and perhaps the NCAA. The sports currently have varying testing protocols and penalties. The Illinois Democrat, who hasn't yet drafted a bill, said the stakes are too high and the problems too entrenched for Congress to ignore.

Rush acknowledged after the hearing that it might take months for the legislation to move through Congress - perhaps until a new presidential administration takes over in January.

The hearing came two weeks after the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform heard pitcher Roger Clemens deny allegations of steroid use made by his personal trainer. Yesterday, the panel asked the Justice Department to investigate Clemens for perjury. "The committee's decision is unwarranted and not supported by the facts," said Clemens' attorney, Rusty Hardin.

Rush and other lawmakers found support for their sweeping proposal from the testimony of an anti-doping expert who told the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection that U.S. leagues' policies are inadequate.

"While the professional leagues' anti-doping policies have significantly improved over the past several years, they still fail to fully implement all the basic elements of the most effective programs," said Travis Tygart, chief executive officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which monitors drug use in the Olympics.

Olympians who use performance-boosting drugs face a two-year suspension for a first violation and a lifetime ban for a second. American sports leagues are more lenient. Baseball, prodded by Congress the past few years, has adopted the toughest penalties of the four sports represented yesterday. Major leaguers are suspended 50 games for a first steroid offense, are suspended 100 games for a second violation and receive a lifetime ban for a third.

In 2005, the subcommittee held a similar hearing before approving legislation similar to what Rush and others are contemplating. But the bill didn't have enough support to become law.

"Let's get it right this time," Texas Republican Joe Barton said. "Let's go ahead and get something into law that's acceptable."

But NBA commissioner David Stern countered: "The sports leagues have pretty much gotten it right in the intervening three years. So I would say this is an area where federal legislation is not necessary."

The NBA's policy, toughened since 2005, suspends first-time violators 10 games for a first steroid offense, 25 games for a second and one year for a third violation. Few players have been suspended, and Stern said the penalties are "strict enough."

Goodell said in written testimony: "We do not believe that there is a demonstrated need for federal legislation." NFL Players Association chief Gene Upshaw agreed. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig suggested he favored making changes through collective bargaining with players.

But Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn told Stern and the other commissioners, "If you all had gotten it right, we would not be here today."

Rush had wanted to question World Wrestling Entertainment chairman Vince McMahon, who declined because his attorney was unable to attend the hearing. The committee became interested in WWE after the death last year of professional wrestler Chris Benoit, who strangled his wife and 7-year-old son before hanging himself. Steroids were found in Benoit's home, although it is unclear whether they played a role in the slayings.

Kentucky Republican Ed Whitfield said he would not be opposed to legislation to compel states to ban steroids at horse races. "Is it time to call the federal cavalry and send it chasing into your stables with guns blazing to clean up the sport of horse racing?" he asked.

The Maryland Racing Commission says it hopes to have rules in place by next year cracking down on "cheaters" who load up their horses with steroids.

more....

Stern Urges Congress Not to Pass Testing Law

N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern was not about to back down.

Summoned to Capitol Hill to discuss whether Congress should legislate drug testing in the major professional sports leagues, Stern took exception Wednesday to lawmakers' remarks and stood up for his colleagues from the N.F.L., the N.H.L. and Major League Baseball.

"This is an area where federal legislation is not necessary," Stern told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

The hearing was upstaged by another panel. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Roger Clemens lied when he denied using steroids and human growth hormone at a sworn deposition Feb. 5 and at a hearing Feb. 13.

Wednesday's hearing produced the rare appearance of the four commissioners sitting side by side with their sport's union chiefs: Bud Selig sat near Donald Fehr, and Stern was next to Billy Hunter. Then there was the N.F.L.'s Roger Goodell and Gene Upshaw, and the N.H.L.'s Gary Bettman and Paul Kelly.

All tried to convince skeptical lawmakers that their leagues had taken steps to thwart steroid use and were awaiting a dependable way to detect human growth hormone, preferably through a urine test and not a blood test.

"In spite of the fact that they want to pronounce that they have it under control, I still think that it's not fully under control," said the subcommittee's chairman, Representative Bobby Rush, Democrat of Illinois. "And we have to do more."

Baseball had the most to prove, having implemented a stringent steroids policy only in the past few years. The N.F.L. began addressing the problem two decades ago, and the N.B.A. and the N.H.L. said steroid use was virtually nonexistent in their sports.

All four leagues have toughened their drugs policies since 2005, when many of the same witnesses - including Stern - testified before the same subcommittee. Several bills were introduced in the House and the Senate after that session, but none came close to becoming law.

"Let's get it right this time," Representative Joe Barton, Republican of Texas, said. "Let's go ahead and get something into law that is acceptable. It's no fun having this hearing every two to three years."

That was when Stern interrupted, breaching protocol to point out the progress that had been made. "The sports leagues have gotten it right in the intervening three years," he said.

Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, said: "Mr. Stern, I would suggest that we have not gotten it right enough. If we had gotten it right - if you all had gotten it right - we would not be here again today."

Blackburn said the leagues should be doing more to stem substance abuse at the grass-roots level, and her comment to the witnesses that "you all have been very well coached" piqued Stern further.

"Enormous progress has been made," said Stern, who referred to the "voluminous, uncoached record" of material made available to the subcommittee.

The commissioners and the union heads agreed that collective bargaining was the best way to address the drug problem, rather than a law from Congress that would apply to all sports.

Rush disagreed, saying the subcommittee would continue to pursue legislation. But he was not specific. "At the Olympics, they deal with a multitude of sports," Rush said. "And they seem to come up with a pretty good way of looking at the differences but also the similarities."

Selig said he met with Fehr and a group of players to discuss the recommendations of George Mitchell's report. Selig said he hoped the "ongoing" talks produced a more transparent and flexible drug-testing program.

Rush said he was "extremely disappointed" that Vince McMahon, the World Wrestling Entertainment chairman, declined an invitation to testify. "Steroid abuse in professional wrestling is probably worse than in any professional sport or amateur sport," Rush said.

A second panel included officials from the United States Olympic Committee, the United States Anti-Doping Agency, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the N.C.A.A. president Myles Brand.

Technorati : Olympians, Sports, debate, federal intervention, lifestyle, merits, news

Leafs pull off three minor deals

When defenceman Pavel Kubina agreed and then later refused to waive the no-trade clause in his contract, Cliff Fletcher lost his last chance to move any of the five Toronto Maple Leafs with those clauses in their contracts and had to settle for three smaller deals on trade-deadline day.
Maple Leafs-Panthers Preview
Though they're tied in the standings, the Toronto Maple Leafs were the sellers and the Florida Panthers were the buyers when the teams completed two deals before the trade deadline.

Perhaps the reason was the result the last time these two teams faced off.

The Leafs will look to avenge their worst loss of the season on Wednesday when they visit the struggling Panthers, who are coming off their own worst defeat of 2007-08.

The teams face off one day after completing a pair of trades. Toronto sent left wing Chad Kilger to Florida for a third-round draft pick and right wing Wade Belak to the Panthers for a fifth-round selection.

Kilger will fill the void created with the injury to Richard Zednik, whose carotid artery was sliced at Buffalo on Feb. 10. Kilger had 10 goals and seven assists in 53 games with the Leafs this season.

``With the Richard Zednik injury we needed a big, fast and skilled winger to be able to play on one of our top lines,'' coach and general manager Jacques Martin said. ``Chad can play that role for us. He is a gritty, character veteran that will bring experience and a positive attitude to our locker room.''

Later in the day the Panthers (28-30-7) traded Ruslan Salei - their second-highest scoring defenseman - to Colorado for Karlis Skrastins and a third-round pick.

The Panthers were recently in contention in the crowded Southeast Division, but they've lost four of their last five to fall into a tie with Toronto (27-28-9) near the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

They were hardly equals on Feb. 5, when Florida earned an 8-0 win at Toronto, chasing goalie Vesa Toskala after just 28 minutes. Zednik had a hat trick in that game.

``We can't roll over like that in any game,'' Toronto's Matt Stajan said that night. ``It's embarrassing to lose like that on home ice.''

Toronto hasn't embarrassed itself much in the last five games, winning four times. The Leafs are coming off a 5-0 win at rival Ottawa on Monday, when Darcy Tucker had two goals and an assist and Mats Sundin scored in his first game since refusing to waive his no-trade clause.

Sundin had been widely rumored to be on the trading block, but he chose to stay in Toronto, where he has spent the last 13 seasons. Instead, Toronto only dealt Kilger and Belak to the Panthers and veteran defenseman Hal Gill to Pittsburgh for draft picks.

``I think everybody's kind of happy,'' Toskala said of the Sundin situation. ``We know what's going to happen now. We don't have to guess anymore and I think that relaxed the room a little bit more.''

Toskala had 31 saves against the Senators for his third shutout of the season, and he's stopped 55 of 56 shots in the last two games, both Toronto wins. He has started 15 straight for the Leafs, going 8-6-1 with a 2.35 goals-against average over that span.

``We've played pretty well since we've had a fuller, healthier lineup, especially with our defense,'' Tucker said. ``Vesa's played great for us in net and our defense has played well and given us an opportunity to win every night. That's obviously the team that everyone expected us to be.''

The Panthers have been worse than they hoped in recent games, including a 5-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday. Goalie Tomas Vokoun is on a personal four-game losing streak with a 4.19 GAA over that stretch.

``We don't play well, that's why we're losing,'' Vokoun said. ``It's not by accident or about bad luck.''

Vokoun has a 3-1-1 record and a 1.60 GAA in five career appearances against the Maple Leafs, while Toskala had been 3-0-0 with a 1.33 GAA against Florida before the blowout loss earlier this month.

more..

'We're happy with the trade results': Leafs GM Fletcher

With five players who refused to waive their no-trade clauses, Toronto Maple Leafs interim general manager Cliff Fletcher could only make a handful of minor deals prior to Tuesday's NHL trade deadline.

Toronto started the day by sending forward-defenceman Wade Belak to the Florida Panthers for a fifth-round pick in this summer's NHL draft.

Toronto Maple Leafs interim general manager Cliff Fletcher, left, made three minor trade deals on Tuesday.
(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press) The Leafs then traded away forward Chad Kilger to Florida for a third-round pick this year, and dealt defenceman Hal Gill to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a second-round pick in June and a fifth-rounder in 2009.

"It's been a very busy two days. Lots of dialogue and lots of telephone calls, but the reality of the situation in the Maple Leaf world is that we weren't skating in the same arenas as some of the other teams," Fletcher told reporters Tuesday.

"I'm dealing for draft choices today, and my son is dealing for Marian Hossa," Fletcher joked, referring to his son Chuck, an assistant GM with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who acquired Hossa in a blockbuster deal with the Atlanta Thrashers.

Many Leafs fans were hoping Fletcher could pull off a couple of big trades to help rebuild a team that currently sits 12th in the Eastern Conference and is in danger of missing the playoffs for the third straight season.

But Fletcher's hands were somewhat tied behind his back as five marquee Leafs - forwards Mats Sundin and Darcy Tucker, and defencemen Pavel Kubina, Brian McCabe and Tomas Kaberle - had declined to waive no-trade clauses in their contracts.

In spite of that, Fletcher said he felt Toronto made some good deals.

"We felt that we accomplished what we were trying to do today. We picked up some draft choices that will be very important to us moving forward in the future, and we're happy with the results of the day," Fletcher explained.

"It's been well-documented about the five players who had no-trade clauses in their contracts who exercised their rights and said they would not accept a trade. So moving on from there, we went to work and were able to put four draft choices in the bank to help us go forward starting in June."

Fletcher revealed that one of the players decided to waive his no-trade clause on Monday, but then changed his mind after Toronto's 5-0 win over the Ottawa Senators Monday night.

Some NHL teams asked Toronto about the availability of Nik Antropov, but Fletcher said there was little chance the Leafs were going to trade the Russian forward.

"There were inquiries made about Antropov, but you have to decide where you're going to start building your base from, and [goalie] Vesa Toskala and Antropov fit nicely into that pattern. While we would have entertained offers for them ... those are two players that we'd like to see around and be part of the future," Fletcher said.

Players from the Toronto Marlies, the Leafs' American Hockey League affiliate, will be given the chance to audition during the last 18 games of the season with Belak, Kilger and Gill gone, Fletcher said.

Fletcher also said the Leafs will be very aggressive in the free-agent market this summer.

"Moving forward at the end of the season, we will look to the draft in June, we will look to trades, some of which were started by preliminary discussions that took place the past few days, and we'll look aggressively when free agency starts July 1," Fletcher explained.

Technorati : Leafs pull off three minor deals, news, sports.lifestyle

HAVE YOU? How to Keep a Sharp Mind and Good Attitude

How to Keep a Sharp Mind and Good Attitude

We all want to keep our minds sharp and fresh. By working to keep your mind sharp, you can improve your attitude. Nothing angers a person more than not being able to remember important things or events. By having a sharp mind you can figure situations out better and make wiser decisions. Choose your friends wisely. Having a good sharp mind can improve your life all the way around, so keep that mind active! There are numerous ways to keep your mind sharp while keeping a good, well-rounded attitude.

Heed this next statement: No matter how sharp a mind you may have, no one can remember everything. Therefore, don't beat yourself up trying. Learning to write things down helps.

Everyone has some type of special talent, so find out what yours is and use it. Be open to trying different things. You could find a hidden talent that you are not aware of.

Maintain a regular exercise program. It will help to relieve tension. Relieving tension alone can improve your thought patterns. The less tension that you have the sharper your mind will become. You will begin to develop a better attitude as time goes on.

You should find a program that works for you.

Some people find that writing poetry can be relaxing plus it is a great way to express yourself. Not everyone writes poetry so find your own mode of self expression. Try sewing, playing a musical instrument, or gardening.

You are never too old to learn. Don't let learning stop just because you're out of school. Go to your local library to gain more knowledge. It is a great place to relax, gather thoughts, and focus on studying. If you have any spare time, carry a book over to the park or stop in at a family restaurant.

It all aids in building a sharper better mind, and improves your attitude.

You should treat yourself as well as you treat others. It will improve the way you think.

You will be a happier individual with a sharper mind and better attitude.

Try buying yourself a small gift while out shopping for others. It is always good to give, and being generous is nice, but charity should begin at home.

Remember, too, that generosity involves more than just material things and satisfaction is not achieved by consumption.

Figure out for yourself the true meaning of what is important in life. In doing so you will build a sharper mind and a better attitude. For where others may have failed and so never know the true meaning, you may succeed. Search deep inside for your inner self.

You are truly blessed if you have common sense. There is nothing like good old common sense, for without it how can you possibly achieve having a sharp mind?

Use your mind more instead of using a calculator or adding machine. This is to say, especially, on simple things that you can easily total up in your head or on a piece of paper.

Many people haven't done long division since grade school; give it a try sometime.

Stay focused on making your own decisions. Don't let other people try to make decisions for you.

Be firm about speaking for yourself. And don't be afraid of expressing your opinion. Everyone has an opinion and the right to have one. Who knows, your opinion may catch on.

You should jog, run, ski, play ball, fish, write, garden, or whatever makes you happy. Doing things that you enjoy will help you to keep your mind fresh and clear and your attitude at its best.

Learn some basic memory techniques. To start off with, you could find some books written by Tony Buzan or Dominic O'Brien: both of them are top people in the memory world.

Tips

Sit down and think it out, what can you do to keep a sharper mind and a better attitude? You'll be amazed at what that you figure out for yourself.

Don't let others rule your life, for that will make you sad and dull your mind.

You can simplify arithmetic to do calculations quickly and easily in your head. Let us say that you need to add 433 and 433, well 33+33=66 and 4+4=8. So you'll come up with a total of 866.

Learn to round off numbers while grocery shopping. Try not using a calculator. Although, one may shop on a budget. If something is .69 cents,

simply round it off to .70 cents in your head. I always come close to the exact amount (dollar-wise) at the check out register. This works unless you

totally avoid looking at your grocery list, which is not recommended.
Drink plenty of water. Drinking little water every 30-40 minutes works well.

Have a great time with wikiHow. It will aid in keeping a good sharp mind and a good positive attitude. Writing is like food for the brain.

Make yourself a special mental note that being sharp is smart.

Thinking positive is not only healthy, but it builds a stronger mind with that well adjusted attitude.

Negative thinking never gets anything done; it is just setting yourself up to fail.

Sleep is very important to keep a sharp mind and good attitude. But laying in bed tossing and tumbling isn't any fun. So do something to assure that you are tired enough to sleep well. A few good hours of sleep are better than those broken up hours of slumber.

.
Try to keep your alcohol consumption to a minimum, and stay away from drugs because they suppress your mental clarity .

Try using your opposite hand to do everyday things, especially writing and printing. Sit down and start writing on a piece of paper using your off hand.

It will probably start out like scrawl, but you will gain better control, become more aware of your tense shoulders and body, and able to use both sides of your brain. This exercise is also used for epileptic patients.

Warnings

Watch out for people that try to do your thinking for you. However, keep your mind open for good advice. When you have a sharp mind, you'll recognize good advice.
Don't be a people pleaser, for the wrong kind of people will take advantage of you. If you stay sharp, chances are that won't happen to you.
Practising different strategies to keep your mind sharper is good, but such strategies should be used in a relaxed way. One should enjoy while doing it but should not do under any complusion.

Technorati : Good Attitude, HUMAN, LIFE, MIND, STYLE, Sharp Mind

British Museum Collection Online

The British Museum has started to put its collection, and over the next few months there will be more than seven million items to view.

As anyone who’s ever visited it can tell you, the British Museum is one of the world’s great treasures, with literally millions of items spanning over two million years of history.

The very nature of the space means only a part of it can be on physical display at any one time. But as the museum relaunches its website, it’s going to make its entire collection available online, according to Vnunet.

To date images of around 275,000 objects have been uploaded, but over the course of the next few months that figure will rise to more than seven million with extra images added over the next two years.

Mary Pitt, project manager of the internet services department at the British Museum, said,

"The website is not merely a source of information about the museum, but a real insight into the collection and a natural extension of our core purpose."

The new version of the site will have an expanded education section, a virtual tour and an integrated shop. It might even be the next best thing to being there.

Bank deputy warns of 'huge liquidity crisis'

Deputy Bank of England Governor Rachel Lomax today warned of slowing growth and sharply rising inflation.

Painting a bleak picture of the global economy, Lomax said the outlook has 'changed dramatically' in recent months because of the credit crunch and the soaring cost of energy and food.
'There have been financial and banking crises before, but not on the present global scale,' she told the Institute of Economic Affairs in Westminster. 'This must surely be the largest-ever peacetime liquidity crisis.'

Lomax said the 'accident waiting to happen' in US subprime mortgages and the wider credit markets 'lends itself to a wide range of predictions about the possible course of events from now on, from the relatively benign to the frankly apocalyptic'.

She said that UK inflation will 'rise sharply in the near term' while the economy will grow 'at below-trend rates over the next two years' even if the Bank cuts interest rates dramatically. This highlights the MPC's dilemma as it tries to balance the risk of runaway inflation with the need to boost economic growth.

Lomax, in charge of monetary policy at Threadneedle Street, said: 'A temporary pick-up in inflation, by itself, does not mean the committee needs to tolerate a significant weakening in demand.

'But if inflation expectations appear to be persistently elevated, the committee will need to tolerate more slack to keep inflation on target. And that means it will have less scope to respond to slowing demand - the risk posed by the current turmoil in financial markets.'

EXTRA....
Share tips: Top stock picks for 2008
An equity sell-off in March, the collapse of the US subprime market and the ensuing credit crunch were hardly factors to inspire investors in 2007.
The past 12 months have not been easy for stock markets and the problems are not over. Experts expect the market woes to continue well into 2008 - concerns regarding the full extent of credit writedowns are likely to weigh heavily on shares, particularly for the first six months of the year.


'Global markets will be hoping that the US can avoid falling into recession, whilst in the UK the economic outlook remains balanced on a knife edge,' says Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.


But this shouldn't mean there will not be opportunities for investors - they will however have to be extra vigilant. Morgan Stanley, one of the world's largest investment banks believes in a worst case scenario, the FTSE 100 could plummet to 5350 by the end of next year. Hunter, on the other hand, thinks it could hit 6900.


Companies with good growth prospects and strong balance sheets should continue to outperform in 2008 as should large-caps according to Morgan Stanley. Elsewhere, experts believe that given continued market volatility, there will most likely be a retreat to defensive shares.


So in light of these factors what stocks are the experts tipping for 2008?


BP:


Despite its recent difficulties in the production and refining areas which ultimately had a negative impact on its profits for the latest quarter of the year, Richard Hunter at Hargreaves Lansdown rates BP.


He says: 'The recent oil price highs should underpin performance, along with the resumption of projects such as the Gulf of Mexico, Thunder Horse and, in the foreseeable future, the Texas refinery, which should return to full capacity.


'The challenges may not be over, but at least the rot seems to have been stopped. The shares appear to have weathered the worst of the storm, and now stand up 10% over the last six months. While the market is well aware that there is still much work to be done, the current consensus is positive.'


Tesco


The retailer is a hotly tipped stock for next year. Hunter rates it, as does Morgan Stanley and Justin Urquhart Stewart of Seven Investment Management. He says: 'Tesco is one to watch. It is greatly improving its overseas business in the Far East, Eastern Europe and in the US. 2008 could in fact witness up to 50% of its profits coming from abroad.'


Hunter adds: 'Without taking its eyes off the core UK market, where all the key performance indicators continue their inexorable growth, the success of its international division continues apace, with a flagship Chinese store and the US roll-out yet to make their own notable contributions.


'The recent doubling of the share buyback programme to £3bn will add further support to the shares, while on past performance the Christmas period could give yet another boost to prospects. And, despite a 24% hike in the share price over the past year, the market view towards the shares remains resolutely positive.'

Style Icon David Beckham

You might wonder why David Beckham is standing next to Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce Knowles when he has a perfectly good wife. Well, these three were in a Pepsi commercial together back in 2005 so we'll let him off the hook. But the important thing here is how David so confidently wears a silk scarf and tuxedo blazer with his jeans and crisp white shirt. Simple and cool.

extra.....



If the term style icon applied to anybody, it would most certainly be David Beckham. His sense of style such an inspiration to men around the world. It is no secret that he loves to experiment with fashion and hairstyles yet it doesn't diminish his masculinity one bit. In fact, it has made him all the more sexy and the subject of countless articles and magazine covers. He is living proof that it's not only okay for guys to care about the way they look, but it's cool to do so

Spring Into Fashion

Catherines Plus Sizes, one of the leading plus-size retailers with over 450 stores nationwide, introduces its colorful spring 2008 collection of stylish looks designed specifically for women sizes 16-34.

"Catherine's spring collection was designed to remind our customers why she is so incredible," said Juanita Fields, Catherines Trend Director. "Whether she is at home, work or on vacation, she can look good and feel good in the great outfits she can find only at Catherines."

Catherines offers a wide selection of apparel from career and casual to eveningwear for all her lifestyle needs. For an effortless day look, match a textured print top with a pair of the ever-so-popular jeans with Right Fit sizing technology. And for an effortless night look, swap the jeans for career pants with Right Fit.

The Right Fit sizing system was developed after years of research using the latest technology. It is a simple formula for finding the perfect fit no matter her shape or size. Catherines understands that no two plus-size bodies are alike which makes it challenging when shopping for pants that fit. Sales associates at Catherines are trained to help customers find their Right Fit size.

"After visiting several Catherines stores, I was pleased to find both, figure-flattering options for work and special occasions," said plus-size celebrity stylist, Nicole Brewer. "I received personal attention and exceptional customer service from the sales associates which was helpful when I was putting together outfits for my clients' various body shapes!"

For the complete spring collection as well as a wide selection of accessories including comfortable sleepwear, sexy lingerie, jewelry, hats, and handbags, customers can visit Catherines stores nationwide or log on to www.catherines.com.

With over 450 stores, Catherines Plus-Sizes, a subsidiary of The Charming Shoppes, Inc., provides stylish, high-quality fashion for plus-size women in sizes 16W-34W. Catherines offers a wide selection of apparel from career and casual to eveningwear -- as well as a collection of accessories, lingerie and hosiery.

more...

Young designer aims to make Ungaro 'cool'
Esteban Cortazar, the 23-year-old Colombian designer with the task of breathing life into the established house of Emanuel Ungaro, has only one aim this Paris Fashion Week: to make the label "more cool".

Cortazar's first collection for Ungaro, a red carpet favourite of Kylie Minogue and Penelope Cruz, is among the most anticipated events of the fall and winter 2008 collections.

"I have a new vision, a fresher attitude. It's what the house needs," Cortazar said in an interview ahead of his Wednesday show at an atelier surrounded by mannequins.

The Bogota-born, Miami-raised son of an artist and a jazz singer made his unofficial debut in fashion when he was just 15 years old, designing for Miami International Fashion Week.

Already acclaimed by the industry, Cortazar's own collection of glamorous gowns with a Latin influence was snapped up early by powerful US department store Bloomingdale's.

But is he stressed by the pressure to perform in Paris, the world's premier fashion event?

"The younger you are, the less pressure there is," he said. "And nervousness is a good thing, it makes you more creative."

New faces at old houses have been a feature of this fashion season, reaching its end in Paris after New York, London and Milan. But it has not always been easy for unknowns to take over from the greats.

Gianfranco Ferre, whose eponymous designer died suddenly last year, showed an uneven collection in Milan last week after the designer assigned to take over, Lars Nilsson, quit a month before the shows because of "creative differences".

Another closely watched show this week is Valentino, where Alessandra Fachinetti will parade her first designs since replacing the Valentino Garavani. She was abruptly ejected from Gucci after just two seasons when she failed to fill the shoes of Tom Ford.

Seasoned fashion executives say an ability to spot a brand's heritage and reproduce it with an eye to what the consumer wants can be even more important than ego and talent when it comes to taking the place of an illustrious predecessor.

Cortazar was chosen last year by Mounir Mouffarige, group president of Emanuel Ungaro, who was "seduced by his youth and his level of maturity".

"His mission is to make the label more exciting, more cool," Mouffarige said. "He must be daring."

Mouffarige has a history of success in introducing untried young talents into the best known design houses.

In 1997, he shocked the fashion world by putting the untested Stella McCartney in at Chloe, replacing Karl Lagerfeld, who went on to great acclaim.

But at Ungaro it has been a more difficult task. Since the eponymous designer retired in 2004, the house has been through four stylists as it struggled to find one able to channel its traditional look of long draped dresses and curvaceous lines.

Technorati : Fashion, Spring, Spring Into Fashion, Style, life.lifestyle

The Oscars 2008

It was nearly a complete washout as torrential rain threatened to turn last night's glitzy Oscars bash into a damp squib. Special vacuums were brought in to suck the water out of the red carpet before Hollywood's glitterati arrived at the do.

The sodden scene mirrored the 2002 awards when rain caused shampoo on the carpet to turn to foam and ruined the dress of stars such as Kate Winslet and Nicole Kidman.

Still, organisers needn't have feared. The crowds defied the weather and were out in all their splendour for the 80th Academy Awards.

See who was there and what they were wearing, here.

more........

The Best Oscars Dresses

Heidi Klum positively stole the show at this year's Oscars. Wearing a stunning Galliano gown in this year's colour of choice, red, the supermodel looked radiant.

We take a look back over the years at some of our favourite outfits.

Technorati : The Oscars 2008, life, style

Britney Spears to be granted access to sons

It's been nearly two months since Britney Spears hasn't seen her two children, but the troubled singer will soon be able to visit them with her ex-husband Kevin Federline's permission.

According to a statement released Friday by Federline's lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan, the two sides agreed on modifying the court order prohibiting Britney Spears from reaching the former couple's two sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1.

"We're pleased that ... the process of reinstating the children's mother as a participant in their lives can commence," E! Online quoted Kaplan as saying. However, he noted that a court commissioner is yet to sign off on the deal and fax it over. When that happens, "Ms. Spears will be seeing her boys very soon after that. But it's not a total done deal yet," he added.

"I think that both sides agree that visitation would be what's best for the children," Kaplan explained. "Certainly that's something that she keenly desires to have start as soon as possible."

All parties just want to "assure that there will be continuity and stability. They say the devil's in the details, so that's what everyone's working on right now."

Elliot Mintz, a spokesman for Kaplan and Federline, credited the development to Britney's father, Jamie Spears, whose temporary conservatorship she's currently under.

"James Spears went a long way in terms of stabilizing an environment that surrounded Britney which was wildly in flux," Mintz said. "It's clear Britney is in a different place now than she was a week or two ago."

Kaplan refused to give details regarding the terms of their new agreement, but when asked if Britney's father as well as a psychiatrist will also be attending the visitations, he said, "It will involve many more specific terms to be met than just those two people in the room. We have put lots of specific terms, conditions and protections in place to make visitation happen in the safest way possible."
"None of this would not have happened if Jamie Spears had not been involved. That's for sure. He gets a lot of credit for helping make this happen. But we've worked very hard with the conservator lawyers, as well, to make this all work," he added.

The 26-year-old singer, who lost the custody of her children in October last year, has been stripped of her visitation rights with the boys following an incident at her Los Angeles home on January 3 that resulted in the first of her two hospitalizations in a psychiatric ward this year.

Following her second hospitalization in late January, Britney's parents came to Los Angeles to help her pull her life together. All the singer's assets have been placed under temporary conservatorship of her father. Conservatorship is granted over people who are deemed unable to care for themselves or their affairs.

more...

Kevin Federline has agreed to give ex-wife Britney Spears visitation rights with their two young sons, his lawyer said Friday.

Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said in a statement the former couple has agreed to a modification of a court order that had stripped Spears of her visitation rights. The statement did not provide more details.

A court commissioner gave Kevin Federline sole physical and legal custody of their two little boys and suspended the pop star's visitation rights on Jan. 4.

Spears has not been allowed to see sons Jayden James, 1, and Sean Preston, 2, since an incident at her home that led to the first of her two hospitalizations in a psychiatric facility this year.

Spears and her estate were placed under a temporary conservatorship after she was taken to UCLA Medical Center on Jan. 31. Conservatorships are granted for people deemed unable to care for themselves or their affairs.

Technorati : Britney Spears, entertainment, life, news

Hollywood's big night

At some unnoticed tipping point during the past decade, Americans evidently decided that talking about the Oscars was far more interesting than actually going to the movies that are nominated, or even watching the awards show created to celebrate them.

That great, bloated dirigible of self-love and gas will rise from its hangar tonight (5 p.m., Ch. 7) for its annual close-up. If you turn the ceremony off - or never bother to turn it on - because you haven't bothered to see any of the best picture nominees, you are not alone. Four of the five contenders for the top prize were released by the studios' specialty divisions, a sort of white flag acknowledging their limited commercial appeal.

If it weren't for the surprising success of "Juno," which surpassed $125 million at the domestic box office last weekend, the combined take of all the films nominated for best picture this year would be far less than that singular artistic achievement, "Alvin and the Chipmunks."

When studio moguls created the Academy Awards 80 years ago, the idea was to validate their own fine judgments, while promoting the product they were selling. But the increasing timidity of Hollywood bosses - who now occupy small but colorful "profit centers" in such corporate behemoths as News Corp., Viacom and General Electric - about making anything they can't turn into a franchise, coupled with a creeping case of film snobbery among academy voters, has left the studios that

created the show without an entry in this year's race.
Only one best picture contender - "Michael Clayton" - was released by a studio, and despite its Warner Bros. label, the George Clooney thriller was actually financed by a Boston real estate developer.

In fact, if you count the 2005 best picture win for "Crash," produced by former real estate developer Bob Yari, and the six nominations that same year for "Ray," produced by former real estate tycoon Phil Anschutz, selling luxury condos appears to be a surer route to Oscar glory than running a studio.

When "There Will Be Blood," "No Country For Old Men," "Michael Clayton" and "Atonement" collected 30 nominations in January, Los Angeles Times Hollywood columnist Patrick Goldstein was moved to inquire, "Is this the Oscars or the Independent Spirit Awards?"

Good question. There were movies that not so long ago probably would have made it: "The Bourne Ultimatum" was a dazzling piece of craft by a director (Paul Greengrass) working at the top of his game; "Ratatouille" had a compelling story and broad appeal; and "Knocked Up" had as many people talking about its story as laughing at its crude humor. But academy voters, driven by a cadre of sniffy Oscar bloggers whose swoony paroxysms over this actress or that film are a 24/7 reminder of how much Hollywood can be like a restricted country club, now shudder at such riffraff.

Only a decade ago, Fox's populist romance "Titanic" won 11 Oscars in 14 nominations, including best picture. And in the 1970s - the decade considered the golden age of the modern era by even the snootiest film snobs - "Airport" (starring Dean Martin!) and "The Towering Inferno" were both best picture contenders. After "Titanic," small independent films began to dominate the Oscars, and the show's television ratings began to sink as if struck by an iceberg.

The ratings for the past five years have averaged 23.7 - a good night for "American Idol," but only half the massive audience that tuned in when "Ben-Hur" won in 1960. The only Oscar telecast from the 1980s to crack the 10 top-rated shows was in 1983, and it is telling that that was also the year "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" and "Tootsie" were the crowd-pleasing favorites.

"Tootsie," which was later named the second most popular comedy of all time by the American Film Institute, had 10 nominations, and "E.T." nine. But "Gandhi," an arty biopic more esteemed than loved, won big that year. "Tootsie" left with only one award, and the public was subjected to a lot of boring speeches about how movies could further the cause of world peace. The audience apparently never forgave them for it.

Another seminal moment arrived in 1995 when Quentin Tarantino, a former video store clerk turned auteur, was canonized by Hollywood with one Oscar for his "Pulp Fiction" screenplay, and another nomination as best director.

In "The Film Snob's Dictionary," authors David Kamp and Lawrence Levi provide a withering insight into the sort of geek snobbery that Tarantino's ascension has brought about in Hollywood.

Even the most driven fan of rock music, they point out, "seldom becomes a rock star - he may be thoroughly versed in the ins and outs of what's cool about Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls, but he lacks the idiot-savant charisma and communicativeness of the lithe halfwits who actually perform rock music. Film, by contrast, is a director's medium, naturally hospitable to behind-the-scenes brainiacs with poor dress sense; it's not a huge step from being a maladjusted Douglas Sirk obsessive to being an Academy Award nominee."

The Oscars have become all talk, and not much action. Sunday night's ceremony should provide a fitting tribute to that.

more.......

'Michael Clayton' represents a grown-up Oscar vote

If it wins best picture, it would be a boon for classic Hollywood filmmaking.
WHEN 72-year-old actress Ruth Gordon, with half a century of show business behind her, collected her Oscar for "Rosemary's Baby" in 1969, her wry acceptance speech -- "I can't tell you how encouraging a thing like this is" -- did more than bring down the house.

Gordon expressed, likely without even meaning to, a fundamental truth about the Oscars. Often derided for the endemic silliness that inevitably surrounds them, the Academy Awards validate, they authenticate, they put an authoritative stamp of approval on people and films. More than anything, they powerfully encourage the work of the winners.
Paradoxically, it's often the people outside the Hollywood system who understand this best. People like the great Polish director Andrzej Wajda. As the maker of elegantly serious films such as "Kanal," "Ashes and Diamonds" and "Man of Marble," Wajda should be immune to Oscar's charms. Yet it was crystal clear, when I interviewed him in 2000 on the occasion of his honorary Oscar, that this award meant an enormous amount to him because of the recognition it conveyed, not only for his work, but also for an entire nation's cinema.

So when I look over this year's best picture nominees and think about which film I want to win tonight and why, I am doing more than indulging my personal taste. As Wajda understood, each film represents more than itself, it represents a way of working in the movie world. When studios or their specialty divisions decide which serious films to splurge on, when they greenlight ventures that have little chance of having a "Meet the Spartans" kind of opening weekend, they want to feel that at the very least they have the zeitgeist of the community and the respect of their peers behind them.

In a trend that has grown more marked over time in prestige categories like best picture, the present and former Hollywood employees who decide on the nominees display a genial disregard for the bread and butter pictures like "Pirates of the Caribbean" that pay the bills and keep the studios afloat. Especially noteworthy this time is that many of the best picture nominees are actually among the best films of the year. So making a choice among this year's candidates is especially difficult because it means deciding among different kinds of good things.

What they represent

THERE are even good things to be said about "Juno," though they don't involve the film's smug and fatally self-satisfied original screenplay. Although it is the weakest of the five candidates, a victory for this film would validate the notion that small, unheralded pictures can still make themselves heard in both the marketplace and the battle for cinema's biggest prize. Going as far back as "Marty's" victory for 1955 and the original "Rocky" for 1976, a triumph for the little film that could is a powerfully encouraging thing. Look what it did for Sylvester Stallone.

No one who's seen "There Will Be Blood" can have the slightest doubt as to what a best picture Oscar for it would be supporting. Though star and likely best actor winner Daniel Day-Lewis is the film's irreplaceable public face, this film stands in plain sight as a tribute to the cinematic virtuosity of writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Anderson, a modern cinematic visionary, is happiest when he is out on the aesthetic edge, using a ferocity of approach to involve audiences in disturbing, difficult narratives. If "There Will Be Blood" were to win, it would validate the "one genius, one film" approach to moviemaking that goes at least as far back as Orson Welles and "Citizen Kane."

Similarly, a victory for "Atonement" would strike a blow for a very specific and easily recognizable kind of filmmaking: the full-bore, British-accented romantic epic. A rich, old-fashioned love story spun out of modern psychology and post-modern storytelling, "Atonement's" decades-long, war-torn examination of love, pain, betrayal and, yes, atonement, has the kind of expansive sweep that brings antecedents such as "Doctor Zhivago" and "The English Patient" to mind.

Though audiences claim to long for this kind of film, they don't always patronize it, and "Atonement's" disappointing under-$50-million domestic gross is a case in point. A best picture victory would legitimize serious romantic cinema at a time when its existence is in jeopardy as well as encourage slackers in the audience pool to get on the case.

Perhaps the most interesting point to be made about "No Country for Old Men," generally considered the favorite to take home the best picture prize, is that it is hard to say exactly what voters would be supporting if they picked it. It's a career achievement vote for the gifted and hard-working Coen brothers as well as a vote for old-fashioned filmmaking craft, for a picture that is such a model of faultlessly constructed, implacable storytelling that you can't stop watching it even though you very much wish you could.

Most of all, a vote for "No Country" feels like a vote for the Hollywood art film, for an archetypal specialty division product that marries a violent and decidedly offbeat genre sensibility, courtesy of Cormac McCarthy's novel, with top-flight acting and production values. In most years, this would be my Oscar choice, but this year is different. This year has "Michael Clayton" in it.

A victory for this smart and suspenseful legal thriller would be more than a vote for the only one of the five to be distributed by an actual studio. It would be a vote for a beautifully remodeled classic studio picture, an impressively updated version of the kind of movie "they just don't make anymore."

All the elements of vintage Hollywood filmmaking are present and accounted for in "Michael Clayton," starting with writer-director Tony Gilroy's heightened and dramatic dialogue. Add to that the ability of a peerless cast, including George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton, to animate characters who are at once familiar archetypes and completely individual. Finally, there's Gilroy's instinct for the emotional jugular, a storytelling panache that is almost a lost art all by itself.

In voting for "Michael Clayton," Hollywood would in essence be voting for itself, voting for thoughtful, adult studio films crafted in the heart of the system. I can't think of any other movie-making constituency that needs more help right now.

EXTRA......

About Michael Clayton

Michael Clayton is an Academy Award nominated dramatic law thriller film written and directed by Tony Gilroy, co-produced by George Clooney, and starring Clooney, Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton. It chronicles the attempts of attorney Michael Clayton to cope with a colleague's apparent mental breakdown and corruption within a major client of his law firm.

Plot summary
Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is an attorney and former gambling addict employed by a prestigious law firm in New York City as a "fixer", someone who rectifies difficult situations, often through unconventional or expedient methods. After meeting with a colleague's key client who had accidentally struck a pedestrian with his car, Clayton sees some horses near the side of the road. He stops driving, leaves his car, and climbs a hill to go admire the animals. While he is watching the horses, his car explodes in a fireball.

The story then flashes back to four days earlier. Clayton has just received the news that he owes $75,000 to organized crime figures due to a failed attempt to open a bar with one of his brothers (David Lansbury) when he learns that one of the firm's leading attorneys, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), has suffered a mental breakdown. In the middle of a crucial deposition involving a class action lawsuit against the firm's largest client, U-North, an agricultural products conglomerate, Edens began rambling incoherently and stripped naked. Dispatched to fix the situation, Clayton gets Edens out of jail in Milwaukee and learns that his friend, who had a mental breakdown in the past, is not taking his medication. Before Clayton can escort Edens back to New York City to receive medical care, Edens sneaks away and returns to New York on his own. Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), U-North's chief counsel, takes Edens' briefcase from the deposition room and discovers that Edens had an internal U-North memorandum that documents the company's responsibility for releasing cancer-causing chemicals. When Crowder learns that Edens refuses to cooperate and cannot easily be committed to a mental health institution, she decides to hire two men (Robert Prescott, Terry Serpico) to surveil Edens, including tapping his phone and installing bugs in his apartment. This surveillance and the firm's review of documents in Edens' office reveals that Edens was actually building a case against U-North, his own client. Crowder instructs the two spies to murder Edens, and their methods fool the police into believing it was a suicide.

Clayton is distraught at the death of his co-worker and friend, but becomes suspicious when he learns both that U-North was planning to settle and that Edens had purchased a plane ticket to New York for one of the class-action plaintiffs (Merritt Wever). With the passive assistance of his other brother (Sean Cullen), a NYPD police detective, he breaks into Edens' apartment and discovers a receipt for a large order at a copy store. At the store he finds that Edens has assembled documents that present a damning case against U-North, and has made thousands of copies. Clayton takes a copy and leaves, but the two hit men are now tailing him and they inform Crowder. While Clayton plays poker, one of the hit men rigs his car with a bomb. Clayton leaves the game earlier than expected, interrupting the hit man's re-installation of the GPS tracking device, causing it to give off an inconsistent signal. Clayton drives to Westchester County to meet with the client who committed the hit-and-run. Clayton is followed by the two hit men, but they have trouble tracking him. Knowing that he is nearby, but not his exact location, the hit men detonate the bomb. At this point the plot catches up to the events shown at the beginning of the film.

Clayton is unharmed, because he is not in the car. He runs to the side of the car and throws his phone, wallet, and watch into the fire, causing initial reports to indicate he was killed in the explosion. At a U-North board of directors meeting, Crowder proposes that the settlement agreement be extended. When she steps out of the conference room to allow the directors to confer, Clayton is waiting for her. He tells her he has access to copies of the U-North memo and that he knows she was responsible for Edens's death and the attempt on his own life. He demands to be paid off for his silence, asking for $10 million, to which Crowder agrees. Clayton responds, "You're so fucked," and walks away as police officers approach. Clayton reveals he had a phone in his pocket the entire time, and his brother, the NYPD detective, was secretly listening to the conversation. As Crowder and the U-North Chair (Ken Howard) are arrested, Clayton leaves the building and gets into a taxi. He gives the driver $50 and tells him to just drive. The film's credits appear over footage of him sitting in the back of taxi; when the last credit line appears over this shot, he smiles just before the picture fades to black and the credits continue.

Production
The film premiered August 31, 2007, at the Venice Film Festival and was shown at the American Films Festival of Deauville on September 2, 2007, and at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2007. It opened in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2007, and at Dubaï Films Festival on December 2007. The film opened in limited release in the United States on October 5, 2007, and opened in wide release in the U.S. on October 12, 2007

Technorati : 'Michael Clayton', Americans, Entertainment, Hollywood's, Oscars, movies, night

Britney's manager served with restraining order

Despite some adamant claims to the contrary, Britney Spears' troubles are still very much an L.A. story.
A U.S. District Court judge has given attorney Jon Eardley-the latest legal eagle enlisted by the "Toxic" songstress to battle her father's conservatorship status-until Feb. 29 to provide a legitimate reason to remove the case from Los Angeles to federal court. (View the order.)

A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for Mar. 17

Of course, that's just one of the many strands in Britney's tangled web of a legal docket.

A source close to the embattled pop princess tells E! News that the divorced mother of two has been "emotionally down" since Tuesday's custody hearing, during which Court Commissioner Scott Gordon persisted in refusing to allow her to visit sons Sean Preston and Jayden James.

"She's bummed out," the Spears insider said, adding that Britney's low spirits also led to the cancellation of some upcoming dance rehearsals. "She had hoped for some sort of visitation, but it didn't happen. She's pretty down about it."

Britney last saw her kids Jan. 3, when a bizarre standoff with police at her Beverly Hills home resulted in a brief stay at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for observation.

But it was her slightly longer stint in UCLA Medical Center's psych ward a few weeks ago that led to her father's unwelcome new role in her life and her involuntary estrangement from some of her once constant companions.

Sam Lutfi's publicist filed a petition on Feb. 14 to transfer the conservatorship case on behalf of the New York-based Eardley. The complaint alleged Britney's civil rights had been trampled by the court's refusal to properly investigate her family's claims that she's unfit to manage her finances, choose what company to keep and make various other decisions regarding her welfare.

Michael Sands, acting as spokesman for both Lutfi and Eardley, said last week that he had filed the documents before a court commissioner extended Jamie Spears' temporary conservatorship until Mar. 10, thereby making the action null and void.

Meanwhile, an L.A. Superior Court spokesperson said Friday that all Britney business remained under their jurisdiction.

"Jon Eardley is very happy that the judge will look at the explosive documentary evidence in the Britney Spears conservatorship railroad," Sands told E! News Tuesday.

"This is a very positive step that the judge is concerned. Jon Eardley will have court papers filed by Feb. 29...This is the first step in the victimization of Britney Spears by L.A. Superior Court."

But just in case Eardley can come up with an argument to sway U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez, Britney's father has cooked up plenty of reasons to block the switcheroo.

Jamie Spears' camp-arguing that Britney isn't capable of hiring counsel and, therefore, Eardley is "an attorney without a client"-filed a motion Tuesday objecting to Lutfi & Co.'s "brazen-but vain-attempt to strip a probate court of jurisdiction before it could enter Orders" prolonging the conservatorship.
Eardley's "well-pleaded allegations" do not present an issue of federal law, the filing states, adding that any charges on Eardley's part that Jamie Spears "supplements" his daughter's medication "disregards the fact that the Probate Court has not granted Mr. Spears medical powers and that medications therefore do not fall within the scope of the conservatorship."

In response to Eardley's contention that Britney's "unenviable status of having virtually no privacy in her life" and her "suffocating confinement" at the hands of her conservators could affect the effectiveness of her treatment, the conservators argue, once again, that the probate court did not grant Jamie authority over the troubled pop star's medication.

"Because there is no logical relationship between Britney's fame and the alleged federal interest to be addressed," Eardley's concerns about Britney's medical treatment under her father's care are a moot point.

The conservators are also asking that Eardley foot the bill for this latest round of attorneys' fees, because he "lacked any reasonably objective basis" for filing the removal request.

But it's the fact that Britney was previously ruled incapable of hiring her own lawyers that will likely prove the largest obstacle to sending the case to federal court.

"In Britney's case, the commissioner revoked her power to retain her own legal counsel," Kevin Whittaker, a San Francisco-based litigation attorney who's not involved in the Spears case, told E! News last week. "Oftentimes, the conservatee can retain their own legal counsel. This wasn't the case with Britney. So, the new attorney's claim to be her legal counsel will be found invalid."

A reason why Jamie's camp is arguing that papers filed on her behalf listing Eardley as counsel of record don't amount to a hill of beans.

Jamie and attorney Andrew Wallet were named temporary conservators of Britney's multimillion-dollar estate on Feb. 1, the day after she was admitted to UCLA's hospital for evaluation.

Although Britney was spotted dining out with her dad in Hollywood over the weekend, sources close to her have said she is anxious to extract herself from his legal grip.

She has not met with Eardley in person, Sands said, but they have spoken several times. And sources close to the situation have said Britney has been in contact with Lutfi-through an intermediary.

Lutfi, who has continued to avoid being served with the Spears family's restraining order against him, "is at war with Jamie," a Spears insider told E! News Friday. "This is his first strike."

Britney Spears's self-styled manager Sam Lutfi was served with a restraining order on Thursday ordering him to stay at least 250 metres away from the singer and barring him from communicating with her, according to court documents.

more........

Restraining Order Against Lutfi Extended

A federal judge has extended a restraining order against Britney Spears' pal Sam Lutfi by nearly a month.

The judge on Thursday ordered a March 17 hearing on the matter. He extended the restraining order until then.

The action comes on the same day Lutfi was served with the restraining order, which was issued earlier this month.

In court papers, Jeffrey Wexler, an attorney for Spears' father, wrote that "after three weeks of apparently evading service," Lutfi was served with the restraining order outside his Los Angeles apartment.

The order requires Lutfi to stay 250 yards away from Spears and her home. It was set to expire Friday.

EXTRA.........

A federal judge late Thursday extended until March 17 a temporary restraining order preventing Britney Spears's pal Sam Lutfi from approaching the troubled pop star and her family, according to court papers

The two-page order by U.S. District Judge Phillip Gutierrez was in response to a request by Spears's father Jamie Spears, who is co-conservator of her $100 million estate.

Jamie had asked the judge to extend the temporary restraining order - served on Thursday and set to expire a day later on Friday - until the judge rules on an unusual civil rights challenge to the conservatorship.

The temporary restraining order could be extended at a March 17 hearing. But Jamie Spears would have to be able to successfully serve Lutfi with notice of the hearing; in the past, Jamie has complained that Lutfi apparently attempted to dodge being served.

The temporary restraining order, which forbids Lutfi from getting within 250 yards of Spears, her homes and her family's homes, alleges: "Mr. Lutfi has drugged Britney. He has cut Britney's home phone line and removed her cell phone chargers. He claims to control everything."

Technorati : Britney Spears, Entertainment, Judge, LIFE, NEWS

Music helps stroke patients recover faster

Music hits right note for stroke patients

A little Beethoven is good for the brain, according to a Finnish study published on Wednesday showing that music helps people recover more quickly from strokes.

And patients who listened to a few hours of music each day soon after a stroke also improved their verbal memory and were in a better mood compared to patients who did not listen to music or used audio books, the researchers said.

Music therapy has long been used in a range of treatments but the study published in the journal Brain is the first to show the effect in people, they added.

"These findings demonstrate for the first time that music listening during the early post-stroke stage can enhance cognitive recovery and prevent negative mood," the researchers wrote.

Strokes, which occur when blood flow to the brain is blocked, can kill brain tissue and are one of the worldwide leading causes of death and permanent disability. Treatments include blood thinning drugs and attempts to lower cholesterol.

The study involved 60 people who recently had a stroke of the middle cerebral artery in the left or right side of the brain. This is the most common stroke and can affect motor control, speech and a range of other cognitive functions.

One group listened to their favourite music every day or used audio books while another did not listen to any music. All volunteers received standard rehabilitation treatment.

Three months after stroke music listeners showed a 60 percent better improvement in verbal memory compared to an 18 percent benefit for those using audio books and 29 percent for people who did not listen to either.

The ability to focus attention also improved by 17 percent in music listeners, said Teppo Sarkamo, a psychologist at the Cognitive Brain Research Unit at the University of Helsinki, who led the study.

"We can't say what is happening in the brain but based on previous research and theory it may be music listening could actually activate the brain areas that are recovering," he said in a telephone interview.

Music might also in some way activate more general mechanisms that repair and renew the brain's neural networks after stroke, Sarkamo said.

Larger studies are needed to better understand exactly what is going on but these findings show that music may offer a cheap, easy additional treatment for stroke patients, he said.

"This could be considered a pilot study," Sarkamo said. "It is a promising start.

more....

Music Therapy Helps Stroke Patients Recover Faster, Study Says
A new study brings good news to those who had suffered a stroke: listening to music during the first weeks after the stroke could help them recover faster, researchers say. Indeed, what could be more relaxing than listening to your favorite pop or classical music?

Finnish researchers say that listening to music for only a couple of hours daily could improve mental functioning and mood, and it is a cheap and simple way to recover from stroke.

The study was published today online in the medical journal Brain.

Teppo Sarkamo, neuroscientist at Helsinki University and lead author of the study, said the first months after a "brain attack" are crucial for the patient's rehabilitation, Daily Mail notes.

The researchers examined 60 stroke patients shortly after they were hospitalized. The examination lasted two months, during which some of the patients listened daily to music, others to audio books, and the rest did not listen to any musical material.

Three months after the stroke, verbal memory had improved 60 percent in music listeners, 18 percent in audio books listeners and 29 percent in non-listeners. Moreover, music listeners' focused attention improved 17 percent, while the other groups recorded no improvement.

These differences in cognitive recovery remained for six months and they can be "directly attributed to the effect of listening to music," Teppo Sakamo said.

The researchers believe that music may be stimulating brain region linked to pleasure, reward, motivation and memory, helping patients feel less depressed and confused.

Mr. Sarkamo said that further research is necessary to confirm the study, which may not be effective for all patients, but "it is a promising start."

"Rather than an alternative, music listening should be considered as an addition to other active forms of therapy, such as speech therapy or neuropsychological rehabilitation," he said.

Technorati : Music, life, lifestyle, news, patients, stroke