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The internet exploded with geek joy in July when it was announced that Brie Larson would play Captain Marvel in an upcoming film. |
Since then, Larson has embraced that fan enthusiasm and on Saturday took it up a notch by posting a photo of herself in a Captain Marvel shirt reading the comic for research. |
Best known for her role in the widely praised film Room (2015), which earned her an Oscar for Best Actress, Larson will be the first person to ever play the character of Carol Danvers, the superhero's alter ego, on screen. |
Some old school Marvel Comics fans might be confused about the role, so it's important to note that the Danvers character started as "Ms. Marvel." The original Captain Marvel (or Marv-Vell) was a male character (Walter Lawson). After his death, Danvers took on the name Captain Marvel. The new Ms. Marvel is Kamala Khan,... |
Marvel Studios confirmed that it was working on a Captain Marvel movie as far back as 2014, but only recently revealed that Larson would play the role. The film is scheduled to be released in 2019. |
In the meantime, it's good to see Larson doing her homework. A universe of Marvel fans is counting on her. |
Image caption If the US strikes, what then? |
President Barack Obama says he has made no decision on military action. But he's pretty clear what it might be and what it won't be. |
Speaking to PBS Newshour, he said any action would be "tailored", "limited" and intended to send a signal to the Syrian government to discourage them from using chemical weapons again. |
But he also said he had decided against "direct military engagement", adding: "I have no interest in any kind of open-ended conflict in Syria" and spoke of "not getting drawn into a long conflict, not a repetition of Iraq". |
There is no doubt that is not just Mr Obama's view - it is a heartfelt plea by a military involved in 10 years of war. |
But it raises a lot of questions. What action sends a message to Bashar al-Assad, but does not loosen his grip on power? |
A couple of cruise missiles? Three days of air attacks? The destruction of air bases? |
The most obvious response, on the chemical weapons bases themselves, has apparently been ruled out by most experts because it would simply disperse the deadly agents far and wide. |
It is obvious that when President George W Bush declared war on Afghanistan he didn't expect troops to still be there more than a decade later. Yet it happened. The slope to war is very slippery. |
Of course in one sense it is relatively easy for Mr Obama not to get dragged in. He could order one attack and refuse to do any more. But that could leave him looking weak, his action a hollow symbol. There could be retaliation. |
Mr Assad could be more determined than before. By declaring that he will avoid a long conflict Mr Obama could be unintentionally signalling to him that this is a one-off punishment, not a response that could escalate to match the regime's actions. |
One source, deeply involved, told me an important part of the discussions was exactly that: "Something needs to be done, but what is the impact? What is a surgical strike for? If Assad does it again what do you do? What is the ultimate action? |
RV Lot in Spanish Cove with full hookups, storage building, and includes at no value RV or seller can have removed before closing. Water & Sewer taps are paid. Sewer re-connection fee of $400.00 This lot is level and has high elevation. As an owner you have the amenities of Spanish Cove such as: heated pool, beach area... |
In 1989, David Spade was one of six comics showcased on HBO's 13th Annual Young Comedians Show. The show was hosted by Dennis Miller, who eventually helped Spade secure a role on Saturday Night Live in April 1990. From there Spade starred in several movies, including Tommy Boy, and the TV sitcom Just Shoot Me. He ... |
Actor, writer, comedian. Born July 22, 1964 in Birmingham, Michigan. Spade and his family moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, at the age of 4, where he recalls keeping a twice-weekly appointment to be beaten up by the other kids at elementary school. As a teen, he loved watching Saturday Night Live, and dropped out of commun... |
He relocated to Los Angeles and went on a comedy tour, performing at nightclubs and on college campuses. During a show in Los Angeles, Spade caught the eye of an agent who subsequently cast him alongside Steve Guttenberg and Sharon Stone in the poorly received film Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol. In 1989, he was ... |
It was during his early years on Saturday Night Live that Spade befriended fellow comedian Chris Farley. Their close friendship offstage made for great chemistry in front of the camera, earning them larger roles on the series. After a few bit parts in forgettable films, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels got t... |
By 1996, Spade teamed with Farley again for Black Sheep, and made his exit from Saturday Night Live. He also signed on as snide assistant Dennis Finch on the NBC comedy series, Just Shoot Me, which premiered in 1997 as a mid-season replacement. |
It was during this year of career highs that tragedy struck when friend Chris Farley died of a drug overdose. Though the news couldn't have come as a total surprise to those who knew of Farley's excessive consumption of food, alcohol, and controlled substances, the comic's untimely death still devastated... |
Back at work, Spade appeared in numerous films, including Joe Pesci's Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag in 1997, Senseless in 1998, the romantic comedy Lost & Found in 1999 and Joe Dirt in 2001. He also supplied voice talent for the animated film The Emperor's New Groove in 2000. |
Murphy – Six people planned to rob a house in town last week, sparking a chase that resulted in one suspect being arrested at Chevelle’s 66 Bar & Restaurant. |
Police say two of the robbers, armed with a shotgun, invaded a home on Sale Street around 2 p.m. Tuesday. A man inside the home chased them. |
“We got a 911 emergency call from another resident, who said there was somebody chasing another person down the road with a gun,” Murphy assistant police chief Dustin Smith said. |
The foot chase ended at Chevelle’s after the suspect ran through a rear gate and tried to enter the bar. |
As it turned out, the man Dockery prevented from entering the bar was really the culprit, who was being chased by not only one of the victims but also police. That suspect, later identified as 19-year-old Jordan Tyree Mackey, jumped another fence after being prevented from entering the bar before he was apprehended alm... |
Officers in Union County, Ga., apprehended the suspects who fled in the car. |
Due to the foot chase involving a suspect believed to be armed, officials issued a code yellow emergency notification for Murphy Middle School and The Learning Center, requiring both institutions to move all outdoor activities inside buildings until police removed the threat. Local law enforcement later found marijuana... |
Mackey and Jordan Tyler Patterson, 16, is charged with conspiracy and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, as well as felony breaking and entering. Additional charges are pending. Officials say three of the people in the car are under the age of 16, therefore their names cannot be released. |
An investigation regarding the drugs is ongoing, and additional charges are possible. |
The road to autonomous driving is suffering some significant speed bumps. |
Cox Automotive on Wednesday released its Evolution of Mobility Study. Among the findings: consumers are growing more, not less, skeptical of fully autonomous vehicles. |
Separately, New York Mayor Bill DiBlasio on Tuesday signed a bill that caps the number of ride-sharing vehicles at the current level of about 100,000 for one year. The law is meant to manage congestion, and establishes a $17.22 minimum wage for drivers, whether they work for Uber, Lyft or a traditional taxi service. |
First, the Cox data. The survey, conducted in May, asked 1,250 people, from age 12 on up a range of questions about their awareness of and attitudes about autonomous vehicles. Cox conducted a similar study in 2016. |
Over those two years, awareness of Level 4 autonomy, rose from 40% to 64%. Level 4 vehicles are designed to perform all safety-critical driving functions and monitor roadway conditions for an entire trip, but there may be situations where the human driver must take control. |
But when asked if they found that capability appealing, only 17% said yes, down from 30% in 2016. Nearly half, 49%, said they would never buy a fully autonomous vehicle, up from 30% two years ago. |
That is not necessarily an indication of consumer discomfort, however, because computer-driven vehicles will be deployed in ride-sharing fleets. Those fleets are already operating on a testing basis in such cities such as San Francisco, Phoenix, Detroit, Atlanta, Kirkland, Washington, and New York. |
For example, Cox sees an inflection point, approximately in 2023, where the number of passenger miles driven by consumer-owned cars declines as the number of passenger miles traveled by fleet-operated vehicles rises. |
The technology is progressing quite fast, but as the New York law shows, there are major unresolved social, economic and political issues, especially in cities such as New York and San Francisco where housing is unaffordable for a growing number of residents. |
A recent study by economists James Parrott of the New School and Michael Reich of the University of California Berkeley found that about two-thirds of drivers for ride-hailing services did so as their full-time job. About 80% bought cars expressly for the job. |
About 90% were immigrants and 54% were the primary wage earner for their families. Uber and Lyft are not publicly traded companies, so they are required to report financial results. Neither is profitable, according to Bloomberg and Business Insider, both of which cite data provided by investors. |
The two ride-hailing giants, along with their investors, automakers and tech companies, see Level 4 or 5 autonomy as the holy grail, because they would reduce the need to pay drivers, although it’s unclear how much it would cost to service and maintain extensive AV fleets. That’s an expense currently borne by their dri... |
Once the safety of Level 4 or 5 AVs is trusted, the advocates see a potentially huge increase in efficiency and, therefore, a partial solution to congestion. |
In New York City, about 40% of all ride-sharing vehicles are unoccupied at any given time, according to data from the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission. Fully autonomous vehicles can work almost around the clock, with some provision for maintenance. |
Until then, however, consumer attitudes and economic pushback from those whose livelihoods are at risk will pose a challenge. |
On Christmas Day, I wrote an article reminding readers of the plight of the remaining 174 prisoners in Guantánamo, and specifically focusing on the case of Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, a mentally troubled Yemeni prisoner who has attempted to commit suicide on several occasions. Despite being cleared for release in 2007 by... |
Even if the Obama administration had not taken this inexplicable — or deeply cyncial — step, Latif would still be held, because of a moratorium on releasing any Yemeni prisoners from Guantánamo, which was issued by President Obama last January after a hysterical response to the news that the failed Christmas Day plane ... |
With just ten days to go before the 9th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, Latif’s attorney, David Remes, has released an unclassified letter from his client, in which Latif expresses his despair at his abandonment by the US justice system — and by his own country. |
I am cross-posting the letter below, in the hope of awakening outrage in the hearts of at least some members of the American public who have decided that the ongoing injustice of Guantánamo is somehow irrelevant. |
To Attorney David Remes who dedicated his efforts to work on my dead case. The case that has been buried by its makers under the wreckage of freedom, justice, and the malicious and cursed politics. |
I offer my dead corpse to the coming Yemeni delegation. |
They agreed on the torture and agonies that I went through all those years. |
They knew that I am innocent and at the same time ill and that I left my country to seek treatment. |
This is also a message to the Yemeni people who bear the responsibility of my death in front of God and the responsibility of all of the other Yemenis inside this prison. This prison is a piece of hell that kills everything, the spirit, the body and kicks away all the symptoms of health from them. |
A testimony against injustice and against the propagandists of freedom, justice and equality. |
Adnan Farhan Abdulatif while in the throes of death. |
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia plans to develop a $2 billion solar and carbon black integrated complex in partnership with China’s Longi and South Korea’s OCI, a Saudi official said. |
A feasibility study for the solar and carbon project will be completed by mid-2019, said Tariq Baksh, vice president, chemicals and renewables program, at Saudi Arabia’s National Industrial Clusters Program. |
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi. |
Carbon black is produced from heavy petroleum products. |
Seamus O’Connell, variously described as the country’s finest amateur centre forward and its sexiest cattle dealer, has died. He was 83 and in both respects, it’s said, deserved richly his reputation. |
He won four England international football caps, helped Bishop Auckland win the FA Amateur Cup in 1955 and 1956 and Crook Town to lift the trophy in 1959, had lived for the last 25 years in Spain and been ill for several years. |
Chiefly, however, he may be remembered for his debut for Chelsea – October 16 1954 – the week after playing for the Bishops in a Durham Challenge Cup tie at Cockfield and being unable by common consent to hit a byre door with a cow prod. |
At Chelsea he hit a hat-trick in front of a 56,000 crowd, still finishing on the losing side as Manchester United – for whom Dennis Violett also scored three – won 6-5. |
Jim Lewis, another amateur – a man who travelled in Thermos flasks, to use the parlance of the day – also made his Chelsea debut that afternoon. |
O’Connell scored 11 times in 16 appearances, helped Chelsea to a first-ever championship of the old first division, turned heads by arriving for training in his Jaguar while the professionals pitched up on London Transport. |
The pros earned £12 a week, maximum wage, and a £50 bonus for winning the league. Though urged to join them, O’Connell returned to the Bishops and to his father’s cattle business in Carlisle. |
The definition of amateurism had become flexible. That he subsequently suffered long-term ankle problems was, of course, nothing to do with the amount of fivers stuffed into his boot. He was born in Carlisle on New Year’s Day 1930, an Englishman despite the most emerald green of names, and joined Bishop Auckland in the... |
“A great player, an extraordinary talent, one of the best strikers of a dead ball I’ve even seen,” recalls former team mate and fellow international Derek Lewin. |
“The poise of a part-time picador,” the Backtrack column once egregiously observed. |
Bishop Auckland chairman Terry Jackson, who sought out Seamus in Spain in 2007, believes him to have been one of the finest talents even in the legendary side of the 1950s. |
After a match at Kingsway, however, O’Connell stunned team mates by telling that he was signing for arch-rivals Crook. Boot money rumour put his wage at £15 a week. |
There he played alongside four other England men – Jimmy McMillian, Derek Gardener, Mike Tracey and local lad Arnold Coates, who died earlier this week. |
O’Connell had also scored twice in three amateur appearances for Middlesbrough and played briefly for Carlisle United and for Penrith. |
On once occasion, it’s recalled, Bishops’ players had been at a posh house party in London when O’Connell emerged naked from the shower and walked through the throng. |
A society lady looked on impassively. “Looking like that, you should trot,” she said. |
Seamus emigrated to Spain to run a bar and to play golf, both originally in partnership with Derek Lewin. He rarely returned, and never to Bishop Auckland’s annual reunions, though he appeared – clearly unwell – at the party in 2005 to mark the 50th anniversary of Chelsea’s championship success. |
“He could hardly crawl across the floor,” former Bishop Auckland manager Lawrie McMenemy recalled. |
His family had become so concerned that they even wrote to Bishop Auckland seeking mementoes to raffle to help pay for his health care. “I think he was asset rich but cash poor, anamazing man with an incredible story” says Terry Jackson. |
Seamus died in Spain last Sunday and was cremated the following day. Bishop Auckland held an impeccably observed minute’s silence before Wednesday’s game with Gateshead. |
Mark Zuckerberg at a Bloomberg TV interview at the company's headquarters on Dec. 2, 2014. |
Facebook may soon be able to understand you a bit better — or at least your voice. |
Facebook has agreed to acquire Wit.ai, a speech recognition and natural language processing service. The deal could help the social networking company develop voice features for Messenger and help the Facebook developer community. |
A rep for Facebook confirmed the deal in a statement to Mashable. “Wit.ai has built an incredible yet simple natural language processing API that has helped developers turn speech and text into actionable data. We’re excited to have them onboard," the Facebook spokesperson said. |
Wit.ai was founded in 2013 with the goal of building what cofounder Alex Lebrun previously described as "the Github, the Wikipedia, the Bitcoin of natural language." The startup worked to make it easier for developers to build voice interfaces for mobile apps, wearable devices and the Internet of Things. |
"It is an incredible acceleration in the execution of our vision. Facebook has the resources and talent to help us take the next step," the Wit.ai team said in a post about the acquisition. "The platform will remain open and become entirely free for everyone." |
Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed. Wit.ai had previously raised $3 million in funding from some notable investors, including Andreessen Horowitz. |
Building a digital platform should be a CIO’s top priority, Gartner Inc. analysts told their audience at the Gartner Symposium this week in Orlando. |
This digital platform will be the new infrastructure of society, said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice-president and global head of research at Gartner, in his opening keynote speech. It will impact the way the world works in the same way that 100 years of building physical infrastructure has influenced the lives of glob... |
“Expect that your enterprise will change, not just your IT department, ” he said on stage. |
IT systems – the legacy systems that keep the lights on, deliver apps to workers, and move emails across servers. What CIOs have been doing for decades. |
Customer experience – putting the customer at the centre of the company’s activities, earning their loyalty moments at a time. |
Things – as in “the Internet of…” connected devices will blur the line between IT and operational technology (OT). |
Intelligence – of the artificial variety, machine learning applied to data for valuable business insights delivered contextually and quickly. |
Eco-systems – a partner network facilitated by digital touch points. Different organizations play different roles in this eco-system, but everyone involved shares a mutual benefit. |
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