Archive for August 2008
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New estimates show that least 56,000 people become infected with the AIDS virus every year in the United States — 40 percent more than previous calculations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday.
The CDC stressed that actual infection rates have not risen but said better methods of measuring newly diagnosed infections and extrapolating these to the general population led to the higher estimates.
“CDC’s first estimates from this system reveal that the HIV epidemic is — and has been — worse than previously known. Results indicate that approximately 56,300 new HIV infections occurred in the United States in 2006,” the CDC said in a statement.
“This figure is roughly 40 percent higher than CDC’s former estimate of 40,000 infections per year, which was based on limited data and less precise methods.”
The CDC said the epidemic has been stable since the late 1990s, “though the number of new HIV infections remains unacceptably high.”
“The analysis shows that new infections peaked in the mid-1980s at approximately 130,000 infections per year and reached a low of about 50,000 in the early 1990s,” it said.
Dr. Kevin Fenton, who heads the CDC’s AIDS branch, said 15,000 to 18,000 Americans die every year of AIDS.
“The data really confirm that there is a severe impact of this epidemic among gay and bisexual men in the United States … as well as black men and women,” Fenton said in a telephone interview. Continued…
TOKYO (Reuters) – Nintendo Co Ltd’s (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Wii video game console outsold Sony Corp’s (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) PlayStation 3 by more than 3-to-1 in Japan in July, a game magazine publisher said.
Nintendo sold 171,851 units of the Wii in the four weeks ending July 27, compared with 54,823 units of the PS3, Enterbrain said on Friday.
In the handheld game market, Sony sold 256,765 units of its PlayStation Portable in the month, while sales of Nintendo’s DS came to 217,639 units, the publisher said.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka)
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Actress Lindsay Lohan attends Sephora’s tenth anniversary celebration at Angel Orensanz Foundation, July 17, 2008 in New York. Lindsay Lohan said police have no business getting involved in her personal life Friday, Aug. 1, 2008, a day after the police chief said the 22-year-old actress had evidently “gone gay” as a part of his explaination for why the paparazzi were no longer an issue. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lindsay Lohan said Friday that police have no business getting involved in her personal life, a day after the police chief explained that the paparazzi were no longer an issue — in part because the 22-year-old actress had evidently “gone gay.”
“Police chiefs shouldn’t get involved in everyone else’s business when it comes to their personal life. It’s inappropriate,” Lohan said in a video shot by paparazzi Friday and posted on TMZ.com. In the footage, Lohan and gal pal Samantha Ronson are trekking through the Los Angeles Airport on their way to catch a flight to Chicago.
The day before, Chief William Bratton said the paparazzi have become less of a problem thanks to Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lohan leading more moderate lifestyles.
“If you notice, since Britney started wearing clothes and behaving; Paris is out of town not bothering anybody anymore, thank God, and evidently, Lindsay Lohan has gone gay, we don’t seem to have much of an issue,” he told KNBC-TV.
Bratton was speaking about his refusal to participate in a meeting held by elected officials Thursday that was called to discuss new laws to curb problem paparazzi.
He called Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine’s special session — which was attended by the likes of John Mayer, Eric Roberts and Milo Ventimiglia — “a complete waste of time.”
Bratton later called a news conference outside police headquarters to clarify his position on the paparazzi. When asked about the Lohan remark — which followed months of tabloid speculation that Lohan and Ronson, a DJ, are dating — Bratton said his sister is gay and he is a proponent of gay rights.
The Guvernment
Posted on: August 19, 2008
Korean War’s Lost Chapter: South Korea Says U.S. Killed Hundreds of Civilians
Posted on: August 19, 2008
North Korean troops surrendered to American soldiers on Wolmi Island on Sept. 22, 1950.
WOLMI ISLAND, South Korea — When American troops stormed this island more than half a century ago, it was a hive of Communist trenches and pillboxes. Now it is a park where children play and retirees stroll along a tree-shaded esplanade.
From a hilltop across a narrow channel, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, memorialized in bronze, appears to gaze down at the beaches of Inchon where his troops splashed ashore in September 1950, changing the course of the Korean War and making him a hero here.
In the port below, rows of cars, gleaming in the sun, wait to be shipped around the world — testimony to South Korea’s industrial might and a reminder of which side has triumphed economically since the conflict ended 55 years ago.
But inside a ragged tent at the entrance of the park, some aging South Koreans gather daily to draw attention to their side of the conflict, a story of carnage not mentioned in South Korea’s official histories or textbooks.
“When the napalm hit our village, many people were still sleeping in their homes,” said Lee Beom-ki, 76. “Those who survived the flames ran to the tidal flats. We were trying to show the American pilots that we were civilians. But they strafed us, women and children.”
Village residents say dozens of civilians were killed.
The attack, though not the civilian casualties, has been corroborated by declassified United States military documents recently reviewed by South Korean investigators. On Sept. 10, 1950, five days before the Inchon landing, according to the documents, 43 American warplanes swarmed over Wolmi, dropping 93 napalm canisters to “burn out” its eastern slope in an attempt to clear the way for American troops.
Intel says that the $500 million will be invested over 5 years mostly for WiMax
The availability of WiMax in the United States isn’t looking that great right now with Sprint cutting back its Xohm WiMax service with alarming frequency. Despite the murky outlook for WiMax in the U.S., Intel is betting the technology will be huge not only in the U.S. but in other parts of the world as well.
Intel is investing heavily in WiMax technology in Taiwan with a $500M investment being announced over the next five years. Intel managing director of WiMax program, Lil Mohan, said at a conference, “This investment is largely for WiMax.”
Mohan went on to say that Intel believes WiMax infrastructure will be ready by 2009 or 2010 in Taiwan and that Intel expects WiMax to be commercially deployed in the U.S. in Q2 or Q3 of 2008. The Taiwan government has already announced that it plans to invest $664M over the next five years in WiMax.
Many big technology companies are betting on WiMax as the successor to Wi-Fi thanks to its much greater range of up to 30 miles. Mohan continued, “Japan will probably launch the first (WiMax standard in Asia), since they have already invested lots of money.”
COOL Blonde
Posted on: August 14, 2008
HOT BABE
Posted on: August 14, 2008
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MODELS
Posted on: August 13, 2008
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‘Dark Knight’ (above) is soaring into record box office numbers, but ‘Titanic’ won’t sink from the No. 1 all-time spot in the near future.
It may not end up being the proverbial iceberg that sinks “Titanic” as the top-grossing movie of all time, but “The Dark Knight” still has shown a super-powered punch at the box office.
In the first 12 days since the film’s release, it has grossed $343 million, by far the fastest a film has gotten to that mark. Most industry experts believe that “The Dark Knight,” starring Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger, will vault past “Star Wars” ($461 million) and eclipse the half-billion-dollar mark domestically before it leaves theaters. Holy pop culture phenomenon, Batman – in an entertainment era dominated by DVD players and high definition television, that’s a pretty impressive haul.
The sequel to the 2005 blockbuster “Batman Begins” almost tripled that movie’s opening day weekend with a record $158 million take. That means it wasn’t just comic book fans or teens or Ledger fans in the audience. It was almost everybody.
It’s a haul that also makes “Titanic’s” eye-popping totals of $600 million – almost $1.9 billion worldwide – that much more impressive.
Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros., compares Titanic’s decade-long berth at the top to Joe DiMaggio‘s 56-game hitting streak in baseball: one of those records that’s almost impossible to break.
“I’m thrilled that we have the opportunity to maybe become the No. 2 movie of all time,” said Fellman. “We knew we had something very special, but we didn’t know how special it could be.”
Ten years later, ‘special’ also describes the perfect storm of factors that has made “Titanic” virtually unsinkable as the No. 1 all-time box office movie. Before its release on Dec. 19, 1997, there were rumblings in the industry that the movie would not break even with its massive production costs – reportedly $200 million. Delays related to the special effects had pushed back what was supposed to be a summer blockbuster six months. The three-hour running time meant fewer shows to sell tickets for.
Boy, were they wrong.
“That film is the greatest word of mouth film of all time,” says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, a box office tracking firm. “The perfect storm proved to be the release date, the marketing campaign and the buzz.”
“Titanic” found that perfect mix – women viewers who swooned over the Leonardo DiCaprio–Kate Winslet love story and men who swooned over the CGI recreation of the doomed ocean-liner’s sinking. The film kept steaming at No. 1 for 15 straight weeks and was still open for business in theaters, when the Academy Awards rolled around. Director James Cameron was king of the world when the movie notched 11 Oscars. But the film was also a product of a different time, before DVDs or TiVo really caught on.
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