"Django Unchained" Action Figures Spark More Racial Outrage

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" has already been the subject of criticism for its bloody violence and frequent use of the N-word, but now action figures from the film are causing the next wave of outrage.

The National Entertainment Collectibles Association, Inc. (NECA) - a company that has produced toys for movies including "Hunger Games," "Predators" and "Rocky" - partnered with the Weinstein Company to release eight-inch tall figurines for sale on Amazon and people aren't happy about it.

Najee Ali, director of the advocacy group Project Islamic Hope, told AP that the collectible line of movie merchandise is "a slap in the face of our ancestors" and is hoping for their removal from the market.

And unlike Spike Lee, who refuses to watch Tarantino's latest out of respect for his ancestors, Ali wasn't opposed to Tarantino's depiction of slavery or use of racial slurs in the revenge tale. He admits to seeing it twice, but feels the plastic personifications of the characters in the film "trivializes the horrors of slavery and what African Americans experienced."

So far, customer reviews on Amazon agree.

"Slavery is not something to play with," one of many comments in the same vein read. "These toys will fall in the hands of people who may think it is ok to mimic how slaves were treated. Please take these dolls off the market."

Others, however, don't have any issue with the figurines portraying Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington and others who starred in the movie.

"If fans of this film want to collect memorabilia and action figures based off of a movie they enjoyed, it is a far stretch to say that the makers of this movie are attempting to make money off of slavery," one supportive collector wrote. "There is nothing racist about making a toy based off of a character from a movie."

As the racial debate over "Django Unchained" continues, the movie is raking in big bucks at the box office. With over $108 million accumulated domestically, Tarantino's latest is on pace to become his biggest success yet at the box office.

Due to the sensitive subject matter, it is on track to becoming Tarantino's most controversial, too.

The Weinstein Company did not immediately respond to TheWrap's request for comment on the action figures, while NECA responded with no comment "at the moment."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/django-unchained-action-figures-spark-more-racial-outrage-001944465.html

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New telescopes to give researchers glimpse of the beginning of time

Jan. 8, 2013 ? Where do we come from? What is the universe made of? Will the universe exist only for a finite time or will it last forever? These are just some of the questions that University of California, San Diego physicists are working to answer in the high desert of northern Chile. Armed with a massive 3.5 meter (11.5 foot) diameter telescope designed to measure space-time fluctuations produced immediately after the Big Bang, the research team will soon be one step closer to understanding the origin of the universe. The Simons Foundation has recently awarded the team a $4.3 million grant to build and install two more telescopes. Together, the three telescopes will be known as the Simons Array.

?The Simons Array will inform our knowledge of the universe in a completely new way,? said Brian Keating, associate professor of Physics at UC San Diego?s Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences. Keating will lead the project with Professor Adrian Lee of UC Berkeley.

Fluctuations in space-time, also known as ?gravitational waves,? are gravitational perturbations that propagate at the speed of light and can penetrate ?through? matter, like an x-ray. The gravitational waves are thought to have imprinted the ?primordial soup? of matter and photons that later coalesced to become gases, stars and galaxies?all the structures that we now see. The photons left over from the Big Bang will be captured by the telescopes to give scientists a unique view back to the universe?s beginning.

The telescopes of the Simons Array?named in recognition of the grant?will focus light onto more than 20,000 detectors, each of which must be cooled nearly to absolute zero. The result will provide an unmatched combination of sensitivity, frequency coverage and sky coverage.

Last year, the first POLARBEAR (for Polarization of Background Radiation) telescope, which will comprise one third of the Simons Array, was set up in Chile?s Atacama Desert. The site is one of the highest and driest places on Earth at 17,000 feet above sea level, making it one of the planet?s best locations for such a study. The site?s high elevation means that it lies above half of the Earth?s atmosphere. Because water vapor absorbs microwaves, the dry climate allows the already thin atmosphere to transmit even more of the faint cosmic microwave background radiation. Since March 2012, the telescope has recorded data to identify an imprint of primordial gravitational waves on the cosmic microwave background radiation, the relic radiation remaining from the Big Bang.

While POLARBEAR was a major technological achievement, the single telescope is sensitive to just one frequency. Additional detectors in the new telescopes will measure the cosmic microwave background at different frequencies so that researchers can compare the data and subtract out contaminating radiation emitted from the Milky Way Galaxy. Together, the three telescopes will also be much more sensitive to the elusive gravitational wave signals, offering deeper insight into the origin of the universe.

Keating continued, ?The Simons Array will have the same or better capabilities as a $1 billion satellite, and with NASA?s budget constraints, there are no planned space-based missions for this job.?

Scientists from UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Colorado, McGill University in Canada and the KEK Laboratory in Japan are collaborating on the project.

Based in New York City, the Simons Foundation was established in 1994 by Jim and Marilyn Simons. The foundation?s mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences. The Foundation is delighted to be able to help support this innovative investigation into the earliest moments of the universe.

Initial funding for the first POLARBEAR telescope came from the National Science Foundation, the James B. Ax Family Foundation and an anonymous donor.

For more information on the Simons Array, visit cosmology.ucsd.edu. More information on the Simons Foundation can be found at simonsfoundation.org.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/bAUo3fcmmFk/130108141955.htm

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'Loser' exit prompts tears, transforms team

Chris Haston/NBC

The cast of "The Biggest Losers."

By Ree Hines, TODAY contributor

Longtime fans of "The Biggest Loser" are familiar with a phenomenon known as "the week-two curse." Anyone who didn't know about the troubles that traditionally follow the contestants' earliest efforts, certainly got a crash course on the curse Monday night.

The action picked up right where it left off in the last episode -- with the white team reeling from the loss of TC, whose ouster came hot on the heels of Nikki's voluntary exit. With just three members going forward, Jillian Michaels' team worried what the future might hold.

But Team White was far from the only one to fret. Host Alison Sweeney announced that the dreaded red line would return to the weigh-in again and claim another victim without so much as a vote. So the unlucky one with the lowest percentage of weight loss on the losing team by the end of the week would go the way of TC.

That had everyone worried, and that's where the so-called curse concerns came in. On "The Biggest Loser," the second week is often regarded as the hardest week. Players drop big pounds during week one, but often plateau after their initial success. In past seasons, losing no weight at all or even gaining a pound or two wasn't unheard of in week two. That goes for frontrunners and lagging "Losers" alike.

So with that thought looming over the contestants, they all prepared to give it everything they had. Good thing, since Bob Harper, Dolvett Quince and Jillian each set up outdoor gyms to put the players through their paces.

The workouts were, as always, grueling. But they weren't the toughest stuff the contestants faced. In fact, the huffing and puffing must have seemed easy compared to what came next for some of them -- one-on-one visits with "Loser's" resident doc, Robert Huizenga.

Jackson, from Team Red, learned that sleep apnea was robbing his body of much needed oxygen every night. Pam, from the white team, viewed a test tube highlighting the cloudy fat content in her own blood. The assessments were particularly harsh for Team Blue's Gina and Michael. She discovered she had "out of control" diabetes, while he learned that at age 34, he had the arterial calcification of a man in his late 70s.

They each aspired to use the bad news as a motivator for a better future, but first they had to get through the rest of the week's obstacles.

Speaking of obstacles, the official challenge for the week saw eight-time NFL Pro Bowler Antonio Gates direct the teams through speed drills. Teen players Biingo (blue), Lindsay (red) and Sunny (white) were on hand and stood to benefit the most, since the team to complete the drill in the best time would win $5000 and (a visit from another NFL player) for their kid's school.

In the end, the small but determined (and really fast) Team White won it for Sunny.

But unfortunately, that was the only bit of good fortune the three-member team had all week.

Despite a rough weigh-in for Team Blue -- complete with a zero-pound loss for Jeff -- it was the white team that fell to the curse and ultimately came in last place.

The team of three was suddenly down to just two. It was their seemingly strongest player, Nate, that fell under the red line.

"That makes me really sad. It does," Nate said. "I look back, and I'm proud of the work that I've done. I was starting to write a new book of my life. I wanted 'The Biggest Loser' journey to be a lot longer than two weeks."

There was hardly a dry eye to be seen -- even Jillian broke down.

Still, it wasn't all bad news for Nate. In an update at the end of the show, he revealed that he's continued his weight-loss progress back home. He also had a big reveal for his girlfriend.

After declaring, "I feel like I deserve her now," Nate got down on one knee and proposed.

She said, "yes!"

Find out what the competition holds for the remaining contestants when "The Biggest Loser" airs next Monday at 8 p.m. on NBC.

What did you think of the results on Monday night? Do you think it was really Nate's time to go? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/01/07/16399851-biggest-loser-shocker-exit-prompts-tears-transforms-a-team?lite

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Sony SideView hands-on (video)

It wasn't exactly a spotlight announcement at today's Sony CES press event, but it's a cool feature nonetheless. As we mentioned in our liveblog of the event, the feature brings to mind Microsoft's SmartGlass, and after playing around with it for a bit, our minds haven't really changed on that front. Essentially, it's a method for turning your tablet or handset into a supplementary content and control device as you're watching your TV. It's got a program guide, information on cast and crew, a remote and apps all built-in.

It's an extremely intuitive system -- we were able to pick it up as soon as we picked up the device. Click Program Guide and you get a list of shows. Click on one of those and you get a synopsis and information on cast members. You can click through from there and find full bios of the featured actors. And if the show is on now, you can choose it directly from there. If you're a bit more old-fashioned, you can also choose a remote control from the side. The Sony rep we spoke with told us that the system interacts with your set-top box to pull TV content.

Continue reading Sony SideView hands-on (video)

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/NoXldRT-zao/

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LG's 13.3-inch Windows 8 Ultrabook Z360 hands-on

By now, you should be familiar with all the Windows 8 options flooding the market and here on the CES 2013 show floor, LG's showing off its latest Ultrabook entry: the Z360. The thin and light device measures just 13.6mm and weighs in at 1.15kg making it easily openable with just one finger. Of course, since the Z360's 13.3-inch 1080p IPS panel doesn't support touch input, there's an array of dedicated "Metro" hot keys along the left edge of the keyboard. Inside, you're getting a fourth-generation Intel Core i5 processor (alternate Core i3 and i7 configurations are also possible) which allows for the device to cold boot in just eight seconds. On the Z360's bottom right, you'll find two slots for microSD slightly hidden, as well as HDMI and wired ethernet ports around the device. LG hasn't made its pricing or release details known at this time, so stay tuned for those additional details.

Gallery: LG Z360 Ultrabook hands-on

Continue reading LG's 13.3-inch Windows 8 Ultrabook Z360 hands-on

Filed under: Laptops, LG

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/08/lgs-13-3-inch-windows-8-ultrabook-z360-hands-on/

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Skip the subway, take a ski lift to work instead

6 hrs.

John Roach , NBC News

The future of mass transit will come with sweeping views, private cars, and schedule-free travel if a proposed gondola-based system takes off from sketchpads at a design firm, which stands a shot at occurring in fast-growing Texas.

Gondolas are enclosed cabins that dangle from moving wires. They are commonly used to transport skiers and snowboarders up mountains and tourists around amusement parks. Michael McDaniel and his colleagues at ?Frog, an international design firm, believe the ski lifts can improve transit in big cities.

?Just given that the technology was developed for traversing extremes in elevation, it actually makes itself very handy for navigating through the urban fabric,? McDaniel told NBC News.

Construction costs for gondolas range between $3 million and $12 million per mile compared to $35 million per mile for surface rail, $132 million per mile for elevated rail and $400 million per mile for subways, according to Frog?s calculations.

In addition, the cabins are always moving through the station. If passengers want a private car for themselves and their friends, they can wait a few seconds for an empty one. Gondolas also eliminate the need for riders to plan their day around a bus or train schedule.

?They are getting the same freedom that they would have with their own automobile but without the burden or complexity of having an automobile,? McDaniel said. A hub-and-spoke design would permit a main line to circle an urban core and shoot out individual lines to more distant neighborhoods.

He and colleague Jared Ficklin came up with the concept while looking at a century-old photograph of their office building in downtown Austin, Texas. Rail tracks crisscross the intersection in front of the building. Today, the city plans to re-lay tracks for an expanded light rail system.

The designers saw irony in the fact that the future of their city?s transportation was a recreation of what existed during their grandparents? childhood. There had to be a better way, they thought.?

Ficklin drew inspiration from his ski-bumming days in Colorado, where resorts such as Telluride now use chair lifts to move people around town in addition to up the slopes. Why not extend the concept to bigger cities?

To find out if the idea was feasible, the designers used it as a training exercise for junior designers at their firm. ?About halfway through the research, we started looking at what we were discovering and were like, ?Wow this actually seems kind of feasible,'?? McDaniel said.

He presented the concept, called the Wire, at a design conference in San Francisco in November 2012. An article about the presentation caught the eye of Alan McGraw, the mayor of Round Rock, Texas, an Austin suburb. He is on a transportation planning committee for the greater Austin area.

McGraw went to Frog?s offices and met with the designers. He was impressed with the presentation and drawings, which show, for example, transit stations located in the top floors of skyscrapers and parking garages.

What?s more, since most of the infrastructure is overhead, real estate costs and right-of-way issues are minimized. ?You are going over all of your problems, literally,? McGraw told NBC News.

McGraw, who is a skier himself, said he had often wondered why overhead ski-lift-like transportation systems were absent from cities.

?When I bring it up, people just laugh and then they just kind of move on,? McGraw said. Dig a little deeper, though, and ?it goes from giggles to 'Okay, why not?'?? he added.

Some potential marks against the concept include unknown operation and maintenance costs, which could eat up the savings gained from the lower construction costs.?

In addition, the fastest gondolas move no more than 15 miles per hour. That?s fine for dense urban cores in places such as New York City, but less than ideal for covering the wide open spaces of Texas.

?It is not the answer to all of the problems,? McGraw said, but a gondola system is a potential piece to the transportation puzzle and worth considering, which he and his committee have begun to do.?

?From communication to the automobile, we are innovating,? he said. ?We are trying to make things work better and more efficiently. Well, why aren?t we doing that with mass transportation as well??

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/skip-subway-take-ski-lift-work-instead-1B7872322

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Racial essentialism reduces creative thinking, makes people more closed-minded

Jan. 7, 2013 ? New research suggests that racial stereotypes and creativity have more in common than we might think.

In an article published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, researcher Carmit Tadmor of Tel Aviv University and colleagues find that racial stereotyping and creative stagnation share a common mechanism: categorical thinking.

"Although these two concepts concern very different outcomes, they both occur when people fixate on existing category information and conventional mindsets," Tadmor and her colleagues write.

The researchers examined whether there might be a causal relationship between racial essentialism -- the view that racial groups possess underlying essences that represent deep-rooted, unalterable traits and abilities -- and creativity.

They hypothesized that, once activated, an essentialist mindset would lead to a reluctance to consider alternative perspectives, resulting in a generalized closed-mindedness.

The researchers manipulated participants' beliefs about racial essentialism by having them read one of three articles: one that described fictitious scientific research supporting racial essentialist beliefs, one that described fictitious research supporting racial nonessentialist beliefs, or one about the scientific properties of water.

The participants then took a commonly used test of creativity called the Remote Associates Test. The participants were given three distinct words and they had to identify a single target word that linked the three words together. So, for example, given the words "manners," "round," and "tennis," the correct answer would be "table."

The researchers found that participants primed with an essentialist viewpoint were less creative, solving significantly fewer of the word problems correctly than participants in the other two groups.

Results from a follow-up study showed that the link between racial essentialism and decreased creativity could be explained, at least in part, by an increase in closed-mindedness.

Together, these studies suggest that essentialism exerts its negative effects on creativity by changing how people think, as opposed to changing what they think. This finding fits with previous research on information processing and creativity.

The research also suggests that essentialist beliefs are fairly malleable. While there are many different aspects that still need to be explored, Tadmor and colleagues speculate that it might be possible to use these findings to devise an intervention program that reduces racial essentialist beliefs, thereby leading participants not only to become more socially tolerant but also to unleash their creative potential in the process.

Co-authors on this research include Melody M. Chao of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Ying-yi Hong of Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University and Beijing Normal University; and Jeffrey T. Polzer of Harvard University.

This research was partially supported by grants from the European Union Marie Curie International Reintegration Program; the Henry Crown Institute of Business Research in Israel; the Research Grants Council in Hong Kong; and the Ministry of Education, Singapore.

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Journal Reference:

1. C. T. Tadmor, M. M. Chao, Y.-y. Hong, J. T. Polzer. Not Just for Stereotyping Anymore: Racial Essentialism Reduces Domain-General Creativity. Psychological Science, 2012; DOI: 10.1177/0956797612452570

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/WrpfPpcfZ5Q/130107130937.htm

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