Beam me up, Yoda: Obama won't do 'Jedi mind meld'

WASHINGTON (AP) ? He's not a dictator and won't entertain the idea of a "Jedi mind meld" with opponents. There's no "secret formula or special sauce" he can slip foes to make them see things his way. And not to worry, he says, the situation may look dire but won't be an "apocalypse."

So who was the guy in a suit who showed up Friday in the White House briefing room, mixing metaphors and references to "Star Wars" and "Star Trek"?

"I am not a dictator. I'm the president," Barack Obama declared as he rejected the idea of using burly Secret Service agents to keep lawmakers from leaving until everyone agreed on a budget. He answered reporters' questions shortly after an inconclusive, 52-minute meeting with the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate.

"So ultimately, if Mitch McConnell or John Boehner say, 'We need to go to catch a plane,' I can't have Secret Service block the doorway. Right?"

Even if he did bar his office ? the oval one ? Obama said he wouldn't do a "Jedi mind mild" with Congress' top two Republicans to persuade them "to do what's right."

Yoda-quoting nerds, Beltway insiders and even Hollywood heroes were instantly abuzz. The presidential mishmash of sci-fi references went viral, turning off geeks who had considered Obama to be one of them with a slip of the tongue that was almost as bad as confusing Klingons and Ewoks, or even Democrats and Republicans.

Jedis are from "Star Wars," while mind-melds happened on "Star Trek."

Mister Spock of "Star Trek" weighed in.

"Only a Vulcan mind meld would be effective on this Congress. LLAP," Leonard Nimoy emailed after The Associated Press sought his reaction. Nimoy signed off with the abbreviation for his "Live long and prosper."

As for the situation that led Obama to the briefing room in the first place, he could have quoted Bobby McFerrin and just said: "Don't worry, Be happy."

Instead, the president went with: "This is not going to be a apocalypse."

___

AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein and Associated Press Writer Caleb Jones in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/beam-yoda-obama-wont-jedi-mind-meld-195306106--politics.html

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Sony to release "Annie" on Christmas Day 2014

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Sony will release "Annie," a new movie based on the iconic play, on Christmas Day of 2014, the studio announced on Wednesday.

Quvenzhane Wallis, fresh off an Oscar nomination for her performance in "Beasts of the Southern Wild," will star as young orphan who wins the heart of everyone around her. Willow Smith, the daughter of "Annie" producers Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, had been set to play that role, but opted out of the project.

Smith's Overbrook Entertainment is producing the film with Jay-Z's Marcy Media, while Will Gluck, who made "Easy A" and "Friends with Benefits" for Sony's ScreenGems imprint, will direct.

The story of "Annie" stems from Harold Gray's comic strip "Little Orphan Annie," which first appeared in 1927. Thomas Meehan, Martin Charnin ad Charles Strouse then adapted that into a Tony-winning Broadway show, featuring now legendary songs like "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard-Knock Life." Jay-Z rapped his own version of the latter.

There have been various Broadway revivals, including a production now up on Broadway, as well as film adaptations. Will Smith announced his plans for a new spin on the tale in 2011.

Though still almost two years away, the holiday schedule for 2014 is starting to fill up with sequels and spin-offs. "Night at the Museum 3," "Minions," an offshoot of the "Despicable Me" franchise, and the next "Avatar" are all tentatively slated for December of that year. Also set to open is "Tomorrowland," Disney's top secret project from "The Incredibles" director Brad Bird and "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof.

Almost all of those movies, two distributed by Fox, one by Universal, one by Disney and now one by Sony, will target a young audience.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sony-release-annie-christmas-day-2014-203355517.html

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Vt. lye victim gets new face at Boston hospital

AAA??Feb. 27, 2013?12:19 PM ET
Vt. lye victim gets new face at Boston hospital
AP

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2008 file photo, Carmen Tarleton is interviewed in her home in Thetford, Vt. Tarleton, the Vermont woman whose face was disfigured in a lye attack received a face transplant. Doctors at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital say 44-year-old Tarleton underwent the surgery earlier in February, 2013. A team worked 15 hours to transplant the facial skin, including the neck, nose, lips, facial muscles, arteries and nerves. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2008 file photo, Carmen Tarleton is interviewed in her home in Thetford, Vt. Tarleton, the Vermont woman whose face was disfigured in a lye attack received a face transplant. Doctors at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital say 44-year-old Tarleton underwent the surgery earlier in February, 2013. A team worked 15 hours to transplant the facial skin, including the neck, nose, lips, facial muscles, arteries and nerves. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

Dr. Bodhan Pomahac, at podium, with his surgical team, speaks to reporters regarding the face transplant of Carmen Blandin Tarleton, pictured left, at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. Tarleton underwent the surgery earlier this month. The 44-year-old Tarleton,of Thetford, Vt., was attacked by her former husband in 2007. He doused her with industrial strength lye. She suffered chemical burns over 80 percent of her body. The mother of two wrote a book about her experience that describes her recovery.(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Doctors applaud after Kesstan Blandin, sister of face transplant patient Carmen Blandin Tarleton, read a statement from her sister at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. Tarleton underwent the surgery earlier this month. The 44-year-old Tarleton, was attacked by her former husband in 2007. He doused her with industrial strength lye. She suffered chemical burns over 80 percent of her body. The mother of two wrote a book about her experience that describes her recovery.(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2008 file photo, Carmen Tarleton is interviewed in her home in Thetford, Vt. Tarleton, the Vermont woman whose face was disfigured in a lye attack received a face transplant. Doctors at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital say 44-year-old Tarleton underwent the surgery earlier in February, 2013. A team worked 15 hours to transplant the facial skin, including the neck, nose, lips, facial muscles, arteries and nerves. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

BOSTON (AP) ? A Vermont nurse disfigured in a 2007 lye attack has received a new face at a Boston hospital.

Carmen Blandin Tarleton's full facial transplant at Brigham & Women's Hospital included transplanting a female donor's facial skin to Tarleton's neck, nose and lips, along with facial muscles, arteries and nerves.

Hospital officials say the 44-year-old Thetford, Vt., woman suffered burns on more than 80 percent of her body after her estranged husband attacked her.

Tarleton's sister said Wednesday she showed "great appreciation" for the gift she's been given.

The donor's family believes their loved one's spirit lives on in Tarleton.

Tarleton has undergone more than 50 surgeries. The latest took 15 hours and included a team of more than 30 medical professionals.

Tarleton once worked as a transplant nurse.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-02-27-Lye%20Attack-Face%20Transplant/id-403c2deaff1047b781baebb11b9d7a92

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Ohio court hearing arguments in school Bible case

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ? Attorneys for a fired public school science teacher who kept a Bible on his desk plan to argue before the Ohio Supreme Court that the teacher's dismissal was unconstitutional.

The Mount Vernon School Board dismissed John Freshwater in 2011 after investigators reported he preached Christian beliefs in class when discussing topics such as evolution and homosexuality and was insubordinate in failing to remove the Bible from his classroom.

Freshwater also was accused of using a science tool to burn students' arms with the image of a cross, but that allegation was resolved and was not a factor in his firing.

Two lower courts previously upheld Freshwater's dismissal, but the state Supreme Court agreed to hear a portion of his claims over his firing. The hearing was to be held Wednesday.

The court said Freshwater can argue it is unconstitutional to fire someone without clear guidance on what teaching materials or methods are acceptable. Freshwater also can argue it is unconstitutional to fire someone over the mere presence of a religious text such as the Bible in a classroom.

As an eighth-grade science teacher, Freshwater tried to encourage his students to examine facts and theories and hypotheses and then question them and differentiate between them, his attorney said in a court filing last year.

A voluntary discussion of creationism or "intelligent design" as part of the mandatory discussion of evolution is unquestionably part of a secular education program, attorney Kelly Hamilton wrote.

"Freshwater did not engage in religious proselytization ? he discussed a scientific theory that happens to be consistent with the teachings of multiple major world religions," Hamilton wrote.

The board's actions, he concluded, were nothing less "than the censorship of ideas."

Freshwater is getting legal backing from the Charlottesville, Va.-based Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties group.

Attorneys for the school board countered that Freshwater had long tried to push religion in the classroom.

As far back as 1994, a middle school principal told Freshwater to stop distributing an "Answers in Genesis" pamphlet with information about a creationist organization's upcoming seminar, according to a filing by board attorneys asking the court to uphold Freshwater's firing.

Freshwater also used a handout titled "Survival of the Fakest," to teach his students to doubt science, the board's attorneys said.

"Whenever Freshwater was told by a superior to cease using an inappropriate handout in class, he would simply find another one to use," the board's attorneys said in a filing last fall.

Science education and humanist and secular groups have joined the side of the school board.

The board once concluded Freshwater had used a high-frequency generator, which other teachers have used to demonstrate electrical current, to burn a cross onto a student's arm. The cross lasted a few weeks.

The student's family settled a federal lawsuit against the district in an effort to move on.

___

Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached at http://twitter.com/awhcolumbus

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-court-hearing-arguments-school-bible-case-073731719.html

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Zen Bound 2 for iPhone and iPad review

Zen Bound 2 is a very relaxing game in which you must wrap rope around a wooden object, and as you do, paint is applied to the object. The objective is to cover the entire object with paint, all while enjoying the relaxing and soothing environment the object is floating in.

In each level of Zen Bound, a strange wooden object floats in front of a beautiful background with soothing music playing. There's a nail in one end of it with a rope attached. With intuitive gestures, you spin the object around with the goal of wrapping the rope around it. As the rope touches the wood, paint appears on the object at the point of contact (plus a little more). Some levels have extra nails with paint balls at the end, and when the rope touches these, paint splatters on a fairly large area of the wood. The goal is to cover the object with as much paint as possible before tying the rope around the finishing nail.

The good

• Beautiful graphics (fancy shaders, realistic lighting)
• Over 100 levels
• 45-minute soundtrack from 'Ghost Monkey'
• Relaxing
• Challenging
• Retina Display and Gyro sensor support
• Game Center achievements
• Universal for iPhone and iPad

The bad

• No complaints

The bottom line

Zen Bound 2 is the perfect game for puzzle lovers who are looking for something a little more relaxing. This is a no-stress game where you can take your time completing each level. The soothing atmosphere makes Zen Bound meditative and therapeutic while at the same time being a challenge.

• $2.99 - Download now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/8MTSpE2mtYk/story01.htm

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Video: Doctor: Most people don?t survive assault weapon wounds

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50979547/

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Swanson Russell Hits $100 Million Milestone

Swanson Russell

LINCOLN, Neb. --(Ammoland.com)- For the first time in its 50-year history, Swanson Russell has surpassed $100 million in capitalized billings.

Capitalized billings are an industry standard used by agencies as a uniform means of comparing agencies that offer a variety of services.

?In our industry, becoming a $100 million agency is a significant milestone,? said Dave Hansen, partner and chief executive officer of Swanson Russell.? ?It has been a stated goal of ours and we are very excited to announce this achievement. One hundred million is certainly a milestone that elevates our status on a national level.?

Ten years ago, Swanson Russell?s capitalized billings stood at around $50 million.? In 2011, capitalized billings reached $90 million.? In 2012, the agency not only exceeded the $100 million mark, but also celebrated its 50^th anniversary and grew to employ more than 150 people.

?2012 was a pretty special year for us,? said Brian Boesche, partner and chief creative officer.? ?The biggest key to our success is great people.? The agency business is a people business and we?ve been able to hire and retain people who are excellent strategists, creative thinkers, and who are committed to making things happen for our clients.?

Swanson Russell was founded in 1962 by the late Warren M. ?Gus? Swanson.? Steve Russell served as president for 25 years and oversaw much of the growth that has occurred. He currently serves as chairman of the board.? Boesche and Hansen purchased the agency from Russell in 2007 and now own and operate the agency.

Swanson Russell has offices in Lincoln and Omaha and offers full service advertising/marketing communications, including branding, media, public relations, database and interactive and social media services. In addition to working with local and regional clients, the agency is nationally recognized for expertise in agriculture, healthcare, outdoor recreation, construction and the green industry.

For more information about Swanson Russell?s Real Connection^? visit www.swansonrussell.com.

Source: http://www.ammoland.com/2013/02/swanson-russell-hits-100-million-milestone/

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