- If there is a worse idea than remaking a movie that’s just 25 years old, handing one of the co-creators of a teeny bopper TV drama about the dorks of the glee club has to be it. But the wheels are in motion for a remake of “Dirty Dancing” and at this point, the only option for those dreading the train wreck sure to happen is put a safe distance between themselves and the impending disaster and enjoy the fireworks. The author for that fireworks show will be Brad Falchuk, co-creator of “Glee,” who has been hired to write the screenplay for the forthcoming remake of the cult favorite 1987 dancing flick. Falchunk, who also created AMC’s new drama “American Horror Story,” will write the script for what is not going to be a standard hatchet job of a remake for a good movie. Rather than crank out second-rate versions of everything in the initial incarnation of the film, this disaster in the making will include brand new songs as well classics from the original film's soundtrack. To tie the two together (something the living members of the original film will undoubtedly love), Kenny Ortega, the first film's choreographer, has been placed in the director's chair for the movie. The project has not yet been cast, but former man-bander Justin Timberlake and Emma Stone were rumored to be the frontrunners for the roles originally played by the late Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray. Of course, the plot will remain the same and whomever is cast in Gray’s role will end up hooking up with her dance instructor at some rural resort. This failure in progress is set for release on July 26, 2013………
- Can government waste really be blamed on any one person of group? Of course not. Such waste is endemic to big government and as such, the Obama administration complaining last week about rising costs in the General Services Administration office under the W. administration is misguided. Administration officials suggested that an $820,000 Las Vegas conference for the office conference could have been avoided if only W. had stopped spelling out words in his bowl of Spaghetti-O’s long enough to act. Wasting less than $1 million may seem minor in this era of epic government excess, but in an election year any chance to rip the opposing party is a golden one. However, the former head of the GSA didn’t take the criticism lying down and on Monday, Lurita Doan fired back. Doan, who led the GSA during W.’s disastrous eight years in office until her resignation in 2008, claimed that President Obama's team is trying to "divert attention" from its own scandal. "Blaming anyone else for their own errors is an Obama administration stock and trade," Doan said Monday. "They love to blame George Bush for all of their problems. The fact of the matter is that there can be no comparison whatsoever. And when you look at it, it's one of these situations where there's simply no way that you can excuse the kinds of excesses that went on." First off, Lurita, the man’s name is W., not George Bush. He didn’t do enough in office to justify being called by his government name. Secondly, the fact is that an inspector general's report on the 2010 conference led to the resignation of GSA's most recent administrator last week, as well as the firing of two top officials within the agency. A list of expenses including thousands of dollars for frivolous items ranging from novelty yearbooks to souvenir canteens is damning all by itself. Congressional lawmakers, experts on corruption if ever there were any, are now investigating. That the conference took place in 2010 doesn’t seem to bother the Obama administration when it comes to passing out blame and did not deter officials from pointing out that the budget for the so-called Western Regions Conference, which is held every two years, has skyrocketed since 2004. "At least we have taken bold, swift, forceful action to hold those responsible accountable and put in place protections to make sure this never happened again," an Obama administration official said. "If Bush administration folks had acted under their watch, the 2010 debacle could have been avoided." How about this? All of you are wasteful, irresponsible ass-hats who have no respect for those you’ve been elected (or appointed) to represent. Done and done…………
- What took you so long, science? How is it that you’ve just now gotten around to building a quantum computer inside a diamond? The device is the first of its kind to include protection against harmful noise called “decoherence.” By building it, researchers were able to demonstrate the viability of solid-state quantum computers, which just might represent the future of quantum computing because they can easily be scaled up in size. Right now, quantum computers typically are very small and simply cannot match the speed of larger, traditional computers. A multinational team including University of Southern California professor Daniel Lidar and postdoctoral researcher Zhihui Wang and University of California, Santa Barbara physicist David Awschalom developed a diamond quantum computer system featuring two quantum bits, or qubits, made of subatomic particles. The particles differ from traditional computer bits, which can encode distinctly either a one or a zero, but only one of the two at a time. Conversely, qubits can encode a one and a zero at the same time. That capability, called superposition, and the ability of quantum states to “tunnel” through energy barriers could some day allow quantum computers to perform optimization calculations much faster than traditional computers. The diamond used in the project has its impurities, like any diamond, but the researchers actually utilized the impurities. A nitrogen nucleus (anything other than carbon in a diamond is considered an imperfection) became the first qubit and an electron that was this diamond’s second flaw became the second qubit. However, electrons can fall victim more quickly to decoherence. Lidar and his team were able to overcome the problem by, well, doing smart scientist stuff. “A nucleus has a long decoherence time—in the milliseconds. You can think of it as very sluggish,” says Lidar, explaining why using a nucleus in the process is easier than working with an electron. Working decoherence protection—using microwave pulses to continually switch the direction of the electron spin rotation – made this project different than previous solid-state computing systems. “It’s a little like time travel,” Lidar said. To test the ability of their diamond-encased system to operate in a quantum fashion, the team measured how closely it matched “Grover’s algorithm,” which is a search of an unsorted database, akin to being told to search for a name in a phone book when given only a phone number. For those wondering how all of applies to them….umm….some day, it will make searching for porn online or uploading photos of your dog in his Christmas sweater faster……………
- Crash and burn. The Lamar Odom experience has come to an abrupt end in Dallas, where the tempestuous forward and the defending NBA champions have agreed to part ways after just 57 games. The Mavericks acquired Odom prior to the season after the Lakers agreed to trade him to the league-owned New Orleans Hornets as part of a Chris Paul blockbuster that was ultimately vetoed by NBA commissioner David Stern in an asinine decision that has still not been sufficiently explained by the league. A hurt Odom pushed for a trade to get him out of L.A., but when the Lakers sent him away for a couple of basketballs and some cash, the outcome wasn’t what Odom expected. During his time in Dallas, Odom played in just 50 games. He missed time with injuries and personal issues and even when he was active, he wasn’t really comfortable with the Mavericks. At one point, he wanted to play for the franchise’s NBA Developmental League team to help him get back in shape after a few games away to deal with personal issues. The relationship came to an official end Monday after the two sides spent Easter Sunday working out a parting. The resulting agreement frees the struggling Odom to leave the team immediately without actually being released. "The Mavericks and I have mutually agreed that it's in the best interest of both parties for me to step away from the team," Odom said in a statement. "I'm sorry that things didn't work out better for both of us, but I wish the Mavs' organization, my teammates and Dallas fans nothing but continued success in the defense of their championship." According to sources, the Mavericks intend to list him as inactive for the rest of the season instead of outright releasing him. They could still trade him after the season to acquire a draft pick, but any team that has Odom on its roster as of June 29 must buy him out by that date for $2.4 million or accept responsibility for the full $8.2 million he is scheduled to earn in 2012-13...........
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Tunisia is the place and Monday was the time as protestors boldly defied a government ban on demonstrations in the capital city of Tunis and clashed with police wielding truncheons and unleashing tear gas. Defiant protestors hurled bricks in response, making for a truly awesome scene to start a new week. The clashes took place on Bourguiba Avenue, which has been the go-to place for protests since Tunisians overthrew their longtime dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a year ago. Banning demonstrations on the thoroughfare last week was not a wise decision on the part of the government even if officials did so because of what they described as threats to “public order.” Putting an end to weeks of rival demonstrations between groups calling for and against the implementation of Islamic law in the Arab country may have been a solid goal, but there was no way such a ban was going to stand unchallenged. Sure enough, more than 2,000 people from civil society organizations and labor unions tried to march along the tree-line street Monday in honor of Martyr’s Day and the situation escalated from there. The holiday marks when French colonial troops in 1938 open fired on demonstrators calling for a constitution and there really could not be a more appropriate day to rise up. With tear gas wafting in the air, bricks flying in all directions and truncheons being wielded, police chased demonstrators down adjacent roads and created a sense of general chaos. Monday’s demonstrations came on the heels of an attempted demonstration by angry university graduates on Saturday, which was also was violently dispersed. Monday’s uprising was fueled by the labor movement and many civil society organizations, all of which y have been opposed to the new government run by the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party that dominated elections in October. Kicking off the week with riots is a macho play no matter their aim…………
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