- Shows about the most powerful men (and women) in America
are gaining popularity these days. ABC has built a solid following for its
president-centric drama “Scandal” and HBO has found itself a schedule staple
with the Julia
Louis-Dreyfuss-fronted comedy “Veep.” The show is currently winding through its
second season, but the cable network has already seen enough to keep it around
for at least one more season. HBO officially renewed the show on Wednesday,
ordering 10 new episodes to air next year. The second season kicked off on
April 14 and while the ratings for the season premiere were lower than Season
1, they have been on the uptick in the past three weeks and hit a season-high
number this past weekend. After seeing those numbers for the third episode of the
year, HBO executives decided they had enough evidence to make their decision.
Renewing the show isn’t a surprise, as it debuted with strong numbers last
spring and did well enough to earn Louis-Dreyfuss an Emmy for her role as Vice
President Selina Meyer. Shows that have extremely successful first season tend
to face bloated expectations when their second campaign rolls around, but the
fact that “Veep” has been doing better as the current season has progressed
bodes well for its future. Louis-Dreyfuss is the only über-recognizable name
among the cast, with Tony Hale, Anna Chlumsky, Reid Scott, Matt Walsh and
Timothy C. Simons joining the former “Seinfeld” star to give HBO a rare comedy to slot alongside its other lineup
entries that skew heavily on the dramatic side. The show remains in the 10 p.m.
time slot on Sunday nights, which isn’t the best spot for a show but hasn’t
proven detrimental to its fortunes so far………
- Waiting in line to get into the club can be such a
drag….even more so when that club is the United States and you’re looking to
get across the border in Nacogdoches, Tex. and waiting in a long line while
standing in 100-degree heat. Standing in the sweltering heat while border
agents check ID’s is a giant pain in the ass and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service
isn’t exactly known for passing out ice-cold glasses of lemonade for those
waiting to enter the country. An average of 10,000 people cross the border
daily and most wait at least half an hour at the checkpoint. That time can grow
to an hour and half on weekends and holidays and for those who make the trip
regularly, the experience becomes a dreaded one. That’s why a new piece of
technology being used by USCBP agents at the Nacogdoches checkpoint is such a
welcome sight for those on both sides of the security process. In this
new-fangled system, Travelers place their identification -- passport or other ID
-- in a slot in a kiosk. A scanner in the kiosk then reads the person’s data,
which is stored in a radio frequency identification chip embedded in the card.
Rather than wait for an agent to check their ID, individuals can simply swipe
and go – assuming their chosen form of ID doesn’t set off any red flags.
Because the kiosk is new and most people are clueless idiots when it comes to
technology, agents are assisting people in using the system for now. The
checking process is relatively simple with the kiosk, as the data from each
scan is sent to a customs officer a few feet ahead, who quickly checks for any
red flags, before the traveler gets to the turnstile. The kiosks are also being
implemented at ports of entry in other states and USCBP officials say the
system has already cut down significantly on wait times for travelers……..
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Everyone’s favorite overview of
social dissidence the whole world ‘round is back and rocking in Istanbul, where
May Day
protests turned into full-fledged riots on Wednesday. Turkish riot police used
water cannons and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who were guilty
of….wait for it….defying a ban on demonstrations. Thousands of riot police were
stationed around the city for May Day, shutting down roads around Istiklal
Street – a major pedestrian street that leads to Taksim Square, Istanbul's city
center. Trade unions had petitioned the government to march on Taksim, but
officials denied the requests on the grounds that construction work there would
make any gathering of protesters too dangerous. Any good dissident worth
his or her salt isn't going to honor such an ass-hatted decision by their
government and fortunately, thousands of Turks lived by that belief. They took
to the streets, raised hell and refused to accept the fact that , riot police had
blocked the entrances to Istiklal and the roads around it. These bold
souls clashed with The Man and by the time the smoke – both literal and
metaphorical – cleared, at least 28 people were injured and 72 arrests were
made. Even on a non-riot day, hundreds of thousands of people traverse Istiklal
Street – the most popular pedestrian street in the city, lined with 19th
century buildings and all sort of shops and eateries. The scene was much
different on Wednesday, as public transportation was disrupted across the city
and tourists had to cope with fewer taxis and increased congestion. Police
insisted they were merely doing their job and seeking to keep the common man
safe from the big, bad protestors. “What we did today was to protect ordinary
people,” police officer Selcuk Oney, who was on the street near Taksim,
explained. May Day has long been a contentious one in Istanbul, which is why
protests on May 1 had been banned for decades, until they were reinstated in
2010. Wednesday’s scene was a bit calmer than the one in Taksim Square in 1977,
when unknown assailants fired shots in the air, sparking panic and leading to
37 deaths. The government declared the day an official holiday in 2010 and
agreed to allow protests in the square under tight security……..
- As the Chicago Bulls creep closer to the second round of the
NBA playoffs, the window for injured star guard Derrick Rose to return has to
be opening wider, right? Not really. Although his brother/agent, Reggie Rose,
has suggested that his little brother is closer to the peace of mind he needs
to achieve in order to play again, Rose has given no indication that he will
come back this postseason. The cries from fans and media members for him to get
back on the court have grown louder, but the only ones doing much talking about
Rose’s return date are his coaches and teammates. Head coach Tom Thibodeau chose to take an indirect route
in responding to recent comments from analysts who suggested that Rose owes it
to his teammates to return this season if at all possible. "Derrick owes
it to what's right," Thibodeau said. "And the more I'm around him,
the more I'm impressed with this guy's character. He's not being swayed by
anybody. He's not quite there, and we made that clear to him from the
beginning. We're going to support him in every way possible. I would never question
him. Ever." Thibodeau also said it is unfair to compare Rose’s injury and
recovery time to anyone else, even though Bulls center Joakim Noah is playing
with plantar fasciitis. "There's a big difference between the type of
injury he's had and all these other injuries," Thibodeau added. Bulls
guard Kirk Hinrich seconded his coach’s thoughts and made it clear that none of
his teammates are questioning why their franchise player won't tough it out and
play now. "We don't feel that way," Hinrich said. "It's been a
very difficult year for Derrick. I've never experienced any sort of injury like
that, and I'm not one to speak on how anybody else's body feels.” Now imagine
what Hinrich might say about the topic of his team’s best player being
medically cleared to play but refusing to do so if he were speaking off the
record………..
- Going into space isn't cheap, but it has never been more
expensive for the United States than it is now. Because of budget cuts, NASA no
longer shoots people into space on its own and must contract out on such
endeavors. Russia is the top option when seeking a space taxi these days, but
this is no cheap ride into the stratosphere. What is the going rate for a ride
into the cosmos? How about $70.7
million per seat? That’s the amount NASA will pay under a new deal that will
keep American astronauts flying on Russian spacecraft through early 2017. That
is about $8 million more per astronaut than the previous going rate, but the
$424 million deal did secure six seats aboard Russia's Soyuz space capsules, so
clearly the group rate helped. Soyuz vehicles will now ferry NASA astronauts to
and from the International Space Station through 2016 and the deal also extends
return and rescue services until June 2017. The old agreement allowed
U.S. astronauts to travel to space for a paltry $62.7 million per seat, but
inflation is no one’s friend. NASA famously retired its space shuttle fleet in
July 2011 and has been dependent on the Soyuz ever since. Riding with the
Russians is one component of NASA’s space travel plan, complemented by a push
to have American private spaceflight firms develop their own astronaut taxis
under its Commercial Crew Program. That part of the program has been slowed due
to Congress' failure to fully fund Commercial Crew, meaning the goal of having at
least one homegrown crew-carrying spaceship by 2015 is a dream that will go
unfulfilled. According to NASA chief Charles Bolden, NASA officials are now
targeting 2017 for the first American astronauts to fly on commercial
spacecraft. To this point, Congress has approved grants of $489 million and $406
million for Commercial Crew, well short of the $830 million and $850 million
laid out in President Barack Obama's federal budget requests. "Because the
funding for the President's plan has been significantly reduced, we now won't
be able to support American launches until 2017," Bolden said in a blog
post. SpaceX, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Boeing are the three leaders in the
private space race and in the meantime, NASA has signed billion-dollar deals
with two American firms, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., to fly robotic resupply
missions to the International Space Station………
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