Jul 01
Jul 01
I feel like a bit of a slacker, having only seen four films Monday at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. But summer – kept at bay since Friday by cool and cloudy weather – seems to have arrived in this little valley in the mountains and I can’t quite bring myself to go back inside. Plus I messed up by sitting through the entirety of a press screening that I’d planned to leave early for a public screening it overlapped with. Oops.
The film I stayed with was XL from Icelandic director Marteinn Thorsson. It’s a wild jigsaw puzzle of self-destructive behavior, centering on a member of Parliament whose life hasn’t just gone off the rails but demolished them in the process. Leifur (Olafur Darri Olafson) is confronted by his boss, the prime minister, who tells him that he’s made arrangements for Leifur to enter rehab – the next day.
Jul 01
Jul 01
(Adds details, background)
By Dmitry Solovyov
ALMATY, Kazakhstan, July 2 (Reuters) – An unmanned Russian rocket carrying three navigation satellites crashed shortly after lift-off from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, spilling its highly toxic propellant.
State-run Rossiya-24 television showed footage of the Proton-M booster rocket veering off course seconds after lift-off. It fell apart in flames in the air and crashed in a big ball of fire near the launch pad.
There were no reported injuries. Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying launch facility personnel were in bunkers when the rocket lifted off.
Kazakhstan’s space agency Kazcosmos said the accident at launch pad No. 81 had taken place at 8:38 a.m. (0238 GMT).
“According to the preliminary estimates from the Russian side, there is no destruction and there are no casualties,” Kazcosmos said.
The rocket fell on the territory of Baikonur, spreading components of its fuel, it said.
Quoting a Kazakh security source, Interfax said around 170 tonnes of heptyl, a highly toxic rocket propellant, were burning at the scene.
The agency said Kazakh emergency authorities were considering evacuating nearby towns in the sparsely populated area because of the potential health threat.
Kazakhstan’s government will hold an emergency meeting later on Tuesday, a government spokesman said.
The estimated loss from the three satellites, meant for Russia’s troubled Glonass satellite navigation system, was about $200 million, Rossiya-24 reported.
Russia’s state-run RIA news agency said the cause could have been a problem with the engine or the guidance system.
Russia plans to spend more than 300 billion roubles ($9.1 billion) by 2020 on Glonass, its answer to the U.S. GPS system.
The system, first conceived by the Soviet Union more than 40 years ago, has been plagued by previous failed launches, including one in 2010 in which three satellites were also lost, and by suspicions of corruption and embezzlement. Its chief designer was dismissed last year during a fraud investigation.
The Proton rocket, known at the time under its UR-500 code, made its first test flights in the mid-1960s.
It was originally designed as an intercontinental ballistic missile to carry a nuclear warhead targeting the Soviet Union’s Cold War foe the United States. But it was never deployed as a nuclear weapon.
Several crashes of Proton rockets accompanied by spills of heptyl have led to temporary strains in relations between Russia and Kazakhstan.
Russia is increasing spending on space and plans to send a probe to the moon in 2015, but the pioneering programme that put the first man in space in 1961 has been plagued in recent years by setbacks, including botched satellite launches and a failed attempt to send a probe to a moon of Mars. (Additional reporting by Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Jul 01
Sony unveiled its 4K HD Media Player back in January at CES, and stated it would be available this summer in a statement in April. Today the company further clarified this, revealing that the device will be available on retailer shelves later this month on July 15, with online ordering available now and shipments starting
Jul 01
How Big Is the Ocean?
Posted in: Today's ChiliIt’s one of those impossibly stupid questions because it takes someone impossibly smart to give an answer to someone just as impossibly smart to understand but hey, if you’re into massaging your brain a little bit tonight and have run out of all questions for the day, ask yourself this: just how big is the ocean? All the oceans are one ocean.
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Jul 01
By Scott Haltzman for YourTango.com
An affair could happen to anyone, from the local politician who gets caught with his pants down to the next-door neighbor who sleeps with her kid’s karate teacher. When people find out about infidelity, they often make all kinds of assumptions about why people are having affairs. Even if someone cheated in your life, you may have thought you understood what affairs are all about.
We live in a hush-hush culture when it comes to infidelity and it’s not so easy to sort fact from fiction, and many of the common beliefs about affairs are wrong. Here are the 10 most common myths and the truth behind the scenes:
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More on Divorce Advice
Jul 01
By Kellee Khalil for Lover.ly
One of the prettiest wedding dress trends this year is a silhouette that is reminiscent of Dior’s 1947 “new look.” With a long, full skirt, nipped-in waist, sweetheart neckline, and off-the shoulder or cap sleeves, this look is feminine and oh-so-flattering. This classic style was popular with the 1950s brides, including Jacqueline Kennedy when she married JFK. We’re thrilled to see it making its modern comeback. Whether you wear it with a full skirt or try the fun tea-length version, this ladylike look is lovely for weddings.
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More on Wedding Dresses
Jul 01
The pro-choice side won the last battle in the abortion wars. It’s overconfident about the next one.
Governor Rick Perry has summoned the Texas Legislature for a second special session to pass legislation regulating abortion. The bill was set to pass at the end of the first special session, but a shouting mob disrupted the state Senate so it couldn’t act. That mob was inspired by a filibuster against the bill led by Senator Wendy Davis, who has now become a heroine to social liberals across the country and may run for governor herself.
Read More…
More on Republicans
Jul 01
Richard (RJ) Eskow: A Popular Movement For Higher Taxes? Now There’s a Story.
Posted in: Today's Chili“The American people are on our side,” says Rep. Keith Ellison, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “The time is now.”
Ellison was talking toa small group of writers and activists about higher tax rates for US corporations. Although he was upbeat, Ellison acknowledged that winning those tax increases would be an uphill fight.
That kind of effort can’t succeed without widespread public action behind it. Can an organized movement be created to support tax increases for corporations?
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