Directr (for iPhone)

The launch of Vine last month really brought iPhone
video and sharing apps to the fore, and recently I've been testing not only Vine, but competitors like Pincam, Lightt, and now Directr. While Vine lets you shoot 6-second mini movies, it offers little to nothing in the way of editing and enhancing video. Pincam adds Instagram like filters and lets you specify "Highlights" to which your movie gets trimmed, but Directr brings even more game to the genre, with the goal of creating a real mini-movie with multiple scenes. The app can produce more-captivating mini-digital movies than most of its peers, though it still suffers some limitations characteristic of this newly minted class of app.

Setup and Signup
On first run, Directr asks you to allow it to send you push notifications, something not necessary with Pincam. Next, and also unlike Pincam but like Vine, you have to sing up for an account, either creating one with an email address or by connecting your Facebook account. I chose the latter method, which is quicker, simply requiring you to tap a Log In button on a Facebook page. After that, I was switched back to the Directr app, which showed me a big "WELCOME!" message. But I wasn't done with setup yet: I had to then choose a username for the app/service.

Using Directr
After you've set up your account, Directr takes you through a simple six-page tutorial. As soon as you exit this, you'll see that the app isn't just about your own movies?it's about discovering those from other users, too, ? la Flickr. But not only viewing them: You can actually "direct" other users' movies. The well-designed, clear interface makes this and most what you do in this app perfectly clear.

So what does this "directing" involve? The concept will be familiar to users of recent releases Apple's iMovie, whose Trailers feature has you insert your own video clips into a template of shot types, such as close up, group shot, action shot, and so on. In the biz, this is called a storyboard. When you choose "Direct It" from someone else's movie, it actually means that you'll use your own clips in the template used by their movie. It's definitely a great way to build more compelling video stories, rather than just sending a single clip, even one that's been somehow enhanced.

A Directr representative told me that the preset storyboard templates are designed by professional filmmakers, who also pick appropriate background music. He also noted that most users go the preset template route rather than starting from a blank slate.

Whenever you start shooting video inside Directr, the app does something I've been craving desperately for in a video app but haven?t seen until this: A graphic telling you to hold the phone sideways! How often have we shot mobile video holding the phone in a way more conducive to phone calls than to shooting video. When you upload one of these tall clips to YouTube, it looks awful, with big black bars on each side of the worst kind of pillarbox.

Once you turn the phone on its side, you'll see another example of Directr's ingenuity: A circular control that you can move around to set the focus point. Tapping this starts recording. My first clip only needed 1.7 seconds, and had the helpful text, "Wave to the camera" which I used to instruct my PCMag coworker model/victim, Jill Duffy.

When you've shot all the project's required clips, you tap Finish, and the app will go through a "Printing" phase, which took a couple minutes for my 4-clip test movie. This uploads your movie to Directr's server for processing, which also puts it on your profile page. This, of course, means that you can complete a movie project if you're somewhere without data service, for example, abroad on vacation. After printing is finished, you can watch your creation either on the iPhone or on the Directr site. The movies starts and ends with discreet Directr promotions.

If you're not starting from someone else's video, you tap the Plus button at bottom center, which prompts you to choose one of the preset storyboards or a blank template. As mentioned, most users start with a template, but when you start blank, you have three choices as to length: one, three, or five shots. You get more choices of your own when you start on your own like this: You can type in scene captions and overlay captions.

A musical background track is automatically added to your movie. But soundtrack is currently a weak point in the app: you can't choose your music, either by mood or by using an MP3 of your own, and the music the app chooses for you obliterates any audio from the clips you've included in a project.

Don't want to go it alone? Directr doesn?t limit your lone phone to being the only source of video; you can Add Directors. I must note that I ran into a bug in the app at this point, a forever spinning timer wheel. But in another attempt, the feature worked trouble-free.

In addition to the lack of music customization, a couple other gaps show up in Directr's video-editing prowess. You can't use clips already shot on the phone, there's no clip trimming, and there are no fun Instagram-like filters like you get with Pincam. Nor can you start and stop recording for a stop-motion result like you can with Vine. Of course, some of these are choices on the part of the developer, rather than true shortfalls. A definite area for improvement is stability?a bugaboo for just about all video-editing software even up to the pro level. The app quit or stopped responding a few times during my testing, but I was always able to get back on track.

Sharing
On the movie's page, there are very clear buttons for Facebook, Twitter, save to camera roll, copy link, email, and SMS. But Directr, unlike Vine, has a hearty web presence, where users can view and comment on your creations.

No matter what type of sharing you do, your movie appears on the Directr site, but thankfully, you can make it private if you're not comfortable having it exposed to the world. The web presentation lets viewers comment and "heart" your movies. The site appears to use HTML5 video rather than Flash, but one drawback was that I couldn't view them full screen.

Lights, Camera..Direct!
As I've said with previous iPhone video-editing-and-sharing apps, it's a nascent category, and like the rest, Directr, while extremely promising and already a blast to use, lacks maturity. Happily, its makers tell me that a new version is coming in the next few weeks, which we can expect to address some of the shortcomings mentioned here. Directr, even in its current form, is a force for good in the world of mobile video, encouraging better practices for creating more-compelling digital mini-movies. Though the app earns an above average PCMag rating, I'm still waiting for a mobile video app with all the qualities of an Editors' Choice.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/CqrWTH7HDA8/0,2817,2417251,00.asp

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Goodbye Mom, Edith Schaeffer 1914 ? 2013 RIP

Edith Schaeffer 1914 ? 2013 RIP

My mother Edith Schaeffer died today. She was the author of many books on family life and spirituality and co-founder with my father Francis Schaeffer of the evangelical ministry of L?Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. She has just gone to be with the Lord, as she would put it. She died at home which was her wish. This was made possible because of my generous sister Debby and her husband Udo who completely rearranged?their lives to care for Mom in her last years.

Mom completed a dramatic life with a final flourish: she died on Easter Saturday, to join her risen Lord. I last talked to Mom yesterday. Rather she slept as I talked. A few days before my granddaughter Lucy was on my lap and we were talking to Mom via Skype. That day she was awake.

Mom?s face filled the screen and she was looking at us on the laptop placed on the covers of her bed. I last had been with her in person two years ago when I?d spent ten days with her. Before she was bedridden (about four months ago) we?d talk on the phone and after that we?d Skype.

I?ve been talking to her every day for the last several weeks knowing she was slipping away. Since I care for my two youngest grandchildren, Lucy (4) and Jack (2) five days a week they have often been there when ?Noni,? as her grandchildren and great-grandchildren called Mom was on the screen with us.

During one of the last calls when Lucy and I talked to her last week, Mom was beautiful with her silver hair in a ponytail and her red hair band and matching shawl. Trapped in a body she?d lost control of, it took all of her formidable willpower to acknowledge our love. She had a feeding tube in her nose and was slipping in and out of consciousness. Five minutes after we hung up she would not remember the conversation. But in the moment when I said ?I love you,? she nodded back and was fully aware.

Mom was staring earnestly into the laptop screen her nurse had set up so we could talk via Skype. My four year old granddaughter Lucy whispered ?Does she have her perfume on??

?Your great grandmother always wears perfume. So I bet she does,? I answered.

I kept reminding Mom of who we were, speaking rather slowly and loudly, ?This is your son, Frank, and I have my four year old granddaughter, Lucy, on my lap. Can you see her Mom? This is John?s daughter. John was our Marine. Remember praying for his safe return from Afghanistan? God answered your prayers, Mom. Say hi to your great-granddaughter Mom.?

When I asked if she knew we loved her, Mom acknowledged us with a slight nod and whispered ?Yes.? Those turned out to be her last spoken words to me.

Mother was three thousand miles away in Switzerland. We were in Massachusetts. She was ninety-eight and dying. Lucy is four years old and thriving. We were in my home in the studio/office I?d built out of the old woodshed. We were surrounded by piles of manuscripts including, a stack four feet high of the twenty-three drafts of a new novel I?m working on. Lucy had her feet up on the top of the pile. My paintings were leaning in deep clusters against the walls and were hanging on every surface. The ubiquitous smell of turpentine and linseed oil was in the air. Mom had always loved that smell. When I was a kid she?d walk into my room, breathe deeply and say ?I just LOVE the smell of paintings!?

Before that day?s Skype chat with Mom, Lucy and I had been conducting imaginary orchestras while listening to Beethoven?s Fourth Piano Concerto in G, full volume. Lucy launched an impromptu recitation of the Twenty Third Psalm, saying it all the way through. We?d also been looking at the weird and wonderful art of Pieter Brueghel the Elder and Lucy and Jack loved his pictures of sixteenth century peasants, beggars, and his apocalyptic fantasies. So even though Lucy and Jack had never met my mother and were like ships passing in the night we were actually having a very Edith Schaeffer day.

Mom?s great-grandchildren were growing up loving what she?d loved: words, art, music, gardening, cooking and playacting. Mom was unable to speak any longer but she was nevertheless communicating with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren every time they were read to, listened to music or when we painted together.

Since she couldn?t talk I read to Mom and Lucy out loud from one of her own books: Mei Fuh ? Memories from China. My grandchildren love the book. Lucy knows it almost by heart.

As usual we had to skip the ?sad part? Lucy never let me read, about how Adjipah the gardener ate Mom?s goldfish. Mei Fuh was the last of many books Mom authored and her one and only children?s book. Mom had been born to missionary parents in 1914 and the book was about her growing up in a missionary compound until she moved back to America at age six.

During the last Skype call Lucy made last week she asked Mom if she was ?still upset about Adjipah eating your fish?? Mom tried to smile but with her teeth out and the tube taped to her nose her smile showed up in her eyes and not so much on her lips.

I felt bad that Lucy was seeing Mom at her most vulnerable to the ravages of age. So while we talked to Mom, I opened an album of pictures of her and whispered, ?See how beautiful your great-grandmother really is? Look!?

Lucy nodded and said loudly to the screen ?You?re beautiful, Noni!?

Mom heard Lucy and moved slightly and managed of a hint of a crumpled smile. Then Lucy said in a loud awed whisper,

?She heard me! She nodded! She smiled!?

I placed my hand on the laptop screen and showed Lucy that when the lower part of her face was hidden from the bridge of her nose up to her eyes and silver hair, Mom still looked like the lovely pictures in the album.

From time to time I?d ask, ?Mom, do you remember that?? about this or that detail of her childhood and she?d open her eyes a bit wider to signal that she did remember. Any mention of her early years that got the biggest response. The neural pathways were shutting down and the last remaining seemed to be the memories of her life as a young child. The little girl who had once been Mom was looking at us through a thicket of memory loss and confusion. I reminded her of the five week trip she took back to China with my wife Genie when Mom was in her eighties. In the early 1990s they?d traveled for 5 weeks to Mom?s birthplace in Wenchow, on the coast of southern China.

Amazingly, given the communist ?remake? of China and the destruction of everything old and beautiful that blocked ?progress,? Genie and Mom found the mission compound still as it once was. Mom was welcomed by the people living in her old home and that allowed to wander through the buildings. Genie said that Mom remembered everything from the dusty courtyard where she had played, to the thick gate with the little barred window she used to look through while wishing that she could go into the street and join the passing processions during festivals.

I knew that each Skype call might be the last time I?d see my mother alive. So each time we talked I thanked Mom for her love and the terrific creativity she?d shown in how she raised her children. Reading Mom her book reminded me of the many hours my mother had read so many wonderful books to me out loud. She was such a glorious reader.

After about half an hour of sitting on my lap watching Mom sleep, wake and sleep again as I read to her, Lucy went to my easel and painted. A few minutes later she cheerfully called out to the screen; ?This is a painting for you Noni! I?ll give it to you in heaven since you?re going to die before I see you.? Lucy said this very matter of factly with no fear, as if she was mentioning that she?d soon be seeing her great-grandmother someplace very ordinary. I don?t think she heard Lucy, but if she did, Mom would have liked what she said because my mother was nothing if not a believer in a literal heaven.
When the two hours or so we spent with Mom concluded Lucy was sitting up on a high stool in the kitchen while I was putting on her boots for the walk back to Lucy?s house.

?I?m so sad my mother is going to die soon, ? I said.

?You will be alright Ba,? Lucy said.

?How?? I asked.

?You have me,? she quietly answered and put her arms around me.

I trust my mother?s hope-filled view of death because of the way Mom lived her life. Mom first introduced me to a non-retributive loving Lord who did not come to ?die for us? to ?satisfy? an angry God but came as a friend who ended all cycles of retribution and violence.

Mom made this introduction to Jesus through her life example. ?Mom was a wonderful paradox: an evangelical conservative fundamentalist who treated people as if she was an all-forgiving progressive liberal of the most tolerant variety.

Mom?s daily life was a rebuke and contradiction to people who see everything as black and white. Liberals and secularists alike who make smug disparaging declarations about ?all those evangelicals? would see their fondest prejudices founder upon the reality of my mother?s compassion, cultural literacy and loving energy.

Just before Christmas of 2010, Mom and I sat down together during a ten day visit and I told her about my (then) latest writing project that turned out to be ?Sex, Mom and God? (the third in a trilogy of memoirs that began with ?Crazy For God.?) I told her about the book in detail?including that I was going to ?tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may, Mom.?

With a flash of her old self and a familiar defiant head toss, Mom said, ?Go ahead; I don?t care what people ?think? and never did!? Given her memory problem, I should add that before it developed and before her eyesight failed, she read my other equally ?scandalous? writing, including my novels and nonfiction works, which also drew heavily from memories that to some people might have seemed too private to share.

Mom wasn?t ?some people.? I once got a letter from one of my mother?s followers telling me that, having just read my novel Portofino (a work of humor where the mother character, ?Elsa Becker,? is like my mother in some ways), she was sure it would ?kill your mother because of the hatred for Jesus that drips from your SATANIC pen!? Coincidentally, that fan letter (received in the early 1990s before I was using e-mail) arrived in the same post delivery as a note from Mom asking me for another dozen signed hardcover copies of that book so that my mother could send out more to her friends. Mom?s follower had signed her letter ?Repent!? My mother signed her note ?I?m so proud of you.?

Besides a loving God and her steadfast support for the arts ? even when she disagreed with some of my writing ? here?s who else my mother introduced me to: Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Haydn, Brahms, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Handel, Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Verdi and Vivaldi. She made them my friends. They are still my friends and companions and I have made them my children?s and grandchildren?s friends too. And that is my tribute to her example.

Here are some other people amongst others my mother taught me to love: da Vinci, Duccio, Giotto, Vermeer, Degas, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Van Eyck, Van Gogh, Botticelli, Breughel, Michelangelo and Monet. They are still my friends and companions and I have made them my children?s and grandchildren?s friends too. And that is my tribute to her example.

My mother read to me and introduced me to Shakespeare, Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Anne Bronte, Susan Fennimore Cooper, Emily Dickinson, George Eliot, Mary Shelley, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Beatrix Potter, E. Nesbit, Louis Carroll and A. A. Milne and? Woody Allen, amongst others. They are still my friends and companions and I have made them my children?s and grandchildren?s friends too. And that is my tribute to her example.

Here?s what my mother showed me how to do by example: forgive, ask for forgiveness, cook, paint, build, garden, draw, read, keep house well, travel, love Italy, love God, love New York City, love Shakespeare, love Dickens, love Steinbeck, love Jesus, love silence, love people more than things, love community and put career and money last in my hierarchy of values and ? above all, to love beauty. I still follow my mother?s example as best I can and I have passed and am passing her life gift to my children and grandchildren not just in words but in meals cooked, gardens kept, houses built, promises kept, sacrifices made, and beauty pointed to.

My mother read me hundreds of books out loud, took me everywhere with her, provided order and beauty for her children from the mundane like scrubbing floors spotless on her knees and keeping our home orderly and clean, even when she had ?no time? and was writing her book, ?to serving every meal I ever ate at home as a child with candles and flowers on the table and making the simplest family time an event. (Thank God we had no TV and Mom wasn?t ever distracted by a cell phone or the internet from being a mother and of course her children were allowed to connect with the actual physical world hands on because we were lucky enough to grow up in the pre internet/electronic filtered age of false second hand ?experiences.?)

Mother taught me that sex is good, stood by me and my young wife Genie when we were foolish and got pregnant as mere (very unmarried) children ourselves, backed every venture I launched from movie making, to being an artist and writer, stood with me when I dropped out of the evangelical religion altogether, stuck with me even when I denied her politics and turned ?left? and ?went progressive.?

Mom spent every dime she had on keeping her family together through family reunions and setting her example of putting family first. She stood with her sometimes abusive husband as he became famous in the American evangelical ghetto, though she well knew that she was the stronger partner in her always productive, sometimes lovely though at other times disastrous marriage.

Mom treated everyone she ever met well, spent more time talking to ?nobodies? than to the rich and famous who flocked to her after her books were published and became bestsellers. Put it this way: through my experience of being a father (of 3) and grandfather (of 4) I?ve finally been able to test Mom?s life wisdom and spiritual outlook and found out that she was right: Love, Continuity, Beauty, Forgiveness, Art, Life and loving a loving all-forgiving God really are the only things that matter.

Each time I pick up my little grandchildren (or hug Genie?s and my grownup grandkids) and pray for wisdom about how to pass on the best of what I was given I know it is my mother?s example speaking to me. I never go to a classical concert or walk into a museum without remembering how Mom saved her money to take her children to hear the great music played by the great performers and helped me to learn that creativity trumps death.

I never say ?I love you? to my wife Genie, to my children Jessica, Francis and John or to my son-in-law Dani or daughter-in-law Becky, let alone to my grandchildren Amanda, Benjamin, Lucy and Jack without remembering who showed me what those words mean.

Mother was a force to be reckoned with, a whole energetic universe contained in one trim little female frame, and she used that force entirely for good.

Memories?

Mother in the garden at dawn weeding and watering her wonderful flowers and vegetables? Mother typing up a storm while writing her thousands of letters and dozens of books? Mother so pleased that her good friend Betty Ford invited her to the White House to swim laps with her in the White House pool? Mother so please she?d met BB King at one of his concerts when she was 91? Mother praying with me every night before turning out the light as she let me in on her best secret: the universe is not a hard cold lonely meaningless place but a cosmos full of love? Mother never making a sarcastic remark about her children or anyone else and the life-long self-confidence that gave me? Mother deep in conversation with cab drivers and giving her books away (and money, personal phone numbers and her home address) to hotel maids and other total strangers she decided she could help? Mother taking impractical detours to look at something lovely? Mother always late for everything and praying out loud over meals long, so long, at table as she forgot that for the rest of us prayer was mostly a ritual though for her it was an endless conversation with the eternal? Mother cleaning up my vomit after I took drugs as a young wayward teen and then fixing me poached eggs on toast as if I was 3 again? Mother buying me art supplies? Mother?s horror at the ?harshness? as she put it, of so many evangelical religious people and the way they treated ?the lost? and her saying that ?no wonder no one wants to be a Christian if that?s how we treat people!?

Maybe everything has changed for me theologically but some things haven?t changed. I?m still thinking of Mom?s eternal life in her terms because she showed me the way to that hope through her humane consistency and won. Her example defeated my cynicism.

Mom understood me and tried to speak when I said my last ?I love you.?

I knew what she was trying to say. It?s the phrase she spoke most to me over my 60 year journey on this earth so far. I answered her thought, and I said, ?Thank you, I know you love me and I love you too Mom.? The day before Mom died my last words to her were ?I want you to know your prayers for your family have been answered. I credit every moment of joy to your prayers.?

I?ll miss her voice. I learned to trust that voice because of the life witness that backed it up. I know I?ll hear her voice again. You won Mom. I believe.

?

Books By Edith Schaeffer:

1969. L?Abri. Worthing (Sussex): Norfolk P. ISBN 978-1-85684-025-5
1971. The Hidden Art of Homemaking: Creative Ideas for Enriching Everyday Life. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House. ISBN 978-0-8423-1420-6
1973. Everybody Can Know. London: Scripture Union. ISBN 978-0-85421-405-1
1978. Affliction. Old Toppen, New Jersey: Revell Co. ISBN 978-0-8007-0926-6
1975. Christianity is Jewish. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8423-0243-2
1975. What is a Family? Old Tappan, N.J.: F.H. Revell Co. ISBN 978-0-8010-8365-5
1977. A Way of Seeing. Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell. ISBN 978-0-8007-0871-9
1981. The Tapestry: the life and times of Francis and Edith Schaeffer. Waco, Tex: Word Books. ISBN 978-0-8499-0284-0
1983. Common Sense Christian Living. Nashville: Nelson. ISBN 978-0-8407-5280-2
1983. Lifelines: God?s Framework for Christian Living. Westchester, IL: Crossway Books. ISBN 978-0-89107-228-7
1986. Forever Music. Nashville: T. Nelson. ISBN 978-0-8010-8336-5
1988. With love, Edith: the L?Abri family letters 1948-1960. San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-067092-4
1989. Dear Family: the L?Abri family letters 1961-1986. San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-067096-2
1992. The Life of Prayer. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books. ISBN 978-1-85684-046-0
1994. A Celebration of Marriage: Hopes and Realities. Grand Rapid, Mich: Baker Books. ISBN 978-0-8010-8354-9
1994. 10 Things Parents Must Teach Their Children (And Learn for Themselves) Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Books. ISBN 978-0-8010-8373-0
1998. Mei Fuh: Memories from China. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. ISBN 978-0-395-72290-9
2000. A Celebration of Children. Grand Rapids, MI: Raven Ridge Books. ISBN 978-0-8010-1193-1

?

Frank Schaeffer?is a writer and author of?Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back .

Source: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frankschaeffer/2013/03/goodbye-mom-edith-schaeffer-1914-2013-rip/

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Microsoft: jQuery 2.0 Will Add Full Support For Windows Store Apps

The next version of jQuery, the popular JavaScript library, will drop support for Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8, but that doesn’t mean Microsoft isn’t very bullish about getting developers to use jQuery 2.0 and HTML5 to develop “a new wave of jQuery-based Windows Store applications.” As Microsoft announced today, Microsoft Open Technologies, the company’s wholly owned open source-focused subsidiary, and the JavaScript experts at appendTo, have been working with the jQuery community to ensure that the next version of the framework offers full support for Windows Store applications. Developers could obviously already build Windows Store/Metro apps with jQuery, but thanks to this cooperation, the process for developing jQuery 2.0-based Windows Store applications should now be smoother, safer and more streamlined. As appendTo’s director of support Jonathan Sampson wrote in today’s announcement, jQuery always met the language criteria for Windows Store applications, but “Windows 8 exposes all the WinRT APIs within the HTML5 development environment, which comes with a new security model that made some code and common practices of jQuery flagged as unsafe in the context of a Windows Store application. AppendTo reviewed and re-authored portions of jQuery core to bring it into alignment with the Windows security model, as well as identified key areas where alternative patterns would need to be substituted for actually-used conventions.? Even though Microsoft has always stressed this in the run-up to the Windows 8 launch, quite a few developers are still unaware that they can use their web development skills to write desktop apps for Windows 8 and Windows RT. Developers, by the way, can already use a number of other open-source JavaScript frameworks, including backbone.js, Knockout.JS and YUI. As Deve Methvin, the president of the jQuery Foundation noted in a prepared statement today, that’s also something his organization is interested in. ?The jQuery team is excited about the new environments where jQuery 2.0 can be used. HTML and JavaScript developers want to take their jQuery knowledge with them to streamline the development process wherever they work. jQuery 2.0 gives them the ability to do that in Windows 8 Store applications. We appreciate the help from appendTo for both its patches and testing of jQuery 2.0 and MS Open Tech for its technical support.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/r6_rKm1dzJY/

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93% No

All Critics (87) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (81) | Rotten (6)

"No" is a picture that perches precariously on the cusp of a paradox.

A cunning and richly enjoyable combination of high-stakes drama and media satire from Chilean director Pablo Larrain.

A mesmerizing, realistic and often hilarious look at the politics of power and the power of ideas ...

A political drama, a personal drama, a sharp-eyed study of how the media manipulate us from all sides, No reels and ricochets with emotional force.

It's a funny look at the way the media warp public opinion, and a curiously hopeful one.

On every level, "No" leaves one with bittersweet feelings about democracy, love and the cost of compromise.

It's clear that the language of advertising has become universal, and that political commodities can be sold like soap. But toppling a dictatorship? Now there's a story.

A reflection of a moment in time, made in the image of that moment.

Bernal deftly explores the layers of the character's complexity, including his political apathy.

"No" is filmmaking of the first order.

Old technology plus the packaging of a revolution add up to a Yes

Freshens up a decades-old story with vibrant humor and a good sense of storytelling.

No continually impresses for its slyness and savvy -- rarely has such an eyesore been so worth watching.

Larrain fashions an unlikely crowd-pleaser from a historical episode that has its share of tragedy as well as triumph.

Stirring as a celebration of voter empowerment, No may also inspire pangs of wistful nostalgia.

Fascinating work from director Pablo Larrain and screenwriter Pedro Peirano, who manage to slip into the skin of a beleaguered country and detail the urgency of a revolution, sold one jingle at a time.

Swims upstream against high-definition with a defiantly lo-fi approach that's also ingeniously evocative of the historical period.

Wildly colorful strokes, full of bitter humor.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_2012/

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Foster Parents Anywhere?: There is an Intruder at my House

There is someone extra living at my house. ?I am embarrassed to say that I did not notice this fact until several days after she moved in. ?When she arrived, she was hidden among a group of four other teenagers. ?Some of those left and she spent the night here. ?At my house, teenagers tend to come and go often. ?Most of them know that they are welcome to grab a bite to eat and hang out for awhile. ?As a result, I am never quite sure who is staying and who is just visiting. ?When this young lady showed up in my kitchen on Tuesday morning when no one else was home, I started asking questions. ?By this time, I was pretty sure that she had spent the night on Sunday and Monday.

It is now Friday (and she is still here) and I have gotten the full story. ?According to her, she is taking a break from her family. ?According to her mother, she has run away from home. ?According to the parents at the bus stop this morning, I should stop feeding teenagers and they may stop hanging out! ?So here I am wondering how I got dragged into this situation that I do not really want to be in. ?I have known this girl's family for many years and I count them as good friends. ?This puts me in a very sticky situation. ?I do not want to interfere with or judge my friend's parenting style. ?I do not want to enable this girl to hide from her issues. ?I absolutely to do not want another child to support and take care of. ?The five children of my own keep me busy enough.

I asked the parents at the bus stop this morning why teenagers in trouble always land at my house. ?One Mom pointed out that my own teenagers are the ones bringing them home. ?I thought that was very interesting and also true. ?My kids do this a lot. ?It is not unusual for one of them to ask if someone can spend the night or join us for dinner for concerning reasons. ?I am always surprised that my children are compassionate people. ?As I look back, I believe it is because they have learned so much from having foster children in our home. ?Foster children come with horrific stories from their pasts and I guess my children were listening and learning. ?I did not go into foster care planning on turning my biological kids into better people but it is a very nice side effect.

The other reason teenagers end up at my house is because of the food. ?I will sheepishly admit that I an extreme couponer and have been for years. ?As a result, my cupboards are very will stocked with teenager food. ?The only requirement I ask of someone sampling my stockpile is a guess on how much I paid for a particular item. ?I live for the moment that I can say, "it was free!!!!" ?The kids love this and it often turns into a mini episode of the Price is Right. ?Again I have experienced an unexpected side effect to my coupon habit. ?My children's friends like to be at my home because of the food. ?This allows me to get to know them and understand who my children choose as friends. ?As most parents will tell you, I would rather have my kids and their friends at my house than somewhere where I have to worry about them.

I am not sure what I am going to do about the fugitive living in my house yet beyond encouraging this young lady to talk about her situation. ?Sometimes a friend can offer advice that a child will listen to when they won't listen to a parent. ?That is all I have at the moment. ?In the meantime, she is doing a little housework and some laundry to earn her keep. ?I will keep you posted.

Source: http://fosterparentsanywhere.blogspot.com/2013/03/there-is-intruder-at-my-house.html

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How to build your own R2D2

R2D2 greets the crowd at this year's Wondercon (Eric Pfeiffer/Yahoo)ANAHEIM, Calif. - The power of the Force may be elusive outside the fictional Star Wars universe but fans of R2D2 can take home their very own astromech droid if they have the time and money to build it.

Inside the halls of Wondercon 2013, hundreds of potential droid crafters waited in line to hear from a panel belonging to the R2D2 Builders Club, a group of hobbyists who have been assembling their own functional Star Wars robots out of aluminum, plastic and even wood since 1999.

But how much time and money does it take to build a bleeping and whirling R2 lookalike?

"That's the magic question," said Victor Franco, who has been building his own droids for over a decade. "It's the one question you don't want your spouse to know the answer to."

And the answer varies, depending on just how detailed and capable you want your droid to be, with the final price ranging from as little as $500 up to $10,000.

"The average cost is a little over $5,000," Franco said. "A single small aluminum part can cost $100. It's not for the faint of heart."

So, if you really want to join the club and build your own remote-controlled R2D2 all you need is some money, a lot of time and some ingenuity. Based on a survey of the panel members, it takes anywhere from 4 to 16 months to build a R2 unit.

Not surprisingly, a large variety of parts and electronics go into replicating one of the droids, with potential parts including plywood, aluminum, resin, styrene, transmitters and receivers speed controller servo motor and circuits.

Some R2D2 replicas have functional parts, like paneling that shoots out from the droid reminiscent of a scene from "The Empire Strikes Back" when the little droid's circuits become overloaded.

"There's no one way to make an R2 unit," said fellow R2 builder William Miyamoto. "The plus side of using plastic is you pretty much can just use an cacti knife and glue."

At the other end of the spectrum, a finished R2 unit made from aluminum can weight more than 200 pounds and forces the creators to decide if they want their droid to be remote controlled or less mobile.

"I did run over a kid once," deadpanned Chris Romines.

But the four R2 builders said it is a project worth both their time and money. And when a droid is complete, it is almost immediately put into service, appearing at conventions and events for children. The droids have even starred in television commercials for companies like Verizon and ESPN and cruised across the red carpet at movie premiers.

They've even been recruited by Lucasfilm to display their creations at official Star Wars events.

When a pair of the hand crafted R2 units took to the stage on Friday at Wondercon, they were greeted with a wave of "oohs and ahhs" normally reserved for cute animal videos, or small children performing adorable tricks.

"I was poor when I was a kid, so I took my toys apart and put them back together," R2 builder Mike Senna said of how he first became inspired to join the R2 club. And like a select few of his contemporaries, Senna has taken his robot building hobby to the next level, having created replicas outside the Star Wars universe, such as Wall-E.

The R2-D2 Builders Club had humble beginnings when creator Dave Everett first launched the club as a Yahoo group, posting the blueprints showing how other aspiring builders could follow his lead.

Today, the club has thousands of members around the world and brought dozens of their robots to the most recent, annual Star Wars Celebration event.

"At the Star Wars Celebration we even have droid races, including a mouse droid race," said Michael McMaster. "But when I started I was electronics illiterate. But that's part of the beauty of our club -- someone will find a part for you, point you in the right direction or even help you build it."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/build-own-r2d2-062419995.html

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Sequoia Capital In Singapore After A Year, Has Yet To Invest In A Local Startup

When Sequoia Capital India landed in Singapore quietly in 2012, the buzz around town was that a big-name US fund being in the country was going to really jolt the market and provide serious cred to the startups here. The Indian team running operations here, however, appears to have spent the last year of its time in the island state helping startups in its India portfolio expand into Singapore, rather than directly investing in startups here. However, the company just moved into a fancy?new co-working space called?The Co, and is its anchor tenant, so it could be a sign that it?s trying to get closer to local startups. Previously, it?operated out of a service office in High Street. Singapore is a popular choice as a base for foreign companies looking to expand into Southeast Asia, because it’s a mature market with plenty of infrastructure available. But as a tiny country, it’s not often the main addressable user base, and startups originating from Singapore are also taught to have expansion plans charted. Early last year, Sequoia Capital India MD, Shailendra Jit Singh, expressed interest in having the fund?s companies expand into the region. Sequoia Cap in the US also appeared to have been eyeing activity in Singapore for a while?it had its first offsite meeting in the country in 2011, and was in discussion with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong about its presence here. The Prime Minister?s Office oversees its R&D arm, the National Research Foundation (NRF), which has been busy backing local venture capital firms here over the past few years. Its Technology Incubation Scheme is a program that distributes seed funding to startups picked by 11 NRF-appointed VCs. The NRF matches investment values in the proportion of 85 percent to 15 percent?the larger portion dished out by the government. This allows the VCs here to provide bigger sums of seed capital to startups, with much of the risk absorbed by the NRF. Former NRF projects head, Yinglan Tan, was also pulled over to Sequoia Capital India?s team in July last year, where he is now a venture partner based in Singapore. When I ran into Tan in Manila a couple of months ago, he was evasive about Sequoia’s activities in Singapore, but was happy to try to set up meetings with their existing portfolio companies in Singapore?all Indian-based startups, except for Airbnb and Evernote. Some of these companies

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9RLBrFSLBM8/

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Internet Marketing Service Lancaster | 352-895-0695 | Web ...

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Source: http://newsp.com/internet-marketing-news/internet-marketing-service-lancaster-352-895-0695-web-positioning-management-oh-pa-tx-ca

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Virtual reality, goggles and all, attempts return

FILE - In this March 25, 2009 file photo, Video game enthusiasts attend the Game Developers Conference, in San Francisco. The schedule for the 2013 GDC held March 25-29, illustrates the dramatic changes that have reshaped the gaming industry in recent years, an evolution that's as much about business models as it is about pixels. GDC organizers have added a summit on free-to-play games, planned talks on topics like crowd funding and micro-transactions and coordinated panels with such titles as "Making Money with Mobile Gaming" and "Why Won't FarmVille Go Away?" (AP Photo/Ben Margo, Filet)

FILE - In this March 25, 2009 file photo, Video game enthusiasts attend the Game Developers Conference, in San Francisco. The schedule for the 2013 GDC held March 25-29, illustrates the dramatic changes that have reshaped the gaming industry in recent years, an evolution that's as much about business models as it is about pixels. GDC organizers have added a summit on free-to-play games, planned talks on topics like crowd funding and micro-transactions and coordinated panels with such titles as "Making Money with Mobile Gaming" and "Why Won't FarmVille Go Away?" (AP Photo/Ben Margo, Filet)

FILE - In this March 25, 2009 file photo, Video game enthusiasts attend the Game Developers Conference, in San Francisco. The schedule for the 2013 GDC held March 25-29, illustrates the dramatic changes that have reshaped the gaming industry in recent years, an evolution that's as much about business models as it is about pixels. GDC organizers have added a summit on free-to-play games, planned talks on topics like crowd funding and micro-transactions and coordinated panels with such titles as "Making Money with Mobile Gaming" and "Why Won't FarmVille Go Away?" (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? It's back.

The virtual reality headset, the gizmo that was supposed to seamlessly transport wearers to three-dimensional virtual worlds, has made a remarkable return at this year's Game Developers Conference, an annual gathering of video game makers in San Francisco.

After drumming up hype over the past year and banking $2.4 million from crowdfunding, the Irvine, Calif.-based company Oculus VR captured the conference's attention this week with the Oculus Rift, its VR headset that's more like a pair of ski goggles than those bulky gaming helmets of the 1990s that usually left users with headaches.

"Developers who start working on VR games now are going to be able to do cool things," said Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey. "This is the first time when the technology, software, community and rendering power is all really there."

While VR technology has successfully been employed in recent years for military and medical training purposes, it's been too expensive, clunky or just plain bad for most at-home gamers. Oculus VR's headset is armed with stereoscopic 3-D, low-latency head tracking and a 110-degree field of view, and the company expects it to cost just a few hundred bucks.

A line at the conference snaked around the expo floor with attendees waiting for a chance to plop the glasses on their head and play a few minutes of "Hawken," an upcoming first-person shooter that puts players inside levitating war machines.

Attendance was also at capacity for a Thursday talk called "Virtual Reality: The Holy Grail of Gaming" led by Luckey. When he asked the crowd who'd ordered development prototypes of the technology, dozens of hands shot into the air.

"There's been a lot of promise over several decades with the VR helmet idea, but I think a lot of us feel like Oculus and other devices like it are starting to get it right," said Simon Carless, executive vice president at UBM Tech Game Network, which organizes the Game Developers Conference. "We may have a competitive and interesting-to-use device, which you could strap to your head and have really immersive gaming as a result."

Sony and Microsoft are reportedly working on similar peripherals, as are other companies. Luckey contends that the innovations Nintendo made with its Wii U, Sony is planning with its upcoming PlayStation 4 and Microsoft is likely tinkering with for its successor to the Xbox 360 don't seem like enough.

"We're seeing better graphics and social networks, but those aren't things that are going to fundamentally change the kind of experiences that gamers can have," said Luckey.

A growing list of high-profile game makers have sung the device's praises, including Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, "Minecraft" mastermind Markus Peterson, id Software's John Carmack, "Gears of War" chief Cliff Bleszinski and Valve boss Gabe Newell.

Valve is planning to release a VR version of its first-person shooter "Team Fortress 2" for the Rift, but Luckey is hoping that designers in attendance at this week's conference begin creating games especially for the doodad.

"The doors are already open," noted Luckey. "People are already telling us things they want to do with the Rift that they can't do with traditional games."

Luckey said prototype versions of the technology are being distributed to developers now, and he anticipates releasing a version for consumers by next year.

___

Online:

http://www.oculusvr.com

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-29-US-Games-Virtual-Reality-Oculus/id-eb1005f331c3416aa3640e0c2794c076

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Georgia Workers' Compensation ? Adjuster Says Your Case is Closed

By: Russell Keener ??? March 29, 2013

?

If you?ve been injured on the job and your injury is accepted by the insur?ance com?pany, unless you agree to set?tle your case with them, Geor?gia work?ers? com?pen?sa?tion law enti?tles you to med?ical care for that job injuries for the rest of your?life.

Your income ben?e?fits can stop but as long as you require med?ical care for your job injury, the med?ical por?tion of your case will not close unless you settle.

There is no law that says that at some point in time in the future your work?ers? com?pen?sa?tion case will auto?mat?i?cally ?close? and thus relieve the insur?ance com?pany of any and all future respon?si?bil?ity for your med?ical?care.

How?ever, the real?ity is that the fur?ther away in time that you get from your injury date, the more likely it is that the insur?ance com?pany will fight to avoid pay?ing for your med?ical?care.

My expe?ri?ence is that the insur?ance com?pany will start to deny your treat?ment, and try to say you need it now for some?thing new that hap?pened to you unre?lated to your job injury.

For exam?ple, if you have had an unre?lated fall or a car wreck after your work?ers? com?pen?sa?tion acci?dent, the insur?ance com?pany will try to say some or all of your cur?rent issues are because of the unre?lated fall or car wreck and not related to your job injury.

Never mind the fact that they don?t actu?ally have any proof that your cur?rent prob?lem is not related. If they can try to pin your cur?rent prob?lems on some?thing else, they will and they will deny your treat?ment and they will make you have to fight to get your med?ical care restarted.

Look, I?ve been doing this well over 20 years and I?ve seen this hap?pen time and?again.

There are statutes you need to be aware of that can stop your income ben?e?fits, but there are no statutes that ever stop your enti?tle?ment to med?ical care related to your job injury or ever close your case unless you agree to know?ingly and vol?un?tar?ily set?tle your?case.

If the adjuster tells you that your case is closed and you still have med?ical prob?lems related to your job injury, insist that the insur?ance com?pany pay to send you back to the doc?tor. It?s your right under Geor?gia?law.

Source: http://keenerlaw.com/injuries/georgia-workers-compensation-adjuster-says-your-case-is-closed/

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Sharapova beats Errani in Key Biscayne quarters

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) ? Four-time runner-up Maria Sharapova has overcome an uneven performance at the Sony Open to reach the semifinals by beating Sara Errani 7-5, 7-5.

Sharapova had 57 unforced errors, including 13 double-faults, and had to erase three set points in the second set Wednesday.

The third-seeded Sharapova will play Thursday against the winner of the quarterfinal Wednesday night between No. 15-seeded Roberta Vinci and No. 22 Jelena Jankovic. Errani, seeded No. 8, fell to 0-26 against opponents ranked in the top five.

Sharapova completed a career Grand Slam last year but has never won Key Biscayne. She lost in the final in 2005, '06, '11 and '12.

She's bidding to become the third woman to win Indian Wells and Key Biscayne in the same year, joining Steffi Graf and Kim Clijsters.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sharapova-beats-errani-key-biscayne-quarters-200237938--spt.html

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88% Beyond The Hills

All Critics (64) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (8)

The film offers rewards for the patient viewer as it examines conflicting visions of love played out in a remote faith-based community.

An austere but subtly textured retelling of a 2005 news story in which a young woman died during an exorcism.

Fascinating [and] anguishing ...

Cristian Mungiu's "Beyond the Hills" moves so effortlessly through the gnarly intersection of love, loss, God and godlessness that you barely notice how much he's doing, and with such effortless grace.

Of all the movies culminating in a rite of exorcism, Romanian writer-director Cristian Mungiu's remarkable "Beyond the Hills" stands alone.

One of the year's most powerful films.

Such is the rigorous and high-minded nature of Romanian cinema that even a real-life exorcism story can inspire something loftier than a horror movie.

Heartbreak at a Romanian convent

...Cristian Mungiu has taken a real life event...to consider deeply human philosophies such as freedom vs. discipline, love vs. security, the choices facing those without financial recourse and the hypocrisies of organized religions.

I found it riveting to watch and fascinating to think about afterwards.

An undeniably tough watch.

Stark, deadpan, and darkly dry.

With this viscerally involving drama, acclaimed Romanian filmmaker Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) tells another strikingly original story of women caught between old and new world beliefs.

Mungiu is not preaching - he is telling us what can happen when people are trapped within their own emotions and circumstances. Remarkable.

Mungiu's human comedy leaves off where it begins (spoiler alert): out in the middle of nowhere, no direction home.

...if Beyond the Hills is an exorcism movie, the scariest thing about it is that there isn't a demon to be found.

The film's final shot goes straight to the story's heart and the spectator's. Amazing grace. Now at last we know what those words mean.

...quiet, but also quietly devastating, with detours down the roads of intolerance, mercilessness, cold rejection of outsiders' experiences, mystical and subjective interpretation of "signs," overt woman-on-woman misogyny and brutally strict penance...

A slowly, quietly riveting passion play for a nation grappling with secularism and modernity.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beyond_the_hills_2012/

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Americans oppose paying for storm-ravaged beaches

WASHINGTON (AP) ? More than 4 out of 5 Americans want to prepare now for rising seas and stronger storms from climate change, a new national survey says. But most are unwilling to keep spending money to restore and protect stricken beaches.

The poll by Stanford University released Thursday found that only 1 in 3 people favored the government spending millions to construct big sea walls, replenish beaches or pay people to leave the coast.

This was the first time a large national poll looked at how Americans feel about adapting to the changes brought on by global warming, said survey director Jon Krosnick, a professor of political science and psychology at Stanford.

The more indirect options the majority preferred were making sure new buildings were stronger and reducing future coastal development. New building codes rated the highest with 62 percent of those surveyed favoring it.

Three in 5 people want those who are directly affected by rising seas to pay for protection, rather than all taxpayers.

Krosnick said the low favorability of sea walls and sand replenishment "reflect the public's fatalistic sense that it's more realistic to just give up the beach than to try to save it when other storms in the future will just wash it away again."

The nationally representative survey of 1,174 Americans conducted online by GfK Custom Research has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

University of Miami geology professor Harold Wanless, who wasn't involved in the survey, said he was at a Miami Beach meeting on Thursday with business and political leaders on how to try to keep from losing their "hugely expensive" land. But they are afraid of spending money in vain attempts that won't work.

There are three ways the public can deal with the effects of rising seas on beaches, said coastal geology professor S. Jeffress Williams of the University of Hawaii. He is an expert on sea level rise and methods of adapting to it. You can "hold the line" with expensive sea walls, retreat and leave the beach, or compromise with sand dunes and beach replenishing.

Sand dunes helped protect the New Jersey town of Seaside Park more than its dune-less neighbor Seaside Heights when Superstorm Sandy hit last fall, said Laurie Mcgilvray, a government coastline science expert.

Williams said the public's attitude about not doing much to protect current beach development would be fine if it were 100 years ago. "But we've got tremendous trillions of dollars of a tourist economy that depends on the coast.

"You should expect that if you are going to use the coast, you need to put some money in to maintain it," he said.

But people surveyed said money is an issue.

When it came to the general question of who should pay to protect the coast, 60 percent of the public said it should be paid for by local property owners and businesses, not the general taxpayers. And when it comes to specific solutions, about 80 percent of those surveyed said the money should come from local property taxes, not federal or state income taxes.

Nearly half, 47 percent, said the government should prohibit people from rebuilding structures damaged by storms.

The survey also found that 82 percent of the public believes global warming is already happening. About 3 out of 4 people said rising sea levels caused by global warming is a serious problem.

___

Online:

Stanford study: http://stanford.io/16kTvKo

___

Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-03-28-Climate%20Poll/id-4bb2c34e6cdc4a05b7f40cf5d7fcfb03

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Steps For Making Sure Your Auto Insurance Coverage Is Adequate ...

It is commonly believed that understanding the intricacies of car insurance is hard. As with most things in life, learning more about selecting auto insurance makes the whole process seem far less confusing.

Get auto insurance recommendations from local auto repair shops. Body shops always have to deal with insurance companies. Repair shops work with insurance companies all the time, so they know which ones are a breeze to work with and which ones stonewall and delay payments.

If you sell or get rid of a vehicle, remove it from your policy right away. The costs of extraneous insurance plans can pile up rapidly, so act efficiently to protect yourself from unnecessary payments.

You can save a lot of money on insurance costs if you take a defensive driving course. Not only do many providers offer a discount for completing such a course, but you will also learn to become a better driver. Check with any local driving schools in your area because most will offer these classes. If you are short on time or there are no classes close to your are, you can try an online version of these courses.

A lot of consumers believe that insurance premiums routinely drop at age 25. The truth is they slowly drop after the age of 18.

If you are a safe and cautious driver, you can maintain lower insurance premiums. The cleaner your driving record, the higher your discounts. This savings can really add up over time, and you may even get a larger discount every year you do not get into an accident or get a ticket. This will also prevent a rise in your insurance premiums.

Check insurance rates when you are purchasing a car. Your insurance agent can inform you which new cars have the lowest insurance rates. This can be quite helpful to you when it comes to selecting a car, whether new or used. A higher safety rating means lower insurance policies.

If you have a teen driver you should request two separate quotes, one with your child on your policy and one with your child on a stand-alone policy. Factors such as vehicles on your policy may make it less expensive to buy a different policy for your teenager.

Remember to document everything you can if you get in an accident and need to file a claim. Taking pictures with your cell phone is very helpful in recording any damage done where a claim must be filed. You may also want to leave a camera with you, just to prepare yourself for the worst.

These suggestions can be used by anyone. Ideally, you should apply this advice to your search for the best auto insurance plan. This article should have shed some light on how to get the best coverage possible for a price you can afford.

Professional-Info

Source: http://insuranceauto.professional-info.com/2013/03/28/steps-for-making-sure-your-auto-insurance-coverage-is-adequate/

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Senators back gay marriage as Supreme Court hears cases

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Carolina's Kay Hagan on Wednesday became the sixth Democratic senator to endorse gay marriage this week as the Supreme Court hears two cases on the issue.

"After much thought and prayer, I have come to my own personal conclusion that we shouldn't tell people who they can love or who they can marry," Hagan said in a statement on her Facebook page on Wednesday.

Although public opinion polls show a majority of Americans believe that homosexuals should have the right to wed, support varies between states.

Hagan is up for re-election next year in a state that backed Republican Mitt Romney - an opponent of gay marriage - in the November 2012 presidential election, and where voters also strongly backed a measure in May 2012 prohibiting both civil unions and domestic partnerships.

Five other Senate Democrats - Mark Begich of Alaska, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana and Mark Warner of Virginia - have also announced their support for gay marriage in the last few days.

Their backing left only about 10 of the 55 members of the Senate Democratic caucus who have not endorsed same-sex marriage, reflecting a shift in public sentiment.

Hagan's announcement came as the Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday and Wednesday on two gay marriage cases. The justices on Wednesday indicated interest in striking down a 1996 law that denies federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples.

President Barack Obama announced that he approved of gay marriage in May 2012.

Republicans, who are generally more socially conservative than Democrats, remain largely opposed.

Ohio Senator Rob Portman became one of the most prominent Republican politicians to back gay rights in mid-March when he announced his support for same-sex marriage, two years after his son told him he was gay.

Hagan compared her decision to Portman's in her statement on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senators-back-gay-marriage-supreme-court-hears-cases-181136034.html

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Obama administration moves ahead with sweeping rules requiring cleaner gasoline (Washington Post)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Supreme Court reconvenes for second gay marriage case

By Lawrence Hurley and David Ingram

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the second day running, the Supreme Court convened on Wednesday to tackle the issue of gay marriage, this time to hear arguments over a law that denies federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples.

Almost two hours of oral argument will be heard by the court on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The nine justices heard arguments on Tuesday on the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage.

In those arguments, the justices displayed a reluctance to rule broadly on the right to marry for gays and lesbians, suggesting the court may be similarly cautious about DOMA.

Rulings in both cases are expected by the end of June.

The cases come before the court as polls show growing support among Americans for gay marriage but division among the 50 states. Nine states recognize it; 30 states have constitutional amendments banning it and others are in-between.

DOMA limits the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. It permits benefits such as Social Security survivor payments and federal tax deductions only for married, opposite-sex couples, not for legally married same-sex couples.

President Bill Clinton signed DOMA into law in 1996 after it passed Congress with only 81 of 535 lawmakers opposing it. Clinton, a Democrat, earlier this month said that times have changed since then and called for the law to be overturned.

The atmosphere outside the courthouse was more subdued than on Tuesday, when thousands of raucous protesters filled the sidewalks. A largely pro-gay marriage crowd of several hundred held signs and waved American flags.

Hundreds more waited patiently in line for a chance at the handful of seats in the courtroom allocated to the public.

"It was pretty cold," said Liz Ghandakhy, 28, a lawyer who got in line at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday and slept overnight on the sidewalk. "It's one of the greatest civil rights cases of our time."

A few minutes later, a beaming Ghandakhy was headed inside.

The DOMA case is about whether Edith Windsor, who was married to a woman, should get the federal estate tax deduction available to heterosexuals when their spouses pass away.

Windsor's marriage to Thea Spyer was recognized under New York law, but not under DOMA. When Spyer died in 2009, Windsor was forced to pay federal estate tax because the federal government would not recognize her marriage. She later sued the government, seeking a $363,000 tax refund.

Windsor's lawyers say the federal government has no role in defining marriage, which is traditionally left to the states.

Lower courts have ruled in her favor.

The roughly 133,000 gay couples nationwide, married in one of the nine states where it is legal, are not recognized as married by the federal government, Windsor's supporters say.

Various groups are calling for DOMA to be struck down, such as the Business Coalition for DOMA Repeal, whose members include Marriott International Inc, Aetna Inc, eBay Inc, and Thomson Reuters Corp, the corporate parent of the Reuters news agency.

OBAMA TURNS BACK ON DOMA

The Obama administration has agreed with Windsor that the section of law that defines marriage violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. The Justice Department has thus declined to defend the statute, as it normally would when a federal statute is challenged.

That has left a legal group acting on behalf of the Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives, known as the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, or BLAG, as the party defending the federal law. Its lawyer, Paul Clement, will argue that there are several reasons to support Congress's decision to enact DOMA.

Noting the strong bipartisan support the law attracted when enacted, Clement said in court papers that a move to strike it down as unconstitutional "would be wholly unprecedented."

Before the court reaches that bigger question, preliminary matters could prevent a decision. One is whether BLAG has legal standing. If such a procedural issue prevents the court from deciding the case on the merits, Windsor would win her refund.

Yet DOMA would stay on the books in states where courts have not ruled on it. Further litigation would likely ensue.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and David Ingram; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-next-gay-marriage-case-eyes-federal-050121766.html

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J.K. Simmons, Chris Elliot board untitled Hugh Grant comedy

By Greg Gilman

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - J.K. Simmons and Chris Elliott are joining Marisa Tomei and Hugh Grant in Castle Rock Entertainment's untitled romantic comedy from director Marc Lawrence ("Did You Hear About The Morgans?"), producer Martin Shafer announced on Wednesday.

The film follows Grant as a screenwriter who, thanks to an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, was on top of the world in 1998. Flash forward fifteen years later: His creativity has disappeared along with his wife and money, so he takes a gig teaching screenwriting at a small college on the East Coast. He expects to make some easy money and maybe find some easy co-eds, but doesn't predict falling in love with a single mom, played by Tomei, who has gone back to school.

Grant's character expects to make some easy money and maybe find some easy co-eds, but doesn't predict falling in love with a single mom, played by Tomei, who has gone back to school.

Simmons ("Juno," "Spider-Man") will portray Dr. Lerner, the Chairman of the University's English department who takes Grant's character under his wing.

Elliott ("There's Something About Mary") will portray Jim, a Shakespeare professor and next-door neighbor to Michaels, in search of that certain someone.

Bella Heathcote and Allison Janney are also starring in Lawrence's fourth feature, which will begin shooting in New York in April. Liz Glotzer is producing with Shafer for Castle Rock Entertainment. FilmNation Entertainment is handling international sales for all foreign territories.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/j-k-simmons-chris-elliot-board-untitled-hugh-222649369.html

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eBay seller auctioning Jim Carrey autographed photo to buy gun

Jim Carrey is facing plenty of backlash for his anti-gun song??Cold Dead Hand,??but one Second Amendment enthusiast is expressing his or her disagreement in a unique way ???by selling an?autographed Jim Carrey photo on eBay?to buy a new gun.

The eBay description reads, ?I?m selling this Jim Carrey Autographed B&W 8X10 Photo (mint condition) in hopes that I sell it for enough to buy a GUN to protect my family.?

This is probably not the response Carrey had in mind when he released his song on Monday, attacking gun owners and singing lyrics such as ?the psychos win no matter what you do because they?ll always buy more guns than you.?

The picture seller, astrobuzz, hopes to net at least $640 to buy a ?Glock G30S .45 ACP Pistol.? If the photo goes for more than the price of the gun, the seller promises to spend the extra cash on a laser for the gun along with gun safety classes and a concealed carry permit.

It looks like the seller will be toting around a new Glock in no time, as the bidding was already up to $860 on Wednesday, with 5 days left to bid.

In case there was any doubt, the seller said the choice to sell the item was in response to Carrey?s extremely offensive, anti-Second Amendment song.

?I lost all respect for Mr. Carrey after he released his ?Cold Dead Hands? video mocking responsible gun owners and Charlton Heston,? the seller wrote in the eBay description. ?I believe in the 2nd Amendment and my rights shall not be infringed! From MY cold dead hands Mr. Carrey!?

The picture itself is a portrait of Carrey along with his John Hancock and the message ?Spank you very much!? ? to which the future Glock owner says, ?And spank u. Jim.?

Yee haw!

Source: http://redalertpolitics.com/2013/03/27/ebay-seller-auctioning-jim-carrey-autographed-photo-to-buy-gun/

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