Thursday, September 30, 2010

Polemic



"My films are intended as polemical statements against the American 'barrel down' cinema and its dis-empowerment of the spectator. They are an appeal for a cinema of insistent questions instead of false (because too quick) answers, for clarifying distance in place of violating closeness, for provocation and dialogue instead of consumption and consensus."


From "Film as catharsis"
@Wikipedia

Ladies and Gentlemen : Mr Aaron Barnhart


Aaron Barnhart photo


In between shows and throughout the past twelve months, Aaron Barnhart set out to make an album that captured his powerful live sound. Being a purveyor of soulful music, he wrote MISSING PIECES to express his unique vision while maintaining a sound and feel that is universally appealing.

The album was recorded in Los Angeles over a 12-month period with renowned producer Stuart Brawley [who has over 32 million records sold worldwide, with such artists’ as Michael Jackson, Don Henley, Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Brandy, Avion, Lenka, and nominated for "Producer of the Year" at the Juno Awards]. The 10 tracks on the album showcase Aaron’s incredible musical range. Most of the songs on MISSING PIECES came to life with Aaron writing melodies and lyrics while performing for local Los Angeles crowds. 

While recording MISSING PIECES, Brett Tuggle, Musician/Fleetwood Mac shared "I recently had the opportunity to hear a new artist named Aaron Barnhart. I was impressed by his talents as a singer/songwriter and musician. Aaron has that unique gift to be able to write a good song and deliver a vocal performance that is real and exciting to listen to. I believe Aaron has "the goods" to be a lasting force in music. Put on his new CD Missing Pieces, sit back and enjoy the ride..." Aaron recently helped Fleetwood Mac prepare for their upcoming tour and played auxiliary keyboards with the band.

With the announcement of the release date for Aaron Barnhart also comes confirmation of something that had been rumored in recent weeks: Aaron Barnhart is preparing for a series of live performances, coast to coast in the States, to accompany his new album.

Bonded Records CEO David McKenna in a recent interview, discussed MISSING PIECES, "This record is a true developing artist story. I am confident in its ability to stand out from the thousands of other new releases this year. From an incredible human being, we have an album here that has hits, and production unlike most independent label releases."


@musicremedy.com

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

North Korean leader promotes son, sister in advance of party conference


North Korean leader Kim Jong Il promoted his son and his sister to top military positions in the hours before the country's largest political conference in 30 years, demonstrating anew his reliance on family bloodlines to protect his reclusive regime.
The elevation of Kim's son Kim Jong Eun to the rank of general verified his status as the Stalinist dictator's heir apparent.
But according to experts, it was the tapping of sister Kim Kyong Hui to a similar position that offered a glimpse into Kim Jong Il's strategy for protecting power as his health declines and his untested son emerges. To put it simply: He plans to rely on his family.
Politics is the Kim family business. Staying in business is the Kim family's latest challenge. Though the Kims have always used North Korea as an expansive family headquarters - "The entire bureaucracy is just a personal staff for Kim Jong Il," Seoul-based analyst Park Hyeong-jung said - experts on Tuesday noted that Kim Kyong Hui's new job reinforces the bloodline-over-party priority. She has no military experience, but she was made a four-star general.
"When things really get tough - when the leader gets ill - it's the family that starts to circle the wagons," said Ken Gause, an Alexandria-based analyst specializing in North Korean leadership.
"We've seen this in Iraq, in the last years of the Saddam regime. And that's the case here. It seems to me not an accident that the day before they make party appointments, they make the bloodline appointments," Gause said. "That is a clear signal to what's happening here: The Kim family is still in control."


Analysts in both Seoul and Washington offered mixed theories on the implications of Kim Kyong Hui's promotion, but several said they suspect that she will play a prominent caretaker role as her nephew learns about the top job and tries to convince Pyongyang's ruling party and military members that he is fit for it.
Even before Kim Kyong Hui received her new title, the father-to-son power transfer was a family job. Kim Kyong Hui's husband, National Defense Commission Vice Chairman Jang Song Taek, is widely viewed as a regent for Kim Jong Eun. He could also serve as an interim ruler if the Dear Leader dies or falls seriously ill before Kim Jong Eun has adapted to his designated role.
Kim Kyong Hui and Jang Song Taek have been married for 38 years, falling in love despite the objections of her father, the late Kim Il Sung. Some experts believe that Kim Kyong Hui was promoted to help legitimize her husband; she can act as a prominent link to the Kim blood, if ever Jang needs public support.
Others believe that Kim Kyong Hui was promoted, in fact, as a counterweight to her husband, checking him from growing too ambitious.
"By giving Kim Kyong Hui power, Kim Jong Eun's succession can be solidified," said Cheong Seong Chang, senior analyst at Seoul's Sejong Institute. "Even though she became a general, that is just a title and it does not mean she'll start controlling and ordering troops. But it would be a base for her to be involved in case of Kim Jong Il's death. She can use her title to persuade the elite power in the military to select Kim Jong Eun as the next leader."
Examining the inner workings of the world's most secretive state requires an element of guesswork, with information based on foreign intelligence, North Korean propaganda and rare accounts from high-level defectors. Accurate details about the workings of Kim's inner sanctum - and the lives of those within it - often do not trickle out until years later.


Most who analyze North Korea, though, believe that Kim Jong Il shares a fiercely close relationship with his sister, younger by four years. Raised primarily by distant family members and nannies, they spent their childhoods together.
In the past two years, Kim Kyong Hui, now 64, has emerged as Kim Jong Il's top companion on guidance tours. According to a recent essay by Yuriko Koike,Japan's former defense minister, Kim Jong Il once told the Central Committee of the Workers' Party that "Kim Kyong Hui is myself, the words of Kim Kyong Hui are my words, and instructions issued by Kim Kyong Hui are my instructions."
Kim Jong Il has also asked Kim Kyong Hui to do many things that sisters rarely do for brothers. She currently heads North Korea's light industry. She has previously been involved with aspects of North Korea's surveillance machine.
According to Gause, Kim Kyong Hui helped to establish a network of contacts in Europe - particularly Switzerland - that the family used to stash its private millions.
For several years during the mid-2000s, Kim Kyong Hui disappeared from public life. North Korea analysts, in a popular but unproven theory, often attribute her absence to a struggle with alcoholism
Since its founding in 1948, North Korea has occasionally created personality cults for its most important women - most notably for Kim Jong Suk, wife of Kim Il Sung, who was revered as the Sacred Mother of the Revolution, and often referred to as a general. Though North Korean political power remains male-dominated - as illustrated by the recent photos of dark-suited delegates arriving in Pyongyang for Tuesday's meeting - its regime cultivates what author B.R. Myers calls a "coddling mother" image, which can apply to both women and men.


In propaganda artwork, founder Kim Il Sung is bathed in pinkish hues, and children nuzzle his bosom. Propaganda has described Kim Jong Il as "more of a mother than all the mothers in the world."
Within the past decade, North Korean women have grown in status. In 2003, North Korea started drafting all-women military units.The percentage of women in the military has since increased, though accurate numbers are hard to find. Meanwhile, the private market economy is sustained largely by women, who operate food stalls while men maintain government-approved employment.
"That's led, generally, to a rise in status of women," Myers said in an interview. "They can be responsible for their own earnings and their own fate."
Though delegates met Tuesday as part of the rare party conference, North Korea revealed no further significant developments. A promised "major announcement" turned out to be the renomination of Kim Jong Il as head of the ruling party.
No matter the party leadership reshuffling that ensues, experts view the military promotions as a telling sign of Pyongyang's succession plans. The announcement of the promotions, carried by the state-run news agency, was the first time Kim Jong Eun's name ever appeared in a public North Korean report.
In contrast to his inexperienced son, Kim Jong Il worked for roughly a decade behind the scenes before emerging in the public as his own father's heir apparent.
Now, two years removed from a stroke and still dealing with myriad health problems, Kim Jong Il is rushing to reorganize his country so his family can retain power after his death.
"What we can say is, Kim Jong Il is putting his ducks in a row," said Jennifer Lind, a North Korea expert at Dartmouth College. "From the standpoint of this week's events, the regime has taken a step to make itself more stable. It's pretty clear that Kim Jong Il is gathering the people around him who are closest to him."

@Washingtonpost                                                                                                               

New Begining

September 25th was the begining of a long road.Today i continued the process of rejuvenation my medical bookshelves.After discharging a vast  proportion of my medical books and notes,it was essential to make a novel goal-oriented move. Even though i'm not quite firing on all cylinders at the moment , it has been so positive and delibrate move . I predict an interesting but tough fight back .Personally i feel the emotional boost in this return.Schedule is getting formed and settled.A period of 3 months is ahead of me and the priority is to conjure up a balance .

Monday, September 27, 2010

Venezuela election loosens Chávez's grip on power


Opponents of Hugo Chavez today made major gains in legislative elections that could weaken the president's dominant power in Venezuela.
The opposition overturned Chávez's two-thirds majority in the national assembly, and claimed to have won most of the popular vote. If confirmed, the result would mark a milestone.
The Democratic Unity coalition won at least 60 of 165 seats in the assembly – well short of a majority but enough to end Chávez's ability to appoint judges and other officials and to push through major laws.
The opposition said it had won 52% of the popular vote, but that controversial changes in electoral rules favouring rural areas, where Chávez is popular, meant that support failed to translate into proportional seats.
Both sides claimed victory and momentum for the 2012 president election, in which Chávez will seek a third consecutive term. Turnout was 66%, high for a legislative election.
Chávez's allies took at least 94 seats. The president said via Twitter today that his PSUV party was the victor. "Well, my dear compatriots," he wrote, "it has been a great election day and we have obtained a solid victory: enough to continue deepening Bolivarian and democratic socialism. We need to continue strengthening the revolution!"
He did not address supporters from the balcony of Miraflores palace, a tradition from previous elections.
During the campaign, the former soldier said it was crucial to "demolish" the opposition and win at least 110 seats for the two-thirds majority required to continue to rubber-stamp his decisions.
Television pictures from the rival camps told their own story: PSUV supporters in red T-shirts looking uncertain, and opponents in yellow and blue T-shirts appearing upbeat.
Ramón Guillermo Aveledo, leader of the opposition coalition, said it had been a "marvellous" day but lambasted the national electoral council for an eight-hour delay before announcing the first, incomplete results at 2am local time to a tense country.
The council, which mostly comprises government loyalists, listed assembly winners but failed to immediately supply a breakdown of the nationwide popular vote. This is a crucial benchmark for Chávez, who declared the election a referendum on his rule.
"It will be a pyschological handicap for Chavistas if they get less than 50% of the vote," said Steve Ellner, a political analyst and author at the University of the East. "The opposition could then say: 'We are the majority.'"
Since sweeping to power in 1998, Chávez has cast his revolution as that of the poor majority against wealthy oligarchs. Two years ago, however, Caracas and other cities voted for opposition mayors and governors. Recession, inflation and crime played into the opposition's hands again this time.
The president's once-stellar approval ratings have tumbled but he remains the country's most popular politician, and he has a firm grip on all state institutions.
The assembly has acted as a rubber stamp since the opposition boycotted the last legislative election in 2005, giving Chávez free rein to push through radical legislation and appoint judges and members of the electoral council.
By securing more than 58 seats, the opposition can in theory exert influence over appointments and major new laws; if it clinches takes 67 – which seems possible – it could block the president's requests for temporary decree powers.
Aveledo, the opposition leader, warned the outgoing "moribund" pro-Chávez legislature against rushing out radical laws before the new assembly starts, in January 2011.

@Guardian
pic : Ramon Guilermo Aveledo

CR4 Wrapped Up

A great deal of pressure over this project.
Now i can reposefully focus and pursue other handy projects.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Agnelli : All expected




It was the first management meeting which was held at the construction site of the new stadium, in the offices of the works directors and was the opportunity to show the board members the state of the works. 

Andrea Agnelli, at the end of the management meeting met the journalists: «Here you are seeing the Juve of the future – said the President - . Today we visited the construction site together with the board members. We can say that this is the first day in the life of the new stadium, an avant-garde stadium, on the level of the main European teams, open 7 days a week. In Italy we are the first club to reach such an objective». 

The President then spoke of football: «
The present situation is how I expected it to be. We knew some time would be necessary, a few months are needed for the sports project to take off. The squad is not under discussion. We based ourselves on young players and therefore it is normal that they have less experience but we must give them time». 

Agnelli has no doubts with regards to what the team needs to find: «The team is conscious of the quality  and must simply find consistency. There is harmony. It can be seen that a group is being created. This can be understood from many things, including the fact that even yesterday the team fought till the very end and then went towards the stands to receive the applause of the supporters: it is a sign that they want to return to being Juve». The final comment is dedicated to the supporters:  «
They understood what has been done in recent months, they understand that the lads are living through a transformation and must amalgamate besides seeing that they are running on the field».

Owen's Back




The boss said in an MUTV exclusive interview: "Owen has come back training, he trained yesterday with the first team. He looked very good. I was surprised actually how good he was looking. It's an extra string to our bow.

"After being out for so long, we'll have to monitor him and see how he progresses in the next few weeks. But it's good to see him back. Because he's been out for so long you have to see whether there's going to be a relapse. That's the first thing on our mind. But having watched him in training, if he continues that way he's going to give me a selection problem."

Michael Carrick is also back on the training field. "Michael started training last week," says Sir Alex. "He had an injection on his Achilles to settle it down. It was nothing serious, just one of those niggling little problems you can get, particularly at the start of the season when grounds are firm. He's fine, he's started training."

Berba Bicycle kick: 38%


Which Of The Following Is The Best Goal Of The Week?
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
 
8.9%
Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)
 
16.14%
Aparesida Edmar (Metalist Kharkiv)
 
2.46%
Joaozinho (Levski Sofia)
 
4.57%
Artjoms Rudnevs (Lech Poznan)
 
2.6%
Hatem Ben Arfa (Newcastle)
 
2.66%
Jari Litmanen (FC Lahti)
 
20.07%
Diego (Wolfsburg)
 
2.34%
Charles Nevuche (Zakarpattia)
 
1.42%
Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United)
 
38.84%
 
 from GOAL.COM POLL

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Describing the Brain in Autism in Five Dimensions

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of biologically based neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impairments in three major domains:
1.       socialization
2.      communication
3.       behavior

These disorders include
·         autistic disorder (classic autism, sometimes called early infantile autism, childhood autism, or Kanner's autism),
·          Rett disorder,
·          childhood disintegrative disorder,
·         pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and
·          Asperger disorder (also known as Asperger syndrome



A recent study by Ecker et al demonstrated  how a multiparameter classification approach can be used to characterize the complex and subtle structural pattern of gray matter anatomy implicated in adults with ASD. A set of five morphological parameters including volumetric and geometric features at each spatial location on the cortical surface was used to discriminate between people with ASD and controls using a support vector machine (SVM) analytic approach and to find a spatially distributed pattern of regions with maximal classification weights.


Figure 1


 On the basis of these patterns, SVM was able to identify individuals with ASD at a sensitivity and specificity of up to 90% and 80%, respectively. However, the ability of individual cortical features to discriminate between groups was highly variable, and the discriminating patterns of regions varied across parameters.








Morphometric featureCorrectly classified (%)Sensitivity (%)Specificity (%)p

Left hemisphere
    All parameters8590800*
    Cortical thickness9090900*
    Radial curvature72.56580<0.001
    Average convexity707565<0.004
    Metric distortion8080800*
    Pial area77.570850*
Right hemisphere
    All parameters656070<0.03
    Cortical thickness606555<0.01
    Radial curvature52.55055<0.30
    Average convexity504060<0.40
    Metric distortion57.54570<0.06
    Pial area454545<0.60







 The classification was specific to ASD rather than neurodevelopmental conditions in general (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). These results confirm the hypothesis that the neuroanatomy of autism is truly multidimensional, and affects multiple and most likely independent cortical features. The spatial patterns detected using SVM may help further exploration of the specific genetic and neuropathological underpinnings of ASD, and provide new insights into the most likely multifactorial etiology of the condition.


@The Journal of Neuroscience August 2010

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

در مورد حادثه سوء قصد به دکتر عبدالرضا سودبخش

پلیس آگاهی تهران بزرگ در مورد حادثه سوء قصد به دکتر عبدالرضا سودبخش عضو هیئت علمی دانشگاه علوم پزشکی تهران که شب گذشته در مقابل مطب شخصی خود از طرف افراد ناشناس کشته شد اعلام کرد: تحقیقات اولیه حکایت از آن دارد که علت و انگیزه قتل شخصی بوده و وجود هرگونه انگیزه دیگر در این جنایت منتفی است.

به گزارش خبرگزاری مهر، بنا به اعلام پلیس اگاهی تهران،  در ساعت 45 : 21 مورخ 30 شهریور از طریق مرکز فوریت های پلیسی 110 وقوع یک فقره تیراندازی منجر به جرح به کلانتری 148 انقلاب اعلام شد.

با حضور مأموران کلانتری و عوامل اورژانس در بلوار کشاورز، بلافاصله فرد مصدوم به بیمارستان انتقال، اما به واسطه شدت جراحات وارده فوت می کند.

با تشکیل پرونده مقدماتی در این خصوص و به دستور قاضی کشیک دادسرای جنایی تهران، مراتب در دستور کار کارآگاهان اداره دهم ویژه قتل پلیس آگاهی تهران بزرگ قرار گرفت. با آغاز تحقیقات از سوی کارآگاهان بلافاصله هویت مقتول مورد شناسایی قرار گرفت.

تحقیقات اولیه حکایت از آن داشت که مقتول متخصص بیماری های عفونی و همچنین دانشیار دانشگاه است که در زمان خروج از مطب کار خود واقع در بلوار کشاورز مورد اصابت گلوله فرد یا افراد ناشناس قرار گرفته است.

تحقیقات اولیه حکایت از آن دارد که علت و انگیزه قتل شخصی بوده و وجود هرگونه انگیزه دیگر در این جنایت منتفی است. در حال حاضر تحقیقات تخصصی در مراحل ابتدایی قرار داشته و نتیجه اقدامات متعاقبا اعلام خواهد شد.


@tabnak.ir

Our Professor of Infectious Diseases Murdered



دكتر عبدالرضا سودبخش دانشيار بخش عفوني بيمارستان امام خميني دانشگاه علوم پزشكي تهران شب گذشته سه شنبه شب 30/6/89 ساعت 21 هنگامي كه در انتهاي كار روزانه از مطب خود خارح مي شد مورد سوءقصد فردي ناشناس قرار گرفت و به ضرب گلوله كشته شد.


از انگيزه و اهداف ضارب اطلاعي در دست نيست. مسئولين انتظامي سرگرم تحقيق پيرامون موضوعند.


دكترعبدالرضا سودبخش در سال 1328 در شهرستان بندرانزلي از توابع استان گيلان متولد شد. وي در سال 1346 موفق به اخذ مدرك ديپلم شدپ و تحصيلات عالي خود را در سال 1346 در رشته پزشكي دانشكدة پزشكي دانشگاه فردوسي مشهد آغاز كرد و در سال 1354 فارغ‌التحصيل شده بود. وي در سال 1369 نيز موفق به اخذ تخصص 

در رشتة عفوني از دانشكدة پزشكي دانشگاه علوم پزشكي تهران شده و از آن پس به عنوان عضو هيئت علمي و استاديار گروه عفوني در بخش عفوني بيمارستان امام خميني (ره) مشغول به كار شده بود وي سپس موفق يه اخذ درجه دانشياري نيز شده بود.


سمت هاي اجرائي وي شامل عضويت در كميته پژوهشي بخش عفوني، رياست درمانگاه عفوني، عضويت در كميته مورتاليته بيمارستان امام خميني (ره)، رياست كميته كنترل عفونت درمانگاهي و اورژانس مجتمع بيمارستاني امام خميني(ره) و عضويت در كميته آموزش و پژوهش فدراسيون پزشكي ورزشي ايران بود.

Byron Moreno Arrested !


Controversial former referee Byron Moreno, who was at the centre of the 2002 World Cup refereeing scandal, has been arrested at John F. Kennedy airport, New York, for allegedly being in possession of six kilograms of heroin.

Moreno had the drug concealed in his underwear as he passed through security, according to 
Cre.com.ec andRainews.

The Ecuadorian is best remembered for refereeing the infamous second round game at the 2002 World Cup between co-hosts South Korea and Italy.

The 2002 competition has gone down in infamy due to the huge number of refereeing mistakes that helped eliminate a string of top nations, and also ensured that Korea made it all the way to the semi-finals.

During their final two group games against Croatia and Mexico, Italy had four perfectly good goals disallowed, but somehow managed to scrape through to the second round where they met South Korea. Against Guus Hiddink’s men, Moreno chalked off another valid Italy goal, a golden goal from Damiano Tommasi which would have taken them to the next round. Francesco Totti was sent off for diving when replays suggested he had lost his footing, while the Koreans - who repeatedly went unpunished for apparent foul play - were awarded a controversial penalty for a Christian Panucci tugging offence. Italy eventually lost after Ahn Jung-Hwan’s golden winner, but the match and Moreno represent a black mark in Italian sport.

Moreno would later that year receive a 20 match ban after he played an extra 13 minutes of stoppage time during an Ecuadorian league match between Deportiva Universita de Quito and Barcelona Sporting Club. During this time Deportiva scored twice to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 victory. After retuning from his suspension, Moreno was suspended again after controversially sending off three players in one match. He retired from officiating shortly after.

Today's events will undoubtedly hit the headlines all over Italy.



by : Rick D'Andrea @ Goal.com

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Berbalove




september 19 2010
Pic : Manutd.com

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Bringing Accord

Its 3:44 am and a stream of nonharmonic thoughts flow from my brain.It's been just like this for the past 2 weeks. Sometimes i see myself defenseless against this jolt of   ideas.The worst side of it is when you can't control ,it leads to severe agitation. I usually  try to slow down this storm its because i've experienced quite scenes of chaos due to theses pseudo-hypomaniac phases .Seems like decision making mechanisms lack the usual accuracy,trapped in awkward mesh of turbulent images.
I was wondering can i take something out of these torrid courses.i mean can i manage these hours and make some productive job out of it.

Thou The Almighty




Your playing the wise one ,
incenses me
as you know 
i'm wiser and more preseverant
To surrender this  easily
Thou the almighty !
I am to question your undisputed attitude
I am to unmask your ignorant being
I imbue your lustful stupor
Torn your delusion of grandeur
just to remind you that
Supermacy
is not hereditary !


Pedram 
September 18th 2010