Chimps bite, drag man at sanctuary in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- Chimpanzees at a sanctuary for the animals in eastern South Africa pulled an American researcher who was leading a tour into their enclosure, bit him severely and dragged him nearly half a mile (kilometer).

The man was giving a lecture at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden on Thursday when two chimpanzees grabbed his feet and pulled him under a fence into their enclosure, said Jeffrey Wicks of the Netcare911 emergency services company.

He was in intensive care in critical condition Friday after undergoing surgery at the Mediclinic hospital in Nelspruit, 180 miles (300 kilometers) from Johannesburg, hospital officials said.

The man had "multiple and severe bite wounds" and was dragged nearly half a mile (kilometer) by the chimpanzees, Wicks said.

Edwin Jay, chairman of the Jane Goodall Institute South Africa, said the man had crossed the first of two fences separating the chimpanzees from visitors and was standing close to the second fence, which is electrified, at the time of the attack.

Jay said the two chimpanzees involved were part of a group that had been rescued from Angola and brought to South Africa more than a decade ago. He said they were placed in their night enclosure and would be held there while sanctuary officials investigate what led to the attack and confirm the fencing is safe. Then they will be returned to the enclosure.

Jay would not release the man's name, saying only that he was an American researcher. Tourists visiting the sanctuary at the time were evacuated safely, he said.

The man lost part of an ear and parts of his fingers in the attack, according to the South African newspaper Beeld. It said the sanctuary's director fired into the air to scare the chimps away from the man, then chased them back into their enclosure.

The international institute founded by renowned primatologist Jane Goodall opened the sanctuary in 2006. It is a home to chimpanzees, which are not native to South Africa, rescued from further north in Africa. Some of the chimpanzees at the sanctuary lost their parents to poachers in countries where they are hunted for their meat, and others were held in captivity in cruel conditions.

In the United States, a Connecticut woman, Charla Nash, was attacked in 2009 by a friend's chimpanzee that ripped off her nose, lips, eyelids and hands before being killed by police. The woman was blinded and has had a face transplant. Lawyers for Nash filed papers this week accusing state officials of failing to seize the animal before the mauling despite a warning from a staff member that it was dangerous.

Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_SOUTH_AFRICA_CHIMP_ATTACK?SITE=NYTRO&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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European leaders' breakthrough defied expectations

BRUSSELS (AP) ? Europe's leaders finally rose to the challenge of a debt crisis that has hobbled economic growth and threatened the global financial system.

Markets roared their approval Friday after leaders of the 27 European Union countries backed bold ideas to help weak countries cope with rising debt levels and frail banks.

For the first time in 19 summits since the start of the crisis, the EU leaders defied low expectations by announcing plans to:

? Bail out banks, without putting any financial burden on strapped governments.

? Ease borrowing costs on Italy and Spain, the euro region's third- and fourth-largest economies.

? Seek stronger, centralized regulation to European banks.

? Rescue floundering countries, without forcing them to make painful budget cuts if they've already made economic reforms.

?Tie their budgets, currency and governments more tightly.

Europe's leaders trumpeted the agreement. The prime minister of Ireland ? one of the five euro countries that has required emergency funds ? said the plans marked a "seismic shift in European policy." British Prime Minister David Cameron said that "for the first time in some time we have actually seen steps ... to get ahead of the game."

There was a sign immediately that Europe's latest plan was easing fear in financial markets: The cost for the troubled government of Spain to borrow money on the bond market fell dramatically. The interest rate, or yield, on the country's 10-year bonds fell by more than half a percentage point, to 6.34 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average recorded one of its biggest gains of the year, and stocks advanced even further in Europe ? in strong and weak countries alike. The benchmark stock index in Germany rose 4.3 percent, by far its best performance this year. Germany has the biggest economy in Europe, and a warm reaction there was a crucial sign of approval for the plan. Prices for oil and other commodities shot higher.

The decisions made at the European Union summit in Brussels won't end the crisis that has gripped Europe for nearly three years. Plenty of questions remain about how the bank bailouts would work, whether there's enough money committed to rescue banks and governments and whether impoverished, indebted Greece will be forced out of the euro club.

But for EU leaders who have consistently underwhelmed their exasperated publics and nervous financial markets, Friday's plans marked a breakthrough.

At first it looked like the summit would produce little more than a modest plan to stimulate growth in Europe. But Italy and Spain, whose borrowing costs have soared to dangerous levels, refused to sign off on a $150 billion spending plan unless something was done to ease their financial burdens.

So the leaders signaled a willingness to expand the use of Europe's two rescue funds. The money could be used to buy bonds to drive down a country's borrowing costs. Or it could be loaned directly to troubled banks, which would EU leaders said would help break "the vicious cycle" in which weak banks and weak governments threaten to drag each other down.

Before the summit, European leaders insisted that bailout funds be used only to rescue governments ? like Ireland, Portugal and Greece. If money was going to be used for banks, it had to first go to a government, which then funneled it to the troubled banks. But that added to the debt on a government's books because it was responsible for repaying the money.

So efforts to help the banks ended up raising fears about governments. That is why Spain's borrowing costs rose dramatically after the eurozone countries agreed to lend it $125 billion to rescue its banks.

The EU plans also call for a single regulator ? probably the European Central Bank ? to oversee Europe's banks. Currently, banks are regulated by their national governments such as Spain's, which have been slow to recognize loan problems and shut down the worst banks.

As part of a broad "banking union" the new regulator will likely get power to close failing banks if their national regulators won't do it. The plan is also expected to include deposit insurance across Europe. Individual European countries now insure bank deposits within their borders. But bank failures could overwhelm those national funds.

The bank overhaul is supposed to be completed by the end of the year.

The leaders said they were committed to linking their countries closer together economically and politically. But they put off the hard work of closer integration, which is likely to require countries to give up some of their taxing and spending powers to a European budget authority.

Most analysts cheered the EU plans but worried about the questions left unanswered. And they said the bailout funds are too small to handle the tasks that could be thrown at them.

Europe's two bailout funds have a combined $625 billion in lending power; up to $125 billion of that is already committed to helping Spain bail out its banks. The remaining $500 billion looks small compared to $3.1 trillion in Spanish and Italian bonds outstanding.

The solution hovering in the background, say some economists, is the European Central Bank. The ECB could buy any necessary amount of government bonds, backed if need be by the bank's theoretically limitless power to create new money. So far the bank has been unwilling to take this step, which could risk running afoul of its mandate to fight inflation and a ban on central bank financing governments. The ECB's next policy meeting is Thursday in Frankfurt.

The summit deal leaves out crucial details of just how any bank bailouts would work. Would bank creditors have to take a loss on their investments, or would taxpayers foot the whole bill? The deal didn't specify.

If the banking regulator and a rescue fund take ownership stakes in failed banks, manage those stakes in the taxpayer interest while forcing losses on shareholders and creditors, it could be positive, said Clemens Fuest, an expert in public finance at Oxford University's Said Business School.

Otherwise, simply charging taxpayers could be "a huge burden on growth in Europe for a very long time," Clemens said.

___

McHugh contributed from Frankfurt, Germany. Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin, David Springer in London and Robert Wielaard in Brussels contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/european-leaders-breakthrough-defied-expectations-204852653--finance.html

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Google simulates the human brain with 1000 machines, 16000 cores and a love of cats

Don't tell Google, but its latest X lab project is something performed by the great internet public every day. For free. Mountain View's secret lab stitched together 1,000 computers totaling 16,000 cores to form a neural network with over 1 billion connections, and sent it to YouTube looking for cats. Unlike the popular human time-sink, this was all in the name of science: specifically, simulating the human brain. The neural machine was presented with 10 million images taken from random videos, and went about teaching itself what our feline friends look like. Unlike similar experiments, where some manual guidance and supervision is involved, Google's pseudo-brain was given no such assistance.

It wasn't just about cats, of course -- the broader aim was to see whether computers can learn face detection without labeled images. After studying the large set of image-data, the cluster revealed that indeed it could, in addition to being able to develop concepts for human body parts and -- of course -- cats. Overall, there was 15.8 percent accuracy in recognizing 20,000 object categories, which the researchers claim is a 70 percent jump over previous studies. Full details of the hows and whys will be presented at a forthcoming conference in Edinburgh.

Google simulates the human brain with 1000 machines, 16000 cores and a love of cats originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Paws for Pets: Bubbles | WTVR.com ? Richmond News & Weather ...

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Experts say 32-pound Mo. girl faces long recovery

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? A severely malnourished 10-year-old Kansas City girl who was found locked in a closet remained hospitalized Monday and likely faces an extended recovery after an initial "failure to thrive" diagnosis, experts said.

Police found the 32-pound girl Friday after responding to a call from a child abuse hotline. She was taken to Children's Mercy Hospital on Friday and remained there Monday, said Mike Mansur, spokesman for the Jackson County prosecutor's office. He said the child's condition hasn't been released.

"The next few months of her life are going to be pretty critical to her recovery," said Ann Thomas, a vice president at The Children's Place, a Kansas City nonprofit that is not involved in this case but treats young children who have experienced trauma.

The child's 29-year-old mother appeared in Jackson County court Monday. She was shackled at the wrists and quietly listened as a judge read the felony charges against her ? assault, child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. The judge also entered a not guilty plea for the woman, who was ordered held on $200,000 cash bond. She requested a public defender for her next court appearance, scheduled for July 12.

The Associated Press is not naming the mother to protect the child's identity. The mother's two other children, ages 2 and 8, have also been placed in protective custody, Mansur said. Police also questioned the mother's boyfriend, but he has not been charged. Mansur said the investigation is ongoing.

A probable cause statement police filed Saturday when the mother was charged said she told police she didn't let the girl leave the house because the child is malnourished and she would "get in trouble if someone saw her."

Hospital personnel who saw the child Friday said she had been at the hospital in January 2006 for an unspecified visit and weighed 26 pounds then, according to the probable cause statement. They also told police the 10-year-old wears a 2T, or toddler size, T-shirt, and that the "current diagnosis is multiple healing skin injuries and failure to thrive."

Andre Riley, spokesman for Kansas City Public Schools, said Monday the child was enrolled as a kindergartner at Woodland Elementary School in 2006 and attended until April 2007.

"That's the last record we have of her," Riley said, adding that he couldn't comment further about the child's attendance record, whether school officials had raised concerns or where she might have attended school after spring 2007.

Rebecca Woelfel, spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Social Services, said in an email that the department could not comment on this specific case, but that DSS "strongly encourages anyone who suspects child abuse or neglect" to call the 24-hour hotline.

Dr. Doug Carlson, professor of pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis and director of hospital medicine at St. Louis Children's Hospital, said doctors are likely checking the child for various ailments, such as intestinal problems, that could have contributed to the diagnosis.

He said, however, a 6-pound weight gain should have pushed a parent to seek medical attention.

"There's no question that based on this child's size that a reasonable parent would have sought medical care," Carlson said.

It's unclear how much time the child, who turns 11 this summer, spent in the closet. In the probable cause statement, the child told police that her mother put her in the closet "a lot." She also said that she wasn't allowed to play outside when she was at home like her sisters, but could go to "the playground and park while she was at school."

The mother told police that she puts the 10-year-old in the closet when she leaves the house, securing the door with shoelaces and blocking it with a crib, according to the probable cause statement. She said she did that because her daughter had once gotten out and "eaten until her stomach got big and full."

Thomas said recovery would likely depend on what the 10-year-old's home life was actually like and how she perceived it.

"She's going to need people around her to help her begin to make sense of what's going on," Thomas said.

Associated Press

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SCREENWRITER'S POV: SCRIPT COMPETITIONS

I?d like to express my thanks to Breanne Mattson, Glenn Forbes, and Shawn Davis for sharing their script competition experiences. Now, without further ado?

Q: When did you start writing screenplays?

BREANNE: I wrote my first one almost ten years ago. It was terrible and I didn?t write another one for years. Six or seven years ago was really the beginning for me.

GLENN: I got serious about it in 2000.

SHAWN: Two years ago [in 2010].

Q: Approximately how many screenplays have you written?

BREANNE: I?m a very prolific writer. I?ve written around twenty features and probably more than twenty shorts. I guess some people would take that as a sign I should have succeeded by now, but seriously, I?m just prolific. I have a lot to say.

GLENN: I?ve written nine features. Not enough. I should have written at least twenty in that time. I run a small production company, and also had three kids in the last decade. I don?t get as much time for writing as I used to.

SHAWN: Fifteen.

Q: Which screenwriting competitions(s) have you entered?

BREANNE: The Nicholl Fellowships, TrackingB, Bluecat, Final Draft, Big Break. I really only recently started entering contests. I entered a few others early on, but quit bothering for years. Ordinarily, I just do my own thing.

GLENN: Between 2002 (my first year of actively pursuing a career) and 2011 I?ve entered various screenplays in almost all the major screenwriting contests. This includes: Austin, PAGE, The Nicholl Fellowships, Bluecat, Scriptapalooza, TrackingB, Final Draft, and a whole bunch of the smaller competitions as well. In the early days I used to enter between five and ten contests per year. So I guess I?ve probably entered nearly one hundred competitions.

SHAWN: I?ve entered my scripts in the PAGE Awards and the KAIROS Prize competition.

Q: How many screenplays had you written prior to entering your first competition?

BREANNE: I?m not sure. I can?t remember the first competition I entered. I quickly realized it was too early and stopped. If I had to guess, I?d say two or three.

GLENN: I began entering feature screenplay competitions after finishing my third screenplay in 2002. But I entered a short script in several short script competitions the previous year and had won a few awards for it. So, it was then I though I'd up my game and see how well I would compete at the feature level.

SHAWN: Just one. It was a terrible script, but I did learn a lot from it.

Q: If you sent one of your first script attempts to a competition, is it something you regret?

BREANNE: Yes. It was a waste of everyone?s time. Not just mine, but the readers. I wasn?t ready and I was too na?ve to know it.

GLENN: I never sent my first script out to competitions. And I'm very glad I didn't.

SHAWN: I think there is always something you regret after hitting the ?send? button. My first competition, I sent the wrong draft but they were kind enough to allow me to resend the copy I intended on sending.

Q: Did you receive any type of feedback on the script(s) you entered?

GLENN: Some contests came with feedback. For the most part, the feedback was simple and not very helpful.

SHAWN: No, but the contest I entered only offered feedback if I paid an additional fee.

Q: Did the competition(s) try to hit you up for any pay-based services, such as script consulting, proofing, representation, etc.?

BREANNE: I only remember one that offered feedback with a special rate. Other than that one instance, I?ve never paid for anything other than the entry fee. And I wouldn?t say they hit me up. It was just something they offered at a time I wanted some feedback.

GLENN: Some of them charge extra money to provide feedback. It?s an option when you enter. But I wouldn?t say I was ever ?hit up? to purchase a service.

SHAWN: PAGE Awards does, but The KAIROS Prize did not.

Q: If yes to my previous question, did you take advantage of any of these services? Or do you feel like you were the one being taken advantage of?

BREANNE: I paid extra for feedback that one time. It was cheap and I thought it was pretty good, actually.

GLENN: One time I requested feedback from a screenplay competition that was held concurrently with a major film festival. The reader hated the script. He vilified it and me. That same script, with not one word changed, won the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition. From that point on, I was pretty well soured to getting any decent feedback through a festival. Not that they?re all bad?but some of them have readers who are not qualified to give insightful feedback. I?d rather pay a little money to a professional with credentials, to get proper feedback.

Q: If you won, or even placed high in a competition, did it have any positive effect on your budding career?

BREANNE: Well, I?ve never landed a rep or sold a script. If that?s the bar, then no. It led to people contacting me about my work. Mostly, it was validating.

GLENN: Winning at Austin nudged me in the right direction and opened many doors. It got me lots of meetings and an open door policy with a few of the majors.

SHAWN: I placed in the top 10% in the KAIROS Prize, which was a great shot to my writing arm. I wrote that script specifically for that competition. I?ve quarter-finaled in The PAGE Awards both times I entered. So far as getting a bump in my career, I can?t say I have, but it gives me a feeling that if I continue to improve and work hard, I should see myself work further up the winnings ladder and possibly into a top slot where your script is truly at a level for producers to want to look at.

Q: Whether or not you won, what are some of the positive aspects of the competition(s) you entered?

BREANNE: If you don?t place in some way, I?m not sure there are any. I mean, it?s exciting to anticipate the possibilities. You enter because you think you?ve got something. You can imagine winning, getting attention, selling a script, getting a movie made. Success! But that?s all really just in the writer?s mind. It?s fun to think of where it could all lead. I?ve been fortunate enough to place in some big ones. If you place, it?s validating. It gives you something else to promote yourself with. And it may help make some new contacts. If you don?t place, the only positive thing I can see about it is whatever you may have learned from the experience.

GLENN: The prizes are always great?but the real value is having your work validated against your peers. If you know how well you fare against other budding screenwriters you get a better feel for how much harder you have to work, to break in as a working screenwriter.

SHAWN: It first of all, gives you something to look forward to. You know, the first round cuts? It?s exciting to see your name on the list of writers moving to the next tier. It also gives you a deadline for the completion of a script. When I write a script for a contest, I know in the back of my mind there is a time limit. Being able to write a script based on the parameters of the contest, along with the challenge of pushing yourself to write something from scratch, for a specific genre. It?s very satisfying.

Q: What do you feel are the negative aspects, if any, of entering a competition?

BREANNE: They cost money. That?s probably the worst thing. That?s why I stick to major competitions like Nicholl. They charge less and offer more. You could say competitions give false hope or whatever, but I really think that?s up to the individual. I don?t have any illusions. For me, it?s a matter of seeing if my writing stands out. If there?s some way I can use the distinction to further my career, I will. I look for competitions I think may help me make contacts. I don?t need new software. Those kinds of prizes don?t attract me. If you don?t place, then it was really just a game. It might have been fun, but it didn?t really serve your aspirations.

GLENN: The unreliability of them to judge your script on an equal playing field. You can win one major competition and not even advance at all in another major competition. The script doesn?t change, just the readers. So, not all readers respond to the same material. The crapshoot aspect is the worst part of entering contests.

SHAWN: Separating a good one from a bad one. There are hundreds of competitions out there now and many are not worth a dime, much less an entry fee. I think that?s why the really good ones are separating from the pack and bringing in record numbers of entrants.

Q: Based on your experiences, would you recommend screenwriting competitions as a way for budding screenwriters to further their career?

BREANNE: I don?t know how much they improve your chances of scoring a sale, but I think they could help. For me, placing in a respectable competition is just a way to show that someone read my work and thought it was good. If you?re looking at two writers and the only difference you see is that one has placed in the Nicholl Fellowships, I?m inclined to think that one will be taken more seriously. But then, I think it depends on more factors than that. A great writer doesn?t always write a great script. Or a commercial one. A novice may lack execution, but may have an amazing idea. Generally, I think it helps to stand out in any way you can.

GLENN: They are one avenue to building a career. For a very select few, a win might jumpstart a career. For most people, winning or placing highly is simply something you can mention in your query letter that elevates you from the next writer. Competitions, networking, querying, working in the business, etc?.most people need to do all of them simultaneously, to nudge their career forward. And I do mean nudge. Very few people skyrocket to success on one script, or one contest win. It?s the cumulative effect of working every possible angle to get your name out there, while constantly writing better and better material.

SHAWN: Yes! But you need to be a bit thick-skinned about rejection and realize there are many really good writers out there intent on winning that money.

Q: What is the largest prize?monetary or otherwise?you've ever won from one of these competitions?

BREANNE: I?ve never won any prize.

GLENN: At Austin, I won $5000 and a killer bronze typewriter trophy. The CFC gave me about $14,000 in donated services, to get the movie made. Which we did.

SHAWN: None, to date.

Q: What other types of prizes (non-monetary) have you won from these competitions?

BREANNE: Nothing other than the distinction of placing, which I like. I find it somewhat valuable. It does attract some people to my work who might otherwise have overlooked me.

GLENN: Things like free listings on Inktip, or Sell-a-Script. Free Final Draft Software. Magazine subscriptions.

SHAWN: None, to date

Q: Other than any material rewards, what have been the most satisfying aspects of winning a screenwriting competition?

BREANNE: The best thing I?ve ever gotten through a contest is contacts, which I actually consider more valuable than any prize. And I learned a lot, as a result. Maybe I?m crazy, but I really do just want to be a great writer.

GLENN: Walking around Austin carrying a twenty-pound Bronze Typewriter trophy and having execs from places like CAA, Gersh, and Ivan Reitman?s company run over to talk to me was pretty cool. Really, getting calls after the festival is awesome. When someone recognizes that you won and they want to talk to you, they want you to come out to LA and meet you to talk about what?s next?that?s the best feeling.

Q: Overall, do you feel it?s worth the time, effort and money to enter a screenwriting competition?

BREANNE: I think it can really help if you win or place highly in a major one like Nicholl. It certainly isn?t something you should depend on. The statistics make it clear that most writers will fail, whether they enter a competition, or not. I really can?t say it was worth it, unless it leads to a movie.GLENN: Yes. But really only the top few?which I consider to be The Nicholl Fellowships, Austin, PAGE, and TrackingB. The career goal should be to become a working screenwriter that sees their movie made?not a contest junkie who is just out to pad their resume, or their query letter. Usually only the top contests help to nudge your career forward in any meaningful way. There are always exceptions?but you should always strive to measure yourself against the best. And those competitions are the best, attracting the best writers.

SHAWN: I do feel it is worth the time, effort and money. Contests offer a unique opportunity for a writer to be thrown in with other writers and (in most cases) during the process, the cream rises to the top. If you do final, or even win, then you know that your work blindly beat out other writers, due to the anonymity of the judging and with the removal of the writers name from the script. For the most part, the best script wins based on its merits. And if you don't place, it's not so much a letdown, because you know many others went down with you.

Q: OK, let?s say you?ve just won one of the big screenwriting competitions. What can a writer expect to happen?

BREANNE: Well, I haven?t won a big one so I don?t know. I can tell you what I would do, though. I would focus on the contacts. I would take advantage of any open doors while they were open.

GLENN: I can only speak about what happened to me. When I won Austin I had a few big name producers, [Directors of Development] and agencies approach me at the awards ceremony. They all wanted to know about my script and requested a copy. I had an extra copy or two with me and was able to hand them over immediately. The others were sent copies as soon as I got back from the festival. I had a few more inquiries by email and phone within the next few weeks as well. I also sent out a ton of queries which generated a lot more reads. About six weeks after the festival, I went to LA and had follow-up meetings with the companies that read the script. And beyond that initial six week blitz?.I really felt like I could milk that win for the next six months or so. People were far more willing to talk to me than they ever were before that win.

SHAWN: It depends on the competition. Some only offer cash prizes; others combine money and product such as writing software, while yet other contests will guarantee your script will make its way into a certain group?s hands.

Q: Of the competitions you?ve entered, which do you feel was the most worthwhile?

BREANNE: The Nicholl Fellowships. TrackingB was a good experience, but the Nicholl carries with it the prestige of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Inside and out of the industry, everyone knows about the Academy.GLENN: Austin?obviously. It opened doors to high level companies and agencies. But by placing highly at both PAGE and Nicholl, I can also say that they generate a lot of script read requests as well.

SHAWN: The KAIRO PRIZE for sure. It?s a contest for spiritually uplifting scripts. It?s also a very difficult genre to write. In an age where the ?F? bomb is almost a foregone conclusion in a script, the KAIROS Prize has to be clean, wholesome and uplifting. That type of writing is harder than you think. You place there and you feel like you?ve done something.

Q: True or false (and please explain why): ?Entering a no-name competition is a waste of time.?

BREANNE: I hate to call something a waste of time, especially if there?s something valuable to be learned from it, but yeah, I would have to say that?s essentially true. I mean, is placing in a no-name competition going to impress anyone? Probably not. But I also think it?s important to try and stay on the cutting edge. If a no-name contest looks like it might go somewhere in the future, that may be something to consider. I wish I could have entered the Nicholl when there were around two thousand entries, you know.

GLENN: True. Nobody cares about them except you, the writer. But if you can place highly, or win at one of the top competitions?that?s a feather in your cap. It means you are among the best in the minor leagues.

SHAWN: False, they are all no-name contests at first. The cream does rise (or fall) fast though. Word gets around quick, if all you?re doing is working the numbers for profit alone. It?s the contest that posts results on the deadline stated, that responds to emails from entrants, that keeps their website updated, that rises. Many of them don?t and fall by the side quickly.

Q: If you had to enter just one or two screenwriting competitions, which would you enter?

BREANNE: The Nicholl Fellowships and TrackingB.

GLENN: Always enter the Nicholl Fellowships. It?s the most prestigious. I?d follow it up with Austin?especially because the screenwriter?s conference at Austin is amazing. What a great learning and networking experience.

SHAWN: Right now, these are the only two I enter?PAGE and KAIROS.

Q: While you were actively submitting screenplays to competitions, were you also querying agents, managers and/or production companies?

BREANNE: I?m not big into querying. I seldom do it. I?m sure it?s hurt me. They say you have to be ?good in a room.? I?ve always been a misfit. That?s probably the main reason I haven?t succeeded. I?m reclusive and socially awkward. I used to query more often. I had a script optioned in Hollywood for a year and a half, as a direct result of querying. The script languished in development until the rights reverted back to me. Since that time, I?ve gotten into producing and directing independently. Since I started making my own films, I almost never query. In the last few years, almost all of my correspondences with people in Hollywood have been initiated by them. And that has been the direct result of doing well in the Nicholl Fellowships and TrackingB. I?m a pretty good writer and filmmaker, but terrible ?in the room.? If I?m in a crew meeting or a rehearsal, as long as I?m working on how we?re going to make a film, I?m into that. I?m focused. I?m right there. If I have to schmooze, or whatever, I?m out of my element. Besides, the great thing about writing is that you don?t just have your whole life to succeed at it, you?ve got the whole time you?re dead, too.

GLENN: Yes. But as I realized that my script was moving up in the competition, I stopped querying. I was waiting to see how far I would get and then would use that in my query letter, to hopefully generate more reads. And it worked.

SHAWN: No, but that is something I intend to get more involved with this year. The last two years have been more devoted to working on my writing so that someday, I might have something to offer. I have a script or two right now nicely polished and (I think) ready to be seen.

Q: If so, what type of responses were you getting, if any?

GLENN: I find I?m lucky if I get a one in ten response for any script I?ve written, via a cold query. I figure 50% of my queries were probably never opened. Another 25% were probably opened by some intern who was instructed to delete 95% of those. So, when you think about it?.One in ten is a fair response rate. But when I began mentioning the Austin win in my query letter, my request rate was much higher. Probably close to 40%.

Q: Do you feel that adding "I won the [whichever script comp you won or placed high in]" to your query letters and/or telephone pitches engendered any additional interest from the agents, managers and/or production companies you queried?

BREANNE: Yes. If the logline had been crap, I guess it wouldn?t have mattered. If you?ve got a compelling logline, I think a contest placement or win will excite people a little more. I think people naturally want to check out a script that?s won a competition. I also think it depends on what people are looking for. If someone wants a contained thriller and your script has an earthquake causing a metropolitan city to crumble into the sea, it probably won?t matter if you won a competition.

GLENN: Absolutely. As long as it?s one of the few competitions that the industry is aware of, and respects.

SHAWN: I don?t think it would hurt. Winning or even placing does show that you may have some talent and that the script which you are pitching has been rated (at least in a competition) as one of the better scripts around.

Q: What is your current status as a screenwriter?

BREANNE: Unsold. Well, I?ve sold some stuff independently, but I haven?t earned enough to disqualify me from the Nicholl Fellowships. I also direct now. Just shorts so far, but I?m planning my first feature.

GLENN: I?ve written nine features. Three of them are under option, currently. I?ve had a couple of assignments?page one rewrites, polishes, etc. All in all, I?ve optioned my Austin winner four times, to different producers who were not able to get it set up. I?m still writing, primarily low-budget thrillers and the occasional comedy. Next up, a low-budget thriller, that I?ll direct myself.

SHAWN: Active! I write seven days a week. Even if I sit at my computer for two hours and punch out one sentence, I force myself to set there until I do.

Q: Any parting comments, thoughts, or words of advice?

BREANNE: I?m hesitant to give advice to other writers, because I don?t want to steer anyone in the wrong direction. Screenwriters have been advised again and again to write regularly and read lots of scripts. I think that?s about the best advice you can get. The best advice I can personally offer is to be yourself. Your uniqueness is the only thing you really have to separate yourself. No matter how much you may hide it in your everyday life, you shouldn?t hold back in your writing. You shouldn?t be afraid to be vulnerable. No one ever achieved greatness by being exactly like everyone else.

GLENN: Contests are a means to an end. Use them to gauge how much harder you have to work to break through to the next level?that of a working screenwriter. The prizes and the glory of winning will always fade over time. Keep your eye on the real prize?working hard, improving your abilities, and writing great material that people will want to turn into a movie.

SHAWN: Although not having won the top prize yet in a competition, placing also has a thrill to it that helps to solidify a script that managed to beat out most in its genre. I do hope someday to take top spot, but what placing tells me is that I?m a good enough writer to be considered, but I also still have a ways to go.

* * *

If you like interviews with screenwriters, you?ll love my book Q&A: The Working Screenwriter?An In-the-Trenches Perspective of Writing Movies in Today?s Film Industry.

Join Katherine Fugate (Carolina, The Prince and Me, TV?s Army Wives), Brent Maddock (Tremors, The Wild Wild West, Short Circuit), John Rogers (The Core), David J. Schow (The Crow, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3), Neal Marshall Stevens (Thirteen Ghosts), Stephen Susco (The Grudge, The Grudge 2) and 10 other talented wordsmiths as they give first-hand insight into why they write, what keeps them motivated, how they got their scripts written?and ultimately optioned and/or sold. These writers impart a wealth of real-world experience that will truly inspire and encourage any budding screenwriter and help position them firmly on the road to becoming...a working screenwriter

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Chemical problem at pool sends dozens to hospital

By NBC New and News Services

INDIANAPOLIS -- Dozens of people at a crowded public swimming pool were sickened Thursday by an excessive amount of a water-purifying chemical in the pool, authorities said.?

The Garfield Aquatics Center was evacuated after a reported chemical spill.?

The chlorine-based purifying chemical, called "Magic Acid," caused nausea, coughing and watery eyes among the swimmers, many of them children, and 71 people were taken to hospitals, Todd Harper of the Indianapolis Emergency Services said.?

Twenty-one were taken by ambulance and another 50 by bus, NBC station WTHR reported.?

---

All were listed in fair condition, and none of the injuries were considered life-threatening, he said.

It's believed the chemicals were dumped into the water around 2 p.m.?

Marc Lotter, a spokesman for the mayor's office, said the incident was caused by a chemical imbalance in the pool. WTHR reported it's believed that a muriatic acid product reacted with a chlorine-like substance to treat the pool.?Officials are investigating whether or not a worker mixed the chemicals incorrectly.

The incident closed the center for the rest of the day.

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FX orders "Bronx Warrants" from "Rescue Me" producers

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Rove super PAC posts $4.6M in donations in May

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OZRIC TENTACLES Waterfall Cities music review by - Progarchives

The Cosmic Wonder of the Ozrics.

Ozric Tentacles are trippy psych instrumental wizards that dominate the acid fuelled 90s musical landscape with some of the most outlandish compositions. This release, their 13th studio album continues to explore and experiment with a diversity of musical styles founded in Eastern mystical flavours and techno rave heartbeat rhythms. The time signatures are off the map driven by mindbending bass and speed percussion. The band consist of Ed Wynne a legend on guitars, synths, and tendril manipulations; Seaweed on synths, whoopz, fizzles; Zia Geelani on bass, snapiness; John Egan on flutes, twirlings; and Rad on drum poundings.

A highlight of the album is the jumpy 'Coily' with blitzkrieg explosions of flute and mesmirising percussive shapes. It bounces all over the place leading to the flute solo and Oriental guitar hyper picking. The techno synths pounce in later and are joined by spacey guitar phrases.

'Xingu' opens with a phased fuzz guitar that blazes brightly and then a percussive figure locks in with swirls of keyboard and an Eastern theme. The sax sound that chimes in later is a dreamscape of ambience.

'Waterfall City' is a lengthy piece featuring pulsating synths that hook into an unusual pattern and are followed up with guitar embellishments. Droplets of synth fall on the palette of sequenced synths and then a transcendent lead guitar breaks through. This is more bordering on extreme electro rave dance music with a heavy serrated edge. The lead work is astonishing, almost improvised and the sound breaks into a dreamier ambience with those lightning fast drums keeping time.

'Ch'ai?' has an Arabic flavour with sounds of harp and odd instrumentation made on a synth. Agreeable tech bass and drums come in later and a higher pitch on the main theme. The lead break is killer and some of the best work from Ed Wynne.

'Spiralmind' is a spaced out piece with synth swells, chunky funkadelic bass and sporadic percussion. Beginning as melodic trance music, this literally spirals wildly out of control, with drum outbursts, lashings of guitar picking and a dollop of melting synth for good measure. The silver threads of ambience are overshadowed by un-restrained lead guitar squeals and pipes of pan synth. It is absorbing and tight musical dexterity, and must rate highly in the catalogue of the Ozric's extensive oeuvre.

'Sultana Detrii' is a symphonic piece drenched with synths and a steady beat. The feel is akin to Reggae but more relaxed with a ton of flute and the sounds of nature. The reverberation of guitar is effective and the spacious synths that flow lucidly. This is one of the beautiful passages of music on this release. 'Aura Borealis' has an odd time signature with soft drums glazed over with celestial synths and ribbons of spacey effects generating an interstellar atmosphere. If I were to watch an Aura Borealis this music should fit perfectly. It is uplifting and filled with cosmic wonder.

The album is a prime example of the psychedelic power and spaced up experimentalism of Ozric Tentacles. It would be followed up by at least 6 more albums and of course the underground following would continue and grow. The band are definitely one of the more accomplished in terms of instrumental modern psychedelica and mesmirising space rock.

AtomicCrimsonRush | 4/5 | 2012-6-20

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Dottie Sandusky breaks silence about husband

Dorothy Sandusky, wife of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, arrives at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa., Tuesday, June 19, 2012. Jerry Sandusky is charged with 51 counts of child sexual abuse involving 10 boys over a period of 15 years. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Dorothy Sandusky, wife of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, arrives at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa., Tuesday, June 19, 2012. Jerry Sandusky is charged with 51 counts of child sexual abuse involving 10 boys over a period of 15 years. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Dorothy Sandusky, wife of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, arrives at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa., Tuesday, June 19, 2012. Jerry Sandusky is charged with 51 counts of child sexual abuse involving 10 boys over a period of 15 years. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

She's been a constant, if silent, presence by Jerry Sandusky's side.

Dottie Sandusky had not spoken publicly in more than six months until taking the witness stand Tuesday in her husband's child sex-abuse trial.

Critics say she also stood quietly by while Sandusky ? the once-revered Penn State assistant football coach ? molested boys in the basement of their State College home. They say she must have known, or at least suspected, and looked the other way out of allegiance to the man with whom she'd spent decades of her life and adopted six children.

In fact, sex offenders are typically adept at concealing their proclivities, even from those closest to them, and spouses are often in the dark about what's going on in the bedroom down the hall, according to experts in child sexual abuse.

"None of this stuff that happens to kids ever happens in the public arena. It always has to happen in the context of secrecy. It has to happen out of sight. The intent on the part of the perpetrator obviously is not to get caught," said Dr. Martin Finkel, a pediatrician with 30 years of experience treating abused children.

Jerry Sandusky, 68, is charged with 51 counts of abuse involving 10 accusers. Prosecutors say he met his victims through the charity he and his wife founded, groomed them, and sexually abused them in motels, in his home and in the Penn State football building. He denies all the charges, and his attorney suggests the accusers are making up stories in hopes of a civil case jackpot.

Until Tuesday, Dottie Sandusky, gray-haired and bespectacled at 69, had been largely invisible throughout her husband's trial, sequestered from the central Pennsylvania courtroom because of her status as a defense witness.

In her first public remarks since a December statement in which she proclaimed her husband's innocence, Dottie Sandusky told jurors Tuesday that she never saw him engage in inappropriate behavior with the boys who often stayed overnight at their house.

The most devastating courtroom account in which she was mentioned came from the accuser known as Victim 9, who estimated he spent 100 nights in the basement of the Sandusky home, even taking his meals there.

The witness, now 18, told jurors his abuse began with fondling and forced oral sex and led to several instances of rape in the basement. On one occasion, he said, he screamed for help, knowing that Dottie Sandusky was somewhere in the house. But no one came.

Sandusky denied the man's allegation. She testified that the basement where Victim 9 stayed wasn't soundproof, and that her hearing is "pretty good. I hear lots of noises."

She rebutted another victim's claim that Sandusky tried to engage in oral sex with him while in a hotel bathroom at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. The man said the assault was interrupted when Dottie Sandusky walked into an adjoining room. But Sandusky said they were both fully clothed ? and arguing about the accuser's attendance at a luncheon.

She also told jurors about her life with Jerry Sandusky, how he worked long hours while devoting his life to The Second Mile, the charity for troubled youths where prosecutors say he found his victims.

Her testimony could help cast doubt on accusers' claims about assaults in the home, while presenting "a more favorable image of Sandusky as someone attracted to his wife, as someone who had a genuine care and interest in children, and to portray more elements of Sandusky's life than the jury has heard," Paul DerOhannesian, a defense attorney from Albany, N.Y., who has been following the case, said ahead of her appearance.

The former Dorothy Gross, originally from Chattanooga, Tenn., met her husband-to-be in his hometown of Washington, Pa. They married in 1966.

Unable to have children of their own, the Sanduskys decided to adopt. Dottie ran the home and cared for the children while Jerry kept the grueling schedule of a big-time college coach.

"I'm strict, and I like for things to run a certain way," she testified Tuesday. "And we expect a lot of our kids."

Her husband wrote in his 2001 autobiography "Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story" that "Dottie has always been there to look after (the children) when I was away, and usually from the minute I was back in town, I became another big kid for her to supervise as well."

Dottie Sandusky bailed her husband out of jail after his arrest, posting $50,000 cash and using their $200,000 home as collateral for the rest.

While she has denied any knowledge of abuse and says her husband never hurt a child, some spouses do harbor suspicions, said Finkel, the pediatrician. But they cast them aside because they are invested in the marriage and unwilling to believe their partner capable of so heinous an act. Or they fear public humiliation and the loss of financial security.

"Denial is a very powerful thing," said Finkel, co-director of the CARES Institute at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey.

Lisa Friel, vice president of T&M Protection Resources LLC and former chief of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan district attorney's office, agreed with Finkel that spouses are most often in the dark about their offending spouses ? but that sometimes they are enablers.

Friel said she has spoken with plenty of victims who don't understand how their mothers could not have known about abuse in their own homes.

"They certainly think that Mom, because of her own weaknesses, did not protect them," said Friel, who consults schools and businesses on sexual misconduct issues. "You can say that for Dottie Sandusky, too. If she didn't see it, couldn't take it in, didn't believe it, in the end she didn't protect these kids ? all of the children who were in their home."

Associated Press

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Analysis: No light at end of Egyptian tunnel for Israel

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Egypt's political upheaval is by no means over, but its uneasy neighbor Israel is not waiting for the outcome. Desert defenses are being strengthened and strategy revised as a once stable relationship splinters.

Shortly after the Muslim Brotherhood claimed victory in Egypt's presidential vote on Monday, unidentified gunmen crossed the Sinai border and killed an Israeli worker. {ID:nL5E8HI0LA]

There was no suggestion the two events were linked, but the violence underscores how security in the Sinai Peninsula has deteriorated since the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, with no hope of any swift solution while Cairo remains convulsed by political uncertainty.

"What is going on along the southern border worries me ... and the ideology of political Islam in Egypt worries me, so I need to sleep with one eye open," said Ilan Mizrahi, a former Israeli national security adviser and ex-deputy head of Mossad.

Israel faces a dilemma of major strategic consequences.

Its 33-year peace with Egypt has been a cornerstone of regional stability and an economic boon for both countries, thanks in part to generous U.S. aid.

No one expects Cairo to bin the peace accord any time soon, even if the Muslim Brotherhood, which is traditionally hostile to the Jewish State, does manage to consolidate power in the face of an Egyptian military out to conserve its own authority.

A demilitarized Sinai is the keystone of the peace. But for the past year there has been growing lawlessness in the vast desert expanse, as Bedouin bandits, jihadists and Palestinian militants from next-door Gaza fill the vacuum, tearing at already frayed relations between Egypt and Israel.

"We need to be sensitive about what is going on in Cairo and try to make Egypt understand that this needs to be stopped," said Mizrahi in a telephone interview.

"If nothing happens, then I expect my country to react as we know how to react and stop these attacks on our civilians," he added, suggesting that if needs be, Israel should cross the border to track down its enemies.

Such a move would mark a dangerous turning point in an already inflammatory region.

GROWING FRUSTRATION

Israel has remained largely silent as Egypt has struggled in the difficult transition from de-facto dictatorship to democracy, via revolution and growing Islamization. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered ministers not to talk in public about the situation for fear of exacerbating tensions.

But there are signs of growing public frustration in Israel.

Last August, eight Israelis died in a cross-border attack blamed on Palestinian militants from the nearby Gaza Strip. Earlier this week, Israel said two grad rockets that hit its territory were fired out of Sinai - a charge Egypt denied.

The worsening security in the south has come at a time of increased tensions in the north, tied to the 15-months-long Syrian crisis, and continuous, low-level warfare in Gaza.

A cartoon in left-leaning Haaertz newspaper on Tuesday showed Netanyahu crouching in a ditch alongside Defence Minister Ehud Barak as rockets fly in from Egypt. "Just make sure you don't upset the Egyptians," the prime minister says.

Israeli officials have so far ruled out direct intervention in the Sinai and have instead urged Egypt to resolve the problem by itself, letting its military dispatch more troops to the peninsula than allowed for by their historic, 1979 peace treaty.

At the same time, Israel is speeding up construction of a 5-metre (16-foot) high barrier that will run most of the 266 km (165 miles) from Eilat on the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba up to the Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean.

"We are in a race against the clock to close the border," said Gaza Division Southern Brigade Commander Tal Harmoni following Monday's attack, in which the Israeli army shot dead at least two of the militants before they could return to Egypt.

But as the Israelis have discovered in Gaza, a fence does not keep out rockets or missiles. So unless it opts for direct intervention, it will have to depend on Egyptian intervention.

APPROVING MILITARY MANOEUVRES

The Israeli government has remained in close contact with the Egyptian security apparatus since the downfall of Mubarak and officials, speaking off the record, say relations with the generals in Cairo remain essentially good.

Certainly there was no murmuring from Israel this week when Egypt's military announced it would drastically limit the remit of the new president - most probably Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy.

By contrast, Washington said it was "deeply concerned" by this and asked the army to transfer full power to an elected civilian government as previously promised.

"All in all, the play that was put in motion by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces against Morsy isn????'?????t bad for us," the leading Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said on Tuesday.

But an analysis in the same paper warned of bad times ahead. "It isn????'?????t the same Egypt, it isn????'?????t the same border, the peace accords are on their deathbed and we had better change our operating manual," wrote prominent columnist Alex Fishman.

One of Mubarak's greatest services to Israel was the role he played in containing the Islamist Hamas movement, which rejects Israel's right to exist and has close ties to the Brotherhood, limiting its access to weapons and hemming in its leadership.

Israel believes an empowered Brotherhood will reverse that policy, creating instant friction between the erstwhile allies.

"The announcement of the official presidential results will not mark the end of the turmoil in Egypt and will not bring us any relief. We are going to have a very long hot summer," said Israel's former ambassador to Egypt, Eli Shaked.

(Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Skype me? Indeed | Text of Ethiopia's draft Telecom Law ...

Skype me? Indeed! | Text of Ethiopia?s draft Telecom?Law

Posted by Daniel Berhane on Sunday, June 17, 2012 @ 6:16 pm ? 11 Comments?

The world wide web was awash with news reports of alleged ban of VOIP services by Ethiopians in the past week.

One of those was Al-Jazeera?s news brief that stated:

A new law in Ethiopia has criminalized the use of VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) services such as Skype. Users could face up to 15 years of jail time. The law was passed May 24th, but the story wasn?t picked up by international media until recently.

The story was erroneous, however.

To begin with, the said ?legislation? ? A Proclamation on Telecom Fraud Offences ? is only a draft and only passed the first reading stage of the legislative process to date in. This stage hardly deals with contents of a draft legislation.

Secondly, the closest thing to a prohibition of Skype in this draft law is found in Article 10 sub-article (3) and (4) that states:

Article 10(3) ? Whosoever provides Telephone call or fax services through the internet commits an offence and shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment from 3 to 8 years and with fine equal to five times the revenue estimated to have been earned by him during the period of time he provided the service.

Article 10(4) ? Whosoever intentionally or by negligence obtains the service stipulated under sub-article (3) of this article commits an offence and shall be punishable with imprisonment from 3 months to 3 years and? with fine from Birr 2,500 to Birr 20,000.

I tell you, with my lawyer hats on, that these two articles concern a business entity providing telephone call (to a landline or mobile phone) and fax services using the internet. And, also, individuals using that business service.

A related noteworthy thing is that there is a 2002 legislation stating: ?The use or provision of voice communication or fax services through the internet are prohibited?.

I consider that legislation as prohibiting PC to PC communications even between private users via Skype, Google-Talk and the like. (as indicated in a previous post 6 months ago (here)). However, others argue that it concerns only calls made to a telephone line.

Either way, there has been no reports of prosecutions based on that legislation to date. In fact, internet cafes in the Capital provide these services. Though, several businesses providing international calls using various technologies, unauthorized by Ethio Telecom, have faced closure and criminal charges in the past decade.??

On top of that, the phrasing of the current draft law is narrower than that of the 2002. This can not be accidental.

At any rate, I say: A law banning the personal use of Skype would be as frivolous as a jaywalking law. So, Skype me? Indeed!

That is assuming I will manage to download Skype ? which is blocked ? and be able to afford the high tariff charged by Ethio Telecom. Not to forget, the poor connection that makes Skype-ing no better than e-mail correspondence.

Of course, the legislation has other concerning elements; such as, possession of Telecommunication equipment, including software and accessories, without permit ? other than those ?types of Telecommunication equipment? exempted by the list to be drawn by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. There is also a vague provision on ?Offences related to interception and access?.

It is expected these and other provisions to be clarified and/or modified by the parliamentary Standing Committee currently reviewing the draft legislation. A thorough discussion will be provided in this blog based of the version of the draft legislation that the Committee releases for public deliberation (or before that if it fails to do in a few weeks time).

Deferring a thorough review of the draft law, until the parliamentary committee releases an official version of the draft, is prudent, as the draft legislation was apparently a few weeks work ? following Ethio-Telecom?s recent petition to the Ministry of Justice for a stronger measure against telecom frauds. Well, unless it could be shown that Ethio-Telecom?s petition was a Trojan Horse to push a harsh legislation long in the making. It is also likely that it was rushed in the hope of tabling it before the parliament recesses for about three months around July 6. Moreover, most of the things punishable under the draft legislation has already been so in prior laws.

Though the media rush to make unverified claims, which is obviously based on remarks from some local politicians/activists, is disturbing, it is the Ethiopian government?s inability and unwillingness to provide info mainly to be blamed. Strangely, officials in Addis were as informed as the guy on the street regarding the matter in the past week.

* To download the draft legislation ? A Proclamation on Telecom Fraud Offences Law ? (sealed by the Prime Minister?s office) click here [PDF | Size: 653 kb]

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Check the Human Rights archive for related posts.

Filed under Ethio Telecom, Ethiopia, featured, Human Rights, Media, News, Politics, Reality-Check ? Tagged with draft Proclamation on Telecom Fraud Offences, Ethio Telecom, freedom of expression, parliament, VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol)

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