Seven things to love about the Washington School House Hotel in Park City, Utah

The Washington School House Hotel in Park City, Utah, is the closet thing to a perfect hotel that you are likely to find. It is easy to see why gay folk are fond of the property. It very much has a resort feel, complete with a heated pool, patio and spa out back.

The hotel also offers the best of both worlds. You are just steps from the heart of downtown but yet you are on a hill above the street so you won't be bothered by overly enthusiastic celebrants during big events.

With a total of 12, rooms, this boutique hotel has room sizes that range from a standard sized room to a spacious two-bedroom suite.

A word of caution, if you want a room during the busy winter ski season, be sure to book well in advance. Those 12 rooms fill fast. Also, as with all hotels in Park City, expect to pay more during the busy times. If you want a deal, check out the so-called shoulder seasons in the spring and fall, before and after ski season. The summers are sometimes busy with tourists from Salt Lake City and beyond.

The hotel's attention to detail would satisfy even the most finicky among us. The property is impeccably maintained and the staff is very friendly and efficient.

Park City is incredibly easy to navigate and you don't need a car. Free buses go to the surrounding ski resorts and the hotel provides a free car service to take you where every you want to go in the surrounding area.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/list/seven-things-to-love-about-the-washington-school-house-hotel-park-city-utah?cid=rss

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TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition Review: Math in Color!

The new TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition isn't the first color-screen graphing calculator. It isn't even TI's first color graphing calculator, a distinction claimed by the TI-Nspire CX and its sibling the TI-Nspire CX CAS. However, the TI-84+CSE, as we're abbreviating it, is a major milestone in the 17-year-old TI-83 and TI-84 Plus family of calculators. Although it retains the look and feel of the TI-84 Plus operating system, and keeps the familiar case shape and key layout, the outstanding feature of the TI-84+CSE is a bright, glossy color LCD screen. No longer will math and programs need to squeeze into 96 by 64 monochrome pixels; the new screen is 320x240 and can display 65,000 different colors. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/jeylxtDWcJM/ti+84-plus-c-silver-edition-review-math-in-color

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Genetic study pursues elusive goal: How many humpbacks existed before whaling?

Feb. 13, 2013 ? Scientists from Stanford University, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History, and other organizations are closing in on the answer to an important conservation question: how many humpback whales once existed in the North Atlantic?

Building on previous genetic analyses to estimate the pre-whaling population of North Atlantic humpback whales, the research team has found that humpbacks used to exist in numbers of more than 100,000 individuals. The new, more accurate estimate is lower than previously calculated but still two to three times higher than pre-whaling estimates based on catch data from whaling records.

Known for its distinctively long pectoral fins, acrobatics, and haunting songs, the humpback whale occurs in all the world's oceans. Current estimates for humpback whale numbers are widely debated, but some have called for the level of their international protection to be dropped.

The study appears in the recently published edition of Conservation Genetics. The authors include: Kristen Ruegg and Stephen Palumbi of Stanford University; Howard C. Rosenbaum of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the American Museum of Natural History; Eric C. Anderson of the National Marine Fisheries Service and University of California-Santa Cruz; Marcia Engel of the Instituto Baleia Jubarte/Humpback Whale Institute, Brazil; Anna Rothschild of AMNH's Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics; and C. Scott Baker of Oregon State University.

"We're certain that humpback whales in the North Atlantic have significantly recovered from commercial whaling over the past several decades of protection, but without an accurate size estimate of the pre-whaling population, the threshold of recovery remains unknown," said Dr. Kristen Ruegg of Stanford University and the lead author of the study. "We now have a solid, genetically generated estimate upon which future work on this important issue can be based."

"Our current challenge is to explain the remaining discrepancy between the historical catch data and the population estimate generated by genetic analyses," said Dr. Howard Rosenbaum, study co-author and Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Ocean Giants Program. "The gap highlights the need for continued evaluations of whale populations, and presents new information informing the debate and challenges associated with recovery goals."

"We have spent a great deal of effort refining the techniques and approaches that give us this pre-whaling number," said Dr. Steve Palumbi of Stanford. "It's worth the trouble because genetic tools give one of the only glimpses into the past we have for whales."

Reaching some 50 feet in length, the humpback whale was hunted for centuries by commercial whaling fleets in all the world's oceans. Humpbacks had predictable migration routes and were reduced to several hundred whales in the North Atlantic. The global population was reduced by possibly 90 percent of its original size. The species received protection from the International Whaling Commission in North Atlantic waters in 1955 due to the severity of its decline.

Since that time, the humpback whales of the North Atlantic have made a remarkable comeback; experts estimate the current size of the North Atlantic's humpback whale population to be more than 17,000 animals. North Atlantic humpback whales are now one of the best-studied populations of great whales in the world and the mainstay of a multi-million dollar whale-watching industry.

But estimating the number of whales that existed prior to commercial whaling is a far more difficult problem, critical in determining when the total population has recovered. Historical catch data from the logs of whaling vessels suggest a population size between 20,000-46,000 whales, but the current genetic analysis indicates a much larger pre-whaling population. The results of the genetic analysis indicate that the North Atlantic once held between 45,000 -- 235,000 humpback whales (with an average estimate of 112,000 animals).

A previous study using the mitochondrial DNA of humpbacks in the North Atlantic suggested a higher pre-whaling population size; an average of 240,000 individuals. To increase the accuracy of the current analysis, the team measured nine segments in the DNA sequences throughout the genome (as opposed to just one DNA segment used in the previous study).

Palumbi, who participated in the first humpback genetic analysis, added: "The International Whaling Commission reviewed the results of the first study and recommended we improve the method in six specific ways. We've done that now and have the best-ever estimate of ancient humpback populations."

Scott Baker, Associate Director of Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute and a co-author said: "These genetic estimates greatly improve our understanding of the genetic diversity of humpback whales, something we need to understand the impact of past hunting and to manage whales in the uncertain future."

The research team analyzed genetic samples from whales in the North Atlantic as well as the Southern Hemisphere. Southern Atlantic whales were used to answer one of the six IWC questions: was there intermixing of whale populations across the equator? The samples were analyzed by sequencing specific regions of DNA in known genes. By comparing the genetic diversity of today's population to the genetic mutation rate, Ruegg and colleagues could estimate the long-term population size of humpbacks. They also showed no substantial migration of humpbacks whales across the Equator between the Southern and Northern Atlantic, and no movement from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

The team recently used the same techniques to estimate pre-whaling numbers for the Pacific gray whale and the Antarctic minke whale. A difference of two to three times also was recorded between the genetic and catch estimates for the grey whale population, but were exactly on target for the Antarctic minke whale, which has not been extensively hunted.

This work was supported by a grant from the Lenfest Ocean Program.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wildlife Conservation Society.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Kristen Ruegg, Howard C. Rosenbaum, Eric C. Anderson, Marcia Engel, Anna Rothschild, C. Scott Baker, Stephen R. Palumbi. Long-term population size of the North Atlantic humpback whale within the context of worldwide population structure. Conservation Genetics, 2012; 14 (1): 103 DOI: 10.1007/s10592-012-0432-0

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/CpvJJByGoWI/130213152416.htm

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Barclays vows fresh course, axes 3,700 jobs

LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays' new chief executive pledged a fresh course for the British lender on Tuesday, axing at least 3,700 jobs and pruning its investment bank as he seeks to rebuild its reputation and boost profitability after a series of scandals.

In an attempt to distance Britain's third biggest bank from the aggressive, high-risk culture championed by his predecessor, Antony Jenkins said Barclays would put ethics above earnings at the bank, which has become a focus for public anger at the excesses of the financial sector.

"Barclays is changing. There will be no going back to the old way of doing things. We are changing the way we do business. We are changing the type of business we do," Jenkins said.

"I understand why there is cynicism and skepticism out there, given the track record of banks in the past. You should judge us by what we deliver in the next one, two, five or 10 years," he said at a news conference.

Jenkins unveiled his grand plan, dubbed "Project Transform", at London's Royal Horticultural Halls, an Edwardian exhibition space well away from the bank's skyscraper headquarters in Canary Wharf and just a short walk from parliament, where lawmakers have heavily criticized the bank for its misdeeds.

Keen to show change is afoot, Jenkins cut pay for investment bankers, halted speculative trading in agricultural commodities and closed a profitable tax advisory unit, which one lawmaker said advised clients on "industrial-scale tax avoidance".

Jenkins, wearing a bright blue tie and sober grey suit, gave a precise presentation but rarely strayed into awkward territory. He declined to answer questions about the future of Rich Ricci, head of the investment bank and one of the last remaining senior executives of the previous era.

"I can't predict the future," Jenkins said.

He committed to keeping the investment bank, which contributes more than half of group earnings, and did not go as far as rivals such as UBS or RBS in cutbacks in this area. He said the division was one of "an increasingly small group" of firms winning business and should deliver future returns on equity of 14-15 percent.

Investors applauded the bank's plans to raise its dividend and cut 1.7 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) in annual costs, including eliminating 1,800 jobs in corporate and investment banking and 1,900 in its European retail and business banking.

He aims to cut compensation to around 35 percent of earnings, from 38 percent last year and 42 percent in 2011.

"This statement redresses the balance. It is not just about the (dividend) payout ratio going up, it is also a function of the compensation ratio going down," said Dominic Rossi, chief investment officer for Fidelity Worldwide Investments, one of the bank's 15 biggest investors.

"That was of course what shareholders had been arguing for ... (The) balance of distribution between staff and shareholders was inappropriate and disproportionate towards employees," Rossi told Reuters.

Barclays shares surged to close up 8.6 percent at 327.35 pence, their highest level for two years and helping pull the European bank index up 2 percent. The bank's shares are up 75 percent since Jenkins took the helm at the end of August, lifting its value to $62 billion.

POSITIVE FOR UK BANKS

Jenkins, 51, has said he expects "Project Transform", his plan to revamp the bank, to take five to 10 years and has told staff they should leave if they do not want to sign up to the new standards.

He cut the average bonus for investment bankers to 54,100 pounds for last year, down 17 percent on the year. It will pay a total 1.85 billion pounds in bonuses, down 14 percent.

"We need to give our investors a bigger share of the income we generate," he said.

But he warned there would be no quick fix and the bank would not deliver his target of a return on equity above 11.5 percent until 2015.

Jenkins will focus investment in Britain, the United States and Africa, and cut back in continental Europe and Asia.

Nearly one in three Barclays branches across Italy, Spain, Portugal and France will close, or about 340 branches and sales centers, and remaining retail operations there will focus on affluent customers.

Jenkins will scale back the investment bank's equities and advisory businesses in continental Europe and Asia.

He said his "root and branch" review of 75 business units will result in four being closed, covering old assets held in fixed income and European corporate and retail loans.

A further 17 units, which contribute 2 billion pounds of income, could be sold or will need a significant transition to make the grade, including the tax unit and a raft of European retail operations.

Another 15 units will need restructuring, while 39 are performing well and will get investment to grow, the bank said.

Jenkins aims to cut the bank's cost base to 16.8 billion pounds in 2015, excluding one-off costs to achieve that of 2.7 billion over the next three years, and lift its dividend to achieve a 30 percent payout ratio.

The bank will pay a dividend of 6.5 pence per share for 2012 from 6p in 2011, or a payout ratio of 19 percent, which analysts said was an encouraging signal for it and UK rivals, given that regulators are telling banks to conserve capital.

Barclays is still recovering from the political furor that followed its $450 million fine for manipulating benchmark interest rates in June. The ensuing storm cost the jobs of its then chief executive, former Wall Street trader Bob Diamond, and chairman Marcus Agius.

Its bill, meanwhile, to compensate customers for mis-sold products has hit 3.5 billion pounds, and investigations are continuing into whether it correctly disclosed fundraisings from Middle East investors.

The Financial Services Authority and Serious Fraud Office are probing certain commercial arrangements between Barclays and Qatari investors related to two 2008 fundraisings.

The bank reported a 2012 pretax profit of 246 million pounds, down from 5.9 billion in 2011 due to the cost of compensating customers and losses on the value of its own debt.

Its adjusted pretax profit for 2012 was 7.05 billion pounds, up 26 percent on the year and in line with the average forecast by analysts, and the bank said it had a good January.

Pretax profit at the investment bank rose by 37 percent to 4.1 billion pounds, stronger than expected, with income down 2 percent from the previous quarter but up 13 percent on the year.

(Additional reporting by Sinead Cruise; Writing by Carmel Crimmins; Editing by Giles Elgood and Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/barclays-axe-3-700-jobs-2-7-billion-071608379--sector.html

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Trouble in Creationist Paradise

Dinosaurs of Eden by Ken Ham

Today marks the 204th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, the English naturalist, father of modern biology, and inspiration for the Holocaust (depending on whom you ask). Happy Darwin Day! Scientists around the world will be celebrating the occasion with lectures, book readings, and even bake sales. Rep. Rush Holt, a physicist (and Jeopardy! champion), has introduced a bill to designate Feb. 12 a national holiday.

It might seem slightly gratuitous to celebrate the birthday of the man whose theories make sense of all of biology, particularly with such quirky tie-ins as Darwin-themed cuisine. Evolution, after all, is accepted by virtually all scientists, and federal judges have ruled that intelligent design may not be taught as an alternative to evolution in public school science classes. Celebrants often observe the holiday with a bit of wariness, however, screening films about the lurking threat of creationism and intelligent design. Even the International Darwin Day Foundation seems slightly defensive about f?ting Darwin, emphasizing not only his theories but also his contributions ?to the advancement of humanity.?

Behind the worldwide celebration of Darwin Day is an understanding that Darwin?s reputation and work must not be taken for granted. Creationism, once a fringe movement, in many subcultures is mainstream. Last year, Republican presidential contenders including Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Santorum denounced evolution and supported the teaching of creationism or intelligent design in public schools. They?re not alone: A full 46 percent of Americans have expressed belief in young-Earth creationism, the idea that God created the Earth and humans in their present form within the past 10,000 years. That might contradict the opinion of 99.9 percent of scientists, but in the clash between religious fundamentalism and demonstrable scientific facts, blind faith is holding strong.

Few have profited more from Darwin calumny and science denial than Ken Ham, an Australian-born, young-Earth creationist behind some of the most ambitious monuments to creationism in the United States. Ham rose to fame after successfully raising $27 million to build the Creation Museum in Kentucky, which tells the story of God?s creation of the Earth through pseudoscience and unforgettable dioramas (the highlight: a kid hanging out with a gentle raptor). According to Ham, dinosaurs and humans coexisted for a while. Dinosaurs shared the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, and humans may have saddled dinosaurs for transportation and long-distance travel. Pro-evolution scientists (i.e., all actual scientists), however, have obfuscated these undeniable truths with sinful lies and slander.

After completing the Creation Museum, Ham decided to take on an even greater challenge: conquering the separation of church and state. He and his fellow creationists have proposed a creationist theme park called Ark Encounter, centered around a ?full-size? replica of Noah?s Ark. At Ham?s request, the governor of Kentucky has proposed a $43 million tax break for the park, as well as an $11 million road improvement project for the highway leading to it. (Apparently creationists read the Bible literally but not the First Amendment.)

The best way to understand the radical strangeness of Ham?s views is to closely examine how he attempts to undercut belief in sound science?that is, to read his books. Ham?s books fall into two categories: colorful picture books designed to indoctrinate children, and pseudoscientific tracts aimed at persuading adults. The best example of the former category is Dinosaurs of Eden, published by Master Books, a branch of Ham?s Answers in Genesis. Master Books? parent company, New Leaf Publishing Group, claims that Eden has sold 80,000 copies, out of 2.1 million Ham-penned books allegedly sold, including The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved, Did Adam Have a Belly Button?, and My Creation Bible.

In a sense, Eden captures everything that Ham does well (or outrageously, depending on your perspective). It is imaginative and absorbing, with vibrant illustrations and an engaging narrative. But its ultimate message is that belief in young-Earth creationism is necessary to avoid an eternity of damnation. Two Christian children enter ?Bible Time Gate? and function as our surrogates as we explore Ham?s bizarre account of the history of the world. After walking us through the opening verses of Genesis, Ham proclaims that ?we can say 100%, absolutely for sure, that people lived with dinosaurs!? A series of surreal illustrations features Adam and Eve feeding grapes to vegetarian dinosaurs while lions and cheetahs canoodle with an avaceratops. This herbivorous paradise is wrecked after Cain murders Able. ?Dinosaurs may have started eating other animals? at this point, Ham tells us, citing Genesis 6:13: ?the earth was filled with violence.?

Dinosaurs of Eden by Ken Ham

Intriguingly, Ham does not then kill off dinosaurs with the Flood, which seems like the most practical explanation for their extinction and would avoid the problem of how to house and feed them on the ark. He posits that ?God probably sent ?teenagers,? NOT ?fully grown adult? ? dinosaurs on Noah?s Ark. Every species of dinosaur survived the Flood, and many were domesticated by early humans. Records of such interactions, Ham states, survive to this day. (?Dragon legends ... were probably based on people?s encounters with certain dinosaurs.?)

Sadly, a combination of natural disasters and ?people killing them for food or skins? spurred dinosaurs? recent extinction, a fact ?fallible? scientists deny because ?scientists, like everyone else, are sinners. Because of this, they don?t want to believe. It has nothing to do with evidence.? For promoting evolution (and thus denying God?s word), Ham concludes, scientists will face ?everlasting punishment.? This moral is accompanied by an image of adults?who look strikingly similar to the scientists from a previous illustration?being cast into the burning pits of hell.

Ham?s masterpiece for the adult reader, The Lie, was recently reprinted in a revised and expanded 25^th-anniversary edition. It contains the same outlandish pseudoscience and strict moralizing as Dinosaurs of Eden?with none of the whimsy. The Lie distills Ham?s theological convictions: Christianity is under attack, society is rotting away, and acceptance of evolution is the root of its disintegration. Remarkably little of the book is devoted to Ham?s pseudoscientific arguments against evolution; rather, Ham attempts to inject doubt and ambiguity into evidence of evolution, claiming it is ?a belief system? supported by no conclusive proof. ?All the evidence a scientist has,? Ham insists, ?exists only in the present.? This means we should disregard isotope dating, fossil records, genetic sequencing, geologic time, developmental biology, plate tectonics, disease resistance, and the rest of modern science because who can really know if they?re accurate? ?The Bible?s account of origins,? on the other hand, was written by ?the Creator God,? and contains all the ?history we need to know to understand the present world.?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=157ce8c72dfa583f69126ba5506f139a

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Movie Reviews: Side Effects, Identity Thief, Bullet to the Head, Warm ...

Editor's Note: All reviews and information aggregated from?Moviefone and RottenTomatoes.

Want to catch a movie this weekend? Here is Patch's roundup of movies playing at theaters in the Minnetonka area, including?AMC Eden Prairie Mall 18,?Mann St. Louis Park Cinema?6?and?Kerasotes Showplace Icon Theatre at West End.

New this weekend:

Side Effects

One sentence plot: Steven Soderbergh reteams with his Contagion screenwriter Scott Z. Burns for this psychological thriller starring Rooney Mara as a woman who turns to drugs in order to deal with her husband (Channing Tatum) being released from jail.

Rotten Tomatoes viewer score: 97

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 84

Reviews:

"Ultimately, think of the movie as a puzzle box in which all the pieces fit together wonderfully well. Once you step back and take a look at how it?s all put together, you have to marvel at how cleverly constructed the whole thing is." Arizona Republic?Full Review

"Like Magic Mike, Side Effects is enlivened by Soderbergh's jazzy style and laidback moralism, bringing to mind the work of another connoisseur of genre, Robert Altman." Slant Magazine Full Review

"Side Effects is mostly a good Saturday-night movie, but by the end, it's caused a few unintended side effects of its own: a bit of head-scratching, and a giggle or two of disbelief." Entertainment Weekly?Full Review

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Identity Thief

One sentence plot: Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy lead the cast of 'Identity Thief', an all-star comedy in which a regular guy is forced to extreme measures to clear his name.

Rotten Tomatoes viewer score: 97

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 29

Reviews:

"The only thing?Identity Thief?steals is your time and your expectation of inventive comedy. The concept may be high, but the yield (in terms of laughs) is depressingly low." Huffington Post?Full review

"Gordon is lost, and his style of shooting - telescopic close-ups, which never give us enough space to appreciate the performers - feels wrong for comedy." Chicago Tribune?Full Review

"Of the many qualities I adore about Melissa McCarthy as a comedian and as a dramatic actor, the best is how fully she gives herself to every character she plays." Entertainment Weekly?Full Review

Bullet to the Head

One sentence plot:?A hitman (Sylvester Stallone) and a New York cop team up to get revenge on the killers who murdered their old partners in this action thriller from veteran tough-guy filmmaker Walter Hill.

Rotten Tomatoes viewer score: 60

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 46

Reviews:

"Like the amped up comeback tour of two rockers who had their heyday sometime in the mid-'80s, Sylvester Stallone and director Walter Hill (48 HRS., The Warriors) join forces for a hard-hitting exercise in beefy, brainless fun with the New Orleans-set actioner Bullet to the Head." Hollywood Reporter?Full review

"Sly can still fill a too-tight polo shirt at 66 - in the same way Jack LaLanne did in his later years. But no amount of movie magic can make him pass for a lethal and nimble juggernaut." Philadelphia Inquirer Full review

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Warm Bodies

One sentence plot:?A funny new twist on a classic love story, 'Warm Bodies' is a poignant tale about the power of human connection.

Rotten Tomatoes viewer score: 83

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 77

Reviews:?

"Hoult's genuinely awkward charm and Palmer's tomboyish wholesomeness disarm an audience overfamiliar with this story. The two ably communicate the primitive and irrational feelings of falling in love." New York Daily News Full review

"In doing a little genre bending of romantic schmaltz and horror cheese--some fundamental zombie mythology is turned on its head--the film breathes amusing new life into both." Los Angeles Times Full review

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Parker

One sentence plot:?Parker (Jason Statham) is a professional thief who lives by a personal code of ethics: Don't steal from people who can't afford it and don't hurt people who don't deserve it.

Moviefone viewer score:?85

Moviefone critic score: 42

Reviews:?
"How does Hackford fall so far off the rails with the pedestrian crime thriller Parker, based on the 19th book in the Parker series by the late Donald E. Westlake (no slouch himself, with scripting credits on The Grifters and The Stepfather)? For starters, Westlake didn?t pen this script, and the John J. McLaughlin screenplay is a mess, both highly ludicrous and predictable. McLaughlin ? yeah, the same dude who wrote Black Swan and the recent Hitchcock ? really treads in the shallow end of the gene pool here." Montreal Gazzette?Full review

"'Parker' plays like the bloodiest promotional video ever made for Palm Beach tourism. Stabbings, explosions and furniture-smashing brawls occur at some of the ritziest (and name-checked) locations within the sun-splashed, pastel-soaked slab of Florida opulence. Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the idea of The Breakers." Star Tribune?Full review

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Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

One sentence plot:?After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel (Renner) and Gretel (Arterton) have become the ultimate vigilantes, hell bent on retribution.

Moviefone viewer score:?91

Moviefone critic score: 21

Reviews:
"High-concept pitch or no, the movie doesn?t really work. They were shooting for sort of a witch-hunting 'Zombieland,' an F-bomb-riddled 'Van Helsing' packed with comical anachronisms ? a Bavarian forest past with witch trials, pump shotguns and primitive Tasers, where bottles of milk have woodcut pictures of 'missing children' on the labels." Norfolk Daily News?Full review

"In the 3D?Witch Hunters, the kids were taken into the woods and left on their own by their father. They stumble into a candy-covered witch house, are taken prisoner and when they figure a way out of their fix - working as a team - they've found their calling. They'll track, shoot, stab, behead and burn witches. Whatever it takes." The Age?Full review

"Even though their skillsets are essentially limited to finding and killing witches, Hansel and Gretel decide to rescue the children themselves. Really, the film should have been called Hansel and Gretel: Occasional Child Recoverers, but that doesn't scan so well. So, who could have abducted the children? A witch?" The Guardian?Full review

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Mama

One sentence plot: Guillermo del Toro presents 'Mama', a supernatural thriller that tells the haunting tale of two little girls who disappeared into the woods the day that their parents were killed.

Moviefone viewer score: 84

Moviefone critic score: 58

Reviews:
"What's under the bed? Who's behind that door? What's making those vaguely satanic noises? These and other thought-provoking questions are entertained in Mama, a visually polished but overly repetitive chiller." Variety?Full Review

"It never hits the high notes of Mr. del Toro's own films or successfully weaves between reality and fantasy as it should." New York Observer?Full Review

"Nothing in the movie is quite original, yet Muschietti, expanding his original short, knows how to stage a rip-off with frightening verve." Entertainment Weekly?Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Please tell us what you thought in the comments below.

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Zero Dark Thirty

One sentence plot: The filmmaking duo behind The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal) takes on the hunt for -- and the killing of -- Osama bin Laden in this Annapurna Pictures production that tracks SEAL Team Six, the special-ops team who eventually brought down the terrorist leader.

Moviefone viewer score: 63
?

Moviefone critic score: 95

Reviews:
?Telling a nearly three-hour story with an ending everyone knows, Bigelow and Boal have managed to craft one of the most intense and intellectually challenging films of the year.? The Guardian?Full Review.

?Like the fictional Clarice Starling in ?The Silence of the Lambs,? Maya is a consummate professional who brilliantly performs her job in an often hostile work environment.? New York Post?Full Review.

?A monumental achievement that documents a coordinated and complicated response to a monumental tragedy.? Philadelphia Enquirer?Full Review.

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Please tell us what you thought in the comments below.

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
One sentence plot: The adventure follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug.

Moviefone viewer score: 72

Moviefone critic score: 58

Reviews:
?Charming, spectacular, technically audacious; in short, everything you expect from a Peter Jackson movie. A feeling of familiarity does take hold in places, but this is an epically entertaining first course.? Total Film?Full Review.

?A mesmerizing study in excess, Peter Jackson and company's long-awaited prequel to the Lord of the Rings saga is bursting with surplus characters, wall-to-wall special effects, unapologetically drawn-out story tangents and double the frame rate (48 over 24) of the average movie.? Time Out New York?Full Review.

?I'm holding the filmmaker responsible for getting us all back again - to feelings of excitement and delight. Vital as they are, Gollum and Bilbo can only do so much to keep us enchanted. Is Jackson able to sustain the magic in two more installments? I peer into Tolkien's Misty Mountains and embrace the journey.? Entertainment Weekly?Full Review.

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Have you seen it already? Leave a review of the film with a comment below.

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Django Unchained
One sentence plot: Set in the South two years before the Civil War, Django Unchained stars Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave who forms an unlikely partnership with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz.

Moviefone viewer score: 73

Moviefone critic score: 80

Reviews:
"A sharp shock of a film in an Awards season very full of movies so noble they become immobile. It's wildly unlikely to get much love from the Academy, and that's fine-bluntly, it's too good for them. With its bloody stew of history and hysteria, action taken from movies and atrocities taken from fact, Django isn't just a movie only America could make-it's also a movie only America needs to." Boxoffice Magazine?Full Review.

"Exactly what you might expect from the fearless, controversial director of "Pulp Fiction" - it's overlong, raunchy, shocking, grim, exaggerated, self-indulgently over-the-top and so politically incorrect it demands a new definition of the term. It is also bold, original, mesmerizing, stylish and one hell of a piece of entertainment." New York Observer?Full Review.

"Django Unchained also has the pure, almost meaningless excitement which I found sorely lacking in Tarantino's previous film, Inglourious Basterds, with its misfiring spaghetti-Nazi trope and boring plot. I can only say Django delivers, wholesale, that particular narcotic and delirious pleasure that Tarantino still knows how to confect in the cinema, something to do with the manipulation of surfaces. It's as unwholesome, deplorable and delicious as a forbidden cigarette." The Guardian?Full Review.

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Have you seen it already? Leave a review of the film with a comment below.

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Les Miserables
One sentence plot: Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Miserables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption, in a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit.

Moviefone viewer score: 81

Moviefone critic score: 63

Reviews:
"Stirring and striking, Hooper's epic musical won't be wanting for awards and plaudits. Danny Cohen's cinematography is stunning and Hathaway's Oscar is guaranteed." Total Film?Full Review.

"Russell Crowe's pained vocal stylings (they sound more like barks) as relentless Inspector Javert can be forgiven after hearing Hugh Jackman's old-pro fluidity in the central role of Jean Valjean, hiding a criminal past." Time Out New York.?Full Review.

"Fortunately, this sprawling epic is well-anchored. There cannot be a better big-screen showman than Jackman." New York Daily News?Full Review.

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Have you seen it already? Leave a review of the film with a comment below.

Source: http://minnetonka.patch.com/articles/movie-reviews-side-effects-identity-thief-bullet-to-the-head-warm-bodies-c75e9a91

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Blizzard 2013 storm prep sharpened by experience in Katrina and Sandy

Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, American storm response has changed dramatically. The blizzard that swept across nine states in the Northeast US this weekend in many ways showed how.

By Patrik Jonsson,?Staff writer / February 9, 2013

John Silver shovels between buried cars in front of his home in South Boston Saturday. A behemoth storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts and blizzard conditions swept through the Northeast, dumping more than 2 feet of snow on New England and knocking out power to 650,000 homes and businesses.

Gene J. Puskar/AP

Enlarge

With snow still falling and massive waves battering coastal villages in a nine-state New England region, it?s still too early to gauge the true impact of the monster blizzard of 2013.

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What?s known, however, is that from airline cancellations to government edicts to a boom in individual disaster ?prepping,? the response to the Blizzard of 2013 differed at times dramatically from, say, the Blizzard of ?78, which dumped up to 38 inches of snow on parts of New England, killing 99 people, some of whom died from carbon monoxide poisoning in their stranded cars.

Moreover, even lessons from hurricane Sandy, which raked the Northeast coast last year, killing 132 Americans and causing $71 billion in damages, were utilized in the run-up to the Blizzard of 2013.

Monster winter storm: five ways to stay safe and prepared

So far, five people are confirmed dead in the New England blizzard and 650,000 have lost power. Authorities are now focusing on a morning storm surge along the Sandwich area of Cape Cod, which will be the focus of the last tendrils of hurricane-like winds that fueled the whiteout conditions last night.

Nearly 40 inches of snow have fallen on some sections of Connecticut and wind gusts topped 80 miles an hour at the peak of the storm. So far, 5,300 flights have been cancelled across the region as most of the major airports, including Logan in Boston and JFK in New York City ? were shuttered.

To be sure, critics suggest that far too few Americans are prepared for big storms and other disasters, backed up by a Wakefield Research poll last year that showed 53 of Americans don?t have more than three days of food stashed, and 55 percent believe local authorities will rescue them in case of disaster.

Moreover, in the wake of hurricane Sandy, utility companies especially were raked over the coals for an at-times patchy response and, more critically, poor communications with stranded residents. Sandy also showed that the Northeast had not adopted some key lessons from Katrina, including gasoline stocking, which resulted in rationing. In an information age, storms have also exposed weaknesses in the telecommunications grid, where old-school technologies ? landline phones and even ham radio operators ? have shown that they?re still relevant.

?It appears that some of the lessons learned from Katrina had no impact on disaster recovery planning in the Northeast,? Darren Hayes, a professor a Pace University's Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, in New York City, wrote recent in the Hill newspaper.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/KJvd-VN26aU/Blizzard-2013-storm-prep-sharpened-by-experience-in-Katrina-and-Sandy

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