Free Republic

In 35 seconds, the city of Léogane was almost entirely destroyed by last year’s earthquake. A year after, 80% of the victims are still living in camps surrounded by rubble, without water or electricity. Despite millions in international aid, the rebuilding process is at a standstill.

Are the best computer animators only as good as the technology they use, or does natural talent distinguish their work from the rest? The question has been debated online this week after a new super-realistic computer-generated video appeared on YouTube. At first glance, the minute-long commercial for kitchen worktops looks like slick, well-timed slow-motion footage of fruit falling in a shiny kitchen. It's only when the peppers and pears smash like glass on the counter that it becomes clear these are not real fruit. Alex Roman, the graphic designer who created the ad, dismisses suspicions that the shots aren't pure...

Alex Roman's The Third & The Seventh is a montage of enchanting slow motion shots of cameras, chairs, space shuttles, explosions, stairwells, bulbous water drops, and a trillion other things. It's all computer generated and will blow your mind. Watch!Click here for video.Click here for HD video.

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga arrived in the United States of America on Saturday night to news of cancellation of a luncheon with US President Barack Obama which had earlier been scheduled for later this week. The news followed a round of confusion over whether he would attend the luncheon, hosted by the White House for selected leaders from sub-Saharan Africa on the sidelines of the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York. New York-based Kenyan ambassador to the UN Zachary Muburi-Muita told the Nation on Saturday night that the State Department contacted him on Friday to...

Here is video from California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy holding a Town Hall Meeting in Bakersfield where he was asked why the Congress was allowing President Obama to create all the "Czars" he is creating. Just before he answered there were shouts from the audience of "He's a communist!" McCarthy answered the question by saying he did not believe Obama had the right to appoint these "Czars" AND give them powers that encroach on the "Checks and Balances" the Constitution requires. . . . . (Watch Video)

BY ELIZABETH MOORE | elizabeth.moore@newsday.com 10:20 PM EDT, June 9, 2009 ALBANY - In the end, it was Malcolm Smith's BlackBerry that did him in. Businessman Thomas Golisano, upset over tax and spending increases in the state budget, had journeyed to the Capitol in April to share with the Senate majority leader what he says were $1 billion worth of ideas for trimming costs. But Smith's attention quickly strayed to his e-mail, where it stayed for the rest of the meeting, Golisano said. "We felt we were talking to the wall," the Paychex Inc. chairman and three-time Independence Party gubernatorial...

GOP may seek Bill Clinton’s testimonyBy AMIE PARNES & GLENN THRUSH | 12/10/08 7:58 PM EST Senate Republicans are considering asking Bill Clinton to testify at his wife’s confirmation hearing about potential conflicts of interest involving his worldwide charitable enterprises. “There are concerns about his international work across the board,” a Republican aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Politico. “Seeking donations from foreign governments is definitely concerning. ... It has been discussed, and it will be discussed.” While spouses frequently attend nominees’ confirmation hearings, they are usually there for moral support and window dressing — a sympathetic face...

Soon after Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, the former president and I had a brief telephone conversation. I had been downright heated about the pardon, a lot angrier than I had ever been about Monica Lewinsky. Clinton implied that I had things historically backward. Long after the Rich pardon had been forgotten, he said, the Lewinsky scandal would remain a vivid memory. That day is yet to come. The Rich pardon is back. The vehicle for this lingering echo from the year 2001 is the choice of Eric Holder as Barack Obama's attorney general. Holder was Clinton's deputy attorney general...

NEW YORK -- The morning after he declared he would suspend his presidential campaigning and return to Washington to deal with the U.S. economic crisis, Sen. John McCain made one last campaign stop, speaking at a conference on global issues organized by former president Bill Clinton. Addressing his dramatic call for a pause in the intense presidential campaign, McCain said he intends to "join" the debate in Washington over how to address the meltdown in the country's financial institutions. "I cannot carry on a campaign as though this dangerous situation had not occurred, or as though a solution were at...

Former President Bill Clinton is welcoming a galaxy of international stars to the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative later this month, including Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, whom Mr. Clinton has vowed to help Senator Barack Obama defeat in November. The event, scheduled to run Sept. 23-26 in New York, is nonpolitical and has featured prominent Republicans in the past, including Laura Bush in 2006. Mr. McCain is to deliver the opening remarks; Mr. Obama, the Democratic nominee, is to address the participants by satellite. “C.G.I. isn’t about politics,” said Matt McKenna, a spokesman for Mr....

http://cubo.cc/

          Trips byHuma Abedinamericanradioworks.publicradio.org Total cost of 29 trips: $49,870.97 Trips traveled under the office of Hillary Clinton Destination: ASPEN, CO Sponsor: infoUSA.com Inc Purpose: SPEECH Date: Jul 17, 2004 (1 day) Expense: $2,083.00source   Find new prospects and grow your sales with our sales leads.List of 14 Million BusinessesList of 210 Million Consumersinfousa.com Richard Guthrie, 92, was tricked into giving banking data to telephone callers, who then stole money from his account, investigators say. Bilking the Elderly, With a Corporate Assist By CHARLES DUHIGG May 20, 2007nytimes.com The thieves operated from small offices in...

LIMOUSINE liberals, move over. You've been out-glammed by Lear Jet liberals who burn beaucoup fossil fuels in the sky as they soar around the planet fighting global warming. Last week, they flew to their Mecca, the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York City. For the left-leaning and loaded, this is the meeting that has it all -- the mega-rich paying to be seen caring about poor people and the environment, while posing for photos with former President Bill Clinton. The big news of the CGI was an announcement by Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways, that he...

During Israel’s recent war in Lebanon, bloggers again demonstrated that armchair amateurs can be more perceptive than professional journalists. First, they proved that news photographers had participated in staged war-zone shoots calculated to increase the pathos of Lebanese civilian casualties. Then they exposed an even bigger scandal: a Reuters photographer, Adnan Hajj, had used photo-editing software to insert billowing black smoke into a picture of Beirut and to alter a photo of an Israeli jet to make it look as though it were dropping bombs. The proprietors of such blogs as Little Green Footballs, Power Line, Zombietime, and the Jawa...

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER GAUDY, SELF-AGGRANDIZING CLINTON SLUSH FUND by Mia T, 9.18.05 $1.25 Billion donated to Clinton Global SummitATS Swiss News Agency via Babelfish translation | September 18, 2005 The Clinton top collected 1,25 billion dollars of gifts New York - former American president Bill Clinton closed Saturday the alternative top with that of UNO which it had chaired for Thursday in New York. Some 1,25 billion dollar of gifts will have been joined together there for various international causes. The world Initiative Clinton (cgi) brought together leaders of the whole world, businessmen, environmentalists or dignitaries religious. It made it...

The Clinton top collected 1,25 billion dollars of gifts New York - former American president Bill Clinton closed Saturday the alternative top with that of UNO which it had chaired for Thursday in New York. Some 1,25 billion dollar of gifts will have been joined together there for various international causes. The world Initiative Clinton (cgi) brought together leaders of the whole world, businessmen, environmentalists or dignitaries religious. It made it possible to collect nearly 200 promises of gifts. "I am satisfied with what we carried out here", Clinton declared. "But I hope that you leave from here with...

MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT CLINTON It is my pleasure to announce the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative to be held September 15-17, 2005, in New York City. This event, which will bring together King Abdullah II, President Leonel Fernandez Reyna, President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Secretary General Kofi Annan, Vice Premier Shimon Peres, Dr. Hernando de Soto, Rupert Murdoch, Richard Parsons, and an array of other distinguished and dedicated leaders, will coincide with and complement this fall's Millennium Summit of the U.N. General Assembly. This nonpartisan conference will concentrate a diverse and select group of current...

NEW YORK, July 12 /CNW/ -- Leaders from around the world are greatly supporting President Clinton's first annual gathering of leaders known as the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). CGI's goal is to address global challenges in four areas: poverty, religion, climate change and governance. The event will take place September 15-17 in New York City. This nonpartisan conference will concentrate a diverse and select group of current and former heads of state, business leaders, noteworthy members of the academic community, and representatives of key non-governmental organizations to identify immediate and pragmatic solutions to some of the world's most pressing problems....

“Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” is full of visions of the dark, soaring New York cityscape, dogfights in the sky and the majestic Himalayan mountains. But what was the movie set like for the actors? A whole lotta blue. That’s because “Sky Captain,” despite its grandiose appearance, was filmed entirely against a blue screen with digital effects filled in. Though real actors star in it, almost everything else is fake. Think “Roger Rabbit” in reverse. While computer generated imagery has for years been a large presence in movies, “Sky Captain” is the first major motion picture made entirely...

Oscar hopeful Serkis 'Towers' over CGI brethren As Gollum in 'Rings' sequel, thesp puts his lifeblood into a central figure   By MICHAEL FLEMING Andy Serkis did yeoman cyber-work as Gollum in 'The Lords of the Rings: The Two Towers.' There was never any Oscar buzz for the performances of Jar Jar Binks or Dobby, but New Line is hoping that Gollum will be up for an acting Academy Award in March.Andy Serkis is the British actor who performs the centerpiece role of Gollum in Peter Jackson's second installment of the "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Only you might...