Free Republic

In the highly competitive race to get self-driving cars to the market, most companies hold their secrets close. But when it comes to helping those cars figure out where they are on the road, some experts are ready to open up. Argo AI, based in the Strip District, and Aptiv, based in O’Hara, publicly released some of their own data sets earlier this year in an effort to further advancement in the field. The companies shared parts of their own maps of cities where they are testing self-driving cars, including Pittsburgh. That may seem strange considering the abundance of applications...

Can you imagine the reputation of a literary figure surviving the disclosure that he worked (however briefly and ineffectually) for Hitler's Abwehr? Yet Ernest Hemingway worked for Stalin’s KGB and nobody (among the “smart set”) seems to bat an eye. According to KGB defector Alexander Vassiliev "the 42-year-old Hemingway was recruited by the KGB under the cover name "Argo" in 1941, and cooperated with Soviet agents whom he met in Havana and London. This comes from a book published in 2009 by Yale Univ. Press (not exactly a branch of the John Birch Society.)"Castro's revolution," Hemingway wrote in 1960, “is...

Let’s see. Oscar Best Picture Winner, Argo told a story that took place in a larger context of an American diplomatic facility being sacked by radical Islamic extremists, after US action undermined the previous cooperative regime, which became an ongoing demonstration of American impotence. Hasn’t Hillary Clinton already starred in Argo II? Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Most of Affleck’s speech, though, was focused on his own philanthropic work in Congo, praising Hillary Clinton for her involvement with the country during her time as secretary of state. When she arrived on stage after...

Hollywood's attempt to re-write history has been condemned by New Zealand's Parliament. MPs have today voted unanimously to support a motion from New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters that condemned the way New Zealand is portrayed in Oscar-winning film Argo. The film showed New Zealand diplomats turning away a group of Americans trying to escape from Tehran during the Iranian revolution in 1979. In reality, a New Zealander drove the Americans to the airport in Tehran so they could fly to Switzerland. Peters called it a "grave misrepresentation" of the courageous and commendable role of New Zealand diplomats. . .

Martin Williams was a First Secretary at the British Embassy in Iran when militants invaded the US Embassy in November 1979, taking 52 hostages and sparking an international crisis that lasted 14 months. In his Oscar-winning film Argo, director and star Ben Affleck tells how six American diplomats hid in the Canadian Ambassador’s house in Tehran until the CIA arranged an ingenious escape plan – after they had been callously turned away when they sought shelter at the British Embassy. Here Mr Williams, 71, who later was High Commissioner to Zimbabwe and New Zealand, says this is a gross misrepresentation...

What does Hollywood have against the British? Once again on Oscar night, Tinsel Town gave warmly with one hand — while cynically taking away with the other. The good news is that at least nine Britons will fly back across the Atlantic with coveted golden statues. But the bad news is that Argo — the movie that won Best Film — is yet another piece of Hollywood’s Brit-bashing junk history that casts the British in a poor light.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iranian officials on Monday dismissed the Oscar-winning film "Argo" as anti-Iran, state TV dismissed it as CIA commercial, some viewers disparaged it as U.S. propaganda while others welcomed a fresh view of their recent history.All this is despite the fact that the movie based on the escape of six American hostages from the besieged U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 has not been screened in any Iranian theaters.

Only a few weeks ago, Lincoln was assumed to be the surefire winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture. Not since Gregory Peck in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird has an actor performed with the unforgettable gravitas of Daniel Day-Lewis playing Abraham Lincoln in the months before his assassination. But a funny thing happened when the horses turned the bend at the Golden Globe Awards. Argo, based on a CIA-led rescue mission in 1980 that smuggled six American diplomats out of Tehran at the tail end of Carter’s presidency, suddenly has all the Oscar momentum. And, in a serendipitous...

I SAW “Argo” with Jerry Rafshoon, who was a top aide to President Carter during the Iranian hostage crisis, when six Americans escaped and were given sanctuary for three months by courageous Canadian diplomats. We were watching a scene where a C.I.A. guy can’t get through to Hamilton Jordan, Carter’s chief of staff, to sign off on plane tickets for the escaping hostages, so he pretends to be calling from the school where Jordan’s kids go. “Hamilton wasn’t married then and didn’t have any kids,” Jerry whispered, inflaming my pet peeve about filmmakers who make up facts in stories about...

"Argo" was the best drama winner at Sunday's Golden Globe Awards, beating out the Civil War epic "Lincoln," which had emerged as an awards-season favorite. The Iran hostage thriller also claimed the directing prize for Ben Affleck, a prize that normally bodes well for an Academy Award win -- except he missed out on an Oscar nomination this time. Affleck is now in an unusual position during Hollywood's long awards season, taking home the top filmmaking trophy at the second-highest film honors knowing he does not have a shot at an Oscar. 48 PHOTOS Golden Globes 2013 show highlights And...

Former Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich took to Twitter on Saturday morning to weigh in on the week’s vice presidential debate, bluntly attacking the Obama administration for what he sees as a deliberate and intentional lie about the fatal attack in Benghazi, Libya that resulted in the deaths of ambassador Chris Stevens, among other Americans and Libyans.

ARGO. If you are old enough (rated R), YOU MUST SEE IT. This is a really compelling movie. Great suspense, and timely history. I'm realizing now that anybody younger than 50 probably doesn't remember the whole Iran Hostage crisis at all. So go see the movie, then ask your favorite old timers about it. Minor warning: much swearing (some gratuitous, some justifiable.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxiLZ24gPDA

Microsoft "Argo" Pic (The iPod Competitor) Our hombres over at Engadget got their hands on a pic of one of the possible designs of the Microsoft Argo/iPod Rival. The display is 4:3 and not 16:9, unfortunately, and there seems to be a big wheel like button on the front along with a "back" and a "play/pause" button. We wonder if it's going to get slapped some more Xbox branding and loads of buttons as they get closer to the final design. This thing's too clean to be a Microsoft product! *wink* *wink* – Jason Chen