In case you missed the news last year, action maestro Joel Silver is putting together a live-action Ben 10 movie with the Cartoon Network. You know, for kids. And the movie just got a little closer to fruition this morning, with the news that Albert Torres is now hard at work on a screenplay.
Ben 10, for those not down with the kids, is a hugely successful series that began in 2005. Our hero, Ben Tennyson, has a watch-like device that allows him to transform into ten superpowered aliens (one at a time). With the help of his cool granddad and younger sister, he's already used his unusual abilities to fight evil across three separate series and two spin-off TV movies directed by Bill and Ted's Alex Winter. Lee Majors played Grandpa Max, in his retirement from being the unknown stuntman who made Eastwood look so fine.
For his big screen incarnation, Torres is tasked with turning Ben into a "big-budget, tentpole, action driven adventure", presumably with the weight to kick off a new arm of the franchise. Torres' previous work has often been somewhat adult-oriented:?he was involved with Very Bad Things, and has a script in development based on Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor. But he also wrote the lighter Henry Poole Is Here, and was recently one of several writers to take a stab at Warners' Akira. Maybe that means his head is currently in the right place to come up with a huge live-action FX extravaganza based on an animation.*
Ben 10 doesn't have a studio yet, but everyone's expecting Silver to find it a home at Warner Bros. He promises it won't be like Speed Racer. We didn't actually think Speed Racer was that bad.
*And yes, we know Akira is a six-volume manga as well as a famous anime, but you take our point.
Brazil?s President Dilma Rousseff waves upon her arrival to Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Rousseff is in Cuba for a visit emphasizing economic cooperation. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes)
Brazil?s President Dilma Rousseff waves upon her arrival to Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Rousseff is in Cuba for a visit emphasizing economic cooperation. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes)
Brazil?s President Dilma Rousseff waves upon her arrival to Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Rousseff is in Cuba for a visit emphasizing economic cooperation. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes)
HAVANA (AP) ? Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff began a tour of Cuba on Monday in a visit emphasizing trade and economic cooperation.
Rousseff was greeted at Havana's international airport in the afternoon by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. She waved to reporters but did not make any public statements before leaving by car.
Her office said the trip would seek to bolster trade between the two nations, which rose 31 percent from 2010 to hit a record $642 million last year.
Rousseff planned to meet with President Raul Castro on Tuesday in the capital and also tour the nearby port of Mariel, which is being expanded with the goal of turning the facility into a base for industry and oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
Brazil has financed almost 80 percent of the port project's $683 million price tag, according to a statement by the Brazilian presidency.
Also Monday, one of Brazil's biggest construction companies, Odebrecht, said an independent subsidiary would sign a contract to help administer the September 5 sugar mill in Cienfuegos province.
In a statement, Odebrecht said the 10-year agreement between its Infrastructure Works Co. and Cuba's state-run Azcuba sugar group "aims to increase sugar production and milling capacity and aid in revitalization."
While Tilera's forthcoming 100-core processors threaten to set off fire alarms around the world, the company has finally brought out its more sensible 36-core variant. The 1.2GHz Tile-GX36 sips just 24 watts and is designed to be especially handy with short and sharp jobs like processing internet transactions. It's a reduced instruction set (RISC) chip, so it's less power hungry and cheaper than Intel's x86 silicon. It also sports 64-bit architecture, whereas rival ARM is set to remain 32-bit until 2014. Then again, with Tilera lagging behind in terms of brand recognition and software support, a two-year head start might not be long enough.
Effects work 'frighteningly well' but 'premise is so devoutly ridiculous,' critics say. By Kara Warner
Sam Worthington in "Man on a Ledge" Photo: Summit
If your impressions about the new action thriller "Man on a Ledge" are based on the film's very-literal title, you're very likely correct in assuming to know a decent amount about the film before entering the theater. "Ledge" is the story of ex-cop and fugitive Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington), whose seemingly obvious suicidal plan to jump off a building is slowly revealed to be something much more.
Thus far, the critical reception for the film is very different from initial audience reactions. The Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer has "Ledge" at a 22 percent fresh rating from critics, versus a 65 percent fresh audience rating.
Read on to see what has the two viewing bodies so divided as we sift through the "Man on a Ledge" reviews:
The Premise "It's an arresting image, Sam Worthington out on that 40th-story ledge. He's a fairly tough-looking guy, after all, and we know him best as the tooth-gritting blockbuster hero of 'Avatar' and 'Clash of the Titans,' so it's head-spinning to see the man's beefy figure as a speck hovering so precariously close to New York's infinite sky. The camera swirls around Worthington's disgraced former cop Nick Cassidy, inching out past that thin strip of architecture, then back in. What if he trips, or jumps? For a while, anything seems possible, and it's both exhilarating and terrifying. Then the wool comes off, and it's clear that director Asger Leth and screenwriter Pablo Fenjves have ambitions considerably less grand than their protagonist's perch. Cassidy's ledge game — with all the studio-unfriendly moral ambiguities it entails — is just a con, a photo op for the crowds, and Nick's apparent desire to exit the material world is a front. What he truly, passionately wants to do is steal some jewelry." — Andrew Lapin, NPR
The Impact of Practical Effect "I, on the other hand, was gripping anything in reach, palms dripping, thinking I might not have survived the effects had they been 3-D. Though there were other production sites, serious time was spent actually shooting on that 14-inch ledge wrapping the 21st floor of the Roosevelt Hotel to create the vicarious sensation of being there. Which worked frighteningly well, at least for the vertiginous among us. Oh, that the actual human dynamics of the unfolding story could have been as dramatic, as on the edge as that ledge." — Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
The Direction "Mr. Leth, the son of renowned Danish documentarian Jorgen Leth, has directed only one other film, 'Ghosts of Cité Soleil,' a highly stylized doc that revealed a soul yearning to breathe free of nonfiction. He has an instinct for weaving sturdy narrative fabric out of intersecting plot lines. ... Amid the hoopla, Mr. Leth takes sobering assessment of media-circuses and mob mentalities: The people down below taking cellphone pictures, the ones yelling 'Jump!'; the callous nature of cops for whom it's all routine. There's the occasional goofy grace note: Kyra Sedgwick, playing a voracious and obviously Anglo television reporter named Suzie Morales, rolls the 'R' in her surname as she signs off, just in case someone missed the point (we've all heard it). In another scene, Mr. Leth takes such pains to strip the shapely Ms. Rodriguez down to her underwear that audiences, who may well be leering, will also be laughing at how obvious it is." — John Anderson, Wall Street Journal
The Final Word, Pro/Con Style "Director Asger Leth, making his U.S. feature-film debut with 'Man on a Ledge,' keeps the pace brisk and never allows the tone to stray into self-seriousness, which is crucial for a movie whose premise is so devoutly ridiculous. The script, from Pablo F. Fenjves, provides enough feints and twists to keep us engaged. Jamie Bell and Genesis Rodriguez aren't the most believable of couples, but there's a screwball charm to their comic routine as amateur thieves charged with aiding Nick's scheme. (Leth can't resist inserting an entirely superfluous — but nonetheless greatly appreciated — scene of the criminally gorgeous Rodriguez stripping down to a thong in the middle of a heist.) Worthington makes for a likable populist protagonist, even if his Australian accent betrays him on copious occasions, and Harris' disturbingly emaciated frame lends an added menace to his devious plutocrat villain." — Thomas Leupp, Hollywood.com
"Like last year's action comedy 'Tower Heist,' 'Man on a Ledge' becomes something of a parable of the 99 percent, with Cassidy initially an object of prurient interest for the massed crowds below, then becoming a blue-collar folk hero. That gives the movie at least a frisson of contemporary relevance, but the filmmakers blow that advantage with plot and characterization that require not just a suspension of disbelief but a suspension of eye-rolling reflexes and the nagging impulse to burst into derisive laughter." — Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2011 file photo, actress Demi Moore attends the premiere of "Margin Call" in New York. A spokeswoman for Moore on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 said the actress is seeking professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2011 file photo, actress Demi Moore attends the premiere of "Margin Call" in New York. A spokeswoman for Moore on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 said the actress is seeking professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Authorities are set to release a 911 call made from Demi Moore's home earlier this week.
The Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/x6Lu2n ) says the Los Angeles city attorney's office has recommended that certain portions of the call be deleted to comply with federal privacy laws.
City attorney's office spokesman Frank Mateljan tells the Times that the office has reviewed the tape and has made certain recommendations.
A spokeswoman for Moore said Tuesday that the actress is seeking professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. Publicist Carrie Gordon says the decision is due to the stresses in Moore's life, and she looks forward to getting well.
Moore announced in November that she had decided to end her marriage to Ashton Kutcher following news of alleged infidelity.
State-run TV marked Chinese New Year with a video of US billionaire Warren Buffett singing and playing a ukulele.?
I can think of any number of curious aspects of Warren Buffett's transmogrification into a Chinese pop star, but perhaps the oddest is that state-run TV here is using the 81-year-old Sage of Omaha to draw younger viewers.
Skip to next paragraph
Mr.?Buffett, widely admired in China for his wealth, his investment instincts, and his charitable donations (probably in that order), made a cameo appearance playing a ukulele and singing "I've Been Working on the Railroad"?as part of a marathon Chinese New Year gala aired Sunday.
The annual Spring Festival TV gala on the lunar New Year?s Eve is watched by hundreds of millions of Chinese viewers. But its heavily scripted diet of moralizing comedy sketches, spandexed acrobats, magicians, and goldfish showing off their synchronized swimming skills (one of last year?s highlights) no longer appeals to young people?s more sophisticated tastes.
So state-run CCTV decided to air a hipper extended gala show online, and that is where?Buffett comes in.
?We all know that?Buffett?is good at investment, but few knew he also did well in singing,? Wang Pinjiu, one of the show?s producers, told a press conference earlier this month, according to Xinhua, the government news agency.
The video clip is one he made for a charity dinner last year organized by media investor Wu Zheng and his TV presenter wife Yang Lan, according to a spokeswoman for Mr. Wu.
When CCTV asked Wu to rope some international talent into the online gala he asked?Buffett?for permission to air the video, and he agreed, the spokeswoman said.
Buffett?is not shy about his musical talents; he has been heard playing the ukulele at Berkshire Hathaway events, and he appears in a US TV commercial for an insurance company that he owns, masquerading as Axl Rose. Not, to be frank, that his appearance offers much evidence of ?doing well in singing.?
He is also well known in China, both as a major investor in BYD, a Chinese firm hoping to spearhead the electric car revolution here, and as an investment guru whose books are popular with local businessmen.
Buffett?caused something of a stir in 2010 when he visited China with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates in a bid to rustle up support from Chinese billionaires for charitable work, which is still in its infancy among the super-rich here. It took a while for some of the guests to accept his invitation to a banquet; it seemed they were nervous about being hit up for donations at the dinner.
The Dow stormed back from double digit losses after the latest FOMC meeting gave the bulls a boost. The Fed pledged to keep rates exceptionally low through at least 2014. What does that mean for markets? Ethan Harris, BofA Merrill Lynch, and Ira Jersey...
Have you ever gotten a random DM from someone you weren't following, pleading you to click through a blind link for McDonald's Gift Cards—but instead of a gift card, there's only a website laden with Trojans and malware? Well, Twitter just a company that could put an end to all those shenanigans. More »
LONDON (Reuters) ? The brains of people tripping on magic mushrooms have given the best picture yet of how psychedelic drugs work and British scientists say the findings suggest such drugs could be used to treat depression.
Two separate studies into the effects of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, showed that contrary to scientists' expectations, it does not increase but rather suppresses activity in areas of the brain that are also dampened with other anti-depressant treatments.
"Psychedelics are thought of as 'mind-expanding' drugs so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity," said David Nutt of Imperial College London, who gave a briefing about the studies on Monday. "But, surprisingly, we found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas."
These so-called "hub" regions of the brain are known to play a role in constraining our experience of the world and keeping it orderly, he said.
"We now know that deactivating these regions leads to a state in which the world is experienced as strange."
In the first study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal, 30 volunteers had psilocybin infused into their blood while they were inside magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, which measure changes in brain activity.
It found activity decreased in "hub" regions and many volunteers described a feeling of the cogs being loosened and their sense of self being altered.
The second study, due to be published in the British Journal of Psychiatry on Thursday, involved 10 volunteers and found that psilocybin enhanced their recollections of personal memories.
Robin Carhart Harris from Imperial's department of medicine, who worked on both studies, said the results suggest psilocybin could be useful as an adjunct to psychotherapy.
Nutt cautioned that the new research was very preliminary and involved only small numbers of people.
"We're not saying go out there and eat magic mushrooms," he said. "But...this drug has such a fundamental impact on the brain that it's got to be meaningful -- it's got to be telling us something about how the brain works. So we should be studying it and optimizing it if there's a therapeutic benefit."
"FUNDAMENTAL IMPACT"
The key areas of the brain identified -- one called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and another called the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) -- are the subject of debate among neuroscientists, but the PCC is thought by many to have a role in consciousness and self-identity.
The mPFC is known to be hyperactive in depression, and the researchers pointed out that other key treatments for depression including medicines like Prozac, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and deep brain stimulation, also appear to suppress mPFC activity.
Psilocybin's dampening action on this area may make it a useful and potentially long-acting antidepressant, Carhart-Harris said.
The studies also showed that psilocybin reduced blood flow in the hypothalamus - a part of the brain where people who suffer from a condition known as cluster headaches often have increased blood flow. This could explain why some cluster headache sufferers have said their symptoms improved after taking the psychedelic drug, the researcher said.
The studies, which are among only a handful conducted into psychedelic substances since the 1960s and 1970s, revive a promising field of study into mind-altering drugs which some experts say can offer powerful and sustained mood improvement and relief from anxiety.
Other experts echoed Nott's caution: "These findings are very interesting from the research viewpoint, but a great deal more work would be needed before most psychiatrists would think that psilocybin was a safe, effective and acceptable adjunct to psychotherapy," said Nick Craddock, a psychiatry professor from Cardiff University.
Kevin Healy, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' faculty of medical psychotherapy said it was interesting research "but we are clearly nowhere near seeing psilocybin used regularly and widely in psychotherapy practice."
A new analysis has found that a substantial number of lung and colorectal cancer patients continue to smoke after being diagnosed. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study provides valuable information on which cancer patients might need help to quit smoking.
When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, the main focus is to treat the disease. But stopping smoking after a cancer diagnosis is also important because continuing to smoke can negatively affect patients' responses to treatments, their subsequent cancer risk, and, potentially, their survival. Elyse R. Park, PhD, MPH, of the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, led a team that looked to see how many patients quit smoking around the time of a cancer diagnosis, and which smokers were most likely to quit.
The investigators determined smoking rates around the time of diagnosis and five months after diagnosis in 5,338 lung and colorectal cancer patients. At diagnosis, 39 percent of lung cancer patients and 14 percent of colorectal cancer patients were smoking; five months later, 14 percent of lung cancer patients and 9 percent of colorectal cancer patients were still smoking. These results indicate that a substantial minority of cancer patients continue to smoke after being diagnosed. Also, although lung cancer patients have higher rates of smoking at diagnosis and following diagnosis, colorectal cancer patients are less likely to quit smoking following diagnosis.
Factors and characteristics that predicted continued smoking differed by cancer type. Lung cancer patients who continued smoking tended to have Medicare or other public health insurance, have a lower body mass index, have low emotional support, not have received chemotherapy, not have had surgery, have had prior heart disease, and have smoked a high number of cigarettes per day at some point during their lives. Colorectal cancer patients who continued to smoke tended to be male, have completed less education, be uninsured, not have had surgery, and have once smoked a high number of cigarettes per day.
"These findings can help cancer clinicians identify patients who are at risk for smoking and guide tobacco counseling treatment development for cancer patients," said Dr. Park.
In an accompanying editorial, Carolyn Dressler, MD, of the Arkansas Department of Health in Little Rock, noted that Dr. Park's research highlights the critical importance of physicians and other caretakers to address tobacco cessation, particularly at the time of diagnosis. "Most clinicians acknowledge the importance of addressing tobacco cessation in their patients; however, few do it," she wrote. "We know enough now to implement effective cessation programs to identify and help cancer patients quit at the time of diagnosis and support them to prevent relapse. By doing so, we maximize patients' response to therapy, their quality of life, and their longevity."
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Article: "A snapshot of smokers following lung and colorectal cancer diagnosis." Elyse Park, Sandra Japuntich, Nancy A. Rigotti, Lara Traeger, Yulei He, Robert Wallace, Jennifer Malin, Jennifer C. Pandiscio, and Nancy L. Keating. CANCER; Published Online: January 23, 2012 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.26545).
Editorial: "Oncologists Should Intervene." Carolyn M. Dresler. CANCER; Published Online: January 23, 2012 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.26538).
CANCER is a peer-reviewed publication of the American Cancer Society integrating scientific information from worldwide sources for all oncologic specialties. The objective of CANCER is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of information among oncologic disciplines concerned with the etiology and course of human cancer. CANCER is published by Wiley-Blackwell and can be accessed online at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cancer.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Many people continue to smoke after being diagnosed with cancerPublic release date: 23-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
A new analysis has found that a substantial number of lung and colorectal cancer patients continue to smoke after being diagnosed. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study provides valuable information on which cancer patients might need help to quit smoking.
When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, the main focus is to treat the disease. But stopping smoking after a cancer diagnosis is also important because continuing to smoke can negatively affect patients' responses to treatments, their subsequent cancer risk, and, potentially, their survival. Elyse R. Park, PhD, MPH, of the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, led a team that looked to see how many patients quit smoking around the time of a cancer diagnosis, and which smokers were most likely to quit.
The investigators determined smoking rates around the time of diagnosis and five months after diagnosis in 5,338 lung and colorectal cancer patients. At diagnosis, 39 percent of lung cancer patients and 14 percent of colorectal cancer patients were smoking; five months later, 14 percent of lung cancer patients and 9 percent of colorectal cancer patients were still smoking. These results indicate that a substantial minority of cancer patients continue to smoke after being diagnosed. Also, although lung cancer patients have higher rates of smoking at diagnosis and following diagnosis, colorectal cancer patients are less likely to quit smoking following diagnosis.
Factors and characteristics that predicted continued smoking differed by cancer type. Lung cancer patients who continued smoking tended to have Medicare or other public health insurance, have a lower body mass index, have low emotional support, not have received chemotherapy, not have had surgery, have had prior heart disease, and have smoked a high number of cigarettes per day at some point during their lives. Colorectal cancer patients who continued to smoke tended to be male, have completed less education, be uninsured, not have had surgery, and have once smoked a high number of cigarettes per day.
"These findings can help cancer clinicians identify patients who are at risk for smoking and guide tobacco counseling treatment development for cancer patients," said Dr. Park.
In an accompanying editorial, Carolyn Dressler, MD, of the Arkansas Department of Health in Little Rock, noted that Dr. Park's research highlights the critical importance of physicians and other caretakers to address tobacco cessation, particularly at the time of diagnosis. "Most clinicians acknowledge the importance of addressing tobacco cessation in their patients; however, few do it," she wrote. "We know enough now to implement effective cessation programs to identify and help cancer patients quit at the time of diagnosis and support them to prevent relapse. By doing so, we maximize patients' response to therapy, their quality of life, and their longevity."
###
Article: "A snapshot of smokers following lung and colorectal cancer diagnosis." Elyse Park, Sandra Japuntich, Nancy A. Rigotti, Lara Traeger, Yulei He, Robert Wallace, Jennifer Malin, Jennifer C. Pandiscio, and Nancy L. Keating. CANCER; Published Online: January 23, 2012 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.26545).
Editorial: "Oncologists Should Intervene." Carolyn M. Dresler. CANCER; Published Online: January 23, 2012 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.26538).
CANCER is a peer-reviewed publication of the American Cancer Society integrating scientific information from worldwide sources for all oncologic specialties. The objective of CANCER is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of information among oncologic disciplines concerned with the etiology and course of human cancer. CANCER is published by Wiley-Blackwell and can be accessed online at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cancer.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A list of states and their uninsured population, grouped according to the progress they have made in establishing health insurance exchanges, a linchpin for expanding coverage under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law.
When you think of Super Bowl Sunday, many images likely come to mind: malty beverages, nachos, high-budget commercials and -- oh, yeah -- football. Even amongst us mobile fanatics, however, cellular coverage rarely crosses the mind. Fortunately, that's not how Big Red rolls. The company has brought three of its LTE cell-on-wheels rigs to Indianapolis in anticipation of the Big Game, which is expected to draw 85,000 attendees. Amongst other things, Lucas Oil Stadium is now wired to the teeth with $69 million in Verizon gear to ensure that all subscribers will be able to tweet along with each touchdown, fumble and botched call -- like the Giants / Packers game, for instance. In addition to the COWs, the equipment includes 400 mobile antennas inside the stadium to carry voice and data, along with 600 WiFi stations to support a total of 28,000 simultaneous connections. The folks at GottaBeMobile have an excellent spread of how all this came together, but if you're more of the visual type, you'll find a quick video after the break.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The first commercial cargo run to the International Space Station is off until spring.
SpaceX planned to launch its unmanned supply ship from Cape Canaveral on Feb. 7. But the company said more testing was needed with the spacecraft, named Dragon. And on Friday, officials confirmed the launch would not occur until late March.
Space station commander Daniel Burbank said as much as he'd like to take part in the historic event, it's important that SpaceX fly when it's ready. Burbank will return to Earth in mid-March.
"If that's not to be during our mission, then that's OK," Burbank said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. "We've got plenty of other things to occupy us ... but they'll fly when they're ready and they'll fly when they need to."
Just over a year ago, the California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. launched a test version of the capsule, becoming the first private business to send a spacecraft into orbit and return it safely. NASA is counting on companies like SpaceX to keep the station stocked, now that the shuttles are retired.
Until then, the Russian, European and Japanese space agencies ? all government entities ? are picking up the slack as best they can, sending up regular shipments to the orbiting outpost.
SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Grantham pointed out that this is a developmental program for her company, and everyone wants it to be a complete success.
"It may take a little more time, but when it happens, it's going to be amazing," she said.
This first Dragon capsule to visit the space station will carry several hundred pounds of astronaut provisions ? nothing crucial, in case of a failure.
Astronauts aboard the space station will use a huge robot arm to grab and berth the Dragon.
"This will be one step in the long road to human expansion off of the planet into low-Earth orbit and beyond," space station astronaut Donald Pettit said Friday. He is barely one month into a five-month mission.
The beauty of the Dragon is that it will be able to return scientific samples to Earth, Burbank noted. None of the other countries' supply ships can do that; they burn up on re-entry.
Americans Burbank and Pettit, three Russians and a Dutchman make up the six-man crew.
NASA closed out its 30-year shuttle program last July.
"There have been some impacts ... the shuttle did all the heavy lifting" for space station, Burbank said. There's excess equipment and trash on board, especially given the loss of a Russian supply ship in a launch accident last year. Those cargo carriers are filled with garbage before being jettisoned.
"I think we're getting by OK," Burbank said, "but we need to have as much up-mass and down-mass capability as we can to support space station operations at the level we need it."
SpaceX ? run by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk ? is one of several companies vying for space station visiting privileges. Its long-term goal is to modify its Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule to ferry astronauts to the station.
In the meantime, Americans are buying seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Have you voted for your favorite startups of 2011? Well what are you waiting for? Vote NOW. The Crunchies Awards are only a week away and we have been hustling behind the scenes getting ready for the big event. For those of you who do not know what the Crunchies Awards are about, think of them as the Oscars for technology. We host the awards show every year with our co-hosts GigaOm and VentureBeat and every year it's a smash hit with all-star guests and winners. We have categories ranging from Best Technology Achievement, to CEO of the Year, all the way to Best Startup of the Year. For this year's awards show, you can take a look at all of the final nominees up for the award here.
BEIJING (Reuters) ? China's banks ratcheted up lending in the last month of 2011 on the back of stronger money supply, reinforcing perceptions that the central bank is gently easing policy to cushion the impact of the global economic slowdown.
Chinese banks extended 640.5 billion yuan ($101.51 billion) in new loans in December, up from 562.2 billion yuan in November, data from the People's Bank of China showed on Sunday.
Annual growth in China's broad M2 money supply accelerated to 13.6 percent in December from November's 12.7 percent.
"The policy easing signal is becoming clearer," said Wang Hu, an economist at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai.
"We think the central bank will continue to loosen credit in the coming months."
The surge in bank lending and money supply exceeded market expectations. Analysts had expected 600 billion yuan in new loans for December and annual M2 growth of 12.7 percent in December.
Chinese policymakers have watched Europe's debt crisis with increasing alarm, but have resisted declaring an outright easing in monetary policy. Instead, they have stressed the need to "fine tune" policy, which many analysts say will mean easing of credit restrictions, particularly for small businesses.
In a separate statement on Sunday the central bank reiterated that it intended to maintain a stable monetary policy.
MORE EASING AHEAD?
The stronger-than-expected lending and money supply figures suggested that Beijing is firmly on track to unveil more pro-growth steps as inflation eases, which reduce the risk of a hard landing in the world's second-largest economy.
Contrary to its usual practice, the central bank did not release foreign exchange reserve figures along with money supply and lending data. The bank did not say when those numbers would be released.
Analysts widely expect the central bank to cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves again this month as a way of pumping more loans into the economy.
Beijing cut banks' reserve requirements by half a percentage point on the last day of November, its first in three years.
The move indicated China's central bank is shifting its policy to a pro-growth model, although the central bank continues to label its policy as "prudent," which suggests it is only easing policy gradually as it wants to tame the property sector and also fears that inflation may rebound.
Chinese banks extended a total of 7.47 trillion yuan in new loans in 2011, slightly under the government's undisclosed annual target of 7.5 trillion yuan.
China's once turbo-charged economy is on track to slow for a fourth successive quarter as global demand slackened.
China's annual GDP growth in the fourth quarter may have slowed to 8.7 percent from the 9.1 percent, according to the latest Reuters poll.
Annual inflation is expected to ease to 4.0 percent in December from 4.2 percent in November, according to a poll.
($1 = 6.3095 Chinese yuan)
(Additional reporting by Don Durfee; Editing by Jane Merriman)
Just a quick heads up that our fearless and frequently flying leader Phil will be live on Zen and Tech tonight to talk about stree-free travel and how all these gadgets can make things a little easier. Or not. The 30-minute show kicks off at 10 p.m. EST / 7 p.m. PST. MobileNations.com/live
If you?re thinking of travelling overseas any time soon, go and get your passport, scan it and insert a digital copy onto your iPad. It might just save you if you happen to lose the real thing, as a Canadian man discovered over Christmas.
Montreal resident Martin Reisch was about two hours from home, heading to the States to drop off some Christmas presents to friends when he realised he?d left his passport at home. Rather than turn back, he decided to try and get through using a digital copy stored on his iPad. Even though the border official was slightly annoyed, he let him through. Even more interesting is that the Canadian officials also let him through on the way back.
It?s important to note that Reisch was making a land crossing, so there wasn?t quite the same level of invasive security to check he wasn?t a terrorist. He also had his drivers license with him to help confirm his identity. Even though he made it through, the chances of the same thing happening again are slight, especially for Aussies arriving from a long-haul flight.
Still, probably best to have a copy stored digitally anyway. Just in case.
The presidential circus -- candidates, campaigns, trailing reporters -- is still more than a day away from the state that will hold the nation's first primary, but that doesn't mean New Hampshire has ceded the commander-in-chief contest to Iowa.
Signs touting the favorites adorn lawns and businesses, candidate ads are badgering television viewers, and the state's powerhouse station, ABC affiliate WMUR, is telling the state's residents that -- sorry, Iowa -- "it all starts right here in New Hampshire."
Ads promoting Mitt Romney and Ron Paul were most prominent on the airwaves Monday and offer an instructive distinction between the appeals?and approaches?of the two candidates.
Romney appears before a giant American flag, promising in a lushly filmed pitch to bring America back from dismal circumstances that he implies are wholly President Obama's fault. If not exactly Ronald Reagan's optimistic "morning in America" vibe, it at least suggests Romney is the only vehicle to make the dawn rise sunnily again.
"It's time for this pessimistic president to step aside," Romney says in the ad, which closes with a photograph of Romney and his wife, Ann, in full Ronnie-and-Nancy togetherness.
Paul plays not on America's reach for optimism but on its anger. His ad, airing repeatedly throughout the day, opens with the blunt dismissals of a succession of visibly irked Paul supporters: "America is in trouble. Washington is a disgrace."
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is described as a "flip-flopper," and he is shown in an old clip advocating a stimulus plan. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker whose post-official years were spent consulting for mortgage giant Freddie Mac, among others, is described as guilty of "serial hypocrisy."
Paul, in contrast, is described as never having voted for a tax increase. And his ad includes subtle suggestions that voters of all stripes could find faith with him. The voice criticizing Romney is that of Fox News anchor Chris Wallace; praising Paul in a television clip as "so consistent from the very beginning" is liberal Bill Press, former head of the California Democratic Party.
Ironically, given the man Paul would like to replace, the congressman's ads echo a line of Obama's much maligned by Republicans, who in 2008 contended it suggested a Messiah complex on the part of the Democrat.
"We are the ones we have been waiting for," Obama told his supporters nearly four years ago on a primary election night.
"Ron Paul is the one we have been looking for," the 2012 candidate's ads conclude.
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Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
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