'Shark Week' ready to shred 'Sharknado'

TV

Rob Owen TODAY contributor

27 minutes ago

Jeff Kurr / Discovery Channel

Discovery's "Return of Jaws" program features a shark cam that tracks these predators of the oceans, including great white sharks off Cape Cod.

If you?re not among the ?Shark Week? faithful, it?s easy to wonder: How many TV shows can possibly be made about sharks before this programming event threatens to jump the shark? After all, Discovery is kicking off its 26th year of shark-centered programming on Aug. 4.

But recent buzz about the cheesy Syfy movie ?Sharknado? proves there?s an unending appetite for shows that star these predators of the seas. The campy made-for-TV flick starring Ian Ziering and Tara Reid debuted to just 1.4 million, but repeated airings have drawn more and more viewers, with the third delivering 2.1 million sets of eyeballs.

But compared to the sensation that is Discovery's "Shark Week," that's peanuts.

?It?s our biggest week of the year and brings in a lot of people who are not your core, common Discovery viewers,? Nancy Daniels, executive vice president of production and development for the network told TODAY.com. ?It?s a pop culture phenomenon people talk about.?

Ratings for "Shark Week" 2012 in the 25-54 demo were 39.6 percent higher than the network's prime-time average. The premiere event also reeled in more than 21 million cumulative viewers, according to Discovery. In addition to high ratings, the TV event also blew up on social media last year, with 2.6 million @SharkWeek tweets and 17.5 million people reached on Facebook.

"Shark Week," which kicked off in 1988, has since featured more than 150 shark-centric programs. This year, Discovery will add 11 more to the list, including, "Megalodon: The Monster Shark That Lives," about a search for a species thought to be extinct; "Return of Jaws," which features a robot submarine that tracks the deadly fish; "Voodoo Sharks," about bull sharks in the Louisiana bayou; and more.

Of the new offerings, Daniels said she?s especially excited about ?Megalodon.?

?For years we?ve found teeth of megalodon and we know they used to exist and we think they might still exist in ?Megaladon,? ? she said.

If it sounds like the cheesy Animal Planet programs about mermaids, ?I think you might need to watch it to check it out,? Daniels teased.

This year's "Shark Week" will also feature a first for the network: ?Shark After Dark,? a late-night talk show hosted by comedian Josh Wolf, best known for his regular appearances on ?Chelsea Lately.?

The live, one-hour show will be ?shark-centric? with shark experts as guests, Wolf told TODAY.com, but it will also feature celebrity guests, including ?Sharknado?s? Reid.

Launching a late-night talk show on Discovery is something network executives had been considering before settling on testing the chum-infested waters during ?Shark Week.? Daniels said ?Shark After Dark? will serve as a learning experience for the network as it considers a more permanent late-night program.

?Shark After Dark? will include some mentions of the night?s prime-time shows and previews of the next night?s offerings, but Wolf said it?s not a recap show like other after-shows. (Think AMC's "Talking Dead.")

?I?m gonna assume people tuning in have just watched ?Shark Week? so it?s only smart to comment on it,? Wolf said. Besides, he?s a fan of shark shows too: ?I?m one of those guys who?s always been obsessed with watching it.?

Wolf said he gets geared up for ?Shark Week? each year, but he?s hesitant to actually swim with sharks.

He?s not alone in his armchair enthusiasm. By mid-July, Twitter was lighting up with anticipation:

Discovery jump-started interest in ?Shark Week? this year with a promotional campaign that showed a shark snatching Snuffy the Seal as he was being returned to the ocean. (Slogan: ?It?s a bad week to be a seal.?)

Daniels credited Lara Richardson, Discovery?s senior vice president of marketing, for coming up with a campaign that plays off the frequent ?Shark Week? image of sharks breaching the ocean?s surface to chomp on seals. (Daniels revealed what viewers often see on ?Shark Week? are sharks attacking fake, decoy seals dragged behind boats in an effort to capture dramatic footage.)

The spot shocked some viewers with how dark it was, but it did the trick in drawing attention to "Shark Week" 2013. Just one month after the spot premiered in late June, the video already had more than 1.3 million views on YouTube.

As for competing networks trying to steal Discovery?s shark thunder, Daniels said she?s not concerned.

?(Syfy) figured out something we?ve known for a long time: Sharks are awesome and people love sharks,? she said. ?('Sharknado') just reaffirmed what we do every year for ?Shark Week.? ?

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/shark-weeks-ready-shred-sharknado-it-returns-26th-year-6C10809668

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Forbes has ranked Seattle as the most miserable sports city in the US; bonus poi...

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/SeattlePublicLibrary/posts/10151518576136339

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Zimbabwe: Mugabe declared winner in disputed vote

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) ? Zimbabwe's electoral panel on Saturday declared that longtime President Robert Mugabe had won re-election by a landslide, a result that could exacerbate tensions in the country, where the 89-year-old's chief rival and former coalition partner has accused him of poll-rigging.

Mugabe seemed set to strengthen his hold over Zimbabwe after the state Election Commission said his party won 158 of the 210 parliament seats. That gives it a two-thirds majority in the legislature ? enabling it to amend a recently approved constitution that provides for democratic reforms.

Challenger Morgan Tsvangirai's party, which had gambled that a high turnout in its favor would overcome any alleged fraud in the vote, captured 50 seats and two went to independent candidates.

According to the results, Mugabe won 61 percent of the vote, compared to 33 percent for Tsvangirai, who had been prime minister in a tense power-sharing deal with the president. Officially, Mugabe, who has been in power for 33 years, gets another five-year term in office.

Tsvangirai rejected the results as fraudulent and called for fresh elections. He urged a peaceful response to the alleged massive rigging by Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, which has the muscle of the security forces to deter any groundswell of street protests.

In contrast to an election marked by deadly attacks in 2008, the vote on Wednesday was mostly peaceful and African poll monitors, while expressing some concern about reported irregularities, seemed mostly relieved that it was not violent.

Britain and the United States were more forceful in their criticism of the voting process, though Mugabe has based his career in part on sparring with Western powers and there is little chance their disapproval will sway him.

That leaves the Zimbabwean opposition with few options for countering Mugabe, who presides over a country that still has economic problems but enjoys some measure of stability compared to a period of soaring inflation years ago.

Tsvangirai said his Movement for Democratic Change party has in its possession evidence of massive rigging by Mugabe's party in the just-ended polls and will challenge results from Wednesday's voting in court.

"People of Zimbabwe must be given another chance to participate in a free, fair and credible election. They have been shortchanged by a predetermined election," he said. He added that his party will not "participate in any government institutions" in protest but stopped short of saying it will boycott its reduced seats in the Harare parliament.

Mugabe's loyalist army and police have set up security posts in Harare on Saturday, apparently in case there are any protest demonstrations.

"We are rejecting the results because they are fraudulent," Tsvangirai said. "We will go back to our people. Our people are the ones hurting. Our people are disciplined. We don't want a violent resolution to this crisis."

He said a complete audit is needed of the shambolic lists of registered voters, which were made available to the parties only at the time of the election.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that the election process was "deeply flawed" because of irregularities in the voters' roll, unequal access of the parties to state media, a lack of political reforms as mandated by the constitution, and other problems. He cited "the balance of evidence," although the United States was barred from monitoring the vote.

"The people of Zimbabwe should be commended for rejecting violence and showing their commitment to the democratic process," Kerry said. "But make no mistake: in light of substantial electoral irregularities reported by domestic and regional observers, the United States does not believe that the results announced today represent a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed "deep concern" over the election, saying the failure to share the voters' roll with political parties was a "critical flaw." Hague said that and other irregularities "call into serious question the credibility of the election."

"We note that some political parties have rejected the result on the basis of these irregularities," he said, without saying whether Britain endorsed their move. "We will need to examine what has happened and consider further reports from regional and local observer missions. In the meantime, it is important that all allegations of electoral violations are thoroughly investigated."

Tsvangirai's party lost several seats in its Harare urban strongholds by massive margins compared to their overwhelming victories in 2008.

In one Harare constituency, Tsvangirai's party won with 9,538 votes to 8,190 captured by Mugabe's party. In 2008, the same district voted for the MDC candidate, Tendai Biti, by about 8,300 ballots against Mugabe's 2,500 votes.

Independent monitors have charged that as many as 750,000 voters were prevented from casting their ballots on Wednesday because of irregularities in voters' lists. They also allege that thousands of unregistered voters were allowed to vote.

The continent-wide African Union and regional monitors of the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, have generally endorsed the elections as peaceful. But they have expressed misgivings over how voting numbers might have been manipulated and have demanded a full account of voter numbers from the official state election body before passing their final judgment on whether the polls were free, fair and credible.

___

AP Writer Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zimbabwe-mugabe-declared-winner-disputed-vote-205240158.html

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Chinese automaker shamelessly copies Volkswagen Taigun Concept

Unheard-of Chinese automaker Jiangsu Lake Motors is preparing a 99 percent copy of the Volkswagen Taigun Concept.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but this is just too much. You are looking at a car created by Jiangsu Lake Motors which is currently known simply as the "SUV". The real VW Taigun won't be out until 2016 but a very similar design will probably be seen on Chinese streets a lot sooner.

These photos are actually from a patent application and show virtually the same styling, including the alloy design (albeit with significantly slimmer tires). The main difference between the two can be seen at the rear doors where the "SUV" gets normal door handles.

This latest patent application comes after a string of China-made copy/paste models, including the recent Lamborghini Urus lookalike from Sichuan Yema and the C-Class impersonator known as the Brilliance BS6.

Source: http://www.worldcarfans.com/113080261026/chinese-automaker-shamelessly-copies-volkswagen-taigun

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Federal judge who clears NCAA players to sue EA Sports is BYU alum

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that a group of former college athletes led by onetime Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller could proceed with their lawsuit against EA Sports for ?stealing? their likenesses and physical attributes.

Judge Jay Bybee, a BYU alumnus, authored the majority opinion. Per the San Francisco Chronicle, Bybee wrote, ?"EA's use does not qualify for First Amendment protection as a matter of law because it literally re-creates Keller in the very setting in which he has received renown. Given that 'NCAA Football' realistically portrays college football players in the context of college football games, the district court was correct in concluding that EA cannot prevail as a matter of law."

Courthouse News Service's Annie Youderian wrote, ?Keller's lawsuit is similar to the antitrust class action filed in 2009 by former UCLA basketball star Edward O'Bannon. He accused EA and the NCAA of conspiring to dupe college athletes into signing away their rights to profit from their own images.?

?The lawsuits are part of a broader legal campaign that, if successful, could force the National Collegiate Athletic Association to tweak its longstanding rule that college athletes can't profit from their celebrity,? Joe Palazzolo reported Thursday for the Wall Street Journal. ?Electronic Arts pays the Collegiate Licensing Co., the NCAA's licensing arm, to use school and team names, uniforms and even fight songs. But the company doesn't compensate college players.

?The NCAA declined to comment. ? It announced in July that it won't renew its contract with EA due to the ?current business climate and costs of litigation.??

Email: jaskar@desnews.com

Source: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865584001/Federal-judge-who-clears-NCAA-players-to-sue-EA-Sports-is-BYU-alum.html

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FDA defining what "gluten free" means on packages

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A label that reads "gluten free" will now mean the same thing for all food, regardless of which kind you buy.

After more than a six-year delay, the Food and Drug Administration has set a new standard for labels that will make shopping easier for consumers on gluten-restricted diets. Until now, the term "gluten free" had not been regulated, and manufacturers made their own decisions about what it means.

Under an FDA rule announced Friday, products labeled "gluten free" still won't have to be technically free of wheat, rye and barley and their derivatives. But they will have to contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten.

That amount is generally recognized by the medical community to be low enough so that most people who have celiac disease won't get sick if they eat it.

People who suffer from celiac disease don't absorb nutrients well and can get sick from the gluten found in wheat and other cereal grains. Other countries already have similar standards.

Celiac disease affects up to 3 million Americans. It causes abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea, and people who have it can suffer weight loss, fatigue, rashes and other long-term medical problems. Celiac is a diagnosed illness that is more severe than gluten sensitivity, which some people self-diagnose.

Only a very small number of people wouldn't be able to ingest the amount of gluten that will be allowed under the new rule, FDA officials said.

"Adherence to a gluten-free diet is the key to treating celiac disease, which can be very disruptive to everyday life," FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg said. "The FDA's new 'gluten-free' definition will help people with this condition make food choices with confidence and allow them to better manage their health."

The new FDA rule also would ensure that foods with the labels "no gluten," ''free of gluten," and "without gluten" meet the definition. Manufacturers will have a year to comply, though the FDA urged companies to meet the definition sooner.

Ten years ago, most people had never heard of celiac disease. But awareness and diagnosis of the illness has exploded in recent years. It's not entirely clear why ? some researchers say it was under-diagnosed; others say it's because people eat more processed wheat products like pastas and baked goods than in past decades, and those items use types of wheat that have a higher gluten content.

Many companies that market gluten-free foods already meet the standard. But Andrea Levario of the American Celiac Disease Alliance said the federal guidelines will cut down on painstaking shopping for those who suffer from celiac disease.

Levario said that wheat must be labeled on food packages but that barley and rye are often hidden ingredients in food. The standard will also ensure that companies can't label products "gluten-free" even if they are cross-contaminated from other products made in the same manufacturing facility. She said shopping can be like "playing Russian roulette" for people who have celiac.

"This will eliminate confusion for the consumer and will cut down on calls to companies to try and determine whether their products are safe and gluten free," she said.

Michael Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods, said the rule originally proposed during the George W. Bush administration was delayed because the agency was evaluating what standard was correct.

"We wanted to do a careful scientific assessment of the data and the range of sensitivities," Taylor said.

Congress originally directed the FDA to set the standards in 2004 as part of a larger law that required food packaging to list major allergens. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., originally introduced a bill calling for the standards in 1999. She praised the FDA rules and called them "a long time coming."

In the decade since Congress considered the standards, gluten-free foods have become big business. Millions of people are buying the foods because they say they make them feel better, even if they don't have celiac disease. Americans spent more than $4 billion on gluten-free foods last year, according to the American Celiac Disease Alliance, and a major manufacturing survey issued this week suggested that the niche industry is giving an economic boost to the food industry overall.

One of the largest manufacturers of gluten free foods, Boulder Brands, said it has been seeing double-digit growth in sales and is looking at expanding into bigger markets. The company's brands, Glutino and Udi's, already meet the new standards.

"We expect the new regulations to impact sales in a positive way as consumers can feel more confident in their gluten free choices," said T.J. McIntyre, executive vice president of the company.

__

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fda-defining-gluten-free-means-packages-130020591.html

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"Applications to [New Mexico Law School] law school dip sharply"

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Source: www.legalethicsforum.com --- Thursday, August 01, 2013
Story at ABQ Journal. Excerpt: A steep decline in applications has the University of New Mexico?s School of Law re-evaluating its future while putting faculty expansion on hold, administrators say. The school, under the direction of new dean David Herring,... ...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LegalEthicsForum/~3/-4WnVTRb3AY/applications-to-new-mexico-law-school-law-school-dip-sharply.html

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