By Sharon JaysonUSA TODAY
Marriage is increasingly optional and could be on its way to obsolescence, according to a survey of more than 2,600 Americans that examines changing attitudes about relationships today. Read more on USA TODAY
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
F.D.A. Proposed Graphic Warning Labels for Cigarette Packs (US news)
WASHINGTON — Federal drug regulators on Wednesday unveiled 36 proposed warning labels for cigarette packages, including one showing a toe tag on a corpse and another in which a Publish Postmother blows smoke on her baby. moreWednesday, November 10, 2010
Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected
By TRIP GABRIELPublished: November 9, 2010 (NY Times)
An achievement gap separating black from white students has long been documented — a social divide extremely vexing to policy makers and the target of one blast of school reform after another.
But a new report focusing on black males suggests that the picture is even bleaker than generally known.
Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.
Poverty alone does not seem to explain the differences: poor white boys do just as well as African-American boys who do not live in poverty, measured by whether they qualify for subsidized school lunches.
The data was distilled from highly respected national math and reading tests, known as the National Assessment for Educational Progress, which are given to students in fourth and eighth grades, most recently in 2009. The report, “A Call for Change,” is to be released Tuesday by the Council of the Great City Schools, an advocacy group for urban public schools.
Although the outlines of the problem and many specifics have been previously reported, the group hopes that including so much of what it calls “jaw-dropping data” in one place will spark a new sense of national urgency.
“What this clearly shows is that black males who are not eligible for free and reduced-price lunch are doing no better than white males who are poor,” said Michael Casserly, executive director of the council. more
Monday, November 1, 2010
Liya Kebede to act along with Antonio Banderas on $55 million epic adventure Black Gold
LONDON –Tarak Ben Ammar's Quinta Communications and the Doha Film Institute (DFI) have inked a deal to co-produce Jean-Jacques Annaud's $55 million budgeted Black Gold. Ben Ammar's banner has pacted with the DFI to co-produce the Antonio Banderas, Tahar Rahim, Mark Strong, Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed and Liya Kebede starrer.Billed as an epic adventure, the screenplay by Menno Meyjes is an adaptation of Hans Reusch's novel The Great Thirst.
Annaud and Alain Godardhave co-written the story.
The deal was unveiled Thursday during this year's DFI.
Shooting began in Tunisia earlier this month and the film will shoot in and around Ben Ammar's Empire Studios in Tunisia, as well as on location in Qatar next year.
Black Gold tells the story of the rivalry between two Emirs in Arabia in the 1930's just as oil is being discovered, and the rise of a young, dynamic leader who unites the various tribes of the desert kingdoms
Warner Bros. will distribute the film in France, the U.K., Latin America and the Middle East.
Universal Pictures International (UPI) will distribute the film in Germany and Spain.
Quinta Communications' Eagle Pictures is handling distribution in Italy.
"I am delighted that the Doha Film Institute will be my partners in bringing this epic story of Arab heroism and nobility to audiences around the world," said Ben Ammar. "When I first tried to make this film over 30 years ago, I could not find any Arab partners who shared my belief that culture and cinema was a priority. Now, thanks to the inspirational vision of H.E.Sheikha Mayassa Bint Hamad Al Thani and her team at the Doha Film Institute, I can see how much has changed and that progress is real."
For the Doha Film Institute, which launched at the Cannes Film Festival this year, Black Goldrepresents the first major international feature film that the organization has been involved with.
Amanda Palmer, executive director of DFI said: "One of the goals of DFI is to support and showcase Arab storytellers and expand the reach of Arab films globally. Since our launch five months ago, we have been looking for film financing opportunities that provide unique educational experiences to Qatari youth, and it was important for us to find a production to film here."
Source: Holywood Reporter
Ethiopian food truck coming to your neighborhood.
Fojol Bros. debut Ethiopian food truck
The guys behind the popular Fojol Bros. of Merlindia Indian food truck have been hinting at a new mobile operation for a while, but kept the details under wraps. The new truck debuted alongside the original on Saturday, so it's a secret no longer: Welcome Fojol Bros. of Benethiopia to the streets of D.C.
As you may have guessed, it serves Ethiopian food. Overseeing the operation is 31-year-old Russell Bailey, a high school friend of Fojol mastermind Justin Vitarello. Bailey and his wife, Lula Habte, are cooking, and both come from culinary bloodlines. His family operated a restaurant and deli in Leesburg when he was growing up, and Habte's mother owned restaurants in her native Ethiopia. In fact, Habte's mother's berbere blend is used in some of the truck's dishes.
Options include siga wot (a spicy beef stew) and a fit-fit variation they are calling sunflower injera salad, which combines small pieces of injera (the flat, spongy sourdough bread used as both utensil and serving surface) with lightly cooked sunflower seeds. The truck offers a number of meatless dishes such as lentils, collard greens, beets and green beans. One Ethiopian staple you won't find on the menu: doro wat. Habte has not yet found an American chicken breed she thinks will do the dish justice.
The sauce-heavy menu items are served over injera, as is traditional, but because street food needs to be eaten out of hand, those come with small squares of pre-cut injera to be used as utensils. An external sink installed between the order and service windows allows customers to wash their hands before they eat.
When the truck officially hits the street on Wednesday, you will be able to grab a plate of injera and two menu choices for $7. The plan, initially, is to have the Ethiopian truck travel alongside its curry-hawking partner. The two trucks are almost identical, which hews to the Fojol Bros. aesthetic.
"We call ourselves a traveling culinary carnival," Bailey says. "But one truck isn't quite a traveling culinary carnival. Now that we have two, we feel like we are really living up to the name."
-- Justin Rude
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
BEST JOBS IN AMERICA 2010
America's best jobs offer great pay, work that's satisfying, and big growth opportunities. Here are the 100 with the best prospects in the years ahead.
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