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Satellite Wars: China unveils ‘cheaper’ answer to GPS

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December 27, 2012

Satellite Wars: China unveils ‘cheaper’ answer to GPS

Another BeiDou satellite goes up (Photo from facebook.com user Beidou Navigation System)

China’s rapidly-expanding rival to GPS, called BeiDou, has become available to customers across Asia-Pacific for the first time. It aims to claim a fifth of the satellite services market in the region in just three years.

Previously, the satellite constellation was only used by the country’s military and government services. Now, it is being commercialized.

“The services now available include positioning, navigation, timing and short messages for China and surrounding areas. We hope BeiDou conquers 15 to 20 percent of the satellite services market in the Asia Pacific by 2015,” BeiDou spokesman Ran Chengqi announced at a press conference in Beijing, reported by Xinhua news agency.

China says that as it expands worldwide, the state-funded navigation system will bring in revenues of more than $60 billion a year.

At the moment, a user receiving BeiDou’s signal can determine their position to within ten meters. Most civilian GPS users are given positional data that is out by no more than 2 meters, but BeiDou’s makers say their services will be much cheaper than those of the US-government owned GPS.

BeiDou, which is the Chinese term for the Big Dipper star, is also expanding at an impressive rate, meaning it will soon be able to bridge the performance gap.

While GPS has been active since the 1970s, and has satellites in orbit that have been operating for two decades, BeiDou launched the first of its current generation satellites only five years ago.

GPS comprises 30 satellites, while BeiDou already has over fifteen, and is going to have another forty in orbit by the time the network is complete in 2020, at the cost of another $6 billion, according to Ran. The greater the number of satellites, the easier it is for the system to calculate location, time and velocity of moving objects.

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Theatre 29 Announces New Officers For 2013

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December 27, 2012

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The Board of Directors for the non-profit Community Theater organization, Theatre 29, held their yearly reorganization meeting December 11, 2012 and elected new officers and Board Members for 2013.

Re-elected for two-year terms (2013-2014) were Brian Tabeling, Ken Palmer, Kathryn Ferguson, Robin Schmelling, and Mary Phelps.

They will join incumbent Board members (2012-2013) Frances Wright, Gary Daigneault, Tom Highfill, Marty Nieder, and Cindy Daigneault.

In reorganizing for 2013, for the Executive Board, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to re-elect Brain Tabeling as the Board President for a third term, Gary Daigneault was named as vice-president, Mary Phelps as Board Secretary, and Francis Wright as Treasurer.

President Tabeling then made board committee appointments, which were approved by a vote of the Board as per the Theater 29 by-laws. The board members and their areas of responsibility at this time are:

Facilities Manager (Theatre 29 physical plant) – Ken Palmer
Technical Bridge Area – Ken Palmer
Outside, Shop and Storage Areas – Francis Wright
Stage Area Manager – Brian Tabeling
Box Office Operations / Mailing List Manager – Tom Highfill
Publicity – Gary Daigneault
Sponsorship and Patrons – Cindy Daigneault
Security – Ken Palmer
Program Advertisement Sales – Cindy Daigneault & Marty Neider
Snack Bar Manager – Brian Tabeling
Historian – Judy Andreshak
Props and Costumes Storage – Mary Phelps
Volunteer Coordinator – Marty Neider
Insurance Coordinator – Robin Schmelling

Named to 2013 Theatre 29 Board Committees were:

Play Selection Committee, Chair, Kathryn Ferguson – Gary Daigneault, Robin Schmelling, Marty Neider, and Frances Wright

Building Committee, Chair, Gary Daigneault – Brian Tabeling, Ken Palmer and Tom Highfill

Special Events Committee (Gala and Dinner) Chair, Kathy Ferguson – Cindy Daigneault and Robin Schmelling

Longtime volunteer and former board member Charles Harvey will continue to oversee all the graphics and printing for Programs, Posters, Flyers and Brochures through his Harvey Multi-Media Productions.

Retired long-time former Board member Judy Andreshak will remain as the organizations Historian.

First organized in 1999, Theatre 29 is an all-volunteer, non-profit Community Theater program incorporated as an IRS 501(c) 3 non-profit organization. Theatre 29 operates in a building provided “for the public good” by the City of Twentynine Palms at 73637 Sullivan Road.

The mission of Theatre 29 is: “To bring quality, family-oriented Theater to Twentynine Palms while offering opportunities for our children and citizens to experience the live arts.”

The new 2013 season includes seven productions; A mystery-thriller, Three hit Broadway Musical Productions, a summer Youth Theater Children’s production, another spectacular Halloween Haunt event, and a Classic Holiday favorite.

Ticket prices for 2013 will remain the same;
Regular Admission – $12.00
Seniors and Military – $10.00
Children under 12 and Students with ID – $8.00
Student Rush – standby only, with ID, 5 minutes before curtain – $1.00

2013 Season Ticket Prices:

(All six regular season shows plus the spectacular Halloween Haunt)

Regular – $68.00
Seniors, Military, – $56.00
Children under 12 and Students with ID – $46.00

2013 Season tickets and tickets for individual shows are available now on-line atwww.theatre29.org or by calling 760-361-4151. Theatre 29 will pay on-line processing fees to those who make reservations and purchase tickets on-line. The state-of-the-art “Vendini” computer reservation system allows patrons to choose, reserve, and pay for individual seats from the comfort of their home or office computer.

Local non-profits can take advantage of the Theatre 29 Opening Night sponsorship program to raise funds. Commercial businesses can utilize the Theatre 29 Patron program to support the Theatre organization while promoting their business. Theater 29 also has opportunities for exposure to arts patrons by placing ads in the programs for the individual productions. Information on sponsors, Patrons, and program advertising is available by calling Cindy Daigneault at 760-366-8471.

Patrons in 2013 will enjoy ultra-comfortable upgraded riser seats obtained when the Marine Base Theater remodeled and floor level seating installed in 2010 after a very successful fund-raising effort. Additional seats are still available for patrons to sponsor for $100.00 each. Those contributing will get their names on a seating donor plaque to be permanently displayed in the theater lobby.

For more information about Theatre 29 or support opportunities call the Theatre 29 Box Office at760-361-4151 or go online to <http://www.theatre29.org/>www.theatre29.org

Rupert Murdoch on Zero Dark Thirty drama: ‘Could inflame the Arab world’

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December 27, 2012

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Rupert Murdoch on Zero Dark Thirty drama: ‘Could inflame the Arab world’

Zero Dark Thirty directed by Kathryn Bigelow (image from kinopoisk.ru)

The News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch has warned his followers on Twitter that the US Oscar contender focusing on the decade-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty, “could inflame the Arab world.”

The media mogul tweeted that he “just saw Zero Dark Thirty” directed by James Cameron’s ex- wife, the Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow. The film received mixed reviews when it arrived in theaters across America for its depiction of torture, among other controversial issues.

Describing it as a “gripping film” Murdoch pointed out that the “coming debate on torture should include all sides, but won’t.”

Last week the acting head of the CIA, Michael Morell, wrote a statement to CIA employees to “put into some context” the drama whose title is a military terminology for half past midnight, the time at which the hunt of Osama bin Laden by the CIA was scheduled to take place.

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RT recalls 2012: Assange’s ordeal

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December 27, 2012

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In 2012 Julian Assange was fighting against extradition in the UK courts. He lost and ended up in the Ecuadorian embassy: granted asylum, but unable to leave. Yet he managed to host his own show on RT, write a book and talk about freedom of speech.

Ecuador granted political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on August 16. The decision came almost two months after the world-famous whistleblower came to the country’s embassy in London seeking protection in an effort to avoid extradition to Sweden.

“We have decided to grant political asylum to Mr. Assange,” said Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino. “We believe that his fears are legitimate and there are the threats that he could face political persecution.”

Swedish authorities want to question Assange over allegations of “unlawful coercion and sexual misconduct.” He is not charged with any crime. The UK Supreme court ruled WikiLeaks founder should be extradited to Sweden. Assange remains convinced this would lead to his eventual extradition to the US, where he would face charges of espionage following the publication of thousands of classified documents, including secret cables of the US State Department.

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Peers in prayer: Israel may review gender inequality at holy site

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December 27, 2012

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Peers in prayer: Israel may review gender inequality at holy site

American Jewish women from Florida, wearing the Talit (prayer shawl), read the Torah in front of the Western wall in the Old City of Jerusalem on October 15, 2012. (AFP Photo / Menahem Kahana)

Pressured by rights activists and foreign Jewish diaspora, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has asked for a review of an Orthodox-backed law which restricts the ways how women can pray at the holy site of the Western Wall.

The decision comes amid outrage from women rights activists in Israel and across the Jewish Diaspora in other countries over a flurry of recent arrests of female activists near the wall. Currently only men are allowed to wear traditional prayer shawl or read from Torah at the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, plaza.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has asked Natan Sharansky, the chairman of the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency, to study the issue and suggest ways rectify the conflict. The agency is responsible for immigration and relations with Jews abroad.

US-based organizations are among the vocal critics of the law and supporters of the Women of the Wall, the Israeli organization fighting for gender equality at the site. The move may help the Israeli government somewhat curb the global trend which is seeing Jewish communities abroad become more detached from the Jewish state and its goals.

“The prime minister thinks the Western Wall has to be a site that expresses the unity of the Jewish people, both inside Israel and outside the state of Israel,” Ron Dermer, Netanyahu’s senior adviser, explained in an interview with The New York Times. “He wants to preserve the unity of world Jewry. This is an important component of Israel’s strength.”

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