The Appropriation of Paul Walker

Paul Walker Tribute Video (IN LOVING MEMORY) by First & Furious

In death, Paul Walker has found more fame and exposure than ever before. 

The announcement that Universal Studios plans to donate a portion of the "Fast and Furious 6" DVD, Blu-ray and digital sales to Walker's charity, Reach Out WorldWide, is just the latest instance of the continued buzz that has surrounded the actor since he and a friend were killed in a car crash on Saturday.

10 Action Movies Of All Time

Action movies are favorite to almost everyone. Action movies are full of excitements, full of hope that the evil will be punished, full of exception that the truth will win. According to Wikipedia.

Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes are thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases. It tends to feature a resourceful character struggling against incredible odds, which may involve life-threatening situations, an evil villain, and/or being pursued, with victory achieved at the end after difficult physical efforts and violence. 

So, in today’s post we will see ten top rated Action Movies of all time.

Five myths about John F. Kennedy

Jhon F. Kennedy

Larry J. Sabato is director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. His latest book is “The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy.” 

 

Most everyone who was alive on Nov. 22, 1963, remembers where they were when they heard that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. JFK was the youngest elected U.S. president and the youngest to die. The fascination with him is never-ending: There have been hundreds of books, TV specials and films about his New Frontier, as well as the enduring controversy surrounding his assassination. Let’s debunk some of the most pervasive myths.

'Jennifer Lawrence Backlash' Is Not a Real Thing

Jennifer Lawrence

If you're a Jennifer Lawrence fan, the Internet is urging you to be upset. Apparently, there's a massive, vicious wave of J-Law hatred that's about to sweep the country, and it shall be so. ("How much longer before people are tired of [her]?" asks Vulture in their piece, Is Jennifer Lawrence Katniss-ing Us?)

'Sound of Music Live!' Hits a Sour note

"The Sound of Music Live!" has become the new definition of "hate-watching." 

Anyone with a Twitter account has noticed the tidal wave of tweets about NBC's TV event, which aired for three hours on Thursday night, but that can't exactly be taken as a good sign. (You know a TV show isn't going well when

FIFA Switches Start Time For 7 World Cup Games

FIFA has switched the starting times of seven World Cup matches, including the U.S.-Portugal game on June 22 in the Amazonian jungle city of Manaus. 

FIFPro, the international soccer players' union, had pressed FIFA to avoid the earliest kickoffs in the hottest and most humid weather.

Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds Stabbed By Son

Creigh Deeds

Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds has improved from critical to fair condition Tuesday after sustaining stab wounds at his Bath County home. His 24-year-old son, Gus, died from a gunshot wound at the scene less than a day after receiving a emergency mental health evaluation.

How Amazon's Drone Will Transform Government

Amazon Drone Transfrom

On Monday morning, everyone was talking about Amazon’s future plans to use personalized drones to deliver purchases within 30 minutes to certain destinations. Several years ago, prognosticators started proclaiming that drones would be as ubiquitous as cell phones and would be used for everything from deliveries to data collection. Indeed, last year at the Consumer Electronics Show, I was introduced to about 15 startups focused on consumer drone applications. The University of Alaska at Fairbanks is developing a regional entrepreneurial ecosystem around drone technology.

Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid icon and father of modern South Africa, dies at 95

Nelson Mandela, the prisoner-turned-president who reconciled South Africa after the end of apartheid, died on Thursday, December 5, according to the country's president, Jacob Zuma. Mandela was 95.

Nelson Mandela, the prisoner-turned-president who reconciled South Africa after the end of apartheid, died on Thursday, December 5, according to the country's president, Jacob Zuma. Mandela was 95.

Freedom fighter, prisoner, moral compass and South Africa's symbol of the struggle against racial oppression.

That was Nelson Mandela, who emerged from prison after 27 years to lead his country out of decades of apartheid.

He died Thursday night at age 95

Oklahoma Tornado Victim Search Efforts Winding Down

Helmeted rescue workers raced Tuesday to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of eight children.

WWE Extreme Rules Features No Contest For WWE Title, Big Night For The Shield

This year's Extreme Rules pay-per-view event left us with some unanswered questions but also some new beginnings.

In the main event (a rare moment in WWE history where all wrestlers in a final match on PPV weren't on a full-time WWE schedule), Brock Lesnar defeated Triple H in a cage match. Lesnar went up 2-1 on "The Game" and is likely poised for another future match in WWE (not against Triple H), perhaps at Summerslam or Wrestlemania 30. Questions coming out of this match are: will Triple H wrestle again? And what will Brock turn his attention to next? Perhaps we may see Rock vs. Brock after all.

Earthquake: 5.2 Quake Felt In Toronto, Began In Ottawa Valley; More Tremors Expected

Toronto has been shaken many times this week.An Icarus-like brush with the Stanley Cup for the Maple Leafs, a tragic murder with no discernable motive in the Tim Bosma case, a narrowly avoided LCBO strike, our mayor making international headlines ... It made Friday’s actual earthquake seem too much to be true.

Taylor Swift wins 8 trophies at Billboard Music Awards; Perform Minaj, Justin Bieber

Another day, another domination for Taylor Swift: She was the red hot winner at the Billboard Music Awards.

Swift won eight of 11 awards, including top artist and top Billboard 200 album for "Red." She told the crowd: "You are the longest and best relationship I ever had."

Eurovision Goes Back To Basics In Malmo

Emmelie de Forest triumphed for Denmark in a year when the Eurovision Song Contest went back to basics. 

The 20-year-old gave Scandinavia its second consecutive win and her country's third victory in the history of the competition with her song, Only Teardops.Punctuated by drumming and a tin whistle, her entry stood out from the crowd of ballads, Europop and dance hits that tried to emulate last year's winning song.

Oxbow Wins Preakness Stakes 2013

Oxbow and Gary Stevens ensured the Triple Crown drought will continue at least one more year.Oxbow won the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes under overcast skies at Pimlico Race Course. Topping a field of nine 3-year-old horses, Oxbow won the 1 3/16-mile race in dominating fashion.

After a thrilling come-from-behind win in the Kentucky Derby, Orb arrived in Baltimore as the Preakness favorite. Even after drawing the rail position for the Preakness, trainer Shug McGaughey's horse remained the favorite and went off at 3-5. Oxbow went off at 15-1 but took the early lead out of gate No. 6 and never relinquished it. Oxbow finished in 1:57.54.

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"We were kind of flying under the radar after the Derby, didn't get a lot of respect even with the great performance. I came back and breezed him on Monday and what you see right now is exactly how he acted in his workout out. We went just a nice, easy workout. His mind was right," Stevens, a Hall of Fame jockey who came out of retirement earlier this year, told NBC's on-horse reporter Donna Brothers after the race. "We came in here with a lot of confidence. Then we hit the half-mile pole, I told myself, 'Are you kidding me? Is this happening?' The race was over."

Despite the backing of the bettors, Orb never truly contended and finished fourth. Itsmyluckyday came second, with Mylute finishing third. The loss for Orb means that horse racing fans will need to wait at least another year to celebrate a Triple Crown winner. No horse has swept the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont since Affirmed in 1978

"I'm disappointed. I'll probably be more disappointed tomorrow than I am right now but I know the game. And it is highs and lows and probably more lows than highs," Orb trainer Shug McGaughey told Bob Neumeier of NBC after his Triple Crown hopes were dashed. "But we had a great run two weeks ago. And my hat is off to Wayne to win his sixth Preakness. It's a pretty remarkable record."

One of three horses saddled by trainer D. Wayne Lukas in the 138th Preakness, Oxbow paid $32.80 to win, $12.00 to place and $6.80 to show. Oxbow's triumph moves Lukas one win behind Robert Walden (7) for most Preakness wins of all time, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

"I get paid to spoil dreams," Lukas told Mike Battaglia of NBC after his sixth career win at the Preakness. "Unfortunately, we go over here and you can't mail 'em in. It's a different surface and a different time. You gotta line 'em up and win 'em."

It was the third Preakness victory for Stevens, who had settled into a second career as a race commentator before the call from Lukas.

"He's like a brother, a coach and a father figure to me," Stevens said of Lukas, who now claims six Preakness winners.

"American Idol" Winner Announced

American Idol 2013

With a flawless voice that recalled past "American Idol" finalist Jennifer Hudson and a sense of determination after not making it in previous seasons, Candice Glover did the one thing Hudson wasn't able to do: She won the title of "American Idol."

Retired NASCAR Driver Dick Trickle Dies of Apparent Self-inflicted Wound

Dick Trickle

Richard "Dick" Trickle -- who parlayed a legendary reputation as a short-track driver into a full-time career on stock car racing's biggest stages in the 1990s -- died Thursday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, a North Carolina sheriff's office said. He was 71.

The Trial Of Jodi Arias,She Faces Possible Death Penalty After Jury's Verdict

Jodi Arias could face the death penalty, nearly five years after she stabbed, shot and almost decapitated her ex-boyfriend.A jury Wednesday found that Arias was "exceptionally cruel" when she murdered Travis Alexander in 2008. That verdict is a key step that makes Arias, 32, eligible for the death penalty in the next phase of her trial.

Angelina Jolie, Breast Cancer and Cancer Phobia

Angelina Jolie

The most revealing and important line in Angelina Jolie’s OpEd in the New York Times today is not the one in which she reveals she has had her breasts removed to reduce the likelihood she will develop breast cancer. It’s this one; “Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness.” 

Happy Mothers Day

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears! Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

Champions League Semifinals, Real Madrid at Borussia Dortmund

Talk of the balance of power in Europe, in geopolitical terms, is usually fraught with history, buzzwords and bad memories.But talk of the balance of power in soccer on the continent burst front and center on Wednesday after Borussia Dortmund, behind four goals by the Polish international striker Robert Lewandowski, dispatched Real Madrid, 4-1, in the first leg of their semifinal series in the UEFA Champions League.

On Earth Day 2013, A Planetary Report Card On Global Warming

The Earth

Planetary carbon dioxide concentrations are the highest they've been in the past 800,000 years, an ignominious milestone for Earth Day 2013. Still, the world is making some progress toward addressing global warming.

When Earth Day observances first began in 1970,Cleveland had recently doused a pollutant-fueled fire on a section of the Cuyahoga River.

Cities were often shrouded in thick blankets of smog. And large portions of Lake Erie were so fouled by industrial, farm, and sewage runoff that sections of the 241-mile-long lake were pronounced dead.As an environmental issue, global warming was far down the list of concerns.At the time, a small number of climate scientists noted a general cooling trend in Earth's climate. They even suggested Earth might be about to begin a millenniums-long slide into a new ice age.

It was a decidedly minority view, however. And it quickly faded as global average temperatures rose and as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation pushed concentrations of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere relentlessly higher.

Since that first Earth Day, the air over major cities is cleaner. Lake Erie is healthier. So is the Cuyahoga River, which groups in Cleveland would like to turn into a centerpiece of urban life. The improvements have come with "yes, but ..." as other environmental challenges have elbowed their way to the fore. But for the most part, tools are in place to deal with them.

So, how are we doing on global warming, now widely seen as the century's most pressing environmental issue?  For the most basic measure, let's turn to the atmosphere and the changes that human activities are imposing on the mix of gases it contains – primarily carbon dioxide (CO2).Most climate scientists trace global warming to the relatively rapid buildup of atmospheric CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels long sequestered deep underground.Though only 0.04 percent of all the gases in the troposphere, where weather happens, CO2 is second only to water vapor as the most abundant greenhouse gas. And where a water molecule may remain airborne for up to 10 days before returning to the surface as rain, a newly emitted molecule of CO2 can remain in the air for centuries.

"From the grossest physical indicator, we're not getting the job done as a planet," says Alden Meyer, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists office in Washington, of the steady rise in CO2 levels.

"But ... there's some good news in the fact that some countries are moving forward with domestic strategies" for curbing greenhouse-gas emissions, says Mr. Meyer, who closely tracks national and international efforts to deal with climate change. "Is it enough, fast enough? No. But are they better than business as usual? Yes."

Atmospheric CO2 concentrations have reached the highest level in at least 800,000 years, reaching 395 molecules of CO2 for every million molecules of all gases in the atmosphere – 395 parts per million – some 45 to 50 percent higher than preindustrial levels.

Over much of the past decade, researchers and climate negotiators had focused on 450 p.p.m. as a target for stabilizing CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Doing that, they thought, would yield roughly a 50-50 chance of holding the rise in global average temperatures to about 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century – a target that international climate negotiators settled on after reviewing the potential effects of higher temperatures.

Five years ago, however, climate scientist James Hansen and colleagues published a paper that looked at environmental changes that global warming already was bringing and pointed to a 300 to 350 p.p.m. range as the target most likely to avoid the worst effects of global warming. If he's right, that means it could be a lot harder to keep the warming to within the 2 degree target.

Dr. Hansen retired from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York this month to play a more activist role on climate issues.Meanwhile, the Global Carbon Project reported in December that CO2 emissions are increasing at nearly the highest growth rates envisioned by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations-sponsored scientific advisory body.

Within the Global Carbon Project's broad emissions numbers, however, one apparent hopeful spot has emerged, the project's international team of scientists says. Global CO2 emissions from land-use changes appear to have declined in absolute terms, as has their proportion of overall emissions.

Despite a sharp spike around 1997, when extensive peat and forest fires burned in Indonesia, CO2 emissions from land-use changes have eased from about 1.4 billion tons in 1990 to about 900 million tons in 2011. The team credits new efforts to combat deforestation – healthy forests lock up CO2 that plants take from the air – as well as replace trees that were felled. Where land-use changes accounted for 36 percent of global CO2 emissions in 1960 and 18 percent in 1990, the proportion stood at 9 percent in 2011.

Brazil, where deforestation has been rampant, has been one of the bright spots, especially over the past several years, notes Greg Asner, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Low commodity prices reduced the pressure to convert forests to farmland, he says, and Norway poured a lot of money into the Amazon Fund, designed to stave off deforestation. Brazil has also stepped up efforts to combat illegal logging.

These factors have combined to dramatically reduce deforestation in Brazil, which lost 27,777 square kilometers of tropical forest in 2004. Since then, fewer square kilometers have been lost nearly every year, reaching a preliminary figure of 4,656 square kilometers lost in 2012."That's still a lot," Dr. Asner says of the latest losses. "But it's real progress. We thought we were going to lose the system faster than it's being lost now."

Each emissions giant has political hurdles to overcome in pursuit of its stated CO2 goals. For China, it's a mismatch between what Beijing wants and what provincial leaders will implement. For the US, it's congressional gridlock on the issue, notes the Union of Concerned Scientists' Meyer.

If warming of 1.5 to 2 degrees C above preindustrial levels is the goal, he says, it's still salvageable. But time is running out.

Lilly Pulitzer: Fashion Designer, Socialite Dies at 81

Lilly Pulitzer, the Palm Beach princess of prints who created an enduring fashion uniform for wealthy socialites and jet setters almost by accident, died on Sunday at her home in Florida. She was 81.