Turing prize money surges to US$1m following cash injection from Google |
- Turing prize money surges to US$1m following cash injection from Google
- Best profit for Chelsea since takeover by Abramovich
- ‘Dumb and Dumber’ directors bank on bad jokes to wow viewers
- Study finds infanticide by adult males common thing in mammal species
- Russia denies sending new military hardware to Ukraine amid conflict
- Iranian blues and jazz bands a hit in appreciative Tehran
| Turing prize money surges to US$1m following cash injection from Google Posted: 13 Nov 2014 04:53 PM PST
The Association for Computing Machinery said the payout for the honour would place the Turing Award roughly on a par with a Nobel Prize. The jump in the amount of the prize reflects the effect computing innovations have had on people's lives and is meant to spotlight scientists and engineers behind important advances, the ACM said in a statement. "The Turing Award is now funded at the monetary level of the world's most prestigious cultural and scientific awards and prizes," said ACM President Alexander Wolf, a professor in the department of computing at Imperial College London. "With the generous support of Google, we can celebrate the mainstream role of computing in transforming the world and the way we communicate, conduct business, and access entertainment." The award was created in 1966 and named for Alan Turing, the British mathematician whose work is widely held to have influenced computers, robotics, cryptology, artificial intelligence and more. A film chronicling Turing's turbulent life and times ― "The Imitation Game" ― is due for release later this year and is tipped to figure among contenders at next year's Oscars. Winners of the Turing Award tend to be scientists or mathematicians whose names are not widely known but whose pioneering accomplishments underpin computing innovations that now touch on many aspects of modern life. "We think it's important to recognize when people make fundamental contributions in computer science, and we want to help ACM raise awareness of these innovators and the contributions they've made to the world," Said Google vice president of engineering Stuart Feldman. The 2014 Turing Award will be the first raised from US$250,000 to a million dollars, and it will be awarded at an event early next year. For a time Google and Intel funded the award, but Intel has since stopped contributing to the prize money. Last year's Turing Award was given to Leslie Lamport for modeling and verification protocols that improved performance and reliability of computer systems, according to the ACM. Past Turing Award winners include Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn for pioneering work on the Internet's basic communications protocols, and Douglas Englebart (1997), for the development of technologies such as the computer mouse and hypertext. ACM describes itself at the world's largest education and scientific computer society. ― AFP  |
| Best profit for Chelsea since takeover by Abramovich Posted: 13 Nov 2014 04:50 PM PST
It was the largest surplus recorded by the west London side since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich became the owner of the Stamford Bridge club 11 years ago. Turnover increased for the fifth successive year to stand at a record £319.8 million, up from £255.8 million for the previous 12 months. These latest results meant Chelsea remained within the break-even criteria of European governing body UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations designed to prevent excessive spending by club based solely on the owner's wealth rather than a side's inherent financial resources. "The club is naturally pleased to record a significant profit for 2013-14," said Buck in a Chelsea statement. "By reaching the Champions League semi-final and maintaining a challenge in the Premier League until the final week of the season we demonstrated that, while improving our financial figures, we remained competitive in football's toughest club competitions. "We financed player purchases from sales as the squad for this current season was shaped and our philosophy since Mr Abramovich acquired the club in 2003 has been to build upon success on the pitch. "That is evident in the partnerships we signed and in our fanbase growth which contributed to the new record turnover figure and the profit made. "We have done all of this at the same time as creating one of the world's leading football community programmes through the Chelsea Foundation. "Going forward we have ambitious plans to build a pioneering global commercial programme, partnering with innovative and market-leading organisations from around the world. "In the era of FFP, we must progress commercially to continue the circle of success to invest in the team and get results." Chelsea's statement added: "The latest financial results combined with those from the previous two years mean that for the second monitoring period for FFP we will fall comfortably within the limits set by UEFA, who measure expenditure against the income from football-related activities. "Chelsea also complied with FFP criteria over the first monitoring period." The Blues are unbeaten so far this season and have a four-point lead over Southampton at the top of the Premier League table. — AFP |
| ‘Dumb and Dumber’ directors bank on bad jokes to wow viewers Posted: 13 Nov 2014 04:49 PM PST
The adventure comedy based around idiots Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) and his best friend Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) may never have become an enduring hit without the boost from continuous play on cable networks TBS and TNT, said writer-director brothers Bobby and Peter Farrelly. "People watched it over and over and over," said Bobby Farrelly, 56, alongside his older brother ahead of the sequel's US release today. "It had a different life of its own because they always had it on ... a whole generation of kids know every line," he added. Like the first film, the sequel is a road trip comedy of stupidity and bathroom humour, but this time they are in search of Harry's long lost daughter, his last hope for a kidney donor. "There have been a lot of movies about dumb people, but I believe the thing that people come back to is they like them," Peter Farrelly, 57, said of Harry and Lloyd. Although it is unlikely the sequel from Universal Pictures will eclipse its predecessor's US$127 million (RM424 million) in US ticket sales, the first film's prominent position in pop culture offers a measure of vindication for the "There's Something About Mary" directors. The brothers, unassuming Rhode Island natives who choose not live in Los Angeles, say they have fought studio bosses to keep some of the film's most memorable — and stupid — jokes. "All the things that are popular now are things that weren't really funny (to the studio executives) at the original test screening," said Bobby. "We were right about that." Peter said New Line Cinema, the studio that produced "Dumb and Dumber" in 1994, frowned on the now-memorable line, "So you're telling me there's a chance!" Lloyd exclaims when love interest Mary tells him it would be a "one-in-a-million" shot to get together. The duo believes they found strength in their own numbers when they have had to push back against studio demands. "Eventually you start feeling like a whiny little baby because you're fighting and fighting, and you start feeling bad," Peter said. "Then the other guy says, 'No, no, no. Keep it up.' That's how we do our best, when we hold each other up." — Reuters |
| Study finds infanticide by adult males common thing in mammal species Posted: 13 Nov 2014 04:46 PM PST
"Up to 50 percent of the infants might be killed by males in these populations, a massive impact more important than disease or predation," University of Cambridge behavioural ecologist Dieter Lukas said. This behaviour is not limited to these baboons. Scientists yesterday unveiled the most detailed study to date of infanticide by adult males among the world's mammals, a practice documented in numerous species including many primates. The researchers studied 260 species including 119 that practice infanticide and 141 that do not, looking for patterns that may explain a behaviour seen in very few non-mammals. "It is a sexual strategy," said behavioural ecologist Elise Huchard of the National Center for Scientific Research's Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Ecology in France, who with Lukas conducted the study published in the journal Science. Huchard said males kill babies fathered by others to make the dead infant's mother available for mating. Huchard estimated infanticide occurs in about 25 percent of mammals. Mammals in which infanticide is common typically live in groups — as do Chacma baboons — in which reproduction is monopolized by a small number of males that often cannot keep their dominant position for long due to many challengers. Infanticide is rare in solitary or monogamous mammal species. Infanticide was found to be widespread, occurring in rodents including mice and squirrels, carnivores including lions and bears as well as in hippos, horses and even the white-throated round-eared bat. Many primates practice infanticide including chimpanzees, gorillas, baboons and langurs while others do not, including orangutans, bonobos and mouse lemurs. The researchers said females of some species use strategic promiscuity to stop males from killing their babies. By mating with as many males as possible in a short time, they make it hard to discern infant paternity. "Males stop killing offspring if there is a risk that the offspring might be their own," Lukas said. Infanticide was not seen in mammals with seasonal reproduction because there is no benefit to males that still would need to wait until the following breeding season for females to become fertile again. "Infanticide by males repeatedly evolved in lineages in which males fight over access to groups of females and where females can give birth throughout the year," Lukas said. — Reuters |
| Russia denies sending new military hardware to Ukraine amid conflict Posted: 13 Nov 2014 04:40 PM PST
The Kremlin issued a fierce denial after NATO's commander in Europe accused Russia of sending columns of troops and equipment over the border. Asked at a press conference if Russian soldiers were fighting and dying in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry official spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said: "Short answer ― no." There was fresh shelling in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk yesterday afternoon after a quiet morning with only occasional exchanges of fire, an AFP reporter said. Ukraine said four of its soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours and 23 wounded. A senior Ukrainian security official speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity claimed there were now thousands of Russian troops in the country. "According to our estimations, there are 8,000 Russian soldiers, maybe more, on our territory at the moment," he said. The skirmishes on the ground played out against a backdrop of rising Western concern over claims that Russia is dispatching reinforcements to the east of the former Soviet state. Pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine have been fighting Ukrainian forces since April in a war which has claimed more than 4,000 lives and driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement but openly gives political backing to the self-declared separatist statelets in the east. NATO's commander in Europe, US General Philip Breedlove, said Wednesday that "columns of Russian equipment, primarily Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air defence systems and Russian combat troops" were entering Ukraine. Later, Assistant Secretary-General Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that it was "deeply concerned" by a possible return to full-scale fighting. The US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, also charged that Russia "talks peace but it keeps fueling war" as Washington warned that the West could ramp up punishing sanctions against the Kremlin. But Lukashevich told reporters in Moscow: "I can tell you unreservedly and officially that there have been and are no troops or troop movements across the border, let alone our troops' presence on Ukrainian territory, in the southeast." Uncertainty as winter approaches A nominal ceasefire has been in place in eastern Ukraine for two months stopping much frontline fighting although shelling at strategic flashpoints continues. Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have reported a number of unmarked military convoys heading towards rebel strongholds in recent days. The OSCE says its monitors saw a van marked "Cargo 200" ― Russian military code for military personnel killed in action ― crossing from Russia into Ukraine and back again on Tuesday. Rebel negotiator Denis Pushilin has called for a fresh meeting over the ceasefire of the so-called Contact Group on Ukraine which includes representatives from the separatist side, Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. The West is watching anxiously to see how the situation in eastern Ukraine will develop as the former Soviet state's harsh winter kicks in. Toyberg-Frandzen outlined three scenarios ― a "return to full-scale fighting"; a continuation of the current situation "for months" with low-level battles punctuated by periods of increased hostility; or a "frozen" conflict which could draw out the current situation for decades. The senior Ukrainian security official predicted that pro-Russian forces may try to take control of the entire regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, of which separatists currently only control a part. They could then try to create a corridor to Crimea, which Russia annexed in March, he added. The Ukraine crisis has sent relations between Russia and the West plummeting to their lowest point since the Cold War. Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to face fresh pressure over Ukraine at a G20 summit in Brisbane from Saturday. And Putin's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is set to hold talks on Ukraine with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday. Australia monitors Russian ships Australia said yesterday it was tracking four Russian navy ships including a "heavily armed" cruiser and destroyer, in international waters off its north coast ahead of the high-level meeting. There is public anger in Australia over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in July, killing 298 people including 38 Australian citizens and residents. Ukraine, supported by Western nations, accuses Russia of supplying pro-Kremlin separatists with the missile that shot down the airliner but Moscow and the rebels blame Ukrainian forces. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that Russia's naval deployment highlighted its "assertiveness" but was "not unusual" ahead of a major conference. ― AFP |
| Iranian blues and jazz bands a hit in appreciative Tehran Posted: 13 Nov 2014 04:36 PM PST
Years later he formed Bomrani, one of the Islamic Republic's first country-blues bands, and one of a handful of groups that has started disrupting the local music scene with performances a world away from Iran's traditional rhythms. "I really like Johnny Cash, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, John Denver, B.B. King, Gogol Bordello, Eric Clapton and Roger Waters," the 29-year-old told Reuters by phone from the Iranian capital His father brought his records back from his studies in Tennessee. Omrani's distinctive gruff voice and six-piece band had now taken those influences onto the stages of Tehran, a considerable achievement in a country where some once called America the "Great Satan".Five-member band Pallett has been finding similar success with its jazzier fusions of clarinet, cello and double bass. Both bands' musical styles are a refreshing alternatives to generic pop that is breaking out in other parts of the music scene. But the subject matter of their songs is less likely to jolt traditionalists in the Islamic state. "A Thousand Tales", one of Pallett's most popular songs, is infused with imagery of soldiers and revolutionaries, evoking memories of Iran's eight-year long war with Iraq. "The brother is covered with blood. The brother will rise, like the sun into a house," sings frontman Omid Nemati. Fan Sarah Nasiri said the song brought back images of her childhood. "It brings back to life those dark years. In many ways, we lost our childhood because of the war" said the young woman, whose brother served in the war as a pilot. Pallett's songs pop up on Spotify and iTunes but band co-founder Rouzbeh Esfandarmaz said he does not know who is selling the royalties to use the songs, or getting money from them being played. "We get no money and we don't even know who is selling them ... Whoever it is, I hope that they get what they deserve!" he joked. They have to resort to making money the old-fashioned way at home, selling 60,000 copies of their first CD, "Mr. Violet". — Reuters |
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