| Morgan Freeman on life, death, success and everything
If he starts a religion tomorrow, I'll be the first at the altar. But today death is on the mind of the 70-year-old Oscar winner mainly because it's the ostensible subject of his latest film, The Bucket List. The movie is a tearjerker starring Freeman and Jack Nicholson as two septuagenarians who compile an urgent list of unfulfilled ambitions and whims (get a tattoo, go skydiving etc), to be experienced before they succumb to cancer. At times whimsical, at others mordantly witty, it is unapologetic in its depiction of trauma. A lot of early screen time is devoted to vomiting, night sweats, operation scars and burst catheters. "Sometimes you want to upset an audience so you can engage them," says Freeman, who also narrates the movie with the gravitas that proved so effective in The Shawshank Redemption and Million Dollar Baby.
Off the beaten path in Beijing: where the rock stars, artists and ...
If you're planning a trip to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics, but you fear you may tire of Olympic fever and flag-waving throngs, don't despair. Beijing has rich offerings when it comes to art, music, groovy boutiques and quiet temples. Most of the capital city's guided tours are about awe and acquisition. Visitors are stunned into submission by the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square, then quickly shuttled to buying sprees at the Pearl Market or Silk Street. The humbling grandeur of those imperial masterpieces is offset by the giddy empowerment of buying quality knockoffs of brands like Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Tiffany for a fraction of the usual cost. Few can resist the temptation. It is usually followed by a belly-busting Peking duck feast. But this kind of Beijing experience is not for everybody, and there are a wealth of unique, low-cost alternatives.
BTAC Issues Grants to Communities
NEWMARKET, Ontario (BRAIN)The Bicycle Trade Association of Canada (BTAC) has announced the six recipients of the $25,000 in grants. Awarded twice a year and available to cycling focused community groups, BTACs Grant Program will support projects that put more people on bikes. This spring the funding goes to organizations that are conducting projects which fall into the following categories: education, advocacy and facility enhancement. An important selection criterion is whether the project will make measurable improvements to the overall cycling landscape in Canada. Education: Vancouvers After School Bikes program receives $5000. Developed by PEDAL Energy Development Alternatives (PEDAL) and partially funded by Translink, the three-year program will seek to improve access to bicycles and cycling in Vancouver elementary schools.
Poor Snow Energizes Bike Park Expansion
WHISTLER, British ColumbiaWhistler Blackcombs winter season may be in full swing, but Rob McSkimming is already busy preparing for when the snow melts. McSkimming, vice president of business development at Whistler Blackcomb, is investigating the price of earth-moving equipment and looking for machine operators. McSkimming heads up the resorts Gravity Logic division, which leverages its bike park expertise to help other resorts develop theirs. And Gravity Logic is looking like it will have a very busy spring. There is going to be a huge push developing bike parks over the next few summers and we may be looking at buying earth-moving machines and hiring our own operators to help resorts get the trails in quickly, McSkimming said. Normally, our staff helps out working with local people, but given the number of resorts hurrying to get trails in, I think there could be a shortage of machine operators, he added.
TriMet security measure sails through committee
TriMet would be obligated to deliver annual reports to the Legislature on crime-prevention efforts along MAX lines, under a bill that passed unanimously Thursday in the Senate Transportation Committee. The legislation, Senate Bill 1074, also provides $200,000 for Gresham to cover the costs of deploying two city police officers patrolling the light-rail lines. The bill moves to the Legislature's joint budget committee. The committee's leaders have not identified the proposal as a funding priority, but the bill's prime sponsor, Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, was optimistic. "I feel we have an actual chance of getting something," she said after her bill sailed through its first legislative hurdle. First TriMet report There's been a public outcry about crime along the MAX lines since the Nov.
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Most will never win FDA approval. Those outcomes also can be disappointing for patients who believe that Fast Track status gives hope of a promising treatment. And the few time-saving advantages of the designation were available five years before the FDA introduced it. They are still available to drug makers without the designation. Many companies didn't use the Fast Track tag en route to quick approvals for breakthrough drugs that treat life-threatening conditions, such as advanced kidney cancer and a rare form of stomach cancer. Dr. John Jenkins, director of the FDA's Office of New Drugs, acknowledged that the Fast Track designation only gives companies the same access to FDA programs that was already in place when they lobbied Congress for the provision in 1997.
Amesbury will benefit from Tesco superstore
WE welcome the interest in our proposed Tesco food store, planned to be built on the partially derelict site of the former Gregory's Transport Depot and adjoining commercial land, in London Road, Amesbury. We have consulted widely with residents - in particular those who live next to the site - and believe the plans will give the people of Amesbury what they want. That is: a new modern food store close to Amesbury town centre which offers additional choice, value and convenience. .
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