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Friday, March 1, 2013

Is Moscow Developing Super Duper Secret Mega Weapons? - Time-4.19.12 | Russia Army Upgrade: Putin Calls For Dramatic Military Development

Thursday, Apr. 19, 2012

Is Moscow Developing Super Duper Secret Mega Weapons?

Here is what the Kremlin wants you to believe about its secret weapons program: In about eight years, it may be able to warp your chromosomes, brainwash you with a "psycho-physical" mind zapper, and somehow release an invisible ray that turns diesel fuel into non-combustible goop, making engines stall within a radius of several miles. Never mind that most of this stuff would violate pretty much every law of physics. The Russian government is trying to outpace the Americans again, so propaganda is key. Physics is beside the point.
The first mention of these mega-weapons came in February, when Vladimir Putin, Russia's perennial leader, published an article as part of what would be a successful campaign to win a third term as President. In the near future, he wrote, military strength will rely on a country's prowess in space and cyber warfare, but further down the line, weapons will emerge based on "new physical principles," such as "lasers, geophysics, waves, genetic engineering, psycho-physics and etc." Not only will they be at least as deadly as Russia's nukes, Putin wrote, but they will be "more acceptable in a political and military sense." That is supposed to be part of their appeal: unlike biological and chemical weapons, which are banned under international law, these would be well within bounds.
Though spooky, this vague bit of military fantasy was mostly dismissed by the Russian press. In the context of Putin's other campaign promises (including his pledge to "completely re-arm" the military in five years), this seemed like just another zany bit of electoral pomp. But after the elections on March 4, when Putin won another presidential term, the government refused to let the matter drop.
(PHOTOS: Kremlin Youth Camp)
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov brought up the ray guns again during a meeting with Putin and other top officials on March 22. By the end of this year, he told them, Russia will draw up plans to create weapons "based on new physical principles," including the genetic and psycho-physical ones that Putin mentioned in February. The minister did not explain what any of this means, but he did provide a timeframe. By 2020, he promised Putin, the Russian military will complete the development of these weapons of the future.
Aside from expressing his gratitude, Putin did not respond to the Minister's remarks, but their exchange finally got the media's attention. Russian military experts began seriously to debate what the country's leadership could mean by a genetic or psycho-physical weapon, and whether such plans were even feasible or legal. On April 6, the Independent Military Review, a respected weekly newspaper, published an analysis suggesting that Putin and his Defense Minister must have gotten their terminology mixed up. Genetic weapons, it pointed out, are hardly based on "new physical principles," and more importantly, they would be banned under international law. "The use of such weapons would amount to genocide in the most basic sense of the word," the military expert Alexander Khramchikhin wrote in the analysis, which was sardonically illustrated with pictures from the Star Wars movies.
The following week, however, the government's mouthpiece newspaper tried to put these skeptics in their place. Not only are these weapons possible, they were already in development in the late 1980s, claimed Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the same paper that published Putin's military article in February. "The U.S.S.R. surpassed the U.S.A. by leaps and bounds in developing weapons based on new physical principles," claimed the paper's military analyst, Sergei Ptichkin.
In the final years of the Soviet Union, there were two laboratories working on these top secret projects, Ptichkin claimed. One of them managed to develop a kind of radiation that made diesel fuel stop burning for miles around, forcing tank columns to stop in their tracks. Another one, allegedly called N 10003, worked on "battlefield parapsychology." Before it was mothballed in 1991, the lab learned how to make super-human "bio-robotic killers," who could survive even the "death rays" of the enemy. In a surprising bit of humanism, the lab declined to pursue the science of "psychotronic generators," which could brainwash people at a distance, although this too was possible, Ptichkin's article suggested.
(MORE: Leader for Life? How Vladimir Putin Set Up His Kremlin Comeback)
The piece did not cite any sources, but when TIME reached the author on Wednesday, he claimed to have spoken with officials from the military industrial complex, who he says had direct knowledge of these projects. (Before becoming a journalist, Ptichkin worked in the Soviet military industry as an engineer.) He denied that any government official had ordered him to write that article in Putin's defense, saying simply, "We have freedom of speech, just like you." His only aim, he insisted, was to point out how easy it would be for Russia to revive the Soviet weapons programs now that it has the money to fund them. "The Minister of Defense brought this up and was accused of not knowing what he was talking about. So we had to clarify," Ptichkin says. "Russia has all this experience to draw from. For us it is a road well traveled."

But in the history of arms races, the practice of military bluffing is also pretty familiar. Both Moscow and Washington used it during the Cold War, says Vladimir Rubanov, a retired KGB General. "You throw this kind of bait into the media, and the other side is supposed to bite," Rubanov tells TIME. For many years, the KGB used an allegory to teach its agents not to fall for it. This legend tells the story of a junior spy who finds an article in the press about an American military breakthrough. The article is signed by none other than Albert Einstein, so the agent rushes it over to the Ministry of Defense "with fire in his eyes," Rubanov says. After looking it over, the bosses smile and send the rookie home with a lesson: "Einstein can write whatever he wants, but talk is cheap without results."
So all of Putin's talk about psycho-physical weapons should be taken with a grain of salt, says Rubanov, who headed the KGB's analytical directorate before retiring in 1993. In the late Soviet period, the military did conduct research on brain wave manipulators and other esoteric weapons, Rubanov says, but it never got very far. "It remained on the border between mysticism and fantasy." That is not to say that the Soviet Union broke no military ground. In the fields of nuclear and space technology, it was often far ahead of the U.S. But one of the greatest mistakes of the Soviet Union was its obsession with the arms race, which many experts still see as the main reason for its collapse.
By most estimates, the defense budget of the U.S.S.R. was between 60% and 80% of its GDP at the height of the Cold War, says Alexander Golts, an independent military analyst in Moscow. That helped bankrupt the Soviet economy, and if Putin again wants to play catch up with his perceived rivals across the ocean, he would be pushing Russia toward a similar fate. More likely, however, he is just trying to boost public morale, says Golts. "Anyone with a television can see how far the Russian military has fallen behind the United States, and Putin has to give them these fantasies to suggest that Russia still has aces up its sleeve." So for now, there's no need to rush out for a lead helmet to deflect the Russian brainwave gun. As the KGB so nicely put it, talk is cheap without results.
MORE: Russia's Puppet Master




Russia Army Upgrade: Putin Calls For Dramatic Military Development - Huffington Post


Russia Army Upgrade: Putin Calls For Dramatic Military Development
Huffington Post
MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin told the country's top brass on Wednesday to drastically upgrade the armed forces in the next few years as part of response to attempts by the United States and NATO to "tip the strategic balance" in the world.

 

Russia Army Upgrade: Putin Calls For Dramatic Military Development


       
By NATALIYA VASILYEVA 02/27/13 08:32 AM ET EST AP
MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin told the country's top brass on Wednesday to drastically upgrade the armed forces in the next few years as part of response to attempts by the United States and NATO to "tip the strategic balance" in the world.
In his address to Russia's defense ministry and top military officials, Putin said Russia is witnessing "insistent attempts" to change that balance and complained about U.S. plans to create a new missile defense system in Europe and the potential expansion of NATO to former Soviet republics.
"Geopolitical developments call for our response to be well-calculated and quick," Putin said, according to a transcript of his speech on the Kremlin's website. "The Russian armed forces must move to a dramatically new level of capabilities as soon as in the next three to five years."
The stated goal of the multibillion-dollar missile defense system planned for Europe is to protect the U.S. from Iranian missiles. But Russia has repeatedly criticized the plan, claiming it really is intended to counter its own missiles.
Putin blasted the legacy of former Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov who was dismissed in November 2012 amid a corruption scandal involving billions of rubles reportedly embezzled by the ministry and affiliated firms.
While Putin linked the ouster to the corruption probe, most experts believe that Serdyukov was sacked because of an intensifying behind-the-scenes battle for the distribution of 23 trillion rubles ($750 billion) that the Kremlin plans to spend on buying new weapons through 2020.
Serdyukov demanded higher quality and cheaper prices from the military industry, often refusing to sign new contracts for months. He criticized arms makers for continuing to produce Soviet-era designs instead of developing new weapons, angering industry leaders with strong Kremlin connections. Under Serdyukov, the military purchased amphibious assault vessels from France, bought Israeli drones, Italian armored vehicles and other foreign weapons.
The current defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, has confirmed plans to form a new naval squadron that would patrol the Mediterranean Sea.
A small maintenance and supply base in Syria's Tartus, Russia's only naval outpost outside the former Soviet Union, is under threat because of the civil war there.

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3.1.13 - NYT Review

via The New York Times's Facebook Wall by The New York Times on 2/28/13
The Obama administration will throw its support behind a broad claim for marriage equality, urging the Supreme Court to rule that voters in California were not entitled to ban same-sex marriage there. The administration was not required to take a position in the case, but the lawyers who filed the challenge said the administration could not remain silent on the issue.


Administration to Urge Justices to Overturn a Gay Marriage Ban
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The federal government was not required to take a position in the California case, but it threw its support behind a broad claim for marriage equality.

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What would you like Michelle Obama to add to her second-term agenda? In an interview with The Times's Jennifer Steinhauer, Mrs. Obama said that whatever work she would do in the second term would probably build on her efforts to help children, possibly internationally. The first lady also discussed her new bangs.


For Michelle Obama, a Second-Term Agenda Focused on Children
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Michelle Obama said that whatever work she would do in the second agenda would likely build on her efforts to help children, possibly internationally

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Are you an Instagrammer? Starting on Thursday, we will be featuring a gallery of Instagram photos by you, in conjunction with the New York Times Magazine's annual "Voyage" issue. Take a picture of a place not far from your home — no further than the distance you might travel to get lunch — and show us where you go to escape the rigors of your daily routine. Tag it with #NYTvoyage to so we can find it. Click or tap on the link below for more information.


Instagram Your Local Escapes
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Submit your photos to our gallery using the hashtag #NYTvoyage.

via The New York Times's Facebook Wall by The New York Times on 2/27/13
Quotation of the Day: "How am I supposed to go about reporting something when the person I’m supposed to report to is the person who raped me?" " — Virginia Messick, a former airman and the first victim to speak publicly about a sexual assault scandal at Lackland Air Force Base.

Watch reporter James Risen's exclusive interview with Ms. Messick and read the first article in the two-part series "Honor Betrayed": http://nyti.ms/XaMeuf


Video: Lackland Rape Victim Talks of Ordeal
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Virginia Messick was raped by her training instructor at Lackland Air Force Base in 2011. She is the first Lackland victim to speak publicly, in this exclusive interview with the reporter James Risen.

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Van Cliburn, a pianist from Texas, was 23 years old when he won the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow in 1958, a victory viewed as an American triumph over the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war. Look back at his life and work: http://nyti.ms/ZBay7j.

Photo: Van Cliburn last year with the 100-year-old Steinway concert grand that he grew up playing. (Credit: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)



 
 

Van Cliburn, Cold War Musical Envoy, Dies at 78

Courtesy of Van Cliburn Foundation, via Associated Press
Van Cliburn won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958. More Photos »
Van Cliburn, the American pianist whose first-place award at the 1958 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow made him an overnight sensation and propelled him to a phenomenally successful and lucrative career, though a short-lived one, died on Wednesday at his home in Fort Worth. He was 78.

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Courtesy of the Van Cliburn Foundation, via Associated Press
Van Cliburn was the first musician to receive a New York ticker-tape parade, in 1958. More Photos »
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After he won in Moscow, Time called Van Cliburn “the Texan who conquered Russia.” More Photos »
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TEACHER In 1988 with his mother, Rildia Bee O’Bryan Cliburn, with whom he studied. More Photos »
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MUSICAL ENVOY In Moscow in 2011 to serve as the honorary chairman of the International Tchaikovsky Competition. More Photos »
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PERFORMER In Moscow in 2004 playing at a memorial concert. More Photos »
Courtesy of Van Cliburn Foundation, via Associated Press
BEARHUG Mr. Cliburn with Nikita S. Khrushchev after winning the competition in Moscow in 1958. More Photos »
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Van Cliburn last year with the 100-year-old Steinway concert grand that he grew up playing. More Photos »

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"That picture of him with his hands over his heart is the essence of the poetry of his life. With hands and heart he changed the world."
C T, austria
His publicist, Mary Lou Falcone, confirmed the death, saying that Mr. Cliburn had been treated for bone cancer.
Hailing from Texas, Mr. Cliburn was a tall, lanky 23-year-old when he clinched the gold medal in the inaugural year of the Tchaikovsky competition. The feat, in Moscow, was viewed as an American triumph over the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war. He became a cultural celebrity of pop-star dimensions and brought overdue attention to the musical assets of his native land.
When Mr. Cliburn returned to New York he received a ticker-tape parade in Lower Manhattan, the first musician to be so honored, cheered by 100,000 people lining Broadway. In a ceremony at City Hall, Mayor Robert F. Wagner proclaimed that “with his two hands, Van Cliburn struck a chord which has resounded around the world, raising our prestige with artists and music lovers everywhere.”
Even before his Moscow victory the Juilliard-trained Mr. Cliburn was a notable up-and-coming pianist. He won the Leventritt Foundation award in 1954, which earned him debuts with five major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic under Dimitri Mitropoulos. For that performance, at Carnegie Hall in November 1954, he performed the work that would become his signature piece, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, garnering enthusiastic reviews and a contract with Columbia Artists.
At the time, Mr. Cliburn was part of an exceptional American generation of pianists in promising stages of their own careers, among them Leon Fleisher, Byron Janis and Gary Graffman. And the Tchaikovsky competition came at a time when American morale had been shaken in 1957 by the Soviet Union’s launching of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite.
The impact of Mr. Cliburn’s victory was enhanced by a series of vivid articles written for The New York Times by Max Frankel, then a foreign correspondent based in Moscow and later an executive editor of the paper. The reports of Mr. Cliburn’s progress — prevailing during the early rounds, making it to the finals and becoming the darling of the Russian people, who embraced him in the streets and flooded him with fan mail and flowers — created intense anticipation as he entered the finals.
In his 1999 memoir, “The Times of My Life and My Life With The Times,” Mr. Frankel recalled his coverage of Mr. Cliburn’s triumph in Moscow: “The Soviet public celebrated Cliburn not only for his artistry but for his nationality; affection for him was a safe expression of affection for America.”
Mr. Frankel said he had “posed the obvious question of whether the Soviet authorities would let an American beat out the finest Russian contestants.”
“We now know that Khrushchev” — Nikita S. Khrushchev, the Soviet premier — “personally approved Cliburn’s victory,” he wrote, “making Van a hero at home and a symbol of a new maturity in relations between the two societies.”
Mr. Cliburn was at first oblivious to the political ramifications of the prize.
“Oh, I never thought about all that,” Mr. Cliburn recalled in 2008 during an interview with The Times. “I was just so involved with the sweet and friendly people who were so passionate about music.” The Russians, he added, “reminded me of Texans.”
The interview was conducted in conjunction with 50th-anniversary celebrations of the Moscow competition. The festivities, sponsored by the Van Cliburn Foundation, included a gala dinner at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth for 1,000 guests, among them the Russian culture minister and the Russian ambassador to the United States, who led a long round of toasts.
Mr. Cliburn was a naturally gifted pianist whose enormous hands had an uncommonly wide span. He developed a commanding technique, cultivated an exceptionally warm tone and manifested deep musical sensitivity. At its best his playing had a surging Romantic fervor, but one leavened by an unsentimental restraint that seemed peculiarly American. The towering Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter, a juror for the competition, described Mr. Cliburn as a genius — a word, he added, “I do not use lightly about performers.”
Drawbacks of Early Success
But if the Tchaikovsky competition represented Mr. Cliburn’s breakthrough, it also turned out to be his undoing. Relying inordinately on his keen musical instincts, he was not an especially probing artist, and his growth was stalled by his early success. Audiences everywhere wanted to hear him in his prizewinning pieces, the Tchaikovsky First Concerto and the Rachmaninoff Third. Every American town with a community concert series wanted him to come play a recital.
“When I won the Tchaikovsky I was only 23, and everyone talked about that,” Mr. Cliburn said in 2008. “But I felt like I had been at this thing for 20 years already. It was thrilling to be wanted. But it was pressure, too.”
His subsequent explorations of wider repertory grew increasingly insecure. During the 1960s he played less and less. By 1978 he had retired from the stage; he returned in 1989, but performed rarely. Ultimately, his promise and potential were never fulfilled, but his great talent was apparent early on.
Harvey Lavan Cliburn Jr. was born in Shreveport, La., on July 12, 1934. His mother, Rildia Bee O’Bryan, a pianist who had studied in New York with Arthur Friedheim, a longtime student of Liszt, had hoped to have a career in music, but her mother forbade it. Instead she married Harvey Lavan Cliburn, a purchasing agent for an oil company, a laconic man of moderate income.
An only child, Van started studying with his mother when he was 3. By 4 he was playing in student recitals. When he was 6 the family moved to Kilgore, Tex. (population 10,500). Although Van’s father had hoped his son would become a medical missionary, he realized that the boy was destined for music, so he added a practice studio to the garage.
As a plump 13-year-old Mr. Cliburn won a statewide competition to perform with the Houston Symphony and he played the Tchaikovsky concerto. Thinking her son should study with a more well-connected and advanced teacher, Mr. Cliburn’s mother took him to New York, where he attended master classes at Juilliard and was offered a scholarship to the school’s preparatory division. But Van adamantly refused to study with anyone but his mother, so they returned to Kilgore.
He spoke with affecting respect for his mother’s excellence as a teacher and attributed the lyrical elegance of his playing to her. “My mother had a gorgeous singing voice,” he said. “She always told me that the first instrument is the human voice. When you are playing the piano, it is not digital. You must find a singing sound — the ‘eye of the sound,’ she called it.”
By 16 he had shot up to 6 feet 4 inches. Excruciatingly self-conscious, he was excused from athletics out of fear that he might injure his hands. He later recalled his adolescence outside the family as “a living hell.”
On graduation at 17 he finally accepted a scholarship from Juilliard and moved to New York. Studying with the Russian-born piano pedagogue Rosina Lhevinne, he entered the diploma rather than the degree program to spare himself from having to take 60 semester hours of academic credits. Even his close friends said he displayed little intellectual curiosity outside of music.
Winning the Leventritt award in 1954 was a major achievement. Though held annually, the competition had not given a prize in three years because the judges had not deemed any contestant worthy. But this panel, which included Rudolf Serkin, George Szell and Leonard Bernstein, was united in its assessment of Mr. Cliburn.
That same year he graduated from Juilliard and was to have begun graduate-level studies. But performing commitments as a result of the Leventritt kept him on tour.
In 1957 he was inducted into the Army but released after two days because he was found to be prone to nosebleeds. By this point, despite his success, his career was stagnating and he was $7,000 in debt. His managers at Columbia Artists wanted him to undertake a European tour. But Ms. Lhevinne encouraged him instead to enter the first Tchaikovsky competition.
A $1,000 grant from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Aid to Music program made the journey to the Soviet Union possible. The contestants’ Moscow expenses were paid by the Soviet government.
A Darling of the Russians
The Russian people warmed to Mr. Cliburn from the preliminary rounds. There was something endearing about the contrast between his gawky boyishness and his complete absorption while performing. At the piano he bent far back from the keys, staring into space, his head tilted in a kind of pained ecstasy. During rapid-fire passages he would lean in close, almost scowling at his fingers. On the night of the final round, when Mr. Cliburn performed the Tchaikovsky First Concerto, a solo work by Dmitry Kabalevsky (written as a test piece for the competition) and the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto, the audience broke into chants of “First prize! First prize!” Emil Gilels, one of the judges, went backstage to embrace him.
The jury agreed with the public, and Moscow celebrated. At a Kremlin reception, Mr. Cliburn was bearhugged by Khrushchev. “Why are you so tall?” Khrushchev asked. “Because I am from Texas,” Mr. Cliburn answered.
His prize consisted of 25,000 rubles (about $2,500), though he was permitted to take only half of that out of the country. Immediately, concert offers for enormous fees engulfed him.
His income for the 1958-59 concert season topped $150,000. His postcompetition concert at Carnegie Hall on May 19, 1958, with Kiril Kondrashin and the Symphony of the Air, repeating the program from the final round, was broadcast over WQXR. He signed a contract with RCA Victor, and his recording of the Tchaikovsky First Concerto sold over a million copies within a year.
Reviewing that recording in The Times in 1958, the critic Harold C. Schonberg wrote, “Cliburn stands revealed as a pianist whose potentialities have fused into a combination of uncommon virtuosity and musicianship.” Yet Mr. Schonberg had reservations even then: “If there is one thing lacking in this performance it is the final touch of flexibility that can come only with years of public experience.”
An idolatrous biography, “The Van Cliburn Legend,” written by the pianist and composer Abram Chasins, with Villa Stiles, was published in 1959. Mr. Chasins used Mr. Cliburn’s Moscow victory as a club to attack the American cultural system for neglecting its own.
Nothing could diminish Mr. Cliburn’s popularity in the late 1950s. He earned a then-stunning $5,000 for a pair of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, and played with the Moscow State Symphony at Madison Square Garden for an audience of over 16,000.
Yet as early as 1959 his attempts to broaden his repertory were not well received. That year, for a New York Philharmonic benefit concert at Carnegie Hall conducted by Bernstein, Mr. Cliburn played the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25, the Schumann Concerto and the Prokofiev Third Concerto. Howard Taubman, reviewing the program in The Times, called the Mozart performance “almost a total disappointment.” Only the Prokofiev was successful, he wrote, praising the brashness, exuberance and crispness of the playing.
Reviewing a 1961 performance of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto by Mr. Cliburn with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, Mr. Schonberg wrote, “It was the playing of an old-young man, but without the spirit of youth or the mellowness of age.” Mr. Cliburn performed the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto yet again, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, for the inaugural week of Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) in 1962.
Despite the criticism, Mr. Cliburn tried to expand his repertory, playing concertos by MacDowell and Prokofiev and solo works by Samuel Barber (the demanding Piano Sonata), Chopin, Brahms, Beethoven and Liszt. But the artistic growth and maturity that were expected of him never fully came. Even as a personality, Mr. Cliburn began to seem out of step. In the late 1950s this baby-faced, teetotaling, churchgoing, wholesome Texan had fit the times. But to young Americans of the late 1960s he seemed a strained, stiff representative of the demonized establishment.
A New Competition
Many subsequent pianists tried to emulate Mr. Cliburn’s path to success through international competition victories. But a significant number of critics and teachers took to castigating the premise and value of competitions as an encouragement of faceless virtuosity, superficial brilliance and inoffensive interpretations. Nevertheless, in 1962, some arts patrons and business leaders in the Fort Worth area, to honor their hometown hero, inaugurated the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. It remains the most lucrative and visible of these contests.
In 1978, at 44, Mr. Cliburn, now a wealthy man, announced his withdrawal from concertizing. He moved with his mother into a magnificent home in the Fort Worth area, where he hosted frequent late-night dinner parties.
As a young man Mr. Cliburn was briefly linked romantically with a soprano classmate from Juilliard. But even then he was discreet in his homosexuality. That discretion was relaxed considerably in 1966 when, at 32, he met Thomas E. Zaremba, who was 19.
The details of their romantic relationship exploded into public view in 1996, when Mr. Zaremba filed a palimony suit against Mr. Cliburn seeking “multiple millions,” according to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Mr. Zaremba, who had moved to Michigan and become a funeral director, claimed that during his 17-year relationship with Mr. Cliburn he had served as a business associate and promoter and that he had helped care for Mr. Cliburn’s mother, who died in 1994 at 97. The suit was eventually dismissed.
Mr. Cliburn returned to the concert stage in 1987, but his following performances were infrequent. The stress involved was almost palpable on May 21, 1998, when, to inaugurate a concert hall in Fort Worth, Mr. Cliburn played the Rachmaninoff Second Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony, suffered a memory lapse in the final movement and collapsed onstage. He was given oxygen by a medical team backstage and taken to a hospital.
“It was a massive panic attack,” a friend, John Ardoin, who was a critic at The Dallas Morning News, said at the time. “It was sheer exhaustion and nervousness. Van had given a solo recital two days earlier, a really first-class performance, a black-tie affair with all of the cultural and political officialdom of Texas in attendance, and he was overwhelmed by it all.”
His last public appearance was in September, when he spoke at a concert, at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Van Cliburn Foundation. He is survived by Thomas L. Smith, with whom he shared his home for many years.
Mr. Cliburn leaves a lasting if not extensive discography. One recording in particular, his performance of the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto recorded live at Carnegie Hall on the night of his post-Tchaikovsky competition concert, was praised by Mr. Schonberg, the critic, for its technical strength, musical poise, and “manly lyricism unmarred by eccentricity.”
Mr. Schonberg then added, prophetically, “No matter what Cliburn eventually goes on to do this will be one of the great spots of his career; and if for some reason he fails to fulfill his potentialities, he will always have this to look back upon.”       

via The New York Times's Facebook Wall by The New York Times on 2/28/13
Incarceration rates for black Americans declined from 2000 to 2009 while imprisonment rates for whites and Hispanics rose over that same period, marking a significant shift in the racial makeup of U.S. prisons.


Incarceration Rates for Blacks Have Fallen Sharply, Report Shows
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A sharp decline in incarceration rates for African-Americans from 2000 to 2009 marks a significant shift in the racial makeup of America’s prisons, according to a report released Wednesday.

via The New York Times's Facebook Wall by The New York Times on 2/28/13
“I am more than the sum of my experiences. I am more than my past.”

Returning servicewomen are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. homeless population, an often-invisible group bouncing between friends’ sofas and shelters. Women who have just completed an intensive therapy program for veterans in Long Beach, Calif., shared their experiences of sexual trauma in the military, which led to homelessness for some. Watch the video below to hear from these women in their own words. Read more in the second article in our two-part series "Honor Betrayed": http://nyti.ms/VfikVF

In case you missed it, you can read Part I of the series here: http://nyti.ms/XaMeuf


Owning the Past: Female Veterans Share Experiences of Sexual Trauma
Women who have just completed an intensive therapy program for veterans in Long Beach, Calif., shared their experiences of sexual trauma in the military, which led to homelessness for some.

via NYT > World by By MARTIN FACKLER on 3/1/13
The sailors were convicted in a rape last year that provoked so much local anger that the American military was forced to impose a curfew.
 
 

via NYT > World by By CELESTINE BOHLEN on 3/1/13
When Benedict XVI announced his retirement as pope of the Roman Catholic Church, one of the people not taken by surprise was Giovanni Maria Vian, the scholarly editor of L'Osservatore Romano.


via NYT > World by By HARVEY MORRIS on 3/1/13
Relations between the Catholic Church and Islam were often troubled during the papacy of Benedict XVI. Muslims are looking for a better relationship with his successor.
 

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via Big Gay Picture Show by Tim Isaac on 3/1/13
paul-bettanyWhile Johnny Depp has been attached to Transcendence for quite a while, he’s only now getting his first castmate – probably because it’s only in the last few days that Depp has confirmed that he will indeed star in the movie and plans to make it one of his next projects.
Now Deadline reports that Paul Bettany is in negotiations to star in the movie, which will be Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister’s directorial debut. As Wally is the man behind the camera on the likes of Inception and The Dark Knight movies, it’s sure to look great.
The screenplay, written by Jack Paglen, is still wrapped in secrecy (Pfister has obviously been taking a few tips from Chris Nolan about not telling anyone anything). However, it’s rumored that the film is about a group of scientists experimenting with the idea of the technological singularity – the moment where a computer becomes so advanced that it begins to learn on its own and no longer needs an operator. The secrecy also means we have no idea who Bettany might play.
The plan is to shoot the film this April.
Paul Bettany Finds Transcendence Opposite Johnny Depp from Big Gay Picture Show

via Big Gay Picture Show by Tim Isaac on 3/1/13
Mikael-HafstromEven before Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams’ novel Tunnels was published, Hollywood had snapped up the rights and was planning a film version. However it’s taken a lot longer than originally envisioned to get it ready. Now there’a bit more impetus as Relativity Media has announced they have signed Mikael Håfström (The Tomb, 1408) to direct the fantasy adventure book.
Andrew Lobel is the latest to work on the screenplay, taking over from Joel Bergvall & Simon Sandquist. Tunnels is based on the first installment of the novel series, which has sold over one million copies and been published in nearly 40 countries worldwide. The authors have already completed five sequels. with the sixth and final book in the series, Terminal, coming soon.
Tunnels is a fantasy adventure set beneath the streets of London, where two teenage boys discover an incredible, hidden underground world where a secret civilisation has been desperately waiting for a hero to save them all. The deeper they go, the closer they get to unearthing an evil that could destroy the world above and put an end to the lives they once lived.
There’s no news on when the movie might shoot.
Mikael Hafstrom To Direct Family Fantasy Tunnels from Big Gay Picture Show

via Big Gay Picture Show by Tim Isaac on 3/1/13
untouchable-slideLast year Untouchable (aka The Intouchables) became the highest grossing French movie in history, taking over $400 million around the world. It’s little wonder then that Hollywood is interested in a remake. Now Deadline reports that a perhaps surprising name is attached to direct, Tom Shadyac – best known for broad comedy hits Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty, The Nutty Professor and Ace Ventura.
Colin Firth is said to be circling a lead role, but nothing has been set in stone yet. Back in November, it was reported that Silver Linings Playbook star Chris Tucker had showed interest in the movie, but it’s not known if he’s still involved.
Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) is writing the screenplay, which follows an a very rich man who gets paralysed after a hang-gliding accident. He hires a young man with a criminal background to take care of him, forming a unique bond of friendship. The original film was one of the Best Foreign Language Film nominees at the Oscars last weekend.
Shadyac may actually be a better choice than his resume suggest, as he himself nearly died in a cycling accident. Afterwards he left the business altogether, dedicating his life to more altruistic endeavours. If he does end up making the film, it will be his first narrative feature since 2007′s Evan Almighty.
Tom Shadyac Eyes Untouchable Remake, With Colin Firth Circling from Big Gay Picture Show

via Big Gay Picture Show by Tim Isaac on 3/1/13
gary-oldmanWith Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes aiming to start shooting fairly soon, they’re leaving the casting fairly late. Jason Clarke and Kodi Smit-McPhee have already signed up, and now ComingSoon reports that Gary Oldman has joined the cast for director Matt Reeves.
Oldman will apparently portray Dreyfus, who is the leader of the human resistance that springs up after the apes rise to power. The story is set 15 years after Rise of the Planet of the Apes, centering on a group of San Francisco scientists trying to survive in this new world overrun by the apes. The plot also follows the story of on Caesar (Andy Serkis), who is trying to maintain control over his new animalian kingdom.
Matt Reeves is directing from a screenplay by Mark Bomback.
Gary Oldman Up For Dawn of the Planet of the Apes from Big Gay Picture Show

Found on FB page.

> Be radiation> In science class> See aluminium> Go up to speak to aluminium> Pussy out at last second and go straight through aluminium> Gamma as fuck

via The Guardian's Facebook Wall by The Guardian on 3/1/13
Lib Dems hold off Ukip surge as Tories drop to third in Eastleigh byelection http://gu.com/p/3e628?CMP=SOCNETTXT6966

Eastleigh has already produced a plethora of reaction and analysis. Andrew Sparrow will be covering it all in detail on the politics reaction live blog http://gu.com/p/3e62y?CMP=SOCNETTXT6966

The results in full http://gu.com/p/3e629?CMP=SOCNETTXT6966

Photograph: Chris Ison/PA

via The Guardian's Facebook Wall by The Guardian on 3/1/13
Guardian front page, 1 March 2013: Manning: US 'bloodlust' led to secrets leak

http://gu.com/p/3e5qz/tw


Guardian front pages

via Gay Puerto Rico Links's Facebook Wall by Gay Puerto Rico Links on 2/28/13
2.28.13 - Facebook Review

Mike Nova


2.28.13 - Facebook Review

via Gay & Lesbian on 3/1/13
Same-sex marriage gets business support
Signatories to both briefs cover the waterfront, from Fortune 500 tech companies like Apple, Google, Intel and Hewlett-Packard (whose CEO, Meg Whitman also supports the cause) to trade groups including the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, and small construction companies, wineries, consultancies, print shops, a chiropractor in San Carlos and a dentist in Cloverdale. [...] these "amici" are among the leading lights of free enterprise. Besides Whitman, a former GOP gubernatorial candidate, other friends of same-sex marriage include the Walt Disney Co. and Mitt Romney's old stomping ground, Bain Capital. -- By singling out same-sex couples for unequal treatment, laws like Prop. 8 can impede efforts to recruit, hire and retain the best workers. Increased wedding celebrations can mean additional revenue for many businesses - such as businesses involved directly in wedding celebrations, businesses that produce goods often given as gifts to newlyweds, and businesses that benefit from increased tourism from guests who travel to the wedding. The state Franchise Tax Board said Thursday that it will not be sending out back tax bills just yet to approximately 2,500 individuals hit by the sudden elimination of the 20-year-old Qualified Small Business Stock tax break, designed to encourage investments in startups. Responding to a campaign in Sacramento started by small-business owners facing bills estimated between $60,000 and $500,000, the tax board said it would not be mailing bills until early April or later if the affected taxpayers seek a waiver of the statute of limitations covering the years, beginning in 2008, on which the back taxes are owed.

President Obama, Republican Leaders to Meet As Sequester Cuts Look LikelyThe budget ax is about to fall, and there's little lawmakers in Washington are doing to stop it.

Like a Boss! Deal with it.

via New gay images on Photobucket by Jenny_likes_poo on 2/28/13
IMAG3155_zps8d6ca61b.jpg
Gay Stuff - IMAG3155_zps8d6ca61b.jpg

via New gay images on Photobucket by Jenny_likes_poo on 2/28/13
2012-06-06100718_zpsf9b039b8.jpg
Gay Stuff - 2012-06-06100718_zpsf9b039b8.jpg
These nuts

via Gay TV's Facebook Wall by Gay TV on 2/28/13
Gay Kisses & Gay Love - Movies & TV Series [2]

Gay Kisses & Gay Love - Movies & TV Series [2]


And you, who is your favorite gay couple ?

From: FoQfaan

Views: 116362

225 ratings

Time: 02:54 More in Film & Animation



Gay Kisses & Gay Love - Movies & TV Series [2]

via Gay TV's Facebook Wall by Gay TV on 2/28/13
The Real Wil by Ate Gay on Kris TV

The Real Wil by Ate Gay on Kris TV


Wowowillie - February 15, 2013

From: Kawow Wowillie

Views: 5180

10 ratings

Time: 10:46 More in Entertainment



The Real Wil by Ate Gay on Kris TV