Tuesday, 31 January 2012
100 year old keeps sharp playing Nintendo DS
100 year old keeps sharp playing Nintendo DS
A sprightly centenarian has revealed the secret to staying sharp in old age - playing VIDEO GAMES. Instead of knitting or playing bingo Kathleen Kit Connell, known as Kit, spends two hours a day tapping away at her favourite console. And the grandmother-of-one, who still lives independently, said she has used the Nintendo DS Lite, so much she even wore out her first console and had to replace the computer. Kit, who according to the game has the mental age of 64, said: "It's absolutely super. I don't feel a day over 80.
"I can't speak highly enough of it
Fresh Impressions on Brandmarks (from my 5-year-old)
Fresh Impressions on Brandmarks (from my 5-year-old)
A fun Sunday project with my daughter on brand logos.
Fresh Impressions on Brandmarks (from my 5-year-old)
to watch this video click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE_pVFAdZMk
A fun Sunday project with my daughter on brand logos.
Fresh Impressions on Brandmarks (from my 5-year-old)
to watch this video click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE_pVFAdZMk
Monday, 30 January 2012
Saturday, 28 January 2012
A breathtaking aurora from Earth’s largest geomagnetic storm in almost 10 years
A breathtaking aurora from Earth’s largest geomagnetic storm in almost 10 years
A powerful geomagnetic storm creates extreme auroras in the skies above Abisko National Park in Sweden. This video was shot in three hours by Lights Over Lapland photographer Chad Blakley
Friday, 27 January 2012
Hitler's unpublished videos ever
Interior view of the Great Room of the Berghof (formerly known as Haus Wachenfeld), Adolf Hitler's estate in Berchtesgaden, Upper Bavaria, Germany, late 1930s. (Photo by Hugo Jaeger/Timepix/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Hitler at New Year's reception in the Chancellery. At right with back to camera, Vatican minister. (Photo by Hugo Jaeger/Timepix/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Interior view of the massive offfice of German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler in the Reichskanzlei (Reichs Chancellery, Berlin, Germany, late 1930s or early 1940s. (Photograph by Hugo Jaeger/Time & Life Pictures)
Interior view of the Great Room of the Berghof (formerly known as Haus Wachenfeld), Adolf Hitler's estate in Berchtesgaden, Upper Bavaria, Germany, late 1930s. (Photo by Hugo Jaeger/Timepix/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Hitler at New Year's reception in the Chancellery. At right with back to camera, Vatican minister. (Photo by Hugo Jaeger/Timepix/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
German Fuhrer and Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945) (right) eats a meal with his personal physician, Professor Theodor Morell (1886 - 1948) (left), and the wife of Gauleiter Albert Forster, at the Berghof (formerly known as Haus Wachenfeld), Hitler's estate in Berchtesgaden, Upper Bavaria, Germany, late 1930s. (Photo by Hugo Jaeger/Timepix/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Interior view of the massive offfice of German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler in the Reichskanzlei (Reichs Chancellery, Berlin, Germany, late 1930s or early 1940s. (Photograph by Hugo Jaeger/Time & Life Pictures)
Interior view of the Great Room of the Berghof (formerly known as Haus Wachenfeld), Adolf Hitler's estate in Berchtesgaden, Upper Bavaria, Germany, late 1930s. (Photo by Hugo Jaeger/Timepix/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Hitler at New Year's reception in the Chancellery. At right with back to camera, Vatican minister. (Photo by Hugo Jaeger/Timepix/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
German Fuhrer and Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945) (right) eats a meal with his personal physician, Professor Theodor Morell (1886 - 1948) (left), and the wife of Gauleiter Albert Forster, at the Berghof (formerly known as Haus Wachenfeld), Hitler's estate in Berchtesgaden, Upper Bavaria, Germany, late 1930s. (Photo by Hugo Jaeger/Timepix/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Exterior view of the terrace at the Berghof (formerly known as Haus Wachenfeld), Adolf Hitler's estate in Berchtesgaden, Upper Bavaria, Germany, late 1930s. (Photo by Hugo Jaeger/Timepix/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
In Hitler's private apartment; the Chancellery. (Photo by Hugo Jaeger/Timepix/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Pentagon Seeks Mightier Bomb vs. Iran
Pentagon Seeks Mightier Bomb vs. Iran
WASHINGTON—Pentagon war planners have concluded that their largest conventional bomb isn't yet capable of destroying Iran's most heavily fortified underground facilities, and are stepping up efforts to make it more powerful, according to U.S. officials briefed on the plan.
The 30,000-pound "bunker-buster" bomb, known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, was specifically designed to take out the hardened fortifications built by Iran and North Korea to cloak their nuclear programs.
But initial tests indicated that the bomb, as currently configured, wouldn't be capable of destroying some of Iran's facilities, either because of their depth or because Tehran has added new fortifications to protect them.
Doubts about the MOP's effectiveness prompted the Pentagon this month to secretly submit a request to Congress for funding to enhance the bomb's ability to penetrate deeper into rock, concrete and steel before exploding, the officials said.
The push to boost the power of the MOP is part of stepped-up contingency planning for a possible strike against Iran's nuclear program, say U.S. officials.
The Defense Department has spent about $330 million so far to develop about 20 of the bombs, which are built by Boeing Co. The Pentagon is seeking about $82 million more to make the bomb more effective, according to government officials briefed on the plan.
Some experts question if any kind of conventional explosives are capable of reaching facilities such as those built deep underground in Iran. But U.S. defense officials say they believe the MOP could already do damage sufficient to set back the program.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Thursday, acknowledged the bomb's shortcomings against some of Iran's deepest bunkers. He said more development work would be done and that he expected the bomb to be ready to take on the deepest bunkers soon.
"We're still trying to develop them," Mr. Panetta said.
President Barack Obama has made clear that he believes U.S. and international sanctions can curb Iran's nuclear program if they are given more time to work. At the same time, however, Mr. Obama has asked the Pentagon to come up with military options.
In Tuesday's State of the Union address, Mr. Obama said: "Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal." Iran denies it is trying to develop atomic weapons.
The U.S. has sought in recent weeks to tamp down tensions with Iran, but the Pentagon is at the same time pushing ahead with contingency planning.
"The development of this weapon is not intended to send a signal to any one particular country," Pentagon press secretary George Little said. "It's a capability we believe we need in our arsenal and will continue to invest in it."
Officials said the planned improvements to the MOP were meant to overcome shortcomings that emerged in initial testing. They said the new money was meant to ensure the weapon would be more effective against the deepest bunkers, including Iran's Fordow enrichment plant facility, which is buried in a mountain complex surrounded by antiaircraft batteries, making it a particularly difficult target even for the most powerful weapons available to the U.S.
Developing an effective bunker-buster is complicated in part because of the variables, experts say. Penetration varies depending on factors such as soil density and the types of stone and rock shielding the target.
Boeing received a contract in 2009 to fit the weapon on the U.S.'s B-2 Stealth Bomber. The Air Force began receiving the first of the bombs in September, a time of growing tensions with Iran. The Air Force has so far contracted to buy 20 of the bombs, and more deliveries are expected in 2013, after additional tests are made.
Should a decision be made to use the MOP as currently configured, it could cause "a lot of damage" to Iran's underground nuclear facilities but wouldn't necessarily destroy them outright, Mr. Panetta said.
"We're developing it. I think we're pretty close, let's put it that way. But we're still working at it because these things are not easy to be able to make sure that they will do what we want them to."
Mr. Panetta added: "But I'm confident, frankly, that we're going to have that capability and have it soon,"
The decision to ask now for more money to develop the weapon was directly related to efforts by the U.S. military's Central Command to prepare military options against Iran as quickly as possible, according to a person briefed on the request for additional funds.
A senior defense official said the U.S. had other options besides the MOP to set back Iran's nuclear program. "The Massive Ordnance Penetrators are by no means the only capability at our disposal to deal with potential nuclear threats in Iran," the official said.
Another senior U.S. official said the Pentagon could make up for the MOPs' shortcomings by dropping them along with other guided bombs on top of a bunker's entry and exit points—provided the intelligence is available about where they are all located.
Successful strikes on bunker entry and exit points could prevent an enemy from accessing such a site and could cause enough damage to stop or slow enrichment activity there.
"There is a virtue to deepness but you still need to get in and out," the senior U.S. official said.
The Pentagon was particularly concerned about its ability to destroy bunkers built under mountains, such as Iran's Fordow site near the Shiite Muslim holy city of Qom, according to a former senior U.S. official who is an expert on Iran.
The official said some Pentagon war planners believe conventional bombs won't be effective against Fordow and that a tactical nuclear weapon may be the only military option if the goal is to destroy the facility. "Once things go into the mountain, then really you have to have something that takes the mountain off," the official said.
The official said the MOP may be more effective against Iran's main enrichment plant at Natanz but added: "But even that is guesswork."
The Pentagon notified Congress in mid-January that it wants to divert around $82 million to refine the MOP, taking the money from other defense programs. The decision to sidestep the normal budget request process suggests the Pentagon deems the MOP upgrades to be a matter of some urgency.
Mr. Panetta said Iran wasn't the only potential target. "It's not just aimed at Iran. Frankly, it's aimed at any enemy that decides to locate in some kind of impenetrable location. The goal here is to be able to get at any enemy, anywhere," he said
Mr. Panetta and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates have argued that a military strike would at best delay Iran's nuclear development for a few years. Advocates of a strike say such a delay could be decisive by buying time for other efforts to thwart the program.
According to Air Force officials, the 20.5 foot-long MOP carries over 5,300 pounds of explosive material. It is designed to penetrate up to 200 feet underground before exploding. The mountain above the Iranian enrichment site at Fordow is estimated to be at least 200 feet tall.
Israel has large bunker-buster bombs but the U.S. hasn't provided the MOP to any other country.
source:
MegaUpload Users Plan to Sue the FBI over Lost Files
In most reports following the MegaUpload shutdown, the site is exclusively portrayed as a piracy haven.However, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people used the site to share research data, work documents, personal video collections.
As of today, these people are still unsure whether they will ever get their personal belongings back.
In a response, Pirate Parties worldwide have started to make a list of all the people affected by the raids, and they are planning to file an official complaint against the US authorities.
“The widespread damage caused by the sudden closure of Megaupload is unjustified and completely disproportionate to the aim intended,” they announce.
“For this reason Pirates of Catalonia, in collaboration with Pirate Parties International and other Pirate Parties, have begun investigating these potential breaches of law and will facilitate submission of complaints against the US authorities in as many countries as possible, to ensure a positive and just result.”
“This initiative is a starting point for legitimate internet users to help defend themselves from the legal abuses promoted by those wishing to aggressively lock away cultural materials for their own financial gain.”
Legal experts and citizen rights groups have taken an interest in the issue as well, TorrentFreak learned. The Pirate Parties are the first to make an inventory of the damage, but not the last.
Gates donates $750 million to fight AIDS, TB and malaria
to read more on this, go to CNN's webpage:
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/26/health/switzerland-gates-donation/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
The donation comes in the form of a promissory note, not as cash, which the Gates Foundation said "gives the Global Fund the flexibility and authority to distribute funds efficiently based on immediate needs.""By supporting the Global Fund, we can help to change the fortunes of the poorest countries in the world," Gates said in a statement. "I can't think of more important work."At a news conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Gates said the funds could be used immediately to "saves lives, whether it is bed nets (to protect against mosquitoes carrying malaria) or TB (tuberculosis) treatment, those are two diseases that don't get perhaps the visibility of the work done in HIV but they are every bit as important."The investment comes on top of $650 million the Gates Foundation has already contributed since the Global Fund was launched 10 years ago.The fund has been under scrutiny after controversy over the possible misuse of funds. Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the fund, said Tuesday he would resign in March after leading the organization for five years. Kazatchkine cited the fund's decision to appoint a general manager as part of its "ambitions transformation plan" as the reason for his departure.Speaking to journalists with Simon Bland, the Global Fund's chair, Gates downplayed the controversy.The way it had been written about was "pretty disappointing," he said. "If you are going to do health programs in Africa, you are going to have some percentage that is misused.""The interest is saving lives," Gates said, adding there were "all sorts of things that are going on that far overwhelm any amount of misdirection or whatever it was."
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Bank robber shoots himself in the foot
Bank robber shoots himself in the foot
A bank robber accidentally helped police catch him after shooting himself in the foot while acting as a lookout for his accomplices in Brazil.
Security footage of the robbery shows three men storm the bank in northern Parana and demand bank tellers hand over the cash on Monday, the Telegraph reports.
Everything runs smoothly at first, with tellers giving the men 30,000 Brazilian reals ($16,000) as one of the trio stands at the front door armed with two guns.
But then the lookout man fumbles with one of his pistols, shooting himself in the foot and lurching forward in pain.
He is last seen limping from the bank behind the other two men.
The clumsy robber was arrested at a hospital near the bank the next day, Brazilian media report.
Officers said six men were believed to have been involved in the incident but only three appeared on camera.
One other man has also been arrested.
iPhone 5 Will Have 4-Inch Screen, Launch in Summer [RUMOR]
We know. We know. Everyone still hasn’t stopped talking about how many iPhone 4Ses Apple sold last quarter, and here we are reporting on new rumors about the next one. But this most recent iPhone 5 rumor has piqued our interest more than usual.
9to5 Mac reports that a Foxconn worker told them that the next-generation iPhone, tentatively called the iPhone 5, is gearing up for production. According to the report, there are several different samples, each of which varies slightly from the others, so it’s impossible to determine which will be final.
However, all the samples sport 4-inch or larger screens, which would finally put the iPhone into the same screen leagues as many of its high-end Android competitors, like the Droid RAZR. That of course means none of the samples have the same compact form factor as the iPhone 4 or 4S. The screen on one of the units is said to be made by LG; there was no screen info for the other samples.
Also of note: Not a single one of the phones has a MacBook Air-inspired teardrop shape, a rumor that first got started last spring, then visually realized in a speculative post on This Is My Next (now The Verge). Apparently all of the samples are symmetrically shaped.
The report goes on to say that production of iPhone 5 could begin soon, perhaps with a summer release.
While you should look at all of this information with a skeptical eye, a raised eyebrow and folded arms, the rumor sounds slightly more credible than the junk typically spewed out from Taiwan industry pub DigiTimes. For starters, reviewing various prototypes before deciding on the final production model is a standard practice in manufacturing, unlike many rumors that imply certainty about what something will look like.
Also, the overall vagueness of the rumor (no precise screen measurement, no photos, nothing about the insides) at least gives an appearance of authenticity. After all, if you were just going to make something up, why not be more detailed? There’s certainly no shortage of potential features to choose from.
What do you think of this latest rumor about iPhone 5? Do you think it’s bunk, or does it feel like the real deal? Have your say in the comments.
Apple Breaks Tech Records in Q1; 37 Million iPhones Sold
Apple has reported first quarter financial results for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2011.
Tim Cook's first quarter as Chief Executive Officer at Apple may have been fairly uneventful in terms of product launches (unless you count the iPhone 4S and the iBooks 2 announcement), but it has certainly been a successful one. The Cupertino-based company yesterday announced Q1 earnings for the FY2012 and revealed that it has had its best quarter on record.
Apple posted record quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $26.74 billion and net quarterly profit of $6 billion, or $6.43 per diluted share, for the same period a year ago. Gross margin was 44.7 percent, up from 38.5 percent in the year-ago quarter.
Apple said iPhone sales for the quarter saw a 128 percent unit growth over the same period last year, selling 37.04 million handsets. iPads also saw an increase of 111 percent compared to the year-ago quarter. The company shifted 15.43 million of the tablets in Q1FY12. Mac sales also rose, but not by nearly as much as the iPhone and iPad; Apple sold 5.2 million Macs, a 26 percent unit increase over Q1FY11. As usual, iPods were the combo-breaker, representing the only decline in sales. The company sold 15.4 million, which is a 21 percent decline compared to the same period last year.
"We're thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs," said Tim Cook. "Apple's momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline."
However, this wasn't just a record breaker of a quarter for Apple. According to CNN's David Goldman, Apple's $46 billion in sales set a new tech record. Not only that, but the net quarterly profit of $13 billion, or $13.87 per share, was one of the most profitable quarters ever for any U.S. company, second only to ExxonMobil's $14.8 billion quarter in 2008.
Cook yesterday sent an email congratulating staff on the best quarter in company history and said he intends to discuss the "record-setting results and some exciting new things going on at Apple" at a Town Hall meeting scheduled for today.
Monday, 23 January 2012
"Skeleton of Giant" Is Internet Photo Hoax
"Skeleton of Giant" Is Internet Photo Hoax?!
These photos are from a recent archaeological discovery in Greece, which represents a totally unexpected finding.
It appears to offer evidence of the existence of humans of extraordinary size, named in the Bible as “Nephilim”, a word used to describe the giants that David fought against, for example, Golliat.
Is it true, or is it just a photo montage?
The National Geographic Society has not discovered ancient giant humans, despite rampant reports and pictures.
The hoax began with a doctored photo and later found a receptive online audience—thanks perhaps to the image's unintended religious connotations.A digitally altered photograph created in 2002 shows a reclining giant surrounded by a wooden platform—with a shovel-wielding archaeologist thrown in for scale.
(Photo Gallery: "Giant Skeletons" Fuel Web Hoax)
By 2004 the "discovery" was being blogged and emailed all over the world—"Giant Skeleton Unearthed!"—and it's been enjoying a revival in 2007.
The photo fakery might be obvious to most people. But the tall tale refuses to lie down even five years later, if a continuing flow of emails to National Geographic News are any indication. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)
The messages come from around the globe—Portugal, India, El Salvador, Malaysia, Africa, the Dominican Republic, Greece, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya. But they all ask the same question: Is it true?
Perpetuating the Myth
Helping to fuel the story's recent resurgence are a smattering of media outlets that have reported the find as fact.
An often cited March 2007 article in India's Hindu Voice monthly, for example, claimed that a National Geographic Society team, in collaboration with the Indian Army, had dug up a giant human skeleton in India.
"Recent exploration activity in the northern region of India uncovered a skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size," the report read.
The story went on to say the discovery was made by a "National Geographic Team (India Division) with support from the Indian Army since the area comes under jurisdiction of the Army."
The account added that the team also found tablets with inscriptions that suggest the giant belonged to a race of superhumans that are mentioned in the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic poem from about 200 B.C.
"They were very tall, big and very powerful, such that they could put their arms around a tree trunk and uproot it," the report said, repeating claims that initially appeared in 2004.Voice editor P. Deivamuthu admitted to National Geographic News that his publication was taken in by the fake reports.
The monthly, which is based in Mumbai (Bombay), published a retraction after readers alerted Deivamuthu to the hoax, he said.
"We are against spreading lies and canards," Deivamuthu added. "Moreover, our readers are a highly intellectual class and will not brook any nonsense."
Other blog entries—such as a May 2007 posting on a site called Srini's Weblog—cite a report supposedly published in the Times of India on April 22, 2004. But a search of that newspaper's archive revealed no such article.
Arabian Giant
Variations of the giant photo hoax include alleged discovery of a 60- to 80-foot long (18- to 24-meter) human skeleton in Saudi Arabia. In one popular take, which likewise first surfaced in 2004, an oil-exploration team is said to have made the find.
Here the skeleton is held up as evidence of giants mentioned in Islamic, rather than Hindu, scriptures.
The Debunkers
Web sites dedicated to debunking urban legends and "netlore" picked up on the various giant hoaxes soon after they first appeared.
California-based Snopes.com, for example, noted that the skeleton image had been lifted from Worth1000, which hosts photo-manipulation competitions.
Titled "Giants," the skeleton-and-shoveler picture had won third place in a 2002 contest called "Archaeological Anomalies 2."
The image's creator—an illustrator from Canada who goes by the screen name IronKite—told National Geographic News via email that he had had nothing to do with the subsequent hoax.
He added that he wants to remain anonymous because some forums that debated whether the giant was genuine or not "were turning their entire argument into a religious one." It was argued, for instance, that the Saudi Arabian find was entirely consistent with the teachings of the Koran.
"This was about the same time that death threats and cash bounties were being issued against cartoonists and other industry professionals for doing things like depicting the Prophet Mohammed," IronKite wrote.
How the Image Was Made
IronKite started with an aerial photo of a mastodon excavation in Hyde Park, New York, in 2000. He then digitally superimposed a human skeleton over the beast's remains.
The later addition of a digging man presented the biggest technical challenge.
"If you look, he's holding a yellow-handled shovel, but there's nothing on the end," IronKite said.
"Originally, the spade end was there. But [it] looked like it was occupying the exact same space as the skeleton's temple, making the whole thing look fake.
"Now it looks like he's just holding a stick, and people don't notice. It's funny."
IronKite also altered the color of the man's clothing to create a "uniform tie-in" with the white-shirted observer peering down from the wooden platform.
The two figures work to exaggerate the scale of the skeleton, he added.
(Related: "Shark 'Photo of the Year' Is E-Mail Hoax" [March 8, 2005].)
IronKite said he's tickled that the picture—which took only about an hour and a half to create—has generated so much Internet attention.
"I laugh myself silly when some guy claims to know someone who was there, or even goes so far as to claim that he or she was there when they found the skeleton and took the picture," IronKite said.
"Sometimes people seem so desperate to believe in something that they lie to themselves, or exaggerate in order to make their own argument stronger."
Wanting to Believe
David Mikkelson of Snopes.com said such hoaxes succeed when they seem to confirm something people are already inclined to believe, such as a prejudice, political viewpoint, or religious belief.
A hoax also needs to be presented "in a framework that has the appearance of credibility," he said in an email.
The "ancient giant" has both elements, according to Mikkelson.
"It appeals to both a religious and a secular vision of the world as different and more fantastic than mere science would lead us to believe," he said.
"Proof," Mikkelson added, "comes in the form of a fairly convincing image."
For anyone who may have knowingly propagated the myth, Mikkelson added, the motivation "probably wasn't any different than the motivation for engaging in a game of ringing someone's doorbell and running away—because it's an easy way to have a laugh at someone else's expense."
Alex Boese, "curator" of the virtual Museum of Hoaxes, said fake giants have a long history going back to the at least the 1700s.
The recent hoax is reminiscent of the once famous Cardiff Giant myth, involving a ten-foot-tall (three-meter) stone figure dug up in 1869 in Cardiff, New York, Boese said.
Many people believed the figure was a petrified man and claimed he was one of the giants mentioned in the Bible's Book of Genesis: "There were giants in the Earth in those days."
Likewise, Boese said, the recent giant hoax "taps into people's desire for mystery and their desire to see concrete confirmation of religious legends."
Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071214-giant-skeleton_2.html
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES
Sunday, 22 January 2012
CBS buys "The Words", "Tupelo 77" gets a director
PARK CITY, Utah, Jan 22 (TheWrap.com) - Buying activity at the Sundance Film Festival ramped up on Sunday after late-night negotiations on Saturday. CBS Films announced that it had acquired "The Words," a drama starring Brad Cooper, Zoe Saldana and Jeremy Irons.
The movie stars Cooper as a writer who at the peak of his literary success discovers the price he must pay for stealing another man's work. Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal co-wrote and co-directed the film.
Mickey Liddell's LD Distribution bought North American rights to the midnight entry "Black Rock."
And there was plenty of noise continuing around the hottest film in the feature competition, "Beast of the Southern Wild," which insiders said had Fox Searchlight, Focus Features and others seeking the rights through WME.
"Filly Brown," a fierce hip-hop drama, handled by WME, was also said to be in play.
Also on Sunday:
Julie Dash, who directed the television movie "The Rosa Parks Story," is in final negotiations to direct Angel Entertainment's feature "Tupelo 77," Angel's Bob Crowe said Sunday.
The movie is set in a small town in Mississippi in the summer of 1977. It tells the story of a group of women of various ages and races who are regulars at a roadside diner. The summer of 1977 -- the year Elvis Presley died -- is the hottest on record in Mississippi.
Casting for the film is under way. Crowe and Sean Hewitt are producing the movie, which begins shooting this summer.
Rich Mancuso wrote the screenplay, which shows the women as they struggle to "transcend the obstacles of poverty, racial and religious differences, and the persistent wounds of war."
Dash's "Daughters of the Dust" was selected as one of the "From the Collection" screenings at the Sundance Film Festival. That film first screened at the 1991 Sundance festival, where it earned the Excellence in Cinematography Award.
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