Oscar-Winning 'Amour' Provides Unflinching Look at Aging, Dying

Mar 25, 2013 5:27pm

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Sarah Putnam reports:

Now that ?Amour? has won the Oscar for best foreign-language film, let us pause for a moment to consider the significance of the Academy?s nominating such a film for one of the most prestigious awards in Hollywood.

In ?Amour,? the French, who seem to have an innate cultural clarity and ability to talk about subjects that tie Americans in knots ? think sex, food and political shenanigans ? show us how to take an unflinching look at dying.

If the Academy of Motion Pictures has taken the unusual step of bestowing an Oscar to a French-language about aging and dying, could that mean that we are finally ready as a country to begin talking about such difficult issues?

It?s refreshing to see the Academy?s? giving a vote of confidence to the cultural change that we at ABC News and The Conversation Project believe in.

Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke frames this end-of-life story in a context of deep intimacy and emotional richness, even as he never sidesteps the grimness of decline. The extraordinary performances of veteran actors Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva as Georges and Anne take us step by step, detail by poignant detail, through the unraveling of the lives of this elegant elderly couple.

?Amour? is unquestionably, as its title declares, a love story. But it is also a portrayal of isolation amplified by pride, by reticence, by family dysfunction. Throughout the movie, this isolation becomes increasingly and unbearably, and quite literally, suffocating.

The story of Georges and Anne can be seen as a cautionary tale, provoking essential questions that all must face.

How do we cope with end of life? How do we best manage the challenges ? physical, emotional, logistical ? of this universal life passage? How can we alleviate the burdens dying imposes on our loved ones, on our survivors, on ourselves?

Sarah Putnam is a visual storyteller whose work as a photojournalist, both nationally and internationally, has been commissioned by magazines, corporations, and non-profits. Putnam has been involved with The Conversation Project since its inception.

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Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/03/25/oscar-winning-amour-provides-unflinching-look-at-aging-dying/

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More heartache for Myles Neuts' family | Local | News | The London ...

CHATHAM?-?

The family of Myles Neuts was shocked to discover medical officials disposed of his organs before the family had a chance to claim them.

In 1998, 10-year-old Neuts was found hanging from a coat hook in a washroom stall door at St. Agnes Catholic School in Chatham. The Grade 5 pupil died six days later, after being taken off of life support, and a coroner?s inquest was held into the death,

His parents, Mike and Brenda Neuts, recently saw a newspaper notice from the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service saying it?s reaching out to families to return organs of family members whose deaths involved a coroner?s investigation and autopsy before June 14, 2010.

Mike Neuts knew Myles? pituitary gland had been removed during the autopsy, but when he asked for more information he was shocked to learn his son?s brain and spinal cord had also been removed.

Those details were in an autopsy report and transcripts from the inquest, but Neuts said he overlooked them because he was still distraught.

Neuts also found out the hospital that performed the autopsy had already disposed of his son?s organs.

Dr. Michael Pollanen, chief forensic pathologist for Ontario, said practices in forensic pathology have changed

and organs no longer need to be kept as often,

He said medical ethics about sharing potentially-distressing news with families has also changed over the years.

?The ethical imperatives now have changed to full disclosure, as opposed to non-disclosure.? Pollanen said,

Neuts said he favours full disclosure, but personally contacting families would have been the better route to go, if organs were available.

?I wonder how many people like me have applied and there?s nothing there for us to get out, especially some of us who didn?t know (organs) were gone,? he said.

Pollanen said more than 2,000 individuals have contacted his office about the issue.

Pollanen said there is now a two-year time limit on retaining organs, which wasn?t the case in the past.

Neuts has been critical of the coroner?s inquest process over the years, but said the efforts of Pollanen give him hope that real changes are happening.

?When I got past my raw emotion and took a look at it . . . I need to be fair and say, ?You know what, they?re trying to clean it up and that?s why this happened,?? he said.

--- --- ---

MORE INFORMATION

? To obtain the organs of a family member whose death involved a coroner?s investigation and autopsy, call 1-855-564-4122 or go online to Ontario.ca/OrganRetention.

? Affected families can request organs be sent to a funeral home for cremation or burial and expenses will be covered by the province.

Source: http://www.lfpress.com/2013/03/24/more-heartache-for-myles-neuts-family

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Rebels enter Central African Republic capital

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) ? Hundreds of rebels penetrated the capital of Central African Republic on Saturday, posing the gravest threat to President Francois Bozize's government in a decade.

The rebels, who signed a peace agreement in January that was to allow Bozize to stay in power until 2016, have threatened to overthrow the country's leader unless he meets their demands.

The rebels come from several different armed groups that have long challenged the government. They are now accusing Bozize of failing to abide by the terms of the latest deal signed two months ago, with the help of mediators from neighboring countries.

Fighters rapidly seized a dozen towns in December and January but never entered the capital of Bangui before agreeing to negotiations.

Guy Moussa, who lives in the PK12 neighborhood on the north side of the city, told The Associated Press that hundreds of rebels had entered the city around 6 p.m.

Panicked residents cowered in their homes, many shrouded in darkness after rebels took out a power station supplying parts of Bangui.

Earlier in the afternoon, non-essential United Nations personnel taking a bus to the airport were stopped by a group of angry youths.

"No one leaves this country. You will stay here. If we die, we all die together," the youths shouted, according to U.N. employee Debonheur Deotar.

The unrest is the latest threat to the stability of Central African Republic, a desperately poor nation of 4.5 million that has long been wracked by rebellions and power grabs. The president himself took power in 2003 following a rebellion, and his tenure has been marked by conflict with myriad armed groups.

Bozize's whereabouts late Saturday were not immediately known. On Friday, state radio announced that he had returned from South Africa where he was meeting with that country's president, Jacob Zuma.

South Africa has sent troops and equipment to support Central African Republic forces.

The rebels insist the foreign troops leave, and, as part of their demands, they want their own fighters integrated into the national army.

On Friday, the rebels seized Damara, which had been the boundary line drawn up by regional forces before the January peace accord was signed.

The move marked a serious escalation by the rebels, who went on to take the town of Bossembele early Saturday, said military spokesman Lt. Evrard Tekremoyen.

The insurgents then drove to the neighboring town of Boali and took control of three power plants that serve the town and the capital, residents said.

The rebels also cut off the electrical grid, plunging some of Bangui into darkness, Elisabeth Kofio, the director of Central African Republic Energy, said on the radio.

Earlier in the week, Bozize had offered to release some political prisoners, but the rebels said the gestures were too little, too late.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rebels-enter-c-african-republic-capital-181734866.html

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Jane Goodall apologizes for plagiarizing in new book

Jane Goodall apologizes: The famous primate researcher apologizes because her some passages were lifted from elsewhere. Jane Goodall and the publisher of "Seeds of Hope" announced a delay in the book's release.

By Hillel Italie,?Associated Press / March 23, 2013

Primatologist Jane Goodall during a news conference at the Mobile World Congress in La Casa de Libro, Barcelona last month. Separately, Goodall apologized that some passages from her upcoming book "Seeds of Hope" were copied and not properly credited.

REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino

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The next book by primatologist Jane Goodall has been postponed because some passages were lifted from online sources and not properly credited.

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Hachette Book Group announced Friday that no new release date has been set for Goodall's "Seeds of Hope," originally scheduled for April 2. Goodall said in a statement that she agreed to delay the book and "correct any unintentional errors."

Goodall also apologized.

"During extensive research I spoke to as many experts as possible," Goodall said in a statement released by the Jane Goodall Institute. "I also visited numerous websites dedicated to celebrating, protecting and preserving the plants of the world. This was a long and well researched book, and I am distressed to discover that some of the excellent and valuable sources were not properly cited, and I want to express my sincere apologies."

"It is important to me that the proper sources are credited, and I will be working diligently with my team to address all areas of concern," said Goodall, who has written or co-written more than 20 books.

Hachette said excerpts that appeared this month in Smithsonian magazine did not contain questionable material.

Goodall, 78, co-authored "Seeds of Hope" with Gail Hudson, who has written for Nature, Good Housekeeping and other publications. The book is being billed as a study of "the critical role that trees and plants play in our world."

Earlier this month, a Washington Post freelance reviewer alerted the paper to numerous similarities between material in "Seeds of Hope" and passages on Wikipedia and on websites for organic tea and the history of tobacco.

"My goal is to ensure that when this book is released it is not only up to the highest of standards, but also that the focus be on the crucial messages it conveys," Goodall said. "It is my hope that then the meaningful conversation can resume about the harm we are inflicting on our natural environment and how we can all act together to ensure our children and grandchildren inherit a healthy planet."

Other authors in recent years have used Internet material without attribution, including Chris Anderson, whose 2009 book "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" contained passages taken verbatim from Wikipedia.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/lNbEyn8DICM/Jane-Goodall-apologizes-for-plagiarizing-in-new-book

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The After Math: Engadget Expand SF special

Welcome to The After Math, where we attempt to summarize this week's tech news through numbers, decimal places and percentages.

Last weekend, we wrapped up our inaugural Expand event, and while several of our international editors (yours truly included) are still battling an unhappy combo of jet lag and the sniffles, we've pulled together some numbers that should offer at least a glimpse at how the weekend in San Francisco all went down. What if you missed out on all the tech, discussions, Engadget editors and giveaways this time? We wouldn't worry. Next stop, New York.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/22/the-after-math-engadget-expand-special/

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'Croods' stars cringe at sound of their own voices (Providence Journal)

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S. Korea misidentifies China as cyberattack origin

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? In an embarrassing twist to a coordinated cyberattack on six major South Korean companies this week, investigators said Friday they wrongly identified a Chinese Internet Protocol address as the source.

A joint team of government and private experts still maintains that hackers abroad were likely to blame, and many analysts suspect North Korea. But the error raises questions about investigators' ability to track down the source of an attack that shut down 32,000 computers Wednesday and exposed big Internet security holes in one of the world's most wired, tech-savvy countries.

South Korean investigators said Thursday that a malicious code that spread through the server of one of the hackers' targets, Nonghyup Bank, was traced to an IP address in China. Even then it was clear that the attack could have originated elsewhere because hackers can easily manipulate such data.

But the state-run Korea Communications Commission said Friday that the IP address actually belonged to a computer at the bank. The IP address was used only for the company's internal network and happened to be identical to a public Chinese address.

"We were careless in our efforts to double-check and triple-check," KCC official Lee Seung-won told reporters. He blamed the error on investigators' rush to give the public details on the search for a culprit.

Yonhap news agency, in an analysis Friday, called the blunder "ridiculous" and said the announcement is certain to undermine government credibility.

Yonhap criticized officials for failing to dispel public anxiety in a country where people's lives are closely interwoven with services provided by media and financial institutions.

An initial assumption that the attack came from abroad may have made investigators jump to conclusions, said Lee Kyung-ho, a cybersecurity expert at Seoul's Korea University.

"They rushed," he said. "They should've investigated by checking the facts step by step."

The investigation will take weeks. Investigators have said the attacks appeared to come from "a single organization" and suspect the hackers were from outside the country. Lee Seung-won, the KCC official, discounted the possibility that the attack could have come from within South Korea, but he didn't elaborate.

Lee Kyung-ho and many other South Korean experts suspect North Korea is behind the attack on broadcasters YTN, MBC and KBS, as well as Nonghyup and two other banks.

While there are many possible explanations, he said, including a homegrown hacker, the culprits are most likely to be North Koreans angry over ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills. Lee said Pyongyang is well aware that an attack on financial institutions and media companies would create lots of publicity and turmoil in South Korea's vibrantly capitalistic society.

North Korea has issued many threats against the South and the U.S. in recent days, but by Friday it had yet to mention the South Korean computer crashes in state-run media.

South Korean officials say they have no proof of Pyongyang's involvement. The country is preparing to deal with more possible attacks, presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung told reporters earlier Friday. He didn't elaborate.

Determining who's behind a digital attack is often difficult, but North Korea is a leading suspect for several reasons.

It has unleashed a torrent of threats against Seoul and Washington since punishing U.N. sanctions were imposed for Pyongyang's Feb. 12 nuclear test. It calls ongoing routine U.S.-South Korean military drills a threat to its existence. Pyongyang also threatened revenge after blaming Seoul and Washington for a separate Internet shutdown that disrupted its own network last week.

Seoul alleges six previous cyberattacks by North Korea on South Korean targets since 2009.

Wednesday's cyberattack did not affect South Korea's government, military or infrastructure, and there were no initial reports that customers' bank records were compromised. But it disabled cash machines and disrupted commerce.

All three of the banks that were hit were back online and operating regularly Friday. It could be next week before the broadcasters' systems have fully recovered, though they said their programming was never affected.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/skorea-misidentifies-china-cyberattack-origin-071506659.html

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