New York Times Redesign
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Obama: Strong US-China Ties Help Rest of The World
By Matthew Pennington WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama assured China’s heir apparent to leadership that the United States welcomes Beijing’s rise in the world, saying Tuesday that strong cooperation between the two powers is good for the rest of the world. Obama offered a warm welcome to Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping amid sharp policy differences over Syria, Iran and economic issues, as well as longstanding U.S. concerns over Chinese human rights practices. >>continued pg. 2
Bahrain Police Arrest Demonstrators on Protest Anniversary
By Donna Abu-Nasr Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Mainly Shiite Muslim protesters in Bahrain marked the first anniversary of their antigovernment rallies by marching toward the former Pearl Roundabout, focus of last year’s demonstrations. Riot police fired tear gas at the protesters heading to the roundabout, which has been demolished and turned into an intersection, while dense black smoke rose in the distance as demonstrators burned tires in Shiite villages. >>continued pg. 3
Weather Report
Saturday, March 3, 2012
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“All the News that’s Fit to Print”
President Obama hosts China Vice-President Xi Jinping
Meeting Vice-President Xi Jinping in the Oval Office, Mr Obama also said it was “vital” that Washington maintained a strong relationship with Beijing. Mr Xi said he hoped his visit would deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the two powers. >>continued pg. 2
Defense: Feds “Manipulated” Facts About Militia
DETROIT - Defense lawyers at the trial of seven Midwest militia members say federal authorities greatly overreached by charging them with conspiring to overthrow the government. >>continued pg. 2
Parents of Slain FAMU Band Member Sue Bus Driver and Bus Company
ORLANDO, Fla. - The parents of a Florida A&M band member who died after being hazed filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday against the owner and driver of the charter bus where the ritual took place. The suit also revealed new details about what might have happened the night Robert Champion died. >>continued. pg 5
Rapper Lil Boosie Indicted for FirstDegree Murder; Death Penalty Possible
BATON ROUGE - Baton Rouge-born rapper, Torrence Hatch, known to fans as Lil Boosie, was indicted by an East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury Thursday afternoon on a first-degree murder charge for his alleged involvement in a shooting incident in October that left one man dead, >>cont. pg. 5
Israel Says Iran Is Behind Bombs
JERUSALEM — Tensions between Israel and Iran rose sharply on Monday when bombers struck at Israeli Embassy personnel in the capitals of India and Georgia.
By Ethan Bronner The wife of an Israeli defense envoy to New Delhi was hurt along with several other people when her car was destroyed by an explosive device placed on it by a motorcyclist at a red light. In Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, a similar device was discovered on the car of a local staff member of the Israeli Embassy, but was defused by the police. Both resembled attacks that have killed five of Iran’s nuclear scientists in recent years, most recently last month. Iran has attributed the assassinations to Israeli agents and has vowed to take revenge. The scientists’ assassinations — along with sabotage of Iran’s nuclear program through cyberwarfare and faulty parts — are aimed at delaying what the West believes is Iran’s drive to build a nuclear weapon. If actually carried out by Iran, the attacks would be another indication that the leadership in Tehran was willing to reach beyond its borders against its enemies and expand its attacks to civilians. The United States has charged that Iran was behind a plot to assassinate a Saudi ambassador on American soil, and Israel has said that Iran has planned to attack its citizens in various countries, but that those plots were stopped. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contended that Monday’s attacks fit that pattern. “In recent months, we have witnessed several attempts to attack Israeli citizens and Jews in several countries, including Azerbaijan, Thailand and others,” he said. “In each instance, we succeeded in foiling the attacks in cooperation with local authorities. Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah, were behind all of these attempted attacks.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected Israel’s accusations on Monday. A spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said, “Israel has bombed its embassies in New Delhi and Tbilisi to tarnish Iran’s friendly ties with the host countries,” adding, “Israel perpetrated the terrorist actions to launch psychological warfare against Iran.” Iran has defended its nuclear program as peaceful and has defiantly pursued uranium enrichment through years of international pressure and sanctions. Israel’s increasingly urgent warnings on the need to halt Iran’s nuclear progress, before it gets much closer to being able to build a bomb, have prompted concerns that Israel might unilaterally mount a military strike — and have added to the implacable enmity between the two. Iran’s oil and banking industries are suffering from sanctions implemented by the United States and Europe to pressure the country to back off its nuclear program. Iranian leaders have vowed to fight back through shutting the vital Strait of Hormuz and through military strikes on countries that are used as launching pads for attacks on it. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, a spokesman for Iran’s Joint Armed Forces Staff, said recently that “the enemies of the Iranian nation, especially the United States, Britain and the Zionist regime, have to be held responsible for their activities.” Iranian leaders have called Israel a tumor that must be removed, and Iran arms and finances Hezbollah and Hamas, wh ich are founded on the principle that Israel has no right to exist. On Monday, Israeli officials said there was enough evidence from the scenes in Georgia and India to say that the bombs were the work of Iranian agents. “Iran’s fingerprints are all over this,” one official said after emerging from high-level meetings in Jerusalem, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Some American Jewish leaders have expressed concern that synagogues and American Jewish centers could be targets in the increased tensions. In 1994, a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing 85 people. The authorities there have accused Iranian diplomats of being behind that attack. Hezbollah, the Lebanese Islamist group with close ties to Iran, has promised to take revenge for the killing of its top commander, Imad Mugniyah,
A forensic official, left, photographed an Israeli Embassy car after an explosion in New Delhi on Monday.
four years ago this week. Mr. Mugniyah had been sought by the United States in terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in the 1980s. Israel held him responsible for Hezbollah military operations in southern Lebanon from the mid-1990s. Israel is widely thought to have killed him with a powerful bomb in Damascus, the Syrian capital. Israeli analysts said the attacks on Monday were insignificant enough that the Israeli government would not feel driven to counterattack.
Las Vegas Embraces Bad Guys of Its Past
By Isaac Brekken LAS VEGAS — Lefty, Lucky, the Ant, Bugsy, the Snake, the Chin, Scarface, the Brain. The monikers of mobsters are like the nicknames of odd superheroes. They are two syllables of rat-tat firing, evoking creepy animals, physical protrusions or uncanny powers. And now, here in a city where such figures were once as comfortably in their element as Zeus and his family on Olympus, they are finally getting something close to the museum they deserve: the Mob Museum, a $42 million survey of the American gangster, unfolding in 17,000 square feet of exhibition space, on three floors of a 41,000-squarefoot landmark building on Stewart Avenue. >>continued. pg 8
Randy Moss and ‘That Thing Called Quit
By Kevin Seifert As far as I’m concerned, Cris Carter has always been a knowledgeable and honest source of analysis on Randy Moss, his one-time teammate and protégé when both played for the Minnesota Vikings. And once again, I think Carter nailed his take on Moss’ plans to return to the NFL in 2012. Appearing Tuesday morning on ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning,” Carter predicted that Moss would be “in fabulous shape” after a full offseason of training and reiterated his suggestion that Moss could still run the 40-yard dash in less than 4.4 seconds. But Carter accurately identified an important issue NFL teams will need to address before seriously considering his acquisition. >>continued pg. 7
The Dilemma of Cheap Electronics
By David Pogue Last week, an important Times article set off shockwaves in the consumer tech industry by focusing on tragedies and working conditions at Foxconn, the Chinese electronics factory that makes Apple iPhones. It describes excessive overtime, crowding in worker dorms, improper disposal of hazardous waste and unsafe working conditions. These revelations have shocked a lot of Apple fans — and fired up a lot of Apple foes. There are petitions and flooded comment boards. This morning, protesters delivered petitions at six major Apple stores, including the new one in Grand Central Terminal. The article and the response are healthy. >>continued pg. 9
Syria Resumes Shelling, Rejecting U.N. Rebuke
By Neil MacFarquhar and Rick Gladston BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian government on Tuesday brushed aside a stern castigation from the top United Nations human rights official about its deadly attacks on civilians, calling her assessment propaganda as Syria’s military resumed what one activist described as the “brutal shelling” of the city of Homs. A day after the official, Navi Pillay, the United Nations’s high commissioner for human rights, offered a grim appraisal of the Syrian conflict, activists said the shelling resumed in earnest at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, with rockets and tank shells whistling into parts of the city as often as every two minutes. >>continued pg. 2
State of Emergency as Toll Rises
A string of violent storms demolished small towns in Indiana and cut off rural communities in Kentucky as an early season tornado outbreak killed more than three dozen people. The death toll continued to rise Saturday as searchers picked through debris for survivors.Weather that put millions of people at risk killed at least 38 people in five states — Alabama, Indiana, K e n t u c k y, Georgia and Ohio —more than 300 people were reported injured in Kentucky alone. “We knew this was coming. We were watching the weather like everyone else,” said Clark County, Ind., Sheriff Danny Rodden. “This was the worst case scenario. There’s no way you can prepare for something like this.” Ohio Gov. John Kasich proclaimed a state of emergency Saturday, as had the governors in Indiana and Kentucky. President Barack Obama offered Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance as state troopers, the National Guard and rescue teams made their way through counties cut off by debris-littered roads and knocked down cellphone towers in a search for survivors. >>continued pg. 2
Rush Limbaugh Loses Another Sponsor over ‘slut’ Remark
By Kim Geiger Reporting from Washington— Rush Limbaugh has lost another advertiser on his radio talk show as the fallout continued from his use of the terms “slut” and “prostitute” to ridicule a woman who has advocated for expanded access to birth control. Quicken Loans, Inc. has suspended its advertising on the Limbaugh show, the company said in a statement posted to its website. It was a reversal for the Detroit-based online mortgage lender, which had initially issued a statement in support of Limbaugh’s right to express himself. “While we do not condone or agree with Mr. Limbaugh’s statements regarding Sandra Fluke, we respect his right to express his views,” Quicken Loans spokesman Paul Silver told the Detroit Free Press in a prepared statement. “In no instance does Quicken Loans ever have any control of the content or comments of the shows.” That didn’t satisfy Quicken customers, whose “valuable feedback” eventually led the company to suspend advertising on the show. Dan Gilbert, the company’s founder and the owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, announced the decision on Twitter. >>continued pg. 2
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A Marathon Performer With Plenty of Steam Left
By Neil Genzlinger
What are people who come to your new Broadway show going to see and, just as important, what are they not going to see? “They’re not going to see me naked,” Mr. Shatner said. “Now that,” he added, “will disappoint about three people.”The exchange, early in an interview at the Manhattan studio on East 31st Street where Mr. Shatner has been rehearsing, captures one of show business’s most colorful careers. For more than half a century, Mr. Shatner has embodied a paradox: He has been consistently unpredictable, both in his choices of projects and in how his efforts have been received. >>continued pg. 2
Van Halen at Madison Square Garden
All of the Nostalgia, but Fewer High Kicks
By Chad Batka Of the handful of new songs that Van Halen played at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, one managed to sum up the spirit of the band’s reunion tour. It was “The Trouble With Never,” a typically full-throttle contraption: grinding riffs, bashing drums, deviously catchy chorus. And as David Lee Roth spit out the lyrics, it was easy to apply them obliquely to his situation in the band: years of estrangement and acrimony with the brothers Van Halen, followed by a recent strategic détente. “Every Einstein’s assigned/A Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber,” he sang. Which was meant to be funny, and probably a little pointed. >>continued pg. 2
Arts
‘The Lorax’ Rules with $17.4 mil on Friday On Pace for $60 mil Weekend
Jon Hamm: Why Working on Mad Men Hurts
Interview pg.2
The Beasts Without and Within
Exhibition Review pg. 2
Life of a ‘Salesman’
Charles Isherwood leads an online conversation about the classic pg. 3
Davy Jones Dies at 66; Monkees’ Romantic Heartthrob
The British-born performer sang the leads on several of the Monkees’ hits, including ‘Daydream Believer’ and ‘A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You.’ The band, created for a TV show, charted numerous hits between 1966 and 1970.
By Randy Lewis Davy Jones was a promising 18-year-old actor from England when he found himself among the guest performers on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Feb. 9, 1964 — the same night about 75 million people tuned in to catch the American debut of the Beatles. Like so many others who watched the show from near and far, Jones considered it a life-changing experience. Looking on from the wings as hundreds of teenagers, mostly girls, were screaming ecstatically while listening to the four musicians who came from a town only 20 miles away from his own hometown of Manchester, Jones knew then he wanted a career in pop music rather than theater. A little more than a year later he auditioned for and was accepted as a member of the Monkees, a pop band created for a television show developed in the wake of the success of the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” film. The new group’s fame quickly came to rival that of the Fab Four after NBC-TV executives put Jones and bandmates Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork into the living rooms of millions of viewers every Monday night. The show ran from 1966 to 1968. Jones, who died Wednesday at 66 of a heart attack in Martin County, Fla., was the group’s counterpart to Beatle Paul McCartney as the Monkees’ romantic heartthrob, and his British accent lent the band a dash of international intrigue in songs on which he was the lead singer, including a couple of their biggest hits, “Daydream Believer” and “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You.” “That David has stepped beyond my view causes me the sadness that it does many of you,” Nesmith wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday. “I will miss him, but I won’t abandon him to mortality.… David’s spirit and soul live well in my heart.” Although initially dismissed in music circles as a television fantasy more than a musical reality, the Monkees charted nearly two dozen singles during a heyday from 1966 to 1970 and became the first, and only, act to score four No. 1 albums on the Billboard chart in the same calendar year. It’s a sad day for me,” said filmmaker Bob Rafelson, cocreator of “The Monkees” with Bert Schneider who also produced their avant-garde 1968 film “Head.” “Of all the films I’ve made that have received attention from the Academy Awards, or Cannes [Film Festival] or the New York Film Critics Awards, nothing ever pleased me more than hearing a [radio] announcer say ‘Here’s Davy Jones singing “Daydream Believer.” ‘ “ Although never inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Monkees have long been lauded for the boost they gave many songwriters by recording their compositions, including Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Harry Nilsson, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, and John Stewart. It was Jones who strongly lobbied for the group to record “Cuddly Toy,” a song written by Nilsson, who was then supporting himself as a computer programmer for a bank in the San Fernando Valley. Later known as the composer of the Three Dog Night hit “One” and the singer on hits of his own such as “Without You” and “Everybody’s Talking,” Nilsson’s big break came from the Monkees. “Back in 1967 it meant something for them to record one of your songs,” said John Scheinfeld, writer and producer of the 2010 documentary “Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?” “In our film, Micky told the story of how Harry and Davy and Harry’s publisher Lester Sill were walking out of the studio after the recording session, and Lester turned to Harry and said, ‘Well, you can quit your job at the bank now.’ It drew a lot of attention to Harry.”
David Thomas Jones was born Dec. 30, 1945, and gained success in his native country as a child actor with roles in different series shown on the BBC. At 11, he had an important role in the long-running soap opera “Coronation Street.” After a successful run on London’s West End as the Artful Dodger in a production of the musical “Oliver!” in his teens, Jones re-created the part on Broadway, landing a Tony Award nomination. It was that production that was highlighted by Sullivan in the same show on which the Beatles appeared for the first time. He also trained to be a jockey — he stood 5 feet 3 — and his passion for horses stayed with him through his life. Rafelson said he and Schneider auditioned 437 actors and musicians, including Stephen Stills, David Crosby, the Lovin’ Spoonful and future members of Three Dog Night, before zeroing in on the four who became the Monkees. Some of the band members’ desire to be taken seriously musically led to notorious power struggles with TV and music publishing executives. But that wasn’t a big concern for Jones. “Eventually Peter and Mike, especially, wanted to write, play and record … or be behind the camera,” Jones told a Springfield, Mass., newspaper earlier this year while on a solo tour. “But I just wanted to be in the show, fall in love twice in each episode and kiss the girls. I had no ambition to be Steven Spielberg or Cecil B. DeMille.” Still, Rafelson credited Jones for taking a vocal role in the group’s efforts to take more control over their music and their careers. Tork quit the band in 1968 and the Monkees continued briefly as a trio, then disbanded in 1970. Jones promptly resurfaced the following year with a guest appearance as himself in “Getting Davy Jones,” one of the most celebrated episodes of “The Brady Bunch,” in which Marcia Brady launched a campaign to persuade the teen idol to visit her school. In the ‘80s the group had a resurgence sparked by a CD box set issued by the archival label Rhino Records, and that led to then-new MTV showing episodes of the original series that revived interest in the band. They have since done several reunion tours, usually without Nesmith, including a 45th anniversary round of shows last year that was cut short because of differences that cropped up among Jones, Dolenz and Tork. Although he was comfortable with his highest-profile job, Jones sometimes worried that the Monkees’ legacy would follow him for the rest of his life, which he spent acting in numerous TV shows, theatrical productions, and doing voiceover work for cartoons and animated features.
The Monkees in 1966. From left, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith. Jones, the lead singer on several of the group’s hits, died Wednesday. (Associated Press / December 31, 1969)
“My biggest fear, years ago, when I played Jesus in ‘Godspell,’ “ he told a New Jersey newspaper last year, “was that I’d be dying on the cross one night and someone would yell out, ‘Hey Davy! — Do ‘Daydream Believer’!” Jones also toured as a solo act, blending Monkees hits and his favorite musical theater songs, and he had performed most recently Feb. 19 in Oklahoma. He had a Southland date scheduled for March 31 at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. “I try to be positive today in my life,” Jones said earlier this year. “There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way.” He is survived by his third wife, Jessica Pacheco, four children from previous marriages and several grandchildren.
Adele Hits 22nd Week at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 200
The ‘Rumour Has It’ singer continues to extend her long reign on the U.S. album chart by moving 297,000 copies of ‘21’.
Adele is still unmovable from the first spot on Billboard Hot 200. The British pop sensation easily wins the race to the top spot by shifting another 297,000 copies with her studio album “21”. It marks her 22nd non-consecutive week at the penthouse of the chart
At Sony, Portable Games Just Got Bigger
Big-Government Conservatives
The New Museum’s triennial survey needs a dollop of anarchy.
“The Ungovernables,” the New Museum’s building-filling triennial of artists born between 1973 and 1984, really ought to have been called “The Explanations.” It’s loaded with art that you need to read about so you can even grasp what it thinks it’s dealing with. Nearly every artist’s work is joined by dense wall text full of buzzwords like “interstitial spaces” or syllogistic, nearly generic statements like “externalize ... processes of ... thinking.” An artist’s primary job is to infuse thought into material. (Let’s restrict public signage to important warnings, like “Beware of the Bears.”) Yet at “The Ungovernables”—as at more and more shows I visit—I saw a lot more people standing and reading than actually trying to unpack the work.
Model Struts Path to Stardom Not on Runway, but on YouTube
There was a time, not long ago, when the surest path to modeling stardom was down the runway of a top designer’s show, when it would have been unthinkable to find among the industry’s top ranks a swimsuit girl whose main claims to fame were ad campaigns for Guess jeans and Beach Bunny Swimwear. Unlike the many littleknown beauties now on view at New York Fashion Week — women seldom identified by more than one name (Agata, Hanaa, Frida, Joan) — Kate Upton, just 19 and resembling a 1950s pinup, but with the legs of a W.N.B.A. point guard, has arrived on the scene as a largely self-created Internet phenomenon.
No, I’m not asking about your financial circumstances. I’m asking, literally, how much space do you have in your pockets? Women have it easier than men in this regard, because they often carry assorted objects in bags of various sizes. Men generally make do with pockets. The pocket budget is among the most important factors in global entertainment, media and technology right now: How many devices can we be expected to carry as we slouch toward the digital nirvana of doing everything everywhere all the time? The trend has been to cram more and more onto the phone, making it “smart.” That obviously includes games. For decades, going back to Nintendo’s original Game Boy, playing on the go meant carrying a separate device. So a great many people never played mobile games. >continued pg. 3
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The Future of High-Tech Health Care — and the Challenge
Demos, talks and a paper-plate dinner buffet were the fare last Friday evening at the Computer Museum in Mountain View, Calif., and the subject was the high-tech future of health care. The gathering was hosted by FutureMed, a health-care program that is part of Singularity University, a networked organization dedicated to exploring how disruptive technologies can sweep across whole industries and society. The technologies on display were impressive, often inspiring — like the wearable-robots, or mechanical exoskeletons, made by Ekso Bionics, to enable people with spinal cord injuries to walk again; or I.B.M.’s Watson question-answering computer that is being morphed into a doctors’ smart assistant. >>continued pg. 2
Tech
Portal’s Valve to Release ‘Steam Box’ Console, says Report
Company behind hit computer game Portal and popular online gamedownloading system Steam is set to shake up industry with hardware-software system rivaling Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and even Apple TV, report says.
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Finally, a Cost Estimate for Building a Real Death Star
The Empire’s crown jewel would take more than 800,000 years and many thousand times the world’s GDP to build.
Sometimes it seems the world is so screwed up we should just build a new one from scratch--and now we finally know how much such a project would cost. In gloriously geeky fashion, economics students at Lehigh University tried to estimate how long it would take and how much it would cost to build the Empire’s ginormous man-made planetship if we were to get started today. The students started by assuming the Death Star could be made from steel, and that the ship would be about as steel-dense as a modern warship, in particular the HMS Illustrious. >>continued pg. 2
Once Film Focused, Netflix Transitions to TV Shows
By Brian Stelter Belying the “flix” in its name, Netflix is now primarily an Internet streaming service for television shows, not feature films. TV series now account for more than half of all Netflix viewing. That helps to explain why this Wednesday — the long-awaited moment when motion picture classics like “Scarface” and newer hits like “Toy Story 3” will vanish from the streaming service — is not the doomsday that it was once expected to be. The vanishing films are from Starz. Its three-and-a-half-year-old deal helped Netflix persuade millions of people to sign up for Internet streaming, hastening the company’s leap to digital distribution from physical DVDs. It became clear about a year ago that the deal would not be renewed. By then, though, Netflix was bulking up on old TV episodes and, in a direct challenge to HBO, beginning to distribute its own original shows for the streaming service. Analysts say the prioritizing of television partly explains why the company has been able to retain about 21.7 million streaming subscribers in the United States — totaling one in four households that have broadband — despite complaints about an inadequate feature film selection. It’s a transition that Netflix has made rather
“Toy Story 3” and other films will leave Netflix this week.
successfully in the last six to 12 months, in stark contrast to its botched plan to spin off DVD-by-mail into a separate company called Qwikster last fall. While the end of the Starz deal is bad news for Netflix, said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG Research, “given the significant increase in TV viewing, it’s not the catastrophic event that everyone thought it would be a year
ago.” The new-release movies provided by Starz account for just 2 percent of all viewing, Netflix says, down from 8 percent a year ago — illuminating the fact that the company has spent lavishly on new streaming titles that subscribers want to watch instead. (“I would contend Netflix spends wisely rather than lavishly,” a Netflix spokesman, Steve Swasey, said in response.) >>cont. pg. 5
Sonic Youth
Chevrolet Sonic - $14K
The latest econo-compact from Chevrolet follows hot on the heels of the über-successful, top-selling Cruze. It’s got the price point, performance and spunk necessary to stand out in this perennially crowded category. With a name like Sonic, you’d think Chevy’s new subcompact would have a little boom under the hood. Not so — at least for the 138-horsepower, naturally aspirated 1.8-liter fourcylinder automatic. Slam your foot to the accelerator and you won’t get any sort of enthusiasm out of the Sonic. Acceleration is steady and smooth, no matter how hard you’re pressing the gas. >>continued pg. 2
Sips Gas, Doesn’t Skimp on Fun Mazda Mazda3 i Skyactiv - $19K
Mazda3 Skyactiv still has plenty of slick tech up its sleeve, helping boost its 2.0 liter, 4-cylinder engine’s fuel economy by up to 21 percent. Mazda’s mad scientists say they spent a decade studying high compression ratio powerplants. Their research led them to minimize heat loss by downsizing the Skyactiv’s combustion chamber, and to counteract the displacement change by lengthening stroke. Fuel is pressurized to a stratospheric 2,900 psi, and introduced using a multi-injection strategy during both the intake and compression stroke. >>continued pg. 2
iQ Is Like Smart Car, but Smarter Scion iQ - $16K
With the small, extremely fuel efficient and feature-laden iQ, Scion is aiming for the same sweet spot as other undersized city cars — the Smart ForTwo, Mini Cooper and Fiat 500 — but it’s doing so with a much more affordable, and, it hopes, hipper package. This blunt little box seems like a knock off of the two-seater Smart ForTwo, but it’s actually a four-seater. Cleverly dubbing the car a “3+1 seater,” Scion has massaged the overall design so the front passenger seat can be slid very far forward, allowing an adult to occupy the back seat immediately behind it without sacrificing leg room for either passenger. >>continued pg. 2
Facebook, the Timeline, and the Difference Between Consuming and Creating
An update to the otherwise great Pixable photo viewing app illustrates that not all Timeline verbs should be streamed into the Timeline.
by Rafe Needleman I’ve been meaning to write about Pixable, an excellent mobile app for keeping up with Facebook images on your iPhone or iPad. Unlike Facebook’s own mobile app, which I find slow, complicated, and crash-prone, Pixable lets you dive into your social photo stream in a snap, see what friends are posting, and get out fast. There’s more to it, too, and it’s all good. It’s a great app to pull up on that short elevator ride. At least it was, until today’s update of the app, which adds Facebook Timeline integration. Now you view a stream or follow a user, that activity appears in your Facebook timeline. No, thanks. App vendors need to understand something. There is a big-no, giant--difference between viewing a social stream and contributing to it. When a user tags, likes, or comments on an item on a social
network, they are doing it for other people. Or, to be more psychologically accurate, they’re doing it for the ego boost that comes from having other people see their activity. It makes sense to post contributions to a timeline. But just consuming, without contributing? Not necessarily. When a person views a post, a photo, or a stream; or when one listens to music or watches a video, they’re not necessarily doing it for anyone’s benefit. For my part, when I want someone to know I viewed something, I’m intentional about, by Liking or commenting on it. This is why I disconnected Spotify from my Timeline (here’s how). I don’t listen to music to be cool. Or rather, when I do, I’ll tell you about it. In the current update, Pixable gets this completely backward. If you use the app, all your photo viewing activity shows up in a timeline. There’s no way to turn it off. From within Facebook itself you can block Pixable or delete Timeline items, but that doesn’t make Pixable’s lack of control OK. 1. Transparency is key. If you’re going to share what I do on your service, tell me before you do it. How am I supposed to trust you if you don’t? 2. Control is just as important. Just because you, Mr. or Ms. developer, think something is cool, it doesn’t mean the user will. Especially when it comes to the use of personal or activity data. Let the user decide. If, for some reason, you think you’ll lose out by giving users this control (viral growth, revenues, etc.), that is your indicator that you are about to do the wrong thing. Do the right thing. Ultimately, it will make your product, and your company, more successful.
Apple iPad Event Confirmed for March 7th in San Francisco
You’ve heard all the rumors, and now Apple has finally confirmed the details of its next iPad launch event. It will take place on Wednesday, March 7th at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco. The company is keeping things suitably vague beyond that, of course, promising only that it has “something you really have to see. And touch.” You can be sure we’ll be there live to find out exactly what that might be.
Section A3
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NHL
Devils vs. Capitals (5-0) Wild vs. Red Wings (0-6) Flames vs. Ducks (2-3) Blackhawks vs. Senators (2-1) Islanders vs. Bruins (3-2) Stars vs. Oilers (3-1) Rangers vs. Lightning (3-4)
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NBA
Grizzliess v. Raptors (102-99) Bulls v. Cavaliers (112-91) Warriors v. 76ers (83-105) Kings v. Lakers (107-115) Bucks v. Hawks (94-99) Mavericks v. Hornets (92-97)
Bobcats v. Spurs (72-102) Clippers v. Suns (78-81) Nets v. Celtics (94-107) Nuggets v. Rockets (117-105) Heat v. Jazz (98-99)
Sports
It’s Risky, but Blocking Shots Is a Growing N.H.L. Tactic
By Dave Caldwell Ten months have passed since right wing Ryan Callahan planted himself in front of Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara, whose slap shot has been timed at well over 100 miles per hour, and tried to help the Rangers sit on a late lead by taking one for the team. While helmets and pads have been improved over the years, skate boots remained unchanged. Now, players can wear Kevlar protection over their skates. Callahan blocked the shot, and the Rangers won the game and made the playoffs. But Callahan was not available to play in them because Chara’s shot broke Callahan’s right ankle. Callahan, now the Rangers’ captain, is no more cautious than he was before the injury. Heading into the Rangers’ game Tuesday against Chara’s Bruins in Boston, Callahan is fourth among N.H.L. forwards this season in blocked shots, with 60 in 54 games. Two of his teammates, defensemen Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh, are among the top five over all blocks. >>continued pg. 5
US Delivers Historic Victory Over Italy
CHICAGO – From their historic meeting at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico in the 1990 World Cup to the dramatic draw in Kaiserslautern, Germany during the 2006 World Cup, the United States has played some of its most memorable games against Italy. But one thing the Americans had never done is beat
the Italians. That changed on Wednesday. A US team missing several key players (including Landon Donovan) went to Italy and became the first visiting team to ever beat the Azzurri in Genoa. It was also the first time the US national team beat Italy. The Americans had battled Italy this close before, but they always came away having to settle for moral victories. In 1990, a team made up of mostly college kids, took on a world powerhouse. That team - the first American World Cup team in 40 years - pushed the Italians to the brink on their own home soil, but had to settle for the pride of at 1-0 loss. >>continued pg. 5
Knicks Turn Slow Start Into an Easy Finish
By Howard Beck To measure just how far the Knicks have come, how much has changed in a short period, one could count the number of bodies used Wednesday night or the standing ovations they enjoyed or the giddy chants that occasionally echoed across Madison Square Garden. When fans are chanting, “We want Novak!” something has gone right. Steve Novak, who went from benchwarmer to indispensable shooter over the last four weeks, earned that serenade after scoring 15 of his 17 points in a furious second-half rally, leading the Knicks to a wild 120-103 rout of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The victory pushed the Knicks (18-18) back to .500 as they opened the second half of the season. It was their 10th win in 13 games and possibly the most unusual of them all. They trailed by 17 in the first half, then outscored the Cavaliers, 71-42, in the final 24 minutes. The Knicks’ offense, after sputtering early, turned lethal in the second half as Novak, Carmelo Anthony and Jeremy Lin got rolling. The Knicks finished with a season-high 30 assists and shot 51 percent. “We’re a very deep team now,” Anthony said. “Guys are starting to get their legs underneath them, guys are starting to get healthy.” Lin, who had his worst game as a starter last Thursday in Miami, rebounded with a 19-point, 13-assist effort and played a manageable 33 minutes. Baron Davis had his best game since joining the rotation with 8 assists and 4 points in 14 minutes, allowing Lin a needed breather in the second half. “To see Baron making his way back, and starting to get his confidence back,” Anthony said. “J. R., Shumpert, when they’re on the wings and they get out in the open court, that’s a lot of fun. And then with Novak shooting the ball the way he’s shooting the ball, it’s
Jeremy Lin drives against Lakers defense Friday Night. Lin has averaged over 28 points a game and over 8 assists and has become the most talked about sports player in the NBA
a great thing to watch.” Kyrie Irving, the first pick in the 2011 draft, had 22 points and 7 assists for Cleveland (13-20) but was contained in the second half. Tyson Chandler had 13 points, 15 rebounds and 4 blocks, despite a sore left wrist that has been bothering him for more than a week. Chandler had hinted at possibly needing a rest, but he played 31 minutes, and the Knicks needed his presence for just about all of them. “That’s one guy that’s pretty irreplaceable,” Coach Mike D’Antoni said before tip-off. The Knicks trailed for the first 33 minutes of the game. Their offense perked up when their 3-pointers started to fall. After an 0-for-6 first half, the Knicks hit four 3-pointers in the third quarter, three by Novak, as they turned a 12-point deficit into a 2-point lead by the start of the fourth. In the fourth quarter, Novak was still firing, hitting two 3-pointers that extended the Knicks’ lead to 92-84. >>continued pg. 3
Self-Taught Racquetball Player Is in a Class by Himself pg.6
Plenty of (Cap) Room to Improve
By John Clayton The numbers are in. One of the new parts of the NFL collective bargaining agreement is the ability of teams to roll over remaining cap room into the next season. The 2011 season finished with $320 million of remaining cap room. Thirty teams carried over $301.78 million of unused cap money to give the 32 teams approximately $711 million of combined room as they start to prepare for the 2012 season. The 2011 salary cap was $120.375 million, and the 2012 ceiling is expected to be close. The exact number is calculated based on revenues and should be available in the next week or two. The Houston Texans and San Diego Chargers didn’t have enough remaining room to push money over into 2012, so Houston has $3.3 million of cap space and San Diego has $9.2 million. The Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t spend $31 million of cap room in 2011, so they now have $45 million of room. The Kansas City Chiefs have $62.995 million after budgeting $24.014 million from the 2011 season. >>continued pg. 5
UPCOMING
TONIGHT @ 7:00 PM Cavaliers vs. Wizards SUNDAY @ 1:00 PM Knicks vs. Celtics SUNDAY @ 3:30 PM Heat vs. Lakers SUNDAY @ 7:00 PM Clippers vs. Rockets SUNDAY @ 9:30 PM Nuggets vs. Spurs
WVU Settles Suit, to Join Big 12 in July pg.6 For Just $29 Million, You Can Own Michael Jordan’s Suburban Chicago Estate pg.7
Section A4
Front Page
Tech
Arts
Sports
Syria Resumes Shelling, Rejecting U.N. Rebuke
Israel Says Iran Is Behind Bombs
JERUSALEM — Tensions between Israel and Iran rose sharply on Monday when bombers struck at Israeli Embassy personnel in the capitals of India and Georgia
By Ethan Bronner The wife of an Israeli defense envoy to New Delhi was hurt along with several other people when her car was destroyed by an explosive device placed on it by a motorcyclist at a red light. In Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, a similar device was discovered on the car of a local staff member of the Israeli Embassy, but was defused by the police. Both resembled attacks that have killed five of Iran’s nuclear scientists in recent years, most recently last month. Iran has attributed the assassinations to Israeli agents and has vowed to take revenge. The scientists’ assassinations — along with sabotage of Iran’s nuclear program through cyberwarfare and faulty parts — are aimed at delaying what the West believes is Iran’s drive to build a nuclear weapon. If actually carried out by Iran, the attacks would be another indication that the leadership in Tehran was willing to reach beyond its borders against its enemies and expand its attacks to civilians. The United States has charged that Iran was behind a plot to assassinate a Saudi ambassador on American soil, and Israel has said that Iran has planned to attack its citizens in various countries, but that those plots were stopped. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contended that Monday’s attacks fit that pattern.
The Dilemma of Cheap Electronics
Randy Moss and That Thing Called Quit
S a t u r d a y
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A1
Obama: Strong US-China Ties Help Rest of The World
By Matthew Pennington WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama assured China’s heir apparent to leadership that the United States welcomes Beijing’s rise in the world, saying Tuesday that strong cooperation between the two powers is good for the rest of the world. Obama offered a warm welcome to Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping amid sharp policy differences over Syria, Iran and economic issues, as well as longstanding U.S. concerns over Chinese human rights practices. >>continued pg. 2
Bahrain Police Arrest Demonstrators on Protest Anniversary
By Donna Abu-Nasr Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Mainly Shiite Muslim protesters in Bahrain marked the first anniversary of their antigovernment rallies by marching toward the former Pearl Roundabout, focus of last year’s demonstrations. Riot police fired tear gas at the protesters heading to the roundabout, which has been demolished and turned into an intersection, while dense black smoke rose in the distance as demonstrators burned tires in Shiite villages. >>continued pg. 3
Weather Report
Saturday, March 3, 2012
72 °F
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“All the News that’s Fit to Print”
President Obama hosts China Vice-President Xi Jinping
Meeting Vice-President Xi Jinping in the Oval Office, Mr Obama also said it was “vital” that Washington maintained a strong relationship with Beijing. Mr Xi said he hoped his visit would deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the two powers. >>continued pg. 2
Defense: Feds “Manipulated” Facts About Militia
DETROIT - Defense lawyers at the trial of seven Midwest militia members say federal authorities greatly overreached by charging them with conspiring to overthrow the government. >>continued pg. 2
Parents of Slain FAMU Band Member Sue Bus Driver and Bus Company
ORLANDO, Fla. - The parents of a Florida A&M band member who died after being hazed filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday against the owner and driver of the charter bus where the ritual took place. The suit also revealed new details about what might have happened the night Robert Champion died. >>continued. pg 5
Rapper Lil Boosie Indicted for FirstDegree Murder; Death Penalty Possible
BATON ROUGE - Baton Rouge-born rapper, Torrence Hatch, known to fans as Lil Boosie, was indicted by an East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury Thursday afternoon on a first-degree murder charge for his alleged involvement in a shooting incident in October that left one man dead, >>cont. pg. 5
Israel Says Iran Is Behind Bombs
JERUSALEM — Tensions between Israel and Iran rose sharply on Monday when bombers struck at Israeli Embassy personnel in the capitals of India and Georgia.
By Ethan Bronner The wife of an Israeli defense envoy to New Delhi was hurt along with several other people when her car was destroyed by an explosive device placed on it by a motorcyclist at a red light. In Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, a similar device was discovered on the car of a local staff member of the Israeli Embassy, but was defused by the police. Both resembled attacks that have killed five of Iran’s nuclear scientists in recent years, most recently last month. Iran has attributed the assassinations to Israeli agents and has vowed to take revenge. The scientists’ assassinations — along with sabotage of Iran’s nuclear program through cyberwarfare and faulty parts — are aimed at delaying what the West believes is Iran’s drive to build a nuclear weapon. If actually carried out by Iran, the attacks would be another indication that the leadership in Tehran was willing to reach beyond its borders against its enemies and expand its attacks to civilians. The United States has charged that Iran was behind a plot to assassinate a Saudi ambassador on American soil, and Israel has said that Iran has planned to attack its citizens in various countries, but that those plots were stopped. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contended that Monday’s attacks fit that pattern. “In recent months, we have witnessed several attempts to attack Israeli citizens and Jews in several countries, including Azerbaijan, Thailand and others,” he said. “In each instance, we succeeded in foiling the attacks in cooperation with local authorities. Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah, were behind all of these attempted attacks.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected Israel’s accusations on Monday. A spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said, “Israel has bombed its embassies in New Delhi and Tbilisi to tarnish Iran’s friendly ties with the host countries,” adding, “Israel perpetrated the terrorist actions to launch psychological warfare against Iran.” Iran has defended its nuclear program as peaceful and has defiantly pursued uranium enrichment through years of international pressure and sanctions. Israel’s increasingly urgent warnings on the need to halt Iran’s nuclear progress, before it gets much closer to being able to build a bomb, have prompted concerns that Israel might unilaterally mount a military strike — and have added to the implacable enmity between the two. Iran’s oil and banking industries are suffering from sanctions implemented by the United States and Europe to pressure the country to back off its nuclear program. Iranian leaders have vowed to fight back through shutting the vital Strait of Hormuz and through military strikes on countries that are used as launching pads for attacks on it. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, a spokesman for Iran’s Joint Armed Forces Staff, said recently that “the enemies of the Iranian nation, especially the United States, Britain and the Zionist regime, have to be held responsible for their activities.” Iranian leaders have called Israel a tumor that must be removed, and Iran arms and finances Hezbollah and Hamas, wh ich are founded on the principle that Israel has no right to exist. On Monday, Israeli officials said there was enough evidence from the scenes in Georgia and India to say that the bombs were the work of Iranian agents. “Iran’s fingerprints are all over this,” one official said after emerging from high-level meetings in Jerusalem, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Some American Jewish leaders have expressed concern that synagogues and American Jewish centers could be targets in the increased tensions. In 1994, a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing 85 people. The authorities there have accused Iranian diplomats of being behind that attack. Hezbollah, the Lebanese Islamist group with close ties to Iran, has promised to take revenge for the killing of its top commander, Imad Mugniyah,
A forensic official, left, photographed an Israeli Embassy car after an explosion in New Delhi on Monday.
four years ago this week. Mr. Mugniyah had been sought by the United States in terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in the 1980s. Israel held him responsible for Hezbollah military operations in southern Lebanon from the mid-1990s. Israel is widely thought to have killed him with a powerful bomb in Damascus, the Syrian capital. Israeli analysts said the attacks on Monday were insignificant enough that the Israeli government would not feel driven to counterattack.
Las Vegas Embraces Bad Guys of Its Past
By Isaac Brekken LAS VEGAS — Lefty, Lucky, the Ant, Bugsy, the Snake, the Chin, Scarface, the Brain. The monikers of mobsters are like the nicknames of odd superheroes. They are two syllables of rat-tat firing, evoking creepy animals, physical protrusions or uncanny powers. And now, here in a city where such figures were once as comfortably in their element as Zeus and his family on Olympus, they are finally getting something close to the museum they deserve: the Mob Museum, a $42 million survey of the American gangster, unfolding in 17,000 square feet of exhibition space, on three floors of a 41,000-squarefoot landmark building on Stewart Avenue. >>continued. pg 8
Randy Moss and ‘That Thing Called Quit
By Kevin Seifert As far as I’m concerned, Cris Carter has always been a knowledgeable and honest source of analysis on Randy Moss, his one-time teammate and protégé when both played for the Minnesota Vikings. And once again, I think Carter nailed his take on Moss’ plans to return to the NFL in 2012. Appearing Tuesday morning on ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning,” Carter predicted that Moss would be “in fabulous shape” after a full offseason of training and reiterated his suggestion that Moss could still run the 40-yard dash in less than 4.4 seconds. But Carter accurately identified an important issue NFL teams will need to address before seriously considering his acquisition. >>continued pg. 7
The Dilemma of Cheap Electronics
By David Pogue Last week, an important Times article set off shockwaves in the consumer tech industry by focusing on tragedies and working conditions at Foxconn, the Chinese electronics factory that makes Apple iPhones. It describes excessive overtime, crowding in worker dorms, improper disposal of hazardous waste and unsafe working conditions. These revelations have shocked a lot of Apple fans — and fired up a lot of Apple foes. There are petitions and flooded comment boards. This morning, protesters delivered petitions at six major Apple stores, including the new one in Grand Central Terminal. The article and the response are healthy. >>continued pg. 9
Syria Resumes Shelling, Rejecting U.N. Rebuke
By Neil MacFarquhar and Rick Gladston BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian government on Tuesday brushed aside a stern castigation from the top United Nations human rights official about its deadly attacks on civilians, calling her assessment propaganda as Syria’s military resumed what one activist described as the “brutal shelling” of the city of Homs. A day after the official, Navi Pillay, the United Nations’s high commissioner for human rights, offered a grim appraisal of the Syrian conflict, activists said the shelling resumed in earnest at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, with rockets and tank shells whistling into parts of the city as often as every two minutes. >>continued pg. 2
State of Emergency as Toll Rises
A string of violent storms demolished small towns in Indiana and cut off rural communities in Kentucky as an early season tornado outbreak killed more than three dozen people. The death toll continued to rise Saturday as searchers picked through debris for survivors.Weather that put millions of people at risk killed at least 38 people in five states — Alabama, Indiana, K e n t u c k y, Georgia and Ohio —more than 300 people were reported injured in Kentucky alone. “We knew this was coming. We were watching the weather like everyone else,” said Clark County, Ind., Sheriff Danny Rodden. “This was the worst case scenario. There’s no way you can prepare for something like this.” Ohio Gov. John Kasich proclaimed a state of emergency Saturday, as had the governors in Indiana and Kentucky. President Barack Obama offered Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance as state troopers, the National Guard and rescue teams made their way through counties cut off by debris-littered roads and knocked down cellphone towers in a search for survivors. >>continued pg. 2
Rush Limbaugh Loses Another Sponsor over ‘slut’ Remark
By Kim Geiger Reporting from Washington— Rush Limbaugh has lost another advertiser on his radio talk show as the fallout continued from his use of the terms “slut” and “prostitute” to ridicule a woman who has advocated for expanded access to birth control. Quicken Loans, Inc. has suspended its advertising on the Limbaugh show, the company said in a statement posted to its website. It was a reversal for the Detroit-based online mortgage lender, which had initially issued a statement in support of Limbaugh’s right to express himself. “While we do not condone or agree with Mr. Limbaugh’s statements regarding Sandra Fluke, we respect his right to express his views,” Quicken Loans spokesman Paul Silver told the Detroit Free Press in a prepared statement. “In no instance does Quicken Loans ever have any control of the content or comments of the shows.” That didn’t satisfy Quicken customers, whose “valuable feedback” eventually led the company to suspend advertising on the show. Dan Gilbert, the company’s founder and the owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, announced the decision on Twitter. >>continued pg. 2
Section A1
S a t u r d a y
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A2
A Marathon Performer With Plenty of Steam Left
By Neil Genzlinger
What are people who come to your new Broadway show going to see and, just as important, what are they not going to see? “They’re not going to see me naked,” Mr. Shatner said. “Now that,” he added, “will disappoint about three people.”The exchange, early in an interview at the Manhattan studio on East 31st Street where Mr. Shatner has been rehearsing, captures one of show business’s most colorful careers. For more than half a century, Mr. Shatner has embodied a paradox: He has been consistently unpredictable, both in his choices of projects and in how his efforts have been received. >>continued pg. 2
Van Halen at Madison Square Garden
All of the Nostalgia, but Fewer High Kicks
By Chad Batka Of the handful of new songs that Van Halen played at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, one managed to sum up the spirit of the band’s reunion tour. It was “The Trouble With Never,” a typically full-throttle contraption: grinding riffs, bashing drums, deviously catchy chorus. And as David Lee Roth spit out the lyrics, it was easy to apply them obliquely to his situation in the band: years of estrangement and acrimony with the brothers Van Halen, followed by a recent strategic détente. “Every Einstein’s assigned/A Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber,” he sang. Which was meant to be funny, and probably a little pointed. >>continued pg. 2
Arts
‘The Lorax’ Rules with $17.4 mil on Friday On Pace for $60 mil Weekend
Jon Hamm: Why Working on Mad Men Hurts
Interview pg.2
The Beasts Without and Within
Exhibition Review pg. 2
Life of a ‘Salesman’
Charles Isherwood leads an online conversation about the classic pg. 3
Davy Jones Dies at 66; Monkees’ Romantic Heartthrob
The British-born performer sang the leads on several of the Monkees’ hits, including ‘Daydream Believer’ and ‘A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You.’ The band, created for a TV show, charted numerous hits between 1966 and 1970.
By Randy Lewis Davy Jones was a promising 18-year-old actor from England when he found himself among the guest performers on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Feb. 9, 1964 — the same night about 75 million people tuned in to catch the American debut of the Beatles. Like so many others who watched the show from near and far, Jones considered it a life-changing experience. Looking on from the wings as hundreds of teenagers, mostly girls, were screaming ecstatically while listening to the four musicians who came from a town only 20 miles away from his own hometown of Manchester, Jones knew then he wanted a career in pop music rather than theater. A little more than a year later he auditioned for and was accepted as a member of the Monkees, a pop band created for a television show developed in the wake of the success of the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” film. The new group’s fame quickly came to rival that of the Fab Four after NBC-TV executives put Jones and bandmates Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork into the living rooms of millions of viewers every Monday night. The show ran from 1966 to 1968. Jones, who died Wednesday at 66 of a heart attack in Martin County, Fla., was the group’s counterpart to Beatle Paul McCartney as the Monkees’ romantic heartthrob, and his British accent lent the band a dash of international intrigue in songs on which he was the lead singer, including a couple of their biggest hits, “Daydream Believer” and “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You.” “That David has stepped beyond my view causes me the sadness that it does many of you,” Nesmith wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday. “I will miss him, but I won’t abandon him to mortality.… David’s spirit and soul live well in my heart.” Although initially dismissed in music circles as a television fantasy more than a musical reality, the Monkees charted nearly two dozen singles during a heyday from 1966 to 1970 and became the first, and only, act to score four No. 1 albums on the Billboard chart in the same calendar year. It’s a sad day for me,” said filmmaker Bob Rafelson, cocreator of “The Monkees” with Bert Schneider who also produced their avant-garde 1968 film “Head.” “Of all the films I’ve made that have received attention from the Academy Awards, or Cannes [Film Festival] or the New York Film Critics Awards, nothing ever pleased me more than hearing a [radio] announcer say ‘Here’s Davy Jones singing “Daydream Believer.” ‘ “ Although never inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Monkees have long been lauded for the boost they gave many songwriters by recording their compositions, including Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Harry Nilsson, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, and John Stewart. It was Jones who strongly lobbied for the group to record “Cuddly Toy,” a song written by Nilsson, who was then supporting himself as a computer programmer for a bank in the San Fernando Valley. Later known as the composer of the Three Dog Night hit “One” and the singer on hits of his own such as “Without You” and “Everybody’s Talking,” Nilsson’s big break came from the Monkees. “Back in 1967 it meant something for them to record one of your songs,” said John Scheinfeld, writer and producer of the 2010 documentary “Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?” “In our film, Micky told the story of how Harry and Davy and Harry’s publisher Lester Sill were walking out of the studio after the recording session, and Lester turned to Harry and said, ‘Well, you can quit your job at the bank now.’ It drew a lot of attention to Harry.”
David Thomas Jones was born Dec. 30, 1945, and gained success in his native country as a child actor with roles in different series shown on the BBC. At 11, he had an important role in the long-running soap opera “Coronation Street.” After a successful run on London’s West End as the Artful Dodger in a production of the musical “Oliver!” in his teens, Jones re-created the part on Broadway, landing a Tony Award nomination. It was that production that was highlighted by Sullivan in the same show on which the Beatles appeared for the first time. He also trained to be a jockey — he stood 5 feet 3 — and his passion for horses stayed with him through his life. Rafelson said he and Schneider auditioned 437 actors and musicians, including Stephen Stills, David Crosby, the Lovin’ Spoonful and future members of Three Dog Night, before zeroing in on the four who became the Monkees. Some of the band members’ desire to be taken seriously musically led to notorious power struggles with TV and music publishing executives. But that wasn’t a big concern for Jones. “Eventually Peter and Mike, especially, wanted to write, play and record … or be behind the camera,” Jones told a Springfield, Mass., newspaper earlier this year while on a solo tour. “But I just wanted to be in the show, fall in love twice in each episode and kiss the girls. I had no ambition to be Steven Spielberg or Cecil B. DeMille.” Still, Rafelson credited Jones for taking a vocal role in the group’s efforts to take more control over their music and their careers. Tork quit the band in 1968 and the Monkees continued briefly as a trio, then disbanded in 1970. Jones promptly resurfaced the following year with a guest appearance as himself in “Getting Davy Jones,” one of the most celebrated episodes of “The Brady Bunch,” in which Marcia Brady launched a campaign to persuade the teen idol to visit her school. In the ‘80s the group had a resurgence sparked by a CD box set issued by the archival label Rhino Records, and that led to then-new MTV showing episodes of the original series that revived interest in the band. They have since done several reunion tours, usually without Nesmith, including a 45th anniversary round of shows last year that was cut short because of differences that cropped up among Jones, Dolenz and Tork. Although he was comfortable with his highest-profile job, Jones sometimes worried that the Monkees’ legacy would follow him for the rest of his life, which he spent acting in numerous TV shows, theatrical productions, and doing voiceover work for cartoons and animated features.
The Monkees in 1966. From left, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith. Jones, the lead singer on several of the group’s hits, died Wednesday. (Associated Press / December 31, 1969)
“My biggest fear, years ago, when I played Jesus in ‘Godspell,’ “ he told a New Jersey newspaper last year, “was that I’d be dying on the cross one night and someone would yell out, ‘Hey Davy! — Do ‘Daydream Believer’!” Jones also toured as a solo act, blending Monkees hits and his favorite musical theater songs, and he had performed most recently Feb. 19 in Oklahoma. He had a Southland date scheduled for March 31 at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. “I try to be positive today in my life,” Jones said earlier this year. “There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way.” He is survived by his third wife, Jessica Pacheco, four children from previous marriages and several grandchildren.
Adele Hits 22nd Week at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 200
The ‘Rumour Has It’ singer continues to extend her long reign on the U.S. album chart by moving 297,000 copies of ‘21’.
Adele is still unmovable from the first spot on Billboard Hot 200. The British pop sensation easily wins the race to the top spot by shifting another 297,000 copies with her studio album “21”. It marks her 22nd non-consecutive week at the penthouse of the chart
At Sony, Portable Games Just Got Bigger
Big-Government Conservatives
The New Museum’s triennial survey needs a dollop of anarchy.
“The Ungovernables,” the New Museum’s building-filling triennial of artists born between 1973 and 1984, really ought to have been called “The Explanations.” It’s loaded with art that you need to read about so you can even grasp what it thinks it’s dealing with. Nearly every artist’s work is joined by dense wall text full of buzzwords like “interstitial spaces” or syllogistic, nearly generic statements like “externalize ... processes of ... thinking.” An artist’s primary job is to infuse thought into material. (Let’s restrict public signage to important warnings, like “Beware of the Bears.”) Yet at “The Ungovernables”—as at more and more shows I visit—I saw a lot more people standing and reading than actually trying to unpack the work.
Model Struts Path to Stardom Not on Runway, but on YouTube
There was a time, not long ago, when the surest path to modeling stardom was down the runway of a top designer’s show, when it would have been unthinkable to find among the industry’s top ranks a swimsuit girl whose main claims to fame were ad campaigns for Guess jeans and Beach Bunny Swimwear. Unlike the many littleknown beauties now on view at New York Fashion Week — women seldom identified by more than one name (Agata, Hanaa, Frida, Joan) — Kate Upton, just 19 and resembling a 1950s pinup, but with the legs of a W.N.B.A. point guard, has arrived on the scene as a largely self-created Internet phenomenon.
No, I’m not asking about your financial circumstances. I’m asking, literally, how much space do you have in your pockets? Women have it easier than men in this regard, because they often carry assorted objects in bags of various sizes. Men generally make do with pockets. The pocket budget is among the most important factors in global entertainment, media and technology right now: How many devices can we be expected to carry as we slouch toward the digital nirvana of doing everything everywhere all the time? The trend has been to cram more and more onto the phone, making it “smart.” That obviously includes games. For decades, going back to Nintendo’s original Game Boy, playing on the go meant carrying a separate device. So a great many people never played mobile games. >continued pg. 3
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Section A2
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A3
The Future of High-Tech Health Care — and the Challenge
Demos, talks and a paper-plate dinner buffet were the fare last Friday evening at the Computer Museum in Mountain View, Calif., and the subject was the high-tech future of health care. The gathering was hosted by FutureMed, a health-care program that is part of Singularity University, a networked organization dedicated to exploring how disruptive technologies can sweep across whole industries and society. The technologies on display were impressive, often inspiring — like the wearable-robots, or mechanical exoskeletons, made by Ekso Bionics, to enable people with spinal cord injuries to walk again; or I.B.M.’s Watson question-answering computer that is being morphed into a doctors’ smart assistant. >>continued pg. 2
Tech
Portal’s Valve to Release ‘Steam Box’ Console, says Report
Company behind hit computer game Portal and popular online gamedownloading system Steam is set to shake up industry with hardware-software system rivaling Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and even Apple TV, report says.
>>continued pg. 2
Finally, a Cost Estimate for Building a Real Death Star
The Empire’s crown jewel would take more than 800,000 years and many thousand times the world’s GDP to build.
Sometimes it seems the world is so screwed up we should just build a new one from scratch--and now we finally know how much such a project would cost. In gloriously geeky fashion, economics students at Lehigh University tried to estimate how long it would take and how much it would cost to build the Empire’s ginormous man-made planetship if we were to get started today. The students started by assuming the Death Star could be made from steel, and that the ship would be about as steel-dense as a modern warship, in particular the HMS Illustrious. >>continued pg. 2
Once Film Focused, Netflix Transitions to TV Shows
By Brian Stelter Belying the “flix” in its name, Netflix is now primarily an Internet streaming service for television shows, not feature films. TV series now account for more than half of all Netflix viewing. That helps to explain why this Wednesday — the long-awaited moment when motion picture classics like “Scarface” and newer hits like “Toy Story 3” will vanish from the streaming service — is not the doomsday that it was once expected to be. The vanishing films are from Starz. Its three-and-a-half-year-old deal helped Netflix persuade millions of people to sign up for Internet streaming, hastening the company’s leap to digital distribution from physical DVDs. It became clear about a year ago that the deal would not be renewed. By then, though, Netflix was bulking up on old TV episodes and, in a direct challenge to HBO, beginning to distribute its own original shows for the streaming service. Analysts say the prioritizing of television partly explains why the company has been able to retain about 21.7 million streaming subscribers in the United States — totaling one in four households that have broadband — despite complaints about an inadequate feature film selection. It’s a transition that Netflix has made rather
“Toy Story 3” and other films will leave Netflix this week.
successfully in the last six to 12 months, in stark contrast to its botched plan to spin off DVD-by-mail into a separate company called Qwikster last fall. While the end of the Starz deal is bad news for Netflix, said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG Research, “given the significant increase in TV viewing, it’s not the catastrophic event that everyone thought it would be a year
ago.” The new-release movies provided by Starz account for just 2 percent of all viewing, Netflix says, down from 8 percent a year ago — illuminating the fact that the company has spent lavishly on new streaming titles that subscribers want to watch instead. (“I would contend Netflix spends wisely rather than lavishly,” a Netflix spokesman, Steve Swasey, said in response.) >>cont. pg. 5
Sonic Youth
Chevrolet Sonic - $14K
The latest econo-compact from Chevrolet follows hot on the heels of the über-successful, top-selling Cruze. It’s got the price point, performance and spunk necessary to stand out in this perennially crowded category. With a name like Sonic, you’d think Chevy’s new subcompact would have a little boom under the hood. Not so — at least for the 138-horsepower, naturally aspirated 1.8-liter fourcylinder automatic. Slam your foot to the accelerator and you won’t get any sort of enthusiasm out of the Sonic. Acceleration is steady and smooth, no matter how hard you’re pressing the gas. >>continued pg. 2
Sips Gas, Doesn’t Skimp on Fun Mazda Mazda3 i Skyactiv - $19K
Mazda3 Skyactiv still has plenty of slick tech up its sleeve, helping boost its 2.0 liter, 4-cylinder engine’s fuel economy by up to 21 percent. Mazda’s mad scientists say they spent a decade studying high compression ratio powerplants. Their research led them to minimize heat loss by downsizing the Skyactiv’s combustion chamber, and to counteract the displacement change by lengthening stroke. Fuel is pressurized to a stratospheric 2,900 psi, and introduced using a multi-injection strategy during both the intake and compression stroke. >>continued pg. 2
iQ Is Like Smart Car, but Smarter Scion iQ - $16K
With the small, extremely fuel efficient and feature-laden iQ, Scion is aiming for the same sweet spot as other undersized city cars — the Smart ForTwo, Mini Cooper and Fiat 500 — but it’s doing so with a much more affordable, and, it hopes, hipper package. This blunt little box seems like a knock off of the two-seater Smart ForTwo, but it’s actually a four-seater. Cleverly dubbing the car a “3+1 seater,” Scion has massaged the overall design so the front passenger seat can be slid very far forward, allowing an adult to occupy the back seat immediately behind it without sacrificing leg room for either passenger. >>continued pg. 2
Facebook, the Timeline, and the Difference Between Consuming and Creating
An update to the otherwise great Pixable photo viewing app illustrates that not all Timeline verbs should be streamed into the Timeline.
by Rafe Needleman I’ve been meaning to write about Pixable, an excellent mobile app for keeping up with Facebook images on your iPhone or iPad. Unlike Facebook’s own mobile app, which I find slow, complicated, and crash-prone, Pixable lets you dive into your social photo stream in a snap, see what friends are posting, and get out fast. There’s more to it, too, and it’s all good. It’s a great app to pull up on that short elevator ride. At least it was, until today’s update of the app, which adds Facebook Timeline integration. Now you view a stream or follow a user, that activity appears in your Facebook timeline. No, thanks. App vendors need to understand something. There is a big-no, giant--difference between viewing a social stream and contributing to it. When a user tags, likes, or comments on an item on a social
network, they are doing it for other people. Or, to be more psychologically accurate, they’re doing it for the ego boost that comes from having other people see their activity. It makes sense to post contributions to a timeline. But just consuming, without contributing? Not necessarily. When a person views a post, a photo, or a stream; or when one listens to music or watches a video, they’re not necessarily doing it for anyone’s benefit. For my part, when I want someone to know I viewed something, I’m intentional about, by Liking or commenting on it. This is why I disconnected Spotify from my Timeline (here’s how). I don’t listen to music to be cool. Or rather, when I do, I’ll tell you about it. In the current update, Pixable gets this completely backward. If you use the app, all your photo viewing activity shows up in a timeline. There’s no way to turn it off. From within Facebook itself you can block Pixable or delete Timeline items, but that doesn’t make Pixable’s lack of control OK. 1. Transparency is key. If you’re going to share what I do on your service, tell me before you do it. How am I supposed to trust you if you don’t? 2. Control is just as important. Just because you, Mr. or Ms. developer, think something is cool, it doesn’t mean the user will. Especially when it comes to the use of personal or activity data. Let the user decide. If, for some reason, you think you’ll lose out by giving users this control (viral growth, revenues, etc.), that is your indicator that you are about to do the wrong thing. Do the right thing. Ultimately, it will make your product, and your company, more successful.
Apple iPad Event Confirmed for March 7th in San Francisco
You’ve heard all the rumors, and now Apple has finally confirmed the details of its next iPad launch event. It will take place on Wednesday, March 7th at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco. The company is keeping things suitably vague beyond that, of course, promising only that it has “something you really have to see. And touch.” You can be sure we’ll be there live to find out exactly what that might be.
Section A3
S a t u r d a y
NHL
Devils vs. Capitals (5-0) Wild vs. Red Wings (0-6) Flames vs. Ducks (2-3) Blackhawks vs. Senators (2-1) Islanders vs. Bruins (3-2) Stars vs. Oilers (3-1) Rangers vs. Lightning (3-4)
M a r c h
3 ,
2 0 1 2
A4
NBA
Grizzliess v. Raptors (102-99) Bulls v. Cavaliers (112-91) Warriors v. 76ers (83-105) Kings v. Lakers (107-115) Bucks v. Hawks (94-99) Mavericks v. Hornets (92-97)
Bobcats v. Spurs (72-102) Clippers v. Suns (78-81) Nets v. Celtics (94-107) Nuggets v. Rockets (117-105) Heat v. Jazz (98-99)
Sports
It’s Risky, but Blocking Shots Is a Growing N.H.L. Tactic
By Dave Caldwell Ten months have passed since right wing Ryan Callahan planted himself in front of Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara, whose slap shot has been timed at well over 100 miles per hour, and tried to help the Rangers sit on a late lead by taking one for the team. While helmets and pads have been improved over the years, skate boots remained unchanged. Now, players can wear Kevlar protection over their skates. Callahan blocked the shot, and the Rangers won the game and made the playoffs. But Callahan was not available to play in them because Chara’s shot broke Callahan’s right ankle. Callahan, now the Rangers’ captain, is no more cautious than he was before the injury. Heading into the Rangers’ game Tuesday against Chara’s Bruins in Boston, Callahan is fourth among N.H.L. forwards this season in blocked shots, with 60 in 54 games. Two of his teammates, defensemen Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh, are among the top five over all blocks. >>continued pg. 5
US Delivers Historic Victory Over Italy
CHICAGO – From their historic meeting at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico in the 1990 World Cup to the dramatic draw in Kaiserslautern, Germany during the 2006 World Cup, the United States has played some of its most memorable games against Italy. But one thing the Americans had never done is beat
the Italians. That changed on Wednesday. A US team missing several key players (including Landon Donovan) went to Italy and became the first visiting team to ever beat the Azzurri in Genoa. It was also the first time the US national team beat Italy. The Americans had battled Italy this close before, but they always came away having to settle for moral victories. In 1990, a team made up of mostly college kids, took on a world powerhouse. That team - the first American World Cup team in 40 years - pushed the Italians to the brink on their own home soil, but had to settle for the pride of at 1-0 loss. >>continued pg. 5
Knicks Turn Slow Start Into an Easy Finish
By Howard Beck To measure just how far the Knicks have come, how much has changed in a short period, one could count the number of bodies used Wednesday night or the standing ovations they enjoyed or the giddy chants that occasionally echoed across Madison Square Garden. When fans are chanting, “We want Novak!” something has gone right. Steve Novak, who went from benchwarmer to indispensable shooter over the last four weeks, earned that serenade after scoring 15 of his 17 points in a furious second-half rally, leading the Knicks to a wild 120-103 rout of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The victory pushed the Knicks (18-18) back to .500 as they opened the second half of the season. It was their 10th win in 13 games and possibly the most unusual of them all. They trailed by 17 in the first half, then outscored the Cavaliers, 71-42, in the final 24 minutes. The Knicks’ offense, after sputtering early, turned lethal in the second half as Novak, Carmelo Anthony and Jeremy Lin got rolling. The Knicks finished with a season-high 30 assists and shot 51 percent. “We’re a very deep team now,” Anthony said. “Guys are starting to get their legs underneath them, guys are starting to get healthy.” Lin, who had his worst game as a starter last Thursday in Miami, rebounded with a 19-point, 13-assist effort and played a manageable 33 minutes. Baron Davis had his best game since joining the rotation with 8 assists and 4 points in 14 minutes, allowing Lin a needed breather in the second half. “To see Baron making his way back, and starting to get his confidence back,” Anthony said. “J. R., Shumpert, when they’re on the wings and they get out in the open court, that’s a lot of fun. And then with Novak shooting the ball the way he’s shooting the ball, it’s
Jeremy Lin drives against Lakers defense Friday Night. Lin has averaged over 28 points a game and over 8 assists and has become the most talked about sports player in the NBA
a great thing to watch.” Kyrie Irving, the first pick in the 2011 draft, had 22 points and 7 assists for Cleveland (13-20) but was contained in the second half. Tyson Chandler had 13 points, 15 rebounds and 4 blocks, despite a sore left wrist that has been bothering him for more than a week. Chandler had hinted at possibly needing a rest, but he played 31 minutes, and the Knicks needed his presence for just about all of them. “That’s one guy that’s pretty irreplaceable,” Coach Mike D’Antoni said before tip-off. The Knicks trailed for the first 33 minutes of the game. Their offense perked up when their 3-pointers started to fall. After an 0-for-6 first half, the Knicks hit four 3-pointers in the third quarter, three by Novak, as they turned a 12-point deficit into a 2-point lead by the start of the fourth. In the fourth quarter, Novak was still firing, hitting two 3-pointers that extended the Knicks’ lead to 92-84. >>continued pg. 3
Self-Taught Racquetball Player Is in a Class by Himself pg.6
Plenty of (Cap) Room to Improve
By John Clayton The numbers are in. One of the new parts of the NFL collective bargaining agreement is the ability of teams to roll over remaining cap room into the next season. The 2011 season finished with $320 million of remaining cap room. Thirty teams carried over $301.78 million of unused cap money to give the 32 teams approximately $711 million of combined room as they start to prepare for the 2012 season. The 2011 salary cap was $120.375 million, and the 2012 ceiling is expected to be close. The exact number is calculated based on revenues and should be available in the next week or two. The Houston Texans and San Diego Chargers didn’t have enough remaining room to push money over into 2012, so Houston has $3.3 million of cap space and San Diego has $9.2 million. The Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t spend $31 million of cap room in 2011, so they now have $45 million of room. The Kansas City Chiefs have $62.995 million after budgeting $24.014 million from the 2011 season. >>continued pg. 5
UPCOMING
TONIGHT @ 7:00 PM Cavaliers vs. Wizards SUNDAY @ 1:00 PM Knicks vs. Celtics SUNDAY @ 3:30 PM Heat vs. Lakers SUNDAY @ 7:00 PM Clippers vs. Rockets SUNDAY @ 9:30 PM Nuggets vs. Spurs
WVU Settles Suit, to Join Big 12 in July pg.6 For Just $29 Million, You Can Own Michael Jordan’s Suburban Chicago Estate pg.7
Section A4
Front Page
Tech
Arts
Sports
Syria Resumes Shelling, Rejecting U.N. Rebuke
Israel Says Iran Is Behind Bombs
JERUSALEM — Tensions between Israel and Iran rose sharply on Monday when bombers struck at Israeli Embassy personnel in the capitals of India and Georgia
By Ethan Bronner The wife of an Israeli defense envoy to New Delhi was hurt along with several other people when her car was destroyed by an explosive device placed on it by a motorcyclist at a red light. In Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, a similar device was discovered on the car of a local staff member of the Israeli Embassy, but was defused by the police. Both resembled attacks that have killed five of Iran’s nuclear scientists in recent years, most recently last month. Iran has attributed the assassinations to Israeli agents and has vowed to take revenge. The scientists’ assassinations — along with sabotage of Iran’s nuclear program through cyberwarfare and faulty parts — are aimed at delaying what the West believes is Iran’s drive to build a nuclear weapon. If actually carried out by Iran, the attacks would be another indication that the leadership in Tehran was willing to reach beyond its borders against its enemies and expand its attacks to civilians. The United States has charged that Iran was behind a plot to assassinate a Saudi ambassador on American soil, and Israel has said that Iran has planned to attack its citizens in various countries, but that those plots were stopped. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contended that Monday’s attacks fit that pattern.
The Dilemma of Cheap Electronics
Randy Moss and That Thing Called Quit
