‘Christmas Carol’ leads North American box office
Nov/09BC
Source: Yahoo!
Yahoo! - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If it’s the second weekend in November, it must be Christmas in Hollywood.
Walt Disney Co’s high-tech adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” topped the North American box office on Sunday with lower-than-expected ticket sales of $31 million.
For moviegoers in the mood for darker material, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” opened at No. 13 after earning a hefty $1.8 million in just four cities. Lionsgate’s acclaimed tale of a young, black, overweight, illiterate incest survivor will expand nationally on November 20.
Both movies overshadowed new releases featuring such big names as George Clooney and Cameron Diaz. Clooney’s military comedy “The Men Who Stare At Goats” opened at No. 3 with a solid $13.3 million. “The Box,” a thriller starring Diaz, opened at No. 6 with just $7.9 million. Also new was the alien-abduction thriller “The Fourth Kind” at No. 4 with $12.5 million.
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Middle-school WR checks in at 7-4
Nov/09BC
Source: Rivals
Rivals: The Morgan Middle School football team in Ellensburg, Wash., doesn’t need a sheet to know when to go for the two-point conversion. It may have a sure-fire play: Just throw it to Brenden Adams.
Adams, you see, is 7-foot-4.
That’s right; the tallest teen-age boy in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records is playing football this year. In middle school.
“This is the first year my mom’s let me play,” Adams told Melissa Luck, an executive producer for KXLY4 in Spokane. “She thought I was gonna get hurt or something. It’s my favorite sport and she said this is an opportunity she didn’t want me to miss.”
Luck’s story details Adams’ growth and his love of the game.
First, his height.
He was an average newborn, measuring just over 19 inches. But by five months old, he had gained 14 pounds and had all of his teeth. At 2, he was 3-foot-5; by 5 he was 4-for-5. At ll, he was 6-foot-8. He’s now 14.
Adams gave Luck the medical explanation for his growth: “It was my 12th chromosome that broke in half and flipped over and reattached,” he said.
While his height makes strangers wonder if he’s an athlete, the truth is, his height actually holds him back as it comes with serious health problems, including enlarged joints and unusual blood counts. He already has arthritis.
“I can’t run anymore,” Adams said in the story. “I can’t be active like I used to.”
Height, actually, is a detriment in football. While NFL players keep getting bigger, the truth is, it’s usually bigger, not taller.
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Out of the Blue: Islands Seen From Space
Nov/09BC
Source: Wired
Islands are some of the most beautiful, peaceful, violent, desolate and unique places on Earth. While experiencing a tropical island from its sandy beaches, or a volcanic island from its towering peaks is wonderful, experiencing them from above can be inspiring as well.
We’ve collected images taken by astronauts and satellites from space of some of the most interesting islands on the planet.
Atafu Atoll, Tokelau, Pacific Ocean
Around 500 people live on Atafu Atoll, mostly in a village that can be seen on the corner in the left of the image above. Atafu is just five miles wide and is the smallest of three atolls in the Tokelau Islands, a New Zealand territory.
Atafu is made up of coral reefs that surrounded the flanks of a volcano that has since become inactive and submerged. Like many tropical atolls, Atafu is very low lying and vulnerable to sea-level rise. This photograph was taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station in January.
Image: NASA
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