MOVIE REVIEW: Pacific Rim

When a channel opens underneath the Pacific Ocean that serves as a passageway for the Kaijus (strange beasts) from another dimension to wreck havoc on surrounding cities around it, mankind has no recourse but to create Jaegers (hunters) - robots almost the same size as the Kaijus to protect the planet from total apocalypse.Pacific Rim is director Guillermo del Toro's love letter to those Japanese monsters movies and as he proved in his Oscar winning Pan's Labyrinth, he knows his mystical creatures. The film has the 50's-60's monster/alien invasion B-movie vibe while making very good use of  3D technology. This is the first film since Avatar that is worth the price of it.Since the film mostly focuses on the battle between the two gigantic creatures, cities with skyscrapers are virtually destroyed. It is heartwarming for a movie fan like me to have two of the cities I love prominently featured in the film: San Francisco and Manila. Both were destroyed in the film but hey Manila in a science-fiction robot-monster movie? Only in our dreams before, but Guillermo del Toro fulfilled it. We have seen those scenes before in Michael Bay's Transformers films and most recently in The Man of Steel, but it is better executed in Pacific Rim and not as tedious to watch in the previous movies that I mentioned. Michael Bay can learn a thing or two on how to make the perfect summer blockbuster and he can start by watching this film. The lead role of Jaeger operator Raleigh Becket is played by British actor Charlie Hunnam (2002's  Nicholas Nickelby and TV's Queer as Folk) and he has great chemistry with the prominent names of the cast members such as Idris Elba, Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) and Charlie Day (TV's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). Ron Perlman (Del Toro's Hellboy) also has a prominent supporting role. Pacific Rim is so far the pleasant surprise in the summer movie season of 2013 dominated by the comic book franchises. A visual treat that has a story too!!
Source:http://royceandmovies.blogspot.com/2013/07/movie-review-pacific-rim.html

MOVIE REVIEW: Pacific Rim Images

Release Date : July 12, 2013 (3D/2D theaters and IMAX)
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Pacific Rim: Movie Review
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Review – Pacific Rim | Maria's Movie Reviews
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Notre Dame Football Equipment Photos!

These two photos were recently "tweeted" by Ryan Grooms, Notre Dame's Football Equipment Manager.  The top photo is the shirt the Irish players will wear under their shoulder pads.  The bottom photo is a shot of the ND shoulder pads the freshmen will be wearing.  Ryan's twitter handle is @NDFBEquipment
Source:http://notredamegoirish.blogspot.com/2013/07/notre-dame-football-equipment-photos.html

Notre Dame Football Equipment Photos! Images

notre dame football equipment manager ryan grooms handed out the gold ...
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Notre Dame's new gloves want you to play like a champion today ...
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Notre Dame Football, Free Stock Photos - Free Stock Photos
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SMALL'S NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG -- www.NDGOIRISH.com -- A NOTRE DAME ...
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TSA orders airport valets to search parked cars

http://boingboing.net/2013/07/18/tsa-orders-airport-valets-to-s.html
Source:http://usfollowme.blogspot.com/2013/07/tsa-orders-airport-valets-to-search.html

TSA orders airport valets to search parked cars Images

TSA orders airport valets to search parked cars - Boing Boing
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TSA: Rochester Airport Valets Ordered to Search Parked Cars
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TSA SEARCHING PARKED CARS AT AIRPORTS
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More TSA follis: Agency inspecting parked cars, but only those parked ...
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Coscharis warehouse razed, goods worth billions lost

The Lagos State warehouse of an automobile company, Coscharis Nigeria Limited, was razed on Thursday at Kirikiri Industrial Estate, Apapa.Workers of the company said goods worth billions of naira were destroyed by the fire that reportedly started about 4am.By the time firefighters from the Lagos State Fire Service and the Nigerian Navy arrived the scene; the fire grown which they battled with for over five hours.Materials such as computer equipment, petrochemical products, vehicles, inverter batteries, auto spare parts, motorcycles and tires, stored in the warehouse, were also said to have escalated the intensity of the fire.Although the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, some of the workers told PUNCH Metro on the condition of anonymity, attributed it to electrical spark.The burnt warehouse owned by business mogul, Cosmas Maduka, was said to have been undergoing renovations after one of its divisions was moved to another area of Lagos.The source said, “The warehouse has been undergoing some renovations so we are not ruling out electrical spark as the cause of the inferno.“The section where the goods were kept was locked, so it was not possible to salvage any goods. We just had to wait for the fire service officials to come.“What we have lost today runs into billions of naira. You know we just restocked the warehouse on Wednesday; over four containers of deep cycle inverter batteries were offloaded into that warehouse.”A n employee  of the company, who spoke on condition of anonymity, lamented that the fire would have been curtailed if there were enough fire extinguishers or hydrants in the warehouse at the time the fire started.He said, “The fire started from an office inside the warehouse around 4am and that office was locked at the time. We tried putting off the fire with few fire extinguishers we could lay our hands on, but they were not enough.“There was no fire hydrant or fire engine in the warehouse that would have enabled us prevents the fire from spreading to other parts. Before we knew what was happening, the whole place was in flames.”However, the company’s Financial Controller, Godwin Umaka, who declined to give the value of the property destroyed, said the company did all it could to prevent the fire from escalating.“We had enough fire extinguishers in the warehouse that would have been used to quench the fire when it started, but the problem was that the fire started at night when most of our employees were not at work. It is too early to give the exact value of the property destroyed and what we are trying to do now is to put out the fire,” Umaka said.The fire lasted for six hours before it was eventually brought under control.Armed policemen deployed from Kirikiri Police Division were seen guarding the premises to prevent hoodlums from taking advantage of the incident to loot.The Lagos State Fire Service Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Mr. Paschal Ologungboye, who confirmed the incident to PUNCH Metro, said the service received a distress call at 6am.He added “Fire fighters from the Sari Iganmu, Ijora and Isolo fire stations were deployed to the scene of the fire incident.“Despite the number of fire trucks from different stations including our headquarters, the challenge was the lack of water within the premises.”
Source:http://goldenmemoirss.blogspot.com/2013/07/coscharis-warehouse-razed-goods-worth.html

Coscharis warehouse razed, goods worth billions lost Images

... in a mysterious inferno that razed properties worth billions of naira
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2013 Phillies Team Issue 2 #15 John Mayberry, Jr.

Phillies 4, White Sox 3 (10 Innings)Game 96 - Sunday Afternoon, July 14th in PhiladelphiaRecord - 48-48, 3rd Place, 6 1/2 games behind the BravesOne Sentence Summary:  John Mayberry, Jr. delivered the winning hit in the 10th, as the Phillies walked off with the 4-3 win over the White Sox.What It Means:  It means the Phillies wrapped up their pre-All-Star break home stand with a 7-3 record and are back at .500.  At the All-Star break last year, the Phillies owned a record of 37-50.  The team has been a strong second half team under manager Charlie Manuel, so I'm cautiously optimistic as we head into the break.What Went Right:  Mayberry's heroics were necessitated by Jonathan Papelbon's fifth blown save of the season.  The Phillies led 3-2 going into the ninth, but Papelbon couldn't hold the lead, causing Cole Hamels to miss out on the win and forcing extra innings.  Hamels had another great outing, allowing two runs on eight hits in eight innings of work.  The pitcher also had an RBI-single in the fourth.The Phillies got on the board in the first thanks to a two-run double from Domonic Brown.  All-Star Brown enters the break with a team-leading 67 RBIs.2013 Topps Pro Debut #89 and #102Featured Card:  Mayberry has as many base Topps cards this year as his father, John Mayberry, Sr., who hasn't played since the 1982 season.  Mayberry, Jr. appears in the Topps flagship set while the elder Mayberry has a card in this year's Topps Archives release.  The card featured here is from the second series of the team issued set, and chances are there will be a version 2.1 set released at some point in late summer.  Especially if Ruben Amaro, Jr. can add a few much-needed pieces (relief pitcher, center fielder) to the suddenly contending Phillies.Meanwhile, in Gotham City:  The All-Star festivities are underway in New York, and yesterday afternoon Citi Field hosted the annual Futures Game.  The Phillies sent two representatives to this year's game, which features the top prospects from around the minors.  Third baseman Maikel Franco started for the World team (as their DH) and faced his Reading Fightin Phils teammate, pitcher Jesse Biddle, in the fourth inning.  Biddle won the match for Team USA, striking out Franco on three pitches.
Source:http://thephilliesroom.blogspot.com/2013/07/2013-phillies-team-issue-2-15-john.html

2013 Phillies Team Issue 2 #15 John Mayberry, Jr. Images

The Phillies Room: 2012 Phillies Team Issue 2 #15 John Mayberry, Jr.
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The Phillies Room: 1995 Phillies Team Issue #1 Richie Ashburn
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Miss Us?

Cable telebision, telephone & iNternet were all out. No difference; equally numb either way.
Source:http://mbouffant.blogspot.com/2013/07/miss-us.html

Miss Us? Images

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Miss U Graphics, Comments, Scraps, Pictures for Myspace & Orkut
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miss u! ;( | Publish with Glogster!
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Miss Universe 2012: Miss USA Olivia Culpo Wins - UsMagazine.com
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Learned Intermediary Bars Consumer Protection Claims in Pennsylvania

            We talk a lot about the learned intermediary doctrine on this blog.  Rightfully so.  It is a powerful tool for drug and medical device defendants.  In a nutshell, the learned intermediary doctrine says that pharmaceutical companies’ duty is to warn doctors, not patients, about the risks of prescription drugs.  It is a recognition of the essential role the physician plays when it comes to prescription drugs and devices.  And, while the doctrine inures to the benefit of defendants, it is not an affirmative defense.  That is, the plaintiff still bears the burden to prove proximate causation.  The plaintiff must prove that the doctor would have made a different prescribing decision if he had the information that plaintiff claims he should have had.  And, as an essential element of plaintiff’s case, plaintiff must plead sufficient facts to support his claim that his physician would have acted differently.                That’s where plaintiff in today’s case ran into some trouble.  Plaintiff brought a purported class action seeking a refund of what he spent on Avandia alleging that defendant violated Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (“UTPCPL”).  In re Avandia Marketing, Sales and Products Liab. Litig., MDL 1871 (Morgan v. Smithkline Beecham Corp.), 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96774 (E.D. Pa. Jul. 10, 2013).  There was no personal injury alleged.  Rather, the crux of plaintiff’s claim is that even though Avandia is effective in reducing blood-sugar, because it allegedly carries an increased risk for heart-related disease, the drug “has no health benefit.”  Id. at *2-3.  The court did not have to get into the substance of the claim, however, because plaintiff failed to allege any facts that would get him around the learned intermediary doctrine.  The court also refused to recognize a direct-to-consumer exception to the learned intermediary doctrine.  Once again, New Jersey remains a party of one on that issue.            It is worth noting that this was plaintiff’s second attempt to state his claim.  The original complaint was dismissed because plaintiff failed to allege, among other things, “what materials or information his physician relied upon.”  Id. at *1.  Plaintiff tried to fix that deficiency by alleging that his physician reviewed defendant’s “marketing and statements.”  Id. at *2.  But that wasn’t enough to cure the fatal inadequacies of plaintiff’s pleading.  Fatal because this time, the court dismissed the case with prejudice.              The court starts off by acknowledging that the learned intermediary doctrine applies to consumer protection claims – and in Pennsylvania almost always bars them.  Pennsylvania’s consumer protection statute requires reliance and under the learned intermediary doctrine it is the prescribing physician upon whom plaintiff relies – not the manufacturer:  Under the learned intermediary doctrine, the drug manufacturer owes a duty of disclosure to the prescribing physician, but it is then the duty of the prescribing physician to communicate any risks or other information about the drug to the patient.  As courts have held, the existence of the learned intermediary doctrine in Pennsylvania makes it difficult, if not impossible, for plaintiffs to successfully bring a UTPCPL claim based on a prescription drug.Id. at *5 (quotation marks and citations omitted).  And as to reliance, plaintiff failed to plead anything beyond “generalized allegations that his (unidentified) physician viewed Avandia marketing materials.”  Id. at *6.            Plaintiff attempted to fit into the “almost impossible” category of viable prescription drug UTPCPL claims by alleging that defendant marketed Avandia directly to consumers.  Id. at *5.  Fortunately, like almost every court to consider the issue, this court found that DTC advertising doesn’t alter the role of the physician in prescribing medications to his patients:Media dissemination of information concerning the existence of these drugs does not enhance the public's ability to acquire them, as the skill and knowledge of the physician still must be brought to bear in a determination of whether the pharmaceutical is appropriate for the patient.   Because Plaintiff could not obtain Avandia without a physician's prescription, and the allegations with regard to the prescribing physician's exposure to, and justified reliance on, misleading information from Defendant are insufficient to state a cause of action, the learned intermediary doctrine bars Plaintiffs claim.Id. at *6.  In other words, even if plaintiff saw an ad for Avandia and asked his physician about it – it was still up to the physician to use his medical training and knowledge of his patient to decide whether to prescribe it.  His role as the learned intermediary is unchanged.  Furthermore, that role remains essential.  Plaintiff still could not obtain the drug without a prescription.  So, we come full circle.  The very reason for adopting the learned intermediary doctrine is a recognition of the patient-physician relationship, a relationship that it not altered by marketing to the general public.              With this decision shutting down yet another attempt by plaintiffs to sidestep the learned intermediary doctrine, it just became even more difficult to bring a consumer protection claim for a drug or medical device in Pennsylvania.  We won’t go so far as to say impossible, but it’s getting close.
Source:http://druganddevicelaw.blogspot.com/2013/07/learned-intermediary-bars-consumer.html

Learned Intermediary Bars Consumer Protection Claims in Pennsylvania Images