| COUNTDOWN TO BOOT CAMP
It's late evening at Marine Corps boot camp in San Diego. A bus rumbles to the curb and the doors open with a loud "whoosh." A man wearing a broad-brimmed Smokey Bear hat climbs on board and greets the 30 or 40 young men huddled inside, some of them trembling with excitement. And fear. The man speaks in a harsh, almost guttural bark, and gets right to the point. "From this moment on, the only words out of your mouth are 'Yes, sir,' 'No, sir,' and 'Aye aye, sir,' do you understand that?" he growls. "Yes, sir!" the men respond. "I said, 'Do you understand that?' " he screams, louder. "YES, SIR!" the men yell out, much louder and in unison. Four rows back are two young men, Robert Perez and Richard Maxwell.
Phil Tippett a special-effects pioneer
Tippett walks into his upstairs conference room with his shirttail out and a wild ring of long gray hair that only adds to the mad professor vibe. Tippett is friendly, but anxious - co-workers say that's his permanent state. He relaxes a bit when he starts a film reel, which is heavy with stop-motion work from two of his biggest influences: "King Kong" special-effects worker Willis O'Brien and "Jason and the Argonauts" mastermind Ray Harryhausen. "It was this scene right here that I saw at the (Berkeley) Oaks theater, when I was 7 years old in 1958," Tippett says, pointing at the screen as a few actors throw spears at a four-story-tall Harryhausen creation. "This was the thing that inspired me, that scene with the Cyclops in 'The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.' And I was never the same since." With no special-effects industry jobs to aspire to, the young Tippett mowed lawns for the money to make his own stop-motion films.
Kaeser Compressors to Market Air Products' UltraFill(R) 99+ High ...
LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Air Products , a global leader in nitrogen technology, and Kaeser Compressors, Inc., a leading innovator of air system technology, announced an agreement for Kaeser to be an authorized reseller of its UltraFill(R) 99+ High-Purity Nitrogen Tire Inflation System to tire and auto service centers across the country. The UltraFill 99+ System delivers the highest purity nitrogen available. Nitrogen inflated tires offer significant performance, cost and safety benefits. The UltraFill 99+ System is an innovative advancement in nitrogen tire inflation technology. The system allows tire retailers to supply higher purity nitrogen -- in the tire -- in shorter time, which provides inflation performance advantages at a lower cost. In addition, the unit's patent-pending "Dynamic Surge Capacity" eliminates the need for large storage tanks required by other systems, saving significant workroom space and providing flexibility in unit placement.
Briefs: Film star set to teach hip-hop dance classes
"Stomp the Yard" star Darrin Henson will teach two hip-hop master classes Saturday at the Christian Dance Center in Shreveport.
The first class will be from 3 to 4:30 p.m. for ages 6 to 12. The next class will be from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and is for teens and adults.
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Ogilvy shows poise on and off the court
Vanderbilt basketball player A.J. Ogilvy allowed a reporter and photographer to tag along for a day on campus recently. Rand Dining Hall is almost full. Students who dont have their noses in a newspaper, a laptop or breakfast are holding cell phones in both hands, sending text messages with two thumbs on the keypad. .
UFC 71 preview and guest predictions
UFC returns to Las Vegas Saturday with UFC 71 after taking its show on the road with recent stops in Manchester, England, Houston and Columbus, Ohio. The event features one of the most widely anticipated fights in recent UFC history -- the main event between light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell and Quinton Jackson. The matchup pits a beloved and popular champion in Liddell -- who was featured on the May 21 cover of ESPN The Magazine and recently made a cameo appearance on the HBO show Entourage -- against the only fighter he has fought and never beaten.
Liddell's last loss came against Jackson in November 2003 in a Pride Middleweight Grand Prix semifinal match. Since that fight, Liddell has won seven straight bouts. Jackson enters the match on a four-fight win streak, including a second-round technical knockout over Marvin Eastman in his last bout and UFC debut at UFC 67.
Hossa's, Richards' different debuts
It wasn't the coming-out party Marian Hossa or his new club was looking for. Not only did the Penguins offense look all out of sorts in the first half of Thursday night's 5-1 loss to the Bruins, but Hossa also was forced out of the game after accidentally going knee on knee with Glen Murray. The prognosis isn't too devastating: A first degree MCL sprain. Translation? Hossa will be out about a week -- just in time to pair up with Sidney Crosby when he returns. Crosby was originally due back earlier, but the Penguins chose not to rush things. Before Hossa's knee crumpled, coach Michel Therrien was shuffling more than your average blackjack dealer. Lines were seemingly thrown together with reckless abandon, and nothing worked. Sure, chemistry can't always be fostered instantly, but breaking up the trio of Evgeni Malkin, Ryan Malone and Petr Sykora appeared to be a wretched error nonetheless.
Tassie firm links atolls to world
THE hope on these young faces is the product of a Tasmanian company helping one of the poorest countries in the Pacific. Two years ago Kingston-based Powercom Systems installed an FM radio network on the tiny island Republic of Kiribati. The remote archipelago northeast of Australia includes 32 atolls dispersed over 3,500,000 square kilometres. Powercom is now trialling a Wi-Max wireless internet system that will give Kiribati cutting-edge technology not yet commercially available here. Although most of the nation's 90,000 residents don't have computers and some are even without power, high-speed internet access will help the government, schools and hospitals connect to the world in ways not possible before. Powercom Systems' business manager Malcolm Crosse has worked closely with the people of Kiribati.
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