Budget cuts to hit military school districts first

In this Feb. 22, 2013 photo provided by the Killeen Independent School District, students move through the halls of Meadows Elementary School in Fort Hood, Texas. Meadows is one of nine public schools on Fort Hood operated by Killeen Independent School District, which stands to lose at least $2.6 million before the end of the year if across-the-board federal spending cuts take effect. (AP Photo/Killeen Independent School District, Todd Martin)

In this Feb. 22, 2013 photo provided by the Killeen Independent School District, students move through the halls of Meadows Elementary School in Fort Hood, Texas. Meadows is one of nine public schools on Fort Hood operated by Killeen Independent School District, which stands to lose at least $2.6 million before the end of the year if across-the-board federal spending cuts take effect. (AP Photo/Killeen Independent School District, Todd Martin)

This Feb. 22, 2013 photo provided by the Killeen Independent School District shows the exterior of Meadows Elementary School in Fort Hood, Texas. Meadows is one of nine public schools on Fort Hood operated by Killeen Independent School District, which stands to lose at least $2.6 million before the end of the year if across-the-board federal spending cuts take effect. (AP Photo/Killeen Independent School District, Todd Martin)

In this Feb. 22, 2013 photo provided by the Killeen Independent School District, parents pick up their children at Meadows Elementary School in Fort Hood, Texas. Meadows is one of nine public schools on Fort Hood operated by Killeen Independent School District, which stands to lose at least $2.6 million before the end of the year if across-the-board federal spending cuts take effect. (AP Photo/Killeen Independent School District, Todd Martin)

In this Feb. 22, 2013 photo provided by the Killeen Independent School District, a sign indicates that Meadows Elementary School is the adopted school of the U.S. Army's 20th Field Artillery Unit, First Calvary Division in Fort Hood, Texas. Meadows is one of nine public schools on Fort Hood operated by Killeen Independent School District, which stands to lose at least $2.6 million before the end of the year if across-the-board federal spending cuts take effect. (AP Photo/Killeen Independent School District, Todd Martin)

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) ? Public schools everywhere will be affected by the government's automatic budget cuts, but few may feel the funding pinch faster than those on and around military bases.

School districts with military ties from coast-to-coast are bracing for increased class sizes and delayed building repairs. Others already have axed sports teams and even eliminated teaching positions, but still may have to tap savings just to make it through year's end.

But there's little hope for softening any future financial blows.

"Next year is scarier than this year," said Sharon Adams, chief financial officer for Muscogee County schools in Georgia. The district serves the U.S. Army's Fort Benning and could lose $300,000 in federal funding out of its $270 million in general funds before the end of the school ? and more than four times that in 2013-2014.

The schools' losses will come from cuts to a federal program known as "Impact Aid" that supplements local property tax losses for districts that cover federal land, including military posts and Indian tribal areas. About 1,400 school districts serving roughly 11 million children nationwide ? including nearly 376,500 students from military families ? benefit from the aid, said Jocelyn Bissonnette, director of government affairs for the Washington-based National Association of Federally Impacted Schools.

Bissonnette said slightly more than 5 percent of funding would disappear from nearly all U.S. Department of Education programs under the automatic cuts. But while most of the reductions wouldn't take effect until next fall, Impact Aid could be immediately cut, with many districts failing to receive a scheduled payment in March.

In all, the U.S. Department of Education estimates districts receiving Impact Aid could see $60 million evaporate this school year.

"Classrooms will be fuller," said Sara Watson, principal of 810-student Meadows Elementary on Fort Hood, one of the world's largest military installations. Watson stressed that she doesn't yet know the full impact, but said an extra teacher for fifth and sixth grade science hired this year could be reassigned ? which may mean squeezing kids into fewer classes.

Ninety-nine percent of parents at Meadows are in the military and a quarter of the teachers are married to active-duty personnel. But the campus is run by the school district in the surrounding community of Killeen, which has 52 campuses in all ? including seven elementary and two middle schools on Fort Hood and about total 42,000 students.

As soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan, enrollment has swelled, increasing by 1,200 students annually in recent years ? though next year likely will only see 500 additional students.

Overall, the district stands to lose at least $2.6 million in Impact Aid funding before the end of the school year under the automatic cuts. Superintendent Robert Mueller said the cuts amount to more than 50 teachers' salaries, roughly one per school, or five months' worth of district's electric bills ? and may mean tapping into Killeen's cash reserves to cover expenses.

Other military districts have made pre-emptive cuts that now may not be enough.

In San Antonio, Randolph Field school district educates about 1,200 students from military families at the local Air Force base of the same name and draws 45 percent of its budget from Impact Aid. Officials this year eliminated high school math and science teaching positions and cut baseball, cross-country and swimming.

But even then, the district expected to get $5.3 million in Impact Aid. Randolph Field may now get about $1 million less ? meaning it will have to use reserve funds to finish the year.

"If we get it, we'll end the year in the black," Lorrie Remick, the district's chief financial officer, said of the year's final Impact Aid payment. "If not, we'll have a deficit for the first time in our history."

In North Carolina, Cumberland County Schools superintendent Frank Till, whose district has a total budget of $450 million and includes Fort Bragg, said he may forfeit about $800,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year ? but that his primary concern is what might happen next year, when the district could be out about $3.2 million.

"If October comes and they've not restored our money, we'll have to completely eliminate schools from service and certainly have to cut back on staffing," Till said. "We'll have to cut back services to some of our most disadvantaged kids."

He volunteered some advice to policymakers: "Go out to Camp David and don't come back until you have a plan."

Ronald Walker, superintendent of Geary County Schools USD 475 in Kansas, which serves Fort Riley, offered a harsher sentiment: "I think it's arrogant for leaders to turn their backs on our soldiers."

Walker anticipated an Impact Aid cut as the country flirted with the "fiscal cliff" in January, so delayed repairs on school roofs and air conditioning systems. But the coming funding reductions look worse than he prepared for ? likely meaning living with longstanding school plumbing problems

"I'm just going to ignore them," Walker said, "and hope."

__

Associated Press writers Michael Biesecker in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-02-Budget%20Battle-Military%20School%20Districts/id-e0de308fe29a423aa7fcc1c582cc4c94

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NY Cardinal Dolan a 'happy warrior' for church

NEW YORK (AP) ? Challenging a White House mandate for birth control coverage in health insurance, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan sounded like a general rallying the troops.

"The only thing we're certainly not prepared to do is give in," Dolan said at a national bishops' meeting last November. "We're not violating our consciences."

Weeks earlier, he had appeared in a far less formal setting, at New York's Fordham University with comedian Stephen Colbert. From the 3,000 cheering audience members, one student considering the priesthood asked whether he should date. Dolan said it could help decide the right path, then quipped, "By the way, let me give you the phone numbers of my nieces."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: As the Roman Catholic Church prepares to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, The Associated Press is profiling key cardinals seen as "papabili" ? contenders to the throne. In the secretive world of the Vatican, there is no way to know who is in the running, and history has yielded plenty of surprises. But these are the names that have come up time and again in speculation. Today: Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

___

Catholic News Service calls him a happy warrior for evangelization. Kean University historian Christopher Bellitto calls him the bear-hug bishop. Dolan, 63, is an upbeat, affable defender of Catholic orthodoxy, and a well-known religious figure in the United States.

He holds a job Pope John Paul II once called "archbishop of the capital of the world." His colleagues broke with protocol in 2010 and made him president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, instead of elevating the sitting vice president as expected. And during the 2012 presidential election, Republicans and Democrats competed over which national political convention the cardinal would bless. He did both.

But scholars question whether his charisma and experience are enough for a real shot at succeeding Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The thinking ahead of the conclave is Dolan's chances are slim.

"It's not a personal attack on his qualities as a cardinal or individual," said Monsignor Michael Fahey, a scholar at Fairfield University in Conn. "Cardinal Dolan has a knack for getting people to feel relaxed and to laugh and to expect the unexpected, but that is not what the church needs right now."

Dolan spent seven years in Rome as rector of the North American College, considered the West Point for U.S. priests, where he had studied for his own ordination years earlier. However, he never worked in a Vatican office or congregation ? experience that would have helped him develop ties with cardinals from other countries and raise his profile in a conclave.

Benedict made Dolan a cardinal just a year ago. Still, the former pope chose the New York archbishop for the honor of delivering a speech to other church leaders in Rome. His address on spreading the faith was highly praised, and he emerged as something of a star of the event, gaining mention in some Italian media as potentially "papabile," or having the qualities of a future pope.

No American has ever served as pontiff. Some cardinals express concerns a superpower pope and the potential for his actions to be viewed as serving the U.S. instead of the church.

Ahead of this conclave, church-watchers seem split over whether that old assumption still applies. Dolan's credentials as upholder of the faith have been especially burnished by the bishops' ongoing conflicts with President Barack Obama. Obama endorses same-sex marriage, supports abortion rights and included the birth control coverage rule in his health care overhaul.

However, Dolan speaks only halting Italian and a little Spanish, and no French or Latin, a huge drawback for a potential leader of a 1.2 billion-member global church. (By contrast, Benedict speaks eight or so languages.) The cardinal's informality and folksy vocabulary, which help make him so approachable in the United States, could actually undermine his chances in Rome. In recent comments about other challenges the church has survived, Dolan noted that some former popes have been "lemons." When taking the stage to greet Colbert, before about 3,000 cheering students, Dolan jokingly kissed Colbert's ring instead of shaking the comedian's hand.

Along with his humor, Dolan can artfully convey church teaching. He earned a doctorate in church history from The Catholic University of America and sprinkles his speeches with details of the early struggles Catholic immigrants trying to carve a place for themselves in Protestant America. Noting that secularism is growing in the U.S, he argues that broader society is in a "drive to neuter religion" and "push religion back into the sacristy." On his blog, "The Gospel in the Digital Age," Dolan writes on a wide range of issues, from gun control to abortion to the future of Catholic schools.

A St. Louis native of Irish ancestry and the oldest of five children, Dolan began his path to the priesthood as a boy. He said he would set up cardboard boxes with sheets to make a play altar in the basement. He attended a seminary prep school in Missouri and by 1985 earned his doctorate. After working as a parish priest, professor and seminary leader, he served briefly as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Louis before John Paul appointed him in 2002 as archbishop of Milwaukee, which serves about 675,000 parishioners. In 2009, Benedict appointed Dolan archbishop of New York, the nation's second-largest archdiocese after Los Angeles, serving about 2.5 million Catholics.

Like every U.S. bishop in recent years, Dolan has had to grapple with fallout from the clergy sex abuse scandal.

Dolan's predecessor in Milwaukee, Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who had been planning to retire, left abruptly after news broke that the archdiocese had paid a $450,000 settlement to a man claiming Weakland tried to sexually assault him. Weakland admitted an "inappropriate relationship" but denied abuse.

In 2004, Dolan publicly released the names of Milwaukee diocesan priests who had been accused of molesting children. However, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said he said he didn't work closely enough with civil authorities to also identify accused clergy from religious orders.

Days before Dolan left for the conclave, he sat for a deposition with attorneys for people who said they had been abused as children by clergy working in the Milwaukee archdiocese. Dolan's successor in Milwaukee sought bankruptcy protection for the archdiocese from 570 abuse claims. Advocates for victims have accused Dolan of having tried to shield the Milwaukee archdiocese assets, in part by transferring millions of dollars several years ago into a cemetery trust fund and a parish fund. Dolan denies the accusation.

On the final day of Benedict's pontificate, Dolan stood with seminarians on the roof of the North American College and waved as a helicopter flew overhead, carrying the departing pope to what will be his temporary retirement home, the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo. In his trademark way, he put any talk of his elevation aside, by recalling a conversation with his mother.

She told him, "You better be back in time for St. Patrick's Day because I want to walk down Fifth Avenue with you in the parade."

___

AP reporter Trisha Thomas contributed from Rome.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ny-cardinal-dolan-happy-warrior-church-093322539.html

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How to keep Facebook from annoying your friends

Facebook

Alan Henry Lifehacker

1 hour ago

NBC News

Facebook is using you, whether you know it or not. Sometimes it's obvious: you like a page, you click share, Facebook benefits. Other times, you have no clue until a friend asks you about a photo they saw that you liked. The unfortunate side effect to all of this is that it can actually make you an unbearable annoyance to your friends, and you probably don't even know it. Here's how it works, and how to stop it.

When we talk about the ways that Facebook uses your personal information, we're usually talking about why you should care about your privacy, or how Facebook tracks your activity. In this case, we're discussing how your Facebook habits are used ? with or without your knowledge ? to bother your friends with ads that they associate with you. It's a very different beast, but it can be stopped. Here's what you need to know.

EdgeRank: The math Facebook uses to pimp out your likes

You've probably seen an increase in posts in your news feed that say "[Your Friend] likes [Random Group]'s photo," with the full photo and text of the group's post right there, as though you liked the group yourself.

Courtesy of Lifehacker

On your phone or tablet, you've likely seen "Sponsored Posts" that say "[Another Friend] likes [Random Company]" with an invitation to like that page as well. It's annoying to be sure, but you also likely know that your friend didn't choose to advertise the page to you ? it's Facebook, using our habits to get likes and shares.

The logic that Facebook uses to decide what lands in your friends' feeds is called "EdgeRank," and it's purposefully obscure ? after all, if everyone understood it clearly (and lots of people claim to, but don't), advertisers wouldn't have to pay to promote posts, and users would be able to easily filter their feeds and block ads they don't want to see.

EdgeRank serves two purposes: For people who operate Facebook pages and manage brands, it's the algorithm that decides whether your post gets out to as many of your fans as possible. For users, it's the likelihood you'll see something in your feed liked or shared by someone else. It's also the math that governs why your news feed refuses to stay in real chronological order, even after you set it to "most recent."

We're not talking about your own status updates, photos or anything you post to Facebook yourself ? just the way you interact with other pages, groups, and people on Facebook. It's one thing if your news feed is full of baby pictures from your old high school friends ? it's another thing when every post you like from a group you follow ends up in all of your friends' news feeds without you knowing or being able to control who sees it.

Facebook uses you to help pages and brands find friends and go viral

The problem: When you see a post in your news feed from a group you've never heard of, like a heartwarming photo or a campaign for a cause, you might assume it's because your friend chose to share it with their followers by clicking the "share" button. That's not the case: odds are they thought it was good, clicked Like, and moved on.

A quick way to check is to visit their profile directly: if you don't see the post there, then Facebook decided that you might like to see it too, not your friend.

This is annoying, but it's especially problematic when you click like on something that may not be work-safe, assuming that "like" is not "share," so "who'll see it, right?"

Courtesy of Lifehacker

For example, one of my friends is a model: she's attractive, and her photo shoots are often artsy, but it's nothing you'd want your boss asking you about because they peeked over your shoulder at work. By "liking" her posts about her photo shoots, I run the risk of unintentionally sharing her photos with my Facebook friends, and having their bosses scold them for looking at scantily clad model pics. See the problem?

Unfortunately there's no way out of this: Facebook doesn't let you set the privacy level of something you've liked. If the original poster shared publicly, your like is public as well. Remember that if you're a fan of any Facebook groups or pages that like to keep their posts in-group or close to pocket, or it may land in a friend's news feed.

This is EdgeRank in action: it's not sinister, it's just Facebook deciding that your friends may have similar interests and may like what you like.

The downside is that it populates your news feed with photos and updates from pages you may have no interest in, and does the same to your friends. We've shown you how to clean up your own feed, but how do you avoid cluttering up everyone else's feed?

The solution: First, think before you click the Like button. There's no way to determine which likes will be posted to which friends, so before you like that photo on one of your favorite pages, assume that it could be broadcast to all of your friends. Here are some other tips:

• Hide those pages you like from your profile and set their posting rights to "only me." In our tests, doing this hid the things we liked from those groups from other people's feeds ? but we can't be 100 percent sure it'll work for everyone.
  
• Check your activity log. This is the only way to know which of your likes are public and which aren't. (Go to your profile, then click "Activity Log.") You'll see a history of every status update, photo and shared item you've liked, along with an icon that'll tell you whether it's public or shared only with friends. Facebook usually doesn't let you change the visibility of those entries, but you can "unlike" something if you don't want it in someone else's feed with your name plastered over it.
  
• Use Social Fixer to tame your own feed. You can use Social Fixer to trim down those types of reliked posts in your own feed, removing the temptation to like them yourself. Still, this doesn't stop Facebook from resharing groups you actually do like with your friends that don't.
  

Facebook uses your likes to sponsor brands, cluttering up your friends' feeds

The problem: You've seen the ads before: Friend A, B, and C Like [Brand], with a Like button next to it. They're right there in the middle of your news feed ? sometimes there are two or three of them together in a big "sponsored" box.

Courtesy of Lifehacker

It's annoying, especially when the brand in question isn't even remotely interesting to you. Save your friends the hassle, and audit the brands and companies you like on Facebook.

The solution: Unlike pages and brands that you don't need an active relationship with, and don't like new ones unless you need to. Save your friends the irritation of seeing "So-and-So Likes A Company You Couldn't Care Less About!" every time they log in to Facebook and just remove brands you don't feel like providing free advertising for.

Don't get us wrong, lots of companies offer great customer service, discounts, and other incentives to like them on Facebook (we'd be lying if we said we didn't want you to like us on Facebook too,) but let's be honest. You probably liked a bunch of companies on Facebook because you shop there and wanted to see what their Facebook page was all about, or because they were running a contest that required you Like them ? not because they offer you any tangible benefit today. Alternatively:

• Follow the same companies on Twitter instead. Twitter doesn't come with the same commitment that Facebook does, or the same access to your friends. You could also use Twitter lists to stay on top of their deals and coupons without having to like or follow them at all.
  
• Set up a second Facebook account for "liking" purposes. A second account, one that you only use for things like promotions and discounts, is invaluable ? stuff it full of as much or as little information as you choose to provide, and then use it instead of your main account. You can even use it as a way to see what's Facebook is sharing from your primary account without you knowing (although the specifics vary from friend to friend.) Note: Facebook's policy is one person-one account, so you'd likely be violating their TOS by doing this. Just something to keep in mind.
  
• Adjust your Facebook ad settings. One reader noted that you can also make sure to limit Facebook's ability to use your name and likeness in ads (which they currently don't, but say they may in the future), and how they use your likes and pages to generate ads for others to see. There's even a settings page governing it, even though it's quite buried. Set both options to "No One."
  

Facebook isn't planning to stop anytime soon

Annoying your friends ? by which we mean making sure that Facebook ads your friends see have your name above them (and vice versa) aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Facebook's new Graph Search gives you a great way to find people who share interests with you, but it also gives advertisers a great way to cross-reference people's likes and interests so they can better target who should see their brand or product, and which of their friends they should use to say "See? Your friend already likes us, why don't you?"

Courtesy of Lifehacker

Image from the always funny Actual Facebook Graph Searches.

Now, Graph Search is only limited to a small number of people right now and it respects your privacy settings. If you're smart about keeping your privacy settings where they should be, you don't have anything to worry about from Graph Search. Similarly, it's not certain that Graph Search is even open to advertisers right now, so there's no reason to get out the torches and the pitchforks.

Another example of the same philosophy was Facebook's Social Reader. Graph Search is in the future, but Social Reader is a great example of a Facebook feature that went belly up because people didn't care too much for their activity being shared automatically and without their explicit permission each time it was used.

News sites using Social Reader, like The Washington Post andThe Guardian (the latter of which has already killed their social reader app) saw tumbling numbers last year as readers ditched them en masse. Whether they left because they didn't care for every story they read being automatically shared with their friends (assuming they didn't change post visibility to "only me,") or because they just didn't like what those apps had to offer is still a matter of debate.

The bottom line: Just know what you're getting into

The truth is that Facebook is a free service to users, and it needs to make money somehow, and that money will be made using your data. The question is whether Facebook uses it or they give it to someone else to use, and how that information is used.

The moral of the story here is to be careful with the things you like, because it's not just things you share that end up in your friends' news feeds. Since you can't even go to your profile to see what's been shared on your behalf, it's impossible to tell until someone pings you to ask why you've been liking so many posts from one particular Facebook group lately, or why the only thing you seem to share these days are someone else's photos.

Of course, stay on top of your privacy settings, the post visibility of apps you use (remember: "Only Me" is your friend,) watch what you click "Share" on. Oh, and of course: Every time Facebook makes an arcane change with nebulous results, make sure to update them accordingly.

Morefrom Lifehacker:

Source: http://www.today.com/tech/facebook-uses-you-annoy-your-friends-heres-how-stop-it-1C8645123

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Michigan governor declares Detroit fiscal emergency (reuters)

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Deal of the Day ? Dell XPS 10 32GB Dual-core Windows RT tablet

Friday’s LogicBUY Deal is the?10.1″ Dell XPS 10 Windows RT Tablet for?$399.99. ?Features: Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.5GHz Dual-core processor 32GB 10.1″ 10-point multi-touch 1366 X 768 screen with pen support 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 2MP webcam and 5-MP rear camera 1 Year ProSupport 1 Year Rapid Return for repair $499.99 – $100 instant savings [...]

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Ex-con accused of sneaking back into NYC jails

NEW YORK (AP) ? Most people who've done time in jail can't wait to get away. But this week, New York City authorities accused one former inmate of sneaking back in.

Yonkers resident Matthew Matagrano, 36, was arraigned in Manhattan on Saturday on charges that he impersonated a Department of Correction investigator.

Officials say that for at least a week, Matagrano used phony credentials to get into multiple city lockups, including Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention Center, where he mingled with inmates for hours.

Investigators said the case was still unfolding, but some of the allegations were detailed in a criminal complaint describing Matagrano's entry into the Manhattan jail on Thursday.

It said that when questioned, Matagrano had admitted to arriving at the jail at around 3:30 p.m. and gaining entry by showing a gold shield and saying he was an investigator from the department's intelligence unit.

According to the complaint, he stayed until 11 p.m., giving cigarettes to inmates and smoking with them in a common area. He is also charged with stealing a radio from an office while inside.

Surveillance cameras recorded video of Matagrano during the visit, the complaint said.

It wasn't clear if or when Matagrano would face similar charges for entry into other city jails. A spokesman for the Bronx district attorney, which often handles cases related to crimes committed on Rikers Island, said Saturday that he had no information on the case.

Matagrano has a rap sheet that includes a conviction for sodomy and sexual abuse. He's on the state's sex offender registry.

It's not clear why he wanted to get into jails, but he had previously been caught posing as a Board of Education worker to enter two schools and rifle through student files. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to attempted burglary in connection with that case.

His court-appointed lawyer, Andrej Bajuk, couldn't immediately be reached by phone for comment. No one responded to a message left at the public defender's office that handled his arraignment.

Department of Correction spokespeople did not immediately return phone messages Saturday.

A judge set bail at $50,000 for Matagrano. He also faces charges of burglary, possession of forged instruments, larceny and promoting prison contraband. He is due back in court Wednesday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-03-02-Rikers%20Impersonator/id-17eda4b0996e45b99aa5cfb28ce2c97f

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Sony HT-CT260 Home Theater Soundbar

Sometimes a simple extra feature can take a product to the next level?in this case, it's Bluetooth. The Sony HT-CT260 soundbar is already a solid choice for enhancing your HDTV's audio with a wireless subwoofer and warm midrange response, but built-in Bluetooth lets you turn it into a powerful sound system for your smartphone or tablet as well. At $299.99 (direct), the HT-CT260 offers plenty of functionality and excellent, albeit not-audiophile-level performance for a reasonable price, making it our new Editors' Choice for soundbars.

Design
The speaker itself is a 4 by 37 by 3.5 inch (HWD) hexagonal tube weighing just 6.1 pounds, suitable for any HDTV around 40 inches in size. The hexagon-shaped cross-section sits point-down on a stand, so the flat face is parallel with the wall and easily seen. The soundbar is covered with a matte black cloth grille, with a black plastic control panel on the front. The simple, one-line blue LED display shows what input is active and lets you flip through the different settings on the soundbar. The back of the soundbar holds optical, analog RCA, and coaxial audio inputs, along with a socket for the included wireless adapter for use with the subwoofer.

The subwoofer enclosure is a 15.3 by 10.6 by 10.6 (HWD) black plastic cube with a downward-firing port. A single green LED on the front indicates which way it's facing and whether it's on and paired with the soundbar. The only cable the subwoofer needs is for power, and the only controls are Power and Sync buttons. Once you slide in the other included wireless adapter into the socket on the back, the subwoofer will automatically pair with the soundbar, and then lets the soundbar and the included remote handle everything. It's a very easy process to get all components set up.

The remote is very functional, but a bit complex for a speaker controller. It has standard volume and input buttons, along with basic TV controls, a direction pad for menu navigation, playback controls for Bluetooth devices, and a set of six "Sound Field" buttons for changing how the soundbar handles sound: Standard, Movie, Game, Music, P. Audio, and Stereo. None of the buttons are backlit. While the Bluetooth playback controls are very useful (if you want to keep your device plugged in somewhere while you play music on it), it could have done without the TV controls cluttering it up.

Besides optical, coaxial, and analog audio inputs, the HT-CT260 supports Bluetooth audio, which adds significant appeal to smartphone and mobile device users. The Bluetooth pairing button on the remote makes pairing with any device extremely simple, and I had no problem connecting my Samsung Galaxy S III to the soundbar.

Performance
For music, sound quality is solid without excelling in any category. The subwoofer puts deep bass through easily, with enough output to shake a small-to-midsized room, while the main speaker enclosure delivers a nice, warm midrange sound. However, treble sounds a bit muddled in comparison. In Rage Against The Machine's "A Fistful of Steel," the texture of the high-hat and cymbals were lost against the heavy drums and guitar, and vocals seemed a bit weak.

Movies sounded fairly good on the HT-CT260. The subwoofer and warm midrange drivers gave both explosions and sweeping orchestral scores on Avatar a nice sense of impact, and dialog sounded relatively clear (though treble could have been boosted just a tad). The sound field isn't the most impressive, filling the room with sound but only offering modest stereo imaging. Like most soundbars, the HT-CT260 is limited by the distance between drivers on the bar itself, and it doesn't offer as much of a detailed stereo (or simulated surround, with Dolby Digital Pro Logic II and dts Digital Surround) impression as dedicated speakers can. Still, when done well (as it is here), the price, convenience, and general audio quality can make up for a soundbar's inherent limitations.

The Sony HT-CT260 is a high-quality, flexible home theater soundbar with an affordable price and some useful extra features. Its wireless subwoofer is easy to set up and offers plenty of power for bass-heavy music and movies, and its built-in Bluetooth support means you can stream music from your smartphone or tablet to the soundbar with ease, making it our Editors' Choice for soundbars. If you don't have the space for a separate subwoofer enclosure, the Yamaha YAS-101 produces great midrange response and a strong sound field without a subwoofer.

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Love and Relationships in a Modern World: Chantal Akerman | Litro

Guilaine Londez and Thomas Langmann in Nuit et?Jour

Our environment has more of an impact upon our decisions and daily lives than we may at first realise. Our regular interactions, chance meetings and new acquaintances can either help us feel comfortable and relaxed or can leave us frustrated and in search of answers. The work of Belgian filmic anthropologist Chantal Akerman helps us to navigate this confusing modern world, and explore the effects it has on our loves and relationships. A special retrospective at last year?s French Film Festival was an opportunity to see two of her films that are particularly exemplary in this regard, alongside other brilliant cinematic works from a bold and?philosophical artist.

With a Parisian backdrop, Nuit et jour (Night and Day) (1991) follows Jack and Julie, a young couple who have just moved to the city. They never sleep. During the day they stay in the flat and make love. At night, Jack drives a cab round the city while Julie wanders the streets. Jack knows the streets as he drives around at night, while Julie recognises the city through her night-time wanderings. Theirs is a voyeuristic experience of Paris; they are always watching but never part of what is going on. Their love for each other is so intense when they are together that all they see is each other, disrupted only when Jack must go back to?work.

The couple lead a relatively isolated existence. They don?t make friends with their neighbours. Their only interaction with family occurs when Jack?s parents spontaneously visit one afternoon. In this scene the four of them sit awkwardly on odd stools in a barely furnished room. Only just out of bed, Julie sits in a shirt and Jack in trousers, as if they only make a complete outfit when they?re together. The parents do not stay long or say much. When they ask what the couple do with themselves in the city, Julie simply replies, ?We have?time.?

Night follows day, follows night again. The dynamic begins to shift when Julie meets Joseph, a daytime cab driver, on her evening walks in the city. The two soon start having an affair. The film?s focus is entirely on these three characters, with Julie at the centre. She takes control of her relationships with Jack and Joseph. It is her choice to be with both of them, and she does not believe that there is anything wrong with the situation. She is so focused on living in the moment that she never considers what can happen next and how others feel. Whenever Jack pushes her into thinking of the future ? of their relationship, their family ? she diffuses the conversation by again casually responding, ?We have time?. As Joseph?s jealously increases, Julie simply smiles and walks away.

As he begins to sense something has changed in their relationship, Jack?s surroundings become more important to him. He is concerned with making and controlling space by knocking down the living room wall. The couple fabricate a world for themselves indoors, a fortress away from the vibrant but unpredictable streets they used to love. No longer solely focused on each other, their lives change from here on in. They become domesticated; the two of them are seen decorating, with the neighbours they?ve never met offering a?hand.

Jack and Julie?s intense love was as fleeting and precarious as the city from which they found each other. Because none of us can truly live forever in this transient state, we build things, spaces for ourselves. Simply put, Nuit et jour is an excellent example of young love and the realities of growing up. But Julie never sought stability in either of her relationships. Once their work in the flat is done and she and Jack are alone, Julie makes the significant decision to tell him all about her affair. Afterwards she leaves both Jack and Joseph and returns to the streets, slowly walking down the pavement, suitcase in hand. In this final scene Akerman?s camera focuses on Julie in the centre of the shot, while the city life bustles around her.

In a cosmopolitan city like the French capital you will find many different types of relationships and loves. Akerman?s films are similarly dynamic in their approach to this subject. Although they have been appropriately referred to as melancholy, at times they also recognise the comic, even the absurd element of human lives and interactions. Demain on d?m?nage (Tomorrow We Move) (2004) focuses on Charlotte, (Sylvie Testud). In what is described as a Chaplinesque performance, she welcomes her mother, Catherine, (Aurore Cl?men), into her duplex apartment following her father?s death, at a time when she is herself completing a commission for an erotic novel.

Sylvie Testud and Aurore Cl?men in Demain on Demenage.

Fitting the lives of both women into a bohemian Parisian loft seems more than the four walls can bear. From the first scene there is tension; the camera holds focus on a baby grand piano as it hangs precariously in the air, with heaving gasping noises that betray anxiety to the piano?s fate. Once it is safely in position Catherine appears more relaxed, sitting and playing as Charlotte and the moving men continue shifting items around her, in a scene that suggests the significance of music in our chaotic lives.

Catherine indeed brings chaos into Charlotte?s flat, physically and emotionally. She fills the flat with all sorts of household furniture; there are numerous chairs, beds, cushions and lampshades. The notion of relationships and baggage is prominent in these opening scenes. Catherine has a lot to cope with, particularly the death of her husband. She can?t fall asleep without the old suitcase that contains a few of his daily items. Even after her flat has been turned upside-down, Charlotte is a dutiful daughter and does not let her frustrations grow, but her new surroundings appear to have a negative impact on her erotic writing. As her mother interrupts, asking questions and vacuuming at unhelpful times, Charlotte?s focus is disturbed, leading her to type sentences about limp vacuuming and blown fuses.

It would seem that familial love is imposing on Charlotte?s erotic life. But in an attempt to pursue with her novel, she follows her mother?s advice, ?Look around you, everything?s erotic.? She sets about seeking the erotic in the everyday, turning any phrase her mother utters into something sensual in order to finish her book. Akerman demonstrates her flair for innuendo when a commonplace discussion about chicken ? the cooking, the flavours, thyme as seasoning ? becomes a euphemism for sex and happiness. Catherine wistfully reminisces about her marriage as they eat their way though a roasted chicken, thinking how lucky it was that her husband wasn?t into legs, as she wasn?t into breast.

Bound together, the tension between mother and daughter increases and recedes by degrees. Catherine, now living without romantic love, struggles to adjust to her new familial environment. They decide to move, although when Charlotte requests that her mother sleep in her own bed in the new place, the hassle of moving seems like it may be futile. The dynamic finally changes when people come to view the flat, introducing three new couples and characters to the plot. The simple act of meeting and talking to strangers, and striking up new friendships offers new meaning to both their lives.

But now Charlotte is faced with another challenge to her novel. In a comical scene of to-ing and fro-ing amongst the characters, conversations freely fall around the subjects of love, sex and relationships. Charlotte becomes everyone?s confidant. Mme Delacre declares she loves her husband against her better judgement, Mr Delacre claims he doesn?t love her but won?t leave her for fear of being alone, a young pregnant lady talks to Charlotte about her sex life with her husband who she doesn?t love but wants to have more children. Charlotte now has plenty of material for her book but her notes are have become disjointed. It is only with help from her friend Michelle in their shared studio that the text finds the clarity it needs; she finds someone who sees the erotic and can write it.

The French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre is famous for declaring hell to be other people. Akerman?s equally existentialist work explores the highs and lows of living with others. The characters in Demain on d?m?nage appear to have too much baggage (literally), too many things and too many people in their lives. To start afresh everyone must shed something. To clear out the flat, Charlotte and Catherine pile up the old furniture in the streets under the concealment of a dark wet night. It isn?t until Catherine is separated from her deceased husband?s suitcase that she is able to move on with a new man. Living in separate homes is the best ending for mother and daughter, her mother with Samuel while Charlotte remains on her own in the duplex, now relieved of the piano and furniture and finding peace in her mother?s absence. Once again, we see the young female protagonist choosing to live an independent life.

Peppered with witty dialogues, Akerman?s?Demain on d?m?nage is a triumph. The film deals with heavy issues of loss and death, but is also an exemplary offering of her excellent visual innuendo, metaphors and comedic timing. Both Nuit et jour and Demain on d?m?nage consider the dynamic relationships we all experience in our lives. At once meloncholy and celebratory, whatever kind of love it may be, Akerman reminds us that although it may not last, it is wonderful. In Nuit et jour, Jack and Julie experienced a passionate young love for each other that fractured when it came in contact with outside forces. For many of the couples and families in Demain on d?m?nage, romantic love has faded and another love persists, even when it becomes a burden. Although love ends, it also renews itself, and we can discover new friendships and lovers in unexpected places and situations. So when walking around where you live and meeting new people, take the time to consider your surroundings, physical and emotional. You too may find the erotic in everything, at home or out on the streets, in life itself. That is, if like Charlotte, you?ve missed it up until now.

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Eleanor Pender

An avid film and literature fan, Eleanor has knowledge ranging from Charles Dickens to Rian Johnson. She has reviewed film, theatre, tv shows and books since 2008, and worked for Push To Fire, an alternative e-zine and ThreeWeeks, an Edinburgh Festival Fringe paper. Residing in the literary heart of Edinburgh, she is in the ideal place for all things book, film and art. She is currently working on her first young adult fiction novel and setting up her new website.

Source: http://www.litro.co.uk/2013/03/chantal-akerman/

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