Double bill of film fantasies. 'Stardust' (2007) is an adventure based on the bestselling graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. When a young man, Tristan (Charlie Cox), tries to win the heart of his beautiful but cold object of his desire Victoria (Sienna Miller) by going on a quest to retrieve a fallen star, his journey takes him to a mysterious and forbidden land beyond the walls of his village. On his odyssey, Tristan finds the star, which has transformed into a striking girl called Yvaine (Claire Danes). However, Tristan is not the only one seeking the star. A king (Peter O'Toole)'s four sons - not to mention the ghosts of their three dead brothers - all need the star as they vie for the throne. Tristan must also overcome the evil witch, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), who needs the star to make her young again. As Tristan battles to survive these threats, encountering a pirate named Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro) and a shady trader named Ferdy the Fence (Ricky Gervais) along the way, his quest changes. He must now win the heart of the star for himself as he discovers the meaning of true love. Neil Jordan directs the Irish drama 'Ondine' (2009). Syracuse (Colin Farrell) is a poor fisherman whose life is changed forever when he fishes a beautiful live woman (Alicja Bachleda) out of the sea. His young daughter, Annie (Alison Barry), is convinced that the mysterious beauty must be a mermaid. Theories abound about the girl's origins as she transforms the lives of Syracuse, Annie and the local townsfolk. Stephen Rea and Dervla Kirwan co-star.

Written by James R. Flynn of the "Flynn effect" (the sustained and substantial increase in intelligence test scores across the world over many decades), "Intelligence and Human Progress" examines genes and human achievement in all aspects, including what genes allow and forbid in terms of personal life history, the cognitive progress of humanity, the moral progress of humanity, and the cross-fertilization of the two.

This book presents a new method for weighing family influences versus genes in the cognitive abilities of individuals, and counters the arguments of those who dismiss gains in IQ as true cognitive gains. It ranges over topics including: how family can handicap those taking the SAT; new IQ thresholds for occupations that show elite occupations are within reach of the average American; what Pol Pot did to the genetic potential of Cambodia; why dysgenics (the deterioration of human genes over the generations) is important, but no menace for the foreseeable future; and what might derail human intellectual progress.

Researchers in developmental and cognitive psychology, educators, and professionals involved in intelligence testing or psychometrics will benefit from the perspectives offered here. But beyond that, anyone interested in the potential of the human mind will be engaged and challenged by one of the most important contemporary thinkers on the subject.

The benefits of modern technology often involve health, safety and environmental risks that produce public suspicion of technologies and aversion to certain products and substances. Amplified by the pervasive power of the media, public concern about health and ecological risks can have enormous economic and social impacts, such as the 'stigmatization' experienced in recent years with nuclear power, British beef and genetically modified plants. This volume presents the most current and comprehensive examination of how and why stigma occurs and what the appropriate responses to it should be to inform the public and reduce undesirable impacts. Each form of stigma is thoroughly explored through a range of case studies. Theoretical contributions look at the roles played by government and business, and the crucial impact of the media in forming public attitudes. Stigma is not always misplaced, and the authors discuss the challenges involved in managing risk and reducing the vulnerability of important products, industries and institutions while providing the public with the relevant information they need about risks.

Jeremy Degruson and Ben Stassen direct this animated family comedy featuring the voice talents of Murray Blue, Kiefer Sutherland and Ewan McGregor. When housecat Thunder (Blue) is abandoned by his owners he fights to stay safe on the strange and lonely streets. Just in time Thunder comes across a big, scary house occupied by an old magician. Making friends with the old man and most of his inventions, Thunder finally feels safe. When the magician is taken ill his nephew sees an opportunity to sell the house and cash in on the fortune. Hearing the news, Thunder and his new friends put their heads together to think of a way to save the old man and his magical house.

When Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, it directed the Department of Energy to locate, study, license, and develop a deep underground repository for high-level nuclear wastes. As the authors of this study show, by 1987 the program was in shambles, beset by opposition from every state that had a potential storage site. Congress p

Time is both the ally of high-level nuclear waste (HLNW) managers and the enemy. It is the ally because the radioactivity in elements and isotopes decreases with age, making the waste progressively less dangerous to human health and safety and the environment. This rate of radioactive decline varies, in some cases diminishing by half (the half life) in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years. In other cases the decay process takes centuries or hundreds of thousands of years before the wastes are safe for human contact. The problem as now conceptualized for HLNW managers is simple to state if not easy to achieve. The HLNW needs to be secured in some fashion until it decays, by virtue of its physical nature, to safe levels. Another possible future solution, not currently available, might be to change the ~~ructure of HLNW through high-technology processing and thus decompose the waste into units with different and less lengthy radioactivity. Learning whether this processing is a future option will require patience and generous amounts of time for research.

The benefits of modern technology often involve health, safety and environmental risks that produce public suspicion of technologies and aversion to certain products and substances. Amplified by the pervasive power of the media, public concern about health and ecological risks can have enormous economic and social impacts, such as the 'stigmatization' experienced in recent years with nuclear power, British beef and genetically modified plants. This volume presents the most current and comprehensive examination of how and why stigma occurs and what the appropriate responses to it should be to inform the public and reduce undesirable impacts. Each form of stigma is thoroughly explored through a range of case studies. Theoretical contributions look at the roles played by government and business, and the crucial impact of the media in forming public attitudes. Stigma is not always misplaced, and the authors discuss the challenges involved in managing risk and reducing the vulnerability of important products, industries and institutions while providing the public with the relevant information they need about risks.

State aid policy is based upon the principle of European Community supervision of assistance granted by the Member States, or through State resources in whatever form. It threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods. This volume deals with the question how an appropriate balance can be struck between trade liberalization and the role of the State in the economy.