Movie of the Week - Couples Retreat.

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LibriVox is an online digital library of free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers, it had a catalog of 2,355 unabridged books and shorter works available to download. LibriVox

The Ugly Truth - Movie of the Week

Williams Sisters Compared

كاريكاتير انفلونزا الخنازير و الإعلام

Michael Jackson Dead At Age 50 (June 25th, 2009)

Funny Clips with Venus Williams

Michael Jackson is Dead at the Age of 50

Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead today after paramedics found him in a coma at his Bel-Air mansion, city and law enforcement sources told The Times.
Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Steve Ruda told The Times that paramedics responded to a 911 call from the home. When they arrived, Jackson was not breathing.
The paramedics performed CPR and took Jackson to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda said. Hundreds of reporters gathered at the hospital awaiting word on his condition. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said family members rushed to Jackson’s bedside, where he was in a deep coma.
The circumstances of Jackson’s death remain unclear. Law enforcement sources said that Los Angeles Police Department robbery-homicide detectives have opened an investigation into the death, though they stressed that there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
The detectives plan to interview relatives, friends and Jackson’s doctors to try to figure out what happened. The L.A. County coroner’s office will determine a cause of death. A Los Angeles Fire Department source told The Times that Jackson was in full cardiac arrest when rescue units arrived.
A doctor was in the house performing CPR on Jackson, said the source who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Paramedics were called to a home in the 100 block of Carolwood Drive off Sunset Boulevard.
Jackson rented the Bel-Air home -- described as a French chateau built in 2002 with seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, 12 fireplaces and a theater -- for $100,000 a month. The home is about a six-minute drive from UCLA Medical Center. Jackson has three children -- sons Prince Michael 7, and Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., 12, and daughter Paris Michael Katherine, 11.
Jackson, 50, died as he was attempting a comeback after years of tabloid headlines, most notably his trial and acquittal on child molestation charges.
In May, The Times reported that Jackson had rented the Bel-Air residence and was rehearsing for a series of 50 sold-out shows in London's O2 Arena. Jackson had won the backing of two billionaires to get the so-called "King of Pop" back on stage.
His backers envisioned the shows at AEG's O2 as an audition for a career rebirth that could have ultimately encompassed a three-year world tour, a new album, movies, a Graceland-like museum, musical revues in Las Vegas and Macau, and even a "Thriller" casino. Such a rebound could have wiped out Jackson's massive debt.

movie of the week - The Box

Telepresence and fantasy in online apparel shopping experience

Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the roles of telepresence and fantasy in an online apparel shopping experience. Online apparel consumers undergo a virtual product experience (telepresence) that simulates the product experience in a brick-and-mortar store. Fantasy entails the pleasurable mental imagery involving product use.

Design/methodology/approach – A total of 86 female university students completed a survey after browsing a stimulus web site in a laboratory setting. Path analysis was used to identify hypothesized relationships between telepresence, fantasy, shopping enjoyment, willingness to purchase, and willingness to patronize the online retailer.

Findings – Results showed that telepresence influenced consumer fantasy and both telepresence and consumer fantasy led to shopping enjoyment (experiential value). Telepresence, fantasy, and shopping enjoyment directly contributed to willingness to purchase from the online retailer, whereas telepresence, fantasy and shopping enjoyment contributed indirectly to willingness to patronize the online retailer.

Research limitations/implications – The study used a sample of female university students in the USA. This limits its generalizability to all consumers. It also examined one web site feature; other features may produce different effects.

Practical implications – Findings suggest that business practitioners implement features on their web sites to yield telepresence and fantasy, which may enhance purchase and patronage responses towards their site.

Originality/value – This study enhances understanding of two variables requiring further study, telepresence and fantasy, in online apparel shopping experience.


Author(s): Kun Song, Ann Marie Fiore, Jihye Park
Journal: Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management
Year: 2007
Volume: 11
Issue: 4
Page: 553 - 570

Quantum leaps in information retrieval

Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine some implications for library and information science (LIS) of the book Geometry of Information Retrieval and the associated issues that arise from it.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a conceptual and methodological analysis.

Findings – It is found that the epistemology, methodology, and subject scope of LIS are at risk from current developments in information retrieval (IR).

Research implications/limitations – The paper is limited to raising questions but not answering them: the implications are that LIS needs to revisit and enhance its methods.

Originality/value – The paper is wholly original and valuable for initiating discussion.

Author(s): Ian Cornelius
Journal: Aslib Proceedings
Year: 2009
Volume: 61
Issue: 3
Page: 331 - 336