This event is no longer on sale. Mon Jan 13, 2003 8:00 PM 1 hour, 30 min Now, more than ever, Americans feel the need to treasure our way of life and reconnect with the values and principles upon which our nation was built. Join Peter Jennings and a panel of American thinkers and leaders for an extraordinary town meeting on the promise of American ideals and the state of the American Peter Jennings has brought the pivotal events of four decades into the living rooms of America. He is anchor and senior editor of ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and author of a new book, "In Search of America". Beschloss, the man Newsweek calls the "nation's leading presidential historian," is the author of seven books, as well as a regular TV commentator. He shows executives what they can learn from these great leaders to better manage, lead andGwen Ifill, moderator and managing editor of Washington Week on PBS, has served as chief congressional and
political correspondent for NBC and as White House correspondent for The New York Times. Ifill chairs the board of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Journalism Awards and serves on the board of the Harvard Institute of Politics. This program will also feature prominent surprise panelists.LEGO kits to help the women of IndiaHome Eurotech Universities EPFL EPFLTechnologist OnlineOct 12, 2015Two EPFL students have developed a model to teach women how to build toilets in India.They were invited to present their project this past summer at a conference held at UN headquarters in New York.Finding a toilet in India can be mission impossible. Overpopulation and the lack of sanitary facilities lead to contamination of the soil and groundwater. Making matters worse, women are frequently assaulted when they have no other choice but to relieve themselves in the open. These observations spurred Marc-Edouard Schultheiss and Alexandre Bouchet, two students in the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), to head to India for a three-month humanitarian project supported by Engineers of the World, a student association at EPFL.
Once there, they focused on teaching villagers – especially women – how to build a shower and toilet connected to a pit. But the two students quickly ran into illiteracy problems and the language barrier: it simply wasn’t possible to provide instructional videos in 18 different dialects. “And since the women never went to school,” said Marc-Edouard, “understanding a diagram and using numbers – even for measuring things out with a meter stick – was a challenge for them.”► Click on one image to start the gallery. To resolve this dilemma and enable the women to pass along their skills far into the future, they came up with a surprising idea: that of using LEGO blocks to create a model. The kit comes complete with bamboo sticks and strings with colored markers to use as a measuring instrument. “We also prepared an animated drawing to remind them of the key steps in the building process,” said Alexandre.This fun and innovative project has been undergoing testing since the summer by other volunteers on the ground.
But it has already caused a buzz among humanitarian organizations, and Marc-Edouard and Alexandre were invited to present their idea in early July at a conference organized by the United Nations Academic Impact in New York. “We were able to go to New York thanks to the support of our School, and Silvia Hostettler of EPFL’s Cooperation and Development Center (CODEV) described our work in front of 500 people,” said the two students. They hope their contribution will help improve the living conditions of women in India in the years to come.This project was made possible by the support of EPFL, Ammachi Labs, Amrita University, the association Engineers of the World, and the association Indians of Lausanne.Article by Sarah Bourquenoud, EPFL MediacomShare this:Feb 20, 2017Artificial leaf as mini-factory for medicineFeb 19, 2017A leap in DNA computingJan 30, 2017“People should trust their telephones”Nov 24, 2016Manufacturing live tissue with a 3D printer Our Grade 3 and 4 students think big, really BIG!
While working with an artist in residence in our DLC, the students decided they wanted to build the BFG from the novel, The BFG by Roald Dahl. After developing detailed sketching skills and learning how to scale up, students began building the BFG’s body parts. They were challenged to use cardboard, newspaper, and tape. They collaborated, tested, retested, reflected, solved problems and strategized. The process continues… the students will need to figure out how to put our BFG together. The engineering challenge has just begun.. stay tuned for the final product. Thanks to Colleen Gainor for sharing photos from the Tuscany School Learning Commons this week! View rank on IMDbPro David Williams is known for his work on The Lego Movie (2014), Happy Feet (2006) and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010). See full bio » 4 news articles » See more awards » Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Number of Ratings » Animation department (9 credits)
The LEGO NINJAGO Movie The Master: A Lego Ninjago Short Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace Visual effects (2 credits) True Guardians of the Earth (digital artist: Animal Logic) Production manager (1 credit)(production manager - 1997) Contribute to This Page I have learned that just about everything that Sariel makes is golden. His prowess in Technic builds is completely evident after just spending a few moments looking at all the great constructions that he's done over the years. Armed with SBrick, a tiny RC receiver that lets you control Lego power functions from your tablet or mobile device, he has made an amazing off-roader that you can control from over 20 yards away. There’s a simple answer for anyone confused or alarmed about the content they find in a video game: read the ratings on the box. Scratch beneath the surface, though, and it’s more complicated than that. We actually have several ratings systems at work in the UK, and their criteria all differ.
In the UK all boxed video-games must have a PEGI (Pan European Game Information) rating specifying who the content is appropriate for: 3+, 7+, 12+, 16+ or 18+-year-olds. Digital stores on game consoles voluntarily require a PEGI rating for games to be sold. Steam applies the PEGI rating if one exists, but doesn’t require one for a game to be listed. Smartphone and tablet game ratings are defined by each platform holder. On Android developers rate their content as being for Everyone or requiring Low, Medium or High Maturity. On iOS developers rate their content as appropriate for different ages, 4+, 9+, 12+ and 17+. On Windows phone developers rate their content as being appropriate for 3+, 7+, 12+, 16+ or 18+ players. For anyone buying boxed games for consoles, the PEGI system is the one that will apply. Since 2012 the Games Rating Authority has been the sole body responsible for rating video games in the UK, using the PEGI system. Previously this had been a mixed economy, with BBFC and PEGI ratings appearing on different games.
Frankly, it was kind of a mess. This division now recognises the different expertise and criteria required to rate video game, as opposed to video, content. The PEGI ratings are owned by ISFE, funded by game publishers and focus on the mechanics of what happens in the game, with less emphasis on context and setting. UK Government legislation enforces PEGI ratings on the supply of a “video work” that is “contained on any disc magnetic tape or any other device capable of storing data electronically”. It is illegal to “supply” a game for “reward” or “business” to an individual who is under the stated 12, 16 or 18 age rating. The 3 and 7 ratings are advisory and not legally enforced. These terms mean that it is not illegal for a parent or third party to purchase a game for a child who is under the stated age. They also don’t apply to downloadable apps and games although Xbox Marketplace, PlayStation Store and Nintendo eShop make PEGI ratings a requirement for the games they provide.
The PEGI process starts with the publishers completing a questionnaire to disclose all aspects of the game that may impact its rating, and provide video footage of these sections of the game. Failure to disclose full details can lead to a maximum fine of €500,000 - although no publisher has been penalised to date. The cost of submission depends on the size of game. At the time of writing “standard” console games are €2100 for the first platform and then €1050 for each additional platform. This means that Skylanders Trap Team would have cost €8400 to get PEGI rated on its platforms Wii U, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360. “Casual” games that are less than 450MB cost €260 and “budget” games with development costs less than €200,000 are €155. This certainly helps reduce the barrier to developers when it comes to getting titles PEGI rated and released on consoles. PEGI examiners then watch the video and play a proportion of the game to arrive at their assessment and the publishers are informed of the age rating details.
The publisher can appeal this provisional rating, as was the case for Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes, which received a provisional rating of 12 that was downgraded to 7 after appeal. Gianni Zamo, Communications Officer at GRA, explained the process here: “The publisher filed a complaint against the initial decision to give Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes a PEGI 12 rating. The Complaints Board, an ad hoc committee of independent experts, concluded after further examination that, on balance, the game could be contained at PEGI 7 due to the cartoonish context in which the gameplay unfolds.” Zamo outlined how this process leads to refinement of the questionnaire. “Every time the Complaints Board, who handle on average 3 or 4 cases per year, overturns a decision, recommendations are made to the PEGI Experts Group, who will further investigate the precedent to determine what changes, if any, are necessary to the criteria in order to accommodate similar games in the future.”
Beyond the single age limit, the meat of the PEGI rating is in the detail. A set of content descriptors for Language, Drugs, Fear, Sex, Violence, Gambling and Discrimination on the back of the box outline why a game received a specific rating. The severity of these occurrences determines the age rating, taking violence as an example: These details are further fleshed out by the Additional Consumer Information provided by the GRA for each 12, 16 and 18 rated game. This goes into fine detail about particular occurrences and scenes that triggered the rating. For example, The Evil Within’s 18 rating for violence stated that “the player’s character is decapitated by a gruesome monster with a chainsaw”. Doesn't really look like a game for 12+-year-olds, does it? Whether the ratings are effective depends on what you expect them to achieve. Under current legislation PEGI isn’t intended to stop every under age child playing an inappropriate game -- although it does stop underaged consumers purchasing the games themselves at retail.
Rather, as stated on the GRA website, “PEGI gives you, as a parent, the information to make a choice to allow your child to play these games.” Rather than prohibition, the bigger shortfall for UK video-game ratings is ensuring parents know the resource is there and access it before making purchases, not just in terms of the top-line age limit but also the highly useful detailed information that sits behind it: content description and additional consumer information in particular. One challenge here is that certain PEGI ratings sometimes seem counter-intuitive. Even understanding that they are about appropriateness rather than suitability (F1 2014’s 3+ rating isn’t suggesting it is for 3 year olds, for instance), other peculiarities arise from PEGI intentional blindness to context. Violence against human characters will trigger the same rating regardless of whether those are innocent civilians or superhero villains. Hence something like The Amazing Spider-Man is rated as 16+ when many younger players will have happily watched the 12A rated film.
Ben 10 Omniverse, is another example: the PEGI 12+ rating suggests many of the U-rated show’s young fans shouldn’t play the game, but you’d be hard-pushed to find 12 and 13 year olds who’d be seen dead playing Ben 10. The PEGI website and app, along with physical game boxes do a good job of communicating the age limit and content descriptors. But the Additional Consumer Information (ACI) that provides the GRA’s fullest account of the game’s content is only accessible via the GRA’s website and unlikely to be found by anyone Googling for information. A better place for these ACI details would be in the PEGI app itself. To its credit the GRA has recently started providing this Additional Consumer Information via Twitter, and responds quickly to consumer questions. It’s this positive action that will make the biggest difference in getting word out about its informative library of information. Ukie's Ask About Games advice site. , which I edit, offers a place for parents to learn more about game ratings.
It provides 2 minute video guides to recent games that highlight all the PEGI information within a broader context. Overall, in my estimation, PEGI offers a consistent and transparent way to apply the legislation that controls video game distribution. Some will find these ratings too severe or disagree with the age a particular game has been given. Others will criticise the system for not being robust enough at stopping children playing older rated games. While there is room for improvement at communicating the depth of information around these ratings to parents, PEGI works with current legislation to enforce a legal age-gate to purchase. More than that though, it provides a context-free yardstick for consumers to make informed decisions about which games are most appropriate for particular players. That, ultimately, is perhaps the most useful thing an age ratings system can offer. PEGI Rating Search, Additional Consumer Information Search, PEGI Game Guide Videos, PEGI App Andy Robertson is a freelance family technology expert.