Input: US employers advertise more jobs in October
WASHINGTON — US employers advertised more jobs in October than in September, a sign hiring could pick up soon. The Labor Department said Tuesday that job openings rose by 128,000 to 3.68 million, the most since June.

The number of available jobs is slowly climbing back to the roughly 4 million advertised each month before the recession began in 2007.

With nearly 12.3 million people unemployed in October, there were 3.3 unemployed people, on average, competing for each open job. That’s the lowest ratio since November 2008. In a healthy economy, the ratio is roughly 2 to 1.

The number of available construction jobs jumped to 130,000, from 82,000 in September. That’s the most in more than four years. The housing market is slowly recovering.

Job openings also rose in manufacturing, retail, and ­hotels and restaurants. Professional and business services, a category that includes engineers and accountants as well as temporary jobs, also posted more openings.
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It's about: US employers advertised more jobs in October than September, a hopeful sign hiring could pick up soon. The Labor Department said Tuesday that job openings rose by 128,000 to 3.68 million, the most since June. The number of available jobs is slowly climbing back to the roughly 4 million that were advertised each month before the recession began in December 2007.


Input: 'The Artist's' best picture win is a tribute to Harvey Weinstein
for best picture and I'm speechless.

It's not lack of passion for the film that has robbed me of the power of words; it's that I felt so strongly that my thoughts were geared to how I would react should the worst happen, but like the flabbergasted editors from "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," victory was something I didn't expect.

I knew, of course, that "The Artist" was considered the favorite, but I wasn't so sure. As someone who first heard about this project while it was quietly filming on the streets and back lots of Hollywood, I was intensely aware of how enormous a leap it would be for what is basically a French silent picture that didn't even think it would get American distribution to walk off with what the

telecast called "the most coveted award in motion pictures."

The favorites in previous years, from

were less of a longshot than the film that turned out to be the first silent winner since 1929. I feared that the members would be irked at having their choice taken for granted and vote for something else in a kind of institutional protest. Believe me, things like that can happen.

It won, I believe, because the final reaction of the academy members was identical to the initial reaction of viewers at Cannes, and to viewers everywhere the film has played. This is a film that people are both suspicious of going into and delighted with once they experience it.

While "The Artist" was cleaning up at the

on Saturday, the Weinstein Co. team, from the leader on down, looked more concerned than celebratory. They sensed this race was tighter than the pundits were saying.

The way the awards were structured Sunday night didn't exactly calm anyone down.

was the closest this year had to a traditional Oscar-type film, came out of the box like gangbusters, winning the first two awards announced, including one, cinematography, that was widely expected to go to "The Tree of Life's" Emmanuel Lubezki.

Things got worse before they got better. "Hugo" picked up two sound awards and at the midpoint of the program was leading "The Artist" four Oscars to one, though that one, for costumes, was a head-to-head victory over

But like that celebrated come-from-behind racehorse, the great Seabiscuit, "The Artist" finished impressively strong, taking all three of the top-tier awards it was nominated for, including lead actor for

and, of course, best picture.

To borrow a line from

's celebrated acceptance speech for

the voters liked it, they really liked it, it's just that simple, and no amount of sophistry or carping about how the film wasn't this or wasn't that kept them from their appointed voting rounds.

The film also had the support of Harvey Weinstein, and that is no small thing. When

announced the final award, the TV cameras showed Weinstein with a look of unmistakable satisfaction on his face, giving a high five to producer Thomas Langmann, the man who had first agreed to put money into this highly unlikely production.

For whatever else is said about the man — and there probably isn't anything that hasn't been said about him, both good and bad — Weinstein is someone who is passionate about film. Only someone who felt that way would embrace "The Artist" and see the potential for this kind of acclaim for it, let alone do the kind of heavy lifting that made success possible.
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It's about: "The Artist" has won  the Oscar  for best picture and I'm speechless.


Input: Which of two Royal Caribbean cruise ships is the world's biggest? Let the 'argument of the seas' begin
By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY

Is Royal Caribbean's one-year-old Oasis of the Seas still the world's largest cruise ship or has it been eclipsed by its new sister, Allure of the Seas?

Cruise ship fans already are hotly debating the topic and so too, apparently, are the officers and crew on board the vessels, according to a report Tuesday in Norway's largest newspaper, VG.

The two ships, which can carry nearly 6,300 passenger a piece, were designed to be pretty much identical. But in August, at a press event at the shipyard in Finland where Allure of the Seas was under construction, Royal Caribbean executives revealed to USA TODAY and other news outlets that shipyard measurements showed Allure was a few millimeters longer than Oasis.

The revelation prompted Allure of the Seas Captain Hernan Zini to boast his ship was the biggest, though VG reports Zini now admits another measurement, of the ship's dead weight, puts Oasis slightly ahead.

Still, are the measurements accurate enough to say for sure which ship deserves the title of "world's biggest"?

RELATED: A sneak peek at the new Allure of the SeasGALLERY: A photo tour of Oasis of the Seas

VG's Rune Thomas Ege, who spoke with Zini and original Oasis captain Bill Wright for the story, says some at the line want to bring in NASA to do more precise testing to settle the matter, something Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein confirms in his latest blog post.

Goldstein puts Allure's edge at 50 millimeters -- about two inches.

"There are many uncertainties when measuring down to the millimeter of a ship 362 meters long," Wright tells VG. "Among other things, the daily temperature in the steel has something to say for how long the ship is measured."

For his part, Zini says he has no doubt Allure has Oasis beat -- at least in its, um, allure.

"Let's look at the facts," Zini tells VG. "You have two sisters. You know that one is older, shorter and heavier than the other. Which would you choose?"

Of course, the tradition in the industry is to rank cruise ships by their gross register tonnage, a measurement not of weight or length but of the volume of passenger areas.

When Royal Caribbean first announced plans to build Oasis and Allure, it said the ships would be 220,000 gross register tons a piece. But upon final measurements last year, Oasis came in even larger at 225,282 tons.

Royal Caribbean has not yet released the final gross register tonnage calculation for Allure of the Seas. In August, a Royal Caribbean executive told USA TODAY the final reading could be impacted by last-minute changes to storage space on the ship needed for items related to the line's new partnership with DreamWorks Animation. Storage space on a ship is not included in the gross register tonnage calculation.

Whichever ship is bigger, they both have bragging rights. In terms of gross register tons, both Oasis and Allure are nearly 50% larger than the next largest ships at sea.

Cruise Loggers, share your thoughts below.

Posted Nov 3 2010 8:33AM
What was this article about?
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It's about:
An 'argument of the seas' is brewing over which of two nearly identical Royal Caribbean ships can claim the title.