LOS ANGELES "Empire" star Terrence Howard said his past arrests for domestic abuse allegations were a byproduct of his rough-and-tumble upbringing and "not knowing how to deal with frustration."

Howard was pressed Saturday during the Television Critics Assn. press tour on his past history of arrests and allegations of violence by his former wife, among other women. He stressed that no criminal charges have ever been filed against him. And he emphasized that he is now "married with a new wife and brand new baby. I've grown so much from anything that happened in the past."

Howard cited the spiritual author Eckhart Tolle in saying that he has sought "solutions to life's bigger problems."

"Empire" co-creator/exec producer Lee Daniels was vocal in his support of Howard. The two previously worked together on the 2013 film "Lee Daniels' The Butler."

"He is our leader, he has been front and center taking bullets for all of us," Daniels said. "I'm so proud to be working with him."

Daniels' declaration drew a round of applause from Fox execs and other associated with the show.

The off-screen behaviour of actors has come under heightened scrutiny in the wake of the mushrooming scandal of rape and drugging allegations levied against Bill Cosby by more than 20 woman during the past few months.

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Terrence Howard addresses domestic abuse allegations

You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. -Eckhart Tolle

Were really hitting our stride for 2015 here atStarts With A Bang,and Im so pleased you shared this past week with me. If you missed anything, heres what weve been through:

These articles have all been a pleasure to be a part of,and as always, youve hadyour say as well. Lets take a look at what weve chosen asyourComments of the Week!

Image credit: E. Siegel.

From John Duffield on expanding spacetime: There is no evidence whatsoever that the 3D space of the universe is anything like the surface of a balloon. There is no evidence of any higher dimensions wherein the space of the universe somehow curves back on itself.

As another has said, the evidence that the Universe is like a balloons surface is tremendous, so long as youre willing to accept an analogy. Youre going to have to, frankly, unless you want to go and work through all the math associated with General Relativity, and be aware that all analogies have limitations. The reason the balloon is so attractive is because its familiar, its in areduced number of dimensions which makes it easy to visualize, and it gives you a reasonable analogy for why galaxies appear to recede from one another at faster speeds the farther away they are: because the fabric of space itself is expanding over time.

Image credit: NASA / WMAP / Universe 101, via http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_tests_exp.html.

So you will have to accept an analogy, as well as the limits of that analogy. The point to this article was that there is no center tothe surface of a balloon, just like there is no center to the circumference of a circle, the surface of Earth, or now were coming up to three dimensions the physical Universe.

The part observable to us is centered on (well,near) us, but thats certainly not the entirety of the Universe. The key to understanding the expansion of space is to understand that any observer would see galaxies distributed and receding the same way we do, and the particulars of what we see alone are specific to our location; the generalities hold everywhere.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and L.C. Johnson (University of Washington), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler.

See the rest here:
Comments of the Week #44: From the Universes center to where you are [Starts With A Bang]

WHAT I Know For Sure is the name of Oprah Winfreys monthly column published in her magazine, O. The columns idea came to Oprah in 1998, when she was giving an interview to Gene Siskel, Chicago Sun-Times film critic, during the promotion of the film Beloved. Siskel asked Oprah what she knew for sure? Stumped, Oprah found herself at a complete loss for words:

Uhhhhh, about the movie? I stammered, knowing full well that he was after something bigger, deeper, more complex, but trying to stall until I could come up with a semi-coherent response.

No, he said. You know what I mean about you, your life, anything, everything

Uhhhhh, I know for sure uhhh . I know for sure, I need time to think about that some more, Gene.

The conversation left such an impression on Oprah that she began to explore the question in her columns. A compilation of some of those columns, written over a span of 14 years, the book What I Know for Sure is a combination of self-help lessons, spiritual quotes and motivational stories, inspired by Oprahs life. It is divided into eight chapters titled Joy, Resilience, Connection, Gratitude, Possibility, Awe, Clarity and Power.

Weight, for instance, is one of the issues addressed in the book. Anyone who is even slightly familiar with Oprah is probably aware that weight has been one of the most discussed topics in her talk shows, magazine, website and interviews, and now, in What I Know For Sure.

Thinking about her next meal, what to eat, what she just ate, how many calories or grammes of fat it contains, how much exercise she will need to burn it off in short, food is always on Oprahs mind. Having tried all kinds of diets from Atkins to the cabbage soup and egg diets, Oprahs story will resonate with anyone who is battling with body image and obesity issues. She now claims to have made loving and grateful peace with her body, which is a wise message to impart when ones senses are assailed by images of skinny models in a culture obsessed with being thin.

Spirituality is also a constant theme in What I Know For Sure. Oprah often quotes Biblical passages and invokes the spiritual teachings of Eckhart Tolle, Gary Zukav and Jesse Jackson, especially when confronted with difficult situations.

Then there are columns on subjects such as betrayal by friends and lovers, work-life balance, relationship with neighbours, ageing, the pursuit of ones passions, handling debts and the value of voting. Throughout the book, Oprah seems to be constantly saying, I have been through it, I know how it feels and you can overcome it because I have managed to. Such a message can be comforting in difficult and tenuous times. Coming from Oprah, someone who had her share of struggles, rose above them, and created a hugely successful career to become a globally influential person, the words should be taken seriously.

Gayle King and Maya Angelou are the two people most frequently mentioned in the book. King, Oprahs close friend, has helped her through sexual harassment and bad relationships. She is the one Oprah goes with on road trips and is basically the kind of friend everyone wishes they had. Oprah says that Gayle has been her biggest cheerleader and is one of the nicest person to know. Her bond with Gayle comes across as a heartening instance of resilient friendship.

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REVIEW: What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey - Magazine - DAWN.COM

Behind a window in an adjacent room, a splayed-out cauliflower pattern appears on a computer screen in black-and-white. Its Petersons brain. And its probably the last thing about this exercise that will be so simply shaded.

From Petersons perspective, the next hour will be spent in service, like the day she packed donated eyeglasses to send to Zimbabwe. But the ardent Mormon also knows she could be adding to a centuries-old debate about God and science.

So she says a silent prayer: I hope they get what they need.

Other animals have hierarchies, organized behaviors, even a semblance of norms. Only humans have religion and science. And the two have seldom been on civil terms.

Jeff Anderson and Julie Korenberg, neuroscientists at the University of Utah, want to change that. Theyre among a growing number of scientists aiming their fields most sophisticated machinery at religious cognition.

It amazes me how one of the most profound influences on human behavior is virtually completely unstudied, Anderson said. We think about how much this drives peoples behavior, and yet we dont know the first thing about where in the brain thats even registered.

The researchers want to see more than religions registry on the brain. They want to know whether it differs across sects, or by intensity of belief. They want to see what genes it activates, what hormones it releases, and how it relates to social behaviors. Can the same basic circuitry produce Mother Teresa and the 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta? If so, how?

To approach even speculative answers to such questions, the researchers have to capture what goes on in the brain of a believer during a religious moment.

Right now, that depends on whether a maw of helium-cooled superconducting magnets can become Auriel Petersons personal church.

The 26-year-old community college student lies still, clears her mind. The machine whirs and clicks, taking rapid-fire snapshots of the flux of blood through billions of neurons.

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Scientists seek your brain on religion