And those lucky few who attended

Those of us who watched and kvetched and tweeted from home somehow got through three hours of prizes, plugs and acceptance speeches moncler jackets that managed to be both hurried and dull.

And those lucky few who attended, somehow made it past host Ricky Gervais’ nasty arrows — most of which, actually, either seemed to miss their marks, or to have been fitted with rubber tips.

But what does any of it mean, as far as this year’s Oscar race goes?

The Golden Globes are awarded by foreign journalists — and considering how they once gave a prestigious prize to Pia Zadora, let’s put quotes around the word “journalists.” Besides, they’re not Academy members, which means they don’t even vote on the Oscars.

As for the people who do vote on the Oscars — well, they already have. Ballots were due on Friday. So the nomination process was already over before the first Globe was handed out, and by now it’s all over but for the counting — and the announcements, on Jan. 24.

So, as far as influencing the Oscar moncler jackets nominations goes, um, no, the Globes don’t.

But they can help predict who could already be a frontrunner for one of those nods, and maybe even closing in for the win …

Best supporting actor: Lots of other folks raved about Albert Brooks’ work in “Drive” (it felt a bit hammy to me) but Sunday’s loss seemed to confirm this is not his year. The award to Christopher Plummer in “Beginners,” though, suggests he’s a likely Oscar nominee — and even winner, as this category tends to favor veterans. Other possible contenders for Oscar’s final five — that other veteran, Max von Sydow, for “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” along with Kenneth Branagh for “My Week With Marilyn,” Jonah Hill for “Moneyball” and Ryan Gosling for “Ides of March.”

Best supporting actress: This Oscar category, on the other hand, awards breakout newcomers, not old-timers — which sure fits Octavia Spencer, a Globe winner for “The Help.” Who else will make the Academy’s list? The busy Jessica Chastain, of course, although the sheer volume of her credits last year mean she’s competing against herself. Still, she’ll probably get a nod for “The Help,” too. Other top contenders? Melissa McCarthy for “Bridesmaids,” Berenice Bejo for “The Artist” and perhaps Carey Mulligan for “Shame” (although it would be very nice to see some acknowledgement of Judy Greer’s deft comic work in “The Descendants,” instead).

Best Actor: Because the Globes, unlike the Oscars, have special musical-comedy categories for lead performances and best film, we have two winners here — and a firm two-man race. First, there’s George Clooney, whose vulnerable work in “The Descendants” is the sort of thing Oscar voters nominate. (But is it a “big” enough performance to win?) Then, moncler jackets cheap there’s the charming Jean Dujardin, the star of “The Artist,” a picture that has the potential for the kind of surprising showing “Life is Beautiful” once pulled off. Both are sure of nods. Dark horses? Brad Pitt leads that pack for “Moneyball,” Leonardo DiCaprio (“J. Edgar”) and Michael Fassbender (“Shame”) bring up the rear.

Best actress: Putting “My Week With Marilyn” in the comedy-or-musical category simply because it had a few songs was a strange stretch — but at least it allowed the Globes room to award Michelle Williams’ lovely performance. And dramatic winner Meryl Streep has a guaranteed nomination for her turn in “The Iron Lady,” and is likely to get the Oscar too, if voters can get past their strange reluctance to give her a much-deserved third award. Rounding out the possibles? The marvelous Viola Davis for “The Help” with — far behind — Tilda Swinton for “We Need to Talk About Kevin” and Glenn Close for “Albert Nobbs.”

Best director: The Golden Globe to Martin Scorsese for “Hugo” was a warm salute to a great filmmaker — and not the only prize he’s picked up this year. He’ll get a nomination for sure, but an Oscar win — only five years after “The Departed” — seems unlikely. Expect attention to go to Alexander Payne for “The Descendants,” Woody Allen for “Midnight in Paris” and Michael Hazanavicius for “The Artist,” too. The fifth slot is a three-way scuffle among Steven Spielberg for the feel-good “War Horse,” David Fincher for the feel-sick “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” and Terrence Malick for the mystical “The Tree of Life,” but Fincher may have the edge. A winner? Too soon to even guess a front-runner in this one.

Best picture: Like the Globes’ best actor category, this one came down to “The Descendants” and “The Artist.” Both will surely be Oscar-nominated, and its genuinely unique approach probably gives “The Artist” an inside track for the win. (Members might be able to fool themselves into thinking they could easily make a film like “The Descendants”;cheap moncler something like “The Artist” seems far more rare, and therefore prizeworthy.) As for the rest of the titles — which could go to 10 nominations this year, but will probably top out around seven or eight — expect “The Help,” “Hugo,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” “War Horse,” “The Tree of Life” and “Moneyball” to pad the list, without really complicating the race.

This is the first time that scientists have succeeded in masking an event

A team at Cornell University, with support from Darpa, the Pentagon’s out-there research arm, managed to hide an event moncler jackets for 40 picoseconds (those are trillionths of seconds, if you’re counting). They’ve published their groundbreaking research in this week’s edition of the journal Nature.

This is the first time that scientists have succeeded in masking an event, though research teams have in recent years made remarkable strides in cloaking objects. Researchers at the University of Texas, Dallas, last year harnessed the mirage effect to make objects vanish. And in 2010, physicists at the University of St. Andrews made leaps towards using metamaterials to trick human eyes into not seeing what was right in front of them.

Masking an object entails bending light around that object. If the light doesn’t actually hit an object, then that object won’t be visible to the human eye.

Where events are concerned, concealment relies on changing the speed of light. Light that’s emitted from actions, as they happen, moncler jackets is what allows us to see those actions happen. Usually, that light comes in a constant flow. What Cornell researchers did, in simple terms, is tweak that ongoing flow of light — just for a mere iota of time — so that an event could transpire without being observable.

The entire experiment occurred inside a fiber optics cable. Researchers passed a beam of green light down the cable, and had it move through a lens that split the light into two frequencies, one moving slowly and the other faster. As that was happening, they shot a red laser through the beams. Since the laser “shooting” occurred during a teeny, tiny time gap, it was imperceptible.

Sure, the team’s got a ways to go before they’re able to mask 30 seconds of action, let alone several minutes. But the research certainly opens up new possibilities. For one, masking super-quick events, like those that occur with data transmission, could help conceal covert computer operations.

In the words of Nature editors, the research marks “a significant step towards full spatio-temporal cloaking.” But it could be moncler jackets cheap decades before military personnel will basically be able to zap history, as it happens: According to Cornell scientists, it’d take a machine 18,600 miles long to produce a time mask that lasts a single second.

Hello from Sun Life Stadium, where Clemson fans are slowly starting to trickle in and blend in with the orange seats. There are Tiger tracks from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami, as Clemson is making its first appearance here in 30 years. Ticket sales for this game have been poor, and the Miami Herald reported that they were selling for as low as $11 on Tuesday afternoon on stubhub.com. According to the Herald, neither Clemson nor West Virginia had sold out their allotment of 17,500 tickets. Translated: This could look like a Miami home game.

The weather here is a little cool and is expected to be about 60 degrees at kickoff, and a Big Ten crew will be making the calls. This game has been overshadowed by the other BCS bowls, but hopefully it will deliver in entertainment with two of the country's more productive cheap moncler offenses. With a 2-5 record in bowl games and an 0-1 start to the BCS bowls, the pressure is on Clemson to represent the ACC -- same story, different team.

She added that the government investigation changed the sports world

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who presided over Bonds' perjury trial, said "the jury got it exactly right" moncler jackets when it convicted Bonds in April for evasive testimony to a federal grand jury investigating doping in professional sports.

"Mr. Bonds made an effort to obstruct justice here," Illston said, but "he didn't manage to succeed."

She added that the government investigation changed the sports world by launching new testing programs and transforming public attitudes.

Prosecutors urged Illston to "send a message" by sending the former San Francisco Giants star to prison.

In addition to home confinement, Bonds, 47, was sentenced to two years' probation, ordered to perform 250 hours community service in youth-related activities and pay a $4,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Matthew A. Parrella called the sentence "a slap on the wrist" and derided the fine as "almost laughable. "

For a man with a mansion, Parrella told the court, home detention was "simply no deterrence."

Illston followed the recommendations of a federal probation officer who reviewed the case. She said she was impressed by Bonds' charitable activities, both in time and money, over decades.

"The thing that was striking to me was that most of that was done out of the public eye and privately," the judge said.

Bonds, who holds the all-time record for most home runs, listened without visible emotion to the proceedings but declined an offer to address the court. He smiled and thanked fans later as he left the courthouse.

The conviction could cost Bonds a place in baseball's Hall of Fame, experts have said.

Prosecutors charged Bonds with three counts of perjury in addition to obstruction of justice for his 2003 testimony to a grand jury investigating BALCO, the Burlingame-based Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, which was selling banned steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs to the nation's top athletes. Bonds testified he had not knowingly taken performance-enhancing drugs.

After a 12-day trial in April, moncler jackets cheap jurors deadlocked on the perjury charges and convicted Bonds of obstruction on the grounds that he gave a rambling, evasive answer to a question.

Bonds' lawyers are appealing that conviction, which they estimated could take 17 months. If the appeal fails, Bonds would then start serving his sentence.

Parrella told the court that Bonds' testimony before the grand jury reflected a long pattern of deceit.

"The defendant lived basically a double life for decades before this," the prosecutor said. "He was well-versed in misleading people. He had mistresses throughout his entire married life, through two marriages."

When Illston reminded Parrella that Bonds wasn't convicted of adultery, someone in the courtroom cheered.

Parrella also argued that Bonds planned to give false testimony and has shown no remorse.

"This was not a spur-of-the-moment thing where Bonds got a subpoena on Monday, showed up on Tuesday and told an ill advised story…" Parrella said. "This a story he told for decades before he went into the grand jury."

Bonds' lawyers said no court has ever upheld an obstruction conviction based on the kinds of testimony Bonds gave, but Parrella said he was confident the conviction would stand.

Prosecutors agreed "without prejudice" to dismiss the deadlocked counts, which reserved the government's right to charge Bonds again for the same offenses. Legal analysts said that was a face-saving gesture and predicted confidently that Bonds would never be recharged on those counts.

University of San Francisco law professor Robert Talbot, who followed the case, said it was "standard" to postpone enforcing a sentence pending an appeal if the defendant was neither a danger nor a flight risk.

Although Bonds got less home detention time than that given to others convicted of lying in the doping probe, cheap moncler jackets for kids the community service would probably "do a lot of good" and the sentence "made sense," Talbot said.

But he said he was struck by the disparity between Bonds' sentence and the year Greg Anderson, Bonds' former trainer, served in federal prison for refusing to testify against the home run king.

Another baseball legend, pitcher Roger Clemens, will go to trial in April on perjury charges involving sports doping. Clemens' first trial ended after only two days when prosecutors introduced banned evidence.