Spare Parts

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Atlantis arrived at the international space station yesterday for a weeklong stay, delivering a load of spare parts needed to keep the outpost running for another decade. The two craft came together 220 miles above the Pacific, between Australia and Tasmania. Astronaut Nicole Stott, a space station resident for 2 1/2 months, was thrilled to see her ride home. She spotted Atlantis from 3 miles out. “I have my ticket all ready and stamped, waiting for you guys when you get here,’’ Stott radioed to the shuttle commander, Charles Hobaugh.

Textron Marine & Land Systems received an option award from the U.S. Army to supply an additional 64 mobile strike force vehicles for Afghanistan's army, the company said Monday. The vehicles were added to the company's current contract, will not cost more than $71.7 million and are scheduled to be delivered by February, the company said. Mobile strike force vehicles are armored security vehicles that are designed to protect their occupants from land mines and more. Textron Marine & Land, which is a unit of Textron Inc.'s Textron Systems, will produce three variations of the...

An Iranian plane carrying 153 passengers and crew skidded off the runway and crashed Friday while landing in northeast Iran, killing at least 17 people, the state news agency said. Among the dead was the manager of the privately owned Aria Airlines, operator of the plane. Television footage showed the plane sitting at an angle, its tail resting awkwardly on the ground and the mangled front end pointing toward the sky. The rest of the aircraft appeared largely intact. The crash came just over a week after another Iranian passenger plane nose-dived into the ground shortly after takeoff,...

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS ★★ ½ (Showtime on Comcast) A manically playful revenge fantasia made from the spare parts of Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns and strapping World War II action flicks like "The Great Escape" and Enzo Castellari's 1978 "The Inglorious Bastards," from which Tarantino has mangled his title and much of his plot (R; runs through Jan. 17) TY BURR THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGS ★★★ (Encore on Comcast) Sweet, charming, funny "Cyrano de Bergerac" update set in contemporary Santa Monica.

The European Union's competition watchdog says it has accepted concessions made by IBM to make it easier for rivals to perform maintenance on its mainframe computers and is closing its investigation of the company. The European Commission last year opened a probe into whether International Business Machines Corp. was illegal restricting other companies from providing profitable maintenance services on its mainframe computers. In September, Armonk, New York-based IBM offered to make it easier for rivals to get spare parts and technical information.

Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. said Wednesday that higher drilling activity likely will increase company profits in the third quarter. The Houston oil well driller said in a preliminary report that revenue likely increased 12 percent to $674 million in the three months ended in Sept. 30. Patterson-UTI said earnings should be around 52 cents per share in the quarter, up from 19 cents per share in the same period last year. The company is expected to report its third-quarter financial results between Oct. 27 and Nov. 1. Patterson-UTI said maintenance, repair and labor costs also rose in...

Bedford-based iRobot Corp., a maker of robots for consumer and military uses, has received a $14.1 million order from the Naval Sea Systems Command. The order is part of a recently announced $230 million contract that calls for the delivery of 86 Man Transportable Robotic System MK 1 Mod 1 robots, spare parts, and accessories, iRobot said yesterday. This type of robot is modeled after the company’s 510 PackBot, which has been used to detect roadside bombs and other explosives.

Textron Marine & Land Systems received an option award from the U.S. Army to supply an additional 64 mobile strike force vehicles for Afghanistan's army, the company said Monday. The vehicles were added to the company's current contract, will not cost more than $71.7 million and are scheduled to be delivered by February, the company said. Mobile strike force vehicles are armored security vehicles that are designed to protect their occupants from land mines and more. Textron Marine & Land, which is a unit of Textron Inc.'s Textron Systems, will produce three...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is banning arms sales from the United States to Venezuela, America's fifth-largest source for oil imports, because of what it says is a lack of support by President Hugo Chavez's government for counterterrorism activities. The US action signals a further deterioration in relations with Venezuela, though Chavez shrugged it off and said he did not plan retaliation. The United States sold Venezuela less than $34 million worth of military equipment last year, mostly for spare parts for cargo planes.

TAKING WOODSTOCK (HBO on Comcast) Ang Lee’s movie explains how Woodstock came to pass. It doesn’t get close to the concert, hanging back for droll shenanigans between the son and parents who run the hotel where the concert organizers stay. Some of it is funny. Some of it just sits there. It’s all this close to being a beach movie. (R; runs through Nov. 15) WESLEY MORRIS INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (TMC on Comcast) Quentin Tarantino takes on the Nazis.

The European Union's competition watchdog says it has accepted concessions made by IBM to make it easier for rivals to perform maintenance on its mainframe computers and is closing its investigation of the company. The European Commission last year opened a probe into whether International Business Machines Corp. was illegal restricting other companies from providing profitable maintenance services on its mainframe computers. In September, Armonk, New York-based IBM offered to make it easier for rivals to get spare parts and technical information.

Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. said Wednesday that higher drilling activity likely will increase company profits in the third quarter. The Houston oil well driller said in a preliminary report that revenue likely increased 12 percent to $674 million in the three months ended in Sept. 30. Patterson-UTI said earnings should be around 52 cents per share in the quarter, up from 19 cents per share in the same period last year. The company is expected to report its third-quarter financial results between Oct. 27 and Nov. 1. Patterson-UTI said maintenance, repair and labor costs also rose in...

Bedford-based iRobot Corp., a maker of robots for consumer and military uses, has received a $14.1 million order from the Naval Sea Systems Command. The order is part of a recently announced $230 million contract that calls for the delivery of 86 Man Transportable Robotic System MK 1 Mod 1 robots, spare parts, and accessories, iRobot said yesterday. This type of robot is modeled after the company’s 510 PackBot, which has been used to detect roadside bombs and other explosives.

FOXBOROUGH — Patriots running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis acknowledges that he can be kind of boring. He keeps candy within his grasp because he loves to snack. He doesn’t get angry easily. And he isn’t big on setting personal goals. When veteran Fred Taylor arrived in New England last season, he didn’t know much about Green-Ellis. The younger running back was in his second season with the Patriots as an undrafted free agent out of Mississippi. “He was quiet and just kept to himself,’’ Taylor said.

PARIS — Airline industry executives said yesterday that an extensive inspection and replacement program of Rolls-Royce engines on their Airbus A380 fleets could lead to a shortage of available spares. The concerns follow Rolls-Royce’s recommendation Friday that the three airlines flying A380s fitted with its Trent 900 jet engines — Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Lufthansa — replace a specific turbine component after an oil fire was determined to have caused an engine to explode on a Qantas flight earlier this month.

TAKING WOODSTOCK (HBO on Comcast) Ang Lee’s movie explains how Woodstock came to pass. It doesn’t get close to the concert, hanging back for droll shenanigans between the son and parents who run the hotel where the concert organizers stay. Some of it is funny. Some of it just sits there. It’s all this close to being a beach movie. (R; runs through Nov. 15) WESLEY MORRIS INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (TMC on Comcast) Quentin Tarantino takes on the Nazis.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS ★★ ½ (Showtime on Comcast) A manically playful revenge fantasia made from the spare parts of Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns and strapping World War II action flicks like "The Great Escape" and Enzo Castellari's 1978 "The Inglorious Bastards," from which Tarantino has mangled his title and much of his plot (R; runs through Jan. 17) TY BURR THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGS ★★★ (Encore on Comcast) Sweet, charming, funny "Cyrano de Bergerac" update set in contemporary Santa Monica.

As befitting a club that boasts perhaps the NHL’s sharpest goalie in Ryan Miller, the Sabres gave up only 2.45 goals per game in 2009-10, fourth-fewest in the NHL. But while Miller is considered Buffalo’s go-to gun (he is a candidate to win the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP), the Sabres’ wave-after-wave attack potted 2.82 goals per game, the fourth-highest clip in the Eastern Conference. Balance, after all, is what general manager Darcy Regier and coach Lindy Ruff have tried to achieve.

As befitting a club that boasts perhaps the NHL’s sharpest goalie in Ryan Miller, the Sabres gave up only 2.45 goals per game in 2009-10, fourth-fewest in the NHL. But while Miller is considered Buffalo’s go-to gun (he is a candidate to win the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP), the Sabres’ wave-after-wave attack potted 2.82 goals per game, the fourth-highest clip in the Eastern Conference. Balance, after all, is what general manager Darcy Regier and coach Lindy Ruff have tried to achieve.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Atlantis arrived at the international space station yesterday for a weeklong stay, delivering a load of spare parts needed to keep the outpost running for another decade. The two craft came together 220 miles above the Pacific, between Australia and Tasmania. Astronaut Nicole Stott, a space station resident for 2 1/2 months, was thrilled to see her ride home. She spotted Atlantis from 3 miles out. “I have my ticket all ready and stamped, waiting for you guys when you get here,’’ Stott radioed to the shuttle...