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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
How to Make Cheap Whiskey Taste Like Fancy Whiskey [Video]
Restored wetlands rarely equal condition of original wetlands
ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2012) ? Wetland restoration is a billion-dollar-a-year industry in the United States that aims to create ecosystems similar to those that disappeared over the past century. But a new analysis of restoration projects shows that restored wetlands seldom reach the quality of a natural wetland.
"Once you degrade a wetland, it doesn't recover its normal assemblage of plants or its rich stores of organic soil carbon, which both affect natural cycles of water and nutrients, for many years," said David Moreno-Mateos, a University of California, Berkeley, postdoctoral fellow. "Even after 100 years, the restored wetland is still different from what was there before, and it may never recover."
Moreno-Mateos's analysis calls into question a common mitigation strategy exploited by land developers: create a new wetland to replace a wetland that will be destroyed and the land put to other uses. At a time of accelerated climate change caused by increased carbon entering the atmosphere, carbon storage in wetlands is increasingly important, he said.
"Wetlands accumulate a lot of carbon, so when you dry up a wetland for agricultural use or to build houses, you are just pouring this carbon into the atmosphere," he said. "If we keep degrading or destroying wetlands, for example through the use of mitigation banks, it is going to take centuries to recover the carbon we are losing."
The study showed that wetlands tend to recover most slowly if they are in cold regions, if they are small -- less than 100 contiguous hectares, or 250 acres, in area -- or if they are disconnected from the ebb and flood of tides or river flows.
"These context dependencies aren't necessarily surprising, but this paper quantifies them in ways that could guide decisions about restoration, or about whether to damage wetlands in the first place," said coauthor Mary Power, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology.
Moreno-Mateos, Power and their colleagues will publish their analysis in the Jan. 24 issue of PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology.
Wetlands provide many societal benefits, Moreno-Mateos noted, such as biodiversity conservation, fish production, water purification, erosion control and carbon storage.
He found, however, that restored wetlands contained about 23 percent less carbon than untouched wetlands, while the variety of native plants was 26 percent lower, on average, after 50 to 100 years of restoration. While restored wetlands may look superficially similar -- and the animal and insect populations may be similar, too -- the plants take much longer to return to normal and establish the carbon resources in the soil that make for a healthy ecosystem.
Moreno-Mateos noted that numerous studies have shown that specific wetlands recover slowly, but his meta-analysis "might be a proof that this is happening in most wetlands."
"To prevent this, preserve the wetland, don't degrade the wetland," he said.
Moreno-Mateos, who obtained his Ph.D. while studying wetland restoration in Spain, conducted a meta-analysis of 124 wetland studies monitoring work at 621 wetlands around the world and comparing them with natural wetlands. Nearly 80 percent were in the United States and some were restored more than 100 years ago, reflecting of a long-standing American interest in restoration and a common belief that it's possible to essentially recreate destroyed wetlands. Half of all wetlands in North America, Europe, China and Australia were lost during the 20th century, he said. S
Though Moreno-Mateos found that, on average, restored wetlands are 25 percent less productive than natural wetlands, there was much variation. For example, wetlands in boreal and cold temperate forests tend to recover more slowly than do warm wetlands. One review of wetland restoration projects in New York state, for example, found that "after 55 years, barely 50 percent of the organic matter had accumulated on average in all these wetlands" compared to what was there before, he said.
"Current thinking holds that many ecosystems just reach an alternative state that is different, and you never will recover the original," he said.
In future studies, he will explore whether the slower carbon accumulation is due to a slow recovery of the native plant community or invasion by non-native plants.
Coauthors with Moreno-Mateos and Power are Francisco A. Comin of the Department of Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration at the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology in Zaragoza, Spain; and Roxana Yockteng of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France. Moreno-Mateos recently accepted a position as the restoration fellow at Stanford University's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.
The work was supported by the Spanish Ministry for Innovation and Science, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology and the National Center for Earth Surface Dynamics of the U.S. National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Berkeley.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- David Moreno-Mateos, Mary E. Power, Francisco A. Com?n, Roxana Yockteng. Structural and Functional Loss in Restored Wetland Ecosystems. PLoS Biology, 2012; 10 (1): e1001247 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001247
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/dUxQMBSOWPU/120124184157.htm
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Sumatran elephants could be extinct in 30 years (AP)
JAKARTA, Indonesia ? The Sumatran elephant could be extinct in the wild within three decades unless immediate steps are taken to slow the breakneck pace of deforestation, environmentalists warned Tuesday.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature recently listed the animals as "critically endangered" after their numbers dropped to between 2,400 and 2,800 from an estimated 5,000 in 1985.
The decline is largely because of destruction of their habitat, with forests all across the Indonesian island of Sumatra being clear-cut for timber, palm oil and pulp and paper plantations.
Sumatra has some of the most significant populations of Asian elephants outside of India and Sri Lanka and is also home to tigers, orangutans and rhinos.
"The Sumatran elephant joins a growing list of Indonesian species that are critically endangered," Carlos Drews of the conservation group WWF said in a statement Tuesday. "Unless urgent and effective conservation action is taken these magnificent animals are likely to go extinct within our lifetime."
Indonesia's endangered elephants sometimes venture into populated areas searching for food and destroy crops or attack humans, making them unpopular with villagers.
Some are shot or poisoned with cyanide-laced fruit, while others are killed by poachers for their ivory.
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Gingrich wins South Carolina GOP primary
By Michael O'Brien, msnbc.com
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Updated 8:46 p.m. ET
Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina Republican primary, capping off a remarkable comeback for his presidential bid that reshapes the trajectory of the battle for the GOP nomination.
Based on exit polls and early returns, NBC News projects Gingrich as the winner of the primary, while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will finish second.
The results mark the end of a tumultuous week in politics that saw Gingrich erase and then overcome the lead Romney had in the Palmetto State following his victory in the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary. Gingrich came on strong in the closing days of the campaign, looking to rally under his banner the many conservatives unwilling to get behind Romney, who had sought to posture himself as the eventual nominee.
The results upset the conventional wisdom in the race, which had set expectations for Romney to score a knockout blow against his competitors with a win in the Palmetto State. Gingrich?s victory reshapes the race, at a minimum extending the primary contest through the Jan. 31 primary in Florida, which appears set to feature a pitched battle between Romney and Gingrich.
VIEW full South Carolina primary results
"We're now three contests into a long primary season ... We've still got a long way to go, and a lot of work to do," Romney said in remarks shortly after 8 p.m., in which he previewed the line of attacks he'll use against Gingrich in Florida.
Gingrich, Romney said, had joined President Obama in launching a "frontal assault on free enterprise," referencing the ex-speaker's attack on Romney's record at Bain Capital.
"Those who pick up the weapons of the left today will find them turned against us tomorrow," Romney said. "If Republican leaders want to join this president in demonizing success...then they're not going to be fit to be our nominee."
After finishing second in the South Carolina primary, Mitt Romney says the race is "getting even more interesting," and tells the crowd, "there is so much worth fighting."
Gingrich's performance in South Carolina was driven in thanks to late deciders, who broke decisively in his direction in the last few days of the campaign. That stretch saw two debate performances by Gingrich, on Monday and Thursday nights. Almost two-thirds of voters said the debates were an important factor in their decision, and Gingrich won about half of them.
More broadly, core elements of the GOP base in South Carolina ? conservatives, Tea Party supporters and evangelical Christians ? broke for Gingrich. And the former speaker even edged Romney in two important constituencies for the former Massachusetts governor: voters who said electability in November was their most important concern in a nominee, and voters who said the economy was their top issue.
?The South Carolina results underscore Romney?s lingering inability to overcome skepticism from conservatives about electing him as their standard-bearer against Obama this fall.
RELATED: Conservatives, evangelical Christians rebuff Romney in South Carolina
Gingrich had erased Romney?s lead by abandoning his previous pledge to wage a ?relentlessly positive? campaign. The former speaker eventually embraced a strategy of drawing strong contrasts with Romney and benefited from the negative advertising run on his behalf by a super PAC ? a practice Gingrich loudly denounced in Iowa, where he saw his poll numbers collapse amid attacks by a pro-Romney super PAC.
?I hope to win S.C.? Gingrich said Friday night in Orangeburg, ?God willing we'll win, and tomorrow night will be very interesting and then Florida will be even more interesting and I'm sure you'll want to come with us.?
His victory provides, if nothing else, a symbolic imprimatur; the winner of the South Carolina primary has gone on to win the nomination in each Republican primary since the contest?s inception in 1980.
Voters headed to the polls in stormy conditions throughout most of the Palmetto State that could hold down turnout in some areas. County election officials reported light turnout in some areas, and heavier than expected voter rolls in other areas.
The South Carolina results capped one of the most tumultuous weeks in the presidential campaign thus far, a week that saw the veneer of inevitability the Romney campaign had built for itself erode by the end.
Recertified results in the Iowa caucuses found that he had actually lost the contest by a handful of votes to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. And Romney has fought to withstand some of the most intense scrutiny he?s faced during the campaign; critics have assailed his private equity career and demanded Romney release his tax returns ? demands which only reached a fever pitch after Romney estimated he pays an effective rate of 15 percent of his income in taxes.
Moreover, Romney?s performance in South Carolina will speak volumes about his fractious relationship with movement conservatives. He?s struggled at times to break through a ceiling on his support from those voters, who are skeptical of Romney?s past conversion on abortion rights and his embrace of authorship of a health care law as governor that closely resembles Obama?s 2010 reform law.
Romney had largely stuck to message in South Carolina, where he?s campaigned since winning Jan. 10?s New Hampshire primary, by keeping his focus on Obama and posturing himself more as a presumptive nominee.
But in an acknowledgement of Gingrich?s late push, the Romney campaign has also revived the attacks on the former speaker they used to great effect in Iowa to tamp down Gingrich?s December surge.
?Let's have him describe his relationships in Washington,? Romney said Saturday in Greenville, turning up the heat on Gingrich and highlighting the ex-speaker?s work on behalf of troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac. ?If people think Washington is the answer, if people think someone who spent the great majority of their life in Washington, I'll be surprised."
Romney?s campaign appears poised to make that argument even more sharply in Florida. They circulated a ?flashback? video on Saturday reminding voters of the ethics investigation Gingrich had faced during his speakership.
Nonetheless, the fact that Gingrich has arrived at the precipice of political resurrection ? again ? this cycle is itself remarkable.
Political observers had questioned when, not if, he would drop out after suffering missteps at the outset of his campaign that led to the defection of virtually all of his top staff last June. But Gingrich stuck with it and climbed to the top of the polls in Iowa, only to see his numbers implode again after weathering attacks from super PACs and Texas Rep. Ron Paul?s campaign.
In South Carolina, the former speaker has been aided by a variety of factors contributing to his potential comeback. He?s scored major points with voters with a couple of strong debate performances this week, particularly by way of launching acerbic attacks on the media. His angry refusal to answer allegations made by an ex-wife topped headlines coming out of a debate on Thursday ? the same day that saw Texas Gov. Rick Perry drop his own campaign and endorse Gingrich.
GOP candidate Rick Santorum talks about the state of the race and reaffirms that he wants to be the voice for those people in America that don't have one in government
The winnowed field (Jon Huntsman also ended his campaign and endorsed Romney), only reduced the number of candidates threatening to divide the anti-Romney vote in South Carolina.
Santorum, crowned the winner of the Iowa caucuses upon further review of the vote totals, had doggedly criticized both Romney and Gingrich in hopes of rallying conservatives behind his unflashy, if consistent, record.
"Three states, three winners -- what a great country," he said in remarks Saturday evening, vowing to continue his campaign through Florida and subsequent nominating contests.
The Romney campaign is hoping that contest, which awards all of the delegates to its winner, features a primary closed to registered Republicans in a large swing state, will be its firewall. It?s a more expensive campaign to wage because of its multiple, expensive media markets, and is seen as a test of organizational strength.
Romney?s advantage there is one of the reasons the Paul campaign, which is polling third in South Carolina, at 16 percent, in a NBC News-Marist poll earlier this week, has elected to skip the next battle in Florida in favor of focusing on caucuses.
NBC?s Garrett Haake, Alex Moe and Andrew Rafferty contributed.
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This Is The Game That The RIAA And The MPAA Want to Play With You [Sopa]
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
This Week's Top Downloads [Download Roundup]
Jan 21, 2012 5:00 PM 14,218 
2
2 - Boxer is a Free DOS Game Emulator for your Mac (Mac) Computer games have come a long way since the days of Doom, Zork, Tie Fighter, and Castle Wolfenstein, but many of us who grew up with those games would like to replay them. Boxer is a free app that will let you play any DOS game on your Mac.
- iBoostUp Cleans Out Your Mac's System File Clutter in a Minute (Mac) iBoostUp cleans out the crap on your drive and fine-tunes your system for better performance. It's simple, it's quick, and it's free.
- AntiCrop "Uncrops" Your Photos by Extending the Picture's Background (iOS) If you've ever taken a hasty photo on your phone and didn't leave enough room on the outside, AntiCrop is the app can "uncrop" those photos by filling in the edges with just a few swipes.
- Untethered Jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iOS 5 Is Finally Here (iOS) iPhone-hacking group Chronic Dev Team just released the first untethered jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 running iOS 5.0.1. We've explained why a tethered jailbreak can be such a hassle, which is why we've been waiting to recommend jailbreaking your up-to-date iPhone. Luckily, that wait is over.
- Clean My Desktop Sorts Files Into Content Specific Folders (Mac) A desktop filled with hundreds of files in a variety of formats can be a headache to clean up, but Clean My Desktop makes it easy by sorting everything into content specific folders based on the file type.
- MindNode Is a Mind Mapping App that Makes Brainstorming Simple and Easy (Mac/iOS) Regardless of the type of work that you do, brainstorming is an important part of generating new ideas and new approaches to getting your work done more efficiently. Mind mapping is a brainstorming technique that helps you get all of your interconnected thoughts out in a diagram, and there are a number of complicated tools designed to help you do it. MindNode for Mac and iOS is pricey, but it's one of the best tools we've seen for the job.
- Pomodroido Is an Elegant Pomodoro Timer for Your Android Phone (Pomodroido) If you're a fan of the Pomodoro productivity technique, you know that part of the philosophy is to work in short, focused, timed bursts and then take periodic breaks to relax. To do this, you'll need a timer, and Pomodroido is a free app that turns your Android phone into one that follows you everywhere.
- Forismatic Is a Free App that Helps You Relax and Keeps You Inspired Every Day (Mac) Computers are supposed to make our work easier, but in reality they often just bring us more work and stress us out. Give your Mac the opportunity to help you relax for a change with Forismatic, a free app that sits in the menubar until you need a little inspiration to help you keep going, and will remind you to take a break now and again to relax.
- Breathing Zone Guides You Towards Slower Breathing to Help Reduce Stress and Anxiety (Mac/iOS) Breathing Zone is a simple app that helps slow your breathing rhythm to calm you down and make you feel more relaxed. If you're a bit stressed or anxious, it's a good way to help you alleviate those feelings in just a few minutes.
- WatchMe Is a Desktop Timer that Keeps Track of Multiple Alarms at Once (Windows) Unfortunately, few of us have the luxury of only keeping track of one thing at a time. There are plenty of great timers available to help you keep track of how long you've been working or when you need to take a break, but if you need to track multiple times or set more than one timer, you may be out of luck. WatchMe is a timer that allows you to set multiple alerts and multiple timers so you're alerted at different times for different things.
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/94J0DABeIrw/this-weeks-top-downloads
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Sweet-Talk and Bitters: The Secret to Reimagining the Classic Cocktail [Happy Hour]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/xDR6WMJxDBU/
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Woman offered blow-jobs for chicken McNuggets
A US woman has been arrested after apparently offering McDonalds customers a sexual favours in exchange for some chicken McNuggets.Khadijah Baseer was reportedly going car to car at a drive-thru in Los Angeles and opening doors before making her offer.
The 31-year-old is said to have told a number of men that she would give then a blow job if they bought her a portion of chicken McNuggets.
Baseer was charged with misdemeanor solicitation and will now appear in court where she could be handed a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
Before you ask, it's not known what size portion of chicken McNuggets Baseer was after? we've have been holding out for a 20-piece sharer.
Source: http://newslite.tv/2012/01/18/woman-offered-blowjobs-for-chi.html
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Friday, January 20, 2012
Blake Shelton delays tour to mourn father
Sad news for Blake Shelton.
The 35-year-old country superstar and "The Voice" mentor is grieving the Wednesday passing of his father, Dick.
PHOTOS: Looking back at the celebs we've lost
"Mr. Shelton, who was in declining health this past year, was surrounded by loved ones in Oklahoma upon his passing this evening," a rep for Shelton told Us Weekly in a statement late Wednesday.
PHOTOS: Celeb families
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Judging slump? Fatigue? 5 big 'Idol' questions
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Judging slump? Fatigue? 5 big 'Idol' questions
As the singer mourns with his family, he has announced plans to reschedule four dates through next week on his Well Lit & Amplified tour. His stops in Bismark, N.D., Rapid City, S.D., Bozeman, Mont. and Billings, Mont. will be delayed until late March.
PHOTOS: Blake's romance with wife Miranda Lambert
"I appreciate your understanding during this difficult time and thank you for all your prayers. Your support means the world to me. I love you guys," Shelton told Us in a statement.
For more information on Shelton's makeup dates, visit his website, BlakeShelton.com.
Copyright 2012 Us Weekly
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46040519/ns/today-entertainment/
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
There Were More Than 2.4M Tweets About SOPA Today
Today was the internet's big protest day against SOPA and PIPA, and not surprisingly, there was plenty of discussion about the issue on Twitter. Specifically, the company tweeted that that there were more than 2.4 million SOPA-related tweets between midnight and 4pm Eastern time.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/kMmBS0ii6kM/
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Science writing program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
The professional track master?s program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with its strong focus on science journalism, dates back to the 1960s, making it one of the oldest such programs in the country. Over the years, some of the country?s best known science journalists ? including both William J. Broad and Jane Brody of The New York Times ? have studied at Wisconsin. And program graduate Deborah Blum (blog), a Pulitzer-prize winning science writer, is now a professor in the UW School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
In the last decade alone, the Wisconsin program has taught a variety of graduate students who now work as science writers in a wide range of positions, such as Tinsley Davis, the executive director of the National Association of Science Writers; Suzanne Rust, an investigative environmental reporter for California Watch; Jennifer Evans, at the Society for Neuroscience, and Chad Boutin, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Here are some examples of work by recent graduates:
Kathleen Masterson, a National Public Radio reporter based in Iowa, has made a point of illuminating the science connection to agriculture. In this story last summer, she explored the possibility that farmers might set aside growing food in favor of harvesting money from gas rich sands on their lands.
Dinesh Ramde, an Associated Press reporter based in Milwaukee, just published this story on forensic anthropology and the use of photos of the dead in cold-case work, which was picked up by Salon.
Adam Hinterthuer, web editor at the Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin, also freelances for a variety of publications, including the occasional blog for Audubon magazine.
Krishna Ramanujan, a science writer at Cornell University, wrote this fascinating story about predator competition between humans and snakes (including a long history of attacking and eating each other). Published in December, it got 100,000 hits in a week.
Two new graduates, Marianne English and Timothy Oleson, who received their master?s degrees in December, both worked for science journalism publications while in school. Among their work, English did this thoughtful analysis of research suggesting that caffeine fends off depression for Discovery News and this clear-headed look at uranium for How Stuff Works. While interning for Earth magazine this summer, Oleson wrote this analysis of the arsenic life controversy and this charming guide to geology-speak terminology.
And here is a few examples from students currently in the master?s program, at UW-Madison:
Kate Prengman, a science writing major with an undergraduate degree in biology, collaborated with Saideh Jamshidi, who is studying international relations, on this December piece looking at the science and politics of Iran?s nuclear program. It was published on the website, Bestthinking.com.
Prengaman is also collaborating with another science writing graduate, Emily Eggleston, on a food science blog, which explores everything from the health benefits of garlic to the physical structure of sugars in caramel. Eggleston also maintains a blog, Curious Terrain, which ranges in topic from data mining to the science of snow.
And Erin Podolak, interning in the summer for Geek System, wrote this piece about fossil evidence of live birth in dinosaurs. She continues to explore science issues on her blog, Science Decoded, where she often includes coverage of polar bears, one of her favorite species.
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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=3aa79418a7836bb822088f982512d536
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Gingrich to local business leaders: Let's face it, Bain was ?exploitive ...
posted at 9:02 pm on January 17, 2012 by Allahpundit
I?m confused. On Sunday, Newt stopped off in Georgetown, S.C., a town that had suffered economically after a nearby steel plant in Gaffney acquired by Bain Capital went bankrupt, and said ? nothing whatsoever about Bain. Seemed like he was ready to cut his losses on that subject and move on, an impression affirmed last night after the debate by one of his senior advisors in an interview with Robert Costa:
Beyond a bump in the polls, Walker also sees tonight?s debate as an opportunity for Gingrich to pivot away from Bain attacks. ?We?ve suffered some backlash on those issues over the past week, but his answers on it tonight were right on target,? Walker says. In many respects, ?he has moved on to other issues that we think are going to be key for South Carolina voters.?
Makes sense. He hit the Bain stuff hard to put it on voters? radar screens and now he?s going to step away.
Or is he? New from Politico:
After being asked if he was attacking capitalism, Gingrich launched into a tirade:
?This is one of the bigger acts of baloney in modern times. Raising a question of judgment about a particular person in a particular company who has made that one of his two major claims for running for president is hardly an attack on capitalism,? Gingrich said. ?The Bain model in some companies, you look at Georgetown Steel and you can look Gaffney as two examples, the Bain model is to go in a at very low price, borrow an immense amount of money, pay Bain a great deal of money and leave. Now, I?ll let you decide if that is really a good capitalism.
?I think it is exploitative. I think it?s not defensible. You?ll notice he doesn?t try to defend it. He hasn?t brought up a single one of these companies,? said Gingrich, although Romney did cite Staples and others in Monday?s debate?
?I?m proud of real capitalists. I?m proud of guys who say to their workers, ?I?m in it with you. If I lose money and you lose a job, we lost together because we both tried.? But I?m not particularly proud of people who go in, leverage the game, borrow the money, leave the debt behind and walk off with all the profits.?
Newt being Newt, we can only guess whether the campaign?s strategy on Bain changed at some point today and he?s just following the new blueprint or if he fully intended to keep ignoring this subject but couldn?t resist unloading on Romney again once he got a question about it. Maybe the post-debate internal polling showed him surging and he thinks this is one way to ride it? (Romney?s team seems to suddenly be taking him seriously again.) Or maybe there?s a simple difference of opinion among this advisors about whether attacking Bain is useful or counterproductive. Another Costa piece today at National Review has Newt?s spokesman saying this:
Indeed, to Hammond and others within the Gingrich camp, the candidate?s Bain-themed rhetoric is the keystone for their larger case. Hammond argues that there is a major gap ?between what [Romney] says and reality,? and that to think Romney?s years at Bain will suddenly be an asset in November, after Democrats comb through the records, would be foolish. ?It?s not Bain that?s the problem; it?s the narrative,? Hammond says. ?[Romney] has a record, and he refuses to be accountable for it,? from his private-sector work to his gubernatorial decisions. ?Romney has established his own conventional wisdom,? adds a senior Gingrich adviser. ?Our job, in ads and on the stump, is to puncture it, and challenge his electability.?
Could be they?ve simply decided that the situation is desperate and that it?s kitchen-sink time. On Sunday, when Newt swung by Georgetown, S.C., the three most recent polls had him within two to seven points of Romney. Since then, after Huntsman announced he was dropping out yesterday morning, the three newest polls have Romney leading by 11 to 14 points. All of those were conducted before the debate, but not even a nice performance by Gingrich last night will eliminate a double-digit lead. Bain attacks could be his last chance. Can?t wait to see what he does with them on Thursday in his last big national soapbox before South Carolina votes. Exit quotation from Rasmussen: ?Sixty-two percent (62%) of all GOP voters in the state view Romney?s business record as a reason to support him.?
Update: Here?s a fun little talking point for the general election if/when Romney becomes the nominee.
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Lost And Found In The Paneldome: The iRiffPort
We get mailed a lot of stuff at TechCrunch and sometimes a good item will slip through the cracks. This iRiffPort has been sitting in my pile of gear since it came out in October. I wrote a review. Shot some photos. It was all ready to roll and then somehow it got misplaced and I forgot about it completely. Too bad, because it is a good cable. This week, I received a postcard from Kevin Robertson, head honcho at PocketLabWorks and also the creator of the iRiffPort. He asked me what I thought of his device (and the software with which it works). The iRiffPort...Oh yeah, I think I remember that I liked that thing. What happened to it??I dug through my closet, found it, plugged it in and lo and behold, I had remembered correctly?it was a solid device.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Wc5uOC7A2Jk/
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Burberry hit by slower U.S. sales growth (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) ? British luxury brand Burberry Group Plc (BRBY.L) reported a sharp slowdown in U.S. sales growth as it chose to cut back supplies for department stores to sell through their discount outlets, knocking its high-flying shares.
The 156-year-old seller of raincoats and leather goods, known for its camel, red and black check pattern, said on Tuesday it wanted to focus on more profitable full-price sales and was seeing no overall moderation in demand.
The group met forecasts with a 22 percent rise in third-quarter revenue. Some analysts said the figures were flattered by a pulling forward of wholesale orders and that the firm's full-year guidance implied little growth in fourth-quarter wholesale sales.
"Nothing wrong with the overall numbers, however the poor performance in the U.S. and the weak 4Q guidance may worry the market," Liberum analysts said in a research note.
At 0915 GMT, Burberry shares were down 1.9 percent at 1,275 pence, the biggest fall at that time by a European blue chip stock.
Luxury goods shares have wobbled in recent months amid signs of a slowdown in economic growth in China, the engine of recent strong demand for high-end goods, and fears the euro zone debt crisis could drag the world back into recession.
Jeweler Tiffany (TIF.N) and watchmaker Swatch (UHR.VX) last week warned of slower growth.
However, Swiss luxury group Richemont (CFR.VX) on Monday said its third-quarter sales held up well.
Burberry's shares, which rocketed around 10 times in value from November 2008 to July 2011, are trading well below their peak of 1,610 pence, but also clear of their October low of 1,034 pence.
ASIANS AND TOURISTS
Burberry said it made 574 million pounds ($880 million) of revenue in the three months to December 31, just above analysts' average forecast of 569 million in a Reuters poll.
Finance chief Stacey Cartwright said the slowdown in growth from 29 percent in the first half was due to tougher comparable figures the year before and demand from Asian shoppers and tourists in particular remained strong.
Sales in the Asia-Pacific region jumped 39 percent to 210 million pounds, accounting for the largest proportion of the total, while strong demand from travelers drove sales in major cities such as London, Paris and Hong Kong.
Sales growth in the Americas, however, slowed to 4 percent from 20 percent in the first half.
Cartwright said this was due to the group's decision to cut back sales to the discount outlets of department stores and focus on more profitable full-price sales. Demand in Burberry's own stores in the Americas remained strong, she added.
Sales at retail outlets open over a year climbed 13 percent for the group as a whole, just ahead of a forecast 12 percent increase, though down from 16 percent in the first half.
Burberry said it was pressing ahead with its expansion plans while remaining mindful of the difficult economic backdrop.
It expects retail selling space to rise 13-14 percent in the second half, down from around 15 percent previously, due in part to the closure of some concessions in Spain.
Cartwright said southern European shoppers were showing more strain from the euro zone debt crisis than those in the north.
Burberry remained comfortable with analysts full-year consensus forecast for underlying profits to grow by about a quarter to 375 million pounds, she added.
The group said wholesale revenues rose 15 percent at constant currencies, helped by a rephasing of deliveries to the third quarter from the fourth. It expects wholesale revenues for the second-half to rise by a mid-single digit percentage.
($1 = 0.6524 pound)
(Editing by Dan Lalor and Hans-Juergen Peters)
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Vote for best red carpet look at Golden Globes
By Kurt Schlosser
Another Golden Globe Awards ceremony is in the books. That means the only thing there's left to talk about is when you're going to see "The Descendants" or "The Artist" or "The Iron Lady" before the Oscars. Oh, and?who looked best on the red carpet.
We took a quick spin through the fashions earlier Sunday night with a live blog aimed at showing some of the arrivals before showtime. Seems we managed to capture at least a few of the favorites out there. TODAY style editor Bobbie Thomas was on point with her fashion-minded tweets throughout the red carpet, and we turn to her here for a critique of the top six looks of the night.
So check out Angelina Jolie, Evan Rachel Wood, Tilda Swinton, Paula Patton, Charlize Theron and Claire Danes. And at the bottom of this post, vote for your favorite ... or name someone else who you liked better in the comments.
Angelina Jolie: #HeadTurner -- she?s a master of simple elegance, the Atelier Versace was a flawless fit and her red lips were a perfect accent.
Getty Images
Evan Rachel Wood: #DontMissDetails -- always sleek and edgy, from sequins to feathers -- she pulls off a gorgeous textured "scaled" gown.
Reuters
Tilda Swinton: #AvanteGarde -- a fashion favorite?and refreshingly original (as always) in a powder blue Haider Ackermann ensemble.
AP, Getty Images
Paula Patton: #Fresh -- the rising star was in sync with a bold new color, and popped on the red carpet in Monique Lhuillier.
Reuters, Getty Images
Charlize Theron: #RiskTaker?-- not afraid of a big fashionable bow, Theron was stunning in a softly structured Dior.
AP, Getty Images
Helen Mirren: #Timeless?-- the ever graceful talent Mirren sweeps the carpet in a midnight blue Badgley Mischka dress, proving style knows no age.
Getty Images
Who looked best on the Golden Globes red carpet?
Related content:
| Angelina Jolie | ? 45.4% (11,741 votes) |
| Helen Mirren | ? 20% (5,166 votes) |
| Charlize Theron | ? 13.7% (3,556 votes) |
| Paula Patton | ? 6.4% (1,667 votes) |
| Evan Rachel Wood | ? 6% (1,548 votes) |
| Someone else, who I'll name in the comments | ? 5.6% (1,458 votes) |
| Tilda Swinton | ? 2.8% (731 votes) |
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Sunday, January 1, 2012
Turkish Kurds vent fury over botched air strike (AP)
ISTANBUL ? Turkish Kurds vented their rage Friday over a botched military airstrike aimed at Kurdish rebels that instead killed 35 civilians, with thousands lamenting the dead at funerals and scores clashing with police at demonstrations.
The government promised a full inquiry into Wednesday's air strikes, which struck a group of smugglers and resulted in one of the highest single-day civilian death tolls in the long-standing conflict between the Turkish state and Kurdish rebels, who took up arms in 1984.
Even before the latest violence, a government campaign to reconcile with Kurds, who make up roughly 20 percent of Turkey's 74 million people, by granting them more rights has stalled amid a surge in fighting this year.
Footage from the Dogan news agency showed people digging graves on a hill near the southeast village of Gulyazi, home of some of the slain smugglers, and the funeral rites quickly took on a political tone.
Thousands walked along a mountain path with coffins draped in red, yellow and green, the colors associated with Kurdish identity and the rebel group PKK, whose Kurdish acronym stands for Kurdistan Workers' Party. Victims' families demanded revenge and called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan a "murderer," according to Firat, a pro-Kurdish news agency.
For a second day, stone-throwing demonstrators clashed with police who responded with tear gas and water cannons in several cities in the mostly Kurdish southeast. Protesters lobbed rocks at a national ruling party office in Diyarbakir, the region's biggest city, and Firat said 30 people were arrested there.
One person was injured and six arrested in southeastern Van city, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. Meanwhile, several hundred people protested peacefully in Istanbul, while some 500 Iraqi Kurds denounced the airstrikes in a rally in the city of Irbil in the Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq.
A somber Erdogan described the attack near the border village of Ortasu in Sirnak province as "unfortunate" and "saddening," noting half the dead were under age 20. He said two F-16s bombed the area after images provided by drones showed a 40-person group approaching the border from the Iraqi side.
"It was revealed later that they were part of a group smuggling cigarettes, diesel fuel and such," he said.
Usually, according to Erdogan, such smuggling is done by groups of just three to five people. He said at least two recent deadly attacks on military outposts near the Iraq-Turkey border were carried out by guerrillas who smuggled guns across the border on mules.
Four hours of official video footage of the raid will be examined, he said.
In an email statement, the PKK called the strikes a "massacre," and referred to "technical and intelligence support" provided by the United States, which recently deployed four Predator drones to Turkey from Iraq to aid Ankara in its fight against the rebels.
The military, meanwhile, issued a message of condolence carried on Anadolu news agency. There was no apology, but such a public outreach is highly unusual for the Turkish armed forces, which are traditionally tightlipped about operations.
"We wish God's mercy and grace to those who lost their lives in the cross-border incident of Dec. 28, 2011, and extend our condolences to their family and friends," the statement said. Last week, the military reported the deaths of 48 suspected rebels in offensives backed by air power.
While many Kurds have assimilated and are not politically active, a significant number feel marginalized and want autonomy in Kurdish-dominated southeast Turkey. The rebels have long used northern Iraq as a springboard for hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets.
The conflict has been a drag on Turkey's efforts to burnish its image as a regional model and advocate for democratic change in neighboring countries such as Syria, where thousands have died since an uprising began in March.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, a chief architect of Turkey's rising profile, said the airstrikes would be thoroughly investigated and should not be exploited for political gain. Another top official, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, said the inquiry would not be a whitewash.
"If there is any negligence, any fault or any intention, those who are responsible will be found and will endure the consequences," Arinc said.
The Turkish government has taken some conciliatory steps toward the Kurds, allowing Kurdish-language institutes and private Kurdish courses as well as Kurdish television broadcasts. But Kurdish activists say far more needs to be done to heal scars dating from a time when the Kurdish language was banned, and cite police roundups of Kurdish politicians, journalists and others suspected of rebel links as a sign of intolerance for the minority.
___
Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, contributed.
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