Introducing #SciAmBlogs bloggers: Caleb Scharf

Every week (or so) I post a quick Q&A with one of our bloggers on the network, so you can get to know them better. This week, I chat with Caleb Scharf from Life, Unbounded.

Hello! Let?s start with first things first. What is the name of your blog and why did you choose that name ? what does it mean?

Life, Unbounded. I knew that I wanted to write mostly about the science that I think is the most exciting at the moment, and that?s the study of exoplanets and the search for life in the universe ? not the endlessly speculative ?searches? of old mind you, but the modern effort, which is quantitative and rigorous. ?Life, Unbounded? has a double meaning, first the suggestion that if life is a fundamental characteristic of our big, big universe there must be a lot of wild stuff out there. The second meaning is a bit of a nerdy science pun, ?unbounded? also has a specific mathematical definition, referring to a function that can be arbitrarily large, not bounded above, below, or to the sides. In a sense our current search for an understanding of life in the universe is a bit like that, it?s an unbounded problem. We can?t readily outline the specifics of where or what our search should be, and that in itself is one of our key scientific challenges. We?re tackling it head-on though, by starting with the template of the origins and extremes of life here on Earth, the exploration of our solar system, and hunting for exoplanets and their properties. You can tell I write a lot of research proposals right?

Where does the artwork for your banner come from, and what are you trying to convey with it?

I think there?s an old New Yorker cartoon with a disheveled guy sitting on the sidewalk with a set of appallingly bad paintings, and a little sign that says ?All my own work?. My banner is just that, with the helpful addition of billions of dollars worth of space-based imagery. I used a picture of Earth from the International Space Station, showing thunderclouds above the Pacific Ocean, and I also used a Hubble Space Telescope image of part of the Eagle Nebula ? a vast structure of gas, dust, and stars about 7,000 light years away. I tweaked the colors and merged the two. Apart from the fact that I think it looks nice, I wanted to convey the sense of connection between our homeworld, and our biosphere, to cosmic processes. All the heavy elements inside us were produced a million miles down inside stars that are long dead, and their death helped form nebulae that gravity acted on to form new stars and new planets. Exactly how this cyclical process works, and how it influences the primitive environment on young worlds like our natal Earth, and how that leads to life is a critical and fundamental question that many people are working on.

Tell us more about yourself ? where are you from, how did you get into science?

I?m really a product of the European and Eurasian diaspora, from Russia, Austria, and old, old England, and back and forth from the United States. Mongrel is the correct term. I was born in London and grew up in England. My interest in science goes right back to early childhood, but it was never the straightforward aspects of science that caught my attention; it was always the complex and the subtle. As a very small kid in London I would be taken to places like the British Museum and the Science Museum. Everywhere there were intricate paintings, drawings, machines, books, and skeletons. It seemed like the most interesting thing in the world was to try to make sense of the world! My family later moved to the countryside, and as clich?d as it sounds, suddenly there were dark nights and lo-and-behold all these stars and structures were hanging in the sky that just felt so immense, and so important. I was hooked. One thing led to another and I think the real turning point, where it all crystallized (although to be quite honest it?s still crystallizing on a daily basis) was studying at Cambridge. I?d never been in a place where ideas were so openly discussed and then graciously torn apart, it was great, and taught me to let myself question and explore in a way I hadn?t fully understood before. Since that time, doing research has been my daily bread and butter.

How did you get into science blogging and science writing? What were the early influences on you regarding your blogging style and topics?

Starting a blog wasn?t a particularly spontaneous process for me. I?d finished writing a textbook a couple years earlier (all about exoplanets and astrobiology) and found that I enjoyed doing the more freewheeling, exploratory pieces of that book ? compared to dealing with expository maths, and highly quantitative aspects of astrophysics, they were the guilty pleasures. So I wanted to get into more writing for a wider audience and a very good literary agent (now my agent!) suggested I try blogging. At first I had no idea how to approach it, so I did the unscientific thing of diving in headfirst, no research, no clue. I quickly realized that I needed to have some kind of structure and style, so I started reading many, many blogs and online science pieces ? some commercial, some by other people like me. I saw what I personally liked to read and what I didn?t. In that sense I guess I owe the whole science blogosphere a debt for letting me perform my own type of Darwinian selection process to inform my approach.

The main inspirations were, and still are, things that I come across that immediately spark an idea for something to say. Journal articles, preprints, news items, lurking ideas that relate to something someone else is working on. I find that doing plenty of reading is vital for writing a blog, and being willing to kill off posts if they?re not turning out well ? my trash folder is full of 1/3rd to ? done posts dropped in disgust.

What is your blog about? Who is your target audience, and why do you think people should read your blog?

Haven?t I already answered this?! The underlying themes of Life, Unbounded are exoplanetary science (the study of planets around other stars) and astrobiology (the study and search for the origins and evolution of life in the universe, and of course the confirmation that it exists somewhere other than Earth). I?m an astrophysicist and cosmologist by training, so it?s naturally biased towards that end of things, but the beauty of these themes is that they are intertwined, and so the blog also talks about the biology in astrobiology. When fascinating discoveries crop up in the physical sciences I?m likely to write about those too, from superluminal neutrinos to, well, to pretty much anything.

My target audience is anyone and everyone with a passing interest in science and in finding out whether we?re alone in the universe. I try to keep jargon in check and I try to tell a story whenever I can, stories are so much more interesting than simple rote explanation, even if its clearly done. Why should anyone read the blog? You mean apart from its priceless wit and entertainment value? Well, in all honesty I genuinely believe that we humans can be in better touch with our humanity if we occasionally stop to remind ourselves of our pitiful, yet utterly remarkable, place in the cosmos. If what I write about can perform that trick in any small, tiny, miniscule way, then I think it?s worth reading in the off chance that it?ll work for you.

Anything else interesting about you, perhaps cool hobbies?

I think I used to be interesting, but now I have two tweenagers, which means that free time is a limited commodity and whatever used to be fascinating about me is long gone. Summer is a big travel time, usually split between the UK and Norway. This seasonal migration has become a defining characteristic. Without the glorious and crazy internet this would be impossible. As it is, I can pretend to be incredibly productive by answering my email at impossibly outrageous hours for people back in New York. I?m also a huge fan of Norway and Norwegians, it?s not only a stunningly beautiful country, it?s also incredibly civilized and humanitarian and reminds me (with some wistfulness) of what a more innocent UK was like when I was growing up. I still love the UK, but apart from the glorious beer, the humo(u)r, and the countryside, it has changed a lot.

Backyard in Norway

In small fragments of spare time I?m also involved with a startup company in New York. Right now we?re developing a very sophisticated system for science education in grade schools and high school. Aspects of this make use of game-learning, so I?ve been lucky enough to indulge my secretive passion for videogames, and I can now almost justify that as ?research?. I spin this by saying that if you read one of the game business journals you?ll discover incredible articles on esoteric mathematics and computer science, human psychology, history, language, and even music theory! It?s fascinating how sophisticated an art form this has become, it now more than rivals what Hollywood produces, and often far outdoes it.

Oh, and can I just say, please, please go and check out my pop-sci book (it comes out August 2012) ?Gravity?s Engines: How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Universe?. It?s a good read, honest, and was only 14 billion years in the making.

==========

Previously in this series:

Michelle Clement
Janet Stemwedel
Charles Q. Choi
SciCurious
Jennifer Ouellette
Kate Clancy
Christina Agapakis
Melissa Lott
Jennifer Frazer
James Byrne
John Platt
Jason Goldman
S.E.Gould
Gozde Zorlu
Cassie Rodenberg
Carin Bondar
Krystal D?Costa

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=42fb282a2ee1744ed9d0dd57429e074c

divine bettie page harry caray northern lights maksim chmerkovskiy aurora borealis s.978

BOXX electric bike: two wheels, four corners, all-electric transport for one

Has bicycle design reached its pinnacle? Or are electric bike manufacturers just not trying hard enough? The YikeBike begs to differ, and here joining it is BOXX Corporation's diminutive BOXX. Coming in at just under a meter (or 36-inch inches) long, the 120 pound aluminum "bike" has a top speed of 35 miles per hour and can even haul up to 300 pounds of heft. Yet, despite that compact footprint, the company hasn't skimped on tech, as it boasts traction control, anti-lock brakes and yes, even LED lights. Available in one of ten colors, $3,995 nets you a base 40-mile range model, which can optionally be doubled to 80 by ticking the $599 CORE 2 box. And for those willing to spruce even further, there's a $149 heated seat and $349 1-hour charger on offer. Ready to literally hunker down on electric mobility? Go on, peep the source links below -- do it, we've even linked the configurator.

BOXX electric bike: two wheels, four corners, all-electric transport for one originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PC World  |  BOXX (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/30/boxx-electric-bike/

curmudgeon daylight savings time 2011 selena daylight savings bobolink bobolink breeders cup

AnonOps Communications: Turning the internet back on in Egypt ...

"you want to shut down the internet?

Fine, the people of the internet will show you how to turn it back on."

Don't know if that's true or not but :

"you want to censor the internet?

Fine, the people of the internet will show you how to uncensor it".

Amiright? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16367042?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Source: http://anonops.blogspot.com/2012/01/turning-internet-back-on-in-egypt-we.html

tim howard rob roy gaslight justin timberlake michael dyer meteor shower bachmann

Video: McCain: Citizens United decision an ?outrage?

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/46180827#46180827

norad santa tracker vince carter sweet potato casserole safeway standing rib roast its a wonderful life its a wonderful life

India's Razzies poke fun at "indulgent" Bollywood (Reuters)

MUMBAI (Reuters) ? Bollywood stars better watch out. Movie fans in India are handing out their own version of the Razzies, the annual Oscars spoof that spotlights Hollywood's worst performances.

The second Ghanta (bell) Awards and the fourth Golden Kela (golden banana) awards are doing the rounds of social media networks, with fans voting in various categories for the worst films of 2011.

The rise of what is known as the "multiplex audience," urban viewers who have a taste for edgier cinema and the spending power to watch it, has meant that Bollywood is exploring newer storylines and bolder themes.

But Indian actors and film makers continuing with stale family melodramas and bad scripts risk being pilloried by urban audiences exposed to top-notch Hollywood films who now expect the same standards in India.

This year, the Ghantas also have a holier-than-thou film award, for "indulgent film makers."

"These are typically personal stories that do not cater to mass sensibilities," says Karan Anshuman, film critic and co-founder of The Ghanta Awards.

"Here, films are inspired by the grammar of world cinema and not so much Bollywood," says Anshuman.

"And while this is an encouraging step toward making available different cinemas to an audience, more often than not the movies are ineptly made and just plain bad and silly."

With categories like "Most Atrocious lyrics," "Worst Rip-Off" and "Worst Holier-than-thou films," fans can take potshots at the worst of Bollywood cinema from the past year.

Big-ticket stars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan are nominated in the worst actor categories at The Ghantas while the Shah Rukh Khan caper "Don 2" has been nominated in the "Worst Rip-Off" category for imitating "every Hollywood action film."

The response from the Indian online community has been encouraging. A day after voting began, more than a thousand users had cast their votes for the Ghantas. More than 300,000 people cast their votes for The Golden Kelas last year.

Organizers aren't counting on the same support from the Indian film industry.

"Bollywood isn't really known for laughing at itself and frankly has zero sense of humor," says Anshuman.

Organizers of the Golden Kela awards, which last year awarded the Worst Actor award to Shah Rukh Khan, say no Bollywood star or film maker shows up to claim their prizes.

This week, film maker Anurag Kashyap tweeted he would collect his Ghanta award in person if his film "That Girl in Yellow Boots" wins in the "holier-than-thou" category.

While the Ghantas will be announced in February in Mumbai, the Golden Kela award ceremony will be held in New Delhi in March.

(Reporting By Shilpa Jamkhandikar, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/stage_nm/us_bollywood_razzies

port of oakland grand theft auto 5 grand theft auto 5 kris jenner kris jenner livestand power ball

Greek debt relief talks grind on (AP)

ATHENS, Greece ? Greece's prime minister was set to resume talks Friday with representatives of private creditors in the hope of reaching a debt reduction deal essential to avoid a disastrous bankruptcy.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said he hoped a Greek deal would be reached "if not today maybe by the weekend."

Premier Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos were expected to meet Friday evening for a second day with Charles Dallara, head of the Institute of International Finance banking lobby, and Jean Lemierre, senior adviser to the chairman of French bank BNP Paribas, the prime minister's office said.

A senior Greek government official said Thursday that, despite delays in concluding the negotiations, Athens is still aiming to submit its formal offer for the bond-swap deal to banks and other private creditors by Feb. 13.

Athens needs the deal before a euro14.5 billion bond repayment on March 20 that it cannot afford.

Private bondholders are being asked to forgive half their Greek debt, and in return accept cash payments and new bonds with longer maturities. The euro100 billion ($129 billion) writedown is required for a second international bailout with a looming euro14.5 billion bond repayment on March 20 that carries a serious threat of bankruptcy for Greece.

An IIF statement said Thursday's talks focused on legal and technical issues. "Some progress was realized," it said.

A major sticking point is the interest rates the new bonds will carry. Greece's partners in the 17-member eurozone are pressing bondholders to accept a rate considerably lower than they want ? well below 4 percent on average.

Whatever debt relief Greece doesn't get from the investors will have to come from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund, its bailout creditors.

In return for the rescue loans, Greece has imposed tough austerity measures, including salary and pension cuts, repeated rounds of tax hikes and labor reforms.

But frustration has grown at what international officials have said is a too slow pace of reforms, with Greece frequently missing its fiscal targets.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted Friday as saying that, in an interim report on Monday, Greece's international debt inspectors said that "Greece still has not fully implemented the April 2010 agreements" set out in the initial bailout.

"However, we insist on Greece fulfilling the conditions from the first aid program," Schaeuble told the German daily Stuttgarter Zeitung. "We've had enough announcements, now the government in Athens must act. Only then can we talk about a second program."

Debt inspectors from the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission, known collectively as the "troika," are currently in Athens to negotiate details of the country's second bailout, worth euro130 billion. The debt swap deal is an integral part of the new rescue package.

Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said Greece would not default on its debts if it took the right steps.

"I believe that provided we move correctly, we will have time to make the deals and not go to a default," he told Skai television. "The negotiation is difficult. I don't want to create the illusion that everything is going well and that everything is easy. It is a very difficult negotiation."

The troika has been pressing for further labor reforms, with Greece's labor market seen as being uncompetitive.

____

Nicholas Paphitis in Athens and Pan Pylas in Davos, Switzerland, contributed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_greece_financial_crisis

drop dead gorgeous ticket city bowl 2011 nfl playoff schedule cowboys vs giants ndaa dallas cowboys weight watchers

Natural gas price falls after supply report

NEW YORK (AP) ? The price of natural gas dropped Thursday for the first time in a week after the government said U.S. supplies are still well above what's normal for this time of year.

A report from the Energy Information Administration on Thursday showed the U.S. had 3.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in storage ? a level that's 21.4 percent higher than the five-year average.

Natural gas futures fell 12 cents, or 4.5 percent, to end at $2.6050 per 1,000 cubic feet in New York.

The decline is good news for many Americans. Natural gas is used for heating in more than half of U.S. homes and many utilities also burn natural gas to generate electricity. So falling prices should eventually mean lower bills for many consumers.

The price of natural gas had rebounded by about 17 percent from a 10-year low over the past few days. That followed announcements by major energy companies that they would reduce gas production. Chesapeake Energy Corp. and ConocoPhillips said they would cut natural gas production by about 600 million cubic feet per day. And Consol Energy said Thursday that it will set aside plans to drill 23 wells in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale region in the eastern U.S.

But analysts don't think it's enough to significantly reduce the nation's huge supplies.

"There's an awful amount of gas," said Gene McGillian, a broker and analyst at Tradition Energy. "We need to see more and more producers make cuts."

U.S. natural gas supplies have grown over the past few years as companies use new techniques to tap vast deposits of petroleum-rich shale.

Barring any unseasonable swings in the weather, natural gas companies likely will trim production by another 2 billion cubic feet per day this year, independent energy analyst Stephen Smith said.

"They're just going to have to," Smith said. "Either because they won't want to sell it at the lower price, or because there will be no more room to store it."

Meanwhile, benchmark oil prices rose on Thursday after new reports on jobs and manufacturing pointed to a steadily improving U.S. economy that will need more oil.

The Commerce Department said orders for long-lasting, durable goods rose in December, and a private survey showed a range of economic indicators got stronger at the end of 2011.

The jobs market appears to be improving, even after a modest increase in unemployment claims last week.

Benchmark crude on Thursday rose 30 cents to finish at $99.70 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price foreign oil imported by U.S. refineries, rose by 98 cents to end at $110.79 in London.

Meanwhile, retail gasoline stayed at a national average of $3.38 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.

In other energy trading, heating oil rose 3 cents to finish at $3.05 per gallon and gasoline futures rose about a penny to end at $2.85 per gallon.

___

Follow Chris Kahn on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ChrisKahnAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-26-Oil%20Prices/id-071dd22a8c3444ad926c9191f7fd2be3

turkey recipes turkey recipes happy holidays norad how to carve a turkey how to cook a turkey yorkshire pudding

Romanov descendant looks for love on Ukraine show (omg!)

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) ? He is a descendant of Russia's last czar ? and has lived in the jungle, starred in Bollywood movies and trained as a stuntman.

Now Scottish photographer Francis Mathew is in a new adventure: finding a bride on a reality TV show in Ukraine.

Mathew, the great-great-nephew of Nicholas II, is the star of the second season of Ukraine's version of the popular U.S. show "The Bachelor" ? in which an unmarried man picks a fiancee through a series of dates and romantic getaways.

"I've been very lucky in life, but very unlucky in love," the 33-year-old, who comes across as a romantic behind bad-boy looks, told The Associated Press in an interview.

"I am actually ready for a proper relationship, I have been for a couple of years," he said. "I am pretty fussy when it comes to choosing a longterm girlfriend, it's very difficult to find someone to be compatible with."

As many as 16,000 young women from across Ukraine and beyond auditioned to compete for the heart of "a prince" ? as Mathew is billed by the show's producers, even though he has no royal title.

Twenty-five contestants were selected for the show, also called "The Bachelor" in Ukrainian, and some have gotten into shouting matches and even fights over who gets to spend more time with him, according to the STB Channel, which is set to air the show in March.

The 12 episodes, which are currently being filmed in Ukraine, Finland, Sri Lanka and elsewhere, entail romantic dinners, a helicopter ride and Mathew taking on a 350-kilogram (750-pound) bull as a matador. Mathew speaks little Ukrainian or Russian, so both he and the contestants wear earpieces and rely on simultaneous translation. He hopes the project will help him reconnect with his Slavic roots.

Matthew admits that the show, in which he eliminates women one by one based on their date performance until he proposes to one of the two finalists, may be provocative.

"Honestly, the concept is crazy, absolutely crazy," Mathew said. "You have to be of a certain mindset to enter a contest like that, I think it takes courage."

But he says he has met attractive and interesting women on the show and hopes to fall in love.

"Love works in very mysterious ways," Mathew said. "It does come from the most random places sometimes, the most unexpected places, so why not TV?"

The odds of finding true love, however, appear to be against Mathew. His predecessor on the show, a Ukrainian-American ballroom dancer, split with his newfound fiancee shortly after it ended last summer. Only one of the 15 seasons of "The Bachelor" in the U.S. resulted in marriage.

Mathew is the son of Princess Olga Andreevna Romanov, 61, whose father, Prince Andrei Alexandrovich, was the nephew of Nicholas II, Russia's last czar. Nicholas II was assassinated by the Bolsheviks shortly after the 1917 Revolution together with his wife and children. Mathew's grandfather was able to escape and settled in Britain.

Born in London and raised in Scotland, Mathew decided against going to university and chose to become a stuntman instead. He spent more than five years studying martial arts and other sports, while working in landscape gardening to pay for his living.

Stunt acting "was my childhood dream," Matthew said. "I was always a very adventurous child ... I climbed every building I could jump off. I used to do crazy things."

But the training ended after he badly injured his ankle on a trampoline and Mathew found a new passion in photography. He photographed jungle animals while living in a mud hut in Cameroon and spent over three years in India working as a fashion photographer. While in India he also played villains in Bollywood movies and starred in commercials, including for chewing gum and an airline company.

Mathew says he has been in love before, but his lifestyle prevented him from settling down. His most romantic relationship, incidentally, was with a Ukrainian girl.

"Whenever I've met somebody who I either fall in love with or have a great connection with, either she is leaving or I am leaving," he said.

This time he is hoping for a happy ending.

"I am not in love at this point, but there is definitely potential to fall in love," he said. "Have I kissed a girl? You have to watch and find out."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_romanov_descendant_looks_love_ukraine_show071708457/44323632/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/romanov-descendant-looks-love-ukraine-show-071708457.html

brett ratner jerry sandusky toyota recall order of operations carrie underwood eric church sara evans

Tame Theory: Did Bonobos Domesticate Themselves?

News | Evolution

A new hypothesis holds that the natural selection produced the chimpanzee's nicer cousin in much the same way that humans bred dogs from wolves

By Ed Yong ?| January 25, 2012?|

Image: whiteshark29, courtesy Flickr

Time and again humans have domesticated wild animals, producing tame individuals with softer appearances and more docile temperaments, such as dogs and guinea pigs. But a new study suggests that one of our primate cousins?the African ape known as the bonobo?did something similar without human involvement. It domesticated itself.

Anthropologist Brian Hare of Duke University's Institute for Brain Sciences noticed that the bonobo looks like a domestic version of its closest living relative, the chimpanzee. The bonobo is less aggressive than the chimp, with a smaller skull and shorter canine teeth. And it spends more time playing and having sex. These traits are very similar to those that separate domestic animals from their wild ancestors. They are all part of a constellation of characteristics known as the domestication syndrome.

The similarities between bonobos and domesticated species dawned on Hare during a large departmental dinner, where he listened to Harvard University anthropologist Richard Wrangham hold forth on bonobos. "He was talking about how bonobos are an evolutionary puzzle," Hare recalls. "'They have all these weird traits relative to chimps and we have no idea how to explain them,'" Wrangham had noted. "I said, 'Oh that's like the silver foxes!' Richard turned around and said, 'What silver foxes?'"

The foxes that Hare mentioned were the legacy of Russian geneticist Dmitri Belyaev. In the 1950s Belyaev started raising wild silver foxes in captivity and breeding those that were least aggressive toward their human handlers. Within just 20 generations, he had created the fox equivalent of our domestic pooches. Instead of snarling when humans approached, they wagged their tails. At the same time, their ears became floppier, tails curlier and skulls smaller.

Belyaev's experiments showed that if you select for nicer animals, the other parts of the domestication syndrome follow suit. Hare thinks that a similar process happened in bonobos, albeit without human intervention.

Rape, murder and warring neighbors are all regular aspects of chimp life. Bonobo societies, however, are far more peaceful. Hare thinks that the chimplike ancestors of bonobos found themselves in an environment where aggressive individuals fared poorly. By selecting for the most cooperative ones, evolution forged a "self-domesticated" ape, just as Belyaev produced domestic foxes by picking the most docile ones.

Hare has now laid out his ideas in a new paper, written with Wrangham and Harvard colleague Victoria Wobber, and published online January 20 in Animal Behaviour.
Bonobos and chimpanzees diverged from a common ancestor between one million and two million years ago, after the formation of the Congo River separated one population of apes into two. Considering that neither species can swim, the two populations "might as well have been on different planets," Hare says.

Both groups faced very different environments. Hare thinks that the northern population, which would eventually become chimps, had more competition from gorillas for their food. They were forced to compete fiercely with one another for whatever was left. Females got a particularly short shrift, and were easily overpowered by males for both sex and resources.

"In bonobo-land in the south, the story was different," Hare explains. "The river would have protected the ancestors of bonobos from gorillas." With more food to go around, females could gather in larger groups, form tight social bonds, and better resist the advances of males. In this land of plenty, the least aggressive males, who opted for alliances rather than brute force, were most likely to mate. South of the river, the nicer apes thrived.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=d7e08c29065be75f4abf272e4d054669

plaxico burress kenya entourage season 8 entourage season 8 avignon asn dukan diet

Exclusive: Buffy Alum Azura Skye Takes Flight on Grimm (omg!)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Azura Skye will guest-star on an upcoming episode of Grimm, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.

Skye, 30, will play a kind, mild-mannered bed and breakfast owner named Robin Steinkeller, who also happens to be a Seltenvogel (an extremely rare bird-like creature). Robin has something very valuable to many in the Wesen world, and Nick (David Giuntoli) finds her in a panic to escape her abusive husband. So far, her only protection is the strength of her turtleneck and scarf, whatever that might mean. Perhaps her neck gets cold easily?

Watch full episodes of Grimm

No airdate has been set yet for the episode, titled "The Thing with Feathers."

Skye's guest turn reunites her with Buffy the Vampire Slayer executive producer and writer David Greenwalt, now an executive producer on Grimm. Greenwalt also re-teamed with Buffy vet Amy Acker for the upcoming Feb. 10 episode in which she plays a black widow.

Skye most recently guest-starred on American Horror Story last year.

Grimm airs Fridays at 9/8c on NBC.

Related Articles on TVGuide.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_exclusive_buffy_alum_azura_skye_takes_flight_grimm212700828/44305644/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-buffy-alum-azura-skye-takes-flight-grimm-212700828.html

cyber monday best deals brownback brownback salvia cybermonday deals cybermonday deals steve johnson

E-filing taxes: IRS ready to receive your money

E-filing taxes begins in earnest as Internal Revenue Service begins accepting electronically filed returns. E-filing taxes is free to anyone, but those making $57,000 or less can get more free help.

Tax season is officially here, with the?Internal?Revenue?Service?now accepting electronically filed returns.

Skip to next paragraph

This is a good year for procrastinators. April 15 ? the traditional due date for returns ? falls on a Sunday and the following Monday is Emancipation Day, a holiday celebrated in Washington. This pushes the deadline to April 17.

But this is also a leap year, so Feb. 29 gives us one more day to ponder our taxes.

Many filers could use the extra time. The IRS estimates the total number of hours it will take this year to file the popular 1040 ? from record keeping and planning to submitting the form ? is 22.

The IRS has also launched Free File on its website at irs.gov. Free File is a partnership between the agency and about 20 tax software companies to provide online filing at no cost. To use Free File, you can't make more than $57,000 a year.

For do-it-yourselfers of all income levels, the IRS offers Free File Fillable Forms. This is the electronic format of traditional paper forms that can be filed for free online, too.

If you're filing electronically on your own, make sure you print out the return and review it before hitting the send button, says Jackie Perlman, a principal tax analyst with the Tax Institute at H&R Block.

A software program will catch math errors or prompt you if you forget to sign the return, she says. But it can't tell whether you made the mistake of transposing numbers you enter yourself.

Of course, whether you file a paper or electronic return, taxes can be confusing. If you need help filling out a return, there's free assistance.

The IRS provides free tax preparation of simple returns for filers earning up to $50,000. Go to IRS.gov to find the time and locations.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program has IRS-trained volunteers who will do your taxes for free if you make less than $50,000 a year.

"We're talking fairly simple tax returns ... not rental property and buying and selling stocks," said Robin McKinney, director of the Maryland CASH Campaign, which is part of the program.

AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program's trained volunteers provide free tax help to low- to moderate-income households, with a special focus on those age 50 and older. The income limits for eligibility differ from place to place.

Find information about times and locations of the VITA and the Tax-Aide programs at 800-492-0618.

The CASH Campaign's McKinney says that some commercial tax companies are offering free tax preparation this year. But she warns that these offers are promotions that often expire in early February or apply only to super-simple 1040EZ returns.

"That ends up being very few people (who qualify). Anyone who claims dependents, or gets the earned income tax credit or claims mortgage interest, can't use a 1040EZ," she said. "That's not always so clear in the advertising."

About 60 percent of taxpayers hire someone to do their taxes. After years of complaints about shoddy or shady work by some preparers, Uncle Sam is raising the bar.

The IRS now requires all paid preparers filing more than 10 returns to have a Preparer Tax Identification Number. It's also phasing in a testing requirement for certain preparers to make sure they are competent. Make sure your preparer has a PTIN and gives you a copy of your return that's signed by the preparer.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/WD9Y82hrTfs/E-filing-taxes-IRS-ready-to-receive-your-money

when does ios 5 come out christopher columbus trina the green mile the green mile james whitey bulger coptic church

Study finds new genetic loci associated with menopause onset

Monday, January 23, 2012

An international team of researchers from the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine and other institutions has uncovered 13 genetic loci, linked to immune function and DNA repair, that are factors in the age of onset of menopause.

Menopause -- the cessation of reproductive function of the ovaries -- is a major hormonal change that affects most women when they are in their early 50s. Most prior studies of the age of onset of menopause have focused on genes from the estrogen-production pathway or vascular components.

In the new study, published online Jan. 22 in Nature Genetics, a research team led by Kathryn Lunetta, professor of biostatistics at the BU School of Public Health, and Joanne Murabito, associate professor of medicine at the BU School of Medicine, identified 13 novel loci associated with menopause onset, while confirming four previously established loci. Most of the 17 loci are associated with genes related to DNA damage repair or auto-immune disease; others are linked to hormonal regulation.

"Our findings demonstrate the role of genes which regulate DNA repair and immune function, as well as genes affecting neuroendocrine pathways of ovarian function in regulating age at menopause, indicating the process of aging is involved in both somatic and germ line aging" the authors said.

Lunetta said the new findings "bring us closer to understanding the genetic basis for the timing of menopause. They may also provide clues to the genetic basis of early onset or premature menopause and reduced fertility.

"We hope that as a better understanding of the biologic effects of these menopause-related variants are uncovered, we will gain new insights into the connections between menopause and cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and other traits related to aging, and that this will provide avenues for prevention and treatment of these conditions," she said.

According to Murabito, director of the research clinic at the Framingham Heart Study, "It will be important to determine if a genetic variant that directly influences age at menopause also increases risk for later life health conditions, such as breast cancer."

The authors said they expected further research to identify "a substantial number of additional common variants" that impact age of menopause, and that many of them will be located in genes identified in their study. The study examined more than 50,000 women of European descent who had experienced menopause between the ages of 40 and 60.

The research team noted that a large-scale study of menopause onset in African-American women is underway, which will help to determine whether the genetic variations that affect menopause onset in African-American women are similar or substantially different for women of primarily European descent.

Besides Lunetta and Murabito, senior authors on the study include: Anna Murray, a senior lecturer in genetics at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter (UK); and Jenny A. Visser, a scientist at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam (Netherlands).

###

Boston University Medical Center: http://www.bmc.org

Thanks to Boston University Medical Center for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 35 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116942/Study_finds_new_genetic_loci_associated_with_menopause_onset

swizz beatz mpaa lauren scruggs south carolina debate nightline william shatner seattle weather

Family, football meant everything to Joe Paterno

FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2010 file photo, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno leaves Beaver Stadium after his weekly NCAA college football news conference on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010 in State College, Pa. Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone else in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. He was 85. (AP Photo/Pat Little, file)

FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2010 file photo, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno leaves Beaver Stadium after his weekly NCAA college football news conference on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010 in State College, Pa. Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone else in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. He was 85. (AP Photo/Pat Little, file)

FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2004 file photo, Penn State coach Joe Paterno leads his team onto the field before an NCAA college football game against Akron in State College, Pa. Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone else in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. He was 85. (AP Photo /Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 1999, file photo, Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, right, poses with his defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky during Penn State Media Day at State College, Pa. In a statement made Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, retired Penn State assistant coach Sandusky, who faces child sex abuse charges in a case that led to the firing of Paterno, says Paterno's death is a sad day. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis, File)

A woman pays her respects at a statue of Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium on the Penn State University campus after learning of his death Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

A flag and Penn State scarf are displayed on a statue of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium on the Penn State campus as fans pay their respects after learning of Paterno's death Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Other than family, football was everything to Joe Paterno. It was his lifeblood. It kept him pumped.

Life could not be the same without it.

"Right now, I'm not the coach. And I've got to get used to that," Paterno said after the Penn State Board of Trustees fired him at the height of a child sex abuse scandal.

Before he could, he ran out of time.

Paterno, a sainted figure at Penn State for almost half a century but scarred forever by the scandal involving his one-time heir apparent, died Sunday at age 85.

His death came just 65 days after his son Scott said his father had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Mount Nittany Medical Center said he died at 9:25 a.m. of "metastatic small cell carcinoma of the lung," an aggressive cancer that has spread from one part of the body to an unrelated area.

Friends and former colleagues believe there were other factors ? the kind that wouldn't appear on a death certificate.

"You can die of heartbreak. I'm sure Joe had some heartbreak, too," said 82-year-old Bobby Bowden, the former Florida State coach who retired two years ago after 34 seasons in Tallahassee.

Longtime Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said he suspected "the emotional turmoil of the last few weeks might have played into it."

And Mickey Shuler, who played tight end for Paterno from 1975 to 1977, held his alma mater accountable.

"I don't think that the Penn State that he helped us to become and all the principles and values and things that he taught were carried out in the handling of his situation," he said.

Paterno's death just under three months following his last victory called to mind another coaching great, Alabama's Paul "Bear" Bryant, who died less than a month after retiring.

"Quit coaching?" Bryant said late in his career. "I'd croak in a week."

Paterno alluded to the remark made by his friend and rival, saying in 2003: "There isn't anything in my life anymore except my family and my football. I think about it all the time."

The winningest coach in major college football, Paterno roamed the Penn State sidelines for 46 seasons, his thick-rimmed glasses, windbreaker and jet-black sneakers as familiar as the Nittany Lions' blue and white uniforms.

His devotion to what he called "Success with Honor" made Paterno's fall all the more startling.

Happy Valley seemed perfect for him, a place where "JoePa" knew best, where he not only won more football games than any other major college coach, but won them the right way. With Paterno, character came first, championships second, academics before athletics. He insisted that on-field success not come at the expense of graduation rates.

But in the middle of his final season, the legend was shattered. Paterno was engulfed in a child sex abuse scandal when a former trusted assistant, Jerry Sandusky, was accused of molesting 10 boys over a 15-year span, sometimes in the football building.

Outrage built quickly after the state's top law enforcement official said the coach hadn't fulfilled a moral obligation to go to authorities when a graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, reported seeing Sandusky with a young boy in the showers of the football complex in 2002.

McQueary said that he had seen Sandusky attacking the child with his hands around the boy's waist but said he wasn't 100 percent sure it was intercourse. McQueary described Paterno as shocked and saddened and said the coach told him he had "done the right thing" by reporting the encounter.

Paterno waited a day before alerting school officials and never went to the police.

"I didn't know which way to go ... and rather than get in there and make a mistake," Paterno told The Washington Post in an interview nine days before his death.

"You know, (McQueary) didn't want to get specific," Paterno said. "And to be frank with you I don't know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man. So I just did what I thought was best. I talked to people that I thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it."

When the scandal broke in November, Paterno said he would retire following the 2011 season. He also said he was "absolutely devastated" by the abuse case.

"This is a tragedy," he said. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."

But the university trustees fired Paterno, effective immediately. Graham Spanier, one of the longest-serving university presidents in the nation, also was fired.

Paterno was notified by phone, not in person, a decision that board vice chairman John Surma regretted, trustees said. Lanny Davis, the attorney retained by trustees as an adviser, said Surma intended to extend his regrets over the phone before Paterno hung up him.

After weeks of escalating criticism by some former players and alumni about a lack of transparency, trustees last week said they fired Paterno in part because he failed a moral obligation to do more in reporting the 2002 allegation.

An attorney for Paterno on Thursday called the board's comments self-serving and unsupported by the facts. Paterno fully reported what he knew to the people responsible for campus investigations, lawyer Wick Sollers said.

"He did what he thought was right with the information he had at the time," Sollers said.

The lung cancer was found during a follow-up visit for a bronchial illness. A few weeks later, Paterno broke his pelvis after a fall but did not need surgery.

The hospital said Paterno was surrounded by family members, who have requested privacy.

Paterno had been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation after what his family called minor complications from his cancer treatments. Washington Post writer Sally Jenkins, who conducted the final interview, described Paterno then as frail, speaking mostly in a whisper and wearing a wig. The second half of the two-day interview was done at his bedside.

On Sunday, two police officers were stationed to block traffic on the street where Paterno's modest ranch home stands next to a local park. The officers said the family had asked there be no public gathering outside the house, still decorated with a Christmas wreath, so Paterno's relatives could grieve privately. And, indeed, the street was quiet on a cold winter day.

Paterno's sons, Scott and Jay, arrived separately at the house late Sunday morning. Jay Paterno, who was his father's quarterbacks coach, was crying.

"His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled," the family said in a statement. "He died as he lived. He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."

Paterno built a program based on the credo of "Success with Honor," and he found both. He won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and two national championships. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL.

"He will go down as the greatest football coach in the history of the game," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said after his former team, the Florida Gators, beat Penn State 37-24 in the 2011 Outback Bowl.

The university handed the football team to one of Paterno's assistants, Tom Bradley, who said Paterno "will go down in history as one of the greatest men, who maybe most of you know as a great football coach."

"As the last 61 years have shown, Joe made an incredible impact," said the statement from the family. "That impact has been felt and appreciated by our family in the form of thousands of letters and well wishes along with countless acts of kindness from people whose lives he touched. It is evident also in the thousands of successful student athletes who have gone on to multiply that impact as they spread out across the country."

New Penn State football coach Bill O'Brien, hired earlier this month, offered his condolences.

"There are no words to express my respect for him as a man and as a coach," O'Brien said in a statement. "To be following in his footsteps at Penn State is an honor."

Paterno believed success was not measured entirely on the field. From his idealistic early days, he had implemented what he called a "grand experiment" ? to graduate more players while maintaining success on the field.

The team consistently ranked among the best in the Big Ten for graduating players. As of 2011, it had 49 academic All-Americans, the third-highest among schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision. All but two played under Paterno.

"He teaches us about really just growing up and being a man," former linebacker Paul Posluszny, now with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, once said. "Besides the football, he's preparing us to be good men in life."

Sandusky, who has maintained his innocence, lauded his former boss in a statement that said: "He maintained a high standard in a very difficult profession. Joe preached toughness, hard work and clean competition. Most importantly, he had the courage to practice what he preached."

Paterno certainly had detractors. One former Penn State professor called his high-minded words on academics a farce, and a former administrator said players often got special treatment. His coaching style often was considered too conservative. Some thought he held on to his job too long, and a move to push him out in 2004 failed.

But the critics were in the minority, and his program was never cited for major NCAA violations. The child sex abuse scandal, however, did prompt separate inquiries by the U.S. Department of Education and the NCAA into the school's handling.

Paterno didn't intend to become a coach. He played quarterback and defensive back for Brown University and set a school record with 14 career interceptions, but when he graduated in 1950 he planned to go to law school. He said his father hoped he would someday be president.

But when Paterno was 23, a former coach at Brown was moving to Penn State to become the head coach and persuaded Paterno to come with him as an assistant.

"I had no intention to coach when I got out of Brown," Paterno said in 2007 in an interview at Penn State's Beaver Stadium before being inducted into college football's Hall of Fame. "Come to this hick town? From Brooklyn?"

In 1963, he was offered a job by the late Al Davis ? $18,000, triple his salary at Penn State, plus a car to become general manager and coach of the AFL's Oakland Raiders. He said no. Rip Engle retired as Penn State head coach three years later, and Paterno took over.

At the time, Penn State was considered "Eastern football" ? inferior ? and Paterno courted newspaper coverage to raise the team's profile. In 1967, PSU began a 30-0-1 streak.

But Penn State couldn't get to the top of the polls. The Nittany Lions finished second in 1968 and 1969 despite perfect seasons. They were undefeated and untied again in 1973 at 12-0 again but finished fifth. Texas edged them in 1969 after President Richard Nixon, impressed with the Longhorns' bowl performance, declared them No. 1.

"I'd like to know," Paterno said later, "how could the president know so little about Watergate in 1973, and so much about college football in 1969?"

A national title finally came in 1982, after a 27-23 win over Georgia at the Sugar Bowl. Another followed in 1986 after the Lions intercepted Vinny Testaverde five times and beat Miami 14-10 in the Fiesta Bowl.

They made several title runs after that, including a 2005 run to the Orange Bowl and an 11-1 season in 2008 that ended in a 37-23 loss to Southern California in the Rose Bowl.

In his later years, physical ailments wore the old coach down.

Paterno was run over on the sideline during a game at Wisconsin in November 2006 and underwent knee surgery. He hurt his hip in 2008 demonstrating an onside kick. An intestinal illness and a bad reaction to antibiotics prescribed for dental work slowed him for most of the 2010 season. He began scaling back his speaking engagements that year, ending his summer caravan of speeches to alumni across the state.

Then a receiver bowled over Paterno at practice in August, sending him to the hospital with shoulder and pelvis injuries and consigning him to coach much of what would be his last season from the press box.

"The fact that we've won a lot of games is that the good Lord kept me healthy, not because I'm better than anybody else," Paterno said two days before he won his 409th game and passed Eddie Robinson of Grambling State for the most in Division I. "It's because I've been around a lot longer than anybody else."

Paterno could be conservative on the field, especially in big games, relying on the tried-and-true formula of defense, the running game and field position.

He and his wife, Sue, raised five children in State College. Anybody could telephone him at his home ? the same one he appeared in front of on the night he was fired ? by looking up "Paterno, Joseph V." in the phone book.

He walked to home games and was greeted and wished good luck by fans on the street. Former players paraded through his living room for the chance to say hello. But for the most part, he stayed out of the spotlight.

Paterno did have a knack for jokes. He referred to Twitter, the social media site, as "Twittle-do, Twittle-dee."

He also could be abrasive and stubborn, and he had his share of run-ins with his bosses or administrators. And as his legend grew, so did the attention to his on-field decisions, and the questions about when he would hang it up.

Calls for his retirement reached a crescendo in 2004. The next year, Penn State went 11-1 and won the Big Ten. In the Orange Bowl, PSU beat Florida State, coached by Bowden, who was eased out after the 2009 season after 34 years and 389 wins.

Like many others, he was outlasted by "JoePa."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-23-Obit-Joe%20Paterno/id-ef936728c6ff49a0950997755684d0cf

lipitor kourtney kardashian pregnant again kourtney kardashian pregnant again apple juice apple juice carole king miranda kerr

Money talk dominating Romney, Gingrich contest (AP)

TAMPA, Fla. ? Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich's fight for Florida and the states beyond stayed at a high boil Tuesday as Romney released tax returns showing annual income topping $20 million ? including a now-closed Swiss bank account ? and Gingrich insisted his high-paid consulting work for a mortgage giant that contributed to the housing crisis didn't include lobbying.

After a night of mutual sniping in a debate, the two leading GOP presidential candidates tried to turn the arguments over their various business dealings to his own advantage. Romney's release of two years' worth of tax documents, showing him at an elite level even among the nation's richest 1 percent, kept the focus on the two men's money and how they earned it.

Romney's income put him in the top 0.006 percent of Americans, according to Internal Revenue Service data from 2009, the most recent year available. His net worth has been estimated as high as $250 million.

As the former Massachusetts governor relented to pressure and released more than 500 pages of tax documents, Gingrich kept up the heat, saying Romney was "outrageously dishonest" for accusing him of influence peddling for government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

"I don't own any Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock. He does, so presumably he was getting richer," Gingrich told Fox News on Tuesday.

The specter of well-off Gingrich and wealthier Romney feuding over money matters pleased Rick Santorum, who lags in polls for next Tuesday's Florida primary but hopes to benefit from the dust-up as the race moves on. He told MSNBC: "The other two candidates have some severe flaws."

Striking out in two directions, Romney planned to offer advance criticism of President Barack Obama's Tuesday night State of the Union address, then focus on Florida's housing woes in an event sure to again highlight Gingrich's $25,000 monthly retainer from Freddie Mac.

The former House speaker said Romney's charges were ironic, given that it was revealed after Monday's debate that Romney himself was an investor in both Freddie Mac and its sister entity, Fannie Mae.

Gingrich, a candidate once left for dead, stood before thousands in a U.S. flag-draped airport hangar in Sarasota brimming with confidence about his chances of winning the GOP nomination. He barely mentioned Romney in two events, though he went hard at Obama as the president prepared for his big speech.

Gingrich said Obama should stop blaming his Republican predecessor for the country's economic woes.

"This is the fourth year of his presidency. He needs to get over it," Gingrich said. "A friend of mine says, `He has shifted from Yes We Can to Why We Couldn't.'"

Gingrich's campaign also announced it had pulled in $2 million, mostly online, since winning the South Carolina primary on Saturday. Gingrich planned to pad his campaign account with a series of fundraisers this week.

Records released by Romney's campaign show he closed a bank account in Switzerland in 2010, as he was entering the presidential race. He also kept money in the Cayman Islands, another spot popular with investors sheltering their income from U.S. taxes. But Benjamin Ginsberg, the Romney campaign's legal counsel, said Romney didn't use any aggressive tax strategies to help reduce or defer his tax income.

"Gov. Romney has paid 100 percent of what he owes," Ginsberg said Tuesday.

Romney paid about $3 million on nearly $22 million in income in 2010 and indicated his 2011 taxes would be about the same, $3.2 million on nearly $21 million in income.

During the debate, Romney predicted his tax information would generate chatter but not any surprises, saying what he paid was "entirely legal and fair."

Romney had declined to disclose any tax releases until he came under mounting criticism from his rivals.

In 2010, he donated a combined $3 million to the Mormon Church and other charitable causes. His effective tax rate was about 14 percent, the records showed. For 2011, he'll pay an effective tax rate of about 15.4 percent, a level far lower than standard rates for high-income earners, reflecting the lower rate for long-term capital gains.

The tax records may silence Gingrich and others who argued that Republican voters should know the details of Romney's wealth before they select their presidential nominee and not after. But it also could open up new lines of attack.

After Gingrich's overwhelming victory in South Carolina, Romney can ill afford to lose Florida's Jan. 31 primary, and he showcased a new aggression from the opening moments of the debate. He said Gingrich had "resigned in disgrace" from Congress after four years as speaker and then had spent the next 15 years "working as an influence peddler."

In particular, he referred to the contract Gingrich's consulting firm had with Freddie Mac, a government-backed mortgage giant that Romney said "did a lot of bad for a lot of people and you were working there."

"I have never, ever gone and done any lobbying," Gingrich retorted emphatically, adding that his firm had hired an expert to explain to employees "the bright line between what you can do as a citizen and what you do as a lobbyist."

Rep. Ron Paul, who's bypassing Florida in favor of smaller, less expensive states, returned to Texas after Monday's debate. Santorum will appeal to the tea party to help revive his candidacy, appearing at two tea party events.

___

Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt and Brian Bakst in Florida and Connie Cass, Jack Gillum, Stephen Braun and Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

sly stone the bling ring facebook news facebook news boardwalk empire torrey smith torrey smith

TCF Inventory Finance Announces Further Expansion into ...

Jan 23, 2012

TCF Inventory Finance Announces Further Expansion into Recreation Vehicle Industry

TCF Inventory Finance, Inc. (?TCFIF?), a subsidiary of TCF National Bank and an indirect subsidiary of TCF Financial Corporation (?TCF?) (NYSE: TCB), today announced plans to further expand its floorplan finance offerings into the recreation vehicle (?RV?) industry within the U.S. and Canada.

Established in 2008, TCFIF has gained significant market share in the electronics and appliances industry as well as the lawn and garden industry. In the powersports industry, TCFIF is the exclusive floorplan finance provider for Arctic Cat? in Canada and, beginning February 1, for Bombardier Recreational Products in both the U.S. and Canada. Although TCFIF is relatively new in the market, TCFIF?s executive leadership team averages over twenty years of inventory finance experience in all of these industries.

Last year, TCFIF entered the RV industry in the U. S. and Canada by becoming the preferred lender for Jayco Inc.?s three RV divisions (Jayco, Starcraft and Entegra Coach). With a strong presence at the recent Louisville, Kentucky RV show, TCFIF took the opportunity to meet with several RV manufacturers and dealers. TCFIF will continue to initiate discussions with potential customers and secure repurchase agreements from major RV manufacturers.

?We are excited to begin developing more relationships within the RV industry,? said Ross Perrelli, President and Chief Executive Officer of TCFIF. ?We are confident that we are the best choice for floorplan financing for RV manufacturers and dealers.?

In addition to offering the RV industry an excellent source of financing, TCFIF is dedicated to providing its customers with exceptional service and competitive programs. TCFIF provides the convenience of a ?one-stop shop? for wholesale financing needs, offering equipment financing and commercial banking services and products through TCF affiliated companies in addition to inventory financing.

Source: http://www.worldleasingnews.com/news/tcf-inventory-finance-announces-further-expansion-into-recreation-vehicle-industry-2/

involuntary manslaughter stevens johnson syndrome verdict in michael jackson trial verdict in michael jackson trial brian urlacher matt forte dr conrad murray verdict

Wash. has enough votes to legalize gay marriage

An opponent of gay marriage hands out buttons outside an overflow room for a Senate committee hearing on proposed legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

An opponent of gay marriage hands out buttons outside an overflow room for a Senate committee hearing on proposed legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

People line up outside an overflow room for a Senate committee hearing on proposed legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

A supporter of gay marriage hands out stickers outside an overflow room for a Senate committee hearing on proposed legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) ? As lawmakers held their first public hearing on legalizing same-sex marriage, a previously undecided Democratic senator on Monday announced her support for the measure, all but ensuring that Washington will become the seventh state to allow gay and lesbian couples to get married.

The announcement by Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, that she would cast the 25th and deciding vote in favor of the issue came as hundreds of people filled the Capitol to advocate for and against gay marriage.

In a written statement issued at the end of a Senate committee hearing on the bill, Haugen said she took her time making up her mind to "to reconcile my religious beliefs with my beliefs as an American, as a legislator, and as a wife and mother who cannot deny to others the joys and benefits I enjoy."

"This is the right vote and it is the vote I will cast when this measure comes to the floor," she said.

The state House is widely expected to have enough support to pass gay marriage, and Gov. Chris Gregoire publicly endorsed the proposal earlier this month. If a marriage bill is passed during this legislative session, gay and lesbian couples will be able to get married starting in June unless opponents file a referendum to challenge it. Opponents have already said they will.

A referendum can't be filed until after the bill is signed into law by Gregoire. Opponents then must turn in 120,577 signatures by July 6.

Opponents and supporters packed a Senate committee hearing for the first public hearing of the most high-profile issue before the Legislature this session. The Senate set up three overflow areas for the public, including the public gallery on the Senate floor.

Gay marriage foes wore buttons that said "Marriage. One Man. One Woman." Others wore stickers that read "Washington United for Marriage," a group that announced in November that it was forming a coalition to support same-sex marriage legislation.

Democratic Sen. Ed Murray, a gay lawmaker from Seattle who has led the push for gay civil rights and domestic partnerships, testified before the Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections Committee with his longtime partner, Michael Shiosaki.

"I have waited 17 years to ask this body to consider marriage equality for gay and lesbian families," said Murray, who is sponsoring the Senate bill. "I realize the issue of marriage for our families is emotional and divisive. It touches what each of us holds most dear, our families."

Others argued that the measure goes against traditional marriage and the Bible.

"You are saying as a committee and a Legislature that you know better than God," said Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church.

Committee chairman Craig Pridemore said that no action on the bill would be taken Monday, but that a committee vote would be taken Thursday morning.

The bill is expected to easily pass out of committee, since the four Democratic members, including Pridemore, have all said they would vote yes on the measure. The three Republicans on the committee have all said they will vote against gay marriage.

The House Judiciary Committee was holding a companion hearing in the afternoon.

Washington would join New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia in legalizing gay marriage. The state has had a domestic partnership law since 2007, and an "everything but marriage" law since 2009.

Murray said that upon learning the decisive vote had been secured, he felt "humbled."

"It's an emotional moment," he said. "I want to smile and cry at the same time."

The National Organization for Marriage issued a statement Monday morning pledging a referendum campaign to fight any gay marriage law. Last week, the group announced that it would spend $250,000 to help fund primary challenges to any Republican who crosses party lines to vote for same-sex marriage in Washington state. So far, two Republicans in the Senate, and two in the House have said they would vote in support of gay marriage.

"I want to re-emphasize that we fully expect that this issue is going to end up on the ballot," said Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle and sponsor of the House bill, said at a news conference following Haugen's announcement. "People should not be complacent."

Gay marriage has won the backing of several prominent Pacific Northwest businesses, including Microsoft Corp. and NIKE, Inc., and last week a conservative Democrat who once opposed same-sex marriage said he will now vote for it.

Jane Abbot Lighty, 75, and her partner of 35 years, 84-year-old Pete-e Petersen, celebrated the vote-count announcement after the hearing.

"We could have gone out of state and gotten married," said Lighty, of Seattle. "We want to be married in our home state."

In October, a University of Washington poll found that an increasing number of people in the state support same-sex marriage. About 43 percent of respondents said they support gay marriage, up from 30 percent in the same poll five years earlier. Another 22 percent said they support giving identical rights to gay couples but just not calling it marriage.

When asked how they would vote if a referendum challenging a gay marriage law was on the ballot, 55 percent said they would vote yes to uphold the law, with 47 percent of them characterized as "strongly" yes, and 38 percent responded "no," that they would vote to reject a gay marriage law.

___

The gay marriage bills are Senate Bill 6239 and House Bill 2516.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Baker contributed to this report; Rachel La Corte can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/RachelAPOly

___

Online:

http://www.leg.wa.gov

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-23-Gay%20Marriage/id-5f2bc806770d4e22b8e827495e5c9864

extract bobby jindal bobby jindal talladega pumpkin carving texas tech football bridge school