Ryman Auditorium getting new stage after 61 years (AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? It's time for a new stage at Ryman Auditorium, a significant moment in the history of a building known for its significant moments.

Scuffed by the heels of "The King," `'The Queen of Soul" and thousands of singers in cowboy boots, scarred by an uncountable stream of road cases and worn by six decades of music history, the Ryman's oak floorboards have reached the end of a very long, very successful run.

"That stage has had a wonderful life," said Steve Buchanan, senior vice president of media and entertainment for Gaylord Entertainment, owners of the Ryman.

The current stage is just the second in the 120-year history of the "Mother Church" after the original was installed in 1901 for a performance of the Metropolitan Opera. It was laid down in 1951 and has lasted far longer than expected. The stage was refinished during a renovation in 1993-94 and even then officials knew it would be the last resurfacing. Today it's heavily scuffed and scarred, its age easily visible from the Ryman's balcony.

The Ryman is still the building most associated with The Grand Ole Opry, though it moved to the Opry House in 1974, and has hosted a number of significant moments in American culture.

Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash stood together on those boards and changed music. Cultures clashed there too when the boo birds took on country rockers The Byrds. Today the Ryman is a much sought-after destination point for musicians of all genres and many shows take on a unique aura.

Dylan recently returned, more than 40 years after "Nashville Skyline." Taylor Swift sang there recently with her good friends, The Civil Wars. Even the heaviest of rockers get a little nostalgic, like Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, who said it was an honor to get drunk while performing in the building last year.

Keith Urban, making his return from vocal surgery, will be among the last performers on the stage when the Opry plays its final winter date Friday at The Ryman. Dierks Bentley will play the last standalone concert Thursday.

As a young, aspiring performer in Nashville more than a decade ago, Bentley would run his fingers along the building's brickwork late at night as he walked home from performing on Lower Broadway, daydreaming of playing on that stage. He calls it "one of the most precious places in Nashville and in country music to me."

"The significance of that stage and who played there before me will definitely be in the back of my head all night," Bentley said in an email. "As a member of the Grand Ole Opry, I couldn't be any prouder."

That a busy venue needs a new stage is not necessarily news. The stage at the Opry's permanent home, for instance, has been changed multiple times over the years with little comment. But when the Ryman stage is replaced, officials in some sense are altering an icon that is closely watched by sometimes vocal guardians of its cultural significance.

Officials are prepared for questions. They point out the building has gone through many upgrades over the years and that each step was vital to preserving the building. Most recently the roof was replaced in 2009.

"We're not in the business of getting rid of old things just to get rid of them," Ryman general manager Sally Williams said.

They will retain an 18-inch lip of the blonde oak at the front of the stage, similar to the way the Ryman stage was commemorated in a circle of wood at the new Opry House. The rest of the stage will be stored and replaced with a medium brown Brazilian teak that will be far more durable and camera friendly.

Beneath the stage, the original hickory support beams will be kept and reinforced with concrete foundations, crossbeams and joist work that will help triple the stage's load capacity.

Work will begin Feb. 4 and continue seven days a week until Feb. 20, when rising country stars The Band Perry will make its Ryman debut with a sold-out show. Tours will continue throughout the work, allowing members of the public to watch.

Williams says she's gotten no negative feedback as word has spread because everyone understands the importance of the project.

"I think it will be interesting because I think it's obvious we're doing something ensuring that people will be coming here and having those Ryman moments in 120 years," she said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_en_ot/us_music_ryman_stage

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Rooney Mara Joins Soderbergh's Side Effects

Director Steven Soderbergh?s prescriptions drug-oriented dramatic thriller, Side Effects, seemingly hit a snag recently, on its way to beginning production. Megan Ellison (via her Annapurna Pictures) was previously said to have withdrawn her financial support for the project, due to concerns about actress Blake Lively serving as the film?s protagonist.

A new report indicates the situation with AP is indeed??a bit shaky,? but doesn?t clarify whether or not the backer is actually no longer involved with Side Effects. However, there?s reason to suspect the financier is still onboard, seeing how the film now has a new (confirmed) leading lady attached.

Lively has been replaced on Side Effects by Rooney Mara, who?s all the hotter a prospect (yes, in all meanings of the term) thanks to her landing an Oscar nod for her performance in David Fincher?s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Mara has recently been courted for a number of projects involving prestigious filmmaking talent, such as Kathryn Bigelow?s Osama Bin Laden thriller and Spike Lee?s Oldboy re-interpretation ? so, there?s little surprise about her decision to join the latest flick from a decorated auteur like Soderbergh.

Deadline has the scoop on Mara joining Side Effects, which the site also says fits in well with her schedule ? seeing how the actress is currently overseas promoting Dragon Tattoo. Despite the questions over funding, Side Effects remains?prepped to begin principal photography by April 2012, with Soderbergh working from a script penned by Scott Z. Burns (Contagion) and produced by his go-to collaborator Greg Jacobs, along with Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers, The Devil Inside).

The rest of the primary cast for Side Effects is not only (seemingly) set in stone at this point, but also composed of familiar faces from previous Soderbergh ?joints.? Returning to work alongside the filmmaker yet again are the likes of Oscar-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones (Traffic, Ocean?s Twelve), Jude Law (Contagion), and Channing Tatum (Haywire, the upcoming Magic Mike).

Steven Soderbergh's next film will be 'Side Effects'

Side Effects revolves around Emily Hawkins (Mara), a prescription drug-addicted woman who is attempting to cope with severe anxiety and depression. Her condition is only heightened by the impending release of her husband (Tatum) from prison, as well as an affair she has been conducting with her psychiatrist (Law). Things begin to spiral even further out of control when Emily begins taking a new drug to deal with all the stress ? and eventually finds herself on trial for murder, having unknowingly (supposedly?) killed her newly-freed husband.

In someone else?s hands, those plot elements could lend themselves to a pretty low-grade and soapy thriller. However, with Soderbergh sitting at the helm and Burns handling screenwriting duties, expect Side Effects to be more of a thematically-rich and dark character study that avoids its B-movie trappings ? and boasts the director?s trademark visual flair, to boot.

Similarly, don?t be surprised if Mara delivers yet another dedicated and disturbing performance in Side Effects, following her great work in Dragon Tattoo ? along with her standout part in The Social Network and solid turn in the otherwise lackluster Nightmare on Elm Street remake. The rest of the cast should turn in top-notch work as well ? heck, even Tatum might be okay, in this one (hard as it may be to believe).

Soderbergh is known for working fast and efficiently, so Side Effects shouldn?t take too long to make its way into theaters. In fact, the film could possibly even be finished in time for an Oscar-qualifying run in late 2012 ? but don?t count on that being a certainty just?yet.

Source: Deadline

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924404/news/1924404/

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Consumers using smart phones while shopping

By Eve Tahmincioglu

Santa was no match for tech-savvy shoppers during the holiday season.?

When it came to finding the best products and the best prices, more than half of consumers came armed with their cell phones to help them make purchasing decisions. And just as traditional brick-and-mortar retailers feared, many of those shoppers decided not to buy merchandise from stores they visited thanks to information they got via mobile phone comparison shopping.?

Those findings come from a study released Monday by the Pew Research Center?s Internet & American Life Project, which found:?

• 38 percent of cell owners used their phone to?call a friend?while they were in a store for advice about a?purchase they were considering making.
• 24 percent of cell owners used their phone to?look up reviews of a product online?while they were in a store.
• 25 percent of adult cell owners used their phones to?look up the price of a product online while they were in a store, to see if they could get a better price somewhere else.?

?Consumers are feeling like they have a leg up on retailers,? said Esther Swilley, assistant professor of?marketing at Kansas State University, about the increasing use of mobile devices to bargain hunt. ?They can get price quotes quickly, and they now realize, ?I can do better than what you?ve got here.? ??

Not surprisingly, the under-50 crowd was more likely to use mobile devices for online product reviews, and urban and suburban cell phone owners were about twice as likely as rural users to have recently used their phones for product analysis.?

Minority mobile users were more apt to look up online reviews than white cell phone owners; and college-educated shoppers were more likely to dial for deals?than those who did not attend college.?

Retailers who are worried about consumers? new-found independence, she added, are going to have a hard time curbing these cell-phone price crusaders.?

Target recently moved to try and derail mobile deal seekers by asking some manufacturers?to create Target-exclusive items that would make it harder to comparison shop. The retailer, along with many other merchants who rely heavily on in-store sales, don?t much like the growing habit of ?showrooming,? an industry term for shoppers who use stores as a place to check out items and then buy products online at lower prices.?

Such fears, it turns out, are warranted, according to the Pew study.?

Researched asked respondents what actions they took after using their phones in stores to look up prices, and 37 percent said they decided not to buy the product at all.?

In addition:?

• 35 percent purchased the product at that store.?
• 19 percent purchased the product online.?
• 8 percent bought the product at another store.?

That?s just the beginning, said Eric Johnson, management professor and information technology expert at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University, who expects mobile devices will become a shopping mainstay.?

Retailers such as Target and Best Buy, he said, have been the most worried about how the technology will undermine sales because of the ?petting-zoo phenomenon,? but they?ll have to learn to embrace it given the potential upside.?

Savvy merchants are using mobile technologies to ?augment the shopping experience,? he explained, pointing to Wet Seal, the junior apparel chain, as a prime example.?

Wet Seal offers its customers an app that gives them suggestions for ensemble pieces, or accessories, when they scan codes on merchandise in the store. They can buy the products in the store, or go to a virtual shelf online and purchase the color or size they want if it?s not in stock, he said. Mobile users can upload the outfits to Facebook so friends can offer their ?likes? or ?dislikes? before shoppers buy.?

This type of mobile integration, he said, ?is where the real excitement is.??

Traditional retailers, he continued, ?can?t just employ defensive moves to make it difficult to compare, but they have to find substantial ways to connect with the shopper in the shopping experience, and do that with mobile apps.?

Related story:

Target tries to fight off online retailers?

{"contentId":"10272875","totalVotes":"327"}

Do you use your smart phone to look for deals while in the store?

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Source: http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/30/10272875-more-consumers-using-smart-phones-while-shopping

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Real Estate Investing Forum | 84 Thousand

A real estate investing forum ?? a communications program f?r real estate matters ?nd ?t ?? intended t? suggest recommendation, ?????t?n??, data, resources ?nd tools associated t? knowing h?w t? m?k? ??? ?f real estate t? one?s top advantage. Whether purchasing, selling, assessing, rehabilitating, settling, contracting ?r merely seeking guidelines, opinion, forms, agreements ?r networking prospects ?m?ng ?th?r real estate minded persons, a forum ?? th? best form ?f aid. Fr?m private chat, bulletin boards, listings, acquiring property ?nd networking w?th experts fr?m ?ll over th? world, members ?f forums w?ll h?l? each ?th?r t? keep up t? date ?n wh?t ?? taking ?l??? ?n real estate.

A real estate investing forum ?? f?r conferring real estate investments, n? initial payment ?nd inventive real estate ???r???h??, ?nd ???r? ?th?r real estate investing linked issues.

A forum ?? ?n area t? impart w?th th? community a deal th?t h?? b??n lately done ?? investors globally ??n perceive wh?t deliver f?r a bargain ?n different markets. One ?h??ld b? ?bl? t? authenticate a deal w?th proof ?r verification links t? pertinent documents. Th??? forums present ???r? ingenious ways t? g?t th? funds t? carry out ?n? transaction ?nd th? m??t recent local market setting, laws, ?nd everything th?t needs t? b? known ?n th? investing arena th?t h??? ?n effect ?n a business.

Forums h??? turned out t? b? a trendy tool f?r finding n?w t? th? job business partners ?nd keeping shoulder t? shoulder ?f market developments. Whether one m?? b? starting out ?r ?n experienced professional, taking ??rt ?n ?l??? social groups lets investors t? gain knowledge ?f innovative strategies ?nd take ?n ?n discussions w?th similar-minded individuals globally. Edifying event issues concentrate ?n ?m??rt?nt topics th?t ???r? investor ?h??ld take ?nt? account wh?n putting together ?n acquisition d??????n counting asset distribution, risk management range ???r???h??, global trends, insurance ?nd ?th?r investment medium such ?? circumvent finances, real estate resources ?nd ?? well ?? private equity partnerships.

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Source: http://84thousand.org/real-estate-investing-forum.html

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Oakland assesses Occupy break-in damage

Beck Diefenbach / AP

Occupy Oakland protestors burn an American flag found inside Oakland City Hall on Saturday.

By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

Story updated 12:30 p.m. ET:

Oakland officials on Sunday were inspecting damage inside City Hall that was caused by about 50 Occupy protesters who broke in and smashed glass display cases, spray-painted graffiti, and burned the?U.S. and California flags.

The break-in on Saturday was the culmination of a day of clashes between protesters and police. At least 300 people were arrested on charges ranging from vandalism and failure to disperse.

---

At least three officers and one protester were injured.

Mayor Jean Quan said Occupy protesters have caused an estimated $2 million in damages from vandalism since October. She said the cost to the city related to the Occupy Oakland protests is pegged at about $5 million.

Riot police fought running skirmishes with anti-Wall street protesters in Oakland. TODAY's Thomas Roberts reports.

The scene around City Hall was mostly quiet Sunday morning. It was unclear whether protesters would mount another large-scale demonstration later in the day.

Story updated 6:00 a.m. ET:

A U.S. flag was burned by a group of protestors inside City Hall, according to City Council President Larry Reid. City officials also said three police officers and one protester were injured during Saturday's events.

Story updated 3:15 a.m. ET:

Sgt. Christopher Bolton of the Oakland Police Department told msnbc.com that the number arrested was likely between 200 and 300. "We are still processing the arrests," he said. He was speaking after the release of a statement on the Oakland City website that put the number of arrests at 200. "That figure is probably on the low side and we don't have a confirmed total yet," said. Sgt Bolton. In the statement, released in a PDF file format, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said: "Once again, a violent splinter group of the Occupy Movement is engaging in violent actions against Oakland. The Bay Area Occupy Movement has got to stop using Oakland as their playground." The statement also said there were reports of damage to exhibits inside City Hall during the protest.

Story published 1:30 a.m.:

Police arrested about 300?people Saturday?as Occupy Oakland protesters were thwarted trying?to take over a vacant convention center and?enter a?YMCA. Protesters?later broke into City Hall, where they burned a flag taken from?inside.

Police used tear gas and "flash" grenades in the afternoon against 2,000 protesters who tried to tear down fences around?the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center, where they hoped to establish?a new camp. Police said some demonstrators started throwing objects at officers. There were at least 19 arrests in the afternoon.

After 6 p.m. (9 p.m. ET), police?in riot gear declared a group of protesters gathered near the YMCA under mass arrest?for failing to disperse, according to local media reports and livestreams. Police said about 100 demonstrators were?arrested at the YMCA.

Several protesters at? the YMCA appeared to be put hard to the ground as police moved in and at least one protester had blood on his face.

Protesters chanted, "Let us disperse," but instead were taken one by one for police processing.

Some protesters claimed they were trying to flee police by running through the YMCA rather than take over the building.

Later in the evening, about 100 police officers surrounded City Hall while others?swept the inside of the building.

Police arrived after?protesters had broken into City Hall, stole an American flag from the council chamber and set it ablaze, the Oakland?Tribune reported. Officers stomped out the fire.

Earlier, protesters met at Frank Ogawa Plaza around noon and marched toward the convention center in hopes of making it their new meeting place and social center, NBCBayArea.com reported.

Read NBCBayArea.com coverage of the protest

Oakland officials said about 250 people were in the group when the protest started but the crowd grew to about 2,000.

Earlier during the rally one of the organizers, Shake Anderson, said, "We are here to protect each other and to be civil disobedient. ... We're doing it to change the world, not just today but every day."

Stephen Lam / Reuters

Police officers arrest an Occupy Oakland demonstrator during a clash Saturday in Oakland, Calif., where officers fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters who tried to take over a shuttered convention center.

The protesters were walking through Laney College around 2:30 p.m. Some people were wearing bandanas over their mouths and others were holding signs saying, "We are the 99%." A marching band dressed in pink and black tutus and neon pick tights also was in the crowd.

Officer Jeff Thomason said police started making arrests when some in the crowd started throwing objects at them during the afternoon rally. Three officers were injured, police said, but did not elaborate.

@OaklandPoliceCA tweeted around 3 p.m., "Area of Oakland Museum and Kaiser Center severely impacted. Persons cutting and tearing fences for entry. Bottles and objects thrown at OPD."

Once they reached the center, organizers planned to kick off a two-day "Oakland Rise-up Festival" to celebrate the establishment of the movement's new space.

Occupy Oakland spokesman Leo Ritz-Bar said the action would signal "a new direction for the Occupy movement: putting vacant buildings at the service of the community."

Stephen Lam / Reuters

Occupy Oakland demonstrators shield themselves from an explosion Saturday during a confrontation with the police near the Oakland Museum of California in Oakland, Calif.

He also warned that protesters could retaliate against any repressive police action by blocking the Oakland International Airport, occupying City Hall or shutting down the Port of Oakland.

City officials said that while they are "committed to facilitating peaceful forms of expression and free speech, police would be prepared to arrest those who break the law.

"The city of Oakland will not be bullied by threats of violence or illegal activity," city administrator Deanna Santana said in a statement issued Friday.

This article includes reporting from NBCBayArea.com, The Associated Press and msnbc.com's Miranda Leitsinger and Alastair Jamieson.

Related stories:

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/28/10260959-150-arrested-at-occupy-oakland-protesters-break-into-city-hall

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Obama to senators: Change the way you do business

President Barack Obama waves as he walks off of Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama waves as he walks off of Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama greets supporters after his speech at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is pressing his case for changes in how the Senate does business, hoping to ease the partisan gridlock, and he wants to bar lawmakers from profiting from their service.

In his radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said many people he met during his five-state tour after his State of the Union address were optimistic but remained unsure "that the right thing will get done in Washington this year, or next year, or the year after that."

"And frankly, when you look at some of the things that go on in this town, who could blame them for being a little cynical?" Obama said.

The president reiterated his calls for government reform made in Tuesday's address, saying he wants the Senate to pass a rule that requires a yes-or-no vote for judicial and public service nominations after 90 days. Many of the nominees, he said, carry bipartisan support but get held up in Congress for political reasons.

Obama noted that "a senator from Utah" said he would hold up nominations because he opposed the recess appointment of the head of the new consumer protection agency and three members of the National Labor Relations Board. Obama put the officials in their post during the Senate's holiday break; many Republicans have called that move unconstitutional. Obama said the American people deserve "better than gridlock and games."

"One senator gumming up the works for the whole country is certainly not what our founding fathers envisioned," the president said.

Obama was referring to Utah GOP. Sen Mike Lee who asserted on Thursday that Obama's "blatant and egregious disregard both for proper constitutional procedures and the Senate's unquestioned role in such appointments, I find myself duty-bound to resist the consideration and approval of additional nominations until the president takes steps to remedy the situation."

On Saturday, Lee issued a statement standing by his decision.

"Sadly, the president has sought to make this a partisan issue; but the Constitution is not partisan," he said. "The Constitution does not allow any president, Republican or Democrat, to circumvent the Senate in making appointments, and I will resist, just as vigorously, members of my own party who would attempt to do the same thing."

In his address, Obama said he also wants Congress to pass legislation to ban insider trading by lawmakers and prohibit lawmakers from owning securities in companies that have business before their committees.

In addition, the president is seeking to prohibit people who "bundle" campaign contributions from other donors for members of Congress from lobbying Congress. Obama urged the public to contact their member of Congress and tell them "that it's time to end the gridlock and start tackling the issues that really matter."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., delivering the GOP address, said Obama's address to Congress lacked much discussion of the president's achievements "because there isn't much."

"This president didn't talk about his record for one simple reason," Rubio said. "He doesn't want you to know about it. But you do know about it, because you feel the failure of his leadership every single day of your life."

Rubio accused the president of driving up the national debt, failing to reduce high unemployment across the country and offering divisive economic policies.

The Florida senator said there is a growing gap between the rich and the poor but the best way to solve the problem is by embracing the American free enterprise system. Rubio said he hopes 2012 "will be the beginning of our work toward a new and prosperous American century."

___

Online:

Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: http://www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-28-Obama/id-711143bde2544ac6ae610b2023a5497e

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Obama's populist pitch unifies House Democrats (The Arizona Republic)

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Radical theory explains the origin, evolution, and nature of life, challenges conventional wisdom

ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2012) ? Earth is alive, asserts a revolutionary scientific theory of life emerging from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The trans-disciplinary theory demonstrates that purportedly inanimate, non-living objects -- for example, planets, water, proteins, and DNA -- are animate, that is, alive. With its broad explanatory power, applicable to all areas of science and medicine, this novel paradigm aims to catalyze a veritable renaissance.

Erik Andrulis, PhD, assistant professor of molecular biology and microbiology, advanced his controversial framework in his manuscript "Theory of the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life," published in the peer-reviewed journal, Life. His theory explains not only the evolutionary emergence of life on earth and in the universe but also the structure and function of existing cells and biospheres.

In addition to resolving long-standing paradoxes and puzzles in chemistry and biology, Dr. Andrulis' theory unifies quantum and celestial mechanics. His unorthodox solution to this quintessential problem in physics differs from mainstream approaches, like string theory, as it is simple, non-mathematical, and experimentally and experientially verifiable. As such, the new portrait of quantum gravity is radical.

The basic idea of Dr. Andrulis' framework is that all physical reality can be modeled by a single geometric entity with life-like characteristics: the gyre. The so-called "gyromodel" depicts objects -- particles, atoms, chemicals, molecules, and cells -- as quantized packets of energy and matter that cycle between excited and ground states around a singularity, the gyromodel's center. A singularity is itself modeled as a gyre, wholly compatible with the thermodynamic and fractal nature of life. An example of this nested, self-similar organization is the Russian Matryoshka doll.

By fitting the gyromodel to facts accumulated over scientific history, Dr. Andrulis confirms the proposed existence of eight laws of nature. One of these, the natural law of unity, decrees that the living cell and any part of the visible universe are irreducible. This law formally establishes that there is one physical reality.

Another natural law dictates that the atomic and cosmic realms abide by identical organizational constraints. Simply put, atoms in the human body and solar systems in the universe move and behave in the exact same manner.

"Modern science lacks a unifying, interdisciplinary theory of life. In other words, current theories are unable to explain why life is the way it is and not any other way," Dr. Andrulis says. "This general paradigm furnishes a fresh perspective on the character and meaning of life, offers solutions to protracted problems, and strives to end divisive debates."

One debate swirls around the scientific merit of James Lovelock's popular Gaia hypothesis. By showing that Earth is theoretically synonymous with life, Dr. Andrulis' paradigm substantiates the Gaian premise that all organisms and their surroundings on earth are closely integrated to form a single self-regulating complex system.

Another legendary quarrel is that between biblical creationists and neo-Darwinian evolutionists. In demonstrating that the origin and evolution of life is a consequence of natural laws and physical forces, this theory synthesizes arguments and dispels assumptions from both sides of the creation-evolution debate.

To test his paradigm, Dr. Andrulis designed bidirectional flow diagrams that both depict and predict the dynamics of energy and matter. While such diagrams may be foreign to some scientists, they are standard reaction notation to chemists, biochemists, and biologists.

Dr. Andrulis has used his theory to successfully predict and identify a hidden signature of RNA biogenesis in his laboratory at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He is now applying the gyromodel to unify and explain the evolution and development of human beings.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Case Western Reserve University, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Erik D. Andrulis. Theory of the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life. Life, 2011; 2 (1): 1 DOI: 10.3390/life2010001

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/~3/51PYZx3cPso/120126115127.htm

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Prosecutors ordered to identify NYC terror witness (AP)

NEW YORK ? A judge gave federal prosecutors until a week from Wednesday to give up the name of a witness they say was recruited for a chilling, al-Qaida-sanctioned plot for suicide bombers to attack the New York City subways with explosives made from beauty supplies.

Lawyers for alleged plotter Adis Madunjanin had demanded to know the identity of the man, referred to only as John Doe in court papers, before Madunjanin goes to trial later this year.

At a pretrial hearing on in Brooklyn federal court in Wednesday, prosecutors initially resisted identifying the government witness ? "Mr. John Doe" one called him ? citing concerns about his safety. But U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie said Madunjanin's lawyers had a right to know the name.

"They have to prepare a defense," the judge said.

However, the judge also agreed to allow the government to provide the name under a protective order barring the defense from disclosing it to the public.

In a revised indictment filed last week in Brooklyn, Medunjanin was hit with a new allegation that he ? along with former high school classmates from Queens, Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay ? tried to recruit John Doe to travel to Pakistan "to wage violent jihad."

It was the first time the government had linked a fourth person in the U.S. for what prosecutors call three "coordinated suicide bombing attacks" on Manhattan subway lines.

Medunjanin, 27, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to the new indictment, which added a charge of use of a destructive device. He had previously pleaded not guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, providing material support to a terrorist organization and other counts.

Prosecutors allege that Medunjanin, Zazi and Ahmedzay tried to recruit the fourth man before the three went to Afghanistan in 2008 to join the Taliban and fight U.S. soldiers. The three fell under tutelage of al-Qaida operatives, who gave them weapons training in their Pakistan camp and asked them to become suicide bombers, authorities say.

The new indictment doesn't say what became of the fourth man.

After returning, Zazi, a former Denver airport shuttle driver, cooked up explosives with beauty supplies and set out for New York City around the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. After becoming suspicious he was being watched by law enforcement, he abandoned the plan and returned to Colorado.

Zazi and Ahmedzay have since admitted in guilty pleas that they wanted to avenge U.S. aggression in the Arab world by becoming martyrs. Both could testify against Medunjanin at a trial expected to begin in mid-April.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_us/us_nyc_terror

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Politics of defense cuts: emphasize the positive (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Pentagon is preparing to tighten its belt, but with an election-year battle looming in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants to stress the positive: Parts of the budget devoted to reshaping the military to fit a new global strategy will actually get fatter, he says.

But that's unlikely to mollify Republicans who say President Barack Obama's plan will leave the Pentagon stretched too thin to handle potential security threats in the Middle East, Asia and beyond.

Panetta is expected to outline the main areas of proposed spending cuts and increases at a Pentagon news conference Thursday, more than two weeks before the Obama administration submits its 2013 budget proposal to Congress. He will be joined by Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for a presentation designed to highlight the military leadership's embrace of defense cuts.

Panetta and Dempsey are expected to cast the plan as one that reflects President Barack Obama's strategy for reorienting the military as it recovers from a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Prominent in the Obama plan is a renewed focus on Asia, where China's rapid military modernization has raised worry in Washington and rattled U.S. allies. That, along with continued security threats in the Middle East ? especially Iran ? is why Panetta wants to invest more in certain air and naval assets. He also is putting a focus on cybersecurity and commando forces like those who killed Osama bin Laden last May and who swooped into Somalia on Tuesday to rescue two hostages, including an American.

The Pentagon has embraced a proposal by special operations chief Adm. Bill McRaven to send more manpower and equipment to worldwide "Theater Special Operations Commands" to strike back wherever threats arise, according to a senior defense official who spoke to The Associated Press, and other current and former U.S. officials briefed on the program. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the details of the proposal are still being worked out, including how fast the changes could be made.

The stepped-up network would put top special operations personnel closer to the problems they face, better able to launch unilateral raids like this week's Somalia mission. McRaven also wants the newly invigorated commands to build new relationships with foreign armies to help them lead their own operations, the senior defense official said.

To save money, Panetta would reduce the size of Army and Marine Corps ground forces and shrink the U.S. presence in Europe, while maintaining a commitment to building missile defenses in Europe.

He also is expected to delay production of perhaps 100 or more of the F-35 Lightning II stealth attack planes that the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps are counting on to replace a portion of their aging aircraft fleets. The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program. Nonetheless, it is among those that Panetta has publicly identified as central to a strategy for maintaining American air dominance.

According to defense officials, substantial budget savings will come from slowing ? but not eliminating ? programs. In the case of the F-35, Loren Thompson, defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, said there are no plans to cut the total number of fighters purchased ? which is about 2,400. Instead, the intention is to reduce the number bought each year over the next five years.

The construction of some Navy ships also may be stretched out over a longer period.

Panetta also has made clear the administration will resist any effort to shrink the Navy's fleet of aircraft carriers. He said last weekend while on board the fleet's oldest carrier, the USS Enterprise, that keeping 11 of the warships is a "long-term commitment" that Obama believes is important to keeping the peace.

"Our view is that the carriers, because of their presence, because of the power they represent, are a very important part of our ability to maintain power projection both in the Pacific and in the Middle East," he said.

Obama has said he hopes to further reduce the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, but Panetta is expected to make clear that the basic structure ? a "triad" of land, sea and air nuclear forces ? will be maintained. The Pentagon may find some savings by stretching out planned modernization programs.

The defense budget is being reshaped in the midst of a presidential contest in which Obama seeks to portray himself as a forward-looking commander in chief focusing on new security threats. Republicans want to cast him as weak on defense.

Obama has highlighted his national security successes ? the killing of Osama bin Laden, the death of senior al-Qaida leaders and the demise of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi ? to counter Republican criticism. He also has emphasized the completion of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq and the start of a drawdown in Afghanistan as turning points that offer new opportunities to scale back defense spending.

But several congressional Republicans see a political opening in challenging the reductions in projected military spending that the GOP and Obama agreed to last summer as part of a deal to raise the nation's borrowing authority. They've echoed Obama's potential presidential rivals Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, who plead for fiscal austerity but contend that sizable cuts would gut the military.

The defense budget this year is nearly $671 billion, including a base budget of $553 billion and $118 billion in war costs. Panetta is expected to announce on Wednesday that the administration's request for 2013 will drop to about $525 billion for the base budget. That is still far higher than the $480 billion base budget for the Pentagon in 2008, President George W. Bush's final year in office.

The administration's projected defense cuts would total nearly $490 billion over 10 years. If Congress fails to agree on other reductions in federal spending this year, the defense hit could double under automatic cuts that would take effect in January 2013.

Several Republicans argue that even the initial cuts totaling nearly $490 billion would "hollow" the military and costs tens of thousands of jobs nationwide, adding to an 8.5 percent unemployment rate that they already blame on the president's economic policies.

"While Secretary Panetta has conceded that our nation is now accepting more risk as a result of the budgetary vise squeezing the Pentagon, it remains unclear exactly what risks our nation is assuming," Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., a House Armed Services Committee member, said this week.

___

Associated Press writers Kimberly Dozier and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

___

Robert Burns can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/usmilitary/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_defense_budget

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Lit fest cancels Rushdie video, fearing violence

Officials announce the news of calling off Indian born British author Salman Rushdie's video conference at the Jaipur Literature Festival, in Jaipur, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. The organizers of the Indian literary festival called off a video conference with British author Salman Rushdie following protests by Muslim groups who considered his 1988 book "The Satanic Verses" blasphemous. (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)

Officials announce the news of calling off Indian born British author Salman Rushdie's video conference at the Jaipur Literature Festival, in Jaipur, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. The organizers of the Indian literary festival called off a video conference with British author Salman Rushdie following protests by Muslim groups who considered his 1988 book "The Satanic Verses" blasphemous. (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)

Visitors wait for the Indian born British author Salman Rushdie's video conference at the Jaipur Literature Festival, in Jaipur, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. The organizers of the Indian literary festival called off a video conference with British author Salman Rushdie following protests by Muslim groups who considered his 1988 book "The Satanic Verses" blasphemous. (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)

Indian Muslims react after the Indian born British author Salman Rushdie's video conference was called off at the Jaipur Literature Festival, in Jaipur, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. The organizers of the Indian literary festival called off a video conference with British author Salman Rushdie following protests by Muslim groups who considered his 1988 book "The Satanic Verses" blasphemous. (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)

A visitor reacts when he hears the news of Indian born British author Salman Rushdie's video conference being called off at the Jaipur Literature Festival, in Jaipur, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. The organizers of the Indian literary festival called off a video conference with British author Salman Rushdie following protests by Muslim groups who considered his 1988 book "The Satanic Verses" blasphemous. (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)

British author and Booker Prize nominee Romesh Gunesekera, left, reads a petition to reconsider the ban on Salman Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses" before signing as Indian writer Annie Zaidi, looks on at the Jaipur Literature Festival, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, India, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

JAIPUR, India (AP) ? An Indian literary festival canceled a video conference with author Salman Rushdie days after he called off a personal appearance due to protests and threats.

Festival organizers decided to cancel the video address to avoid violence by Muslim activists gathered at the Jaipur Literary Festival, an organizer, Sanjoy Roy, said.

"We have been pushed to the wall. ... Earlier today, a number of organisations came to us and threatened violence," Roy said.

Rushdie said he called off his trip after police told him of a possible assassination threat. He planned a video conference instead, but Roy said the organizers had been threatened with violence if they went ahead with the video link.

Rushdie's works include the Booker Prize-winning "Midnight's Children" and "The Satanic Verses," which some Muslims consider blasphemous.

Scores of protesters crowded the tent where hundreds of festival participants had gathered for the video conference.

The controversy over Rushdie's attendance cast its shadow over the five-day festival, which was attended by tens of thousands of people who came to this city to see Oprah Winfrey and literary stars, such as Michael Ondaatje, Tom Stoppard and Tiger Mom Amy Chua.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-24-India-Salman%20Rushdie/id-c5439a87609e4bd0aa4a9cf47a9b19e0

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Report: OPEC wants to stay out of Iran-West spat (AP)

CAIRO ? OPEC's acting president said the producer group should stay out of political battles, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported Sunday, an apparent bid by the bloc to steer clear of a potential showdown between Tehran and the U.S. over threats to close the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Karim Elaibi said that while Iran's "enemies" have imposed various sanctions on the Islamic Republic, the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' main focus should be protecting its members' interest and not being dragged into a political struggle over oil.

Elaibi, who is also OPEC's current president, last week said he was going to Tehran to warn against closing the strait, through which about a sixth of the world's crude flows daily. IRNA did not say whether the tension over the waterway was raised during the oil minister's meetings with officials.

Instead, the language reflected the warmer relations between Iran and Iraq since a U.S.-led coalition had ousted former strongman Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Shiite government in Baghdad is seen as increasingly close to Tehran, and Iran is investing heavily in Iraq.

Iran has warned repeatedly it would choke off the strait if sanctions affect its oil sales. The U.S. has enacted, but not yet put into force, sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and, by extension, the country's ability to be paid for its oil. The European Union, a major buyer of Iranian oil, is considering sanctions on Iranian crude.

The tension over the strait and the potential impact it would have not only on global oil supplies, but also the price of crude and the economies of the countries that buy Iranian oil, have weighed heavily on consumers and traders.

Gulf nations have offered assurances that they would step in and provide any additional crude needed by the global market. Iran interpreted the offer as an attempt to undercut it and issued a quick warning to the Gulf Arab producers to not try to offset its exports with their own.

Elaibi's remarks appear to be an attempt to pull the producer bloc out of the political fray, but they also reflect the uneasy balance Iraq faces.

Iraq exports most of its crude through the strait, and any attempt to shut the waterway could be a severe blow to its economy. At the same time, it appears reluctant to come across as being too harsh on its neighbor, in part because of the investments Iran provides and its ideological weight as the region's strongest Shiite government.

His visit to Tehran came just days before Iraq inaugurates a new oil export outlet in the Gulf with a capacity of up to 900,000 barrels a day. It would be the first of five floating facilities that would eventually handle about 5 million barrels a day.

The new outlet will help Iraq, limited now by infrastructure bottlenecks, to export more oil.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_iran_oil

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Emily Maynard is the next 'Bachelorette'

Finally, Emily Maynard has a commitment!

No, not to a man or anything, but maybe that'll come next.

Story: Sources: Emily Maynard is the new 'Bachelorette'

ABC has officially announced that the single mother (whose relationship with recent Bachelor Brad Womack ended) will be the next "Bachelorette."

So, since this casting has been rumored (and confirmed by our sources) for weeks, what took so long for ABC to put a ring on it?

MORE: Meet the New Bachelorette!

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   5. Heigl gets jealous while watching 'Grey's'

According to sources, "Bachelor" producers have wanted ? and heavily courted ? Emily since the very beginning of the casting process. However, the West Virginia mom was a bit trepidacious at first, and even after she said yes, the network did not sign off on Emily's casting until this week.

Production on the show's eighth installment is expected to begin soon, and air this spring.

Story: Jake Pavelka: I would be the 'Bachelor' again

Chris Harrison recently told us of Emily: "I'm hearing the same rumors, if those rumors are true I will be over the moon excited. If they are true, I don't know if they're true, but I've heard the same thing and man, I hope it's true."

Story: 'Bachelor' Brad Womack wants Emily Maynard back

? 2012 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46115753/ns/today-entertainment/

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Video: Russell 2000 Small Cap Index Up 5%

Small caps outperformed large caps to date in 2012. Steven DeSanctis, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Stephen Wood, Russell Investments, discuss.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Top of page

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46105609/

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Paul says his campaign's momentum will continue (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul told supporters Saturday that the momentum of his campaign will continue.

Paul told a cheering crowd that his campaign started as a way to grow support for his libertarian ideas. But now he said his campaign is focused on winning delegates to secure the GOP nomination for the White House.

Exit polls showed the Texas congressman placing fourth in the state's Republican primary Saturday evening.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_el_pr/us_paul

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North Korea credits new leader with nuke testing (AP)

PYONGYANG, North Korea ? North Korea on Friday credited new leader Kim Jong Un with spearheading past nuclear testing, as it adds to a growing personality cult that portrays the young son of late leader Kim Jong Il as a confident military commander.

Kim Jong Un's youth ? he's believed to be in his late 20s ? and quick rise have spurred questions in foreign capitals about his readiness for leadership. But North Korea has dismissed such worries in recent days, saying Kim Jong Un worked closely with his father on military and economic matters.

The North's official Uriminzokkiri website said Friday that Kim "frightened" the country's enemies by commanding nuclear testing in the past. North Korea tested nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009, but the website didn't specify which tests Kim oversaw.

Uriminzokkiri described Kim Jong Un as "fully equipped" with the qualities of an extraordinary general, even during his years at Kim Il Sung Military University. The website also repeated the North's claim that he was involved in satellite launching but didn't elaborate.

North Korea's linking of Kim Jong Un to past nuclear testing comes as it pushes for the resumption of long-stalled six-nation aid-for-nuclear disarmament talks that also include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. Washington and its allies want the North to first show it is serious about previous disarmament commitments.

North Korea last week questioned Washington's generosity and sincerity, but suggested it remains open to suspending its uranium enrichment program if it can get the food aid it wants.

Kim Jong Un took over after his father and longtime ruler Kim Jong Il died in mid-December and has quickly been given many of the country's most important titles.

He was introduced as heir only in September 2010. Before that he had been kept out of the public eye for most of his life. He was quickly promoted to four-star general and named a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea.

Some of North Korea's neighbors and Washington have expressed worry about whether he can lead a nation of 24 million with a nuclear program as well as chronic trouble feeding all its people.

Kim Jong Il had 20 years of training under his own father, Kim Il Sung, before taking over. Even after his father's 1994 death, Kim Jong Il observed a three-year mourning period before formally assuming leadership.

A senior official told The Associated Press recently that Kim Jong Un spent years working closely with his late father and helped him make key policy decisions on economic and military affairs.

North Korea has also made it clear that Kim Jong Un will continue Kim Jong Il's "songun," or military-first, policy, and a steady stream of reports and images from state media has sought to show him as a fearless military commander who is comfortable with leadership.

North Korea also reported Friday that Kim Jong Un inspected two more military units.

Earlier this month, North Korea's state-run broadcaster aired a documentary that showed Kim Jong Un observing an April 2009 launch of a long-range rocket. It was the first indication of his involvement in the launch.

The documentary quoted Kim as threatening to wage war against any nation attempting to intercept the rocket, which North Korea claimed was carrying a communications satellite but the United States, South Korea and Japan said was really a test of its long-range missile technology.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_kim_jong_un

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Analysis: Gingrich forces GOP into grueling debate

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich arrives with his wife Callista during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich arrives with his wife Callista during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich arrives during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. Callista Gingrich looks on at right. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife Ann, at center, wave to the crowd of supporters at his South Carolina primary election night rally in Columbia, S.C., Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won the Republican primary Saturday night. (AP Photo/Brian Snyder, Pool)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) ? Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took a giant step Saturday toward becoming the Republican alternative to Mitt Romney that tea partyers and social conservatives have been seeking for months.

Gingrich's come-from-behind win in the South Carolina primary snatches away the quick and easy way for the GOP to pick its presidential nominee. Only days ago, it seemed that party activists would settle for Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who stirs few passions but who has the looks, money, experience and discipline to make a solid case against President Barack Obama in November.

Now, the party cannot avoid a wrenching and perhaps lengthy nomination fight. It can cast its lot with the establishment's cool embodiment of competence, forged in corporate board rooms, or with the anger-venting champion of in-your-face conservatism and grandiose ideas.

It's soul-searching time for Republicans. It might not be pretty.

Romney still might win the nomination, of course. He carries several advantages into Florida and beyond, and party insiders still consider him the front-runner. And it's conceivable that former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum can battle back and take the anti-Romney title from Gingrich. After all, he bested Gingrich in Iowa and New Hampshire.

But Santorum's third-place finish in South Carolina will doubtlessly prompt some conservative leaders to urge him to step aside and back Gingrich, as Texas Gov. Rick Perry did Thursday.

Even if Santorum revives his campaign in Florida, the fundamental intraparty debate will be the same. Voters associate Gingrich and Santorum with social issues such as abortion, and with unyielding fealty to conservative ideals. That's in contrast to Romney's flexibility and past embraces of legalized abortion, gun control and gay rights.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul will stay in the race, but he factors only tangentially in such discussions. His fans are largely a mix of libertarians, isolationists and pacifists, many of whom will abandon the GOP nominee if it's not the Texas congressman.

Strategically, Romney maintains a big edge in money and organization. He faces a dilemma, however. Gingrich resuscitated his struggling campaign in this state with combative debate performances featuring near-contempt for Obama and the news media. Romney likely would love to choke off that supply by drastically reducing the number of debates.

Ducking Gingrich after losing to him in South Carolina would suggest panic or fear, however, and all four candidates are scheduled to debate Monday in Florida.

Gingrich is benefitting "from the inherent animosity and mistrust GOP primary voters have with mainstream media," said Republican strategist Terry Holt. "Their first instinct is to rebel, and that's what they did. The question is whether he can sustain that anger and build it into a legitimate challenge to the frontrunner."

Gingrich tried to stoke that anger with his victory speech Saturday. He referred repeatedly to "elites" in Washington and New York who don't understand or care about working-class Americans. He decried "the growing anti-religious bigotry of our elites."

Gingrich made $3.1 million in 2010, but he nonetheless is tapping middle-class resentment in ways reminiscent of Sarah Palin. "I articulate the deepest-held values in the American people," he said.

Despite their contrasting personalities, Romney and Gingrich don't differ greatly on policy. Both call for lower taxes, less regulation, ending "Obamacare" and a robust military. They promise to cut spending and increase jobs without offering many details of how they would do so in a divided nation and Congress.

Romney vs. Gingrich in some ways mirrors the Democrats' 2008 choice between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, which turned mostly on questions of personality, style and biography. The Republicans' choice, however, will plumb deeper veins of emotion and ideology.

Romney appeals to Republicans who want a competent, even-tempered nominee with a track record in business and finance. His backers are willing to overlook his past support of abortion rights and his seeming tone-deafness on money matters ? even if it feeds caricatures of him as a tycoon.

Until Saturday, GOP polls had shown Romney easily ahead on the question of who would be Obama's toughest challenger. South Carolina exit polls, however, showed Gingrich with an edge among those who said it was most important that their candidate be able to beat Obama.

Romney will try to regain that advantage in Florida, which votes Jan. 31. It's not clear what strategies will work. In his concession speech Saturday, Romney said Obama has attacked free enterprise and "we cannot defeat that president with a candidate who has joined that very assault on free enterprise."

He was alluding to Gingrich's past criticisms of Romney's record running Bain Capital, a private equity firm. But Gingrich and a friendly super PAC dropped their references to Bain days ago.

Romney hinted at another approach. "Our party can't be led to victory by someone who also has never run a business and never led a state," he said. Gingrich's background didn't seem to bother South Carolina's Republicans, however.

What they've done is steer the primary contest into more emotional, and possibly dangerous, waters. They rewarded a candidate who gave voice to their resentment of the news media, federal bureaucrats and what they see as undeserving welfare recipients and a socialist-leaning president.

Two South Carolina debate moments crystalized Gingrich's rise. Both involved an open disdain for journalists, whether feigned or not.

In Myrtle Beach on Monday, the Martin Luther King holiday, Gingrich acidly told Fox News' Juan Williams that he would teach poor people how to find jobs, and that Obama has put more Americans on food stamps than any other president. Gingrich repeated the food stamp lines in his speech Saturday night.

At Thursday's debate in North Charleston, Gingrich excoriated CNN's John King for raising an ex-wife's claim that Gingrich once asked for an "open marriage," to accommodate his mistress.

Conservatives inside the hall and out seemed to love the tongue-lashing. The details of Marianne Gingrich's allegations, which Gingrich denied almost as an afterthought, seemed to matter much less to voters. That's remarkable in a state whose GOP electorate is nearly two-thirds evangelicals.

Mike McKenna, a Republican strategist, said Gingrich seems to be drawing many people, including tea party activists, who are fairly new to politics. They don't know or care much about Gingrich's legacy of leading the 1994 Republican revolution in Congress, or his subsequently lucrative career as a writer and speaker that sometimes veered from conservative orthodoxies, McKenna said.

Instead, he thinks these voters are reacting emotionally to someone they hope "can take the fight to the president, to the media, to whomever. They are not particularly concerned about what kind of president he will be."

Therein, of course, is the potential peril of a Gingrich candidacy. Along with his verbal fireworks he carries baggage that might give Democrats more to exploit than do Romney's policy flip-flops and record at Bain.

Gingrich's impressive South Carolina victory will force Republicans in Florida and other states to make a hot-or-cool choice.

They can pick the data-driven Harvard MBA grad who smoothed out the Winter Olympics and now runs a by-the-numbers nationwide campaign. Or they can pick the pugnacious firebrand who didn't manage to get his name on the Virginia primary ballot but who wows an angry electorate that can't wait to lay into Obama in debates next fall.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: Charles Babington covers politics for The Associated Press.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-21-GOP%20Campaign-Analysis/id-cabfd0f4de284042959a3cfa70c47012

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Raspberry Pi demos Model B computer's AirPlay capabilities (video)

Just a few days after announcing that production of its Model B Linux computer is underway, Raspberry Pi has now unveiled a preview of what its single board device can do when combined with AirPlay. In a video published this week, a Raspberry Pi developer demonstrated how to stream content from an iPad to the ARM-based Model B, using only an HDMI-equipped TV and an AirPlay app. It's as seamless as dancing cows are beautiful. Still no word yet on when this $35 will begin shipping, but in the meantime, be sure to check out the demo video, after the break.

Continue reading Raspberry Pi demos Model B computer's AirPlay capabilities (video)

Raspberry Pi demos Model B computer's AirPlay capabilities (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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APNewsBreak: Churchill library to be created in DC

WASHINGTON (AP) ? An international group seeking to preserve the legacy of Winston Churchill is announcing plans Thursday to create the first U.S. research center devoted to the longtime British leader.

The new National Churchill Library and Center will be established between 2013 and 2015 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., with an $8 million (?6.23 million) pledge from the Chicago-based Churchill Centre.

Rare books and research materials will be transferred to the university's library and housed in a new street-front center with exhibit space, officials told The Associated Press.

University President Steven Knapp said the center will become a destination for scholars and students of the former British prime minister along with Washington's many museums, archives and libraries. Churchill is widely admired for his leadership of Britain during World War II.

"We're going to be able to study the 20th century through the study of one of the towering figures of the 20th century, Winston Churchill," he said. "The idea here is to look at him not just in isolation but also setting him in his life and times."

Born in 1874, Churchill's career in politics spanned 60 years, and he served in Britain's parliament, numerous executive posts and as prime minister for 10 years. He died in 1965.

The Churchill Archives Centre at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom is the primary repository for his documents and personal papers with over 1 million items. Other major Churchill institutions in the United Kingdom include the Churchill War Rooms and Museum and Chartwell, the Churchill family's home.

Much of Churchill's memorabilia has never been shown in the United States, so the new center could borrow materials from the British institutions.

Members of the U.S.-based Churchill Centre will build a collection to be housed in Washington, said Lee Pollock, the group's executive director. Several members have personal collections they seek to donate to a permanent library, rather than sell. The Washington collection could amass more than 1,000 volumes, he added.

The gift will also create endowments to support a professor and a curator position devoted to Churchill and 20th-century British history. From the gift, $2 million is devoted to renovating space for the Churchill center at the university library, and $1 million will fund exhibits and programs.

"Americans are especially devoted Churchillians," Pollock said. The British icon is "probably the most collectible and collected statesman" of at least the last century, having written over 15 million words and about 50 different books as a historian and writer, Pollock said.

Churchill thought of himself as a "personal bridge" between Britain and the United States, with an American mother and British father, Knapp said. His work with President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped draw the U.S. into World War II against Japan and Nazi Germany.

"Of course that produced a tremendous alliance that had extremely important consequences," Knapp said. "Although he is from outside America, he in many ways stands for America's relationship with the larger world."

___

Online:

Churchill Centre: http://www.winstonchurchill.org ___

Brett Zongker can be reached at http://twitter.com/DCArtBeat .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-19-Churchill%20Library-Washington/id-4f2744af6c7046a18d6ffdef122b0526

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