Will Durst: Frequently Asked Questions About the Iowa Caucuses

Q. A little help here. Exactly what are the Iowa Caucuses?
A. The Iowa Caucuses is a method of choosing a presidential nominee. Held every four years. Usually in Iowa.

Q. Why is it so important?
A. Number one in the batting order. Opening stanza of an epic poem. The recorded preamble to the Republican Nomination Symphony is over, and the citizen orchestra is about to play.

Q. What?
A. Gentlemen, start your engines.

Q. What precisely happens?
A. Nobody knows. The process is sort of like musical chairs without the chairs. And no music.

Q. How did all this get started?
A. It began with early Iowans throwing small round ruinish stones into hollowed out stumps, which were placed atop huge cast iron kettles brimming with pig entrails--- then the omens interpreted by a circle of community elders wearing ceremonial necklaces of hand-carved stringed chestnuts.

Q. And when did it transform into the current method?
A. Actually, it's still pretty much the same.

Q. How is a caucus different than a primary?
A. People don't vote in a caucus. They attend. Then huddle with like minded others in designated candidate corners, but if not enough people join your posse, your group is disbanded and everybody wanders around in search of a second or third choice. So supporters who corner the breath mint and deodorant market hold a huge advantage.

Q. Might there be worse ways in choosing a candidate than picking the one with the best smelling supporters?
A. Oh yes indeed. Look at North Korea.

Q. So, you are allowed to change your vote?
A. You are encouraged to, especially Jon Huntsman supporters.

Q. My good buddy Jon. How's he doing these days?
A. Little green around the gills. Polling around 1% with a margin of error of 4%. So he could very well end up owing Iowa a couple delegates.

Q. How believable are the polls?
A. Don't bet the farm. Iowans are a fierce stubborn people. They don't call them Buckeyes or Hawkeyes or Hoosiers or whatever they call them for nothing you know.

Q. What are you saying?
A. That folks in Iowa love to confound conventional wisdom by throwing in with the underdog. Can we say Ron Paul in a squeaker?

Q. Why Iowa?
A. Why not Iowa?

Q. No, I mean why does a state that Minnesotans make fun of get to go first?
A. Who do you want to go first: Louisiana? California? Texas? American Samoa?

Q. Your point being?
A. At least Iowa is representative.

Q. Of white people.
A. In the form of a question, please.

Q. Okay, how diverse is Iowa?
A. White, white, white, white, white, white, white. Whiter than a "Justin Bieber Christmas in Norway Special." Mashed potatoes on paper plates with a side of cauliflower white.

Q. And that's representative?
A. Of Republicans.

Q. Point taken. Who can participate?
A. Anybody who pre-registers as a Republican. And brings snacks.

Q. Does it cost anything to participate?
A. Just the tiniest piece of your soul.

Q. How are caucuses better than primaries?
A. Well, they're a whole lot more fun to say. Try it in a sentence: "I slipped on the ice and broke my caucuses."

Q. What happens in Iowa on January 4th when the circus packs up and moves to New Hampshire?
A. Iowa radio stations will stop screaming about treason and hypocrisy and go back to hog futures and herbicide ads, the way God intended.

The New York Times says Emmy-nominated comedian and writer Will Durst "is quite possibly the best political satirist working in the country today." Check out the website: Redroom.com to buy his book or find out more about upcoming stand-up performances such as the finale of the XIXth annual Big Fat Year End Kiss Off Comedy Show, Jan 1. 142 Throckmorton Theatre- 142throckmortontheatre.com- Mill Valley, CA 415.383.9600

?

Follow Will Durst on Twitter: www.twitter.com/willdurst

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-durst/frequently-asked-question_1_b_1176610.html

van halen pro bowl sinead oconnor celtics braylon edwards jimmer fredette mall of america

Video: Recovering after the tsunami ?

An American schoolteacher returns to Minamisanriku the tsunami stricken Japanese village she taught in. NBC's George Lewis reports

Related Links:

http://twitter.com/nbcnightlynews

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45798128/

oregon football lana turner donald glover julio cesar chavez jr jason segel turducken power rangers jungle fury

Microsoft Booting Avatar Guns From Xbox Live Jan. 1

You can shoot your friends with all sorts of awesome and painful weaponry across Microsoft's Xbox Live service; you just can't give your virtual representation a digital gun?that's a no-no.

According to a post by Epic Games community manager Will Kinsler, Microsoft is allegedly eliminating any and all gun avatar items from the Xbox Live Marketplace at the start of the new year. There's been no official word as to why, or how, this new policy came about, but there's a bit of a silver lining for those already sporting a virtual arsenal of digital accessories: You get to keep your firearms.

"Heads up! Starting on Jan. 1, 2012, the Lancer and Hammerburst avatar items will no longer be available on Xbox Live Marketplace," Kinsler wrote, referring to the iconic weaponry of Epic Games's Gears of War series. "If you've purchased the items prior to Jan. 1, you will be able to keep them. A new policy goes into effect for all gun-like avatar items on the Marketplace, so get them while they're hot."

We should note, however, that the alleged policy does indeed only refer to gun-like weaponry. Xbox Live avatars will still be able to swing lightsabers around all they want, for example?ignoring the fact that a blade of superheated plasma could do just as much damage as a digital bullet or chainsaw attachment.

Microsoft currently lists a number of actions avatars can't perform within Xbox titles that incorporate a user's digital persona into actual gameplay. The company currently prohibits violence that results in "blood, gore, dismemberment, decapitation, maiming, or mutilation," which would presumably prevent an avatar from running around in an actual game with a working, "gun-like item."

Since those who already own guns will be free to keep them as part of their avatar's look, it's unclear as to what Microsoft hopes to accomplish by prohibiting the future sale of decorative avatar weaponry. Perhaps the decision is in some way related to the Kinect's ability to map avatar movements to real-life gestures or the digital meeting grounds built into Xbox Live's Avatar Kinect application?

Be sure to check out the NeoGAF forums for a list of items that could suffer the gun ban.

For more from David, subscribe to him on Facebook: David Murphy.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

Source: http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/breakingnews/~3/mnZvEtyM1_0/0,2817,2398050,00.asp

after christmas sales macys stratfor blake griffin bears vs packers after christmas sales 2011 tyson chandler

IBM's Watson Shows up for Work at Cedars-Sinai's Cancer Center

IBM's Watson supercomputer is about to begun work evaluating evidence-based cancer treatment options that can be delivered to the physician in a matter of seconds for assessment.

IBM and WellPoint, which is Blue Cross Blue Shield's largest health plan, are building applications that will essentially turn the Watson computer into an adviser for oncologists at Cedars-Sinai's Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute in Los Angeles, according to Steve Gold, director of worldwide marketing for IBM Watson Solutions.

Cedars-Sinai's historical data on cancer as well as its current clinical records will be ingested into an iteration of IBM's Watson that will reside at WellPoint's headquarters. The computer will act as a medical data repository on multiple types of cancer. WellPoint will then work with Cedars-Sinai physicians to design and develop applications as well as validate their capabilities.

Dr. M. William Audeh, medical director of the cancer institute, will work closely with WellPoint's clinical experts to provide advice on how the Watson may be best used in clinical practice to support increased understanding of the evolving body of knowledge on cancer, including emerging therapies not widely known by physicians.

Watson Solves Problems

IBM announced earlier this year that healthcare would be the first commercial application for the computer, which defeated two human champions on the popular television game show Jeopardy! in February.

WellPoint partnered with IBM this fall to develop Watson-based applications intended to improve patient care through the use of evidence-based medicine, which is designed to standardize patient treatments by identifying proven best practices. A simple example of evidence-based medicine in action is when a provider automatically places someone who has suffered a heart attack on an aspirin regimen upon leaving the hospital. Cedars-Sinai is the first application of the partnership.

"Where Watson really lends itself to solving problems is information rich opportunities and the information is changing constantly and in various forms, structure and unstructured coming from disparate systems," IBM 's Gold said. "Healthcare fits that requirement exceptionally well."

Custom Configuration

The Watson supercomputer that beat past Jeopardy champions was made up of 90 IBM Power 750 Express servers powered by eight-core processors -- four in each machine for a total of 32 processors per machine. The servers were virtualized using a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) implementation, creating a server cluster with a total processing capacity of 80 teraflops. A teraflop is one trillion operations per second.

The iteration of Watson being used by Cedars-Sinai, which will reside on WellPoint's campus and can be accessed remotely over a WAN, is vastly smaller, according to Gold.

IBM's Watson supercomputer as it was used for the game show Jeopardy!. The iteration of Watson being used by Cedars-Sinai will be much smaller, but it will have the same capability to ingest and analyze data from disparate systems, both structured and unstructured "The Jeopardy! configuration was done with a specific purpose in mind. It was an in-memory application designed to respond to a question in three seconds," Gold said. "It had 2880 cores and 15 terabytes of memory. Most situations won't dictate that level of response time. For a doctor, if the response is in six seconds or 10 seconds ... obviously the implications for the response are more important than the turnaround time."

Working with speech and imaging recognition software provider Nuance Communications, IBM said the supercomputer can assist healthcare professionals in culling through gigabytes or terabytes of patient healthcare information to determine how to best treat specific illnesses.

For example, Watson's analytics technology, used with Nuance's voice and clinical language understanding software, could help a physician consider all related texts, reference materials, prior cases, and latest knowledge in journals and medical literature when treating an illness. The analysis could quickly help physicians determine the best options for diagnosis and treatment.

Watson will likely be good at helping physicians prescribe treatments that will have the best outcome, Gold said. For example, between the first and second prescribed treatments of a cancer patient, 50% of the time the prescribed medication changes for the second treatment based on the patient's reaction to the initial treatment, Gold said. Watson may be able to better prescribe initial treatments based on past patient data and information specific to the patient being treated.

"The goal is to assist physicians in evaluating evidence-based treatment options that can be delivered to the physician in a matter of seconds for assessment," he said.

Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed . His e-mail address is lmearian@computerworld.com.

Read more about health care in Computerworld's Health Care Topic Center.

For more enterprise computing news, visit Computerworld. Story copyright ? 2011 Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved.

Source: http://feeds.pcworld.com/click.phdo?i=47c769c3f329023fb56dbff6cc30face

mike wallace pope joan pope joan is jon bon jovi dead jon bon jovi jon bon jovi kim jong il died

Funeral for ex-Okla. college president scheduled

LANGSTON, Okla. (AP) - The interim president of Langston University says the death of former president Ernest Holloway is a dark day for the school and for the state of Oklahoma.

The 81-year-old Holloway died in Texas Saturday following a bout with stomach cancer.

Ponder said in a statement released Monday that Holloway was an outstanding educator who became legendary for his love of the school and his commitment to accessible education for all people.

Holloway served as president of Oklahoma's only historically black university for 25 years before retiring in 2005. He earned a bachelor's degree from Langston and served in various positions before being named president in 1979.

Officials said funeral services have been tentatively scheduled for Friday in the C.F. Gayles Gymnasium. His body is to lie in repose on Thursday.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.ktul.com/story/16395551/funeral-for-ex-okla-college-president-scheduled

mashed potato recipe mashed potato recipe cranberry sauce oregon usc la auto show powerball winning numbers powerball winning numbers

WTS/WTT: Samsung GT-P1000 Galaxy Tab 7" Tablet 3G Wifi 16GB (Local set)

Today, 06:42 AM ? #1

Junior Member

?

Join Date: Sep 2003

Posts: 47

---

WTS/WTT: Selling an used Local Set (SingTel) Samsung GT-P1000 Galaxy Tab 7" Tablet 3G Wifi 16GB

Model: GT-P1000 (Chic White)
Appearance: 9/10 (no scratch)
Condition: Working
Warranty: Expired
Full Box (with 1 black hard case)

Ask Price: S$380

Sms 8328 Six Six Six 8, pls do NOT pm (as I seldom read pm). Prefer deal at Toa Payoh.

Else looking to trade for: Sennheiser MM450 or MM550 Bluetooth Headphone

---

Last edited by wepixel; Today at 06:49 AM..

?

Source: http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/mobile-phones-bazaar-201/wts-wtt-samsung-gt-p1000-galaxy-tab-7-tablet-3g-wifi-16gb-local-set-3540209.html

mashed potato recipe mashed potato recipe cranberry sauce oregon usc la auto show powerball winning numbers powerball winning numbers

Sony to sell LCD venture stake to Samsung for $940 million (Reuters)

TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) ? Sony Corp has agreed to sell its nearly 50 percent stake in an LCD joint venture with Samsung Electronics to the South Korean company for $940 million, as it struggles to reduce huge losses at its TV business.

The seven-year-old venture cut its capital by 15 percent in July and industry sources had said Sony was negotiating an exit, aiming to switch to cheaper outsourcing for flat screens for its TVs while Samsung pushes ahead with next-generation displays.

"In terms of direction it is a positive (for Sony)," said Keita Wakabayashi, an analyst at Mito Securities in Tokyo, about the deal. "But if they are making a loss on the sale, one could ask why they didn't make this decision sooner."

"Their biggest problem is that they are not making a profit even though they don't have many plants," he said.

In November, Sony, the world's third largest flat panel TV maker, warned of a fourth straight year of net losses for the financial year to next March, with its TV unit alone set to lose $2.2 billion on tumbling demand and a surging yen.

The company said on Monday it would review its earnings forecast to reflect 66 billion yen in impairment losses from the transaction, as well as expected future cost savings.

While the sale is seen as a move in the right direction for Sony, it will not be good for Samsung, analysts said.

"Sony may shift to Taiwanese LCD makers should they offer cheaper prices," Song Myung-sup, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities, said in Seoul.

Shares in Sony ended 1.6 percent higher, compared with a 1 percent gain in Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei average, while Samsung Electronics shares fell 0.2 percent.

Sony's panel venture with Samsung, S-LCD, was established to secure stable supplies for Sony's flat-screen TVs at a time of shortages.

AILING BUSINESS

Once a symbol of Japan's high-tech might, Sony has sold off TV factories in Spain, Slovakia and Mexico in the past few years and outsources more than half of its production to companies including Hon Hai Precision Industry, the contract electronics maker that also counts iPhone maker Apple Inc as a key customer.

Sony retains four TV plants of its own -- in Japan, Brazil, China and Malaysia.

Some analysts say the $100 billion LCD TV market peaked last year and forecast it will shrink 3 to 4 percent annually, as consumers in advanced countries have already traded in their bulky cathode-ray tube TV sets for flat screens, while the LCD market has been in a glut since last summer.

Global TV manufacturers are restructuring their businesses and outsourcing production as cut-throat competition and weak demand squeeze margins.

Analysts have criticized Sony for failing to aggressively take on the competition in the TV market from South Korean rivals Samsung and LG Electronics Inc, the largest and second-largest players, respectively.

In November, Sony cut its TV unit sales forecast for the second time this year and dropped a plan to boost its TV sales to 40 million sets a year in the fiscal year ending March 2013, effectively conceding defeat to Samsung, the world's largest flat-panel TV maker.

Samsung has said it expects the flat-panel TV market to grow 10 percent next year, and aims to outperform the market.

Sony said in April it would not raise its stake in a separate LCD venture with Sharp Corp for at least a year, and in August said it would merge its loss-making small-panel business with the government-backed Japan Display.

In October, it signaled a stepped-up push into the smartphone market by announcing it would take control of its mobile phone joint venture with Ericsson for $1.5 billion.

The company is hoping to exploit its music and video content and compatibility with its other devices like TVs and tablet computers to help it catch up with smartphone leaders such as Apple.

($1 = 1,155 won; 77.99 yen)

(Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Michael Watson and Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111226/bs_nm/us_sony_samsung

elliot elliot la galaxy la galaxy david blaine jordy nelson hot chelle rae

Snow hits New Mexico, roads closed across the state

The storm has hit central and northern New Mexico.

>Check your weather forecast

Some areas are reporting more than 6 inches of snow.

Many motorists are left stranded due to the following road closures:?

Interstate 40 between Albuquerque and Gallup

I-40 from Tucumcari to the Torrance County line

I-40 eastbound in Albuquerque between Louisiana and Tramway

I-40 eastbound between the East Mountains and Tucumcari

I-25 through Socorro County

U.S. 285 from Vaughn to Roswell

U.S. 550 between Bloomfield and Bernalillo

U.S. 64 between Tierra Amarilla and Tres Piedras

N.M. 120 between Roy and Yates

N.M. 72 between Folsom and Raton

Difficult and severe driving conditions are reported throughout the state.

>Check complete traffic conditions

The storm is expected to last through Friday.

Meanwhile, the New Mexico Transportation Department says some phone service providers are having issues with 511, the Department?s road advisory hot line.

Because of the pending winter storm, if the public is having trouble with their mobile device in reaching 511, they can connect to 511 by calling 1-800-432-4269.

The transportation department says it is currently working on the situation and hopes to have the problem solved soon.

Count on KOB Eyewitness News 4 to bring you up to the minute weather and road updates.

Source: http://eastmountains.kob.com/news/news/104561-snow-hits-new-mexico-roads-closed-across-state

eagles magic johnson involuntary manslaughter stevens johnson syndrome verdict in michael jackson trial verdict in michael jackson trial brian urlacher

ESO_Observatory: Our #Outreach Community Newsletter for December is out! http://t.co/583sNp8r #scicomm #astrocomm

• Passer la navigation
• Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
• Passer cette ?tape
• Connexion

• Connexion
• Rejoignez Twitter !

Our #Outreach Community Newsletter for December is out! ow.ly/89tOL #scicomm #astrocomm Il y a environ 2 heures via HootSuite Retweeted by 3 people

ESO_Observatory

ESO

Pied de page

• ? 2011 Twitter
• ? propos de nous
• Contact
• Blog
• Statut
• Ressources
• API
• Entreprises
• Aide
• Offres d'emploi
• Conditions
• Confidentialit?

Source: http://twitter.com/ESO_Observatory/statuses/150531855337259008

mists of pandaria mists of pandaria 20 20 gunner kiel gunner kiel baby lisa baby lisa

From Abkhaz to Zuni: The Language Collections of the University Library, thru Feb 17, 2012

From Abkhaz to Zuni: The Language Collections of the University Library

Exhibit - Artifacts | October?6, 2011 ? February?17, 2012?every?day?with exceptions | Moffitt Undergraduate Library, Elevator Lobby

Sponsor: Library

This exhibit highlights the linguistic diversity of the UC Berkeley Library?s collections, a cornerstone of the world-class research for which the University is famous. The campus libraries include material in over 400 languages, representing a vast array of cultures and time periods.

Some of the highlights include a reproduction of the Bancroft Library's Codex Fernandez Leal, one of the oldest surviving documents of Indian America, about nine feet of which is displayed on the back of the security desk of Moffitt Library; a Swahili cookbook from the Biosciences Library's famed cookbook collection, and a delightful bilingual children's book from the Education/Psychology Library.

Open during operating hours of Moffitt Library. See our website for current hours.

Check the Exhibit blog for more information and virtual updates from the Library's collections.

Attendance restrictions: Anyone wishing to enter Moffitt Library must show a current UC ID, UC Berkeley Library Borrower's Card, or Stanford ID.

Event Contact: clee@library.berkeley.edu, 510-768-7899

(No event on these dates: November 11, 24, 25; December 17, 18, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 2011; January 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 2012)

Source: http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/pubaff.html?event_ID=48817&date=2011-12-23

facebook ipo facebook ipo national defense authorization act national defense authorization act clemson seven days in utopia seven days in utopia

EpicureanDeal: Going back to email and RSS feeds over the holiday. Twitter is a waste of time. Have a happy break.

• Passer la navigation
• Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
• Passer cette ?tape
• Connexion

• Connexion
• Rejoignez Twitter !

Going back to email and RSS feeds over the holiday. Twitter is a waste of time. Have a happy break. Il y a environ 2 heures via Twitter for iPhone

EpicureanDeal

Epicurean Dealmaker

Pied de page

• ? 2011 Twitter
• ? propos de nous
• Contact
• Blog
• Statut
• Ressources
• API
• Entreprises
• Aide
• Offres d'emploi
• Conditions
• Confidentialit?

Source: http://twitter.com/EpicureanDeal/statuses/150066245738315776

is jon bon jovi dead jon bon jovi jon bon jovi kim jong il died warren hellman survivor south pacific survivor south pacific

smallwars: AP: 10,000 US Troops Leave Afghanistan - http://t.co/csu4RjgX

• Passer la navigation
• Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
• Passer cette ?tape
• Connexion

• Connexion
• Rejoignez Twitter !

AP: 10,000 US Troops Leave Afghanistan - tinyurl.com/8ykjfjm Il y a environ 5 heures via web Retweeted by 2 people

smallwars

Small Wars Journal

Pied de page

• ? 2011 Twitter
• ? propos de nous
• Contact
• Blog
• Statut
• Ressources
• API
• Entreprises
• Aide
• Offres d'emploi
• Conditions
• Confidentialit?

Source: http://twitter.com/smallwars/statuses/150026630033702913

world series game 3 sign language alphabet texas tech texas tech notre dame football wisconsin badgers football wisconsin badgers football

Built-in 'self-destruct timer' causes ultimate death of messenger RNA in cells

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered the first known mechanism by which cells control the survival of messenger RNA (mRNA) ?arguably biology's most important molecule. The findings pertain to mRNAs that help regulate cell division and could therefore have implications for reversing cancer's out-of-control cell division. The research is described in today's online edition of the journal Cell.

"The fate of the mRNA molecules we studied resembles a Greek tragedy," said the study's senior author, Robert Singer, Ph.D., co-director of the Gruss Lipper Biophotonics Center and professor and co-chair of anatomy and structural biology at Einstein. "Their lifespans are determined at the moment of their birth." The study was carried out in yeast cells using advanced microscope technology developed previously by Dr. Singer that has allowed scientists, for the first time, to observe single molecules in single cells in real time.

Directions for making proteins are encoded in the DNA sequences of genes, which reside on chromosomes in the nucleus of each cell. But for proteins to be made, a gene's DNA code must be copied, or transcribed, onto mRNA molecules, which migrate from the nucleus and into the cytoplasm where the cell's protein-making machinery is located. For as long as it exists, an mRNA molecule can act as a template for making copies of a protein. So scientists have long suspected that cells must have ways for degrading mRNAs when, for example, a protein starts accumulating to harmful levels. "The cell somehow decides to destroy its mRNA on cue, but nobody knew how this happens," said Dr. Singer.

In their search for such a mechanism, Dr. Singer and his colleagues focused on two genes, SWI5 and CLB2, which code for proteins that regulate the cell cycle?the complex series of steps during which a cell divides, first duplicating its genetic material and then distributing it evenly to two daughter cells. To properly choreograph the cell cycle, the levels of the proteins encoded by the SWI5 and CLB2 genes must be exquisitely controlled?suggesting that the mRNAs made from these genes would be prime candidates for purposeful degradation. Remarkably, the researchers found that these mRNAs are, in effect, born with molecular "self-destruct timers" that ultimately destroy them.

When genes are transcribed, a part of the gene called the promoter region has the job of switching on the gene so that DNA will be copied into mRNA. The Einstein scientists found that the promoter regions of the SWI5 and CLB2 genes do something else as well: they recruit a protein called Dbf2p, which jumps onto mRNA molecules as they're being synthesized.

These mRNAs?transcribed from the SWI5 and CLB2 genes and bearing the Dbf2p protein?make their journey from the nucleus into the cytoplasm. Here a protein called Dbf20p joins Dbf2p aboard the mRNA molecules?and the two proteins together call for the molecules' precipitous decay.

"Our findings indicate that genes making proteins whose levels must be carefully controlled contain promoter regions that sentence their mRNA molecules to death even as the mRNA is being born," said Dr. Singer. "The promoter regions do that by 'marking' the newly made mRNA with the protein Dbf2p?the common factor between mRNA synthesis and its ultimate decay. Dbf2p stays attached to the mRNA from its birth and then, responding to a signal indicating that no more protein should be made, orders mRNA's destruction."

While these observations pertain to yeast cells, Dr. Singer said he is confident that the process governing mRNA decay in humans "will prove to be very similar" and could be relevant for combating cancer. "Once you gain insight into the mechanisms controlling the cell cycle and cell division," he noted, "you can propose targeted therapies for regulating the uncontrolled cell division that characterizes cancer."

###

Albert Einstein College of Medicine: http://www.einstein.yu.edu

Thanks to Albert Einstein College of Medicine 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 45 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116279/Built_in__self_destruct_timer__causes_ultimate_death_of_messenger_RNA_in_cells

target target walmart jcpenney loft old navy cyber monday best deals

Rapper 'Tyler, the Creator' arrested for vandalism (AP)

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. ? The rapper known as "Tyler, the Creator," was arrested after authorities say he got rowdy following a show at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Arthur Famble Jr. said the rapper was arrested Thursday night after he appeared in a show by his group, Odd Future, and destroyed the Sunset Strip nightclub's electronic soundboard.

The sergeant said Roxy security guards called deputies, and the 20-year-old rapper, whose real name is Tyler Gregory Okonma, was booked for investigation of felony vandalism. He was released early Friday on $20,000 bail.

As Okonma was being led to a squad car, the crowd leaving the Roxy became angry and rushed toward deputies, Famble said.

Additional deputies were called in to disperse the crowd, and Sunset Boulevard was shut down for about a half-hour.

No one was hurt.

Telephone numbers for Okonma and his Los Angeles record company couldn't be found. Okonma said in a Twitter message that he wasn't arrested.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111223/ap_en_mu/us_rapper_vandalism_arrest

slither slither craigslist killer chattanooga joey lawrence joey lawrence loma prieta

You Won't Believe the RIAA?s Pathetic Excuse For Their Own Rampant Pirating [Piracy]

Those nauseating RIAA hypocrites were caught illegally downloading $9 million on TV shows. Now they are giving the same pathetic excuse given to them by the people they accused of pirating songs: "someone was using our IP address." More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/QfcLJxEt0Is/riaa-pathetic-excuse-for-their-9-million-piracy-acts

old navy cyber monday best deals cyber monday best deals brownback brownback salvia cybermonday deals

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: 'Green News Report' - December 20, 2011

TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport.

The 'GNR' is also now available on your cell phone via Stitcher Radio's mobile app!.

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Rush Limbaugh is Climate Change Misinformer of the Year!; ABC News buys into light-bulb "ban" baloney; Illegal logging leads to a thousand dead after devastating floods in the Philippines; Meet the World's Newest Oil Spill, now back in the Gulf of Mexico; PLUS: Turning the scheduled-corner in the Fukushima nuclear disaster? ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Listen online here, or Download MP3 (6 mins)...

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Ominous signs of Arctic permafrost melt, potential 'methane bomb' for climate; New mercury pollution rules to save lives; Big Corn, Big Sugar in bitter battle over "corn sugar"; "Climategate": UK police seize computers linked to hacked climate scientist emails ... PLUS: Innovative breakthrough could DOUBLE solar energy output ... and much, MUCH more! ...

'Green News Report' is heard on many fine radio stations around the country. For additional info on stories we covered today, plus today's 'Green News Extra', please click right here...

?

Follow Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GreenNewsReport

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman-and-desi-doyen/green-news-report---decem_b_1161464.html

washington wizards rudy zynga free shipping free shipping esophageal cancer extreme makeover home edition

Chiefs ends Packers' perfect dream

KC boots four FGs, stymies Green Bay offense in 19-14 victory

By DAVE SKRETTA

updated 6:22 p.m. ET Dec. 18, 2011

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Mike McCarthy never put a whole lot of stock in a perfect season, except as a means of gaining home-field advantage and setting the Green Bay Packers up for another Super Bowl run.

Well, they still have a chance to earn home-field advantage.

The perfect season? That's history.

Kyle Orton threw for 299 yards to outduel Aaron Rodgers, and the Kansas City Chiefs rallied behind interim coach Romeo Crennel for a shocking 19-14 victory on Sunday that ended the Packers' 19-game winning streak. It was their first loss since Dec. 19, 2010, at New England.

"I personally always viewed the undefeated season as, really, just gravy," McCarthy said. "The goal was to get home-field advantage and win the Super Bowl. That's what we discussed.

"We were fortunate enough to be in the position to possibly achieve the undefeated season," he added, "but we still have the primary goal in front of us, and that's to get home-field advantage."

Green Bay, playing without leading receiver Greg Jennings and top rusher James Starks because of injuries, can wrap up the No. 1 seed in their final two games against Chicago and Detroit. But the Packers no longer have the pressure of becoming the second team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with a perfect record, or extending the second-longest winning streak in league history.

"I think our goal ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl. The next step is getting that number one seed in the playoffs," Rodgers said. "We've got a home playoff game ? we've got a bye secured."

Rodgers was 17 of 35 for 235 yards and a touchdown, and he also scampered 8 yards for another touchdown with 2:12 left in the game. But the Packers (13-1) were unable to recover the onside kick, and Kansas City picked up a couple of first downs to secure the victory.

"They had a good game plan," Rodgers said. "You have to give them credit."

Ryan Succop kicked four field goals for Kansas City (6-8), which had lost five of its last six games and fired coach Todd Haley last Monday. Jackie Battle added a short touchdown plunge with 4:53 left in the game, points that came in handy when Rodgers led one last scoring drive.

"Everybody had marked it off as a win for the Packers, but those guys in the locker room, they're football players," Crennel said. "They decided they were not going to lay down, they were not going to give up, so they went out and played a tremendous game."

Neither team looked all that tremendous in the first half.

Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson was hit twice with offensive pass interference, Rodgers was harassed by the Chiefs' weak pass rush, and Green Bay wound up making five first downs.

One of them came when Kansas City's Jeremy Horne ran into Packers punter Tim Masthay, giving them 15 free yards. The Chiefs tried to give Green Bay another gift later on the drive when Mason Crosby missed a 59-yard field goal attempt but Kansas City had 12 men on the field.

With another chance from 54 yards, the normally reliable Crosby still pushed the kick right.

Rodgers finished the half 6 of 17 for 59 yards, with a handful of drops between wide receiver Donald Driver and tight end Jermichael Finley. In fact, things were going so badly for Green Bay that at one point it ran out of the wildcat despite having one of the best quarterbacks in the game.

The Chiefs were still clinging to a 6-0 lead when Rodgers finally hit down field, finding Finley over top the coverage for a 41-yard gain. Three plays later, the Packers' star quarterback hit Driver in the corner of the end zone for a 7-6 lead with 8:04 left in the third quarter.

Kansas City answered when Orton hit his own tight end, Leonard Pope, for a career-long 38-yard catch. Jon Baldwin added a 17-yard grab to set up Succop's 46-yard, go-ahead field goal.

The Packers moved into field-goal range on their ensuing drive, but rather than have Crosby attempt a 56-yard kick in the same direction he had already missed, McCarthy elected to go for it on fourth-and-9. Rodgers' pass fell incomplete and the Chiefs took over.

advertisement

More news

Suh's block seals Lions' wild win

??Matthew Stafford threw a 6-yard TD pass to Calvin Johnson with 39 seconds remaining to cap a 98-yard scoring drive as the Detroit Lions rallied from 13 points down late in the fourth quarter to stun the Oakland Raiders 28-27 on Sunday.

Doug Pensinger / Getty Images

Pats ensure Broncos run out of miracle rallies

??Tim Tebow ran out of miracles. The Denver Broncos quarterback finally found a foe he couldn't rally past as the New England Patriots pulled away Sunday for a 41-23 win. It ended Denver's six game win streak.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45716261/ns/sports-nfl/

the strangers all hallows eve all saints day all saints day bernard madoff ct news hemlock

James M. Lynch: FAMU Hazing; The Buck Speeds Past

James Ammons, FAMU president, surprised by a CNN reporter, responding to questions about the 'alleged hazing death' of FAMU student Robert Champion pretty much 'failed the test' of leadership when interviewed. If you were watching the report, aired several times today, and left the facts of this and other pending FAMU scandals aside, you'd still see this breakdown as one in which the buck not only didn't stop with Ammons, it barely slowed down.

According to the reporter, Jason Carroll of CNN, President James Ammons is where the 'buck stops, so to speak''. Ambushing Ammons as he got out of his car, Carroll confronted him on the death of the marching band student, an apparent hazing incident gone horrifically wrong. Ammons tried desperately to stick to the apparently approved script but the opportunity to really stand out, to be a leader for his university, to really teach something about value to his students and the opportunity to possibly to save lives in the future, he failed to grasp.

Ammons's spoke of how "our number one priority is the health, safety and well being of his students", but when Carroll asked, 'Do you bare, personally, any responsibility?', Ammons spun away from really showing care for the university's students' well being. Instead he blew smoke and the buck passed by.

Citing appropriate 'policies and procedures' he deflected the death of this young man to the university system as a whole: "This is a culture, not just here at FAMU, it's on colleges and universities all across America".

When pressed directly with Carroll's question about responsibility, Ammons' ducked again: "I've done everything in accordance to the law here in the state of Florida". For that moment alone, Ammons deserves to be shown the door by the University board before any other youngsters die.

One of the key principals of my coaching work with individuals and businesses is to take 100% responsibility for any and all circumstances; that's where leadership resides. I offer this lesson now to Ammons.

The correct response for a leader, especially one entrusted with the lives of thousands of students, most away from home for the first time in their lives, the answer Ammons should have said was: 'NO. Based on results, whatever I've done is not enough. Based on the results, whatever the laws here in the state of Florida, whatever other universities have done across the country, if ONE student is hurt in this way then we, I mean 'I', have not done enough and from this time forward I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure this never happens again. And I will commit that I will take my case to other colleges and universities across the country until we never, ever have another death of this type in our system'.

It seems at Penn State and Florida that someone is more interested in talking about the situations and avoiding blame rather than taking the higher ground and, considering these are institutions of learning, the lessons are being lost rather easily. And the buck keep speeding past.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/14/video-famu-president-responds-to-hazing/?hpt=ac_mid

?

?

?

Follow James M. Lynch on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JamesLynchCoach

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-m-lynch/famu-hazing-the-buck-spee_b_1153836.html

cloudy with a chance of meatballs houston nutt houston nutt peter marshall peter marshall zombie boy zombie boy

White House blasts new Medicare plan by GOP's Ryan (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The White House says a new bipartisan Medicare proposal would cause the health care program for seniors to "wither on the vine."

Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said Thursday the overhaul proposed by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, a Republican, and Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden "would end Medicare as we know it" by shifting costs to retirees.

The Wyden-Ryan plan would set up a competition between traditional Medicare and regulated private insurance plans. Seniors would get a fixed amount to spend on a health plan no matter which coverage they selected. The overall growth in Medicare spending would be limited.

Ryan and Wyden say they want to tone down the political rhetoric over the future of Medicare and start a real national dialogue. An earlier plan by Ryan sparked a backlash.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_medicare_new_ryan_plan

paulina gretzky wayne gretzky wayne gretzky occupy los angeles occupy los angeles comedian patrice o neal occupy philadelphia

Advance in the constant quest for more compact, faster microchips

Thursday, December 15, 2011

The microchip revolution has seen a steady shrinking of features on silicon chips, packing in more transistors and wires to boost chips' speed and data capacity. But in recent years, the technologies behind these chips have begun to bump up against fundamental limits, such as the wavelengths of light used for critical steps in chip manufacturing.

Now, a new technique developed by researchers at MIT and the University of Utah offers a way to break through one of these limits, possibly enabling further leaps in the computational power packed into a tiny sliver of silicon. A paper describing the process was published in the journal Physical Review Letters in November.

Postdoc Trisha Andrew PhD '10 of MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics, a co-author of this paper as well as a 2009 paper that described a way of creating finer lines on chips, says this work builds on that earlier method. But unlike the earlier technique, called absorbance modulation, this one allows the production of complex shapes rather than just lines, and can be carried out using less expensive light sources and conventional chip-manufacturing equipment. "The whole optical setup is on a par with what's out there" in chip-making plants, she says. "We've demonstrated a way to make everything cheaper."

As in the earlier work, this new system relies on a combination of approaches: namely, interference patterns between two light sources and a photochromic material that changes color when illuminated by a beam of light. But, Andrew says, a new step is the addition of a material called a photoresist, used to produce a pattern on a chip via a chemical change following exposure to light. The pattern transferred to the chip can then be etched away with a chemical called a developer, leaving a mask that can in turn control where light passes through that layer.

While traditional photolithography is limited to producing chip features larger than the wavelength of the light used, the method devised by Andrew and her colleagues has now been shown to produce features one-eighth that size. Others have achieved similar sizes before, Andrew says, but only with equipment whose complexity is incompatible with quick, inexpensive manufacturing processes.

The new system uses "a materials approach, combined with sophisticated optics, to get large-scale patterning," she says. And the technique should make it possible to reduce the size of the lines even further, she says.

The key to beating the limits usually imposed by the wavelength of light and the size of the optical system is an effect called stimulated emission depletion imaging, or STED, which uses fluorescent materials that emit light when illuminated by a laser beam. If the power of the laser falls below a certain level, the fluorescence stops, leaving a dark patch. It turns out that by carefully controlling the laser's power, it's possible to leave a dark patch much smaller than the wavelength of the laser light itself. By using the dark areas as a mask, and sweeping the beam across the chip surface to create a pattern, these smaller sizes can be "locked in" to the surface.

That process has previously been used to improve the resolution of optical microscopes, but researchers had thought it inapplicable to photolithographic chip making. The innovation by this MIT and Utah team was to combine STED with the earlier absorbance-modulation technique, replacing the fluorescent materials with a special polymer whose molecules change shape in response to specific wavelengths of light.

In addition to enabling the manufacture of chips with finer features, the technique could also be used in other advanced technologies, such as the production of photonic devices, which use patterns to control the flow of light rather than the flow of electricity. "It can be used for any process that uses optical lithography," Andrew says.

In addition to Andrew, the paper's authors include Rajesh Menon, formerly a research engineer at MIT and now an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Utah, and Utah postdoc Nicole Brimhall and graduate student Rajakumar Varma Manthena.

###

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice

Thanks to Massachusetts Institute of Technology 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 24 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116010/Advance_in_the_constant_quest_for_more_compact__faster_microchips

juelz santana juelz santana greg halman greg halman love and hip hop dancing with the stars results there will be blood

Russia pledges at least $10 billion to save euro (AP)

BRUSSELS ? Russia, hoping to keep its largest export market from collapsing, will give at least $10 billion to the International Monetary Fund to help support the struggling euro currency, an aide to President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday.

Russian officials have said in the past that the country would offer up to $10 billion. But Arkady Dvorkovich, a Medvedev economic adviser, indicated the total may be greater because Russia has a big economic stake in the European Union, where a debt crisis is dragging down economies and the 17-nation eurozone.

"We are ready to contribute our part via the IMF. We are committed to do it. Ten billion dollars is the minimum commitment," Dvorkovich told journalists reporting from the 28th EU-Russia summit in Brussels, where other major issues included visa liberalization and the contentious Russian election.

Russia exports more to the EU than to any other market, and Russia is the EU's third-largest trading partner. Total trade amounts to euro245 billion ($318 billion). Russia also is the EU's most important source of energy imports, accounting for nearly a quarter of its natural gas consumption and 30 percent of its oil.

In opening remarks, Medvedev said "it is no secret" that the EU is Russia's major economic partner and that Moscow is worried about the euro's troubles.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, meanwhile, acknowledeged that Russia and the EU "are strongly interdependent." Van Rompuy is hosting Medvedev for the twice-yearly meeting.

Russia's ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizov, said Medvedev would be ready for any questions about alleged election fraud in Russia's Dec. 4 parliamentary elections.

The EU has avoided overt criticism of the elections, which have sparked mass protests in Moscow and other cities. But European parliament speaker Jerzy Buzek called Wednesday for new free and fair elections and a probe into reports of fraud and intimidation.

"The voice of the people protesting on the streets for more than one week must be heard," Buzek said.

Still, economic issues were dominating the talks, which come as the World Trade Organization is set to approve Russia's membership. Russia ? the largest economy still outside the WTO ? had been trying to join for 18 years. A Swiss-brokered deal with Georgia last month cleared the last major hurdle for Russia.

Medevedev thanked the EU for its support of Russia's candidacy, saing "it will give a strong impulse to our cooperation."

The two sides also are set to launch, after years of negotiations, a set of joint steps that will lead to visa-free travel for Russian citizens ? a long-standing irritant in relations. The measures include the introduction of biometric passports, as well as improved border management to combat transnational crime, terrorism and corruption.

Chizov said Syria and Iran were also among topics of discussion. Russia has blocked a bid by the United States and EU nations to impose sanctions against Syria, where a government crackdown on dissidents has killed thousands, and opposes any further moves on Iran, whose nuclear program worries the West.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_eu_russia_summit

fracking fracking drosselmeyer drosselmeyer pacific standard time local time lsu alabama

Kirsten Dirksen: Watch: Upscale Bay Area Home Made from Old Car Parts

When architect Karl Wanaselja built his home in Berkeley, California the junkyard became his urban forest for materials. For months he visited one of three local yards looking for car roofs and Dodge Caravan side windows. The windows became awning and the roofs became siding for the top floor of his home.

The hardest part was picking the cars because cars that end up in junk yards are in pretty bad shape usually so not only was I selecting on condition, no dents, as few nicks as possible and paint not coming off in sheets.

Wanaselja designed the home with Cate Leger, his partner in life and business (Leger Wanaselja Architects). They liked the look of the old cars, but they also believe firmly that reusing trumps recycling. "You know the metal is melted back down -- that requires more energy," explains Wanaselja. "So if we grab the materials before that happens it's actually that much better for the environment."

They reused more than just cars to build their home. The lower half is sided in poplar bark, a waste product of the North Caroline furniture industry. Exterior wood is salvaged redwood and the fences and windowsills are on their second life.

It sounds good, but it also looks good. The car roofs overlapped like fish scales leave the impression of slate, the side window awnings feel nautical and the poplar bark grounds the entire work.

More videos from faircompanies

?

Follow Kirsten Dirksen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kirstendirksen

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kirsten-dirksen/watch-upscale-bay-area-ho_b_1146741.html

dallas cowboys cheerleaders leftover turkey recipes leftover turkey recipes hugo hugo the muppets percy harvin

Asian stocks fall as global economic gloom builds (AP)

BANGKOK ? Asian stock markets fell Thursday as Japanese business confidence dropped and higher borrowing costs for Italy sparked worries over the ability of European governments to get a grip on their ever-burgeoning debts.

Benchmark oil rose to near $96 per barrel after a big slide the day before while the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index shed 1.1 percent to 8,423.87. South Korea's Kospi lost 1.8 percent to 1,823.53 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 1.9 percent to 18,014.70. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.1 percent to 4,143.20. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, and mainland China were also lower.

In Japan, confidence at major manufacturers fell over the last quarter. The Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey of business sentiment fell to minus 4.

The figure represents the percentage of companies saying business conditions are good minus those saying conditions are unfavorable, with 100 representing the best mood and minus 100 the worst.

Japan's strong yen has hit multiple historic highs this year against the dollar, making business conditions difficult for Japan's export-reliant economy.

Some of the gloom was offset, however, by preliminary manufacturing figures showing that China's manufacturing contracted at a slower rate in December. HSBC's purchasing manager's index for December stood at 49.0, up from 47.7 in November. Any number below 50 indicates a contraction in manufacturing activity.

But the figure didn't raise hopes that China might ease its monetary policy anytime soon.

"I don't think there will be an interest rate cut in the short-term," said Dickie Wong, executive director of research at Kingston Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. "Sentiment is really bad in China."

On Wall Street, stocks plummeted Wednesday amid a growing sense that Europe's leaders have failed to contain that region's debt crisis.

Since European leaders reached an agreement to rein in future government budget deficits last week, investors and credit rating agencies have criticized the deal for failing to address current problems.

Italy had to pay higher borrowing rates in its last bond auction of the year Wednesday. The third-largest economy among the 17 nations the use the euro paid 6.47 percent interest to borrow 3 billion euros ($3.95 billion) for five years ? up 0.17 percentage point from last comparable auction ? and the highest rate since the euro came into existence in 1999.

The higher rates make it more expensive for Italy to borrow money and reflect rising doubts that the country will be able to repay its debts.

"I cannot say it was really bad, but the yield is historically high. This says markets believe that European nations and their economies are still sluggish," said Wong.

Italy is one of a handful of European countries whose debt loads have raised the risk of default ? an event that could have catastrophic consequences for global banking, cause the euro currency to collapse and spark a global recession.

Oil prices, which plunged more than $5 on Wednesday, drove down energy-related shares. South Korea's S-Oil Corp. fell 4.7 percent. Hong Kong-listed China National Offshore Oil Corp. dropped 4.6 percent.

Asian banking shares fell on the heels of a downgrade by Fitch Ratings of five major European commercial banks and cooperative banking groups. Hong Kong-listed Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest bank by market value, fell 2.6 percent. Australia's Westpac Banking Corp. fell 1.8 percent.

Falling gold prices hit shares tied to the value of the precious metal. Zijin Mining Group, China's largest gold miner, fell 4.2 percent. Australia's Newcrest Mining was 2.8 percent down.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.1 percent to close at 11,823.48 on Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.1 percent to 1,211.82. The Nasdaq fell 1.6 percent to 2,539.31.

Benchmark oil for January delivery was up 76 cents at $95.71 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract declined $5.19 to finish at $94.95 per barrel on the Nymex.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.2986 from $1.2977 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar slipped to 78.05 yen from 78.07 yen.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

take care childish gambino camp drake take care tracklist drake take care tracklist dr murray trial take care drake cain accuser

Protesters accuse Putin's party of rigging vote (AP)

MOSCOW ? Several thousand protesters took to the streets Monday night and accused Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party of rigging this weekend's parliamentary election in which it won the largest share of the seats.

It was perhaps the biggest opposition rally in years and ended with police detaining about 300 activists. A group of several hundred marched toward the Central Elections Commission near the Kremlin, but were stopped by riot police and taken away in buses.

Estimates of the number of protesters ranged from 5,000 to 10,000. They chanted "Russia without Putin" and accused his United Russia party of stealing votes.

In St. Petersburg, police detained about 120 protesters.

United Russia won about 50 percent of Sunday's vote, a result that opposition politicians and election monitors said was inflated because of ballot-box stuffing and other vote fraud. It was a significant drop from the last election, when the party took 64 percent.

Pragmatically, the loss of seats in the State Duma appears to mean little because two of the three other parties winning seats have been reliable supporters of government legislation.

Nevertheless, it was a substantial symbolic blow to a party that had become virtually indistinguishable from the state itself.

The result has also energized the opposition and poses a humbling challenge to Putin, the country's dominant figure, in his drive to return to the presidency.

Putin, who became prime minister in 2008 because of presidential term limits, will run for a third term in March, and some opposition leaders saw the parliamentary election as a game-changer for what had been presumed to be his easy stroll back to the Kremlin.

More than 400 Communist Party supporters also gathered Monday to express their indignation over the election, which some called the dirtiest in modern Russian history. The Communists finished second with about 20 percent of the vote.

"Even compared to the 2007 elections, violations by the authorities and the government bodies that actually control the work of all election organizations at all levels, from local to central, were so obvious and so brazen," said Yevgeny Dorovin, a member of the party's central committee.

Putin appeared subdued and glum even as he insisted at a Cabinet meeting Monday that the result "gives United Russia the possibility to work calmly and smoothly."

Although the sharp decline for United Russia could lead Putin and the party to try to portray the election as genuinely democratic, the wide reports of violations have undermined that attempt at spin.

Boris Nemtsov, a prominent figure among Russia's beleaguered liberal opposition, declared that the vote spelled the end of Putin's "honeymoon" with the nation and predicted that his rule will soon "collapse like a house of cards."

"He needs to hold an honest presidential election and allow opposition candidates to register for the race, if he doesn't want to be booed from Kamchatka to Kaliningrad," Nemtsov said on Ekho Moskvy radio.

Many Russians have come to despise United Russia, seeing it as the engine of endemic corruption. The balloting showed voters that they have power despite what election monitors called a dishonest count.

"Yesterday, it was proven by these voters that not everything was fixed, that the result really matters," said Tiny Kox of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, part of an international election observer mission.

Other analysts suggested the vote was a wake-up call to Putin that he had lost touch with the country. In the early period of his presidency, Putin's appeal came largely from his man-of-the-people image: candid, decisive and without ostentatious tastes.

He seemed to lose some of the common touch, appearing in well-staged but increasingly preposterous heroic photo opportunities ? hunting a whale with a crossbow, fishing while bare-chested, and purportedly discovering ancient Greek artifacts while scuba diving. And Russians grew angry at his apparent disregard ? and even encouragement ? of the country's corruption and massive income gap.

"People want Putin to go back to what he was in his first term ? decisive, dynamic, tough on oligarchs and sensitive to the agenda formed by society," said Sergei Markov, a prominent United Russia Duma member.

The vote "was a normal reaction of the population to the worsening social situation," former Kremlin-connected political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Only seven parties were allowed to field candidates for parliament this year, while the most vocal opposition groups were barred from the race. International monitors said the election administration lacked independence, most media were biased and state authorities interfered unduly at different levels.

"To me, this election was like a game in which only some players are allowed to compete," said Heidi Tagliavini, the head of the observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Of the 150 polling stations where the counting was observed, "34 were assessed to be very bad," Tagliavini said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington has "serious concerns" about the elections.

"Russian voters deserve a full investigation of all credible reports of electoral fraud and manipulation, and we hope in particular that the Russian authorities will take action" on reports that come forward, Clinton said.

Other than the Communist Party, the socialist Just Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party led by mercurial nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky are also expected to increase their representation in the Duma; both have generally voted with United Russia, and the Communists pose only token opposition.

Two liberal parties were in the running, but neither got the 7 percent of the national vote needed to win seats. Nemtsov's People's Freedom Party, one of the most prominent liberal parties, was denied participation for alleged violations in the required 45,000 signatures the party had submitted with its registration application.

About 60 percent of Russia's 110 million registered voters cast ballots, down from 64 percent four years ago.

Social media were flooded with messages reporting violations. Many people reported seeing buses deliver groups of people to polling stations, with some of the buses carrying young men who looked like football fans, who often are associated with violent nationalism.

Russia's only independent election monitoring group, Golos, which is funded by U.S. and European grants, has come under heavy official pressure in the past week. Golos' website was incapacitated Sunday by hackers, and its director Lilya Shibanova and her deputy had their cellphone numbers, email and social media accounts hacked.

___

Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov, Nataliya Vasilyeva and Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111206/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_election

austin rivers ows kindle fire review community matt schaub fire island fire island

Putin's party ekes out majority in controversial Russia election (The Christian Science Monitor)

Ufa, Russia ? Vladimir Putin's United Russia party appears to have eked out a 50 percent win in Sunday's elections for the State Duma, which puts it on track to dominate Russia's lower house of parliament for the next five years.

But United Russia (UR), which held a commanding two-thirds majority in the outgoing Duma, has been severely chastened by legions of voters who turned against it despite its near total domination of the media, vast access to official resources, and alleged campaigns of harassment that kept even permitted opposition parties from competing fully. It also faces an unprecedented storm of complaints from oppositionists around the country, especially widespread accusations of vote-rigging in the frenzied hours of Sunday night aimed at bringing UR's totals up to the crucial 50 percent mark.

Analysts say the ruling party's loss of prestige and credibility in this election could change the political atmosphere in Russia and cast a dark shadow over Mr. Putin's coming run for president on the UR ticket, in polls slated for March.

RELATED: Top 8 Putin moments: From Harley-riding bad boy to Formula One driver

"For Putin these results are a loud and clear alarm bell," says Sergei Strokan, a columnist with the Moscow business daily Kommersant. "He is a clever man, and I suppose he understands that UR's popular base is fading away just when he needs it to launch his presidential campaign in a few weeks. He has also been put on notice that discontent is running deeply in Russian society."

The preliminary report (pdf) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which fielded 160 observers -- the biggest Western delegation -- found that Sunday's vote counting "was characterized by frequent procedural violations and instances of apparent manipulation, including several serious indications of ballot box stuffing."

One key example of that allegedly took place here in Bashkortistan, an ethnic republic in the Urals some 1,000 miles east of Moscow, where opposition leaders are up in arms over what they claim were "massive manipulations" of vote tallies in the republic's central election headquarters in the early hours of Monday morning.

Rifgat Gordanov, leader of the Bashkortistan branch of the Communist Party, claims that his party's observer tallies, exit polls, and the first wave of returns Sunday night all agreed that the Communists had won about 21 percent of the votes in the republic, while United Russia had about 46 percent.

"Then, suddenly, on Monday morning we were informed that our final vote was just 15.6 percent, and United Russia had leapt to a total of 70.6 percent," Mr. Gordanov says. "This is a complete fraud. Our observers were everywhere, they saw what was happening, but in many places they were denied copies of the protocols [the polling station document that certifies the raw vote count]. There were unbelievable violations of the rules."

But Andrei Nazarov, chief of UR's Bashkortistan election headquarters, insists that everything was above board.

"Turnout in Bashkortistan was 79 percent, with 70 percent of voters supporting United Russia, that's confirmed," he says. "That's one of the best results in Russia, and it's evidence that our party has been serving the people well, while the other parties have done little.... There is no evidence that violations took place. These are just empty claims by a few people."

In at least one polling station, number 1,736 in the economically-stricken town of Davlekanovo, a journalist watched the entire vote-counting process and noted that the results in that place -- just one of hundreds of polling stations in Bashkortistan -- tracked closely with what the Communist Party is claiming. Vote counters looked visibly surprised as the pile of Communist votes rose to about 25 percent of the total, while UR got just over 50 percent. In that small case at least, the journalist confirmed that the final results did get accurately reported to the territorial electoral commission.

"In ethnic republics like Bashkortistan, the majority of falsifications tend to take place at the higher levels," says Nikolai Petrov, an expert with the Carnegie Center in Moscow. "They can be very honest in the polling stations, where people take their civic duties seriously, but it's harder to control what happens when those results get reported to the higher level....  But in these elections we have seen a shift in the public mood. People are less willing to be taken for granted, and treated like cogs in a big machine. There have been a lot of protests this time."

Russia's main independent election monitoring group, Golos, has logged over 5,300 serious violations in the election campaign so far, including the illegal barring of the group's observers from many polling stations. Perhaps not coincidentally, Golos' official website has been down since Sunday, along with the website of the liberal Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvi, in what beleaguered staffers describe as a massive cyber attack.

Under Russian electoral law, votes cast for parties that fail to make the 7 percent cut required to enter the Duma, as well as spoiled ballots, are divided up among the winners in a formula that's weighted to benefit the strongest party. That puts UR in line to win about 240 seats in the next Duma, a comfortable majority in the 450-seat house, experts say.

The Communist Party officially won 19.2 percent, which will give it about 90 seats. The left-wing A Just Russia party, with 13.2 percent will get 64 seats and the misnamed Liberal Democratic Party of ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, which garnered 11.7 percent, will have 56 seats.

"United Russia may have a majority, but the situation will be different from that of the outgoing Duma," says Mr. Petrov. "Opposition parties have received a huge boost of public trust, and in order to justify this trust they will not behave obediently in the Duma as they have in the past. Indeed, UR deputies cannot be expected to be loyal soldiers (of the Kremlin) anymore either, because they know they need to think of their constituents and take other interests into account if they want to survive politically. It's going to be a sharply changed atmosphere."

Mr. Strokan says the message to Putin may be even more dire than just the threat of a more combative parliament.

"What we've seen here is a failure of the system of managed democracy. The myth of United Russia is finished," he says. "And if you look at the fate of other such systems around the world, you see what it can lead to. In Egypt, parties loyal to President Hosni Mubarak won 80 percent victories routinely and then, suddenly, one day everyone was in the streets. All that apparent strength turns out to mean nothing when the crunch comes. Putin must realize that the popular mood, which was docile for years, can just explode one day. And if I were him I'd be very worried right now."

RELATED: Top 8 Putin moments: From Harley-riding bad boy to Formula One driver

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20111205/wl_csm/432744

big daddy patrice oneal lsu game lsu game animal house role models big ten championship game