Verizon: Future 4G LTE Outages Won't Affect the Whole Country (Mashable)

Verizon's been having a lousy month. On top of the PR disaster of introducing a new $2 service fee for paying bills online, the wireless carrier with the reputation for having the best service suffered no less than three outages for its ultra-fast 4G LTE data network. Now the company has finally come forward and explained itself. Each of the outages was caused by an separate bug, Verizon says, though none as serious as the one that took down the entire network for an extended period in April. Now Verizon says it's taking a key step to prevent nationwide LTE outages: geo-segmentation. By partitioning the network by area, the carrier can isolate problems before they spread and take down the whole system.

[More from Mashable: Verizon Kills $2 Fee Plan Amid Consumer Outrage]

The April ?berbug was caused by a bug in the very core of the network, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), Verizon vice president of network engineering Mike Haberman revealed to GigaOm. All of this month's outages also involved issues with the IMS, though none were quite as fundamental to the system's operation as the one in April.

The first outage this month happened on Dec. 7 when an IMS backup database failed. The second, on Dec. 20, was caused by a key network element not responding properly. And for the third, which occurred this past Wednesday, two network elements weren't communicating right.

[More from Mashable: Verizon Customers Suffer Third Outage in December [VIDEO]]

Although customers' phones should automatically switch to 3G signals when LTE isn't functioning, that didn't happen for some customers. That was because of the nature of an IMS failure -- the network is still transmitting radio signals just fine, it just can't recognize devices running on it. Verizon was eventually able to force those phones to switch to 3G, but not right away.

Although Verizon says it take outages seriously, it makes no guarantees that more of them won't occur. Verizon's 4G LTE network is the world's largest, and the carrier says these kind of outages are simply par for the course when you're pioneering a next-generation wireless network. LTE is a generational shift in data networking technology, and Verizon was the first carrier to deploy it in the United States. AT&T has since followed with its own LTE network, and Sprint plans to debut the tech in 2012.

Were you affected by Verizon's disabled LTE service? Has it changed your thoughts on the carrier in any way? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of Eric Hauser, Flickr

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20111230/tc_mashable/verizon_future_4g_lte_outages_wont_affect_the_whole_country

drosselmeyer drosselmeyer pacific standard time local time lsu alabama earthquake when is daylight savings 2011

Mexico arrests drug dealer linked to boss Guzman (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Mexico captured a suspected drug trafficker with links to the country's most wanted man, Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, whose operations have recently suffered a string of blows.

Mexico's federal police said on Wednesday they had captured Luis Rodriguez Olivera, known as "El Guero" (Blondie), for whom U.S. authorities have offered a reward of up to $5 million.

In a statement, Mexican police said Rodriguez Olivera and his brothers were responsible for trafficking cocaine to the United States between 1996 and 2008 for Guzman's gang.

A "wanted" statement on the U.S. State Department's website said Rodriguez Olivera and his brothers split with the Sinaloa cartel around 2005 and later forged a strong relationship with Guzman's rivals, the Zetas cartel.

One intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 39-year-old Rodriguez Olivera had ties to Guzman but had recently struck out on his own. Federal police arrested him on Tuesday in Mexico City airport.

Later on Wednesday, the government said it had seized eight containers carrying more than 120 tonnes of monomethylamine in the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas in Michoacan state.

It was the second big seizure announced this week of monomethylamine, a compound used to make methamphetamines. According to calculations by security analysts, the shipment could have been worth $300 million dollars or more.

President Felipe Calderon's conservative administration has been dominated by a military crackdown on drug cartels that has claimed more than 46,000 lives in the past five years, eroding support for his National Action Party, or PAN.

The PAN has trailed its main rival for months as Mexico gears up for a July 2012 presidential election, and analysts say it needs to rack up some victories in the fight on drugs.

Javier Oliva, a drug war expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), said Michoachan-based cartel La Familia was the most likely intended recipient for the Lazaro Cardenas shipment, though the Zetas were also a possibility.

The shipment set out from Shanghai and was destined for the Guatemalan port of Puerto Quetzal, the government said.

Though the Sinaloa cartel deals in methamphetamines, it is not regarded as exercising much control over Lazaro Cardenas.

Mexico had already arrested three senior traffickers allied to Guzman in the past three months.

(Editing by John O'Callaghan and Todd Eastham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111229/wl_nm/us_mexico_drugs

new beavis and butthead game 7 anya ayoung chee peru earthquake peru earthquake big 12 last minute halloween costumes

After Christmas TV Sale: Sony 55-inch 3D 1080p LED HDTV: $1276.32 Shipped (KDL55EX720)

Did you get what you really wanted this year? Unfortunately, Santa didn't have enough room in his sleigh to bring HDTVs for everyone. Stop blaming the big man and start shopping for yourself. Amazon is making the New Year look bright, by offering up great HDTVs at affordable prices.

We just found Sony's 55-inch KDL55EX720 1080p 3D LED HDTV listed for $1296.32. In case you're keeping score, this 3D-capable HDTV originally listed for $2399.99 when it was first released. That makes this a nice discount, and it even includes free shipping. Take a peek for yourself on Amazon's product page:

Because this is an active 3D TV, the KDL55EX720 has a full 1080p HD image, for both 2D and 3D viewing. It also has a built-in 3D sync transmitter. That means you just need to add 3D glasses (and maybe even a Blu-ray 3D player) for 3D viewing right out of the box.

However, this also makes for a nice 2D TV, with Sony's X-Reality Engine, Edge LED backlighting, and Motionflow XR 240 technology all built right into the set. There are also options to connect to the web. If you don't have an Ethernet jack near your AV setup, just add in the optional UWA-BR100 adapter so you can hook this big boy up to your home's wireless network.

Whichever way you go, that networking is very important, since the KDL-55EX720 has a lot of awesome web-based features built into the set. Add it to your home network, and you can enjoy instant, on-screen access to services such as Qriocity, Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, Pandora, and much more.

Of course, there are plenty of other ways to add in entertainment options, thanks to the TV's four HDMI inputs, one composite and one component input, a PC input, and two USB ports.

Just remember that when ordering this 3D TV, you need to buy directly from Amazon (not one of its third-party merchants). They are offering the discount, as well as free shipping on this model. A few other perks include free 30-day returns and Amazon's TV Low Price Guarantee. That means if you can find this set for less within 14 days of the TV's ship date, Amazon will refund you the difference on the price.

Also Check Out:

Please note: all deals posted on Big Picture Big Sound are current as of the posting date and time. These deals are frequently time- or stock-limited and generally do not last. Final pricing and stock are determined by the individual deal provider, not by Big Picture Big Sound so you will need to click through on the offer link to see if it is still available. Through our affiliate relationships with many online vendors, Big Picture Big Sound may earn a small commission on any referred sale.

Source: http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/After-Christmas-TV-Sale-Sony-55-inch-3D-1080p-LED-HDTV-1276-32-Shipped-KDL55EX720.shtml

us geological survey oklahoma fall back time change when does daylight savings start when does daylight savings start earthquake in texas

MobileSyrup: Rumour: Samsung Galaxy S III to be announced in February, have a quad-core processor, LTE and possibly a 3D http://t.co/bXaukIEi

Rumour: Samsung Galaxy S III to be announced in February, have a quad-core processor, LTE and possibly a 3D Il y a environ 3 heures via web

Source: http://twitter.com/MobileSyrup/statuses/152107914700660736

harp world series game 5 moammar gadhafi harry connick jr rightnow bf3 craigslist nc

Bavarians open church made of snow

A church built entirely of ice and snow has opened in Bavaria, a century after villagers first built a snow church in an act of protest.

The church at Mitterfirmiansreut, near the Czech border, is more than 20 metres in length and boasts a tower. It is made up of 1,400 cubic metres of snow.

The structure was bathed in blue light when it opened on Wednesday with a blessing from Dean Kajetan Steinbeisser.

But when the ancestors of today's villagers built the first snow church in 1911, they were not thinking just of architectural achievement.

Mr Steinbeisser says: "It was meant as an act of provocation - believers from the village got together and built a snow church because they didn't have a church here."

Source: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/bavarians-open-church-made-of-snow-16096567.html?r=RSS

marfan syndrome britney spears engaged craig smith craig smith eat to live eat to live ron paul money bomb

PatDollard: Iraqi Interpreters For U.S. Military In Dangerous Limbo http://t.co/uqoH36mB

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

• Connexion
• Rejoignez Twitter !

Iraqi Interpreters For U.S. Military In Dangerous Limbo is.gd/Oak78O Il y a environ 5 heures via web Retweeted by 4 people

PatDollard

Patrick Dollard

Pied de page

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

Source: http://twitter.com/PatDollard/statuses/151534174799544320

mall of america mennonite gordon hayward smokey robinson smokey robinson close encounters of the third kind pulmonary embolism

A Month of Christian Persecution (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/179109512?client_source=feed&format=rss

evelyn lauder devin hester devin hester shayne lamas cain velasquez dos santos waterboarding

Bees Appear to Experience Moods

Grumpy? Giddy? According to some measures, bees appear to experience moods. Image: Charles Krebs/Corbis

If you have never watched bees carefully, you are missing out. Look closely as they gently curl and uncoil their mouthparts around food, and you will sense that they are not just eating but enjoying their meal. Watch a bit more, and the hesitant flicks and sags of their antennae seem to convey some kind of emotion. Do those twitches signal annoyance? Or something like enthusiasm?

Whether bees really experience any of these emotions is an open scientific question. It is also an important one, with implications for how we should treat not just bees but the great majority of animals. Recently studies by Melissa Bateson and her colleagues at Newcastle University in England have rekindled the debate over these issues by showing that honeybees may experience something akin to moods.

Using simple behavioral tests, Bate?son?s team showed that honeybees under stress tend to be pessimistic. Other tests have demonstrated that monkeys, dogs and starlings all tend to react similarly under duress and likewise see the proverbial glass as half empty. Although this finding does not?and cannot?prove that bees experience humanlike emotions, it does give pause. We should take seriously the possibility that insects, too, have emotions.

Beeline to the Brain
First, a little bit about bees. They are members of the diverse group of animals lacking backbones?indeed, more than 95 percent of all animal species are invertebrates. Despite the varied and often nuanced behaviors they can exhibit, invertebrates are sometimes regarded as life?s second string, a mindless and unfeeling band of alien critters. If that seems somewhat melodramatic, just consider our willingness to boil some of them alive.

Those judgments tend to arise from arguments about invertebrates? failure to demonstrate the behaviors we usually associate with a pain response. Whereas the yelps and grimaces of other mammals are familiar to us as announcements of hurt, invertebrates can appear to take their injuries in stride. Insects are commonly observed using their crushed limbs with undiminished force when walking, for example, and a locust will reportedly carry on with a meal while it is being eaten by a mantis.

Other attempts to draw a dividing line between creatures that feel and those that do not are rooted in comparative brain anatomy. Invertebrates lack a cortex, an amygdala and many of the other major brain structures routinely implicated in human emotion. Their nervous systems are quite minimalist compared with ours: we have roughly 100,000 bee brains? worth of neurons in our head. Some invertebrates, however, including insects, do possess a rudimentary version of our stress response system. So the question remains: Do they experience emotion in a way that we would recognize, or do they simply react to the world with an elaborate set of reflexes?

To gain some traction on this fascinating question, Bateson?s team followed the lead of recent investigations on ?pessimistic biases? in animals. In humans, the pessimistic bias refers to our well-known tendency to perceive threats or anticipate negative outcomes more frequently when we are feeling anxious or depressed. For example, in tests where people are shown ambiguous statements such as ?the doctor examined little Emily?s growth,? anxious individuals are less likely than others to conclude that Emily is fine and only her height was being checked.

Although the link between bad moods and negative judgments may not be terribly surprising, this correlation is still useful. We rely on it in our daily lives to make informed guesses about how people are feeling by observing their actions and choices. Scientifically, we can use it to study the emotions of creatures unable to tell us directly how they feel. The key here is to set up a controlled situation where animals encounter an ambiguous stimulus?think of it as a nonverbal version of the Emily statement.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a6f6b37e1b8b7408c7853aeb27b41cd8

faith hill cma awards 2011 cma awards 2011 western black rhino western black rhino jefferson county alabama marine corps

Carbon Emission Fees for Flights Upheld

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A decision by the European Union?s highest court on Wednesday could spark a trade war with countries that oppose being forced into Europe?s carbon-trading system.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6c364fd0ed61d17f09536ef3b758f32d

addams family in time

Egypt runoff exposes tensions between Islamists (AP)

CAIRO ? The runoff Monday for Egypt's first-round parliamentary elections heated up tensions between competing Islamist groups that have so far dominated the vote, with scuffles breaking out and allegations of death threats.

The strife shows the challenges facing the front-runner, the Muslim Brotherhood, after hard-line Islamist parties made a surprisingly strong showing. The more moderate Brotherhood is now under pressure to reassure both Egyptians and foreign allies that the country is not going down an extremist path and remains committed to democratic transition.

The Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and best organized political group, is in the lead so far, with about 37 percent of the vote, according to partial results released Sunday. But the hard-line Al-Nour bloc grabbed nearly a quarter of the vote for the ultraconservative Salafis, who seek to impose strict Islamic law in Egypt.

The strong Islamist showing came at the expense of liberal activist groups that led the uprising against Hosni Mubarak, toppling a regime long seen as a secular bulwark in the Middle East.

Nabil Abdel-Fattah, a senior researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies, said the Islamists are in a "fierce" battle over the same ideological base."

"They both have high financial resources. The Brotherhood have experience and social networks," he said.

The Salafis "have no (political) experience, but are relying on a long history ... of concessions" by the Mubarak regime, which "left them to expand as a way to counter the power of the Muslim Brotherhood."

"This is going to be a very conservative Islamic parliament," he said. "The conflicts will be between that trend and the democratic forces."

The Salafis espouse a strict interpretation of Islam similar to that of Saudi Arabia, where the sexes are segregated and women must be veiled and are barred from driving. They speak openly about their aim of turning Egypt into a state where personal freedoms, including freedom of speech, women's dress and art, are constrained by Islamic law.

Reform leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei warned that the strident positions of some ultraconservative leaders have sent "shock waves" both inside and outside Egypt.

"I think the Brotherhood in particular, and some of the Salafis, should send quickly messages of assurance both inside the country and outside the country to make sure that society continues to be cohesive, to make sure that investment will come in," ElBaradei told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday.

Tensions between the Brotherhood and Salafis were simmering Monday in some runoff districts.

In southern Assiut province, there were scuffles and even allegations of death threats against Brotherhood candidates by supporters of Gamaa Islamiya, a former militant group that is part of the Al-Nour bloc. The province is a stronghold of the group, which fought the Mubarak regime in a bloody insurgency in the 1990s.

Since Mubarak's ouster, hard-line Islamists, many of whom were released from prison, exploited a growing security vacuum in the country and grew increasingly assertive in a push for power. In Assiut, they wrested control of mosques from government-appointed preachers and installed their own prayer leaders. The city is filled with signs exhorting residents to follow Islamic teachings and women to wear the hijab, or Muslim headscarf.

"The hijab is obligatory," one sign read. "Take your eyes off women," another warned.

In the city of Dayrout, the Brotherhood accused Gamaa Islamiya campaign workers of ordering all Brotherhood campaign workers to remove their computers and stay away from polling centers.

"A cleric was beat up, insulted and ordered to stay away," a Muslim Brotherhood campaign worker told the AP. "Our people were threatened that if they entered villages around this city, they will be shot dead," said the worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security concerns.

Despite the rivalry, Saad el-Katatni, the secretary general of the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, said he didn't expect election competition to spill over into parliament.

He said his party will work to form a broad coalition that includes liberal trends, and "absorbs" the Islamist parties who are new to the political scene.

"Some of the new parties wanted to be alone, to get as many seats as possible and to be seen as powerful in the parliament," he told the AP. "They will need to be part of the group (once in parliament). If they work alone, it will be a big loss for them."

He said it was too early to speak of specific parliamentary alliances, but so far, the major Salafi party has signaled it won't join, and has already walked out on a pre-election coalition with the Brotherhood.

Still, many fear the hard-line views of the Salafi and other radical groups may undermine the Brotherhood's attempt to maintain a moderate line inside parliament.

Voter Ali Serour, 49, said he voted Monday for the Brotherhood party candidate and a veteran Mubarak official "to balance things out a bit".

He said the Brotherhood "will be much more civil than religious. I think they will work with other parties to get things done."

But the Salafis, he said, "want to apply every letter of Islamic law. People won't accept that and they'll push them out in a revolution like they did Mubarak."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt

kellie pickler martina mcbride terry jones andy reid elf on the shelf elf on the shelf barney frank

Bitter Cold Weather Puts Livestock & Pets at Risk | Marathon County

04. Dec, 2011

Bitter cold weather?s not just uncomfortable for pets and livestock ? it?s a danger and owners need to protect their animals, says Wisconsin?s humane officer.

?Extreme cold weather poses all sorts of threats. Animals can suffer from hypothermia, frostbite and other cold weather injuries, and harsh conditions can weaken their immune systems, leaving them vulnerable to illness. You need to think about extra nutrition, access to water, plenty of good bedding, and proper shelter for both pets and livestock,? says Dr. Yvonne Bellay of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

She offers these tips for pet owners:

• Food ? Outdoor pets need more food, of good quality, in cold weather to produce body heat.
• Shelter ? Outdoor animals need a dry house that?s large enough for them to stand, sit, turn around and lie down comfortably, but not so large that its normal body heat is lost. Line the bottom with dry, nonabsorbent material that won?t get wet, matted, and frozen. Marsh hay works well; leaves and fabric do not.
• Water ? Don?t make your outdoor pets rely on ice or snow for water, because the animal has to expend too much body heat melting them. Use an inexpensive heater that sits right in the water bowl to prevent freezing. If you can?t do that, fill the bowl with fresh, tepid water at least twice a day.
• Walking ? Keep your dog leashed. Snow and ice can make it difficult for dogs to follow a scent, so they may lose their way and be wandering in bitter cold. Protect their paws from sharp ice and salt, either with booties or by cleaning their paws thoroughly when they come inside. Short-haired dogs need sweaters outdoors in extreme cold weather.
• Grooming ? Wet, dirty, matted coats cannot insulate against the cold, so be sure your animals are well-groomed, but not shaved. After bathing an animal, dry it thoroughly before letting it outdoors.
• Cars ? Bang on the hood before starting the car on cold days to startle any sleeping animals that may have sought shelter there. And remember, don?t leave your pet alone in a vehicle. It may freeze to death.
• Sleeping ? Even indoor animals needs a warm place to sleep, off the floor and out of drafts. This is especially true for old or ill animals.

For livestock owners, Bellay advises:

• Shelter ? Generally, a 20-mph wind is about equal to a 30-degree drop in temperature. Make sure animals have a place to get out of the wind, even if it is just a windbreak or a three-sided shelter, and that other buildings don?t deflect wind and snow into the shelter.
• Food ? Livestock kept outdoors will need more food than usual ? and good quality food. As a general rule, nutrient requirements increase about 1 percent for every degree that the temperature falls below 20 degrees F. Horses? nutrition requirements increase below 45 degrees F.
• Water ? Provide access to fresh water ? not frozen streams or snow ? daily. Stock tank heaters and frost-proof waterers will ensure than livestock get enough to drink.
• Bedding ? Keep plenty of dry bedding to insulate udders and legs from frostbite.
  Moisture Long hair or fleece insulates only when it is dry. Wet or muddy hair or fleece loses insulating ability and actually cools the animal as it dries.
• Transportation ? When hauling animals, especially calves and swine, cover openings in the vehicle box to cut wind chill and keep rain out, but allow some air to pass over the animals for ventilation. Provide a deep bed of dry straw for calves younger than 4 weeks or for any swine. Be especially careful with animals recently brought in from warmer climates that may not be acclimated.

Source: http://marathon.uwex.edu/2011/12/04/bitter-cold-weather-puts-livestock-pets-at-risk/

kindle fire review community matt schaub fire island

EPA eases boiler rule; health benefits unchanged (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Facing criticism from industry and lawmakers, the Obama administration on Friday proposed easing rules aimed at reducing toxic air pollution from industrial boilers and incinerators.

But administration officials maintained that the health benefits of the regulation wouldn't be compromised.

"We have found a way to get better protections, lower emissions and lower costs as well," said the Environmental Protection Agency's top air pollution official, Gina McCarthy. In a conference call with reporters, McCarthy said the agency had found the "sweet spot" since issuing the final rule under a court-ordered deadline in March.

That "spot is affordable, practical regulations that provide the vital and long overdue health benefits that Americans demand and deserve," she said.

The changes would require pollution controls at the 5,500 largest and most polluting boilers nationwide, such as those at refineries and chemical plants. Another 195,000 smaller boilers would be able to meet the rule through routine tune-ups.

The bulk of boilers nationwide ? about 1.3 million ? would not be covered by the rule, since they are too small and emit too little pollution to warrant controls.

The tweaks are the latest for a rule that has undergone numerous revisions, and has been among the most criticized by industry and lawmakers for its cost and its scope. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has said the boiler rule has "come from another planet", even as he has defended the agency in the face of other Republican rollbacks.

The agency had already found ways to cut the cost of compliance in half, by about $1.8 billion, when it announced the final rule in March, promising future revisions.

On Friday, industry groups still were not satisfied.

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said in a statement that the boiler rules would still do significant harm to job growth.

"We will continue to urge the EPA to extend the compliance time frame and consider a more reasonable approach to setting the emission standards to ensure additional jobs are not put at risk," he said.

The American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical companies, pressed for legislation to delay the rules while acknowledging improvements had been made.

The Republican-controlled House passed a bill in October seeking to delay the boiler regulation and lower the threshold that boiler operators would have to meet from "maximum achievable" pollution control to the "least burdensome." A bipartisan bill pending in the Senate would give the EPA additional time to rewrite the rule and for industry to comply.

Industrial boilers burn coal and other fuels to generate steam and hot water for heat and electricity. They're the nation's second-largest source of mercury emissions, a potent neurotoxin, after coal-fired power plants. But boilers are among a handful of pollution sources that still have no standards for toxic emissions.

___

Online: Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.gov

___

Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter (at)dinacappiello

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_epa_toxic_pollution

weather colorado springs weather colorado springs chaz bono tonight show tonight show tony romo unthink

As nomination voting nears, TV ad wars get intense (AP)

NEW YORK ? The crush of presidential campaign ads is here.

Less than five weeks before voting begins in the 2012 presidential contest, the Republican candidates are stepping up their presence over the TV airwaves and online. Super PACs have been running ads, and the Democratic National Committee is doing its best to try to weaken a leading GOP contender, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

President Barack Obama has even tiptoed into the fray with a limited ad buy soliciting volunteers for his campaign.

"We've been waiting for it to start, and it's been a little slower in Iowa and New Hampshire than we expected. But that doesn't say anything about what's going to happen next, and in the coming year," said Ken Goldstein, president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks ad spending.

The new, more aggressive advertising phase comes as the Republican field remains deeply unsettled before the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3. The New Hampshire primary follows on Jan. 10.

The field may become more volatile still. After months of training their attacks primarily on Obama, a Democrat seeking his second term, the Republicans are beginning to assail one another.

This emerging ad crush poses particular challenges for Romney, who polls at or near the top of the field in the early states but has failed to consolidate support behind his candidacy. While he's tried to run a general election strategy focused on beating Obama, he's been the target of attacks from both his GOP rivals and the DNC.

Romney's campaign began running its first TV ad just last week, in New Hampshire, and it immediately drew criticism.

The ad criticizes Obama's handling of the economy and appears to quote the president from the 2008 campaign saying, "If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose." But the quote is misleading ? Obama was paraphrasing a comment from an aide to then-Republican rival John McCain. Romney has stood by the ad, saying the quote is fair game.

Romney's campaign announced Thursday it would begin running ads in Iowa, signaling he has decided to compete fully in the state after steering clear of it for much of the campaign. Romney spent about $10 million in Iowa in 2008 only to lose the caucuses to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Romney's rivals, meanwhile, have sharpened their attacks on him.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry released a new ad Friday in Iowa that gently knocks Romney. "I'm not ashamed to talk about my faith," Perry says in the ad ? a contrast to Romney, who has refrained from much discussion of his Mormon belief on the campaign. Many Republicans who participate in the Iowa caucuses are evangelical Christians, some of whom regard Mormonism with suspicion.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman has launched a tough Web ad against Romney, using a tense interview Romney gave with Fox News earlier this week as a pretext to renew criticism of the former Massachusetts governor as a flip-flopper on key issues. Our Destiny, a super PAC supporting Huntsman, has spent $650,000 on an ad in New Hampshire indirectly hitting Romney. Huntsman, the ad promises, won't be a "phony who tells me one thing and you another."

The DNC has also gotten in the game, producing a TV spot likening Romney's shifting positions to "two men trapped in one body." The ad is being aired in a handful of swing states, and it garnered considerable publicity in national news outlets.

But Romney isn't the only target.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has surged to the top of many recent polls, has come under withering attack from rival Ron Paul. The Texas congressman released a scathing Web video painting Gingrich as a shape-shifting mercenary who has changed position on key issues because of lucrative consulting contracts with the housing giant Freddie Mac, the health care industry and others.

Romney gently pokes Gingrich in his new Iowa ad, which closes with a shot of Romney and his wife of 42 years, Ann, walking through a corn field and holding hands. It's a not-so-subtle contrast with Gingrich, who has been married three times and has acknowledged infidelity in his first two marriages.

Gingrich hasn't aired commercials yet but his rising popularity has fueled a burst of fundraising success that could pay for some advertising in the coming weeks, campaign officials said.

Perry has devoted more resources to TV advertising than anyone in the field. His campaign took the unusual step of buying ads on the national Fox News Network, an expensive gamble aimed at boosting his credibility with conservatives following several weak debate performances. The campaign has also spent more than $2 million on television in Iowa, including a special "one-time only" ad making light of Perry's recent flub of which Cabinet departments he'd eliminate. The ad was paired with Perry's appearance Thursday on NBC's "The Tonight Show."

A pro-Perry super PAC, Make Us Great Again, has spent nearly $900,000 to run ads in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, another early voting state.

The ad blitz hasn't done much to boost Perry's standing in the race. Most polls show him trailing many rivals in the early states, including Romney, Gingrich, Paul and businessman Herman Cain.

Cain, who briefly topped many polls until he was hit with sexual harassment allegations last month, released a new ad promoting his business credentials Thursday in part to insist his campaign remains on track. But it's unclear whether the ad is actually airing anywhere. A Georgia woman came forward this week claiming to have had a 13-year affair with Cain, and while he has denied the allegations, he has said campaign contributions have dried up and he's reassessing whether to stay in the race.

Obama, meanwhile, has appeared in two new re-election ads urging people to volunteer for his campaign. "Don't sit this one out," the president says, apparently trying to counter the expectation that the intense grassroots interest in his candidacy in 2008 has abated this time. Campaign aides said the ad is airing lightly on satellite television and only as a test to see whether TV is an effective way to recruit volunteers.

___

Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in New Hampshire, and Jim Davenport and Philip Elliott in South Carolina contributed to this report.

___

Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bfouhy

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_el_pr/us_campaign_ad_crush

yu darvish hope solo dancing with the stars hope solo dancing with the stars jack wagner matt jones snow white and the huntsman trailer snow white and the huntsman trailer

Boeing Field: plane hits parked plane, 2 survive (Providence Journal)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/168416600?client_source=feed&format=rss

joe paterno lung cancer joe paterno lung cancer john tucker must die uk basketball iowa state faroe islands faroe islands

The 2012 candidates should be judged by personalities, not promises. Introducing ?Character Sketch,? a new column. (The Ticket)

Mitt Romney (Mary Schwalm/AP)

A month before the Iowa caucuses, most campaign coverage pivots around breathless questions with the staying power of a Kardashian marriage. Will Mitt Romney go all-out in Iowa? Can Newt Gingrich develop a ground game? Should Herman Cain reassess himself off the political stage? Yet while horse-race strategies dominate cable TV chatter, they do not provide clues about how a victorious Republican might govern from the Oval Office.

So how do we predict presidential performance?

Not by parsing position papers. Too often what a candidate talks about on the campaign trail has scant connection with his posture in the White House. George W. Bush belittled "nation building" in a 2000 debate with Al Gore. Barack Obama trumpeted his opposition to a health-care mandate nearly four years ago during his primary race against Hillary Clinton.

When we elect a president, Americans instinctively grasp that we are choosing a leader who will have to respond to unforeseen crises. That is why voters place such a premium on the personality and biographies of the candidates. But too often news nuggets that illuminate a candidate's character and decision-making style get lost in the hurly-burly of daily campaign coverage.

A prime example of what gets overlooked appeared this week in the first short installment of Politico's campaign ebook, Playbook 2012: The Right Fights Back. Written hastily by Mike Allen and Evan Thomas, the ebook boasts the literary grace of Politico's collected tweets from the campaign trail. Too often the narrative reflects the narrow worldview of campaign consultants. (For example, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry are all belittled for not making enough fund-raising calls.) But still The Right Fights Back offers intriguing, if fleeting, character sketches of the Republican contenders.

An anecdote or a quote that illuminates one aspect of a candidate's personality tends to be suggestive rather than a Rosetta Stone that decodes everything at once. The Politico ebook and several magazine profiles that were published this week provide hints of Romney's micro-managing; of Gingrich's trouble with personnel, as he is unable to explain why he originally hired a traditional staff for an unorthodox campaign; and Rick Perry's bafflement that charm alone ?is not sufficient in presidential politics. These are not definitive judgments so much as tiles in a mosaic that will not be completely filled in even on Election Day 2012.

What we learned this week:

Mitt Romney: New anecdotes about the former Massachusetts governor are doled out as parsimoniously as dinner in a Dickensian orphanage. That is why it is telling that both the Politico ebook and a New York Times Magazine profile by Robert Draper both contain the oft-told tale that Romney wrote his own 2010 book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness. Presumably, this factoid was deliberately leaked twice to underscore Romney's unswerving fidelity to every policy position that he has taken, er, very recently.

There is enough detail about Romney the Writer in the ebook and the magazine article to suggest that this story is not only self-serving but also actually true. Romney, who has a proprietary sense about his words, balked at dictating his thoughts to a ghostwriter who would then write draft chapters. In the end, Romney produced a first draft and then his collaborator added a spit shine and some polish. None of this should suggest that Romney is a great natural stylist. An unnamed aide, quoted in the New York Times Magazine piece, recalls saying during the 2008 campaign, "We're not very happy with our speechwriter, and we want to fire him. His name's Mitt, and he works on the third floor."

Reading words that a candidate has actually written is one of the best ways to try to divine how his mind works. In imagining Romney as a possible 45th president, we should never lose sight of his hyper-rational background as a business consultant. It is evident in sentences like this from No Apology: "Our economy is powered by two pistons--the first is productivity improvement in existing businesses and the second is creation of new businesses." Why am I so sure that Romney composed this passage? Because no ghostwriter would have dared to submit prose this clunkily earnest.

Ever since imagemakers peddled the outlandish notion of a "New Nixon" during the 1968 campaign, political narratives have been built around the way that presidential candidates mature and grow during their quest for power. (Odd how in no other profession do personalities change significantly in one's fifties and sixties). In the Politico ebook, Romney purportedly "seemed more Zen-like" after his 2008 defeat and a senior adviser confided that the candidate now no longer obsesses over "the little things."

This portrayal of Mitt the Mellow is at odds with a new article by Alec MacGillis in The New Republic highlighting the more explosive aspects of Romney's personality. (Disclosure: I am a special correspondent for the magazine). Some of the incidents that MacGillis cites are ancient history: Romney was briefly handcuffed by a Massachusetts park ranger in 1981 in an argument over whether his motorboat registration number had been painted over.

But during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake, which he ran, Romney began personally directing traffic when an overly zealous sheriff's deputy refused to allow VIP buses to pass, because they lacked security placards. Another security official, Shaun Knopp, told reporters at the time that Romney unleashed a string of epithets. For his part, Romney insisted that the worst word he used was "H-E double hockey sticks."

Far more worrisome than Romney's ire was his use of this Victorian euphemism to describe Satan's Zip code.

Newt Gingrich: In a political year in which the conventional wisdom has been upended more times than the euro, it is not surprising that the former House speaker--now the surprise leader of the Republican pack--gets only a few walk-ons in The Right Fights Back.

In a mid-November interview with Politico for the ebook, Gingrich lambasted his former campaign advisers, most of whom are now working for Rick Perry. What particularly irked Gingrich was the suggestion that his third wife, Callista, should not campaign in South Carolina for fear of reminding voters of his tangled marital history. As Gingrich put it, without ever acknowledging his mistake in hiring these staffers, "We were surrounded by a bunch of guys who had learned politics 25 years ago and they had no idea how the world had changed."

Rick Perry: Politico's account of the three-term Texas governor's flame-out as a presidential front-runner follows the established story line: Perry was lured into the race believing that it was a cakewalk and only belatedly discovered that it was a fire walk. The Right Fights Back does offer a few telling details like Perry privately bristling after being quizzed in Florida on his policy positions by potential major donors. Afterward a genuinely puzzled Perry asked a staffer, "Why do they need to know my position on global warming? Don't they just like me?"

That quote alone could serve as the epitaph for Perry's presidential ambitions. And, no surprise, the fund-raiser who told that story to Politico has since left the Perry campaign.

Almost all the good stories in The Right Fights Back come from the disillusioned, the disloyal and the dismissed. The advisers for candidates in sight of the nomination (see Romney, Mitt) have no incentive to transcend the banalities of the spin room. That is why campaign books dating back to Theodore White's landmark The Making of the President 1960 appeared only after Election Day. As much as we long for insights about the candidates that go beyond the humdrum details of a new Romney ad in Iowa, Politico's new ebook reminds me of a putdown that Walter Mondale hurled at Gary Hart during the 1984 Democratic primary campaign: "Where's the beef?"

Walter Shapiro is covering his ninth presidential campaign. This is the first in a series of articles examining what we know about the character and personalities of the 2012 candidates.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20111202/pl_yblog_theticket/the-2012-candidates-should-be-judged-by-personalities-not-promises-introducing-character-sketch-a-new-col

reno news syracuse shonn greene oklahoma state plane crash syracuse university oklahoma state best buy black friday 2011 ads

Yoshikazu Tanaka On How Mobile Social Gaming Will Make GREE The Next Nintendo (TCTV)

One of the fastest growing companies in Japan right now is GREE, a publicly-traded mobile social gaming network with 900 employees and on track to generate $1.7 billion in annual revenues. I interviewed GREE founder and CEO Yoshikazu Tanaka through an interpreter earlier this week at the TechCrunch Tokyo conference. Here are two videos from that interview. (You can watch a third video in my post today comparing GREE's financials to Zynga's). In the video above, Tanaka talks about why he bought OpenFeint in the U.S. last April and how he wants to follow Nintendo in getting to 80 percent of revenues from outside Japan. But more than just follow Nintendo, he wants to displace it.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/UbEJnefyS7o/

steve jobs and bill gates steve jobs quotes pancreatic cancer symptoms apple stock aspergers apple computer pancreatic cancer