Thursday's 'critical' Iowa debate: 4 predictions (The Week)

New York ? The GOP gang is getting together Thursday night for one last hurrah in 2011 ? the final chance to make their pitch before the voting starts

Thursday night's Republican presidential debate in Sioux City, Iowa, "will be the final episode in one of the most popular reality television series of 2011," say Peter Hamby and Paul Steinhauser in CNN, and "the stakes could not be higher for all involved." After this face-off between the remaining seven GOP presidential contenders, most voters will tune out until Jan. 3, when the Iowa caucuses launch the actual vote-counting phase of what's already been a long and grueling campaign. What can we expect from this "critical" Fox News/Iowa GOP debate?

1. This will be the last debate for some of the candidates
"If first impressions matter in politics ? and they do ? so too does the last thing voters see before casting a vote," GOP strategist Doug Heye tells CNN. At least half of Iowa caucus-goers are still undecided, giving everyone a strong incentive to shine. That's especially critical for the low-polling candidates ? Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and to a lesser extent Rick Perry ? who have staked their campaigns on a strong finish in Iowa. When the next debate rolls around Jan. 7, "the GOP field will undoubtedly be smaller," says Catalina Camia in USA Today. This debate will help determine "who stays and who goes."

SEE MORE: Is it really too late for a new GOP candidate to emerge?

?

2. Romney will try to knock Gingrich out
"Expect Mitt Romney, in his elegant way, to slice Newt Gingrich to pieces," Republican strategist Alex Castellanos tells CNN. Romney doesn't have to win Iowa, but if he can keep Gingrich from coming out on top, "his last serious opponent will be dead and stored in a freezer." As the acknowledged and self-proclaimed frontrunner, Gingrich "has the most at stake when the bantering begins tonight," says Bret Hayworth in the Sioux City Journal, but "Romney has the most to gain."

3. Everyone else will be gunning for Gingrich, too
"Frankly, Romney would be more than happy to see Reps. Ron Paul (Texas) or Bachmann (Minn.) have a good night," says Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post. Paul especially, since he has a real shot at winning Iowa, and Romney wants him to. But "the more votes Gingrich loses, the better for everyone else," so with all his rivals "trying to provoke and skewer him," Gingrich had better turn in "a steady and uneventful performance." He "can't afford to lose his cool," agrees CNN's Castellanos. "If Newt does his 'angry badger' impression, he will be finished."

SEE MORE: Saturday's GOP 'alpha dog' debate: 4 key questions

?

4. Someone will have an "oops" moment
"Expect to see at least one candidate make a significant mistake," says the Sioux City Journal's Hayworth, something like Romney's $10,000 bet or Perry's brain freeze. "But don't expect to learn much more about where the candidates stand on the issues." The format of the debate is definitely skewed toward forcing "an oops moment," says Iowa State political science professor Steffen Schmidt. "That's been the biggest news from almost all these debates ? who is gonna slip on the banana peel." Everyone will be waiting for, or trying to cause, those pratfalls.

View this article on TheWeek.com
Get 4 Free Issues of The Week

Other stories from this topic:

Like on Facebook?-?Follow on Twitter?-?Sign-up for Daily Newsletter

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politicsopinion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20111215/cm_theweek/222514

john lackey john lackey ed lee ed lee garmin nuvi 1450 amzn tommy john surgery

Barracuda babies: Novel study sheds light on early life of prolific predator

Friday, December 16, 2011

For anglers and boaters who regularly travel the coasts of Florida the great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) is a common sight. Surprisingly, however, very little is known about the early life stage of this ecologically and socio-economically important coastal fish.

In the journal Marine Biology, lead author Dr. Evan D'Alessandro and University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science colleagues Drs. Su Sponaugle, Joel Llopiz and Robert Cowen shed light on the larval stage of this ocean predator, as well as several other closely related species.

"Due in large part to the expense and difficulty of collecting fish larvae from the open ocean, the larval ecology of barracuda were a mystery until now," said D'Alessandro. "A research study led by Dr. Robert Cowen, which sampled the Straits of Florida regularly for two years, provided a unique opportunity to catch a glimpse of the larval life of many fishes."

The study samples included great barracuda (92.8%) and their relatives Sphyraena borealis and Sphyraena picudilla (6.6%), commonly known as sennets.

In their larval stage, which generally lasts several weeks, barracuda and sennets remain in the upper 25 m of the ocean and live on a similar diet. They start out consuming copepods, or small crustaceans, but make an early switch to a diet of fish larvae, much like several larval billfishes and tunas.

"Barracuda are an important element in the marine food chain; they are voracious predators of other fishes as juveniles and adults on reefs and other nearshore habitats. Now we know this holds true for their larval stage before they reach an inch in length, as well," said D'Alessandro. "This novel study unlocks important aspects of the barracuda's life cycle. It also identifies an important size advantage within the larval stage (bigger larvae are more likely to survive) and provides insight that resource managers can use to better manage this species."

###

University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu

Thanks to University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science 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 68 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116109/Barracuda_babies__Novel_study_sheds_light_on_early_life_of_prolific_predator

jessica chastain jessica chastain nook tablet eagles magic johnson involuntary manslaughter stevens johnson syndrome

Canadiens fire coach Jacques Martin (AP)

MONTREAL ? Sloppy play, blown leads, a poor record at home.

It proved all too much for the last-place Montreal Canadiens, who fired coach Jacques Martin on Saturday and put assistant Randy Cunneyworth in charge for the rest of the season.

"The primary reason is the team wasn't performing as well as it should be in our minds," general manager Pierre Gauthier said at a Bell Centre news conference.

Assistant GM Larry Carriere was appointed assistant coach, his first coaching job after a long career in scouting and administration.

Martin, who preaches defense, was in his third season with the Canadiens. He is also one of the winningest coaches in NHL history.

He now gives way to Cunneyworth, a Toronto native whose lack of French was quickly noted. He is team's first unilingual English-speaking coach since Al MacNeil in 1971. On a team that symbolizes French-Canadian pride, he faces a daunting task in his bid to remove the interim tag.

"I have the utmost respect for the language here and I am very aware of how important it is to try and learn the language," Cunneyworth said after running his first practice. "Obviously I know a few words, and not all the good ones."

Montreal, which hosts New Jersey on Saturday night, is at the bottom of the Northeast Division with a 13-12-7 record. However, they are just two points out of second place in a division led by Boston.

The 59-year-old Martin has also coached the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators. Gauthier hired Martin in Ottawa. In 1996 in Ottawa, Martin inherited Cunneyworth as his hardworking captain.

"I would hope that my coaching style was similar to the way I played," Cunneyworth said. "I felt for the most part that I competed very hard."

Cunneyworth joined his former coach's staff as an assistant this summer after spending the previous season as head coach of Montreal's AHL affiliate in Hamilton.

"I have mixed emotions this time around," said Cunneyworth, who began and ended his career with Buffalo and also played for Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, Hartford and Chicago. "There is still the excitement but my thoughts are with Jacques. ... I have the utmost respect for Jacques and everything he does, the wealth of experience that I have learned over my times with him."

Martin was in his 17th season in the NHL. He reached his 600th NHL career victory last April, making him the ninth winningest coach in league history.

The Canadiens have been hurt by mistakes this season. They are 5-6-6 at home, often squandering third-period leads.

"Especially in the last few weeks, we didn't really know what was coming out of the box every night," Gauthier said. "And the way we were losing the leads and the way we were coaching the games wasn't very consistent, and that's what we hope to change."

There were hints of tension between Martin and Gauthier. After a poor start, Martin's closest ally, assistant Perry Pearn, was fired just before a game Oct. 26.

"We were on the same wavelength right to the end, but that doesn't mean that the team's performances were acceptable," Gauthier said.

The players were told of the coaching changes when they arrived for their morning skate.

"When we are where we are and expect to be a better team than we've been, you definitely are aware there might be changes," forward Michael Cammalleri said. "For it to be Jacques was somewhat surprising."

"We're in 11th place, that's what went wrong," he added. "I think Jacques was still trying to work on thing and improve the team. I don't think there was anyone not listening to him."

In the 50-year-old Cunneyworth, the Canadiens get a more tech-savvy coach, although one who is not expected to make major changes.

"I think the message will be to get back doing the things that the players are potentially capable of," Cunneyworth said. "We obviously have to figure out ways to get more out of our individual players. It's a responsibility of the coaching staff, but it's also a responsibility of the players themselves."

Cunneyworth was promoted to the NHL club along with assistant Randy Ladouceur after coaching in Hamilton last season.

"What system is in place doesn't matter if everyone buys in and plays the right way," defenseman Josh Gorges said. "If you only have half the guys doing what's asked of them, everything is in disarray and I think that's where we got to."

"We weren't playing together and doing the things we need to do to win," he added. "And consequently we lost games we shouldn't have lost and changes needed to be made."

Martin joined the Canadiens in 2009-10 and took them on an improbable run to the Eastern Conference finals where they lost to Philadelphia. Montreal made the playoffs the following year but was eliminated in the first round.

Martin also won the NHL coach of the year in 1998-99 and was part of Canada's gold-medal triumph at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

"The bottom line is winning games," Canadiens defenseman Hal Gill said. "We weren't winning and changes happen. I don't think it was about losing the room or anything like that."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111217/ap_on_sp_ho_ne/hkn_canadiens_martin_fired

muskingum county muskingum county social security social security intc barometer barometer

Iran says arrests another CIA spy (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iranian authorities said on Saturday they had arrested an Iranian caught spying for the United States, the Islamic Republic's latest claim of success in a spying war with Washington.

State TV quoted the Intelligence Ministry as saying the arrested person had received training at U.S. bases in neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq and was meant to feed false information to Iranian intelligence.

"This CIA agent of Iranian nationality began his mission after receiving training in weapons use," the ministry said in a statement quoted on television.

"But he was identified by Iranian intelligence agents and his espionage missions were revealed."

He was supposed to launch his mission from Bagram base in Afghanistan, the intelligence ministry report said, but Iranian intelligence agents helped him enter Iran and later arrested him.

Current and former U.S. officials told Reuters in November that Iran had succeeded in uncovering the identities of several CIA informants.

Iran said in May it had arrested 30 people on suspicion of spying for the United States and last Tuesday 15 people were indicted for spying for Washington and Israel. Spying in Iran can be punishable by death.

On December 4, Iran announced it had downed a U.S. spy plane in the eastern part of the country, near Afghanistan. It has since shown the plane on television and said it is close to cracking its technological secrets.

The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to tighten sanctions on Iran which it accuses of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies. Washington and Israel say they do not rule out making strikes on Iran's nuclear sites.

(Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; Writing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111217/wl_nm/us_iran_usa_spy

mike stoops end of the world end of the world jerome harrison ryan leaf ryan leaf carlos santana

Pythons and people take turns as predators and prey

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

People and giant snakes not only target each other for food ? they also compete for the same prey, according to a study co-authored by a Cornell University researcher.

More than a quarter of the men in a modern Filipino hunter-gatherer group have been attacked by giant pythons ? yet those same hunter-gatherers often target the pythons as their next meal. The study also finds that both the hunters and the pythons routinely eat local deer, wild pigs and monkeys. "Hunter-gatherers and other primates as prey, predators, and competitors of snakes," is published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"People have speculated for a long time that serpents have had a significant relationship with primates throughout their shared evolutionary history," said Cornell herpetologist Harry Greene, who conducted the study with Thomas Headland, an anthropologist at the SIL International in Dallas. "At least 26 species of non-human primates are eaten by snakes ? and there are many primates that eat snakes. This pattern of complex relationships is broader than those hunter-gatherers, and our paper provides the strongest evidence yet for those relationships." Greene is also a Cornell professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.

In the 1960s, Headland recorded ethnographic observations of the Agta Negritos, a modern hunter-gatherer group in the Philippines. An average Agta adult male weighs about 90 pounds, small enough to be eaten by the huge, native reticulated pythons that can grow to 28 feet. In one such attack, a father entered his dwelling to find a python had killed two of his children and was swallowing one of them headfirst. The father killed the snake with his bolo knife and found his third child, a six-month-old daughter, who was unharmed.

###

Cornell University: http://pressoffice.cornell.edu

Thanks to Cornell University for this article.

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

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

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116004/Pythons_and_people_take_turns_as_predators_and_prey

andrea bocelli john hughes panasonic lumix dmc lx5 ucla football taylor momsen deliverance muhammad ali

China investigates SKorean embassy's broken window (AP)

BEIJING ? China said Wednesday it is increasing security around South Korea's embassy in Beijing after a window was broken there amid tensions over allegations in South Korea that a Chinese fisherman fatally stabbed a coast guard officer.

South Korea's news agency Yonhap cited an anonymous official as saying it was unclear if the broken window was related to the stabbing death this week in South Korean waters. Some Chinese have accused South Korea of bullying their country's fishermen.

The Yonhap report said the embassy was hit by a metal ball believed fired from an air gun Tuesday afternoon. No one was hurt.

An embassy press officer surnamed Zheng said it was unclear what caused the hole in the window.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Wednesday that authorities "take this incident seriously and are sparing no time in investigating it," but that initial inspections showed the embassy was not damaged by a gunshot. China is increasing the numbers of police officers and enhancing security patrols around the embassy, Liu said.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said it formally asked China on Wednesday to beef up security around their Beijing embassy to prevent further incidents. Such a request is not very unusual between countries, the ministry said.

Tensions have risen since South Korean officials said Monday that the Chinese captain of a boat suspected of illegally fishing in South Korean waters killed one coast guard officer and wounded another.

On Tuesday in Seoul, protesters at the Chinese Embassy defaced a Chinese flag and a newspaper called the Chinese fishermen "pirates."

A commentary published in China's Global Times on Wednesday accused South Korean's media of misleading the public and said the fishermen were not "an arrogant group of bandits."

The Foreign Ministry's Liu said Wednesday that bilateral relations between the countries would not be affected.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_re_as/as_china_skorea_embassy

indianapolis colts colts colts turkey the walking dead the walking dead turkey map

Around the Web?

Take a break this Thursday to check out these afternoon reads: Sandra Bullock can’t stop buying gifts for son Louis ? Today When is it time to turn off the baby monitor? ? lilSugar.com Photographer under fire for airbrushing out girl’s birthmark in school photo ? The Daily Mail Hundreds attend Jubilee Duggar‘s memorial ? [...]

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/PMZdPvKj_H0/

greg halman greg halman love and hip hop dancing with the stars results there will be blood there will be blood how to cook a turkey

How Apple's Patent Lawsuits Are Backfiring (ContributorNetwork)

The late Steve Jobs vowed to "destroy" Android, Google's open-source operating system for smartphones and tablets, according to biographer Walter Isaacson. He was reportedly willing to "go thermonuclear war on this" and "spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank," in order to bring Android down.

Besides the iPhone and iPad -- the latter of which has consistently beaten all Android tablets put together as far as sales go -- Apple's primary weapon in its ongoing war against Android has been patent lawsuits against Android device manufacturers. Its first suit was filed in March 2010, just after the Nexus One was released, and since then it has won import bans and sales injunctions against Android devices like the Galaxy Tab (most of which have since been reversed).

Things haven't been one-sided for Apple, though, and it's facing some unintended consequences from its patent lawsuits. Here are a couple of them:

They showed everyone how to make a non-infringing tablet

The cornerstone of Apple's case against Samsung was that Samsung's Galaxy Tab resembled the iPad very closely. Apple was shown to have doctored the photos it submitted as evidence, but many of Samsung's devices nonetheless bear such an uncanny resemblance to Apple products that photos of the two have become the stuff of Reddit parody.

At one point in a recent lawsuit, however, Apple commissioned a private inventor to submit a document explaining its competitors' options for making a tablet that Apple won't sue them over. The suggestions included "shapes that are not rectangular with four flat sides," and "front surfaces that are not completely flat or clear," or that have a "cluttered appearance."

Because of this, writers like Devin Coldewey of TechCrunch have expressed disbelief, calling the iPad "the tablet's Platonic form." Others have parodied Apple's suggestions by creating absurd concept designs of non-infringing tablets, or noting that the "Pyramid" tablet from the comedy television series The Office would pass Apple's test.

It increased customer awareness of Android tablets

As John Gruber of Daring Fireball points out: "The overwhelming majority of the media coverage I've seen for the Galaxy Tab is related to Apple's various lawsuits. ... I don't think there can be any argument that it's raised overall awareness that the Galaxy Tabs even exist."

The article that he linked to quoted a Samsung exec as saying that " the media awareness certainly made the Galaxy Tab 10.1 a household name," especially compared to how much it would have cost to market the tablet. He also said that Samsung might not be able to import enough Galaxy Tabs to meet local demand in Australia.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111215/tc_ac/10683341_how_apples_patent_lawsuits_are_backfiring

ucla usc ucla usc sean taylor usc football cybermonday kansas city chiefs coach outlet

EA Releases The Sims FreePlay For The iPhones And iPad

mzl.ljqasceu.320x480-75Get ready to set your house on fire! The Sims are back and are awaiting their invisible leader -- you. Players have full control over a number of Sim characters just like The Sims of old. As the omnipotent creator, gamers have the ability to cause Sims to fall in love, live their life and watch them go to the bathroom. For free! No word on a naked cheat code, though.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/gis3ZeXvl2s/

veterans barbados resorts the call helen mirren surrogates surrogates james garner