"Biggest Loser" host, dog Winky battle pet obesity (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Alison Sweeney, host of the NBC network's weight loss TV series "The Biggest Loser," has worked with the show's contestants since 2007, supporting them as they drop pounds and learn to lead a healthier way of life.

Now, Sweeney is taking on more weight issues by teaming up with dog food company Hill's Science Diet for the second annual Million Pound Pledge to raise awareness about obesity in pets.

According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, 54 percent of America's pet population is overweight. Sweeney, who also stars on the daily soap opera "Days of Our Lives," became aware of pet obesity when she took her Boston Terrier, Winky, to the vet and was told her pooch could stand to lose a few pounds. After adjusting Winky's diet and making a few changes, the canine is back in shape.

With the Million Pound Pledge, Sweeney is urging pet owners to come together on petfit.com and collectively help their animals drop a combined one million pounds by March 30. One lucky winner will win a free trip to "The Biggest Loser" finale in May. Sweeney spoke to Reuters about the plan and pet obesity.

Q: When did you realize Winky was getting fat?

A: "She was a little thick, but I thought it was kind of cute. The vet explained she was a good two pounds overweight and when your dog is only 19 lbs, that's a lot. People don't realize what a significant difference a pound or two can make on a small animal."

Q: What's the most common mistake people make when it comes to feeding their pets?

A: "The number one mistake is giving pets table scraps. I made the mistake thinking I was showing my dog love by giving her food and treats. You see a tiny 4 oz. piece of cheese, but for a Boston Terrier like mine, that's like one and a half hamburgers. That's unhealthy."

Q: How is human weight loss different that pet weight loss?

A: "Our pets rely on us entirely for their nutrition. So if you're making your own judgments, that could lead to a mistake. At the same time, we have more control over our pet's diet than we do with our children or with ourselves, so your vet can tell you what is appropriate for your dog and you can assign them that. In my experience, it took Winky a couple of days to get used to eating less, but I saw the results in her health and energy right away."

Q: How can we prevent pet obesity in the first place?

A: "Like human weight loss, there's no end date where you say, 'I've taken care of that problem, I never have to worry about it again.' Humans should always exercise and watch what they eat. So with your pet, make sure they get enough exercise, make sure they're getting fed at the same time every day and getting the nutrition they need. And make sure they get a lot of love and attention you both need. That's why you have them!"

Q: Ever think of incorporating pet weight loss in to 'Biggest Loser?'

A: "I would love to. I think it'd be a great addition to the show if we somehow found a way to make it part of the challenge. It would be fun. They deserve their own show too."

Q: Speaking of "Loser," the new season premiered earlier this month and was down about 30 percent in viewers compared to the previous year. Ratings have been falling since trainer Jillian Michaels left the show. Is it a cause for concern?

A: "For our show, and in reality TV in general, you always kind of look to make a change, to shake things up. If it becomes too predictable, it's not interesting. You want to keep everybody on their toes a little bit. I feel like we are part of the solution of the obesity epidemic in this country and so I'm proud to be a part of it and I hope NBC feels the same way for a long time. Ratings have been down across the board for TV and certainly in daytime we've experienced that more than most."

Q: Luckily, your daytime show is still on the air while other soaps such as "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" have recently come to an end. Do their cancellations affect you?

A: "Absolutely, because it affects the whole (soap) genre, the way people feel about daytime television and how confident their feel in their show. That's hard on all of us. I've met so many fans of daytime television who've watched the shows with their moms and grandmas and feel like they've known the characters their whole lives. It's sad for them to have to say goodbye to their favorite soaps and characters. We don't want that to happen to the 'Days' fans."

(Editing By Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weightloss/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/hl_nm/us_biggestloser_pets

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Qatar Financial Centre Authority and Luxembourg for Finance ...

The seminar was the first step after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between QFCAuthority and Luxembourg for Finance last year, to promote cooperation between the two countries in financial services. Among the subjects discussed at the seminar were financial services opportunities in Qatar and the role of Luxembourg as an international hub for financial services in Europe.

The QFC Authority has refined a highly attractive and business friendly legal and regulatory environment, in which it is focusing on the three hubs of reinsurance, asset management and captive insurance. The strategy has resulted in growing recognition of Qatar as a financial centre. In 2011 Qatar won the award of Best Financial Centre in the Middle East from Global Investor magazine and was ranked highest in the Middle East by consultants Z/Yen Group.

Participants were welcomed by Mr. Abdulrahman Al Shaibi, Managing Director and Board Member, Qatar Financial Centre Authority and H.E.Luc Frieden, Minister of Finance, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg gave the keynote address. Shashank Srivastava, Acting CEO and Chief Strategic Development Officer, Qatar Financial Centre Authority, spoke about the financial services opportunities in Qatar. Mr FernandGrulms, CEO, Luxembourg for Finance, described how Luxembourg developed into a European financialhub.

In addition, a panel discussion explored the opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. The moderator of the panel was Mr Grulms, and the panelists included: Mr Fran?ois Pauly, CEO, Banque Internationale ? Luxembourg; Mr Jacques Peters, CEO, KBL European Private Bankers S.A.; Mr Marc Saluzzi, Chairman, Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry; and Mr Salah Al Jaidah, Chairman - Islamic Finance, Vice Chairman MENA, Chief Country Office-Qatar, Deutsche Bank AG - Qatar Branch.

The QFC Authority, the commercial arm of the Qatar Financial Centre, jointly hosted the seminar with Luxembourg for Finance. The Luxembourg for Finance delegation consisted of more than 60 representatives of Luxembourg's financial and professional services sector.

H.E. Luc Frieden said, "Luxembourg is a modern, diversified financial centre that has a reputation for stability and for its openness to international markets. We look forward to developing the relationship between our two financial centres in the future."

Mr. Abdulrahman Al Shaibi, Managing Director and Board Member, Qatar Financial Centre Authority said: "Qatar and Luxembourg have already established close relations in the financial sector. I am sure this seminar will strengthen those relations further and open up fresh avenues for cooperation."

Last year Qatar and Luxembourg signed a number of cooperation agreements, including a Memorandum of Understanding on economic, trade and technical cooperation and an agreement on financial cooperation between the two countries. Since then,the Qatari investment fund Precision Capital agreed to buy Luxembourg-based KBL European Private Bankers, the private banking division of Belgium's KBC Group and has also been involved in the purchase of a significant stake in the private banking arm of Dexia Bank.

Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/288375.html

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Oil spill brings attention to delicate Gulf coast

TIVOLI, Texas?? For decades, farmers and fishermen along the Gulf of Mexico watched as their sensitive ecosystem's waters slowly got dirtier and islands eroded, all while the country largely ignored the destruction.

It took BP PLC's well blowing out in the Gulf ? and the resulting environmental catastrophe when millions of gallons of oil spewed into the ocean and washed ashore ? for the nation to turn its attention to the slow, methodical ruin of an ecosystem vital to the U.S. economy. Last month, more than a year and a half after the spill began, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a three-year, $50 million initiative designed to improve water quality along the coast.

"I'm not going to say that it's the silver lining," Will Blackwell, a district conservationist with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Services, said of the oil spill. Blackwell is one of many regional officials who have long worked with farmers and ranchers to fence cattle, reseed native grasses and take on other seemingly inane projects that go a long way toward preventing pollution and coastal erosion.

"I'm going to say that it will help get recognition down here that we have this vital ecosystem that needs to be taken care of," he said. "This will keep it at the forefront."

NRCS administrators struggled for years to divide a few million dollars among farmers and ranchers in the five Gulf states. Now, they are getting an eleven-fold increase in funding, money that will allow them to build on low-profile programs that already have had modest success in cleaning crucial waterways by working with farmers and ranchers to improve land use practices.

The nation's focus turned sharply to the Gulf when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up in April 2010. Images of oil-coated birds and wetlands were splashed across newspapers and cable news networks. Coastal wetlands that are habitat to all sorts of wildlife were soiled and oyster beds were wiped out, underscoring the Gulf's ecological and economic importance.

The project is called the Gulf of Mexico Initiative, the first concrete step from a year's worth of meetings, studies and talking by the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, a committee formed by President Barack Obama in the spill's wake.

Sometimes, the money is spent on simple projects, such as building fences and installing troughs to keep cattle away from rivers and creeks that flow into the Gulf. The minerals in cow manure can pollute those upstream waters and then flow into the ocean. Those minerals can deplete oxygen in the Gulf, creating "dead zones" where wildlife can't thrive.

Other times, the program pays for expensive farming equipment that turns soil more effectively and creates straighter rows. That helps keep fertilizers on the farm ? where it helps crops ? and out of the Gulf, where the nutrients choke oxygen from the water. This equipment also decreases erosion, which has eaten up hundreds of miles of Gulf Coast habitat in the past century.

Until now, most counties in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas got right around $100,000 apiece to spend annually on these programs. The demand was far greater in many areas, but money was hard to come by, Blackwell said, highlighting the popularity of the program in Refugio County, Texas ? the rural area of Southeast Texas he oversees.

The influx of money has many farmers and ranchers ? especially those who have reaped the program's benefits in the past ? eager for more opportunities to improve the environment they rely upon for their livelihood.

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Now, they are hurriedly filling out applications and waiting for officials to rank the paperwork ? those considered to have the greatest possible impact are the most likely to be approved.

"Fifty million dollars sounds like a lot. But when you consider ? Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and Texas, it's not going to be enough," said Glen Wiggins, a Florida farmer applying for help buying new farming equipment.

"But it'll help."

Dallas Ford, owner of the 171-acre Smoky Creek Ranch in Tivoli, Texas, first worked with the NRCS to build fences and strategically located troughs. The fences keep cattle in separate fields and allow him to rotate the cows between the fields, a practice that helps keep grass longer and better able to recover when it rains. The troughs ensure the cattle remain in the area and keep away from Stony Creek ? a bountiful tributary of the Gulf's Hynes Bay.

Ford estimates he has between $15,000 and $20,000 worth of additional work to do on his ranch ? all of which will ultimately improve water quality in Stony Creek ? but he will be able to do it only if he can get another contract with NRCS, which would cover about half the costs.

The cash infusion reminded him of a mentor who once said you could cook anything with time and temperature. In this project, Ford said, time is plentiful ? the temperature is money and manpower.

"We might be able to cook something a little faster," Ford said. "Now, maybe I can get you a nice steak."

About 685 miles away, Wiggins has been buying new tilling equipment to use on his 800-acre peanut and cotton farm that straddles the Alabama-Florida line. The high-tech farming equipment helps him better turn the soil and plant straighter rows, which ultimately prevent erosion and keep nutrients in the soil rather than allowing them to flow downstream and into the Gulf.

Wiggins' land sits on three watersheds ? Canoe Creek and Pine Barren Creek that are part of Sandy Hollow Creek, and Little Pine Barren Creek. With the work he's already done, Wiggins estimates he has reduced erosion by at least 50 percent. Now, he wants to further reduce it, mostly through the use of new equipment that will decrease conventional, and more destructive, tillage of his land.

"I'd like to get it down to zero, but if I could get it to 10 percent conventional tillage, I would be tickled to death," Wiggins said.

He estimated the new equipment will cost about $70,000. The only way he can make that purchase is with NRCS' help ? and now it may be within reach.

"The oil spill has been a powerful force to get people's attention," Wiggins said.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46182691/ns/us_news-environment/

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PFT: Finally, Kolber addresses Namath incident

Getty Images

It?s official.? In Saturday?s edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, ?reader representative? Ted Diadiun addressed at length the decision to remove long-time Browns writer Tony Grossi from the team?s beat.? Diadiun?s article is well-written, superficially persuasive, and apparently effective, given the number of emails we?ve received from folks who believe based on Diadiun?s article that the newspaper did the right thing.

But it doesn?t change our opinion that the Plain Dealer cowered to the Browns.? In fact, it strengthens it.

When scrutinizing an employment decision, inconsistencies in the reasons and rationalizations from the employer become extremely important.? The thinking is that, if the employer can?t tell a unified story in support of a supposedly legitimate decision, it?s possible that the employer is trying to conceal potentially illegitimate motives.? Circumstantial evidence also takes on a critical role, since the employer rarely will admit to ordering the Code Red.? Or, perhaps for these purposes, a Code Orange.

And that?s really the ultimate question.? Did the Browns order a Code Orange on Grossi?? Or, more accurately, did the Plain Dealer reassign Grossi because it believed the Browns wanted Grossi out?

Let?s consider the facts, the circumstances, and the inconsistencies.

First, the facts.? Grossi posted on his Twitter page a message that he had intended to keep private.? In the message, Grossi called Browns owner Randy Lerner a ?pathetic figure? and ?the most irrelevant billionaire in the world.?? (Of all the billionaires in the world, technically one of them must be the most irrelevant.)? Grossi immediately deleted the tweet once he realized his mistake.? By then, however, his words had been copied and repeated across the Internet, and it was impossible to unring the bell.

Grossi apologized publicly, the Plain Dealer apologized publicly, and Plain Dealer publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger sent a written apology to the Browns and to Lerner.

Though not addressed in Diadiun?s column, the Browns responded with silence.? Apart from declining to comment in response to inquiries from PFT, the Browns and Lerner refused to take calls from Grossi, and possibly from other officials of the Plain Dealer.? Indeed, Diadiun admits that ?[n]one of the editors involved talked with anyone connected with the team? before making the decision to reassign Grossi.

Diadiun omits reference to the key question of whether the Plain Dealer tried to have such discussions.

Second, the circumstances.? Most significantly, Diadiun admits that Egger personally met with Lerner and team president Mike Holmgren on Wednesday, after the decision was made to reassign Grossi.? The fact that a meeting occurred invites speculation that the Browns cared ? or at a minimum that the Plain Dealer believed the Browns cared ? about the manner in which this situation was handled.

Third, the inconsistencies.? On Thursday, Plain Dealer managing editor Thom Fladung told 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland that the ?determining factor? for the decision was the following standard:? ?Don?t do something that affects your value as a journalist or the value of your newspaper or affects the perception of your value and the perception of that newspaper?s value.?? Fladung also said that Grossi?s opinions would have been permissible if he had posted them not on his Twitter page, but in the pages of the Plain Dealer.? ?Let?s say Tony had written that Randy Lerner?s lack of involvement with the Browns and their resulting disappointing records over the years has made him irrelevant as an owner, that?s defensible,? Fladung said.? ?That?s absolutely defensible.?

But Diadiun?s item contains a contradictory quote from Plain Dealer editor Adam Simmons, who thinks that Grossi?s role as a beat writer precluded him from making the statements about Lerner in any context.? ?If it had been a columnist who wrote that, we might cringe, but that role is different,? Simmons said. ?They?re paid to offer up opinions, however prickly. But we?re not asking them to go out and cover a team in a fair and balanced and objective way, like we are with a reporter.?? (Presumably, Simmons also believes that a columnist could have offered those opinions on his Twitter page, since opinions are fair game for a columnist.)

Complicating matters is Diadiun?s attempt to reconcile the action against Grossi with his First Amendment rights.? Rather that relying on the simple ? and accurate ? notion that employees of a private, for-profit enterprise have no First Amendment rights, Diadiun draws a clumsy line between personal and professional social media.? ?Anyone who works at the paper has the right to say, write or Tweet anything they wish,? Diadiun writes.? ?But they do not have a corresponding right to say it in the newspaper or on the website or on their newspaper Twitter account.? If they do, the editors who are in charge of maintaining the credibility of the newspaper have the right to change their assignment.?

So Fladung says that Grossi could have said what he said in the paper, Simmons says that Grossi couldn?t have said what he said anywhere unless he was a columnist, and Diadiun says that Grossi could have said what he said on his own, personal Twitter page.? And no one says it?s impermissible for Grossi to secretly possess those views, even if those views (as Diadiun writes) undermine his credibility.? Under the newspaper?s view of journalistic ethics, it only becomes a problem when those views are disclosed ? which actually should make Grossi even more credible, since he has openly acknowledged his bias.

The end result is a stew of mixed messages, which invites speculation that the real reason for the move was to maintain a good relationship with the Browns.? Though there continues to be ? and likely never will be ? any evidence that the Browns told the Plain Dealer what the Browns wanted the Plain Dealer to do, some of the loudest and clearest messages can be sent through silence.

When Grossi or others from the Plain Dealer tried to call Lerner and/or Holmgren and they refused to speak, what should a reasonable person conclude?? Moreover, why would a meeting with Lerner and Holmgren even be needed if the Plain Dealer didn?t care about the team?s response to the situation?? If this decision was solely about journalistic standards and the integrity and credibility of Grossi?s coverage in the eyes of the audience given his personal views regarding Lerner, there was no reason to go to Berea and kiss rings and/or smooch butts.

That?s the fundamental disconnect.? The Plain Dealer wants us to believe it engaged in a textbook exercise in ethics while at the same time doing things like writing letters of apology to Lerner and publicly calling Grossi?s words about Lerner insulting and personally meeting with Lerner and Holmgren.

Though the Browns may not have intended to order a Code Orange, we believe that the Plain Dealer believed that it needed to remove Grossi from the beat in order to remain in the good graces of the Browns.? And we?d have far more (or, as the case may be, any) respect for this decision if the Plain Dealer would simply admit that which upon inspection of the facts, the circumstances, and the inconsistencies seems obvious.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/28/finally-kolber-addresses-namath-incident/related/

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Feisty Gingrich stakes campaign on electability (AP)

SARASOTA, Fla. ? Newt Gingrich has staked his presidential bid on one idea: that he is best positioned to defeat President Barack Obama. Even some of his supporters seem to be struggling to buy the former House speaker's claim, an indication that chief rival Mitt Romney's efforts to undercut him may be working.

"Beating Obama is more important than everything else," Patrick Roehl, a 51-year-old computer software engineer, said in the midst of a packed Gingrich rally inside a Sarasota airport hangar this week. "Can Newt win? I'm not sure. He's got a lot of high negatives. The elections are won and lost in the middle. I'm not sure he appeals to the middle."

John Grainger, a 44-year-old assistant golf pro, doesn't like Romney. But he's having trouble shaking skepticism about Gingrich.

"I want to be a Newt supporter," he said. "This guy's going to have the guts to stand up and speak his piece ? no holds barred." But Grainger said he wasn't quite ready to back the former House speaker.

Interviews with more than a dozen Republican voters at Gingrich's overflowing rallies this week suggest that while many Florida voters love his brash style as they look for someone to take it to Obama, they also have lingering doubts about whether the Republican's intellectual bomb-throwing alone will make him the strongest Obama opponent.

Romney and his allies have spent a week working to stoke those doubts with Florida Republicans ahead of Tuesday's primary. And the GOP's establishment wing has started to help the former Massachusetts governor make that case by castigating Gingrich at every turn.

On television and on the campaign trail, Romney and his allies have steadily highlighted Gingrich's liabilities ? consulting contracts and ethics investigations among them. And they've suggested that more baggage could emerge in the fall, when the Republican nominee would be at the height of a general election battle against Obama.

"In the case of the speaker, he's got some records which could represent an October surprise," Romney said this week, referring to Gingrich's consulting work and ethics allegations when he was in the House. "We could see an October surprise a day from Newt Gingrich."

An outside group dedicated to helping Romney has spent almost $9 million on Florida television advertising, including a massive $4 million investment this week alone, to make the case even more explicitly.

"Newt Gingrich's tough talk sounds good, but Newt has tons of baggage. How will he ever beat Obama?" says the new ad from the so-called super PAC, Restore Our Future.

Gingrich, to be sure, is not letting such criticism go unanswered. He's telling everyone ? on the trail, in television interviews, on conference calls and in fundraising messages ? that he alone can defeat Obama. He points to his 12 percentage point victory in the South Carolina primary as proof.

Exit polling there showed that the majority of Republican voters, 51 percent, said that Gingrich was better suited to defeat the Democratic president.

"Their highest value was beating Obama," Gingrich told evangelical voters this week. "And if they thought Romney was the only person who could beat Obama, then they would swallow a lie. But the minute they thought there were two people who could beat Obama, they suddenly turned and said, Well, you know, maybe we should be for Newt."

Polls suggest that Gingrich could defeat Romney in Florida, a surge fueled partly by growing support from the tea party movement and continued anti-Romney sentiment. Gingrich drew massive crowds at venues across Florida this week.

But in those swelling crowds were conservatives who said they were drawn less by Gingrich's electability than his fiery rhetoric.

"He's a fighter. Mitt, I think, is too wishy-washy," said Dominique Boscia, a 43-year-old unemployed woman from Lakewood Ranch. "I like feisty people. I like people who have spunk."

That's certainly Gingrich. For months, he has used aggressive debate performances to fuel his underdog candidacy. He has consistently thrilled conservatives by promising to take the fight directly to Obama in a series of free-form debates modeled after the 1860 meetings between Illinois Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas.

Should Obama refuse, Gingrich says he'll follow the president on the campaign trail until he agrees.

That gets good applause lines at rallies. But a closer look at polling suggests that a debate beat down doesn't necessarily mean Gingrich can beat the president in an election that will include independents and Democrats.

Gingrich struggled among independents in a recent Washington Post-ABC News national poll, in which 53 percent gave him unfavorable marks and just 22 percent had a favorable opinion of the former House speaker. While Romney has typically polled better among independents, the poll ? conducted between Jan. 18 and 22 ? found virtually no difference: 51 percent of independents viewed him unfavorably, compared with 23 with favorable views.

But when all Florida voters, including independents and Democrats, are asked to weigh in, Romney appears to have a strong advantage over Gingrich, according to a poll conducted by Suffolk University-WSVN-TV Miami. Romney would defeat Obama here 47 percent to 42 percent; Gingrich would lose, earning just 40 percent to Obama's 49 percent of likely Florida general election voters.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich_electability

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Keep the dishwasher and fridge apart; save a bundle on energy

Why would you put a device that gets hot next to a device that gets cold? They would both be using energy to fight the effects of the appliance next door.

Your dishwasher gets hot. Your dishwasher also gets moist, meaning it?s harder to cool down the air around it. Your refrigerator gets cold. So does your freezer.

Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm

The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.

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Why would you put a device that gets hot next to a device that gets cold? No insulation is perfect, after all, so they would both be using energy to fight the effects of the appliance next door.

So many elements of frugality and personal finance come down to paying attention to the details. This is one of those little detail things that so many people will overlook, but over time it just continually costs you money.

When we moved into our current home, one of the things that annoyed me about it was the relatively small kitchen. It wasn?t much larger than the kitchen in our small apartment, having only a small counter that the other did not have.

Even worse, the refrigerator was installed next to the dishwasher, and the only way to fix it would involve an extensive reworking of our kitchen, as the cabinets are all formed around slots for the appliances.

There?s no doubt that energy is lost in this process. The dishwasher, while running a cycle, puts off a tremendous amount of heat, some of which you can feel on the side of the refrigerator. I often hear the refrigerator kicking on just a minute or two after starting a dishwasher load due to the rise in internal temperature of the refrigerator. It?s actively costing us money.

So, what can we do about this? At the moment, not much. Other than the side-by-side appliance issue, our kitchen is laid out fairly well for its size. Although we?ve looked at alternate arrangements, none of them have provided enough value to be worth the cost of rearranging things.

One short-term fix we?ve done is to insert a piece of thin insulation between the two appliances. There was just enough room for a small piece of insulation to fit between the two, so we purchased a piece of heat-resistant insulation. While this isn?t a perfect fix, it does reduce the heat directly transferred between the two devices.

We also try to make an effort to keep the refrigerator door closed while the dishwasher is running. Opening the refrigerator door while the dishwasher is running causes the cool and dry air to rush out and the warm, damp air to move in, making it that much harder for the refrigerator to do its job.

However, we do plan to build a new house in the future. When we do that, we?ll make sure to avoid having a ?hot? appliance next to a ?cold? one. In fact, in our latest design sketches (a fun project that Sarah and I work on sometimes in the evenings is doing sketches on the computer of what our dream house would be like), the refrigerator and dishwasher are pretty far apart, with a large counterspace between the refrigerator and the sink and the dishwasher on the other side of the sink.

Another thing to watch out for: avoid having your refrigerator or freezer next to an air vent, particularly if you live in northern climates. During the winter, your air vent will be blowing out hot air, which you don?t want blowing directly onto your refrigerator. This is something else to consider when designing or re-designing a kitchen, as it?s all about the energy efficiency.

Will this save you a lot of money or a little? It?s really hard to measure, as it depends on the modes you?re running in your refrigerator and dishwasher, the amount of insulation between the two, and countless other factors. However, I?d have to be oblivious to not hear our refrigerator kicking on and running almost contiunously when our dishwasher is running. If a simple kitchen design decision will make a real difference in how much your refrigerator is running, it?s well worth keeping in mind as a principle.

This post is part of a yearlong series called ?365 Ways to Live Cheap (Revisited),? in which I?m revisiting the entries from my book ?365 Ways to Live Cheap,? which is available at Amazon and at bookstores everywhere.?

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on www.thesimpledollar.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/mhOTWZaL5s0/Keep-the-dishwasher-and-fridge-apart-save-a-bundle-on-energy

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'Hunger Games' Stars Tackle Your Final Questions!

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth share their favorite bands and much more.
By Kara Warner

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss and Liam Hemsworth as Gale in "The Hunger Games."
Photo: Murray Close/ Lionsgate Entertainment

Once again, we're back with "Hunger Games" stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth for a final round of fan-asked questions and answers with the three soon-to-be superstars.

Over the course of the past few weeks, Lawrence, Hutcherson and Hemsworth have addressed varied topics such as on-set pranks, on-the-job injuries and which actor is most like his or her character.

Today marks our final installment, in which the three lead actors from the highly anticipated film discuss musical influences, getting into character, being on fire and chemistry with their co-stars.

@vic_rendueles: Music plays a big part in the HG. What type of music inspires you and why?

Josh Hutcherson: Music is a huge part of my life. If I feel off for a couple of days, chances are I've not been listening to enough music — it's that important to me. But I listen to everything from '60s rock and roll to the Arctic Monkeys to the Black Keys to dubstep, so it's literally full-on schizophrenic, my music taste.

Jennifer Lawrence: I was just listening to Mumford & Sons on the way up here — love Mumford, the Black Keys, Jack White. I'm really looking forward to the musical part of the movie; T-Bone Burnett is producing it, and he's the best in the world, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Liam Hemsworth: One of my favorite bands is Coldplay; I love Coldplay. I love a lot of old school rock too — Pink Floyd, Guns N' Roses — I love that stuff. Music is a great way to get in a good headspace if you have an intense scene or any kind of scene. There's always some kind of music that can help you feel and get in to that kind of headspace.

@KiwiMcI: Was it hard to balance Katniss' inner vulnerability with the strength she's forced to adopt in the horrors of the arena?

Lawrence: Wow, what a question. Let's see, I think everybody has vulnerability and strength. I think she's vulnerable anyway, like all of the tributes, because none of them really want to be there. They're chosen randomly, they're all forced into the arena. She gathers strength, she has to fight to survive. She's promised her sister that she would come back, so she replaces her vulnerability with strength.

@maartjej239: How was it to be "on fire" in the chariots?

Lawrence: Oh, that was fake. I wasn't actually on fire, thank God. ... I think they'll just add that later, hopefully. @eringabin: In a postapocalyptic world like Panem, what would your most valuable survival skill be?

Hemsworth: I'd hope that I could shoot like Katniss. That would probably help a lot. I can't, though.

@LoveAcrossTime: From the trailer alone, the fans already see the amazing chemistry between [Katniss and Peeta]. Was that an instant thing?

Hutcherson: It really was. Jennifer and I hit it off right away, as did myself and Liam. Jennifer and I are kind of from the same part of the country, we had a similar upbringing, the same kind of system, more or less. She's just a very real person, and you don't meet many actresses that are super real and down to earth and genuine and are extremely talented on top of all that, so she kind of has the whole thing going on, and she's an awesome person. I really hit it off with her.

Check out everything we've got on "The Hunger Games." For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677933/hunger-games-actors.jhtml.jhtml

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91% Beauty and the Beast (In 3D)

All Critics (81) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (82) | Rotten (7) | DVD (36)

The greatest animated film ever made and one of the screen's great musicals hardly needs this (3D) sort of sprucing up.

What you gain in an extra, faked dimension you lose in lively, genuine beauty.

The 3-D pops out to enhance the drama or energy of scenes in which settings are large and integral to the action.

Some youthful memories are better not revisited, but this definitely isn't one of them. Sometimes you can go home again.

It is a surprise, in a time of sequels and retreads, that the new film is so fresh and altogether triumphant in its own right.

Despite some excessive narrative streamlining, this 1991 release was the best Disney animated feature in years, full of charm and humor.

Disney's gorgeous 1991 animated version of the classic fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" gets the same 3D treatment that was recently given to "The Lion King."

Watching this in a theater definitely makes it feel less like a "cartoon" and more like a significant film. Cogsworth poking Le Fou in the butt with a sword aside.

One of the brightest jewels in Disney's crown, Beauty and the Beast's 3D reissue takes nothing away and makes the film's brilliance even easier to appreciate; the movie is more beautiful and timeless than it ever was.

Beauty and the Beast is just as enchanting 20 years after its initial release.

The apex of an art form, a justly celebrated classic, and the best animated movie of any sort ever put on screen at any time.

The lines have begun to show in Belle's tale, which remains enjoyable but feels more like a quaint artifact than the masterpiece it once was declared to be.

Both TANGLED EVER AFTER and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST are sure to enthrall audiences everywhere, even if the 3D doesn't really add much of anything to this animated classic.

A serviceable version of a classic fairy tale minus that crucial touch of magic.

And it is a joy to revisit the timeless pleasures of traditional Disney storytelling, with no attempts to add sizzle from celebrity voice talent or radio-friendly pop songs.

3D doesn't downplay the inherent artistry of the effort, but it doesn't enhance anything outside of ticket prices.

Beauty and the Beast looks beautiful and is sure to entertain, but this experience is superfluous at best-it was already a three-dimensional story long before these new technics.

Better remembered than seen, Beauty and the Beast has been treated unkindly not just by the years that have passed since it was released to enormous acclaim in 1991, but by a faddish 3D conversion.

The 3D is unnecessary - but it doesn't spoil the fun of Beauty and the Beast.

The ultimate makeover story has strong, positive messages.

...an above average (yet far-from-flawless) animated endeavor.

More Critic Reviews

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beauty_and_the_beast_1991/

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Pets and the Residential Lease Agreement | galveston ...

Jan 26, 2012 Posted by admin on Jan 26, 2012 in apartment rental agreement | 0 comments

If ??? h??? a pet, ??? know h?w hard ?t ??n b? t? find ?n apartment th?t w?ll allow ??? ?nd ???r furry friend t? both sign th? residential lease agreement.

Many, dare I ??? m??t landlords ?r? strict ?b??t n?t accepting tenants w?th animals. If ??? ?r? lucky, ??? m?? b? ?bl? t? find landlords w?th a kind heart (probably pet owners themselves) wh? w?ll allow ??rt??n kinds ?f pets ?n th??r units.

Th? best ?l??? t? find ?n apartment th?t accepts pets ?? t? first look ?n ?ll th? usually places: Craigslist, pet-friendly websites f?r people looking t? rent, th? news classifieds ?r even through a broker.

B?t please follow th? residential lease agreement golden rule w?th regards t? animals!

M?k? sure ??? mention ???r pet before ??? b?g?n ???r lease hunting efforts!

Y?? m??t follow th? two steps below t? insure ?n efficient ???r???h ?n finding th? best property f?r ??? ?nd ???r pet:

A?k up front ?b??t th??r pet policy.

If ??? ?r? replying t? ?n apartment listing via telephone ?r email, b? sure t? ??k wh?t th? property policy ?? w?th regards t? pets.

Y?? don?t want t? g?t yourself excited ?b??t a ?l??? ?nl? t? find out later th?t th?? don?t accept pets ?f ?n? kind. And don?t m?k? th? mistake th?t ?? many people d? wh??h ?? g? ?ll th? way through th? application process thinking th?? ??n?t possibly turn ??? down once th?? meet YOUR pet. Guess wh?t? N? one thinks ???r pet ?? ?? cute ?nd sweet ?? ??? d?. I h??? never seen th?? work. W?r?t case, ?f ??? signed th? lease ?nd m???d ?n ?nd th?? later found ???r pet living w?th ???, th? landlord ???ld evict ??? AND collect ?ll th? rent due through th? remainder ?f ???r lease.

Lastly, ??? m?? find out b? letting th? landlord know upfront th?t th?? accept ??rt??n breeds ?f dog ?r ??rt??n sizes (f?r example: under 20 pounds).

T?ll broker ?b??t ???r pet.

If ??? opt t? ??? a broker t? h?l? ??? find a property, b? sure ??? inform th? broker ?t ???r first meeting th?t ??? h??? ?n animal ?nd th?t ??? ?nl? want t? see apartments w?th pet-friendly policies.

Al?? m?k? sure t? inform th?m ?f ??? ?l?n ?n getting a pet ?n th? future.

If ??? follow th??? two simple steps ??? ??n b? sure n?t t? waste unnecessary time ?n ???r hunt f?r a pet-friendly apartment complex. If ??? ?nd th? landlords th?t r?n th? properties ??? ?r? interested ?n ?r? ?n th? same page ??? won?t waste valuable time wondering ?f ???r beloved pet ?? going t? ?nd up unintentionally denying ??? access t? a residential lease agreement.

Stirling Gardner (Th? Hollywood Landlord) ?? a writer ?nd property management expert.

Related Posts:

Source: http://galveston-apartmentsforrent.com/pets-and-the-residential-lease-agreement.html

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Politics of defense cuts: emphasize the positive (AP)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

___

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

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

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Abbott cuts 700 jobs from device and testing unit (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Medical device and drugmaker Abbott Laboratories said Wednesday it will lay off 700 employees as part of ongoing restructuring efforts.

A company spokeswoman said most of the layoffs will affect employees who manufacture the company's heart stents and diagnostic tests. Abbott has seen a decline in orders for artery-opening stents, ahead of the expiration of a supply agreement with medical device rival Boston Scientific Corp. Abbott currently sells a version of its Xience stent to Boston Scientific, which pays a 40 percent royalty on sales. Boston Scientific recently replaced that device with its own in-house stent, Promus Element.

About 300 of the eliminated positions are at the company's stent business in Southern California. Less than 200 others involve the company's diagnostic business in Lake County, Illinois. Other layoffs affect the company's pharmaceutical manufacturing operation in Puerto Rico, among other places. Employees were notified of the cuts by their managers, according to Abbott spokeswoman Adelle Infante.

Abbott has been restructuring its operations for several years, laying off about 1,900 pharmaceutical division employees this time last year. About 1,000 of those terminated positions were in Illinois.

News of the layoffs came several hours after Abbott reported a 12 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit Wednesday, as the blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug Humira continued to dominate the company's performance with double-digit sales growth.

In October, Abbott surprised investors and analysts with the announcement that it would spin off its branded drug business, including Humira. Company executives said the split would allow investors to separately value Abbott's businesses, which also include baby formula, generic drugs and medical implants.

Wednesday's results highlighted the rationale for the split, with top-selling drug Humira dominating the company's results, contributing $2.18 billion, or over 20 percent, of sales.

While Humira has been the key to Abbott's growth, it has also a weighed on the company's stock, overshadowing performance of its other businesses. The drug, which is used to treat psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, loses patent protection in 2016, and no obvious successor has appeared in the company's pipeline. The split-up frees Abbott from the risks and obligations of developing innovative pharmaceutical drugs, leaving the company with a more predictable business built around nutritional formula, generic drugs and heart stents.

Abbott earned $1.62 billion, or $1.02 per share, up from $1.44 billion, or 92 cents per share, in the prior-year period. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.45 per share, up from $1.30 in the same period a year earlier. Total company sales grew 4.1 percent to $10.38 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect fourth-quarter earnings per share of $1.44 on revenue of $10.59 billion.

For 2012, the North Chicago, Ill., company expects to earn $4.95 to $5.05 per share, compared with the average analyst estimate of $5.02 per share.

The company's branded drug business posted sales of $4.78 billion for the period, an increase of 6.7 percent. The business, which includes the cholesterol drugs Trilipix and Niaspan among other treatments, is scheduled to become a separate business before the end of 2012. The new company will have revenue of roughly $18 billion.

Among Abbott's remaining businesses, generic drugs slipped 4.6 percent to $1.39 billion. Nutritionals rose 8.6 percent to $1.56 billion while sales of the company's stents and other heart devices were roughly flat at $826 million.

Company shares fell 75 cents to close at $55.23 Wednesday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_abbott_laboratories

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Saddleback Classic MacBook Air Sleeve Review

As unmanly as it sounds, the first thoughts that ran through my mind when I first saw and touched the Saddleback Classic MacBook Air Sleeve was……’Ooooo, pretty’. To make it worse, I even took a (nice long) whiff of the leather as I was unpacking it….smelled wonderful. Saddleback’s rich leather, craftsmanship, and incredible attention to [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/01/24/saddleback-classic-macbook-air-sleeve-review/

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Researchers help solve questions about Ethiopians' high-altitude adaptations

Monday, January 23, 2012

Over many generations, people living in the high-altitude regions of the Andes or on the Tibetan Plateau have adapted to life in low-oxygen conditions. Living with such a distinct and powerful selective pressure has made these populations a textbook example of evolution in action, but exactly how their genes convey a survival advantage remains an open question. Now, a University of Pennsylvania team has made new inroads to answering this question with the first genome-wide study of high-altitude adaptations within the third major population to possess them: the Amhara people of the Ethiopian Highlands.

Surprisingly, all three groups' adaptations appear to involve different genetic mutations, an example of convergent evolution.

"These three groups took different genetic approaches to solving the same problem," said senior author Sarah Tishkoff, a Penn Integrates Knowledge professor with appointments in the genetics department in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and the biology department in the School of Arts and Sciences.

In addition to Tishkoff, the research was led by Laura B. Scheinfeldt, a research scientist in the genetics department at the Perelman medical school. Other members of the genetics department who contributed to the research are Sameer Soi, Simon Thompson, Alessia Ranciaro, William Beggs, Charla Lambert and Joseph P. Jarvis.

The Penn team collaborated with Dawit Wolde Meskel, Dawit Abate and Gurja Belay of the Department of Biology of Addis Ababa University.

Their research was published today in the journal Genome Biology.

One of the guiding principles behind evolution is natural selection; the more an organism is suited to its environment, the more likely it is to survive and pass on its genes. In high-altitude environments, oxygen concentration is low, a condition that can rapidly sicken ? even kill ? individuals who are not acclimated.

"As genetic anthropologists," Scheinfeldt said, "we know what patterns of genetic variation we expect to see after positive, or Darwinian, selection has occurred. Then we look for those patterns in the genome and try to make biological sense of what we find.

"The easiest way for us to do this is to look at situations where there's been very strong selective pressure: a disease with a really high mortality rate, or here at high-altitude where there are hypoxic conditions. This kind of situation makes a dramatic difference in terms of who passes on their genes, so it gives us more power to find the genetic signatures left behind."

Pregnant women are especially susceptible to the physiological pressure represented by hypoxia, which influences the birth weight and health of their children. Yet people have been living in the high-altitude regions of the Andes and the Tibetan Plateau for generations, with little apparent ill effect.

Anthropologists, notably, Cynthia Beall, of Case Western University, and Lorna Moore, of Wake Forest University, have therefore extensively documented their physiological traits, trying to understand how these groups offset the problems pregnant women would normally have in hypoxic environments. More recently, geneticists have attempted to correlate these physical traits, or phenotypes, with the genes that are responsible for them, or genotypes.

Researchers have long wanted to add additional populations for comparison, and while the people of the Ethiopian Highlands met the criteria, living at over 3,000 meters above sea level, economic, linguistic and geographic hurdles stood in the way of collecting the data.

"This was an extremely challenging study. The logistics alone, getting permits and permission to do this trip, took us many years," Tishkoff said.

"Sampling from these remote populations was also very difficult," said Simon Thompson, who was part of the group's field team. "Roads were impassable and we spent a lot of time just trying to find the groups that were living at the highest altitude possible."

The researchers compared the genotypes and phenotypes of Amhara participants with those of two other Ethiopian groups that live at lower altitudes. They also compared the Amhara group with Nigerian and European groups that live at or around sea level.

"We make these comparisons," Scheinfeldt said, "to figure out where in the genome the high-altitude group looks distinct from the other groups. Those distinct areas are candidate regions for genetic variants contributing to high altitude adaptation. Two of the top candidates are involved in the HIF-1 pathway, a pathway that is initiated in hypoxic conditions."

Both the Andean and Tibetan populations had mutations related to the HIF-1 pathway as well, but all three groups differed in both genotype and phenotype. One difference in phenotype had to do with hemoglobin, the part of the blood that transports oxygen. Ethiopians and Andeans had hemoglobin levels that were higher than low-altitude populations, but the Tibetans had average levels.

The researchers also discovered a variant in the Ethiopian groups in a gene involved in mitochondrial function. Mitochondria regulate the production of ATP, the chemical cells use for energy, making this gene another interesting candidate for playing a role in adaptation to high altitude.

These differences all seem to play a role in how well a body can maintain homeostasis in low-oxygen conditions, but even seemingly clear advantages, such as higher levels of hemoglobin, are only proxies for more complex phenotypic changes. Putting them together into the big picture of how certain genes translate into a survival advantage will require more focused research based on the Tishkoff lab's findings.

We're chipping away at this question," Scheinfeldt said. "Every little bit helps."

Such research holds promise beyond understanding the history of these populations.

"There's a lot of interest in this kind of research from the biomedical community, in terms of lung physiology and oxygen transport," Tishkoff said. "If one can understand how it is that people who have these genetic adaptations can do fine at these high altitudes while the rest of us suffer, it could help us better understand one of the body's vital systems."

###

University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews

Thanks to University of Pennsylvania 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.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116918/Researchers_help_solve_questions_about_Ethiopians__high_altitude_adaptations

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Oil price up as Iran threatens to block shipments (AP)

NEW YORK ? Oil prices climbed near $100 per barrel Monday as Iran again threatened to block shipments of crude from the Persian Gulf.

Natural gas prices also rose more than 7 percent after one of America's biggest natural gas producers said it would cut production and exploration this year.

Tanker traffic out of the Persian Gulf has been a major concern for oil traders. Iran says it could close the Gulf to tanker traffic, if the West implements an oil embargo. On Monday, the European Union agreed to do just that.

The EU said its refineries will stop buying Iranian crude after July. It also froze assets of Iran's central bank. The sanctions are meant to force Iran to talk with the West about its nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, but Western nations suspect it is trying to build nuclear weapons.

The embargo itself isn't expected to affect world supplies as oil markets are reshuffled. Analysts say China, which is one of the biggest buyers of Iranian crude, probably will buy more Iranian oil at below-market prices when the embargo begins. That will reduce China's demand from other oil-producing countries that would then sell more to Europe.

"Iran needs to sell its oil to someone," independent analyst and trader Stephen Schork said. "Outside the West, Iran really has only one buyer: China. That means China's probably going to get some sweetheart deals.

Experts say Iran doesn't have the firepower to close off the narrow Strait of Hormuz that tankers use to pass through the Gulf. But a conflict there could still clog the waterway with military vessels and force the world's refineries to wait for crucial oil shipments.

"Benchmark crude rose by $1.51 to $99.84 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price foreign oils that are imported by U.S. refineries, rose by 94 cents to $110.80 per barrel in London.

In the U.S., natural gas prices jumped Monday when Chesapeake Energy said it will cut production and exploration because of cheap prices and a massive buildup in supplies. Natural gas production has been surging in the U.S. thanks to new techniques that helped the industry aggressively drill into underground shale deposits.

Natural gas prices have dropped to the lowest wintertime level since 2002. The Chesapeake announcement pushed futures prices 17 cents, or 7.3 percent, higher to $2.52 per 1,000 cubic feet.

At the pump, the national average for a gallon of gasoline stayed at $3.38, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That's nearly 16 cents higher than it was a month ago and up 27 cents from a year ago.

In other energy trading, heating oil rose by 4 cents to $3.02 per gallon, while gasoline futures rose about a penny to $2.79 per gallon.

___

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

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices

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Gingrich, Romney battle it out in pivotal SC primary

By Michael O'Brien, msnbc.com

?

Newt Gingrich is hoping to complete another comeback for his presidential campaign, while Mitt Romney is battling to maintain his previous advantage in South Carolina, where voters headed to the polls in a pivotal primary on Saturday.

The former House speaker has come on strong in the closing days of the primary, eating into former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney?s prior lead in the polls.

A win for Gingrich ? or, alternatively, a loss for Romney ? could threaten to upset the conventional wisdom that saw Romney easily knocking out his competition for the nomination with a win in the Palmetto State. Victory for Gingrich would extend the primary contest through at least the Jan. 31 primary in Florida, and underscore conservatives? lingering skepticism about electing Romney as their standard-bearer against President Obama this fall.

Gingrich has erased Romney?s lead by abandoning his previous pledge to wage a ?relentlessly positive? campaign. The former speaker eventually embraced drawing strong contrasts with Romney and benefited from the negative advertising run on his behalf by a super PAC ? a practice Gingrich loudly denounced in Iowa, where he saw his poll numbers collapse amid attacks by a pro-Romney super PAC.

?I hope to win S.C.? Gingrich said Friday night in Orangeburg, ?God willing we'll win, and tomorrow night will be very interesting and then Florida will be even more interesting and I'm sure you'll want to come with us.?

The winner of the contest will enjoy a symbolic imprimatur, if nothing else; the winner of the South Carolina primary has gone on to win the nomination in each Republican primary since the contest?s inception in 1980.

Voters headed to the polls in stormy conditions throughout most of the Palmetto State that could hold down turnout in some areas. County election officials reported light turnout in some areas, and heavier than expected voter rolls in other areas.

The South Carolina results will cap one of the most tumultuous weeks in the presidential campaign thus far, a week that began with a veneer of inevitability for Romney that all but disappeared by the end of the week.

Recertified results in the Iowa caucuses found that he had actually lost the contest by a handful of votes to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. And Romney has fought to withstand some of the most intense scrutiny he?s faced during the campaign; critics have assailed his private equity career and demanded Romney release his tax returns ? demands which only reached a fever pitch after Romney estimated he pays an effective rate of 15 percent of his income in taxes.

Moreover, Romney?s performance in South Carolina will speak volumes about his fractious relationship with movement conservatives. He?s struggled at times to break through a ceiling on his support from those voters, who are skeptical of Romney?s past conversion on abortion rights and his embrace of authorship of a health care law as governor that closely resembles Obama?s 2010 reform law.

Romney had largely stuck to message in South Carolina, where he?s campaigned since winning Jan. 10?s New Hampshire primary, by keeping his focus on Obama and posturing himself more as a presumptive nominee.

But in an acknowledgement of Gingrich?s late push, the Romney campaign has also revived the attacks on the former speaker they used to great effect in Iowa to tamp down Gingrich?s December surge.

?Let's have him describe his relationships in Washington,? Romney said Saturday in Greenville, turning up the heat on Gingrich and highlighting the ex-speaker?s work on behalf of troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac. ?If people think Washington is the answer, if people think someone who spent the great majority of their life in Washington, I'll be surprised."

The fact that Gingrich has arrived at the precipice of political resurrection ? again ? this cycle is itself remarkable.

Political observers had questioned when, not if, he would drop out after suffering missteps at the outset of his campaign that led to the defection of virtually all of his top staff last June. But Gingrich stuck with it and climbed to the top of the polls in Iowa, only to see his numbers implode again after weathering attacks from super PACs and Texas Rep. Ron Paul?s campaign.

In South Carolina, the former speaker has been aided by a variety of factors contributing to his potential comeback. He?s scored major points with voters with a couple of strong debate performances this week, particularly by way of launching acerbic attacks on the media. His angry refusal to answer allegations made by an ex-wife topped headlines coming out of a debate on Thursday ? the same day that saw Texas Gov. Rick Perry drop his own campaign and endorse Gingrich.

The winnowed field (Jon Huntsman also ended his campaign and endorsed Romney), only reduced the number of candidates threatening to divide the anti-Romney vote in South Carolina.

Santorum, crowned the winner of the Iowa caucuses upon further review of the vote totals, had doggedly criticized both Romney and Gingrich in hopes of rallying conservatives behind his unflashy, if consistent, record.

"You know most of the polls had us down in the fourth place area and we were hoping that we can finish third or maybe even a good third," he said in Chapin on Saturday, vowing to continue in his campaign into the next contest in Florida.

The Romney campaign is hoping that contest, which awards all of the delegates to its winner, features a primary closed to registered Republicans in a large swing state, will be its firewall. It?s a more expensive campaign to wage because of its multiple, expensive media markets, and is seen as a test of organizational strength.

Romney?s advantage there is one of the reasons the Paul campaign, which is polling third in South Carolina, at 16 percent, in a NBC News-Marist poll earlier this week, has elected to skip the next battle in Florida in favor of focusing on caucuses.

NBC?s Garrett Haake, Alex Moe and Andrew Rafferty contributed.

Source: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/21/10207281-gingrich-looks-to-cement-comeback-while-romney-fights-to-hold-on-in-sc

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Bosh guides home-loving Heat past 76ers (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Chris Bosh sparked the Miami Heat to a third home win in a row on Saturday, draining 30 points in a 113-92 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Bosh scored eight points during an 11-4 run at start the fourth quarter, pushing the Heat lead to 92-73 and effectively putting the game out of reach for the 76ers.

Dwyane Wade missed his third consecutive game with a sprained ankle and his sixth overall this season, although the Heat are 6-0 in his absence.

"Everyone has stepped up their play with D-Wade being absent, and we expect nothing less," Heat forward LeBron James told reporters.

"It's great to get some home wins; it's great to beat some really good teams, but we've got to continue to push forward."

The win moves the Heat (11-4) into a tie at the top of the Southeast Division with the Orlando Magic.

The 76ers (11-5) comfortably lead the Atlantic Division by five games over the New York Knicks despite losing two of their last three games.

Miami held a one-point advantage after the first quarter and extended the margin to seven points by halftime.

"They (Miami) were sharp tonight from the start," said Philadelphia coach Doug Collins, whose team was missing center Spencer Hawes with a strained Achilles tendon.

"We fought and hung around for a little bit, but they wore us down. We need our full arsenal and then some."

James added 28 points and pulled down nine rebounds for the Heat. Reserves Lou Williams and Evan Turner led the 76ers with 22 and 16 points respectively.

(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario; Editing by John O'Brien)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120122/sp_nm/us_nba_heat

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Dolphins Unveil Joe Philbin As New Head Coach

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Read the whole story: www.nbcmiami.com

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/22/dolphins-unveil-joe-philb_n_1221880.html

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