Rainforest in Transition: Is the Amazon Transforming before Our Eyes?

amazon-pastureRAINFOREST TO PASTURE: Deforestation, among other human impacts such as climate change, are having a rainforest-wide impact on the Amazon. Image: Courtesy of Compton Tucker, NASA GSFC

The Amazon rainforest is in flux, thanks to agricultural expansion and climate change. In other words, humans have "become important agents of disturbance in the Amazon Basin," as an international consortium of scientists wrote in a review of the state of the science on the world's largest rainforest published in Nature on January 19. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.) The dry season is growing longer in areas where humans have been clearing the trees?as has water discharge from Amazon River tributaries in those regions. Multiyear and more frequent severe droughts, like those in 2005 and 2010, are killing trees that humans don't cut down as well as increasing the risks of more common fires (both man-made and otherwise).

The trees are also growing fast?faster than expected for a "mature" rainforest?according to a network of measurements.

The exact cause or causes of this accelerated growth?which means the Amazon's 5 million square kilometers of trees are now sucking in and sequestering some 400 million metric tons of carbon per year, or enough to offset the annual greenhouse gas emissions of Japan?"remains unknown," the researchers wrote in the review.

"When we measure that a particular stand of mature forest is accumulating carbon, it is difficult to say whether that might be due to recovery from some unrecognized disturbance long ago or whether it is due to more recent changes in climate and CO2," explained Woods Hole Research Center Senior Scientist and Executive Director Eric Davidson, lead author of the review, in an e-mail. Candidates include recovery from the potential wide-scale disturbance by pre-Columbian human societies now beginning to be uncovered or the increasing availability of some formerly limiting factor, such as atmospheric carbon dioxide.

In fact, increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere?now roughly 392 parts per million and rising?may be fertilizing the rainforest and preventing even greater impacts from reduced rainfall, although this question, Davidson and his colleagues wrote in the review, "may be one of the largest unknowns for the future of the Amazon forests."

What is known is that the forest clearing that has already gone on is decreasing forest rainfall. The Amazon produces roughly a third of its own precipitation?trees release moist air that then falls back as rain to nourish other trees (the rest comes from the Atlantic Ocean). But the air above cleared land warms faster and therefore rises more quickly, drawing the moist air from surrounding forested areas away. In fact, the conjunction of cleared and forested lands actually creates wind known as a vegetation breeze. But that breeze tends to blow rainfall away from the forest and over the surrounding pastures instead. It also weakens the continental-scale low-pressure system that draws rainfall over the Amazon.

The southern and eastern portions of the Amazon are the most affected, according to this review. For example, the southeastern Amazon around one of the local tributary rivers?the Tocantins?has seen pasture and cropland increase from 30 percent to 50 percent of the land between 1955 and 1995. As a result, that river now carries 25 percent more water. Another southeastern tributary, the Araguaia, now carries 28 percent more sediment?precious soil lost during downpours from surrounding, expanded agricultural fields.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=df99ee8e0ba584ef2618042ba9eb6c97

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Fuel being transferred to iced-in Alaska town

A Russian tanker and its crew have begun offloading more than a million gallons of fuel to an iced-in city along the western coast of Alaska.

Two parallel hoses, 700 yards long each, are stretched between the tanker Renda and a pipeline that will deliver the fuel to storage tanks in the city of Nome. One is carrying gasoline, the other diesel fuel.

The transfer could be finished within 36 hours or it could take as long as five days. It started near sundown Monday, after crews laid the hoses along a stretch of Bering Sea ice to the pipeline that begins on a rock causeway 550 yards from the tanker, said Jason Evans, board chairman of the Sitnasuak Native Corp.

Sitnasuak owns the local fuel company, Bonanza Fuel, and has been working closely with Vitus Marine, the supplier that arranged for the delivery of the 1.3 million gallons of fuel.

State officials said the transfer must start during daylight, but can continue in darkness. Nome has just five hours of daylight this time of year.

The city of 3,500 didn't get its last pre-winter barge fuel delivery because of a massive November storm. Without the Renda's delivery, Nome would run out of fuel by March or April, long before the next barge delivery is possible.

Alaska has had one of the most severe winters in decades. Snow has piled up 10 feet or higher against the wood-sided buildings in Nome, a former gold rush town that is the final stop on the 1,150-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The Renda began its journey from Russia in mid-December, picking up diesel fuel in South Korea before heading to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where it took on unleaded gasoline. It arrived last week off Nome on Alaska's west coast, more than 500 miles from Anchorage.

A Coast Guard icebreaker cleared a path for the 370-foot tanker through hundreds of miles of a slow journey stalled by thick ice and strong ocean currents. In total, the tanker traveled an estimated 5,000 miles, said Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, commander of District Seventeen with the Coast Guard.

"It's just been an absolutely grand collaboration by all parties involved," said Stacey Smith of Vitus Marine, the fuel supplier.

Smith said the effort is a third of the way over with the arrival of the Renda near Nome. Pumping the fuel from the tanker will be the second part. The third part will be the exiting through ice by the two ships.

Personnel will walk the entire length of hosing every 30 minutes to check for leaks, Evans said. Each segment has its own containment area, and extra absorbent boom will be on hand.

The Coast Guard is monitoring the effort, working with state, federal, local and tribal representatives, Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow said. The fuel participants had to submit a plan to state environmental regulators on how they intended to get the fuel off the Renda, he said.

"We want to make sure the fuel transfer from the Renda to the onshore storage facility is conducted in as safe a manner as possible," he said.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46012430/ns/weather/

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Haley Barbour's Pardons: Why No One in Mississippi Is in a Forgiving Mood (Time.com)

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour speaks during the 2011 Republican Leadership Conference on June 17, 2011, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Jackson, Mississippi

The red, white and blue bunting is still up, whipping in the winter winds on the temporary platform in front of Mississippi?s state capitol. Two days ago, a new governor was sworn in here. But the satellite trucks that still ring the capitol aren?t interested in the new executive; they?re still focused on the old one. The name on the lips of local and national correspondents alike on Thursday night was Haley Barbour.

Barbour became a private citizen two days ago when he officially left Mississippi?s gubernatorial mansion, where he?d lived for the last eight years, but it was his actions in his final days as governor that have the state in an uproar. After issuing just eight pardons in his first seven years, Barbour pardoned 208 convicts, 41 of them murderers, sex offenders or child molesters, during his last 48 hours in office. Barbour notes that 90% of the people he pardoned weren?t in prison, but four murderers have been released. And by expunging their records, they can now legally buy guns, just as the sex offenders he pardoned no longer need to give their names to the sex offender registry.

(LIST: Notorious Presidential Pardons)

The ensuing tumult has not only cast a shadow over Barbour?s otherwise triumphant exit from office, but Governor Phil Bryant?s new job as well. When TIME called the? governor?s office requesting contact information for Barbour, Bryant?s staff said they didn?t know how to reach the man who was Bryant?s mentor. ?I?m sorry, we have no contact with governor Barbour and no information for you,? said a receptionist. Since taking office, practically the only question reporters have asked Bryant is if he?ll challenge his predecessor?s pardons. So far he?s declined to do so, saying only that his own pardons would be issued with good cause. Meanwhile, Democrats are working on legislation to curb the governor?s pardoning power, and a Mississippi judge has halted the release of any other prisoners and ordered that those who have been released report in daily until a review of all 208 pardons is complete.

This isn?t the first time opponents have been outraged by Barbour?s pardons. He gave four of his eight prior pardons to convicted murderers, all of whom were participants in the ?trusty? program, which employs convicts at the governor?s mansion. In 2008, Democrats tried unsuccessfully to amend the governor?s clemency powers to force him to consult law enforcement officials and victims before making such decisions. Clearly, the trusty program has left a mark on Barbour: four of the murderers freed in recent days were also trusties. One, David Gatlin, who shot and killed his wife while she held their two-month-old child, was denied parole twice in 2010. ?It?s awful; it really is,? Tiffany Ellis Brewer, Gatlin?s wife?s sister, told The New York Times. ?There?s pain, fear for our lives. Disappointment. Disgust.?

In a statement late Wednesday, Barbour cited the tradition of pardoning trusties, which has a long history in the state. But before Barbour, Mississippi governors had pardoned only 18 convicts since 1988. And while it?s true that trusties who were also convicted murderers have often had their sentences reduced or commuted by governors, it is rare for them to receive outright pardons as eight have under Barbour. Even for a state accustomed to such traditions, Barbour?s actions seemed to have crossed a line.

(MORE: How Taxpayers Paid for Barbour?s Political Travel)

Barbour waited three days as the media storm raged before issuing a statement. ?My decision about clemency was based upon the recommendation of the Parole Board in more than 90 percent of the cases,? he said. ?The 26 people released from custody due to clemency is just slightly more than one-tenth of 1 percent of those incarcerated.? But Barbour?s explanations have only drawn more fire. After Barbour said 13 of those pardoned were saddling the state with heavy medical bills, local news outlets picked apart his claim, reporting that the cost to taxpayers was ?negligible.? Barbour also said he chose to grant clemency to some convicts rather than commuting? their sentences ?to allow them to find gainful employment or acquire professional licenses as well as hunt and vote.? As noted at the top of Jackson?s 6 p.m. ABC News broadcast on Thursday, that decision also restored violent criminals? access to guns.

While many locals are outraged at the pardons Barbour issued, there are others who are incensed over those he declined to set free. While flirting with a run for President, Barbour came under pressure to pardon Jamie and Gladys Scott. The sisters had no criminal records before receiving double life sentences for allegedly orchestrating an armed robbery with three teenage boys in 1993. The five netted $11 from two muggings. Barbour chose not to pardon them, but he did commute their sentences on the bizarre condition that one sister donate a kidney to the other, who needed a transplant because of diabetes. The sisters, who will remain on parole for the rest of their lives, had asked for full pardons.

(MORE: TIME?s Play-by-Play of Bill Clinton?s Pardongate)

Barbour, who has announced he?ll be returning to work for?BGR , the D.C. lobbying firm he helped found, as well as joining a Mississippi lawfirm, has yet to speak publicly about his unusual pardons. Of course, 11th-hour pardon scandals have blown over in the past. On his last day in office, former President Bill Clinton issued 140 pardons, granting clemency to controversial figures such as Mark Rich. But for the immediate future, the news vans around Jackson?s capitol aren?t going anywhere.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/time_rss/rss_time_us/httpswamplandtimecom20120113haleybarbourspardonswhynooneinmississippiisinaforgivingmoodxidrssnationyahoo/44170244/SIG=144t06jp1/*http%3A//swampland.time.com/2012/01/13/haley-barbours-pardons-why-no-one-in-mississippi-is-in-a-forgiving-mood/?xid=rss-nation-yahoo

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What is Ron Paul's end game?

Ron Paul may not win the Republican 2012 nomination. But Ron Paul may have enough delegates to get libertarian issues on the GOP platform.

Ron Paul may not go rogue because of the aspirations of his son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) But that doesn?t mean he?s going to bow out of the presidential race quietly.

Skip to next paragraph

Last week, Decoder noted BuzzFeed?s piece explaining why Rand Paul?s political ambitions inside the GOP will make it unlikely for Ron to mount an independent presidential bid.

However, an excellent piece from Sam Stein at The Huffington Post underscores Paul?s extensive organizational capabilities and his drive to capture as many GOP delegates as possible. With those delegates, Paul will be able to push his libertarian views into the party discussion at the national convention. If that?s the story, it lines up well with BuzzFeed?s reporting suggesting that Paul p?re?s run this year is helping bring libertarianism into the GOP mainstream for Paul fils to mount a presidential campaign in several years? time.

Back to the delegates. Take this ?for instance? from Stein?s piece (with emphasis from Decoder):

Puerto Rico will award 23 delegates when its citizens caucus on March 18. New Hampshire, punished for moving its election into early January, will award only 12. On Tuesday, roughly 245,000 people voted in the Granite State?s primary. During the 2008 cycle, Puerto Rico?s caucus resulted in a total vote count of 208.

With that many delegates at risk over that few votes, it would stand to reason that the current GOP field would be making manic maneuvers to shore up support in Puerto Rico. But so far, only one candidate seems to be doing much, if anything: Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

According to his campaign chairman, Jesse Benton, Paul has a coordinator in Puerto Rico. The campaign has a ?Hispanic for Ron Paul? team that prominently features a Puerto Rican business-leader. A non-affiliated group, Puerto Rico for Ron Paul, has also been disseminating caucus-related information.

That the Texas Republican is investing any resources at all in Puerto Rico may strike some as wasteful. Few political observers take Paul seriously as a potential nominee, even after he scored a second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary. Primaries, after all, are won through momentum: a few early victories beget others, which, in turn, beget more donors, endorsements, excitement, and ultimately more victories.

The Paul campaign does not subscribe to that theory.

?Ours is a delegate strategy,? said Benton. ?We want to win the 1,100 delegates. If [former Massachusetts Gov.]Mitt Romney has secured 1,150 delegates, then it is game over. But we are going to contest that until the very end, and again we have a goal. We wouldn?t be doing this if we didn?t think we can win 1,150 delegates.?

Who is Paul looking to for inspiration? It might surprise you: President Obama?s primary run. Here?s Stein:

It?s the Money Ball of campaign strategies and it?s rooted in, of all places, Obama?s 2008 campaign.

?You try to look at what models have worked in the past and Obama?s model worked,? said Benton. ?Now we have different ideas about where we would like to take the country, but he ran a brilliant campaign. He unleashed his grassroots to work hard, get involved in their communities, and really fight for some principles and that?s what we are trying to do too.?

And the endgame?

?Let?s say they clean up in the caucus states,? the source said. ?Let?s say they control 20 votes out of 100 in those committees, then they can force votes on those issues. They can make a motion on the floor to amend the agenda, to amend the platform ? They could force certain issues to be voted on. They could force the convention to consider certain questions and force the human beings on the committees to address certain things. How about a more robust version of the ?audit the Fed? platform? All of a sudden you will get recorded votes on those issues.?

Like your politics unscrambled? Check out DCDecoder.com

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/lnSWcWgkI7k/What-is-Ron-Paul-s-end-game

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A tamer Gervais leads predictable Golden Globes (AP)

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. ? The Hollywood Foreign Press Association dared to let Ricky Gervais come back and host the Golden Globe Awards, a year after he insulted the organization and nearly everyone in the star-studded room with his lacerating wit.

But Gervais and the show seemed tamer and more predictable this year, not quite living up to outrageous reputations. Even the winners themselves, including "The Descendants" and its star, George Clooney, were predictable.

The victory for "The Descendants" in the best drama category sets it up in an expected battle at the Academy Awards with "The Artist," which won the award for best musical or comedy. Both had been frontrunners all along among people who are the business of prognosticating these things; Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 24, with the ceremony itself coming Feb. 26.

Clooney won for his portrayal of a middle-aged husband struggling to raise his two daughters while their mother is in a coma. Jean Dujardin won the same award in the musical or comedy category for "The Artist" as a silent film actor whose career derails with the arrival of sound. ("The Artist" won the most film awards with three total, including one for Ludovic Bource's original score.)

It took the presenters and winners themselves to liven up the program ? and that includes Uggie, Dujardin's scene-stealing Jack Russell terrier in "The Artist," who performed some of his signature tricks on stage toward the end of the night.

While Gervais dropped an F-bomb a couple hours into the broadcast ? likely an accident after some imbibing on and offstage ? he also took aim at easy targets like Kim Kardashian. Later, wine glass in hand, he emerged from the wings to express delight in having "a job where you can get drunk and say what you want, and they still pay you."

After he introduced Madonna with a series of hackneyed puns about her song titles, including "Like a Virgin," the pop star shot back.

"If I'm still just like a virgin, Ricky, then why don't you come over here and do something about it?" she deadpanned. "I haven't kissed a girl in a few years ? on TV."

Male genitalia was a frequent theme. Tina Fey and Jane Lynch teamed up to make a penis pun inspired by "Hung" star Thomas Jane. Seth Rogen, taking the stage with the gorgeous Kate Beckinsale, cracked: "Hello, I'm Seth Rogen, and I'm currently trying to conceal a massive erection." And Clooney, in accepting his best-actor award, made a joke about fellow nominee Michael Fassbender, who plays a sex addict in "Shame."

"I'd like to thank Michael Fassbender for taking over the full-frontal nudity responsibility that I had," and Clooney then went on to suggest Fassbender could play golf with his hands behind his back.

Even Meryl Streep ? the grand dame of them all who won for best actress in a drama for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady" ? let an expletive slip during her acceptance speech. Streep got flustered when she realized she forgot her glasses at her table; instead she winged it, giving a rambling (but gracious) speech praising other actresses' performances, including some who hadn't even been nominated that night.

Two of Hollywood's most veteran and esteemed directors also were winners Sunday night, both of whom were venturing into 3-D for the first time: Martin Scorsese for best director for the family fantasy "Hugo" and Steven Spielberg for best animated film for "The Adventures of Tintin." Meanwhile, Woody Allen won for his screenplay for "Midnight in Paris" ? but naturally, he wasn't there to accept the statue in person. The comedy is his biggest hit in decades but he's typically reluctant to attend awards shows.

Things were much more fresh and inspired on the television side of the ceremony, with daring shows earning honors and longtime stars going home with statues for new roles.

"Homeland" on Showtime, which explores terrorism and an Iraq war veteran, earned awards for best drama and best actress in a drama for star Claire Danes. It was Danes' third Globe; she won her first when she was just 15 for "My So-Called Life."

Former "Frasier" star Kelsey Grammer won best actor in a drama for Starz's "Boss," while former "Friends" star Matt LeBlanc won best actor in a musical or comedy for Showtime's "Episodes."

ABC's "Modern Family" was the big winner among commercial broadcast networks, following up its Emmy for best television comedy by winning the Golden Globe. Creator Steve Levitan and actress Sofia Vergara accepted the award with a comic riff in which she spoke in Spanish and Levitan "translated."

Let's hope the after-parties got wilder.

___

AP Television Writer David Bauder contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120116/ap_on_en_mo/us_golden_globes

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Nations hunt for info on Italy cruise accident

A survivor of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground near the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, arrives at the harbor, in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

A survivor of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground near the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, arrives at the harbor, in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

A survivor of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground near the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, arrive at the harbor, in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

A survivor of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground near the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, arrive at the harbor, in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

In this photo released by the Guardia di Finanza (border Police), the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leans on its side after running aground off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. The luxury cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early Saturday, the Italian coast guard said. The number of dead and injured is not yet confirmed Coast Guard Cmdr. Francesco Paolillo said. (AP Photo/Guardia di Finanza, ho)

In this photo released by the Guardia di Finanza (border Police), the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leans on its side after running aground off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. The luxury cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early Saturday, the Italian coast guard said. The number of dead and injured is not yet confirmed Coast Guard Cmdr. Francesco Paolillo said. (AP Photo/Guardia di Finanza, ho)

(AP) ? Language barriers, overwhelmed local authorities, squads of foreign diplomats with lists of awkward questions ? the international mix of passengers and crew aboard the stricken Costa Concordia cruise liner added to the complications Saturday for Italian officials handling the emergency.

Local authorities were fielding inquiries from dozens of nations worried about the 4,234 people who were aboard the ship when it ran aground and tipped over off the coast of Italy, including Italians, Germans, French people, Britons and Americans, and about 1,000 crew members from across the globe.

As international travel has grown easier, aid agencies and lawmakers alike have frequently warned of the potential for confusion in the wake of international emergencies, as sometimes competing nations or international organizations arrive at a disaster site.

In Italy, a host of countries sent diplomatic staff to the scene as three bodies were recovered from the sea off the tiny island of Giglio, close to the coast of Tuscany.

British ambassador Christopher Prentice said he had seen his counterparts from Germany and Spain at local hospitals, where diplomats were checking identities and tallying numbers of those injured.

Officials from the U.K. and Australia set up a joint base at Porto Santo Stefano middle school, which had been transformed into a temporary holding center for rescued passengers.

Though the school was a scene of chaos, as passengers tried to find buses to take them back to Rome or the coastal town of Savona ? where most had embarked ? and embassy officials cross-referenced ship logs and passenger lists, Prentice said nations were cooperating well.

"This is obviously a very serious and major incident, my impression at this stage is that the Italian authorities have responded excellently and our cooperation with them has been very good," Prentice said, as he offered advice to Britons at the school.

Other embassies sent lower-level officials to work with the ship operator Costa and local authorities, offering help to foreign passengers who didn't speak Italian and were struggling to understand the response to the accident or how to get home.

Consular officials wore bright green or orange emergency vests to identify themselves to their co-nationals, offering help in how to obtain emergency passports, since many non-Europeans had to turn them in to cruise officials upon boarding.

Prentice said that in a still unfolding crisis scenario, good coordination was key. "It is about cooperation, and things are being done here very calmly and sensibly, I've been impressed by the effort of the Italian authorities," he said.

As nations were still attempting to confirm the identities of passengers who had been rescued from the ship, rescuers focused on several dozen people still unaccounted for.

Monty Mathisen, of the New York-based publication Cruise Industry News, said Costa would be well prepared to handle the demands of countries searching for news of the passengers and crew.

"They are well set up to deal with those kind of issues," said Mathisen. "The cruise industry is one of most regulated industries."

Marcus Oxley, then disaster management director of the relief charity Tearfund told a committee of British lawmakers in 2006 of the nightmare confronting local authorities as organizations descend on an area requesting information, or offering help.

"In the white hot heat of an emergency these things are extraordinarily difficult to do," he said.

______

Stringer reported from London.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-14-EU-Italy-Cruise-Aground-International-Emergency/id-6cc986f9dff54e85937947b53d9ea9db

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Santorum targets Romney in South Carolina (Reuters)

FLORENCE, South Carolina (Reuters) ? Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum took aim at front-runner Mitt Romney on Sunday as he sought to build on a late endorsement from evangelical leaders and narrow the crucial South Carolina contest to a two-man race.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, said conservative voters should not let concerns about the shaky economy or defeating Democratic President Barack Obama interfere with their beliefs.

"America is a moral enterprise, not an economic enterprise," he said at a seafood restaurant in Florence, South Carolina.

Romney has built his campaign on his experience in business and criticism of Obama's handling of the economy but rivals have attacked his moderate stint as governor of Massachusetts and his tenure as head of a private-equity firm.

With South Carolina's January 21 primary approaching, time is running short for other candidates to slow Romney's march to the Republican presidential nomination.

Santorum would appear to have the best chance to stop Romney, after Christian leaders backed him at a meeting in Texas on Saturday.

An organization allied to Romney is sponsoring an attack ad airing frequently in South Carolina that says Santorum supported wasteful spending and wanted to extend voting rights to felons while in Congress.

"That is a lie," Santorum said. "To go and mislead the people of South Carolina as to what our record is on this is just yuck."

Arguing that he would be the strongest Republican against Obama, Romney has opened up a 21-point lead in the state as the conservative vote remains splintered, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Saturday.

Santorum was at 16 percent of the vote, tied for second place with Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

ENDORSEMENT MAY NOT HAVE IMPACT

Santorum's endorsement by conservative Christian leaders appeared to have little immediate impact among evangelicals, who play a prominent role in South Carolina Republican politics.

"I make decisions for myself and I don't listen to what a bunch of leaders say to do," said Victoria Jaworowski at the Cathedral of Praise in North Charleston.

Meeting in Texas, the Christian leaders narrowly endorsed Santorum on Saturday in a vote that went to the third ballot. It is not clear how they will help him with money or staff.

Santorum, a Catholic, rode the support of evangelical voters to a surprise second-place finish in Iowa's January 3 caucus, losing to Romney by just eight votes. He finished far back in the pack a week later in New Hampshire, where religiously motivated voters are less prominent.

South Carolina could be favorable terrain for Santorum as evangelicals accounted for 60 percent of the Republican primary vote in 2008. But several candidates split the evangelical vote that year and Senator John McCain, the eventual nominee, was able to win the state with strong support from military retirees and other voters who saw national security as a top priority.

That could happen again this year, as former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Governor Rick Perry are competing with Santorum for the evangelical vote.

Several members of the First Baptist Church in Florence said they had not decided on a candidate.

"You just haven't seen that standard-bearer rise up," said insurance salesman Mike Newton.

MAKE OR BREAK STATE?

South Carolina could be a make-or-break-state for many candidates. The winner of South Carolina's primary has gone on to capture the Republican nomination in every election since 1980. Those who finish far back could have a hard time raising money and convincing voters in other states that they are still viable.

Senator Jim DeMint, a leader among conservatives, praised Santorum and Gingrich at a Tea Party convention in Myrtle Beach but said he would not make an endorsement.

With the shaky U.S. economy a top concern for voters, Santorum has sought to broaden his appeal beyond religious conservatives with a populist pitch to revive working-class jobs through a tax break for manufacturers.

Santorum has declined to join in Gingrich and Perry's attacks on Romney's career as head of private-equity firm Bain Capital, but he has criticized the financial industry as a whole.

"You need a leader who's going to go out on the Republican side and fight the interests of Wall Street and big business," he said in Gaffney, South Carolina, on Friday.

Santorum also has said the statewide healthcare overhaul that Romney put in place while governor of Massachusetts served as a model for Obama's national healthcare reform, which is toxic among conservatives.

Romney won endorsements from newspapers in Greenville, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday. Jon Huntsman, who finished third in New Hampshire, won the endorsement of the newspaper in Columbia, the state capital.

(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro in Washington and Deborah Charles, Andy Sullivan and Nick Carey in South Carolina; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120116/ts_nm/us_usa_campaign

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AL, FL, SC out after gowns at Miss America (omg!)

This Jan. 12, 2012 photo provided by Miss America shows, Miss New York Kaitlin Monte who scored honors in the lifestyle and fitness category in the third round of the Miss America talent competition in Las Vegas, on Thursday. Jan.12, 2012. The finals are Saturday at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. (AP Photo Miss America)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Contestants from Alabama, Florida and South Carolina have been eliminated from the Miss America pageant in Las Vegas, leaving 10 contestants in the running for the title with three competitions to come.

Judges picked 10 semifinalists to showcase their talent including: Miss New York Kaitlin Monte, Miss Iowa Jessica Pray, Miss Texas Kendall Morris, Miss Illinois Hannah Smith, Miss Arizona Jennifer Sedler, Miss Tennessee Erin Hatley, Miss Wisconsin Laura Kaeppeler, Miss California Noelle Freeman and Miss Louisiana Hope Anderson and Miss Oklahoma Betty Thompson.

The contestants moving on were announced one by one as they took center stage to perform.

The talent winners will move on to the final competition: the interview question.

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Particle-free silver ink prints small, high-performance electronics

Friday, January 13, 2012

University of Illinois materials scientists have developed a new reactive silver ink for printing high-performance electronics on ubiquitous, low-cost materials such as flexible plastic, paper or fabric substrates.

Jennifer Lewis, the Hans Thurnauer Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and graduate student S. Brett Walker described the new ink in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

"We are really excited about the wide applicability and excellent electrical properties of this new silver ink," said Lewis, the director of the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the U. of I.

Electronics printed on low-cost, flexible materials hold promise for antennas, batteries, sensors, solar energy, wearable devices and more. Most conductive inks rely on tiny metal particles suspended in the ink. The new ink is a transparent solution of silver acetate and ammonia. The silver remains dissolved in the solution until it is printed, and the liquid evaporates, yielding conductive features.

"It dries and reacts quickly, which allows us to immediately deposit silver as we print," Walker said.

The reactive ink has several advantages over particle-based inks. It is much faster to make: A batch takes minutes to mix, according to Walker, whereas particle-based inks take several hours and multiple steps to prepare. The ink also is stable for several weeks.

The reactive silver ink also can print through 100-nanometer nozzles, an order of magnitude smaller than particle-based inks, an important feature for printed microelectronics. Moreover, the ink's low viscosity makes it suitable for inkjet printing, direct ink writing or airbrush spraying over large, conformal areas.

"For printed electronics applications, you need to be able to store the ink for several months because silver is expensive," Walker said. "Since silver particles don't actually form until the ink exits the nozzle and the ammonia evaporates, our ink remains stable for very long periods. For fine-scale nozzle printing, that's a rarity."

The reactive silver ink boasts yet one more key advantage: a low processing temperature. Metallic inks typically need to be heated to achieve bulk conductivity through a process called annealing. The annealing temperatures for many particle-based inks are too high for many inexpensive plastics or paper. By contrast, the reactive silver ink exhibits an electrical conductivity approaching that of pure silver upon annealing at 90 degrees Celsius.

"We are now focused on patterning large-area transparent conductive surfaces using this reactive ink," said Lewis, who also is affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the Micro and Nanotechnology Lab and the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the U. of I.

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: http://www.uiuc.edu

Thanks to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116725/Particle_free_silver_ink_prints_small__high_performance_electronics

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