Obama approval tumbles in California: Is Golden State in play for GOP?

President Obama's fundraising trip to California this week comes as a key poll shows his approval rating in the Golden State falling below 50 percent. It suggests Obama has work to do, experts say.

The sound of ?ka-ching? that rang out across California this week, as President Obama made fundraising appearances in Silicon Valley, San Diego, and Hollywood, didn't quite drown out the "thud" that has marked his dramatic drop in Golden State polls.

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For the first time since Mr. Obama assumed office, fewer than half of California voters (46 percent) approve of his overall performance, according to a mid-September Field poll. Those who disapprove now stand at 44 percent.

It appears, at first blush, to be a potentially dire development for Obama. California and its 55 electoral votes have been solidly Democratic for a generation ? the last Republican presidential candidate to win the state was George Bush in 1988. Losing California in 2012 would likely be fatal to Obama's reelection bid, and even having it in play could force Obama to spend time and money defending Democratic home turf.

But a closer look suggests that California is perhaps not as decisive as it might seem, experts say. With Democrats holding every statewide office here, recent history suggests Californians rally around Democrats when election day comes. And if Obama were to lose California, experts add, it would likely be only in a landslide scenario, where California would not be pivotal, but rather an emphatic punctuation.

What California does show is the urgent need for Obama to reverse his fortunes during the next year, says Matthew Kerbel, a political scientist at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. ?The Field poll numbers reflect what we?re seeing nationwide ? a steep drop in Obama?s job approval reflecting the state of the economy and frustration over Washington?s inability to do anything about it,? he adds.

Only three months ago, Californians approved of the job Obama was doing by 54 percent to 37 percent, according to the Field poll. Yet most analysts are loath to suggest that California is now up for grabs. Indeed, they still say any Republican presidential victory here would have to be a political perfect storm.

?The race will be competitive in California only if the GOP can unite and give full voter and financial support to the eventual GOP presidential candidate,? says political commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson. ?That means a massive voter turnout among GOP voters. If that happens, the economy continues to stagnate, and the president continues to sink in approval ratings, and there is genuine disaffection or lethargy in the top heavy Democratic voter base, the president could be in trouble in the state.?

Several recent election reforms could make the electorate harder to gauge in 2012. For example, a new nonpartisan redistricting committee has shaken up electoral maps, meaning that some districts may not be as reliably partisan as they have been in the past.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/QFRedRz9RNM/Obama-approval-tumbles-in-California-Is-Golden-State-in-play-for-GOP

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Scarlett Johansson Feels Violated After Nude Photo Leak (omg!)

Scarlett Johansson never meant for the world to see her naked.

Two weeks after nude photos of the actress leaked online, the 26-year-old tells CNN that despite her celebrity status, she still deserves a certain level of privacy.

PHOTOS: Scarlett and her ex Ryan Reynolds

"Just because you're an actor or make films or whatever doesn't mean you're not entitled to your own personal privacy," she said. "If that is sieged in some way, it feels unjust. It feels wrong."

The We Bought a Zoo actress -- who recently spent time in NYC with pal Justin Timberlake -- added that life in the spotlight isn't always easy.

PHOTOS: Scarlett and her ex Ryan Reynolds

"It's an adjustment," she admitted. "But I think there are certain instances where you give a lot of yourself and finally you have to kind of put your foot down and say, 'Oh wait, I'm taking it back.'"

Hours after the photos surfaced online September 15, Johansson's lawyer, Marty Singer, fired off cease and desist letters to numerous websites.

VIDEO: Scarlett supports Planned Parenthood

"If you fail to comply, you will be acting at your own peril," he warned. "Please govern yourselves accordingly."

Johansson is not the first celebrity at the center of an online photo scandal: Vanessa Hudgens, Miley Cyrus and Christina Aguilera had photos stolen and posted online.

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Oneupweb Updates and Combines its Two Most Popular Corporate ...

Posted by admin on September 26th, 2011 at 02:34am

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Oneupweb Updates and Combines its Two Most Popular Corporate Podcasting White Papers











LAKE LEELANAU, MI (PRWEB) December 6, 2006

Lisa Wehr, CEO of Oneupweb, the online marketing and corporate podcast leader, today released The Power and Principles of Podcasting, a white paper that combines and updates the company?s two most popular white papers on corporate podcasting, Corporate Podcasting 101, and Consider Podcasting. The first of the two papers is the industry?s most comprehensive work on the essentials of podcasting and the latter is a marketers? guide to the applications and advantages of the medium. Oneupweb?s free online marketing white papers are available in the Library at Oneupweb.com.

?We?ve done this for the convenience of the many people who are choosing to download both papers,? says Wehr. ?It also gives us the opportunity to update the body of research documenting the remarkable growth of corporate podcasting.?

Recently, Pew Research updated podcast download statistics collected as part of their ongoing Pew Internet & American Life Project. In its February-April study they found that 7 percent of internet users had downloaded a podcast. An August update of these statistics showed that the number had grown to 12 percent, a 71 percent increase in less than six months. Oneupweb?s new white paper, The Power and Principles of Podcasting incorporates these latest data.

Corporate podcasting represents new opportunities for businesses to reach a growing market. Podcasts are portable, personal and an increasingly popular way for business to begin a dialog with customers and stakeholders. Audiences are offered the convenience of downloading now and listening later ? at the gym, in the car, on the train ? whenever and wherever they choose. And with the recent introduction of PodTractorâ„¢ podcast tracking by Oneupweb, podcasters can now accurately assess the return on their investment in this new media.

?The Power and Principles of Podcasting is a one-stop resource for marketers who are considering podcasting,? says Wehr. ?This marketing medium is growing rapidly and we are committed to remain at the forefront. We will continue to update and refine our growing library to help new and existing podcasters. As trends develop we?ll also be sharing data collected from our tracking of subscriber behavior.? The new white paper covers:

????What podcasting is


????Its marketing value

????How podcasts are used

????Terminology

????Integrating podcasts into a marketing program

????The competitive marketplace by keyword

????The past, present & future of podcasting

????Prerecording tips

????How podcasts work

????Podcasting sourcing options

????Best practices

????A list of necessary skills

????And more…

For more information about podcasting and its marketing potential visit PodGarden.com, a site which describes the full range of podcasting resources and services available through Oneupweb. You can access a complete listing of white papers and podcasts available free of charge in the Oneupweb library at Oneupweb.com.

About Oneupweb

Oneupweb has been an innovator in online marketing for more than a decade, creating integrated online marketing plans that include natural search engine optimization, paid search marketing, podcast production, online market research, marketing analytics and more. An award-winning firm, Oneupweb was named a 2006 Michigan Top 50 Company to Watch and is the only three-time winner of the prestigious ClickZ Best Search Engine Marketing Vendor Award. CEO, Lisa Wehr, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, has been named to BtoB Magazine?s Who?s Who List three years and is recognized as a Leader & Innovator by Lawrence Technological University. The company publishes an SEO / SEM newsletter OnlineMarketingBrief.com and a blog and weekly podcast named StraightUpSearch.com. Oneupweb is a privately held company located in Michigan. For more information on Oneupweb, please contact 231.256.9811 or visit Oneupweb.com.

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HR Professionals: Your Strategic Partner : HRVoice.org

HRVoice.org | September 27, 2011 | no comments

The human resources department is the traditional entry and exit point for medium to large size organizations, and a touch point for employees throughout their tenure. It?s a role that gives HR professionals close, comprehensive knowledge of every job in the company, and a 360 view of the entire organization. But it?s a resource that has remained largely untapped by senior management, until now. Today?s CEOs are recognizing the value of HR as a strategic partner, and business-savvy HR executives are advancing the industry via the advanced skills and knowledge of the CHRP designation.

From Personnel Department to Strategic Partner

The 2008 recession saw many Canadian companies streamline their budgets. This meant by laying off numerous employees when necessary and by being more creative with their spending dollars, for example, contracting consultants for project based work. This downturn created an ideal opportunity for HR professionals to step up their game and work strategically with their organization during challenging economic times.

The measure of their success is outlined in a study conducted in the fall of 2010[1]. This national initiative sought direct feedback from top business decision-makers; one-on-one ?interviews were conducted with CEOs from a range of sectors and differently-sized companies to investigate the role human resources plays in these various organizations.

?Our HR people are key resources I look to in appointments,? says David Anderson, Fellow Certified Human Resource Professional (FCHRP), president and CEO of Worksafe BC. ?I am looking for the HR leader?s advice, especially on internal hires where they will have good insight. For example, I can ask them, ?is this the right person for the right job at this time???

Overall, CEOs feel that their HR staff is a valued contributor to their business. They reported that senior HR executives are increasingly seen as trusted advisors, and often hold the role of confidant to the CEO and other executives. They also emphasized the value of the knowledge senior HR professionals can bring as members of the executive team.

Irving Oil provides a good private sector example of the new HR paradigm. Here HR has formed a partnership with senior management, becoming a critical enabler of the company?s business strategy.

?For the first time in our company?s history, the HR function holds a position on our Executive Team,? says Tanya Chapman, Certified Human Resource Professional (CHRP) and corporate human resources officer. ?It?s the highest level of management and it has raised the bar for our HR function.?

Business Acumen: Thinking Moves Ahead

A common thread throughout the study was the value of business expertise among HR professionals. Those with a keen understanding of the business profit and loss (P&L) equation did better across the board, and CHRPs fared particularly well.

?I believe that an HR leader is really a business leader,? explains Chapman. ?They require business skills like financial accounting, business acumen, project management and an understanding of economics just like any other business leader. Speaking the language of business while practicing your craft is very powerful and it can be very fulfilling.?

Analyzing, assessing, and translating new social and people trends into relevant policies and programs were also important, as was the ability to test them and gain buy-in for front-line implementation.

Understanding the challenges and business needs of supervisors and front-line managers on a first-hand basis also ranked highly. Not surprisingly, these are skills best learned in the trenches.

?We consider ourselves business leaders who happen to specialize in the ?human? side of business while others specialize in physical assets, project management or sales and customer service,? says Chapman. ?This means stepping outside our area of expertise, our comfort zones, and embracing continual learning and self-development.?

But perhaps the biggest value of broader business knowledge is the attendant broadening of perspective. The most successful HR executives understand that there are trade-offs in business. They can apply their expertise to determine the impact of changing legislation and help manage the change rather than focusing on the punitive side of non-compliance. They can also better identify popular or recommended programs and policies that are impractical, or even irrelevant, to the top or bottom line of the particular business.

?I work with the entire executive team to build the business agenda,? says Chapman. ?Alignment is critical to ensuring that the HR team is designing and developing initiatives that drive business performance and enable our people to achieve results.?

Culture Building: Creating the Employment Brand

How employees feel about their company is often a reflection of how the senior HR executive feels and behaves toward them. Creating a positive culture and environment within the company is crucial. CEOs are adamant about the vital part HR assumes in connecting the company?s culture with its objectives, and in defining and communicating what makes their organization a great place to work.

?A good HR leader can really build support for an organization?s culture,? says David Anderson. ?In our case, we needed to embrace more of a customer service focus and get away from the old ?command and control? mentality. It required a complete change in mindset to embrace this new way of serving customers.?

Talent Management

HR professionals have long been the first line of offense for identifying talent, but this role is expanding too. Today?s professionals can also identify the kind of behaviours and skills that will drive their organization?s productivity. What?s more, they can take the lead in developing that talent with customized approaches to individual development. This includes individual coaching approaches as well as larger scale leadership development.

?Our HR team has achieved significant improvements in training and development, particularly in management,? notes Anderson. ?We now have a comprehensive, end-to-end program to develop leadership talent. It?s relevant for all the various levels of our organization, and we?re getting good buy-in.?

Succession Planning & the Multi-Generation Workplace
During the economic downturn a lot of companies put succession planning on the back-burner. That was a mistake. And with recovery underway, companies need top-notch HR departments to confront the coming ?Silver Tsunami?, the exodus of skilled workers across the country through retirement. Highly skilled HR professionals are also required to address the challenges posed by multiple generations who don?t speak the same language in business or use the same tools to get their work done. This is especially true in terms of recruiting, building teams, dealing with change and motivating employees.

Trend Analysis & Forecasting
Senior HR executives must be keen interpreters of trends instead of blind followers. They should also possess a strong desire to grow the business, and always be thinking about the possibilities of what comes next. That means separating relevant trends from fads, and forecasting their impact on the business.

?I support anything that ties the HR strategy more closely with the bottom line,? emphasizes Anderson. ?Saving money and serving the customer better through their efforts is key.?

Employee Communications
Most CEOs expect HR to manage effective employee communications, and to ensure that middle managers in particular have the tools and information they need to communicate with and lead their employees. Social media is a big part of this for many organizations, and its uses are limitless, including: communicating with and recruiting employees, establishing best practices around employee use of social media, and leveraging social media platforms as an engagement and communications tool.

?Modeling the way with great communications skills is of vital importance,? explains Anderson. ?HR is not like being an engineer or accountant. It?s more subtle. Their contributions are both tangible and intangible.?

Change Management
Some companies embrace change, others resist. Regardless of the culture, CEOs want senior HR executives to have a toolbox of change management practices, and hands-on deployment skills. A consulting mind-set is also essential, and a strong understanding of how compensation and performance management can be used to support change.

FCHRP: Recognizing Excellence
The Fellow CHRP title recognizes exceptional Canadian CHRPs who have made outstanding contributions to the human resources profession and to their communities.

Finding Your Seat at the Executive Table
The perception of HR?s changing role differs from industry to industry. Communication-based sectors, such as knowledge management, financial service and consumer goods understand it quite well. WHY? The resource and manufacturing sectors are slower to understand HR as a value-added business partner. These industries often hold Old school views; they think HR is still the ?hirers and firers? responsible for recruiting and discipline.

Regardless of sector, the key for HR professionals is to make their voice heard. CEOs recognize they have a role to play in supporting and promoting the value of HR within the company, but are also looking for senior HR executives themselves to be more assertive in demonstrating their value and demanding that their issues be recognized.

?HR needs to stick their hand up and volunteer to take this work on,? Anderson advises. ?Ask for a secondment in upcoming operational jobs; whether it means serving on committees, working in IT, or helping open a new physical location. They need to get into roles that are critically important, and CEOs need to take more chances to allow their HR leaders to take on these roles.?

The bottom line is that CEOs believe that senior HR executives can, and should drive their agendas forward. First by ensuring they are business savvy and conversant in the issues that matter to the company. And second, by ensuring everybody else at the table knows it. The CHRP designation puts a lot of weight behind both of these assertions.

?To me it signifies that we are passionate about what we do, and I encourage all of my HR people to get their CHRP,? says Anderson. ?I have my fellowship certificate on the wall in my office ? it is a great point of pride for me ? I think it has more prominence than my MBA!?

?

HR Strategic Partner Checklist
If you are an HR executive hoping to have greater influence and impact in your organization, start by asking yourself:

  • How often do you put yourself on the front lines of your business?
  • Is it time to take a line role to gain business experience?
  • Do you know your way around the P&L of your business?
  • Do your colleagues look to you for wise advice and counsel?
  • Do you have the skills and resources you need to help your organization change, grow and prosper?
  • How do you keep track of social trends and legislative change? How do you communicate these to your colleagues and CEO and gain buy-in for programs to address them?
  • Do you know what your CEO and your business require from you? How well are you meeting the real needs of your business?
  • Have you networked with or joined your provincial member association?

?


[1] Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA) survey of Canadian CEOs regarding the future of HR conducted on behalf of HRPA by Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions. Visit: www.chrp.ca/HR_Professionals_Study/ to view the complete Knightsbridge study.

Related posts:

  1. HR as Strategic Partner: The Warrior of the 21st Century
  2. Job One for HR Professionals ? Building Leadership Capacity
  3. Developing a Career Path for ICT Professionals
  4. Changing the HR Mindset: Opening Doors of Opportunity
  5. Information and Research Sources ? A Primer for HR Professionals

Tags: CHRP, featured, HR, Human Resources, strategic HR

Category: Bottom Line

Source: http://www.hrvoice.org/hr-professionals-your-strategic-partner/

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  • "Stone Cold" Answers Your Twitter Questions
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3 ways to eliminate credit card debt and reduce | personal finance ...

personal finance budgeting Hi friend! If this is your first time visiting the personal finance budgeting, you may want to subscribe to the latest articles by email from the personal finance budgeting for free, Thank you.

When you are in over your head with credit card debt, relief can seem miles away. Sometimes it seems they are working as hard as you can make the minimum payments or even to just cover the interest balances.If want to leave the circle of credit card debt follow these 3 easy steps and you?re on your way to freedom financial.

1. The shift to a lower rate card.

If you can transfer the balance from one card highest rate in the low-rate card, you can save some money. Even a card with interest rate of 5% less to make a difference in the amount you owe on your monthly statement credit card. Take the money you save and apply the balance to reduce your debt faster.

2. Pay principle.

It is very easy to fall into the trap of paying only the minimum payment on your credit card, but if you do this practice, it will not get out of debt. The only way to eliminate credit card debt is to dive in and pay. The more you pay the principle that the less you pay in interest, and you begin to notice a difference in the amount of money that will be billed each month.

3. Do not increase your debt.

Make a rule that credit cards are only used for special or emergency purchases. Stop buying things like food or clothing with credit card. It is likely that if you put the issue on the card, often end up buying things that are not going to buy. Impulse buying can be convenient, but they add, and pay for them long after their usefulness has been lost.

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China to Launch First Space Lab This Week (SPACE.com)

China is making final preparations to launch its first space lab module ? a prototype for a future space station ? this week, state media reported.

The unmanned Tiangong 1 ("Heavenly Palace") module was scheduled to lift off between Sept. 27 and 30, but a forecasted cold weather front has pushed the targeted launch date back to Sept. 29 or 30. The module will launch on a Chinese Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China.

Tiangong 1 is designed to connect with three spacecraft, Shenzhou 8, Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10, which will launch later. The maneuvers will mark China's first dockings in orbit, and are planned to be carried out robotically. [Photos: China's First Space Station]

"This is a significant test. We've never done such a thing before," Lu Jinrong, the launch center's chief engineer, told state news agency Xinhua.

China originally planned to launch Tiangong 1 earlier, but the liftoff was delayed when a Long March 2C booster, similar to the Long March 2F, failed to reach orbit. Chinese officials investigated the accident and recolved the issue before pushing forward with Tiangong 1 plans.

Experts say the achievement will be a huge step forward for China's fledgling space program, and an important advancement toward the nation's goal of building a 60-ton manned space station?by the year 2020.

The module will also carry medical and engineering experiments onboard.

Engineers conducted a full ground simulation of launch on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 25). Workers have made more than 100 upgrades to the launch site, and more than 170 technical improvements to the Long March 2F rocket, in preparation for Tiangong's mission, Cui Jijun, commander-in-chief of the launch site system and director of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, told Xinhua. These include a new updated computer center and command monitoring system at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, as well as new systems to increase Mission Control's ability to adapt to changes that may occur during the mission.

"[The launch site] has the full conditions to conduct the Tiangong 1 mission," Cui said. [How China's First Space Station Will Work (Infographic)]

After the United States and Russia, China is only the third nation to independently launch humans to orbit. China's first manned mission, Shenzhou 5, occurred in 2003, and was followed by two more manned missions in 2005 and 2008.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20110926/sc_space/chinatolaunchfirstspacelabthisweek

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Oil pipeline opponents pin hopes on Nebraska

(AP) ? Environmentalists hoping to block a proposed underground oil pipeline that would snake 1,700 miles from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico have pinned their hopes on an unlikely ally ? the conservative state of Nebraska.

Few states are as red as Nebraska, which hasn't supported a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964. But opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline has risen steadily since the project was proposed three years ago.

The reason: Fears of contaminating the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast subterranean reservoir that spans a large swath of the Great Plains and provides water to much of Nebraska, as well as seven other states. Opponents have grown to include Nebraska's conservative governor and two U.S. senators, a Republican and a conservative Democrat.

Many in the public are hostile to the idea, too. When a pipeline company logo was displayed on a stadium screen during a recent Nebraska Cornhuskers game, boos rained down from the crowd of 85,000. The university agreed to stop running the ads.

Damon Moglen, a spokesman for the Washington-based environmental group Friends of the Earth, called Nebraska "the key battleground" over the proposal.

Both sides of the debate will have a final chance to make their case this week, when public hearings are held in Lincoln and Atkinson, a small town in northern Nebraska. Similar meetings are scheduled in other states that would be crossed by the pipeline.

"We're in the fourth quarter of this game," Moglen said. "The question is, can the home team up its game and win?"

In addition to approval from affected states, the international project needs backing from the State Department, which expects to decide the matter by the end of the year. Department leaders will probably attend some of the hearings.

"We see these as listening sessions," said Kerri-Ann Jones, assistant secretary for the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, a State Department agency. "We want to listen and hear what people have to say."

If built, the 16-inch steel pipe would carry oil extracted from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma to refineries in Texas.

Other states have mostly accepted a promise from the pipeline company TransCanada that the $7 billion proposal will create 20,000 jobs, mostly from construction, over two years and provide a reliable source of oil. But environmentalists and a growing number of Nebraskans are resisting.

The pipeline would be laid directly through the aquifer at the depth of at least 4 feet and deeper in many places, raising fears of catastrophic damage if any part of the tube were to rupture. It would carry 700,000 barrels of oil a day.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman and other officials have urged TransCanada to pick a different route that skirts the aquifer, but Heineman doubts the company will take his advice.

TransCanada officials have insisted the pipeline is safe and has undergone a vigorous federal review.

"If the activists feel that they're facing an uphill battle, it's because the facts don't support their overheated rhetoric," TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said. "It has been shown that the outrageous claims these groups have made aren't true. They can repeat it over and over and over again, but that doesn't change that fact."

Other government agencies have reported no major problems with the plan.

An environmental review by the State Department found that neither the construction nor operation of the pipeline was likely to cause serious environmental problems. And Energy Secretary Steven Chu spoke favorably of the project this month, noting the advantages of buying oil from a close ally and arguing that new technology makes such operations safer.

Five major alternative routes considered to avoid the aquifer were found to have a "worse or similar" environmental impact, Jones said.

University of Nebraska hydrologist Jim Goeke, a retired professor who has studied the pipeline proposal for years, believes it's safe. He says the aquifer is composed of layers of loose sand, sandstone, soot and gravel that would impede the spread of an oil leak.

Goeke, who has no formal role in the project, said he expects pipeline opponents to make an impassioned case that the aquifer would be endangered, but he doesn't buy it.

"I'd be comfortable if the pipeline was defeated on the basis of good, sound science and not emotion," Goeke said. "I think it's a reflection of the pride and love Nebraskans have for the Ogallala Aquifer. A lot of people love and treasure the aquifer, and they're concerned the entire aquifer is at risk. And that just isn't factual."

Besides the risk to the aquifer, environmental groups fear the pipeline could foul surface water, threaten wildlife habitats and increase air pollution around refineries. They have criticized what they consider inadequate pipeline safety and emergency spill responses.

In Nebraska, opponents also say the pipeline route threatens the delicate Sandhills region, a cherished natural area of barren, rolling terrain in the north-central part of the state.

Andrew Swift, a policy analyst at the Washington-based National Resources Defense Council, said the State Department's decision to schedule more hearings showed that federal officials were feeling increased pressure from opponents.

A high-profile anti-pipeline campaign included repeated arrests of activists outside the White House.

"This is not simply an issue being made at an agency level anymore," Swift said. "It's a decision being made by the Obama administration."

State Department spokesman Noel Clay said the public comment period will close Oct. 9, two days after the last public meeting, which will be held in Washington.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will make the pipeline decision personally, unless another federal agency objects, which would send the choice to President Barack Obama.

___

Associated Press Writer Matthew Daly in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-09-25-US-Oil-Pipeline/id-d4be23a137bb42559d8e47f99e86e1f1

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Copping a Latitude: Genetics Supports Idea Cultural Interaction Was More East to West Than North to South

News | Evolution

The finding supports a case made by Jared Diamond and others that migration along the same lines of latitude in Eurasia promoted the sharing of crops, animals and technology, but that wide variations in climate found in the New World's north-to-south orientation hindered cultural exchanges

Image: Covens & Mortier/Wikimedia Commons

East often meets West and vice versa, but did North frequently meet South when it comes to the history of people and technological innovations migrating across the continents? New genetic analysis suggests the way that continents are oriented may indeed have played a key role in our cultural interactions over time.

For decades scientists have suggested that the east-west orientation of Eurasia helped spread ancient culture and technological innovations such as agriculture and writing more rapidly than occurred in the oppositely oriented Americas, with biologist and ecologist Jared Diamond perhaps most famously making this case in his Pulitzer Prize?winning Gun, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (W. W. Norton & Co., 1999). The idea is that populations at comparable latitudes experience largely similar climates, making it easier to adapt crops and domesticated animals and, consequently, humans and technology to new locations east to west. On the other hand, migrating across lines of latitude, north to south, involves adapting to new climates.

Given this notion, genetic analysis might reveal greater differences among human populations north to south than east to west within continents, says population geneticist Sohini Ramachandran at Brown University. If migration is harder across lines of latitude than longitude, then populations would be more isolated north to south, giving them more chances to diversify compared with one another.

To see if this was the case, Ramachandran and her colleague Noah Rosenberg at Stanford University analyzed genetic variation data in 678 genetic markers from 68 populations. This included data from 39 populations from Eurasia?including Europe, southern and central Asia, and the Middle East?collected from the Human Genome Diversity Cell Line Panel, along with 29 populations from Native American groups, such as the Cree, Ojibwa, Maya and Zapotec, gathered by former collaborators of the researchers. "Only recently did we have the kind of genetic data to perform this kind of comparative analysis of Native American and Old World populations," Ramachandran says.

The researchers measured how distant or divergent each population was from one another in terms of both mileage and genetic variation. They discovered more genetic differences north to south in the Americas than over comparable distances east to west in Eurasia, findings detailed online September 13 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

"The findings here are very interesting, with the implications that patterns of technological innovations were influenced by our physical climates and physical environments," says evolutionary anthropologist and human population geneticist Jeffrey Long at the University of New Mexico, who did not take part in this study. "We tend to think of humans as separated from ecology, and in fact there has been ecological structuring of our recent history, and perhaps even in the rise of cosmopolitan society. It's nice for me to see the field of human population genetics maturing out of the who-begat-who phase and into investigating these larger questions."

In the Americas distance north to south explained a good deal of genetic variation. Distance east to west did so as well, although to a lesser extent. This is probably due to the diagonal northwest-southeast positions that North and South America have in relation to each other, respectively.

One potential caveat regarding these findings is that culture and technology could spread from one population to another without them otherwise intermingling and sharing genes, Ramachandran says. As such, although they found evidence that changes in latitude could impede genetic flow, it might not necessarily impair cultural or technological flow.

Future research could go into even finer detail when it comes to ancient obstacles to migrations, including mountain ranges and other physical barriers as well as social barriers such as marriage practices or language differences, Ramachandran suggests. "We can develop new insight into the effects of geography and culture on recent human evolution as we gather more and more genetic data from human populations," she says. Further studies could also look at the impact of patterns of genetic variations on health, Long adds.


Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=acb656a33da6881dadf5a2805867062e

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