Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Pets | CJOnline.com

[unable to retrieve full-text content]CJOnline.com is the website of the Topeka Capital-Journal newspaper. It's the Number One source of news, sports, weather and entertainment information, as well as cars, jobs and real estate advertising for the northeastern ...

Source: http://cjonline.com/news/2012-01-29/pets

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Florida highway pileup kills at least 10 people

Firemen hose down a commercial carrier truck on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., after it was involved in a multi-vehicle wreck which killed at least 9 people in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

Firemen hose down a commercial carrier truck on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., after it was involved in a multi-vehicle wreck which killed at least 9 people in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

Firemen spray foam on a truck that was part of a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

Wrecked vehicles sit along the road at the scene of a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

Firemen watch as cleanup crews work on vehicles that were involved in a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

A small passenger vehicle sits lodged beneath a semitrailer after a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

(AP) ? A long line of cars and trucks collided one after another early Sunday on a dark Florida highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were instantly blinded. At least 10 people were killed.

When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile, police said.

Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup south of Gainesville on Interstate 75, which had been closed for a time before the accidents because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.

Steven R. Camps of Gainesville said he and some friends were driving home several hours before dawn when they were drawn into the pileup.

"You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy," he said. "If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world."

Photographs of the scene taken hours later revealed an aftermath that resembled a Hollywood disaster movie. Twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage.

Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks.

Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw bodies still inside a burned-out Grand Prix. One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.

Before Camps hit the fog bank, a friend who was driving ahead of him in a separate vehicle called to warn of the road conditions. The friend said he had just seen an accident and warned Camps to be careful as he approached the Paynes Prairie area just south of Gainesville.

A short time later, Camps said, traffic stopped along the northbound lanes.

"You couldn't see anything. People were pulling off the road," he said.

Camps said he began talking about the road conditions to a man in the car stopped next to them when another vehicle hit the man's car.

The man's vehicle was crushed under a semi-truck stopped in front of them. Camps said his car was hit twice, but he and another friend were able to jump out. They took cover in the grass on the shoulder of the road.

All around them, cars and trucks were on fire, and they could hear explosions as the vehicles burned.

"It was happening on both sides of the road, so there was nowhere to go. It blew my mind," he said, explaining that the scene "looked like someone was picking up cars and throwing them."

Authorities had not released the names of victims Sunday evening, but said one passenger car had four fatalities and a "tour bus-like" vehicle also was involved in the pileup.

At least 18 people were taken to a hospital.

All six lanes of the interstate ? which runs virtually the entire length of Florida ? were closed most of Sunday afternoon as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters put out the last of the flames.

The northbound lanes of I-75 were reopened around 5:30 p.m. EST, but the southbound lanes remained closed.

"Our standard operating procedure is to get the road open as quickly as possible but let's not forget we have 10 people who are not with us today," said Lt. Patrick Riordan, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman. "So we are going to take our time assessing the situation."

It was not clear when the highway would fully reopen because part of the road melted, police said.

At some point before the pileup, police briefly closed the highway because of the fog and smoke. The road was reopened when visibility improved.

Riordan said he was not sure how much time passed between the reopening of the highway and the first crash.

Traffic was being diverted much of Sunday onto U.S. 301 and State Road 27, Riordan said.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Forest Service, Ludie Bond, said the fire began Saturday, and investigators were trying to determine whether the blaze had been intentionally set. She said there were no controlled burns in the area and no lightning.

Bond also said the fire had burned 62 acres and was contained but still burning Sunday. A similar fire nearby has been burning since mid-November because the dried vegetation is so thick and deep. No homes are threatened.

Four years ago, heavy fog and smoke were blamed for another serious crash.

In January 2008, four people were killed and 38 injured in a series of similar crashes on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa, about 125 miles south of Sunday's crash. More than 70 vehicles were involved in those crashes, including one pileup that involved 40 vehicles.

___

Associated Press Writer Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-29-US-Deadly-Interstate-Crash/id-b5169d9310534455a2127879875d5037

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Monday, January 30, 2012

FDA approves Roche skin cancer drug (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? U.S. health regulators on Monday approved Roche's pill to treat an advanced form of the most common form of skin cancer, known as basal cell carcinoma.

The drug, Erivedge, which was co-developed by Curis Inc, was given a green light by the Food and Drug Administration more than a month ahead of the expected March 8 decision date. It was approved for use by adults whose cancer cannot be treated with surgery or radiation or whose disease has spread to other parts of the body or returned following surgery.

Erivedge, known chemically as vismodegib, is the first drug to gain FDA approval for advanced basal cell carcinoma. Curis, which earned a $10 million milestone payment as a result of the approval, is entitled to royalty payments on sales of the drug.

"Today's approval provides a new treatment for people with advanced basal cell carcinoma who, until now, had no approved medicines to help shrink disfiguring or potentially life-threatening lesions," Hal Barron, Roche chief medical officer, said in a statement.

The drug, which is taken once a day, is expected to cost about $7,500 a month, with an estimated 10-month course of treatment totaling about $75,000, Curis said in a regulatory filing.

Roche is awaiting an approval decision on the drug in Europe.

Basal cell carcinoma is generally a slow-growing and painless form of skin cancer that starts in the top layer of the skin and develops on areas that are regularly exposed to sunlight or other ultraviolet radiation.

Erivedge works by inhibiting a signaling pathway that is active in most basal cell cancers and only in a few normal tissues, such as hair follicles.

The drug was approved with a warning alerting patients and health-care professionals of the potential risk of death or severe birth effects to a fetus. Pregnancy status must be verified prior to the start of Erivedge treatment, the FDA said.

Curis shares were down 16 cents, or 3 percent, at $5.02 on Nasdaq. Roche shares closed off 1.2 percent in Switzerland.

(Reporting by Bill Berkrot; editing by Mark Porter and Gunna Dickson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/cancer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/hl_nm/us_roche_approval

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St. Louis parade on Iraq War's end draws thousands

Participants in a parade to honor Iraq War veterans make their way along a downtown street Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in St. Louis. Thousands turned out to watch the first big welcome home parade in the U.S. since the last troops left Iraq in December. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Participants in a parade to honor Iraq War veterans make their way along a downtown street Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in St. Louis. Thousands turned out to watch the first big welcome home parade in the U.S. since the last troops left Iraq in December. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Stephanie King holds a picture of her uncle, Col. Stephen Scott who was killed in Iraq in 2008, as she prepares to participate in a parade to honor Iraq War veterans Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in St. Louis. Thousands turned out to watch the first big welcome home parade in the U.S. since the last troops left Iraq in December. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Marine Sgt. Alex Renner, 22, right, from Red Bud, Ill. shakes hands with well wishers during a parade to welcome home Iraq war veterans along Market Street Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 in St. Louis.(AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, David Carson) EDWARDSVILLE INTELLIGENCER OUT; THE ALTON TELEGRAPH OUT

George Fernau, left, from Florissant, Mo., gives a hug to Iraq war vet Bobby Lisek, from Clever, Mo., as he marches along Market Street Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 in St. Louis. Lisek, a former sergeant in the Army, was wounded in a IED attack in Baghdad on September 11, 2004. (AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, David Carson) EDWARDSVILLE INTELLIGENCER OUT; THE ALTON TELEGRAPH OUT

A parade to honor Iraq war veterans makes its way west on Market Street Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 in St. Louis.(AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, David Carson) EDWARDSVILLE INTELLIGENCER OUT; THE ALTON TELEGRAPH OUT

(AP) ? Looking around at the tens of thousands of people waving American flags and cheering, Army Maj. Rich Radford was moved that so many braved a cold January wind Saturday in St. Louis to honor people like him: Iraq War veterans.

The parade, borne out of a simple conversation between two St. Louis friends a month ago, was the nation's first big welcome-home for veterans of the war since the last troops were withdrawn from Iraq in December.

"It's not necessarily overdue, it's just the right thing," said Radford, a 23-year Army veteran who walked in the parade alongside his 8-year-old daughter, Aimee, and 12-year-old son, Warren.

Radford was among about 600 veterans, many dressed in camouflage, who walked along downtown streets lined with rows of people clapping and holding signs with messages including "Welcome Home" and "Thanks to our Service Men and Women." Some of the war-tested troops wiped away tears as they acknowledged the support from a crowd that organizers estimated reached 100,000 people.

Fire trucks with aerial ladders hoisted huge American flags in three different places along the route, with politicians, marching bands ? even the Budweiser Clydesdales ? joining in. But the large crowd was clearly there to salute men and women in the military, and people cheered wildly as groups of veterans walked by.

That was the hope of organizers Craig Schneider and Tom Appelbaum. Neither man has served in the military but came up with the idea after noticing there had been little fanfare for returning Iraq War veterans aside from gatherings at airports and military bases. No ticker-tape parades or large public celebrations.

Appelbaum, an attorney, and Schneider, a school district technical coordinator, decided something needed to be done. So they sought donations, launched a Facebook page, met with the mayor and mapped a route. The grassroots effort resulted in a huge turnout despite raising only about $35,000 and limited marketing.

That marketing included using a photo of Radford being welcomed home from his second tour in Iraq by his then-6-year-old daughter. The girl had reached up, grabbed his hand and said, "I missed you, daddy." Radford's sister caught the moment with her cellphone camera, and the image graced T-shirts and posters for the parade.

Veterans came from around the country, and more than 100 entries ? including marching bands, motorcycle groups and military units ? signed up ahead of the event, Appelbaum said.

Schneider said he was amazed how everyone, from city officials to military organizations to the media, embraced the parade.

"It was an idea that nobody said no to," he said. "America was ready for this."

All that effort by her hometown was especially touching for Gayla Gibson, a 38-year-old Air Force master sergeant who said she spent four months in Iraq ? seeing "amputations, broken bones, severe burns from IEDs" ? as a medical technician in 2003.

"I think it's great when people come out to support those who gave their lives and put their lives on the line for this country," Gibson said.

With 91,000 troops still fighting in Afghanistan, many Iraq veterans could be redeployed ? suggesting to some that it's premature to celebrate their homecoming. In New York, for example, Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently said there would be no city parade for Iraq War veterans in the foreseeable future because of objections voiced by military officials.

But in St. Louis, there was clearly a mood to thank the troops with something big, even among those opposed to the war.

"Most of us were not in favor of the war in Iraq, but the soldiers who fought did the right thing and we support them," said 72-year-old Susan Cunningham, who attended the parade with the Missouri Progressive Action Group. "I'm glad the war is over and I'm glad they're home."

Don Lange, 60, of nearby Sullivan, held his granddaughter along the parade route. His daughter was a military interrogator in Iraq.

"This is something everyplace should do," Lange said as he watched the parade.

Several veterans of the Vietnam War turned out to show support for the younger troops. Among them was Don Jackson, 63, of Edwardsville, Ill., who said he was thrilled to see the parade honoring Iraq War veterans like his son, Kevin, who joined him at the parade. The 33-year-old Air Force staff sergeant said he'd lost track of how many times he had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as a flying mechanic.

"I hope this snowballs," he said of the parade. "I hope it goes all across the country. I only wish my friends who I served with were here to see this."

Looking at all the people around him in camouflage, 29-year-old veteran Matt Wood said he felt honored. He served a year in Iraq with the Illinois National Guard.

"It's extremely humbling, it's amazing, to be part of something like this with all of these people who served their country with such honor," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-29-Iraq%20War-Parade/id-155b00f1299e47098fb5ffb659ba4812

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

FCC Fridays: January 27, 2012

FCC Fridays: January 27, 2012
We here at Engadget tend to spend a lot of way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol' Federal Communications Commission's site. Since we couldn't possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we've gathered up an exhaustive listing of every phone and / or tablet getting the stamp of approval over the last week. Enjoy!

Continue reading FCC Fridays: January 27, 2012

FCC Fridays: January 27, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/27/fcc-fridays-january-27-2012/

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

France: Ex-head of breast implant firm charged (AP)

MARSEILLE, France ? French authorities have filed preliminary charges against the former head of a now-defunct company accused of supplying potentially faulty breast implants affecting thousands of women.

A judge in the southeastern city of Marseille placed Jean-Claude Mas, the founder and former chief of Poly Implant Prothese, under investigation for "involuntary injury," defense lawyer Yves Haddad said Friday.

Mas was released on euro100,000 ($130,000) bail after being arrested Thursday, and ordered by an investigating judge to stay in France and not meet with any other former PIP executives, Haddad said.

The suspect PIP implants have been removed from the marketplace in several countries in and beyond Europe amid fears that they could rupture and leak silicone into the body.

The preliminary charges mean investigating magistrates have strong reason to believe a crime was committed but give them more time to probe to decide whether to recommend it go to trial.

Mas, 72, was arrested at his residence in a Mediterranean coastal resort town as part of a judicial investigation into manslaughter and involuntary injury. PIP's former No. 2, Claude Couty, was also detained.

Police investigators searched the Mas residence and held him for questioning for seven hours before he was transferred to appear before investigating judge Annaick Le Goff at the Marseille courthouse.

Mas did not speak to reporters after being released on bail.

"Mr. Mas was finally able to express himself before the judge. He is relieved to have been able to do so," Haddad said. "The magistrate judged that for now there's no reason to charge him for manslaughter because for the moment, there's no sign of evidence of this crime."

"Calm must return to this case," he added.

On the sole charge of involuntary injury, Mas risks up to one year in prison if convicted. That isn't sufficient to allow Le Goff to order him held in custody before trial.

The arrests ended weeks of speculation about whether investigators would be able to assemble enough evidence to detain Mas ? whose location was known to authorities ? or any other possible suspects on legal grounds.

Mas had run PIP until the company was closed in March 2010.

France's Health Safety Agency has said the suspect implants ? just one type of implants made by PIP ? appear to be more rupture-prone than other types. Investigators say PIP sought to save money by using industrial silicone, whose potential health risks are not yet clear.

PIP's website said the company had exported to more than 60 countries and was one of the world's leading implant makers. The silicone-gel implants in question are not sold in the United States.

According to estimates by national authorities, more than 42,000 women in Britain received the implants, more than 30,000 in France, 9,000 in Australia and 4,000 in Italy. Nearly 25,000 of the implants were sold in Brazil.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_breast_implants

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Car bomb targeting NATO aid team kills 4 Afghans (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan ? A suicide car bomber targeting a NATO-sponsored reconstruction team killed four Afghan civilians, including a child, and wounded 31 on Thursday in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

Three civilian international members of the aid team ? two men and one woman ? were among the wounded, said Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. He said their injuries were not life threatening and did not know their nationalities.

The bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle Thursday morning as a convoy of a NATO Provincial Reconstruction Team passed by in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, Ahmadi said.

The blast ripped through the convoy of armored vehicles, knocking at least one over and charring others. The explosion also shredded nearby storefronts and damaged at least 17 civilian cars nearby, a provincial statement said.

Provincial Reconstruction Teams are joint international military-civilian units dedicated to aid projects to boost support for the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. They are sponsored by the NATO military coalition and there are 27 now operating in Afghanistan.

Afghan National Army soldier Dad Mohammad witnessed the attack while on patrol in the town.

"A car passed our vehicle and parked down the road," he said. "When the foreigners' vehicle was passing this road, it was targeted and there was an explosion."

A spokesman for NATO declined to comment on the attack, referring all questions to the Afghan provincial government.

A statement from the Ministry of Interior said the attack took place near an Education Department building, though Ahmadi initially described it as an aid office. The Ministry said the vehicles in the convoy were about 70 percent destroyed.

No one claimed responsibility for the car bomb, but Helmand has been one of the most volatile areas in the Taliban insurgency's pushback against a U.S.-led initiative to bring southern Afghanistan under greater control of the central Afghan government.

Karzai, who is on a trip meeting European leaders, condemned the attack. A statement from his office Thursday blamed "the enemy of the Afghan people" for the violence, which it called "un-Islamic and against humanity."

Elsewhere, officials said a rocket fired by Taliban insurgents killed a woman and her child in eastern Afghanistan.

Insurgents fired the mortar round during a battle Wednesday with Afghan army soldiers trying to clear militants from a stronghold in Kapisa province's Alasay district, said the provincial governor's chief of staff, Abdul Sabor Wafa.

___

Associated Press reporter Mirwais Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Officials: Sunni militia leader killed in Baghdad (AP)

BAGHDAD ? Iraqi officials say a leader of a Sunni militia that turned against al-Qaida in Iraq and sided with the U.S troops to fight the militants has been killed in Baghdad.

Police and hospital officials say Mullah Nadhum al-Jubouri died in a drive-by shooting in western Baghdad on Tuesday.

The officials spoke Wednesday on condition on anonymity because they were not allowed to talk to the media. Postings on an Islamic extremist website celebrated al-Jubouri's death.

Before joining the pro-government group known as Awakening Councils, al-Jubouri fought Americans alongside al-Qaida militants.

In 2009, al-Jubouri was detained in a joint U.S.-Iraqi raid on suspicion of carrying out attacks three years earlier, including downing a U.S. helicopter. He was later released.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

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The American Museum of Natural History hosts Beyond Planet Earth Tweetup with Scientific American


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I knew it was going to be a wonderful night when I magically found street parking on Central Park West directly across from the American Museum of Natural History. Camera in hand I entered the planetarium where I enjoyed a presentation of vintage films and movies depicting space travel and life on other planets.

I was soon flying towards the ?dark side of the moon? and out into the Milky Way during a 3D presentation of the planets that was out of this world. I then eagerly entered the reception at The Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians where finally the opportunity to shoot presented itself and I took full advantage of capturing the guests, listening to speakers and meeting the editors and bloggers at Scientific American magazine in this magnificent setting.

The Beyond Planet Earth exhibit itself was also an excellent and fun place to shoot and I highly recommend checking out the exhibit yourself in person as there are many interactive apps and ways to explore! I have never had an opportunity like this before and I found the museum, discussions and science exhilarating! Perhaps, if there?s a next time, I can roller skate around the deserted museum taking photos and really bring ?a night at the museum? to life!

Related:

Scientific American Tweet-Up at the American Museum of Natural History
Getting Ready for Scientific American Tweet-Up at the American Museum of Natural History

Erica AngiolilloAbout the Author: Erica Angiolillo is a freelance photographer who lives on Long Island with her husband & two children. She is the in house photographer for Manhattan Athletics & NYC Titans/Spartans baseball teams. You can enjoy her love of photography on Facebook at Gotcha! By Erica. Follow on Twitter @eangiolillo.

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=e06ccf1ad0104aa5d3be475aa10ede1a

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Does the military make the man or does the man make the military?

Does the military make the man or does the man make the military? [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Divya Menon
dmenon@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science

"Be all you can be," the Army tells potential recruits. The military promises personal reinvention. But does it deliver? A new study, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that personality does change a little after military service German conscripts come out of the military less agreeable than their peers who chose civilian service.

It's hard to do long-term studies on how personalities change. Besides taking many years, a challenge to overcome is that many experiences that could change personality are self-selected, and thus many social, psychological and economic differences exist between people who had the experience versus those that did not. "It makes a researcher's job tough," jokes Joshua J. Jackson, now at Washington University in St. Louis, "but there are some methods to safeguard against such bias". He cowrote the new study with Felix Thoemmes, Kathrin Jonkmann, Oliver Ldtke, and Ulrich Trautwein of the University of Tbingen in Germany.

Jackson used data on German men who were in high school at the time the study started. At that time, about 10 years ago, all German men had to either serve in the military for nine months or perform some other kind of civilian service.

First, he looked at the men's personalities before their national service to see if personality predicted the decision to enter the military. Men who chose to serve in the military were less open to experiencethey are less likely to be interested in novel and aesthetic experiences like going to an art museum, for example. They were less neurotic, or inclined to worry. And they were less agreeable"less warm and cooperative, interpersonally," Jackson says.

The men were given personality tests again two years later, after they had finished their military or civilian service. Most people's personalities change at this age; it's normal to become more agreeable and more conscientious, and for neuroticism to decrease. Jackson saw those changes in all the men. But men who chose to go into the military, while they were more agreeable two years later than they'd been before, were less agreeable than their peers who didn't do military service. Four years later, after many of the men had gone on to university or into the work force, they were still less agreeable if they'd spent nine months in the military.

How agreeable you are has a lot to do with how well you relate to other people"establishing and maintaining positive relationships with friends and romantic partners," Jackson says. "as such, having low levels of agreeableness may be considered a bad thing." On the other hand, some evidence suggests that people who are less agreeable tend to have more career success.

"I cannot say if it's good or bad, but it shows that these individualswho, by and large, did not face any combathad experiences in basic training that likely shaped the way they approach the world," Jackson says. "The changes in personality were small, but over time, they could have important ramifications for the men's lives," he says.

###

For more information about this study, please contact: Joshua J. Jackson at j.jackson@wustl.edu.

The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Military training and personality trait development: Does the military make the man or does the man make the military" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Divya Menon at 202-293-9300 or dmenon@psychologicalscience.org.


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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Does the military make the man or does the man make the military? [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Divya Menon
dmenon@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science

"Be all you can be," the Army tells potential recruits. The military promises personal reinvention. But does it deliver? A new study, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that personality does change a little after military service German conscripts come out of the military less agreeable than their peers who chose civilian service.

It's hard to do long-term studies on how personalities change. Besides taking many years, a challenge to overcome is that many experiences that could change personality are self-selected, and thus many social, psychological and economic differences exist between people who had the experience versus those that did not. "It makes a researcher's job tough," jokes Joshua J. Jackson, now at Washington University in St. Louis, "but there are some methods to safeguard against such bias". He cowrote the new study with Felix Thoemmes, Kathrin Jonkmann, Oliver Ldtke, and Ulrich Trautwein of the University of Tbingen in Germany.

Jackson used data on German men who were in high school at the time the study started. At that time, about 10 years ago, all German men had to either serve in the military for nine months or perform some other kind of civilian service.

First, he looked at the men's personalities before their national service to see if personality predicted the decision to enter the military. Men who chose to serve in the military were less open to experiencethey are less likely to be interested in novel and aesthetic experiences like going to an art museum, for example. They were less neurotic, or inclined to worry. And they were less agreeable"less warm and cooperative, interpersonally," Jackson says.

The men were given personality tests again two years later, after they had finished their military or civilian service. Most people's personalities change at this age; it's normal to become more agreeable and more conscientious, and for neuroticism to decrease. Jackson saw those changes in all the men. But men who chose to go into the military, while they were more agreeable two years later than they'd been before, were less agreeable than their peers who didn't do military service. Four years later, after many of the men had gone on to university or into the work force, they were still less agreeable if they'd spent nine months in the military.

How agreeable you are has a lot to do with how well you relate to other people"establishing and maintaining positive relationships with friends and romantic partners," Jackson says. "as such, having low levels of agreeableness may be considered a bad thing." On the other hand, some evidence suggests that people who are less agreeable tend to have more career success.

"I cannot say if it's good or bad, but it shows that these individualswho, by and large, did not face any combathad experiences in basic training that likely shaped the way they approach the world," Jackson says. "The changes in personality were small, but over time, they could have important ramifications for the men's lives," he says.

###

For more information about this study, please contact: Joshua J. Jackson at j.jackson@wustl.edu.

The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Military training and personality trait development: Does the military make the man or does the man make the military" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Divya Menon at 202-293-9300 or dmenon@psychologicalscience.org.


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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/afps-dtm012512.php

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Texas Instrument to close plants in Houston, Japan

(AP) ? Texas Instruments will close two of its older computer-chip factories, one in Houston and one in Hiji, Japan, and lay off about 1,000 workers to cut costs.

The company announced the cutbacks Monday in its fourth-quarter earnings report. Its results topped analyst estimates, but the company offered tepid forecast for the first quarter of this year.

Texas Instruments shares gained $1.11, or more than 3 percent, to $34.30 after the earnings and layoff announcements.

The planned layoffs represent about 3 percent of the 34,800 workers that Texas Instruments Inc. employed as of Sept. 30. Texas Instruments picked up about 5,000 additional workers four months ago when it completed its $6.5 billion acquisition of another chip maker, National Semiconductor.

Closing the two factories will save Texas Instruments about $100 million annually. The Houston plant is 42 years old while the Japan factory opened 32 years ago. The closures are to occur in the next 18 months. Production will be shifted to other Texas Instruments plants.

Texas Instruments will absorb $215 million in charges to pay for the closures. About $112 million of that amount was recorded in the fourth quarter. The remainder will be scattered through 2013.

Despite the charges, Texas Instruments still fared better in October through December than analysts and its own management anticipated.

CEO Rich Templeton said the pleasant surprise stemmed from improving demand for most of the company's products, leading him to believe that the company is moving beyond a downturn that undercut its financial performance for most of last year.

The company, which is based in Dallas, earned $298 million, or 25 cents per share, in the fourth quarter. That was a 68 percent drop from net income of $942 million, or 70 cents per share, at the same time in 2010.

Wall Street had been bracing for a steeper decrease to 23 cents per share, according to FactSet.

The past quarter's earnings were lowered by a charge of 16 cents per share to account for the residue of National Semiconductor and the plant closure charge, which worked out to 7 cents per share for the period.

Fourth-quarter revenue dipped 3 percent from the previous year to $3.42 billion, but was about $160 million high than analysts forecast on average.

The company projected its earning per share for the three months ending in March will range from 16 cents to 24 cents. Analysts had been expecting 32 cents per share. Texas Instruments believes its first-quarter revenue will range from $3 billion to $3.28 billion. Analysts projected first-quarter revenue of $3.22 billion, according to FactSet.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-01-23-Texas%20Instruments-Plant%20Closures/id-609411d5efed4bab8733c33ed73df9ac

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Next Xbox console to be six times more powerful, headed for fall 2013 release?

Xbox 720, Xbox Loop -- whatever Microsoft ends up calling it, that hot rod of a console looks to be on deck for a late fall 2013 release. According to IGN's sources, this successor to the Redmond gaming throne is purported to pack a GPU based on AMD's 6000 series of chips and will boast silicon circuitry that catapults its performance past Nintendo's upcoming Wii U by 20 percent. If you're looking for a more apples to green X's comparison, this next-gen console's graphical capabilities are also reportedly six times greater than its 360 progenitor. While MS is likely holding back its monstrous new platform for a big E3 reveal, it appears the company's still whittling down its spec list, with dev kits to be issued later this August. No mention was made of its rumored Kinect 2 integration, but we're more than certain that famous hacking tech will be front and center.

[Image credit: Joseph Dumary]

Next Xbox console to be six times more powerful, headed for fall 2013 release? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What if there were another advanced species?

What if Neanderthals, who bit the dust just 28,000 years ago, had instead wised up and were now living next door? Or what if, during all these millennia that humans have been evolving, some unrelated creature had evolved cognitive and technological prowess in keeping with our own? Another scenario: what if humans had split into two separate species ? the original gangsters, and a successful evolutionary offshoot?

These are all perfectly reasonable histories of the world that would have resulted in two advanced species of Earthlings living side-by-side today. They're just not the histories that happen to have happened.

But what if they had? Would we break bread with our brainy cohabitants or be locked in a constant battle for supremacy?

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Oh, them ? just ignore them
In this hypothetical world, there would be three possible relationships between humans and "others," said William Harcourt-Smith, a paleoanthropologist at the American Museum of Natural History. The most likely one is that competition for resources would cause us to fight, constantly.

"Given knowledge of how humans behave within their species ? the endless intertribal conflicts and wars that have sadly gone on for many thousands of years ? I think that whenever resources become an issue, or competing ideologies become an issue, you get conflict," Harcourt-Smith said. If one of the species was slightly cleverer or stronger or developed better technology than the other, the former would eventually decimate the latter, reminiscent of Humans vs. Neanderthals.

Alternatively: If, after tens of thousands of years of clashes between Humans and Others, no one had come out on top, the two species might have gradually drifted toward equilibrium, either by populating geographically separate regions of the globe or by adapting to require different resources, Harcourt-Smith said. Others might have developed an appetite solely for fish, for instance, while Humans might have specialized in animal husbandry, and come to find fish disgusting.

In either of those cases ? if we lived in different regions or utilized different resources ? Humans and Others would have developed cultural systems in which we were taught to avoid one another. That's what other species do under the same circumstances. "As long as there isn't competition, species just ignore each other," he said. "Two monkeys living in the same tree, for example ? if they're not going after the same resources, they don't interact." [ Why Haven't All Primates Evolved into Humans? ]

Hand-tongues
But what might our imaginary friends/enemies be like? Granted, they could look like anything ? could have evolved from apes, elephants, dolphins or some other creatures ? but Harcourt-Smith believes there are three traits the Others would definitely need in order to be technologically advanced.

"First, you need cognitive abilities that allow you to construct things, to conceive of abstract ideas or conceive of an object with many moving parts, each of which has a function. You must have forward planning and be able to think outside space and time in an abstract sense, in order to create that object," he said.

Second, they must have a way of manipulating objects, both with great strength and with great finesse. We manage this with our hands ? amazing structures that can grip objects very powerfully but can also perform tasks that require great delicacy and dexterity, such as sewing with needle and thread. "Imagine that, in another creature, their feet develop these incredible abilities, or their tongues," he said.

Lastly, cultural transmission is essential. It's uncommonly rare to find a single human who knows how to build a computer from scratch, starting with mining the raw materials. Or, for that matter, someone who knows how to build an irrigation system, or a gun. Rather than reinventing the wheel over and over, humans pass down knowledge from one generation to the next. We also have job specialization within our societies to make them function more efficiently. For a nonhuman society to achieve similar technological progress, they too would need some sophisticated form of communication.

Humans 2.0
There's one more scenario that must be considered: Could another group of highly intelligent Earthlings someday arise?

According to Harcourt-Smith, in the long term (millions or billions of years out), all bets are off. "We don't know what the future holds ? how other species of advanced mammals might evolve," he said. For that to happen, some cataclysmic event would have to cause the human population to plummet in order to clear the way for a competitor.

Alternatively, he said, a group of pioneering humans could venture into space and settle somewhere else. The new environment would cause them to undergo rapid evolution and then, some 100,000 years later, they would have become a distinct species that might still interact with the same old humans back on Earth.

"The other possibility is through our own making ? genetic engineering and such. Putting human genes into animals and goodness knows what. But you never know. It's certainly possible."

Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @ nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @ llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.

? 2012 LifesLittleMysteries.com. All rights reserved. More from LifesLittleMysteries.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46076176/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Florida next stop in now-scrambled Republican race (AP)

TAMPA, Fla. ? A suddenly scrambled Republican presidential contest shifts to Florida after Newt Gingrich stopped Mitt Romney's sprint to the GOP nomination with a convincing victory in South Carolina.

The air of inevitability that surrounded Romney's candidacy is gone, at least for now. His rivals, led by Gingrich, have until Florida's Jan. 31 contest to prove South Carolina was no fluke.

Larger, more diverse and more expensive, Florida brings new challenges to Gingrich, who again must overcome financial and organizational disadvantages as he did in South Carolina, whose primary he won Saturday.

"We don't have the kind of money at least one of the candidates has. But we do have ideas. And we do have people," Gingrich, the former House speaker, told cheering supporters after his victory. "And we proved here in South Carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money. And with your help, we're going to prove it again in Florida."

Romney struck a defiant tone before his own backers gathered at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds, saying: "I will compete in every single state." He wasted no time jabbing at Gingrich, saying: "Our party can't be led to victory by someone who also has never run a business and never led a state."

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, third in South Carolina, pledged to compete in Florida and beyond. His presence in the race ensures at least some division among Florida's tea party activists and evangelicals, a division that could ultimately help Romney help erase any questions about his candidacy.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul likely will not be a factor in Florida. He already had said he was bypassing the state in favor of smaller subsequent contests.

As the first Southern primary, South Carolina has been a proving ground for Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years. Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, every Republican contender who won the primary has gone on to capture the party's nomination.

Returns from 95 percent of the state's precincts showed Gingrich with 41 percent of the vote to 27 percent for Romney. Santorum was winning 17 percent, Paul 13 percent.

But political momentum was the real prize with the race to pick an opponent to President Barack Obama still in its early stages.

Already, Romney and a group that supports him were on the air in Florida with a significant television ad campaign, more than $7 million combined to date.

Gingrich readily conceded that he trails in money, and even before appearing for his victory speech he tweeted supporters thanking them and appealing for a flood of donations for the Jan 31 primary. "Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida. Join our Moneybomb and donate now," said his Internet message.

Aides to Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, had once dared hope that Florida would seal his nomination ? if South Carolina didn't first. But that strategy appeared to vanish along with the once-formidable lead he held in pre-primary polls.

Romney swept into South Carolina as the favorite after being pronounced the winner of the lead-off Iowa caucuses, then cruising to victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.

But in the sometimes-surreal week that followed, he was stripped of his Iowa triumph ? GOP officials there now say Santorum narrowly won ? while former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman dropped out and endorsed Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry quit and backed Gingrich.

Romney responded awkwardly to questions about releasing his income tax returns, and about his investments in the Cayman Islands. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, benefited from two well-received debate performances while grappling with allegations by an ex-wife that he had once asked her for an open marriage so he could keep his mistress.

By primary eve, Romney was speculating openly about a lengthy battle for the nomination rather than the quick knockout that had seemed within his grasp only days earlier.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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`Underworld' sinks teeth into box office with $25M (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Kate Beckinsale is back with a vengeance, with her latest "Underworld" movie opening at No. 1 this weekend.

"Underworld Awakening" made an estimated $25.4, distributor Sony Screen Gems reported Sunday.

This is the fourth film in the vampire action saga. Beckinsale starred in the first two movies as the warrior Selene, then bowed out of part three but returned for this latest installment. "Underworld Awakening" was shown for the first time in 3-D as well as on IMAX screens, where it made $3.8 million. That's 15 percent of the film's weekend gross, which is a record for an IMAX digital-only run.

Sony had hoped the film would end up in the low-$20 million range. But Rory Bruer, the studio's president of worldwide distribution, says the fact that it did even better ? despite a snow storm that hit much of the Midwest and East Coast ? primarily has to do with Beckinsale's return.

"She is such a force. Her character ? you just can't take your eyes off of her. I know the character is very dear to her, as well, and she just kills it," Bruer said. "The 3-D aspect of the film also brings something, makes it a fun, visceral ride."

Opening in second place was "Red Tails" from executive producer George Lucas, about the Tuskegee Airmen who were the first black fighter pilots to serve in World War II. It made an estimated $19.1 million, according to 20th Century Fox, which was well above expectations; the studio had hoped to reach double digits, said Chris Aronson, executive vice president of domestic distribution.

"I believe what George Lucas has stated all along: This is an important story and a story that must be told. It is a true story of American heroism and valor and audiences have really responded to this message," Aronson said. "People want to feel good about themselves, they want to be uplifted. We have enough hard crud going on in this country right now. Times are tough, and if we look back and are told a story of some really fantastic deeds, that's really compelling moviegoing."

Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian said a grass-roots effort to get groups of people into the theaters to see "Red Tails," along with positive word-of-mouth, helped its strong showing. The film saw an uptick from about $6 million on Friday to $8.65 on Saturday.

Overall box office is up 31 percent from the same weekend a year ago, Dergarabedian said, thanks to new releases as well as movies like "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," which had limited runs for awards consideration at the end of 2011 and are now expanding nationwide. The 9/11 drama from Warner Bros., starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, came in fourth place with $10.5 million.

Last week's No. 1 film, the Universal smuggling thriller "Contraband" starring Mark Wahlberg, dropped to the No. 3 spot with $12.2 million. It's now made $46.1 million in two weeks. Meanwhile, Steven Soderbergh's international action picture "Haywire" from Relativity Media, starring mixed martial arts superstar Gina Carano in her first film role, opened in fifth place with $9 million, which was above expectations.

"This is a great, perfect January weekend. You've got these holdover films and newcomers creating an overall marketplace that people are really responding to," Dergarabedian said. "It sounds clich? but this marketplace really has something for everyone."

As for worldwide box office, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1" has now crossed the $700 million mark. The first half of the finale of the girl-vampire-werewolf love triangle franchise has grossed an estimated $701.3 million in global box office receipts since its release last November, according to Lionsgate, which recently acquired Summit Entertainment, which distributes the series.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Underworld Awakening," $25.4 million ($13.4 million international).

2. "Red Tails," $19.1 million.

3. "Contraband," $12.2 million.

4. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," $10.5 million.

5. "Haywire," $9 million.

6. "Beauty and the Beast (3-D)," $8.6 million.

7. "Joyful Noise," $6.1 million.

8. "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol," $5.5 million. ($9.4 million international).

9. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," $4.8 million. ($18.1 million international).

10. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," $3.75 million ($15.7 international).

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," $18.1 million.

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," $15.7 million.

"Underworld Awakening," $13.4 million.

"Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol," $9.4 million international.

"Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," $9.3 million.

"Puss in Boots," $8.7 million.

"Journey 2: The Mysterious Island," $8.2 million.

"War Horse," $7.3 million.

"The Descendants," $6.2 million.

"The Darkest Hour," $5.1 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

AP Movie Writer Christy Lemire can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/christylemire/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_en_mo/us_box_office

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Suddenly 'neck and neck' _ Romney, Gingrich in SC

Ted Grimes, left, of Anderson, S.C., places an I Voted sticker on the coat of his son Sawyer Grimes, 1, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in the Anderson County Voter Registration office, after voting absentee in the Republican presidential primary, in Anderson, S.C. (AP Photo/Anderson Independent-Mail, Ken Ruinard) GREENVILLE OUT SENECA OUT

Ted Grimes, left, of Anderson, S.C., places an I Voted sticker on the coat of his son Sawyer Grimes, 1, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in the Anderson County Voter Registration office, after voting absentee in the Republican presidential primary, in Anderson, S.C. (AP Photo/Anderson Independent-Mail, Ken Ruinard) GREENVILLE OUT SENECA OUT

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, reacts as he arrives to campaign at Harmon Tree Farm in Gilbert, S.C., Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich visits Children's Hospital, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum listens to a question during a radio interview at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Callista Gingrich, wife of Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich reads during a visit to Children's Hospital, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

(AP) ? On the eve of a Southern showdown, Mitt Romney conceded Friday he's in a tight race with Newt Gingrich for Saturday's South Carolina primary in a Republican campaign suddenly turned turbulent.

It's "neck and neck," Romney declared, while a third presidential contender, former Sen. Rick Santorum, swiped at both men in hopes of springing yet another campaign surprise.

Several days after forecasting a Romney victory in his state, Sen. Jim DeMint said the campaign's first Southern primary was now a two-man race between the former Massachusetts governor, who has struggled in recent days with questions about his personal wealth and taxes, and Gingrich, the former House speaker who has been surging in polls after a pair of well-received debate performances.

The stakes were high as Republicans sought a challenger to Democratic President Barack Obama. Television advertising by the candidates and their supporters exceeded $10 million here, much of it spent in the past two weeks, and mailboxes were stuffed with campaign flyers.

In a bit of home-state boosterism, DeMint said the primary winner was "likely to be the next president of the United States."

Indeed, the winner of the state's primary has gone on to capture the Republican nomination each year since 1980.

A victory by Romney would place him in a commanding position heading into the Florida primary on Jan. 31. He and an organization supporting him are already airing television ads in that state, which is one of the country's costliest in which to campaign.

If the former Massachusetts governor stumbles in South Carolina, it could portend a long, drawn-out battle for the nomination stretching well into spring and further expose rifts inside the party between those who want a candidate who can defeat Obama more than anything else, and those whose strong preference is for a solid conservative.

Romney sounded anything but confident as he told reporters that in South Carolina, "I realize that I had a lot of ground to make up and Speaker Gingrich is from a neighboring state, well known, popular ... and frankly to be in a neck-and-neck race at this last moment is kind of exciting."

Left unspoken was that he swept into South Carolina 10 days ago on the strength of a strong victory in the New Hampshire primary and maintained a double-digit lead in the South Carolina polls for much of the week.

Campaigning in Gilbert, S.C., on Friday, Romney demanded that Gingrich release hundreds of supporting documents relating to an ethics committee investigation into his activities while he was speaker of the House in the mid-1990s.

"''Of course he should," he told reporters. Referring to the House Democratic leader, he said, "Nancy Pelosi has the full record of that ethics investigation. You know it's going to get out ahead of the general election."

That was an attempt to turn the tables on Gingrich, who has demanded Romney release his income tax returns before the weekend primary so Republicans can know in advance if they contain anything that could compromise the party's chances against Obama this fall.

Gingrich's campaign brushed off Romney's demand, calling it a "panic attack" brought on by sinking poll numbers.

"Don't you love these guys?" the former speaker said in Orangeburg. "He doesn't release anything. He doesn't answer anything and he's even confused about whether he will ever release anything. And then they decide to pick a fight over releasing stuff?"

In January 1997, Gingrich became the first speaker ever reprimanded and fined for ethics violations, slapped with a $300,000 penalty. He said he'd failed to follow legal advice concerning the use of tax-exempt contributions to advance potentially partisan goals, but he was also cleared of numerous other allegations.

At the same time he fended off a demand on one front Friday, Gingrich was less than eager to face further questions made by his second wife, Marianne, who said in an ABC interview broadcast Thursday night that he had once sought an open marriage so he could keep the mistress who later became his current wife.

He denies the ex-wife's account.

On his final lap through the state, Santorum campaigned as the Goldilocks candidate ? just right for the state's conservative voters.

"One candidate is too radioactive, a little too hot," he said, referring to Gingrich. "And we have another candidate who is just too darn cold, who doesn't have bold plans," he added, speaking of Romney.

His campaign also announced endorsements from conservative leaders in the upcounty portion of the state around Greenville, where the heaviest concentration of evangelical voters lives.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, dismissed Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the fourth contender in the race. "There are four, three of whom have a chance to win the nomination," he said, including himself.

Paul, who finished third in the Iowa caucuses and second in the New Hampshire primary, has had a limited presence in South Carolina.

But he flew to six cities on a burst of campaigning on the race's final day, and drew applause for having returned to Washington, D.C., earlier in the week to vote against Obama's requested increase in the debt limit.

"When you hear the word principle, you think of Ron Paul. He's the embodiment of that," said Derek Smith, a 26-year-old engineer for the Navy in Charleston. "If he were to run as a third-party candidate, I would vote for him unconditionally."

Paul has said he has no intention of doing that.

Interviewed on C-SPAN, Santorum said the race "has just transformed itself in the last 24 hours." It was hard for any of the campaigns to argue with that.

In a bewildering series of events on Thursday, Romney was stripped of his victory in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses by state party officials, who said a recount showed Santorum ahead by 34 votes.

Then came an unexpected withdrawal by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who endorsed Gingrich. But Gingrich was suddenly caught in a controversy caused by his ex-wife's accusations.

At a two-hour debate that capped the day, Gingrich drew applause when he strongly attacked ABC and the "liberal news media" in general for injecting the issue into the final days of the South Carolina campaign.

By contrast, Romney faced a round of boos from the audience when he stuck by earlier statements that he would wait until April to release his tax returns.

Romney has stumbled several times in recent days, including once when he said he paid an effective tax rate of about 15 percent. That's half what many middle-income Americans pay, but it's what the law stipulates because his income derives from investments, which are taxed at a lower rate than wages.

Gingrich posted his own tax returns online during the Thursday debate, reporting he paid 31.5 percent of his income to the IRS.

___

Associated Press writers Charles Babington, Kasie Hunt, Thomas Beaumont, Philip Elliott, Beth Fouhy and Shannon McCaffrey contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-20-US-GOP-Campaign/id-4297ae13326444f1831b12803917446b

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