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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

I?m the Derider

President Obama holds a news conference in the White House on Monday in Washington, DC.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

At the tail end of Monday?s press conference, the last one of Barack Obama?s first term, a reporter figured out how to trip up the president. Jackie Calmes of the New York Times followed up a string of questions about the debt limit by asking whether the president needed to do more socializing. This theme has weighed heavily on the minds of Washington reporters who study Robert Caro?s LBJ bios and notice when back-slap-happy Joe Biden swoops in and conjures a fiscal deal.

The president struggled to answer. He would pause whenever he wanted to mention, without naming, one of his enemies. ?I think there are a lot of Republicans at this point [most of the Class of 2010] that feel that given how much energy has been devoted in some of the media that?s preferred by Republican constituencies to demonize me [Fox News, talk radio], that it doesn?t look real good, socializing with me.?

He was ready with evidence. ?Charlie Crist, down in Florida, I think, testifies to that,? said the president. ?And a lot of folks think, ?Well, if we look like we?re being too cooperative or too chummy, that might cause problems. That might be an excuse to get a challenge from someone in a primary.? ?

Obama couldn?t have earned less sympathy from Republicans if he?d snuffed out cigarettes in their lattes. To them, Crist is a callow greasy-pole climber who enabled Barack Obama?s $873 billion stimulus spending. None of them regret giving Florida?s U.S. Senate seat to Marco Rubio instead of Crist. This idea that Republicans opposed Crist because he hugged Obama was offensive, trite, and wrong. ?They were upset with him because he hugged the President?s failed [stimulus],? says Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller.

He knows. Obama wrapped up his first term by portraying Republicans as unreliable and craven hostage-takers. He referred to their demands, for spending cuts in proportion to any debt limit increase, as ?ransom.? To talk in those terms, he said, would be a ?negotiation with a gun at the head of the American people.? If Congress wanted to ?give me the authority so that they don?t have to take these tough votes,? it would spare itself some war wounds.

Over the weekend, the Treasury Department finally ruled out the possibility of averting the debt limit fight by minting a platinum coin and counting it as payment on the debt. Some progressives, who?ve been warning that the president lacked leverage, wondered why he kept giving away possible tools. (Paul Krugman said there was a choice between ?two alternatives??the coin or default.)

We have our answer. Obama doesn?t think the Republicans have any leverage at all. Their base wants them to cut spending and default, but their donors will kick the bridle off once things get dicey. ?If John Boehner and Mitch McConnell think that they can come up with a plan that somehow meets [the] criteria that they?ve set,? said Obama, ?they?re free to go ahead and try. But the proposals that they?ve put forward in order to accomplish that only by cutting spending means cuts to things like Medicare and education that the American people profoundly reject.?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=b1e570443f3daf74daf45db7b48eec78

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Facebook unveils new service 'Graph Search'

How you search Facebook is about to change. In fact, just the act of searching Facebook is probably about to start.

Facebook is trying to give Google a run for its money, with a new product called "Graph Search." It turns some of the personal information people have shared on Facebook into a powerful searchable database.

For the social network's 170 million users in the U.S., it's bound to change the way people interact with their Facebook friends. It also could mean lots more time wasted at work.

Facebook allowed ABC News "Nightline" behind the scenes ahead of today's product launch, an event shrouded in secrecy and rife with speculation. Company officials had sent out a tantalizingly vague invitation: "Come and see what we're building."

IMAGES: Screenshots of Graph Search and the offices where it was built

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has long wanted to develop a social search engine, even hinting back in September that one might be in the works. The new feature gives users the ability to easily search across the network and their friends' information. Company officials say they believe it has the potential to transform the way people use Facebook.

Graph Search: What Is It?
Until now, the search bar you saw when you logged in to your Facebook page wasn't very powerful. You could only search for Timelines -- your friends' pages, other peoples' public pages and business or product pages.

But now, after close to a year and a half of development, the new "Graph Search" will allow you to search and discover more about your friends and other information that's been put on the world's largest social site.

Inside the Crucial 24 Hours Before Facebook's Graph Search Launch: Watch Tonight at 12:35 a.m. on ABC News "Nightline"

The new tool, available only to a limited set of U.S. users at first, turns key information that nearly a billion people have shared on the site -- including photos, places, and things they "like" -- into a searchable database tailored to your individual social network.

The new tool allows you to search across your friends' Timelines, without having to go to each of their Timeline pages to find out if they like a specific place or thing.

"I can just type in a short, simple phrase, like friends who like soccer and live nearby," Facebook product manager Kate O'Neill, told ABC News "Nightline" in an exclusive behind-the-scenes interview. "And now I'm getting the exact group of people that I'm looking for, so I can play soccer and ask them if they want to kick the ball around with me after work." O'Neill was able to narrow down the search in a demonstration only to show women.

MORE: Guide to Facebook's New Privacy Settings

The tool can search your friends' publicly shared interests, photos, places and connections. O'Neill showed ABC News how you can search for different musical artists and see which of your friends like them. She also showed how you can search a company and see which of your friends, or friends of your friends, work there. Additionally, you can search for photos of a specific place -- like Big Sur -- and the Graph Search will return images your friends might have taken of the location.

Right now, you can't search for things that were shared in a Timeline post or an event. However, O'Neill confirmed that this would be added to Graph Search later.

Privacy and Opting Out
The new product raises obvious privacy questions. Will personal information now pop up in the Graph Search, even if you never wanted to share it? How about those photos you never wanted to have on Facebook in the first place, or the ones you thought you were sharing only with your close friends?

"[Privacy] is something, of course, we care a lot about, and so from the very beginning we made it so that you can only search for the things that you can already see on Facebook," Tom Stocky, one of the lead Graph Search senior engineers, told "Nightline."

Stocky also pointed ABC News to Facebook's recent privacy tool changes, which allow you better to see what personal information your friends and others can see on Facebook. O'Neill showed the new Activity Log tools as well as the photo "untag" tool, which lets you contact others who might have a photo of you posted that you'd wish they'd take down.

When asked if users can opt out of the new search in general, Stocky said that they can choose to change the privacy settings on each of their pieces of content.

"For every post you shared, there's an option so you can share this publicly, or with friends, or only me. For each item you basically have the control over what audience that's shared with," he said.

Advertising; Taking on Google?
The feature might seem like a simple product addition, but not only has it been in the works since mid-2011, it puts Facebook in a unique position as a search engine competitor to Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft's Bing. However, Facebook says it hopes to provide something entirely different -- something that's more personalized.

"I think the thing that makes this product the most interesting is the content that you have access to," Lars Rasmussen, one of the lead engineers who has worked on the tool since its inception, said. "I think most of the stuff people are going to see again or discover anew is not going to be public, and that's what makes it so new and different from any other product out there."

Rasmussen and Stocky both worked at Google before joining Facebook.

Google itself has tried to get into social search with its Google Plus and Google search integration. But while Google handles over 100 billion search queries a month, a small fraction of its users have embraced its Google Plus social network.

Microsoft took another route with Bing, partnering with Facebook to show relevant Facebook information on the right side of a Bing.com page when you enter a search query. But the success of the Bing site depends on your friends opting in to the social search function.

Like Google and Microsoft, Facebook will likely be able to generate new revenues with search ads.

"You do a search on Google because you have a particular thing that you're after, the ads that they have shown are very compelling," Danny Sullivan, the editor of Search Engine Land, told "Nightline." "And so this already has some of that same monetization. You'll go through and start to do a search, and it's already suggesting in some cases that there's an ad and that there's somebody who's already a match."

But Facebook says that isn't in the immediate plan.

"Right now we are focused squarely on the user experience," O'Neill said. "This product was built for the people who use Facebook, to help them really to take advantage of the information that they've shared with each other. There aren't any ads in the results of Graph Search. We may monetize this further in the future, but we have no immediate plans to do so."

Either way, Facebook is hoping you'll start searching more when the Search Graph begins in a limited test to Facebook's U.S. users starting today.

You can go to facebook.com/graphsearch to get on the waiting list.

Monday, January 14, 2013

The Senate GOP?s internal gun politics

The geographic diversity of the state Senate Republican conference is going to show in its approach to this gun bill.

Republicans have been huddled behind closed doors for over three hours now, discussing the pending legislation. Tom King, head of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, walked in. As did Larry Schwartz, Cuomo?s top secretary.

Members from districts in Upstate America ? like Jim Seward or Tom Libous ? have sizable rural constituencies, while the dozen members from New York City and Long Island have more urban and suburban districts where people take a different view of gun ownership.

?They are caught between a rock and a hard place,? said Steve Greenberg, a spokesman for the Siena Research Institute.

A new survey ? commissioned by Newsday ? shows that Long Islanders? look, generally, with favor on some of the measures being debated. A poll released this weekend found 74 percent of registered voters in Nassau and Suffolk counties ? including 71 percent of self-identified Republicans Republicans ? support a broader definition of an assault weapon.

All nine senators in the Republican delegation are Republicans, including Senate Republican Conference Leader Dean Skelos. Leaders of the Conservative Party have suggested they would look negatively at any GOP senator who supports an expansion of the assault weapons ban, but with such strong poll data downstate, it?s unclear how much effect their threat would have.

GOP senators started this session spooked by the prospect of primaries on their right flank, which were successful in forcing Sens. Roy McDonald and Steve Saland from office. Each man voted to legalize same-sex marriage.

On this vote, though, it?s fair to assume that the 26 mainstream Democrats and five members of the Independent Democratic Conference will vote in favor of the bill. That means only a few Republicans will have to break ranks to ensure passage, or that a number of Upstate members can vote no without endangering the legislation?s chances. Expect a regional split.

So who will the yes votes be? Watch the downstaters, especially Brooklyn Sen. Marty Golden.

?As long as they have enough penalties for the illegal guns, I can be open-minded on working with my Senate and Assembly colleagues,? he said.

Here?s the full Siena poll:

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Source: http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/175830/the-senate-gops-internal-gun-politics/

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New clean nuclear fusion reactor designed

Jan. 14, 2013 ? A researcher at the Universidad polit?cnica de Madrid (UPM) has patented a nuclear fusion reactor by inertial confinement that, apart from be used to generate electric power in plants, can be applied to propel ships.

This invention is the result of a work carried out by the Professor Jos? Luis Gonz?lez D?ez from the Higher Technical School of Naval Engineering of the UPM, who has contributed to solve the problem of contamination risk associated with the generation of nuclear fission power. It is a design of a fusion nuclear reactor by laser ignition of 1000 MWe that uses as fuel hydrogen isotopes that can be extracted from water allowing us a significant saving in fuel.

The nuclear fission is generally considered as a dangerous energy due to its contaminant risks of radioactive waste resulting from the electricity generation process. The past events occurred in Japan after the tsunami of 2011 increased the risk perception of this type of energy generation what has provoked that research on alternative ways to obtain energy have gained more importance than ever.

For years, nuclear fusion was studied as an alternative to nuclear fission because of its remarkable advantages for security and financial issues. However, today, there is not working any fusion reactor to produce continuous electrical energy of high voltage.

As a result of the Project "Fusion Power," the Professor Gonz?lez D?ez designed a prototype of fusion reactor by inertial confinement, of total conversion of material into energy, whose fusion chamber can adapt to the type of fuel that wishes to be used, specially deuterium-tritium, deuterium- deuterium or hydrogen-hydrogen. Therefore, according to the fuel, the size of the chamber can be adapted as well as its shape, the outer and inner equipment, coolants, moderators, shields and equipment of ignition.

This project has also led a design of a modular structure to realize coupling of various fusion reactors, what would allow us to maximize the power production solving the problem of the high current energy demand. Besides, this invention can determinate the features of a fusion reactor for its application in nuclear powered ships.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/electricity/~3/DYrXkPsAHXQ/130114092555.htm

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Police: Arrests made in LA store hostage drama

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Suspects are under arrest following a Southern California department store robbery, during which 14 employees were taken hostage and two of them were attacked, police said.

Sgt. Dennis Beacham told The Associated Press Sunday night that the arrests have been made. But he declined to elaborate, saying an official announcement would be made Monday.

But persons familiar with the investigation told the Los Angeles Times that three people had been arrested, including one on Friday and another on Saturday. The men were not identified and police did not release details.

Investigators had strong evidence linking the men to Thursday's brazen robbery, including physical evidence and security camera video, the Times said. Prosecutors will decide this week whether to file charges.

One employee was stabbed and another was sexually assaulted before the three-hour ordeal ended early Friday at the Nordstrom Rack store at a shopping center near Los Angeles International Airport.

Police officers and SWAT team members swarmed the shopping center that also has restaurants and a movie theater. Officers found most of the hostages locked in a storage room and two others in a bathroom, police said.

The employee who was stabbed was treated and released at the scene, police said.

To help identify the suspects, detectives conducted numerous witness interviews and examined surveillance video from inside and outside Nordstrom Rack as well as from surrounding businesses.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-arrests-made-la-store-hostage-drama-043410821.html

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Champion Djokovic charms Australian Open crowd

El serbio Novak Djokovic juega contra el franc?s Paul-Henri Mathieu al comenzar su participaci?n en el Abierto de Australia el lunes 14 de enero de 2013 en Melbourne. Djokovic venci? a Mathieu al dar un primer paso hacia un tercer t?tulo consecutivo en el Abierto de Australia. (Foto AP/Andrew Brownbill)

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after his first round win over France's Paul-Henri Mathieu at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)

Spain's David Ferrer falls to the court during his first round match against Belgium's Oliver Rochus at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

Spain's David Ferrer makes a forehand return to Belgium's Oliver Rochus during their first round match in the Hisense Arena at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

Russia's Maria Sharapova walks onto Rod Laver Arena for her first round match against compatriot Olga Puchkova at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) ? Novak Djokovic had a big, adoring crowd at Rod Laver Arena, and he knew exactly how to work it.

Writing "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" on a live TV camera lens with a felt-tip pen was the perfect way to sign off after his 15th consecutive win at the Australian Open.

Having the confidence to charm a crowd of thousands comes with experience ? he has won the last two Australian titles and is aiming to be the first man in the Open era to win three in succession.

"Hello, everybody, it's great to be back," he said after his 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 win over Paul-Henri Mathieu of France, his first match at Melbourne Park since his epic five-set win over Rafael Nadal in last year's final. "I have great memories. ... Twelve months ago, played a six-hour final. Thanks for coming and supporting me."

David Ferrer, who took the No. 4 seeding when fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal withdrew because of illness and injury, had only a couple of hundred people watching in cavernous Hisense Arena on Day One at Melbourne Park. He opened with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Olivier Rochus of Belgium.

Ferrer knows that without his compatriot in the draw, there's a semifinal spot up for grabs, but he's content to stay under the radar.

"Of course, Novak, Roger and Rafael and Murray ? they've won Grand Slams. It's very difficult for (another) player to win the first Grand Slam of his career. For me, I am trying to do my best."

The four majors in 2012 were shared by Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, the Scotsman who finally ended the 76-year drought for British men at the Grand Slam events by winning the U.S. Open. With Nadal out, the so called 'Big 4' has become the 'Big 3,' with nobody else in the top 10 given a realistic chance of winning.

Djokovic doesn't have another Grand Slam winner in his half of the draw after his Serbian Davis Cup teammate Janko Tipsarevic ousted Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt, a former U.S. Open and Wimbledon winner, in a night match.

"If you want my opinion, it's that the top four, they are better," Ferrer said. "The last years, they were in all the semifinals and finals."

Federer, who has four Australian titles among his 17 majors, and Murray, who broke his Grand Slam drought by winning the U.S. Open, have their first-round matches Tuesday in what shapes as a blockbuster day session at Rod Laver Arena.

Murray is against Robin Haase in the first match and Federer is against Benoit Paire of France in the third ? women's champion Victoria Azarenka takes in Monica Niculescu of Romania in between.

Congestion on center court means Serena Williams, the big favorite to win the women's title, will play her first-round match at Hisense Arena against Romania's Edina Gallovits-Hall, who is ranked No. 110.

Williams had a good look at the setting Monday, sitting in the stands with her coach Patrick Mouratoglou to watch older sister Venus win her opening match.

Serena, who is ranked No. 3 and has won 35 of her last 36 matches including titles at Wimbledon, the Olympics and the U.S. Open, had left long before Ferrer was to play the third match at Hisense.

The 30-year-old Spaniard drew polite applause rather than raucous cheering from the small crowd in a match punctuated by long periods of silence.

The second of the main courts at Melbourne Park can be eerily quiet when empty. It didn't bother Ferrer that there was only a smattering of fans and red-and-yellow Spanish flags.

Ferrer is a four-time Grand Slam semifinalist. He's a practical technician who became a multimillionaire through tennis. But he's clearly no Nadal, who can rage like a bull on court.

"Rafael is more important because he is the best of the history of Spanish players," Ferrer said. "Rafael is very important for the tour and for everybody. Anyway, he's a ... very good friend for me. Of course, we miss him. Not just me, everybody."

Fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych reached the 2010 Wimbledon final and beat Federer in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open before losing to Murray.

He beat American Michael Russell 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 in his opening match Monday, and was content to let the top three men have all the attention.

"I would say it's maybe even better for myself," he said. "I mean, let's leave all the pressure on them. You know, everybody's talking how many Grand Slams this guy can win, that one."

Four American men advanced Monday, led by No. 20 Sam Querrey, the highest-ranked U.S. man in the tournament after John Isner pulled out with an injury. Querry beat Daniel Munoz-de la Nava of Spain 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Brian Baker fended off Russia's Alex Bogomolov Jr. 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-7 (0), 3-6, 6-2; Tim Smyczek beat Croatia's Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 7-6 (5), 7-5; and Ryan Harrison's reward for beating Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 was a second-round match against Djokovic.

Among the other men's seeds advancing were No. 10 Nicolas Almagro, No. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka, No. 16 Kei Nishikori and No. 22 Fernando Verdasco, a semifinalist in Australia in 2009.

No. 11 Juan Monaco of Argentina lost to Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-1.

Tipsarevic thought he had to overcome the most difficult challenge of the day. Australia's Hewitt, a two-time major winner and former No. 1, was playing his 17th consecutive Australian Open.

"Lleyton Hewitt is as tough as it gets for a first round Australian Open, first Grand Slam of the year," he said. "With all the respect to all the other guys who are potential threats, I think this is as tough as it gets, knowing that he plays really good tennis here, knowing that he won Kooyong last week," he said. "I cannot tell you how happy that I am."

The first two women's matches were over quickly, with No. 2-ranked Maria Sharapova finishing off a 6-0, 6-0 win over Olga Puchkova in 55 minutes. She showed no signs of discomfort from a right collarbone injury that ruled her out of a tuneup tournament in Brisbane.

Sharapova has a potential third-round match against Venus Williams, who needed just an hour for her opening 6-1, 6-0 win over Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan.

No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 6 Li Na, No. 9 Samantha Stosur, No. 11 Marion Bartoli and No. 13 Ana Ivanovic all won in straight sets, and 17-year-old American Madison Keys joined them in the second round when she beat Casey Dellacqua of Australia 6-4, 7-6 (0).

Venus Williams missed the 2012 Australian Open. She is returning from a seven-month layoff because of Sjogren's syndrome, an illness that causes joint pain and fatigue.

"It's hard to play the first match in a major, first thing of the year, and that can be a lot of pressure," Williams said. "I did my best."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-14-TEN-Australian-Open/id-67606997bb69489ca4f61ff11ee69c6e

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