Romney: Gingrich didn't earn millions as historian (AP)

TAMPA, Fla. ? Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says Newt Gingrich's freshly released contract with mortgage giant Freddie Mac shows that he was not merely a historian as he first suggested.

Romney is charging during Monday night's GOP debate that the former House speaker made millions as an "influence peddler."

Romney says that companies don't spend that much money for history lessons and that Gingrich's time since leaving office has been spent trading on his connections. Gingrich is adamant that he never lobbied.

Gingrich says that his consulting firms made that money, not him personally. He says his annual share was only about $35,000 and that the accusations he lobbied are defamatory and false.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_debate_freddie_mac

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The Case Against Porno Chic

Style and fashion guru Simon Doonan has been railing against what he calls ?porno chic? for some time. And it?s not because he?s a prude. The author of Gay Men Don?t Get Fat tells Slate?s Jacob Weisberg why he has no patience for 6-inch heels, bleach blondes and spray tans.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=98c6e6b29847bd933c53c29b586156cc

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Health benefits of exercise may depend on cellular degradation

ScienceDaily (Jan. 20, 2012) ? The health benefits of exercise on blood sugar metabolism may come from the body's ability to devour itself, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report in the journal Nature.

Autophagy is a process by which a cell responds to starvation and other stresses by degrading damaged or unneeded parts of itself to produce energy. It is sometimes called the cell's housekeeping pathway.

"Exercise is known to have many health benefits but the mechanisms have been unclear. Autophagy is also known to have several health benefits, and these benefits correspond closely to the effects of exercise. We hypothesized that some of the health benefits of exercise might be explained through autophagy," said senior author Dr. Beth Levine, professor of internal medicine and microbiology who leads the Center for Autophagy Research at UT Southwestern.

Dr. Levine, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator at the medical center, decided to focus on one specific health effect of exercise -- the ability of exercise to prevent blood sugar abnormalities in the face of a high-fat diet. Her mouse study provides the first evidence that exercise stimulates autophagy.

The researchers found that mice genetically unable to increase autophagy in response to short-term exercise have decreased endurance and fail to experience the normal benefits of exercise on blood sugar metabolism.

This discovery led the team to investigate whether autophagy is important in the protective effects of chronic exercise on diabetes. A high-fat diet induced diabetes-like changes in blood sugar metabolism in both control mice and in test mice that were genetically unable to increase autophagy above baseline levels, said Dr. Congcong He, lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Levine's lab. However, the researchers found that exercise reversed these blood sugar abnormalities in control mice but not in the autophagy-deficient mice.

"Our finding that exercise fails to improve glucose metabolism in autophagy-deficient mice strongly suggests that autophagy is an important mechanism by which exercise protects against diabetes," said Dr. Levine. "It also raises the possibility that activation of autophagy may contribute to other health benefits of exercise, including protection against cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and aging.

Dr. Levine has made fundamental discoveries previously that are in large part credited for expanding the field of autophagy research. In 1999, she identified the first mammalian autophagy gene, beclin 1, and its link to the suppression of breast cancer, which marked the first discovery of an association between defects in an autophagy gene and a human disease.

She similarly is credited with demonstrating that autophagy functions in innate immunity -- protecting against lethal viral encephalitis -- as well as initially reporting that autophagy plays a role in lifespan extension, shown in a study of C. elegans worms.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Congcong He, Michael C. Bassik, Viviana Moresi, Kai Sun, Yongjie Wei, Zhongju Zou, Zhenyi An, Joy Loh, Jill Fisher, Qihua Sun, Stanley Korsmeyer, Milton Packer, Herman I. May, Joseph A. Hill, Herbert W. Virgin, Christopher Gilpin, Guanghua Xiao, Rhonda Bassel-Duby, Philipp E. Scherer, Beth Levine. Exercise-induced BCL2-regulated autophagy is required for muscle glucose homeostasis. Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature10758

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/R_kD6NoDLrg/120120184528.htm

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AMD A8-3870K

There's good news and less-good news about AMD's new A8-3870K Accelerated Processing Unit (or APU). The good news is that it surpasses its predecessor, the A8-3850, in every way (if only slightly),
and provides overclocking features and performance potential beyond what you may think you can expect from a chip with a $135 (list) price?whether from AMD or Intel. But for all the strides AMD has made since it released the previous APU this past summer, the A8-3870K still can't replace a solid CPU?discrete video card combo for even quasi-serious gamers. But it shows that AMD is taking its Fusion product seriously, and thus hints at more good things to come.

Like the A8-3850, the A8-3870K is based on a 32nm production process and contains four CPU cores and a DirectX 11 (DX11)?supporting Radeon HD 6550D GPU with 400 GPU cores (in roughly the middle budget range of AMD's video products, judging by the previous generation's naming scheme). There's 128KB of L1 cache and 1MB of L2 cache available per core, and the APU supports dual-channel DDR3 memory at speeds of up to 1,866MHz. The A8-3870K of course also requires a motherboard that uses the (relatively) new FM1 socket, based on either AMD's A75 (with enhanced USB 3.0 and SATA III support) or A55 (USB 2.0 and SATA II) chipsets.

One important reminder about the graphics system on the APU: If you have a discrete video card installed, the APU will by default function as the boot-up video adapter, meaning any displays connected to a video card won't work until Windows loads the proper video drivers. This can be annoying if you only have one display, but you can toggle this "feature" in the motherboard's BIOS or UEFI settings. Second, the APU lets you access AMD's new Dual Graphics technology to "combine" the power of a discrete GPU with the integrated graphics; but this only works if both your hardware (the video card must be relatively low-end, and if you're only using one DIMM of memory, the whole thing might not work) and software (you'll need the AMD Vision Engine Control Center running) is correctly configured. Make sure your PC meets all the requirements before trying it out.

The biggest difference between the A8-3850 and the A8-3870K is in terms of the clocks. The CPU core on the newer chip has been bumped up from 2.9GHz to 3GHz, though the GPU clock remains unchanged at 600MHz?but both are now unlocked. This means you may overclock them to your heart's (and your PC's thermal) content, independently of each other, to get as much new performance as you can muster. It's also one of the first genuinely compelling reasons we've seen for enthusiasts (or just wannabes) to consider an APU that, by the broader standards of AMD's product line, is not an exceptional performer.

As we said when we reviewed the A8-3850 last year, Intel doesn't have any products that directly compare with AMD's new APUs in terms of overall capabilities. But if you care about raw processing more than graphics, an Intel platform based on chips like the lower-end Core i3-2100 or the considerably more powerful Core i5-2500K will serve you better. At its stock clock speeds, the A8-3870K represents only a tiny increase over the A8-3850; its multicore CineBench R11.5 score rose from 3.46 to 3.55, it took only six seconds less (5 minutes 12 seconds versus 5 minutes 18 seconds) to apply 12 filters in Adobe Photoshop CS5, cryptography throughput in TrueCrypt 7.0 raised from 106MBps to 109MBps, and its score in our full-system Futuremark PCMark 7 benchmark was functionally unchanged.

Video tests showed similarly small increases, with scores rising from 1,024 to 1,026 in 3DMark 11, frame rates increasing from 6.3 frames per second (fps) to 6.4fps in Lost Planet 2, and frame rates not improving at all in the Heaven Benchmark 2.5 (it remained at 5.5fps both times). These were all at basic resolutions, by the way?the Performance (1,280 by 720) preset for 3DMark 11, and 1,280 by 1,024 for the other two?though we maxed up all the details. By reducing the titles' resolutions or turning down the visual effects, you'll be able to get something much closer to playable frame rates, but you'll be making quite a few sacrifices.

This is where the overclocking comes in, right? Theoretically. We're happy to report that overclocking (when the APU was installed in the Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H motherboard) was a breeze, and being able to separately focus on the CPU and GPU was an enormous frustration reducer. We had very little trouble nudging the GPU clock up from 600MHz to 900MHz and the CPU clock from 3GHz to 3.5GHz, using just a basic air cooler?and AMD tells us that, with more aggressive cooling and fine tuning of voltages, a combo rate of 960MHz/3.8GHz is possible. The A8-3870K offers you a lot of leeway.

But is it worth it? That depends on your point of view. The 3DMark 11 score rose from 1,026 to 1,244, CineBench from 0.90 to 1.04, the Heaven Benchmark from 5.5fps to 6.4fps, Lost Planet 2 from 6.4fps to 7.5fps, PCMark 11 from 2,509 to 2,691, Photoshop times down from 5:12 to 4:36, and TrueCrypt throughput up from 109MBps to 119MBps. (Predictably, load power rose as well, from 134.6 watts to 142.3 watts.) These aren't poor jumps by any stretch of the imagination. But except for those who might be really excited to overclock with such an inexpensive chip, we're not sure they're dazzling enough to set many hearts racing.

Still, the AMD A8-3870K is a fascinating part that shows how serious AMD continues to take the mainstream processor race. Our conclusion with this APU remains the same as with the A8-3850: Though you'll want a standalone video card for any real gaming purposes, AMD's blending of processing and video performance delivers a balance you just can't get from Intel right now. This may change when Intel ships its Ivy Bridge CPUs, which will support advanced DX11 graphics rather than Sandy Bridge's DX10, in a few months. But for now, AMD's Fusion approach is generating the most comforting heat in the midrange market.

More Chipsets & Processors Stories:
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/2pbnTN29974/0,2817,2398957,00.asp

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Jackson: Film saved life of West Memphis 3 suspect

Damien Echols and his wife Lorri Davis, producers of the documentary film "West of Memphis," are interviewed at the premiere of the film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The film uncovers new evidence surrounding the arrest and conviction of three men -- Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. -- for the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Damien Echols and his wife Lorri Davis, producers of the documentary film "West of Memphis," are interviewed at the premiere of the film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The film uncovers new evidence surrounding the arrest and conviction of three men -- Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. -- for the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Damien Echols, left, a producer of the film "West of Memphis," mingles with Mark Byers at the premiere of the documentary film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Echols spent 18 years on death row in Arkansas after being accused, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., of the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys including Byers' son Christopher. In August 2011 the three men were released from prison after entering pleas that allowed them to maintain their innocence, while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Damien Echols, center, a producer of the film "West of Memphis," mingles with Pam Hobbs, left, and Mark Byers at the premiere of the documentary film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Echols spent 18 years on death row in Arkansas after being accused, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., of the murders of three eight-year-old boys including Byers' son Christopher and Hobbs' son Stevie. In August 2011 the three men were released from prison after entering a plea that allowed them to maintain their innocence, while acknowleding that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Amy Berg, left, director and screenwriter of the documentary film "West of Memphis," poses with, from left, producers Damien Echols and his wife Lorri Davis, and producer Peter Jackson at the premiere of the film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The film uncovers new evidence surrounding the arrest and conviction of three men -- Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. -- in the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Damien Echols, left, a producer of the film "West of Memphis," mingles with Mark Byers at the premiere of the documentary film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Echols spent 18 years on death row in Arkansas after being accused, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., of the murders of three eight-year-old boys including Byers' son Christopher. In August 2011 the three men were released from prison after entering pleas that allowed them to maintain their innocence, while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) ? Peter Jackson believes Damien Echols would be dead now if not for a 1996 documentary that cast doubt on the man's guilt in three child murders.

And Amy Berg, Jackson's colleague on the Sundance Film Festival premiere "West of Memphis," believes former Death Row inmate Echols and two other men might still be in prison if not for the independent investigation launched by "The Lord of the Rings" filmmaker and his wife, Fran Walsh.

There's no better testament at Sundance to the power of art and artists than "West of Memphis," which premiered Friday night at Robert Redford's independent-film showcase. Sundance films often come from mavericks who challenge the establishment. "West of Memphis" is a tale of artists not only challenging the system, but also beating it.

Jackson, Walsh and Berg said "West of Memphis" amounts to the fair trial Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley ? known as the West Memphis Three ? never got as Arkansas teenagers when they were convicted in 1994.

"We went into this case believing that they didn't do it, and the facts and the evidence we came out with at the end completely supported that," Jackson said in an interview. "So is the documentary sort of providing the prosecution's point of view? No, it's not. We're not interested in that. They had their go back in 1994. ... The documentary, it's the case against the state, really."

The case was a shocker in the rural Arkansas community where 8-year-old Cub Scouts Michael Moore, Steve Branch and Christopher Byers were slain in 1993. Found naked and hogtied, two of the boys drowned in a drainage ditch, while the third bled to death, his genitals mutilated, evidence prosecutors used to claim the children were killed in a satanic ritual.

The defendants were convicted based in part on a confession Misskelley later recanted. Misskelley and Baldwin were sentenced to life in prison, while Echols was condemned to death and once came within weeks of execution.

The case became a cause after Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's documentary "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," which premiered at Sundance in 1996 and questioned whether justice or misguided public opinion was served in the trial. Over the years, celebrities such as Johnny Depp, Patti Smith, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks joined the effort to free the men.

Jackson and Walsh watched "Paradise Lost" in 2005 and were outraged over the case. From their home base in New Zealand, they got in touch with Lorri Davis, who had met and married Echols while he was on Death Row and was leading the fight to free the men.

"Justice should be beyond popular opinion, and in this case, it wasn't," Walsh said. "The popular opinion was these guys were guilty, therefore, they're going down. It really was a done deal."

Over the next six years, Jackson and Walsh financed their own investigation, hiring forensics experts, gathering DNA evidence and tracking down witnesses to show that the prosecution had convicted innocent men.

"The way Peter and Fran just attacked the case, it made us feel like we had hope for the very first time," Echols, 37, said in an interview alongside Davis.

The hope was well-founded. Helped by evidence Jackson and Walsh's investigation collected, the case seemed headed toward a retrial.

Then last August, both sides agreed to a rare legal maneuver in which Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley entered guilty pleas that allowed them to maintain their innocence and gain their freedom for prison time already served.

Some people in Arkansas, including the family of one of the murdered boys, still believe the three men are guilty. Yet as the years passed, even the families of the other two dead boys became convinced that prosecutors went after the wrong suspects. The mother of one boy and stepfather of another came to Sundance, sharing hugs at the premiere with Echols, who said he's "happy to call them friends now."

Three years into their investigation, Jackson and Walsh contacted director Berg, whose 2006 priest-molestation documentary "Deliver Us from Evil" earned an Academy Award nomination. Berg signed on to direct "West of Memphis," which traces the 18-year history of the case and features interviews with Jackson and many witnesses and experts he and Walsh worked with.

"I would submit this film to court, so that's how strongly I feel about it," said Davis, a producer on the film along with Echols, Jackson and Walsh.

The film also builds a case that a stepfather of one of the murdered boys should be investigated.

Jackson said that without "Paradise Lost," ''Damien would be dead by now, so I do believe that film saved his life. And I'm hoping that our movie goes some way toward exoneration and catching the person that killed those three kids."

Walsh and Jackson stop short of saying their efforts led to the release of Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley. Yet Berg thinks the evidence brought to light by Jackson and Walsh was crucial.

"Without the discovery of the DNA, there's no way that these guys would be walking free, and that came so much from Peter and Fran and their investigation," Berg said.

Since his release, Echols has lived a nomadic life with Davis. He went to New Zealand to visit the set of Jackson and Walsh's upcoming "Lord of the Rings" prequel "The Hobbit" and has been staying with other friends while trying to decide on his future.

Sitting with his arm entwined around Davis', Echols said the hardships he endured were worth it because of the life he now has ahead of him.

"If I had to go through everything I did in the last 18 years to be with Lorri and to be in this situation, no, I wouldn't change it," Echols said. "I would go through it again if it meant being with Lorri."

___

Online:

http://www.sundance.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-21-Film-Sundance-West%20Memphis%20Three/id-a46b1a04ca2f452b9fb43fec3391fdb2

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Video: NPG CEO: We Are in A Gas Bubble

Discussing why he thinks the demand for natural gas will increase, with Ken Hersh, NGP Energy Capital Management CEO.

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Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46071939/

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Why Should We Stop Online Piracy?

Meanwhile, the benefits of forcing copyright holders to compete with free-but-illegal downloads are considerable. I am not, personally, in the habit of infringing on copyrights (though I will cop to some book lending and the fact that my fianc?e and I, like any sensible couple, share Netflix and Hulu subscriptions) but recently have found myself firing up btjunkie.org again. Why? Because the BBC in its infinite wisdom decided to start airing Season 2 of its excellent program Sherlock in the United Kingdom without making it available at any price to Americans. That?s dumb, but until relatively recently it was a universal problem. ?It used to be that studios and labels didn?t make their wares available to people willing to pay for them. That created an underground market for pirated TV shows and music. The pirated market, in turn, pressured the entertainment industry to create legal options such as iTunes and Hulu. The illegal competition is a valuable consumer pressure on the industry.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=3bac416fa5e969bb115b9b102df50b2b

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