Kenya says Somalia rebels on the run (Reuters)

NAIROBI/MOGADISHU (Reuters) ? Kenya said Somalia's al Shabaab militants were on the run after it deployed more troops and struck rebel targets by air to secure its border from rebels Nairobi accuses of kidnapping foreigners on its soil.

But in the Somali capital Mogadishu, the al Qaeda-linked militants have been putting up stiff resistance against African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM) and government troops who in August had driven the rebels out of most of the city.

Kenyan troops stormed the Somali border six days ago to oust the militants who they say have taken several foreigners hostage in recent weeks, threatening Kenya's reputation as a relatively safe investment and tourism destination.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said Nairobi was making gains against the insurgents in southern Somalia.

"We've made tremendous progress and al Shabaab are definitely on the run. They are also looking weaker by the day," he told reporters late on Friday after an emergency meeting of regional group IGAD in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

Witnesses said on Friday that armoured vehicles and trucks carrying weaponry, food supplies and tents were seen leaving four military camps in Isiolo in northern Kenya and heading toward the border.

"The whole area is like a warzone. It's like the whole of our military is going to Somalia," said Ali Barre, a resident at Diff village in Wajir south, near the Kenyan-Somali border.

Residents in the southern Somali town of Afmadow, where the rebels have hunkered down, said they heard air strikes overnight.

"There are al Shabaab fighters between Hayo and Afmadow and currently it is a frontline," Afmadow resident Abdirahim Ali Abukar told Reuters.

"We heard heavy bombardments yesterday afternoon and throughout the night ... but we don't know the specific area and the casualties," he said.

A Somali colonel confirmed "bombardment operations" had taken place after heavy rain hampered the ground troops' advance.

"Today we have killed eight al Shabaab fighters, including four foreigners in a bombardment in Kolbio," Yusuf Abdi told Reuters, referring to a town just taken by Kenyan troops, along with the town of Oddo.

On Saturday, the Kenyan military said it had moved beyond Oddo and that it had launched an air strike on Munarani, 10 km away from Oddo, hitting an al Shabaab command center.

"We've not encountered any resistance in the towns we secured so far. We are very keen in reducing the effectiveness of al Shabaab in using their weapons," military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir told Reuters.

Kenya is the latest of Somalia's neighbours to intervene militarily in a country that has not had an effective government for the last 20 years and where al Shabaab's presence has had serious security repercussions on the region.

Regional group IGAD expressed its support for Kenya's operation in Somalia and urged the U.N. Security Council to impose a no-fly zone on parts of Somalia and a blockade on Kismayu, the southern port city that serves as the rebels' nerve center.

SHABAAB CLAIMS VICTORY

In Mogadishu, the rebels launched a counter-attack late on Friday in the Daynile district, the scene of a battle on Thursday in which AMISOM said at least 10 of its soldiers had been killed.

Senior Somali and Burundian military officials have also said some soldiers are missing from that battle, indicating the toll could be higher.

Some 9,000 soldiers from Burundi and Uganda make up AMISOM and the force commander has called for an increase in troops to be able to fully secure Mogadishu.

Al Shabaab say they have killed more than 70 peacekeepers and displayed their corpses in uniform to journalists on Thursday. The AU force dismissed it as propaganda.

On Saturday the rebels took journalists around parts of Daynile district that it still controlled and displayed an anti-aircraft gun mounted on a pickup truck they said they seized from government and AU forces in the fighting.

"I would like to congratulate the Shabaab mujahideen fighters who showed courage and bravery in the fight against AMISOM, particularly the last historic conflict in Daynile in which dozens of AU invaders were massacred," al Shabaab leader Sheikh Abu Zubeyr told the militants' radio station Al Andalus on Saturday.

Since being forced out of Mogadishu months ago, the militants have managed to carry out attacks against government institutions, raising concerns about AMISOM's and the Western-backed government's failure to secure the capital.

(Additional reporting by Humphrey Malalo in Nairobi; Mohamed Ahmed, Sahra Abdi and Feisal Omar in Mogadishu; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111022/wl_nm/us_kenya_somalia

top gun kat von d the talk its always sunny in philadelphia free agents free agents americas got talent winner

Shock image tolerance rises with Internet pressure

The threshold for publishing gruesome images like those of Muammar Gaddafi's death is falling as the Internet and social media make many of the editorial decisions that used to be left to a small group of professional journalists.

The shaky video footage of Gaddafi's last moments was such a dramatic end to Libya's months-long struggle against its former dictator that many television stations around the world rushed to broadcast much of what they received.

Newspapers followed up on Friday morning, some splashing graphic photos of the bloodied former Libyan leader across their front pages while others opted for pictures of victorious anti-Gaddafi troops or file shots of Gaddafi in his heyday.

  1. Most popular

    1. Doomsday forecast fizzles out ... again
    2. Who killed Gadhafi? Conflicting stories emerge
    3. Lohan late, turned away on first day at morgue
    4. Libya celebrates the death of Gadhafi
    5. Father shot by son's killer vows to hunt down gunman

Showing images of a person in the throes of death used to be a newsroom taboo, but even this is now giving way under the pressure of instant Internet publishing and ? thanks to camera phones ? the increasing availability of strong news footage.

"Over the past 10 years, whatever your society's standards were, they're notching toward more gruesome images," said Kelly McBride, ethics expert at the Poynter Institute journalism training center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Story: Battle over body delays Gadhafi's burial

In many cases, she said, news organizations now deal mostly with the question of how to publish a graphic but newsworthy picture rather than whether they should run it at all.

"News editors are very aware that these images are available anyway," said Ivor Gaber, professor of political journalism at City University in London.

Historic images
Steven Barrett, professor of communications at London's Westminster University, said there was no doubt the images would be used. "This was a momentous event in world history," he said. Showing it was "not just to boost ratings."

Showing the footage was especially important in Libya and the Middle East, since the lack of such photographic proof of Osama bin Laden's death prompted many people in the region to ask whether the al Qaeda leader had really been killed.

"I doubt the vast majority of Libyans, and possibly the populace in the region, will raise any objections to the images," said Hayat Alvi, professor of Middle East studies at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

Many television stations in Europe and the United States prefaced their broadcast of the Gaddafi death videos with a clear warning that disturbing images were about to be shown.

The main stations in Spain and Belgium gave no warnings, while the German channel ZDF showed a few images in its main evening news broadcast and then said: "There are others we don't want to show ? it's a question of human dignity."

European and United States newspaper front pages on Friday morning showed even wider differences in the way the print media handled those images.

No major U.S. newspapers ran pictures of the dying Gaddafi on their front pages. Of the 424 newspapers surveyed by Newseum, a Washington journalism museum, only about two dozen had page one images of him near or after death.

By contrast, London's Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Sun splashed grim photos across their front pages. The Guardian website balanced that with an op-ed piece entitled "Even Muammar Gaddafi deserved a private death."

Milan's Corriere della Sera printed a photo of the dead Gaddafi, blood trickling down his bare chest. De Morgen in Brussels covered its tabloid front page with a shot of him in agony, near death, with the quote "the people love me."

German newspapers were more discreet than ZDF television, showing few bloody images of the former dictator. French front pages seemed evenly divided between discretion and disrespect.

Le Monde in Paris printed a small black-and-white photo on its second page of Gaddafi's half-naked corpse displayed in Misrata, while Madrid's El Pais displayed the same shot large and in full color on its front page.

Rising tolerance for gruesome images
"Tolerance for gruesome images is going up because more people search for them on the Internet than we would have expected," McBride said. "So when it's delivered to them by a publication, they don't have the same righteous indignation."

Still, she said, the main check on media from publishing shocking pictures is the backlash from their audiences.

"U.S. audiences have the least tolerance for graphic images," she said, despite the high level of violence they accept in entertainment films. "It's a weird paradox."

While all the media experts said editors had to consider a mix of factors when deciding whether to run an explicitly violent image, Barnett stressed the key factor in any ethical assessment was the editor's intent in publishing it.

"If it's just to gratify, to maximize shock and horror, it's unacceptable," he said.

McBride, who often gets urgent calls from editors on deadline asking for ethical advice, said she gives them a rough checklist of the issues to consider before publishing.

They should ask what the news value of the picture is, whether it will in any way harm to the publication's audience and whether the publication can find alternative material to publish with fewer ethical concerns.

"There is so much that changes from one story to the next that it's hard to write rules for how to treat these images," she said. "Newsrooms have to go through this questioning process and figure it out for themselves."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44993860/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

rex ryan kenya entourage season 8 entourage season 8 avignon asn dukan diet

Plants feel the force

Friday, October 21, 2011

"Picture yourself hiking through the woods or walking across a lawn," says Elizabeth Haswell, PhD, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. "Now ask yourself: Do the bushes know that someone is brushing past them? Does the grass know that it is being crushed underfoot? Of course, plants don't think thoughts, but they do respond to being touched in a number of ways."

"It's clear," Haswell says, "that plants can respond to physical stimuli, such as gravity or touch. Roots grow down, a 'sensitive plant' folds its leaves, and a vine twines around a trellis. But we're just beginning to find out how they do it," she says.

In the 1980s, work with bacterial cells showed that they have mechanosensitive channels, tiny pores in the cells membrane that open when the cell bloats with water and the membrane is stretched, letting charged atoms and other molecules to rush out of the cell. Water follows the ions, the cell contracts, the membrane relaxes, and the pores close.

Genes encoding seven such channels have been found in the bacterium Escherichia coli and 10 in Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant related to mustard and cabbage. Both E. coli and Arabidopsis serve as model organisms in Haswell's lab.

She suspects that there are many more channels yet to be discovered and that they will prove to have a wide variety of functions.

Recently, Haswell and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology, who are co-principal investigators on an National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to analyze mechanosensitive channels, wrote a review article about the work so far in order to "get their thoughts together" as they prepared to write the grant renewal. The review appeared in the Oct. 11 issue of Structure.

Swelling bacteria might seem unrelated to folding leaflets, but Haswell is willing to bet they're all related and that mechanosensitive ion channels are at the bottom of them all. After all, plant movements ? both fast and slow ? are ultimately all hydraulically powered; where ions go the water will follow.

Giant E. coli cells

The big problem with studying ion channels has always been their small size, which poses formidable technical challenges.

Early work in the field, done to understand the ion channels whose coordinated opening and closing creates a nerve impulse, was done in exceptionally large cells: the giant nerve cells of the European squid, which had projections big enough to be seen with the unaided eye.

Experiments with these channels eventually led to the development of a sensitive electrical recording technique known as the patch clamp that allowed researchers to examine the properties of a single ion channel. Patch clamp recording uses as an electrode a glass micropipette that has an open tip. The tip is small enough that it encloses a "patch" of cell membrane that often contains just one or a few ion channels.

Patch clamp work showed that there were many different types of ion channels and that they were involved not just in the transmission of nerve impulses but also with many other biological processes that involve rapid changes in cells.

Mechanosensitive channels were discovered when scientists started looking for ion channels in bacteria, which wasn't until the 1980s because ion channels were associated with nerves and bacteria weren't thought to have a nervous system.

In E. coli, the ion channels are embedded in the plasma membrane, which is inside a cell wall, but even if the wall could be stripped away, the cells are far too small to be individually patched. So the work is done with specially prepared giant bacterial cells called spherophlasts.

These are made by culturing E. coli in a broth containing an antibiotic that prevents daughter cells from separating completely when a cell divides. As the cells multiply, "snakes" of many cells that share a single plasma membrane form in the culture. "If you then digest away the cell wall, they swell up to form a large sphere," Haswell says.

Not that spheroplasts are that big. "We're doing most of our studies in Xenopus oocytes (frog eggs), whose diameters are 150 times bigger than those of spheroplasts," she says.

Three mechanosensitive channel activites

To find ion channels in bacteria, scientists did electrophysiological surveys of spheroplasts. They stuck a pipette onto the spheroplast and applied suction to the membrane as they looked for tiny currents flowing across the membrane.

"What they found was really amazing," Haswell says. "There were three different activities that are gated (triggered to open) only by deformation of the membrane." (They were called "activities" because nobody knew their molecular or genetic basis yet.)

The three activities were named mechanosensitive channels of large (MscL), small (MscS) and mini (MscM) conductance. They were distinguished from one another by how much tension you had to introduce in order to get them to open and by their conductance.

One of the labs working with spheroplasts was led by Ching Kung, PhD, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The MscL protein was identified and its gene was cloned in 1994 by Sergei Sukharev, PhD, then a member of Kung's lab. His tour-de-force experiment, Haswell says, involved reconstituting fractions of the bacterial plasma membrane into synthetic membranes (liposomes) to see whether they would confer large-channel conductance.

In 1999, the gene encoding MscS was identified in the lab of Ian Booth, PhD, at the University of Aberdeen. Comparatively, little work has been done on the mini channel, which is finicky and often doesn't show up, Haswell says, though a protein contributing to MscM activity was recently identified by Booth's group.

Once both genes were known, researchers did knockout experiments to see what happened to bacteria that didn't have the genes needed to make the channels. What they found, says Haswell, was that if both the MscL and MscS genes were missing, the cells could not survive "osmotic downshock," the bacterial equivalent of water torture.

"The standard assay," Haswell says, "is to grow the bacteria for a couple of generations in a very salty broth, so that they have a chance to balance their internal osmolyte concentration with the external one." (Osmolytes are molecules that affect osmosis, or the movement of water into and out of the cell.) "They do this," she says, "by taking up osmolytes from the environment and by making their own."

"Then," she says, "you take these bacteria that are chockfull of osmolytes and throw them into fresh water. If they don't have the MscS and MscL proteins that allow them to dump ions to avoid the uncontrolled influx of water, they don't survive." It's a bit like dumping saltwater fish into a freshwater aquarium.

Why are there three mechanosenstivie channel activities? The currently accepted model, Haswell says is that the channels with the smaller conductances are the first line of defense. They open early in response to osmotic shock so that the channel of large conductance, through which molecules the cell needs can escape, doesn't open unless it is absolutely necessary. The graduated response thus gives the cell its best chance for survival.

Crystallizing the proteins

The next step in this scientific odyssey, figuring out the proteins' structures, also was very difficult. Protein structures are traditionally discovered by purifying a protein, crystallizing it out of a water solution, and then bombarding the crystal with X-rays. The positions of the atoms in the protein can be deduced from the X-ray diffraction pattern.

In a sense crystallizing a protein isn't all that different from growing rock candy from a sugar solution, but, as always, the devil is in the details. Protein crystals are much harder to grow than sugar crystals and, once grown, they are extremely fragile. They even can even be damaged by the X-ray probes used to examine them.

And to make things worse MscL and MscS span the plasma membrane, which means that their ends, which are exposed to the periplasm outside the cell and the cytoplasm inside the cell, are water-loving and their middle sections, which are stuck in the greasy membrane, are repelled by water. Because of this double nature it is impossible to precipitate membrane proteins from water solutions.

Instead the technique is to surround the protein with what have been characterized as "highly contrived detergents," that protect them ? but just barely ? from the water. Finding the magical balance can take as long as a scientific career.

The first mechanosensitive channel to be crystallized was MscL?not the protein in E. coli but the analogous molecule (a homolog) from the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. This work was done in the lab of one of Haswell's co-authors, Douglas C. Rees a Howard Hughes investigator at the California Institute of Technology.

MscS from E. coli was crystallized in the Rees laboratory several years later, in 2002, and an MscS protein with a mutation that left it stuck in the presumed open state was crystallized in the Booth laboratory in 2008. "So now we have two crystal structures for MscS and two (from different bacterial strains) for MscL," Haswell says.

Of plants and mutants

Up to this point, mechanosensitive channels might not seem all that interesting because the lives of bacteria are not of supreme interest to us unless they are making us ill.

However, says, Haswell, in the early 2000s, scientists began to compare the genes for the bacterial channels to the genomes of other organisms and they discovered that there are homologous sequences not just in other bacteria but also in some multicellular organisms, including plants.

"This is where I got involved," she says. "I was interested in gravity and touch response in plants. I saw these papers and thought these homologs were great candidates for proteins that might mediate those responses."

"There are 10 MscS-homologs in Arabidopsis and no MscL homologs," she says. "What's more, different homologs are found not just in the cell membrane but also in chloroplast and mitochondrial membranes. "

The chloroplast is the light-capturing organelle in a plant cell and the mitochondria is its power station; both are thought to be once-independent organisms that were engulfed and enslaved by cells which found them useful. Their membranes are vestiges of their free-living past.

The number of homologs and their locations in plant cells suggests these channels do much more than prevent the cells from taking on board too much water.

So what exactly were they doing? To find out Haswell got online and ordered Arabidopsis seeds from the Salk collection in La Jolla, Calif., each of which had a mutation in one of the 10 channel genes.

From these mutants she's learned that two of the ten channels control chloroplast size and proper division as well as leaf shape. Plants with mutations in these two MscS channel homologs have giant chloroplasts that haven't divided properly. The monster chloroplasts garnered her lab the cover of the August issue of The Plant Cell.

"We showed that bacteria lacking MscS and MscL don't divide properly either,"Haswell says, "so the link between these channels and division is evolutionarily conserved."

The big idea

But Haswell and her co-authors think they are only scratching the surface. "We are basing our understanding of this class of channels on MscS itself, which is a very reduced form of the channel," she says. "It's relatively tiny."

"But we know that some of the members of this family have long extensions that stick out from the membrane either outside or inside the cell. We suspect this means that the channels not only discharge ions, but that they also signal to the whole cell in other ways. They may be integrated into common signaling pathways, such as the cellular osmotic stress response pathway.

We think we may be missing a lot of complexity by focusing too exclusively on the first members of this family of proteins to be found and characterized," she says. "We think there's a common channel core that makes these proteins respond to membrane tension but that all kinds of functionally relevant regulation may be layered on top of that."

"For example," she says, "there's a channel in E. coli that's closely related to MscS that has a huge extension outside the cell that makes it sensitive to potassium. So it's a mechanosensitive channel but it only gates in the presence of potassium. What that's important for, we don't yet know, but it tells us there are other functions out there we haven't studied."

What about the sensitive plant?

So are these channels at the bottom of the really fast plant movements like the sensitive plant's famous touch shyness? (To see a movie of this and other "nastic" (fast) movements, go to the Plants in Motion site maintained by Haswell's colleague Roger P. Hangartner of Indiana University).

Haswell is circumspect. "It's possible," she says. "In the case of Mimosa pudica there's probably an electrical impulse that triggers a loss of water and turgor in cells at the base of each leaflet, so these channel proteins are great candidates.

###

Washington University in St. Louis: http://www.wustl.edu

Thanks to Washington University in St. Louis for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 1314 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114530/Plants_feel_the_force_

navy football navy football 50/50 50/50 dreamhouse pan am susan g komen

Rams rule out QB Bradford for game against Cowboys (AP)

ST. LOUIS ? The St. Louis Rams have ruled out quarterback Sam Bradford for this week's game at Dallas.

Bradford has a high left ankle sprain and did not practice all week. He had been listed as questionable before Saturday, when the winless Rams also signed quarterback Tom Brandstater from the practice squad.

The Rams also waived wide receiver Nick Miller.

Bradford was hurt near the end of last week's loss at Green Bay.

A.J. Feeley will start against the Cowboys.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111022/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_rams_bradford_out

stoma stoma money ball bill cunningham vladimir putin vladimir putin rampage jackson

FRANK THOMAS 4X6 Baseball Plaque w/RC card ENGRAVED

Description

I have for sale a??

FRANK THOMAS 4X6 Baseball Plaque w/RC card ENGRAVED

Rookie card is a 1990 Topps #1 Draft Pick #414

?

will come with tracking info.

Please be sure to check out all my other cards for sale

please contact me if you have any questions

?

?

Source: http://yardsellr.com/for_sale/frank-thomas-4x6-baseball-plaque-wrc-card-engraved-1052264

alyssa campanella alyssa campanella chad ochocinco nbc dr phil squash paul krugman

Smashing pumpkins: Show us your MMA carved pumpkins

Artist Ray Villafane created a pumpkin that reminds me of MMA's best punch-faces.

Smashing pumpkins: Show us your MMA carved pumpkins

That is an impressive work of art, particularly the flying pumpkin teeth. Could you do any better?

Here's the challenge. Create an MMA-inspired pumpkin and post it on the Cagewriter Facebook page. It can be a fighter, a fight, a logo, whatever. It just needs to be obviously related to mixed martial arts and made from a pumpkin, and not obscene, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate. We will award the best ones DVDs, fight programs and whatever else we can pull from the Cagewriter prize closet.

Read on to see some inspiration from recent fights via photographer Tracy Lee, or look through a collection of Cagewriter's exclusive pictures.

Smashing pumpkins: Show us your MMA carved pumpkins

Nam Phan and Leonard Garcia at UFC 136

Smashing pumpkins: Show us your MMA carved pumpkins

Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar at UFC 136

Smashing pumpkins: Show us your MMA carved pumpkins

Chris Lytle and Dan Hardy at UFC on Versus 5.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Smashing-pumpkins-Show-us-your-MMA-carved-pumpk?urn=mma-wp8429

black eyed peas central park occupy wallstreet occupy wallstreet tony bennett pumpkins pumpkins occupy wall st

Collection Communications Log for Tracking Debt Collection Calls ...

Post image for Collection Communications Log for Tracking Debt Collection Calls

When dealing with a debt collector, you must take careful notes of all communications. If you have to prove you made an agreement, or that the collector violated your rights, you cannot rely on the debt collector?s notes, which are usually cryptic, incomplete, and self-serving.

You should also record your phone calls, if you can. Recordings are the best proof, but notes are essential whether or not you record.

This collection log will help you keep track of collection communications.

How to use the communications log

The collection communications log (PDF) is meant to help you track all collection communications. Include letters, emails, phone calls, faxes, Facebook messages, text messages, and any other communications. You should try to build an accurate, detailed, chronological record of what happened.

First, try to reconstruct everything that has already happened. Write down all the calls, letters, etc., to date. For calls, write down as much as you can remember, and try to get the dates right. If you aren?t sure about the dates, get as close as you can (?the beginning of March,? for example, is better than a blank).

In the notes column, try to write down exactly what you said and exactly what the collector said. Do your best. The space on the call log is probably not enough, but you can use extra lines or sheets of paper if you need to.

From now on, keep the log next to your phone. The columns will help you get the information you need, and taking notes while you are on the phone?or right afterward?is the best way to make sure you get an accurate record.

Preserving other communications records

If you have voicemails on your phone, use the same methods outlined in Step 3 or our guide to recording phone calls to transfer the voicemails to your computer. Most voicemail services automatically delete messages after a certain period of time, so you need to save what you have in case you need it later.

For cell phone call logs and text messages, either export them, if your phone allows it, or take a screenshot of the logs or messages and save the screenshots to your computer (on an iPhone, press the power and home buttons at the same time; on an Android phone, you?ll need to jump through a few hoops, at least until version 4.0 rolls out).

Keep copies of letters, emails, and any other communications. Note them on the collection communications log, too, and keep them together in a safe place.

When to talk to a lawyer

If you think a collector is violating an agreement you made, or if you think a collector is abusing you, assemble your notes and contact a consumer lawyer in your state for help.

Related posts:

Source: http://caveatemptorblog.com/collection-communications-log-debt-collection-calls/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=collection-communications-log-debt-collection-calls

work of art iphone update iphone update blackberry outage blackberry outage seal beach ca seal beach

Cards, Rangers looking for hits in World Series

Albert Pujols

By BEN WALKER

updated 8:43 a.m. ET Oct. 22, 2011

ARLINGTON, Texas - Nelson Cruz, Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton got plenty of hits to put their teams into the World Series.

Now that they're here, the big-bopping trio has become a virtual zero. A combined 1 for 19, held to a mere single by Cruz.

The rest of the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers haven't done much better while splitting the first two games.

So far, a total of just eight runs. The last time there were fewer through the opening two games at a Series? Try 1950, when Joe DiMaggio and the New York Yankees combined with Philadelphia for four.

"A lot of people thought this was going to be an offensive World Series," Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus observed before Friday's workout.

Blame the slump on a few factors: raw weather at Busch Stadium, good pitching and, perhaps most significantly, hitters facing arms they've never seen before.

Both teams have flailed away at the plate, chasing sliders and curves that bounced, shattering bats and seeming to guess wrong on what pitches were coming next.

"We need to give good at-bats and get deeper and quit swinging at balls out of the strike zone," Mike Napoli said.

Napoli has hit the lone home run of the Series. He connected off Chris Carpenter, but maybe he had an edge ? Napoli had been 3 for 3 lifetime against the Cardinals ace going into Game 1.

The hitting woes are a repeat for the Rangers. They batted .190 last season when they lost the World Series in five games to San Francisco.

"Those Giants pitchers, they were awfully good," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "When a pitcher is on, you just don't have any offense. It's a testament to the first two games in this Series."

Fresh off their two-run rally in the ninth inning and a 2-1 win in Game 2, the Rangers start Matt Harrison on Saturday night at Rangers Ballpark. Kyle Lohse will pitch for the Cardinals.

"It's a tough place to pitch, especially when you see those flags blowing in. It usually means that jet stream is going to right-center," Lohse said. "I think everyone in the league knows that."

Each team adds a designated hitter, with the AL rule in effect at Texas. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa will make Lance Berkman the DH and put Allen Craig ? already with a pair of key pinch-hit RBI singles ? in right field.

The Rangers will likely use Michael Young at DH, move Napoli to first base and put Yorvit Torrealba at catcher.

At this point, it might take more than a wind tunnel to help the hitters.

Texas is batting only .186, St. Louis is stuck at .203. Hamilton and Pujols are hitless, and Cruz has been held to a mere single after tearing through the AL championship series.

On Friday, Cruz gave the Hall of Fame the bat he used to hit a grand slam in the ALCS. It was cracked ? maybe Texas and St. Louis need new timber, too.

It seemed fitting that when Texas scored those two runs Thursday night to even the Series, both crossed on sacrifice flies.

Each team has scored four runs overall. Back in 1983, Baltimore and Philadelphia also combined for eight through two games ? it's more than 60 years since the total was lower than this October.

"I think honestly we got out of our approach a little bit, maybe a little over aggressive trying to create things that necessarily weren't there," said Ian Kinsler, whose bloop single and daring steal keyed the Texas comeback. "If we can just relax and play our style of baseball, let the game come to us, we'll be all right."

Rangers outfielder David Murphy hopes it plays out that way, eventually.

"It's the World Series. We're going to face a guy tomorrow that most of us have never faced, if at all. Game 4 is a little different because Edwin Jackson has been in the American League enough to where most of us have probably faced him," he said.

"I feel like just watching the first two games, offensively, it's just a matter of who is going to make adjustments on the fly. We're facing their guys that we've never before and it's the same thing on their side. The pitching performances have been good, but we have confidence in our offense to put up runs, as well," he said.

So does Texas hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh. He was promoted from the Triple-A job when Thad Bosley was fired two months into his first year with the team.

Coolbaugh watched Young swing through strike three from Jaime Garcia in Game 2, then saw Adrian Beltre wave at a couple of low off-speed deliveries.

"I think it was evident that some of our guys were seeing someone for the first time," Coolbaugh said. "You can watch all the video you want and read all the scouting reports. But when you step into that batter's box, it all looks different."

Coolbaugh, however, was not surprised when the Rangers put together better at-bats in the ninth against Jason Motte and the St. Louis bullpen.

"That was two days in a row that we were seeing their relievers. The more we see them, the better off we'll be," he said.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


advertisement

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44995376/ns/sports-baseball/

mario manningham mario manningham holes tony romo houston texans houston texans courageous

Sponsored By:

We were unable to forward you to the advertisement you clicked on.

The likely cause for this is that your browser, feed reader, or email application is configured to not accept cookies, or your reader may launch an external browser to view links without sharing cookies.

  • If you're using Internet Explorer, make sure your privacy setting is at medium or below.
    • Select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu in your browser window
    • Click the Privacy tab
    • Adjust your privacy setting if necessary
      ?
  • If you're using a reader that embeds Internet Explorer (examples: Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Feed Demon), you'll also need to select Internet Explorer as your default web browser.
    • Open Internet Explorer
    • Select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu in your browser window
    • Click the 'Programs' tab and check the box for Internet Explorer to check if it is the default browser and save your change
    • Close your browser, re-open it, and when prompted, select Internet Explorer as your default
    • You can then click on an ad in your newsletter and visit the site you wish to view

Source: http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=c7631fc8c20aec0f5de9c7606246d4e5&p=4

sarah shourd sensa sister wives season 2 kerry collins kerry collins jermichael finley amy schumer

NASA, NOAA data show significant Antarctic ozone hole remains

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 20-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Steve Cole
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov
202-358-0918
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

WASHINGTON -- The Antarctic ozone hole, which yawns wide every Southern Hemisphere spring, reached its annual peak on Sept. 12. It stretched to 10.05 million square miles, the ninth largest ozone hole on record. Above the South Pole, the ozone hole reached its deepest point of the season on Oct. 9, tying this year for the 10th lowest in this 26-year record.

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use balloon-borne instruments, ground-based instruments and satellites to monitor the annual Antarctic ozone hole, global levels of ozone in the stratosphere and the manmade chemicals that contribute to ozone depletion.

"The colder than average temperatures in the stratosphere this year caused a larger than average ozone hole," said Paul Newman, chief scientist for atmospheres at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Even though it was relatively large, the area of this year's ozone hole was within the range we'd expect given the levels of manmade ozone-depleting chemicals that continue to persist in the atmosphere."

The ozone layer helps protect the planet's surface from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Ozone depletion results in more incoming radiation that can hit the surface, elevating the risk of skin cancer and other harmful effects.

"The manmade chemicals known to destroy ozone are slowly declining because of international action, but there are still large amounts of these chemicals doing damage," said James Butler, director of NOAA's Global Monitoring Division in Boulder, Colo.

In the Antarctic spring (August and September) the sun begins rising again after several months of darkness and polar-circling winds keep cold air trapped above the continent. Sunlight-sparked reactions involving ice clouds and manmade chemicals begin eating away at the ozone. Most years, the conditions for ozone depletion ease before early December when the seasonal hole closes.

Levels of most ozone-depleting chemicals in the atmosphere have been gradually declining as the result of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, an international treaty to protect the ozone layer. That international treaty caused the phase-out of ozone-depleting chemicals, which had been used widely in refrigeration, as solvents and in aerosol spray cans.

However, most of those chemicals remain in the atmosphere for decades. Global atmospheric computer models predict that stratospheric ozone could recover by midcentury, but the ozone hole in the Antarctic will likely persist one to two decades longer, according to the latest analysis in the 2010 Quadrennial Ozone Assessment issued by the World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Environment Programme, with co-authors from NASA and NOAA.

NASA currently measures ozone in the stratosphere with the Dutch-Finnish Ozone Monitoring Instrument, or OMI, on board the Aura satellite. OMI continues a NASA legacy of monitoring the ozone layer from space that dates back to 1972 with launch of the Nimbus-4 satellite. The instrument measured the 2011 ozone hole at its deepest at 95 Dobson units on Oct. 8 this year. This differs slightly from NOAA's balloon-borne ozone observations from the South Pole (102 Dobson units) because OMI measures ozone across the entire Antarctic region.

That satellite-monitoring legacy will continue with the launch of NASA's National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project, known as NPP, on Oct. 28. The satellite will carry a new ozone-monitoring instrument, the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite. The instruments will provide more detailed daily, global ozone measurements than ever before to continue observing the ozone layer's gradual recovery.

It will take a few years of averaging yearly lows in Antarctic ozone to discern evidence of recovery in ozone levels because seasonal cycles and other variable natural factors -- from the temperature of the atmosphere to the stability of atmospheric layers -- can make ozone levels dip and soar from day to day and year to year.

NOAA has been tracking ozone depletion around the globe, including the South Pole, from several perspectives. NOAA researchers have used balloons to loft instruments 18 miles into the atmosphere for more than 24 years to collect detailed profiles of ozone levels from the surface up. NOAA also tracks ozone with ground-based instruments and from space.

###

For the updates on the status of the Antarctic ozone layer, visit:

http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov

For more information on the Antarctic ozone hole, visit:

http://www.ozonelayer.noaa.gov


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


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.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 20-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Steve Cole
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov
202-358-0918
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

WASHINGTON -- The Antarctic ozone hole, which yawns wide every Southern Hemisphere spring, reached its annual peak on Sept. 12. It stretched to 10.05 million square miles, the ninth largest ozone hole on record. Above the South Pole, the ozone hole reached its deepest point of the season on Oct. 9, tying this year for the 10th lowest in this 26-year record.

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use balloon-borne instruments, ground-based instruments and satellites to monitor the annual Antarctic ozone hole, global levels of ozone in the stratosphere and the manmade chemicals that contribute to ozone depletion.

"The colder than average temperatures in the stratosphere this year caused a larger than average ozone hole," said Paul Newman, chief scientist for atmospheres at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Even though it was relatively large, the area of this year's ozone hole was within the range we'd expect given the levels of manmade ozone-depleting chemicals that continue to persist in the atmosphere."

The ozone layer helps protect the planet's surface from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Ozone depletion results in more incoming radiation that can hit the surface, elevating the risk of skin cancer and other harmful effects.

"The manmade chemicals known to destroy ozone are slowly declining because of international action, but there are still large amounts of these chemicals doing damage," said James Butler, director of NOAA's Global Monitoring Division in Boulder, Colo.

In the Antarctic spring (August and September) the sun begins rising again after several months of darkness and polar-circling winds keep cold air trapped above the continent. Sunlight-sparked reactions involving ice clouds and manmade chemicals begin eating away at the ozone. Most years, the conditions for ozone depletion ease before early December when the seasonal hole closes.

Levels of most ozone-depleting chemicals in the atmosphere have been gradually declining as the result of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, an international treaty to protect the ozone layer. That international treaty caused the phase-out of ozone-depleting chemicals, which had been used widely in refrigeration, as solvents and in aerosol spray cans.

However, most of those chemicals remain in the atmosphere for decades. Global atmospheric computer models predict that stratospheric ozone could recover by midcentury, but the ozone hole in the Antarctic will likely persist one to two decades longer, according to the latest analysis in the 2010 Quadrennial Ozone Assessment issued by the World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Environment Programme, with co-authors from NASA and NOAA.

NASA currently measures ozone in the stratosphere with the Dutch-Finnish Ozone Monitoring Instrument, or OMI, on board the Aura satellite. OMI continues a NASA legacy of monitoring the ozone layer from space that dates back to 1972 with launch of the Nimbus-4 satellite. The instrument measured the 2011 ozone hole at its deepest at 95 Dobson units on Oct. 8 this year. This differs slightly from NOAA's balloon-borne ozone observations from the South Pole (102 Dobson units) because OMI measures ozone across the entire Antarctic region.

That satellite-monitoring legacy will continue with the launch of NASA's National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project, known as NPP, on Oct. 28. The satellite will carry a new ozone-monitoring instrument, the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite. The instruments will provide more detailed daily, global ozone measurements than ever before to continue observing the ozone layer's gradual recovery.

It will take a few years of averaging yearly lows in Antarctic ozone to discern evidence of recovery in ozone levels because seasonal cycles and other variable natural factors -- from the temperature of the atmosphere to the stability of atmospheric layers -- can make ozone levels dip and soar from day to day and year to year.

NOAA has been tracking ozone depletion around the globe, including the South Pole, from several perspectives. NOAA researchers have used balloons to loft instruments 18 miles into the atmosphere for more than 24 years to collect detailed profiles of ozone levels from the surface up. NOAA also tracks ozone with ground-based instruments and from space.

###

For the updates on the status of the Antarctic ozone layer, visit:

http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov

For more information on the Antarctic ozone hole, visit:

http://www.ozonelayer.noaa.gov


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/nsfc-nnd102011.php

kris humphries selena mean girls houston weather peter king hank williams jr hank williams jr