Newt Gingrich Calls Mitt Romney Pathetic, Vows to Fight on After Florida Primary

As Florida Republican voters head to the polls, Newt Gingrich is already playing defense and lowering expectations while vowing to fight on against Mitt Romney.

Though he cited recent surveys showing him in the hunt in today's primary and said “I think we absolutely can win,” Gingrich seemed resigned to defeat.

He made reference to Romney’s well-financed barrage of attack ads that have blanketed the airwaves and said that Mitt is running “pathetic” campaign.

“You want to know where all the ads came from that you’ve been watching for the last few weeks? That’s your money recycled through Goldman Sachs to Mitt Romney to tell you a bunch of falsehoods, and I don’t use that word lightly,” he said.

“I don’t think you should run for president unless you tell the truth.”

Gingrich noted that the Wall Street Journal and National Review described Romney’s ads against him as false, and questioned the former governor’s character.

“What a pathetic situation to be running for President of the United States ... with nothing positive to say for yourself,” he said. “All you’ve got to do is to try to tear your opponents down so they get to be smaller than you are. That’s the Romney model.”

Still, Newt appears to be missing a bit of the energetic punch that placed an exclamation point on his rallies following his win in South Carolina 10 days ago.

Despite an electoral map that may become even more challenging for him after the Florida primary, though, Gingrich appears to be in no hurry to quit.

After vowing over the weekend to continue his campaign until the Republican convention in Tampa, he's upped his criticism of Romney if anything.

“I’m a genuine conservative, and I actually study these things,” Gingrich said in Fort Myers. “I’m going to be upfront. I’m not a manager, I’m a leader.”

The campaign of Ron Paul has also said it aims to press on long enough to amass a stable of delegates to require some negotiation during the convention.

Both candidates hope, if they cannot win themselves, to prevent Romney from winning a majority of delegates - forcing the convention to pick a nominee.

The idea of a brokered convention remains a remote possibility, and whether Gingrich and Paul can actually make good on their goals is unclear.

Still, don't expect this presidential nomination fight to end with a Romney coronation today, despite what certain media outlets will have you believe.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/newt-gingrich-rails-against-mitt-romney-vows-to-fight-on-after-f/

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Volcanoes may have sparked Little Ice Age

A mysterious, centuries-long cool spell, dubbed the Little Ice Age, appears to have been caused by a series of volcanic eruptions and sustained by sea ice, a new study indicates.

The research, which looked at chemical clues preserved in Arctic vegetation as well as other data, also pinpointed the start of the Little Ice Age to the end of the 13th century.

During the cool spell, which lasted into the late 19th century, advancing glaciers destroyed northern European towns and froze the Thames River in London and canals in the Netherlands, places that are now ice-free. There is also evidence it affected other continents.

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"This is the first time anyone has clearly identified the specific onset of the cold times marking the start of the Little Ice Age," said Gifford Miller, a geological sciences professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the lead study researcher. "We also have provided an understandable climate feedback system that explains how this cold period could be sustained for a long period of time."

The cause appears to have been massive tropical volcanic eruptions, which spewed tiny particles called aerosols into the atmosphere. While suspended in the air, the aerosols reflect solar radiation back into space, cooling the planet below. ?

The cooling was sustained after the aerosols had left the atmosphere by a sea-ice feedback in the North Atlantic Ocean, the researchers believe. Expanding sea ice would have melted into the North Atlantic Ocean, interfering with the normal mixing between surface and deeper waters. This meant the water flowing back to the Arctic was colder, helping to sustain large areas of sea ice, which, in turn, reflect sunlight back into the atmosphere. The result was a self-sustaining feedback loop.

Miller and colleagues came to these conclusions by looking at radiocarbon dates ? based on how much of the radioactive form of carbon they contain ? from dead plants revealed by melting ice on Baffin Island, in the Canadian Arctic. Their analysis found that many plants at both high and low altitudes died between A.D. 1275 and A.D. 1300 ? evidence that Baffin Island froze over suddenly. Many plants also appeared to have died at around A.D. 1450, an indication of a second major cooling.

These periods coincide with two of the most volcanically active half centuries in the past millennium, according to the researchers.

They also found that the annual layers in sediment cores from a glacial lake linked with an ice cap in Iceland suddenly became thicker, indicating increased erosion caused by the expansion of the ice cap in the late 13th century and in the 15th century .

"This gave us a great deal more confidence that there was a major perturbation to the Northern Hemisphere climate near the end of the 13th century," Miller said.?

Simulations using a climate model showed that several large, closely spaced eruptions could have cooled the Northern Hemisphere enough to spark sea-ice growth and the subsequent feedback loop.

It's unlikely decreased solar radiation, a separate theory to explain the Little Ice Age, played a role, according to the researchers.

The research will appear Tuesday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

You can follow LiveSciencesenior writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46196417/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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U.S. refinery strike rift grows ahead of deadline (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Union and oil company negotiators resumed talks on Monday after union leaders told workers to prepare for a strike within 48 hours that could shut down 6 percent of U.S. refinery capacity and cause gasoline prices to rise at a time when the country is struggling to sustain a fragile economic recovery.

A strike by the United Steelworkers union could start as early as 12:01 a.m. EST (0501 GMT) on Wednesday on the East Coast and then spread throughout the country.

USW members are hourly employees at about two-thirds of U.S. refining capacity, but only about half of those workers would go on strike on Wednesday, when their contracts expire.

More workers would walk off their jobs when contracts at their refineries expire.

Most refiners have made plans to use temporary replacement workers to keep their refineries operating during a strike.

Oil companies used temporary workers, mostly salaried supervisors and engineers, to keep their refineries operating in the last nationwide strike by refinery workers in 1980.

A strike would likely bolster gasoline crack spreads for refiners, J.P. Morgan said in a research note issued Monday.

"The spate of refinery outages seen on the U.S. East Coast has bolstered gasoline and distillate cracks in the past week," the J.P. Morgan note read. "Further disruptions to refinery throughputs would offer additional support to cracks."

A crack spread is the difference between the cost of oil and the price refiners charge for motor fuel.

Over the weekend, USW negotiators sounded a pessimistic note, warning members that without a "more substantive response from the industry" a strike may be necessary.

The USW also notified members to begin preparations to offer a safe, orderly shutdown of refineries in the event of a strike.

Most refiners are expected to reject such a shutdown offer and begin assigning replacement workers to run refinery production units.

In the Monday note, J.P. Morgan said "the notification of members may be seen by some as a bargaining tactic."

For its part, lead oil company negotiator Shell Oil Co said on Sunday it was "optimistic that a mutually satisfactory agreement can be negotiated with the USW."

Talks for a new contract began January 17 and continued into Sunday night.

While the strike deadline is Wednesday, the Steelworkers negotiators can extend it if they think progress is being made. In 2009, talks were extended three days to reach an agreement.

Shell Oil Co is the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

(Corrects in paragraph 3 that USW represents workers at two-thirds of U.S. refining capacity, but only workers at one-third of U.S. capacity would strike as early as Wednesday)

(Reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/us_nm/us_usa_refinery_strike

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Role of A Service Consultant in The Automotive Industry ...

The automotive industry has undergone tremendous changes and development in the 20th century and so far there is no stopping to it. Since the rolling out of the first car, the automotive industry news reports a steep rise in sales, as more and more cars are being produced. In recent times, with so much economic liberalization, attractive finance schemes and tax benefit laws and with increase in the income of the local people, car sales have been hitting new highs. However, with changing times, the mentality of people has changed and today services provided by car manufacturers play a crucial role, apart from car designs and models.

As more companies jump into the automotive sector, buyers have more freedom of choice to select the best of the lot. Unlike earlier times, buyers today pay more attention towards the services provided by the car producers. And with a variety of media around, buyers research and gather more information, before they step into any car dealerships. Hence, with so much of emphasis given on service, the role of the automotive service manager is vital to every car company in the market.

Not only does the automotive service manager coordinate and supervise the duties performed by the service staff, he looks after all the operations carried out by the service department. He has to make sure that all the employees working under him are adhering to company policies and other applicable standards and laws. Because the automotive service manager deals with customers and the service department, he has to be calculative about keeping both, the customer and his staff happy. Also, he does need to have a decent knowledge about mechanics of automobiles, and a pleasing personality to maintain customer satisfaction ratio.

Those employed in the service manager job have to ensure customer retention by not only providing repair and maintenance service but also by communicating and understanding customer?s priorities. He has to analyze and identify market reports, and have a good understanding of current trends making waves in the automotive sector. With so many things in one platter, it goes without saying that the service manager job requires leadership qualities, management know-how, counseling skills, apart from the customer service parameters.

At times, it becomes an arduous task for the automotive service manager to cope up with so many responsibilities and duties, which is time when he needs a service consultant, who will help him to get out of his overloaded work schedule. The main purpose of the service consultant is to counsel service managers, who are buried under the work load which comes with their job profile. Service consultants help service managers on how they can perform their duties in an organized way, which will not only bring down their stress level, but also pump out more productivity.

Service consultants also provide insight to those in the service manager job or service director job on how to calculate the productivity of other employees, and educate them with work practices to enhance their customer service skills. Service consultants take service advisor training as part of the service consulting module and set standards to make sure employees always have a positive approach towards their work and are updated with skills and knowledge so that they can provide a better experience to their customers.

Source: http://www.versustwin.com/automotive-news/role-of-a-service-consultant-in-the-automotive-industry.html

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Lagarde sees euro zone progress, need for firewall (Reuters)

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) ? Europeans are making progress to overcome the euro zone crisis but need to do more to boost their financial firewall, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Saturday, adding that the IMF is also ready to help.

"There is work under way. There is progress as we see it," Lagarde told a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum.

"But it is critical that the euro zone members actually develop a clear, simple, firewall that can operate both to limit the contagion and to provide this sort of act of trust in the euro zone so that the financing needs of that zone can actually be met."

Lagarde, who made a strong plea in Berlin on Monday for a bigger firewall, added there would be need for IMF funds to help the euro zone.

(Reporting by Paul Carrel, Emma Thomasson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/bs_nm/us_davos_economy_lagarde

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