In a warming Arctic, U.S. faces new security and safety concerns

BARROW, Alaska ? In past years, these remote gray waters of the Alaskan Arctic saw little more than the occasional cargo barge and Eskimo whaling boat. No more.

This summer, when the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Bertholf was monitoring shipping traffic along the desolate tundra coast, its radar displays were often brightly lighted with mysterious targets.

There were oil drilling rigs, research vessels, fuel barges, small cruise ships. A few were sailboats that had ventured through the Northwest Passage above Canada. On a single day in August, 95 ships were detected between Prudhoe Bay and Wainwright off America's least defended coastline, and for some of them, Coast Guard officials had no idea what the vessels were carrying or who was on them.


FOR THE RECORD:
Arctic security -- A story in the Friday, Oct. 19, paper about new security concerns in the Arctic reported that a Chinese icebreaker transited the Northwest Passage through the Arctic this summer. The vessel transited the Northeast Passage, above Russia.

"There's probably 1,500 people out there," Rear Adm. Thomas P. Ostebo, commander of the Coast Guard's 17th District in Alaska, said at a recent conference of Arctic policymakers near Anchorage. "It's kind of spinning a little bit out of control."

The rapid melting of the polar ice cap is turning the once ice-clogged waters off northern Alaska into a navigable ocean, and the rush to grab the region's abundant oil and mineral resources by way of new shipping lanes is posing safety and security concerns for Coast Guard patrols.

What happens if a cruise ship gets stranded in stray ice? Or if a sailing vessel capsizes off an uninhabited coast?

"Yesterday, we saw three sailing vessels in 24 hours," said the Bertholf's commander, Capt. Thomas E. Crabbs.

The Coast Guard this summer ran Arctic Shield, the most extensive patrol operation it has ever mounted in the Arctic. It set up a temporary operating base and remote communications station at Barrow.

A fleet of cutters, buoy tenders, helicopters and boarding vessels deployed across the Beaufort, Chukchi and Bering seas to oversee new offshore oil drilling operations offers search-and-rescue if needed and provides notice to burgeoning ship traffic that the U.S. is monitoring its northernmost border.

The rush for riches as Russia, Norway and Canada vie with the U.S. for the Arctic's mineral resources, and the possibility that drug dealers, arms merchants and terrorists could begin to explore transport routes near America's largest oil fields have prompted the U.S. military to begin planning for a future in the Arctic much more substantial than it had envisioned.

The U.S. Naval War College last year conducted war games simulating the sinking of a ship carrying weapons of mass destruction from North Africa to Asia across the top of Canada and Alaska.

The Air Force has been practicing how to make food and survival gear drops to survivors of a large plane crash in the unbelievably remote Brooks Range, north of Fairbanks.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, known as NORAD, already has gone beyond drills: F-15 fighters have been launched on interceptions at least 50 times during the last five years in response to Russian long-range bombers ? not previously seen here since the Cold War ? which have been provocatively skirting the edges of U.S. airspace.

Through it all, U.S. security forces are battling historically sketchy radio communications, vicious storms, shifting ice floes and huge distances from base: Coast Guard cutters must sail 1,200 miles south just to take on food and refuel.

"All of the uniqueness of operating up in the Arctic represents huge challenges for us," said Royal Canadian Air Force Col. Dan Constable, deputy commander of NORAD's Alaska region.

The Naval War College games in September 2011 were an early test, and not an encouraging one. Many of the scenarios rehearsed, former Navy Cmdr. Christopher Gray said, ran into problems with poor communications and trouble maintaining supplies of food, fuel and supplies.

"Does the Navy have the ability to go up and operate a number of ships, a number of aircraft, for a sustained period of time in this environment, where it's cold, it's got bad weather, it's got a lot of ice, and it's really far away from everything that supports you? What we found is that the answer is, not really," Gray said.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/HzSNkPLZtu8/la-na-arctic-security-20121019,0,561191.story

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Government: Violent crimes rose 18 percent in 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The number of violent crimes rose by 18 percent in the United States last year while property crimes went up by 11 percent, the government reported Wednesday.

It was the first year-to-year increase for violent crime since 1993, marking the end of a long string of declines. Violent crime fell by 65 percent since 1993, from 16.8 million to 5.8 million last year.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics' annual national crime victimization survey, the size of the percentage increases in both violent crime and property crime for last year was driven in large part by the historically low levels seen in 2010.

The increase in violent crime was the result of an upward swing in assaults, which moved up by 22 percent, from 4 million in 2010 to 5 million last year. The increases in violent crime experienced by whites, Hispanics, younger people and men accounted for the majority of the increase in violent crime.

In the latest survey, property crime was up for the first time in a decade, from 15.4 million in 2010 to 17 million last year. Household burglaries rose 14 percent, from 3.2 million to 3.6 million. The number of thefts jumped by 10 percent, from 11.6 million to 12.8 million.

The victimization figures are based on surveys by the Census Bureau of a large sample of people in order to gather data from those who are victims of crime. They are considered the government's most comprehensive crime statistics because they count both crimes that never are reported to the police as well as those reported.

Last May, the FBI's preliminary crime report for 2011, which counts only crimes reported to police, concluded that crime dropped again last year, down 4 percent for violent crime and 3.7 percent for property crime. The declines slowed in the second half of last year, a sign to academic experts that the many years of lowering crime levels might be nearing an end. Historically, less than half of all crimes, including violent crimes, are reported to police.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/government-violent-crimes-rose-18-percent-2011-134303924.html

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UK carriers form alliance to speed up 800MHz LTE rollout, let us enjoy our Freeview TV

EE 4G LTE test on HTC One X

Isn't it better when we work together? British carriers think so. EE, O2, Three and Vodafone have officially created a non-exclusive joint venture, Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited, that should speed up the deployment of 800MHz LTE by keeping Freeview over-the-air TV signals clear of interference while the partners bring their low-frequency 4G online. Previously, the networks were bound to form an equivalent company called MitCo that wouldn't have been active until after the 800MHz auction, preventing companies from getting their wireless houses in order until they'd already made a commitment. There's also a competitive angle involved to go with the cooperative work, as you might imagine: with EE's 1,800MHz LTE poised to go live on October 30th, choosing infighting over assistance would only help widen the frontrunner's lead. Whether DMSL represents altruism or pragmatism, we'll appreciate knowing that the hurdles to a catch-up in UK 4G will be more those of the technical reality than the usual political maneuvering.

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UK carriers form alliance to speed up 800MHz LTE rollout, let us enjoy our Freeview TV originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/f9lynDeuMmU/

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The Board Game Family Board game blowout weekend ? The Board ...

Boys swimming after board games

Cousins love getting together!

Our nephew (and cousin) returned last week from his 2 year church mission and we got to spend the extended weekend with their family catching up on many things as well as playing lots of board games!

For those that aren?t familiar, missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints serve on a voluntary basis for 2 years away from home. Families keep in contact with their missionaries through weekly letters and phone calls on Christmas and Mother?s Day. So after 2 years of tremendous experiences (for both missionary and family), a missionary homecoming is a wonderful time.

Knowing that we?d be spending a long weekend at their home, and that Jake loves playing board games, we had the tough choice of which games we should first introduce him to upon his return. We wanted to take games he?d already be familiar with, but we also wanted to play games that we?ve added to our game shelves over the last 2 years that we thought he?d love.

Load up the car with board games!
The last board game we played with Jake before his mission was also one that he teamed up with Trevor to do a review of ? Code 777. And while we thought of taking Code 777 for old-time sake, it was one of so many board games that didn?t make the cut and get packed for the trip to Ely, NV.

Brooke feeding pig

What a cute addition!

With limited space and careful packing, we were able to take a bin of 18 board games and card games for a fun family weekend!

Of course, we knew going in that we wouldn?t have time to play them all, but we wanted to make sure we had a good selection to choose from for a variety of players and situations. We made sure to take some strategy board games, cooperative board games, short & quick card games, 2-player board games, and some group/party games.

We didn?t want to just play board games all weekend because we also wanted to spend time visiting, swimming, riding 4-wheelers, and watching some football games. So while not all of the board games were played, we did end up playing 17 different games over a couple days and pleasantly re-introduced Jake to more of this fantastic world of board games!

So which board games topped the list for this fun family weekend?

Great to be together
HiveWe arrived late Thursday night and had a great time catching up with Jake and the rest of the family. We also loved seeing the puppies that were born just the week before. Puppies without their eyes open yet ? precious.

But we couldn?t just head to bed, Jake was anxious to see what games we?d brought. After spreading them all out, the boys got in a couple games of Hive. Fantastic 2-player game!

The next morning, the boys and I started the day off big with a game of Battlestar Galactica. We were having such a good time playing that we hardly knew that 3 hours had passed when the Cylons eliminated the last of our population. For those unfamiliar with the board game Battlestar Galactica, it?s a cooperative board game with ?traitors?. In this game the ?traitors? are Cylons. The humans are trying to get to Earth while the Cyclons attack and try to sabotage the fleet.

Battlestar Galactica board gameThe really cool thing about Battlestar Galactica is that loyalty cards are dealt out twice during the game. At the start of the game everyone gets a card secretly telling them if they?re a Human or a Cylon. Then mid-way through the game more loyalty cards are dealt out. So even though you may be working as a human at the start of the game, mid-way through it turns our you?re a Cylon after all. Those loyalty cards are still kept secret (until you choose to reveal yourself) so there?s a lot of doubt creeping in among the players in the game which makes for fantastic dynamics.

It turns out that in our game the humans were getting soundly defeated when we reached the mid-way point of the game, so most of us hoped to get a Cylon card anyway to finish the destruction. :)

We had so much fun that we all wanted to play again and left the game on the table to come back to later. It was time for a lunch break anyway.

After lunch, more family members had arrived and we played a couple quick games of Spot it! It?s such a quick and simple game that it?s easy to play over and over again.

Smallworld board gameAfter riding a while on the 4-wheelers, Jake was interested in trying Memoir ?44 and Trevor?s favorite ? Smallworld. Jake was wiped out in the first couple games of Memoir ?44 and didn?t take to it right away. But after reviving his troops for a couple other scenarios, ended up putting Memoir ?44 on his ?definitely like? list.

Likewise Smallworld was a fun game as we rattled through a lot of different races and powers, conquering each other?s lands along the way. But in the end, Trevor walked away victorious?again (no wonder he loves Smallworld).

Kingdom Builder board gameWhile the boys were playing Memoir ?44, I introduced my sister to Kingdom Builder ? a board game that I thought she?d really like. And sure enough, she enjoyed figuring out ways to best place her settlements across the varied landscapes to achieve the scoring goals we had in the game. Since every time you play, you randomly select 3 of the 10 different ways to score points in the game, it makes for a good variety of play. And that variety keeps it interesting and fun.

Friday night wrapped up with a relaxing dinner, swimming, more visiting, and a late movie.

Saturday packed in more board games
Gloom card gameOver breakfast Saturday morning the boys played a game of Gloom. Now Gloom may not be such a pleasant way to start a day. After all, in the card game Gloom you?re working to make your family as miserable as possible before they die while at the same time trying to make the family members of the other players as happy as possible. Quite the odd game ? but very silly. And the see-through cards are simply awesome!

Saturday was a great day to play games that might cause more of a ruckus. So we pulled out King of Tokyo and the battles begun. Everyone had fun trying to get their dice to roll just right to be the last monster standing and we played a few games of it switching out different players (since only 6 can play at a time).

Anomia card gameSince more people wanted to play games at that point we pulled out another card game, Timeline, and had the challenge of setting out world inventions, discoveries, and events in their proper order. For a simple card game, Timeline presents a challenge and fosters a lot of discussions when you realize which things and events came before or after others.

Then we were ready to freeze our brains and played a couple games of Anomia. For a game that causes your brain to freeze up, there sure is a lot of shouting. Anomia is a tricky card game that keeps everyone on the edge of their seat looking for matching symbols with each flipped card to see if they need to jump into action and be the first to shout out a word that matches the revealed category. You see the match, then see the category, and poof ? your brain goes blank and weird sounds blurt out. Lots of fun and lots of laughing!

Later, over lunch we all teamed up to play Say Anything Family which worked out great. Pairing up in teams allowed for plenty of time for visiting and eating while we thought up and voted on silly answers in the game.

Then it was time for some football. It?s hard to let a Saturday go by without watching NCAA football.

Alien Frontiers board gameBut Jake couldn?t wait much longer and we introduced him to Alien Frontiers. Alien Frontiers is all about rolling dice and making the best decisions you can with what you roll. With many options to choose from, each turn players are left to determine if they should build more ships, generate energy, mine for ore, develop their colonies, steal from other players and many more options. All those decisions lead one to think it?s a very strategic game. Yet, while strategy plays a big role, it still comes down to how the dice role. Another great board game with balance of strategy and luck.

After that game we had more time to chill and visit more before a few people pulled out Pandemic and Caleb and I gave Seven Card Samurai a try. Pandemic is a great cooperative board game and we really recommend you give it a try. It turns out that this game of Pandemic ended with a relatively quick defeat. The outbreaks started to get out of hand then a nasty triple outbreak pushed it over the top. And Caleb and I learned that even though Seven Card Samurai says it can be played with just 2 players, it isn?t as fun that way. It?s a game better suited for more players with more options when it?s time to steal cards.

Bohnanza card gameLater that evening we pulled out another game that we hadn?t played before but had heard was a good family card game ? Bohnanza. Who knew that a game about bean farming could be a hit. It?s been around for about 15 years and has continued to grow in popularity. I don?t know why the recommended age is 13+ because Caleb had a great time and was a master at planting his fields and trading well to manage his hand of cards nicely. He also wanted to play again when we got home, but we had to remind him that Bohnanza was his cousin?s card game, not ours. He was bummed to hear that.

Then it was time to get another board game to the table that I had a hunch my sister and her kids would really like ? 7 Wonders. We played with a full 7 which meant a couple people teamed up ? which worked out fine for some of those just learning. We really like 7 Wonders because of the simultaneous play. Every player is engaged in the game the whole time with constant key decisions. Make a card choice, then pass them on. Make a card choice, then pass them on. And pretty soon you?ve built a civilization and you compare scores.

7 Wonders card gameYou can tell 7 Wonders is a hit because last night for our weekly Monday Family Night, mom was on Activity and she chose to play 7 Wonders. We know she like a game when she?s the one choosing to play a game for the activity. She squeaked out a 1 point win over Trevor on Saturday night (61 ? 60) and pulled of a 5 point win last night. Way to go mom!

And while most of the family turned in for the night after 7 Wonders, the boys and I, realizing it was our last night together had to at least get in another game. It was a tough choice because we really wanted to play Battlestar Galactica again. But ultimately decided that Jake really need to play The Resistance.

The Resistance card gameSo we scurried to the basement and had a fantastic time playing The Resistance. And of course, one game of The Resistance just isn?t enough ? we?re just getting started. Normally Caleb wouldn?t be staying up until midnight, but this was a special occasion and he was in with the gang. And I don?t know whether I should be proud of this or not, but he pulled the wool over my eyes and completely fooled me in our 3rd and last game. He was a Spy and played it amazingly well.

It was tough to pull away on Sunday afternoon (and the kids had to get in one last game of The Resistance) but it was a great weekend spent with family and hearing about Jake?s experiences on his mission. And we all had a great time laughing and visiting while we spent a bunch of time around the tables with some cool family board games.

I can?t wait until Thanksgiving?

The List
If you didn?t want to read all that (or even if you did), here?s the quick list of the board games and card games we played this past weekend:

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Source: http://www.theboardgamefamily.com/2012/10/board-game-blowout-weekend/

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Increasing Website Traffic By Paying Attention to the Details ...

James Martell, founder of The School of Internet Marketing, sees many webmasters skipping over critical steps of content publishing and killing their traffic-building efforts. Listen in to this edition of Affiliate Buzz as he and his wife, Arlene, talk about little details that can make a big difference in your search engine traffic.

As James points out, it can be easy to get in the habit of just throwing up content on your website without paying proper attention to search engine optimization. While it?s great to be regularly producing fresh content, your efforts are significantly diminished when you?re not implementing basic SEO strategies.

James and Arlene also talk about the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. They?ll be hosting the family dinner. Arlene has even applied one of their most used business strategies to the preparations and will be ?outsourcing? the pie-baking this year to their daughter, Shelby.

Growing Traffic Sources: Social Media and Mobile Web

James mentions a few notes about the Affiliate Buzz social media presence. Listeners can now tweet questions related to affiliate marketing with the new twitter hashtag, #AffiliateBuzz

Affiliate Buzz is also growing on Facebook ? the page recently recently surpassed 1000 likes. James elaborates on the remarkable growth of Facebook, particularly over the last couple of years; Facebook officially has over 1 billion active users, 600,000,000 of whom are using the social networking site on mobile devices.

James and Arlene expand on how important it is for webmasters to start developing mobile versions of their websites. With mobile internet use expected to surpass desktop and laptop use by 2015, you don?t want to miss out on this growing source of traffic.

Are You Killing Your Traffic By Ignoring These Simple Details?

Arlene sees a lot of bloggers ignoring on-page SEO and other key components of optimizing content to bring in natural search traffic. It doesn?t take a lot of time to make sure that an article is formatted correctly. You could literally be throwing away tons of traffic by skipping this step. To format your posts correctly, keywords should appear:

  • In title and meta tags
  • In the headline
  • In an h2 tag
  • In image alt tags
  • Within the article

The WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast is a handy SEO tool to use. It offers some unique features, like the ability to create a custom title tag for each blog post, and makes it simple for you to make sure your keyword shows up everywhere it needs to in order to get found in the search engines. It?couldn?t?be any easier; James calls the tool ?on page SEO for dummies.?

James encourages listeners to listen to the talks with about schema and google authorship markup. These episodes offer more great tips that will help you build traffic to your website.

Upcoming Events ? Working Hard, Playing Hard on ?Breakation?

James and Arlene conclude the talk by talking about attending industry events, including the upcoming session of Affiliate Summit, which will take place January 13-15, 2013 in Las Vegas.

As James points out, some people struggle with the decision of whether or not to go to events like Affiliate Summit, due to the cost of doing so. He and Arlene discuss the advantages of doing so, as well as a few ways to cut costs and really make it worth your while.

As the bargain shopper of the family, Arlene shares some tips on getting great deals on flights, hotels and the like. She also explains the concept of turning trips like these into a complete ?breakation.? You can work hard and play hard ? if you?ve already spent the money on a flight and hotel, why not extend and pack in a vacation to your as well?

She and James have been taking this approach to attending industry events for years and find that by taking a couple of days to have some fun and step away from the online world after attending a conference, they are able to jump back into work with a clear mind and renewed energy.

Source: http://geekcast.fm/archives/affiliate-buzz-270-increasing-website-traffic-by-paying-attention-to-the-details/

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"Veronica Mars" Creator Developing 'Metropolis' Adaptation for the CW

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/veronica-mars-creator-developing-metropolis-adaptation-cw-232008150.html

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ALBERTO RIGONI Three Wise Monkeys music review by andrea

4 stars Alberto Rigoni was born in 1981 and comes from Montebelluna, a little town in the province of Treviso. Since 2003 he as been the bass player of a prog-metal band called Twinspirits but he is a sensitive composer as well and in 2008 he released a debut solo album, 'Something Different', on the Finnish label Lion Music. In 2011 Alberto Rigoni released a second album, 'Rebirth', with the help of many friends and some prestigious guests by the likes of Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson), John Macaluso (Ark, TNT) and Michael Manring, just to name a few. This album gained him some attention and in 2012 he self-released what can be considered his best work so far, 'Three Wise Monkeys', a concept album freely inspired by a Japanese myth evoked in an original way by the beautiful art cover by Davide Guidoni. Among the musicians that helped Alberto Rigoni this time you can find, among others, former Dream Theater's keyboardist Kevin Moore, G'ran Edman and Jonas Erikson. On this album you can find prog-metal influences, of course, but also many fine melodies and a touch of jazz. The great musicianship of all the musicians involved in this work is not ostentatious in any way and the final result is a well crafted, balanced mix of passion and competence.

The short opener 'Toshogu Shrine' sets a mystic atmosphere and takes you far away, to the far east, into a shrine in Nikko, in Japan. In fact, the Toshogu Shrine is one of the main attractions of this city and here, in the Sacred Stable, you can find a famous carving of the three wise monkeys, a traditional symbol in Japanese culture. Together they embody a principle: 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil'. The instrumental 'Mizaru' describes the meeting with the first monkey. Mizaru is the monkey who covers his eyes, the one who sees no evil. The music starts softly, then a more aggressive section follows, the atmosphere becomes tense, dark clouds are gathering all around you...

Next comes the title track, featuring G'ran Edman on vocals. The music is aggressive, it begins with a thundering drum roll and flows like a raging river. A day dreamer is breaking all the rules, fighting for his dreams and living day by day searching for the truth, but someone warns him... 'You should trust me, my friend / I know it's hard to live that way / I can tell you what's the plan for you... Three wise monkey's golden rule / Looking the other way / Pretending that you are a fool / Cause you don't wanna play / Wilfully turning a blind eye to all immorality...'. Then the instrumental 'Kikazaru' describes the meeting with the second wise monkey. Kikazaru is the one who covers his eyes, the one who hears no evil. The atmosphere is softer, the music features some jazzy influences and a mystic mood but the pulsing bass lines suggest that something is moving undercover, a black iron man looking for his Sabbath, ready to strike like a tornado...

'Blackened Tornado' soars like a Zeppelin in the sky with its biting electric guitar riffs. The heartfelt Jonas Erikson's vocals describe the inner conflict that is storming inside the young day dreamer. Reality seems going out of his reach while he's fighting against dark winds... 'I'm a victim of my own thoughts / My mind is sick and I can't go on / I can't see what's reality / It's like a nightmare living in a dream...'. Then the instrumental 'Iwazaru' describes the meeting with the third wise monkey. Iwazaru is the one who covers his mouth, the one who speaks no evil. The atmosphere is dark and tension rises, no need of words for that!

'Free Falling' is about the sense of impotence that comes from the awareness that mother nature is crying and you can't help her, your are not strong enough to change the way things are going on and speaking up is pointless. Fear is growing inside you, there's no time for prayers and you have the feeling that the ground is crumbling under your feet, you're falling into the void... 'Have you seen the news today? / Poisoned air is everywhere / I've seen the words before / It's hard to see the earth bleeding / Tragic times, what can we do? / In the end there's nothing new...'. The delicate, dreamy 'Between Space And Time' comes like the calm after the storm and leads to the melancholic, reflective 'Coming Home'. The day dreamer is on the way back, homeward bound, and carries on his shoulders the heavy burden of his broken dreams... 'I'm coming home love, this is my home town / I've tried my wings, I lived my dream... A few more miles and then I'm done...'. The melodic final track, 'Believe', brings back a bit of optimism encouraging you to hang on your dreams and to fight for what you think is right... 'I believe in you / I believe what we can do...'.

Well, all in all I think that this a really good work. Anyway, you can listen to the complete album in streaming on bandcamp.com, so have a try and judge by yourselves!

andrea | 4/5 | 2012-10-17

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The Top 16 Coaching Candidates in College Football

Published on: October 14, 2012 | Written by: Clay Travis

Yesterday the state of Mississippi put on an early Halloween costume -- the coaching grim reaper.

Gene Chizik's Auburn team rolled into Oxford and lost by 21, then later that same?evening Derek Dooley's Vols hit Starkville and lost by ten. Both losses solidified the fates of Gene Chizik and Derek Dooley, barring an unexpected and massive upset by either coach's team -- which is about as likely as an asteroid striking the earth -- each man will be unemployed by December.

Potentially sooner.

Yep, it's time to hang up the orange pants and the leather jacket for good.

Auburn and Tennessee are two of the top jobs in the country. Both schools have massive athletic departments, fan bases, and stadiums. In each school the football team is the engine of commerce that fuels all additional team?sports.??

Arkansas will also be hiring a new coach and so will Kentucky.

That means there will be four head coaching jobs open in the SEC. Given that Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long has proven he will spend big money to hire the right guy, this means three schools with massive resources?will be competing for the top coaching talent in America. Kentucky isn't a really desirable job, but the Wildcats are payiing Joker Phillips nearly $2 million?a year. So they'll make someone rich as well.

You thought?past years were crazy?

Wait until four SEC jobs open up in the same season. ?

Toss in the?Texas Longhorns, fresh off an astounding 63-21?beat down?from?Oklahoma, and it's possible that Texas, the best overall job in the nation according to my ranking of the top 25?college football jobs in America, really upsets?the?coaching carousel.?

It's a good time to be a successful head coach.

But it's a?better time to be an agent.

In fact, it's always a good time to be an agent since college coaches are the only highly skilled professionals on earth who are able to maintain permanent free agent status. The CEO of Coke can't jump to Pepsi in one day. But the coach of Alabama could theoretically take over at Auburn without any hindrance.

Perpetual college coaching free agency is an amazing situation, the purest?unvarnished marketplace in America today. Contracts mean nothing, every year is a whole new ball game.

If you're firing a former head coach who didn't pan out, you better not hire another coach who hasn't even organized a spring camp. Successful head coaches are much less risky propositions. So save your Kirby Smart talk for someone else.

With that in mind, here are the top 16 head coaching candidates in the country. (FYI, I'm only including coaches that I think would change jobs. Although I'm rooting for Texas to offer Nick Saban $10 million?a year just to see how much Alabama would end up paying him to stay).

Here's?the Outkick the Coverage?coaching sweet 16:

1. Chris Petersen

Maybe he never leaves Boise State.

But every time a big job comes open he has to at the top of any list until he says no.

See, I espouse the dump truck theory. That is, you make it known who your top target is, fill up a dump truck with cash, and?hold a press conference in the coach's front yard after dumping out the?cash.?You offer as?much money as you can afford and make that offer public. If?a top coach?says no, so what? I don't think this humiliates the program, I think it does the opposite -- demonstrates that you want the best and are willing to pay for it.

Put it this way, do you blame the guy who gets shot down by the hottest girl at the bar? Or do you admire the confidence in going after the best?

I want to go after the best.

And Petersen is the best.

2. Jon Gruden

Trust me, he's?going to be interested in Tennessee.

He's not going to pull a John Madden and?become a television commentator for the rest of his professional?career. I've been told that?the grind of being a coach in the?NFL isn't as appealing?to him as being able to go out and recruit the top players in the country and?develop them.?

The Vols would have?to pull out the checkbook?and pay him $5 million a year.?

But?if they're willing to do this, Gruden, a former?Vol graduate assistant who married a?Tennessee cheerleader, is?going to listen.?

In fact, I think there's a good chance that if Tennessee will show him the money that Jon Gruden is your next Volunteer coach. ?

3. Bobby Petrino

A guaranteed winner no matter where he goes.

He's already taken Louisville and Arkansas to the BCS, can you imagine what he'd do with an Auburn, a Tennessee, or a, gulp, Texas?

Yes, Petrino is a jerk with off-field issues.?

But so what?

He wins.

If every coach who had an?affair was ineligible to continue coaching, there would be a lot of empty sidelines come kickoff.??

While Petrino has off-field flaws, do you know what he's never had? NCAA issues.

Or trouble selling out stadiums.

If I was Kentucky, I'd fire Joker Phillips today and hire Petrino tomorrow. You've already gone rogue with a guy with NCAA issues in John Calipari, Petrino's actually less of a risk than Cal. Why not actually win a few football games for a change? The longer you wait, the more likely it is that Auburn swoops in and grabs Petrino.

4. Gary Patterson

He's been at TCU a long time, but would he be interested in finally?making the move to a bigger program?

Or does he feel like TCU, now in the Big 12, is a big enough program already?

TCU's a private school so we don't know exactly what he earns, but all of these schools could make him an offer that TCU couldn't match.

The guy is 114-31 in 11 full seasons at TCU.

Plus, he plays the hard-nosed style of?defensive?ball that many feel you have to embrace to win in the SEC.

Isn't it time for someone to make Patterson an offer he can't refuse?

5. Charlie Strong

A proven?coordinator in the SEC, Strong has now built Louisville into a juggernaut.?

Louisville is likely to?go 11-1 or 12-0 this year and could be even better next year.?The only real question about Strong is whether he'd like to stay one more season with the Cardinals?to make his stock even higher.?

But with three big-time SEC jobs coming?open in the same season, how much hotter could his stock get? Remember, it's not just how you're?doing as a coach, it's?how you're doing as?a coach when the?right jobs come open.?

Timing is everyhing.?

And right?now Strong is peaking at exactly the right moment.?

6. Dana Holgorsen

Yes, he's coming off a thumping at Texas Tech, but Holgorsen is so hot right now that West Virginia gave him an extension before the season even began.

Holgorsen scores points and plays an exciting brand of ball. In this day and age, you've got to have some sizzle with your steak. Otherwise, why not just stay home and watch all the games on your mammoth television screens?

Put simply, Holgo puts butts in seats.

Just make sure there aren't any casinos near campus.

7. Dan Mullen

It's important to consider a program's past history when you analyze how well someone has done at their job.

Using that standard, Mullen has succeeded well beyond anyone in Starkville's wildest hopes.

Mullen won nine games in his second season and could win ten in his fourth. Mississippi State has never won more than nine games in the regular season in the history of the program. So if he wins ten games in the regular season this year, Mullen will have done something that no one has ever done before in the history of the Bulldog program.

I think Mullen would win even bigger at any big time SEC or national job.

8. James Franklin

Yes, Vandy is just 2-4 this season, but the second half of the season's schedule gets much easier.

Last year Franklin took Vandy to a bowl game. Starting with Auburn this weekend -- Tiger?fans might even consider this game to be a coaching audition -- Vandy has a pretty?fair shot of winning each of their final six games. If Franklin can go 4-2?or better he will have done something no coach at Vandy has ever done before, go to back-to-back bowl games.?

Given how well he's recruited, what a consummate salesman he is, and how much?he's energized a moribund program, Franklin would?cure what ails many programs -- lack of enthusiasm and lagging ticket sales.?

The only catch here is?that Vandy is paying Franklin a ton of money and he truly loves Nashville.?

Would he leave after just?two seasons?

It would?have to be a hell of an offer. ?

9. Pete Carroll

Okay, maybe too much of a reach, but don't you have to make the phone call?

The Seahawks are 3-2 this year, presently in fourth place in the suddenly competitive AFC West.

Does Carroll miss college? And did he leap to the NFL to avoid the USC sanctions?

You have to at least call him, right?

10.?David Cutcliffe

If Cutcliffe had an exciting personality, he'd probably be near the top of this list.

An unquestioned student of the game, he's molded Peyton and Eli Manning and will have Duke in a bowl game this fall. How impressive is that? Duke hasn't been to a bowl game since 1995, and has been to just?two bowl games since 1961. ?

Cutcliffe's biggest problem is that he's just boring.

But the guy knows football.

And his offenses are anything but boring.

Now in his fifth season at Duke he's got the Blue Devils 5-2.

Duke is probably the worst job in the big five conferences and Cutcliffe has won there. Plus,?his 44-29 record at Ole Miss looks pretty good in comparison to the?two guys who replaced him. He's not a sexy hire, but he would win. ?

11. Butch Jones

Cincinnati is undefeated this year and Jones has them on a roll.

In two weeks?the Bearcats play undefeated Louisville in a game that will feature two of our top coaching candidates.

Is Jones ready to take the next step at a big-time program?

We'll see.

But he's got the Bearcats rolling.

12. Butch Davis

Did?you see the talent that Butch Davis put together at North Carolina?

Yes.?

But did you also see the steaming pile of mess that Davis left behind?

Yes.?

Will that keep?Arkansas from hiring him?

We'll see.?

What we know is this, Davis will win.?

What we?don't know is this, will the wins?still exist after he leaves??

13. Art Briles

Another guy who took over an awful job and achieved unparalleled program?success, the knock on Briles may well be that he just had?a single amazing year with a single amazing talent.

Basically, the Cam Newton effect.

But if you look at Briles's career record, that's not really fair. He's been pretty successful at both Houston and Baylor.

If he has a good 2012 season without Robert Griffin III then his turnaround of Baylor will be further legitimized.

So will his coaching bona fides.

14. Al Golden

After taking Temple to consecutive winning seasons, Golden walked into a complete mess at Miami.

He's managed to get the Hurricances to 4-2 this season, but with his athletic director bailing, negligible fan support, and the continuing fallout from the booster crisis, might Golden be willing to bolt?

He just might.

15. Willie Taggart

Taggart has?worked wonders at Western Kentucky.

His team is 12-2 in its last 14 games with the only losses coming on the road at LSU last year and on the road at Alabama this season.

Taggart is just 35 years old, the youngest FBS coach in the nation, and he's also got the Jim Harbaugh stamp of approval having served as Stanford's running backs coach during the Cardinal rise to national prominence.

In Taggart's first season the Hilltoppers were 2-10.

After a winning season last year, WKU is 5-1 this season with a road win at Kentucky.

His work in three years time is simply astounding.

What could he do at a bigger program?

I think we find out soon.

16. Sonny Dykes

Last night Dykes's Louisiana Tech team played a wild 59-57 game against Texas A&M. Dykes lost, but his team is 5-1 and had crept into the top 25.

Dykes plays an exciting brand of football, and his players seem to genuinely like him.

He's Derek Dooley's replacement at Tech, and he's been much more successful than Dooley ever was.

This is the guy that I think ends up at Kentucky.?

And I think it's a good hire.????

Source: http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/the-top-16-coaching-candidates-in-college-football.php

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Ryan: Tax Deal With GOP Win

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio?Rep. Paul Ryan said the presidential campaign, despite its contentious tone, is putting a focus on taxes and deficit cutting that could pave the way for a bipartisan overhaul if running mate Mitt Romney wins the White House.

Andrew Spear for The Wall Street Journal

Rep. Paul Ryan speaking during an interview at Youngstown State University in Ohio on Saturday.

Mr. Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, said a Romney administration would be able to work with Democrats to pass a tax overhaul, including Mr. Romney's plan for a 20% reduction in individual tax rates. But he said the GOP ticket wouldn't detail which tax breaks it wanted to scale back in order to prevent the tax cut from adding to the deficit, and that it was sufficient for Mr. Romney to lay out general principles.

"We shouldn't be negotiating the details of tax reform in the middle of a campaign," Mr. Ryan said in his first interview with a national newspaper since he debated Vice President Joe Biden last Thursday.

The Wisconsin congressman also said that Mr. Romney had asked him to take on the role of working with Congress on fiscal matters if he is elected vice president. "This is one of the reasons why he asked me to sign on" to the Republican ticket, said Mr. Ryan, who has championed plans to cut federal spending and overhaul entitlement programs from his post as chairman of the House Budget Committee.

"It was because of my leadership and the reforms I'd been pushing that he asked me," Mr. Ryan said. "He said, 'I need help. I want your help to help me save this country from a debt crisis, to get this economy back on track.' "

Mr. Ryan, 42 years old, spoke on Saturday from the booth of a diner on the campus of Youngstown State University in Ohio, before addressing hundreds of people there as part of a two-day swing through the state. The interview came as the Romney campaign was making a renewed effort to gain support in Ohio, where polls show the GOP ticket continuing to lag behind slightly amid its surge in the national polls.

That improved poll standing came after Mr. Romney's strong debate performance Oct. 3 against President Barack Obama. The two candidates spent Sunday preparing for their second debate, to take place Tuesday night in Hempstead, N.Y.

Mr. Ryan amplified in the interview some of the thinking he had laid out on deficits, tax changes and entitlements in his own debate with Mr. Biden. The White House race is turning in large measure on competing visions of how to rein in the deficit and bolster economic growth, with Mr. Romney promising rate cuts for individuals and businesses and the president pledging to keep rates where they are for most Americans while rolling back Bush-era tax cuts for families who earn more than $250,000.

Messrs. Romney and Ryan have laid out three broad principles as part of their plan to lower tax rates by 20% on individuals and by 10 percentage points on businesses: Don't increase the deficit, don't raise taxes on middle-income taxpayers and don't reduce the share of taxes paid by higher-income Americans.

The Obama campaign has criticized Messrs. Romney and Ryan for declining to tell voters which deductions they would scrap in order to lower rates without adding to the deficit. Mr. Ryan defended that stance.

"What we've learned from experience?Mitt's experience as governor, my experience doing tax law?is that you don't go to Congress and say, 'Take it or leave it; here's my plan?pass it,' " Mr. Ryan said. "You say, 'Here's my framework, here's my objectives. Now, let's figure out together how to accomplish these objectives.' That's how you maximize the possibility of getting things done."

Mr. Ryan didn't answer directly if he could accept a proposal that raises tax revenue, provided it was coupled with lower marginal rates and cost savings from entitlement programs.

"It's not as if Republicans haven't offered this before," he said, mentioning a plan offered last year by Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) that would have raised $300 billion in new revenue over 10 years while lowering rates and scaling back deductions mainly on higher-income households.

Mr. Ryan quickly added, "But we think the best way to raise revenues is to grow the economy."

The Obama campaign says Messrs. Romney and Ryan couldn't find enough tax deductions on higher-income taxpayers to eliminate in order to fully pay for their proposed 20% cut to existing tax rates. It says the GOP ticket would also scale back tax breaks for middle-income families, giving them a net tax increase.

"Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are hiding the specifics of their tax plan, because the math doesn't add up without a middle-class tax hike, plain and simple," said Danny Kanner, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, in response to Mr. Ryan's comments.

Mr. Kanner added that "any other explanation for their evasiveness just doesn't pass the laugh test."

Whatever the outcome of the Nov. 6 election, Mr. Ryan will hold tremendous sway either from the executive branch or the House of Representatives over fellow Republicans as the two parties work to craft a deficit-reduction plan that could include changes to taxes and entitlement programs.

Before year-end, Congress and the president will be forced to confront a series of tax cuts that are set to expire right as billions in automatic spending cuts take effect.

Despite the increasingly bitter tone of the White House race, Mr. Ryan expressed optimism that the two parties would come together if his ticket won the race, arguing the overhauls he and Mr. Romney are pushing have historically garnered Democratic support. He cited the Medicare overhaul plan he co-authored with Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, which would give beneficiaries the choice between traditional Medicare and subsidized private insurance. He also pointed to the so-called Simpson-Bowles commission on debt and deficits that recommended cutting tax rates and reducing deductions, although Mr. Ryan, a commission member, voted against that recommendation.

"We have a history of bipartisan consensus on these major reforms that we think are necessary to prevent a debt crisis to grow the economy. It's just that we have a huge barrier right now to realizing that?President Obama. Harry Reid is also part of that barrier," said Mr. Ryan, referring to the Senate Democratic leader.

Campaigning in Youngstown, at a town hall-style meeting, Mr. Ryan displayed a mix of the wonky attention to detail that has won him wide praise from conservatives and the Midwestern roots the Romney campaign hopes will appeal to voters in Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin. He talked about fishing for walleye and cracked jokes about the Midwest, while walking the audience through a PowerPoint presentation that illustrated the country's mounting debt.

The Romney campaign is drawing on Mr. Ryan's reputation as a budget expert as part of a renewed emphasis recently on deficit cutting, an issue of particular concern to swing voters. On Sunday, the campaign released a new TV ad that contrasts footage of Mr. Biden smiling and laughing in last week's debate with Mr. Ryan earnestly saying: "We can't just keep spending money we don't have." The ad's tagline says the GOP ticket offers "serious leadership."

Mr. Ryan accepted the nomination in August to cheers from fiscal and social conservatives. In the months since, he has canvassed the country for votes and campaign contributions, maintaining a rigorous travel schedule that keeps him away from his home in Janesville, Wis., at least six days a week.

"I told the campaign when I got picked, I need to be with my family at least one day a week. I want Sundays at home as best as possible, so I can go to Mass and watch the Packers," he said, referring to his home state's NFL team.

Still, he said, he had signed up for an online package so he could watch Packers games on his computer when he is on the road. Because he was scheduled to be on the road Sunday, the congressman and his wife, Janna, had pulled their kids out of school last week to spend time together at the debate site in Kentucky.

Mr. Ryan has served in Congress for nearly 14 years, but he has never faced scrutiny like he has seen in this presidential race, with critics challenging not only his budget math but also pointing out that he understated his finishing time in a marathon.

"The way I look at this is, they can't say you're unintelligent, they can't say you're mean and evil," he said. "So, they're just going to say you're dishonest."

He added, "My guess is they're going to call us liars for the next month."

Mr. Ryan also said he dismisses polls that suggest the Republican ticket trails Mr. Obama in a handful of swing states, including Ohio. "The debates have changed the dynamics of the race," he said.

He also expressed relief that he survived his turn under the brightest lights in politics, with his debate performance last week.

"I had probably the best night's sleep I've had last night in a few weeks," he said. "I slept like a log. It was great."

Write to Patrick O'Connor at Patrick.o'connor@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared October 15, 2012, on page A1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Ryan Says GOP Win Would Spur A Tax Deal.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443624204578056900280483388.html?mod=rss_Politics_And_Policy

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