Today, the?U.S. Census Department?released its monthly?New Residential Home Sales Report?for November showing a monthly increase with sales climbing 1.6% since October and 9.8% above the level seen in November of 2010 but remaining at an epically low level of 315K SAAR units.
It's important to recognize that the?inventory of new homes?has now fallen to a new series low at 158K units, lowest level seen in in at least 47 years while the?median number of months for sale?going flat at 7.4.
The monthly supply declined to 6.0 months while the median selling price declined 2.5% and the average selling price declined 13.77% from the year ago level.
The chart above shows the extent of sales decline to date.
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PYONGYANG, North Korea ? Tens of thousands of mourners packed Pyongyang's snowy main square Wednesday to pay respects to late leader Kim Jong Il as North Korea tightened security in cities and won loyalty pledges from top generals for Kim's son and anointed heir.
Women held handkerchiefs to their faces as they wept and filed past a huge portrait of a smiling Kim Jong Il hanging on the Grand People's Study House, in the spot where a photograph of Kim's father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, usually hangs.
Kim Jong Il died of a massive heart attack Saturday, according to state media, which reported his death on Monday. They said he was 69 ? although some accounts put his age at 70.
A huge crowd of mourners converged on Kim Il Sung Square with traditional white mourning flowers in hand. The crowd grew throughout the day, even as heavy snow fell, and some mourners took off their jackets to shield mourning wreaths set up in Kim's honor, just below the spot where he stood last year waving to crowds at the massive military parade where he introduced his successor, Kim Jong Un.
Two medical workers rushed to carry away a woman who had fainted.
"We chose to come here to care for citizens who might faint because of sorrow and mental strain," Jon Gyong Song, 29, who works as a doctor in a Pyongyang medical center, told The Associated Press. "The flow of mourners hasn't stopped since Tuesday night."
South Korean intelligence reports, meanwhile, indicated Wednesday that North Korea was consolidating power behind Kim's untested son, believed to be in his late 20s.
Worries around Northeast Asia have risen sharply as Kim Jong Un rises to power in a country with a 1.2-million troop military, ballistic missiles and an advanced nuclear weapons development program.
South Korea has put its military on high alert. In another sign of border tension, Chinese boatmen along a river separating North Korea and China told the AP that North Korean police have ordered them to stop giving rides to tourists, saying they will fire on the boats if they see anyone with cameras.
Along the Koreas' border, the world's most heavily armed, South Korean activists and defectors launched giant balloons containing tens of thousands of propaganda leaflets, a move likely to infuriate the North. Some of the leaflets opposed a hereditary transfer of power in North Korea. Some showed graphic pictures of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's battered corpse and described his gruesome death.
Kim Jong Il ruled the country for 17 years after inheriting power from his father, national founder and eternal North Korean President Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994. Kim Jong Un only entered the public view last year and remains a mystery to most of the world.
Seoul's National Intelligence Service believes the North is now focused on consolidating Kim Jong Un's power and has placed its troops on alert, according to South Korean parliament member Kwon Young-se.
South Korean military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of policies that restrict comment on intelligence matters, said North Korea has ordered its troops to be vigilant but that it didn't mean they were being moved.
Lawmaker Kwon said the NIS told the parliamentary intelligence committee that senior military officials have pledged allegiance to Kim Jong Un, and that more security officers have been deployed in major cities across the country. Intelligence officials declined to comment.
The NIS also gave its predictions on how the North's government will work during the transition of power to the younger Kim.
It told lawmakers that an ad hoc committee is expected to handle key state affairs before Kim Jong Un formally becomes the country's leader, according to lawmaker Hwang Jin-ha, who also attended the closed-door briefing. Intelligence officials didn't describe how they got the information, he said.
The NIS predicts that Kim Kyong Hui, a key Workers' Party official and Kim Jong Un's aunt, and Jang Song Thaek, her husband and a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, will play larger roles supporting the heir, the lawmaker said.
A South Korean Defense Ministry official handling North Korea affairs, however, said there is too little information to make a confident judgment about where North Korea's power transition is heading.
Initial indications out of North Korea suggest the power transition to the son has been moving forward, though it remains unclear when Kim Jong Un will formally take power.
In 1994, Kim Jong Il declared a three-year mourning period following his father's death, becoming the official leader of the nation in 1997.
Kim Jong Un led a procession of senior officials Tuesday in a viewing of Kim Jong Il's body, which is being displayed in a glass coffin near that of Kim Il Sung. Publicly presiding over the funeral proceedings was an important milestone for Kim's son, strengthening his image as the country's political face at home and abroad.
According to official media, more than 5 million North Koreans have gathered at monuments and memorials in the capital since the death of Kim Jong Il.
Hundreds of thousands visited monuments around the city within hours of the official announcement that Kim had died.
The North has declared an 11-day period of mourning that will culminate in his state funeral and a national memorial service on Dec. 28-29.
The leaflets sent into North Korea on Wednesday by South Korean activists are a sore point with the North, which sees them as propaganda warfare. North Korea has previously warned it would fire at South Korea in response to such actions. There were no immediate reports of retaliation, however. South Korean activists vowed to continue sending leaflets.
___
Reporting from Pyongyang by Associated Press Television News senior video journalist Rafael Wober and AP reporter Pak Won Il. AP writers Foster Klug, Hyung-jin Kim, Sam Kim and Eric Talmadge in Seoul, AP photographers Andy Wong in Dandong, China, and Lee Jin-man in Imjingak, South Korea, as well as Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee contributed to this story.
LOS ANGELES ? A Los Angeles federal judge on Wednesday upheld former reality show producer Bruce Beresford-Redman's extradition to Mexico to face charges in his wife's death.
U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez wrote that there are many pages of competent evidence supporting prosecution claims that the producer killed his wife during a family vacation in Mexico last year.
The Emmy-nominated producer of "Survivor" has been jailed in Los Angeles since November on a fugitive warrant.
His attorneys filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in August arguing that his detention was not supported by facts in the case. Gutierrez disagreed, saying all evidence points to a homicide committed by Beresford-Redman.
He cited "pages upon pages of competent evidence demonstrating that the fugitive committed the offense for which extradition was sought, namely the aggravated homicide of the victim."
Gutierrez said materials presented to him documented "the infidelity, fighting, screaming from the hotel room, the fugitive's opportunity to dispose of the victim's body" and other evidence including scratches and abrasions fund on Beresford-Redman's body and his flight to avoid arrest in Mexico.
"All of this evidence points to homicide committed by the fugitive," said the judge's two-page ruling.
Beresford-Redman's attorney, Richard Hirsch, said he was weighing his options in the case and would make a statement later.
Hirsch could appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If he does not appeal further, U.S. Attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek said Mexico's extradition request would be submitted to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for final disposition.
Prosecutors have presented statements from hotel guests who said they heard loud arguing and cries of distress coming from the couple's room on the night Monica Beresford-Redman went missing. Her body was found days later in a sewer cistern not far from the room the couple shared with their young children.
The producer's attorneys have claimed the noises came from Beresford-Redman and his children playing loud games throughout the night. They introduced statements from the couple's 6-year-old daughter to corroborate the claim, but judges who have reviewed the case were not swayed.
If he is convicted of aggravated homicide in Mexico, Redman faces 12 to 30 years in a Mexican prison.
COMMENTARY | The hot story in the press this week is that Barack Obama is facing a difficult decision. He must decide whether he will spend his vacation in Hawaii or in Washington, D.C.
Amie Parnes wrote in TheHill.com today that "the toughest call for the president this holiday season could be whether to join his family for Christmas in Hawaii or stay in lonely Washington."
With unemployment rates around 9 percent, the European banking crisis threatening to spill over into America, and a succession crisis in North Korea, whether or not to vacation in Hawaii or the White House is the toughest call he has to make this week?
The White House has set up a website to allow people a chance to follow the president and his family on his trip. The idea is that Obama is reaching out to those people who cannot afford a Hawaiian vacation year after year as it says on the website. I am afraid that I am missing the logic of the White House here. Do they think that people who are struggling to heat their homes, feed their families, and trying to make sure that there are a few gifts under the Christmas tree will take comfort in the fact that they can experience in real-time, the Obama's playing on the beach, surfing, and playing golf?
The White House website goes on to say that Obama has done his part to leave for Hawaii on time. He has scheduled Air Force One, made hotel reservations, and even made his golf tee time reservations. He only waits for the Congress to act so he can leave. Finally, the White House says that "prayers and good intentions of the American people are appreciated during this difficult and disappointing time."
I can understand that being President of the United States is a great burden. I understand that the pressure of having the leadership of the free world is beyond what many could shoulder. I listed above only a fraction of this issues that he is facing right now. I get that.
What I don't get is President Obama asking for the taxpayers of the country to offer up their prayers so that he can take what Malia Zimmerman at the Hawaii Reporter estimates is a vacation costing that taxpayer over $4 million. What the nation needs is prayers for healing and recovery from this recession.
As to the original problem, I would suggest that if he chooses to stay in Washington for Christmas, rather than spend it alone, Michelle and his family should just fly back to be with him. That would solve his crisis in a heartbeat, but then he would lose the opportunity to use it as leverage against the congressional Republicans on the White House website.
WASHINGTON ? The images are stark, the music apocalyptic. If Newt Gingrich falters in the Republican presidential contest, Ron Paul's scathing television ads may be a big part of the reason.
"If you want to put people in jail, let's look at the politicians who created the environment. The politicians who profited from the environment," Gingrich, in one of Paul's ads, is shown saying during an October debate. Then, over 60 seconds, the ad casts the former House speaker as exactly that type of politician ? through the voices of commentators, former congressional colleagues and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.
While other members of the GOP presidential field were slow to spend money to spread their messages, Paul's campaign has been on TV with ads in early voting states since last summer. The spots have addressed topics like abortion rights and the debt ceiling negotiations while nudging rivals Mitt Romney and Rick Perry for being slick or inconsistent.
But his barrage against Gingrich and an equally tough anti-Gingrich ad sponsored by the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future are raising questions about whether Gingrich can maintain his remarkable surge.
"When Ron Paul puts up a commercial blistering Speaker Gingrich, it's going to have an impact," said Bob Vander Plaats, a conservative leader in Iowa who has not made an endorsement. "Newt knew it was coming ? the question is whether he can withstand it and respond. If not, he's going to slip."
The ads hit aspects of Gingrich's record he's been forced to address many times in debates, from his acceptance of $1.6 million from federal mortgage giant Freddie Mac to his support at one time for an individual health insurance mandate President Barack Obama adopted for his signature health care reform law. Gingrich has since repudiated the individual mandate but defends his work for Freddie Mac, arguing that the federal government has a role to play in helping people buy homes.
"I only chose to work with those whose values I shared," Gingrich said at a debate Thursday when pressed on his association with Freddie Mac.
But the tone and the many different voices in the ad convey an unmistakable message: Gingrich can't be trusted.
The hard-hitting ads reflect the new, more aggressive approach Paul has taken in this campaign compared to his 2008 effort, where he placed a distant fifth in Iowa's kickoff caucuses despite strong fundraising and a loyal grassroots base. This time, Paul's populist, libertarian message is resonating with voters across the political spectrum who are nervous about the economy and fed up with Wall Street bankers and Washington power brokers alike.
For now at least, Paul's ads and organizational efforts appear to be paying off. Polls indicate Paul could win Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses, which would throw an already deeply unsettled GOP field into disarray.
Last week, Paul unleashed an anti-Gingrich ad, called "Serial Hypocrisy," that accused the former House speaker of changing positions on issues and profiting financially from his connections on Capitol Hill. A longer online version has attracted more than 1 million views on YouTube so far.
Another Web ad, "Selling Access," piles on, accusing Gingrich of going through the "corrupt revolving door."
The Gingrich campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
To be sure, Paul's ads are far more polished than Paul himself.
A fast-talking 76-year old who can veer off on tangents and trip over his own tongue, Paul delivered a somewhat rambling explanation in Thursday's Fox News debate when asked why his ads attacked Gingrich over his relationship to the federal housing giant Freddie Mac.
"You know, pure private enterprise, more closely probably to what Gov. Romney is involved with, but if it's government-sponsored, it's a mixture of business and government. It's very, very dangerous. Some people say, if it goes to extreme, it becomes fascism," he said.
Paul also spoke out forcefully in the debate against military engagement with Iran even if evidence surfaced that the country had nuclear capability ? a reminder that his strongly isolationist foreign policy views are well out of step with many conservative voters.
Paul's supporters push back on this criticism, noting that many tea party activists have expressed skepticism about expensive and prolonged U.S. military entanglements overseas.
Paul has also singled out Gingrich for hypocrisy on committing troops to war. In an interview this week, Paul, who served as an Air Force physician during the Vietnam era, noted that Gingrich had avoided that conflict.
"He supports all the wars in the Middle East a thousand times more than I would," Paul said Thursday on Fox News. "But, you know when, in the 1960s when I was drafted in the military ... he got several deferments. He chose not to go. Now he'll send our kids to war."
Paul's advisers say the attacks on Gingrich are primarily a way for Paul to showcase his own starkly different views on politics and conservatism.
"Newt Gingrich chose to leverage his position in Congress into profiting heavily as a Washington insider," Paul strategist Trygve Olson said. "We wanted to raise these issues and show how they contrast with Ron Paul's principled approach."
Olson, like several other Paul advisers, worked on the 2010 campaign of Paul's son, Rand, who won a highly competitive Senate race in Kentucky. The team has brought a degree of professionalism to the elder Paul's unconventional campaign that was largely missing in 2008.
Jon Downs, who produces the campaign's ads, got his start working for George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2000.
Brendan Nyhan, a Dartmouth College political scientist and media critic, said that Paul's under-the-radar campaign was likely to bear fruit both in Iowa and New Hampshire, where his anti-Gingrich ads have been running strong.
"He could certainly beat expectations in both places," Nyhan said. "He gets ignored, but he has money, good ads and could do some damage. He's dangerous."
___
Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bfouhy
Android: Facebook rolled out its new Timeline feature yesterday, and if you've enabled the cool new interface, you can update the Android app to get it on your phone as well.
The new version is mostly an interface update, but if you're using Timeline, you'll definitely want to check it out. You get the cover photo, map thumbnails, and the top-down view of all your posts. You can even swipe through albums right from the Timeline view, which is a really nice touch. The update isn't out for iOS yet, but iOS users can head to m.facebook.com to see the new changes if they so desire. Hit the link to read more.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? Evanthia Plakoura's life recently became a lot more complicated.
Conversations with her boss switched to email only. Visits to the doctor require additional planning. She feels helpless in Greece's bureaucratic labyrinth.
"It's like someone flicked a switch and turned off your voice," said Plakoura, a deaf woman who works at the Education Ministry.
Plakoura joined some 2,000 disabled demonstrators at a rally in central Athens this week to protest sweeping benefit cuts imposed in Greece's economic crisis that have deprived her of sign-language translation.
In August, a five-year-old program providing deaf people with interpreters was suspended after the government abruptly cut its funding to less than half. Overnight, 15,000 deaf people around Greece were left without help to report a crime to the police, rent a house or go to a job interview.
Funding cuts have opened up gaps across welfare services, with slashed services and longer waiting times for vulnerable groups including the blind, recovering organ-transplant patients, autistic children, and paraplegics in need of physiotherapy.
"This program is very important to us. It's our bridge to the outside world and it's vital for our education," Plakoura said in sign language, her speech relayed by one of the very translators whose help is being cut off.
"People have gone back to writing things down, or taking a relative, but it's not the same thing," she said. "It makes things very difficult for us, and especially for elderly deaf people."
The axed program is the latest casualty of Greece's draconian austerity measures that have battered social services as demand for help by the recession-hit public increases.
Independent welfare programs that rely on grants from the state offer a tempting target to a government fighting the threat of bankruptcy. Unlike state-run programs, which enjoy strong legal protections, the government can simply turn off the money taps.
As a result, independent programs to assist the disabled, the elderly, psychiatric patients and recovering drug users have all suffered steep cuts, occasionally with dramatic consequences.
An alarming rise in HIV infections in 2011 has been blamed in part on problems with needle exchange programs for drug users. Between January and October this year, 190 new infections of the deadly virus were reported among intravenous drug users, compared with 14 in the first 10 months in 2010, according to the Health Ministry.
Groups representing the disabled and other vulnerable Greeks have held several demonstrations outside the Finance Ministry, on Athens' main Syntagma Square, but getting attention is difficult in a city where between four and five protests are held every day.
At his suburban headquarters, Costas Gargalis, who heads the National Association of the Deaf in Greece, is struggling to keep his 60-member network of interpreters together, hoping to restart the program sometime next year.
"Since the program was suspended, it's been really chaotic," he said. "Some people can pay for interpreters on occasion, but others have simply postponed their tasks forever."
Gargalis, who is deaf, spends his working day in hectic silence: swiftly thumbing text messages on his cell phone, poring over fax requests from around Greece, and making video calls over the Internet.
His interpreters program started with an annual state grant of euro250,000 ($333,200) in 2006; that was steadily reduced to euro180,000 ($240,000) this year, before being suddenly slashed to euro80,000 ($106,600) in August.
"We were immediately over-budget and had to suspend the program. And even then, interpreters were left unpaid for two months of work," said Gargalis.
At previous funding levels, deaf people were offered 25 hours a year with interpreters. If the program is restarted next year, they will receive no more than 10 hours, Gargalis said.
"The amount of money we are asking for is laughable," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "This is a matter of survival for us."
Interpreters for the deaf need six years of training to get their license, and are paid below-minimum wage to crisscross Greek cities daily and provide help communicating.
"People generally become interpreters because they are interested in the subject," registered interpreter Costas Christodoulakos said.
"Now they are obliged to look for other work and take on other commitments, often unrelated to their interpreting jobs," he said. "What else can they do?"
Greece's debt-shackled economy has been kept alive by international rescue loans for the past 19 months, and creditors are pressing for more aggressive spending cuts, as the Socialist government continues to miss deficit-cutting targets and heads into a fourth year of recession in 2012.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos promised this week to submit protesters' demands to the country's new prime minister, and invite disabled groups to join negotiations on a major new tax code due to take effect next year.
Health care is facing major cuts this year ? down from euro7 billion originally planned to euro5.6 billion ($9.4 billion to $7.5 billion), excluding state insurance subsidies.
Since the debt crisis started in late 2009, store closures have exceeded 20 percent in some commercial parts of Athens, while more than 275,000 people have lost their jobs nationwide, the vast majority in the private sector, pushing the unemployment rate to more than 16 percent.
"The unemployment rate among disabled people is normally more than double the national average ... so there is an urgent need for disabled people to be protected (from the cuts)," Yiannis Vardakastanis, leader of the National Confederation of Disabled People, said in an interview.
"The effects of the initial (government spending) cuts were not immediately obvious. But the cuts being made now have brought parts of the care system to a state of near-collapse."
If you are a "female" you apparently choose clothing in the form of "outfits," a sort of ritualized selection process that allows you to look "good" in a different set of clothes each day. While I subscribe to Thoreau's maxim - "Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and, incidentally, when your neighbors come over to your place on Walden and catch a whiff of you, you'll be even more alone" - it is my understanding that some "ladies" like to change their "clothes" daily and they often need help facilitating this process. But what is a lady to do if she cannot remember what outfits she has worn in the past month? Cry? Yell at the barista? No. She uses Cloth.
FILE - In this Oct. 18, 2011 file photo, Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of Research in Motion gestures at the end of his keynote address to the BlackBerry DevCon Americas conference in San Francisco. Research In Motion Ltd. reports quarterly financial results Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, after the market close (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 18, 2011 file photo, Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of Research in Motion gestures at the end of his keynote address to the BlackBerry DevCon Americas conference in San Francisco. Research In Motion Ltd. reports quarterly financial results Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, after the market close (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
TORONTO (AP) ? BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. said Thursday that new phones deemed critical to the company's future will be delayed until late 2012.
Mike Lazaridis, one of the company's co-CEOs, said the BlackBerry 10 phones will need a highly integrated chipset that will not be available until mid-2012, so the company can now expect them to ship late in the year. He disclosed the delay on a conference call with analysts.
Analysts say RIM's future depends on the new software platform. RIM needs to come up with a compelling BlackBerry as U.S. users have moved on to flashier touch-screen phones such as Apple's iPhone and various competing models that run Google's Android software.
Earlier Thursday, RIM said BlackBerry sales will fall sharply in the holiday quarter, providing further evidence that it is struggling to compete. It also has been having a hard time finding a niche in the tablet-computer market, which is dominated by Apple's iPad.
RIM continues to enjoy success overseas, but market researcher NPD Group says RIM's market share of smartphones in the U.S. has declined from 44 percent in 2009 to 10 percent this year.
The company's stock fell 7 percent in extended trading Thursday.
The delay in BlackBerry 10 phones is the latest in a series of setbacks for the once-iconic Canadian company. Its PlayBook tablet computer hasn't been selling well, forcing the company to sell them at a deep discount. A widespread outage frustrated tens of millions of BlackBerry users in October. RIM fired two executives after their drunken rowdiness forced the diversion of an Air Canada flight. The head of its operations in Indonesia faces charges related to a stampede at a recent promotional sale where dozens of consumers were injured.
RIM said its net income sank 71 percent as revenue fell and the company took a large accounting charge on the PlayBook, which uses the same operating software that RIM's new phones will use.
"We ask for your patience and confidence," Lazaridis said.
RIM earned $265 million, or 51 cents per share, for its fiscal third quarter that ended Nov. 26. That compares with $911 million, or $1.74 per share, a year ago. The company said revenue fell 6 percent to $5.2 billion. The PlayBook charge was $485 million before taxes.
The company shipped 14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones during the third quarter and 150,000 PlayBook tablets, but its fourth-quarter guidance was what investors focused on because it had warned about the third-quarter results earlier.
Although RIM has said it would sell fewer BlackBerrys in the current quarter, the forecast given Thursday appeared worse than expected.
RIM said it would only ship between 11 million and 12 million BlackBerrys in the fourth quarter compared to 14.8 million in the previous fourth quarter.
RIM also said its fourth-quarter earnings would be in the range of 80 to 95 cents per share on revenue in the range of $4.6 billion to $4.9 billion. Analysts had been expecting earnings of $1.15 a share on revenue of $5.04 billion, according to FactSet.
Peter Misek, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in New York, said earlier that if RIM reveals that it will ship no more than 12 million BlackBerrys in the current quarter, then the company needs to get its new phones out fast. Otherwise, RIM could lose money in future quarters as it continues to struggle to sell the current, stopgap models.
Misek said late Thursday the BlackBerry 10 phones will now be released three to nine months later than people believed.
BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said the guidance was terrible and wondered if it was the start of a collapse.
"If consumers abandon this platform it can happen pretty quickly," Gillis said. "Don't think this is the bottom."
Jim Balsillie, the other co-CEO, said the last few quarters have been among the most challenging times in the company's most recent history. He said executives are working to turn it around, but said it may take time.
"We are not satisfied with the performance of the business in the United States," Balsillie said.
Balsillie said he and Lazaridis have reduced their cash salary to $1 per year, though they will continue to earn stock options and other compensation.
RIM's stock fell $1.15 to a new seven-year low of $13.98 in extended trading Thursday after the results were released.
The stock has lost about 75 percent of its value this year. A company that was worth more than $70 billion a few years ago now has a market value of around $8 billion.
"We recognize our shareholders may feel we've fallen short," Balsillie said
The minaret of a vandalized mosque in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. Unknown arsonists torched an inactive Jerusalem mosque early Wednesday, provoking calls in Israel for a more effective crackdown on Jewish extremists suspected in a string of increasingly brazen acts of violence, that in recent months have expanded from the West Bank into Israel proper. Also Wednesday, cars in two West Bank villages were torched by Jewish extremists, Palestinian witnesses say. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The minaret of a vandalized mosque in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. Unknown arsonists torched an inactive Jerusalem mosque early Wednesday, provoking calls in Israel for a more effective crackdown on Jewish extremists suspected in a string of increasingly brazen acts of violence, that in recent months have expanded from the West Bank into Israel proper. Also Wednesday, cars in two West Bank villages were torched by Jewish extremists, Palestinian witnesses say. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Israeli soldiers walk past a wall with a Hebrew graffiti reading "Price Tag", as they approach a torched car, not pictured, in the West Bank village of Yasuf near Nablus, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. Unknown arsonists torched an inactive Jerusalem mosque early Wednesday, provoking calls in Israel for a more effective crackdown on Jewish extremists suspected in a string of increasingly brazen acts of violence, that in recent months have expanded from the West Bank into Israel proper. Also Wednesday, cars in two West Bank villages were torched by Jewish extremists, Palestinian witnesses say. The term 'price tag' refers to a settler policy of revenge for Israeli government operations against settlers. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)
An elderly Palestinian man gestures as he stands next to a torched car Palestinians say was set on fire by Jewish extremists, in the West Bank village of Hares near Nablus, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. Unknown arsonists torched an inactive Jerusalem mosque early Wednesday, provoking calls in Israel for a more effective crackdown on Jewish extremists suspected in a string of increasingly brazen acts of violence, that in recent months have expanded from the West Bank into Israel proper. Also Wednesday, cars in two West Bank villages were torched by Jewish extremists, Palestinian witnesses say. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)
An Israeli soldier walks to a torched car Palestinians say was set on fire by Jewish extremists, in the West Bank village of Yasuf near Nablus, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. Unknown arsonists torched an inactive Jerusalem mosque early Wednesday, provoking calls in Israel for a more effective crackdown on Jewish extremists suspected in a string of increasingly brazen acts of violence, that in recent months have expanded from the West Bank into Israel proper. Also Wednesday, cars in two West Bank villages were torched by Jewish extremists, Palestinian witnesses say. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israeli police say they have detained six Jewish extremists following a series of attacks on mosques and Israeli military bases.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says they were detained Wednesday in a raid on an apartment in a religious neighborhood of Jerusalem. The raid came hours after an overnight arson attack damaged a Jerusalem mosque.
Rosenfeld said the suspects, who appeared to be in their late teens or early 20s, were detained in connection to "recent events" but were not believed to be involved in the mosque attack.
Neighborhood residents taunted the police, slashing a police car tire and smashing a windshield as the suspects were taken away.
Israel's government has vowed to root out assailants who target sensitive sites to protest official policies they feel are unfair.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Unknown arsonists torched an inactive Jerusalem mosque early Wednesday, provoking calls in Israel for a more effective crackdown on Jewish extremists suspected in a string of increasingly brazen acts of violence.
The Israeli government has vowed to root out and punish the assailants, who in recent months have expanded their actions from the West Bank into Israel proper. Their acts now include arson and vandalism against Israeli military bases as well as Muslim mosques, cemeteries, farmlands and cars, and occasional assaults on Palestinian civilians.
But the increasing frequency of the attacks, the sparse number of arrests and absence of indictments have also generated allegations that the Israeli government isn't acting forcefully enough against extremists after two years of violence.
An attack on a Muslim site in Jerusalem ? the contested holy city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ? raises the stakes further.
The mosque has not been used as a prayer site for some time, police said, and is outside the especially sensitive Old City district. But any attack on a Muslim place of worship is seen as an exceptional provocation.
The words "price tag" were spray-painted at the mosque ? a reference to Jewish extremists' practice of exacting retribution for government action against settlements. Anti-Muslim graffiti such as "Mohammed is dead" and "A good Arab is a dead Arab" was also scrawled at the scene.
Other acts of vandalism were reported in two Palestinian cities in the West Bank, where the military said cars were set afire and hate graffiti was scrawled.
Israeli politicians have taken tough stances against Jewish radicalism, particularly after protesters broke into an Israeli military base in the West Bank on Tuesday, damaging vehicles, setting fires and slightly injuring a senior commander.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "take care of these attackers with a firm hand" and Defense Minister Ehud Barak decried the "homegrown terror," while acknowledging that Israeli military intelligence doesn't gather intelligence about Jewish groups in the West Bank.
Netanyahu's office had no immediate comment on the mosque fire.
Lawmaker Shaul Mofaz, who sees himself as a rival to Netanyahu in the next elections, told Army Radio on Wednesday that the government was not doing enough to stop what he called "groups of Jewish guerrillas."
"These hooligans are terrorists for all intents and purposes," said Mofaz, a former defense minister and military chief, directing his anger at the attack on the military base.
"The Israeli government has to exact a price tag, and it has to be painful, expensive and unequivocal."
Settler leader Dani Dayan condemned the attacks but bristled at politicians' use of the word "terror" to describe the violence.
"It's a grave phenomenon that has to be battled, but I don't know if it's terror," he told Army Radio.
In an unrelated development in Jerusalem, a footbridge to a disputed holy site was reopened Wednesday, police reported, easing a political faceoff that threatened to erupt into unrest.
The walkway's closure earlier this week was to have been a prelude to its demolition. Jerusalem municipal authorities say it is a fire hazard and structurally unsound and must be replaced.
But any Israeli activity around the contested Old City compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount provokes friction with Jordan, the Palestinians and elsewhere in the Arab world. Rival claims to the compound have sparked deadly violence in the past.
The municipality said in a statement Tuesday that the government had called off the demolition plans and will be shoring up the bridge instead.
The hilltop complex is home to Islam's third-holiest shrine, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and was the site of two biblical Jewish temples.
The walkway is the only access point from the Old City's Jewish Quarter and is used by Jews and tourists, while Muslims use other entrances from the adjacent Muslim Quarter.
The bridge was built in 2004 as a temporary replacement for an adjacent earth ramp that collapsed in a snowstorm. Muslim leaders charge that any work in the area is designed to destroy their holy sites, and their opposition has blocked any plans to renovate or replace the structure on hold.
Joint mathematics meetings in Boston Jan. 4-7, 2012Public release date: 14-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mike Breen paoffice@ams.org 401-455-4109 American Mathematical Society
Providence, RI: Over 6000 mathematicians will attend the annual meetings of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and Mathematical Association of America (MAA) at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston January 4-7.
The Press Room will be on the third floor of the Hynes Convention Center, in Room 301 near the Main Lecture Hall, offering free wireless access, the book of abstracts, and a place to conduct interviews. Hours: Wednesday, January 4 through Friday, January 6, 7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and Saturday, January 7, 7:30 a.m. to noon. Registration for the press is free.
Many organizations participate in the meetings, acronyms for those are: AAAS: American Association for the Advancement of Science, ASL: Association for Symbolic Logic, MER: Mathematicians for Education Reform, NAM: National Association of Mathematicians, NCTM: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, SIAM: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, SIGMAA: Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America.
Two events are free and open to the general public:
2012 Gerald and Judith Porter Public Lecture: Erik Demaine, MIT, Geometric Puzzles: Algorithms and Complexity. Joint AMS-MAA-SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) Address. Holder of a MacArthur "Genius" Grant and one of mathematics' and computer science's most engaging lecturers, Demaine will talk about a variety of puzzles, focusing on some recent and playful results. Ballrooms A/B (3rd floor), Hynes.
National Math Contest: Who Wants to Be a Mathematician. AMS Special Presentation: National High School Math Contest with nearly $30,000 in prizes. Friday, January 6, 9:30-11:00 a.m., Hynes 312 (3rd floor).
The annual math meetings provide an opportunity for mathematicians in all fields of mathematics to present talks and participate in panels on topics ranging from theoretical research to recent applications of math to significant issues such as the climate and environment, biology, voting and social policy, sports, the arts, encouraging participation of underrepresented groups, and education.
*Climate and the Environment
Mathematical challenges in climate and sustainability, Mary Lou Zeeman, Bowdoin College. MAA Invited Address. Saturday, January 7, 10:05-10:55 a.m., Ballrooms A/B (3rd floor), Hynes.
MAA Invited Paper Session on Climate Change and Sustainability, Saturday, January 7, 1:00-4:50 p.m., Room 302, Hynes. Organizers: Mary Lou Zeeman, Bowdoin College and Chris Danforth, University of Vermont.
Incorporation of the mathematics of climate change and sustainability into our undergraduate courses. MAA Panel Discussion. Panelists: Christopher Jones, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Thomas J. Pfaff, Ithaca College, Martin E. Walter, University of Colorado, Boulder, and Mary Lou Zeeman, Bowdoin College.Organizer: Robert E. Megginson, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Friday, January 6, 9:00-10:20 a.m., Room 309, Hynes.
AMS Special Session on Climate Modeling and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics. Organizers: Qingshan Chen, Florida State University, Nathan Glatt-Holtz, Indiana University, and Mickael Chekroun, University of California, Los Angeles. Thursday, January 5, 8:00-11:20 a.m. and 1:00-3:20 p.m., and Friday, January 6, 1:30-4:20 p.m., Suffolk, 3rd floor, Marriott.
AMS Special Session on Mathematics in Natural Resource Modeling. Organizer: Catherine Roberts, College of the Holy Cross. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00-10:50 a.m. and 2:15-6:05 p.m., and Thursday, January 5, 8:00-11:50 a.m. and 1:00-3:50 p.m. Simmons, 3rd floor, Marriott.
Two talks on 2011 events:
Lagrangian Transport Patterns for Radioactive Particles after Fukushima. Tim Lai, Arizona State University. Thursday, January 5, 1:00-1:15 p.m., Room 201, Hynes.
Modern Meteorology: An Overview over the Methods used in Numerical Weather Prediction and its Application to Hurricane Irene. Martin J. Fengler, St. Gallen (Switzerland). Thursday, January 5, 3:30-3:50 p.m., Commonwealth, 3rd floor, Sheraton.
*Biology and Ecology
Epidemiology of influenza strains: Competition, prediction, and associated mortality. Edward Goldstein, Harvard School of Public Health. SIGMAA on Mathematical and Computational Biology Guest Lecture. Friday, January 6, 7:00-7:45 p.m., Room 202, Hynes.
AMS Special Session on Recent Advances in Mathematical Biology, Ecology, and Epidemiology. Organizers: Sophia R. Jang, Texas Tech University, Andrew L. Nevai, University of Central Florida, Lih-Ing W. Roeger, Texas Tech University. Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:50 a.m., Saturday, January 7, 8:00-10:50 a.m. and 1:00-5:50 p.m., Arlington, 3rd floor, Marriott.
AMS Session on Mathematical Biology and Related Fields. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00-10:10 a.m. and 2:15-5:40 p.m., and Friday, January 6, 1:00-5:10 p.m., Room 105, Hynes.
*Voting and Social Policy
AMS Special Session on the Mathematics of Decisions, Elections, and Games, Organizers: Karl-Dieter Crisman, Gordon College, Michael Jones, Mathematical Reviews, and Michael Orrison, Harvey Mudd College. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00-10:50 a.m. and 2:15-6:05 p.m., Exeter, 3rd floor, Marriott.
AMS-AAAS Special Session on Science for Policy and Policy for Science: Career Opportunities at the Intersection of Science and Policy. Organizers: Cynthia Robinson and Shar Steed, AAAS Science & Technology Fellowships. Wednesday, January 4, 2:15-4:35 p.m., Arlington, 3rd floor, Marriott.
Mathematics and the Law: How Big Should a Jury Be, and How Should It Render Its Decision? Jeff A. Suzuki, Brooklyn College. Friday, January 6, 1:40-2:00 p.m., Back Bay Ballroom B, 2nd floor, Sheraton.
*Sports, Games, and Puzzles
MAA Session on Mathematics and Sports. Organizer: R. Drew Pasteur, College of Wooster. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00 a.m.-10:55 a.m. and 2:15.-6:10 p.m., Room 203, Hynes.
MAA Session on the Mathematics of Sudoku and Other Pencil Puzzles. Organizers: Laura Taalman and Jason Rosenhouse, James Madison University. Wednesday January 4, 2:15-4:50 p.m. and Thursday, January 5, 1:00-3:35 p.m., Room 312, Hynes.
*The Arts
MAA Session on Arts and Mathematics, Together Again. Organizer: Douglas E. Norton, Villanova University. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00-10:55 a.m., Thursday January 5, 8:00-11:55 a.m. and 1:00-3:35 p.m., Room 311, Hynes.
Mathematical Art Exhibition: Fascinating works, including origami, sculpture, painting, digital prints, and crochet. Organizers: Robert Fathauer, Tessellations Company; Anne Burns, Department of Mathematics, Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus; Nat Friedman, Department of Mathematics, University at Albany; Reza Sarhangi, Department of Mathematics, Towson University; and Nathan Selikoff, Digital Awakening Studios. Wednesday, January 4, 12:15-5:30 p.m., Thursday, January 5 and Friday, January 6, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Saturday, January 7, 9:00 a.m.-noon, Exhibit Hall D (2nd floor).
Mathematically Bent Theater, Colin Adams, Mobiusbandaid Theater Company (and Williams College). MAA Dramatic Presentation. Friday, January 6, 6:15-7:15 p.m., Salon F, 4th floor, Marriott.
Turning theorems into plays, Steve Abbott, Middlebury College. MAA Lecture for Students. Friday, January 6, 1:15-2:05 p.m., Salon F, 4th floor, Marriott.
*Encouraging Participation of Underrepresented Groups
Creating Mathematical Scientists Among the Underrepresented, Sylvia T Bozeman, Spelman College. NAM Cox-Talbot Address. Friday, January 6, 7:30-8:15 p.m., Constitution Ballroom B, 2nd Floor, Sheraton.
MAA Poster Session on Mathematical Outreach Programs for Underrepresented Populations. Organizer: Elizabeth Yanik, Emporia State University. Thursday, January 5, 9:00-11:00 a.m., Veteran's Auditorium, 2nd floor, Hynes.
Summer research programs. MAA Committee on Minority Participation/MAA Office of Minority Participation Panel Discussion. Panelists: Min-Lin Lo, California State University, San Bernardino, and Asamoah Nkwanta, Morgan State University. Organizers: William Hawkins, Jr., MAA and University of the District of Columbia, and Robert Megginson, University of Michigan. Thursday, January 5, 1:00-2:20 p.m., Room 304, Hynes.
*Education
MAA Session on the Mathematical Preparation of Teachers: The Impact of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Organizers: Kenneth C. Millett, University of California, Santa Barbara, Elizabeth Burroughs, Montana State University, Holly Peters Hirst, Appalachian State University, and William McCallum, University of Arizona. Saturday, January 7, 8:00-10:55 a.m. and 1:00-2:35 p.m., Room 310, Hynes.
MAA Session on Touch It, Feel It, Learn It: Tactile Learning Activities in the Undergraduate Mathematics Classroom. Organizers: Jessica Mikhaylov, U.S. Military Academy and Julie Barnes, Western Carolina University. Wednesday, January 4, 8:20-10:15 a.m. and 2:15-5:30 p.m., and Thursday, January 5, 8:00-11:15 a.m. and 1:00-3:55 p.m., Room 313, Hynes.
MAA Session on Trends in Teaching Mathematics Online. Organizer: Michael B. Scott, California State University, Monterey Bay. Saturday, January 7, 8:00-10:55 a.m. and 1:00-5:55 p.m., Room 311, Hynes.
AMS-MAA-MER Special Session on Mathematics and Education Reform. Organizers: William Barker, Bowdoin College, William McCallum, University of Arizona, and Bonnie Saunders, University of Illinois at Chicago. Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:50 a.m. and 1:00-5:40 p.m., and Saturday January 7, 8:00-10:50 a.m., Constitution Ballroom A, 2nd floor, Sheraton.
MAA Session on Early Assessment: Find Out What Your Students Understand (and Don't Understand) before They Take the Test. Organizers: Miriam Harris-Botzum, Lehigh Carbon Community College and Bonnie Gold, Monmouth University. Saturday, January 7, 1:20-3:35 p.m., Room 313, Hynes.
AMS Session on Mathematics Education. Saturday, January 7, 2:15-5:10 p.m., Room 101, Hynes.
Why is transition from high school to college important? Issues and next steps. MAA/NCTM Mutual Concerns Committee Panel Discussion. Panelists: Arthur Benjamin, Harvey Mudd College, David Bressoud, Macalester College, William McCallum, University of Arizona, Daniel Teague, North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics, Paul Zorn, St. Olaf College, and Gail Burrill, Michigan State University (also the organizer). Wednesday, January 4, 9:00-10:20 a.m., Room 309, Hynes.
MAA Session on Projects, Demonstrations, and Activities that Engage Liberal Arts Mathematics Students. Organizer: Sarah Mabrouk, Framingham State University. Thursday, January 5, 1:00-3:55 p.m. and Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:35 a.m., Back Bay Ballroom C, 2nd floor, Sheraton.
History of Math
AMS-ASL Special Session on the Life and Legacy of Alan Turing (2012 is the 100th anniversary of Turing's birth). Organizers: Damir Dzhafarov, University of Chicago and University of Notre Dame, Jeff Hirst, Appalachian State University, and Carl Mummert, Marshall University. Wednesday, January 4,8:00-10:40 a.m. and 2:15-5:55 p.m., and Thursday, January 5, 8:00-11:40 a.m. and 1:00-3:40 p.m., Room 207, Hynes.
AMS Session on History and Philosophy of Mathematics. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00-9:25 a.m., Room 308, Hynes.
MAA Session on the History of Mathematics and Its Uses in the Classroom. Organizer: Amy Shell-Gellasch, Beloit College. Friday, January 6, 3:20-5:35 p.m., Room 202, Hynes, and Saturday, January 7, 8:00-10:55 a.m., Room 312, Hynes.
*Business and Industry
MAA Session on Mathematics Experiences in Business, Industry, and Government. Organizers: Carla D. Martin, James Madison University, Phil Gustafson, Mesa State College, and Michael Monticino, University of North Texas. Thursday, January 5, 8:00-11:15 a.m., Room 203, Hynes.
Rational rationing in healthcare: Observations for organ allocation, Sommer Gentry, U.S. Naval Academy. SIGMAA on Mathematicians in Business, Industry, and Government Guest Lecture. Thursday, January 5, 6:00-7:00 p.m., Room 203, Hynes.
*Modern Problems
MAA Invited Paper Session on Contemporary Unsolved Problems. Organizers: Ellen Kirkman and Jeremy Rouse, Wake Forest University. Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:45 a.m., Room 302, Hynes.
AMS Current Events Bulletin. Organizer: David Eisenbud, University of California, Berkeley. Friday, January 6, 1:00-4:45 p.m., Room 200, Hynes.
*Mathematical Modeling
MAA General Contributed Paper Session: Modeling and Applications of Mathematics. Organizers: Jennifer Beineke, Western New England College, Lynette Boos, Providence College, and Aliza Steurer, Dominican University. Thursday, January 5, 1:00-3:40 p.m., and Friday, January 6, 1:00-5:40 p.m., Room 201, Hynes.
MAA Session on Modeling Across the Mathematics Curriculum. Organizers: Benjamin Galluzzo, Shippensburg University, Mariah Birgen, Wartburg College, and Joyati Debnath, Winona State University. Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:55 a.m., Room 313, Hynes, and 1:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m., Room 306, Hynes.
*Careers in Mathematics
A conversation on nonacademic employment. AMS Special Presentation. Moderator: C. Allen Butler, Daniel H. Wagner Associates, Inc. Thursday January 5, 10:30 a.m.-noon, Room 208, Hynes.
Career options: Industry, government, and academia. AWM Workshop Panel Discussion. Panelists: Jennifer Chayes, Microsoft Research, Melissa Choi, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Navah Langmeyer, National Security Agency, and Peter March, The Ohio State University. Moderator: Alissa Crans, Loyola Marymount University. Saturday, January 7, 1:00-2:15 p.m., Room 306, Hynes.
Career options for undergraduate mathematics majors. MAA-Young Mathematicians Network Panel Discussion. Panelists: Erin Corman, National Security Agency, Michael Dorff, Brigham Young University, and Emily Kessler, Society of Actuaries. Organizers: Nyles Breecher, Hamline University and Raluccca Gera, Naval Postgraduate School. Thursday, January 5, 1:00 p.m.-2:20 p.m., Room 309, Hynes.
*Knot Theory
MAA Invited Paper Session on Knot Theory Untangled. Organizer: Rolland Trapp, California State University, San Bernardino. Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:50 a.m., Room 311, Hynes.
###
See the full program at http://jointmathematicsmeetings.org/meetings/national/jmm2012/2138_program.html.
The Joint Mathematics Meetings are held for the purpose of advancing mathematical achievement, encouraging research, and providing the communication necessary to progress in the field. These meetings serve to preserve, supplement, and utilize the results of the research of mathematicians the world over. Keeping abreast of the progress in mathematics results in the furtherance of the interest of mathematical scholarship and research.
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Joint mathematics meetings in Boston Jan. 4-7, 2012Public release date: 14-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mike Breen paoffice@ams.org 401-455-4109 American Mathematical Society
Providence, RI: Over 6000 mathematicians will attend the annual meetings of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and Mathematical Association of America (MAA) at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston January 4-7.
The Press Room will be on the third floor of the Hynes Convention Center, in Room 301 near the Main Lecture Hall, offering free wireless access, the book of abstracts, and a place to conduct interviews. Hours: Wednesday, January 4 through Friday, January 6, 7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and Saturday, January 7, 7:30 a.m. to noon. Registration for the press is free.
Many organizations participate in the meetings, acronyms for those are: AAAS: American Association for the Advancement of Science, ASL: Association for Symbolic Logic, MER: Mathematicians for Education Reform, NAM: National Association of Mathematicians, NCTM: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, SIAM: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, SIGMAA: Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America.
Two events are free and open to the general public:
2012 Gerald and Judith Porter Public Lecture: Erik Demaine, MIT, Geometric Puzzles: Algorithms and Complexity. Joint AMS-MAA-SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) Address. Holder of a MacArthur "Genius" Grant and one of mathematics' and computer science's most engaging lecturers, Demaine will talk about a variety of puzzles, focusing on some recent and playful results. Ballrooms A/B (3rd floor), Hynes.
National Math Contest: Who Wants to Be a Mathematician. AMS Special Presentation: National High School Math Contest with nearly $30,000 in prizes. Friday, January 6, 9:30-11:00 a.m., Hynes 312 (3rd floor).
The annual math meetings provide an opportunity for mathematicians in all fields of mathematics to present talks and participate in panels on topics ranging from theoretical research to recent applications of math to significant issues such as the climate and environment, biology, voting and social policy, sports, the arts, encouraging participation of underrepresented groups, and education.
*Climate and the Environment
Mathematical challenges in climate and sustainability, Mary Lou Zeeman, Bowdoin College. MAA Invited Address. Saturday, January 7, 10:05-10:55 a.m., Ballrooms A/B (3rd floor), Hynes.
MAA Invited Paper Session on Climate Change and Sustainability, Saturday, January 7, 1:00-4:50 p.m., Room 302, Hynes. Organizers: Mary Lou Zeeman, Bowdoin College and Chris Danforth, University of Vermont.
Incorporation of the mathematics of climate change and sustainability into our undergraduate courses. MAA Panel Discussion. Panelists: Christopher Jones, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Thomas J. Pfaff, Ithaca College, Martin E. Walter, University of Colorado, Boulder, and Mary Lou Zeeman, Bowdoin College.Organizer: Robert E. Megginson, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Friday, January 6, 9:00-10:20 a.m., Room 309, Hynes.
AMS Special Session on Climate Modeling and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics. Organizers: Qingshan Chen, Florida State University, Nathan Glatt-Holtz, Indiana University, and Mickael Chekroun, University of California, Los Angeles. Thursday, January 5, 8:00-11:20 a.m. and 1:00-3:20 p.m., and Friday, January 6, 1:30-4:20 p.m., Suffolk, 3rd floor, Marriott.
AMS Special Session on Mathematics in Natural Resource Modeling. Organizer: Catherine Roberts, College of the Holy Cross. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00-10:50 a.m. and 2:15-6:05 p.m., and Thursday, January 5, 8:00-11:50 a.m. and 1:00-3:50 p.m. Simmons, 3rd floor, Marriott.
Two talks on 2011 events:
Lagrangian Transport Patterns for Radioactive Particles after Fukushima. Tim Lai, Arizona State University. Thursday, January 5, 1:00-1:15 p.m., Room 201, Hynes.
Modern Meteorology: An Overview over the Methods used in Numerical Weather Prediction and its Application to Hurricane Irene. Martin J. Fengler, St. Gallen (Switzerland). Thursday, January 5, 3:30-3:50 p.m., Commonwealth, 3rd floor, Sheraton.
*Biology and Ecology
Epidemiology of influenza strains: Competition, prediction, and associated mortality. Edward Goldstein, Harvard School of Public Health. SIGMAA on Mathematical and Computational Biology Guest Lecture. Friday, January 6, 7:00-7:45 p.m., Room 202, Hynes.
AMS Special Session on Recent Advances in Mathematical Biology, Ecology, and Epidemiology. Organizers: Sophia R. Jang, Texas Tech University, Andrew L. Nevai, University of Central Florida, Lih-Ing W. Roeger, Texas Tech University. Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:50 a.m., Saturday, January 7, 8:00-10:50 a.m. and 1:00-5:50 p.m., Arlington, 3rd floor, Marriott.
AMS Session on Mathematical Biology and Related Fields. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00-10:10 a.m. and 2:15-5:40 p.m., and Friday, January 6, 1:00-5:10 p.m., Room 105, Hynes.
*Voting and Social Policy
AMS Special Session on the Mathematics of Decisions, Elections, and Games, Organizers: Karl-Dieter Crisman, Gordon College, Michael Jones, Mathematical Reviews, and Michael Orrison, Harvey Mudd College. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00-10:50 a.m. and 2:15-6:05 p.m., Exeter, 3rd floor, Marriott.
AMS-AAAS Special Session on Science for Policy and Policy for Science: Career Opportunities at the Intersection of Science and Policy. Organizers: Cynthia Robinson and Shar Steed, AAAS Science & Technology Fellowships. Wednesday, January 4, 2:15-4:35 p.m., Arlington, 3rd floor, Marriott.
Mathematics and the Law: How Big Should a Jury Be, and How Should It Render Its Decision? Jeff A. Suzuki, Brooklyn College. Friday, January 6, 1:40-2:00 p.m., Back Bay Ballroom B, 2nd floor, Sheraton.
*Sports, Games, and Puzzles
MAA Session on Mathematics and Sports. Organizer: R. Drew Pasteur, College of Wooster. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00 a.m.-10:55 a.m. and 2:15.-6:10 p.m., Room 203, Hynes.
MAA Session on the Mathematics of Sudoku and Other Pencil Puzzles. Organizers: Laura Taalman and Jason Rosenhouse, James Madison University. Wednesday January 4, 2:15-4:50 p.m. and Thursday, January 5, 1:00-3:35 p.m., Room 312, Hynes.
*The Arts
MAA Session on Arts and Mathematics, Together Again. Organizer: Douglas E. Norton, Villanova University. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00-10:55 a.m., Thursday January 5, 8:00-11:55 a.m. and 1:00-3:35 p.m., Room 311, Hynes.
Mathematical Art Exhibition: Fascinating works, including origami, sculpture, painting, digital prints, and crochet. Organizers: Robert Fathauer, Tessellations Company; Anne Burns, Department of Mathematics, Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus; Nat Friedman, Department of Mathematics, University at Albany; Reza Sarhangi, Department of Mathematics, Towson University; and Nathan Selikoff, Digital Awakening Studios. Wednesday, January 4, 12:15-5:30 p.m., Thursday, January 5 and Friday, January 6, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Saturday, January 7, 9:00 a.m.-noon, Exhibit Hall D (2nd floor).
Mathematically Bent Theater, Colin Adams, Mobiusbandaid Theater Company (and Williams College). MAA Dramatic Presentation. Friday, January 6, 6:15-7:15 p.m., Salon F, 4th floor, Marriott.
Turning theorems into plays, Steve Abbott, Middlebury College. MAA Lecture for Students. Friday, January 6, 1:15-2:05 p.m., Salon F, 4th floor, Marriott.
*Encouraging Participation of Underrepresented Groups
Creating Mathematical Scientists Among the Underrepresented, Sylvia T Bozeman, Spelman College. NAM Cox-Talbot Address. Friday, January 6, 7:30-8:15 p.m., Constitution Ballroom B, 2nd Floor, Sheraton.
MAA Poster Session on Mathematical Outreach Programs for Underrepresented Populations. Organizer: Elizabeth Yanik, Emporia State University. Thursday, January 5, 9:00-11:00 a.m., Veteran's Auditorium, 2nd floor, Hynes.
Summer research programs. MAA Committee on Minority Participation/MAA Office of Minority Participation Panel Discussion. Panelists: Min-Lin Lo, California State University, San Bernardino, and Asamoah Nkwanta, Morgan State University. Organizers: William Hawkins, Jr., MAA and University of the District of Columbia, and Robert Megginson, University of Michigan. Thursday, January 5, 1:00-2:20 p.m., Room 304, Hynes.
*Education
MAA Session on the Mathematical Preparation of Teachers: The Impact of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Organizers: Kenneth C. Millett, University of California, Santa Barbara, Elizabeth Burroughs, Montana State University, Holly Peters Hirst, Appalachian State University, and William McCallum, University of Arizona. Saturday, January 7, 8:00-10:55 a.m. and 1:00-2:35 p.m., Room 310, Hynes.
MAA Session on Touch It, Feel It, Learn It: Tactile Learning Activities in the Undergraduate Mathematics Classroom. Organizers: Jessica Mikhaylov, U.S. Military Academy and Julie Barnes, Western Carolina University. Wednesday, January 4, 8:20-10:15 a.m. and 2:15-5:30 p.m., and Thursday, January 5, 8:00-11:15 a.m. and 1:00-3:55 p.m., Room 313, Hynes.
MAA Session on Trends in Teaching Mathematics Online. Organizer: Michael B. Scott, California State University, Monterey Bay. Saturday, January 7, 8:00-10:55 a.m. and 1:00-5:55 p.m., Room 311, Hynes.
AMS-MAA-MER Special Session on Mathematics and Education Reform. Organizers: William Barker, Bowdoin College, William McCallum, University of Arizona, and Bonnie Saunders, University of Illinois at Chicago. Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:50 a.m. and 1:00-5:40 p.m., and Saturday January 7, 8:00-10:50 a.m., Constitution Ballroom A, 2nd floor, Sheraton.
MAA Session on Early Assessment: Find Out What Your Students Understand (and Don't Understand) before They Take the Test. Organizers: Miriam Harris-Botzum, Lehigh Carbon Community College and Bonnie Gold, Monmouth University. Saturday, January 7, 1:20-3:35 p.m., Room 313, Hynes.
AMS Session on Mathematics Education. Saturday, January 7, 2:15-5:10 p.m., Room 101, Hynes.
Why is transition from high school to college important? Issues and next steps. MAA/NCTM Mutual Concerns Committee Panel Discussion. Panelists: Arthur Benjamin, Harvey Mudd College, David Bressoud, Macalester College, William McCallum, University of Arizona, Daniel Teague, North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics, Paul Zorn, St. Olaf College, and Gail Burrill, Michigan State University (also the organizer). Wednesday, January 4, 9:00-10:20 a.m., Room 309, Hynes.
MAA Session on Projects, Demonstrations, and Activities that Engage Liberal Arts Mathematics Students. Organizer: Sarah Mabrouk, Framingham State University. Thursday, January 5, 1:00-3:55 p.m. and Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:35 a.m., Back Bay Ballroom C, 2nd floor, Sheraton.
History of Math
AMS-ASL Special Session on the Life and Legacy of Alan Turing (2012 is the 100th anniversary of Turing's birth). Organizers: Damir Dzhafarov, University of Chicago and University of Notre Dame, Jeff Hirst, Appalachian State University, and Carl Mummert, Marshall University. Wednesday, January 4,8:00-10:40 a.m. and 2:15-5:55 p.m., and Thursday, January 5, 8:00-11:40 a.m. and 1:00-3:40 p.m., Room 207, Hynes.
AMS Session on History and Philosophy of Mathematics. Wednesday, January 4, 8:00-9:25 a.m., Room 308, Hynes.
MAA Session on the History of Mathematics and Its Uses in the Classroom. Organizer: Amy Shell-Gellasch, Beloit College. Friday, January 6, 3:20-5:35 p.m., Room 202, Hynes, and Saturday, January 7, 8:00-10:55 a.m., Room 312, Hynes.
*Business and Industry
MAA Session on Mathematics Experiences in Business, Industry, and Government. Organizers: Carla D. Martin, James Madison University, Phil Gustafson, Mesa State College, and Michael Monticino, University of North Texas. Thursday, January 5, 8:00-11:15 a.m., Room 203, Hynes.
Rational rationing in healthcare: Observations for organ allocation, Sommer Gentry, U.S. Naval Academy. SIGMAA on Mathematicians in Business, Industry, and Government Guest Lecture. Thursday, January 5, 6:00-7:00 p.m., Room 203, Hynes.
*Modern Problems
MAA Invited Paper Session on Contemporary Unsolved Problems. Organizers: Ellen Kirkman and Jeremy Rouse, Wake Forest University. Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:45 a.m., Room 302, Hynes.
AMS Current Events Bulletin. Organizer: David Eisenbud, University of California, Berkeley. Friday, January 6, 1:00-4:45 p.m., Room 200, Hynes.
*Mathematical Modeling
MAA General Contributed Paper Session: Modeling and Applications of Mathematics. Organizers: Jennifer Beineke, Western New England College, Lynette Boos, Providence College, and Aliza Steurer, Dominican University. Thursday, January 5, 1:00-3:40 p.m., and Friday, January 6, 1:00-5:40 p.m., Room 201, Hynes.
MAA Session on Modeling Across the Mathematics Curriculum. Organizers: Benjamin Galluzzo, Shippensburg University, Mariah Birgen, Wartburg College, and Joyati Debnath, Winona State University. Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:55 a.m., Room 313, Hynes, and 1:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m., Room 306, Hynes.
*Careers in Mathematics
A conversation on nonacademic employment. AMS Special Presentation. Moderator: C. Allen Butler, Daniel H. Wagner Associates, Inc. Thursday January 5, 10:30 a.m.-noon, Room 208, Hynes.
Career options: Industry, government, and academia. AWM Workshop Panel Discussion. Panelists: Jennifer Chayes, Microsoft Research, Melissa Choi, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Navah Langmeyer, National Security Agency, and Peter March, The Ohio State University. Moderator: Alissa Crans, Loyola Marymount University. Saturday, January 7, 1:00-2:15 p.m., Room 306, Hynes.
Career options for undergraduate mathematics majors. MAA-Young Mathematicians Network Panel Discussion. Panelists: Erin Corman, National Security Agency, Michael Dorff, Brigham Young University, and Emily Kessler, Society of Actuaries. Organizers: Nyles Breecher, Hamline University and Raluccca Gera, Naval Postgraduate School. Thursday, January 5, 1:00 p.m.-2:20 p.m., Room 309, Hynes.
*Knot Theory
MAA Invited Paper Session on Knot Theory Untangled. Organizer: Rolland Trapp, California State University, San Bernardino. Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:50 a.m., Room 311, Hynes.
###
See the full program at http://jointmathematicsmeetings.org/meetings/national/jmm2012/2138_program.html.
The Joint Mathematics Meetings are held for the purpose of advancing mathematical achievement, encouraging research, and providing the communication necessary to progress in the field. These meetings serve to preserve, supplement, and utilize the results of the research of mathematicians the world over. Keeping abreast of the progress in mathematics results in the furtherance of the interest of mathematical scholarship and research.
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Public release date: 14-Dec-2011
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