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Monday, December 31, 2012

Clippers win 17th in row, finish December at 16-0

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin, left, goes up for a shot as Utah Jazz center Enes Kanter, of Turkey, defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Clippers center Ronny Turiaf puts up a shot as Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin, right, gestures after a Clippers basket as guard Chris Paul approaches during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors, left, puts up a shot as Los Angeles Clippers center Ronny Turiaf defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin, left, struggles for the ball with Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Jamal Crawford scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Utah Jazz 107-96 on Sunday night for their 17th consecutive victory, becoming the third team in NBA history to record a perfect month.

The Clippers went 16-0 in December to join the 1995-96 San Antonio Spurs and 1971-72 Lakers as the only teams to go undefeated over a month. Their franchise-record winning streak is the longest since Boston won 19 in a row four years ago.

Caron Butler led the Clippers with 29 points, making all six of his 3-pointers. Chris Paul added 19 points and nine assists to help them maintain the league's best record at 25-6.

Al Jefferson scored 30 points ? one off his season high ? to lead Utah, which fell victim for the third time during the Clippers' streak. The Jazz lost 116-114 on Friday when the Clippers rallied from 19 points down, and they were beaten 105-104 on Dec. 3, both times at home.

Gordon Hayward added 16 points as the Jazz lost their third in a row and seventh in the last nine games.

Crawford keyed a 10-5 run to open the fourth, highlighted by a 3-pointer and a fast break pull-up jumper that helped the Clippers extend their lead to 89-81. Paul and Griffin didn't join the second unit until 5:55 remained and Utah had closed within four on a basket by Derrick Favors.

That was as close as the Jazz got. The Clippers made 9 of 10 free throws down the stretch and their defense held Utah to one field goal in the final 3:38.

Los Angeles stretched its lead to 71-59 in the third quarter, when Butler scored 10 of their first 17 points.

From there, the Jazz closed on a 17-8 run to pull to 79-76 going into the fourth. Utah briefly took its first lead since early in the game when Jefferson scored over Lamar Odom, but the Jazz committed two costly turnovers in the final 49 seconds.

Paul got fouled and made both free throws, and then Matt Barnes stole the ball from Jamaal Tinsley and fed Paul on the break. He missed but Crawford was there to tip it in and restore the Clippers' lead.

The Clippers shot 62 percent en route to a 54-45 halftime lead, with Butler scoring 17 points in the first quarter. Utah led briefly to start the game when Jefferson scored eight of their first 13 points.

NOTES: Los Angeles improved to 11-3 at home. ... The Jazz fell to 6-13 on the road. ... Clippers F Ronny Turiaf says his right elbow is "messed up." He said he hurt it a couple games ago when he felt discomfort while boxing out. ... Odom's ankle is bothering him. ... The Clippers haven't lost since Nov. 26 at home against New Orleans.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-31-Jazz-Clippers/id-6c163998ef1e467c854e3849f61d1e0b

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Bicosoeca -- flagellate in a wineglass

By Psi Wavefunction?| December 31, 2012 |??

Share Share ? Share Email ? Print Print

Last post of 2012! Hope it was a good year for you all, and that the next will be even better ? Happy New Year! Some protists sitting in champagne glasses might be relevant to our interests:

Bicosoecids are non-photosynthetic relatives of brown algae. Usually nestled in a delicate lorica (but sometimes devoid of one), bicosoecids sit attached to a substrate with one flagellum, and wave around the other to bring in bacterial prey to devour. At the base of the flagella is a lip-like structure where the unfortunate prey get engulfed after travelling down the current.?When startled, they rapidly withdraw their flagellum into a characteristic spiral, which you can see in the bottom specimen of the group. Most tend to be solitary, but this species forms loricate tree-like colonies, like wineglasses stacked upon each other. Despite their small size and timid appearance, their cell structure is fairly complicated and ?hoping you?d agree with me ? quite elegant.

About the Author: Psi Wavefunction is a recent graduate of the University of British Columbia working as a researcher at Indiana University, Bloomington, and blogs about protists and evolution at The Ocelloid as well as at Skeptic Wonder. Follow on Twitter @Ocelloid.

More??

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=9d11f2d074a47f333a5b3baf444bd91b

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Jim Miller gets bloody UFC 155 win over Joe Lauzon

UFC 155 was headed towards becoming one of the least memorable UFC pay-per-view cards in recent history until Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller stepped in the cage. The lightweights delivered a late Fight of the Year candidate as Miller won 29-28 on all three judges' cards.

Miller opened up the fight with a bevy of punches, and opened a cut on Lauzon's face early. Lauzon's wooziness allowed Miller to lock a standing arm triangle. Lauzon was able to slip out of the choke, but when he emerged, his face was covered in blood.

[Complete UFC 155 recap: Cain Velasquez mauls Junior dos Santos]

Though Miller managed better attacks and wasn't bleeding as badly as Lauzon, he still found himself in trouble late in the third round. Lauzon dove onto Miller's legs, and attempted a leg lock submission. If there wasn't so much blood covering their bodies and the canvas, Lauzon might have pulled out the win.

Lauzon told Yahoo! Sports after the fight that he required 40 stitches for the cuts sustained during the fight.

Miller was impressed by Lauzon's toughness.

?Joe Lauzon is a tough kid. I knew I was going to have to bring my best effort to put him away and I was never able to," Miller said after the fight. "That?s how good he is on the ground. And even in the last minute, look what he was trying to do to win the fight."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/jim-miller-gets-bloody-ufc-155-win-over-053034815--mma.html

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Mexico City orders prison in animal cruelty cases

MEXICO CITY (AP) ? Mexico City lawmakers have approved prison terms for animal cruelty, previously considered a civil offense sanctioned with fines and detentions.

The capital's legislative assembly unanimously agreed that people who intentionally abuse and cause animals harm will face up to two years in prison and pay up to $500. If the animal is killed, they can face up to four years in prison and a $2,000 fine.

Antonio Padierna, president of the assembly's law enforcement and justice committee, said late Friday that if animals are killed for food, the death must be quick and not cause pain.

The lawmakers agreed current administrative laws weren't doing enough to end animal cruelty. In Mexico City, animals are sometimes killed by being burned, beaten or shot.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-30-Mexico-Animal%20Abuse/id-4d9a0ea6c35e4e75b9ebb902f3d6cf21

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Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills ...

Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Shakara123(m): 3:11pm On Dec 29In our present society, there seem to be an increased awareness and crave for smart phones by all (infants, youths and adults alike).

These devices no doubt help in easy and fast communication but have we considered the effects they have on our written and spoken communication skills, especially our students??

Today, words are abbreviated in chat platforms to the extent that most students find it difficult to spell some words correctly, place punctuations appropriately, or even differentiate tenses. Examples; I don?t know becomes ?dunno?, okay becomes ?kk?, what is going on becomes ?sup?, don?t becomes ?dnt?, bother becomes ?boda? and the list goes on and on. It is at such moments that I praise some universities that ban the use of smart phones on campus.

Secondly, have we observed that some persons who are able to use these abbreviated words so much and type so fast with their phones during chats find it quite difficult to speak as effectively when physically present before their chat mates?

These are only my thoughts anyway. I will appreciate your comments as well.

Compliments.

6 Likes

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by 2legit2qwt: 3:52pm On Dec 29Yes, we're definitely letting it affect the written aspect of the language. I once had the opportunity to review some applicants cover letter during a job application process and it's pathetic that simple errors such as replacing '4' with 'for' were common.

A lot of people on Nairaland would rather write in 'text' language than the actual language thereby making it difficult to read/understand. Once you start writing that way consistently, you get used to it and it becomes the norm for you.

I can understand the need for 'text' words based on the number of characters you're restricted to in SMS

I'd rather read a sentence constructed in broken/pidgin English than in 'text' language outside of actual mobile texting, it does my head in

14 Likes

This post has been hiddenRe: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Clefcentfelix: 3:53pm On Dec 29

it depends on the individual

This post has been hiddenRe: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Chuckeey (m): 3:54pm On Dec 29

really affecting us badly

1 Like

This post has been hiddenThis post has been hiddenRe: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by vanstanzy(m): 3:56pm On Dec 29Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Cori_corde(f): 3:56pm On Dec 29

Exactly. I don't remember reading a text with the words written in full. Eveybody talks lyk dis noe. What is this nonsense?

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by messiah(m): 3:56pm On Dec 29

"you're" becomes "your"

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Sunymoore(m): 3:58pm On Dec 29

Quite tru cox i rembrd whn i was wrtng englsh dis yea, instd of schools i wrote .~~skulls~~. Its truli quite unfotunt. But as frm nw, i will tri as much as i can to wrte a complt wrd even in a forum o chat rum.

7 Likes

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by kunletiwoo(m): 3:58pm On Dec 29

Clefcentfelix: it depends on the individual

seconded! Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by afam4eva(m): 4:00pm On Dec 29

God punish spoken English. How about spoken Igbo and Yoruba. Why's no one worried about them?

11 Likes

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by egift(m): 4:01pm On Dec 29I will not say badly. If the user is lazy it will help him more. But if the person really cares for the quality of spoken and written words, phones and PCs could be really helpful.

For me the use of computer makes me spell words correctly, even the ones I can not easily put together (I just keep right-clicking till it suggest the right spelling).

1 Like

This post has been hiddenRe: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Yomieluv(m): 4:02pm On Dec 29

I dnt knw of som1 else,but its not affectin me at all,dats y I wrote dis in gud english

1 Like

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by caesaraba(m): 4:04pm On Dec 29It does. But I wouldn't say smartphones only. I'd say social media and all its shorthand has really reduced the quality of written English we see (among youths) these days.

E.g, A lot of people now replace the letter 's' with 'x' when they spell words.

There are many more examples but the crux of the matter is that social media has really affected the quality of written English among youths. Go through the comments on NL and see for yourself.

2 Likes

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Goldenheart(m): 4:05pm On Dec 29

place reserved.

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Shaw007(m): 4:05pm On Dec 29I thinK it actuaLLy depends On the individuaL. . .if ur(you're) someone who cannot pLace a distinctIOn on ur(your) "chat/texting" Life and the normaL,formaL Life u'LL(you will) reaLLY find it hard

and one other thing is the consciousness,most fOLks when writing tend to forget they are not messaging their friends or updating some status But writing a note ,an exam,or maybe an application. . .most ppl(people) can actually write normally,but when this behaviour starts to eat deep,i'm afraid the person is Lost

and of course on occasions,he intentionally tries to break that jinx

yes,it definitelY affects the writing aspect,but i dnt(don't) think it affects anyone speaking. . .at Least to my knowledge

1 Like

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Koolking(m): 4:06pm On Dec 29

It irritates me, in fact, I don't even waste my resource (time) reading short-worded comments and documents. What stops people from typing words the way they were taught, even when they have enough space to accommodate what they have to pass across to their listeners/readers. Personally, I see people who form such habits as unintelligent, docile and boring. It has nothing to do with Smart phones.

1 Like

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by ebucha: 4:06pm On Dec 29

Queens English does not improve the economy of a nation, ask the Chinese prime minister (fastest growin economy), Germans or maybe Japanese. The English currency and Economy overtook ours years back cos they made us slave to their language. Gramma good oh,but e no go giv us light,water and road. SEEK FOR DEVELOPMENTAL KNOWLEDGE!!

2 Likes

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by ebucha: 4:09pm On Dec 29

Chuckeey :
really affecting us badly

how? Ok, it increased the price of fuel and damaged our roads.Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Troll: 4:10pm On Dec 29@OP Is English My Language Or Are You A Learner!?

...Typing From My Nokia 3310 With GPS, 3G, WIFI & Bluetooth

1 Like

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Blackteeth(m): 4:10pm On Dec 29

I dont know. But ever since I started texting and chatting, I always write in full like its official. My friends I chat with always ask me why I write in full letters and I tell them its because I dont want to get used to those shorthand styles. Maybe its paying off for me.

5 Likes

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Sunymoore(m): 4:12pm On Dec 29

For those of u who have nt see the text under ''dis has affect us badly'' because its hidden, the text is
Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our
Written And Spoken English Skills?
by Clefcentfelix: 3:55pm
first to comment. placeholladele:
reserved
u're high on rice n stew.
(Quote) (Report) (Like)
Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our
Written And Spoken English Skills?
by Clefcentfelix: 3:55pm
holladele: first to comment. place
reserved
first?

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Richfella(m): 4:12pm On Dec 29

Some posts here, written in text-speak, make me want to hit my head on the wall. Yikes!

1 Like

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by A-ZeD(m): 4:13pm On Dec 29

You don't blame smart phones for the laziness of humans. No smart phone/phone comes with "text speak".

2 Likes

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by A-ZeD(m): 4:16pm On Dec 29

Richfella: Some posts here, written in text-speak, make me want to hit my head on the wall. Yikes!

Its truly annoying when adults resort to writing "text speak" on a public forum. I can tolerate bad grammar but "text speak" just makes me write you off as un intelligent and not worth responding to.

1 Like

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by Prodigee(m): 4:18pm On Dec 29

@OP: Welcome to the jet age...no time for time.

1 Like

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by omodapson(m): 4:19pm On Dec 29

I would have to support this assertion. We now have a new form of written language, (no language is exempted) which is destructive to the way we communicate. Before long, abnormalities may become the norm and we may not have answers to right the wrong.

Re: Are Smartphones Affecting Our Written And Spoken English Skills? by bara pistis(m): 4:23pm On Dec 29

the thing they affect person die....
me don go back to school lol, as i don forget the spelling of most common words

Source: http://www.nairaland.com/1145632/smartphones-affecting-written-spoken-english

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

If cut, fiscal deal will pale against expectations

Clouds roil over the White House in Washington on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, as Washington has less than 48 hours to avert the ?fiscal cliff,? a series of tax increases and spending cuts set to take hold on Jan. 1. Republican and Democratic negotiators in the Senate were hoping to reach a deal to avoid going over the cliff on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Barack Obama pauses during a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

President Barack Obama arrives to make a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012, in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Whether negotiated in a rush before the new year or left for early January, the fiscal deal President Barack Obama and Congress cobble together will be far smaller than what they initially envisioned as an alternative to purposefully distasteful tax increases and spending cuts.

Instead, their deal, if a deal they indeed cut, will put off some big decisions about tax and entitlement changes and leave other deadlines in place that will likely lead to similar moments of brinkmanship, some in just a matter of weeks.

Republican and Democratic negotiators in the Senate were hoping for a deal as early as Sunday on what threshold to set for increased tax rates, whether to keep current inheritance tax rates and exemptions and how to pay for jobless benefits and avoid cuts in Medicare payments to doctors. Senate leaders were hoping to be able to present their members with a plan when the parties meet separately on Capitol Hill Sunday afternoon.

An agreement would halt automatic across-the-board tax increases for virtually every American and perhaps temporarily put off some steep spending cuts in defense and domestic programs.

Obama pressed lawmakers to start where both sides say they agree ? sparing middle-class families from looming tax hikes.

"If we can get that done, that takes a big bite out of the fiscal cliff. It avoids the worst outcomes. And we're then going to have some tough negotiations in terms of how we continue to reduce the deficit, grow the economy, create jobs," Obama said in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" that aired Sunday.

Gone, however, is the talk of a grand deal that would tackle broad spending and revenue demands and set the nation on a course to lower deficits. Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner were once a couple hundred billion dollars apart of a deal that would have reduced the deficit by more than $2 trillion over ten years.

Republicans have complained that Obama has demanded too much in tax revenue and hasn't proposed sufficient cuts or savings in the nation's massive health care programs.

Obama upped the pressure on Republicans to negotiate a fiscal deal, arguing that GOP leaders have rejected his past attempts to strike a bigger and more comprehensive bargain.

"The offers that I've made to them have been so fair that a lot of Democrats get mad at me," Obama said.

Boehner disagreed, saying Sunday that the president had been unwilling to agree to anything "that would require him to stand up to his own party."

Don Stewart, a spokesman for Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, said Sunday: "While the president was taping those discordant remarks yesterday, Sen. McConnell was in the office working to bring Republicans and Democrats together on a solution."

Attention Sunday focused on the Senate, where Kentucky's McConnell, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., engaged in negotiations in the Capitol in hopes of having something to present senators.

"I was modestly optimistic yesterday, but we don't yet see an agreement," Obama said, referring to his mood Friday. "And now the pressure's on Congress to produce."

The trimmed ambitions of today are a far cry from the upbeat bipartisan rhetoric of just six weeks ago, when the leadership of Congress went to the White House to set the stage for negotiations to come.

"I outlined a framework that deals with reforming our tax code and reforming our spending," Boehner said as the leaders gathered on the White House driveway on Nov. 16.

"We understand that it has to be about cuts, it has to be about revenue, it has to be about growth, it has to be about the future," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said at the time. "I feel confident that a solution may be in sight."

And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., offered a bold prediction: "There is no more let's do it some other time. We are going to do it now."

That big talk is over for now.

Senate negotiators were haggling over what threshold of income to set as the demarcation between current tax rates and higher tax rates. They were negotiating over estate limits and tax levels, how to extend unemployment benefits, how to prevent cuts in Medicare payments to doctors and how to keep a minimum income tax payment designed for the rich from hitting about 28 million middle class taxpayers.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is predicting that without at least 28 of the 47 GOP senators on board with any given proposal, House Speaker John Boehner wouldn't be able to get the votes to pass it.

If Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., "can't get 60 percent of us to vote for this deal, it will be hard for Boehner to get it through the House. And I want to vote for it even though I won't like it because the country's got a lot at stake here," Graham said on "Fox News Sunday".

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said the 2.1 million Americans whose extended unemployment benefits ran out on Saturday are already feeling the pain of Congress' inaction.

"From this point on, it's lose-lose. My big worry is a contraction of the economy, the loss of jobs, which could be well over 2 million in addition to the people already on unemployment. I think contraction of the economy would be just terrible for this nation. I think we need a deal, we should do a deal," Feinstein said on "Fox News Sunday."

But the deal was not meant to settle other outstanding issues, including more than $1 trillion in cuts over 10 years, divided equally between the Pentagon and other government spending. The deal also would not address an extension of the nation's borrowing limit, which the government is on track to reach any day but which the Treasury can put off through accounting measures for about two months.

That means Obama and the Congress are already on a new collision path. Republicans say they intend to use the debt ceiling as leverage to extract more spending cuts from the president. Obama has been adamant that unlike 2011, when the country came close to defaulting on its debts, he will not yield to those Republican demands.

As the day ended Saturday, there were few signs of success on a scaled-back deal. But no one was declaring a stalemate either.

Lawmakers have until the new Congress convenes to pass any compromise, and even the calendar mattered. Democrats said they had been told House Republicans might reject a deal until after Jan. 1, to avoid a vote to raise taxes before they had technically gone up, and then vote to cut taxes after they had risen.

___

Associated Press writers David Espo, Julie Pace and Michele Salcedo contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-30-Fiscal-Cliff/id-d3eb859fc2f44f219f3147b5a9073af7

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Polls show movement toward stricter gun control ? with major caveats

A new USA Today/Gallup poll taken shortly after the Sandy Hook massacre shows 58 percent of respondents saying they now favor stricter gun laws, up from 43 percent in October 2011.

By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / December 29, 2012

People crowd a gun show in Knoxville, Tenn. Friday. ?I have never seen anything like this here,? said Jeremy Pearson, who has managed the group that produces shows around the country. ?There is a lot of talk about a gun ban, but this show always draws good crowds for us.?

Michael Patrick/Knoxville News Sentinel/AP

Enlarge

Public attitudes toward private ownership of firearms have shifted over the years. In the 1990s, Americans were more inclined to favor stricter gun control. More recently, that mind-set has shifted toward greater support for Second Amendment protections of gun ownership.

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But in the wake of recent mass shootings ? especially the Dec. 14 killing of 20 first-graders and six adult staff at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn. by a young man armed with an assault rifle with large-capacity magazines, handguns, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition ? another shift has occurred.

A new USA Today/Gallup poll taken shortly after the Sandy Hook massacre shows 58 percent of respondents saying they now favor stricter gun laws, up from 43 percent in October 2011.

Similarly, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll (also taken right after Sandy Hook) finds 55 percent agreeing that that gun control laws should be made more strict, 13 percent said they should be made less strict, and 27 percent said there should be no change.

2012 enters the record books. Were you paying attention? A news quiz.

In 2011, according to the USA Today/Gallup poll, most of those surveyed favored enforcing existing gun laws over passing new ones 60-35 percent. The latest poll has the number wanting new gun laws increasing to 47 percent. Meanwhile 92 percent in this new poll support background checks for buyers at gun shows, and 62 percent favor bans on high-capacity magazines holding as many as 30 rounds of ammunition ? steps favored by the White House and congressional supporters of stricter gun control.

At the same time, however, most respondents (51-44 percent) say they?re against any law making it illegal to manufacture, sell, or possess "semi-automatic guns known as assault rifles.? And a very large majority (74-24 percent) opposes greater restrictions on the possession of handguns.

The bottom line in Gallup?s new polling?

?Americans favor new legislation to limit gun sales, presumably to help prevent the kind of gun violence that became all too familiar in 2012,? writes the polling organization?s Lydia Saad in an analysis. ?This is seen in increased support for making the laws covering the sale of firearms more strict, and for passing new gun laws.?

There?s a significant caveat, however, Ms. Saad continues: ?Views toward banning semi-automatic guns or assault rifles are unchanged, and ? possibly reflecting Americans' desire to defend themselves given the rash of high-profile gun violence ? a record-high 74 percent oppose preventing anyone but the police or other authorized officials from owning a handgun.?

This negative attitude toward restricting handgun ownership is seen in the sharp and vocal criticism of the Journal News newspaper?s publishing of names and addresses of 44,000 licensed handgun owners in two New York counties this past week with locations pin-pointed using Google maps.

In response, New York state senator Greg Ball has proposed legislation that would bar the public from learning who the gun permit holders are in their communities.?In an online survey, the Journal News finds overwhelming support ? 89-11 percent ? for the proposal to keep gun ownership private.

Meanwhile, the phones at gun shops across the country are ringing off the hook, according to the Associated Press.

?Demand for firearms, ammunition and bulletproof gear has surged since the Dec. 14 massacre in Newtown, Conn., that took the lives of 20 schoolchildren and six teachers and administrators,? reports the AP. ?The shooting sparked calls for tighter gun control measures, especially for military-style assault weapons like the ones used in Newtown and in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting earlier this year. The prospect of a possible weapons ban has sent gun enthusiasts into a panic and sparked a frenzy of buying at stores and gun dealers nationwide.?

In Colorado, reports the Denver Post, the rush to buy guns has become so great that the waiting time for background checks by a state investigative bureau ? some 3,000 a day now ? has gone from a few minutes to several days.

2012 enters the record books. Were you paying attention? A news quiz.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Mzt-8E4HnWk/Polls-show-movement-toward-stricter-gun-control-with-major-caveats

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