Hasta La Gadget!

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — It’s nothing new for a Nunn to be on the ballot in Georgia, but a casual voter might be forgiven for not knowing which one is running this year.

Michelle Nunn, a 47-year-old making her first bid for office, carries the Democratic banner for an open Senate seat. Still, at many campaign stops her father, former Sen. Sam Nunn, isn’t far behind, sleeves rolled up and hands extended as if he hadn’t retired in 1997 after four terms. The significance goes beyond simply family support as Michelle Nunn battles Republican David Perdue in a race that will help determine which party controls the Senate through the end of President Barack Obama’s second term.

The 76-year-old Nunn towered over the state’s politics for a generation, much longer than another contemporary, former President Jimmy Carter. Nunn gained national prominence to the point that he was mentioned as a potential vice presidential nominee in 2008, when Obama was a young Illinois senator.

Perhaps most importantly, Nunn remains popular among many older white voters who don’t like the president.

Obama lost Georgia twice, in no small part because of whites who once backed “Southern Democrats” such as Sam Nunn. That makes the elder Nunn a central part of his daughter’s defense against Republican attacks that she’s a “rubber stamp” for the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

“Sam Nunn was, number one, extremely likable from a personality standpoint,” said GOP campaign consultant Chip Lake, a Georgia native and lifelong Republican. “He just was Georgia to so many people. … I don’t think Michelle can duplicate that in this environment, but it’s smart for them to try.”

Sam Nunn dismisses the GOP assault as lazy.

“A Senate race is not about a president,” he told The Associated Press. “I tell people if they think Michelle is the best candidate then they ought to vote for her,” he adds, with a middle Georgia accent noticeably absent in his daughter. She grew up in suburban Washington before settling in Atlanta as a young adult.

“People used to ask Sen. (Robert) Byrd how many presidents he’d served under,” Sam Nunn said, recalling the West Virginia Democrat who served 51 years. “His answer was he ain’t never served under any. He served with presidents.”

A 144-page strategy memo, written by consultants for Michelle Nunn and accidentally made public, listed “Senator Nunn” among the few recipients, confirmation of his place at the campaign’s core. The document also named the former senator, a pivotal figure in foreign and military affairs while in Washington, as one of the candidate’s defense policy advisers.

“I’m glad to have my father here with me today,” Michelle Nunn told voters on a day she spent highlighting Georgia’s military installations.

She turns his influence into a laugh line when the former senator isn’t around. “My dad has called me twice today already,” she told a friendly crowd in Athens.

He made a cameo in one of her early television ads, recounting his days as a high school basketball player in Perry, about 100 miles south of Atlanta.

Legacy politics are conspicuous in 2014.

David Perdue is the cousin of former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. The Democratic nominee for governor, Jason Carter, is the former president’s grandson. Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana use family history to connect with voters who might not otherwise back Democrats.

But Michelle Nunn stands out in how explicitly she invokes her father as a model for how a “common-sense” moderate can represent this GOP-controlled state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 2000.

In her standard speech, she criticizes Washington’s rancor and dysfunction, while noting, “My dad often tells me that he didn’t pass a single piece of significant legislation without at least one Republican co-sponsor.”

That leaked campaign memo lays out the electoral math, projecting that Michelle Nunn needs about 160,000 more white votes than the 412,000 that Democrat Roy Barnes got losing the governor’s race in 2010, the last national midterm election.

Sam Nunn sidesteps detailed discussion of demographics and turnout, saying his daughter’s argument has broad appeal. But he says Senate nuances don’t translate into easy sound bites.

Voters, he said, “ought to recognize that the majority in the Senate doesn’t mean actual control if people aren’t willing to get along. You’ve still got to get to 60.” That’s the threshold for overcoming a filibuster and a higher number than either major party will have in January.

“I’m not talking about electing senators who don’t have principles,” Sam Nunn said. “But fixing this means having senators who respect that their colleagues have different principles and who understand the necessity of compromise.”

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Follow Bill Barrow on Twitter @BillBarrowAP

I’m not a fan of first-person shooters, but it seems lots of players are having a blast with Destiny, whether or not it lived up to its hype. If you’re one of the game’s fans, check out Etsy seller Eric Newgard’s shop. He channeled his inner Xander 99-40, and is offering his handmade replica of Thorn, one of the rarest weapons in the game.

Eric made a 3D printed mold and then cast the replica out of urethane. The main body, the grip, the gear pin and the gears are all separate pieces, so you can turn each gear separately. I’m not sure if it’s easy to take apart and put together though. He then painted and airbrushed the pieces and applied artificial weathering to make it look more authentic.

For comparison’s sake, here’s the Destiny Wikia’s image of Thorn:

Eric is selling the replica for $420 (USD) each. He’s also selling a raw version for $195. Take a jumpship to Eric’s Etsy shop ImpactPropsCA to order.

[via GeekTyrant]

Ice cream is a dish best served cold, but liberating it from its carton is an exercise in bent spoons and throbbing wrists. Kickstarter’s Michael Chou spent years striving for the perfect solution, and here it is: The Midnight Scoop, shaped to engage your most powerful arm muscles in the quest for deliciousness.

Read more…

TOKYO (AP) — A volcano in central Japan erupted in spectacular fashion on Saturday, catching mountain climbers by surprise and stranding at least 40 injured people in areas that rescue workers have been unable to reach. Another seven people were missing.

The injured, unable to descend 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake on their own, are staying in mountain lodges, said Sohei Hanamura, a crisis management official in Nagano prefecture. Thirty-two people had serious injuries, including at least seven who lost consciousness. Police, fire and military rescue workers were planning to try to reach the area on foot after daybreak Sunday, after deciding that the ash in the air made it too dangerous to use helicopters.

Hanamura said seven people were reported missing on the mountain.

Lodge managers are familiar with first aid procedures and were communicating with rescue officials in town, he said.

With a sound likened to thunder, the volcano erupted shortly before noon on a clear autumn day, spewing large white plumes of gas and ash high into the sky and blanketing the surrounding area in ash.

Smaller eruptions continued into the night. About 250 people were initially trapped on the slopes, but most had made their way down by Saturday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported. Some were in shelters set up in four nearby towns.

One witness told NHK that the eruption started with large booms that sounded like thunder.

In a video posted on YouTube, shocked climbers can be seen moving quickly away from the peak as an expanding plume of ash emerges above and then engulfs them.

Many of those who made it down emerged with clothes and backpacks covered in ash. They reported being engulfed in total darkness for several minutes.

Mikio Oguro, an NHK journalist who was on the slope on an unrelated assignment, told the station that he saw massive smoke coming out of the crater, blocking sunlight and reducing visibility to zero.

“Massive ash suddenly fell and the entire area was totally covered with ash,” he said by phone. He and his crew had to use headlamps to find a lodge.

“My colleagues later told me that they thought they might die,” Oguro said.

Two Jetstar flights headed to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport diverted to Kansai International Airport in western Japan as a precaution.

Japan’s meteorological agency raised the alert level for Mount Ontake to 3 on a scale of 1 to 5. It warned people to stay away from the mountain, saying ash and other debris could fall up to 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away.

Mount Ontake, about 210 kilometers (130 miles) west of Tokyo, sits on the border of Nagano and Gifu prefectures, on the main Japanese island of Honshu. The volcano’s last major eruption was in 1979.

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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.

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Online:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ea3uED1Zgc#t=54

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The president of Spain’s powerful northeastern region of Catalonia on Saturday formally called an independence referendum, the latest secession push in Europe and one of the most serious challenges to the Spanish state in recent years.

Catalan leader Artur Mas signed the decree to call the referendum in a solemn ceremony in the regional government headquarters in Barcelona, flanked by most of the region’s political leaders who support the vote. “Like all the nations of the world, Catalonia has the right to decide its political future,” said Mas.

Two hours after Mas spoke, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said the Spanish government will hold an emergency cabinet meeting within days so the referendum can be challenged before Spain’s Constitutional Court.

“This referendum will not be held because it is unconstitutional,” she told reporters during a rare Saturday press conference.

Pro-independence sentiment in the economically strong region, where the Catalan language is spoken side-by-side with Spanish, has surged in recent years, fueled by a sense that the region deserves better fiscal and political treatment from Madrid.

The announcement came a week after Scotland voted against breaking away from Britain.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was flying back from a state visit to China when Mas made his declaration. He has repeatedly said Spain’s constitution doesn’t allow referendums on sovereignty that don’t include all Spaniards, and experts say the Constitutional Court is almost certain to declare the vote illegal.

While Mas called the referendum, hundreds of pro-independence supporters gathered in the square in front of the Catalan government building in the center of Barcelona, with many wearing or waving pro-independence flags and chanting “independence.” The crowd cheered when an electronic clock counting down the days until the referendum was set in motion on the side of a building overlooking the square.

“Today is a day to celebrate. We are very happy and satisfied that president Mas has called the referendum,” said Carme Forcadell, the leader of a pro-independence group that has pushed for the referendum by organizing rallies over the past three years.

Unlike the Scotland vote, a pro-secession result in a referendum in Catalonia wouldn’t result directly in secession but Mas says it would give him a political mandate to negotiate independence.

In the referendum, Mas wants to ask Catalans two questions; first, if they think Catalonia should be a state, and, if so, should it be independent. If the referendum is not held, Mas could call early regional elections that would essentially serve as a Yes or No vote on independence.

Polls indicate most Catalans favor holding the referendum but are roughly evenly split on independence. Pro-independence fervor fades when people are asked if they favor an independent Catalonia outside the European Union, as the region has been warned would happen.

The referendum has stirred debate about whether the 1978 Spanish Constitution should be updated to accommodate Catalonia’s demands for more power while maintaining the 17-region country unified. Separatist sentiment is also very strong in the northern Basque region.

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Giles and Associated Press writer Alan Clendenning contributed from Madrid.