A flat-screen adaptation of "Frozen," the Science on a Sphere production from NASA's acclaimed Scientific Visualization Studio.
This production was a selected as a finalist in the Special Venue category at the 2009 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.
Russia, Jakutia, Aykhal, Feb. 7, 2010. Photo by Akhmetsafin Ruslan. Details: Nikon D3, 14-24 mm, f/3,2 , ISO 1000, 15-30 s. Via SpaceWeather.com.
Over the past few days, active sunspot 1045 has hurled a series of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) toward Earth. These are not the kind of major CMEs that will spark auroras over, say, Florida, but they could spark some very nice lights around the Arctic Circle.
High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for Northern Lights on Feb. 9th through 11th when the CMEs are expected to arrive. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of some geomagnetic activity and as much as a 5% chance of a major geomagnetic storm over the next three days.
Related: Solar Wind Stream to reach Earth around February 10, 2010
Current Auroral Oval
My Dear Extended Family,
I doubt there has ever been a time in financial history when there has been challenges of this magnitude.
This is not business as usual in any form.
When have financial meetings been so top secret?
When has the military cordoned off financial meetings?
When have F-18s, F-22s and French Rafales provided air support (as the Swiss did for the Davos seminar) for two central bank meetings in the last few weeks as the USA and Australia did?
Don't accept terrorism as an excuse for everything that remains unexplained. There are so many lies and so much misinformation out there that the task of figuring out what is real is a daunting task.
I implore you to go for safety in everything you do. How can you go wrong hunkering down?
Do not speculate.
You cannot out trade these people nor can you read their intentions by charts. Both are impossibilities.
Do not deal on borrowed money. Secure you and yours. Take delivery of your precious metals and share certificates.
We are in uncharted seas of international financial turmoil. The mega rich have no loyalty to anyone or anything.
I know some of them, made one of them from scratch, and I assure you would put their mothers in a microwave for the right price. This is a financial world war taking place behind top secret meetings that are deciding our fate while not even knowing they are out of control.
I can't change this but I can do my best to protect you.
Respectfully,
Jim Sinclair
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Jim Sinclair is the Chairman and CEO of Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corporation (TRE: Altanext NYSE platform, TNX: Senior Toronto Stock Exchange). He is a precious metals and commodities specialist. Some of the highlights of his nearly 50 year career include the founding of Sinclair Group of Companies (1977), which offered full brokerage services. Mr. Sinclair served as a Precious Metals Advisor to Hunt Oil and the Hunt family for the liquidation of their silver position as a prerequisite for the $1 billion loan arranged by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker. He was also a General Partner and Member of the Executive Committee of two New York Stock Exchange firms and President of Sinclair Global Clearing Corporation and Global Arbitrage.
He has authored numerous magazine articles and three books dealing with a variety of investment subjects. He is a regular speaker at various commodities related events.
In January 2003, Mr. Sinclair launched, "Jim Sinclairs MineSet," which now hosts his gold commentary and is intended as a free service to the gold community.
Iran anniversary 'punch' will stun West: Khamenei
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a "punch" that will stun world powers during this week's 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
"The Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned," Khamenei, who is also Iran's commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.
The country's top cleric was marking the occasion when Iran's air force gave its support to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a key event which led to the toppling of the US-backed shah on February 11, 1979.
Read more at Breitbart.com
Can you tell the difference between wild mustards and wild radishes? In this video we look at a wild radish and talk about the differences between these two closely related plants.
1930, 2010 America's Cup: Two Generations of Giants
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In 1851, a boat named America won the 100 Guinea Cup, the prize to the winner of a race around the Isle of Wight.
The winners, members of the New York Yacht Club, donated the trophy to the Club, to be held as a ‘challenge’ trophy.
Thus was born the America’s Cup, named after the boat, not the country.
The America's Cup is a challenge-based competition where the winning Yacht Club makes the rules and hosts the subsequent event, often making it more difficult for the challenging Club(s) to take the Cup home.
This 33rd America’s Cup will be raced for by two giant multihulls. The speeds of these mammoth multihulls are much greater than have ever been seen in the history of the America’s Cup before. They are predicted to completely change the usual boat-against-boat match racing tactics.
In just over ten knots of wind the multihull crews have reported speeds in excess of 25 knots.
The 33rd America's Cup will be held under the strict Deed of Gift rules. It is specified that the match be sailed in yachts 90 ft by 90 ft ,and so the Golden Gate Yacht Club developed their trimaran BOR (BMW Oracle Racing) 90, now USA 17, whilst the Société Nautique de Geneve have opted for a giant catamaran, Alinghi.
The Deed of Gift Match is decided over just three races across two course types. Races 1 and 3 will be contested over a simple upwind-downwind loop totalling 40 miles, whilst Race 2 will be 39 miles long and around an equilateral triangle course comprising a 13 mile beat and two 13 miles reaches.
Among the Challenger and Defender crews there are many of the best sailors in the world, charged with competing with craft which have effectively brought a quantum leap in speed and technologies since the 32nd America’s Cup.
By Christopher Ketcham / Montpelier, TIME, h/t: Urban Survival
The President may have reassured Americans that the state of the Union is "strong," but, just the week before, a group of Vermont secessionists declared their intention to seek political power in a quest to get their state to quit the Union altogether. On Jan. 15, in the state capital of Montpelier, nine candidates for statewide office gathered in a tiny room at the Capitol Plaza Hotel, to announce they wanted a divorce from the United States of America. "For the first time in over 150 years, secession and political independence from the U.S. will be front and center in a statewide New England political campaign," said Thomas Naylor, 73, one of the leaders of the campaign.
A former Duke University economics professor, Naylor heads up the Second Vermont Republic, which he describes as "left-libertarian, anti-big government, anti-empire, antiwar, with small is beautiful as our guiding philosophy." The group not only advocates the peaceful secession of Vermont but has minted its own silver "token" — valued at $25 — and, as part of a publishing venture with another secessionist group, runs a monthly newspaper called Vermont Commons, with a circulation of 10,000. According to a 2007 poll, they have support from at least 13% of state voters. The campaign slogan, Naylor told me, is "Imagine Free Vermont." In his fondest imaginings, Naylor said, Vermonters would not be "forced to participate in killing women and children in the Middle East."
Second Vermont Republic's gubernatorial candidate is Dennis Steele, 42, a hulking Carhartt-clad fifth generation Vermonter and entrepreneur. He owns Radio Free Vermont, an Internet radio station, and honchos an online venture called ChessManiac.com. Steele says that, if elected, his first act in office would be to bring home Vermont's National Guard from overseas deployments. "I see my kids going off to fight in wars for empire 10, 15, 20 years from now," said Steele, who served three years in the U.S. Army. "People in Vermont in general are very antiwar, and all their faith was in Obama to end the wars. I ask people, 'Did you get the change you wanted?' They can't even look you in the eyes. We live in a nation that is asleep at the wheel and where the hearts are growing cold like ice."
Steele and the secessionists have nothing but contempt for Vermont Senators Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy, who are otherwise considered among the most liberal members of Congress. "They've done nothing to stop the wars," says Steele flatly. Thomas Naylor was more pointed: "Every time a Vermonter serving in the National Guard gets deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, likely to be hurt or killed, Bernie and Patrick are there to commemorate the departure and have pictures taken."
With 20 or so mostly middle-aged attendees looking on, the candidates each stood at the podium to deliver a remarkably unified message: The U.S. government, they said, was an immoral enterprise — engaged in imperial wars, propping up corrupt bankers and supersized corporations, crushing small businessmen, plundering the tax-base for corporate welfare, snooping on the private lives of citizens — and they wanted no more part of it. "The gods of the empire," Steele told the room, "are not the gods of Vermont."
"It's an abusive relationship we have with the central government," says Peter Garritano, a square-jawed 54-year-old Subaru sales manager who is running for lieutenant governor. "We know it's scary to leave the abusive nest. It's a comfort zone in its own way. But we think we'll do better leaving."
An independent Vermont, the group believes, would expolit its already highly developed local small-scale agriculture, its "locavore" farm exchanges, with a tax structure reformed to incentivize small business and industry (and to make life difficult for large out-of-state corporations). By 2020, they foresee Vermont producing at least 75% of its own electricity and heat, using wind-, solar-, biomass- and hydro-power. They want to establish a Bank of Vermont owned by the people of Vermont — freed from the arbitrary controls of central bankers — as well as a local alternative currency, with Vermont pension and operating funds invested not in Wall Street but in locally owned financial institutions. "We favor devolution of political power from the state back to local communities, making the governing structure for towns, schools, hospitals and social services much like that of small, decentralized states like Switzerland," declares the group's "21st Century Statement of Principles."
Seven secessionist candidates declared for seats in the state senate. Among them is Robert Wagner, 46, an economist who is also a computing consultant with Oracle Inc. Wagner, who homesteads with his wife and six-year-old son in the Green Mountains, says that current U.S. law enables multinational corporations to abuse Vermont as a "resource colony." Citing a 2008 study by the University of Vermont, Wagner says the state stands to gain over $1 billion a year in revenue by taxing equitably the corporate behemoths that exploit Vermont's "commons," which includes everything from the state's groundwater, surface water, wildlife and forests, to the public spectrum of the airwaves. According to the UVM study, for example, Coca-Cola, Nestle and Perrier and other refreshment manufacturers avoid $671 million in taxes for the environmental damage incurred by their siphoning of state groundwater.
But what about that comfort zone of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps, plus the infrastructure currently funded by the federal government, including bridges, roads and particularly the interstate highways? One analysis by a researcher at the University of Vermont found that the state only gets 75 cents back for every dollar it hands over to the federal center. The secessionists say they'd prefer to save their money and keep it at home. "Not only would an independent Vermont survive," says Naylor, "It would thrive, because it would free up entrepreneurial forces heretofore held in abeyance. We're not preaching economic isolationism. We want to confront the empire, and that doesn't mean just owning a Prius and keeping a root garden."
Boredom could be shaving years off your life, scientists have found.
Researchers say that people who complain of boredom are more likely to die young, and that those who experienced 'high levels' of tedium are more than two-and-a-half times as likely to die from heart disease or stroke than those satisfied with their lot.
More than 7,000 civil servants were studied over 25 years - and those who said they were bored were nearly 40 per cent more likely to have died by the end of study than those who did not.
The scientists said this could be a result of those unhappy with their lives turning to such unhealthy habits as smoking or drinking, which would cut their life expectancy.
Read more at The Daily Mail, h/t: Urban Survival
Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope The latest LASCO C3 images
Solar Wind Stream to reach Earth around February 10, 2010
Text from similar event in 2009 via Doom Daily Newspaper.
A solar wind stream [watch animation above for coronal mass ejections occurring on the 1st and 7th] flowing from a coronal hole should reach Earth on or about February 10th.
The solar wind is a stream of electrically charged particles blown constantly from the Sun. The magnetosphere is a cavity formed when the solar wind encounters the Earth’s magnetic field. When the solar wind density is high and comes up against the magnetosphere, the magnetosphere gets compressed. When the wind density is low, the magnetosphere expands. Researchers discovered that the solar wind contains periodic structures of high and low density, driving a periodic “breathing” action of the magnetosphere and the global generation of magnetic waves.
It’s known that if the frequency of these waves matches the frequency of the electrons in their motion in the Van Allen belt, the electrons can be accelerated, significantly boosting their energies. The process is similar to a boogyboarder catching a wave. Some electrons “ride the wave” and gain so much energy that they can then damage expensive spacecraft, satellites and ground base electronics if severe enough.
From time to time, actually around once every month, there is a strange increase in the radiation levels, a sudden spike that creates extremely strong streams of electrons that produce damage to electrical girds and appliances on Earth and can affect the DNA of an unfortunate astronaut caught outside the shuttle or the space station.
Van Allen radiation belts around the Earth. Source: San Jose State University.
This can affect satellites, can disturb GPS systems and can induce unexpected currents in the electrical grid. What causes this strange acceleration? The most recent quest for the solution of this old puzzle was taken by a team of scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico that has examined data collected over the past few years from the laboratory’s instruments mounted on five different satellites in geosynchronous orbit at various altitudes.
Recorded instances of the effects of solar winds on earth are the displacement of the magnetic pole between 900 and 1500 B.C. from its original position near Murmansk in Russia to its present position near Canada. This displacement is attributed to the Aurorae. In 1989 geomagnetic storms caused the destruction of the Hydro Quebec grid and many Canadians had to go without power for nine hours. The same storm affected the microchips in computers and caused the disruption of the Stock market in Canada. In 1998, the backup files of the heavily used communication satellite Galaxy were destroyed by a geomagnetic storm in outer space caused by solar winds, consequently halting the service to of 45 million pagers.
They found the phenomenon is caused by an unknown acceleration process inside the Van Allen belts. The interesting part of the study is the fact that it shows how the Sun is not the only one responsible for the sudden increase in radiation hitting Earth, although many times it coincides with the incidence of solar storms.
You can see the live imagery below: You will notice increases in Wind Speeds. As they increase you will know it has arrived.
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UPDATE: BIG SUNSPOT: The sudden emergence of big sunspot 1045 over the weekend has caused a sharp uptick in solar activity. The active region has produced three M-class and almost a dozen C-class solar flares since it appeared on Saturday. The strongest blast, an M6-class eruption on Feb. 7th, may have hurled a coronal mass ejection toward Earth. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras in the nights ahead as a result of this activity. Also, ham radio operators are picking up strong solar radio bursts using shortwave receivers. Sample sounds and images may be found at http://spaceweather.com.
SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Would you like a call when the next geomagnetic storm erupts? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE: http://spaceweatherphone.com.
New subscribers may sign up for free space weather alerts at http://spaceweather.com/services/ .
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“Death comes to all, but great achievements build a monument which shall endure until the sun grows cold.” -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Credit & Copyright: Marek Kozubal, Clay Center Observatory at Dexter and Southfield Schools.
[Yes, there are stories worth coming back from walkabout for.]
On Monday morning, February 8th, at 4:14 am EST, space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled lift off from Kennedy Space Center on a 13-day mission to the ISS. There are only five missions left before NASA ends the shuttle program, and this will be the last one to launch at night. Endeavour's previous night launch looked like this [above].
The spectacle attracted sightseers from hundreds of miles around. If you plan to be in Florida this weekend, here are some places you can watch the launch in person. Otherwise, tune in to NASA TV for full coverage.
EXTRA: "And if you can arrange to be at azimuth 40 degrees (WNW) of the launch site, you'll have a crescent moon in the background," notes University of Kentucky astronomer Timothy Knauer. "Photo-Op alert!"
Image above: The flags are flying proud at Launch Pad 39A near space shuttle Endeavour at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.
NASA Space Shuttle - Home Page & Endeavour Launch Clock
UPDATE: Tanking Nears Completion, Weather Now "Green"
Sun, 07 Feb 2010 09:33:45 PM EST
Weather is now "green" but there still remains a 40 percent change of "no go" at the 4:14 a.m. EST launch time. Conditions are expected to toggle back and forth throughout the countdown. Tanking operations are nearing a close, with about 20 minutes to go. Filling of space shuttle Endeavour's external fuel tank began at 6:50 p.m. EST.
Endeavour is in Orbit
Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:31:29 AM EST
About two minutes into flight, the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters propelling Endeavour into space successfully separated and fell away. The shuttle and its crew have safely attained low-Earth orbit.
guests
"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." -- Carl Sagan
