See Cyborg and Nightwing in 'Injustice: Gods Among Us'

4 hrs.

Todd Kenreck

The fighting game set in the D.C. Universe already had an all-star line up, but now Cyborg and Nightwing are jumping into the super-hero and villain fray. I played the game at E3 this year and I can confirm it's incredibly fun, and with good reason; NetherRealm Studios, which made Mortal Kombat, is building the game.

Besides a unique wager system, interactive environments and even tailored super moves for every character, there's also a new D.C. Universe story in which the lines between good and evil have been "blurred."

Other D.C. Universe characters included so far:

Iexpect more characters will berevealed soon (there is no way they'rereleasing this game without the Joker).

Ifyou have a favorite character in the game or you feel there is one they have missed hit me up on my Facebook page and vote.Youcan see more images from "Injustice: Gods Among Us" below.

Want more video game news, see awesome video game videos, or just want to talk about games with your fellow gamers? Follow Todd Kenreck, who made this post, byfollowing him on FacebookandTwitter.

Watchour interview with the creators of "Injustice: Gods Among Us"

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See Cyborg and Nightwing in 'Injustice: Gods Among Us'

Ipswich beaches closed over bacteria concerns

IPSWICH

All beaches in town are temporarily closed over bacteria concerns.

The town's wastewater treatment plant was discharging higher than normal levels of coliform bacteria earlier this week, and the health department closed town beaches Thursday afternoon as a precaution.

Ipswich wastewater flows into Greenwood Creek, which feeds into the Ipswich River and eventually the ocean.

The closure affects Crane,Pavilion, Steep Hill, Little Neck and Clark beaches.

Samples of Ipswich beach water were taken today and sent for testing, with results expected at midday Friday. If the results are clean, it's possible the beaches will reopen, said Colleen Fermon, Ipswich health agent.

"We are closing until testing shows there is no risk," said Fermon.

For complete details, see Friday's Salem News.

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Ipswich beaches closed over bacteria concerns

Some north shore beaches closed

IPSWICH, Mass. -

The town of Ipswich has closed five beaches because of high bacteria readings, according to Ipswich police.

Pavilion, Crane, Steep Hill, Little Neck and Clark beaches, all in Ipswich, are temporarily closed due to higher than normal coliform discharge from the town's Wastewater Treatment Plant.

There are no test results to indicate a public health risk, but as a precaution, the beaches will remain closed until more sampling confirms the water is safe.

Water sampling is being conducted and results are expected on Friday.

Once sampling confirms there is no risk to the public, the beaches will be re-opened.

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Some north shore beaches closed

Olcott, Somerset beaches reopened

LOCKPORT - The Niagara County Health Department today allowed the reopening of Krull Park Beach in Olcott and Camp Kenan Beach in Somerset.

New water quality tests showed the elevated levels of e. coli bacteria that caused the beaches to be closed Tuesday have receded. It was the second closing for the Lake Ontario beaches this swimming season.

citydesk@buffnews.comnull

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Olcott, Somerset beaches reopened

5 Ipswich beaches closed due to high bacteria

Ipswich has closed five beaches because of high bacteria readings, according to Ipswich police.

Pavilion, Crane, Steep Hill, Little Neck and Clark beaches, all in Ipswich, are temporarily closed due to higher than normal coliform discharge from the town's wastewater treatment plant, according to Wicked Local's news partner, WCVB.

There are no test results to indicate a public health risk, but as a precaution, the beaches will remain closed until more sampling confirms the water is safe.

Water sampling is being conducted and results are expected on Friday.

Once sampling confirms there is no risk to the public, the beaches will be re-opened.

Check back for more information on this developing story as it becomes available.

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5 Ipswich beaches closed due to high bacteria

Ipswich closes five beaches due to high coliform count; testing underway to clear way for reopening

By Sarah N. Mattero, Globe Correspondent

Five beaches in Ipswich have been temporarily closed by the towns health department due to higher than normal coliform discharge from the nearby wastewater treatment plant.

A posting on the town website said that currently there are no tests results to indicate a public health risk but as a precaution the beaches will remain closed until sampling confirms there is no risk.

The closed Ipswich beaches are: Pavilion, Crane, Steep Hill, Little Neck, and Clark.

Water sampling is currently underway and results are expected on Friday.

Beaches will reopen once it is confirmed that there is no risk to the public, Tim Henry, director of the utilities department.

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Ipswich closes five beaches due to high coliform count; testing underway to clear way for reopening

Sewage discharge closes Ipswich beaches, clam beds

Pavilion, Crane, Steep Hill, Little Neck and Clark beaches, along with all Ipswich clam beds are closed until further notice.

The Ipswich Department of Health ordered the temporary closure due to abnormally high coliform discharge from the towns wastewater treatment plant.

Ipswich Health Agent Colleen Fermon said the town made the decision to close the beaches and clam beds as a safety precaution.

Because we cant confirm that there arent elevated bacteria levels, we decided to use caution and close them, she said.

Samples have been taken and test results are expected back on Friday, July 13.

Once sampling confirms there is no risk to the public, the beaches and clam beds will reopen.

Fermon said she was notified of the problem by the Utilities Department this morning, Thursday, July 12.

The plant has had some mechanical problems that have been fixed, Ipswich Utilities Director Tim Henry said.

Henry said those repairs have resulted in treated sewage with a higher than normal coliform level being expelled from the treatment plant.

None of the samples have indicated a problem, he said, explaining that the beach closures are merely a precautionary measure.

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Sewage discharge closes Ipswich beaches, clam beds

Scientist explores human reason, limits of artificial intelligence

(PR NewsChannel) / July 12, 2012 / ANN ARBOR, Mich.

"Understanding Understanding: Natural and Artificial Intelligence" by Robert Kendally Lindsay

In Understanding Understanding: Natural and Artificial Intelligence (ISBN 1466450584), Robert Kendall Lindsay clarifies the issues surrounding the artificial intelligence deployed by robots and supercomputers. The potential as well as the limitations of artificial intelligence are widely misunderstood, says Lindsay, both by those who feel that human-level AI will be impossible and by those who feel it is already a reality.

Modern age has witnessed unparalleled breakthroughs in technology that have allowed computers to replicate human thinking tasks and skilled behaviors, such as playing chess and the violin. As Lindsay demonstrates, computers exhibit the intelligence they have been given or find statistical correlations in large databases. The most dazzling examples of artificial intelligence essentially reflect superior engineering by their human creators.

Human intelligence combines abilities possessed by all primates with yet other abilities unique to humans. Currently, computer software captures but a small subset of these abilities. For artificial intelligence to fully replicate human thought, scientists and engineers will have to incorporate all of these abilities, including our abilities to understand one thing in terms of another, to hypothesize about future scenarios and to relate abstract ideas to our experiences in the world as biological organisms.

What separates human intelligence from current artificial intelligence, Lindsay argues, is the ability to see the essential structure of a situation and to use this to construct explanations. An important instance is the use of diagrams and models that capture the structure in a way that allows our understanding of the physical world to ground the understanding of abstractions. This is a fundamental hypothesis to explain human understanding. Only if we can understand understanding will it be possible to extend technology beyond the limits of our biology, says Lindsay.

This book will interest scientists, cognitive psychologists, computer scientists and the lay reader concerned with the broader implications of technological innovation.

Understanding Understanding: Natural and Artificial Intelligence is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.

About the Author: Robert Kendall Lindsay is professor emeritus at the University of Michigan. He earned a doctorate at Carnegie Mellon, where his mentors were AI pioneers Herbert A. Simon and Allen Newell. He established one of the first graduate programs in artificial intelligence and was the first computer scientist to construct software that used semantic models to understand natural language input.

MEDIA CONTACT Robert Kendall Lindsay E-mail: lindsay@umich.eduREVIEW COPIES AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE

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Scientist explores human reason, limits of artificial intelligence

B/E Aerospace Announces Closing of Senior Notes Offering

WELLINGTON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

B/E Aerospace (BEAV) (the Company), announced today the successful closing of its public offering of $800.0 million aggregate principal amount of its 5.25% senior notes due 2022, priced to yield 4.934%. The size of the offering was increased from the previously announced $675.0 million to $800.0 million. The senior notes were issued at an offering price of 102.00%, plus accrued and unpaid interest from March 13, 2012. The senior notes were offered pursuant to a prospectus supplement and an accompanying prospectus filed by the Company as part of a shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC).

The senior notes are an additional issuance of, are fully fungible with, rank equally with, and form a single series with the Companys $500.0 million 5.25% Senior Notes due 2022 issued on March 13, 2012, and have the same CUSIP number.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund the consideration in its concurrent tender offer and consent solicitation for any and all of its outstanding 8.50% Senior Notes due 2018, including the payment of accrued interest and any applicable consent payment. The Company intends to use the remaining net proceeds from this offering for other general corporate purposes, including potential acquisitions.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and UBS Securities LLC are acting as joint book-running managers and RBC Capital Markets, LLC and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC are acting as co-managers for the offering.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, the notes described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these notes in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities law of any such jurisdiction.

The offering is being made by means of a prospectus and the related prospectus supplement only. Copies of the prospectus and the related preliminary prospectus supplement can be obtained from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, 383 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10179, attention: High Yield Syndicate, (800) 245-8812, HY_syndicate@jpmorgan.com, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Brooklyn Army Terminal, 140 58th Street, 8th floor, Brooklyn, New York 11220, (877) 858-5407, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, One Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10010, (800) 221-1037, Goldman, Sachs & Co., Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, New York 10282, telephone (866) 471-2526, facsimile (212) 902-9316, prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com, and UBS Securities LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 299 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10171, (877) 827-6444, ext. 561 3884.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. The Companys actual experience and results may differ materially from the experience and results anticipated in such statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include those discussed in the Companys filings with the SEC, which include the Registration Statement, prospectus and preliminary prospectus supplement related to this offering and its Proxy Statement, Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. For more information, see the section entitled "Forward-Looking Statements" contained in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other filings. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made only as of the date of this news release and, except as required by federal securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About B/E Aerospace

B/E Aerospace is the worlds leading manufacturer of aircraft cabin interior products and the worlds leading distributor of aerospace fasteners and consumables. B/E Aerospace designs, develops and manufactures a broad range of products for both commercial aircraft and business jets. B/E Aerospace manufactured products include aircraft cabin seating, lighting, oxygen, and food and beverage preparation and storage equipment. The Company also provides cabin interior design, reconfiguration and passenger-to-freighter conversion services. Products for the existing aircraft fleet the aftermarket generate approximately 50 percent of sales. B/E Aerospace sells and supports its products through its own global direct sales and product support organization.

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B/E Aerospace Announces Closing of Senior Notes Offering

Longevity lacking in ACC

Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer was hired for $80,000 in 1987.

Talk about appreciation.

What Beamer has done for his alma mater has been priceless, and colleague Gene Wojciechowski captured Beamers value perfectly in his latest column. Beamer represents all that is good in college football and the one thing that has been missing in the ACC -- longevity.

The importance of stability to a program cant be understated. The only coaches who downplay it are usually the ones who dont have it. It helps in recruiting. It helps in team and staff chemistry, and it helps in basic knowledge and understanding of the system. Virginias Mike London will tell you how important all of those things are after just two seasons. Its taken five years for NC State coach Tom OBrien to build better depth through recruiting and position the program for a run at the ACC title. Should David Cutcliffe even have a time limit at Duke?

Fans often wonder why the ACC hasnt been able to rise above mediocrity in recent years and produce a national champion. Part of that can be attributed to the turnover on the coaching staffs, particularly at the top position. Its happened at both Florida State and Miami, testing the patience of both fan bases. North Carolina is starting from scratch this year with Larry Fedora. Boston College coach Frank Spaziani enters his fourth season with one of the hottest seats in the country.

Look at the conference as a whole, and youll see that entering 2012, more than half of the head coaches (seven) have been at their schools for three years or fewer. There have been five coaching changes in the past three years (at North Carolina, Maryland, Miami, Florida State and Virginia). Wake Forest and Virginia Tech are the only two programs in the league that can really boast longevity, and its no coincidence that Jim Grobe and Beamer are two of the nice guys in the business. Their assistants love working for them. There is a sense of loyalty that lacks at other schools.

Beamer has been able to translate that loyalty into eight straight seasons of 10 wins or more. Grobe led the Deacs to the 2006 ACC title, the schools first league championship since 1970.

Beamers tenure at Virginia Tech obviously isnt the norm, but it should serve as evidence of what stability can do for a program. Beamer couldnt remember his salary in his first season, but he sure could remember his 2-8-1 record in his sixth. He won nine games the following season.

Some ACC schools havent made the best hires in recent years. The turnover is proof of that.

What Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have is unique. Its not going to be duplicated anytime soon in the ACC. A little more of it, though, could go a long way.

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Longevity lacking in ACC

Big Ten no longer league of longevity

The Big Ten used to be the league of longevity. Good coaches almost always stuck around, often for more than a decade. No wonder the league's most famous bosses went by first names only: Woody, Bo, Joe, Hayden.

The longevity label didn't only apply in 1970 or 1980. Simply go back to December 2006.

At that point, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz was finishing up his eighth season in the job, making him the Big Ten's fifth-longest-tenured coach. Penn State's Joe Paterno, Michigan's Lloyd Carr, Purdue's Joe Tiller and Minnesota's Glen Mason all had been in their jobs longer than Ferentz.

As the 2012 season beckons, Ferentz is the longest-tenured coach in the league. By far. The second-longest tenured? Wisconsins Bret Bielema and Northwesterns Pat Fitzgerald. Bielema, a 42-year-old newlywed, and Fitzgerald, who turned 37 in December, both landed their first head-coaching positions before the 2006 season.

Since January 2007, the Big Ten has said goodbye to 11 head coaches, including three -- Paterno, Carr and Ohio State's Jim Tressel -- who won national championships. Michigan, which has had six head coaches serve for 10 or more years, has made two changes during the span. So has Ohio State.

Several factors play into the leagues historic turnover at the top. Carr and Tiller retired, in part because of their teams' performances. Minnesota got fed up with Mason's middling results and then took a bigger step backward with Tim Brewster before firing him midway through the 2010 season. Indiana and Illinois made understandable changes after subpar results on the field.

The most shocking changes stemmed from scandal and involved two men with solid reputations: Tressel and Paterno. Tressel had led Ohio State to six consecutive Big Ten titles, seven consecutive wins against Michigan and back-to-back BCS bowl wins before being pink-slipped for knowingly playing ineligible players and not coming forward about NCAA violations. Paterno guided Penn State to a 9-1 mark before being fired by the school's trustees days after the child sex abuse scandal broke.

After relative quiet in 2008 and 2009, the Big Ten has had three head-coaching changes in each of the past two offseasons.

Will longevity ever become a Big Ten hallmark again? There won't be another like Paterno, but several coaches could stay in their positions for a while. Ferentz has turned down multiple opportunities in the NFL to remain with Iowa, which pays him handsomely. He could easily finish his career in Iowa City. The Iowa job is somewhat of a novelty in todays college football, as only two men (Ferentz and Hayden Fry) have led the Hawkeyes since 1979.

Brady Hoke openly admits Michigan is his dream job. He'll be in Ann Arbor as long as they'll have him.

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Big Ten no longer league of longevity

Why did Steve Job’s death affect people who never knew him?

Public release date: 12-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Cathia Falvey cfalvey@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, July 12, 2012The profound sense of loss and public mourning that followed the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was a reflection of how great an impact he had on society and on the lives of individuals through the technology he helped to create. The magnitude and reasons for the outpouring of emotion upon his death by people who did not know him personally are explored in an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free online at the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (http://www.liebertpub.com/cyber) website.

"Steve Jobs touched so many people because he dared to be different, he was unconventional, he was brilliant, and that, combined with his uncompromising nature, resulted in a company whose products had no peer," says Mary Ann Liebert, CEO and Publisher. "Very few of us know anyone like that personally, and when he died, a hero and a magician was gone."

"We'll Miss You Steve: How the Death of a Technology Innovator Emotionally Impacts Those Who Use and Love his Digital Devices (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cyber.2011.0623)," reviews three studies that explore people's emotional connections to technology and even to a particular device and how that relationship may extend beyond the technology to feelings of personal connectedness and loss when the relationship ends.

Andrew Przybylski, University of Essex, Colchester, U.K., compares and discusses the findings of studies conducted during the weeks following Steve Jobs' death in October 2011. The studies evaluated the types of people most likely to be emotionally impacted and how their psychological link to Apple devices relates to their sadness and overall response to Jobs' passing.

###

About the Journal

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (http://www.liebertpub.com/cyber) is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly in print and online that explores the psychological and social issues surrounding the Internet and interactive technologies. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed online at the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (http://www.liebertpub.com/cyber) website.

About the Publisher

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Why did Steve Job's death affect people who never knew him?

Obituary: UC Davis food biochemist Norman Frederick Haard

Norman Frederick Haard, a retired UC Davis food biochemist who found expression of his faith and science as a noted expert on fish, died June 29 of prostate cancer in Magalia, his family said. He was 70.

Dr. Haard was a pioneering researcher and teacher in the field of food biochemistry. He studied fruits and vegetables before devoting the last 25 years of his career to the sub-cellular biochemistry of fish and marine organisms.

He was a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists and received prestigious awards for his research and contributions to fisheries technology. He advised and mentored more than 100 graduate students worldwide and established or aided food biochemistry programs in Canada, China, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand and Uruguay.

He was a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey and Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada, before joining UC Davis in 1986.

"When we brought him in, we were looking for the best in the country for that type of work," retired UC Davis professor Larry Merson said. "That's what we got."

Fish were more than a research subject for Dr. Haard. An avid fisherman, he trolled waters in many countries and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. His favorite meal was seafood, and he sat down to freshly boiled Maine lobster at dinner every Father's Day.

"He had a totally open mind about seafood," said his wife, Victoria. "In Japan, he ate live abalone, and he'd eat squid and octopus and eel. He would try anything."

The fisherman was also an important symbol of faith for Dr. Haard, who had a religious awakening soon after settling in Davis and became a devout Christian, his wife said. He was an active member of First Baptist Church in Davis and Ridge Presbyterian Church in Paradise. He supported missions and shared his scientific expertise in developing countries that rely on fish as a food staple.

He helped spread the word of God as a longtime member of The Gideons International. As distribution chairman for the Chico Gideon Camp, he placed thousands of Bibles at colleges, hotels and hospitals.

"He summed up his faith in the verse in Matthew (4:19), where Jesus says, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,' " his wife said.

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Obituary: UC Davis food biochemist Norman Frederick Haard

Up Front With Dr. Mao: Co-Founder Of Tao Of Wellness

Courtesy Photo

Dr. Mao Shing Ni, known as Dr. Mao, is a 38th-generation doctor of Chinese medicine, an authority on Taoist anti-aging medicine, and author of the best-selling book Secrets of Longevity, Second Spring: Hundreds of Natural Secrets for Women to Revitalize and Regenerate at Any Age, Secrets of Self-Healing, and most recently, Secrets of Longevity 8-Week Program: Simple Steps that Add Years to Your Life.

Dr. Mao is a co-founder of Yo San University and the Tao of Wellness, the acclaimed center for nutrition, Chinese medicine, and acupuncture, located in Santa Monica.

Dr. Mao was born into a medical family spanning many generations and started his medical training with his father, a renowned physician of Chinese medicine and Taoist Master, and continued his trainings in schools both in the U.S. and China. After receiving his doctorate degrees and completing his PH.D. Dissertation on Nutrition, Dr. Mao did his graduate work at Shanghai Medical University and its affiliated hospitals and began his 25-year study of centenarians in China. He is currently a member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and the National Alliance of Oriental Medicine.

Along with your brother, Dr. Daoshing Ni, you founded the Tao of Wellness more than 25 years ago. What have been some of the keys to success for maintaining such a successful business in Santa Monica?

I have always felt that in life, everything you do should be done with a focus on exceptional quality and care. Whether you are providing a product or a service, people will always search for the best.

We have always maintained that we would rather have a happy patient that continues to come back then to have many patients that only come once.

As a result, we have been blessed with a flourishing practice that has grown to include offices in Newport Beach and Pasadena (summer 2012) to best serve our patients.

You two also founded Yo San University in Marina del Rey. What were the challenges and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenges that we encountered while attempting to start Yo San University were rooted in the fact that we were young and nave about the processes involved with starting a school, and what we would need to do.

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Up Front With Dr. Mao: Co-Founder Of Tao Of Wellness

Gay Marketing Group Launches New LGBT Travel Research Program

World Travel Market (WTM), the leading global event for the travel industry and Out Now, the leading marketing organization to reach LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) consumers, are expanding their partnership including the unveiling of the world's largest LGBT research program.

In 2012, there will be a combination of options for those seeking to reach the LGBT tourism consumer market - and to network with other businesses globally in a new B2B initiative to be showcased by Out Now at WTM.

Out Now will once again present its industry-leading LGBT Marketing Masterclass, releasing the latest tourism findings from the world's largest LGBT market research program - LGBT2020 - at the WTM education workshop, including the first ever LGBT tourism research data for a number of new markets - including Israel, South Korea, and Turkey.

See the Full Story at ETurboNews

Click here for gay travel resources.

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Gay Marketing Group Launches New LGBT Travel Research Program

National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM) Releases New Spirituality in Healing …

NICABM, a leading provider in mind-body medicine training, is pleased to announce its Spirituality in Healing Training Program. This online program, featuring the top experts in the field of spirituality and health, can improve professional practice and give you the tools needed to help patients achieve inner peace, and spiritual self healing. Learn more at http://www.nicabm. ...

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National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM) Releases New Spirituality in Healing ...

The Cricket: The scarcity, and spirituality, of water explored at Leonardo exhibit

Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon, 2012. This photograph by Paul Blackmore is among the images in the exhibit "Water: Nature's Driving Force," now on display at The Leonardo. Paul Blackmore | Courtesy The Leonardo

The Cricket: The scarcity, and spirituality, of water explored at Leonardo exhibit

Brigham Young once advised his followers: "It is difficult to find anything more healthy to drink than good cold water, such as flows down to us from springs and snows of our mountains. This is the beverage we should drink. It should be our drink at all times."

Apparently, the good people of Utah take that maxim to heart, because the average Utahn uses 260 gallons of water every day bathing, washing laundry, watering lawns, irrigating crops, cooking, even drinking.

Water at Leonardo

The photo exhibit Water: Natures Driving Force.

Where The Human Rights Gallery of The Leonardo, 209 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City.

When Open Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (open until 10 p.m. Fridays).

Admission $9 for adults; $7 for seniors, students (with ID) and children 6 to 17; free for children 5 and younger.

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The Cricket: The scarcity, and spirituality, of water explored at Leonardo exhibit

NASA Johnson Space Center's Shuttle II (1988)

A year ago today, the Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis was docked with the International Space Station (ISS). On 21 July 2011, it deorbited and landed back on Earth, ending 30 years of Space Shuttle flights. The decision to end the Shuttle Program after ISS completion was taken by President George W. Bush in 2004. The Space Shuttles successor, the Orion capsule, was not ready when Atlantis returned to Earth. Fortunately, the 20-year cooperative relationship with the Russian space program ensured that American astronauts could continue to live and work on board the ISS.

Although the fact is mostly forgotten today, NASA launched plans to replace the Space Shuttle even before the first Space Shuttle mission in April 1981. In 1985,President Ronald Reagan formalized these by signing a directive ordering the U.S. civilian space agency to develop a Space Shuttle successor. Notably, this occurred before the January 1986 Challenger accident laid bare the Space Shuttles frailties. NASA has attempted to develop a Space Shuttle successor ever since, but for a wide range of reasons it has not succeeded.

One of the early proposed Shuttle successors was called Shuttle II. The lions-share of Shuttle II design work took place at NASAs Langley Research Center (LaRC) in Hampton, Virginia. Shuttle II first achieved prominence in 1986in the high-level National Commission On Space report. LaRCs Shuttle II design evolved for a time it was to have been a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle although typically it included a winged manned Orbiter and awinged unmanned Booster, both of which would have landed on runways and been entirely reusable. The Shuttle II Orbiters fuselage would have been crammed full of propellant tanks, so it would have toted cargo in a sizable hump on its back.

NASA LaRCs Shuttle II. Image: NASA.

Shuttle II was intended mainly as a crew transport complementing a mixed fleet of launchers that would have included unmanned heavy-lift rockets capable of placing from 50 to 100 tons into space. It would have transported a small amount of cargo perhaps 10 tons and a large number of astronauts between 10 and as many as 25 to an established, mature Space Station. Only a handful of astronauts perhaps three would have been Shuttle II crewmembers; the remainder would have been considered passengers. Upon reaching space on board Shuttle II, they would have eitherserved aboard the Space Station or transferred to spacecraft bound for the moon or Mars.

Although a good case can be made for calling LaRCs Shuttle II theShuttle II, it was in fact notthe only proposed Shuttle II design. The Advanced Programs Office at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, put forward the sleek Shuttle II design depicted in the images that follow. The LaRC design was favored by NASA Headquarters and is relatively well documented. Neither can be said for JSCs design. These images NASA photos of a model constitute a rare glimpse at a spaceship that never was.

NASA JSCs Evolved Shuttle. Image: NASA.

Engineers in Houston envisioned that their Shuttle II might develop from an Evolved Space Shuttle. In the Evolved Shuttle, Liquid Replacement Boosters would have stood in for the Space Shuttles Solid Rocket Boosters, though the Evolved Shuttle would have retained the Space Shuttles expendable External Tank and, with minor modifications, the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs). Winglets on the tips of the Evolved Shuttles modified delta wings would have replaced the Space Shuttles single vertical tail fin. Redesigned Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines based on the venerable RL-10 engine would have drawn liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen propellants from tanks in the wings.

The most dramatic change, however, wasreserved for the crew compartment. It would have been completely redesigned so that it could separate from the rest of the Evolved Shuttle in the event of a catastrophic failure and operate as an independent small piloted spacecraft. This feature, along with the wing configuration, would carry over to JSCs Shuttle II design.

NASA JSC engineers gave no indication of when they expected the transition from Space Shuttle to Evolved Shuttle would occur. If one assumes, however, that JSCs Shuttle II would have become operational in the first years of the 21st century like LaRCs Shuttle II then the Evolved Shuttle would probably have flown during the 1990s.

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NASA Johnson Space Center's Shuttle II (1988)

Virgin Galactic charts new flight plan at Farnborough – Video

11-07-2012 13:14 Virgin Galactic took centre stage at Farnborough Airshow on Wednesday as the world's first commercial spaceline announced plans for a satellite-launching service. A full-size replica of SpaceshipTwo (SS2) -- a two-pilot, six-passenger craft capable of sub-orbital space flight -- was also unveiled. Future passengers have paid $200000 dollars each for a ticket to space. Duration: 00:54

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Virgin Galactic charts new flight plan at Farnborough - Video