Comets defeat Tornadoes in season opener

Posted on by

The MUCC Comets special teams and defense took control of the season opening football game early giving them their first win. The Comets posted a 38-20 victory over the Tisdale Tornadoes on Friday, September 5 in Tisdale. Tyler Jones ran the opening kickoff back about 70 yards for a touchdown. The defense followed that up with a safety for two points giving them a 9-0 lead. The Comets took advantage of a Tisdale penalty and Jomar Malaggay ran the ball in from eight yards out for another touchdown. The Comets defense forced another safety for two more points and the comets led 18-0 halfway through the opening quarter. Comets coach Dave Rogers said having taking a commanding early lead is a double-edged sword. I think we came out really strong, we came out with some intensity and I think we went though a dip in intensity especially in the second quarter, he said. Everything really went the way we wanted it to in the beginning and that is part of learning to play too, the start of a new season is keeping the intensity up. The next score came late in the third quarter when the Comets capped off a drive from midfield with a five-yard touchdown run by Malaggay. The extra point gave the Comets a 25-0 lead. Jones added another touchdown for the comets. This time the convert missed and the comets led 31-0 with 90 seconds remaining in the quarter. The Tornadoes were not done yet. Corey Serhan had an 85-yard touchdown run for the Tornadoes first score. The conversion missed but the lead was cut to 31-6. The tornadoes then capped off a pair of big plays with another touchdown, this time the conversion was good and the lead was cut to 31-13. Late in the game the teams traded touchdowns. Melforts Zach Richardson scored from 15-yards out. With the conversion the comets led 38-13. Tisdales next possession saw Cole Chowan have a 60-yard catch and run for a touchdown. With the conversion the final score was decided, 38-20. Rogers said the score of the game is not as important as the overall outcome. We need our kids to play and develop and if we are worried about if we are going to be 38-0 or 38-6 or something like that we are really focusing on the wrong things. We need to focus on the development of our kids as players and the chance to play, Rogers explained. If we are going to do that we have to be willing to let our opponents score some points against our younger kids because our younger kids are going to play. It helps with the learning. More learning will be taking place this week as the Comets have a bye week. They are going to focus on intensity both on and off the field as well as developing overall as a team. The bye in some ways comes in a good place for us. We had our game and saw it against a live opponent in a game that mattered for points. It pointed out to us as coaches and to the players what we need to work on to get better, he said. The story of the season isnt the first week or the first bye it is when we get later into the season. It is good we got the result we wanted and we still need to work on the where we want to go with the rest of the season. After the bye week the Comets host Clavet in their home opener. It is set for 4 p.m. on September 19 at MUCC field. greg.wiseman@sunmedia.ca @melfortjournal

See the rest here:

Comets defeat Tornadoes in season opener

Tales (Tails?) Of Three Comets

Posted on by

Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter

A 40 minute exposure of Comet E2 Jacques taken from Payson, Arizona. Credit: Chris Schur.

As the Chinese proverb says, May you live in interesting times, and while the promise of Comet ISON dazzling observers didnt exactly pan out as hoped for in early2014, we now have a bevy of binocular comets set to grace evening skies for northern hemisphere observers. Comet 2012K1 PanSTARRS has put on a fine show, and comet C/2014 E2 Jacques has emerged from behind the Sun and its close 0.085 AU passage near Venus and has already proven to be a fine target for astro-imagers. And weve got another icy visitor to the inner solar system beating tracks northward in the form of Comet C/2013 V5 Oukaimeden, and a grand cometary finale as comet A1 Siding Spring brushes past the planet Mars. That is, IF a spectacular naked eye comet doesnt come by and steal the show, as happens every decade or so

Comet E2 Jacques crossing Cassiopeia as seen from the island of Malta. Credit: Leonard Mercer.

Anyhow, heres a rapid fire run down on what you can expect from three of these binocular comets that continue to grace the twilight skies this Fall.

(Note that mentions of comets passing near a given object denote conjunctions of less than an angular degree of arc unless otherwise stated).

C/2014 E2 Jacques:

Discovered by amateur astronomer Cristovao Jacques on March 13th of this year from the SONEAR Observatory in Brazil, Comet E2 Jacques has been dazzling observers as it passed 35 degrees from the north celestial pole and posed near several deep sky wonders as it transited the constellation of Cassiopeia.

Comet E2 Jacques on August 28th as seen from the MVAS dark sky site in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Credit: John Chumack.

Mid-September finds Jacques 55 degrees above the NE horizon at dusk for northern hemisphere viewers in the constellation Cygnus. It then races southward parallel to the galactic equator, keeping in the +7th to +8th magnitude range before dropping down below +10th magnitude in late October. After this current passage through the inner solar system, Comet Jacques will be on a shortened 12,000 year orbit.

See the article here:

Tales (Tails?) Of Three Comets

Comets answer Tigers first strike

Posted on by

STERLING Kai Tomaszewski got Saturday nights football game off with a bang, racing 95 yards on the games opening kickoff for a quick six against host Sterling Newman.

The Tigers spent the rest of the half, however, chasing the Comets. The Class 2A defending Comets scored six unanswered touchdowns in the first half to go up 36-6 and added one more score early in the third quarter en route to a 44-21 victory at Roscoe Eades Stadium in a Three Rivers Conference crossover.

Tomaszewski, who came over from soccer this year, hit the line at the 20-yard line, bounced off down the left sidelines and was off to the races. It was a stunning blow to the Newman faithful in attendance.

While veteran Newman coach Mike Papoccia called it a kick right between the eyes, it proved to be just the kick-start the Comets needed.

The Comets answered decisively, racking up 44 straight points on seven touchdowns on the strength of a running game that racked up 316 yards on 54 carries.

Brady Rude, a four-time medal winner in track this spring, led the Comets attack with 147 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown.

He also recovered a Princeton fumble in the endzone for a touchdown that gave Newman a 28-6 lead late in the second quarter.

Nolan McGinn got the Comets on the board first with a 13-yard TD to tie the game with 8:30 left in the first quarter. He closed the first quarter with a 3-yard run and took in the conversion to make it 20-6.

The Comets played beat the clock, scoring on an eight-yard TD pass from Logan Whitman to Shayne Allen with six seconds left in the half. Dillan Heffelfinger added the conversion run to make it 36-6 at the half.

PHS (1-1) surrendered a 25-yard touchdown run by Rude early in the third quarter but did not allow another point the rest of the way.

Continued here:

Comets answer Tigers first strike

Blue Comets shut out Tigers

Posted on by

RANDLEMAN When inexperience meets experience on any playing surface, the latter usually wins out.

Heading into Tuesday nights non-conference Randolph County battle the Asheboro High School varsity soccer team had a lot more 12s on its roster, while Randleman, which doesnt have a jayvee team, had the monopoly on 9s.

The result was an 8-0 win for the Blue Comets at Charles R. Gregory Stadium.

We have a lot of subs and its nice when you can get everyone some playing experience, Asheboro coach David Parrish said. Weve been telling them to just focus on improving for the next game and theyve bought into that mentality.

Despite the result, Tigers coach Sean Fitzgibbon said it was good for his team to get tested.

Give credit to Asheboro, he said. Theyre a great team. Their middle school team is good. Their jayvee teams been undefeated for five years. Playing against teams like this will help us later in conference. It makes us physically and mentally tough.

Fernando Avila notched a hat trick for the Blue Comets, scoring the first three goals of the game. The first came within the first 2 minutes of action off an Eluid Jaimes cross from the right.

Avila scored again less than 4 minutes later off a Moi Ramirez assist as he kicked a hard roller toward Randleman goalkeeper Robert Luis Valdez, who dove for the ball. The shot tipped off of Valdezs fingertips and went into the back of the net.

With less than 23 minutes left in the first half, Avila booted a high shot over Valdezs reach for a 3-0 Asheboro lead.

Still, the Blue Comets didnt score again until 18.5 ticks were left until halftime. Sidney Rogers kicked a shot that went off Valdezs hands and right to teammate Tony Depaz, who followed the ball into the net for a 4-0 Asheboro halftime lead.

Read the original:

Blue Comets shut out Tigers

Avis Wins at World Travel Awards

Posted on by

At the 21st World Travel Awards, Avis Car Rental was honored as "South America's Leading Car Rental Company," "Mexico and Central America's Leading Business Car Rental Company" and "Mexico and Central America's Leading Car Rental Company."

"We are more than pleased to be recognized by the World Travel Awards in these three categories this year," said Patric Siniscalchi, president, Latin America/Asia-Pacific, Avis Budget Group. "We continue to find ways to put our customers first with stellar service and a superior rental experience, and these awards reflect those efforts."

Avis has been recognized by the World Travel Awards, with honors stretching back as far back as 1997, when Avis was named "World's Leading Business Car Rental Company."

The World Travel Awards were launched in 1993 to recognize excellence in the global travel and tourism industry.

See the article here:

Avis Wins at World Travel Awards

MS stem-cell breakthrough led by Italians

Posted on by

'So far appears safe, without side effects'

(ANSA) - Boston, September 9 - Mesenchymal stem cell therapy to treat multiple sclerosis so far appears safe and without side effects, according to data released Tuesday and obtained through clinical trials on patients as part of the international Mesems project coordinated by University of Genoa neurologist Antonio Uccelli. The results were announced ahead of the World Congress on Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis opening in Boston Wednesday through Saturday. The Mesems project involves researchers from nine countries - Italy, Spain, France, Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Canada and Australia. It is the first large phase II international multicentre clinical trial to determine the safety of a consensus treatment protocol established by the International Mesenchymal Stem Cells Transplantation Study Group to obtain information on its effectiveness on multiple sclerosis patients. So far, 81 patients have been involved in the project - half of the 160 needed for the whole clinical trial. About 73 - or 90% of those involved in blind testing - were given at least one injection with mesenchymal therapy or got a placebo while 51 - or 63% - were given both injections and 27 - 33% - completed the study. "The promising result is that so far none of these 27 people have suffered significant adverse events, which means that, so far, the treatment appears to be safe", said Uccelli. The neurologist warned that "caution is necessary" and that the effectiveness of the therapy can only be determined once the study is completed in 2016. Uccelli however added that preliminary studies on animals have persuaded researchers that mesenchymal stem cells "can halt inflammation on the central nervous system and probably succeed in protecting nervous tissue, even repairing it where damage is minor". Out of the 81 patients recruited so far, "28 are Italian and 10 of them have completed the study", Uccelli said, adding that all patients over the past year did relatively well except for one who was treated with placebo. The neurologist expressed the hope that "data in 2016 will give final confirmation that the therapy is effective so we can take the subsequent step with a larger phase III study aimed at demonstrating the role of stem cells as neurorepairers". Meanwhile Genoa's bioethics committee has approved a two-year extension of the project, which will be called Mesems Plus, "to verify, beyond the year of observation provided for by Mesems, the long-term safety of treatments in the study and the potential insurgence of adverse events in all those treated", said Uccelli.

The rest is here:

MS stem-cell breakthrough led by Italians

Love, family, spirituality help in ALS journey

Posted on by

As she waited to learn her mothers diagnosis what had caused Carol Gardula to fall for no reason, and to have an increasingly weak left foot Sara OHare had one prayer.

I kept thinking, Oh, my God, I hope it isnt Parkinsons, OHare, a National Parkinson Foundation fundraiser recalled last week. Then, when we found out what she had, all I could think of was, Oh, my God, I wish it had been Parkinsons.

Instead, Carol Gardulas doctor had just told the Wilmette resident and her husband Bob that Carol had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; ALS.

Bob Gardula sums up his reaction to the diagnosis bluntly: Its just pure devastation, thats what it is.

The scientific label is uninformative to lay people. So is the name Lou Gehrigs disease, which is more apt to conjure images of baseballs famous Iron Man than to illuminate the ailment that killed him.

Move past the names, and ALS is unmasked as a merciless disease that erodes the brain stem and spinal cord motor neurons that deliver electrical impulses from the brain to voluntary muscles throughout the body. As they deteriorate, so do the voluntary muscles.

ALS doesnt dull the mind. People with the disorder remain aware as they lose strength and the ability to walk, to move and, eventually, to breathe.

Right now, ALS is 100 percent fatal, swiftly so. Complete paralysis usually occurs within two to five years of diagnosis. According to figures from the Les Turner ALS Foundation and the ALS Foundation, more than 5,600 Americans are diagnosed with the disease every year, and about 35,000 people are living with it at any time. Only 50 percent live five years past their diagnosis; perhaps 10 percent will survive 10 years or more. Most will die between two to five years after learning they have the disease.

Slightly more men than women contract it, and people are most likely to be diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 70.

Carol, who is 67, said last week she was grateful her diagnosis was relatively swift.

See the article here:

Love, family, spirituality help in ALS journey

ReAct stages Neil LaButes mordant The Break of Noon

Posted on by

Originally published September 9, 2014 at 2:00 PM | Page modified September 9, 2014 at 2:44 PM

In The Break of Noon, a man becomes determined to spread spiritual enlightenment after surviving a mass shooting, and in a mordant series of episodes, we bear witness to unabashed solipsism, casual cruelty and a host of fractured relationships. In other words, its a Neil LaBute play, even if his poison pen doesnt sting with the precision seen in stronger works like his 1997 film, In the Company of Men.

ReAct Theatre presents the local premiere of the play in a sparse, uneven production that sometimes struggles with the brusque rhythms of LaButes dialogue. It doesnt help matters that some of his self-contained scenes are widely inferior to others, though director David Hsieh gives them all a chance to work with his measured pacing.

William Poole stars as John Smith, the lone survivor of an office massacre perpetrated by a disgruntled former employee, and he believes his survival means hes been chosen as a messenger of God. Problem is, John doesnt seem to have a very strong grasp on what the message is, and in a series of scenes with his ex, a prostitute and others, it becomes clear hes not quite the born-again man he thinks he is.

LaButes broadsides against American greed and mass-media vapidity are thudding and obvious, though actors Malcolm J. West and Corinne Magin are sharp as a money-grubbing lawyer and a faux-sincere TV host. Scenes with relatives and loved ones are a little more convincing, especially the spat that bubbles up when John tries to reconcile with his ex-wife (an incredulous Jennifer Crooks).

As the typical LaBute egotistical male, Poole excels at portraying an enthusiastic evangelist of his own self-importance literally, in the plays closing monologue but hes missing the mean streak that would complete the package. The Break of Noon has its moments, but its far from the complete package itself.

Dusty Somers: dustysomers@gmail.com

Visit link:

ReAct stages Neil LaButes mordant The Break of Noon

On Space Station, Earth's Beauty Is In The Eye Of The High Definition Beholder

Posted on by

September 9, 2014

Image Caption: A view of Earth from one of the High Definition Earth Viewing cameras aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Laura Nilesm International Space Station Program Science Office and Public Affairs Office, NASAs Johnson Space Center

A series of new Earth science instruments launching to the International Space Station over the next year is prompting a new era of Earth observation from the orbiting outpost. These new tools that monitor ocean winds and measure clouds and pollution in the atmosphere, among other climate science phenomena, will help NASA deliver important information to climate researchers.

[ Watch the Video: Space Station Live: High Definition Earth Viewing ]

While these new Earth science instruments collect valuable information on our changing planet, one current Earth observation study continuously streams live views of Earth directly to your desktop or mobile internet device. The High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) investigation allows anyone with an internet connection to view our world from above. Tune in to the HDEV live stream here.

The HDEV project employs four commercially available cameras to stream the first continuous, high definition video from the space station. During the two-year study period, researchers hope to determine the best types of cameras to use on future missions by subjecting them to the harsh space environment. The cameras are enclosed in a temperature-specific case and mounted outside the Columbus laboratory to monitor how quickly they degrade during exposure to radiation in microgravity.

We know over time that the cameras will begin to degrade, said David Hornyak, engineer and HDEV project manager at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. We will operate the cameras to determine how long it takes and to learn what that degradation characteristic looks like to provide information on the planning and design of future imagery systems. It is expected that the cameras will not just turn off, but they will have some type of image degradation and at some point, that degradation will be bad enough that the image is no longer useful.

With the use of commercially available cameras, the research team also hopes to validate cameras that may be more cost-effective for future missions. If a camera is readily available on Earth and proves to hold up well in space, purchasing this type of camera would likely be cheaper than designing a new product.

By using four different types of cameras, each has a different type of technology to analyze for what works best in space. Once a week, the project team uses an automated software program to compare pixels on night imagery taken by the cameras to assess the deterioration of each camera. The pixels are easier to see and compare in dark images than in those with objects and multiple colors included.

See more here:

On Space Station, Earth's Beauty Is In The Eye Of The High Definition Beholder

Space Station to Get 1st Female Russian Crewmember This Month

Posted on by

A Russian cosmonaut is poised to make a bit of history this when she launches to the International Space Station this month, even if she considers the mission a routine spaceflight.

When cosmonaut Elena Serova launches to the station on Sept. 25 with two other crewmates, she will become the International Space Station's first-ever female Russian crewmember and only the fourth female cosmonaut to reach space. She'll also be the first female Russian cosmonaut to fly in the 17 years since cosmonaut Yelena Kondakova's STS-84 space shuttle mission in May 1997.

But Serova, 38, said she doesn't see her mission any differently than that of a male cosmonaut.

"I wouldn't say I am doing more ... than what my colleagues are doing," she said in translated remarks during a preflight briefing at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in July. [Women in Space: A Gallery of Firsts]

Serova pointed out that women have gone into space before, and that her focus is on fulfilling her assigned duties as a flight engineer.

"I want to perform my job really well," she said.

In 1963, Russia (then part of the Soviet Union) was the first nation to fly a woman in space, sending Valentina Tereshkova aloft in June of that year on a mission that lasted nearly three days in Earth orbit.

Svetlana Savitskaya was the second Soviet female cosmonaut, making two flights into space in 1982 and 1984 and staying aboard the Salyut 7 space station. She also was the first female to peform a spacewalk.

The United States didn't send its first woman to space until 1983, when Sally Ride blasted off. Dozens of women from the United States and other nations have flown since, but only one other from Russia: Kondakova. She made two trips to the Mir space station, in 1994 (on a Soyuz capsule) and 1997 (on a space shuttle).

Serova has said she's been fascinated by space since childhood, and that she always felt visiting the final frontier was possible. "The door to space was opened to all women by Valentina Tereshkova," she said in a NASA interview.

Continue reading here:

Space Station to Get 1st Female Russian Crewmember This Month

New Remote-Sensing Instrument To Blaze A Trail On The International Space Station

Posted on by

Image Caption: In 2010, Icelands Eyjafjallajkull volcano erupted, creating an expansive ash cloud that disrupted air traffic throughout Europe and across the Atlantic. CATS may improve the ability to measure volcanic particles and other aerosols from space. Credit: NASA

Lori Keesey, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center

The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS), a new instrument that will measure the character and worldwide distribution of the tiny particles that make up haze, dust, air pollutants and smoke, will do more than gather data once its deployed on the International Space Station this year.

CATS is a groundbreaking science and technology pathfinder, said Colleen Hartman, deputy center director for science at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Not only will it make critical measurements that will tell us more about the global impact of pollution, smoke and dust on Earths climate, it will demonstrate promising new technology and prove that inexpensive missions can make critical measurements needed by the modelers to predict future climate changes.

A Technological First

Technologically, NASA has never before flown an instrument like CATS.

Developed by a Goddard team led by scientist Matt McGill, the refrigerator-size CATS will demonstrate for the first time three-wavelength laser technology for measuring volcanic particles and other aerosols from space. It is intended to operate for at least six months and up to three years aboard the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility, augmenting measurements gathered by NASAs CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) mission.

However, the big difference between the two is that CALIPSO uses two wavelengths the 1,064- and 532-nanometer wavelengths to study the same phenomena.

Thats not the only difference, McGill said. CATS, which was developed with NASA and Goddard research and development funding, also carries extremely sensitive detectors that can count individual photons, delivering better resolution and finer-scale details. It also will fire 5,000 laser pulses per second, using only one millijoule of energy per second. In sharp contrast, CALIPSO delivers 20 laser pulses per second, using a whopping 110 millijoules of energy in each of those pulses.

As a pathfinder mission, what were trying to determine is whether the addition of the third wavelength 355 nanometers, which is in the ultraviolet will produce the results we expect it to generate, McGill said. We believe it will deliver more detailed information revealing whether the particles scientists see in the atmosphere are dust, smoke or pollution. Though it adds an advanced capability, particularly when coupled with the new detectors, engineers believe the ultraviolet wavelength may be particularly susceptible to damage caused by contamination, McGill said.

Go here to see the original:

New Remote-Sensing Instrument To Blaze A Trail On The International Space Station

NASA Hosts Media Briefing to Announce New Earth Observing Role for International Space Station – Video

Posted on by


NASA Hosts Media Briefing to Announce New Earth Observing Role for International Space Station
NASA announced a new era in its exploration of our home planet with the launch of the first in a series of Earth science instruments to the International Space Station. The first Earth-observing...

By: NASA

See the original post:

NASA Hosts Media Briefing to Announce New Earth Observing Role for International Space Station - Video

NASA image shows extent of Yosemite fire's smoke plume

Posted on by

A new NASA satellite image of Yosemite National Park shows a massive tower of smoke billowing up and fanning out from a wildfire that has so far burned thousands of acres and closed off access to Half Dome.

The high-resolution image of the Meadow fire was captured Sept. 7 from the Aqua satellite orbiting 450 miles overhead.

Smoke can be seen billowing over and into Yosemite Valley, just 5 miles east of the park, for the first time since the blaze started to rapidly spread across dry wilderness.

NASA said the red outline in the image depicts "unusually warm land surface temperatures" often associated with fires -- essentially the perimeter of the blaze.

As of Tuesday, the Meadow fire had charred 4,400 acres.Nearly 100 hikers and campers had to be evacuated Monday, many of them by helicopter off Half Dome, as the fire spread, cutting off exit routes.

More than 300 firefighters were battling the blaze, which has forced park officials to shut down access to the popular Half Dome peak.

In addition to trails near Half Dome, those in Little Yosemite Valley, Merced Lake, the Sunrise High Sierra Camps, Clouds Rest and Echo Valley also remained closed.

The fire is thought to have been started by one of hundreds of lightning strikes last month, but did not explode in size until Sunday under strong winds. Cooler temperatures and moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Norbert, however, were expected to provide some relief to firefighters.

For breaking news in Los Angeles and throughout California, follow@VeronicaRochaLA. She can be reached atveronica.rocha@latimes.com.

Read more:

NASA image shows extent of Yosemite fire's smoke plume