Santa Clara: 'HereAfterHere' a show that examines what lies beyond the great beyond

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The end is nigh. Like it or not, that's the cold, hard reality each of us must eventually face. But how prepared are we to deal with what happens--if anything--when we die? That's the question at the heart of Tandy Beal's HereAfterHere: A Self-Guided Tour of Eternity. It's a multi-arts concert where the great unknown is pondered through music, dance, video, theater, even some magic.

On March 28-30, the show comes to the Louis B. Mayer Theatre at Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara (at the corner of Franklin and Lafayette streets). It will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Beal, a director, choreographer and "dreamer," among other credits, says she and composer Jon Scoville created HereAfterHere in order to open up a community dialogue on this emotional topic. "I think this is on all of our minds, even though we generally can't talk about it because it's taboo. And yet it's in everybody's future," says the artistic director of Tandy Beal & Company. That's especially true for the estimated 77 million baby boomers (also known as the "silver tsunami generation").

Still, Beal presents a largly positive view of what's ultimately in store, with many "moving moments" in the show. "I'm a generally joyful person," she says, one who seeks "to make sure people are uplifted and not frightened. I want them inspired and not depressed."

"We need to live as fully and richly as we can, and taste every moment," she continues. As a performer and choreographer, Beal places special importance on the production's dance sequences, which allow the audience to "contemplate, to reflect on pure physicality." In effect, dancing is a vivid reminder of the grace and tactility of life itself.

Among the other highlights of HereAfterHere, which premiered in 2010, are clips from video interviews of ordinary people giving their take on what occurs when life ceases to be. Beal and company captured the views of more than 500 people of various ages, ethnicities and religions, then whittled the videos to about 20.

Among her favorites is a homeless man who opines, "Each one of us has a star calling out our name all the time, but you usually can't hear it. The moment you hear it, that's the moment you get to die." Another is a child who declares, "When I die, I want to be reading my favorite book."

Beal herself is opaque on what the hereafter is all about. "I don't want to say; I want to keep it open-ended," she declares. However, she's dead sure about one point. "This life is so mysterious to me that I can't not think that whatever happens is equally astonishing."

Tickets are $20-$40, $10 for Santa Clara University students with student ID. Available at scupresents.org.

Three related free public events are scheduled. They are "Present at the Passing," a workshop on end-of-life concerns, 7 p.m. March 26 at the Center for Spiritual Living, 1195 Clark St., San Jose; "Pondering the Imponderables: Metaphors in Science, Art and Religion," a panel discussion including Tandy Beal, 3 p.m. March 29, Louis B. Mayer Theatre, Santa Clara University; and "Lighting the Way: A Conversation about Spiritual Living and Dying," 7-8:30 p.m. April 3, Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, 1146 University Ave., San Jose.

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Santa Clara: 'HereAfterHere' a show that examines what lies beyond the great beyond

Space Station Commander Koichi Wakata Discusses Life in Space with Japanese Media – Video

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Space Station Commander Koichi Wakata Discusses Life in Space with Japanese Media
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency fielded questions about life and work...

By: NASA

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Space Station Commander Koichi Wakata Discusses Life in Space with Japanese Media - Video

Space station awaits for Russian craft after delay

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Arriving fashionably late, a Russian spacecraft carrying three astronauts docked with the International Space Station Thursday evening 250 miles over Brazil.

The crew aboard the orbiting outpost congratulated the latest members Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev and NASA's Steve Swanson.

"A flawless approach, a flawless docking," said mission control commentator Rob Navias.

The trio blasted off from Kazakhstan on Wednesday local time aboard a Soyuz rocket for what was supposed to be a six-hour straight shot to the space station. But an engine burn designed to fine-tune the craft's path did not occur as planned, delaying the docking.

Two rendezvous maneuvers were executed to put the Soyuz on course. The astronauts were never in danger.

Jaunts to the space station used to take two days. Last year, engineers experimented with a way to cut the trip down to six hours by compressing the number of times the Soyuz fires its engines to raise its orbit to meet the space station.

Had the latest trip been on schedule, it would have been only the fifth time that a crew would have taken the "fast track" route.

Engineers were investigating the snag, but believe the burn didn't occur because the Soyuz was not in the right position.

The new crew, who will stay in orbit for six months, joined Japan's Koichi Wakata, NASA's Rick Mastracchio and Russia's Mikhail Tyurin.

Since the retirement of the space shuttle fleet, NASA has depended on the Russians to hitch a ride to the space station, paying nearly $71 million per seat.

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Space station awaits for Russian craft after delay

WIRED Space Photo of the Day: Comet Siding Spring

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Multiple images of a distant quasar are visible in this combined view from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. The Chandra data, along with data from ESA's XMM-Newton, were used to directly measure the spin of the supermassive black hole powering this quasar. This is the most distant black hole where such a measurement has been made, as reported in our press release.

Gravitational lensing by an intervening elliptical galaxy has created four different images of the quasar, shown by the Chandra data in pink. Such lensing, first predicted by Einstein, offers a rare opportunity to study regions close to the black hole in distant quasars, by acting as a natural telescope and magnifying the light from these sources. The Hubble data in red, green and blue shows the elliptical galaxy in the middle of the image, along with other galaxies in the field.

The quasar is known as RX J1131-1231 (RX J1131 for short), located about 6 billion light years from Earth. Using the gravitational lens, a high quality X-ray spectrum - that is, the amount of X-rays seen at different energies - of RX J1131 was obtained.

The X-rays are produced when a swirling accretion disk of gas and dust that surrounds the black hole creates a multimillion-degree cloud, or corona near the black hole. X-rays from this corona reflect off the inner edge of the accretion disk. The reflected X-ray spectrum is altered by the strong gravitational forces near the black hole. The larger the change in the spectrum, the closer the inner edge of the disk must be to the black hole.

The authors of the new study found that the X-rays are coming from a region in the disk located only about three times the radius of the event horizon, the point of no return for infalling matter. This implies that the black hole must be spinning extremely rapidly to allow a disk to survive at such a small radius. This result is important because black holes are defined by just two simple characteristics: mass and spin. While astronomers have long been able to measure black hole masses very effectively, determining their spins have been much more difficult.

These spin measurements can give researchers important clues about how black holes grow over time. If black holes grow mainly from collisions and mergers between galaxies they should accumulate material in a stable disk, and the steady supply of new material from the disk should lead to rapidly spinning black holes. In contrast if black holes grow through many small accretion episodes, they will accumulate material from random directions. Like a merry go round that is pushed both backwards and forwards, this would make the black hole spin more slowly.

he discovery that the black hole in RX J1131 is spinning at over half the speed of light suggests that this black hole has grown via mergers, rather than pulling material in from different directions. These results were published online in the journal Nature. The lead author is Rubens Reis of the University of Michigan. His co-authors are Mark Reynolds and Jon M. Miller, also of Michigan, as well as Dominic Walton of the California Institute of Technology.

Caption: Chandra Telescope Team

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WIRED Space Photo of the Day: Comet Siding Spring

Hadfield Says Musks Rocket Shows Private Space Promise

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A successful launch of a rocket with legs by Elon Musks Space Exploration Technologies Corp. may slash the costs of reaching space and give a boost to private space flight, former astronaut Chris Hadfield said.

SpaceXs launch of the Falcon 9 rocket with its four landing legs, set for March 30, is hugely important because weve thrown away just about every rocket weve launched, Hadfield, 54, a Canadian who has logged about 100 million kilometers (62 million miles) in space, said during an interview in Bloombergs Toronto bureau.

Hadfield, who commanded the International Space Station from mid-March until May last year, gained fame using social media to post pictures of Earth and make videos on what its like to shave, throw up, cry and go to the bathroom in space. His remake of David Bowies song Space Oddity got more than 21.6 million views on YouTube.

After the Falcon 9 rocket releases its payload to the space station, its going to fire its engines again and land in the ocean as if it were landing on land, Hadfield said. If they can pinpoint the landing after several trials, then Musks company can cut the cost of access to space by maybe two orders of magnitude, which is enormous, said Hadfield.

Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield, 54, has logged about 100 million kilometers (62... Read More

Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield, 54, has logged about 100 million kilometers (62 million miles) in space. Close

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Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield, 54, has logged about 100 million kilometers (62 million miles) in space.

To try to do that in human space flight, maybe SpaceX and specifically Elon Musk, is in a position to do that, Hadfield said. Hes got a pretty good track record.

Musk, 42, is chief executive officer of Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX and co-founder of electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA)

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Hadfield Says Musks Rocket Shows Private Space Promise

NASA's humanoid robot to get a leg up on space station

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March 27, 2014 03:57 PM ET

Computerworld - A pair of robotic legs will be heading to the International Space Station.

That's right. Robot legs.

Robonaut 2, also known as R2, is a humanoid robot that has been working on the space station since 2011.

The 300-pound robot, which had been in the works for 11 years, has 38 PowerPC processors, including 36 embedded chips, which control its joints. Each of the embedded processors communicates with the main chip in the robot.

The robot, currently a legless torso, has been attached to a stationary pedestal. It is expected to eventually take over some basic duties, such as cleaning and maintenance inside the station, freeing up the astronauts to do more critical work, like scientific experiments. NASA scientists hope that one day, with upgrades to the robot's torso, it will be able to work outside the station, aiding astronauts in spacewalks.

To do much of that work, the robot needs legs.

That's where SpaceX, a commercial space flight company that runs cargo missions to the space station, comes into play.

SpaceX is set to carry the robotic legs onboard one of its Dragon cargo crafts in its third contracted resupply mission to the space station. The mission had been scheduled for launch on Sunday but was postponed because of a recent fire that damaged radar equipment on the East Coast of Florida.

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NASA's humanoid robot to get a leg up on space station

US Air Force's Secretive X-37B Space Plane Shatters Orbital Endurance Record

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The U.S. Air Force's robotic X-37B space plane has broken its own all-time endurance record in orbit after more than 470 days of circling the Earth on a mystery mission for the American military.

The X-37B space plane currently in orbit in flying the Orbital Test Vehicle 3 (OTV-3) mission, the third long-duration flight of the unmanned Air Force spaceflight program. The miniature space shuttle launched on Dec. 11, 2012 and is surpassed the record for longest X-37B spaceflight on Wednesday (March 26).

Until now, the record for the longest X-37B mission is 469 days, set by the program's OTV-2 mission that was launched in 2011. [See photos from the X-37B's OTV-3 mystery flight]

The OTV-3 mission in orbit today now uses the first of the Air Force's two X-37B space plane vehicles. The same spacecraft was used to fly the first-ever X-37B mission (the 225-day OTV-1 flight in 2010), while a second vehicle flew the longer OTV-2 mission a year later.

The U.S. military's X-37B space planes launch into orbit atop an unmanned Atlas 5 rocket from a pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. During launch, the space planes are encapsulated inside a protective shroud.

At the end of their respective flights, both the OTV-1 and OTV-2 craft missions flew themselves back to Earth on autopilot, each time touching down on a tarmac at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

X-37B space plane's Florida landing

Earlier this year, the X-37B supplier Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems announced plans to study the possibility of using NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida as a landing site for future space plane missions.

Boeing officials said that investments will be made to convert a former space shuttle hangar, called the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-1), into a structure that would enable the U.S. Air Force "to efficiently land, recover, refurbish, and re-launch" the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.

Construction work at KSC for consolidating the prepping, takeoff and landings of X-37B spacecraft would be completed by the second quarter of 2015, said Boeing spokeswoman Diana Ball.

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US Air Force's Secretive X-37B Space Plane Shatters Orbital Endurance Record

Selflessness from Joe Harris helped UVA reach first Sweet 16 since 1995

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Joe Harris has averaged fewer points this season than in his junior year, but his Cavaliers are making their deepest run in the NCAA tournament since 1995.

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

RALEIGH -- With its cozy two-seater cab, ample door dings and Washington plates, the Red Rocket turns heads as it sputters through Virginia's pristine campus. To capture the essence of Virginia's once-in-a-generation run to the round of 16 of the NCAA tournament, the best place to start is the bed of Joe Harris' red 1999 Ford Ranger pick-up truck. Last season, Harris' teammates placed a cream-colored couch there so he could carpool them around campus.

"We would squeeze in there and it was definitely dangerous," Virginia senior Thomas Rogers said. "But Joe took care of us. He got us where we needed to go."

With the 6-foot-6 Harris behind the wheel, UVA has driven through a season of historical mile markers. The Cavaliers won the ACC outright for the first time since 1981, won the ACC tournament for the first time since 1976 and earned a No. 1 seed for the first time since 1983. In order to do that, Harris has sacrificed statistics in order to let his teammates shoehorn into Red Rocket for their historic ride.

Harris averages three fewer shots per game compared to last season, and his scoring average fell from 16.3 points per game to 11.7. And Harris couldn't be any happier. He sets off-ball screens in the brutish ballet of Virginia's motion offense, and his Popeye biceps provide the muscle behind Tony Bennett's pack-line defense.

Harris, the son of a Washington state Hall of Fame high school basketball coach, came 3,000 miles from a town of less than 4,000 in central Washington to play for Bennett, and the trip is winding down with Virginia's first Sweet 16 since 1995, a game against No. 4 Michigan State in Madison Square Garden on Friday.

"The feel for the game, hard work, being a great teammate -- unselfishness," Virginia Coach Tony Bennett said. "It's about winning more than anything else."

*****

Growing up with three sisters at home and 12 big brothers at his dad's office, Joe Harris Jr. learned Teammate 101 well before college. From his help-side defense to the Red Rocket's communal keys, Harris has showcased those ideals from a lifetime of training.

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Selflessness from Joe Harris helped UVA reach first Sweet 16 since 1995

Pete Thamel: Selflessness from Joe Harris helped UVA reach first Sweet 16 since 1995

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Joe Harris has averaged fewer points this season than in his junior year, but his Cavaliers are making their deepest run in the NCAA tournament since 1995.

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

RALEIGH -- With its cozy two-seater cab, ample door dings and Washington plates, the Red Rocket turns heads as it sputters through Virginia's pristine campus. To capture the essence of Virginia's once-in-a-generation run to the round of 16 of the NCAA tournament, the best place to start is the bed of Joe Harris' red 1999 Ford Ranger pick-up truck. Last season, Harris' teammates placed a cream-colored couch there so he could carpool them around campus.

"We would squeeze in there and it was definitely dangerous," Virginia senior Thomas Rogers said. "But Joe took care of us. He got us where we needed to go."

With the 6-foot-6 Harris behind the wheel, UVA has driven through a season of historical mile markers. The Cavaliers won the ACC outright for the first time since 1981, won the ACC tournament for the first time since 1976 and earned a No. 1 seed for the first time since 1983. In order to do that, Harris has sacrificed statistics in order to let his teammates shoehorn into Red Rocket for their historic ride.

Harris averages three fewer shots per game compared to last season, and his scoring average fell from 16.3 points per game to 11.7. And Harris couldn't be any happier. He sets off-ball screens in the brutish ballet of Virginia's motion offense, and his Popeye biceps provide the muscle behind Tony Bennett's pack-line defense.

Harris, the son of a Washington state Hall of Fame high school basketball coach, came 3,000 miles from a town of less than 4,000 in central Washington to play for Bennett, and the trip is winding down with Virginia's first Sweet 16 since 1995, a game against No. 4 Michigan State in Madison Square Garden on Friday.

"The feel for the game, hard work, being a great teammate -- unselfishness," Virginia Coach Tony Bennett said. "It's about winning more than anything else."

*****

Growing up with three sisters at home and 12 big brothers at his dad's office, Joe Harris Jr. learned Teammate 101 well before college. From his help-side defense to the Red Rocket's communal keys, Harris has showcased those ideals from a lifetime of training.

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Pete Thamel: Selflessness from Joe Harris helped UVA reach first Sweet 16 since 1995