World's largest aircraft

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* The aircraft weighs about 22,050 lbs (10,000kg) when fully inflated

* The craft is capable of reaching speeds of 100mph

* The ship will eventually be capable of carrying 50 tonnes at a time, around 50 times more than a helicopter can carry.

* The vehicle is full of inert helium rather than hydrogen, as used the in the R101 hybrid airship.

* No runway is required for the craft to take off, and just a crew of two is needed.

* The aircraft was first developed for the American government as a surveillance craft but was affected by cutbacks to the defence budget.

* It was shipped to the UK in 15 containers, which took four days to unload.

The HAV304 arriving at Cardington

* It is being stored at the largest hangar in the world, at Cardington. This is 812ft (248m) long, 157ft (48m) high and 180ft (55m) wide.

* The craft has been designed to be heavier than air, so that it doesn't need people to hold ropes to land it

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World's largest aircraft

Travel tomes to bring summer

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If you could be anywhere in the world right now (besides experiencing yet another round of the polar vortex), where would it be? The beaches of the Caribbean? The rolling fields of Tuscany? The French Riviera? The good news is you can be in any of these places just by parking yourself in a comfy chair and picking up one of these delightful tales that are as much about the people as they are about the warm and sunny places they discover.

In this classic travel tale, Mayle takes you into the heart of Provence, France, as he and his wife dare to leave England behind so as to wake up with the sun slanting through the bedroom window. The couple buy an 18th-century farmhouse in their own little protected slice of France. We saw it one afternoon and had mentally moved in by dinner, he says. As soon as they sign the contract, they begin to navigate the neighbors, the grapevines and the heavy wind known as the mistral.

From your armchair, enjoy breakfast in quaint cafes, fragrant blooming cherry trees, hearty Provencal fare, the warm Provencal greeting of its people and their proper table manners. The Mayles take you on a journey from their peaceful residence in the Luberon to the crowded Cote dAzur in summer, learn how to play the French game Boule and attend dinner parties where they are challenged to practice their French and its unique Provencal dialect.

While destinations like Tuscany, Provence and the Riviera are well known for their warmth and beauty, there are plenty of other places in the world to whet your wanderlust appetite. Take Portugal, a sun-baked country in spring and summer dotted with rocky beaches, majestic mountains, eucalyptus trees, vineyards and plenty of ancient structures. Its attached to Spain, but it has its own distinct culture.

A Cottage in Portugal, which you can probably find at your local library, follows a couple who trade in the gloomy winters of New England for a complete redo of a small Portuguese cottage in total disrepair. Along the way they find a new kitten to take up residence in their cottage, which is appropriately named Little Cats; they discover a thousand-year-old stone hammer head; they practice patience with local contractors; and they aim to steer clear of the perils of Portuguese drivers. Filled with a cast of colorful characters, the story will leave the patches of snow outside your door entirely forgotten.

Julia Child wrote a travel book, you say? Yes! This wonderful description of Julias early years (1948-1954) in France with the love of her life, Paul Child, places you squarely in the midst of France from Paris to the seaside Marseillaise, and even into the countryside of Provence. She describes these years as among the best of my life. The couple moved to Paris and then into Marseillaise for Pauls work with the United States Information Service.

Julia is a wonderful writer, and you can imagine yourself right there beside her as she discovers her passion cooking during the second half of her life. Read along as she chops pounds of onions to practice for her French cooking class and meets two ladies with whom she ends up collaborating for the now famous Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook. And experience her joy as they travel throughout Europe, discovering new places and new foods that will forever change her life.

The movie Julia & Julia pairs Julias My Life in France memories with a modern womans journey to cook through her Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year. I highly recommend reading Julias book and then spending a lazy Saturday afternoon enjoying the movie. Bon Appetit!

For a taste of the exotic, delve into this tale of the wonders of Morocco. Just as the couple in Portugal head for sunnier climes, so does the family in this book, which leaves the overcast skies of London for adventures in Casablanca. They, too, buy a mansion, also in ruins, that belonged to the citys caliph, a spiritual leader.

While Shah and his family experience the same types of construction delays as many transplants to a new country, its for an entirely different reason in Casablanca: jinns. These mostly wicked invisible spirits, it seems, like to take up residence in empty houses and cause much mischief.

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Child care centers to follow first lady guidelines

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BOWIE, Md. (AP) The nation's second-largest for-profit child care provider is adopting Michelle Obama's healthy eating and activity guidelines.

The Learning Care Group agreed Thursday to limit TV and computer time for children, serve fruits and-or vegetables at every meal, eliminate fried foods, replace sugary drinks with water or plain, low-fat milk and provide at least an hour of daily physical activity.

It also will allow mothers to provide breast milk for their kids and accommodate those who want to breast feed.

Mrs. Obama joined the Super Sprowtz, vegetable mascots who teach children about nutrition and wellness, in an exercise dance with 4- and 5-year-olds at one of the Learning Care Group's centers near Washington on Thursday. She also shared an afternoon snack of carrot and celery sticks and grape tomatoes with a younger group of kids.

The first lady told the youngsters that they, too, will grow up to be healthy and strong if they eat well and stay active.

"These are grown-up vegetables," Mrs. Obama said of the broccoli, carrot and eggplant costumed-characters she had just danced with. "They started out as little bitty vegetables just like you and because they kept eating right and exercising they grew up to be really big and strong."

The Learning Care Group says it provides early education and child care services to more than 100,000 children between the ages of 6 weeks and 13 years at its 900 centers. They operate under five brand names: Childtime Learning Centers, Tutor Time Child Care/Learning Centers, The Children's Courtyard, Montessori Unlimited and La Petite Academy. Mrs. Obama visited a La Petite Academy center in Maryland on Thursday.

The first lady this week has been marking the fourth anniversary of "Let's Move," her nationwide initiative to combat childhood obesity in the U.S. The healthy eating and activity guidelines for child care centers, which were released in 2011, are part of that program.

With the addition of the Learning Care Group, some 13,000 child care centers are now following the rules, said Sam Kass, the executive director of "Let's Move." He said getting kids off to a healthy start is "absolutely vital" because their tastes, preferences and habits are shaped in the earliest years of their lives.

More than 750,000 children are now served by facilities that have adopted the guidelines.

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Child care centers to follow first lady guidelines

Is Spirituality Meaningful? Life Stories and the Quest for Purpose – McMaster University – Video

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Is Spirituality Meaningful? Life Stories and the Quest for Purpose - McMaster University
http://www.veritas.org/talks - Featuring Tim Day, at The Veritas Forum at McMaster University 2014. Full library available AD FREE at http://www.veritas.org/...

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ALIEN UFO ET Greater Community Spirituality (Chapter Four) Part Two What Is Knowledge? – Video

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ALIEN UFO ET Greater Community Spirituality (Chapter Four) Part Two What Is Knowledge?
https://www.newmessage.org/nmfg/Greater_Community_Spirituality.html Greater Community Spirituality presents a prophetic new understanding of God and human sp...

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ALIEN UFO ET Greater Community Spirituality (Chapter Four) Part Two What Is Knowledge? - Video

Greater Community Spirituality (Chapter Six) What Is The Greater Community? – Video

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Greater Community Spirituality (Chapter Six) What Is The Greater Community?
FREE Download, #39;Allies Of Humanity Briefings #39; - http://www.alliesofhumanity.org/allies-of-humanity-book1.pdf http://www.HumanSovereignty.org http://www.Allie...

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Loyola Institute of Ministry series takes spirituality out to lunch

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Published:Thursday, February 27, 2014

Updated:Thursday, February 27, 2014 15:02

When corporate worker Alan Wolf realized his fellow office workers didnt have anything to do during their lunchtime, he decided to bring spirituality to the table.

The Spirituality in the City series works in conjunction with Loyola Institute for Ministry to provide a place where people of all faiths can gather for an ecumenical conversation.

The Central Business District has thousands of office workers with nothing to do at lunchtime, Wolf said.

Wolf drew inspiration from the New York and Chicago areas, which offer events similar to the series during this time.

He sees the series as an opportunity to bring together people of all denominations to start a conversation about faith in New Orleans.

Kathy Kraft, a graduate student within the Loyola Insitute for Ministry, has been attending all of the talks for the past two years.

I have seen all kinds of people speak about their faith and their faith traditions. It has been as interesting to meet them as it has been to hear about how faith touches their work, their background or is a part of their lives, Kraft said.

Loyola Institute for Ministry director Thomas Ryan describes the series, also known as First Tuesdays, as an important tool for interreligious dialogue to flourish.

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Christian Scientist to discuss technology, spirituality in La Jolla

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Christian Scientist Mary Alice Rose

Longtime Christian Scientist Mary Alice Rose, will present the free lecture, Has technology made God and spirituality obsolete? 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 2 at the Sherwood Auditorium in the Museum of Contemporary Art, 700 Prospect St.

Ive seen public conversations going on over the years about the rise of technology and how all the problems of society will be answered when we have the technology, she said. At one time, when we didnt have all this technology and all these answers for manufacturing capability, treatment of disease or information people felt they could turn to God. Now, there is no need to do that, and people fall away from faith.

Rose said she hopes her talk will give participants a new way of thinking and possibly some answers they might ask themselves. What I want to share with people is how I find that the Bible, as my sacred text, and my relationship with God is still very relevant to me, Rose said, adding that she travels across the United States, and once or twice to England, to give this lecture.

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Pope's interviewer tells Vatican congress to reevaluate spiritual quest

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ROME -- Changes in technology have fundamentally altered the human quest for spirituality and require Catholics to reevaluate how they approach society, a Jesuit known for interviewing Pope Francis told an international communications conference Tuesday.

Saying the Internet has brought on a "radical change in perception of the religious question itself," Jesuit Fr. Antonio Spadaro said the traditional Catholic vision of spirituality "does not stand up today."

Where humans would once ask, "God, where are you?", we now think of the spiritual almost in terms of a cellular network waiting for answers to arrive on our multitudes of devices, said Spadaro. In such a system, it is no longer important for the spiritual teacher to give answers because "answers are everywhere."

It is not the answers, but the questions which are important" today, he said. We must learn to distinguish the true questions from the replies that are continually given."

Spadaro, the editor-in-chief of the Italian Jesuit magazine La Civilt Cattolica, was speaking Wednesday at a global conference hosted by SIGNIS, an international association of Catholic media professionals.

Spadaro wrote a book on cyber technology, released in 2012 titled Cyberteologia in Italian. He is best known for a wide-ranging interview with the pope that was released last September in multiple languages in 16 publications run by the Jesuit order around the world.

Because of his apparent access to the pontiff Spadaro has also been mentioned by some as a possible next director of the Vatican press office, should current director Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi retire.

Spadaro compared his vision of the new spiritual quest on Tuesday to thoughts Francis shared last November with a gathering of the leaders of male religious orders around the world.

Spadaro, who was present for that closed-door meeting, said Francis was asked why most vocations to religious life come from areas of the world that are not traditionally considered Catholic, or even Christian.

The pope responded: "I don't know," Spadaro said,

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Bhumi Cakrawan: embodiment of belief in Thai architecture

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Indeed, core aspects of Thailand's artistic and architectural traditions have developed in service to Buddhist principles of daily conduct.

The objective of Buddhism is the liberation of the spirit from suffering. To attain this goal, Buddhists must observe the following: (1) the practice of the three precepts of perception, concentration and wisdom, (2) the display of compassion to others, and (3) the exercise of self-sufficiency.

The application of these precepts in daily life leads the practitioner towards the discovery of the four Noble Truths: suffering, cause of suffering, enlightenment, and the path to enlightenment.

A propitious environment can aid the follower in his or her spiritual development. Architecture can play a significant role in an individual's journey towards the four Noble Truths.

One of the main symbols in Buddhist architecture is the sacred pillar representing wisdom. This element is ubiquitous at various scales, from houses to villages and cities. The pillar is situated at the centre of a stable and calm perimeter, ideal for meditation.

In addition, this space should be oriented properly to enhance cosmic harmony.

The four cardinal directions have unique significances. East represents the rising sun and references creation and birth. Its value is activated by a structure's orientation towards a river or as host for an open entryway, to promote cosmic circulation.

South relates to compassion and grounds professional or economic activities, that is, rice fields in the city or the village, a workplace in the house. Additionally, work activities that do not harm others are a condition for a harmonious engagement with the environment.

West is where the sun sets and signifies death and the return to the Earth; the structure should face a forest or a garden in westerly directions.

North references development and should be oriented in the direction of schools or other institutions of learning. In a household, it is where the master bedroom should stand or where learned and revered ancestors reside.

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Greg Johnson: Dalai Lama softens view of capitalism

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Near-drowning of astronaut tied to wrong diagnosis, slow response (+video)

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The near drowning of a space-station astronaut from water that had collected in his helmet during a spacewalk stemmed from acceptance of unusual conditions known to increase risks.

Willingness to accept as routine minor amounts of water in a space-walking astronaut's helmet and a misdiagnosis of a previous water leak helped set the stage for an incident last summer that could have cost an International Space Station crew member his life, according to an analysis of the event.

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In a 122-page report released Wednesday, a mishap investigation board identified a range of causes for the near-tragedy, including organizational causes that carried echoes of accident reports that followed the loss of the shuttles Challenger and Columbia and their crews in 1986 and 2003.

About 44 minutes into a 6.5-hour spacewalk last July, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano noted that water was building up inside his helmet the second consecutive spacewalk during which he reported the problem. Twenty-three minutes later, he and partner Chris Cassidy were ordered to end the spacewalk.

"The good news was that Luca was very close to the air lock when this happened," said Chris Hansen, space-station chiefengineer and head of the board,during a briefing Wednesday that outlined the findings. "When we terminated the EVA, Luca had a pretty close path to the air lock."

Still, as Parmitano worked his way back to the air lock, water covered his eyes, filled his ears, disrupted communications, and eventually began to enter his nose, making it difficult for him to breathe. Later, when crew mates removed his helmet, they found that it contained at least 1.5 quarts of water.

NASA officials immediately set up the five-member mishap investigation board to uncover the broader causes behind the incident, even as a team of engineers at the Johnson Space Center worked to find the precise mechanical cause for the buildup of water.

Engineers traced the leak to a fan-and-pump assembly that is part of a system that extracts moisture from the air inside the suit and returns it to the suit's water-based cooling system. Contaminants clogged holes that would have carried the water to the cooling system after it was extracted from the air. The water backed up and flowed into the suit's air-circulation system, which sent it into Parmitano's helmet. The specific cause of the contamination is still under investigation.

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Near-drowning of astronaut tied to wrong diagnosis, slow response (+video)

Nasa 'Could Have Prevented' Astronaut's Near-Drowning In Space Walk

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Dusty Space Cloud

This image shows the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy in infrared light as seen by the Herschel Space Observatory, a European Space Agency-led mission with important NASA contributions, and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. In the instruments' combined data, this nearby dwarf galaxy looks like a fiery, circular explosion. Rather than fire, however, those ribbons are actually giant ripples of dust spanning tens or hundreds of light-years. Significant fields of star formation are noticeable in the center, just left of center and at right. The brightest center-left region is called 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula, for its appearance in visible light.

This enhanced-color image shows sand dunes trapped in an impact crater in Noachis Terra, Mars. Dunes and sand ripples of various shapes and sizes display the natural beauty created by physical processes. The area covered in the image is about six-tenths of a mile (1 kilometer) across. Sand dunes are among the most widespread wind-formed features on Mars. Their distribution and shapes are affected by changes in wind direction and wind strength. Patterns of dune erosion and deposition provide insight into the sedimentary history of the surrounding terrain.

This image obtained by the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the south pole of the giant asteroid Vesta. Scientists are discussing whether the circular structure that covers most of this image originated by a collision with another asteroid, or by internal processes early in the asteroid's history. Images in higher resolution from Dawn's lowered orbit might help answer that question. The image was recorded with the framing camera aboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft from a distance of about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers). The image resolution is about 260 meters per pixel.

This undated photo shows a classic type 1a supernova remnant. Researchers Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess of the United States and US-Australian Brian Schmidt won the 2011 Nobel Physics Prize on October 4, 2011 for their research on supernovae.

A quartet of Saturn's moons, from tiny to huge, surround and are embedded within the planet's rings in this Cassini composition. Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is in the background of the image, and the moon's north polar hood is clearly visible. See PIA08137 to learn more about that feature on Titan (3,200 miles, or 5,150 kilometers across). Next, the wispy terrain on the trailing hemisphere of Dione (698 miles, or 1,123 kilometers across) can be seen on that moon which appears just above the rings at the center of the image. See PIA10560 and PIA06163 to learn more about Dione's wisps. Saturn's small moon Pandora (50 miles, or 81 kilometers across) orbits beyond the rings on the right of the image. Finally, Pan (17 miles, or 28 kilometers across) can be seen in the Encke Gap of the A ring on the left of the image. The image was taken in visible blue light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 17, 2011. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 27 degrees. Image scale is 8 miles (13 kilometers) per pixel on Dione.

Combining almost opposite ends of the electromagnetic spectrum, this composite image of the Herschel in far-infrared and XMM-Newton's X-ray images obtained January 20, 2012, shows how the hot young stars detected by the X-ray observations are sculpting and interacting with the surrounding ultra-cool gas and dust, which, at only a few degrees above absolute zero, is the critical material for star formation itself. Both wavelengths would be blocked by Earth's atmosphere, so are critical to our understanding of the lifecycle of stars . (AFP / Getty Images)

Resembling looming rain clouds on a stormy day, dark lanes of dust crisscross the giant elliptical galaxy Centaurus A. Hubble's panchromatic vision, stretching from ultraviolet through near-infrared wavelengths, reveals the vibrant glow of young, blue star clusters and a glimpse into regions normally obscured by the dust. (NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage)

A bubbling cauldron of star birth is highlighted in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared light that we can't see with our eyes has been color-coded, such that the shortest wavelengths are shown in blue and the longest in red. The middle wavelength range is green. Massive stars have blown bubbles, or cavities, in the dust and gas--a violent process that triggers both the death and birth of stars. The brightest, yellow-white regions are warm centers of star formation. The green shows tendrils of dust, and red indicates other types of dust that may be cooler, in addition to ionized gas from nearby massive stars.

This composite image shows the central region of the spiral galaxy NGC 4151. X-rays (blue) from the Chandra X-ray Observatory are combined with optical data (yellow) showing positively charged hydrogen (H II) from observations with the 1-meter Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope on La Palma. The red ring shows neutral hydrogen detected by radio observations with the NSF's Very Large Array. This neutral hydrogen is part of a structure near the center of NGC 4151 that has been distorted by gravitational interactions with the rest of the galaxy, and includes material falling towards the center of the galaxy. The yellow blobs around the red ellipse are regions where star formation has recently occurred. (NASA / CXC / CfA / J. Wang)

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Nasa 'Could Have Prevented' Astronaut's Near-Drowning In Space Walk

Studying The Effects Of Microgravity And Radiation On Human Cells

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February 28, 2014

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Life aboard the International Space Station (ISS) may seem like a carefree existence, but a wealth of evidence has proven otherwise. Years of research shows that the effects of microgravity wreaks havoc on the human body.

However, microgravity isnt the only thing that astronauts need to worry about in space. Going into space means exposure to radiation, which is known to damage our DNA. And when DNA tries to repair itself, errors can occur that increase the odds of developing cancer.

Between the two, humans face serious health risks when journeying into space. But mounting research is not only making spaceflight safer for our astronauts, it is helping to improve the health of people on terra firma as well.

A new study (Micro-7) is now examining the effect of gravity on DNA damage and repair. Because there is no controlled radiation source on the orbiting lab, cells will be treated with the chemotherapy drug bleomycin to induce DNA damage.

When a cell in the human body is exposed to radiation, DNA will be broken and repaired, which is considered the initiation stage of tumor development, explains principal investigator Honglu Wu, PhD, at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston.Cells damaged from radiation exposure in space also experience microgravity, which we know changes gene expressions even without radiation exposure.

This equals a space double-whammy for the human body, noted Wu.

Previous research exposed cells or organisms on Earth to high-energy charged particles to simulate space radiations. The resulting cell damage helped predict the risk of cancer for astronauts from space radiation. However, the research conducted on Earth in controlled environments do not address the effects of microgravity, which could make any results less accurate than this latest study.

The researchers believe the Micro-7 study will address that by examining the effects of bleomycin-induced DNA damage aboard the ISS.

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Studying The Effects Of Microgravity And Radiation On Human Cells