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Editor's note: This is the next in a series of articles about the member agencies of the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley.
MARIETTA - The Senior Nutrition Program offered through Washington-Morgan Community Action served about 60,000 meals last year through its home-bound meal deliveries and congregate nutrition sites.
The nutrition program receives funding from the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley.
Carrie McNamee, director of Senior and Community Services at Community Action, said the program offers six congregate nutrition sites, which include five in Washington County and one in Morgan County.
The sites are: Marietta, O'Neill Senior Center, Fourth and Scammel streets; New Matamoras, Carrol Senior Center, 606 Broadway Ave.; Lower Salem, Lower Salem Village Hall; Beverly, John Dodge Senior Center, 218 Fourth St.; McConnelsville, Reicker Building, 155 E. Main St.; Layman, Layman United Methodist Church, Brownrigg Road; and Belpre, Rockland United Methodist Church, 2300 Washington Blvd.
Food is prepared at the O'Neill Senior Center in Marietta from Monday through Friday, with 400 meals prepared daily, which includes the congregate meals and the program's home-delivered meals, McNamee said.
The program is for seniors over the age of 60 for the congregate sites and age 60 and over and homebound for the delivered meals. There are no income guidelines and while a $3 donation is requested for the meals, they will still be provided if a person can't pay, McNamee said.
Both programs have grown over the years, but the limiting factor is funding, she said. There is a waiting list with over 100 people on it for the home-delivered meals, but the program doesn't have enough money to expand the service further at this time.
Depending on the season, the congregate sites may have between five to 25 people who come in for the meals.
"We always have more and more people that are needing services as our population ages, especially here in Washington County," she said.
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Senior Nutrition Program serves 60,000 meals
Glamour and creativity will come together on Tuesday evening to raise awareness for a worthy cause fighting the ills of malnutrition.
Along with King Khan and his Knights, the city on Tuesday will play host to its very own Vidya Bidya Bagchi Balan, who will inaugurate a special exhibition of artwork by 14 eminent Calcutta-based artists at the Oberoi Grand.
The exhibition, under the Art for Nutrition banner, is part of the Horlicks Aahar Abhiyan initiative launched by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare in association with NGO Child In Need Institute (CINI), The Telegraph and Anandabazar Patrika.
The list of participating artists reads like a whos who of the Calcutta art circuit: Aditya Basak, Atin Basak, Bimal Kundu, Jogen Chowdhury, Kingshuk Sarkar, Partha Dasgupta, Pradip Maitra, Rabin Mondal, Reshmi Bagchi Sarkar, Samir Aich, Shuvaprasanna, Sreyashi Chatterjee, Subrata Gangopadhyay, and Sumitro Basak. Twelve of them have contributed a painting each, while Chowdhury has given four. Kundu has contributed a sculpture.
Vidya, who has taken up the cause, will unveil each artwork at the exhibition.
This (campaign) is close to my heart because I believe that nutrition is a basic need. And Horlicks is such a part of our culture, its one of the oldest brands in the country. And of course, it gives me a chance to come back to my hometown, Calcutta, the actress told Metro.
Across the world, government efforts to increase awareness about social and health issues are being supplemented by the private sector, said Shuvaprasanna. I was happy to learn that an initiative on malnutrition was being taken in Bengal. This will benefit society in the long run. The seeds of the perils of a malnourished life have been sown in the minds of children who were asked to paint on the subject. They will grow up to be volunteers and leaders in the campaign, extending a helping hand to their less privileged brothers. Approaching slums and tea gardens with messages about the need for nutritious food, which will be within their means, may improve the quality of life there.
Most of the artwork that will be displayed at the exhibition are on the mother and child theme and aims to raise awareness about the need for right nutrition for children.
The proceeds from the exhibition will go to CINI for the implementation of the Horlicks Aahar Abhiyan, which aims to tackle malnutrition in the state.
CINI has identified two target areas for the first phase of implementation the Mazdoorpara slums in ward 66 and the Chamrapatti slums in ward 65 of Calcutta and the tea gardens of Dhupguri block in Jalpaiguri district. Their plan of action includes launching awareness workshops, monitoring the health and weight of children in the target areas, training local employees and working with the Integrated Child Development Services centres.
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Canvas to canvass for nutrition cause Vidya to unveil exhibition
BOSTON -- Following his last start, Clay Buchholz promised stronger results.
After surrendering at least five runs in seven starts, the right-hander wanted to reward the Red Sox' offense for its run support. Buchholz aimed to accomplish the goal by providing stability and longevity moving forward.
Sunday's outing was a strong beginning toward ensuring that. Although he didn't receive a decision in the 4-3 loss to the Rays, Buchholz enjoyed his longest and best start, going seven innings while striking out a season-high six batters. He allowed just two runs.
"I've been able to start trusting [my changeup] again and start throwing it like I have in the past instead of trying to baby it, guide it and throw it for a strike," Buchholz said. "It's been just trying to throw a fastball with a different grip right now, and that's when it's at its best."
The first run Buchholz yielded was a byproduct of Adrian Gonzalez's inexperience in the outfield. When Matt Joyce roped a double into right field, Gonzalez fielded it cleanly, but he misfired on the cutoff throw to second base.
As a result of the fourth-inning error, Joyce advanced to third and ultimately scored on Ben Zobrist's groundout. Buchholz was still able to avoid the kind of big inning that has plagued him for the majority of April and May.
"I was very encouraged," Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said. "He looked good. He gave up that second run and he was still throwing pretty good. I thought we were going to pull that one out and get him what he deserved. I thought he deserved a win."
But Buchholz at least emerged with confidence. He tallied a season-high in pitches (111) and innings while matching lows in runs and walks (one), key components to regaining his old form.
"The big thing was I stayed out of the middle of the plate for the most part," Buchholz said. "When I missed, I missed off -- either away or in. I felt like I was able to throw almost all my pitches for strikes at some point during the game. I felt this good my past three starts, just hadn't had the results."
Behind the backstop, Jarrod Saltalamacchia credit Buchholz's smooth start to the hurler's changeup. By leaning on the pitch, Buchholz was able to routinely induce weak contact from Tampa Bay's hitters.
Link:
Clay Buchholz Leans on Improved Changeup to Finally Provide Stability, Longevity in Start
DNA expert Professor Angela Van Daal leaves court. Picture: Campbell Brodie Source: The Advertiser
THE case against a man accused of rape is built on inflated DNA evidence and flawed statistics, a court has heard.
Prosecutors claim Peter Tasman Cannell raped an elderly woman in her home and escaped detection for 17 years. A DNA sample, they claim, proves there is a 600-billion-to-1 chance of anyone other than Cannell being the rapist.
Yesterday, Bond University forensics expert Associate Professor Angela van Daal told the District Court that statistic was unreliable.
Giving evidence on Cannell's behalf, she said Forensic Science SA had not revealed its "confidence interval" - an expression, as a percentage, of faith in its conclusion. She said the odds of Cannell being the rapist could drop between 20 and 40 per cent once that figure was included in calculations.
"The confidence interval takes into account the number of people in the database ... one with 100 or 200 people isn't going to give the same confidence as one with 1000 or one million people," Prof van Daal said.
"That is a very fundamental concept of statistics, something that any student would have done ... it's very elementary.
"Any estimate can, obviously, be incorrect ... given you do not know the true answer, it's important to determine the confidence had in the estimate."
Cannell, 41, of Victoria, has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and one count of burglary.
Prosecutors have alleged he raped a woman, 81, in her Wright St home in October 1993. The victim suffered extensive injuries requiring six weeks in hospital.
Original post:
DNA rape case evidence 'flawed'
28 May 2012 Last updated at 06:12 ET
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BBC reporter Natasha Sayee has sent this report from the Mauritian capital Port Louis
The trial of two men charged with the murder of Michaela McAreavey has heard that no DNA from either of the accused was found in her hotel room in Mauritius or on her body.
Mrs McAreavey, a 27-year-old teacher, was found dead during her honeymoon at the Legends Hotel in January 2011.
Hotel workers Avinash Treebhoowoon, 30, and Sandip Moneea, 42, deny murder.
On Monday, the court heard evidence from an Oxfordshire-based forensic scientist.
Susan Woodroffe examined samples from Mrs McAreavey's body, as well as swabs taken from the hotel room.
The scientist, who is a prosecution witness, said that the results of her tests revealed "no specific indication" of DNA from either of the accused.
An additional key card for the couple's room was also examined and was found to contain the DNA of Dassen Naraynen, a security guard at the Legend's Hotel who was charged with conspiracy to murder in the days after the killing.
Continued here:
'No DNA' on two Michaela accused
By Kenneth V. Lanning, Special to CNN
updated 5:07 PM EDT, Fri May 25, 2012
National Missing Children's Day is based on the case of Etan Patz.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Editor's note: Kenneth V. Lanning, a consultant in crimes against children, was a special agent with the FBI for more than 30 years and was assigned to the FBI Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy for 20 of those years.
(CNN) -- May 25, National Missing Children's Day, is a day on which we honor and remember missing children. This date was chosen specifically because it is the date in 1979 when 6-year-old Etan Patz went missing on his way to school in New York.
The Patz case has resurfaced as a result of some potential new leads and an arrest that hopefully will result in the case finally being solved. I have the greatest respect and empathy for the parents of Etan, who are going through what is clearly one of the greatest nightmares any parent can experience -- never again seeing and not knowing what happened to one's own child.
Just as the Lindbergh case in the 1930s became a landmark case for increased national awareness concerning ransom kidnapping, the Patz case became a landmark case for increased national awareness concerning "stranger abduction." Each of these cases played a major role in creating laws, but they also fueled some confusing stereotypes.
Kenneth V. Lanning
When I joined the FBI in 1970 and someone talked about child abduction, you immediately assumed it was a ransom-motivated case. In less than 20 years, the attitude drastically changed to almost immediately assuming any child abduction involved a sexual predator. Either assumption is obviously not always correct.
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Missing kids: Perception, reality
A Hubble image of a jet of emission from a young star. A new paper reports that infrared spectra of a jet has uncovered a rich trove of diagnostic emission lines from shock-excited molecules and atoms. Credit: Reipurth, NASA, and HST
(Phys.org) -- Astronomers used to think that star formation simply involved the gradual coalescence of material under the influence of gravity. No longer. Making a new star is a complex process, among other things assembling a circumstellar disk (possibly preplanetary in nature) and at the same time ejecting material as bipolar jets perpendicular to those disks. These outflows help the young star balance its growth as new material accretes, but at the same time they disrupt the environment. Although jets from young stars have been known for over twenty years, their influences on the environment have remained uncertain, in part because the dusty natal clouds in which stars form obscure optical light.
SAO astronomers Achim Tappe, Jan Forbrich, and Charlie Lada, with two colleagues, used the spectrometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope to probe one relatively nearby, young stellar outflow. It had already been known that this fast-moving jet, as it plowed into the medium, shocked the gas; the process is much the same as when a jet plane moves faster than the speed of sound and creates a shock wave. But for young stellar outflow, the particulars were mostly mysterious. The scientists discovered in the infrared spectra a rich trove of bright emission features from at least seven different molecules excited by the shock - molecular hydrogen, water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, OH, HD, and one ionized species of HCO. Numerous atomic lines were also observed.
The astronomers concluded that the shock has distinctive regions along its length as it plows through the natal cloud at velocities of about 40 kilometers per second. At the very tip, where the jet suddenly encounters ambient gas and slows down, there is ionized material and strong molecular hydrogen emission; closer to the star the gas temperatures and densities vary in systematic ways as previously excited gas begins to cool off. Bright knots are seen all along the jet's path, either the result of ejected hot clumps or previously existing clumps that were shocked when the jet passed. The new paper is among the first to discover and analyze the complex infrared radiation from shocks around new-born stars, and it helps open the door to new methods of probing the environment of star formation.
Provided by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
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The anatomy of a stellar outflow
26-05-2012 16:20 lA | dUBAI | bANGKOK The |Smith| World Tour turned out to be an amazing adventure. Check out the trailer to the forthcoming web series that will give a sneak peak at my journey's to the other side of the world. Shout out to new friend and travel partner Jamechia Hoyle (Washington District of Columbia) for some of the film footage as well as modeling for Lamb's Wool during our international shoot in Bangkok. Stay tuned for my adventures---after all, it's my story and Im going to tell it! (you may kindly untag yourself after viewing) -Smith
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Tweedsmuir Park Lodge Honoured as a Highly Rated Accommodation Property (Wilderness Lodge) as Reviewed by Travelers on the World’s Largest Travel SiteBella Coola, BC, Canada (PRWEB) May 28, 2012 Tweedsmuir Park Lodge, a wilderness resort in the wilds of British Columbia, today announced that it has received a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award. The accolade, which honours hospitality ...
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Tweedsmuir Park Lodge Earns Prestigious 2012 TripAdvisor "Certificate of Excellence"
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
The global economy is suffering from a prolonged downturn brought on by events ranging from fiscal crises in the West to natural disasters here in Southeast Asia. Policy debates worldwide increasingly reflect the need for economic growth and job creation. With global unemployment of 200 million and 40 million people projected to enter the labor force every year, 600 million jobs will need to be created over the next decade.
A Swiss border guard checks a passport at the Euroairport in Basel-Mulhouse February 7, 2012. REUTERS/Pascal Lauener
Theres no single solution for achieving such a daunting task, but the contributions of the Travel & Tourism industry are too often overlooked in the debate over how to create jobs. While conventional sources for employment such as manufacturing and investment get most of the attention, a joint study by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reveals that Travel & Tourism directly employs 98 million people, more than automotive manufacturing, global communications, mining or financial services. Additionally, the study shows the economic impact of Travel & Tourism in 2011 was $6.3 trillion, or 9.1 percent of the global GDP.
And Travel & Tourism is one sector in which growth does not require significant new government investment. It can be facilitated simply by removing bureaucratic restrictions already in place, in particular the antiquated processes by which most states issue visas to foreign visitors. Long wait times, the absence of local consular offices and excessive documentation requirements discourage travel, restricting visitor spending and the jobs and growth it generates. Modernizing and simplifying visa applications and approval processes, and introducing new technology such as e-visas, would go a long way to maximizing Travel & Tourisms payoff to local economies.
For the past year, the World Economic Forums Aviation, Travel and Tourism Council has been working to promote e-visas worldwide. The Council has produced a Call to Action manifesto that highlights the opportunities that e-visas provide, and has made key recommendations to improve existing visa policies as a bridge toward a liberalized e-visa regime. Through these efforts, and in conjunction the WTTC/UNWTO study, the Council hopes to persuade leaders in Southeast Asia and other regions of the world of the economic benefits of modernized visa programs.
The good news is that some Southeast Asian nations have already identified collaboration and improved technology as two of the most important means of updating their visa programs and expanding the Travel & Tourism sector. Thailand and Cambodia began offering a combined tourist visa this past February, with plans to expand the program to include Vietnam and Laos by the end of the year. Such cooperative efforts by neighboring states make travel more convenient and thus more attractive to potential visitors. At their January meeting, the ASEAN Tourism Ministers set an even higher bar for regional collaboration by pledging their support for an ASEAN common visa, with the hopes of having a plan ready for consideration by the 2015 ASEAN Summit. We applaud this effort. A common visa for the 10 ASEAN States will likely have beneficial economic effects similar to those experienced by the European States involved in the Schengen visa program.
With respect to technology, this region already has experience with accepting visa applications online. Cambodia has an e-visa and Myanmar unveiled its own e-visa in March. A region-wide e-visa system would definitely help Southeast Asia stand out as a tourist destination.
Travel & Tourism already enjoys what any industry needs to generate growth: a product in high demand. The people of Southeast Asia can take advantage by removing unnecessary barriers between that product and a potential customer base of tens of millions of 21st century travelers.
Brian Havel, Professor of Law, De Paul University, USA and member of the Global Agenda Council on Aviation, Travel and Tourism, World Economic Forum
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WEF Blog: Freedom to travel: opening markets by opening borders
Super MP3 Download uno strumento che vi permette di ascoltare e scaricare brani MP3 da internet.
Super MP3 Download un applicazione ad-supported ovvero con delle pubblicit e dei software opzionale; il programma viene infatti distribuito con la toolbar di Hot MP3.
L'edizione gratuita del software ha un'interfaccia intuitiva e con poche opzioni, cosa che consente agli utenti di qualsiasi livello di gestire il programma.
Tutto quello che dovete fare digitare il nome dell'artista o della canzone e premere il pulsante di ricerca: i risultati saranno quasi istantaneamente visualizzati.
Super MP3 Download visualizza il titolo, la lunghezza e la popolarit del file, ma anche possibile scaricare brani specificando il nome del file, il bitrate o i tag ID.
La versione gratuita di Super MP3 Download non consente di utilizzare la ricerca avanzata n scaricare pi di un MP3 alla volta; inoltre il volume di riproduzione basso, anche nella sue capacit massima.
Una file in MP3 richiede alcuni minuti per essere scaricato, durante il quale la memoria di sistema viene usata moderatamente. Se si aggiungono diverse attivit alla coda, ognuna di loro si avvia automaticamente quando il brano precedente ha completato il download.
Nel complesso,
Super MP3 Download un buon strumento per scaricare brani MP3 da Internet, ma manca di tutte le funzioni avanzate nella versione gratuita.
di Giordano Settimo
Originally posted here:
Washington: A growing number of Americans are travelling to India to seek treatment for rare diseases through India's experimental embryonic stem cell therapy, according to an investigative report.
Among them Cash Burnaman, a 6-year-old South Carolina boy, who travelled with his parents to India seeking treatment for a rare genetic condition that has left him developmentally disabled, CNN reported.
"Cash is mute. He walks with the aid of braces. To battle his incurable condition, which is so rare it doesn't have a name, Cash has had to take an artificial growth hormone for most of his life," it said.
A growing number of Americans are travelling to India to seek treatment for rare diseases through experimental embryonic stem cell therapy.
His divorced parents, Josh Burnaman and Stephanie Krolick, have paid tens of thousands of dollars to have Cash undergo experimental injections of human embryonic stem cells at New Delhi's NuTech Mediworld run by Dr Geeta Shroff, a retired obstetrician and self-taught embryonic stem cell practitioner.
Shroff first treated Cash -- who presents symptoms similar to Down Syndrome -- in 2010. "I am helping improve their quality of life," she told CNN.
After five weeks of treatment, Cash and his parents returned home to the US. That's when Cash began walking with the aid of braces for the first time.
For four or five weeks of treatment, Shroff says she has charged her 87 American patients an average of $25,000.
But doctors cited by CNN said all that work and hope and money Cash's supporters have funnelled into his experimental therapy likely will have no medical benefits.
"There is zero evidence for what she (Shroff ) is doing being effective," Rutgers University's Dr Wise Young, a leading US neuroscientist, was quoted as saying.
Originally posted here:
Launching its third major service project in less than a month after His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda’s coronation as 293rd pontiff of Madurai Aadheenam, Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam along with Madurai Aadheenam hosted a joint free weekend multispecialty medical camp on 26th & 27th May at the Madurai Aadheenam premises.In another major decision, the first overseas branch of Madurai Aadheenam ...
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27-05-2012 07:05 America's first sub-orbital flight. Astronaut Commander Alan B Shepard in Freedom Seven Capsule.
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US Astronaut rides into Space - Flight of Freedom Seven (May 5 1961) - Video
Elon Musk's (the real-life Tony Stark from Ironman) SpaceEx company made history last week when the company's Dragon capsule berthed at the International Space Station, carrying a boatload of supplies. It was the first privately funded space vehicle to reach the Space Station. It will not be the last, we hope.
This is one of the unintended consequences of the Welfare State/corporatist model going bust. The government has to get out of the business of things it can't afford to do. NASA, for example, can't send a man into space anymore. It has to pay the Russians to do this, or hitch a ride with a private company.
Our prediction is that private sector will take commercial space flight and exploration where no government has gone before. Human trips to space will become cheaper, easier, and more frequent. And the greatest human achievements of the next 100 years won't be terrestrial. We'll begin to get off the planet and out into space.
That idea probably terrifies people who think that human beings are a parasite on the planet to begin with. But as we said last week, risk-taking behaviour promotes the survival of the species, and there is nothing riskier than getting off the planet and out into the stars. Exploring the unknown world gives people a sense of imagination and purpose that lasts beyond a generation. That is something to get excited about. There really is a new frontier out there and we could be on the cusp of another great leap in human endeavour.
Of course all that could fall down like a big tower of Babel if the world's financial system implodes. Our current arrangement for allocating scarce resources and pricing things has become perverted by unsound money. The whole system needs a re-boot. The downtime between the end of this story and the beginning of the next could be pretty grim for some people.
But Australians know how to plan ahead for such things. A plan to build a $12 million, three-storey brothel near Sydney's central business district is nearing approval, according to The Age. It would be Australia's largest brothel, apparently. Larger, even, than the stock market.
Prostitution was legalised in New South Wales in 1995. Investigations showed that illegal prostitution led to a 'nexus' between crime lords and police corruption. It also probably led to higher prices. The government is pleased to set aside moral reservations about private behaviour when there is tax money to collect.
And to be sure, an experience at the 'Stiletto' brothel will not be cheap! The 'Presidential Suite' requires a minimum four-hour booking at the price of $1480 (almost enough to buy an ounce of gold!). The 'Suite' includes a Swarovski crystal wall, a pool table, two plasma screen televisions, and can accommodate 16 people, or just over 20% of the Australian Senate.
Perhaps the government in Canberra should send someone to investigate the economics of moving the Parliament to Parramatta Road in Sydney. Or perhaps it already has! Running the government from the grounds of a brothel might be cheaper. And in the event, the professions are not dissimilar. Everyone at the party mucks around while the taxpayer gets screwed.
But fear not, dear reader. Life goes on. And we'll always have Paris. More from there next week.
Continued here:
Space Flight Exploration: Where no Government Has Gone Before
Andy Roddick was a four-set loser to Nicolas Mahut of France in the first round of the French Open on Sunday in Paris. (David Vincent / Associated Press)
First and foremost, the footing is tricky The soft courts take his booming serves and forehands down a notch, too. Put simply, his game is built for hard or grass courts. As if that wasn't enough, he arrived at this French Open having played only 16 matches in a season interrupted by injuries to his right hamstring and right ankle.
If Roddick was tempted to sit out Roland Garros altogether - or tempted to use his health or rust as an excuse for playing poorly - he did not. The 26th-seeded American, once ranked No. 1 and once a Grand Slam champion, exited a major tournament's opening round for the first time since 2007, and at the same venue.
His 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 loss to 88th-ranked Nicolas Mahut at the French Open on Sunday dropped Roddick's record to 7-10 this season, 0-4 on clay. Of the seven previous major title winners in action on day one in Paris, including Venus Williams in her first Grand Slam match since revealing in August she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, only Roddick was beaten.
"Wasn't playing really well. I move just horrendously out here. My first step is just so bad on this stuff," Roddick said. "I feel like I'm always shuffling or hopping or not stopping or something."
Williams also is not nearly as comfortable on clay as faster surfaces.
She's also dealing with the difficult process of learning to
"A lot of it, I have to figure it out. It's physical and emotional and all kinds of different things. Mental," Williams said of her medical condition. "It's a big accomplishment for me to be here right now."
The other past major champions who won Sunday were Juan Martin del Potro, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Sam Stosur, Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova. Monday's schedule includes Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Victoria Azarenka and Li Na.
Mahut hit more aces than Roddick, 13-8, and broke him seven times, including in the last game on Court Suzanne Lenglen, an arena the American is not fond of.
Excerpt from:
The Cannes Film Festival came to a quiet close last night as the final red carpet event took place, with many of the stars choosing to save their best looks for last.
Diane Kruger, a juror for the festival, has not disappointed with each red carpet event. The German actress wore a Christian Dior couture ballgown to the closing ceremony in Cannes, which included a bouffant skirt.
The grey and white checkered gown stole the show, complete with sporadic black, floral, lace detail. The actress changed into a little more comfortable Jenny Packham dress after the event as she posed with boyfriend, Joshua Jackson, for the evening dinner.
Diane Kruger finishes her Cannes duties in Dior
Though her film did not receive an overwhelmingly positive response, Kylie Minogue kept her head high on the final night of Cannes. Wearing a lavender-blue Roberto Cavalli gown, the pint-sized Australian looked like royalty on the red carpet. We wish she had her hair doing something more memorable to elevate the look to its best, though.
Minogue in lavander Robert Cavalli
Alec Baldwin and fiance Hilaria Thomas again looked picture perfect on the red carpet. Earlier last week the loved-up couple stormed the red carpet looking like classic cake-topping bride and groom in black and white. For the closing ceremony, they both opted for sleek black and looked sensational while doing so.
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Nasa has framed new guidelines for safeguarding the many historic sites on the surface of the moon.
On 24 May, 2012, Nasa and the X Prize Foundation of Playa Vista, California, released new guidelines to protect historic lunar sites and preserve ongoing and future science on the moon.
The foundation will take the guidelines into account as it judges mobility plans submitted by 26 teams vying to be the first privately-funded entity to visit the moon.
According to a press release issued by Nasa, the organisation mentions that it is aware of many spacefaring nations and commercial entities that are on the verge of landing spacecraft on the moon. The agency is currently engaged in a cooperative dialogue with the X Prize Foundation and the Google Lunar X Prize teams to develop the recommendations.
"Nasa and the next generation of lunar explorers share a common interest in preserving humanity's first steps on another celestial body and protecting ongoing science from the potentially damaging effects of nearby landers," the statement by Nasa mentions.
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Nasa reportedly assembled the guidelines using data from previous lunar studies and analysis of the unmanned lander Surveyor 3's samples after Apollo 12 landed nearby in 1969.
Experts from the historic, scientific and flight-planning communities also contributed to the technical recommendations. The guidelines do not represent mandatory US or international requirements. Nasa provided them to help lunar mission planners preserve and protect historic lunar artifacts and potential science opportunities for future missions.
According to the Guardian, such guidelines may seem a bit hypocritical (if you really cared about something, you wouldn't leave it on the moon) but Nasa was prompted to act by the race to land a robot on the lunar surface: 26 privately funded teams are vying to claim the Google Lunar X prize, worth $20m (13m). Additionally, Nasa is proposing to keep the robots out of certain exclusion zones in order to preserve artefacts including hardware from Apollo lunar modules, wire-stiffened US flags, astronaut footprints and ongoing moon experiments.
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When the last American astronauts blasted off from the Moon in 1972, it seemed as if they were leaving behind monuments that would stand for all time. On a lifeless, airless satellite there would never be any scavengers or souvenir hunters, no wind to bury or wear down the abandoned spacecraft and artifacts, and no air to corrode metal. Even the footprints would still be there millions of years from now. Or so everyone thought. Now, with more and more nations and private organizations planning manned and unmanned missions to the Moon, NASA is worried that the Apollo landing sites and others could be endangered by the next wave of lunar explorers. To prevent this, the space agency issued a set of guidelines that politely asks everybody to keep their distance.
NASA left a lot of hardware on the Moon during its first phase of lunar exploration. In addition to the six Apollo landing sites there are the remains of five Ranger probes that were deliberately crashed into the Moon, seven Surveyor soft landers, five S-IVB Apollo third-stage boosters that were used for seismic studies and six Lunar Module Ascent Stages that were crashed at the end of their missions, as was the complete Lunar Module from Apollo 10 and an assortment of orbiter probes that ended up impacting the surface.
That is a lot of hardware and its also a lot of history. NASA is worried that without some guidance and agreement irreplaceable relics of the Space Age, such as Neil Armstrongs first footprint on the Moon could be lost and sites needlessly disturbed. More than that, many of these sites are still of great scientific interest with experiments still going on after more than forty years. The Apollo landing sites, for example contain laser reflectors for accurately measuring the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Also, the spacecraft and equipment left behind are a valuable experiment in the effects of prolonged exposure to the lunar environment. Though theres no air on the Moon, there are extremes of temperature in the hundreds of degrees, micrometeorites, cosmic radiation and intense ultraviolet light. The last is particularly destructive. If some future astronaut does visit an Apollo sight, he might think that someone has run off with the nylon American flag or the gold plastic foil that wrapped the Descent Stage. In fact, the UV rays from the Sun destroyed both years ago.
Apollo 11's Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment is still operating today (Image: NASA)
With both history and science at stake, NASA feels that it cannot ignore the possible threat posed by Moon new programs, no matter how well intentioned they are. The space agency therefore recently took the opportunity to announce that the Google Lunar X Prize committee is agreeing to abide by guidelines issued by NASA in 2011. These guidelines, which cover Apollo landing sites, impact areas, unmanned probes, experiments and footprints and rover tracks, are intended to protect historic sites, prevent interference with experiments and to ensure that American property rights are respected, since all the vehicles and gear still belong to the U.S. government.
Effectively, the guidelines boil down to steering clear of U.S. lunar sites whenever possible. Future landings are asked to remain two kilometers from historic sites (especially those of Apollo 11, the first manned landing site, and Apollo 17, the last Apollo manned landing site). They are also asked to remain half a kilometer away from impact sites. This exclusion zone doesnt just include landings, but also any flyover paths that a landing spacecraft might take.
The reason for this is dust. One advantage of being on the Moon is that there isnt any air to suspend dust particles. Unfortunately, that also means that theres no air to slow down even the tiniest particle. An impacting object or the blast from a landing rocket can kick up huge quantities of dust and hurl them with such velocity that they can go into orbit around the Moon or even escape entirely. This was shown during the Apollo 12 mission when the astronauts examined the Surveyor 3 lander, which NASA had sent a couple of years earlier to scout out landing sites. Despite being far off, the Lunar Module Intrepid created such a storm of dust that the Surveyor suffered a miniature artillery barrage.
For similar reasons, rover operators are requested to keep speeds down in the vicinity of sites to prevent kicking up dust. Though rovers are requested to steer clear entirely from the Apollo 11 and 17 sites, they will be allowed within one to three meters of spacecraft and objects at the Apollo 12, 14 and 16 sites so long as they stay away from active experiments or places where soil samples were taken. The one thing NASA is emphatic about ensuring that any rovers in the area to move well away from the sites by the end of their missions. The last thing NASA wants is for a rover to die on site and start venting battery gases that contaminate the area.
The important thing to remember about NASAs guidelines is that they are exactly that - guidelines. The U.S. space agency has no power to enforce its rules on other organizations. Though there is a UN Outer Space Treaty to control how space explorers behave, not every nation is a signatory and the treaty is something of a Cold War statement of piety barring spacefaring nations from doing what they couldnt do anyway, such as claiming whole planets. More to the point, the treaty may not apply to private organizations. Worse, it may not stand up to challenges based on precedents of salvage or maritime law. In other words, over half a century after Sputnik, space law is still a bit of a muddle.
Because of these legal question marks, NASA is taking the softly, softly route of issuing guidelines and requesting politely that everyone else respects them. It would clearly be a great pity if these guidelines aren't followed, but only time will tell whether the site of humanitys first visit to another world remains untouched.
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NASA asks future explorers to respect historic landing sites