Americans support freedom-loving Iranians – Washington Times

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The American people love and support the freedom-loving people of Iran.

I would like to ask you today, are you ready to hold the mullahs accountable? Are you ready to hold Khamenei accountable? Are you ready for regime change? Are you ready to get rid of the greatest sponsor of terrorism in the world? Are you ready to restore freedom to Iran? Are you ready for honest elections? Are you ready for a democracy in Iran? Are you ready for equality in Iran? Are you ready for human rights in Iran? Are you ready for religious freedom in Iran?

Now is the time. When our forefathers met 241 years ago this time, they pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor, for a Declaration of Independence for a new America. Yes, from that we found life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And thats what we want for Iran today.

Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger represents the 9th Congressional District in North Carolina and serves on the House Financial Services Committee. This excerpt is from his remarks to the July 1 rally in Paris.

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Faithful reminded freedom, prayer go together – The Catholic Sun

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Even with some relief at the federal level regarding religious freedom, Americans, Catholics especially, must continue to pray and be vigilant to protect these liberties at the state and local level, said Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares at the annual Fourth of July Mass.

The liturgy at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral closed Phoenixs observance of the nationwide Fortnight for Freedom. The faithful remained after Mass to offer a Rosary for the United States of America.

Thanks be to God, much of the affront to religious freedom that the Obama administration was continuing to provide against the Church has now been suspended by President Trump, Bishop Nevares said, noting the power of prayer. Prayer is all important in this battle that we are in defending all our religious freedoms and religious liberty.

However, he said, the affront to our religious liberty and religious expression is not over. It might be paused from the federal government, but now it is being carried at the state and the city, county and local levels.

The bishop recalled a presentation from Alliance Defending Freedom founder Alan Sears, who along with his wife Paula was recently invested into the papal Order of St. Gregory the Great, that provided a list of several of these cases of peoples religious liberty being attacked:

The Huguenins are now compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspired their lives. Why? Because it is a price of citizenship to go against your own conscience, Bishop Nevares said. Breanna and Joanna could face a $2,500 fine and six months in jail for every day they decline to produce and sell such art to the same-sex couple, he added.

Bishop Nevares also noted how gender dysphoria is being promoted among the youth, referencing a childrens book targeted to kindergarteners and drugs that postpone puberty so youth can decide their sex.

So, something that is normal, something that contributes to the dignity of the human person, something that is the design of Almighty God, is now being withheld from our young people, their gender, so that they can decide what gender they want to be, he said.

St. John Paul II said when he came to America in 1987, You are in a culture war, he said. My brothers and sisters, the war is just beginning and its not going to go away. We need to be strong and we need to be convinced of our Catholic principles and our Catholic faith. We need to be men and women willing to sacrifice for these great rights.

The bishop asked how the faithful should respond to attacks on religious liberty. If Jesus says prayer can move mountains, it can surely move the hearts of the secular society today in which we live, said Bishop Nevares. In particular, he added, is the importance of prayer in the home, that we pray with our children, and pray with our spouses for our children.

Secondly, he said, we need to be active participants in the voting process. Most of us vote in presidential elections, he added, but give little thought to lesser government officials such as school board members and legislators, yet they also have influence upon our culture and our Christian values and principles.

So, let us be active contributing Catholics and active contributing voters on each and every election that comes up so that we may once again be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

After Mass, the bishop joined the faithful in praying the Rosary for the United States of America. They offered the intentions for each decade for the three branches of the federal government, state and local governments and the military services. Representatives from the Knights of Columbus, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Cursillo movement, the retired police officers community and the veterans community took turns leading each decade. The faithful prayed for every U.S. state as they fingered each red, white or blue bead.

Manny Yrique, who came up with the Rosary and organized the event, said he was pleased with the participation and said that every individual is called to make a difference.

A woman from Indiana came and I gave her a rosary and told her to take it back to her parish, he said. We can change the world, but we have to do it one person at a time.

Brandon Trichel from All Saints Parish in Mesa brought his family to the Mass because, he said, theres no better way to celebrate freedom than to celebrate Christ.

Christ is truth. There is no truth without Him and no freedom without truth, he said. Its so sad in todays society, people think theyre free, free to express themselves, but theyre in bondage.

Josine Olakkengil, a parishioner at the cathedral, brought her family to the Mass because she said it is important to celebrate with other Christians. An immigrant from India, she said shes especially thankful for the freedoms her family enjoys in this country.

That community is important. In India, many of the people we lived around were Hindus, Olakkengil said. Theres a lot of persecution of Catholics and Christians, so compared to that, we have a lot of religious freedom here. But I heard of the infringements of these rights in the bishops homily and we need to pray that these rights are preserved.

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ABC, NBC hit with backlash after pinning ‘hate group’ label on Alliance Defending Freedom – Washington Times

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If theres anything conservatives hate, its having their organizations labeled hate groups by the liberal Southern Poverty Law Center and then seeing the tag repeated in the media.

Alliance Defending Freedom officials are still waiting for a retraction and apology after ABC and NBC referred last week to the Christian legal organization as an alleged hate group, citing the SPLC designation.

Both networks included the label in stories Wednesday about a closed-to-press speech by Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Christian legal organizations Summit on Religious Liberty in Dana Point, California.

The network reports followed an SPLC press release Tuesday titled Attorney General Jeff Sessions to Address Anti-LGBT Hate Group in Closed-Door Event, prompting ADF to accuse the networks of basing their reporting on a biased hit piece.

ABC News has committed journalistic malpractice, said ADF spokeswoman Kerri Kupec in a statement. For ABC News to essentially cut and paste false charges against Alliance Defending Freedom by a radically left-wing, violence-inciting organization like Southern Poverty Law Center is a discredit to ABC News and to the profession.

The NBC online article was headlined Jeff Sessions Tells Hate Group DOJ Will Issue Religious Freedom Guidance, while ABC reported that Mr. Sessions delivered a speech to an alleged hate group at an event closed to reporters.

Neither ABC nor NBC has responded to the ADFs request for an apology and retraction, said ADF spokeswoman Briana Herlihy, and the networks did not return requests by The Washington Times over the weekend for comment.

The brouhaha comes with allegations of media bias on the rise along with debate over the SPLCs hate group listing, which lumps mainstream conservative groups like the ADF and Family Research Council with the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis.

The SPLC doubled down on the label with a statement Saturday calling the ADF a hate group that cloaks itself in religion as it spreads demonizing lies about the LGBT community in this country and seeks to criminalize it abroad.

It was inappropriate for Attorney General Sessions to lend his credibility to the group by appearing before it, and it was ironic that he would suggest that the rights of ADF sympathizers are under attack when the ADF is doing everything in its power to deny the equal protection of the laws to the LGBT community, said SPLC President Richard Cohen.

The Democratic National Committee jumped into the fray by accusing Mr. Sessions of choosing to spend his time speaking in front of one of the countrys leading anti-LGBTQ hate groups.

Meanwhile, ADF senior counsel Kristen K. Waggoner decried the SPLCs designation as nothing more than propaganda, adding that the alliance has one of the most respected Supreme Court practices in the country.

She noted that the ADF has won seven cases in seven years before the U.S. Supreme Court, including last months ruling in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church, which had sought public funds to resurface its preschool playground.

I think the real question is, why [are] ABC and NBC willing to promote propaganda and cut and paste the Southern Poverty Law Center press release into its story when the left and the right have discredited this other organization? Ms. Waggoner asked in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Based in Montgomery, Alabama, the SPLC has enjoyed a bounce in its public profile during the Trump administration even as its critics accuse the group of sullying its civil rights legacy with politically motivated fear-mongering.

Time and again I see SPLC using the reputation it gained decades ago fighting the Klan as a tool to bludgeon mainstream politically conservative opponents, said Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson on his blog, Legal Insurrection.

Conservatives locked horns with the SPLC earlier this year after the charity tracker GuideStar attached the hate group label to 46 nonprofits, including the ADF and FRC. GuideStar removed the tags from its database last month while saying the information would still be available upon request.

David French, a former ADF senior counsel, called on news outlets to stop citing the SPLC, saying the Alabama-based group has become a dangerous joke.

He pointed to the 2013 attack on a security guard at the Family Research Council by a Virginia gunman who said he researched the group on the SPLCs website, which lists 917 organizations on its hate map.

Enough is enough. The SPLC has lost its integrity, said Mr. French in National Review. Media outlets who use the SPLC to assess Christian speech expose only their own bias and incompetence.

ABC reported Wednesday that the Justice Department is refusing to reveal what he [Mr. Sessions] said at the ADF conference. The next day, The Federalist reprinted the attorney generals prepared remarks on its website.

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ABC, NBC hit with backlash after pinning 'hate group' label on Alliance Defending Freedom - Washington Times

New Automotive Ecosystem Is Leaving Many Players Behind: Report – IndustryWeek

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Suppliers and other industry players need to evolve their organizations and their partnering approaches to successfully transition to a new automotive ecosystem, according to a reported released on July 12 by AlixPartners.

Trends such as the connected, autonomous, shared and electric vehicles of the not-too-distant future are causing the auto sector to change directions and quickly. Companies that are relying on traditional auto-industry approaches are falling behind and why they should consider revamping their operating models.

This is especially important, the report says, as U.S. auto sales are forecasted to see a downturn to 16.9 million,light-vehicle units this year and to a cyclical trough of 15.2 million units in 2019 partly driven by a used-car time bomb of 500,000 more off-lease vehicle-returns in 2017 vs. 2016, on top of the 500,000 more in 2016 vs. 2015.

For the last 11 months sales incentives in the U.S. have averaged more than 10% of vehicle prices a historical harbinger of downturns, and that theres a used-car time bomb about to explode in the market 500,000 more off-lease vehicle-returns hitting the market this year than last, likely depressing used-vehicle prices double the 13% drop already since 2014, and costing automakers captive finance companies up to $5 billion.

This all, notes the reports, will likely be a double-whammy to new-vehicle sales, displacing sales to cheaper used cars while increasing lease payments on new vehicles as leases get written with anticipated higher residual rates and tighter credit standards.

On the autonomous-vehicle front, there are now more than 50 major companies are now working on autonomous vehicles or full autonomous-vehicle systems, as well as a plethora of smaller companies and start-ups. This Wild-West environment will likely result in a handful of big winners, says the study, but on the other hand, also many disappointed investors. The report also notes that many of the newer high-tech entrants have completely different DNAs than traditional automotive companies, including being used to very high returns on capital. Given the white-hot competition brewing, the analysis predicts that AV systems-costs could drop 78% by 2025.

On the shared-mobility front, the analysis includes a survey of a total of 2,000 US adult consumers that shows just how fast things are changing in todays automotive world. The survey polled 1,000 consumers across 10 large markets where both car-sharing and ride-sharing are popular (the metro areas of Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco-Oakland and Washington, D.C) and, as a control group, 1,000 respondents across the entire U.S.

This mirrored a consumer survey by AlixPartners in November 2013. In this years survey, consumers in the 10 trend-setting markets said their awareness for virtually all major car-sharing brands (names such as Zipcar, Car2Go and Enterprise CarShare) has decreased, and 21% of respondents were unable to name any brands at all.

On the connectivity front, the analysis points to the example of Tesla Inc.s high-spec center-stack display, featuring over-the-air upgrades from the company and iPad-like features.Though this feature has been on the market since the 2012 model year, and has garnered very strong reviews from consumers, no other major automaker has moved to match the system.

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New Automotive Ecosystem Is Leaving Many Players Behind: Report - IndustryWeek

How climate change strangled a Jurassic ocean ecosystem | Cosmos – Cosmos

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183 million years ago, oceans around the world started running low on oxygen. Though the cause of what is called the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE) is uncertain most likely global warming triggered by huge volcanic eruptions scientists do know it lasted for several hundred thousand years and caused mass extinctions.

In a paper published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, researchers have traced the effects of the T-OAE in detail on a marine ecosystem at what is now the Ya Ha Tinda Ranch fossil site in Alberta, Canada. It is of interest to scientists because it demonstrates how different ecosystems react to severe climate change.

Study authors Rowan Martindale from the University of Texas at Austin and Martin Aberhan of the Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science in Berlin used geochemical data from the fossil site that had been previously collected by Benjamin Gill and Theodore Them of Virgina Tech University to establish a timeline against which they could examine paleontological evidence.

Prior to the T-OAE, the Ya Ha Tinda marine community was diverse and included a variety of species of fish, ammonites, ichthyosaurs (dolphin-looking reptiles), sea lilies, clams, coleoids (squid-like octopods) and lobsters. During the T-OAE, however, this underwater ecosystem shrank and restructured.

In particular, a large species of clam that had been the most abundant biological feature was completely wiped out by the reduction of oxygen in the environment. Only smaller species of clams survived.

Sites in Europe have been found that suffered similar effects to their ecosystems during the T-OAE, but the Ya Ha Tinda community appears to have had a much more difficult time recovering from the impact.

The exact reason for this struggle to rebound is unknown, but the researchers state that the environment was undergoing local stresses that kept oxygen levels low.

The authors say that this study should serve as a warning about the potential impacts of ongoing and future climate change to marine communities, since the T-OAE was the side-effect of a similar environmental shift.

On a human time scale, notes Aberhan, climate-related stresses can have very long-lasting effects, with no signs of recovery for hundreds of thousands of years.

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How climate change strangled a Jurassic ocean ecosystem | Cosmos - Cosmos

IoT provider Ingenu to focus on RPMA ‘ecosystem development’ amid search for new CEO – FierceWireless

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After more than a week of relative silence, Ingenu officially announced that it is looking for a new CEO and is embarking on a new strategic direction that will include increased emphasis on ecosystem development to bring simple, turnkey solutions to theInternet of Things market. This will include enhancement of the RPMA (Random Phase Multiple Access) brand and focus on enabling and leveraging partners for success. This is essential as RPMA scales to many billions of connected devices.

In a release announcing the news, the company added that it will also work to hire new management focusing on wireless technology veterans that possess the industry experience to position RPMA as the worldwide de facto standard for IoT connectivity, and that it will also leverage operator partnerships to deliver RPMA network connectivity across the globe.

Ingenu said the chairman of its board, Babak Razi, will serve as the companys interim CEO while the company looks for a replacement for its previous CEO, John Horn.

Ingenus RPMA has been established as the industrys disruptive connectivity solution, serving the massive IoT market opportunity, Razi said in the release. With renewed emphasis on its technology, the company and its RPMA ecosystem are well positioned to benefit from this growth.

FierceWireless reported earlier this month that Horn was no longer CEO of Ingenu.

In an interview with FierceWireless following the companys announcement, Ingenus Chief Network Officer Rob Boesel said that we want to accelerate the growth of the RPMA ecosystem, which he explained requires a slightly different focus and slightly different skill set.

He said that Ingenu has been licensing its RPMA technology internationally and will work to expand the licensing of its technology in the United States and globally. He said the company will continue to support its existing network footprint and network operations, and that he expects the changes to the companys focus will result in an acceleration of the expansion of RPMA networks nationwide and globally.

When asked about possible layoffs at Ingenu, Boesel said there was no determination of anything like that but added that there might be some adjustments in the companys workforce to align with its direction.

Interestingly, former top executives from Qualcomm and Verizon appeared to have left Ingenus board, but the company said that former Qualcomm executive Andrew Viterbi and former Verizon executives Ivan Seidenberg and Richard Lynch would continue to work with Ingenu as board advisors.

San Diego, California-based Ingenu launched in more than 30 metro areas in 2016, including Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Diego. Earlier this year the company said that its goal in 2017 was to grow its RPMA markets to around 100. However, Boesel declined to confirm whether the company would hit that number, noting that Ingenus buildout targets are going to be reevaluated.

Boesel added that Ingenus business model has not fundamentally changed and that the company will work with licensees to build out RPMA networks for the IoT, and that going forward the company would work to increase support for the RPMA ecosystem.

In working to create an RPMA ecosystem, Ingenu will be going up against LoRa network technology, which also works in unlicensed spectrum to support IoT applications.

We consider LoRa playing in the same space, but in a different way, Boesel said. The RPMA solution, end to end, is designed and implemented solely by Ingenu, so you have a guarantee of end to end functionality and performance metrics being met. LoRa to us is more fractured, with independent companies delivering different pieces of the solution, which, from a philosophical sort of concept, leads to interoperability and functional performance problems.

Concluded Boesel of Ingenu: There will be a lot more news coming out in the coming weeks, around a number of exciting pilots and the like. The changes were really spurred on by some really fantastic traction weve been getting in the ecosystem space and the success that those opportunities and project executions have brought to the company. We decided that thats something we want a lot more of, and we should be seeing some more press about that in the coming weeks and months.

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IoT provider Ingenu to focus on RPMA 'ecosystem development' amid search for new CEO - FierceWireless

UBS Revisits Amazon Ecosystem, Raises Price Target To $1,200 … – Benzinga

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UBS analyst Eric Sheridan is eyeing nearly 20 percent in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), as he maintained his Buy rating and raised his price target from $1,100 to $1,200.

In our newly published & rebuilt Amazon financial model, we take a fresh approach at modeling some of the long-tailed opportunities that can drive overall Amazon ecosystem value, Sheridan wrote Monday. He specifically highlighted four components he believes will drive growth for shares of Amazon.

Overall, Sheridan remains bullish on Amazon especially after channel checks raised his short/medium-term estimates.

As a result of that, we feel comfortable recommending Amazon as a Buy despite its strong YTD stock performance," Sheridan concluded. "With many avenues of growth ahead, we think that investors are much more likely to remain focused on topline opportunities vs. the quarterly cadence of profit margins."

To read the latest and exclusive financial news, check out the Benzinga Pro news wire.

Image credit: By lvaro Ibez from Madrid, Spain (Amazon Espaa por dentro) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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UBS Revisits Amazon Ecosystem, Raises Price Target To $1,200 ... - Benzinga

Technology Will Change the Entire Ecosystem of What We Do: BlackRock’s Fink – TheStreet.com

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BlackRock (BLK) CEO Larry Fink said that "markets have been resilient to political shocks," but even as they anticipate policy normalization, "negative yields remain a reality in some countries."

Fink's comments were made on an earnings call highlighting the company's adaptation to a shifting geopolitical environment and a new wealth management industry centered on implementing technology.

Technology will change "the entire ecosystem of what we do," Fink said. BlackRock will spend $1 billion on technology and data solutions this year with over 3,500 employees in related roles including programming and quant analytics.

Fink also spoke at length about BlackRock's Aladdin Platform investment operating system. Aladdin will be a "transformation" for BlackRock to excel in portfolio construction and risk management. The margins are "subdued" during Aladdin's implementation process, but increased utilization and subsequent revenues will shift Aladdin to the front of BlackRock's operations.

BlackRock stock traded down almost 2% at Monday's open.

What's Hot on TheStreet

Amazon wants to upend every business, or so it seems: New day, a new business Amazon (AMZN) wants to dip its toes in. The latest looks to be the meal kit space, TheStreet reports.

In a July 6 trademark application, Amazon subsidiary Amazon Technologies Inc. revealed it's planning "prepared food kits composed of meat, poultry, fish, seafood, fruit and/or and [sic] vegetables...ready for cooking and assembly as a meal," as well as primarily grain-based offerings.

The product's tagline: "We do the prep. You be the chef." Amazon already sells other companies' meal kits, including Tyson Foods Inc.'s (TSN) Tyson Tastemakers. Martha Stewart is even offering meal kits on Amazon Fresh, the company's grocery delivery service. But, this may be the first hint of something bigger for Amazon, which would put it in direct competition with newly minted IPO Blue Apron (APRN) .

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Technology Will Change the Entire Ecosystem of What We Do: BlackRock's Fink - TheStreet.com

From the WWE Rumor Mill: Cris "Cyborg" continues to take shots at … – Sportskeeda

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UFC Featherweight Title contender Cristiane "Cyborg" Justinocontinued to tease a match at Summerslam against Becky Lynch.

According to Cageside Seats, this may not be unintentional, and we might just see the UFC fighter make an appearance next month at the biggest party of the summer.

Cris Cyborg and Becky Lynch started a bit of an exchange on Twitter, with Cyborg demanding a match against the former SmackDown Women's Champion:

Becky Lynch, however, did not back down!

Cageside Seats reported that WWE has in fact worked out something with Cris Cyborg for a Summerslam appearance, which is why she has been feuding with Becky Lynch on Twitter.

Speaking of Twitter, it's not the only form of social media that she's been taking shots on. She added more fuel to the fire when she took another shot at the Irish Lass Kicker Becky Lynch on Facebook:

As you can see, Cyborg also demanded a match against Ronda Rousey, this time in the Squared Circle. The UFC Featherweight Contender seems hell bent on getting the Rousey match, and if she isn't going to get it in the Octagon, she certainly wants to lock it up in the Squared Circle.

We'll have to wait for a while to see if Cris Cyborg does, in fact, make a Summerslam appearance. As of now, she has a UFC Featherweight title match at UFC 214 against Tonya Evinger on July 29th.

Her Summerslam appearance may be determined on whether she wins her match at UFC 214 or not. However, like always, she is the favourite going in.

Cris Cyborg being at Summerslam would be good publicity for WWE. However, she still isn't a full-fledged mainstream star as yet, so it may not draw as much as they would hope.

WWE will likely hope to rope in MMA fans to watch Summerslam by having her face one of their top stars. But facing Becky Lynch would mean that she would be the heel.

Send us news tips at fightclub@sportskeeda.com

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Beaches | St. Augustine, FL | OldCity.com

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St. Augustine's beaches stretch from Vilano Beach north of the city to Crescent Beach in the south. The Intracoastal Waterway naturally divides the mainland from the barrier islands with their miles of gorgeous coastline with many public areas for beach recreation and relaxation.

Among the things to do in our fair city, visiting St. Augustine's beaches are often at the top of the list. St Augustine's beaches provide a variety of options, from idyllic State Parks to public beaches only a block or two from restaurants. You can choose to spend a day at gorgeous, unspoiled Anastasia State Park, where no cars are allowed on the beach, or drive a bit farther south to St. Augustine Beach where cars are allowed in designated areas. When your day at the beach is done, be sure to check out the great local bars and restaurants that line A1A, "Beachfront Avenue."

Observe beach rules for safety and to preserve the natural habitats. Keep in mind that no alcohol or glass is allowed on the beach itself. Also, pets must be kept on a leash. Personal watercraft vehicles must be launched from area boat ramps and not directly from the beach.

St. Johns County has three wheelchairs specially designed to roll on the sand so that everyone in your family can experience the fun of the beach. Rentals are free and the county will even drop the chair off to you on the beach. Just call the St. Johns County Beach Services Department at(904) 209-0752 to request one of the three available chairs for your visit. They are given out on first come, first serve basis. You can choose delivery (applies to any beach in St. Johns County) or pick one up at 901 Pope Road, St. Augustine, FL 32080.

Crescent Beach is located in the southern area of St. Johns County. It is situated on Anastasia Island, a wildlife refuge. This beach offers a serene, natural setting and is a great place for beachcombers. It is one of the most scenic, unspoiled beaches in Florida. Crescent beach offers boating, diving, fishing, and many other attractions. It is convenient to excellent RV and camping facilities.

Location:Just south of the intersection at A1A and State Road 206 about 15 minutes south of historic downtown St. Augustine.

St. Augustine Beach is located on Anastasia Island where you can enjoy white sand beaches, the St. Johns County Pier, a playground, pavilion, fishing pier, volleyball courts, bait shops, fine restaurants, shopping and more. RV and cabin camping areas are located nearby. Vehicles are permitted on the beach within designated areas.

Location: Old A1A Beach Boulevard south of State Road 312 at the St. Johns County Pier, less than five minutes from downtown St. Augustine.

Anastasia State Recreation Park is a protected bird sanctuary and consists of 1,700-acres and five miles of beautiful, sandy beaches. It features swimming, lifeguards, a bath house, hiking, nature trails, a boat ramp, fishing, a volleyball court, beach equipment rentals such as umbrellas and beach chairs, canoes, nature trails, grills and picnic areas, concessions, a covered pavilion, gift shops, playgrounds, and camping. Vehicles are prohibited from driving on the beach in this area.

Location: 1340 A1A South between the St. Augustine Lighthouse and the Surf Station approximately one mile from the Bridge of Lions on Anastasia Island.Phone: (904) 461-2033.Hours and Admission fees: Hours are generally 8:00 am until sundown, unless camping overnight. Admission is $8.00 per vehicle. Limit 2-8 people per vehicle. $4.00 Single Occupant Vehicle. $2.00 Pedestrians, bicyclists, extra passengers, passengers in vehicle with holder of Annual Individual Entrance Pass.

This serene beach is a local "best-kept secret" offering a wide variety of vacation rentals, lodging, waterfront restaurants, the Vilano Beach Fishing Pier, parasailing and Sea Doo rentals and several parks. Be sure to visit Surfside Park, at 3070 Coastal Highway, and enjoy a picnic shelter, beach access and outside showers. You can charter a deep sea fishing boat or a sailboat from this area. Vehicles are permitted on the beach within designated areas.

Location: North A1A just over the Usina Bridge, less than five minutes from historic downtown St. Augustine.

North Beach offers a serene oceanside environment and two campsites. Enjoy the ocean and the Intracoastal waterway. North Beach features great seafood restaurants, boat ramps, a picnic area with grills, restrooms and showers.

Location: North A1A just past Vilano Beach, approximately five minutes from downtown St. Augustine.

South Ponte Vedra Beach is located in northern St. Johns County and just south of Ponte Vedra, which is home base for the PGA Tour, the Players Championship each spring, and the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour. You'll find many resorts, upscale shopping opportunities and parks. However, beach access is limited and no vehicles are permitted on the beaches.

Location: North A1A about 20 minutes from downtown St. Augustine.

Guana River State Park is a 2,000 acre sanctuary for endangered species. Recreational activities are many and varied. It features two public beach access facilities, consisting of parking lots and associated dune crossover boardwalks, along a 4.2 mile stretch of otherwise undeveloped beach on the Atlantic Ocean. Swimming, sunbathing, surfing, fishing, shelling and other traditional beach activities are enjoyed here. Pets are prohibited on the beach, but are allowed in other areas of the park on a six-foot, handheld leash. There are no overnight camping facilities or developed picnic areas. For a calendar of events or more information, visit their web site.

Location: 2690 S. Ponte Vedra Boulevard,Ponte Vedra Beach, approximately 20 minutes north of St. Augustine on A1A.Phone: (904) 825-5071.Hours: 8:00am until sundown all year long

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Beaches Resorts Vacations

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Beaches Resorts include all the fun, adventure and luxury that families want most, elevating the family vacation to world-class standards on the Caribbean's best beaches. With locations in Turks & Caicos and Jamaica, Beaches Resorts offer something for everyone.

Beaches brings families together, enabling parents, grandparents and kids to reconnect with each other, far removed from the stress of everyday life. And that is the true luxury: Time to appreciate each other, to refresh relationships, and to rediscover all the things you love about one another.

Beaches offers a comprehensive scuba diving program, including the Caribbean's largest PADI certification program and age-specific dive programs for kids. And even if you've never dived before, our resort course will have you experiencing a wild, new, underwater world by the very next day. If you're already a certified diving enthusiast, you can enjoy up to two dives each day.

Beaches offers everything tweens and teens want, too, including private hangouts like Trench Town, with everything from hoops to foosball; non-stop reggae jams at Club Liquid the teen nightclub; an unlimited play Game Garage; and programs like Scratch DJ Academy, where kids can learn how to mix, blend and scratch on vinyl, CDs or digitally.

Unique Caribbean treatments incorporate exotic tropical ingredients, such as coconut, raw cane sugar and Blue Mountain coffee, to create island regiments that will allow you to renew and rejuvenate.

Honeymoon packages and vow renewals are available for newlyweds and couples celebrating anniversaries.

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Beaches Resorts Vacations

Beaches in Puerto Rico | By Puerto Rico Channel

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Ballenas is one of the few beaches in Puerto Rico where the focus isn't on spending time sunning yourself on the sand, sipping cool drink and watching people play in the water. This beach has something entirely different and more magical to offer.

Boqueron is lined with more than a mile of soft white sand and has the clearest turquoise water. Although this beach is generally very calm and tranquil, it becomes quite crowded and festive on weekends, especially in the summer holidays .

Caa Gorda a lovely stretch of beach situated not far from the Guanica Forest Reserve so you can not only enjoy the wonders of marine life, but head a little inland to make the most of this forested wonderland. This stretch of coast features plenty of caves and coves which you can explore to your heart's content.

Crashboat is situated nearby the town of Aguadilla and has a fantastic Mediterranean feeling. Although the beach is not really suitable for swimming, the people of Aguadilla often come here to relax in the sun or unwind in the shade of the many palm trees that line the shore and sway in the breeze.

Flamenco has been dubbed the "best beach in America" and the "best escape beach" by relevant authorities. A mile or so of striking white coral sand is juxtaposed by turquoise waters and well covered hills. But this beach offers more than the best stretch of coast in Puerto Rico - it offers an atmosphere of solitude.

Isla Verde is a place were people meet with family and friends to share their picnic snacks, read their favorite books and just soak up the sun. The more adventurous people go parasailing, waterskiing, surfing and body boarding - all of which are offered by the hotels and local merchants.

Luquillo is one of Puerto Rico's most famous and most visited tourist attractions. The view from the beach is spectacular. It features a long gold crescent of sand lined by innumerable coconut palms with the hazy mountains of the rainforest soaring in the distance.

Punta Santiago is an amazing stretch of beach located near Humacao. It is here where the mountains meet an amazing stretch of coastline that there are many natural wonders to be found. Punta Santiago is a beach well worth visiting just to spend time getting in touch with nature.

Rincon Bay hosted a World Surfing Championship Competition in 1968 and has since been garnered with the title "The Surfing Capital of the Caribbean". A number of international surfers have challenged the fast and furious waves of Rincon and it has become a massive expatriate subculture.

Seven Seas beach is popular mainly because of the many enjoyable holiday activities that it has to offer. You can soak up sun on the pristine sand, snorkel the shallows, or take advantage of the good winds and do a little windsurfing or sailing.

Shacks Beach is situated on the western tip of the Island. Here, the vast waters of the Atlantic and the Caribbean meet to provide some stunning beaches and idyllic winds. Shacks beach may be one of many fine beaches in the area, but it has a reason to stand out on its own.

Sun Bay is a beach that is not only beautiful but it has interesting things to explore as well. Sun Bay is geographically part of the Virgin Islands and is politically part of Puerto Rico. For most inhabitants Sun Bay is just Sun Bay, but for tourists it is a place of extreme tranquility and utmost beauty.

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Beaches in Puerto Rico | By Puerto Rico Channel

White Sand Beaches – Gulf Shores

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There are a lot of things that keep families and visitors coming back to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach year after year, but one thing is for sure: beaches top the list. Clear turquoise waters and white-sand beaches are as fun to play and relax on, as they are breathtaking. The 32 miles of Alabama's white-sand beaches are made almost entirely from quartz grains washed down the Appalachian Mountains thousands of years ago. The sand is so soft, it even squeaks under your feet. There's no shortage of places to plant your beach umbrella. Orange Beach and Gulf Shores public beaches are each unique and offer a different experience. Whether you seek a quiet spot to read or a lively game of beach volleyball, there's a beach for everyone.Try them all and see which fits you best.

Plan your next vacation to Alabama's spectacularwhite-sand beaches. Order an Orange Beach and Gulf Shores vacation guide and start planning today! Stay in the know on Gulf Coast happenings. Sign up for our monthly E-Tidings Alabama Gulf Coast Newsletter.

14 listings found.

12295 State Hwy.180 W. Gulf Shores, AL36542

The Refuge is open year-round for hiking, fishing, wildlife observation and photography. Discover some of Alabama's last remaining undisturbed coastal habitat. Office hours: 9a.m. - 2 p.m., M-F. Refuge is open from Dusk till Dawn.

27853 Perdido Beach Blvd Orange Beach, AL36561

Located just .3 miles east of Perdido Pass Bridge,Alabama Point Eastoffers more than 6,000 feet of wide beach, sand dunes, boardwalks, picnic areas, restrooms, and outdoor showers. Parking is free.

24522 Perdido Beach Blvd. Orange Beach, AL36561

This beach area - with a limited amount of free parking - is easy to get to. It's perfect for a quick beach stroll or an impromptu picnic. It's located 6.8 miles east of Highway 59. Future plans call for restrooms and outdoor showers, but currently there aren't any.

1660 West Beach Blvd Gulf Shores, AL36542

Lagoon Pass is a shallow waterway connecting Little Lagoon to the Gulf, 2.9 miles west of Highway 59. It offers restrooms, an outdoor shower and water fountain on site, with paid parking on the northeast side of the Lee Callaway Bridge. $5 for up to four hours or $10 all day.

499 West Beach Blvd Gulf Shores, AL36542

This is a pedestrian crossing beach access only, which is perfect if you're staying in a property nearby.

599 West Beach Blvd Gulf Shores, AL36542

Located five blocks west of Highway 59, you can park on the north side and walk the boardwalk to the beach, or on the south side beside Bahama Bob's.

699 West Beach Blvd Gulf Shores, AL36542

Located six blocks west of Highway 59, you can park and walk the boardwalk to the beach. An outdoor shower makes it handy to spray off before you hop back in your car. The 6th Street access offers a handicapped-accessible restroom and parking is free.

* All information contained in our database is supplied by the individual businesses to the AGCCVB for inclusion on our web site and in printed materials. Read More

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Ocean City Spending Millions To Protect Beaches From Erosion – CBS Baltimore / WJZ

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July 16, 2017 10:15 PM By Ava-joye Burnett

BALTIMORE (WJZ) Ocean City is investing millions to replenish its beaches of sand that has washed away.

Ava-joye Burnett explains why city leaders say this is about much more than just pumping in sand.

The beach is at the center of Ocean Citys economy, but after a major noreaster went up the coast in 2016, the city is having to replenish one of its prime resources.

Sand is washing away in Ocean City, as officials say the level of erosion is so concerning.

Theyve decided to pump in more sand to replenish the beach a full year before its normal cycle.

Experts blame the expedited erosion on the record setting nor easter in January of 2016, which dumped snow west of the bay.

But caused persistent winds and high tide eastward in Ocean City.

So where a hurricane comes through and hits you and leaves, a nor easter, why its not as severe, it hangs around for a longer time and thats what Jonas was for us, says Terry McGean, Ocean City Engineer.

According to Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan, the project in Ocean City could prevent more than $900-million in damages to ocean front properties.

From those properties, the taxes and the tourist industry, it is significant, so if there was ever a poster child for beach replenishment, Ocean City is it, says Mayor Meehan.

So this fall, engineers will start pumping in the sand to shore up the beach, but only closing about three blocks at a time.

According to our media partner the Baltimore Sun, the 900,000 cubic yards of sand which is enough to fill about 300 Olympic-sized pools will cost $12.7 million.

The citys engineer will work with the Army Corp of Engineers to complete this project.

What happens is we become then more and more susceptible to storm damage, so you can consider the dune and the beach, thats out levy system in Ocean City, says McGean.

The mayor says the project will happen off peak season, so thats after Labor Day this year, and before next summer.

City officials say funding for this project will come from multiple sources.

Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook

Ava-joye Burnett joined WJZ Eyewitness News in January of 2016 as a general assignment reporter. Prior to joining WJZ, Ava-joye worked at WRIC-TV in Richmond, Va. as a reporter and anchor. Ava-joye started her reporting career in Hagerstown, Md....

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Beach warnings along Lake Michigan shore as Mackinac race sees … – Chicago Tribune

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Beachgoers along the Lake Michigan shoreline are being warned to stay out of the water Sunday after strong winds and waves caused about two dozen boats to bow out of the annual sailboat race from Chicago to Mackinac Island, Mich.

The National Weather Service warned Sunday morning that life-threatening waves and currents are expected at the beaches. People visiting the beaches should stay out of the water.

The beach hazard statements for Lake and Cook counties in Illinois and Lake and Porter counties in Indiana were in effect until Monday morning. Swimming closures can be found at theChicago Park District andIllinois Department of Public Health websites.

Waves of 5 to 8 feet were forecast. Strong rip currents, which happen most often in low spots or breaks in sandbars, and strong structural currents thatform along piers can sweep people into deeper water, and both were expected Sunday.

Exposed beaches are more likely to experience the most significant wave and current impacts, according to the weather service. Impacts at beaches with protective breakwalls or jetties will be subject to the orientation of structures as well as wind and wave direction.

The conditions on the lake already have affected the Mackinac race. Race organizers said29 boats hadexited as of Sunday afternoon. That included Windquest, a decorated vessel owned by Amway heirs Dick and Doug DeVos.

Another boat, the High Priority 2, capsized in the overnight hours of Saturday and Sunday. Race spokeswoman Tracy Gladden said four sailors were rescued by a boat launched from a U.S. Coast Guard cutter.

Infinite Diversion, a 62-footer, was first to finish Sunday morning in the Cruising Division. That division left Chicago on Friday;the Racing Division fleet left Saturday. About 300 boats overall are competing.

First held in 1898, it's the oldest annual freshwater distance race in the world. Winners are determined based on a handicapping system.

The blustery weather on the lake, coupled with a slight chance of thunderstorms, is expected to give way to higher temperatures and more sunny skies for the rest of the week. As areas along theDes Plaines and Fox rivers continue to deal with flooding, a chance of thunderstorms is expected to return Tuesday.

Check the Tribune's weather page for more details and updates.

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Beach warnings along Lake Michigan shore as Mackinac race sees ... - Chicago Tribune

Heat and drought feed wildfires in Italy, beaches near Rome threatened – Reuters

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ROME (Reuters) - Italian firefighters fought more than 1,000 wildfires on Monday amid high temperatures and drought, including three near Rome's beach neighborhood of Ostia, the fire brigade said.

With half the average rainfall last month and temperatures higher than normal, occasionally touching 40 degrees Celsius in the south, fields and forests have turned into perfect kindling, the national agricultural association Coldiretti said.

"The situation is very serious ... Rome must not be left alone to face this environmental disaster," the city's mayor, Virginia Raggi, said during a tour of an area hit by fire.

Raggi said fires in the capital could have been the work of arsonists and police said they had detained several people on suspicion of setting fires, including one in Rome.

One man died when he fell from the roof of his warehouse, which was threatened by a fire near the southern city of Naples, broadcaster SkyTG 24 reported.

Last week, hundreds of tourists were evacuated by boat in Sicily to escape blazes there, while fires raged on Campania's Mount Vesuvius. The slopes of the volcano near Naples continued to burn on Monday.

Firefighters said they were called to battle 280 fires in Lazio, the region that includes Rome, and 250 in Campania, 150 in Tuscany, 110 in Calabria, and 100 in Apulia. Firefighting aircraft had been asked to intervene 31 times to tackle large blazes on Monday, the Civil Protection agency said.

Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Richard Balmforth

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John Glenn Astronomy Park to open in Hocking Hills – Dayton Daily News

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An astronomy park honoring astronaut John Glenn will open in the late fall at Hocking Hills.

Construction was recently started on the John Glenn Astronomy Park about 40 miles southeast of Columbus in secluded, tranquil woods. Hocking Hills is known for its lack of light pollution, making it a favorite viewing spot for astronomy fanatics.

The Friends of Hocking Hills State Park is privileged to help honor John Glenns legacy by developing a facility that has such tremendous potential to offer visitors from around the globe an unforgettable experience. said Julieann Burroughs, president of the Friends of Hocking Hills State Park board of directors. The park will spark an interest in science, exploration and astronomy among visitors of all ages and is expected to become a meaningful scientific research facility.

The park, designed by Ohio-based M&A Architects, will include an 80-foot Solar Plaza that is encircled by a law wall with notches that offer framed views of the sun on certain days. An enclosed 540-square-foot observatory also features a retractable roof to permit night sky viewing. The park will also feature gathering areas, open green space and parking.

Before John Glenn died in December, he agreed to lend his name to the park. Raymore added that increased tourism benefits the area through much-needed economic development, as visitors generate more than $134 million annually in the region.

Whats next for Austin Landing? Developer envisions expansion

In addition to miles and miles of trails through dense forests, stunning rock formations and rushing waterfalls, our star-filled skies get high marks from visitors, said Karen Raymore, Hocking Hills Tourism Association executive director. The Tourism Association is thrilled at the opportunity to offer one more reason for travelers to visit the region and a new way for them to experience another natural attraction, which has been here since the dawn of time.

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Stellar cannonballs may be invaders from another galaxy – SYFY WIRE (blog)

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Our Milky Way galaxy is a collection of gas, dust, dark matter, and a couple of hundred billion stars. Most of those stars orbit the galactic center in a pinwheel-shaped disk about 100,000 light years across and a few thousand light years thick, but theres also a vast roughly spherical halo of stars around the galaxy stretching out about 100,000 light years, itself.

Most of the stars in the halo are moving around the Milky Way in nice, normal orbits. However, over time a handful have been discovered that are weird: Theyre moving too fast.

These stellar bullets are screaming around space much faster than the stars around them. Sometimes their velocity is so high that the galaxys gravity cant hold on to them: Their destiny is to escape the galaxy forever.

We call these high-velocity stars. A really big question is actually a pretty a simple one: Where did they come from? There are lots of possible origins for these stars (which Ill get to in a sec), but a new one has just been found, and Ill be honest, it surprised me: They are coming from the Large Magellanic Cloud (or LMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

That startled me for a lot of reasons, but the biggest is that the LMC is over 150,000 light-years from us, and thats a long way to travel for a star even at high speed. But a paper just published outlines how it works, and its pretty convincing.

The main piece of evidence is that a lot of these high-velocity stars are seen in the constellations of Leo and Sextans. Thats significant, because if you map out the location and orbit of the LMC around the Milky Way, the LMC is headed in that direction (think of it as watching a car zoom past you on a road, and you can see its headed toward the east; it might be in front of you at this exact second, but you can extrapolate where it will be in a few minutes). It orbits our galaxy at about 380 kilometers per second, which is really fast, and if you could eject stars from it they would preferentially be found moving in the direction of the LMC itself.

Thats pretty good circumstantial evidence but, to be honest, its not enough. Can stars like this, in fact, be ejected from the LMC?

There are many ways to get stars blowing through space at high speeds. One is if the star starts out in life as part of a binary star, two stars orbiting one another. If they pass really near a black hole, one star can get swallowed by it while the other gets ejected at a pretty substantial clip. We think this happens in our Milky Way when a binary encounters the gigantic black hole at the galaxys exact center. Some high-velocity stars seen are consistent with this, but that doesnt explain the excess seen toward Sextans and Leo. Plus, theres no evidence the LMC has a big black hole like ours, so that doesnt really cover the observations.

There are other ways (for example, encounters with other stars in a dense stellar cluster can kick stars pretty hard), but its hard to account for both the number and distribution of these stars seen.

One way seems to fit the bill, though. You start with a binary system, where at least one of the stars is high-mass, more than 8 times the mass of the Sun. Eventually, that star will turn into a red giant, swelling hugely in size. The other star can then draw material off the giant, increasing its own mass. If they are close enough together, they can actually become whats called a contact binary, a peanut-shaped object which is essentially two stars sharing the same atmosphere! When this happens, the two stars actually can spiral in, getting very close together. As that happens, their orbital speed around each other increases.

Then, catastrophe: The more massive star explodes in a spectacular supernova! If it loses enough mass in the explosion, it no longer has enough gravity to hold the binary together, and the companion star gets flung away at high speed. A-ha! A high-velocity star.

This seems a little unlikely, though. How often does this happen?

Turns out, a lot! The scientists doing the study decided to find out just how common an occurrence this is in the LMC, so they did two things: They used a physical model of how stars form and evolve in the LMC to see how many high-velocity stars you can get this way, and then used a second physical model of the LMC and Milky Way system to see if the gravity of the two galaxies changes the way the stars behave (for example, the gravity of the LMC may slow down the stars ... but the ones shot out ahead of the LMC in its orbit get the galaxys velocity added to them, as a ball thrown out a car window gets the cars speed added to its own).

Their model simulated nearly 2 billion years of time, and what they found was pretty cool: Over that time, more than 860,000 stars will have escaped the LMC, making up about 80% of the high-velocity stars seen in the Milky Ways halo! That shows that its extremely plausible that the stars actually seen come from our companion galaxy.

There were other interesting tidbits to come out of this as well. Because these stars were once part of a contact binary, they may have started off lower mass, but gained mass before getting flung out into the Universe. If they wound up with more than about 8 times the Suns mass, they, too, would explode over time. The model predicts that about half the stars ejected from the LMC exploded on their way here. These supernovae leave behind either a dense neutron star or a black hole, which means thousands of these objects tiny, but possessed of super-strong gravity are blazing past our galaxy even now.

Now, dont fret: Theyre too far away to hurt us in any realistic way, but I do hope some science fiction author hears about this and devises a fun story based on them.

Interestingly, a lot of high-velocity stars are high-mass blue stars (called B stars in the astronomical stellar classification system). That, too, is naturally explained by them once being in a contact binary, where they gained enough mass to fall into this category.

So, how do we prove this? High-velocity stars can be found in a number of ways. In general,its through their spectrum; when you break the light up from a star into thousands of narrowly sliced colors, you can learn a lot about them, including their speed. But thats a hard measurement to make on a large scale.

You can also take images of lots of stars in the sky, wait a few years, then do it again. Stars moving rapidly enough in space will move noticeably in such a survey (if the observations are accurate enough). And there is such a survey: Gaia, which is mapping a billion stars in the Milky Way. Over the course of its multi-year mission it may find quite a few of these runaway stars.

So, is this idea of cannonball stars from the Large Magellanic Cloud correct? Maybe. I do like it, and it explains a lot. The good news is its testable, making predictions about the numbers, locations and types of stars we should expect to see in the Gaia survey. Time will tell, and we wont have to wait too long, since the survey results needed for this will be released over the next few years.

Every time I think Ive heard everything about astronomy, something new comes along. Alien invader stars from another galaxy! Science is just so much fun.

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Martin Landau: 19282017 – SYFY WIRE (blog)

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Well, damnation. Martin Landau has died.

You might know him for his iconic portrayal of Bela Lugosi in the movie Ed Wood and you should; it earned him an Oscar, deservedly.

But to me he has been and always will be Commander John Koenig, the hot-headed commander of Moonbase Alpha, leader of the 311 men and women there, making the big decisions after the Moon was accidentally blasted out of Earth orbit on September 13, 1999.

Sound silly? Well, yeah, it is. But it was the plot for the TV show Space:1999, and let me tell you, I loved it when I was a kid. Even after all these years (it aired in the US in the late '70s) I still have a deep fondness for it. To this day it has one of the best and coolest spaceships ever, the Eagle Transporter.

I was a tween/young teen at the time the show aired, and my friend John and I never missed an episode. I liked Star Trek at the time (not as much as I do now, though), and Kirk was something of a male role model for me, as was Spock for my science side. But it was Barry Morse as Professor Victor Bergman who was really my fictional science inspiration, and Landau's Koenig I looked up to.

Looking back at it now, with adult eyes and experience, my opinion of the character is different. I understand now that Koenig's character was somewhat erratically written, with anger guiding his decisions as often as concern over the safety of the base or the desire to explore. Of course, we all of us have conflicting motivations sometimes, don't we?

But when I was a kid, I saw him simply as the hero. Oh, how I loved Koenig's take-charge attitude when things got rough, how fiercely he defended his friends and comrades, how quick he was to boil over when they were threatened! I thought he was the epitome of derring-do.

Times were different then, and I am not the person I was when I was 13. Thank heavens! But still, some of that boy is me, parts of him at least. The love of science and science fiction, of story telling in the depths of the Universe that lives on in me, as does whatever part of that was guided by Koenig and the rest of the Alphans.

You can read about Landau's other achievements and other roles elsewhere. But for me, every year on September 13thIll tip my hat toward the Moon. I'll always wish Moonbase Alpha godspeed, and I'll always remember Martin Landau for a role on a show that shaped my love for space forever.

[Hero image credit:Gerry Anderson Productions]

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Planetary astronomy in ancient Greece – OUPblog (blog)

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Aseclipse 2017 quickly approaches, Americansfrom astronomers to photographers to space enthusiastsare preparing to witness the celestial wonder that is totality.

Phenomenon found within planetary science has long driven us to observe and study space. Through a shared desire to dismantle and reconstruct the theories behind our solar system, ancient Greek philosophers and scientists built the foundation of planetary astronomy.

The following shortened excerpt from The Oxford Illustrated History of Science discusses the evolution of planetary astronomy in ancient Greece.

TheRepublic of Plato ends with a cosmic vision. A hero named Er is killed in battle. His body lies on the field for ten days but does not decay. When Er comes back to life, he tells his companions what he saw while he was out of this world. Here Plato draws on the familiar sight of a woman spinning yarn, for Er saw the spindle of Necessity (Anangke, personified as a woman). The spindle and the yarn represent the axis of the universe, while the spindle whorl (the spinning bob to which the newly formed yarn is attached) represents the cosmos itself. But the whorl that Er saw is not like ordinary spindle whorls. Rather it consists of eight whorls nestled one inside another. Plato says they are like nested boxes one can find (but we might think of Russian dolls). The outermost whorl is the sphere of the fixed stars. Nested inside are the whorls for the five planets and the Sun and Moon. Thus each celestial body is carried around on its own spherical shell. The outer whorl turns westward (representing the daily rotation of the cosmos), but the inner ones rotate within in it, to the east, each in its own characteristic time (representing the motions of the planets around the zodiac). Riding on each whorl is a Siren who sings a single clear note. This is Platos nod to the Pythagorean doctrine of celestial harmony. And ranged round the whole affair are the three daughters of Neccessity, the Fates who were mentioned by Hesiod in theTheogony. Clotho, with her right hand, helps to turn the outermost whorl. Atropos, with her left hand, helps to turn the inner spheres. And Lacheisis, alternately with either hand, touches one then the other. This seems to be a reference to the three movements of a planetthe westward daily motion, the eastward motion around the zodiac, and the oscillation responsible for the occasional retrograde motion.

This is the first appearance in literature of the cosmic onionthe view of the universe as a set of concentric spherical shells. Plato here stands midway between science and myth. On the one hand, he geometrizes the cosmos, postulating a simple model to explain the complex motions of the planets, but on the other hand he has draped his image in traditional mythology.

Nevertheless, geometers took this model seriously. Eudoxus of Cnidus wrote a book On Speeds in which he considered a planet that rides on the innermost of a set of four nested spheres. That is, each of the planetary shells in Platos account now consists of four nested spheres. The outermost sphere for each planet is responsible for the daily rotation. The next sphere in is responsible for the eastward motion around the zodiac. And the innermost two spheres together produce a figure-of-eight, back-and- forth motion that accounts for retrograde motion. So, in Eudoxus, the Fates have been removed and replaced by rotating spheres. Plato and Eudoxus overlapped in Athens, so we have no way to know whether the geometer was inspired by the philosopher, or the philosopher poeticized the models of the geometer. Eudoxus work has not survived, but we have a short account of it in Aristotles Metaphysics and it was still known to Simplicius in the sixth century CE.

The nested spheres of Eudoxus were soon abandoned in planetary theory (though they dominated cosmological thought until the Renaissance). Ancient critics pointed out that in this system, although a planet is slung about on multiple spheres, since each sphere is concentric with the Earth, the planets distance from the Earth never changes. This made it hard to understand how some planets vary in brightness in the course of their cycles. Mars, for example, is much brighter in the middle of its retrograde motion.

Around 200 BCE, Apollonius of Perga discussed the theory of epicycles and deferent circles. The new idea is that each planet travels around a circle called the epicycle, while the centre of the epicycle moves around the Earth on another circle, called the deferent. Both of these motions take place at uniform speed, in keeping with the nature of celestial things. Retrograde motion occurs when the planet is close to the Earth, on the inner part of the epicycle. For then the westward motion on the epicycle is more than enough to overcome the eastward motion on the deferent. At first, the model was intended only to be broadly explanatory, and to provide a field of play for the geometer. Apollonius theory explains how a planet could move around the zodiac and occasionally retrograde while really executing a combination of uniform circular motions. It also nicely explains why Mars is brightest in the middle of retrograde motion. The theory (being planar) was also mathematically far simpler than Eudoxus spherical system.

Ptolemys work came at the very end of the creative period of Greek science. And in the case of deferent-and-epicycle theory, he built on three hundred years of work. But Ptolemy also introduced a new idea. For Ptolemy allows the centre of the planets epicycle to travel at a non-uniform speed around the deferent. The non-uniformity is, however expressed in the language of uniformity. Ptolemy imagines a third centre, distinct from the Earth and from the centre of the deferent. This third centre, which is the centre of uniform motion, came in the Middle Ages to be called the equant point. If we could stand at the equant point of Mars, we would see the centre of Marss epicycle travelling around us at a uniform angular speedabout half a degree per day. The complete theoryepicycle and deferent, with the deferent off-centre from the Earth and a separate equant pointis very successful. For the first time, it became possible to calculate the positions of planets accurately from a geometrical theory.

Featured image credit: Takeshi DSC 0590 by Takeshi Kuboki.CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

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