More sand coming to Ocean View beaches

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By Aaron Applegate The Virginian-Pilot March 31, 2015

NORFOLK

It's been a long time coming, but the city's Ocean View beaches are finally getting more sand.

Thank Hurricane Sandy, or at least the federal money that flowed after the 2012 disaster.

Starting in November, roughly 7 miles of Chesapeake Bay beaches between Little Creek inlet and Willoughby Spit will be widened by 60 feet. The project is scheduled to be finished by May 2016.

The 1.2 million cubic yards of sand will come from the bottom of the nearby Thimble Shoal shipping channel.

If you have trouble imagining just how much sand that is, Chuck Joyner, Norfolk's assistant engineer, can help:

"It's a football field stacked with 560 feet of sand," he said.

The main purpose is for storm protection, but the extra sand will also create more room for beachgoers, Joyner said.

Mayor Paul Fraim called it the city's "single-biggest investment in beaches to date" at a Monday afternoon news conference.

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More sand coming to Ocean View beaches

Around the Region: Fernandina Beach Library book sale and more

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BEACHES Beaches Watch Friend of the Beaches Award presentation

Beaches Watch will hold its member social, and present its 2015 Friend of the Beaches Award to the Beaches Branch Library, from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, at the Beaches History Museum and State Park, 381 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville Beach. For more, beacheswatch.com.

NEPTUNE BEACH AARP Safe Driver Course

AARP Instructor Rita Simon holds AARP Safe Driver Course 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Saturday, April 18, and 1-4 p.m. Sunday, April 19, at Neptune Beach Senior Center, 2004 Forest Avenue. Cost is $15 for AARP members and $20 for non-members. For more, (904) 270-1688.

GREEN COVE SPRINGS Celebrate Earth

Clay County Parks hosts Celebrate Earth 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at Camp Chowenwaw Park, 1517 Ball Road. Event includes a guided bird walk at 8:15 a.m. with activities like art demonstrations and childrens crafts and games until 3 p.m. For more, (904) 529-8058 or parks.claycountygov.com.

CLAY Garden Club of Fleming Island Caring for Citrus

The Garden Club of Fleming Island is proud to host Mike Barwald from Flying Dragon Citrus Nursery to speak and answer all your questions regarding caring for citrus tress in Northeast Florida. Caring for Citrus will be 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 14th, at The Fleming Island Library, 1895 Town Center Blvd, Orange Park. Event is free and open to the public. For more, (904) 923-2678

FERNANDINA BEACH FOL book sale in April

The Friends Of The Fernandina Beach Library hold the annual Book Sale from 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, April 10, and 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at the Peck Center Gym, 516 S. 10th St. More than 20,000 books have been organized into categories, along with CDs, DVDs and audio and childrens books. Proceeds support the Fernandina Beach Library. The Friends of the Library Members Preview Sale is from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, April 9, but non-members may join at the door.

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Dogs not allowed on some beaches starting April 1

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SOUTHEASTERN N.C. | Starting Wednesday, some visitors wont be allowed on some local beaches.

Thats when a ban on dogs on the beach begins in many communities. The bans, which generally remain in effect through September, are meant to improve the safety and welfare of the beachs human visitors.

Fines for taking mans best friend on the beach vary by community, but can range up to $250.

Among the towns that ban dogs from their strands during the busy warmer months are all three New Hanover County beach towns Wrightsville, Carolina and Kure beaches.

Fort Fisher State Recreation Area allows leashed dogs on its beach year-round.

SOUTHEASTERN N.C. | Starting Wednesday, some visitors won't be allowed on some local beaches.

That's when a ban on dogs on the beach begins in many communities. The bans, which generally remain in effect through September, are meant to improve the safety and welfare of the beach's human visitors.

Fines for taking man's best friend on the beach vary by community, but can range up to $250.

Among the towns that ban dogs from their strands during the busy warmer months are all three New Hanover County beach towns Wrightsville, Carolina and Kure beaches.

Fort Fisher State Recreation Area allows leashed dogs on its beach year-round.

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Dogs not allowed on some beaches starting April 1

Mars As A Hothouse For Offworld Human Culture

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In an era when even in Antarctica researchers can tap into iTunes, its hard not to wonder if such connectivity is causing formerly seemingly remote parts of the world to lose their edgy sense of place. And thats just here on Earth. What happens when humans move offworld? Will Mars Mars pioneers want the Red Planet to remain as remote and untamed as when they first risked life and limb to get there?

After returning to her hometown of Oakland in the first half the last century, Lost Generation author Gertrude Stein famously wrote but there is no there there. Her observation wasnt a late nonsensical nod to Dadaism, but rather a statement about how development was skewing the landscape of her childhood. Thus, to paraphrase Stein, will the first Mars colonists find that the Red Planet is really there there? Or will interplanetary communication hinder the Red Planets own cultural evolution by continually tethering it to mother Earth? Even though [Mars colonists] will be fully committed to their vision of colonizing Mars, they will still experience the typical emotional change curve of shock, anger, rejection, acceptance, healing, astronaut trainer Mindy Howard, Founding Director of The Netherlands-based Inner Space Training, told Forbes. On the International Space Station (ISS ISS), astronauts are able to have real-time conversations with Earth and to speak with a psychologist in real time if needed. This will not be possible on Mars, because there will be about a seven minute time delay.

Even so, its likely that even a couple of decades after a Mars One-type colonization project makes its first inroads on that desolate red landscape, they will continue to cherish regular Earth contact. Thats something thats unlikely to change until a colonized Mars develops its own sense of culture in a way that may not be possible until the colonists overcome the physical constraints on offworld procreation. Or even until a portion of the planet is actually terraformed.

Howard says the full

This NASA image shows a view by the Mars Rover Spirit of a sunset over the rim of Gusev Crater, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Texas A&M/Cornell University)

How will the harsh Martian environment affect the evolution of a separate human culture on the Red Planet?

Although Martian environmental features will influence the new colonists culture as it evolves; they may talk about red mountains instead of blue ones, the environment itself will have no influence on the underlying cultural structure, Richard Handler, a professor of anthropology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, told Forbes.

Given ongoing [Earth] contact, it would [probably] take hundreds of years for a truly distinct separate Mars-based human culture to emerge, said Handler.

But that doesnt mean that once it does, it wouldnt have its own vibrancy.

[Mars culture] will start like Houston or Singapore, all squeaky clean and futuristic, and it will evolve into layered complexity like Mumbai and Rio with energy and color, Michael Fischer, a multi-disciplinary professor at MIT, told Forbes. Human Mars culture, he asserts, will either evolve to incorporate the Red Planets novel conditions or it will whither and collapse.

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Mars As A Hothouse For Offworld Human Culture

Colliding Black Holes and the Dawn of Gravitational Astronomy

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New simulations of the most energetic collisions in the universe are helping astrophysicists understand how gravitational waves are generated, possibly giving us an exciting glimpse into the future of gravitational astronomy.

Black hole mergers are thought to be the most energetic events the universe has seen since the Big Bang, nearly 14 billion years ago. These events occur when two (or more) spinning black holes become trapped in their mutual gravitational wells, orbit and then collide, merging as one. The energy generated in these merging events are thought to create a very specific signature of gravitational wave emissions.

VIDEO: Does Dust Cloud the Recent Big Bang Announcement?

According to Einsteins theory of general relativity, gravitational waves should be created when massive objects accelerate through space. However, they have not been directly observed. Indirectly, we can see their impact when white dwarf binaries, for example, orbit one another over time, as their orbits shrink, energy is lost. This energy must be carried away from the system by gravitational waves.

Although we have a pretty good idea about their properties, gravitational waves are notoriously difficult to detect directly, but should they become detectable in the future, a new era of gravitational astronomy may be possible. And black hole mergers could be the key to making this happen.

An accelerating charge, like an electron, produces electromagnetic radiation, including visible light waves, Michael Kesden, of the University of Texas at Dallas, said in a press release. Similarly, any time you have an accelerating mass, you can produce gravitational waves.

Kesden is the lead author of new research into black hole mergers published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

ANALYSIS: BICEP2 Gravitational Wave Discovery Deflates

Using gravitational waves as an observational tool, you could learn about the characteristics of the black holes that were emitting those waves billions of years ago, information such as their masses and mass ratios, and the way they formed, added co-author Davide Gerosa, of the University of Cambridge, UK. Thats important data for more fully understanding the evolution and nature of the universe.

Currently, there are several projects underway that are attempting to detect gravitational waves. Perhaps the most famous detector is the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) situated at two locations in the US in Louisiana and Washington. LIGO is set up to detect the passage of gravitational waves through our local volume of space.

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Colliding Black Holes and the Dawn of Gravitational Astronomy

San Francisco Amateur Astronomers Club Invites Public to View Total Lunar Eclipse on April 4, 2015

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San Francisco, California (PRWEB) March 31, 2015

The San Francisco Amateur Astronomers (SFAA), based in San Francisco, California, announces an event for the general public to watch the upcoming Total Lunar Eclipse. The viewing party commences at 4.00am Saturday April 4th, with the eclipse reaching totality at 5:00 AM. Viewing will take place at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, where SFAA members will provide telescopes for viewing the spectacle.

The public viewing takes place next to the parking area at San Franciscos Ocean Beach on the Great Highway. The club members will set up telescopes along the walkway next to the Ocean Beach parking lot adjacent to walkway 17, opposite the Beach Chalet Restaurant. Starting at 4:00 am, totality is reached from 4:58 until 5:03 am, and the eclipse concludes at 6:00 am. The event is free-of-charge and is appropriate for all ages.

The April 4th Total Lunar Eclipse is the third in a series of four total lunar eclipses in 2014 and 2015, an uncommon occurrence. Typically the Moon passes through the Earths shadow during a lunar eclipse for 1 to 2 hours, but on April 4th the Moon will be fully eclipsed for a mere 5 minutes, a condition that should lead to a unique view of the Moon with different shades due to the varying shadow cast from the Earth.

The general public has a fascination with celestial events such as eclipses, and the SFAA is excited to support this fascination with a fun event at the beach, said SFAA President Douglas Smith. We enjoy setting up telescopes to give people a chance to enjoy the cosmos up-close, and an eclipse is just the kind of show that gets people out of bed early in the morning.

For more information about this event, visit the SFAA website at http://www.sfaa-astronomy.org. Visitors are reminded to wear warm clothing, as the early morning weather will be quite chilly. The event is subject to cancellation due to inclement weather. For up-to-the-minute updates on the event, check the website (http://www.sfaa-astronomy.org), club Facebook page, Twitter (@sfaastronomy) or call the SFAA hotline at (949) 391-3604.

About the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers

The San Francisco Amateur Astronomers (SFAA) is a San Francisco-based club for astronomy hobbyists and enthusiasts, committed to supporting and growing the field of astronomy for the general public and for its members. The SFAA hosts lectures by leading astronomers, star parties for the general public to view the sky through telescopes, offers educational outreach to schools and adult groups, and special events for astronomy hobbyists to learn about telescope making, borrow club telescopes, and to view the night sky in a shared environment for learning and discovery. For more information and a calendar of events sponsored by the SFAA, visit the website at http://www.sfaa-astronomy.org.

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San Francisco Amateur Astronomers Club Invites Public to View Total Lunar Eclipse on April 4, 2015

They Fooled Us All: Why Google May No Longer Announce Major Algorithm Updates

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Has anyone else noticed that weve been seeing fewer algorithm update announcements from Google in recent years? That Googles PR campaigns about changing search results has been quieting down?

If you have, rest assured: youre not crazy.

I scrolled through Mozs Google Algorithm Change History recently and graphed the number of changes by year (an imperfect study, probably, but a pretty good general standard).

Since a dramatic peak in 2012, the number of update announcements has been dropping. (That low number for 2015 is my own projection, based on what weve seen so far and on what youre about to read.)

Why?

I dont think that Google will ever kick back, put up their collective feet, and stop updating. So why the drop?

First, Google doesnt make those big announcements just to ensure sure that all their friends in the SEO community are on the same happy page. They announce algorithm updates because they want to change SEO behavior.

The war on links is a great example. Google doesnt want its bots fooled by spammy backlinks, so along comes Penguin. They could have released the algorithm change, and all its subsequent updates, without a word; but, in addition to actually devaluing bad links, they also want black hat SEOs to just stop it already.

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They Fooled Us All: Why Google May No Longer Announce Major Algorithm Updates

'2001' spaceship to go on display

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10 photos

Imagining artificial intelligence Machines have surpassed humans in physical strength, speed and stamina. What if they surpassed human intellect as well? Science fiction movies have explored this question. In the classic "2001: A Space Odyssey," astronaut David Bowman, played by Keir Dullea, struggles for control of the spacecraft against the sentient computer HAL 9000.

10 photos

Imagining artificial intelligence In "The Matrix," Keanu Reeves stars as Neo, who must find a way to win the war against the Matrix, intelligent machines that have taken over the world.

10 photos

Imagining artificial intelligence Human-friendly robots C-3P0, left, and R2-D2 in the "Star Wars" series.

10 photos

Imagining artificial intelligence Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a cyborg assassin in "The Terminator." The movie centers around an artificial intelligence defense network called Skynet that seeks to destroy mankind.

10 photos

Imagining artificial intelligence Good robots known as the Autobots and bad robots, the Decepticons, fight for dominance on Earth in the "Transformers" franchise.

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'2001' spaceship to go on display

HD Gulfstream Aerospace G650 N650EW Takeoff from San Jose International Airport – Video

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HD Gulfstream Aerospace G650 N650EW Takeoff from San Jose International Airport
Got our new G6! We just got this bird at the beginning of the year and boy am I glad she hasn #39;t gotten blocked yet! Hope she never gets blocked, shes a really nice bird! Glad she also took...

By: NickFlightX - Aviation at its Max!

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HD Gulfstream Aerospace G650 N650EW Takeoff from San Jose International Airport - Video