Monthly Archives: July 2017

Tupperware, NASA team to grow plants in space – Chron.com

Posted: July 25, 2017 at 12:36 pm

On Jan. 16, 2016, Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly shared photographs of a blooming zinnia flower in the Veggie plant growth system aboard the International Space Station. NASA has more recently teamed up with Tupperware Brands Corp. to improve its system for growing plants. less On Jan. 16, 2016, Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly shared photographs of a blooming zinnia flower in the Veggie plant growth system aboard the International Space Station. NASA has more recently teamed up ... more Photo: handout web Astronauts on the International Space Station sampled their harvest of a crop of "Outredgeous" red romaine lettuce from the Veggie plant growth system that tests hardware for growing vegetables and other plants in space. NASA has more recently teamed up with Tupperware Brands Corp. to improve its system for growing plants. less Astronauts on the International Space Station sampled their harvest of a crop of "Outredgeous" red romaine lettuce from the Veggie plant growth system that tests hardware for growing vegetables and other plants ... more Photo: NASA

Image 3 of 20 | 15 years of the International Space Station

Life aboard theInternational Space Station

The International Space Station was launched in November 1998, and the first crew arrived on Nov. 2, 2000. People have lived on the space station ever since.

Here are some great photos inside and outside the largest artificial body in Earth's orbit...

Life aboard theInternational Space Station

The International Space Station was launched in November 1998, and the first crew arrived on Nov. 2, 2000. People have lived on the space station ever since.

Here

Image 4 of 20 | 15 years of the International Space Station

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Tupperware, NASA team to grow plants in space

Tupperware Brands Corp. is helping NASA improve its system for growing plants aboard the International Space Station.

Astronauts have been growing a variety of flowers and leafy vegetables in the space station's Vegetable Production System since 2014. But to reduce the frequency with which astronauts must water plants, Howard Levine and his colleagues at the NASA Kennedy Space Center began exploring new designs for the component that holds the roots of the plants, according to a news release.

On HoustonChronicle.com:Pence champions a new era of space travel on NASA visit

They created a semi-hydroponic design, and Tupperware is helping to further develop and manufacture it. Tupperware has teamed with Techshot, a commercial space company, to create the device.

Up to six of the new units can be installed in the Vegetable Production System at one time. Like the so-called "plant pillows" they will replace, the devices would be used once and then discarded after the plants are grown and harvested.

Initial units are expected to launch to the space station in the third and fourth quarters of 2018 aboard two flights of the commercial unmanned SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft.

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Tupperware, NASA team to grow plants in space - Chron.com

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This Is Tesla’s Greatest Competitive Advantage – Singularity Hub

Posted: at 12:35 pm

Teslas stock price recently took a hit because of concerns about its delivery capabilities and about increasing competition from carmakers who are switching their product lines to electric. With a market cap still exceeding $50 billion, it can be easy to argue that Teslas price remains severely inflated, especially when you compare it with those of GM and Fordwhich produce20 times more revenue. You can understand why Tesla remainsone of the most shorted stockswith billions of dollars in bets against it.

But Tesla has an advantage that many people dont understand: It is much more than an automotive company; it is a technology company buildingtechnology platforms. With these, it is positioning itself to also become the leading player in the energy industry and sharing economy. It will bring the same integration, data analysis, and elegance to these industries as it did to cars.

I havereferred tomy Tesla Model S as a spaceship that travels on land. It drives differently from any other kind of car and is lightning fast, smooth, and slick. To me, other electric vehicles, such as the BMW i3, the Mercedes B-Class, the Nissan Leaf, and the Chevy Bolt, all of which I have driven, seem bycomparison to be a clumsy repackaging of old technologies. They feel more like cassette players than iPods. I have every expectation that Teslas Model 3, which I have on order, will be almost as good as my Model S, despite costing half as much.

Tesla cars have been designed from the ground up as computers on wheels. Almost every function is controlled by software, and this enables the company to continually analyze data and optimize its functioningjust as Google Search and Apple Siri do. With thebillionsof miles worth of driving data it is gathering, Teslais on track to deliver full autonomous driving capability earlier than many other car manufacturers will. And because all of its new cars, including the Model 3, come equipped with the sensors that will benecessary tothe autopilot software once its released, Tesla has a considerable advantage over its rivals.

In July 2016, Elon Muskannouncedthat Tesla would use these technologies to enable a ride-sharing platform called the Tesla Network, through which owners will be able to rent out their cars as autonomous taxis, thereby recouping their investments and even making profits from their cars. As he explained, Since most cars are only in use by their owner for 5 percent to 10 percent of the day, the fundamental economic utility of a true self-driving car is likely to be several times that of a car which is not. With highly sought-after cars and a head start, Tesla could grab a significant share of the vehicle-sharing economyan economy that is expected to transform the transportation industry and disrupt the automobile market.

Tesla is already diversifying its businesses so that it doesnt sink with the automotive industry when this happens. Underlying the Tesla cars is another technology platform that it is commercializing: the battery. Teslas Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that provides homes with the storage of solar-captured energy for use at night or during power outages. This complements the solar roof tiles that Tesla is selling, which look like ordinary tiles and are priced competitively. So what you have is what Musk has called a smoothly integrated and beautiful solar-roof-with-battery product that just works. This is the kind of advantage and elegance that came with the Apple iPhone, which integrated music, telephony, and computer applications into one device.

In the same way as Tesla could make car ownership a revenue generator for its drivers, it could do the same for solar power. Homeowners could share their excess energy with other homeowners and provide charging stations for others Tesla vehicles. This would also dramatically expand the Tesla supercharger network, enabling charging of cars almost anywhere.

On a larger scale, Tesla is offering utility companies grid-scale energy-storage systems, demand for which will enable it to scale up its production and gain a cost advantage. It has just won a bid to provide the government of South Australia with the worlds largest lithium-ion battery system129 MWh of storage, deliverable at up to 100MW, enough to power more than 30,000 homes. Musk committed to having the system installed in a record 100 days. And the data Tesla gathers from this installation will allow it to optimize energy-storage operations as its self-driving data enables it to optimize its cars.

Yes, Tesla has had production issues and missed delivery targets. But that is how technology companies work: They iterate until they get things right; they think big, take risks and change the world. They make extremely optimistic projections and often miss these, and this is what causes investors to panic and short stocks. But when these companies shoot for the moon, they achieve much more than they might otherwise. This is why they often end up being the most valuable of alland defying gravity.

This article was originally published by The Washington Post. Read theoriginal article.

Stock Media provided by Benjamin Sibuet / Pond5

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Pulitzer Prize Winner Jorie Graham’s Collection of Poetry, ‘Fast’, Will Haunt You, Beautifully – PopMatters

Posted: at 12:35 pm

Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard poet Jorie Graham opens her new collection, Fast with an epigraph by Robert Browning: Then the good minute goes./ Already how am I so far/ Out of that minute? The quotation is fitting: Fast concerns itself with many things but most prominent among them is the fleeting nature of our existence in time and the manner in which that good minute continually slips our grasp and recedes into an inaccessible but vaunted past. Quite in opposition to Goethes Faust, we do not find ourselves bereft of moments we would bid Stay! but rather discover that we are immersed in them. And as they withdraw farther from us, we feel their absence all the more acutely. We are haunted by the ghosts of experiences we barely registered while they were occurring and haunted even more by those we always recognized were important.

In Fast Graham explores and articulates experiences that are both harrowingly personal (the deaths of her parents, her cancer treatments) and ostensibly impersonal (deep sea trawling, interacting with conversation bots, the vicissitudes of plankton and algae blooms). The sleight of hand that she manages in the best of these poems is to suggest that what appears to be impersonal and simply the state of our seemingly posthuman existence surges through the landscape of our emotional lives while those moments that we so desperately need to be utterly personal, to be ours alone, have within them an uncanny objectivity and recede so rapidly from the present that we fail, despite our desperation, to maintain their affective presence.

Even the orthography employed in these poems involves a thinking through and confrontation with time. Graham employs a striking mark throughout the collection: the Times New Roman arrow. This is essentially an em-dash with an arrow head to the right, thus pointing to the following word or phrase. Now, of course, in most English-language writing (except perhaps in the most concrete of concrete poetry) we move from left to right. The em-dash by itself (and the em-dash is still used in these poems, as well) does not thwart or inhibit forward motion exactly but it does imply a sense of equipoise, a sense that the preceding and the following are on somewhat equal footing (even if one progresses toward the other). Indeed, a very typical use of the em-dash is to denote appositionthe grammatically parallel, side-by-side balance of two or more clauses. Another typical usage is to designate the clause within the em-dashes as subordinate to the surrounding clausesthat is, the clause set out by the em-dashes is understood as a parenthetical remark or exempli gratia.

The arrow negates any such sense of apposition or subordination. The arrow demands forward motion; it does not merely assume it or take it for granted. The arrow impels the reader forward. In these passages, one feels swept up in the onrush of the poetic undercurrent, rushed out into the depths of a tumultuous thought, an image that crests and crashes down upon the reader inexorably, ineluctably. And yet, part of me as a reader resists this onrush of motion. In its efforts to push me forward, the arrows sometimes inspire my readerly resistance to pull back, to question the relentless impulsion of time, to endeavor (as these poems often seem to endeavor) to hold on to the fleeting moment, to cry out in Faustian despair, Stay, though art so beautiful!

The pastness of our lives inflects our present, which stands both as an accumulation of past experience and a negation (a registered loss) of that experience. In We, Graham suggests: we are way/ past/ intimation friendthe pastness ofyou can only think about itit wont/ be there for youyou can talk about itthey are gone who came before. The past is something we discuss and think about but can no longer hold in our grip. Our intimate moments are always in the past and thus we are sorrowfully, longingly past them.

Bound up with our being in time is our being involved with a body: being a body, losing our bodily presence in death, the proximity and distance of bodies in relation, networks of bodies in families and forests, the seeming dematerialization of the body in our interactions on the internet, the occlusive nature of the ailing body as it blocks our (what our without the body?) progress in life. Our bodies experience the ravages of time, are dependent upon time for their meaning, and register times passage by displaying its inscriptions as carved into our wrinkles, our frailties, our inevitable decline.

Perhaps my favorite device that Graham employs with respect to the body is her particular care with the preposition in and verbs such as to enter. The body in these poems wants to be inside, with loved ones, connected to a community (whether the nuclear family, a sea of algae, decaying flora, or the subterranean matrix of roots and fungi that sustains the life of a forest amidst individual death). And yet the body continually breaks down, betrays and is betrayed, fails (even at the height of its power, which is all too rare in these poems of extremity and sorrow). The body loses itself in the midst of its yearning to return; it continually slips toward the outside, away from the circumference of companionate comfort, away from the bittersweet familiarity of home.

Graham divides her book into four large sections; each section is rather loosely organized around a theme: 1. an examination lifes enmeshment with death writ largethe manner in which death serves to nurture new life, the possibility of global death, our lifelike interactions with nonliving things such as bots on the internet; 2. ruminations on the death of the poets fatherthe loving interaction of the still-living with the recently dead; 3. thoughts on the human bodythe sick body, the underappreciated body, the body engaged with the machine; and 4. another foray into the deaths of loved onesthe father again but now also the mother.

Despite this overall division, however, the poems are not laid out in a schematic fashion. The various themes interpenetrate, and each poem, at times bordering on free association, encompasses a plethora of referents and allusions, unforeseen connections, and abrupt shifts in register and voice. But throughout, the collection is pervaded by images of time as it relates to and conditions life, death, and the body.

The brief opening poem, Ashes, provides a fine example of the vertiginous manner in which Graham spins out her ideas and images and indeed presents in a brilliantly telescoped manner the concerns and devices explored in the collection as a whole. The narrating voice seeks some kind of ontological foundation, some solidity of being. She asks the plants to give me my small identity. No, the planets. Notice the swift turn from the terrestrial to the heavenly, from the biology of decay (the loam waits to make of us what it can) to the Platonic conception of the microcosms relation to the macrocosm of the celestial spheres (Grahams disenchanted postmodern Platonism reducing the planetary motions to a groove traversed where a god dies).

The dizzying alternation between the small and the large impacts the understanding of time here as well. The narrators lifetime gives way to a wish to become glass and then assonantly shifts toward the glacial; the human lifespan echoes with the prehistoric frozen mothers caress. Maturation and senescence are not merely human attributes. Our growth and death are accompanied by an untold wealth of beings that come and go, all encompassed by a system (the universe) that itself came into existence and is fading out of it. Hence the dialectic of micro/macrocosm plays out on the temporal stage; considering the vicissitudes of human birth and death leads to the realization (hardly profound and yet shattering all the same) that a universe can die.

In the midst of all of this are bodies: bodies of plants that in their fecundity transmute absorbed death into incipient life; bodies of fish and insects and birds that are victims of the life cycle; the Platonic, emergent body dragged down through shaft into being; and, most immediately, the living human body that anticipates, fears, and attempts to justify death, the body trammeled with entry and thinning but almost still here in spirit. This is the body that wastes away and experiences that decline as the meaning-granting essence of that bodys existence, that knows death but does not understand it.

These poems are not all on an equal footing. Graham is at her best in free verse pushed forth by free association. Her gift for connection is what typically prevents her sometimes (often?) banal observations from crossing the threshold into being trite. There is nothing particularly revealing about the connection between our personal death and its contribution to the moldering richness of the soil giving rise to new life. What makes this image work in a poem like Ashes is the agility with which that biological image vaunts over into the Platonic, the cosmological, the ecological, the theological, and the corporeal. Some poems, like Dementia, appear less sure-footed in their peregrinations through concepts and categories of thought.

Others, such as from The Enmeshments, clearly the weakest poem in the collection, attempt to infuse the free verse with some allusions to meter through rhyme but only manage to create a stilted rhythmic effect (But what if I only want to subtract. Its too abstract. I have no contract. Cannot enact impact/ interact) that detracts from the rigor and charm of her usual poetic design, devolving into the clumsy and the mundane.

Certain of these poems, however, will and should assimilate themselves to your consciousness, insinuate themselves into your way of thinking. Poems such as Fast, Reading to my Father, and The Post Human are replete with thoughts and images that haunt me, that shake the tendrils of my nervous system, and appear to me in unbidden moments. The Post Human, in particular is enchanting and horrifying at once. The narrative I finds herself in the room of her just-deceased father, standing next to his body, which is no longer his, no longer someones body but just a body, a bit of detritus, but beloved detritus. She is holding his hand as it stiffens with rigor mortis: The aluminum shines on your bedrail where the sun hits. It touches it./ The sun and the bedraildo they touch each other more than you and I now./ Now. Is that a place now. Do you have a now.

Time, the body, life, and deathall hold together in a beguiling, evocative tension. Sunlight, a bringer of life and vitality, shines upon the deathbed, touches it, drawing a connection between the innerving, immaterial warmth of light and the cold, steely indifference of the aluminum. The daughter holds the hand of her departed father, but, of course, he is no longer holding her hand, cannot do so. There is no one there to do so. The father has vacated the Now and no longer is while the daughter continues to reach out, to attempt to touch that which has fled into pastness. And yet, this is not an image of futility, some quixotic endeavor to overcome the unsurpassable finality of death. She manages, in some small but crucial way, to touch her father and he touches herbeyond a place, beyond a now, beyond the materiality of bodies and the irrevocable isolation of the present. The bodies that we are will always seek and somehow impossibly find a way back in.

Chadwick lives in New York City and teaches Music History and Theory at The City College of New York. He earned his doctorate in Musicology at Columbia University. He has given papers on topics ranging from 12th Century lament to Duke Ellington and early radio to the use of Wagner's music in Bugs Bunny cartoons. He has published in scholarly journals on the music of John Cage, Richard Strauss, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He has taught courses on music history, the history of rock, and the history of jazz at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Columbia University

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Four Ascension track stars make All-State team – Donaldsonville Chief

Posted: at 12:32 pm

Things just got more memorable recently when the Louisiana Sports Writers Association released its All-State track and field team. There were four of Ascension Parish's top track stars on the list.

The 2017 season saw some marvelous performances by the parishs top track and field stars and their teams.

From multiple individual standouts taking home state titles, to the Ascension Catholic girls team claiming their third straight state championship, it was surely a year to remember.

Things just got more memorable recently when the Louisiana Sports Writers Association released its All-State track and field team. There were four of Ascension Parishs top track stars on the list.

Headlining the boys All-State team was Dutchtowns Parker McBride. McBride made the All-State team for the 800 event.

He had the fastest time in the state this season for the 800 with a time of one minute and 52.68 seconds.

McBride won district, regional and state titles in the 800 this season. He was also a member of the Baton Rouge areas All-Metro team.

McBride is a Southeastern Louisiana signee.

Just last month, he made the trip to Greensboro, N.C., to compete in the New Balance Nationals Outdoor event.

The Griffins finished as runners-up in District 5-5A this season, and they finished fifth at the regional meet.

The only other Ascension Parish boys track star to make the All-State team was Donaldsonvilles Davon Wright. Wright made the team in the shot put event.

Wright helped lead theTigers to a seventh-place finish at the District 6-3A meet and a 14th-place finish at the state meet.

He had the fifth-best performance in the shot put this season with a measurement of 53 feet and 6.5 inches.

After winning the state title in the event last year, Wright won a district championship in the shot put this season and finished as runner-up at both the regional and state meets.

He also made the All-Metro team. Wright is a recent Tulane football commit.

The Lady Griffins finished third at the District 5-5A meet, and they landed in seventh at the state meet.

Spearheading their efforts were Leah Scott and Tara Stuntz.

Scott made the All-State team for the second straight season in the long jump event and the triple jump.

She had the best long jump in the state this year with a measurement of 19 feet and six inches. Her triple jump was tied for fourth-best at 37 feet and 11 inches.

Scott won district and regional titles in both events. At the state meet, she won the triple jump championship for the second straight season and finished as runner-up in the long jump.

Stuntz made the All-State team for the 3,200 event. She had the third-fastest time in the 3,200 this year at 11 minutes and 23.81 seconds.

Stuntz was runner-up in the event at the district, regional and state meets.

Both Scott and Stuntz made the All-Metro team as well.

Stuntz is a 2017 Southeastern signee, along with two other parish runners in Ascension Catholics 1A 800, 1,600 and 3,200 state champion Sophie Daigle and the Bulldogs Logan Thibodeaux.

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Sonequa Martin-Green Talks Michael Burnham’s Ascension, Vulcan Indoctrination – TrekNews.net

Posted: at 12:32 pm

During the Star Trek: Discovery panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Sonequa Martin-Green revealed that her character, First Officer Michael Burnham, was Spocks adoptive sister. Martin-Green, who will be the shows lead, when it premiere is September, took part in several one-on-one interviews after the panel. During one of those interviews, she described her characters motivations and internal struggle.

Describing her character on the series, Martin-Green said:

Michael Burnham is the first officer of the [Starship] Shenzhou. Its interesting to see this world through the eyes of a first officer because the path of upward mobility is something that we havent seen in this way. So youre following someone who aspires to be greater and to climb that ladder. So, you see this ascension every step of the way and its a continual ascension not one that gets wrapped up anytime soon. You see it and you see the effects of my environment, of my background, of my upbringing the effects of the people that Im around, all affecting that path.

As Michael Burnham, Im a principled woman. The ideologies of Starfleet are emblematic to my personality, for sure but I also have this Vulcan indoctrination. So, youre seeing all of that clash.

You can watch Martin-Green discuss her character in the video embedded below.

Star Trek: Discoverys 15-episode first season is set to premiere on Sunday, September 24at 8:30 PM ET on CBS. Immediately following the first episodes release, the second episode will be available in the U.S. onCBS All Access, with subsequent episodes released on Sundays. The first eight episodes will run from September 24 through November 5, with the series returning in January 2018.

TrekNews.net is your dedicated source for all the latest news onStar Trek: Discovery. Follow@TrekNewsneton Twitter,TrekNewson Facebook,TrekNewson Instagram andTrekNewsneton YouTube.

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Ascension Parish calendar for July 27-Aug 3, 2017 – The Advocate

Posted: at 12:32 pm

THURSDAY

DISCOVERING EMAIL: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.,Ascension Parish Library, Gonzales branch. This workshop will cover a brief history of email, discuss its uses, cover the various types and features, as well as a hands-on practice. For more information, call (225) 647-3955.

BABY TIME: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.,Ascension Parish Library,Gonzales and Dutchtown branches. Registration is required.For information, call Gonzales at (225) 647-3955 orDutchtown at (225) 673-8699.Preschool program.

BILINGUAL STORY TIME: 11 a.m. to noon,Ascension Parish Library, Gonzales branch. For children of all ages, who speak Spanish, English or both. For more information, call Gonzales at (225) 647-3955.

ADOLESCENT SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT GROUP: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Ascension Counseling Center, 1112A S.E. Ascension Complex, Gonzales. Meets every Monday and Thursday. (225) 450-1016.

TOPS (TAKING OFF POUNDS SENSIBLY): 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., Carpenters Chapel, 41181 La. 933, Prairieville. Weight support group meets every Thursday night. Weigh-in from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. followed by meeting. For information, call Sylvia Triche at (225) 313-3180.

END OF SUMMER CONSTRUCTION ZONE PARTY: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., Ascension Parish Library, Dutchtown branch. The library will provide the hard hats. Call (225) 673-8699.

LOSS AND GRIEF EDUCATION AND SUPPORT MEETING: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.,St. Elizabeth Hospital, Sister Linda conference room,1125 W. La. 30, Gonzales. For anyone who has experienced loss of any kind. Facilitated by the Grief Recovery Center to help with the grieving process. Meets every Thursday. For information, emaildiane.hodges@steh.comor call (225) 621-2906. Meets every Thursday.

NOT A #NUMBER: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.,Ascension Parish Library, Gonzales branch. An interactive prevention curriculum designed to teach youth how to protect themselves from human trafficking and exploitation through information, critical thinking and skill development. Registration is required at (225) 621-2906.

ADULT SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT GROUP: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.,Ascension Counseling Center, 1112A S.E. Ascension Complex, Gonzales. Meets every Tuesday and Thursday. (225) 450-1016.

YOUNG AT HEART: SENIOR HEALTH & WELLNESS EXPO: 9 a.m. to noon, Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, 9039 S. St. Landry Ave., Gonzales. Hosted by St. Elizabeth Hospital, seniors 50 and up can come and enjoy free screenings, demonstrations, information and giveaways. For more information, call (225) 647-5000. steh.com.

INTRODUCTION TO PUBLISHER: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., Ascension Parish Library, Gonzales branch. Participants will become familiar with and practice using the basic tools of Microsoft Publisher 2013.For more information, call Gonzales at (225) 647-3955.

END OF SUMMER CONSTRUCTION ZONE PARTY: 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.,Ascension Parish Library, Gonzales. Call (225) 647-3955.

GUN & KNIFE SHOW: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday & 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, 9039 S. St. Landry Ave., Gonzales. See hundreds of displays of new and old guns, ammo, gun parts, books, knives, jewelry, camouflage and related items at discount prices. Admission is $9/adults, $2/children 6-11, under 18 with parent only. Law enforcement officer in uniform admitted free. capgunshows.com

WEEKENDS AT CABELA'S: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Cabela's, 2200 W. Cabela's Parkway, Gonzales. For information, visitcabelas.comor call (225) 743-3400.

CARS FOR KIDS: BACK 2 SCHOOL CAR SHOW: Noon, Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, 9039 S. St. Landry Ave., Gonzales. Vehicle registration is 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., judging starts at 4 p.m. with trophy presentation at 6 p.m. Door prizes will be given away every hour. Book sacks and school supplies will be given away between 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call Mark at (225) 485-4148 or Frannie at (225) 802-0539.

SPACE EXPLORATION: 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.,Ascension Parish Library, Gonzales branch.Find out how and why planets circle around the sun and make your own model of the solar system. For more information, call (225) 647-3955.

YULE BALL: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.,Ascension Parish Library, Galvez branch. Magical and muggle teens of all sorts are welcome to don their finest garb and dance the night away at the end of summer Yule Ball. Wizardly and formal attire is welcome. Less formal muggle apparel is also appropriate. For more information, call (225) 622-3339.

ADOLESCENT SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT GROUP: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Ascension Counseling Center, 1112A S.E. Ascension Complex, Gonzales. Meets every Monday and Thursday. (225) 450-1016.

JOB SEARCHING ON THE INTERNET: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., Ascension Parish Library, Gonzales branch. Learn how to use the internet as a vital tool in your job search. For more information, call (225) 647-3955.

SCORE-SMALL BUSINESS COUNSELING & MENTORING: 9 a.m. to noon, Ascension Parish Library, Gonzales branch. Free on-site counseling for new business start-ups and mentoring for existing businesses. To schedule an appointment, call (225) 381-7130. To learn more, visit the SCORE website at scorebr.org.

ADULT SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT GROUP: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.,Ascension Counseling Center, 1112A S.E. Ascension Complex, Gonzales. Meets every Tuesday and Thursday. (225) 450-1016.

AL-ANON MEETING: 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.,St. Elizabeth Hospital, 1125 W. La. 30, Gonzales. Sister Linda conference room. Free. Call (225) 924-0029 for information. Meets every Tuesday.

KOKUSAIKA: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., Ascension Parish Library, Gonzales branch. Add some Asian flair to your bedroom after we show you how to make your very own Sakura (Cherry Blossom) paper lantern.For more information, call (225) 647-3955.

LIBRARY BOOK CLUB: Noon to 1 p.m., Ascension Parish Library, Donaldsonville branch. If you are interested in attending a book club meeting at any location, call to see if space is available. Registration is required. (225) 473-8052.

ADOLESCENT SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT GROUP: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Ascension Counseling Center, 1112A S.E. Ascension Complex, Gonzales. Meets every Monday and Thursday. (225) 450-1016.

TOPS (TAKING OFF POUNDS SENSIBLY): 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., Carpenters Chapel, 41181 La. 933, Prairieville. Weight support group meets every Thursday night. Weigh-in from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. followed by meeting. For information, call Sylvia Triche at (225) 313-3180.

LOSS AND GRIEF EDUCATION AND SUPPORT MEETING: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.,St. Elizabeth Hospital, Sister Linda conference room,1125 W. La. 30, Gonzales. For anyone who has experienced loss of any kind. Facilitated by the Grief Recovery Center to help with the grieving process. Meets every Thursday. For information, emaildiane.hodges@steh.comor call (225) 621-2906. Meets every Thursday.

ADULT SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT GROUP: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.,Ascension Counseling Center, 1112A S.E. Ascension Complex, Gonzales. Meets every Tuesday and Thursday. (225) 450-1016.

LIBRARY BOOK CLUB: 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.,Ascension Parish Library, Dutchtown, Gonzales & Galvez branches. If you are interested in attending a book club meeting at any location, call to see if space is available. Registration is required. For more information, call Dutchtown at (225) 673-8699, Gonzales at (225) 647-3955 and Galvez at (225) 622-3339.

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Ascension Parish calendar for July 27-Aug 3, 2017 - The Advocate

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Vengeful Ascension – PopMatters

Posted: at 12:32 pm

(Metal Blade) US: 23 Jun 2017 UK: 23 Jun 2017

Goatwhore, the thrashing metal quartet from New Orleans, have fashioned their style beyond the fuzzed out sludge championed by fellow Cajuns like Eyehategod and Crowbar. With tempos and riffs closer to extreme metal and lyrical themes not far removed from black metal, they represent an amalgamation of aggressive subgenres that pierces as much as it gnaws. Vengeful Ascension, their seventh full-length album, arrives as the band marks their 20th anniversary of down-tuned riffs, double kicks, and devil-inspired imagery. Rather than phone in another record as a means to get back on the road, Goatwhore has produced an album more textured and nuanced than the typical metal record.

Tribal drums foreshadow the buzzsaw guitar on opening track Forsaken. Louis B. Falgousts raspy screams about Lucifer above Zack Simmons blast beats solidify their blackened influence while guitarist Sammy Duets bleeding arpeggiated chords add momentary new dimensions. Whether overt or subtle, Goatwhore has little regard for keeping the various stands and styles of metal separated by their sound. Consider the Kerry King inspired guitar solo amidst the hardcore vibe in Under the Flesh, Into the Soul. Likewise, the bluesy fills amidst the doom-laden hex of Where the Sun is Silent make the track too moody and complex to be a simple headbanger.

The band has developed a precision that undoubtedly served them well during the recording sessions. Vengeful Ascension was recorded on reel-to-reel tape, an analog method noted for its warmth and authenticity but occasionally cursed for its difficulty and technical demands on the performers. Whereas digital can tighten up any band into a well-oiled machine with a few key clicks, analog requires a group, especially one as manic as Goatwhore, to be completely locked into one another, as takes can be mercilessly limited. This knowledge makes the pinpoint trashing accuracy of Chaos Arcane all the more impressive knowing the risks of the medium. Likewise, Abandon Indoctrination with its blacked thrashing, is precise when it needs to be and loose when it serves the song best, demonstrating an act at the top of their game.

While not strictly a concept album, the theme of Ascension focuses on Lucifer and the notion of rising above struggles and tribulations. The text is inherently dark and sinisterits about Lucifer, after all. Still, one can abstract messages of redemption from Falgousts words, in particular during the narrative progression of Where the Sun Is Silent. With his raspy vocal delivery Falgoust comes off as a narrator, a refreshing contrast to the (with all due Chris Barnes loving respect) incomprehensible guttural ravages traditionally championed by extreme metal.

The filtered vocals and acoustic guitars on the title track give it the most textured vibe of the record. Duet balances straightforward power chords with etherial single note lines, a decidedly more complex affair than a typical by the books mid-tempo chugathon. His solo is notably melodic anddare I saycatchy, yet it doesnt betray the bands staunchly anti-commercial style. Its revealing that Goatwhore named their album after this tune, the most layered and sonically complex one on the recording. Its not entirely false to read into this as the group accepting the slightly experimental tendencies of a metal band still evolving 20 years into their career.

Those Who Denied Gods Will, the albums closer, begins with a black metal onslaught raining fire down from the sky before moving into more epic and oddly beautiful moments. The track as a whole isnt too removed from the rest of the album, but its sudden moments like the Duets tremolo-picked lines doubling the chords or his undeniably melodic solo that reveal a band more concerned with building upon a metal foundation rather than retreading ideas.

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Vengeful Ascension - PopMatters

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MMS teacher visited space center, to incorporate experience into lessons – Journal Gazette and Times-Courier

Posted: at 12:31 pm

MATTOON -- Laura Blackerby-Smith has always been fascinated by space.

Blackerby-Smith, a sixth-grade science teacher at Mattoon Middle School, was 9 years old when she watched her first space shuttle launch.

"My parents took us to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and we watched the launch of the space shuttle Columbia," Blackerby-Smith said. "(After attending the launch) I was hooked on anything NASA, anything space travel. I was just so interested in the work of NASA."

So, when she found out in January that she was one of 200 teachers from 33 countries and 45 U.S. states and territories to be accepted into the Honeywell Educators at Space Academy program, she could safely say she was excited.

It felt like winning a trip to Disney World, she said. It was that exciting.

The Honeywell program is a scholarship program started in 2004 that aims to inspire middle school math and science teachers to become more effective educators in science, technology, engineering and math. According to a press release, Honeywell facilitates the program to ensure these STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs are taught in new, innovative ways.

And as part of the program, Blackerby-Smith, along with the other 199 teachers, was sent to the United States Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., to participate in hours of classroom and laboratory instruction focused on science, space exploration and leadership skills development

Also, these teachers were challenged in several realistic astronaut simulations, including a high-performance jet simulation, rocketry and a coding mission to launch them, scenario-based space mission, land and water survival training, and interactive flight dynamics programs.

When Blackerby-Smith heard of the program, she was set on taking part.

If I didn't (get selected), I would try again next year, she said. I think a part of the whole NASA program and the part of space is that so many failures happen.

She found out about the program through her search for development workshops do over the summer.

I thought, 'What about space camps for adults?' she said, when she was searching, which led her to the Honeywell program.

Beyond her own passions for space exploration, the idea for space camp spawned from conversations in her classroom.

I found that my students are so engaged when we talk about NASA and we talk about space, she said.

Since her start in science education, she noticed that space exploration can be tied to almost everything in science.

You can relate space to anything, she said.

In the program, Blackerby-Smith noted that teachers ran through intense astronaut simulations, most notably her simulated mission to Mars, which she commanded.

In that simulation, she and her small team went through almost every step, from launching from Earth to landing on Mars. Even though it was a simulation, it did not feel any less than real for her, Blackerby-Smith said, describing the launch.

Just for that split second, you really did feel like your life was in your teammates' hands, she said. They made it feel very real.

Even stepping on a simulated Mars, which consisted of some sand on the ground with a red light above coloring the floor below, felt real, she said.

It was very, very surreal, she said.

There, the teachers also got to experience a simulated transfer of astronauts between the International Space Station and the space shuttle Endeavor and participated in training on the multi-axis trainer, which simulates the spin of a spacecraft as it enters Earth's atmosphere.

They even participated in an emergency spacecraft water landing and escape, which included swimming from a sinking aircraft.

I bet my blood pressure was probably sky high through a lot of those things, she said.

Outside of these simulations, Blackerby-Smith said she is excited to bring back some knowledge for science projects for this fall.

I came home with a lot of really neat lessons I could use, she said.

One of those includes a project where students will attempt to keep an egg from cracking by designing a structure that will survive a high drop, making the structure out of various materials like popsicle sticks, parachutes and foam.

Beyond specific projects, she said the stories of the astronauts she met served as good life lessons, let alone science lessons.

I feel like I have so many inspirational stories to take back, she said.

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MMS teacher visited space center, to incorporate experience into lessons - Journal Gazette and Times-Courier

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NANOTECH ENTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED (NTEK) In Motion; Strong Momentum for Holders – KL Daily

Posted: at 12:30 pm

July 25, 2017 - By Clifton Ray

The stock price of NANOTECH ENTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED (OTCMKTS:NTEK) recorded $-0.001 in recent trading, touching $0.024 and getting interest from avid investors. Its the latest price, but lets analyze how the stock has been doing recently. In the past year, NANOTECH ENTERTAINMENT INCORPORATEDs stock was big mover. According to the short interest report published recently, (NTEK) had 17,100 shorted shares for 0 days to cover. The prior short interest was 35,900 for a $-52.37 change. The 52-Week High and Low are noted here. -70.00 % (High), 20.00 %, (Low). The stock had 2.99 million average volume.

Will Stock Price of NANOTECH ENTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED (OTCMKTS:NTEK) Getaway to Their Potential? Register to Our Newsletter Now!

When moving into land of penny stock trading, one must determine whether the risk-reward ratio is favorable. Penny stocks can be tremendously attractive. Hollywood often shows selling or trading stocks being easy and fun, with millions of dollars earned as profits. Its important to identify that there is considerable risk involved when putting money in penny stocks. The risks list include market volatility, getting stuck with fake shell firms created for the only objective of the pump and dump. For those who are not aware with the term, pump and dump happens where brokers promote the equity until prices rise, then sell the stock, leaving novice investors to bear the loss.

Receive Latest Alerts on Stocks That Are Set to Make a Run by Registering in the Bar Below.

It is a common thing to get caught up in the excitement of penny stock email bulletins. Though the circulars are a helpful means to get ideas, wise investors still perform due diligence on interested stocks. Some penny stock circulars show a disclaimer at the bottom that states something like We are not market advisors, weve got compensation and we may have this stock in our portfolio. Further study must be carried out to find out if a firm actually has businesses or is simply a home office.

Many a times, when a promotional plan is designed, there are big shareholders offloading shares they might have bought long ago, waiting for an opportunity to recoup their investments. It never indicates that these firms termed as fake arent good options for short-term trading. If you have disposable money that you can put in use to make a quick trade, what a firm does is less significant than recording a win on a trade. In such a scenario, things like stock promotions are advantageous for shareholders as they throw more light on a dark or defunct firm.

Look at a promotion last year of Cynk Technology (CYNK), which surged all the way to $21.95 from low of 6 cents. The firm itself had very little to deliver as far as fundamentals or operations are concerned, and its shares price was purely led by trading activity.

Disclaimer: The information contained on this website and from any communication related to this website is for information purposes only. The material on this website does not constitute advice and you should not rely on any material in this website to make (or refrain from making) any decision or take (or refrain from making) any action.

More news for NanoTech Entertainment, Inc. (OTCMKTS:NTEK) were recently published by: Seekingalpha.com, which released: NanoTech Entertainment: On The Verge Of Something Big? on March 16, 2015. Prnewswire.coms article titled: NanoTech Entertainment expands its UltraFlix Streaming Television Network to and published on May 31, 2016 is yet another important article.

NanoTech Entertainment, Inc. operates as a maker and developer of technology, television content, consumer goods, mobile applications and consumer software. The company has market cap of $2.44 million. The Firm generates revenue form a mixture of licensing products to third-parties for manufacturing and distribution, as well as the manufacture and sale and rental of products directly to the consumer. It currently has negative earnings. The Companys business comprises three business units: Ultra Media Group , NanoTech Media (NMED) and 4K Studios (4K).

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NANOTECH ENTERTAINMENT INCORPORATED (NTEK) In Motion; Strong Momentum for Holders - KL Daily

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BREAKING: United States Navy opens fire on Iranian ship as WW3 tensions mount – Daily Star

Posted: at 12:30 pm

THE United States Navy has opened fire on an Iranian ship in a move that could spark World War 3.

The Pentagon confirmed shots were fired in the Persian Gulf today after the Iranian craft came within 150ft of it.

US Defense officials said the Iranian boat is thought to have been operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

They said that despite warnings including radio calls, firing flares, and five short whistle blasts the Iranian ship carried on sailing towards the Navy boat.

The armed boat from the Islamic Republic then ceased its "provocative" actions, but is said to have "lingered" in the area.

GETTY

The USS Thunderbolt reportedly fired a warning shot at an Iranian boat in the Persian Gulf as US-Iran tensions reach fever pitch

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Patrol coastal ship USS Thunderbolt (PC 12), front, transits alongside other PCs during a formation exercise

There were several US Navy ships in the immediate area at the time of the incident today, which were carrying out routine patrol operations in international waters, US officials added.

The latest incident will raise fears of a conflict between the two countries.

In June, the US military called the actions of an Iranian vessel "unsafe and unprofessional" after it aimed a laser at a US helicopter that was accompanying a formation of American ships in the international waters of the Strait of Hormuz.

United States officials also previously accused anIranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ship of acting in an "unprofessional" and "provocative" manner when it approached an American destroyer, the USS Mahan, while it was sailing in the Persian Gulf in April.

As Donald Trump rattles his sabres at the Islamic republic, we take a look at the army he'd be up against.

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An Iranian soldier with a heavy machine gun.

As tension between the US and Iran mounts, with President Donald Trump rattling his sabres ever louder, Iranians take to the street to protest.

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Iranian people burn an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Just weeks ago, White House advisor Rudy Giuliani warned the Iranian regime poses a bigger threat to the world than North Korea.

The former New York mayor said: Iran is our biggest enemy, Iran is our fiercest enemy. It is the greatest danger to freedom in the world.

Our long term danger is Iran.

Iran [is] a bigger threat than North Korea, it is expanding into an empire. North Korea is contained.

They have more technological capability and they have what is truly an insane regime."

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BREAKING: United States Navy opens fire on Iranian ship as WW3 tensions mount - Daily Star

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