Yearly Archives: 2011

Saving Trees in Tasmania

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Tasmanian Forest Deal Brings End to a Conflict While Saving Trees

by Nicklas Karlsson | August 05, 2011

The federal Australian government has signed a deal with Tasmania which ensures the preservation of, at least, 430,000 hectars of ancient high conservation value forests.

The 430,000 hectars will be immediately protected from logging, while an additional 142,000 hectars will be set aside for eventual needs to fulfill existing logging contracts.

The conflict which has been unfolding for nearly 30 years between the federal government and state government circulates around issues of financial dependence upon logging rights. $276 million has been pledged, of which $85 million is earmarked as an exit package for forestry contractors, and some $120 million for the purpose of diversifying the economy of towns dependent on forestry over the next 15 years.

to read more, go to:   http://www.greatnewsnetwork.org/index.php/news/article/tasmanian_forest_deal_brings_end_to_a_conflict_while_saving_trees/

Search on For Missing Island

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Missing ‘Island’ Floating In Earth’s Atmosphere

Natalie Wolchover, Life’s Little Mysteries Staff Writer
Date: 03 August 2011 Time: 05:53 PM ET
Illustration of the floating island of Laputa, a strange land in Jonathan Swift's 'Guliver's Travels.' Public domain image.
Illustration of the floating island of Laputa, a strange land in Jonathan Swift’s ‘Guliver’sTravels.’
CREDIT: Public domain image

A floating “island” is at large somewhere in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The 23-foot-wide, helium-filled model of a desert island was constructed by two artists for a festival in Cambridgeshire, England. Tethered by ropes, it hovered above a lake on the grounds of the Secret Garden Party festival until the wee hours of July 24, when vandals let it loose. Reminiscent of the airborne island of Laputa in “Gulliver’s Travels,” it floated away.

Based on meteorological data, the inflatable’s creators say “Is Land,” as they call their art piece, may be hovering in the troposphere above the Czech Republic by now. They’ve asked for help retrieving it via their websi te

 

to read more, and join in, go to: http://www.livescience.com/15387-missing-island-floating-earth-atmosphere.html

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Ancient Palace Remains Found

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Remains of Ancient Palace Discovered

Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor
Date: 05 August 2011 Time: 02:04 PM ET
ancient palace
Only a small portion of the structure, possibly an ancient palace, has been excavated so far (part of it can be seen in the photo’s bottom foreground) in central Sudan beneath another ancient palace. The structure is the oldest building ever found in the ancient city of Meroë.
CREDIT: Photo copyright Royal Ontario Museum

Hidden beneath an ancient palace in what is now central Sudan, archaeologists have discovered the oldest building in the city of Meroë, a structure that also may have housed royalty.

At its height, the city was controlled by a dynasty of kings who ruled about 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) of territory that stretched from southern Egypt to areas south of modern-day Khartoum.

People of Meroë built palaces and small pyramids, and developed a writing system that scholars still can’t fully translate today. Although Meroë has been excavated off and on for more than 150 years, archaeologists are not yet clear on how it came to be. The city seems to have emerged out of nowhere

to read more, go to:   http://www.livescience.com/15420-remains-ancient-palace-discovered-central-sudan.html

Night Time Solar Radio Burst

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fr/spaceweather.com

NIGHT-TIME SOLAR RADIO BURST: The M9-class solar flare of August 4th produced a burst of shortwave static so powerful that receivers on Earth picked it up after sunset. “A RadioJove observer in Florida recorded the burst when the sun was 38 degrees below the horizon,” reports amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft. Ashcraft’s own radio telescope in New Mexico recorded the event 1 hour and 54 minutes after sunset:

“To my knowledge, receptions like this are very rare,” says Ashcraft.

Indeed they are. This event brings to mind the iconic night-time solar radio burst of March 8, 1958. Five radio telescopes at the University of Florida picked up emissions from the sun while observing the planet Jupiter in tthe middle of the night. On the other side of the world, radio astronomers in daylit Australia confirmed that a powerful solar radio burst had taken place at that exact time. The event is described in a 1959 Nature paper by pioneering radio astronomers Alex Smith and Tom Carr. They considered the possibility that solar radio waves might have been reflected by the Moon or carried to the night side of Earth by ionospheric ducting. In tthe end, they could not conclusively explain what happened and to this day night-time solar radio bursts remain a puzzle.

Subsiding Solar Storm

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SUBSIDING STORM: Earth’s magnetic field is still reverberating from a CME strike on August 5th that sparked one of the strongest geomagnetic storms in years. Registering 8 on the 0 to 9 “K-index” scale of magnetic disturbances, the storm at maximum sparked auroras across Europe and in many northern-tier US states. Travis Novitsky sends this picture from Grand Portage, Minnesota:

“For an hour and a half the sky was filled with dancing lights, some of the best I’ve ever seen in Northern Minnesota!” says Novitsky.

The storm is subsiding now, but it could flare up again as gusty solar wind continues to buffet Earth’s magnetic field

Potential for Midwest Tornadic Activity 8/6

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\\\\\\Tornadic supercells likely across the upper plains and midwest through tonight

Published on August 6, 2011 10:40 am PT
– By Jim Duran – Writer
– Article Editor and Approved – Warren Miller


Click for larger image

(TheWeatherSpace.com) — TheWeatherSpace.com is monitoring a frontal zone through the Upper Plains to Midwestern States that may produce tornadic supercells.

A TWS Tornado Watch was issued just after noon central time. TWS Senior Meteorologist Kevin Martin is monitoring the potential severe weather event that may produce tornadoes.

“Anywhere from Central Minnesota down through Iowa and Nebraska, including Eastern South Dakota is at risk,” said Martin. The highest threat looks to be somewhere in Eastern Nebraska where the best shear and backing surface winds exist.”

Buddhists on Twitter

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12 Buddhists On Twitter You Should Be Following

First Posted: 7/27/11 10:33 AM ET   Updated: 7/27/11 10:54 AM ET

f you are a Buddhist or somebody who is just curious about the tradition and the issues facing it today, Twitter is a great starting point for getting in on the conversation. Here we’ve compiled several of the prominent teachers, writers and organizations that we follow to help us stay clued in on the world of Buddhism.

We invite you to follow them, and also join our conversation @HuffPostRelig! Be sure to add your suggestions below if we left your favorite Buddhist on Twitter off the list.

to read more, and see the list, go to:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/27/buddhism-on-twitter_n_910389.html#s316395&title=His_Holiness_the

Spirituality & Evolution

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Professor of Neuroscience and Novelist, Princeton University

Is Spirituality a Byproduct of Evolution?

Posted: 8/5/11 08:16 AM ET

Homo sapiens evolved to be socially intelligent. Over millions of years, perhaps more, the primate brain evolved special machinery to allow us to think socially, to build abstract concepts of each other’s minds and to react emotionally to each other in a way that more or less maintains the social web. In one theory that is gaining greater acceptance, the social machinery in the human brain is the direct cause of spirituality. Spirituality is the human brain doing exactly what it is exquisitely well evolved to do. It is the functioning of our social intelligence.

If spiders could ever become super intelligent, they might see the world through the metaphor of a web. They might talk about sticky strands of thought. They might envision a universe pulled out of a spinneret. They might judge beauty by radial symmetry. Looking at the moon, they might see a web-in-the-moon instead of a man-in-the-moon. The natural talent of humans is to spin metaphors of minds and intentions, and that is how we evaluate almost everything around us. We understand and react to the world through our social capability. It defines us more than any other trait. Even language is a refinement of social communication. We are truly Homo socialis.

to read more, go to:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-graziano/spirituality-as-byproduct-of-evolution_b_918801.html

2011 Meteor Showers

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Skywatching Guide: Meteor Showers of 2011

by Geoff Gaherty, Starry Night Education
Date: 02 May 2011 Time: 01:16 PM ET
How Comets Cause Meteor Showers
A 2010 Orionid meteor, seen over Western Ontario, Canada. A waxing gibbous moon shines brightly at the left side of the image.
CREDIT: NASA courtesy of Meteor Physics Group, University of Western Ontario

Meteor showers occur when the Earth’s orbit takes it through the path of a comet, which spews debris as it passes, like junk falling out of the back of a poorly-secured garbage truck. Bits of debris plunge through the Earth’s atmosphere, and friction causes the debris to burn up, creating meteors.

2011 meteor showers
2011 meteor showers.
CREDIT: RASC Observer’s Handbook 2011 and International Meteor Organization

Well Traveled LEGO’s

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LEGO Figures Flying On NASA Jupiter Probe

by Robert Z. Pearlman, collectSPACE.com Editor
Date: 04 August 2011 Time: 04:26 PM ET
LEGO Figurines to Fly on Juno Spacecraft
Three LEGO figurines representing the Roman god Jupiter (right), his wife Juno (middle) and Galileo Galilei (left) as shown here will fly to Jupiter on NASA’s Juno spacecraft.
CREDIT: NASA/LEGO/The specially-constructed LEGO Minifigures are of the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno, and “father of science” Galileo Galilei. The LEGO crew’s mission is part of the Bricks in Space project, the joint outreach and educational program developed as part of the collaboration between NASA and the LEGO Group to inspire children to explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

“NASA has a long-standing partnership with the LEGO company,” Scott Bolton, principal investigator for the Juno mission and space science and engineering director at the Southwestern Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a press conference on Wednesday (Aug. 3). “Any of you that have children know that LEGOs are very popular with kids, as well as really helps teach them about building and engineering.”

to read more, go to:    http://www.space.com/12546-lego-figures-jupiter-juno-spacecraft.html