Interesting Articles Or Coincidences

[kevjohn]

3D Origins - Moving Art

[Ron19]

Earth could have many billions of twins strewn across the Milky Way, a study suggests.

Astronomers estimate that at least 17 billion stars in our galaxy harbour an Earth-sized planet.

This may be a small proportion of the true figure, since it only includes hot worlds that hug their parent stars closely and are easy to detect.

As more data is gathered scientists expect to find more rocky Earth-sized planets in wider orbits.

An unknown number could lie within the habitable or Goldilocks zone of their parent star - the orbital path where temperatures are just right to permit surface liquid water and, potentially, life.

Moons orbiting planets in habitable zones could increase the chances of life even further.

Fifteen newly discovered candidate planets the size of Jupiter or Neptune fall into this category.

While such planets would not themselves be suitable for Earth-like life, they could be circled by moons that are - like the fictitious moon Pandora in the film Avatar.

The new analysis is based on data from the American space agency Nasa's Kepler space telescope.

Scientists presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California. They are also due to appear in the Astrophysical Journal.

Kepler detects candidate planets by measuring the minute dimming of light that occurs when they pass in front of their stars. Follow-up work using ground-based telescopes is then carried out to rule out false readings.

A survey of 16 months of data from Kepler has identified around 2400 candidates.

Extrapolating the results, scientists calculated that around 17 per cent of stars in the Milky Way have a planet 0.8 to 1.25 times the size of Earth in a close orbit lasting 85 days or less. Like the planet Mercury, they are likely to be too hot to support life.

Larger planets are easier to detect at greater distances using Kepler's "transit" method.

The analysis suggests around a quarter of stars have a "super-Earth" up to twice the size of Earth in orbits of up to 150 days.

Around five per cent of stars are predicted to have Jupiter-like gas giants in orbits of 400 days or less.

In comparison, the Earth takes 365 days to orbit the Sun, the length of a year.

Planets were found to be orbiting all kinds of stars, not just those similar to the Sun. They included cool red dwarfs with habitable zones closer in than the Sun's.

Dr Guillermo Torres, one of the scientists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said: "Earths and super-Earths aren't picky. We're finding them in all kinds of neighbourhoods."

Yesterday astronomers working on Kepler data announced the discovery of 15 new Neptune and Jupiter-size candidate planets in the habitable zones of their stars.

One, known as PH2 b, was confirmed as a genuine exoplanet with 99.9 per cent certainty.

The discovery, made with the help of volunteers taking part in the Planet Hunters project processing data on their home computers, opens up the possibility of life-supporting moons.

Planet Hunters astronomer Dr Chris Lintott, from Oxford University, said: "Jupiter has several large water-rich moons. Imagine dragging that system into the comfortably warm region where the Earth is.

"If such a planet had Earth-size moons, we'd see not Europa and Callisto but worlds with rivers, lakes and all sorts of habitats: a surprising scenario that might just be common."

[Ron19]

A Swiss court has wiped the slate clean for a farmer and his family, relieving them of an annual debt to a Catholic church dating back to 1357.

The court in the northeastern canton of Glarus ruled that the farmer and his family no longer needed to pay some 70 Swiss francs ($73) a year to keep the sanctuary lamp of the Naefels Catholic church burning.

The debt dated back to 1357, when a certain Konrad Mueller killed a man named Heinrich Stucki.

To save his soul and avoid revenge attacks from the victim's family, Mueller gave a sanctuary lamp to a local church and vowed to finance its fuel "for eternity".

If he failed to do so, his land would go to the Church.

Over the centuries, owners of Mueller's old land have continued to pay for the lamp oil

But when the Naefels parish wanted to officially register this arrangement with the municipality, one of the landowners balked.

The church took him to court, but the court ruled on December 20 that the legal customs practised in the 14th century had ceased to be valid when Switzerland reformed its lending sector in the mid-1800s

[Chicog]

A pair of boaters came up with a novel method for putting out a fire after another vessel became engulfed in flames on a lake in New Zealand's South Island

A group of people filmed the blazing boat at the edge of Lake Lyndon and posted the footage online on Thursday.

The footage shows black smoke billowing the small vessel as a man says, "If it goes bang… the fire's going to spread everywhere".

As the group of people onshore continue to panic about how to deal with fire, a sprint boat, a type of racing craft, suddenly appears on the lake heading straight for it.

A man onshore yells "What are you doing!" but seconds later the boaters' plan becomes clear, as they make a sharp turn next to the flaming vessel to shower it with water.

The sprint boaters circle around the lake and continue to splash the other vessel until the flames are put out.

Author: Alys Francis. Approving editor: Nick Pearson.

Source: Haywiredigital

That's pretty cool. Is that one of those Jet boats they are using, that use impellers rather than propellors?

[Ron19]

A pair of boaters came up with a novel method for putting out a fire after another vessel became engulfed in flames on a lake in New Zealand's South Island

A group of people filmed the blazing boat at the edge of Lake Lyndon and posted the footage online on Thursday.

The footage shows black smoke billowing the small vessel as a man says, "If it goes bang… the fire's going to spread everywhere".

As the group of people onshore continue to panic about how to deal with fire, a sprint boat, a type of racing craft, suddenly appears on the lake heading straight for it.

A man onshore yells "What are you doing!" but seconds later the boaters' plan becomes clear, as they make a sharp turn next to the flaming vessel to shower it with water.

The sprint boaters circle around the lake and continue to splash the other vessel until the flames are put out.

Author: Alys Francis. Approving editor: Nick Pearson.

Source: Haywiredigital

That's pretty cool. Is that one of those Jet boats they are using, that use impellers rather than propellors?

I don't know for sure but it certainly looks like one and they are very popular in New Zealand.Just had another look at it and it does sound like a V8 motor which are very common in jet boats. Edited January 9, 2013 by Ron19

[Ron19]

Qantas has dealt with its own "snakes on a plane" drama after passengers spotted a 3m scrub python clinging to the wing of an aircraft mid-flight.

The snake somehow hitched a ride on the Cairns-to-Port Moresby flight yesterday morning.

But unlike the schmaltzy 2006 film Snakes on a Plane, starring Samuel L. Jackson, the reptile posed no threat to any of the 40 passengers or four crew inside the Bombadier 400.

Photos snapped by passengers of the stricken python suggest it was just doing its best to hang on.

The QF191 was about 20 minutes into its 6.15am AEDT flight when a woman passenger spotted the snake on the wing near the famous flying kangaroo logo.

The snake was tucked away under the plane's wing but then the wind caught its tail and dragged it from its hideout.

''I felt quite sad for it, really," Robert Weber, from Cairns, told Fairfax.

"For the remainder of the flight, he was trying to pull himself back into the plane, even though he was fighting against 400km/h winds."

The snake repeatedly tried to haul itself to safety only to be dragged out again by strong winds, which whipped its tail against the rear of the plane, creating a blood trail that looked like a tear in the plane's fuselage.

The snake was also dealing with freezing temperatures of -12C.

"http://youtu.be/yHCePuOvxfM"

It was dead when the plane touched down at Port Moresby at 7.44am AEST.

A Qantas spokesperson said the snake must have taken refuge on the outside of the aircraft at Cairns Airport overnight before takeoff.

Sources: Townsville Bulletin, Sydney Morning Herald

Author: Erin Tennant, Approving editor: Fiona Willan

[kevjohn]

End of the roadhouse for pair who made desert bloom

Date January 12, 2013

Rachel Olding

Crime Reporter

HALFWAY along a dirt road between Coober Pedy and the Simpson Desert, a little sea of shimmering corrugated iron roofs marks the hottest place in Australia.

No one is stupid enough to venture outside during the day in Oodnadatta. The main drag is eerily silent, bar the humming of air-conditioning units. The town's record in 1960 of 50.7 degrees has been inching closer as an unprecedented heatwave continues to grip the country.

Even the birds have capitulated, retreating to the shade of a petrol bowser, and just a few lonely cars head towards the famous intersection of the Oodnadatta Track. But Oodnadatta, with an expected top of 49 degrees on Saturday, is now heading for a crossroads of a different kind.

Lynnie Plate is leaving the tiny community of fewer than 180.

The legendary Pink Roadhouse is for sale and, after 39 years in the mainly indigenous community in northern South Australia, its owner is moving on. Mrs Plate's husband, soul mate and business partner, Adam, was killed in a freak motor-sports accident in August, leaving the town dumbfounded.

As Mrs Plate rushed out of the roadhouse to fly to the crash scene in Adelaide, news spread and she was met at the door by the entire community - in tears.

"I've been their friend, their mother, their sister, their aunty, all of that," she said. "And I'm really blessed because they let me into their lives."

However, the job of mechanic, tour guide, restaurateur, Post Office owner, hotel provider, repairman and unofficial mayor has become too much for one.

Mrs Plate's identical twin, Annie Trevillian, 59, flew to Oodnadatta after Mr Plate's death and has temporarily moved from Canberra to support her sister and help her sell the roadhouse.

Oodnadatta's relaxed folk have become fond of the sight of the two "kindred spirits" giggling and pottering about in matching

sundresses as they continue the monumental task of de-cluttering, packing up and sorting through hundreds of machinery parts, kooky sculptures and pink signs that Mr Plate, an art school dropout from Sydney, and Mrs Plate have amassed since walking through Oodnadatta on a soul-searching trip in 1974.

"It'll be the end of an era," Ms Trevillian said. "Lynnie and Adam are like the town elders. There's no divide between the indigenous and non-indigenous here and they've just brought this town together beautifully."

Life in Oodnadatta after the Pink Roadhouse is uncertain for now. Mr Plate's death and Mrs Plate's imminent departure have left a large void, but the town is also experiencing an increasingly unpredictable and unrelenting environment.

Central Australia has warmed by 1 degree during the past 30 years and this week Oodnadatta broke its own record of consecutive days above 45 degrees with seven sweltering days including 48.2 on Tuesday.

"We are generally seeing our hottest-on-record temperatures being broken more frequently across all Australian states, and that's certainly true for Oodnadatta," said Darren Ray, a senior climatologist at the bureau.

In 30 years, its average January maximum temperature has risen by 0.9 degrees to 38.4 and the average night-time temperature by 1.3 degrees to 23.8.

"It's like a wall of fire when you walk outside at the moment," Mrs Plate said amid 48-degree heat. "But there are still some tough people around. You just learn how to grin and bear it."

Despite headline-making predictions by the bureau, it's unlikely the national record of 50.7 set in 1960 will be matched in coming weeks.

Either way, talk of the relentless heat dominates chatter at the Pink Roadhouse and governs life in the outback town. "We're a bit obsessed about the weather in Oodnadatta," Mrs Plate said.

Work has to be done in the early morning and late afternoon. Petrol can't be pumped when it's more than 45 degrees because it vaporises - and the fridges and freezers melt down completely about twice a year.

The cold water taps send out warm water because the pipes are so hot and rearing cattle becomes a meticulous balancing act with water calculations and constant monitoring.

The roadhouse's Irish backpacker worker, Aisling, has learnt to sleep with wet sheets and the town's two swimming pools are getting a workout.

Since electricity subsidies were cut in some remote communities two years ago, the price of airconditioning in Oodnadatta has risen by 100 per cent, an "untenable and unsustainable" rise, according to the Cooper Pedy Retail, Business and Tourism Association, which says the area now has among the highest power rates in the nation.

"It's a land of no second chances," said a cattle farmer, Douglas Lillecrapp.

"But at other times of year it's beautiful. You've just got to keep your spirits up and wait for the cool change."

There's a red-hot challenge waiting for whoever takes over from Mrs Plate in the engine room of Oodnadatta.

"It'll be a hard act to follow," said Mr Lillecrapp. "But change is a great opportunity."

The Plates resurrected Oodnadatta from near death when the Ghan railway line bypassed the town in 1981. The population waned as drinking and violence spiralled.

They promoted tourism, lobbied for road upgrades, re-named the incoming road the Oodnadatta Track, built a small business to service the growing four-wheel-drive trade and then eventually painted their roadhouse an unmissable pink.

''People like Lynnie and Adam only come around occasionally,'' said a pilot and long-time friend, Trevor Wright.

''They're totally unique and incredibly focused - and the legacy is through the community. I don't think there is a community anywhere in Australia that operates in the same way as Oodna.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.a...0111-2clc3.html

[kevjohn]

Aston Martin celebrates 100 years

JAMIE MERRILL FRIDAY 11 JANUARY 2013

It’s as British as a cup of tea and a digestive biscuit, will forever be associated with James Bond and next week Aston Martin will be 100 year.

To celebrate the official incorporation of the company 100 years ago and to commemorate the historic occasion, the oldest surviving Aston Martin – the 1921 A3 – and a new Vanquish, the brand’s ultimate Grand Tourer, will take their places on 15 January at Henniker Mews in Chelsea – the original home of Aston Martin – where a commemorative plaque will be unveiled.

This year has seen the company in the spotlight, first with its Aston Martin DB5 seeing a return to fame with Daniel Craig in Skyfall and then with the announcement that the Midlands firm had agreed a £150m investment from Investindustrial, hopefully making the long-term future of the firm more secure. Here’s hoping that there’s enough fuel for at least another 100 years of Aston Martin in the tank.

More here: http://www.independe...rs-8448426.html

[Ron19]

International Space Station ( well worth a look )

http://www.youtube.com/embed/doN4t5NKW-k

[kevjohn]

100-year-old photos found in antique camera

http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2013/01/13/16493200-100-year-old-photos-found-in-antique-camera?lite

Edited January 15, 2013 by kevjohn