Daily Archives: April 21, 2011

Earth Day: NASA’s View of Earth


Eyes on the Earth – Click for 3D Animation
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EARTH WATCH – NASA
Off the coast of Argentina, two strong ocean currents recently stirred up a colorful brew of floating nutrients and microscopic plant life just in time for the Southern Hemisphere’s summer solstice. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of a massive phytoplankton bloom off of the Atlantic coast of Patagonia on Dec. 21, 2010.

The current Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite GOES-13 captured this image of Hurricane Danielle heading for the north Atlantic (top center), Hurricane Earl with a visible eye hitting the Leeward Islands (left bottom) and a developing tropical depression 8 (lower right) at 1:45 p.m. EDT on Aug. 30. Image Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project

As the shuttle and the space station began their post-undocking relative separation, Expedition 23 flight engineer Soichi Noguchi photographed the underside of the shuttle over the south end of Isla de Providencia, about 150 miles off the coast of Nicaragua. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred on April 17, 2010, ending the shuttle’s 10-day stay.

This other worldly landscape is actually Dagze Co, one of many inland lakes in Tibet. In glacial times, the region was considerably wetter, and lakes were correspondingly much larger, as evidenced by the numerous fossil shorelines that circle the lake and attest to the presence of a previously larger, deeper lake. Over millennia changes in climate have resulted in greater aridity of the Tibetan Plateau. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

The Lena River, some 2,800 miles long, is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean and is one of the largest rivers in the world. The Lena Delta Wildlife Reserve, a protected wilderness area, provides an important refuge and breeding ground for many species of Siberian wildlife, and is also an important fish spawning site.

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts–Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders–held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. Said Lovell, “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.” They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.

April 22nd: Earth Day the first step in a long journey


EarthBy Tom Mason – The first Earth Day took place in the United States in 1970, in the era of the Kent State Massacre and campus sit-ins. Environmentalists like Rachael Carson, Jacques Cousteau and Jane Goodall were starting to become household names.

“Earth Day was supposed to be a one-day wonder,” says Jed Goldberg, president of Earth Day Canada. “Another excuse for a college sit-in. But it touched a nerve, and 20 million Americans took part.”

Ten steps you can take now

  1. Shop smart: Buy what you need, not what you want, and consider borrowing or renting things you use once in awhile. Think “second hand.”
  2. Save: Use compact florescent light bulbs, low flow faucets and shower heads.
  3. Consider alternative transportation : Municipal transit, bicycles, car share programs and proper car maintenance can have a big impact.
  4. Make sensible food choices: Eat local and organic, and cut down on meat products.
  5. Wash clothes responsibly: Think cold water and air drying.
  6. Heat and cool your home carefully: Set summer air conditioners to around 25°C and winter thermostats to around 20°C. Install programmable thermostats and ceiling fans.
  7. Stay close to home: Vacation, work and shop as close to home as possible.
  8. Think bathroom basics: Take short showers instead of baths and turn off faucets when brushing your teeth.
  9. Clean Carefully: Choose natural, non-toxic cleaners or make your own with things like vinegar, baking soda and water.
  10. Don’t discard: Reuse, recycle or donate instead.

Source: Earth Day Canada

more> http://tinyurl.com/3useg3c

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Designing Systems for Remote Access


By Brad Hegrat and Gregory Wilcox – Machine builders need to first determine if their customer has a remote access policy. Once the policy is in hand, machine builders should determine if it dictates how partners can and cannot access their facility. Before gaining access, machine builders must remember throughout the process that even if they are following the customer’s policies, they don’t own the network. Machine builders need to let customers know what they need access to, as well as how frequently and at what time of the day they need to tap in.

Standard technologies such as EtherNet/IP and remote access servers make machine support capabilities globally available and cost-effective for manufacturers of any size. The ability to keep machines up and running and gather deep insight into their performance regardless of location can result in a significant competitive advantage for both the machine builder and their end customer. more> http://tinyurl.com/3kfhyuk

Lessons from the Credit-Anstalt Collapse


BOOK REVIEW -
The Credit-Anstalt Crisis of 1931, Author: Aurel Schubert
The End of Globalization: Lessons from the Great Depression, Author: Harold James

By Peter Coy – The fall of Credit-Anstalt—and the dominoes it helped topple across Continental Europe and the confidence it shredded as far away as the U.S.—wasn’t just the failure of a bank: It was a failure of civilization.

With weak banking systems still resisting aggressive treatment, it’s worth revisiting Credit-Anstalt to plumb for any applicable lessons. Long before 1931, Credit-Anstalt had begun to develop cracks that were invisible to the public. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire broke up after World War I, the bank continued to do business throughout the old empire without recognizing that the world had changed. Suddenly, more knowledgeable local lenders were getting the best deals, leaving Credit-Anstalt with the loans no one else would touch, says Aurel Schubert, an Austrian economist who wrote a 1991 book on the episode called The Credit-Anstalt Crisis of 1931. (There’s a modern analogy in Greek banks’ unwise loans in Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia.) more> http://tinyurl.com/633oabh

Political rift was tipping point for S&P


U.S. CapitolBy Daniel Bases, Al Yoon and Edith Honan – For the past 928 days, Standard & Poor’s has tracked the relentless deterioration of government finances. On Monday (4/18/11), it made a move that could turn out to be one of its boldest calls yet.

The past five months illustrate just how hard compromise can be. Democrats even when they controlled Congress could not agree on a fiscal 2011 budget. They left it until after the November elections. Talks went to the brink seven times, forcing Congress to pass seven temporary funding measures before they struck a budget deal for fiscal 2011 on April 8 worth $38 billion in cuts. That deal almost fell apart at the last minute when some anti-abortionist Republicans tried to tack on removing some funding for Planned Parenthood – a sign of the ideological issues caught up in the debate. more> http://tinyurl.com/44rln8j

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