Space Construction (7)

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SPACE WATCH (history) · Shuttle and Station · 360° Virtual Tour

View from Shuttle Atlantis, STS-98-3
NASA – STS098-312-0020 (16 February 2001) — Backdropped against the blackness of space, the International Space Station (ISS)was photographed with a 35mm camera by one of the astronauts onboard Atlantis. The crew of the station, onboard the outpost since early November 2000, is made up of astronaut William M. (Bill) Shepherd, mission commander; Yuri P. Gidzenko, Soyuz commander; and Sergei K. Krikalev, flight engineer. Krikalev and Gidzenko represent the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. On Atlantis were astronauts Kenneth D. Cockrell, mission commander; Mark L. Polansky, pilot; and Marsha S. Ivins, Robert L. Curbeam and Thomas D. Jones, all mission specialists. The shuttle and the station parted company at 8:06 a.m. (CST), Feb. 16, as Polansky flew the shuttle halfway around the outpost and its new Destiny laboratory before moving off.

View from Shuttle Atlantis, STS-98-4
STS098-713a-004 (16 February 2001) — With its new Destiny laboratory contrasted over a blue and white Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) was photographed by one of the STS-98 crew members aboard Atlantis following separation of the shuttle and the outpost at the end of several days of joint activities. The crews of Atlantis and the station parted company at 8:06 a.m. (CST), Feb. 16, as astronaut Mark L. Polansky, pilot, flew the shuttle halfway around the outpost and its new Destiny laboratory before moving off.

View from Shuttle Discovery, STS-102
STS102-E-5345 (18 March 2001) — The International Space Station (ISS) backdropped against black space above Earth’s horizon was photographed with a digital still camera from the Space Shuttle Discovery on March 18, 2001. It is a standard practice for the shuttle to make a final fly-around of the outpost following unlinking from it. A new crew comprised of cosmonaut Yury V. Usachev and astronauts James S. Voss and Susan J. Helms will spend several months aboard the station.

View from Shuttle Discovery, STS-102-2
STS102-E-5350 (18 March 2001) — The International Space Station (ISS) backdropped against black space was photographed with a digital still camera from the Space Shuttle Discovery on March 18, 2001. It is a standard practice for the shuttle to make a final fly-around of the outpost following unlinking from it. A new crew comprised of cosmonaut Yury V. Usachev and astronauts James S. Voss and Susan J. Helms will spend several months aboard the station.

Papandreou Is Right to Let the Greeks Decide

By Sven Böll – Regardless how the referendum’s question is eventually worded, the Greeks will be voting on whether their country will remain in the euro zone or leave the single currency. The government could ask its citizens a very direct question: “Do you want to continue using the euro or go back to the drachma?”

the biggest fear of the other euro-zone members was that Greece would say goodbye to the currency. The formula for European apocalypse goes something like this: First Greece drops out, then Portugal and Spain fall, and then Italy pushes the single currency over the cliff. If they’re lucky, all that will remain is a northern European euro mini-zone.

No question, this danger exists if the Greeks say no to Brussels‘ decisions. Nevertheless, his decision is correct for several reasons. more> http://is.gd/Z90IPa

Related articles

• Greece Bailout Referendum: Papandreou Move Upsets Country (time.com)
• Greek referendum: Papandreou’s gamble could pay off (guardian.co.uk)
• Debt crisis: Greek PM wins cabinet support for EU bailout referendum (telegraph.co.uk)
• Greek Bailout Referendum Sparks Outrage (foxbusiness.com)
• Germans Urge Greece to Avoid “No” Vote Disaster (usnews.com)
• German minister says no going back on Greek bailout, Andrew Bowen, Deutsche Welle
• George Papandreou: an all too final stand, Editorial, guardian.co.uk
• A Greek Bearing Rifts: Papandreou’s Referendum Seems to Please No One but Himself, Joanna Kakissis, TIME
• France, Germany demand Greek decision on euro, Emmanuel Jarry and Dina Kyriakidou, Reuters
• Analysis: Baltic experiment has lessons for euro zone, Sebastian Tong, Reuters

The miseducation of American dreamers

By Michael M. Crow – No one deliberately designed an economy in which these core drivers of success—innovation and technological advancements, manifested through new business formation and investment—push people off their farms, offshore their jobs and drive wages down in many sectors. Unfortunately, these have been the unintended consequences. more> http://is.gd/t6aaPc

3D Printing & Prototyping Takes Off

SLIDE SHOW(20)
By Beth Stackpole – The first 3D printers platforms primarily served as rapid prototyping machines, used judiciously to build late-stage mock-ups of parts and, in some cases, manufacture full product designs.

A recent wave of home printers and service bureaus are opening up the technology to “makers” and consumers who want to flex their creative muscles, prototyping everything from food and fashion to artificial limbs. more> http://is.gd/165Fog

Related articles

• 52 Innovations in 3D Printing – From Neon 3D Printable Accessories to 3D Printed Fossils (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com)
• 3D Printing Community to Crowdsource Saving a Species (shareable.net)
• Catastrophe Becomes Art With 3D Printing (pcworld.com)
• British Artist Remakes Nine Minutes of Japan’s Destruction as Something Beautiful [Video] (gizmodo.com)
• Bigger than the internet – 3D Printing (startupblog.wordpress.com)

The Sell Side Of Investment Banking Slowly Being Dismantled

By Kenneth Rapoza – Two hundred and fifty years ago, the company started out in the boring sugar trade, acting essentially as a middle man selling sugar from the source to the king of England. It survived stock market crashes and two World Wars. But it didn’t survive leverage and the European sovereign debt crisis. It’s one thing to buy bonds for $900 that end up being worth $700. It’s another thing to borrow 10 times the value of those bonds in order to buy them in the first place.

While Main Street investors with a home brokerage account can buy on 1.5x margin, often required to deposit at least 50% of the price of the asset, investment banks were easily 40 times leveraged, borrowing on top of assets based on another asset based on another asset until it all gets to a point like it did in 2008. more> http://is.gd/oG4tzi