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Monday 20 June 2011

Summer Solstice - What you don't know

Summer Solstice - What you don't know
The summer solstice shouldn't come as a surprise. It arrives at pretty much the same time every year. But some of the little-known facts behind and surrounding the solstice are fascinating. First, the basics:
Summer in the Northern Hemisphere will officially arrive on Tuesday at 1:16 p.m. EDT: the June solstice.  At the same time, winter officially begins for the Southern Hemisphere.
At that moment, the sun will reach the point where it is farthest north of the celestial equator. To be more precise, when the summer solstice occurs, the sun will appear to be shining directly overhead at a point on the Tropic of Cancer (latitude 23.5 degrees north) in the Great Bahama Bank, roughly halfway between Andros Island and central Cuba.
Extreme daylight From no point in the contiguous 48 United States can the sun appear directly overhead.  From New York, for instance, at 12:57 p.m. Eastern Time, the sun will attain its highest point in the sky for this entire year, standing 73 degrees above the southern horizon or about four-fifths of the way up from the horizon to the point directly overhead.
And since the sun will appear to describe such a high arc across the sky, the duration of daylight is now at its most extreme.  In fact, north of the Arctic Circle, which encompasses northern Alaska, far-northern Canada and much of Greenland as well as the northernmost parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland, the sun now remains above the horizon for an entire 24-hour day, leading to the effect known as the "midnight sun."
However, contrary to popular belief, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset do not coincide with the summer solstice.  For mid-northern latitudes, the earliest sunrise actually occurred on June 14, while the latest sunset is not due until June 27.
Hotter weather If the insolation — the total energy received from the sun — alone governed the temperature, we should be experiencing the year’s hottest weather right now. 

But the atmosphere in temperate regions continues to receive more heat than it gives up to space, a situation that lasts a month or more, depending on the latitude. Though it depends on the local climate, most locations see the hottest part of the year occurring in late July.  A reverse process occurs after the winter solstice in December; most places see their coldest weather in late January. 
The solar heating depends directly on the sun's altitude in the sky, which also controls its daily path and the number of hours the sun is above the horizon. As an example, although on April 12 the insolation is the same as on Aug. 31, thanks to the seasonal temperature lag, the northern and central United States can still experience a freeze at the former date, or endure a 90-degree heat wave at the latter. 
Armistice
Just as the word "armistice" is defined as a staying of the action of arms, "solstice" is a staying of the sun's apparent motion over the latitudes of the Earth.
At the summer solstice, the sun stops its northward motion and begins heading south.  At the winter solstice, it turns north.
So technically on Tuesday, even at 17:17 UT, the sun will have turned around and started on its six-month journey south.  It will cross the equator at the autumnal equinox, passing into the Southern Hemisphere on Sept. 23, at 9:05 UT.

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Vancouver Canucks fans set cars ablaze, fling bottles after loss

Vancouver Canucks fans set cars ablaze, fling bottles after loss Stanley cup riot

VANCOUVER—Furious Canucks fans are running riot in downtown Vancouver after their Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup final.
Eyewitnesses say at least two parked cars have been set ablaze, while others have been tipped over.
Pandemonium reigned in the streets, which were strewn with garbage and filled with acrid smoke.
Some fans were seen flinging beer bottles at the giant television screens in the immediate aftermath of the 4-0 loss.
Others chanted obscenities and leaped over raging bonfires as riot police moved in to try to restore order.
The chaos is eerily reminiscent of a similar riot that erupted in the city in 1994 following a similar Cup loss to the New York Rangers.

Saturday 11 June 2011

Weiner's Messages With Teen

Weiner's Messages With TeenIn the latest chapter of Weinergate, the New York congressman admitted to sending messages to a 17-year-old girl , but said they were "neither explicit or indecent." After Rep. Weiner spoke to the girl's school group in Washington, she started following him on Twitter and posted a public message complimenting his speech. He then in turn began following her on Twitter, referencing her career goals in a message that read, "How hip am I to be talking to a future president." Conservatives monitoring his activity sent both Weiner and the girl chiding messages, prompting the congressman to write her an apologetic message and remove her from the list of people he followed. But communication picked up again about a month later and they exchanged three private messages. After she posted a link on YouTube of one of his speeches with the message, "My true love," he wrote her a private response and likened himself to a superhero
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today that Philadelphia lawyer Daniel P. McElhatton, who represents the girl's family, issued a statement saying: "The 'Tweets' in question between the student in question and the Congressman were not salacious or in any manner inappropriate. No photographers were ever sent to her or from her."
New Castle police also said that their investigation thus far has turned up no wrongdoing on Weiner's part.
"The teen has been interviewed and disclosed no information regarding any criminal activity," New Castle County police spokeswoman Officer Tracey Duffy said.
She said she did not know what prompted the investigation, but said it was continuing.
The girl's mother also told the New York Post there was nothing obscene in the two communications Weiner sent her daughter.

Friday 10 June 2011

LeBron James Will Mentally Dump Girlfriend

LeBron James has been pathetic in the fourth quarter of the NBA Finals. Rumors have recently emerged that Washington Wizards star Rashard Lewis recently slept with James’ girlfriend Savannah Brinson

Of course, the series is not over. The Heat head back to Miami down 3-2, but still have an opportunity to win a ring.
With Dwyane Wade’s hip a cause for concern, James needs to prove to the world he is mentally tough enough to put the team on his shoulders with the game on the line. He did it against Boston and Chicago, and I have a hard time believing the lights are too bright for the King.
James, my favorite and most talented player in the NBA, has never been one to deny drama. Despite the rumors, Dirk Nowitzki mockery and late-game disappearing acts, James has everybody right where he wants them.
He is ready to take flight and take his Championship ring.
LeBron knows his time is now and although the ring has eluded him thus far, he still has a great chance to take what is rightfully his. The two-time MVP needs the Championship this season to solidify his greatness—and he will erupt in Game 6 back at home with his fans on his side.
The crowd will be electric, just how the King likes it. He will play up to his animalistic side to please the fans as he bull rushes his way to the hoop. Not a single man on the Mavericks can truly guard the King. He is a force of destruction on both sides of the court. He seemed to forget that in Dallas—but heading back home, the storybook ending will be written by the King.
Forget the princess, the true love of his life is basketball and he’s going to show everyone why he reigns supreme in his court.
The man we saw in the Chicago and Boston series is ready to re-emerge following his triple-double. Checkmate by Dallas? I don't think so. This is far from over, the King will not go down easily.
Search Amazon.com for LeBron James 

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Solar Flare 2011 Images

A solar flare erupted from the sun in an impressive display captured by NASA cameras, but scientists say the medium-size event will have a minimal impact, if any, on earth.
The flare peaked early Tuesday and created a large cloud that appeared to cover almost half the surface of the sun, NASA said. A cloud of charged particles erupted from the sun’s outer atmosphere and was expected to pass by earth late yesterday or early today, causing a minor disruption to earth’s magnetic field, according to the National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo.

“This wasn’t really such a big event,’’ said Michael Hesse, chief of the space weather laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “It was spectacular to watch, but not big in terms of hazards to the earth.’’

The cloud may cause brief interruptions to high-frequency radio communications, said Joe Kunches, a space scientist at the weather prediction center. Global positioning devices also may make tiny errors, he said.

The aurora borealis also may be more visible today or tomorrow night, he said.

Images of the flare were recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, an orbiting satellite. The photos and video were the most spectacular that the satellite has captured since its launch last year

Friday 3 June 2011

Mitt Romney’s Road To 2012 Begins

Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and the Granite State. Is New Hampshire big enough for the both of them?
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, plans to officially open his second White House bid at noon today at Bittersweet Farm in Stratham, NH, declaring that “Barack Obama has failed America.”
“Government under President Obama has grown to consume almost 40 percent of our economy. We are only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy,” Romney plans to say, according to excerpts of his remarks prepared for delivery. “I will insist that Washington learns to respect the Constitution, including the 10th amendment. We will return responsibility and authority to the states for dozens of government programs -- and that begins with a complete repeal of Obamacare. From my first day in office my number one job will be to see that America once again is number one in job creation.”
Still, despite his best efforts, Romney won’t be able to escape questions about his rationale for repealing “Obamacare” after having passed “Romneycare” several years earlier in Massachusetts. ABC’s John Berman will sit down with Romney today in New Hampshire to talk to the newly-minted candidate about his 2012 strategy.
By all objective measures, he’s the frontrunner. He'll have the most money -- recall his $10 million-plus take at a Las Vegas dialing-for-dollars event last month as well as his aggressive courting of well-heeled donors across the country.
He's on top in national polls, he's way ahead in New Hampshire, and yet most of the punditocracy has already decided that former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the guy who barely registers in the polls and has not yet proven his fundraiser mettle, may have an even better shot at winning the nomination this time around.
This may actually be a good thing for Romney. Pawlenty has yet to endure the sort of probing that comes with being in the front of the pack. Maybe he does well. Maybe he doesn't. But, it does level the playing field. Instead of Mitt Romney running against himself and his record, he will now be able to compare and contrast himself with someone else.
And speaking of contrast, Romney won’t have New Hampshire all to himself today. The state’s Union-Leader newspaper reported that Sarah Palin has decided to hold a clambake tonight in the Seacoast area of the state. It’s just another stop on her “One Nation” bus tour of the East Coast. Palin, who has been swarmed with attention throughout her excursion this week may just be hoping to steal some of the spotlight from Romney -- and she will.
Also in the Granite State: former Romney rival, Rudy Giuliani, who is said to be seriously considering another try for the Republican nomination this year. Giuliani is making several stops around the state, and will headline a New Hampshire GOP fundraiser tonight.
LOOK AHEAD: JOBS NUMBERS. Former George W. Bush White House and John McCain campaign veteran Matt McDonald, now a partner at the Washington, DC-based consulting firm, Hamilton Place Strategies, has crunched the numbers and they don’t look great for President Obama ahead of tomorrow’s jobs report. He writes that last month’s mixed jobs numbers seem “to have foreshadowed the weak numbers that we have seen over the past several weeks, with jobless claims back above 400,000 per week, continued decline in housing, slowing growth in manufacturing, and most notably anemic GDP growth of just 1.8 percent during the first quarter. … The bad news looks set to continue with this week’s job report.  [The] consensus for Friday’s job report, according to a Bloomberg survey, is an increase of 175,000 jobs. For the unemployment rate to fall below 8 percent by Election Day, the economy needs to create 209,000 jobs per month going forward. This is a significant increase from last month, and represents a steeper climb for the President’s reelection campaign.”

Best Jokes About Anthony Weiner's Twitter Scandal

"Congressman Weiner's Twitter account was hacked 'allegedly,' and someone texted a picture of his 'junior senator' to a college girl. Now this is good news for me because I can Google 'weiner photos' at work and not get fired." —Craig Ferguson

"I'm not certain of a lot of things. But there are three things in this world that I know for certain: Empire Strikes Back is the best Star Wars movie. OJ killed those people. And what my erect penis looks like in my own underwear from a bird's-eye view." —Jon Stewart, on Rep. Anthony Weiner's claim that he 'can't say with certitude' whether a photo posted on his Twitter account of a man wearing just boxer shorts was actually him

"I see only two options here: Either Anthony Weiner has too many photos of his junk to keep track of, or 'Certitiude' is his nickname for his penis." —Stephen Colbert

"In real life, in my memory, this guy had a lot more 'Anthony' and a lot less 'Weiner.' ... "The only thing they have in common is that they both lean to the extreme left!" —Jon Stewart, on allegations that Rep. Anthony Weiner, a former housemate of Stewart's, sent out a crotch photo from his Twitter account

"If I was Anthony Weiner, I'd blame this all on Brett Favre." —Jimmy Kimmel

Did Anthony Weiner Tweet a Picture of His Weiner

Did liberal hero and would-be Mayor of New York Rep. Anthony Weiner (D - N.Y.) Tweet a picture of his own, underwear-clad erection last night? Conservative bloggers sure seem to hope so!

The pic, according to BigGovernment.com writer "Publius", was posted last night to Weiner's official account on yFrog, the Twitter picture service, and sent out on his Twitter feed. It was apparently quickly deleted, but not before Publius grabbed what he says is a screenshot of the yFrog page.

Weiner (pictured above with his wife, Huma Abedin, and the only other man in Congress whose name would make a sex scandal twice as fun) quickly Tweeted that his Facebook was hacked, which — even though the picture was, as far as we can tell, not posted to Facebook — seems to be a reference to the dickshot Tweet; today, he Tweeted "Touche Prof Moriarity. More Weiner Jokes for all my guests! #Hacked!" Stranger things have happened, we suppose!

But conservative bloggers are positive that the picture is evidence that Weiner is having an affair, and doing their best to track down the woman to whom the Tweet was addressed — they seem to think she's a journalism student in Seattle who once referred to Weiner as "her boyfriend" on Twitter. (Needless to say, many men and women refer to Anthony Weiner as their boyfriend., we suppose.) She's since deleted her Twitter, and what's purported to be her Facebook account, maybe because she was exposed as Weiner's mistress, or maybe because she or a friend was responsible for the hack.

Of course, all caveats regarding Andrew Breitbart's accuracy-challenged Big Government apply — but Weiner seems to be acknowledging that the pic was posted, even if it was a hack, as he claims.