Luke_Wilbur

When a gigantic star blows up, astronomers call it a "supernova." Over the past 100 years, astronomers have observed thousands of these explosions. But in every case, they were seeing the star after the explosion took place. They were seeing the hot debris from the explosion racing outward. It would be like seeing fireworks a few seconds after they go off, when the colorful lights are shooting away from the puff of smoke that mark the locations of the actual explosion. Now, thanks to NASA’s Swift satellite, astronomers have seen a star actually blow up. The discovery is due to Swift’s capabilities and some alert astronomers, but also a bit of good luck. On January 9, 2008, Alicia Soderberg and Edo Berger of Princeton University, in Princeton, N.J., were using Swift’s X-ray Telescope to observe a distant spiral-shaped galaxy known as NGC 2770. Suddenly, at 9:33 in the morning Eastern Time, the telescope picked up a powerful burst of X-rays coming from the galaxy. The burst lasted 5 minutes before it faded away. Astronomers were fortunate that Swift happened to be looking at the right place at the right time when the burst occurred, but the great French biologist Louis Pasteur once said, "Chance favors the prepared mind." Soderberg and Berger immediately realized that Swift had made an important observation, so they quickly organized a plan to use telescopes in space and on Earth to follow-up Swift’s discovery. Over the next few weeks, observations made by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, along with Swift and other major telescopes, showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that the January 9 X-ray burst signaled the actual explosion of a giant star. For the first time, astronomers had seen a star blow up in real time! The X-rays were due to a powerful blast wave bursting through the star’s outer layers, and blowing it to “Kingdom Come.” The blast wave itself was triggered deep inside the star, when the nuclear engine at the center ran out of fuel and collapsed. For decades, astronomers have been hoping to see such an explosion. And now, for the first time, they have actually seen what happens when a star goes supernova. "For years we have dreamed of seeing a star just as it was exploding, but actually finding one is a once in a lifetime event," says Soderberg." This newly born supernova is going to be the Rosetta stone of supernova studies for years to come." "It was a gift of nature for Swift to be observing that patch of sky when the supernova exploded. But thanks to Swift's flexibility, we have been able to trace its evolution in detail every day since," adds Swift lead scientist Neil Gehrels of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The Phoenix Mars Lander, which launched in August 2007, is the first project in NASA's Mars Scout missions. The mission's plan is to land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Phoenix is slated to land on the Red Planet on Sunday, May 25, 2008. You can watch the landing on NASA TV by clicking: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/inde...ml?param=public Overview Mars is a cold desert planet with no liquid water on its surface. But in the Martian arctic, water ice lurks just below ground level. Discoveries made by the Mars Odyssey Orbiter in 2002 show large amounts of subsurface water ice in the northern arctic plain. The Phoenix lander targets this circumpolar region using a robotic arm to dig through the protective top soil layer to the water ice below and ultimately, to bring both soil and water ice to the lander platform for sophisticated scientific analysis. The spacecraft and its instruments are designed to analyze samples collected from up to a half-meter (20 inches) deep using its robotic arm. The arm extends forward in this artist's concept of the lander on Mars. Phoenix Landing Events Schedule NOTE: The times below for the Phoenix spacecraft events on May 25 are for a nominal scenario. Remaining navigational adjustments before May 25 could shift the times by up to about half a minute. In addition, the times for some events relative to others could vary by several seconds due to variations in the Martian atmosphere and other factors. For some events, a "give or take" range of times is given, covering 99 percent of possible scenarios from the atmospheric entry time. For events at Mars, times are listed in "Earth-receive time" (ERT) rather than "spacecraft event time" (SCET). This means the listed time incorporates the interval necessary for radio signals traveling at the speed of light to reach Earth from Mars. On landing day, May 25, the two planets are 275 million kilometers apart (171 million miles), which means it takes the signal 15 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth. For some spacecraft events, engineers will not receive immediate radio confirmation. -- Trajectory correction maneuver opportunity (TCM6X), 8:46 a.m. -- News briefing, noon -- Begin non-commentary live television feed from JPL control room, 3 p.m. -- Begin commentated live television feed from JPL control room, 3:30 p.m. -- Propulsion system pressurization, 4:16 p.m. -- Begin "bent-pipe" relay relay (continuous transmission of Phoenix data as it is received) through NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft to Goldstone, Calif., Deep Space Network station, 4:38 p.m. -- Green Bank, W. Va., radio telescope listening for direct UHF from Phoenix, 4:38 p.m. -- Cruise stage separates, 4:39 p.m. -- Spacecraft turns to attitude for atmospheric entry, 4:40 p.m. -- Spacecraft enters atmosphere, 4:46:33 p.m. -- Likely blackout period as hot plasma surrounds spacecraft, 4:47 through 4:49 p.m. -- Parachute deploys, 4:50:15 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds. -- Heat shield jettisoned, 4:50:30 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds. -- Legs deploy, 4:50:40 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds. - - Radar activated, 4:51:30 p.m. -- Lander separates from backshell, 4:53:09 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Transmission gap during switch to helix antenna 4:53:08 to 4:53:14 p.m. -- Descent thrusters throttle up, 4:53:12 p.m. -- Constant-velocity phase starts, 4:53:34 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Touchdown, 4:53:52 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Lander radio off 4:54:52 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Begin opening solar arrays (during radio silence) 5:13 p.m. -- Begin NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter playback of Phoenix transmissions recorded during entry, descent and landing, 5:28 p.m. However, data for analysis will not be ready until several hours later. -- Begin Europe's Mars Express spacecraft playback of Phoenix transmissions recorded during entry, descent and landing, 5:30 p.m. However, data for analysis will not be ready until several hours later. -- Post-landing poll of subsystem teams about spacecraft status, 5:30 p.m. -- Mars Odyssey "bent-pipe" relay of transmission from Phoenix, with engineering data and possibly including first images, 6:43 to 7:02 p.m. Data could take up to about 30 additional minutes in pipeline before being accessible. If all goes well, live television feed from control room may show first images as they are received. The first images to be taken after landing will be of solar arrays, to check deployment status. -- News briefing, 9 p.m. Monday, May 26 -- News briefing, 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 27, through Friday, May 30 Daily news briefings at 11 a.m. Anticipated pace of Mars surface operations -- If operations proceed relatively smoothly, the first eight to 10 days after landing will be a "characterization phase" of checking out and understanding the performance of the spacecraft's power and thermal systems, as well as the robotic arm and other instruments. -- At the end of the characterization phase (date tba), the first sample of surface soil will be delivered to the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer onboard Phoenix. -- Analysis of soil from the surface in both the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer and in the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer will likely take 10 to 15 days if all processes go well. After that, each additional sampling cycle will reach a deeper subsurface level, in increments of about two to three centimeters. At each different layer, collecting and analyzing samples is expected to take 10 to 15 days, barring operational difficulties. -- How soon the digging reaches the expected icy layer will depend on how far below the surface that layer lies. Estimates in advance of landing range from two to five centimeters. If the ice is at the deeper end of that range, the first analysis of an icy sample could be in July or later. In the continental United States, NASA Television's Public, Education and Media channels are carried by MPEG-2 digital C-band signal on AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, Transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. They're available in Alaska and Hawaii on an MPEG-2 digital C-band signal accessed via satellite AMC-7, transponder 18C, 137 degrees west longitude, 4060 MHz, vertical polarization. A Digital Video Broadcast compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder is required for reception. Analog NASA TV is no longer available.

The nation’s Hispanic population increased 1.4 million to reach 45.5 million on July 1, 2007, or 15.1 percent of the estimated total U.S. population of 301.6 million. National and state estimates by race, Hispanic origin, sex and age released today by the U.S. Census Bureau also show that the Hispanic population exceeded 500,000 in 16 states. Hispanics remained the largest minority group, with blacks (single race or multiracial) second at 40.7 million in 2007. The black population exceeded 500,000 in 20 states. Blacks were the largest minority group in 24 states, compared with 20 states in which Hispanics were the largest minority group. California (13.2 million) had the largest Hispanic population of any state as of July 1, 2007, followed by Texas (8.6 million) and Florida (3.8 million). Texas had the largest numerical increase between 2006 and 2007 (308,000), followed by California (268,000) and Florida (131,000). In New Mexico, Hispanics comprised the highest proportion of the total population (44 percent), with California and Texas (36 percent each) next in line. The Hispanic population in 2007 had a median age of 27.6, compared with the population as a whole at 36.6. Almost 34 percent of the Hispanic population was younger than 18, compared with 25 percent of the total population. Robert Bernstein Public Information Office 301-763-3030/3762 (fax) 301-457-1037 (TDD)

It looks like Clinton is going to blowout Obama in Kentucky and Obama will take Oregon. Only one-third of Clinton Supporters in Kentucky said they would vote for Obama if he wins the nomination, while 41 percent said they would vote for Republican John McCain, 23 percent said they would stay home, and 3 percent said they would support other candidates. Hillary has done better with more conservative voters, Barack with those who are more liberal. Senator Barack Obama hasn’t publicly said he’s writing off Kentucky, the way he did in West Virginia. But his efforts here have been less than maximum. He made a couple of stops in Louisville and his wife is making last minute swings around the state. Obama has concentrated his efforts on Oregon, where he turned out nearly 80,000 people at one weekend rally.

For the District Bell Multicultural is ranked 76 Woodrow Wilson is ranked 129 Banneker is ranked is ranked 149 Virginia H-B Woodlawn is ranked 16 Langley is ranked 55 George Mason is ranked 58 Washington-Lee is ranked 64 You can find how you specific school did by going to http://www.newsweek.com/highschools/?q=2008/state/1/

Hey Buddy, The Nationals are on a roll. Finally

I liked his Ignition Remix.

He is going to have a hard battle. He is in my prayers.

I wanted to report 21 T Street NE. The yard is a jungle full of poisen ivy and its spreading all over the place.

I asked Nader and all the candidates what is their stance on Executive Privilege. Obama's camp was the only one that replied. I wish Nader and McCain would give their position.

I thought the history of Amen was quite interesting. And after researching what was posted I somehow found a connection to Nebsoni, the scribe mentioned in the Book of the Dead. But, I am not sold on the Moses being either Thurmose III or Senenmut. Also, how is this symbology connected to Nostradamus? I do not think that Thumose III was Moses. His mummy was discovered in the Deir el-Bahri Cache above the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut in 1881. Katalin Kreszthelyi of Hungary suggested that a Unknown Man C mummy found in the Deir el Bahri Cache was Senenmut. The mummy had been treated in the exact same manner as kings of the 18th Dynasty. Others believe that the Unknown Man C was the high and scribe Nebseni (also known as Nibsoni). His name is mentioned in the papyrus of Ani. I found little information about Nibsoni on the web. But, I did find a book "Guide to the Cairo Museum" By Cairo (Egypt).bal-Matḥaf al-Miṣrī, Matḥaf al-Miṣrī, Gaston Maspero, Pirie Quibell As a high priest Nibsoni job was to take care of the gods and their needs and serve political advisor to the Pharaoh.

DUBAILAND DUBAILAND the world’s most ambitious Leisure, Tourism and Entertainment destination with over 3 Billion square feet of world class theme Parks, Culture, well being, Sports, Shopping, Hospitality and Entertainment set to launch its first phase in December 2010. A number of DUBAILAND projects are currently up and running including Al Sahra Resort, Dubai Sports City and the Dubai Autodrome, with a host of other projects currently in their final stages to be underway very soon. Dubai Holding, announced a strategic alliance with US-based Six Flags Inc. (NYSE: SIX), the world's largest theme park company, to develop Six Flags DUBAILAND, a five million square feet multi-billion dirham theme park within the world’s largest tourism, leisure and entertainment destination. The first Six Flags project to be developed outside of North America, the theme park comes as part of Tatweer’s tactical contribution to Dubai Strategic Plan 2015, which aims to develop the emirate into a leading global hub for tourism and leisure. Featuring its signature line-up of thrill and themed adventure rides and attractions, Six Flags DUBAILAND will boast world renowned entertainment franchises such as the children's musical group Wiggles and professional skateboarder Tony Hawk. Dubai Holding has formed a strategic alliance with US-based DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (NYSE: DWA) to develop the world’s first DreamWorks Animation branded theme park in Dubai. The outlay at the 5 million sq feet theme park project is a multi-billion AED investment. The venture will bring to life the much-loved characters from DreamWorks Animation films, including Shrek, the upcoming Kung Fu Panda and several others, to create adventures and attractions in a first of its kind development for the studio. The Tiger Woods Dubai, broke ground on its private residential golf community and resort that will include Al Ruwaya, the world’s first golf course designed by Tiger Woods, the world’s leading golfer. Surrounding Al Ruwaya’s golf course will be a professionally staffed golf academy; an iconic clubhouse; a suite boutique hotel with private bungalows; a well-being spa; a fine-dining restaurant; high-end luxury residences and relevant upscale community services for residents and guests. The unique desert course will feature streams and over 100 feet of elevation change throughout. http://www.dubailand.ae/project_details.html

THE HYDROPOLIS The Hydropolis Underwater Hotel and Resort is a planned hotel which will be the world's first underwater luxury resort. It's situated 66 feet below the surface of the Persian Gulf, just off Jumeira Beach in Dubai. Reinforced by concrete and steel, its Plexiglas walls and bubble-shaped dome ceilings will enable guests to see fish and other sea creatures. It is basically divided into three sections: the land station, where guests will be welcomed; the connecting tunnel, which will transport people by train to the main area of the hotel; and the 220 suites within the submarine leisure complex. It will cover an area of 260 hectares, about the size of London's Hyde Park, and will cost an estimated £300 million. It is self-acclaimed to be a 10-star hotel. http://www.crescent-hydropolis.com/

THE WORLD The World is a man-made archipelago of 300 islands constructed in the shape of a world map and located 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The World is one of several artificial island projects being constructed in Dubai, others being the Palm Islands. Like the other artificial island projects, The World is built primarily using sand dredged from the sea. It was developed by Nakheel Properties and was originally conceived by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai. Each island in the archipelago ranges from about 14,000 m² (150,000 square feet) to 42,000 m² (450,000 square feet). The distance between each island will be an average of 100 metres (328 feet). The entire development covers an area of 9 km in length and 6 km in width, surrounded by an oval breakwater. Roughly 232 km (144 miles) of shoreline has been created. The overall development cost of The World was estimated as 14 billion USD. As for the individual islands, prices range between 15 and 50 million USD. One island is still for sale at a price of 250 million USD. Nakheel places last rock on breakwater to finalize first phase of development Nakheel laid the final stone on the breakwater for The World. The last rock was one of 34 million tonnes of rock that were used to construct the 27 km breakwater which surrounds the 300 man-made islands that make up The World. The World team was on hand as the last rock was placed at 8:00am this morning by Director Hamza Mustafa. This historic moment marked the completion of the first phase of one of Dubai's most talked about landmarks, which included land reclamation requiring 320 million cubic meters of sand dredged from the sea and the creation of the breakwater that surrounds the 9km wide and 7kms long island destination. The next phase involves handing over islands to developers for construction and building of infrastructure. http://www.theworld.ae

A building boom in the emirate has led to a whole host of chart breakers, in categories including highest apartment, biggest mall, and one of the world's most unique resorts. PALM ISLANDS The Palm Islands are artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on which major commercial and residential infrastructure will be constructed. The islands are the largest land reclamation projects in the world and will result in the world's largest artificial islands. They are being constructed by Nakheel Properties, a property developer in the United Arab Emirates, who hired the Dutch dredging and marine contractor Van Oord, one of the world's specialists in land reclamation. The islands are The Palm Jumeirah, The Palm Jebel Ali and The Palm Deira. Many know The Palm as an international icon, but few realise it was created help solve Dubai's beach shortage. The Ruler of Dubai drew a sketch of a palm tree, realising its fronds would provide more beach frontage than a traditional circular island. From this insight, the idea of The Palm was born and the trilogy of islands envisioned. Nakheel - the world’s largest privately-held property developer - has reiterated its commitment to helping to make Dubai and the Middle East a global yachting destination.Nakheel and Cirque du Soleil will jointly design and build a 1,800-seat theatre on The Palm Jumeirah that will be home to the first ever Cirque resident show to be staged outside of the USA and Japan. The two companies have signed an initial 15-year deal with the new show expected to open during the last quarter of 2010. http://www.thepalm.ae/

Mover of Disney, Dubailand is a massive new theme park being built in Dubia, United Arab Emirates. Dubailand is the vision of Dubai's current ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The development is expected to be a full featured city divided into seven theme worlds. The short range goal of the Dubailand is to attract 15 million tourists to Dubai by 2010. Developers expect to accomplish this goal by creating a tourism, entertainment, and leisure destination that will attract visitors not only from surrounding countries but also from Europe and Asia. The venture is expected to attract approximately 200,000 visitors daily and cost $20 billion. Many believe Dubailand is a long-term plan to phase out the city's dependence on oil revenues, though 95% of Dubai's annual GDP comes from non-oil sectors such as tourism. When complete the project will be five times the size of Manhattan and include multiple parks. Themed attractions will include Universal Studios, Dreamworks Animation, Legoland, Six Flags, SeaWorld, Aquatica, Discovery Cove, and Busch Gardens. It's rumored that money is no object on these projects. It's no wonder Disney is having problems finding enough talent to revamp their California Adventure. Who likes being on billion dollar budget? Will Dubia be the new family vacation mecca? I am sure Dan "the Man" Snyder will make some serious money off the deal. http://www.dubailand.ae/

I really take offense to that comment. West Virginians are the most resourceful people that I have ever met. They have been kind and show me how to take care of things. I have a friend that may not be cash rich, but he owns land and is building his home with his own hands. When you speak out of ignorance it frames you as a thoughtless individual that speaks only by his emotions.

While most of us sit in front of screens typing and searching, Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader still types out his prose on a manual Underwood typewriter. On Monday, Mr. Underwood traveled to Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. Nader is not easily dazzled by technological wonders. Throughout his career, Nader has confronted head-on the downside of nuclear, automobile, genetic engineering and other industrial advances. And now he's questioning the enormous amount of time we spend in front of our computers. Has Google and the information revolution that it leads made our society better? Or is it just another mass diversion from the reality of the corporate takeover of our democracy? At Googleland, Nader took questions for an hour. And then sat down for an eight-minute interview with Youtube. Nader/Gonzalez is confronting head-on the reality of the corporate takeover of our democracy. Watch the Video

With votes from 12 percent of West Virginia's precincts counted, she was winning 61 percent of the vote, to 33 percent for Obama. Obama conceded defeat in advance, but was looking ahead to the Oregon primary next week The Mountain State is used to picking winners. Every nominee has carried the state’s primary since 1976, and no Democrat has won the White House without winning West Virginia since 1916. Democrats carried West Virginia in 1992 and 1996, but lost the state—and the White House--in 2000 and 2004. Hillary has predicted victory against Sen. McCain in West Virginia based on the strength of her economic message. Barely a third of Clinton supporters say they'd vote for Obama over McCain, indicating a major divide provoked by the nomination fight that's yet to heal. Here is Hillary's Victory Speech.

Do you think a Mccain/Huckabee ticket would have a certain appeal to conservative Republicans?

Here is a map of worldwide earthquakes with M4.0+ located by USGS and Contributing Agencies. (Earthquakes with M2.5+ within the United States and adjacent areas.) More info can be found here: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/

I really like the sound. Karmina is really polished.

Here are the Current Gas Prices for Washington DC Metropolitan area. $3.739 Regular Gas $3.948 Mid Grade Gas $4.075 Premium Gas $4.426 Diesel The cheapest gas prices I have found for regur gas is the Exxon on Georgia Avenue Regular is 3.69 per gallon 11310 Georgia Avenue Wheaton, MD 20902 Although, their diesel price is higher than the average for the area at 4.58 per gallon.

Henry and Jenna Hager pause as they cut their wedding cake Saturday, May 10, 2008, during a reception in their honor following the ceremony at Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford, Texas. White House photo by Shealah Craighead

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hager pose for photographs along the lake at Prairie Chapel Ranch following their wedding ceremony Saturday, May 10, 2008, in Crawford, Texas. White House photo by Shealah Craighead