The Future Is Here--Is It?

Photo by Andy Manis for The New York Times
John Schwartz of The New York Times testing a jetpack to be unveiled Tuesday at an air show in Wisconsin. The inventor, Glenn Martin, left, and Ray Thomsen guide him.

OSHKOSH, Wis. — The New York Times has spotlighted a New Zealand inventor who believes he has the makings of a futuristic technology. It is to enable man to rise off the ground wearing a jetpack and to "feel the force of dreams. Very, very noisy dreams."

On Tuesday, an inventor from New Zealand plans to unveil what he calls “the world’s first practical jetpack” at the EAA AirVenture, the gigantic annual air show here. The inventor, Glenn Martin, 48, who has spent 27 years developing the devices, said he hoped to begin selling them next year for $100,000 apiece.

“There is nothing that even comes close to the dream that the jetpack allows you to achieve,” said Robert J. Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. He called it “about the coolest desire left to mankind.”

For Mr. Martin, the jetpack is the culmination of a dream that began as a 5-year-old in Dunedin, New Zealand. For those who still remember childhood dreams of flying and comic-book visions of the 21st century, the jetpack suggests the possible fulfillment of the yearning for those long-promised gifts of technology.

Buck Rogers and James Bond used jetpacks, and since the 1960s, several real jetpack designs have been built from metal, plastic and propellant. None has flown more than a minute. Mr. Martin’s machines can run for 30 minutes.

At first sight, parked in the back of the U-Haul van Mr. Martin used to cart it to the air show, it did not look like the classic jetpacks of science fiction. It stands about five feet tall and its rotors are encased in two large ducts that look a bit like cupcakes. It rests on three legs. Mr. Martin has somehow made the future look both sleek and nerdy.
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Does Earth Have A Twin?

Astronomers on verge of finding Earth's twin
Planet hunters say doppelgänger is almost surely hiding in our galaxy ESO.

A doppelganger is a ghostly counterpart of a living person or a living earth. Wouldn't it be interesting to see another earth just like ours here. What couldn't we learn by studying this planet, and maybe by communicating to its inhabitants.

Have it's people progressed as far (or farther) than people living on earth? What were the consequences of their adopting complex systems and leaving behind the simple form of life they may have started with? Do they have golbal warming issues? Is global warming a true concept, something that will end civilization as we know it because of greenhouse gases that warm the atmosphere six degrees?

Have they experienced a cataclysmic event that changed their planet? Oh, what a great scientific breakthrough this could be. We would want to absorb their experience, just as a boy sitting at the feet of his father absorbs the wisdom of age. I can't say it enough, oh, would that be interesting--maybe even earth- and population-saving.

An artist's impression shows a trio of super-Earths detected by an European team after five years of monitoring.

See highlights from the shuttle Discovery’s flight, the Phoenix Mars Lander mission and much more in June’s roundup of cosmic pictures at Space.com

Three super-Earths found around one star! Imagine that!

Planet hunters say it's just a matter of time before they lasso Earth's twin, which almost surely is hiding somewhere in our star-studded galaxy.

Momentum is building: Just last week, astronomers announced they had discovered three super-Earths — worlds more massive than ours but small enough to most likely be rocky — orbiting a single star. And dozens of other worlds suspected of having masses in that same range were found around other stars.

"Being able to find three Earth-mass planets around a single star really makes the point that not only may many stars have one Earth, but they may very well have a couple of Earths," said Alan Boss, a planet formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Washington, D.C.

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Google Helping MIT Find Earth-Like Planets

In an article by David Chandler, MIT News Office on March 19, 2008, scientists announced that they were designing a satellite-based observatory that they say could for the first time provide a sensitive survey of the entire sky to search for planets outside the solar system that appear to cross in front of bright stars. Chandler said the system could rapidly discover hundreds of planets similar to the Earth.

Google is the Internet search powerhouse. But it's mission has expanded to include mapping of the stars as well as the surfaces of the moon and Mars and has an ongoing collaboration with NASA's Ames Research Center.

Google provided a small seed grant to fund development of the wide-field digital cameras needed for the satellite. Because of the huge amount of data that will be generated by the satellite, Google has an interest in working on the development of ways of sifting through that data to find useful information, something it is well prepared to do after being successful in organizing millions and millions of information bytes in the computer world.

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There Are More Earth-Like Planets Out There Than We Thought

A new era in search for 'sister Earths'?
Space & Earth science / Astronomy

A Jupiter-sized planet passes in front of its star in this artists impression of a transiting exoplanet. Photo: NASA ESA and G. Bacon

Research presented at a recent astronomical conference is being hailed as ushering in a new era in the search for Earth-like planets by showing that they are more numerous than previously thought and that scientists can now analyze their atmospheres for elements that might be conducive to life.

When we work with this a lot more, we're likely to find that earth-like planets are almost as numerous as the stars.

Math And Science Take Center Stage

WHITE BOARDS
By Don White
A couple of weeks ago I wrote how Barak Obama had overlooked science and math in American schools and said the important thing was to learn a foreign language. When he comes home from his expensive campaign trip to Europe, Iraq, Israel, and Afghanistan he will probably say we should all learn Arabic.

Cooler minds across party lines in America have laughed off this pretender’s patois and are going forward with tuition free public charter schools that teach science and math. Soon they will speak the jargon of the educated scientist, instead of someone off the streets or that of a certain junior senator when he returns to his Illinois electorate for donations.

Orlando, Florida is one of those areas of enlightenment. They call them Orlando Science Schools (6-12) grades…”serving greater minds.” You can get details at www.OrlandoScience.org and if you have a school child you may want to hop right on it because limited spots are available for the 08-09 school year. I’m sure that’s the case throughout the country where these charter schools are springing forth faster than beefsteak tomatoes on a vine.

These schools are this country’s answer to America’s critics who say we are in decline, that we don’t have enough scientists and mathematicians to carry us into the new age of scientific achievement and beyond. Their goal is to ensure that students develop the skills needed for the long learning. The academic environment is designed to promote high expectations of each student in pursuit of high excellence through participation in many competitions and contests, including:

· Science Olympiad
· Math Olmpiad
· Spelling Bee
· Geo Bee
· Odyssey of the Mind
· Science Fair and more

Here’s an example of the emphasis these kids will get. Orlando Science Middle School will use a variety of student assessments to evaluate teaching and learning processes and to improve the school environment on a consistent basis which includes:

· State assessment programs
· Locally-developed unit tests
· Classroom-based assessments
· School wide competitions

Schools are heralding the advent of what they call “21st Century Classrooms.” Orlando’s science middle school will have classrooms with SMART Board interactive whiteboard systems to serve the students better with the help of technology. What are they?

Students can do a lot of things interactively with Smart Boards. These Numonics Digital boards and Quarte's IdeaShare Interactive Markerboard. are for connecting to the PC given each student in the special school. The teacher can digitally projector the material she has developed for use any program on your computer while standing at the board. Students will be able to see the material up close, work with concepts, work problems and use such accessories as portable tablets, board stands and extra interactive cordless pens. How much of this high-tech stuff will greet the students on the first day is up to the various school districts’ budgets.

Here is a description of one of the boards, for example. The Numonics Digital Presentation Markerboard above connects to the teacher’s PC and projector and helps her conduct interactive, engaging lessons. She can use images from her PC and access computer applications directly from the whiteboard. The teacher simply touches the electronic multimedia pen to the board surface and draws or takes notes to save later. Presumably in some cases, students will have a small version of the board and/or a laptop on his or her desk on which they can save presentation data. Teachers can tap the icons to use the pre-loaded presentation tools. The durable hard Formica surface has a matte finish that prevents hot spots. This interactive markerboard is incredibly simple to set up and is compatible with Mac and Windows operating systems. It includes a cordless electromagnetic pen. The board above is 63.3" x 45.6" and sells for about $1,400.

But just the fact that schools are now concentrating on math and science should give this country a huge step forward for the years to come. Maybe we can even catch up with Finland who lead the world in this area. Of course there is one thing Finland does that we neglect. That is concentrating our schools on learning, not playing.

Currently, American High Schools are structured to have student athletic teams, cheerleaders, performing bands and choral groups, and student body officers with dances, assemblies and a lot of wasteful fluff that could be eliminated to make American schools academically competitive.

Our schools should not be training grounds for Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA. Who cares if we don’t field the best track and field team in the world, have the best swimmers, skiers, runners, and players of all sports? Schools are for learning and math and science is of paramount importance

How The LHC Will Be Powerful Enough To Transmit Data Faster Than Today's Web

The network, dubbed the Grid, has been set up by the Cern labs in Geneva to tap into the processing power of computers in 12 countries.

The aim of the project is to handle data from an experiment on how the Universe began.

Cern believes the Grid could eventually provide people access to a vast pool of processing power from their desktops.

Next-gen net

The idea behind Grid technology is to link up computers around the world over the internet to create a new generation of enormously powerful machines.

The networks are needed because some problems in science are just too large for any one machine to tackle by itself.

Cern's Grid will initially be used to handle the terabytes of data generated by an upcoming particle accelerator called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

The technology now being deployed for particle physics will ultimately change the way that science and business are undertaken in the years to come
Ian Halliday, PParc

The LHC is going to test the Big Bang theory by smashing protons together at high energies.

The data generate by the experiment are expected to fill the equivalent of more than 20 million CDs a year and some 70,000 computers would be needed to analyse the data.

With the LHC Computing Grid project, scientists will be able to access computing resources across the world as though they were on their machine.

"The Grid enables us to harness the power of scientific computing centres wherever they may be to provide the most powerful computing resource the world has to offer," said Les Robertson, project manager at Cern.

'Profound effect'

The first phase covers processing resources from research institutes in 12 countries - the UK, the US, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, and Taiwan.

The final goal of the Grid is to bring together the computing power of scientific centres across the world to create a virtual supercomputer network.

In the long-term, Grid technology is predicted to revolutionise the world of computing. Ultimately it is expected to be able to provide huge processing power on tap to anyone.

"The technology now being deployed for particle physics will ultimately change the way that science and business are undertaken in the years to come," said Ian Halliday, Chief Executive of the UK's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, (PParc).

"This will have a profound effect on the way society uses information technology, much as the worldwide web did."

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is being built in a circular tunnel 27 km in circumference. The tunnel is buried around 50 to 175 m. underground. It straddles the Swiss and French borders on the outskirts of Geneva.

It planned to circulate the first beams in May 2008. First collisions at high energy are expected mid-2008 with the first results from the experiments soon after.
Large Hadron Collider: The Discovery Machine

A global collaboration of scientists is preparing to start up the greatest particle physics experiment in history

Computer Support For Large Hadron Collider

Next-Gen Net
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Superfast internet may replace world wide web

The LHC Computing Grid was constructed to handle the massive amounts of data produced by the Large Hadron Collider. It incorporates both private fibre optic cable links and existing high-speed portions of the public Internet, to get data from CERN to academic institutions around the world.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), expected to be completed in August, 2008 at CERN near Geneva, is the largest scientific instrument on the planet. When it begins operations next month, it will produce roughly 15 Petabytes (15 million Gigabytes) of data annually, which thousands of scientists around the world will access and analyse.

The mission of the LHC Computing Project (LCG) is to build and maintain a data storage and analysis infrastructure for the entire high energy physics community that will use the LHC.

The internet could soon be made obsolete by a new "grid" system which is 10,000 times faster than broadband connections

The distributed computing project LHC@home was started to support the construction and calibration of the LHC. The project uses the BOINC platform to simulate how particles will travel in the tunnel. With this information, the scientists will be able to determine how the magnets should be calibrated to gain the most stable "orbit" of the beams in the ring.

Could Mere Operation of The LHC End It For Us Due To The Black Hole Effect?

Safety of particle collisions

Main article: Safety of the Large Hadron Collider

Concerns have been raised regarding the safety of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on the grounds that high-energy particle collisions performed in the LHC might produce dangerous phenomena, including micro black holes, strangelets, vacuum bubbles and magnetic monopoles.[15] In response to these concerns, the LHC Safety Study Group, a group of independent scientists, performed a safety analysis of the LHC and concluded in a report published in 2003 that there is "no basis for any conceivable threat".[16] In 2008, drawing from new experimental data and theoretical understanding, the LHC Safety Assessment Group (LSAG) published a report updating the 2003 safety review, in which they reaffirmed and extended its conclusions that LHC particle collisions present no danger.[17][18][19] The LSAG report was reviewed and endorsed by CERN’s Scientific Policy Committee (SPC),[20] a group of external scientists that advises CERN’s governing body, its Council.

On 21 March, 2008 a complaint requesting an injunction to halt the LHC's startup was filed by a group of seven concerned individuals against CERN and its American collaborators, the US Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, before the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.[22] The plaintiffs demanded an injunction against the LHC's activation for 4 months after issuance of the LHC Safety Assessment Group's (LSAG) most recent safety documentation, and a permanent injunction until the LHC can be demonstrated to be reasonably safe within industry standards.[23] The US Federal Court scheduled trial to begin June 16, 2009.[24] Following the publication of the LSAG report,[17] the US Government called for summary dismissal of the suit against the government defendants, and the court set Sept 2, 2008 for a hearing on the motion.

Large Hadron Collider

LHC Operational safety

Even at the local level, the size of the LHC constitutes an exceptional engineering challenge with unique safety issues. During operations, the total energy stored in the magnets is 10 GJ, and the two beams carry an overall energy that reaches 724 MJ. For comparison, 724 MJ is the kinetic energy of a TGV running at 222 km/h (139 mph), or the detonation energy of approximately 173 kilograms (380 lb) of TNT. 10 GJ is about 2.4 tons of TNT. In more everyday terms, burning about 80 gallons of gasoline will liberate about 10GJ of energy as heat.

Loss of only 10−7 of the beam is sufficient to quench a superconducting magnet, while the beam dump must absorb an energy equivalent to a typical air-dropped bomb. These immense kinetic energies are even more impressive when one considers how little matter is carrying it. Under nominal operating conditions (2808 bunches per beam, 1.15×1011 protons per bunch), the beam pipes contain about 1.0×10-9 grams of hydrogen, which, in standard conditions for temperature and pressure, would fill a volume of roughly 0.01 mm3.

Large Hadron Collider, LHC

LHC in popular culture

* Decipher by Stel Pavlou features the Large Hadron Collider and describes it to significant accuracy in even though the novel was published in 2001, seven years before the LHC was finished being built.
* Flashforward (novel) by Robert J. Sawyer begins at the LHC. Also written some years before the LHC had finished being built.
* Angels & Demons by Dan Brown involves dangerous antimatter created at the LHC used as a weapon against the Vatican. CERN published a "Fact or Fiction?" page discussing the accuracy of the book's portrayal of the LHC, CERN, and particle physics in general. [32] The movie version of the book had footage filmed on-site at one of the experiments at the LHC; the director, Ron Howard, also met with CERN experts in an effort to make the science in the story more accurate

Giant Hadron Collider

Will The New Hadron Collider Create Black Hole?
Twenty member states contribute to The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by its French acronym, CERN, a vast laboratory located 100 meters (328 feet) beneath the surface of the French-Swiss border. The structure in this photo is used for exhibitions and other events.

The new Franco-Swiss supercollider could fill gaps in scientific knowledge or create a black hole

Are there other worlds, extra dimensions we have not yet discovered occupying space right alongside ours? One bleak outcome of the Giant Hadron Collider is discovery of a black hole, but it is unlikely. Scientists say they evaporate almost as fast as they come forth.

The LHC may take us back to the beginning of the worlds. If you go back to those early times all there is are a few structures, something very simple, and then we can see how it all evolved into the complex system we have today. Perhaps, then we can see what is the theory of life--if, indeed, there is one theory of life and of everything.

A theory of everything? The Large Hadron Collider may take us to that point. It is absolutely key to understanding our origin. Scientists may be on the verge of solveing it, unraveling the mystery of life.

Get The Must-Read Book SELLING FAST

Get your hands on a PDF or email copy of Don and Carolyn White's topical and timely new real estate book called "SELLING FAST: We Sold Our House In One Day And You Can Too"
email Don at dusanotes@yaho0.com and hit the PayPal key below and use your credit card. Your cost buying it this way is $9.99.

Don and Carolyn White have written an excellent, easy to read book that outlines five secrets of selling your home in any market. You should not even try to list your home before you read this book. It can make you thousands of dollars more than you would otherwise, it's that good.

A recent reader said: "It is a very good book. I recommend it. It's an easy read and very well written." ML, Florida

Go to Amazon.com for your Kindle version, just $6.39 for a limited time at that low price. You will need the Kindle reader for that version. A Kindle is like a palm pilot, it stores up to 200 manuscripts or books. Read at Amazon.com why so many people are reading their material on their handy Kindles.
http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Fast-Sold-Our-House/dp/B001AEFEG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1212154790&sr=1-1


Get your hands on a PDF or email copy of Don and Carolyn White's smash new real estate book called "SELLING FAST: We Sold Our House In One Day And You Can Too"
email Don at dusanotes@yaho0.com and hit the PayPal key below and use your credit card. Your cost this way is $9.99.

Go to Amazon.com for your Kindle version, just
$6.39 for a limited time at that low price. You will need the Kindle reader for that version. A Kindle is like a palm pilot, it stores up to 200 manuscripts or books. Read at Amazon.com why so many people are reading their material on their handy Kindles.
http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Fast-Sold-Our-House/dp/B001AEFEG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1212154790&sr=1-1

Bertha--First 2008 Hurricane Is Headed This Way

Monday, July 7, 2008
Orlando--We’ll hear a lot about Hurricane Bertha in the next two or three days. Recording wind speeds of 75 mph, Bertha was about 845 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands headed west-northwest at about 17 mph.

That means if it continues it’s current course it will hit the Florida east coast in two or three days. But there are plenty of things that can push it in one direction or another and as of yet the National Hurricane Center has given no indication of high pressure troughs coming from Texas or Louisiana that could force it back out to sea.

Meanwhile, Floridians and Gulf Coast residents should get their 72-hour survival kits and food storage in good shape. The last time Central Florida felt the effects of a hurricane was four years ago, in 2004, when three hurricanes damaged homes and took out power, affecting hundreds of thousands of homeowners. However, weather officials say it is too early to tell if this storm will hit land.

In 2004 Floridians received $5.5 billion in federal disaster assistance. Homeowner's insurance rates in Florida are the third highest in the country, only behind that of Texas and Louisiana. The obvious factor for the high rates is due to hurricane risk

The first named storm this year, Arthur, formed in the Atlantic the day before the season officially started June 1 and soaked the Yucatan Peninsula