SOME NICE POINTS !

Do We Need Oil from Outer Space ?

The newly discovered hydrocarbon deposits inside 15 large lakes on Titan could provide enough power for all U.S. heaters, lamps and air conditioners for hundreds of years.

Hydrocarbons contained inside huge dunes covering 20% of Titan's surface exceed the Earth's coal deposits several hundred times over. I

n addition, some regions on Mars have high concentrations of methane. Next fall, NASA plans to launch another Mars exploration vehicle for studying methane deposits on the Red Planet and their origin.

Scientists from the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh said, judging by the chemical composition of stars in the Milky Way, our galaxy could contain anywhere between 300 and 38,000 highly developed extraterrestrial civilizations potentially capable of contacting Planet Earth.
Although current generations are unlikely to shake hands with little green men from Mars, humankind has already discovered sizeable mineral deposits on other planets. But should we pin any hopes on them?
In early 2008, the media said Cassini-Huygens, a joint NASA/European Space Agency/Italian Space Agency robotic spacecraft mission currently studying the planet Saturn and its moons, had discovered oil and gas deposits on Titan, Saturn's largest satellite, and that they exceeded terrestrial deposits by 100 times.
Previous images received from Cassini-Huygens indicated rain and snowfall on Titan. Although the discovery of oil and gas deposits on this Moon is hardly sensational, it could help scientists explain the origin of life on the Earth.
Many scientists and analysts say extraterrestrial sources of energy could provide humankind with enough heat and energy for hundreds of years to come and would help it cope with a snowballing energy crisis.
The newly discovered hydrocarbon deposits inside 15 large lakes on Titan could provide enough power for all U.S. heaters, lamps and air conditioners for hundreds of years. Hydrocarbons contained inside huge dunes covering 20% of Titan's surface exceed the Earth's coal deposits several hundred times over.
In addition, some regions on Mars have high concentrations of methane. Next fall, NASA plans to launch another Mars exploration vehicle for studying methane deposits on the Red Planet and their origin.
However, extraterrestrial deposits are highly unlikely to solve current energy shortages.
First of all, we know nothing about the quality of Titan oil. Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) know only that a local lake contains ethane, a crude-oil ingredient.
A manned mission to Titan is still the fantasy of science fiction novels and would face the same mind-boggling problems as a mission to Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our own solar system, at only 4.37 light years from the Sun.
Moreover, even the most optimistic science fiction writers do not know when it will become possible to launch prospecting operations on Titan at minus 180 degrees centigrade.
Also, no one knows whether the world will still require oil a hundred years from now when long-range space missions to other planets could become commonplace.
Current alternative-fuel programs could eventually replace oil with corn and other grain crops. If so, extraterrestrial oil would not play an important global economic role in the near future.
Scientists propose using the light and non-radioactive helium-3 isotope as a second-generation fusion power source. It is believed that the Moon contains far more helium-3 than the Earth.
Many Russian scientists believe this would be the real motivation for colonizing the Moon, which abounds in helium-3. The tremendous lunar helium-3 deposits would be expected to facilitate an energy revolution and eliminate global fuel shortages.
Although this is a feasible task, it would be inappropriate to try and exploit helium deposits. Lunar-soil samples delivered to the Earth by Soviet Luna probes and U.S. Apollo spacecraft were found to contain a relatively high amount of helium - 0.01 grams per metric ton. But the Moon does not have any helium lakes; and this isotope is spread thin all over its surface.
Supposing that the world eventually solves the problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion, it would then annually require about 100 metric tons of helium, an amount that can be carried by several U.S. Space Shuttles.
But this amount is contained inside a billion metric tons of lunar rock that would have to be processed in a hostile space environment. Moreover, a global energy revolution will require tens of billions of dollars and is still decades away.
This is why it is unrealistic to count on distant extraterrestrial deposits. Posterity should decide whether lunar and Martian natural resources are worth exploiting, after all.

by : Andrei Kislyakov/Space Travel

SINGING TEA-CUP !

The Drip with Song concept is probably the only concept we'd actually buy, that uses C

Some of us totally transitioned to digital downloads, but this just looks too prec

The saucer is actually a CD player with built-in speak

The cup, when docked controls volume by turning it on the sauc

And just for kicks, it’s white with touch controls.

Designer: Jongmin Kim

The Ozone Hole of 2008

A Paint Pallet with Modern Twist

Have you ever heard someone say that they would love to learn to paint and create beautiful art, but have no clue about mixing colors or what brush creates which effect?

Maybe you are one of those people who would like to get more in touch with your inner artist. Canadian designer Yana Kilmava has developed a conceptual product that would help the novice artist have more confidence in learning how to paint.

Virtuo looks very similar to the traditional paint pallets used by artists for hundreds of years, with the added bonus of modern technology.

There are no wasted paints, no confusing mixing of colors and you don’t have to be an experienced artist to create really beautiful pieces of artwork.

Virtuo includes an art pallet, a charger, 5 different art tools and works by electromagnetism so no worry about quick battery loss.

Even though it was designed with the inexperienced artist in mind, Virtuo can also be used by the more professional digital artists who are also experienced in the traditional forms of creating art.

At the present time, Virtuo is only in concept form, but I can hope that it is made available to the public sometime in the near future.

Texts from the designer:
The palette uses Bluetooth technology for communicating with the computer.

It mimics real paint mixture techniques with LED lights.

The user can also mixdark colours due to the special coating on the palette’s surface.

The amount ofpaint “picked up” by the tool is determined by the amount of time the toolspends on the mixed colour.
The tools, consisting of a pencil, paintbrush, palette knife, airbrush and pastel,use sensors to translate the user’s gestures into visual information.

Taking apalette knife as an example, it would use pressure and accelerometer sensors totranslate its position and pressure on the screen into an appropriate stroke.
Virtuo comes with software that is based on the real painting process: minimal,leaving the user free to experiment.

Most of the time it would look like a blankpiece of canvas, with a simple drop down menu showing only when the userwants to start a new digital painting, save, close it or open a previously startedone.

The really cool thing about this software is that it would treat all the digitalmaterials used on the canvas as real ones. Ex. You would not be able to erase paint,only paint over it.

It would also have only a limited number of “undo” steps toencourage the insecure user to practice by correcting rather than erasing.

E-note !

From the minds at Sequoia Studio, E-note is a conceptual project that explores the future of Post-its (insert legal copyright here).

E-note uses tactile and flexible electronic paper technology, powered by a solar captor.

E-note can be stuck, and unstuck easily using special “Gecko” glue, inspired by biomimicry.

It even has a visual alarm/organizing function, changing from 1 of 8 colors.
Watch video that explains it all.
Designer: Sequoia Studio

The Story of A Donkey in A Well !

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well.

The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway ; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors & friends to come over and help him.

They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.

At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly.

Then, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later,the farmer finally looked down the well.

He was astonished at what he saw.

With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing.

He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's friends continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal,he would shake it off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt.

The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up.

Each of our troubles is a stepping stone.

We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up!

Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred -Forgive.

2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happens.

3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less from people but more from the God.

/from : SHAN

FUNNY INVENTIONS !

SOME AWARD WINNING CARTOONS !

Some Amazing Varieties of Chickens in the World !

Fan in Holden Crater (MARS)

[A Beautiful Picture fro Mars] :
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
This image shows a beautifully preserved alluvial fan located on the southern interior wall of Holden Crater.

The ridges on the fan surface radiate from the apex and are “inverted channels” that once supplied the fan with sediment.

The scalloped distal edges show an impressive cross-section through a layered sequence providing scientists with insight into the geologic history of this crater and climate conditions on early Mars.

As detailed by Grant et al. [Geology, 2008] from previously released adjacent images (PSP_003077_1530, PSP_00344_1530 and others), Holden provides evidence for two very different types of water-rich depositional environments on ancient Mars.

The older, lower layers in the fan are thin, continuous and clay-rich and were likely deposited in long-standing body of water.

By contrast, the younger units at the top of the fan are very jumbled and are characteristic of sediment that was deposited in shorter-lived, higher-energy floods.

Holden Crater is one of six remaining landing site candidates for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory rover, a mission scheduled for launch in late 2009.

OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES !

A dying man smells his favorite oatmeal raisin cookies cooking downstairs.

It takes all the strength he has left but he gets up from the bed and crawls down the stairs.

He sees the cookies cooling on the counter and staggers over to them.

As he reaches for one, his wife's wrinkled hand reaches out, smacks his and she yells:
"No, you can't have those! They're for the funeral!"

Scientists try to stop Hunger with the Retooled Foods

By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer

LONDON – Want to lose weight? Try eating. That's one of the strategies being developed by scientists experimenting with foods that trick the body into feeling full.
At the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, England, food expert Peter Wilde and colleagues are developing foods that slow down the digestive system, which then triggers a signal to the brain that suppresses appetite.
"That fools you into thinking you've eaten far too much when you really haven't," said Wilde. From his studies on fat digestion, he said it should be possible to make foods, from bread to yogurts, that make it easier to diet.
While the research is preliminary, Wilde's approach to curbing appetite is one that some doctors say could be key in combating the obesity epidemic.
"Being able to switch off appetite would be a big help for people having trouble losing weight," said Steve Bloom, a professor of investigative medicine at London's Imperial College, who is not connected to Wilde's research.
Scientists in North America and elsewhere in Europe are also trying to control appetite, including through chemical injections or implantable devices that interfere with the digestive system.
Bloom said that regulating appetite through modified foods is theoretically possible. Other mechanisms in the body, like cholesterol production, are already routinely tweaked with medicines.
But Bloom warned that controlling appetite may be more challenging. "The body has lots of things to prevent its regulatory mechanisms from being tricked," he said.
For instance, while certain hormones regulate appetite, the brain also relies on nerve receptors in the stomach to detect the presence of food and tell it when the stomach is full.
Wilde's research hinges on the body's mechanisms for digesting fat.
Fat normally gets broken down in the first part of the small intestines. When you eat a high-fat meal, however, the body can only digest the fat entirely further down in the intestines. That sparks a release of hormones that suppress appetite.
Wilde's approach copies what happens with a high-fat meal: He coats fat droplets in foods with modified proteins from plants, so it takes longer for the enzymes that break down fat to reach it.
That means that the fat isn't digested until it hits the far reaches of the intestines. At that point, intestinal cells send a signal telling the brain it's full.
Even though the body hasn't had a high-fat meal, it suppresses the appetite as if it has. If the fat had been digested earlier in the intestines, no such signal would be sent.
Wilde said the technique should work with any foods that contain fat, like dairy products, precooked sauces, mayonnaise, breads and pastries, and that taste would probably not be affected.
If all goes well, products could be on shelves within a few years, he said.
In another technique, scientists at the University of Newcastle have been testing a seaweed extract called alginate that reduces fat absorption by cutting the level of glucose digested by the body before it gets broken down in the large intestine.
That is somewhat similar to how some diet drugs work, such as orlistat, marketed as Xenical by Roche Holding AG, and Alli by GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
Orlistat blocks fat absorption, but can result in side effects like gas and diarrhea. Scientists think that those side effects could be avoided if fiber intake is increased.
In taste tests by several dozen people, participants found that alginate-enhanced bread tasted as good as or even better than regular bread, said molecular physiology professor Jeffrey Pearson, who is leading the Newcastle research.
"It would be very helpful to reduce people's calorific levels by stealth, so they don't notice there's been a change," Pearson said. "People don't want to completely change their lifestyle and stop eating. ... This lets them indulge again."
Food companies and pharmaceutical firms are also exploring ways to tinker with appetite. In 2004, Unilever bought the rights to a South African plant traditionally chewed by tribesman to ward off hunger.
A small study found that people given the plant extract, hoodia gordonii, for 15 days had slashed their food intake by 1,000 calories compared to people on a placebo. A Unilever spokesman said the extract would be added to a food or beverage and could hit the market within a few years.
Not all experts are convinced appetite-stopping foods will be a cure-all for obesity.
"Humans are a very messy group to control," said Alice H. Lichtenstein, a nutritionist at Tufts University. People are motivated to eat for various reasons, from taste to price to childhood nostalgia, she said.
Other experts worry about how such foods might be regulated once they are available. "If you have this magic bullet, how do you control who gets it? What do you do about anorexics or female adolescents?" asked Peter Fryer, a chemical engineer at the University of Birmingham who also researches modified foods.
But experts agree that foods that cut appetite could be an effective tool against obesity.
"Dieting is an awful bore and most human beings are very gullible," Bloom said. "We need all the help science can provide"

Space Tech helps to find Natural Resources

Funded under ESA contracts the basic technology development for the superconductive gravity gradiometer was initiated in 1993, with the scope to develop a European spaceborne superconducting gravity gradiometer.

The British geophysical imaging company ARKeX is further developing this technology for use in the oil and gas industry.

Using space-based technology developed during ESA's gravity mission studies, a novel gradiometer is being developed by a UK-based company to help oil and gas companies find the most appropriate locations to drill wells and plan further exploration.
The gravity gradiometer measures the variations in the Earth's gravity, or in technical terms, the 'differential acceleration'.
These variations help to measure the density of the subsurface, therefore providing information on the Earth's geology. From data acquired through the gradiometer, an image of the subsurface geology can be derived.

This image provides information which can help oil and gas companies looking to drill wells or plan further exploration.
The technology behind the gravity gradiometer was originally developed as one of two potential candidates to measure gravity on ESA's Gravity-field and steady state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission, planned to be launched this year.
Funded under ESA contract, the basic technology development for the superconductive gravity gradiometer was initiated in 1993, with the scope to develop a European spaceborne superconducting gravity gradiometer.
Eventually ESA selected the other candidate, an Electrostatic Gravity Gradiometer, for its GOCE mission, as the superconducting technology was judged not to be ready for spaceborne implementation.

Nevertheless for airborne terrestrial implementation it had potential.
Using a space-derived instrument to detect Earth's mineral resources,The space-derived superconducting gravity gradiometer technology was further developed by British geophysical imaging company ARKeX for use in the oil and gas industry.

This technology transfer was supported from the beginning by Nathan Hill, Qi3 Managing Director. Qi3 is Technology Broker in ESA's Technology Transfer Programme network of technology brokers throughout Europe.
The ARKeX gravity gradiometer offers other major advantages for the oil and gas industry. Seismic surveys are presently the prevalent method used to find new gas or oil deposits and often use dynamite to produce sound waves.

In contrast, gravity gradiometry is a non-invasive technology which can be used in environmentally sensitive areas without causing immediate disruption.
The instrument is mounted on a light aircraft and a survey grid is flown over an area to record the different signals from the ground below. As a large area can be covered quickly from the air, the cost of performing a survey is 10 times cheaper than performing a traditional seismic survey.
Business success from an ESA technology spin-offIn June of this year, ARKeX announced that it had successfully raised 30 million dollars (over 22 million Euros) in venture funding.

The company announced that part of this money would be used to accelerate production of its Exploration Gravity Gradiometer.
Evolved from space-developed technology and re-engineered for terrestrial applications, ARKeX's Exploration Gravity Gradiometer is designed to achieve a sensitivity which is an order of magnitude more sensitive than current systems.
This extra sensitivity is achieved through the use of super conductivity. The gradiometer is cooled to -269 degreesC with liquid helium to take advantage of super conductivity properties, namely zero electrical resistance and the exclusion of the interior magnetic field.

This enables accurate measurement of very tiny signals and therefore produces a higher-resolution image.
The gradiometer will enable the survey of a wider range of surfaces in greater detail, and the extra sensitivity will enable the detection of smaller density contrasts.
Following successful early trials, ARKeX has an aircraft under contract and is starting trials of the full system. Once operational, the Exploration Gravity Gradiometer will be of tremendous benefit to the oil and gas industries.

Other potential applications include the defence sector, environmental surveying, and, eventually, back to the space programme.

/SPACE MART

A New Way to Bike !

The TAURUS bike eschews the seat for a unique cab forward design.

Designed specifically for children, you stand leaning forward enabling correct posture while making the largest muscles in your body work harder.

The pedaling action is more akin to stair stepping. You’ll be fit and tone in no time.
In the back wheel hub of the bike, there are six condensers that store energy created from pedaling.

This energy can be called upon when needed.

There’s a display describing the relationship between the amount of energy created and stored. This provides the child with real time data encouraging them to pedal harder.

To assure ease of transport within a car, the steering wheel and wheels themselves can be removed.
Designer: Julia Meyer

British Defence Ministry releases UFO Files

SPACE TRAVEL
Britain's defence ministry made public secret files on UFO sightings Monday, with the dossier including reports ranging from a woman claiming to be an alien to calm pilots giving objective accounts.
The 19 different incidents were recorded between 1986 and 1992, and published by the National Archives on its website.
Among the recorded incidents was a letter dated March 1990 from a woman who claimed she was an alien whose spaceship landed during World War II and was recovered by the British military.
"The crashed vehicle contained two males from Spectra, a planet orbiting the star Zeta Tucanae, and a female from one of the two inhabited planets in the Sirius system, Amazon the planet of warrior women," she wrote in the letter, which also included sketches of herself and of Spectrans.
"That female was me," she wrote.
Though the letter did not spark an investigation, another report from an Alitalia pilot did.
On April 21, 1991, the captain of an Alitalia airliner was on its way to London's Heathrow Airport from Milan when it had a close call with a UFO, the newly-revealed documents showed.
"At once I said, 'look out, look out,' to my co-pilot, who looked out and saw what I had seen," Achille Zaghetti said in a report on the incident.
"As soon as the object crossed us I asked to the ACC (area control centre) operator if he saw something on his screen and he answered 'I see an unknown target 10nm (nautical miles) behind you'."
Meanwhile, a local television station had broadcast a story of a 14-year-old boy who said he had seen a low-flying missile disappear that same evening.
Radar images at that time initially labelled the object, "cruise missile??", but it was later confirmed that it was not a military weapon.
But by July 2, however, a defence ministry inquiry found the UFO had not come from any Army firing ranges, and added there had not been any "space-related activity" that night

Eiffel Tower Fireworks

Eiffel Tower is the French landmark in Paris.

On the occasion of Bastille Day (French National Holiday July 14) computer controlled fireworks were ignited on the Tower in sequence. These photographs, taken by one of France's finest photographers and carried by the French Newspaper, Le Monde, are breathtaking.

World Record Sandwich Eaten before Measured !

TEHRAN (Reuters) :

Iran failed Friday to register what it said would be the world's largest sandwich in the Guinness book of World Records after people rushed forward and began eating it -- before it was measured.
Event organizers had planned to stuff the 1,500-meter-long sandwich with 700 kg of ostrich meat and 700 kg of chicken, and display it in a park in the capital Tehran.
But as the sandwich was being measured, chaos ensued. The giant snack was gone in minutes, a Reuters witness said, leaving the three Guinness representatives present with a dilemma.
One of the event's organizers said video footage of the sandwich would be sent to Guinness officials.
"We still think the sandwich will be recorded in the Guinness book because of all the evidence and footage that we will send them," Parvin Shariati said

10 Principles !

Stop and ask yourself today, "How do I really feel about myself? "

Before you answer read these ten principles.

Better yet, keep them before you daily.

(1) Never think or speak negatively about yourself; that puts you in disagreement with God.

(2) Meditate on your God-given strengths and learn to encourage yourself, for much of the time nobody else will.

(3) Don't compare yourself to anybody else. You're unique, one of a kind, an original. So don't settle for being a copy.

(4) Focus on your potential, not your limitations. Remember, God lives in you!

(5) Find what you like to do, do well, and strive to do it with excellence.

(6) Have the courage to be different. Be a God pleaser, not a people pleaser.

(7) Learn to handle criticism. Let it develop you instead of discourage you.

(8) Determine your own worth instead of letting others do it for you. They'll short-change you!(9) Keep your shortcomings in perspective - you're still a work in progress....

(10) Focus daily on your greatest source of confidence - the God Who lives in you

/from : shela@nwbm.com

Protect your Lunch with Anti-Theft Lunch Bag !

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