http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/21/full-video-and-transcript-of-obama-s-speech-in-israel.print.html
Obama's Empathetic Israel Speech
Source: nymag.com
Look at the world through their eyes.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
what we are a part of!
Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?" This is his answer.
http://youtu.be/9D05ej8u-gU
http://vimeo.com/38101676
Watch the documentaries at the end of this videoclip:
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Black holes are among the most extreme objects in the known universe and astronomers using the NASA-ESA XMM-Newton space telescope have now taken detailed observations of one that's a great example of just how extreme they can be.
This black hole whips a companion star around it so fast that the star completes one orbit in just 2.4 hours, that's around two million kilometres per hour.
"The companion star revolves around the common centre of mass at a dizzying rate, almost 20 times faster than Earth orbits the Sun. You really wouldn’t like to be on such a merry-go-round in this Galactic fair!" said Erik Kuulkers, who leads the X-ray binary group at the ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre in Spain.
This black hole, named MAXI J1659-152, is estimated to be around three times the size of our Sun. It is the leftover remnant of a massive star that burned through its stellar fuel very quickly and then collapsed under the crushing weight of its own gravity, setting off a cataclysmic supernova explosion that left only the black hole and its companion behind.
The black hole's companion is a small, cool red dwarf star, about 20 per cent the size of our Sun. It orbits at about 1 million kilometres away (a little over twice the distance from Earth to the Moon), which is close enough for the black hole's immense gravity to tear matter from the star's surface. It spirals in, creating an 'accretion disk' around the singularity. The video above is an animation that shows what the stellar pair looks like as the black hole whips its companion around.
Watch videos at end of this one:
http://youtu.be/UDTuu-UAhFs
Thursday, March 14, 2013
ALMA: World's Biggest Radio Telescope
Half of all light in the universe is in millimeter-wavelength light between the far infrared and radio waves. ALMA can detect this light, which is emitted by cool objects and distant objects. It's possible thanks to the telescope's location at 16,400 feet in the driest desert on Earth, and because of the incredible precision of its 66 antennas.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/03/14/worlds-largest-radio-telescope-hailed-as-humanitys-most-ambitious-astronomy-project-to-be-launched-in-chilean-desert/
http://www.popsci.com/science/gallery/2013-03/take-look-unveiling-worlds-largest-radio-telescope
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The Thirty-Meter Telescope to be constructed on Mauna Kea in Hawaii will surpass even theHubble Space Telescope in some ways, giving scientists a new view of some of the oldest stars and galaxies in the universe, as well as planets orbiting nearby stars.
This instrument will be so powerful it will bring into view galaxies forming at the edge of the observable universe, near the beginning of time (i.e. near zero time)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The James Webb Space Telescope
Replacement for Hubble Space Telescope
The project is working to a 2018 launch date.
The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope.
Webb's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.
Webb will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court.
Webb will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe,
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream - ITVS
| Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) presents his take on the gap between rich and poor Americans in Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream. Gibney contends that America's richest citizens have "rigged the game in their favor," and created unprecedented inequality in the United States. Nowhere, Gibney asserts, is this more evident than on Park Avenue in New York. 740 Park in Manhattan is currently home to the highest concentration of billionaires in the country. Across the river, less than five miles away, Park Avenue runs through the South Bronx, home to the poorest congressional district in the United States. In Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream Gibney states that while income disparity has always existed in the U.S., it has accelerated sharply over the last 40 years. As of 2010, the 400 richest Americans controlled more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of the populace — 150 million people. In the film, Gibney explains why he believes upward mobility is increasingly out of reach for the poor. | |
| http://www.whypoverty.net/#en/video/29/?&_suid=136320082713507143843280715068 Saturday, March 2, 2013the Hijacking of Democracy by CapitalismFrom: Hasan M Soedjono Have you seen Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story"? He goes through great lengths to drive home the point that the universally famous and admired US Bill of Rights (1776) has absolutely no reference whatsoever to Capitalism. Moore's research traces the specific terms Capitalism, Free Markets and Free Competition (as an American creed) to the mid 1930s. This is well over 150 years after the original US Constitution and Bill of Rights. President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to counter this shift with "The Second Bill of Rights," which fine tuned the first one. It strives to strike that elusive balance between creating opportunity and still provide security. It also builds on America being by far the strongest super power in the world by that time. FDR died before his presidential term was up, and his initiative which was rapidly picking popular and political momentum fell through. By WW II's end, and most notably after the Korean War, the term capitalism managed to become synonymous with democracy. Here are excerpts from Wikipedia about the forgotten Second Bill of Rights, also known as "The Economic Bill of Rights." It reflects and reinforces the principle that Social Justice should be an important part of the American Dream -- two political terms that are almost in total contradiction today, especially given the way the term democracy is currently interpreted. One wonders what the world would look like today if he lived to push it through. The Economic Bill of Rights Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the Congress of the United States on the State of the Union[1]: It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people ”whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth” is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure. This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty. As our nation has grown in size and stature, however as our industrial economy expanded these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness. We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. Necessitous men are not free men. [2] People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made. In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed. Among these are: The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation; The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation; The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living; The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad; The right of every family to a decent home; The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health; The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment; The right to a good education. All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being. America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world. Perhaps the key issue isn't so much capitalism per se. It is more how the fruits are distributed, to which government plays a key role. This includes who gets taxed how much, and how the proceeds get spent. In a historically ironic way, we can almost blame the hijacking of Democracy by Capitalism as a reaction to the hijacking of Socialism by Communism. Lenin and Stalin had presented the rest of the world with a worrisome picture of how things are done in a Communist state, than in the 1930s, 40s and 50s the general American public became very open to any economic concept that would counter totalitarian centrally planned economies. Capitalism seemed to fit that calling well. This explains how quickly the movement towards the Second Bill of Rights fizzled away. I am not a scholar of political science, let alone American modern history, so I am not saying that Capitalism is necessarily evil. But our learned minds in this distinguished mail list should feel comfortable with intellectual arguments that test our very basic assumptions on why things today are the way they are. Wishing y'all a glorious Sunday, -hms- PS With thanks to mas Soegeng Prijono for the words below: Bisikan seorang teman pada saya, yang akan saya bagi kepada anda jika berkenan: Heavy rains remind us of challenges in life. Never ask for a lighter rain. Just pray for a better umbrella. That is attitude. When flood comes, fish eat ants & when flood recedes, ants eat fish. Only time matters. Just hold on, God gives opportunity to everyone! Life is not about finding the right person, but creating the right relationship, it's not how we care in the beginning, but how much we care till the very end. Some people always throw stones in your path. It depends on you what you make with them. A Wall or a Bridge? Remember you are the architect of your life. Search for a beautiful heart, but don't search for a beautiful face' coz beautiful things are not always good, but good things are always beautiful. It's not important to hold all the good cards in life. but it's important how well you play with the cards you hold. Often when we lose all hope & think this is the end, God smiles from above and says, `relax dear it's just a bend, not the end. Have Faith and have a successful life. One of the basic differences between God and humans is, God gives, gives and forgives. but the human gets, gets, gets and forgets. Be thankful in life....
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