Robot Photojournalism: Space Rover Photographs Land Rover

This image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity near the rim of "Victoria Crater." High Res (large format) Photo Link. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/UA - Reconnaissance Orbiter

Robot Photojournalism: Space Rover Photographs Land Rover

The fruits of our public monies should be more available and broadcast with greater saturation. These images can be found at the NASA website but the "Fourth Estate" is doing our society a dis-service by not broadcasting these images on a regular basis.


From an altitude of 170 miles, the orbiter could see the Opportunity rover from above. In the inset, the small line extending to the lower right from the rover is the shadow of the mast on which the rover's cameras are mounted. Image Credit: NASA

This from NASA -

Victoria is an impact crater about 800 meters (half a mile) in diameter at Meridiani Planum near the equator of Mars. Opportunity has been operating on Mars since January, 2004. Five days before this image was taken, Opportunity arrived at the rim of Victoria, after a drive of more than 9 kilometers (over 5 miles). It then drove to the position where it is seen in this image.

Shown in the image are "Duck Bay," the eroded segment of the crater rim where Opportunity first arrived at the crater; "Cabo Frio," a sharp promontory to the south of Duck Bay; and "Cape Verde," another promontory to the north. When viewed at the highest resolution, this image shows the rover itself, wheel tracks in the soil behind it, and the rover's shadow, including the shadow of the camera mast. After this image was taken, Opportunity moved to the very tip of Cape Verde to perform more imaging of the interior of the crater.

This view is a portion of an image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on Oct. 3, 2006. The complete image is centered at minus7.8 degrees latitude, 279.5 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 297 kilometers (185.6 miles). At this distance the image scale is 29.7 centimeters (12 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects about 89 centimeters (35 inches) across are resolved. North is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:30 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 59.7 degrees, thus the sun was about 30.3 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 113.6 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer.

Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/main/index.html or http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/.
Reference Here>>

Layers of 'Cabo Frio' in 'Victoria Crater' - This view of "Victoria crater" is looking southeast from "Duck Bay" towards the dramatic promontory called "Cabo Frio." The small crater in the right foreground, informally known as "Sputnik", is about 20 meters (about 65 feet) away from the rover, the tip of the spectacular, layered, Cabo Frio promontory itself is about 200 meters (about 650 feet) away from the rover, and the exposed rock layers are about 15 meters (about 50 feet) tall. This is an approximately true color rendering of images taken by the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during the rover's 952nd sol, or Martian day, (Sept. 28, 2006) using the camera's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 430-nanometer filters. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

This from ABC News –

Earthlings Invade Mars
U.S. Probes Send New Images of Martian Surface
By NED POTTER

Oct. 6, 2006 — "NASA is in the process of taking over Mars," said Steven Squyres, the principal investigator for the two rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which have been exploring the Martian surface for more than two years.

"Today is day 960 of Opportunity's 90-day mission," he said today at a Washington news conference. The rovers have gone far beyond their expected lifetimes, and NASA has had to come up with money to keep funding its support team on Earth.

Now the rovers have been joined by a new ship, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is circling the planet at an altitude of 170 miles and sending back its first images. They are so detailed that in one, the Opportunity rover appears as a small, dark triangle, perched on the edge of a crater.

A dark line extends from the triangle. Scientists said it is the shadow of the mast on Opportunity's top deck that carries most of its cameras.

This part of Victoria crater has been nicknamed Cape Verde. Scientists would like to sample it closely, but after more than two years in the Martian cold, the rover is showing signs of wear. "We are not going to do a leisurely tour of this crater," said Steve Squyres, the principal investigator, "because our days are numbered." Image Credit: NASA

Sandy Desert in the Martian Cold

Opportunity has been exploring a vast, sandy plain on Mars, and its operators back on Earth say they're amazed it's still operating. It's gotten stuck in the sand twice; one time they had to spin the wheels for six weeks to get it free.

There is no way to tow it free. Mars is currently about 240 million miles from Earth.
The crater at which Opportunity has now arrived is called Victoria. It is about a mile wide, and Squyres said it offers a great chance to see beneath the upper layers of soil.

"What an amazing time for space exploration," said Jim Bell, Squyres' long-time partner on the rover project. Bell and Squyres, both scientists at Cornell University, first proposed the Mars rovers in 1987.

Opportunity will now probe the cliffs that surround Victoria crater. But after 960 days on Mars, it is showing signs of wear. One of its wheels won't turn, and its batteries are harder to charge.

"We are not going to do a leisurely tour of this crater, because our days are numbered," Squyres said.

Please take a look at the newest pictures HERE.
Reference Link>>

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity reached the rim of "Victoria Crater" on Sept. 27, 2006, during the 951st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work in the Meridian Planum region of Mars. Opportunity drove 9.28 kilometers (5.77 miles) in the explorations that took it from "Eagle Crater," where it landed in January 2004, eastward to "Endurance Crater," which it investigated for about half of 2004, then southward to Victoria.

This map of Opportunity's trek so far is overlaid onto images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Victoria is about 800 meters (one-half mile) in diameter, or about five times wider than Endurance and 40 times wider than Eagle. The scale bar at lower right shows the length of 800 meters (0.50 mile). North is up.

The following gives the Earth date for the sol number on the image at right: Sol 58 was Mar. 24, 2004 Sol 315 was Dec. 12, 2004. Sol 446 was Apr. 26, 2005 Sol 654 was Nov. 25, 2005 Sol 833 was May 28, 2006 Sol 898 was Aug. 3, 2006 Sol 952 was Sept. 28, 2006 + High resolution version Image Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Ohio State University

Fence First Forces Persevere - Finally!

President Bush speaks in Scottsdale, Ariz., Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006 where he signed the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act. From left are, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, the president, Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., and Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. Image Credit: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Fence First Forces Persevere - Finally!

Whadda-U-Mean Washington don't listen to da' little guy.

Back in March, you had illegals a marchin' and makin' noise (you know, flyin' mexian flags n' hangin' the American flag upside-down and all).

Today, near election time, ya' have Dubya a signin' a 700 mile fence bill without any provisions for dealin' with the 12 million illegals that are here - First Things First, that's what MAXINE would always say!

Mexican nationals peer through the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border at Border Field State Park in San Ysidro, Calif., on Aug. 24. Image Credit: Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images file

Excerpts from AP via Yahoo! News -

Bush signs homeland security bill
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 4, 2:47 PM ET

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - President Bush on Wednesday signed a homeland security bill that includes an overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and $1.2 billion for fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border to stem illegal immigration.

Standing before a mountainous backdrop in Arizona, a state that has been the center of much debate over secure borders, Bush signed into law a $35 billion homeland security spending bill that could bring hundreds of miles of fencing to the busiest illegal entry point on the U.S.-Mexican border.

Bush said enforcement alone will not stop illegal immigration, and urged Congress to pass his guest worker program to legally bring in new foreign workers and give some of the country's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants a shot at U.S. citizenship.

"The funds that Congress has appropriated are critical for our efforts to secure this border and enforce our laws, yet we must also recognize that enforcement alone is not going to work,"
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Among other things, Bush said the homeland security funding bill deploys nuclear detection equipment to points of entry, raises safety security standards at chemical plants, provides better tools to enforce immigration laws and provides vehicle barriers, lighting and infrared cameras to help catch illegals trying to cross the border.

Members of the 116th Construction Equipment Support Company of the Utah National Guard extend a wall, 06 June 2006 along the US border with Mexico, a few miles from the border crossing point at San Luis, Arizona. The US Senate approved late 29 September 2006 a bill that calls for building a fence along the US-Mexican border to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. Image Credit: ROBYN BECK / AFP/Getty Images

"It's what the people in this country want," Bush said. "They want to know that we are modernizing the border so we can better secure the border."

Outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox, who has spent his six-year term lobbying for a new guest worker program and an amnesty for the millions of Mexicans working illegally in the United States, has called the barrier "shameful." He compares it to the Berlin Wall.
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Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the homeland security spending bill does not improve screening of cargo carried on passenger planes, does not provide money to buy and install advanced explosive-detection equipment and does not include strong enough security requirements to protect against a terrorist attack on chemical plants.

"There are nightclubs in New York City that are harder to get into than some of our chemical plants," Markey said.
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California, The Land Of Fruits, Nuts, & CHEESE

Sophie Horton, right, of Chicago tried on a cheesehead hat with her friend Alex Marohn, far left, of Sheboygan, Wis., from among many shapes, including top hat, cowboy hat, fireman’s hat, sombrero and crown. Image Credit: Andy Manis for The New York Times

California, The Land Of Fruits, Nuts, & CHEESE

Yes!, That’s right, CHEESE.

We all know the old impressions about California – There are no seasons … Land of fruits and nuts … Earthquakes … Hollywood … Wine … Convertibles … Surfin’ … San Francisco … Smoothies … Starlets … Car chases … Fires … Celebrity murder trials – Well, you get the idea!

As a matter of fact, California’s sixth ranking in world economies is fueled by agriculture, lending some weight to the expression “Land Of Fruits & Nuts” … and now “The Golden State” will soon be crowned as the the nation’s major cheese producer.

The expression “The Golden State” may now become even more true as it is bathed in the golden glow of chedder!

Excerpts from The New York Times -

Wisconsin’s Crown of Cheese Is Within California’s Reach
By MONICA DAVEY - NYT - Published: September 30, 2006

MONROE, Wis. — In a small yellow building tucked into rolling fields of corn and cows, men in aprons and rain boots stand guard over two enormous vats of thick white goop, no longer milk but not yet Muenster cheese.

People have toiled in these rooms, foggy with the smell of warm milk, for 116 years, which helps explain why Ivan Gobeli spits out an expletive at the predictions that California will soon overtake Wisconsin as the nation’s top cheese producer.

Graphic Credit: The New York Times
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As if California’s capture of the top milk production title more than a decade ago was not demoralizing enough for Wisconsin, which still proclaims itself America’s Dairyland right on its license plates, the cheese crown is now at serious risk, too, perhaps changing hands as early as next year. Last year, Wisconsin made 2.4 billion pounds of cheese, while California crept ever closer, finishing with 2.14 billion pounds — triple the amount it made 15 years ago.

For Wisconsin, this is more than a simple battle over a commodity or a listing in an obscure federal agriculture publication. Cheese is the state’s history, its pride, its self-deprecating, sometimes goofy, cheesehead approach to life.

“Cheese really is part of our identity,” said Terese Allen, a former president of the Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin who writes about the state’s culinary folklore. “Cheese is the perfect illustration of the Wisconsin personality — casual, fun people who like to make fun of things, including ourselves.”

And so, by turns, the prospect of California’s dominance has sent Wisconsinites into various stages of cheese grief: denial (cows like cold weather, they say, and the hot West Coast climate will never produce the tasty pastures grown for them around here); condescension (many of California’s top cheese-making minds were imported from Wisconsin, they say); and, eventually, resigned indifference (it is the taste, the quality, they conclude, not the quantity of cheese that should matter most).

Wisconsin’s long affair with cheese began when its wheat crop faltered. In the mid-19th century, farmers realized that depleted soil and insect infestations made raising cows more manageable, and the state’s many immigrants from places like Germany and Switzerland, who brought cheese-making methods from the old country, got to work.
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Still, Wisconsin, which had overtaken New York in cheese production by 1910, has continued to reign as the nation’s largest and proudest producer. (New York is now fourth, and Idaho is third.)

Wisconsin boasts the nation’s only “Master Cheesemaker” certification, for its most accomplished veteran makers (there were 47 as of April) and one of the earliest cheese-making education programs, at the University of Wisconsin.

But in recent decades, California began expanding its milk and cheese production at an astonishing pace. Signs of the growth began popping up all around: 21 awards to California cheeses in the prestigious American Cheese Society competition in 2002, for example, and a $21-million-a-year national advertising blitz starring talking “Happy Cows” from California, including images of a seemingly miserable cow making a break from a snowy, blustery field for sunnier pastures out West and the slogan, “Great cheese comes from happy cows.”
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Happiness notwithstanding, dairy economists predict California will win. Even John T. Umhoefer, the executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, a group more than a century old and devoted to advocating for its producers, quietly concedes the point. “They won’t roar by us, but they will pass us,” Mr. Umhoefer said.

This is where indifference has begun to seep in, and - perhaps by way of defense - a new battle emerges.

Around Wisconsin, to the news of California’s rising dominance, cheese makers say they are turning their focus to high-priced specialty, artisan and organic cheeses that take more time to produce, cheeses like Asiago, feta and blue cheese, and those with names newly dreamed up.

“We’re moving on from this whole quantity thing,” said Jeanne Carpenter of the state’s Dairy Business Innovation Center, who said specialty cheeses now accounted for 15 percent of the state’s production, up significantly from five years ago. “Where Wisconsin is going to make its mark now is in the quality of the cheese.”

Roger Godfrey, right, owner, and his two sons, Dan, left, and Mike, flipped block forms of Muenster cheese at Franklin Cheese Factory near Monroe, Wis. The forms have to be flipped every half hour for several hours. The state’s cheese makers worry that California will soon overtake Wisconsin as the nation’s top cheese producer. Image Credit: Andy Manis for The New York Times
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A spokeswoman for the California Milk Advisory Board, Nancy Fletcher, said new research there showed that the state was not just cranking out chunks of mozzarella: 11.3 percent of California’s cheese is of the fancy, specialty persuasion, Ms. Fletcher said, and the state now creates 250 varieties of cheese.

And so, the war for cheese prominence rages on, and Wisconsin’s identity crisis looms.

A few here suggest Wisconsin might be wise to begin considering substitute symbols — something tied more, perhaps, to the state’s vast production of cranberries, ginseng or brats, as bratwurst is known from Eagle River to Beloit.

If the term “cheesehead” was originally meant to convey some negative bumpkin image that outsiders (often from Chicago) had of those from Wisconsin, many who lived here, in turn, embraced it, defiantly chuckling at themselves. Foamation, the company in St. Francis that began manufacturing cheesehead hats in 1987 (and later ties, earrings, crowns, key chains, magnets and toilet seats), is having one of its busiest selling seasons in years.

A new generation is buying the items, said an employee, Denise Kaminski. “When you drive through Wisconsin, what do you see but cheese?” she said. “It’s who we are, and that’s not going away.”
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But before we get a little to "Cheese-Heady" about our new found status, we in California must remember ... we are also the land of the e. coli Spinach Scare!

Best ID Security May Not Be Just Biometric

Entrust IdentityGuard is carried or worn around the neck of the individual. Image Credit: Entrust, Inc. via Avisian publications

Best ID Security May Not Be Just Biometric

Specific identification of an individual short of a DNA make-up can be achieved through many identification processes. A large investment has been made in systems based on biometric access, radio based proximity information exchange, and video software that can recognize individuals through data mining identifiers associated with ones face ... or body type.

Maybe the best identification solution to implement can also be one of the simplest. Maybe the easiest way to insure the identification of an individual is to rely on a two step authentication process that requires the individual, after entering a password, to interact with the process via a matrix matching grid that uses the individual's brain.

Oh, and by the way, this security solution is inexpensive and simple to implement.

Excerpts from CR80News -

Grid-based two-factor authentication comes to campus cards
Sweden’s Goteborg University deploys a visual challenge and response solution from Entrust
By Andy Williams, Contributing Editor, CR80News - Monday, September 25 2006

You log in with your password, then you're met with another screen with the following: A3, F4, J5. No, you're not playing Bingo. It's part of an authentication system created by Dallas, Texas-based Entrust. To supply the correct answers to A3, F4 and J5, you need a grid supplied by the company. It's a security solution that one Swedish university has chosen to protect its student records.

Entrust IdentityGuard "X-Y" matrix grid pad. Image Credit: Entrust, Inc. via Avisian publications

"Grid authentication is about an X-Y coordinate lookup system," said Steve Neville, senior manager of ID products and solutions for Entrust, Inc. a secure digital identity provider. "It's like reading a map and it's about being able to respond to the random challenges of a coordinate on a grid."

To help prevent attacks on student data and protect the records of its 60,000 students and faculty while facilitating access for authorized parties, Goteborg University in Sweden recently implemented Entrust's IdentityGuard.
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A cost-conscious option for multi-factor authentication

The two-factor authentication system requires a password, plus the grid that's often printed on the back of a student's or faculty member's identification card, said Mr. Neville. It's a standard student card that's usable not only for identification but for other things, like accessing foodservice.
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Either way, the grid is useless without the password and the password useless without the grid. The grid is the 'something you have' and the password is the 'something you know' in the multi-factor authentication scenario.
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"We wanted an authentication solution that would provide strong security but also would be easy to use for our students and faculty and also be economical to manage," said Sven-Elof Kristenson, IT manager at Goteborg University. "Because we can combine the Entrust IdentityGuard grid authentication capability with the identity cards we already issue to our students and faculty at the beginning of the school term, it fit seamlessly into our existing system and will give us the ability to make even more services available online for everyone."

The university also chose IdentityGuard because its grid authentication capability can be used to access records, file storage, reports, e-mail and calendar functions, said Mr. Neville. "It was a natural choice for stronger authentication. Ease of integration and usability also were factors that led to the decision to implement Entrust IdentityGuard."

Entrust IdentityGuard matrix grid pad information as it is applied to a computer log-in screen. Image Credit: Entrust, Inc. via Avisian publications

Adding 'machine fingerprinting' to the grid authentication

"ID Guard in and of itself is a platform for authentication," said Mr. Neville. It comes in six different flavors-authentication options --- ranging from the non-intrusive like machine fingerprinting and grid authentication to one-time password tokens, he added.

"One of the reasons Goteborg liked grid authentication is that it also delivers the flexibility to input other types of authentication. Inside our license model we don't force them to track which authentication they're using. They can choose which ones they want to use to protect student data," said Mr. Neville.

A risk can be assigned to student data to determine the type of authentication needed, he added. "It can be a simple process, like this type of information requires the grid and machine authentication. For students, the grid is totally fine because they're roaming around," said Mr. Neville.

ID Guard is a "software server based product that can also provide strong authentication for remote access," he added.
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"When they (Goteborg University officials) were looking at security solutions, they were very sensitive to cost and how much change would be required. They looked at ID Guard as a very attractive solution versus one that could only be deployed to faculty alone because of the cost. It was also something they found very unique and something they could trust."
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The 15% Solution - Really!, Right Now! - The Case For E15

The Rev. Bart Muller of Brighton refuels at a rare ethanol pump at a Citgo in Dearborn Heights. Image Credit: John T. Greilick / The Detroit News

The 15% Solution - Really! ... Right Now! The case for E15.

Lately, we all have been confronted with the realization that our dependence on foreign oil puts our county and our culture in real peril.

We have fascist monotheistic Muslim leaders and communistic dictators standing up in the chambers of the United Nations deriding our way of life without any power to back up their claims other than that they supply our nation with oil to fuel our free way of life.

Further, the radical Muslim world uses the resources gained through the sale of oil to our country to declare war and attack it with out provocation.

Some call for a boycott of Citgo as a reaction to statements made by Hugo Chavez at the UN, and others claim that we should all go out and purchase hybrid technology or flex-fuel automobiles - Right Now! – to place a dent in the flow of monies to these fascist monotheistic Muslim enemy forces that want to spread their influence on our freedoms and growth in our way of life.

Here is a strategy we can implement - Right Now! – through legislation without much increase in the investment and additional impact to our existing infrastructure.

Excerpts from the The Detroit News -

15 percent ethanol fuel is best bet
Sam R. Simon - The Detroit News

We often hear about beating high gas prices and breaking the bonds of Big Oil through increased production of E85 fuel, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Greater use of ethanol certainly will decrease our national thirst for oil. Alternative fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol are important vehicles in our drive toward energy independence, and Michigan is helping lead the way.

This state is part of the growing national commitment to these renewable fuels. All of us should recognize their role in a stronger economy and cleaner environment. But rather than anoint E85 as the sole solution, we should cruise before we race.

In the short term, E15 is the best option because that 15-percent ethanol blend can be dispensed today from existing pumps and can safely power nearly every car.

Few service stations currently are able to sell E85, with just a dozen or so in our state and fewer than 1,000 nationwide. Moreover, automakers must make time-consuming, costly commitments to build flex-fuel vehicles.

Billions of dollars and many years are needed to convert retail fuel networks for E85, even with government subsidies. Adding that new product requires $60,000 to $100,000 in updated pumps and new storage tanks at each service station. Also, it will take many years to expand the nation's ethanol production to the point where E85 can be readily available. The E15 blend with 85-percent gasoline, by contrast, can flow now.
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It's no coincidence that Michigan is at the center of this growth industry. With an ideal combination of agricultural resources, automotive technology and research expertise, our state provides a natural base for America's greater use of alternatives to fossil fuels made from petroleum. We are extending Michigan's tradition of auto industry innovations with 21st century fuel research and development. As a participant in Michigan's fuel industry for 30 years, I'm excited about the future. My company began blending biodiesel last year and is an investor in the Michigan Biodiesel LLC plant that begins production soon in Bangor.
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State government is helping as well with recently passed legislation that decreases the tax on alternative fuels and gives economic incentives to encourage service stations and fuel plants to sell more renewable fuel.
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Alternative fuels blended here plant the seeds for lasting environmental, economic and energy security benefits. By embracing fuels made from home-state corn and soybeans, lawmakers nourish our state in important ways. The mass expansion of renewable fuels production will benefit us in years to come as E85 and biodiesel become cornerstones of our energy strategy. But as we look toward the future, let's also take advantage of today's opportunity and offer incentives for the immediate use of E15 fuel.
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Allmendinger Stalls Frenchie At Road America

AJ Allmendinger at Road America during Saturday qualifying. Photo Credit: Anthony Kent, USA LAT Photographic

Allmendinger Stalls Frenchie At Road America - Scores 5th Win Of The Season

Sebastian Bourdais will just have to wait to clinch this year's series championship and to capture bragging rights to three championships in a row.

Said AJ Allmendinger in the post race interview after notching his fifth win for Forsythe Racing this season, "I just wasn't going to let the Frenchman clinch the championship here on American soil."

Now, The Champ Car World Series takes its act "down-under" to Surfers Paradise, Australia (October 20 - 22, 2006) for the season's penultimate run before the season ending race in Mexico City (November 10 - 12, 2006).

This UPDATE from The Sports Network -

Allmendinger wins at Road America

Elkhart Lake, WI (Sports Network) - American A.J. Allmendinger captured Sunday's Grand Prix of Road America. The No.7 Forsythe Championship Racing driver crossed the finish line 0.674 seconds ahead of Bruno Junqueira.

The victory was the Allmendinger's fifth of the season and fifth of his Champ Car career and keeps him in the championship race.

While pole winner Dan Clarke took the green flag and smartly led the field through the first lap, an accident behind him brought out the caution flag even before the drivers had taken a second turn. Will Power, Bruno Junqueira and Jan Heylen were involved.

Sebastien Bourdais and Will Power lead into turn 3 the field at the start of Qualifying. Photo Credit: Leland Hill, USA LAT Photographic

On lap four, Charles Zwolsman went to the lead past Clarke, but he didn't get to enjoy the top spot for long as two-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais went flying by the No.34 Lola.

By lap seven, the Frenchman's lead was more than three seconds over Clarke, who had fought his way around Zwolsman. Six laps later the margin was almost nine seconds as Bourdais was setting a torrid pace.

But a caution flag brought on by a Power accident in turn one, quickly eliminated Bourdais' huge lead.

When they went back to green, Bourdais jumped on second-place Allmendinger. By lap 22, the margin was five seconds and his laps were more than two seconds better than the second-place car. The lead was up to 12 seconds when rookie Juan Caceres spun to bring out another caution flag.

Everyone pitted and while Bourdais took a full load of fuel, both Justin Wilson and Allmendinger "short-filled" to get out in front the points leader. Bourdais came back on track in fifth place behind the two "short-fill drivers" and Bruno Junqueira and Nelson Philippe who stayed out.

Suddenly, Bourdais's race car wasn't working as well as earlier and he was stuck behind his two closest championship challengers - Wilson and Allmendinger. He was still behind them with 15 laps to go.

Justin Wilson - Photo Credit: Phillip Abbott, USA LAT Photographic

The two leaders plus Wilson made their final pit stops leaving the race lead to Allmendinger and Bourdais. But they too had to make a final stop so unless they could build a sufficient margin, they would still have to pass cars for the win.

Allmendinger made his pit stop on lap 41, but Bourdais stayed out. The American got out in front of Junqueira for fourth place.

When would Bourdais stop and where would he return to the track?

Bourdais held more than 31 seconds on Allmendinger and Junqueira after 43 laps. The Frenchman finally made his stop on lap 44 and returned to the track about 100 yards ahead of the competition.

Now he only needed to hold him off for seven laps.

But on cold tires Bourdais couldn't hold off Allmendinger. The American went flying by Bourdais. So did Junqueira.

Katherine Legge – “Warriors In Pink” livery. Photo Credit: Phillip Abbott, USA LAT Photographic

It should have been a great battle down the stretch between those three drivers, but with six laps to go, Katherine Legge slammed the wall at "The Kink" (the fastest corner on the track) sending her car into a million pieces and bringing out a full-course caution. After one lap, officials brought out the red flag halting the race with four laps to go.

She was "awake and alert" as they put her in the ambulance for the ride to the medical center and amazingly she was on her feet and waving to the crowd just a few minutes later.

The race finally resumed with two caution flag laps leaving just two laps for "racing" but there really wasn't much competition over the last eight miles. Allmendinger cruised to win unchallenged and kept his slight championship hopes alive.

Bourdais, Oriol Servia and Wilson completed the top-five.

Bourdais remains the championship leader with two races remaining in the season. He has a 58-point margin over Allmendinger and 67 over Wilson.
Reference Here>>

Where Wealth, Environmentalism, And Nationalism Collide

The view of the countryside around Ushuaia, Argentina - the southernmost city in the world. Image Credit: PBase

Where Wealth, Environmentalism, And Nationalism Collide

Argentina is a very large country with tremendous assets and beauty. The problem is that due to the type of leadership the country is based on, most of the citizens believe their only opportunity lies in the country’s main city and capitol, Buenos Aries.

The Government, unfortunately, does not view land ownership and stewardship in the way we in the United States view it – an opportunity to enrich oneself as one enriches the community.

One only has to look to Mexico to get an idea as to how Argentina views property ownership – it’s a Latin based view as opposed to a Christian based view. In short, control by a few as opposed to growth and control through individuals working for the betterment of a community.

Excerpts from The Washington Post -

Argentine Land Fight Divides Environmentalists, Rights Advocates
By Monte Reel - Washington Post Foreign Service - Sunday, September 24, 2006; Page A01

CONCEPCIÓN, Argentina -- From a flat patch of tree-studded savannah, the gaze stretches for miles: across a small pond where a marsh deer stops to drink, and over swampy wetlands where herons gingerly high-step.

Above it all, a small airplane drones. At the controls is Douglas Tompkins, an American who owns everything underneath him, paid for from the millions he earned as the founder of the North Face and Esprit clothing lines.

"It's an amazing piece of land," Tompkins said shortly after landing. "Extremely rich with biological diversity."

American Douglas Tompkins has donated some of his land in Argentina and Chile for parks. Photo Credit: Twp Photo

Now, many Argentine officials and social activists want to confiscate the property he says he bought to create an ecological preserve. They think that he and other wealthy foreigners who have bought enormous swaths of the Argentine and Chilean countryside are trying to wrest control of a continent under the guise of environmental preservation.

"We believe this is a new way of trying to dominate the South American countries," said Araceli Mendez, a congresswoman who represents this region and sponsored legislation last month that would expropriate Tompkins's land. "It is dangerous for the defense of our national security to have the concentration of so much land in the hands of foreigners."

Since the 1990s, the relatively cheap and expansive acreage of Argentina has attracted millionaires in search of unspoiled estates, including household names such as Ted Turner and Sylvester Stallone. But last month, Argentina's undersecretary for land and social habitat declared war on such land purchases with one highly symbolic act: He marched onto Tompkins's land, cut down a fence and called for the expropriation of the property.

Days later, he stood alongside the ambassadors of Venezuela and Bolivia -- two countries that recently have implemented measures to redistribute land from wealthy estate owners to the poor -- and made his intentions even clearer.

"We want to tell everyone: We're going to continue cutting down fences," said Luis D'Elia, the government secretary. "What is more important, the private property of a few, or the sovereignty of everyone?"
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Not only do these battles pit South American nationalism against foreign investors, they are drawing a bold line between two activist movements -- environmentalists and social justice advocates -- that are often grouped together under the same "progressive" label.
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The Catholic Church joined the chorus this month, issuing a 128-page document that warned against the "foreign-ization" of Argentine territory. Environmental groups, such as the Argentina Wildlife Foundation, have generally backed Tompkins.

"The social justice movements have been extremely poor at understanding ecological effects of their actions -- they're not green movements," said Tompkins, 67. "Concern about things like topsoil, which is the most valuable part of the land and often suffers under agrarian reform, is not being heard through the din of the need for the social redistribution of land. But that redistribution, for those who are not capable of handling it, will be a terrible blow to the future."

Since 1990, Tompkins and his wife -- Kristine McDivitt, the former chief executive of the Patagonia outdoor clothing company -- have bought about 4.7 million acres in Chile and Argentina. Their strategy is to identify properties in danger of ecologically damaging development, buy them, then create private parks that they eventually turn over to the local governments.

In Chile, they bought a large swath of land on the southern coast, creating a private park that they eventually turned over to the Chilean government to create the Parque Pumalin, which is roughly the size of Yosemite National Park. They did the same thing with the Monte Leon National Park on Argentina's side of Patagonia. Last year, they donated about 210,000 acres to Chile to form part of the Corcovado National Park.
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"They're shooting at the guy -- the only guy, practically, from the private sector -- who is buying land and then nationalizing it!" said a fired-up Tompkins, eating a bowl of granola for breakfast in the living room of the ranch house he keeps on the property.

Argentines, he said, don't understand his style of philanthropy. When he talks about eventually donating the land to the government, they suspect a catch. D'Elia has publicly hinted that he believes Tompkins is an agent of the U.S. government. That his property sits near the Guaraní aquifer -- the third largest source of fresh water in the world -- has raised suspicions that he is trying to gain control of South America's water supply. Some say that a U.S. military base about 450 miles away in Paraguay is indirect evidence that Tompkins and the U.S. government might be working together.
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Tompkins traces the beginnings of the discontent to an American style of land management that is resented here -- specifically, his efforts to hold his neighboring landowners to environmental standards.

He recently financed a legal case against a local forestry company trying to build a dike through wetlands. It was the kind of environmental complaint that is made every day in the United States, but not in a region of Argentina where private ranch owners -- or estancieros -- have held most of the political power for centuries.

"Suddenly they see someone come in and say, 'Hey, what about the rules?' " Tompkins said. "That sort of galvanized people into action against me."
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Tompkins, meanwhile, continued working on his property, overseeing projects such as the clearing of eucalyptus trees -- a non-native species that he is trying to replace with vegetation naturally found in the area.

"The Argentine government should look very carefully not at what passport someone carries," Tompkins said, "but at how they behave economically and ecologically."
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The way we see it here at MAXINE ... Tompkins is only trying to pursue a "Purpose Driven Life".

Trees Show Greater Promise As E85 Feedstock

Cottonwoods can be either male or female. It is the fluffy white seeds produced by the females during early summer that give the tree its name. The seeds are very small, 1mm wide by 4 mm long, which is quite remarkable considering that they can become one of the largest trees in North America, up to 100 ft. high with massive trunks over 5 ft. in diameter. Photo Credit: Bob Gress

Trees Show Greater Promise As E85 Feedstock

It turns out that we do not need to consume or destroy food based crops or growing fields in order to reap the benefits of ethanol based bio-fuels.

Trees, specifically Cottonwood trees, can be raised and the leaves and twigs can be harvested and converted into Ethanol for use in E85 blended gasoline.

According to ECOworld via a study in 2005 by the U.S. Dept. of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “United States has enough agricultural and forestry land to support production of over one billion tons of biomass, which could provide enough liquid bio-fuels to replace over a third of current transportation fuel consumption, and still continue to meet food, feed, and export demands.”

This from ECOworld -

Cellulosic Ethanol From Cottonwoods

We’ve always enjoyed growing cottonwood trees. They can grow about ten feet per year, and can eventually tower over 100 feet in height. If you want a quick forest, look no further.

As a feedstock for bioethanol, trees and crop forage display far greater potental via their cellulosic fibers than the yield from their food crops - sugar cane, cassava, corn - ever could.

As we point out in our post, “Ethanol From Cellulose,” the problem is that this process is much more technologically challenging. Simple extraction of oils and sugars from the food crops, as opposed to the forage, is much more viable today. But that may change.

In a report just released entitled “The First Tree Genome is Published,” the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute claims “the analysis of the first complete DNA sequence of a tree, the black cottonwood or Populus trichocarpa, lays the groundwork that may lead to the development of trees as an ideal “feedstock” for a new generation of biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol.”

The report goes on to say they have ”identified 93 genes associated with the production of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, the building blocks of plant cell walls. The biopolymers cellulose and hemicellulose constitute the most abundant organic materials on earth, which by enzymatic action, can be broken down into sugars that in turn can be fermented into alcohol and distilled to yield fuel-quality ethanol and other liquid fuels.”

A lengthy study authored in 2005 by the U.S. Dept. of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that the “United States has enough agricultural and forestry land to support production of over one billion tons of biomass, which could provide enough liquid biofuels to replace over a third of current transportation fuel consumption, and still continue to meet food, feed, and export demands.” Here is the full text of this report.

It could be a while before cellulosic refining is commercially viable, but in the meantime there are many economically viable examples of primary refining of sugars and oils from plant crops to produce bioethanol and biodiesel fuel. In the rapidly evolving market for alternative fuels and alternative automotive drivetrains, don’t write off biofuels, or the next generation of internal combustion engines.
Reference Here>>

iPod Covers For Form, Fun & Function

This morning, MAXINE was surfing around and stumbled on to a weblog that listed its choices for the "Top 5 Strangest iPod Cases".

We really did not agree with the order of choice at TechEBlog, but the array of covers was very creative and many carried along with the design, a function beyond the attractive presentation.

So, here is our order starting with the most strange case ... this case defies straight forward logic but has function and fun wrapped up in the form.

iKitty


You can’t get much stranger than the iKitty. This cat-inspired silicone case features a bendable tail and a screen protector to prevent those annoying scratches. Image Credit: akihabaranews/TechEBlog-#4

The case with the highest level of function followed by form then fun is this one that by its design is definitely the most durable.

Bulletproof iPod Case

A Japanese modder created this custom 5mm Aluminum A5052 case for his iPod — which can stop a 0.22 bullet — to prevent it from being crushed by the handrail on those busy subway trains. Image Credit: mobilhawk/TechEBlog-#2

The next case is similar to the "Bulletproof iPod Case" but is better suited to a mass produced marketplace. Durable yet trendy given the times we live in today - this case is battlefield ready.

YoTank Mililtary-Grade iPod Cases

YoTank introduces a new line of military-grade digital audio player cases that can withstand “a RPG or mortar shell explosion 85 percent of the time.” Cases are machined from solid blocks of aluminum and fit the iPod Nano/Video/Mini or Creative Zen Vision:M players. Prices start at $35, more info here. Image Credit: gizmodo/TechEBlog-#1

This case gets the vote for the most whimsical and impractical. The function is low, but this case gets high marks for form and fun

Fluffpod

Imagine putting your brand new iPod in one of these strange looking fur cases called “Fluffpod” — made from “super silky soft fluffpod signature fur” and lined with silky soft satin. One question, aren’t cases supposed to protect your iPod? Image Credit: ilounge/Tech Blog-#3

And in the last-but-not-least department is a cover that speaks for itself and is probably more "theft-worthy" than the iPod it protects. The form, fun & function are almost irrelevant.

Louis Vuitton iPod Case

This might be the first iPod case that costs more than the player itself. The Louis Vuitton Classic Ipod Cover by Takashi Murakami features peach natural calf leather lining, golden brass pieces, and a multicolor canvas. Pricing has not yet been set but we expect it to retail at around $285+. Image Credit: chipchick/TechEBlog-#5

HT: TechEBlog

For 'NOW', Moderate Muslims, And Blacks In America - Darfur Is A Real Problem!

Freshly displaced Darfuris await the arrival of the UN relief coordinator Jan Egeland in the rebel held town of Gereida in southern Darfur, 07 May 2006. Image Credit: AFP/Getty

For 'NOW', Moderate Muslims, And Blacks In America - Darfur Is A Real Problem!

Where are the National Organization for Women (NOW), moderate American Muslims (so-called), and African-American leaders (the usual suspects) when it comes to issuing statements and mobilizing political pressure and attention to the events in Sudan?

I hear nothing but crickets.

The silence is deafening.

Excerpts from the Washington Post -

For Darfur Women, Survival Means Leaving Camp, Risking Rape
By Craig Timberg - Washington Post Foreign Service - Saturday, September 16, 2006; Page A12

GRAIDA, Sudan, Sept. 15 -- The tall, light-skinned man reeking of sweat and cigarettes often gallops his horse right into the nightmares of Darelsalam Ahmed Eisa, 18. Each time, she said, he throws her to the ground, pushes up her skirt and forces himself inside her while muttering: " Abdah. Abdah. Abdah ."

Slave woman. Slave woman. Slave woman.

He was in her dreams just last night, she recalled, as real and horrifying in his green camouflage uniform as he was the day he raped her two months ago. But when Eisa awoke this morning, there was no time for terror, no time for tears. She covered herself in an orange and blue cloth, grabbed the family's ax and departed for the perilous Darfur countryside, out of the relative safety of a sprawling camp for people displaced by the violence in this region of western Sudan.

In the wilderness, Eisa can find grass for the donkeys and firewood for cooking. But it is also where government-backed militias known as the Janjaweed roam, terrorizing villagers. Violence and disease in Darfur have killed as many as 450,000 people since 2003, and an estimated 2 million have been forced to flee their homes.

Darfur, Sudan – Graphic Credit: Washington Post

The government and a rebel group reached a cease-fire agreement in May, but since then, rapes in and around camps for people displaced by the fighting have surged, aid groups and residents say. The International Rescue Committee has recorded more then 200 sexual assaults among residents of a single camp near Nyala, a town in South Darfur state, during a five-week period in July and August.

More and more often, women in Darfur face the starkest of choices: risk being raped by leaving the camps in search of firewood and grass, or starve. If they invite their brothers or husbands along to protect them, the Janjaweed will still rape the women, they say, and kill the men.

"It is better for me to be raped than for my brother to be killed," said Eisa, soft-spoken and round-faced, with hair braided into tight rows beneath her head scarf. She has two children, ages 2 and 5, but no husband. He divorced Eisa last year, she said, after she quarreled with one of his elder wives.
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After walking for about two hours, they had nearly reached the better grass when dozens of Janjaweed militiamen on horses and camels suddenly appeared, surrounding the young women.

Aziza tried to run but was caught within seconds and struck in the face. Eisa froze. Quickly and roughly, the men separated the two sisters and their friend, with a man taking each one to a secluded spot.

The tall, light-skinned man was riding a reddish-brown horse, Eisa said. He was clean-shaven and armed with a machine gun. "I will take you," the man told Eisa. "My wife needs a slave."

He then ordered Eisa to lie on her back, but she refused. She knew that if he raped her and the community learned of the attack, she would probably never be able to remarry.

Her defiance enraged the man. He aimed the gun at Eisa and shouted: "I will shoot you! I will shoot you!"

At that moment, a second Janjaweed man stepped in. "Don't waste a bullet on a woman!" he said. "Just throw her."

The tall man hurled Eisa to the dirt and crawled atop her.

A few minutes later, the rapes were over but not the ordeal. The Janjaweed tied the young women together at their wrists and beat them with their fists and the butts of their guns.
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The young women told their friends and relatives about the attack but not about the rapes. But over the next few weeks, gossip began to spread. Neighbors assumed the worst, about the attack, about Eisa, her sister and their friend.

"They scorn you. They laugh at you," Eisa said. "They look at you as if you are strange, as if they haven't seen you before."

The only good news came about two weeks later. After living in fear that the rape might have made her pregnant, Eisa's period arrived. The relief, she said, was overwhelming.

By the time Eisa reached the end of her story, she and her sister had arrived at the spot where they planned to collect firewood. With expert swings of the ax -- so hard Eisa's head scarf fell to her shoulders -- she and Aziza cut the largest branches off two trees, stripped the bark and bundled the still-moist wood.

With their donkeys long gone -- stolen in the Janjaweed attack -- the sisters hoisted the bundles onto their heads and began the long walk back to the camp beneath the relentless Darfur sun.
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Rob Reiner IS "Screwie"!

Rob Reiner as “Screwie” getting hit in the head by Yankee Irving - the worst player on the sandlot (if only). Image Credit: IDT Entertainment

Rob Reiner IS “Screwie”!

Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse for the exploits for Actor turned Director turned ousted Bureaucrat … Rob “Meathead” Reiner remakes himself into “Screwie”, a not so funny “Borsht Circuit” style comic baseball.

The beauty of this voice-over role for Rob is that it utilizes a talent he picked up while being the commissioner of California’s improperly and potentially illegally run First Five cigarette tax money funded education program (currently under investigation). Rob had a failed attempt at “Screwing” Californians into paying for universal pre-school for all (Proposition 82) too now failing at a voice-over role as a baseball appropriately named “Screwie”.

This from the New York Post -

BRONX BUMMER
Even Derek Jeter couldn't put life into the mild baseball flick "Everyone's Hero."
By KYLE SMITH – New York Post - September 15, 2006
Rating: ****
(two stars out of four stars)

CHECK out the loser in the Yankee cap who can do nothing but strike out. "The Alex Rodriguez Story"? No, "Everyone's Hero," a tame CGI cartoon for the simple-minded: the very young, the very old and Yankee fans.

The 1932 World Series is about to begin in The Bronx, where a kid named Yankee Irving is the worst player on the sandlot. His only friend is another misfit: Screwie (Rob Reiner, channeling Jackie Mason), a talking baseball fouled out of Yankee Stadium who dreams of being a home-run ball - or at least breaking a window.

When the kid's dad, a janitor at the stadium, allows him inside the locker room to peek at Babe Ruth's bat, the bat gets stolen. The boy is the chief suspect, so the father gets fired. But the real thief is a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs acting on orders from the Cubs' manic owner, who is desperate to win the Series and spends his spare time torturing bobblehead dolls of the Babe.

The magic-of-baseball movie has been dying ever since the fans started to notice that the team that wins the most championships simply buys them in a drunken spree every winter. But "Everyone's Hero" manages to give peewees a history lesson about the Negro Leagues and connect on a few decent jokes. Reading the newspaper, Screwie says, "There's a horse jumping off a diving board. Oh wait, that's Eleanor Roosevelt."

Rob Reiner as “Screwie” in drag – delivering a “tour de force”. Image Credit: IDT Entertainment

There is something here to bore everyone from age 8 to 80 (bland ballads, straight-line plot, a boring villain from the evil-redhead school).

But tiny tots will enjoy the booger jokes and pratfalls, plus the scene where the kid actually gets to play for the Yankees.

Retirees will lap up both Reiner's Catskills shtick - which is older than Julio Franco - and the way the kid slowly learns the fundamentals of the game while trying to recover the bat and save the Yankees and his dad's job. (The bat also talks, by the way - in the voice of Whoopi Goldberg, who trades insults with the baseball: "Your stitches are gonna need stitches.")

Strangely, though, the script mangles the '32 World Series (then why specify the year?) and doesn't even mention its most memorable (supposed) event, Ruth's "called shot."

The movie credits Christopher Reeve, who has been dead for two years, as lead director, which is a pretty shameless publicity ploy even by Hollywood standards. Reeve may have been a swell guy, but he wasn't an animator.

(The production notes say Reeve, whose son pointed out the short story the film is based on, did "much of the storyboarding and prep work" - you can do that by puffing through a tube?)

The oft-repeated message of the film is "keep on swinging." Keep on spinning, is more like it.

EVERYONE'S HERO

**

Louisville sluggard. [ed. OUCH!]

Running time: 85 minutes. Rated G (all ages).
Reference Here>>

After this movie, every time “Meathead” opens his mouth on something political, or tries to have everyone else pay for something HE believes in … Rob Reiner IS “Screwie”!

Try as hard as you may, you just can’t make this stuff up.

Rob Reiner's best line in the movie trailer? "Ow!, My head!, My butt!, My head!, My butt!, My head!"