Have you ever driven along a mountain road in Colorado? How about at night?
Here’s a time-exposure photograph, posted to Earthsky Facebook yesterday (October 20, 2015) by Joe Randall in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It captures the headlights of cars moving along a highway, plus the movement of stars at night, as Earth turns under the sky. The starry streaks are called star trails.
Source……..www.earthsky.org
Natarajan
NASA launched a new website Monday so the world can see images of the full, sunlit side of the Earth every day. The images are taken by a NASA camera one million miles away on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Air Force.
Once a day NASA will post at least a dozen new color images of Earth acquired from 12 to 36 hours earlier by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC). Each daily sequence of images will show the Earth as it rotates, thus revealing the whole globe over the course of a day. The new website also features an archive of EPIC images searchable by date and continent.
The primary objective of NOAA’s DSCOVR mission is to maintain the nation’s real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, which are critical to the accuracy and lead time of space weather alerts and forecasts from NOAA. NASA has two Earth-observing instruments on the spacecraft. EPIC’s images of Earth allow scientists to study daily variations over the entire globe in such features as vegetation, ozone, aerosols, and cloud height and reflectivity.
EPIC is a four megapixel CCD camera and telescope. The color Earth images are created by combining three separate single-color images to create a photographic-quality image equivalent to a 12-megapixel camera. The camera takes a series of 10 images using different narrowband filters — from ultraviolet to near infrared — to produce a variety of science products. The red, green and blue channel images are used to create the color images. Each image is about 3 megabytes in size.
“The effective resolution of the DSCOVR EPIC camera is somewhere between 6.2 and 9.4 miles (10 and 15 kilometers),” said Adam Szabo, DSCOVR project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.
Since Earth is extremely bright in the darkness of space, EPIC has to take very short exposure images (20-100 milliseconds). The much fainter stars are not visible in the background as a result of the short exposure times.
The DSCOVR spacecraft orbits around the L1 Lagrange point directly between Earth and the sun. This orbit keeps the spacecraft near the L1 point and requires only occasional small maneuvers, but its orbit can vary from 4 to 15 degrees away from the sun-Earth line over several years.
EPIC was built by Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center, in Palo Alto, California. Using an 11.8-inch (30-centimeter) telescope and 2048 x 2048 CCD detector, EPIC measures in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared areas of the spectrum. The data from all 10 wavelengths are posted through a website hosted by the Atmospheric Science Data Center at NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. All images are in the public domain.
NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives, and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth’s interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.
For daily images from EPIC, visit:
For more information about the DSCOVR mission, visit:
http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/DSCOVR/
Source……www.nasa.gov
Though cashing a check is a relatively simple affair from the cashier’s perspective, the work on the back end is remarkably sophisticated and involves an amazing amount of automated technology and travel for the checks.
With this in mind, it’s clear why virtually all checks come in fairly uniform sizes and designs- it’s just easier for everyone involved that way. However, even with this, several million checks are sorted through by hand every single year (usually due to them being rejected by a machine for some reason or another); this costs banks money, so is obviously something they are very keen to cut down on.
This might make you think cashing a giant novelty check would be a no-no. However, legally, there’s nothing stopping you from writing a check on, well, anything, such as a napkin, and then sending it to someone you hate.
For instance, according to Brian Black, onetime managing director of operations and technology at the Bank Administration Institute,
It [a check] has to contain certain features, and it can be written on anything, as long as it has the elements, the surface doesn’t make a difference. A check is an order to pay someone, that’s all it is.
So if a novelty check has all the needed information (the amount to be paid; the payer and payee names; the account number; the name of the bank where the payer has the account and what state the bank is in; the payer’s signature, and the date the check was written), there’s no legal reason it can’t be cashed. But, of course, there are practical reasons you wouldn’t want to try. As such, alternate means of transferring the money is used. For instance, a spokeswoman for iWon online sweepstakes, Samantha Better, said that their winners are also given regular sized checks for their own convenience that they can cash instead. She went on to note that most opt to keep their giant check as a souvenir rather than go through the hassle of actually trying to cash it. In other cases, funds are simply transferred directly from account to account, rather than messing with any physical check cashing.
All that being said, many banks have small print in their terms stating that they can reject any non-standard payments. So while the giant novelty checks are technically legal and valid to cash if they’ve got all the needed information, those banks can, if they choose, reject them. Unfortunately for the novelty of it all, when banks do accept them, they don’t send the giant checks off in comically large envelopes. Rather, they simply take the check, then write all the relevant information down and send it off for further processing that way.
Bonus Fact:
Since you almost certainly clicked this to read about someone cashing a stupid check, we want to tell you about, Patrick Combs. The man who, upon receiving a junk-mail check for a little over $95,000, endorsed it with a smiley face and then cashed it. To his surprise, his bank accidentally honored it. Amazingly, because the bank failed to retract their error within 24 hours of the check bouncing, all $95,000+ was legally his. Since the check wasn’t valid, it came out of the bank’s pocket.
When word of Patrick’s hilarious feat of getting one over on his bank hit the news, some of the finest legal minds in banking joined the argument, on Patrick’s side. Essentially, Patrick was home free and in full, legal possession of $95,000 of the bank’s money. Of course, this didn’t stop the bank from having their head of security threaten him, trying to get him to give the money back. But Patrick knew the law was on his side on this one and had fun with it, telling the security officer,
“Give me a letter on official bank stationery stating that you are who you say you are, that you indeed work for the bank, and also put in that letter the reason why the bank is requesting the money back, as I’m a little confused on that. When I get that letter, we’ll go from there.”
The security officer refused, apparently calling Combs several choice names in the process.
Despite the threats, which actually made him less inclined to give the money back, and that at the time he had about $45,000 in credit-card debt, Patrick eventually decided to return the money. He had meant it as a joke and didn’t actually want to take any money from anyone, not the bank or even the junk mailer who had sent it to him.
He didn’t come off too badly over the thing, though. To this day, he’s still riding the coattails of the story to make a living in his 75 minute Man 1, Bank 0 stage show. He was even once hired to perform the show at a major banker’s conference. Presumably this functions as something of a campfire horror story at banking executive retreats.
Source….www.todayifoundout.com
Natarajan
A slightly squashed pumpkin sunset in Montana …
John Ashley submitted this photo to EarthSky, of a beautiful sunset captured on October 16, 2015. He wrote:
Even a seasoned windmill stopped to watch tonight’s pumpkin sun setting through layered clouds near Malta, Montana.
Source….www.earthsky.org
Natarajan
On Oct. 12-13, 2015, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly took a series of seventeen photographs from the International Space Station during a single flyover of Australia. This first photo of the series was posted with the caption, “#EarthArt in one pass over the #Australian continent. Picture 1 of 17. #YearInSpace”.
Image Credit: NASA
Source…..www.nasa.gov
When 23-year-old Brandon S. headed from Massachusetts to the Bay Area in mid-May to start work, he opted out of settling into an overpriced San Francisco apartment.
Instead, he moved into a 128-square-foot truck.
The idea started to formulate while Brandon — who asked to withhold his last name and photo to maintain his privacy on campus — was interning at Google last summer and living in the cheapest corporate housing offered: two bedrooms and four people for about $US65 a night (roughly $US2,000 a month), he explains to Business Insider.
“I realised I was paying an exorbitant amount of money for the apartment I was staying in — and I was almost never home,” he says. “It’s really hard to justify throwing that kind of money away. You’re essentially burning it — you’re not putting equity in anything and you’re not building it up for a future — and that was really hard for me to reconcile.”
Brandon lives in this 2006 Ford, which cost him exactly $10,000.
He started laying the groundwork for living out of a truck immediately, as he knew he’d be returning to work full-time in San Francisco. A school-year later, he was purchasing a 16-foot 2006 Ford with $US157,000 miles on it.
It cost him an even $US10,000, which he was able to pay upfront with his signing bonus. His projected ‘break-even point’ is October 21, according to the live-updating ‘savings clock‘ he created on his blog, ‘Thoughts from Inside the Box.’
Brandon S.
The dark, minimalist space includes only a bed, a coat rack, and dresser.
His one fixed cost is truck insurance — $US121 a month — as he doesn’t use electricity, and his phone bill is handled by Google.
‘I don’t actually own anything that needs to be plugged in,’ he explains on his blog. ‘The truck has a few built-in overhead lights, and I have a motion-sensitive, battery-powered lamp I use at night. I have a small battery pack that I charge up at work every few days, and I use that to charge my headphones and cell phone at night. My work laptop will last the night on a charge, and then I charge it at work.’
The space is sparse and minimal, he says: ‘The main things that I have are a bed, a dresser, and I built a coat rack to hang up my clothes. Besides that, and a few stuffed animals, there’s pretty much nothing in there.’
Brandon can shower and eat on Google’s campus.
As for food and showers, that’s all on Google’s campus. He eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner at work, and showers every morning in the corporate gym post-workout.
So few expenses means significant savings: ‘I’m going for a target of saving about 90% of my after-tax income, and throwing that in student loans and investments,’ he says.
He graduated with $US22,434 worth of student loans, and has paid it down to $US16,449 over the course of four months. ‘As a conservative estimate (and taking bonuses into consideration), I expect to have them paid off within the next six months, saving thousands of dollars over the standard 10-year, or even 20-year plans,’ he says.
Additionally, saving on rent has allowed him to dine at nice restaurants and enjoy San Francisco more than if he opted for living in an apartment.
Inside the box.
Another perk: His commute from a parking spot on the periphery of Google’s campus is a few seconds on foot, rather than a few hours sitting in San Francisco traffic.
Besides one friendly run-in with security after getting home late from a movie one evening, his truck lifestyle hasn’t been a problem. He was greeted by about 10 security personnel that night, but after showing them his corporate badge — and even offering to move the truck — they apologised for waking him and even said he had a ‘sweet setup.’
The trade off for such low-cost housing is space — and modern conveniences such as heat, air conditioning, and a bathroom — but Brandon says the 128-square-foot space is larger than any of the bedrooms he’s ever lived in prior, and he’s usually only home to sleep.
Brandon is really only home to sleep.
The truck lifestyle provides more than financial freedom. It forces him outside of his comfort zone, an essential learning experience considering he hopes to travel the world in the future.
‘If I do plan on travelling the world, I’ll need to be comfortable with unconventional living situations, and this is certainly a good place to start,’ he writes. ‘Plus, there is never going to be a better time in my life for me to try this. I’m young, flexible, and I don’t have to worry about this decision affecting anyone else in my life.’
He’s not sure how permanent life inside a box will be, so he hasn’t put a deadline on it. ‘It’s been five months so far, and I don’t see it stopping soon for any reason,’ he says.
Business Insider has reached out to Google for comment on this story and will update if we hear back.
Source….KATHLEEN ELKINS http://www.businessinsider.com.au
Natarajan
Scott Kelly recently broke the record for most time spent in space by a US astronaut, logging his 383rd day aboard the International Space Station. He’s also on pace to break another record on October 29th, when he spends his 216th consecutive day orbiting the earth — the most in a row.
For many people, this seems like a dream. The idea of floating up in space, where so few people in the history of the world have ever been, is intoxicating. But it can, of course, get intensely lonely, Kelly says.
“A year really is a long time…a long time to never be able to go outside, or feel the sun on your face, or to see your family through anything besides a computer screen,” he muses.
And one of the ways he stays connected to the world below is through music.
“When living in a place isolated from the rest of the world like here aboard the International Space Station, [music] becomes more significant,” he tells Spotify.
Kelly has created a playlist that reflects his space journey so far. It spans many genres, but there is a contemplative wistfulness that runs through it. It’s not hard to imagine listening to these songs as you stare across the void back at your home planet.
And to be honest, it’s a bit dorky — the kind of earnest emotion unconcerned with looking cool.
Here are the tracks, which Kelly suggests you listen to in order:
Source…..www.businessinsider.com
Natarajan
It’s fun, it’s creative and it’s colourful – the interior of one taxi in Mumbai that is upholstered in fabric printed with the Indian sign language. Meet the designer who wants to not only popularise the language but also instil a desire in people to learn it.
“Sign language is a pretty cool language and all of us should learn it. There are so many deaf and mute people in India. If you don’t know their language you are missing out on the chance of having a conversation with them,” says Harshit Vishwakarma, a 23-year-old visual communication design graduate from Delhi, who wants to popularise sign language.
Harshit got together with the team of Taxi Fabric – an organization that enables designers and taxi drivers to come together and create beautiful art with a social purpose in Mumbai taxis – and upholstered a taxi with colourful fabric that has the alphabets A-Z in sign language printed on it.
“My college in Delhi conducted a program for deaf and mute students, along with hearing people, in the same classroom. We wanted to talk to those students but had no idea how. There was a language barrier, which led to the formation of two communities in college. The deaf and mute students would hang out with each other and I never really got a chance to interact with them,” he recalls.
Harshit’s fascination with the sign language did not leave him after college either. He arranged to meet a lady who works as a sign language interpreter with Doordarshan. It was in this meeting that he got to learn more about the Indian sign language, which is, apparently, very different from other sign languages across the globe.
“While the American sign language utilises one hand, the Indian sign language, which has been inspired by the British sign language, utilises two hands. It has about 5,000 words,” he says.
The fact that India has one of the largest populations of deaf people in the world (approximately six percent of the population lives with some kind of hearing impairment), and not many hearing individuals are aware of the language used by them, bothered him a lot.
“I started learning the language, and found it to be so much fun. I felt that people would love to learn it…some even told me that they would be very interested. Other than talking to people with hearing impairments, it can also be used as a secret language among friends, or to communicate in places where you need to be silent – like libraries, or under water, or in places with loud music, and a lot more,” says Harshit, who strongly believes that if there is a good resource bank for people to learn the language, they will definitely try to learn it.
Let’s talk He wanted to think of a better idea of how to embed sign language in the daily lives of people and make them realise the importance of learning it. –
“The basic idea was to make sign language cool. I did not want people to learn it out of sympathy but to learn it because they don’t want to miss a conversation with people who cannot hear or speak,” he explains.
This was when the idea of contacting Taxi Fabric struck Harshit.
Taxi Fabric is a project that was initiated by Mumbai-based designer Sanket Avlani in 2013. The idea behind this project is three fold:
• To convert the fabric used inside taxis into a canvas for designers to showcase their talent.
• To transform the unaccounted time that people spend in Mumbai taxis into a visually appealing experience.
• To communicate a social message, like Harshit’s for instance, in the process.
After this, the taxi goes to a workshop in Mumbai where the new fabric is fitted. Taxi Fabric funds the entire exercise with the help of crowd funding.
“Design, as a profession, is not well understood in India. For people here, something designer means something expensive. But that’s not true. People don’t realise how design can contribute to the social and cultural development of a city. How problems can be solved with design. Designers like me face the problem of explaining to people what we do for a living. Thus, Taxi Fabric is a great way of using a taxi, which is a very democratic mode of transportation, to take designers out of the galleries and put them inside the city,” says Harshit
“People usually have about 10 minutes to spare in a taxi. I wanted to design the taxi in a way that those 10 minutes would be enough for them to be introduced to a new language. And I tried to do this in the most colourful manner so that the language could be presented in a fun way.”
The school children were exhilarated to see a taxi that highlighted their language in such a beautiful way. –
They had ideas of their own – some wanted the same thing to be done inside aeroplanes and others took the phone number of the taxi driver asking if they could call him the next time they wanted to go out.
“It is very important for people to learn the basic set of signs of this language; then they can derive more signs from them. I am exploring other ways of popularising the Indian sign language now,” concludes Harshit.
You can find get details about Taxi Fabric here, and contact Harshit at harshit.vishwakarma@gmail.com.
Source…Tanaya Singh….. www.thebetterindia.com
Natarajan
In these days where channels are filled with news about communal violence and the comments on every headline that even tangentially mentions any religion reek of hatred, finding anything on peace and harmony is heart-warming.
He is a Corporator, but he has not done this to impress the vote bank. Sheikh Salim Niyariya has been doing this for the last 23 years since 1992.
He also holds the post of Speaker of the Raigarh Municipal Corporation and works for all communities through it. While speaking to PTI he said, “Peace and harmony of this locality is an example to the nation. Both Muslim and Hindu communities take part in each other’s festivals with full enthusiasm.”
Setting quite an exemplary example, isn’t he?
News Source: First Post
Source…www.storypick.com
Natarajan
Take off with Natarajan 