USA

Detroit Gets Court”s Nod to exit Bankruptcy !!!

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Detroit won U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval on Friday for a road map to end its fiscal free fall and revitalise a city sinking under a huge debt load and dysfunctional government.

Judge Steven Rhodes confirmed the city’s plan to shed about $7 billion of its $18 billion of debt and obligations and plough $1.7 billion into improvements, finding it both fair to creditors and feasible to implement.

“The city has worked honestly, diligently, and tirelessly to accomplish precisely the remedy that the bankruptcy code establishes for municipalities,” Mr. Rhodes said.

He acknowledged the anger the bankruptcy fuelled among many Detroit residents and urged them to look forward.

Keywords: Detroit, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Detroit bailout

SOURCE::::www.thehindu.com

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BOTTOM LINE :::: Kindly read my earlier post on Detroit with a simple click on the following link and read the story …Post Published on July 19 2013.

Natarajan

 

https://natarajank.com/2013/07/19/detroit-once-the-seat-of-auto-industries-is-bankrupt-today/

 

 

” Silence is the Thing, amid the Din…”

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The noise and confusion that reigns in the world around us.
The noise and confusion that reigns in the world around us.

A French black-and-white silent movie, The Artist, won top honours at the Academy Awards in 2012. It had to happen. There is so much eloquence in silence. Remember the Charlie Chaplin genre of films? Are they coming back? I am no movie buff. But violence and noise are things humankind should shun. And silence being golden is a good break, and we are in dire need of it. The cacophony all around is killing.

We watch on television the noise and confusion that reigns in the world around us. Everybody has something to say but nobody wants to listen. There is zero tolerance.

We watch programmes on TV where the anchor and a panel of experts discuss and analyse issues. They begin nicely enough, but when the debate gets heated, sparks fly and everyone begins to talk simultaneously. Even the anchor has a problem controlling them. The one with most lung power out-speaks others. We are left numb.

Thank god we have the option of switching off the TV to get instant relief. Today’s music is also all noise. Where are the lyrics and the soft and soothing voices? Thank god for classical music — we still can listen to them and derive soul satisfaction.

I admire the silence of the West. Their neighbourhoods are so quiet. One can drink deep of such silence, especially when one is on a walk absorbing a lot of things. I love my India alright, but our strong point is not silence. We may well be one of the noisiest countries on the planet. In the bus, or in queues, in movies theatres, restaurants or even when they go for walks, people talk so loudly that they will wake up entire neighbourhoods — especially early in the morning. Now with dogs abounding on every street, if one dog starts barking, others follow it up with a chorus.

Even children don’t lag behind. I remember watching kids at play in a neighbourhood, abroad. There, like the adults the kids hardly ever scream or shout. Only Indian children scream their throats out.

This happened when I was once holidaying in the U.S. in Silicon Valley. A Japanese lady complained to the office of an apartment complex about an Indian family. The parents were off to work, and the grandparents had come for a holiday and they were teaching the kids slokas. Everytime the kids recited back what had been taught, the grandparents and the kids clapped with all their might, creating a ruckus.

The Japanese lady said: “That is the time my baby is fast asleep and my neighbours are yelling their heads off. The baby is startled into waking up and I am unable to finish my house work.” Being in the adjoining building, I too had heard the kids reciting the slokas and thought it to be laudable. The grandparents, I thought, were spending quality time with them, but they could have kept the decibel level low.

Once upon a time fire-crackers were lighted only during Deepavali. Now they are set off on birthdays, weddings, elections and what have you. Accompanying them on such occasions is loud film music. The world, as Wordsworth wrote, ‘is too much with us’. We are drowning in a welter of noise and other negative factors like road rage, violence, fisticuffs and streetfights. We see so much pent-up anger in people on a number of issues waiting to explode. The word ‘kolaveri’ said it all.

Remember the ‘Tower of Babel’ where people were shouting themselves hoarse in a diversity of tongues and nobody wanted to hear the other? We thought it was mythical, but no, it was real enough. All the chaos is back, it seems. As they say there is nothing new under the sun and history has a way of repeating itself. Things have to come full circle.

Keywords: Silence, noise pollution, noise tolerance

SOURCE::::: Prema Ramakrishnan in http://www.thehindu.com

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“Out of This World …” !!!

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An American astronaut has offered a rare look inside the International Space Station, with a unique video tour showing viewers his intergalactic workplace.

  • Reid Wiseman records himself floating through International Space Station
  • He travels through the dining area and labs before finishing at front end
  • Space Station is 205 miles from Earth and travels at 18,000 m
  •     Beginning at one end of the ISS, Reid Wiseman, from Baltimore, Maryland, floats through the station in just over a minute and a half as he explains its different rooms.

As he enters one area, Russian religious icons can be seen on the wall behind him, offering a glimpse of a rare personal touch in the highly-functional station.

Reid Wiseman bumps into his colleague Maxim in the dining area, but thankfully there is enough room to pass

Reid Wiseman bumps into his colleague Maxim in the dining area, but thankfully there is enough room to pass

Just another day in the office: Reid Wiseman (pictured) continues his scintillating ISS tour

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Just another day in the office: Reid Wiseman (pictured) continues his scintillating ISS tour

A narrow tube-shaped hallway connects the station’s laboratory, crew quarters and dining area.

Mr Wiseman is greeted by Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev in the dining area, which resembles most of the other sections of the station.

The tour also offers a glimpse at the close-quarter manoeuvres astronauts must adopt to function inside the ISS, which travels at a rate of 18,000 mph.

Breathtaking: Wiseman's photos from the space station have proved hugely popular on Twitter

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Breathtaking: Wiseman’s photos from the space station have proved hugely popular on Twitter

This incredible shot was taken by the Baltimore astronaut from high above earth

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This incredible shot was taken by the Baltimore astronaut from high above earth

Mr Wiseman takes us to 'the very front end' of the International Space Station

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Mr Wiseman takes us to ‘the very front end’ of the International Space Station

Viewers pass through the dining area and the lab as the astronaut gives an insight into his workplace

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Viewers pass through the dining area and the lab as the astronaut gives an insight into his workplace

Reid Wiseman and his colleagues appear in good spirits despite being over 200 miles from Earth

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Reid Wiseman and his colleagues appear in good spirits despite being over 200 miles from Earth

Wiseman has amassed 361,000 followers on Twitter following his postings from outer space

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Wiseman has amassed 361,000 followers on Twitter following his postings from outer space

‘Butch, go high,’ Mr Wiseman says as he floats beneath his fellow ISS resident, making sure the two don’t crash into each other.

He ends the brief tour on the front side of the station, roughly 200ft from the back end.

Mr Wiseman has become a Twitter sensation since he joined the ISS crew. He has shared hundreds of photos of Earth from outer space and now has 361,000 followers.

His photos have frequently been used on NASA’s official website as their ‘photo of the day’.

He is due to return to Earth this weekend after spending 165 days orbiting the planet.

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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2825624/Out-world-American-astronaut-gives-fascinating-video-tour-International-Space-Station.html#ixzz3IUP3ZVZK

NASA quells rumor: “Days of darkness in December:”? Of course not !!!

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NASA quells rumor: Days of darkness in December? Of course not
Image via NASA/NOAA
Heard the rumor that “NASA says” Earth will experience several days of total darkness in December 2014? Not true, of course.

Question: Will Earth experience six (or three) days of darkness in December, 2014?

Answer: No.

We at EarthSky have received many questions already about the so-called days of darkness supposedly announced by NASA and supposedly coming up in December, 2014. This rumor has spread like wildfire, as did the same rumor in 2011, which called for days of darkness caused by the erstwhile Comet Elenin. 2014’s version of the rumor apparently first began with this article from Hutzlers.com. The article states:

NASA has confirmed that the Earth will experience 6 days of almost complete darkness and will happen from the dates Tuesday the 16 – Monday the 22 in December. The world will remain, during these three days, without sunlight due to a solar storm, which will cause dust and space debris to become plentiful and thus, block 90% sunlight.

Oh, brother. Just reading that quote gives us a combination of heartburn plus giggles. Why? Because there’s never been an event where a solar storm created that much dust and debris, at least not in living memory. Could such a thing even be predicted, sort of like Superman’s dad Jor-El predicted the explosion of planet Krypton (which also had never happened before)? Let’s remember for a moment that Superman was fiction, but, even given that, many other imaginary scientists on that imaginary planet Krypton were arguing that the explosion wasn’t really imminent. Likewise, here on our real Earth, a prediction of days of darkness caused by solar storms would be such outlandish science that scientists would argue about it up until the time it happened … or didn’t. NASA wouldn’t just suddenly “predict it,” in other words.

Before we go on, the inquiring reader may want to read what Hutzlers.com says about itself:

Huzlers.com is a combination of real shocking news and satirical entertainment to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief.

Well, they got that part right.

Needless to say, the NASA Earth Observatory website totally disavowed the hoax.

This incredible image of the night side of Earth is a composite of data gathered by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012 and mapped over previous imagery of the whole Earth. Image via NASA/NOAA.

This incredible image of the night side of Earth is a composite of data gathered by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012 and mapped over previous imagery of the whole Earth. Image via NASA/NOAA.
This beautiful image of the night side of Earth is a composite of data gathered by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. Is Earth totally dark when it’s night for you? No. Earth is always half illuminated by sunlight. Notice the crescent of illumination on one edge in this photo. If you were on the other side of Earth when the images used in this composite were acquired, you’d see Earth shining brightly in reflected sunlight, aka daylight. Image via NASA/NOAA.
Is all of this a replay of the December, 2012 winter solstice hysteria?

We don’t know what it is about the December solstice, the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice, but it seems to inspire all kinds of pseudo-scientific claims and apocalyptic fantasies. The days-of-darkness theme appears to be a revival of sorts of the bogus galactic alignment prophesy, which did not take place – as expected – on the 2012 winter solstice.

Snopes.com, which has already investigated and debunked the supposed December, 2014 NASA Blackout Warning, recalled a 2012 prediction whereby:

The Earth will shift from the current third dimension to zero dimension, then shift to the fourth dimension. During this transition, the entire Universe will face a big change, and we will see a entire brand new world. The 3 days blackout is predicted to happen on Dec 23, 24, 25….

Okay then … moving on …
As Comet Elenin passed near the sun in 2011, it was supposed to block the sun and cause three days of darkness. Of course, it didn’t. That would have been far more difficult than, say, a mosquito blocking your car headlight. Image via NASA

As Comet Elenin passed to within just 7 million kilometers of the STEREO (Behind) spacecraft, NASA rolled the spacecraft to take a look at it (Aug. 1, 2011) with its wide angle HI-2 instrument. Image credit: NASA
Remember Nibiru, the fictitious planet, which was predicted to bombard the inner solar system and collide with our planet Earth in 2012?

When acute telescopic observers wondered why this huge planet wasn’t visible in the night sky by 2010, Nibiru proponents answered the challenge by claiming the discovery of Comet Elenin in December 2010 provided proof of Nibiru’s existence.

Moreover, prognosticators went on to say that Comet Elenin itself was to bring three days of darkness – which, of course, never came to pass. Meanwhile, Comet Elenin eventually disintegrated.

So will you experience three to six days of darkness in December, 2014? No … unless you live north of the Arctic Circle, which has continuous darkness in winter every December.

Bottom line: NASA did not predict – and December, 2014 will not have – three to six days of darkness.

SOURCE::::www.earthsky.org

Natarajan

An Island In Bahamas…Eleuthera….A Little Known Beautiful Place One Should Visit…

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There some places in the world that we just don’t ever think about. They are never mentioned in the media and you rarely see pictures of them. Sometimes, these little known places can be breathtakingly beautiful. (More so than the beaches you see in almost every magazine.) One such example is Eleuthera, an island in the Bahamas. Besides it’s natural beauty as an island, Eleuthera is also well known for being located where the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea meet. Check out the pictures below and see the gorgeous sights of Eleuthera for yourself.

Here’s a photo of the surrounding area taken from space. So beautiful!

NASA

The Glass Window Bridge is the skinniest part of the island and is where you can see the Caribbean and Atlantic meet.

Google Maps

It’s an absolutely awe-spiring thing to see. Seeing a spot where these two massive bodies of water meet is so cool.

kolobok23

It’s also crazy to see the color difference of the Atlantic and Caribbean even when they are so close together. It adds to the feeling that you’re seeing two disparate worlds meeting.

kolobok23

Here you can see the where the two bodies of water connect at Glass Window Bridge, where the dark murky Atlantic meets the clear blue Caribbean.

kolobok23

50 miles east of Nassau in the Bahamas, this certainly seems like a worthwhile place to stop by.

Linda J Thornton

Three gorgeous shades of blue all in one picture. This is the only place you can see this kind of beauty.

Alex Freda

I definitely wouldn’t mind taking a walk along this bridge at sunset.

kolobok23

(via: wherecoolthingshappen.com)

It’s locales like Eleuthera that make me want to go look for the places no one ever talks about but that everyone should see.

SOURCE::::www.viralnova.com

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Image of the Day… Full Moon On 6 November….

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Full moon on November 6 stays out all night!!!

Tonight … November 6, 2014 … the full moon will stay up all night and sleep in all day tomorrow, like a college student on vacation. From sundown on this night to sunup on November 7, the moon will follow the path of the early May sun across the sky tonight. Watch it rise in the east around sunset on November 6 and set in the west around sunrise the next morning. At midnight, when the sun lurks beneath our feet, the moon will assume the position of the noonday sun in early May. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, this November full moon is sometimes called the Frosty Moon or Beaver Moon.

Full moon about to set in the west as sun rises in the east, via G. Gillet/ESO

In the Southern Hemisphere, where it’s now spring, the November full moon could be called the Flower Moon. Click here to learn more about full moon names.

All full moons rise around sunset and set around sunrise. Tonight’s November full moon – like the full moon at any season – shines from dusk until dawn, and climbs to its highest point in the sky around midnight.

EarthSky lunar calendars make great gifts for astronomy-minded friends and family.

Image top of post via Peter Van Burun Bunswork of Columbia Falls Montana

This awesome image is from November 27, 2012. It comes from our friend Sorge Solverg in northern Norway and shows Jupiter left of the moon, with both surrounded by a lunar halo. Read more about lunar halos here. Thank you Borge! Click here to expand this image.

Because the full moon occurs when the moon is most directly opposite the sun for the month, the full moon follows nearly the same arc across the sky that the sun follows six months henceforth. In both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the November full moon will rise in the east-northeast and set in the west-northwest – just as the sun does in May. In the Northern Hemisphere, tonight’s full moon will soar up high – like the springtime sun. But south of the equator, the moon will follow the low trajectory of the late autumn sun.

So on this November 6, 2014 night, the full moon shines from dusk until dawn … unless you live north of the Arctic Circle. That far north, the moon simulates the midnight sun, staying out for 24 hours around the clock.

Bottom line: Full moon is November 6, 2014. Although moon can be seen from anywhere worldwide on this night – except southern Antarctica – its path in the sky varies, depending on where you live. Enjoy the all-night appearance of the full moon tonight, as it mimics the path of the early May sun across your sky!

SOURCE::::www.earthsky.org

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Meet Tao Porchon Lynch … 96 Years Old Yoga Teacher !!!

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A 96-year-old woman , who has been teaching yoga for 56 years, has claimed that she “likes to dance and do yoga”.

The teacher Tao Porchon Lynch, who currently lives in Westchester County, New York, keeps a positive attitude and said that nothing was impossible, since one could do whatever one wanted to, the Daily Express reported.

Lynch, who was born at the end of the First World War in 1918 and was forbidden from practicing yoga through her early years due to male dominance, added that she loved to dance, to do the Argentinian tango, to do the Paso Doble, all Latin dancing, and all smooth waltzes and fox trot.

Brenda Boulas, a 70-year-old retired nurse, who is a student of the oldest yoga teacher, said that Lynch, who stays active despite having a full hip replacement and had recently suffering a broken wrist, was the “epitome of strength”

Pl click the following links too for identical Stories of Two other Ladies who practice Yoga and teach Yoga at the age 90 plus !!!

https://natarajank.com/2013/01/18/worlds-oldest-yoga-teacher-98-yrs/

 

https://natarajank.com/2014/08/25/%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%81-94-%E0%AE%AF%E0%AF%8B%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BE-100-%E0%AE%AF%E0%AF%82-%E0%AE%9F%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%AF%E0%AF%82%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%AF%E0%AF%8B%E0%AE%95/

 

SOURCE::::You Tube

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This 13 yr old Inventor just Floored INTEL ….

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If Shubham Banerjee cannot lay claim to being the world’s youngest venture capital-backed entrepreneur, he comes very close.

Image: Shubham Banerjee holding Braigo.
Photograph: Nbanerjee/Wikimedia Commons

Banerjee was 12 years old when he closed an early-stage funding round with Intel Capital, the company’s venture capital arm, last month for his prototype for a low-cost Braille printer. Since then, the San Jose, California middle-schooler has turned 13.

That’s young, even by the standards of Silicon Valley, where many venture capitalists unapologetically prefer to fund youth over experience.

Young entrepreneurs usually have reached at least their mid-teens when they hit it big. Nick D’Aloisio, founder of online news aggregator Summly, was 17 when Yahoo bought his company last year for $30 million.

Image: Braigo – Braille Printer with Lego Mindstorms EV3.
Photograph: Nbanerjee/Wikimedia Commons

Brothers John and Patrick Collison, behind payments service Stripe, were 16 and 19 when they sold an earlier business to a Canadian company for $5 million.

After reading a fundraising flyer about the blind, Banerjee felt inspired to turn a high-tech version of Legos, the toy building blocks, into a device that could print in Braille. One day, he wants to mass-produce the printers and sell them for about $350, far less than Braille printers cost now.

This past summer, he worked on incorporating an Intel Edison chip, a processor aimed at hobbyists, into the printer. In September, Intel invited him to a conference in India to highlight uses for Edison. There, he got a big surprise.

Image: Shubham Banerjee with Braigo v2.0 at IDF14.
Photograph: Nbanerjee/Wikimedia Commons

Intel executive Mike Bell announced from the conference stage that the giant chipmaker would invest in his company, Braigo Labs. Until then, his funding consisted of the $35,000 his parents gave him.

“I turned back to my dad, and said, ‘What did he just say?'” Banerjee recalled. “I was all over the place.”

Banerjee and a spokesman for Intel Capital declined to disclose the size of the investment. A person familiar with the matter said it was a few hundred thousand dollars. He plans to use it to build a better prototype of the printer and test it with more groups for the blind.

After the announcement, Banerjee had to bone up on unfamiliar terms such as “venture capital.”

Image: A note to Shubham Banerjee from Garvin Thomas, NBC Bay Area.
Photograph: Courtesy, BraigoLabs

He also needed to convince adults to co-sign his funding and patent documents. Among the company officials he turned to: Braigo’s president, his mom, Malini.

Banerjee says he gets mostly As and Bs as a student at the ChampionSchool in San Jose, California. Teachers have given him time off to attend events like the conference in India and the Intel Global Capital summit this week in Huntington Beach, California. He catches up on school work on weekends, he says.

This is the second Intel investment connected to the Banerjee family. His dad, Neil, works for Kno, an education start-up that Intel bought last year.

While many young entrepreneurs who win venture-capital cash end up ditching their education to focus on their businesses full time, Banerjee says he won’t take that path.

“It’s an after-school thing,” he says….

SOURCE::::rediff.com

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Image of the Day… Snow in the East Tennessee Hills…

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East Tennessee early snow…

Snow fell in the east Tennessee hills on the first day of November.

Photo credit: Peter Montanti

Peter Montani of east Tennessee wrote:

Togetherness, at least that’s what the power board said was the reason for our electricity and water being off for over 12 hours this past Saturday. The weight of the snow on our wires brought them too close together, then….

It made for a good day to play guitar and some time to walk around and photograph.

SOURCE::::: EARTHSKY.ORG

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By the way, this same early snowfall can be seen on the satellite image below, taken of the southern Appalachian Mountain range, along the border of Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this natural-color image on on November 2, 2014.

Early snow on the Great Smokies via NASA Earth Observatory. Read more about this image.

This 27 Year Old Fooled India ….

Natarajan1 Comment

Arun P. Vijayakumar

Arun P. Vijayakumar has not been recruited by NASA.

An Indian man fooled everyone into thinking he was on his way to be a top scientist at NASA.Described as a “news personality” on his Facebook page, 27-year-old Arun P. Vijayakumar said he had been selected to join the US space agency after it relaxed its citizenship conditions, Indian English language paper the Deccan Chronicle reports.

His claims had been excitedly picked up across the country, with Indian newspaper The Hindu running a full interview.

In it Vijayakumar, who hails from the southern region of Kerala, said how he was “thrilled at being accepted as a research scientist.”

He even went as far as talking about studying at prestigious MIT – and was off to explore “extraterrestrial elements with the use of remote sensing” with his revered spacial expertise.

Vijayakumar told the press he had come into contact with US organizations while studying at local engineering college the Bhopal National Institute of Technology.

But his fabrications were outed this week, with the Deccan Chronicle saying he had been “proved to be an imposter” and revealing all.

It said the man untied a “bundle of lies” for the news team, having “fooled everyone for some time by claiming to be closely associated with the US space agency.”

Manorama Online, based in Kerala, reacted to the findings – and said he was only discovered, amazingly, when Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi took interest and his fame really took off.

It explains Vijayakumar was then caught by a Facebook Organization known as the “Netizen Police,” run by top officials and which investigates online fraud.

SOURCE:::: JOSHUA BARRIE  IN http://www.businessinsider.in

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