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SpaceX scrubs Falcon I rocket launch

Monday, November 28, 2005

SpaceX called off the much-delayed inaugural launch of their new Falcon 1 rocket on Saturday from Kwajalein’s Omelek Island launch site. The intent was to launch the U.S. Air Force Academy’s FalconSat 2 satellite, which will monitor plasma interactions with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and magnetosphere.

The launch was delayed, then finally cancelled after an oxygen boil-off vent had accidentally been left open. The oxygen was unable to cool the helium pressurant, which then proceeded to evaporate faster than it could be replenished. A main computer issue, probably serious enough to cause a scrub on its own, was also discovered.

This long-anticipated flight was originally expected to be launched in January 2005, however a series of setbacks forced a series of delays, with the flight most recently scheduled to be in early 2006. It was intended to be launched from the Kwajalein atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The maiden voyage was originally intended to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with a Naval Research Laboratory satellite and a Space Services Incorporated space burial payload.

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Has Storage Wars Ruined An Industry?

Has Storage Wars Ruined An Industry?

by

Christopher Beck

Before the storage auction reality shows premiered, storage auctions were a great way to make money reselling second hand merchandise. You would see the same faces every day and everyone had a good time at the auctions. Most importantly, \”the regulars\” bid conservatively and everyone was able to purchase a unit at a reasonable price. Everyone made money. Nowadays, that\’s just not the case.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihH_-O7ev2o[/youtube]

The newcomers came to storage auctions with a distorted sense of reality, which is understandable, considering the storage auction reality shows flaunt amazing finds in almost every episode. These misrepresentations seduced newcomers causing them to overpay for their storage units. They hoped that they would find something valuable hidden inside the unit that would make up for their frivolous spending. Unfortunately, a lot of people lost their hard earned money. The newcomers weren\’t the only people harmed by the over-embellishment of storage unit auctions. The regulars are the true victims here. These are the people who depend on storage auctions and a consistent flow of merchandise, to put food on their table. Most of the regulars own resale stores, flea market booths or home based resale businesses. Some of the regulars were forced to close down their business because their supply of merchandise was interrupted. They can no longer make a profit with the prices of storage units being so high. What\’s good for TV isn\’t always good for an industry. These shows have been on the air for years now and they\’re still causing serious problems for everyone who depends on storage unit auctions to make a living. Is there an end in sight? Well, perhaps America will get bored watching the same exaggerated drama week after week and the storage auction reality shows will get canceled. I\’m sure most professional storage auction buyers are ready for things to get back to normal, although, I think the storage auction business will never be like it was before.

T.C. Lane is a writer who focuses on news and information about

storage auctions

in the United States.

Article Source:

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United States: Two killed, more than a hundred injured in Amtrak train collision in South Carolina

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Early on Sunday morning, Amtrak’s passenger train number 91, the Silver Star, bound for Miami from New York, slammed into a stationary CSX freight train in Cayce, about ten miles (16 km) south of Columbia, capital of the US state of South Carolina. Two Amtrak employees were killed and at least 116 were injured, some seriously.

The two killed were 54-year-old engineer Michael Kempf of Savannah, Georgia, and 36-year-old conductor Michael Cella of Orange Park, Florida. Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told a press conference the passenger train had been diverted into a siding by a switch left “literally locked, with a padlock” in that position.

The collision happened at about 2:35 am local time (0735 UTC) at a switching yard in the small city of Cayce. The Amtrak train, with reportedly 139 passengers and eight employees aboard, collided head on with the freight train, which was parked with no one on board. The Amtrak locomotive and the leading locomotive on the freight train were destroyed; the Amtrak locomotive and some of its passenger cars derailed, and one of those cars was folded in half. Several freight cars were crumpled, Reuters reported. In a press conference, the state governor, Henry McMaster, said the Amtrak locomotive was “barely recognizable” and described it as “a horrible thing to see, to understand the force involved”.

Harrison Cahill, a spokesman for Lexington County, gave a count of 116 injured, up from an initial report of 70; according to Derrec Becker, public information officer for the South Carolina Emergency Management Division, injuries ranged “from cuts and bruises to severe broken bones”. On Monday a Palmetto Health spokesperson said two patients were in serious and two in critical condition at their facilities. A spill of approximately 5,000 gallons of fuel from the freight train posed no safety hazard, according to officials.

Passenger Derek Pettaway told the CNN network that like most others, he had been sleeping when the collision happened. He said Amtrak staff cleared the passengers from the train rapidly, and there was no panic; “I think people were more in shock than anything else”, he said.

“Key to this investigation is learning why the switch was lined that way”, Sumwalt said. Amtrak’s CEO, Richard Anderson, speaking to reporters on Sunday, held CSX responsible; he stated the track in that area is operated by CSX and the signals, which CSX operates, were not working at the time of the collision and a CSX dispatcher was therefore directing the Amtrak train’s movements. Sumwalt noted an automatic monitoring and braking system called positive train control, which was not in use on the stretch of line, could have forestalled the collision.

Several fatal incidents involving Amtrak trains have occurred in the past three months. On December 18, the inaugural train on a new route in Washington state derailed at high speed while crossing above a highway, killing three; on January 31, the driver of a garbage truck was killed in Virginia when he collided with an Amtrak train chartered to take Republican lawmakers to a retreat.

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Fall ’08 styles at New York Fashion Week: the ’70s are back

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

The fourth day of New York Fashion Week debuted few daring designs even from designers known for such work. With few exceptions, the overwhelming theme was “old is new” and that the ’70s were even more in fashion than the shows on Sunday suggested. Among the designers to unveil their Fall 2008 lines on Monday were Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Betsey Johnson, Proenza Schouler and a rejuvenated Halston line, under the direction of designer Marco Zanini.

Both global warming and the slowing economy have been cited as reasons for the overwhelming use of lighter fabrics over heavier attire. Also, retro designs and continuing trends have been used in effort to save money, like the tights that were expected to go out of fashion this year. Even in the glamorous world of high-end fashion, money has been tight, and with the world economies in a collective downturn, major designers have been more wary of continuing to churn out the stream of couture designs that past Fashion Weeks have seen.

Proenza Schouler’s show took the ’70s retro theme to a fever pitch, liberally using bows on designs and debuting more retro-era wide-legged pants that were first seen in Sunday’s shows. Zanini’s Halston label also brought back the ’70s, resurrecting old designs that the founder of the line made famous. Since the designer Halston’s death in 1990, many designers have tried to take the label in different directions. Zanini’s unveiling on Monday brought the line back to its Studio 54 roots, while using trenchcoats, sheer fabrics, and cardigans to finish the ensembles with a modern twist.

Betsey Johnson also debuted old and new styles on Monday, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her fashion label. Copies of her original 1978 one-piece bathing suit as well as some early 1980s fashions started off the show. Her new pieces, such as animal print leggings coupled with a short twill jacket, were perceived as very skintight and criticized for not representing more fuller figures. Johnson brushed off the criticism, noting, “It’s tighter and sexier, but I still believe the girl brings the sex to the clothes…You won’t look sexy in a tight, below-the-knee skirt if you don’t feel good in it.”

The lone daring designer for the day was Carolina Herrera, who discarded the furs she promoted in the Fall 2007 show to focus on a Peter Pan theme, with earth tones and bird feathers. To further the “flying Peter Pan” motif, models donned such designs as a chiffon dress with ostrich feathers and a taffeta gown with a feather waistband.

Oscar de la Renta opted for more traditional blacks, golds and grays, debuting lines for men and women in fabrics he is familiar with. Men were outfitted in tweed while women were fitted in dresses that experimented with embroidery and tulle, both shades of past collections.

New York Fashion Week runs until Friday. Among others, labels Badgley Mischka, Diesel, and Vivienne Tam unveil their newest collections on Tuesday.

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Wikinews reports from 2008 Taiwan Open Source Developers’ Conference

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Developers involved in open source products across Taiwan gathered together at the 2008 Taiwan Open Source Development Conference on Saturday and Sunday to present a variety of research relevant to the open-source community.

A variety of different issues were discussed at the conference, including 3D Graphical User Interfaces,web developing tools, new software platforms,and various hardware. Google, Yahoo, and Canonical also gave talks about Google Gears, Yahoo UI, and Ubuntu Mobile.

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Cremation Or Burial Carbon Emissions And The Green Effect

The trend toward more green funerals and burials is rooted in being more environmentally friendly, as well as, lowering costs. For example, each year, 22,500 cemeteries across the United States bury approximately 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid which includes formaldehyde and other hazardous chemicals. Buried caskets contain 90,272 tons of steel, 2,700 tons of copper and bronze and 30-plus million board feet of hardwoods. Cremation and burial vaults contain 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete and 14,000 tons of steel. These statistics were complied from some very reliable sources which include: Casket and Funeral Association of America, Cremation Association of North America, Doric Inc., The Rainforest ActionNetwork, and Mary Woodsen, Pre-Posthumous Society.

In addition, Casket manufacturers are listed on the EPAs top 50 hazardous waste generators list due to chemicals such as methyl and xylene used in the protective finish sprayed on the caskets exterior. On a segment of a Fresh Air interview on NPR, Mark Harris, author of Grave Matters: Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial told host Terry Gross that the amount of wood from coffins located in a ten-acre cemetery is enough to build 40 houses and that there is enough concrete to build swimming pools for all of them.

On the surface cremation seems like a more friendly and convenient way to deal with the bodily remains of a loved one. But, lets consider the impact of this truly industrial process.Like most modem, natural-gas devices, the technology is becoming more efficient and clean burning; however the amount of non-renewable fossil fuel needed to cremate bodies in North America is equivalent to a car making 84 trips to the Moon and back each year.

There is also a growing body of research that indicates cremation has a significant impact on the environment. Cremations lead to emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, mercury, hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrogen chloride (HCl), NMVOCs, and other heavy metals, in addition to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP). The United Nations indicates that crematoria contribute 0.2% of the global emission of dioxins and furans.

Green burials in a green cemetery seem to be a viable alternative to both traditional burials and to cremations. Centennial Park Cemetery in the South Australian state capital of Adelaide said it had studied the carbon impact of burials and cremations. The Centennial Park Cemetery carries out more than 900 burials and around 3,300 cremations a year. Cemetery chief executive Bryan Elliott said that every cremation created around 160 kg (353 pounds) of carbon dioxide, compared to 39 kg of carbon dioxide for each burial. But when the cost of maintaining grave sites, mostly covered by lawns at

Centennial Park, is taken into account, cremations came out 10 percent greener than burials. This is because we must look after the gravesite for a number of years by watering and mowing the surrounding lawn area and maintaining the concrete beam on which the headstone is placed, Elliott said. Burial is a more labor and resource intensive process, consumes more fuels and produces larger quantities of waste than cremation added Elliott.

Ok, so both cremation and traditional burials have both been found to be environmentally unfriendly. So whats the best alternative?One thought is to use a nature preserve setting where funeral preparations and then burial is handled in a green way. The pollution impact is minimized and the beautiful forest-like setting is used to create a natural environment that is aesthetically beautiful and multi-functional. It can serve as both a cemetery and park to celebrate the environment and, celebrate life.

So, which is really preferable? I am not suggesting cremation over burial, or vice versa; I am simply suggesting that whichever choice you make, make sure it is what the deceased wanted and that it is a most natural and beautiful celebration of that persons life.

Bathurst, Australia’s new hospital to be almost doubled in size

Thursday, February 2, 2006

Bathurst Regional Council, the local government responsible for the city of Bathurst and its surrounds in Central Western New South Wales, Australia yesterday revealed it had received a development application for the new Bathurst Base Hospital.

The new hospital is to be built behind the current hospital on the same site and is expected to cost the New South Wales government AUD96 million. The Bathurst Hospital will be the first in the Bathurst-Orange-Bloomfield redevelopment project.

The new hospital will have 149 beds, up from 85 for the current hospital. The hospital will also feature a mental health unit – previously psychiatric patients had to travel to Orange to the Bloomfield Hospital for treatment.

The Bathurst Hospital is expected to have state-of-the art facilities and will share some services with the to be constructed Orange Base Hospital.

The Bathurst Regional Council has approved the demolition of 12 buildings on the hospital site for enabling works. The hospital site is heritage listed although council decided that as the buildings do not contribute to the streetscape they may be demolished.

The demolitions are expected to take place late next month and will take around six weeks to complete. A temporary driveway will then be built to replace the current service entry for food and linen as it will become part of the work site.

Upon completion of the new hospital, the current ward block will be demolished leaving the original building from the late 19th century intact. The original building is expected to become an education centre and consulting rooms.

The original building was opened in 1834. Since then the facility has undergone numerous upgrades and add-ons, with the present ward block being opened in stages from 1978 to 1982.

Other buildings expected to be retained include the Daffodil Cottage (a cancer care centre) and the original Nurse’s quarters known as Poole House.

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U.S. superbug expected to emerge in Canada

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

An infectious superbug spreading in the United States is to “emerge in force” in Canada, doctors fear. The bacteria have been reported popping up in day care centers and locker rooms across the U.S. Usually elderly or very ill hospital patients get the disease.

More than 2 million U.S. residents are infected every year, the Centers for Disease Control estimates.

An article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) on Tuesday said that Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are “spreading with alarming rapidity.” The bacteria can cause boils, pimples, or in extreme cases, flesh-eating disease, and more.

“The resistant bacteria is an old foe with new fangs: a pathogen combining virulence, resistance and an ability to disseminate at large,” wrote Dr. John Conly, medical professor and an infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary.

British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario are the provinces which already have had MRSA in hospitals.

A 30-year-old Calgary, Alberta man died last year of lung abscesses associated with the infection, as well as a three-month old toddler in Toronto, Ontario.

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Alex Rios, last summer, suffered from an infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus in his leg. Pitcher Ty Taubenheim had a similar infection on his foot.

Doctors are currently investigating some Calgary residents, who could be one of the first Canadian reports of MRSA outside of a hospital setting.

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Some Points To Consider While Choosing The Best Table Tennis Equipments For Yourself.

Submitted by: Tabletennis American

Table tennis also known as ping-pong is a well-known sport that was first played in England around 1880. Although it was seen more like an amusement than an actual sport, the game turned soon into a popular craze and a professional sport.

For competitive games, you may require special skills but if you are just playing with your friends, then no special skills are required and it is a fun past time. It is also known as ping-pong. As its name suggests, the game is played on a hard table, divided by a net and is usually colored in blue or green shades. If you want to play like a professional player, you will require the best table tennis balls, the table, net and rackets.

A good player would have to be agile, have good speed, a good serve and quick reflexes. Ping-pong as a game has evolved through the ages and now you can find a variety of ping-pong tables, balls and rackets with varying qualities, brands and prices.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiQcANX3NNE[/youtube]

If you are not a professional ping-pong player but take the game as a hobby or as a source of fun and entertainment for your friends and family, then it should not be difficult for you to choose the right ping-pong equipments. The kind of table tennis equipment you will require will depend on the style of your game and level of skills and proficiency in playing the game.

Now let us discuss some features of the ping-pong table, rackets and balls which will correspond with the kind of style you like to play, so that you can make an informed decision when you go to purchase the table tennis equipments. Given below are some aspects of your game style that you should take into consideration.

If you have a game style in which you like to hit the ball really hard and with full force, then a heavy ping-pong table would be suitable for you. The downside is that this kind of table can slow down your response time. In case you find that your reactions are becoming slow and feel awkward, then you should consider buying a lighter table tennis table.

Now let us discuss some characteristics of various kinds of table tennis rackets available and which type would be suitable for your gaming style. If you are one of those players who generally enjoy giving slight and crafty effects to the ball, then a flexible table tennis blade would be the ideal type to buy. On the other hand, if you are the kind of player who likes to give a fast and hard serve, then you will perform much better with a stiff table tennis blade.

Depending on whether you have a stronger backhand or a stronger forehand, you can either choose a straight handle or a flared handle respectively. You can also choose from the four series of butterfly table tennis rackets. Professional players are often advised by their coaches to use pre-assembled ping-pong rackets and the butterfly series are one of the most popular ones. These days, you can also find table tennis DVDs which give you lessons, tips and some tricks so that you can become a better player.

To summarize, if you are planning to buy a table tennis table, then you should consider the points given above so that your time spent playing ping-pong will be as enjoyable as possible.

About the Author: American Table Tennis is the best online store for table tennis, Visit Best Table Tennis Balls[

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]to know more about table tennis.

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On the campaign trail in the USA, September 2020

Thursday, October 29, 2020

The following is the fifth edition of a monthly series chronicling the 2020 United States presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after an overview of the month’s biggest stories.

This month’s spotlight on the campaign trail: the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee secures ballot access in all 50 U.S. states, the Unity Party of America presidential nominee proposes a novel solution to the issue of “packing” the U.S. Supreme Court, and three candidates give their thoughts on the latest military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

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