Greetings from Mars
PASADENA, Calif. – The first images from Curiosity's color Mast Camera, or Mastcam, have been received by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The 130 low-resolution thumbnails, which were received Thursday morning, provide scientists and engineers of NASA's newest Mars rover their first color, horizon-to-horizon glimpse of Gale Crater.
"After a year in cold storage, where it endured the rigors of launch, the deep space cruise to Mars and everything that went on during landing, it is great to see our camera is working as planned," said Mike Malin, principal investigator of the Mastcam instrument from Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. "As engaging as this color panorama is, it is important to note this is only one-eighth the potential resolution of images from this camera."
The Curiosity team also continued to downlink high-resolution black-and-white images from its Navigation Camera, or Navcam. These individual images have been stitched together to provide a high-resolution Navcam panorama, including a glimpse of the rover's deck. Evident on some portions of the deck are some small Martian pebbles.
"The latest Navcam images show us that the rocket engines on our descent stage kicked up some material from the surface of Mars, several pieces which ended up on our rover's deck," said Mike Watkins, mission manager for Curiosity from JPL. "These small pebbles we currently see are up to about 1 centimeter [0.4 inch] in size and should pose no problems for mission operations. It will be interesting to see how long our hitchhikers stick around."
Curiosity's color panorama of Gale Crater is online at: http://1.usa.gov/P7VsUw . Additional images from Curiosity are available at: http://1.usa.gov/MfiyD0 .
Mission engineers devoted part of their third Martian day, or "Sol 3," to checking the status of four of Curiosity's science instruments after their long trip. The rover's Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, Chemistry and Mineralogy analyzer, Sample Analysis at Mars, and Dynamic of Albedo Neutrons instruments were each energized and went through a preliminary checkout. The team also performed a check on the rover's second flight computer.
Even before landing, the mission's science team began the process of creating a geological map of about 150 square miles (about 390 square kilometers) within Gale Crater that includes the landing area.
"It is important to understand the geological context around Curiosity," said Dawn Sumner of the University of California, Davis, a member of the Curiosity science team. "We want to choose a route to Mount Sharp that makes good progress toward the destination while allowing important science observations along the way."
The mapping project divided the area into 151 quadrangles of about one square mile (about 2.6 square kilometers) each. Curiosity landed in the quadrangle called Yellowknife. Yellowknife is the city in northern Canada that was the starting point for many of the great geological expeditions to map the oldest rocks in North America.
Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science payloads on NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Some of the tools, such as a laser-firing instrument for checking rocks' elemental composition from a distance, are the first of their kind on Mars. Curiosity will use a drill and scoop, which are located at the end of its robotic arm, to gather soil and powdered samples of rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these samples into the rover's analytical laboratory instruments.
To handle this science toolkit, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity. The Gale Crater landing site places the rover within driving distance of layers of the crater's interior mountain. Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the lower layers, indicating a wet history.
The Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. - NASA
The Scientific Exploration of Mars
Roving Mars [Blu-ray]
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U.S. States That Prohibit Godless Americans From Holding Public Office
Arkansas, Article 19, Section 1:
No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any Court.
Maryland, Article 37:
That no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this State, other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God; nor shall the Legislature prescribe any other oath of office than the oath prescribed by this Constitution.
Mississippi, Article 14, Section 265:
No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office in this state.
North Carolina, Article 6, Section 8
The following persons shall be disqualified for office: Any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.
South Carolina, Article 17, Section 4:
No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution.
Tennessee, Article 9, Section 2:
No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state.
Texas, Article 1, Section 4:
No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being.
NOTE: I live in Maryland and was shocked that was included in the state constitution. Lon
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Reader Submission: Strange Vision
We were traveling on the way home from New Mexico to west Texas to spend the night. We tried to spend the night in Fort Stockton, Sonora, and Ozona, Texas. All full so our choices {11:00 pm at night} was to travel to San Antonio [240 miles] or Del Rio Texas (90 miles). We chose Del Rio Texas.
We have never been to Del Rio before. We could not see anything except the road, not road lights or towns along the way. There are several draws, canyons, and rivers that the road travels over.
We went over several with no event. However, when we traveled over Devil’s River {twice} I saw an image of an evil Black Panther head over the road while I was crossing the river. It was very shiny, scary, and spewing of evil. The girls were asleep and Lucy was awake. During the 12 seconds or so that was in terror of the image, Lucy was sinking in her seat. She felt pressure on the back of her neck and her upper arm. Both times at the same time as I saw the image. We were both very weak and subdued. We both began to pray and she prayed to her Angels after the second experience. Then like it never happened we were fine.
I searched Google images for hours and could not find one like the one I saw. DB
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Medical Mystery: Woman's Hair Turns to Black Fingernails, Baffling Her Doctors
Shanyna Isom has consulted every possible specialist, including a doctor in the Netherlands, but she still as no idea what is wrong with her.
The 28-year-old beautician and former University of Memphis law student has developed a condition so severe, fingernails grow from the hair follicles all over her body.
"Black scabs were coming out of her skin," said her mother, Kathy Gary. "The nails would grow so long and come out and regrow themselves. They are hard to touch and stick you."
The disease so far has affected not only her skin, but her bones and her vision. Because Isom is unable to walk without a cane, her mother helps her out of bed each day.
Doctors at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, where Isom is being treated, told her family that she is the only person in the world with this unknown condition.
And now she has $500,000 in unpaid medical bills. Isom has state insurance, but it doesn't cover medical care in Maryland. Her mother lost her job as a medical receptionist because she looks after her daughter at home, so savings have dried up.
Once a month, mother and daughter travel to Baltimore from Memphis to monitor her treatment.
But now, Isom has put all of her energy into creating the S.A.I. Foundation (so named for her initials) to help others with mystery illnesses.
Bank of America has agreed to take donations at any of their branch offices. Friends have organized fundraisers, and her high school has dedicated a football game to her charity.
Despite her debilitating illness, Isom told ABCNews.com, "I don't know whether to smile or cry. I am very blessed."
On her blog, Pray for Shanyna, she laments: "It has taken all of my hair out and has left my body with scabs all over it, plus I have lost about 200 pounds. Two years ago, I was a healthy woman on my own ... had big dreams and goals that I was following until one day my body completely shut down on me."
Isom was a junior studying criminal justice when the mystery illness first occurred in September 2009, according to WLBT in Memphis, which first reported the story.
She went to an emergency room for an asthma attack and was given a large dose of steroids, which doctors suspected caused an allergic reaction.
After returning home, Isom began itching. Doctors prescribed Benadryl, but it got worse.
"It was uncontrollable and we didn't know what it was," said her mother.
Soon, her legs turned black.
"It looked as if she had been in a house fire and gotten burned," said Gary.
Doctors thought she had eczema or a staph infection and prescribed drugs, but it got worse. Meanwhile, all tests came back negative.
"We could not figure out what was going on," said her mother. "She was just breaking out everywhere. Her body was scabbed all over."
At the same time, Shanyna was losing 10 to 15 pounds a week. A bone marrow biopsy turned up nothing.
It was then her Memphis doctor threw up his hands.
"He said she would be like that for the rest of her life," said Gary. "But I couldn't accept that."
Isom and her family persisted, and in August 2011, Shanyna went to Johns Hopkins.
There, doctors determined that she was producing 12 times the number of skin cells in each hair follicle. Instead of growing hair, the follicles were producing human nails.
Doctors think her skin isn't getting enough oxygen -- she is also lacking sufficient amounts of vitamins A, B, C, D and K, according to her mother.
But with treatment, she is improving.
"Her legs aren't covered in black scabs," said her mother. "They are looking better, and her face just looks like she has a real bad sunburn."
Today Isom is on 25 medications, but her insurance only pays for five of them. She is awaiting the results of genetic tests that may give doctors clues to what is wrong.
"The doctors are so caring," said Gary. "It's just amazing how much they have done for her. We really didn't think she was going to make it."
Isom said she slipped into a depression, but now feels uplifted by the support of family and friends.
"I know it's a blessing that I can reach out and touch people's hearts," she said.
She remembers the day at Johns Hopkins when she felt sorry for herself, shuffling through the corridors on a walker.
"I saw a little girl, 4 or 5 years old, and she was walking through the same hall and had the biggest smile on her face," said Isom. "She had braces from [her] hip to her feet and had a walker and held her head up so high. I thought, 'If she can, I can. I had a life. This baby is trying to have a life.' ... I fed off her energy."
Isom said she prayed, "I will never be selfish again."
Gary said their ordeal has been a "nightmare ... to see her whole body shut down."
But she gets her strength from her daughter.
"Shanyna is remarkable," said Gary. "She has been able to hold her head high. I keep telling her we are going to make it, through the grace of God." - yahoo
Medical Mysteries: From the Bizarre to the Deadly . . . The Cases That Have Baffled Doctors
Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis
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UFO encounter over northern Illinois
Channahon, IL - 7/18/2012 - unedited: I tend to sit outside once my wife turns in for the night. I sit and enjoy a cigar, read something, have a cold beer and let the dog do her business. I do this every night and on clear days I also take my small binoculars out and watch the stars, planets and the moon.
Ive witnessed meteors streak across the sky. Ive watched satellites slowly move across the night sky. Ive watched countless airplanes and helicopters be they civilian, military, commercial etc in the sky over my home throughout the years but I NEVER witnessed anything of the type I witnessed on the night of July 18th. 2012.
I was out in my back yard around 10:30 pm having a cigar and waiting for my small dog to finish her "ritual." My wife and I have a large, hand held floodlight we take with us to check for skunks before we allow the dogs out.
On the night in question, I was standing approx. 20 feet from my porch so the sensor on the porch light timed out. There wasnt a cloud in the sky and i looked up and thought i saw movement coming from the Ursa Minor Constellation.
It seemed as though one of the stars was moving in a northerly direction. I thought it might be a satellite so I paid it no mind until it "Stopped" moving and seemed to blink. As I watched it for a few seconds it seemed as though the "air" around the "Star" seemed to "ripple sort of the same way heat does when watching it rise from the ground at a distance.
I it was then that I noticed it "moving" again and thought it odd as the stars that make up the Constellation of Ursa Minor dont MOVE! so I shined the flood light at the "Star" that was moving and Thats when i realized I was watching something very strange. It seemed to "absorb" the light..It reminded me of the way water moves when a pebble is dropped and ripples.
As I shined the light on it, it actually seemed to respond. It shined a light back at me! At first i thought it an optical illusion but when I did it a second time, and blinked the light several times, it repeated the sequence I had just done! This "THING" was massive! Made no noise and moved very slow across the sky. It blocked out the stars for a few moments that i shined the light at it as if to let me know it was actually there..i know that sounds silly but thats what happened.
I watched it slowly fade as if "cloaking" again but i could make out the shape as it seemed to blink in and out as it moved.
I lost sight of it as the tress blocked my view of it.
Thats what I witnessed and was wondering if anyone else witnessed this on the night in question. - MUFON CMS
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The night the 'Edmund Fitzgerald' sank....
Sault St Marie, MI - 11/9/1974 - unedited: My husband & I were living on Sugar Is. in Mi.upper peninsula the day of the event. We were eating lunch, our almost one year old daughter was in her stroller.I think what got our attention was the lack of sound , not just silence but like sound had been sucked out of the air.We both got up & went to the front window, our cabin is only a few yards from the water.There was a flock of ducks going east down the river , away from lake Superior.Right behind them very fast came this luminous orb.I should have said before that the wind was blowing so hard the trees were all bent over ( but no sound !)The orb stopped on a dime & hovered motionless.I dont know how much time passed we seemed paralyzed. Then it made circular motion & took off in the blink of an eye ,up & INTO the the wind. As soon as it left we looked at each other & said " they know we saw them" I dont know why.It gets Very stange after this.This was the night the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in lake Superior, one of the worst storms ever. We saw this craft in broad daylight before the storm hit.After we saw it at 2:00 pm. the next thing I remember is it being nighttime & putting my girl in her playpen & covering it with blankets in case the windows blew in. You could hear trees crashing down outside.I dont remember being afraid at all, my husband seemed real excited & took off to drive around the island! We could have been killed, I dont know why I wouldnt have tried to stop him.There seemed to be alot of people who saw ufo s that night but I havent read any thing about it.It seems as tho most sightings are also at night but this wasnt. - MUFON CMS
Here's is the story of the 'Edmund Fitzgerald' sinking: When the Skies of November Turn Gloomy
The Edmund Fitzgerald Investigations
History -- Deep Sea Detectives - Death of The Edmund Fitzgerald
Gordon Lightfoot - Complete Greatest Hits
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