-- The Madison City Council finance committee has moved its meeting to Monday at 6 p.m. at the Madison Municipal Complex, 100 Hughes Road.
The finance committee normally meets at 5:30 p.m. before City Council meetings at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of the month. But because of the Madison Utility Board of Directors holding its monthly meeting at 5 p.m. at the Madison Municipal Complex Monday, the council moved its meeting to 7 p.m. That will allow council members Steve Haraway and Larry Vannoy, both on the Madison Utilities board, to attend both meetings.
Vannoy is also chair of the finance committee.
For more information, visit www.ci.madison.al.us/.
Baghdad ? As the American war in Iraq comes to an end, some troops find themselves grappling with a question that has dogged them through multiple deployments: Was the sacrifice worth the price that US forces paid here?
?I?ve had people come to me, ?Why were we there? What did we do? Why did 4,000 die in Iraq? Why did I lose my friend?? ? says Lt. Col. Mark Rowan, an Air Force chaplain who has served 12 deployments and who has counseled troops returning from Iraq. ?We don?t really know the answer to that yet.?
Commanders say it?s a question that they can?t readily answer, either. ?My opinion about sacrifice is that it?s a very personal thing,? says Maj. Gen. Russell Handy, the senior US Air Force officer in Iraq. To pronounce whether the war was ?worth it,? he says, would mean ?putting words in the mouths of family members? who continue to mourn for loved ones.
IN PICTURES: Leaving Iraq
Beyond those directly connected with the war, few Americans will ever understand the scale of loss for the US military, many here also believe.
It?s ?almost impossible for the American people to comprehend the level of sacrifice? that US troops have made in this war, says Handy.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, flying into Baghdad for the official ?close of mission? ceremony Thursday, addressed the troops, as well as the question that many silently ask themselves.
?To be sure, the cost was high,? he said. But ?those lives were not lost in vain: They gave birth to an independent, free, and sovereign Iraq.?
US forces who have been working with their Iraqi counterparts up until their last hours here wrestle with whether America did indeed accomplish what it set out to do.
They wonder, too, whether the answer to the war's worthiness hinges on another question ??? the question of, say, whether America won the war.
?We came to give them a democracy,? says Staff Sgt. Donald Rice of the 447th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron. ?We gave them a chance at democracy. Was 4,400 lives worth the cost of giving them the chance at democracy?? he wonders.
?I?m not going to judge personal sacrifice,? says Handy, ?but I can tell you it?s tremendously important for this country to be stable.? Iraq today has a ?democratically elected and inclusive government,? he adds, and there remains hope for ?what that might mean to the region,? as the Arab Spring enters the winter season.
Rowan, the chaplain, says he has fielded agonized questions from troops, particularly among those who have experienced the heartbreak of losing their comrades.
He recalls presiding at the moment of death of a soldier, a married father of three who was shot while out on a 2009 patrol in northern Iraq.
?I stayed with him and held his hand,? Rowan says, ?and did all the last rites before he passed.?
When his fellow soldiers learned that he had died, ?they exploded and threw their helmets down.?
They wondered, too, whether the war was worth this ??? the loss they witnessed again and again.
Rowan says that sometimes it helps to turn the question around: ?I ask them, 'What do you think you accomplished there? For the Air Force, or outside the base, maybe you were part of a team that got terrorists out of a town. Were people able to live free again?' ?
The point, he says, is to focus on, ?What good did you do there.? For America, for the politicians, he tells them, ?History will decide the rest.?
RECOMMENDED: Iraq after the US: Will it survive?
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A galaxy blooming with new starsPublic release date: 15-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Hook rhook@eso.org 49-893-200-6655 ESO
VLT Survey Telescope snaps wide-field view of NGC 253
The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) has captured the beauty of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 253. The new portrait is probably the most detailed wide-field view of this object and its surroundings ever taken. It demonstrates that the VST, the newest telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory, provides broad views of the sky while also offering impressive image sharpness.
NGC 253 gleams about eleven and a half million light-years away in the southern constellation of Sculptor. It is often just called the Sculptor Galaxy, although other descriptive names include the Silver Coin or Silver Dollar Galaxy. It is easy to get a good look at NGC 253 through binoculars as it is one of the brightest galaxies in the sky after the Milky Way's closest, big galactic neighbour, the Andromeda Galaxy.
Astronomers have noted the widespread active star formation in NGC 253 and labelled it a "starburst" galaxy [1]. The many bright clumps dotting the galaxy are stellar nurseries where hot young stars have just ignited. The radiation streaming from these giant blue-white babies makes the surrounding hydrogen gas clouds glow brightly (green in this image).
This nearby spiral galaxy was discovered by the GermanBritish astronomer Caroline Herschel, the sister of the famed astronomer William Herschel, as she searched for comets in 1783. The Herschels would have been delighted by the crisp, richly detailed view of NGC 253 that the VST can provide.
This latest image of NGC 253 was taken during VST's science verification phase when the telescope's scientific performance is assessed before it enters operations. The VST data are being combined with infrared images from VISTA (eso0949 http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso0949/) to identify the younger generations of stars in NGC 253. This picture is more than 12 000 pixels across and the superb sky conditions at ESO's Paranal Observatory, combined with the fine telescope optics, result in sharp star images over the entire image.
The VST is a 2.6-metre wide-field survey telescope with a one-degree field of view twice as broad as the full Moon [2]. The VST programme is a joint venture between the INAFOsservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy and ESO (eso1119 http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1119/). The 268-megapixel camera OmegaCAM at its heart is designed to map the sky both quickly and with very fine image quality. VST is the largest telescope in the world designed to exclusively survey the sky in visible light, complementing ESO's VISTA infrared survey telescope, also located at Paranal.
Zooming into this new picture not only allows a very detailed inspection of the star-forming spiral arms of the galaxy to be made, but also reveals a very rich tapestry of much more distant galaxies far beyond NGC 253.
###
Notes
[1] Further details about NGC 253 have been revealed by ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) along with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. These instruments showed in 2009 that, at its centre, NGC 253 harbours a supermassive black hole with very similar properties to those of the black hole lurking in the Milky Way's core (see ESO Press Release eso0902 http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso0902/).
[2] The image presented here has been cropped and is slightly smaller than the full VST field of view.
More information
ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 40-metre-class European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".
Links
Photos of the VST: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?category=1111&adv=&description=VST
VST public web pages: http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/surveytelescopes/vst.html
Contacts
Massimo Capaccioli
University of Naples Federico II and INAF-Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory
Naples, Italy
Tel: +39 081 557 5601
Cell: +39 335 677 6940
Email: capaccioli@na.infn.it
Richard Hook
ESO, La Silla, Paranal, E-ELT and Survey Telescopes Public Information Officer
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Cell: +49 151 1537 3591
Email: rhook@eso.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A galaxy blooming with new starsPublic release date: 15-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Hook rhook@eso.org 49-893-200-6655 ESO
VLT Survey Telescope snaps wide-field view of NGC 253
The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) has captured the beauty of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 253. The new portrait is probably the most detailed wide-field view of this object and its surroundings ever taken. It demonstrates that the VST, the newest telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory, provides broad views of the sky while also offering impressive image sharpness.
NGC 253 gleams about eleven and a half million light-years away in the southern constellation of Sculptor. It is often just called the Sculptor Galaxy, although other descriptive names include the Silver Coin or Silver Dollar Galaxy. It is easy to get a good look at NGC 253 through binoculars as it is one of the brightest galaxies in the sky after the Milky Way's closest, big galactic neighbour, the Andromeda Galaxy.
Astronomers have noted the widespread active star formation in NGC 253 and labelled it a "starburst" galaxy [1]. The many bright clumps dotting the galaxy are stellar nurseries where hot young stars have just ignited. The radiation streaming from these giant blue-white babies makes the surrounding hydrogen gas clouds glow brightly (green in this image).
This nearby spiral galaxy was discovered by the GermanBritish astronomer Caroline Herschel, the sister of the famed astronomer William Herschel, as she searched for comets in 1783. The Herschels would have been delighted by the crisp, richly detailed view of NGC 253 that the VST can provide.
This latest image of NGC 253 was taken during VST's science verification phase when the telescope's scientific performance is assessed before it enters operations. The VST data are being combined with infrared images from VISTA (eso0949 http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso0949/) to identify the younger generations of stars in NGC 253. This picture is more than 12 000 pixels across and the superb sky conditions at ESO's Paranal Observatory, combined with the fine telescope optics, result in sharp star images over the entire image.
The VST is a 2.6-metre wide-field survey telescope with a one-degree field of view twice as broad as the full Moon [2]. The VST programme is a joint venture between the INAFOsservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy and ESO (eso1119 http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1119/). The 268-megapixel camera OmegaCAM at its heart is designed to map the sky both quickly and with very fine image quality. VST is the largest telescope in the world designed to exclusively survey the sky in visible light, complementing ESO's VISTA infrared survey telescope, also located at Paranal.
Zooming into this new picture not only allows a very detailed inspection of the star-forming spiral arms of the galaxy to be made, but also reveals a very rich tapestry of much more distant galaxies far beyond NGC 253.
###
Notes
[1] Further details about NGC 253 have been revealed by ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) along with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. These instruments showed in 2009 that, at its centre, NGC 253 harbours a supermassive black hole with very similar properties to those of the black hole lurking in the Milky Way's core (see ESO Press Release eso0902 http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso0902/).
[2] The image presented here has been cropped and is slightly smaller than the full VST field of view.
More information
ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 40-metre-class European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".
Links
Photos of the VST: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?category=1111&adv=&description=VST
VST public web pages: http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/surveytelescopes/vst.html
Contacts
Massimo Capaccioli
University of Naples Federico II and INAF-Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory
Naples, Italy
Tel: +39 081 557 5601
Cell: +39 335 677 6940
Email: capaccioli@na.infn.it
Richard Hook
ESO, La Silla, Paranal, E-ELT and Survey Telescopes Public Information Officer
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Cell: +49 151 1537 3591
Email: rhook@eso.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
From: Never met a scientific illustrator? Meet Carol. by Kalliopi Monoyios at Symbiartic.
Original source: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 1992 cover illustration of the reconstruction of the skull of Stegosaurus stenops in left lateral view. Ink on paper, by Carol Abraczinskas.
Stipple is a pen and ink technique used in scientific illustration that utilizes millions of tiny dots to create areas of shadow and light. This stipple drawing of the skull of Stegosaurus stenops by Carol Abraczinskas appeared on the cover of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology in 1992. It?s a favorite teaching tool of Abraczinskas?s because it tests students? observational skills. One missing dot prevents this illustration from being complete. Can you find it? To check if you got it right, see the original post for an enlarged view of that detail.
About the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.
More??
The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
Right now, MItt Romney is the only GOP candidate that beats President Obama in a head-to-head matchup, most polls show. But Newt Gingrich is gaining momentum, to some Democrats' delight.?
Newt Gingrich is rising like a rocket. He?s the new Republican presidential front-runner. He?s en fuego, if you know what we mean.
Skip to next paragraph
The latest evidence of this is a just-out Iowa Poll, which puts Mr. Gingrich in the lead in the Hawkeye State as the choice of 25 percent of likely caucusgoers. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is second, with 18 percent, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is third, at 15 percent.
If anything, Gingrich does even better in national surveys. Right now he?s getting about 27 percent of the GOP vote, according to RealClearPolitics rolling average. Mr. Romney is second, at 20 percent.
And unlike past anti-Romney GOP favorites, the ex-House speaker seems unlikely to fade before real voting starts. In part that?s because voting is almost upon us: The Iowa caucuses are four weeks away. Gingrich now has a 45 to 50 percent chance of winning Iowa, writes New York Times polling analyst Nate Silver on his FiveThirtyEight blog.
OK, we get it, for Newt the numbers look good. But here?s our question: Is Gingrich the GOP candidate that Barack Obama most wants to face?
For the sake of argument we?re assuming that the undercard ? Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and so forth ? is out of it. So we guess the more precise issue here is whether the Democrats would rather face Gingrich than Romney.
Lots of Democrats publicly say ?yes.? They?d love to run against a top-of-the-ticket name with such a lengthy record of controversial statements, and who built a large Washington-based business machine. The ever-quotable soon-to-be-former Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts has said, ?I never thought I?d live such a good life that I would see Newt Gingrich as the nominee of the Republican Party.?
House minority leader Nancy Pelosi told TalkingPointsMemo on Monday that she served on the investigative committee that probed Gingrich?s business deals when he was speaker, and that there?s lots of stuff she?d love to dish.
DALLAS -- Davey Johnson has never been afraid to throw a supremely
talented prospect to the wolves and let him play against big-league
competition while still in his teens. Johnson, you may remember, was a
driving force behind Dwight Gooden's promotion to the Mets at age 19
despite the fact he had never pitched above Class A.
"I had to fight for a young pitcher, who was 19 years old in New York,"
Johnson said today, recalling his conversations with Mets GM Frank
Cashen in 1984. "Just keep an open mind, and let's see what he does in
the spring and then evaluate whether he makes the club or not. And after
many conversations, I finally got him to agree to that. And the rest is
history."
So it's not surprising Johnson is perfectly willing to let Bryce Harper
compete for a spot on the Nationals' Opening Day roster this spring. The
outfielder only turned 19 in October and has only 37 games of
experience at Class AA, but he thrived against top competition in the Arizona Fall League and suggested perhaps he's close to big-league ready.
"I think he's pretty mature," Johnson said. "I don't look at him age-wise as I probably should."
But before you start gobbling up tickets for Opening Day with the
expectation you'll see Harper roaming right field at Nationals Park,
remember that Johnson's opinion on roster decisions only carries so much
weight.
Mike Rizzo has the final say on who makes the club and who doesn't, and
though the general manager isn't publicly ruling out the possibility of
Harper on the Opening Day roster, it still remains a long shot for
reasons related both to baseball to finances.
Rizzo has stated in no uncertain terms he prefers all prospects play at
every level of the minors before earning their first call-up. Harper
(who admittedly did jump straight from low-Class A Hagerstown to Class
AA Harrisburg this summer) has yet to set foot at Class AAA Syracuse, so
conventional wisdom suggests he's going to open 2012 there.
There's also the issue of Harper's still-raw skills in the outfield and
his overall approach to the daily grind of professional baseball, things
that should be learned in the minors.
"I think that the main thing is ... could he handle it mentally?"
Johnson said. "And I think in his mind, he's already figuring to be
starting on the club, if you ask him. I haven't talked to him, but I
know that he's done everything in his whole life to succeed at a higher
level and compete with the best."
I've previously outlined the financial incentives for the Nationals to delay Harper's debut
until at least mid-June. The condensed version: Calling him up earlier
would likely qualify Harper for "Super-2" arbitration status in 2015,
potentially costing the Nationals millions of dollars they otherwise
wouldn't have to spend.
Rizzo will have to consider all of that come March. Then he'll have to
decide whether Johnson presents a compelling enough argument to include
Harper on the Opening Day roster or not.
"Is he the best candidate out there?" Johnson said. "I mean, is he going to make our club stronger? ...
"I'm open for him competing for a spot, whether he can handle it or
whether he makes it in June or July. I said in the spring, guys were
asking me: 'When do you think Harper is going to get there?' I said I
think he's going to have quality at-bats in the big leagues when he's
19. So, he's 19."
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Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
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