text:
LRO yields pad to X-37?
NASA managers have agreed to push back the anxiously anticipated launch of the Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter (LRO) & LCROSS joint mission payload until a set of 18 favorable launch windows open at the end of February entending through March 2009.
Unofficially, Lockheed-Boeing launch contractors at KSC were under the from the U.S. Air Force for an equally unofficial launch window for the unofficial X-37 advanced Orbiter, overlapping with LRO-LCROSS.
The polar LOI will only alter LRO's long-term mission's timetable, but may require some fast thinking by LCROSS mission planners. The LCROSS impactor, long in preparation to repeat the 1999 last act of the tiny, mighty Lunar Prospector, hoping to succeed where that first polar crash landing failed, in actually scaring up a Deep Impact-class fountain of kenetic debris that robotic and human observers can then scan to see if aeons-old super ice will be instantly turned into steam.
The geometry of the mission may require the choice of another polar cold trap.
Posted by Joel Raupe at 2:17 AM Links to this post
Labels: LCROSS, LRO, Lunar Prospector, Water on the Moon, X-37
Lunar Scenario for Flight Simulator 2004
Just after having tried, and failed, to start a serious discussion about simulation environments for would-be and arm-chair "Citizen Scientists," among serious competitors for a place in NASA's "new era of lunar exploration, TerraBuilder of Ontario announces a rudimentary Lunar Scenario for Microsoft's popular Flight Simulator platform.
Although I will most definitely purchase and download the program, if only to award TerraBuilder's thoughtfulness, I immediately found myself saying, "gee, I really could have used this, three years ago."
TerraBuilder's "LRV for TerraBuilder: Moon" is a long-overdue and essential sim for the hundreds of thousands of lunatics like me that, unfortunately, also comes with two heartbreaking drawbacks.
The mare, highland, rilles and mountain scenes are very welcome, don't get me wrong. Unfortunately, the hard-core Flight Simulator addicts long ago upgraded to Flight Simulator X, and this add-on is designed for Flight Simulator 2004.
Fortunately, however, for me, that's not a problem.
While others (like my great and good friend "Waccobird," in Florida) were spending hours perfecting Rocketplane instrument ratings on FSX, doing carrier landings with the skill of Alan Shepherd, I just never bothered to upgrade to FSX. Indeed, I never bothered to load even FS'04 on my seriously upgraded machine. In fact, this machine was seriously pumped primarily to fully experience Dr. Martin Schweiger's Orbiter Simulator 2006 (P2), which stole my heart away from Flight Simulator four years ago.
For nearly a decade, this Senior Fellow at London's University College London has quietly upgraded and then released, for free, to hundreds of thousands of his hungry followers what is probably the best Open Source and real time spaceflight simulator available to the public.
Being a serious lunatic, I've been disappointed with his Clementine based lunar albedo maps, but not with OrbiterSim's astonishingly grand orbital dynamics, and not for its Open Source and eager add-on developer community that's made possible for me countless rendezvous and dockings with ISS, at least eight dozen flights to the Moon and back, mastering re-entry and learning what one can and cannot do starting from a dead stop from the surface of Earth.
I've built a thousand scenarios, including the retrieval of Vanguard from it's more than 50 year- old perch, passing through the Van Allen Belts every 100 minutes since 1958.
With no apparent need of fanfare, Dr. Schweiger has done more to recreate the "feel" of real-time space travel for the lucky few who have taken the brief time necessary to learn, than NASA.
It's the reason I bought the Gateway HD display, the Nvidia 9800 graphics card, and why I partitioned my hard drives to run both Vista and XP.
The other drawback to TerraBuilder: Moon, is that the realistically diverse lunar scenery (which I fully expect to be included in Dr. Schweiger's next Orbiter Sim, hopefully soon, perhaps after Kaguya completes it's laser altimeter model) does not include actual features. At least when I land near the Apollo landing sites, or Reiner Gamma, the landscape, essentially a large photograph, is actually brighter.
Accomplishing a lunar landing using OrbiterSim just isn't as rewarding when the scenery is Clementine-correct albedo and color is also flat as a piece of paper. But, the combination of TerraBuilder: Moon and the otherwise exceptional and essential Orbiter Simulator, is at least a step in the right direction.
And so, if only for the well-done detail of its Apollo Lunar Rover, for the concept vehicles, and details and promise of more to come, I will dust off my metal can filled with Flight Simulator 2004 disks and finally bother to load it on this new system that has long outgrown it; to reward myself for another successfull navigation of the DeltaGliderIV from the Global TransPark in North Carolina, to refueling in LEO, through TLI, to LLO, to Terminal Descent and another satisfyingly precise 2 mps touchdown where Descartes C crater is supposed to be, to experience the look of a real moon on my HD display.
I want to reward TerraBuilder for, if belatedly, remembering the simulation of space travel is as close as some of us will ever get to walking and riding on Earth's Moon. They only have to work on the longitude and latitude and existing topography. The lame excuse that they are awaiting more details from LRO and Kaguya just doesn't fly. I want to land in Taurus-Littrow and see the South Massif, Tortilla Flats, and see the broad Cayley plain Charlie Duke and John Young could see from the Cinco craters up on Stone Mountain, and even measure that local magnetic anomaly while wondering over the expanse of South Ray Crater spread out below.
We have the technology.
Posted by Joel Raupe at 11:39 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: LRV, Martin Schweiger, Orbiter Simulator 2006, Simulators, TerraBuilder
NASA: 'Scientific Context' report moves international lunar science statement
Dwayne Brown
NASA Washington
Michael Mewhinney
MOFFETT FIELD -- NASA hosted a meeting of space agencies from nine countries last week to discuss the next steps in the ongoing scientific exploration of the moon. The meeting laid the groundwork for a new generation of lunar science.
Discussions, led by NASA Headquarters officials, were held at NASA's Lunar Science Institute, located at the Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California. Representatives from space agencies in Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States attended the meeting. During the meeting, attendees discussed cooperation on an international activity called the International Lunar Network (ILN). The network is designed to gradually place 6-8 fixed or mobile science stations on the lunar surface. The stations will form a second-generation robotic science network to replace hardware left by the Apollo Program to study the moon's surface and interior.
NASA plans to place its first two ILN landers on the surface of the moon in 2013-14. The landers are being developed under the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The ILN is supported by NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. It was created in response to a 2007 report released by the National Research Council, which affirmed that the moon offers "profound scientific value" and "lunar activities apply to broad scientific and exploration concerns."
Representatives from space agencies considering participation in the ILN agreed on a Statement of Intent as a first step in planning. The statement marked an expression of interest by the agencies to study options for participating in a series of international lunar missions. The goal is to form a network of missions that will benefit scientists worldwide.
"We are tremendously excited by the enthusiasm shown for the ILN and lunar science more broadly," said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters. "This international activity will greatly extend scientific knowledge of the moon in a number of important areas."
The statement of intent does not completely define the ILN concept. The document leaves open the possibility for near and long-term evolution and implementation. Initially, participants intend to establish potential landing sites, interoperable spectrum and communications standards, and a set of scientifically equivalent core instrumentation to carry out specific measurements.
"We are in a new era of lunar exploration," said Jim Adams, deputy director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters. "Scientific coordination of the international armada of missions being sent to the moon in the next decade will greatly leverage our scientific capabilities, and perhaps even more importantly, develop the next generation of lunar scientists."
International participation in specific ILN activities will be established by appropriate international agreements. Additional participants may join in the future when they are programmatically and financially ready. Participation in the ILN could include the contribution of landers, orbiters, instrumentation, or other significant infrastructure, such as ground segment elements or power supplies for surviving the lunar night.
Labels: Lunar Exploration, NASA, VSE
NASA and Internet Archive launch Image library
WASHINGTON -- NASA and Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library based in San Francisco, made available the most comprehensive compilation ever of NASA's vast collection of photographs, historic film and video Thursday. Located at http://www.nasaimages.org/, the Internet site combines for the first time 21 major NASA imagery collections into a single, searchable online resource. A link to the Web site will appear on the http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html home page.
The Web site launch is the first step in a five-year partnership that will add millions of images and thousands of hours of video and audio content, with enhanced search and viewing capabilities, and new user features on a continuing basis. Over time, integration of http://www.nasaimages.org/ with http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html will become more seamless and comprehensive."
This partnership with Internet Archive enables NASA to provide the American public with access to its vast collection of imagery from one searchable source, unlocking a new treasure trove of discoveries for students, historians, enthusiasts and researchers," said NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale. "This new resource also will enable the agency to digitize and preserve historical content now not available on the Internet for future generations."
Through a competitive process, NASA selected Internet Archive to manage the NASA Images Web site under a non-exclusive Space Act agreement, signed in July 2007. The five-year project is at no cost to the taxpayer and the images are free to the public. "NASA's media is an incredibly important and valuable national asset. It is a tremendous honor for the Internet Archive to be NASA's partner in this project," says Brewster Kahle, founder of Internet Archive. "We are excited to mark this first step in a long-term collaboration to create a rich and growing public resource."
The content of the Web site covers all the diverse activities of America's space program, including imagery from the Apollo moon missions, Hubble Space Telescope views of the universe and experimental aircraft past and present. Keyword searching is available with easy-to-use resources for teachers and students.Internet Archive is developing the NASA Images project using software donated by Luna Imaging Inc. of Los Angeles and with the generous support of the Kahle-Austin Foundation of San Francisco.
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html
For more information about Internet Archive, visit:
http://www.archive.org/
Posted by Joel Raupe at 9:24 PM Links to this post
Labels: NASA
Destination: Moon
Ohio researchers help plot the first return trip since 1972 while keeping an eye on Mars
By Kevin Mayhood
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
CLEVELAND -- Before NASA astronauts rocket to Mars, they're supposed to return to the moon in a sweet new ride to test-drive everything from high-tech maps and buggies to new spacesuits and next-generation power sources.
"We're going to use the moon as a proving ground to go on to Mars and other destinations," said Stephen N. Simons, associate director of Lunar Systems at NASA Glenn Research Center, which is working on a host of projects with scientists from universities in Ohio and across the country.
"It's a lot easier to learn how to go to Mars when you're only three or four days away as opposed to being a year or more away."
In a speech four years ago, President Bush set a goal to land on the moon by 2020 before pushing on to Mars. Although there are critics of manned space exploration and its costs, NASA is carrying on with its mandate -- at least until the next commander in chief says otherwise.
For now, Ohio researchers join hundreds of others nationwide who are busy preparing for the first moon landing since 1972.
EDITORS NOTE: NASA IS A CREATURE OF CONGRESS, NOT THE PRESIDENT. AND SHOULD THE 'NEXT COMMANDER IN CHIEF END UP BEING BARACK H. OBAMA, he MIGHT HAVE TO CONTENT WITH A CONGRESS PRESENTLY BEING RUN BY MEMBERS OF HIS OWN PARTY. RECENTLY, CONGRESS AGREED IN PRINCIPLE TO INCLUDE MORE THAN A BILLION DOLLARS IN NASA's FY 2009 BUDGET ABOVE WHAT THE AGENCY HAD REQUESTED. WHILE OBAMA MAY HAVE A STUNTED VIEW OF OUR NEED FOR A ROBUST SPACE PROGRAM, MEMBERS LIKE MARK UDALL (D-CO) APPARENTLY DO NOT.
Labels: Constellation, Lunar Exploration, NASA, NASA Glenn
Final Slate of Shuttle Flights Posted
Final Manifest
Houston: July 8 - Following a detailed, integrated assessment, NASA selected target launch dates for the remaining eight space shuttle missions on the current manifest in 2009 and 2010. The manifest includes one flight to the Hubble Space Telescope, seven assembly flights to the International Space Station, and two station contingency flights, planned to be completed before (September 30, 2010).
The agency previously selected Oct. 8 and Nov. 10 as launch dates for Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service Hubble and Endeavour's STS-126 / ULF-2 mission to supply the space station and service both Solar Alpha Rotary Joints on the port and starboard end of its truss backbone that supports equipment and solar arrays.
The approved target dates are subject to change based on processing and other launch vehicle schedules. They reflect the agency's commitment to complete assembly of the station and to retire the shuttle fleet as transition continues to the new launch vehicles, including Ares and Orion.
SHUTTLE MANIFEST
Labels: Altair, Ares, Congress, Constellation, Orion, Space Shuttle
The Keepers of the Moon
In Stained-Glass Awe, the NYT finds fit to print NASA's Lunar Lab, Marks Moon's move to Mainstream.
(Are these the same people who ridiculed Dr. Goddard?)
Guy Gugliotta
HOUSTON — In the lab, the Moon rocks look nondescript — dark gray basalt, a whitish mineral called anorthosite and mixtures of the two with crystals thrown in. Yet nearly 40 years after the Apollo astronauts brought the first rocks back to Earth, these pieces of the Moon are still providing scientists with new secrets from another world.
"We call this one the 'genesis' rock, because it was formed close to the time the Moon solidified about 4.5 billion years ago," said Carlton C. Allen, pointing to a light-colored stone about the size and shape of a large artist's eraser, resting inside a glove box filled with inert nitrogen gas.
"We know the Big Bang happened about 14.5 billion years ago," Mr. Allen said, "and this rock is a third that old. You will never see a solid piece of stuff in our solar system that is any older."
Mr. Allen is the astromaterials curator at the Johnson Space Center, home of the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility, a secure repository opened in 1979 to house 842 pounds of Moon rocks and soil collected by astronauts in six visits.
The rocks on the lunar surface, lying virtually unchanged in a weatherless vacuum since their formation, offer opportunities to investigate the origin and evolution of the solar system available nowhere else, and the study deepens with each new generation of scientists and scientific instruments.
Each year an independent peer review panel evaluates new research proposals, and curators mail out about 400 lunar samples to 40 to 50 scientists worldwide. Almost all are less than one gram in size. "We don't hand them out, we only loan them," Mr. Allen said. "We're not planning to run out any time soon."
Over the years, the samples have provided uncounted insights into the nature of our closest celestial neighbor. Because of the samples, we have learned when the Moon was formed, probably (although it is still controversial) the result of a planetoid smashing into the young Earth, throwing a cloud of debris into space that subsequently came together in a sphere.
The samples have confirmed that asteroid and meteor impacts, not volcanism, created the vast majority of craters that define the Moon's topography, while a constant barrage of meteorites, micrometeorites and radiation melted and pureed the bedrock to create the blanket of fine-grained soil and dust — known as regolith — that now cloaks the lunar surface.
And knowing the ages of Moon rocks, which can be computed to within 20 million years, has enabled scientists to establish a baseline that allows them to date geologic features throughout the solar system. The surface of the Earth, one of the solar system's youngest topographies, is constantly changing, as it is faulted, folded, shaped and reshaped by eruptions, earthquakes and erosion. By contrast, the Moon is as old as it gets.
"It's hard to wrap your mind around a place where nothing ever happens," Mr. Allen said. "But the Moon is that place."
In recent years the rocks have also helped researchers to answer practical questions that have emerged since President Bush's 2004 proposal to return to the Moon by 2020 and set up a permanent outpost. Planners are using the rocks to study the pernicious effects of regolith on machinery and astronaut health. They are learning how to extract oxygen and other vital elements from lunar rocks and soil. And they need to understand how to shield living spaces from the deadly radiation that eternally pounds the lunar surface.
The samples — 2,200 of them — are kept in nitrogen-filled boxes in a stainless steel vault on the second floor of the 14,000-square-foot repository, and are transferred to other parts of the lab in airlocks. Technicians prepare shipments in glove boxes containing sterile tools and containers.
The samples are numbered and sorted by expedition. All of the Apollo landings, beginning with Apollo 11's historic mission in 1969 and ending with Apollo 17 in December 1972, were at equatorial sites, but terrain differed each time and the samples reflect the differences. The genesis rock was collected by Apollo 15 astronauts near Hadley Rille at the border between a lowland "sea," or mare, and the lunar highlands.
The arrival of the first Moon rocks in 1969 was eagerly anticipated by scientists. "We had no idea what the Moon was made of," Mr. Allen recalled, and the first two decades of research focused on basic questions — the age and composition of the Moon rocks and the origin and evolution of the Moon's geology and salient topographical features.
The early Moon developed as a mostly liquid ball of magma covered with a thin crust of lighter minerals. The crust became the white anorthosite, which floated atop the magma to form the lunar highlands. The basalt erupted later and subsequently solidified in the lowland marea.
The anorthosite and similar rock types in the highlands and basalt lavas in the marea are the Moon's basic building blocks. Other rocks are breccias — crushed and broken rock fragments, fused by the heat from impact collisions and ejected from the resulting crater.
Researchers saw that the highlands had more craters than the marea. This meant they had been hit with more impacts so the highland rocks were relatively older. But once they had the rocks in hand, they could determine their absolute age in years.
This enabled them to make a template that could work anywhere in the solar system. The Moon showed that a site with rocks of a certain age would have a predictable number of craters of different sizes. And since the rate of impacts was presumably similar throughout the solar system, the lunar dates could be used as a benchmark to estimate the age of surfaces elsewhere.
"This was a key thing, that impact was a significant and fundamental phenomenon that affected not only the Moon and planets, but life itself," said the planetary geologist Paul D. Spudis, of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. "We had known that impacts occurred, but until the rocks, we had viewed them as a geological oddity."
No longer. In the early 1980s, scientists were able to show that terrestrial mineral and crystal deposits 65 million years old were similar to those found routinely in lunar ejecta. This led to the now widely accepted theory that the consequences of an asteroid impact had wiped out the dinosaurs.
Lunar scientists now suspect this insight may have further implications. Analysis of the lunar samples and impact craters has shown that the Moon's surface was solid 4.3 billion years ago, yet the oldest impact rocks among the samples are 3.9 billion years old.
Some researchers have suggested that impacts on the moon began to taper off 4.3 billion years ago, only to resume with a vengeance in a "cataclysm" 400 million years later. And if the cataclysm affected the Moon, it also affected the Earth — at a time when life was just beginning.
"This is very controversial," said Charles Shearer, a lunar scientist at the University of New Mexico and the chairman of the lunar lab's peer review committee. "It's probably important to sample other terrains."
This is part of the lure of Mr. Bush's lunar initiative, which calls for a base near the South Pole and exploration of the Moon's entire surface, including the far side. These possibilities, Mr. Allen said, "have the scientific community really jazzed."
The Full Article HERE.
Labels: Lunar and Planetary Science Institute, Lunar Exploration, Lunar Lab, NASA Johnson
Lunar dust characterization by polarimetric signature
Negative polarization branch of sphere aggregates
of various porosities
Richard & Davis
In support of NASA's exploration program and the return to the Moon, the polarimetric signature of dispersed individual Lunar regolith dust grains is studied to enable the characterization of the dust exopsheric environment by remote, in-situ, and standoff sensing.Aims. We explore the value of the negative polarization branch (NPB) as a signature for characterizing individual grains to determine if it can be used in the same way as for surfaces of planets and atmosphereless bodies.
Methods. The linear polarization phase curve for single spheres of silicate and for aggregates of spherical silicate grains of different porosity are computed using the discrete dipole approximation (DDA) for a range of grain sizes. Features in these curves are identified and their evolution explored as a function of grain size and aggregate porosity. We focus particularly on the so-called negative polarization branch that has been historically used to characterize planetary surfaces. Results. Calculations show that polarization phase curves for spherical grains exhibit a sharp transition over a narrow range of size parameter between two distinct regimes, one typical of Rayleigh scattering and another dominated by a large NPB.
The linear polarimetric signature observed for aggregates is a composite of a) the polarization induced by individual grains composing the aggregate and b) the polarization due to the aggregate as a whole dust grain. The weight of each component varies depending on the porosity of the aggregate. An NPB similar to the one observed for atmosphereless astronomical bodies is present for different ranges of the size parameter depending on the value of the porosity. It appears as a remnant of the negative branch exhibited by the single spherical grains. The sharper, narrow negative branch that is measured for some granular surfaces in the laboratory or seen in astronomical observations is not observed here.
Conclusions. These results suggest that the wide negative branch is due to the scattering by individual grains and single aggregates, while the narrow negative branch is more likely due to coherent backscattering or shadowing effects in bulk material. The shape and evolution of the NPB could be used to characterize spherical grains and to differentiate between aggregates with the same porosity but different sizes, but does not appear to be a practical candidate for univocally differentiating between aggregates of different porosity.
View the Paper HERE.
Labels: Harrison Schmitt, Lunar Dust, Polarization, Scattering
Cosmic Rays Spark a Renewed Interest in the distant Voyagers
Their data are spread upon an impossibly thin wavefront measured in trillionths of a watt and hardly detectable over the background cosmic fizz. But both Voyagers I & II nevertheless regularly and obediently acknowledge a receipt of commands in a two way communication taking more than a full day to complete, even at the speed of light and after 30 years of hurling away from Earth.
From their remote "outposts," now just barely beyond the electromagnetic dominance of the Sun, these two prides of Pasadena and Dr. Sagan dutifully download basic but increasingly important information about the larger interstellar space we still share.
The Voyager's minimally-funded space weather station reports had been thought to be little more than a novelty after their primary missions were completed and their cameras were powered down. But their renowned robotic patience may finally be drawing some fresh attention sparked by a renewed interest among those intrepid hominids who want to journey beyond Earth's Moon but are confronted with the harsh realities of hard and heavy interstellar radiation.
"Global warming" would probably be welcome relief from the cold of the Kuiper Belt. Back on Earth, however, scholarly studies of a possible role for the secondary particles of Cosmic Rays impacting Earth's atmosphere and possibly playing a role in cloud formation on Earth, affecting albedo and even climate, refuse to go away. Cosmic Rays bombardment had been thought to be constant, except where deflected by our nominally variable star's sunspot cycle.
Both Voyagers are healthy, out there beyond the Termination Shock of the Heliopause, where the interplanetary medium buffets the interstellar depths, and both vehicles continue to send home points of data allowing us an, as yet, under-appreciated, sustained glimpse of Deep Space.
Cosmic Ray have a swinging variability after all, beyond that part of its stream that is moderated by nearby Solar influence, particularly during solar flares and CMEs here in the inner solar system.
Perhaps those who make it their business to follow space weather should add these faithful reports from Voyager to their posts of things like sunspot counts and the speed of solar protons per cubic meter, etc.
Even during the present protracted solar minima, though, the incidence of nucleons out there where the Voyagers travel, heavy ions with punches greater than 50 million electron Volts seems to be at a slump, over the past few months, for example. Even in the long distant night, the Voyagers repeat the oldest message in their lesson books: For every answered question, two more to take its place. The Universe is more than we know.
Does this slight variation in the bombardment of "Galactic Cosmic Rays," or GCR's bring into disrepute beliefs most experts hold that the Cosmic Ray background is steady?
On Earth, the launch last month of GLAST, tuning up now to begin looking for deeper anisotropy to their infall, Cosmic Rays should be "peaking" at an unusually long Solar Minimum. GLAST is just getting started when the "seeing" should be good.
It could only be better out there beyond 100 A.U.'s "Billions and Billions" of kilometers out from under the garish sun.
Labels: Cosmic Rays, GCRs, GLAST, Voyager II
A Peep from Chang'E 1
With the drip, drip, drip of data and images coming in monthly from JAXA and Kaguya (Selene 1), first in Japanese and long afterward in English, we had nearly forgotten that the People's Republic also is rumored to have in orbit around Earth's Moon an orbiter of their own.
Chang'E 1, the People's Daily confidently reports from Beijing, is still in orbit and is soon to have completed its first map of the lunar surface. Without any images or data getting past the Middle Kingdom's Firewall since November, however, CNSA is unconcerned with continued rumors they lifted their few photographic releases from NASA, ran them through Photoshop, and hoped no one would notice that they haven't said a word about Chang'E 1 since.
We can hardly wait for the flood of data from their Rover, slated for 2014. Perhaps we'll get the first data from that future mission in the middle 2020's.
Labels: Chang'e-1, CNSA
Implanted 3He Abundance in Lunar Regolith
Zheng, Ouyang & Brewett
Helium-3 (3He) is expected to be the cleanest fuel of choice for potential 21st century fusion reactors, because its reaction is efficient and produces low residual radioactivity. 3He is very rare on the Earth and much concentrated in the lunar regolith. It is possibly the most valuable resource on the Moon.
Japan's "Militarization of Space" Lost in Translation
Daily Yomiuri Online + AP
Keiko Chino / Yomiuri Shimbun
Senior Writers
"Space development needs room for manuver"
Following the passage of a basic space law, a space development strategy headquarters to be chaired by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is set to be established by the end of August. The headquarters' responsibilities are quite heavy.
With the space development system undergoing significant changes, the government, bureaucrats and the private sector also have jumped on the bandwagon.
On Tuesday, a council of lawmakers of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the Democratic Party of Japan, which jointly proposed the law, held a meeting on the follow-up to the basic space law.
The meeting was held to hear a briefing by the Cabinet Secretariat, which is tasked with laying the groundwork for establishing the space development strategy headquarters.
The lawmakers stressed the need to reflect the wishes of those who passed the law, saying nothing could be accomplished if the task was entrusted to bureaucrats. The law serves as a national strategy to develop space, lift the ban on the military use of space, and use space development as a driving force in the promotion of industry.
The industrial sector has high hopes for the development project, as it was generally held that the conventional format in which research and technology development was conducted was incapable of expanding the industry.
The basic space plan to be mapped out by the headquarters is the key factor in realizing this expansion.
As the plan will be designed to carry out space development in a comprehensive and systematic way, the government, bureaucrats and the space industry are all attempting to ensure the measures are as favorable to them as possible.
The Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies--comprising space-related firms such as space machinery makers--has not only requested that its measures be included in the basic space plans, but also demanded that its proposals be incorporated in a space activity law, which must be passed as stipulated in the basic space law.
The society's major demand is that the government guarantees it a stable space market, replete with a long-term plan backed up with an about 10-year budget.
This reflects the fact that space companies will be able to invest systematically if the government indicates when its plans will be implemented, and what the plans will consist of.
A spokesman for the society said the government's previous long-term plans had never outlined budgets or explained when its plans would be carried out.
"The government's plans never mentioned a specific time frame for any projects, nor the amount of public funds to be invested," he said.
The society has suggested many other recommendations, such as a drastic increase in space development budgets and the promotion of domestic satellites and rockets. It also proposed the establishment of a think tank in the space development strategy headquarters.
The appointment of an office director tasked with running day-to-day business also is a major issue.
Lawmakers and space companies would have preferred a director drawn from the private sector, but since this raised concerns about conflicts of interest, lawmakers and space firms backpedaled, saying anyone who understands security issues and the promotion of the space industry from a broad perspective would be suitable--even if his or her career has not been confined to the private sector.
Against this backdrop, space-related companies are trying to dispatch employees to the office so they can sway policies once they are mapped out.
However, the high number of requests from the society has caused concern, prompting some companies to call for self-restraint.
Some observers say the requests indicate that space-related companies still rely too much on the government. Others have said the reasoning behind the establishment of the think tank should be spelled out, otherwise the entity might be seen as a front for certain quarters to do whatever they wish.
From the viewpoint of international competition, an official of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry said the space industry's frank demands would help the ministry understand problems related to space policies.
However, it would be difficult for the government to accept all of the society's proposals in light of the need for fiscal reconstruction.
There also are fears that high hopes for space development could mean that other factors are left unaddressed. For example, sections of the defense establishment and industry have a tendency to establish opaque modes of operation, citing confidentiality as a reason for their lack of transparency.
As such, it is crucial that the headquarters, which will have unprecedented power to devise space development policies, shows a sense of restraint, and be transparent and accountable.
The space industry's system also must meet the same stringent standards.
During May deliberations on the basic space bill at the House of Councillors Cabinet Committee, a DPJ lawmaker said the duties and responsibilities of space-related industries had not been included in the bill.
As taxpayers' money is used for space development, the government must not only promise a stable cash flow for space companies, but also establish a mechanism that would allow it to hold the industry responsible for space projects.
For example, if a company cannot complete a project as planned, the government should have the power to suspend the project or clarify the company's responsibility without allowing the firm to continue the project indefinitely.
The government has hitherto turned a blind eye to such companies, but correcting this kind of bad practice is crucial in improving international competitiveness.
The headquarters' abilities will be tested with its first job.
NASA: 'Scientific Context' report moves internatio...
Lunar dust characterization by polarimetric signat...
Cosmic Rays Spark a Renewed Interest in the distan...
Japan's "Militarization of Space" Lost in Translat...


I can't believe that it's January 6th and this is my first post of 2011.
And it's not for lack of things to write about. No, it's more from a lack of time to sit down and actually do it. So I will certainly try to catch up this weekend!
Hopefully that is a good sign for things to come in 2011 for those Tar Heels!


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Kevin Wedmore, is the President of Hoosier Senior Solutions. Kevin has spent over 36 years in the financial services industry assisting Indiana families who are experiencing a transition into long-term healthcare environments . . .whether that is home health care, assisted living, nursing home or memory care. With an emphasis on issues related to Medicaid or veteran's benefits, Kevin has assisted thousands of families with an understanding of who is responsible for paying at each level of care and has also assisted those families with decisions and planning strategies that help them obtain any public benefits for which they are entitled.
Q: My biggest concern is running out of money while I pay for my husband's treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. Are there any benefits that would be available to help me pay for his care?
A: Running out of money while providing for the care of a loved one is one of the biggest challenges facing our seniors. The cost of care is already high and climbing. In short, the answer is 'yes'. There are specific rules to assure that the spouse of someone who is receiving long-term care does not find themselves impoverished and unable to not only maintain their standard of living now, but also after their loved one has deceased.
Q: My mother is in need of assisted living levels of care. My wife and I are unable to provide that care at home. Is there any program that will help us with the burden of the cost of this care?
A: It is important that you recognize that you and your spouse are unable to provide the proper level of care at home. Many families make the mistake of taking in their loved one, thinking that they are showing love when in fact, the opposite may be true. Getting her the level of care she needs as well as showing love and respect by participating in that care would generally be better for her. And yes, there are both state and federal programs that will help her pay for care. A thorough analysis of her health and financial situations will reveal which programs will assist in paying the expense of care.
Q: My father was in the military. Are there any special programs that will help pay for his care?
A: Yes, veterans are eligible for various programs that will help or completely pay for care. Programs are dependent upon whether his need for care is service or non-service related. An interesting part of the VA's benefit program is that he can received assistance for home health care, assisted living, nursing home or memory care.
Q: My parents have intended to leave an estate to benefit their church as well as pay for some of their grandchildren's college education. If they have to pay for their long-term care, there isn't likely to be any money left in their estate. Is there anything we can do now to assure that they are leaving at least some of their legacy?
A: Everyone has done estate planning . . .that is, they have decided what they want to happen to their 'stuff' when they die. With the high cost of health care facing them, many are worried that there won't be anything left in their estate. With proper planning, your parents will be allowed to leave some of their estate to their heirs while still paying for their 'fair share' of expenses as outlined by both the state and federal governments.


University Health Network (UHN) has been named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers for the fifth consecutive year and one of the Top 50 Employers in the GTA for the second year.
The Top 100 list is compiled by Mediacorp Canada, which reviews recruitment histories of over 60,000 employers from across the country. Only 10,000 of these employers are invited to apply for the award, with over 1,500 participating in the application process. Selection criteria include compensation, benefits, vacation, training programs, work environment, health and wellness programs and diversity initiatives.
This is the first year that employee survey data was included in the competition, making this achievement particularly significant. UHN's continued focus on developing leadership skills that enhance employee relationships and on recruitment and retention best practices have had a strong impact on our ranking.
Look for the special issue of Maclean's magazine on newsstands now to see the list of Canada's Top 100 Employers or visit www.canadastop100.com/national. The Top 50 GTA Employers list will appear in the Oct. 13 issue of the Toronto Star.


Servers Australia, Lakes Podiatry and Job Centre Australia Ltd.
3 Bottles of Grove Estate wines, 3 bottles of Tamburlaine wines, two Royal Dolton wine glasses and $150 Dinner Voucher at The Rusty Nail at The Entrance displayed in a copper wine cooler.
$100 Dinner Voucher at The Entrance Lake House with seven bottle of Grove Estate wine and two Royal Dalton wine glasses in a copper wine cooler.
Hole 6 – Flooring Xtra Closest to the pin vocal events – Chest $10 per key. Chance to win everything in the chest – valued at over $800.


The tapestry is made from a white cotton warp, carpet warp and weft of wool yarn in several colors. The yarn is dyed by Ulla Magnusson herself. In the lower right corner is an embroidered signature, U.M., of red wool. On the back are the numbers 86 embroidered with white stitching and a white marking band with the full name woven in red, edged with brown and gray cotton cord.


From the Hancock County Courthouse, go east on Hwy 22 for 7.5 miles to Springfield Church Rd. Turn left on Springfield Church Rd and go 3.4 miles to Springfield Church. As you face the church, the cemetery will be on the left side of the church, up in the woods, just off the highway.
The Hubert family established the successful Springfield school (a black grammar school) which prospered in the 1880s.
"First Land Owners. Reared 12 children to Maturity. Great American Citizens." On same stone as and h/o Camilla Hillman.
He went about doing good. Dr & death date on original "Sellers" stone. Replacement stone has only 1958.
Devoted teacher, inspired leader and loyal friend. "Mother" Has two gravestones - an older Sellers funeral home stone and a newer granite one.
At least 8 more graves marked by fieldstones or depressions.


Ulster Business has teamed up with The Prince's Trust to find Northern Ireland's leading Million Makers.
Million Makers is a fundraising initiative with a difference - teams of employees are tasked with converting a £1,500 investment into at least £10,000 in just six months. Once established, the teams will have to pitch their business plans to a Dragon's Den style panel in order to secure their seed funding. When their plans are approved, the teams have six months to implement and promote their own mini enterprise. Million Makers provides the opportunity for employees to develop many transferable skills such as leadership, motivation and decision making. It offers companies the opportunity to engage, inspire and motivate employees while raising funds for The Prince's Trust's work with young people between the ages of 14 and 30. Northern Ireland companies participating in this year's competition are Sainsburys and The Quays, Jonathan McKeown Solicitors, FPM and Parker Green International from Newry and Belfast Harbour Commissioners. Teams will compete against each other to run the most profitable mini enterprise and the winner will be the team whose project has generated the most capital. Ian Jeffers, Director of The Prince's Trust, Northern Ireland, emphasises that Milllion Makers is a key tool for businesses who wish to extend and motivate employees: " Nine out of 10 participants taking part in Million Makers say they have picked up new skills they can bring back to the workplace. The competition element injects fun into fundraising and it is great to see how much team members gain out of taking part in Million Makers." For further information, please contact: Angela Mallon 07880821186, or email angela.mallon@princes-trust.org.uk.


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Health Care Tax Credit
Millions of small employers received postcards from the IRS beginning in April 2010 that alerted them to the new small business health care tax credit and encouraged them to check their eligibility. Even if you didn't receive a postcard, your organization still may be eligible.
To be eligible for the credit, a qualifying employer must cover at least 50% of the cost of health care coverage for some of its workers, must have less than the equivalent of 25 full-time workers (for example, an employer with fewer than 50 half-time workers may be eligible), and must pay average annual wages below $50,000.
The credit is worth up to 35% of a small business' premium costs in 2010 and up to 25% of a tax-exempt employer's premium costs. On January 1, 2014, this rate increases to 50% (35% for tax-exempt employers).
The credit phases out gradually for employers with average wages between $25,000 and $50,000 and for employers with the equivalent of between 10 and 25 full-time workers.
To determine if your organization qualifies for the small business health care tax credit, follow the three simple steps on the IRS fact sheet located at http://www.irs.gov./pub/irs-utl/3_simple_steps.pdf.
Small employers, whether for-profit or tax-exempt organizations, should use new Form 8941, Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums, to calculate the small business health care tax credit.
Tax-exempt organizations will include the amount of the credit on Line 44f of revised Form 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return. Form 990-T has been revised for the 2011 filing season to enable eligible tax-exempt organizations--even those that owe no tax on unrelated business income--to claim the small business health care tax credit.
For more information, please feel free to contact us.
This tax credit is also a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
By Donna A. Hubert, CPA, Partner, dhubert@legacycpas.com
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I learned that you have to evenly spread the ingredients across ALL of the bread.
I learned not to "over-toast" the bread.
You'll see both of those issues addressed in this year's edition of the Leftover Turkey Sandwich.


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Auburn Researcher Targets Receptors for New Therapies
by Mike Jernigan
Dr. Kristine Griffett has your headache on her mind. And those painful joints. Even your high cholesterol. That's because Griffett, an assistant professor of pharmacology in the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology, is hard at work on the development of new compounds that will target receptors in the body and might one day result in new, less addictive drug therapies for inflammation, pain, chronic high cholesterol and cardio-metabolic problems like obesity, diabetes and atherosclerosis.
Dr. Kristine Griffett
To achieve this goal, Griffett is studying compounds that target nuclear receptors, proteins that occur naturally in the body, bind to DNA and control the activities of genes involved in metabolism, inflammation, pain, cancer and many other aspects of physiology. Humans have 48 of these receptors, each with a distinct role in physiology and disease.
"Most people do not realize the therapeutic relevance of these receptors," Griffett explained. "But approximately 30 percent of prescription drugs currently on the market target them. For example, corticosteroids target the glucocorticoid receptor and birth control drugs target the estrogen or progesterone receptors."
For Griffett, however, the focus is on those receptors that have been less commonly studied. She tests new compounds designed and synthesized by her collaborators to activate these receptors, first at the cellular level, then, if the compound seems promising, in mice. At this stage, the effectiveness of the compounds is also tested against current therapeutics already on the market. "Typically," Griffett noted, "about one in three of the promising compounds identified in this early testing will eventually become 'lead' compounds that may ultimately become patented, licensed and further evaluated in clinical trials.
"My research is mostly on receptors that are less characterized as therapeutic targets," she added. "This allows me to study how the receptors function under normal physiological conditions, as well as to work with medicinal chemists to design synthetic compounds to determine their efficacy in activating these receptors for the treatment of various diseases."
One of her receptor targets is designated REV-ERB. It is involved in processes as diverse as maintaining circadian rhythms, reducing inflammation and regulating lipids and glucose in the body, but Griffett is primarily interested in REV-ERB's analgesic role. "In both humans and animals," she said, "chronic low-grade inflammation is a key factor in the development of chronic pain. When we activate this receptor, we see a significant reduction of inflammation and a 'normal' sensitivity to outside stimuli.
"This suggests that activating REV-ERB can reduce inflammation and have an analgesic effect," she continued. "This is particularly exciting because it provides a non-opioid pathway for the treatment of pain, hopefully with low or even no addiction danger. The REV-ERB project just received funding notice from the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and is in the early stages at present."
In addition to REV-ERB, Griffett is also evaluating compounds that target liver x receptors, or LXRs, that may be a key to the treatment of familial hypercholesterolemia, or FH, an inherited genetic disease that increases LDL cholesterol levels, cardiovascular issues and premature deaths. In the United States, FH is estimated to affect approximately one in 200 people, but many cases go undiagnosed and untreated. Other related diseases, such as dyslipidemia, which causes an imbalance of lipids, and atherosclerosis, a condition that develops due to plaque buildup in arteries, may also be treated with some of these compounds.
"I am currently working with Pelagos Pharma on the international patents and rights to several compounds that target the liver x receptors for the treatment of familial hypercholesterolemia, dyslipidemia, and atherosclerosis," Griffett said. "I recently identified a target gene of LXR in the intestine called steryl-o-acyltransferase 2 (Soat2), that is an identified clinical target for atherosclerosis. When Soat2 expression is high, a person is at greater risk for developing atherosclerosis.
"I worked to make an LXR compound that can be delivered orally that only is active in the gut" she continued. "It actually causes mice to excrete cholesterol in their feces rather than reabsorb it, and it has no effects on other tissues. This work not only identified Soat2 as a target of LXR, but also identified tissue selective drugs that have potential in the treatment of atherosclerosis. We are planning to complete the preclinical phase within the next year or so and then we will attempt to get funding for clinical trials for treating FH."
In addition to the ongoing work with REV-ERB and LXR, targeting other nuclear receptors is a field that holds much more promise, not only for better treatments to help control maladies such as pain and high cholesterol, but also for improving therapies for a variety of other diseases and conditions. "My work is very dynamic," Griffett concluded, "as these receptors are involved in many different physiological processes. That is what makes it fun and sometimes frustrating! The goal is to develop new compounds and therapeutics, but we will also learn so much about how these receptors function along the way."
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01NS126204. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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We have all seen the horrific pictures of African elephants slaughtered or maimed for their ivory tusks. Several federal and state laws and international treaties are in place to address the crisis of elephant poaching. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Proposed Rule, revising one of these laws, the Endangered Species Act, in respect to the African elephant. The Public Comments period ended on September 28, 2015, and comments are now being reviewed. This Proposed Rule -- and other laws -- directly affect the collecting, exhibiting, and selling of ivory objects, or objects containing even relatively small amounts of ivory, including objects produced many years ago.
In a lively and informative program, specialists from the worlds of art, law and government discussed the poaching crisis; how the existing laws and the Proposed Rule that are intended to address the crisis impact the art community; and how the various factions of the art community have responded to the proposed regulatory changes. To expand its reach, the program, including the extensive Q&A, was videotaped, and we have made it available to all on our Website: IFAR Evening on the Ivory Ban . Related educational materials (for Continuing Legal Education -- CLE -- credit) have also been posted.


We would like to say a HUGE thank you to Chris Rae, Jason Gray and Gary Dickson who recently took on the challenge of the West Highland Way to raise funds for Kilbryde Hospice!
Chris, Jason and Gary managed to raise an AMAZING £1300 – a huge £1100 over their original target!
The trio completed the trek last month and managed to complete the 96 miles in under a week – but managed to almost double their mileage walking off course for some well earned pub grub! To make the trek even more challenging, they camped each night after their gruelling day of walking.
The boys decided to take on the West Highland Way after Chris's mum, Patricia Taylor – who used our services along with her family – sadly passed away earlier this year.
Very well done, and thank you so much to Chris, Jason and Gary. We would also like to extend our thanks to everybody who sponsored the boys – your support is greatly appreciated here at Kilbryde Hospice and we are sure it went a long way in helping the trio over the finish line!
Pictured (L-R): Gary Dickson, Chris Rae & Jason Gray presenting us with their cheque for £1300.


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Art album
"Escape from Troy" travels through Europe!
The journey of the film "Escape from Troy", which is produced by the founder of the Fund "Seven winds" Nikolai Malygin, and directed by Peter Dzogaba, continues. At the beginning of May this year, the film was presented at the film festival Le Marché du Film in Cannes, where the participants of this international forum showed an undoubted interest, and in June the film moved to the French town of Annecy, where the International festival of animated film (MIFA) was taking place. This is the main European event in the world of animation art.
Animated documentary film "Escape from Troy" introduces viewers to an interesting Russian artist Petr Zverkhovsky and his work. The structure of the film is itself quite original: the animated characters of the artist's paintings discuss the nature of their Creator, the peculiarities of his creative method, talk about their own experiences, remember moments of their life stories. Documentary footage and animation fragments are so organically intertwined that the film looks at the same breath.
According to producer Nikolay Malygin, the promotion of the film and the paintings of Petr Zverkhovsky, which started with the presentation of "Escape from Troy" at the Cannes film festival, took place at the International festival of animated film in Annecy. The audience reacted with interest to the" revived " characters of the artist's paintings, and the film aroused genuine interest. A good start is half the battle!
Today, the film is available in several versions – 20, 55 and 70 minutes – and is submitted to a number of European festivals of documentary and animated films.
© 2018 Artist Petr Zverkhovsky


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Kim Wilson, Tea with Jane Austen
Sitting Down for a Cuppa with Jane
Jane Austen was quite the tea fancier. Her novels and personal letters are filled with references to her love for the drink. In the beautiful book Tea with Jane Austen, author Kim Wilson gives us an inside view of the rituals and routines associated with this most British beverage.
Because tea is so associated with Britain, it's interesting to note that it was unknown in Queen Elizabeth I's time. A few hundred years later, however, it was definitely a status symbol to be able to offer your guests tea. This book describes how tea was such a valued commodity in Jane Austen's home that it was kept under lock and key. Not only was the beverage itself an important part of social calls, but elaborate tea sets and tables were also necessary to impress the guests.
Chapters in the book deal with such important matters as the time of day when tea was consumed, how tea was purchased, the effects of tea on health, and taking tea away from home. Sprinkled throughout the text are lovely excerpts from Jane's books and private letters relating to tea. She was apparently in charge of tea operations in her family's household, and took her duties very seriously.
The book also features many recipes that would have been familiar to people in Austen's day, including Hot Bath Cakes, Barley Water, Plum Cake and China Orange Jelly. There are also plenty of illustrations throughout the book which help to set the mood. Luckily for me, the final chapter of the book concerns "Making the Perfect Cup of Tea." This chapter includes advice on the correct water temperature based on the type of tea you're using, how to correctly use and steep loose tea, and the proper accessories needed to get the most enjoyment out of your cuppa (a beautiful pot and cup, plus a Jane Austen novel, of course!).
I found this book to be very informative and delightful. I truly felt the importance of tea and its place in society during Jane Austen's life!
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Tea with Jane Austen from Frances Lincoln Publishers
Final verdict for Tea with Jane Austen: Four Gherkins, for being a thorough look at that most delightful of British customs
In the Garden with Jane Austen, Kim Wilson
Jane Austen's Green Fingers
Gardens figure prominently in the works and life of Jane Austen. The lovely book In the Garden with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson looks at all aspects of gardening as it relates to the writer and her characters.
This little gem of a book looks at how gardens that Jane knew and loved look today. The gardens are even divided up into Cottage Gardens, Mansion & Manor House Gardens, City Gardens and Public Gardens & Parks. The final chapter contains advice on how would-be gardeners can re-create Jane's gardens (including flower and vegetable varieties) for themselves! The book also features a listing of gardens that were shown in screen adaptations of Austen's works. It's rather interesting how frequently films and TV programs are made from her novels.
The book is filled with beautiful illustrations, as well as information about visiting the locations that are open for tours. There are also plenty of quotes from Jane Austen's works as well as from her personal correspondence. I especially enjoyed the aspects of gardens which might not be considered by modern readers. For instance, one inescapable feature of every garden was the outhouse. The book gives some interesting details about how people tried to disguise them (plants in front and vines to obscure) and how the paths to the outhouses were suggested to be circular, so "it would not be obvious to the casual observer what the stroller's purpose was in choosing that particular path." You have to wonder if modern gardeners know how easy they have it!
Another interesting feature of the book is recipes from the period when Austen lived, including how to make Bee's Wax Lip Salve, Pot Pourri and "Mrs. Norris's Dried Roses." Well, Martha Stewart had to get her ideas from somewhere!
This book is gorgeous and packed with information. Fans of Jane Austen, gardening or flowers will be enchanted!
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of the book from Frances Lincoln Publishers
Final verdict for In the Garden with Jane Austen: Five Gherkins, for being a beautiful look at the world that Jane Austen inhabited
Upstairs Downstairs
Are you an Upper or a Downer?
British TV fans in the US were overjoyed this year when we found out that the wonderful TV series "Upstairs Downstairs" had been updated and was going to be shown on PBS's Masterpiece Classic.
Synopsis: One of the most beloved television series of all time is brought back to life in a sumptuous new production with a fresh new cast. It's 1936 and six years since parlormaid Rose (Jean Marsh, Sense & Sensibility) left 165 Eaton Place. Fate brings her back as housekeeper to its new owners, Sir Hallam Holland (Ed Stoppard, The Pianist, Brideshead Revisited), his wife Lady Agnes (Keeley Hawes, MI-5, Ashes to Ashes), and his mother, Lady Maud Holland (Eileen Atkins, Cranford, Gosford Park). Rose soon finds she has her work cut out for her as she recruits a new "downstairs" family to help run the elegance and finery of the "upstairs" world. Both upstairs and downstairs, it soon becomes apparent there lies a labyrinth of secrets, lies and scandal. Set against the historical backdrop of a pre-World War II Britain with a new King on the throne, with Fascism on the rise on the continent, and with sexual, social and political tensions at 165 Eaton Place, this new series provides an evocative take on the master-servant relationship.
Available on DVD: April 26th
Official Site URL: http://www.bbcamericashop.com/
Anyone who was captivated by the original series, which ran for 5 seasons in the 1970s will be happy to be back among familiar surroundings. Times are changing, but the social lines are still drawn. The interactions between the members of staff and the upper-class people they serve prove that there is more going on than meets the eye.
Here is a clip from the new series:
Thanks to BBC, I have one copy of the new DVD series of Upstairs Downstairs to give away! To enter, just leave a comment answering the following question: if your finances would stretch far enough to allow you to hire one servant, which one would you hire and why? I'd have to go for Cook. Cook always seems to be a sort of no-nonsense person, and I'm sure she'd be able to whip up all the traditional English dishes!
Please remember to leave your email address in your comment if it's not visible in your profile. The contest is only open to US Residents due to postal costs. Leave your entry by May 1. The winner will be drawn on May 2 and notified by email. If I don't hear back from you within 3 days, a new winner will be chosen.
Good luck on winning this wonderful DVD!
Disclaimer: I received a copy of Upstairs Downstairs to offer in this giveaway from BBC. I was not compensated for this post.
Quiet London, Siobhan Wall
Hidden gems in the metropolis
While London is my favorite city, it can be a bit overwhelming. The noise, the crowds and the concrete can seem bewildering to the casual visitor. I've often wondered how it must be for everyday Londoners to try to get to work or the grocery store with throngs of people everywhere.
One Londoner decided to seek out the quiet and calming areas of the city. Siobhan Wall's new book Quiet London takes a look at areas of the city that are not as well known as the popular tourist destinations, but are welcome respites from hectic city life.
The categories covered include:
*Museums
*Libraries
*Parks, Gardens and Nature Reserves
*Places to Relax and Retreat Centers
*Places of Worship
*Small Shops
*Restaurants and Cafes
*Bookshops
*Places to have Afternoon Tea
*Galleries
*Pubs and Wine Bars
*Hotels and Places to Stay
Image courtesy of Siobhan Wall and Frances Lincoln Publishers
Each category contains several recommendations for places that are ideal to read, relax or meditate. Each suggestion shows a lovely photo (most in color, but some in black and white) as well as an address, phone number and website (if applicable). There is also information included for every location about whether it is handicapped accessible, or if only certain parts are. Also included are travel directions including bus, tube and train connections.
I especially liked the descriptions of each place, including whether or not attached cafes or stores play background music. When this book says quiet, it means quiet!
There are plenty of recommendations that I have added to my "must see" list for my next trip, including the National Art Library, Bunhill Fields (glad I'm not the only person with a fascination for cemeteries!), and the Centre for Wildlife Gardening's Stag Beetle Sanctuary (OK, it says it's for children, but who wouldn't want to see that??).
The only quibble I have with the book is that sometimes the text is set too close to the inner margins, and can make the book difficult to read. I really didn't want to pull the book apart to see better, because I was afraid of damaging it. Other than that, the book is a beautiful addition to anyone's library.
The author, Siobhan Wall, has taught fine art, photography, and video production. For a decade she was a full-time senior lecturer at what is now London Metropolitan University. The author and publisher of Quiet Amsterdam is an independent curator who lives and works in Amsterdam.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Quiet London from Frances Lincoln Publishers
Final Verdict for Quiet London: Four Gherkins, for being a a wonderful guide to some seldom-visited parts of London.
James Thompson, Lucifer's Tears
Lucifer wasn't the only one crying . . .
With the current popularity of mystery novels set in northern Europe, you'd figure that one set in the snowy climes of Finland would be a surefire hit. Well, not so fast. The book Lucifer's Tears, by James Thompson, is the second to feature Inspector Kari Vaara.
The blurb on the back of the book states that James Thompson is "eastern Kentucky born and raised" and has lived in Finland for over 10 years. He is married to a Finnish woman. In this novel, the Finnish Inspector Vaara is married to Kate, an American.
Inspector Vaara is the requisite tortured and flawed policeman, although in this instance he really is tortured by extreme migraine headaches. There are numerous times that his previous case is referred to in the book, and since I haven't read the earlier book, I'm a bit lost when it comes to the background.
In this book, Vaara and his unlikeable partner Milo are called out to a particularly brutal crime scene. A married woman has been found beaten to death (and Thompson really relishes giving us the gory, vivid details) in her lover's apartment. The lover was present during the murder, but claims he was attacked and unconscious while the woman was killed. The husband, a Russian businessman, becomes a suspect, especially when it becomes apparent that he's also having an affair with a woman who is nearly a twin of his dead wife.
Vaara is also directed by his boss to investigate a Finnish national hero from WWII for possible war crimes. The situation becomes personal for Vaara when he discovers that the war hero served alongside his beloved late grandfather. If the war hero was guilty of war crimes, that so was dear old granddad.
To complicate matters, Vaara and his wife Kate are expecting their first child at any time. Kate has previously lost twins, so the couple is anxious that nothing go wrong this time. Kate's younger brother and sister come to stay with them on the pretext that they are going to "help out" once the baby is born. The brother is a drunken troublemaker and the sister a judgemental religious fundamentalist.
The situation of the WWII war criminal and the two American outsiders exist solely so that Thompson can lecture the reader on: a) Finland's involvement in WWII on the side of the Nazis (who victimized them as much as the hated Russians); and b) Finland's superior (to the US) social welfare society. There are long, preachy passages that are meant to enlighten the reader, but the author is assuming that the reader has an interest in the subject (I really didn't, and my husband is half Finnish!). Note to author: Tell the story, we don't need a history/civics lesson!
I also found the language to be unnecessarily crude. The "f-word" loses its intended impact when it's used 5 times in the same paragraph. Adding "-wad" or "-wit" or other suffixes to it don't make it a new word!
And what was with the hostility toward Mensa? He has two characters who supposedly are members -- both anti-social, deranged, drunken gun-nuts. Membership application rejected or something???
So, no, I'll have to say I didn't enjoy this one. The over-the-top unbelievable sex and violence scenes, the long, boring history lessons, and lack of any sympathetic characters have ensured that this visit to Inspector Vaara's Helsinki will be my last.
Final Verdict for Lucifer's Tears: One Gherkin, for a passable story told in an unpleasant manner
Knock 'em Dead, Martin Yate
Great advice for job seekers
In these days of high unemployment, job seekers need every advantage when they are looking for work. The book Knock 'em Dead 2011: The Ultimate Job Search Guide provides a complete overview of job-search strategies to help you stand out from the crowd.
The book is divided into five sections, each of which covers a different aspect of the process of finding a job. Part one, "The Well Stocked Briefcase" includes advice, exercises and examples of what needs to be on a modern, technologically-savvy resume. I especially like advice such as how to create your own "professional brand" and how to "get inside an employer's head."
The second section of the book deals with job interviews -- how to land them and how to project your most professional image during the interview. Part three is invaluable as it deals with how to handle yourself during the interview, including the types of questions to expect (and what sort of answers will best impress the interviewer), the different types of interviewers (some know even less than you do about the job you're applying for!) and how to cope with unorthodox interview locations.
After you've survived the interview, you're still not finished. Part four of the book deals with such issues as interview follow-up, dealing with job offer negotiations, fielding multiple job offers at the same time (we should be so lucky!), and how to "ace" psychological tests that might be required before you start your new job.
The final section of the book discusses thirty-five occupations which will see job growth in the near future. Each occupation is described in detail, as well as the outlook for that job and Internet sites that provide more information.
I found the advice in the book to be very encouraging and applicable. I know that it can be difficult to know where to start when trying to find a job. I especially liked the "Knock 'em Dead" tips sprinkled throughout each chapter. With this book, everyone will find plenty of advice and concrete examples that you can apply to turn your job search into a job offer!
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from BookSneeze
The British royal family is in the news quite a bit lately, due to a certain event that's coming up. In addition to the current crop of royals, this has also been a very good year for some royals from a few generations back. The film The King's Speech was certainly the most decorated film at this year's Academy Awards, winning Best Actor (Colin Firth), Best Director (Tom Hooper), and Best Picture.
I was lucky enough to see the film in the theater. This was before it had received so many nominations, and I was surprised to find the theater absolutely packed. I was even more surprised at the round of applause that broke out at the end of the film. That's when I knew for sure that this was a film to be reckoned with!
Anchor Bay Entertainment and The Weinstein Company announced will release the Blu-ray™ and DVD versions of The King's Speech on April 19th.
In case you aren't familiar with the story, here is a quick synopsis:
After the death of his father King George V (Michael Gambon) and the scandalous abdication of his brother King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce), Bertie (Colin Firth) – who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life – is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), the future Queen Mother, arranges for her husband to see an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). After a rough start, the two delve into an unorthodox course of treatment and eventually forge a genuine friendship. Through this unexpected bond, the new monarch will overcome his stammer to find his voice, inspire his people, and rally the world. The King's Speech is cinematic royalty: a magnificent production, studded with glittering performances, based on a true story of friendship, triumph and, ultimately, glory.
The Blu-ray™ and DVD bonus features include an audio commentary with director Tom Hooper; a 20-minute "Making Of The King's Speech"; archival footage of the actual King George VI; and much more.
Be sure and get yourself a copy of this wonderful film which will leave you cheering, too!
Music for a Royal Wedding
If You Can't Be There in Person . . .
With the joyous occasion of the Royal Wedding coming up at the end of the month, many people are looking for ways they can help to celebrate. One way to help set the mood is by listening to the great new CD Music For A Royal Wedding. This CD contains 16 different selections, for a total running time of 67 minutes.
The music on the album includes a variety of selections which have a connection to royalty. The liner notes give detailed information on each track and how it relates to the royal wedding. Some examples:
The first track, Fanfare for a Festive Occasion, was played at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh in 1947
Elger's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4 was the music that Princess Diana and Prince Charles heard as they left St. Paul's Cathedral after their wedding ceremony
For the Love of a Princess was featured in the film Braveheart, and evokes the love story between William Wallace and Princess Isabelle of France
Other songs will be familiar to listeners because they've been used in numerous televisions shows (The Flower Duet) or are old favorites (The Bridal March from Lohengrin, Pachelbel's Canon in D Major and God Save the Queen).
If you are unlucky enough to have misplaced your invitation to the big event on April 29, you can still enjoy the atmosphere of being at a Royal Wedding by listening these uplifting and emotionally stirring songs!
For more information visit http://www.silvascreenmusic.com/
Defiant Joy, G.K. Chesterton, Kevin Belmonte
A bad hair day, but still giddy
G.K. Chesterton is mostly known (by me, anyway) as the author of the Father Brown mystery series. I was interested to find out more about the man and his career in the book Defiant Joy: the Remarkable Life & Impact of G.K. Chesterton by Kevin Belmonte. Chesterton comes through in the book as a larger-than-life character, bursting with happiness and intellectual curiosity.
His early life was happy, spent with doting (if somewhat lax) parents. His youth was marred by the death of his older sister Beatrice when he was three. The only thing mentioned about her death was "she fell off a rocking horse," but at age 8, that would seem to be unlikely. Whatever the cause, her death caused Chesterton's father to periodically retreat from the family, and G.K. himself to become overly fearful of illness and death.
As with most young boys of the time (1880s), Chesterton was sent away to a boy's school, where he made lifelong friends and began his interest in debating. After finishing at that school, however, Chesterton went to study art in London. Away from friends and family, it was at this point that he experienced a severe personal and spiritual crisis. While suffering through this deep depression, Chesterton suddenly had a miraculous turn-around. He began to be extremely thankful for the gift of life and for the "personal gifts" he received from his "personal God."
He began working as a journalist and at various publishing firms. His anonymous art criticisms brought him his first notice, after which he published two books of verse in 1900. His two books of social criticism and personal journey to faith, "Heretics" and "Orthodoxy" cemented his place in literary history. In these books, Chesterton laments the pessimism of the day, and details his believe in a God that brings joy, not repression.
The first Father Brown story was published in 1910. Chesterton went on to publish 52 Father Brown stories. The character of Father Brown was based on Chesterton's own good friend Father John O'Connor, and differs from the other sleuths of the day in that he works alone. Father Brown has heard the worst that man can do in his confessions, so he is all too familiar with evil. This allows him to use his knowledge of the human spirit to make connections and solve the mysteries presented to him.
In addition to writing spiritual, critical and mystery works, Chesterton also wrote novels, plays and an epic poem. The book is also filled with well-known names that sparred with Chesterton in friendly and not-so-friendly fashion, including George Bernard Shaw, H.L. Mencken and T.S. Eliot.
I was very happy to learn more about his amazing and prolific author. I wish the book had concentrated more on the author's life instead of including large passages from his work, followed by what everyone who ever wrote said about them. It got a bit tiresome to slog through all the comments that everyone else was making about Chesterton's work: a few sentences would have been preferable to three-quarters of a page.
Still, the book helps to increase interest in an author who is not so well-known today. I hope to be able to read more works of the prolific G.K. Chesterton in the future!
Four Lions
I'd be dangerous if I had any direction
Don't grow too fond of the crow on the cover of Four Lions. I'm sorry to say that Mr. Crow doesn't have a happy ending in this film about four (well, really five) incompetent terrorists in London. You wouldn't think a film about terrorists could be funny, but this one is. The would-be "terrorists" are plagued by numerous difficulties, including in-fighting and being, uh, not overburdened with brains.
The main players in this film are:
Omar, who has a wife and young son
Waj, Omar's best friend, who is a bit dumb
Barry, the middle-aged British convert
Faisal, who is rather low-key and hopes to train crows to be bombers so he won't have to get involved
Hassan, a student who is recruited into the group, but whose commitment remains shaky
This group of aspiring terrorists spends most of its time attempting to make videos which will be shown after their deaths. But they can't even manage to get through a video shoot without erupting into arguments. They do eventually begin to develop explosives, but once again, can't come to any sort of agreement about what their target should be.
Eventually, they decide to "go undercover" and dress in costumes to conceal the bombs. It's even more absurd to see the fearsome group dressed as a clown, a man riding an ostrich, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and whatever this thing is:
In the end, the film manages to make a very difficult and touchy subject look silly. As a viewer, I found myself feeling both angry at and sorry for the main characters. Each was misguided and lacked direction. Instead of paying attention to giving their families a better life, or working to change things, they were all caught up in the idea of "making a statement" without having any clear idea what sort of statement they wanted to make or why.
I found Omar's wife Sophia to be the most confusing character of all. She fully supported her husband's wish to become a suicide bomber, but mocked his deeply religious brother when he came to visit. She seemed to have no qualms about becoming a single mother. Even though this film was not meant to be taken as a serious study of suicide bombers, I would have liked to learn more about her character's thoughts and feelings.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed the film for its look at a misguided group attempting to make a statement about their beliefs . . . if only they could figure out what those were.
Final Verdict for Four Lions: Four Gherkins, for being an amusing film about an all-too-serious topic


Clark Refining & Marketing Inc can be found at Broadway St 1019. The following is offered: Grocery Stores. The entry is present with us since Sep 9, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Ann Arbor there are 28 other Grocery Stores. An overview can be found here.
Clark Refining & Marketing Inc is located at 1019 Broadway St, Ann Arbor, MI. This business specializes in Oil & Gas.


Tooth sensitivity affects up to 40% of the population. It is experienced as a painful sensation in the teeth, often occurring after eating or drinking something hot, cold, sweet or acidic.
The tooth comprises a hard enamel covering of soft dentine with an internal nerve. The dentine contains a large number of pores or tubules that run from the outside of the tooth to the central nerve.
Over time, the enamel covering becomes thinner, providing less protection to external stimulation.
Also, the gums can recede and expose unprotected root surface dentine. When the dentine has no enamel protection, the central nerve can be stimulated by changes in temperature and / or certain foods.
Gum recession, due to age or improper tooth brushing.
Drinking acidic beverages, such as soda, can cause enamel erosion and dentine exposure.
Tooth grinding (bruxism) can cause most or all of the teeth to feel sensitive.
Brushing with abrasive toothpastes, with incorrect technique or excessively can result in a loss of enamel.
A chipped or fractured tooth can cause dentine exposure.
Also certain dental treatments can cause tooth sensitivity. Teeth whitening, professional dental cleanings, orthodontics or fillings can cause sensitivity, either during or after the procedure.
Find out more information about tooth sensitivity here.


A few posts down I mentioned I would upload my games coursework. We had to make a simple 2D game with Macromedia (Adobe) Director MX 2004 using Lingo programming code.
"If you can beat your own game then it must be a very good game idea!!..."
Feel free to comment and tell me what you think for my first try! Also you have my permission to use the code if you 'happen' to decompile it...Just learn, don't copy...yeah!!
Anyway, a very fun game. I'm going to play again.
The Wii is fun although we're mostly on Wii Sports and not the games we spent loads of money on...!
A barbecue would be cool and I don't mind coming 'all the way to your house'.
I'll be around until July when I go home for my brother's wedding. I have a few other things happening before then but can probably work it around you guys or have the barbecue when I get back (after July 12th).


1) Apple pays license fees to Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and countless others who have IP in the wireless telecom business now as part of the price of every chip they buy.
2) Apple pays a "Samsung Tax" now because Apple buys components from Samsung that Samsung makes a tidy profit from selling to Apple. It's naive and childish to imagine the idea that any product as complex as a smart phone isn't already 'taxed' in a very tangled web. You may say Apple's IP will be additive but even if it is, it's just so much noise below much louder signal.
3) The patents in question are not difficult to work around at all, that is unless you want to make product that looks and feels like an iPhone.
Beyond this Apple Tax hogwash is a segment of the internet's population that wants to make Apple the villain and Google the great 'Open Source Savior Of Our Freedom'. They loathe Apple, they want to make Apple a villain that goes and whines to the courts. They cite history they don't understand to paint Apple poorly.
Well fine, be mad at Steve for his typical tone. When you've been in any kind of meeting where there is a multi-million dollar argument going on and you haven't heard somebody take that tone, or, the more dangerous one, the quiet calm and subtle one, get back to me.
That quote is what we in the business call… business.
Remember that Apple has been on the receiving end too: ZDNet: Nokia likely netted $600 million plus in Apple patent settlement.
– Apple's 'look and feel' lawsuit against MS was because MS agreed to licensing terms with Apple when they launched Excel. Excel, for those who don't know, was a Mac *first* application built with Apple support and (according to Apple) licensing for MS to use some UI functionality) and Apple objected to MS's taking license (poetic not legal) in MS's interpretation of the agreements around Excel by using them in Windows. And.. before you jump up and down and say "Apple ripped off what they saw at Xerox PARC!" remember, Apple paid for that (in advance, not after getting sued by the way).
– The lawsuit settled in 1997 with the patent cross licensing agreement with Microsoft was not the 'look and feel' license suit but another one over QuickTime and Video For Windows sharing some of the same actual code because MS used the same company to support VfW dev as Apple had used for the QuickTime port to Windows.
– Apple did try to negotiate with Samsung before filing suit.
You can have all the opinions you like about which company in the shark lagoon of the tech industry is the poor persecuted underdog worthy of your activist support but make the arguments you use to support your opinion with some awareness not only of the facts but their historical context.
– Samsung nakedly ripped off Apple in several small but important ways and got spanked for it.
– Google bought Android they didn't 'innovate it from whole cloth like conquering heros' and Android is not, in any practical way like Linux or other FOSS because the carriers maintain control of most Android devices in the wild and they do it in cahoots with the Samsungs and HTC's of the world. Thinking Android protects your rights as a consumer is delusional at best.
– Until Apple managed to cut their deal with ATT for the original iPhone exclusive, phones in the US were positively buried in crap designed to preserve and extend carrier revenue. Verizon locked out Bluetooth and wire-connected contact syncing direct to the device so you had to use their online service to manage your contacts off the phones on *many* models of phones. They all had horrible and little 'carrier branding animations' at phone startup and ugly badging on the phones. They all set it up so ringtones were things you could only buy from a carrier at absurd pricing. If a phone had any 'smart' at all, it was crammed full of bundled 'crapware' even less removable than the junk you find on el-cheapo consumer PC's.
Apple did more for your 'freedom' in that deal they cut with ATT than Android ever has.
If you love Google so much, instead of whining on message boards about 'big bad Apple' think about this; Google could use this situation as an opportunity to fix the Android ecosystem and we'd all win.
– Users can upgrade to new versions of Android from *Google* not at the carrier's whims.
– Google will indemnify handset makers from lawsuits from Apple and anyone else over the software.
– Google will "badge" phones that meet minimum specs for current and roadmap Android versions so customers know they won't have a locked down phone with hardware quirks that make Android development both absurdly complex and profitless.
Google then innovates Android away from Apple's patents or, if you think they can't manage that, or that Apple's patents are bull#$%^, Google can sues to invalidate those patents.
If Google did that? Android would get better. Windows Phone would get better. iOS would get better and the carriers would be left to compete on their quality of their service to attract and retain customers instead of thinking they had any business in the content game that kept them wasting money, and crapping up your phones, hoping to cash in on the next 'flash of cultural lunacy' that was the ringtone market.
And… in the pity for Samsung department, see the previous post below.
YouTube, for those who haven't noticed is a Google owned and operated service wherein users can upload and share video and Google can sell advertising against it.
Now, beyond the obvious problems wherein Google can't (and shouldn't actually be forced to) police the uploaded content to ensure the rights exist for the user to upload it , the core issue is Google makes money off the ads and the content creators don't.
For essentially all cases Google is the collector and reporter of the usage data. Google chooses the 'relevant' advertisers. Google makes the money.
So, now, in an act of empty magnanimity, Google is enabling users to flag the content users upload as licensed under 'Creative Commons' but only under this specific license: Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0). which I'll summarize as: Share it, change it, adapt it, remix it, do as you please commercial or not as long as you give the source(s) credit.
If you're a creator and you see content an uploader has flagged CC on YouTube, don't be silly and assume you're indemnified from liability if you intercut that content with other things and try to sell it. I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV (though I have been a technical consultant to a few on these kinds of issues) but indemnified means you can't be sued because the other guy, the uploader will take the heat. They won't.
If you mash up Happy Birthday and Steamboat Willy with some Casey Kasem Dialog intercut with U2 concert footage and dollop of George Harrison's My Sweet Lord I think you should expect to be in some deep yogurt lawsuit-wise.
Beyond that, though, is the simple fact that not only is Google going to sell ads against your original or remixed work but the second you click that button you are giving Google and anyone else the right to sell it, rent it, bend, fold, spindle or mutilate your work for money and money you'll never get any of.
Now, I am a huge fan of freely sharing my creative work but I think any reasonable person would say I have the right to set conditions for how what I choose to share is used. Conditions like "use this however you like except to resell it (or usage of it) to make money if I don't get a piece of the action".
Several Creative Commons licenses actually help ensure this (and other things) but Google chose the one that requires the creator/remixer to give up the most rights.
There's a reason most creators choose other more restrictive CC licenses. They either want to get paid if anyone else does or they want to insist that their contributions to the world are matched and equally shared by others. And you can even expect this mutual sharing and still let everyone still be free to make money: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/copyleft.html There's a company listed on the NASDAQ doing a VERY nice job of just that: and even cooler is the NYSE actually runs the exchange on this 'free' product.
So, as I have said countless times before….
Want to watch great cat videos? Enjoy YouTube!
Want to watch pirated content with a thin veneer of protection because it's not Limewire? Look for it on YouTube before it's taken down. Enjoy YouTube!
If you make actual content. Material with intrinsic value? Put up a trailer on YouTube if you must but host the actual content yourself and sell your own ads against it.
Needless to say, I disagree with Janko Roettger's impressions of Google's CC support as written in gigaom.
Google dumps h.264 support in Chrome.
Summary: Going forward, Google's Chrome Browser will only support Google's own WebM (VP8) and Theora video codecs but it appears they plan to continue to support Flash. Whyzat?
Remember, MPEG-LA has committed to cost-free use of h.264 IP for free content. The looming threat of license fees was lifted.


Home > Blog > Getting Used to Your New Surroundings, and Get Ready for Orientation!
Getting Used to Your New Surroundings, and Get Ready for Orientation!
Coming to a new country to study English is very exciting. It can be interesting and lots of fun, but it can be a little scary too! But don't worry! We will do everything in our power to make your stay in Statesboro and your time at Georgia Southern a fun and enjoyable experience. Plus, we will help you learn English as a second language with our intensive English Language Program.
Plan to arrive early and get a feel for your new home. Take a walk, and take some time to explore your new campus or neighborhood. Get some fresh air and explore your surroundings. This will help with the effects of jet-lag too.
Don't be afraid to speak English. The best way you will learn a new language is to speak it all the time – don't be afraid of making mistakes! You will be surprised at how people want to help you learn.
It often takes some time to adjust to a new culture, new language, new people and new surroundings. Be prepared for change. Take this opportunity to travel to the US with no commitments except to study English and learn about a new culture.
We have a full day and a half of Orientation planned for you. Orientation starts at 9:00 am on Monday the 12th of June, so be sure to be here in plenty of time. We will give you a tour of the facilities at Georgia Southern, so you will have an idea of where everything is located. You can see the full schedule here. Then, in the afternoon of the second day, your first English classes will begin.