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Daily news roundups
Union drop preseason opener, US tops Canada, more news
Posted by Ed Farnsworth on February 8, 2016 at 10:14 am
Rotating through 31 players in three lineup groups, the Union opened the 2016 preseason with a cold and rainy 1-0 loss to Jacksonville Armada. Given the fact that it was the first game of 2016, coming less than two weeks since the opening of preseason training, the mass substitutions, and the conditions, it was the kind of game that left more questions than answers, first among them being where will the goals come from. Anyway, there were positives and no one got hurt.
Still, wouldn't it be nice to, you know, defeat one of these lower division Florida teams.
Also, before the game, the Union released a gameday roster that identified trialists as well as Bethlehem players with the team. The release of trialist information is a very welcome development for both fans and media, just as the release of the length of Roland Alberg's contract was. We'll see how many are still with the team when the Union face Chicago on Thursday (4 pm, streaming info TBA).
Recaps and more at PSP, Philadelphia Union, CBS Philly, Philly Soccer News, Brotherly Game, Jacksonville Armada, Florida Times-Union, The St. Augustine Record, and News4Jax.
In case you missed it, Adam Cann has a very informative interview here at PSP with Georgetown head coach Brian Wiese about Joshua Yaro and Keegan Rosenberry that also includes some discussion about Fabian Herbers. Wiese said of the Union selecting Herber after after already selecting Yaro and Rosenberry:
When I saw that pick, I thought, "Goodness gracious, what an amazing trio of kids they got."
And look, none of them are proven, but I know all three of those guys well and I thought, 'That could be some core of players if they all get it right.'"
More from Yaro, Rosenberry, and Herbers at CSN Philly.
Brotherly Game evaluates the Alberg Signing. More on the signing at Philadelphia Sports Nation and Last Word on Sports.
Also at Brotherly Game, the series on "silly offseason complaints" continues with "Not enough players on the roster."
The format and schedule of the 2016 US Open Cup was released on Friday. The Union enter the fourth round on June 15, right in the middle of break for the Copa America Centenario.
Six players from the Harrisburg City Islanders Youth Academy have signed collegiate letters of intent.
In an interview conducted in December but just released last week, American Pyramid talks to Rob Oldfield, head coach and technical director of Vereinigung Erzgebirge's Majors Program.
A statement from US Youth Soccer's technical working group issued on Friday begins, "The Youth Council Technical Working Group unanimously agreed that there has been generally insufficient dialogue between the U.S. Soccer Federation technical staff and the technical leadership of the various youth membership organizations."
Player moves:
Dallas has signed Walker Zimmerman to a new contract.
More preseason games:
Philadelphia lost to Jacksonville, 1–0.
Toronto defeated LAG, 3-2.
Chicago defeated South Florida, 3-0.
Vancouver defeated New England, 3–2.
Houston defeated San Jose, 1–0.
Portland defeated Seattle, 2–1.
In his introductory press conference with LA Galaxy, Ashley Cole said his now infamous "I'm not ready to relax on a beach yet" remarks about MLS were taken out of context.
I'm not going to come in and try to defend myself. It was said, but it for sure was taken out of context. I was talking to the reporter before and he kind of said it me. "Oh we're glad to have you here at Roma. We didn't expect you to be here. We thought you'd go relax on the beach." So in the interview I said it. Yes, it's come out of my mouth.
And of course you have to understand I was at a new team. I have to kind of tell the fans at Roma that I was there to fight, there to win things and play in the Champions League. It was said. But for sure it was taken out of context.
Cole said further, "When you see people like Lampard, Stevie G, Keano, and I've spoken to them how difficult it is. I've spoken to the manager about how difficult it is and the demands placed on you. I'm not fooled because I know how hard it's going to be. I'm going to change a few views of me being here. I'm a winner. I didn't come to sit on a beach. I'm not here to rest. I'm here to play football and to work hard. I'm not a diva or this egotistical guy who thinks that he's better than anyone. I'm going to do everything that I can."
The Guardian on how the offseason loan is dying, mainly because of the rigors of the regular season.
Minnesota United owner Bill McGuire says architectural renderings of proposed stadium in St. Paul will be revealed by the end of this month.
Four Four Two considers if the gap between MLS and Serie A is narrowing.
So, the US defeated Canada 1-0 on Friday thanks to an 89th minute goal from Jozy Altidore. Which basically means the USMNT owes us back 88 minutes of our lives.
Match reports and analysis from PSP, US Soccer, Los Angeles Times, Fox Soccer, ESPN (recap, analysis), SI, ASN, Soccer America, MLSsoccer.com (recap, analysis), Goal.com (recap, analysis), SBI, US National Soccer Players, Yahoo Sports, Reuters, and the AP.
Player ratings at ESPN, ASN, Soccer America, MLSsoccer.com, and Goal.com.
Jurgen Klinsmann says he's frustrated by the six-game suspension Jermaine Jones got for his altercation with Mark Geiger in New England's playoff game with DC last fall. He also says the Jones at center back thing is only temporary.
Broadcast information for the USWNT's games in the CONCACAF Olympic qualification tournament has been announced. Wednesday's opener against Trinidad and Tobago will be available on NBC SPorts Live Extra beginning at 7:30 pm. Saturday's game against will be live on NBC Sports Live Extra at 3 pm, with a replay on NBCSN at 8:30 pm. The final group game against Puerto Rico on Monday, Feb. 15 will be live on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra at 7:30 pm.
At the Washington Post, more on the growing tensions between US Soccer and the USWNT following last week's lawsuit, the original publicly released copy of which included personal addresses and email accounts of numerous players. More at Fox Soccer.
MLSsoccer.com on how the US U-23s are looking to put the disappointment of not reaching the Olympics in 2012 behind them as they prepare to face Colombia in the home and away qualification series.
The US U-19s ended play in the Copa de Atlantico tournament on Friday with a 1-0 loss to the Canary Islands. Philadelphia Union Academy defender Auston Trusty played 45 second half minutes. In three games, including losses to France and Spain, the US was outscored 7-0.
Reuters reports, "The former head of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) has agreed to hand over more than $10 million in stocks and property in a deal to reduce his punishment in the FIFA corruption scandal, a prosecutor in the case said Friday. Eugenio Figueredo, a former FIFA vice president, also agreed to cooperate with police in Uruguay, where the 83-year-old is from. He was extradited to the South American country in December."
Canover Watson, formerly a member of FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee, has been sentenced to seven years in prison after being found guilty of fraud charges related to his time in charge of the Cayman Islands' Health Service Authority. Reuters notes, "While the charges were not football-related, the verdict against a man who served on a body which monitored FIFA's finances is another blow to the image of the organization facing an unprecedented corruption crisis."
More on the Confederation of African Football announcing its support of Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa for the FIFA presidency. CAF represents 54 votes. Wait, what's that? Prince Ali says Egypt and Liberia are backing him? And South Sudan is backing Gianni Infantino. Ok, then.
The AP reports, "The German football federation opened legal proceedings against Franz Beckenbauer, former members, and FIFA in a bid to limit potential damages arising from the 2006 World Cup corruption affair."
The Guardian on the enormous amounts of money now floating around soccer in China.
Author: Ed Farnsworth Editor-at-large at PSP. His work has also appeared at Philly.com, TheCup.us, Society for American Soccer History, The Encylopedia of Greater Philadelphia, Centro de Investigaciones de Historia y Estadística del Fútbol Español, EPYSA.org, and in the 2011 MLS All-Star Game program. Email him at efarnsworth@phillysoccerpage.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FarnsworthPSP.
Great One says:
The Armada game's result means literally absolutely nothing. More important is how some of the new guys look at integrate. Am I the only one , though, who just one time wants to see us beat the crap out of a lower team, just a little casual dominance?
On the plus side it's great to see Alberg play so quickly and to hear some of the young guys looked comfortable and not overwhelmed
pragmatist says:
Your second point is the important piece. Yeah, it would be entertaining to whoop up on a team in preseason. But preseason results, in any sport, mean nothing.
Let's give them another week to gel and work some stuff out. Then we can start to get concerned if we're not generating chances.
But on a cold, rainy night, with a bunch of new pieces, let's just all be happy no one got hurt.
Move on and judge later.
Dan C (formerly of 103) says:
Klinnsman rant…..
He makes a point to bring in a slew of U23s into the January Camp. So in the last of two games he gives a ton of run to a 34YO holding mid at CB who is unattached and is facing a 6 game ban. Furthermore, he then allows said player to basicly play as a libero from CB. That may work against the Canada's of the world, but shouldn't he be implemeting and playing an actual style so that the aforemethioned U23s can gain some semblance of what will be expected of them if/when they make the team.
He's done some positive things as Coach/Technical director, but his game day coaching and ability to implememt a plan/vision are almost literally second to EVERYONE.
So he's the Andy Reid of the soccer world?
Not until he scripts the first 15 set pieces, and uses up all his subs in the first half.
John Ling says:
Also, Andy Reid always took responsibility – "I have to do a better job of that" – and Klinsy always blames somebody else…
How many timeouts did he use in the first 5 minutes?
el Pachyderm says:
Please…I beg you to read my well slandered, err balanced criticism of our beloved USMNT from the other evening. You will find it easily in the Canada game recap.
I was talking with a buddy during the game and I swear to you it took me/us almost 70 min to wrap our heads around your exact commentary… WTF is JJ doing and WhyTF is he playing as a sweeper…. and WTF again is JK doing. It is an absolute unqualified mucking fess.
He drives me crazy. I understand roster omissions, no one is ever going to agree on every player and the fans aren't in camp to see how individuals interact with the group, but we are two years away from the WC, getting ready to begin qualifying, and 4 months away from the 2nd biggest tournament ever hosted in the US and his system and expectations for the players (ftom a n execution on the field standpoint)is indecipherable.
I think it is from the ASN player ratings, the line reads "It was a tough assignment for Besler, the only defender playing in his natural position". That's really all you need to know about this game and JK.
Read your post, you are dead on. I see that everyone brought up Zardes as well. The guy has the first touch of a pedophile.
Osager says:
eeewwwwwww
R3er says:
traditionally it was touch of a rapist, slight less eww inducing. you may want to re-think the word choice.
Joel P says:
I am so tired of seeing JJ on the field. You want him as a veteran presence? Fine. But he should not on be the pitch again. And I am so tired of Altidore and Zardes starting. We are playing poorly anyways play the young/unproven players. I want to see Nagbe in a more central role, I want to see more of Kiesewetter, I want to see more of Acosta/Vincent. And find a backline that works and stick with and let them gel.
I'd rather fail with youth as they vet then watch the unmitigated disaster of Yedlin, Zardes, Altidore et al.
A thousand yesus.
It is almost as if, and I am dead serious, JK is doing this on purpose to make a point that WE have no clue in this country…. HE IS BEGGING US TO RISE UP and fight HIM and the system. To pit unbearable pressure against widespread voice of dissent. But we don't. Half the general public doesn't have the sophistication to even see a problem.
This is a flyer by me, sure, but it is not out of the realm based on some of his comments regarding the general perception of the American Soccer Fan.
He's begging us to find a voice… and mostly we just sit by for the exception of those of us crying out in the wilderness like John the Baptist.
Think about it… our U19 national team just got embarrassed… our U23 team is likely readying to get embarrassed and miss the olympics again which HAS TO BE TOTALLY UNTHINKABLE, our MNT is a revolving door of dreck EVERY time::: JJ as a libero, 'just to try it out'… 'Canada is hard to score on by the manager'.
but the only worthwhile mainstream media outlet is ESPN.FC who leads today with a walkout at Liverpool, what Arsenal is doing, Ronaldo thinking of 'staying a few years'…
IT IS A TRAVESTY. Sunil Gulati totally insulated. and ALL of US Soccer generally a coffee mug as well. JOKE.
"I am not an elitist…." as I've been called a few times around these parts…..
….I am dissident.
"a dissident is here.
escape is NEVER the safest path. a dissident a dissident is here.
what to say, what to say.
Zizouisgod says:
Like John the Baptist, I think that you have lost your head thinking that Klinsmann is doing these types of things because he wants US Soccer to find its collective voice and challenge him. Mostly because the media and fanbase has already started doing this. Throughout Klinsmann history as a coach, he's done things that have made so many people scratch their heads (e.g. – bring Joseph Ngwenya, a journeyman striker in MLS, to Bayern Munich for a trial or playing a 34 year old, out of contract central midfielder with a long history of poor discipline as a center back). People who believe in him think that he must be a mad genius. Others (like me) view him as someone who is smart, but clearly not cut out for his current job as USMNT manager.
You see this happen throughout other aspects of life, especially in the business world. People have a background that makes you think that they know better than you. They also do things with strong convictions so you don't challenge what they are doing. Plus, when they do stuff that is unconventional or out of the box, it puts others off balance because they think "of course, so & so knows what they are doing."
Jerome says:
Everybody is blaming Klinsmen that fact is USA just doesn't have the talent, how many players do we have playing in the top leagues besides goalie, nobody that shines, maybe one day we will get it right, they have to overhaul the whole youth coaching system and mentality
We have more or less the same amount talent that we had under Bradley and Arena so why have regressed under Klinsmann?
Everybody is blaming Klinsmann, that fact is USA just doesn't have the talent, how many players do we have playing in the top leagues in the world besides goalie, nobody that shines, maybe one day we will get it right but we have the overhaul the whole youth coaching system and mentality,
Oh its for sure a hairbrained idea….. but what if.
Haha. I love the 'Klinsmann is an international football troll' theory. It's so crazy that it's completely plausible.
Honestly I hadn't thought of it, but you might be on to something about JK. There's really only two possibilities. Either he's doing this on purpose, or he is completely out of his depth. In which case, why are we paying him millions?
We desperately need more mainstream media coverage. I would love love love more shows, radio, webcast…ANYTHING to consume that covers the sport I love. There's an audience in the US for it. Give it to us.
Dr. Union says:
Well, the thing is if anyone has looked at JK as manager he has a history of having tactical issues (Bayern Munich). He can put a team together and get fans behind things but when it comes to nuisances of the game that is where as a manager he is lost (then he starts to lose the fans). His role of bringing in players and trying to get them to play as one unit has long been done prob a year or so ago the next step is the tactics which he does not have. Hence back when his contract was up it was time to move on, but the US did not. I blame the renewal of his contract as the downfall in this story of improving the USMNT. I have a lot of the same feelings with Curtin as the players are behind him as a manager, but in game adjustments are not there and setting up the team with a defined style also isn't there. It is a common problem with soccer in the US. There are few coaches who understand this and that is where as a soccer nation things become stagnant as coaches just don't know anyways to implement the ideas they may have because they were never properly taught how.
Unionjacq says:
New week. And with it the hope that that DP striker gets signed as we inch closer to the new season.
"Still wouldnt it be nice to you know defeat one of these lower division Florida teams."
I'm generally an optimist but I can't let this comment pass without cynical and IMO logical consideration .
Here it comes… I'm giving you fair warning, Van Halen shout out on purpose… So be ready everyone…
The Union finished 18th last year and were 'relegated' so beating one of these lower Florida teams is actually a bit more challenging the last few seasons. Right… then.
They ARE a lower division team they just don't get punished for it. OUCH.
It's up to them to prove they actually belong in MLS… which they have been unable to do for over 2 years. In a right world they should be fighting their ass off against these lower division teams they can hardly beat.
Is losing to the Canary Islands as bad as it sounds?
eggman says:
At first, it sounds bad. They probably have a population of like 300K total. But it's still Spain and these little islands have produced some talent over the years…
http://en.classora.com/reports/w124789/who-are-the-best-canary-soccer-players-in-history
By the looks of it, 1-0 wasn't too bad!
Please also bare in mind the robust defeat to France and the equally robust defeat at the feet of a U18 Spanish team.. it should not at all come as a surprise a little island named after a bird also beat us … I'm not surprised. All I can do is chuckle to nervously ease the sinking suspicion NOT ONE damn member of our National Team infrastructure has any idea WTF they are doing.
The Canary Islands 1-0.
France 5-0.
Spain playing up a year 1-0.
Come on dear media keep sitting on your damn hands and pens about all this.
#assclowns.
Interesting Canary Islands fact – Latin root is Canine, Island of Dogs. The birds are named after the islands, not the other way around. Mind. Blown. 🙂
I love it EM and I rescind…a little island named after a dog then.
thank you for the correction but I beg not to lose sight in the face of sun glare…. as Ani Difranco sings, "squint your eyes and look closer," there is a major problem here.
Haha, didn't mean to give the impression that your point didn't register El P. I think I'm just feeling a little indifferent to the USMNT. I've gone numb. They aren't terrible, they aren't good, there are no signs of that changing anytime soon. They certainly aren't entertaining, they are "just there".
Now that we have established ourselves as a footballing nation (albeit not a great one) over the last 25 years, isn't it time, much like a growing company, for some changeover in executive leadership to chart the next path forward? Oh yeah, this a FA under FIFA. Silly me.
Indeed…. The team is a Snoozer for anyone who's read the children's book by the same name.
Union42 says:
Though not the Canary Islands, CR7 is also the product of a little tiny island in the Atlantic (Madeira) with a population of less than 300,000.
Agreed and point noted… though he was on the mainland by 11….
thanks for the hint that there might, repeat might, be streaming for the Chicago game on Thursday.


Enjoy an unforgettable breakfasting with Ruth's Chris Steak House with their all new menu for steak aficionados. Dine and enjoy a carefully selected menu fit to satisfy any carnivore's dream.
Ruth's Chris Steak House is proud to present this special offer for the Holy month of Ramadan. Diners can enjoy marbled custom aged US Prime beef cooked on their trademark 982 degree Celsius Broilers that serves each steak to a perfect heat on a sizzling plate to ensure every bite is hot for the whole meal. This special two option menu will include a starter, entrée, choice of sides and an after-dinner drink to cleanse the palette.
Diners will begin the evening with Ta'jil & dates, followed by a choice of Barbecued Shrimp, Chocolate Sin Cake or Sweet Potato Casserole. A Soup of the Day or a Caesar Salad will launch the starter course. Diners then can choose between two entrée options.
Ruth's Chris Steak House is worldwide and famously known for their steaks and for this Holy month, why not try the unforgettable.
For IDR 550,000++, diners can either get the U.S Petite Fillet 6 oz. (170 G), Stuffed Chicken Breast or Salmon with Thai Chili Butter with a choice of sides including Mashed Potatoes, Creamed Spinach, Pan-Roasted Wild Mushrooms or Steamed Rice. At IDR 600,000++, diners can pick between a U.S Prime New York Strip 10 oz. (280 G) or a U.S Prime Ribeye 10 oz. (280 G) with the same choice of sides mentioned above. A preference of coffee or tea will let the diner's taste buds finish their flavour explosion end on a high note.
This menu will be available only during the Holy month of Ramadan, between 5:30pm to 7:00pm.
Ruth's Chris Steak House is the largest upscale steak house in the world, with over 150 restaurant locations around the globe. In Jakarta, this mesmerizing dining spot is located at the ground floor of the Somerset Grand Citra Apartments in the heart of Kuningan Business District. Founded in 1965 in New Orleans by Ms. Ruth Fertel, Ruth's Chris trademarks the best steak experience diners will ever taste. For reservations, contact them at +62 21 522 1178.


Earlier today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its score of H.R. 8, the "American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012." By convention, the score measured the effects of this legislation relative to "current law," which assumes the expiration of all of the 2001/2003 tax cuts, cuts to Medicare physicians of almost 27 percent, and allowing the across the board cuts from sequestration to take effect. But that does not provide a realistic perspective on the impact of H.R. 8.
Earlier today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its score of H.R. 8, the "American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012." By convention, the score measured the effects of this legislation relative to "current law," which assumes the expiration of all of the 2001/2003 tax cuts, cuts to Medicare physicians of almost 27 percent, and allowing the across the board cuts from sequestration to take effect. But that does not provide a realistic perspective on the impact of H.R. 8. The relevant point of comparison isn't current law, it is "current policy" – those policies that were in place on December 31st, the day before all of these changes were scheduled to take effect. Different organizations, ranging from the Bowles-Simpson Fiscal Commission to the House Budget Committee, have considered this current policy baseline to be the appropriate reference point, since it measures changes relative to the status quo, rather than the mix of expiring provisions and policy changes that would likely never be implemented.
CBO also recognizes the value in this "current policy" view and routinely publishes their interpretation, known as the Alternative Fiscal Scenario (AFS), which is regularly cited by lawmakers from both parties, including House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. The CBO current policy baseline assumes that the Bush tax cuts, the AMT patch, and expiring business tax provisions will be extended; that the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) cuts in payments to Medicare physicians will not take effect; and that the sequestration will be turned off.
$618 billion due to higher taxes on the highest-income Americans and the wealthiest estates.
$22 billion due to reductions in discretionary spending and a change to tax-preferred savings accounts that pay for turning off sequestration for two months.
The above provisions more than offset the $30 billion cost of the measure's one-year extension of emergency unemployment insurance benefits, resulting in $630 billion of net non-interest deficit reduction.
Another $104 billion of deficit reduction results from lower interest payments on the federal debt, for a total of $737 billion in deficit reduction.
See this table for a more detailed breakdown.
So H.R. 8 not only keeps taxes low for the middle class, asks the wealthiest to pay their fair share, and helps the economy continue to grow, it also reduces the deficit by $737 billion under this more realistic scenario.
Jeff Zients is the Deputy Director for Management.


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Von Malta wurde eine Athletin für die Leichtathletik-Weltmeisterschaften 2017 in London nominiert.

Ergebnisse

Frauen

Laufdisziplinen

Weblinks
 Liste aller Athleten mit Disziplin ()

Malta
Weltmeisterschaften 2017/Teilnehmer (Malta)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I sometimes call my local Indian takeaway just for a chat.
I love pillows. They are fluffy, soft, and can be used to suffocate you.
As I was driving down a dark country lane last night, I thought "its a good job that guy invented cats-eyes otherwise that cat wouldn't have seen me"
I wasn't a very good Hairdresser.
I didn't read the Perms and Conditions.
My Mate has got a Book on Palindromes.
I don't know whether to Borrow or Rob.
What's black and furry and looks like half a cat?
Roman Polanski & Pope Benedict XVI set to co-star in "Grumpy Old Rapists."
I've been married for 20 years, and it's been the happiest time of my life. I'm just dreading the day my wife comes out of her coma.
Canine intelligence is routinely overrated. I consistently beat my Wire Fox Terrier at chess 4 out 5 games.
Why join a gym if you have Photoshop?
I'd sell my sole to get started in second hand shoe trading.
Food fetishists are coming for dinner tonight.
I like my women like I like my washing machines.
Can take a huge load and wash my clothes.
A bloke stopped me in the street today and said "Whats the best way to Oldham".
I Put him in a Headlock.
A new Ice Cream Shop has opened in Palestine.
I might kill myself in the most horrific way, just to have my 500 jokes of fame on Sickipedia!
I like to go up to people playing Solitaire at work and ask, "Who's winning?"
She was married in her grandmother's wedding dress. She looked lovely, but her grandmother looked cold.
If you sit on your cornflakes for 10 minutes, it feels like someone else is eating your breakfast.
I'm very happy with our divorce settlement.
We sold the kids and I got custody of the stereo.
I got turned down for a place in the local rifle club as they said I wasn't the right calibre.
My internet history knows me too well.
I've just bought a car that won't go in a straight line.


Cardinal Roger Mahony, who served as archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 to 2011, has admitted mishandling the case of Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera.
In a deposition that was recently unsealed, the prelate admitting directing his vicar of clergy not to give police a list of altar boys who worked with priest following abuse accusations.
The visiting priest returned to Mexico in 1988 after Father Thomas Curry, then vicar for clergy and now an auxiliary bishop, informed him of impending charges. The priest remains at large.


text:
Cover Up: Kate O'Donnell Book 6
Author: Patricia Hall
Publication Date: 28 February 2017
Publisher: Severn House
Format: UK Hardback
You will earn 20 points with this purchase
Kate O'Donnell and her police sergeant partner, Harry Barnard enter dangerous waters when they uncover evidence of a top-level conspiracy.
On a busy Friday night in 1964, a woman's partially clothed body is discovered in London's Soho Square. She has been raped and strangled. With no one reported missing, her identity remains a mystery. Assuming the victim to be a prostitute, DCI Jackson is inclined to dismiss the case. Detective Sergeant Harry Barnard disagrees.
Harry's partner Kate meanwhile has been despatched to her native Liverpool to work on a magazine feature about the city's remarkable regeneration, timed to coincide with the release of the Beatles' movie, A Hard Day's Night.
As Harry's investigations point to evidence of a cover-up at the highest level, Kate's assignment leads her to uncover a darker side to 1960s' Liverpool - and a possible link to the Soho murder victim. Are she and Harry getting into something too deep and dangerous for them to handle?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Tag: Observatories
Great News! The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Might be Named for Vera Rubin
The U.S. House of Representatives have passed a bill to change the name of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST.) Instead of that explanatory yet cumbersome name, it will be named after American astronomer Vera Rubin. Rubin is well-known for her pioneering work in discovering dark matter.
Continue reading "Great News! The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Might be Named for Vera Rubin"
Ep. 534: Modern South African Astronomy
You know the drill now. Last week we talked about ancient south African astronomy, and so this week we'll talk about the modern state of astronomy in the southern part of Africa, which happens to be a great place with nice dark skies and a perfect view into the heart of the galaxy.
Continue reading "Ep. 534: Modern South African Astronomy"
Ep. 528: Modern Astronomy of the American Southwest
Last week we talked about the ancient astronomy of the American Southwest. But this is actually Pamela's stomping grounds, and she's spent many a night perched atop mountains in this region staring in the night sky with gigantic telescopes. How does astronomy get done in this region today?
Continue reading "Ep. 528: Modern Astronomy of the American Southwest"
First Cosmic Event Observed in Both Gravitational Waves and Light
About 130 million years ago, in a galaxy far away, two neutron stars collided. The cataclysmic crash produced gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space and time. This event is now the 5th observation of gravitational waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo collaboration, and the first detected that was not caused by the collision of two black holes.
But this event — called a kilonova — produced something else too: light, across multiple wavelengths.
For the first time in history, an astronomical phenomenon has been first observed through gravitational waves and then seen with telescopes. In an incredibly collaborative effort, over 3,500 astronomers using 100 instruments on over 70 telescopes around the world and in space worked with physicists from the LIGO and Virgo collaboration.
Scientists call this "multimessenger astronomy."
"Together, all these observations are bigger than the sum of their parts," said Laura Cadonati, LIGO's Deputy Spokesperson at a briefing today. "We are now learning about the physics of the universe, about the elements we are made of, in a way that no one has ever done before."
Observations of the kilonova. Credit: P.K. Blanchard/ E. Berger/ Pan-STARRS/DECam.
"It will give us insight into how supernova explosions work, how gold and other heavy elements are created, how the nuclei in our body works and even how fast the universe is expanding," said Manuela Campanelli, from the Rochester Institute of Technology. "Multimessenger astronomy demonstrates how we can combine the old way with the new. It has changed the way astronomy is done."
Neutron stars are the crushed leftover cores of massive stars that long ago exploded as supernovae. The two stars, located near each other in a galaxy called NGC 4993, started out between 8-20 times the mass of our sun. Then with their supernovas, each condensed down to about 10 miles in diameter, the size of a city. These are stars composed entirely of neutrons and are in-between normal stars and black holes in size and density — just a teaspoon of neutron star material would weigh 1 billion tons.
They spun around each other in a cosmic dance until their mutual gravity caused them to collide. That collision produced a fireball of astronomical proportions and the repercussions of that event arrived at Earth 130 million years later.
"While this event took place 130 million years ago, we only found out about this on Earth on August 17, 2017, just before the solar eclipse," said Andy Howell from the Las Cumbres Observatory, speaking at a press briefing today. "We've been keeping this secret the whole time and we're about to bust!"
At 8:41 am EDT, LIGO and Virgo felt the early tremors of the ripples of spacetime, gravitational waves. Just two seconds later, a bright flash of gamma rays was detected by NASA's Fermi space telescope. This allowed researchers to quickly pinpoint the direction from which the waves were coming.
Alerted by an Astronomers Telegram, thousands of astronomers around the world scrambled to make observations and begin collecting additional data from the neutron star merger.
This animation shows how LIGO, Virgo, and space- and ground-based telescopes zoomed in on the location of gravitational waves detected August 17, 2017 by LIGO and Virgo. By combining data from the Fermi and Integral space missions with data from LIGO and Virgo, scientists were able to confine the source of the waves to a 30-square-degree sky patch. Visible-light telescopes searched a large number of galaxies in that region, ultimately revealing NGC 4993 to be the source of gravitational waves.
"This event has the most precise sky localization of all detected gravitational waves so far," Jo van den Brand, spokesperson for the Virgo collaboration, said in a statement. "This record precision enabled astronomers to perform follow-up observations that led to a plethora of breathtaking results."
This provides the first real evidence that light and gravitational waves travel at the same speeds – near the speed of light — as Einstein predicted.
The kilonova became red and faded by a factor of over 20 in just a few days. This rapid change was captured by Las Cumbres Observatory telescopes as night time moved around the globe. Credit: Sarah Wilkinson / LCO.
Observatories from the very small to the most well-known were involved, quickly making observations. While bright at first, the event faded in less than 6 days. Howell said the observed light was 2 million times brighter than the Sun over the course of the first few hours, but it then faded over a few days.
The Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which is mounted on the Blanco 4-meter Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in the Chilean Andes was one of the instruments that helped localize the source of the event.
"The challenge that we face every time that the LIGO collaboration issues a new observational trigger is how do we search for a source that is rapidly fading, was possibly faint to begin with, and is located somewhere over there," said Marcelle Soares-Santos, from Brandeis University at the briefing. She is the first author on the paper describing the optical signal associated with the gravitational waves. "It's the classical challenge of finding a needle in a haystack with the added complication that the needle is far away and haystack is moving."
With the DECam, they were quickly able to determine the source galaxy, and rule out 1,500 other candidates that were present in that haystack.
"Things that look like these 'nneedles' are very common, so we need to make sure we have the right one. Today, we are certain we have," Soares-Santos added.
In the very small department, a small robotic 16-inch telescope called PROMPT (Panchromatic Robotic Optical Monitoring and Polarimetry Telescope) — which astronomer David Sand from the University of Arizona described at "basically a souped-up amateur telescope," — also helped determine the source. Sand said this proves that even small telescopes can play a roll in multimessenger astronomy.
The well known is led by Hubble and several other NASA and ESA space observatories, such as the Swift, Chandra and Spitzer missions. Hubble captured images of the galaxy in visible and infrared light, witnessing a new bright object within NGC 4993 that was brighter than a nova but fainter than a supernova. The images showed that the object faded noticeably over the six days of the Hubble observations. Using Hubble's spectroscopic capabilities the teams also found indications of material being ejected by the kilonova as fast as one-fifth of the speed of light.
On 17 August 2017, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo Interferometer both detected gravitational waves from the collision between two neutron stars. Within 12 hours observatories had identified the source of the event within the lenticular galaxy NGC 4993, shown in this image gathered with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The associated stellar flare, a kilonova, is clearly visible in the Hubble observations. This is the first time the optical counterpart of a gravitational wave event was observed. Hubble observed the kilonova gradually fading over the course of six days, as shown in these observations taken in between 22 and 28 August (insets). Credit: NASA and ESA. Acknowledgment: A.J. Levan (U. Warwick), N.R. Tanvir (U. Leicester), and A. Fruchter and O. Fox (STScI).
"This is a game-changer for astrophysics," said Howell. "A hundred years after Einstein theorized gravitational waves, we've seen them and traced them back to their source to find an explosion with new physics of the kind we only dreamed about before."
Here are just a few of insights this single event created, using multimessenger astronomy:
* Gamma rays: These flashes of light are now definitively associated with merging neutron stars and will help scientists figure out how supernova explosions work, explained Richard O'Shaughnessy, also from Rochester Institute of Technology and a member of the LIGO team. "The initial gamma-ray measurements, combined with the gravitational-wave detection, further confirm Einstein's general theory of relativity, which predicts that gravitational waves should travel at the speed of light," he said.
* The source of gold and platinum: "These observations reveal the direct fingerprints of the heaviest elements in the periodic table," said Edo Berger, from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, speaking at the briefing. "The collision of the two neutron stars produced 10 times of mass of Earth in gold and platinum alone. Think about how as these materials are flying out of this event, they eventually combine with other elements to form stars, planets, life … and jewelry."
Berger added something else to think about: the original supernova explosions of these stars produced all the heavy elements up to iron and nickel. Then in the kilonova in this one system, we can see the complete history of how the periodocial table of the heavy elements came into being.
Howell said that when you split the signatures of the heavy elements into a spectrum, you create a rainbow. "So there really was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, at least a kilonova rainbow," he joked.
* Nuclear physics astronomy: "Eventually, more observations like this discovery will tell us how the nuclei in our body works," O'Shaughnessy said. "The effects of gravity on neutron stars will tell us how big balls of neutrons behave, and, by inference, little balls of neutrons and protons — the stuff inside of our body that makes up most of our mass"; and
* Cosmology:- "Scientists now can independently measure how fast the universe is expanding by comparing the distance to the galaxy containing the bright flare of light and distance inferred from our gravitational wave observation," said O'Shaughnessy.
"The ability to study the same event with both gravitational waves and light is a real revolution in astronomy," said astronomer Tony Piro from the CfA. "We can now study the universe with completely different probes, which teaches things we could never know with only one or the other."
"For me, what made this event so amazing is that not only did we detect gravitational waves, but we saw light across the electromagnetic spectrum, seen by 70 observatories around the world," said David Reitz, scientific spokesman for LIGO, at today's press briefing. "This is the first time the cosmos has provided to us the equivalent of movies with sound. The video is the observational astronomy across various wavelengths and the sound is gravitational waves."
Sources: Las Cumbres Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, Rochester Institute of Technology, Kilonova.org, CfA,, press briefing.
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Rise of the Super Telescopes: Why We Build Them
One night 400 years ago, Galileo pointed his 2 inch telescope at Jupiter and spotted 3 of its moons. On subsequent nights, he spotted another, and saw one of the moons disappear behind Jupiter. With those simple observations, he propelled human understanding onto a path it still travels.
Galileo's observations set off a revolution in astronomy. Prior to his observations of Jupiter's moons, the prevailing belief was that the entire Universe rotated around the Earth, which lay at the center of everything. That's a delightfully childish viewpoint, in retrospect, but it was dogma at the time.
Until Galileo's telescope, this Earth-centric viewpoint, called Aristotelian cosmology, made sense. To all appearances, we were at the center of the action. Which just goes to show you how wrong we can be.
But once it became clear that Jupiter had other bodies orbiting it, our cherished position at the center of the Universe was doomed.
Galileo Galilei set off a revolution in astronomy when he used his telescope to observe moons orbiting Jupiter. By Justus Sustermans – http://www.nmm.ac.uk/mag/pages/mnuExplore/PaintingDetail.cfm?ID=BHC2700, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=230543
Galileo's observations were an enormous challenge to our understanding of ourselves at the time, and to the authorities at the time. He was forced to recant what he had seen, and he was put under house arrest. But he never really backed down from the observations he made with his 2 inch telescope. How could he?
Now, of course, there isn't so much hostility towards people with telescopes. As time went on, larger and more powerful telescopes were built, and we've gotten used to our understanding going through tumultuous changes. We expect it, even anticipate it.
In our current times, Super Telescopes rule the day, and their sizes are measured in meters, not inches. And when new observations challenge our understanding of things, we cluster around out of curiosity, and try to work our way through it. We don't condemn the results and order scientists to keep quiet.
The first of the Super Telescopes, as far as most of us are concerned, is the Hubble Space Telescope. From its perch in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the Hubble has changed our understanding of the Universe on numerous fronts. With its cameras, and the steady stream of mesmerizing images those cameras deliver, a whole generation of people have been exposed to the beauty and mystery of the cosmos.
The Hubble Space Telescope could be considered the first of the Super Telescopes. In this image it is being released from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990. Image: By NASA/IMAX – http://mix.msfc.nasa.gov/abstracts.php?p=1711, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6061254
Hubble has gazed at everything, from our close companion the Moon, all the way to galaxies billions of light years away. It's spotted a comet breaking apart and crashing into Jupiter, dust storms on Mars, and regions of energetic star-birth in other galaxies. But Hubble's time may be coming to an end soon, and other Super Telescopes are on the way.
Nowadays, Super Telescopes are expensive megaprojects, often involving several nations. They're built to pursue specific lines of inquiry, such as:
What is the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy? How are they distributed in the Universe and what role do they play?
Are there other planets like Earth, and solar systems like ours? Are there other habitable worlds?
Are we alone or is there other life somewhere?
How do planets, solar systems, and galaxies form and evolve?
Some of the Super Telescopes will be on Earth, some will be in space. Some have enormous mirrors made up of individual, computer-controlled segments. The Thirty Meter Telescope has almost 500 of these segments, while the European Extremely Large Telescope has almost 800 of them. Following a different design, the Giant Magellan Telescope has only seven segments, but each one is over 8 meters in diameter, and each one weighs in at a whopping 20 tons of glass each.
This artistic bird's-eye view shows the dome of the ESO European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) in all its glory, on top of the Chilean Cerro Armazones. The telescope is currently under construction and its first light is targeted for 2024.
Some of the Super Telescopes see in UV or Infrared, while others can see in visible light. Some see in several spectrums. The most futuristic of them all, the Large Ultra-Violet, Optical, and Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR), will be a massive space telescope situated a million-and-a-half kilometers away, with a 16 meter segmented mirror that dwarfs that of the Hubble, at a mere 2.4 meters.
Some of the Super Telescopes will discern the finest distant details, while another, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, will complete a ten-year survey of the entire available sky, repeatedly imaging the same area of sky over and over. The result will be a living, dynamic map of the sky showing change over time. That living map will be available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection.
A group photo of the team behind the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. The group gathered to celebrate the casting of the 'scope's 27.5 ft diameter mirror. The LSST will create a living, detailed, dynamic map of the sky and make it available to anyone. Image: LSST Corporation
We're in for exciting times when it comes to our understanding of the cosmos. We'll be able to watch planets forming around young stars, glimpse the earliest ages of the Universe, and peer into the atmospheres of distant exoplanets looking for signs of life. We may even finally crack the code of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, and understand their role in the Universe.
Along the way there will be surprises, of course. There always are, and it's the unanticipated discoveries and observations that fuel our sense of intellectual adventure.
The Super Telescopes are technological masterpieces. They couldn't be built without the level of technology we have now, and in fact, the development of Super Telescopes help drives our technology forward.
But they all have their roots in Galileo and his simple act of observing with a 2-inch telescope. That, and the curiosity about nature that inspired him.
The Rise of the Super Telescopes Series:
The Giant Magellan Telescope
The Overwhelmingly Large Telescope
The 30 Meter Telescope
The European Extremely Large Telescope
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope
The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope
The Large UV Optical Infrared Surveyor
Rise Of The Super Telescopes: The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope
We humans have an insatiable hunger to understand the Universe. As Carl Sagan said, "Understanding is Ecstasy." But to understand the Universe, we need better and better ways to observe it. And that means one thing: big, huge, enormous telescopes.
In this series we'll look at the world's upcoming Super Telescopes:
The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST)
It's easy to forget the impact that the Hubble Space Telescope has had on our state of knowledge about the Universe. In fact, that might be the best measurement of its success: We take the Hubble, and all we've learned from it, for granted now. But other space telescopes are being developed, including the WFIRST, which will be much more powerful than the Hubble. How far will these telescopes extend our understanding of the Universe?
"WFIRST has the potential to open our eyes to the wonders of the universe, much the same way Hubble has." – John Grunsfeld, NASA Science Mission Directorate
The WFIRST might be the true successor to the Hubble, even though the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is often touted as such. But it may be incorrect to even call WFIRST a telescope; it's more accurate to call it an astrophysics observatory. That's because one of its primary science objectives is to study Dark Energy, that rather mysterious force that drives the expansion of the Universe, and Dark Matter, the difficult-to-detect matter that slows that expansion.
WFIRST will have a 2.4 meter mirror, the same size as the Hubble. But, it will have a camera that will expand the power of that mirror. The Wide Field Instrument is a 288-megapixel multi-band near-infrared camera. Once it's in operation, it will capture images that are every bit as sharp as those from Hubble. But there is one huge difference: The Wide Field Instrument will capture images that cover over 100 times the sky that Hubble does.
Alongside the Wide Field Instrument, WFIRST will have the Coronagraphic Instrument. The Coronagraphic Instrument will advance the study of exoplanets. It'll use a system of filters and masks to block out the light from other stars, and hone in on planets orbiting those stars. This will allow very detailed study of the atmospheres of exoplanets, one of the main ways of determining habitability.
WFIRST is slated to be launched in 2025, although it's too soon to have an exact date. But when it launches, the plan is for WFIRST to travel to the Sun-Earth LaGrange Point 2 (L2.) L2 is a gravitationally balanced point in space where WFIRST can do its work without interruption. The mission is set to last about 6 years.
Probing Dark Energy
"WFIRST has the potential to open our eyes to the wonders of the universe, much the same way Hubble has," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at Headquarters in Washington. "This mission uniquely combines the ability to discover and characterize planets beyond our own solar system with the sensitivity and optics to look wide and deep into the universe in a quest to unravel the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter."
In a nutshell, there are two proposals for what Dark Energy can be. The first is the cosmological constant, where Dark Energy is uniform throughout the cosmos. The second is what's known as scalar fields, where the density of Dark Energy can vary in time and space.
We used to think that the Universe expanded at a steady rate. Then in the 1990s we discovered that the expansion had accelerated. Dark Energy is the name given to the force driving that expansion. Image: NASA/STSci/Ann Feild
Since the 1990s, observations have shown us that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. That acceleration started about 5 billion years ago. We think that Dark Energy is responsible for that accelerated expansion. By providing such large, detailed images of the cosmos, WFIRST will let astronomers map expansion over time and over large areas. WFIRST will also precisely measure the shapes, positions and distances of millions of galaxies to track the distribution and growth of cosmic structures, including galaxy clusters and the Dark Matter accompanying them. The hope is that this will give us a next level of understanding when it comes to Dark Energy.
If that all sounds too complicated, look at it this way: We know the Universe is expanding, and we know that the expansion is accelerating. We want to know why it's expanding, and how. We've given the name 'Dark Energy' to the force that's driving that expansion, and now we want to know more about it.
Probing Exoplanets
Dark Energy and the expansion of the Universe is a huge mystery, and a question that drives cosmologists. (They really want to know how the Universe will end!) But for many of the rest of us, another question is even more compelling: Are we alone in the Universe?
There'll be no quick answer to that one, but any answer we find begins with studying exoplanets, and that's something that WFIRST will also excel at.
Artist's concept of the TRAPPIST-1 star system, an ultra-cool dwarf that has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it. We're going to keep finding more and more solar systems like this, but we need observatories like WFIRST to understand the planets better. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
"WFIRST is designed to address science areas identified as top priorities by the astronomical community," said Paul Hertz, director of NASA's Astrophysics Division in Washington. "The Wide-Field Instrument will give the telescope the ability to capture a single image with the depth and quality of Hubble, but covering 100 times the area. The coronagraph will provide revolutionary science, capturing the faint, but direct images of distant gaseous worlds and super-Earths."
"The coronagraph will provide revolutionary science, capturing the faint, but direct images of distant gaseous worlds and super-Earths." – Paul Hertz, NASA Astrophysics Division
The difficulty in studying exoplanets is that they are all orbiting stars. Stars are so bright they make it impossible to see their planets in any detail. It's like staring into a lighthouse miles away and trying to study an insect near the lighthouse.
The Coronagraphic Instrument on board WFIRST will excel at blocking out the light of distant stars. It does that with a system of mirrors and masks. This is what makes studying exoplanets possible. Only when the light from the star is dealt with, can the properties of exoplanets be examined.
This will allow detailed measurements of the chemical composition of an exoplanet's atmosphere. By doing this over thousands of planets, we can begin to understand the formation of planets around different types of stars. There are some limitations to the Coronagraphic Instrument, though.
The Coronagraphic Instrument was kind of a late addition to WFIRST. Some of the other instrumentation on WFIRST isn't optimized to work with it, so there are some restrictions to its operation. It will only be able to study gas giants, and so-called Super-Earths. These larger planets don't require as much finesse to study, simply because of their size. Earth-like worlds will likely be beyond the power of the Coronagraphic Instrument.
These limitations are no big deal in the long run. The Coronagraph is actually more of a technology demonstration, and it doesn't represent the end-game for exoplanet study. Whatever is learned from this instrument will help us in the future. There will be an eventual successor to WFIRST some day, perhaps decades from now, and by that time Coronagraph technology will have advanced a great deal. At that future time, direct snapshots of Earth-like exoplanets may well be possible.
But maybe we won't have to wait that long.
Starshade To The Rescue?
There is a plan to boost the effectiveness of the Coronagraph on WFIRST that would allow it to image Earth-like planets. It's called the EXO-S Starshade.
The EXO-S Starshade is a 34m diameter deployable shading system that will block starlight from impairing the function of WFIRST. It would actually be a separate craft, launched separately and sent on its way to rendezvous with WFIRST at L2. It would not be tethered, but would orient itself with WFIRST through a system of cameras and guide lights. In fact, part of the power of the Starshade is that it would be about 40,000 to 50,000 km away from WFIRST.
Dark Energy and Exoplanets are priorities for WFIRST, but there are always other discoveries awaiting better telescopes. It's not possible to predict everything that we'll learn from WFIRST. With images as detailed as Hubble's, but 100 times larger, we're in for some surprises.
"This mission will survey the universe to find the most interesting objects out there." – Neil Gehrels, WFIRST Project Scientist
"In addition to its exciting capabilities for dark energy and exoplanets, WFIRST will provide a treasure trove of exquisite data for all astronomers," said Neil Gehrels, WFIRST project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "This mission will survey the universe to find the most interesting objects out there."
With all of the Super Telescopes coming on line in the next few years, we can expect some amazing discoveries. In 10 to 20 years time, our knowledge will have advanced considerably. What will we learn about Dark Matter and Dark Energy? What will we know about exoplanet populations?
Right now it seems like we're just groping towards a better understanding of these things, but with WFIRST and the other Super Telescopes, we're poised for more purposeful study.
Posted on February 27, 2017 May 2, 2017
Rise of the Super Telescopes: The Giant Magellan Telescope
In this series we'll look at 6 of the world's Super Telescopes:
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is being built in Chile, at the Las Campanas Observatory, home of the GMT's predecessors the Magellan Telescopes. The Atacama region of Chile is an excellent location for telescopes because of its superb seeing conditions. It's a high-altitude desert, so it's extremely dry and cool there, with little light pollution.
The GMT is being built by the USA, Australia, South Korea, and Brazil. It started facility construction in 2015, and first light should be in the early 2020's.
The heart of the Giant Magellan Telescope is the segmented primary mirror. Image: Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation
Segmented mirrors are the peak of technology when it comes to super telescopes, and the GMT is built around this technology.
The GMT's primary mirror consists of 7 separate mirrors: one central mirror surrounded by 6 other mirrors. Together they form an optical surface that is 24.5 meters (80 ft.) in diameter. That means the GMT will have a total light collecting area of 368 square meters, or almost 4,000 square feet. The GMT will outperform the Hubble Space Telescope by having a resolving power 10 times greater.
There's a limit to the size of single mirrors that can be built, and the 8.4 meter mirrors in the GMT are at the limits of construction methods. That's why segmented systems are in use in the GMT, and in other super telescopes being designed and built around the world.
These mirrors are modern feats of engineering. Each one is made of 20 tons of glass, and takes years to build. The first mirror was cast in 2005, and was still being polished 6 years later. In fact, the mirrors are so massive, that they need 6 months to cool when they come out of casting.
They aren't just flat, simple mirrors. They're described as potato chips, rather than being flat. They're aspheric, meaning the mirrors' faces have steeply curved surfaces. The mirror's have to have exactly the same curvature in order to perform together, which requires leading-edge manufacturing. The mirrors' paraboloidal shape has to be polished to an accuracy greater than 25 nanometers. That's about 1/25th the wavelength of light itself!
In fact, if you took one of the GMT's mirrors and spread it out from the east coast to the west coast of the USA, the height of the tallest mountain on the mirror would be only 1/2 of one inch.
The plan is for the Giant Magellan Telescope to begin operation with only four of its mirrors. The GMT will also have an extra mirror built, just for contingencies.
The construction of the GMT's mirrors required entirely new testing methods and equipment to achieve these demanding accuracies. The entire task fell on the University of Arizona's Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab.
But GMT is more than just its primary mirror. It also has a secondary mirror, which is also segmented. Each one of the secondary mirror's segments must work in concert with its matching segment on the primary mirror, and the distance from secondary mirror to primary mirror has to be measured within one part in 500 million. That requires exacting engineering for the steel structure of the body of the telescope.
The engineering behind the GMT is extremely demanding, but once it's in operation, what will it help us learn about the Universe?
"I think the really exciting things will be things that we haven't yet though of." -Dr. Robert Kirshner
The GMT will help us tackle multiple mysteries in the Universe, as Dr. Robert Kirshner, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, explains in this video.
The scientific aims of the GMT are well laid out, and there aren't really any surprises. The goals of the GMT are to increase our understanding of some fundamental aspects of our Universe:
Star, planet, and disk formation
Extrasolar planetary systems
Stellar populations and chemical evolution
Galaxy assembly and evolution
Fundamental physics
First light and reionization
The GMT will collect more light than any other telescope we have, which is why its development is so keenly followed. It will be the first 'scope to directly image extrasolar planets, which will be enormously exciting. With the GMT, we may be able to see the color of planets, and maybe even weather systems.
We're accustomed to seeing images of Jupiter's storm bands, and weather phenomena on other planets in our Solar System, but to be able to see something like that on extra-solar planets will be astounding. That's something that even the casual space-interested person will immediately be fascinated by. It's like science fiction come to life.
Of course, we're still a ways away from any of that happening. With first light not anticipated until the early 2020's, we'll have to be very patient.
Posted on March 14, 2014 December 23, 2015
Arecibo Observatory Back in Action Following Earthquake Damage
Damage to the iconic Arecibo Observatory from an earthquake earlier this year has been repaired and the telescope is now back to full service. On January 13, 2014, the William E. Gordon radio telescope sustained damage following a 6.4 magnitude earthquake that was centered 37 miles northwest of Arecibo. A large cable that supports the telescope's receiver platform had "serious damage," according to Bob Kerr, the Director of the Arecibo Observatory.
"In an abundance of caution, telescope motion had been very limited since the earthquake," said Kerr in a press release issued today. "Nevertheless, the telescope continued its science mission, including participation in a 10-day global ionospheric study in late January and continuing a productive search for pulsars in the sky above Arecibo."
The platform hangs above the Arecibo dish, supported by cables. Via Cornell University.
The cable that was damaged was one of 18 cables that supports the 900-ton focal platform of the telescope. This particular cable was actually a known potential problem, Kerr told Universe Today in a previous interview. He said that during original construction of the telescope in 1962, one of the original platform suspension cables that was delivered to the observatory was too short, and another short cable section was "spliced" to provide sufficient reach to the platform.
"That cable segment and splice near the top of one of the telescope towers was consequently more rigid than the balance of the suspension system," Kerr said. "When the earthquake shook the site, just after midnight on January 13, it is that short cable and splice that suffered damage."
"You might say that our structural Achilles heel was exposed," Kerr added.
Inspectors from New York's Ammann & Whitney Bridge Construction, who have been inspecting the Arecibo observatory site since 1972, were brought in to access the situation and Kerr said a relatively low-cost (less than $100,000) repair option was designed and carried out, bringing the telescope back into full service as of March 13, exactly two months from when the earthquake occurred.
The Arecibo Observatory is operated by SRI International, teaming with Universidad Metropolitana and the Universities Space Research Association, in a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
Posted on October 16, 2013 December 28, 2015
Astronomy Cast Episode 317: Observatories
Have you ever wondered what it's like to visit one of the big research observatories, like Keck, Gemini, or the European Southern Observatory? What's it like to use gear that powerful? What's the facility like? What precautions do you need to take when observing at such a high altitude?
Visit the Astronomy Cast Page to subscribe to the audio podcast!
We record Astronomy Cast as a live Google+ Hangout on Air every Monday at 12:00 pm Pacific / 3:00 pm Eastern. You can watch here on Universe Today or from the Astronomy Cast Google+ page.
Podcast: The Arecibo Observatory
The mighty Arecibo Radio Observatory is one of the most powerful radio telescopes ever built – it's certainly the larger single aperture radio telescope on Earth, nestled into a natural sinkhole in Puerto Rico. We're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the construction of the observatory with a special episode of Astronomy Cast.
Click here to download the episode.
Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.
"The Arecibo Observatory" on the Astronomy Cast website, with shownotes and transcript.
And the podcast is also available as a video, as Fraser and Pamela now record Astronomy Cast as part of a Google+ Hangout:


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Martiniere Landscape & Design is a Design & Build firm specializing in custom upscale landscaping, hardscapes, outdoor kitchen areas, water gardens, irrigation, drainage retaining walls, and sitework. Tommy Martiniere started in the landscaping industry in 1997 and continues to produce top quality jobs in the Southeast.
We are your one-stop shop for your outdoor and interior remodeling needs. We've been helping our neighbors on the Emerald Coast since 1994 with home additions, including sunrooms, pergolas, patios, walk-in tubs and more. Our custom design service from our professional designers is always free to you, so take advantage of our expertise and call us today to discuss your new home improvement project. What We Do: We specialize in everything from screen rooms and patio covers to deck repair, bathtub replacement, and more for residents in Pensacola, FL and the nearby areas. We also specialize in accessibility products such as ramps, lifts, accessible showers and other products. Give us a call today!
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Incorporated since March 1983, Gulf Coast Landscape, Inc. has been in business for 30+ years. We specialize in large, up-scale site development projects, including condominiums/apartments, beachfront residential developments, and shopping centers. Our work area includes Southern Alabama, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the Panhandle of Florida.


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Chef's Table és la segona sèrie documental de Netflix. Cada episodi presenta un xef professional. El creador David Gelb la considera una continuació del documental Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

Llista d'episodis

Referències

Sèries de televisió estatunidenques
Sèries de televisió començades el 2015
Sèries de televisió de Netflix


Venture One completed construction of the Mercer County Health Department. The 11,500 square foot facility was constructed in 11 months and included a difficult over excavation of the entire building footprint. The facility housed the county health department and included triage rooms, administrative offices and doctor's offices. The curved front wall, final color selections and the burnished concrete floor helped make this facility extremely unique in its appearance.
Venture One completed an Inpaitent Care Center for the Hospice of Hope in Maysville, Kentucky. This and the Senior Living Facility, also constructed by Venture One, are the initial buildings on a 34 acre campus planned by the Hospice for Hope organization. The Care Center is a 12,800 square foot facility with 8 private suites along with medical care and treatment rooms. The design, location, amenities and grounds create a homelike environment, while in a safe, medically supervised atmosphere.
Venture One completed the construction of the Access Health Systems Administration and IT Building. This 8500 square foot office building was completed in 6-1/2 months.
Venture One completed the construction of this new 7,000 square foot new physical therapy facility in Urbana, Ohio. Venture One's involvement in the project began early through its ongoing partnership with McCall Sharp Architecture in the design and pre-design conceptual stages and continued well beyond project turnover and closeout. The project is a masonry and steel bearing structure which incorporates unique architectural elements such as multiple roof elevations, integration of clear anodized aluminum and metal coping and canopies throughout, architectural pre-colored masonry with accent bands to match the anodized theme, and a large clear anodized aluminum and glass façade with banding continuous with the masonry accents. A highlight of the design-build aspect of the project was a therapy pool complete with therapy accessories and full ceramic tile wrap. The project was completed on a tight schedule of approximately 16 weeks for a timely turnover for the Owner's grand opening.


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A Year of Creating Dangerously, Day 271: Album Art + Fine Art =
Cyndi Lauper and Vincent Van Gogh might seem like an odd couple… in a number of ways one could describe "odd"… but the truth is that many contemporary music stars have drawn cover art inspiration from the world of fine arts. It can be a slight reference or a straight-forward rip-off or used for comic effect. But it is amazing how well it seems to work.
On my blog today I share a few examples of cover art that connects with famous fine art. Some are as obvious as, well, "Starry Night" and other are not so much. Enjoy…
Jack and Meg draw a direct connection to the De Stijl art movement and its most famous contributor, Piet Mondrian ("Composition II with Red, Blue and Yellow")
Heart goes for the surrealistic treatment and the same bird-in-a-cage torso motif as Rene Magritte's "The Therapist"
Those lovable Irish roques the Poques cast themselves as the hopeless crew upon "The Raft of Medusa" (Theodore Gericault)
Those lovable Canadian Crash Test Dummies pull a Poques with Titian's "Bacchus and Ariadne"
While more of a reference, there is no denying the connection of the-entrails-becoming-the-extrails between Florence and Frida ("The Two Kahlo's")
Joni Mitchell's album cover comprises a few Van Gogh self-portrait elements but most noticeably the "Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear"
New Order's album cover designer wasn't shy in nearly ripping off the old order of design by Fortunato Depero and his "Futurist Poster"
It's more than a rumour that Fleetwood Mac's album cover for "Tango in the Night" borrows heavily from the work of Henri Rousseau ("Charmeuse De Serpent")
September 28, 2017 Ronald Kok Album covers inspired by fine art, Art and album covers, Bacchus and Ariadne, Charmeuse de Serpent, Crash Test Dummies, Cyndi Lauper, De Stijl, Fleetwood Mac, Florence and the Machine, Fortunato Depero, Heart, Kahlo, New Order, Piet Mondrian, Rene Magritte, Rousseau, Rum Sodomy and the Lash, Starry Night, Tango in the Night, The Poques, The Raft of Medusa, The Therapist, The Two Kahlo's, The White Stripes, Titian, Van Gogh Leave a comment
A Year of Creating Dangerously, Day 100: Speaking of Art
Wassily Kandinsky, Concentric Circles
"My kid could draw that!" "What the hell is that supposed to be?" "I don't get it!"
Art can elicit a lot of emotions from people. The one that continually surprises me is hostility. Usually it comes when someone is confronted with what we might call Modern or Contemporary Art: an abstract painting or sculpture, a canvas with three stripes of color on it, an artwork made of found objects or something gruesome, offensive or just plain creepy. It is, of course, a broad generalization to put all contemporary art in this camp. But there has been enough of it over the last one hundred years to put a lot of people off a visit to the art gallery.
There is a part of me that understands the hostility. In fact, there are artists who have intentionally tried to piss you off, so if you are then… job well done! But it is still a shame that there is a popular misconception about contemporary art. It is not all garbage nor does it exist simply for shock value; it is not a big con being pulled on an unsuspecting public; it is not a thoughtless and talent-less attempt at fame and fortune. Certainly, there are charlatans in the art world. But I suspect they don't get very far before someone peeks behind their curtain to reveal what they're really about.
Art is about conversation, a sharing of ideas, an opening of thought and imagination and feeling, an exploration of what it means to be human and why it matters. Art must be understood as being on a journey, one that will never end. But the journey is the thing, not the destination. Artists wrestle with big issues in their lives and in the world through what they create. They can be embarrassingly open and vulnerable; they can be intentional pains-in-the-ass; they can be sweet and warm; they can be angry or grieving or in love or seeking or lost. It all comes out in the art.
In an attempt to help bridge the gap between contemporary art/artists and those who view or experience their art, this post is a combination of images and words. Using the works of some of the giants of 20th century art along with their words, I'm hoping it opens a bit of a window into their reality and their motivation.
Artists aren't trying to exist in a different world from everyone else. Artists are striving to make sense of the world they share with everyone else.
Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VIII
"Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential."
Jackson Pollack, Autumn Rhythm number 30
"It doesn't make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement."
Joan Miro, The Tilled Field
"The joy of achieving in a landscape a perfect comprehension of a blade of grass.. as beautiful as a tree or a mountain.. What most of all interests me is the calligraphy of the tiles on a roof or that of a tree scanned leaf by leaf, branch by branch."
Jean Arp, Collage with Squares Arranged According to the Laws of Chance
"Art is a fruit that grows in man like a fruit on a plant or a child in its mother's womb."
Willem deKooning, Woman
"I'm not interested in 'abstracting' or taking things out or reducing painting to design, form, line, and color. I paint this way because I can keep putting more things in it – drama, anger, pain, love, a figure, a horse, my ideas about space. Through your eyes it again becomes an emotion or idea."
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoisseles d'Avignon
"Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth."
Marc Chagall, I and the Village
"My hands were too soft.. I had to find some special occupation, some kind of work that would not force me to turn away from the sky and the stars, that would allow me to discover the meaning of life."
Andy Warhol, Cambell's Soup Cans
"How can you say one style is better than another? You ought to be able to be an Abstract Expressionist next week, or a Pop artist, or a realist, without feeling you've given up something.. I think that would be so great, to be able to change styles. And I think that's what's is going to happen, that's going to be the whole new scene."
Alexander Calder, Arc of Petals
"The next step in sculpture is motion."
Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending Staircase
"You cannot define electricity. The same can be said of art. It is a kind of inner current in a human being, or something which needs no definition."
Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas
"I've done my paintings well… and they have a message of pain in them, but I think they'll interest a few people. They're not revolutionary, so why do I keep on believing they're combative?"
Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory
"The fact that I myself, at the moment of painting, do not understand my own pictures, does not mean that these pictures have no meaning; on the contrary, their meaning is so profound, complex, coherent, and involuntary that it escapes the most simple analysis of logical intuition."
Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie
"I wish to approach truth as closely as is possible, and therefore I abstract everything until I arrive at the fundamental quality of objects."
Mark Rothko, Four Dark Reds
"If you are only moved by color relationships, you are missing the point. I am interested in expressing the big emotions – tragedy, ecstasy, doom."
Georgia O'Keeffe, Petunia #2
"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else." – Georgia O'Keeffe
Henri Matisse, Joy of Life
"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject-matter, an art which could be for every mental worker, for the businessman as well as the man of letters, for example, a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue."
Christo, Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado 1970-72
"The work of art is a scream of freedom."
April 10, 2017 Ronald Kok Andy Warhol, Christo, Contemporary Art, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollack, Joan Miro, Marc Chagall, Mark Rothko, Modern Art, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Salvador Dali, Wassily Kandinsky, Willem deKooning Leave a comment
A Year of Creating Dangerously, Day 67: For Piet's Sake
Happy (belated) Birthday, Piet Mondrian! I guess it was yesterday but I'm sure Piet won't mind as he went to the Big Studio in the sky over 70 years ago. The master abstract painter of primary colors and horizontal and vertical lines inspired so much pop art that came after him. Thanks for the simplicity and De Stijl, Piet (a little art history joke, there. Heh, heh).
Here is a tiny fraction of the Mondrian-mimicry that abounds in our popular culture:
March 8, 2017 Ronald Kok Mondrian inspired art, Mondrian inspired fashion, Mondrian inspired furniture, Mondrian paintings, Piet Mondrian Leave a comment


The Black Cover for 60" GoodLighter Umbrella from Photek is a replacement cover equal to that which is included with the umbrella. This accessory fits over the exterior of the GoodLighter umbrella enabling a harder light to bounce off of the umbrella's silver interior. Without the cover in place, light will be lost as it passes through the umbrella.


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Home » Posts Tagged "Gordon Korman"
Posts Tagged "Gordon Korman"
Jake, Reinvented by Gordon Korman
Posted by Amy on Apr 6, 2014 in Book Reviews, Quebec | 0 comments
Summary: Jake Garrett is a mysterious new student at F. Scott Fitzgerald High School. He's the new star of the football team, he throws wild parties every week, and he's in love with the quarterback's girlfriend, Didi. Everyone knows of him, but no one really knows Jake himself, except for Rick, a fellow football player at school. Rick acts as narrator, confessor, and witness to Jake's true intentions, learning just how far Jake will go for love. As tension between characters mounts, Jake's commitment will be put to the test with devastating results. Number of...
Son of Interflux by Gordon Korman
Summary: Simon Irving is starting over in a new place again, thanks to his father's job as Senior Vice-President at Interflux, the world's largest corporation. He ends up getting into the local arts school with his talent for painting, and finally starts to make some friends who don't hate him because of who his father is. When an opportunity comes up to stick it to Interflux due to an oversight, Simon jumps at it, sparking a school-wide teenage rebellion that launches his popularity and an epic battle between him and his father. Number of Pages: 282 Age Range: 13-15...
Pop by Gordon Korman
Summary: While exploring the new town he and his mother have moved to after his parents' divorce, Marcus meets a mysterious man named Charlie who joins in his football practice and teaches him about true love of the game. During their encounters Marcus realises that Charlie's memory is patchy, and eventually he learns that Charlie is an ex-NFL player whose stellar career has taken a very personal toll, leaving him with early onset Alzheimer's. Their friendship helps Marcus adjust to living in a new place, and gives him new confidence in the way he plays football....


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Google Poised to Strike $111 Million Land Deal with San Jose
By Jennifer Wadsworth @jennwadsworth / December 3, 2018 2
Google's move to San Jose would radically alter the landscape of the 10th largest city in the U.S. by redeveloping 50 acres of downtown into taller, denser blend of offices, shops, restaurants and public plazas linked to BART, Amtrak and Caltrain through the aspiring "Grand Central Station of the West."
It will take years before the tech company realizes its vision for the city's core. But a key City Council vote this week lays the groundwork.
Come Tuesday, San Jose's elected leaders will consider Google's offer to pay $111 million in exchange for 10.5 acres of public land—some owned by the city, some by the successor to the defunct Redevelopment Agency—with the option of buying 11 more acres in the future. That's $237.50 per square foot, or two-and-a-half times what neighboring properties appraised for in 2017, but well below what Google spent as part of its recent $1 billion office park purchase in Mountain View.
The memorandum of understanding going before San Jose's 11-member council Tuesday follows a year of contentious debate over Google's impact and the city's dealings with the multinational search-and-advertising giant.
Since announcing the company's interest in downtown, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has tried to distinguish the city's negotiations with Google from deals Amazon cut with New York City and other host municipalities in exchange for billions of dollars in tax breaks. "Google never asked for a dime," Liccardo wrote in a lengthy Medium post about the pending land sales. "Their executives made it clear that they would pay full freight—for land, fees and taxes."
Business boosters such as the San Jose Downtown Association, the Silicon Valley Organization and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group have held up Google as a way to correct the city's jobs-housing imbalance. Under California's municipal tax structure, commercial development generates more revenue than residential, which means San Jose's lack of jobs compared to housing translates to less money for public services. That's why, in the midst of a history housing shortage and affordability crisis, the city prioritizes new jobs over new homes.
"San Jose has the lowest ratio of jobs-to-housing ratio of any major city in the United States," Liccardo explained in his Medium post. "This paucity of jobs has two major impacts on the public: city services in San Jose suffer due to our relatively minuscule tax base, and San Jose residents spend too many hours commuting to jobs to the north and west, far from home."
Though surveys by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group indicate strong public support for Google's move to San Jose, a number of community groups have criticized the city over past closed-door talks with the company and decision to only broach the subject of public concessions until after finalizing land sales.
Two nonprofits, Working Partnerships USA and the First Amendment Coalition, sued the city last month for signing confidentiality agreements with Google. The MOU on Tuesday's council agenda includes the sale price and other details of the deal, but, according to the lawsuit, the non-disclosure documents signed by about a dozen city officials last year suggest that some details were kept from public view, according to the complaint filed last month in Santa Clara County Superior Court. The city maintains that the NDAs were legal and justifiable.
Meanwhile, Silicon Valley Rising, another nonprofit associated with Working Partnerships, has joined a chorus of activists in highlighting Google's potential to exacerbate displacement and housing costs unless it somehow mitigates its impact. The Affordable Housing Network of Silicon Valley, a group that advocates for the city's renters and 4,300-plus homeless people, set up a tent outside San Jose City Hall on Monday to call attention to Google's potential to displace San Jose's poorest residents.
In a press release Monday, Affordable Housing Network organizer Sandy Perry said the city would be wise to convert its public parcels by the Diridon Station into a community land trust instead of selling them to Google. "Public land should remain a public asset and should not be sold off to the highest bidder," Perry wrote.
The mayor and his allies, however, contend that Google could help solve some of San Jose's problems. Liccardo said he will push to have 25 percent of new housing by the Diridon Station below market-rate. Discussions about a commercial linkage fee, which would generate additional affordable housing revenue by imposing a new charge on developers, are ongoing as well.
Negotiations about a community benefits package will begin in earnest once the city sells its share of the development footprint. Though the city will give up valuable public assets in the transaction, Liccardo said San Jose will maintain significant leverage. For one, San Jose has the power to decide whether to approve taller buildings in the development zone, which would provide the biggest economic benefit to Google. Not to mention, the city still wields authority over basic zoning changes.
"Unless and until the city approves changes on the land use designations and zoning—after Google applies and obtains approvals in a public process that will likely culminate in 2020 or so—nothing gets built," he wrote in his Medium essay.
He added: "Google will be negotiating with the city in the months ahead on a development agreement that enables the city and public to clearly know what will get built, and what benefits will accompany the development."
WHAT: City Council meets
WHEN: 1:30pm Tuesday
WHERE: City Hall, 200 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose
INFO: City Clerk, 408.535.1260; Click here to read the agenda
Jennifer Wadsworth is the former news editor for San Jose Inside and Metro Silicon Valley. Follow her on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.
Diridon Station
First Amendment Coalition
Google HQ
Google Village
San Jose Downtown Association
Sandy Perry
Silicon Valley Affordable Housing Network
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
silicon valley organization
Working Partnerships USA
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MT.GUNN Dec 4, 2018 @ 10:25 pm
Just a thought, how many H1b's will be inhabiting all that affordable house and who going to be the land lord?
SAN JOSE OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE Dec 5, 2018 @ 10:27 am
Hello! Jennifer!
Are you interested in a Pulitzer prize?
There's a big fat juicy political scandal right on your doorstep:
"The miracle of the Orange County Democratic Congressional seats"
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon
campaign contributions "in kind"
San Jose City council
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/12/05/facebook-allegedly-offered-advertisers-special-access-to-users-data-activities/
Connect the dots . . . .


Whoever said family portrait photography is boring is dead wrong. They're just not doing it right. I've created the Happy Film Company as a way to prove to the world that a family photo shoot can be a fun family outing and family photos can be packed full of personality and joyful feelings. My family portrait photography philosophy is simple: P.L.A.Y.
Boring photos are just a lake of imagination. Take yourself back to recess. When you hear that voice in your head that says "What should I tell them to do next?!....Ahh I can't think of any new poses." Just think about the playground games that kids play: leapfrog, hopscotch, tag, ring-around-the-rosy, hide and seek, egg-races...the list goes on for ages. You don't actually have to play that specific game; you can just use the games as a jumping-off point to get your creative juices flowing.
(L) Let kids run wild.
When you're struggling to have fun and be playful (because you're a boring adult LOL), turn to the kids for help. Trust their childhood spirit to lead the way to more creative photos. Ask them for ideas of what they want to do. Ask them silly questions and see what they come up with. For example, one time I was photographing a little boy in the forest. I picked up a stick and said, "Hey, what's this?" and he said "Oh, that's a magic wand." and then we proceed to spend the next 20 minutes having a Harry Potter wand battle with his parents. See ;) Kids know best.
(A) Ask what makes them happy.
This one is especially relevant for families with super little kids (that aren't able to talk much yet). When you get sick of all the cuddling and kissing photos, ask the parents what they do that makes their kids happy. What makes them giggle? What makes them make silly faces? Usually parents will know right away; usually it's little things like making grumpy faces, silly sounds or blowing air in their babies' faces. Remember all these little tricks for the future so you can suggest them to parents who don't know what to do.
(Y) YOU bring the energy.
Don't expect families to bring the playful creative energy to your family portrait sessions. Most of the time, families are nervous, totally uncomfortable or prepared to be utterly bored for an hour. Don't get sucked into their energy. Don't let your nervous and their nerves combine into a big freeze. Get psyched before your shoot with upbeat music, wack a huge smile on your face and the minute you meet your family, start boosting their energy by giving our your own big contagious positive vibes (even if you have to fake it to make it). If you're really stuck, just keep smile and saying over the top things (in a high pitched voice) like - "Oh, boy this is exciting. Oh man, this is such a pretty day for photos! Wow you guys look so cute. Your pictures are going to look awesome!" Just saying these things will boost everyone's boost and get them more open and ready to play your games.