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Wednesday, February 20, 2013
NASA releases radar movie of asteroid 2012 DA14
Feb. 19, 2013 ? An initial sequence of radar images of asteroid 2012 DA14 was obtained on the night of Feb. 15/16, 2013, by NASA scientists using the 230-foot (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif. Each of the 72 frames required 320 seconds of data collection by the Goldstone radar.
The observations were made as the asteroid was moving away from Earth. The asteroid's distance from the radar dish increased from 74,000 miles (120,000 kilometers) to 195,000 miles (314,000 kilometers). The resolution is 13 feet (four meters) per pixel. The images span close to eight hours and clearly show an elongated object undergoing roughly one full rotation. The images suggest that the asteroid has a long axis of about 130 feet (40 meters). The radar observations were led by scientists Lance Benner and Marina Brozovic of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Additional Goldstone radar observations are scheduled on February 18, 19 and 20.
Radar is a powerful technique for studying an asteroid's size, shape, rotation state, surface features and surface roughness, and for improving calculations of its orbit. Radar measurements of asteroid distances and velocities often enable computation of asteroid orbits much further into the future than if radar observations weren't available.
NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them, and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.
JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects is at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch . More information about asteroid radar research is at: http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/ . More information about the Deep Space Network is at: http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn .
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/f8Fw0plyMW0/130219163001.htm
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Canada's wholesale slump confirms bad ending to 2012
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian wholesale trade shrank more than expected in December in the latest sign the economy is sputtering, adding pressure on the government as it seeks to strike a balance between spending cuts and growth-boosting measures in its next budget.
Wholesale trade fell 0.9 percent on a reversal of November's gains in the computer and communications equipment industry, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday.
Market players surveyed by Reuters had forecast, on average, a 0.4 percent drop in wholesale activity in the month.
Wholesale trade was down 0.9 percent by volume and inventories fell 0.6 percent.
The data all but confirms that the economy stalled or even contracted in December. Exports and factory sales were also weak and on Friday, Statscan will release retail sales, the final piece of the puzzle for the month.
"There is little that retail sales can do ... to offset what is likely to be a minor contraction in industry level real GDP for December," said Mazen Issa, a strategist at TD Securities.
"This is especially true when taken together against a backdrop of slowing housing and construction activity," he wrote in a note to clients.
Most economists agree the Bank of Canada's projection of 1 percent annualized fourth-quarter growth is too high. And with the weak hand-off from December, the bank's expectation of 2.3 percent first-quarter growth is also under question.
The central bank acknowledged last month that there was more slack in the economy than it had foreseen and any interest rate hikes were "less imminent".
The disappointing performance will likely weigh on Finance Minister Jim Flaherty as he prepares the Conservative government's 2013 budget, expected in March.
Flaherty has said he sees no need for additional fiscal stimulus and is undecided whether to increase spending on big infrastructure projects. He remains committed to eliminating a small deficit in time for 2015 elections.
The main opposition party, the New Democrats, is urging him to boost infrastructure spending and delay any further cutbacks to ensure the economic expansion continues.
"As federal and provincial governments prepare their budgets, they should invest in needed public services and infrastructure to spur output and employment," said Erin Weir, economist and president of the Progressive Economics Forum.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT
For the first time since June, foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian securities in December, Statscan said in a separate report that showed portfolio investments were down by $1.9 billion ($1.9 billion) from November.
Nonresidents unloaded C$6.7 billion worth of Canadian equities in the month due to cross-border acquisitions and sold C$655 million in Canadian bonds. They added C$4.8 billion in debt securities.
But overall, foreign appetite for Canadian debt remained strong as the country remains a safe haven for investors worried about U.S. budget troubles and uncertainty in Europe.
Charles St-Arnaud, economist at Nomura Global Economics, said the details of the report were much better than the headline, after taking into account special factors affecting equity and flows into some government-guaranteed bonds.
"Once those factors are removed, inflows into Canadian securities were about C$8.4 billion, higher than the average over the past 12 months," he said.
"There is evidence that Canadian assets have once again benefited from some ?safe haven' flows amid the fiscal cliff negotiations."
In 2012 as a whole, foreigners bought C$83.2 billion in Canadian securities, down from C$97.3 billion in 2011.
($1=$1.01 Canadian)
(Reporting by Louise Egan; Editing by Janet Guttsman and Grant McCool)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-december-wholesale-trade-falls-0-9-percent-133142779--business.html
Video: Steve Harvey on relationships: ?Keep it fresh?
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Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50846610/
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An American Pope? Buzz Grows In Rome For Cardinal O?Malley
Audio report (above) is WBUR reporter Deborah Becker?s full conversation with John Allen, the National Catholic Reporter?s Vatican correspondent. Text report (below) by WBUR?s Newsroom.
Cardinal Sean P. O?Malley, left, speaks to reporters in 2008. (AP)
BOSTON ? As Catholic cardinals head to Rome next week to say goodbye to Pope Benedict XVI, some Italian commentators are suggesting that Boston Cardinal Sean O?Malley could be a candidate for the papacy.
Vatican reporter John Allen, with the National Catholic Reporter, says several Italian news reports mention O?Malley as a possible successor, praising his handling of the church sex abuse scandal despite criticism from victim advocates in Massachusetts.
Last week, O?Malley has made it clear that he is not interested in becoming pope, saying ?it?s a very, very challenging position and it?s a very lonely position. It?s a very difficult task.?
?I haven?t lost sleep about it and I have bought a round-trip ticket, so I?m counting on coming home,? O?Malley added.
Allen reported that before now, an American was rarely considered for the?position.
?For a long time, conventional wisdom held that an American could not be elected to the Throne of Peter because you can?t have a ?superpower pope,? ? Allen wrote for the National Catholic Reporter. ?In the early 21st century, however, some of the air has gone out of that bias, because the United States is no longer the world?s lone superpower.?
The Boston Archdiocese declined to comment on the news.
Source: http://feeds.wbur.org/~r/wbur_news/boston/~3/n0GL-fOmEAE/cardinal-omalley-pope
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Little audience for 'Zero Dark Thirty' in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Pakistan stars in "Zero Dark Thirty," from early scenes at a detention site to the dramatic closing minutes as Navy SEALs assault the hideout of Osama bin Laden. But the Academy Award-nominated film about the hunt for the al-Qaida leader has sparked a controversy here about its portrayal of the country, and it will likely not be shown on the local big screen anytime soon.
Partly, the film taps into national discomfort that bin Laden was found to be living for years near Pakistan's equivalent of West Point, and anger over the U.S. decision to enter its airspace and raid the compound without giving advance notice. Doubts about whether bin Laden was really hiding out for years in the city of Abbottabad are also common across Pakistan, a country where conspiracy theories often have more weight than fact.
But Pakistanis who have seen the film on DVD or Internet downloads are also making much of what they say are factual errors.
Nadeem F. Paracha, a columnist for the English language newspaper Dawn and a cultural critic in Pakistan, noted that in some scenes characters speak Arabic, whereas Pakistanis in fact speak Urdu or Pashto or one of the tens of other languages found here.
In other scenes protesters get right up to the U.S. Embassy gates when in reality the embassy is situated in an enclosed diplomatic enclave that demonstrators can't access. Some scenes that were supposed to show the frontier city of Peshawar looked more like 19th century Delhi in India.
"How can you make a Hollywood blockbuster, put in so much money and get simple things wrong?" Paracha asked. "Instead of the film being taken seriously, it became a joke among Pakistanis."
The movie traces the arc of the CIA's decade-long hunt for bin Laden through the eyes of a young female analyst, who spends most of her time ostensibly in Pakistan. Screenwriter Mark Boal visited Pakistan to do research, but the movie scenes were not shot here.
One scene that also raises questions shows a vaccination worker going to the compound door as part of the American plan to get DNA samples from the bin Laden family. The U.S. did in fact run a fake hepatitis campaign, but in the movie it's portrayed as an attempt to vaccinate against polio. This could add suspicion to polio workers already facing attacks by militants in the tribal agencies.
Pakistan has only a few movie theaters that show English-language films, and none so far has aired "Zero Dark Thirty." All films shown at cinemas must be approved by a board of censors, and the head of the censor board, Dr. Raja Mustafa Hyder, said no distributor has applied for permission to show the film.
Whether or not it would actually make it past the censor board is another question, considering that a representative of the powerful Pakistani military sits on the board.
After it came out that bin Laden had been living in Abbottabad and that the military failed to detect the American raiding party coming to get him, the once-revered Pakistan army found itself on the defensive. The film also highlights the cooperation between the C.I.A. and Pakistan's intelligence agency during the early years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the United States, a potentially embarrassing topic in a country with such vehement anti-American sentiment.
Jamshed Zafar, one of the leading importers and distributors of foreign films in Pakistan, said he decided after discussions with friends that it wasn't worth importing "Zero Dark Thirty."
"If you get into such controversy, you not only lose money but your reputation is also at stake," he said.
Any distributor or movie house that showed the movie might also be courting trouble with the public. Last year during demonstrations against an anti-Islam film crowds of right-wing Islamic hardliners burned some movie houses.
The fact that neighboring India ? Pakistan's archenemy ? substituted for many of the Pakistani street scenes has also raised concerns, said Rashid Khawaja, a Lahore-based film producer and distributor.
Until recently it was possible to purchase a DVD of the film in Islamabad. But at least two stores in the capital said in recent days that they stopped selling it because of rumors it had been banned. Another store was still selling the movie ? albeit under the counter.
In Abbottabad, the DVD is available at local video stores but hasn't sold particularly well.
"This movie is about Osama and Abbottabad, and still I honestly say people living here are not showing much interest in it," said Akhtar Hussain.
Even in the city where people could hear the Navy SEALs as they swooped in on helicopters and flew away with bin Laden's body, there's still disbelief he was living so close.
College student Raheel Ahmed said he watched "Zero Dark Thirty" and came away thinking the movie's intent was to praise President Barack Obama.
"I don't know whether Osama was here," he said, "but Americans have defamed us by producing the movie."
___
Associated Press writers Aqeel Ahmed in Abbottabad and Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/little-audience-zero-dark-thirty-pakistan-204225370.html
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Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The Obama Administration's 10-Year Plan to Map the Entire Human Brain
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