Thursday, June 19, 2008
Buffalo, New York —Judge Justice Christopher Burns of the New York State Supreme Court has ordered a halt to an emergency demolition on a 19th century stable and livery on 428-430 Jersey Street in Buffalo, New York that partially collapsed on Wednesday June 11, initially causing at least 15 homes to be evacuated. At least two homes remain evacuated.
Burns orders that both the city and the group Save The Livery (www.savethelivery.com) have to come to an agreement on what to do with the building, and try to work out ways of saving at least some portions if it including the facade, side walls and a lift tower. Save The Livery is comprised of concerned area residents who have grown to love the building’s historic and unique character. On June 14, they won a temporary restraining order to stop demolition. The court ruled that the city was only allowed to remove material in immediate danger to residents and pedestrians, but stated that the demolition could only be performed with “hand tools.” The court also ordered that any rubble which had fallen into neighboring yards when the building collapsed, to be removed.
“It is in the interest of the city to have a safe environment–but also important to maintain a sense of historical preservation,” stated Burns in his ruling. Burns has given the sides until tomorrow (Friday June 20) to come to an agreement and has ordered both parties to return to court at 9:30 a.m. (eastern time) “sharp.” Activists of Save The Livery urge supporters of the stable to “fill the courtroom” to show “continued and ongoing support.” The hearing is scheduled to take place at 25 Delaware Avenue in the Supreme Court building, 3rd Floor, trial part 19.
Currently the building is owned by Bob Freudenheim who has several building violations against him because of the buildings poor condition. He has received at least five violations in three months and residents who live near the building state that Freudenheim should be “100% responsible” for his actions. Many are afraid that if the building is demolished, Freudenheim’s charges of neglect will be abolished.
On June 17, developer and CEO of Savarino Companies, Sam Savarino was at the site of the stable, discussing the building with residents and preservationists. In 2006, Savarino proposed and planned The Elmwood Village Hotel, a ‘botique’ hotel on the Southeast corner of Elmwood and Forest Avenues. The project was later withdrawn after residents filed a lawsuit against Savarino and the city. Wikinews extensively covered the story, and contacted Savarino for his professional opinion on the building.
“[I would] love to see it preserved. I was there to see if there was anything we could do to help, to see if anything can be salvaged. I just want to see the right thing happen, and so does the city,” stated Savarino to Wikinews who added that he was allowed inside the building for a brief period.
“The side walls are beyond repair. The roof has rotted and it could come down at any time,” added Savarino who also said that the building “below the second floor appears to be stable.” He also states that the back wall of the building, which borders several homes, appears to be intact.
“Eliminating the back wall could be a problem for the neighbors. It is not unreasonable to leave at least 12 feet” of the back wall standing, added Savarino.
Savarino did not say if he was interested in buying the property, but did state, “I am sure there are a couple of people interested” in buying the property. On Thursday, Buffalo News reported that a “businessman” might be interested in purchasing the property, though Wikinews is not able to independently confirm the report. Savarino says that with the property still slated for emergency demolition, a potential buyer could face tax fees of nearly US$300,000.
Freudenheim gave the city permission to demolish the building on Thursday June 12 during an emergency Preservation Board meeting, because he would not be “rehabilitating the building anytime soon.” Freudenheim, along with his wife Nina, were part-owners of the Hotel Lenox at 140 North Street in Buffalo and were advocates to stop the Elmwood Village Hotel. They also financially supported a lawsuit in an attempt to stop the hotel from being built. Though it is not known exactly how long Freudenheim has owned the stable, Wikinews has learned that he was the owner while fighting to stop the hotel from being built. Residents say that he has been the owner for at least 22 years.
The building was first owned by a company called White Bros. and was used as a stable for a farm which once covered the land around the building for several blocks. The Buffalo Fire Department believes the building was built around 1814, while the city property database states it was built in 1870. Servants and workers of the farm were housed inside resident quarters situated at the rear of the building on what is now Summer Street, but are now cottages where area residents currently reside. Some date as far back as 1829.
At about 1950, the stable was converted into an automobile body shop and gasoline station.A property record search showed that in 1950 at least four fuel storage tanks were installed on the property. Two are listed as 550 square feet while the other two are 2,000 square feet. All of the tanks are designated as a TK4, which New York State says is used for “below ground horizontal bulk fuel storage.” The cost of installing a tank of that nature according to the state, at that time, included the tank itself, “excavation and backfill,” but did not include “the piping, ballast, or hold-down slab orring.” It is not known if the tanks are still on the property, but residents are concerned the city was not taking the precautions to find out.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
As winds in the UK reach 124 mph, a Spanish fishing trawler is missing off the coast of Scotland and three people have died in northern Britain.
The UK Coastguard received an emergency beacon signal via satellite at 2330 UTC last night from a boat in the North Atlantic, 180 miles west of Scotland. No voice radio traffic had been received since the ship’s owners talked to the captain at 2030, when the crew reported that they were in difficulties and were losing power. There are 19 crew members on board, five Spansish and fourteen Portuguese. An RAF Nimrod search aircraft is due on-scene at dawn to search for the vessel.
Two lorries have been blown over. In Scotland, the lorry fell onto a car, killing the driver. In Northern Ireland, the lorry was blown off a bridge into the sea, killing the driver of the lorry. A third person died in Scotland when a van was blown into the path of an on-coming lorry.
Across Scotland, 60,000 people are without power, many roads are blocked by fallen trees, trains are not running and ferries are restricted to port. The Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in northern England has suffered superficial damage.
- “STORNOWAY COASTGUARD COORDINATE SEARCH FOR MISSING SPANISH FISHING VESSEL” — UK Coastguard, January 12, 2005
- “Three die as storms batter UK” — BBC News, January 12, 2005
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Tuesday, September 4, 2012London, England— Yesterday, following a three–nil loss to the United States, Wikinews interviewed Tyan Taylor of Australia’s national goalball team.
The sport was created in 1946, exclusively for people with a visual disability and, designed to help with the rehabilitation of veterans returning from World War II. Play in the Paralympics consists of two twelve-minute periods, with a three minute break between halves. Players are blindfolded to ensure all are equally visually handicapped on-court; and, the game can be stopped to ensure goggles are properly fitted. Standing in front of a long goal, they throw the ball at the opposition team’s net who in turn try to block it by listening to the ball, which contains a bell, and using their bodies to prevent the ball from going in. The audience is asked to remain silent during play.
Australia went into their match against the US having lost 1–3 to both Japan and Canada. They have one game left to play at the London Paralympics against Sweden, who have lost 1–5 to the United States, tied Japan 0–0 and beaten Canada 2–1.
((Laura Hale)) You guys weren’t expecting to qualify. The APC [Australian Paralympic Committee] has been developing you [the team, for Rio]. Are you happy with the fact? Do you feel prepared for Rio?
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Tyan Taylor: Yes, the APC’s, for us, [planned] development for Rio. That’s what they have as the goal, to make us qualify for Rio. So it was a bit of a spanner in the works when we qualified for London; but, it’s been a massive experience here for us and we have stepped up from qualifying in Sydney in November to where we are now, to God know where we’re going to be for Rio. We are all pumped and excited for our team just to keep developing.
((WN)) Two of you were dating, or involved with, men on the national team. Were they here to watch you?
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TT: Yes! We’ve got some of our Aussie men as supporters in the crowd. Meica’s husband and Nicole’s husband as well. And we have our first mate Robbie, he’s also part of the men’s team. They’ve been with us and they’ve been supporting us since pretty much the start, so we’re doing it on behalf of them as well.
((WN)) I know that some of your players look shattered, but do you guys feel the importance? You’re the first Australian team to actually qualify on your own to enter the goalball programme.
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TT: Yeah! I mean, some team members tried qualifying for Beijing, unfortunately we were unsuccessful. So, I think, some of us having only played the sport for three years and to qualify for London is just a massive achievement. We are grabbing every opportunity that we can, and putting everything on the table for each game.
((WN)) Are you going to try playing more international competitions, so you don’t have that big lag like you did last time?
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TT: Hopefully, we get more international competitions, exposure – I suppose – with that, but we’ve grown so much with the little amount of international exposure we’ve had so I think we’re going to take it and roll with that.
((WN)) You’re going to get a medal in Rio?
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TT: Hopefully we’ll medal! We always look for the medals but you never know what is going to happen, so…
((WN)) Are you enjoying your time here?
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TT: Yes! Absolutely loving it! Awesome! The crowd are just insane! It’s great. We are all having an absolute awesome time.
((Laura Hale)) Do you have anything else you’d like to share with with us?((Hawkeye7)) Like the [mismatched] yellow and green socks as a fashion statement?
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TT: Yeah! Yellow and green socks are… Meica in our team started that fashion. So we thought we’d all. The green and the gold.
((WN)) On a strategy thing, the US team stood up most of the time, but do you intentionally play differently, or is it just a style preference?
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TT: For some people it’s a style preference. For some… I guess it’s more of a style preference. We all stand up between penalties but each to their own really in competitions like this.
((WN)) It’s exceptionally fun to watch, having never seen this sport before. Thank you very much.
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TT: That’s alright!
((Hawkeye7)) Good luck with Rio!
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TT: Thank you very much.
By Frank Yaconis
Did you know that the global phenomenon of drinking Nopalea juice as a remedy for everything from hangovers to diabetes is nothing new? For centuries, natives of Mexico and other parts of North America have sought medicinal benefits from the prickly pear cactus.
In fact, the cactus is on the Mexican flag. Look closely and you can see the brilliant red flowers of the cactus where the eagle sits.
It is thought that use of the prickly pear cactus for food and medicine dates back to the time of the Aztecs. The cactus is also called Opuntia and Nopal or Nopales, which is how the juice derived its name of Nopalea.
Native Americans and Mexicans can probably trace use of the plant back to their ancestors.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clV2DgYpbKc[/youtube]
When the cactus blooms, it erupts into gorgeous red, purple or yellow blossoms. The soaring cactus can reach up to 20 feet high. The Prickly Pear Cactus has been discovered to be an antioxidant rich plant that also contains anti-inflammatory properties. Researchers say that the prickly pear cactus is part of a few plant species that contain a pigment called betalains.
Betalains are a natural antioxidant and help detoxify the body. Ingesting juice and eating flesh from the cactus helps reduce cholesterol and blood sugar levels, as well. Betalains inhibit a special enzyme that otherwise is believed to increase inflammation in the body. Betalains are rare, but can be found in a few other foods, such as quinoa and beets. There are many studies to see if betalains can reduce inflammation in the body which would lead to its powerful affect on other serious diseases linked to inflammation such as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
In addition it is thought that many other serious conditions are caused by inflammation including arthritis, allergies and fibromyalgia.
There are thousands of ways to ingest the plant. One way is to eat the pads, which are called Nopalitos — meaning cactus stem. In addition, the fruit — or pear — of the cactus is edible. The beautiful pads are usually a green or purple and the fruit blossoms into yellow, red or purple flowers.
The pads can be grilled, boiled or fried and are said to taste a bit like green beans or asparagus. Some people like to serve the cactus as a vegetable so they don’t add many other ingredients, just a bit of butter or even vegetable or olive oil. The plant’s flesh is also used as a staple, like tortillas in other foods. It is made into a jelly. It is used in tacos, in candy making, you name it, you can find Nopal cactus in a variety of Mexican traditioanl foods.
You can cook them up and serve them like bacon with some eggs. The plant is added to salad. It is especiall popular to serve them with eggs, salsa and tortillas, much like you would see with huevos rancheros, except it would be called huevos con nopales.
Just like teh juice, the pads contain a host of nutritious properties, maybe even more than a vegetable would be. They are extremely fibrous — high in dietary fiber. In addition, the cactus is overflowing with numerous vitamins: A, B6, C and K. It also contains minerals including iron, potassium and magnesium.
Drinking Nopalea juice is a healthy, all natural way to get all these important vitamins and minerals and possibly prevent future diseases, all at the same time.
About the Author: Frank Yocanis has been researching and writing about the health benefits of
What is Nopalea
for the past decade. He has even traveled to the Sonoran desert half a dozen times to study
Nopalea Drink
in the plant’s homeland. He is excited to share how this antioxidant-rich drink can change your life.
Source:
isnare.com
Permanent Link:
isnare.com/?aid=705940&ca=Wellness%2C+Fitness+and+Diet
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Tuesday, November 17, 2020
On November 16, code-sharing and hosting service GitHub re-enabled the public access to youtube-dl repository, a software which can download videos from the internet via the command-line. This move comes after Mitchell Stoltz, a Senior Staff Attorney of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), sent a letter to GitHub on the behalf of youtube-dl’s maintainers. The repository was previously blocked on October 23, after GitHub received a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take-down notice from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Started in July 2008, youtube-dl is a free/libré open source software written in Python which can download videos from various websites. Citing alleged violation of 17 U.S. Code § 1201 Circumvention of copyright protection systems, RIAA’s takedown notice had alleged youtube-dl was intended to circumvent the technological protection measures of streaming services and to redistribute music videos without authorisation. youtube-dl’s source code had a number of unit tests to check if the software works in different circumstances or not. Some of the test cases included URLs of some copyrighted songs.
In the letter to GitHub, EFF’s attorney Stoltz said “This file contains series of automated tests that verify the functionality of youtube-dl for streaming various types of video. The youtube-dl source code does not, of course, contain copies of these songs or any others […] the unit tests do not cause a permanent download or distribution of the songs they reference; they merely stream a few seconds of each song to verify the operation of youtube-dl. Streaming a small portion of a song in a non-permanent fashion to test the operation of an independently created software program is a fair use.” The letter stressed “youtube-dl does not decrypt video streams that are encrypted with commercial DRM technologies”.
The URLs to copyrighted songs were removed from the source code on November 16, and replaced with a test video that uploaded on YouTube by Philipp Hagemeister, former maintainer of youtube-dl. Philipp Hagemeister had previously spoken about the takedown with Wikinews.
youtube-dl comes with a small JavaScript interpreter where it acts as a web-browser would behave while receiving video data from the server. The script has “extractors” for various websites to handle videos from different sources. “Any software capable of running JavaScript code can derive the URL of the video stream and access the stream, regardless of whether the software has been approved by YouTube”, the letter read. It borrowed an analogy of Doors of Durin from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings for explanation: travelers come upon a door that has writing in a foreign language. When translated, the writing says “say ‘friend’ and enter.” The travelers say “friend” and the door opens. As with the writing on that door, YouTube presents instructions on accessing video streams to everyone who comes asking for it.
Hours after the public access was restored, Sergey M, one of the maintainers of youtube-dl wrote on GitHub, “We would like to thank @github for standing up for youtube-dl and making it possible to continue development without dropping any features. We appreciate [GitHub] for taking potential legal risks in this regard. We would also like to thank [EFF] and personally [Mitch Stoltz] for invaluable legal help. We would also like to heartily thank our main website hoster Uberspace who is currently being sued in Germany for hosting our essentially business card website and who have already spent thousands of Euros in their legal defense.”
Hours after GitHub restored the public access to the repository, Stoltz tweeted “I think of youtube-dl as a successor to the videocassette recorder. The VCR empowered people to take control of their personal use of free-to-air video, but it had to be saved from the copyright cartel. The same goes for youtube-dl. GitHub did the right thing here.”
youtube-dl is used by thousands of people around the world. Multiple Creative Commons-licensed and public domain videos on Wikimedia Commons are uploaded via a tool called video2commons, which relies on youtube-dl to download media. youtube-dl also lets users download videos from LiveLeak — a video-sharing platform for citizen journalism. Videos downloaded using youtube-dl are also used for the purpose of fair use, or for evidence. When a copyright holder chooses to release their work, be it a photograph, a video, or audio, under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, they allow everyone to freely own, share or modify the work as long as the reusers properly attribute the author of the work. YouTube also hosts many audio and video recordings in the public domain which can be used for any purpose without any restrictions.
In the blog post announcing “youtube-dl is back”, GitHub said, “Although we did initially take the project down, we understand that just because code can be used to access copyrighted works doesn’t mean it can’t also be used to access works in non-infringing ways. We also understood that this project’s code has many legitimate purposes, including changing playback speeds for accessibility, preserving evidence in the fight for human rights, aiding journalists in fact-checking, and downloading Creative Commons-licensed or public domain videos.”
GitHub also announced any new 1201 takedown notices will be “carefully scrutinised by legal experts” to reject “unwarranted claims”, and said it will side with software developers if the claims are ambiguous. The announcement also mentioned GitHub Trust and Safety team would treat developer’s tickets as a “top priority”. GitHub also pledged donation of USD 1 million for developer defense fund “to help protect open source developers on GitHub from unwarranted DMCA Section 1201 takedown claims”.
GitHub had blocked public access to many forks of youtube-dl upon receiving the DMCA notice in October. At that time, Wikinews noted public access was not yet restored for the forked repositories listed in RIAA’s copyright notice and was still displays “Repository unavailable due to DMCA takedown”.
During the period when GitHub had disabled public access for the repository, Sergey M had been developing youtube-dl and hosting it on GitLab, another code-sharing and hosting site. However, since GitHub has restored public access of youtube-dl, Sergey M has made the GitLab repository private.
After this, Wikinews reached out to Richard Stallman, the founder of Free Software Foundation, who has been highly critical of DRM (digital rights management, the subject of the DMCA) for many years now, to discuss the harms of DRM and DMCA 1201.
[edit]
Monday, September 24, 2007
73,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) union members launched a nationwide strike today against General Motors (GM), the largest auto manufacturer in the United States.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said GM would need to meet pay, health care, and job security issues. Gettelfinge said, “This is nothing we wanted…No one benefits in a strike. But there comes a point where someone can push you off a cliff. That’s what happened here.”
The strike was officially launched at 11 a.m. EDT (UTC-4) today.
Negotiations were reportedly going to occur again this afternoon, but there have been no reports of any negotiating going on from either side.
80 facilities in 30 different states closed today because of the strike.
CNN reports that GM facilities in Mexico and Canada may close soon, too.
The vice president of global vehicle forecasts for CSM Worldwide, Michael Robinet, said today that dealerships in the US likely won’t feel the effects of the strike for several weeks.
A statement from GM today said, “We are disappointed in the UAW’s decision to call a national strike. The bargaining involved complex, difficult issues that affect the job security of our U.S. work force, and the long-term viability of the company. We are fully committed to working with the UAW to develop solutions together to address the competitive challenges facing General Motors. We will continue focusing our efforts on reaching an agreement as soon as possible.”
If the strike continues, UAW strike funds will supply each striker with US$200 a month and medical coverage.
A compilation of brief news reports for Wednesday, January 7, 2009.
Palestinian medical officials report that a United Nations school in Gaza City, which was being used as a shelter for civilians, took a direct hit from an Israeli tank, killing more than 30 Palestinians on the 11th day of the assault. Israeli officials have stated that rocket fire had emerged from within the school. Doctors of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya report that an additional 10 people died at the hospital and they expect an increase in the casualties as more people may be on the way to the hospital.
Sources
- “Strike on Gaza school ‘kills 40′” — BBC News Online, January 6, 2009
- Mark Tran. “Israeli shelling kills dozens at UN school in Gaza” — guardian.co.uk, January 6, 2009
- Nidal al-Mughrabi. “Israeli tank fire kills 40 at U.N. school” — Reuters, January 6, 2009
Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice is due at a United Nations Security Council meeting to help bring an end to the Israeli assault. United States Government officials say that they would like an immediate and stable ceasefire.
“We would like an immediate ceasefire, absolutely… An immediate ceasefire that is durable, sustainable and not time-limited,” said Assistant Secretary of State Sean McCormack.
The Israeli Government, however, does not find the “international pressure” high enough to call a ceasefire. Reports also say that European Union has given a tacit green light to the Israeli assault, because they failed to come against it.
As of today, the total death toll has increased to 600 Palestinians (100 of which are civilians), and 2,700 are wounded.
Sources
- “US calls for immediate, durable Gaza ceasefire” — Reuters, January 6, 2009
- Matthew Lee. “Gov’t: Sec. of State Rice Due at UN on Gaza crisis” — Associated Press, January 6, 2009
- David Blair. “Analysis: Will Israel call a Gaza ceasefire?” — The Daily Telegraph, January 6, 2009
It has been six days since Russia halted the natural gas flow to Ukraine, and therefore to subsequent countries such as Bulgaria, Austria, Turkey, Poland, Romania and Hungary. The Russian natural gas pipeline is the primary source of natural gas for some countries such as Ukraine, Austria and Turkey.
Ukraine is currently in negotiations with Russia in order to restart the gas flow, however Russia has increased the prices from US$179.50 per 1,000 cubic meters to $250 per 1,000 cubic meters for Ukraine.
Austrian Government officials are planning a meeting due to the 90% decrease in natural gas flow coming from Russia. OMV AG reports that Austria has a three-month natural gas reserve which would allow them to get by the winter of 2009. Currently, 51% of Austria’s natural gas comes from Russia and only 18% of their natural gas is produced locally.
The Turkish Government says that Turkey is more time-limited in this crisis, since they only have 5 days of natural gas reserve left. However in this situation, Iran has stated that they will increase gas flow to Turkey.
Sources
- “Gas from Russia is down 90 percent in Austria” — Associated Press, January 6, 2009
- “5 günlük do?algaz stoku var” — Habertürk, January 6, 2009 (Turkish)
- Megan K. Stack. “Russia halts natural gas to Ukraine for third day” — Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2009
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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
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GPS Basic Information
by
GPS or Global Positioning System is a fully functional Global Navigation Satellite System. This system uses an artificial constellation of 24 medium Earth orbit satellites. These satellites transmit microwave signals, thus enabling a GPS receiver to determine its location, speed, direction and time. This system was developed by United States Department of Defense and was named as NAVSTAR GPS which was given by Mr. John Walsh.
This satellite constellation is managed by United States Air Force 50th Space Wing. The cost is approximately 750 US dollars every year, including the maintenance cost, replacement, research and development. After shoot down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in the year 1983, a directive was issued which made the GPS available for civilian use and has been used extensively since then. It has become a very useful tool for making maps, surveying landscapes, commerce and many scientific uses. It also provides time reference which can be used in many applications which include study of earthquake and telecommunication network synchronization.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThEjkmC9mBY[/youtube]
A GPS receiver simply calculates the distance between itself and three more GPS satellite. Each satellite has an atomic clock in it continually transmits certain data containing its exact time, location of the transmitting satellite and the almanac. The receiver then measures the reception time of the signal. Thus the distance to each satellite is known. Knowing three such distances, a trilateration is formed. By using a fourth satellite, need for a clock at receiver is avoided.
The Global Positioning System is used in a variety of Military and Civilian Applications. It allows soldiers find their objectives in a dark or completely unfamiliar territory and coordinate troop movement and supplies. GPS receivers which military personnel use are called Commanders and Soldier Digital Assistants. A combination of GPS and communication through radio enables real time vehicle tracking.
It is also used in marking targets as hostile and enables the precision guided munitions to allow them engage these targets with high accuracy. Air to Ground roles of military aircrafts use GPS to find targets. GPS also allows targeting for military weapons like ICBMs, Cruise missiles, precision guided missile. Artillery based projectiles are embedded with GPS receivers and can withstand forces up to 12,000G. These are used for 155 mm Howitzers. Any Downed pilot can be easily located if he has GPS receiver. It is widely used by military for reconnaissance and mapping. Some GPS satellites also have nuclear detonation detectors.
GPS helps civilians a lot in surveying and navigation. Its ability to calculate local speed and orientation is extremely useful. Time transfer is possible because of its capability to synchronize clock. A widely used example of use of GPS is CDMA digital cell phone. Each base uses a GPS timing receiver to synchronize the codes with different base stations and thus making it easy inter-cellular hand off and thus support emergency phone calls and other many applications. GPS equipment has also revolutionized tectonics by measuring the fault motion during earthquakes.
The two GPS developers, Ivan Getting and Bradford Parkinson have received national academy of Engineering Charles Stark Draper prize during year 2003. Roger L Easton received National Medal for technology on February 13, 2006. Other similar tracking systems are Beidou, which has been developed by China and is proposed to be expanded into COMPASS; Galilieo, which is been developed by European Union along with many other countries like India and China; GLONASS, which is been developed by Russia is fully available in partnership with India; IRNSS is India’s proposed regional system and QZSS which has been proposed by Japan.
This article can be accessed in Portuguese from the Article section of page
polomercantil.com.br/gps.php
Roberto Sedycias works for
PoloMercantil.com.br
Article Source:
eArticlesOnline.com}
Monday, October 11, 2010
Wikinews interviewed author Amy Scobee about her book Scientology – Abuse at the Top, and asked her about her experiences working as an executive within the organization. Scobee joined the organization at age 14, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005. She served as a Scientology executive in multiple high-ranking positions, working out of the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base”, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
What you are about to read is an American life as lived by renowned author Edmund White. His life has been a crossroads, the fulcrum of high-brow Classicism and low-brow Brett Easton Ellisism. It is not for the faint. He has been the toast of the literary elite in New York, London and Paris, befriending artistic luminaries such as Salman Rushdie and Sir Ian McKellen while writing about a family where he was jealous his sister was having sex with his father as he fought off his mother’s amorous pursuit.
The fact is, Edmund White exists. His life exists. To the casual reader, they may find it disquieting that someone like his father existed in 1950’s America and that White’s work is the progeny of his intimate effort to understand his own experience.
Wikinews reporter David Shankbone understood that an interview with Edmund White, who is professor of creative writing at Princeton University, who wrote the seminal biography of Jean Genet, and who no longer can keep track of how many sex partners he has encountered, meant nothing would be off limits. Nothing was. Late in the interview they were joined by his partner Michael Caroll, who discussed White’s enduring feud with influential writer and activist Larry Kramer.