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Bertrand Cantat Quebec play role sparks immigration row
The 900kg Curiosity – also called the Mars Science Laboratory – will be lowered on to Mars with tethers slung from a rocket-powered “sky-crane”.
Making as few changes as possible to this landing architecture for 2018 is considered an imperative if costs on the whole venture are to be constrained.
Despite the reorganisation, the goals of the 2018 mission opportunity would stay broadly the same.
These would be to look for signs of past or present life by digging down into the soil; and packaging, or caching, rocks that can be picked up and despatched to Earth laboratories by a subsequent mission.
In what are acknowledged to be difficult financial times, America and Europe are both having to reassess how they explore the Solar
One thing that couldn't be simulated, though, was genuine weightlessness. The Mercury crew were run through the parabolic flights that allowed less than a minute of free-fall that simulated weightlessness – sometimes with a mock-up capsule on board.
By the time of the Apollo missions, a system of cables and pulleys on an inclined plane was designed to allow trainees to get a feel for gravity one-sixth that of Earth – the same feeling the Moon's surface would provide.
But what has served legions of astronauts has been the world's largest indoor pool: the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Texas.
Fully-suited astronauts can be weighted such that they neither rise nor sink in the best Earth-bound approximation to the weightlessness of
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An oddball blend of crime tale and backstage comedy, Henry’s Crime is a deadpan delight, an unexpected treat that offers the fire-and-ice teaming of Keanu Reeves and Vera Farmiga – as well as Reeves and James Caan.
Reeves is Henry Torne (and that name wasn’t chosen for nothing), a toll-taker in a dead-end job whose life isn’t going anywhere either. He lives in Buffalo (again, a deliberate choice) with his long-time girlfriend Deb (Judy Greer), who grabs him when he comes home from work one day for “the talk” – and is in the middle of a discussion about wanting kids when there’s a knock on the door.
It’s not opportunity knocking, however – just an old acquaintance named Eddie (Fisher Stevens), who wants Eddie to fill in for an upchucking pal named Joe (Danny Hoch) in a softball game. Never mind that it’s November.
In fact, Eddie is the leader of a group that’s about to rob a bank – but the only one who gets nabbed is Henry, brought along to drive the getaway car without really knowing it. When Henry refuses to talk to the police about his confederates (out of some misguided sense of loyalty), he winds up with three years in
As the clock ticks down towards a possible government shutdown, or another continuing resolution to put a band-aid on a gaping fiscal hole, our country needs its elected leaders to put aside their intellectual differences and perform the duty that they were elected for. Yet the logjam that has beset the federal government is not a new phenomenon; our very political institutional framework often restrains policy-makers from taking such swift, far-reaching action, even in times of need.
American democracy has layers of power and responsibility, which James Madison rationalized in Federalist, no. 51 as a check against possible tyrannical rule. Our Founding Fathers saw fit to divide power between two strata- state and
After writing four Spellman Files novels, I wanted to try something new and challenging for my next book. I might have overshot the mark. I had the perverse idea of collaborating on a murder mystery with David Hayward, an obscure former poet whose creative sensibilities are vastly different from my own. We agreed to write alternating chapters and to include our notes to each other at the end of each
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Three friends never seem to work. One person always gets excluded in one way or another. I just moved to a new town where my husband grew up in a state different from the one I grew up in and went to school. I am an only child and my parents divorced when I was
HuffPost’s Howard Fineman appeared on ‘The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell’ Wednesday night to discuss the politics of a government shutdown.
“I think what this is a battle over here, Lawrence, is for the hearts and minds of independent fair-minded voters, and believe me, there’s still a few of them left in this country,” explained Fineman.
He went on to express that he thinks “a fair number of them [members of the Tea Party] are going to celebrate if there’s a shutdown.”
Speaking about the President’s role in the budget negotiations, Fineman said, “I think that the President needs to project the sense that whatever happens he’s going to try to be in charge of the situation.”
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My name is Taylor Crowe, I’m 29 years old, I have autism, and I’m an artist. I also travel the country giving presentations about what life with autism has been like for me.
I’ve been interested in art since I was in elementary school. As a child I loved going to art museums — I was fascinated by the brushstrokes in the paintings. I enjoyed each artist’s choice of media and how they were applied and manipulated on the paper and
Source:Associated Press
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SAN ANTONIO — Manu Ginobili knows fortunes can change quickly in the NBA.Last week, the Spurs were in jeopardy of losing the top seed in the Western Conference to the Los Angeles Lakers after dropping six straight games.Now, San Antonio has home-court advantage throughout the West playoffs after Ginobili scored 25 points in a 124-92 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.The Spurs improved their NBA-best record to 60-19 and clinched home-court advantage throughout the West playoffs later Wednesday when the Lakers lost at Golden State.
Fast Facts
• The Spurs became the first team this season to reach 60 wins. It’s the fourth 60-win season in team history and third since drafting Tim Duncan in 1997.
• San Antonio has won three straight games since its six-game losing streak.
• The Kings entered Wednesday having won six of their previous eight games.
• The only other teams with three 60-win seasons since 1997 are the Lakers and Mavericks (three each).
– ESPN Stats & Information
“We knew we weren’t going to lose every single game [the rest of the way],” Ginobili said. “We had a few good games we just couldn’t win. We had a better schedule over the last three games. We won an important game in Atlanta and we got lucky that the Lakers lost to the Jazz.”George Hill scored 12 of his 19 points during the third quarter, when the Spurs outscored the Kings by 20 in their best offensive quarter of the season.”[After the first half], I knew we needed some fire coming off the bench,” Hill said. “I just tried to be aggressive and give a spark. I think it helped and got other people involved, too.”Tyreke Evans led the Kings with 16 points and rookie DeMarcus Cousins added 15 points and 10 rebounds.San Antonio held Sacramento to 36 percent shooting in the third (9 of 25) and 40 percent for the game.”We didn’t make shots and they did and they got a lot of points off the fast break,” Evans said. “They’re a veteran team and they know how to finish. They make a lot of high percentage shots. They cut hard and swing the ball side to side. They set picks and make the defense move side to side. It’s hard.”The 32-point victory is the largest for the Spurs this season, surpassing the 30-point win over Miami in March.San Antonio has won three straight after losing six in a row. San Antonio also has a two-game lead over the Chicago Bulls for the NBA’s top seed.The Spurs had their best-shooting quarter of the season in the third to push past the visiting Kings, scoring a season-high 41 points and shooting a season-best 82 percent (14 of 17) to outscore the Kings by 20 and take a 92-70 lead.San Antonio, which made just one 3-pointer against Atlanta on Tuesday, shot 63 percent (12 of 19), with Ginobili going 4 of 6 from beyond the arc.The Spurs were aggressive, attacking the basket more against the Kings, and used good ball movement to find the open man for high-percentage shots.”In the first half, everything was working,” Sacramento center Samuel Dalembert said. “That’s how the game goes. The Spurs weren’t missing anything and they pulled away from us.”Dalembert finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.Rookie Gary Neal added 14 points off the bench for the Spurs.With the Spurs clinging to a two-point lead after Dalembert’s jumper early in the third, Ginobili’s 3-pointer ignited a 20-6 run that was the turning point in the game.The Kings held a four-point lead late in the second, but Ginobili scored on consecutive dunks off turnovers by the Kings and fed a wide-open Hill under the basket that helped the Spurs regain a 51-49 lead at halftime and fueled the third quarter surge.Ginobili said Saturday’s game against the Jazz is huge to keep the momentum going and keep the confidence level high in the locker room.”We know we have a big chance on Saturday against the Jazz,” he said. “We were a little worried [during our losing streak]. We knew it wasn’t the end of the world to finish second, but at the same time after the kind of season we had, we wanted it. We got a great opportunity, it’s not over yet, and we definitely want to get the next one.”Tony Parker scored 15 points and Tim Duncan had 12 points for the Spurs.
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Five things you may or may not know about sea turtles: They can live 80 years or longer. They’re important to ocean and beach ecologies. They’re immune to (and happily feed on) deadly box jellyfish. All seven species worldwide are either endangered or critically
New York — The business executives and bankers at the Bloomberg New Energy Summit are living in a world in which Bank of America CEO Chad Holliday says he discourages companies he loans to from investing in mountaintop-removal mining. The panels — a blend of Americans, Canadians, Europeans, and Asians — wrestle thoughtfully with the question of how to bring down the financing cost of wind and solar projects, which are far higher in the U.S. than in Europe and vastly higher than in China. They take seriously the graphs showing how rapidly the costs of renewable energy have been coming
Source:Associated Press
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MIAMI — The final sliver of postseason hope for the Milwaukee Bucks went away Wednesday night, that long-expected word coming while they played the Miami Heat.They were undeterred — and wound up dealing Miami a fairly severe blow.John Salmons scored 17 points before leaving late in the game with a head gash that needed 12 stitches, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute added 14 points and 12 rebounds, and the Bucks beat the Heat 90-85 about an hour or so after they were eliminated from playoff contention.”We knew sooner or later that was going to come, but that lets you know where we stand as a team — as competitors also,” Bucks forward Drew Gooden said.The Bucks only trailed for 9 minutes, 46 seconds against the Heat, who were 3-0 against Milwaukee this season.And just because the Bucks are out doesn’t mean they won’t have a say in the Eastern Conference race: They knocked the Heat a half-game back of Boston in the chase for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.”Nobody said this was going to be easy,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.Good thing.Even if Miami (54-24) wins its final four games, it will need the Celtics to lose at least twice in order to pass them in the standings. Boston holds the tiebreaker over the Heat by having won all three meetings this season; the fourth is Sunday in Miami.Carlos Delfino’s 3-pointer with 24 seconds left helped seal it for the Bucks, who got 14 points from Corey Maggette and 10 from Keyon Dooling.LeBron James scored 29 points for Miami, which played without injured guard Dwyane Wade, the NBA’s No. 3 scorer. Chris Bosh added 18 for the Heat, who had no one else reach double figures.Miami shot only 41 percent, and its 16 turnovers led to 18 Milwaukee points.”Every time you play them, it’s going to be one of those grind-it-out tough games,” James said. “They make it very physical. … I’ve played against Scott Skiles teams when he was in Chicago and now in Milwaukee, and it’s always the same effort.”The Bucks were officially eliminated when Indiana beat Washington. The Pacers wrapped up the last available East postseason spot later Wednesday when Orlando topped Charlotte in overtime.So the Bucks became spoilers, and played the role to perfection.”You don’t want to take anything away from it,” Skiles said. “The reality is that we got eliminated tonight.”The fifth and final lead change came with 2:27 left, when Delfino hit a 3-pointer for an 81-79 lead.With the Milwaukee lead at four, James scored the next three Miami points, but the Heat lost a chance to take the lead when Mike Bibby was called for an illegal screen with 41 seconds left. Delfino’s third 3-pointer came 17 seconds later, dooming Miami.”It was a shot that they gave me and I’ve got confidence from all of my teammates, the coaches and everybody,” Delfino said. “And I just made it.”Down by as many as 14 in the first half, Miami got within one with 3:56 remaining until intermission on a dunk by Joel Anthony. Milwaukee scored the next four points, making it 45-40.It stayed that way for about 30 minutes, in real time anyway.Neither team scored in the final 2:45 of the half — the Bucks were 0 for 6 in that span, Miami 0 for 5. After the break, James ended the drought with an 18-footer with 11:02 left in the third.Milwaukee’s drought lasted another 1:33, snapped only when Delfino beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer that put the Bucks up 48-44. That was a theme for much of the night: When the Heat had a chance to take the lead, they usually came up empty, including on seven such possessions in the second and third quarters.Then in the fourth, Miami shot 7 for 21, with Bosh missing six of his nine shots, James four of his six. Perhaps illustrating how much they missed Wade, the starting Heat backcourt on Wednesday of Bibby and James Jones not only didn’t score in the fourth quarter, but didn’t even attempt a shot.”You have to give credit to their defense,” Bosh said. “They play good defense. … Things are going to happen like that sometimes.”Game notes Skiles pointed to the large high-definition video board hanging over midcourt in the first quarter, trying to plead his case that referees had botched a foul call. “HD nowadays. That’s not a foul,” Skiles said, to no avail. … Mike Miller and Anthony became Miami’s first pair of reserves to grab 10 or more rebounds in the same game since Matt Geiger and Rony Seikaly did it against the Clippers on Jan. 8, 1994. … Mbah a Moute tipped a rebound into the Heat basket in the first quarter. Erick Dampier was credited with the score.
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The unwritten and unspoken story of the budget showdown in Washington is the tale of both parties deliberately working to once again exempt the ever-growing Pentagon from America’s larger budget/deficit discussion.
This is the thrust of the new Republican plan to pass a one-week continuing resolution for non-defense spending and at the same time pass a full year’s status-quo Pentagon budget. Even though military spending is the single largest discretionary spending item in the budget, and even though there are blatant examples of Pentagon waste fraud and abuse, the GOP’s proposal nonetheless insists that the Pentagon must be sacrosanct.
Meanwhile, whether deliberately or inadvertently, President Obama’s tactic of citing soldier pay as the main reason to avoid a government shutdown reinforces the same embedded militarist ideology as the GOP budget proposal. It goes without saying, of course, that, delaying troop pay would be regrettable. But citing the military as the primary reason to avoid a government shutdown furthers the notion that somehow the largest discretionary budget item is the only budget item that should be considered Holy and therefore
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