Terrible Towel

Terrible Towel: Pittsburgh Rally Towel Could End Up on New York Landmark

Terrible Towel: Pittsburgh Rally Towel Could End Up on New York Landmark

Terrible Towel: There are many things that will not die in the sports world, the Terrible Towel is one of them. Well it seems that the Steelers long beloved rally towel could grace the Manhattan skyline shortly.

The mayors of New York, Michale Bloomberg, and Pittsburgh, Luke Ravenstahl, have a friendly wager. If the Jets win, Ravenstahl will hang a Jets firefighter helmet on an undisclosed Pittsburgh landmark.

But if the Steelers beat the Jets in the AFC Championship game, Bloomberg will unenthusiastically hang a Terrible Towel from an undisclosed New York City landmark.

So far it is a close one at Heinz Field. The Jets and Steelers are giving their fair share of tight defensive looks. So far, the Steelers lead in the second quarter 7-0. If this keeps up, there will be some mighty angry New York natives come Monday.

News From: bleacherreport.com

Packers Vs. Bears NFC Championship Game

NFC Championship Game, Packers Vs. Bears: Weather And Soldier Field Condition Could Play A Role

We all remember last week at Soldier Field. The turf itself was in poor condition, the sidelines were rock hard and the weather was frigid. Ahead of today’s NFC Championship between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, temperatures are again expected to be frigid, but the field looks to be in better shape, depending on who you believe. Will the conditions in Chicago play a role in today’s game, with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line?

The weather is bone-chillingly cold, but no snow is expected this time around. Unlike last week, Soldier Field looks inviting, basking in the glow of sunlight this morning. When the Seattle Seahawks took the field, they were greeting by a steady snowfall and temperatures dipping into the teens. This time around, the high is expected to be in the teens, with lows perhaps dipping below 10 degrees. There is a chance of snow, but all looks clear for now.

As for the field, the condition is up for debate. If you believe CBS Sports’ Mike Freeman, Soldier Field is in poor condition again, with chunks of sod coming up as players run through warmups. Freeman said the grounds crew was spray painting the sod, comparing it to putting “”http://twitter.com/realfreemancbs/status/29219694518996992" target="new">lipstick on a pig" while noticing what looked like tire tracks on the playing surface.

On the other hand, check out some of the pictures from this morning. The turf had a tarp placed over it, protecting it from the harsh elements. The photos are zoomed out, but it doesn’t look too frightening, though we won’t know how it will hold up until the players actually get on the field.

Keep an eye on Soldier Field and the weather today as the Packers and Bears hit the field in the NFC Championship at noon on Fox.

News From: seattle.sbnation.com

Laser Propulsion Could Beam Rockets into Space

Space launches have evoked the same image for decades: bright orange flames exploding beneath a rocket as it lifts, hovers and takes off into the sky. But an alternative propulsion system proposed by some researchers could change that vision.

Instead of explosive chemical reactions onboard a rocket, the new concept, called beamed thermal propulsion, involves propelling a rocket by shining laser light or microwaves at it from the ground. The technology would make possible a reusable single-stage rocket that has two to five times more payload space than conventional rockets, which would cut the cost of sending payloads into low-Earth orbit.

NASA is now conducting a study to examine the possibility of using beamed energy propulsion for space launches. The study is expected to conclude by March 2011.

In a traditional chemical rocket propulsion system, fuel and oxidizer are pumped into the combustion chamber under high pressure and burnt, which creates exhaust gases that are ejected down from a nozzle at high velocity, thrusting the rocket upwards.

A beamed thermal propulsion system would involve focusing microwave or laser beams on a heat exchanger aboard the rocket. The heat exchanger would transfer the radiation's energy to the liquid propellant, most likely hydrogen, converting it into a hot gas that is pushed out of the nozzle.

"The basic idea is to build rockets that leave their energy source on the ground," says Jordin Kare, president of Kare Technical Consulting, who developed the laser thermal launch system concept in 1991. "You transmit the energy from the ground to the vehicle."

With the beam shining on the vehicle continually, it would take 8 to 10 minutes for a laser to put a craft into orbit, while microwaves would do the trick in 3 to 4 minutes. The vehicle would have to be designed without shiny surfaces that could reflect dangerous beams, and aircraft and satellites would have to be kept out of the beam's path. Any launch system would be built in high-altitude desert areas, so danger to wildlife shouldn't be a concern, Kare says.

Thermal propulsion vehicles would be safer than chemical rockets since they can't explode and don't drop off pieces as they fly. They are also smaller and lighter because most of the complexity is on the ground, which makes them easier and cheaper to launch.

"People can launch small satellites for education, science experiments, engineering tests, etc. whenever they want, instead of having to wait for a chance to share a ride with a large satellite," Kare says.

Another cost advantage comes from larger payload space. While conventional propulsion systems are limited by the amount of chemical energy in the propellant that's released by combustion, in beamed systems you can add more energy externally. That means a spacecraft can gain a certain momentum using less than half the amount of propellant of a conventional system, allowing more room for the payload.

"Usually in a conventional rocket you have to have three stages with a payload fraction of three percent overall," says Kevin Parkin, leader of the Microwave Thermal Rocket project at the NASA Ames Research Center. "This propulsion system will be single stage with a payload fraction of five to fifteen percent."

Having a higher payload space along with a reusable rocket could make beamed thermal propulsion a low-cost way to get material into low Earth orbit, Parkin says.

Parkin developed the idea of microwave thermal propulsion in 2001 and described a laboratory prototype in his 2006 Ph.D. thesis. A practical real-world system should be possible to build now because microwave sources called gyrotrons have transformed in the last five decades, he says. One megawatt devices are now on the market for about a million U.S. dollars.

"They're going up in power and down in cost by orders of magnitude over the last few decades," he says. "We've reached a point where you can combine about a hundred and make a launch system."

Meanwhile, the biggest obstacle to using lasers to beam energy has been the misconception that it would require a very large, expensive laser, Kare says. But you could buy commercially available lasers that fit on a shipping container and build an array of a few hundred. "Each would have its own telescope and pointing system," he says. "The array would cover an area about the size of a golf course."

The smallest real laser launch system would have 25 to 100 megawatts of power while a microwave system would have 100 to 200 megawatts. Building such an array would be expensive, says Kare, although similar to or even less expensive than developing and testing a chemical rocket. The system would make most economic sense if it was used for at least a few hundred launches a year.

In addition, says Parkin, "the main components of the beam facility should last for well over ten thousand hours of operation, typical of this class of hardware, so the savings can more than repay the initial cost."

In the near term, beamed energy propulsion would be useful for putting microsatellites into low Earth orbit, for altitude changes or for slowing down spacecraft as they descend to Earth. But the technology could in the future be used to send missions to the Moon or to other planets and for space tourism.

Kare has looked into the possibility of using lasers to propel interstellar probes for NASA's Institute of Advanced Concepts. A deep space launch would require higher power lasers with larger telescope systems as well as laser relay stations in space. Powering missions over interplanetary distance would require even bigger lasers and telescopes, as well as different propulsion techniques using propellants easier to store than liquid hydrogen.

Sending a spacecraft to a moon of Jupiter, for instance, would require a laser that gives billions of watts of power. "You'd have to have another couple generations of space-based telescopes to do something like that," Kare says. "You can in fact launch an interstellar probe that way but now you're talking about lasers that might be hundreds of billions of Watts of power." Laser technology could reach those levels in another 50 years, he says.

Story From: www.space.com

Program called My Coke Rewards

Coca-Cola bottle caps could lead to supplies for schools Program called My Coke Rewards

Some area schools are looking to Coca-Cola products to help them get supplies and equipment.

Through a program called My Coke Rewards — which allows Coke drinkers to redeem points found on bottle caps for products and free drinks — points can now be donated to schools for supplies like sports equipment, crayons and markers, bulletin boards, DVDs and much more.

West Nodaway High School recently switched to Coca-Cola products in their vending machines which lead math instructor Nick White to look into the rewards program.

"We're just kind of trying to find ways to get free stuff and since we're selling Coke products anyway, we might as well get the points from it," he said. "It's really nothing huge that we wouldn't be able to buy anyway but every little bit helps."

White admits to rummaging through the school’s recycle bins to collect caps left on the bottles.

"I've discovered it will only allow you to enter up to 40 caps a week," he said. "Each cap is worth three points though and the items are all at different point values. We could get anything from pencils to a television for the commons area."

Codes found on the caps of all Coca-Cola products can be entered online at www.mycokerewards.com. From there, those wishing to donate their points to a school must create an account, enter the codes and simply choose to donate the points to a school of their choice. West Nodaway is currently a registered school on the site...

News From: www.maryvilledailyforum.com

Gay marriage in U.S. states

Gay marriage could move forward in some U.S. states

(Reuters) - A handful of U.S. states are poised to take up the issue of gay marriage afresh, due largely to incoming lawmakers who may tip the balance in favor of the controversial measure.

In Maryland, New York and Rhode Island in particular, the legalization of same-sex marriages is moving ahead, organizers and supporters say.

"We have the numbers," said Maryland state Sen. Richard Madaleno Jr. "We've never been in a better position."

The November 2010 election brought a "significant shift," especially in the Senate, said Madaleno, one of Maryland's seven openly gay legislators, three of whom are newly elected.

Even more important, Maryland's Senate Judicial Proceedings committee, which has prevented gay marriage bills from reaching a floor vote, has several new, sympathetic members, said Morgan Meneses-Sheets of Equality Maryland, an advocacy group.

Majority leaders of both houses plan to co-sponsor gay marriage measures. Gov. Martin O'Malley, whose opponent was against gay marriage, has pledged to sign such a bill,

Nationwide, after the Congressional vote to repeal the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy which expelled thousands of gay people from the U.S. military, gay rights advocates are pushing ahead on marriage.

"The work of persuasion, of personal conversations, of talking to lawmakers and mobilizing against a well-funded anti-gay opposition" are among the primary tasks for the lobbying group Freedom to Marry, said founder Evan Wolfson.

"With the freedom to marry within reach this year in states such as New York, Maryland and Rhode Island, now is the time to have those conversations and move marriage forward," he said.

Nearly half of the states have amended their constitutions, however, to prohibit marriage between same-sex partners or defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, rendering gay marriage beyond reach any time soon.

In New York, where newly-inaugurated Gov. Andrew Cuomo strongly supports gay marriage, lawmakers remain divided but advocates say the prospects are improved with the popular governor's backing.

"Its chances only get better," said Democratic Sen. Thomas Duane, the state's only openly gay senator, who has said he would introduce a gay marriage bill and push for a vote by summer. "Public support grows every time the issue is debated."

Although not a supporter, Dean Skelos, leader of the majority Republicans in the Senate, has said he would not block such a bill coming to the Senate floor for a vote so legislators can make their positions known, according to rights group Empire State Pride Agenda.

Put to a so-called conscience vote, gay marriage has a better chance this year than it did in 2009, said Democratic Sen. Malcolm Smith of New York City, when the Assembly approved it but the Senate did not.

"It is premature to make predictions or attempt head counts based solely on prior votes, but there is reason to be confident," said Ross Levi of Empire State Pride Agenda.

News From: www.reuters.com

Glaucoma Could Cause Vision Problems

Eyes are for seeing outside of the body....and for looking inside the body...Dr. Benjamin Casella, " If we dilated that pupil we can get a much better view of the retina the macula - where your central vision is the vitreous, which is the jelly in the back of the eye and the optic nerves and the blood vessels."

Samuel Samson has worn glasses since grade school. he's been coming to the Casella Eye Center for years, we caught up with him during his appointment, " Today was a side vision test a field test to see how much vision I have lost."

Dr. Benjamin Casella knows how diseases like glaucoma can affect ones eyesight, " Glaucoma is a family of diseases known as Optic Neuropathy that is a disease that affects the optic nerve.

Glaucoma causes changes to the appearence of the optic nerve - those changes cause side vision problems...or reduces the range of peripheral vision, " they said that I probably need some drops to control my pressure."

Anything that affects the blood or the blood flow can affect the human eye, Dr. Casella, " Diabetes is only one thing that can affect the eye, hypertension can affect it and even thyroid issues.

A recent study shows that glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in African-Americans and Latinos.

However doctors say there could be an easy solution to catching the disease early....yearly eye exams...that start when your young.

Samuel Samson, "I cant see far I can see close up, but I can't see far. They've been working with me quite a while and i want to see."

News from: www2.wjbf.com

Scientists warn California struck by winter ‘superstorm’

Scientists warn California could be struck by winter ‘superstorm’

A group of more than 100 scientists and experts say in a new report that California faces the risk of a massive "superstorm" that could flood a quarter of the state's homes and cause $300 billion to $400 billion in damage. Researchers point out that the potential scale of destruction in this storm scenario is four or five times the amount of damage that could be wrought by a major earthquake.

It sounds like the plot of an apocalyptic action movie, but scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey warned federal and state emergency officials that California's geological history shows such "superstorms" have happened in the past, and should be added to the long list of natural disasters to worry about in the Golden State.

The threat of a cataclysmic California storm has been dormant for the past 150 years. Geological Survey director Marcia K. McNutt told the New York Times that a 300-mile stretch of the Central Valley was inundated from 1861-62. The floods were so bad that the state capital had to be moved to San Francisco, and Governor Leland Stanford had to take a rowboat to his own inauguration, the report notes. Even larger storms happened in past centuries, over the dates 212, 440, 603, 1029, 1418, and 1605, according to geological evidence.

The risk is gathering momentum now, scientists say, due to rising temperatures in the atmosphere, which has generally made weather patterns more volatile.

The scientists built a model that showed a storm could last for more than 40 days and dump 10 feet of water on the state. The storm would be goaded on by an "atmospheric river" that would move water "at the same rate as 50 Mississippis discharging water into the Gulf of Mexico," according to the AP. Winds could reach 125 miles per hour, and landslides could compound the damage, the report notes.

Such a superstorm is hypothetical but not improbable, climate researchers warn. "We think this event happens once every 100 or 200 years or so, which puts it in the same category as our big San Andreas earthquakes," Geological Survey scientist Lucy Jones said in a press release.

Federal and state emergency management officials convened a conference about emergency preparations for possible superstorms last week. You can read the whole report here.


News From: News.yahoo.com

Ravens vs. Steelers

Ravens vs. Steelers could be test case for new NFL OT rules

PITTSBURGH — The NFL's new overtime rule for the playoffs is in force. It has yet to be used. Given the history of tight finishes between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers, might OT enter the equation here Saturday?

"Hey, if I had to bet which two teams are going to be the first ones to go do it, it would be Baltimore and Pittsburgh," says Steelers linebacker Larry Foote.

"I mean every game is decided by three points. It seems like every game is going to go down to it. So I'd like to see it. As long as we're the last team standing, I'm cool."

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Pittsburgh and Baltimore play at least twice a year in the AFC North. In five of their last six regular season meetings, the margin of victory has been three points (with the teams entering overtime twice in the past three seasons). The lone exception was a four-point Pittsburgh win, 13-9 in Baltimore in 2008.

The last playoff meeting between the two wasn't quite that close at the finish, but it was tight. Pittsburgh won the AFC title game 23-14 here in the 2008 season with the help of a late interception return touchdown by Troy Polamalu.

In 2010, the Ravens won 17-14 in October in Pittsburgh. The Steelers won 13-10 in Baltimore in December.

PLAYOFFS: Results, schedule on Road to Super Bowl

"To me, it's definitely the best rivalry in sports. … It's the most physical game of the year.," says Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs.

"So, that's just what it is. It's going to be a physical gang fight, just like the first two games were."

Except maybe longer.

Under the new overtime rule:

• If the team that gets the ball first in overtime scores a touchdown on its first drive, the game is over.

• If the team that gets the ball first scores a field goal on its first drive, the other team gets a chance with the ball. If it scores a touchdown, it wins. If it gets a matching field goal, play continues until the next score.

Both teams must get the opportunity to possess the ball in overtime — as long as the opening drive doesn't end in a touchdown.

The first case could happen here.

"Yeah it could. That's a new rule that none of us have ever had to deal with, really. It's not so much emphasis on the coin toss as there used to be," says Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel.

"But hopefully it doesn't get to that point. Hopefully, we can just take care of business in the four quarters we're allotted."

If neither team manages that, it could come down to the placekickers: Shaun Suisham of Pittsburgh and Billy Cundiff of Baltimore.

While Suisham says invocation of the new rule "would be interesting," he would prefer to see Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger taking a knee at the end of the game to wrap up a victory.

"I'd rather see the guys in victory formation, but if I'm asked to do it I certainly will be ready," says Suisham.

He says the new rule won't make his job any different.

"No, absolutely. I don't ever want to over-complicate what I do. I go on the field and kick the ball through the uprights," says Suisham.

This time, Suisham or Cundiff might have to kick more than one field goal in overtime to win.

"You never know what's going to happen during the game," says Suisham. "I'll be prepared for whatever I'm asked to do."

Ruby Rubacuori

Ruby Rubacuori: the girl who could bring down Silvio Berlusconi

A belly dancer, sex parties and claims of political interference are at the centre of allegations against Italian prime minister

Ruby Rubacuori, whose real name is Karima el-Mahroug, was 17 when she met Silvio Berlusconi. Photograph: Giuseppe Aresu/AFP/Getty Images

Any one of the many allegations levelled at Silvio Berlusconi over the years would probably be sufficient to sink a prime minister in most countries, but the scandal which could finally undo him is perhaps the most scurrilous of them all. It combines an underage belly dancer, ribald sex parties and claims of political interference with the police.

The unwitting protagonist in this particular tale is Karima el-Mahroug, who also goes under the stage monicker of Ruby Rubacuori, or Ruby Heartstealer.

According to a series of media reports last October, Berlusconi met Mahroug, then 17, through Nicole Minetti, a TV showgirl turned dental hygienist who acquired a post in Berlusconi's Freedom People party after catching his eye while cleaning his teeth.

Mahroug insisted that she had not slept with the 74-year-old prime minister, but she told Italian newspapers that she attended "bunga bunga" sex parties at his mansion near Milan. At one of these, Mahroug said, she sat next to Berlusconi, who later took her upstairs and gave her an envelope containing €7,000. She said he also gave her jewellery.

Their acquaintance came to light after Mahroug was arrested in Milan for allegedly stealing cash. The station commander said that she was released after police received a call from the prime minister's office saying – incorrectly – that she was the granddaughter of Egypt's long-serving president, Hosni Mubarak.

Berlusconi ridiculed opposition calls for him to resign over the affair, saying: "As always, I work without interruption and if occasionally I happen to look a beautiful girl in the face, it's better to like beautiful girls than to be gay."