Mayur's Posterous

Superboy

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Caspian - Moksha

 

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BBC News - UN's outer space chief on extra terrestrial life

The United Nations has a little-known agency called the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs.

Head of the agency, Professor Mazlan Othman, dismissed recent reports that she was to become the first port of call for alien visitors.

But the Malaysian astrophysicist said the possibility of discovering extra terrestrial life, even if just microbes, was increasing.

 

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BBC News - Virgin Galactic's spaceship makes solo flight

Virgin Galactic's spaceship makes solo flight

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News
Drop test (Virgin Galactic)  

The Enterprise spaceship is released from underneath the Eve carrier plane

Virgin Galactic's suborbital spaceship, Enterprise, has made its first solo test flight, in California.

The spaceship was carried to an altitude of 45,000ft (13,700m) by an aeroplane and then dropped to glide back to the Mojave Air and Space Port.

Enterprise will soon be taking people prepared to pay $200,000 (£126,000) on short hops above the atmosphere.

The British billionaire behind the project, Sir Richard Branson, was on hand to witness the drop test.

"This was one of the most exciting days in the whole history of Virgin," the entrepreneur said.

"For the first time since we seriously began the project in 2004, I watched the world's first manned commercial spaceship landing on the runway at Mojave Air and Space Port and it was a great moment."

Virgin Galactic is aiming to become the world's first commercial space line, and has already taken deposits from 370 customers who want to experience a few minutes of weightlessness on a suborbital flight.

The Enterprise ship is based on the X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne vehicle, which made history in 2004 by successfully flying to 100km (60 miles) in altitude twice in a two-week period.

The new ship, built by Mojave's Scaled Composites company, is bigger and will be capable of carrying eight people - two crew and six passengers.

When it eventually enters service, Enterprise will be carried to its launch altitude by the "Eve" carrier plane before being released in mid-air. Enterprise will then ignite its single hybrid rocket engine to make the ascent to space.

Although Eve and Enterprise have made several test flights together, Sunday was the first time the spaceplane had been released at altitude.

Two pilots were at the controls, Pete Siebold and Mike Alsbury. They guided the ship back to the Mojave runway.

The entire flight took about 25 minutes. On later test flights, Enterprise will fire its rocket engine.

Only when engineers are satisfied all systems are functioning properly will passengers be allowed to climb aboard.

 

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Corinne Bailey Rae - Like A Star

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Brain Surgeon - That Mitchell & Webb Look , Series 3 - BBC Two

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Barbican Turbo and Adrenaline Sports Live 2010 [Part 3]

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All of human history

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Colleyville Heritage girls give up makeup for beauty's sake | Schools | News from Fort W...

By Shirley Jinkins

COLLEYVILLE -- On Tuesdays, about 180 girls at Colleyville Heritage High School leave their lipstick and eye shadow at home, attending classes with clean faces and fresh attitudes.

They also wear matching T-shirts that read, "Redefining Beautiful, One Girl at a Time."

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Redefining Beautiful is a new student club meant to empower girls to resist stereotypes based on appearance.Samantha Gibbs, Lauren Gilby, Nina Smith, Caroline Tessler, Emily Gates and Laura Kelly came up with the idea during the summer.

"We're not against wearing makeup," said Nina, 16, a junior. "We're really against girls feeling like it's a shell to hide in."

The girls got the general idea from a website, www.OperationBeautiful.com, and decided to adapt the positive messages to a program that would fit at Colleyville Heritage. The website encourages teen girls to share their stories and to post anonymous encouraging messages in public places for other women and girls to find.

The friends recruited faculty sponsor Suzanne McGahey, made sure that their club met the criteria for a school-sanctioned organization and began signing up members shortly after classes started in August.

Six more of their friends joined them as charter members.

"We had more than 170 girls signed up within three or four weeks," McGahey said. "I don't know what they hit on, but it obviously made an impression."

Bill Gibbs, Samantha's father, said he was shocked at how quickly the club caught on.

"We ordered 25 shirts at first, and now there are 183 girls signed up," Gibbs said.

The girls say they expected maybe 40 girls to join.

"It was awkward the first couple of Tuesdays when there were just 12 of us," said Caroline, a 17-year-old senior. "People would ask, 'What are you doing?'"

Many girls have joined the cause, they say, but not all of them can kick the makeup habit.

"There have been a couple of girls we've asked to join that have said, 'I don't think I could do that,'" said Emily, 17, a senior. "It's encouraged me to not worry about makeup on other days besides Tuesdays."

The idea is spreading. Students at Grapevine High School are also interested in forming their own Redefining Beautiful club, and Southlake girls have expressed interest.

Even the guys at Colleyville Heritage are on board, with 20 boys forming a support group.

"That's all we're trying to prove -- that girls can be just as confident with or without makeup," said Lauren, also 17 and a senior.

Students plan to embrace women- and child-oriented service projects, including a Thanksgiving food drive and clothing drive for Christmas.

"It's wanting to share our story that no matter what has happened to you, you're beautiful and you should love yourself," Caroline said.

Redefining Beautiful members include classroom leaders, athletes and quieter types.

"We try to get the young girls to know that beauty is more about who you are than what you wear to school," McGahey said.

School counselor Robin Davis said the negative effects of marketing and entertainment on girls and women are seen all too often.

"It's the way our culture is; image and what you look like, what you wear," Davis said. "It contributes to the incidence of teens with eating disorders and other ways of changing their appearance, whether it be tanning or makeup."

No one associated with Redefining Beautiful has encountered negative comments from students, staff or parents, McGahey said.

Davis, an early fan of the group, wears her own Redefining Beautiful shirt Tuesdays and goes easy on makeup.

Gibbs is proud of his daughter and her friends.

"I think it's good for their self-esteem because they're focused on what's most important instead of the superficial," he said. "They were able to start something and make it work, and do something good with it. They're making a positive difference."

Shirley Jinkins, 817-390-7657

Looking for comments?

Kudos to these young women. I don't usually judge anyone but a kilo of makeup on a girl's face is an instant turnoff for guys like me.

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