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Pepper and Eggplant Stakes, Set of 3
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Nancy Snyderman
NBC News Chief Medical Editor
NBC's Chief Science & Health Correspondent answers your health questions.
In the United States, 1 in 3 people will have Type 2 diabetes by 2050 if current trends continue, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some patients wonder how, 60 years into the game, the science of the hormone estrogen can still be at an elementary stage.
Eating a high-fat diet during pregnancy can increase the risk of cancer in future children and grandchildren — even if they eat well — a new study suggests. Full story
Good-looking athletes seem to have it all — fame, money and often plenty of admiring women. And there may be a good reason for it, a new study finds.
The hero pilot of the light plane that crashed in Nashville, Tenn., was a prominent Kansas rancher on his way to the nation's largest cattle industry trade show, authorities said Tuesday.
Kiefer Sutherland returns this spring as "24's" Jack Bauer, but says he's a bit concerned about starting up the show, which had been off the air for a few years, again.

subset: commoncrawl


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Meet Bob.
Bob works as a programmer for a "critical infrastructure company" in the United States.
Bob begins a typical workday by reading Reddit and watching online videos for a couple of hours. Having sated his appetite for Internet flame wars and footage of kittens being frightened by yarn, Bob breaks for lunch.
After lunch, it's time to explore eBay, then maybe spend some time on Facebook. When 4:30 rolls around, he fires off an email to management outlining all he's accomplished.
At 5 o'clock, he goes home.
Bob receives fantastic performance reviews. His code is clean. It's delivered on time. He's an exemplar of his profession.
What's wrong with this picture? If the Verizon Business Security Blog is to be believed, a lot.
A writer at that blog recently summarized a case study describing an employee who had effectively outsourced his own job.
The company for which Bob worked allowed employees to telecommute, meaning they could work from home by signing in to the company's network. Members of the company's IT department were surprised one day to find an active connection to their servers from Shenyang, China.
Moreover, the person logged on from across the Pacific Ocean was using the credentials of an employee who was in the office, sitting at his desk: Bob.
The IT department was convinced Bob's computer had been infected with malware that was routing data from his computer to China and back.
Perhaps Bob hadn't even downloaded anything dangerous, and the malignant code had shipped with the workstation's software, an alarming act of corporate espionage.
As it turns out, the network administrators should have adhered to Occam's Razor: The simplest hypothesis is likely the correct one.
Bob, a nondescript, 40ish family man, had contracted with a Chinese consulting firm to perform his work, going so far as to FedEx a fob containing encryption data to Shenyang. Bob earned a six-figure salary, so he could easily afford the company's $50,000 fee.
Who can say how true this story is? For all I know, Verizon is gearing up to sell corporate America a subscription to its brand-new EmployeeTracker 2013 software. But the story's plausibility makes it a delicious one to chew over.
First, it points up the disparity in wages and lifestyle experienced by workers in America and workers in emerging economies like China and India. A nation where famine is reality or a living memory is going to produce an inordinate share of go-getters willing to do our work for a fraction of the cost.
Second, were Bob's actions morally wrong? One assumes he lost his position with his company, though the blog post doesn't explicitly say he did.
We subcontract work all the time. I didn't make the enchilada I had for dinner the other night. We don't name-check the dry cleaner when someone compliments our appearance. Parents don't give the daycare center half-credit for their children not turning out to be rabid little animals.
But then there are the words "critical infrastructure company" and "China." Would it have been better if Bob had found a poor, American engineering student to do his work for him?
More to the point, is Bob available for light housekeeping? I've been meaning to get caught up on some TV.
Dave Penn is a copy editor for the Observer-Reporter. Contact him at firstname.lastname@example.com.
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Women's Asics GEL-Kayano 19 Running Shoes
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Get award-winning performance and comfort in the Asics GEL-Kayano 19 Women's Running Shoes. Featuring the same legendary ride and technical aspects you've come to expect in the Kayano, this 19th version offers performance updates that are sure to help you get your miles in while staying comfortable and well-protected.
The GEL-Kayano 19 features a heel-to-toe makeover with a reduction in weight and an even better upper fit for a superior feel on the run. Lightweight upper materials and a seamless overlay construction help to make these shoes the lightest GEL-Kayano model yet. Your gait will be enhanced by the new support-specific Guidance Trusstic System, helping to protect you from injury.


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A Jan. 23 opening will be more than a "Goodwill" gesture. It will be the beginning of a new shopping opportunity in Washington.
Make that an old opportunity that has been updated and upgraded.
The Goodwill store at 89 Jefferson Ave., built anew, will have its ribbon-cutting and grand opening that morning. It is on the site of the Goodwill that was razed in June.
"The store in Washington was very popular, but we realized we needed a new store," said David Tobiczyk, vice president of marketing and development for Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania. "It had become older and really needed to be rebuilt."
In the six-month interim, the city's Goodwill has been at a cramped site nearby, at 853 Jefferson, where it will remain open through 5 p.m. Jan. 22.
Tobiczyk said the new Goodwill will be "the fifth of our new prototype stores," the others being in Morgantown and Fairmont in West Virginia and Natrona Heights and Robinson Township in Allegheny County.
"Folks will be pleased," he said. "It's a really good-looking store, brighter with more windows and different lighting. The store also is designed to be more environmentally efficient, with heating and cooling. It will be easier to shop."
Easier to walk the aisles, to be sure. There will be 9,300 square feet of sales floor space within the 15,000-square-foot structure. Rene DeVaul is the manager who will oversee 20 employees.
It is one of many retail thrift stores run by Goodwill Industries International Inc. According to its website, www.goodwill.org, Goodwill "works to enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families by strengthening communities, eliminating barriers to opportunity, and helping people in need reach their full potential through learning and the power of work."
The company is funded by the stores, which also are nonprofit and sell new and gently used items that have been donated.
Although the 89 Jefferson Ave. site, at the intersection with West Beau Street, will not open to shoppers for another 20 days, it is accepting donations at the back of the store.
"We have a drive-through donation area where someone comes out" and accepts items, Tobiczyk said.
Ribbon-cutting and bargains won't be the only attractions afforded to customers Jan. 23. The first 200 will get a reusable Goodwill shopping bag. There also will be refreshments and giveaways of Goodwill gift cards and Wild Things tickets.
The new store, as with most in the region, will be open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
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Astronomical Phenomena
This chapter focuses on the observational side of astronomy — what we see when we look at the sky.
The Sun
Without a doubt, the most prominent object in the sky is the Sun. The Sun is so bright that when it is in the sky, it's light is scattered by the atmosphere to such an extent that almost all other objects in the sky are rendered invisible.
The Sun is a star like many others but it is much closer to the Earth at approximately 150 million kilometres. The next nearest star, Proxima Centuri is approximately 260,000 times further away from us than the Sun! The Sun is also known as Sol, it's Latin name.
Over the course of a year, the Sun appears to move round the celestial sphere in a great circle known as the ecliptic. Stellarium can draw the ecliptic on the sky. To toggle drawing of the ecliptic, press the 4 or , key.
WARNING: Looking at the Sun can permanently damage the eye. Never look at the Sun without using the proper filters! By far the safest way to observe the Sun it to look at it on a computer screen, courtesy of Stellarium!
The Sun is just one of billions of stars. Even though many stars have a much greater absolute magnitude than the Sun (the give out more light), they have an enormously smaller apparent magnitude due to their large distance. Stars have a variety of forms — different sizes, brightnesses, temperatures, and colours. Measuring the position, distance and attributes of the stars is known as astrometry, and is a major part of observational astronomy.
Multiple Star Systems
Many stars have a stellar companions. As many as six stars can be found orbiting one-another in close association. Such associations are known a multiple star systems — binary systems being the most common with two stars. Multiple star systems are more common than solitary stars, putting our Sun in the minority group.
Sometimes multiple stars orbit one-another in a way that means one will periodically eclipse the other. These eclipsing binaries or Algol variables.
Optical Doubles & Optical Multiples
Sometimes two or more stars appear to be very close to one another in the sky, but in fact have great separation, being aligned from the point of view of the observer but of different distances. Such pairings are known as optical doubles and optical multiples.
The constellations are groupings of stars that are visually close to one another in the sky. The actual groupings are fairly arbitrary — different cultures have group stars together into different constellations. In many cultures, the various constellations have been associated with mythological entities. As such people have often projected pictures into the skies as can be seen in figure [fig:ursamajor] which shows the constellation of Ursa Major. On the left is a picture with the image of the mythical Great Bear, on the right only a line-art version is shown. The seven bright stars of Ursa Major are widely recognised, known variously as "the plough", the "pan-handle", and the "big dipper". This sub-grouping is known as an asterism — a distinct grouping of stars. On the right, the picture of the bear has been removed and only a constellation diagram remains.
Stellarium can draw both constellation diagrams and artistic representations of the constellations. Multiple sky cultures are supported: Western, Polynesian, Egyptian and Chinese constellations are available, although at time of writing the non-Western constellations are not complete, and as yet there are no artistic representations of these sky-cultures.
Aside from historical and mythological value, to the modern astronomer the constellations provide a way to segment the sky for the purposes of describing locations of objects, indeed one of the first tasks for an amateur observer is learning the constellations — the process of becoming familiar with the relative positions of the constellations, at what time of year a constellation is visible, and in which constellations observationally interesting objects reside. Internationally, astronomers have adopted the Western (Greek/Roman) constellations as a common system for segmenting the sky. As such some formalisation has been adopted, each constellation having a proper name, which is in Latin, and a three letter abbreviation of that name. For example, Ursa Major has the abbreviation UMa.
Star Names
Stars can have many names. The brighter stars often have common names relating to mythical characters from the various traditions. For example the brightest star in the sky, Sirius is also known as The Dog Star (the name Canis Major — the constellation Sirius is found in — is Latin for "The Great Dog").
There are several more formal naming conventions that are in common use.
Bayer Designation
German astronomer Johan Bayer devised one such system in the 16-17th century. His scheme names the stars according to the constellation in which they lie prefixed by a lower case Greek letter, starting at α for the brightest star in the constellation and proceeding with β, γ, ... in descending order of apparent magnitude. For example, such a Bayer Designation for Sirius is "α Canis Majoris" (note that the genitive form of the constellation name is used). There are some exceptions to the descending magnitude ordering, and some multiple stars (both real and optical) are named with a numerical superscript after the Greek letter, e.g. π1... π6 Orionis.
Flamsteed Designation
English astronomer John Flamsteed numbered stars in each constellation in order of increasing right ascension followed by the form of the constellation name, for example "61 Cygni".
As described in section star catalogue, various star catalogues assign numbers to stars, which are often used in addition to other names. Stellarium gets it's star data from the Hipparcos catalogue, and as such stars in Stellarium are generally referred to with their Hipparcos number, e.g. "HP 62223". Figure [fig:starnames] shows the information Stellarium displays when a star is selected. At the top, the common name and Flamsteed designation are shown, followed by the RA/Dec coordinates, apparent magnitude, distance and Hipparcos number.
Spectral Type & Luminosity Class
Stars have many different colours. Seen with the naked eye most appear to be white, but this is due to the response of the eye — at low light levels the eye is not sensitive to colour. Typically the unaided eye can start to see differences in colour only for stars that have apparent magnitude brighter than 1. Betelgeuse, for example has a distinctly red tinge to it, and Sirius appears to be blue.
By splitting the light from a star using a prism attached to a telescope and measuring the relative intensities of the colours of light the star emits — the spectra — a great deal of interesting information can be discovered about a star including its surface temperature, and the presence of various elements in its atmosphere.
|Spectral Type
|Surface Temperature (°K)
|Star Colour
Astronomers groups stars with similar spectra into spectral types, denoted by one of the following letters: O, B, A, F, G, K and M. Type O stars have a high surface temperature (up to around 50,000°K) while the at other end of the scale, the M stars are red and have a much cooler surface temperature, typically 3000°K. The Sun is a type G star with a surface temperature of around 5,500°K. Spectral types may be further sub-divided using a numerical suffixes ranging from 0-9 where 0 is the hottest and 9 is the coolest. Table [fig:spectraltype] shows the details of the various spectral types.
For about 90% of stars, the absolute magnitude increases as the spectral type tends to the O (hot) end of the scale. Thus the whiter, hotter stars tend to have a greater luminosity. These stars are called main sequence stars. There are however a number of stars that have spectral type at the M end of the scale, and yet they have a high absolute magnitude. These stars have a very large size, and consequently are known as giants, the largest of these known as super-giants.
There are also stars whose absolute magnitude is very low regardless of the spectral class. These are known as dwarf stars, among them white dwarfs and brown dwarfs.
A luminosity class is an indication of the type of star — whether it is main sequence, a giant or a dwarf. Luminosity classes are denoted by a number in roman numerals, as described in table [fig:luminosityclass].
|Luminosity class
|Ia, Ib
|Bright giants
|Normal giants
|Main sequence
Plotting the luminosity of stars against their spectral type/surface temperature, gives a diagram called a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (after the two astronomers Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell who devised it). A slight variation of this is see in figure [fig:colourmag] (which is technically a colour/magnitude plot).
Most stars are of nearly constant luminosity. The Sun is a good example of one which goes through relatively little variation in brightness (usually about 0.1% over an 11 year solar cycle). Many stars, however, undergo significant variations in luminosity, and these are known as variable stars. There are many types of variable stars falling into two categories intrinsic and extrinsic.
Intrinsic variables are stars which have intrinsic variations in brightness, that is the star itself gets brighter and dimmer. There are several types of intrinsic variables, probably the best-known and more important of which is the Cepheid variable whose luminosity is related to the period with which it's brightness varies. Since the luminosity (and therefore absolute magnitude) can be calculated, Cepheid variables may be used to determine the distance of the star when the annual parallax is too small to be a reliable guide.
Extrinsic variables are stars of constant brightness that show changes in brightness as seen from the Earth. These include rotating variables, or stars whose apparent brightness change due to rotation, and eclipsing binaries.
Our Moon
The Moon is the large satellite which orbits the Earth approximately every 28 days. It is seen as a large bright disc in the early night sky that rises later each day and changes shape into a crescent until it disappears near the Sun. After this it rises during the day then gets larger until it again becomes a large bright disc again.
Phases of the Moon
As the moon moves round its orbit, the amount that is illuminated by the sun as seen from a vantage point on Earth changes. The result of this is that approximately once per orbit, the moon's face gradually changes from being totally in shadow to being fully illuminated and back to being in shadow again. This process is divided up into various phases as described in table [tab:moonphases].
The Major Planets
Unlike the stars whose relative positions remain more or less constant, the planets seem to move across the sky over time (the word "planet" comes from the Greek for "wanderer"). The planets are, like the Earth, massive bodies that are in orbit around the Sun. Until 2006 there was no formal definition of a planet leading to some confusion about the classification for some bodies widely regarded as being planets, but which didn't seem to fit with the others.
In 2006 the International Astronomical Union defined a planet as a celestial body that, within the Solar System:
- is in orbit around the Sun
- has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape; and
- has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit
or within another system:
- is in orbit around a star or stellar remnants
- has a mass below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium; and
- is above the minimum mass/size requirement for planetary status in the Solar System.
Moving from the Sun outwards, the major planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Since the formal definition of a planet in 2006 Pluto has been relegated to having the status of dwarf planet along with bodies such as Ceres and Eris. See figure
Terrestrial Planets
The planets closest to the sun are called collectively the terrestrial planets. The terrestrial planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
The terrestrial planets are relatively small, comparatively dense, and have solid rocky surface. Most of their mass is made from solid matter, which is mostly rocky and/or metallic in nature.
Jovian Planets
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune make up the Jovian planets. They are much more massive than the terrestrial planets, and do not have a solid surface. Jupiter is the largest of all the planets with a mass over 300 times that of the Earth!
The Jovian planets do not have a solid surface - the vast majority of their mass being in gaseous form (although they may have rocky or metallic cores). Because of this, they have an average density which is much less than the terrestrial planets. Saturn's mean density is only about 0.7 g/cm3 - it would float in water!
The Minor Planets
As well as the Major Planets, the solar system also contains innumerable smaller bodies in orbit around the Sun. These are generally classed as the minor planets, or planetoids, and include asteroids, and [sometimes?] comets.
Asteroids are celestial bodies orbiting the Sun in more or less regular orbits mostly between Mars and Jupiter. They are generally rocky bodies like the inner (terrestrial) planets, but of much smaller size. There are countless in number ranging in size from about ten meters to thousands of kilometres.
A comet is a small body in the solar system that orbits the Sun and (at least occasionally) exhibits a coma (or atmosphere) and/or a tail.
Comets have a very eccentric orbit (very elliptical), and as such spend most of their time a very long way from the Sun. Comets are composed of rock, dust and ices. When they come close to the Sun, the heat evaporates the ices, causing a gaseous release. This gas, and loose material which comes away from the body of the comet is swept away from the Sun by the Solar wind, forming the tail.
Comets whose orbit brings them close to the Sun more frequently than every 200 years are considered to be short period comets, the most famous of which is probably Comet Halley, named after the British astronomer Edmund Halley, which has an orbital period of roughly 76 years.
Stars, it seems, are gregarious - they like to live together in groups. These groups are called galaxies. The number of stars in a typical galaxy is literally astronomical - many billions - sometimes ever hundreds of billions of stars!
Our own star, the sun, is part of a galaxy. When we look up at the night sky, all the stars we can see are in the same galaxy. We call our own galaxy the Milky Way (or sometimes simply "the Galaxy").
Other galaxies appear in the sky as dim fuzzy blobs. Only four are normally visible to the naked eye. The Andromeda galaxy (M31) visible in the Northern hemisphere, the two Magellanic clouds, visible in the Southern hemisphere, and the home galaxy Milky Way, visible in parts from north and south under dark skies.
There are thought to be billions of galaxies in the universe comprised of an unimaginably large number of stars.
The vast majority of galaxies are so far away that they are very dim, and cannot be seen without large telescopes, but there are dozens of galaxies which may be observed in medium to large sized amateur instruments. Stellarium includes images of many galaxies, including the Andromeda galaxy (M31), the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), the Sombrero Galaxy (M104) and many others.
Astronomers classify galaxies according to their appearance. Some classifications include spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies, lenticular galaxies and irregular galaxies.
The Milky Way
It's a little hard to work out what our galaxy would look like from far away, because when we look up at the night sky, we are seeing it from the inside. All the stars we can see are part of the Milky Way, and we can see them in every direction. However, there is some structure. There is a higher density of stars in particular places.
There is a band of very dense stars running right round the sky in huge irregular stripe. Most of these stars are very dim, but the overall effect is that on very dark clear nights we can see a large, beautiful area of diffuse light in the sky. It is this for which we name our galaxy.
The reason for this effect is that our galaxy is somewhat like a disc, and we are off to one side. Thus when we look towards the centre of the disc, we see more a great concentration of stars (there are more star in that direction). As we look out away from the centre of the disc we see fewer stars - we are staring out into the void between galaxies!
Seen with the naked eye, binoculars or a small telescope, a nebula (plural nebulae) are fuzzy patches on the sky. Historically, the term referred to any extended object, but the modern definition excludes some types of object such as galaxies.
Observationally, nebulae are popular objects for amateur astronomers - they exhibit complex structure, spectacular colours and a wide variety of forms. Many nebulae are bright enough to be seen using good binoculars or small to medium sized telescopes, and are a very photogenic subject for astro-photographers.
Nebulae are associated with a variety of phenomena, some being clouds of interstellar dust and gas in the process of collapsing under gravity, some being envelopes of gas thrown off during a supernova event (so called supernova remnants), yet others being the remnants of solar systems around dead stars (planetary nebulae).
Examples of nebulae for which Stellarium has images include the Crab Nebula (M1), which is a supernova remnant and the Dumbbell Nebula (M27) which is a planetary nebula.
These objects are small pieces of space debris left over from the early days of the solar system that orbit the Sun. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes an compositions, ranging from microscopic dust particles up to about ten meters across.
Sometimes these objects collide with the Earth. The closing speed of these collisions is generally extremely high (tens or kilometres per second). When such an object ploughs through the Earth's atmosphere, a large amount of kinetic energy is converted into heat and light, and a visible flash or streak can often be seen with the naked eye. Even the smallest particles can cause these events which are commonly known as shooting stars.
While smaller objects tend to burn up in the atmosphere, larger, denser objects can penetrate the atmosphere and strike the surface of the planet, sometimes leaving meteor craters.
Sometimes the angle of the collision means that larger objects pass through the atmosphere but do not strike the Earth. When this happens, spectacular fireballs are sometimes seen.
Meteoroids is the name given to such objects when they are floating in space.
A Meteor is the name given to the visible atmospheric phenomenon.
Meteorites is the name given to objects that penetrate the atmosphere and land on the surface.
Eclipses occur when an apparently large celestial body (planet, moon etc.) moves between the observer (that's you!) and a more distant object - the more distant object being eclipsed by the nearer one.
Solar Eclipses
Solar eclipses occur when our Moon moves between the Earth and the Sun. This happens when the inclined orbit of the Moon causes its path to cross our line of sight to the Sun. In essence it is the observer falling under the shadow of the moon.
There are three types of solar eclipses:
Partial The Moon only covers part of the Sun's surface.
Total The Moon completely obscures the Sun's surface.
Annular The Moon is at aphelion (furthest from Earth in its elliptic orbit) and its disc is too small to completely cover the Sun. In this case most of the Sun's disc is obscured - all except a thin ring around the edge.
Lunar Eclipses
Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon, and the Moon is in the Earth's shadow. They occur under the same basic conditions as the solar eclipse but can occur more often because the Earth's shadow is so much larger than the Moon's.
Total lunar eclipses are more noticeable than partial eclipses because the Moon moves fully into the Earth's shadow and there is very noticeable darkening. However, the Earth's atmosphere refracts light (bends it) in such a way that some sunlight can still fall on the Moon's surface even during total eclipses. In this case there is often a marked reddening of the light as it passes through the atmosphere, and this can make the Moon appear a deep red colour.
Astronomers have made various catalogues of objects in the heavens. Stellarium makes use of several well known astronomical catalogues.
Hipparcos (for High Precision Parallax Collecting Satellite) was an astrometry mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) dedicated to the measurement of stellar parallax and the proper motions of stars. The project was named in honour of the Greek astronomer Hipparchus.
Ideas for such a mission dated from 1967, with the mission accepted by ESA in 1980. The satellite was launched by an Ariane 4 on 8 August 1989. The original goal was to place the satellite in a geostationary orbit above the earth, however a booster rocket failure resulted in a highly elliptical orbit from 315 to 22,300 miles altitude. Despite this difficulty, all of the scientific goals were accomplished. Communications were terminated on 15 August 1993.
The program was divided in two parts: the Hipparcos experiment whose goal was to measure the five astrometric parameters of some 120,000 stars to a precision of some 2 to 4 milli arc-seconds and the Tycho experiment, whose goal was the measurement of the astrometric and two-colour photometric properties of some 400,000 additional stars to a somewhat lower precision.
The final Hipparcos Catalogue (120,000 stars with 1 milli arc-second level astrometry) and the final Tycho Catalogue (more than one million stars with 20-30 milli arc-second astrometry and two-colour photometry) were completed in August 1996. The catalogues were published by ESA in June 1997. The Hipparcos and Tycho data have been used to create the Millennium Star Atlas: an all-sky atlas of one million stars to visual magnitude 11, from the Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues and 10,000 non-stellar objects included to complement the catalogue data.
There were questions over whether Hipparcos has a systematic error of about 1 milli arc-second in at least some parts of the sky. The value determined by Hipparcos for the distance to the Pleiades is about 10% less than the value obtained by some other methods. By early 2004, the controversy remained unresolved.
Stellarium uses the Hipparcos Catalogue for star data, as well as having traditional names for many of the brighter stars. The stars tab of the search window allows for searching based on a Hipparcos Catalogue number (as well as traditional names), e.g. the star Sadalmelik in the constellation of Aquarius can be found by searching for the name, or it's Hipparcos number, 109074.
The Messier Objects
The Messier objects are a set of astronomical objects catalogued by Charles Messier in his catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters first published in 1774. The original motivation behind the catalogue was that Messier was a comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but were not comets. He therefore compiled a list of these objects.
The first edition covered 45 objects numbered M1 to M45. The total list consists of 110 objects, ranging from M1 to M110. The final catalogue was published in 1781 and printed in the Connaissance des Temps in 1784. Many of these objects are still known by their Messier number.
Because the Messier list was compiled by astronomers in the Northern Hemisphere, it contains only objects from the north celestial pole to a celestial latitude of about -35°. Many impressive Southern objects, such as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are excluded from the list. Because all of the Messier objects are visible with binoculars or small telescopes (under favourable conditions), they are popular viewing objects for amateur astronomers. In early spring, astronomers sometimes gather for "Messier Marathons", when all of the objects can be viewed over a single night.
Stellarium includes images of many Messier objects.
Observing Hints
When star-gazing, there's a few little things which make a lot of difference, and are worth taking into account.
Dark skies For many people getting away from light pollution isn't an easy thing. At best it means a drive away from the towns, and for many the only chance to see a sky without significant glow from street lighting is on vacation. If you can't get away from the cities easily, make the most of it when you are away.
Wrap up warm The best observing conditions are the same conditions that make for cold nights, even in the summer time. Observing is not a strenuous physical activity, so you will feel the cold a lot more than if you were walking around. Wear a lot of warm clothing, don't sit/lie on the floor (at least use a camping mat... consider taking a deck-chair), and take a flask of hot drink.
Dark adaptation The true majesty of the night sky only becomes apparent when the eye has had time to become accustomed to the dark. This process, known as dark adaptation, can take up to half and hour, and as soon as the observer sees a bright light they must start the process over. Red light doesn't compromise dark adaptation as much as white light, so use a red torch if possible (and one that is as dim as you can manage with). A single red LED light is ideal.
The Moon Unless you're particularly interested in observing the Moon on a given night, it can be a nuisance---it can be so bright as to make observation of dimmer objects such as nebulae impossible. When planning what you want to observe, take the phase and position of the Moon into account. Of course Stellarium is the ideal tool for finding this out!
Averted vision A curious fact about the eye is that it is more sensitive to dim light towards the edge of the field of view. If an object is slightly too dim to see directly, looking slightly off to the side but concentrating on the object's location can often reveal it.
Angular distance Learn how to estimate angular distances. Learn the angular distances described in section [sec:handyangles]. If you have a pair of binoculars, find out the angular distance across the field of view and use this as a standard measure.
Handy Angles
Being able to estimate angular distance can be very useful when trying to find objects from star maps in the sky. One way to do this with a device called a crossbow.
Crossbows are a nice way get an idea of angular distances, but carrying one about is a little cumbersome. A more convenient alternative is to hold up an object such as a pencil at arm's length. If you know the length of the pencil, d, and the distance of it from your eye, D, you can calculate it's angular size, θ using this formula:
Another, more handy (ahem!) method is to use the size of your hand at arm's length:
Tip of little finger About 1°
Middle three fingers About 4°
Across the knuckles of the fist About 10°
Open hand About 18°
Using you hand in this way is not very precise, but it's close enough to give you some way to translate an idea like "Mars will be 45° above the Southeastern horizon at 21:30". Of course, there is variation from person to person, but the variation is compensated for somewhat by the fact that people with long arms tend to have larger hands. In exercise handy angles, you will work out your own "handy angles".


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NHTSA — Power Train: Automatic Transmission Problems
2003 Saturn Ion (Page 2 of 2)
CarComplaints.com Notes: The Saturn Ion was a compact bundle of hurt wrapped up in a cheap, plastic shell. With so many defective components and a safety rating that a bicycle would be ashamed of, it's a blessing this car only lasted five model years.
The 2003 (and 2004) Ion was cursed with GM's flawed attempt at a continuously variable transmission, known as the VTi. It had such a high failure rate that a class-action lawsuit was filed against GM, eventually prompting a settlement and a warranty extension. GM discontinued the VTi for the 2005 model year – surprise, surprise.
The 2003 Ion was also part of one of the largest and most controversial recalls of all-time. A defective ignition switch in millions of GM vehicles could accidentally turn the car off and disable important safety components like the power steering and airbags. The problem resulted in at least 13 deaths, but what made it worse was that GM knew about the issue for 10 years before doing anything about it.
So was the transmission warranty extended? Yeah. Was the ignition switch recalled? Eventually. Is this car safe to drive? Not really. Honestly, you're better off looking elsewhere.
3.8definitely annoying
- Crashes / Fires:
- 0 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 32,021 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
transmission problem


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Unless indicated, documents on this Web site are Adobe Acrobat files, and require the free
reader software. Further assistance can be found on the
DARM Support Desk page or by contacting the
Web Administrator.
Florida's Air Quality Monitors Map >
Marion County Map
Ad Hoc Reporting
Data on this page are updated daily when complete data
are received.
It is important to note that the ozone monitoring data
less than three months old viewed on this website have generally not
been verified and checked for quality assurance in accordance with
federal requirements.
Last updated:
May 10, 2012


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Need to deal with guns and mental health
Those who state we should increase mental health services rather than control the possession of rapid-fire weapons, including Tim Murphy, our representative in Congress, are presenting a false choice. As a gun owner and also as an advocate for mental health services, I firmly state that we should do both.
We should increase mental health services, because a decent society helps those with mental health problems for the sake of helping them. However, we should not buy into the fantasy that increasing mental health services will stop the tragic massacres we have experienced. Only by prohibiting possession of rapid-fire weapons by those other than military and law enforcement personnel will we do that.
The only countries other than the United States where private individuals own military type weapons are all Third World countries. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with world events knows how that works out for those unfortunate enough to live in those countries.
When the U.S. Constitution was written, a typical firearm was a musket that had one shot and took a minute to reload. Weapons are commonly available now that have as their only purpose the swift killing of human beings. They have no place in our homes or on our streets. If we have to amend the Constitution to reflect this, so be it. Let's get started.
Herb Caponi
Upper St. Clair


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The water-resistant Pitching Machine Cover is blue vinyl, measuring 28" x 15" x 20", with tie-down grommets at the bottom. Fits easily over your pitching machine. Machine may be left outside in your batting cage as long as it is not allowed to get wet.For: BATA-1, B1-Curve, BATA-2
To make your shopping experience at Unique-Sports.com the easiest possible, when it says "free shipping", we have a single price - and that's all you pay (unless you want it a bit faster...and we make that easy too!) Other stores may have similar prices, but once you add the hidden costs like extra shipping "options", handling, taxes and more, you'll find that no sporting equipment shopping experience is quite like ours.
Orders on in stock merchandise that are received before 12:00pm Central Standard Time will be fulfilled within the same day. Most orders will be delivered within 7 business days from the date of shipping. Weekends and Holidays are excluded. Most orders are shipped UPS Ground, which is free of charge.
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BATA Baseball Machines, Inc. was founded in 1991. Since then, BATA pitching machines have progressively become renowned as the preeminent baseball practice machines available. BATA baseball and softball hitting machines are common sights on MLB fields including the Padres, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, White Sox, Angels, A's, Dodgers, & Mariners.
BATA baseball and softball pitching machines are made of solid steel. There are no sand castings or any plastic on the frames or stands. BATA uses only first-class American made, permanent magnet DC motors and solid-state controls. BATA pitching machines are designed with a solid, soft-tread wheel with Goodyear Rubber tread molded and vulcanized onto a precision-machined solid aluminum core. The aluminum core is precision-machined to within .005". BATA wheels are balanced to within ½ gram per foot. BATA machines are intended to use regulation real leather balls and BATA Dimpled Baseballs and Softballs.
The B1-Curveball and the 2Pitch3 throw the toughest breaking curves. Because there it is a single wheel-pitching machine, the wheels on these machines spin much faster than the wheels on the BATA-2. This combined with the fact that the compression pad is equal to a wheel spinning at no speed, the B1 and the 2Pitch3 put more spin on the ball than the BATA-2. The BATA-2 and the Twin Pitch are the preeminent machines for softball. The 2-wheel design of the BATA-2 allows you to regulate the quantity of spin on the ball, so you can pitch pitches that "rise", sink a little, sink a lot, tail, etc. The Twin Pitch permits you to pitch a fastball and a change-up in one set up.
BATA pitching machine automatic ball feeders hold up to 20 dimpled baseballs or 15 dimpled softballs, and can be converted from one to the other. Remote switches and other accessories for your BATA pitching machine are also available.
Unique-Sports has been a trusted resource for sports equipment and accessories for over 13 years. Unique-Sports is an invaluable online resource for athletes, coaches, youth leagues, and scholastic sports programs across the United States. The Unique-Sports team is comprised of former athletes, current athletes, coaches, and sports enthusiasts who have hands-on experience in the use and benefit of sports equipment and accessories. If you have any questions about this product, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-800-297-0747.
A member of the Unique-Sports team will be happy to research this product or any other product you may be interested in, help you customize a solution for your exact needs, or make product recommendations based on your budget or intended use. We have the lowest prices on sports equipment and accessories online…guaranteed!
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Comics : 1246 [0124610000900014]
Issue No:
Marvel Comics
Issue Info:
Variant Info:
All items shipped to arrive within 10-14 daysPostage and Packaging in UK : £4.50Postage and Packaging Overseas : £7.50
Grading Information:
The comic collecting market has an established system of grading. This is the means by which a potential customer can be guided as to the condition (Grade) of a comic when the item is being offered for sale
via mail order and cannot therefore be viewed. The span of Grades available range from Near Mint (As New) to Poor (What it says).All items listed are individually graded. The grade system used is based on a percentage of the Near Mint price (NM) where Near Mint is equal to 100%.The breakdown is as follows: The best way to use this chart is to think of it as top middle and bottom. This enables even a layman to visualise what condition an item is in. Top : NM to FN+ : High grade collectable itemsNear Mint (NM) = 100% / (VFN+) = 90% / Very Fine (VFN) = 80% / (VFN-) = 75% / (FN+) = 70% Middle : FN- to VG- : Minor damage & wear apparent but still sound comicsFine (FN) = 65% / (FN-) = 55% / (VG+) = 50% / Very Good (VG) = 40% / (VG-) = 30%
Bottom : G+ to Poor : Beaten damaged worn and abused comics (G+) = 25% / Good (G) = 20% / (G-) = 15% / Fair (FAIR) = 10% / Poor (Poor) = 5% Plus and minus marks are used to try to more accurately guide the reader as to the exact condition of the item. However, grading is always subjective. For this reason we offer a full 14-day money back policy. If any item does not meet your expectations you may return it (in the same condition) within 14 days for a full refund.
A word about how we manage our cover scans: As we have over 250,000 comics in stock providing cover scans for every item we list is something of a logistical problem. The practicalities of providing
a scan of the ACTUAL COPY offered for sale would drastically reduce the range of comics we are able to offer. For this reason the attached scan is taken from the library of back issue cover scans weve accumulated over the last quarter of a century of selling comics. It is NOT a scan of the ACTUAL COPY
offered for sale here and is shown for reference purposes only. Please note however that every comic IS individually and accurately graded. Please see the grade details above to insure that this particular comic is in the condition you require.


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Residents of Canton Township peppered Range Resources representatives with a barrage of questions and concerns during a public hearing Wednesday evening on a proposed well site on Malone Ridge Road.
"I just want to go on the record and say that we have been drinking the same water for 62 years," said Janet Henderson of her home on Lynn Portal Road, where she has lived since she was born. "I just want everybody to know that there has never been a water problem and state the fact that if we do (have one) now, I don't want them saying it's not their fault."
Henderson was among the roughly 60 residents who packed the municipal building. Several made similar statements about the current quality of water wells located on their properties adjacent to the proposed well site on land owned by Michael Kopko at 419 Malone Ridge Road. The 10-acre site would house between four and six wells that would extract natural gas and gas byproducts from the rock formation below the earth through the use of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."
Supervisors made no motion to accept Range's conditional-use application during Wednesday's hearing. Rather, it was meant as a venue for residents and township officials to give testimony regarding their concerns and ask the energy company questions.
The hearing touched on a variety of issues, including road bonds, traffic, noise, emergency preparedness, nighttime lighting and air and water pollution.
Adrian Markocic, public affairs specialist for Range Resources, handled a majority of the questions during the hearing. He said although disturbances may have seemed daunting to neighbors on paper, the residents would be inconvenienced only for a short period of time.
"To say we use 1,000 trucks is kind of a disservice," Markocic said. "Because you have to average it out over so many days."
Although operations would often run 24 hours, seven days a week for the duration of the project, vehicle traffic and noise would be highest during the construction phase. Markocic said Range operators would work with local officials to avoid being on township roads when school buses were transporting students.
The construction phase of the project would take about a month to complete. During that time, heavy equipment would help construct a leveled pad on which a well would be placed. A two-day process of hydraulic fracturing would then occur, followed by an extended phase of continual gas extraction.
During the extraction phase, personnel and truck traffic would be considerably lower, and many of the noises that occur during construction would be eliminated.
Markocic said the site would use an above-ground pipeline from an as-yet-unnamed impoundment for the millions of gallons of water used in the hydraulic fracturing process, a move that would eliminate the need for "thousands" of truck trips. However, trucks still would be needed to haul used water off the site.
He said chemicals used in the process are public knowledge and available on the Range Resources website.
In response to questions regarding the amount of air pollution the site would cause, Markocic said Range uses some of the most advanced technology in the industry, including vapor reduction and vapor recovery units that act to cut gas emissions from the site.
"There's a lot of false information regarding emissions," Markocic said. Results of studies done by the EPA and the state Department of Environmental Protection "show that there was almost no negative impact, based on their results. In fact, there were times they were getting readings only showing the vehicles around them" and no emissions from natural gas equipment.
When asked about particular emissions from gasses such as methane and volatile organic compounds, Markocic said the facility would not be equipped to monitor air quality.
Supervisors will most likely vote to approve or deny the conditional-use application during the next Canton Township board meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 12.
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It was 42 years ago when these candidates for Miss Junior Achievement lined up for a photo in the offices of McGraw-Edison Power Systems, where the group's meetings were held.
We now can identify all the young women in the photo, thanks to Linda Betsch of Washington, who recognized her sister in the high-hemmed lineup. Her sister, Sue Turberville David, who was a Trinity High School student at the time, is standing on the far right. Betsch managed to locate the original photo and caption in the Feb. 1, 1971, Observer-Reporter and determined that the image we published last Monday was reversed. The picture published today is the order in which the girls actually stood, and close inspection of the buttons on their clothing proves it.
"My sister Sue is now married and lives in West Finley," Betsch wrote in an email. "She works in the area and lives a very quiet life with her husband and dogs."
We also heard from Nancy Lasorchak Martinez, who is in the center of the photo and was named Miss Junior Achievement in 1971. After graduating from Canon-McMillan High School later that year, she attended California University of Pennsylvania and began working for PNC Bank. "I've just celebrated my 39th anniversary working for PNC," said Martinez, who is assistant to the financial adviser for the Washington area. A widow, Martinez has two married daughters and two grandchildren, all living in the Washington area. She said one of her sons-in-law, also a banker, is, coincidentally, a Junior Achievement leader.
Myrtle Campbell called us to identify herself. Standing second from left, she was a Canon-McMillan sophomore at the time. "I was runner-up that year, but the following year I was Miss Junior Achievement, and I was runner-up again my senior year," she said. "In JA, they taught us about productivity and all about products, how to sell and distribute them."
Campbell resides in Canonsburg and has three daughters. "The oldest is married and has a family, and I baby-sit for my grandchildren five days a week," she said.
According to the information found by Betsch, the girl on the far left is Joyce Strnisa, from Canon-McMillan, and the one fourth from left is Kathy Corry, who would graduate from Peters Township High School in 1972. We were unable to locate either of them.
We received several more emails and calls about our previous Mystery Photo, which remains unsolved. Readers suggested that the house with the horses and buggy beside it might have been in Canonsburg, or in Rices Landing. We'll investigate these claims and report back to you later.
In the meantime, look for a new Mystery Photo next Monday.
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Since the Pittsburgh police scandal involving a hushed-up slush fund is not directly impacting taxpayers in our readership, we, to use a well-worn phrase, really don't have a dog in the fight.
But we can't resist expressing our puzzlement over one aspect of this brewing controversy: Last week, bodyguards used by Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and drawn from the ranks of the city's police force were found to have used debit cards linked to the alleged slush fund, leaving the Washington & Jefferson College graduate to vehemently deny that he had any knowledge of the off-the-books account. We'll see if Ravenstahl's assertion holds up in the investigations that are just getting into gear.
What we can't quite figure out, though, is why Ravenstahl needs bodyguards in the first place.
OK, it's understandable that Ravenstahl might need a small degree of protection as he tends to his official duties in Pittsburgh. But Ravenstahl has apparently lugged a security detail with him to events in Harrisburg and even to President Obama's inaugural festivities in Washington, D.C. Outside of the Pittsburgh region, who would care about him? He's not an instantly recognizable luminary like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg or a celebrity of Taylor Swift-ian proportions. It's a virtual certainty that Ravenstahl could walk from end-to-end in any shopping mall in Cleveland or Buffalo, N.Y. – probably even Erie – and he wouldn't turn a single head. Given his age, most people would assume the 33-year-old is an aide to the mayor of Pittsburgh, not the mayor.
Ravenstahl's security has been costly. WPXI-TV reported last week that one of Ravenstahl's bodyguards earned $190,000 in overtime over three years for his services. Another got $114,000. The WPXI report pointed out that Rich Fitzgerald, the Allegheny County executive, doesn't use any bodyguards.
Whether it's a product of self-importance or an excess of caution, Ravenstahl should shed the bodyguards and let them keep an eye on Pittsburgh's other residents.
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