“We can't all be stars, but we can all twinkle”
~unknown
Stellar Babies: Infant stars are glowing gloriously in this infrared image of the Serpens star-forming region, located approximately 848 light-years away in the Serpens constellation. The reddish-pink dots are baby stars deeply embedded in the cosmic cloud of gas and dust that collapsed to create the stars.
Dusty disks of cosmic debris that may eventually form planets surround the infant stars. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope took this image. Image and caption by NASA.
In the News
(Ho/Reuters)
50 workers bravely stay at troubled Japan reactors
A small crew of technicians, braving radiation and fire, became the only people remaining at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on Tuesday — and perhaps Japan’s last chance of preventing a broader nuclear catastrophe.
Emperor, in Rare Address, Expresses Deep Concern Over Nuclear Crisis50 workers bravely stay at troubled Japan reactors
TOKYO — Emperor Akihito of Japan, in a rare televised address to the nation, on Wednesday expressed his concern for the survivors of the tsunami and thanked the rescue teams working under difficult conditions in the north.
Akihito also said that he was “deeply worried” about the ongoing nuclear crisis at several stricken reactors. The address was the first taped video message by a Japanese emperor.
The remarks were the first public comments from Akihito, 77, since the earthquake and tsunami struck northern Japan last Friday, and underscored the urgency of multiple crises confronting the country.
Clinton tours Tahrir Square in push for reform
CAIRO — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday toured Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the popular uprising that toppled Egypt's longtime autocratic leader last month.
"It's just a great reminder of the power of the human spirit and universal desire for freedom and human rights and democracy," Clinton said. "It's just thrilling to see where this happened."
Surrounded by a heavy contingent of U.S. and Egyptian security guards, Clinton smiled, waved and shook hands with the Egyptian citizens who thronged her during her unscheduled 15-minute stroll through the square.
"To see where this revolution happened, after all that it has meant to the world, is extraordinary for me," she said before entering a meeting with interim Prime Minister Essam Sharaf.
Chicago first city with citizens sending photos, videos to 911
Chicago has become the first U.S. city to allow residents calling 911 to send photos and videos of the incidents from their cell phones, officials say.
All the images are sent to the police department's crime-prevention information center, which reviews them to see whether they should be distributed to first responders or detectives investigating the incident.
Science News
Japan Quake May Have Slightly Shortened Earth Days, Moved Axis, Theoretical Calculations Suggest
Using a United States Geological Survey estimate for how the fault responsible for the earthquake slipped, research scientist Richard Gross of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., applied a complex model to perform a preliminary theoretical calculation of how the Japan earthquake -- the fifth largest since 1900 -- affected Earth's rotation. His calculations indicate that by changing the distribution of Earth's mass, the Japanese earthquake should have caused Earth to rotate a bit faster, shortening the length of the day by about 1.8 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second).
Health News
Eating fish might protect your eyesight
Women who consume fish regularly — and the abundance of omega-3 fatty acids found in that meal choice — have a lower risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), new research suggests.
Pop Culture
O’Brien attends premiere of post-Tonight Show doc
Conan O’Brien attended the premiere Sunday of the documentary that captured the turmoil he faced in the days following his departure from the Tonight Show. But he did it grudgingly.
“I personally have trouble watching it because it’s a time in my life that I don’t like to go back to,” O’Brien said from the red carpet, shortly before the South by Southwest film festival premiere of Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop. “I’m happy where I am now. I don’t really need to go back to it. But I made a commitment” to director Rodman Flender.
Roger Ebert Red Riding Hood movie review
Of the classics of world literature crying out to be filmed as a sexual fantasy for teenage girls, surely "Red Riding Hood" is far down on the list. Here's a movie that cross-pollinates the "Twilight" formula with a werewolf and adds a girl who always wears a red hooded cape, although I don't recall her doing any riding. It's easy to imagine a story conference in which they said: Hey! Let's switch the vampires with a werewolf and recycle the theme of a virgin attracted to a handsome but dangerous hunk, only let's get two hunks!
On this day in History
1958 – The Ford Motor Company produces its 50 millionth automobile, the Thunderbird, averaging almost a million cars a year since the company's founding.
1968 – General Motors produces its 100 millionth automobile, the Oldsmobile Toronado.
1984 – William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity.
1985 – Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is released on December 4, 1991.
1988 – Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Happy Birthday
Kevin Tod Smith (16 March 1963 – 15 February 2002) was a New Zealand actor best known for playing the Greek god of war, Ares, in the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and in its two spin-offs – Xena: Warrior Princess and Young Hercules.
William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. (born March 16, 1959), better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper and television personality who rose to prominence as a member of the rap group Public Enemy.
Henry Enrique "Erik" Estrada (born March 16, 1949) is an American actor, known for his co-starring lead role in the 1977–1983 United States police television series CHiPs.
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926) is an American comedian, actor, film producer, screenwriter, film director and singer. He is best-known for his slapstick humor in screen, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis. In addition to the duo's popular nightclub work, they starred in a successful series of comedy films for Paramount Pictures. As an innovative filmmaker, Lewis is credited with inventing the video assist system in cinematography.[1] Lewis is also known for his charity fund-raising telethons and position as national chairman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).