20160727 - cartoon

20160726 - initiatieven

Ter inspiratie

Dat je hier bent zegt ons dat je minimaal nieuwsgierig bent naar hoe we samen onze maatschappij mooier kunnen maken. En hopelijk ben je ook benieuwd naar hoe jij daar zelf een bijdrage aan kan leveren. Een goede start is om te begrijpen waarom dat zo hard nodig is en, als je het daarmee eens bent, ons manifest te ondertekenen

Wie we zijn

MaatschapWij is een open samenwerkingsverband van een snel groeiende groep particulieren en organisaties die zich, individueel of samen, inzetten voor een maatschappij waarin we meer rekening met elkaar houden, meer voor elkaar over hebben, meer initiatief nemen en meer samenwerken.

Wat we doen

Wij Samen voor Elkaar wil de inspiratiebron zijn voor iedereen die een actieve bijdrage wil leveren aan meer “wij” in onze maatschappij. Op dit portaal vind je prachtige voorbeelden van actuele maatschappelijke initiatieven in negen categorieën. Ook kun je hier je eigen initiatief gratis in de spotlights zetten en op tal van manieren versterken

 http://wijsamenvoorelkaar.nl/

20160725 - storm damage

Summary:

A system for predicting storm damage by waves in northern areas of the North Sea has been developed by mathematicians. The north-east Scottish coast was found to be more exposed to swell arriving from the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea, while the central and southern coasts were more exposed to local wind-sea waves and to storms generated in the wider North Sea.

A system for predicting storm damage by waves in northern areas of the North Sea has been developed by mathematicians at the University of Strathclyde.

Densely populated areas on the sea's coast are particularly vulnerable to severe wave conditions, which can rise above or damage sea defences, leading to dangerous flooding.
The Strathclyde researchers have devised a model of north-east Scottish coastal waters which simulates waves and the effect upon them of tidal currents.
Inland areas in Scotland experienced extensive flooding owing to heavy rainfall during Storm Frank in December 2015. However, in coastal areas such as Aberdeen the effects of the storm were mainly due to high waves.
Alessandro Sabatino, a Research Student in Strathclyde's Department of Mathematics & Statistics, led the research. He said: "The combination of spring tides, strong winds and high waves can be extremely threatening to coastal areas.
"Modelling has been used to help develop forecasting systems to predict flood risk around the shallower southern regions of the North Sea, where the coastal margin is low-lying and population density is high. Coastal areas of the deeper northern North Sea are subject to regular storm damage as well but there have been few, if any, wave models developed for these waters.
"Our results indicate that interactions between waves from different directions, and between waves and currents, play a fundamental role in the wave climate.
"Models such as this are needed for better forecasting of damaging wave conditions in coastal waters."
The study examined three North Sea storms in 2010 -- on 26-27 February, 30-31 March and 19 June, for interactions between waves and currents. The model included swell waves which are generated by distant storms, and waves generated more locally, and the combination of these interacting with tidal currents.

 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160707131814.htm

20160724 - food safety

Health Tip: The Basics of Food Safety

The U.S. Food Safety Administration explains:

• Foodborne illnesses can be serious, resulting in chronic health problems or, rarely, death.
• Never thaw meat on a kitchen counter, as bacteria can multiply rapidly at room temperature. It's also important to marinate meat in the refrigerator, never at room temperature.
• While bleach is good for cleaning the kitchen, there's no benefit to using excessive amounts.
• Wash all fruit and vegetables with water (never detergent or soap), even if you're going to peel them.
• Never rinse raw meat, poultry or fish, which could spread contaminated juices.
• Follow microwaving instructions carefully, including allowing food to stand a few minutes after heating. This gives the food time to finish cooking.
• Don't rely on smell as a way to tell if food has gone bad. Some harmful bacteria don't affect the smell or taste of food.
• Always keep cooked food warmed to the appropriate temperature to avoid bacterial growth.

 http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=197127

20160723 - vluchtelingenwerk

Welkom bij VluchtelingenWerk Zuidwest-Nederland

VluchtelingenWerk Zuidwest-Nederland begeleidt en ondersteunt asielzoekers en vluchtelingen in de provincies Zuid-Holland en Zeeland. Onze professionele beroepskrachten en vele vrijwilligers begeleiden hen tijdens het hele traject dat zij in Nederland afleggen. Vanaf het moment dat ze aankomen, tot ze volwaardig meedoen in de samenleving.

Op deze website vindt u informatie over ons werk en de organisatie. Bent u zoekn naar de contactgegevens van (spreekuur)locaties in de gemeenten, leslocaties inburgering of onze kantoren in de asielzoekerscentra,


 http://www.vluchtelingenwerk.nl/zuidwestnederland

20160722 - singraven

Singraven is een landgoed nabij Denekamp in de gemeente Dinkelland. Tot het landgoed behoren behalve de havezate ook de watermolen van Singraven (1448) aan de Dinkel, een koetshuis (1868) en een aantal pachtboerderijen.
Singraven wordt voor het eerst vermeld in 1381 en het eerste Huis Singraven dateert uit 1415. De naam Singraven betekent "grote gracht". Bewoners/eigenaren van het eerste huis Singraven waren onder andere de Oldenzaalse Begijnen en de graven van Bentheim. Het vervallen huis is in 1651-1653 gesloopt en vervangen door een nieuw huis waar in 1661 nog een traptoren aan is toegevoegd. Door vererving kwam het huis in bezit van onder andere de familie De Thouars en door verkoop in 1829 bij de familie Roessingh Udink. Diverse generaties van deze familie hebben het landgoed opgeknapt en verbouwd. Daarbij is de gevel 4 meter naar voren uitgebouwd, zijn de bouwhuizen aan de voorkant gesloopt om een vrij uitzicht te krijgen en is (in 1868) een grote oprijlaan vanaf de Ootmarsumsestraat naar het huis aangelegd. De laatste particuliere bewoner/eigenaar, Willem Frederik Jan Laan (1891-1966), heeft in 1966 het landgoed, ook na forse verbouwingen en restauraties, in eigendom gegeven aan de Stichting Edwina van Heek. Daarbij is vastgelegd dat de door de heer Laan gedane aanpassingen behouden moeten blijven

 https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singraven

20160721 - oldenzaal

Oldenzaal is a municipality and a city in the eastern province of Overijssel in the Netherlands. It is part of the region of Twente and is close to the German border.
It received city rights in 1249. Historically, the city was part of the Hanseatic League as a subsidiary city of the fellow Hanseatic city of Deventer.
Located on the A1 motorway from Amsterdam to Germany, Oldenzaal also has a rail connection to Hengelo.


Plechelm, O.S.B. (Plechelm of Guelderland, Plechelm, also Pleghelm or Plechelmus; died 730), is honored as a saint in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Old Catholic Church as a patron saint of the Netherlands.
Plechelm was an Irish Benedictine monk who traveled to Rome with two fellow monks, Saints Wiro and Otger. He became a missionary first in Northumbria, England, and then in the Kingdom of Frisia, now the Netherlands. He died in St. Odiliënberg.
Plechem was canonized by Pope Agapetus II about 950. As a result, the Basilica of St. Plechelm in Oldenzaal was built to enshrine his remains in 954.

20160720 - de lutte / losser

De Lutte is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Losser. It is located close to the border between the Netherlands and Germany. De Lutte is connected to Germany (to the east) and Oldenzaal and Hengelo (to the west) by the A1.
The Landhuishotel Bloemenbeek with its Michelin-starred restaurant De Bloemenbeek is located in the village.
 ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Lutte}

 Losser is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. It is at the eastern end of the A1 motorway.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losser

20160719 - twente

Twente is a non-administrative region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germanic tribe that settled in the area and was mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus.
The region's borders are defined by the Overijssel region of Salland in the northwest and west (the river Regge roughly defines the western border), the German County of Bentheim in the northeast and east (the river Dinkel roughly defines the eastern border) and the Gelderland region of the Achterhoek in the south.
Twente has approximately 620,000 inhabitants, most of whom live in the three largest cities: Almelo, Hengelo and Enschede, the latter being the main city of the region.
Twente comprises fourteen municipalities: Almelo, Borne, Dinkelland, Enschede, Haaksbergen, Hellendoorn, Hengelo, Hof van Twente, Losser, Oldenzaal, Rijssen-Holten, Tubbergen, Twenterand and Wierden.
The whole of Hellendoorn and the western parts of both Rijssen-Holten and Twenterand historically belong to the cultural region of Salland, but to the city region of Twente.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twente

20160718 - niccolo ammaniti

Niccolò Ammaniti ; born 25 September 1966) is an Italian writer, winner of the Premio Strega on 2007 for As God Commands (also published under the title The Crossroads).
He became noted in 2001 with the publication of I'm Not Scared (Io non ho paura), a novel which was later made into a movie directed by Gabriele Salvatores.

Biography

Niccolò Ammaniti was born in Rome and studied Biologic Sciences without ever getting a degree. His first novel, named Branchie, was published by Ediesse in 1994, before its credits were bought by Einaudi in 1997. Allegedly, it was stemming from an adaption of his never completed dissertation. In 1999, Branchie was translated into a movie with the same title. In 1995 Ammaniti published, together with his father Massimo, the essay Nel nome del figlio. In 1996 he appeared with his sister in the low-budget movie Growing Artichokes in Mimongo.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Ammaniti

20160717 - arnon grunberg

Arnon Grunberg (officieel: Arnon Yasha Yves Grünberg, Amsterdam, 22 februari 1971) is een Nederlandse schrijver van joodse komaf. Hij schrijft meestal onder de naam Arnon Grunberg, maar maakte ook enige tijd gebruik van het heteroniem Marek van der Jagt. Sinds 29 maart 2010 schrijft hij een dagelijkse column Voetnoot op de voorpagina van de Volkskrant.

Grunberg is afkomstig uit een gezin dat zwaar getraumatiseerd is door de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Zijn moeder Hannelore Klein (1927-2015) overleefde Auschwitz, waar ze naar eigen zeggen goed behandeld is^[2] en zijn vader zat op talrijke adressen ondergedoken.^[3] Arnon Grunberg heeft één oudere zus, Maniou-Louise (1963). In 1982 emigreerde zijn zus naar Israël, waar zij inmiddels met haar gezin in een nederzetting nabij Ramallah een strikt orthodoxe levensstijl volgt. Grunberg zelf zwoer aan het eind van zijn puberteit elke vorm van religie af. Grunberg volgde het Amsterdamse Vossius Gymnasium, maar werd in 1988 van school verwijderd nadat hij voor de tweede keer was blijven zitten. Daarna werkte hij onder meer als jongste bediende bij een apotheek en als bordenwasser.
De jonge Grunberg wilde acteur worden. In 1989 speelde hij de hoofdrol in een film van de Nederlandse filmer Cyrus Frisch. In 1989, op de set van diens korte speelfilmkomedie 'De kut van Maria', besefte hij dat acteerwerk niet zo leuk was als hij hoopte. Hij kon niet tegen de strakke schema's, de drukte en de vele mensen om hem heen.
Voordat hij in 1994 doorbrak als schrijver, had hij een kleine uitgeverij, Kasimir. In 1991 kreeg hij een toneelschrijfopdracht van het Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunsten.
Op 23-jarige leeftijd debuteerde Grunberg bij Nijgh & Van Ditmar met Blauwe maandagen, een sterk autobiografische roman, waarin onder andere de oorlogservaringen van zijn ouders aan bod komen. Het boek werd een internationaal succes: in Nederland werd het bekroond met de Anton Wachterprijs voor het beste debuut en het Gouden Ezelsoor voor het best verkochte debuut. Het werd vertaald naar het Engels, Duits, Deens, Italiaans, Frans, Spaans, Tsjechisch, Zweeds en Japans. Met zijn tweede roman, Figuranten (1997), bevestigde hij zijn talent, alhoewel de ontvangst van deze roman minder enthousiast was dan bij Blauwe Maandagen. Meteen liet Grunberg zijn polemische karakter zien; na een negatieve recensie van Hans Goedkoop in de NRC dreigde Grunberg zijn medewerking aan de krant te staken zolang Goedkoop voor de krant mocht blijven schrijven. Uiteindelijk trok Grunberg zelf dit dreigement in.
De Stichting CPNB nodigde Grunberg uit om het Boekenweekgeschenk 1998 te schrijven. Dit boek, De heilige Antonio, verscheen in maart 1998. Tegelijkertijd kwam Grunbergs essaybundel De troost van de slapstick uit. Dit boek werd bekroond met het Charlotte Köhler Stipendium 1998. In het najaar van 1998 kwam de film Het veertiende kippetje uit, waarvan Grunberg het scenario had geschreven. Ook schreef hij het toneelstuk You are also very attractive when you are dead, dat werd opgevoerd in Düsseldorf, door een groep jonge Duitse en Israëlische acteurs.

 https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnon_Grunberg

20160716 - quote

20160715 - nice (evening 0714)

On the evening of 14 July 2016, 84 people were killed and 303 injured when a 19 tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France.
The driver was Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian resident of France. The attack ended following an exchange of gunfire, during which police surrounded the truck and shot the driver, killing him.
Agence France-Presse described the incident as the third major Islamist terrorist attack in France since the beginning of 2015, following the Île-de-France attacks in January of that year and the Paris attacks in November 2015. On 16 July, Amaq News Agency, associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel "executed the operation in response to calls to target citizens of coalition nations which fight the Islamic State".^[12] ISIL later included the claim on its daily al-Bayan radio news bulletin. On 21 July, the French prosecutor said that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel planned the attack for months and had help from five accomplices. The five suspects were held in custody on charges of "terror offences" related to the attack.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Nice_attack

20160714 - nice

Nice is the fifth most populous city in France and the capital of the Alpes Maritimes département. The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of about 1 million on an area of 721 km² (278 sq mi). Located in the Côte d'Azur area on the south east coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, Nice is the second-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast and the second-largest city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region after Marseille. Nice is about 13 kilometres (8 miles) from the principality of Monaco, and its airport is a gateway to the principality as well.
The city is nicknamed Nice la Belle (Nissa La Bella in Niçard), which means Nice the Beautiful, which is also the title of the unofficial anthem of Nice, written by Menica Rondelly in 1912.
The area of today's Nice contains Terra Amata, an archaeological site which displays evidence of a very early use of fire. Around 350 BC, Greeks of Marseille founded a permanent settlement and called it Nikaia, after Nike, the goddess of victory^. Through the ages, the town has changed hands many times. Its strategic location and port significantly contributed to its maritime strength. For centuries it was a dominion of Savoy, and was then part of France between 1792 and 1815, when it was returned to Piedmont-Sardinia until its re-annexation by France in 1860.
The natural beauty of the Nice area and its mild Mediterranean climate came to the attention of the English upper classes in the second half of the 18th century, when an increasing number of aristocratic families took to spending their winter there. The city's main seaside promenade, the Promenade des Anglais ("Walkway of the English') owes its name to visitors to the resort. For decades now, the picturesque Nicean surroundings have attracted not only those in search of relaxation, but also those seeking inspiration. The clear air and soft light have particularly appealed to some of Western culture's most outstanding painters, such as Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Niki de Saint Phalle and Arman. Their work is commemorated in many of the city's museums, including Musée Marc Chagall, Musée Matisse and Musée des Beaux-Arts. Nice has the second largest hotel capacity in the country and it is one of its most visited cities, receiving 4 million tourists every year. It also has the third busiest airport in France, after the two main Parisian ones. It is the historical capital city of the County of Nice (Comté de Nice).

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice

20160713 - quatorze juillet

20160712 - to the pool

Headed to the Pool? Protect Yourself From the Poop

Swimming is a great way to cool off on a hot day, but beware of fecal contamination that can make you sick, an expert says.
"The most common problems people get while swimming are intestinal infections, either bacterial or viral," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville.
Symptoms include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and sometimes fever. These symptoms occur several hours after infection, so people often don't realize they were infected while swimming.
There are a number of ways to reduce the risk of such infections.
Check the pool before you or your children get in. "Does it have clear and clean water? If not, you should reconsider getting in," Schaffner said in a medical center news release.
Before going into a pool, always take a shower. Anyone who has had stomach problems in the previous 24 hours should stay out of the pool.
Parents should check every 30 to 60 minutes that their toddlers haven't soiled their diapers (even plastic swim diapers) or their swimsuits. Change diapers away from poolside and wash your hands afterward.
If a child has an accident in a public pool, alert staffers so they can take steps to clean the water and make it safe again, Schaffner said.
Urine in the pool is not a major concern, he said, because it is sterile, dilutes quickly and poses little health risk to other swimmers.

 http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=196881

20160711 - the gene

The Gene: 

Science's Most Powerful— and Dangerous— Idea

Genes influence who we are—and now we can manipulate them.

The gene is “one of the most powerful and dangerous ideas in the history of science,” argues Siddhartha Mukherjee in The Gene: An Intimate History. Since its discovery by Gregor Mendel, an obscure Moravian monk, the gene has been both a force for good and ill. In the 1930s, the Nazis exploited the pseudoscience of eugenics as a prelude to the Holocaust. Today, gene therapy holds out the hope of eradicating hereditary conditions like Huntington’s disease and even psychological disturbances, such as schizophrenia. [See how the DNA revolution is giving us unprecedented power.]

National Geographic caught up with the author as he was driving across the Williamsburg Bridge in New York City. Mukherjee, a professor of medicine at Columbia University who also wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of All Maladies about cancer, explained why the book has deep personal roots, how the United States eagerly adopted the pseudoscience of eugenics, and why allowing individuals to make decisions about altering the genetic makeup of their children may be a dangerous thing to do.


 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/gene-history-siddhartha-mukherjee-science-eugenics/
 http://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/the-gene-that-might-make-you-a-better-athlete

20160710 - pokemon go

Pokémon GO (of Pokémon Go) is een spel voor iOS- en Android-smartphones ontwikkeld door Niantic en uitgegeven door The Pokémon Company in de Pokémon-serie. Het spel werd in juli 2016 in Noord-Amerika, Nieuw-Zeeland, Australië, Europa en Japan uitgebracht. Het uitbrengen van het spel in de rest van de wereld werd uitgesteld vanwege serverproblemen doordat het spel veel populairder bleek dan verwacht.
Het spel maakt gebruik van augmented reality en gps om animaties te projecteren op beelden van de camera van een smartphone. In het spel moeten spelers virtuele Pokémon zoeken, ermee vechten, ze vangen en daarna trainen. De virtuele Pokémon kunnen gevonden worden op veel plekken in de echte wereld.
Het spel werd al snel een van de meest gebruikte smartphone-apps na de lancering en het zorgde voor een enorme waardetoename van Nintendo aandelen. Het spel werd wereldwijd snel populair, waaronder in Nederland.

 https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_GO

20160709 - geocaching

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world.
A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook (with a pen or pencil). The geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name. After signing the log, the cache must be placed back exactly where the person found it. Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (Tupperware or similar) or ammunition boxes can also contain items for trading, such as toys or trinkets, usually of more sentimental worth than financial. Geocaching shares many aspects with benchmarking, trigpointing, orienteering, treasure-hunting, letterboxing, and waymarking.

History

Geocaching was originally similar to the 160-year-old game letterboxing, which uses clues and references to landmarks embedded in stories. Geocaching was conceived shortly after the removal of Selective Availability from the Global Positioning System on May 2, 2000, because the improved accuracy of the system allowed for a small container to be specifically placed and located. The first documented placement of a GPS-located cache took place on May 3, 2000, by Dave Ulmer of Beavercreek, Oregon. The location was posted on the Usenet newsgroup sci.geo.satellite-nav as 45°17.460′N 122°24.800′W. By May 6, 2000, it had been found twice and logged once (by Mike Teague of Vancouver, Washington). According to Dave Ulmer's message, this cache was a black plastic bucket that was partially buried and contained software, videos, books, food, money, and a slingshot. A geocache and plaque called the Original Stash Tribute Plaque now sit at the site.
The activity was originally referred to as GPS stash hunt or gpsstashing. This was changed shortly after the original hide when it was suggested in the gpsstash eGroup that "stash" could have negative connotations and the term geocaching was adopted.
Over time, a variety of different hide-and-seek-type activities have been created or abandoned, so that "geocaching" now may refer to hiding and seeking containers, or locations or information without containers.
An independent accounting of the early history documents several controversial actions taken by Irish and Grounded, Inc., a predecessor to Groundspeak, to increase "commercialization and monopolistic control over the hobby"^. More recently, other similar hobbies such as Munzee have attracted some geocachers by rapidly adopting smart-phone technology, which has caused "some resistance from geocaching organizers about placing caches along with munzees".


 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching

20160708 - future earth

Future Earth is a major international research platform providing the knowledge and support to accelerate transformations to a sustainable world.

 Launched in 2015, Future Earth is a 10-year initiative to advance Global Sustainability Science, build capacity in this rapidly expanding area of research and provide an international research agenda to guide natural and social scientists working around the world. But it is also a platform for international engagement to ensure that knowledge is generated in partnership with society and users of science. We are closely engaged in international processes such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and climate and biodiversity agreements (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity).
Future Earth is built on many decades of international research on global environmental change carried out by projects sponsored by DIVERSITAS, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP). Over 20 projects, ranging from the Global Carbon Project to the Earth System Governance project, have joined Future Earth. From this intellectual base Future Earth is launching Knowledge-Action Networks to catalyze new research and partnerships around eight key challenges to global sustainability.

 http://www.futureearth.org/who-we-are

20160707 - andy capp

20160706 - sylvana simons

Silvana Hildegard (Sylvana) Simons (Paramaribo, 31 januari 1971) is een Nederlands televisie- en radiopresentatrice. Ze is sinds juni 2016 actief in de politieke beweging DENK.

Levensloop 

Simons volgde opleidingen aan de balletacademie van Lucia Marthas en aan een kappersschool, werkte als danseres bij zanger CB Milton en legde zich vervolgens vooral toe op radio en tv.

 

  https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvana_Simons

20160705 - naked planet

The naked planet Earth: 

Most essential pre-requisite for the origin and evolution of life

Our blue planet Earth has long been regarded to carry full of nutrients for hosting life since the birth of the planet. Here we speculate the processes that led to the birth of early life on Earth and its aftermath, finally leading to the evolution of metazoans. We evaluate: (1) the source of nutrients, (2) the chemistry of primordial ocean, (3) the initial mass of ocean, and (4) the size of planet. Among the life-building nutrients, phosphorus and potassium play a key role. Only three types of rocks can serve as an adequate source of nutrients: (a) continent-forming TTG (granite), enabling the evolution of primitive life to metazoans; (b) primordial continents carrying anorthosite with KREEP (Potassium, Rare Earth Elements, and Phosphorus) basalts, which is a key to bear life; (c) carbonatite magma, enriched in radiogenic elements such as U and Th, which can cause mutation to speed up evolution and promote the birth of new species in continental rift settings. The second important factor is ocean chemistry. The primordial ocean was extremely acidic (pH = 1–2) and enriched in halogens (Cl, F and others), S, N and metallic elements (Cd, Cu, Zn, and others), inhibiting the birth of life. Plate tectonics cleaned up these elements which interfered with RNA. Blue ocean finally appeared in the Phanerozoic with pH = 7 through extensive interaction with surface continental crust by weathering, erosion and transportation into ocean. The initial ocean mass was also important. The birth of life and aftermath of evolution was possible in the habitable zone with 3–5 km deep ocean which was able to supply sufficient nutrients. Without a huge landmass, nutrients cannot be supplied into the ocean only by ridge-hydrothermal circulation in the Hadean. Finally, the size of the planet plays a crucial role. Cooling of massive planets is less efficient than smaller ones, so that return-flow of seawater into mantle does not occur until central stars finish their main sequence. Due to the suitable size of Earth, the dawn of Phanerozoic witnessed the initiation of return-flow of seawater into the mantle, leading to the emergence of huge landmass above sea-level, and the distribution of nutrients on a global scale. Oxygen pump also played a critical role to keep high-PO₂ in atmosphere since then, leading to the emergence of ozone layer and enabling animals and plants to invade the land.

 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001272

20160704 - juno

Juno is a NASA New Frontiers mission currently orbiting the planet Jupiter. Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011 and arrived on July 4, 2016. The spacecraft is in a polar orbit to study Jupiter's composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere. Juno will also search for clues about how the planet formed, including whether it has a rocky core, the amount of water present within the deep atmosphere, mass distribution, and its deep winds, which can reach speeds of 618 kilometers per hour (384 mph).
Juno is the second spacecraft to orbit Jupiter, following the Galileo probe which orbited from 1995–2003.
The Juno spacecraft is powered by solar arrays, commonly used by satellites orbiting Earth and working in the inner Solar System, whereas radioisotope thermoelectric generators are commonly used for missions to the outer Solar System and beyond. For Juno, however, three solar array wings, the largest ever deployed on a planetary probe, play an integral role in stabilizing the spacecraft and generating power.
The spacecraft's name comes from Greco-Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, but his wife, the goddess Juno, was able to peer through the clouds and see Jupiter's true nature. The mission had previously been referred to by the backronym JUpiter Near-polar Orbiter in a list of NASA acronyms.


 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft)

20160703 - petra

Groot complex ontdekt in ruïnestad Petra

1 juli 2016 | Joost Vermeulen 

 

In de Jordaanse ruïnestad Petra is een groot complex ontdekt – terwijl er dagelijks honderden mensen langsliepen, en Petra een van de best bestudeerde archeologische plekken ter wereld is.
De enorme structuur die nu gevonden is in Petra, lijkt op geen van de andere gebouwen. Het bestaat uit een platform van 56 bij 49 meter, met daarop een kleiner platform, dat oorspronkelijk was betegeld. Aan de oostzijde stond een zuilengalerij, boven aan een trap. Op het platform stond een klein gebouw van 8,5 bij 8,5 meter, met de ingang richting de trap.
Het had waarschijnlijk een publieke, ceremoniële functie en is het op een na

Ruimtevaarttechniek

Dit bouwwerk, dat nog geen 800 meter van de meeste andere gebouwen van Petra ligt, werd ontdekt door de Amerikaanse archeoloog Sarah Parcak. Zij is gespecialiseerd in de bestudering van satellietbeelden. Met behulp van uit de ruimtevaart afkomstige technieken kan zij op deze foto’s ondergrondse structuren ontdekken.


 http://www.newscientist.nl/nieuws/groot-complex-ontdekt-in-ruinestad-petra/