February 7th,2010by venturi
Dean Stevenson has farmed the plains of south-central Idaho most of his forty-seven years. Like all farmers, he worries about things like the price of sugar beets and malt barley or the cost of gasoline, but most of all, he worries about water.
He is right to worry. The 4,000 acres he farms with his father and brother receive on average a scant 10 inches of rain per year. The water that sustains the sugar beets, barley, wheat, and potatoes growing on Stevenson land is pumped from the Snake River Plain aquifer. Every drop is rationed.
Stevenson is part of a water district—the Magic Valley Ground Water—that helps manage water taken from the aquifer.In 2006, another irrigation district on the Snake River Plain, A&B, believed that some of the farms in its district had run short on water, resulting in a poor harvest. Because A&B has senior (older) water rights, Idaho law allowed them to issue a water call, a demand that junior water right holders, including Stevenson, draw less water from the aquifer.
The agency with the unenviable task of sorting out water calls is the Idaho Department of Water Resources. The agency keeps track of how much water is in the state’s rivers and ground water to ensure that Idaho has a viable water supply for all of its users—farmers, cities and towns, and natural ecosystems.
Idaho uses more water than any other U.S. state except California and Texas, the two most populous states. More than 90 percent of the water consumed in Idaho goes to irrigate 3.4 million acres of farmland, providing the economic base for the state. In recent years, some of the department’s most detailed information on how much water farmers consume has come not from water meters on the ground, but from innovative space-based estimates of the evaporation of water from soil and plants.
The new method holds enough promise for Western water management—a challenge that population growth and climate change are likely to intensify in coming decades—that it influenced the design of the next satellite in NASA’s decades-old Landsat program, now jointly managed by NASA and the United States Geological Survey.
February 6th,2010by venturi
For many people, there is only one reason to go to an amusement park: the roller coaster. Some people call it the "scream machine," with good reason. The history of this ride reflects a constant search for greater and more death-defying thrills.
How does a roller coaster work?
What you may not realize as you're cruising down the track at 60 miles an hour is that the coaster has no engine. The car is pulled to the top of the first hill at the beginning of the ride, but after that the coaster must complete the ride on its own. You aren't being propelled around the track by a motor or pulled by a hitch. The conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy is what drives the roller coaster, and all of the kinetic energy you need for the ride is present once the coaster descends the first hill..
Design a Roller Coaster
Once you're underway, different types of wheels help keep the ride smooth. Running wheels guide the coaster on the track. Friction wheels control lateral motion (movement to either side of the track). A final set of wheels keeps the coaster on the track even if it's inverted. Compressed air brakes stop the car as the ride ends.
Wooden or steel coaster: Does it make a difference?
Roller coasters can be wooden or steel, and can be looping or nonlooping. You'll notice a big difference in the ride depending on the type of material used. In general, wooden coasters are nonlooping. They're also not as tall and not as fast, and they don't feature very steep hills or as long a track as steel ones do. Wooden coasters do offer one advantage over steel coasters, assuming you're looking for palm-sweating thrills: they sway a lot more. Tubular steel coasters allow more looping, higher and steeper hills, greater drops and rolls, and faster speeds.
February 5th,2010by venturi
Prometheus was a Titan .In the war between Zeus the giants he had stood on the side of the new Olympiangods.Out of the clay he made the first man,to whom Athena gave soul and holy breath.Prometheus spent a lot of time and energy in creating the gift of fire.And fire raised man above all animals .Later,there held a joint meeting of gods and men.The meeting was to decide what part of burnt animals should begiven to gods and what to men.Prometheus cut up an ox and divided it into two parts:under the skin he placed the fresh,and under the fat he put the bones,for he knew the selfish Zeus loved fat. Zeus saw through the trick and felt displeased at the Prometheus' favor towards men.So in a masterful way he took away the gift of fire from mankind.However,Prometheus managed to steal fire from heaven and secretly brought it down tomen.Flying into an anger at this unjustified act of rebellion,Zeus let the other gods chain Prometheus to a rock on Mountain Caucasus,where a hungry eagle ever tore at his liver which ever grew again.His period of pain was to be thirty-thousand years.Prometheus faced his bitter fate firmly and never lost courage before Zeus.At last Heracles made Prometheus and Zeus restore to friend ship,when Heracles came over in search of the golden apple and killed the eagle and set the friend of mankind free.
February 4th,2010by venturi
When Ilus had first built his new seat,the city of Troy, he prayed Zeus to show some sign of blessing for it. His prayer was heard,and a wooden image of Pallas- A-thena fell from heaven to within the walls of the city. Known as the Palladium, the statue afforded the city safety and protection. At religious meetings of the goddess it was carried through the city streets amid joys and songs of praise.
After the flames of war had spread for ten years before the walls of Troy, a prophet foretold that Troy could never be expected to fall as long as the Palladium was treasured by its people .In order to steal it out,Odysseus and Diomedes slipped into the capital one night in disguise ,known to none but Hellen.The bad woman took out them to He cuba, the queen of Troy, at whose feet Odysseus immediately bowed down and asked formercy.The queen granted their request,and with the help of Helen,they successfully brought the image back to the Greek camp at dawn.
Later it was said that Aeneas got hold of it and carried itwith him to his new land,where it was Preserved together with the goddess' fire.
February 3rd,2010by venturi
Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He attended St. Fintan's Christian Brothers School in Sutton and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and continued his education at University College, Dublin. He worked for fourteen years as an English and Geography teacher in North Dublin. Since 1993 he has been dedicated to writing full-time.
His novels are The Commitments (1987); The Snapper (1990); The Van (1991), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize; The Barrytown Trilogy [The Commitments, The Snapper, and The Van] (1992); Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha (1993), which won the 1993 Booker Prize; The Woman Who Walked Into Doors (1996); A Star Called Henry (1999); His drama includes War (1989) , as well as The Family, written for TV. He has written the scripts for films based on his novels, including The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van. He lives in Dublin.
February 2nd,2010by venturi
After the stealing of fire,Zeus became increasingly unkind to men.One day he ordered his son Hephaestus tobuild an image of a beautiful maiden out of clay.He then asked the gods and goddesses to award her with different kinds of gifts.Among others,Athena clothed her in an attractive coat and Hermes gave her the power of telling lies.A charming young lady,she was the first woman that ever lived.Zeus called her Pandora.Because she had received from each of the gods and goddesses a gift.The gift was harmful to men.
Zeus decided to send her down to men as a present.So Hermes them essenger brought her to Epimetheus,brother of Prometheus.The greatness of her beauty touched the hearts of all who looked upon her,and Epimetheus happily received her into his house.He had quite forgotten Pometheus' warning:never to accept anything from Zeus.The couple lived a happy life for some time.Then trouble came on to the human world.
When he was busy with teaching men the art of living,Prometheus had left a bigcask in the care of Epimetheus.He had warned his brother not to open the lid.Pandora was a curious woman.She had been feeling very disappointed that her husband did not allow her to take a look at the contents of the cask.One day,when Epimetheus was out,she lifted the lid and out itcame unrest and war,Plague and sickness,theft and violence, grief sorrow,and all the other evils.The human world was hence to experience these evils.Only hope stayed within the mouth of the jar and never flew out.So men always have hope within their hearts.
February 1st,2010by venturi
Weak forces of good and evil was expelled to the sky. Asked Zeus is good at, how can we return to earth to. Zeus told him that we should not and go, one by one of the world to visit it. Evil and people very close, so one after another to find them. Good because down from the sky, on the very slow to very slow.