- It had to happen eventually. That has become the most
optimistic view when it comes to wins for the belegaured Penn State football
program. The number of players who have left the team since NCAA sanctions for
the Jerry Sandusky scandal has hit double digits and continued rising, adding
two more to the tally this week. It will be 2016 before the Nittany Lions are
eligible for a bowl game again and between now and then, scholraship reductions
as part of the NCAA penalties mean the team probably won't be good enough to
actually be postseason-worthy before then. Add all of that up and you have a
team that lost its first two games, one at home to a lowly Mid-American
confernece foe in Ohio and a second when missing four of five field goal
attempts led to a loss at Virginia. But the losing streak ended and the first
win of the Bill O’Brien era in Happy Valley came in the form of a 34-7 defeat
of Navy on Saturday. Even if the first W came against a lowly service academy,
PSU players Jordan
Hill and Gerald Hodges still snuck up behind their rookie head coach to douse
him with a bucket of water. The
morale-boosting win came as a relief to O’Brien and his players after two tough
defeats and a continuing series of defections. "In many ways, it was a
long time coming," said a soaking-wet O’Brien after the game. "All
the hard work they've
put in this week, it finally paid
off ... But it's just one win. We've got to soak it in tonight but get back to
work on Monday." Beating an athletically overmatched service academy team
normally wouldn’t be reason for celebration at Penn State, but times have
changed since the school was hammered with NCAA sanctions in July over the
school's handling of the Sandusky case. O'Brien was hired in January as
legendary head coach Joe Paterno's replacement, knowing full well he had an
immense and long-term challenge ahead. He may not have been able to imagine how
challenging it would be, but he has remained stoic since arriving at Penn
State. Because the school was forced to vacate all its wins since 1998 as part
of its punishment, the Nittany Lions' last official win was 35-10 against
Wisconsin on Nov. 22, 1997. "When you think about all the things they've
been through -- it's a pretty neat group of kids," O'Brien said. At lest
the win was an emphatic one, as Navy was shut out until a touchdown with 10:03
remaining in the fourth quarter. Some fans chanted O’Brien’s name as he exited
the field after the game, adding to what was already a big day for him…….
- Bad news just continues rolling in for the embattled
U.S. economy. Sure, good people losing their jobs, homes and possessions is bad
and discouraging, but when unique underwater research facilities off the
coast of Key Largo, Fla. are closing because of massive government budget cuts,
then maybe financial struggles have gone one step too far. Aquarius, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-owned habitat, has hosted
hundreds of scientists and provided invaluable data on South Florida's prized
coral reefs, but there simply is not enough money in the budget to keep it open
after nearly 20 years of operation. The NOAA plans on using robots and remote
technology in the future for underwater research, but critics of the shutdown
say it simply won't be the same. Supporters like U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
R-Fla. believe using robots goes against the humanity that is supposed to be
the root of scientific research. Otto Rutten, Aquarius' science manager,
pointed out htat the facility allows scientists to pack a significant amount of
research into a single mission. NASA alone has conducted 16 separate missions
at Aquarius because it so closely resembles outer space and prepares astronauts
set to live aboard the International Space
Station. One might argue that because NASA’s own
budget cuts mean it is no longer shooting people into outer space, there is one
less reason to keep Atlantis alive. It takes $3 million a year to keep Atlantis
operating, making it an expensive pet to keep, even if those who run it feel
otherwise.
"When you compare it to the amount
of dollars that go into marine research in our country, it's just a drop in the bucket," Rutten said. He and
his fellow staffers are holding out hope that a charity or organization will
step in with the funding to keep Atlantis afloat. "It would be an awesome
draw for any university to say we have the worlds only underwater laboratory.
You should come to our research university," Rutten pointed out. Filmmaker
Greg MacGillivray's One World One Ocean campaign added some fuel to the effort last month by filming a docuentary
on a reef research project based out of Atlantis and at this point, every ounce
of support is crucial………
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! This has been a world-class week
for the world of social dissidence and it ended with a flourish Saturday as South
African police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse miners rallying in
Marikana after raids on their hostels to seize arms and other weaponry. The
raids were indefensible because if they don’t have the right weapons, how are
these miners supposed to riot properly? Yet there they were, 500 police
officers raiding hostels at Lonmin's Karee platinum mine near Marikana. Sure,
the mines were the site of violent clashes last month in which 34 miners were
killed by police, but in every revolution some bloodshed is necessary. The
early-morning seizure of machetes, spears and other weapons was a
stereotypical overreaction by The Man, even if police spokesman Thulani Ngubane
believes otherwise. There have been five weeks of labor unrest and if police
think one desperate raid is going to change that, they are sorely mistaken. So
far, the work stoppage has choked off platinum production in the world's top
producer of the precious metal and even an offer by mine operator to increase
the pay raise being offered to the miners wasn’t enough to end the strike. The
revised figure was still short of the 12,500 rand ($1,500) that they demand and
if anything, the offer seems to have further antagonized the miners. After the
raids on the hostels, which are home to about 6,000 miners, the situation is
more heated than ever. "The aim of the raid was to disarm the mine workers
to make sure that we do away with the elements of threats that are taking
their toll in the area of Marikana," Ngubane said. Miners
made it clear how they felt about the raids later in the day when a large crowd
of them gathered at a field in Marikana, about 60 miles northwest of
Johannesburg, and scrapped with riot police. Officers responded with rubber
bullets and tear gas but the clash did not escalate to the level of the
"Marikana massacre,” which has poisoned industrial relations in South
Africa and sparked heavy criticism of President Jacob Zuma and the ruling ANC
for their slowness in dealing with the widening crisis.........
- Evil prevailed at the box office this weekend. “Resident
Evil: Retribution” debuted in first place with $21.1 million, outdueling
Disney’s lame attempt to squeeze more life out of “Finding Nemo” by
re-releasing it in 3-D form. “Nemo” swam its way to $17.5 million in its first
weekend of life as a three-dimensional movie, placing a massive gap between it
and the third-place film for the frame, defending champion “The Possession.”
After two weak weekends atop the earnings list, “Possession” fell two spots
with a bland $5.8 million effort for a three-week domestic tally of $41.1
million. “Lawless” also dropped two spots in its third weekend, adding $4.2
million to its domestic total for a three-week haul of $30.1 million.
Kid-friendly “ParaNorman” was fifth on the list with $3.1 million and has
banked $49.3 million in five weeks of release. It narrowly out-battled
has-been-employing action flick “The Expendables 2,” which blasted its way to
$3 million and has earned $80.3 million overall. The subpar run continued for
Bradley Cooper’s attempt at a serious movie as “The Words” struggled to $2.9
million and hasn’t yet broken the eight-figure barrier in two weeks of release
($9.1 million and counting). “The Bourne Legacy” continues to be a
disappointment as well, adding $2.8 million to its coffers but having a mere
$107.8 million in overall earnings through six long weeks of release. That was
enough to top “The Odd Life of Timothy Green,” which snagged ninth place on the
strength of its $2.5 million weekend and has brought in $46.2 million in its
first five weeks. “The Campaign” hung in the top 10 for the sixth straight
weekend, claiming the No. 10 slot with $2.4 million, a step ahead of “The Dark
Knight Rises” (No. 11), which fell out of the top 10 for the first time. “2016
Obama's America” (No. 13) also fell from the top 10………
- Who hasn’t dreamt of water-resistant balls? That dream
has become a reality courtesy of researcher Neelesh Patankar of Northwestern
University. Patankar has capitalized on the Leidenfrost effect, in which droplets
of water will skitter around rather than spreading into a puddle if a frying pan
is hot enough, to create steel balls in a nanoparticle-based coating that gave
them a rough texture and which keep hot water at bay long enough to prevent
water from bubbling even when it reaches boiling temperature. These special
balls work because high heat evaporates enough of the water to create a vapor
layer and the liquid floats on this cushion and boils without bubbling.
Although the effect has been achieved before, Pantakar’s experiment allowed water
to maintain its bubble-free state even as the hot materials around it cooled. The
Leidenfrost effect is a concern in chemical plants and nuclear reactors because
iquid water touching hot metal may cause explosions and these unique balls
could be a solution to the problem. By keeping materials isolated from the
boiling water around them, explosions can be averted and although explosions
are by definition awesome, not everyone loves them. Keeping water vapor in
place past when the material cools to the boiling point of water could
significantly reduce or even eliminate the explosion risk in some cases. To
test the idea, Patankar’s team heated their balls to 400 °C and submerged them
in hot water. Instead of bubbling against the scorching metal, water droplets
stretched across the grooves in the rough coating and cavities beneath them
filled with vapor. This left t the surrounding water undisturbed as the
temperature of the balls fell all the way to 100 °C. As Paris Hilton might say because
they’re two of the only five words she knows, that’s hot………….
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