Bike To Be Green

Bicycles have been around sin the 19th Century and since then have been employed or are employed for many uses such as: recreation, work, military, show, sport, etc.For example in the USA, people use bikes for slimming and better feeling because cycling burns 600 calories an hour, but in China or other countries people use bikes mostly for transportation needs. For these reasons in some countries bikes are especially popular. These are the top 10 countries with the most bicycles per capita:

10. China

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- People: 1,342,700,000
- Bicycles: >500,000,000
- Cyclists: >37.2%

Fact: 60 percent of local cyclists in Shanghai (most populous city in China) pedal to work every day. The city is home to 9,430,000 bicycles and 19,213,200 people.

9. Belgium

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- People: 10,827,519

- Bicycles: 5,200,000

- Cyclists: ~48%

In Belgium 8% of all trips are made by bike. The average distance cycled per person per day is 0.9 km. Cycling is a national sport for the Belgians. Belgians are very serious about their bike. A real Belgian keeps an expensive, quality bike well maintained with functioning breaks and inflated tires and usually wears a helmet and a bright yellow vest to make him or herself visible to car.

8. Switzerland

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- People: 7,782,900

- Bycicles: 3,800,000

- Cyclists: ~48.8

In Switzerland 5% of all trips and 10% of trips to work are made by bike. Switzerland is a cycling country. Here this is more than just an activity, it is a healthy way to enjoy the nature and the hospitality of local people. The Swiss even have “Bike to Work“ campaigns when employees ride their bike to work.

7. Japan

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- People: 127,370,000

- Bicycles: 72,540,000

- Cyclists: ~56.9%

In Japan 15 percent of trips to work are made by bicycle. In recent years more than 10 millions bikes are sold every year. In Japan bicycles are widely used as an alternative to motorcars. A lot of people use them to ride to the train stations. In nowadays more and more Japanese are taking up bicycling to work for health reasons and to avoid traffic jams and crowded trains. Many people don’t lock their bicycles even when they leave their bikes outside railroad stations all day or overnight.

6. Finland

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- People: 5,380,200
- Bicycles: 3,250,000
- Cyclists: ~60.4%

In Finland 9% of all trips are made by bike. The average distance cycled per inhabitant per day is 0.7 km. Fins ride bicycles without reference to the age or social status, both children and grown-ups: tourists and housewives, pensioners and students. Although the cycling season in this country traditionally starts in spring or summer, some fans of bikes is not afraid of neither the rain, nor slush, nor event winter snowstorms. The love of Fins cyclists to the bicycles can be compared with their love to dogs, or to fishing, or to sauna.

5. Norway

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- People: 4,943,000

- Bicycles: 3,000,000

- Cyclists: ~60.7%

In Norway 4% of all trips are made by bike. In Norway, with a population of 4,943 million people and 3 million bicycles, 60.000 bicycles disappear each year, never to be seen by their owners again.Most bicycles are stolen from places owners assume are safe. Experienced thieves can take even locked bikes in about 10-20 seconds.On the streets, the value of a stolen bicycle is approximately 5-10% of the bicycle’s original retail value, with an inverse relationship between value and percentage worth on the street. About 10% of the stolen bicycles are exported to Russia and Eastern Europe.

4. Sweden

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- People: 9,418,732

- Bicycles: 6,000,000

- Cyclists: ~63.7%

In Sweden 9% of all trips are made by bike. The average distance cycled per person per day is 0.7 km. The bicycle in Swedish family is a necessary thing such as a TV-set. For Swedish people bike is even more valuable than a TV. Often a family has a few different bicycles, depending on the number of members of a family and their age.

3. Germany

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- People: 81,802,000

- Bicycles: 62,000,000

- Cyclists: ~75.8%

In the Germany 9% of all trips are made by bike. The average distance cycled per inhabitant per day is 0.9 km. Cycling is ingrained in the German culture. It is rare to find an adult German who did not grow up riding a bike and whose children, parents, and even grandparents probably still ride bikes. This fact makes drivers and pedestrians understanding and accommodating to bicycle riders (unlike in the US).

2. Denmark

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- People: 5,560,628

- Bicycles: 4,500,000

- Cyclists: ~80.1%

In the Denmark 18% of all trips are made by bike.The average distance cycled per person is 1.6 km. Cycling is generally perceived as a healthier, cheaper, environmentally friendlier and often even quicker way to travel around towns than car or public transport and it is therefore municipal policy for the number of commuters by bike to go up to 40% by 2012 and 50% by 2015. In Copenhagen (the capital of Denmark) 37% of all citizens ride their bike on a daily basis. The local town hall even offers the visitors rental bikes for free.Interesting fact: the average travelling speed in Copenhagen is 16 kph for cyclists and 27 kph for cars.

1. Netherlands

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- People: 16,652,800

- Bicycles: 16,500,000

- Cyclists: ~99.1%

In the Netherlands 27% of all trips and 25% of trips to work are made by bike. The average distance cycled per person per day is 2.5 km. Holland and bicycles go together like bread and jam. Despite the recession the cycle-happy Dutch are still spending a lot of money on their bicycles - nearly 1 billion euros’ worth a year. About 1.3 million bicycles were sold in the Netherlands in 2009, at an average price of 713 euros ($1,008) each. Amsterdam (the capital and largest city of the Netherlands) is one of the most bicycle-friendly large cities in the world. It has 400 km of bike lanes and nearly 40% of all commutes in Amsterdam are done on bike. Strangely, most cyclists don’t wear helmets. And bike theft is a big problem, with about one of five (20%) bicycles being stolen each year.

USA (For Comparison)

- People: 310,936,000

- Bicycles: 100,000,000

- Bicylists: ~32,2%

In the USA only 0,9% of all trips are made by bike. The average distance cycled per person is 0.1 km.

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A Single Rose .....

The image of what appears to be a single rose is what the Hubble Telescope presents to astronomers to commemorate the Hubble Telescope's 21 years in space. 



Arp 273
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Riess (STScI/JHU), L. Macri (Texas A&M University), and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)



Arp 273 is made up of two interacting galaxies: UGC 1810, has a disk that is distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational tidal pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813.   These two galaxies are separated from each other by tens of thousands of light years; while Arp 273 is approximately 300 million light years away from Earth.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) conducts Hubble science operations.  

Since it's deployment April 24, 1990, the Hubble Telescope has also enabled Astronomers to uncover one of the youngest galaxies in the distant universe, with stars that formed 13.5 billion years ago, a mere 200 million years after the Big Bang (as depicted below).

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CRAL, LAM, STScI

These are just two accounts of how vital the Hubble Telescope is to solving so many of history's mysteries, which before were unfathomable.  Long Live the Hubble Telescope! 

World's Largest Pyramid - Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun

The Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun (Visocica Hill), is the first European pyramid to be discovered and is located in the heart of Bosnia, in the town of Visoko. The pyramid has all the elements: four perfectly shaped slopes pointing toward the cardinal points, a flat top and an entrance complex. On top of the pyramid are also the ruins of a Medieval walled town, once the base of a Bosnian king Tvrtko of Kotromanic (1338-1391).

Numerous scientific analysis suggest artificiality of the monument: satellite imagery, thermal inertia analysis that shows quick heat loss due to inner chambers and hallways; penetrating radar suggests straight passageways with 90 degrees intersections; water drainage and inner angles of 45 degrees characteristic for artificial objects. Geo-archaeological research uncovered man-made stone blocks that the pyramid walls.

Between 27,000 and 12,000 years ago, the Balkans were locked in the last Glacial maximum, a period of very cold and dry climate with glaciers in some of the mountain ranges. The only occupants were Upper Paleolithic hunters and gatherers who left behind open-air camp sites and traces of occupation in caves. These remains consist of simple stone tools, hearths, and remains of animals and plants that were consumed for food. These people did not have the tools or skills to engage in the construction of monumental architecture.

Mars Pits Revealed

Released in December, the image is among a series of new views snapped by MRO's HiRISE camera that show intriguing geological features on Mars. Each image covers a strip of Martian ground 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) wide and can reveal a detail about as small as a desk—and so far no sign of Star Wars monsters.

A sharp close-up of the the larger Martian pit revealed sediment and boulders (seen in a picture taken in fall 2010 by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera), as well as hints of sand that was blown inside and trapped in the deepest and darkest parts of the hole, according to NASA.

Car-size boulders punctuate the bottom of the smaller Martian pit (pictured in a fall 2010 HiRISE image). A bright sand dune laced with windblown ripples covers the sloping western side of the hole.

The two pits are believed to be relatively young, according to NASA. As the pits age, the slopes become shallow and widen as they material at the edges collapses inward.

Among other recently released pictures from NASA's Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter are these images of apparent mud volcanoes on in Acidalia Planitia, a large basin in Mars's northern lowlands (seen in a fall 2010 HiRISE picture).

Mud volcanoes—which also exist on Earth—form when wet, pressurized sediment buried at depth erupts onto the surface. (Related photo: "'Medusa' Worms Found in Mud Volcano.")

A gigantic trough (center) slices through Mars's Tharsis volcanic region in a fall 2010 picture by HiRISE.

Called a graben, the 1.2-mile-wide (2-kilometer-wide) depression formed when a block of the planet's crust dropped down between two faults. In this case, the tectonic movement left nearly vertical walls—each about a kilometer (0.6 mile) deep—on either side.

"From the scarcity of craters inside the graben, it's estimated to be less than a billion years old," principal investigator McEwen said. "This one is nicely defined because it cuts a well-preserved lava flow."

Partial Solar Eclipse

An unidentified employee of the Stefanik Observatory in Prague uses a projection shield to show the partial solar eclipse visible in the Czech capital during the morning on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011. The partial Sun eclipse started over the Czech Republic at about 08:00 CET and it will last until 10:50. In the culminating phase, up to 80 percent of the solar disc was obscured by the silhouette of the Moon passing between it and the Earth.

(AP Photo/CTK, Michal Kamaryt)

UFO sighting in UK a HOAX?

 

Personally, the video looks no different than anyother video footage I have ever seen.  So, you be the judge.  Is this UK UFO sighting just another hoax?

WE’RE SAVED?

Planet discovered that can sustain life as we know it.  That really sounds great and I would love to let out a big “HOORAY!” and all, but of course there is a catch…IT’S 20 LIGHT YEARS AWAY!!!

Alan Boyle writes: Astronomers say they've found the first planet beyond our solar system that could have the right size and setting to sustain life as we know it, only 20 light-years from Earth.

"My own personal feeling is that the chances of life on this planet are 100 percent," Steven Vogt, an astrophysicist at the University of California at Santa Cruz, told reporters today. "I have almost no doubt about it."

The discovery, published online in The Astrophysical Journal, is the result of 11 years of observations at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Astronomers participating in the Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey detected the planet by tracking the faint gravitational wobbles it produced in its parent star. Now they say there may well be many more planets out there like this one.

"The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common," Vogt said in a news release.

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One of Vogt's co-authors, Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution, reminded reporters during a teleconference today that the first exoplanet orbiting a normal star was detected 15 years ago. Since then, almost 500 other alien planets have been found. "We're at exactly that threshold now with finding habitable planets," Butler said.

The newfound planet, known as Gliese 581g, is estimated to be 3.1 to 4.3 times as massive as Earth, and makes a complete circuit around its sun in just under 37 days. If the planet has a rocky composition like Earth's, it would be 1.2 to 1.4 times as wide as our own planet, qualifying it as a "super-Earth."

Even more intriguingly, the red dwarf star's dimness and the planet's orbital distance (0.146 AU, less than half the distance between Mercury and our sun) suggest that the planet's average surface temperature is not that far below water's freezing point (somewhere between 10 and -24 degrees Fahrenheit, or -12 and -31 degrees Celsius).

Although that average may sound chilly, the astronomers say Gliese 581g appears to be tidally locked to its star, with one side perpetually in the sun and the other side perpetually dark. That means the highs on the day side would be hellishly hot. The lows on the night side would be unendurably cold. But there would be a livable zone along the line between shadow and light.

"Any emerging life forms would have a wide range of stable climates to choose from and to evolve around, depending on their longitude," Vogt said.

Based on this analysis, Vogt and his colleagues say Gliese 581g is in a planetary zone that is, in the words of the Goldilocks tale, "not too hot and not too cold, but just right" for water to exist somewhere in liquid form. Astrobiologists say that life seems to exist anyplace on Earth that has liquid water, and that such a Goldilocks zone should be conducive to alien life as well. Some astronomers have even proposed that super-Earths could be friendlier to life than our own home world.

The Gliese 581 system is already well-known to planet hunters. Gliese 581g is the sixth planet to be detected around the parent star. Two other planets in the system are on the edges of the Goldilocks zone: Gliese 581c (potentially "too hot") and Gliese 581d (potentially "too cold"). "Now we have one in the middle that's just right," Vogt said.

The method that was used to detect the latest member of Gliese 581's planetary family, known as radial velocity, requires painstaking observations over a number of years. As the method is currently practiced, it's not capable of finding Earthlike planets around sunlike stars. The Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey was able to spot this super-Earth because it could exert a relatively large pull on a relatively small star. But the observations weren't easy: It took 238 measurements, conducted over 11 years with the aid of the European-led HARPS team, to confirm Gliese 581g's existence.

Astronomers believe it will be easier in the future to find habitable planets — not only because they're building up a larger database of radial velocity measurements, but also because new space probes such as NASA's Kepler and Europe's CoRoT satellite are detecting hundreds of exoplanets using a different technique known as the transit method.

"The number of systems with potentially habitable planets is probably on the order of 10 or 20 percent, and when you multiply that by the hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way, that's a large number," Vogt said. "There could be tens of billions of these systems in our galaxy."

But how accessible would they be? Relatively speaking, Gliese 581g is in our celestial neighborhood, but it would take tens of thousands of years to get there using conventional rocket technologies. Vogt said it might be possible to send a robotic probe to the planet using an experimental nuclear propulsion system, such as the Project Orion system that was proposed a half-century ago but never built.

"If you're traveling at a tenth of the speed of light, you could reach this thing in 200 years," Vogt told reporters, "Now, you probably wouldn't send humans there, because that would be multiple generations and you'd need a big crew cabin and there wouldn't be much to do for 200 years. But you could send sophisticated robot cameras. Basically, the equivalent of a Droid cell phone would do pretty well. ... In 220 years, if we started now, you would be able to get close-up pictures and a sense of what kind of atmosphere was there, and radio communications, that sort of thing. And it would be a great thing to do with the world's stockpile of nuclear weapons. Just put 'em up on a rocket and send 'em up there."

More on alien planets:

• Too big? 55 Cancri appears to have a planet in the Goldilocks zone, but it's 45 times as massive as Earth. That's probably too massive for life as we know it, but life could conceivably exist on a moon (such as Pandora in the movie "Avatar").
• Too hot? As mentioned above, Gliese 581c might be on the edge of the Goldilocks zone, but astronomers are coming around to the view that it's too hot to sustain life. The planet is at least five times as massive as Earth.
• Too cold? When Gliese 581c fizzled, astronomers suggested that Gliese 581d might be on the other side of the star system's habitable zone. Astronomers say life could be a possibility if the planet had a thick atmosphere to hold onto heat. Otherwise, it's probably too cold. It's also seven times as massive as Earth.
• Planet theory: Four types of habitable planets proposed
• The world next door: Discovery suggests Mars was once habitable
• Millions of Earths? Astronomer's talk causes a stir
• More on the way: Hunt for new worlds goes into overdrive
• Looking for alien Earths? Probes could turn up hundreds