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)