On May 15th 2015, NASA released a new study that revealed that one of Antarctica's ice shelves, Larsen B, is melting and facing collapse by 2020. A team of scientists led by Ala Khazendar has found that the Larsen B ice shelf is flowing faster, becoming increasingly more fragmented, and there are large cracks developing. The Larsen B ice shelf suffered a partial collapse in 2002. At that time the shelf lost a region larger than Rhode Island, while leaving 618 square miles of it left.
Ice shelves are important because they are the gatekeepers that keep glaciers from flowing into the ocean from Antarctica. Khazendar said that these changes are a warning and that, "Although it is fascinating scientifically to have a front row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it's bad news for our planet." Increasing glacial ice can and will contribute to the rise in sea levels around the world.
Khazendar's team ran a multiyear airborne survey campaign that provided them with unprecedented documentation of Antarctica's glaciers, ice shelves, and ice sheets. Data was gathered on surface ice elevations and bedrock depths by using instrumented aircraft that participated in NASA's Operation Icebridge. Khazendar said that, " Change has been relentless."
The west coast of the Antarctica Peninsula is one of the fastest warming places on Earth, with an average annual temperature increase of 2.5 degree Celsius in the last five years. A NASA release on the study stated, "After the 2002 Larsen B collapse, the glacier behind the collapsed part of the shelf accelerated as much as eightfold - comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 440 miles per hour.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
The Thrill Is Gone, As BB King Dies At 89
BB King passed away quietly in his sleep on May 14th 2015. He was 89 years old. Mr King had been suffering from acute symptoms of type 2 diabetes that led to several strokes. Mr king had continued to perform despite being in hospice care for his failing health. He stopped touring in October 2014 after suffering from dehydration and exhaustion.
He was born Riley B King on September 16th 1925, in Itta Bena, Mississippi. As the son of a sharecropper, he picked cotton in his youth. Growing up, his dream was to become a Gospel singer and learned guitar from his pastor. As a teen, he made the decision to hitchhike to Memphis where he played music on the street.
After playing for a year, he was asked to play on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program. After playing at local night spots, Mr King became a DJ at the black owned radio station in Memphis, WDIA. It was there that he earned the nickname, Beale Street Blues Boy, which was later shortened to Blues Boy.
He made his first recording in 1949 and went on to have a string of Blues hits while signed to a long term contract with Kent/RPM/Modern, including, "Three O'Clock Blues." That song reached number one on the R&B charts and became his first national hit. In 1951, on the strength of that number one hit, Mr King went on his first national tour. It was while he was in New York that he shortened his name to BB.
While he remained popular with black audiences in the 50's, it wasn't until the mid sixties, that things began to change. A new group of young rock artists, which included George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix, began to attribute their playing styles to Mr King's influence. In fact, Mr King once noted that it was his performance at the Filmore West in San Fransisco, that opened the doors to his commercial success.
In 1969, he released what became his biggest hit, "The Thrill Is Gone." From there he went on to tour around the world, doing 300 or more shows a year. Over the course of his career he won 18 Grammy Awards, the Presidential Medal of the Arts, and the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2000, he released the double platinum, "Riding With The King," recorded with Eric Clapton.
Mr King is survived by 11 children. After a memorial service in Las Vegas on May 23rd, Mr King's body will be taken to Memphis on May 27th, for a procession down Beale St to Handy Park. Public viewing will take place on May 29th at the BB King Museum in Indianola, Mississippi. His funeral will take place on May 30th at the Bell Grove M.B. Church, also in Indianola.
He was born Riley B King on September 16th 1925, in Itta Bena, Mississippi. As the son of a sharecropper, he picked cotton in his youth. Growing up, his dream was to become a Gospel singer and learned guitar from his pastor. As a teen, he made the decision to hitchhike to Memphis where he played music on the street.
After playing for a year, he was asked to play on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program. After playing at local night spots, Mr King became a DJ at the black owned radio station in Memphis, WDIA. It was there that he earned the nickname, Beale Street Blues Boy, which was later shortened to Blues Boy.
He made his first recording in 1949 and went on to have a string of Blues hits while signed to a long term contract with Kent/RPM/Modern, including, "Three O'Clock Blues." That song reached number one on the R&B charts and became his first national hit. In 1951, on the strength of that number one hit, Mr King went on his first national tour. It was while he was in New York that he shortened his name to BB.
While he remained popular with black audiences in the 50's, it wasn't until the mid sixties, that things began to change. A new group of young rock artists, which included George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix, began to attribute their playing styles to Mr King's influence. In fact, Mr King once noted that it was his performance at the Filmore West in San Fransisco, that opened the doors to his commercial success.
In 1969, he released what became his biggest hit, "The Thrill Is Gone." From there he went on to tour around the world, doing 300 or more shows a year. Over the course of his career he won 18 Grammy Awards, the Presidential Medal of the Arts, and the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2000, he released the double platinum, "Riding With The King," recorded with Eric Clapton.
Mr King is survived by 11 children. After a memorial service in Las Vegas on May 23rd, Mr King's body will be taken to Memphis on May 27th, for a procession down Beale St to Handy Park. Public viewing will take place on May 29th at the BB King Museum in Indianola, Mississippi. His funeral will take place on May 30th at the Bell Grove M.B. Church, also in Indianola.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Legal Problems Lead To Grooveshark Shut Down
On April 30th 2015, Escape Media, parent company to Grooveshark, announced that it was shutting down the music streaming site immediately. Grooveshark, which first launched in 2006, and which had been sued for copyright infringement by the recording industry for many years, entered into a settlement with Universal Music group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group.
Under the terms of the settlement, Grooveshark agreed to wipe its servers clean of all of the record companies' music, surrender ownership of its website, mobile apps, patents and intellectual property. The settlement was reached after a judge ruled that infringement damages could reach as much as $150,000 a song, with as many as 4,907 tracks as part of the lawsuit.
The RIAA, (Recording Industry Assciation of America) stated that, "This is a very important victory for artists and for the entire music industry. This settlement ends a major source of infringing activity." In court papers, the plaintiffs described Grooveshark as, "the linear descendant," of file sharing services such as Napster, Grokster, and Limeware, all of which were shut down due to copyright infringement.
Grooveshark's founders, Josh Greenburg and Sam Tarantino posted a statement on the site's home page that stated that they admit to making mistakes in their efforts to give music fans "the experience that they felt was missing from the web." They apologized both to the record companies for infringing and to their users for letting them down. They also urged their users, whose numbers had reached as many as 35 million, to use other licensed sites such as Spotify, Google Play, Beats, Rhapsody, Dezzer, and Rdio.
Under the terms of the settlement, Grooveshark agreed to wipe its servers clean of all of the record companies' music, surrender ownership of its website, mobile apps, patents and intellectual property. The settlement was reached after a judge ruled that infringement damages could reach as much as $150,000 a song, with as many as 4,907 tracks as part of the lawsuit.
The RIAA, (Recording Industry Assciation of America) stated that, "This is a very important victory for artists and for the entire music industry. This settlement ends a major source of infringing activity." In court papers, the plaintiffs described Grooveshark as, "the linear descendant," of file sharing services such as Napster, Grokster, and Limeware, all of which were shut down due to copyright infringement.
Grooveshark's founders, Josh Greenburg and Sam Tarantino posted a statement on the site's home page that stated that they admit to making mistakes in their efforts to give music fans "the experience that they felt was missing from the web." They apologized both to the record companies for infringing and to their users for letting them down. They also urged their users, whose numbers had reached as many as 35 million, to use other licensed sites such as Spotify, Google Play, Beats, Rhapsody, Dezzer, and Rdio.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Tesla Motors Releases New Battery For Home Use
On April 30th 2015, Tesla Motors CEO, Elon Musk, announced the release of two new battery backup products for both home and industrial use. The Powerwall for home use and the Powerpack for industrial use are slated to begin installations as early as this summer.
The lithium ion batteries can store electricity from solar panels or they can tap into the grid for a charge, allowing home users to store energy for use during power outages. Tesla is offering the Powerwall to homeowners in either 7 or 10 kilowatt hour modules. The larger pack will sell for $3,500 while the smaller version will sell for $3,000. The two units require the installation of an inverter which is not included. Both the unit and inverter must be installed by a qualified electrician.
The Tesla Powerpack, which is for industrial use, will be sold in 100 kilowatt modules at a cost of $25,000 per unit. Musk says that Tesla will work with businesses on their installations. Musk also said that the new industrial modules are scalable and are capable of powering a small city. He says that it can be easily made into a "gigawatt hour solution."
On May 6th 2015, Tesla announced that it had already taken 38,000 reservations for its Powerwall home module and 2,500 reservations for the industrial use Powerpack. The strong demand is making a statement about how the public feels about alternative sources of energy. Musk believes that this is just the first step toward ending our dependence on fossil fuels.
The lithium ion batteries can store electricity from solar panels or they can tap into the grid for a charge, allowing home users to store energy for use during power outages. Tesla is offering the Powerwall to homeowners in either 7 or 10 kilowatt hour modules. The larger pack will sell for $3,500 while the smaller version will sell for $3,000. The two units require the installation of an inverter which is not included. Both the unit and inverter must be installed by a qualified electrician.
The Tesla Powerpack, which is for industrial use, will be sold in 100 kilowatt modules at a cost of $25,000 per unit. Musk says that Tesla will work with businesses on their installations. Musk also said that the new industrial modules are scalable and are capable of powering a small city. He says that it can be easily made into a "gigawatt hour solution."
On May 6th 2015, Tesla announced that it had already taken 38,000 reservations for its Powerwall home module and 2,500 reservations for the industrial use Powerpack. The strong demand is making a statement about how the public feels about alternative sources of energy. Musk believes that this is just the first step toward ending our dependence on fossil fuels.
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