NASA image of the Day, July 23rd..[ 1517 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Fractured

This observation from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the floor of a large impact crater in the southern highlands, north of the giant Hellas impact basin. Most of the crater floor is dark, with abundant small ripples of wind-blown material. However, a pit in the floor of the crater has exposed light-toned, fractured rock. 

 

The light-toned material appears fractured at several different scales. These fractures, called joints, result from stresses on the rock after its formation. Joints are similar to faults, but have undergone virtually no displacement. 

 

With careful analysis, joints can provide insight into the forces that have affected a rock, and thus yielding clues into its geologic history. The fractures appear dark, which may be due to dark, wind-blown sand, precipitation of different minerals along the fracture, or both. 

 

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Παρασκευή, 23 / 7 /  2010 7:00:00 πμ

French military helps militants in Mauritania..[ 1516 ]

French military helps battle militants in Mauritania

By the CNN Wire Staff

July 23, 2010 -- Updated 0935 GMT (1735 HKT)

(CNN) -- The French military provided "technical support" to Mauritania in an operation against suspected al Qaeda militants, the French defense ministry said Friday.

The operation led by Mauritanians "made it possible to neutralize the terrorist group and to crush their plans of attack against Mauritanian objectives."

It was against a group called the al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the French defense ministry said. It did not provide details on the support.

The group has been suspected in kidnappings of foreigners in Mauritania.

Storm in the Gulf of Mexico[ 1515 ].

Gulf storm puts BP spill efforts on hold

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Storm clouds form near a BP station in Alexandria, Virginia, July 19, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Molly Riley

By Kristen Hays

HOUSTON | Fri Jul 23, 2010 5:03am EDT

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Bonnie threatened efforts to plug BP Plc's Gulf of Mexico oil leak on Friday and officials said many of the vessels and rigs involved in the operation would prepare to move out of the system's path.
"While these actions might delay the effort to kill the well for several days, the safety of the individuals at the well site is our highest concern," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said in a statement late on Thursday.
They were to have started preparing "to move out of harm's way" Thursday night, Allen said, though it was unclear exactly when they would pull out or stop operations.
Among the rigs involved is the one drilling the relief well that will permanently kill the leak. It had been on track to intercept the ruptured well by mid-August.
Officials have said an evacuation could force a delay of 10 to 14 days in operations. But the blown-out well will remain capped even as the evacuation forces a temporary halt to operations, including monitoring.
BP capped the well last week, choking off the flow of oil that has caused an ecological disaster for the first time since the April 20 rig explosion. Its containment efforts have been keenly eyed by investors because BP's ultimate costs may hinge on how much oil is determined to have flowed into the Gulf.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Bonnie, the second named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, was packing maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour.
It formed near the Bahamas on Thursday on a track that could take it over the BP spill site. The storm is expected to move into the eastern Gulf on Friday night and Saturday.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency as the storm is forecast to hit the state's coast on Sunday.
The largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, triggered by the explosion that killed 11 workers, has unleashed an environmental disaster in the Gulf and devastated the region's tourism and fishing industries.
Workers have been close to completing the relief well and launching a "static kill" operation to pump heavy drilling mud and possibly cement into the well.
The spill has sparked a crisis for British energy giant BP, which created a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the disaster and still faces mounting costs.
BP shares remained relatively steady in New York trading on Thursday, climbing 0.3 percent as the overall market rose. It is due to report quarterly results next week.
President Barack Obama, who has been under political pressure for his handling of the spill, will spend the August 14 weekend along the hard-hit Florida Gulf Coast, the White House announced.
(Writing by Ed Stoddard; editing by Todd Eastham)

Russia, oil deposits in the north of the country ..[ 1514 ]

Russian govt to hold tender for Trebs, Titov oil deposits this year

Russian govt to hold tender for Trebs, Titov oil deposits in H410

10:38 23/07/2010

© AFP/ Osman Karimov

MOSCOW, July 23 (RIA Novosti)
The Russian government will hold a tender for the Trebs and Titov oil deposits in the north of the country in the fourth quarter of 2010, the government's website said on Thursday.

"The Federal Agency for Subsoil Use must approve the agenda of the tender committee and requirements for the content of the tender documents, send out notices on the tender before August 1, 2010, ... and conduct the tender in the fourth quarter," the statement said.

The Trebs and Titov oil deposits are among the most promising in the Timan-Pechora oil province, with reserves estimated at 78.9 million tons and 63.4 million tons of oil respectively to C1 category.
The government earlier approved tender terms for the Trebs and Titov oil deposits.

A source in a company interested in participation in the tender said that the government had proposed including a clause on the obligatory refining of oil from the deposits at local refineries in tender terms.
Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev has said that an initial payment at the tender would amount to $500 million.

Rosneft, LUKOIL, Gazprom Neft, Bashneft and Zarubezhneft are interested in obtaining licenses for the deposits.

"Hangman" ..hungs student..[ 1513 ]

English teacher used 'hangman'-like game at school where student hung himself

The drawing found in the school papers left behind by student who killed himself

YACHIYO, Chiba -(Mainichi Japan) July 22, 2010- 

A foreign English teacher in charge of an English class at Shumei Yachiyo Junior High School is facing criticism after it emerged that the teacher drew pictures of a person being hung (ala the game "Hangman") when students answered incorrectly in class. In 2008, a student at the school hung himself, but the teacher allegedly continued using the game regardless.

The parents of the student who killed himself, meanwhile, are angry. "This kind of teaching is a problem," they have said.

The testimony of several current and former students led to the discovery. 

According to the students, since at least 2007, the teacher has used the drawings on the blackboard, adding a line and circle to the picture every time a student can't answer a question or answers a question incorrectly, gradually forming a complete picture that resembles a person who has been hung.

According to the parents of the third-year junior high student who hung himself on school grounds in November 2008, in his school notes there were also pictures that looked like hanging victims. At the wake for their son, the parents showed the picture they had found to their son's friend, who told them that it resembled pictures drawn by the English teacher in class, the parents say.

One graduate of the school said, "I considered it a part of a game, a harmless black joke. But, now, thinking about the fact that someone killed themselves, I don't think it was a good idea."

Another student said, "It was also going on in 2009 (after the suicide)."

The reason behind the suicide is unknown, and no causal link has been made between the student's suicide and the teacher's drawings or any instruction on the part of the school.

The parents say that despite the fact that in a study record he submitted to the school, their son wrote, "I had great conversations with people on a suicide website," they received no contact on the matter from the school. They have filed a suit with the Chiba District Court, seeking around 84 million yen in damages on the basis that the school did not respond appropriately despite the suicide warning sign.

On the pictures resembling hangman, the parents said, "Even if it was a joke, the fact that it's being done in a classroom is itself a problem. We were shocked to hear that it continued even after our son's suicide."

The school, communicating via a lawyer, said they wanted to refrain from making any comments on the matter because of the suit.

According to Professor Kazumi Fujimori of Musashino University, a clinical psychologist and author of the book "Gakko Trauma to Kodomo no Kokoro no Care" (School trauma and care for the minds of children), the use of the pictures could almost be considered a form of "power harassment," when a person abuses their position of authority to harass others in the workplace.

"In these times, when there is a trend for even the media to show self-restraint in mentioning suicide, if that kind of instruction was really going on in the classroom, it shows great carelessness. Even if the teacher meant no harm, for the students, who must accept whatever form of teaching is given to them, it is similar to power harassment," says Fujimori.

Click here for the original Japanese story