Becker Cadillac Escalade SUV for 99 Percent of the 1 Percent

Written by: Matthew Askari on May 6 2012 11:00 AM

We’re not a huge fans of the Cadillac Escalade—it’s luxurious sure, but it’s also huge, cumbersome, and gaudy. The Escalade ESV is all of these things and then some, as it is essentially a stretched out version of the Escalade. But the folks at Becker have taken the Cadillac Escalade ESV and done some silly things with it. So much so, that’d we actually love to ride in one.

Becker has stripped out the interior of Cadillac’s luxury SUV, and replaced it with plush reclining chairs, high definition screens, custom interior lighting, and internet access. Becker touts the package as the ultimate for the on the go professional. “The Becker Cadillac ESV allows you to transform travel time into some of the most tranquil, focused and productive time in your schedule.” Becker says its luxury conversion is “powerfully equipped with all the comforts and amenities of the office at your fingertips.” While it’s website doesn’t list specific pricing, Becker showed off a Mercedes-Benz JetVan Sprinter at the 2012 New York Auto Show that retails for $400,000. At that price, even some of the 1 percent would have to think about that purchase. And Becker plugs the relatively low-key aspect of driving, or more appropriately being driven, in this conversion, as from the outside it’s still just an elongated Escalade.

Source: Becker

AND Moutsi whine.

Mysteries of a Dark Universe

Watch this and other space videos at http://SpaceRip.com

DARK ENERGY in Full HD 1080p. Cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole, has been turned on its head by a stunning discovery that the universe is flying apart in all directions at an ever-increasing rate. 

Is the universe bursting at the seams? Or is nature somehow fooling us?

The astronomers whose data revealed this accelerating universe have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. 

And yet, since 1998, when the discovery was first announced, scientists have struggled to come to grips with a mysterious presence that now appears to control the future of the cosmos: dark energy.

On remote mountaintops around the world, major astronomical centers hum along, with state of the art digital sensors, computers, air conditioning, infrastructure, and motors to turn the giant telescopes. 

Deep in Chile's Atacama desert, the Paranal Observatory is an astronomical Mecca. 

This facility draws two megawatts of power, enough for around two thousand homes.

What astronomers get for all this is photons, tiny mass-less particles of light. They stream in from across time and space by the trillions from nearby sources, down to one or two per second from objects at the edge of the visible universe.

In this age of precision astronomy, observers have been studying the properties of these particles, to find clues to how stars live and die, how galaxies form, how black holes grow, and more. 

But for all we've learned, we are finding out just how much still eludes our grasp, how short our efforts to understand the workings of the universe still fall. 

A hundred years ago, most astronomers believed the universe consisted of a grand disk, the Milky Way. They saw stars, like our own sun, moving around it amid giant regions of dust and luminous gas. 

The overall size and shape of this "island universe" appeared static and unchanging.

That view posed a challenge to Albert Einstein, who sought to explore the role that gravity, a dynamic force, plays in the universe as a whole. 

There is a now legendary story in which Einstein tried to show why the gravity of all the stars and gas out there didn't simply cause the universe to collapse into a heap. 

He reasoned that there must be some repulsive force that countered gravity and held the Universe up.

He called this force the "cosmological constant." Represented in his equations by the Greek letter Lambda, it's often referred to as a fudge factor.

In 1916, the idea seemed reasonable. The Dutch physicist Willem de Sitter solved Einstein's equations with a cosmological constant, lending support to the idea of a static universe.

Now enter the American astronomer, Vesto Slipher. 

Working at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, he examined a series of fuzzy patches in the sky called spiral nebulae, what we know as galaxies. He found that their light was slightly shifted in color.

It's similar to the way a siren distorts, as an ambulance races past us. 

If an object is moving toward Earth, the wavelength of its light is compressed, making it bluer. If it's moving away, the light gets stretched out, making it redder. 

12 of the 15 nebulae that Slipher examined were red-shifted, a sign they are racing away from us.

Edwin Hubble, a young astronomer, went in for a closer look. Using the giant new Hooker telescope in Southern California, he scoured the nebulae for a type of pulsating star, called a Cepheid. The rate at which their light rises and falls is an indicator of their intrinsic brightness. 

By measuring their apparent brightness, Hubble could calculate the distance to their host galaxies.

Combining distances with redshifts, he found that the farther away these spirals are, the faster they are moving away from us. This relationship, called the Hubble Constant, showed that the universe is not static, but expanding.

Einstein acknowledged the breakthrough, and admitted that his famous fudge factor was the greatest blunder of his career.

DREAM PHOTO

DREAM PHOTO!WHY LIFE IS A DREAM!

Time-lapse movie of the coronal aurora appeared over Fairbanks, Alaska. Red aurora was also captured.
am AKST, January 22, 2012)

Obama's speech to the troops in Afghanistan,

This is the complete video of President Obama's speech to the troops in Afghanistan, and also a pre-recorded message to the american people that was aired tonight (but recorded before). All together only here.

Monster Black Hole Caught Swallowing Unlucky Star

by Charles Q. Choi, SPACE.com Contributor

Date: 02 May 2012 Time: 01:01 PM ET

This computer-simulated image shows gas from a tidally shredded star falling into a black hole. Some of the gas also is being ejected at high speeds into space. CREDIT: NASA, S. Gezari (The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.), A. Rest (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.), and R. Chornock (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Ma.)  View full size image

Call it a Cosmic Scene Investigation: For the first time, scientists have identified a stellar victim of a giant black hole — an unlucky star whose death may ultimately provide more clues on the inner workings of the enigmatic gravitational monster that devoured it.

Supermassive black holes are objects millions to billions times the sun's mass that lurk in the hearts of most galaxies. They lay quietly until victims, such as stars, wander close enough to get shredded apart by their extraordinarily powerful gravitational pull.

Scientists first caught a black hole red-handed in a stellar murder last year. Now researchers have determined not only the culprit in a similar cosmic homicide but the casualty as well: a star rich in helium gas.

"This is the first time we've actually been able to pinpoint what kind of star was disrupted," study lead author Suvi Gezari, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University, told SPACE.com. [Photos: Black Holes of the Universe]

Hungry black holes

Astronomers say supermassive black holes rip apart stars very rarely, maybe just once every 10,000 years per galaxy. To detect one such event, Gezari and her colleagues monitored hundreds of thousands of galaxies in ultraviolet light with the space-based Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and in visible light with the Hawaii-based Pan-STARRS telescope.

In June 2010, the researchers spotted a bright flare from the previously dormant black hole at the center of a galaxy approximately 2.7 billion light-years away.

"When the star is ripped apart by the gravitational forces of the black hole, some part of the star's remains falls into the black hole while the rest is ejected at high speeds," Gezari said. "We are seeing the glow from the stellar gas falling into the black hole over time."

The flare of light reached peak brightness a month after it was detected, then slowly faded over the next 12 months. By measuring the rise of the flare's brightness, the scientists calculated the rate at which the star's gas was getting sucked into the black hole. This in turn helped reveal at what point and time the black hole had begun disrupting the star, revealing how powerful its gravitational field was and thus its mass.

The astronomers estimate the black hole's mass to be 3 million suns, comparable to  our Milky Way's central black hole.

"These spectacular events provide a glimpse into otherwise unobservable black holes, telling us about their masses," Gezari said. "We know that there are strong connections between black holes and the galaxies they reside in, and it turns out that somehow the mass of the black hole and the mass of a galaxy influence each other, so we want to better know what's going on there. Also, people want to understand the physics of black holes and how they affect the geometry of space-time around them. We need to know its mass to help pinpoint a lot of those details.
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Ἀνακομιδὴ Τιμίων Λειψάνων Ἁγίου Ἀθανασίου τοῦ Μεγάλου

Ημ. Εορτής: 2 Μαΐου Ημ. Γέννησης: Ημ. Κοιμήσεως: Ημ. Ανακομιδής Λειψάνων: Πολιούχος: Λοιπές πληροφορίες: Εορταζόμενο όνομα:

Ἡ μνήμη τοῦ Ἁγίου Ἀθανασίου τοῦ Μεγάλου, Πατριάρχου Ἀλεξανδρείας τιμᾶται ἀπὸ τὴν Ἐκκλησία στὶς 18 Ἰανουαρίου, ὅπου καὶ ὁ Βίος του.Δὲν ἔχουμε λεπτομέρειες γιὰ τὸ γεγονὸς τῆς ἀνακομιδῆς τῶν ἱερῶν λειψάνων τοῦ Ἁγίου. Ἀπολυτίκιον. Ἦχος γ’. Θείας πίστεως.Στῦλος γέγονας, Ὀρθοδοξίας, θείοις δόγμασιν, ὑποστηρίζων, τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, Ἱεράρχα Ἀθανάσιε· τῷ γὰρ Πατρὶ τὸν Υἱὸν ὁμοούσιον, ἀνακηρύξας κατῄσχυνας Ἄρειον. Πάτερ Ὅσιε, Χριστὸν τὸν θεὸν ἱκέτευε, δωρήσασθαι ἡμῖν τὸ μέγα ἔλεος. Κοντάκιον. Ἦχος β’. Τοῖς τῶν αἱμάτων σου.Ὀρθοδοξίας φυτεύσας τὰ δόγματα, κακοδοξίας ἀκάνθας ἐξέτεμες, πληθύνας τὸν σπόρον τῆς πίστεως, τῇ ἐπομβρίᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος Ὅσιε· διό σε ὑμνοῦμεν Ἀθανάσιε. Μεγαλυνάριον.Τῆς Ὀρθοδοξίας σάλπιγξ χρυσῆ, ὤφθης Ἱεράρχα, ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί, τὸν Υἱὸν κηρύττων, καὶ Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ· διό σε Ἀθανάσιε μεγαλύνομεν. Οἱ Ἅγιοι Ἕσπερος καὶ Ζωὴ οἱ Μάρτυρες καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν Κυριάκος καὶ Θεόδουλος Ημ. Εορτής: 2 Μαΐου Ημ. Γέννησης: Ημ. Κοιμήσεως: Ημ. Ανακομιδής Λειψάνων: Πολιούχος: Λοιπές πληροφορίες: Εορταζόμενο όνομα: Κατὰ τὶς ἡμέρες τοῦ βασιλέως Ἀδριανοῦ (117 – 138 μ.Χ.) ἄρχισε καὶ πάλι ἡ δίωξη τῶν Χριστιανῶν. Ἐκείνη τὴν περίοδο μαρτύρησε καὶ ἡ Ἁγία Ζωὴ μὲ τὸν ἄνδρα της Ἕσπερο καὶ τὰ παιδιά της Κυριάκο καὶ Θεόδουλο, ποὺ κατάγονταν ἀπὸ τὴν Πισιδία. Οἱ Ἅγιοι εἶχαν ἀγορασθεῖ ὡς δοῦλοι ἀπὸ τὸν Ρωμαῖο συγκλητικὸ Κάτλο καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα του Τετραδία, ποὺ κατοικοῦσαν στὴν Ἀττάλεια τῆς Παμφυλίας. Βλέποντας οἱ ἄρχοντες τὶς θυσίες τῶν ἀρχόντων στὰ εἴδωλα παρατηροῦσαν τὴν μάταιη λατρεία αὐτῶν καὶ πρόσεχαν πολὺ μήπως καὶ ἡ τροφὴ ποὺ τοὺς πρόσφεραν ἦταν ὑπολείμματα ἀπὸ εἰδωλολατρικὲς θυσίες. Στὸ Συναξάρι τους ἀναφέρεται ὅτι ἡ Ἁγία Ζωὴ πήγαινε τὸ βράδυ στὸν φρουρὸ ποὺ φύλαγε τὸ ἀνάκτορο τῶν ἀρχόντων καὶ τοῦ ἔλεγε νὰ πάει νὰ κοιμηθεῖ, γιατί ἦταν κουρασμένος καὶ τὸν ἀναπλήρωνε στὰ καθήκοντά του. Ἔξω ὅμως ἀπὸ τὶς πύλες τοῦ ἀρχοντικοῦ ἦταν σκυλιὰ τὰ ὁποία κατασπάρασσαν ὅποιον φτωχὸ πήγαινε νὰ ζητήσει βοήθεια καὶ εὐποιία. Ἡ Ἁγία Ζωὴ ἔπαιρνε ψωμὶ ποὺ τῆς ἔδιναν γιὰ τὴν καθημερινὴ συντήρηση τῆς οἰκογένειάς της, ἔριχνε λίγο στὰ σκυλιὰ γιὰ νὰ σωπάσουν, καὶ τὸ ὑπόλοιπο τὸ μοίραζε στοὺς φτωχούς, λέγοντάς τους: «Νὰ γίνετε Χριστιανοί, Χριστοῦ δοῦλοι, διότι μόνο Ἐκεῖνος εἶναι ὁ Σωτῆρας τοῦ κόσμου». Ἔτσι λοιπὸν ἔπραττε ἡ Ἁγία Ζωὴ διδάσκοντας καὶ τὰ παιδιά της. Ὁ δὲ σύζυγός της Ἕσπερος ἀπεστάλη ἀπὸ τὸν ἄρχοντα Κάτλο στὴν πόλη Τριτόνιο, ὡς ἐπίτροπος αὐτοῦ καὶ ζοῦσε ἐκεῖ. Ὁ Κάτλος ἔμαθε ὅμως ὅτι ἡ οἰκογένεια τοῦ Ἑσπέρου καὶ τῆς Ζωῆς ἦταν Χριστιανοὶ καὶ ταράχθηκε ἡ διάνοιά του. Ἐπειδὴ ἡ σύζυγός του Τετραδία ἦταν ἔγκυος, ἀνέμενε τὴν γέννηση τοῦ βρέφους καὶ ἐπιθυμοῦσε νὰ προσφέρει θυσίες στὴ θεὰ Τύχη, ἐνέβαλε τὸ θέμα καὶ τοὺς ἀπέστειλε στὸ Τριτόνιο, ἐκεῖ ὅπου ἦταν ὁ Ἕσπερος. Ὅταν γεννήθηκε τὸ παιδὶ τοῦ Κάτλου καὶ θυσίαζαν γι’ αὐτὸ στὴ θεὰ Τύχη, ὁ Κάτλος ἀπέστειλε στὸν Ἕσπερο καὶ τὴν οἰκογένειά του, κρασὶ καὶ κρέατα. Ἡ δὲ Ἁγία Ζωή, μόλις εἶδε τὰ εἰδωλόθυτα, ἀτένισε στὸν οὐρανὸ καὶ εἶπε: «Θεέ, καρδιογνῶστα, ἀληθινέ, αἰώνιε, βοήθησέ μας, διότι δὲν ἔχουμε κανένα πλήν Σοῦ καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ Σου». Καὶ ἔριξε στὰ σκυλιὰ τὰ μολυσμένα κρέατα καὶ ἔχυσε τὸ κρασί. Ὅταν ὁ Κάτλος πληροφορήθηκε τὸ γεγονὸς θύμωσε καὶ διέταξε νὰ ὁδηγήσουν ἀμέσως ἐνώπιόν του τὴν Ἁγία Ζωή, τὸν ἄνδρα αὐτῆς καὶ τὰ παιδιά της. Βλέποντας ὁ ἡγεμόνας τὴν ἔνσταση τῶν Ἁγίων καὶ τὴν ἀμετάθετη πίστη τους πρὸς τὸν Χριστό, γέμισε ἡ καρδιά του ἀπὸ ὀργὴ καὶ ἀπὸ τὴν ἐνέργεια τοῦ διαβόλου. Ἔδωσε ἐντολὴ νὰ τοὺς βάλουν σὲ φοῦρνο ἀσφαλισμένο ἀπὸ παντοῦ, ἔτσι ὥστε νὰ μὴν ἀναπνέουν κὰν καὶ τὸ μαρτύριο νὰ εἶναι μεγαλύτερο καὶ φρικτότερο. Μέσα στὴν φωτιὰ οἱ Ἅγιοι δοξολογοῦσαν τὸ Ὄνομα τοῦ Ἁγίου Θεοῦ, ὅπως οἱ Ὅσιοι Παῖδες στὴν κάμινο ἐπὶ Ναβουχοδονόσορος. Τὴν ἑπόμενη ἡμέρα ἦλθαν στὸν τόπο τοῦ μαρτυρίου ὁ Κάτλος καὶ οἱ στρατιῶτες του, ποὺ ἄκουγαν ψαλμωδίες μέσα ἀπὸ τὸν φοῦρνο. Ἄρχισαν νὰ ἀναρωτιοῦνται ἀπὸ ποὺ ἔβγαινε αὐτὸ ὁ ἦχος τοῦ πλήθους. Νόμισαν ὅτι ἄνθρωποι εἶχαν εἰσέλθει μέσα στὸν φοῦρνο καὶ ἀμέσως τὸν κύκλωσαν, γιὰ νὰ τοὺς συλλάβουν. Μόλις ἄνοιξαν τὸν φοῦρνο δὲν βρῆκαν τίποτα καὶ δὲν εἶδαν κανένα, παρὰ μόνο τὰ τίμια λείψανα τῶν Ἁγίων Μαρτύρων ποὺ κείτονταν κατὰ ἀνατολὰς σὰν νὰ ἐκοιμοῦντο. Ἔτσι μαρτύρησαν οἱ Ἅγιοι Ζωὴ καὶ Ἕσπερος καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν, ἀφοῦ νίκησαν τὸ δόλιο καὶ ἐνάντιο διάβολο καὶ τοὺς παρανόμους εἰδωλολάτρες αὐτοῦ. Ναὸ στὴν Μάρτυρα Ζωὴ ἀνήγειρε ὁ αὐτοκράτορας Ἰουστινιανὸς (527 – 565 μ.Χ.), κοντὰ στὸ ναὸ τῆς Ἁγίας Ἄννας στὸ Δεύτερον τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. Ὁ βασιλέας Βασίλειος Α’ (867 – 886 μ.Χ.) τὸν ἀνοικοδόμησε ἐκ βάθρων, διότι εἶχε πέσει.