Landslide in Hiroshima, Japan kills 18 leaving many stranded

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

IMAGES FROM THE Mosul, AND FROM THE BACK OF THE TERRITORIES IN ANGOLA

Mystery Condition Gives Indian Boy Gigantic Hands

Eight-year-old Kaleem suffers from a rare, undiagnosed, disorder that has caused his hands to grow out of proportion. Each hand is over 13 inches in length and weighs in excess of eight kilograms. His disability prevents him from completing simple tasks and he does not go to school because other students are scared of his deformity. Now his parents from India, Shamim and Haleema, are appealing for help so their son can receive medical attention. 

ΕΔΩ ΒΡΙΣΚΕΤΑΙ Ο ΧΡΥΣΟΣ ΟΛΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ!How They Built Fort Knox Gold Bullion Depository

Σε αυτή την εποχή των ηλεκτρονικών πληρωμών και συναλλαγές χωρίς μετρητά, μερικές φορές είναι εύκολο να ξεχνάμε ότι η αξία των χρημάτων μας είναι στην πραγματικότητα βασίζεται εν μέρει σε μια πολύ πραγματική ουσία - χρυσό. Από το 1900 έως το 1971, όλα Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες νόμισμα που λειτουργεί κάτω από το χρυσό πρότυπο. Θεωρητικά, κάθε δολάριο χαρτί τυπωμένο από το Νομισματοκοπείο των ΗΠΑ υποστηρίχθηκε από ένα ισοδύναμο ποσό της κυβέρνησης χρυσού. Σύμφωνα με τον κανόνα του χρυσού, ο καθένας θα μπορούσε να περπατήσει επάνω σε ένα γραφείο τράπεζα νόμισμα και δολάρια χαρτί αντάλλαγμα για το επιτόκιο της αγοράς αξίας του χρυσού. Για σχεδόν 80 χρόνια, ένα πολύ μεγάλο μέρος του χρυσού της Αμερικής έχει κρατηθεί ως αποθεματικό στην Bullion Αποθετήριο ΗΠΑ, ευρύτερα γνωστή ως Fort Knox . Και ακόμα κι αν σβήσει το χρυσό πρότυπο το 1971, η ιδέα ότι τα δισεκατομμύρια δολάρια την αξία των ράβδων χρυσού είναι απλά κάθεται στο Fort Knox σκονίζονται, είναι μια δελεαστική φαντασίωση για κάθε εγκληματικός εγκέφαλος. Αλλά ακριβώς πόσο χρυσό φυλάσσεται στο Φορτ Νοξ;

Πόσο Gold είναι στο Φορτ Νοξ;

Fort Knox βρίσκεται στο Fort Knox, Κεντάκι στη διασταύρωση της Gold Vault δρόμου και Bullion Boulevard. Χτίστηκε το 1936 για να στεγάσει τα τεράστια αποθέματα χρυσού που ήρθε περίπου λόγω της εντολής που εκδόθηκε από τον Πρόεδρο Ρούζβελτ το 1933 το Εκτελεστικό Διάταγμα 6102, απαιτείται όλα τα Αμερικανούς πολίτες να εγκαταλείψουν την ιδιοκτησία των ιδιωτικών αποθεμάτων χρυσού, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των νομισμάτων, τα πιστοποιητικά και πολύτιμων μετάλλων. Η διάταξη που ουσιαστικά είναι παράνομο να κατέχει τα αντικείμενα αυτά σε ιδιώτες.Εκείνη την εποχή, η κυβέρνηση των ΗΠΑ είχε $ 4 δισεκατομμύρια  αξίας του χρυσού. Με το χρόνο ο καθένας είχε συμμορφωθεί με τη νέα τάξη πραγμάτων, το ποσό αυτό είχε διογκωθεί σε12.000.000.000 δολαρίων . Με καμία θέση για να βάλει όλες του χρυσού, η ομοσπονδιακή κυβέρνηση αποφάσισε να αναλάβει ένα τμήμα της γης που προορίζεται για τη στρατιωτική, και να οικοδομήσουν ένα τεράστιο θησαυροφυλάκιο. Κόστος κατασκευής μόλις κάτω από $ 600.000 (περίπου 10.000.000 δολάρια σε σημερινά δολάρια) και ολοκληρώθηκε το Δεκέμβριο του 1936 Το χρυσό άρχισαν να φτάνουν τον Ιανουάριο του 1937.

Gold Bars σε μια Vault

Το κύριο θόλο, η οποία κατέχει το χρυσό, καθώς και στοιχεία που κρίνονται σημαντικές για την εθνική ασφάλεια ή την ιστορία των ΗΠΑ, μπορεί να έχει πρόσβαση μόνο μέσω ενός 20-ton, 21-ίντσα παχιά πόρτα που είναι φακό και τρυπάνι-ανθεκτικά. Οι κωδικοί εισόδου είναι γνωστό μόνο σε έναν μικρό αριθμό εργαζομένων και δεν επιτρέπονται επισκέπτες στο κτίριο. Μέσα στο θόλο, υπάρχουν πολλά μικρότερα θησαυροφυλάκια, που καθεμία απαιτεί τη δική τους κωδικούς εισόδου τους. Μια ειδική αστυνομική δύναμη, γνωστή ως Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες Αστυνομία Νομισματοκοπείο, προστατεύει το σύνολο της ένωσης ανά πάσα στιγμή. Υπάρχουν, επίσης, εκτεταμένα συστήματα συναγερμού, κάμερες, μικρόφωνα, συρματοπλέγματα, νάρκες, ηλεκτρικούς φράκτες, πολλαπλές ελικόπτερα επίθεσης, και το πυροβολικό. Εάν ένας εργαζόμενος είναι κλειδωμένο σε, υπάρχει ένα τούνελ διαφυγής, αλλά λίγες πληροφορίες σχετικά με τη σήραγγα είναι διαθέσιμο στο κοινό.

Gold Bars στο Fort Knox

Η ποσότητα του χρυσού που πραγματοποιήθηκε στο Fort Knox έχει διακυμάνσεις κατά τη διάρκεια των ετών. Ήταν στο μέγιστο ποσό της κατά τη διάρκεια του Β 'Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου, όταν αρκετές ευρωπαϊκές κυβερνήσεις μετακόμισε αποθέματα χρυσού τους στο Κεντάκι για ασφαλή φύλαξη. Αυτή τη στιγμή, το ποσό του χρυσού στο Fort Knox κορυφώθηκε σε 20.205 μετρικούς τόνους (650 εκατομμύρια ουγκιά troy). Επίσης, κατά τη διάρκεια του 2ου Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου, τα πρωτότυπα αντίγραφα της Διακήρυξης της Ανεξαρτησίας και το Σύνταγμα των ΗΠΑ μεταφέρθηκαν στο Fort Knox, όπως ήταν οι ουγγρικές Crown Jewels και ένα αντίγραφο της Magna Carta.

Επί του παρόντος, το θησαυροφυλάκιο κατέχει 4.578 μετρικούς τόνους από 368.000 προτύπου, 400 ουγκιές troy ράβδους χρυσού. Αυτό είναι ίσο με το τρία τοις εκατό του συνόλου του χρυσού που έχει ποτέ βρεθεί και εξευγενισμένα στην ανθρώπινη ιστορία. Στο 10 Φεβ. 2014 τιμή 1276 δολάρια ανά ουγγιά, Fort Knox κατέχει περίπου περίπου 180 δισεκατομμύρια δολάριααξίας του χρυσού. Ο θόλος διαθέτει επίσης μια σειρά από σπάνια χρυσά νομίσματα. Οι ράβδοι χρυσού είναι διαφορετικής καθαρότητας. Μερικά είναι περίπου το 90% του χρυσού, καθώς δημιουργήθηκαν από έλιωσε νομίσματα. Άλλοι είναι μέντα και είναι 99% χρυσό. Είναι ενδιαφέρον, Fort Knox είναι στην πραγματικότητα δεν είναι το μεγαλύτερο χρυσό θεματοφύλακα στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες. Η Federal Reserve Bank της Νέας Υόρκης λειτουργεί ένα υπόγειο θησαυροφυλάκιο που περιέχει 7.000 μετρικούς τόνους χρυσού, μερικά από τα οποία ανήκει σε άλλα έθνη και κρατείται στην εμπιστοσύνη. Όποιος έχει δει Die Hard με μια εκδίκηση θα θυμούνται ότι οι κακοί προσπαθούσαν να κλέψουν το χρυσό από την Ομοσπονδιακή Τράπεζα των ΗΠΑ στη Νέα Υόρκη, χρησιμοποιώντας τεράστια φορτηγά και κατασκευή σηράγγων κάτω από την πόλη. Μεταξύ Fort Knox και το χρυσό που κατέχει στην Federal Reserve Bank στο Μανχάταν, υπάρχει περισσότερο χρυσό πραγματοποιήθηκε σε αμερικανικό έδαφος από ό, τι οποιαδήποτε άλλη χώρα στον κόσμο. Αλλά για όλα εσύ σούπερ εγκληματίες διαβάζετε αυτό, το μάθημα εδώ θα μπορούσε να ξεχνάμε Fort Knox και να επικεντρωθεί στην Fed στο Μανχάταν. δύο φορές τα κέρδη!

The United States has a large portion of its gold reserves stored in the vault at Fort Knox Bullion Depository, a fortified vault building adjacent to Fort Knox, Kentucky with the remainder split between the Philadelphia, Denver, West Point, and San Francisco Mints. Gold is not removed except for regularly scheduled audits. Domestic production of gold in the United States has been about 1 to 1.5 million ounces annually. This brings the cumulative total of US gold production to 363,000,000 troy ounces since 1792. A troy gold bar weighs 27.4 lbs or 12 kg.

In 1933, Pres. Roosevelt outlawed the private ownership of gold coins, de Leon and certificates by American citizens, forcing them to sell to the Federal Reserve. The Fort Knox gold vault was completed in 1936, at a cost of $1 million or the equivalent of $10 million today.

Building Fort Knox Gold Depository

Fort Knox was built using 17,000 ft.³ of granite, 4,500 yd.³ of concrete, 775 tons of reinforcing steel and 700 tons of structural steel.

The facility is surrounded by fences and guarded by the United States Mint Police. Fort Knox is a US Army post of 30,000 soldiers and surrounds the depository and provides an extra level of security to the facility. The vault door and emergency door are both 21 inches thick and made of the latest torch and drill resistant metals.

In addition to the many layers of physical security. There are alarms, video cameras, minefields, barbed razor wire, electric fences, closed circuit cameras, heavily armed guards and army units. There are also Apache helicopter gunships on-site and at nearby Godman Army Airfield. Visitors are not allowed at the facility.

About 3.5 to 4 million troy ounces per year are consumed in the United States for jewelry and industrial machines. The price of gold in 1934 was about $20 and rose to between $320 to $450 per troy ounce in 1980. The current price is more than $1,200 per ounce.

Fort Knox Has Protected More Than Gold

During World War II Fort Knox held the US Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution as well as reserves of European countries and key documents from Western history. The crown of St. Stephen and some of the Hungarian crown jewels were also held at Fort Knox.

The Navy’s Record-breaking Laser

A set of experiments conducted on the Nike krypton fluoride (KrF) laser at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) nearly five years ago has, at long last, earned the coveted Guinness World Records title for achieving “Highest Projectile Velocity” of greater than 1,000 kilometers per second (km/s), a speed equivalent to two-and-a-quarter million miles per hour.

Pictured from left to right: James (Jim) Weaver, Yefim Aglitskiy, Bruce Jenkins, Thomas (Tom) Mehlhorn, Jude Kessler, Dennis Brown, Stephen (Steve) Obenschain, Jason Bates, Victor Serlin, Steve Krafsig, Max Karasik, Lop-Yung Chan, Stephen (Steve) Terrell, Capt. Anthony Ferrari, Jaechul Oh, Sasha Velikovich, John Montgomery, and David Kehne. (Photo: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory/Jamie Hartman)

The previous record was held by researchers at Osaka University’s Institute of Laser Engineering in Japan, who in 2006 used a neodymium glass (Nd:glass) laser to accelerate a target to 700 km/s. The record, currently held by NRL, was achieved in collaboration with the NRL Plasma Physics Division and the group from Japan, demonstrating the advantages of the high uniformity and short wavelength of the KrF laser technology.

“The impact of the highly accelerated target on a stationary foil generated thermonuclear fusion neutrons whose energy spread indicated that a gigabar—that’s the pressure of a billion atmospheres—was achieved in the collision,” said Dr. Max Karasik, NRL Laser Plasma Branch.

“The results highlight the advantages of a krypton-fluoride laser in efficiently generating uniform pressures required for fuel compression in inertial confinement fusion.”

The Nike krypton fluoride (KrF) laser at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). (Photo provided by the Naval Research Lab/Released)

In the experiments, thin plastic foils were accelerated to 1,000 km/s over a distance of less than a millimeter. The moving foils then collided with a stationary foil, generating thermo-nuclear temperatures and neutrons from fusion reactions. The high ablative pressure applied to compress and accelerate targets is used in inertial confinement fusion and high energy density research.

NRL received the official Guinness World Records certificate, February 2014, with distinction given to the research that “…probe[s] possibilities for future clean-energy sources.” However, since the 2009 experiment, Karasik says NRL has raised the bar. With an improved laser pulse shape, researchers at the Nike laser facility have reached target velocities of 1,180 km/s.

Sponsored by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration, the Nike laser is a two to three kilojoule (kJ) KrF system that incorporates beam smoothing by induced spatial incoherence (ISI) to achieve one percent non-uniformity in single beams and 0.16 percent non-uniformity for 44 overlapped target beams.

The facility routinely conducts experiments in support of inertial confinement fusion, laser-matter interactions, and high energy density physics.

Story and information provided by the Naval Research Lab

———-

Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DOD website.

SPORT TIME: ΤΟ ΜΕΓΑΛΟ ΑΛΜΑ, Jeb Corliss Flies Through Tianmen Cave

The Pacific Ocean hosts a quartet of tropical cyclones

ΦΑΙΝΕΤΑΙ ΟΤΙ ΖΟΥΜΕ ΣΕ ΧΑΛΕΠΟΥΣ ΚΑΙΡΟΥΣ,Ο ΗΛΙΟΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΑΝΑ ΠΑΣΑ ΣΤΙΓΜΗ ΕΤΟΙΜΟΣ ΝΑ ΜΑΣ ΔΙΑΛΥΣΗ. ΜΗΠΩΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΚΑΙΡΟΣ Ο ΚΑΘΕΝΑΣ ΜΑΣ ΣΙΓΑ ΣΙΓΑ ΝΑ ΑΡΧΙΣΗ ΝΑ ΦΤΙΑΧΝΗ ΤΗΝ ΔΙΚΗ ΤΟΥ ΚΙΒΩΤΟ?

The Sun sported a very long filament (over 30 times the size of Earth) that angled diagonally across its surface for over a week (July 31 - Aug. 6, 2014). Filaments are clouds of cooler gas suspended above the Sun's surface by magnetic forces. They are notoriously unstable and often break apart in just hours or days. So far, this one has held together as it rotated along with the Sun for over a week. The images were taken in the 193 Angstrom wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light and were tinted red instead of its usual brown hue. Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory/NASA.

The Pacific Ocean hosts a quartet of tropical cyclones - from left to right - Typhoon Halong, Hurricane Genevieve (which kept travelling west to become Typhoon Genevieve), Hurricane Iselle, and Hurricane Julio. In this image from 00:00 UTC on 7 August 2014, the storms are all far from land, but there are warnings for hurricane and tropical storm force winds in Hawai'i as Iselle approaches, and for high waves and heavy rain in Japan, where Halong is forecast to make landfall.

Composite image comprising infra red data from the geostationary satellites of the JMA and NOAA, overlaying NASA's Blue Marble Next Generation.

Amazon's Biggest Fish Faces Threat of Extinction

.

View gallery

Villagers from the Rumao Island community carry part of their catch of arapaima or pirarucu, the largest freshwater fish species in South America and one of the largest in the world, after fishing in a branch of the Solimoes river, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon, in the Mamiraua nature reserve near Fonte Boa about 600 km (373 miles) west of Manaus, November 25, 2013. Catching the arapaima, a fish that is sought after for its meat and is considered by biologists to be a living fossil, is only allowed once a year by Brazil's environmental protection agency. The minimum size allowed for a fisherman to keep an arapaima is 1.5 meters (4.9 feet). Picture taken November 25, 2013. (REUTERS/Bruno Kelly)

Measuring 10 feet (3 meters) long and weighing in at more than 400 pounds (180 kilograms), it's hard to imagine that the arapaima, the largest fish in the Amazon River basin, could ever go missing. But these huge fish are quickly disappearing from Brazilian waterways, according to a new study.

A recent survey of fishing communities in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, found that the arapaima is already extinct in some parts of the Amazon basin. In other parts of the Amazon, its numbers are rapidly dwindling.

However, the researchers also uncovered some good news: In communities where arapaima fishing is regulated, the species is actually thriving, giving the researchers hope that conservation of the species is still possible. [Photos of the Largest Fish on Earth]

Commonly known as pirarucu, arapaima (Arapaima gigas) are the largest freshwater fish in South America. They're unique among fishes for their ability to breathe air — a feat made possible by a primitive lung, which they possess in conjunction with a gill system that allows them to breathe underwater. The fish developed this function because they typically live in oxygen-poor waterways,according to the Tennessee Aquarium, which is home to several arapaima.

But while this supplemental breathing technique helps the fish survive in its native habitat, it also makes the arapaima much easier to catch, according to the researchers.

"Arapaima spawn on the edges of floodplain forests and come to the surface to breathe every 5 to 15 minutes, when they are easily located and harpooned by fishers using homemade canoes," said Caroline Arantes, a doctoral student in wildlife and fisheries science at Texas A&M University in College Station, who helped conduct the study.

Fishy policies

Of the five known species of arapaima, three have not been observed in the wild in decades, according to study co-author Donald Stewart, a professor with the State University of New York at Syracuse's College of Environmental Science. Stewart said that all five species dominated fisheries in the Amazon just a century ago.

A commercially important species, arapaima are traditionally fished by localAmazonian communities, a practice that's largely unregulated, the researchers said. To find out how this lack of regulation might be affecting the giant fish, the researchers interviewed local fishers operating within a 650-square-mile (1,683 square kilometers) floodplain in northwestern Brazil.

In 19 percent of the 81 communities surveyed, the arapaima was found to be already extinct. And the giant fish's numbers are depleted, or approaching extinction, in 57 percent of the communities surveyed. In 17 percent of the communities, the fish were deemed "overexploited," according to the researchers.

"Fishers continue to harvest arapaima regardless of low population densities," said study leader Leandro Castello, an assistant professor of fisheries at Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources and Environment, in Blacksburg.

But the blame for the arapaima's dwindling numbers doesn't just fall on local fishing communities. Policymakers in Brazil may also be responsible, the researchers suggest. Government officials in the region tend to follow a "bioeconomic" line of thinking, which may have doomed the arapaima, the researchers said. [Amazon Expedition: An Album]

"Bioeconomic thinking has predicted that scarcity would drive up fishing costs, which would increase price and help save depleted species," Castello said. "If that prediction were true, extinctions induced by fishing would not exist, but that is not what has happened."

Fishing down

What is happening in the Amazon River basin is in line with something Castello and his colleagues call the "fishing-down" theory. This idea helps explain how large, high-value, easy-to-catch fish — such as the arapaima — can be fished to extinction.

In communities where arapaima are scarce, local fishers stop hunting the fish in traditional ways, such as with a harpoon. However, this doesn't mean fishers aren't killing arapaima; they're simply killing them in a different way.

These fishers use gill nets to harvest smaller fish, including juvenile arapaima. While local fishers don't necessarily catch the smaller arapaima on purpose, by "fishing down" they still end up killing the fish and further depleting the arapaima population.

But there is a bright side to this sad fish tale, according to study co-author David McGrath, a researcher with the Earth Innovation Institute in San Francisco. In communities that have implemented fishing rules, such as imposing a minimum capture size for arapaima and restricting the use of gill nets, the density of arapaima is 100 times higher than in places where no such rules exist.

"These communities are preventing further arapaima extinctions," McGrath said. 

Unfortunately, only 27 percent of the communities surveyed have management rules in place for fishing arapaima. One community that does manage these fish, Ilha de São Miguel, banned the use of gill nets two decades ago. It now has the highest arapaima densities in the region, the researchers found.

But regulations like those implemented by the community of Ilha de São Miguel are not common in floodplain regions, Castello said. These areas, he explained, suffer from widespread illegal fishing, a fact that he worries could lead to fishing-induced extinctions for other Amazonian species.

Fixing the situation

Part of the problem, Castello said, is a lack of economic alternatives for the fishers who survive on the commercial trade of threatened fish species. But the researchers said their findings demonstrate that it's possible to save the arapaima from extinction without jeopardizing local food supplies.

"Fisheries productivity in Ilha de São Miguel is also the highest in the study area," Castello said. "Cast nets are allowed because they are much more selective, yet they yield abundant fishes for local consumption, so food security for the community is not compromised."

This bodes well for both fish and fishermen, said the researchers, who believe that spreading the fishing practices of Ilha de São Miguel to other areas of the Amazon could bring this unique species of fish back from the brink.

"Many previously overexploited arapaima populations are now booming due to good management," Castello said. "The time has come to apply fishers' ecological knowledge to assess populations, document practices and trends, and solve fisheries problems through user participation in management and conservation."

The results of the study were published online today (Aug. 13) in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Freshwater and Marine Ecosystems.